And what did Nemreth mean by “punish”? My initial guilt disappeared with their bitter words. Cendri was proving himself to be the asshole he’d been from the very beginning. Perhaps stabbing him hadn’t been the wrong decision.
The horn blew again, and the barrier that kept us in the fighting pit shimmered away. The fae king flew downward, perched atop his hazelnut horse, loosely gripping the reins. The horse’s wings fanned outward, flapping to keep both itself and the fae king hovering in the air.
“Congratulations, champions,” he said. His voice boomed over us all, projected by the speaking device he used. “You have survived the thousandth Flower Trials.”
We’d survived.
I looked skyward. It was over? I was covered in blood and dirt and grime. Probably less than an hour had passed, but it felt like an eternity. I’d seen so much death. More than I had in my entire life.
“Ly!” Kaji called, waving from the spectator row closest to me.
I waved back at him, not sharing his exuberance. It was the first time I’d seen him this excited or relieved. I strode over to my clothes and picked them up. My clothes were close to my dagger, but also right next to a couple of dead bodies. Three hundred fae had joined the trials, and only fifty remained. That was over two hundred deaths in just a short span of time.
Once I finished pulling my shirt over my body, I peered up. Sitting at the edge of the arena was Fauna. She’d survived, too. She sat on her haunches, her fingers folded between each other. Her chest rose and fell as she breathed, and upon squinting to focus, I thought I saw her shaking. She wiped her eyes, smearing blood over her face. I didn’t know if it was the blood of her enemies or hers.
To be honest, I hadn’t expected her to survive. She was too frail and small. It looked like she might get eaten up. But I’d seen her magic during the trials, and it looked as terrifying as in the old tales of the Dragon Mother. Those tendrils felt vile, just like black magic.
Her dark eyes landed on mine. I stood there, frozen in the aftermath of the battle. And she smiled.
A weak smile, but a smile nevertheless.
I returned the gesture, finding the corners of my lips far heavier than usual.
My smile dropped the moment I saw a troll hacking a dead body. He’d likely been driven mad by the carnage. “Die, die, die,” he chanted, swinging his axe over his head. Down and up again in a steady rhythm. He wouldn’t stop smashing the head of the corpse.
I turned away, but again, Cendri’s moans caught my attention. Nemreth repeated words of comfort to his lover. It was just a stab wound. Why was he complaining so much? He’d broken my leg once. That hurt like a bitch.
My offhanded thought was answered when I decided to look at him. I’d never seen Cendri in such bad condition. His head was lolled to one side, his hand clutched over the wound on his belly. His skin was so pale that he almost looked like a teramarth.
“Hey,” I said, “is he all right?”
Nemreth scowled at me. “Of course he’s not all right. You stabbed him with iron. It feels like death to a fae.”
“He’s not going to die from it, is he?”
“Just some rest will do. Doesn’t mean that this won’t be one of the worst days of his life. It’s going to be sheer torture until he finally recovers.”
He deserves this, I thought.
“You’re going to have to discard that dagger,” Nemreth said. “We can’t let you hold it anymore.”
“My father gave it to me.”
“I don’t give a fuck. You’re going to use it to hurt us, and I’d be a fool to let you keep it.”
“You’ll have to take it from me.”
Nemreth glanced at the dagger. “In time,” he said. “But first I have to heal Cendri.” Despite the healing magic Nemreth used on his lover, Cendri’s condition wasn’t getting any better. He moaned again, shut his eyes, and gritted his teeth.
I steeled myself. I wasn’t going to let his pitiable state make me feel bad. He’d shown no emotion when he broke my leg.
The fae king continued from above, “You must be tired from the fighting. It is time for our champions to have some well-deserved rest.”
Tunnels opened on the sides of the arena. The dirt walls drew upward, groaning against their own weight. Nemreth pulled Cendri into his arms, cradling his lover. Cendri reminded me of a child, sinking into Nemreth’s chest. He hooked his arms around Nemreth’s neck and muttered a sound I could not hear. I thought he might exit through one of the tunnels, but, of course, they were part of the triad, so they had to do everything differently just to make themselves seem important. Nemreth summoned his flaming wings. I found it strange he hadn’t used them the entire time we were in the arena.
“I’m sending him to the infirmary,” he said. He rose into the skies.
I watched them leave. My wings were still recovering from those glass weapons. Like Cendri, they should heal in a day, but they were in no condition to be summoned now. I glanced at the tunnels. I supposed I’d have to stroll out the normal way, then.
I relaxed. At least this was now all over.
A shadowy figure appeared in the tunnel right before me. I squinted, craning my neck forward to get a better view.
I saw his rotting face. Charmingface waved at me. I couldn’t read his expression, considering half his face was rotting off. I swallowed thickly. Should I follow?
Aereala’s breath, why couldn’t I just take a break?
“Aland!” I shouted, turning. It would be good to have some backup.
Aland was gone when I looked where he’d been standing, probably eager to leave this hellhole, the same as me. It was Kaji who arrived by my side a moment later.
I opened my mouth to say something, but Kaji silenced me by pulling me into a hug. “Heavens, Ly, I thought you were going to die.”
“Kaj,” I said, blinking through the fuzz in my brain.
“When that spear hit you—”
“I saw Charmingface.”
“Hm?”
“We have to go after him.”
I heard congratulatory cheers above us. Some of the champions were already rejoining their families.
“Clean yourselves up and get rest,” the fae king shouted. He sounded sickeningly happy. I wondered whether he was putting up a front of the guests, because I doubted any of the champions felt the joy he displayed. “There will be celebrations tonight to commemorate your victories.”
I’d had enough with victories for a while.
“You look like you’re having trouble standing,” Kaji said.
“I’m fine.”
“What you said about Charmingface was absurd.”
“Are you saying I’m hallucinating?”
“No, but—”
“I know what I saw.” The buzzing in my head did little to help my impatience. I couldn’t seem to stop fidgeting for some reason. Gods, I really did need some shuteye. But a teramarth madman was on the loose. “We’re going to get Charmingface. He spoke about Lysunth. That’s the goddess who has been creating all these creatures, and—”
“You’re looking for trouble.”
“No, I’m looking to stop it.”
Looking upward, I tried getting the attention of the fae king by waving my hands frantically, but he was already making his exit, and any further attempts would mean I’d lose Charmingface’s trail.
“Come with me,” I said to Kaji. I took large strides toward the tunnel.
“I really think this is a bad idea,” Kaji replied, but he followed anyway.
I could already feel my own hesitance. But I walked on anyway. “Yeah. It is. But I have to find out what’s going on with that principal.”
The entire time Kaji and I talked, Charmingface stood there, awaiting me. He ran into the tunnel the moment I neared. Were we playing a cat-and-mouse game? I had no patience for that.
My boots kicked up the dirt as the speed of my walking became more frantic.
“Are you sure about this, Ly?”
Kaji asked. His hands were open, his muscles tensed, as if he were ready to catch me should I topple over. The blood smeared all over my body probably did little to instil confidence in me.
As soon as he asked his question, a wave of giddiness hit me. “No,” I replied. “After what just happened, I’m not sure about anything anymore.”
“You don’t have to seek him. Revenge isn’t—”
“This doesn’t have anything to do with revenge. It’s to protect my family. And you, too, Kaji. I don’t want Charmingface’s plans to hurt the drae lands, seeing as it’ll put everyone in danger. You don’t have to come if you’re scared.”
“The only person I’m worried for is you.”
“I’ll be fine. Take care of yourself.”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m not worried because of the goodness of my heart or anything.” His wryness had returned, relieving me. I wasn’t sure how I was going to put up with him coddling me all the time. “If you lose your head, your fathers will make certain I lose mine, too.”
“Mhm.” I smirked.
We entered the darkness of the tunnel, and the slight relief that Kaji’s words gave me dissipated.
A rasp echoed through the tunnels.
“Please, Lyra,” Charmingface said from around the corner. “Please help me.”
Help? I mustn’t have heard right.
Twenty-Nine
“Pleeease,” Charmingface begged. There was a cry in his rasp. A choked, awkward sound.
Kaji and I frowned at each other before plodding onward. Another one of the champions brushed past me. She gave me a dirty look before walking toward the exit. Did she not hear Charmingface’s plea?
“Heeelp meeee.”
My steps slowed. I drew my dagger, hoping the iron would protect me. There was leakage somewhere in these tunnels. The quiet caused the dripping sound to echo, ringing in my eardrums. It still wasn’t as loud as the thudding I heard from my heart. I breathed out and mist formed in the air. Hadn’t I seen this mist before? It came right before Lysunth showed us her army. That vast army that threatened to consume the lands.
“Why is he begging?” Kaji asked, his voice dropped to a whisper.
“I don’t know.” I used my free hand to scrape my fingers along the wall. The grittiness of the tunnel kept me grounded and awake. There hadn’t been enough time for me to recover from the shock of the trials. “He was talking about power last time, inviting me to Lysunth’s team. He was confident then. Full of himself and his rightness. Definitely not begging. Not like this.”
We lost the trail. Kaji and I stopped in the middle of the tunnel, wondering where to go next. Charmingface called for us again. Another one of those choked cries, with a warped “please.” He was to our left. Right around the corner.
“Draw your sword,” I said to Kaji.
“Mhm,” he replied, doing as I said. He scraped the tip of his blade on the ground. “Would be a lot better if I had my iron with me. I saw what it did to Cendri. I’m surprised Nemreth didn’t punish you right away. Did you see him? The guy was pissed.”
“They’ve stopped hurting me ever since I brought them to Constanria.”
“Why do you think that?”
“I proved them wrong.”
We rounded the corner. Charmingface was right there, awaiting us in the shadows.
“Lyra,” he said. “Lyra, Lyra, Lyra.”
More of his face had peeled off. I saw the white of his cheekbones and even by his ears. One of his eyes had fallen out, leaving behind an empty socket. He reached for me with a brittle hand. The skin on his fingers was shedding, too. I was too far away, and it seemed he didn’t have the strength to reach me. He tripped over himself and crashed into the dirt.
“What happened to you?” I asked. Was it iron?
“Lysunth… has lied to me… She is no fae… She is capable… of deception…” He softly whimpered. “She wants to use me… And I must die…”
“What do you mean? For what?”
“Gods, my time is coming to an end.” Charmingface shook. “I’m so scared. So, so scared. Save me, please. Please, please, please.”
I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. I pursed my lips, glancing at Kaji, who looked as worried as me. “Tell me what Lysunth’s plans are,” I said. “I’ll see if I can find a way to help.”
“She made me swallow it. Told me it’d give me power.”
“It? What do you mean by it?”
“Her essence. The abomination. It will summon her and we will all die. I wanted the fae to die. Not me, too. I was misled.” Charmingface shook his head in the dirt. Was he sobbing? Was this the same principal everyone had been enamored with? If someone had told me this was Charmingface without me having seen his transformation, I wouldn’t have believed them. He was unrecognizable. “I’ve made a terrible mistake.”
I didn’t know what to do. The fear I sensed from him was a precursor of something terrible.
“Oh,” Charmingface cried. “It’s coming out of me.”
“What is?”
“Lysunth.” His last word was merely a breath of a whisper.
His stomach expanded. The rotting stench from him grew stronger, filling the air around us. I wrapped my hand over my mouth and almost gagged.
I took a step back. “Kaji, run—”
A pulsing entity exploded from Charmingface’s stomach. “Never… never should have trus—”
The entity grew, consuming Charmingface’s body completely. A force knocked me backward. I flew across the tunnel and hit the wall. My head cracked against the tunnel’s sides.
I lost my vision for a second, but it returned soon enough. Charmingface no longer lay in front of me. Another being had taken his place, her body growing from the abomination.
The goddess.
Thirty
Lysunth had no eyes.
No mouth.
She didn’t have a body, really. She was just a mass of energy that took on a female form. Vaguely, I saw a crown of bones on her head. The image didn’t last long, for she turned back into pure energy, blackish in color.
The moment she appeared, a sense of anguish crushed me. Tears pouring down my cheeks, I wheezed. Why was it suddenly so hard to breathe? What was this pain that threatened to swallow my heart?
“Childreeeen,” she began, her voice sounding like icy wind. She stopped before Kaji, who’d been knocked back too. He must have hit the wall at a bad angle. He hadn’t recovered, and when Lysunth used her magic to lift him, his head lolled to the side.
Wake up, Kaj.
I pushed myself up, reaching for my blade, which had fallen from my hand. I threw myself at Lysunth, but the god merely waved her fingers and I was thrust away from her, tossed backward like a rag doll. My ears rang as I watched Lysunth draw Kaji toward her. He woke, his eyes blinking open.
Kaji groaned. His head swayed, his body limp. Did he even know what was happening?
I watched cluelessly. How was I to fight against such a force? Lysunth was going to turn Kaji in to a teramarth. Why would she spare him? Time slowed as her dark tendrils pulled him closer. My mind blanked as I pushed myself forward again, summoning all my resolve. I reached deep inside of me, not caring that Lysunth might hurt me too. I fought harder than I had in the arena, because what I did now mattered so much more. If I failed, Kaji would die. I couldn’t imagine him as one of those horrid creatures, smelling and rasping like them, morphing into something so mindless.
I wrapped my hands around Lysunth. My eyes widened. I’d grabbed her. I could do that? She was merely energy, after all. And a goddess. Goddesses were not supposed to be within the reach of mere mortal beings like me.
She looked at me. Or, at least, I thought she did. It was difficult to tell when she didn’t have any eyes. “You,” she said. “You can touch me.” There was certain quality of her voice that made me uneasy. “You’re proving more interesting to me day by day, Princess Lyra.”
She dropped Kaji. He grunted then
pushed himself into a seating position and rubbed his eyes. His shoulders slumped right after he lifted himself. He had trouble supporting his own weight, and his head tipped backward, hitting the wall behind him.
Lysunth wrapped her energy around me. It was almost as if she was pulling me into an embrace, welcoming me into her arms. “I would like you to join me. With you, we can spread across Thesnan so easily. We might even reach Aleaham, finding the souls of those who have perished. It is so much to taste. Perhaps with that, I can find my missing part.”
I lifted my dagger and thrust it through her stomach. Lysunth laughed. An eerie sound.
“You can’t hurt me with iron,” she said. “I am not like the fae. I am more. They were birthed from part of my essence, after all.”
“Leave Kaji alone,” I said. His safety was my number one priority. I resolved that I’d die to protect my friend.
“Ah, I’m afraid I’ve hurt him. I was turning him, unfortunately. But I will leave the rest of him intact. He will recover.” Lysunth stroked a strand of energy down my cheek. “Consider my proposal. I will give you time. I’m not here for you today. I’ve come for the city.”
She ghosted past me, her body slipping past mine. A chill ran across me. I shuddered, shutting my eyes to deal with the temporary strange sensation. The moment I recovered, I lowered myself to Kaji’s side. I clutched his hand. He seemed to be struggling to keep his head up.
“Hey,” I said. “Kaj, talk to me. Tell me you’re okay.”
Kaji lifted a weak gaze to me. “I’m…” He heaved, moving his head aside. Vomit poured from his lips. “I don’t feel so good.”
“I’m going to take you to a safe place, okay? Just stay with me. Can you stand?” He tried pulling himself up. Veins appeared in his eyes, flashing before disappearing again. I hissed out a curse and dragged his arms over me. “I’m bringing you to the healers.”
“Y-you’re being…” He coughed. Something was poisoning him. Lysunth’s essence?
“You’re obviously struggling to talk.” I had no healing ability, so I was a useless twat who couldn’t do anything to help Kaji. “Don’t strain yourself, idiot. You’ve got another nine hundred years, give or take, for me to annoy the hell out of you, all right? If you die, I’m not going to let you off easy.”
Rakarthen Academy Page 23
