by H. D. Gordon
The Sorceress tilted her head. “As a matter of fact, I do. I have a King to kill.”
My brow furrowed and I looked over at Nelly again–her face so drawn and pale–wondering how she had convinced Surah of our innocence and the King’s guilt in under an hour. Nelly’s voice was small when she spoke. “Then we want the same thing, Surah,” she said. “Stay. We can help each other.”
Surah turned her head and regarded my sister with more sympathy that I would have expected. “No,” she said. “I’m afraid we do not want the same thing. You wish to overthrow an empire, while I want only to kill a single man.” She paused. “And I work best alone.”
I didn’t move from my position in front of her, and her mouth quirked up in amusement. My left eye twitched. “The King is mine,” I said, feeling the truth of the words so very deep in my soul.
Surah smirked. “Well, then I guess the race in on,” she said. “Good luck to you, Sun Warrior.” She glanced back at Nelly. “And you.” And then she vanished.
Literally. Vanished. I stood staring at the spot where she had been, blinking like a cartoon character. I would have punched and kicked pointlessly at the air there if there had not been other people in the room. No need to look as insane as I felt.
I turned on my sister. “What happened?” I asked, for what felt like the hundredth time.
Nelly took a deep breath before answering. “The King is weeding out what he calls “traitors,” Lex. He’s going from city to city and weeding them out.” Her breath hitched, and I thought that she was going to break into tears, but she didn’t. “He’s slaughtering them, Alexa, putting their heads up on spikes. And he’s telling the ones he lets live that we–you and I–are in league with the Sorcerers.” Nelly looked down at her hands now, unable to meet my eyes. “And the Accursed. There is a pretty big reward for our heads, too.”
Tommy wrapped his arm around Nelly’s shoulders, and she leaned in a little to his touch. I wanted to go over and comfort her, but I just didn’t for the life of me know what to say. How had things unraveled so quickly? How had they gone so horribly wrong?
Kayden tugged my arm. “Can I talk to you in the hallway for a minute, Warrior?” he asked.
I nodded, a feeling that I knew what he was going to say making my stomach twist. Kayden opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, glancing around. I followed him out and shut the door behind me. “Don’t say it,” I said.
Kayden ignored this. “She will have to go now, Alexa. The sooner, the better. People will start arriving soon, and some of them will want to join the cause, but others will be lying in wait to get at her…and you. The decision has to be made, and made now.”
I rubbed my forehead. “I told you not to say it,” I said. “You know what my decision is. If Nelly stays here, she dies. I know I have to send her away, but…does it have to be right now? I only just got her back, Kayden.”
Kayden cupped my face in his rough hand, and I leaned into his touch. His golden eyes were gentle, but urgent. “Those on our side will want her to fight with them. Those on the other side will just want her dead. Either way, it ends the same if she stays within reach of either party. Does your sister even know that she is the Savior? Does she know she is the one slated to die for her people?”
My eyes widened, and my hand reached up as if to cover my mouth, but stopped midway. “No,” I said. “I don’t think she does. I think our mother always told her that it was me, and so even through everything that’s happened, she still believes it.”
Kayden nodded, as if this were the point. “And what will she do when Camillia enlightens her? When she enlightens everyone and they start pushing for her to go into battle with them?”
My heart felt like it was lying dead on the floor at my feet. I met Kayden’s eyes. “She will fight,” I said, hearing the truth in the words even as I spoke them. “She won’t let me take her place.”
Another nod. “And then what?”
I looked down at my hands. “And then she’ll die.”
Kayden took my shoulders in his hands and dipped his head so that I had to look into those sunrise eyes. “So tell me, Warrior, what is it you are going to do?”
“I’m going to send her into the White World until this thing is over. I’m going to make sure that I get to stand in her place.”
Kayden’s returning smile was sad and pained, but I could swear there was a bit of wonder there, too. “That’s exactly what I thought you’d say.”
A sense of resolve fell over me, an acceptance that came easier than I would have expected. It felt as though my entire life had been leading up to this moment, this decision, and there was never any question what my choice would be. The only question now was, how was I going to get Nelly to agree to go to the Seer, and leave me to face her fate.
You will have to lie, of course. To Nelly. Perhaps I can be of some assistance with that, Warrior.
I sighed heavily. “Perhaps you can. Just hang tight. I’ll let you know when it’s your turn to take the wheel. First…I need to say goodbye.”
Yes. Yes, I suppose you do.
Alexa
I took a step back from Kayden. “Alright,” I said. “I need you to go find Arrol, and tell him that Nelly and I will meet him at the lake.” I swallowed hard around the lump in my throat. “We’ll be ready.” It sounded like a lie, because it was. I would not be ready to leave Nelly. Not ever. But I had to.
Kayden nodded and bent forward to kiss my cheek. “Okay, Warrior. I’ll go find the Fae and meet you there, but you should be careful. I think you can feel it the same as I can that we are standing on rotting boards here. If you don’t show up at the lake, I will tear this city apart looking for you.”
I gave him a half smile, swallowing back stupid tears threatening behind my eyes. I would never be able to fool Nelly if I was balling like a baby. “You won’t need to,” I said. “We’ll be there.”
Kayden nodded once more and headed off to complete his task, moving with quick steps for such a big man. I watched him until he rounded the corner of the hallway and then turned to face the green door. My courage seemed to have left with my Libra.
“I don’t know if I can do this.”
That’s why you have me, Warrior. To do the things your heart won’t let you do.
“That makes no sense, we share a heart. You have no problem with the fact that this next hour may be the last we ever get to share with her?”
No answer. None at all. I waited a minute to see if my Monster would offer some kind of response, but it didn’t. When I realized that I was just stalling, no, wasting precious time, I placed my hand on the doorknob and turned and pushed my way inside.
Nelly was still seated on the bed, and Tommy was seated next to her. I took a deep breath, willing myself not to cry right here and now. “Tommy, can you give me a minute with Nelly, please?” I asked.
Tommy nodded and stood up, straightening his shirt out of old habit. “I’ll be generous,” he said. “I’ll give you an hour.”
Heat flooded my cheeks and I hoped like hell that roses were not blooming there. I swallowed hard again so that my words wouldn’t catch. “Thanks, Tommy.”
He left, and then I was alone with my sister. I walked over to the bed and took a seat beside her, placing my hand over hers. This was not going to be easy. “How you doing, Nell?”
Nelly sputtered a humorless laugh. “Oh, I’m pretty crappy, Lex. What about you?”
I sighed, silently telling my Monster to be ready to step forward if I should be unable to control my tears. I hoped like hell it was still listening, because when it hadn’t answered me in the hall I had felt an odd bit of panic, and I was surprised to find that its presence comforted me. But now I could feel it there again inside me, and though it did not speak in that cold, flat voice that was so close to my own, but not quite, I knew that it would help me out here if I needed it.
I gave Nelly’s small, soft hand a squeeze. “Yeah,” I said. “Same here…Only I wou
ld have said I’m doing pretty shitty.”
Nelly rested her head on my shoulder, and I stroked her chestnut and honey hair. “I guess you would, huh?” she said, and by the way she sniffed after I could tell without looking that the tears I was holding in so desperately were falling down her face.
“It’s going to be okay, Nell. I won’t let anything happen to you, you know that, right?”
Her head nodded on my shoulder. “I know, Alexa.” Another sniff. “But what about you? How can you protect me against all of this and protect yourself.” Her head lifted and she gripped my hands hard, hazel eyes staring at me wide and panicked. “These people expect you to die for them, Alexa. You can’t be worrying about protecting me. I want you to worry about protecting yourself, and let me help to do that, too.”
A light bulb went off in my head. Maybe this would be easier than I had thought. I took a deep breath. “You’re right,” I said.
Hope flashed behind her eyes and into my heart like a jagged shard of glass. “So you’ll let me protect you, then? You’ll let me fight this war with you?”
I chose my words carefully. “You really want to help?” I asked, feeling dirty about this deed already.
Nelly’s returning nod was emphatic. “Good,” I said. “Then I need you to go somewhere until this Accursed mess is over with, until I can convince people that you can be…trusted. It will be easier to get them to listen if I’m not jumping at the throats of everyone who makes a threat against you. I’ll know you are safe, and when they come around, you will come back.”
Nelly’s face scrunched up in confusion and maybe a little suspicion. I made sure that my mental walls were in place, so that she couldn’t just reach in and pull the lie out of my head, but I knew that she wouldn’t even try. Nelly’s trust in me was unwavering. And I felt like an asshole for it.
“What are you talking about?” she said. “I’m not leaving you, and besides where the hell would I even go? Everyone around seems to have a good reason to want me dead.” She shook her head. “And I’m not leaving you.”
Nope, I was right. This wasn’t going to be easy. I realized with a twist of my stomach that the lie would have to be bigger. Another deep breath. “Nelly, I think you know that I can look after myself. It won’t be long.” I paused, remembering that time passed differently in the White World. Hours went by in this world in what seemed to be the space of minutes in the White World. That would make this easier, as long as I didn’t let Nelly know about it.
“In fact,” I continued, “it may only be a handful of hours, half a day, maybe, just until I can convince them to lay off of you so that we can get down to this business of war. You said yourself that I can’t be looking out for both of us. I need you to do this for me, Nell.”
Nelly stared at me for a long moment, and I could tell with equal parts relief and dread that she was actually considering it. “Where do you expect me to go?”
“Someone has offered to take you in,” I said, and paused. “Do you know what a Seer is?”
Nelly’s eyebrows went up. “Only from books,” she said. “They can see the future, right? Like, prophets, or something. Why? That’s who’s offered me safe haven? How do you know a Seer? And what would make you trust him with me?”
Yeah, that was a butt-load of undesirable questions. I decided that the truth would have to be adjusted for these answers as well. “I went to see a Seer when you…when you lost yourself. He…or she, I guess, was the one that told me that a willing sacrifice was the key to saving you. I trust him…her…whatever.”
“You want me to believe that you trust me with someone whose gender you’re not even sure of?”
Damn. I guess that wasn’t as clever an answer as I thought. My Monster tossed out a better one, and I let it fall out of my mouth, even though it made me feel like a hypocritical liar. “I expect you to trust me, Nell,” I said. “And I only don’t know what gender the Seer is because neither its voice nor appearance leans toward male or female. But, yes, I trust the Seer to keep you safe, and I need you to go to his world for a little while.”
Nelly held up a hand. “Wait, what? His world? What the hell are you talking about?”
That was the second time in this conversation that Nelly had used a curse word. That alone told me that this wasn’t going well. I snuck a peak at the clock that hung on the wall.
Tick-tock, Warrior.
“Yes,” I said, hoping that my panic did not come out sounding like impatience. I had to be cool. “His world. It’s a place where you have to be invited into, a place where no one can hurt you, Nell...A place where I don’t have to worry about you.”
I regretted these words as soon as they left my mouth, and the look on Nelly’s face was the reason why. It was a low blow. I knew that she had always felt guilty about me having to take care of her, and I didn’t want that, but…I had to do whatever it took. I had to.
Nelly’s voice was small, but it seemed to punch into my gut with the strength of the Gods. “Only for a few hours?” she asked. “Half a day at most, and then you’ll come get me?”
I nodded.
Nelly bit her lip and wrung her hands in her lap. “Okay. I’ll do it.”
I released a breath that I hadn’t known I’d been holding, but then Nelly said, “But you have to promise me something, Alexa.”
I swallowed once, nodded. I think this is your cue, I told my Monster, feeling the rush of waterworks threaten and hearing the splintering moans of my tainted soul.
“Promise me that you will come and get me before the battle begins. Promise me that you won’t face the King alone, that you will let me be there to protect you.”
My Monster’s voice sounded uncannily like my own when I said, “I promise, Nelly. I promise.”
An Offer He Can’t Refuse
The sun was rising steadily over Running Waters, the second city on the King’s list. Sunrise fell over the specially crafted buildings, jumped merrily off the multi-colored rooftops. The morning was warm and thick, the birds oddly silent for such a day. People were stepping out their homes now and following the ocean-blue paths that led them to the Running Waters’ Council Building.
King William sat at a window in the Queen of the city’s office—having sent her from the room with a flick of his wrist—sipping a steaming cup of Accursed blood that had been paid for by the blood of his people. He watched, diamonds and rubies adorning his fingers and neck and suit, glittering as sunlight streamed in through the window. He watched people leaving their homes, wondering which of them would actually return home when this day was over. His mass Searches in Sun City the day before had yielded more traitors that he had thought they would. It didn’t hurt his feelings, but he couldn’t believe that there were so many who were considering joining the Sun Warrior in her futile fight. It just showed you that common people were all the same: simple, stupid, and unaware of what was best for them.
No matter. He was aware, and that was sufficient for all. In a few days his cities would be wiped clean of traitors, leaving nothing more than streaks on a chalkboard. Those two self-righteous little girls would have a hard time building any type of army after that. All in all, things were going quite well.
A knock sounded on the door to the office, and King William bade the caller come in. Andre opened the door and gave his King a stiff nod. Following him was Lord Thomas Caslon. The sight of Caslon brought a cold smile across King William’s face. He could always trust Andre to complete his tasks in a timely manner.
“Lord Caslon,” he said in greeting. He looked at his Warrior. “Thank you, Andre. Leave us now.”
The enormous Warrior left without a word, but King William knew that he would be standing just outside the door. Thomas stood there for a minute, as if he did not know what to do. “Your Majesty,” he said. “I believe you requested my presence?”
King William nodded and waved a hand at the chair across from his. “Indeed I did, Thomas. Have a seat.”
Thomas did as h
e was told. King William set his steaming cup of stolen blood down on the saucer on his lap. “How long have we known each other, Thomas?”
“For as long as I’ve been alive, your Majesty.”
The King gave another nod. “And when you came of age, what was the first thing I did?”
Thomas swallowed once. “You gave me my Lordship, your Majesty, offered me a position on your Council at Two Rivers.”
“Has it been a good life, Thomas? Have you enjoyed the perks of royalty?”
“Yes, your Majesty. I am grateful for everything you have done for me.”
King William released a feigned sigh. “So you must know that it pains me to know that you would betray me,” he said, his cold gray eyes unblinking.
Thomas’s mouth fell open and he shook his head. “Never, my King. I have not betrayed you. I wouldn’t dare.”
King William brought his teacup to his mouth again and took a long, slow slip. When he pulled it away, his teeth were stained a bloody black. “Where is your son at this moment, Thomas? The one that shares your name. What has he been up to these past few days?”
Thomas’s hands clenched into fists on his lap. “I don’t know, your Majesty,” he said. “He…he disappeared five days ago, and I haven’t heard from him since.”
“Is that so?”
Thomas nodded.
“What is the nature of his relationship with the Sun Warrior and her sister? Do you know anything about that?”
“I know that he is fond of both girls, your Majesty. Friends with them, I suppose.”
“Ah, and you didn’t think that this was a thing worth mentioning?”
Thomas took an unsteady breath. “I have been giving you every bit of information that I thought was important, your Majesty. I told you my suspicions about Queen Camillia. I told you about the Sun Warrior and your son. I’ve watched Two Rivers for you faithfully since the beginning.”
King William sat forward in his chair. He did not want to hear about his son. “And yet you did not think that mentioning the relationship they have with your son was important information? You are aware that we are at war, Thomas? You are aware of the prophecy and the girl’s power?”
