Echoes of the Fey: The Prophet's Arm

by Malcolm Pierce

  ~

  Unfortunately for Sofya, the dungeon beneath Melinkremlin Keep was nowhere near as comfortable as the bedroom where Simion ir-Sheaf had been kept prisoner. The floors and walls were solid rock, slick with accumulated moisture from the humid western plains. The only source of light was a flickering neon tube above the cell. There was a bed and a toilet, but it seemed like she was expected to share it with Heremon and Simion, who had been removed from his luxurious cell for trying to escape.

  “While I appreciate the rescue attempt, it seems you have drastically worsened my situation,” Simion muttered. “I’m not even sure we’ll get fed down here. At this point, it might be easier to let us die. No one will come looking for two Leshin and a mercenary.”

  Sofya shook her head. “They won’t let us die. I’m not just a mercenary. They wouldn’t risk getting my blood on their hands. And even if they are so foolish, trust me. I’ll get us out of here before we die of starvation.”

  “Who, exactly, are you?” Simion asked.

  “That is a very long story.”

  “It appears we have plenty of time.”

  Heremon cleared his throat, as if to remind Sofya to be careful. While they shared a common jailer, there was no way to know if Simion could be trusted. At best, he was a criminal with good intentions. At worst, he was as much an enemy as the Melinkovs.

  “I’m the firstborn daughter of one of the wealthiest families in Oraz,” Sofya said. “Sure, I’m disowned. And maybe my family would prefer it if I was dead.”

  “This isn’t encouraging,” Simion replied.

  “Just trust me.”

  Simion nodded. “Now it all makes sense. You were never really afraid of being caught, because you don’t think they will hurt you. Your Leshin friend, however… You risked his life.”

  “I go where Sofya goes,” Heremon snapped. “Even if she has stupid ideas.”

  “You’re a loyal man,” Simion said. “That’s good to know.”

  “She saved my life.”

  Before Simion could ask Heremon to elaborate, the sound of footsteps echoed through the hall outside the jail cell. Sofya sat up, alert, expecting to see the Melinkov matriarch. Sofya had never met Alma Melinkov, but had heard plenty of frightful things about her temper. Surely, Sofya thought, a break-in at the family’s central keep would warrant her attention. She was wrong.

  Once again, it was the young grand-daughter, Nadezhda, who was dispatched to deal with Sofya. Nadezhda was alone, not even accompanied by the guards who had protected her earlier. She was clad in a long, dark red coat that was tightly buttoned over her chest. A small patch of silken fabric, likely a nightgown, poked up through the lapels near her neck. She’d come straight from her bed to confront Sofya, which raised even more questions about what was going on at Melinkremlin Keep. Sofya had her theories, but she let Nadezhda take the lead in the questioning. At least for now.

  “Personal papers?” Nadezhda sneered. “The IKV? An investigation? What a joke. You just came in here to rob us. I knew you were in a bad place, but this is just–”

  “Rob you?” Sofya exclaimed, cutting her off. “You know exactly why we were here. We came to find the Leshin you had imprisoned, in violation of our treaty with the AFC. And look at this, we found him.”

  Sofya didn’t know much about Simion, but she assumed he wasn’t stupid enough to undermine her story. There was a way for all three of them to get out of this unharmed and it absolutely required Nadezhda to believe that Sofya and Heremon broke in to rescue him.

  “I told you,” Simion said. “I told you they would come to find me.”

  Nadezhda huffed. “First of all,” she said. “We didn’t sign any treaty. The Empire signed a treaty. The Vodotsk county government signed a treaty. But Volgrad wasn’t involved. House Melinkov was never even consulted.”

  “Your brother is on the Vodotsk county council,” Sofya replied. “Surely that counts for something.”

  “Leshin in Vodotsk are required to register with the county,” Heremon continued. “In exchange, they are given the protection of county law.”

  “The Melinkovs don’t own Vodotsk,” Sofya said. “Not yet.”

  Nadezhda started to pace. Sofya could tell that she was getting under the young Melinkov’s skin. “All of this is beside the point. You broke into my home. You interfered with the Fey power system, which is a crime greater than whatever it is that you’re accusing me of.”

  “False imprisonment,” Sofya replied.

  “Whatever. You have nothing on me. Not compared to what I have on you. And unlike this one-armed Elf, your crimes were actually committed in Volgrad. You are right where you belong.”

  Sofya crossed her arms. “So, you’re just going to hold us here indefinitely? No trial? Because if you have a trial, people are going to find out about your friend Simion.”

  “Well…” Nadezhda hesitated. “Yes. Yes we will. I don’t see why not. Unlike your family, we don’t have to answer to an Emperor. This is our sovereign territory and we will do as we please.”

  “I’d like to speak to your grandmother,” Sofya said. “Because you’re right, but only half right. You aren’t the sovereign here. She is.”

  Nadezhda’s face twisted into a scowl. “I act with her full authority while she is away!” she exclaimed.

  “Oh, she’s away,” Sofya replied. “I thought she was under the weather.”

  Something in Nadezhda snapped. She turned away from the prison cell and began to march back towards the staircase. This wasn’t what Sofya wanted. She thought she understood why Nadezhda was handling this situation, but there was a piece of the puzzle she still didn’t have. There was something about the situation that still didn’t make sense.

  Despite this, Sofya wasn’t ready for Nadezhda to walk away. She was still certain that the Melinkovs weren’t going to keep them indefinitely or starve them, but she wasn’t prepared to spend the night—or however long Nadezhda decided to sweat them out—in an uncomfortable jail cell. Sofya wanted a drink. She wanted a good meal and an attempt at a few hours asleep by herself before sunrise.

  Nadezhda thought she was in control. But Sofya could sense her insecurity. She was young. She wasn’t used to having this sort of responsibility. She was in over her head. And Sofya had to play off of that.

  She closed her eyes and thought of her mother. No one terrified Sofya like Irina Rykov, and it had nothing to do with her position of power. It didn’t matter that she was Duchess of Archaleretsk, or even leader of House Rykov. She could have ruled over nothing more than a patch of land and her voice would have struck fear in Sofya’s heart. Sofya tried to imagine what she would say in this situation and how she would gain control over the situation. She’d seen Irina bully young, naive nobles into submission. Surely, Sofya could do the same.

  “I have a proposal for you,” Sofya said, just loud enough that Nadezhda would hear her halfway to the stairwell.

  Nadezhda turned and chuckled. “Oh, you have a proposal for me?”

  “Let us go and you won’t have to explain to your grandmother why there are Imperial troops surrounding Volgrad.”

  “Are you joking?” Nadezhda replied, but she wasn’t laughing anymore. And she wasn’t walking away. She returned to the jail cell and stared daggers at Sofya through the bars. “You’re a nobody. Your name means nothing. Your family won’t look for you, let alone the Empire.”

  Sofya took a deep breath and suppressed her anger. She remembered that her mother never yelled. She never raised her voice. And she never let it crack. “Even though its wings may be clipped, a hawk still has talons,” she said. “Do you have talons, Lady Melinkov?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I lost my inheritance. I lost my home. But I didn’t lose my name. I’m still a Rykov and that still means something.” Before Nadezhda could argue, Sofya continued. “The Emperor might not care about me, but he cares about the Melinkovs. You refuse to submit to him. He would love nothing more
than a reason to turn his army on you. But he can’t. He has to respect your sovereignty. At least until he finds out there is a Rykov in your dungeons. Now? Now he will crush you. Not because he wants to save me, but because he wants to wipe your family off the map and take this gaudy excuse for a castle for himself.”

  Nadezhda’s eyes went wide. Sofya didn’t know if what she said was true, but that didn’t matter. Nadezhda knew even less. “But… But you broke into our castle.”

  “To rescue a Leshin held illegally. Which means as soon as you try to justify my imprisonment, you’ll make all new enemies. The Leshin will call for Melinkov blood.”

  “Well–”

  “And maybe this is all a well-thought out plan to win over the people of Vodotsk,” Sofya continued. “But I suspect that your grandmother doesn’t know about Simion. She certainly doesn’t know about me. She’s not here. Where is she? Is it Melinkov controlled land? You said she was under the weather. Seeking medical treatment? If I had to guess, she’s in Eszthernetsk for the best Krovakyn-trained doctors. Land controlled by the Empire. I could think of some awful ways she finds out about all of this.”

  Nadezhda was silent, which confirmed many of Sofya’s assumptions. It was strange enough when a younger grand-daughter was the representative to greet her earlier in the day. But sending her down to discipline prisoners caught snooping in the keep was nigh-unbelievable, unless she was the ranking Melkinkov on the property.

  “You thought I would make quite the present to your family,” Simion said. “A Leshin smuggler is quite the treat. But now I believe the treat has gone sour. I have attracted flies. And those flies will bring vodyans and marowits and other horrid creatures that will tear you apart.”

  Sofya stood up and approached the bars of the jail cell. Her hands were shaking, so she clasped them behind her back to hide her uncertainty. “Let us go and we forget any of this ever happened. You never abducted Simion from his shop. You never kept him prisoner. We never met. I never broke into the castle. And you never foolishly risked angering the hawks of the east.”

  If Sofya was nervous, Nadezhda was terrified. Sofya could see it all over her face. Her eyes twitched around the room. Her cheeks were flushed, even under her dark skin. “You… You are no different from the rest of them.”

  “Now you get it,” Sofya replied.

  “You think you can just take what you want from us. Overload the Volgrad power grid. Steal into our homes. Interfere in our business. What gives you the right?”

  “You do,” Sofya said. “And in exchange, you get to survive.”