by Phoebe Nix
Then came Jocelyn, fright growing in her eyes once she saw what they’d done to Karlol. She probably knew she was next. The guards who dragged her stopped to watch the show.
Moments later, Narmer and Lia strutted out and into the courtyard from a different gate, both smiling. Lia had probably been waiting her whole life for this moment. The way she’d tortured him was never out of necessity; collecting information from him was only a bonus. When she’d beaten him before, the joy in her eyes was inexplicably wicked. He could feel her thirst for sadism being quenched with every kick to the torso and tug on his wings, as though it was reassurance that she was the dominant species.
The sinister duo stopped. Lia glared at Karlol with narrowed, ferocious eyes.
“Any last words?” she snarled. “You can still save yourself if you wish to cooperate. Only then will we overlook your abominable crimes.”
He glanced at Jocelyn, who looked like she was about to faint.
Karlol shrugged. There was no way to escape this, but he could always buy himself time.
“Alright, alright,” he said.
Lia let out a sinister laugh, giving Narmer a dismissive wave before he objected. “Do we have to put you on a death post for you to talk?” She gestured to Jocelyn. “Who’s the girl?”
Karlol forced a frown and swallowed hard. “But if I confess, I’d have to start from the top.”
“Just spit it out,” Narmer bellowed.
“Long ago,” he began, his wing twitching back to life. “Before the humans settled here. Before your people settled here.”
“Get to the point,” Lia snapped.
“I’m getting there! Let me finish,” he demanded, shutting his eyes as though to recollect his thoughts. “Long ago,” he repeated. “There was a prophecy. Our people had Oracles, as you probably know, and those Oracles were seldom mistaken.”
Lia shifted her gaze to the girl, then back to Karlol.
“They predicted that something amazing would happen. Something that could save all of us, this whole planet.”
“Go on.” Lia was getting impatient.
“This is horseshit. You’re letting him finish? He’s stalling,” Narmer spat, but Lia lifted a finger to quiet him.
“This girl right there,” he gestured with his chin. “She’s no human. Her wings have not yet developed. It’s a mutation.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
Karlol smiled to himself. If there was one thing he knew about Lia, it was that patience wasn’t one of her strong points. She would slip, eventually. Make a mistake. And then he’d have an opportunity to grab Jocelyn and escape.
Somehow.
“Because the Oracles saw this very moment. Me. On this post. And her. Over there, standing beside you. Standing because she had no wings. Because of the mutation.”
“Please, let me call the guards,” Narmer pleaded.
Lia hushed him again.
“And they saw that the two of you decided not to kill me. You let me fly away,” he continued, and could finally feel his wing flexing and relaxing, the life returning to it.
Lia narrowed her eyes as her nostrils flared. “Go to hell, Karlol. Guards!”
One of the five gates flung open and two hooded men strolled in with bows and spears. On each of their backs was a quiver full of arrows. The guards had come prepared.
“You don’t want to hear the rest of the prophecy? It has a happy ending,” he teased.
“Karlol of Lookar,” Narmer began narrating his sentence, his voice shaking in frustration.
“Someone gets married,” Karlol continued.
“If you don’t keep your mouth shut, we’re not just going to kill you,” Lia warned. “I’m going to rip your wings off and feed them to you!”
Karlol shrugged, looking the other way. He was not scared of death. He only cared for his people and what would become of them if he died here today. But he didn’t want to give Lia the satisfaction of seeing fear in his eyes as she watched him die.
“Karlol of Planet Lookar,” Narmer repeated. “You have breached the peace treaty signed by Humans and Vogels alike, by encroaching on our territory. The Kingdom of Mirilik sentences you to death, by order of the King.”
Lia nodded.
The two hooded guards stepped forward, each grabbing an arrow from their quivers. They pulled them far back on their bows and waited for Lia’s order.
One of the gates flung open again, and two other hooded guards rushed to the scene, standing at attention to either side of the first two. They were much taller, but that didn’t seem to catch Lia’s attention.
“Did you order more?” Narmer asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “The more executioners, the merrier. Try to fly your way out of this one, Karlol.”
Karlol took a deep breath. He didn’t want Lia’s smiling face to be the last sight he’d see before his death. He couldn’t help but think about the poor girl who was about to meet the same fate as him.
He lifted his head and opened his eyes, fixing his gaze on the human.
Lia and Narmer took a step forward, but before the former gave the executioners an order to proceed, one of the new guards launched arrows at Karlol’s restraints, breaking them half, then turned and shot the guard to the right.
The second guard pulled a longsword out of his scabbard and turned to the left, taking a swift swing at the other executioner’s neck, the guard’s head dropping to the ground and rolling away.
The two imposters then pulled their hoods down, and Karlol let out a shriek of victory. Lore and Darneel joined him with proud smiles.
Lore pulled a sword from her back holster, tossing it to Karlol. The longsword made a few swings in the air before Karlol caught it by the handle.
“Guards! I need more guards!” Narmer shouted.
“Kill him!” Lia said, turning to the guards holding Jocelyn down. One of them drew his weapon, but the other shook his head, warning him that Jocelyn would flee if they let go of her.
The twins soared forward to grab the Prince, but he struggled out of their grasp and flew his way to Jocelyn.
“Do something!” Lia hollered at Narmer, who instantly drew his sword, though with a shaky hand.
Karlol gave one of the guards a shove, sending him flying across the yard. Before the other could draw his weapon, Karlol swung his sword at his shoulder, detaching limb from torso. Blood gushed from the guard’s wound as he let out an agonized scream and collapsed.
Without looking behind him, Karlol nudged his elbow into Narmer’s face and heard a flop against the grass as the man fell to the ground.
“You useless piece of shit!” Lia screamed.
Jocelyn took a step back, her lips trembling and her pupils dilated. Karlol could see his reflection in her eyes. She froze, and he was a little surprised at how scared she was of him. He was, after all, saving her.
“Please,” she begged with a wavering voice. “Please, don’t kill me.”
The corner of Karlol’s mouth lifted in a grin, and he grabbed her by the waist. She screamed and flapped her limbs about. “No, please!”
“I’m not going to kill you!” Karlol hollered over her deafening wails.
More guards began to flow into the courtyard in dozens, launching spears and arrows at the twins and the Prince. Karlol bent his knees, then gave himself a push that launched him high into the air. The sound of Jocelyn’s screams undulated as Karlol spun, his wings sending ripples that diverted the spears and arrows shooting his way.
The twins, with anger burning in their eyes, took to the air and followed amidst the tornado of spears and arrows, spreading their wings to shield the prince. With a few more flaps of their wings, they were quickly out of range.
Karlol tilted his head down to check on the human in his arms. He was about to ask her if she were hurt, then smiled.
Jocelyn had passed out.
Thirty minutes earlier.
“Stop doing that, dammit!”
the guard snapped at Jocelyn as she frantically screamed at them, darting from one corner of the cell to the other.
The moment she had seen the guards approaching her cell, she knew she wasn’t going to be sent to the Royal pool for cocktails with the King. Three guards walked toward the neighboring cell, while two very casually unlocked hers and paced in like they were opening an antique store in the morning.
She ducked as the guard tried to wrap his arms around her and sprinted to the shackles before grabbing the chained restraints and trying to swing them at one of the guards, hitting his arm. He jerked and backed away.
He rubbed his arm where the shackles had hit him. “Are you mad, woman?” he complained.
Jocelyn held the shackles up and braced herself for another assault.
“Stay the hell away from me!” she warned.
One of the guards drew his sword. “Don’t make me use this!”
She took a lungful of air and let out a shriek.
The guard dropped his weapon to shield his ears, and the sword clanked as it hit the floor. “By all that is mighty, make her stop! Can we call for help with this one?”
The other guard shrugged. “For a human?”
“If you come any nearer, I’ll have no choice but to smack you with this!” She tightly grasped the chain and began spinning it in circles.
“She’s mad,” the first groaned.
“You get the legs, I’ll get the arms.”
Jocelyn let go of the chain, her jaw dropping. “No one gets legs or arms!” she shouted, sprinting to the wooden bed.
She pulled one of the loosened logs and broke it off, waving it wildly in the air. Her hair was disheveled and her eyes hadn’t blinked since the guards had walked into the cell, red veins spread like a roadmap across her sclera. She looked like she was seconds away from foaming at the mouth and barking at them.
“I can’t deal with this. I’d rather get the bird.”
One of the guards pushed forward, his tone menacing. “Shut up, woman. If it wasn’t for the King’s orders, we’d kill you right now.
“Get away from me!” she screeched. “I’ll die another day!” She continued to swing her stick, making it whoosh as it sliced through the air.
The guards nodded at one another and began walking around her in circles like sharks about to attack. Her head darted from left to right, unsure where to swing her wooden weapon first. As she swayed her stick at one of the guards, he ducked, then hauled the stick out of her hands and tossed it across the room. The other one grabbed her arms, restraining them behind her back. Any more pressure and he’d snap her arm.
She kicked and shouted, but the guard held her down as he dragged her out of the cell.
“I hope they decide to kill you,” one of them muttered.
“Go fuck yourself!”
As she was led to the prison gates, her resistance came to a halt. She tilted her head up, marveling at how Karlol seemed to hang from the walls, wings spread wide like an angel. She had only seen him flutter his wings in pain, but never imagined that she would live to see a flying man. She noticed the talons on his toes and fingers, which hadn’t been there when she had first seen him.
Her eyes were fixed on him until she was dragged out of the gates. She would try to push herself away from the guards’ grasp every now and again, but soon realized that her struggle was useless. She quickly wore herself out, her body heavier and her eyes half-shut.
The hallway had a high, domed ceiling and ample wall space. She noticed that specks of blood also covered the walls here and there. What was this place? Some kind of torture chamber? The guards had mentioned that her fate was yet to be decided. She tried to mentally rehearse her speech for when she was interrogated – maybe she could lie and say she had amnesia, but she wasn’t sure that people here were familiar with the term, or whether the bikini she still wore would give away where she was from.
The guards marched at a quick pace; she nearly stumbled and fell, but they tugged on her arms before she hit the ground, and her feet were now being dragged across the stone floor.
She heard a racket behind her, screeching and squawking that blended in with the shouts of frustrated guards to form an intolerable cacophony. As they rushed past her, she saw one of them holding the end of a rope as he laboriously tried to drag the flying man behind him. Eventually, one of them shot him down, and the winged man was finally forced to follow them like a dog on a leash.
The gates ahead of her opened, the sudden bright sunlight blinding her. She looked the other way as her vision became whitewashed. Her foot suddenly sunk, and she realized she was walking down veneered steps that led to a spacious courtyard.
Trails of blood stained the grass, and ahead of her, she saw long wooden poles that looked like execution posts for witches in the old days.
The winged man was being chained to one of them, and he tried to shove the guards away with one of his wings, the other one twitching uselessly in position.
If he had control of both, he’d do some serious damage.
The guards holding her stopped, grins spread across their faces. They looked eager to watch the show.
Oh my God. They’re killing him. And I’m next.
Karlol glanced at her, as though trying to tell her that he had a plan. She shook her head, not knowing what to do. Her fingers tightened and relaxed in reflex but, unsurprisingly, nothing could take the edge off being moments away from getting brutally executed.
So much for a relaxing getaway. Thanks, Liz.
The moment the man started stalling, she felt like this was her cue to do something. But she couldn’t overpower the brutes on either side of her. She felt helpless as she stared at the man.
This is when I force myself awake. Come on, open your eyes. This is only a dream. Wake the hell up, Jose.
When Lia called in the executioners, Jocelyn knew it was all over. She was going to watch a beautiful creature executed before she was to be showered in arrows herself.
Her throat swelled and her mouth felt dry as she suddenly found it hard to swallow. Goosebumps spread across her skin and sweat beads raced down her forehead. She would have thought that in the moments preceding her death, she would see her life flashing before her eyes, but all she saw was that angel of a man. Everything else was blurred out. She had no regrets and no wishes; she thought of nothing. Her mind went blank and she felt her body already shutting down, giving in to her inevitable fate.
Then all hell broke loose. She had spaced out, and for a minute or two felt like she was successfully finding a way to draw into herself where she could hide from all this. The commotion brought her back, though, and as she tried to get her bearings back, she froze in shock. The winged man was free, and there were two others just like him fighting through the guards. The fight was swift – too swift for her eyes to fathom what was happening. She felt the guards loosening their grasp on her arms, but she lacked the energy to run. She felt heavy and knew that the moment these men let go of her, she would collapse to the ground.
Blood splashed on her face and seemed to trigger her survival instinct. She wiped her face, glanced at her hand and shrieked. Karlol was on a killing frenzy, and if he was cutting through his human captors, what would stop him from killing her, too?
“Please!” she pleaded. “Please, don’t kill me.”
Karlol looked surprised, offended even.
Then he smiled.
He suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist, and she felt the pressure of the wind against her face as she flew skyward. She screamed, but her voice faltered and eventually thinned out into a wheeze.
Don’t look down. Don’t look down.
Jocelyn looked down.
Fuck. I can’t even see the courtyard. Where’s the god damned courtyard?
She felt herself spinning in the sky as she clung to the man’s waist. The sky was an azure blue before they were surrounded by mist. She took a moment to realize it wasn’t mist but clouds.
Her
head felt heavy and fell backwards as she blacked out.
Chapter 7
Jocelyn felt a searing pain in her lower back before she opened her eyes.
Where am I?
There was a steady sound of dripping water. She could hear her heartbeat resounding in her ears. She blinked a few times, her sight slowly clearing. All she saw was a solid brown, and several specks of black. Her vision went into focus; she was gazing at a ribbed ceiling. And the black specks were bats.
Bats…Bats?!
She quickly sat up and narrowed her eyes, shielding them from the bright light of the fire beside her. The atmosphere was musty, and the warmth of the fire made the smell all the more prominent. She turned and saw the winged man from earlier.
“I’m not,” she stammered, “dreaming?”
Karlol smiled. “Welcome back.”
She suddenly recalled how Karlol had saved her life, and memories of the courtyard flooded back to her. He could have flown to safety and left her for dead, but for some reason, chose to spin through arrows and spears just to save her.
Why?
“Thank you,” she softly said. Her voice was hoarse from all the screaming. It was painful to speak.
Karlol nodded.
“I meant for saving me,” she reiterated.
“I knew what you meant.”
“The Prince risked his life to save you.”
Jocelyn jumped, forgetting completely that there had been two others with Karlol. A woman sat across the fire from her, the flames dancing in her bright blue eyes. She was beautiful, but her ferocious glare was almost palpable.
Jocelyn quickly rose to her feet and took a few steps backwards, but she stopped when her head pounded.
Wait. Prince?
“Calm down,” Karlol said. “Sit down, you need to rest. These are my guards, Lore and Darneel, also twins. We’re not going to hurt you. We’ll just take you with us, to safety.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard that one before. I ended up in a cell and was dragged to an execution court like it was fucking Auschwitz.”
