A loud knock came from the front of the house and I shoved the memory away.
“Seph! Sepheus!” my father bellowed from his own bedroom.
“I’ve got it, Father!” I pulled a brown tunic and black trousers on and went to see who was at our door.
A messenger boy, dressed in an outfit that matched the limes on the tree outside my bedroom window, held out an envelope with an emerald green seal with the letters K and C stamped on it. In his other hand, he held a sack of what I assumed were more messages waiting to be delivered.
“From His Majesty, King Corbin.” The boy announced formally.
I accepted the letter and was about to thank him, but he turned and marched off toward the next house before I had the chance to utter the words.
“Who was it?” my father asked from the main room just inside of our home’s entrance.
“A messenger.” I held the envelope out to him. “It’s from King Corbin.”
“Read it to me.”
I hesitated. I could barely read or write. My father had taught me the little I knew, but he didn’t have the patience for teaching. He’d given up on me well before I had the skill developed. My cheeks warmed as I cracked open the wax seal and began to sound out the words. “Yeh—you ahh—reh innn—vet…invet—eed.”
My father ripped the message from my hand with his big paw and read aloud. “You are invited to the Tree of Ends at high noon today. King Corbin.”
Shame filled me when my father turned his mocking grin on me. Sometimes he enjoyed embarrassing me for his own entertainment.
“They’re going to execute the handmaiden today. Fetch us some food. We don’t want to be late to see the lady get what she deserves.”
My father combed and tied his hair back neatly and dressed in some of his best black attire for the occasion. He enjoyed seeing his work finished at the Tree of Ends.
Terra was a kingdom surrounded by lush forest. Other than fruit and ornate trees, most grew outside of the kingdom’s walls. The Tree of Ends was one of the only trees that hadn’t been cleared away when the kingdom of earth was built by the first royals in this part of Sarantoa. The tree earned its name because it was used to hang criminals for executions. It had strong enough branches to hold a person’s body without breaking. Many believed its bark gained its rusty colour from the blood of its victims. Most avoided the tree altogether, unless coming to witness an execution like the one we’d gathered around for on that day.
I gazed at the forest beyond the wide, stone palace. The forest itself was known to claim the lives of some of those who travelled through it. The first earth elemental used magic to ensure the climate would always benefit the forest, protecting the kingdom at its center. Besides poisonous plants, the forest was also home to various dangerous animals. The only thing separating us from those predators was a wall covered by centuries of moss. A few of those vicious animals had gotten inside the kingdom before. Their heads were mounted on walls to prove it… to make us remember what dwelled in that forest. A ruby red bird with long, fluttering tail feathers flying above squawked as if to say, “Pay attention!”
“One more chance! Child of Celestia.” A priestess dressed in white robes said loud enough for us all to hear. “The goddess gives you one more chance to return to her. For the sake of your spirit, do what’s right. Name your leader and you shall return to her in death.”
Everyone waited silently, as still as the statue of Celestia erected in our kingdom’s Temple. Even the handmaiden didn’t blink. I thought she was going to speak a name when she finally closed her eyes and said so quiet I barely heard the words, “I don’t know it.”
The short priestess with golden-brown hair pursed her lips. “Then to Vesirus you shall go. May you be redeemed in you next life—if you have another one.”
Vesirus. Our goddess Celestia’s brother and exact opposite. She was light and he was darkness. If one lived a life of darkness, they would be sent to the dark world known as Mnyama to live with him. They’d eventually be reborn and be given one more chance to return to Celestia. If a person missed both their chances to return to the goddess, they’d be forever damned to stay in Mnyama. No one knew if a person was already living their second life or not. Not even the person in question.
I saw the handmaiden’s throat move as she swallowed. She was still wearing the same soiled gown we’d tortured her in.
The priestess began babbling on again about Celestia. This was custom. The words were said at every execution. It was always about doing what’s right in the eyes of the goddess. Other’s eyes glazed over around the tree as she spoke the words we’d all heard thousands of times.
I smelled apple blossoms as a smooth arm brushed up against mine. That scent belonged to Claudia, the flirtatious brown-haired lady with soft curves… then again, most of the females of Terra fit that description just as most of the males were short and stocky. Of course there were a few exceptions, myself being one with my tall height. What made Claudia stand out were her big, hungry grey-green eyes and the way she swayed her hips. She had a confidence others her age lacked, others my own age.
She placed a small, tanned hand on my chest and rolled her eyes as she said lowly, “Executions can be so drab. How about a distraction to pass the time?” I didn’t miss her wink.
I’d coupled with her once before at a party inside the palace. Apparently she found those “drab” too.
I took her hand, pulling her through an archway and behind one of the palace walls surrounding the courtyard.
A deep giggle escaped her throat as I kissed the silky skin on her neck. She let the straps of her pastel purple gown fall even farther down her shoulders.
She didn’t need any wooing. She was looking for a bit of fun.
I hiked up her skirts and took her hard against the wall. Her quick, deep breaths told me she enjoyed it, so did her roaming hands. It wasn’t hard to sate my lust with so many women hungry for attention in Terra. The problem was keeping them from becoming clingy afterward. I didn’t have time for courting. I usually only coupled with a woman once to keep her from getting too attached. I’d slipped up that day though, bored by the execution and still trying to forget my dream.
Claudia kept up with me and slipped her arm around my waist as I strode back to the Tree of Ends, and I realized I was paying for my mistake.
“That was fun,” Claudia chirped, sidling closer as I tried to edge out of her arm.
“You should come to my home sometime. I make the most scrumptious cherry pies.”
That was enough. I twisted out of her grasp and faced her. “Claudia, no. I can’t see you again. This was a mistake.”
Her grey-green eyes filled with tears and her bottom lip quivered, so dramatic. I didn’t give her the chance to argue. I turned and headed straight for the Tree.
The handmaiden was still swinging from the thick branch. The executioner had just pushed her off the step beneath. Her eyes were lifeless and her lips had turned blueish. She hadn’t died mercilessly from a broken neck like some, she’d suffocated.
King Corbin stood with his wife, his face unreadable. Tears streaked Queen Nicolas round, pink cheeks. This was one of her handmaidens, one of her closest friends… or so she’d thought.
I scanned the crowd surrounding the big tree until I spotted my father. He looked pleased. He had done his job well. When he noticed me, his eyes turned hard as stones. He’d noticed my absence.
“People of Terra,” King Corbin began in his authoritative voice. “Have no fear. Those who go against the crown, against our kingdom, shall be punished. You are safe here. This I promise you. If you are true to us, true to Celestia, you are safe. Should you have any information—any suspicion about the traitors, you must bring it to my attention so I may further protect you and this kingdom from danger. These miscreants will get what they deserve!”
The crowd erupted with cheers, approving of their king’s message.
I looked back to the spot where my father
had been standing and found him gone. I couldn’t spot him anywhere. So I went home by myself.
Chapter 3
The walls of my home were bare. My father didn’t care for art or décor. We had only the necessities; a table for dining, chairs on which to sit and beds for slumbering. We had more than enough coin, but my father said we didn’t need trinkets to show off our wealth. We had respect, which was worth more than all the paintings and jewels the kingdom had to offer.
Celestia only knew what my father was up to now. If it was to do with work, he would’ve informed me. He wanted me to be part of it. He wanted me to learn from him.
It felt strange to be out of his ever watchful stare. I could breathe easier, as if his presence was an endless weight bearing down upon my chest and it’d been lifted in his temporary absence. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long. I heard the door open and his heavy footsteps cross the house. The weight fell again, suffocating me. My father was never quiet. He could never creep up on anyone, even if he wanted to. Then again, he never needed to be quiet… never needed to be sneaky. I swear he enjoyed knowing he struck fear in the hearts of others.
Father threw the headless chicken he’d carried inside on the table in front of me. Blood dripped from the hole in its neck and stained its white feathers. “Supper,” he grunted.
It was my job to prepare and cook our meals. We could have afforded a small kitchen staff, but my father didn’t want anyone knowing his business. Why have servants when you have a son?
I made a face at the bird before picking it up, careful not to get blood on my tunic. I carried it to the kitchen and got to work on plucking and gutting it.
We ate our meal of chicken and potatoes in silence. If my father was disappointed by my disappearance at the Tree of Ends, he didn’t mention it.
I didn’t dream of vines that night. My sleep was deep and dreamless, until a pounding on the front door shook me awake.
Groaning, I tossed a cloak over my night garments and answered the door before my father could yell at me to see who was calling on us.
A guard stood waiting with his arms crossed over the crest on his green tunic when I opened the door. “Where’s your father?” he asked bluntly.
“I’m right here.” My father stomped up behind me and pushed me aside.
“A letter was found in Louis Demonte’s home this morning.”
“A letter?” my father repeated, a line forming between his thick brows.
“Yes, an incriminating letter was found in his room by one of his maids. We’ve taken him to the torture chamber.” The guard held a folded piece of paper out for my father.
My father unfolded the letter and read it silently to himself, his lips moving as his eyes scanned the parchment. “Demonte… I cannot believe it.” My father shook his head, stuffing the letter in his pocket. I’d never seen him so shocked. “He’s a noble. If they turn against us, we’re in more shit than a pig in a pen.”
“I believe that’s why the king has given you leave to find your answers by whatever means necessary.” The guard paused before adding, “There’ll be no execution for Demonte.” In case my father hadn’t gotten the hint.
“I understand.”
The guard left us alone. Demonte… the name was familiar.
No execution… whatever means necessary. The words echoed in my mind as I changed out of my night garments. The king wants us to kill him. Sometimes suspects died with us by accident. We pushed them too far, and their heart gave out—or we made them bleed so much they bled to death. We were hardly ever given leave to kill a suspect on purpose though. King Corbin must not want this to get out.
I jogged to catch up to my father, already making his way to the torture chamber.
Demonte awaited us, shackled to one of the blood splattered walls inside. Upon seeing us he began babbling like most suspects do. “Lequerc! It wasn’t me! I’m not a traitor and you know it!”
Father waved his hand, mocking him. “That’s what they all say.” He dug into his pocket and pulled the now crinkled letter out. He held the parchment up to Demonte’s face.
“I don’t know where that came from!” Demonte’s features twisted. He still wore his night garments, his shoulder-length brown hair uncombed.
“Thank you for the information, Demonte,” my father read out loud. “You are invaluable to our cause against the crown—”
“NO! That isn’t for me!”
My father went on, ignoring his denial, “Signed, The Redeemers.”
I almost gasped at the last two words. We knew the traitors called themselves The Redeemers. I supposed they’d named themselves that because they believed they were going to redeem Terra from the royals. We’d never gained anything written in their own words before. They were careful. They lurked in the shadows and rarely gave evidence of their existence unless caught. From what I’d learned in the torture chamber, most who were a part of The Redeemers didn’t even know who the leader was. Those who risked their lives for the cause were at the bottom, the least of importance. They didn’t care who made the decisions. They only wanted to aid in bringing down Terra’s rulers.
King Corbin wasn’t meant to be king. His brother, Lelund, was loved by the people. His spirit dwelled with Celestia now, due to an unfortunate incident. King Corbin was doing his best to run the kingdom. Yes, he’d spent his first couple of springs locked up in his grand palace, afraid to face his subjects. But he’d eventually gained the confidence it took to rule… to stand in front of his kingdom. And yes, he’d risen taxes to help pay for construction of the palace, but he wasn’t the first king to have done so. The poor were upset because they couldn’t see the benefit in having a palace fit to host Noctis de Celestia every four springs when we celebrated our goddess. If they were invited to attend, they’d feel differently. The celebration was a chance to show off a kingdom’s success and fortune. If the palace crumbled, our kingdom would crumble along with it. It’d be a sign of weakness. It wasn’t King Corbin’s fault they were born poor.
Louis Demonte struggled against his shackles when my father stepped closer to him. “I would never betray my kingdom!” It was strange Demonte would betray the king. I didn’t understand his motive, but the letter proved him guilty.
Father picked a rusty dagger up off a table and studied it. “Maybe you believe going against your king is what’s best for your kingdom, hey?” He slid back to Demonte and ripped open the delicate, silk, white night shirt the lord wore and dragged the blade across his hair-speckled chest.
Demonte began blubbering incoherent nonsense.
The door to the chamber flung open and a young lady with golden-brown hair rushed to Demonte’s side. “Don’t hurt him! Please! Whatever you think he did, he’s innocent.”
Claudia… so that was why his name had sounded familiar. Louis Demonte was Claudia’s father.
“Did you know about this letter he received from The Redeemers?” My father held up the piece of parchment for her. If she did, she was just as guilty as her father.
Claudia shrunk back. “What? No. I—that’s impossible! My father is no traitor. Someone has framed him.”
“Why would anyone want to frame your father?”
“I—I—”
“Well?” my father pressed.
“I don’t know!” she cried.
My father smiled and turned back to Demonte. He made another slice in the noble’s sweaty chest.
Claudia turned to me with pleading eyes. I didn’t know what to say. I stared blankly back at her. What did she think I’d do? Come to her father’s rescue? She really didn’t know me at all.
Her eyes flashed with anger. “Stop this! My father is innocent.”
My father watched me from the other side of Demonte, waiting for me to give in to Claudia… waiting for me to show weakness. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
I straightened my back and looked passed the pathetic sight of Claudia Demonte to my father as I said to her, “Louis Demonte is a traitor
. He will suffer.”
Claudia crumpled to the dirt floor as my father went back to work. Both her and her father’s protests rang out each time my father made a cut. I didn’t take my eyes off the scene, not once. I took whatever emotions I may have felt and pushed them somewhere deep inside myself.
When Demonte’s chest and arms were covered in long bleeding cuts, the colour drained from his face. My father made one more cut along his neck, deeper than the rest. Blood fell from the wound like a scarlet waterfall as the noble slumped. Only the chains kept him up right. His eyes turned glassy. I knew that look. I’d seen it many times within the eyes of criminals. Lord Demonte was dead.
We left Claudia alone to mourn over her father’s body. I felt proud of myself for showing my father strength.
“I suppose even those born of high blood can become traitors,” I said to my father on the way to the palace. My father had asked me to come with him to see the king this time, a sure sign he was proud of me as well.
“Perhaps.”
I stopped walking. “What do you mean ‘perhaps’?”
“I mean perhaps he was a traitor, perhaps he wasn’t.” He kept walking as if I hadn’t stopped.
I had to run to catch up to him. “You mean that letter wasn’t for him?”
His silence was my answer.
Hot anger washed over me. “You did this. You framed him! What about ‘for the good of the kingdom’?”
“It was for the good of the kingdom. I needed to see if you’re strong enough to handle the job. You were getting too attached to the daughter.” So he did care I had disappeared with Claudia at the Tree of Ends.
I couldn’t believe him. He’d just tortured and killed an innocent lord. “I told Claudia I was done with her. You didn’t have to do this.”
“Relationships cause problems for people like us. I hope you’ve learned your lesson.”
I thought quickly as we neared one of the palace’s back entrances. He couldn’t get away with this. “I’m telling King Corbin what you did.”
The Elemental Diaries - Complete Series Page 48