The Column Racer

by Jeffrey Johnson

  She was going to enjoy the night, but if for some reason she happened to run into one of the informants, or Sofi or Aniya, she was going to pummel each into soil if they didn’t give her the information she desired. Areli looked at Fides in the mirror, trying with all her might to shield her fears from her.

  They were going to meet Yats and Amer at the Hall where the dance was set up by the under years. Fides says she didn’t have much say in it, but she was certain this year was definitely going to be better than any of the other years.

  “Is this because you have a date this year?” asked Areli with a smile.

  “Oh, Areli,” said Fides, smacking her lips in the mirror, applying another coat of lipstick, “that’s only a fraction of it.” She winked at Areli and asked if she was ready to go.

  When they arrived at the Hall, it was one of the most beautiful things Areli had ever seen. The colors for the dance were the same every year. Black, red, and gold. The colors of Abhi. The colors of the Empire. The Spring Dance was always used to celebrate the halfway point of a season. Abhi’s flag hung down from what seemed like every corner of the room. Lanterns were placed in glass balls layered thickly with diamonds, giving them an astute appearance to how Areli thought a star would look like if she was among them.

  The floors were covered with red and gold carpets, and there was a large stage for the orchestra to play every type of song, alternating smoothly between songs requiring multiple dancers and fast movements to slow ones requiring only one partner. Yats and Amer were both dressed in all black, a tradition for men at the Spring Dance. There were diamonds shimmering on their shoulders, as if capturing the same snow fall appearance of Fides dress.

  Areli and Yats tried to scope out the crowd. They even met up with Brynn and Finn at one point, but none of the people they were searching for were there. Areli felt nauseous when she thought she had looked at every face there. Her head was spinning and a feeling of regret came on like a punch to the stomach, never content in just making her suffer.

  Yats told her they would have time. They would find the proof they needed.

  “But how much time?” asked Areli, “I feel – I feel so helpless . . . I mean . . .”

  “I know,” said Yats, “just do what we talked about. Enjoy the night. Tomorrow, I promise, we’ll intensify our efforts to get whatever information we can.”

  “But how?” asked Areli, “I don’t know how we can. I feel like we have exhausted all viable options.”

  “There are ways, Areli,” said Yats, “expensive ways, but there are ways. Just do me a favor. Please don’t worry about it until the morning.” Areli nodded her head and buried her face into Yats shoulders, letting her tears spread across the black silk and diamonds. She loved him. She loved him so much. Talon should have never come for her. She was with Yats now. She would always be with Yats.

  After the dance, Areli went home with Fides. She really wanted to spend the night with Yats, but Fides had insisted. They curled next to one another in Fides bed, the fire roaring in the fireplace next to them. Overlooking them was the statue of the two girls on their pillar.

  “Areli – are you still awake?” asked Fides. Areli nodded her head, her eyes still closed. “Have you ever wondered why I have never won a World Race?” Areli opened her eyes, and looked at Fides.

  “It’s crossed my mind a couple of times,” said Areli, “but I assumed . . . that when you were ready, you would tell me.” There was a silence between them. Fides rolled over in her bed and looked up at the canopy of fabric that shrouded her view of her gold decorated ceiling.

  “I lost those races you know,” said Fides, “I lost them both on purpose.” Areli watched as tears started to climb out of Fides eyes, allowing gravity to pull them down the side of her face. Areli reached out her hand and gently laid it on Fides arm. Fides turned over so her back was facing the fire and her face was pointed towards Areli. “Did you know that? Did you ever think I was capable of such a thing?”

  “Anyone is capable of anything,” said Areli.

  “Don’t you want to know why?” Areli already knew the answer to the question, but she knew Fides was ready to release a secret not even the Emperor or Coach Sani, with their harshness and cruel words would ever extract, and so she nodded her head gently.

  “Love,” said Fides, “I knew . . . I knew if I won the World Race I would never see Amer again. I’ve loved him my whole life, Areli. I think I loved him even before I ever met him. Like it was meant to be. Is that how you and Yats are?” Areli let the words seep into her tired brain. She wanted to give Fides an honest answer to an honest question.

  “I believe that Yats and me – that we have something so rare, so powerful . . . that even if I never was recruited to Abhi, or if Coach Sani had never tried to ridicule me by having me practice amongst the roping team . . . we still would be together . . . I like to believe our love is something ordained by the stars.” For the first time, Areli actually believed whole-heartedly in what she was saying. Talon and her were never meant to be together. If they were . . . he would have said so back in Oroin. But he came back for her. Why did he come back for her? It didn’t matter. She loved Yats. She truly and deeply loved him. She was sure she was going to marry him. They would have a kid together and spend the rest of their days happy. Talon? With Degendhard’s messengers having such a short life expectancy these days, Areli wondered if Talon would even make it till next year. She wondered if his loyalty to Edsel, or Degendhard, would finally get him killed.

  “Fate,” responded Fides, breaking Areli’s train of thought. Areli quickly composed herself.

  “Destiny,” answered Areli. A smile came to Fides face and she turned on the bed again so she was facing the canopy of elegant colors again, the fire prancing light amongst them. They sat in silence awhile, each lost in their own thoughts, until Fides looked back at Areli.

  “I want you to know,” said Fides, “that the situation with Aubrie, that wasn’t a message only intended for you.”

  “What are you saying?” asked Areli, fighting hard against the currents of sleep.

  “It was meant for me as well,” said Fides, “Emperor Ailesh is tired of me losing in the short-go.”

  “Yeah, but there is nothing he could do about it.”

  “Areli,” said Fides, “it’s the Emperor . . . he can do anything he wants.”

  “But you’re a rider. The most talented rider in the World after Aquilina.”

  “He promised me – he would make it look like an accident.”

  “Make what look like an accident?” asked Areli, the sleep disappearing from her like the black of the ocean as a person swims for the security of the surface.

  “My death,” said Fides. Areli sat straight up in bed, the full weight of the past week bringing forth a surge of regret and remorse.

  “He can’t kill you!” said Areli, “you’re too valuable to him.”

  “I’m only valuable if I win,” said Fides, “the same goes for any of us. If I win – I live – if I lose, especially a third World Race, he promised me it wouldn’t be quick. He promised me – he would devise a way to tear me in half in a way that would make me continue to suffer far after I’m dead.”

  “Then you’re going to win!” said Areli, who instantly felt her heart drop as the words escaped her mouth, “it’s simple. You have Amer now. He’s yours Fides. He’ll never leave you. You need to win.” Thoughts of the Emperor came surging back to her like a charging bull. He gave her the same threat. If she didn’t win, and Fides did. He was going to kill her instead. Areli tried to shake the thoughts from her head. There were still six more races. She would worry about the outcome of the World Race when she got there. For now, Fides needed to win. Areli wasn’t going to tell her otherwise. She was too talented not to win. Her skill was even superior to her own. If the World Race is going to be my last race, said Areli, so be it.

  “But you need to win as well,” said Fides.

  “We’ll figure out a way
, Fides,” said Areli, “I promise you, we’ll figure out a way. We just need to make it close. I have been finishing behind you all season. Surely the Emperor couldn’t do anything to me if the audience adores me and fully expects me to win the following year.”

  “But Areli . . . he . . .”

  “NO! No, you have to win, Fides,” said Areli, “you have to. Promise me, you’ll win.”

  “I can’t promise that.”

  “Why?” Fides looked away. “Fides – why?”

  “Because I feel as if I’m already dead!” said Fides, a tear catching in her throat.

  “Don’t you think like that!” said Areli, “you’re going to win the World Race. You are going to be a professional rider, and you’re going to have a house at least four times the size of Aquilina’s. And then the following year, I’ll join you.” But Areli didn’t know, maybe the Emperor would stay true to his word. Regardless, Areli didn’t want Fides to lose another World Race. If Areli were to win it, she would want to deserve it. Fides was going to win, and Areli would have to die. But then again, maybe the Emperor would spare her life. Areli had to believe he would. Or she might as well give up now. “And we can just be . . . we can just ride . . . and we can be free.” Fides closed her eyes, trying to strangle the stream of tears that were rolling down her skin.

  “But what about you,” asked Fides, “if you don’t win this year . . .”

  “This is just part of the Emperor’s game, Fides,” said Areli, trying to sound confident in her conviction, “he’s only trying to push us. He needs us alive. Okay. You will win . . . then I will win . . . and we will even have the Emperor make sure our houses are next to one another’s. Okay. Fides it will all work out.” Fides bursted into tears, and Areli clung to her friend, and her body shook violently as it absorbed the tears and convulsions from Fides. Areli held on to Fides for what seemed like an eternity. She brushed away her friend’s tears and rested her forehead against hers, telling Fides over and over that everything would be okay.

  As the night deepened, they laid there silently, holding hands. Areli, with her eyes open, watching over her friend, her sister. And Fides with her eyes closed. After a while, Areli’s eyelids were being weighted down by sheer exhaustion, and when she could no longer hold them open, she closed them, ready to surrender to sleep.

  “Areli,” said Fides, eyes still closed, “if anyone ever did anything to you. I would make them suffer. I would make them pay.”

  “I know you would,” said Areli, eyes opening only a hair’s width.

  “Would you do the same for me?”

  “I would live to make that person regret every day of their life for hurting you. In this world and the next.” Fides squeezed Areli’s hand, pleased with her answer, and together they both drifted away into dreams and unconscious thoughts.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  When Areli awoke the next day, she looked over to her right. Fides was still there, sleeping, curled peacefully, her body intertwined with her white and yellow gold comforter. Areli moved off the bed and towards the window. The sun lined the drive and parkway, giving them their natural color. But it all seemed so abstract to her. They didn’t mirror her emotions. It seemed as if the rest of the world was bright and beautiful, while her heart and every muscle in her body were struggling to keep themselves together.

  Areli looked back at Fides. She wanted to stay until she woke up. But she couldn’t. She needed to find Yats. Coordinate with Brynn and Finn. She needed answers. Not at the end of the week. Not after tomorrow. She needed them today. She was even thinking about breaking into Sofi’s home and not thinking twice of reprimanding Sofi’s parents, especially the Emperor’s brother. She was prepared to do anything for Sofi’s location and the location of her informants.

  Areli walked over to the dark brown desk in the far corner of the room and removed a sheet a paper and a small container of ink. She wrote to Fides, saying she would be back later that night, and she had a wonderful time last night, and she loved her.

  Areli then walked downstairs after she kissed Fides on her forehead. Her friend grumbled and reached for her. Areli tucked the arm back close to Fides body and lifted the blankets so they gently covered her shoulders. When she reached the lower level, Areli asked the estate manager if she could send for her carriage. The woman nodded her head and sent off after Areli’s driver.

  As she waited, she looked around at the elegant paintings covering the foyer. All of them were dark and depressing, as they chronicled the dragon wars fought with the advantage to only one side. Edsel was right. A fight against the Emperor was pure suicide. Voice’s carried through the large hallways towards her. Areli looked at the men talking heatedly, passionately. They looked up at her. One was the strong muscular figure that had forced her into the study that night when she should have been asleep, and the other was Edsel. Degendhard. They just looked at her, and then they went into the study.

  Areli wondered if she should go in after them, but the heels of the estate manager bounced off the walls as she came gracefully towards her, telling Areli that her carriage was waiting for her outside. Areli nodded at her, allowing the estate manager to open the front door. Areli walked out onto the limestone steps and into her carriage.

  She smiled towards the estate manager as her carriage started off towards the drive. She focused her attention out the windows, towards the green of the hedges that were brought to life by the sun and the faces of the statues that seemed to smile.

  Areli looked up towards the front as her carriage started to pull over to the side of the road. The estate drives were constructed in such a manner as to always be wide enough so that carriages could move easily in both directions. Carriages are never supposed to stop. Never.

  Areli continued to look out the windows as she saw a black cloud start to take up most of the width of the drive. Horses and carriages. Soldiers came flooding into the drive. Fully armoured soldiers, swords on their backs. It was a steady stream. Horse. Carriage. The last men following after them already had their bows in their hands, their quivers full of gold tipped arrows.

  Areli stepped out of the carriage. The people coming past her seemed like giants. Seemed inhuman in their glowing gold armour. As they moved past her, they tore the air from her lungs and her heart matched the swiftness of the hooves that wanted to pummel dents into the limestone surface. Areli’s eyes widened, tears escaping them like water off a cliff. She turned to her driver and demanded that they go back.

  She jumped back into the carriage and slammed her door, causing a crack in the shape of the roots of a tree to spread across it. Her driver motioned the horses back. Areli opened the door and shouted for him to hurry.

  “I’m going as fast as I can, Miss Roberts.” She wanted to slap him. It was Fides in there. Fides! She needed her. She didn’t know what she was going to do, or if there was anything that she could do. But she was going to do something. As the carriage neared the house, Areli opened the door, readying herself to jump out the moment the carriage came to a halt.

  When the carriage slowed, she thought she heard her driver let loose some profanity as she cleared the cab, almost falling over when her bare feet slapped against the limestone slab. The sight they had come upon was horrific. The house was completely surrounded by guards, making a river of gold around the boundaries. Smoke billowed towards the sky, as parts of the house were on fire. There was screaming. Such horrendous screaming.

  Areli ran into the barrier of soldiers, all of whom were looking towards the awful sight. Areli moved past horses, past gold covered men, and moved like water dropped into a crack, traveling through whatever opening she could. She broke through the front. She had one step until she completely broke through, but then she was grabbed from behind. She screamed as a guard had wrapped his arms around her.

  “LET ME GO!” yelled Areli, “LET ME GO! FIDES! FIDES!” A string of servants came out of the house. They were shot down by arrows, making a pile of dead bodies. The once grey ste
ps began to run red. Bodies were thrown through windows, in which they would land awkwardly onto the ground below, causing bones to break and blood to pool. “NO. NO. LEAVE THEM ALONE!”

  Three figures were pulled out of the front door. Areli recognized the white silk dress, the thin straps around the shoulders. “FIDES! LET HER GO! PLEASE, SHE DIDN’T DO ANYTHING. SHE DIDN’T DO ANYTHING. WHAT DID SHE DO? WHAT DID SHE DO?” Fides and her family were put into separate carriages. Areli continued to try to kick herself free. And then they were gone, disappearing into a sea of gold. The guard let her go. She collapsed onto the ground, crying so hard that she was unable to lift herself up. She screamed. A guttural scream, like that of a dying animal. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? thought Areli, How did he know? How did the Emperor know? She knew it was obvious, but she didn’t know how it came about. How did Sofi finally figure it out?

  Areli didn’t know how she got home. She could barely remember the hands lifting her off the pavement. She could barely remember seeing the commander’s face. The one who had brought her there. The good one. His lips telling her it was going to be okay. She didn’t know how she got into her bed. She didn’t know what time her mother had come into her room or how long she had sat by her side. All Areli could think about was that it was over. Fides life was over. Her family’s life was over. Hope had just been stripped from the Empire. And Fides would forever be the greatest rider to not have won a World Race. But as she layed there, another thought came into her mind. Talon. The last time she saw him he was in the house. Her heart sunk even lower as she thought about the last conversation she had with him, and the real possibility that he was dead. Her mind raced back to the bodies thrown through windows. Their screams as they fell to their deaths. The fire. The smoke. Talon was dead. She was sure of it.