by Tenaya Jayne
He punched her in the side, his fist breaking her ribs. All the breath was pushed out of her, and she struggled to inhale again. He kicked her ruthlessly; her undamaged hip broke like the other. Her knees fractured under his boots. Forest became dizzy, the pain spinning her, and her stomach lurched with nausea. Protect the baby. Protect the baby. She focused on her child, trying to shut out the agony and the nightmare of the cause.
The force of his blows bruised her all the way into her internal organs. He continued to hit her over and over. Her blood splattered the walls and ran like a river over the floor. She'd never felt pain like this, pain that warned of swift approaching death. Her body broke, but still she used it to protect her baby. Finally…finally the onslaught stopped.
Forest tried to open her burning eyes. Redge leaned over her, covered in sweat and her blood. He touched the top of her head gently.
"It's over now, the order has lifted," he whispered. "Will you be all right? Please tell me you'll survive."
She jerked her head forward once.
"Tell me what to do?"
Her voice came out quiet and disjointed, her throat bubbling with blood. "Tell Syrus I love him."
Sweet unconsciousness wrapped its loving arms around her and took her into the deep dark where all she could hear was the beating heart of her child.
****
Redge winced as Copernicus dug his fingers into his shoulder, smiling as he inflicted pain.
"Tell me, what was it like to hurt her? The truth, please."
Redge ground his teeth together, trying not to answer. The words came out anyway. "One of the worst… moments of my whole life."
Copernicus stopped digging in his fingers and patted him on the back instead. "I envy you such a moment, Redge. Those incidents that pepper life and change who we are. You know what I mean." He tapped Redge's forehead with his index finger. "You were one way yesterday, and now, there's a new twist in there."
Copernicus turned his back on Redge and paced a few times in front of him. Apprehension saturated Redge’s insides as he waited for his master to come to whatever diabolical conclusion he was mulling over.
Copernicus turned back to Redge and looked him in the eyes. "Tell me what would be the worst thing I could make you do right now?"
Redge shook his head, clamping his mouth shut. His jaw immediately began shaking with the effort to keep silent. Copernicus snorted and pushed on Redge's slave mark, like a button. Shredding, burning poison seemed to move through him from his master's touch, and he answered the damn question.
"Send me away, so I can't watch over Forest."
"Ah, yes. I see. Grand job you've done so far though, huh? She's here because you brought her, she's in there, bloodied and fighting for her life, injured by your hands. You can't protect her from me. She's mine." Copernicus' eyes glinted as he held out his hand. "Give me Forest's portal ring."
Redge obeyed.
Copernicus wrapped his fingers over the ring. A black portal opened behind him. "You will never see Forest again in this life. Remember her, remember the way she looked as you beat her. I'm sending you back to Halussis. Keep to yourself. Contact no one from your old life. Do not attempt to associate with my other slaves. Wait for your orders. Shreve will come to you soon. Goodbye, Redge."
The orders sank into his blood and bones like an infection. Copernicus pushed Redge into the portal. He fell on the ground at the other end, as the portal discarded him. For a few moments, he just lay there, with no will to move ever again. When he did finally stand up and look around, he saw he was on the edge of Halussis.
Let me wake from this horror. The air felt too heavy. He didn't want to breathe anymore. Forest's blood was dried on his hands. He'd hurt her badly, so badly. How had he done it? He’d been turned into a torture device and used against his friend. And she was pregnant! Self-hatred blossomed all through him, solidified, and became absolute. He thought of Syrus. He might have just killed his best friend’s unborn child! How could he ever look him in the eyes again?
Why couldn’t he fight the order, at least a little? At least enough to pull his punches? Why wasn’t he strong enough to push back? A concrete feeling of worthlessness settled in his stomach. He had been so stupid. So arrogant to believe he could infiltrate the enemy. The sensation of his knuckles hammering through her skin, muscles, and bone vibrated deep in his hands. Tears welled in his eyes. He would never forget even the smallest detail of this day. Each sensory experience pushed a needle through the outer membrane of his heart, just deep enough to bleed, so he couldn’t ignore it. But not deep enough to lose the feeling and grow numb.
Redge hated everything about himself, and he was sure the hatred would never go away, never ease, or lose its clarity. Journey’s eyes came into his mind, filled with accusation and tears.
His eyes fell on the outline of the Onyx Castle in the distance. It had been his home most of his life, but no more. He couldn't imagine ever setting foot there again. Where could he go? His orders were to stay in Halussis and keep to himself. He had one place to go. A place he'd never wanted to see since he'd left it in his youth. His father's house. Well, it was no worse than he deserved.
Redge turned from looking at the heart of the city and headed away. At least the old stone house was in the rural outskirts of the city. If he was all alone, then he couldn't hurt anyone else. His feet found the path without conscious direction from his brain. It twisted along, the desert giving way to wild growth. Entropy had claimed the area. None of the neighbors he remembered from his childhood remained. Their homes were reduced to piles of rubble. The whole area was abandoned.
Redge gazed at the home of his youth at the end of the path. It was a ruin. The roof was broken in over three fourths of the house. Vines snaked through the windows. One large tree grew in the corner and up through the roof. The stones had turned green and purple with moss and lichen. He looked down. This was exactly the spot where he had killed his father. He spat on the ground, and the memory and continued forward. The doorway of the house yawned like the mouth of a monster, ready to swallow him.
His father’s voice sounded in his head as he remembered with acute clarity the night he lost his heart.
"I know all about it, boy. Did you think I wouldn't find out?" his father snarled.
"It's none of your business who I love. It's my life."
"I won't have it, Redge! You're already a laughingstock. Vampires mate vampires. You will not taint our family's bloodline with another race. Not only is she not a vampire, she's not even a Regian!"
"I don't care what you or anyone else says. I love her."
The uppercut to his chin caught Redge off guard. His vision flashed black for a moment, the pain shockingly sharp. His father had never hit him that hard before. He rotated his jaw and blinked a few times, making sure his feet were solid on the ground.
His father rubbed his knuckles and squinted through bloodshot, drunken eyes. Redge sucked in a breath and pulled himself up to his full height. He'd tried to keep Journey a secret from his father. He’d known it would be like this. He’d known the moment his father discovered their love, Redge would be forced to make some tough choices. Choices meant for men, and he could barely call himself that.
He regarded his father. The weight in the air was suffocating. He wouldn't give Journey up. This was the hill he would die on. His life was trash, had always been trash, until her. She was air and light and life. But now, what could he do? He had no real profession—the sleazy drug running his father had tried to train him in, didn't count. And he'd given that up in any case.
"Fine. I can see there's no compromise here. I'm leaving."
His father beat him to the door, blocking his path. "You're not going anywhere. You're my son, and you'll do what I say! And I say you'll never see her again."
Redge fisted one hand and punched his father in the jaw, exactly the same way he'd just been punched. His father slammed back into the door and fell to the ground. Redge leaned down
and attempted to drag him out of the way. He reared up and grabbed Redge around the back of the neck, sinking his fangs into his shoulder. Crying out in pain, Redge flailed and struck at his father until he shook him off.
"I'm not going to stop. You won't get out of here in time. I know she's coming here to see you tonight." His father smiled through his blood-coated fangs. "I've been following you two. I know your patterns. I know all about how she sneaks over here. She's on her way here right now, isn't she?"
All the blood drained from Redge's face, and his breath hitched in his lungs. She was on her way to meet him.
"I'm putting an end to this tonight, boy. I can see you're going to be stubborn...I guess I'll just have to kill her."
"No!" His voice came out in a strangled rasp.
His father chuckled. "I've killed before, you know I have. I can't say I really enjoyed it, but tonight, who knows? She does have a most agreeable neck, I'll give you that, boy. It might feel good to strangle her. I don't know anyone else who's killed a Storyteller. This will make me notorious."
"You're full of hot air, old man." Redge pushed out bravado he didn't feel. "You wouldn't hurt her."
"Wouldn't I?"
"No, you wouldn't. Storytellers are sacred. You'd never get away with it. I'd tell everyone. They'd drain you dry and burn your blood in the city square."
His father got to his feet, smiling. "You're the one full of hot air. Wait…I think I hear her coming up the path right now. Don't go anywhere, Redge. I want you to see this."
His father pulled open the door. In the distance, Redge could see Journey's silhouette under the cast of moonlight. The sound of metal scraping cut through his soul as his father pulled out the knife he kept on his belt. Redge’s vision tunneled around her as his heart beat like a war drum in his ears. He couldn't let her die, but could he stop his father? He was on the edge of losing something precious, and he was out of time deciding which was worth more to him. His father was an asshole, but he was his father, the only family he had. But Journey was the keeper of his soul. He'd handed it over to her whole, keeping none of it for himself.
He imagined it all before anything happened. He saw his father run her down and stab her. He heard her screams echo through the stars. She cried out his name…
There were no thoughts, no strategy. Redge moved as though he had transformed into a machine. Gears and clockwork just doing what they were designed to do. It was all a blur of hands, blood, cries, pain, and death.
It was so much worse than he could have ever imagined. Breaking, taking life like that, with his hands. So sensory, so long, so personal. And when it was over, Redge looked up from his father's dead body into Journey's eyes. She was unharmed, but the hideous measures it took to keep her that way lay at her feet.
He’d done what he had to, to save her. But now, all the love he used to see in her eyes drained away, replaced by disbelief and fear. He'd never seen anything so clearly. In the process of being her hero, he had become a monster instead. If only she hadn't witnessed him killing his father, he could have made her understand he'd only done what he had to protect her.
He reached out. "Journey…"
She shook her head and stepped back. He grasped her by the shoulders with his blood-soaked hands. She screamed as though the blood on her golden-brown skin burned. Tears ran down her cheeks.
"I had to protect you…"
A terrible stillness came over her. She closed her eyes and took a slow breath. When she opened her eyes again, they were flat. She pressed her lips to his, placing both of her hands on his face. Her kiss was a brutal goodbye. She shoved away from him and ran.
"Journey!"
He started after her, but she reached into the air as she ran, catching a hold of something he couldn't see. Then it sparked gold in her hand, burning his eyes. Then she sparked too and was absorbed into the golden light stream. He would never see her again, and where she'd gone, he couldn't follow.
****
Syrus, with his band of masters, arrived at his and Forest's cottage. They all stood back and left him alone as he looked around at the site where Forest had been abducted. His sharp eyes picked up tiny details, and he followed the footprints of her kidnapper to the bracken covering her sword. An audible gasp broke from the masters watching as Syrus pulled the sword out and held it up.
He walked over to Ithiel. "Whoever took her took the time to hide her sword. How does that add up?" Ithiel asked.
A tiny seed germinated in Syrus' mind… Could it have been Redge? He thought back to the message Redge sent that Forest shared with him. Redge was undercover. Who else would leave the sword behind? But why would he take Forest at all? Why couldn't he protect her, lead the enemy away from her? Perhaps he was totally off. Maybe Forest had hidden her sword. But that didn't tally either. Forest would never lay down her weapon and leave herself defenseless.
Why had Forest left the protection of their home? What drew her out? Syrus looked up. The air hung heavy with the smell of death. He drew it into his nose. It came from the direction of the Fair.
Syrus looked at the group. "On your guard…follow me."
Chapter Three
Syrus stood at the entrance of the Fair. The wall around the tiny community was now the equivalent of a fence around a cemetery. Every building and structure was reduced to twisted, charred remains. The dead lay in a row off to the side, in a large pile. Two figures worked furiously, hunched over, digging graves.
Syrus approached the closest one. "Hey."
The man started. A blade blurred through the air toward Syrus' head. He dodged, just barely, impressed at the man's speed. His face was soot and tear-streaked, his eyes held tight around his grief. Syrus recognized him.
"Merick, it's me, Syrus."
Merick's eyes cleared a little, and recognition filled them. He fell onto his knees next to the open grave beside him. "They're all dead. My friends…they never did anything to deserve this. My best friend, Tek. His loving mate, Martia. They're dead. Why?"
The other gravedigger came up beside Merick and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. Netriet's face was likewise covered in tear-streaked soot. A terrible expression crossed her features as she looked at Syrus. Confused, as though she recognized him, but didn't. She tried to cover her reaction, but then she gasped as her eyes fell on Forest's sword. She reached out and grabbed Syrus by the forearm, her eyes wide and beseeching.
"Forest? She wasn't in this, was she? Is she all right? I haven't seen her... uh… among the dead here."
Syrus' throat was thick. "She wasn't here, but she was… taken."
Netriet's eyes widened and filled with pity. He looked away from her.
"How is it that everyone here died except you two?"
"We weren’t here!" Merick threw his shovel on the ground roughly. "We were coming to visit. We heard their cries from a distance and"—he broke off, shouting a string of curses—"by the time we got here, we were too late to save anyone."
Merick picked his shovel back up and began digging again.
Syrus narrowed his eyes and surveyed the scene.
"There's not much to learn here, I'm afraid," Netriet said. "Our friends are laid out there." She pointed at the row of bodies. "The insurgents are in the pile over there. We were about to burn them."
"You caught none of them?"
She shook her head gravely. "There were only three left when we arrived. We didn't ask questions. Merick killed two of them. The last one suffered great pain, compliments of my alien arm, before he died… What are you going to do?" she asked Syrus.
"We are going to Halussis, to the Onyx Castle. To organize, so we can strike back."
"We'll help," she said, then she looked at Merick. "Right?"
Merick paused in his furious shoveling and sighed. "I'm going to finish this."
"We will meet you there," she said, moving over next to Merick and shoveling with him.
****
Halussis was in chaos and panic in the afte
rmath of the strike. A small relief came on Syrus as he and the masters arrived. The loss of life was minimal compared to the annihilation of the Fair. People moved aside in fear and awe as Syrus passed. He didn't have time to dwell on their reactions—he had no idea how terrifying he looked. He moved apart, like some vengeful elemental or angel of death. Blackened hands, charred robes, the light in his eyes matching the lightning in the sword he carried.
The massive double doors of the Onyx castle hung broken and askew on their hinges. Lazy tendrils of smoke curled from some of the windows. Syrus' heart clenched preemptively as he pushed into the main entrance, afraid of what he would find. Had he lost his father today, as well?
Bodies lined the walls.
The sounds of Zeren's voice, giving orders, drifted down the hall and had Syrus sighing in relief. Ogres carried bodies away from the throne room. Zeren's cheek was cut and bleeding, and he held his left arm strangely against his body. Otherwise, he looked fine.
"Father."
Zeren's head whipped around. He rushed over and grabbed Syrus in a tight one-armed hug.
"Are you all right? I've had reports of an attack on the Obsidian Mountain." Zeren let go and looked closely at his son, worry creasing his forehead. "What happened to you? You're changed."
Syrus gestured to the group of masters behind him. "We were attacked by a band of ogres led by Devonte. But that doesn't matter now."
"What does matter, then?"
Syrus moved his father away from anyone close by and lowered his voice. "Forest's been kidnapped."
Zeren gritted his teeth in fury.
"It's worse than that, Father… She's pregnant."
He touched Syrus on the chest. "Can you feel her? Is she all right, for now at least?"
Syrus nodded. "I feel her heartbeat, and the child's, but I'm getting nothing else."
"Listen to me, son. We've learned a lot about our enemy today. Every one of the insurgents who attacked the castle today were slaves."
"Slaves?"
Zeren nodded. "All but one. The first insurgents anyone apprehended were all believers. Even the ones Forest caught, right?"