by S. M. Boyce
This was a forgotten street, for the most part—a once-great collection of homes that now mainly served squatters—and for that reason it made the perfect hideout. Victoria hated to hide, especially from Luak, but unfortunately she had no choice at the moment.
Around her neck, the diamond pendant her parents had left her glowed brilliantly. The necklace hadn’t stopped glowing since she returned home from Atlantis.
She lifted it over her head and stuffed it in a pocket. Why bother?
Victoria was constantly in danger. As long as Luak lived, she would always be a breath away from death’s door.
The steady march of boots on pavement caught her attention, and she craned her neck to get a better view through the tattered curtain without jostling it. No one could know she was here, but she still wanted to know what happened outside these walls.
A troop of mercenaries carrying torches walked in step down the street. They all wore the same black uniforms and marched five abreast, staring straight ahead as if they were a disciplined military and not swords for hire.
“Assholes,” she muttered under her breath.
“Another march?” someone asked from the doorway.
Victoria yelped and spun on her heel, summoning her sword as she faced the stranger. Styx fell off her shoulder and hovered in the air barely a foot from the ground, his tiny wings startled to life.
“Whoa, chill out,” Audrey said from the hallway, hands in the air as she backed away.
“Jesus,” Victoria said, palm on her chest as the rush of adrenaline subsided. The sword in her hand disappeared and she cracked her neck to relieve the tension.
Styx grumbled and shot into the hallway, probably in search of another place to snooze.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I guess.” Victoria peeked again at the marching soldiers as a voice muffled by the glass called for an about-face. They stopped mid-step and turned back the way they had come.
“Things have really deteriorated since we went to Lochrose,” Audrey said, glancing through another rip in the curtains.
“No kidding.”
“We lost the west tunnels, too,” Audrey said with a nod to the hallway.
“Damn it.” Victoria rubbed her temples. The tunnels beneath Fairhaven had always been a safe space to go undetected, but she was slowly losing access to them thanks to Luak’s guards. Every time she and her friends went in, it seemed like a new stretch had a regular patrol.
Audrey slumped against the wall and kicked the floorboard. “How does he even have an army this big? He’s just one elf.”
“Money. Those are all mercenaries. Whoever his boss is, they’re loaded.”
“What are we going to do, Victoria? We can’t fight all of them. The army gets bigger every day.”
Victoria set her hands on an exposed section of windowsill and huffed. Bit by bit, Luak was squeezing her out of hiding. He was building up to something. Something big. Something bad.
Victoria had to strike first, but she needed resources and the right timing.
Lost in thought, she barely felt the sill crack under her grip. She pulled herself out of her dark thoughts to find an imprint of her hand in the wood, with jagged splinters sticking up every which way.
“You’re going to kick ass in Berserk,” Audrey said with a chuckle, eyes on the imprint.
That, at least, got Victoria to laugh. Her newfound strength was incredible. She could lift ogres now, and she couldn’t wait to use it on the Berserk field. She figured she probably violated all sorts of rules just by existing, but she didn’t care in the slightest.
No one got between her and her favorite game.
“When this is over we should restart the games as soon as possible,” she said.
“Yeah, like a tournament or something.”
“Winner gets Luak’s head as a trophy. We can get it bronzed.” She chuckled.
Audrey grimaced. “You’re fucking dark, you know that?”
Victoria shrugged. Berserk would reignite the hope that Luak had slowly squeezed out of everyone in the city, and she was certain there were more than a few who would enjoy that grand prize.
She peeked through a hole in the curtain again, craning her neck to watch the mercenary army as it rounded a bend, blissfully unaware that they had just walked right by her.
Hopefully “blissfully unaware” would be a running theme with Luak, but she knew better.
Across the street, the charred remnants of a once-great mansion was evidence that he was doing everything he could to flush her out. He had ordered it burned about two days after she had returned. The roof had caved in during the blaze, and fire had leaked from every window while smoke had billowed to the cavern ceiling far above.
Now a sign was posted out front.
Victoria Brie is a menace. Report sightings to the castle guard.
She snorted in disgust. Calling the mercenaries “the castle guard” was the final straw. It was evidence that Luak had far more control over the city and the monarchy than she had originally thought.
This was the final chapter in her war with Luak, and it was up to her to see to it that Fairhaven had a happy ending.
***
Since she had returned to Fairhaven Victoria hadn’t had many moments to herself. Her hideout had to accommodate an ever-growing list of refugees, including Bertha and Edgar. The rooms were filling, and she almost always passed someone in the tense and silent halls.
It was better that way, since it kept her from losing herself to thoughts of the crumbling city around her.
It also meant she could train.
With the increase in guards in the Fairhaven tunnels, Victoria, Fyrn, and Audrey had fewer and fewer caverns in which they could practice. Each time they used a cavern they crossed it off, because it was inevitable that they had left evidence in their wake.
Usually in the form of crushed boulders.
“Again!” Fyrn shouted.
Today they had found a cavern filled with boulders with which she and Audrey could practice their aim and self-control. The little pixie hovered nearby, watching from a distance as Victoria practiced. She took a deep breath, clearing her head as she prepared to obey her mentor’s command.
She adjusted the shield in her left hand, grip tightening on the metal that protected her from Fyrn’s attacks. It was the largest shield she could muster, and it barely weighed anything, or so she perceived now.
In her other hand she held her largest sword, which was almost taller than her. She couldn’t believe how effortless it all was—that she could hold something this massive and not feel even the slightest bit of strain in her shoulders and back.
The bear figurine was turning out to be the absolute perfect second Rhazdon artifact for her. It complemented her first in every way possible…except for its ghost.
There was no nice way to put it: Elle was a fucking psycho.
Shoving the thought aside, Victoria focused on the nearest boulder. As commanded, she lifted her sword over her head and aimed for its center, and with one deft swing she sliced it perfectly in two. It cracked open like a dessert with a surprise filling: a collection of glittering amethyst crystals filled the center.
“Sweet, another geode,” Audrey said.
Victoria scanned the large cavern and the other two dozen boulders she had cut open. All of them were filled with various crystals, but none were as beautiful as the amethyst in front of her.
“We can decorate the house with your practice objects,” Audrey said with a snicker.
Victoria chuckled. “My geodes beat your fried pieces of target paper. Can’t really put one of those on the fridge.”
Audrey shrugged. “I don’t worry about aesthetics. I just like destroying things.”
“Can’t argue with that.”
They had been training for roughly two hours now, Fyrn drifting between them as they practiced their new skills. Audrey had shifted into a witch and now walked around blasting paper targets to smithere
ens. She also concealed the tiara on her head with almost effortless ease, walking around and breathing normally as if it hadn’t been utter torture just a few short weeks ago.
It seemed as though with every day that passed Audrey gained better mastery over the dark magic merged with her forehead.
Thank freaking goodness, because Victoria would need all the help she could get when she finally faced off with Luak.
“How do you feel?” Fyrn asked, with a wary glance at her shield.
“Great, actually,” Victoria said with a grin.
Audrey lifted one delicate eyebrow. “Seriously? We’ve been at this for ages. I just want to pass out.”
Victoria shrugged. “I feel fine. You can take a break, though.”
Audrey wrinkled her nose. “Is that a challenge, woman?”
“Maybe,” Victoria said with a grin.
Since she had a new Rhazdon Artifact to master, Victoria had begun with the easiest skill to access: her strength. Now, for the first time since fusing with her dagger, she was able to wield both her shield and her sword simultaneously. It was simple, as if she had been doing it her entire life.
She was now able to either duck or block every blast of painful energy Fyrn threw her and she didn’t tire, even if they trained for eight hours straight.
But that wasn’t all her new Rhazdon artifact could do.
Strength in body, mind, and heart. It was so vague, and the possibilities seemed endless. Though she didn’t understand how to access it, Fyrn had told her she now possessed immense physical strength, almost limitless emotional control, and enhanced intelligence.
This was a truly powerful Rhazdon artifact, one she had no doubt many men had coveted over the centuries.
The trouble was accessing all that power.
“There you go again, daydreaming!” Fyrn shot another blast of fiery energy at her.
With a graceful spin she avoided the bolt, but it crackled against the wall behind her and a surge of adrenaline burned in her core.
“Maybe if you threw me a challenge I wouldn’t have time to lose myself in thought,” she said with a mischievous smile.
He frowned, which she thought was freaking hilarious.
Audrey laughed. “My, my, my! Did Victoria finally get under the great Fyrn Folly’s skin?”
“No,” he snapped quickly. Too quickly.
“Oh, I definitely did.” Victoria chuckled. In the past she would have snapped at him for the sneak attack or complained about exhaustion, but not today—not since she had fused with the bear figurine.
The exhaustion and frustration that usually accompanied her training sessions was gone, replaced by cool composure. She felt calm, in control, and ready for the fight.
She just didn’t know why or how to control it at all.
With the dagger, she had struggled and then overcome. She had fought for every skill she now possessed, but with the bear figurine, her new power was as natural as breathing.
Truth be told, that scared her. Her new abilities felt impermanent, like she could lose this new sense of calm and control at any moment. And if she didn’t know how to control these gifts, they might fail her when she needed them most.
Regardless of how much or how little control she had over the bear figurine’s power, people would try to kill her for it, Luak among them. But every one of them would fail.
In the meantime, she had to protect the ever-shrinking population of Fairhaven.
Victoria easily dodged another seven blows from Fyrn. With her body moving instinctively, she turned her attention to Audrey. “Did you find out what happened to that missing aristocratic family of elves? Did they just leave the city?”
“Oh, you have time to banter now, too?” Fyrn said, voice tense and annoyed. He shot a volley of light at her, which she dodged easily.
“Guess so,” she said with a wink.
He fumed.
Audrey lifted her practice wand and shot a blast of light at the wall. “That rich family you asked me to tail? The bankers?”
“Yeah.”
“Will you— Ugh.” Fyrn shot a twelve-bolt combo, and the last shot came close to hitting Victoria’s shoulder. It flew past, but while it sizzled a few threads on her shirt it left her otherwise unscathed.
Audrey shrugged, ignoring the angry old wizard. “That family disappeared overnight, so I thought at first that they had simply escaped the city. They certainly had the means to do so. After all, they were the second richest family after the king.”
Victoria faltered at the memory of the king’s corpse in the pile of bodies back in Lochrose. Though she had never liked him, he hadn’t deserved to die broken and alone.
Fyrn shot another bolt of energy at her, and she quelled her sorrow quickly in order to roll out of the way.
And just like that, she was back in the game. Her sadness over the king’s death simmered below the surface, but she could focus on the task at hand while allowing herself to feel.
Sweet.
“So the banking family escaped?” Victoria asked. It would be a disappointment if they had, since their wealth and influence would have helped fund an attack on the palace.
Victoria didn’t want anything to do with mercenaries. They could be bought, and their loyalties changed like the wind. She needed real fighters who would lay down their lives for their cause, not strangers who had never set foot in this city.
But influence—now that couldn’t be bought. The bankers had had connections, friends in high places both in and outside of Fairhaven. They would have been useful.
“Sadly, no,” Audrey said. She shot another bolt of energy at the ceiling, and a stalactite dropped. Victoria rolled out of the way as the massive rock smashed to pieces, shaking the ground beneath them. Fyrn, however, simply waved his hand, and a dome of energy surrounded him. The flying debris bounced off its surface.
“What happened to them, then?” Victoria asked.
“The parents and elder son are gone. Just…gone. The younger son, who’s about our age, insists they’re traveling, but I saw mercenaries going in and out of his house, and he’s a jumpy little fellow. Always looks nervous. I’m pretty sure he’s the last surviving member.”
“That’s the third wealthy family to disappear since Luak overthrew the throne,” Fyrn said with a frustrated sigh. He leaned on his staff, apparently taking a break from fuming and grumbling to himself to join the conversation.
“It seems like that asshole has the same idea we do,” Victoria said, leaning on her sword.
Luak was already wealthy, and now he had even more money to spend on his mercenaries.
Yippee.
“How are we going to beat him, Fyrn?” Audrey asked.
Fyrn nodded toward Victoria. “With the one thing he doesn’t have.”
“Enormous boobs?” Audrey asked with a wicked grin.
Victoria chucked a rock at her, but Audrey ducked out of the way, still laughing. The rock hit the wall so hard it splintered.
Oops. Victoria would have to be more careful when it came to playfully hitting her friends. With her newfound strength, she might break them.
“Real power,” Fyrn said with an eye roll. “And a secret weapon.”
Victoria eyed him warily. “Are you referring to—”
“You’ll see,” he interrupted, putting his finger over her lips to silence her.
Victoria trusted her mentor, but she sure as hell didn’t like the sound of that.
CHAPTER 2
After several more hours of training, Victoria was barely winded.
Mostly she felt pissed that her training had been interrupted by what could only be called utter nonsense.
“For the last time, Shiloh,” she snapped, “you cannot call Elle a ‘psychotic idiot.’”
The ghost stared at her with a lifted eyebrow as though baffled by the statement. “But she is.”
She let out a string of curse words under her breath. Audrey, meanwhile, laughed so hard she doubled over. S
tyx held his tiny stomach, squeaking with mirth. Fyrn wasn’t much help, since even he could barely suppress a smile.
“It’s not my fault she’s an insane little girl,” Shiloh said matter-of-factly.
“Little!” a young girl’s shrill voice echoed through the cavern, though no one could see her.
