Perfidious

by P. T. McKenzie

“Greyson,” I asked above the noise of his wings, “where’s Noah?”

  It took him a second to answer, but I felt his chest expand with relief on my back. “Over by the tail. It looks like he got knocked back by the snake.”

  I saw Noah exactly where Greyson said. He was getting up slowly, reaching for his sword that was sticking out of the top of his bag. He seemed terrified and unsure, but before I could get to him, something blocked my path. The snake spotted us and was about to strike at the air.

  “Drop me and fly up!” I yelled at Greyson.

  He hesitated.

  “Now!” I yelled, and he immediately released me.

  I fell to the earth as Greyson shot up into the sky.

  The snake barely missed us. Another second and it would not have ended well. My feet slammed into the ground, and I rolled, trying to get a grip on the earth. I pulled my own weapons out of their sheaths, swinging them into place.

  The snake was ready to attack again.

  I threw my body to the left as the snake snapped at me, taking a mouthful of dirt and grass. I didn’t have time to recover. The snake swung its head, hitting me in the center of my body, forcing the wind from my lungs. I flew back several feet, landing on my back.

  The snake flailed around like it was in pain. I moved, ignoring my sore body, to see its other side and saw Kalvin hanging on to one of the daggers wedged between the snake's scales.

  I was about to run in front of the creature, but I decided against it. With the way the monster was moving, it could easily smash me. I quickly placed my Tonfas in their sheaths as I ran for the body. The snake was only about five feet in diameter and probably forty feet long. I jumped over and slid down the other side.

  Metal flashed as a sword came down at my head.

  “Hey!” I exclaimed as I dropped and rolled away from the attacker.

  Noah struck the snake, sinking into the skin a few inches. I didn’t have time to think. I went to grab Noah before the snake came for the two of us.

  Red wings filled my vision before Noah was carried into the sky by Greyson. A little shocked, I turned and pulled the sword from the snake’s skin. The head of the snake came towards me.

  I put the sword up to protect myself, but instead of hitting me, he slithered past me. I kept focused on the head to keep its mouth away from me, not seeing any sense in the snake’s movements.

  I realized what it was doing too late.

  The snake curled around me and squeezed. The blade of the sword pulled against me and the side of it dug into my shoulder. I hissed in pain as I searched frantically for some way out. Two beady eyes came closer, looking into my own.

  The snake opened its mouth.

  I closed my eyes for what would happen next.

  The pressure suddenly released around me as Kalvin stabbed the snake’s eye. I held onto my shoulder as I climbed out of the snake’s body, but Kalvin was thrown back.

  “Hey, ugly! Over here!” Noah yelled waving his arms. I looked back to the snake to see if Kalvin was still there.

  He wasn’t.

  “You barely know how to fight!” Kalvin yelled. I turned around to see him running from the trees. “Let us take care of it!”

  Greyson swooped down in front of him. “No. Go to the left.” Greyson handed Kalvin his sword. “Elisia, to the right. The easiest way to kill it is to decapitate it. I’ll hold the head down. You’ll only have a few seconds.”

  Greyson took off into the air without letting either of us protest. I knew I didn’t have time to disagree and ran into position. Noah ran around like he was trying to play the most dangerous game of football I’d ever seen. But Noah wouldn’t last too long. He was fast, but he was only human.

  Greyson came down on the snake's head like a meteor. The entire snake went limp. Seeing my opening, I immediately went in. I took Noah’s sword in my hand and was ready to bring it down. For a split second, I looked up and saw Kalvin bringing down the sword on the other side. We both made contact at the same time, dragging our blades through the neck until we hit the ground. Dark red blood splattered Kalvin and me from the decapitated beast. We stayed alert as we slowly removed our blades and backed away. The rest of the body was still wiggling around, but the head remained still.

  We won.

  I stood up, ambling. I felt like if I moved too fast, I would wake it up, and we would have to start all over. My body shook from the adrenaline pumping through my veins. My breath came in short, skittish breaths. I couldn’t get enough air into my lungs.

  I looked around at everyone. Noah had the biggest smile on his face from winning his first fight. Greyson was still looking around, moving slow like I was. Then my gaze met Kalvin’s.

  “Let’s go.” Kalvin said.

  I nodded.

  I used my speed to run as fast as I could. I grabbed Noah’s and Greyson’s backpacks as Kalvin grabbed his and mine. I ran over to the stunned pair of guys and handed them the bags.

  “Greyson, fly. Carry Noah. Stay over us,” I ordered.

  He opened his mouth to speak, but we didn’t have time.

  “I’ll explain later. Move. Now!”

  Kalvin threw me my bag from behind as we started to run.

  We needed to get away from the snake as fast as possible. The blood would attract other dangerous monsters, and I didn’t think we could go against anything else. At least the dead snake would be enough of a distraction to keep other monsters away from us.

  Greyson and Noah weren’t very good at fighting yet. We won, but we got in each other’s way during the fight. I didn’t know if it was because we hadn’t gotten to know each other's styles or if there was some other reason.

  With the fight over, we just needed to get out of there.

  1851 - 1914

  * * *

  King Lawrence proposed to Miranda on April 4th, 1869. He feared what trouble it would cause but continued with the wedding preparations. He didn’t want to rule alone like the Shapeshifter King before him. It seemed everything had become peaceful again by Miranda’s coronation in 1895.

  In 1914, after the announcement of Miranda’s pregnancy, the threats and attempts on King Lawrence’s life increased. He realized that he was no longer a beloved king. But that didn’t change the way he ruled.

  King Lawrence believed half-breeds and purebloods shouldn’t be treated differently. Having so many species in Perfidious, it was only a matter of time before there would be more half-breeds than purebloods, and many purebloods saw a betrayal in his decision to bear an heir with Miranda.

  Unbeknownst to the king and his wife, a group of pureblood monsters started an organization to remove King Lawrence, whom they began calling the “Impure King.”

  An excerpt from The King's Legacy:

  A Complete History of Perfidious

  24

  We ran for about two to three miles before Kalvin led the way to a pond. The water came into view, and I started to slow down, eager to catch my breath.

  Greyson set Noah down near Kalvin and me, but he didn’t land—he went back into the air.

  “Greyson! What are you doing?” I yelled.

  He ignored me and continued to fly away until he was out of sight.

  “Greyson! Stay here!” I turned to the other two, grabbing a hold of a low branch. “I’ll go get him.”

  I left Kalvin and Noah as I started to climb the tree. My shoulder pulsed with pain. I had to scale with only one hand, which took me longer than usual, but I continued until I could see over the top of the other tree.

  The branches were thinner and couldn’t support my weight. I had to stop. I looked around for Greyson and finally saw him flying back.

  I yelled his name to get his attention. “Greyson!”

  He saw me and flew over, hovering in the air a few feet away from me.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, scanning him for injuries. Thankfully, I couldn’t see any.

  “I wanted to make sure the snake was dead. I didn’t want it followin
g us.”

  “Fine,” I sighed.

  Greyson reached out and wrapped his arms around my waist. The stress melted from my body as I relaxed into him. His green eyes never left mine. He lifted me from the branch and slowly descended from the sky. Our feet touched the ground, but neither one of us moved. There was something in his eyes that I couldn’t look away from. It was like he wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words. Or he was sad, maybe unsure about something. I couldn’t figure it out. I parted my lips to ask him if everything was okay.

  But before I could, he blinked several times and took a step back. The warmth from his embrace left me.

  I turned to check on the others to distract myself from what just happened. Kalvin was making sure Noah’s minimal injuries weren’t too serious. Noah was a little beat up, but nothing more than a few bruises and scrapes. Kalvin looked okay too—mostly just covered in dirt and snake blood.

  “Elisia?” Greyson said behind me.

  He was looking at the blood that stained his clothes from his chest to his abdomen. His eyes were wide as he stared at me. I followed his concerned gaze to my chest.

  The blood on him was mine.

  Greyson walked over to me and placed his hand on my cut without hesitation. His hand gently pressed onto the front of my shoulder. A green light glistened as he trailed the line of blood down my shirt, making my skin hot where he touched. He held his hand there a second after the green shimmer vanished, moving his eyes to mine. They were fighting to not show any sign of weakness, but I could tell it took a lot out of him to heal me.

  He removed his hand, leaving only a rip in my t-shirt and snake blood.

  “Thanks, but it wasn’t a major cut. I would’ve been fine.” I told him.

  “That won’t stop me from taking care of you,” he said before he walked over to help Noah.

  Kalvin backed away from the group and started walking into the pond. I followed his lead. The water was cool, but after a second, it felt warm. I slowly sunk in. Silence consumed me as I sank underwater, wiping blood from my face and hair. Needing air, I surfaced.

  A splash of water smacked my cheek.

  Kalvin smirked.

  Noah cannonballed into the water followed by Greyson, turning the tiny pond into a monsoon. I washed off the blood as much as possible before I got out, leaving the boys to their splashing war.

  I dug through my bag to see if I could use my blanket, but I couldn’t find it. It must have fallen out during all the commotion. I grabbed a dirty shirt to use as a towel. Hidden from the boys’ view, I changed into dry clothes and hung the wet stuff to dry. A fire was my next priority. I didn’t even want to think about how cold it would get overnight.

  I looked up at the sky. We only had about an hour before dusk, and I didn’t think we’d be able to make it to the camp before then.

  Water sprinkled me from behind. I shrieked, turning around to see Kalvin shaking like a dog with a huge grin on his face.

  “Oh, sorry, did I get you wet?” he asked me, unable to hold back a snicker.

  “You jerk,” I yelled back at him, but I couldn’t help laughing.

  “Hey guys!” Noah called from the pond.

  We looked over to see Noah supporting Greyson to walk. He looked like he could barely stand up on his own.

  I ran over and wrapped his other arm around my shoulders. Greyson tensed up at my sudden closeness but quickly relaxed and smiled down at me weakly. We walked him over to the fire and sat him down, wrapping a blanket around him.

  Kalvin squatted down next to me and scanned him. “Were ya injured or bit anywhere?”

  Greyson shook his head. “No, I’ll be okay. I think I overdid it by shifting and healing the two of them. The weakness just kinda hit me. I need rest, and I’ll be good to go.”

  Kalvin shook his head. “Ya need to not overdo it. Your body only has so much energy. Even though you’re gaining stamina by using your abilities, ya can only do so much. At some point, ya won’t have any energy left, and if ya lose it all. That’s it, you're dead.”

  Kalvin paused, letting the information sink in. He didn’t continue until after Greyson nodded.

  “Ya need time to let your body rest and recover. We’ll make camp here and travel the rest of the distance tomorrow.”

  The boys all changed while I grabbed more firewood. I got back, finding clothes and blankets hanging from branches around the fire. It didn’t take us long to grab food and crowd around the warmth.

  “I’ll take first watch,” Kalvin said, probably knowing I would have.

  “I’ll take the second. Wake me up when you get tired, okay?” I told him.

  I looked away but saw Kalvin elbow Noah out of the corner of my eye.

  “Oh, right. I already told Kalvin I’d take the second watch.” Noah shrugged.

  I gave Kalvin a look as Noah continued sorting through his bag and talking to Greyson.

  He came up to me and whispered so the others wouldn’t hear. “You’ve barely gotten any sleep the last three nights. Don’t fight me on this. You need your beauty rest.” He winked at me.

  I knew I needed sleep. I was exhausted, so I had no plans to argue with him.

  Kalvin grabbed his blanket and found a good spot in a tree. Greyson and Noah were still talking as I laid down in the dirt closest to the fire, hoping to get some sleep. Even though it was cold, I easily fell asleep without a blanket.

  Greyson hovered in the air in front of me. He gripped his sword tightly as he breathed hard. A harpy girl flew opposite of him, using her claw-like hands for weapons. Feathers covered her body, some even blended in with her dark brown, almost black hair. She came at him like a cat playing with her food. Something wasn’t right.

  They were speaking, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Her eyes were cold. He dodged her attack and flew behind her. He panted as she yelled at him.

  In one swift movement, she smacked his sword out of his hands. She flipped around and brought her clawed leg down on his chest. Greyson dropped like a bird that got shot out of the sky.

  My eyes shot open. I sat up, my eyes immediately searching for Greyson. He was asleep, curled up with a wing around his body, laying near my feet by the fire.

  It was just a dream.

  I looked down. Someone had put a blanket on me.

  I got up slowly, suddenly so dizzy that it was hard to stand. I managed to make it over to Greyson and draped the blanket over him. It was my fault that I didn’t have one. I didn’t want to use someone else’s.

  He stirred.

  “No, Elisia,” Greyson said sleepily. “You were shivering. You need it.”

  “Stop being stubborn. I’m not gonna take it from you.” I watched as his wing disappeared. I went to stand up, but he grabbed my wrist and pulled me down beside him. He arranged the blanket so it would cover both of us.

  “You need to be warm too.” He turned his back to me and went to sleep.

  I pulled the blanket up to my neck and shook my head. I was too tired to argue. Being close to him after that dream relaxed me, and I quickly fell back asleep.

  25

  I woke up with the blanket all to myself. Greyson was packing up and putting out the fire. I quickly started gathering up my things.

  “Morning, sleeping beauty.” Kalvin said, kneeling down next to me. He was smiling, but something seemed off. “Did you sleep well?”

  “Yeah. I guess so. Are we ready to go?” I asked, grabbing Kalvin’s hand to help me stand.

  “Almost. We are only about five miles from camp. We’ll eat there. If I remember correctly, there’s food stored there and a market about a mile east of the camp. We’ll be able to stock up on supplies at some point. We’re runnin’ pretty low.” Kalvin hesitated. “We also have a problem.”

  He held up an empty bag with a fancy “J” on it and shrugged.

  “We ran out of the powder to cover our scents, but we’re so close. I don’t think five miles’ll matter. Noah still has enough to h
ide his scent.”

  I raised an eyebrow and couldn’t hide my giggle. “Didn’t Jasper say something about not using too much?” I asked him matter-of-factly.

  He waved his hand in a dismissive fashion. “Yea, yea. Save the ‘I told ya so.’ I’ll hear it from Jasper when he hears about it.”

  We started walking as soon as we put everything into our bags. I looked over at Greyson, who seemed to be avoiding me. He wouldn’t look at me, and I didn’t know why.

  Did I do something?

  We walked in an awkward silence for the next couple of miles. It became clear that something was bothering Greyson. I grabbed his arm, pulling him away from Kalvin and Noah. I knew Noah wouldn’t be able to hear us, and I was hoping Kalvin would get the hint I didn’t want him listening.

  “What’s with you?” I asked him.

  He kept his eyes looking straight ahead. “Nothing’s wrong.”

  “Bullshit. You won’t even look at me.” I pulled on his arm to get him to look at me, but he stopped walking instead.

  Greyson waited for a moment. His eyes watched Kalvin and Noah walk farther away. When he seemed content with how far they were, he finally faced me, keeping his eyes on the ground. His cheeks were pink. “It’s because of last night. I was half asleep and didn’t mean to pull you under the blanket with me. You just looked cold, and I didn’t think about it. I just acted.”

  I couldn’t help but chuckle. “That’s what this is about?”

  Greyson nodded with flushed cheeks and scratched the back of his head.

  “Don’t worry about it, Greyson,” I tried to tell him casually, but on the inside my heart was racing. Could he hear it? “You shared the blanket with me. It wasn’t like you cuddled up to me or anything. As far as I remember, we slept back-to-back. Relax, okay? It's not anything to be embarrassed about.”

  Greyson nodded and started walking again. His pace was quick so we could catch up to the others, but he still seemed tense. I increased my pace until I was a little in front of him and dropped my body, swinging my leg to smack his ankles. His legs flew out from under him.