by T. Z. Leigh
Jamie laughed. "So Voklav hates you for it?"
"Yes, but also because I never chose him for a husband. He assumed that I was just going through a phase, that once I had gotten over Qayto, I would marry him."
"Why didn't you?"
"Because he had changed. He wasn't the same kind, calm skryt I grew up with, but suddenly short-tempered, always angry, cruel to those around him. That was probably my fault, but I had to make a decision that was best for my District. Whoever I chose as a husband would need to be suitable for a royal position…and he wasn't."
"Holding a life-long grudge is quite extreme, though."
"I know, I don't understand why the bitterness in his heart lasted for as long as it did. I guess we'll never know."
"So, did Qayto like you too?"
Teselda smiled. "He always denied it to anyone who asked, though I knew differently."
"It's good you found a decent husband after all that drama."
"Yes. Fyzer is something else. I've never met a man so compassionate. It took him longer than me to adjust after we sent our daughter away."
"It must have been the hardest thing in the world for all of you to do. Especially after…" she discontinued the sentence when she saw Teselda's eyes turn to glass. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."
"Sweetheart, they were our children, but they were also your parents. It's hard for us all to deal with what happened."
"Did Sven tell you that Zara knew? That she never forgot you?"
"Was that her name in the Sewasphere? It suits her…and yes, he told me. I still have trouble believing it. It seems like quite a lot went on that no one knew about." After some hesitation, she asked, "Do you object to me reading your memory? I would love to see her, even if it is only in a vision."
"Of course not."
Her eyes became unfocused as she stared at Jamie, and after thirty seconds, tears began to fall. "She's beautiful…they all are…I wish I could show Ryor, Ana, and Qayto how beautiful and strong their children were."
After a couple of minutes, Teselda's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"What's wrong?"
"I know why you can't remember anything about it...about them."
"Why can't I?"
"My daughter erased certain memories from your conscious mind. How could she accomplish that, especially in the Sewasphere?"
"Voklav and another guy could use their abilities there. Why not her?"
Impossibly, Teselda's eyebrows creased even more as she narrowed her eyes, speculating, before retreating from the vision.
"Yes, I suppose you're right. Come, let's head back. Sunrise is due soon."
"Sven told us to stay at the back near you and Qayto as we travel to the prison, but where will he be?"
"He will be at the front, leading the way."
Jamie didn't like the idea at all. It must have been apparent in her expression.
"What's the matter, sweetheart?"
"I don't want him to suffer again. We were in that prison together, I heard him screaming from his cell. I don't want to lose him."
"The times when he had been captured, he was on his own. This time, we are all together to protect each other, so don't worry about him."
"I suppose."
"Things will work out like you said, you'll see."
Jamie smiled, but as much as she ignored everything else, she couldn't ignore the disconcerting feeling she was suddenly getting about the mission they were preparing to go on.
Chapter Thirty-One
Zachery trekked across the dusty plain as the sun rose in the pink and orange sky. Fifty skryts and people, men and women, all marched with noble purpose. They each had a small bag on their back with water and food inside. The majority of them had guns resting at their hips, though some had scabbards holding long shiny swords and what looked like metal eggs attached to their belts.
"What are those things?" Zachery asked Katrine, motioning to the eggs on her belt.
"Bombs," she replied. "You throw them and they explode on impact."
"Like a grenade?"
"If you say so."
"Why doesn't it explode on your belt? Is it kept inside a casing, like the komal stone?"
"Yes, just like that."
"Instead of a sword, why don't you use a gun? Wouldn't it be simpler?"
"Just the veteran soldiers are skilled enough to use guns, so only once a soldier has proven themselves do they get one. I heard about you three rescuing Jamie. How do you know how to use a gun, anyway? Were you a soldier in the Sewasphere?"
"No. I took shooting lessons a year and a half ago, and I was quite good at it, actually. I'm glad I did. Otherwise, it might not have gone so smoothly."
"So, you're a natural, huh? I'm jealous. It took me a long time to develop my fighting skills."
"It must have been something you really wanted then, if you stuck with it."
"It was, and still is. My father fought in the war, although not in combat. He was a spy, one of the best too. He fooled Irisena for a long time, longer than the others did, anyway."
"I'm sensing a 'but' coming."
"He was discovered after Teselda penetrated the protective barrier around the castle, one of Irisena's headquarters in the Shadateen Nation where he was stationed. Ten enchantments were protecting the castle, three of which he didn't know about beforehand, so the chances of her entering without any insider help was zero. She was rescued by Ryor after my father helped him gain entry. After that, Irisena tried to sift out the traitor…and they did, but he escaped. He lived in Dolatica for many years, afraid to travel in case he was found. My brother and I were born there. Sixteen years ago, his best friend wanted to go to Mezatica and asked my father to join him; he said he needed his help. My father went, thinking it would be safe after so many years. Turns out, he wasn't as good a friend as my father thought. He sold him out to Irisena like he was a piece of meat and claimed a reward. They killed him."
Zachery looked at Katrine and expected to see grief or tears in her eyes, but saw neither. He saw only pure hatred; burning, spiralling, causing her eyes to glisten under the pinkish glow of the sky.
"I'm sorry, Katrine."
"Honestly, for eight years, I hated you."
"Me?" he questioned, raising his eyebrows.
"The four of you, your parents, your grandparents. Teselda managed to save your parents, hence you four, but at what cost? You were all safe, leaving my father to die."
"You know our parents were all killed too, and we only found out about all this a couple of sewian months ago, right?"
"I know. I felt that way for the first eight years. After that, my head started to clear, and I realised it needed to be done. My father always spoke of the rulers with respect and admiration. He saw it as an honour to serve with them. If he trusted them and believed they were virtuous skryts, then it must be true. He never complimented anyone unnecessarily. That's why I wanted to become a soldier, so I could finish what he started. And if I succeed in ridding the world of Jedsen, all the better."
"Is that who killed him?"
"Yes."
"I'm sure Sam feels the same way. Jedsen killed someone he was really close to in the Sewasphere, turning them into a tesrar."
"That's not really killing them, is it?"
"It might as well be. Once a tesrar, they're not really human anymore."
"If he can change a human into a tesrar, what makes you think he can't change them back?"
Zachery stopped abruptly. That hadn't occurred to him before, and now a weight dropped in his stomach at the thought. He looked to see where Sam was and saw him further ahead with Qayto. He was too far to have heard what Katrine said, and it was probably better that way.
"Sam can't know about that...it'll only complicate things."
"Okay, but you will have to tell him at some point, or another Dolat might end up mentioning it."
"If they do, then so be it. But there's no need to pointlessly stress Sam out, not
with everything else going on."
"True."
"If you don't mind me asking, how old are you exactly? You don't look much older than me."
"I'm seventy-four."
"So in the Sewasphere, you'd be…"He paused to do the calculations, "…like, eighteen."
"Yes," she replied, then sighed.
"What?"
"Nothing…it's just…seventy-five is the typical marrying age here. But I don't want to, at least not yet."
"It's your choice if you do or not."
"I know, although it's an expectation in our village for women to marry at that age. My mother is already looking for a suitor," she said with a dramatic eye roll.
He laughed. "I'm sure she'll understand sooner or later that you'll get married when you want to, not when she wants you to."
"Hopefully, though I doubt it," she smiled. "Where's Jamie, by the way? You two are usually inseparable."
"She keeps running around in a kirosko, so Qayto and Teselda don't realise what she's doing."
"Dare I ask?"
"She's worried about Sven being up front, says she has a bad feeling about something."
"She's probably just anxious about Ryor."
"No, I don't think so. She's usually right about these sorts of things."
"You would know her best, I suppose."
"If she doesn't show up soon, I'll have to tell Teselda. There's no way I'm chancing anything bad happening to her again."
As if on cue, Jamie appeared from the side behind Qayto and Teselda and walked casually towards Zachery.
"You took your time; I was about to send a search party to look for you," he murmured, then kissed her cheek, smiling as they carried on walking.
"A Shadateen must have seen me and decided to tell Sven," she explained, rolling her eyes light-heartedly. "so I've been listening to his lecture for the past fifteen minutes."
"Well, good," he replied, then laughed when Jamie glared at him. "Maybe you'll actually listen to him and stay near us from now on."
"Maybe…okay, I will," she added, after Zachery shot her a stern glance.
"The Dark Arch isn't far, so we must stay close to the group and in clusters of three or four anyway," Katrine said.
"What is that?" Jamie asked.
"The entrance to the series of tunnels that will lead us to their headquarters. And yes, it is dangerous, so in each cluster there must be a Mezat, in case the walls start to cave in."
"Lovely," he said, his voice full of sarcasm.
The group had gathered before approaching the Dark Arch. They were still a fair distance away, although Sam wondered why he couldn't see any entrance to the tunnels. A 'dark arch' presumably was the main feature in the mountainside, yet only the steep, rocky surface that led to the mountain's peak was visible. Everyone had been sorted into sets of three or four. Jamie, Zachery and Qayto were chosen to travel together in one set with Sam, April and Teselda in another.
"Are you sure I'm ready?" Sam asked Qayto quietly, not wanting anyone to hear his hesitance in being a defender of a set.
"You are. Don't doubt yourself; you are more than ready."
"Okay," he responded, tilting his chin up and striding away to join April and Teselda before Qayto spotted the uncertainty in his eyes.
"We will wait for the other soldiers to go through, then our two sets will enter last," Teselda told him.
"Why do we have to go after everyone else?" Jamie chimed in from behind.
"Because we do not know what awaits us at the other end. It's safer for you at the back," she replied. Jamie glared at the floor, so Teselda smiled at her. "As I told you earlier, Jamie, don't worry about Sven. The four Masters are with him, and except for Ryor, Ana, Qayto and I, they're the best of the best. They will all be fine," she explained.
"Besides," Qayto added as he approached them, "you should be more worried about yourself. The journey through the tunnels can be fatal, so don't assume you will go unscathed."
"Such comforting words, Qayto, thank you," Zachery said drily.
Teselda's gaze was laced with affection and amusement, even though her voice was bland, flitting to Qayto as she spoke.
"Mezats are not known for subtlety," she said, before smiling at Zachery.
Qayto cleared his throat. "We must press forward. Half of the soldiers have already entered."
Apart from Qayto and Sam, who were already facing the tunnel entrance's direction, they all turned to join the queue of remaining skryts. Qayto touched the back of his hand to Sam's chest, winked at him, then grinned self-satisfactorily before walking off. Sam grinned too…it seemed being slick was in his genes.
The Dark Arch had appeared at fifty feet. Finally, April was convinced that she had underestimated how dangerous this journey would be. The arch was twice her size and pitch black within, sunlight failing to penetrate an invisible barrier. Dense fog billowed outwards at the rim, spilling out onto the rock wall then vanishing after a couple of seconds.
"You brought a light with you, I hope?" April said to Teselda, now thirty feet away with only Qayto's set left in front of them.
"We won't need one," she replied cryptically.
April didn't bother to comment further as Jamie and Zachery disappeared through the ominous opening. April heard their loud gasps for a second before the tunnel fell instantly silent again. Her heart knocked against her rib cage as she felt herself slowly moving closer and closer to the entrance. She willed time to move slower, but the five minutes they had to wait until entering seemed more like five seconds. Nerves forced her to grab Sam's hand as they stood behind Teselda, although she regretted it a second later. Sam's hand was slippery with sweat, so she knew he was as scared as she was, watching Teselda disappear into the darkness. April prepared to be encompassed by black nothingness, but was stunned when she entered and saw what lay ahead.
Teselda stood waiting six feet in front of them. "I told you we wouldn't need a light."
She was right, and April would have been bothered by the eerie, greenish hue that partially lit up the passageway if she wasn't transfixed on what was lighting their way. An intricate ecosystem of bioluminescent foliage ran along the tunnel's crown. Beautiful flowers, like those found in the forests of Mezatica, interwoven with stalks and vines, were suspended in one of nature's most awe-inspiring masterpieces.
"Come, we must hurry. We can't keep the others waiting needlessly on the other side."
Teselda walked away briskly and April followed, glancing at the plants above them every so often. She saw Sam scanning the tunnel almost constantly. She became even more anxious and leaned in close, squeezing his arm.
"I'm scared," she whispered in his ear.
"Don't be," he said, smiling at her in reassurance.
She smiled back, suddenly feeling a little more relaxed, though in doing so, missed the silent movement among the vines.
Chapter Thirty-Two
"Come on, Qayto, you know you want to," Jamie hounded him quietly.
They had shadowed him down many passages, all alike in appearance. For the past five minutes, she had been bugging him to come clean about what the situation was between him and Teselda when they were young. Just for fun.
"I refuse to answer such a ridiculous question," he replied for the fifth time.
"That's a shame," she conceded, as convincingly as possible. "I thought it would be as interesting as what she told me."
He suddenly squared his shoulders as he walked, and Jamie knew she had him.
"It sounded like an exciting story," she added, a sly smile spreading across her face as she looked at Zachery.
"What did she tell you?" Qayto asked, his voice tense.
Zachery smiled sideways at her, clearly impressed that she had managed to break through Qayto's wall of cool.
"Well, it wouldn't be fair to tell you, would it? Especially since you haven't told me your side of it."
After a minute of silence, Jamie presumed he might not divulge any details. She t
hought of something to add to her provocation, but then he began to talk…
"I met her when we were young. I don't know if she told you this, but she and Voklav were very close."
"She did," Jamie told him.
"They were annoyingly inseparable, and he must have realised I was attracted to her because he hated me from the beginning. Initially, I travelled to the Solkateen District with my father after discovering a possible uprising from an unknown group, obviously Irisena in the making. It was apparently forming in various areas of the District, as the leader was a Solkateen, so my father had to meet with Teselda's to discuss the situation. I complained when he requested that I join him, but he said it would be good for me to see another part of the Skrytosphere, and didn't give me much of a choice. However, when I met Teselda, I was happy he had done so. Not only was she beautiful, but tenacious and flirtatious too. I guess we were both overconfident in that respect, so the spark between us was almost instant."
Qayto's words were rolling off his tongue, as if he had been waiting a long time to reveal his story.
"My father and I ended up staying in the District for eight months so that the rulers could gather as much information as possible on the rebel group. In the meantime, Teselda and I became engrossed with each other. We didn't know then that a relationship between us was unobtainable. Despite finding out that we couldn't be together, whenever I visited the District, we met every evening by this one riverbank that had a cluster of palm trees on either side to shield us from prying eyes. We were foolish, but what do you expect from young skryts? One evening, I plucked up the courage to kiss her, which she reciprocated. However, the following evening, I waited for hours, but she never came, so I assumed that she had regretted it. When I returned to my living quarters, my father was waiting for me with fury. Our parents had somehow found out about the kiss and planned to send me back to Mezatica the following morning. I couldn't leave without seeing her one last time, so once he had fallen asleep, I left."
His voice was now sorrowful and guilt consumed Jamie for making him relive such unhappy memories.
"The glass spider had shut down for the night, so I used one of the trees I had broken earlier that day to climb up to her room. As I jumped over the balcony, she was there, sitting on the floor, crying. She found out that Voklav," he hissed his name, "had been spying on us and told her mother. It was an almost unbearable moment, saying goodbye. Not an ultimate goodbye, but one that would render our young love obsolete. I saw her years later after we were both married. I loved my wife to the ends of the planet, I really did…but for a long while, it just wasn't comparable, no matter how much I wanted it to be. I guess some loves, especially ones that are unresolved, are always distinct in the feelings they bring to those concerned." He stopped speaking and was silent, contemplating. "Did that match what she told you?"