“Break it up!” yelled our commanding lieutenant, Raand.
He pushed through the crowd until he was standing in front of us.
The soldier on top of me quickly rolled off.
“Cyric, I should have known you’d be involved in this,” said Raand.
I lifted myself off the ground onto my elbows and dabbed my nose with the back of my head. “I’m not the one that started it,” I said.
“I don’t care who started it,” he snapped. “I expressly told you all to keep the race clean.”
“Cyric kicked me in the middle of the hill sprint,” said Hulsar. He walked close to us, having emerged from the pits again; but now he was covered in mud from head to foot.
I laughed outright.
Raand’s expression turned viscous. He addressed the group. “I want everyone that fought to stay behind. The rest of you go back to the crossbow range until dinner.”
Hulsar and the soldier that had knocked me over stayed; the rest started trailing off.
Raand looked down at me. “By tonight I can promise you, you won’t be finding anything funny.”
#
I walked out of the training grounds sometime around dusk with a scrap of cloth as the only form of bandage to dab my messed up face with. The other two soldiers passed me without even a glare. I hoped I didn’t look as bad as them, but if how I felt was any indication I probably did.
There was an unusual, soft, wind blowing tonight that I found soothing, so I moved slowly up the ramp exiting the training grounds. That was when I saw Lox, standing against the stone rail as if he was waiting for me. He was looking directly at me—something that hadn’t happened in a while, in fact I’d hardly seen him in the past three days.
I didn’t like the idea of meeting him in my current state, but there wasn’t really any other way to reach the palace district. Even if there were I didn’t think I could have made myself take it.
*
An hour later I was soaking in a hot bath. It was Lox’s personal bath, though its size was greater than the rooms most the soldiers had. His quarters, which I’d seen but a glimpse of, made up two stories of a large complex located directly beside the palace—in fact it was connected by a set of balconies, with the palace gardens below.
If I’d thought the rest of Akadia was lavish, it was nothing compared to Lox’s quarters. Every inch of just the walls of the bath room was decorated in tiles, all of them irregularly rich in color. When we’d first arrived, there had been a pair of handmaidens waiting. I’d found out the hard way that they were Lox’s personal bathers, but that also made them experts in cleaning wounds and I was grateful for the ointment they’d spread on my cuts and whatever they’d put in the bath water to make my skin pleasantly numb.
“When you’re done we’ll talk and eat,” he’d said, with just the two of us there.
I sunk deeper into the bath, my arms resting on its edge, my eyes shut. I relished the lack of noise in my head.
I didn’t open my eyes until I heard a splash.
There was a girl sitting across from me. She had her legs dipped in the bath and with one hand she was making designs in the surface of the water; this she watched intently. Her eyes were dark, pupil lashes and all. Her hair was dark to, but it grew lighter near the ends—a color something like her skin which was sun-reddened olive.
She was not like any other woman I’d seen before.
Without warning, she stopped sliding her fingers through the water and looked up at me.
“You’re Cyric,” she said. Her voice held an accent, though it was subtle. It made sense now that she looked so exotic. She didn’t wait for me to confirm my name before going on. “You fight very well… And you’re handsome.”
My face got hot. I was used to brushing off girls, especially since coming to Akadia, but this one immediately made me nervous. She was obviously in another league.
Of course I wasn’t going to let her realize I thought this.
“How do you know that?” I asked.
She held my gaze, then smiled softly. “I know you’re Cyric because Malatos told me. I know you fight well for the same reason. The last I discovered for myself,” she went on. “Despite the bruises.” She raised one leg out of the water—to rest her chin down on her knee. “You’re also very young, but I wouldn’t know it by your eyes.”
I felt a smile pulling at my lips; before long I couldn’t retain it. “What are you, Lox’s personal fortune teller?... I’ve gotten enough attention from the other handmaidens already, alright? I’d prefer to be alone.”
“You don’t want a shoulder massage?” she asked. She suddenly shifted her position so that her feet were in the bath and the hem of her dress fell in the water.
“No—I don’t want to be touched,” I snapped.
“Oh, you are young,” she sang. “And so very different from the other soldiers. I can see why he likes you. Where are you from?” She dropped her hands to the floor on either side of her.
My brow was low. But I answered. “Shaundakul.”
“I don’t know anything about that place,” she admitted. “Is it beautiful?”
“It isn’t anything. It’s gone.”
She frowned. “Well, what was it like then?”
She waited expectantly. I let my arms fall in the water. “It was dark,” I answered.
She considered this. Her brows lifted as she went on. “Well no place is as bright as Akadia. They have more torches than people, don’t they?”
When I didn’t say anything, she stood up. She turned around and I saw the full shape of her dress; it was the first time I had seen a handmaiden wear something so different. It was vivid green in color, and while the material was light it wasn’t loose. In many places it was knotted. The straps of it met in a braid going down her back.
She stopped in front of a shelf and started pulling clothes down.
“Where do you come from?” I asked.
I heard the smile in her voice when she answered. “Taelp. It’s to the west.”
“I know it,” I said. Ellia would have called it the country with the basilisks, the Taelpians’ granted animals. They were large, ridable, reptiles that resembled salamanders and could both swim and walk on water—if they were going fast enough. “You have a lot of rivers,” I added.
“Much more than Akadia for certain,” she laughed. Then she turned around. “These are your clothes. You should get dressed.”
I didn’t say anything.
After a moment, without warning, she bent down and put her hand on the side of my face. Her skin was softer than the oils in the bath and she smelt even better than its perfume. She slowly smiled, then she let fingers drift away and she left the bathroom.
#
The clothes she’d set out for me were silkier than any of the others I’d been wearing—which was saying something. The shirt was dark green with long sleeves and a low neck, the pants cloth.
I took one look at my reflection. My hair was starting to grow out a bit. Without wanting to I saw a girl standing beside me in the mirror. I saw myself there too, but much younger, my hair falling into my eyes.
“Haircut, haircut, Cyric needs a haircut,” Ellia sang, a pair of scissors in her hands.
“I already told you I’m not going to let you do it,” I snapped.
“Why not? I’ll let you do mine.”
“I don’t want to cut your hair.”
“We could make ours match.”
“Are you crazy? Your father would kill us.”
“No, he’d kill you. He never gets angry with me.” She snipped the scissors in the air and smiled wide.
Her image vanished. Everything faded from silver back to gold.
I left the bathroom.
Thanks to the balcony wrapping the sides of Lox’s open two-story room, the space I walked into was shadowed, but the center of the room, in front of the stairs, was so bright with candles it was like a beacon. There were other lights too. Flames in col
ored glass lanterns that shed different hues about the room.
As I approached, I saw the woman that had come into the bathroom sitting on the couch next to Lox. She was a little above and behind him resting on a pillow, so that she looked more like a pet bird than a servant. She was whispering something in his ear, though he seemed too immersed in the notes he was reading to hear her.
She noticed me first then Lox looked up. He smiled.
“That’s better,” he said. He waved me over. “How about a drink?” He gestured to the wine bottle and cups on the table in front of him. I thought the girl might pour it, but she stayed where she was.
I sat down warily where he instructed, then shook my head. “I’m fine.”
“Don’t be foolish. After a beating like that?” He set his papers down and started pouring the drinks himself. He handed mine to me first, then gave one to the girl, and finally drank his own.
I did the same.
He exhaled. “Now why don’t you tell me what you actually did to anger your lieutenant. It was Raand I imagine?”
“How did you know?” I asked.
“Because I know what division you’re to be sent to once you start your duties. Each commander has the same few lieutenants under him. The squad you train with now will be the same you fight with during war. Lieutenant Raand is Commander Tarful’s man. He’s the second-oldest of the commanders.”
“I thought captains fell between commanders and lieutenants,” I said.
“Usually,” Lox agreed, “but that’s not how it works in Akadia. There are only one or two captains to each commander, and they’re position is detached from the ranking of the other officers. They have numerous political responsibilities, and they often command elite units. But many of them never go to battle. Tobias was an exception in this. He was at the battle of Uldin Keep for example.”
I looked down at the table. I tried to avoid the name Tobias whenever possible, though it was no easy task. The death of a captain had been a commotion in Akadia to say the least. Particular since it was part of such a larger scandal. There were others, men that Ellia had named for me, brought before the council on charges of treason, but they’d not been convicted without enough proof. It was exactly what Lox had said would have happened with the captain.
As far as Tobias’s death went, the rumor was that Lox had claimed it self-defense. I’d never been questioned at any rate.
I made myself laugh. “That’s not the best news I’ve had all day. I’m going to be stuck with the same squad forever? Half of them despise me already.”
Lox scoffed. “Well of course,” he said. “They’re bound to hate the best. Do you think I win everyone’s approval?” He paused. “But then who wants to work where they’re mistreated? For this reason…” He met my eyes and smiled. “This is why it’s vital for you to advance.”
The woman beside Lox picked a clump of grapes off the table. She tossed one to me, then ate one herself. I rotated it in my fingers. “Advance?” I repeated.
“What have I told you about Akadia, Cyric? We honor the best fighters. Forget the royals, the council, it’s the soldiers who are treated best here.” He waved a hand around, as if to use his own room to back up the point. Of course it did: well. Through the high open doors that led to his balcony I could see the golden glow of the palace beyond, even hear its music.
“Veera, for instance, is more beautiful and envied than the queen herself by far. Or any of the ladies of court.”
The woman beside Lox gave a smile. “I didn’t introduce myself yet, love,” she told him.
“Veera,” I repeated, bowing my head a little. “So she’s your handmaiden?” I thought of Salthor, just before the race, telling me how famous Lox’s handmaiden was. I understood now what he’d meant when he’d said that if I saw her I wouldn’t have to ask why she was.
“That’s right,” Lox confirmed. “And the king himself would give half of his kingdom to have her. Wouldn’t he, dear?”
“He’s offered.” She shrugged.
This made Lox smirk, but then he turned to me seriously. “I’m the youngest Commander in a century, Cyric. And just like you, I started out strong. But if you want to rise to the top, you have to make the decision to advance. At times like these, when Akadia is on the verge of becoming the largest kingdom the lands have ever seen, there’s nothing more important.”
My eyes fell to the table. In Shaundakul I’d done anything and everything to get ahead, all by the book, but it had never gotten me past infantry. They’d made it clear many times that I was lucky enough to even be a soldier. “So you’re saying I’d have to start paying attention to Lieutenant Raand and all that?” I asked with a smirk.
Lox laughed. “Goodness, no,” he said. He went on. “Just make sure that by the time he realizes you haven’t been, he’s no longer in a position to do anything about it.”
Lox held my gaze. Like they did so often, his eyes seemed to glow. “So what do you say, son?” he asked. “How about proving you’re the best?” He held his glass up to me. Veera smiled behind him. I glanced once more around the room, then picked up my drink and knocked it with his. His grin was as large as mine.
~ ~ ~
CHAPTER THREE
ELLIA:
*
I was beginning to think I should have stayed on the path.
After the crossroads I’d started on the road towards Loone, but when I’d come across a travelling merchant I hadn’t been able to resist buying one of the maps he’d had available.
The map had made it painfully clear that to follow the road to Loone meant at least twice as long of a journey as simply heading straight for it. As far as I’d been able to see, there were no forests in the way, and only one clump of mountains—but even this had a pass running through it. I’d asked the merchant if he’d known of any other obstructions, but he hadn’t. He’d even warned me to be careful of the roads since Akadian patrols had recently been seen moving through them, oddly rumored to be taking prisoners. The rumor had not seemed odd to me, and that had settled my decision. I would brave the unmarked wilds in the hope to reach Loone sooner.
For a night this had worked well, but now things were getting strange. It was midday. The terrain was grass and hills—this made it hard to see any distance ahead of me. Still, that didn’t matter much since I was using a compass to navigate. The disconcerting thing was the type of plants that were growing on the ground.
Instead of green or brown or any normal color, they were a sickly-yellow white. Each of them varied greatly in size and form. From the sight of them, it didn’t seem they were actually attached to the ground. When I tried to touch one, it left a chunk of itself on my hand. I tried kicking it over and it rolled into a clean ball, almost like yarn, taking all of its thin, stringy arms with it. It certainly wasn’t connected to any roots.
With my brow low, I pulled out my map and tried to determine my position. I was south of Akadia, a third of the way to the ocean. I seemed to be in the middle of a marked location.
“Hills of Erik Nidz,” it said. I tested the name. “Erik Nidz…how unusual.”
I was still close enough to the field’s start to avoid it altogether. But there wasn’t anything particularly threatening about the name.
I decided to continue through the field and try to just avoid the plants.
Before long it became quite a task; the plants grew more common and larger. I reached the top of a hill and bent over in exhaustion. I couldn’t help but think then how much easier it all would have been with Cyric. But I didn’t get the chance to chide myself, before a noise interrupted me. A single, high-pitched scream.
My eyes narrowed. I gazed across the hills. There were so many rocks that I couldn’t see anything before me. Had I dreamt it? The scream came again. It sounded like a woman or a child. I could tell now where it was coming from—beyond a hill not more than fifty feet in front of me.
I raced towards it at top speed, narrowly avoiding plants. “I’m c
oming!” I shouted.
The screams continued, making it clear that I hadn’t been heard. “Help!” was repeated a dozen times.
“Don’t worry,” I shouted, “I’ll—” My voice cut out. I had reached the top of the hill and now I was staring down at a pack of the largest, darkest, most frightening spiders I had ever seen. By “large” I meant that they were nearly as tall as me and twice as wide. At least five of them altogether, they surrounded a very high boulder. On top of the boulder was a man who seemed to be as unnaturally short as the spiders were large. He was bouncing up and down on top of it and screaming for help as he swung a wooden instrument at the spiders.
I took a step back at the sight and nearly tripped over one of the sticky plants. I realized then what they so obviously were. Not plants at all. They were webs. Sticky spider webs left everywhere.
One of the spiders below slashed its leg at the short man and to my amazement, instead of batting at it again, the short man put his fingers to the instrument and began to sing. His voice was so high-pitched it was no wonder that I had thought he was a woman. His song went something like:
*
There once was a traveller from—ah!
Who—ah!—but could never for—ah!
*
I wanted to call to him and tell him that whatever he was trying to do wasn’t working, but I feared it would draw the attention of the spiders. Biting my lip, I tried quickly to think of the smartest thing to do. For me this meant trying to think of what Cyric would do.
“Uh… leave him,” I heard him say almost audibly.
I scowled, then shrugged the whole idea off. I caught sight of one of the plants at my feet. Using all my strength, I bent down and rolled as much of it together as I could, then I aimed it and pushed it down the hill.
As it made its way down, it gained both momentum and size. I cheered almost before it had hit one of the spiders—which it did, so hard that it knocked the spider over and onto its back. I heard a loud hiss, even from my high position. In unison three of the spiders turned. I could only assume their pitch black eyes were on me. The blood left my face.
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