by Drew Wagar
Meru nodded. ‘Zoella.’
‘I know the way into the great halls below the city,’ Kiri explained. ‘But there are guards we need to work around. I doubt they would let me in unescorted by someone from Taloon. We must also be finished before the sleeping is over.’
‘Why?’
Kiri looked at him. ‘Because the priestesses are on their way. They will arrive, ready to board the ships, on the next stretch.’
Meru swallowed.
‘Quick now,’ she directed. ‘I brought spare clothes for you, change.’
Meru grabbed the pack and pulled out the clothing. It was a dull and simple smock, but at least it was clean. His original grey travelling tunics were in the hands of the guards somewhere. He’d likely never see them again.
Kiri was still wearing her gown, waiting for him.
‘Don’t be shy,’ she said, with a wink. ‘You have few secrets left from me.’
Meru pulled on the clothes.
‘You still look like a prisoner,’ Kiri said, appraising his appearance with a grin. ‘Suits you.’
‘Thanks,’ Meru answered.
Kiri walked to the door, unlocking it, opening it and peering into the corridor beyond. She beckoned to him.
‘All clear,’ Kiri said, and turned to look at him. ‘If we are stopped, you act submissive. I may have to mistreat you …’
‘I understand,’ Meru said. ‘Let’s do this.’
Kiri led the way downwards through the palace. Most people had retired to bed and the halls and rooms were empty. Guards stood at the entrance, but Kiri was well known now and her presence went unchallenged as they left the palace.
‘Come, Amaran scum,’ Kiri said, pushing Meru before her. ‘I want to show you your doom. The ships in the harbour spell your demise. Move!’
She pushed him hard. Meru staggered and stumbled forward. He heard the guards chuckle.
‘So far so good,’ Kiri whispered.
‘You’re enjoying this,’ Meru whispered back.
Kiri grinned. ‘Yes, I am.’ She raised her voice and pushed him hard again. ‘Faster, prisoner!’
They walked for perhaps half a mark before Kiri gestured for them to come to a stop across from an impressive looking tower in the centre of the city.
‘This is the entrance to the halls below,’ she said. ‘Now we must be cautious. Stay behind me, we will keep to the shadows away from Lacaille.’
Meru could see there was a pair of guards outside the building, standing on either side of the entrance.
‘What about them?’
Kiri already had her hand outstretched towards them. Meru watched as one clutched at his forehead, staggering to one side. The other caught him before he fell and pulled him off to one side Meru could just hear their conversation.
‘My head … pain.’
‘I’ll get you some water, been a hot stretch standing here …’
The second guard moved away, marching to an adjacent building.
‘Now,’ Kiri hissed.
They ran across the courtyard, approaching from the side, and got inside the entrance before the second guard emerged from the other building.
‘What did you do to him?’ Meru asked.
‘Gave him a headache,’ Kiri answered. ‘He’ll be fine in a spell. Follow me.’
She led him down a stone-cut passage way. It was narrow for some time, veering left and right, but always descending. After a hundred paces or so the passage widened into a large vaulted space packed high with vegetables and fruits, boxed and ready to be shipped out.
Kiri moved toward to the centre of the space.
‘Here,’ she said, gesturing to a large circular metal shape on the floor.
‘It goes up and down,’ Meru said. ‘I’ve seen this before.’
Kiri grabbed the lever that was set in the centre.
‘Here we go.’
She pulled it back and was rewarded with the circular platform descending through the rocky walls. She stood back as it lowered itself. After a few moments she and Meru caught sight of the vast open space of the subterranean hall beneath the city. Uncounted rows of plants stretched out before them.
‘The technology of the ancients,’ Meru whispered, in awe once more.
The lift came to a halt. Kiri pushed the lever back and they both jumped off before it rose back up.
Kiri looked around her.
‘So, we’re here,’ she said, looking at Meru. ‘Where is Zoella?’
‘She’ll be hidden somewhere out there,’ Meru said, gesturing to the rows of plants. ‘Not near this entrance anyway. Let’s walk.’
Zoella, we’re in the hall. Can you hear me? We’re in the hall!
In the towers of Airea, watchers were pointing upwards at the golden disk of Lacaille. For the last few stretches they had been watching the ominous dark cankers grow once again on the surface of the great disk. Crackles of fire had been seen on the surface, precursors of the burning rivers of light that had erupted during the flares.
Only now, the blotches were slowing, breaking and receding. Even as they watched they grew less, sinking back into the surface of Lacaille, its face becoming smoother and more placid by the spell.
‘It’s a sign,’ one of the watchers muttered, staring up into the bright sky.
‘Perhaps these priestesses truly are sent by Lacaille,’ another muttered. ‘Lacaille is pleased with what transpires. Our King is wise indeed to ally with them.’
Zoella sat cross-legged in the maintenance room Ira and her companions regarded as their home. She focussed on her breathing, trying to calm her racing heart, but her thoughts were awhirl.
Facing her. Facing Kiri.
She could feel an instinctive urge to strike out at the girl the moment she saw her. The fury within her at the death of Ioric and Raga still burnt hot.
But was she really responsible?
Zoella knew that if they were able to converse mentally she’d be able to judge the truth of Kiri’s words, whatever it was she had to say.
And if Meru is wrong and she attacks me on sight? I’ll be ready for that.
She clenched her fists.
Ira was watching her. Zoella sent an image of Kiri to her. Images of a fight came back to her.
Only if she strikes first. For Meru’s sake I will give her the benefit of the doubt. Stay close, but do not show yourself to her, she’s dangerous …
As she thought of Meru she sensed him, much stronger now, closer.
Meru?
Zoella, we’re in the hall. Can you hear me? We’re in the hall!
Yes, I can hear you. You’re not far. I will find you, keep walking this way.
Zoella got to her feet, took a deep breath and then walked to the ladder that led up out of the maintenance area. Above her was a hatch, she pushed it aside and climbed out underneath one of the plant troughs. Ira came up behind her and together they closed and locked the hatch.
Wait here.
Ira nodded.
Zoella crawled out of the narrow space and then stood up alongside the trough. Ira’s little lair was about halfway down the length of the hall and off to one side. She could see two figures moving up an adjacent row.
Her heart was hammering in her chest.
She stepped into the same walkway, facing them.
‘That’s far enough,’ she said.
It was them. Meru was dressed in a dull smock. Kiri stood beside him, dressed in a cyan gown unlike the tight leather armour Zoella had last seen her in. Her hair looked unkempt, as if she’d just got out of bed. Her blue eyes were as fierce and bright as ever.
‘Zoella!’ Meru said. ‘You’re all right?’
‘I’m fine,’ Zoella replied, keeping her eyes on Kiri. Kiri’s expression was unreadable, but she was staring back at Zoella with narrowed eyes, as if scrutinising every detail of her face. ‘You?’
‘All good,’ Meru said. ‘Zoella …’
‘What have you got to say for yourself?’ Zoella said, her v
oice harsh and directed at Kiri. ‘Say your piece and go.’
I know you …
‘Out loud,’ Zoella snapped, as Kiri’s voice echoed in her head. ‘Meru needs to hear both of us.’
Kiri looked at Meru, who nodded.
‘I know you hate me …’ Kiri began.
‘You have no idea what I feel,’ Zoella returned. ‘I don’t care about your feelings. I know what you are. I’m only here because he wants me to listen. Say what you’re going to say!’
Kiri raised her head, her voice direct. ‘The other priestesses are coming, they will be here on the next stretch. The people of Taloon have readied the fleet. They will set sail for Amar as soon as they can.’
‘We already know that,’ Zoella replied. ‘So?’
Kiri paused, looking at Meru. He nodded.
She’s looking to him for support! Why is she worried?
‘I want to stop them.’
Zoella shook her head. ‘Why? Why would you want to stop them? You’re one of them.’
Kiri dropped her head for a moment
‘I was, I am,’ she replied, looking back up. ‘But I’ve learnt something, something about where I came from, where … we both came from.’
Zoella waited.
‘The man in Drem,’ Kiri said. ‘Guerrun, Guerrun Sandatch.’
‘Who you killed,’ Zoella said.
Kiri shook her head. ‘We both killed him. It was our fight that killed him. We were both in his mind. We broke it.’
Zoella remembered the altercation once again. Kiri’s plaintive cry,
Stop, you’re hurting him!
Followed by Guerren’s last thought,
Do not hate Kiri! Myana, she was Ioric’s sister, she was …
‘You heard his thoughts,’ Zoella whispered. ‘What did he say to you?’
Kiri took a step closer.
‘Myana,’ Kiri said, her voice low. ‘Myana, she was Ioric’s sister, she was …’ Zoella saw her swallow. ‘She was our mother.’
The words didn’t register for a moment. Then the full impact hit her.
Zoella reeled back.
‘No.’
‘You’re my sister.’ Kiri whispered.
‘No, that can’t be!’ Zoella screeched.
‘Zoella, it’s true,’ Meru said. ‘It explains everything, your powers, your strengths …’
Zoella turned and threw her arms forward. She sensed Kiri’s presence before her and sought it out, wrestling it close.
Liar!
To her surprise, Kiri didn’t resist. She opened her mind to Zoella’s aggressive search.
Memories flashed about her, Kiri’s memories of Guerren.
A battered carriage, racing up a pathway, rain cascading down in sheets. Arrows whistling out of the dark. A woman, facing off against a cohort of priestesses … struck down by an arrow. The woman fell.
Myana!
Children. Two baby children. Two girls. One with black hair and bright blue eyes, another with wavy brown hair … an old couple, a farmstead, a friendly old woman and a grumpy looking man.
Then these are the last?
Scallia’s most gifted, so I hope. Myana’s daughters could be little else …
Long ago … it was long ago … to keep you all from the priestesses, they are not what they seem. I hid you in different places deep in Scallia, hoping you’d not be found.
I meant to come back once it was safer, but then the King sanctioned the searches and exiled me …
I tried everything I could to protect you from them. Kiri and Zoella, daughters of princess Myana, daughter of Marek Tiamoi of Scallia …
The link broke. Both Kiri and Zoella lurched backwards in shock.
‘It can’t be,’ Zoella said. ‘That means …’
Her mind flashed forward. Ioric … Ioric had been her uncle! Torin too. Liana … her cousin!
The kinship I felt with Ioric, he was like a father to me … he was family! And this means we’re, both of us, of the royal line of Scallia …
Zoella stared at Kiri.
It can’t be a lie. She tells the truth in this at least. The memory is pure and untainted. And Liana … she’s here somewhere …
‘What did you do with Liana?’ Zoella demanded.
‘Liana?’ Kiri answered. ‘She has been given to the King of Taloon. Her mind … she has no thoughts.’
Zoella remembered. Liana had tried to overpower Kiri, something had gone wrong. Liana had lost her gift, and with Turgan’s death, her mind.
She is our cousin …
‘There’s nothing we can do for her,’ Kiri said. ‘I tried to protect her, but …’
Zoella looked at her anew. Kiri the indefatigable warrior of Drayden; the vicious killer who had struck down those in her way, who had chased her through the frozen wastes of Drem, who had tortured Meru for the location of his home, Kiri who had … let them go when she could have handed them over to the priestesses.
Is that why? We must have been together as babes … what happened?
‘What do you know of our mother?’ Zoella demanded.
‘I don’t remember much about being a child at all,’ Kiri said, her voice soft as she answered Zoella’s thoughts. ‘And nothing of her. Just vague dreams. Shapes, a plague. I grew up in the forests around the city of Daine, an urchin. I was nearly killed when I … these powers we have … I killed this boy, the priestesses found me, they trained me … I didn’t know anything else. They taught me everything. But I’m from Scallia, same as you.’
‘Zoella,’ Meru said. ‘It’s true, what she’s saying …’
‘You’ve known this …’ Zoella began. ‘Since Nireus?’
Kiri nodded.
‘And still you’ve sought to kill us,’ Zoella said. ‘Seeking out Amar and making plans to vanquish us?’
‘I believed,’ Kiri said, her voice low. ‘I believed in the will of Lacaille, the religion of the priestesses. The books and traditions tell us that Amar must be destroyed for the good of all. It’s all I’ve ever known. But … it’s not true, Meru showed me it wasn’t true.’
Zoella was shaking her head, she pointed at Kiri.
‘No. This is all a ruse to gain my trust. I don’t believe you. I won’t believe you!’
‘I am a priestess of the goddess Lacaille,’ Kiri shouted. ‘But there is no goddess! It was all false, all lies! These gifts we share …’
‘It’s our ancestors again,’ Meru said. ‘Zoella don’t you see? Caesar called you an administrator, something about nano … something! These powers were created by our ancestors. They’re being used by the priestesses for the wrong purposes …’
Zoella swallowed. A memory from Viresia surged through her mind; when she had been down within the dark catacombs beneath the city. An ancient book, the tome of the Voren Empire long ago.
This power, the nexion and hereafter known as ‘the gift’, is essential to the running of the Voren Empire … the gift will then be put to its proper use, the ordering of the affairs of the empire in times of peace and the co-ordination of response in the times that Lacaille darkens. Administrators …
‘The priestesses can be stopped before they set out,’ Kiri said. ‘They are led by the high priestess, a woman called Nerina. She is powerful in the gift, more powerful than either of us, but together, we could stop her. I have other allies within the priestesshood. I can call upon them. We can stop this war before it even starts.’
‘No,’ Zoella countered. ‘We should flee before they get here. Amar needs us. If you’re speaking the truth, then join us. Leave them here and come with us.’
‘You can’t fight the military might of Taloon and Drayden,’ Kiri said. ‘You know how the battle will go, you’ve seen it, you were there … both of you. Do you want to see that happen to Amar? We must stop it here, before it starts.’
‘Amar has other ways of defending itself,’ Zoella countered. ‘You want me to stand with you to face down this high priestess of yours? How do I know this isn’t
a trap? You’ll turn on me …’
‘I know you don’t trust me …’
‘You’re right, I don’t.’ Zoella replied.
‘You can trust her,’ Meru said. ‘She’s changed.’
‘You’ve seen my thoughts,’ Kiri said. ‘What else can I do?’
‘Come with us to Amar,’ Zoella said. ‘Fight for us, work with us in the defence of our home. Earn that trust.’
‘It won’t work!’ Kiri answered. ‘There’s no time. Nerina must be stopped here. If the priestesses and the army of Taloon reach Amar in force then it will all be over. Come with me. Stop her here.’
Zoella turned away,
‘I will not come with you,’ Zoella returned, shaking her head.
‘Zoella …’ Meru pleaded.
You must be lying! I will find out what you really intend!
Zoella snapped her hand outwards, pushing at Kiri’s mind.
Kiri was taken unawares, she screeched as Zoella tore into her memories.
Zoella saw the images of Nireus and Kiri’s memories of childhood. She pushed past them, searching for more recent memories. Images of Taloon, the hall, the King, the armada in the harbour, priestesses astride dachs high in the sky …
More images. Kiri standing in front of a mirror, admiring her reflection, thoughts awhirl. Zoella could hear what she had thought.
And I’m truly as much a Queen as Karquesh is a King. It’s my birthright! Elena strove to be high priestess. Nerina likewise with Drayden. But me … I could take it all. Drayden, Scallia, Taloon, Amar too! I could reunite the lands. Not just Queen … I could be the most powerful ruler these lands have ever seen. Empress of Voren … Empress Kiri!
Zoella felt Kiri struggle against her and the thoughts were shut down.
Both women flinched back as the mental link between them cracked and failed.
‘She’s lying!’ Zoella yelled. ‘She sees herself as Empress! Empress of everything! She wants to conquer all. She has no intention of helping us …’
‘No,’ Meru said. ‘That’s not true, she’s …’ He turned to look at Kiri. Her expression was impossible to read. ‘Kiri?’
Kiri didn’t answer. Zoella saw Meru’s face crumple in dismay.
‘You see?’ Zoella crowed. ‘She won’t deny it … she can’t deny it! She’s lied to you, Meru. Lying like she always does! You don’t want to help us, this is just about you …. What were you planning, Kiri?’ Zoella spat out her name. ‘Use me to weaken the high priestess so you can attack her and take her place?’