Elinar swung the sword, half the size of his scrawny naked body, slowly back and forth at his side. His free hand scratched his chin. “Can you fight?”
“Better.” Sebastian rolled his open palms together, and suddenly, a white ball of light combusted. It spun in his hand and crackled loudly. He pushed out both hands.
I watched as the ball spun, growing, and hit a tree just outside the camp. The trunk splintered in a flash, tumbling over into the forest with a deafening crash.
Where was that power when we need to escape the dungeon? Sebastian was full of surprises. I remembered his words in the jail cell, “Rumors of people that use magic...”
A gasp rolled through the crowd. Elinar stepped back, hitting his throne, grabbing it for support. The sword dropped from his fingertips. “Light Spinner!”
I stepped two feet sideways from Sebastian, my hands covering my mouth in shock. “What is going on?”
Sebastian stepped toward me, whispering, “I’ll explain everything, just belay your faith, please?”
I dropped to my knees. Demons, dead queens, exploding stones, and now what? Magic users?
“I’ve heard rumors he uses magic, but magic hasn’t been seen around here for a thousand years,” he had said in the jail, “I’ve heard some of the reports of erratic behavior.”
He wasn’t talking about the Keeper.
He was talking about himself.
Elinar recouped quickly, pulling a black bead of marlita from around his neck and tossing it into the fire. Plumes of black smoke erupted, and the flames turned purple. With a whoosh, the fire was soaked into the atmosphere, leaving only the eerie lavender glow. The crowd was deathly silent.
“Sebastian Cross, the first Light Spinner born in Elestra since the time of the great kings, will you escort Alayna to Clock City?”
Sebastian looked only at me. “Aye, I give you my word.”
“So, it shall be done.” Elinar held out his hands, palms up. Sebastian placed his hand, so much bigger than the demon’s, in the left one, and motioned me over to do that same.
A hundred beady eyes bore into me, though only one set of them mattered. Dinga, my first encounter in this world, had thrown me into this mess. But his wide eyes, his clasped hands, he was so ready for excitement.
I couldn’t be mad at him, pointy teeth and all.
No one seemed interested in getting me home; in fact, they seemed dead set on sending me on an adventure.
It really did beat any night I’d spent with my father.
Ah, hell. I threw my hand into Elinar’s.
The female Zespar to his left rose, and I saw a leather strap dangling between her two fingers. She approached us, and wrapped the thong over our wrists, under, and tied it in a lose knot on the top. The ends of the leather were weighted with marlita, tiny bones, and bits of metal. A remnant of a wheel here, the spoke of a cog there, completed the decoration.
She spoke with the same graveled voice as the males. “Bound together in light and dark, protector you shall be, sworn to her forever.”
The crowd chanted the phrase behind us. “Bound together in light and dark, protector you shall be, sworn to her forever.” Dinga’s voice carried over the tribe’s unison voice.
My legs were shaking. This was too much to take in. I fought the spinning world around me, my lightheadedness sent my vision swimming. This time I was going to be strong.
Elinar placed his hand over the leather strap, and it changed. Splitting in two, it bound itself to each one of our wrists, without a seam. It was painless. The strap was sealed to our wrists like a second skin. I yanked my hand away, dropping it to my side.
“You will always be able to find each other, no matter how far apart,” the female Zespar told us, holding the sword out in front of us. “But there is a balance to the bond.”
I closed my eyes.
“He will feel your pain, and likewise, you will feel his.”
I could see Sebastian suck in a deep breath, and exhale slowly before he took the sword. His head swung toward me. His eyes were wide as they met mine. He dropped to one knee and held the sword up to me. “I swear my allegiance to you, Queen Alayna, rightful heir to the throne of Elestra. I will protect you all my days that you rule Clock City.”
“Um, okay.” Really, how does one respond to that?
His voice dropped. “You’re supposed to say you accept my allegiance. And take the sword.”
“Oh. I, um, accept your faithful allegiance.” I reached out, taking the sword from him.
Around us the Zespar erupted into cheering, clapping, and whooping. Elinar’s face broke into a toothy smile, and even the council members looked amused. Elinar jumped up to his chair and spread his arms wide. “Now my brother and sister Zespar, it is time for the Fete.” He turned away from us, and the crowd left their seats to wander the camp. All around us was the noise of joy, squeals of the young ones, and laughing.
“It means ‘party,’ mistress.” Dinga was instantly at my side, making me jump. He was a sneaky little demon. “Though Dinga’s allegiance is not required, have it you do.”
“Thank you.”
“So, when do you think the Protector Light Spinner will want to leave?”
“Whenever he is ready?” I wasn’t really sure what else to say.
Sebastian looked amused at that.
I wasn’t amused, not in the slightest. I glared at him. Handsome or not, I needed to know a lot more about this mysterious boy.
“You, tent, now,” I ordered Sebastian. “I need to know what the hell is going on.”
He bowed with a flourish and a flick of the wrist, just as he had when we first met. “Lead the way, Regent.”
Chapter Seven: Fire
THE TENT FLAP FELL silently in place behind us. We were swathed in darkness, save for the flickering of the bonfire at the center of the village.
“What is it you want to know, queen? Or Princess, shall I call you that?”
I crossed my arms. “You had this power all along?”
“Well, yes, but—”
“You could have bust us out of that prison sell and you didn’t!”
“And show the entire city I could do this?” Sebastian spun his hands and a small ball of light illuminated the tiny interior. Devoid of any electric crackle this time, it twirled slowly in his outstretched palm. He grinned at it, then at me.
Fascinated, I couldn’t look away. The anger I had a moment ago drained from me suddenly. Outside, the party of tiny Zespar demons was in full swing. Chanting, hissing, and happy shouts surrounded us.
This tent, once our prison, was empty, save for two small stools in the back corner and a bedroll the size of a small child. Fearing the stools were too small to support our weight, I sat on the thinly padded bed, my legs crossed under me.
“Well?” I prompted. “How long have you been able to do, you know, that?”
Sebastian shrugged and sat next to me. The radiant sphere in his hand twirled faster. He spun it with one finger like a basketball. I almost smiled. “There isn’t much to tell. My first days were spent underground, in the belly of the mines. This I have told you already. I don’t remember my real parents.”
“How long have children been forced to work down there? Is that why there are no children in the city?”
“Yes, but it didn’t used to be as it is now,” he replied, and tossed the glow from hand to hand. Shadows slipped in and out of my vision. “Orphans were mostly sent there for a few hours a day, then back to the orphanage at night. It was grueling work, but most of us managed to obtain better positions. Rise in the ranks, if you will.”
“Doing what?”
“Mostly bot repair,” he said quietly. “I had a special gift with them, you might say.”
“Your power?”
“Yes.”
I rolled that around in my head. “You made them work, didn’t you?”
He grinned, pushing those goggles farther up on his head. “I did. And it was only a ma
tter of time before I was caught.”
“Caught? By who?”
“Matthais Cross. One of the bots had thrown an arm in the excavation, and I saved it. Though I thought no one was looking, he saw me weld the arm back on. With no tools.”
“You must have been terrified.”
I could see him shiver. “I was at first. I was lucky he was a kind and generous man. He paid the overseer a generous sum for me, to make me his apprentice.”
“You learned to fight?”
“Some, but not really. I was too young. At first, we practiced hiding my magic, because Father, that’s what I called him, you see, well, he knew if I was discovered I’d be dangerous. We discovered I had some skill with tinkering, and he funded most of my operations. We had grand nights on the town, too. We attended sparring events, and grand dinners in the castle. We rubbed elbows with knights from around Elestra, and once or twice I saw the king from afar. But every night when my head touched the pillow, nightmares of the mines would come. At least Father was always there.”
I scooted closer and our arms touched. The party outside was still in full swing, even in the wee hours of the morning. I imagined a younger Sebastian. Him as a scrawny little boy, tinkering with tools and screws and wheels, his little ball of light dancing in his hand, trying to cover it, hide it. Dressed in the finery of his knight protector, but still shy and timid, always aware of where he had come from.
“He sounds nice.” I tried fighting back tears. I balled my fists at my side, determined not to let him see me cry. “My father, not so much.”
“Are things terribly different where you are from?” He turned to look at me for the first time.
“There is a lot of contraptions, only they spit fire and smoke.”
He eyed me closely. “Like dragons?”
“You have...” I stopped myself. Demons and fairy ponies. “Of course, you have dragons. In the caves by Sea City, you said, right? Like your steam-powered engine. But millions of them, everywhere. Or so I’ve been told.”
“Millions of them?” His eyes were wide. “Delilah took me eight sun cycles to build!”
I laughed. “You named her Delilah?”
“I did,” he scoffed, as if it was the best name in the world. “Sometimes she hates me, but she’s the love of my life.”
“Strange you are attached to a car.”
“You keep calling it that.”
“We have tons of them, probably millions, where I come from.”
“Your world does not sound like fun.”
“Well, neither does yours.” Too late, I saw him wilt under my harsh comment. “I’m sorry,” I tried to recoup, “it’s just, well, there may be a dead queen on our hands and an evil villain who wants our heads, but it’s more exciting than not knowing where your next meal will come from, or how much he will hit you, or if you will be able to walk to school the next day—”
“What’s this?” Sebastian interrupted, pointing to the scars on my arm.
“Nothing.” I pulled my sleeve down over my wrists. “It’s nothing.”
“Did he do that, your father figure?”
“No, I did that. Because of him.”
He snapped his fingers and the orb disappeared. Darkness washed over us again. “How could this man ever put his hands on a beautiful girl like you?”
Glad for the darkness, I could feel my cheeks redden. I couldn’t think of anything to say.
He snapped again, and the light burst into his hands once more. He was shaking his head. “I am glad I am not from your realm, Alayna. I can’t guarantee I wouldn’t have forced him to meet with an untimely accident,” his voice low and fierce, the energy crackled in his hands, spitting shots of electricity across the room. “Poor is the man who sees fit to hurt women and children. Poor indeed. That good for nothing son of a dragon’s swallop—”
His curse brought a slight smile to my face. “I don’t even know what that is?”
“Surely, you’ve seen a dragon, it’s on their neck?”
“Uh, no, there are no dragons in my world.”
“Mean people, millions of ‘cars,’ but no tinkers, and no dragons? Strange world indeed.” He shook his head.
“Tell me more about the queen,” I interrupted.
“Ah, that. I had wondered when you would ask. I still remember when she arrived. I think I was around ten cycles, or something like that. I’d only been with Father a couple of years. She strode through the gates, much like you did. She was an air of authority, adorned in a royal coat with a diadem on her head. She was beautiful.” He tossed the ball to his left hand, and his right reached up to a strand of my dull blonde hair. “Like you.”
I shrugged him off, anxious to hear his tale. “When did the Keeper arrive?”
“The Keeper appeared one day; it hadn’t been long, maybe two or three cycles after the queen’s return. He came with fire, and metal dragons.”
“Metal dragons?”
“Yes. The king, the queen’s father, was killed in the attack. The queen has rarely been seen since that time. The Keeper told everyone she had fallen ill.”
I put my hand on his arm. “That’s awful.”
“We wouldn’t see her for weeks, and sometimes months. The Keeper would send sentries out with notices to nail to lamp posts, saying she had come under a mysterious illness. Always he ensured the people she was on the road to recovery.”
That struck a chord with me. “Wait, no one seemed to object?”
“None save Matthias and a few guards who were loyal to him, such as his brother, my Uncle Victor,” he turned the orb in his hand slowly and stared at it for a few minutes.
“Why didn’t anyone object? Why the loyalty to a man no one knew anything about, especially one who took the kingdom by force? That doesn’t make sense.”
Sebastian shrugged. “I don’t know; some form of magic, maybe. Whenever people talked about the Keeper, it was in hushed tones. Many of them even forgot who the queen was. Father became worried, obsessed with getting to the bottom of the mystery. Many days I was left to my workshop, and he was not to be seen. That’s when I made my dark seers, the ones I use to drive Delilah, and a few mechanical ishies, just to keep the bugs out, and then there was...”
“Sebastian,” I interrupted him gently. “The queen.”
“Cor, yes. Well, Father and uncle had friends who guarded the castle. He convinced them to hide from the Keeper and inspect every nook and cranny of the castle. The queen was nowhere to be found. Father was sure the Keeper had killed her and taken her place, as he did the king.”
“Did they find her?” I uncrossed my legs and tucked them into my chest. The poor queen. Was she really dead?
“Yes, eventually. Uncle Victor found her on one of his patrols. That night when Victor was telling Father this, they got into an argument. Victor wanted to rescue her immediately, but Father wanted to be cautious.
“‘You don’t know what the Keeper is capable of.’ I remember Father screamed at Victor in the other room as I lay on my bedroll. ‘He’s a magic wielder,’ Father tried to tell him, but of course my Uncle Victor disagreed.”
“How did he know?”
“My father told him he saw the Keeper moving from one place to another, without a foot on the ground. Victor argued and argued. Eventually, Father kicked him out. His own brother!”
“That’s not the end of the story.”
“No,” he replied, and the energy dimmed in his grasp. “That was the night that the Keeper’s guards found us. They burst through the door, shattering it, with blazing swords and stunning canes filled with electricity that matched my own. Father was struck down before I could get a light off. I still hear his screams in my dreams.”
“Sebastian,” I started to say, but his interrupted me.
“Victor, he—he doubled back and pulled me from the window. We fled the city, and went abroad for a few years, in the city by the sea. We returned when I was of age to find the Keeper had retained his grip on the
city, the people were still oblivious to what was going on. And the children had disappeared.”
“To the mines?”
“Aye.”
“Sebastian, I’m so sorry,” I sniffed, brushing my wet cheeks. You’re too young to have lived through this.”
“We both are, milady.” He dropped the ball, and it fell to the ground, extinguishing without a sound. He turned to me and wrapped his arms around me. “That’s why I, I mean we, have to save them. I don’t know what happened to the queen. But I do know you look just like her, and if we can get back and find Victor, we just might be able to win back the city from the Keeper.”
“It’s all too much.”
“Aye, but ‘twill be worth it in the end. It’s the end that matters, don’t you think?”
“Even if there’s a chance it won’t be a happy one?”
“It will be.”
He leaned down and pressed his lips to mine.
I marveled how warm and sweet he tasted. I met his kiss as his arms tightened around me. There was no world of warring queens and Keepers, no machines rambling down city streets, no tiny demons outside celebrating the fact I might end up getting everyone killed in this crazy quest. It was just Sebastian and I, here, in this moment.
I stumbled on a city beyond my wildest dreams, followed by breaking out of prison, and running to the woods and meeting a tribe—friendly at that—of demons had taken its toll. As we parted, my eyes drooped, and I knew if I didn’t sleep soon our mission truly would be a disaster.
“Sleep, fair queen,” Sebastian murmured.
We lay side by side, the lumpy bedroll feeling like a bead of feathers. The taste of his kiss still lingered on my lips, and my eyes closed with a smile on my face.
THE WEE HOURS OF THE morning light came too soon. Though I was still drowsy from the events of the day before, I opened myself to the most beautiful sight.
Wavy brown hair cascaded over his cheek, his long lashes hiding deep brown eyes.
My savior, my protector. My Sebastian.
His arms were still wrapped around me, and I snuggled closer against him.
The crackle and roar of sudden heat broke our tender embrace, as the top of the tent shattered into a rolling flame.
Clock City Page 7