by Rosie Scott
I was too far to hit either one of them with magic, so I screamed, “Calder! Koby's key!”
The lizard wasn't hearing me through his rage, and Azazel was pinned to the floor, unable to use any of his own spells to defend himself. Calder raised a scaled hand, sharp talons glistening in the nearby lights.
“Seriin!” Jakan screamed, forcing illusion energy toward the lizard. The thief's chest rose and fell rapidly with the fatigue of battle. He'd clearly been rushing to try to fix this situation as much as I had.
Calder stilled, calmed by the energy. As if confused, he backed up off of Azazel, before wandering aimlessly through the Reaping Hall, his mind cleared of any thoughts of battle. He still had my physical shield, so I let him go, knowing that even if he ran into an heir, he would be protected for a number of hits.
Azazel breathed heavily on the floor, blood pouring from multiple puncture wounds. His black eyes were conflicted when they met mine. I hurried over to him, and the archer seemed surprised that he was my first concern.
I did not heal him. Not yet. I helped Azazel up from the floor, grabbing him by a hand to pull him along with me. As I did so, I yelled to Jakan, “Watch Calder!”
Jakan nodded, hurrying to keep an eye on the lizard-kin as Anto ran after them both to protect them. I pulled Azazel with me to the stairway leading downward, tugging him out of sight of Calder. The calm spell lasted only minutes. When Calder's mind cleared of the magic, it was possible he would come after the archer again.
Azazel stood against the wall at the bottom of the steps, his chest rising and falling rapidly beneath his armor. His long black bangs were greasy with sweat and blood, and they fell over his eyes as he leaned his head back against the stone. I healed him, the white energy sinking deep into Calder's puncture wounds.
“I'm sorry for what I asked you to do.” My voice was thick with mourning and panic at the recent events, and I felt absolutely awful for having been the one to cause even more contention between the two Alderi men.
“I was the only one who could,” Azazel replied, his voice resigned between plush blue lips.
“Yeah,” I agreed softly, continuing to heal him. “You were.” The archer was silent for awhile as I healed wound after wound. Calder had clung to him with all four sets of talons, leaving him bleeding from all over his body. “Calder was in rage and mourning, Azazel. It was a mistake. A split-second decision. He is prone to those. I don't think he meant to—”
“I don't really care, Kai,” Azazel replied, anger tracing the edges of his voice. “I don't honestly fucking care. Alastor will find reasons to force the blame for all sorts of things on me. I have always been his scapegoat. I'm tired of it. Let him have the glory of this city. Let him have the entire fucking underground. I won't loose another arrow for him.”
I swallowed hard, taken aback by the archer's anger. I understood it, but it had been so long since he'd let it out. If I had thought that the two men were coming to terms with each other, I found I was sorely mistaken.
Azazel sighed shakily when I said nothing. “That anger was not meant for you.”
I nodded as another wound closed beneath my hands. “I know.”
“Most of your time speaking of Alastor is apologizing for him, Kai,” the archer said, a moment later. “If you truly think he will lead this underground, and do it well, he needs to learn to do these things himself.”
“I thought he was learning,” I murmured, healing the last puncture wound. “He made so much progress with you.”
Azazel turned his head, avoiding my gaze. “He tried. It's too little too late. Like I've said before, I wasn't doing any of this for him.” He glanced up toward the ceiling, as if looking at the rest of the tower. “If you guys clear this castle today, the war for the underground will be won. My people will be free. That is why I am here.”
“If we clear the tower? You will be with us,” I insisted.
Azazel shook his head. “No. I apologize, Kai, but my part here is done.”
An ache surrounded my gut. “Don't leave us, Azazel. The war is not won yet. You are needed.”
He watched me carefully with his superior black eyes. “They have you, Kai. Half of this tower is already cleared. I have spent the last half year of my life staying in the underground to risk my life for my brothers. They will be free within hours. I contributed greatly to that. That's all I need.”
I backed away from him, feeling heartbroken. “Where will you go?”
“I don't know. Wherever I want to. I suppose that's the greatest thing about freedom, isn't it?” Azazel pondered aloud. “Choice.”
I watched him for a moment. In the span of minutes, one of my friends had died, and another was leaving me. I should have been used to this by now, but I wasn't. The pain of the situation was like new.
“You look like you're on the verge of tears,” Azazel said softly, after a moment.
“I am,” I admitted. “I have come to care for you, Azazel. And now you're leaving us. I am losing friends left and right, and there's nothing I can do.” I smiled sadly at him, thinking of his words to me long ago. “Perhaps I am cursed, like you.”
Azazel visibly swallowed hard as he recognized the reference. He pulled away from the wall, his eyes on the stairway above. The echoes of battle rang out from a few floors up. “You are far from cursed, Kai. You gain friends quicker than I gain enemies. You will do fine for yourself today, and in your war for Chairel.” The archer walked toward the staircase which would take him out of the tower. “I thank you for your kindness, Kai,” he said, facing away from me. “I wish you luck in your future endeavors.”
My chest felt so tight that I worried my heart would be crushed. “Thank you, Azazel. You, too. Enjoy your freedom.”
Azazel moved down the steps and out of sight, leaving me standing alone and lost. I finally headed back to the stairs leading up to the Reaping Hall, feeling much heavier than before.
Thirty-eight
Calder stood in the midst of the Reaping Hall, nude and transformed back to his normal form. He watched me through moist eyes as I reached the top of the steps, before he looked behind me expectantly.
“Where is Azazel?” He questioned thickly, when the archer did not come.
“He left, Cal,” I said.
Calder reached up to his chest, grabbing onto Koby's key. “You feared I would kill him?”
“Yes, but he left by his own will.” I wondered if I should tell Calder exactly why Azazel had left. My friend was overwhelmed with mourning. Even still, if Calder was going to lead this nation of caverns, he needed to be prepared for even the hardest of truths. “He said he would not loose another arrow for you.”
Calder's nostrils flared, and his necklace shook and rattled as he held onto the key. More tears fell from his eyes. “I wanted to thank him,” he said thickly, painfully. “And apologize. I didn't—” He stopped talking abruptly, overwhelmed with a variety of emotions.
I comforted my friend with a hug, as Anto and Jakan watched the steps, protecting us from the fights above. “You must learn to control your rages,” I pleaded beside his ear. “You must.”
“I know.” He shook as he held me. “I...saw red. I didn't think about it. My mind was full of Vallen's screams.”
“I understand,” I murmured, before I pulled back from him. “But many people won't, Calder. If you are going to lead your people, you have to do it by example.”
Calder nodded distractedly. “I will try not to let you down, love.”
“It's not me you have to worry about letting down,” I reminded him. Looking off to Anto and Jakan, I said, “Now, come on. Let's finish this fight.”
I transferred some energy to Calder, and he morphed back into his lizard-kin. The four of us hurried upward through the tower together, up steps that had already been traveled by the rest of our army as they advanced. We finally met them in the midst of battle a few floors above the Reaping Hall. For being the only women allowed to breed in this city, the queen
and her heirs certainly reproduced like crazy. This castle was crawling with the royal women.
We had many casualties, of course, for the heirs were magnificent fighters. Our healers could not refresh shields quickly enough for everyone, for they relied on Cerin and I to give them additional energy from our leeching. Soldiers, both living and dead, fell by the dozen, most of them from gouged throats, which was the Alderi way. Cerin continued to call them to battle, however, as I focused on the rest of the elements, my lover and I complementing each other in our fight.
The floors of the castle turned into lavish apartments, much like the set-up had been for the other high-rises in the rich sector. When it felt like we were so high up we couldn't possibly move higher, I ran to an open ledge of one of these dwellings, looking out into Quellden beyond. Outside of the walls of the crawler pit, there were few signs of battle in the city's streets. Surely, the waves of insurrection were still rolling through the city to the east and south, but any war going on there was out of earshot.
The cavern's ceilings were finally visible from here, long stalactites hanging between clumps of moist fungi. It was a sight to behold, rivaling the view I once had from my bedroom in the Seran University tower. All of Quellden sprawled out before my eyes, stone structures alight in rainbows of colors throughout the massive cavern. The Alderi in the city's streets were barely visible from here, little dots sliding seamlessly down rocky roads.
My eyes stuck to the cavern roof, wondering how close I was vertically to Chairel. Right now, we would be just below the grasslands south of Comercio. It was amazing to think that during our whole trek to Nahara almost three years ago, we'd been just above this massive city, with no clues it was here save for Nyx's knowledge that it even existed.
BONG. BONG. BONG.
I turned from the view, my feet vibrating as a massive bell rang. The noise rose from far above us, near the top of the castle. Our final destination.
Calder reached up toward the ceiling with a scaled hand. A thick red clump of energy appeared, proving that many foes were still in the tower.
“She's calling them,” Nyx breathed, her black eyes on the ceiling. Her chest rose and fell rapidly with the fatigue of battle. I gave her energy with life magic. She was going to need it.
“Who?” Cerin replied, his scythe still dripping with blood.
“All of the bitches,” Nyx said, swirling a finger above her toward the ceiling. “She knows she's lost. She'll make her last stand in her throne room, surrounded by those loyal to her. They know they'll do the most damage together.”
“We do most of our damage together as well,” Anto replied, his voice calm despite the situation, as usual. His green skin was stained with the blood of our enemies.
“Yeah,” Nyx agreed, before turning to the stairway. “So let's do what we do best.”
We rushed ever higher, our leg muscles tight with heavy fatigue. The remaining apartments were abandoned, all of their occupants having heeded their queen's call. We only stopped when we ran across slaves, left in cells of the women's apartments, or even shackled to objects with chains. After freeing them, we moved on.
Nyx was at the front of the pack, followed closely by Calder, Cerin, and I. My best friend was quiet as she hurried up the last staircase before us, her daggers in her hands, her mind on revenge. I rushed to give her a shield, just before she breached the top of the stairs.
There was a throne at the end of the mostly open top floor of the castle, though it was empty. Dozens upon dozens of the remaining heirs were grouped up here, many of them still breathing hard from their recent climb. White light of illusion magic gave the top floor a bright glow, with just an edge of blue from patches of fungi which grew out from the cavern ceiling above. The walls here were not solid. The queen had entire sections of them removed, allowing her to watch over her entire domain from all sides.
And she did just that, mostly quiet as our army piled into her throne room from the dual staircases. Queen Achlys was not visually intimidating. She stood just between five and six feet tall, and was quite the spitting image of the statue from the city streets below. Her skin was much lighter than Nyx's, a soft periwinkle blue. I realized, then, that all of the heirs had been the same color. I wondered if the queen meant to purify her race by only allowing the lightest skinned among them to breed.
The queen dressed much like her statue. Bits and pieces of her light skin shone through fashionable breaks in her black armor, leaving little to the imagination, and leaving her vulnerable to our weapons. She did wear thick black boots, the outer soles preventing the shoes from slipping or skidding on the stone of her domain.
Queen Achlys turned from watching the city streets below, her black eyes moving over us and our army. The organs held a mixture of anger, resignation, and defiance. We didn't make a move, and neither did they. Not yet.
“Why are you here?” The queen's voice was deep, strong. The skin of her face was creased from recent expressions, most of them probably worry as she watched her city fall.
“Why the fuck do you think?” Nyx retorted, her voice seething and spitting.
The queen looked over to her. “To overthrow me. I'm not fucking stupid. I just want to know if you all are.” Her eyes rolled over Nyx with disgust, before she said, “If I had any say in it, your ovaries would have been ripped from you a long time ago, you ugly bitch.”
Nyx's nostrils flared. “You had a say in it,” she retorted. “You don't remember me?”
The queen chuckled cruelly. “You think you are memorable? That's simply precious.” She scanned over the rest of us with her black eyes. “What is it you wish to do? Exterminate us? Do you not realize that by killing every woman of royalty, you will doom the underground?” She glared at Nyx. “Barren women do not breed.”
“There are thousands upon thousands of juveniles you haven't had the chance to touch,” Nyx retorted, her voice shaking. “They will come of age, and they will repopulate the underground. It will thrive like never before, and you won't be alive to see it.”
Queen Achlys stared at her daughter. “That grudge looks awful on you, dear. I don't recognize you. Where have you learned such hatred of me?”
Nyx visibly shook beside me. I knew how badly it must have hurt to know her own mother had forgotten her. “From you. Just nine years ago, at the Reaping. I didn't wish to participate. When I finally did, you threw my friend Jemia'h into the crawler pit, because I kissed his cheek.”
A smile slowly spread on the queen's face, before she chuckled. “Hell, that was you? Yes, I remember you. It was the most pathetic show of weakness I'd ever seen at a Reaping. I would have figured you dead from your frailty if I could have found it within me to care.” The queen's two blue hands fell to her wide hips, where she kept two daggers. She nodded at her heirs, who all began to rush toward us. “You are doing this for a man? Ha! Good luck! The underground will crumble.”
Our soldiers and friends rushed forward, clashing with dozens of assassins. Nyx shook beside me, within her shield.
“Dispel it, Kai,” she commanded.
“What?” I asked, confused.
“My shield. Take it from me.”
“Nyx, you need it,” I protested.
“Dispel the fucking shield!” Nyx growled, her eyes on her mother from over the fighting.
I didn't protest or ask more questions. I did as she asked, deciding with a heavy heart to trust her judgment. After the life energy faded from its bubble, Nyx went invisible.
I understood, now. Nyx knew she stood little chance against the queen alone, so she sought to give herself yet another benefit. I could no longer see her, but allied soldiers and heirs alike were pushed aside in a path to the queen by an unseen force. I tried to stay as closely as I could behind her, leeching from our foes through funnels of black.
Queen Achlys held both daggers in her hands, and stalked toward our army, passing her throne and reaching freed slaves and risen corpses alike. She'd given herself an alteration
shield, preparing to absorb any energy thrown her way. I would not be able to harm her in this fight, for as long as she was protected. I could only hope to aid Nyx as she did all the damage.
Beneath both of the queen's palms, emerald energy swirled. She forced it to the stone, and the spell exploded outward, paralyzing every person it touched, including one of her own heirs. Soldiers and corpses alike fell, vulnerable to the blades and bows of the royal women. Allies were cut down around the queen, the blood of slaves pooling over the stone.
Then, the queen hissed in pain. As I fought through her heirs to get to her, I watched as multiple wounds sliced through the woman's skin in the breaks of her armor from Nyx's unseen daggers, splattering her blood across the stone below. The queen built green energy in her palms again as she spun to find the invisible culprit, intent on paralyzing her.
The green energy exploded outward a moment later, paralyzing more of our soldiers. My heart raced as I wondered if Nyx had been affected. I couldn't see her to know.
Queen Achlys rose a hand, using more of her alteration magic to detect the invisible.
Oh, no. I kept pushing through soldiers, leeching from more women in a mad rush to get to Nyx, my eyes watching as the queen finally detected my friend standing behind her mother's throne, having avoided the last paralyze spell. Achlys thrust her palm out, shooting thick black energy toward Nyx's location.
I heard my best friend's body collapse behind the throne. Fear seized my chest, because I hadn't recognized the spell. I didn't know what it could do. So far, the queen had only used alteration magic, but the energy had been so black. Cerin and I were the only necromancers here...right? And if Achlys did know death magic, I hadn't known the spell. It wasn't leech. She couldn't have used it to raise the dead, because Nyx was living.
