Poisoned in Light

by Ben Alderson

  “Goddess, Goddess,” I repeated in her ear, squeezing her. “Are you hurt?”

  “Zac,” she whispered, tapping my back. “Zac, I can’t breathe.”

  “Sorry,” I said, flustered as I held her at arm’s length. Faded bruises covered her neck and arms like jewelry, the greens complimenting her eyes in a twisted way.

  “He let you come. I asked to see you, and he actually made it happen,” I said it aloud, although my words were meant for me. Gordex had listened to my question and followed through with his answer. But why?

  “Please,” she breathed, “can we not talk about him. I would rather not have this moment ruined.”

  “I like the sound of that,” I replied, looking towards her guards and mine before I guided her to the fountain to sit with me. “Dare I ask how you are?”

  “Been better.” She winched, rubbing her forearms. “But haven’t we all? All day yesterday I listened to nothing but the screams from the city. That was more painful than any mark Gordex has given me.”

  I looked to the empty buildings around us. “It was impossible not to hear the screams.”

  The burning want to tell her about my visitors buzzed in my mind. But with the guards so close, I did not say a word.

  “Well, I felt it as well. A bundle of agony and fright. And I know that is only the beginning of it.” Nyah’s gaze was lost on the buildings around us as well. “I can’t help but feel like we are watching the end rush towards us.”

  There was silence between us for a moment. An awkward pause that only highlighted the strange distance between us. My next question only added to it.

  “Why did you come back?”

  Nyah looked at me, eyes glassy. “For you.”

  “You should have stayed away. Stayed with Emaline,” I said.

  “Well I didn’t, Zac.” Nyah was blunt and cold. “I didn’t because whilst we were somewhat safe, I couldn’t stop thinking about you all alone with him. I couldn’t sleep at night. It was never a question; I should not have left you in the first place.”

  Nyah sagged, shoulders slumping and back hunching from emotional exhaustion. I extended my arm around her shoulder and pulled her close, this time keeping my touch gentle.

  Half of me wanted to scold my friend for returning, but a selfish part of me was glad I had her close. She was my strength after all. I opted to change the subject, for there was many things I had to tell her. But with our listening shadows, I had to be sly with my words.

  “When was the last time you saw Neivel and Negan?” I asked, keeping my face straight.

  Nyah gulped, taken back by my question. She knew as well as I that she’d never told me their names before. Yet here I was, spilling them out before us.

  Her wide, unblinking eyes screamed how.

  The corners of my lips turned up in response.

  “Moons ago, many moons,” she replied, shock still a mask across her face. “Why’d you ask?”

  I couldn’t help but smile. Not matter how hard I tried to hide it, my expression went against me. I felt a rush of mischief run through my blood. My own act of rebellion against Gordex. “I just wondered. That is all.”

  Nyah gripped a hold of my hand and squeezed. “I do hope they are okay. I think about them both a lot.”

  I squeezed back. “I bet that they think the same for you.”

  Nyah sat up straight, blinking back sudden tears as she read my emotion, something that Gordex would not feel, for she did it without communicating between our link. She sensed what I was feeling, piecing the puzzle together until she knew what I hinted at. But I had shared enough. I couldn’t risk sharing my feelings anymore. And Nyah nodded and changed the conversation.

  “I can’t believe how quickly I can go from loving a place to hating it.”

  “What do you mean?” I pushed on.

  Nyah clicked her tongue and began running her hand across her bruised arms. “Gordex has ruined this city, and I am not just referring to its aesthetic. I don’t see how we can ever come back from this.”

  I reached out and rested my hand on hers. She stopped rubbing at my touch. “We must look towards the light. Keep positive.”

  “What if I can no longer find the light?” Nyah asked, eyes welling with tears. “What if the darkness has finally snuffed it out?”

  “Then we find a new flame to relight it.”

  “The Druid has three out of the four Heart Magicks. And it is only a matter of time until he gets the final. We both know what comes next. If he succeeds in raising the lost druids, then this city is not the only one to end in rubble and death. He won’t stop until this world is his, and only his.”

  Nyah pulled her hand from mine, creating more invisible distance between us. I stayed silent for a moment, unsure on what to say. Seeing the lack of fight in her only made me want to bury myself deep in the ground. Nyah had been my rock from the moment I met her, yet now she was beginning to crumble. What hope did I have if the strongest person I knew had given up?

  “He sent me to see you for a reason.” Nyah didn’t look at me when she spoke. “We are leaving tonight. I don’t know where, but my guess is to Emaline since I so easily gave up her location. Gordex wanted me to be the one to tell you.”

  I looked slowly towards the palace. Even from this low level in the city, I could see the spires and curved roofing which jutted out into the pale sky. Gordex’s presence poisoned it, turning its light into a shadowed cloak that lay atop it. I could almost imagine him standing on one of the many balconies as he watched us speak. But I knew better. He most likely had been listening in through his shadowbeings this entire time.

  “I did wonder why he let me see you so easily. Doesn’t seem like his usual style,” I added, shooting the shadowbeing guards a look of distaste. I did hope he was watching through their lifeless eyes.

  Nyah stood abruptly and turned away from me. My heart pranged as she almost walked off without saying anything else.

  “Wait,” I said, the panic crystal clear in my voice. “Just wait a moment.”

  Nyah peered over her shoulder, her red curls lifeless and limp. “Zac.”

  “Remember when you came after me on the island? Just before we were ambushed and separated by Gordex in his disguise?”

  Nyah nodded silently.

  “You told me to stop acting with such negativity. You told me that.” I pointed at her, trying not to shout. It was not out of anger, but out of the dire hope that she heard the message within my words. “I’m asking you to only follow your own advice. The scales might not be tipped in our favor, but we have hope.”

  Nyah cracked a smile, lifting her pale lips in the corners. Even her eyes seemed to glow for a moment. Her shoulders pulled back and she stood almost a foot taller. “I—”

  “You have a way with words,” a voice spilled from the shadowbeing that stood closest to Nyah. “Hope is what drove me all these years. The hope I would see my people again. The hope I would finally get my revenge. Hope. A funny thing.”

  The shadowbeing who voiced Gordex’s words pulled Nyah by the shoulders and left me alone by the fountain.

  Hope was a funny thing. But regardless, I had it. And it burned strong within me.

  THE OWL FAMILIAR returned hours after I was brought back to my room.

  I clapped a hand over my mouth to still my shout of surprise, then waited a moment to hear if the shadowbeings that guarded my room would come in and see what the noise was.

  Satisfied that I didn’t shout too loud, I studied the familiar. It had only been a few days since I had seen it last, and again it came with a message in its beak like it had before.

  “For me?” I questioned, plucking the sun-stained parchment from its mouth. The owl twisted its head around as if to say yes.

  My fingers fumbled awkwardly with the note, a mixture of excitement and apprehension coursing through me. I read over the sentence numerous times, letting what the note had to reveal sink in. It was a request from whoever sent it. Emaline? Tiv?
Gallion?

  Retrieve the orb he keeps close. Relight the flame.

  The orb Gordex kept close. The same one he flaunted at the druid keep. The one that held Hadrian’s soul prisoner. Relight the flame. That must have been another reference to Hadrian.

  I screwed the note up, taking pleasure at the sounds. But the wave of anxiety came on quickly enough. How would I be able to retrieve the orb when Gordex kept it on him? And how would I get it back to Hadrian? So many questions laced with uncertainty burned through me.

  My answer came sooner than I could have imagined.

  The entire palace shook. Dust rained down from the ceiling, like fresh snow, settling across the bed, floor and the owl, who seemed unfazed. I held onto my sheets, waiting for another to follow.

  Commotion sounded beyond my door, startling the owl into flying back out the window. The door flew open, and Marthil stood red faced beyond it.

  “We’re under attack,” Marthil said, breathless. Her eyes darted around my room, as if the attacker hid within it. “Get up. Gordex requests our presence.”

  I almost laughed. The note, the attack, Neivel and Negan’s promise of armies beyond the city. It all made sense. The attack was planned in time for a distraction I would need to get the orb.

  I leapt from the bed and ran for Marthil.

  “What is happening?” I questioned, trying to keep my face clear of knowing.

  “We are leaving,” she said, taking my upper arm in a vice grip and pulling me into a jog down the corridor.

  I didn’t resist. Not when I knew where we were going.

  We passed through the pathway towards the throne room. If the armies beyond the city had really chosen now to start their attack, I wouldn’t have put it past them to have early arrivals. I looked towards the walls, wondering if Negan and Neivel followed. Had they gone straight for Nyah? I hoped they had. As long as she was taken away from here, I’d be happy, no matter the outcome.

  “Both of you, here, now!” Gordex shouted as we ran towards on the open doors of the throne room. He paced up and down, hands ringing before him. Marthil let go of me and the shadowbeing guards closed the doors, shutting us in.

  “How long do we have?” Marthil asked, fists clenched and ready for a fight. “Send me out with our defense. Let me help secure the city.”

  “No,” Gordex said, calmly. “As much as I would love to unleash you to our visitors I also know that we will take this time to leave for the next part of our journey.”

  “You want us to run?” Marthil said, voicing my own thoughts.

  “From one fight to another, yes. Protecting this failed city is not my priority. Finding the final Dragori is. And we can do that whilst those beyond the city are occupied fighting ghosts,” Gordex said, looking through the gaping hole in the wall that Marthil had made when they first took over the city. “The ship is ready. You leave for Morgatis now.”

  Staff in hand, Gordex moved towards us, the long black robes giving him the impression that he floated. I couldn’t let us leave. If this was my chance, I had to take it.

  “What of Queen Kathine? What happens with her?” I almost shouted my question. Anything to make him stop.

  “Still you worry over her?” Gordex asked simply. “Kathine is no longer a worry.”

  My heart faltered. Surely this couldn’t mean…

  “WAIT!” I shouted.

  Gordex turned back on me like a storm. “Enough! I do not want to hear from you again. I can see what you are trying to do. Marthil, take him.”

  Marthil looked confused but followed her master’s command. She reached out for me, her fingers barley grazing my arm before I acted out.

  In that moment I didn’t know if it was annoyance at my constant failings, or the panic that my chance to get the orb was dwindling, but I grabbed onto the hot anger that was embedded deep with me. A gift Gordex had given me by unlocking my Heart Magick.

  A rush of power cut through every bone in my body until my world was tinted red.

  I raised a hand, pushing a cyclone of air towards Marthil, who flew across the throne room. Pinning her to the wall, I locked her beneath my power. It was too easy. The magick that I owned was stronger than any I’d felt before.

  Beneath my air, I could feel every part of Marthil. I knew, as clear as day, how much pressure I needed to break her, snap her in two. I was aware of everything.

  Gordex made no noise as he lashed out towards me, throwing a black snake of shadow. His attempts to stop my air by using my own magick against me failed. Now he attacked. I caught his advance in the corner of my eye, but even if I wasn’t looking, I would have sensed it. The air would have told me.

  Perhaps it was the Heart Magick that Gordex could not control. Before he had so easily stopped my attacks. Now was different. And so was the power I willed and controlled. It was stronger, wilder. A different beast entirely. I could sense Gordex trying to grasp on with his own control, but he couldn’t become his powers owner.

  Raising my spare hand, I knocked the shadow off its course, sending it towards the ceiling where it exploded in a silent puff.

  Before he could act again I moved through instinct.

  I breathed in, sucking in air from the room until it ceased all noise. More and more my body stored the air, building in a whirling storm within me. I knew when I had enough for my body acted out, pushing all the air back out.

  I blew, sending the concentrated stream of wind towards Gordex. It collided with him. Smashing straight into his stomach. His feet screeched across the floor for a moment before he was lifted clean off it. I couldn’t count how many times he spun in midair before landing on the floor beyond the room. With the exhale of the explosive breath, the sound of the room returned to me.

  Marthil struggled in my web of air, so I pushed more power into it.

  “Give me Hadrian’s soul,” I shouted at Gordex, eyes smoldering.

  He laughed, slow and demented. “That is what you are trying to gain from this.”

  “Give it to me,” I said, readying myself for another burst of power.

  I allowed him to stand, giving him room to steady himself. Gifting him a false sense of control in that moment.

  “Hate suits you,” Gordex said, mockingly. “Truly, it is a beautiful thing to watch.”

  I willed a ball of wind to twist within my open palm. Silvers, purples and plush tones swirled around, visible between my palms. “What do you know about beauty when all you want to do is destroy and ruin?”

  I caught Gordex’s eye shift towards the floor where the Staff of Light had fallen during our fight. I had to keep him away from it.

  “The orb,” I repeated, creating my own orb of cursed wind to grow in my hand.

  Gordex shook his head, eyes flashing black and runes glowing with dark power.

  “So be it,” I said, cocking my head to the side. I threw my power towards him, straight for his smug face. With speed I had not seen him use before, he reached up and stopped my ball of wind. In his hands he held it, marveled over it as his short hair tossed from its force.

  Defying what I first believed, he grasped onto some minor thread of control.

  He pushed his hands together, destroying the ball of air until his hands where pressed palm to palm.

  “You forget your place, Zacriah,” Gordex smiled, opening his hands to reveal a spear of dark shadow. I raised both hands, dropping Marthil as a result, and readied myself to block it. Gordex flexed his arm and threw the spear towards me. I threw shield of solid air, which did nothing but slow the spear down. I dropped to the ground, my only chance of dodging it.

  I blinked, face close to the floor and watched Gordex kick out. A burst of air shot across the floor for me.

  The room spun as I flew across it. I collided with a wall, bones screaming under the force. Despite the splitting pain, I scrambled to steady myself, but the room was spinning from the contact with my head against the wall. By the time I looked up, Gordex had the Staff in his hands and Marthil b
y his side.

  “Do you yield?” Gordex said, eyes steaming with shadow.

  “You will not win,” I said, wincing. The urge to reach for the back of my head was overwhelming.

  “This anger is not yours to control,” Gordex said, raising the Staff between us until the onyx crystal throbbed with dark light. “It is mine.”

  As he said it, I felt the anger intensify, and my consciousness being forced into a dark cage within me. I was a puppet, fighting for control as Gordex took over my body. I concentrated, trying to pull on it, anything to stop it. But I failed.

  As quickly as I could muster I threw myself into a crouch, pushing my hands towards the ground. My air followed suit, colliding with the stone ground and crashing out in all directions. The force was strong enough to push both Gordex and Marthil backwards, but not strong enough to take them off my feet. I moved again, slicing both hands in front of me. The air reacted, cutting towards them both like silver knifes. Marthil moved, kicking the ground. It raised in response, creating a wall between us and stopping my wind effortlessly.

  “Stop him,” Gordex said behind the wall that then flew forward me. I had only a second. I used it by raising my hands to cushion the impact. Eyes closed, the stone wall slammed into my layer of protection. The force was so strong that the ground dropped from my feet, and I spun blindly through the room. My skull screamed as I finally came to a stop.

  Sapped of my anger, I had no energy to fight, let alone open my eyes. When I finally did, Marthil was standing above me.

  “Please,” she whispered, “stop this.”

  Both my mind and body craved Forbian. I felt the vial in my pocket. A single swig and my energy would be fulfilled once more.

  Gordex was behind Marthil, pushing her out of the way. “Your behavior will not go unpunished, boy. We do not have time for this. Get up, now!”

  Black shadow creeped from Gordex’s open palm. It pulsed underneath me until I felt my body lift off the ground and settle me on my feet. His power was strong, slick and cold.

  “Bind him up,” Gordex commanded. Marthil rushed behind me, brushing a hand on my shoulder before yanking my hands. Rough stone locked around my wrists just as shouts echoed from beyond the throne room.