The Lady of Toryn Anthology (Lady of Toryn trilogy)

by Charity Santiago

  The fireflies took a sharp left, leading up a short staircase to higher ground, and Ashlyn followed, blinking furiously to stay her tears. If she had been cold in the water, stepping out of it was another shock to her body, as the breeze she hadn’t even noticed before somehow managed to turn her clothes to ice against her skin. Even at the top of the steps, her ankles were still submerged, making it even more difficult to move quietly through the water.

  She paused next to a building with a long, curving spire, watching with knitted brows as the fireflies sparked and swirled around each other, leading through the open doorway. If Kou was inside, it would probably be best to still the magic and try to track him herself. She murmured a word to end the spell, and was plunged into darkness, barely able to see even an inch in front of her face.

  Ashlyn stepped through the doorway, keeping close to the wall, partially for support because the cold was sapping her strength, and partly so she wouldn’t lose her way. As her eyes adjusted in the faint moonlight streaming through the door, she saw a winding staircase, with what appeared to be polished marble steps, spiraling up into darkness.

  It was so cold that she couldn’t feel the floor beneath her feet, and after the first few steps, Ashlyn paused to remove her water-logged sneakers, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to fight with them on. She ascended the staircase slowly, struggling in vain to control her quaking body. There was no way to find her center, but she was trying to quell the rage that seethed through every part of her being and the horrible emptiness that challenged it. It was all she could do.

  At the top of the staircase was another open door. Drawing her bo shuriken from her waistband, Ashlyn crept forward, crouching next to the doorway. The door opened onto a balcony with white pillars as a railing. She tried to peer around the edge of the door, checking to see if there was anyone behind it. A flutter of movement caught her eye on the other side, and Ashlyn heard the distinctive scrape of a boot on the marble floor. She held her breath for a moment. This was it. This was her chance to avenge her father’s death and finally put an end to it all.

  Suddenly she felt something press against the back of her neck. “Move. Now,” a voice said in Toryn.

  Tag!

  Ashlyn shifted ever so slightly, and the katana at her neck followed her, glinting in the faint light. She hadn’t counted on Tag being here, too.

  Kou emerged from behind the door, his expression completely void. “You have caused enough trouble for me, Ashlyn Li,” he said in a low voice.

  Their eyes met, and Ashlyn’s heartbeat thudded in her ears as she stared at the man who had killed her father.

  He spoke again. “It’s time to die.”

  Reluctantly, Ashlyn dropped the shuriken, and as Kou picked it up and flung it over the railing of the balcony, she felt the weight of the world on her shoulders once more.

  She had failed.

  The blade of the katana was only discernible through the light pressure it was exerting on her skin. Ashlyn was so cold that she could barely feel the bite of the steel. In a wave of sudden nostalgia, she recalled the battle with the wolves outside Landi. There weren’t many hostile creatures in the canyons of Landi, and Ashlyn had been pathetically ill-equipped for battle. She’d been carrying a hira shuriken with no stanes, but had still fought back, ready to kill the wolves or die trying.

  In an instant, that feeling came rushing back to her- the same survival instinct Ashlyn had honed over the last three years, the do-or-die mentality that was essential to a true ninja.

  A true ninja like her dad.

  Ashlyn dropped to the floor and spun onto her back, her feet scissoring out and striking Tag in the kneecaps. He yelped in pain, swung the katana, but Ashlyn was already moving, flipping up as the sword sliced the air beneath her. She touched the floor and spun in a roundhouse kick that smashed Tag against the wall with its force. Ashlyn flipped backwards, end over end to the edge of the balcony, avoiding Kou’s rush as much as giving herself room to move. On the last flip she landed on her feet and grabbed the balcony railing, letting her momentum carry her legs around in a half-circle as she held on for dear life. It was a breathless split second as she glanced back, seeing the vast, beautiful emptiness of the city beneath her, before she completed the arc and drove her feet into Kou’s chest. He flew backwards, and Ashlyn dropped to the floor, one hand splayed on the slick marble.

  Tag came at her as she found her footing, and Ashlyn rose and sidestepped in one motion, striking out with the heel of her hand. He blocked the hit, swung his right fist around, but Ashlyn sidestepped again. They parried jabs and punches, and Ashlyn, as much out of desperation as anything, called down a fire spell to singe him just as Kou jumped back into the fray with his own sword. Tag staggered backwards, screaming as he tried to pound out the flames that had suddenly erupted on his shoulder.

  Ashlyn ducked a slice from Kou’s sword, and spun, bringing her fist around to backhand him. He took the hit but managed to land a kick to her thigh, knocking her leg out from underneath her. She caught herself on the ground with one hand and quickly rolled out of the way as he brought the sword down again. Up and running, she dashed for the door and snatched up the katana Tag had been holding, falling to her knees and bending backwards as she blocked yet another strike from Kou’s sword. She spun on her knees, but he had guessed her move and easily jumped over her swinging blade.

  She sprang to her feet and advanced furiously, driving him back. Somewhere in her mind, it registered that Tag was still screaming, but she didn’t want to give up the advantage she had over Kou even to look and see where the other man was. She dodged a stab from Kou and swung the katana in a downward arc. Kou leaped back, but her aim was true, superficially slicing him from chest to abdomen. He gasped and stumbled backwards. Ashlyn didn’t stop to offer mercy, leaping forward to finish him off.

  She raised her arm, drawing back to slash at Kou’s exposed neck, but then a snarling bundle of fur smashed into her from the side, strong jaws latching onto her left arm and knocking her into the railing. Ashlyn screamed as the momentum flipped them both over the marble pillars, sending her careening towards the water below. The tearing pressure let up on her arm as the wolf released its hold on her, the howling animal spiraling away from her as they fell, and for one eternal instant Ashlyn was staring up at the sliver of the moon, a silent moment of perfection in darkness.

  It was in that moment that she realized this had been Kou’s vision, the vision her father had described to her in North Camp. The vision where she was killed by a wolf.

  She landed hard, on her back, and even with the water breaking her fall, she still hit the ground beneath with a bone-jarring thud. The breath was forced from her lungs in one huge whoosh of bubbles. Ashlyn felt the cold seeping into her bones, and forced herself to keep her eyes open, a voice screaming in her head to get moving, to get out of the cold before she froze to death. She looked up, saw the moon above, and briefly noted that she was bleeding, thick tendrils of bloody water snaking through the light above her.

  It was eerily reminiscent of that day she had lain in her bathwater, staring at the shifting shades of crimson and remembering the painting in the Eastern City mansion.

  Somehow she willed her leaden limbs to move, and drew her feet up underneath her, pushing off with her hands and standing up in the water. As her head broke the surface, she gasped in a breath that seared through her lungs like fire- her entire being so incredibly cold that it felt like the air itself was burning her up. Ashlyn stumbled towards the nearest staircase, sloshing clumsily through the water, the fog of her breath freezing against her cheeks. Slick with blood and water, her armlet slid down her elbow and dropped into the water, but she was far too cold and numb to try to retrieve it. She reached the bottom step and drew herself up a few steps, out of the water, but heard a splash behind her, and glanced back.

  The wolf behind her leaped at that very moment, and Ashlyn sprang into action, only managing to scramble up another handful of
stairs before the beast was on her back. Crying out as its claws dug into her skin, Ashlyn rolled on the steps, using her body weight to crush him against the marble stairs. It was enough to momentarily stun him, but no sooner had Ashlyn rolled off him than he was after her again. She found herself dodging teeth and claws, lifting her injured right arm to fend him off and screaming in pain as the full realization of how badly she was wounded began to sink in. The wolf managed to snag the sleeve of her shirt in its mouth and yanked, ripping the fabric. Ashlyn took the opportunity to punch the animal square in the eye, and it fell backwards against the steps, yelping as it rolled down the stairs towards the water.

  A shift stane glittered at her from the silver armlet on the wolf’s leg, and Ashlyn realized with a sinking feeling that this was Tag, that he had assumed the third and most deadly shape offered by the shift magic. A wolf.

  She turned and reached out with her one good hand, fingers curved into claws, shaking as she dragged herself up another stair, then two, finally mustering the strength to push herself up onto her feet and stagger up the steps. Every movement seemed to be in slow motion. Blood dripped from her arm, and she pulled it up close to her body, trying to ignore the shadows crowding the corners of her vision. It was too dark to get a good look at the wound, but she knew it was bad, knew that she was in danger of bleeding out.

  The wolf met her at the top of the stairs, the faint moonlight glittering off its bared teeth. He’d gone around somehow, gotten ahead of her.

  Ashlyn tried to straighten up, preparing herself to fight, but her knees buckled, and she fell, her legs slipping out beneath her as she flopped gracelessly onto her back. Get up! She propped herself up with her uninjured arm, and managed to brace herself up against the column at the head of the stairs. Her legs remained twisted uncomfortably in front of her, appearing almost gruesome with their odd, crooked angles, but she was so numb that she couldn’t summon the strength to straighten them.

  Her head lolled to the side drowsily, and she blinked for a moment before recognizing the outline of her bo shuriken, less than a foot away, hidden in the shadows of the spire beside her. There was a heal stane in its slots. If she could just get close enough to grab it, use it…but her hand wouldn’t move. She was cold, so cold.

  “Do you get it now, Ashlyn?” Kou’s voice, low and dripping with disdain as he stepped into view. He was too far away for her to see his eyes, but close enough that she could throw the shuriken at him, if she could get her hands on it.

  “Do you understand?” he said, turning towards her and pausing. He was hunched forward, in obvious pain from her attack with the katana earlier, but not mortally wounded. “This was meant to happen. You were meant to die here. I am meant to assume leadership of Toryn and overthrow the Free Lands Democracy. It was the destiny I saw in my vision.”

  She tried to speak, but even her vocal cords refused to budge in the icy cold. Ashlyn swallowed, willing her body to warm itself, and glanced at the shuriken again. It was a good stabbing weapon, but she wasn’t sure how accurate a throw would be, as cold as she was, and given the fact that she’d have to throw with her weaker right arm. But if she threw it, even if it was a death blow, would she be able to get to it so she could use the heal stane?

  Tag turned away then, licking a weeping wound on his shoulder, and Ashlyn drowsily wondered if maybe this was her chance.

  “I had hoped that you would be more open-minded than your father,” Kou continued.

  She was reminded of Lord Angelo, how he’d delivered a pointlessly arrogant speech about his power and immortality right before Skye had kicked his ass.

  Skye…

  This is your chance to be a leader, Ash. It’s your turn to be a hero and do the right thing. Don’t let it pass you by. Don’t live your life with regret.

  Ashlyn gritted her teeth, glancing up at Kou, but he was oblivious, completely absorbed in the sound of his own voice. The Tag-wolf was still occupied with tending to his various wounds. Ashlyn focused hard, willing her hand to move. Her fingers curled slightly.

  “He didn’t understand that Toryn could be the mightiest country in Kresmir- that Toryn needs to be the mightiest country in Kresmir. He didn’t understand the power of shift. For a while, I had held out hope that you might be different,” Kou said, glancing back at her. Ashlyn stilled momentarily, but soon he looked away again, and she miraculously found the strength to move her hand towards the shuriken.

  Her fingers closed around it, a solid bar of steel in her hand, the warmth of the slotted stanes comforting against her palm.

  “I soon realized, however, that you were just like your father. Weak,” Kou continued. “You played right into our hands until that idiot peasant recognized you outside the city gates. You couldn’t disappear after that. And somehow you managed to avoid capture during the attack, as well.” He shook his head. “You always have to make things difficult, but you’re still weak, Ashlyn. The Li bloodline is weak. The Li elders have always been afraid to allow the people of Toryn to reach their full power. And you are no different.” Hunched over, he turned to face her, his face twisting in a sneer. “That means you are of no use to me.”

  Tag rose, walking stiff-legged towards her, wet fur dripping, his growl menacing. Ashlyn swallowed hard, and clenched her fingers around the shuriken. The wolf stopped just inches in front of her, hackles rising as he readied himself to leap.

  “Nothing to say?” Kou asked. He shifted uncomfortably, hand clasped to his midsection, blood seeping through his fingers. The blade of the katana in his other hand was dragging against the marble, its master too weak even to hold it up.

  Ashlyn swallowed again, her eyes meeting the wolf’s, their gazes locked. Her timing had to be perfect.

  Tag crouched, gathering his legs beneath him.

  In the moment that the wolf jumped towards her, Ashlyn brought up the shuriken, and caught him in mid-leap, driving the pointed bar deep into the neck of the beast, warmth sluicing across her fingers as the steel found its mark and the wolf abruptly collapsed in a heap on top of her.

  Summoning what little strength she had left, Ashlyn yanked the shuriken out of the wolf’s neck and flung it, flat-handed, droplets of blood spinning off her fingers with the motion.

  Kou brought up his katana, but he was much too slow, and with a wet thunk the shuriken embedded itself in his shoulder.

  It wasn’t a killing blow. Ashlyn nearly cried with disappointment. She’d been off by mere inches.

  Kou didn’t speak or cry out, didn’t look at her, simply stumbled backwards before retreating down the stairs.

  The bo shuriken clattering against the marble after he pulled it from his shoulder was the only sound in that horrible dark stillness, and Ashlyn pushed weakly at Tag’s body, wondering if this was her punishment, if this was truly her fate. She was utterly drained, too exhausted to move the wolf off her legs and get to the heal stane.

  Blood spilled from her arm, pooling gruesomely beneath her limp hand. With some effort, Ashlyn lifted her hand, resting it across Tag’s massive head, trying to elevate the wound as much as possible to slow the bleeding.

  Killed by a wolf in the Heavenly City, they had said.

  It seemed that at least that much of Kou’s vision had been accurate.

  The sound of her labored breathing punctuated the silence. Ashlyn lay still for a long time, watching for the moon to emerge from behind the clouds.

  To be concluded…

  REDEMPTION

  Book 3 in the Lady of Toryn trilogy

  Chapter 1

  Stay Awake

  Skye materialized in front of a smooth marble pillar as the sun peeked over the horizon. Rays of light illuminated his solemn, clean-cut features.

  “Ashlyn Li,” he said, shaking his head. “We’ve been in this situation before. How many times I have told you that true leaders don’t abandon their followers?”

  Ashlyn’s eyes fluttered as she fought to stay conscious. “I had to…kill…Kou,” she r
asped. Her lips were dry as paper.

  The blond swordsman turned his disapproving gaze on her. “And you didn’t even do that right, did you?” he replied scornfully, and pushed off the pillar, crouching beside her. “You killed Tag, but only managed to injure Kou. He might die. He might not. But his odds are better than yours.”

  Ashlyn had struck Kou in the shoulder with her shuriken, but it hadn’t been a killing blow. Fury and despair roiled within her as she considered the events of last night. Kou had murdered her father, and Ashlyn’s first thought had been to avenge Lord Li…but Skye was right. She’d acted recklessly by going alone, and she had failed.

  “Don’t give her such a hard time,” Vargo said, suddenly appearing sprawled across the railing just a few feet from where Ashlyn lay. One leg dangled listlessly off the side of the railing, swinging idly. “She tried. She just wasn’t up to the challenge.” He took a long swig from a flask that flashed silver in the early morning light.

  “Please,” Ashlyn whispered. She tried to raise her hand to reach for the flask, but her fingers twitched in response, too weak to do anything more. “P-please,” she repeated. Her voice was a dry husk, empty and lifeless.

  “What? Oh, this?” Vargo said, holding up the flask. “You wouldn’t want this. Nothing in it.” He turned the flask upside down, proving his point.

  “We’re not real anyway,” Skye spoke up. “You know that, right?”

  Ashlyn knew. She knew that she was seeing things that weren’t really there. More than that, she knew that she was dying, and no one was coming to save her. But somehow, even as she realized for the hundredth time that she was talking to a figment of her imagination, the epiphany seemed to crumple up and float away, and she looked up at Skye again, wondering woozily why he wasn’t helping her.