Midnight's Blossom

by Corinn Heathers

  I stood up, pushing the chair out from behind me.

  “Look on the bright side, my dear.” A smug smile wormed its way across his face as he continued to speak. “You will soon be reunited with your beloved mother—though it will be through the bars of your cell, of course.”

  The unarmed IPSB agent drew a pair of metal shackles from his satchel. I could sense the magic throbbing through them; if they were placed on my wrists, I would be unable to so much as speak without receiving a debilitating jolt.

  He wasn't going to get close.

  I closed my eyes and let out a slow breath, and opened myself up fully to Eiri's legacy.

  Violet-black flames erupted from my right hand and the sword came to my call. To the IPSB agent's credit, he immediately backpedaled and drew his own blade, dropping into a defensive stance with the practiced ease of the well-trained.

  It wasn't sufficient.

  The blade's potent necromantic energies split his body in twain as I swept it around in a vicious flat arc. The man's expression didn't even have time to change before he was dead, the two halves of his corpse falling to the ground with a muffled thud.

  “Th-that—that power!” Cyrus gasped, features twisted with horrified astonishment. He fell back a step, his face having gone absolutely white. “No. How can this be possible?! You… you should be dead!”

  I swept the spirit blade around and jabbed the tip toward him.

  “I told you to stop.” Gritting my teeth, I prepared to drive the preternaturally-keen point of the sword through his heart. “You didn't listen.”

  The shock on my great-uncle's face was replaced with black fury so deep that I was momentarily taken aback. His fingers twitched and I felt magic at work; thick, conjured mist rose up around him, enveloping his body, and the contingency spell activated. There was a flash of brilliant arcane energies and Cyrus was gone, whisked away from danger through the flow of the ley lines.

  The two remaining IPSB agents didn't let the death of their fellow or the sudden departure of the Lord of House Alcyone slow them down. I adjusted and parried one, two, three rapid strikes, one after another. Both men danced back out of the range of my counters, then charged forward again to deliver another flurry of easily-deflected blows.

  They weren't trying to hit me; they were trying to use the magic-disrupting properties of their swords to drain me of energy. Unfortunately for them, it wasn't working.

  A prominence of enervation crackled in my free hand and I sent the seething orb of shadowy death directly toward the agent furthest from me. His training kicked in, and he switched stances rapidly to use his disrupting blade to block the spell, to cause it to fail before it could drain his life-force from his body.

  The agent's surprise was total when his blade crumbled into useless black dust—and the spell, albeit diminished somewhat by his attempt to deflect, slammed into his midsection. Crawling arcs of violet-black erupted over his entire body. The thread of his life was abruptly severed and the corpse fell heavily to the floor.

  Horror distorted the features of the last living IPSB agent. He knew now what he faced, what he was up against. Cyrus had undoubtedly told his pets that I had miinari heritage, but Cyrus did not know how much I'd learned from Shion and the Cabal, nor did he know that I possessed Eiri's spirit blade. He had no idea he was facing a true necromancer.

  Now I'd been forced to tip my hand. Cyrus knew enough of what I was to give him all of the justification he needed to destroy me. For a moment I wondered if I hadn't erred in defending myself. It was too late to speculate, though. The die was cast and I had no choice but to keep moving forward.

  “N-necromancer,” the man whimpered, stepping back. He was too frightened to comprehend the conflicted emotions warring for supremacy on my face. The disrupting blade fell from nerveless fingers. “S-stay away from me, monster!” With violently-trembling hands, he made a warding sign signifying the sigil of Light. “B-b-back! I-in the holy name of the One True God, the Celestial One, I r-rebuke you!”

  The deity of Solaria either could not hear or chose to ignore his plea. I sighed with more weariness than I thought possible. Just a flick of the wrist and the spirit blade swept out, slashing the agent's throat. With an act of will, I dismissed the miinari relic, sending it back into the tiny sub-reality in which it existed. The tugging I felt upon my soul lessened with the “distance,” but I could still sense the murmured whispering I didn't quite understand.

  They felt… oddly apologetic. As if the relic itself felt responsible for Cyrus's escape. Beyond that sensation of disappointment, I could feel a deep, dark hatred and desire for vengeance that was not my own.

  I glanced at my hands and winced. Using my magic openly like that had released the dark mana within my soul, and small residual motes clung to my body. I had to disperse it, else I'd become a beacon for every IPSB agent in Naara.

  There was a sudden, violent impact against the door and I flinched, backpedaling slightly. Magic came to my fingertips easily, but as the door itself was destroyed in a tremendous concussion, I realized I had nothing to worry about.

  It was Rose.

  “Lily, what in the Yawning Hells—?” She broke off and stared at the dead IPSB agents, already rapidly deteriorating from the corruption. Her eyes were wide. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you at all?”

  “N-no,” I mumbled.

  Darkness was creeping around the edges of my vision. A wave of dizziness slammed into me with enough metaphorical force to cause a stumble. Before I could fall, Rose was beside me, supporting me with her strong arms.

  “You used it again, didn't you,” she noted.

  I nodded weakly. “Had no choice.”

  “We need to get out of here. Come on.” Rose's eyes narrowed and she shook my shoulder. I barely felt it through the endless shadows that seemed to pour out, enveloping my awareness in a velvety blackness. “Lily, hello? Stay with me, please! Don't pass out on me yet—”

  “S-sorry,” I managed only seconds before the darkness overtook me.

  Chapter 29

  Reaching Into Light

  The first sensation I recognized was pain. My head ached abominably. As my eyes opened, slowly, struggling to pull my consciousness back into the world, agony blossomed bright at my temples and I groaned aloud. My surroundings were a dark, indistinct blur, and all I could smell was an odd sort of cool and dry stagnation.

  “You're awake.”

  That voice!

  “Um… I am. I think.”

  I blinked away the bleariness in my eyes—or at least attempted to—and my vision cleared enough to see Yuka's face. She wasn't smiling. Her expression had relaxed, but I could tell she had been extremely distraught. Her ruby eyes glimmered with unshed tears.

  “I was so worried,” Yuka mumbled, her voice cracking slightly with emotion. “When Rose brought you here, you were so deeply comatose that we… we feared you wouldn't wake up.” She managed a brave smile and ran her fingertip across my cheek. “I can't even describe how relieved I feel.”

  I tried to sit up, but realized my muscles felt incredibly stiff, and ended up doing little but falling back into Yuka's lap. My whole body ached as if it hadn't been used in ages. Even my voice sounded scratchy and hollow in my own ears.

  “How long was I unconscious?”

  “Four days,” Yuka replied.

  “What?!” I recoiled in shock. I suspected I'd been out of it for a while, I knew wielding the spirit blade like that would drain me, but four days? “What happened after I lost consciousness? Where even is this place? Where's Rose?”

  Yuka didn't seem perturbed by my rapid-fire demands. She pursed her lips and shook her head slowly. “Lily, you need to eat and drink something. Now. You've not had any water or food for nearly a week. I'll answer your questions after you attend to your needs.”

  I opened my mouth to object, but the expression on Yuka's face told me I should not push my luck. She eased my head out of her lap and lay me back upon the bedrol
l I'd apparently been occupying for days.

  “I'll be right back with something for you,” Yuka promised.

  I nodded slowly and watched as she made her way across the dimly-lit cellar—for now that I could see well enough, I could tell we were in some sort of underground bunker or basement. There was an angled set of steps affixed to one of the stone walls, and Yuka went up, out of the cellar and into… whatever was above.

  While Yuka was gone, I took a moment to study my surroundings. It was not especially easy to process information after going four days without food or water, but I had little else to occupy myself until Yuka returned.

  The cellar was filled with wooden racks containing bottle after bottle of wines. Nearly all were expensive Solarian vintages. I couldn't see the labels from here, but judging by the presence of so much wine and the way the stone walls around us felt almost alive…

  Of course! We were in the wine cellar of the cliffside café. The stonework foundation was fairly saturated with earth mana, components of the spells that protected the building from erosion and other natural forces.

  How we managed to end up down here was another story entirely, and one I would have to hear from Yuka when she returned. I didn't have long to wait, for within a few minutes the hatch leading to the cellar opened and Yuka descended the wooden staircase.

  I sniffed the air, catching a deliciously savory scent, and my stomach growled in response. She was carrying a rather weighty cloth bundle, and her other hand held a clear glass bottle filled with water. Before I could ask what she'd brought, Yuka unwrapped the bundle and set it down in front of me. Inside was three meat-filled pasties, the crisp crust of each glistening with a liberal dousing of butter.

  “Eat,” Yuka ordered.

  She did not have to tell me twice. I picked up one of the pasties and took as big a bite as I dared from the corner. It was pleasantly warm, but not so hot it would burn my mouth. The sweet, savory flavor of onions browned in butter mingled with slow-cooked shin of beef. I felt ravenous and begun to tear into the meal with a complete lack of table manners.

  Yuka watched in silence as I ate. Each bite brought me closer to renewed strength, and after I'd polished off two of the pasties and begun to work on the third, the dizziness was passed. I paused long enough to gulp down a third of the water bottle in one long swallow.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “None are necessary. I'm just so glad you're okay, Lily.”

  I took a bite from my pasty, chewed and swallowed. “Want to fill me in on what happened?”

  “Of course.” Yuka brushed a lock of hair from her face. I noticed for the first time that she was not very clean, and her face was smudged in places with dirt and dried blood.

  “You were down here with me the whole time, weren't you?”

  She nodded. The dark circles under her eyes became more visible. “Someone needed to watch over you, someone strong enough to protect you if we were found. Rose was… too restless, so I sent her away with Shion to find us a way out of Naara.”

  “Weren't you and Shion meeting with—”

  “Were. The conversation was… not especially fruitful,” Yuka interrupted. “Willow Corvus remains willing to work with us—from what I gather, several of her own people are being held in the same prison as your mother.” She frowned and adjusted her glasses again, though they hadn't been moved out of place. “Unfortunately, we were not able to secure further support.”

  I shivered and bit off another chunk of pasty. I couldn't say I was terribly shocked. The rebels hadn't gotten as far as they had by taking chances. They were content to wait until the war against Fialla began and much of the Empire's forces were pulled away from home.

  “The good news is that Willow Corvus hasn't been barred from assisting us,” Yuka continued. I popped the last bit of buttery crust into my mouth and she smiled, wiping a crumb off the corner of my lips. “Her forces have already been deployed for the operation on the prison and are awaiting our arrival.”

  “They're testing us?” I muttered with a scowl. “Trying to determine if we're useful enough to bother with as allies, then?”

  Yuka frowned. “It seems that way.”

  “Lord Cyrus knows what I'm capable of now. He… tried to have me taken into custody by his people in IPSB, but I killed them.” I shivered, pausing just long enough to take several long swallows of water. “I don't know what he'll do now that he knows.”

  “Do you think he knows of our plans?”

  I shook my head. “No, I think… I think he thinks I'm here to kill him. He knows I have Eiri's spirit blade, but he doesn't know what it is or how it works. He doesn't know I trained with the Cabal in Fialla, but he saw me use necromancy that I shouldn't have been able to use. It must have felt the same as Eiri's.”

  Yuka's head tilted to one side in query.

  “I think he's afraid the enmity of Eiri's dead soul has filled me, that I have become an instrument of her vengeance.”

  My companion looked baffled. “Why would he believe such a thing?”

  “He doesn't know anything but the same fanciful taproom tales of dark fairies that we all grew up hearing.” I waved a hand vaguely and pressed my fingers to my throbbing temples. It hurt quite a bit less now that I'd eaten, but I still felt awful. Drained. Every time I used the spirit blade, it drank deeply of the aether inside me. “He doesn't know anything about the miinari, and like most Solarians, he was taught his whole life to fear their power. As soon as he recognized Eiri's power, he fled.”

  Yuka didn't respond to that.

  “I can't say for certain he hasn't anticipated our plans,” I mused, more to fill the silence than anything else. “I do know he won't be able to interfere with us again for some time. The matter of the dead IPSB agents isn't something he can so easily cover up.”

  “Would he not simply tell them the truth?”

  A bitter laugh escaped my lips. “No. What he tried to do today was just on the cusp of illegality. If I'd cooperated and surrendered myself, or the agents detained me through force, Lord Cyrus could have smoothed things over without too much trouble.”

  “Lord Cyrus witnessed you kill them,” Yuka objected. “Could he not say as much?”

  “Not without revealing his part in their deaths. The IPSB is supposed to be impartial, at least in theory. In actual practice, House loyalties are strong. Much of the IPSB cadre is made up of sons and daughters of high Houses. So long as these arrangements are kept hidden, the Imperial Court turns a blind eye.”

  “The men you killed…”

  I nodded. “They were either family members or wards of House Alcyone. My great-uncle will be busy for a time, trying to come up with a more plausible explanation for their deaths.” My lips twisted into a strange sort of half-smile, half-grimace. “Not to mention always peering over one shoulder and paying very close attention to strange shadows.”

  Yuka's features twisted with worry. “I hope you're right.”

  “With luck,” I said, attempting to sound more confident than I felt, “we will have taken the prison and rescued Mother before he finds his courage again.”

  There was a sound of boots scuffing overhead and the hatch leading to the cellar opened. Both Yuka and I peered from our shadowed corner as a tall figure descended the wooden stairs. The shock of wavy white curls and the sensation of warmth put me on ease immediately.

  “Rose!”

  Shutting the cellar hatch behind her, Rose fairly leaped from the stairs and nearly bowled me over with a hug that was more akin to a tackle than anything else. I yelped, partly from surprise and partly from the pain of my sore muscles.

  “Gods, Lily,” Rose breathed, “you're okay. You're okay.”

  “Y-yeah, I'm fine.”

  “We all thought you were… that you might—” She broke off and her eyes were filled with tears that quickly streaked unheeded down her cheeks. “I'm so glad you're okay. I was so worried when you passed out and didn't wake up.”

 
I shrugged helplessly. “I still can't seem to use the sword without draining my soul of every last mote of aether. I thought that… the training would have helped more than that, but I guess I'm still not strong enough.”

  “You reckless, stupid girl,” Rose blubbered, sniffling loudly as she buried her face in my neck. “I was so scared, terrified that I'd lose you forever.” She took a deep breath, and I could feel the dampness of her tears on my skin. “I can't believe I let you walk into a trap like that. I should have been with you, should have stayed closer so I could have protected you!”

  I brushed my fingertips through her hair, which was much cleaner than either Yuka's or mine, and did not smell of stale sweat and dust. But then again, Rose hadn't been locked in a wine cellar for four days.

  “It's not your fault, love. I should have guessed Cyrus would try something like that.”

  “I don't wish to rush either of you,” Yuka interjected, “but we must consider our next move, now that Lily has awakened.”

  “Yeah.” Rose nodded and reluctantly pulled herself away from me, but not too far. She let a trembling hand rest upon my thigh. “Shion and I made arrangements with the Coalition smugglers, the same ones who brought us here. We've got to get to their airship tonight, and we've got to do it without being spotted.”

  “What good will that do us?” I asked. “Aren't they returning to the Coalition?”

  “Yes, but we can get off before they cross the border. With the proper inducements, the captain was perfectly willing to make some minor adjustments to his flight path. Judging by the maps it'll put us about a kilometer or so away from where Willow's forces are mustered.”

  My eyes widened in horror. “By 'get off' you mean—jump? From a f-flying airship?!”

  “Yes,” Rose answered, “but just remember that we're all mages. It's not like we're going to get hurt or anything.”

  “B-but—”

  “Lily, what's wrong?” Yuka's slender arms encircled my waist and she leaned against my back. I felt myself go limp, as if I were a kitten grabbed by the scruff of my neck. “Could it be that you're afraid of heights?”