by Ben Wolf
Axel woke up in an infirmary of some sort.
The room’s white stone walls told him he wasn’t still in the camp. The shackles on his wrists and ankles and the lack of Blood Ore armor on his body told him he wasn’t in friendly hands. The pain in his limbs and back told him he’d survived the battle, but at a cost.
His body ached, but his head hurt even worse. He clenched his eyes shut to block out the sunlight shining off the shimmering white walls everywhere. It helped his head hurt less, but only for an instant. Then the pain returned full force, and he groaned.
“You are awake,” a feminine voice said.
Despite his miserable condition, Axel decided he liked how she sounded, so he opened his eyes a crack and turned his head toward her voice.
Two beds over, in a chair near a window, sat a lovely woman with black hair. She wore a fine red gown trimmed with green accents and held an open book in her hands.
Around her neck hung a decadent necklace decorated with blue gemstones that encircled a large yellow jewel. All of them were set into a silver frame reminiscent of vines, and matching earrings dangled from her ears.
Aside from Lilly, she might’ve been the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on, though a certain maturity underpinned her appearance. He estimated she was perhaps five or six years older than him, well into her twenties.
He couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the sight of her. She wasn’t a nurse—not dressed like that.
“Who’re you?” he mumbled.
She gave him a simple smile. “Valerie.”
Axel had expected her to elaborate, so when she didn’t, he asked another question. “Where am I?”
“You are in the private infirmary inside Valkendell,” she replied as if he should’ve expected to end up there all along.
Valkendell? The King’s fortress in Solace? Someone had brought him to receive medical aid inside the King’s palace?
That’s not good.
Axel’s confusion didn’t seem to faze Valerie. She stared at him with green eyes like the sky on a stormy evening, still wearing a pleasant grin.
Didn’t she realize he wasn’t on their side?
“What happened?” he asked.
“You were brought here after the battle at Captain Anigo’s insistence. Apparently, he has been tracking you for quite some time,” she explained with a casual wave of her hand. Her manner of speaking was more proper, like Magnus’s. “Something about a farm, a quarry, and you being a murderous fugitive.”
So she did know he was on the opposite side of this conflict.
“Yeah.” Axel pushed himself up to a sitting position, which his shackles only barely allowed. “That’s more or less accurate.”
“And you admit to it freely?” She closed her book, and her smile darkened. “I am not sure that is a wise defense strategy for your upcoming trial.”
“Trial?” He blinked at her. “What trial?”
“You are an enemy soldier. You have betrayed your King and your people. Of course you will be put on trial for your crimes.”
“Of course,” Axel parroted back to her. If his shackles had permitted, he would’ve rubbed his aching forehead with his hands. “And when is this trial supposedly taking place?”
“I cannot say for sure. But now that you are awake, it will not be much longer.”
“Can’t wait,” he muttered.
Axel looked her over again, and he really liked what he saw. If he was going to trial, presumably to be sentenced to death—because the King wasn’t exactly known to be the merciful type—at least he’d be able to enjoy the view while they removed his head.
“Who are you?” he asked again.
Her smile broadened. “I told you. I am Valerie.”
“Yeah, but who are you?” Axel tried to clarify. “Why are you here? You some sort of royalty?”
Valerie tilted her head to the side and scoffed. “Not exactly.”
“Then why are you here?”
“When Captain Anigo insisted you be brought in, I took it upon myself to ensure you received proper care.”
“You wanna make sure I’m healthy for my trial?” Axel’s voice flattened. “So they can kill me when I’m feeling better?”
“The King is merciful,” she countered. “Do not presume your fate is set.”
Now Axel scoffed. The King was not merciful. Everyone knew that. “Execution seems pretty inevitable from where I’m sitting.”
Valerie raised an eyebrow, and the sight of it set Axel’s heart fluttering. “If you truly believed your fate was inevitable, you never would have made it this far.”
Her words stopped his tongue—and, for a second, his brain, too. She had a point. He’d survived all sorts of crazy happenings and defied death so many times that he’d lost count.
Still, as Axel looked around the room again, the small flame of confidence she’d managed to ignite in his chest snuffed right back out. He frowned.
“Do not be troubled,” she said. “Take comfort in knowing that no harm will come to you in this place.”
“Until my trial,” he added.
“Until your trial is complete, yes,” she agreed. “And only if you choose to reject the King’s mercy.”
Axel huffed again. He’d seen the King’s idea of “mercy” all his life.
Even so, he wasn’t any more likely to convince Valerie to see things his way than she could convince him of the King’s merciful nature, so he dropped the idea.
“So… Captain Anigo,” he started. “You his wife or something?”
Valerie let out a sharp laugh, one that seemed somewhat undignified, given her appearance and otherwise proper demeanor. “No. Perhaps he may wish it so, but I belong to no one but myself.”
A whirlwind of thoughts rushed through Axel’s mind. Thoughts of Lilly, who’d scorned him. Thoughts of Valerie, obviously, because she was gorgeous and sitting right there looking… well, gorgeous. Thoughts of never leaving this place alive. Thoughts of his time in the battle and how it had come to an end.
The last thing he remembered was defending a thunderous blow from the enormous gemstone warrior who’d appeared next to Captain Anigo. Or at least, Axel thought he’d defended the blow—he’d held up his Blood Ore sword to parry the attack, anyway.
The more he thought about it, the more he recalled that it hadn’t exactly worked. Somewhere in his mind, he heard the metallic thunk of his breastplate crumpling inward when the warrior’s axe hit it, and then Axel left his feet. He couldn’t remember anything after that, though.
Were it not for that Blood Ore breastplate, he’d probably be dead right now. He doubted any other armor could’ve withstood that kind of blow. Apart from being alive, Axel knew it had done its job because his chest was the only part of his body that didn’t hurt.
“Your friend should be arriving shortly.” Valerie’s comment tugged Axel out of his memories.
“What friend?” Axel’s eyebrows rose. “Someone else got captured?”
Please don’t let it be Riley, or Condor, or—
The wooden door to the infirmary swung open, and two silver-clad soldiers carried a stretcher inside with a body laying on it. It was a male form clad in green workers’ attire that Axel had never seen before.
When the soldiers slid the man off the stretcher and onto the infirmary bed nearest to Valerie, Axel realized who it was, and his eyebrows arched back down.
Calum.
Whatever they’d done to him, he was sound asleep—or maybe dead. But no, he wouldn’t be dead. Why bother bringing him to the infirmary? It would already be too late.
Still, Calum showed no signs of life as they clapped shackles on his wrists and ankles to secure him to his bed, just like they’d done to Axel. It wasn’t until the soldiers stepped aside, replaced by two infirmary nurses in red workers garb with white aprons overtop, that Axel saw Calum drawing slow, shallow breaths in and out.
As much as he hated to admit it, the sight gave him a sense of
relief. He and Calum had crossed each other recently, and Axel had even gone so far as to mentally disavow Calum as his friend forever because of their squabble, but now wasn’t the time to be petty. They’d have to work together if they had any chance of getting out of this place alive.
“See?” Valerie rose and nodded toward Calum, who lay on the bed right in front of her.
“What are you gonna do?” Axel asked, ashamed of the trepidation in his voice.
“As I promised, no harm will come to you—either of you—while you are in this place,” she reiterated. From a small white chest of drawers next to the bed, she removed a small glass vial of burnt-orange powder and uncorked it. Then she bent close to Calum.
“What are you giving him?” Axel asked, wary.
“The antithesis to the mushroom spores he inhaled. These orange-and-black spores will negate the sleeping effects.” Valerie squeezed Calum’s cheeks and tapped about half the vial’s contents into his open mouth. “He should wake up any—”
Calum’s eyes opened wide, and he coughed and sputtered. “Ugh. What is that taste in my mouth? It’s like honey—if it was mixed into a bowl of dirt.”
Rather than answering him, Valerie gave Axel another simple smile. “I will leave you two to catch up.”
With that, she turned and left the room. Axel watched her the whole way out, wishing he could’ve said something to keep her around, but nothing came to mind.
Calum looked at Axel as if noticing for the first time who he was. “Axel? What are you doing here? I—I thought you were dead!”
Axel thought back to the blow his breastplate had taken. It had come closer to killing him than he cared to admit, but he wasn’t about to convey that to Calum. He raised his chin. “Takes a lot more than a hulking jewel-guy with an axe to kill me.”
“Two axes,” Calum corrected him.
“He only hit me with one of them.”
“Who was that woman?” Calum looked toward the door. “I barely got a look at her before she left.”
“Said her name was Valerie. Still not entirely sure who she is,” Axel replied. If he weren’t shackled up, and if she weren’t on the King’s side, he would’ve loved to get to know her a lot better. “She said she made sure I was taken here, to the infirmary after the battle.”
“I still can’t believe you survived,” Calum said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Axel glowered at him. Some of his recent rage toward Calum was creeping back in.
“I don’t mean anything by it, Axel. Calm down.” Calum tugged at his shackles, but they didn’t budge. He looked around the room, the same as Axel had done when he’d awakened. “We’re in Valkendell.”
“Obviously,” Axel said. “And we’re awaiting trial.”
“Trial? What trial?”
“That’s what I said.” Axel exhaled a frustrated breath. “Apparently, Captain Anigo has made good on his promise to bring us to justice—whatever that’s supposed to be—and so now we’re going to have a trial. But Valerie told me not to worry because the King is merciful.”
Axel and Calum both scoffed at the same time. At least they still agreed on that.
“Any chance Lumen or Magnus comes to rescue us?” Axel asked.
“You? Probably not. Me, maybe.”
“Funny,” Axel said, his voice flat.
“I’m not sure they even know we’re here,” Calum said. “They might think we’re dead.”
“We’re definitely not.” Axel sighed. “At least not until our trial finishes.”
“We obviously can’t let the trial happen,” Calum said. “We need to get outta here before then.”
“Agreed.” A strange but familiar scent wafted into Axel’s nose, but it didn’t make sense that he’d be smelling it here, in the infirmary in Valkendell. He sniffed the air and noticed some stains on Calum’s trousers. “Is that… pumpkin on your legs?”
“Leave it to the farmer to sniff out what kind of plant I’ve got smashed all over my knees.” Calum sighed. “Yes, it’s pumpkin.”
Axel gave him a blank stare, expecting a response.
“It’s not important,” Calum said. “What’s important is finding a way outta here. I almost escaped once, but then—”
“Escaped?” Axel didn’t believe him. He raised a skeptical eyebrow. “But then, what?”
“Then I found the King, tried to kill him, and ended up in here,” Calum said.
Now Axel really didn’t believe him. “You’re a terrible liar.”
“It’s the truth. I swear it on my parents’ souls,” Calum said. “I got close, Axel. Really close.”
The way Calum said it made Axel more inclined to believe him. “Then tell me what happened.”
Calum recounted the ordeal to him, starting with waking up on the wagon and concluding with his attempt on the King’s life in the garden and the spores from the blue mushrooms that had put him to sleep. It was almost too unbelievable to be real, but Axel and Calum had survived enough wild scrapes for Axel to buy the story.
Plus, Calum failing to finish the job was exactly what Axel would’ve expected. “So you got close but couldn’t get it done, huh?”
“Don’t rub it in,” Calum said. “I feel bad enough as it is.”
Axel shrugged. “Maybe you should’ve done things differently.”
Calum’s head snapped to face Axel. “You think you could’ve done any better?”
Axel had been expecting that question. “I know I could’ve done better.”
“You couldn’t even beat me in a fight the last time we tussled, but you think you could’ve killed the King of all Kanarah, even though I couldn’t?” Calum challenged.
The mention of their fight bristled along Axel’s skin, and he clenched his teeth to ward off his anger. “I guess we’ll never know, will we?”
“What would you have done differently?” Calum pressed, now with an edge to his voice.
“I definitely wouldn’t have tripped over a bunch of plants. That’s for sure.”
“It was one plant that tripped me. The others attacked me and actively defended the King,” Calum insisted. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Well, except for at Kanarah City, when those rose pod-things fought alongside the King’s soldiers.”
Axel thought back to that skirmish. It ranked among the stranger battles he’d ever fought—if not the strangest. Did the King somehow have control over plants? Or nature itself? Or… some other magic?
Lumen and Matthios had crazy powers, and if the King was supposed to be Lumen’s match—or more than his match—then he had to have abilities that Axel didn’t know about.
If so, maybe Calum’s failure was justified after all. If the King possessed that kind of power, then maybe Calum never even stood a chance. Maybe he only thought he had a shot at killing the King.
“Look, we need to get outta here,” Calum reasserted. “We’ll be convicted at trial, no question. With Captain Anigo to testify, and with me failing to kill the King, both our fates are sealed. We have to find a way to escape.”
That was another thing they agreed on. But it wasn’t like they could just tear free from their restraints and walk out.
“How do we do that?” Axel asked.
Calum shrugged. “I don’t know. We’ll have to think of something.”
Silence lingered between them for a long moment. Then Axel said, “Well?”
“Well, what?” Calum eyed him. “It’s not like I’m the only one who can come up with ideas.”
“You’re the leader. You’ve made that perfectly clear.” Axel laced his words with anger. “Plus, according to you, you already escaped once using Lumen’s light. Just do that again.”
“Stop being so overdramatic.”
The familiar frustration at this entire situation returned to Axel’s chest, and he clenched his teeth. “Am I wrong? On either point?”
“We already talked about this before we fought. Whether you’re right or not doesn’t matter. How you come ac
ross is what does.”
“Whether or not I’m right is the difference between us escaping certain death or your feelings getting hurt,” Axel snapped. “So you can either deal with my attitude as it is and we’ll escape, or you can whine about how mean I am, and we’ll both die in this awful place.”
More silence. Axel regretted his tone, but not much. He had to be firm, or even harsh with Calum. It’s what had kept them both alive this long.
“I can’t reach the shackle to use the light,” Calum finally said. “It’s a different kind than before. My wrist is pinned to the bedframe, and I can’t get my fingers around to touch the metal. They must’ve realized I broke the shackles somehow.”
“Then use it on the bedframe itself.”
Calum stared at him for a moment. “That’s… actually a good idea.”
“Then do it.”
Calum’s face scrunched up as if he were straining or in pain. Then a light even brighter than the sunlight streaming through the windows flared from his left side, and a loud crack filled the room.
But instead of Calum’s hand breaking free, the entire bed collapsed underneath him. Splinters and chunks of wood scattered across the floor, and the sheets billowed outward as the bed crashed down.
Part of Axel wanted to laugh at the sight, but the other part of him couldn’t deny that Lumen had in fact bestowed some real power upon Calum after all. Sort of.
Shattering metal shackles and demolishing furniture with a touch was all well and good, but it paled in comparison to what Lumen himself could actually do. Still, it was more than Axel had, and for that reason alone, he wanted it.
At least now they could find a way out of there.
“Hurry up and free me,” Axel hissed. The bed’s collapse was plenty loud enough, so why bother keeping his voice down?
As Calum twisted and contorted to try to free himself from the tangle mess of fabric and wood, the door to the infirmary swung open again, and Valerie stepped inside with a complement of silver-clad soldiers.
“Ah, good. You are already out of bed.” She clasped her hands together and displayed that same simple smile while both Calum and Axel stared at her, bewildered. “It is time for your trial.”