by Travis Bughi
“I expected it.” Adelpha shrugged. “Men are all the same, Emily. They can’t be trusted. I’m surprised he even bothered to open the letter.”
Emily’s jaw dropped open once again. She knew the amazons didn’t marry, or even allow marriage, but for some naïve reason, she’d never suspected that Adelpha felt this way. As Emily blinked her surprise away, it seemed clear now, even obvious, but still it hurt. Emily felt like her father, her brothers, and Gavin were all under attack, and she needed to defend their honor.
“You’re wrong,” Emily said with a stammer. “That’s not common; I’m telling you.”
“Is that so?” Adelpha replied. “And you know this through your extended relationship experience?”
“No, I just, well, look at my father. He’s never abandoned my mother. And you’re one to talk about relationships. You’ve never been with anyone either.”
“One does not have to walk off a cliff to know it will kill you,” Adelpha said with full confidence.
“I can’t believe you think that way.” Emily shook her head. “We’re not speaking of something physical here, Adelpha. And besides, I don’t think those are your words.”
Adelpha blinked.
“Ha!” Emily pointed. “So someone else told you that, huh? Was it Chara?”
“So what if it was? When has Chara ever been wrong?”
The two women had stopped walking now and were glaring at each other. To outsiders, the amazons looked like they were about to trade blows, and the crowd gave them a wide berth. Emily had a smirk on her face, though. She’d figured Adelpha out clearly enough. The amazon queen held every opinion with a passion, so to hear her speak so calmly of men was telling. Adelpha didn’t really believe men were bad; she’d just been told that by a trusted source.
Of course, Emily trusted Chara as well, more than anyone else perhaps. But all humans could be wrong, and Emily knew well enough when to follow her heart. And, at that moment, her heart was telling her something very interesting about Adelpha.
“Chara was hurt by my grandfather,” Emily explained, “but that doesn’t make him a perfect example of men. And I know you don’t believe it either. In fact, your calm attitude about all this revealed something to me. You like someone—a man, to be specific.”
Adelpha’s fury flickered away for a moment but then returned. It was a disguised version, though, and Emily knew she’d struck a nerve.
“You’ve gone mad.” Adelpha tried to dismiss the conversation and began walking again.
“Ah ha! And you’re calm again.” Emily laughed and pointed an accusing finger. “Who is it? A knight? A pirate? Actually, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say it was a viking. They sound more like your type.”
“This conversation ends NOW!” Adelpha yelled and jabbed a finger back at Emily.
Emily giggled but did not continue. Adelpha had just unintentionally revealed a deep secret, and there was no need to continue pointing that out. Although Emily was vastly curious about whom it was, the information wasn’t worth infuriating Adelpha further.
Almost.
“So what’s the plan now?” Adelpha asked with gritted teeth as she tried to change the subject. “Wait at the Banshee with your arms open until your knight in shining armor comes?”
“No,” Emily scoffed. “I want to surprise him. And I don’t want my mother and brother to be with me when he shows up.”
“Hmf,” Adelpha said. “Yes, I can see how that might get in the way. I’ll be around though.”
“Of course you will be,” Emily smiled. “I don’t want to run the risk of you sneaking off to find your lover.”
Emily winced as Adelpha’s elbow jabbed into her ribs.
* * *
Abe and Mariam were already at the tavern. They had found plenty of information, including the fact that Ichiro Katsu was indeed here in the city, living lavishly aboard his vessel at the docks, but there was unfortunately little else that Emily and Adelpha hadn’t learned from Doles. Abe was especially shocked at everything that had happened. He hadn’t been to Lucifan in a month, and the amount by which the city had changed staggered him. He seemed to be feeling the panic that had taken root in most of Lucifan’s citizens.
Mariam and Adelpha were the least worried. Mariam only feared that Nicholas was still in the city and something might happen to him amongst all this turmoil. Adelpha, on the other hand, wasn’t concerned at all for Lucifan, which surprised no one. Heliena was Adelpha’s only problem, and all this extra information only served to anger her.
If Adelpha had her way, she explained, she’d march right down to the docks with an arrow nocked and drawn.
Emily had concerns that didn’t involve suicide, though. Heliena needed to be found, drawn out, and otherwise separated from those who would protect her. There would be no hope to avenge Chara’s death while her killer was lounging comfortably within a heavily guarded shogun ship. Sure, the amazons had killed Ichiro Katsu’s ambassador, Okamoto Karaoshi, aboard such a vessel, but there had been over twenty amazons then.
Katsu would be an even more difficult target than Okamoto. He was rumored to be the wealthiest overlord in Juatwa, the land normally referred to as the ‘East’ by those on this continent. Abe explained that, from what he’d learned, there were many feudal lords there, each fighting for control over Juatwa, but Katsu had the easiest access to the ocean and, thus, to trade. His wealth could be supported almost without a tax and an iron fist, but that didn’t stop him from utilizing both. No one seemed to have any real idea why he was here, but most suspected that it was connected to the angels’ disappearance. Perhaps the shogun wished to see his investments kept safe?
Emily disregarded that theory immediately. The only investments the shogun was interested in, she was sure, were Heliena and the exchange with Count Drowin, which had already occurred, as the string of dead, basilisk-poisoned vampires proved. So why is Katsu still here? Emily thought, and Heliena, too, for that matter?
They agreed to sleep on it. It’d been a long day of walking, talking, and discovering so they retired for the night. Emily and Adelpha took a room separate from Abe and Mariam. Mariam had, at first, wanted to stay up a bit, but Emily and Abe both convinced her it was wiser to avoid the night crowd.
No one tried to argue with Adelpha though. The young queen said she wished to have a few drinks first, and her mood conveyed that she wished to do it alone. Thus, the Stouts retired upstairs to their rooms, and there Emily waited as her heart fluttered in anticipation of Gavin’s arrival.
Emily pictured the young knight’s chiseled chin, blonde hair, and soft, green eyes. She remembered watching him fight an ogre, standing toe-to-toe with the brute and slamming the beast back to save a fellow comrade. She remembered flying on his pegasus with her arms wrapped tightly around his waist, and feeling his hand touch hers. Emily felt her cheeks burn and bit her lower lip, trying to calm herself down. She was blushing already, and Gavin wasn’t even here yet.
Adelpha came up a bit later, looking something between flustered and pleased, but obviously tipsy. She explained that Gavin and company had arrived and the party had started.
“How do I look?” Emily asked, running her fingers through her short hair for the hundredth time that night.
“Ravishing,” Adelpha said with a hiccup, “like any amazon should.”
Emily smiled and felt her stomach clench, and she couldn’t stop smiling either as she exited out of the room and tiptoed down the hall and stairs. The lively music of a fiddle echoed up the wooden staircase and matched the beat of Emily’s pounding heart. As her feet touched the bottom, she peered around the corner.
The tavern was filled with patrons. There were gnomes dancing on a table, humans clapping and cheering, even two minotaurs nodding their heads in rhythm, but the knights were the easiest to spot. They were on their feet, clapping to the music that came from the fiddler on the stage.
Emily was surprised to see the musician was Sir Duncan Macalister and
that he was playing with fine skill. The music was fast, uplifting, and had the entire place clapping in time. His fellow knights were most enthusiastic—dancing, shouting encouragement, and cheering at Duncan. One knight with a head that was shaved bald let loose a sharp whistle and swung a fist in the air.
A crowd had gathered around the dance floor in front of the stage. Through the gaps, Emily saw four couples spinning around the open space. One of the couples was in the center of it all, and they continued to dance as Duncan played his fiddle faster and faster. The other three couples began to fall out, until only the center couple remained. Emily crept forward and sneaked into the crowd until she was close enough to see that the couple was a tavern maid and Sir Gavin Shaw.
He was dressed in his white tunic with an unbuttoned vest over the top of it. The stubble on his chin was clearly visible, even from this distance, and he had his arms linked with those of the tavern maid. The crowd clapped faster and faster as Duncan picked up the pace of his tune and Gavin spun the maid around and around the makeshift dance floor.
She twirled and twirled as the music reached its peak. The crowd stomped their feet on the wood as a solid unit as the couple astounded them all. They clapped and they clapped as Duncan played and played.
And then the music stopped, and silence fell over all.
Emily noticed the maid was lovely, almost as lovely Gavin. He had her bent over backwards in his arms and was holding her close. His soft green eyes dived deeply into hers. The stubble on his chin must have felt rough as she touched his face, trailing her fingers down a scar that ran along the left side of his cheek.
The crowd held its breath as the two stared into each other’s eyes. Then the couple leaned forward, ever so slowly, until their lips touched in a kiss.
The crowd cheered, but Emily felt her heart shatter.
Chapter 5
As Gavin pulled away from the tender embrace, his eyes looked past the maid to Emily. The crowd was still cheering when he gasped and let go of her. The maid yelped as she hit the floor, and the crowd went silent.
“Emily?” he said.
Duncan stumbled on the stage but cocked an overzealous eyebrow towards the amazon girl. He raised an arm to wave at her but instead fell to the floor, too intoxicated to support his own weight.
“Heeyyy,” he mumbled. “Emy!”
Emily felt her eyes swell with tears, and her gut hardened to the likeness of stone. As the entire tavern turned to follow Gavin’s shocked gaze, Emily buried her face in her hands and bolted for the door, shoving people out of her way as fast as she could.
“Emily!” Gavin yelled.
Her name followed her as she exploded out of the tavern and into the night’s air. The moment she was beyond sight of the crowd, the tears began to stream down her cheeks, and she ran away into the night.
“Emily!” Gavin yelled again.
She heard the tavern door bang open and footsteps following behind her. She didn’t look back and kept running, first down one alley, then another and another, yet still the footsteps followed, and her eyes burned with tears. Blinded by both the tears and the dark, she failed to notice a discarded crate around the next bend. At full speed, she crashed into it and went sprawling face first upon the cobbled stones.
“Emily,” Gavin said as he turned the corner and caught up to her. “Emily, stop!”
“What!” Emily yelled back. “What do you want? I see you’re already busy.”
Gavin gritted his teeth. “Hey, hey, don’t do that. Hey look, I’m sorry.”
“Oh, you’re sorry,” Emily mocked. “Well it’s all fine then, don’t worry about it!”
Emily stopped to catch her breath and pick herself up off the ground. As she stood, Gavin walked over to offer a helping hand, but it was quickly pushed away.
“Hey! There’s no need to be prideful,” Gavin said. “I already said I’m sorry.”
“Prideful?” Emily scoffed, turning her head away to wipe her blurred eyes. “I’m not being prideful; I can stand on my own, thank you very much. I don’t need your help, though I think your new lover will. You should probably hurry back to her.”
“My new lover?” Gavin looked back the way he came and threw his arms out. “What new lover? I only saw a tavern maid I shared a dance with. I didn’t know you were going to be there!”
“Ah, I see. Well, next time the girls are lining up to give you a kiss, I’ll be sure to warn you that I’m on my way. Wouldn’t want your knightly honor scarred by—”
“Hey!” Gavin pointed a finger at her. “It’s not like I’m running all over town, Emily! And what did you expect anyway, huh? You think I was just going to sit pretty after you left, waiting like a dumbstruck child until you came back? It’s not like you haven’t been gone for, what, how many months? Nearly a year now, it feels like. You just up and leave one night, and I never hear from you again? What’d you think was going to happen? I was just going to wait around until you got back?”
“Well, I’m sorry!” Emily cried, wiping fresh tears from her eyes. “It’s not like I was picking flowers at the time and just got lost, okay?”
“It would have helped if you’d at least left a letter or something,” Gavin begged. “I see you for a brief period of time, and I think we might start something, and then I wake up and you’re gone. Did you ever think about how that might make me feel?”
“Look, Gavin, I’m sorry about that. I was in a hurry, alright? We had to leave Lucifan quickly.”
“Oh yes,” he scoffed. “I remember why, now. I remember what was so important. You were assassinating a shogun’s ambassador! Betraying my trust! I told you where that samurai was in good faith, Emily! You put my entire career, my whole way of life, in jeopardy when you and your friends pulled that stunt. You’re damn lucky that I could convince O’Conner to cover it up.”
Gavin’s accusing finger came up again, this time on an extended arm, and Emily balled her hands up into fists as she turned to shout at him.
“Convince?” Emily mocked. “Don’t flatter yourself. Mark would have done that no matter what to protect his own skin. His wife helped carry out the deed. And what did you expect would happen when you told me where Okamoto Karaoshi was? That samurai tried to kill me, and you’re angry at me for defending myself?”
“Mark is married?” Gavin stuttered.
Emily didn’t answer.
“Okay, never mind that then.” Gavin brushed the surprise aside. “It doesn’t matter. I want to know what you mean by defending yourself. That wasn’t defending, Emily. What you did was murder! You and your amazons killed him on his own ship in a protected town with laws! Angel laws!” Gavin shouted. “He was an ambassador, for Ephron’s sake! Now Ichiro Katsu is here, and he’s demanding reimbursement for the loss!”
“We didn’t want to kill him,” Emily spat back. “Okamoto knew whom the traitor was in our ranks. There was no way we were just walking off without confronting him, and he was no use to us dead. And besides, his death was an accident. At least, I thought it was, but now I know it wasn’t. Heliena killed him because . . . ugh! Just, just forget it! You wouldn’t understand.”
“Wouldn’t understand what? I don’t even know what you’re talking about!” Gavin took a step closer, and Emily took a step back. “Hey, look. If you’re still mad about that woman back there, I only met her tonight. We were just having fun. I didn’t know when, or even if, you were coming back.”
“You know, yes,” Emily replied sarcastically, wiping the last of her tears away, “that does make me feel much better, knowing you look at women you just met the same way you look at me. Why thank you, Gavin, your manners are astounding right now.”
“You’re unbelievable,” he replied, throwing his arms up. “Does the fact that I chased after you count for nothing? Huh? I’m here, aren’t I?”
Emily shook her head to clear her vision and also in the vain attempt to shake the deep knife-wounded feeling in her heart. She clenched her jaw and looked up at Ga
vin as he stood there arms thrown wide, waiting for a reply. Emily was about to say something, too, until she noticed an extremely cold feeling wash over her.
Her skin prickled as the air around her lost its heat. The already cool air of Lucifan dropped rapidly to an abyssal low. Emily took a sharp breath, feeling the coldness in her lungs, and then she breathed out. A cloud of steam seeped from her lips, drifting then fading into the darkness. Gavin noticed the feeling as well, and his eyes filled with dread. He looked at Emily, and they shared a brief exchange of pure terror—their entire conversation forgotten in the instant they both realized their lives were in mortal danger.
“You feel that?” Gavin whispered.
As he spoke, white steam escaped his lips in the cold air. Neither of them had moved yet. Each stood frozen in the alley, looking fearfully into the other’s eyes.
“Run,” Emily commanded.
They spun on their heels and ran in opposite directions with fear-fueled limbs. As Emily sprinted towards her end of the alley, she became painfully aware that she had forgotten not only her bow, but also her knife, both tucked safely away in her room. This knowledge made her run faster, and she surely would have run all night if given the chance.
But she hadn’t even reached the end of the street before Count Drowin stepped around the corner and Emily’s flight came to a screeching halt.
The vampire smiled his hungry smile as Emily nearly tripped over herself with the sudden stop. His white fangs shined in the moonlight. He was dressed elegantly, as always—his hair slicked back and manicured to a shine and his pale skin adding a deathly touch to his already overbearing aura. He spread his arms as if begging for a hug, and Emily turned with renewed horror to run in the other direction.
But Gavin hadn’t made any progress either. His end of the alley was blocked by a samurai no older than Gavin himself. The samurai was standing calmly with his long black hair tied back and up into a tail, dressed in a characteristic white gown and those wooden sandals that always seemed to make too much noise. Yet, somehow, this samurai hadn’t been heard. His eyes, black as his hair, reflected the moonlight and bore into Emily’s soul with pure hatred.
