Prophecy's Promise (Prophecy of the Edges Book 1)

by Lauren Amundson

  He nodded at the man I had slain. “Thanks for killing that one. Saves me from paying him.”

  I spat, but the Mist was weighing against me so heavily that my own spittle fell right back down onto my eye. I couldn’t move my hand to wipe it away, and I was still covered in the guard’s blood.

  Drahwan laughed.

  I could feel Azabin beckoning me, promising that Drahwan’s death would release me, would save me. I pushed against the Mist that bound me. I wanted him to shut Drahwan up. I focused on his throat. I focused on making his laughter stop. He put his hands to his neck, gasping for breath. His face turned bluish and he stopped struggling. I released Drahwan and he fell to the ground, but the man lying unconscious on the floor didn’t look like Drahwan anymore. Drahwan had used a cat’s paw.

  “Who is next?” I asked.

  The men looked around, clearly not understanding what I said. I picked two men at random and cut off their air. The others fled. I let the two men breathe, but held them still with my Mist. The others would escape, but that was fine. I only needed one of them to implicate Drahwan. Trying to detain all the men would have been very taxing.

  “Let’s go find Bahlym.” I made my prisoners follow me. Bahlym immediately got on his audible and started making calls. He begged me to go to sleep and allow him to handle the rest of the “situation.”

  The next morning, two men wearing deep purple short-sleeved uniforms came to the apartment. Bahlym explained that these two were employed by the Empire to track down and deal with criminals. “I am sorry, but there is insufficient evidence to proceed with the investigation,” said one of the officers, with shoulder-length blond hair secured to the side with a black band. “The two men captured will be tried in a court of law.”

  “But Drahwan tried to kill me!” I protested. “Why can’t you arrest him?”

  The blond officer’s jaw dropped at my words. But the other laughed. “I heard you didn’t like our Protocols.” He stepped in front of his partner who was still trying to decide how to react to my vocalization. “I am sorry, but all you have is a man who glamoured himself to look like Drahwan. These men claim that the only goal was to scare you.”

  “Drahwan put out an immediate statement saying how pro-women he is,” Bahlym said.

  “And that statement doesn’t tip you off?” Adara asked icily. “You and father are the only two with Council seats who really are pro-women, and that’s because you want us to be able to work in your factories!”

  Bahlym gripped Adara’s elbow. “Just because the Promise does not understand Protocol does not give you the right to speak.”

  “The only evidence we have is motive,” the second officer offered. “Drahwan’s far from the only person with an agenda. Everyone has one. It is quite possible that it wasn’t him.”

  Adara pulled her elbow free from Bahlym’s grasp. “Besides, Drahwan loves attention. I really don’t see him acting in private.”

  “It’s almost worse if it is not Drahwan,” I pointed out. “A nameless threat is much more dangerous than someone we could track.”

  The blond officer had regained his composure and bowed to Bahlym. “We will see ourselves out. Thank you for your time.” He motioned to his partner who bowed to Bahlym, and then, surprisingly to Adara and then myself before turning to leave.

  “I am sorry that I grabbed you,” Bahlym told Adara, “but we must work within Protocol if you wish to be successful.”

  “You do not take enough risks,” Adara accused. Sitting down on the sofa, she smoothed her knee-length dress. “I think that no one will try anything so blunt in the future. But I assure you, they may try other things. You should see what they say about me in the papers.”

  “What else could they try?” I asked.

  As if summoned by my words, the buzzer rang. Bahlym pushed a couple of buttons, and a few moments later, a messenger boy entered the apartment. He handed a piece of paper to Bahlym who in turn gave the boy a coin.

  “This,” Bahlym said as he set down the note. “The Council is holding an emergency session and my official note got lost.”

  “When does it start?” I asked.

  “A half hour ago.”

  It took me less than fifteen minutes to make myself presentable to go before the Council, but by the time we got there, the session had been going on for an hour.

  “Promise, I am so glad that you could make it,” General Kadir Hamrham Zirban said. “We tried to wait, but when you didn’t arrive…” He shrugged.

  “It seems our invitations did not arrive. Luckily a friend sent me a message,” Bahlym said and then dipped his head toward the general. “My apologies.”

  “How unfortunate,” Drahwan said as he handed me one of the ink-less quills. “Luckily you are just in time to sign our marriage license for yourself.”

  “You are deluded,” I said simply.

  “No, it makes perfect sense,” Kadir told me. “You are alone in this world with no family. It is improper for a young woman to live like that. And you have the child to think about. Drahwan has agreed to adopt it and take upon himself the burden of your role so that you may raise your baby.”

  “I’m not signing it. You are wasting my time and yours.”

  “That’s fine. I can sign it for you.” Drahwan bent over the desk and signed a piece of paper. “I was about to sign for you as it was.”

  “Congratulations, Ambassador Promise Councilman Dehdarad on your nuptials,” Kadir shook Drahwan Dehdarad hand and the entire Council room erupted in cheers.

  “But I’m the Promise.”

  “Titles and property are conferred to the husband upon marriage,” Bahlym explained.

  “All right, my beautiful bride,” Drahwan reached for my hand, which I snatched away from him. “Let’s go collect your things from the Zayad household.”

  Bahlym, still standing next to me, shook Drahwan’s hand. “Yes, congratulations. I will hurry ahead and gather her things for you. Every happiness,” he said, giving me a hug, and then whispered in my ear. “Play along. I have an idea. I will see you at the apartments. Ride over with Drahwan.”

  “I am not going anywhere with him,” I hissed, but Drahwan pulled me away from Bahlym.

  “Come along, my dear. I am anxious to see my book, The Edging of the World. And consummating the marriage should be fun, too.” He winked at me, but more for the crowd in the Council building.

  I breathed deeply resisting the urge to knee him in the groin. Bahlym asked me to play along. Fine. “I guess we will see if you can read the book. Then at least I can go home.”

  “But you are home.” Drahwan led me to his locomobile. “I’m not a bad person.”

  “I don’t think you could convince me otherwise in a thousand years.”

  “I’ve forgiven you for beating me and for not killing me. I told you that you should have.”

  “I’ve not forgiven myself for not killing you,” I quipped. “You actually do care if I think you are a bad person. You need everyone’s adoration. That’s why you are so theatrical. But good people don’t try to kill someone in their sleep.”

  “The marriage is a more legitimate way to regain my power. I was not behind the attack. I wouldn’t have gotten my Council seat back under that kind of scrutiny. I’m not the enemy. You challenged me, remember?”

  “We are not married,” I said in frustration.

  “You are in the Empire now, Hailey. We are married.”

  “I’m not sleeping with you.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it. You can live on a resort in the south for all I care. I’ll set you up with a reasonable allowance to do what you will with your life so long as you don’t hurt my public image any further. I told you that I didn’t want to be the Promise. Neither of us likes this, but you are the one who started these events.” We had arrived at the building where Bahlym lived. “I’ll wait for you while you collect your things and say your goodbyes. See, I am not unreasonable.”

  I entered the elevator
and selected the button for Bahlym’s floor, immediately the elevator began its assent. Bahlym waited for me at the elevator’s exit. “Adara has gotten everything ready.”

  “Ready?” I asked, following him inside.

  “Okay, grab your bags,” Adara told us. “We have to move quickly.” Then she turned to Bahlym. “I suppose father’s plausible-deniability trip did turn out to be prudent.”

  “What is this?” I asked.

  “Our supplies.” Adara shuffled the contents of another bag then slung it over her shoulder. “Bahlym sent me a text message. I have a hovercraft up on the roof. Your things are in there, don’t worry.”

  “And you said that I don’t take risks,” Bahlym said.

  “I’ll never be able to say that again,” Adara smiled. “I am proud of you, brother.”

  “Where are we going?” I asked. Not that I’d know what it meant.

  “The mountains,” Bahlym said.

  Adara’s eyes widened. “The mountains? They’ll kill us. When I said risks, I meant reasonable ones.”

  “There is nowhere else safe from the arm of the Empire.” Bahlym unzipped a bag rummaged around inside, re-zipped it, and slung it over his shoulder.

  “If it is unsafe, just tell me how to get there. You don’t have to come with me,” I said.

  “Only I can fly the hovercraft. Besides, helping a bride escape her husband is punishable by death. We have to go with you,” Bahlym said.

  “Why are you helping me? You are leaving behind everything.”

  “The Guardians risked the gods’ wrath in order to create the Prophecy. Who am I to do less when challenged with keeping the Prophecy’s Promise safe? I am a cleric before I am a Councilman,” said Bahlym. “Now hurry up before they realize what’s going on and kill us all.”

  We ran up the stairs toward the roof, passing Bahlym’s paintings. I wondered what kind of person he would have been if he’d been born to a different family, a family with less responsibility. On impulse, I grabbed one of the paintings, grasping it as gingerly as possible, hoping that I didn’t ruin it even as I tried to save it.

  As I filed into the fight carriage, Bahlym glared at the painting. “Why did you bring that?”

  “I thought it might let you see that you are more than this Empire.”

  “Thank you,” his voice scratched with emotion. At his initial reaction, I’d thought that I’d misjudged when I grabbed the painting, but he sounded pleased. The craft buzzed as the Channeled Mist oozed around it. I peered out the window at Drahwan’s car on the street below. We floated upward and the car seemed to shrink.

  “Has either of you visited the Mitanni?” I asked.

  Adara and Bahlym both looked incredulous. “No one has gone to the mountains and returned in more than eight generations.”

  “Eight generations? And there has been no contact since?”

  “Not unless you count blood bath sieges that the Empire tries every century or so,” Bahlym said.

  “Why don’t you co-exist? We’ve other countries in our Slice.”

  “We used to,” said Bahlym.

  “The Empire and the Mitanni lived in a tenuous truce,” Adara explained. “In addition to general diplomatic relations, we would send children to be fostered in the mountains, and they would send children to us. One boy, Danue, was the son of the chief priest of the Mitanni. He fell in love with a girl named Krineem, but she was betrothed to marry the general, so they ran away to the mountains.”

  “Why didn’t she call off the wedding?” I asked.

  “It doesn’t work like that. You are Drahwan’s property, and I am Merehan’s.”

  “I am not property.”

  “That’s what I’ve been trying to change.”

  “Danue and Krineem escaped. What’s the big deal?”

  “The Empire viewed this as an act of war. In our minds, Danue and the Mitanni kidnapped Krineem. Much in the same way, they will say that Bahlym has kidnapped us. The general demanded that the Mitanni return Krineem, of course.”

  “Pig.”

  Adara shrugged. “That’s what the Mitanni thought. They said that Krineem was her own to return as she wished. The general retaliated by demanding the death of all the fostered Mitanni children. The citizens of the Empire who wanted to save the fosterlings gathered with the children and locked themselves in the goddess’s temple. They were under siege for three days. Many died, but many survived. Krineem, so distraught by the violence she had inspired returned to the Empire, but was killed. It’s impossible to say who killed her. The Mitanni children and those who had helped them fled to the mountains. The Empire chased them, but none who entered the mountains returned alive.”

  I shivered. “How could anyone live in such a horrible place?”

  “Armed hovercrafts, right on our tail.” Bahlym shouted. My question went unanswered.

  “Guardians, that was fast,” I said.

  Adara pulled threads of the Mist in a protective cocoon around our ship. “The Mitanni will be more inclined to believe us if we are obvious enemies of the Empire,” she mused.

  “You mean they might not believe us?” I squeaked.

  “We are two runaway harlots,” Adara said bitterly. “Like Krineem. The Mitanni might not want to repeat history.”

  Bahlym pointed to a screen, “That dot is us.” He pointed to the center dot. “Those on the edge of the screen are the Empire. I’m positive they’ve got missiles on us.”

  “Will we make it?” I asked.

  Bahlym gripped the controls more tightly, and his knuckles turned white. “This is a transport craft.” A shrill siren blared a warning. Bahlym careened the craft to the right. I toppled over, smashing against the wall of the cabin. Streaks of light flared past the spot we’d been only moments before. “Adara’s on defense, we need you on offense,” he ordered. “Quickly! And fasten up.”

  “I can try,” I said as I buckled myself into the safety restraints, but my new abilities seemed only to have one mode: kill. And I did not want to be responsible for any more deaths.

  “We need more than trying,” Bahlym grunted, coaxing the craft through a tailspin. The restraints held me in place. Out the window, I saw sky. Ground. Sky. Shots of light zoomed past like comets.

  Bahlym couldn’t dodge them all. A ball of energy smashed against the underbelly of the hovercraft, obliterating Adara’s shield. We plummeted. Bahlym uttered words I did not recognize. My stomach felt as if it remained leagues above us. Spinning again. I felt blessed pressure from my seat as Bahlym regained control of our altitude.

  “Hailey!” Adara shrieked. “Do something!”

  Tendrils of Mist snaked around our craft. Our nose jerked upward, rotating 180 degrees. Bahlym engaged the rear thrusters, trying to pull free of the force that held us upside down and pulled us toward the hovercrafts.

  “Cut those threads!” Bahlym ordered.

  Panic overwhelmed me. I sliced against the threads that bound our ship, focusing on the source of the tapestry. The Mist surged inside of me and exploded like a volcano, and the Mist that bound our craft evaporated. The source of the weaving had also evaporated.

  “Where did it go?” Adara asked. There was one less dot, one less ship pursuing us.

  “No idea.” I couldn’t feel the Mist that belonged to those people. Part of me felt a sick fascination and part of me felt horrified. Accessing Azabin was getting too easy and disgustingly, I enjoyed the overwhelming feeling of power. I focused on slowing down the other hovercrafts.

  “The crafts are slower, but it’s not enough. We can’t outrun them,” Bahlym yelled.

  “Can you get rid of more?” Adara asked.

  Part of me hungered for those peoples’ deaths. “No, I don’t have enough endurance to do them all,” I lied.

  Suddenly, the dots dispersed. They retreated toward Empire territory, abandoning their pursuit. “Where are they all going?” I asked.

  Bahlym simply pointed out the front window. There were a hundred men and
women flying in the air in front of a gigantic expanse of mountains.

  We had reached the Mitanni.

  Chapter 27

  The hovercraft floated to the ground like the first leaf of fall; its rusty brown a jarring contrast to the valley’s green grass. It belched one final whir before Bahlym turned it off. “At least they haven’t killed us yet,” he pointed out.

  The three of us gazed with wonder upon the flying army. Hundreds of men and women, their bright purple tunics fluttering like the tassels of a kite, formed a cloud above us. Cracks of blue lightning flashed in their hands, preparing to cascade an attack on us. I hadn’t heard of self-levitation—outside of children’s stories.

  “Look at the women,” Adara whispered in awe. “They wield the Mist like a weapon. Do you think they are warriors?”

  “At least the culture is more reasonable than yours on that count,” I said, hopefully.

  “Time to see if, after eight generations, they’ve been more forgiving toward us than we’ve been toward them,” Bahlym said. “Let’s go out there and explain ourselves.”

  “Stay inside. I will go alone,” I told them, feigning more confidence than I felt. Adara nodded, but Bahlym grabbed for the small weapon he had strapped to his side. “Did you see them up there?” I asked him. “That little stick isn’t going to do anything to them.”

  “Don’t mention that you are a runaway bride,” Bahlym suggested. “They don’t need another way to compare you to Krineem.”

  Taking a deep breath, I strode out of the craft. I paused for a moment, holding my hands above my head to show that I held no weapons. I resisted the urge to pull the Mist to me. Defenseless, I called out to the multitude of Weavers. Each of them wielded more Mist than the most powerful Gryshelm Weavers could ever dream to control. One of the women yelled down, her voice echoing against the mountains. “I am Desha, the Chief Priestess of the Mitanni. Why has the Empire trespassed into our territory?”

  I smiled, imagining Adara’s squeal of delight. A priestess led this community. “While the two inside the hovercraft are from the Empire, I am not. I am the Prophecy’s Promise from your Western-most Slice.” I paused for a few moments to allow my words to sink in. “The Empire is trying to crush me, believing that they are more suitable than the Prophecy to select a Promise. My companions have defied their Empire in order to bring me to you to seek your help.” The wind whipped through my hair, the ends slapping my neck, but I stood perfectly still, waiting.