by K Hanson
Erhan turned around, his lips curled in a rare smile.
“Yes, me.” A satisfied chuckle. “I figured you’d come back to your ship.”
“What now? Your emperor is dead. What’s the point of capturing me? You can’t take me to anyone. You’ll never be in the military again.”
As Erhan whirled around and sped up his pace, he yanked on the rope and nearly pulled Nereyda back down. “The Emperor may be dead, but I can still work to achieve what he stood for. There’s someone else who is interested in you and who is not dead. As long as someone is willing to help deal with you, I’ll be there to stand in your way.”
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll find out very soon.”
Erhan shoved her into a side passage, lined with the grime that the factories put out from their smokestacks. They must be near the forge district, or downwind of it at least.
They came to a small, dark metal door. Erhan pulled out a key and opened the door. He shoved her in and down a set of stairs.
Nereyda’s temples pounded as she pushed through her headache and latched onto a mote of frost within. She drew it up to her wrists, but nothing happened.
“Don’t try using your powers,” Erhan said. “You’d only be wasting your time. Your handcuffs are made of gold.”
“What’s next? Torture?”
“Nothing quite so trivial, I’m afraid. You’ll have to wait to find out your exact fate, but I hear it will be quite the hot affair. After hearing that you’re back, the public is again clamoring for your death.”
“So what? They can deal with it.”
“And they will deal with it. They are dealing with it, in fact, through me, and my employer.”
“And who is your employer?”
“Even I don’t really know, to be honest. But that doesn’t matter. They want me to capture you, and that is good enough for me.”
They came down to a long bank of dungeon cells. “Another jail?” Nereyda asked.
“Your last, probably.”
He pushed her down the length of the cell block, then shoved her to the ground within one of the cells before yanking the door shut and locking it.
“Mind taking off these handcuffs?” Nereyda asked.
“I’m not an idiot. You’ll wait here until someone comes for you. You do have a bed and a bucket, at least. Clean and empty, even.”
“Nice of you to upgrade me to the luxury suite,” Nereyda said from the ground.
She glared at him as he spun and swaggered away. With her hands bound behind her back, she struggled to roll up onto her backside for a seated position. She kicked her legs and scooted her way to the bedroll so she’d at least have a comfortable spot as she sat and waited for whatever it was that would come for her.
Not even a single guard kept watch down here, and she had no idea where she was. It wasn’t the palace dungeons. The air smelled too much of the sea for that. Besides, she had been in the palace cells. Perhaps it was the harbor brig. While most of the cells had rusted bars and doors, hers had been freshly refurbished. This must have been planned for a time.
It wouldn’t take long for Limbani or Devrim to realize she was missing and comb the town for her. And Erhan couldn’t do anything too public with the city under rebel control. If he gave her a mere chance to escape her shackles, then she could easily turn the tide against him. Rather than waste her energy now, especially with the golden handcuffs getting in the way of her abilities, she leaned against the wall of the cell and shut her eyes. She would use the time to refill her well of energy.
Her eyes fluttered open at the sound of someone shuffling down the hallway. She squinted into the dim light to see who was approaching. A hooded figure with broad shoulders was silhouetted, along with another person who wore a green rebel guard uniform.
Nereyda blinked and looked again.
A rebel? Why? What’s going on?
“Why are there so many lights in here? Why does she have one?”
“Sorry, sir, I’ll put out her light.”
“Very good.”
The hooded man waited while the guard marched up to her cell and snuffed the lit torch that hung just outside the door. Now she was left in almost total darkness, except for some indirect torchlight from the other sconces in the cell block hallway.
“Good, that’s better.”
A wet odor hit her nose as the man came up to her cell. A hint of torchlight glimmered across a strong jaw as he towered above her. “We have you now.” His voice was nearly a hiss. “That commander actually did it. I had my doubts after his several failures, but finally, he has come through.”
“Who are you? What’s the point of all of this? You’ve already lost the war. Give up this hopeless cause.”
“Oh, we haven’t lost the war. Far from it. You’ve been instrumental in helping us win it. And when you have a very public death, it will be the final victory that we need.”
“I have friends. They’ll look for me. They won’t let you go through with this.”
“I’m not sure how much use your friends will be. I doubt they’ll be able to do much.”
“Have you done something to them, too?”
“I don’t want to reveal too much. You’ll find out on the big day. Which will be very soon. Tomorrow, the next day, this week—I don’t know for sure, but you can count your remaining days on your two hands.”
The hooded man whirled and moved away with the guard. “Oh, turn out the rest of the lights before we leave.”
The guard hurried around the cell block, snuffing all of the lights. “Fantastic,” said the hooded man.
The two left her, alone and in darkness.
Nereyda didn’t know what to do. She started to panic inside. Her heart beat like rolling thunder. The storm inside her stirred without anywhere to go. What had the man meant about her friends not being able to help her? Had Erhan captured them, too? Had they all fallen into some sort of trap?
Taking Manisa had seemed quite easy compared to the rest of their battles. Maybe it had all been a ruse, part of a trap. But the Empire had never used this kind of subterfuge in her experience. Deception was not part of its repertoire. It charged any opposition straight on, with the might of its military. Changing its strategy now, at the last minute, was out of character.
And who was the hooded man?
For the next several days, or what felt like days—Nereyda couldn’t be sure without seeing the sun or having any sort of regular schedule—she went in and out of sleep, since she had nothing better to do. They brought her neither food nor water. She struggled to sit up without leaning against the wall and she drifted in and out of consciousness. Even when awake, her mind wandered without aim or focus.
A clang at the end of the cell block signaled that someone had arrived.
“Are you awake, pirate?” asked Erhan.
Nereyda grunted, her throat too parched to respond.
He came to her cell and unlocked it. Erhan yanked a hood over her head before hauling her to her feet and shoving her out. It seemed he escorted her out of jail and onto the streets, from the light that filtered through the hood and the breeze that blew past her. They hiked a while, meandering in different directions as they hit intersections. They started going uphill.
They stopped briefly.
“Is this her?” she heard a voice ask.
“Yes,” said Erhan.
“Very well, everyone is waiting.”
After walking a bit farther, the sound of a crowd of people reached her ear. Many voices yelled and cheered.
Erhan pressed her closer to the assembled mob. The cheers and yells got louder as she approached.
Wet spray and objects struck her. People were spitting and throwing things at her. She didn’t know why. Her throat wouldn’t let her toss a retort at them. This assault lasted for several minutes, and included a few solid hits of what felt like stones hitting her body.
“Okay, up some stairs, then we’re about there.”
She feebly tried to yank her arms away from him, but it was no use. She didn’t have the strength to fight back. Another pair of hands grabbed her on the other side, and together Erhan and the second person moved her across what sounded and felt like a wooden platform. They put her back to a post and wrapped ropes around her arms and torso, binding her to the pole.
“Today, we have found the final enemy that we need to destroy to bring peace to our nation,” said a triumphant voice. The crowd cheered.
Someone yanked her hood off. Devrim stood in front of her. The hood dangled from his hand.
Her jaw dropped open.
Devrim scowled at her. “You just had to come back,” he whispered.
Nereyda’s heart pounded as her eyes swiveled and scanned her surroundings. Beneath the platform, a crowd filled a large plaza. At the base of the stairs, Erhan crossed his arms with a contented smirk. Next to him, the hooded man loomed in his cloak.
The clouds above seemed to mock her as they drifted through the blue sky highlighted by sunlight.
Limbani stood at one corner of the platform, and her wide eyes proclaimed that she had never seen this coming. She strode across the stage, one hand on her sword hilt. “What is this?” Limbani asked. Her eyes darted between Devrim and Nereyda as she tried to piece things together.
“We need to do this,” said Devrim. “You want to make our nation safe and secure for anybody, right?”
“Of course, but she’s been our ally, my friend, and your lover,” said Limbani, her voice urgent.
Devrim pivoted toward the crowd and elevated his voice for their benefit. “Yes, she has been very helpful. And she will be helpful again. Her death will make us safer. We can’t have someone like her running around and playing god against us.” He glanced back toward Limbani, and a wicked gleam shone in his eyes. “Now, stand silent and hold your post, or at least make sure she doesn’t go anywhere.”
Limbani tightened her jaw, but nodded in silence, and Devrim turned back to the crowd.
Rage and confusion stirred within Nereyda as the pieces fell together. She should have figured something was up. Devrim had protested when she had worn her modified dress and brought her cutlass to the ball. He hadn’t been upset at her impropriety. He had wanted her vulnerable.
Devrim had known about the impending attack at the ball. That meant that Erhan had been working with Devrim all along, which meant that Devrim wanted the Inquisition to happen. Later, he’d been very quick to send Nereyda away after Goremia. After she returned, he had been distant, especially after the battle for the capital. She had thought he was just excited and anxious.
But betrayal?
“I know it has been a long, hard war,” Devrim called to the crowd as he paced the stage. “I made some mistakes in who I allied with. This pirate has proven herself to be quite a danger to society. You know that from what happened in Goremia, where she destroyed the temple you treasure so much. Even after her hand was severed from her body and you witnessed her death in front of you, she has somehow managed to return to us. Thus, the only way we can be sure to be truly rid of her dangerous presence is to burn her at this stake.”
Limbani padded over to Nereyda and leaned next to her. “Do you have any way out of this?”
Nereyda croaked out a response and shook her head.
“Here’s some water.” Limbani lifted her canteen to Nereyda’s mouth and let her drink the whole thing.
“Thanks,” said Nereyda. “Won’t you get in trouble for this?”
“He’s busy with the crowd. They’ll just think I’m getting you ready. Now, here’s something that might help.”
Limbani reached around Nereyda and slipped something metallic into her hand. Nereyda closed her hand around the object and nodded.
“Thank you.”
Limbani gave her a small smile, then went back to her corner of the platform.
Devrim continued his tirade. “With this demon secured, we can finally move forward with building the sort of nation we want. A nation that doesn’t rely upon the strength of a fallible Emperor or the wicked abilities of someone like this pirate, but a nation that seeks to give everyone a better life and that seeks to be a godly nation. If we seek to make amends with the gods and truly live in harmony with them, they may truly gift us the old abilities. But not if we abide an unholy gift thief as she.”
“Unholy?” Nereyda called out. “I can think of a few unholy things we did in a bedroom not too long ago.”
At the quip, Devrim halted his pacing and stomped up to Nereyda. He leaned over her. “You think this is easy for me?” he asked with a low growl. “I’m doing what I have to do.”
“What you have to do? You don’t have to do anything.” She injected venom into her voice. “Did you plan this all along?”
He hung his head. “Yes . . . and no.”
“Why?”
“I needed something to stoke the anger of the people. If not their anger, then their fear. What better opportunity than a pirate who can shoot lightning? The Inquisition did far more to stir up fear than I could have ever hoped. I could kill you and become a hero. But something unexpected happened. I fell for you.”
“Don’t you dare say that,” she spat. “Not now.”
“That’s why I let you go after Goremia. I didn’t know they’d torture you. Seeing it go so far tore me up inside, so I had to send you away. When everyone thought we had killed you, towns across the Empire flocked to us. Then you had to come back and ruin it all. You don’t know how to lie low, and if anyone figures out you’re with me, all of this will collapse.”
Tears trickled down Nereyda’s cheeks. “So you use me for one last fight, then toss me to the wolves?”
“I can’t let this slip away from me. Not when I’m an inch away.”
“You wouldn’t even be here without me.”
Devrim pulled away from her and glanced toward a couple of people in rebel uniforms with lit torches, then waved to them. The two of them descended the five steps to the ground, though Limbani kept glancing back at Nereyda.
The rebel soldiers stuck their torches under the platform, and a glow spread out underneath Nereyda as flames spread over the straw that had been laid beneath the platform. It wouldn’t be long before the platform itself caught, and she started to cook. Heat emanated from below and sweat trickled down her brow.
Her eyes watered at the sting of hazy smoke. Below, Devrim planted his hands on his hips and watched with a stony face.
With little time to spare, she manipulated the metal object Limbani had given to her. Her fingers traced the shape of a key. She pressed it into the keyhole in the handcuffs and turned. With a click, one of her shackles opened. She slipped her hand out of it and traded the key to the other hand. After she freed the other wrist, the handcuffs clunked down onto the platform.
Devrim appeared unbothered by her efforts to escape.
Flame flickered up through the platform and threatened to engulf her within minutes. The scents of ash and ember drifted among the smoke. Her feet would start cooking at any moment. Her toes involuntarily curled and fidgeted in a futile effort to escape the heat. An odor similar to burnt hair came from her boots as they roasted.
She needed time to escape her ropes.
Nereyda focused on building energy and hunted within for the calm water aspect of her abilities. The heat made it difficult to access that part of her power. The urge to unleash a barrage of lightning sizzled. She shoved that aside in her mind.
Finally, she calmed herself and summoned a pool of water that splashed around her feet. It instantly hissed and turned to vapor, but the heat at her feet subsided for the time being.
Still, after reaching for her abilities, a burst of lightning strained against her mental restraints. She didn’t know why. Maybe the energy of the flames beneath her fueled her own violent nature. It gave her an idea.
“Devrim,” she called over the sizzling flames. Outside of where her pool of water had formed and
calmed the flames, the fire rose almost to her knees.
“What is it?”
“I want to make a deal.”
Devrim scoffed. “A deal? What kind of deal? You’re not in what I’d call a strong bargaining position.”
“Maybe not. But if you don’t cut me loose, I’ll call a lightning storm down on the city.”
“Now I know you’re desperate. I’ve never seen you go so far before.”
“Want to see if I can? You saw me destroy a temple. Can you really believe I won’t do that to this city?”
“Still, that was just one building. One lightning strike. You can’t make a full storm.”
“I haven’t yet, true. But are you sure you want to find out if I can or not? I suppose then we can both know exactly how powerful I am. I still haven’t found my upper limit. Is this the time you want to learn?” Lightning flowed into her hands, and sparks crackled between her fingers.
“It’s a risk I’ll take. Besides, if you do it, it’ll prove me right. Everyone will see the threat you are.”
Storm clouds gathered above the city. Nereyda felt the static that charged the air. Devrim glanced down at the hairs standing up on his arm. “Do it,” he said. “I want to see it.”
Nereyda debated whether she actually wanted to unleash the fury that seemed to sizzle below her surface. She had no idea what would happen if she let it go. She scanned the faces of the crowd. Faces contorted with rage at someone they never knew and had only been told they should hate.
She never had to make a final decision. Limbani leaped onto the platform, dashed over, and sliced through her restraints with one swipe of her saber, then pulled Nereyda from above the flames.
“Limbani,” shouted Devrim, “what are you doing?”
“What I should have done as soon as I saw her up here.”
“After all of this, you turn against me?”
“I’m not the one who betrayed his friends. Come on, Nereyda, let’s go.”
“The ships. They’re the only way out.”
Limbani tugged Nereyda off of the platform, then led the way as they dashed past Devrim and toward a narrow gap in the crowd.