by Drew Wagar
Kiri didn’t answer. She looked at Meru, but no words came.
‘Answer her,’ Meru whispered. ‘Kiri, please …’
Kiri straightened.
‘You leave me no choice,’ she said. ‘It must be done. I will do this with you or without you!’
‘Kiri, no!’ Meru cried.
Kiri’s face was set, she struck out at Zoella. Zoella felt the grip of Kiri’s attack tighten around her mind, a sense of grasping and clawing.
She’s trying to take my gift!
Zoella fought back, but Kiri’s ferocious assault was fearsome, strong, pummelling at her with a fury borne of determination and ruthless expertise.
She’s done this before!
Zoella felt her defences weaken. She screamed out in fear and frustration, sensing Kiri’s gleeful exhilaration as her grasp closed in on the burning warmth within her.
We could have worked together, sister! Daughters of Scallia united once again. We are royalty … but you are weak and cowardly! The priestesses will fall, you’ll see! But it will be by my hand alone!
Zoella screamed as Kiri’s mind pressed on through her defences, she could almost feel herself being ripped away …
There was another presence.
Anger, determination, flaring rage!
The link broke. Zoella reeled backwards, struggling to see through a whirling dizzying swirl of pain and confusion. She blinked, trying to see what was happening.
It was Ira. She stood between them, her hands outstretched toward Kiri. Kiri had likewise been thrown back, her face set in pure astonishment.
‘Who?’
Ira struck out with her hand. Kiri screamed, rolling back end over end, yelling in pain and clutching at her head. Ira’s assault continued, her fingers twisted and curling as she directed her powers.
Kiri was trying to crawl away, trying to shield herself from the attack. Meru ran to her, jumping between them.
‘Stop it, you’re hurting her!’
Ira relented. Kiri collapsed, rolling on to her back, gasping and wheezing in pain.
Zoella stepped forward, her fists clenched, pushing her foot down on Kiri’s throat. Meru tried to stop her but she glared at him to stay away. Kiri struggled.
‘I should kill you now,’ Zoella said, her lips curled in distaste. She raised her fists to strike.
Meru pushed her back. Kiri gasped for breath as the weight was lifted from her throat.
‘I won’t let you kill her,’ Meru said. ‘She’s hurt, leave her alone!’
Ira was at Zoella’s side now, hands poised as Kiri got to her knees, cradled by Meru. Kiri was panting hard. She staggered, leaning heavily on Meru. It seemed she couldn’t get to her feet.
Zoella’s eyes narrowed as she directed her words at Meru. ‘Then it’s a choice you have to make. Stay with her or come with us. We’re leaving, we’re going home. And she’s not coming with us.’
Zoella watched as Meru’s expression fell. He turned to look at Kiri. She was looking up at him, her eyes pleading.
‘Please …’ Kiri moaned.
She has her claws so deep in him …
‘She lied, Meru,’ Zoella whispered. ‘Lied to you, lied to all of us … she doesn’t care about anyone other than herself.’
‘No …’ Kiri’s voice was a croak. ‘Remember what we shared, I didn’t lie. I do care … Meru you know this … don’t … please! I need you …’
Zoella saw Meru swallow, saw him gasp as he looked from her to Kiri and back again. He clenched his eyes tight shut for a moment …
And then stood up and stepped away. Kiri collapsed back to her knees, looking up in despair.
‘Let’s go,’ he gasped. Zoella breathed a sigh of relief.
‘Meru,’ Kiri screamed, her voice shrill. ‘Meru! Don’t leave me, please.’
Meru turned and started back towards her. Zoella grabbed him and wrestled him to a stop.
‘We need you to get us out of here!’ she yelled. ‘You need to fly the machine. Home, your friends, Amar! Remember?’
‘But …’
‘Leave her,’ Zoella said, grabbing his shirt in her fists and pulling him to her. ‘She lied to you. We need you, not her. Make your choice Meru, save your friends and your people, or betray us and go with her!’
Meru looked at Zoella and then over at Kiri. Kiri was crawling towards them.
He shook his head, tears dripping down his cheeks.
‘Kiri …’
Kiri screeched, reaching a trembling arm out to him. ‘No, please … Meru!’
‘You lied,’ he whispered. ‘After everything we shared … you lied … why?’
Kiri turned her gaze on Zoella, rage suffusing her features. ‘He’s mine, not yours! You’ve turned him against me!’
‘You did that yourself,’ Zoella returned.
Meru staggered away, Zoella pulling him after her.
‘Run!’ Zoella yelled. Ira whistled and ran with her.
Kiri’s howl of woe echoed around them. It was feral, a cry of pure animal rage. It resonated in the vast hall over and over again. Zoella could hear her thumping her fists into the dirt in her temper.
‘I will find you, sister, I will come for you.’ Kiri’s voice was a shrieking rasp, twisted by fury and wrath. ‘Amar will still fall. There will be no mercy. I will take everything!’
Zoella heard her scream again and again, but she ran on, Meru sobbing and stumbling beside her. More than once he fell, but she hauled him up and forced him onwards. Ira’s companions appeared beside them, also running.
Kiri’s screams continued to ring out, before fading into a keening wail then falling into silence behind them.
‘What happened?’ Nerina demanded, glaring at King Karquesh.
‘That’s how she was found,’ Karquesh replied. ‘Unconscious, in the lower levels. She shouldn’t have been down there at all. She did not have permission.’
‘Priestesses will go where there is need to,’ Nerina said. ‘Kiri doubtless had some task.’
‘She was with the prisoner from Amar,’ Karquesh added. ‘We had no use for him, so we’d released him into her care. There’s no sign of him.’
Rihanna was standing nearby.
‘Perhaps he overpowered her?’ she asked.
‘Kiri?’ Nerina scoffed. ‘Impossible.’
Kiri was lying in a bed within the palace of Airea. She’d been noted as absent when she did not appear for the meal at the evening chime. A search of the palace had revealed she was nowhere to be found. Palace guards noted she had been seen earlier, taking the prisoner out into the city. A search was conducted, but she wasn’t found until the first chimes of the following stretch, deep in the hall beneath the city. By that time, the priestesses had arrived, their dachs swooping into the city courtyards.
Kiri had been found unconscious, lying in the dirt. Around her were footsteps, the marks of a scuffle. There was no obvious sign of injury, but Kiri had not regained consciousness.
‘We have tended her as well we can,’ Karquesh said. ‘If there is anything else we can do …’
‘I thank you, King Karquesh,’ Nerina said, with a short bow. ‘My apologies for my short words. Kiri is most precious to us, to see her like this …’
‘Distressing,’ Karquesh said, with a nod. ‘What could have rendered her thus? She is a formidable warrior. I have seen that much myself.’
‘We will endeavour to find out,’ Nerina said. ‘How go the preparations?’
‘Everything is ready for your inspection, high priestess.’
‘Excellent,’ Nerina replied. ‘Lacaille blesses us too, the darkness upon its face has receded. This is a sign of her favour. We will depart as soon as we are able.’
‘We will ensure it is so.’
‘Might we be left alone with our injured sister?’
Karquesh nodded. ‘If you require anything, please do not hesitate to ask.’
Nerina smiled as Karquesh left. The guards followed him out and the door clicked
closed. Nerina’s smiled vanished.
‘Prisoner from Amar?’ she asked, looking at Rihanna. ‘Kiri omitted that detail when I spoke to her.’
Rihanna shrugged. ‘It must be the boy she talked of.’
‘It seems likely,’ Nerina said, looking at Kiri. ‘She has the answers. We will wake her, but be cautious of what you say before her. Remember what we discussed.’
Rihanna nodded.
Nerina stretched out her hand and placed her palm on Kiri’s forehead. The girl shuddered at her touch, moaning.
Nerina pushed further, extending her thoughts into Kiri’s mind.
Kiri? Kiri! Come to us, what happened to you?
Kiri stirred under her touch. Images, disjointed and confusing flashed through Nerina’s mind.
Dachs in the air, ships in the harbour. A bloody blade stabbing the prince through the heart … King Karquesh and the Scallian Queen Liana … The boy … Kiri standing close by, her foot on his chest … A woman, with long wavy brown hair, arms outstretched … and then nothing.
‘No, no, no!’ Kiri sat bolt upright. Nerina backed away in surprise.
‘Kiri?’ she asked.
Kiri looked at her with wide shocked eyes, her stare penetrating. She looked around her, breathing heavily, taking in her surroundings for long seconds before she looked back.
‘Nerina! Rihanna!’
‘What happened to you?’ Nerina demanded. ‘You were found …’
‘Beneath the city …’ Kiri whispered, her gaze darting around. ‘Yes … He … the boy, he tricked me …’
‘The prisoner? The boy you formed a link with?’
Kiri nodded.
‘Slow down, tell us what happened.’
‘He was spying on us,’ Kiri said. ‘Karquesh caught him, I interrogated him. He had come from Amar in a flying machine to find out about the fleet. I thought it would be good to understand these machines better, so I forced him to take me to it. But, there were others with him, waiting for me. Women from Scallia who had not been found by our searches …’
‘With the gift?’ Nerina demanded, staring hard at her.
Kiri nodded.
‘I was caught unawares,’ Kiri answered. ‘They overpowered me. But they didn’t know how to tear me.’
‘Then you were lucky, ‘Nerina said. ‘And foolish. You might have been killed, or worse …’
Nerina stepped back, pondering what Kiri had said.
‘So,’ she said, ‘Amar has allies. We must alter our approach. Time is now of the essence. Word of our preparations will reach them if they have these flying machines. We must press our attack. Rihanna, assemble the flight and have them ready to board the ships this stretch, we will sail as soon as the sailors deemed we can.’
‘Rihanna?’ Kiri echoed.
‘Yes Kiri,’ Nerina said. ‘Rihanna. Your judgement has been poor in this …’
‘I secured the alliance here,’ Kiri snapped. ‘I found the location of Amar!’
‘Indeed you did,’ Nerina replied, her tone hard. ‘But then you may have given away our plans. They know we are coming and roughly what strength we have because you have an infatuation with this boy. You told me you hated men, and now look at you. Rihanna commands the flight, you will aide her. Is that understood?’
Nerina watched as a variety of expressions crossed Kiri’s face. Defiance, anger, guilt … and then acceptance.
‘I will do as you say,’ Kiri said. ‘High priestess.’
‘Regain your strength,’ Nerina said. ‘I will see to Karquesh. I expect to see you ready at the beginning of the next stretch. Time is of the essence.’
Nerina walked to the doorway before turning.
‘Do not let me down again, Kiri.’
Then she was gone.
Rihanna walked around Kiri’s bed.
‘You’re playing a dangerous game,’ she said.
Kiri narrowed her eyes. ‘It’s my game to play,’ she answered.
Rihanna chuckled.
‘Was any of what you said true?’
‘Truth is what it needs to be,’ Kiri answered, her gaze going distant again. Rihanna watched her for a moment. Now that Nerina was gone, there was a strange sense of angst and sadness about Kiri.
‘Did you find him?’ Rihanna said, lowering her voice.
Kiri nodded.
‘And?’ Rihanna prompted, with a wry smile. ‘Did you …?’
Kiri looked across at Rihanna. A faint smile touched her lips, before she looked away.
‘Kiri, coy?’ Rihanna said. ‘Such a thing has never been seen before. This boy has truly wormed his way into your affections then.’
‘He is mine,’ Kiri said and then her expression changed to one of sadness. ‘He was mine …’
‘He escaped?’
Kiri nodded, her gaze going distant.
‘I let him …’
‘Careless of you,’ Rihanna said, with a laugh. ‘I would have kept him under lock, key and perhaps a rope too had he given me a smile such as I saw on you.’
Kiri snorted. ‘You never change.’
‘Men are much like garments,’ Rihanna said. ‘They are to be used and then discarded once a change is desired.’
Kiri changed the subject.
‘Did you …?’ she began. ‘Your mother, Merrin?’
Rihanna sat down on the end of Kiri’s bed.
‘My mother is as she ever was,’ Rihanna replied. ‘She does Nerina’s bidding. I found little amiss, but I listened closely. Certainly there was no love lost between your old mentor, Charis, and her, yet …’
‘Yes?’ Kiri asked, her eyes narrowing.
Rihanna looked down. ‘My mother did tell me one thing.’
‘Which was?’
‘You must not repeat this, Kiri. Both our lives …’
‘Tell me!’
Rihanna took a deep breath. ‘She said something in passing.’
Kiri was sitting bolt upright now.
Rihanna swallowed. ‘She said Nerina wanted a war with the Scallians, to train the priestesses for future conquests. She sent Charis to Varda knowing …’
Kiri gasped. ‘Knowing they had already taken up arms against us, that they would burn the treaty,’ she said. ‘There was no peace to be had, Charis and I walked into a trap!’
‘Somehow she had already incensed the Scallians,’ Rihanna whispered.
Kiri’s eyes were cold now. ‘I know how. It was Nerina that received the Scallian tithe that time. She insulted Prince Torin, she would not negotiate with Ioric. She wanted a war. And those who counselled peace … she had them killed, just not by her own hand. Charis … she had Charis killed.’
There was a long moment of silence between the pair.
‘What are you going to do?’ Rihanna asked.
‘Other than avenge Charis?’ Kiri said, her voice cold.
‘Kiri, you can’t fight Nerina. None of us can.’
‘And what if many of us do?’ Kiri said, looking at her hard. ‘You and I?’
‘Kiri … it’s high treason!’
‘She’s been tearing women and girls from all the lands in secret,’ Kiri said. ‘She showed me how to do it. It’s all in the sixth element. Rihanna … if she takes Amar she’ll be even more powerful … she’ll be able to …’
Kiri gasped, a sudden realisation coming to her.
‘That’s why …’ she said.
‘What?’
‘That’s why she hasn’t torn us yet,’ Kiri said. ‘She’s fattening us up, making our gifts stronger, but not so strong she can’t overwhelm us. Rihanna, she’s going to tear us the moment she’s taken the women of Amar. We’ve got to stop her!’
‘We cannot talk like this …’
‘You’ll see,’ Kiri said. ‘All this angst that they have tried to push between us, make us fight each other. It’s a threat to her, don’t you see? Together we are too strong; apart she can take us one by one. With our gifts Nerina would be unstoppable. She would take everything; Amar, Scallia, Dr
ayden … all Esurio!’
‘And you would stop her, would you?’ Rihanna asked. ‘Be high priestess yourself? So is it a choice between you and Nerina?’
Kiri stopped.
‘Someone has to be,’ she whispered.
Rihanna smiled. ‘I know you want it. Maybe it’s what you were born for, coming up from the slums like you did … rising from the bottom, who’s to say you can’t go all the way?’
‘Would you?’
‘My mother wanted me to be high priestess,’ Rihanna said. ‘And I was Nerina’s favourite until you came along. Truth be told, I care little for the idea. But I prefer to be mistress of my own destiny whatever happens.’
‘Then …’
‘I do not want to be torn to favour someone else’s rise,’ Rihanna said. ‘I don’t doubt what you say. I’ll support you when you make your move.’
Kiri leant forward and grabbed her hand. She felt a bright sense of admiration and excitement from Rihanna.
‘But you must choose your moment with care,’ Rihanna said. ‘Nerina is no fool. She suspects you of much already, she watches you like a dach.’
‘Loyal we shall appear,’ Kiri said. ‘We will follow our orders, attack Amar, be dutiful.’
‘Until the time comes.
Kiri nodded. ‘Until then.’
It took them a couple of spells to reach the far end of the assembly hall. Zoella had looked, but there was no sign of the wheeled vehicle or any of the panels with which to summon it in this area. They had been forced to walk all the way.
Ira had summoned her children to her. Including her there were fourteen of them.
‘Can we get them all aboard the flying machine?’ Zoella asked.
Meru was staring away into the distance, he’d not said a word since leaving Kiri behind.
‘Meru!’
He jolted and looked around at her. ‘What?’
‘Can we get them all aboard the flying machine? There’s sixteen of us.’
Meru looked around. ‘I don’t know.’
Zoella rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand, pulling him around.