“Tell me what?”
“You are strong. Powerful. We are losing a war against the Shadows. Seventh, you are our only hope. Or rather, a symbol of it. You have to lead us. Fight for us.”
I stare at her, my head spinning. I can’t process this….what? The Queen looks at me with sympathy in her eyes. “You don’t need to worry about it right now. Let me introduce you to my family.”
She tosses her head. “Children! Come here.”
Two more people appear in the dining room. The Queen smiles. “This is my eldest son Titus.” She nods to a handsome, very physically fit young man. He has pale skin, black hair cut close to his skull, and unforgiving black eyes.
A prickle of suspicion runs down my spine as I look at him, but I curtsy to him anyway and the Queen smiles. “My second born Kenzie.” She gestures to a beautiful girl with long curly black hair, and warm black eyes, wearing a loose tunic with leggings. I notice her voice doesn’t contain nearly as much pride as it had before.
I start to curtsy, but she waves a hand. “Don’t curtsy. I didn’t ask to be a princess.”
The Queen frowns disapprovingly but doesn’t say anything. “You’ve already met Lukas, and his twin Kellen, but let me formally introduce you to my youngest, Princess Kira.”
I go to curtsy, but Kira smiles at me, her golden eyes dancing; then she curtsies to me. I hear the Queen gasp, and I stare in shock as Kira says. “It’s nice to meet you, Seventh.”
I grin back at her. “Likewise Your Highness.”
“So.” The Queen beams at me. “You need to evaluate the children tomorrow, to help you figure out who to choose as heir.”
“Wait, no. We have to talk about what’s wrong with Lukas. That is not him. He tried to release an army of demons straight into the city!”
“Yes, we’ll keep an eye out for him.” She says dismissively.
“No! You can’t just ‘keep an eye out for him’, he’s a danger!”
Kenzie slams a fist down on the table. “Mother, you are being ridiculous!” She turns to me. “Liv, you said Luke came through the portal with you, which means he can’t have landed too far away. I’m sure he’ll show up, so when he does we’ll try and figure this out.”
Kellen shook his head, the look on his face telling me that he doesn’t want to believe anything bad about his twin brother. “Look I don’t believe that- Luke!” I frown. Convenient.
He jumps up, the beautifully carved wooden chair he was sitting in tipping over. I look up as Kellen and Lukas wrap their arms around each other in a ‘manly’ embrace. “Where’ve you been brother?”
“Around Brother!” Lukas grins as he turns to face his older brother and sisters. “Hey sisters!” He flashes a grin at Titus and nods, but doesn’t say a word.
Kenzie and Kira exchange a glance, their expressions unreadable, at least to me. Titus’s eyes widen in surprise, but then he grins. “Lukas!” He sounds startlingly pleased, making my suspicion flare up again. I look at Kellen, wondering if he noticed anything different about his brother. His golden eyes are narrowed, but he maintains his confident smile.
Kellen grabs my arm and pulls me out of the room. “Kira. Or Kenzie. Come with me.”
Kira follows us out into the hallway, and Kellen spins to face us. “Ok. Something’s wrong with Luke. I admit he’s acting weird. But we’ll figure it out.”
“Tell us something we don’t know.” Kira says.
Kellen rolls his eyes. “Kira, show Liv to a room.”
Chapter Fifteen
“Um, ok royals. I’m going to evaluate each of you in turn, starting with Prince Titus.” I nod my head to him before continuing. “I’m going to lock you in a dungeon, and you have to escape. You have to try to make it past all the guards, all the booby traps, and out of the castle. Using your gifts as little as possible. Everybody got it?” They nod.
“Ok guards. Blindfold Prince Titus, and take him to one of the dungeons. Prince, don’t fight the guards until you’re locked in the dungeon.”
“As you wish, Seventh.” He looks down at me with a malevolent glitter in his eyes.
I wait a few minutes before turning invisible, and following Titus down to the dungeons. I walk through the twisting maze of cells until I reach one with guards stationed outside of it. I lean against the wall to wait. A few minutes later I hear a roar of anger, and the cell door shakes. It shakes and clangs again and again, until a bolt holding the hinges on falls out. The guards look at each other again, and tense.
Another hinge pops off and I hold my breath. Finally the last one flies off, and the metal door hits the floor. Titus steps forward and flexes shoulders, then lunges at the first guy. In a fraction of a second Titus slammed him against the wall and he crumpled to the floor unconscious. The second guard looks truly terrified. Titus grabbed him by the arm and spun him a circle lifting him in the air and tossing him at the wall. I bite my tongue to keep from squealing as I leap out of the way. The guard collapses in a heap on the floor, and Titus turns and strides down the hallway.
I jog quietly down the hallway after him, and wait for the trap door in the floor to open. It falls open right when Titus’s foot touches down on scratched wooden floor. He leaps forward, right over the trap door, and hits the ground smoothly, rolling forward and launching himself to his feet. “Oh…” My jaw drops, and I shake my head.
“Stop him!” A voice rings out. Footsteps pound down the hallway as the King’s inner guard comes.
Titus leaps forward and conks the heads of the two guards together. They fall to the ground and another guard jumps forward, sword drawn. Titus flips him over his shoulder, then bends down and picks up the soldier's sword.
I press my hands over my mouth as Titus lunges and slashes at the guards, whacking them with the flat and hilt of the blade, but drawing a lot of blood nevertheless. I wince as the guards thump to the ground one by one, then Titus runs down the hallway and out of sight.
I take off after him dodging the bodies of guards, hopefully only unconscious, and stop to stare at another trap door with...crocodiles?…..swimming around inside it. A loud explosion rocks the castle and I run after Titus.
“Ah!” I look around at the fire leaping from wall to wall, and step over the limp rope lying on the floor and into the taught one. Instantly the rope causes buckets to fall dumping water all over the fire. Seriously, who has so many booby traps? Well obviously them, so the real question is: why would anyone need so many booby traps?
Titus leaps over a patch of fire and rushes out the door. “Ugh!” I throw my hands up and run after him. Jeez this...kid- would he be considered a kid?- moves fast.
I chase him up several flights of stairs, dodge dozens more unconscious guards- I really, really hope they’re unconscious- and run past way more booby traps than any sane person needs. Even when they’re fighting a war that’s going on outside of their city.
I run down the grand entrance hallway, and towards the wide open doors. A shout of “I made it!” echoes in from the garden.
I hurry out the door and find Titus standing, shoulders squared, in the middle of the cobblestone path leading down to the main road. There is a circle of knocked out guards surrounding him. He smirks at me when he see me coming down the elaborately carved ivory stairs. “Too fast for you Seventh?” He asks, his eyes glittering with malice. I tense, but smile at him.
“Not quite, Your Highness. I wasn’t in the mood to watch you topple guards like dominoes, so I thought I’d trail behind. Congratulations on making out by the way.” I give him my brightest, most pleasant smile, before turning and going back into the palace.
I hear a sharp, derisive snort behind me, before Titus’s footsteps follow. We go back into the throne room and I smile at Kenzie. “Your turn.”
She stands up and tosses her curly black hair over her shoulder. “Great! Are there any guards left to try and stop me?” She asks wryly.
Titus rolls his eyes. “They’ll be fine. I knocked them out gently.”
He shrugs. “They’ll be fine.” He repeats.
“Let’s test your theory.” I say, then I clap my hands. “Guards!”
“Huh…...Huh….Huh.” One guard staggers into the room, doubled over and panting, blood welling from a cut on his head. “Y-yes Se-se-seventh.” He heaves in a huge breath and rubs his ribs.
“Oh yes big brother. Totally fine.” Kira says dryly.
“If you are referring to the rest of the guards Princess” The guard says to Kira. “they will be here shortly. Needless to say, we were not expecting Prince Titus to be as…..strong….as he was.”
“Definitely needless to say.” Kellen says, raising his eyes to the heavens.
The rest of the guards do appear in a few minutes, staggering and struggling, but they appear nevertheless. Kenzie stands up and holds her arms out in front of her. “If these are my guards I’ll take my odds. Handcuff me!”
“No, no, no.” The Queen complains, rising to her feet. “Bring in a new set of guards.” She smiles at me. “We can’t have it too easy for Kenzie after all.” Once again her voice is chilly when she says Kenzie’s name. I frown.
Two guards stumble off, returning within ten minutes with a group of fresh guards from the guard house. “Now handcuff me.” Kenzie says. The guards quickly handcuff and blindfold her, and lead her down the hallway.
Once again, I wait a few minutes for the guards to lead her to the dungeons- yes dungeons plural. Why so many?- before trailing after them. Once again I join the guards outside of the cell they locked Kenzie in. I lean against the wall wondering if I came down too early. I’ve been down here at least five minutes, and she’s done nothing yet. I can tell the guards are thinking the same thing; They are looking at each other, confusion filling their faces.
“Go check on her….Her Highness I mean.” One guards barks to the other.
The second guard scowls, but unlocks the cell door and steps inside. “What the-”
I exchange a glance with the first guard, I hadn’t turned invisible yet. We hurry inside the cell. Empty. Completely empty. Kenzie is gone.
“But-but…..how did she get out?”
I look around and my gaze lands on the window. I walk over and examine the metal bars. Around the base of three of the five bars the cement had been scratched away exposing the bottoms of the bars; around the top too. I give one of the bars an experimental wiggle and it comes away in my hands. I wheel around on the guards. “You didn’t check to see if she was armed!?”
“No, no, no!” One guard says panicked. “We did. Look!” He slides his hand into his belt and pulls out an ornate dagger.
I take it and study it. Carved into the mahogany handle in extravagant script isProperty of Princess Kenzie. “Ok, well those scratches were clearly made by a knife, so how did she do it?” The guards look at each other, clearly incredibly confused, when an idea dawns on me.
“Do both of you have your daggers?” I don’t even know if they’re supposed to have daggers, but it’s the only way I can think of for Kenzie to possibly escape.
“Yes.” The first guard, the one who seems to be in charge, places his hand on a bronze dagger sheathed at his hip.
“Of course.” The other guard says, perfectly confident in this fact. His hand goes to the sheath at his hip….and stops. “Oh…..um… How did she get it? She’s a girl. A princess!”
I raise my eyebrows, and nod to the window. “Yeah, well that ‘Princess’ just stole your dagger and busted out of jail, so you better hope I don’t tell her you just said that. ”
He frowns. “We should go find her.” He says hurriedly.
The other guard laughs and I run out the cell door, heading for the servant stairs. I take them two by two and reach the main floor. I barrel around the corner, then screech to a halt, watching Kenzie jab impossibly fast at a guard. He crumples silently to the floor and she moves on, guard after guard falling soundlessly to the ground. She takes out the two stationed by the door and bursts out. I follow her down the stairs and out to the path.
She is leaning against a tree, a small smile on her face. “That was impossibly fast.” I tell her. “How did you make it past all the booby traps?”
She straightens up and tosses her dark curls from her face. “I went up the servant stairs. There are no booby traps there since we can’t have the servants tripping them. The guards will be ok…. I simply pressed pressure points.” I laugh at her jab at Titus, and we head back inside.
The whole royal family looks shocked when we re-enter the room. Lukas’s eyes are narrowed, and Titus looks absolutely murderous. Kira grins. “Kenz that was three minutes. It took Titus seven!”
She shrugs. “Well, I am exceptionally talented.”
Kellen stands up and shakes his head. “Bragging as always, Kenz?”she grins at him and he smiles back. “Guess it’s my turn, assuming the guards are able to stand.”
“We’re fine Sir. ” I look up to see the head of the guards squadron. He’s followed by the rest of the squadron, entering the room. “And Sir….if you don’t mind me asking…..are you ready to be handcuffed?”
He sighs dramatically. “I suppose.” He extends his hands and the guards handcuff and blindfold him.
For the third time today I wait for the guards to lead him away, before taking stealthily off after them. I follow them down to yet another cell, and smile at one of the guards, the first one who was guarding Kenzie’s cell.
“So…..you’re the Seventh….right?”
“Call me Liv.”
“Oh….” He blushes. “I’m Mark.”
“Well it’s nice to-” A loud pounding interrupts my sentence.
“Oi! Guard!” Kellen shouts. “I need to pee!” I snort. What a cliche.
Mark rolls his eyes. “I know that’s just an excuse so you can get away.”
“No. I really really need to!”
I turn invisible and watch as Mark scrunches his face up, thinking. “Fine, but I’m escorting you.” He puffs out his chest and unlocks the cell door.
Kellen steps out of the cell and the two guards flank him, frog marching him down the hallway. I jog after them as they head toward the ‘bathroom’ or, more likely, the chamber pot room. They round the corner out of my sight and I hear grunts of pain. I run around the corner and stop, watching Kellen knee a guard in the stomach, flip him over his shoulder, and toss him on the floor. He leaps forward and kicks Mark’s feet out from under him. Mark tumbles to the floor, and Kellen grabs his arm and twists it behind him. He cries out in pain and Kellen wrenches him forward, slamming his head into the wall.
He crumples to the floor and Kellen takes off. I run after him, following him to the rough hewn stone steps leading up the the main floor. He takes off up them, and about a quarter of the way up, a step collapses inward, turning the whole staircase into a slide. The trap door falls open, and Kellen falls through it, screaming unflattering words as he does.
Great. Two options. Run up the stairs and try to figure out where Kellen went, or jump through the trapdoor? I sigh and shake my head. Trap door it is.
I tense my muscles and leap. Air whooshes around me as I tumble into darkness. “Owww!” I moan as I slam into something hard.
The darkness is thick and suffocating, impossible to see in. The air is damp and musky. I stagger to my feet silently cursing the hard stone floor. I start walking right, hoping to encounter stairs…..or Kellen, who might know how to find stairs.
Boom!
Cold water hits my face, and I recoil. “Kellen?”
“Dang.” Kellen’s voice echoes out of the shadows in front of me. “I didn’t know we had water dumping traps!”
I hear his footsteps take off running before I can say a word. I sigh and hurry after him, wincing as my feet splash through cold puddles of water. I trip and my knees hit hard wooden blocks.
Stairs. I reach forward, feeling for the edges of steps as I inch my way up. Eventually I get the hang of it.
I make it up the staircase and out a door. I groan, finding myself back on the floor with the dungeons. I hurry up the next staircase and into the main hall. Kellen, soaking wet and dripping all over the polished wood floor, is standing by the door, grinning. When he sees me he throws his head back and cackles maniacally.
“Where are the guards?” I shout at him.
“You mean besides the two guards whose butts I whooped? Wandering around the subbasement looking for me.”
I take a step towards him, and he takes a step back. “Hey. You’re not supposed to try and stop me!”
I smirk at him. “I could if I wanted to.”
“Prove it.”
I close my eyes and will myself for turning invisible. I laugh silently at Kellen’s shocked and delighted expression, before I leap into the air. I fly over to one of the swords and lift it off the wall. It wavers, like a hologram, but never turns completely invisible as I still haven’t quite mastered that yet.
He laughs as he sees me, well the sword, because I’m invisible. I lunge through the air towards him with the sword clutched tightly in my hand. He diverolls to the side, leaping to his feet and grabbing his own sword off the wall. I slash at him, my sword aiming at his stomach. He slams his sword into mine with an echoing ‘clang’. I aim a kick at his stomach, but before I make contact he vanishes.
“Oh….owww!!!!” My leg swung out to far, wrenching my muscles.
I spin in a startled circle, searching for Kellen. “You’re not the only one with powers!” Calls a mocking voice from somewhere off to my left.
I look around, realizing he’s leaning against a suit of armor that is standing against the wall. I dive at him and he teleports again. I find him again near the door, and conjure up the feeling, flinging myself through him then solidifying in front of the door, my sword pointed at him. He jumps at me, the sword point pressing into my stomach. I phase and he leaps through me, landing on the pavement outside.
Seventh (The Hafling Chronicles Book 1) Page 10