by CK Dawn
The front door exploded. Two of the king’s guards charged in, followed by King Henry, Queen Isis, and Prince Felix. Six guards brought up the rear, armed with hunting daggers.
Clement and Peder bowed to their king. Ashburn bowed slightly with a blank expression. The king’s eyes bulged at the standing Ashburn, who towered over all of them. The queen gasped, and Prince Felix fumed.
With a grim look, King Henry removed his glare from Ashburn to Lucienne and nodded an acknowledgement. “Queen Lucienne, what brought you here at this hour?”
“King Henry,” Lucienne said with a nod, “I was wondering the same about you. My men found Ashburn Fury and brought him back.”
The King touched his mustache in irritation. “You should have reported this to me immediately!”
“You’re out of line! Queen Lucienne reports to no one, and definitely not to your lot,” Kian said coldly. “She’s still your benefactor. The coats you and your guards are wearing are from the queen’s pockets. Don’t provoke her or she will dethrone you.”
The king’s lips thinned. He avoided looking at Kian. “I meant that my subjects—the Furys should have reported to me immediately.”
Clement and Peder told the king in trembling voices that Queen Lucienne’s men found their son half buried in the snow at the feet of the mountains.
“Ashburn the Extra, where is the gods’ magic box you stole?” Prince Felix demanded.
Lucienne watched how Ashburn responded. She knew if he was convicted of stealing the box, the entire Fury family would be executed.
Ashburn answered with his hands shoved into his pocket, “Your Royal Highness has mistaken me as a thief and a criminal, but I’m neither. I’ve never taken anything that’s not mine.”
“If you didn’t steal the magic box, then where did the gods’ light go?” the prince asked.
“Good question, Your Highness,” Ashburn said, his dark brows creasing. “But I do not have the answer you’re seeking. By the way, what does the gods’ magic box look like?”
“You tell me!” the prince shouted.
“Sorry, Your Highness,” Ashburn said. “I’ve never seen one. How can I tell you? It is said only the royal family has seen it.”
“He’s tricking us, Father.” Prince Felix gritted his teeth. “This peasant is playing us!”
“I have no love for games, Your Highness,” Ashburn said.
“You’re the biggest liar I’ve ever known!” Prince Felix pulled out a long leather whip from his belt.
The prince’s whip is as inferior as its owner, Lucienne thought. She sent Kian a look telling him not to interfere. She wouldn’t miss an opportunity to keep testing Ashburn. She needed to know his limits.
Ashburn looked coolly at the whip.
Clement threw herself before Ashburn, crying. “Don’t punish my son, Your Highness. Whip me, please. It’s all my fault.”
Peder knelt. “Don’t hurt my wife and my son, Your Majesty, Your Highness. Please whip my back. I deserve it.”
Ashburn herded his parents behind him. “Let me handle this. If they dare lay a finger on you—” The veins on his temples jumped. Lucienne noticed black flames forming at Ashburn’s fingertips, the same black lightning emitted by the Eye of Time when it burned her lab during a test.
“The more the merrier.” With a sneer, Prince Felix raised his whip.
Before Ashburn could act, Lucienne cut between the Furys and the prince. In a heartbeat, her steel whip was out. It slashed in an arc, slitting the prince’s whip and leaving only the handle in his hand.
Prince Felix opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. “My whip!”
“Manners, prince,” Lucienne said. Her anger was fueled even more, seeing the image in the malicious brat’s mind. Ashburn’s back was crisscrossed with whipping scars from previous encounters with the prince.
Her whip pitched in the air with a hiss, yanking a dagger from a guard standing behind the king. Lucienne shook the whip loose and the dagger flapped in midair. Flailing wildly, it could drop on and stab just about anyone in the room.
The king and queen ducked under the table and screamed for their son to follow suit. The guards staggered back toward the door. Lucienne’s warriors remained unmoved.
Prince Felix darted toward the table, but Lucienne tripped him with a leg. Falling backwards on the floor, the prince’s green eyes stared at the dagger plummeting toward his face in absolute terror. He screamed.
The queen joined the screaming.
The king shouted, “My son!” and darted out from under the table. He pushed a guard toward the falling dagger as a human shield, but the guard was too heavy to be thrown on top of the prince.
Peder and Clement looked petrified. Ashburn watched Lucienne with an unreadable expression. When the blade was a mere two feet from the prince’s face, the whip caught it and lifted it sharply. The whip flung the dagger toward a side wall. Its tip pierced the wood frame of a window, its blade shuddering.
Pride and admiration displayed on the face of each and every one of Lucienne’s warriors.
“You’re getting better every day,” Kian said in an Irish dialect. “Soon, you’ll catch up with me.”
“You think?” Lucienne smiled at him, then turned to King Henry with an icy expression. “If anyone interferes with the gods’ affairs again, the gods won’t be this merciful. Finding the magic box is my mission, and Ashburn Fury is assigned by the gods to assist me. Anyone who touches him or his folks will have to answer to me. Do you understand?” She scanned the royal family and their guards, still in shock.
The prince had wet his pants. A guard escorted him to the bathroom. The queen stared at her son’s figure with concern before shooting Lucienne a venomous look.
Lucienne glanced at Ashburn. The black flame had vanished from his fingertips, his eyes now mercury silver. Lucienne let out an audible sigh of relief. She had managed to contain the lightning inside the bottle. She couldn’t afford to let the world know about Ashburn Fury’s power. His gifts needed to remain classified.
“If the boy didn’t steal the gods’ magic box, how does the Furys house have the gods’ light while no one else does?” Queen Isis asked, loud enough to let the words carry to the islanders gathered outside the door. “The people of Nirvana must know!”
The queen was tightening a noose around Ashburn’s neck.
“The Priestess speaks well!” shouted King Henry. “Ashburn Fury must have stolen the gods’ magic box and fooled Queen Lucienne!”
He was returning the favor by calling her a fool.
Curses and yelling rumbled from the crowd outside, echoing in the Fury house and rattling the windows. Torches moved up and down, casting menacing shadows onto the group through the windows.
If Lucienne couldn’t dissolve this crisis quickly, a riot would break out. Her men would have to open fire on the natives. Blood would be shed, and all her efforts at keeping peace would fall by the wayside. Lucienne rubbed two of her fingers against her temple. “King Henry and Queen Isis,” she addressed, “there’s a scientific explanation. This is the gods’ will—”
“Your Majesty,” Ashburn cut in with a voice loud enough for the mob outside to hear, “when Queen Isis referred to the light in my house, the gods’ message released itself from my locked memory. The gods have a message for all the citizens of Nirvana.”
The crowd became so quiet that even the sound of a leaf fluttering in the wind could be heard. The king and queen shared a dark look.
“I’m the gods’ priestess,” the queen announced. “The gods’ message will come through me, not through an unworthy, lowly boy like you!”
This had gone from bad to worse. Dread churned in Lucienne’s stomach, but she was ready to do what was necessary. She threw Kian a warning look, and he nodded. There was no way out for Ashburn. When the riot broke, she and Kian would hold the royal family hostage in order to force the mob back off. She knew that her men might have to shoot a few extremists to
set an example.
“This message came through me,” Ashburn said. “Otherwise, why would the gods have brought me back? The Book says anyone who crossed Hell Gate hasn’t ever come back alive. But the gods let the outsiders find me, so they could fulfill their obligations to the gods.” His voice boomed louder. “The light in my house is only the first sign. The gods will bring light to the whole kingdom in exactly one minute.”
He was creating a bigger mess. Lucienne looked ruefully at the sheen of sweat appearing on Ashburn’s forehead. She shouldn’t have allowed him to talk in the first place. But then a realization hit her—he might just pull it off.
“If the gods’ light doesn’t return in the next few seconds, you’ll be hanged!” Before the king could finish the last word, the lights inside the Fury house exploded, blinding everyone. As the light in the house dimmed again to accommodate the human eye, outside, lights were flicking on steadily all over town, and soon everything was lit up like a Christmas tree.
The crowd shouted boisterous cheers. Everyone in the Fury house rushed outside, staring in awe at the magnificent light shimmering from every household. Nirvana was bathed in glorious light once again.
Everyone had forgotten about Ashburn, except Lucienne. She removed her gaze from the light and the town and looked at him, and he gazed back. His sculptured beauty made her chest tight with a yearning she didn’t want to feel. It was different than the longing she had for Vladimir. It felt right with Vladimir, and yet they couldn’t have each other, at least for now. The pining toward this new boy felt wrong, but she still couldn’t tear her eyes and thoughts away from him. Her blood rushed; her breath shortened, but Lucienne forced herself to stay where she was, fighting her body’s impulse to diminish the space between them.
Violet had come out of the basement, standing beside Ashburn. She followed his sightline.
In the midst of this miraculous event, Lucienne and Ashburn only had eyes for each other.
“Ash!” Violet cried urgently. “Ash!”
As if breaking the surface of the water, Ashburn rasped. He turned to Violet. “What is it, Violet?” He smiled at her, but it was a troubled one.
Violet whirled Ashburn around and turned his back toward Lucienne. “You fixed it, Ash, just as you promised. You can do anything. We don’t need anyone.”
Lucienne was relieved the redhead had broken the spell. She walked away from them. The snuffed-out torches were piled everywhere. The citizens of Nirvana were laughing and dancing. Their joy was contagious, but Lucienne was in a world of her own.
Then Violet’s voice cried amid the crowd. “Ashburn is blessed! The gods made him walk again.”
Lucienne snapped her head toward Violet, who stood alone atop a stone bench at the border of the front yard. Where is Ashburn? Lucienne looked around.
Violet cupped her hands before her mouth. “The gods let Ash bring back the light! He’s no longer an Extra. He’s a valuable citizen!”
Idiot! Lucienne stormed toward the redhead to stop her. Violet felt so threatened by her that the girl would do anything to prove her worth to her boyfriend, but this was the worst time to bring the volatile mob’s attention to Ashburn.
“The gods’ light went out only when Ashburn the Extra stole the magic box!” the prince screamed to make himself heard, but his objection was drowned out by Violet’s high-pitched voice, “Ashburn is blessed! LET THE GODS BLESS US ALL THROUGH HIM!”
When Lucienne was ten yards away from Violet, she felt the familiar energy pulsing around her. She turned toward the pull and saw Ashburn walking intently toward her and Violet. He must want to stop the girl, too.
A fellow near her cried, “Look! Ashburn the blessed!” Then more fingers pointed at him, followed by more cries of “The blessed!” Like sharks in a feeding frenzy, the crowd swarmed toward Ashburn, hands stretching out to touch him in order to get a piece of the gods’ blessings.
Kian and his men moved, blocking the mob from reaching Lucienne and Ashburn, but wave after wave bore down on the flesh wall of the warriors with a unified purpose: touch Ashburn and be blessed.
The human wave broke through the warriors’ defense line.
“Get into the house!” Lucienne shouted at Ashburn several feet away. As she moved toward the Fury’s house, she found Clement and Peder cowering behind her.
“Follow me,” she told them.
Peder and Clement stumbled after Lucienne toward their house. Ashburn fought to get to his parents and drew near. He and Lucienne shielded Peder and Clement as best they could. Peder, Clement, and Lucienne reached the house, where Lucienne pushed the door, only to find it locked. Peder tried it, and the blood rushed from his face. “It’s bolted from the inside.”
Lucienne glanced at a side window. Prince Felix wiggled a finger at her, smirking. Lucienne tried to kick the door open, but the crowd was on them, surrounding Ashburn, a few feet away from her.
Lucienne looked around. Her warriors, who were unsuccessful in warding off the descending bodies, were more than ten feet away. Even if she opened the door, the mob would follow the Furys in, and Ashburn would have no place to run.
“Go! Go!” Lucienne shoved Ashburn’s parents to the side of the house, out of the mob’s way. She now faced the thickest line of the crowd and became the only obstacle on their path toward Ashburn. They crushed against her, ramming her away. Lucienne staggered, struggling not to be stamped by the mob. Ashburn called her name amid the noises, hands reaching for her, but the crowd separated them further, and the vultures instantly fell on him.
“They’re going to tear him apart!” Violet screamed. “I said blessing, not tearing!”
All because of your big mouth! Lucienne thought furiously. She pushed a big man out of the way. Taking advantage of the momentum and the space she gained, Lucienne used him and another man as a hoist to leap up. In a second, she landed on the fellow’s shoulders, ignoring his fierce protest. Lucienne pulled out her Armatix pistol and shot into the air. Another shot hit the side window of the Fury house where the prince stood watching in fascination. The prince jumped back with a yelp.
The sounds of the shots and the shattering glass got the mob’s attention.
Seizing that second when the crowd froze in motion, Lucienne shouted, “Back off! Or I’ll blow your brains out!” and trudged on top of their heads toward Ashburn, her whip slashing the hands that tried to grab her or throw her.
Amid the curses, Lucienne reached Ashburn’s side, whipping anyone still grabbing at Ashburn. “I’ll turn your blessing into a nightmare if you don’t leave him alone!”
Cursing furiously, the mob started to scatter, stomping on each other in the process. Ashburn shoved off two middle-aged women. Though his clothes were torn, Ashburn didn’t seem injured. Lucienne also noticed the absence of the black electricity at his fingertips. He’s kind and disciplined. But Lucienne believed he’d definitely fry the mob if his parents were in danger.
After Lucienne cleared the path for Ashburn, she spotted King Henry huddled with his guards on the clearing where the crowd was thin. She snapped her whip at the king. “Order your people to leave the Fury house. Anger the gods and they will take away the light again.”
“Leave the Fury house. All of you!” the king yelled. “Leave! Now!”
The guards shouted, “The king has spoken. All who stay will be put in the dungeon!”
The frenzy had departed the crowd, and they moved away from the Fury house, carrying their wounded with them.
Kian’s men helped the trembling Peder and Clement up. Peder’s hand was bleeding; Clement had some bruises on her cheeks.
Ashburn ran to his parents’ side, shaking in fury. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t protect you well.”
Peder and Clement looked only relieved to see their son unharmed.
Kian looked Lucienne over. She gestured that she was all right. He then turned to Ashburn. “My medics are on the way. They’ll tend to your parents.”
As Ashbur
n looked for Violet, she ran toward him.
“Are you all right?” he asked her.
Violet nodded. “I tried to come to you, but I couldn’t get to you in time. Everyone went mad. Did those barbarians hurt you?”
Ashburn shook his head and said darkly. “They injured my father’s hand. My mother has some bruises, too.” Then he darted his eyes toward Lucienne. “You’re hurt.” There was unmistakable concern in his voice.
“I’m fine,” Lucienne said. “But thank you.”
“You’re not fine. There’s blood on your pants,” Ashburn said. “You need to get checked, too.”
“That’s not my blood,” Lucienne said.
“What about the scratches on your left shoulder?” Ashburn asked.
She did feel slight burning there, but how did he know? Her collar covered it.
“Lucienne?” Kian asked anxiously, walking toward her.
“Just some scratches, Kian.”
“They’re not just some scratches,” Kian said. “They could become infected.” He pulled out his radio and ordered the medics to speed up.
“You’re worse than Vladimir.” Lucienne shook her head, remembering when Vladimir had a gash above his eyebrow and Kian said, “A small wound is nothing for a warrior.”
Then she saw a strange light flickering in Ashburn’s eyes as he heard her mention Vladimir. She held his gaze for a moment and pulled hers away before the heat burned the fuse.
Violet watched, her green eyes turning the shade of a dark, menacing forest.
Prince Felix opened the door and sauntered out of the Fury house, stretching his limbs and yawning. “It’s a shame I missed all the excitement.”
“You’re a piece of work, prince,” Lucienne said.
“Back at you, Queen Lucienne.” Prince Felix smirked, then cringed, probably recalling how she had humiliated him, but then he grinned again. “I’d have opened the door for you if you weren’t with Ashburn the Extra.” He looked at her boldly. “In fact, I’d do just about anything for you. You’re the most fine-looking girl I’ve ever seen.”
Vladimir would beat the crap out of this brat if he were here, Lucienne thought, but she didn’t want to bother with the prince right now. She turned away from the blond boy, only to find Ashburn glaring at the psychopath. A dark storm rolled inside Ashburn’s eyes.