by LJ Andrews
Owen was standing in front of a long line of recruits holding silver crossbows. Owen held up his own bow when a target suddenly burst from floor; he shot an arrow with pristine accuracy just as another target shot up from beneath the field, and another, and another. Owen slammed each target dead center within thirty seconds. Killian whistled softly, impressed by his father’s weaponry skill.
“If you keep your shoulders loose, and always look out of the corner of your eye for the next target, you will be able to handle more than one attacker on your own before they can even come close,” Owen said, addressing the group. “Now, one at a time, come forward and hit each target before it disappears again. When it’s gone, that means you gave your attacker enough time to kill you.”
A gangly recruit with carrot orange hair stepped forward first. Killian saw him gulp as he raised his bow. The first target whipped up from beneath the floor and he released his arrow. It hit slightly off center, but he had moved on to the next target that had shot up. His arrow was off slightly more until finally, on the fourth target, it sank back beneath the false grass.
“All right—not bad, but you’re dead. Get back in line, Son. Next!” Owen shouted. Carrot top’s shoulders slumped as he returned to the line as the next recruit moved forward. Owen looked up and saw Killian and smiled.
“Killian, you’re back,” he said jogging over to him. He reached out and slapped his shoulder the way good friends would. “So, how did it go?”
“I think Ignisia is with us. Egan’s still there.”
“What about the Deshuits? Did you find them?”
He nodded and told his father about the attack and how difficult it was to get them to trust their motives.
“Angus is such a stubborn man, but I’m glad he finally let you in.”
“Sorry about Eldora. That’s what brought us back. When Angus told us she wasn’t loyal, I had to come warn you; we were just too late, it seems.”
Owen clenched his jaw and nodded. “I blame myself. I was so foolish to show her the ruby. I should know better. I just never thought Eldora would be on the other side.”
“Who knows whose side she was really on?”
“Our biggest threat now is Axel. I’m almost more stunned about his betrayal than Eldora’s.”
“Well, I think we should give him the benefit of the doubt for now,” Killian said, feeling a little agitated everyone kept hanging Axel before they knew the truth. What if he was hurt, or dead just like Eldora? No one seemed to think Infinium could get killed, but he knew differently. He had the same power as Axel, but they both were mortal and could die just like anyone.
“Don’t be fooled, Son. It’s dangerous; I’ve learned that lesson myself.”
“I’m just saying we should wait until we find him. He’s saved me many times, you know.”
Owen didn’t say anything, but Killian thought he saw him roll his eyes. It made him angry. He wasn’t a fool, and he wasn’t a child. He couldn’t see what was wrong with thinking the best of the man who had given him more confidence in his abilities than anyone.
“Killian! Killian, come look at this,” Mercedes was shrieking and practically bouncing across the field.
“What is it?” he asked, mimicking her jumping up and down.
“I can’t believe it. I thought it was impossible but he did it. He did it,” she rambled, pulling his arm.
“Who did what Mercedes?” he said, laughing at her enthusiasm.
“Hawklen!” She pointed at the corner of the field.
A tall, muscular Glacien stood close to one of the glass walls. He wasn’t wearing the typical white robes most from Glaciem wore; instead, he was dressed in white knee-length pants and wore a loose fitting white shirt on top with a leather strap across his chest. On his hands were thick leather gloves that went to his elbows. His hair was braided low on his neck with a leather strap interlaced and contrasted against the snowy white color.
But what was more astonishing were the creatures surrounding him. Large purple and blue birds with glistening gold beaks flew in a uniformed circle around him. As they flapped their wings, silver flames emitted from the feathers for the briefest moment.
Every once in a while, Hawklen would let out a strange whistle and one of the birds would land on the thick gloves. Their talons were black, but the tips looked as if they’d been dipped in gold paint. Each claw was clad with a different golden design, like a unique finger print.
“What are those things?” Killian said with an open mouth as he watched the birds fly majestically, entranced by their silver flames.
“Phoenixes! Aren’t they amazing? I truly thought they were extinct but apparently Hawklen has created a sanctuary for them on Glaciem. I never even knew,” Mercedes said dreamily.
Hawklen released the bird on his arm and it returned to its brothers soaring above them.
“Hello, you must be Killian,” Hawklen said bowing his head. “Vat do you think of my friends?” He smiled proudly at the circling creatures.
“They’re beautiful, though I don’t know much about them. They are certainly one of a kind.”
Hawklen nodded. “Ven za empress asked me to come vith the birds, I obliged immediately. Zay vill be a great asset against za Trinity.”
“Why, what can they do?”
“Killian, they are terrifying,” Mercedes said, her eyes wild with excitement, “in an amazing way. You see those flames on their wings?”
He nodded.
“When they lift their wings up vertically, their entire body can send a stream of flames anywhere they want it to go. They can melt your spear to your face if they want, and they can do it from a great distance.”
Hawklen beamed at her knowledge of his precious birds. “And don’t forget zere battle cry.”
“Of course,” Mercedes nearly squealed. “The sound of their shriek can deafen a person for weeks and cause their eyes to lose focus so they can’t see. They truly are majestic creatures.”
“Zay are loyal, for sure, but very dangerous. I have spent years vorking vith zem and building trust. Zay vill only answer to me now.”
“Amazing,” Killian said sincerely. “Thank you for standing with us, Hawklen.”
“It is my great honor to defend za Hemisphere,” he said with another bow of his head.
Killian admired the birds for a moment longer until Lucan came to him and pulled him aside.
“Killian, I’ve just been told something, but I’m not sure if I should tell you.”
“Well, you have to tell me now, Lucan. What is it?”
“Someone wants to speak with you, but you have to promise you won’t trust them. You trust people too easily sometimes. Promise you’ll use your little trick and feel if he’s telling the truth, okay?”
“Okay, Lucan. Just tell me who wants to talk to me.”
“You have to go to the prison cells. It’s the chief’s brother. Bant says he has something he needs to tell you.”
Chapter 18
Trinity’s Lair
The prison cells were cold—so cold Killian saw his breath every time he exhaled. He wondered why the drastic temperature change had happened since they’d sent Bant to the cells.
As he slowly walked toward the last door, he heard scratching, gnawing, and shouts from various dark creatures captured throughout the many years of the Ponderi. Killian shivered and tried to block out their dark cries and terrifying pleas for his help.
Finally, he reached Bant’s cell door and pounded on the cold iron. Bant slid the eye opening and peered at Killian for a long moment before he spoke.
“I wasn’t sure you’d come,” he said. His voice sounded dry and raspy.
“What do you want? I don’t have time to listen to lies or make deals with you. I should be helping your brother save your people, but maybe you don’t care about them anymore.”
Bant glared through the opening. “Don’t pretend to know my history, boy. I may not be perfect, but my loyalty to my realm has never waver
ed, unlike my brother.”
“Egan tried to join two realms, not abandon his. You just had too much prejudice to see that. Your hate for what he did went so far you tried to murder your own niece.”
Bant looked away as if pondering Killian’s words. “I asked you to come here for a reason, Thomas. Now do you want to hear what I have to say or not?”
“Get on with it,” Killian demanded, surprised by his own forceful words.
“You don’t stand a chance against the Architect. She’s simply too powerful and too driven.”
Killian rolled his eyes. “Thanks for your confidence. Now if you don’t mind, I have better things to do than listen to you run your mouth.”
“Shut up and let me finish,” Bant snarled. Killian stopped at his abruptness and faced the small opening again. “She is powerful, but after my many years in the Trinity I noticed she has a weakness. If you can exploit it, then maybe you could stop her from opening the gateway.”
“What is it?”
“She’s doing this to avenge her parents. She is driven purely by their memories, and over the years her anger has pushed her to a dark place with those memories. She doesn’t even remember her happy youth, only the dark moments when they died. They are her weakness.
“Find out how to throw them in her face, Thomas. Get her to pause even for the smallest moment, and maybe you can reach some part of her that was once good.” Bant paused and looked away again. “But then again, perhaps all Trinity soldiers are too far gone. That’s what you think of me−that I am just a deserter who despises his brother and people. But perhaps you’re wrong about me, just as perhaps there is still a spark of the old Maurelle from history buried deep within her.”
Killian didn’t know what to say and he shuffled his feet awkwardly as his mind whirled with the information. “I don’t know how to reach that part of her,” he finally admitted.
Bant sighed and Killian could tell through the small opening he shrugged his shoulders. “Then, as I said, you really don’t stand a chance against her. Good luck, Thomas. Good of you to come and listen to my last redeeming declaration. We’re all dead when she finds us anyway; I might as well try to do something to stop this before I’m torn apart.”
Bant clicked his tongue before slamming the small door over the opening.
“Your optimism is overwhelming,” Killian shouted sarcastically through the door.
“He’s right, Killian,” a familiar voice called out from further up the walkway.
“Speron?” he said as he made his way to the door.
Speron opened up his own small eye-door. “He’s right. You don’t stand a chance because that thing inside you will destroy you before you can even face Maurelle.”
Killian glared at Speron. “You really still think I have no control over myself? I haven’t lost control for months, Speron, unlike you. I still can’t believe you attacked another realm because of what Maurelle did. Pretty racist, Speron—nice and classy.”
“I don’t understand that term, Killian, so if you’re trying to insult me give it a rest. You may think you’re under control, but even that original Infinium…how many years has he practiced control and he still lost it.”
“What are you talking about? Do you mean Axel? How did he lose control?”
“Oh, come on, Killian, open your eyes. He took the ruby.”
“We don’t know that for sure,” Killian began to defend Axel again.
“Yes, we do. I saw him. He came down here and I saw the ruby, Thomas.”
Killian took a deep breath, not wanting to believe what Speron was saying. Speron cleared his throat and lowered his voice.
“He also let someone out. I couldn’t see who or what it was, but he let something out of a cell and just disappeared with the ruby and…the prisoner.”
Killian’s heart beat increased. “He let someone out? You’re sure?”
Speron nodded, though Killian couldn’t see his entire head. “That thing inside you is a parasite, a sick disease that will poison your mind, Killian. If you’re our best hope to fight the Trinity, then I have less confidence in our victory than that Ignisian does.”
“Speron, I don’t know what happened to you,” Killian said. “I hope you realize your fight isn’t with Cimmerian, and it isn’t with me. You need to start believing in a greater purpose soon; you’re going to need it when the Trinity comes.”
Killian turned and walked down the long, damp hallway leading from the prison cells.
“Watch your back, Thomas. Axel has more power than any of us now.” Speron’s call echoed along the earthy walls, causing Killian to shiver in fear. If it was true Axel had betrayed them, then Speron was right; he did have more power than anyone he’d ever known.
Two days later Rhetta left the clinic and it was if nothing had ever happened.
“No news of Axel yet?” Killian asked Dalia as they sat on a stone bench outdoors eating a sweet Glacien ice with several others.
It seemed strange to enjoy the dessert when so much was at stake, but Mercedes had suggested it after everyone got into a screaming match during training.
“Enough,” she’d shouted, instantly silencing them. “We’re taking a break and we’re going to relax for just a few minutes. Now go!”
Dalia scooped a dark blue spoonful of ice into her mouth and shook her head. “Not a whisper. No strange activity, nothing. It’s as if he’s vanished.”
Lucan slurped his orange ice and lay back on the squishy grass, allowing the lavender sunlight to caress his skin. “We’ll find him one way or another. By the way, Mercedes, this was a good idea. I feel better already.”
She chuckled and crumpled up the thin paper cup that had held her ice. “Someone had to tear you knuckle-heads away from one another. We can’t turn on each other.”
“Very wise, my dear,” Rhetta said, rubbing her thumb over a rainbow painted petal of the strange flowering bushes in the garden. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath of the fresh, clean air. Killian smiled in contentment. It did feel nice to forget, even for the smallest moment, that their chances of surviving another attacker were dwindling by the second.
“Rhetta, did Miller go through the prisoner logs and find out which one was released?” he asked.
Rhetta notably tensed. “He just told me an hour ago. I’m not sure your grandfather would appreciate me sharing it, though.”
Killian closed his eyes and took a deep breath to keep his frustration from spilling out. “You know we’re well beyond keeping secrets. Miller knows this, too. How we can defend ourselves if we don’t know what we’re facing?”
“Dear, please don’t get upset,” she warned.
“I’m sorry, but it’s hypocritical. Isn’t the entire reason we’re breaking the barriers so that the people can defend themselves?”
Rhetta sighed and leaned forward on her knees. “It was someone very powerful, someone who has a specialty in darkness. Her name is Achlys. According to the records Miller found, she was locked away by Merlin and Eldora when they first blocked the dark magic. That’s the only way she can be trapped; the person who has control of the darkness can use her for a power buffer, or can lock her up using the same power if, of course, she doesn’t absorb too much dark magic and turn against her captor and be free to roam where she chooses.”
Killian swallowed, and everyone watched Rhetta with a notable level of fear. “Why would we keep such a person here? There has to be a way to kill her,” Mercedes said.
“I’m afraid not. Achlys is basically a dark deity, very tricky to kill. Our best plan of action is stopping Maurelle and taking back control of Achlys before she has a chance to absorb the Black Dawn,” Rhetta said.
“I can’t believe Axel would do this,” Lucan said under his breath. “It’s one thing to join Maurelle, but to release such a dark being, how do we even stand a chance?”
Rhetta’s eyes narrowed as she whipped her head toward Lucan. “We stand a chance because we have a greater purpose. W
e have more to lose, and that should push us to fight harder than we’ve ever fought before. Don’t forget we have the majority of Merlin’s magic in the four relics, and Killian has Infinium. We aren’t defenseless and I expect all of you to face this problem with such a desire to win, the thought of losing can’t even co-exist in your mind.” Rhetta’s eyes blazed ferociously as she spoke. No one dared disagree, and slowly everyone nodded their heads in agreement with her.
The large glass door swung open and Owen burst into the garden, followed by a small woman with black hair tied in a tight bun on top of her head. Her almond-shaped eyes widened as best they could from behind her wire-rimmed glasses.
“Mother,” Lucan said in surprise, sitting up from his grassy bed. “What are you doing here?” Killian looked between them both, noting the resemblance. He knew Lucan’s family members were analysts in the Praetorium, but he was embarrassed to admit he’d never asked much about them or met them.
“Hello, love,” she said quickly. “I’m not here really to visit. I hope your training is going well.” Lucan’s mother smiled, but never really looked at him; she was too distracted.
“Killian, Jean found her! Your mother, they’ve found her,” Owen said, his face pulling into a brilliant smile.
Rhetta leapt off the bench she’d been resting on and clasped her hands in front of her chest. “Oh, Owen, are they certain?”
“We’ve been working tirelessly, and finally we were able to detect an image deep in Ignisia where they’re keeping two prisoners secluded from large group of people. We can’t be one hundred percent certain, but the images in seclusion appear to be female,” Jean said.
“When do we go? We need to go get her,” Killian added with excitement.
Jean began typing on a translucent keyboard. Lucan watched over her shoulder as she worked. “Let me pull up some coordinates and perhaps you can jump there?” she said more as a question than a statement.