Earth

by Rosie Scott

  I hadn't expected the jest, and I chuckled, watching him walk off into the night. I felt lucky to be surrounded by a group of such talented and humble friends.

  Twenty-four

  Our trek back to T'ahal took us ten days, which meant we finally returned to the capital city nearly three weeks after we had left it. Considering the massive task we'd been given and the fact we had succeeded at it, I figured we had made good time.

  Something felt different about the city as we slowly rode to the stables to drop off the hyenas. There was a certain nervousness in the air from the townsfolk. I had expected the people to be excited, for they had clamored over seeing me when I'd left, and I knew Hasani was more popular than his father. I figured the people would be ecstatic to see him.

  There was energy in the air, all right, but it wasn't that of excitement. The crowds were mostly quiet as we dropped off our mounts, and given Hasani's hesitance to be relieved he was home, I figured he sensed it as well.

  We were still in the stables when Talib hurried in, his face one of relief as he saw Hasani alive. The older man rushed before the prince, taking a knee despite the dirt of the stable floor.

  “Thank the gods, my prince. You are safe.”

  “What has happened, Talib?” Hasani questioned, his light eyes looking off through the stables to the town beyond. The sun was almost completely set at this point, and the city was cast in shadow. Outside, men worked to light sconces and street lights to keep the city alight. Somewhere off in the distance, I heard Naharan music playing, though it did little to calm the mood.

  Talib looked toward me, his gaze wavering. “King Adar requests your presence immediately, Kai. As he requests yours, my prince, since you are alive.”

  Hasani's nostrils flared with anxiety. “Very well,” he said, before looking to me. “Let us go together.”

  The others followed, for whenever I'd been requested by King Adar, I had brought them with me. They, too, were a part of our alliance. Any problems or concerns which arose also dealt with them.

  The group of us made our way through crowds of leering but mostly quiet people and to the castle. I had the nagging, sinking feeling in my gut that the day I'd always known would come was here.

  Hasani led the way into his father's throne room, where the king slouched in his throne, appearing overwhelmed. The older man looked up as we walked in, and was visibly relieved as he watched us approach.

  “My son,” he stated, his voice trembling with stress. He stood, holding his arms out, expecting a hug. Hasani immediately put his arms around his father. “You are safe. Thank the gods.”

  “I am safe, and Mantus is dead,” Hasani replied, as they parted.

  “Truly?” King Adar's eyes were wide in his son's as he held him at arm's length.

  “Truly.” Hasani turned to me. “If it weren't for Kai's magic, we wouldn't have had a chance.”

  The king looked past his son to me. “Thank you, Kai. You have done us a great service.”

  I bowed slightly. “I was just honoring our agreement.”

  “I'm afraid I need to rely on you once more,” the king admitted, before he sat back in his throne. Hasani backed up a few steps, allowing his father to have space.

  “What has happened in our absence?” I questioned, anxious.

  King Adar glanced toward Talib, who had followed us here. “Fetch the messenger, Talib.”

  The man's footsteps echoed out of the room, and we waited in nervous silence. It only took a few moments for the sounds of two men to come toward us from out in the hall. When Talib returned, he was trailed by an official messenger of Sera.

  I didn't allow the man's presence to sway me. I stared at the man, and he stared back, knowing just who I was. He walked to stand between us and King Adar.

  “Terran Sera requests your surrender, Kai Sera,” the messenger stated. My jaw set stiffly against my will at my brother's name. “All charges against your friends will be dismissed if you hand yourself over.”

  “He knows I will not give myself up,” I replied evenly, my stare defiant.

  “Chairel is prepared for war. Terran has one thousand men waiting just hours away for my word, and they will attack. If you don't surrender, we are prepared to wipe T'ahal from the map.” The messenger's tone was pretentious, as if he thought I would cave from his words alone.

  And if I were honest with myself, I nearly did. I'd had no expectations of my brother following me out here himself, nor did I think Chairel would send such a large army. I had misjudged how serious my home country would be about tracking me down to kill me.

  “Is Sirius dead?” I asked the messenger. He had mentioned no one but Terran. The Twelve had spoken of my adoptive father like he was still the one giving orders, but anything could have happened in the past year.

  “No,” he replied, shortly.

  “So he sent Terran here, by himself, like a fucking coward,” I seethed.

  “Your brother insisted on leading Sera's armies against you,” the messenger retorted, just as angrily.

  A sharp pain sliced through my heart at that revelation. I was silent a moment, trying not to let it get to me. Terran and I had chosen our loyalties, but I'd had no idea he would become this hostile.

  “Why did Sirius send so many men?” I asked the messenger.

  “I am not here to answer your questions,” he replied. “I am here to deliver an ultimatum, which I have. Time is ticking, Kai Sera. I expect your answer.”

  Thoughts flew through my head. I heard the others behind me, and knew I surrounded myself with capable people for a reason. We would need to talk this through.

  “You will have my answer,” I said, “In time.”

  “That's not how this works,” the messenger retorted. “Terran is waiting—”

  “As he has been waiting,” I spat back. “If what you say is true, his army is hours away. Even if you were sent here tonight, you had no idea we would be arriving back in the city when we did. Terran has no expectation of an answer tonight. You will wait until the morning, or you will be committing treason for not doing your job.”

  The messenger stared at me, his nostrils flared with anger. He hadn't anticipated on being backed into a verbal corner. “You will give me your answer first thing tomorrow morning, or else I will report to your brother that you are uncooperative. Then, I will have done my job, and he will not wait to attack.”

  “Agreed,” I said, my gaze unmoving.

  The messenger glanced behind him, to the king and his son. “I suggest you think long and hard about where your loyalties should lie, King Adar. Chairel has many allies. You are alone on this continent.” With that, the man turned and stalked out of the room past us, his foot steps echoing back down the hall.

  Hasani nodded toward one of the guards in the room, motioning to the door. “Make sure his ears do not pry,” the prince stated, simply.

  “Yes, my prince.” The guard hurried from the room after the messenger.

  The room was silent for a few moments as we all pondered the situation we had found ourselves in. We knew this was coming; we simply never figured our situation would be this dire.

  “How many men do you have who are available for war, King Adar?” I asked, finally.

  “A couple hundred in T'ahal,” the king replied. “I have four hundred down in Llyr, but that is as far from here as Jaalam, and we have no time.”

  “A couple hundred, meaning...?” Theron trailed off. “That could mean two hundred, or it could mean eight.”

  “Six hundred, give or take,” the king said, and Hasani visibly winced beside him.

  “We don't have numbers, but we can create a strategy,” I suggested. “I will offer myself up as surrender—”

  “Do not be ridiculous, Kai,” Cerin interrupted tensely.

  “Listen, Cerin,” I protested. “We can prepare the armies to lie in wait amongst the buildings. I can agree to go with Terran and his army, and the Naharans may attack on a signal before that can ha
ppen.”

  “Yes, because surrendering to protect others never goes wrong, does it?” His silver eyes pierced deeply into mine. With a jab of pain in my heart, I realized he thought of his mother. She had been murdered doing much the same.

  “That plan would not work as it is,” King Adar stated. “Your brother and his army have insisted on you coming out, to them, alone.”

  “Where are they waiting?” Hasani asked his father.

  “The Wastelands.”

  “Where is that?” I asked, in turn.

  “The Desiccated Wastelands are just beneath the border, at the end of the northern fork of our river,” the king replied.

  “It doesn't sound like a good place to wait,” Nyx commented.

  “The Wastelands are full of water,” Hasani replied, “For the river flows underground to moisten it. The land there is like cracked clay. The underground is saturated, but the heat of the desert above causes the ground to crack. It is a good place to put an army. It is not close enough to this city to give us an advantage, but it is the farthest they could be while still having access to water for their men.”

  “If it is full of water, why call it the Desiccated Wastelands?” Theron asked. “This land does not sound dried up to me, or like a wasteland at all.”

  “The land there is in a perpetual state of drying out and causing droughts along the river,” Hasani said. “It is like the earth itself is drinking from the river. As for it being called the Wastelands, well...” the prince shrugged. “Despite constantly sucking in water, nothing will touch the land. Plants do not grow there, and even our hyenas grow restless when we near it. The land is feared. Some say it is cursed, even haunted.”

  “I can't imagine the horses from Chairel are waiting there peacefully, then,” I mused.

  “They are not,” King Adar said to me. “My runners have reported that the horses are kept past the edge of the Wastelands, for they were attempting to flee.”

  “If your runners have been out to survey the area, I'm assuming my brother's army has been here for a few days,” I said.

  The king nodded. “They arrived two nights ago.”

  “King Adar,” Cerin spoke up, his mind on another subject, for his words held force and purpose. “I know you wanted to phase it into your army's repertoire slowly, but if you would allow Kai and I to use necromancy, our army could be doubled.”

  It was as if none of us had thought of that before now, in all of our talks of the land. Cerin was right. Though one could never be sure how many of the dead were buried beneath the ground, each corpse we could call to our cause was an additional soldier. And on top of that, we could raise the dead of Sera's army, which would give us both numbers and an advantage in intimidation.

  “Terran's army will be its own worst enemy,” I commented, my mind aflame with possibilities. “They will have no necromancers. You have a handful, King Adar. A few of our students at the college have become wielders of death.”

  Hasani appeared begrudgingly acceptive of the idea. I knew the prince had no love for necromancy, but it would help us tremendously here. The king, on the other hand, had always been more receptive to death magic, though he had wanted to introduce it into his culture slowly. Death magic was, after all, the element people most feared.

  “Kai and I alone have the power to raise hundreds,” Cerin argued. “We wouldn't even need the students, though if they were allowed to fight alongside us with it, we could cover more ground and uncover more corpses.”

  “Using necromancy with the armies of Sera as witness would be to cement our relationship as their enemy,” Hasani said, mostly to his father.

  “Any situation other than handing Kai over to them would do the same,” King Adar pointed out. “Kai has been of great help to us. Naharans are people of their word, are they not?” When Hasani did not reply, the king went on, “We are keeping our word with the Seran Renegades. If keeping our word means going to war with Chairel, so be it. Have faith, son. If there was ever a time to show defiance and strength to our neighbors, it is now.”

  Hasani's eyes met mine as he thought. I knew he doubted our odds and his father's choices. We had bonded over our fight with Mantus, but still, the well-being of his country came first.

  “We cannot lose this battle, Kai,” the prince said, his normally confident tone having just an edge of a plea. “You said you would fight for us with your life. Is that so, even against your own brother?”

  “I asked my brother to join us last year. He chose his own path,” I said, though the sadness I felt bled through to my voice. “I chose mine. I will honor our agreement no matter who fights against us.”

  Hasani looked toward his father. “Let her use necromancy, father, and we will win this fight.”

  The king nodded. “Very well.” Looking off toward Talib, who had remained quiet near the far wall, he said, “Talib, ensure our men are as prepared as they can be to fight amongst the dead.” The assistant hurried off to heed the king's request.

  Hasani watched me. “Kai, I want to know where you are during the battle at all times.”

  “You do not trust me?” I questioned.

  “I trust you,” he replied, sharply. “Your strategies were invaluable in Jaalam. I cannot direct six hundred men on my own accurately. We will fight and command together, as siblings.”

  My heart warmed with his request. It was a sweet gesture, especially considering I would be fighting against my own brother in this battle. “You honor me, Hasani.”

  “No. You honor us with your allegiance and service. You all do,” he added, looking to each of my friends.

  “I would suggest beefing up your security on the castle tonight,” Nyx interrupted, before we could disperse. “Sirius is no stranger to the Alderi. It has been nearly a year since we left Sera, and he could have sent them on our trail.”

  “The security has already been doubled,” the king replied. “Sirius evidently did hire the Alderi, for we have executed one of their assassins during your absence.”

  “There are no tunnels leading to the Alderi in Nahara,” Hasani protested, shocked to hear of the would-be assassin.

  “That does not stop them,” his father replied. “The assassin came from the direction of the Golden Peaks to the north, and she left a trail of blood. Killed three of my runners and left them to bleed out in the sands.”

  “Amateur,” Nyx grunted, to which the king raised an eyebrow.

  Hasani looked to me. “You and your friends are staying here, at the castle?”

  I nodded.

  “Okay. Meet me here tomorrow morning. We will give your answer to the messenger and prepare the army together.” With a heavy sigh, he added, “Until then, try to get some sleep, friends. I fear we will have no rest tomorrow.”

  *

  The room was cast in darkness, and was so black that even the shadows were hidden. I heard Cerin's inhales and exhales vibrating through the air to my right. I had laid here for over an hour, but I could not sleep.

  I heard the rattling of gear as one of the castle guards shuffled down the hallway past our door. A few seconds later, I heard another guard yawn. They were doing well at remaining quiet, but each noise they did make echoed through my mind like a bell and kept me from rest. My mind refused to stop running through the possibilities of the next day's battle. I was on the cusp of either losing everything, or making my first real stand against Chairel. Either way, my body was in a constant state of alert until I knew which option would be the result.

  “Cerin,” I whispered softly. If he was awake, I sought to talk to him. If not, I didn't want to wake him, so my voice remained low.

  “Yeah?” His normally rough voice was heavy with fatigue.

  “I cannot sleep.”

  “Yeah,” he agreed, before the bed rustled as he turned to face me. His hand found the side of my face in the dark, where he began to run his fingers over my face. “Me either.”

  “This is the worst time to be restless,” I lamente
d.

  “We are both necromancers, and Terran has many soldiers,” Cerin pointed out. “We will have all the energy we need.”

  There was a thick ache that grasped ahold of my heart, squeezing and suffocating it. We had both leeched the energy from many enemies before, but to talk so casually about it like we were harvesting from people bothered me. Of course, that's what leeching was. It always had been.

  I thought back to when Cerin taught me the spell after the fight with the wyvern near Whispermere. I had used it on him for the first time, and had nearly killed him. On the contrary, I'd never been on the other end of the death spell.

  “Is leeching painful when it is used against you?” I questioned.

  “That was random,” he mused. His fingers stopped grazing by my face, and went still in my hair.

  “If anyone can answer that, it's you.”

  “Yes, but why ask it at all? You are having doubts again.”

  “You spoke about doing it tomorrow as if...” I trailed off, frustrated. “I don't know. I have used the spell many times, but every time I think it through when my mind is clear, I find I am bothered by it.”

  “Kai, the spell is one of many meant to kill. Those soldiers will try to kill or capture you tomorrow, and I guarantee they're not losing sleep right now wondering about the morality of it all. It is a kill or be killed kind of world, as you have said many times yourself.”

  I swallowed, but said nothing.

  “Ah. You are thinking of having to kill Terran.”

  A sharp pain sliced through my gut. “Maybe I am,” I said, softly.

  “Do you think you could, if the time came?” He questioned.

  I laughed humorlessly. “No,” I admitted.

  “I have no qualms about killing him,” Cerin said. “I will do it.”

  “Cerin,” I protested, shocked at his eagerness.

  “I never had a problem with your brother until I heard he hunted you down himself. I swear on my life to kill him before he can touch you. Don't pretend to be offended, Kai. You know how I love you, and I have lost and nearly lost you many times.” His fingers began to brush by my face again. “I would rather have had Terran as a friend, but that is not the path he chose. If you refuse to kill him, I would do it to keep him from hunting you down forever.”