by J C Maynard
Kyan nodded. They both knew how dangerous the mission would be. He gave her a smile and wiped a tear from her eye. “I promise.” he said to her.
Another tear dripped down her cheek, shimmering in the golden light streaming through the alleyway. Putting her hands on Kyan’s face, Raelynn leaned in and kissed him, lightly touching his lips. She then softly pulled away, turned and exited the alleyway.
Kyan felt her presence leave like a candle blowing out into smoke. He turned toward Lillia and the others, took a deep breath in, and climbed up into the cart.
A minute or two later, Lillia placed the last potato onto the cart. “Are you all okay?” she spoke.
From within the cart stacked with potatoes, five voices all responded, “Yes.”
“Can you breathe alright?” she asked.
From beneath the potatoes, Kyan’s muffled voice spoke out sarcastically, “Better than ever.”
Lillia looked around the alleyway and took a deep breath, which puffed into the cold air like a chimney as she climbed onto the cart pulled by two horses. She reached inside her pocket to feel for the little black stone-looking object. Her fingers grazed it, and she closed her eyes. Her heart pounded and she shook her head, Just do what you need to do, then it’ll all be over. She grabbed the reins and snapped them, driving the horses into the streets of Seirnkov.
Xandria’s black fortress loomed up ahead. It’s towers pointed up like the teeth of a monster, and its heavy gates stood like an iron mountain. Lillia guided the cart forward, trying to breathe normally. Winding through the streets of panicking Cerebrians, Lillia and the five Evertauri hidden beneath the potatoes reached the gate of Xandria’s fortress.
“Papers?” said a Cerebrian guard. Twenty other armed soldiers stood there, blocking the gate.
Lillia hopped down from her place on the cart of potatoes and pulled out papers from her coat. “Delivery for the main kitchen. Ms. Rostner is the name.”
The guard read the papers and looked up at Lillia. “We aren’t letting anything through at this point. The Ferramish army is headed toward the city we speak. Seirnkov is on full defense protocol.”
“It’s just a quick delivery.” said Lillia.
“Not allowed . . . who are you? I haven’t seen you before.”
Lillia’s stomach lurched. “I- like I said, Ms. Rostner is my name . . . I'm the assistant imports manager.”
“I’ve never heard of that. Why are you making a delivery yourself and not your staff?” said the guard.
Lillia’s heart pounded. Think quickly! “My staff is part of our city’s military reserves . . . called to action to help defend the city.”
The guard furrowed his eyebrows. “I don’t think I can-”
A voice from behind Lillia approaching the gate spoke up. “Let them in.”
Lillia turned around to see Aunika walking up to them and the cart of potatoes. Lillia sighed a breath of relief.
Aunika went up to the guards and signaled to Lillia. “I helped interview her.”
The guards, who knew Aunika, Xandria’s Technological Supervisor, made a slight bow. “Our apologies . . . but please move quickly, the whole city is secured; the Ferrs are approaching.”
Aunika nodded and the guards opened the gate to let the cart through. Lillia jumped back on and snapped the horses’ reins. Aunika followed the cart through and the giant gates shut behind them.
Lillia stepped off the cart and shut the doors of the food storage — a giant vaulted room filled with grain and vegetables. After scanning the room, Lillia whispered, “We’re clear.” The potatoes on the cart came tumbling down as four Evertauri and Kyan pushed their way through.
One of the Evertuari stretched. “Feels good to be out of that.”
Kyan jumped down from the cart. “No changes?”
Lillia shook her head. “Just as we’ve planned. Aunika should be at her post near the bell tower. Everyone else, to your posts.” Lillia gave Kyan a hug, surprising him a bit. “Good luck.”
Kyan gently hugged her back. “Thank you.”
“You have your dagger?” asked Lillia.
Kyan reached down to his belt and pulled out a nine inch dagger.
“Are you sure you know the way?”
Kyan nodded. “I’m sure, as long as those maps were correct.”
“Be invisible.” said Lillia, half joking, half serious.
Kyan breathed out heavily and made his way to a side door in the vaulted room. He thought back to his days in Aunestauna. This is part of me . . . it’s no different than any other time I stole on the streets . . . step lightly, be quick, be unseen. Kyan turned the door handle and entered the maze of passageways inside Xandria’s fortress.
◆◆◆
Kyan stopped in his tracks when he heard voices. He quickly moved in the dark into a door frame and watched as two figures rushed by the next hallway. He waited to move until they were long gone then scanned the dark stone hallway for anyone else. He turned the next corner and hurried down the narrow, winding passageway. Kyan rounded a bend and stopped when he saw a soldier guarding a door. Before the guard could yell out, Kyan drew out his dagger and lunged forward. The soldier fell to the ground, and Kyan stepped over him through the door he had been guarding. Kyan shut it behind him and beheld a long staircase. It should be up there.
Kyan climbed up the staircase and opened the tall door at the top slowly. He stuck his head out and into a dark hallway. It’s close. At the end of the hallway, two guards stood in front of a doorway to Xandria's Vault. The stone is in there, thought Kyan. How do I get past them? He reached for his dagger. I can only take out one at a time.
Kyan stepped back into the stairwell. The door to the main hallway sat beneath an arch above him. Kyan climbed up onto the archway, sitting like a bird perched on a branch. He pulled out his dagger beside him, set it down, and took off a shoe. Holding it in his hand, he took a deep breath in and then dropped it, sending the pattering sound echoing through the stairwell and the hall.
The guards in the hallway heard it and ran toward the stairwell. “Who’s there?” they said. Kyan held his breath. He could hear the guards looking around in the hallway behind him. Then, beneath him, the door to the stairwell opened and the two guards walked in. “Who’s there?” they said again. Kyan gripped his dagger tightly. One of the guards spoke to the other. “Look here.” He was looking at Kyan’s shoe. Here we go, thought Kyan.
The guard bent down to pick up the shoe, and Kyan jumped down from the archway onto the soldier’s neck, snapping it. Before the other one could stab him, Kyan pierced his dagger into the soldier’s collarbone. The soldier gasped and his eyes went blank. Kyan caught him as he fell down so as not to make noise. He gently set the dead guard down and took the keys off his armor.
Kyan put his shoe back on and stepped back out into the hallway, scanning to make sure no other guards had heard, then quietly crept to the door of Xandria's Vault. He stuck the key into the lock and slowly twisted it. He slipped inside the door and locked it from the inside.
Stepping silently into the vault, he moved past shelves filled with medicines, weapons, machines, and treasures. His eyes strained for the glow of light that he remembered from memory back to Aunestauna where he had stolen the stone from Tronum’s Vault. Rounding another corner, he saw it — a small box with soft, white light streaming out of it. Walking up to it, Kyan slowly unlatched the lid.
Inside the box, a large stone radiated a pure white light. He couldn’t exactly tell where the stone’s edge met the air, and its interior seemed to swirl with drops of starlight from the heavens. It looked identical to when he had stolen it for Riccolo in Aunestauna, which is how it had ended up in the hands of Whittingale and then Xandria.
Kyan picked it up; light danced around inside of it and seemed to melt into his hands. A strange sensation passed through his arm and the stone felt cold to the touch. He could tell it held an immense power. Kyan shook his head out of the trance that had sucked him in, an
d he looked around the massive vaulted hall. Kyan placed the stone into a big pocket on the inside of his jacket. Now to get out . . .
The only light that entered the hall came from a large fireplace in the back. Since there was only one, he assumed it was the same one Aunika had mentioned in explaining how to get out. Kyan quickly made his way to the fireplace and located the pail of water next to it that the guards would use to put it out. Kyan threw the water onto the fire, plunging the room into darkness. The water sizzled and hot steam came up. As soon as Kyan took a step into the fireplace, the sound of yelling and banging echoed on the locked door to Xandria's Vault. Kyan’s body turned cold. They know I’m here.
The banging on the door continued, and Kyan quickly stepped over the wet, charred logs of the fireplace and put his hands and feet on either side of the chimney — a trick he had learned in his years thieving in Aunestauna. His heart pounded uncontrollably as he heard more and more soldiers gather at the entrance to Xandria's Vault. Kyan used all his strength to slowly climb up the inside walls of the chimney.
About five feet from the top, Kyan heard the door to the room below him break open and dozens of soldiers spill in. They yelled and ran between the aisles, trying to find Kyan, who continued to climb up the inside of the chimney. Kyan’s body turned cold when he realized that there was a metal grate covering the top of the chimney. Just one more foot to go. He could see the stars in the night sky above, along with the shimmering glow of the auroras glowing above. The grate’s holes were big enough to slip his fingers through. He could hear the soldiers below who kept searching the aisles, looking for Kyan. Kyan could feel his hands getting sweaty and slippery as he held himself thirty feet up in the chimney. His left hand slipped, and he kicked up in a last effort and grabbed onto the metal grate with his right hand, sending a loud metallic rattle echoing through the chimney and Xandria's Vault.
The soldiers yelled and ran over to the chimney. Kyan grabbed onto the grate with his left hand as well and began to shake it hard, trying to knock it off the top. A guard stepped into the chimney and yelled, “He’s up here!” The guard tried to heave his sword up toward Kyan like a spear, but it didn’t reach high enough and bounced off the sides, falling back down. Kyan put his feet against the wall and his back against the other and shook the grate as hard as he could. Finally, something came loose and the grate crashed off the top of the chimney. Kyan grabbed the rim of the stone chimney and pulled himself up onto the roof just as an arrow shot up passed him.
Kyan looked around, getting his bearings. He stood atop a tower of Xandria’s fortress, and he could see the whole moonlit city of Seirnkov. The night wind blew cold and a few snowflakes drifted down. I don’t have much time unti the guards sound the warning bells I can do this . . . I’ve been doing this my whole life. Kyan sprinted off to the left, running along the ridged edge of the roof.
He pounded forward along the roof with hundred foot drops to either side. He jumped onto another roof, nearly slipping on the shingles. The bells from the bell tower rang out all over the fortress, sending a warning that the Evertauri were there. Soldiers began streaming into courtyards below, and fires along the outer wall were lit to help detect the Evertauri. Kyan spotted the rooftop doorway he was supposed to enter and ran through it, bounding down the staircase. Just a bit more, and I’ll meet with Aunika at the base of the bell tower. Kyan raced through the halls as fast as his feet could carry him. He rounded a corner and jumped clear down another flight of stairs. Kyan sprinted into the next hallway and plowed into someone, who fell down. He quickly drew his dagger and stood up, but stopped when he saw that it was Aunika.
“Kyan, they kno-”
“Know we’re here.” finished Kyan.
“I was going to meet you where we had agreed, but the bells went off and so I went as quickly as I could. Do you have it?”
Kyan nodded.
From down the hallway came the echo of guards approaching. “We need to go now!”
“No. I need to go.” said Kyan. He pulled the faintly glowing stone out of his pocket and handed it to her. “They know you as one of Xandria’s advisors. They’ve seen me and know I stole it. I’ll be a diversion. Take it and slowly make your way out. We’ll meet back at the Nexus.”
“But I-”
“Take it, Aunika!” he whispered.
Aunika nodded and put it in her jacket. “Good luck.”
Kyan hugged her and sprinted off down the hallway as Aunika ducked into a side room to wait for the guards to follow Kyan.
“Over here!” shouted the guards. Kyan tore away down a side hallway and through a door, trying to find his way out. Kyan’s heart pounded as he ran forward through an empty dining hall lined with huge twenty-foot tall windows. The guards burst through another door at the end of the hall and more funneled in from behind him. Kyan looked for another way out as they closed in but could see none. The warning bells chimed all around. He vaguely remembered where he was and did the last thing he could think could get him out. He grabbed a chair from a table and sprinted forward at one of the massive windows, driving into it with all his force. The whole thing shattered as he flew out of it fifteen feet down to a grass courtyard. Although the fall had knocked the wind out of him, Kyan stood up to try and run. But he stopped when he felt a dark, cold presence fill the air around him. His skin felt like ice and the hairs on his arms stood up. Shadows shot around him. Phantoms.
Kyan stood tall and closed his eyes until he could feel the Phantoms had stopped around him. He opened his eyes and tried to breathe slowly, staring at the ten or so Phantoms surrounding him — Thephern and a few others were gone. He recognized all of them, knew them by name, knew where they were from and what they could do. He refused to speak first.
General Lekshane stepped forward. “It’s over, you’re out of options.”
Kyan breathed in, feeling for the small black pill in his pocket. “I know.” he responded.
“You can’t overpower us . . . you know what we want; just hand it over.”
Kyan stood silently.
“Hand it over — the stone.” said General Lekshane.
“I don’t have it.” said Kyan.
“Hand it over!”
“I don’t have it!”
“He’s telling the truth,” said a different, calm voice. Xandria walked toward them in the moonlight. Her blue eyes reflected the moonlight, and her white dress seemed to glow like ice. “I can sense it.” Xandria stepped close to Kyan. “So you handed it off to one of the others, did you? Why aren’t you trying to fight? Who are you?”
His fingers held the small black pill in his pocket. Kyan’s heart beat quickly faster than ever before. “I’m not a sorcerer;” Kyan reached inside his pocket and pulled out the black pill. “I’m just a thief from Aunestauna.”
Xandria grabbed his arm before he could swallow the pill, and Lekshane took it out of Kyan’s hand. Xandria shook her head. “You’re no use to us dead . . . besides, we captured another one of you.”
From the other side of the courtyard, a Phantom dragged Lillia Hane by the hair and threw her to the ground. She sent a stream of white light at the Phantoms around her, who dodged it. The Phantoms quickly tied her hands behind her to prevent her from casting effective spells. Lillia struggled against them and Lekshane kicked her mouth with his spiked boots, knocking her over.
Xandria raised her hand. “Enough, Lekshane. Take the thief to the dungeon.”
General Lekshane complied and grabbed Kyan.
Kyan tried to turn back. “Lillia!” he shouted. “Don’t give them what they want.”
General Lekshane knocked Kyan on the head with the hilt of his sword to silence him as he dragged him away.
Xandria walked up to Lillia and knelt down beside her.
Tears streamed down Lillia’s hopeless, bloody face. Lillia closed her eyes, letting out a sob as the blood dripped down her face, and subconsciously glanced at her growing stomach.
Xandria noticed, and put
her hand on Lillia’s cut-up face. “Oh, my sweet, sweet darling, look what they did to you. The Evertauri does not want what’s best for you. They only want to rule this nation for themselves. The Evertauri stole your life from you, stole your innocence and made you do awful things. Don’t you want to make them pay? Don’t you want to right their wrongs?”
Xandria put her hand on Lillia’s shoulder. “Let me see your eyes.” The Queen picked up Lillia’s chin. Looking deep into Lillia, she nodded. “And they killed someone you loved . . .” Xandria looked at Lillia’s stomach “. . . the father.”
Lillia sat in silence.
“I’ll tell you what,” said Xandria. “If you want to make the world better, if you want to make it a better place for your little one to grow up in, show us where the Evertauri are hiding. You and your child will live. You can see him grow up . . . see him smile, hear him laugh . . .” Xandria put her hand again on Lillia’s face. “But I’m afraid if you choose not to do what I say . . . your child will have to die.”
Lillia cried and looked down at her stomach. She looked up at Xandria and the Phantoms with a quivering lip. Lillia’s chin sank her head to her chest and whispered, “Okay . . .”
Xandria’s Weapon
Chapter Forty Four
~Evening, February 25th
As soon a Lekshane hit Kyan on the head, a flash of light brought him into Calleneck’s mind, which sprang into action. His body jumped within the fake crate he had created with Dalah to sneak onto the supply train. The wagon cart had jolted to a halt — it had carried him and Dalah the rest of the way back to Seirnkov over the past night and day. Thinking of the event to come, the stealing of the stone, Calleneck tried to control his breathing. He leaned past a sleeping Dalah and made a tiny crack in the Taurimous wooden crate to try and tell the time of day.
