by Day Leitao
Karina shrugged. “Maybe. If you want more information we’ll have to strike a deal.”
He shook his head. “It’s fine. You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to.”
There was something soft and soothing about his voice. For a moment she wanted to tell him everything, for a moment she wished that all his talk about trying to impress her were real, she wished he really thought she was pretty, and then she wanted to slap herself to wake up and stop being stupid. He was obviously trying to manipulate her. She looked away and focused on her breathing. Air in, air out. The lift was descending into what looked like the crater of an inactive volcano. There were a bunch of lifts there. Probably ready to attack. Her heart beat faster and the whole breathing technique was gone. Some twenty or thirty. And they would take the castle by surprise. Maybe Lylah and Nia wouldn’t make a difference after all. Karina worried about her friends. Darian and Lylah needed to know about this attack. She looked back at Cayla. Her necklace! The question was when she’d have an opportunity to use it. And plus, she didn’t know how it worked. The lift landed.
Sian got up and said, “Listen, I would love to take you to the most beautiful place in Whyland, but that won’t be now. You’ll go to a prison with Cayla. Are you going to resist, or can you just walk by my side?”
That was a stupid question because even if Karina had a black belt in martial arts, she wouldn’t be able to leave that place on her own. “I can walk.”
He nodded, opened the door and got out. Karina followed. Sian made a gesture and four men entered their lift and carried Lee away.
Karina was worried. “Is he gonna get hurt?”
“For real?” Sian asked. “I talk to you all the way up here, tell you all my secrets, and you’re worried about him?”
His tone and gesticulation were exaggerated. But Karina didn’t think it was funny. “Is he gonna get hurt?”
“I wouldn’t tell you, would I? But don’t worry. He’s one of us. It’s just that right now he needs to be detained.” He made a sad face. “Of course, it still breaks my heart to see you only care about him.”
Karina didn’t know when he was being serious or ironic and was getting annoyed. Two young men carried Cayla and they all walked in a direction opposite to the one Lee was carried.
Sian turned to Karina. “I was joking. That was sweet.”
More weirdness. “What?”
“Lee. You’ve met him for what? Twenty seconds? For all you know he would’ve attacked you if it wasn’t for me. And yet you worry about him.”
Karina shrugged. “I just don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
“Not even me I suppose.”
Almost, cause now she thought Cayla’s kick could have been deserved. But no more than that. “That’s why I told you to surrender.”
“Did you take a look around you? Still think we need to surrender?”
“Even if you don’t need to, you can still strike a deal.” Karina had no idea why she was pleading, but there she was. “Make peace. Assure nobody gets hurt.”
“That’s my plan. You should trust me.”
They came to a prison cell, with a door made of iron bars.
Sian grimaced. “This place is ugly. I’m sorry, but Cayla needs to be kept somewhere safe. Hopefully you won’t be here long. Do you want anything before I take the kingdom?”
Karina wasn’t sure if he really meant that, but she decided to ask for something. “I don’t want to be alone.” Sian had a smile and his eyes brightened. Karina continued, “Could you… wake up Cayla? So she keeps me company?”
He looked down, making an exaggerated sad face. “I thought you meant me.”
“Well, stay here then. Much more interesting than leading a stupid attack.”
Sian laughed. “A lot more interesting!” He made a sad face again. “But what can I do? Duty calls me.” He turned to the men carrying Cayla, and spoke in a neutral, serious tone, “Wake her up when she’s inside. But careful. She’s dangerous. Don’t hurt either of them.” He turned to Karina, “We’ll catch up later.” He turned around and left.
As Karina entered the cell watched as he walked away in sure steps, hair and overcoat flowing. He puzzled her. The guards entered and gave Cayla a shot. Her eyes opened. Karina wondered if the breathing cloth and the shot had any risk, and kind of regretted having asked for Cayla to be woken up.
The princess looked around. “Where are we?”
“We’re in a military base, no idea where, while they are planning to attack the castle.”
Cayla squinted, “Isn’t the castle already being attacked?”
“By the rebels. These people are with General Keen.”
“They’re with my father then.” Cayla squinted again. “Why are we in a prison?”
“Apparently Keen plans on betraying your father.”
Cayla squinted even harder and tilted her head. “He’s with the insurgents?” She sounded incredulous.
“No. He’s with himself, I think. His plan is to let the rebels depose your father and then take power.”
“How do you know all that?”
Karina looked down, embarrassed for some reason. “Sian told me.”
Cayla had a puzzled face.
“I think he likes to talk,” Karina added.
“He talks too much, that’s what I think,” Cayla said. She then looked around. “We have to get back to the castle.”
Thanks, captain obvious. “No kidding, right? But there’s something else you can do.” She pointed to Cayla’s necklace.
The princess raised her hands in despair. “How am I even supposed to know on which side he is?”
“He’s with the rebels.”
Cayla sighed, looked down, and closed her eyes. Yikes. Perhaps she shouldn’t have received this information so suddenly. “You can’t be sure.”
“I can,” Karina said. “Sian told me.”
“It sounds like you guys became buddies or something. What else did he tell you?”
“Nothing.” Karina looked down. “He wanted to explain why you were being held, that’s all.”
“How thoughtful of him.”
Karina then pointed again at the necklace. “Are you going to try it?”
Cayla pointed at the guards. She didn’t seem to want to contact him in front of them.
Karina then heard sounds of people moving. “What’s happening?” she took a chance and asked one of the guards.
“The lifts are taking off.”
Oh, no, they would attack now. The one upside was that at least Sian was kind of nice, so if they took the castle, they would hopefully allow her to go there, use the blue tower, and go home. But then, what about Nia, Lylah, Cayla, Ayanna? On the other hand, Lylah could maybe defeat them. Maybe.
“I can’t believe we’re here,” Cayla said.
“Well, you’re the one who thought they’d give us a ride to the castle.”
“Come up with a better idea, then.”
“Let’s teleport!” Karina said, half joking.
“I told you. I can’t do it.”
Karina shrugged, “Well neither can—” An idea hit her, but she was not sure about it. “Wait. What did you say about magic?”
Cayla glanced at the guards. “That it’s really evil and only witches use it?”
“Right. You also said that, uh, evil witches, when they go to another dimension, they get stronger. Does that work for anybody? Or do you have to have training?”
Cayla looked at Karina and seemed to understand. She whispered, “You. It was you. In the hill with the insurgents.”
Karina wasn’t sure. She still thought it could have been the shoes.
“You have to try it,” Cayla said softly.
“How?”
One of the guards banged on the door. “Hey, no whispering.”
Cayla held Karina’s hand. “Close your eyes and see yourself there. In the blue tower.”
Could it be that easy? Nia had said she needed an
emotional spike. Karina thought about home, and how her way there would be through the blue tower, she thought about the friends she’d made, about Sian. The ground below her felt as if it was moving. She lost balance. She knew what it was, and it felt great.
Karina fell on the floor in a tall circular room surrounded by blue walls… The blue tower! She’d done it! She got up and looked around, almost waiting for some hostile soldiers to attack them, but nobody came. The emptiness and silence were more disturbing than some sound or movement, though. There were cracks in the wall that hadn’t been there before. Or maybe she hadn’t noticed them. And too late she realized that she’d brought them right to the middle of a conflict, like the eye of a storm, knowing nothing of what was really going on. But hey, getting entangled in stuff she knew nothing about was becoming Karina’s specialty. The prison would have been safer, except that it would be annoying to stay there waiting for Sian to come back with a superior smirk.
“I know where we need to go,” Cayla said. “Come.”
They got out and Karina ran after her friend through a long corridor. The light from the ceiling was so obviously artificial now that she knew about it. They turned a corner—and were ambushed. Two soldiers appeared in front of them, with guns, whatever they were and whatever they did. The girls turned around to see two more behind them. Karina raised her hands, and Cayla did that as well.
21
The Final Battles
“I’m princess Cayla.” Her voice was calm and steady, and she was probably calm, if she didn’t fear the insurgents or the royal guards. “I’m the King’s daughter. Darian’s friend as well.”
A male voice came from behind them, “Friends don’t let friends be sentenced to death, my darling.” General Keen stepped from behind two soldiers, looking at Cayla. “I wanted you dead, but I guess you’ll be useful alive—for now at least.” He turned to the soldiers. “Shoot the younger girl.”
What happened next felt unreal for Karina, as if it wasn’t really happening to her. It was like seeing herself in a dream, facing the soldiers pointing their weapons, pressing their trigger, blue energy coming in her direction. She never made a decision to do anything, because there was no time to think. All she felt was the ground moving, and found herself alone in the blue tower. She felt bad for leaving Cayla, but there had been no time to reach for her hand. There had been no time for anything. And still there was no time to digest the shock of having almost been killed. The walls seemed to have even bigger cracks now, as if the tower was breaking. Karina was shaking in fear, but got out and ran in the opposite direction she’d run before, hoping she’d find someone friendly, someone who could help them, who could lead her to Lylah or Nia or someone who could free Cayla and stop the general. After many meters, she almost stopped and laughed. She could have gone home! And yet she didn’t. She wanted to help clean the mess she’d gotten herself into, even if she wasn’t really sure what the mess was. And she wouldn’t leave Cayla. But where should she go? Those corridors were like an interminable maze, confusing her.
“Halt!”
Karina trembled. It was a woman’s voice. She turned around and raised her hands, hoping it wasn’t anyone planning on killing her. It was just a young woman with brown hair and eyes—pointing a gun. And wearing the army’s uniform. This could turn out badly.
“Who are you?” The woman asked.
Karina chose to say a name that could work either way. “I’m a friend of Darian’s.”
“From which side?”
Right. Of course the woman also knew that Darian’s name meant nothing. Karina risked the truth. “Not General Keen’s.” She held her breath, afraid of what would happen.
The woman lowered her weapon slightly. “With whom them? Cause you clearly don’t know our code.”
Of course. The rebels had a secret code Karina had no idea about and Darian never bothered informing them. But this was not the time to think about that. She decided to say the truth. “I need to talk to whoever is leading you. It’s urgent and important.”
The woman looked at Karina up and down. Her hesitation was annoying. At each second that passed Sian’s lifts were getting closer to the castle, and who knows what was happening to Cayla?
Karina said, “You do realize I’m unarmed, right? And it’s urgent.”
The woman lowered her weapon. “Come.”
Karina followed, uneasy because she feared meeting General Keen or someone loyal to him. They came to a wide auditorium. Lylah and Nia were there, as well as Darian, Jax and Zayra, and some twenty other people. That meant that the insurgents had won, and had help from Lylah. They were probably discussing the fate of the kingdom, unaware of the danger inside and outside the castle.
“Hey!” Karina yelled without waiting for an introduction or anything. “You’re about to be attacked. Some twenty lifts are coming this way, for an ambush. They are armed. They are under General Keen, and he plans to take power.”
Some murmur was heard in the room.
Darian said, “The army doesn’t have that many more lifts.”
“I saw them.” Karina lowered her voice. “Your brother’s there by the way.” She hoped that would ensure they didn’t hurt Sian.
Darian frowned, and many people spoke at the same time. Lylah’s voice rose above the others. “I can hold them back.”
And now it was time to give the other, more important news. “There’s more,” Karina yelled. The room fell silent. Her voice trembled as she looked at Lylah. “General Keen has Cayla. He wants to use her as a hostage.”
Lylah fell back on her seat, but her voice was still calm. “Where is she?”
“I don’t know.” Karina looked down. “He wanted to kill me.”
“I can find her,” Darian yelled. “I’ll deal with this.”
Lylah got up, “I can—”
“With all due respect, miss,” Darian said, “Cayla’s none of your business.”
Karina face palmed, but the situation was too intense for any clarification.
Lylah turned to Karina. “Was Keen alone?”
“No. He had four guards.”
“What does it matter?” Darian asked. “She’s a hostage. We can’t confront them. The fewer people the better. I’m still his son. I can talk to him.” His voice became soft, smooth, almost relaxing. “I’m good at talking and I can solve this. Alone.”
Lylah squinted. “You’re Bianca’s son.” She said it as if she’d just recognized him, which was odd.
Darian raised his eyebrows. “So?”
“Go,” Lylah said. She closed her eyes as if in pain. “I have an attack to halt.”
Darian left.
Lylah turned to Karina. “Do you know where they are coming from?”
That was a tough question for Karina since she didn’t know anything about the geography there, but she tried her best, “The place is near this river, but not in the direction where it meets with the Black River. The other. They were all gathered in a large place that looked like the crater of an inactive volcano.”
Lylah nodded, then turned to Nia. “Help her go. Now. While the blue tower still stands.”
Karina shuddered when she realized that it meant her. That it meant she would go home without knowing how everything ended. That she would go home without saying goodbye. Nia pulled her and Karina followed automatically, feeling sad and empty. But then, she wouldn’t want to be stuck in this place that she still knew so little about.
They got to the tall blue room. Some pieces of the wall were falling, and the cracks were bigger. So it wasn’t an impression. That tower was collapsing.
Nia held her hand. “Now close your eyes.”
Karina figured closed eyes were necessary for interdimensional teleporting, wondering how many rules about it she would never have the opportunity to learn. The feeling of teleporting was in fact quite distinct from falling, and this time, she saw flashes of light through her closed eyelids. The lights didn’t stop and Karina eventually opened
her eyes, realizing that nobody held her hand anymore. It was day and she was in her room. This time she felt that she was in her room. So everything was back to normal. Sort of. How can anyone be normal after all that? She considered all the assumptions she had when she went to Whyland, and how each of them had been shattered. She even wondered whether Lylah and Darian were really on the good side, and if Sian was completely wrong. Well, he was. His father was indeed cruel and had almost killed Karina. But then maybe he was also under false impressions, and false assumptions. She wondered what made a person choose a side. Was it ideology, values, or just circumstance? Anyways, why was she thinking that? Was it about making excuses for the cheap flirter? Or was it just her mind going back and trying to understand how come nothing went as expected, and in the end it did? Karina helped save a kingdom—depending on one’s definition of saving, of course. If the kingdom had been saved, because everything could still go wrong. But then, she remembered Sian saying he always negotiated when he could, and that thought put her mind at ease.
Darian let his necklace guide him. He was shaking in anger. If only he’d answered when she called him. If only he’d turned around for her. If only. He only didn’t punch himself because it wouldn’t help. He needed to stay calm. Concentrate. And remain calm. He could do it. He had a gift for speaking, and this was his time to use it. Focused on his necklace, and where it guided him, he descended stairs he had never before been at. He came to an abandoned dungeon. The floor was wet and moldy, and mice scurried on the corners. Cayla was sitting on a chair. A large granite block hung above her, with a rope on a pulley and tied to a hook on the floor.
Keen had a hatchet, and said, “One step more and I’ll cut the rope.”
There were two guards with fireguns on each of her side. Darian wondered where the other two had gone. Cayla didn’t seem scared. If anything, she looked annoyed or concentrated, maybe thinking about a way to escape. That would be foolish.
“It’s me, father.”
Cayla noticed him, and for the first time her eyes showed a hint of fear.
