by Hanna Peach
“Softly, softly, Israel.”
Israel frowned. Softly, softly, Israel, he repeated in his head in a mocking tone. He waited until the feather had landed on a tile farther away before directing a pulse towards it again. It flittered in the air again, just less erratically this time. But it still flickered without control and finally landed nowhere near the pedestal.
“It’s the stupid feather,” Israel cried. “How the hell am I supposed to do anything with that bit of fluff? One damned puff and the stupid thing is flying halfway across the damned room. Give me something solid to move around.”
“There is a reason for everything, Israel. Try again.”
“Then why don’t you just tell me what that is?” A furious voice came from within, rising up through his body like a molten wave. “I don’t bloody well know what you want me to do, dammit. Why don’t you just tell me? Stop playing these games.”
For the first time, the composure on the Elder's face cracked and his eyes narrowed at Israel.
“This is not a game we are playing, Israel. Games are for children. You won’t be able to stop this war with your tantrums. It is going to take strength and control and courage and patience to defeat Michael. It is going to take a man to save us. So tell me Israel…are you a boy or a man?”
Israel’s mind flashed back to the moments where he had lost control: in the kitchen of Tara when he broke that plate, in Aradale when he had slashed up that tree after he learned Alyx had kept secrets from him, and at the demon den when he had unleashed his Air magic after seeing Adere again, shattering all the windows and tearing that Darkened to shreds. The Elder's words echoed in his mind. “You won’t be able to stop this war with your tantrums…are you a boy or a man?” Suddenly a chilly wash of shame folded over his anger, leaving him cold.
Stunned by his revelation, he turned away from the Elder and faced the single pedestal and the single feather.
In a calm voice that he almost didn’t recognize as his own, he said, “I am ready to try again.”
Chapter 18
By the time they had reached the edges of the Michaelea wards, Alyx’s wound had healed enough that she could fly on her own. She told Jordan this several times, but he still insisted on carrying her.
“I’m not letting go of you until we get to the edge of the wards, so you might as well get comfortable.”
Alyx gave him a resigned sigh and tucked her head back onto his shoulder. Secretly she was pleased.
But her pleasure was short lived when they reached their designated meeting spot and found that Vix and Mayrekk weren’t there. Alyx climbed out of Jordan’s arms, and this time he let her. She and Jordan went opposite ways to search the area, looking for signs that Vix had been there and had to move on for safety reasons. They had agreed that Vix would leave an X marked into a trunk by her blade if she had to move. But Alyx found no mark. Fear enveloped her shoulders with cold fingers. Where was Vix?
“I haven’t found a mark,” she said to Jordan when they came together again.
“Me neither. Something’s happened,” Jordan said. “We have to go back.”
Alyx and Jordan sped through the forest towards Mayrekk’s hut under the Miragecharm. They had to hurry. They were running out of time. How much longer did they have until Michael and his guards woke up? Once the alarm was raised, the whole lightwarrior army would be after them.
Outside Mayrekk’s hut they paused in the bushes outside briefly to check their surroundings. There appeared to be no guards and inside the hut was quiet. Where was Vix? Was she inside?
Alyx frowned. Something seemed off. Her gut tightened. “Something’s not right,” she whispered to Jordan. “But we don’t have time to waste scoping out the place. I’ll go in first. You stay back hidden under the Miragecharm…just in case.”
Jordan frowned. “You can’t just go in there alone.”
“I won’t be alone. You’ll be behind me, ready to back me up.”
“I don’t like it.”
Alyx sighed in exasperation. “We don’t have time to argue.” She moved forward for the door, feeling a small pop as she broke through the small mirage bubble that encased them. She heard Jordan cursing behind her, but she kept going.
At the hut, she turned the door handle as quietly as she could. Finding the front door unlocked, she pushed it open and moved inside.
Her heart squeezed up into her throat as she surveyed the scene of chaos in front of her – spilled bottles and tipped-over shelves. “Mayrekk,” she whispered, and her own safety was forgotten as she sped through the maze that was the hut.
She rounded the side of the shelving to the small space in the back of hut. Mayrekk was lying across the unmade bed, the sheets showing dark brown stains of dried blood. She let out a breath when she saw his chest rising and falling. He was alive. But where was Vix?
A small muffled cry caused Alyx to turn her head to her left. There, half-hidden by the trunk at the foot of Mayrekk’s bed, was a small blond head wriggling in vain.
“Vix!” Alyx realized too late that somebody must be waiting for her.
A sharp point pricked between her shoulder blades. “Why did you have to come back, Alyx?”
That voice. The voice that used to tell her stories at night, that used to correct her when she was out of line, the voice that equally loved and challenged her. No, that used to love her…
Her eyelids fell closed. “Symon,” she breathed.
“Why couldn’t you have just stayed away?” his voice was tight and strained.
Alyx lifted her hands in surrender and she slowly turned to face him.
He looked the same, but…different. His face crinkled as he scowled, making him seem older. His hair was longer, more unkempt, and he looked thinner in his cheeks. But the face, the face that was now glaring his hatred at her, and his eyes, his clear-as-day blue eyes made glossy with the pain that filled them − all these things were him. Her trainer, her mentor, her only family.
The point of his sword now aimed at her heart. “Draw your weapon, Alyx.”
It was like the moment back in the DreamScape all over again. Except this time, it was real. Her memory of Symon’s pale, lifeless face flashed through her mind. Her mouth went dry. Her hands remained limp by her side. She couldn’t do it.
She shook her head. “No.”
The point of his blade shook at her with anger. “I said, draw your weapon, warrior. I’m giving you a chance to fight your way out of this.”
“No. I can’t fight you, Symon. I won’t…”
He snarled. “Then I have to turn you in, Alyx. You know I do.”
“I know.”
His blue eyes were moist as they sparkled with anger. “When I saw you earlier…I knew it was you under that mask. Even under all that silk and your hair cut different. God, they could truss you up in anything or strip you down to nothing and I would always know it was you.”
Alyx felt a single tear roll down her cheek.
“At first I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t think that you would be so goddamned stupid as to ever come back. Then, when I saw you slip away from the ceremony and disappear under that mirage, I knew it for sure. I went first to the Elder dome, then the Archives, then I took a chance on coming here, where I found your Rogue friend. I knew you wouldn’t be far behind.”
He scowled at Vix. “What kind of company are you keeping now, Alyx? Do you even know? Vixen Demetri. Do you know why she was forced to leave Urielos? Do you?”
“Symon, please. I came back to save Mayrekk. You can turn me in, just let Vix and Mayrekk go. Look at him, Symon. Look at what Michael has done to him. Look at his injuries. They aren’t healing. Something is very wrong.”
“Because you sold us out to the demons.”
Alyx shook her head. “I don’t know what he’s told you, but Michael is lying to you. To all of us. He can’t be trusted.”
“And you can?” His voice was bitter. “You want me to trust you, a Rogue, over the Elders?”
/>
Alyx cringed. The way he said “Rogue” made it sound like she was diseased.
“Symon. You know me. Nothing has changed. I haven’t changed.”
Symon’s blade faltered. For a moment Alyx thought she may have gotten through to him. She felt a sliver of hope that he might actually be listening to her, believing her…
“No.” His blade returned to its position, aimed at her heart. “Everything has changed. Damn you, Alyx. You betrayed me. Us.”
She had to make him believe her. She had a thought. She pulled Elijah’s pick off her wrist and held it out in her palm.
“Michael has a secret chamber in the woods near the top of the far side of the mountain. That’s where he was hiding Mayrekk’s prisoner’s apex. He’s keeping more secrets there. When you get to the tomb-like boulder, use this pick to help get through the shield. When you get inside, you’ll know I’m telling the truth. Don’t let Michael see that you have it.”
Symon’s blade tip flicked across her palm, leaving a shallow line of red. The pick flew out of her hand and bounced against the wall before landing on the ground and rolling to a stop. “I’m not going to be fooled by your tricks, Alyx.”
Her hand dropped to her side. When her eyes raised to meet his, the anger flared again across his face. “Now…I’m giving you one last chance to draw your weapon.”
Before Alyx could speak, a whoosh of magic crackled out of nowhere and hit Symon in the chest, causing him to let out a small cry. At the same time, Alyx felt an invisible hand knocking her back from the end of Symon’s sword. As she fell backwards, she saw Symon’s eyes widened at her in a silent accusation before they closed. He crumpled to the floor along with his sword.
A hand reached out to steady her. Jordan.
He appeared as he turned off the Miragecharm, his brows furrowed in concern. “Are you okay?”
Alyx stared at Symon lying on the floor. “Of course. You knocked me out of the way of his sword, so he didn’t cut me at all.”
“That’s not what I’m asking.”
His hand remained on her arm. When she looked up at him, his eyes spoke to her. Jordan understood how significant that terse moment was with Symon. He understood how painful Symon’s words would be. And how much words can wound just like a knife.
“This isn’t the time,” she said roughly. She turned away and blinked back tears. She just wanted to avoid feeling anything right now. Damn Jordan for seeing more than he should. She started to move towards Vix. “You get Mayrekk.”
Thankfully, Jordan let it go.
Alyx pulled the gag out of Vix’s mouth. “You okay?” she asked. Alyx unsheathed a dagger from her thigh, sliced away the ropes that kept Vix’s hands behind her back and flicked the handle to resheath her blade in one fluid movement.
“Angry at myself,” Vix admitted as she rubbed her wrists. “Embarrassed that I let myself get into this damned position, but otherwise, I’m fine.”
Alyx turned her head as she heard Jordan begin to speak softly. “Mayrekk. It’s me, Jordan.”
There was a groan. Then Mayrekk’s croaky voice, “Jordan?”
“Yes. We’re going to get you out of here. Can you sit up?”
Jordan held Mayrekk’s right arm up and pushed down his sleeve so that the silver prisoner’s bracelet was revealed. Alyx slipped the apex bracelet from her boot. Opening the apex, she stepped towards Mayrekk. Mayrekk’s eyes widened in what appeared to be disbelief.
“Alyx…you…” he started to say, but his voice cracked and no more sound came out.
Alyx hushed at him. “Save your strength, Mayrekk.” She closed the apex around his bracelet. It clicked into place. At once a searing white light beamed out from the bracelet. Alyx felt the bracelet heat up as the whole thing began to move like a snake in her hand. She felt the ancient magical locks sliding and unclicking and ebbing in and out of place. Then something cracked and she felt the bracelet yaw from its hinge. The light died. The heat disappeared and the now cool metal stilled under her fingers.
Alyx pulled the bracelet off Mayrekk’s arm. Her heart pattered as Mayrekk stared at his wrist as if he had never seen such a thing in his life. His eyes misted.
Vix swore, pulling Alyx out of the moment. She was moving back from the curtained window. “I think I just saw a familia. He’ll return with company soon. We have to go.”
Michael. The Michaelea guards. They must have woken.
Jordan began to hoist Mayrekk over his shoulders. “The Miragecharm doesn’t have the range to cover us all,” he said grimly.
“But it’s wide enough for you, Vix and Mayrekk to get out?” Alyx asked Jordan.
His eyes darkened. “No.”
“I could distract them. Make it easier for you to slip through the patrole lines.”
“Absolutely not. I am not abandoning you here to die.”
“It wouldn’t be abandon—”
“No. Not up for discussion.”
Alyx sucked in a deep breath. Think, Alyx, think…
“Well, it’d be suicide to fight them head on. We might just have to make a run for it through open forest and hope that we get past their patrole guards,” Vix said.
“There’s got to be another way out…” Jordan’s voice trailed off.
Another way out… “Yes,” Alyx cried as she remembered the back way out through the bloodink room. “Mayrekk, can you get us through the back way?”
Mayrekk grunted from his position across Jordan’s shoulder. Alyx hoped that the noise was a yes. She paused, taking one last look at Symon, crumpled on the floor.
“We can’t take him with us, Alyx,” Jordan said softly.
“I know.” She picked up Elijah’s pick from where it had rolled and settled, then pressed it into Symon’s palm. Her fingers caressed his in a silent goodbye as she pulled away.
“Okay, follow me. Quickly,” she said. Alyx flew through the maze of shelves towards the rock wall that stood bare across the back of the hut, Vix and Jordan following closely behind her. “Hold him close to the wall,” she said to Jordan. Jordan stepped up to the wall, his eyes searching the rock face frantically.
“What now?” he asked, eyes flicking to Alyx. She was close enough to see the crinkle of fear at his brows.
“Mayrekk,” Alyx pleaded to the limp figure lying across Jordan’s shoulders. The noise of movement outside caused her heart to thump. “Mayrekk, please. We need you to open the mirage to your bloodink room.”
Mayrekk moaned and his eyelids flickered.
Alyx spotted the twinkle of the chain around the back of his neck. She grabbed the chain and pulled it from around Mayrekk’s neck. Alyx held up the keye towards the wall, racking her brain. What was it that Mayrekk said to activate the wall?
“Mayrekk, you need to open the hidden door behind the rock wall. Mayrekk, now!”
“Recludo,” Mayrekk mumbled and his eyelids flickered shut.
Alyx felt the rush of relief as the keye pulled towards the rock wall and the surface of the wall began to wash again like sand, revealing the familiar room beyond. She knew the hidden passageway out to the forest lay behind the shielded far wall.
“Get in.”
They entered the cramped room, and the wall closed back up behind them.
“We’re safe for now. But we still need to get out of Michaelea,” said Vix. “Mayrekk’s in a bad way and needs medical attention now.”
Alyx used the keye to open up the wall, revealing the dark corridor beyond. “This leads to a hidden exit to the forest,” Alyx said. “I’ll take you there and let you out.” Alyx turned to Jordan. “Use the Miragecharm. Get Vix and Mayrekk out of here so she can get Mayrekk back to Ana.” Jordan began to protest, but Alyx interrupted him. “Then come back for me.”
Jordan scowled. “I don’t like it.”
“Like it or not, there’s no other way. I am safe in here.”
For the moment.
* * *
Symon felt himself coming to consciousness. Whateve
r he was lying on was hard and uncomfortable. His eyes were heavy, but he forced them open anyway. Floorboards came into focus. A musty smell hit his nose and he almost sneezed at the amount of dust on the floor.
His last few memories came back in a rush. That blast of DreamWalker had come from nowhere. Her male accomplice, no doubt. Symon had forgotten about him. Now Alyx had gotten away. He was surprised to find he felt more relief than anger. And she had left him alive.
He sat up and something rolled off his palm. His hand reacted to grab the object instinctively. Symon looked down. It was the pick that Alyx had tried to give him. The twisted metal was sitting almost weightless in his fingers.
“Michael has a secret chamber in the woods…use this pick to help get through the shield…you’ll know I’m telling the truth.”
He heard the sound of movement coming through the jumble of shelves that was Mayrekk’s hut. Symon made to call out, but for some reason a voice inside told him to hide. He glanced around for cover. Silently, Symon pulled himself under Mayrekk’s bed. The bedframe was wooden and just let him fit underneath. The dust was tickling his nose even more fiercely under here. Symon peered out from under the bed, spying legs through the shelving.
“They’ve taken him.” A powerful voice rang out that he recognized as Elder Michael’s. “God damn it.” Symon heard the violent crash of something smashing.
Symon gripped the pick in his palm, the metal cutting into his skin. He thanked his instinct to hide. “Don’t let Michael see that you have it.” If he was found here with this pick… He flinched in repulsion as he stared at it. Alyx had given him a curse.
“I need AirWhisperers. And a MirageWeaver. Bring them here. Now.” Michael’s fury reverberated within that small hut. “The rest of you search the area. They can’t have gone far. I want them found.”
