by Lisa Daniels
They walked in silence along the rest of the path, each reflecting on their own thoughts. After a bit, the trees cleared and the pair were standing on top of a hill. The moonlight shone down on a sizeable town below them. Dulce sat down and pulled her knees to her chest. “Sometimes I like to come here just to remember that the world is actually a beautiful place.”
Ignacio sat beside her and took in the view, not quite certain he saw what she did. “The world is certainly a unique mystery that shows something different to everyone. When I look out, I see only life and death.”
Dulce smiled, “That is because you are an assassin, and death is something you work with. Just as I look out and see the future and all of the possibilities.”
“Yes,” his voice was low and soft. Dulce stole a look at him, and there was a soft smile on Ignacio’s face. “Although I admit that I recently started to see some of the beauty in the world.”
“Oh, really.” For the first time since her cold reaction, Dulce was smiling honestly. “It sounds like you may have met someone. And you thought to come see me for that?”
Ignacio turned to look at her. His wide eyes and surprised look told her that she had figured out why he was there. Throwing her head back, Dulce laughed. Anxious, Ignacio thought that she might be losing her sanity at this revelation. “Dulce, I think we need to get you—” He tried to take her hand, thinking he would pull her up and take her back to his country—it was clear she could no longer stay in Ishtar. Concern was clearly etched on his face.
With a single look, Dulce laughed again and shook his hand off her own. “I am pleased, Ignacio. In all of this,” she held her hands up to the town, or perhaps the world at large, “an assassin in love. I think you have just made up for several months of unhappiness with that admission. I am glad that you waited until you found someone that you wanted to make happy.”
“Dulce,” Ignacio frowned, “I want you to be happy.”
She smiled and shook her head, “Of course. We always want happiness for our friends, but this is something much different and far more personal. You want me to be happy, but you want to make someone else happy.” She wiggled her eyebrows at him, the elation of the situation eclipsing everything else. “So, tell me about this person.”
Ignacio looked at his hands, causing Dulce to giggle. He frowned, “What’s so funny?”
“You are. But go ahead, I will try to hold it in.” She smiled mischievously at him.
Unable to help but smile back, the assassin felt like he was with the Dulce who had once taken a strange interest in him as he evaluated her so long ago. “Well, she’s a druid.”
“Oh,” Dulce sat up, the smile sliding from her face. “Ah, well, yes, I see why you came to me, then.”
“Yes.” He gave her a half smile.
“I don’t suppose you brought her with you, did you?” She immediately shook her head, “Of course not. The Unwashed have permeated every level of the government here. You would never bring her to this place. Well, I wish that I could meet her so that I could at least give you a bit of information on your odds.”
Ignacio tilted his head to the side. “You could come with me. I could introduce her to you.”
Holding a finger up, Dulce waved it at the assassin, “Are you really that desperate? Or are you trying to save me?” She cocked an eyebrow up at him as she spoke.
Ignacio opened his mouth to lie, then shut it. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Both.”
A smile spread across her face, but her eyes reflected sadness. “I can honestly say any woman who is lucky enough to get your attention is not going to refuse, no matter who or what she is. I am more concerned with you, though.”
“There is no taboo for assassins and druids. We aren’t backwards like the mystics and white tigers.”
“Nooo,” she held onto the word, thinking about how to phrase what she wanted to say. “But you always wanted children, and you know that will not be possible with a druid.”
“Funny you should mention that. I recently encountered Anders, and he is in the process of looking into a stolen child somewhere near Falstone. He suspects that the child may be part druid.”
Dulce leaned forward, “Does your druid love know that you are not only interested in her, but are interested in raising a child with her already?”
Ignacio blushed, “I’m just saying that there are always possibilities down the road.”
Leaning back and resting on her hands, Dulce looked up at the moon. “When are you going to tell her?”
“I don’t know. I mean, maybe never. She’s somewhat powerful, and a good bit older than me.”
“Then she would really have to be a fool to say no. Look,” Dulce pointed up to the stars, “do you think the stars have to ask to shine on us? No, of course not. They shine because that is what they do. That is, as far as we are concerned, their purpose. We can love it, hate it, or ignore it, but the stars are still there, all the same. In a million years, the way we felt about them will make no difference, but the way we feel about them right now, well, we are out here enjoying them, are we not?”
Ignacio looked over at Dulce as she stared at the stars and talked.
She continued, “I love the stars, and I love the moon. Will they ever return that love, no. But they will continue to shine, and that is enough of a response to keep loving them. There are days where I don’t appreciate them, but then when it is cloudy or rainy, I am reminded that I need to appreciate them. Love is a bit like that. Whether or not the person reciprocates, just letting them know is enough. It may or may not change anything, but you will at least get a response, and from there you can live your life. It is too hard to live in limbo waiting for something to happen. It isn’t any kind of life to live, just waiting.” There was a hint of sadness in her tone, and Ignacio knew that she was now talking from personal experience. “Work up the courage to tell her. It is the best thing you can do for yourself and her. You won’t be any worse off for a rejection; it only stings for a little while.” She turned and smiled at him. “And then you will carry on with living, either way, wiser and a little more understanding of the world.”
“I am sorry, Dulce.”
“Don’t be sorry for what happened 30 years ago.” She looked at the moon. “There is no reason to apologize. You were waiting for the right person, and I was not her. There is no shame in that for either of us.”
“I was not apologizing for our past.”
Dulce’s smile faltered as she looked at him. She simply looked at him.
Ignacio moved closer and looked into her eyes. “I am sorry about how cruel the years have clearly been to you. I cannot think of anyone less deserving of whatever you have been through. You have changed, and it is heartbreaking to see how you are trying, even now, to hide it.”
Dulce shrugged and looked away. “You don’t even know what has happened, so don’t apologize. I don’t need any more pity.” Pushing herself off of the ground, she dusted her dress off, causing the material to sway gently. “It was really wonderful to see you again. Be safe and make sure you tell her. You definitely deserve all the happiness in the world.”
She began to walk away as Ignacio stood up in one swift movement. “You can’t go back there. They plan to take you. Come with me and I will make sure you don’t continue to suffer.”
Dulce gave him an amused smile. “You are in love with someone else, and yet you think I will not suffer watching that?”
“But—you—you said you do not love me anymore.” Ignacio frowned.
“That is true, but it does not mean that I want to see someone else finding the happiness I had once imagined. Good night, Ignacio.”
“Dulce, please don’t go. Your guests are not planning anything good.”
She simply shrugged, “And how many people in my life have planned to harm or kill me and failed to do so, my little assassin?” Dulce placed heavy emphasis on his position.
“They are Unwashed. They are not going to care tha
t you are an amazing person, they just want to drain you. If you go back—”
“They will have to kill me.”
Ignacio blinked. “They will try to take you alive.”
“Yes, they will try.” She smiled at him.
The shifter suddenly realized that she had known all along, that at some point she had encountered one and read his future. He stepped between her and the woods. “I will not let you go back to die.”
“But you will let me go back to be taken?”
“That was not what I meant. Dulce,” he stepped toward her and placed his hands on her arms, “please come with me. There is no longer any reason for you to stay here. I have heard about what has happened to some of the seers. This country does not deserve you. And if I have to, I will drag you away from this place.”
Spreading her arms to shake his hands off of her, Dulce gave him a sad smile. “We all have a fate to accept, and sometimes it isn’t the fate we want for our loved ones. Everyone keeps saving me, and I wish I could be grateful. But I’m not, I am tired. The longer my life is dragged out, the more I lose. Tonight, I got to see you, and that is enough. I am done losing everything and everyone I care about. I will not let you return with me because the look in your eye tells me what you will do when we get there. You have someone to love, go to her instead of going with me to your own death. Goodbye, Ignacio.”
She reached a hand up to his face. Before he could respond, a fine powder clouded his eyes, and Ignacio found his eyelids unable to stay open. He fell into her arms, and he was vaguely aware of her gently laying him on the ground. “I’m glad I got to see you one last time. Now go find the happiness I once tried to promise you.”
With that, he lost consciousness, his lips unable to utter the protests his mind was screaming as he heard her dress swaying as she walked into the woods.
Chapter 3
Her Own Medicine
Dulce turned and looked at Ignacio’s nearly perfect body stretched out on the ground and felt guilty. She had allowed a man to take his own drug earlier, a drug that would have knocked her out, and here she had done something similar to her friend. Of course, she wasn’t planning to do anything to harm him, but it certainly wasn’t a great solution. She had not expected him to try to take her with him, something that once would have made her happy. Now, it was like the final twisting of a knife in her heart, a complete perversion of what she had once hoped to have with him.
After everything, she was not willing to drag out her misery beyond that night. So many of her friends and colleagues had been killed for no good reason. Nations rose and fell all the time, and humans were more than happy to use magic users for their own personal gain. But as soon as things started going wrong, magic users were always the first ones to blame. The steady decline of Ishtar was the rule, not the exception.
With a sigh, she moved back to Ignacio. He was definitely asleep now, and he had not even tried to shield himself, which meant that he had been totally focused on her.
“Foolish boy. You never let the mark get the upper hand. Didn’t you learn anything in all this time?” She smiled as she knelt down beside him. “Sleep well. I’m not about to let you be easy prey, and when you wake, you won’t need to feel guilty anymore because it will all be over.” Pulling his magics out of the pouch, Dulce prepared them. She walked in a circle around him, chanting the words he had taught her, and she felt the magic pull from his body. A part of her was jealous of the magic users who could control their abilities, but she didn’t let it distract her from putting up the barrier around him. Some seers could do more than just see the future; nearly all of them were capable of healing, but Dulce had never had any abilities beyond her visions. And those she had in far greater volumes than anyone else. Tapping on the area where the barrier was, the seer made certain he was protected before turning and walking down the trail to the place that she could only think of as her temporary prison. Knowing that he was safe, she felt there was no more left she could do for him.
Her fingers laced together behind her back as Dulce walked along the trail, humming. Unlike the last time she approached the place, this time she felt very much at peace. As she neared the structure, she turned to look back at the trail, her mind going back to the sleeping figure on the hill. Silently, Dulce wished him luck.
“We have been waiting for you.” The voice was low and menacing, but she didn’t feel compelled to turn to look at the man. When she didn’t seem to hear him, the guy growled the word, “Witch.”
Dulce turned, a huge smile on her face. “No, of all of the magic users, witch is the least accurate for a seer. We don’t have anything flashy, and I don’t think even the Unwashed want us to quit using our healing abilities.”
“Your lies and deceptions are done. Humans will no longer be charmed by your pretty face and sweet words, Dulce. They will learn about the horrors you have wrought in their name.”
“Horrors?” Dulce frowned. “You mean saving the Ishtar fleet from the Sumarian attack? Or maybe the time I offered myself to the Unwashed in exchange for the Prime Minister? Oh,” she snapped her fingers, “I know. You are talking about that time I stopped the Battle at Triniage. Yes, I can see what a complete horror of a legacy I have left in my wake.” For the first time in her life, Dulce said exactly what she thought, holding back none of the negative thoughts. “Spare me your propaganda. Everyone here knows you are full of shit, so stop trying to preach and—”
A rope flew out of the air at her head, and she quickly dodged it.
The man across from her grew angry. “Who talked to the witch? What follower was stupid enough to get near her and let her know what we had planned to end her reign of terror?”
Dulce’s laughter was bone chilling. “My reign of terror? My reign of terror? The only terror in this country is wrought by the monsters here in front of me, justifying their worst desires and torturing women. What big strong men you prove to be every time you take down a woman.” Her words were biting and she could see several men flinching, and she felt a small sense of satisfaction.
“Don’t say another word, you cunning little bitch. We will not be swayed by you and your—”
A gasp from one of the men caught everyone’s attention. All heads turned to a man standing near a gravestone a ways from everyone else. He was looking down at his chest where something seemed to be sticking out. He looked up, blood streaming out of his mouth and down his chin.
There was a sickening sound as the object was pulled back through the man’s body, and he collapsed to the ground at about the same time as another man’s head struck the ground next to him. In seconds, all but the leader lay dead on the ground. A total of nine men dead without any chance to respond.
The leader looked at his slaughtered followers and took a few steps back, his eyes trying to take in everything that had happened. “How? How is this possible?” He turned back to Dulce, “What kind of mag—” Suddenly, the man let out a scream and Dulce heard a crunch. She watched as the man began to crawl, a look of panic on his face. “Assassin! She has an—”
A tall figure stepped out of the shadows. “Everyone knows that seers have champions.” No wasted words were uttered, and the figure gave the Unwashed just long enough to look up. As soon as the leader met the champion’s eyes, the champion kicked him over onto his back and ran a large sword through him. The man lay gurgling on the ground as the champion looked down at his sword in disgust. Picking up the corner of the dying man’s robes, the champion wiped off his blade. He then dropped the cloth and kicked the body away.
Without another word, the champion strode over to Dulce. Holding out a hand, Dulce finally could get a good look at her unwanted rescuer. His hair was blondish with black highlights. About an inch long, it looked soft as it moved gently in the night breeze. The fury that had been present in his orangish eyes was gone as he looked at Dulce.
The seer took a step away from the champion. She had never seen him and had no idea how he had known to be there t
hat night, but she was not happy that yet again she was being forced to continue on in a world that no longer held anything for her. Giving her head a little shake, she hoped he would get the point.
For more than a minute, neither of the two moved, almost like they were having a battle of wills. Apart from his hair, the champion did not move, and it would have been easy to mistake him for one of the statues. Finally, Dulce spoke, “Why are you here?”
“This is not your fate.”
Clenching her teeth, “Oh, so you are able to see my future?”
“I don’t need to be a seer to know when to intervene.”
“What are you even doing here?” She folded her arms across her chest.
“I am here to stop the most well-respected and admired seer from destroying herself.”
“What do champions even care what happens to seers? Your kind disappeared after Darinon died.”
“We did no such thing.”
“Oh really? I have only been trapped here for a year. Before that, I lived in Copan. And I remember when the champions left, and I have not seen any other until today.”
“Earlier tonight, you reprimanded a man for accusing seers of hiding. Yet here you are doing the same thing to an entire species. A species which, I feel you need to be reminded, is still somewhat endangered.”
Dulce frowned and narrowed her eyes, again feeling how hypocritical she had been. “You are right, I have been acting like a human, but—”
“And now you use a broad brush to insult an entire race. I am starting to wonder if they were wrong about you.”
Dulce blinked. The rebuke was harsh, but not unwarranted. “Clearly you are right. So, you should have let them kill me.”
“I could not.”
“You just said yourself that people were wrong about me.”
“I think that those who care what happens to you would be sad to see what you have become. Living alone with only your pain was certainly the wrong decision, and they clearly should have talked to you first. You were unsuccessful in your self-destructive behavior, and I can’t believe they felt this was the best way to protect you. All it has done is cause a downward spiral of your mental state so that you are nearly unrecognizable.”