by D K Drake
“These halls are too narrow, and there will be too many soldiers in the way. We’ll never be able to pull off that kind of escape.” She sat up a little straighter. “But if you brought Micah--”
“We don’t need Micah. He needs to stay hidden. We have Varjiek. I can have him set fire to the gallows as a distraction, then take you and run.”
“That’s one way.” She imagined the fire missing the mark and burning the people standing around the stage instead. She shook the image out of her head and proposed a less destructive plan. “Micah has the power to override the governor’s decree. He can set me free with one word, and the governor has to comply. I would be able to live in Zandador as a free woman without worrying about the governor’s guards hunting me down.”
After a pause, Javan finally said, “That’s not nearly as fun, but I’ll get Micah. In the meantime, swallow your spit.”
“Swallow my spit?”
“You said you were thirsty. Drink your spit so you don’t die of dehydration before we have a chance to rescue you.”
Taliya chuckled. “That’s not the kind of refreshing drink I had in mind.” Nevertheless, she leaned her head back, closed her eyes, and swallowed a mouthful of saliva. Somehow that simple act made her not feel quite so thirsty or quite so alone in the overwhelming darkness.
◊◊◊
Specks of sand tickled his face. Micah brushed them off, turned over, and kept snoozing. But when a wall of sand smacked his entire body, he immediately sat up, snatched the sword lying beside him, and tried to locate the source of the commotion. Was it an animal? The wind? A person?
Two large, round eyes glaring at him under the early glow of the pre-dawn sky confirmed the first option: an animal. More specifically, a dragon. “Varjiek.” Micah blinked the sleepiness out of his eyes and stood, looking around for Javan and Taliya. “Javan, there are better ways to wake a man up than to have your dragon throw sand in his face.”
Varjiek moved his snout so close that Micah could feel the breath from the dragon’s nostrils on his chest. “Javan,” Micah said slowly, “what’s with your dragon staring at me like he wants to eat me?”
Varjiek gave a slight shake of his head back and forth while keeping his eyes locked on Micah’s. This time he addressed the dragon. “You’re not trying to eat me?”
He shook his head again and seemed to want Micah to ask him another question. “Where’s Javan?”
The dragon snorted and sat down, keeping his head locked in place.
“Ah,” he said, understanding the dragon’s frustration. “That’s not a question you can easily answer with a flick of your head.”
“Okay. Only questions with a yes or no answer.” Micah smiled, intrigued by the concept of having a conversation with a dragon that was not his slave. “Are Javan and Taliya here?”
A shake of the head no.
“Did they make it to Oer?”
A quick nod yes.
“Did they make it out of Oer?”
A nod and a shake.
“Yes and no? You’re confusing me. Which is it?”
Varjiek lowered his body to the ground, touched Micah with his nose, and swiveled his neck around to touch his back.
“You want me to come with you?”
A nod.
“Are they in trouble?”
A short, quick nod.
“Then let’s go.” Eager for action, he gathered what few things he had and hopped on Varjiek’s back. As they zipped away, Micah wondered what kind of trouble Javan and Taliya could have possibly gotten into in the insignificant factory town of Oer.
◊◊◊
Javan’s head hurt from the teleporting back and forth between the prison and the lake. He had been tracking the head guard looking for an opportunity to take the key from him while making sure he didn’t miss Micah’s arrival. He didn’t need Micah charging into the city on Varjiek without knowing what was going on.
If they didn’t arrive soon, though, Javan would have to stay in the city and somehow rescue Taliya on his own. Noon was less than two hours away, and the crowd had already started to gather in the amphitheater to watch the show.
He sat down on a large stone by the shore and held his tired, hurting head in his hands. “God,” Javan prayed, “help me find a way to save Taliya. She would still be safe if I hadn’t made her come back here. Please don’t let her die because of me.”
“Why is Taliya in danger of death?”
Javan looked up to see Micah standing over him. Javan jumped to his feet, a sense of relief filling his anxious heart. He wasn’t going to have to face this challenge alone after all. He murmured a quick thanks to God, then said to Micah, “I’ll explain on the way.”
Let me guess, Varjiek said, keeping himself invisible, you need a ride into the city.
“Good guess,” Javan said.
Let’s go. Now. Varjiek appeared long enough for Javan to see where he was standing. Half of his scales had already turned golden. All this flying has made me extra hungry, and soon I will not trust myself to keep from snacking on the people in the city.
“What did Varjiek guess?” Micah asked.
“It’s not important. What’s important is that we get to Oer before the governor executes Taliya and before Varjiek wants to eat every person he sees.”
“Executes Taliya? What kind of trouble did she get herself into in less than a day?”
“The kind of trouble only the king’s son can get her out of. Like I said, I’ll explain on the way.” The two men hopped on the hungry dragon and flew towards Oer.
Chapter 19
The Ghost
The door creaked open, wakening Taliya from a fitful sleep. How much time had passed since she had talked to Javan? Had it been long enough for him to get Micah, and had Micah ordered the governor to release her? Is that why the door was opening?
Two soldiers carrying lanterns burst in, hung the lights on hooks on either side of the door, and retreated. The tall, slender figure of Governor Emilia decked out in a purple shirt and black skirt replaced the soldiers, and she waited until the door eased shut before speaking.
“Today is a day of grand celebration.” The light danced off Emilia’s shiny black hair that she wore slicked back into a bun, and her dark skin glowed with delight. “I’ve ordered the closure of all the factories, and every citizen will be in attendance to watch you hang from the gallows on the stage in the amphitheater. You will be a fantastic demonstration of what happens to those who break the law.”
Taliya remained impassive on the cot. Micah obviously had not had a chance to chat with Emilia yet, and she needed to stall to give the guys time to get to her. “If you had been sentenced at the age of six to a lifetime of slavery, you would have been inspired to break the unjustly harsh law as well.”
“You are to be on your feet when speaking to me.” The governor reached over, yanked Taliya’s hair, and pulled her off the bed. “Nothing will give me greater pleasure than watching you swing from that rope, but you don’t have to die today. We can instead make this the day we restore you to your place of slavery in my home. All you have to do is tell me how you escaped and where you have been hiding for the last fifteen years.”
“That bothers you, doesn’t it?” Taliya straightened her hair and teased the tyrant. “You can’t stand not knowing how a little girl got out of your big, fortified city.” She paused for effect and held up two fingers. “Twice.”
“You are of no significance to me.” Emilia’s eyes narrowed, showing Taliya she didn’t believe her own words. “As the leader of this city, I simply need to know where the security lapses are. If you can provide me with that information, I will allow you to live.”
“Nah.” Taliya shrugged. “I think you need to learn you don’t always get what you want in life. I’ll take my methods of escape with me to the grave.”
The governor slapped Taliya’s cheek and pounded on the door. “Guards! Come get the prisoner and take her to the gallows immediately!
”
So much for stalling. Taliya bit her bottom lip, wishing she had kept her mouth shut. Now she had made Emilia so mad that even a pardon from Micah may not have the power to save her.
◊◊◊
Micah sensed the tension in Varjiek’s muscles beneath his golden scales as he slowly circled the city center of Oer with Micah and Javan on his back. Men, women, and children dressed alike in the drab brown uniforms Omri required all Zandadorian citizens to wear filled the streets around the amphitheater, leaving the dragon no space to land but an abundance of food to eat as his feeding time approached.
Eager to get off the dragon and send him away to eat, Micah leaned forward and spoke in Javan’s ear. “Have him drop us off on the roof of the tallest building.” He pointed to a stone building that stood two stories higher than the rest of those around the square. Its flat roof overlooked both the amphitheater on one side and the fountain in the middle of the square on the other. “That’s where the governor conducts her business.”
Javan nodded and relayed the instructions to Varjiek. Without hesitation, Varjiek zoomed to the roof and darted away as soon as Micah and Javan jumped off him. At least Micah assumed he darted away. He had made himself invisible as they approached the city, and Micah could no longer see him once he lost contact with the dragon.
“What if we didn’t get here in time?” Javan’s voice sounded strained as he peered over the side of the building.
“We did,” Micah said. “People are still streaming into the stadium looking for seats, and only a rope is hanging from the gallows. If they had killed her already, her body would be hanging there until sundown.”
“We can’t let her get to the gallows.” Javan turned his attention from the crowd to Micah. “You’ve met the governor before, right? She’ll listen to you?”
“Yes. And she should. She’s my father’s cousin and follows his laws to the letter. I’ve been here a few times to conduct standard inspections, and she’s always treated me with the same reverence she treats my father. Whatever I tell her to do, she’ll do.”
“Good.” Javan nodded, walked to the steel hatch door in the middle of the flat stone roof, and crouched to put his hand on the latch of the door. “Ready?”
“Yes.” Micah expected Javan to open the door. Instead, he drew his sword. And disappeared. “Javan? Where’d you go?”
Javan clamped his hand over Micah’s mouth, suddenly reappearing. “Shh. Not so loud. Just hold on to my shirt and don’t let go until we find the governor. As long as you are in contact with me, we’ll both be invisible and can go wherever we want without being noticed.” Javan dropped his hand and once again vanished.
“Whoa.” Micah reached out to what appeared to be thin air and touched Javan’s ear, making him visible to Micah. “How is this possible?”
“I don’t know how. I just know that when I put Varjiek’s scale above the hilt of this sword, I can become invisible. Anyone I touch can also become invisible when I’m holding this sword, so stay close and don’t touch anyone else.”
“Definitely not.” Micah kept his excitement in check as they slipped into the stuffy attic. He recalled Vince mentioning Javan’s invisibility trick when they were in Nahat, but Micah didn’t think Javan could actually become invisible. This ability gave the Collector incredible power, power he was currently sharing with Micah. What kinds of things could they do as invisible men?
“Where do we go from here?”
Javan’s question brought Micah back to the present. “Emilia’s office encompasses most of the first floor. A stairway at the end of the hall will take us to the front entrance, and we can get to her office from there.”
Javan nodded and led them through the empty hallway and down the spiral stairwell to the front entrance. It, too, was empty.
“That was way too easy,” Javan said. “Where is everyone?”
“Outside.” A glance out the windows revealed soldiers prodding the crowds toward the amphitheater. “The governor will wait for the crowd to settle and will be the last one to arrive. The gongs will sound right before she addresses the people and orders the execution.”
“Then you better intercept her before she can even get down there.”
“Her office is through those doors.” Micah pointed across the lobby to a pair of cedar doors with a bust of Omri on one side and Emilia on the other. “I can handle her on my own.” He broke contact with Javan and crossed the lobby.
Without bothering to knock, he flung the doors open. “Emilia, I demand that you drop all charges against Taliya and release her into my custody straightaway.”
An empty room greeted him, and the sound of a booming gong reverberating in the distance answered his demands.
◊◊◊
Taliya’s breaths became faster and more shallow as a guard lifted her onto a box and slipped a scratchy rope around her neck. Yet she refused to let herself cry. She kept her head held high, determined to die with as much dignity as she could muster while the hem of the brown dress she’d been forced to put on tickled her knees.
Javan and Micah were nowhere to be seen. Neither were her parents.
The last faces she would see before dying belonged to scared, heartless strangers. That wouldn’t be entirely awful if she could at least impart some final words to them, but since her mouth was stuffed with a sock and the sock was tied tightly in with a cloth wrapped around her face, she couldn’t say a word.
Perhaps if she had gagged herself from childhood and learned how to obey the laws that made no sense to her, she wouldn’t be in this predicament. Her mother would have loved a quiet, obedient child, and Taliya wouldn’t have felt the need to run away.
She also never would have truly lived. She would have been a shell of a human being forced to follow oppressive instructions and never allowed the freedom to learn, to explore, to discover her strengths. Although her life was being cut short at the age of twenty-three, she preferred death to the hundreds of years of lifeless living the people watching her die would inevitably endure.
Once Taliya was in place and the guard secured her hands behind her back with a rope, the gongs sounded again, and the governor stepped onto the stage in front of Taliya. After the echoes of the gongs faded, Emilia spoke.
“I want each of you to take a good look at this girl.” Her words sounded more obnoxious than the gongs, but they were infused with a sense of authority that even caused Taliya to pay attention. “She chose to break the law and go beyond the city gates. For that she was sentenced to a life of slavery, an act of mercy on my part because she was so young.
“How did she repay me for not banning her to the Land of No Return for her crime? She escaped again! Yet she found the world outside of these walls so harsh and unforgiving that she chose to return more than a decade later, knowing she would be facing the death penalty for her second crime.”
Taliya tried to rub the gag off her mouth with her shoulder. The people needed to know that the Land of Zandador was a spectacular place that they should be allowed to explore. She wanted to encourage them to fight for the right to come and go as they pleased, not believe the governor’s lies that the world beyond the gates should terrify them.
“Let this be a warning to all of you. You’re safe here in the city. Dangers you can’t even imagine lurk outside the gates. And if you break the law, you will be punished.” The governor turned to Taliya with a smirk that revealed her wicked heart. “Kill her.”
The guard tightened the noose. The coarse material dug into her throat.
What a terrible way to die. Alone. Unable to speak. Unable to defend herself. She closed her eyes, suddenly fearful of what would happen to her soul when she took her last breath.
Only death didn’t come. Shrieks of shock and wails of surprise pierced her ears. When she opened her eyes, she saw no reason for the confusion, but everyone on the stage and in the stadium looked like they had seen a ghost.
“There he is again!”
Taliya�
�s eyes followed the pointed finger of an old woman to what appeared to be Micah standing on the far left end of the stage.
“Amazing,” the governor said. “Micah is so concerned about seeing justice served that he has come back from the grave to witness this girl’s death!”
The governor kicked the box out from under Taliya’s feet, sending her swinging and gasping for air.
◊◊◊
Javan stiffened at the sight of Taliya’s body dangling from the gallows. Seeing the “ghost” of Micah was supposed to paralyze the governor, not prompt her to speed up the execution. He left Micah’s side and ran toward Taliya.
“Wrong!” Micah crossed the stage alongside the invisible Javan, talking as he walked. His booming voice vibrated through air. “I came to take her with me.”
Javan wasn’t sure what Micah meant by that until he saw Micah wrap his arm around Taliya’s waist. Javan immediately touched Micah, making all three of them disappear. Then using the sword he already held, he jumped up and sliced the rope that had been strangling Taliya.
She slumped forward, and Micah adjusted his hold so that he cradled her in his arms. They dodged out of the way right before the governor swiped the air under the gallows.
“Where did she go?” Emilia sounded spooked. “Why would he take her before she died?”
“Is he going to come back for any other lawbreakers?” That question by one of the guards created sheer mayhem. People flooded the aisles of the stadium. Those that couldn’t reach the aisles began climbing over each other up the concrete seats, and the panicked yells and screams became a deafening roar courtesy of the amazing acoustics.
“Guards,” Emilia said, “get control of these people and send them back to work. Anyone who misses their shifts will be fined three days of food.” She snapped her fingers and waved the guards toward the fleeing crowd. She shivered as she studied the space under the gallows again, then exited the stage.
