by Lily Luchesi
“Of course, I don’t feel safe.” I stared her up and down, wondering where she was going with this.
“If you were a Red Priest, no one would ever question you again,” the woman said. “No one would ever wonder if you have any powers you shouldn’t have. What better place to hide a mage than within the very cult that despises them?”
I frowned. “They would watch me twenty-four hours a day. I would have to hide my powers all the time.”
“Until they trust you,” the woman said. “Then, no one would doubt you again. Once you’re wearing that red robe, you’re as safe as a babe in a crib.”
There was some truth to what she said, but doubt still nagged at me—not because I was actually contemplating doing this, because I absolutely wasn’t, but because I saw no reason why she needed me for this task, and not any random mage-rebel, powers or no powers. Anyone could infiltrate and slip information to the outside.
“Why me?” I asked, trying to read the woman’s expression. Would she answer truthfully or not? “Anyone can be a spy.”
A sly smile appeared on the woman’s face. “Because, before they hand you those fancy red robes, there’s a test they ask acolytes to complete. In this test, your intentions are exposed; your true intentions.”
“And Empaths can hide their emotions and intentions,” I finished for her. “Which is why you need me. But I don’t even know if those skills still work for me, so I can’t help you. You’ve wasted your time coming here.”
I turned on my heel, ready to leave, when Sebastian took my hand. “Tell her the rest, Reyna.”
So, the woman’s name was Reyna. I hoped to never hear that name again. Sebastian’s alliance with the rebel group was a part of my brother’s life I wanted to stay as far away from as possible.
Reyna coughed, clearing her throat. “We already sent a spy, months ago. He was the one who provided us with the information about the trial.”
“I presume he’s dead?” I tried to keep the tremble from my voice, while I glared daggers at Sebastian, furious at him for dragging me into this.
“They sent his mother a gift: his head in a box. He gave his life for the cause.”
“He and so many others. If this story is meant to inspire me to take up the job, then I’ll have to burst your bubble, but it has only confirmed what I already know. This is suicide.” I didn’t even bother to turn around; my conversation wasn’t with this woman, Reyna, but with my brother. He needed to understand that any alliance to these rebels meant suicide, one way or another.
“I understand your reluctance, Saleyna. We are all afraid of death, some more than others.” Although I didn’t look at Reyna, I could practically feel her shrug. “You were our best candidate, but I understand if you’ve seen enough death for a lifetime.”
I nodded, letting out a relieved sigh at the prospect of finally being able to get away from here. The walls of Fiona’s tiny cabin were closing in on me, and I felt claustrophobic, barely able to breathe.
“Given your answer, we’ll have no choice but to go with option two.” A seat shoved back, and Reyna and her male companion got to their feet.
Sebastian looked at me pleadingly, tears lingering in his eyes. “Please forgive me, sister,” he said, still holding my hand. “Please forgive me.”
The horrible truth dawned on me seconds before Reyna spoke the words. Anger, hurt, pain, all of it rushed through me like a tornado, a vortex of agony.
“Luckily, your brother Sebastian already volunteered to infiltrate the Red Keep, if you were to refuse our offer.”
I felt as if all the air was pushed out of my lungs, as if the ground vanished from underneath my feet. This had to be a nightmare… But it wasn’t a bad dream, it was just as real as the terrible image of my mother, screaming at the top of her lungs as she was being consumed from the inside out. Just as real as the memory of that red-hooded Priestess branding me and locking up my magic when I was only a little child, as real as the knife stuck in Aife’s third eye.
“No,” was all I could say, so quiet it was barely more than a whisper. “No.”
“Someone has to make a stand.” Sebastian looked down, unable to meet my gaze. “I can’t sit around and do nothing while this scourge takes away everyone we love. I can’t wait until the magic devours you, as it did with Mother.”
“This is suicide. There are other ways.” Although I couldn’t think of one, but I was willing to say anything to make Sebastian abandon this stupid idea. “We can flee the Seven Kingdoms. There must be a place where magic is accepted.”
Sebastian let out a humorless laugh. “Where? In the Empire, ruled by the Mad Empress? In Tenebrae, overrun by the Darklings? The High Kingdom used to be a haven for mages from across the globe, but since the High King banned magic, it’s not safe anywhere. Nowhere. Not anymore, and never again, unless we do something about it.”
“Do what exactly?” I hissed as I dug my fingers into his arm. “Commit treason against the High King? Go against his ruling?”
“Make him see magic isn’t as dangerous as he thinks it is,” Sebastian replied, undeterred by my panic.
“The High King believes what the Red Priests told him.” Reyna’s sudden interruption startled me. After Sebastian’s horrible revelation, I had forgotten anyone else was in the room. “That magic was sucking the life out of the earth, ruining our crops, destroying the harvest. In the middle of the Great Famine, they persuaded him that magic was the cause of it all.”
It was a story I had heard many times before, told by the town’s elders during nights spent around the campfire, or during our annual harvest fest, when they thanked the Gods for the crops growing and the bounty provided by the earth itself. Years ago, before I was born, a Great Famine had wrecked the High Kingdoms, eviscerating half of our population. People were starving, the soil was dying, everything people planted, withered away.
The Red Priests made a sacrifice to the Red God—it was always mentioned in uncertain terms what exactly this sacrifice was, but the Red God was only paid by blood—and the Red God told them magic was sucking the life out of the earth, which was why she could no longer provide us with food and prosperity.
As a result, magic was no longer tolerated. Neighbors frowned when mages performed magic, even though the magic-wielders tried everything they could to explain to others that magic wasn’t the source of this problem. The Red Priests convinced the High King, who outlawed magic and who allowed the Red Priests to use their markings on us, to lock our magic up inside, another gift provided by the Red God.
No matter how much I hated the Red Priests, as the town elders told it, their assumption had some merit to it. Once they started restricting magic, the crops started growing again, and the next harvest was so successful that it immediately ended the Great Famine. But those who lived through it, who saw their children starve to death, and who believed the Red Priests that magic was the cause of it, they would rather die than see magic restored, and I couldn’t blame them.
Which was why I never wanted to side with the rebels, not in a thousand years. Because, as a child when I still had access to my powers, if I had learned one thing about magic, it was this: it always came at a price.
And if used in a big enough quantity then, despite my magical brethren telling me otherwise, I was certainly willing to believe it could drain the earth and destroy everything in its wake.
“You think it’s not?” I raised an eyebrow at Reyna, challenging her.
“I believe we can’t jump to conclusions. To err on the side of caution, I have no qualms with the High King ordering mages to limit their use of magic, not at all, and definitely not until a Conclave of Mages further investigates the matter. But to ban all magic for a conclusion made by a bunch of Priests with not a grain of magic coursing through their veins? No. To lock up our magic so that we are destroyed from the inside out?” She shook her head, her curls bouncing as she moved. “No.”
It felt as if in a matter of seconds, my world was
turned upside down, and a heavy weight was pushed onto my shoulders. I didn’t want to infiltrate in the Red Keep. I didn’t want to work for these rebels. But if I said no, and Sebastian went ahead with this plan… He stood no chance. He didn’t have his powers. They would discover his true intentions and kill him, and I could never forgive myself if that happened
I swallowed hard and looked my brother in the eye. Since our mother passed away, it had just been the two of us. He was one year older than me, but it had always felt as if he was the younger one, as if I had to take care of him.
Take care of each other, had been my mother’s last words, before all that escaped from her mouth were wordless screeches.
“I’ll do it,” I said, more to Reyna and her silent male companion than to my brother. “I will infiltrate in the Red Keep and get you the information you need, but that’s it. I don’t want to be involved in any other schemes. What you do with the information I provide is on you, and you alone. My brother and I will not be involved in anything.”
Sebastian opened his mouth to protest, but I squeezed his hand as hard as I could. “Those are my terms.”
A smile crossed Reyna’s features, and sent shivers down my spine. Even though I couldn’t read her intentions—it was always more difficult with fellow mages than with regular people—there was something sinister about her smile.
I had a sinking feeling that from now on, nothing would ever be the same again.
“Agreed.” Reyna extended a hand toward me, and I shook it, feeling cold to the bone, and wondering if I hadn’t just signed my own death warrant.
Chapter Four
Two weeks had passed since my encounter with Reyna. The first few days after, we didn’t hear anything from her, and I was beginning to hope she had found a more suitable candidate for her mission and had forgotten all about me. Then, her still nameless, male companion had showed up with an instruction letter, and I realized I had been a fool for ever agreeing to this plan.
Fiona and I still weren’t on talking terms, and I had let Sebastian know I was livid at him as well. We barely talked although, since we lived together, we were obligated to hold the occasional conversation, but I kept it limited to things like ‘please pass me the plate’ or ‘good night’. Sebastian had forced my hand, and he knew it. He knew—and now Reyna knew, too—that he was my weakness, my brother for whom I would gladly risk my own life, but preferably not because of a risky situation he had put himself in.
As per Reyna’s instructions, I had waited outside our cabin earlier this morning, armed with a small bag filled with clothes and other essentials, until a cart pulled by two horses had stopped on my doorstep, and a grey-haired, fat-bellied merchant had ordered me to get in.
I had refused to say goodbye to Sebastian. Reyna’s instructions were only for me, so Sebastian had no idea I was leaving today. I had left him a note on the kitchen table, but by the time he woke up, I would be long gone.
Now I was in the back of the cart, my legs pulled to my chest, and glancing over the merchandize taking up most of the space, as the two horses pulled the cart out of town.
The merchant waited until we were on the long, dwindling road just past the border of Bellhaven before he looked at me from over his shoulder. “I think it’s about time for introductions. I didn’t want to wake up half of Bellhaven, but here on the road, it’s quiet enough.” He leaned forward and offered me a hand. “Hugo Greyson. Merchant of trade.”
“Saleyna Loxley,” I introduced myself, shaking his hand. I pulled my hood closer over my head, more against the cold than to protect myself from spying eyes. “No trade, I’m afraid.”
“Saleyna. Has a nice ring to it.” The merchant gestured that I could sit back down, which I did, leaning against a wooden crate.
“Have you brought supplies to the Red Keep before?” I asked, unable to mask the worry in my voice.
“Sure.” Hugo shrugged. “I’ve travelled all across the High Kingdom, and I’ve stopped by the Red Keep on several occasions. Creepy place, if you ask me.”
“Have you…” I wasn’t sure how much this Hugo person knew, so I decided not to share too much about my real intentions. “Have you brought a lot of people there who wanted to join the Red Priests?”
“Once or twice. I often pick up stray travelers,” Hugo explained. “I feel it’s the nice thing to do, seeing I have a cart and all, and they could be walking for the Gods know how long. The Red Priests have had more and more people joining their ranks in the last few years.”
“Oh.” I licked my lips, nerves kicking in. Despite my powers, lying wasn’t exactly my forte, but if I wanted to survive this, then I would have to lie from the start to the end.
I already felt bad that I hadn’t said a proper goodbye to Sebastian. I thought it would be too hard, that if I saw him tear up, I wouldn’t be able to leave. Judging by the shivers that crossed my spine whenever I thought about Reyna, I was certain she wasn’t the kind of woman who would just let that go without some form of retaliation. Thanks to my idiot cousin and brother, she held the sword of Damocles above my head—she only had to rats me out to the Red Priests, and I was as good as buried.
I studied Hugo, trying to keep my mind from thinking about Sebastian.
The merchant was clearly overweight, his belly bulging over his trousers. He had grey hair with a splash of brown here and there, a beard and a pleasant enough face, but his forehead wasn’t marked like mine, meaning he had no magical powers.
“Do you… do you think a lot of their acolytes are like me?” I struggled to find the right words without giving away too much. Obviously, Hugo could see my mark as clearly as I could, and everyone in the High Kingdoms knew what that mark meant.
“You mean mages? Or ex-mages, I suppose.” Hugo urged the horses to go faster. “No, I don’t think so. Or well, maybe, yes. There was this Red Priest in the Eastern Kingdoms, a man, and he had a mark too.”
I let out a relieved sigh. Okay, if they had accepted one mage in their midst, then they would probably accept me as an acolyte, at least. Besides, the other person Reyna’s rebel group sent had also been a mage.
“I was worried they wouldn’t accept me because of it,” I explained to Hugo when I caught him staring at me.
“They accept everyone as an acolyte,” Hugo said. “At least, that’s what I heard, but not all acolytes make it to the priesthood.”
“Do you know what happens to those who don’t?” Somehow, I managed to keep my voice from shivering while I asked the question.
Hugo shot me a worried look. “It’s probably best not to think about that, Saleyna. You’ll be fine. You seem like the kind of person who can take care of herself.”
The more Hugo spoke, the more I got the impression he was a genuinely good individual, a rare breed these days in the Seven Kingdoms. I doubted he had any idea what Reyna had really enlisted him for; which was probably also why Reyna’s instructions mentioned I should be discreet—as if I would just shout it from the rooftops that I was actually working for her rebel group.
The Brotherhood of Whispers, that was how they liked to call themselves, according to what Sebastian had told me. A bit of a posh name, if you asked me. And Sebastian, stupid, foolish Sebastian, was just a small fish in a deep sea, who didn’t even know how many members this Brotherhood counted, where their headquarters were, or who was in charge—this Reyna woman, or someone else. All he knew was that they were fighting the same cause he wanted to fight for, and that was enough for him. He really was too good-natured for this world, too gullible, he and Fiona both. Mother had been like that, too, willing to see the best in everyone. I was quite the opposite; I looked for the bad parts first, and when I had picked out the bad parts, only then did I begin looking for the good parts.
“So, why do you want to join the Red Priests?” Hugo asked, interrupting my thoughts. “I mean… Did you have a calling?”
“I felt called to join their order, yes,” I replied, not knowing what else to say. I
t sounded fake, even to me.
“I see.” Hugo kept his eyes on the road. “Well, we’ve got a few more hours to go, so you can choose what topic we’ll talk about. I can tell you everything there is to know about fishing, if you’re interested. It’s one of my favorite hobbies, and my wife groans when I so much as mention it.”
I let him go on, and for the next few hours, as the cart hobbled along the meandering road, passing one familiar town after another, Hugo told me all about his life as a merchant, his wife and children, his beloved dog, and his greatest passion in life: fishing. By the time the cart rolled into Ginderstund, where Hugo said we would stop for a brief lunch while he let the horses rest for half an hour, I understood why his wife felt like pulling out her hair whenever Hugo mentioned fishing. The man certainly knew a lot about his hobby, and he liked to talk about every miniscule detail surrounding it.
Ginderstund was a slightly bigger town than Bellhaven. The town center was dominated by a church, a water well and a tavern. The streets all led to the center, like the legs of a star, dirt roads mixed with cobblestone roads depending on which street you used to enter town. Half of the people living in Ginderstund were half-breed dwarves—the town was close to the mountains, where the dwarves lived, except during the Beltane summer festival when they came down from the mountain to join the festivities and flirted with every female in town. I had heard of this tradition before, and the many children born from it, half-breeds who were barely the size of a twelve-year-old child by the time they were adults, but who had broad shoulders and large, impressive beards. I had to stop myself from staring after one of the half-breed dwarves as the cart drove past him.
“Good afternoon,” Hugo greeted the dwarf, who nodded by way of saying ‘hello.’
Hugo parked our cart in the town center, near the well and tavern. He fished a bucket of water from the well to feed to his horses. Meanwhile, I sat on the back of the cart, my legs dangling over the edge, taking in the busy town. People were walking back and forth, carrying bags, talking to each other, holding baskets, all of them busy with their daily lives.
