by K. N. Lee
“If you’re not on your knees begging for forgiveness and help by the time I’m over there, I will be surprised,” he said, his eyes widened with rage. “But not nearly as surprised as you’ll be. We both know you don’t have enough control over your magic to shoot up a spark, let alone do anything that could threaten me. I’ll have you in a cell before you can make a move against me. And, just for making me exert myself, I’ll blind you first.”
My stomach lurched at the idea of being blinded, of being even more helpless than I already was. If I dropped to my knees and begged, he might forgive me. He might just let me live as his magical slave, but it wouldn’t be a life. And I still had my family to worry about.
No. I had to see this through. I had to do the job until it was done or until I died trying to do it.
“You’re making a big mistake,” I said, splaying my fingers out in front of me even more. “I’m so much more powerful than you could ever imag-”
Before the words escaped my lips, an explosion sounded behind me, knocking me off my feet. I flew toward Exeter as rubble and stone shot out from behind me. Just then, a ridiculous thought crossed my mind. What if I had done that? What if my power had activated and this was the result? What if-
I would never know the rest, because I slammed hard against the floor, knocking myself into sweet, silent darkness.
Chapter 6
“Moira. Moira, wake up!”
The voice, familiar as it was incensed, pulled at me, ripping me from the monetary solace I found in the black peace of unconsciousness. Before long, my eyes flipped open, returning me to the pain, hurt, and fear of the waking world. Heat rushed over me, and orange red stripes colored my vision. Blinking hard, I tried to focus my eyes, feeling the pull of someone’s hands as they shook me back to the land of the living.
As my eyes blinked into focus, I saw the person knelt over me. His eyes were wide and his face, a familiar and comforting even in a situation like this, sat terse and serious.
“Ian? What’s going on?” I asked before even remembering where I was or how I got there.
“Moira, stand up!” he said, leaping to his feet and offering me his hand. “Hurry. We don’t have a lot of time. That concussion blast probably only stunned them momentarily.”
When I didn’t responded, my best friend huffed, kneeling back down, grabbing my hand, and jerking me upright. My head swam and spun as a result, the entire province shaking around me.
“I’m so sorry, Moira. I didn’t mean to hit you as well. My scanner told me you weren’t in the blast radius. Stupid thing must be broken.”
Literally nothing going on here tonight made any sense. Still, even with everything going on, my mind went to a mundane curiosity.
“How in the realm did you afford a scanner?” My words echoed weakly against my dry and scratchy throat. Judging from the way the fire still seemed to be sparking to life, I would have guessed I had only been unconscious for a few seconds.
So, why did it feel like I just woke from a year-long slumber?
“It’s a long story, friend,” Ian answered, slinging my arm over his shoulder and helping to slide me across the floor.If Ian blew the wall up behind me, blasting right through all of Exeter’s state of the art defense measures, it meant my friend had some serious capabilities.
It meant I drastically underestimated what he was capable of.
“I’m afraid they’re all long stories,” Ian answered, spinning around. “And I’m afraid there’s not really time to tell them right now. Soon, though. I promise.”
“You’re not in any position to be making promises!” Exeter answered. “Bloody Elite bastard.”
His voice boomed through the rubble of the room before I even saw him. Instants after I heard the threat, a huge chunk of wall flew into the air, lifted up over his head by Exeter’s snazzy new cybernetic bicep.
Elite?
“No way!” I said in a gasp, shooting a glance of disbelief at Ian. “That’s not possible.”
“Again, these are long stories, but you might want to rethink what is and is not possible,” Ian answered. “Keep your head down.”
“She won’t have time for that. Not where she’s going,” Exeter said.
Elites were internal guards. They were the men and women tasked with keeping the most sacred and important people in the empire safe. I mean, if you even bought into the idea that one person could be more important than another. If you did, though, there was no way you could think I would fit that bill. Birthmark aside, I never made anyone’s list of most important people. I was a scat, at best. At worst, I was about to be dead or some cyborg’s magic slave.
“Disregarding Elite authority is enough to silence you forever,” Ian said. “You know that.”
Somehow, he seemed to be bigger and taller than I’d ever realized. He had an imposing stature that spoke to his skill.
“I know a lot of things,” Exeter said, a smile spreading across his face. “Including the fact that no one messes up my place of business and lives to tell about it, imperial guard or not.”
He twisted his wrist. The movement was slight barely anything, but it did its job. The huge piece of wall flew from Exeter’s hand and rushed through the air toward us.
My body tensed up, as though flinching might actually help the situation. Luckily for me, Ian had a better plan.
“Hold on,” he said, whispering into my ear.
Twisting hard, he threw the both of us on the ground. Sparks flew from his feet, sending us shooting backward and right through the fire. I felt a rush of heat as the flames licked at every available piece of my body. Thankfully, we moved too fast for them to latch onto me.
We pulled to a stop and jerked upright so quickly and forcefully that bile rose in my throat. Swallowing it back down, I steadied myself.
“Have you lost your mind?” I asked Ian, my eyes wide and my chest pounding. “What are you even doing here?”
“Saving you,” he answered, looking around the mess of a bar. “Or attempting to.”
As I looked around the room, I saw it to be empty. Either everyone inside ran away when Ian set off the bomb or he evacuated them beforehand. In truth, I couldn’t tell what was going on anymore. I did know one thing, though. In addition to the room being empty, it was also completely on fire. Every exit-way burned, blocking us from freedom.
“You don’t happen to have a hydro cannon with you somewhere, do you?” I asked, looking over at him as he ran his hands through his hair and contemplated our plight.
“No,” he answered. Then, his shoulders slumped, and warily, he looked to me. “But, I have something better. I have you.”
“What?” I balked, jerking backward. “In no world am I more valuable than a hydro cannon. Do you have any idea how much one of those is?”
“There’s a field behind the old hills where we used to hunt, the one with the red and purple flowers. Do you remember?”
“What?” I asked, but I did remember. I just couldn’t ascertain why he was bringing that up.
“I need you to remember, Moira,” he said. “Remember that field and think of it.”
As he said those words, Exeter and his goons marched out into the burning room. They were much less concerned about the fire, which made sense, given the fact that only pieces of them could burn anyway.
“Think of it clearly, friend, and forgive me,” Ian said.
“Forgive you for what?” I asked, my eyes pinned on Max 10 and his people, ready to make me their prisoner.
“For the fact that this is going to hurt,” Ian said. “A lot.”
I felt a stabbing pain run through me. It lit me up, white hot pain running through my side. Looking down, I saw the reason for it. I had a stabbing pain because I had been stabbed, because Ian had stabbed me.
“You-you-”
“Think of the field,” Ian said.
As those words drifted toward me, a white light began to overtake my vision. It started at the edges before quickly e
ncompassing everything. When it left, I found myself standing in the field, Ian beside me.
“What in the realm?” I asked, touching my side and finding the blood still wet there and the pain still fresh.
“I’ll fix that,” Ian said. “I’ll fix everything if I can. First, though, we need to talk. There’s a lot I need to explain.”
Chapter 7
Awestruck, I watched the stood in the center of a field, watching as the suns rose with Ian by my side.
I turned my attention away from the brilliance above to my best friend in the world, and how his hair rustled in the swift wind.
I’d known Ian since we were young, since before he shot up like a twisting vine and became a mountain of a man—since before his shoulders broadened and his back straightened—before his arms got corded with muscle and he shaped up into the type of hunter who would put me to shame.
Still, even with all of that, he never changed. Deep down, Ian was the same kind, good person he had always been, and I loved him for that.
What I did not love, not even a little bit, was the feeling I had right now. Never, in all my years, had I ever been as confused or frightened as I was watching the suns light up the world below.
My entire life was different today than it had been last night.
“I don’t understand why we’re just standing here, Ian,” I said, blinking as I looked off the cliff at the people of the province, starting their day and milling around the stone buildings and arched walls.
Rovers flew overhead, scanning to make sure no illegal activity took place in the early morning hours, and above those, whizzed maintenance bots, making sure the rovers functioned properly and didn’t miss anything.
“Because you’re not ready Moira,” Ian said, turning to me and sighing loudly. In the light, he looked different to me today. He looked older, but also newer, like I hadn’t spent the whole of my life knowing him, like he was a new addition to my world.
“It doesn’t matter if I’m ready, Ian,” I yelled, splaying my hands out at my sides and gawking at him. “My family’s in trouble. They might be dead, as far as we know. I have to go there. I have to help them if I can. It’s what Eden would do. I can tell you that much. He surely wouldn’t be standing here like a pair of cowards, mulling over the suns rise and making excuses about not being ready.
“You’re right,” Ian answered in a low, almost reverent voice. “Eden was a good man. He was strong and brave, but he was also foolhardy. He rushed into situations without thinking them through. That’s what got him killed. That’s why we had to make sure nothing like that ever happened to you.”
I felt tears burn at the insides of my eyes as Ian’s words fell flat against my ears. “Eden died because of me, not because he was some idiot who couldn’t keep it together on the battlefield.” I shook my head, my voice cracking as I remembered that horrible day. “I’m the one who couldn’t move fast enough. I’m the one who had to be saved.”
My lip started to quiver so I bit it. Hard.
“He was always carrying me. You know? He always made sure I was safe. Until, one time, he couldn’t, and that one time is why all of this is happening.”
Something strange passed through Ian’s eyes, like a sort of guilt or a shame that I couldn’t quite place. “I forgot they put that in you,” he said softly, looking down at the ground.
“Nobody put that in me,” I balked, shaking my head hard. “It’s what happened. If Eden was here, if he had died trying to save me, then none of this would be happening. The brother I knew would have never allowed things to get this bad. He’d have known better than to try and poach from those lands. He’d have known better than to make our entire family outlaws. He’d have done better because he was better.” I nodded hard. “That’s the brother I knew.”
Ian took another deep breath. “That’s a sweet memory, Moira. I wish I could let you keep it.”
My entire body stoned up upon hearing his words. Was Ian messing with me? Was he trying to make me mad? Was this just another ploy in hopes of reaching the latent magic obviously flowing through my veins? If so, I didn’t appreciate it one bit.
“Get twisted, Ian,” I scoffed, turning away from him and looking back out at the city again.
The rovers would see me the instant I set foot back on regulated lands. I knew that, which meant I could never go home. I would risk that, of course, if it meant keeping my family safe, but I couldn’t deny that I was beginning to wonder what the point of it was. They wouldn’t have a home anymore. They would have nothing.
Without the rations appropriated to us by the kingdom, my family would be starved out in a month, maybe two if we were lucky.
No. That wasn’t what I wanted for them. Maybe it was better if I turned myself in. Maybe it was better if I just let this end the way we all knew it was going to anyway, with me in a cell or worse.
“I’m not messing with you, Moira,” Ian said, taking a step toward me. “The brother you knew was a good man. He was perhaps the best man in all the kingdom. He was a crutch to hold you up as well as the splinter to keep you from ever being able to stand on your own two feet. His death, or more aptly, the specifics of his death, were crafted to help you keep your head low, to ensure you wouldn’t get too out of control.”
Ian shook his head at me, reaching out and placing a hand on my shoulder.
“But, he didn’t exist, Moira. Eden didn’t die some hero trying to save his little sister. He died at a party, drunk on ale water as he attempted to reenact a particularly dangerous scene from one of the paintings in the main hall of the palace.”
“The palace?” I mused, my eyebrows knitting together. “How in Under did Eden get into the palace’s main hall?”
“He woke up there, Moira,” Ian answered quickly. “Same as you.”
“As me?” I wondered. “Now, I know you’ve lost your mind. I’ve never been in that castle a day in my life. Poaching on that land was as close as I’ve ever been.”
Another shot of pain ran through Ian’s eyes. “You actually believe that. Don’t you?”
“It’s the truth,” I shot back.
“Truth is subjective,” Ian answered. “No. That’s not exactly right. The way we see truth is subjective, and I’m afraid the way you see things has been drastically altered. That needs to change, though, if we’re going to have even a chance at beating back the Darkness.”
“The what?” I asked, my heart skipping a beat as something about that word pulled at me in a place I didn’t even know existed.
“The fact that you can’t feel it means the spell you cast is more powerful than even you anticipated,” Ian said.
“I-what?” I muttered. “I didn’t cast a spell. I’ve never cast a spell. I don’t know magic.”
“Maybe not, but magic knows you,” he answered. “And it wants you. It needs you back—we need you back.”
“Ian, you’re not making any sense,” I said, noticing the way his eyes moved past me now, out into the distance.
“Listen to me, carefully,” he said, a new urgency coloring his tone. “You aren’t who you think you are. Your family isn’t who you think they are. Your entire life as you know it is a lie, and I’m afraid you’re the only one who can fix that.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, my face running hot.
“We don’t have time,” Ian said, turning and pointing at a few rovers as they neared us in the sky. “They found us. We have to go.”
“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what in the Under is going on. Who are you anyway?”
“I see even the strongest of spells can’t change that stone head of yours,” Ian answered. “I am Ian, hand of the crowned princess of the empire.” He took my hand squeezing it so hard I thought he might break my fingers. “Which is why I am with you, which is why I have always been with you...Your Majesty.”
Chapter 8
My mind sped to ten times its normal rate now. I couldn’t tell what exactly I needed to be
focused on. There was a rover after us, several rovers in fact. If I knew anything about them, it was that even one of those machines was enough to take out entire rows of defense in the past. Even someone like Exeter did his best to keep his distance from them, and he was cybernetic.
What chance would Ian and I have against a group of them?
Of course, there was more weighing on my mind than that. Apparently, the stress of the day caused Ian to lose his mind, because he just identified himself as an advisor to the crown princess and also called me the princess. So, maybe if we actually manage to live through this whole ordeal, Ian should think about starting some meds or something.
With little more than an instant to let all of this settle into my mind, I decided it was better to—you know—be alive to ask all of the questions I had at the moment.
To that end, we needed to run.
“Alright,” I said, quickly. “Get us out of here.”
“With pleasure,” the man responded, actually smiling. “Get behind me, sire.”
Without another word, Ian grabbed my arm and twisted me behind him. He raised his hand, pressing a button I had never seen before on the inside of his sleeve near his wrist.
Blue energy splayed out from the spot near his wrist, broadening into a giant shield, the kind I had only ever seen displayed before during the empire’s biannual parade. It’s a function where they celebrate how amazing they are while forcing the rest of us to watch, gawk at all the pretty luxuries, and thank them from a distance for all the good things they’ve done for us over the years. I hated those things, but that didn’t mean I hated the shield, especially now.
The rovers flew over us now, the single eye placed at the centered edge of their rounded frames glowing red and preparing to strike. I had seen a strike from a rover tear through an entire concrete wall before. I could only imagine what it would do to my flesh.