by B. T. Narro
I heard the door close. A guard carrying a lamp emerged from the shadows. He drew his sword when he spotted us. “Stay right there!”
Shara and I threw our hands up.
“How’d you get inside?” he yelled.
“I let them in!” Darri shouted from the entranceway.
The two guards met beside us. “Why didn’t you keep them waiting outside until I was back?”
“It became awkward,” Darri replied. They moved away from us and spoke too quietly to hear. When they both started laughing, Shara lowered her head.
“Darri’s a fool,” I whispered. “He doesn’t deserve your company.”
“Thank you.”
“All right Dimples and Terribly Annoying,” the other guard announced. “Let’s go see what the master of coin has to say about your scrolls.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
We followed this guard up a staircase, the glow of his lantern causing him to be brighter than the rest of the empty great hall. I heard murmurs traveling along the walls as we reached the second floor, making me feel like I still was in a cave, only this one had inhabitants.
Lit sconces were a relief after a turn. We passed two rooms, the second one having guards stationed outside of it. Shara tugged on my shirt sleeve. “The king’s quarters,” she whispered.
The thought of our king being just behind those doors stirred excitement. He was supposed to be the greatest king who’d ever ruled, or so Betsy Baker had said. All else I knew about him was he’d stopped the human sacrifices and had allowed the creation of the redemption scrolls. Still, those two things were enough for me to appreciate him.
We stopped at the room after the king’s quarters. “Is he here?” our guard asked another man in leather armor, the door behind him closed like the other rooms we’d passed.
“He’s with the king.” He gestured at the guards we’d walked by.
“When will he be out? I want to see what happens with these two…being the first ones to come with redemption scrolls.”
They flashed matching grins.
“What do you two know?” Shara asked the men.
“Her detail…” Our escort pointed at Shara. “Terribly annoying.”
The other guard laughed.
“You have no idea what we’ve gone through to get here in time,” I said. Their laughter petered out. “It was bad enough watching our homes burn to nothing, but on top of that we encountered the red priest and his army in every town from Lanhine to Antilith.”
“Red priest?” our guard asked.
“Priest Karvrek. It was your job to protect us from him, but I had to be the one to kill him.”
“You lie,” our guard challenged.
I didn’t know what came over me, but I wasn’t about to let anyone else talk down to us. “I did so with the help of diymas and a friend. And that’s the only reason Antilith didn’t burn like the other cities.”
A woman’s voice surprised me. “And they also killed a terrislak.” I turned back to find Darri leading Effie down the hall. “Your king should receive a report from Antilith soon,” she said. “Their killing of Priest Karvrek allowed your army to arrive in Antilith before it could be attacked.”
“You didn’t think to mention this after telling me you’re here for another pyforial mage?” Darri complained.
“Oh, you care about the war? I thought they paid you just to flirt.”
Everyone had a quick chuckle except Darri. The man who stood guard in front of the master of coin’s door took my shoulder and turned me toward him. “I’d like the name of the man responsible for Priest Karvrek’s death.” He grabbed my hand and shook it, still holding onto my shoulder with his other hand. “I’m the master of coin’s squire. I’ll put in a good word.”
I knew nothing of what a squire did besides guard empty rooms. “I’m Neeko. This is Shara. She helped immensely, as well as with killing the terrislak.”
“I wouldn’t say immensely.” She rubbed her foot on the stone floor.
“Well, Neeko and Shara,” the squire said, “this changes how I think the meeting will go, but that’s only if there is a meeting. The master of coin could be next door for hours more. He might not even return to his room when he’s done. It’s best if you come back tomorrow.”
I was about to complain that our scrolls could expire by tomorrow when I distinctly heard glass breaking from within the master of coin’s room. “Is there someone else in there?” I asked.
“There shouldn’t be…” The squire and our escort each drew their swords. Darri shouldered between Shara and me to stand behind them. The squire unlocked the door and pushed it open.
Broken glass was scattered along the floor, wine spreading among it, glistening in the moonlight coming in from the open balcony doors.
“The wind?” Darri asked after a quick search to find no one.
“The balcony wasn’t open when he left,” the squire said.
“Who are you!” someone shouted from the king’s quarters.
“Guards!” another voice screamed.
“Guards!” the first voice rang out in agreement.
The armored men outside the king’s door threw it open. They were hurled backward by some unseen force before stepping inside, both slamming into the wall opposite the door. I could feel the pyforial energy. There was a mage inside that room.
Effie was the closest to the king’s quarters besides us, and she was the next one to reach the doorway, holding a shell of sartious energy in front of her. It did little to no good, as she was flung backward just like the guards. The sartious energy was left hovering, dispersing as I passed through it and into the room, diving in at an angle so I couldn’t be flung out. Shara was right behind me.
A gust of py knocked us back, but we’d both gone far enough inside to stay within the room. We crashed against the wall behind us, and by the time I picked myself up, the door to the room had slammed shut.
The squire kicked it open. His body was thrown back right after. Darri was next, diving into the room like Shara and I’d done. He was picked up with so much force that when he crashed against the wall, his feet were higher than his head.
All the while, two people were suffocating. The one wearing the crown obviously was the king, and the other prying at his throat had to be the master of coin. And then I saw Eizle.
“Don’t interfere!” he screamed.
Shara pointed her wand before I’d figured out what to do. Just as it started to glow, Eizle flicked his hand, sending her wand across the room. Shara started to run after it, only to be violently knocked over when Eizle pushed his palm in her direction. She screamed but got up and still scrambled after her wand.
“Stop, Shara!” I yelled, fearful of what Eizle would do to her next. But he was too focused on Darri charging at him. The squire and the guard who’d escorted us came through the now open door right behind Darri. All three were taken off their feet with a swipe of Eizle’s hand. I figured the only reason I hadn’t been touched since my initial entrance was because I hadn’t interfered like the rest. Shara grabbed her wand again—and Eizle noticed, squeezing his hand in her direction. She dropped her wand to grab her throat, uttering choking sounds just like the king and the master of coin.
Not wanting to hurt my friend, I tried overpowering his hold on the pyforial energy around Shara’s neck. But it felt like I was trying to pry off metal shackles with my bare hands. He was too strong, even while focusing to keep py around his other two victims’ necks. The king had stopped struggling and appeared to be dead on his feet, his eyes closed and his arms limp. He was released and puddled to the ground. The master of coin was still alive and with fight left. He was blue in the face but thrashing like a wild animal.
I thought of Eizle stuck in prison without seeing another human being. Every day, he’d probably practiced with py to pass the time as anger stormed within him. He wasn’t the same person I’d known growing up. He was a murderer.
Without warning my old
friend, I gathered my own wall of py and threw it against him with all the force I could. His eyes went wide as he stumbled. We met gazes for the briefest moment before he crashed into the side of the table and fell backward on top of it. He had a look of disbelief. After all this time, he still trusted me as he had when we were kids, and I’d betrayed him.
With his focus shattered, I heard gasping from both sides of the room, Shara on one, the master of coin on the other.
“Kill him!” the master of coin wheezed.
Everyone not dead or regaining their breath advanced on Eizle except me. I was unable to act after the look he’d given me. Effie and the first two guards were back in the room now, everyone running toward Eizle. He jumped onto the table and threw out his arms. A blast of py hit me in the chest, knocking me down. Everyone tumbled away from Eizle, the chairs and carpet toppling after them. Through gaps in the papers cluttering the air, I could see Eizle staring at me with a look of urgency as I prepared to subdue him.
“Don’t, Neeko! Swenn needs—!”
Swenn? But it was too late. I’d already sent a blast of energy to throw him from the table. While he soared, part of me wondered if he’d gone insane in prison and now he mistook the king for his brother. But by the time he bounced off the wall, I started to realize what he was saying.
The master of coin—now running at Eizle with a dagger—looked a lot like Swenn. Could it be Eizle mistook the noble for his brother? Or could it be that it was actually…oh gods.
“No!” I screamed, already too late as Swenn drove his blade into his brother’s chest, over and over. Eizle was lifeless in moments, yet Swenn didn’t stop, mutilating Eizle’s body with the rage of a monster, blood splattering onto the table between us with a sickening sound.
It was all over Swenn’s face and robes by the time he finally lost the will to keep going. He stood and threw the knife down, its blade striking his brother’s already bloody face. Swenn spat next, kicked, and leaned over to draw violent breaths. I couldn’t watch any more. The room was spinning. I was on my knees. Gods, what have I done?
The king was seated, dazed but alive. His guards had surrounded him, yelling for healers. Darri sprinted out of the room to retrieve one.
“How did the assassin get inside?” someone asked Swenn.
“He came through the balcony doors. Don’t ask me how it was possible without flying. Have your men figure it out.”
I felt nothing but sickness. I knew there was anger for Swenn somewhere within me, but I felt detached from it. The violent manner in which he’d killed Eizle was too much for me, especially when I’d allowed it to happen. Eizle was trying to kill Swenn, not the king, not Shara, not anyone else who’d gotten in his way. Just Swenn. The man who’d killed my mother for ruffs. A man deserving of death. What had he done to Eizle before this incident? It had to be what had changed him.
The anger found me. It was so ferocious and strong that I lost myself to it in an instant. I rose to my feet. The room disappeared except for Swenn. I would choke the life out of him. I would kill him twice, no three times, no four was what he deserved!
Something was grabbing me. I fought against it—a pair of arms, I realized. Shara’s. She let go and jumped in front of me. I moved to get around her, barely noticing anything but Swenn, who was still doubled over, regaining his breath from the effort it took to mutilate his brother’s body.
“Neeko! Neeko!” She grabbed my cheeks, putting her face right in front of mine. “Neeko! Look at me!”
I found her eyes, those dark innocent eyes.
“There you go. Don’t look anywhere else.” She still had my cheeks in her hands. I tried to turn away from her, but she wouldn’t let me. “Now breathe.”
I took a breath.
“Again.”
I took another.
She pressed her forehead against mine. She was crying. “That’s good, Neeko, really good. Don’t look anywhere else.” Her voice was so utterly sad. I didn’t understand why. “Now I want you to do something really difficult,” she whispered. “I want you to run with me. Do you think you can?”
I shook my head and shut my eyes, which only made it harder to see anything besides Swenn stabbing Eizle over and over.
“Look at me,” Shara insisted.
I opened my eyes to find tears streaming down her cheeks. I faintly noticed others running about the room, some tending to the king, others standing by and speaking to each other in mutterings of disbelief.
I heard “pyforial mage” somewhere to my right. It sounded like Darri. Was he talking about me or Eizle?
“We need to leave,” Shara whispered.
What was I doing to make her so sad? The question allowed me to let go of some of my anger.
“We’re going to run,” Shara whispered. “And we’re not going to stop no matter what.”
I noticed it more clearly then, more people talking about a pyforial mage, all of them looking at me.
“We need to go now. Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
But as we turned to face the door, Darri and Effie stepped in front of it. The four of us stared at each other without a word. I thought about throwing them out of our way, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
“All this time you were one!” Effie muttered angrily. “You’re not running away like Eizle did.”
I looked around the room. Everyone was staring at me. The king pushed himself to his feet. Two women in long white robes encouraged him to sit. He ignored them, rubbing his throat as he approached me. Behind him was Swenn, glaring at me in such a way that made Eizle’s eyes seem innocent in comparison. It stirred up my anger. Why was he so intent on destroying me? He should be scared, not angry.
That’s when I realized that he was. What does a wild animal do when it’s cornered? And that’s exactly what I’d done to Swenn. I didn’t know how he became the master of coin, probably through backstabbing and lying, but I did know his past. I knew things about him no one else in this castle possibly could know. He was terrified of me.
“Sire,” Swenn said, “order the death of this pyforial mage before he tries to choke you as well.”
“Send him with us!” Effie blurted. “You promised us a pyforial mage.”
“No, he must die!” Swenn argued.
“Run!” Shara shouted. She barreled into Effie, knocking her down and clearing a path. “Hurry!” Shara yelled desperately. “Neeko, please!” Her eyes watered as she pleaded. Darri watched me with his sword ready, trying to block the entire doorway.
As much as it hurt me to go against Shara, I didn’t move. If they were going to kill me, it wouldn’t be while I fled. It would be while I choked the life out of Swenn. Effie calmly got up and unruffled her shirt. Everyone was silent except for Shara, who sobbed and pleaded, “Run! What are you doing!”
“He needs to die, sire,” Swenn stated. “He’s too much of a threat.”
To you, I didn’t say aloud. Everyone in the room was trying to read me, and the last thing I wanted was to reveal my thirst for blood. If I was going to die here, so be it. I’d take him with me.
Guards grabbed Shara and put her wrists in shackles. She wouldn’t stop pleading for me to run, whimpering now. There was nothing I could say to her without revealing my plan. I could feel the hard look on my face as I glanced around and waited for them to come at me.
“King Quince,” Effie said. “You owe us a pyforial mage. Our psychic has already been here for weeks training your men and women as part of our agreement.”
“I’m not going to Ovira,” I told Effie. I couldn’t after all of this. It would mean leaving Shara and Aunt Nann on their own and letting Swenn live. Even the war was a reason for me to stay after everything I’d seen. I was so sick of cruelty that I was ready to give my life to fight it, even if that meant dying just as Eizle had.
Eizle…suddenly my knees felt weak. This was why he would stop at nothing to reach Glaine. “Some evils are so terrible that extinguishing their fire
is worth sacrificing some good to get it done.” It made perfect sense now.
But gods, I’d stopped him from killing Swenn. Not only that, it had gotten him killed. I needed to sit down, otherwise I was going to vomit. I walked to the nearest chair and collapsed into it.
“He saved us didn’t he?” King Quince asked rhetorically.
“He helped,” Darri and the other guards reluctantly agreed.
“We could’ve all been killed if it wasn’t for him,” the king said. “What’s your name, young man?”
“Neeko.”
The king pulled a chair over and sat to face me. His lack of formality quickly put me at ease. “Why did you come to the castle, Neeko?”
The packed room was completely quiet waiting for my answer. I didn’t want to look, but I couldn’t help glancing over to where Eizle’s body was slumped against the wall. Luckily, someone had put a tablecloth over it, now stained red. There were many new faces since I’d first entered—the two women from the courtyard, more men in armor, all staring at me.
I felt weak and sick, wishing I could recapture the anger I’d felt moments ago.
“Answer him, Neeko,” Shara urged. The rattling of her chains was the only sound in the silence that followed.
“We have redemption scrolls,” I finally managed. “We came from Lanhine.”
“Why did you run into this room?” the king asked.
“We heard the sounds of struggle. We wanted to help.”
“And you did. And I thank you for that. But now we’re in a predicament, do you see?”
I nodded.
“Does anyone besides those in this room know you’re a pyforial mage?”
I looked at Swenn. He stared back with a look that promised he would kill me. Good, I thought, attack me and see what happens.
“No,” I told the king.
“Will you agree to cooperate if I promise no harm will come to you?”
My mouth turned. “I’m not going to Ovira.”
“Neeko!” Shara and Effie shouted at the same time. “Don’t be foolish,” Effie added.
“Neeko, go with Effie!” Shara tried to come toward me, but the guards yanked her back.
