by Lisa Daniels
Iris looked at Callie, “That means you must be a mystic.”
“Yes, I am.”
“You look like you come from somewhere else.”
“I do. I lived in Sumaria for a long time.”
“That must have been horrible.” Iris closed her eyes.
“No, no, not yet. You need to eat.”
“Eat?” Iris opened her eyes. “Is there food?” Her stomach growled as if to emphasize the question.
“Yes, Caden made you something.”
Iris took the tray and began to eat. “My head feels like it is full of cotton.”
“I think because you used your powers. I know how it feels, though. The first time I used magic without help, Caden was bleeding out on the floor. It nearly killed me, but it saved his life.”
“Oh,” Iris put her utensil down, “he loves you because you saved him.”
Callie moved her head from side to side, “Actually, that made him very mad at me.”
Iris nodded, “That would. He doesn’t want anyone to die in his protection, or outside of his protection. He’s a good guardian. The best.”
Callie smiled and looked at the door, “Yes, I am a very, very lucky woman.”
Iris nodded vigorously, then ate a bite of bread. “He is very sexy, but scary.”
Callie laughed, “I know what you mean. He never scared me when we were running away from the Unwashed in Sumaria, but when Ian pushed you too far, even I was scared of Caden’s reaction. He’s refused to leave you alone ever since. This is the first time he has left your room since you nearly died.”
Iris blinked a few times, “Who is Ian?”
Callie’s expression was of shock, then sadness. “He is another guardian who is here. He has been …” her voice trailed off. “He is very sorry for what happened to you. I admit I did not know much about him before two weeks ago, but I know that he was top of his class, a real prodigy. His father took care of your mother, and I think that made him feel like—”
Iris knocked the tray on the floor. “His father what?”
Callie was startled, and immediately began to clean up the mess. “He—he—”
Caden burst through the door. His eyes immediately went to Iris. “Ian, now.” There was an urgency to his voice.
Seconds later, a dark-haired man appeared in the room. Iris began to scramble away from him as he moved rapidly toward her. He stopped and turned to look at Caden.
Caden’s voice was soothing, “It’s okay, Iris. He’s not an assassin. He is a guardian.”
Iris felt her heart start to slow down and her breathing was a little less rapid. The man moved slowly toward her bed.
“It’s okay, Iris. It’s okay.” He shifted and moved toward her.
As the tiger neared the bed, Iris stretched out her hand. She felt a smile spread across her face as her hand touched his head. “You are soft.” She began to scratch his ear, and suddenly Iris got a sense of déjà vu. “I’ve done this before.”
The tiger looked at her and nodded his head.
Iris lay down on her side and moved to the edge of the bed. Her hand continued to stroke the tiger’s head. He sat beside her bed until she fell asleep.
The next time Iris woke, there were loud noises coming from downstairs. Some strange memories floated through her mind. She was certain of three things. First, everything she remembered had happened, no matter how much it seemed like a dream. Second, there should not be that many people in her house. Third, something had gone wrong with her father’s trip.
She sat up and threw the covers off.
“No, no. You should not be getting up. You need more rest.”
“Something is wrong with my father. I cannot stay in bed while he is in trouble.”
There was silence, then a figure detached from the shadows. “How do you know?”
“Your reaction is enough to tell me I am right.”
“You don’t even know what is going on.”
“I know that I have to do something.”
“You are in no state to help anyone.” He stepped into the light.
Iris looked at him, then turned toward her dresser, “You can’t stop me.”
“If I don’t stop you, Caden will.”
“So you admit you can’t stop me.”
“I am just telling you that there is no way you are getting out of here and putting yourself in danger while Caden is in charge.”
“He isn’t in charge, Ian. I am.”
The man looked shocked for a moment. “You know who I am?”
“Of course. I’m not delirious anymore.”
“Really, you could have fooled me. If you want to prove you are alright, get back in bed and stop pretending you are in any state to be moving around.”
“You know, Ian, I grew up in this house. I have some very fond memories of doing things I knew were wrong. I have several stashes around here that only I know about. Would you like to see some of them?”
“What are you talking about?”
Iris lifted up a panel in the wall. “Here’s one. I used to put books in here to read at night because I didn’t want to go to bed.” She pulled something out, but it was not books. “And over here,” she moved away from the wall and toward a corner of the room, “this one is clever.” She climbed up on the chair and shakily reached toward the ceiling.
Ian instinctively put his hands up as if he were going to catch her. “Iris, I don’t think you are in a state where you should be—”
“Ah, there.” A small bag fell out of the ceiling. “I used to store candies up there. My dad didn’t know I could reach up there, so it was perfect for sneaking snacks with my nightly activities. I used to love to draw at night in the dark. The moon can be very beautiful, and when the clouds cover it…” she moved to the window and looked up at the cloudy sky, the voices downstairs easier to hear. “When the clouds covered it, I imagined the light shapes as animals moving across the sky, their lives fleeting and beautiful.”
She could hear snatches of conversation from the open window downstairs. She recognized the voice of the queen and Caden talking about an attack near the shores of Anilin, a country that was usually neutral.
Iris leaned out the window. “I remember wondering what the wide world was like. When I was younger, I wondered if I would ever be interested in leaving my home and Father to learn more about the world at large. As a mystic and the daughter of a well-respected merchant, I would be forced to travel with a large group, and that always made it seem unappealing.” She turned and looked at Ian. “Do you know what I mean?”
He shook his head, “I have travelled to many places ever since I was young. I never had to wonder.”
Iris smiled at him, then looked at the window. “Well, I suppose that means you were lucky back when you were young. I wasn’t. But then,” she looked at him again, “everyone’s luck changes at some point.”
With that, she quickly ducked through the window and slid out of sight before Ian could fully process what had happened.
Chapter 5
Fleeing Safety toward Certain Danger
As soon as her feet touched the ground, Iris began to run. Despite the protests of her legs, she ran toward the docks. She had given the signal to the guild that a ship needed to set off as soon as it got the signal. Of course, she had not told them that she was going to be on the ship, but that would definitely cause problems as the guild had never authorized her to use the ships. There would be some rather serious repercussions, but she would deal with that after getting her father home. If the guild wanted to kick her off the board or send her to prison, that would be perfectly fine with her, as long as she was able to find out what had happened with her father.
Iris knew that her biggest problem wasn’t the guild. It was the pair of guardians and a mystic who was far more powerful than her that were the most immediate problem. All a guardian had to do was shift and he would catch up to her within minutes. Fully aware of this, Iris took the path of most resistance. As a child s
he had spent a lot of time exploring tunnels and small areas to get between buildings faster. The other mystics were boring, preferring to talk about magical theory to learn anything practical. Iris had been surprised to find herself excited about doing magic when she was 18 and 19, but before that, exploring the city had been her passion. The places that she could go would be nearly impossible for a guardian to squeeze into. She wasn’t petite, but Iris had always stayed in shape, and she was just a little over 5 foot 4 inches tall. It meant she was able to squeeze through some pretty tight spaces that would throw the guardians off of her scent for a couple of minutes.
Scrambling out of one narrow opening, the mystic ran across the street. As she got down and started to lower herself into the sewer system, Iris looked to see if anyone was following her. A large smile was on her face as she let go. No one had caught up with her yet.
This particular sewer system was mostly unused because it was in a part of the city that was largely abandoned. It was definitely not safe to be in this part of town, but she wasn’t in it, she was under it. Making her way through the sewers, she let her feet steer her to the docks.
“Well, well, well, it looks like a little lost lamb has fallen in with the wolves.” A voice behind her caused her to speed up.
Then she ran into a wall she didn’t remember. Bouncing off of it, Iris fought to keep her balance.
There was a deep laugh, “Can’t even see where she is going, boss.”
“I think we should help her find her way back to the surface. For a fee, of course.”
Iris stretched out her hand and without much thought, a ball of light appeared in her hand. Fighting the urge to squeal at the ease with which she did it, the mystic looked around. “Do you still think you should be messing with me?”
An arrow flew out of the air and grazed her shoulder. The light flicked out, and a new voice echoed through the system, “A mystic running through the sewers, well, that cannot be a good thing. I think she is right, boys.” Iris tried to see in the darkness, but her eyes were still adjusting after the brief light she had created. Something in the man’s tone told her that he was not talking about letting her go. “We shouldn’t mess with her. It is best to take her out and let the sea creatures take care of the corpse.”
A low growl from another tunnel caused everyone to stop. The growl grew louder, and a pair of bright yellowish-black eyes appeared in a different tunnel. Iris knew that Ian had caught up with her, and she was troubled by how quickly he had been able to do it. The route she took should have thrown him off for longer than that. But his timing could not have been better.
Dropping to the ground, she rolled away from the tall man who she had mistaken for a wall. The sound of the men screaming echoed around her as she let her feet take her to a different route. It would have led somewhere farther from the ship, but away from the man with the bow and arrows. She could hear the sounds of bones breaking and flesh being torn apart, but Iris did not allow herself to think about what that meant. The men had been thinking about killing her, so there was no reason to feel bad about Ian killing them.
As soon as she reached a ladder, the young woman scrambled up it. The screams had stopped, and that meant that Ian was tracking her again. And in a place this open, he was going to catch her fast. Her only hope was to get up to the busy streets that never seemed to slow down, no matter the time of day or night.
Forcing herself to keep her eyes forward, no matter how tempted she was to look to see if he was visible, Iris reached the opening. Her hand pushed on it, but it only moved a little bit. Slamming it a few times, she was able to force it open enough to squeeze her head through it.
As she started to wiggle her upper body through, a voice called out, “Iris! Stop!”
In response, Iris paused, took a deep breath, exhaled, then pushed her shoulders through the opening.
“Iris, you have to stop! You are bleeding.”
She ignored his warning as she cursed her chest for the first time in her life. It wasn’t that her breasts were large, but they certainly weren’t small. She had been the first in her class to develop them, and they made it impossible for her to pass as a male by the time she was 15 years old. Muttering under her breath, she worked her chest through the slim opening.
“Iris, Caden is going to kill me.”
With a laugh, she called out, “I fail to see how that is my problem.”
“Iris, please. I just killed seven men to catch up with you. I’ve never—” There was a pause, and Iris stopped, curious to know what he had to say. “I’ve never killed anyone before. Please, come back with me. We both need to go back.”
Iris suddenly felt guilty. The hell is wrong with you? Guardians are supposed to kill for their mystics. The thought was callous and she knew it. He isn’t your guardian.
The thought was like a punch to the gut. Seeing an opening, Ian pressed on, “Please come back with me. I will tell you everything that I am allowed to tell you because it is clear you cannot be kept in the dark any longer. It isn’t right, and I will tell you what I can, things that no one else can tell you.”
Iris gave a snort, then squeezed her chest out. The last difficult bit was going to be her hips, but she knew she could do it.
The voice pleaded with her from not too far away, and she knew that he was just a few rungs down on the ladder. “Please, I’m begging you to come back with me. My father failed your mother. I cannot fail you.”
Iris froze at the words. Callie had mentioned something about her mother’s guardian and his relationship with Ian. It was surreal to hear that from Ian’s mouth.
The shock immediately disappeared as a hand went around her ankle. Instantly she kicked out and felt her foot connect with Ian. In her panic, she thought she hit her nose on something because it suddenly started hurting. She was vaguely aware of Ian shaking the ladder below her, and she didn’t know if he was able to hold on or if he fell. As she squirmed out, Iris felt her entire body hurt. Realizing she couldn’t do it alone, she looked around.
“Please, sir,” she noticed a man sitting on the side of the street. He looked like a dock worker heading home. “Please, sir, there is a man chasing me, and I think he wants to kill me. Please.” She let a tear run down her cheek, one that had nothing to do with acting.
He hurried over to her and pulled her out of the hole. She stood up and bent over for a couple of seconds. Pulling out a few gold coins, Iris handed them to the man. “Thank you. This is for your generosity.” Without waiting to find out who the man was, she turned and ran toward the ship. Her whole body ached, but she did not let up.
“Wait, young lady! Let’s go to the guards, they are just—” The man’s voice disappeared as she rounded a corner.
She burst out at the end of the street and the smell of the water hit her like a gentle breeze on a spring day. Without slowing down, she ran toward the ship. Waving her hands, she continued to run up the plank. “Take off,” she panted, bending over to clutch the stitch in her side.
The ship’s captain looked at her, “Young woman, I don’t know who you are, but—”
Iris stood up and set her jaw, “Captain, I told you to prepare the ship, and I, the daughter of the Merchant Guild leader is telling you to take off. Now.” Her eyes flashed the same way they did in the board. As she glared at him, her hand went to the fresh wound.
The captain was clearly confused, but he knew who Iris was. “Yes, madam. Where are we headed?”
“Anilin.”
The captain began to protest, “But right now all of Anilin is—”
She glared at him, “I said Anilin, and I mean Anilin. If you need to go to a port near the country, I will find a captain who can actually take me to my destination.”
“But madam, aren’t you a mystic? You can’t leave without—”
“What kind of codswallop is this I am hearing? I would believe that your men would believe such wild rumors, but if I were actually capable of magical abilities, do you think I wo
uld be relying on a merchant’s ship to get me somewhere? Do you think I would have to stand here arguing with you to do it?” She held out her hands and spun around. “Clearly, I must be a mystic because I look like some woman who has never had to deal with reality. This—” she wiped grime off of her face from the sewer, “is some kind of magical goo, not sewage.” She flung it down on the ship’s deck. “If I could do magic, do you think I would be bleeding now?” Her hand covered her wound again, the feel of the blood making her feel sick. “The only magic I can manage is to get you fired. But between you and me, that’s not magic, it would be a pleasure if this ship isn’t off this dock within the next 100 seconds.”
The captain saluted her and started shouting orders to the men who had witnessed the whole bizarre exchange. They immediately jumped to their posts.
Iris moved to the front of the ship and looked out at the ocean for the first time from a moving ship. She should have been thrilled or terrified, but all she felt was a growing panic. Something had happened to her father. They had said that his ship was attacked, and most of the passengers had been taken hostage. Instinctively, she knew that it had something to do with the Unwashed. Somehow they were behind this because her father had been on a Solonian vessel. The fact that they had used Anilin meant one of two things—either the Anilin had finally decided to help Sumaria in a new proxy war, or the Sumarians were going against the treaty they had with Anilin. Whatever the case, she was definitely heading into danger. Balling her hands into fists, she looked out defiantly at the ocean as it spread out before her.
She was done letting other people decide what was best for her. She was done waiting for an explanation. She was fed up with being fed hints and scraps of information about what had happened to her mother.
“You had two weeks and one day, but I don’t think that Caden is going to make you hold up your end of the bargain, Father. I guess it is up to me to get the answers I need, rules be damned.”
Chapter 6
A Life’s Worth of Learning in a Few Hours
The determination Iris had felt was pushed aside by the seasickness she felt within an hour of leaving the dock. Occasionally, a member of the crew would stop and check on her, but they were busy enough that they were mostly just trying to be courteous. Iris was pretty certain that she had thrown up everything Callie had given her, although she wasn’t entirely sure how long ago that had been.