The Ascension Trial

by CJ Embers

  For now, however, I told Kasiya to talk to me tomorrow, then excused myself. I found myself busy until the evening, and as the sun was setting, I took a stroll down a quiet street to wind down.

  It made me happy to see my people acting different now that they had freedoms. I frequently saw people out on dates, kissing, and hugging. Some had already moved in together. It was such a far cry from the Shekri I used to know, and I loved it.

  My musings were interrupted by a sound nearby. As I turned, something hit me square in the jaw. I reeled back, and unable to catch myself, I landed on the cobblestone with a bone-jarring thud.

  Chapter 21

  M y head whacked into the stone and my vision blurred. Through the blurriness, I saw one of the remaining rays of sun strike something and I rolled out of the way. The weapon sliced through my side and a cry escaped my lips.

  I thrust out with a foot and connected with something. Someone crumpled to the ground beside me and I immediately jumped on them, wrapping my fingers around their throat.

  I snarled, angry that I couldn’t properly see my attacker. They fought against me and managed to get my fingers off their neck as I trembled from the nausea of dizziness.

  We rolled along the ground and smacked into something, landing with my attacker on top of me. My vision was clearing up now, but I could focus on nothing besides surviving.

  With one hand on my throat, the other brought down their blade. I threw my arm up to block the attack, but I wasn’t fast enough. The tip of the weapon pierced my chest.

  The pain gave me a burst of adrenaline, and I lashed out with my other hand, aiming for their eyes. The man flinched and set more weight against the handle of his large dagger.

  With the blade sunk inches in my flesh and only going deeper, I knew I needed to overtake him now. The sound of people yelling and running closer reached me, but I couldn’t trust that they would reach me in time.

  I went for his throat this time, striking as hard as I could. When he reeled back, struggling to breathe, I ripped the dagger from my chest and leapt at him. Knocking him down, I shoved the dagger up through the underside of his jaw. The blade ripped through his entire skull, poking out through the top of his head.

  A handful of villagers finally reached me. My heart was thundering with rage and I stumbled to my feet.

  “Where the hell are the patrols?” I snarled.

  “W-We have patrols,” a woman said. “Not enough, apparently.”

  I growled at them to gather the newcomers and grabbed the corpse. As I dragged the body through the streets, many of the villagers of Shekri looked shocked and eventually followed in my wake, curious about what was going on. By the time I got there, everyone was already gathered, and I dropped the body in the middle of the stage.

  Chest heaving, I pulled the dagger from the man’s head and glared at the crowd. “This man is not one of mine. Do any of you recognize him?”

  Many nodded, and one said he hailed from their village.

  “If he’s a traitor, which of you are as well?” I demanded, raising the bloody blade.

  The crowd was silent, looking worried.

  “Speak up, or I will slaughter all of you!”

  A woman with black hair spoke. “W-We don’t know if anyone else is. I’m sorry, Sahra. We thought everyone here was on your side. We will do better to ensure no one else is a betrayer.”

  She knelt and lowered her head. The rest in the crowd followed, fists on their chests.

  My entire body trembled, fingers still tightly grasping the dagger as it dripped thick crimson to the stage floor. I was seeing red, fighting against my inner demons that wanted to strike down all the new arrivals.

  A hand on my arm forced my attention elsewhere. It was Avani, and the rest of the women I had saved from Marnori stood behind her.

  “Don’t do anything rash, Kena,” she said quietly, like she knew what I was thinking. “You’re bleeding heavily and need medical attention. We will ensure the number of patrols are increased.”

  Gritting my teeth, I turned from the crowd and let the women lead me away.

  At the doctor’s house, I was handed off to him and the women said goodnight. The doctor brought me to the room designated for helping patients and got me to sit on the edge of the bed.

  As he fussed over me and prepared my wounds for stitching, the adrenaline that had been coursing through my system was finally wearing off. The wound in my side burned fiercely and my entire side ached. My head throbbed, too, and the puncture in my chest stung.

  As the doctor stitched up my side and my chest, he said, “It’s crazy how far you have come since you returned from the Ascension Trial. I’m glad you are at least letting me tend to you this time,” he chuckled.

  I let out a quiet snort, and he continued. “From village girl, to Adeptus, to outcast, and then protected by Helis. Leader, prisoner, leader again…” He shook his head. “You’ve been through so much, and accomplished so much at such a young age; I wouldn’t be surprised if people ended up worshipping you.”

  My eyes snapped to his. “I don’t want to be worshipped. I just want to live free.”

  He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Sometimes being put on a pedestal is a side effect of accomplishing greatness.”

  The doctor continued chatting as he finished up sewing my wounds together, then ordered me to bed rest.

  I protested, and he gave me a disapproving look and said, “The wound on your side is quite large, and you lost a fair amount of blood. You will need to limit your movement if that big gash is going to heal. The one on your chest is less severe, but it’s pretty deep and will be more prone to infection. You also might have a concussion, so it’s best for someone to wake you every few hours when you go to sleep tonight.”

  Knowing he wouldn’t take no for an answer, I begrudgingly agreed. “But I’m certainly not going to be spending the bed rest here. I’m going back to the palace.”

  “Of course,” he said with a dip of his head. “You can pick whichever bed you want, just stay in it once you have. I’ll get those friends of yours to make sure you follow that.”

  I let out another huff and gingerly rose from the bed. My gaze travelled over the wall I had damaged all those months ago with the filing cabinet. It had since been repaired, and a new filing cabinet now stood where the old one used to be.

  I didn’t want to forget Syida, and I would keep my vow no matter what, but the memories haunted me whenever I let my guard down, reminding me of just how close we had been to saving her life and giving her freedom. The guilt of her death had melded together with the guilt of everything else, and it was often overwhelming.

  The doctor lay a hand on my arm. “Are you okay?”

  I broke from my thoughts and nodded. “Yes, I’m fine…” I gestured to the wall, saying, “I’m just remembering Syida. I’m sorry I lost control that day and damaged your things.”

  “You don’t have to apologize, Kena. Things can be replaced and repaired.”

  I let him lead me to the door and he handed me a pouch of pain-relieving herbs. Thanking him, I left and tried to bury the grief.

  Most villagers were inside and likely sleeping by now, but true to Avani’s word, there were now more guards patrolling the streets. They dipped their heads in respect as we passed each other.

  Going up the palace stairs, I had to go slow to make sure I wouldn’t tweak the wound in my side. In my room, I spotted Kain lying on the rug, and I shot him an unimpressed look as he wagged his tail.

  “One of the rare days you take for yourself, and one of those happens to be a day I get viciously attacked?” I sighed and waved my hand. “I’m not blaming you, don’t worry. Just complaining about my luck.” In my bed, I took a few of the herbs and fell asleep quickly.

  Sometime during the night, I was awoken by someone shaking my arm. Panicked, I bolted up and flung my fist. It connected with the person and we both cried out in pain. Gently clutching my side, I groaned.

 
“Damn it, Kena! Ugh, sorry.”

  I recognized the voice. “Maia?”

  “Yes. Sorry for freaking you out. I tried to wake you gently.”

  “What for? Let me sleep!” I grumbled. “Or is there an emergency?” I demanded.

  “No, no, don’t worry. Remember the doctor’s orders? Concussion checkup every few hours.”

  I groaned again and gingerly lay back down. “Screw the doctor. Let me sleep.”

  “No can do.”

  I couldn’t help but let out a huff of laughter. “You’d rather get on my bad side than the doctor’s?”

  She chuckled. “I don’t want you to have a concussion and not wake up from it. Be angry with me if you want, but we need to make sure your condition doesn’t worsen.”

  “‘We?’”

  “Yeah, the other women and I will be taking turns waking you up.”

  I sighed and shooed her away.

  Throughout the entire night, every two to three hours, the women woke me up. I got increasingly grouchy, but they refused my orders of leaving me alone.

  When morning finally came, I was simply exhausted. Despite that, I heavily contemplated getting up. With what happened yesterday, I wanted to be around to ensure the newcomers weren’t plotting anything nefarious.

  I took some more of the herbs and gingerly got out of the bed. Opening the bedroom door, I was about to step outside when Lingar, a guard, stepped into view.

  “Sorry ma’am, but you’re not permitted to leave.”

  I bristled. “Not permitted?”

  “Doctor’s orders. You shouldn’t even be walking around.”

  The fact that the doctor posted a guard outside my door irritated me. “And if I order you to step aside?”

  He shook his head, but looked uncomfortable. “The doctor told me the risks of you not taking care of your wounds. If you want to punish me for not following your orders, I’ll accept that, but you won’t be able to take me on until you’re healed anyway.”

  I snorted and slammed the door closed. Settled back in bed, I sighed, already bored. Due to my exhaustion, I ended up falling asleep shortly after.

  When I woke up later, it was to the wonderful scent of food. The sun shining into the room told me it was around noon. Based on the steam coming from the tray of food sitting on the bedside table, it was just recently put there. There was a large lamb chop, buttered asparagus, a roasted potato, and a bowl of soup.

  Carefully sitting up, I pulled the tray onto my lap and dug in. As I was finishing the last morsels, there was a soft knock at my door.

  “Come in,” I said, scooping up another forkful of the delicious potato.

  It was Ary and Nala.

  “Am I permitted to leave yet?” I questioned.

  Ary sighed, looking at me in a disapproving way. “It’s only been a day after getting attacked, Kena. Your wounds haven’t even had a chance to begin closing.”

  Nala said, “Maybe you should consider getting an Oren replacement.”

  My eyes snapped to hers.

  “If you had someone to help out running things, you wouldn’t feel like you needed to be out there all the time,” she explained.

  “Is that your attempt at hinting at the fact that you want the position?”

  “No,” Nala answered. “I don’t think I would be a good fit for any leadership roles. I just think it would do you some good to not have to shoulder all the burden.”

  I set my empty tray back on the bedside table. “I’m not interested in passing some of the burden to someone else. It’s been proven that I can’t trust anyone. Oren was the final nail in the coffin.”

  “But—”

  “No buts. I tried having a second and it backfired. Why would I do it again? The only one I would trust enough to be my second is Helis himself, but that’s such a ridiculous idea I feel stupid even uttering it.”

  Nala gave up, and the two women gave me updates on what was going on in the village below. Eventually they left, keeping the door propped open at my request so Kain could come and go as he pleased, and they mentioned I would get regular updates on the goings-on. I had requested for them to get someone to retrieve Kasiya, and he showed up a short while later.

  He pulled up one of the armchairs and when he was settled, he asked, “Is this about what you wanted to talk to me about yesterday?”

  “Yes. I wanted to talk to you about Ayzen.”

  He looked at me expectantly.

  “Have you made your choice?”

  He leaned back in the chair, looking both thoughtful and unsure. Kasiya was silent for a few beats, then said, “I think so… I think I want to be in his life.”

  I nodded, expecting that answer.

  “I don’t feel one hundred percent sure, though,” he admitted. “I still don’t think I’m father material. The idea of being one is just… foreign. I don’t want to mess up his life because I wasn’t meant to be a father.”

  “You couldn’t be worse than Enari,” I pointed out.

  He gave me a disapproving look. “She is another reason why I am unsure. I spent many hours at her home yesterday after you had left, and just as many there earlier today as well. I saw fear in her eyes, Kena. I know you don’t care for her anymore, but I can’t do something that would tear her apart. I could see she was scared about me taking Ayzen away, and I can’t do that to her.”

  I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t order him to take Ayzen just like I couldn’t order him to stay away, because that would go directly against Shekri’s new freedoms.

  A few moments later, I said, “Well, you can always have a bit of both. If you don’t want to take Ayzen away from Enari, then don’t; but visit him regularly, build a relationship with him, let him call you ‘Dad’.”

  Kasiya chuckled. “‘Dad’ sounds so weird to me. But you’re right,” he said, getting more serious again. “I could do that.”

  We talked a bit more, then Kasiya thanked me for my advice and said he needed to go. When he left, the silence in the room was heavy.

  Bringing up the dark god in the conversation with the two women earlier was a bad idea. With no choice but to stay in bed all day, my mind finally had time to focus on the Trial deity for more than a few seconds.

  I tried silently calling for him, but after some time had passed, he hadn’t appeared. My thoughts drifted to the night in the forest outside of Marnori. I could still remember the feeling of his cold ebony armour scratching at my skin as I hugged him, and how the feel of his arms around me felt so right.

  My thoughts were interrupted by Sida coming in with a stack of books. We talked for a few minutes, then after she left, I tried to distract myself from the emptiness of Helis’ absence by reading.

  * * *

  It was about a month before the doctor discharged me. He came to check up on me regularly, and he mentioned although I was able to take short walks after only a couple of weeks, he was still ordering me to stay in my room for a while longer.

  “I know that if I let you out now,” he had said, “that you will try to push your limits. So you’re staying here until your wounds are pretty much done healing.”

  At that point, I hadn’t bothered to protest. It was a bit annoying, but I had come to accept his wisdom, and I didn’t want to postpone the attack on Marnori any more than I already had.

  The day I was finally let out, the same guard that had prevented me from leaving the first day was posted outside by the palace doors.

  When he saw me, Lingar raised an eyebrow.

  I sighed. “I’m not going to punish you.”

  “Well, I’m happy to see you are well enough to walk around.”

  I let out a huff and went to the beginning of the stairs leading down. I stood there for a long while with my wolf, taking in the sights of the village that had gone unseen for so long.

  The streets were busier now than they had ever been, with the newcomers integrating themselves. I could see the outskirts from here and saw their camp had come a lo
ng way since they first got here.

  Taking a deep breath, enjoying the smell of the fresh air, I started off down towards the village. As Kain and I walked the streets, I was a little on edge as I remembered the attack that had happened all those weeks ago, but I tried not to let it show.

  Someone called my name, and I turned to see Avani, Sida, and Maia sitting at a table enjoying some treats. They motioned me over, so I took a seat while Kain settled down by my feet.

  “I’m happy to finally see you out and about again,” Sida said. She offered to get a treat for me, and I accepted and thanked her.

  Just after the treat arrived, a group of newcomers who were walking down the street noticed me and bowed, calling out, “Sahra!” before going on their way.

  My brow furrowed in confusion. “What’s that mean? I was called that after the attack, too.”

  Avani chuckled. “It’s a title they started giving you, similar to ‘Tehji’. Even the people of Shekri have started using it.”

  I bristled. “They’ve been relating me to the Tehji?”

  “No no,” Sida said. “It’s just a title. I think it started because the people figured it was more respectful for you as a leader to have a title instead of being referred to by name all the time.”

  I wasn’t sure what I thought about that, but I didn’t comment on it. When the conversation drifted to other topics, I finished my treat in peace.

  When there was a lull in the conversation for a moment, I excused myself.

  “Where are you going?” Maia asked.

  “I want to go see how the training is coming along.”

  I said goodbye and left. Kain followed, and when we got closer to the training grounds, the sounds of fighting reached me. It came into view, and we stood nearby watching. A guard came up to us, and I did a doubletake when I realized it was a woman. Her helmet covered too much of her face for me to potentially recognize her.