Burning Bridges

by Nadege Richards

  “That’s right,” Noah crooned. “Tell him who I am, lovely.”

  I blanched and took a step away from him. “What do you want, Noah?”

  “What I’ve always wanted.” Noah took a stepped towards us and that’s when I saw them. The men dressed in black and embroidered swords emerged from the woods and crowded around us. I took another step back, but no matter how far I went, I still felt trapped. “I’ve always wanted you.”

  “No,” I lamented. I took Ayden’s hand and began pulling him the other direction. “Noah, leave us!”

  “Who is he?” Ayden growled.

  I shook my head at him. “My betrothed, the Prince of Delentia.”

  “That’s right,” Noah added. “And I’m here to claim what’s rightfully mine.” The guards closed in and they grabbed for Ayden. He tried to push them away, but when they wouldn’t let go, he punched one of them in the face and they fell to the floor.

  “Let him go!” I cried. I pushed through the mass of men tackling Ayden to the floor and continued to yell for him.

  No, this couldn’t be happening. Not now. Not when things had been going so well.

  Two guards held Ayden in a hold with his hands behind his neck and he groaned in pain.

  “Let him go! As Princess of Thediby, I command you to release him!” I yelled at the guards. I shoved at one of their chests and they laughed. If only I had a sword.

  “We know all about your secret, Echo. We know you’re not the King’s daughter.” Noah smiled and a guard stepped up behind me and held my hands behind my back.

  My eyes went to Ayden and I finally gave in and began to cry. “Ayden, do something! You promised.”

  “Echo, I—” A guard cut him off with a blow to his face and I shuddered.

  “Don’t hurt him, please!”

  “You are pathetic, Echo.” Noah came face to face with me, and from the corner of my eye I saw the guards take Ayden away. I started to hyperventilate and the barrier between reality and dreams grew dim. This couldn’t be happening. “I will admit that I contemplated keeping you for my own enjoyment, but I would grow tired of you too soon. So, I’ve decided to hand you over to the King. Not that I need the money, of course, but I’d love to see you and your indolent lover battle it out in the arena.”

  I shook my head violently and sneered, “You bastard! I hate you. You’re worthless and conniving. You don’t even deserve to be breathing right now.”

  Noah watched me and laughed. “I believe it is you who is the bastard, Echo.”

  Growing weary of his games, I said, “You will die by my hands, Noah. I rue the day I ever met you. Y-you sick, arrogant son of a—” Noah slapped me across the face and I tasted the familiar flavor of blood. No man had ever hit me or even dared to. It sparked my ire and set it ablaze.

  “Look what you made me do, Echo,” Noah chided.

  I smiled and, gathering the saliva in my mouth, spat out the blood in his face. I elbowed the guard holding me in the gut and he shied away. Not missing a beat, I grabbed Noah and kneed him in the groin. “Rot in hell,” I told him. I ran in the direction of the woods, screaming at the top of my lungs for Ayden. I tripped over logs and thorns snagged at my dress.

  “You can’t keep running, Echo!” Noah called. “You’re already dead!”

  I ran further into the forest and thanked my lucky stars when I espied the guards dragging Ayden through the evergreens. He was putting up a fight, but there were too many of them. I jumped through the underbrush and screamed, “Let him go or die!”

  The guards turned to face me as I trudged forward and Ayden watched in horror. They’d hurt him, and that had made me angrier than ever. Revenge was sweet, but blood was sweeter.

  “Echo!” Ayden suddenly screamed out. My eyes went to him the same moment an edge of a sword shot out and nearly took my head. Its cold steel nicked my jugular and I smelled my blood in the air around me. I looked up the sword at Noah.

  “You are not fit to be a Princess, Echo. If that is even your name. You are an abomination, a lie, a monstrosity. According to the King, you shouldn’t even exist. And that you won’t.” Noah removed the sword from my neck and I watched as he licked my blood from the blade. He motioned towards the guards holding Ayden and they began to back him out of the woods.

  I screamed until my voice grew hoarse and cried until I couldn’t anymore. My eyes had averted to the ground after long moments of crying, but when I looked up again, Ayden was gone.

  “Why are you doing this?” I whispered. My voice echoed through the trees and I realized Noah was gone, too. The guard pushed me in the opposite direction of Ayden and his nails bit into my wrists.

  “This means war,” I said to him. The guard laughed, but said nothing.

  This is love. This is your life, Echo. Own it. Start over. Fight.

  PRESENT DAY

  T W E N T Y–

  E I G H T

  Ayden

  SIPHON’S CITY, NEW HAVEN

  I’d never felt so fearless like I did now. There were only two guards left after the other two ran off to call in help, and Echo and I made a silent decision who would get who within the one glance we shared. She nodded her head at me and the same flicker of love I saw in her eyes weeks ago stared back at me. This was no longer a fight for them, but for us and for love. For freedom and a lifetime with her. Every moment I’d spent with her flashed through my mind and I held onto them like a tangible thing.

  “It seems there’s been a disruption,” the Announcer proclaimed to the audience. People still continued to scream.

  A guard went for Echo and she twirled a dagger in one hand with a sword in the other, eyeing him with distaste. Sensing the fight in her, the guard unsheathed his sword and pointed the tip of the blade at her. Echo smiled and, moving as fast as I knew she could, pelted the dagger at the man and it stuck him in his chest. He cried out in pain and reached to pull it out the same moment Echo ran and kicked the dagger in deeper. He fell to the ground and she looked over at me with a smile.

  “Fight! Fight! Fight!” the crowd roared around us. I barely had time to register anything before a hand was clamping around my throat. The second guard, beefy and short compared to his partner, had snuck up on me with intention to take me away, but by the way he looked at me with insobriety told me he didn’t have it in him.

  So, I let him off easy.

  I struck him in the chest with two quick blows just to get him off and swept my foot behind his legs. He fell to the ground, sand flying up around him, and I twisted his wrist until he screamed out and I heard the cracking of bones. Quickly dropping a kick in his side, I turned and looked for Echo.

  Unmoving, she stared up at the balconies and I followed her gaze to the King. He looked at us as if he was considering something and nodded his head at the King of Delentia. Both Queens were missing.

  “Bring in more guards!” the Announcer bellowed. I gawked at him and never wanted to kill someone so much in my life. The gates on Echo’s side slid open and five guards slipped through. My heart skipped a beat and my mind shifted back into focus. I had to get Echo to her mother and her cousin.

  “Echo!” Her eyes met mine and she seemed to snap out of it. She nodded as I pointed towards the other gates. A guard stood watch, but before he could unsheathe his sword, Echo punched him in the face with the hilt of her sword. He slumped against the wall, unconscious, and I took advantage of the time I could spare us and fished out the keys from his pocket.

  “What are you doing?” Echo asked, breathing heavily as she watched the oncoming guards.

  “Buying us time.” I jammed the keys into the lock of the gates and they clicked shut with a twist. “Okay. Let’s go.” I took Echo’s hand and we ran through the fortress and away from the guards. Voices grew louder above our heads as we went deeper into the arena’s sector.

  “This way,” Echo whispered, pulling me down a long corridor, “Mother wasn’t on the balcony so I’m assuming she is up in her sacred chambers here. I
f not, she will be at the palace. But that’s too far from here on foot.”

  I nodded at her and hoped her mother was in her chambers. “And Isobeli?”

  Echo was quiet for a second. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen her in weeks. She could be anywhere.”

  “Well, let’s just pray she’s with your mother, then.”

  We broke into a large foyer and we spun in circles with a desperate need orient ourselves. It wasn’t as grand as the one in the Royal palace, but it was huge, nonetheless. Down the hallway we’d come, footsteps sounded up the corridor.

  “Upstairs is this way.” Echo pointed to the staircase across the foyer.

  Shaking my head, I said, “No. You go, I’ll fight them off. Remember: get them out, find Adamo, and head for the garden.”

  I could tell it took everything for her to comply. “And you’ll be there? Waiting for me?”

  “I’ll try.” We jumped at the nearing footsteps. If it wasn’t for the wreck going on in the arena, people would have been inside and wandering, making our escape not so sweet.

  “No trying with me, Ayden. You promised,” she sneered. I would have taken the time to tell her how cute she was when she yelled at me, but the moment was too critical.

  I grabbed her face and kissed her. “No trying, got it. Now go.”

  I watched her take the stairs and thought about going with her as she ebbed into the darkness. It killed me to leave her on her own, but I knew Echo would manage; she was stronger than she thought. Though grief was all we had to hang on to, if I didn’t make it out, Echo would. Giovanni would make sure of it

  I turned to meet my attackers head-on and froze at the sight of the man in front of me. Noah, Echo’s betrothed, and the man I wanted to kill.

  T W E N T Y–

  N I N E

  Echo

  Mother’s chamber floor was darker than I expected. The torches that usually lit the hallways had long burnt out and I walked in silence. I gripped the sword in my hand, running my fingers over the diamonds set in gold and whispering words of encouragement to myself. Though I was fully aware that I was alone, I didn’t buy into the false victory for a second. Mother wouldn’t just be sitting around and waiting for me, nothing ever worked out that easily. The most I could hope for was that Isobeli was near. And alive.

  I reached Mother’s door and mustered up all the courage I had to open the door. It cried out on its hinges as I flung it open. Grasping the sword at my side, I slowly entered the room and took note of the curtains, the vanity, and the empty bed. Everything looked the same, so I didn’t bother to go snooping. I was only looking for Mother and so far I hadn’t found her.

  I suddenly heard splashing in the bathroom and moved towards it without thinking. “Mother?” I said, opening the bathroom doors.

  I found Mother on a bench beside the tub and watched her dip her fingers into the water. She smiled to herself and sighed. “The brush. Bring it here, Echo.” She said, staring straight out. I opened my mouth to ask how she knew it was me, but she quickly added, “Hurry. We haven’t much time.”

  The brush. She must’ve been talking about the brush she’d sent me, because I had no other. I untied it from the strap on my thigh where I’d hid it from the guards underneath my dress. The act caused me to remember that I’d lost the necklace from Ayden. Of course a sensible person would say it could be re-bought, but the necklace was a one of a kind and it meant everything to me. I sighed and gave the brush to mother.

  “Sit,” she instructed, pointing to the ground below her. I sat and I had a mental flashback of this very moment, just somewhere else. The room zoomed in and out of focus as Mother untied my hair and began brushing through it. “Dreams, Echo, they will be your power and your only weapon in this war. The enemy is great, but you will be greater if you would just trust yourself.”

  “What dreams, Mother?” I mumbled. A brush through my hair felt magnificent, I’d forgotten how much I loved it when I was small.

  “Close your eyes and see for yourself.”

  I did as I was told and as soon as my eyes were shut, the normal darkness that would overcome me was replaced with a very bright light. It erupted and a thousand images flooded through me at once. One of Ayden fighting Noah, another of Adamo and Ciprean taking down a guard at the borders, and the last of Issy running down the streets of Thediby as if she was being chased. The images changed before I could piece them together and my mind raced to keep up with them.

  The next images surprised me even more. The first was of Old Haven wrecked and desolate. Broken homes and burning buildings. Though Old Haven was bleak compared to New Haven, it didn’t look as grave as this. Images changed and it showed people from Old Haven running through the border and meeting those of New Haven in a futile fight. A tear rolled down my cheek at the sight of all the dead souls stacked on top of each other like a monument worthy of praise.

  That’s when I remembered my dream and the mountain I’d seen. No, not a mountain, but a heap of rotting bodies.

  “What was that?” I whispered, opening my eyes. The bathroom came back into view and I sighed.

  Mother stopped brushing my hair and whispered back, “We only dream of things we know and people that we’ve seen.”

  “And what is that supposed to mean?”

  Mother chuckled and handed me back the brush. “You have much to learn about where you come from, Echo. You are the only one of your kind—a Hunter and a Warrior. You don’t understand the kind of power you withhold.”

  I stood to my feet and stared down at her. “You have to tell me what’s going on. What are these images?”

  My mother looked away from me then and glanced out the window instead. “You should go. You’ve already wasted enough time. Isobeli…she needs you.”

  “What?” Pieces of my dream came back to me and I remembered seeing a dying, helpless Issy. I didn’t have the strength to give in to the fear, but it was there and it was waiting.

  I had to find her.

  “Mother, we need to go. Ayden and I have—”

  “It is too late for me, Echo. Go now, before it is too late for you as well.”

  “But—”

  “Go!”

  I sprinted through the open doors and fled down the stairs. When I reached the foyer, Ayden was gone. I wanted to throw my hands up in frustration, but there was no time for a tantrum. I just hoped he was all right. Checking for signs of guards, I made my way out of the building and took in the harrowing sight. People ran wildly down the streets: some chasing, some being chased. A group of guys were busy pushing down a lamppost and it fell into the street, glass shattering everywhere on the sidewalks. A woman across the lane held a torch to a building and I watched as it slowly caught aflame and began to burn from the bottom up. I’d only heard of something like this once and they were always stories told from the hearsay, never facts. It’d only happened once in Alwaenian history and that was when King Valentine had been murdered

  We’d started a massacre.

  An ear-piercing screech caught my attention and I followed it in hopes of finding Isobeli. I rounded a street, and as I suspected, I found her. But it wasn’t how I wanted to see her, not at all. Seeing her crumble to the floor in a heap of blood broke my heart to no end. I ran to her, and just like in my dream, I stumbled every step of the way there.

  “Issy?” I whispered, pulling her to me. Blood covered the front of her dress and her skin felt clammy and cold. “Gods, Issy what happened to you?”

  “Echo?” she muttered.

  “Yeah, it’s me. Who did this to you?”

  Instead of answering me, Isobeli held up her hand and showed me a rutted piece of paper covered in her blood. Wiping the tears from my eyes, I took it and read: You did this. I noticed the handwriting right away—the King’s, the man who I thought had been my father for seventeen years but now wanted to see me dead.

  I took her face in my hands and demanded, “Tell me who did this to you.”

  “Si… Si
las,” Issy stuttered.

  My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach and I felt the need to vomit. The man could evoke such feelings, but they were stronger now than ever before. I held Issy close to me and forced her to stay awake, desperate with my will to keep her alive.

  Where was Ayden? Where was the righteous King in all of this? Why weren’t the other cities doing something?

  Horse hooves thudded against the pavement behind me and I turned to see Adamo on a white stallion. I wanted to question him, but Adamo was his own kind of crazy.

  “Get her out of here,” I called to him, holding Issy in my lap. “I need to find Ayden.”

  “Did you talk with the King?” he asked.

  “No. He hid from us like a fool. The only thing he offered was this.” I threw the piece of paper up to him and Adamo read it silently.

  “A damn fool he is. But we need to get out of here before things get crazy.”

  “Crazier than this?” I cried, motioning to the screaming mass of people around us. “All Royals have seemed to disappear and you do not call that crazy?” I held Isobeli to me and carried her to the horse. She mumbled something incoherently, but that was enough to tell me she was alive. She slumped against Adamo and he cringed.

  “Don’t get my friend killed,” he sneered.

  “Wouldn’t even dream of it, Adamo. I love him just the same.” I watched as people terrorized the city and frowned. “Where are all the guards in this?” The sun had begun to set and a weary orange glow took the city.

  “Dead. All of them. Now find Ayden and get back to the clearing. The plan didn’t work, Echo. I’m sorry.”

  “Did we lose anyone?”

  “No.” Adamo readied his horse and held onto Isobeli. “Be careful out here.”

  I nodded and Adamo rode away, the white stallion a gleam in the setting sun.

  T H I R T Y

  Echo

  I went back into the Royal arena to search for Ayden. A mass of people had crowded into the foyer and I immediately thought the worst. My heart pounded in my ears with a staccato ferocity you’d only hear when the love of your life was in danger, that moment of complete apprehension and the only thing that mattered was them.