by Ben Alderson
“These lives are not lost entirely but misplaced until this all ends. It was inevitable, only a matter of time before the Druid claimed them for his army. But this way they will be overcome with his dark power, but not through death. It was the best option we had during such dire times.”
“How do you know all of this?” I asked, mind racing to make sense of what Negan told me. Neivel stood a few feet behind his brother which gave me the best view of him when he turned towards the door. His ear, it was pointed like mine. Then I noticed the glint of red that hummed beneath their pale skin. They were in fact from Thessolina. “And what are two Niraen born elves doing this far from home?”
The right side of Negan’s lip turned up. “You’ve keen eyes. We do share the same shores as you, but left years ago. We’ve been working for the Alorian Queen Kathine since we both enrolled in her legions, preparing for war that we never believed would arrive.”
“You’re twins, aren’t you?”
Negan nodded. “We are.”
Neivel pushed past his brother, face matching his red hair. “We don’t have time for idle chatter. Not when our sister is suffering. If we are going to get her out, we need to leave, Negan. We need to go now.”
Sister? My mouth gawked open in shock.
“Nyah.” I swallowed.
Both brother’s expressions changed, as if her name caused them a strange pain.
“You are her brothers?” My knees almost gave way beneath the heavy weight of realization.
Negan tapped in the air. “Older brothers, yes.”
“She told me about you. How you’d enrolled in the Eldnol armies. But we never spoke about it again.”
“You must listen, for we don’t have long. Since the fall of the city we, as well as the soldiers left trapped beyond, are plotting an uprising. We have shared word with those that surround Lilioira beyond the fallen gate. Regiments are coming together from across Eldnol, and soon there will be numbers far greater than anything the Druid has. Even with his new recruits he is collecting as we speak, our numbers will outgrow his ten to one. It is only a matter of time till we make our move.”
I almost sagged on the spot with relief. Before now I had only hoped in moments of wishful thinking of the efforts beyond the closed city that would help us. Maybe this was it? With the Alorian numbers they could overthrow Gordex and end it all.
“When are they moving in on the city?” I asked, my enthusiasm clear from the cracking in my voice.
“Soon,” Neivel muttered. “When the time is right. That is why we are here to see you. Queen Kathine has been in contact—”
“She has?” This entire time she seemed broken.
“Kathine is queen, she has her ways. Regardless of what they are, she seems to believe you are the best person to question regarding Gordex’s timelines. Whatever you know you must tell us. It will help determine when we move.”
This new information spoke volumes to me. Regardless of Queen Kathine’s weakness she was still able to communicate with those beyond the city. As if on cue, a bird sped past the open balcony. I caught the blur of its blue underwing and recognized it as the birds which Queen Kathine used to spread news across her city. It perched on the balcony and watched the three of us, knowingly.
I moved from the balcony into the room where the brothers stood. This could be the distraction I needed to create more time for whoever sent the familiar. Then it hit me, they could be working with the efforts beyond the city.
“I will share what I know, but you must answer this for me. Are you in contact with Prince Hadrian? Emaline the Dragori?” I said, hopefully.
Negan’s expression was enough to break down my hope and smash it into a million pieces. “No, there has been no contact with Prince Hadrian or this Dragori you speak of. The only thing I know is they have left Eldnol’s shores for another. I am sorry I’ve no more answers for you.”
I took a silent moment to compose myself. At least they were far from the fight, where ever they were. “Fine, this is what I know. Gordex plans to leave for Morgatis this morning, or so that was what he said. He has prepared a ship—”
From the noise in the city, I couldn’t help but feel that his plans were being pushed back.
“The ship we are aware about,” Neivel interrupted.
“Then you know there is a limited time to strike. I know little of his plans regarding our travel, for he has called the ship a distraction. We could be leaving before it or after. That is all I know,” I said.
“What did I say to you?” Neivel said, angered. “He knows little, and we have wasted precious time. We could have our sister far from this place by now.”
Negan didn’t flinch at his brother’s anger but kept his jade gaze pinned to mine. Even his eyes mimicked his sister’s perfectly. “Change of plans, brother, we are not going for Nyah today.”
“What?” Neivel’s eyes bulged, the whites laced with protuberant veins.
“No, you must!” I added my own shock at Negan’s comment.
“Now is not the time. We must wait. If what he has said comes to pass, there will be a better time to save our sister. Or, as our sister is famous for doing, she will save herself. This is Nyah we are talking about,” Negan said, turning for his brother and placing a calm hand on his shoulder. “Come.”
Both moved for the large mirror that was propped against my wall.
“Wait…” I called for them, panicked by their sudden departure.
“In sight we may not be here, but we will be around in the shadows,” Negan said, pulling the hood back over his head.
“How? What if I find out more details and need to tell you?” I asked.
“Then talk to the walls. They’ll be listening.”
I reached out for Negan’s arm. “Please, go for Nyah. I fear the longer she is here the more Gordex can hurt her to get to me. I cannot, will not let that happen. You need to take her far away from here.”
For the first time, Neivel nodded, agreeing with me.
Negan brushed a gentle hand down my arm. I shivered under the contact of kindness, something I hadn’t experienced for a while. There was a selfish part of me that wanted them to stay here. Their presence calmed me.
“It will only be a matter of time till we move in,” Negan said. He let go of me and walked back to his brother who waited close to the mirror. “Like I said, speak with the walls if you need. They’ll be listening.”
I raised a brow and watched both boys walk behind the mirror. Once out of view, I raced over to see where they had gone, but the space behind it was empty, the brick wall untouched without sign that they had ever been here. As if they had ghosted through the stone itself, I was alone again.
For a long while I sat on the end of my bed piecing together the puzzle that was beginning to form.
What I knew so far was that the city was surrounded by waiting armies of light. They would attack when the time was right, whatever that was supposed to mean. Hadrian was not with them, which meant he truly was in Morgatis if that was where Gordex believes the final Dragori to be. And if the armies failed to stop him before we left, then what else would prevent him from getting what he wanted?
Emaline, was the final piece of his own puzzle. A puzzle that when completed would bring about a time of druids again, using our magick and the Staff with the collected souls of his ancestors to unlock a new reign of terror across our lands.
I only hoped we could stop it before time was no longer our ally.
I HALF EXPECTED Nyah’s brothers to return, but even when the screams and shouts of anguish ceased from the city, they never did. Not for the rest of the day, nor in the evening when my stomach spasmed with hunger, and my throat cut with the need for drink.
All day I’d been left in my room. I’d given up trying to break the door down and decided that flying from the room would only bring more attention to me. I didn’t need Gordex’s watching eyes on me anymore than they already were.
I complied. It was all I c
ould do. My shadowbeing guards arrived when the sky turned opal and the clouds were no longer visible. Their shuffles soon become a constant, blending in with the quiet as they always ended up doing. All I could do to pass the time was lie on my bed, facing the high ceiling. I counted the arches over and over, trying to calm my thoughts. For I had so many of them.
What else could I do to give Emaline time? The note had not long reached me, and change was coming. It hung in the air as thick as the smoke that spilled from the city since the cries stopped. Whatever happened within it today was a mystery, one I was sure Gordex would boast about over breakfast tomorrow.
Just as his name slipped across my mind, my door opened. Gordex entered alone.
His cloak trailed on the floor like water. It skittered across the slabbed floor, muffling his footsteps. He stood tall, runes dull across his skin. His obsidian eyes seemed darker than usual, ringed with shadows of tiredness beneath.
My entire body went stiff. I tried to keep my face expressionless, but his appearance made me feel like every secret I held from him was to be spilled across the floor. All sense of hunger that only seconds before clung to my stomach had left me. Even at the sight and smell of the food in Gordex’s hands were not enough to reclaim my desire to eat.
“What a day,” Gordex said, sighing with relief. The way he said it would be normal if it was from a father to his son, complaining about the work on the fields. “If I am hungry, you must be famished.”
He thrust the bowl of unknown liquid towards me. I turned my nose at it and gripped a hold of the sheets around me.
“What have you done?” I kept my voice steady and sharp. Gordex pulled a face of confusion, as if my accusation shocked him.
“What needed to be done.” Gordex thrust the bowl at me, but when I turned away from it again he placed it down on the cabinet beside the bed. “I do hope you have found ways to occupy yourself today. I am afraid I have been too busy to stop by and check on you.”
My cold stare was enough of a reply.
“Are you not going to ask me how my day has been?” Gordex asked, walking towards the balcony, his stare lost to me for a moment. In the faded light of evening he looked old and worn, as if the day had taken a toll on him.
“I know the game you play Gordex,” I spat. “From the shouts I’ve heard all day, I can only guess what you’ve been doing within Queen Kathine’s City. So, why are you here?”
“Why else do you think I am here on a visit but to share my spoils of success,” Gordex said. For a man who could cause such destruction, he had an air of calm about him. A stillness that I usually looked over. “Those who dwelled in that city were nothing but a thorn within skin. And I need an army, willingly or not. For the days to come, I must tip the scales of war towards me, and for that, sacrifices need to be made.”
“Genocide,” I shouted, the darkness bubbling within me. “That is what you have done. Killed for your sick gain. The Goddess will not look down upon you with a loving heart.”
“It is not the Goddess whose opinion I care for. Volcras will be grinning, I am sure of it. For I have gifted him with many this day.”
The Goddess reigned over light whereas Volcras was the God of darkness. And a God is what Gordex longed to be.
I pinched my nails into my palm, trying to still my urge to fight. When I blinked, I saw streets drenched in blood. I only hoped what the twins had told me about lives not being wasted was true.
Anger twisted deep within me. It was the dark energy in me, Gordex’s remaining touch, that willed me to act out. But I couldn’t, wouldn’t.
“Your hands are stained gold, red and black.”
“Oh, hush child. Not all lives have been lost today. There have been a few with gifts I’d very much like to utilize. The rest have joined the shadowbeings as companions.”
Just as Negan and Neivel had said.
“You expect them all to journey across the sea to Morgatis?” I replied.
Gordex cracked a tooth filled grin, lips tipping to the skies in pleasure. “In a manner of speaking, yes.”
“You will lose.” I ground my teeth, hissing through my clenched jaw.
“Will I? Everything I do has a purpose. Whether you believe it or not. For this is my game, board and players. I will succeed.”
Gordex placed his fingers to his lips to still himself. “That is enough for today. Enjoy your supper. Who knows if tomorrow brings more.”
“Wait,” I shouted, unsure why I called for him to stay, but the urgency in my voice was so thick I could practically taste it.
Gordex stopped before the door, black robes shifting around his feet from the sudden stop in momentum.
“Yes?” he drawled.
“Nyah, please. I’d like to see her,” I asked, forcing the most fake voice I could muster.
“Of course.” Gordex looked over his shoulder to me. The dark rune marks on his skin stretching.
His quick agreement snatched the breath out of me.
“You seem surprised, yet not once have you simply asked.”
“When?” I barked. Not once did I ever think he would allow this to happen. “When can I see her?”
Gordex ignored my question, moved for the door, and said his final words just as the door was about to close. “Sleep well, Zacriah. I need you in high spirits for tomorrow. You have a busy day ahead.”
My dreams were filled with sand. Orange and reds rolled like waves across barren deserts, straight for me.
Billowing vortexes of dancing sands, burning through cities until they were leveled and buried. I watched through blurry eyes as families ran and cowered together, turning at the last moment to watch my sandy wrath engulf them. It felt so real. Even in this warped dreamscape, I could taste the warm desert, feel the grains scratching across my skin as my winds willed them around me. I could even hear the pleading cries of those my magic finished. Their lives snuffed like the blowing out of a candle.
Suddenly the dream changed, desert stripped back leaving a stone hall I recognized. The throne room from Vulmar Place in Olderim.
It was like looking through a mirror of water. All around the vision moved, waved and changed. But ahead, the boy that stood before me stayed untouched. Hadrian. He was dressed in white. His hair had grown back to his shoulders, and his skin was flushed with warm color and life.
“Petal.” His voice carried over the space between us, echoing over and over. “You found me.”
I blinked, and he was inches before me.
“You look so handsome,” Hadrian sang. “There is not a moment that passes where I do not recognize how lucky I truly am.”
I tried to reply but no words came out of my mouth. Instead I grabbed a hold of him, running my hands down his arms and chest. He felt real. Solid and full. Being so close to him, away from the shifting room, I could see every detail of him properly. The long ivory cloak that was pinned to his broad shoulders. The silver clasps winking in the faded light of the room. My fingers brushed across the bead work of his waist coat, twirling shapes that sculpted his taut stomach.
“Are you ready?” he whispered.
The sound of clapping surprised me, causing me to turn back to face the room. Elves stood all around, jumping from their seats as they clapped and shouted for us. I felt Hadrian raise my hand, causing the watching audience to react even louder.
For a moment I was filled with the light of happiness. Until the pain in my hand dropped me to my knees.
The shouts did not stop. Not when Hadrian turned my arm backwards, pinning me with my cheek to the cold floor. I couldn’t turn to him, couldn’t see why he hurt me.
“Watch as I show them what happens when petals are removed from the flower.” Hadrian’s voice was no longer his. It had deepened, tainted by a darkness that only belonged to one person. “Let us show them just how each one wilts.”
I woke up, gasping for breath, the dream lingering in my mind, body and soul. Daylight streamed on my face, causing me to squint. Even witho
ut my vision I still felt the strange throbbing in my arm, as if the dream left its mark on me.
Holding onto my arm, I cried. My ache to see Hadrian was only stronger than before, as well as my need to cause Gordex the pain he showed me in dream and reality.
Curling on my side, I let my tears roll over the bridge of my nose and onto the pillow. I wept until the sun raised high above the city, only stopping when I had no more tears left to shed.
LILIOIRA WAS BARREN of life, at least from what my eyes could see. Streets were empty, only covered with overturned stalls, broken windows and scorched walls. With the number of people Gordex had turned yesterday, it surprised me that I saw none but the two shadowbeing guards that flanked me as I walked the city. I reminded myself of the armies who waited beyond Lilioira. I looked towards the towering mountain face and imagined the sea of soldiers clad in armor.
We rounded a familiar corner, following a trail of smashed stone that littered the ground. Up ahead, I spotted the fountain that Tiv talked about all that time ago. The very one that Queen Kathine had used as a stage the night Hadrian lost his control and his soul to Gordex. My chest pranged at the thought.
I didn’t know why I was being taken here. The shadowbeings only grunted and pulled me from my room once I had changed. Their inability to speak was both a blessing and a curse. This morning I opted to wear Gordex’s gifted uniform. I needed to be in his good graces to pass under his nose.
The lack of food from the day before left me weak, too weak to refuse the shadowbeings who pulled me through the city.
We stopped beside the fountain, which was dry and ruined. Splatters of red graced the worn stone base. The place where Hadrian cried blood during his performance. I took a seat beside the stain and placed my hand upon it, wanting to feel close to him as I waited for Goddess knows what.
“You look tired.”
I looked up to the light voice as Nyah walked towards me, flanked by two of her own shadowbeing guards.
I bolted up and ran towards her. I didn’t care about our guards as I threw my arms around her and held on.
