“Where is he?” I cried.
One of the boards on the windows tore off the window and fell on the ground, flames lapping upward from the board and out the broken window. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t go in there.
Niko, get out of there!
Suddenly I felt something so horrible that my knees buckled. I tried to scream, but I felt suffocated by the smoke. “Niko!” He was in the fire. He was—he was—
This was what it felt like when my guardians were dying.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Phoebe
Forrest caught up to me and put his arms around me, but I hardly registered him right now. I was screaming Niko’s name, my fingernails digging into Forrest.
“Phoebe—“ he choked.
Polaris ran up to us, emerging from the crowd of women. “I noticed three strange individuals out here seven minutes ago,” she said. “I believe they were the men who started the fire.”
“Where?” Forrest asked.
“They were standing on the west side of the building.”
“Which way is west?” I cried through tears. As if I could think like a compass in these circumstances.
“Follow me, my lady.”
“I think it’s too late…” I was shuddering head to toe. My mind had pulled back from Niko as best I could…or maybe he had fallen unconscious. I wasn’t feeling as much physical pain, but I didn’t see anyone getting out of the building after that last woman. The heat and smoke was choking the air.
“We have to try,” Forrest said, urging me along. He could keep a cool head even now, and I was grateful for that.
Polaris walked purposefully now, arms swinging. She pointed into the dark alley where I could now make out the forms of three people huddled down, making hand gestures like they were controlling the fire. They wore black robes over some light black leather armor.
Forrest drew his sword. “Gilbert, start playing. Those are imperial army mages, all right.”
“Imperial mages?” Gilbert sounded nervous, and I understood why, because imperial mages were rare. Most people with magical talent used to become Elders or temple maidens. Nowadays, people with magical talent were more likely to conceal it so they didn’t get caught up in the battles between the Emperor and the Elders. Everyone knew imperial mages existed, but they were never in military parades or on patrol. No one saw them or knew if there were five of them, fifty of them, or five hundred of them. (Hopefully not that.)
Gilbert started playing the agitated music of confusion as Forrest ran toward the mages.
The good news was, as soon as they saw Forrest coming and heard Gilbert play, the fire seemed to die down somewhat, like they had been controlling it to some extent. But of course, it was a fire. It kept burning either way.
The much worse news was that one of them waved a hand and fire shot at Forrest. I didn’t know what the magic could do, and I was frozen until I saw him dodge it.
Forrest was still in super badass mode, thankfully. He flew past all of them and whipped his sword around to take down one of the mages before the guy knew what slashed him.
But while he was doing that, the other two whirled on Gilbert.
“You don’t see me,” Gilbert sang out, trying to enchant them.
Mages were probably among the toughest for resisting bardic songs, I’d bet. They slowed down a little like they were trying to remember what they were doing, but they didn’t stop. Was it enough time for Forrest to get to them instead?
Gilbert obviously decided not to take chances. He handed his violin to me (that was me, oh-so-useful priestess and…holder of objects) and drew a knife instead. He put an arm across me, pushing me back. The mages joined hands and lifted their free hands. Little bolts started shooting at us like darts. One of them hit my arm and Gilbert took a couple in the chest and arm.
They were like little burning shocks going through me and I made some sound of distress but at the same time, I barely felt that pain. I was mainly thinking of Niko. My focus was on the flames lapping at the building. I was tearing apart inside. I couldn’t feel him anymore.
Was that…it?
Was he gone?
I think I expected the death of a guardian to feel both more final, and less final, than other deaths. Like I would feel the death of a guardian sear through my soul, but then I would sense his spirit with me. I was only just starting to develop an understanding with Niko, but there was still so much growing to do.
“Phoebe!” Gilbert crashed into me as one of the mages stomped the ground and the pave-stones of the street churned under us. Gilbert covered me with his body, dropping down, but that turned out to be a bad decision as the stones shifted under us. We barely scrambled aside as they shifted into spikes. Now spikes were coming out of the ground everywhere, their appearance heralded by a little shudder that helped us avoid them, but we were running out of spaces to escape.
Forrest was keeping the other mage busy in the background. But our mage stood over us. Gilbert put an arm over me. I could see his face somewhat now, an older man with a white beard. He looked very much like an Elder. Perhaps he had left the Elders, like the man Abel had killed.
“What does the Emperor want?” Gilbert asked.
“I don’t know. I just follow orders. I’m sorry. We have much respect for the priestess. Bard, if you stand down and come willingly, the Emperor has offered to send you to the Isles. If you insist on protecting her, I’ll have to kill you, and she’ll have to watch you die.”
“Take him from me, and I’ll—I’ll curse you,” I told the mage.
The mage laughed. “I don’t think you know how to do anything, little one.”
“How can I not protect her?” Gilbert said fiercely, his eyes flitting after Forrest. “I’m not going to the Isles. That’s a death sentence, too, just a slow one.” The other mage was giving Forrest trouble. “I’m sorry I’m not a warrior, Phoebe…maybe I have to surrender.”
“Niko’s already gone,” I whispered, and we clasped hands. “Don’t go to the Isles. You’ll never come back.” I stepped in front of him. “You’ll have to go through me to kill him.” I concentrated on the golden belt at my waist.
Where is my dragon blood? Do something! Please!
The next few seconds would determine everything and my mind was racing with panic as nothing happened. My body remained stubbornly in girl form. The mage lifted his hands and I saw a glow flare in his palms, as if everything was happening very slowly, but I was a frozen in a nightmare.
“Yaaah!” Twin blades suddenly flashed in the firelight and the mage’s head went flying.
The spikes in the road all disappeared in an instant. I screamed. Okay, to be fair, Gilbert also shrieked out a, “Shit!”
Rin, looking a little worse for wear in grubby brown clothing, nevertheless had made quick work of the mage. He paused with his bloody blades as if he had not quite processed what happened.
Then he turned around and threw up.
Gilbert was still looking at him with his eyes shining. “Are you all right?”
“I didn’t mean to do that,” Rin said. “But when I saw him about to take you out—“
“For crying out loud,” Forrest said behind us. He’d taken out the third mage while we were distracted. Blood flowed around the edges of the stones. My brain knew they’d been willing to kill us, but this was definitely more carnage than I was comfortable with.
Yep, now I was vomiting too.
Rin wiped off his mouth and stood up on shaky legs.
“It’s okay, kid, it happens,” Forrest said, sounding sympathetic, patting him on the back.
“Where did you come from?” Gilbert asked.
“From the palace,” Rin said. “I saw the Emperor with my sister and…” He shook his head. “It’s playing out just like you thought, Phoebe, and—I see now, the only way to win her back is to help you. But never mind that right now, what’s going on here?”
“Imperial mages!” I said, trying to
calm down my racing heart. Forrest handed me his flask, and I carefully took a sip and swished out the nasty taste of total and utter fear.
“The Emperor wants to kill us,” Forrest growled. “The guardians, but not Phoebe and Abel. We just lost Niko because of this shit.”
“Oh, no…don’t say it,” I said. “I don’t want to think about it. I mean, I’m still not sure. I just sensed him in pain, and now I don’t sense him anymore… He can’t just be gone like that…there must be more to it!”
“My lady…,” Forrest said gently. “I hate to say it, but what you described sounds…like death. It does feel like there should be more to it, but there isn’t.”
His words felt like a slap to the face and I shoved away from him. “No…no.”
“We need to leave this place. Like we should have done as soon as we got you back from Abel,” Forrest said.
I hugged myself, trying to keep it together. Forrest was right, I thought. But the idea of forging on and on with death one step behind… Could I just have some damned space to mourn?
And then I felt something.
A stirring. A voice in my head. Not dead yet…
“Niko?” I ran toward the building, far ahead of Forrest and Gilbert who told me to stay put, but I was trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. The fire was still consuming the building. When I ran around to the front, people were trying to contain it, stamping out and dousing any fire that spread with buckets. A horse-drawn fire wagon was spraying water on the flames.
“Niko?” I screamed.
A black form, a creature of shining scales and sinuous body, whipping tail and scrabbling claws, burst out of one of the broken windows. He barely fit through the frame; I could see it scraping at his scales, and more glass shards scattered on the street, but he managed to get out.
He collapsed, his chest heaving. The crowd pulled away from him in a violent unified motion, screaming. “Monster! It’s a monster!”
I threw out my hands. “Don’t hurt him! It’s a dragon! It’s the Lucky Dragon! He’s a real dragon and he’s hurt. Give me some water.” I grabbed a pail of water from a bewildered, dirty woman in a fine dress, and threw it on Niko. His scales steamed. It was hard to tell how singed he was in this form, but I could tell he was hurt because he was just laying there, breathing but not moving, while everyone screamed around him. I knew he wouldn’t have wanted to be seen as a dragon if he could possibly help it.
“Niko…” I dropped to my knees in front of him. “Change back so I can start to heal you…” I was't sure how to kiss a dragon.
“Ka…” He struggled to speak. His dragon voice was lower and more of a growl that rumbled up from deep inside him like shifting rocks.
“You can’t?”
His golden eye slitted shut. He was still breathing but I don’t think he was aware of me anymore.
Forrest came running up to me now as Gilbert calmed down the crowd with some soothing music. “Can he change back?”
“No.”
“Damn it, he might be a dragon, but most people are just going to see an especially large, tough-looking monster. We’ve gotta get him out of here before the army shows up.”
“He’s hurt badly. We could go to Emmaline’s,” I said.
“No, we’re leaving now,” Forrest said.
“No!” I snapped back. “I need a chance to heal him. Emmaline knows about the dragon thing. When he wakes up he can change back. Polaris…” I looked around and saw the mechanical girl waiting patiently off to the side. “Are the carriages and horses safe?”
“Yes.” The stables and carriage house were across the street from Niko’s main building.
“Can you drive one up here?”
“Yes, milady.”
“Hurry.”
Forrest looked at the ground. He didn’t agree with my plan, I could tell. But he didn’t challenge me either. Good thing. I was in no mood to be challenged.
Finally he looked at me in an almost insistent way.
I heard the sound of many horses, riding fast. They seemed to be coming from several directions at once.
Forrest took my hand and clutched it for a second before drawing his sword. The Black Army was closing in around us.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Abel
I didn’t exactly have ‘friends’ in my command, or anywhere else for that matter, but I was respected. My men knew I would risk my life for them. Leonidas and I kept our business and personal conflicts private, but I suppose rumors could not help but swirl. And so the evening came that I was sitting in my office by lamp-light, trying to consider the latest reports from the soldiers stationed in Gaermon, when one of my officers paid me a visit.
Instead, my eyes kept wandering to the letter of farewell I received from Phoebe yesterday.
I was already restless. I thought I felt Phoebe in my head, and then she was gone again.
I wondered if I should go to her, or if I would only make things worse. No one had informed me of any plans. Leonidas had told me to await his order, but I hadn’t realized he would leave me in the dark.
Sir Erren was a younger man who had risen quickly through the ranks, deservedly so. In some ways he reminded me of Forrest, although they didn’t look much alike. Erren had a boyish face. He looked paler than usual, bowing low as he was shown in. “Lord Commander, I am very sorry to bother you at this hour.”
“It’s all right. It must be important. Something’s happening.”
“Yes, I wanted to inform you… I—I might be very much out of bounds.”
“Have a seat,” I said, waving a hand. “You look a little unsteady on your feet.”
“Thank you, sir.” He took one of the chairs, but he seemed ready to spring up again in an instant. “Well…you see, you might know something I don’t, but…I was just down by the docks. His Imperial Majesty ordered us to burn a building down there harboring criminals—well, I didn’t burn the building myself, but I was waiting in the distance. It was full of women who were panicking to evacuate. I still don’t know if they all got out.”
“Burn a building? No, I wasn’t aware of this order at all.”
“I didn’t know I would be burning young women… I heard screams… A few of them ran past me…burns on their faces…their hair…” His hands were shaking as his fingers vaguely traced out the things he had seen. It was a little incoherent and yet I could well imagine it. It reminded me of the raid on the Hawk Mountain bandits. Leonidas had ordered me to kill the bandits, search their village, and bring the women and children and all books and valuables back to Capamere, but when we charged in, we had not expected that children as young as eight would be shooting us with arrows and slashing at our legs. They set their own homes on fire. When the dust cleared, even the youngest children had been given poison so we could not take them alive. The bandits didn’t let us have a single one of their own.
“I— don’t know,” he said. “When I became a knight, I took an oath to protect. I’m sorry…”
“Don’t be sorry,” I said. “You did, indeed, take an oath, and I understand why you’ve come to me. I won’t tell the emperor you came to me. Do you know why he burned this building?”
“No, sir.”
“Did you capture anyone?”
“I—I actually just left right in the middle of it all. I’m sorry. I’m a deserter, but something inside me was— I couldn’t.”
“It’s all right,” I said. “Sometimes it takes more courage to shirk a duty than to fulfill it.” I wouldn’t have said that even a month ago, but my perspective had been rapidly shifting.
I sent Sir Erren home and went directly to the palace. I had this feeling there had to be a reckoning, but I wasn’t sure what it could be. I ran all the options over and over in my mind as the carriage jostled along the streets. I felt as trapped in my position as ever. I couldn’t help Phoebe, or Leonidas would no longer have a reason to protect me.
Maybe, I thought, the only way to protect Phoebe
was to relent to Leonidas’ plan…for her to be mine alone.
I was so afraid of this.
I don’t know if I was afraid to hurt her, or if I simply afraid of what she would do to me and how she would change me.
I didn’t know if I was a good man or an evil one, and in fact, I already knew I wasn’t a man at all.
If she was mine and mine alone, I would know the answer. It would be so easy and so satisfying. Gods. Her little body pinned under mine, our sigils burning together. I would have to love her. She would unravel me. She would release everything inside me that was bound up inside. I wouldn’t know who I was anymore, I thought. She would turn me into something else and a part of her would always see me as the man who took her other guardians and her destiny away from her, even as she would have to love me too.
It is far too cruel, but what if it was the least cruel choice?
She will never see it that way.
But I was a military commander. I had to consider the least cruel choice all the time.
I always had to tell my men that. It wasn’t their place to question orders, even if they didn’t understand them. I followed the same credo. I never knew why Leonidas wanted me to handle the bandits as he did, but I had to trust his reasons.
That wasn’t what I said to Sir Erren today, though…
The Emperor was attending an operetta with Princess Himika at his side. It took me some time to find him there in his box. He hadn’t been going to the opera much lately.
“She loves it,” he said, when I commented on this, as he left her there to watch and stepped out of the box to speak to me. “Abel…” He clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Look at her.”
I glanced at him warily.
“Isn’t she the most beautiful woman you’ve ever seen? She says the performances in Gaermon are not half as lively as ours.”
Himika was laughing a little at some comedic scene, not paying us any attention. If I didn’t know the situation, I would think she didn’t have a care in the world right now.
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