A torture chamber.
“No,” he whispered.
“Sit.” the Seeker said, pointing a gloved hand towards the wooden chair to his right. “Don’t make this difficult.”
He staggered forward, the chair looming closer and closer. Was that blood staining the rotting wood? He tried not to think about it as he took a seat. He kept his hands pulled against his body, refusing to touch the arms of the chair.
“Barely a day in my city and you’ve already found yourself here. How is that?”
Tomias grimaced. “Let’s see, I stumbled upon an execution entirely by accident, an angry group of rebels attacked that very execution, and I get snatched up and thrown in a prison by a couple of masked men for no crime other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
The woman shook her head. “Strange how these things just keep happening to you. Did a woman not fall to her death right before your eyes just a day ago? Perhaps I hung the wrong person,” she said coldly, the threat hanging in the air between them.
“What are you suggesting?” Tomias balked. “I’m an outsider here. I have no stake in this city, no ties to anyone at all. What would I gain from murder and mayhem? I don’t even want to be in this god forsaken place.”
He could tell the Seeker was staring at him, but he couldn’t see her expression. It was unnerving not being able to see her face. “On the bridge, you had a companion with you - a girl. Where is she? As of right now, she’s a suspect, same as you.”
“I wish I knew,” he replied earnestly. He wanted nothing more than to know how she was, to know if she was safe. “We were separated during the attack.”
“Of course,” the Seeker said, pacing in front of him. It irritated him beyond measure. He wanted to slip a foot out in front of her and make her fall on her face. Maybe it would crack that mask, reveal the human behind the monster. “And she is also innocent as you claim? No ties to the rebels whatsoever?”
“We’ve been here for two days,” he growled. “It’s not like we spent the first night in Val’shar buying rounds for the rebels and getting friendly with them.”
“There are ties to the rebels outside of this city. It wouldn’t be impossible for you to have a connection elsewhere in this world. There are plenty who would see this city fall. What did you say you were doing here again? Looking for her sister? An amusing lie.”
Tomias growled. “I’m sorry, were we supposed to waltz in and proudly proclaim ourselves bearers of a power that get others beheaded and say we were just here for a visit? I don’t think so. In any case, we didn’t come looking for trouble.”
The Seeker sighed. “So why come here at all?”
“I wish I had a good answer for you. I wish I had a solid reason for being in this place, but the truth of the matter is, I didn’t want to come here. I don’t want to be here now. I’m here because she wanted to see it. I’m here because she couldn’t believe what was happening in this world until she saw it with her own eyes. We’re not here for some grand cause and we’re certainly not here to save this hell hole. I just want to find Kirheen and leave this place to rot.”
“You speak as though you’ve never seen this violence, as though you are somehow new to this world entirely. Where are you from?” the Seeker asked.
“That’s…complicated. We’re from up north, near the Greenspur.”
“From Sanctuary,” she said and Tomias’ blood stilled in his veins. There was no possible way she could know about it, no way for her to know the name of the place he’d once called home.
He took an unsteady breath and asked, “What did you say?” He must have misheard her.
“You’re from Sanctuary. It was my home long ago, before all of this.”
“No, there is no way. You can’t possibly…” Tomias squinted, trying to get a better look at the face beneath the mask. “Who are you?”
The woman reached up, a gloved hand grasping her mask. There was an audible snap and then the mask was pulled away. It was a face so utterly familiar, so known to him that he nearly said her name out loud. But it was different too, older and more rigid, a version of Kirheen that had seen the world and been molded and weathered by it. It was also a face he’d seen in his past, a face embedded in his memory for all time. It was her. The woman that had been exiled from Sanctuary in his youth, the woman that had caused his brother to lose his voice.
Tomias cursed. Why had he never put it together? Why had he never questioned it? The resemblance was there. It always had been. “M-Mirin. It’s you,” he sputtered, trying to keep his expression neutral. He’d been cautious before, but now he had true cause for concern. This was the woman that had tried to kill Nyson, the woman that had been exiled, left to the wilds without food or water to face her death. If it was truly her, she’d survived, had come to Val’shar and was now murdering her own people.
She gave a slow nod, her eyes lost in some distant memory. “You were always an odd looking child, Tomias. You and your brother both.”
Tomias hissed through clenched teeth. “Don’t you dare speak of him. Don’t you even utter his name. Your little outburst damn near killed my brother and your inaction all these years certainly finished the job.”
Mirin was still, her brow furrowed. “What has become of Sanctuary? You’re here. It can only mean one thing.”
“It’s gone. The lie was finally exposed, no thanks to you.”
She had the audacity to smile, a hideous grin that set his blood to boiling. “You think I owed it to anyone to set them free? You think I owed it to anyone after everything they took from me? No. I owed that life nothing, least of all the truth.”
“Your daughter was there! You knew! How could you do nothing?”
“My daughter? The moment she slipped from between my thighs she was no longer mine. They took my child before I could even see her and they took my mind not long after. I was as good as dead until I knit my own mind back together.”
“But they exiled you. You were supposed to be dead.”
Mirin gave a disgusted snort. “And yet I lived. I earned my freedom by surviving and I never looked back.”
“And this is what you’ve done with it? You came here and started murdering your own kind?”
“Don’t pretend you understand anything about what I’ve done, about what I’ve sacrificed,” she hissed, her eyes flashing. “How long have you been out of Sanctuary? Months? A few years? You know so little of this world, about the reasons for the things that have happened. I’ve no delusions about what I’ve done in this city but trust me when I say it’s all been for a purpose.”
“You call this having a purpose? You and your Seekers have caused nothing but chaos. You support a corrupt family that would see hundreds of people murdered in cold blood because of their fragmented beliefs. You’re insane!”
Mirin met his gaze, stormy eyes weighing him. “I didn’t bring you here so that I could be interrogated. I’ve no answers for you. What I seek I will simply take by force. Don’t struggle, it’ll only make it harder.” She stepped towards him, a single hand outstretched. Before he could so much as react, she was in his mind, tearing apart his defenses with blow after terrible blow. His thoughts poured out, dripping into the open. Every hope and fear and regret were there for her to see and there was no stopping it. His memories were the water she bathed in and he could do nothing but watch it happen.
CHAPTER 22
“What are you studying?” Lillana asked, peering down at the maps on the table. Her raven hair hung in lazy ripples, brushing the edge of the table as she bent over. Beautiful, naïve Lillana. Sampson sighed, pushing the maps away. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose, hoping it might chase away the pressure he could feel building there. A headache would soon follow.
“Maps of the tunnels beneath the city,” he sighed.
She frowned. “What’s the point in that? You’ve been staring at those for hours now.”
“I do seem to remember those very tunnels allowing us safe p
assage back to the castle after a certain princess demanded we watch an execution.”
His sarcasm earned him an eye roll only a teenager could pull off, a royal one at that. “Okay, so why bother with it now? With the way my mother has been fussing over me lately, it’s not like we’ll be near them anytime soon.”
“The tunnels run all over the city, including to this very castle. What do you think might happen if it weren’t the Seekers in control of those tunnels? What do you suppose would happen if those fell into the hands of the rebels?”
Lillana scoffed, her face scrunching with disgust. “They would be scurrying about causing mayhem like the rats they are. Such filth.”
Sampson wasn’t in the mood for her blatant hatred towards those with powers. He’d heard of birds in Sharmir that would mimic the cries of others, and for a brief moment, he could picture her as one, flapping her beak incessantly. He wanted to believe there was more than just recycled fodder in that head of hers, that her upbringing hadn’t completely ruined her. “Is there a single thought that is your own?” he asked before he could stop the words from coming out of his mouth.
She glared. “What?”
Well, too late now. Lillana may have been naïve, but she wasn’t stupid. She wouldn’t let such words escape her notice. “Why do you hate them so much? Why do you have such bitter words for those with powers?”
Lillana looked at him as if he’d been struck by a brick, one that had fallen from great heights. “What do you mean ‘why’? They are disgusting worms. They use their powers to harm others, to spout their lies. They hate Zekar and the fact that we speak the truth. They hate that we outed Riel as the traitorous tart that she is, and they will stop at nothing to silence us!”
Squawk. Squawk. A pretty bird with pretty words.
“I didn’t ask why your parents hate them. I asked why you do. I don’t need you to repeat the words you’ve heard over and over and over again. It’s tiresome. I already know those reasons. I want to know what about them makes you tremble in the dark. I want to know what drives the fear. I want to know what makes you hate.”
Her hands had moved to her hips, her hazel eyes narrowed. She was growing angry, he could see it in the way she puffed herself up, in the way she lifted her chin and looked down at him over the tip of her nose. Royal authority did that to a person after a while. “I’m not afraid of them. They are disgusting creatures, but I do not fear them in the slightest. They can be squashed and executed and put in their place. I’ve people to protect me.”
“During the execution, were you not frightened?”
Lillana scoffed. “That was different.”
“I was there to protect you. So were the Seekers. And yet you were afraid. Terrified.”
“It was different!”
“It was not. Circumstances do not change the reason you fear them, the reason you hate. What is it about them that makes you so bitter and cruel?”
She reeled back, her eyes wide. “Bitter? I can’t believe you. Do you truly believe they aren’t worth hating? Have I made some mistake in keeping you so close?”
He sighed. She was so corrupted by her own world view, so incapable of seeing beyond the tip of her own nose. It was saddening to see it happen to her so young. If something didn’t change in her soon, she would be lost, so far gone that not even Sampson could pull her from the depths. “The difference is, Lillana, I don’t hate them. I pity them.”
“Sampson, that is deplorable,” she cried, a look of utter shock skewing her beautiful features. “Why? Why would you pity such vile creatures?”
“You speak of them as if they aren’t human, as if they are something like a sewer rat or mangy dog to be kicked and spat upon for merely existing. They are humans, same as you and I, and until you start seeing them as such, you will always fear them, whether you want to admit your own fear or not. So please, just tell me one genuine reason why you hate them, one reason not sugar coated and force fed to you by everyone in your life.”
“I-I don’t…”
“Go on. I’ll wait.”
Something in her broke, some wall she’d erected to keep the fear at bay. He could see it crumbling, withering away before his eyes. Her eyes were glistening, her body trembling as she fought back tears. “I don’t know!” she shouted, her hands dropping from her hips in defeat. Her shoulders sagged forward, her body curving inwards. “I don’t know and I hate it.”
Sampson sighed with relief. Perhaps there was something in her worth saving after all. Beneath the cold, hateful exterior bestowed upon her by her own mother, perhaps there was something more. “You hate and fear them because you do not know them, because you do not understand them as people.”
She nodded meekly. “I don’t understand how you don’t fear them. How can you not fear them at all?”
Sampson couldn’t help but smile. “Oh, if only. I’ve channeled such fear into a healthy understanding and a very deep respect for the power they wield. Lillana, do you know just how many people in this city have powers?”
“A lot,” she said, wiping at her eyes.
“Thousands, Lil. And in the world? Can you begin to imagine how many exist beyond the walls of your own city? With their numbers here alone, they could put an end to all of this, they could strike down your family and no amount of Seekers, no amount of protection would save you.”
She sniffled loudly, her eyes wide with fear. He could see the wheels turning. “Why haven’t they?”
“Shame. Fear. For every person born that embraces their powers, there are plenty more that shun it, that wish it didn’t exist. While it brings power, it also brings complications. It means being scorned by your neighbors. It means having to hide. It means worrying every day that someone will find out your secret, that someone will discover your power. It means worrying whether or not you’ll be swinging from a tree for sneezing wrong. It is fear, plain and simple, that holds them back. They fear losing their lives, their families, their jobs.”
“Why would they fear such things? They aren’t like us. They are so different.”
“Are they? Perhaps it is something to consider that you and your enemy are not so different at all. Perhaps even you are one and the same. But how would you know? What have you seen of them but their heads rolling into the Scarlet Square?”
“And how is that my fault? They are my enemy. It my duty to Zekar, my duty to my family, to this very city, to protect it from those with powers. How is it my fault that I can’t see them as anything else?”
Sampson frowned. He wasn’t going to get through to her this way. It was time to resort to a different tactic, something a little more personal. He pushed back his chair, rising to his feet with a groan. His bones creaked, too long spent in one position while he’d poured over maps of the city. “How about you and I take a little trip?”
Lillana rolled her eyes. “Did I not mention my mother has been an absolute harpy as of late?”
“I haven’t been cooped up in your room all day by accident. Your mother asked me to keep an eye on you. So long as you’re with me, I can’t see you getting into any trouble.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, her frown comical. “Really? Glad to know I’m so trusted. Where would we be going?”
Sampson smiled. “Well, I think half the fun is in not knowing. It would be educational at least, I can tell you that.”
“Fine,” she huffed, though behind her feigned indifference, he could see the sparks of excitement setting her eyes alight. “What will I need?”
“Dress simply and wear a mask, nothing too fancy. I don’t need the entire city knowing I’m dragging the princess along with me, please.”
“Very well.” She crossed the room with her usual elegant stride, though he didn’t fail to notice the slight spring in her step. As much as she tried to deny it, the girl had a sense of adventure. Sneaking out under her mother’s nose just made the adventure all the more exciting. She disappeared into her dressing room and reemerged wearing a lace
trimmed black dress with long sleeves, black leggings, and simple boots. She’d braided her long hair, pinning it up and out of the way. She slipped a full mask over her face, beautiful swirls hiding her from the world.
Despite how simple her attire was, it was hard to not notice her royal blood. It was in her stride, in the way she held her head, her chin elevated, her shoulders pushed back to showcase her good posture. She was every bit her mother’s child; prim and proper and brimming with hatred. He only hoped, unlike her mother, that her hatred could be bound and tempered. He didn’t want to see her walk that path, to live her entire life so trapped by fear that she’d simply cause the world to burn down around her.
“Will this do?” she asked, gesturing to the dress she’d chosen.
“That’ll work. Are you ready?”
“You still haven’t told me where we’re going.”
“And I’m not going to. You’ll see soon enough. Come.”
Sampson set off across the room, trying to keep the mental image of the map he’d been staring at fixed firmly in his mind. He stepped into the large dressing room Lillana had used just moments earlier. A dark blue rug stretched the length of the room, accented with silver stars and swirls. He grabbed hold of the rug and yanked it back, revealing a large square indent in the floor. There was a small rung set into the unassuming square and he gave it a sharp tug. It didn’t budge. There had been a time when such tunnels had probably seen frequent use, but they’d been largely untouched for years. He tugged harder and the hatch groaned.
“This leads to the tunnels? There is an entrance to the tunnels right in my dressing room?”
“Yes, Lillana.”
“And these connect all over the city? That…that doesn’t seem very safe.”
The Allseer Trilogy Page 53