Dreaming Awake

by EF Joyce

  "I will teach your husband, and these guards with us. You will stay. Too dangerous."

  "I will fight." She said, her tone flat and serious. "I am the greatest assassin in Yeraz. I have killed kings and beggars with my bare hands. I have murdered sorcerers and seers. You will teach me this new way and I will kill every man who stands before me." After that he didn't say much, and that was just how Anaka liked it.

  Under cover of darkness, Anaka, Faifax and the five guards slipped into Elena's tiny house one by one. Stellan's eyebrows rose as Anaka walked in, clearly way too early, without the Assassin's Guild, and in the company of a very obvious foreigner.

  "Annie..." he said, throwing Faifax a deadly glare. Explain.

  "This man is an emissary from the ruins of Arzu...or shelter of Arzu, I am not sure. But people still live there! He has weapons. He has offered us, the rightful king and queen of Yeraz," she added, "Use of these weapons to take back the capitol and to fight the war against Dazhan."

  "He speaks Yerazi?" Anaka nodded. "There are some words he doesn't know and you have to talk slow."

  "And where did you pick him up?" Stellan demanded, switching to Wakati so that Faifax couldn't follow. "You believe these outrageous tales? Arzu was decimated, to the very last ant, to the very last blade of grass. He is taking you for a fool and now you bring him straight to us! He could be a spy for Darian. How could you be so stupid?!" The guards backed away as Stellan approached her, furious. Guards of the priestesshood, they would never interfere in the Ilahi's business. If he wanted to slaughter her in front of them? They wouldn't even look away.

  "What's going on?" Faifax chimed in with his thick accent. "Why is he angry?"

  "He fell from the sky in a black monster!" Anaka retorted to Stellan, still in Wakati. "He called it a flying machine for fast travel." Stellan's eyes narrowed and for a fraction of a second, Anaka thought he'd try to kill her all over again. Then he stepped away from her and faced Faifax, speaking a rolling, flowing language Anaka had never heard before.

  Wordlessly, Faifax handed him the black object from his belt. Stellan took it, toggling tiny levers and pulling it apart, then just as quickly snapping it back together and returning it to Faifax, as skilled as if he handled these weird weapons daily. Stellan said something else and Hale replied.

  What were they saying? Anaka should have guessed Stellan would speak the language of Arzu, that he would have seen all their magical items before. But he'd also ordered Arzu leveled and all their magic that wasn't magic destroyed. After an eternity of eavesdropping on a conversation she could not hope to understand, Stellan finally turned to her.

  "We will attack tonight. Hale and I will lead, you and the guards will follow." His black eyes softened suddenly and he pulled her into a random but not unwelcome embrace. "I wish you would stay here," he whispered into her hair, "But I know you better than that. I'd have to tie you to a chair, and even then you'd get out and make trouble." She smiled, resting her head on his shoulder.

  "Then you'd better teach me how to use that magic tube to kill ten men with one press of my finger."

  "Let's hope you learn fast. And it's called a gun."

  The black night wrapped around them, icy cold and unrelenting. Shadowy buildings loomed up out of the darkness, providing cover for the eight cloaked figures that crept through the streets like ghosts. Anaka reached up and stroked the smooth metal of the unfamiliar weapon strapped to her back. Loud and bright, Hale had warned. They weren't to use them until they'd stepped across the threshold to Elixa's house – the grand palace of Yeraz.

  They swept through the city unnoticed – with its cruel winds, icy rain and perpetual chill, Yeraz had never had much night life to speak of. Considering the current war and religious upheaval, people were even more inclined to remain locked in their water logged cottages. Not a single beam of moonlight could penetrate the heavy clouds that hung ominously above the capitol, invisible in the pervading darkness. The two guards pacing the palace gates went down with little more than a grunt, dispatched by Gilda's men.

  Stellan opened the gates with the dead guard's key and they stepped onto the cobbled royal road that had been lined with ten grand statues of the Ilahi since the establishment of his rule. Now they were ruins; stumps of legs or feet jutting crookedly from the wet ground, his ten likenesses dashed to pieces. Most of the rubble had been cleared away, but Anaka spotted random chunks of white stone strewn across the grass. Those statues had stood for eight centuries. People from every province had come to admire them, naming them a wonder of their world. No more. Just as Arzu had been destroyed, so had Stellan's empire and now his legacy. Time is greatness fading to memory and then forgotten.

  Past the sad remnants of Stellan's power stood the great double doors to the palace proper. Without giving the guards outside a chance to notice them, Hale pulled a round, fist-sized object from his pockets and threw it at the doors, then crouched down and covered his ears. Stellan copied him, and so did the guards and Anaka. The ground shook and light exploded from behind her closed eyelids. A guard touched her elbow, coaxing her from her crouched position on the cold ground. Smoke streamed from the ruined hole that had once been the strongest set of doors in the empire. The gonging of the alarm bell clanged distantly, mingling with the shouts of panic from within.

  Anaka unstrapped the magic-not-magic weapon from her back and held it cautiously out in front of her, her heartbeat thundering in her ears as they rushed through the gap and into the foyer. Pieces of guards were strewn everywhere, bits of flesh and puddles of blood clinging to chunks of stone, bodies decimated by Hale's tiny weapon. With these objects, they could change the world. With these weapons, no one could dare stand against them, not even sorcerer kings or armies of mind magi. They would be unstoppable.

  A cluster of guards burst suddenly from the hidden staircase to the left of the doors, charging them with spears held high, sharp swords gleaming from their belts. More appeared from the main hall, joining the charge with weapons ready. Anaka, Stellan, Hale and the five guards for formed a human blockade, the strange weapon unsteady in her hands as she pointed it out in front of her, planting her feet and bracing for an impact like Hale had said.

  "Now!" he yelled. She pulled the tiny lever with her first finger and held fast. The weapon jumped in her hands, almost knocking her off her unsteady feet. Its roar echoed through the vast corridors, ringing through her head like a thousand alarm bells, tears springing to her eyes. The men before them collapsed like dominos, folding in on themselves and falling on top of each other, dying faster than any weapon should kill.

  In seconds it was over. She released the lever, her ears still ringing. Anaka and the guards exchanged knowing glances; shock and awe and realizations of what all this would mean for the world all rolled into one, but Stellan and Hale were already moving on.

  Stellan led the way through the corridors and up the steps to the third floor, where most the council members' rooms were, Hale quickly deposing of four guards on the way. "Spread out," Stellan instructed. "One of us to each room. We do this together." Anaka and Stellan helped position the guards and Hale in front of the council members' doors. Anaka found herself outside of Umber's room – once a strong ally of Stellan's, but that no longer mattered. For them to take control, every council member must die. And then they would deal with the queen.

  With a nod from Stellan, Anaka used the magic weapon to blast a hole where the lock had been, rushing into the room. She could hear the resounding bangs of the rest of her party hunting their quarry. The Handmaiden found Umber locked in his own closet, cowering with fear. Of course, all the noise of them breaking into the palace would have tipped them off to some plot or another.

  "Handmaiden! Please I had nothing–" With a press of her finger, his face turned to splatter on the back of his wardrobe.

  "Impressive," a woman's voice said. Anaka turned, weapon held high.

  "Elixa..." Magic crackled through the air, flickering around the beautif
ul, terrible queen. "You're dreaming."

  "Indeed." She stepped closer, her golden dress glittering in the shifting torchlight, pinning Anaka to the wall with her gaze. The Handmaiden had never feared Elixa, but she'd never had a reason to either. Automatically she retreated until her back hit the wall and there was nowhere to run. Not even Hale's magic weapon could touch the queen in her dream state. Nothing could.

  "Elixa, I am sorry but we had to do this. You left us with no choice."

  "You betrayed Yeraz, and me and my father. You sold us all to Dalga." Anaka went cold, her heart beat thundering in her ears. Elixa knew. She knew and she was dreaming. These were Anaka's last moments. She should have left when she had the chance. Now it was too late. The Handmaiden and her daughter were going to die in this room. She had never begged for anything, not even her own life. And she wouldn't have, if it was only her life she held.

  "Please, Elixa. My daughter..."

  "Is innocent. But you are not. Alaric has turned on me. He has seized my armies and prepares to march on Yeraz with my own men. Because of you, I cannot stop him. Because of you, he whispered my true name and moves me like a pawn in his hands. He told me you only gave him battle plans, and I had forgiven you, but now I know the truth. Only you would know my father's true name."

  Anaka's eyes widened, her heart pounded. She hadn't even considered giving Alaric Stellan's name would result in him possessing Elixa's as well. How could she have overlooked that? How could she have been such a fool? The queen's gray eyes burned, reflecting Anaka's terrified face. No one could withstand her magic in a dream. She had come so far only to fail just days before her daughter's birth.

  "Tell me why, Anaka. Why would you betray me so horribly?" Anaka looked up at her queen, her oldest friend, golden hair glowing with the flickering lantern light, eyes filled with rage and anguish and pain. She deserved nothing less than the truth.

  Chapter 35

  Rozlyn stood in the viewing room, wearing a modest Velini tweed dress, tights and heeled shoes. Her long, bright red hair was neatly dried and combed, the crown an unfamiliar weight on her head. Blinking away her tears before they could fall, she straightened and held herself together. Gone were the days when she could fall apart, drowning her problems in Quintaro Ice. She was the queen now, as improbable as it seemed.

  Reaching for Faifax's hand, their fingers intertwined. He'd only just returned from the outside, from forging dangerous deals with sorceress queens and immortal rulers, promising them weapons in exchange for land. He would soon leave again to deliver them, but not before they saw this through. She had waited to do it until he'd come back, unable to stomach it alone. Two guards ushered Kaelor inside, Rozlyn and Faifax watching through the glass. They pushed him into the vinyl chair, black straps tightening around his pale wrists. Execution wasn't common in their paradise, the last one performed sometime before Rozlyn's birth.

  Kaelor's cool green eyes met hers from the other side, his expression grim and determined. She didn't want to watch her brother die, but neither could she turn away. Not when the orders had been signed by her hand. Rozlyn had commanded this, and she would take responsibility. Three weeks ago, he had had murdered their family. The rest had been a blur of grief and anger, a hurried coronation and and whirlwind of changes. She had gone to see him, wanting to hear him admit what he'd done, wishing to hear his guilt from his own lips, but he had not obliged her.

  "I'm innocent, Roz," he'd said, begging her to believe him. She'd sat across from him at a metal table, his left wrist and ankle shackled to its leg. Fluorescent lights had flickered above, giving his skin a sickly glow, dark circles rimming his eyes like bruises. "I didn't do it. I would never..." he paused, choking back a sob. She'd wanted to believe him, but cameras didn't lie.

  "I saw the footage, Kaelor. It was you. Undoubtedly."

  "No," he'd said, shaking his head. "A trick, a set up. I don't know how they did it, but that's what happened." Rozlyn had squirmed in her seat, hating every second of this. Why couldn't he just admit it? Her new dress had been itchy against her skin, the slender gold crown giving her a headache, and she struggled not to bite her freshly manicured nails. As queen, she'd had to change. She could not be who she used to.

  "Maybe I would have believed you, once. But that was before, when I was blind and stupid. My eyes are open now. I saw what you did at that warehouse – women, children, innocents. Do you deny that?"

  "No," he replied, eyes downcast. "But that was different. They were Old Worlders, scum. This was our family. Our parents. Our sister. I loved them."

  "You murdered them."

  "No," he protested again. "I would never."

  "Whether or not you admit your crimes, you're going to die for them," she'd said, standing up and walking out as regally as she could manage. Rozlyn had signed the order that same day, stylus hovering over the tablet screen for only a few seconds before scribbling her signature across the dotted line. And just like that, she had killed her brother.

  Now he watched her, willing her to take it back, to undo what she'd done, but she would not. The guards having secured him to the chair, they stepped back as a doctor in a pressed white coat entered, inserting a needle into Kaelor's vein.

  "Last words?" the doctor asked, blue syringe in his gloved hands. His death was so clinical, so clean, and so unlike what he'd done to their family.

  "Rozlyn, when you find out who was responsible, I want you to remember this is your fault. You killed an innocent man, and I died blaming you. I hope it haunts you forever." A shiver crept up her spine with his words, speaking to her as if he'd already gone.

  "You're not innocent," she replied, her voice a tiny echo in that open space. Gripping Faifax's hand, Rozlyn watched unblinking as the doctor injected her brother, death racing through his blood. He didn't tear his gaze from hers, and she held it, owing him that much. It happened fast, almost instantaneously. His eyelids drooped, then closed. His body twitched, then grew still.

  Rozlyn closed her eyes, hot tears spilling down her cheeks. Kaelor Lucia-Agresta had left this world, at Rozlyn's command.

  Her first order as queen had been to kill her brother, and it would haunt her no matter his guilt.

  Chapter 36

  I

  The queen didn't want to kill her, even after everything she'd done. Her Handmaiden, her closest friend, her almost sister. But this time she had gone too far.

  "I did it to save my daughter," she looked down as if embarrassed, stared at the strange weapon in her hands and let it slip to the carpeted floor with a dull thud. "Your father, I love him I really do, but he is capable of great evil. Bonding you to the Sphere is a horrible cruelty I could not allow my child to face. I needed to get her out of Yeraz and keep her safe." Anaka looked up at her, terror dancing in her dark eyes, waiting for the queen to strike her down while hoping against hope that she wouldn't.

  "And why did you change your mind?" A horribly cruelty? She supposed it was. Having her own magic stripped away, her dreams slaves to the Sphere's whims and madness awaiting her the moment she had one dream too many.

  "Stellan said we wouldn't need a new queen. That our daughter would never be slave to the Sphere. He said we had you to fight this war and once it's done we'll own the world."

  "Stellan?" Her father's true name. Not that it did her any good.

  "No point in keeping the secret," Anaka said. "Alaric already knows and I'm about to die. I do care about you, Elixa. I always have. If you possess a single shred of mercy for me, please, lock me up and let my daughter come into the world. Then you can kill me, but before you do you deserve to know the truth. When Stellan bonded you to the Sphere, when he made you queen–"

  The Handmaiden's words were cut short by the door to Umber's rooms whipping open and her father strutting in, mystery weapon in hand, a black smudge on his pale cheek, clad in a homespun commoner's pants and tunic and somehow still looking like a king.

  "Well, well, if it isn't my darling daughter, dreaming
in her own palace. Your magic cannot touch me; you should know that by now." His eyes darted to Anaka, only for a second, a touch of fear swirling in their black depths. Afraid I'll hurt your little wife? Looks like my magic can touch you. "Things are changing, Elixa. We have an ally now from the ruins of Arzu. He will provide us with weapons to defeat Dazhan. We can still win this war."

  "You're right, Papa, things have changed. Alaric betrayed our alliance. Everything he promised was a lie. He took control of our legions at Darvaza and marches toward us as we speak." And he knows our true names and can control us both. She looked at Anaka, braced for the end. Until your daughter is born, my friend. That's all the time you have left.

  Her father frowned, thinking.

  "That puts us in a difficult position. But we still have your magic and the Sphere," he said. No, we don't. Alaric has my magic and the Sphere. Alaric has already won. "With these weapons and your power, we still have a chance." We are doomed. "First, you will need to dream your way to Darvaza and stop Eide from ever reaching us."

  "I can't. You know he's blocking me."

  "Then decimate his capitol. With only half your name, he cannot block you from everywhere. The council is dead. Anaka and I will need to meet with Arzu's representative immediately and draw up a land agreement. I will meet with him and give you the details. We cannot afford to let this opportunity slip away. Come, Annie." With a last, nervous glance at Elixa, Anaka slipped out of the room with her husband.

  Decimate Dalga's capitol and take down her own troops before they took down Yeraz. Keep Anaka's secret until her daughter is born. Get the truth from Anaka before Sebastian kills her. If only things were so simple.