When her mother was relieved by Yats, he held Areli’s shaking body in his arms. He cried just as intensely as her. She screamed into his shirt. She screamed and sobbed into his chest. Areli blamed herself. If only she had acted quicker. If only she had told Fides from the beginning, then maybe she could have run. Maybe she could still have a chance to live. She was a fool to think she could keep her from the Emperor’s grasp. She was a fool to think she could deter Sofi. Areli was too late. She didn’t have any information she could use to barter for Fides safety. She was helpless. She was hopeless. She was lost.
“How do you think . . . how do you think he found out?” asked Areli. Yats cleared his throat. His chest shook violently as he dragged in a breath of air. “Yats? Yats, what aren’t you telling me?” She sat up in bed. Yats tried to wipe the tears flooding from his eyes. “YATS? YATS? YATS! LOOK AT ME!” said Areli, yanking his chin so his eyes would meet hers. “Tell me you didn’t tell anyone. Yats, please, tell me you didn’t tell anyone.”
“W-what was I supposed to do, Areli?” said Yats, his voice choked up.
“Who? Yats, who did you tell?”
“We don’t even know if it’s him,” said Yats, “I know it wasn’t him. It couldn’t be.”
“Yats, tell me,” said Areli, “who did you tell?”
“Brynn,” said Yats, “he came to me. The day you told me about the tunnel. He said we were holding stuff from him. He was pissed, Areli. I never even knew he could be that angry. He wanted to know what we knew. He threatened to pull off his surveillance on Aniya. What was I supposed to do, Areli? I had no idea. I’m so sorry, Areli. I’m so sorry. I . . .”
She slapped him in the face. Then she slapped him again. Then she used her fist like hammers and pounded them down into his body. Screaming. Crying. Swearing.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
The following day, the news spread throughout the city. It was as if the entire world was told the truth all at once. It was as if everyone’s ears were connected to the Emperor’s mouth. The trial was to be quick. As justice was going to be served. Justice was going to be swift. Everything went by in a blur leading up to the proceedings. The Emperor had his entire army of battle dragons surround the arena, preventing any attempts at heroics. Areli watched from her front row seat within the coliseum, her hands finding anyone’s who were near. Her heart sank below the Earth as the royal family was escorted to the stage to bear witness to the Emperor’s judgment. The sight of Sofi sickened her. But what killed her was that her arm was wrapped around none other than Brynn. He had betrayed them. He used them to get ahead. Why had they trusted him? Why had Yats confided in him? Areli couldn’t help but blame both herself and Yats for Fides death. Every one of the column racers were in tears, except Tegan. Areli wanted to slap Tegan’s secret smile straight from her face. She wanted to beat Tegan until she couldn’t smile ever again.
The Emperor’s words were just murmurings to her, like something from a distant dream half remembered. In the center of the arena was a large gold stage, and on it stood the Emperor, dressed in all gold with white gold dragons covering his chest. Chained up next to him, bloody, bruised, and broken, was Fides, her father and mother, and off to the side was her dragon.
“I have searched every cave,” said the Emperor, “I have turned over every rock, dredged every ocean, derooted every tree. I never thought – I never even suspected that my most dangerous adversary was looking right at me. Shaking my hand in the mornings. Shaking my hand in the evenings. A man who had the audacity to call me friend. A man whose whore of a wife would bestow upon me sympathies. Whose slut of a daughter would race for my team. Laughing at me. Mocking me. Leading me astray. But who is laughing now? Who is laughing now Degendhard, or Edsel, or whoever you are?” The Emperor’s speech wasn’t long, it wasn’t even elegant. It was only ruthless words from a ruthless leader. He brought out a whip and lashed them repeatedly. Toying with them. Using them as both entertainment and as a message. Areli couldn’t bear to watch. Her entire body shook so hard that she felt like her bones might rip from her skin. She covered her ears to drown at Fides screams as the whip tore into her skin, searching for her bones.
Areli’s best friend was getting tortured right in front of her, and there was nothing she could do. She couldn’t scream out against the Emperor actions unless she wanted to join the stage next to them. She hated herself because she couldnt’t yell for the Emperor to stop. She hated herself for being afraid of death.
After Fides clothes were ripped to shreds, her back cut open like a slaughtered animal, the Emperor finally put down his whip and wiped away the sweat perforating from his brow, along with the spatterings of blood.
“YOU MONSTER,” yelled Fides mother, “YOU SICK AND TWISTED F . . .” The Emperor hit her. Closed fist. Cracking her jaw. Areli wished she would have stayed down. He hit her again. Again, Fides mother tried to resist fading into unconsciousness. The Emperor struck her again and again, over and over, until Fides mother no longer had the sense to disobey. He finished with a brutal kick to her midsection, but her body didn’t even move. Wherever she was, she wasn’t there.
The Emperor then unsheathed his dagger held at his belt and fell to his knees. He fell in front of his former friend. His former confidant. His most hated and persistent enemy. He held the crying man by his cheeks, pressing the knife to one side of Edsel’s face. The Emperor made a wall between him and the rest of the world. He didn’t want anyone to witness the tears pricked in his eyes or hear him whisper the word why into Degendhards ears. He didn’t want anyone to see him plant a kiss on top of the old man’s forehead. But he did make sure that they saw him raise his hand. The knife gripped tightly in its fingers. The dagger caught the suns stare and winked, and then it was shoved down. Cutting through flesh and muscle, and imbedding itself into Edsel’s leg. His scream was unbearable as the Emperor pulled away. Guards had to come and gag his mouth shut. Areli almost puked.
The Emperor took a scroll from one of his lovely whores, rolled it out, and faced the crowd.
“Edsel Bird – for crimes committed against the Empire, you are sentenced to Death. For your crimes of treason – your wife, Aglaja Bird, is sentenced to death. For your crimes of conspiring against your Emperor – your daughter, Fidelja Bird, is sentenced to death. For your crimes against the will of the people – your daughter’s dragon, Faina, is sentenced to death. Your executions will be carried out at first light tomorrow. There will be no guiding words. No funeral. You nor your family will ever find your way to the stars.” The Emperor gave the scroll back to the woman and motioned the guards to carry the Bird family off the stage. Areli knew they would be beaten further. They would be further tortured. Fides and her mother raped repeatedly, harshly and mercilessly. Edsel emasculated. They would be made to wish they were dead far sooner than the planned executions.
There was not a dry eye in the entire coliseum. Everyone’s faces puzzled. How could this have happened? their eyes were saying. Is the Emperor sure he has the right one? said others. Of course he does, defended more, even though their eyes showed it killed them to say it. Many might not have cared if it wasn’t for Fides and Faina. The entire Valley was infatuated with them. The whole Valley had places in their hearts occupied by them, and in each of those hearts, tears flooded into the chambers.
Once the stage was cleared, the spectators were herded out of the coliseum and deposited onto the lonely streets. Not many words were shared. Not many words were said. Tomorrow was the execution of a rider. Tomorrow was the execution of Degendhard the Great.
Areli sat outside, crying by the pool in the back of her house. Yats was next to her, holding her to him. She again screamed endlessly into his shirt. She screamed at him. She screamed at herself. She screamed at the stars. She felt like death. She failed. She failed her friend, her sister. She felt like she didn’t deserve to live. She didn’t think anyone deserved to live – not after today.
There would be no final words. No Goodbyes. No re
scue mission. The Emperor had Fides and her family locked away high up in the mountains. A fortress protected by a hundred of his most ruthless soldiers and the entirety of his battle dragon army. Areli wished the stars could grant Fides her freedom, but she knew they couldn’t. Her sister was going to be taken from her. And there was nothing she could do about it.
The following day, in the middle of the square in the center of Abhi, another gold stage was constructed. Senators, advisors, and riders were positioned in front of the crowd that seemed to be stacked on top of one another as eyes tried to get a good view. The Emperor insisted the execution take place in the square instead of the arena because he intended to leave the bodies there to rot, and then he would take them on a tour around the Empire, to each sector, as a reminder of what happens to people who threaten his rule.
From within a building, the Emperor’s guards escorted the Bird family. Edsel in the front, Fides mother in the middle, Fides, and then her dragon. Areli could tell the Emperor had them patched up with ointments, serums, and creams. He wouldn’t want anyone to pity them.
Each was marched up to the gold platform. The Emperor stared hard into each one of their eyes. He wanted them to remember who ended their lives. Each person was escorted by six guards, two in the front and back, and one on each side. The guards in front walked off to the side of the stage when they got up there.
Areli had a hard time looking at Fides. She wished she could tell her she was sorry. She wished she could tell her goodbye. She wished she could tell her she loved her, one last time. Fides remained emotionless. She was so brave. So courageous. She kept her eyes forward, as if waiting for death with open arms. Out of nowhere there was a scream. A yell.
Areli looked over to the sound of the pained voice. It was Amer. Guards had him captured, wringing his arms as if they were water soaked rags.
“NO!” he managed to squeal out, “NO . . . FIDES – NO!” Areli looked back at Fides, who kept her attention forward, but Areli thought she could see a single tear escape her sister’s hard demeanor. The rest of her face stone, her blue eyes, cold.
“SILENCE HIM!” yelled the Emperor to the guards. They hit him hard across the face with a closed fist, again and again, until Amer could probably no longer use his jaw.
The Emperor walked over to Edsel and whispered something into his ears, a gross grin formed onto his face when he pulled away. He motioned with his fingers to have Fides dragon brought forward. Areli thought she saw Fides eyes flinch in her dragon’s direction. Faina’s head was laid onto the gold slab and the chains around her neck were tied into a gold circle held to the floor.
Areli found the tears free flowing now. She couldn’t watch. She closed her eyes as Faina gave a soft moan. Areli knew she was radiating the feelings that Fides was feeding her. Her death was quick. A guard took the tip of his sword and shoved it deep into Faina’s chest, reaching, and then protruding it through her heart. Two guards then hacked away with golden axes that looked as if they had never been used before this day, gleaning off Faina’s head with ease. It then lay on the gold block, like that of a pig’s you would serve at a feast.
When they removed the dragon’s head, Fides was being kept up by the hands of the guards around her. The buildings in the square echoed off the only voice in the square – Fides. It shot off the wall in the most terrible scream that carried with it loss, remorse, regret . . . hate. Her composure was gone. Her eyes no longer cold, but red, her features no longer frozen, but wet from her tears. If the Emperor were going to kill her, he already had.
Fides head was then thrust onto a small gold rectangle. Areli couldn’t stop her shaking. She could no longer contain the tears making crude black streaks down her cheeks. Fides continued to scream. An agonizing scream. An unbearable and heartbreaking scream. There was no blessing to help guide her to the stars. Just a raised axe. And a scream – that was no more. Areli closed her eyes as she saw Fides head start to fall from its body. Areli hated herself. She hated the Emperor. She hated this life. This world.
Fides mother was killed afterwards. She trembled up to the gold block, the blood of her daughter still fresh against the gold surface of the block, her head on its side, eyes closed, mouth askew, and her body resting peacefully. Fides’s mother didn’t fight. She was ready to join her daughter. She was ready to leave this world. They placed her gently against the stone. Her shoulder’s never ceased to shake, until they would shake no more. Her head lying next to her daughter’s.
Edsel was then pushed to the rectangle. He walked to the gold block with the eyes of a dead person. The body of his wife laid to his left. The body of his daughter to his right. You didn’t protect them, thought Areli with spite curling around her teeth, why didn’t you run? Why didn’t you hide? She tried to shoot these thoughts at him, hoping they could reach him. It’s your fault they’re dead. I blame you. I will always blame you.
The Emperor took Edsel’s head away from his body by himself. But he didn’t stop there. His rage fueled him to keep swinging, to keep raising and lowering his axe. He continued his rampage until his axe was only hitting against gold. He breathed heavily, his entire body covered in Edsel’s blood. He stood with his bloodied axe, admired his work, and then turned to face the people. He raised his arm in victory, axe in tow. Then, an arrow penetrated his neck, as if pinning him to air. Blood came sputtering out of the Emperor’s mouth. There was a collective gasp, and then there were screams. And then panic. Areli couldn’t believe what had just happened. Everyone was rushed out of the square as soldiers tried to secure the area. Guards rushed over to the Emperor, making a solid wall around his body. Areli knew he was dying. She saw it in his eyes.
Later that day, rumors circled around the streets as if carried by the wind to every household. It was said the killer was one of the Emperor’s own soldiers, and that he had slit his own throat before he could be captured. News filtered through the windows that the Emperor was fine and the damage was negligible. But no one standing in the front row would believe that rumor. Especially Areli. She saw where the arrow had struck. She saw the blood that had already began to decorate his perfectly gold armour, mixing in with Edsel’s. Mixing in with Degendhard’s. What a fitting death.
Sofi had accomplished what everyone knew she was plotting, but everyone was too afraid to admit it. Areli shook the image of Sofi from her mind, as it brought too much resentment and pain. But Degendhard’s status wasn’t the only rumor circling around. The other had been spread only as a whisper, as if saying it out loud somehow made it true. As of that day, the other half of the column racing season had been cancelled. But Areli was hurting to much too care. She knew she was filled with too much hate to race.
She imagined the Emperor lying on his bed, awaiting his own death. Areli wished it could have been her hand that let go of that arrow. The Emperor got off easy in her mind. He should have had to suffer. He should have had to scream. He should have felt the loss that Fides felt.
Yats stayed with her as long as she permitted. Later that night, staring out into nothingness, Areli told him he should go to his parents. His mother would need comforting. He should check on Amer and find out as much as he could about the Emperor’s health from his father.
“But what about you?” asked Yats, “I won’t leave you. Not like this. Not now. Not after today.” A tear rolled down the side of her face. She grabbed his hand and squeezed, remembering how Fides used to do it.
“I’ll be fine,” said Areli. Yats leaned down next to her.
“I don’t believe you. I’m sorry – I can’t.”
“Please,” said Areli, tears making a mess of her voice, revealing just how fragile she had become. “Please, Yats.”
“Is that what you really want?” He brushed a tear cascading down her cheek. Areli looked at him, eyes as red as blood, and nodded her head. “Fine. But only for tonight.” Areli’s body shook as she reached for his hand. He looked down at her and her escaping tears. She was shaking her head.
&nbs
p; “Yats,” said Areli, trying to sound strong, “Yats, I don’t think we should see each other anymore.”
“What?” said Yats, his voice shaky, “is this about Brynn. Areli, I said I was sorry. I thought . . .”
“Yats – don’t make this any harder than it already is. Please, I beg of you. Please, just . . . please, just go.”
“You can’t be serious . . . look at me. I love you, Areli. Areli, I love you so much. Please, we can get through this. But we have to do it together.”
“No – no . . . Yats, I can’t be around you anymore. I can’t even be around myself. I want you to leave. And I never want you to come back. This is too painful, Yats. We did this. We’re responsible.” Tears were flooding out of her eyes, and she felt like her heart was being torn from her. Yat’s hastily walked to the door.
“Areli . . . just remember – I love you. I will always love you,” said Yats, “this isn’t my fault. This isn’t your fault. We tried to save her, Areli. We did the best we could. Brynn . . . he’ll get what’s coming to him. But don’t let this be the end of us. I’ll allow you your space . . . for now. But I’ll never allow you to give up on us. I love you too much for that. It hurts now, Areli. I know it hurts. And I’m sorry. But just . . . remember that night. Remember our first kiss. We’re meant to be Areli. Just remember that, okay. I love you. I love you more than anything,” and then Yats turned and walked out. All that remained in the room was loneliness. Areli broken on the floor. Her mind going back to Fides. Back to Talon. Maybe she and Yats were never supposed to be. Maybe she was supposed to be with Talon. Maybe he could have helped her save her friend. Her sister. But now he was dead. They both were.
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