Step into Magic

by Day Leitao

  Nia looked worried. “They’re trying to gain time. I think there are more people coming from behind us. We need to move.” She then turned to Karina. “Please. You have to try.”

  Teleporting, she meant. Karina had a fraction of a second to weigh the possibilities in front of her. Her conclusion was terrible, but it was better than wasting time trying to do the impossible. “I can’t. I won’t be able to do it. I have no idea how. Even if I did, we’re four people, and I can’t guarantee we’d all go.”

  That was an uncomfortable confession, not only because it meant they were in real trouble, but also because she felt bad to have to admit she didn’t know something. Nia shook her head.

  Cayla didn’t seem upset. “We can still fight and take their lift. Before the others come.”

  Nia closed her eyes, as if thinking. “Assuming your friend is on our side.”

  “It’s our only chance,” Cayla pleaded.

  Nia sighed, then looked at Karina and Ayanna. “You two, stay here. When we yell, make a run for the lift. Understood?”

  Karina nodded. Nia turned to Cayla. “On the count of three. One, two—”

  Cayla started running and Nia followed. The girl grabbed a twig, and the woman held her dagger. Karina wondered if her two companions would be able to win their fight, and what would happen if they lost. From beyond the bushes, she heard grunts and yells, and much sooner than expected, Nia’s voice; “Girls, come.”

  Karina was startled, but she got up and ran, until she felt someone pushing her. She fell. She tried to get up, but then someone held her and put a hood on her. She tried to get away from the person holding her, or at least remove the hood, but she was being held so tight she could barely move. Soon she heard steps and grunts, felt that the person let her go, and found her opportunity to remove the hood. Cayla was trying to fight two people at once. Nia stood close, beside someone on the ground. Ayanna was getting up, her face dirty. Nia walked closer to one of the people Cayla was fighting. Nia tried to stab them. The person fell to the ground as if hit by something. Nia then stabbed the air close to Cayla’s second opponent, who also fell. Her dagger seemed capable of affecting a person from a close distance, which was really weird.

  “Run,” Nia yelled, as she moved towards the lift.

  Karina ran as fast as she could, then she heard a loud sound like an explosion, and the floor a few meters in front of her caught fire. She considered jumping or skirting it, but she heard more explosions and more places catching fire between them and the lift.

  “They’re throwing fireballs,” Cayla said.

  “We keep going,” Nia replied.

  The woman ran in the front and fanned the fire with her dagger, which only caused more smoke to rise. Meanwhile, Cayla turned around and threw a few stones. The smoke was so thick that the fire no longer could be seen.

  “Come,” Nia yelled. “They won’t hit us.”

  Cayla and her sister ran towards that smoke, so Karina did the same, hearing more sounds of explosions behind them, and seeing fire all around them except in the place with the high smoke, where Nia had fanned the fire. Karina crossed the smoke and saw the lift, its back door open, bright light coming from the inside, illuminating the grass and bushes. Four people lay on the floor. One of them started sitting up. It was Darian, with a cut on his temple, looking confused.

  “Get up,” Nia told him. “You have to come with us.”

  “No!” Cayla yelled. “He’s a traitor.”

  “But we need him,” Nia said.

  “We don’t,” the girl insisted, stepping inside the lift.

  Karina assumed the girl knew how to pilot the ship, so she also ran inside, eager to get away from that summit and those people.

  “Cayla, wait,” Darian murmured, still sitting, his voice weak.

  Nia was the last one to step inside, and stared at Cayla. “Can you fly this thing?”

  “It can’t be hard,” she replied as she pushed something by the door that made it close.

  More sounds of explosions were heard from outside, and when the door was almost shut, someone put a hand, as if trying to prevent it from closing. Cayla kicked it, and the door continued its movement until it was shut. Karina moved to the cockpit and tried to guess what was necessary to make that thing fly, but she had no idea. She turned to Cayla. “How does this work?”

  The girl passed her hands through the panel. “I’m looking. Wait.”

  Nia seemed angry. “You’re looking? Now it’s too late to let him in.”

  “That’s the idea,” Cayla replied, still looking at the panel.

  “You know? They might hurt him,” Nia said.

  “That’s the idea.”

  “He’s your friend!” Nia said.

  Cayla turned and faced Nia. “No. He’s with them. He defended her. And it’s his fault these people are after us.”

  “Your fault,” Nia corrected. “You’re the one who contacted him. And either way, what are we going to do with a lift we can’t fly? I thought you knew at least a little.”

  Cayla only stared at the panel. More and more sounds of explosions were heard. Karina stopped trying to figure out the panel and looked outside. The fire surrounding them was getting higher and higher. She imagined that thing exploding with them inside.

  “What material is this lift made out of?” Karina asked.

  “Oh. It won’t catch fire, if that’s what you’re worried,” Nia said. “But if we don’t take off it might get hot. Too hot for us. Soon.”

  “And won’t it explode?” Karina asked, wondering if the top had a combustible gas.

  Nia had a puzzled face. “Explode? No.”

  Karina figured that despite the similar appearance the lifts were not anything like balloons or zeppelins. She would be really curious as to how exactly they worked, if she weren’t more worried about her own life.

  “Shouldn’t we get out?” Ayanna asked. They all stared at her. The girl tried again. “Surrender?”

  Nia shook her head. “No. We have to figure a way out.”

  “The only way out is through the door,” Ayanna replied.

  Karina thought they could still try to escape. “Maybe we could still get out and bring in someone who can guide this ship.”

  “No,” Cayla replied, seeming horrified.

  “I agree with you,” Nia said to Karina, “I really do. But they’re too many. No way we’ll get out and back in again. If only,” she stared at Cayla, “we had brought in a pilot when we could.”

  “Who knows where he’d take us!” Cayla defended herself. “You heard it. He’s with them.”

  “Yes,” Nia replied. “We’re so much better without him.”

  The place indeed started to get warmer, and Karina hoped it was just an impression, fear, and increased heart rate, although, by its looks, the lift was becoming a pan.

  “Who are they?” Ayanna asked.

  “Insurgents. It’s a long story,” Nia said.

  “Why are they after us?” Ayanna asked.

  “Probably to take us as hostages.”

  Ayanna looked down, then asked, “They wouldn’t kill me, would they?”

  “They could harm you,” Nia warned.

  “I’m getting out,” the girl said, walking to the door.

  Karina admired the resolution in the little girl, and apparently so did Nia and her sister, who stared wide-eyed.

  “Wait,” Nia stepped in front of her. “Perhaps you’re right. But we need a plan. Maybe try to capture and bring someone in, force them—”

  “We’re gonna get burned,” Ayanna said.

  Nia sighed. “I can’t go back to the castle now.”

  Karina had a similar feeling, but she couldn’t think of any other alternative, and she was feeling hot. “Maybe we can talk to them.”

  Nia took a deep breath. “Let’s go out and hope for the best.”

  “I’m not going out,” Cayla protested. “I’ll fight until the end.”

  “The end doesn
’t need to be now,” Nia said. “Sometimes it takes courage to quit. We’ll have another opportunity.” She looked down. “Hopefully.” This last part was barely audible.

  Cayla had tears in her eyes. “I don’t want to face them. I don’t want to see him.”

  “It’s starting to burn my feet,” Ayanna complained. She walked to the door, but she didn’t know how to open it.

  Cayla dried her tears and asked, “Does it look like I cried?”

  Karina shook her head, lying, “No. Not at all.”

  Cayla touched a button near the door, which started to descend slowly. Granted, perhaps she couldn’t take that thing out of the ground, but at least she knew how to get them out of that thing. Karina expected someone would come in as the door started to open, that they’d jump in and grab them, but nobody did. When the door was low enough, she saw that there were about fifteen people in a semi-circle around the door, some ten meters from them, pointing what looked like some kind of guns. The three girls and Nia stepped out. In the middle, a person who sent shivers down Karina’s spine.

  16

  Backstabbing

  “Drop the knife and raise your hands,” Rose said. “Drop the knife.”

  See? Karina wasn’t the only one who called it a knife. Nia threw her prized object—dagger—on the floor. Nobody took it, which was odd. Perhaps their fear of Nia’s weapon explained their distance. Karina looked around for Darian, wondering on which side he really was, and if he would perhaps help them, but she didn’t see him. She recognized some faces from when they had been first captured. Rose continued, “I don’t want to see any fighting, I don’t want to see any magic, and most of all, no attempt to escape.”

  “Or what?” Cayla provoked.

  Rose smiled. “Jax, show them.”

  The boy, who had been behind Rose, stepped forward, holding a person with hands and feet tied and mouth covered; Darian. His head was down, and he didn’t seem the least curious to glance up.

  Rose continued, looking at Cayla, “Try anything, and you’ll never see him again.”

  Cayla was pale, transfixed, staring at the scene in front of her. After a short while, she seemed to realize Rose had addressed her, and chuckled. “Why should I care?” She sounded sincere.

  For the first time, Darian glanced at her, but he looked relieved rather than hurt. Rose stepped beside him, holding a circular blade with a handle near his neck. “Oh, really?”

  Karina thought it looked like a pizza wheel, and perhaps out of nervousness, she burst out laughing. When she stopped, she realized everyone stared at her as if she were an alien, which in a way she was, and she burst out laughing again. Rose now ran towards Karina, brandishing her pizza cutter. “What’s so funny?”

  The possibility of being cut into slices was definitely not funny. Rose advanced with fury, and Karina was about to run, when the strange circular weapon flew from Rose’s hand. Nia then grabbed her, pointing her dagger to the woman’s heart.

  “Try anything and she dies,” Nia said to the group, with a much more menacing voice than even Rose.

  Karina covered her head in fear, because she thought someone would shoot them or at least try to fight them, but nothing happened, so perhaps Nia’s trick worked.

  “What for?” Jax asked, then gestured towards Darian. “Then he dies. We’ll both run out of hostages. The difference is that we have more people. And more weapons.”

  “But you don’t have a hostage!” Cayla said. “We’re not on his side.”

  “And he is useful to you,” Nia added. “Not a good deal.”

  “But he’s our friend,” Ayanna protested, for which she only received hard glances from her companions.

  Nia pressed the knife on Rose’s neck. “We’re not your enemies. All we’ll do is take her with us, and only because we need someone to pilot the lift.”

  Jax laughed. “Rose cannot pilot these either.”

  “Oh, but her sister can,” Cayla said, then stared at Zayra. “So, will you have the pleasure of giving us a ride this time?”

  Zayra looked down and didn’t answer. She seemed to be crying.

  “No!” Jax said, as if scared, addressing everyone, not just Zayra. “The lift is pulsing. Stay away.”

  Karina looked back and realized that indeed it was covered in flames. It reminded her of a marshmallow on a campfire. This time she didn’t want to laugh. It wasn’t funny to see what she thought was her way out as melted candy. And it seemed to be shaking or something, which explained the boy’s fear.

  “Everyone, run back,” Jax ordered his companions.

  Their agitation, together with the fear of an explosion, made Karina run faster than ever. Ayanna and Cayla also ran. Karina then heard the loudest noise behind her, and ducked to the ground, even though she wasn’t sure if that was the right thing to do. Looking back, she saw that the lift had been blown into pieces. Nia was far behind them, standing, apparently unharmed, still holding Rose, who was in that weird open-eyed sleeping state.

  “You said it didn’t explode!” Karina yelled at her, upset.

  “It never does. Never did. Until now at least,” Nia said.

  The rebels now ran back and encircled them. Karina ran towards Nia because the woman seemed capable of protecting them. Indeed she yelled, “Not one more step.”

  Her words produced the desired effect, as the people encircling them obeyed. She continued, “I’m warning you. I’ll hurt her, unless you take us where we want to go.”

  “And where is that?” Jax asked.

  “The valley below,” she replied. “You won’t gain anything by holding us.”

  “Can we stop this nonsense?” A voice was heard from beyond the circle. Darian stepped in, untied. “Why don’t we just sit and talk?”

  “You?” Jax was surprised. “You were our hostage. And we can’t talk forever.”

  “We can’t fight forever either,” Darian replied. “Let’s solve this.”

  “Fine,” Jax replied. “Let’s try it your way. For now.” He stepped closer. The others watched from a distance.

  Karina was surprised not only that Darian had freed himself, but that somehow, they listened to him.

  Cayla was probably thinking something else, and yelled at her ex-friend or whatever, “You. False. Deceiving. Liar.”

  “I didn’t mean to discuss your opinion of me,” he replied, unfazed.

  He didn’t look or sound anything like the guy who had brought them food and sounded concerned on how to tell Cayla about his role in the rebellion. Karina wasn’t sure where he stood. He’d been held as a hostage, so he couldn’t have been responsible for their ambush, although they could all have pretended.

  Darian addressed the other rebels, “I say the princesses come with us. As to the other two, they are no threat; we can let them go.”

  “You have to propose something I agree,” Nia said.

  “I’m not coming with you,” Cayla told Darian.

  “It’s for your own good,” Darian replied, addressing Cayla in a formal and cold way that was meant to be heard by everyone else. “We mean you no harm. Just comply, and we won’t even touch a finger of yours.”

  Yikes. That finger part brought Karina bad memories. He must have said that on purpose.

  “I’ll never comply, so that’s a terrible deal for me,” Cayla said.

  “That’s the best we can propose,” Darian replied. “You are outnumbered.”

  “I have her,” Nia said, holding Rose.

  “And while you hold her—or hurt her—you won’t be able to fight,” Darian replied.

  “All I need is someone to take us to the valley,” Nia said, still sounding menacing. “Then I’ll let her go. And I want you to promise you won’t harm any of us.”

  “As long as you don’t oppose us we won’t harm you,” Darian said.

  Now Jax intervened. “Wait. We didn’t agree on that.” He pointed at Nia. “She’s dangerous.”

  “But she’s not on the king’s side,” D
arian replied.

  “But she’s with his daughters,” Jax insisted.

  Darian shook his head. “She’s the former wife of the king. She had to flee. He’s accusing her of being a witch.”

  Jax raised an eyebrow. “Wonder why.”

  “So what?” Nia yelled. “Lots of people have magical objects.”

  “What about the other one?” Jax pointed at Karina.

  “Also running away. Same grounds. Harmless,” Darian replied.

  “Fine, then. We take only the princesses. And take these two to the valley.” Jax then turned to Nia. “But you have to free Rose.”

  “No,” Cayla yelled. “I’m not going with them.”

  “Cayla, please,” Nia pleaded, then whispered. “I think he wants to keep you safe.”

  “I don’t want to be kept by anyone,” Cayla replied.

  “I’ll give you one minute to decide,” Darian said.

  Karina also thought that was a good proposal, but on the other hand knew that those people were capable of violence and cruelty, and she didn’t really trust Darian. But she saw no other way. And plus, if Cayla didn’t come with them, it would be much easier to negotiate with Lylah. She was about to plead with Cayla to accept their proposal when she heard a voice inside her head. “She has to come. It won’t work without her.” Karina then remembered that Cayla had the key to enter the castle, so they wouldn’t be able to enter without her, unless, as they were going to negotiate, perhaps they could knock on the door? Or gate? But all she thought was that Cayla had to come with them.

  “We have to stay together,” Karina said. “I’m not leaving Cayla.”

  Nia stared at her, surprised.

  “That means I’ll take you three?” Darian asked.

  “I’m not going,” Cayla protested.

  Darian ignored her and turned to Jax. “Well, we could leave her here. You know, there’s no way out.”

  “How did they get here then?” Jax asked.

  Darian only looked puzzled and shrugged.

  “Take us four, then,” Nia said. “But we have to go with him,” she pointed to Darian, “because he was the one who promised we’d be safe.”