by H. D. Gordon
“You hungry?” he asked.
Surah nodded dramatically, her stomach growling at the question, making both her and Charlie laugh.
“I’m pretty sure I could eat a cow,” she said.
Charlie gave her his half smile and started down the hill toward the town. “I don’t know about a cow, but I’m sure someone stayed behind who could sell us some food. You wait here.”
Surah nodded. When Charlie gave her a dubious look, she sighed and sat down on the ground, folding her legs under her and her arms over her chest. “Okay?”
“Perfect,” he said, chuckling as he took off down the hill.
Surah stared after him, thinking of her father and Samson and everything that was going on, which was better than thinking about what was going on between her and Charlie.
Her mind told her they could never be together, calculated all the reasons they were wrong for each other, but her heart didn’t concern itself with logic, and it kept insisting anything was possible.
She snapped out of these thoughts to see Charlie exiting one of the small stores, holding two brown paper bags.
He pulled two black cloaks from the bigger bag in his hands and held them up. They were faded and patched and made of cheap material. “I got these.”
Surah eyed the old cloak and took it when he offered it. “I guess that’s good thinking, as I can’t very well walk into the city in my cloak and expect to pass for a commoner.”
“Do you want to find somewhere to sit down and eat, or are you okay to keep going?” Charlie asked, breaking into her thoughts.
Surah looked up at the sun, seeing it was nearly at its zenith, which meant midday was approaching quickly. She wanted to reach the city by then.
“Let’s eat and walk,” she said, tossing the new cloak Charlie had gotten her over her shoulders and clasping it over her old one.
She would just have to wear both, because she wasn’t taking her other one off. Surah felt better with her weapons right where they were.
“I bet once we reach the top of that hill over there we’ll be able to see the tops of the buildings of Zadira.”
Charlie’s eyes followed her finger, and he shielded them against the sun. The hill she was pointing to was about two hundred yards in the distance, and it was much taller than the ones they’d been climbing thus far.
“I bet you’re right,” he said. “We’re not far off now.”
She took his hand and pulled him along faster.
“Oh my Gods,” Surah gasped, cutting his words off as she clutched at the cloak over his shoulders. They were standing atop the large hill now, the city only a few miles in the distance.
The sight below captured her eyes and mind completely. She squeezed Charlie tighter but had no mind of doing so.
“Look,” she said.
Charlie’s eyes went to the scene before them, and she heard his breath pull in sharply as well. In the distance, the buildings of Zadira reached up to the sky, but the magic that usually surrounded them—lighting signs that hung in the air, making the buildings shimmer as if they’d been sprayed with glitter, all of the glamour that built the mask that always sat over it—gone.
She had lived in the place her entire life, had watched as her father and several investors built it brick by brick and stone by stone, and never had she seen the place look the way it did now. It looked like a dull, unprotected place… a place where humans might live.
All of a sudden it felt like an enormous stone was settling down in the pit of her stomach. But it wasn’t just the dull sight of the city that captured her so, it was the mass of people overflowing it that made her swallow twice before speaking.
“I’ve never seen this many people here before,” she said, and her voice came out hardly above a whisper. “And the castle, it looks so… vulnerable.”
She could feel her fear for the situation building up, and like the anchor that he had somehow become for her, Charlie pulled her to him and wrapped her in his arms. “It’s all right, love,” he said, and pointed to the gates that surrounded the castle. “Look at all the Hunters in place. They’re scattered throughout the crowd, too. Your father’s gonna be just fine.”
Surah clung to him a little longer, taking comfort in the warmth of his touch, feeling cold despite the fact that she was wearing two cloaks and the temperature was by no means chilly. Her eyes ran around the gates that circled the city, and she saw that more Hunters were stationed there.
The entrance was open, and the enormous crowd was bottle-necked as they all made their way through them. Hunters stood here, too, looking over the faces as they moved along.
Surah wondered if they were just being careful because there were so many people, or if they were looking for someone in particular. The way Charlie had gone silent made her think he was wondering the same thing.
Surah pulled herself away from him and took his hand into hers, tugging down the hood of her cloak to better conceal her face.
After a moment, Charlie pulled his hood over his head as well.
“Come on, Charlie,” she said, and began tugging him toward the chaos.
When he just stood there, she turned to look at him, hoping the fear she was feeling in her chest was not visible on her face, hoping he couldn’t hear the rapid pounding of her heart as surely as she could.
Her brow furrowed when he got a look on his face like he was about to say something, but then his eyes flicked back to the scene at the city, and he shook his head and closed his mouth.
“All right,” he said, starting forward. “Let’s go.”
Surah walked alongside him, holding his hand tightly, and Charlie held hers back. They were both struck with the odd feeling that they were heading toward a date with destiny.
And they were right.
Chapter 23
Surah
“Stay close to me,” she whispered, her eyes scanning the crowd from beneath her hood. “Don’t look anyone in the eyes.”
Charlie’s only response was a slight nod. Surah took a deep breath and pulled him onto the road that led up to the city gates, where the throng of people was moving much like a rapid river. She and Charlie slipped into the crowd near some other people wearing cloaks and fell into step behind them.
The smells of so many bodies invaded her nose, and it was a little overwhelming as it was not an experience common to her. As a princess, she’d never been part of the crowd. She’d always been overlooking it, and the two experiences were very different.
The man standing in front of her to the left had on overalls and a shirt with sweat stains running down the pits. He smelled of cooked meats and onions and perspiration, which made Surah’s stomach turn when mixed with the perfume some of the women wore and the other smells of the crowd.
She started breathing through her mouth, knowing that she had to endure the smell of the man in front of her, because he was as big and wide as a house, and made for good cover. She stole a look at Charlie to see he was eyeing her with that half smile on his lips, as if he knew just what she was thinking.
She pulled her eyes away. Leave it to Charlie to smile at a time like this, when her heart felt like it was literally going to burst through her chest. They were coming through the gates now, where the Hunters stationed there were still surveying everyone who passed.
Under her cloak she reached up and touched the stone around her neck, wishing more than ever that she had just a bit of magic right now. If one of the Hunters looked at her too closely, they would know her instantly, and who knew what Theo had directed them to do should they spot her?
Before, she hadn’t liked Theo, but she hadn’t really believed he’d hurt her, either. But after seeing Charlie and Surah together, the idea that the Head Hunter would just let the whole thing go did not seem too promising.
In fact, none of this seemed too promising.
Surah was gripping Charlie’s hand hard enough to cut off circulation to both of their fingers, but she couldn’t help it. They were
passing by the Hunters at the outer gates, and it was all she could do to move her feet forward and breathe steadily.
Then they were through, having slipped through the gates behind the big man in overalls and the others in cloaks with hardly a second look from the Hunters.
All of a sudden, she could breathe again. They were in. They’d made it. She’d literally just walked through the gates of the city clutching the hand of one of the most wanted men in all the kingdom with no help from magic.
Now, all she had to do was listen to what message Theo was delivering to the people, somehow check up on her father and Samson, and sneak back out of the city with Charlie again.
No problem.
They followed the crowd of people, which were all heading toward the city square, but found the area directly around the square was already packed to capacity, so Surah pulled Charlie off to the side and stood near one of the speakers that had been set up throughout the city, presumably so that everyone could hear the message that was going to be delivered.
Normally, speakers would be unnecessary for this type of thing, as they would just use magic to amplify the voice of whoever was talking, but that wouldn’t work here for obvious reasons. It was kind of funny how much her race despised humans, but in times of trouble, had no difficulty using their technologies.
Charlie stood next to her, in a spot where their backs were up against the stone wall of one of the buildings, bodies pressed close, as there were so many people around them. If she stood on her tiptoes she could just see the stage that had been set up in the center of the square.
A dozen Hunters stood around it, and by the serious looks on their faces, she could tell they were as uncomfortable with this many people being in the city as she was, though someone who hadn’t spent their whole life around them would never think they were anything but calm and steady.
Minutes passed, and the crowd grew tighter and tighter, everyone shoved in so close Surah felt like it was harder to draw in air. The chatter was so loud she could hardly hear herself think, so she concentrated on searching the crowd for people who might be able to help her should she and Charlie find themselves in a bad position.
Mainly, she was looking for Samson or Lyonell and Noelani, the two Hunters that were her personal guard, but she couldn’t see them anywhere. She knew they had to be here, and were probably worried sick about her, but now a silence was falling over the crowd, and her eyes went back to the stage in the center of the square.
Her brow furrowed as she saw her uncle, Gregory Brightstar, preceding Theo across the stage. If it was even possible, she felt her heartbeat kick up in pace.
A stone settled in her gut. The flyer had been signed by the Head Hunter, not the Head of the Council. Had decisions been made on behalf of her father in her absence?
She drew in air sharply, a thought occurring to her that was awful in its possibilities. How much did her uncle know?
Well, she thought as she watched Gregory approach the microphone, she was about to find out.
Chapter 24
Samson
Samson stood in the arched window of the king’s chamber, looking down at the crowd that had formed in the city below.
He scanned it for signs of his Surah, his amber eyes darting here and there, seeing face after face and cloak after cloak, none of them belonging to his mistress.
He hopped down from the window and paced the room, as he had done countless times in the past few hours. He was agitated and on edge, his worry over the princess making it difficult to think clearly.
He went to the king’s bedside and stared down at the comatose man for several minutes, thinking about how much easier things would be if he would just wake up already. It was funny how little he’d thought about Syrian as an important part of his life, as he’d only ever developed feelings for the princess.
He knew now that his love for her had changed him so completely that when he looked at her father, he no longer saw just another two-leg. He saw a king, and though Surah was the only one who could ever claim rule over Samson, he found he had a deep respect for the man lying before him, and he wanted to see him up and about, if only so things could go back to normal.
The way the two-legs were behaving was too close to the way the animals in the jungle behaved. The smell of anger and aggression, underlined with a strong dose of fear, was in the air. And was growing stronger with each person that squeezed themselves in through the city gates.
Sam hopped up onto the windowsill again and scanned the crowd. He knew she was there. He could somehow feel her near. Just a glimpse of her face would calm him, just to see with his own eyes that she was okay would soothe his nerves.
Face after face. Cloak after cloak.
He couldn’t find her.
He forced himself to sit down, because his pacing was doing nothing to calm him. He sat in the arched window and pushed the glass open with his nose, letting all the smells and sounds of the outside flood into the room.
Leaning out over the edge, Sam tucked his tail around his legs, fighting against the urge to leap down into the crowd and tear free limbs until he found his Surah.
He waited. The crowd had fallen nearly silent. Gregory Brightstar was about to address them.
Samson wasn’t aware of it, but his teeth were bared and a low rumbling was coming up his throat.
Chapter 25
Theo
Theo scanned the crowd as discreetly as he was able, searching for a glimpse of lavender hair.
The crowd rolled out before him endlessly, a sea of black cloaks and foreign faces that was too thick to pinpoint anything.
He stood off to the side of the stage, not wanting to be the focal point of anyone’s attention. He wasn’t a stupid man, so he knew he had made many enemies over the years, especially among the common people, and as they outnumbered the Highborns present by a thousand to one, he knew he’d made a wise choice in trusting Gregory to deliver his message.
Theo stood stone-faced as Gregory approached the microphone and began his speech.
“Good people,” Gregory said. “On behalf of the king’s council, I would like to thank you all for traveling distances near and far to be here today. It warms my heart to see us all come together in our time of difficulty.”
Theo’s eyes went to Gregory, his brow furrowing. That wasn’t how he would have phrased it, but as long as the man kept it short and to the point, it would still be all right.
“I’ve been asked to address you today by Head Hunter Theodine Gray,” Gregory said, and paused. “I’ve been told to tell you that the Hunters are looking into the disappearance of the magic, and are working on a way to restore it as swiftly as possible.”
Theo’s brow furrowed further still, his plan to remain poised nearly forgotten. He wasn’t sure he liked the way Gregory was handling this, wasn’t sure this was the way they’d discussed. He had an awful feeling that a huge but was going to follow Gregory’s next words.
But surely Gregory wouldn’t…
“I know you are all scared,” Gregory said. “Nothing like this has ever happened before, and I’d be lying to say I’m not afraid as well, but this is no reason for us to lose our heads or become uncivilized like lowly humans.”
There was a bit of laughter from the crowd, and though it was obviously strained, Theo released a huge breath. Maybe the man knew what he was doing.
“But,” Gregory continued, and Theo’s heart all but stopped. “As the Head of the Council, I feel it’s my civic duty to keep you informed in matters that concern you.”
A murmur ran through the crowd now, and Gregory held his hands up to silence them. “It is my deepest regret to inform you that King Syrian is in a coma, and has been for nearly a week now.”
The crowd erupted with voices at the delivery of this news. Anger, shock, and confusion welled up in Theo, and he stalked across the stage and grabbed Gregory by the arm, only loosening his hold when he heard another low murmur from the crowd.
&nb
sp; “What are you doing?” Theo whispered. “Why would you tell them that? This isn’t what we agreed to.”
Gregory gave Theo a cold smile when a few people began shouting questions about what was going on.
“Plans change, Hunter Gray,” Gregory whispered back. “Your area of expertise is not in running a kingdom, so please, step aside and trust I know what’s best.”
Theo stood where he was, his eyes never leaving Gregory’s, his hand itching to pull his sword and sever Lord Brightstar’s head for his betrayal, knowing this was not possible with the entire kingdom looking on, knowing he’d made a big mistake by telling this man the truth about everything.
Knowing it was too late to do anything about it.
Gregory turned back to the crowd, which had quieted some but was still whispering only Gods knew what to each other, their eyes narrowed and brows drawn tight. Gregory held his hand up once more.
“The Head Hunter has asked me again to keep you in the dark,” he shouted, making the speakers scattered all around report loudly. “But you deserve to know the truth, don’t you?”
The response from the crowd was deafening, shaking the very walls of the king’s castle.
Chapter 26
Surah
The tiny hairs all over her body were standing at attention. Her heart was beating so fast she could feel it pulsing in her throat. The crowd was so loud in her ears that she could scarcely hear the words coming out of the speakers, which couldn’t matter less, as they were rebounding all around in her head.
You deserve to know the truth, don’t you?
Oh dear Gods.
Theo must have told her uncle everything. What else could he mean by ‘the truth’? Where else could this be going? She yanked on Charlie’s cloak to get his attention. They had to get out of here, and they had to get out of here now.
