by Maggie Platt
Tovi was awestruck.
Calix put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to his side. “Amazing, isn’t it? This is all the work of His Majesty. Everything we need comes from this mountain. Many materials and our food come from the outside, but gold and granite are on the inside.”
Tovi nodded, but she wasn’t really paying attention. She was looking at the faces of the workers. What if Tali was down there?
She noticed that one worker seemed to be in charge. A woman with her hair wrapped in a dirty cloth and her face smudged with grime was calling out instructions and walking among the rubble. As Tovi stared, the woman turned in her direction, meeting her eyes across the distance.
“Let’s find an empty basket,” Calix said. “The ride is a lot of fun. You’re going to love it.” He noticed her rubbing her goose-bumped arms. “And it’s much warmer once you’re outside above the clouds. It’s a completely different world up there.”
He lifted her into one of the empty metal containers and told her to be careful not to touch the sides unless she wanted to get dirt all over her clothing. When both were inside, he tugged on the attached rope, and the basket flew into the air. Tovi had to grab hold of Calix to keep from falling.
He laughed. “Sorry, I should have warned you about that.”
Tovi’s stomach lurched as they swayed and rose past torch after torch. It was the most unpleasant sensation she had ever experienced. When they were still several hundred feet from the ceiling—a giant, flat expanse supported by the four columns—the basket stopped unceremoniously. A worker used a long metal hook to pull them onto a large stone shelf where they disembarked.
They were surrounded by full metal baskets, and she noticed for the first time that they were on wheels. Workers pulled the baskets to long tables, where more people were busy sorting the rubble into piles.
Calix took her hand and pulled her through the chaos. Bright sunlight poured through an archway, and she had to blink many times as she stepped into balmy air heavy with heat. Tovi stopped in awe once more.
CHAPTER 18
Ganya rarely slept in, and the brightness of the sun through the willow leaves seemed almost unnatural by the time she opened her eyes. She moved and stretched beneath the covers, enjoying that perfect warmth of morning blankets.
And then she remembered.
She turned on her side and looked at Avi’s pillow. She didn’t cry. She just stared for a very long time. While her eyes remained still, her mind replayed his disappearance over and over again. She wished she could be happy for him. But for now, her heart ached.
She heard a few clanks of pots and pans followed by the sizzle and smell of bacon. Good. My worries for Tovi were unfounded. She is still here.
It took great effort to pull back the blankets and put her feet in the slippers beside her bed. With one last great sigh, she forced herself to stand and shuffle into the kitchen. It was time to put her sorrow aside and go take care of Tovi.
But it wasn’t Tovi in her kitchen. The last person she ever would have expected was tending to the bacon on the stove.
His dark blue hair had grown long, and he had it tied on top of his head. He had never been able to grow much of a beard, and his stubble was patchy and unkempt. As soon as he saw Ganya he dropped the spatula and closed the distance between them with just two strides.
“Tali, my boy,” she cried, wrapping her arms around his waist and squeezing. Her cheek rested against his chest. “You’re home.”
“Not for long. I have more work to do, but Silas told me to take a break for a short visit. I am sorry I wasn’t here yesterday,” he said with a hitch in his voice that made him sound much younger than his twenty years. “I didn’t get to say goodbye. I cannot believe I didn’t get to say goodbye. I didn’t get to tell him thank you or that I loved him.”
“He knew you loved him,” Ganya replied tenderly. “And he was so proud that you were out there, on a mission for Silas.” She had never seen this much emotion from him. Part of her was distressed by his pain, but the other part of her was relieved he was letting it out. He had never been one to let on that he was hurting. In fact, sometimes Ganya worried that his insatiable desire for adventure was his heart’s way of burying pain and heartache. It had always been easier for him to run off to the mountains rather than put words to the tragedies and hard times of his life.
Tali shook himself and dried the wetness from his face with a sudden swipe of the back of his arm. He went to the stove and turned the bacon.
“What did Tovi think when she saw you?” Ganya asked. “And where is she?”
Tali took his time flipping the last piece. He wiped his hands on a dish cloth and picked up a folded piece of paper from the counter.
He approached Ganya slowly, and Tali’s wrinkled brow told her that something was very wrong.
“She’s gone, Ganya,” he said, handing her Tovi’s note.
Ganya held it with trembling fingers, but she kept her composure as she read. She wasn’t surprised by the lies, but they compounded her grief. How could she take any more?
“That’s the real reason why Silas sent me home for a bit. He didn’t want you to be alone when you found out,” Tali said with a tired, apologetic smile. “He would have been here himself, but he told me you’d rather be with me than him right now.”
Ganya returned his less-than-half-hearted grin. She had loved Tovi and Tali since the moment she first held them, wrapped in blankets and crying from being jostled in the night. So much had changed in the last twenty years, but her love had only grown. Now, after reading the note, she ached, but she really wasn’t all that shocked by Tovi’s decision. Ganya willed her heart and mind to turn toward this young man. She rarely had time with him these days, and she refused to let her sadness for Tovi steal the gift of her moments with Tali. She said a silent prayer that she could focus, even if just for a few minutes. Her grief for Avi and Tovi needed to wait.
“Silas is right. I can talk to him any time. It’s you I’ve been missing. Bring that bacon out on the porch. I want to hear everything.”
CHAPTER 19
Tovi tried to take in the mass of tall, angular buildings climbing up to the plateau at the top of the mountain. They were built directly on the ground and stretched several stories into the sky. How could this be safe? Were they not afraid of floods here?
She looked behind her, but the clouds blocked any view of home. It was strange to think she was standing on the squat mountain she had seen so often from the other side of the ridge.
The soles of Tovi’s feet discovered the smooth stones of a cobbled street. They were warm and soothing. They came around a curve, and she was able to see far down a narrow street lined with buildings, all almost as tall as the trees back home. They were gray and had small windows climbing their facades. Dark railings seemed to hold the buildings together. Skinny children played in the streets and dug through piles of trash. There was an odd smell, too—something completely new and unpleasant.
Crowds of people rushed along the street, all wearing varying hues of gray. Vendors called out, advertising their wares. Laughter erupted from one building, followed by the crash of breaking glass. Tovi searched each face for any sign of Tali. Many stared back, and she was suddenly very aware of her bright yellow dress and how it stood out among all the gray.
“Sorry you have to see all of this,” Calix said as he pulled her further into the city. “This is the Bottom Rung. There won’t be any need for you to come back here. It gets better as we go further up.”
They continued winding through alleyways, and Tovi noticed that the neighborhoods gradually became cleaner and less rowdy. An arched tunnel led them into an enormous stone-paved square. She realized that this flat expanse was the very peak of the mountain, as there was nowhere left to climb. The massive area was surrounded by towering buildings, and the entire side opposite the tunnel was taken up by a palace unlike anything Tovi had ever seen. The edifice appeared to be made of go
lden brick, and there were endless layers of towers and turrets.
“This is the courtyard. It’s where people gather for important events. I live over there,” Calix said, pointing to a line of huge homes squeezed together along one side of the square and leading Tovi in that direction.
Peeking inside windows as they walked, Tovi saw elegant women in long, silver dresses with strings of sparkling stones around their necks and gloved wrists. She noticed that each of the garments was nearly the same, draping fabric around the women’s bodies and exposing their bare backs which were covered in dark designs. The men wore fancy gray trousers of varying hues, gray gloves, and crisp white shirts with large holes cut out of the back, revealing the same ring of black marks.
“Calix, what are those pictures on their backs?”
“They are marks of honor. You will have all of them eventually, too.”
This answer did nothing to help her understand, but she was too distracted by the newness around her to bother asking more questions.
As they reached the steps to his house, he turned to her eagerly. “I know the last few days have been really difficult for you, but there’s one more thing I’d like to do before we relax and get you settled in. Are you up for it?”
Her feet hurt, her back ached, and she desperately wanted to crawl into a comfortable bed for a nice long nap. “Of course,” she said, as another pain stabbed her shoulder.
“We are gathering across the courtyard to watch the fight. You don’t even know what that is, but you’ll love it. Let’s freshen up a bit, and I’ll take you to meet King Damien. You can borrow something from my sister’s closet.”
He had a sister.
She was stunned.
What else didn’t she know about this man? She had just given up everything she knew to follow him here. What had she done?
She didn’t have time to think thoroughly about her discovery because they had just entered Calix’s house. Her hands ran over the furniture upholstered in materials softer than anything she had ever felt. She passed floor-to-ceiling windows surrounded by thick, rich drapes tied back with golden cords. There were gilded mirrors and marble statues, ornate candle holders, and elaborate tapestries. Everything was extravagant.
Calix called someone’s name, and a girl with dark hair and eyes—just like his—appeared wearing a stiff gray dress. It was knee-length and had long sleeves that buttoned over her gray gloves. “Cora, please take Tovi and find something suitable for her to wear. Please be quick.”
Cora nodded politely and led Tovi up a flight of wide, curving marble steps. Her otherwise modest dress had a large circle cut neatly out of the back, revealing the same marks Tovi had seen through the windows of the other houses.
She looked at them closely as she followed the girl into a large bedroom. It was an intricate design. Or, more accurately, it was an intricate system of small designs, almost like a wreath made of separate symbols. Cora’s was not complete, however. It started on her right shoulder and curved down toward the base of her spine. The one at the top was a set of unbalanced scales. Moving clockwise, there was a rose, its stem covered in menacing thorns, and then a pointy crown. The details in each of the three designs were so exquisite that Tovi didn’t watch where she was going. She just wanted to examine the fine lines and perfect shading.
Cora walked straight to a tall mahogany wardrobe that opened to reveal gowns of every gray from lightest silver to darkest charcoal. She set to work, first removing Tovi’s homemade clothes and making Tovi blush. Cora replaced them with soft and flowing silk. It was strange. Even though she was wrapped in more fabric than before, she felt shockingly exposed.
As Cora selected long strands of beads from a collection hanging inside the wardrobe, Tovi tried to strike up a conversation. “I didn’t know Calix had a sister. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Oh, no, miss,” she said, not looking up from her task. “I work here. I normally tend to his sister, Miss BiBi.”
Working in someone else’s home? What did that even mean? Tovi filed it away in her mind, telling herself she would remember to ask Calix about it later. The list of questions was growing with every passing minute.
When Cora was finished dressing Tovi, she went to fetch Calix. Tovi was left alone to wait for his arrival. She saw her reflection in a long mirror, and she wondered what Ganya would think to see her in all this splendor, with gloves up to her elbows and her hair piled and pinned on top of her head. Her heart shuddered painfully as she thought about Ganya’s smile and how she would probably say, “My goodness, don’t you look scrumptious!”
There was a soft tap on the door, and Calix entered. He had changed into gray pants and a white shirt like those she had seen through the windows. The shadow was cleanly shaven off his cheeks, and somehow, he looked more severe than before. Severe and dangerous and completely entrancing.
Calix stopped just inside the door, buttoning his gray gloves and looking at her, starting with her hair and traveling all the way to the floor. When their eyes met again, he smiled and declared softly, “You are stunning, Tovi.”
Her confidence growing, she returned his grin and spun around for him to get a better look.
His adoration swelled for a moment, only to freeze in a look of confusion turned to horror. He took long strides toward her, grasping her shoulders and turning her to face away from him.
“No,” he muttered. Then louder, “No.”
Calix jerked her around to face him again. With those black eyes mere inches from hers and his fingers digging painfully into her shoulders, he bellowed, “When did you meet him?”
“You’re hurting me!”
He slapped her hard across the face. “Leeto. When did you meet Leeto?”
Stunned from the blow and the sudden rusty taste of blood in her mouth, she gritted her teeth. “How dare you strike me?”
Calix grabbed her wrists and yanked her toward the massive bathroom attached to the room. All four walls, plus the floor and ceiling, were made of mirror, and he pulled her into the very center. Exponential reflections surrounded her at every angle as she fought against his hold.
“Look at your back,” he ordered, letting her go.
In defiance, she stood still, staring at him. A million thoughts raced through her mind, and she couldn’t make sense of what was happening.
“Do what I say,” he growled, wrenching her arm once more and backing her closer to one of the mirrored walls. With one hand acting as manacle on her wrist, he used the other to force her chin over her shoulder.
She froze, looking at the black mark branded on her shoulder, exactly where her pain had begun the previous night.
“My mark is a crown. That,” he said, jabbing at the hissing snake, “is Leeto’s mark.” His voice had become a dangerous snarl, and the veins in his neck throbbed with darkness. He pushed her away, and she stumbled in her foolish high heels. “That snake means you are worthless to me. Worthless!”
CHAPTER 20
As soon as he witnessed Calix’s moment of discovery, Leeto sank back on the balcony, ensuring that he wouldn’t be seen. He climbed over a railing and dropped to the floor below, slinking down to the courtyard as quickly as possible.
It worked. It had actually worked. Seeing the snake on her shoulder was the greatest triumph of his life, at least thus far.
He hastened toward the palace intent on finding His Majesty, announcing his victory, and going into hiding until Calix had time to calm down. He would stay close enough to protect his family should Eryx make good on his threats, but otherwise he would lie low, making plans for his future schemes that centered around Tali Tivka. Phase one was complete. Time to move on to phase two.
There was a great swell of people crushing into the courtyard. Of course. Today was the fight. Eryx would be getting in the ring for the first time in years. That would buy him some time, especially if Eryx were to lose.
He entered the palace and asked the butler for an immediate audience with King Da
mien. After a few moments of waiting, he was led to the throne room. King Damien was alone except his guards.
“I have done it, Your Majesty. I have completed the task.”
Damien stared at Leeto, not saying a word.
“She’s here, an Adian. She is in Calix’s house right now. The snake is on her back, clear as day.”
Damien brought his gloved fingers together in front of his face in contemplation. “Explain yourself. Who is she? Why is she with Calix?”
“Her name is Tovi. Calix and I both met her in Adia, but at different times. Calix was working too slowly, and I saw a good opportunity to deliver an Adian into your hands right away. I taught her Control. She used it brilliantly, I must say. I think he thought it was Adoration, but it’s my snake on her shoulder, not his crown. I completed the task. I won.”
“I’m sorry to tell you, Leeto, but I have changed my mind on the parameters of this task. I am no longer content with an Adian merely being here on the mountain. To hear the new rules, come to the next meeting when I summon the Council. You are still in the running, but I am not convinced we have a winner yet.”
Leeto stared at the king, wide-eyed and quiet. He had been fooled. King Damien was the ultimate master of Control, and he had wielded it against the weapons. He should have seen through the reward. King Damien would never give up land or wealth or power.
Without saying goodbye, he turned on his heel and left the palace with his head held high. He went home long enough to pack a small satchel and then rushed out of the city. The idea of finding his own way to power raised his spirits. He didn’t need to win a contest for His Majesty. He could do it all by himself. He would learn what task Tali was up to for Adwin. Then he would use that information to take over the mountain. He couldn’t wait to force Damien to look upon one of his former weapons sitting on his old throne.
