by Seven Steps
“Father isn’t dead yet.”
“But he will be. The poison I’ve been putting in his food will see to that.”
The door slammed shut, before Kiln could turn and attack the man whom his soul had grown to despise.
Boikis was poisoning his father. Yes. Now it made sense. Father was old, but his frame was still strong. He should have lived another twenty years.
Kiln looked around the room for something to throw, anything to destroy, but the room was already a wrecked from his last outburst. The only thing left was the comicore that showed him Nadira.
Unable to hold on to the stress that threatened to tear him apart, he raced from the room, nearly ran down the stairs and headed to the field, to the punching bag that he’d named Boikis.
His mind raced with dark thoughts.
As soon as I get a chance, I’m going to kill Boikis. I am going to rip his head from his shoulders and not look back.
The cruel thought brought him a small sense of peace as he rammed his fists into the punching bag, again and again.
~()~()~()~()~
After a night of restless slumber, knocking sent Kiln to the door.
Two guards stood before him.
“Good morning Prince Praxis. My name is Tuck, this is Butim. We are looking for a woman. Her name is Melu.”
Kiln’s stomach dropped as he thought of the corpse that rotted on the other side of the room.
He swallowed and straightened his shoulders. “She’s not here.”
“When was the last time you’ve seen her?”
“It’s been several days.”
The two guards looked at each other, then back at Kiln.
“Prince Praxis, her tracker shows that she is still here. Can you please verify that she is all right?”
Kiln swore, tried to remain calm.
“Maybe it’s malfunctioned. There’s no one here but me.”
The two men looked at each other again, clearly uncomfortable with grilling their favored prince for information.
“Look,” said the first one. “if she’s still in there, then fine. I’ll just need to glance at her. But she has been reported missing, and your father has charged us with keeping track of all the woman on this planet, no exceptions.”
Sweat pooled between Kiln’s shoulder blades before dripping down his back. He imagined himself pulling both of the men into the room and bashing their heads into the wall, but thought better of himself.
I am not a murderer. I am not my brother.
“I understand,” Kiln said, beginning to close the door. “But Melu is not here.”
He slammed the door before the officers could inquire further.
This. This was all Boikis’ doing. He’s setting me up. But for what? If I’m proven to be a murderer, would they still crown me King?
He made a mental note to ask his mother what the rules of Kingship were around here as he dressed and made his way to his morning workout with Bruno.
~()~()~()~()~
Boikis settled himself in a hard chair at the head of Jun-Su’s table.
They were right on schedule. The machine, flaky as it was, had just enough dust left to get them to Zenith. After that, it wouldn’t take the three armies long to wipe out the Gloriums and the rest of the planet and kill Embrya and Heedon. From there, Boikis and Jun-Su would become the new Magistrate and High Keeper.
Things were progressing rather well.
Jun-Su sauntered out of the bedroom, her veil settled firmly over her forehead. He knew that it hid the third eye, but was grateful that she’d chosen not to show it to him. She was beautiful, and such a hideous marking would just serve to irritate him.
“You look as if you’ve already won the war,” she said, sitting across from him and crossing her legs.
“I may as well have,” he smiled. “Everything is coming along as planned.”
“The King?”
“I am told that the poison will take hold of him by the end of the night. That means that Kiln will be coronated shortly after that. Then, he will hand over control of the army to me, I’ll command the men to Zenith, and then the universe will be ours.”
Jun-Su nodded at him. “We are so close, Boikis,” she said. “And yet...” she bit her lower lip and looked away, causing Boikis to sit forward.
“Yet what? Everything is as it should be.”
“Perhaps. But, what will happen to Kiln?” she picked an imaginary piece of lint off of her pants.
“What do you mean, what will happen to Kiln? I’ll kill him before I leave. After we’re gone it won’t matter.”
“I just wonder about the men.”
“What about the men?”
“What will the men think?”
Boikis slammed his palm on the table. “Out with it, woman.”
“What if you won that election? Then you wouldn’t need Kiln to hand you anything.”
“Why would I want to do that? A plan is already in place.”
“Plans change. Win the election. Become a true, uncontested King of Mars. Show everyone who doubted you that a third son can win, after all. That a third son can change his station. That a man can change his stars. Inspire the men to greatness, and they will follow you from the heart, not just because they were commanded to.” She stood, and walked to the kitchen. “Or, have Kiln make you General of the Armies. Take the men to Zenith, and hope that they remain loyal to you after the war is won.” She clicked her tongue. “It may be an uphill battle, especially since the very king who ordered them to Zenith won’t be there to lead the charge.”
Boikis growled. “You miserable woman.”
“Miserable, perhaps. But smart.”
Boikis stood up, knocking the chair over in the process. Jun-Su stepped away from the door he sent swinging as he marched out of the room.
“Farewell, my King,” she whispered. “Farewell.”
~()~()~()~()~
By the time Kiln sat down, his brother was already scowling in his seat, and his father’s withered face looked troubled from behind the view screen.
Sands, the Head of Domestic Affairs, stood in front of the room. “This morning, it was reported that the King’s royal physician as well as both his and the prince’s preferred rations are missing.”
Kiln looked down so that no one could see the how his eyes bulged.
“After a thorough search of the grounds, the royal physician was found stabbed in a closet in the hospital.”
Kiln swallowed as the gray-headed man mercilessly plowed ahead. “The King’s preferred ration has not been found yet, however-”
A knock on the door.
A man, one of the guards who had come by Kiln’s room earlier, peeked into the room. He avoided Kiln’s eyes, only whispering to the man before leaving the room again.
“The girl, Melu, has been found,” Sands announced, his gaze boring into Kin’s. “Murdered in Prince Praxis’ bedroom closet.”
Murmurs broke out across the table as all eyes turned to Kiln.
Sands’ eyes turned soft, like a father who’d just discovered his son’s hand in the cookie jar.
“Prax, did you do this?”
Kiln looked at his brother.
Boikis’ looked back at him, a victorious smirk settling on his face.
“I didn’t kill anyone,” Kiln replied.
Besides the physician, I mean.
“Prax, with your father so close to... and you being in line for...” Sands cleared his throat, his gaze settling on each man seated around the table. “We can’t tell anyone. If he’s found guilty of murder, the men won’t follow him. If we lose the election, who knows who’ll replace him...and us.”
Boikis stood and moved in front of Haggarty’s screen.
An empty screen now.
Kiln didn’t know where the King would have gone so quickly.
“With these new charges against Prince Praxis, it is only right that the nomination should fall to me.”
“You?” Sands’ gasp
was a mix of derision and shock. “A second son?”
“The first son is now disgraced, or will be once you find him guilty of the murders.”
“What makes you think we will find him guilty?” Sands asked, his eyebrows raising.
“The evidence is clear. My men have already been investigating the matter ever since the doctor and the women disappeared. Praxis was the last man to see the doctor and the ration. It is simple deduction. He is guilty.”
“Are you so quick to throw your brother, your prince, to the firing squad?”
“I only want to see justice served.”
“You want to see yourself served,” Sands replied, gathering up the papers in front of him. He turned back to Kiln. “Praxis, tell us that you didn’t do these things.”
“I didn't do these things.”
Most of them.
“There is only one way to find out,” Boikis said. “Dust the knife for fingerprints. Examine the woman’s body. If the accusations are true, then the rest of the planet will be informed, and I will run against Praxis in the election.”
“The men won’t elect a murderer,” Sands whispered.
Boikis smiled. “Then I will ready myself for the coronation.”
Another knock.
Another man entered the room, his face grave. He looked at Praxis, then dropped his eyes.
“The King is dead.”
Kiln felt his heart shatter. His father was gone. Though he had only known him for a short time, grief welled up within him unlike anything he’d ever known.
My father is dead.
The men around the royal cabinet erupted in gasps. Their beloved King, the man they’d followed their entire lives, was dead, and the King’s son, his protégé, the immortal prince, was going to go before the entire planet as a murderer. He would surely lose the election now, leaving them all in the hands of Boikis’ a second son of whom no one was particularly fond.
Another man appeared in the door and headed for the crestfallen Sands, whispering in his ear. Kiln could have sworn that he’d seen a glimmer of a tear shine in his eyes before he wiped it away.
“The royal ration has been found murdered,” he said, not looking up from his fingers that laid heavily on the table. “She hung herself out of her window with a bed sheet.”
Kiln pressed his lips together to keep from screaming. His heart beat fast in his chest, and his vision blurred with grief and sadness.
His father and his mother were both gone.
He was to be charged with murder, and his brother would ascend to the throne.
How could things get any worse?
CHAPTER 28
Diana walked on silent feet down the stone hallway, her small steps measured and careful. In the darkness, Arees could hear her count as she pushed her small, well oiled cart in front of her.
“Two hundred and one. Two hundred and two. Two hundred and three...”
Each step brought her closer to the two cells at the end of the hall.
Arees heart pounded in her chest. If she were to get caught, she didn’t know what Cara would do.
Finally, at step five hundred and fourteen, Diana arrived at the first door. She pulled a key from her necklace, and slid it into the tiny lock with practice precision.
The lock clicked, and she pushed the door open, before coming back for her cart and wheeling it into the room.
The door remained opened, allowing Arees to sneak up to it and watch as the woman pulled off the pants of the huge, blond, shirtless, shoeless man. He was chained to the wall, his wrists were stretched out on either side of him.
She used a soapy solution, a bucket, and a rag to clean up the urine and feces that had pooled around him in the hours since her last visit. When she was done, she used a separate rag to wipe him down from head to toe before pushing a fresh pair of pants up his legs and tying them tight with a short rope around the waist.
She then returned to the cart, rubbed soap on her hands, dipped them in a bucked of clear water, and retrieved the man’s dish, spooning gruel into his waiting mouth.
Kiln, Arees thought. Why would they chain him up like that?
As her eyes took in the scene, something sparked in her brain.
This giant of a man was different. Kiln had different hair, no tattoos and... wait, where was his toma?
No, this man couldn’t be Kiln, but the facial resemblance was fantastic!
Diana continued to feed the man gruel and talk to him in soothing tones about nothing in particular.
Her light, even voice told Arees that this woman was not born deaf and blind. It was forced upon her.
Perhaps she was sick and this was the result? But why would she be down here instead of at a hospital? And why was she being so kind to a prisoner? Arees wondered. A prisoner who looked so much like Kiln.
When Diana was done, she ran a hand over his cheek and promised to return. She closed the door and locked it before moving to the second room.
Swinging the door wide, her cart silently entered the room before her.
The woman inside stood when Diana arrived, and took the bowl from her with a nod.
Nadira.
She looked clean and well fed, though there was a sadness in her eyes.
Arees raised her hand, waving frantically.
Nadira saw her, her eyes opening wide with disbelief.
Arees put her finger of her lips signaling Nadira to be silent.
Nadira nodded, and stood in the doorway while Diana backed out into the hall.
Arees mouthed words at her before the door slammed shut. She hoped that Nadira could read her lips. She hoped that she had felt the promise behind the words.
We will get you out, she said.
We will get you out.
CHAPTER 29
There was no time for Kiln’s grief. Not even a moment to mourn the two people who he’d grown close to loving for the past week. Within the hour, guards had removed Melu’s body from Kiln’s closet. Blood streaked carpet was the only reminder of their brief friendship.
The King’s ceremony would be held in the early afternoon, followed by the nomination announcements, the election, and the coronation. After that would be the celebratory game of war.
My father is dead.
My mother is dead.
The thoughts haunted Kiln as he moved through the hallway and down the stairs. He felt like a ghost, floating through the palace and to the wall where his father had taken him only a day ago.
He would be buried inside today, and it would be Kiln’s responsibility to gather his bricks, and place them in the pre-cut holes in the wall. Haggarty’s accomplishments would live on for all of time. As long as this wall stood, people would remember his name.
I will remember him.
It seemed that every man in the twelve domes came to the funeral. They packed tightly together in the gardens, their numbers spreading through the rest of the palace and beyond.
The casket, with Haggarty’s name engraved on it, had been wheeled to a small patch of cement right outside the wall.
No words were spoken.
Kiln slowly approached the open casket.
His father’s pale face looked peaceful, as if he were asleep.
A sleep he will never wake from, Kiln thought.
He dropped his chin to his chest, and allowed a tear to slide down his cheek before wiping it away.
“Goodbye Haggy,” he whispered.
With trembling hands, he reached up, closed the lid of the casket, and locked it with a wooden key. He then maneuvered the heavy casket into the tomb, it’s wheels silent beneath the weight.
The inside of the tomb smelled of mold. It was humid and warm, making him sweat beneath his uniform. The word, Haggarty, was carved forever in the the top of the casket. Kiln ran his fingers along the hard wood.
No more long talks about engineers. No more talks of War Games. No more sitting at the dinner table with my father.
My father is dead.
&
nbsp; Before the tears could push themselves from his eyes, Kiln walked out of the tomb, locked it with a wooden key, and presented the key to Sands, the Head of Domestic Affairs. The key would be placed in the soil in the timber fields and, from it, would spout a tree that would serve as lumber for the men.
And so, the Kings would continue to provide.
A stack of bricks, waist high, sat in a neat pile outside of the tomb. Each brick was carved with a great deed of the king. An action. A word. A victory. They were all inscribed on these bricks of mud and straw. Kiln picked up a heavy brick and slid it into the wall. One by one he sealed up his father’s tomb with the rough hewn bricks of his legacy. That there were so many brought him a measure of peace.
His father’s life was cut short, but he would live on in these bricks. In the fields. In Kiln’s heart.
When Kiln was done, the crowd silently moved to the courtyard.
“I wish you the best of luck, brother.” Boikis’ whispered as he walked besides him.
“When I become King, Boikis, my first act will be to kill you,” Kiln spat back.
“Then, I die with your beloved,” Boikis replied.
“At least she won’t die in vain. If her goodness must die with your evil, that’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
Boikis stopped short, spun Kiln to him.
“Careful, my Prince. Your words don’t only cut me. They affect her as well.”
Kiln eyes blazed into his brother’s as he continued walking with the crowd to the courtyard.
Boikis had taken everyone he loved from him. There was no doubt in his mind that he would kill Nadira. No amount of compliance would stop that. But, if the woman he loved had to die, then it would be for a cause.
Kiln jogged up the stairs to the stage that had been setup at the far end of the courtyard. Something within him shifted. His mind turned. The stage felt comfortable. Gone was the fear. Gone was the hesitation.
He was Praxis. There was nothing holding him back from that now. He couldn’t be Kiln again. There was nothing left for Kiln to go back to.