Empyreal

by Helsel, Spencer

  “He could at least show some interest in me.”

  Ethan pursed his lips. “What do you remember about the Ward after your Trial?”

  “When I was out cold? Nothing. I was practically comatose. I remember something he said; partly, anyway.”

  Ethan laughed softly, shaking his head. “Yeah, I remember. I don’t remember the exact quote but I think it was,” his stifled his laughter, lowering his voice to imitate Mastema, “‘If she should die, Elder Aleister, I will not be kept at bay. I will return and hold you and your healers personally responsible for her by the point of my sword. You will not fail in keeping her alive. I will return.’ Or something like that. Elder Aleister looked like he was going to piss his pants and that’s hard to do to an Elder. Mastema can be plenty terrifying.”

  He did that? He threatened an Elder? If anyone but Ethan told her that, she wouldn’t believe them.

  “He’s still a jerk.”

  “I wouldn’t argue with you.” He said. “Mastema is a taskmaster, but that doesn’t make him uncaring.”

  “He doesn’t tell me anything.” Dani pointed out. “Most of the time I have no idea what he’s doing! He doesn’t come to half my lessons and when he does, all he does is yell. How am I supposed to know he cares?”

  “You won’t. That’s not the point. He just wants you to succeed.”

  “He’s got a funny way of showing it.”

  “He does. But trust me, when you need him, he will be there.”

  She doubted that but didn’t say anything. She had enough dysfunctional people in her life, her mother included in that. She did not need a teacher-figure with an anger problem.

  “Just trust him.”

  She grumbled, “Fine. But don’t ask me to buy him a gift on Father’s Day. Or Christmas. Or Arbor Day.”

  Ethan chuckled. “Agreed.” He put an arm around her shoulders and hugged her. “You’ll be fine.”

  “Thanks.”

  Ethan left, walking this time. Dani sighed heavily and finished her bread.

  From the roof, she heard Caesar jeer, “Dani and Ethan, sittin’ in a tree. K—I—S—S—S—I—N—G.”

  “It’s only two S’s.” Dani grumbled, chucking bread at her. “And shut up.”

  ______________________

  She curled up in her bed as Vespers sounded that evening. “ So, when are you and Ethan setting a date for the wedding?” Caesar asked from the foot of the bed. “Can I be a bridesmaid? I look stunning in a dress.”

  “I will Kentucky-fry you.” Dani warned. “ Oh come on. I have to live vicariously through you. I got, like, zero prospects.”

  “How does a bird get prospects?”

  “You know all those bird calls you hear on Earth?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, we don’t call them ‘cat-calls’ because of …you know…the cat thing, but they’re basically the same thing. Male birds are all ‘I’ve got the most plumage’ or ‘look how many nuts I gathered’ or ‘I caught the biggest worm.’ Men. Sheesh. They all think they got the biggest worm.”

  “That is waaaaay too much information, Caesar.”

  “It’s hard out there in the bird world. You’ve got more of a chance than I do.”

  Dani blushed. “I’m not trying to date Ethan. I don’t even know if it’s allowed.”

  “Considering they’re all a bunch of dudes, probably not. But there shouldn’t be a rule against it since there’s never been a female Numen, right?”

  “Right. Probably not.”

  “So that loophole is WIDE open.”

  Dani laughed. Having Caesar around felt good and though she hated to admit it, she liked being around Ethan. He was sweet in a way a lot of the guys weren’t. Kleos was kind, but that was more professional than anything else. The rest of the boys were similar. The only one that worried her was Nathaniel. He liked her more than just a friend and it was difficult to ignore.

  “He doesn’t like me.” She said.

  Caesar was a bird, so she couldn’t give any kind of sassy eyebrow raise or you-kiddingme look, but she might as well have. “His pheromones say different.”

  “Eww.”

  “I’m just saying, honey. The vibes he gives off are not platonic. They are super UN-platonic.”

  “Thanks.”

  Caesar’s head snapped up, turning sideways.

  “Anyway, even if I wanted to do anything about that, it’s definitely not the right—”

  “Shh!” the caladrius hushed.

  Dani sat up. “What is it?”

  “I heard something.”

  The tone of Caesar’s voice said it all. Dani went still, listening. She heard nothing, but that didn’t mean anything, either. Caesar tilted her head left and right.

  “What is it?”

  “I hear someone.” She whispered back. “I hear…many someones.”

  Many? Dani dropped to the floor and made her was stealthily to the door. Caesar remained where she was, listening for the intruders. Dani sidled up next to the door and inched it open.

  Outside the torches still burned silently. It was fully dark and she didn’t see anyone—

  Movement. Dani’s heart leapt into her throat. Something, or someone, moved at just out of the light. Then, just as quickly as they appeared, they were gone.

  “Someone’s here.” She hissed to Caesar. “But I can’t see them.”

  Caesar glanced up. “They’re everywhere.”

  “On the roof?”

  She nodded.

  “How many?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Heart thudding in her chest, Dani looked for a weapon. She didn’t know who was here or why, but she had a suspicion it wasn’t a social call.

  “What do we do?”

  Dani shook her head. She had no weapons and no ideas. The roof above her creaked with footfalls. Now she could hear voices.

  “They’re only two entrances.” Dani told her. “We’ll make a break for it.”

  “How?”

  “Can you fly me?” she wished she didn’t have to ask. She hadn’t mastered any kind of flight.

  “Not far.”

  “We’ll have to try.”

  Dani glanced through the door across the square; the pedestal against the edge of the cliff. Those who lived in the Arn before—the feathertongues—used it to commune with visiting birds. Now they could use it to jump. Of course, it meant Dani need to practically leap to her death.

  Creaks. Footsteps. Someone came to the edge of the roof.

  “We run for the pedestal.” Dani told her.

  “ That’s nuts.”

  “Do you have a better idea?”

  Obviously, she didn’t. Hiding or fighting wouldn’t work. Anyone that

  snuck down here wouldn’t just give up. They might be the ones who trashed her village last time. Now they were here when they knew she would be, too. “We’ve got to try.” Dani told her as she heard footsteps approaching. “Are you with me?”

  “ Totes, sister.”

  “Get ready.”

  Dani moved away from the door to the square and chose the

  pavilion. She heard creaks on the floorboards outside. They blocked both exits, but the pavilion was the best bet. Both doors ripped outward from their frames. Four figures loomed in the torchlight; two at each door.

  Dani jumped, grabbing the top of the doorframe and kicking with both feet, knocking them back. She landed, ducked and Caesar flew over, wings extended. A loud concussion of air exploded outwards. The gust hurled both of them backwards into two supports, pin-wheeling them off hard to the ground.

  The other two came in behind her from the other door. Dani bolted out into the pavilion, seizing one of the wooden staves. From her left, a man leapt down from the roof. He was armed with the knife, wearing red raiments and a mask over his face. A Gatekeeper. Dani spun and launched the pole around, striking him across the face. He went down.

  She shot from the pavilion and sprinted across the square. Caesar
darted out behind her. There were about five or six of them; all of them in masks. Some wore Novice brown. Two wore Guardian black.

  Above her, a familiar voice screamed. “Get her!”

  Caesar turned, screeching and dive bombing the advancing intruders, who all shrunk back from her swiping talons. That gave Dani time to sprint to towards the cliffside.

  One caught up to her.

  “I got you now you—UUUURRRRRRGGGHHHH!”

  His arms wrapped around her, lifting her. With practiced skill, she wrapped one leg with both of his and he stumbled. His grip loosened. Dani broke his hold, grabbed his wrist and twisted him down painfully as she spun.

  She delivered a swift, nose-breaking kick to his face.

  “She’s getting away!”

  Four were on the roof. The one who gave the orders was a Guardian. As she watched, they took off into the air after her.

  “Dani! Go!” Caesar swung high, attacking the lead Numen with her talons. He screamed and tumbled out of the sky, but he took the caladrius with him. “Go!”

  “Caesar!”

  “Fly on your own! You can do it!”

  Dani sprinted, covering the distance to the pedestal. But as she approached the edge, she skidded to a stop before going over. There was no way she could fly on her own!

  “Dani!” Caesar cartwheeled off the soldier, who dropped to the roof of Dani’s home, thudding down and rolling off. She turned toward her. “I’m coming!”

  Something shot out of the dark, silver and shining in the orange torch fire. Adamantine chains wrapped around Caesar and she dropped from the sky into the arms of a Guardian, who caught her and wrangled her to the ground.

  “No!” Dani turned back, but the intruders formed a semi-circle around, pinning her to the cliffside.

  Everything came to a stop.

  “Leave her alone!” Dani screamed. “Let her go!”

  “The bird?” The lead Guardian touched down, mask and hood obscuring his face. “Why? Chicken sounds delicious.”

  “Screw you!” she balled her fists. They burned. There was no way she could take on a dozen, but she wouldn’t let them kill her friend.

  “My, my; all bravado now. It’s not as easy when the odds are stacked against you.”

  “You mean when you bring twelve men to take on one girl? You think that makes you men?”

  The Guardian stepped forward. “You were warned before. You should have learned when we broke your house.”

  “And what now?” she asked. “You’re going to kill me?”

  “No. The law prevents us from killing you.” He shook his head. “But your pet? Not so much. And there’s no law against a beating.” He raised his hand to the others. “Two of you help me grab her.”

  She searched the faces of her attackers. She knew some of their voices. If she had to guess, the Guardian leading them was Nazir. Any number of the people she pissed off lately could be among the others.

  Dani spat at their feet in disgust. “Come try me, lap-pinkie.”

  “You think you can defeat us?”

  “I’ll make you wish you killed me.” She swallowed her fear and raised her fists.

  The masked Guardian drew a knife from his belt, holding it like he knew what he was doing. “You don’t belong here. You should have left the first time we came here.”

  “I thought you said you weren’t going to kill me?” she asked, staring at the knife.

  “I didn’t say we wouldn’t cut you a little bit. And if you struggle, accidents happen.” He gestured to the others. “Kill the bird. Burn the house.”

  “No!”

  The Novice holding a struggling Caesar seized her by the neck. She screeched. With her wings pinned, she couldn’t free herself. She was at his mercy.

  But the man’s head, not Caesar’s, snapped sideways with a dull thunk! As if he were a marionette doll with strings cut, he dropped Caesar and dropped to the ground.

  Materializing from the veil, Mastema stood with the unconscious attacker at his feet. He carried two wooden swords. His eyes fell on Dani, then on the Guardian leader. The two stared one another down.

  The masked man visibly swallowed in fear.

  Mastema leapt over the fallen body, swinging one wooden stick at the nearest attacker. He blocked, but the other sword came up and struck him in the neck right below the jaw. The Novice dropped. When he did, Mastema’s other weapon cracked down on his spine.

  “Stop him!” the leader ordered.

  The group turned on Mastema. Even he couldn’t fight them all. But before they could attack, something dropped out of the sky in a flurry of wings; not a bird, but a woman. Alecto landed between them.

  Something shot out of the darkness and quickly wrapped around one man’s legs, stumbling him into the ground. Kleos dropped from the roof of Dani’s house, bowstaff horizontal, onto the back of a Novice and sent him face first into the stone.

  Despite still being outnumbered, the two Guardians and the Fury backed all of the remaining attackers away.

  “Remove your masks.” Alecto ordered. From behind her, the sound of horse hooves thundered close. “In seconds, my centaurs will outnumber you.”

  The masked Numen pulled their wounded and nearly unconscious comrades back towards them. They stood between the three and Dani.

  “Do it now.” Mastema threatened. He stared down the lead Guardian. “Quarter will be shone unless you do not surrender my Novice.”

  The leader glanced over his shoulder at Dani. Even under the mask, she could see a smirk cross his face.

  “Or…”

  He leapt backwards under the power of Aer and kicked her backwards. She landed, rolled and pitched over the side of the pedestal.

  “Dani!” she heard Alecto scream.

  The world fell away. Dani tumbled, her hands scrambling for a hold. As she fell, she caught the lip of the pedestal and stopped herself from plummeting to her death.

  She swung a little, lost her grip and caught herself again. Below, the Vale was a dark pit. She screamed, death-grip on the ledge slipping again. She kicked, trying to leverage herself up, but her boots only scraped the side.

  Numen shot over the side and flew off into the dark. A moment later, Alecto appeared. She carried an adamantine blade, swinging at the retreating intruders. When she saw Dani, she sheathed it.

  “She is here!”

  Alecto grabbed Dani’s arm. Mastema and Kleos both took her other and tunic, pulling her to safety on solid ground and into Alecto’s arms.

  “Are you okay?” she cradled her face. “Dani, are you alright?”

  “It’s fine.” She pushed away her hands. “It’s fine.”

  But she already felt herself falling apart. She kept repeating herself.

  “It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine.”

  It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine. Her mom’s favorite lie.

  Tears welled up in her eyes. Alecto’s comforting wings floated around her. The world dissolved behind crystal cascades of tears.

  Chapter Thirty “This is a disturbing accusation , Lady Alecto.” Elder Castus said from his throne. “Do you have any evidence?”

  The twenty-four white robe Elders looked indifferent despite what she told them happened the night before. Maybe it was knowing before she even arrived, but to Dani they seemed frailer than before. Incompetent. Out-dated.

  At her side, Alecto frowned. “You heard the witnesses.”

  “Yes, yes,” Elder Berith spoke, “Guardians Mastema and Kleos have testified. But you are not certain the identities? Yet you wish us to arrest several members on your word?”

  “Is my word not enough?”

  “We, of course, respect your word, Lady Alecto. You are the fairest of ladies. But even if what you say is true, we must understand all the facts. For example, what did Novice Daniella do to provoke such an attack?”

  “I didn’t provoke anything.” Dani stepped forward. “They attacked me.”

  “And without proof,” Elder He
man spoke up, “we have no evidence with which to bring charges for the crime. It is all hearsay.”

  “The evidence of intruders in her village does speak for itself.” Jeduthun said from his place in the middle, but it was a far-cry from actual support.

  Another Elder jumped on that. “That is still not grounds to accuse soldiers who have performed admirably for this city! We are at war. The demons have stirred unlike anything in centuries. Their monstrous leader just killed a patrol of Naturals healing a curse in Arizona. Sacred land has been marred.” He turned back to Dani. “I will not support any kind of investigation that questions the loyalty and service of men who seek to defend us.”

  Even though she knew this would happen, Dani still couldn’t believe it. “They almost killed me.”

  Heman stood and declared to the assembled group. “This still is only baseless story; not supported by evidence and spoken by a Novice who has a history of dishonesty and defiance. It is my belief that even if these stories are true, they are not the whole story. No one attacks unprovoked. I demand to know, Novice Daniella: what did you do to warrant such an attack?”

  Her mouth dropped open. Her near-death experience was her fault?!

  The accusation was enough for Castus to intervene. “Elder Heman, you are out of line.”

  “How am I?” he demanded. “I am seeking the truth.”

  Castus, just like Dani, could see many approving nods amongst the other Elders. Even Jeduthun looked worried. Clearly, there’d been a change of heart about her. She didn’t have the benefit of the doubt anymore.

  Alecto tried one last time, “My lords—.”

  “The point is taken.” Castus brought the debate to an end. “Elder Heman, I will remind you that if the Co-Consuls have not allowed you to speak, then you do not have the right. Sit down.” It was technicality, but it was all Castus had. Heman sat, but with very self-satisfied smile. “Lady Alecto, your support is admirable, but she is a Novice. It is beyond your capacity to speak for her.”