by Riley Tune
I didn’t have many options. Actually, I didn’t have any options. It wasn’t ideal, but it was the only choice I had. I leaped out the window and began my descent towards the ground, and likely my death.
17
Falling to your death is a unique experience. Even though the window I had leapt from was only about six stories up, my fall seemed to take longer than it should have. As if I was moving in slow motion. As I fell I felt—angry.
I had allowed things get out of hand all too fast. Then I thought about it some more, and realized it hadn't been me at all. It had been that Craydon guy. He had alerted the guards—he had brought one of those things down on us that almost got me killed. Not only me, but Vida, too. Had she made it out?
I could only hope so, because, as I fell through the skyline of Thera, I realized I might never see her again. We seemed to have been getting along so well, and now I’d never know if it could have been more, like I desperately wanted.
This wasn’t me. I didn’t give up. I wasn’t raised that way, and I wasn’t trained that way. This wasn’t going to be how my story ended.
I continued to fall through the sky. Now that my moment of realization had come, that this wasn’t the end for me, it seemed to also make time pass normally. I stretched my hand out to my left, hoping against hope that I could grab something, anything to help slow my fall.
I was too far from the palace walls, and my arms weren’t able to reach. Why couldn’t I warp? I spun around in the air as the ground came closer. I could barely see around me now, because the rain had started to fall hard, making everything seem gray. I spread my arms wide, trying to slow my fall.
I couldn’t think like that. I needed to warp. I needed to try. I had fallen so far now that I couldn’t afford to be picky on my location. I just needed to be anywhere else. I was coming up on a small shack-like building near the palace. It was a small target, but it was all I had.
I narrowed my eyes on the approaching building as I fell. I reached inside of myself, hoping for it to be there. I was scared, and I was desperate. Almost to the point that I even would have asked The Keeper for help, but I didn’t. I still had hope.
I reached inside myself for that portion of the unknown that had allowed me to warp. Nothing was there. I kept trying and trying as I fell. Nothing was there. Nothing was there. The shack was close now, and so was the ground. I reached inside of myself once more, perhaps for the final time.
Power.
Power was there now! Stronger than it had ever been. Raw, untapped, reborn power. I took hold of that power inside of myself, feeling it flow through my body inside and out. I was alive again, it was alive again, and I warped.
I found my target and landed on the roof of the building, but because my warp, something I usually did with little momentum, was powered by my fall, it actually sent me through the roof and inside the store. The noise was loud, and I’m sure the people surrounding could hear it.
I simply laid there for a second on my back, bleeding and in pain. The rain fell through the newly-created hole in the roof and landed on my face. It felt good. Like tiny drops of realization, slapping me. I needed to get moving.
I pulled myself up and looked around the store.
“I don’t care what it is. Take that door down and get inside,” a voice came back. It was the voice of a man, and he wasn’t frantic at all. He was stern and forceful. “There were intruders in the palace corridors tonight, and this may be one of them. We were told they were injured, but still, approach with caution. Now get in there,” the man shouted.
His scream wasn’t answered by salutes or people agreeing with him; they were answered by action. Footsteps rushed to the building. The front door began to shake and rattle as it was attacked. Even the walls moved. It seemed like they were coming from all sides. I saw a window—a small window. Had it been larger, and closer to the ground, I’m sure they would have tried to come in through it.
This window was enough for me to see out of, and that would be my way out. I moved across the small shop.
The window was closer to the ceiling than I had thought. I actually had to stand on the tips of my toes to see out of it. It was at this moment that I noticed two things. The first was that there seemed to be feet on the roof now. They were smarter than I had expected, and had decided to just come in the same way I had. They would be inside and on me in moments.
The second thing I noticed was that I knew the man giving the orders. He was tall, had long gray hair, a square shaped head, and skin that had a reddish hue to it. “Dutch,” I said to myself. The same man who had introduced the Emperor at the ball.
A loud thud sounded off behind me. Then another and another.
“Turn around slowly,” a voice behind me said. I could only assume it was a guard, because I couldn’t turn around. No—I had to keep looking out this window. It was my only way out. Thankfully, between the darkness inside, and the rain falling in, the guards couldn’t see my face.
I looked out the window once more and warped away, leaving the guards and Dutch himself behind.
18
“They’re called Battle Born,” Ember said as he stood in front of us all. I had finally made it to the second safe house, and it was oddly similar to the first, just on a smaller scale. Unusually clean, and rarely used. We were also further out from the palace now, but still inside the borders of Thera.
Vida had made it back long before I had, and had told the others what we'd found and what had happened. She'd even told them about Craydon Addersfield. A name that none, not even Ember, had heard of.
This time we all sat in chairs, except for Jolin, who was sprawled out on the floor, on his back, beside Sprits, and Ember, who stood in the center, talking.
I sat in a chair across from Vida, while Rema and Remy shared a seat on the sofa.
“Some people,” Ember continued, “don’t even think they exist. Most people who see them don’t live to speak about it, but others, myself included, know better.” He stood before the fireplace, looking into it. The room was silent as he paused, and the crackle from the fireplace almost seemed amplified in our silence.
“I don’t know what they are, but normal isn’t it,” Vida said. “Warps and I had a time just getting away from that one. No matter what we threw at her, she kept coming.”
“That's because you faced a female,” Ember said as he glanced over at Vida. “
According to rumors, with Battle Born, the roles are reversed. The women are smaller, but wield immense strength, and a tolerance for pain that’s unmatched, but they are slower. The men, however, wield speed. Able to move and react on an unparalleled level. I fought a male, and even if I had been able to warp, it would have been hard to escape it.”
I could feel my eyes bulge a little at this part. “You couldn’t warp either?” I asked. I hadn’t told them this part yet. I had wanted to wait and tell Ember in private.
Ember shook his head. “No. It’s the eyes.”
“The eyes?” Jolin asked.
Ember shook his head. “The Battle Born have these glowing purple eyes. What else is under that monstrous mask is unknown, but those eyes, according to what is whispered, at least, can halt a person's Keeper-given abilities.”
Those eyes. I felt like I was going to see them in my dreams for the next few days. At least I knew why I couldn’t warp now.
“Had Vida tried to change into a stronger form, like this Bren, she would have found herself unable to. Just as you couldn’t warp, Lox.”
“I was too busy getting kicked in the head to consider changing,” Vida said as she rubbed her still bruised face.
Remy placed the book he had in his hand on his lap. “I have heard about them, too. Well, I’ve read about them here and there. From all accounts, they seemed to have appeared after the Emperor resurrected the first time. Many accounts claim that these Battle Born were the reason Thera won the war in the first place.”
“Where do they come from?” I asked. The
room was silent as Ember looked to Remy with his brow raised. Remy, in return, simply shrugged his shoulders.
“We shouldn’t worry about them right now,” Ember said.
“We shouldn’t?” I asked as I glanced at Vida.
“I agree with Ember,” Rema said. She had been so quiet this entire time that I had forgotten about her. She lounged beside her brother, sitting far back in the couch with her legs crossed. “We need to focus our attention on the High Lady.”
I perked up at this. With everything that had happened, I had forgotten that The High Lady was coming to the palace.
“It’s clear that she knows something,” Rema said to the room. “We just have to get her to tell us.” She looked at Jolin on the floor.
As her eyes shifted to him, so did every other pair of eyes in the room. Jolin froze for a second and then sat upright on the floor with a sigh.
“What would you have me do, Ms. Rema?” He asked as if he knew what was coming.
“I simply want you to work your magic on The High Lady.” As she said this, she had a smile on her face. It wasn’t a comforting smile. It actually made my skin shiver, and I wasn't sure why.
“I feel like that is going to be harder than expected,” I said to her.
“I have a plan,” she said as she stood from the couch. I wasn’t surprised at all. As I watched her walk around the room, Rema radiated a superior demeanor. She was so confident and smart. That, combined with her high noble status, made her a formidable foe and a powerful ally. I was just glad that she was on our side.
In many ways, she reminded me of Ember. Deadly in her own unique way, often underestimated, and proven time and time again to be efficient.
“From the letter Lox and Vida found, we know The High Lady will be coming to the palace tomorrow. Considering her age, and where she lives in Thera, she will likely prefer to travel in snowfall, as opposed to rain,” Rema said.
“Where she lives?” I asked. This caused Rema to stop and look directly at me. “You know where The High Lady lives?”
“Of course we do,” Remy said with a snort. “We’re high nobles. Rema and I have both been to The High Lady's home numerous times for one thing or another.
“Trust me, Lox, it's not as fun as it seems. If I could trade places with you, any of you, I would do it in a heartbeat.
“Now, don’t get me wrong,” he said, as he noticed the glares on him. “Being a high noble has its perks, but it also has its drawbacks. There is almost no freedom. Your entire life is predetermined for you, even who you will marry, if need be. You have the power and wealth to change the lives of many, if you wanted, but can’t without approval from the Emperor or royals, both of whom would never allow it, simply to keep the rich in power.”
Remy looked down from us all and rubbed his nose with the back of his thumb, and then looked to his sister. “There is a reason she is such a good leader in this family. Because everything about our lives that I despise, she embraces. My dear sister was made for this.” He turned away from her and clasped his hands tightly on the book in his lap. “I simply prefer to escape in my books. It’s the closest I can get to living another life, or learning about something other than what is expected of me.”
Ember had a grimace on his face as he glanced at me. The glares that Vida and Jolin were giving Remy had faded away. Maybe they, like me, almost felt bad for him. I was beginning to see Remy in a different light now. Just as I was born into a life destined to be drenched in blood, so was he as the role of a high noble. I had never considered it could have been a burden.
“That was a very nice speech, Remy,” Rema said as she displayed a huge smile on her face. “That’s also why your role in this is to simply do nothing.”
Remy stood from the couch and walked off. I wasn’t sure where he went, but he didn’t come back.
“Now, as my brother was saying before all of that pointlessness, we know where The High Lady calls home. In the morning, I want you—”She pointed to Jolin—“to go give her a visit before the carriage comes to escort her to the palace, and find out as much as you can about what she knows.”
Jolin didn’t speak; he simply nodded his head and returned to laying down on the ground.
“I should go with him,” Ember said.
Rema shook her head. “No. I need you to stay and reach out to as many of your contacts as you can to see what, if anything, is happening around the Kingdoms. I need to know if any other people are disappearing, or if any other royal families have been told about these people from beyond the waters. Stay your blade for now, and simply gather information. This, naturally, would be better for a spy or a Tongue, but you, as a Warper, will cover more ground in a short time.”
Rema looked at me with that dead smile again. “Lox will be our Warper in your absence.”
Ember looked at me as he adjusted his cloak and put his hood up. “I need to grab some things from my place before I go. I’ll get a few hours of sleep and then I’ll be on my way.”
He walked to where I sat, placed a firm hand on my shoulder, and leaned over to whisper in my ear.
“Be careful, protect yourself and stay aware. I have a feeling things are about to get complicated.”
Rema’s head twitched some. “Everything okay?” she asked as she watched Ember speak to me.
“Fine,” he said. He walked to a window, and then warped away.
My eyes lingered on the spot where he had stood for a few moments. Ember had a funny feeling about what was to come next, and he was usually right about that sort of thing. Now I was beginning to feel it, too. The team, united as we were, was split up now. Remy was no longer here; Ember had been sent around the five Kingdoms; all that remained were me, Vida, and Jolin. On top of us all was Rema, pulling our strings.
I trusted my instincts, and decided to keep a close eye on both Rema and Remy until Ember returned.
“I suggest you three get some food if you want, and then some sleep. You’re going to pay The High Lady a visit at first snowfall.” She picked up a lamp, leaving only one burning in the room. “Goodnight, and Keeper be with you tomorrow. I’ll see you in the morning to go over the plans before you leave.”
She turned and walked away, holding the lamp with her as she moved.
“Mr. Lox, Ms. Vida,” Jolin said, with a little nod, as he moved from the floor to the couch. “Tomorrow you get to see me in action, it seems.” He stretched out on the couch, put his back to us, and said no more.
“You okay?” I asked Vida. Every time I looked at her bruised face, I felt bad.
“I’ll be fine, Warps,” she said in a faint smile. “Let’s get some food, and then some rest.”
She got up and made her way to the kitchen. I watched her walk away from the dim room and vanish into the darkness. I stood up and followed her. I wasn’t hungry, but something told me I would need my strength for the morning.
19
I woke up the next morning, seemingly alone. Natural light from outside poured into the room, touching every corner. I peered out the window from the couch I was on and could see the snow falling. As usual, the mixture of snow and sunlight was beautiful.
I was the only person in the room, though. Jolin was gone from the couch he had been sleeping on, and Vida had disappeared from the long chair she had called her resting place the night before.
“Where is everybody?” I said to myself. Instinct took over, and I grabbed my dagger.
Better safe than sorry. As I placed my feet on the ground, I kicked something that yelped. “Sorry, Sprits,” I said.
I stood for a moment and simply listened. I could hear voices in the house. Faint voices, but voices nonetheless. I warped a few feet down the hall towards the voices. Warping in these situations were better than simply walking. A creaking floor could be the death of you sometimes.
“Where is everyone?” I heard a voice say as I got closer. It was Rema. I warped a couple of feet closer, reappearing to the side of a cracked door. Judging from what
little I could see, this room was designated for Remy. It had a large shelf with a mountain of books on it, a massive bed with posts standing six feet tall, and a table with food sprawled over it.
“Jolin and Vida are preparing outside. They woke up earlier than expected,” Remy replied. I could see Rema walking now. She was dressed in brown trousers and a tight shirt. She went around the table that Remy sat at and allowed her finger to move along the spines of the books.
“And the Warper?” she asked.
I didn’t like the way she was talking. As if she didn’t want to use our names. Remy looked up from his plate of food. A plate of food that he hadn’t touched much of, from what I could see through the crack in the door.
“He’s still sleeping on the couch,” he replied, as he drank some wine from a larger than normal cup.
“It’s a little early for drink, isn’t it, Remy?” she said as she eyed her brother, who seemed to be pouring more in the cup. I couldn’t actually see what he was doing, but I saw his elbow rise and could hear the sound of falling liquid.
“I don’t understand how you are alright with this,” Remy said. “They trust us. They have always trusted us, and you want to betray them.”
Rema said nothing as she stood tall, with her chest out and chin high. She walked over to the bed, taking wide steps as she did so, and sat on its end. She didn’t respond with words. Instead, she gave him a playful grin and a wink. Almost as if she were taunting him.
“All for what?” he continued. “Things we already have. Riches and power.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Remy had seemed like the smart one. The one I liked the most, especially after last night. Now he was here, upset that his sister planned to have the Emperor, and likely his wife, killed. How could he feel like she was betraying them, knowing what the Emperor had done?