Secrets of the Tally

by Halie Fewkes

  “We are here to escort you to Prince Avalask,” he said, wiping the smile from my face. “If you’ll follow me.” He opened the door, then stepped aside and motioned for me to follow. I absolutely did not want to, but it was inevitable with the three of them there, so I might as well face the prince with a little bit of dignity. I stood up and walked out of the cell behind the Escali as the other two walked silently behind me.

  The Escali in front spoke, but I was too busy contemplating my fate to listen.

  Prince Avalask could probably violate my mind in a heartbeat, know everything I knew, and see anything I had ever seen… He would know the location and layout of the Dragona, everything I had ever heard from my friends, the best ways to infiltrate — Wait… wouldn’t he already know everything from Archie? Yes, so I was back to the original question. What did they need me for?

  If I used to know something of importance, I should probably be glad I couldn’t remember it anymore. Whatever my old secrets were, at least I couldn’t be tempted to tell them to the Escalis now.

  The cave grew larger, and our walk came to an end outside a pair of spectacularly carved obsidian doors running twenty cubits up to the top of the tunnel. The engravings in the black glass depicted great battles, gleaming heroes, and Escali kings through their bloody triumphs, all highlighted by the small amount of light filtering through from the other side of the door. I wished I could have stayed and looked at it longer to put off the coming encounter, but one of the Escalis pushed the thick glass open and the four of us entered.

  While terrifying, it was simply amazing. Lining the enormous hall were pillars of black obsidian, all of them reflecting light as though the sun shone from the middle of the room. It housed a throne at one end, sitting on which was Prince Avalask with all his might and power. The hall must have been designed so large for a reason, because walking down its length with an Escali on each side and one behind me was a blow to my morale. Such a doom walk would be a blow to anybody.

  The Prince wore a dark fur robe that swept to the floor, had icy green eyes set into his battle-ready face, and long flowing hair, so dark that simply calling it black wouldn’t do it justice. It was an unnatural shade of midnight, as I had once been warned.

  No fangs though.

  We approached the base of the throne and the three Escalis around me kneeled. When I didn’t, I got a hand in the back of each knee that made me.

  “You may leave now.” The Epic’s voice rang through the hall, and the Escalis stood, bowed, and then started their return walk. I was on my knees and defenseless, and I set my shaking hands on the stone floor as panicked discomfort flooded me. As soon as the door shut, I was back on my feet and sorting through my options. If Prince Avalask was anything close to Sir Avery, I knew options were impossible to come by.

  “Come here,” he said, standing up.

  “Actually, I’d rather not,” I replied, backing away. I didn’t make it far before my feet stopped working and I couldn’t make them move despite all effort.

  “Allie, my goal isn’t to force this on you,” he said, releasing his hold. I darted to the side and jumped behind one of the massive pillars, promising myself I wouldn’t plead with him. With my back pressed to it, I could hear him laughing to himself from the other side. Then the laughing suddenly stopped.

  I chanced a glimpse around the corner but jumped when he appeared right in front of me.

  “Just tell me what you want,” I demanded, wishing my voice sounded like I had control.

  “I only want to talk,” he said, raising a hand to my face.

  “No, you shanking don’t!” I felt my magic from before flood back into my body, readying to save me. The instant I shot a stream of raw power at him, he had a shield like Archie’s up to protect him, but his seemed to cost him no effort.

  “As I said before, very impressive,” he commented, “but I don’t have the time to deal with your games right now.” My hands went suddenly numb, and although they still glowed white, I couldn’t move my fingers or use them at all. Prince Avalask put a hand on my face and I felt the same serenity as I had with Sir Avery. Warmth tried to seep into the crevices of my mind, but I retaliated with mental stabs of power, keeping it away from all that was vital.

  Feeling returned to my fingers as I distracted him on the mental playing field, and I shot at him from the palm of my hand as soon as I could. He withdrew from my mind to shield himself before my magic hit, and I saw a flash of irritation cross his face. Pain shot into my hands to immobilize them this time.

  “You need to stop being foolish and listen,” Prince Avalask growled, his words drenched in more magic than sound. They compelled me to stop fighting, even though my life depended on staying strong.

  “Let me go, and I might listen to you!” I said, not sure if I could resist a second command from him.

  “Fair deal. Let me into your mind, and I’ll let you go.”

  I shook my head and growled, “Likely.”

  “I’m not trying to attack you. Just to communicate. Why can’t you ever make things easy?”

  I glared back and said, “You make it sound like we’ve met before.”

  “Once or twice,” Prince Avalask said with a frightening chuckle to himself. “Tell you what. How about I let you go, on the condition you come back?”

  “I…” I paused… “don’t understand.”

  “I let you go now, you find your answers, and then you come back and we’ll pick up where we left off.” I knew he wouldn’t just let me go. What was the catch?

  “And it’s that simple? I get to walk out those doors right now?”

  “Yes, because I have places I need to be, and not much time to waste. But if you do leave, you have to return, and you can’t contact any Humans while you’re gone. Don’t even try to get close, or leave messages, nothing. I hope I’ve made it apparent that there is no place you could go that would be safe from me if you broke our deal.”

  “What answers am I supposed to be looking for? And what am I supposed to find when I can’t talk to anybody?” I felt like I was suddenly contaminated. If I did talk to anybody, it would be the end of both me and them.

  “You can talk to Archie. He has your answers.”

  “I don’t want to talk to Archie.”

  “Then you’ll have to stay here, and we can continue—”

  “Ok, fine!” I leaned away from his magic filled hands. “How am I supposed to find him?”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll find him.” He made another wave of his hand and everything around me disappeared, replaced by trees, earth, and sunshine.

  I instantly knew where I was. Behind me was the trail from Mizelga’s cabin to the Dragona. I could even see where Archie had run off and killed the tama cat. My mind reminded me of the inhuman concentration on his face when he had smelled it, like he was driven by a predator’s instincts. How had I not noticed?

  A tiny snap sounded next to me, and both my short swords fell into the underbrush. I could barely believe it, but I dug them out of the bushes, put them on, and walked to the path. The entire emotional spectrum raged in my mind, but above the rest was a strong sense of confusion. How was any of this happening?

  The way home was apparent, so I started down the trail at a running pace I could maintain until I got there. I had time to think about what I would do when I found Archie. I had the time, and I probably could have thought about it, but I didn’t really want to.

  I came out to the field where I had been walking with him earlier in the day, but remembering that I couldn’t be seen by anyone, I retreated into the trees and continued toward the Dragona under their cover. I wasn’t sure if I would try to defy Prince Avalask or not. I didn’t fancy the thought of him hunting me down, and I believed he would do it. Was there a chance Sir Avery would protect me from him?

  Distant movement caught my attention, and I looked back up the mountainside to see Archie running down.

  He was completely unaware of me, and I wanted t
o keep it that way. I grabbed the closest tree, pulled myself onto the lowest limb, then climbed to the next. As long as he stayed on the trail, he would come close enough to be ambushed. I could see him muttering to himself as he kept up the pace, and I edged out of sight behind the trunk to wait for him.

  He finally passed right underneath me, and I jumped down with both my swords drawn. As soon as my feet hit the ground, Archie drew his own and whipped around to meet me.

  Chapter Eighteen

  I swung with more strength than ever before, and though he parried me, both swords crashed into the rocky hillside, releasing a shower of sparks in every direction. Archie’s blade broke on impact, leaving him with only a handle and a jagged scrap of metal. He held up the stub of his sword and gave me his expression that said really?

  “Now I’m going to need a new one—”

  I took the opportunity to shove him backwards into a tree and hold my sword to his throat. “I want to know what is happening and why!” I demanded.

  “I thought Prince Avalask was telling you!”

  “Prince Avalask? He told me to hunt you down and ask you! What is going on? No, just answer this. Is he your father?”

  “What?”

  “Prince Avalask!” I shouted, making Archie hold his hands up with a grimace to brace himself. “Is. He. Your father?”

  “No! Holy life, no.” He met my eyes and began to understand, “Is that what you’ve suspected this whole time? You thought I was the new Epic?”

  “I thought I could trust you! What is going on? Mages can’t have more than one power! Escalis don’t have any unless they’re Epics, and I’ve seen you using more than one. Who are you? Are you one of them?”

  “In case you haven’t noticed, Allie, I don’t have any arm spikes. And I only have one power. Just the shield. Plus, I’m pretty sure I’m bleeding all over your shiny little knife there, which an Escali wouldn’t do.” I flicked my eyes to the sword at his throat and saw red, Human blood flowing onto the blade.

  “If you’re not one of them, then how could you betray us?” I asked. I lowered the sword, but grabbed his shoulders and rammed him against the tree one last time.

  “I haven’t betrayed you.” He took a step away from the tree, but kept his hands apart in a gesture of peace. “I’m trying to help.”

  “Help? I thought you were sane! I can’t believe this is happening.”

  “I know this isn’t making a whole lot of sense, but I’m really not the bad guy here.”

  “I can’t believe this is happening,” I repeated, keeping a tight hold on my swords.

  “Allie—”

  “So you’ve been spying for the Escalis?” I brandished one of the blades as I spoke. “That’s been the answer this whole time?”

  “Not… Not really. I’ve been going back and forth, but I’m not doing anything wrong—”

  I stuttered, “Nothing, what? Nothing— nothing wrong? What are you— Escalis are violent, aggressive, unreasonable, and they’ll use whatever you tell them to kill us all! People are murdered on a daily basis, and you’re helping to do it. They want us dead just because we’re here, and I don’t even want to start on that rogue king they’ve got. Izfazara has got it in for all of us. I just can’t believe… I can’t believe you don’t get that.”

  “None of that is true,” Archie said calmly, taking very slow steps around me. “The Escalis aren’t even the ones who started the war. We’re in their territory. If they had come into ours, if they tried to take over Tekada, you can’t say Humans wouldn’t—”

  “We wouldn’t have killed them in cold blood!”

  “The Escalis aren’t killing in cold blood—”

  “So what about the Escalis who chased us out of Treldinsae? Are you going to tell me they didn’t want to kill us?”

  Archie stopped when he got to a rotted stump and sat back against it to explain, “No, ok they wanted to, but they were a special circumstance.”

  “Special circumstance? They were both—”

  “That’s completely different. The two of them are particularly evil. You can’t judge the whole race based on them. They happen to dislike us more than the rest of the world,” he said in agitation.

  “Us? Who’s us?”

  “You and me, but mostly me... It’s a long story.”

  I simply gaped. He was causing more questions than answers! Where did I start? I could barely think past what I knew to be true. Escalis were evil. I could at least get that straight with him.

  “Then what about the ones in my room, I misheard them saying they wanted to kill me? They really just wanted to talk?” Answer that Archie.

  “Those were the same Escalis from the bridge, Allie, and I’ll tell you again that they’re wicked. They took you from the Dragona, and I don’t know why. They weren’t supposed to.”

  “You don’t know why? Well how fortunate I escaped—”

  “Allie! I’m the one who helped you escape!”

  “And how did you do that, Archie? How did you know they were coming for me?”

  Archie exhaled exasperation and replied, “They were clearly going to hunt us down after they chased us from Treldinsae. Escalis don’t let prey escape. Ever. So I grabbed some friends to help defend both of us.”

  At least he hadn’t used another power to sense the Escalis in my room. Maybe he wasn’t an Epic after all.

  “Well it’s your fault they knew where to find me. You gave them the Dragona’s location.”

  Archie scoffed at that accusation and said, “Quit acting blind. The Escalis know exactly where the Dragona is. That wasn’t my doing.”

  “And throwing me in the lake wasn’t your doing either?”

  “No… that was me… I didn’t want to, but I didn’t have any other choice. I can explain why, but you won’t like it.” Archie sighed, “Are you ready for the hardest part of this?”

  “Hmmmm, something harder than finding out your best friend is in league with your greatest enemy? Sure, how much worse can it get?”

  “You’ll be surprised.” He looked around at everything but me. “I’m not really sure how I’m going to say this…” I could see on his face that he knew I would never believe him. “Ok, you know how you lost your memory and had to start all over?”

  “Yes. I’m aware.”

  “Well before that, you used to do what I do. You used to bring information back to the Escalis, but still lived at the Dragona with all your friends. You led a secret life just like I do now. We’ve just been trying to get you back, Allie. Remember the first time the Escalis tried to contact you in the woods? That was right after we first realized something was wrong with you—”

  “And then you showed up right after,” I finished his thought in disbelief. I wouldn’t have considered my first encounter with the Escalis as them trying to contact me, but that was beside the point.

  “Those first two who jumped me said I had something to atone for,” I said.

  Archie smiled slightly as he replied, “You and I always have something to atone for. It comes with the job. We’re in trouble all the time for breaking Escali rules while we’re keeping cover.”

  It couldn’t be. Had I really led a double life? Was I such a scoundrel that I actually went behind my friends’ backs and—

  “Escalis really aren’t evil,” Archie stated again. “Aggressive, yes, but not unreasonable. This whole war is ridiculous. If we didn’t have a stupid king and such a desire on both sides to get revenge, none of this would be happening.”

  “What, this war is our fault now? They’re raiding our cities and killing anyone they come across—”

  “And Humans are doing any different? Neither side is taking any initiative to end it.”

  “You can’t end something with an enemy you can’t talk to!”

  “Can’t, or won’t?” Archie pressed.

  “Neither! You expect us to get within shouting distance of those murderers?”

  “Exactly! If you came across an Esca
li who wanted to talk—”

  “I wouldn’t be able to. We don’t speak the same language.”

  “Don’t give me that, Allie. You know Escalira.”

  “No, I don’t. I just found my power, and that’s not it.”

  “I’m not saying it’s a power. Escalira is a language you remember from your past, the same way you knew how to speak the Human language when you woke up. You understood the first two Escalis who tried to contact you, remember that?”

  “They were speaking Human—”

  “I guarantee they weren’t. The ones in the woods just now weren’t speaking Human either. And look at this,” he pulled out a scrap of paper and unfolded it. It was my name, the one I had written on the chore chart before Archie ripped it out and rewrote it. “Look at it Allie. You wrote it in Escalira.” I briefly glanced at the paper, and sure enough, the symbols didn’t look like Human writing even though I could read them easily. “You were writing everything in Escalira,” Archie said with a hint of exasperation. “If only you knew how many times I had to come behind you and redo your messages.”

  “Ok,” I threw up my hands, unsure of how to dispute such evidence, “so what if that is what I used to be? I’m a different person now. Maybe losing my memory and starting over was a good thing. Maybe I’ll actually have some loyalty in this life!”

  “Loyalty to what?”

  “My people!”

  “And what if your people aren’t always right?

  “You’re saying yours are?”

  “Not always, and I don’t always side with them either. I take the side of whoever is making more sense at the time.”

  Even if he wasn’t an Escali, he referred to them as his people. “Some loyalty you have!”

  “I help them both, Allie—”

  “You can’t have loyalty to both! You have to pick one, and you have to pick the right one. There isn’t anything that the Escalis have that I would side with—”