Chaos Trapped

by Eric T Knight

  “The only thing you need to learn is control and control doesn’t work that well when you’re upset.”

  “I’m not upset.”

  “Go talk to Liv.”

  Aislin made an angry sound and started to stomp away, but then she turned back. She faced Treylen, but she didn’t look at him. “I can’t.” Her little body was shaking slightly.

  “Why not?”

  “I was mean. She hates me now.”

  “I don’t think she hates you. I think she’ll be glad to see you.”

  “You really think so?”

  “I’d bet everything I own on it.”

  “Big deal,” Aislin snorted. “You don’t own hardly anything.”

  “It’s better than owning nothing.”

  “Even if she isn’t mad—and I’m sure she is—I still can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “What if Lowellin…hurts her?” She looked up at him with wide eyes.

  “You think that if you stop being friends with her she’ll be safe from him.”

  She nodded.

  He paused to consider what he would say. His next words might put Liv in greater danger. Maybe it would be best for Aislin to stay far away from her friend. But at the same time Liv was Aislin’s only friend, and he’d seen what a steadying influence the girl had been on Aislin. The most important thing here wasn’t the safety of one child, it was that Aislin fully realized her power and was ready to use it when the time came. As long as she was upset about Liv, she was going to continue to have trouble controlling Seaforce, and in the end that was going to lead to a lot more suffering by a lot more people.

  “I don’t think it works like that, Aislin. Lowellin already knows that you care about her. If he wants to get at you by hurting her, he will.” She put her hands over her face, and he hastened to add, “But, if you stay close to her, you can be there if he tries something. You can hurt him before he hurts her.”

  Aislin lowered her hands. “Do you really think so?”

  “I do.” Treylen had to admit he didn’t feel great about manipulating her like that, but he also didn’t like the idea of an out-of-control Aislin incinerating half of the city.

  Aislin’s face grew dark, and she made a fist. “I hope he does try something. I’m going to smash him when he does.”

  She turned to the sea after she said that and stared fiercely at the water. The air above a sizable patch of water began to shimmer. The shimmer coalesced into a ball of glowing, emerald green energy that was thirty or forty paces across.

  “Aislin…” Treylen began to move back.

  Aislin flung out one hand. The glowing ball of Seaforce sped out across the waves. In moments it was a thousand paces away. Aislin clenched her fist and muttered, “Die.”

  The Seaforce exploded. The shockwave reached them a moment later. Aislin was seemingly untouched by it, though her white-blond hair flew around her face, but Treylen was almost knocked down again.

  What happens if she does that in the middle of the city?

  It wasn’t a pleasant thought. The child needed to learn control, and she needed it soon. But first she needed to go see her friend. Any doubts he’d had about that were gone now.

  “Who wants to go to the palace?” he asked Aislin.

  ╬ ╬ ╬

  At the gates of the city Treylen spoke to the guards about transportation, knowing that it would be a hard walk all the way there for him.

  “It’s not fancy,” Zaine said, “but we have a supply wagon that’s not doing anything right now.” He gestured at an open wagon hitched to two horses that was waiting nearby. “They just finished unloading it. On its way back to the warehouse it could drop the two of you off.”

  He called the driver over, and soon Treylen and Aislin were sitting in the back as the wagon bounced its way over the cobblestoned streets up the main boulevard that led to the castle.

  Treylen was only mildly surprised to see Opus waiting at the front doors of the palace when the wagon pulled up.

  “You’ll find the princess by the fish pond, I believe,” he said to Aislin.

  Aislin looked at Treylen. He nodded. “Go.” She turned and walked that way slowly. Treylen looked at Opus.

  “I believe you will find the macht in his private dining room,” Opus said. “You do need to speak with him, don’t you?”

  Treylen raised one eyebrow. “How did you…never mind. Which way do I go?”

  He followed Opus, who led him to a gilt-edged door with a guard standing outside it. The guard opened the door, and Opus ushered Treylen into a brightly-lit room where Rome was eating breakfast at a small table. Other than a large painting that hung on one wall and the thick rug on the floor, the room was simple. “Treylen!” the macht boomed, standing up from his chair. He had a hunk of meat in one hand, and a napkin tucked into the collar of his shirt. His breeches were leather and showed hard use, his boots old and worn down. He took Treylen’s arm and guided him to the table. “Come here. Sit down. You look like you could use something to eat.”

  Treylen sat and soon there was a plateful of food in front of him as well. He picked up a chicken leg and took a bite.

  “What brings you to the palace? How is Aislin doing with her lessons? Has she learned how to use that sea power yet? What was that stuff called again?”

  “Seaforce, sire. Yes and no.”

  Rome set his food down and fixed him with a look. “Explain.”

  Treylen told him about how quickly the child had learned to summon Seaforce. “Unfortunately, she isn’t having much luck controlling it so far. Which is a nice way of saying that she could accidentally level the palace.”

  “That could be bad, really bad,” Rome mused. “What do you need from me?”

  Treylen hesitated. Macht Rome was a good king, well-loved by his people. Not the kind to go locking people up or executing them for no good reason. Still, there was no telling how people would respond when their children were involved.

  “Speak up, man. I don’t bite.”

  “It’s about her lack of control that I’ve come. Her control is bad because she can’t concentrate. I think the reason she can’t concentrate is because of your daughter.”

  “How’s that?”

  “She hurt Liv’s feelings the other day, and although she pretends she doesn’t care, I know she feels really bad about it. I didn’t come up to the palace alone, macht. I came here with Aislin, so she could see Liv, and they could work it out.” Rome’s brows drew together, and Treylen hastened to continue before he could interrupt.

  “She needs to be around Liv. Your daughter helps her more than you realize, I think. But I also realize that being around Aisin might not be the safest place these days.”

  “Lowellin could show up and try to grab her again,” Rome said. “If Liv is there…”

  Treylen nodded. “That’s why I came to talk to you.”

  Rome sat back in his chair. “What I want to do is order the two of you out of the castle. I want her as far from Liv as possible. Not just because of Lowellin, but because of the Seaforce. That’s the father in me.” He sighed. “But the Abyss is involved, and there’s no way anything but bad can come of that. It seems that little girl is our best hope of surviving what’s to come. Our only hope probably.” He sighed again. “And if my daughter can help her, and that keeps my people safe, even if it puts my daughter at risk…” He shook his head. “This is a shit job sometimes.”

  “I can only imagine.”

  “Thank you for bringing this to me, Treylen. I’ll talk to Bonnie. She won’t like it, but she’ll understand.” He stood up. Treylen did as well. Rome gestured him back down. “Finish your food, man. You’ve got no more meat on you than a bird. I’ll make sure someone comes and finds you when Aislin is ready to leave.” He started for the door.

  “Thank you, macht,” Treylen said.

  “You’re thanking me?” Rome countered. “You saved this city once before, when the Children were coming under our wall
s, and now you’re training our next champion. I’m the one who should be thanking you.”

  “When you put it like that…” Treylen said with a smile.

  “I know I’ve asked before, but are you sure there’s nothing I can do for you?” Rome asked. “A bigger house? Food? Maybe a servant?”

  Treylen waved him off. “Thank you, but I don’t need any of those things.”

  “You’re an odd bird, you know that?”

  “So I’ve been told.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Part way to the fish pond Aislin’s steps slowed and then came to a halt. This was a mistake. Surely Liv hated her now. Liv was going to yell at her and tell her she never wanted to see her again. She should have stayed down at the sea. She should leave right now.

  But the thought of leaving gave her a strange ache in the middle of her chest, and it made her feel like crying, which angered her. She hated crying. She was the sea. The sea never cried.

  She gritted her teeth and trudged onward. She would get this over with, and then she would go back to the sea.

  And she would not cry.

  Liv was sitting by the fish pond running her fingers through the water. She didn’t see Aislin come up. Aislin stopped a few steps away, not sure what to do. Why did people have to be so confusing anyway? Why couldn’t they make sense like the sea did?

  Finally, she simply said, “I guess I’ll go to your birthday party if you still want.”

  Liv whirled, saw who it was and jumped to her feet. “Aislin! You came back!” She raised her arms as if to hug Aislin, then lowered them and restrained herself. “It’s very nice to see you,” she said formally, and inclined her head slightly.

  “Is that it?” Aislin said, bewildered. This wasn’t going at all like she’d imagined it would.

  Liv’s eyebrows rose. “Is what it?”

  “Aren’t you going to yell at me?” Aislin was truly perplexed. This made no sense at all.

  “No. Are you going to yell at me?” Liv had a worried look on her face that Aislin had never seen before.

  “I don’t…you’re not making any sense at all!” Aislin blurted out.

  Liv’s eyebrows drew together. “I’m not? My voice sounds all right to me.”

  “That’s not what I’m talking about!”

  “I’m confused.”

  “Me too. Stop doing that.”

  “Stop doing what?” Liv asked.

  “Doing…that.” Aislin waved her hands around, unable to find the words she needed. “I was mean to you. You’re supposed to be mad and yell. It’s what people do.”

  “But I’m not mad.”

  “That’s what’s so confusing!”

  Liv tilted her head slightly and regarded her friend. “Do you feel okay?”

  “No,” Aislin snapped. “I don’t know what’s going on.”

  “I’m not mad,” Liv said. “I missed you too much to be mad. I was sad, but now you’re here, and I’m not anymore.”

  Aislin rubbed her eyes. She no longer knew what to think about anything.

  “But if you want me to be mad…” Liv raised her fist and yelled, “I’m so angry at you, Aislin! Angrier than anyone ever!” She stomped her little feet and waved her arms around. “I’m so angry I could just…I don’t know, bite a pig!” Then she mimed biting something.

  At first Aislin was taken aback, but once Liv started in on biting a pig something changed. She felt a smile appear on her face, followed by the urge to giggle. Liv saw the smile and turned it up even more.

  “Somebody get me a pig right now! I’m going to bite it to show everyone how mad I am!”

  A gardener passing by pushing a cart gave her a strange look, and that was all it took. Aislin started giggling first, then Liv joined in. Aislin’s giggles turned into full-scale laughter, and soon she was laughing so hard she couldn’t breathe and thought she might fall down. Liv did fall down. She flopped onto her back and flapped her arms as she laughed.

  When the giggles had died away some time later, Liv sat up and wiped her eyes.

  “I missed you.”

  Aislin immediately felt uncomfortable. She looked away, her gaze going to the vine-covered tower, which made her think of what was below it, and what had happened down there.

  “I don’t want him to hurt you,” she said in a small voice.

  Liv got up and threw her arms around Aislin. Aislin stiffened but managed not to pull away.

  “He’s not going to hurt me. I have you to protect me.” Liv pulled back, her eyes shining. “I saw what you can do now.”

  “You did?”

  “The glowing green balls that explode? I was watching from the wall.”

  “You saw?”

  “I’ve been sitting on the wall a lot since you left, watching you. Mommy—I mean Mother—wouldn’t let me go down there.”

  “You’re not afraid?”

  “Of course not. I’m the Black Wolf’s daughter, remember? I’m fierce and crazy, but not afraid.” And to prove it she let out a bloodcurdling yell and did a kind of crazy thing that might have been a dance and might have been her waving an imaginary sword.

  “I think you are crazy,” Aislin said. She smiled when she said it. She’d learned that if you smiled when you said something kind of mean, people didn’t seem to mind as much.

  “Can you do that thing with the green balls now? So I can watch?” Liv asked.

  Aislin thought about Treylen’s warnings and shook her head. “I better not. Treylen says I don’t have good control. He might be right.”

  “Oh.” Liv looked crestfallen. “Maybe my mother will let me go with you the next time you go to practice, and I can see then.”

  “I hope so.”

  Brecken, Liv’s older brother, came walking up then. He flicked his sandy hair out of his eyes and looked at Aislin. “I was on the wall. I saw what you did. That was really something, you know.”

  Aislin simply stared at him, unable to reply. For some reason all she could think about was how blue his eyes were. She couldn’t seem to look away from them.

  All at once she realized they were both looking at her, waiting for her to say something, and she felt her cheeks grow hot. She jerked her gaze away and muttered something that didn’t even make sense to her, something she immediately regretted. Now he probably thought she was an idiot.

  “If I could do that…” Brecken said, shaking his head. “Let’s just say the Karthajinians would stop talking tough and stay off our land. Bang! A couple of those fireballs over their heads, and they’d straighten up fast.”

  “They’re not…” Aislin trailed off.

  “What was that?” he asked, looking at her.

  “They’re not fireballs,” she mumbled. “It’s Seaforce.”

  “Seaforce, huh? What’s that?”

  “Don’t you have something else to do, Brecken?” Liv said irritably. “We’re talking here.”

  Brecken crossed his arms and gave his little sister a haughty look. “Well, I wouldn’t want to interrupt your important talk. You can go back to talking about dresses or something. I don’t care.” He stalked away.

  “Ooh, he makes me so angry sometimes,” Liv said.

  Aislin was staring after him, wondering why she was wishing he would have stayed. “He doesn’t seem so bad to me.”

  Liv looked at her in surprise. “You’re only saying that because you don’t know him yet. If you did, you’d agree with me.”

  “Maybe.” Aislin realized she was still staring and wrenched her gaze away.

  Liv tapped her chin. “Maybe we should talk about dresses.”

  Startled, Aislin turned to her. “What?”

  “For my birthday party.”

  “What does that have to do with dresses?”

  “It’s my twelfth birthday. I want to look pretty for it, don’t I?” Liv put one hand behind her head and did a slow twirl.

  Aislin looked at her as if confronted by a complete stranger. “Why would you want to look pret
ty?” All she could think about was the time they’d played with the makeup and how silly they’d all ended up looking. If that was being pretty, she wanted no part of it.

  “I don’t know,” Liv said, a little blush appearing on her cheeks. She looked away. “There’s this boy. His father is a merchant or something. He comes with him to the palace sometimes.” She scuffed her foot on the ground.

  Aislin frowned. Was this still Liv? What had happened to her?

  Aislin was suddenly suspicious. “I’ve never been to a party. What will it be like?”

  “Oh, you know, lots of people—”

  “Lots of people?”

  “Heaps,” Liv said happily, unaware of the dismay growing on Aislin’s face. “It’s my twelfth birthday, which is a big deal for a girl as you know.”

  That was something Aislin definitely did not know.

  “And then because I’m a princess pretty much everybody will be there, officers from the army, merchants, respected people, and their children if they have anybody near my age. It’s a coming-out thing, you know.”

  Aislin started shaking her head. “No. No, no, no. I’m not going to that.”

  “What? Why not?” Liv asked, surprised.

  “That sounds terrible.”

  “But you have to go!” Liv cried. “You’re my best friend. I’ll die if you aren’t there.” She took hold of Aislin’s hands. “Please, please, please.”

  “I don’t like people looking at me. I don’t like it at all.”

  The water in the fish pond was starting to move. Liv glanced at it, then back at Aislin. “It won’t be a party if you’re not there. I won’t know hardly anyone. It’ll be awful. You have to change your mind.”

  Aislin hesitated. Liv was clearly upset. She didn’t like seeing her upset. It made her feel bad. “Maybe I could sit in the back?” she said doubtfully. “By the door?”

  “You don’t want to sit up front with me?”

  Her words alarmed Aislin. The water in the pond foamed a little higher. She couldn’t even speak. All she could do was shake her head.

  “Okay, you don’t have to if you hate it that much,” Liv said. “I just want you there somewhere. You can sit wherever you want.” She got a mischievous look in her eye. “What if you sit under my table? Then no one could see you, and I could hand you food whenever you want it.”