To see the world and forge her own destiny.
Nothing less would do.
Remi smiled as she thought of Ian and Kace, the two boys that had showed an interest in her, and once she thought of who they really were, the smile fell from her face. What was it about her that attracted guys who wanted to play around, and then when things got rough, they left or looked for a way out?
Remi lifted her head high as the cold air began getting warmer. From here on out, she would focus on herself. Yes, she wanted to be loved just as much as the next girl, but she wasn’t going to find the right person for her if she didn’t even know what she wanted and needed.
She was done protecting. She was done giving them the attention.
If someone wanted her…if they truly wanted her, they were going to have to fight for her this time.
Nothing less would do.
Chapter 37 – No Persuasion
“There!” Eckard shouted as he scanned the environment down below. Remi snapped out of her trance and began searching under her feet. Alicia was slowly descending but not too fast. The clouds around them had vanished entirely and the air was thick. Strangely, it wasn’t hot, but it had a substance to it that made Remi want a drink of water—not to quench her thirst, but to get the lump out of her throat.
“Are we in Cimmerian?” she yelled.
“We have to be,” Olivia shouted back.
Remi patted Alicia’s skin. “Let’s go back a bit and go in by foot.” Alicia gave no sign that she understood but Olivia spoke on her behalf.
“It’s better if we come in by air,” she yelled. “With manifestations being non-existent, the odds of them having air defenses are slim.”
As if to smack Olivia’s notion away, Alicia was suddenly hit in the stomach by a ball of fire. Whatever the ball was made of, it exploded on impact, disintegrating like dust while Alicia tried to keep herself level so that no one would fall off. Another fireball narrowly missed her head.
“We have to make ourselves the target,” Remi shouted. “Or else we’re going to all be blown out of the sky!”
“We can’t exactly jump off!” Eckard shouted.
“I have an idea!” Remi said. “Milo, I want you to stay up here with Alicia and keep her company. Eckard and Olivia, I want you to get up and hug me tight. I’m going to be our ride.”
“How?” Olivia asked, slowly rising to her feet as Alicia tried to keep them steady. “You learn how to fly all of a sudden?”
“Listen,” Remi said as Eckard and Olivia got near. “Whatever defenses or shields or whatever you have, make sure to activate them. I’m going into armor mode.”
“That’s your master plan?” Eckard scoffed. “Jump off and fall?”
“Not fall,” Remi smiled. “Drop down like a rock and destroy whatever’s underneath.”
“Gutsy,” Olivia laughed. “Let’s do it.”
“Alicia!” Remi shouted. “We’re heading out. Take care of yourself!”
Remi walked over to the tip of the left wing and nearly fell off when Eckard and Olivia grabbed her shirt from behind. Once she was sure they had a good grip, she leapt off with them right behind.
She activated her armor and began speeding down to the ground below even faster than before. Though she couldn’t crane her neck down to see what was below, she could see Olivia and Eckard getting into position out of the corner of her eye. Eckard summoned his Sage robe and leapt off first, well before they were even close to the buildings below. Olivia smiled as she pressed her hands to Remi’s steel back, spreading heat all across her.
Remi would grin if she could. Olivia was making sure her armor frame did the most damage possible.
Olivia leapt off just as they cleared the first tall roof and Remi braced for impact.
Her steel frame slammed into a catapult below, annihilating it completely and causing a dust cloud to spread up and down the red-sanded street. She heard the Cimmerians yelling out in surprise as they tried to swipe the cloud away and get to the source of the destruction.
Remi emerged from the dust cloud with her white Sage robe on and her purple Falchion shining like a beacon. She wanted them all to know she was there, and they were going to regret taking Kace from her.
She cut through the first wave as if they were made of paper, swinging her blade so fluidly it was like it had become a whip. The troops didn’t know what to do as she kicked them through the clay houses and flung them over her shoulders into each other. She couldn’t see much of the street during the fight, but the glimpses she caught were depressing. There was sand everywhere, and though it was hot, there was no humidity. The sun above was blocked by a rusty orange haze and the only lighting otherwise were from hanging lanterns, swaying in the continuous gusts of wind.
When she finished off the last of the dozen, she began running down the street when another group turned the corner. This time there had to be thirty or so. One of the armored men stepped forward and lifted his steel faceguard. He had a red long beard and worn, grey eyes.
“It’s one of the weapons,” he confirmed to his men. “She’s come for the Quietus.”
“Where is he?” she yelled out, fully aware of the few Cimmerian guards creeping above her on the roof, preparing for the right time to pounce.
“Near,” he said, but there is an army between you. It would be wiser to surrender, rather than watch your friends be killed.”
“No one but your men are dying here today,” she shouted and he shook his head. Though he didn’t take her threat seriously, he didn’t laugh at her either.
“Remi,” he said in a fatherly tone, “let us discuss this like adults.” He turned back to his men and shouted: “Everyone back down unless we’re attacked! I want to speak with her!”
Remi sensed the men on the roof beginning to slink away. She was surprised by the gesture but she didn’t drop her guard.
“You’re here for Kace, am I right?”
“I am. We want him back.”
“And why is that?”
“Because he’s a friend of mine. I know you’re using him as bait.”
“That’s not why,” he said. “If only you knew the truth about what he is, you would understand.”
“Then what is he?”
“He was created by one of the Sorcerers.”
“Wait,” her eyes widened. “He’s one of the weapons?”
“No,” he said. “But he has the Sorcerer’s signature within him.”
“That might be because he’s been around me.”
“That’s not it at all,” he replied. “The signature is integrated with his blood.”
“So what do you plan on doing with him?”
“The same thing we would’ve been doing if we had you. We want to attract the Sorcerers in order to speak with them and possibly further our cause. We’re not unreasonable.”
“I don’t understand why you’re so trusting of Cimmerian leadership,” she said. “Aren’t you slaves here? At least in Paragon and on Terra, you would be treated as individuals.”
“That’s the illusion, isn’t it? You think you’re individuals when that couldn’t be further from the truth. We’re the ones treated as equals. Trust me. You can travel all around Cimmerian and you will find that no one’s willing to leave this world for Paragon. Is there conflict at times? Of course. But it’s nothing compared to the oppression and judgment that Paragon professes. We’re not in this war because we want to be. We’re in it because of what they will do to us all once they decide to attack. You think they’re innocent? They are amassing their armies in the background as we speak, and should they succeed, we will all be enslaved.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“You won’t have to if Paragon wins. You’ll be living it.”
“Are you sure this war is what you want?!” she yelled to the soldiers behind him, but none of them answered her.
It’s because they respect their leader, she thought to herself. If I take him out then they’ll
fold.
“I’m ready!” Remi shouted and a roar echoed across the skies. The soldiers raised their heads just as Alicia began her assault, blowing a wave of fire into the buildings to their right. She didn’t kill anyone, but it was enough to get the leader to give the charge order. He motioned to his men to attack, pointing right at Remi, and she gladly accepted the challenge. She ran forward, leapt over the heads of a couple and then started hacking away at the mob.
The men from the roof leapt off but Remi swung her eidolon overhead and took them out easily. The soldiers started converging in front of her to protect their leader but she jumped onto the shoulders of the solder in front of her and started leaping toward him. The leader gave off a war cry as he met her in the air with his longsword but she won on impact. Her eidolon sliced through his blade and his armor, killing him instantly.
Remi landed on one knee and the soldiers tried to pin her down but they only ended up on the tip of her blade when they dove for her. Still, she was getting overwhelmed and she knew that eventually they would succeed. On cue, Alicia came swooping in the skies, blowing fire onto the crowd hovering over Remi. They screamed and shrieked as they writhed and let Remi go, more worried about the burning of their flesh than her escape.
Remi leapt through the hole in the mob and onto an empty part of the street watching as Alicia made another pass, blowing another wave of fire onto them and sealing their fate. Remi turned around and ran to the end of the dusty street, taking a left down an empty road.
The moment she turned the corner, someone punched her square in the cheek, sending her down to the ground in a crumple. She looked up to see a thin man with no shirt on. He only wore a pair of mud-caked baggy pants. He was bald and but he sported a goatee that was black in color. His eyes were a light and vibrant hazel color and he smiled as if he someone had just given him a particularly awesome birthday present.
“Come on,” he said, motioning for her to get up. “I’m all yours.”
“Who are you?” she groaned, rising slowly to her feet. Her jaw felt like it had become unhinged.
“Your personal assassin,” he said. “I’ve been running all over the city looking for you. Now I’m here. You all have one, even the dragon. We have this covered. We’re pretty organized.”
“You talk a lot.”
“And you can’t fight. We all have our shortcomings, don’t we?”
Remi was about to make a snappy comeback when the silence in the air alarmed her. She looked to the skies as her face scrunched up in horror.
“Where’s the dragon, right?” he laughed. “Yeah, we got her.”
“What about the rest?” she asked, and he shrugged his shoulders. “No clue. We’ll be doing inventory later. So why don’t we skip this part and you come back with me of your own free will.”
“No,” she said firmly and he ran forward.
She was only in half swing with her eidolon when he straight kicked her arm away. He then shuffled his feet quickly and kicked her in the chest with the other. She staggered back but maintained her balance. She rolled behind him, swinging her eidolon behind her in one smooth motion but he blocked her forearm, spun around and elbowed her in the temple. She staggered as he raised his right leg and wrapped it around her arm. Keeping it tight under his knee, he continued to elbow her in the head until she somersaulted forward, taking him with her. Unfortunately, she had lost her eidolon in the process.
He landed on his face and let her go, allowing her to roll away from him and jump back to her feet. She could barely keep her balance as he leapt to his feet easily. He smiled at her again as he began shuffling his feet back and forth like a boxer. She grit her teeth and sighed. She couldn’t lose. Especially if she was the only one that hadn’t been captured.
“Even if you beat me,” he said. “There’s someone waiting for you right after. You’d have to defeat all ten of us in succession to win.”
“I’ve been through worse,” she muttered.
“No, no you haven’t,” he said. He roundhouse kicked toward her head and she ducked under it and sprinted forward, running into his open legs and pushing him off his feet. As he fell to the ground, she unsheathed her eidolon and sliced off the leg still in the air. He screamed as he fell onto his back. Remi was about to say something witty when her eidolon yelled at her. She narrowly blocked the longsword that came for her head. There was a cloaked woman in front of her, hidden under a dark hood.
Remi tried to get a slash in but the woman blocked her blows easily as if she was facing off against a child. Remi eventually realized that her attacks were being guided and she was no longer in control. With this realization, she switched up her attacks, deciding to leap up and knee the hooded woman in the face. The woman’s head snapped back as Remi went for the kill with her eidolon—aiming for the neck, but the woman recovered instantly. She ducked under the eidolon and didn’t respond with an attack of her own.
Remi kept swinging and switching up her stabs and lunges but the woman just dodged and ducked, showing Remi just how futile her attacks were. Remi realized that once again, she was being guided into a false sense of security, starting to believe that the woman wasn’t ever going to fight back.
Remi stopped swinging and took a few steps back as the hooded woman laughed to herself.
“Playing games, are we?” Remi asked. The hooded woman reached up and pulled back her hood. Remi clenched her jaw in rage.
“Olivia,” she breathed. “What are you doing?”
“I’m joining Cimmerian,” she replied, staring directly into Remi’s eyes. “It took us a while to get here, but we’ve finally made it.”
“This was your plan all along?”
“Not all along,” she said, wiping the dust from her cloak. “Although I’m joining Cimmerian’s forces, it doesn’t mean I’m not with you. In my mind, we’re still friends.”
“How can you believe that?”
“You seriously didn’t think this was going to happen?”
“I knew it was a possibility, but I thought you had more of a heart than this.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint,” she said, her face filled with sorrow. Remi didn’t know what to believe.
“Where are the others?” Remi asked.
“Captured,” Olivia replied.
“That’s all I need to know,” she said, dropping to her knees and putting her hands up in the air. “I give up.”
Chapter 38 – The Dead Talk
When they lifted the bandana blindfold from her eyes and pushed her toward the cold stone slabs, she didn’t expect to see Alicia in the corner, clawing at her head as she wept. The sight scared her more than anything her mind had come up with on the way there.
“Alicia,” she said, rising to her feet. Though her arms were still shackled together with chains, her feet were free. What kind of prison was this that they allowed their jailed to walk around casually? Didn’t they know what their prisoners could do?
“No, no,” Alicia sobbed as she burrowed her head into her chest. She leaned further against the wall. Remi saw that there was light coming from the ceiling of the small circular room. Sure enough, several yards up, there was a grate that led to the outside. The rest of the dungeon was cold and made of stone, but the walls didn’t look secure. Remi summoned her eidolon from her shoulder and leaned to the left so that the blade sliced through her restraints. She picked up her eidolon from the floor and cut through the chains around her wrists. The fact that she was able to free herself so easily was disconcerting. What was keeping them there? The guards? Perhaps the ten that the other guy mentioned were outside…and was Olivia one of those ten?
“Alicia has been like this the whole time,” Remi heard someone say. She turned to her right to see Milo in the corner, hidden under a veil of darkness.
“I didn’t see you there,” she replied.
“Ha. Ha. I get it. I’m dark.”
Remi walked over and freed him of his chains. He rubbed his wrists as his eyes stayed on
Alicia.
“She’s not doing well.”
“What’s wrong with her? Did they do something?”
“Didn’t seem like it. But I’m not sure.”
“Where’s your suitcase?”
“Fell in the battle,” he sighed. “I don’t think I’m getting it back. At least I still managed to hold on to Alicia’s clothes.”
“It’s just so weird seeing you without it…um, so what happened?”
“On one of her passes…when she swooped in low, a dozen guys jumped onto her back from the roof. They were so quick that I didn’t even see them until they had already grabbed me. Alicia swooped in to save me but it was a trap. They started throwing gigantic nets on top of her with weights attached to the corners. Then they started pelting her with boulders from the catapults. She was knocked out and went crashing into the city. I don’t think anyone was killed in her fall though. They were definitely waiting for us…the city looked like it was empty when we arrived.”
“Yeah,” she said. “I didn’t see anyone that weren’t part of Cimmerian’s forces.”
“How did they get you?” he asked.
“I gave up after learning that they got the two of you. I knew that together we had a better chance at escaping, and if I kept on fighting, I might be wounded.”
“Speaking of together…where’s Eckard and Olivia?”
“Yeah,” she said, rubbing her forearms. “She betrayed us.”
“Really?” his voice nearly cracked. “But…why?!”
“It’s who she is. She wants power, and Cimmerian probably made her a deal she couldn’t refuse, contingent on capturing me and Alicia. Eckard…he’s just a follower.”
“So it’s just the three of us?”
“And Kace…wherever he may be.”
“So we’re getting out of here?”
“For sure,” she said. “But that’s what worries me. Again, it shouldn’t be this easy. I think they’re waiting for it. Not to mention that they’re probably listening to us right now.”
“Well, we’re not going anywhere with Alicia like that.”
The Complete Seven Sorcerers Trilogy Page 36
