“You can’t,” Achan said. “They’ll kill me. Especially after learning how Rathe and his friend died. They’ll figure out it was me eventually.”
“So what are you saying? We should let you follow along? As if nothing happened? How am I supposed to trust you?”
“I don’t know how to convince you…but I ask for your forgiveness.”
Catherine studied him carefully and then coming to a decision, she grabbed his shoulders and helped him to his feet.
“From here on out, you obey my every command,” she said carefully. “No question. If I tell you to do something, even if Arimus tells you otherwise, even if it endangers your life, you do it. You are forever in my debt and will side with me in every matter.”
“That’s fair,” Achan said with a weak smile. “But how can you trust me?”
“You mission was never to kill me, just capture. Even if you’re lying about how you feel, the most that could happen to me is I’ll be captured again. And let’s be honest, with the power of the stone under my control, I could have broken free whenever I wanted. But I wanted to find out who was responsible first.”
“That’s true,” Achan said in relief. “Thank you, Catherine. I can’t ever repay you for this.”
“You will,” she said. “Remember our agreement. In exchange, this will remain between us, and you’ll be able to live in Allay, should we survive the mission. Of course, you can’t report any information to this organization unless I relay it.”
“I understand,” he said as Catherine continued to stare into his eyes. Achan could see the waver in her eyes. She had more to say.
“One more thing,” Catherine said, her voice breaking. “We will never be a couple. I hope you understand why.”
The words hit Achan hard, and his face softened as he felt the tears well up in his eyes.
“I understand,” he chuckled nervously. “I do…just…tell me one thing. Did I have a chance? That’s all I want to know.”
Catherine debated telling him or not, but decided in the end to not withhold her words.
“You did,” she smiled warmly. “And to add to that, you were a perfect gentleman.”
Achan began to cry as he hugged her abruptly. Catherine tensed up under his embrace, but after a second, she returned it. Achan couldn’t stay strong any longer. He knew the moment she spoke the words that she was telling the truth…
And what he could not believe, was how after her capture, after his betrayal, after all the evil he had done to her, she would not only forgive him for his deeds, but keep his secret and continue to keep him by her side. The mercy was overwhelming, and it only further broke him down as he clutched her tight, letting it all go. All he’s held in since he was a child. All the agony, all the secrecy. All of it lifted in one act of kindness.
He could follow her commands and serve her until they day he died, regardless of her feelings toward him. Because it was all about her, and what she wanted. His love extended beyond his selfish desires.
Far beyond.
In the end, he simply loved her…because she first loved him.
Chapter 10 – Basics
James had once thought that when he became a Sage, the people would come in droves, men begging for his secret. Women demanding his love. He was certain that they would chase him like a mob, clamoring to take him apart piece by piece.
Though his dream was now manifest, it had warped in a way he had not intended, and while he did want to be dissected piece by piece, he meant more of the tales he would tell of his adventures, and not so much literally…
The crowds roared in protest as they chased relentlessly, trying to kill he, Arimus and Dominic before they reached the border of their Kingdom. Hundreds ran across the rooftops in chase. Thousands swarmed like ants in the streets, using every bit of dormant energy to maintain their speed. Being the last in line, James was able to see it all, and occasionally he would even glance back to observe their faces. He regretted it each time. Eyes bloodshot and enflamed. Their hands swinging at him wildly with cleavers, swords or cooking pans. Their bodies fluctuating from their chest to their feet, as if a creature was moving around under their skin.
“Stop looking behind you!” Arimus ordered from the front. “Keep moving!”
“What’s the plan, exactly?” Dominic shouted as he batted away a stray arrow coming from his left.
“Most of them are afraid to leave their Kingdom. We’re doing just that.”
“What about the others?” James shouted, thinking only of Catherine.
“Use your senses,” Arimus said. “Achan and Catherine are in the woods, and Kyran and Chloe are about to rendezvous with them as we speak. We, James, are the stragglers.”
“And Scarlet?” Dominic asked as Arimus chuckled.
“Look in front of you,” he stated.
James looked beyond Arimus and saw Scarlet waiting on the rooftop about a mile down, holding her eidolon in front of her.
“That looks nothing like a sword,” James yelled as Arimus laughed again.
“Neither does mine, but it’s her eidolon all the same.”
James examined it again as he suddenly forgot the mob directly behind him. It was beautiful. A scarlet colored Halberd. A pole with what looked to be a sharpened angel wing for a blade on one end. The wing was white and possessed twelve feathers. The end of the shaft was fashioned with a considerably large spike and several metal rings were bound tightly along it, increasing its defensive capabilities. Out of all the eidolons he had seen so far, somehow, this one was the coolest.
“Keep running past her,” Arimus ordered as they closed the gap. James questioned it, but obeyed, looking back as they sidestepped Scarlet and left her to face the hungry mob. As soon as they were behind her however, she activated her eidolon’s main attack. Scarlet held her eidolon tight as she screamed its name:
“INCINERATE!”
It took only two seconds to clear the rooftops.
A fantastic tidal wave of fire emerged from the relatively tiny halberd, washing their attackers away and melding them with the elements of their homes. The Langorans running in the streets stopped their pursuit instantly. Standing in horror at the loss of hundreds, they let the Sages escape, too demolished in morale. Scarlet sheathed her eidolon and quickly joined the others, striding to the front with Arimus as James could not look away at the devastated faces left on the streets below.
He knew they had to escape…but was this going to become a preview of things to come? Throwing whole Kingdoms into turmoil, killing hundreds, maybe thousands for their goal?
“I hope this is worth it,” James said under his breath as he forced his gaze forward. After seeing his teammates murdered during his Infantry exam, he knew all too well what it felt to lose someone you had connected with. But he couldn’t even begin to fathom what the Langorans must have felt watching whole families being torn apart.
Despite his enemies wanting his death, he said a small prayer for the fallen that day…
It barely took a half hour to catch up to the others. Running nonstop at top speeds, they were able to reach the Kingdom’s concrete walls, similar to Allay’s and took it in bounds. Using their eidolons, they phased them in and out of their bodies. Plunging it into the side, they would climb on top of it, jump as high as they could while the eidolon below them dematerialized, only to reactivate it and stab the wall once again. Having to repeat it only a couple times, they scaled and leapt over the wall in seconds, landing to the familiar forest below.
Not far from the border, the rest of their group waited, resting and in good health. As they approached, Kyran smiled and reached into his black coat. Taking his hand out, he revealed their prize: the stone of Languor, now in their possession. Arimus nodded and looked at everyone.
They were all tired, but there was no time to rest. They had to move on.
Scarlet took the lead as they all followed, saying few words between them. James tried to drown out the sound of shouts and cries co
ming from beyond the Langoran walls.
“Keep the stone in your possession,” Arimus said to Kyran. “You’re able to keep it safe the best. Especially since Catherine can only carry one stone at a time.”
Kyran didn’t say a word. He just pocketed the stone and continued walking.
“Before we continue on,” Catherine said. “I need some answers.”
“There’s no guarantee the Langorans have given up completely,” Arimus said without turning around. “We must keep going.”
“Then answer my questions while we continue.”
“Sure.”
“How did we get the stone so easily? I was supposed to marry the King to complete the trade.”
“After the mission you will,” Arimus assured her. “He entrusted the stone to us in the meantime so that we can complete our journey.”
“Fine.”
“Is that all?”
“That’s all,” Catherine said as James felt dirty on the inside. Arimus wasn’t going to tell Catherine until it was all over what really happened. That the Queen was murdered for the stone. She would never forgive him…but by then, Arimus would have some comfort in knowing the mission was complete. But did the ends justify the means? Was keeping it a secret the right thing to do? There was no guarantee word wouldn’t be spread to the other Kingdoms before they arrived…
“What’s next?” James finally asked after a few hours went by, trying not to dwell on it. Only by keeping his mind busy and moving forward could he continue on. And the running they had been engaged in since leaving Languor was no longer keeping his focus.
“Prattle,” Scarlet said from his left. “Where Alexander had come from. We’re not expecting much from them.”
“Like Languor?” James asked, to which he received a stern glance.
“Languor turned into a mess, but it didn’t have to.”
“No,” James said, thinking of the children on the streets, watching their fathers vanish under Scarlet’s power. “No, they certainly didn’t.”
“If I recall, you and Dominic were off causing enough trouble without us. Why did they call the Enforcer again?”
James ignored her as she laughed.
“Because the Enforcer in Languor doesn’t get called out unless there’s real trouble. Whatever you two did, it must have been real –“
“- we camp here!” Arimus yelled out as Scarlet scowled at him.
“Why? We’re barely a few miles out.”
“They have a lot to rebuild. They won’t be searching for us.”
“How can you be so certain?”
“Regardless,” Arimus said sternly. “We need to rest. And the mountains of Conun are between us and Prattle. I want our minds sharp for when we get there.”
No one offered a counter-argument as the group half-collapsed onto the leaves and moss strewn about. Before James could get comfortable, Kyran and Chloe had already snuggled up against a huge tree, snoring away. Catherine chose a rock to sit on alone as Scarlet, Achan and Dominic sat down in deep thought. Arimus looked directly at James and waved him over.
James grunted as he fought the ache in his legs and strolled over to his mentor.
“Walk with me,” Arimus said, folding his hands behind his back. James took a deep breath and started the apologies right away.
“It wasn’t meant to get out of hand,” James explained hurriedly. “There was a tournament being held and Dominic and I thought it was a good way to get out her frustrations. But what happened is that –“
“- James, relax,” Arimus said calmly. “That’s not why we’re talking.”
“It isn’t?”
“With what Kyran and I have done, your actions have been insignificant by comparison. We’re the ones that have sent the Kingdom in an uproar. Not you. Not a soul exited their house when the Enforcer arrived.”
“Arimus…” James trailed off. “Why? Why did…I don’t understand.”
“I did what was necessary,” he said, stopping and looking up at the tree tops. “Catherine could not marry that man.”
“I did hear that back there,” James said. “What happened?”
“The King would only give up the stone if Catherine married him.”
“She can’t do that,” James said firmly. “That’s insane.”
“Exactly, which is why I acted against her knowledge…and had both the King and Queen killed. Catherine tries to do what’s best for the people of Allay, but she fails to acknowledge that her leadership is what they need most. Right now, her focus is only on the bigger picture, the end result. But what good does it do our Kingdom if they are without their Queen? I fear that she is willing to make such a brash decision for a reason I do not care to admit.”
“She doesn’t think she’ll survive this,” James said. “I’ve thought of that too…it’s not what she says, but what she does that gives it away. I’ve been trying to figure out why she would throw away a month of her life to stop Keel. Why she just couldn’t go inside the Academy and get Achan…I realized she doesn’t care about her life…and she’s ready to throw it all away to make our journey a success…”
“But she forgets that’s why we are here,” Arimus said. “As long as we do our job, no matter how questionable it may be, she is preserved. She is too ready to throw herself on the sword when she fails to remember that it is us who are expendable.”
“Is that why you called me over? To help me understand why you killed them?”
“I saw the look in your eye when you spoke with Scarlet. And I realize how close you and Catherine are.”
“You want me to keep it a secret.”
“Until the end.”
James considered both sides carefully. Sure, telling her was the right thing to do, especially since hiding it will only make her angrier later on, and he had to stay on her good side if he had any hopes of starting a relationship with her one day…
But…that was not his duty. It was not the reason he was supposed to be on the mission.
Revealing the secret could be destructive, to the point that she would take a more prominent role in their travels, demanding she become more involved. If she was to survive with years of her life still intact, she couldn’t know…not now…no matter what it would do to their friendship…
“I’ll keep it,” James promised as Arimus nodded in approval. “Thank you, James. And as a reward, when the time comes, I’ll make sure to tell her that I forced you into this decision.”
“You don’t have to do that,” he said. “And what about you? It will just make her hate you.”
“I’m already too far gone, I’m afraid. She’s already angry with me over the Infantry exam.”
“Let me guess…she didn’t know the Langorans were being captured and used to train us?”
“No.”
“Wow…why wouldn’t you tell her that?”
“I’ve been too protective of her, I guess,” he sighed. “It’s gotten to the point that I keep everything from her just to keep her safe…I still see her as I did the day we met.”
“When was that?”
“It was not under the best of circumstances…mind you, I was under a lot of emotional stress.”
“I’ll keep it to myself, if that’s what you’re implying.”
Arimus looked to James and then off to the sky, already dimming as the sun began to set.
“I was tired of Allay back then. There had been a string of bad luck happening in my life, and I couldn’t take it anymore. I was young, but that still doesn’t excuse me for what I did.”
“Did you kill someone?”
“No, I left Allay. Completely abandoned my Kingdom for another. Though my family was well off enough, despite the village’s hardships, I needed a change…and I ended up in Languor. I was not a Sage then, but I was skilled in combat. Upon my arrival, and a declaration of my allegiance, the King of Languor took interest in me right away. I believe that secretly he hoped I would unlock my Sage abilities and become a powerful ad
dition to his army. Either way, I didn’t care. I was a man searching for a new life...”
“…After proving I wasn’t a spy over the next three years, I continued to show my worth, training Langoran soldiers and sharpening their skills significantly. James, to be honest, I became a part of Languor through and through…even when the siege of 88 happened…I felt no remorse for my Kingdom. Not because I didn’t value lives, but because I was so far removed by then, so distant, it was like hearing of some horrible event that occurred in a distant land. It was sad, appalling even, but it did little to change my daily life…”
“…The King of Languor wasted no time in trying to take advantage of the situation. With Allay crippled, he wanted to strike immediately. To conquer it and enslave the women and children. He decided the perfect opportunity was during the sendings, after the Kingdom wide funerals for the King and Queen.”
“…During the sendings, any remaining relatives of the King would be ordained the heir to the throne. They would go to the graves with only a few select guards and pray for wisdom from the Maker. It was a ceremony that Allay had enacted over a century ago, and this tradition had never been broken. That year, the King and Queen were ‘buried’ in the meadow before the castle, and with the Kingdom already destroyed, it was easy for me to lead a group of warriors inside.”
“What were you supposed to do?” James asked.
“I had become Captain of the guard then, and even when I had heard the details of my mission, I had not been fazed. I had just become too hardened with all I had seen…and so I took ten of my best men and led them through the northern wall…to the meadow. Catherine had been standing alone, about twenty yards from her guards as she paid her respects. She didn’t even notice when we killed her guards. We blended right in.”
Arimus paused and tried not to choke up.
“She was only four…but that didn’t matter…I had killed children before…”
James eyes widened in horror as he heard his mentor relay such a horrible story. The man he described was a far cry from the humble, wise mentor he knew today.
“She was all alone…and I told my men to hang back. I would perform the deed. The King of Languor had decided that without an heir of any kind, it would be easier to overtake the Kingdom. Catherine’s death would mark the beginning of Allay’s end…but as I approached, sneaking up with my sword drawn, I suddenly stopped.”
The Dark Kingdom (Sage Trilogy, Book 2) Page 17