The Lightning's Claim

by K. M. Fahy

  She lifted her gloved thumb to Taff’s cheek, but he jerked away. As the soft light washed over that side of his face, Kitieri could see the bruised skin around his eye.

  “Taff!” She broke her own whispering rule as she leaned sideways to get a better look. “What happened? Who hurt you?”

  “It’s fine,” he said, trying to force his voice deeper than it naturally wanted to go.

  “It’s not fine!” she hissed. “Who touched you?”

  Taff’s eyes turned on her in the flickering hint of light. “I started it,” he said.

  “Why?”

  “Bronick said some shit.”

  “Taff, you shouldn’t say that word.”

  “Why not? You do.”

  Kitieri drew back with a quick breath. “What did Bronick say?”

  Taff lowered his eyes. “He called you a murderer. He said you’d kill us if you ever got out, and you should rot down there forever. So I punched him.”

  “But Bronick’s friends are a lot bigger than Taff,” Jera added, the corners of her mouth downturned. “He got really hurt.”

  “I’m fine,” Taff said again. “It was almost a week ago—it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

  Kitieri bit down on the inside of her lip, blinking back a fresh wave of tears. “Taff, I am so sorry you had to go through that because of me.”

  “It wasn’t because of you.” He lifted his head, and in his eyes, Kitieri noticed a sharp glint she’d never seen there before. “What they did to you was unfair, and I’m not going to stand around and let people who don’t even know you say whatever they want. You’re not a murderer, you were protecting Jera. I’d have killed him, too.”

  Taff’s vehemence shocked Kitieri, and she found herself caught between crying and laughing. Taff had always been the gentle soul of the family—the quiet, introspective one with a love for books and solitude. Seeing this change in him broke a piece of Kitieri’s heart, but it had only been a matter of time. This world did not reward the gentle ones.

  Like Noia. Kitieri swallowed, fighting for words as Jera spoke in a sad, quiet tone.

  “Are you back for real?” she asked.

  Kitieri took a shuddering breath, clearing her throat.

  “We’re running, aren’t we.” Taff’s hard gaze reflected the flickering candlelight.

  “A lot has changed,” Kitieri said.

  “I knew it,” Taff muttered. “You escaped, didn’t you?”

  “Well—”

  “We have to leave?” Jera’s face fell.

  “Yes. But it’s a good thing.”

  “Where are we supposed to go?” Taff asked. “We can’t go back home; they’ll look for us there.”

  Kitieri put her hands out to stay any further interrogation.

  “I know this is a lot,” she said. “You’ve both been through so much, and I’m sorry. But you’ve followed me this far because you trust me, right?”

  Jera looked up at Taff, who nodded solemnly.

  “Then I need you to trust me now,” she said. “Get dressed, and pack up whatever you want to keep.”

  Without another word, Taff disappeared into his room, while Jera stood wide-eyed in the dim common space.

  “What about Ashes?” Her high voice cracked under the threat of more tears.

  “Oh, honey, Ashes is fine,” Kitieri promised. “When this is all over, we might even be able to come see her again.”

  “But she was gone today, just like in my dream,” Jera said. “You and then Ashes.”

  Kitieri bit her lip. “What if I told you that Ashes was busy being a hero?”

  Jera lifted huge eyes to Kitieri’s. “Taff would say you were lying to make me feel better.”

  “No—it’s true.” Kitieri smiled. “Ashes saved lives today, and she’s back safe now. You should be proud of her.”

  Jera smiled thinly. “But… won’t she miss me?”

  Kitieri longed to stroke her sister’s hair, to pull her into a tight embrace, but kept her charred hands at her sides. “She’ll be a lot happier if you’re safe. Come on, let’s get your things.”

  Jera sniffled, but allowed Kitieri to guide her into her bedroom, where she gathered her meager possessions into a small bag. A lump formed in Kitieri’s throat as she saw just how little her sister had that didn’t belong to the Church.

  “Can I keep these?” Jera asked her, holding up her riding breeches and boots.

  Kitieri’s chin trembled. “Yeah, go ahead and keep those. I don’t think they’ll mind.”

  As Jera finished packing, Kitieri slipped into her own room. The blankets were still in a crumpled heap upon her bed from the night she’d left her sister sleeping to answer the lightning’s call.

  She shook those thoughts from her mind, turning to the top drawer of her dresser. After grabbing the single, shining round she’d earned for her short time as an officer, Kitieri slipped the drawer’s only other occupant into her cloak pocket before meeting her siblings at the front door.

  “Hoods up,” she whispered, “and remember to be very quiet, okay?”

  She led them through the hallways and down the stairs, turning away from the exit into the training yard as they passed it. Taff frowned at the door as they moved deeper into the Church.

  “Kitieri, where are we going?” he whispered. “Aren’t we leaving?”

  “In a minute.”

  She followed the hall that ended in a tall doorway, and Taff slowed his pace. “We’re stealing?”

  Kitieri turned. “I’ll make up for it, I promise. But you two have a ways to go, and I won’t send you out there without protection.”

  She pulled out her set of officer’s keys and fumbled through them with her bandaged and gloved fingers, finally managing to find the right one and unlock the closet housing the Gadgets.

  “Quick, put them on,” she instructed, “then we’ll head out through the training yard.”

  As her siblings complied, Kitieri eyed the walls of black leather packs. She’d left hers at the tree outside the gate on the far side of the Church, and they weren’t going that direction.

  She should take one of these, she knew… but she hesitated. Pretending that her body and element were still intact would only get her so far, but the charade was important. Catarva needed her lightning, and their alliance rested on that fact. She could keep up the act a little longer.

  “Aren’t you getting one, too?” Jera asked in her attempt at a whisper.

  “I’ll be fine,” Kitieri lied, locking the closet door once more. “I’m not going as far as you.”

  “We’re going alone?” Taff hissed. “You haven’t even told us where.”

  “No, you won’t be alone.” Kitieri ignored the loaded glance exchanged between her brother and sister as she headed for the training yard.

  She breathed in the cool night air as they exited, relieved to step out of the Church. Something about its stone walls felt suffocating to her, like she could no longer get a full breath within their confines. Even though every second she spent outside was dangerous, she much preferred the night’s embrace.

  At the gate, two gray uniforms stood with their backs to Kitieri, facing the Square. One turned back at the sound of their approach and raised a startled hand.

  “Orders of the Baliant,” Kitieri said before he could speak. “No sign of the Chief Advisor yet?”

  “Uh.” The officer lowered his hand, glancing to his companion. “No. Not yet.”

  Kitieri nodded, passing between them as their eyes followed her. Haldin had supplied all his posted sentries with just enough information to be useful, and Amadora wouldn’t come to this gate, anyways. She was bound to return to the south gate from which she’d left, but just in case…

  Taff and Jera close behind her, Kitieri crossed the wide Square in the shadows of the border trees, out of range of the lamps highlighting their twisted trunks and branches from beneath. As they left the warm glow behind, Kitieri squinted into the darkness for any sign of Bat.
r />   “Will you tell us what’s going on now?” Taff demanded.

  Kitieri took a deep breath. “There is a place in the city called the Church of Shirasette, and they help people. They take them in when they have nowhere else to go, and offer food and protection.”

  “Like Noia and Vina?” Jera asked.

  Kitieri looked down at her with a sad smile. “Yeah. Just like them.”

  “Are they there?” Jera’s eyes lit up.

  Kitieri sighed. “Vina is still at the Church of Histan right now, but I promise you I am going to change that.” She tensed her jaw with a silent inhale. “I promised her mother I would take care of her, and I will.”

  “And the Church of Shirasette is where we’re going?” Taff asked.

  “Yes,” Kitieri replied. “The Church of Enahris isn’t safe anymore. There are people that would use you against me, and I need to make sure you’re in a place they can’t find you.”

  “Do they have horses?” Jera asked.

  Kitieri grinned at the memory of Ashes just standing in the open lower floor of the warehouse as she’d come down the steps. “Not yet, but they’re working on it.”

  “Why can’t you come with us?” Taff asked.

  “I have things to do here first.”

  “When will you come, then?”

  “As soon as possible.”

  “That doesn’t tell me anything.”

  Kitieri cut him a hard look, and he gave it right back to her.

  “I’m doing everything I can,” she said. “You two will always come first, but a lot of people are depending on me right now.”

  “Let me help.”

  “Taff, no.”

  “Why not?” he shot back. “I’ve been learning to fight. I can help.”

  “I know, and I appreciate that, but Jera needs you more.”

  Taff growled under his breath. “That’s all I’m ever good for.”

  “Taff,” Kitieri snapped. “This isn’t about that. I don’t doubt your abilities—”

  “Yes, you do.” Taff’s eyes flashed like silver. “You don’t think I’m good enough or smart enough or strong enough to help, but I am.”

  Kitieri stopped walking. “Listen to me, Taff,” she said. “This is not about you. This is bigger than all three of us, combined. There’s more going on here than you know.”

  “Then tell me!” Taff ripped his hood back and glared up at her, pale hair disheveled in the faint starlight, and Kitieri’s reply caught in her throat as she saw the spitting image of herself demanding the same of Catarva. His anger, his passion, his helplessness all mirrored her own, and she wanted nothing more than to grasp his shoulders and tell him everything. But that wouldn’t make him ready to hear it.

  Her shoulders dropped in a heavy sigh as she heard Catarva’s words to her only hours before. “You’re not ready.”

  Could anyone ever be ready…?

  “Do you think you two could be any louder?” Kitieri spun at the sound of Bat’s voice, and watched her small, cloaked frame appear from the deep shadows between two buildings. “And what in the two hells took so long? I was this close to busting in there after you.”

  “Sorry I’m late,” Kitieri said, squaring her shoulders, “but I think you’ll agree it was worth your time.”

  “Is that so?”

  Kitieri grinned before beckoning her siblings forward. “This is my friend, Bat,” she said. “She helps run the Church of Shirasette.”

  “Yes, I help.”

  Kitieri ignored the sarcastic comment. “Bat, these are my siblings, Taff and Jera.”

  “A pleasure,” Bat said, offering her hand to both of them in turn. “Now out with it, Baliant. What’s so worth my time?”

  Kitieri shot a quick glance around them before stepping in close to Bat.

  “Amadora is out,” she whispered. “Overturned. The Board went against her, and they’re ready to support us.”

  Bat jerked her head back, tilting it at an odd angle to look up at Kitieri from under her hood. “You’re shitting me.”

  “I’m not. Catarva accepted the alliance, and wants to move as soon as possible.”

  “As in… move move?”

  “Yeah. Amadora met with Stil tonight to speed up the war, so we don’t have a lot of time. If we’re going to avoid unnecessary deaths, we need to meet them first. How fast can you get your end together?”

  “Oof.” Bat shook her head, even as a smirk played on her thin lips. “Eriat’s gonna be pissed I woke him up, but we can meet you at midday.”

  “That’s perfect,” Kitieri said. “Catarva’s going to attempt the diplomatic approach and demand to see Tiernan, so I’ll need to stand with her while you and Eriat split up and execute the other two parts.”

  Bat shook her head. “I’d feel better if I was with you. Stil’s proven he’s ready to play dirty, and they won’t accept you as a Baliant quite as easily as Catarva did. Catarva saw a way to benefit from it, but Stil’s liable to lose his actual mind. There’s still a lot of danger here, even if you’re mainly just the decoy.”

  While Kitieri recognized the blatant truth in Bat’s words, it was nothing new. The same niggling fear had lodged itself in her own mind, too.

  “You can’t,” she replied. “You’re supposed to get Vina out of there while Eriat and his team head for the cintra.”

  “We will get Vina,” Bat assured her, “and as many of the other kids as possible. Believe me, I don’t like them in there any more than you do, but I have others that can handle it.”

  “I’d really rather you led that part.” Kitieri shook her head. “You know the Church better than anyone.”

  “Trust me,” Bat said. “It will be fine. The kids are basically invisible to those people, as long as they’re wearing brown. No one looks at them, speaks to them, or cares what they’re doing as long as they appear to be on a mission. The only part of the plan with a real risk of exploding is yours. You’re poking a sleeping monster here.”

  Kitieri scoffed. “It’s hardly sleeping.”

  “I mean with Tiernan.” Though there was no one around, Bat lowered her voice even further. “No one knows what’s going on with him. It’s been so long since he’s made any sort of public appearance…”

  “That’s kind of the point,” Kitieri said. “If the Church cannot produce a functional Baliant, they’re not a Church. Wasn’t that why you needed me so badly?”

  Bat rolled her eyes with an exasperated sound. “That’s different.”

  “Catarva doesn’t see it that way.”

  “Well, you’re in more danger than she is.”

  “How?”

  “UGH!” Bat lifted her hands, miming the act of strangulation. “You are being purposefully stubborn.”

  “Look, you’re not going to talk me out of this,” Kitieri said. “I’m standing with Catarva. I have a responsibility to be there.”

  Bat moved her hands from their tense stranglehold to interlock her fingers in a more gentle grip. “And I have a responsibility to stand by you. If neither of us are budging, we might as well come to terms with it right now.”

  Kitieri sighed. “All right. Fine. But if Vina doesn’t make it out of there, I’m holding you personally responsible.”

  “Understood.” Bat dipped her head. “And, just out of curiosity, how much of this plan does Catarva really know?”

  “Ehh…” Kitieri squinted. “It didn’t really… come up.”

  Bat chortled, shaking her head. “Well, this will be interesting if nothing else.”

  That’s one word for it, Kitieri thought.

  “Listen, I have to stay here and wrap up this end of things,” she said. “Amadora will come back at some point and we’ll need to deal with her, but now you know I’m safe. You can take Taff and Jera back and make preparations on your end, and we’ll meet you in Histan’s Square tomorrow at midday.”

  Bat nodded and Kitieri turned back to Taff, who was watching her intently.

  “I really am
sorry,” she said, softening her tone. “I understand how you’re feeling. I wish I could bring you with me, but—”

  “It’s too dangerous,” Taff grumbled. “I know.”

  Kitieri chewed on her cheek. She hated parting with him like this, but she had no choice. Dropping into a crouch, she opened her arms to Jera, who rushed to hug her.

  “Be good for Bat,” she said, fighting a sudden lump in her throat. “You’ll see me again before you know it, okay?”

  Jera nodded against her shoulder.

  “All right, kids,” Bat said, about as kindly as Kitieri imagined was possible. “Time to head out.”

  She held out a hand to Jera, who leapt forward to take it in her own, and Kitieri forced a smile. Jera could make friends with a stray rock. It would make her life easier in some ways, but harder in others, and Kitieri ached to follow them. Jera was too accepting, and Taff was too suspicious. They needed her…

  “They’ll be fine,” Bat said, as if reading her mind, and Kitieri made an effort to turn her forced smile more natural.

  “I know.”

  Bat turned to walk back into the shadows, Jera still holding her hand, and Taff followed without a glance back at Kitieri. His silence hurt, but it was no more than she deserved.

  She watched them go until they were long out of sight, swallowed by the shadows, and pain tore at her heart as she longed to run after them. She’d only just gotten them back, and now…

  A metallic tang in the air reached her nose, and panic spiked through her. Oh, fuck.

  She turned on her heel and sprinted for the Church, her element squirming within her. It wriggled down her arms to gnaw at her burns, and Kitieri pushed harder.

  Maybe… maybe… if this Strike had a long build-up, she’d be able to make it to shelter.

  Her lightning flared as the charge jumped, and Kitieri stumbled with a loud gasp. Not gonna be a long one.

  The Strike was coming fast… and she was too far from the Church. As she strained her eyes for any hint of the Square’s glowing lamps, a different light caught her eye.

  Not a light. Robes.

  “Catarva,” Kitieri panted, running for her. “What are you doing? There’s a Str—”

  The first warning ripped into her, and her lightning popped through her gloves in a brilliant arc of white light. Kitieri doubled over, screaming as the element seared her bloody arms, burning up the bandages and rendering the expiring salve utterly worthless.