Children of the Prime Box Set

by T. C. Edge

  They press through the semi-parted crowd, the people stepping back further to give them more room, all cowering low like beaten dogs. I look at Lilly again, that rebuke in her eyes no longer there. I see only a young girl now, afraid of what might happen to her sister. Her lips quiver, eyes darting around as if wondering what to do. Conflicted.

  I lock my gaze on hers as the two soldiers reach my flanks, shaking my head to tell her not to interfere. At my side, Jude stands stoic and tall, protective. One of the soldiers fixes his square jaw, and thrusts a fist right into Jude's chest. It connects with a loud thud to his sternum, his arm moving with incredible speed, pressing Jude right back into the crowd.

  He hits the wall of grovelling bodies and tumbles to the floor, taking several other bystanders with him. I hear him wheezing as he's helped to his feet, breathlessly trying to call my name. His voice is lost amid the murmuring assembly as I'm drawn quickly away, out into the ceremonial square, and pressed down onto my knees before the Collector.

  Ceres stands ahead of me, shaking his head, tutting. His white robes look so out of place among the colours all around us, the multi-coloured crowd set back on all sides as they encircle the courtyard, leaving me isolated and alone.

  I notice the soldiers moving into position ahead of them, blocking off anyone who might be brave or foolish enough to interfere. My eyes switch again to Jude, hidden somewhere among the pulsing throng. And Lilly, sweet Lilly, right there at the front, golden eyes glowing wet as she watches on, powerless.

  "Insubordination, child," Ceres's voice comes, seeping like poison into my ears, "will not be tolerated. Your contrition is false, and you must be punished." He turns his eyes around the crowd, speaking more loudly. "All people must know their purpose and place. Those who step out of line..." He looks down at me with a cruel smile, "...will suffer the necessary consequences. This world is built on order. The Prime's new world is not to be challenged."

  His eyes glow with menace and I notice movement behind him, more soldiers pressing forward from one of the military carriages. I see a metal bar held in one of their hands, its end glowing bright orange and twisted into a shape I faintly recognise.

  My heart lurches in my chest as the soldiers step towards me.

  A brand. He's going to brand me...

  I struggle to my feet, pressing myself off my knees, but strong arms thrust me right back down. The murmuring in the crowd grows louder, though a dull sense of quiet fills my ears as the panic begins to set in. My eyes start to water as fear and the anticipation of pain, and scarring, wash through me. I flash my eyes over at the crowd but find them little more than a blur. Only Lilly's blue dress stands out, her slender shape framed by something larger, darker; the figure of Jude, holding her tight, holding her back.

  I turn my eyes back up, and all I see is orange and yellow. A bright, intense glow and accompanying heat begins to burn near my face. I instinctively pull back and see Ceres smiling above me, the soldier wielding the brand right there at his side, holding the searing metal near my cheek.

  Gently, the Collector crouches down before me. Through the growing din he whispers to me quietly. "Do you think I wish to do this, child?" he asks. "Of course I don't. But do you know what happens if a Devotee is allowed to speak out against a Collector, or any such official from Olympus?" He shakes his head and smiles softly. "It seems unfair to you, I know, but control can only be wielded through the use of force. You crave it, really. You desire to be ruled. We cannot allow the odd rotten apple like you to ruin the bunch." He gradually draws away once again, his voice growing louder. "I'm sorry, child. But it must be done."

  Thunder erupts in my chest, the blazing, orange glow approaching. I pull back once more but feel fingers, hands, gripping at my shoulders, arms, neck, face.

  I'm held firm in position, completely unable to move. The din of the crowd joins together into a muted blur of noise in my head, my senses unable to take it all in as the panic takes hold.

  I feel as if I might just pass out, my watering eyes turning back up to Ceres. I try to plead but find my voice has abandoned me, managing only a pathetic, clotted croak. My eyes blare with fear but the man just stares, impassive, a little smile upon his face.

  What sort of man could enjoy this?

  A strike of pure hatred pulses through me, trying to compete with the terror filling my veins. A grimace of anger rips onto my face as I stare right at him. He only seems to enjoy it further as the orange brand closes in on my flesh, so hot I can hear it hissing.

  It nears my cheek, and I squeeze my eyes tight, bracing myself for the pain, my head held in position by the hands of the guards behind me. The noises in the crowd clear, some calling out now and showing their discontent. I hear calls for clemency, for mercy, even for a girl with a reputation for heresy like me. And amid it all, Jude's voice climbs highest, roaring loudly for me to be set free.

  I creep my eyes open once more, peeking over to the crowd. The brand still hovers near my cheek, hissing, burning, eager to scar me for life. I see Lilly there, staring, motionless. Her eyes are watering violently, but she seems unable to look away.

  Movement draws my vision, Ceres lifting his hand to halt the progress of the brand as it hungrily seeks out my cheek. The soldier holding it stops, draws back. Ceres scans the crowd, his eyebrows falling angrily. He raises his hand higher, forcing the voices of the people to die down.

  "You dare question my decision," he seethes, looking out over the people. An immediate hush falls, all voices stymied. Bodies drop away again, heads bowing low. And just like that, the rising tide recedes.

  All voices but one fade away.

  Jude's.

  "It's a bad decision," he calls out, his voice like a comfort blanket to my ears. "She doesn't deserve to be branded as a Defiant for that. It will ruin her life..."

  Defiant, I think, my eyes widening once more in fear. That's what the brand means...

  "Then perhaps you wish to join her?" asks Ceres, anger simmering. "You don't strike me as a good Devotee yourself. Perhaps you should both learn some humility."

  "I'd do anything..."

  "NO!" My voice breaks free once again, pouring out of my mouth, cutting Jude off. All eyes return to me. "This has nothing to do with him." I lift my chin, glance at the brand, and then stare right at Ceres. "Do what you have to do," I grunt.

  He regards me for a moment. "Defiant," he whispers, "but brave. A dangerous combination. Yes, this path will suit you well."

  He turns to the soldier holding the brand, and nods. I see Jude trying to move towards me from the crowd, his voice erupting again in protest. It's quickly shut off as two soldiers sweep in and restrain him, holding his mouth shut and eyes open, forcing him to watch.

  The searing metal creeps back towards my cheek, but this time I don't shut my eyes. I stare at Ceres as it approaches, earning the status I'm about to receive.

  Defiant.

  The sound of weeping fills the air. I don't need to turn or look to know that it's Lilly. I notice Ceres glancing over at her, see his eyes take her in.

  Not her. Don't you dare look at her!

  He slowly looks back at me, eyes raised a little, smile reappearing as the glowing metal inches towards my flesh. I see its dreadful radiance from the corner of my eye, approaching from the left, creeping ever closer.

  I keep my gaze on Ceres and don't look away. The glow grows brighter, the hissing louder. And then, I feel the connection.

  Pressure. I feel pressure on my cheek as the metal connects, my body tensing, bracing for the terrible agony. It feels...cool, nothing more.

  There's no pain, no discomfort.

  No smell of burning flesh rushes up my nose.

  Is this how it's meant to feel? I think. Is it just too hot for my nerves to register the pain?

  I glare at Ceres as the metal presses into my face, unwilling to scream out or crumble, and not feeling the need to. His smile remains for a moment, his eyes on mine. Then they move just a little to my
left cheek, and I see a frown beginning to fall.

  The frown changes almost immediately, going the other way as his eyebrows lift, eyes widening.

  He takes a short step forward, grabs the metal rod, and pulls it away. An expression of shock burgeons on his pallid face.

  "This...can't be," he whispers, shaking his head, staring at my cheek. He looks to the brand, reaches cautiously to its glowing end with his finger. They get within an inch before pulling immediately away, a sharp note of discomfort spreading across his face at the scorching heat.

  Something seems to stir behind his eyes, a memory of some kind. He looks around, staring off to the middle distance, shaking his head in thought. Then his eyes land on Lilly once more, standing nearby, looking so like me.

  He stares at her for a moment, and then begins to nod.

  "You're her sister," he says quietly, as if he already knows. "You're a model Devotee, aren't you?"

  Lilly nods slowly, wet eyes unblinking as they look at Ceres, then back to me. She stares at me in shock, her eyes glistening with tears.

  "Two sides of a coin," Ceres whispers thoughtfully, as if speaking to himself. He looks at me once more, seeming to work something out, then steps hurriedly towards Lilly. I see him lean towards her, and whisper something for only her to hear.

  I struggle in the grip of the soldiers as I watch, trying to rip myself free. The crowd have gone deathly silent, all eyes staring at me, at my cheek. I grimace in anger as Ceres returns to me, waving for his guards to release me.

  Hands are removed, my body unshackled, everything seeming to happen so fast. Trembling with hatred, anger, and terrible anticipation, my fingers rush right for my cheek as I kneel there at the centre of the courtyard. They slow as they reach their mark, the tips pressing tentatively towards the seared skin and flesh.

  They touch, gently, and my expression joins those of the others staring right at me.

  Shock. Confusion.

  My face, my cheek, remains unburned. Unscarred.

  Unbranded.

  3

  "Pack things up. I want to be leaving within five minutes."

  I kneel in the stone courtyard, the world a blur, as Ceres shouts orders to his followers. The carriages are brought forward, the white-robed acolytes commanding the local population to join in. Within moments, the silence and stillness is broken as dozens of people begin gathering up their tributes and loading them into the carriages.

  I feel a body rush up and fling arms around me. Still in a slight state of shock, it takes a moment for Lilly's voice to register in my ears.

  "Amber, are you OK? Amber..."

  I come to, my senses refocusing, and manage to stand up to my full height. Lilly clutches at me, looking up into my eyes. No, my cheek. She stares at it in astonishment.

  "What happened?" she whispers.

  I reach again for my flesh. It should be raw to the touch, my cheek flaring with an excruciating pain. There's nothing. No pain, no disfigurement. My cheek feels as smooth as ever.

  "I...don't know," I reply, shaking my head. I look around the crowd and see that others are inspecting me curiously as they gather up the tributes and load them onto the transports. Some mutter things I can't hear, eyeing me with something that resembles suspicion. Others merely gawp in wonder, while most seem to be confused as to what exactly has gone on.

  I spot Jude running towards me, released now from the grip of the soldiers. He hauls me into a hug so tight that, for a moment, I cannot breathe. Letting me go, he takes a firm hold of my face, though his fingers deftly avoid pressing at my left cheek, as if the expected damage might just be invisible. His eyes stare directly at the untarnished flesh, his head shaking slightly, before fixing on my eyes.

  "We should go," he says, "before anything else happens."

  Without further hesitation, and eyeing the soldiers anxiously, he begins leading me away from the courtyard, arms wrapped around me, people tracing our movement with their eyes as we go.

  I look out over the crowd and see Ceres remains among them, several guards surrounding him and keeping the people at a distance. He stands at one of the tables, the very one where we placed the offerings from our household. I notice him picking up one of the little wooden figurines of him that Lilly likes to carve. He inspects it with a smile, turning it over in his fingers, before looking directly over at us as we make our retreat.

  He looks at Lilly and nods, dipping his head to her in approval. Does he know she was the one who made it? I wonder. How could he?

  I look to my sister, who stares right back at him. She appears conflicted about something. Her brows gather into a frown, before the smallest of smiles lifts on her face.

  I reach out and grab her arm, demanding her attention. She turns immediately to look right at me, smile disappearing. "Don't look at him, Lil," I say, voice low. "You saw what he is today. You saw what they are."

  She nods slowly, and Jude hastens us on, the murmuring residents of Pine Lake and the surrounding settlements beginning to fade as we venture deeper into town. The place is a simple reconstruction of the sort of town that once existed here hundreds of years ago. A rustic spread of pinewood-roofed houses separated down wide, straight streets, none rising more than two storeys in height. A place built within the shadow of the majestic mountains to the west, with the sprawling pinewood forests and magnificent lakes in between.

  Yet it's another shadow that looms larger. The one that stretches further and casts its gloom across a wider expanse of earth...

  The shadow of Olympus, its oppressive influence spreading far and wide across the Fringe.

  We venture down the central street, the town typically quiet for this day of the month. Attendance at the collection ceremony isn't mandatory, though all households must provide monthly tribute. Often those living in outlying communities will assign the duty of bringing the tributes to a single individual, or group of individuals. Those who consider themselves especially good Devotees, and believe they have a chance of being found worthy, will come every month regardless.

  I look at Lilly, counted among them, and a frown begins to form. What did he say to you? I wonder, uneasy. What did Ceres say?

  A voice croaks from behind us, distracting me from my thoughts, stopping us abruptly in our step.

  "That was quite the show you put on there," it comes.

  I spin around and meet the craggy old visage of the local madwoman, approaching from a shadowed side-street. Her once golden hair is now mostly stringy and grey, the last few gleaming strands stubbornly refusing to wilt. Her face is the same, skin creased and heavily wrinkled, yet her eyes still shine with an impishness that defies her age. She wears a patchwork of faded and oddly coloured clothing, as if to proudly live up to her reputation. Just like Jude, she seems quite pleased with her notoriety, and sees no reason to shy away from it.

  And, she just so happens to be my grandmother.

  "Grandma!" Lilly exclaims, rushing up to her. "What are you doing here?"

  "I had the sense something might happen today," says my grandma cryptically. She tends to do that. One of the many reasons why people question her state of sanity.

  "But you hate collection day as much as Amber does," says Lilly, reaching her, glancing back at me. They wrap up into a fond embrace as Jude and I approach.

  "I don't hate it as much as you think, Lillypad," grandma says. "I'm just too old to make the trip these days too often." She looks up. "Hello, Jude, handsome as ever."

  Jude steps in and gives her a hug. "And playful as always," he says. "How are you, Alberta? It's been a long time."

  "Too long, my dear. Far too long." She lifts her eyes to mine playfully. "Are you two still just friends, then?"

  Lilly giggles to the side. She only seems to act this way around Jude and my grandmother, Alberta. Mostly, I get the strict version of the girl back at home by the lake. Under my parents' influence, she can be overbearingly sanctimonious. In the company of Jude and grandma, she's usually far more
relaxed, despite the fact that they, like me, are about the worst Devotees across this edge of the Fringe.

  "Yes, grandma, just friends," I say, stepping in and kissing her on the cheek. "Sorry to disappoint you."

  Grandma raises a cheeky smile and cocks a brow in Jude's direction. "So my granddaughter isn't good enough for you, is that it, Jude?"

  "I think it's the other way around, Alberta," says Jude quickly, smirking at the jovial taunt.

  "Oh no, I think you're about as bad as each other," grins grandma. "At least that's the common consensus around here." She looks up the main street, back towards the commotion in the distance. "And now you're under Ceres's radar," she muses sombrely, scanning us all. "Every one of you."

  We share a look, my mind still rushing with questions. Five minutes ago, I was about to be branded as a Defiant. Now here I am, apparently free to go, my cheek mysteriously unharmed.

  "So...are we going to talk about what happened?" Lilly says, staring at my face again in continued amazement, then back over at our grandmother. "If you were there, you saw it, grandma. Her cheek didn't burn. Does that mean she's..."

  "It means that she had a lucky break," grandma cuts in. "And it means we should probably discuss this somewhere more private." She turns west, towards a track leading into the pinewoods, where she lives several miles away. "Now come, follow me. Washington has been dying to see you..."

  4

  We reach my grandmother's cabin in the woods with the heat of the day approaching, the sun casting shards of light down through the trees.

  Set in a small clearing in a denser section of the forest, her isolated habitation here is another reason for her reputation. I've never been able to decide whether she moved here merely to consciously contribute to her profile. At times I think that this is all just one big game to her.

  We swiftly happen upon another string to her madness bow, as Washington makes an appearance. His arrival is heralded by the tapping of hooves on wood, joined by a sound of bleating as he comes hurrying down the cabin steps and into the clearing.