Storgen looked hurt. “You lied to me, too?”
Erolina lowered her eyes. “I took no pleasure, but deception is a component of all warfare.”
“But this isn’t warfare. I was your friend.”
“Everything is warfare. I have a duty to my people and to myself. I can’t just ignore them when they are in peril.”
“And what about when you asked me to go off with you? Abandon our cages and live our own lives as free people. Where was your sense of duty then?”
Erolina struggled to answer. “That…was just a necessary part of the deception. The truth is, you and I could never be together.”
Storgen was visibly wounded.
Philiastra ground her teeth. “You asked him to run away with you?”
“Since when do you care, nymph?”
“I…I don’t.”
Erolina pointed her spear. “How many times has Storgen saved your life? How many times has he stood up for you when no one else would? How many times has he risked himself for you? Not five minutes ago, you would have died if not for him, and you call him your enemy? He has been your most steadfast ally, how dare you treat him so shamefully!”
“Oh, like you’re one to talk. You planned on betraying Storgen and taking the stone before we even left.”
“I was trying to save my people.”
“So was I! I have to bring back the stone, so the forest will forgive me for learning alchemy! Without it, my children and my children’s children will be rejected as well. Nothing will matter unless I am redeemed of my sin! You think it felt good lying to Storge? It tore me up inside, but a guilty conscious is a small price to pay to ensure the future of my people. And if I had to do it over again, I would.”
Suddenly Philiastra’s face went pale, and she realized she had heard those exact same words before, uttered by Gasper Thavma.
“Oh my gosh…I’ve become just like him…”
Suddenly Erolina fell to one knee, clinging to her spear for support. “What….is happening?”
Philiastra’s knees buckled, and she fell on her rump, her body growing weak. “I…can’t feel my legs.”
“What’s happening?” Storgen asked in concern. “Is the stone doing this?”
Storgen tried to take a step, but his feet were numb, and he fell down hard, landing on his injured side. He cried out in pain, his numb fingers pawing at his bandages.
“This is not the stone,” Erolina huffed, her arms going limp. “This is something else…ah…I can’t feel my body…”
Erolina fell over, her body limp as if she were a doll.
“I can’t…I can’t…” Philiastra collapsed to the floor.
As the three of them squirmed in terror, Agaprei closed up her pack and stood up, kicking Erolina’s spear out of her limp hand. “I’m sorry I had to do this, but as much as it pains me to say it, it would have been for too risky for me to take on Scythe and the nymph directly.”
“You…you did this?”
Storgen looked up in disbelief. “Not you, too.”
“A paralytic of my own design in the water you drank. Ílios sap, fengári spores, astéria root, chóros leaves extract, and a few other minor ingredients. Odorless, tasteless, colorless. I was actually quite proud of it.”
Storgen coughed. “No wonder the tower didn’t foul the water, it was already poison.”
“Don’t worry, it’s only temporary. I don’t wish harm on any of you, I just need time to get away with the stone. After I’m gone, you can use Storgen’s map to make your way out.”
Philiastra fought to lift her head even an inch. “But…you drank it too. I thought it was safe when I saw you take the first draught.”
Agaprei smiled sweetly. “Sirens are immune to paralysis.”
Erolina ground her teeth. “You dishonorable coward!”
She frowned. “Oh, you accuse ME of being dishonorable?”
Storgen’s eyes grew moist. “No…please…not you, too.”
Agaprei pointed at Erolina. “Did she ever tell you the first time we met? She didn’t, did she?”
Storgen was confused.
Agaprei turned to Erolina. “Shall you tell him or shall I?”
Erolina refused to answer.
“Fine, then, I will. Scythe and I bumped into one another that first night at the Chrysós Hotel. She knew you were looking for me and she didn’t say anything, because she wanted you all to herself.”
Storgen couldn’t believe it. “It’s not true, is it?”
Erolina looked away in shame.
“Agaprei folded her arms in judgement. “Was THAT part of your duty to your people?”
Erolina remained silent.
“…And her deceptions go even deeper than that. All the troubles Fovos has caused, they are all her fault. She is the one that released Fovos from his prison in the underworld in the first place.”
Erolina narrowed her eyes. “How did you know?”
“Fovos told me himself. He also told me the demands you passed on in return for his release. What? Did you think he’d be obliged to keep it a secret? You told him to attack the Sacred Orchard. What are you, insane? The truth is, The Great and Mighty Silver Reaper has been taking orders from Lord Krýo Fidi for some time now. She may act like a proud and haughty amazon princess, but the reality is she’s nothing more than a human’s flunky.”
Storgen looked at Erolina, the hurt apparent in his eyes. “Why…Erolina, why would you do that?”
Her face became pained. “Lord Krýo Fidi…he said if I didn’t, he would make sure my people would be utterly wiped out in the war. I didn’t want to do it, I had no choice.”
“You always have a choice,” Storgen shot back.
Agaprei balled her fists, her long ears turning red with anger. “I have suffered much because of you, Scythe, and I would be well within my rights to avenge myself against you right now. But you know what? I’m not going to. I’m going to take the stone and let you leave in peace. Because that is the kind of person that I am. So, you go on thinking that I am dishonorable. I don’t care what you think. It is perfectly obvious which of the two of us has the greater sense of honor, and which one is scum.”
Agaprei looked at Storgen, and her ears drooped sadly. “Goodbye, Storgen. We shall not meet again. For what it’s worth, I was wrong about you. You are a good man…an honorable man. If things were different…”
She shook her head and wiped her eyes, unable to continue.
Storgen began to cry. “But, it wasn’t supposed to be like this. You and I were supposed to be together.”
Her eyes became teary. “We’re all just floating around, Storgen. There’s no plan, there’s no destiny. It’s all random chance, the luck of the draw, the roll of the dice, nothing more.”
“I don’t think you believe that!”
“You don’t know what I think! You don’t know anything about me! I refuse to believe in destiny!”
“Why?”
“Because!”
“WHY?!”
“Because it’s cruel! Okay? Because if destiny exists, then things that happened to me when I was a girl…the things they did to me…it would mean those things were meant to happen. And I refuse, I REFUSE to live in a world where that is the case!”
Agaprei bent over and snatched up the stone from Philiastra’s limp hand, and its crimson light went out. All of the alchemic circuits in the room hummed back to life.
Agaprei’s black bracelet crackled with dark energies, and her arm was yanked up like a puppet. “Knives, do you have the stone?”
“Y-yes, Lord Fovos. I have it right here.”
Dark mists leaked out of the bracelet, swirling into a swirling mirror in the air. The bubbling form of Fovos appeared on the dark surface.
“Excellent. You have served me well, Knives.”
“Our bargain?”
Fovos tilted his bubbling head. “Bargain?”
“My family. You swore my sister and my parents would be spared. You
swore you would remove my curse.”
“Ah yes, I remember now.”
The mirror turned to look at Storgen. “Ah, Tharros, I know the look on your face. For I too, know what it feels like to be betrayed by this woman.”
Agaprei closed her eyes.
Storgen managed to shake his head. “She didn’t betray me. Not really. You forced her hand!”
“Did I?”
“You blackmailed her.”
Agaprei flinched with guilt. “Storgen, stop.”
Fovos gurgled in amusement. “And if I had not, you are sure she would never betray you?”
“Of course she wouldn’t!”
The mirror drew closer. “Did you never wonder how Master Kynigó found you?”
“Of course not.”
“It was Agaprei who called him. She turned you in for the reward money.”
“I don’t believe you!”
“She wrote the letter herself.”
“She would never do that!”
“Ask her yourself.”
Storgen looked at Agaprei, devastated. “It’s not true…is it?”
Agaprei closed her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
Tears rolled down Storgen’s cheeks, and his eyes became hollow with shock. “No. It can’t be…”
Agaprei turned the mirror towards herself, her lip trembling. “I have your stone, now release my family.”
Fovos gave a spiteful sniff. “No, I don’t think I will.”
“What? But…you gave me your word!”
“So did you! You vowed to be my wife, to stand by my side in the underworld! I loved you with all my heart, and you left me for HIM! Now, I am going to take you and the stone, and you are going to watch, as I kill your precious family right in front of your eyes!”
The black bracelet exploded into dark grains, flying about in a vicious sandstorm that shattered the mirror and began to spin. The air rushed, a great wind pulling into the churning sands, drawing cages and loose bits of debris into it.
Agaprei screamed as dark tendrils wrapped around her wrists, dragging her closer and closer to the portal.
“Let go of me!”
She kicked and fought, but her strength was as nothing before the magic drawing her in.
“Help me!”
Suddenly a blast of energy struck Agaprei’s hand, knocking the stone loose. She fell to the ground as the sands scattered, the portal evaporating as crimson light filled the room once more.
Agaprei looked over and found Erolina’s hand raised, a whiff of smoke rising from her palm.
“How? How can you be moving?”
Her muscles shaking, Erolina rose up to her knees, revealing the alchemic channel she had been absorbing energy from. “You should have killed me when you had the chance, siren.”
Agaprei crawled away, grabbing her daggers from amid the debris. “I don’t want to fight you.”
Erolina wobbled as she rose to her feet, her eyes bright red as she took her spear in hand. “A flunky you called me? An honorless scum, you said?”
Agaprei backed up, holding her weapons at the ready. “We don’t have to do this.”
“Oh, but we do. Proud and haughty? Yes, we are. We amazons are a small tribe, alone and without ally. When we were first created, we were left to wallow alone in misery, but we beat the gods; we have carved out our own destiny for thousands of years through grit, courage, and sacrifice. And we do not allow a race of caterwauling songbirds like you sirens to challenge our honor, without that challenge being met!”
Erolina held up her spear in salute. “Knives of Fovos, may your renown reach every corner of the earth. I have looked forward to crossing blades with you in duelist court this day.”
Agaprei adjusted her spectacles.
Her hips and shoulders are flawlessly positioned. Her weight perfectly distributed. She keeps her muscles relaxed. Her heartbeat is slow, even though she’s furious. She’s using the point guard stance, allowing her to keep me at a distance and take full advantage of her superior range, speed, and strength. I don’t see it. I don’t see a single opening. By the gods, the bloodlust she gives off is terrifying. I can feel my body stiffening up just looking at her. She’s even trained herself to keep her eyes in partial focus, using her peripheral vision to enhance her reaction time. She’ll wait patiently for me to attack. If I try to bind her spear tip, she’ll retract it and restrike, running me straight through. If I come in at an angle, she’ll take me out with a back-end strike. She’s so fast if I throw my knives she’ll merely dodge them or deflect them. Heck, she might even catch them and throw them back at me. Perhaps if I…
A spear point came right at her face as Erolina flew into an overhand thrust, following through with a downward slash, chaining into a reverse strike, then a spinning backhand.
Agaprei barely managed to duck beneath the strike, the point passing so close that it caught her spectacles and tore them away from her face. She rolled away as the stone beneath her was split in twain. She backflipped away from the reverse strike, then took the backhand right to the face.
Agaprei slammed into a cage and fell to the floor, her head ringing, her vision spinning, her white blood trickling down her chin.
Erolina stepped on the remains of the spectacles, crushing them flat as she loomed over her. “Get up. It’s no fun killing you when you’re on your butt.”
Agaprei looked up as Erolina returned to her guard stance.
Blast, she didn’t wait for me to attack. I can’t read her. I can’t read a single thing from her face or body. She keeps her intentions completely masked. If I don’t change the variables I’m going to die.
Agaprei wiped the blood away and stood up, her eyes alight with anger. Carefully, she resheathed her daggers, and dropped into a readied stance.
“You mean to fight me bare-handed?”
“What? You don’t think you can beat me when I don’t have a weapon?”
Erolina gave a predatory grin. “Just like him.”
Erolina spun her spear and attacked again with a series of quick thrusts, aiming at Agaprei’s chest, legs, and midsection. Each time the siren let the point slip past her, jabbing her fingers into Erolina’s elbows and wrists.
After three more jabs, Erolina whipped her head and the weighted mace at the end of her long hair swung around, nearly bashing Agaprei in the face and forcing her to withdraw.
Erolina spun her spear. “What are you doing, you fool? You think such tiny pokes could actually hurt a…ahhhh!”
Erolina’s arms cramped painfully, her fingers gnarling as her spear dropped out of her hands. “What did you do to me?”
Agaprei smiled sweetly. “I’ve been hitting your pressure points.”
Agaprei drew her daggers again and went on the offensive, slashing and stabbing, flipping upside down and kicking, cartwheeling and stabbing. Erolina was on the backfoot, blocking each attack with her gauntlets, bright sparks arcing out each time metal clashed with metal, but her arms felt heavy and slow, refusing to respond as fast as she knew they could.
Agaprei jumped into a reverse crescent kick, following up instantly with a front snap kick, then chaining into a reverse roundhouse. Erolina blocked the crescent kick before it could hit her face, side-stepped the snap kick, then took the roundhouse to the side of the head, knocking her sideways.
Quick as thought, Agaprei slashed with one dagger, cutting the amazon hard across the collarbone, then stabbed the other through a gap in her armor, plunging the obsidian blade deep into her thigh.
Erolina stumbled back, grabbing the knife imbedded in her leg, forcing her cramped fingers to wrap around the grip.
Agaprei landed atop a stack of cages, and pulled two ampules out of her belt. “I’d prefer not to kill you.”
Erolina yanked the dagger free. “Don’t worry, you won’t.”
With a flick of the wrist, Erolina threw the knife. Agaprei leapt high in the air to avoid it and threw the ampules at Erolina’s feet. With blinding speed, Erolina
slid to her knees, catching the glass ampules and throwing them right back at her.
The two ampules hit Agaprei and exploded, sending her crashing down through a piles of cages. She rolled out onto the floor, her armor broken in several places, her body bruised and bleeding.
With a painful moan, Agaprei rolled over and saw the crimson stone resting near her. Her ears ringing, the world spinning, the steady footsteps of Erolina approaching thudded heavily in her head, like the knell of a funeral bell.
Through it all, Storgen lay there as if he were dead, a shocked expression on his face.
“Philiastra,” Agaprei called out, desperately pulling herself free of the wreckage, revealing her broken ankle. “Philiastra, inhale this, it will counteract the effects of the drug.”
She pulled a pouch rom her belt and threw it over to Philiastra, the smelly contents rising up from the bag.
Philiastra looked up incredulously, barely able to move. “You expect me to help you?”
Agaprei dragged herself farther, pulling herself through the mud as Erolina drew closer. “No, I expect you to avenge the forest.”
Frantically, Agaprei grabbed the stone, and the crimson light vanished. The alchemic circuits of the room began to glow again.
“Don’t bother trying to win her over to your side,” Erolina spat. She held out her hand and began absorbing energy from the circuits, the magic flowing up and swirling into a tight sphere. “This is all your fault. If it wasn’t for you, Storgen would have been free to live and love as he chose. You kept him in a cage waiting for you to show up. Because of you, she never had a chance with him.”
Erolina clapped her hands together, and when she drew them apart, she began to forge the energy into a sword made of spectral flame.
Realizing she was about to die, Agaprei tried to crawl away, but Erolina stepped on her broken ankle, pinning her in place as she screamed.
The sound stirred Storgen from his desolation. He looked out and saw Agaprei writhing in agony.
“Stop it,” he called, reaching out. “Stop fighting!”
Ambrosia Page 84