by Rachel Red
After maybe our fifth or sixth trip up, Rose looked at me once we reached the grass again. "I've lived among the Oppressors my entire life, and I can say with absolute certainty that we just went faster than they can fly. For sure."
I grinned. "This is honestly even easier than I thought it would be."
Our next trip up, I not only levitated us even faster, but also went higher up than we’d gone before, maybe four or five hundred feet in the air. The entire round trip only took maybe ten seconds.
Before we could go up again, the two Keeper guards, who'd been standing some ways to the side, still scanning the skies, not seeming to really have any particular interest in what Rose and I were doing, both came over to us, frowning.
One of them, a tall man with dark blonde hair, looked at me and spoke. "Look. I know you ladies are maybe bored and you're having a good time entertaining yourselves. But that was far too high in the air for my comfort. Guard towers manned with extra staff or no, Oppressors could still fly in at any second. And Lady Kate, I fear literal death at the hands of your husband if anything were to happen to you while on my watch. And as I have a young child, a wife, and I'm very much needed alive...I'm sure you'll understand when I tell you you can't go up that high anymore."I nodded. "I understand. No problem."
He and the other guard went back to their sky-scanning, and Rose and I went back to zipping through the air, just not going up quite as high. I even zipped us along parallel to the ground, just to see if I could be as fast doing that as I could going straight up and down, and it turned out that I could be. We continued for at least an hour, having little giggle-fits along the way, until the same guard who'd admonished me for taking us up so high cautioned me that we were becoming a blur and said he didn't feel quite comfortable with that either. I said that I understood and that we were finished for the day.
I spoke to Rose in a low voice on the way back inside. "This way, only doing an hour a day, nobody will get suspicious. Honestly, I don't think we'll even need any more time per day than that before I show Victor my new skill this Thursday, the day before the battle. I just want to get even just a tiny bit faster, and then I'll show him what I can do. I'll show him that there's really no reason for me not to go to Cold Creek, because I can be even faster than any Oppressor. I can keep myself safe. I'll prove it to him."
Rose said there was definitely more of a chance of Victor saying yes to my plan now than before, and I completely agreed.
For the next several days, we went outside at least an hour daily, and I continued to practice my levitation skills. I continued to get even faster and faster. Victor didn't seem to suspect that I was up to anything, and neither did the Keeper guards.
Thursday of that week, the day before the battle, the tall Keeper guard with dark blonde hair watched a few of my and Rose's flights and then commented on how fast we'd went.
"And in fact, I'd say your rate of speed is probably at least double as fast as any Oppressor can fly."
I knew it was time. Rose and I headed inside and went in search of Victor.
CHAPTER TWENTYONE
I knew Victor was in a council meeting with his top men that afternoon, going over final plans and details of the battle, which would take place at dawn the next day, but I knew the it was supposed to be over soon. My plan was to wait outside the council cavern, catch him when he came out, and then take him outside to show him my new and improved levitation skills. My skills that would prove to him that I could out-fly any Oppressor, and therefore, should be allowed to go to the battle in Cold Creek to levitate the women and girls out before any of them got hurt during the fight.
While we walked down the long stone corridor lit with electric lights at intervals, Rose glanced over at me, her mouth curving in a smile. "I really wasn't too sure about this at first, but now...I won't be completely stunned if he does say yes. I'm actually kind of starting to get a good feeling."
I smiled back. "Me, too. And I kind of can't believe I didn't think about this sooner than I did. Like, what possible reason could he have for saying no now? He might even thank me for coming up with this idea and taking the initiative to get my levitation skills up to speed." I thought for a moment and then giggled. "Literally."
We soon reached the council cavern and sat down on a low wooden bench outside, waiting for the meeting to adjourn. We didn't have to wait very long at all. Within half a minute, Victor's men began exiting the cavern and going down the corridor, and then Victor emerged.
He saw me and broke into a grin. "Well, what a beautiful surprise."
Smiling, I bounded into his arms. "I missed you."
He said he missed me, too, gave me a quick kiss, and then asked to what he owed the pleasure of my visit.
I looked up into his deep gray eyes, hardly able to suppress my excitement. "I want to show you something. Something you're probably really gonna like. And you are probably going to be pretty impressed. Rose is going to help me show you."
His eyes twinkled. "Oh, really? Well, what could this be?"
Rose, who'd popped up off the bench when he'd emerged from the cavern, gave him a quick curtsy. "Lord Victor, I'm glad to help Lady Kate show you what it is."
Victor smiled at her and then me. "Well, don't keep me in suspense any longer, ladies. Let's go see whatever it is you'd like me to see."
We began leading him down the corridor to take him outside. I held his hand and practically skipped.
He glanced over at me a few times, devastatingly handsome in his black boots, dark jeans, and black shirt, which was fitted just enough to reveal the hard contours of his chiseled chest. "I have to admit, I'm getting quite curious to discover what this is all about."
I bit back a giggle. "You'll just have to wait and see."
He didn't have to wait long. After a few more hallways, we reached the main exit out of Stonebrook and stepped outside into the late-day sunshine. Birds chirped and sang, and butterflies twirled above clusters of wildflowers lining the path to the foot of the mountains.
Still holding Victor's hand, I led him down to the grassy clearing where all the levitation practicing had been going on. "It's almost time."
I threw a smiley little glance over my shoulder to Rose, and she gave me the tiniest hint of a wink.
When we reached the grassy clearing, I let go of Victor's hand and took a deep breath. "Okay. I want to show you a new levitation trick I've learned this past week. But don't worry; I won't take Rose and myself up very high. But don't blink, either, or you just might miss it."
With the faintest shadow of worry creeping across his face, he said okay. "But this isn't anything dangerous, is it?"
I shook my head. "No way. Not at all. It'll maybe look just a fraction that way, but it's not. I've been practicing it all week. Oh, and by the way, it's probably going to look like we're going to crash into the ground, but we won't; I'll slow us in plenty of time. I'm really pretty expert at this by now. Now, remember what I said, okay? Don't blink, okay?"
Victor said all right, he wouldn't. But he didn't look entirely convinced that what I was about to do wasn't dangerous. Deciding that I'd better do what I was going to do right away, before he asked any more questions or got worried enough that he'd tell me not to, I took a step back from him and glanced at Rose.
"Ready?"
She grinned. "Yup. Three...two...one."
The split second the word one was out of her mouth, I launched us into the air, and we rocketed toward the clouds so fast I knew we'd probably have a touch of windburn on our cheeks. But we didn't reach the clouds, not even close. Once we soared a few hundred feet, still well within Victor's view, I stopped us and then brought us down just as fast until we were within maybe twenty feet from the ground. Then, I slowed us, and we both landed soft as feathers. The entire thing had taken mere seconds.
I smiled at Victor, whose lightly tanned skin looked just a shade or two lighter than usual. "Pretty neat, huh? I hope it didn't scare you too bad."
H
e took a deep breath. "Well, I can't say that my heart didn't just leap into my throat in a somewhat terrifying sort of way, but...." He took another deep breath and then smiled, color returning to his face. "I'm very, very impressed. That's an amazing skill. That was amazingly fast. I should have known my incredibly talented wife would someday be able to do this. I'm extremely proud of you, Kate."
I grinned. "Thank you."
He grinned back. "You're very welcome. Although you may have to help me back into the mountains while my heart restarts itself and begins beating normally again."
I giggled. "Sorry about that. I just wanted to surprise you."
"Well, you certainly did that. Mission absolutely accomplished."
I giggled again. "So you're pretty impressed with how fast I can levitate now?"
"Very."
"Well, good. And if you liked what you saw, I can not only levitate myself with lightning-fast speed, but other people, too. That's why I had Rose help me. To show you that I can now o these things far faster than any Oppressor can fly."
I hadn't meant to relate my new skill to the Oppressors until Victor and I were back in our rooms, alone, but the words had just kind of tumbled out. All traces of amusement on his face instantly faded. He knew what was up. Rose seemed to notice that his expression had become decidedly more serious, and she immediately took her leave, scampering back up the path and into Stonebrook.
Victor fixed me with a piercing gaze. "I can't help but feel a little tricked, Kate. I told you no about you going to the battle at Cold Creek, and I told you my decision was final. And instead of respecting that, you obviously went ahead and begin work on a plan to change my mind."
Suddenly a bit irritated, I crossed my arms over my chest. "Have I even asked you to reconsider? All I said was that I can now levitate myself and other people far faster than any Oppressor can fly."
"All right, then. Look me directly in the eyes and tell me it wasn't your plan to present me with this new skill and then ask me to reconsider. Look me right in the eyes and tell me that, and I'll stand corrected."
Obviously, I couldn't. I stood silent, avoiding his gaze, my arms still folded tightly across my chest. I knew my expression was a scowl.
After a few moments, Victor took me by the elbow and began leading me back up the path to the door. "All right. We're going to our rooms to talk."
Afraid that my plan had completely failed, I couldn't wait until we got to our rooms. While we walked down the deserted stone hallway that led to our front door, I looked over at him.
"Well, if it was my plan to show you my new skill to get you to reconsider your decision, which...fine; it was. It was my plan. But...can you blame me? There are women and children at Cold Creek who might be hurt or killed during the battle if someone can't get them out right away. And, yes, I understand that if you see any out and about right away, you can put your protection spell on them."I'd overheard him saying something to Sam about that a few days earlier.
"But I know you can only do that spell on about five or six people a day. And as you know, it only protects against magic; it won't protect anyone from the Oppressors' physical strength as men and the damage they could do with normal weapons or their bare hands. So-"
"I've also instructed my men to fly out any women and children they may come across and deposit them outside the city walls before returning to the fight."
"Well, that's a good thought, but I doubt any scared women and children are going to just climb right up on a massive, fire-breathing, fierce-looking dragon's back. And even if they did, this will completely distract your men from the fight, and that might cause the Oppressors to get the upper hand and kill and hurt even more people. See, it would just be so much easier to just let me go in and levitate all the women and the children out, first thing. Whether I had to do it in little groups, or whether I could lift everyone all at once, I'm so fast at levitating now, it doesn't even matter. I could have everyone to safety, flying back here to Stonebrook, within a minute. So how could I not have tried my plan to get you to reconsider your decision? How could I not have? When there's innocent women and children who could be hurt...when there's Rose's daughter Daisy there. She's only seven years old. Rose said she's been having nightmares about her being...being burned with...."My voice suddenly began to crack.
"With dragon fire, screaming."
I abruptly stopped walking, put my face in my hands, and burst into tears, something that was very unusual for me to do. Almost instantaneously, I felt Victor's arms around me, and I buried my face in his chest, sobbing. He held me tight and smoothed my hair, whispering soothing things near my ear.
"It's all right, angel Kate. Everything's going to be fine."
I cried into his hard chest a little while longer before lifting my face, sniffling. "You don't know that everything's going to be fine. You can't possibly. But we can take steps to better our chances of that coming true. See...Victor, I'm not the type of person who can just wait around hoping for the best possible outcome. I'm not the type of person who can just wait for a miracle; I have to help that miracle happen; I have to set it in motion. And you're stopping me from doing that. Even though I can now fly faster than an Oppressor, which means that one couldn't catch me and hurt me."
"Not necessarily. They could still shoot a bolt of-"
"I'd have your magical protection spell on me. So they could shoot whatever bolts at me that they felt like."
Victor didn't answer right away. "They could still catch you off guard while you're leading the women and children out of the buildings and harm you in some non-magical way."
"But they'll be busy fighting you and the other-"
"And the risk of that happening, no matter how small, is simply not one I'm willing to take."
Irritated and angry once again, I twisted out of his arms, stalked down to our front door, and flung it open before stomping inside.
He followed, flicked on a few lights, and shut the door behind him. "Let's go to the living room to talk."
"No, thank you. You can go to the living room, but I'm not. I don't think I have anything left to say to you."
I stalked away from him, realizing too late that I'd stalked my way right into the living room. Victor followed and paused by the couch, his mouth twitching with just a hint of amusement.
I snorted. "I meant to say I'll go in the living room, and you can go wherever you like. Appearing to be suppressing a smile, he came over and tried to take me in his arms, but I twisted away from him, planted my feet several feet away from him, and folded my arms across my chest.
"No, don't even dare try to take me in your arms. You're the one who's not letting me help in the battle. You're the one who isn't even considering it."
His expression immediately sobered.
"You're right. I'm not. And as I said before, that's final. And there's nothing you can say to-"
"You know, back in Haverbrook, I worked at the library. I read a lot of books. And back in the olden days, back before The Event, women did dangerous things all the time. They worked as police officers, and firefighters, and they were even members of the armed forces that defended the United States of America. They served in the army, the air force, the marines, the coast guard, and the navy." I paused, suddenly remembering that not only had Victor been alive at the time of The Event, he'd been a Navy SEAL. "Which...I'm sure you already know all this. But the point is, women used to do dangerous jobs all the time. And their husbands let them. Probably not because they weren't worried about their wives' safety; I'm sure they were. Probably because they loved their wives and wanted them to live full, happy lives with some personal autonomy and control over their own destinies. They wanted them to be brave if they felt like they had bravery in them. They wanted them to be able to help if they felt that they could. They wanted them to have the freedom to do whatever it was that they felt called to do. They wanted them to be able to use their talents. And that's what I'm asking for. I'm thankful that I have a husb
and who protects me, and the huge majority of the time, I'll be glad to sit back and let you do it. But when it comes to this battle at Cold Creek, and the women and the children and their very lives at stake...I want to be brave, and I want you to let me use my talents to help other people. I want you to give me the freedom to do what I feel I'm being called to do."
Victor looked at me for a long moment, his expression unreadable. "No."
My folded arms fell from my chest.
I stood speechless briefly, my breathing accelerating. "How can you dare still say no after all I've just said. How can you dare-"
"My answer is no, Kate. You can be unhappy about it, and you can be mad at me about it, and you can even hate me about it. But you will not change my mind. You're profoundly, profoundly precious to me and absolutely irreplaceable. You're my life. I refuse to put you in harm's way. And that's the end of it."
"But-"
"I'm going for a walk. Before before you get any ideas about sneaking away to Cold Creek, you should know that there will be multiple guards posted in front of our front door within minutes to ensure that you don't. And they'll remain in place until the battle is over and I return tomorrow."
I stood speechless for a second or two yet again. "You're...you're imprisoning me? You're actually...I'm a prisoner now?"
"See it however you'd like. Just know that I see it as doing what I need to do to keep you safe."
With that, he strode out of the living room and left our rooms, shutting the front door behind him, before I could say anything else.
I soon collapsed on the couch, crying again, my tears due to frustration, anger, and shock at being imprisoned more than anything else.
Presently, I got up, wiped my eyes, and went over to the front door. I pressed my ear against the wood, listening for guards, and heard several deep male voices. My tears began flowing yet again, and I ran in Victor's and my bedroom and threw myself on the bed, crying harder when I caught a whiff of his clean, woodsy, masculine scent on his part of the blanket. Even though I was still mad at him, nearly enraged actually, I still curled up with that part of the blanket, wondering when he'd return.
