Traitors (The Traitor King Saga Book 1)

by A. M. Hickman

  Eve hummed in amusement. “Hum, quite a shock. Your perfect mother, a Domotrec.”

  Blaze gasped as her lungs seemed unable to fill. Her vision tunneled to the Domotrec.

  Just turn and kill him. The voice urged. Put an end to the pain he has wrought. Kill in the name of King Urlifec!

  With a grunt, Blaze fell to a knee, trying to ground herself against the deadly desire to destroy her enemies in the name of Urlifec. She would never be his servant.

  A small part of her warned that if she gave in to the destructive urge, her life would be forfeit. Eve kept smiling in her amused fashion. “Yes, it’s true. You see, we worked together in the service industry, but our goods were more, hmm, tailored for the pleasures of men.”

  “No,” tears blurred Blaze’s eyes. It couldn’t be true.

  Eve sighed mockingly and continued with a bored tone, “Oh, it truly is a dreadful story. Right after our thirteenth fall, we were sold by our drunken fathers to a man named Zeth, who owned a brothel, for only a kin a piece. The kaffing brothers didn’t even barter.” The cohe growled again. “Well, we learned our trade, whether we liked it or not. Until Ava decided that she’d had enough. Your sweet mother and I butchered every man in that brothel that night, and that Wilden, Zeth, gave us our freedom with a slit in his kaffing neck.”

  Urlificans moaned, and some fell to the ground under her rage. Eve’s hatred spilled over into Blaze as Ryan’s advances on herself and poor Tawnya played vividly in her memory. All of those Wilden should DIE!

  “We were eventually caught, but the great King Urlifec didn’t see criminals in us; he saw potential.” Adoration permeated from her speech. “He is the benefactor who took us in, clothed us in the softest garments, fed us the richest foods. And he trained us to become the deadliest of the land. And Blaze, when he deemed us ready, he gave us our cohes and our freedom. Your mother became the most feared Domotrec in the kingdom.”

  Blaze quivered in agony. It couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t.

  But, it is. Hissed the voice. You know it isss.

  “Don’t you remember how animals always obeyed your mother?” Eve asked, her voice escalating with conviction. “Wasn’t she as strong as your pathetic father? Didn’t she have these?” And Eve threw her right arm up, the falling black sleeve revealing massive black puncture wounds pocking the top and bottom of her forearm.

  Blaze’s eyes widened in terror. They hadn’t been black, but her mother’s arm had been marked by the same pattern of scars. Her heart screamed. She was the daughter of a Domotrec!

  For the first time in her life, despair doused her spirit, and she questioned her fight. If she was of such lineage, what was the point of fighting? Who would accept her as the daughter of such a monster.

  Yes, the voice sympathized, that is why you have never belonged. You were born to stand above them.

  “You are of a powerful lineage, Blaze. Now stand and join me by killing in the name of your benefactor!” Eve commanded.

  Blaze stood and walked over to the awakening Makavel. This man had orchestrated the Eclamai Purge; he had hunted her down. He wanted to capture and conquer her. Hatred strengthened her arms as Pain flared red. Makavel groaned and turned to look at her, and true fear filled his calculating eyes. She raised Pain, ready to pierce the blade through this monster’s life. “In the name of King...” she hesitated. She couldn’t say it.

  “What are you waiting for, Blaze. Kill the monster!” Eve commanded, and the command careened through her body from the sword. But she held. “Why are you hesitating? Do you still think that the Traitors will accept you?” Eve laughed in a mocking way. “Look at you. How much blood have you spilt just now? How many have you killed? You are the daughter of a Domotrec; spilled blood is a part of your life, my dear. You have no choice.”

  Blaze blinked. She had no choice? Hadn’t Nathan said otherwise? Hadn’t Theoverus? Suddenly, a cold grip started to loosen its grasp from inside of her.

  NO! screamed the voice. You are the daughter of Ava the Domotrec! You are a fighter, not a fleer.

  Blaze shook her head, breathing heavily with effort. She couldn’t deny her past, but she wouldn’t condemn her future. She would rather run free to her death than surrender to slavery in the name of the very king who had destroyed her life.

  Stepping away from the Grand General, Blaze lowered Pain and turned to the Domotrec. The cohe crouched and fanned its wings, hissing. With a deep breath, Blaze looked straight into Eve’s cold dark eyes. “I have a choice,” she declared. “And I don’t choose you or your kaffing king.” With a mighty heave, she threw Pain at the Domotrec.

  The disconnection from the sword rendered Blaze’s senses useless. Total weakness sent her to her knees as the grey blur of cohe launched into the air with a mighty pounce and scream. Blaze had no strength left to get out of the beast’s way, and she smiled at the irony of how she would die. At least Nathan had gotten away, and the Traitors of Srift. Perhaps her muddied life had carried some purpose.

  A strengthening roar vibrated through her body, and a great cat dove onto the cohe, smashing it into the earth with a quaking thud. Blaze gasped in surprise. She questioned her recovering sight, for a brown and green stripped dolinbi attacked the monster. The cohe screamed and hissed in anger while the dolinbi crouched and fanned its large feathered wings in warning. The cohe pounced, snapping at the cat’s head, but the dolinbi reared and swiped dagger claws along the creature’s injured face. Black blood oozed from the openings, and Eve cried out in rage. “Kill that cat!” The cohe dodged the dolinbi’s second swipe and aimed for its throat.

  Thrown onto its back while bracing against the cohe’s snapping face, the dolinbi cycled its back claws along the beast’s belly. An ear-wrenching cry ripped from the cohe as it flared its wings and took flight. The dolinbi rolled over with a snarl but remained on the ground facing Eve. The cohe screamed as it circled in the air like a hawk. Standing like a statue, all that moved of the dolinbi was the twitch at the end of its striped tail; every muscle seemed focused to pounce on the Domotrec. Blaze felt its low growl inside of her own chest.

  Strong arms wrapped around her and hauled her up. Then, Makavel’s quiet voice twisted in her ears, “That was the wrong choice, Wilden.” Heart pounding, Blaze tried to struggle out of his arms, but she was still too weak. Two glowing yellow eyes snapped to glare at her as the dolinbi snarled and, in a blur of fur, bounded toward her and Makavel. Blaze gasped and fell to the ground, pulling Makavel forward and into the claws of the growling beast. The Grand General screamed as the dolinbi pulled him off of Blaze. Unable to stand, Blaze crawled toward the side of the barn, hoping to get away as the chaos raged around her.

  Her right shoulder throbbed, but the rest of her senses were still dulled as she fought to stay conscious. A sharp and cold sensation ran up her left arm, and she looked down to see her palm resting on the silver blade of Makavel’s dagger.

  A dark horse ran past her from the side of the barn, and she turned to see it barrel into the Urlificans who were rushing to attack her. The cohe’s cry shot out to her right; it and the dolinbi were fighting again, at least, that was Blaze’s guess. Darkness was threatening to take her over as her heart fluttered and her senses began to fade away. She also felt chilled and nauseous as she started to lose her internal fight to keep going.

  “Blaze!” A familiar voice shouted, but she couldn’t place it. Perhaps she should put the dagger away for safe keeping. Thinking how silly it was that she was wearing a dress, she slid the blade into the pathetic rope tied around her waist.

  “Blaze!” came the voice again, and a thundering shook the ground around her. She looked up to see hooves that were a lot like Lily’s. Boots appeared next to the hooves, and a bruised Nathan appear in front of her. He looked pained and afraid.

  “Nathan, are you okay?” she asked, but her voice sounded distant. His face was starting to get wavy, and she vomitted. Hands grabbed her shoulders. She screamed as the cut on her shoulder
was smashed. The hand moved to hold her upper arm.

  Looking up, she saw his lips moving, but she couldn’t understand what he was saying. Then, he picked her up. “You shouldn’t do that,” she said, but she couldn’t quite remember why. Suddenly, Lily’s saddle was under her stomach. It took all of her strength, but she was able to twist and swing her leg over to straddle the mare. Nathan climbed behind her, and Lily galloped toward the woods.

  BLAZE!!! Screeched the voice inside of her, and she nearly fell off of the mare. Nathan’s arm wrapped around her. “Hang on,” came Nathan’s voice, but she knew that it was Tray. “We’re almost there.” The woods was a dark blur.

  “Don’t go to the road,” she mumbled. “They’ll shoot you.” She wasn’t going to remain awake much longer, but she had to tell Tray that she was sorry for killing him. The scream of a cohe surrounded her. “I’m sorry.”

  She fell into darkness.

  Chapter 18

  Blaze awoke with a start, searching for an escape from the fiery plains she had been trapped in. Her dream-induced panic gave way to true terror when both her legs and arms refused to move. Looking down, she saw leather straps securing each limb to the old bed upon which she lay. Her panic nearly caused her to faint, but she dared not lose consciousness while in the custody of her enemies. So, she focused her breathing and took stock of her situation.

  Warm sunlight shown through the glassless window above her into an empty room, save for a table and stool next to the bed. While a musty grey blanket of unknown original color covered her, the thread-thin dress she wore with her disguise gave her little protection from the damp chill of the room.

  Everything hurt. Her head and heart ached with every rapid pulse, a burning, needle-like pain pricked across her right shoulder and left hand, and the rest of her body felt as if she had run all day and then been trampled by a horse. Blaze tried to pull the restrains loose, but she only made herself out of breath and weaker. Both her mouth and stomach felt barren. If she escaped, she wouldn’t be able to go far.

  Crunching steps crackled outside of the window as someone walked past. The steps continued around the house and then ceased as a door’s hinges protested. Blaze debated between feigning to be asleep or staring her captor down. Staring would give her the most satisfaction, proving to them that she wasn’t afraid. The door opened, and he walked in with a bowl of water and cloth strips.

  “Nathan!” she exclaimed in surprise. And then, she was furious. “Nathan. If you don’t get me out of these straps, I swear I’ll find a way to...”

  “Well, good ta see you, too,” he interrupted with a smile and set the bowl on the table. “Glad ta see your ray of sunshine this afternoon.” He began untying the restrains. “Sorry about these, I was hoping ta get back in time before you woke. You feeling alright?”

  Blaze sat up the moment her right hand was free to untie her left, and she immediately regretted the action. Tense, cramping pain shot through her entire body, followed by complete weakness. Her vision blurred as she collapsed back onto the bed in a near faint.

  “Whoa! Take it easy. Let me do that.” Nathan reached over and released her other hand.

  Her vision focused back to him, and she noticed for the first time that he didn’t have any bruises, and the cut over his eyebrow seemed nearly healed. With knitted eyebrows, she asked, “Nathan, what happened to your bruises? And your rib, wasn’t it broken?”

  He moved to her feet, but looked at her with a crooked grin. “Well, aren’t you the courteous healer. Can barely get out of bed but still checks up on her former patient. I think you’ve done enough for me now, so let’s fix you up first. If you stay right here, I’ll go fix us some bowls of soup. Had to build a fire in the pit outside due to the buildup of birds’ nests in the chimney. Be right back.” While he acted amiable, his avoidance of the question and a look in his eyes put her on edge. He was hiding something.

  Slowly this time, Blaze tried to ease up into a sitting position, but a sharp stab in her left hand prevented her progress. A thick cloth was wrapped around her hand while streaks of bruising streamed from the bandage. She removed the cloth, and what was underneath didn’t look promising. A deep gash ran from one side of her palm to the other, and her whole hand contained every color of the rainbow due to the inflammation and bruising. The veins of her hand were black all the way to just beyond her wrist, which troubled her the most. A severe infection would have caused redness, not this variegation of injury. Her hand looked like it was dying, and the pain convinced her of it.

  Nathan came back in with two bowls steaming in his hands. The moment the scent of turkey and wild onions wafted to her nose, Blaze’s stomach erupted with exaggerated longing. “Well, that’s looking better,” Nathan commented while setting the bowls next to the first one he had brought in.

  Blaze raised an eyebrow as she rewrapped the injury. “This is better?”

  “Aye, the black streaks used ta be all the way up your arm. Now, can we try ta sit you up?” He eased one hand behind her back while offering his other to her. Blaze cursed her weakness, but she took his right hand and pulled, ignoring the pain in her shoulder. Together, they got her sitting up with minimal pain. That was when she noted her paled but normal copper skin color.

  “Nathan, how long have I been out?”

  “Let’s eat something first.” He sat on the stool with a bowl and started to feed her.

  Her pride took its last beating, and she raised her hands in refusal. “I’m not a child. Stop ignoring my questions and babying me. Where are we? What happened? How long have I been out?”

  Suddenly, Nathan’s smile became a sneer. “Really? You don’t think that twas a very childish thing ta believe a complete stranger ta be some long-lost relative? Ta follow her ta an ambush that nearly got us killed?” He shouted and paced the room, soup nearly sloshing out of the bowl at every turn.

  “You don’t think that it’s childish ta only think of yourself and your mountainous pride? Do you know how much your..your ‘maturity’ has cost? No, of course you don’t because he’s...Well, here’s something for you. Do you know what you’ve cost me? The Wisp! Yes, the vessel that’s been in my family for generations is now soot floating down the Thundrum. All because of your independent kaffing maturity!”

  As he pointed at her, soup finally spilled from the bowl all over his hand and the floor. “Well, fine then. Feed yourself.” He gestured to the second bowl. “Perhaps I should just leave you here ta heal yourself as well.” With stomping boots and slamming doors, he stormed out of the house.

  Blaze lay in complete shock from his sudden tirade. The Wisp was gone? Nathan lost his freedom and livelihood, and it was her fault. Blaze no longer wanted to eat, despite her appetite. Sliding back down, she curled her aching body up as tears chilled her cheeks. She wished for sleep to help her escape the nightmare of her waking life. Her weakened body complied.

  ********

  She woke up to candle light and someone sitting behind her. Taking a deep breath and preparing herself, she knew this confrontation had to come. “Here to condemn me as well?” With great effort, she turned to face him. Theoverus sat upon the stool as the candle’s light danced along his olive face.

  He looked her straight in the eye, “That is not why I have come.”

  “Then why did you come?” she spat with venom. Her emotional flood gates released. “Why do you even bother? It’s to keep punishing me, right? Because of what I’ve done; because of who I am. Because...” Tears gathered as her voice caught. She looked away, trying to bore holes into the sagging roof with her eyes. “Because my mother was a Domotrec. And...and I am her daughter. I was born into a life of death.”

  “But, you have not fully chosen that life,” he calmly soothed, speaking as if to a wounded animal.

  Blaze laughed harshly. “Choices!” She expelled the word like a curse. “It always seems to end in choices.”

  “Choices are not an end but a beginning.”

  “Oh re
ally?” She looked back at him. “Here are the choices I seem to be given. I can either follow my mother’s calling a become a powerful and fearsome Domotrec of Urlifec’s, or I can die. Which ever I choose, my life ends.”

  Theoverus looked at her sternly. “Now Blaze, you’re mother wasn’t a Domotrec in the end.”

  “But she was one!” she cried.

  “And that doesn’t matter except that she chose to be a Traitor instead. My Blaze, you always have that option.”

  Blaze glared. “Don’t ‘my Blaze’ me. If you are who I fear you are, then you gave up on me a long time ago.”

  “And who do you think that I am?”

  “You think you’re the kaffing True King,” she declared. “All of this swooping in at the last minute, saving me. Did you think that would change my mind? Did you think that would make me forget your absence nine cycles ago?” Tears flowed freely from her eyes as cycles of pent up anger, frustration, and betrayal whirled in her. “IF you’re the True King, where were you? They were loyal to you. They risked they’re lives with every stranger they took in, as you mandated. They risked their lives holding dinners and talking to people in the market, as you mandated. They told me that you would take care of your subjects. But, when it all mattered, when it came time for you to be their king and protect them, YOU WEREN’T THERE! You let them die. You left me to die.

  “And what about Srift? They may have been ignorant about the ways of Urlificans, but they knew the risk. Those Traitors stayed true to their king, even to the grip of the hangman’s noose. And where were you then? Oh wait! You were there! Why didn’t you warn them? Why didn’t you release them from their duties? Instead, you just left, leaving Obrae and Jonathan to die, leaving the rest to be sentenced to death. You saved your own skin and turned your back on them. I had to save them. I had to do your kaffing dirty work. I had to forfeit my life so that you could retain some loyal subjects.