The Allyen (The Story of the First Archimage Book 1)

by Michaela Riley Karr

  Mikael, having come out the same window after recovering, did not dare turn toward Keera, who lay in a mixture of dirt, mud, and blood. He instead reestablished his tight death hold on Rosetta’s wrist. “Okay, Kino. Just get on with it and we’ll go.”

  Kino closed her eyes in concentration, but Keera began to fade out of consciousness, the pain in her side becoming too much. The sun was clouding over, and Keera felt a few drops of rain on her cheek. Her breaths became like choking, and she spent her last few seconds hoping with all of her being that Evan and Lina would find each other soon.

  Chapter Twelve

  B y the time we reached the Canyonlands, my breaths were ragged, but I didn’t care. My lungs were burning, but I didn’t care. My legs were numb, but I didn’t care. I had tunnel vision on Rhydin because, if we didn’t get there soon, my family would be dead before I could do anything about it. If anger alone could kill a person, Rhydin would have been decapitated by now.

  Luke and Rachel raced ahead of us, drawing unnatural speed from somewhere. I hoped with all of my being that they were already making a difference and had saved my family. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

  It was as if an entire battlefield had been spread out in my front yard. On one side, closer to the barn, were James, Luke, and Rachel singlehandedly taking on twice their number in black cloaks. Their swords were drawn with inhuman agility as their opponents fired purple magic at them. Unbelievably, the Owens siblings seemed to be winning against them all.

  On the other side of the yard nearer to the house was not the same story. Two people were dueling in nothing but magic on a bigger scale than I’d ever seen. The noise was deafening. With every attack and every blow, thunder sounded from the immense use and force of magic. I picked out my little old grandmother as one of the duelists with her gray hair hanging loosely around her shoulders, ripped out of its usual bun. Her clothing was scorched in a few places. It was hard to focus on her. She was moving so fast, but if she stayed in any spot too long, she would be killed.

  I did not recognize the other duelist, but, as I looked at him longer, I sensed his presence. A shiver shot down my spine as I realized it was Rhydin, clad in black from head to toe adorned with gold. His billowing cloak, which was all I knew of him, lay on the ground in a heap with a broken clasp as if Grandma had blown it off him. I found myself simply staring at him as the thunderous purple and light blasts boomed around me, soaking in his appearance after having talked about him for so long and not knowing what he looked like. He had long black hair and a wiry body, his skin so pale it seemed that he should be dead. His face was angular but rounded as if he were not very old.

  In that instant, Rhydin suddenly stopped his offense, raising but a single hand to my grandmother as he blocked every single one of her attacks. I then learned that his most striking characteristic was the amethyst color of his eyes, as he stared me down.

  A dark grin spread across his thin face, his voice not much deeper than Sam’s, but menacing nonetheless. “Hello, Linaria.”

  My breath caught in my throat as Frederick and Sam rushed forward to help my grandmother. I willed myself forward, but Mira caught my wrist hard and caused me to swing back toward her. My voice squeaked loudly over another crash like an earthquake. “Mira, what are you doing? I have to help my grandma!”

  “Let Frederick and Sam handle it. We need to find your sister and your cousin.” The princess explained calmly.

  I was about to nod when Mira’s expression suddenly changed. Her eyebrows rose into her hairline as she tried to pull me forward with all her strength. As she did, my head turned enough to see what she was seeing. It was Mikael, my sister’s crush and the kid who spent all his free time at my house, wielding a dagger aimed for my heart, his freckled face unfeeling.

  A scream for help was at my lips when a flash of light blinded us, thunder sounded, and all three of us were thrown to the ground. Instantly, a second round of magic fired a little further away, but we couldn’t see anything until the dust settled.

  My ears were ringing. The battle had gone silent. Mira and I held on to each other as we tried to get to our feet, a deep chunk of earth missing from just beyond where we were standing. As the dust cleared further, I could see that Mikael had been thrown to the other side of the trench. The front of his clothing was ripped and bloodied, but whoever shot him had clearly missed or had been more focused on simply separating us.

  As I recognized the dagger in his hand, my mind refused to focus and connect him to Rhydin. He spent so much time with Rosetta that he was practically family. However, I didn’t have long to dwell on it before several of the black cloaked people rushed up and grabbed Mikael, disappearing in a puff of lavender smoke.

  I turned in time to see Rhydin grinning dementedly at me. He was extremely happy about something, and yet that did not seem to bode well for me. He reached out with his hand, and his cloak flew to him like a bird, his eyes glinting with amethyst fire. “Congratulations, Linaria. The Allyen just became a bit rarer!”

  As Rhydin disappeared, my heart sank into the pit of my stomach. I failed. I began to run so fast that my feet skidded on some loose gravel, but I regained my footing as I sprinted toward where Frederick and Sam were huddled on the ground. I was crying before I even reached them, hoping that I had misinterpreted Rhydin’s words. But I was not so lucky. There, lying in the slightly wet dirt as the rain began to fall, was my unseeing grandmother. A gaping, bloody hole decorated her chest.

  My mind does not recall what words began to spill out of my mouth, but someone told me later that I went into shock. I do remember that I begged Grandma not to be dead. I begged her to sit up and come back to me. That I couldn’t do this without her. I asked her why. Why did she have to die? Why did she have to see Mikael coming for me and take a precious moment of her focus on Rhydin to fire a shot that likely saved my life? Why did Mikael betray us? Why, after all the times he came over and how in love with my sister he was, did he try to kill me?

  When I finally regained control of my mouth, I realized that I had placed both my tiny hands on top of the hole in Grandma’s chest, trying in vain to hold the blood in. Trying to push hard enough that maybe her heart would start again. I felt two hands on either side of my waist, but I was too numb to hold back from them. To this day, I don’t know who grabbed me and tried to hold me. My guess is either Sam or Rachel.

  As I was pulled away, adrenaline surged through me as I remembered that Mira and I had never gotten the chance to search for Keera and Rosetta. I hardly recognized my own voice when it spilled out. “We need to find the girls! They’re not here! Where are they-…?”

  Frederick took my bloody hands and steered me to Sam somewhere in the background. His voice was the only calm in my life at the moment, and I was swallowed up into his deep brown eyes. “We’ll go look for them. But you need to stay here. You cannot do this right now.”

  Frederick took Mira and headed toward my house as I slumped into a heap at Sam’s feet. He tried to crouch down and console me, but it was of no use. The sight of my house brought tears to my eyes once again. The front door had been wrenched off its hinges, black scorch marks decorated the old wood, and every window had been smashed. Part of the roof was missing because the shingles had danced away with each thunderous wave of battle. My old, normal life had officially been destroyed. To every degree. Beyond recognition.

  It seemed like ages before Frederick and Mira came back. I was flat on the ground, staring straight up at the sky because that was the only thing clean. That was the only thing that hadn’t changed. It was the only thing that hadn’t been destroyed or covered in blood. Sam stared down at me helplessly, facing his own demons that I wouldn’t know about until later.

  Rachel, Luke, and James collapsed next to us, all breathing hard as they recovered from being outnumbered. James seemed to be in the worst shape since he’d been out here the longest. Rachel held his hand, embracing him like a mother she was so relieved that he was alive. I
had to admit that I was glad James was alive, but an angry thought kept me from vocalizing it. Why was he alive when my grandmother wasn’t?

  I bounded to my feet when I saw Frederick and Mira coming back, my body tired but adrenaline still going strong. “Did you find them? Where are they? Are they alright?” I begged.

  Frederick caught me before I could rush off toward where they had come from. “Wait, Lina…”

  I could feel my body beginning to break down as I stared up at Frederick’s blue eyes, feeling like a child in his grip. My voice began to break, “They’re gone too. Aren’t they?”

  The prince looked at me timidly and bit his lip. He could only nod.

  “Where are they?” My voice got louder as I struggled against his grip.

  “Lina, I don’t think you should see…”

  “Frederick, let me go!” I began to teeter on the edge of becoming hysterical, but I swallowed hard and found the right words. “Frederick, I need to see them. Because if I don’t… I’m never going to believe they’re gone.” I stumbled on the last word, another tear tracing its way down my cheek. Yet, even at that moment, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to handle the sight.

  We all went together. I was being solidly supported between Sam and Frederick, my knees in danger of giving out. Rachel was close behind with Luke and James flanking her. Mira chose to stay out front, which I did not blame her for one bit. Frederick led us around to the back of the house, where apparently, the girls had tried to escape.

  My heart jumped up into my throat upon sight of the bodies. Keera’s eyes were open, staring up at the sky, but I knew she couldn’t see it. She had a stab wound in between her ribs, her tiny hand trying to cover it. There were no words this time as a waterfall of tears began to fall down my face. Rosetta lay next to her, but there was no wound that I could see on her.

  I kneeled between the two of them, the knees of my trousers and my dress soaking through in the mud made from the rain and Keera’s blood. First, I took my hand and gently closed Keera’s eyes, brushing her midnight hair out of her face. I made my words as strong as possible. “I am so sorry, Keera… I told you I would protect you. You chose me to come to after you left Evan, and I failed you both.” I turned to Rosetta and propped her forward into my arms, her heaviness causing my stomach to churn.

  Before I could open my mouth to say something to Rosetta, I was hit with an overwhelming sensation. I was becoming rather adept at sensing Rhydin’s magic, and it felt like Rosetta’s body had been drowned in it. My body balked at it and wanted to get as far away from her as possible, but I forced myself to hold on. I looked into my sleeping sister’s face, and could find no words to express my feelings that wouldn’t cause me to fall into a crying fit. So, I only hoped that somehow she could tell what I was thinking and could feel the sisterly love that would never die for her.

  I leaned in to kiss Rosetta’s forehead as Rachel ducked down to examine her as well, but suddenly her weight was gone in my arms. My sister dissolved into sand, falling through my fingers. My fists dove into the piles, desperate to find something of my little sister to hold on to. How was this possible?

  I began to hyperventilate as Rachel pulled me in close and said, “I know it won’t make it better, but I’m so sorry, Lina. Some death curses do this.”

  That was it. That was the final straw. In the span of an hour, Rhydin had murdered what was left of my family. My body literally shut down, and I blacked out.

  When I came to, night had fallen and we were still on my property, hiding out in the barn. My mind refused to process the memories that I wished were only nightmares. I wondered why we hadn’t gone back to the livery, but then I remembered that we had blown our cover there. I pretended to still be unconscious as the group beyond me continued talking.

  “James, it’s okay. It’s not your fault.” I heard Rachel’s voice from the distance. “Just tell us what happened. We’re trying to understand.”

  Someone took a deep breath, and I heard the most serious James ever. “It all just happened so fast. One minute I was on my rounds like normal, and the next, I sensed Rhydin. I could feel him getting closer, and so I went back to the house. Saarah had known too and so she put down a barrier…”

  “If she had gotten a barrier to the ground, no one could have opened it. How did Rhydin draw them out?” A voice interrupted. Probably Frederick.

  “See, that’s the problem.” James continued, “The barrier settled in the walls of the house and the door. That kid who’s always with Rosetta came to the door and begged us to open it because he was scared. Of course, Rosetta ran up and opened it, and messed up everything. I tried to shut the door, but it wouldn’t close.”

  “So, it was Mikael in the beginning, too. If he hadn’t been there, her family could still be alive.” I recognized Sam this time, but his voice was bordering on fury. Mikael was his charge, the boy he had taken in after the Epidemic.

  “I don’t know about that, but that’s how Rhydin got in.” James muttered. “Saarah knew I wouldn’t last against Rhydin, so she had me take care of the rest of his Followers while she dueled him herself. She told the girls to run, but I don’t know what happened to them. Mikael was with them. In the end, I couldn’t protect anyone…”

  “Hush. If Rhydin was easy to take care of, this would have never happened. You did the best you could.” Rachel said, and I knew she was right, even though the fury I was feeling had no name on it.

  As the Alyen nou Clarii, the group devoted to protecting the Allyen, moved onto a different topic of discussion, I got up slowly, trying not to be noticed. I crept slowly out of the barn, making sure my locket was safely stowed in my sash and my magic feather was still firmly tied around my neck. I rounded the corner to where the barn jutted up against a small hill.

  Even in the dark, I could see the shapes of the mounds and grave markers. This was where my family was buried, and there was a tint of nostalgia when I noticed that there were three new additions. Even though my heart was still pained, a small sense of relief came when I realized that they would never be hurt again. By Rhydin or anybody else. But that didn’t change the fact that their absences left holes in my heart that could never be filled. Every generation was here, even though the oldest of the graves no longer had markers. This would always be my family’s land. My parents and my grandfather were buried here after the Epidemic, and now my sister, grandmother, and cousin had joined them.

  There was no one left, I nearly thought, until I remembered Evan. According to Keera, he was my twin brother. The only family I had left in the entire world. On top of that, we had to stand together against Rhydin. I made a mental note to talk to Rachel later about when he and I could meet.

  “Hey.” Someone came up behind me, but I did not startle since my body was still so tired. It was James, seeming just as weary as he came to join me. “I hope it was okay to put them to rest here.”

  “It’s the perfect place.” I said quietly, trying not to cry again. “Thank you.”

  There were no more words to be said. James left an awkward distance between us, as if he didn’t know how I would react, so I closed it and took his hand. Sometimes I forgot how much younger than me he was since he was so much taller than me. Even younger than Rosetta. I put my arm around his back since I couldn’t reach his shoulders, as a sister would. Taking a deep breath, I found the last words I needed to say. “I don’t blame you, James. You did the best you could.”

  “Does that mean you’re not angry?” James looked at me with pure innocence, his eyes big and blue and precious.

  “Not with you, James.” I said, my words turning into steel. “Not with you.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  T ime melted together. Seconds felt as long as days. It had been a couple weeks now since the deaths, and things looked even bleaker if that were even possible. We Alyen nou Clarii were in major trouble. The rumors had started, hedged on by headlines of the daily newspaper, The Lunakan Moons.

 
Missing Prince and Traitorous Mistress Spotted at Local Livery!

  SCANDAL: Owens Livery Owner Kidnapped the Prince!

  This Just In: Princess Mira KNEW!

  Tragedy Strikes! Local Farm Burned Down; Harvey Family Slaughtered.

  Mystery Man in Farm Burning: Sources Confirm He’s a Rounan! Hide your Children!

  Yeah, that “traitorous mistress”? That would be me. Rachel normally brought home a newspaper whenever she returned to town for food, and so since I was usually the last person of our group who could get their hands on it, I would burn them when I was done. It was rather cathartic.

  As the newspaper stories kept coming, our group made some major decisions during the time blur that my memory didn’t record too well. Most importantly, we couldn’t go back to Luke’s livery. From what we heard, Lunakan soldiers had trashed it in search for us on King Adam’s orders. Now, we had set up camp in a quieter, thicker section of forest several miles north of Lunaka Castle. There were no towns anywhere in the northeastern section of Lunaka, so we were sure not to have random travelers come across us.

  I thought I was miserable in the livery basement. What with having to stay inside all the time and no fresh air, it seemed like the worst situation at the time. But, at least I could hear the people outside. I could hear them talking, hear them on their way to work, hear children running in the street, and the sound of the mines as they sputtered to life every morning and choked to death every evening.

  Here, in the forest, it was just us. There was no noise, other than the small noises of chatter and fire that we made ourselves. Don’t get me wrong, it was a much prettier hideout than the livery basement. I had never seen such huge trees, ones with trunks so thick that if I wrapped my arms around one my fingers were far from touching. The grass was green, the leaves lush, and the smell of oak thick in the air. The wind wasn’t quite as powerful as out on the prairie, but I could catch quite a few breaths between the trees.