by Travis Bughi
“The whites in my eyes have more color than your skin, Emily, honestly!” Adelpha laughed. “You are going to have some very painful days on the Great Plains after tonight.”
“She’ll be redder than blood, I swear it!” Hanna giggled. “Kirke, Leda, I know what you’re thinking. Try to keep the slapping to a minimum when it happens.”
Kirke and Leda exchange wicked glances, and Emily tensed. She knew what the twins were thinking, too, and she was not looking forward to it.
“Hey! Hey!” Adelpha leaned across the table. “Watch yourselves, you two. She may not be able to nock an arrow, but there’s some real fight in her soul. Remember the ogres I told you about? Here we are, fighting off an ambush from ogres, and she can’t even nock one to the string, but that doesn’t stop her. No knife, no nothing—so just before the ogre brings the club down on my head, she jumps forward and stabs the brute with the arrow in her hand! So watch out. You slap some red skin and be prepared for a boxing in return.”
Kirke and Leda exchanged another glance, their expressions showing a mix of surprise and doubt. Hanna and Chara laughed, but Iezabel raised her eyebrows at Emily.
“That’s pretty brave for a young farmer’s daughter,” she said, touching a long finger to her hooked nose.
“Thanks,” Emily replied and left it at that.
Emily looked around, trying to stray from the attention she was being given at the table. Fortunately, she found an out when Heliena waved at her from the bottom of the stairs.
“Sorry, excuse me,” she said and quickly moved away.
Emily had never been one for praise—she only did what she thought was best—and didn’t like being singled out, even if it was for a good thing. She sought approval from few, so the opinions of the many were not her concern. Her father, Paul, had been one of those few, and his quick, often subtle indications of satisfaction had been the greatest rewards of her life. Father and Mother had taught her that a nod of respect was the ultimate compliment. So when Heliena signaled to Emily and invited her upstairs, Emily was eager to accept.
“Are you still coming?” Heliena whispered.
“Wouldn’t miss it,” Emily nodded.
“Then it’s time for you to disappear,” Heliena said. “You need to be forgotten about until it’s too late.”
Emily nodded and followed Heliena upstairs to the amazons’ quarters. Heliena stepped into one of the rooms, the same one as before, and reached under her bed. She pulled out a leather sack that looked like it had seen its fair share of battles. There was more than one puncture that had been patched over, and the thing was clearly older than Heliena. Someone had loved this bag deeply.
Emily had seen it once before, when Heliena had taken the spare clothes out of it. The beautiful amazon held it close again, taking it in as if she hadn’t seen it before, and then opened it and began to dig inside.
“Whose bag was that?” Emily asked.
Heliena paused like a child caught stealing. She looked up slowly toward Emily and, at first, seemed offended by the question. Her lips parted, and her eyebrows furrowed. Emily averted her gaze and shifted, as if to communicate no insult was meant.
“It was my mother’s,” Heliena whispered, pulling the bag close. “I never got to meet her. This is all I have left of her.”
“I’m sorry,” Emily replied. “I’ve heard the story. My . . . my condolences.”
Heliena nodded, lost in a short moment of depression. Emily regretted bringing the subject up and waited patiently for the woman to collect herself. She did so momentarily, taking a deep breath and then digging into her pack once more.
Briefly, Emily wondered what it was about this girl that troubled the others. She’d already admitted to not being close with her own sister, and Emily had a momentary flash of panic that perhaps she shouldn’t trust Heliena at all. Perhaps Emily was being played the fool, and this woman was the traitor, silently luring her in for the kill.
And why would you assume that? What proof have you seen? Is it because she’s unpopular? Emily’s mind immediately countered. So are you. Perhaps you’re the traitor. Find the samurai first, and then you can judge.
Until then, she made a mental note to ask her grandmother and Adelpha both about why they disliked her. Emily wasn’t going to ask Heliena, not so soon after bringing up her mother. That would be rude, and Emily knew better manners than that.
“Here, finally,” Heliena sighed and withdrew a tiny black tin. “This will cover that unsightly pale skin of yours for tonight. I didn’t apply it at first, obviously, because my sister and your mother would know something was up. However, if you try to leave looking like you do now, you’ll shine brighter than the moon. Put this on, and it should fool everyone until we at least reach the docks. I normally use it to mask my smell when hunting manticores, but it has a brown color and will work for this purpose, too.”
“Thank you,” Emily said, grabbing the tin. “What’s a manticore?”
Heliena rolled her eyes and snorted. Emily blinked, trying and failing not to be insulted.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “I don’t know what it is.”
“It’s not important,” Heliena waved. “Just put this on and wait for me up here. Now, about tonight. I don’t have a knife for you, but at least you have your bow and arrows. Have them at hand. When we’re ready to move out, I’ll come and get you. We don’t want Chara or Adelpha to see you looking like this, or they’ll know something’s up. Be quiet and follow my lead. You know what’s at stake here.”
Emily nodded because her mouth had gone dry. She was thinking about tonight and anticipating the danger. This is what she had wanted all her life: a chance to make something of herself. Although she hated going against Chara’s will, it was for the best, because only she knew what Okamoto looked like. Heliena left the room to Emily and closed the door on her way out. Once Emily was alone in the room, she opened the tin and slathered on the paste inside. It had no smell and felt like smooth mud, and it was also darker than Emily’s hair. However, it did the job of masking the pale, white evidence of sixteen years without the sun, and once she was done, she grabbed up her bow and tried to practice the stance Chara had told her about. If there was to be a battle tonight, she would rather have the bow launch the arrow than itself.
She practiced drawing and nocking a single arrow to the string. Once she felt confident in that, she slid into the starting position Chara had shown her on the plains. She tried to remember Chara’s other comments. Level your head, don’t lock your elbow, and stand up straight, she thought to herself. She drew the string and brought the arrow level with her eye, looking at the window. She tried to pick a target outside, one of the other buildings perhaps. She sighted it, closed one eye, and tried to picture the arrow flying straight at her target.
She relaxed too much, and her fingers loosed the shaft. The string shot forward and made a thack sound as it hit her on the forearm, scraping away a chunk of brown paste. Emily yelped in both pain and surprise, but sighed in relief when the arrow missed the precious glass and instead hit the thin wooden frame that held the window in place.
“Good thing I’m a lousy shot,” she muttered to herself.
She walked over to the window, rubbing her arm where the string had hit and wincing at the red mark that appeared. She reached up, grabbed the arrow and gave it a tug. It didn’t come out, though, so she grasped it with both hands and pressed close to the window to heave the arrow out. As it came loose, she stared outside once more and caught a glimpse of one of the colossi strolling past the buildings several blocks away.
“So huge,” she whispered. “And to think I’ll be seeing more amazing things.”
Her mind swam with conjured images of twisted creatures and magnificent places, picturing things she’d heard of but never seen, such as waterfalls and mountains. She thought of the stories she’d been told by travelers on the farm, and then she thought of her family, and all the excitement within her gave in to a wave to sadnes
s.
Last night had been her first night without them. There’d been so much excitement and danger that she hadn’t noticed, yet it had occurred all the same. No Abe or Nicholas, no Mother or Father—she’d had only her grandmother. It hadn’t been so bad, honestly, but she was beginning to realize just how much she was going to miss them.
I’ll visit them as often as I can, she promised. I’ll always think of them, too.
She owed them that much at least.
With her face almost touching the glass, Emily looked down in the streets and saw something that caught her interest. From beneath the window, a door opened, and one of the amazons exited the tavern covered in a cloak.
Just one? Odd, she thought. The room she was in faced the back of the tavern, and Emily leaned up closer, pushing her face against the glass. The amazon closed the door behind her and looked left and right. When she did so, Emily caught a glance inside the cloak and saw an older woman with auburn hair and a wide nose. Emily blinked as she recognized her.
Belen finished pulling the cloak tight and tucked the hood over her head. She glanced back one last time, then up, and Emily quickly pulled away from the window. When Emily looked back, she saw Belen dashing off through the streets. For a moment, Emily contemplated finding Adelpha or Chara and telling them what she’d seen, but then she remembered Heliena’s instructions and thought that the comment could wait until nightfall. Emily knew very little about amazon ways and manners, so she didn’t think too much on it. Belen’s actions were certainly not the only strange thing she’d seen recently. There were other, stranger things to consider, and one of them instantly conjured itself in her mind.
She thought about the visit with the angels as she walked back and began to practice drawing her bow again. In particular, she thought about the grey-haired angel named Quartus who had tugged at her thoughts. Gavin had told her it was just her imagination, but her experience said otherwise. Quartus doesn’t speak, he’d told her, but how else could she explain what had happened. Her thoughts had been yanked out of her grasp to focus on the present. He had wanted her to remember Ephron’s words.
Wait, Emily thought, what did Ephron say? It was a warning. Something about judging others?
Emily cursed herself for being forgetful. She’d been so mesmerized by Quartus’ interest in her that she had not even listened to him. And why, she thought, had Quartus taken such an interest in her to begin with? Surely the angels—timeless immortals who had descended from above—had far more important matters to attend to than that of one small girl? She searched for an answer but had nowhere to begin. So, instead, she tried not to let it frustrate her and went back to practicing. Ephron’s words had not fallen on deaf ears, just a distracted memory. Hopefully, she just needed a little exercise, or time, to get her memory working again. Until then, she needed to focus. There was a battle coming.
After a few hours, darkness started to overcome the light. Emily had stopped practicing her bow stance by now, not wanting to tire her arms before the event. It was surprisingly tough work, and her shoulders and back were growing sore after only a few pulls. Emily passed the time by staring out the window, examining Lucifan as it grew dark. She was only half paying attention, though. The coming attack made Emily’s every move a jolt of anticipation. Her excitement leading up to the morning ride to scout for behemoths—an event that seemed to have happened ages ago—had been a mere drop in the bucket compared to her feelings now. If given the chance, she’d take that second mug of ale and down it, if only to calm her nerves.
She continued to look out the window, noticing the increase in shadows and how the streets became quieter with time. Lucifan would be sleeping soon—all except the gargoyles, the vampires, the knights, and the amazons. She watched the shadows lengthen in the nearby streets, slowly hiding them from view. Then, she saw someone step out of the shadows, someone in a cloak who was walking cautiously.
Belen had finally returned, and Emily leaned up against the glass to watch. Carefully, the amazon crossed the streets and reached the tavern’s backdoor, opening it and sliding back inside the tavern.
She’s been gone a long time, Emily thought. Perhaps she would mention Belen’s trip to Heliena when she arrived. It didn’t quite make sense that she was the only amazon sneaking out the night before an attack. An attack she herself had tried to stop from happening altogether. She’d been so adamant that she had been willing to fight Adelpha over it, and that would surely have been a poor decision. The person Emily had seen act that fiercely over something so small was that traitor woman in the bank.
Wait, Emily breathed deeply. Belen? Is it you?
Emily took a cautious step back in her mind. This was the second woman she was mentally accusing of betrayal, and that did not bode well if she intended to make friends instead of enemies in this group. Still, though, the oddity of Belen’s actions struck her soundly. Emily thought about the traitor, what she knew of the woman, and a thought suddenly dawned on her. If the traitor was really amongst the amazons, then she knew of the impending attack. Wouldn’t she do something to stop it, as Belen had done? And if she couldn’t stop the attack, wouldn’t she then try to warn Okamoto what was to come?
“Oh no,” Emily gritted her teeth and pressed her forehead to the glass. “Damn it!”
Belen’s the traitor, and she just went out to tell the samurai about our attack.
“Damn it, Emily!” she yelled at herself. “He knows now! Damn it!”
Emily stepped back from the glass and buried her face in her palms, cursing herself for not telling Chara or Adelpha sooner. They were going to walk into a trap! She had to warn them. Of all the actions to ignore, why did she have to pick Belen’s!
Just then, Emily heard footsteps on the stairwell. A moment later, Heliena flung open the door.
“Come on, let’s move,” she commanded. “Everyone else is leaving the tavern as we speak.”
“Wait! There’s something I have to tell you!” Emily said. “I saw Belen leaving the tavern through the backdoor earlier. She looked like she was sneaking out.”
Heliena paused, giving Emily a questioning glance.
“Belen’s downstairs right now,” Heliena replied.
“I know. I just saw her return. Look, I think she might be the traitor,” Emily continued. “I think she went to tell Okamoto about our plans!”
Heliena looked Emily up and down, mulling over the argument in her mind.
“Well, that’s a risk we’ll have to take. Let’s go. We can’t warn them if we’re left behind.”
Chapter 21
Emily swept up her bow and arrows and ran down the stairs with Heliena. The lights had been put out, so Emily easily crept through the dark, and none questioned her presence. She was one shadowy figure amongst many, wearing a skirt and vest with a bow in hand and a quiver of arrows slung over her shoulder. Adelpha led the way in the front of the pack, and Emily stayed in back with Heliena. At first, Emily tried to run forward to warn Adelpha about Belen, but Heliena pulled her back.
“Don’t worry. She’ll wait for my signal anyway,” she whispered. “If it’s really a trap, we’ll know and warn the others. Don’t want to ruin our plans over a guess now, do we?”
Emily relented and followed the twenty amazons out of the tavern. They slipped through the streets like gnomes among tall grass. They stopped a few times—once ducking under low hanging roofs and in narrow alleys to hide from a patrol of knights as they soared through the skies on their pegasi. Emily wanted to look up to see if one of them was Sir Gavin, but the knights passed out of sight too quickly. Not that she would have recognized him anyway, covered in plated armor.
They traveled east, and as soon as the ocean came into view, Adelpha and ten other amazons split off from the group and headed north across the shoreline. The others followed Belen to the docks, Heliena and Emily bringing up the rear.
They broke into pairs and moved always under cover, staying low and hiding behind crates and carts tha
t were normally used to load and unload the contents of ships. Now empty, they held no exceptional value and thus were left to rot in heaps off to the side. Emily wondered briefly how anyone could leave something to waste like this, but then she realized her family had likely contributed to this, too. They’d sold crates of behemoth meat to pirates not a week ago, and those pirates had likely taken the meat and left the crates. It was the nature of things, she supposed.
Be that as it may, the crates and carts were being used once more, only now as a shield for dark and murderous intent. The amazons found shelter where they could and huddled as closely as cover allowed. Heliena brought Emily closer to the front and looked over their pile of crates to Okamoto’s ship on the private dock. Emily risked a glance, too, and saw that Sir Gavin had told her right. The ship they sought was the only large, non-cargo-bearing vessel at the docks. It was easily distinguished as an extravagant ship when compared to the bulky forms of the others that floated out at sea. It spoke of wealth and power, having a wide, yet shallow and uncluttered deck. Its wood was painted royal blue, which was vibrant enough to be seen in the low light, and its railings and masts looked smooth and delicately carved even at a distance. Emily wondered what the shoguns of the East were like. They must surely be wealthy. Emily then realized that she’d never been on a ship before, nor had she even been in any kind of boat. Emily watched the ship sway slightly in the water, bumping gracefully against the dock every so often, and hoped that the movement wasn’t as disruptive as it looked.
“Things are about to move quickly,” Heliena whispered. “Stay with me.”
Emily nodded, and a voice nearby caught them off guard.
“She’s here?”