Exiles & Empire

by Cheryl S Mackey

  “Who is she, mother?” Sesti’s face was cold and white in the golden sunlight, all color drained away at her mother’s costly words.

  Ishelene shook her head, her lips curling.

  “Who bade you to silence?” Jaeger snapped. His voice rumbled with a growl. Her head came up and their gazes locked.

  “Tanari. I was given no choice. It was the lesser of many evils should Rodon find her.”

  “Why would she be a secret?” Jaeger asked. His chest rose and fell, his breathing harsh in the cold air. Sesti’s hand vanished from his arm and reappeared with a dagger pointed at her mother.

  “No one knew of her existence but a few. Not even I knew until I first saw her here.”

  “She’s the twin sister, isn’t she?” Jadeth wrapped shaking arms around middle.

  “Yes.” Ishelene dropped her gaze, pain tightening lines around her mouth.

  “How could you, mother?” Sesti cried out, the dagger still pointed at her mother. “You weren’t there to see what damage was done to her! Your secret has too high a cost!”

  “Sesti, please.” Jaeger’s rage subsided in the face of hers. He didn’t blame her. He couldn’t. If anyone else was by his side, he would do the same. But not her. Not the tall, elegant, sharp tongued elf who loved too much and had no way to show it.

  “She will get us all killed, Jaeger, she does not care,” Sesti whispered. “She never has.”

  “She is like you, Sesti. She loves too much.” He caught her wrist and gently pulled her arm down. It shook violently but she let him. “Just like you.”

  “I don’t know how to love, Jaeger.” She turned to face him at last. She didn’t try to pull free from his grip. “I only know loss and coldness.”

  “You have everyone you love still. Don’t forget that. Don’t lose it.” He swallowed and looked away as her dark gaze blurred with tears. “Like I did.”

  Jaeger faced the Empress.“Tell us, Ishelene, everything.”

  “I can’t.” Ishelene looked Jaeger in the eye and swallowed. “That is all I know. Tanari never revealed any more to me other than she was hidden from Rodon for her own safety. I was never even given her real name.”

  Chapter Twenty One

  They appeared on the wall walk in a burst of embers in the midst of the roar of cannon fire.

  Gabaran ducked behind a chunk of rubble as a blast shook the stones underfoot. Dust and rock choked the air. A quick look and it became horrifyingly apparent that the Tevu guards were no match for The Unknown Sun’s powerful sorcery.

  The great gate had not been breached, but instead had been swarmed. The host of the Unknown Sun had approached, not through the narrow gorge by road, but had scaled the mountainside surrounding the main bailey, and attacked from above before pouring into the Citadel over the walls. The rest had surged through the narrow pass to battle for control of the gate, cannons close behind. The balance of the battles appeared to involve weapons, with few streamers of magic visible.

  The Unknown Sun were holding back, tiring the mortal Tevu soldiers, playing with them.

  He stifled a growl and turned to Ivo and Emaranthe hiding across the debris and body riddled walkway.

  “We need to find Dehil and destroy the globe!” Emaranthe hollered.

  “Find him, get to the library. I’ll cover you from up here and follow,” Gabaran barked. He let a black arrow dart into the roiling mass of bodies below. Mud and blood coated everything. He released another and ducked behind the crenellation again. “Go!”

  Emaranthe nodded and ducked as a projectile sailed too close for comfort. The smoke and ash heavy air coated her throat and made breathing difficult. She coughed and bent low beside Ivo as a second volley, this time from within the Citadel, rocketed overhead. She gripped Ivo’s arm and they ducked and dodged their way along the wall toward the closest terrace.

  Ivo shielded her with his body as arrows whistled over head. The pace of the battle was fast and brutal. Every so often colorful contrails rocketed overhead to deliver vicious spells. Horns blasted and the cries of the fighting and dying mingled with the clatter of swords and shields. The stone beneath their feet rumbled as soldiers and enemy clashed.

  “Do you see him?” Ivo yelled close to her ear.

  Emaranthe shook her head. “He’s probably invisible.”

  She couldn’t see anything other than swarms of armored legs and, too often, bodies dropping to the ground in gore laden puddles. She recognized nobody and even Gabaran was lost to the chaos for the moment.

  “Come on.” She grabbed his arm and tugged. He followed, hunched over, a shield of swirling air held over them to deflect stray spells or arrows.

  A volley of arrows from the enemy peppered the walkway. Iron tipped arrows bounced too close for comfort, the sound an angry rain. They ducked under Ivo’s shield and huddled against a crenellation, unable to push further through the pandemonium. The gate beneath them rattled, cracked. It wouldn’t last much longer.

  “We have to get off this wall,” Ivo grunted as a spear thunked against his shield. It felt like a miniature jab against his soul. “We’re pinned down between both armies up here and we can’t distract Gabaran for further cover.”

  Emaranthe glanced back at Gabaran. Sure enough, he stood atop a crenellation, bow drawn, released, and reset with a mesmerizing speed and agility that would have been considered beautifully wicked at any other time. A faint pulse of air, a swirl of his dark cloak, was the only indication that Ivo’s shield extended to protect him as well.

  As it was, he was the only thing holding back a swarm of soldiers from gaining access to their half of the wall walk, and he stood out like a giant, menacing statue over all the battle. If Gabaran were to fall or need turn his attention elsewhere, Emaranthe and Ivo would be overrun.

  “This isn’t good,” she whispered, her heart skipping with barely restrained fear. “We’re trapped and Gabaran is only one mortal.”

  She jerked as arrows bit into the stone mere feet from her, kicking up jagged chips.

  Ivo grimaced. His gaze swerved between Gabaran and the swelling tide of soldiers he was holding back. It couldn’t last forever and judging from the intense scowl on the old elf’s face, he knew it.

  “Hold them off long enough to get Gabaran to us,” he said finally, his voice flat. Emaranthe swallowed and nodded. She knew the drill.

  She shifted to get a cleaner view of Gabaran and caught his attention with a brief pulse of fire at the center of one palm. He nodded, jaw set and swung his gaze to Ivo.

  Ivo grunted. “Now.”

  Emaranthe vaulted to her feet and swept her hands high. A wall of flame surged from the stone at her feet and roared high and hot into the wintry sunlight, completely walling off the enemy on the other side. The sudden heat and light caught the attention of everyone and as predicted the fighting hesitated as confusion and concern swept the throngs of soldiers on both sides.

  Gabaran bolted off the top of the wall and sprinted to their position, bow taught and arrow ready. Spears peppered the shield and bounced away harmlessly. He slid to a halt beside Emaranthe, his cloak flaring wide until it nearly touched the flames. She shot him a distracted glare.

  “Ivo, give it a blast and then over the side, go!” Emaranthe ordered. She pushed her gloved hands closer to the rolling, seething wall of fire and it surged and crackled as she fed it a little more energy. She glanced at them, her jaw set.

  Ivo nodded and closed his eyes. Emaranthe braced herself. Gabaran tensed.

  A gust of wind ripped through the fire. It rippled, surged, and then exploded into a massive fireball. Emaranthe just had the time to shove the exploding flame at the enemy. She spun aside and leaped just as strong arms circled her waist.

  The back draft roared back just as all three leaped off the wall. A gust of hot wind blasted everything and everyone around them aside. A swirling bubble of cold wind formed around the three, tossing their hair into the air and rippling cloaks out like wings. Smaller projectiles,
arrows and stones, bounced off the shield of air. The fall was long and the landing painful.

  Emaranthe hit the ground hard and tumbled away from Ivo with a cry. She rolled to absorb the impact. It shook her teeth and made her ears ring. Someone grabbed her arm and shoved her forward. Ivo’s familiar warmth to her left, and Gabaran’s to her right, they ran, ducking and weaving as they slipped through the chaotic battlefield.

  A shimmer of light to Emaranthe’s far left caught her eye. She dug her feet into the blood smeared ground and slipped and skid to a halt.

  “There! Dehil!” she screamed. She bolted toward the swiftly moving mirage, barely noticing that Ivo’s swirling wind bowled everyone out of her path and was followed by sleek black arrows.

  The shimmer froze, twin curved blades buried in the gut of an Unknown Sun soldier. He materialized, jaw agape in shock as Emaranthe, Gabaran, and Ivo tore across the bailey.

  “We need to get to the metal map!” Ivo bellowed as they neared. His cyclone batted Dehil’s victim aside, like sticks in a hurricane, before he could slice Dehil in half.

  Dehil threw up a protective arm as the blast of wind reached him, kicking blood, gore, and dirt into his face. His curved knives jerked free of the fallen soldier with a slippery shing. He stowed them in the shadows behind his shoulders and darted to one side of the courtyard.

  “This way!” he yelled over the chaos. He jerked his head toward the nearest door. He tugged on the large iron latch, but it didn’t even jiggle.

  “It’s either locked or jammed shut,” he growled. He spun to face them, at a loss.

  “Move!” Emaranthe ordered. She didn’t wait, but twisted around him to reach the latch. A jet of fire blasted the heavy metal, turning it red, then white hot. It liquefied, oozed down the warped and cracked frame. Ivo jerked on the misshapen handle and wrenched the door open. Instead of opening it splintered, throwing debris into their faces. They squeezed through the gap and broke into a run.

  Dehil lead them through the maze of corridors. Every few feet a deep rumble would shake the stone walls and dust would seep from the cracks in the ceiling. They rounded a corner at a dead run, dodging falling chunks of stone and the buckling floor. The library door appeared out of a cloud of dust. A jagged crack raced from one side to the other.

  “No!” Emaranthe slapped her hand on the star shaped lever. Gears ground somewhere deep within the walls, but nothing happened. “Ivo, come here, we can blast it open together.”

  He nodded and moved to stand beside her. Dehil scrambled to stand behind them, curved knives bared to the empty corridor to guard the rear. Gabaran prowled further behind in the shadows, his dark glare on the empty hallways behind them. The rumbles and quakes were growing louder, longer, and more perilous.

  “Are you up for this?” Ivo whispered. “You–”

  “We can do this, Ivo, this is nothing. I’ll be in the sunlight soon enough.” Emaranthe gritted her teeth. She tugged on the dwindling well of energy spiraling at the center of her heart and soul. “Now!”

  A blast of fire, hot and white erupted from her upturned palms. A violent gust of wind stole it and sent it blazing in full force at the giant stone door. The impact blasted the door apart in an explosion of heat waves, stone, and dust. The very core of the Citadel rumbled and groaned.

  Ears ringing, Emaranthe started forward, but stumbled to her knees.

  “I’ve got you. Come on,” Ivo said. He scooped her into his arms and led Dehil and Gabaran into the library.

  At first Ivo worried that the blast had destroyed the entire library, but as the choking dust settled he saw it remained just as dusty, disorganized, and damp as ever. The oculus remained open, its wintry light pouring down on the statues and giant iron globe held aloft by ancient stone arms.

  They slipped inside, searching the darkened corners for enemies. Only dust motes and shredded parchment moved in the frigid draft.

  “Hurry, they could follow us at any time,” Dehil called from the doorway. His curved blades glinted in the frosty light as he turned his back to the library and held the position. “Why must we destroy the iron map?”

  “Ivo, you have to let me down. I have to do this,” she rasped. Her gloved hands clutched his shoulders, squeezed. The dust coating Ivo in a layer of fine tan powder poofed with the small motion. He hesitated, his arms tightening around her for a long moment. She feared he would revolt at the idea, and her heart skipped a beat.

  Instead, he eased her to the ground without a word, and let her stand on her own. The only hint to the inner turmoil raging within was the shaking fingers he trailed through the tangled blonde strands brushing her shoulders.

  A sliver of flame curled and trailed as he smoothed her hair and stepped back to let her explain.

  She had to lean far back to see it. “That map is a link to us. We can’t let Rodon find it. He’s too smart and will know what it is.”

  “How?” Gabaran asked. He stalked into the pool of cool light to study it. “The statues are old and Jaeger is not here to make stairs.”

  “Help me up.” Emaranthe ordered. She reached for the cupped stone hand that was nearly chin height. Ivo moved to help her climb, his flexing jaw the only emotion he let show.

  With Gabaran and Ivo coaching for hand and footholds, she crawled up the statue.

  ***

  Emaranthe lunged for the crevice that was the crease in the stone thumb. Her gloved fingers dug into the crumbling rock and held. She kicked her foot up and hooked a leg over the forefinger and shimmied into one of the hands. Panting and covered in thick dust, she stood to study the round metal orb closely for the first time.

  From this angle, it didn’t look like much other than a bunch of narrow flat bands of metal wound into a large, nearly solid, ball. Blobs of metal were melded over the top of the bands in a couple of places, large enough to cover most of it. She figured there might be more detail, but the shadows hid them.

  “What are you going to do?” Ivo called after a long moment, his voice tight and uneasy. She didn’t look down.

  “I need to figure out how to destroy it, but I don’t want to damage the statues.”

  “What do you see, Emaranthe?” Gabaran’s voice sounded bored, but she knew better. The lazy, tired, rumble was his version of nervous.

  She grimaced and scrambled to kneel so she could reach the orb. Sometimes being very short was a gift, but often not. She touched a band of metal and gasped.

  The metal was cold. A quick glance down at the library that sprawled around on all sides made her frown. Jaeger’s power over the ice and snow had long since faded, leaving an ankle deep sea for the scattered and tattered quills and inkwells to float in. Nothing remained of his deep seated magic. If it had, she wouldn’t have been able to cross the library.

  “The metal is very cold,” she said slowly. “It shouldn’t be affected by Jaeger’s powers still.”

  “Did it do anything to you?” Ivo’s voice roughened in alarm.

  “No, nothing,” she hurried to reply. “It’s just…odd. Hold on.” She pushed on the bottom of the orb. It didn’t budge, not even creak, on its hidden axis.

  “What is it?” Now Gabaran sounded audibly anxious.

  “I don’t know. Let me try warming it. Maybe it’s just stuck and too cold beneath the oculus.” She said. She glanced up at the bore hole drilled straight up through the mountain, but couldn’t see anywhere near the end of it, and the light it let through was stark but far from cold. Or hot.

  Both men grunted in reply. As if on cue the rumble deep within the mountain sent a ripple of energy through the room, shaking dust into the air. Water swished, sending the toppled inkwells spinning and rocking like boats.

  Dehil’s grim voice rose over the fading sound. “We’re running out of time. They’re trying to bring down the entire Citadel. They’re going to destroy it.”

  Gabaran’s hiss of anger spurred Emaranthe into action. She pulled at the dwindling web of energy curled at the core of her heart an
d pushed a small ember of it into her hands.

  Her hands bloomed white hot, lighting up the room. Heat waves danced, but her gloves remained untouched.

  “Ok, I’m going to try to melt it. I don’t know if it will stay put, so watch out below,” she called out between clenched teeth. It didn’t hurt. The time for that had long gone, but without the sun, she was limited to what she could do for some reason. It had always been so, ever since she woke up here, in Anat, surrounded by strangers in a strange world she had no recollection of.

  She heard Ivo and Gabaran retreat a few paces but felt a cool, encouraging breeze slip along her flushed cheeks. She closed her eyes and imagined it was Ivo’s hand.

  They flicked open, burning hot as they focused on the task before her. She reached for a metal strip and hooked her fingers along a wire thin edge.

  Flames roiled from her hands and surged up and over the globe. Embers popped and heat waves washed the room in a miasma of light. The metal slowly warmed, growing red, then orange, then finally white hot to match her narrowed gaze.

  It began to ooze and drop onto the upturned palms, hissing and steaming as it touched the chiseled stone. She pushed harder, bending the flames to encompass the globe and melt it faster.

  Several anxious moments later it lay in a cooling blob and Emaranthe sank to her knees beside it. Sweat stung her eyes as she let the simmering power beneath her skin fade away. As it did the low, tugging ache of the familiar power drain emerged. She grimaced and stood to look down at the three males all watching her in anxious silence.

  Far down.

  She shook her head and sighed. A deep, earthy, rumble shook the room and sent dust sifting down from the stone ceiling. Cracks crazed the edge of the oculus and raced along the ceiling to the shattered door.

  “We need to go, Ivo,” Gabaran’s voice rose over the sound of creaking stone. The room settled, leaving an eerie silence. “The Citadel is lost, we cannot hope to drive the legions back now. Our only hope is that Jaeger and Sesti were able to figure out how to open that portal.”