by Leah Putz
“Viktor!” I screamed, trying to rush to his side but finding my feet too heavy to move. I glanced down at them, trying to figure out what was wrong and when I looked up, I saw the sorcerer grinning at me, pleased with his spell.
Gritting my teeth in rage, I focused my attention solely on my feet. If he can do this with magic, I can undo it with magic. My body felt like it was vibrating with energy, and I imagined all of that energy pooling at the bottom of my feet, and peeling them up from the ground. As I pictured this in my head, I physically attempted to lift my feet as well. While it didn’t work completely, I felt myself move slightly, and that was enough to encourage me. I had the sorcerer’s attention, he was focused solely trying to keep me in one place and clearly growing frustrated that I was fighting back somewhat successfully. I tried several more times, and each time moved slightly more, until I was fully in control of my body once more.
In the meantime, Viktor had continued towards Siglind despite his injury. While I had the sorcerer’s attention, the two had begun sparing.
“I thought you were just an empath!” the sorcerer sneered as I approached. “How did you escape my spell?”
“Light magic always overcomes dark,” I replied. “And I am of the Manyeo bloodline.” I said, dropping my family’s name as the symbol of natural, pure magic.
His face paled and his eyes went wide, and I knew my family’s powerful reputation had somehow crossed borders to become legend in not just Doctsland. I raised Gaisgea, and imagined the sword lifting a clear protective barrier over myself to shield me from his spells.
But he was too powerful. Just as I was in range to strike him, a spell snaked through my magic and around my neck. I was forcefully raised and then slammed into the ground by an invisible force and held there, as I felt the air being squeezed from my lungs.
I knew by the time I was able to conjure up a counter spell I would be dead, so it was up to a physical attack. Gaisgea, which had clattered to the ground in my struggle, was laying off to the side, just barely out of reach. Remembering the dagger, I quickly reached down and yanked it from my boot, slicing my own leg in the process, though I cared not. Once it was free, I slashed at the sorcerer’s ankle, cutting into the back of his heel. The spell was broken at once and I gasped for air.
I grabbed Gaisgea and scrambled to my feet, preparing for another attack. The sorcerer had dropped to his knees, appearing weak, but I had been hunting enough with Jion by this point to know that a wounded animal was often the most dangerous.
He flung another spell at me, and this time I felt tendrils wrap around my sword arm, turning it until the point of the blade was facing me. I gripped the hilt with both hands, fighting against it with all my strength, physical and mental. I was panicked, failing, the blade was inching closer and closer to my chest as sweat was dripping from my eyes. Gritting my teeth, I closed my eyes and mustered up everything I possibly could, shooting it from me like a blast. He fell back, and my arms were released just as the blade was beginning to scratch my armor.
“If you’re going to kill me, use your magic. I refuse to die like a common soldier.” He spat the word.
I stood over him, and held Gaisgea to his throat. “As I said, I am of the Manyeo bloodline. And we do not use magic to harm.” He was dangerous, and I knew I needed to kill him before he did more damage, but it was difficult to kill a man on his knees before me who seemed defenseless, though I knew he was anything but.
His eyes darted to the side and my dagger, which I had dropped after cutting his heel, lifted from the ground and came hurtling towards me. The attack forced me to act quickly, putting aside my thoughts and feelings I stuck him with Gaisgea, killing him instantly. The dagger clattered to the ground. Frozen, I tried to comprehend what had happened and catch my breath from the fight.
“Vik!” Siofra’s agonized wail thawed me, and I jerked my head in her direction. She was rushing across the room, and I followed her direction with my eyes and was horrified by what I saw.
Our Prince had sunk to his knees, and Siglind was pulling his sword from a bloody wound in Viktor’s chest, and smiling. He turned. “You may have taken my city, but now I have taken you ‘Prince.’” The word was venomous, and anger unlike any I had ever felt welled inside me like a blaze.
Jion, who had a long deep cut across his cheek, had joined Siofra in her mad dash towards Siglind. The two of them together were horrifying in their anger, and I couldn’t imagine being on the receiving end of it. They crashed into Siglind with force, and the battle between the three of them was like a tornado, whipping around the room.
Captivated, I stood in shock and watched as Siglind was somehow staving off blows from the two fiercest warriors I had ever seen. They danced a deadly jig, no one able to make contact with their opponents.
And once it did happen, it was if in slow motion. Siglind was the first to connect, with a hard strike to Siofra’s stomach that sunk his blade deep into her. Blood bubbled up from her mouth, spilling onto her chin as Jion roared and attacked Siglind with renewed force and even more aggression, if possible.
I glanced around, trying frantically to find Lura and hoping that she could help to control her wild-eyed younger brother. She was locked in a heated battle with two Nulian guards, despite the fact that she was frantically looking over at Vik and Siglind every chance she got. Seeing Jion and Siofra rush at Siglind seemed to enforce her with renewed effort, and she quickly dispatched her opponents and rushed over into the fray swirling around her brother.
“Siglind! Stop this! You cannot win. Surrender. The people of Bushand, and of Doctsland, merely want their freedom. They will be kind,” she pleaded, trying to reason with him as he fought against Jion desperately.
He roared back at his sister, moving to attack her as well as Jion. “You’re just saying that because you want my crown. You always have. Everyone is after what is rightfully mine: Bushand and Doctsland!”
Knowing I could not help them, I turned my attention to Viktor and found that despite his injuries, he was crawling over to where Jion and Siglind continued to fight. His sword was held tightly in his grasp and once he was close to the battle, he pushed himself up on his feet as I gaped in amazement at his fortitude.
Siglind must have sensed his presence, for he turned suddenly, orange hair whipping around, and shock was written on his features as he found himself face to face with the Prince. Viktor used his moment of shock to his advantage, and without hesitation he stabbed our enemy. “We have taken your city, and you will not take Doctsland, or its king,” Viktor sneered venomously, pulling the sword from Siglind’s abdomen and swiping across his neck, killing him before collapsing himself.
Lura collapsed next to her brother, sobbing and pulling him into her lap. My heart went out to her, sensing her agony and loss even through my walls, but I was overwhelmed myself with panic for Viktor.
Scrambling over to him, I frantically checked his wounds and tried to get him to wake up, to no avail. A million things passed through my mind as Prince Viktor lay dying before me, but one thought was more powerful than the others. “Vik, you cannot die,” I whispered, cradling his blood and sweat smeared face in my hands. “I love you.”
Chapter Sixteen
Lisalya
It was difficult to feel much joy, despite our success. Doctsland was free of its threat, Bushand was free from tyranny. But the cost was so great, and I felt it heavy in my soul as I watched the wrapped body of my friend slip into the sea, to an everlasting and honorable grave with the Kelps.
Sniffling, I wiped at my tears and turned to Jion. “Could we not have brought her home? To bury her on Doctsland soil? Does she not deserve that much? To be laid to rest in the country she died for?”
His face was covered with the track marks of his own tears. “Her body would not keep for the long journey home. You’re right, she deserves to be buried at home. We could not and would not lay her to rest here on foreign soil. The sea is a fitting end for a soldier of Doctsl
and. Siofra would be happy to have it as her final resting place.”
I looked to Viktor for reassurance. He had been inconsolable when he was finally well enough to understand our loss. By that point Jion and I had had some time to process, as well as being preoccupied with the prince and his recovery. For Viktor, the pain was still a bit more fresh. Rather than give me a verbal reply, he simply nodded before stalking back to his cabin.
After our victory, a long council had been held by the people of Bushand, attended by leaders from nearly every town and village in the country to decide a course of action for their future. Having had enough of a dictatorship, they decided to elect their next leader, and in a wonderful twist of fate Merek and Lura tied in the vote and they decided to rule Bushand together as a team. One of their first orders of business as new rulers was to order a ship made as a gift to Viktor, their way of saying thank you for our efforts in securing freedom for their country.
It was on that very ship that we made our bittersweet journey home. Thankfully it was much less eventful than our way to Bushand, though what it lacked in adventure it made up for in melancholy. It was merely a few weeks before we were once more approaching Loch, and although I’d only been away from home for a couple of months, it felt like an eternity.
One evening as we were closing in on my home Viktor called me into his cabin.
“How are you?” I asked as I entered and he closed the door behind me. He’d kept to himself for most of the journey, and I hadn’t really had a chance to speak with him, especially not one on one. And for the sake of his privacy, I kept my mind from probing into his, despite my concern for his well-being. His recovery had been difficult, despite my best efforts. Not only did I lack experience in performing healing magic on my own, but I had never seen grandmother deal with wounds as great as his- the arrow wound in his side which wanted to fester, and the stab in his chest which definitely should have killed him. It was a miracle he survived, and he wore the scars to prove it.
“Physically? I’m fine. You’re a very skilled healer, Lis,” he said with a small smile as he sat down at his table.
I followed suit. “That’s great, but you know that’s not what I meant.” He chuckled humorlessly, “Yes, I know.” He looked down at his hands which were fiddling nervously before meeting my eyes. “I’m okay. It’s hard coming home without one of my best friends. It’s also hard not knowing what I’m going home to. I left in secret, snuck off against the wishes of my advisors to fight a war. I-” he hesitated, searching for the right words. “I just don’t know. During this trip home I’ve been working on a manuscript, documenting all that has happened. I’m hoping it will be enough for the counsellors in Capital City to understand my departure was necessary. I’ll need your help, though.” He handed me a stack of papers and a pen. “Will you document all that has happened, starting from our arrival in Loch?”
I nodded, took the paper and set it aside. “You’re going home a hero, Viktor. The man- the King- that saved Doctsland from guaranteed invasion. And every man and woman that returns to Capital City with you will defend that claim.”
He nodded, still deep in thought, and biting the inside of his cheek to stave off the tears that were welling in his eyes. I hesitated before bringing up what I guessed was truly bothering him. “Vik, what happened to Siofra isn’t your fault. There’s nothing you could have done.”
“I could’ve fought harder.”
“No, you couldn’t have. You fought valiantly. In no way were you lacking, though you should have been considering your injuries. Listen to me- believe me- when I tell you that it wasn’t your fault.”
A tear spilled onto his cheek and he looked away, gathering himself for several minutes before he spoke again. “I heard you,” he said.
“Heard me? What do you mean?”
“That day. When you thought I was dead.”
My mind raced back to the day of the battle, which was weeks ago by now, and frantically tried to recall what I had said. When it dawned on me, I felt the color drain from my face. “You weren’t meant to hear that,” I whispered.
“Why not?” he replied. “Why shouldn’t I know how you feel?”
“Because you’re the prince and it’s, I’m-”“I feel the same way, Lisalya,” he spoke gently and waited until I met his eyes to continue. “I love you, Lis.” I sat gaping at him, my brain firing in all directions and trying to understand what he had said and how I hadn’t felt it from him before.
Seeming to read my thoughts, he smirked. “We’ve been around each other a long while- I’ve learned how to mask certain thoughts and feelings, even from you. ”My eyes widened. I didn’t even know someone could do that. Reaching across the table, he grabbed my hand. “I want you to come home with me. To Capital City.”
“Vik, I-” I began, my thoughts scrambled and racing, still reeling from his confession. “I haven’t seen my family in months. I need to go home to Loch.”
“Of course, I’m not asking you to come right away. We are nearly to Loch, and we planned to stop there for several days regardless. But when it does come time to return to the city, I would like you to be by my side.” Sensing my hesitation, he quickly continued. “I know this is a lot all at once. We aren’t arriving until tomorrow, and then we won’t be leaving before the end of the week. Please, just… think about it?” he implored, watery eyes searching my face.
“I- yes, I’ll think about it. Of course,” I replied, gazing down at my hand in his before meeting his eyes. “You love me? Really?”
Leaning forward, he brushed a strand of my hair back, tucking it behind my ear as he smiled gently. “I do. I have for a while actually. Probably since shortly after the shipwreck, though it took me a while to fully realize it.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I never imagined you would feel the same. To be honest, that day after I saw Siofra,” he choked off. “After the fight with Siglind, I was ready to give up. As you’ve said, those wounds should have killed me. I was so tired, in so much pain, and had just watched my best friend die. I just wanted to go to sleep, and would have. But your voice, what you said… it called me back. It gave me a reason to fight for my life. You saved me, in more ways than one.”
Suddenly the distance between us, though fairly small, seemed far too great. Leaning forward, I pressed my lips to his. The gesture seemed to take him by surprise, though he recovered quickly and melted into the kiss. “I love you,” he whispered again, this time against my lips.
“I love you too, Viktor.”
***
When I left Viktor’s cabin the next morning, I found that we were approaching Loch a bit sooner than expected. In fact, the small town was visible on the horizon.
“Ah ha ha.” Jion’s voice startled me. “There you are. How was it, spending the night in the captain’s suite?” I laughed, hiding my face in my hands as he continued. “I’m just teasing you. I was looking for you a few minutes ago to let you know you’re nearly home. Although… did he finally ask you?”
“Ask me what? To come to the city? He told you about that?”
“Of course. He’s been a nervous wreck about asking you. He meant to ask you before we even left Bushand, but he’s been putting it off.”
I glanced back to the cabin, where I had left Vik in bed to run out and grab some food to bring back when I was interrupted by Jion.
“So are you coming back to Capital City?”
Sighing, I struggled through my reply. “I-I don’t know. I would like to. But… I need to see my family. I need to speak with my grandmother. The Manyeo heir has never left the family on a, well, on a permanent basis before.”
“You can still maintain your family’s legacy in Capital City. In fact, you can probably heal and help even more people. Loch is such a small town, and not easy to find without a boat. There are many people in the city that could use someone of your abilities that would not or could not make the journey here.”
I didn’t reply, bu
t mulled over his words as I grabbed the food I’d promised Viktor. He hadn’t wanted me to leave, in fact it was only the promise of my swift return with bread that convinced him.
“How long would you say it is until our arrival?” I asked, turning with my arms full to head back to the cabin.
“Two hours at the most.”
“I’ll be ready,” I said before swinging the door shut. Viktor had not moved from his place in bed, where he sat shirtless and waiting for my return.
“There you are. What took you so long?” He reached for a piece of bread only to have me slap his hand away.
“Don’t eat it in the bed. Gross. You’ll get crumbs all over the sheets.” I laughed and set the spread out on the table before sitting down. “I was talking to Jion. We’re only about two hours from Loch.”
“Are we?” he asked as he crawled out of bed. “Are you excited to see your family again?”
“Deliriously. I’ve never been away from them this long. It’s been difficult.”
He kissed the top of my head before taking a seat beside me, “I can imagine.”
I watched him cut a piece of bread for himself before speaking. “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything,” he replied, settling back into his chair and taking a bite.
“Say I take you up on your offer, and accompany you back to the city. What then? Where will I stay? How will I make my living?”
Viktor shrugged. “You could continue to do what you and your family do here, healing people.”
“Surely if someone of my capabilities were to take up residence in the city and became known they would be swamped, overwhelmed, with people asking for assistance. One of the reasons I love Loch is it is a small place. We have time to help everyone that needs it, and don’t have to turn anyone away. And you didn’t answer my first question- where will I live? I don’t imagine I can move right into the palace with you. I’m no princess, or queen. You’ll be king soon.”