Karn hadn’t followed through on his threat. He seemed to have forgotten about me again and was walking down the line, scrutinizing every demon’s movements. I’d seen him in this type of mood before, and it made the muscles in my jaw tense.
I kept one eye on him as I reared back and swung down hard against the blue stones. I thought back to the conversation in the mess hall about the stones, and a part of me wondered if our time in the sapphire quarry had more to do with punishing me than anything else. Was this the king’s way of saying he wished I’d never been rescued? That he wanted to punish me for stealing his daughter away from him?
But Lea’s leaving had not been my fault. I’d never expected my brother to abandon the kingdom to come after me. I thought he would marry her and forget me. I never dreamed they would both risk everything to save my life.
But I’d also never dreamed that I could be saved.
If life had taught me anything so far, it was that no matter what situation you found yourself in, you should never lose hope. Even the most desperate of no-way-out scenarios can be defeated as long as there is someone out there who loves you enough to risk everything to save you.
Karn passed by me and continued down the line. I relaxed slightly. He was looking for trouble, but at least he’d decided not to pick on me today.
I kept swinging, concentrating only on the feel of the warm sun on my face and the satisfaction of feeling my muscles stretch and tighten. I may have been a prisoner, but nothing about this compared to the torture I’d endured as a slave to the Order. Nothing compared to not being able to control my own power. To not be able to feel my muscles or my body. For a hundred years, I was nothing but a battery.
Here, at least, I was a demon with my own true form and no one else’s voice in my head.
In front of me, the scholar, Trention, winced and grabbed his arm. His axe fell to the stones with a thud. On instinct, I reached out to help steady him.
He coughed and nodded. “Thank you,” he said.
“You okay?” It was the most I’d said to anyone in weeks.
He touched a hand to his shoulder and groaned. “It’s just a cut on my shoulder,” he said. “It’s been bothering me lately, but I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
I wondered just how old he was. By my guess he had to be no less than five or six hundred years old. A demon of his age and stature didn’t need to be out here working.
Trention glanced nervously in Karn’s direction. He steadied himself and attempted to pick up his axe, but it dropped right back down to the ground and he cried out. He tripped on a protruding stone and fell backward. I used my axe to keep my balance and reached out for him.
“Sit down a minute,” I said. “Take a rest.”
He laughed and held his hand to his shoulder. “I don’t think the guards will look too kindly on any one of us taking a break,” he said. “Get back to your work and leave this old demon alone before you get yourself into some trouble.”
“Don’t worry about me,” I said.
He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to the side. “You don’t like to draw much attention, do you? Keep mostly to yourself. You’re always hiding your face until we get out here in the sun, and then you seem to worship it as if you’d lived a thousand years in the darkness.”
I raised an eyebrow. Apparently I wasn’t the only observant one in this place. If he only knew just how close he was to the truth.
I didn’t confirm or deny his observations. I simply stepped back and lifted my axe, letting it soar over my head and embed into the hard sapphire stones at my feet. A large piece chipped off, and I tossed the gemstone into a large steel wagon a few feet away.
The old man coughed again and when I looked up, his skin was covered in sweat. His face had grown pale. I stretched the chain so I could move closer to him, setting my axe down at my side.
“You’re burning up with fever,” I said, touching a hand to his head.
He shivered and drew a shaky breath. “I’ll be fine,” he said. “Perhaps it’s time for this old man to pass on, anyway. If I hadn’t been thrown in the dungeons, I may have chosen to pass my spirit on to my daughter by now.”
The sorrow in his voice echoed in my heart. I knew that kind of pain and regret, and it wasn’t fair to hear such an esteemed demon have such regret. He should have been able to choose the time of his passing. He had earned that.
“Stand up, prisoners,” Karn shouted. His whip snapped against the blue stones, and I stood to face him, careful to keep my head down and my hands ready. “What’s going on here? No one gave you permission to carry on a conversation.”
“I’m not feeling well,” Trention said. “This young demon was encouraging me to get back up and get to work.”
“Was he now?” Karn said, stepping closer to me.
I forced a deep breath, reminding myself that right now patience was a virtue. And I could be patient. I’d been practicing for what felt like an eternity.
Karn turned his attention away from me and snapped his whip close to the old man’s head. “And what made you think you could take a break?” he asked. “I don’t care if you’re half-dead. You don’t stop mining without my permission. Now get up, old man. And you, get back to work.”
I backed away and retrieved my axe, but kept one eye on the old man. He tried to use his axe as leverage to stand, but he was weak and sick.
It was rare for a demon to be so torn up with fever. Demons were immortal, but sometimes wounds didn’t heal and infection set in. If I had to guess, there was some kind of nasty wound under the old demon’s tunic.
“Stand up,” Karn said again.
Trention struggled to stand, and it took every ounce of my patience not to offer my hand to him. But I knew that offering my help would only make it worse for both of us.
“Now, or I’ll give you six lashes,” Karn said.
By now, our little section of the chain had started to draw attention. Most of the demons on the line tried to keep swinging their axes just enough to look like they were still working, but their eyes were on us, and just like me, they were all pulling for Trention to stand. No one wanted to see the eldest among us get six lashes.
Six lashes from Karn was likely to kill him, and I’d be damned if I could stand by and let that happen.
Don’t intervene.
I knew that the worst possible thing I could do would be to stand in Karn’s way, but something bigger than my patience had already taken control.
Trention attempted to stand one more time, but rocked forward and then back again, falling down with a groan.
Karn lifted his whip and before I was even aware of my actions, the sharp sting of leather burned a path across the skin of my back.
A gasp rippled through the group of chained men as I twisted my body and grabbed the end of the whip. I quickly wrapped it around my arm and pulled the guard forward, anger searing through my veins.
With my other hand, I reached for the handle of my axe, lifting it with such accuracy and speed that the tip of it grazed Karn’s neck before he even realized what was happening. A spot of blood formed on the collar of his uniform.
Karn jerked toward me, his eyes wide. He yanked against the whip, but I held fast, already acutely aware that I held more strength in one hand than this guard had in his entire body.
“How dare you stand in the way of my punishment, prisoner,” he said through gritted teeth. “Let go of this whip before I end your life.”
“I’d like to see you try it,” I said, pushing the tip of the pickaxe deeper into his neck.
Shadows zoomed toward us as the other guards realized what was happening. My stomach knotted at the loss of my anonymity, but I could not regret my actions. I couldn’t stand by and watch an innocent demon be tortured.
“Seize this prisoner,” Reynar, the head guard, said. If Karn was one of my least favorites, he had nothing on Reynar. He was the worst of the worst, and I shuddered at the things I had seen him do to some of the
other prisoners.
Two of the guards grabbed my arms and pulled me backward. I released my grip on the leather and let it unwind itself from my hand as they hauled me several steps back.
“What happened here?” he demanded.
“I found the old man sitting on the job, and when I went to punish him, this prisoner stepped in the way and threatened me.” Karn dabbed a rag on his neck, soaking it in blood.
Rage surged through me, but I didn’t try to pull away from the guards. I was outnumbered and shackled to more than twenty other demons. There was no hope of escape, and from the look on Reynar’s face, I was about to be punished in a way I’d remember for many days to come.
He stepped forward, standing between me and Karn. “It seems you have forgotten your place, prisoner,” he said. “What makes you think you have the right to stand in the way of any demon’s punishment?”
“Justice gave me the right,” I said. “That used to be a word the King’s Guard understood.”
His nostrils flared and he held his hand to his hip where his dagger glinted in the sun’s rays. “You should think about who you’re talking to before you open that mouth of yours again,” he said. “You are a prisoner and traitor. What could you possibly know about justice?”
“I know it’s not right to whip a demon who’s ill and needs medical attention,” I said. My brain told me to keep my mouth shut, but all thoughts of patience and invisibility had been replaced with rage.
“I could have you sentenced to death for threatening a guard,” Reynar said. “Are you really willing to sacrifice your life for this old man?”
I lifted my chin and tensed my jaw. “I would rather die serving justice than live serving a king whose mind has been twisted by greed and power and fear. I would rather stand up for those less fortunate than prey on the weak.”
A rumble erupted through the group of shackled demons.
Reynar lifted his hands and chains of lightning shot forth. The guards at my side dropped my arms and backed away as the magic slammed against my body. Pain ripped through me, every muscle crying out in agony.
But I stood my ground, refusing to fall to my knees. I locked my eyes with his and concentrated instead on memorizing every inch of his face. Someday, when I was free again, I would revisit this man and let him know what happens to those who find enjoyment torturing the innocent.
Reynar’s eyes darkened. He took a deep breath and poured more of his power into the lightning. My knees started to buckle, but I would not fall.
Years of torture had taught me more than just patience. I found that it had also taught me endurance. He wanted to hurt me for my defiance, but if he wanted to play that game with me, he would find that it would take a lot more than lightning to even scratch the surface of what I’d already endured in my lifetime.
“Fall, damn you,” he shouted. He pushed himself to the limit of his power and then staggered backward, the spell faltering as he tightened his hands into fists.
He reached down and grabbed the handle of my fallen axe. In the slow and clunky movements of someone who was not used to wielding a physical weapon, he lifted the edge of the blade to my neck and stared into my eyes.
“If you think I wouldn’t end you right here, you have obviously underestimated my hatred for scum like you,” he said.
“If you think you’re capable of such a thing, you’re the one who has misjudged this situation,” I said.
Before he could press the tip of the axe deeper into my skin, I twisted my body and planted my foot directly in the chest of one of the guards who’d been holding me. Careful to not get tangled in my chains, I lifted them over my head and spun again, knocking the second guard several feet back.
As I came around, my hands gripped the top and bottom of the axe’s handle and I twisted it around until the blade sank into Reynar’s chest just above his heart. The fear in his eyes told me how much of a mistake I’d made. I hadn’t meant to show them the extent of my power, but after all this time of holding back, I’d finally reached my boiling point.
And I was certainly going to pay for it.
Part of me wanted to sink the blade into his corroded heart and see the end of him.
But a stronger part of me wasn’t ready to die just yet. And death would most certainly be my sentence if I murdered a guard out here in the presence of so many witnesses.
“That’s enough.” A powerful voice boomed across the quarry of stones.
I stared into Reynar’s eyes and smiled. “You lucky bastard,” I said, my voice so low no one else could hear me.
“This isn’t finished between us,” he said through clenched teeth.
You’re damn right it isn’t.
Ezrah, one of the ten lieutenants of the King’s Guard, shifted to smoke and reappeared at my side. “Release this guard, prisoner,” he said.
I dropped the pickaxe and stepped away, the chains around my wrists clanging together as I walked.
“I want this prisoner put in solitary confinement and brought before the Council,” Reynar said, standing. Sweat dripped down his forehead and his color had turned pale. He lifted his chin, but he couldn’t wipe the fear from his eyes.
“This prisoner is protected by someone on the Council, soldier,” Ezrah said. “He will spend a week in confinement and then return to the dungeons.”
“This is outrageous, sir. Did you see what he did to me? To my men? I won’t—”
“You will,” Ezrah said. “Or you will be removed from the king’s service immediately.”
Reynar’s face nearly turned purple, and I had to suppress a smile.
I was still going to pay for this moment in a million tiny ways, but at least for now, I was protected. I was alive.
“Yes, sir,” Reynar sputtered. “But—”
“We can discuss this later,” he said. “For now, I will take this prisoner back to his cell and see that he is properly punished.”
“Lieutenant—”
“Enough,” Ezrah said again. “This matter is finished. Get the prisoners back to work.”
Reynar cleared his throat and glared at me. Yes, I would pay for this. But it would be worth it.
As Ezrah unlocked the shackles that restrained my wrists, I dared a glance at the old man. His eyes met mine for a brief moment and he nodded, the beginnings of a smile playing at the corners of his lips. I nodded back, and then quietly followed Ezrah through the corridors to the containment cell.
“I told you to keep your head down,” Ezrah said as he locked me inside.
“I was,” I said.
“You call standing in front of the whip and threatening the worst guard on the block keeping your head down?” he asked, his hands gripping the bars of the cell.
“I couldn’t stand there while he whipped that old man. He’s a scholar, for Christ’s sake,” I said.
Ezrah shook his head. “You talk like a human.”
I shrugged.
“I’ll do what I can to mitigate the damages here, but you can’t do something like this again,” he said. “If you want to have any shot at getting out of prison and into the King’s City again, you have to play by the rules, no matter how unfair or awful they may be. Trust me, I’ve wanted to whip Karn myself a few times, but punishing him or stopping him would betray my position, and we have to always remember there is a greater war at stake here.”
“Doing things for the greater good means nothing if all the people on the bottom still suffer,” I said.
“Please, Aerden, you have to hang on just a little while longer,” he said. “I need more time.”
I shifted my weight and lowered my head. He was right. What I did today was stupid, and it put everything in danger. If the king or any of his guards found out about Ezrah’s loyalty to Andros and the Resistance, all hope would be gone.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “It won’t happen again.”
“I will have to whip you,” he said, his voice filled with sorrow.
“Get it done, t
hen,” I said.
I removed my tunic and turned around, gripping the bars as the whip slashed against my back. I winced, but I endured the lashings with as much dignity as I could. Every time he lifted the weapon, I imagined the face of the first witch I saw when I was taken from this world and bound to slavery in the human world.
Priestess Winter.
I saw the greed and hunger in her eyes. To her, my only value was in the power that ran through my veins.
I pictured Harper ripping the woman’s heart from her chest and the way Priestess Winter looked as she disintegrated to dust.
And I remembered the way it had felt to finally break free.
No pain or torture could ever take that moment away from me. That was the moment my life was given back to me. And there was no prison in any world that could hold me now.
Not for long.
When he was finished, he used a cloth to gently wipe the blood from my wounds.
“Have you seen her?” I asked softly.
“Three days ago,” he said.
“How is she?”
My heart raced at the thought of Lea. I understood what it was like to be alone in the dark for long periods of time, but Lea deserved so much more. She wasn’t used to being locked in a cage.
“She’s having a rough time, but you know her. She’s tough. She’ll make it through,” he said.
“Tell her I…” I paused, unsure of what message I could send that would possibly help her through this dark time. I wanted to tell her I loved her. I never should have waited this long.
I wanted to tell her that I would do anything—including sacrifice my own life—in order to save her from suffering.
“Tell her the light is never as far away as it seems,” I said finally.
Ezrah nodded. “I will,” he said. “Aerden, please keep your head down. Karn and Reynar will both have it out for you after this. I’m sorry I had to be the one to cause you so much pain.”
His voice ached with regret.
“Pain is an old friend, Lieutenant,” I said as he closed the bars between us. “It simply reminds me what I’m fighting for.”
Forgotten Darkness Page 3