by Paris Hansch
“Sorry, sir, my daughter can be a bit loose with her tongue, but she’s a good girl.”
Alexander shook his head, daring to glance up at them, and the merchant smiled before turning to serve another customer. He let out a breath, allowing the tension to fall from his shoulders. There was nothing particularly barbaric about either of them. An ordinary man with an ordinary daughter.
Alexander turned, scanning the rest of the people. Now that he stopped to think about it, they all seemed ordinary. Just common people, going about their business, laughing and playing with their children.
This couldn’t be right. Every Lanadese he’d ever seen was massive, almost animalistic in their fighting style and black and white in their morals and actions. They weren’t really people, not when they were on the other end of his sword. He suddenly felt a bit ill, but it was probably just the meat.
A middle-aged woman stumbled into view, screeching unintelligible words as she bumped into those around her. She was undeniably sick, her charcoal-gray skin dry and flaking. A boy with tears in his eyes ran after her, clutching a stuffed doll.
Alexander took a step back as the woman came closer. An undesirable. Had the disease spread here, too? He took Scarlet’s hand. They should leave at once. The commotion could escalate, and he didn’t want to be caught in the midst of it. Someone grabbed the woman by the arm, feeling her forehead. A man offered her water while another picked up her child, caressing his head.
Alexander paused. It was strange. They crowded around her, but it didn’t seem to be in disgust. The whole atmosphere surrounding her was different than in Anadrieth. No one was screaming, throwing rocks or calling the guards; they were taking care of her. He relaxed his grip on Scarlet.
“Different, isn’t it?” she said.
Alexander slowly nodded. “Different, indeed…”
They spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through the streets, making their way toward the castle. It was the same everywhere—friendly smiles and loving families. They weren’t preparing for war at all. Was it ignorance? Arrogance? Complacency?
He clenched his jaw, tucking the hilt of his Golden Dawn farther under his cloak. His people had lived the last few years in fear and were now uprooting their entire lives in the hopes of escaping their fate. This wasn’t fair. If only he could give Lord Tamar a piece of his mind. But it wasn’t the people of Lanadrin’s fault.
As the sun fully set, the crowds began to thin, and the night guards emerged to patrol the city. They looked more like the barbarians to which he was accustomed. Alexander shivered as the temperature dropped rapidly to a more comfortable level. The rendezvous point was in sight, and they ducked through the streets to get closer.
“Psst,” a voice hissed.
Alexander looked around, then up. Kakeru was on the roof above him.
“Get up here.”
Alexander frowned, looking for a way up. It was very high, and it made him queasy just looking at it. The walls were flat, with no ladder or stairs in sight. Scarlet rubbed her palms together, then took a running leap at the wall. She used her momentum to scale the side of the house, and Kakeru pulled her onto the roof. Clearly, she’d done this before. Alexander stood on the ground, peering at the wall. Maybe he wasn’t cut out for this.
“Maybe he should have stayed with the horses…” Kakeru clicked his tongue. “Get a run-up and use that ledge to hoist yourself up to the next part.”
Alexander gritted his teeth. He was Lord of Anadrieth, for dragon’s sake. He wasn’t going to be left behind. Taking a deep breath, he took a running leap at the wall, his fingers fumbling at the tiny ledge. There was barely enough purchase to launch himself farther up the wall. As he reached for the edge of the roof, his foot slipped. But before he could fall, a hand caught his wrist, yanking him over the side.
“You’ll get used to it,” said Kakeru, leaving him to pull himself up the rest of the way.
Scaling walls wasn’t in their training regime, and he was not planning on adding it any time soon. The ground was quite comfortable as it was. Even at this height, he was a little light-headed. There was a reason he wasn’t one to climb trees—unlike his siblings. They passed through the city above the eyes of the guards. At least leaping between the rooftops was much easier than climbing walls.
Eventually, they stopped on a building that appeared to be abandoned, even though it was clearly in a strategic location close to the castle. Alexander glimpsed the remnants of large structures within it that resembled a forge.
Across from them, the walls were high, and the defense seemed impregnable. The entire gates were made from blackscale, with iridescent threads running like rivers through the black metal. Lord Tamar’s castle was similar in stature to his, but it spread over the land instead of stacking the stories on top of each other, and the guards were stationed at every visible point. His army would never have made it this far.
Kakeru pushed something into his and Scarlet’s hands—a black dragon mask.
“It’ll be easier to fight in than that scarf. Let’s get into position.”
Alexander removed his hood, unwrapping the cloth and fitting the mask to his face. It was an odd sensation, and his range of vision was a little narrower than normal. He pulled his sword out, tilting his head side to side as he looked at his reflection. Not bad. He shook off the soot that his boots had picked up.
“What is this place?”
“An iron foundry,” said Kakeru.
“Wouldn’t Lord Tamar be using it to prepare for war? It looks like it’s been long abandoned.”
He shrugged. “People say it’s possessed.”
“Possessed?”
“Human statues were found encased in solid iron. When they broke them open, they realized it was the workers, suffocated by metal. A witness called the culprit, ‘the iron slayer,’ and then, rumors went out of control.”
“Foolish reason to desert a valuable resource,” said Alexander. A spark caught his eye as Kakeru began to light a small fire on the ground. “Wait, what are you—”
“Shh. This is going to partially rely on you because I can’t see air spirits.”
“What?” Alexander hissed.
“The only reason I agreed to let you come was so you could help pull this off. This isn’t exactly a stealth mission. That’s why we’re going to do this the quickest way possible. Lord Tamar won’t have let Hanabi out of his sight, and this way, everyone will be forced outside.” Kakeru stared at both of them. “Sara is going to control the gas in a concentrated stream toward us, and you’re going to light it.”
He pointed at the fire and removed the bow from his back. Dousing the arrow in a sticky liquid, he handed it to him. “Then, Scarlet is going to help Sara use the explosion to protect us and, of course, take out some of his army while we’re here.”
Alexander saw Scarlet pale out of the corner of his eye. “Absolutely not. She’s just a child.”
Kakeru shrugged. “So were we. It’s not a time of peace, and if you have the power to take action, you should.”
“By forcing a child to kill people? She doesn’t even have the control you think she does.”
“What would you know?” Kakeru put his hands on his hips. “Scarlet is the embodiment of the spirit of fire itself, one of the four original elements. She needs practice, sure, but not the decades of training we did. You don’t even realize you possess the spirit arts yourself, do you?”
Alexander paused in his retort. “What?”
“Mina told me, but she didn’t need to. If you’re truly of the Winter bloodline, you have an equal affinity for air and water, meaning you can manipulate ice, just like your father and his father before that.” He waved a hand. “Which means, right now, you’re the only one of us that can see Sara’s signal.”
Alexander clutched the bow, almost snapping the arrow in his grip. Now that he mentioned it, he had noticed something of the sort before. A little bit of strange frost here and there, things becoming colder
when he touched them, how he never felt the cold like others did.
Kakeru sighed. “I know it’s a lot to take in, but we need you both right now if we’re going to rescue Hanabi. Otherwise, this journey will have been for naught, and more than one of us is likely to get captured. And if that happens, the war is as good as lost.”
“I’ll shield us if I can,” said Scarlet in a small voice. “But I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
Alexander relaxed his fingers. They didn’t have much of a choice, and the longer they stood there, the more likely they were going to get caught.
“All right, fine. What do I have to do?”
“You need to concentrate on seeing, but not with your eyes. Feel everything around you. You want to tap into your spirit sight, the part of you that’s connected to the spirit realm. It’s the first thing we learn to do.”
Alexander held his breath and squinted, scrunching his face. This was the kind of talk he would have expected to come out of Adelia’s mouth, not a legendary member of the Celestial Assassins. He glanced around and frowned. Nothing.
“Is something supposed to happen?”
Kakeru slapped his forehead. “The point isn’t to look like you’re constipated, but to tune in to the world around you. Listen to the wind. See if you can hear its voice. Feel the air beckoning you.”
Alexander closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths. He forced his mind to slow and his body to calm. A slight breeze drifted over him, and his cloak lifted behind him. There was a sour, unnatural tang to the air. He slowly opened his eyes. Tiny silver lights danced around him, as though they were waiting for his command. He reached out to touch one, but it drifted away immediately. There was a concentrated line of them snaking through the sky, shimmering their way over to him from a distant point. They definitely weren’t stars.
“I think I see it.”
“Then, aim for it.”
Alexander dipped the arrow in the small fire, drawing back the bow. Upon its release, it arced across the sky. As soon as the flame touched the silver lights, the sky ignited, and explosions rippled in a devastating chain reaction. The castle erupted into flame, slinging debris in every direction. The guards ran toward the commotion as the occupants inside the stone walls began pouring out.
“Let’s go!” cried Kakeru.
They sprinted across the roof and over the wall, landing in the castle grounds. As if on cue, Cynric and Sara galloped toward them from the stables. Ryuko dropped down beside them, as well, matching their pace. His face was almost completely obscured, the mask over the top half of his face and a cloth over the bottom half.
“What took you so long?” he growled.
“You could have helped,” said Kakeru.
Alexander ignored them as they regrouped, advancing in a line through the smoke. Amongst the fleeing servants and screams, a mighty figure strode from the castle, dragging a girl in one hand and dangling a massive axe from the other. His hair was tied back, and a braided beard covered his chin. Alexander stiffened. This had to be Lord Tamar; from his demeanor and the way he carried himself, it could be no one else.
The girl in his grasp struggled, her wrists bound in front of her. She was clothed in a sheer white nightgown, adorned with gaudy jewels that didn’t quite suit her. She must be Hanabi. The barbarians surrounded them within a few moments, and Alexander found himself backing into a tight circular formation with his cohorts.
Lord Tamar grinned, revealing the yellow stains on his teeth. “I don’t suppose you thought you could beat me with that little stunt.” He released his hold on Hanabi, lifting the axe with both hands. It was a formidable weapon with a blade of blackscale and a handle of white stonewood. “At least engage me in a real challenge before I return with this one.” He ran his tongue over his lips.
Kakeru silently notched an arrow, taking aim.
Lord Tamar laughed, snapping his fingers, and his men pointed hundreds of arrows at them from the battlements.
“Do you think you’ll actually hit me before you’re all filled with arrows? Come now. Surrender, and I’ll let you battle me one on one before I execute you all.”
Kakeru smirked. “Who said it was for you?”
Hanabi threw her hands up, and the arrow was released. Ryuko threw her the tome, and Sara flung out her hands. The heavy book seemed as light as air as it sailed straight toward the priestess. Just as the arrow pierced the rope and her hands came free, Hanabi caught her tome and launched herself away from Lord Tamar in one fluid motion.
“Fire!” spluttered Lord Tamar, lunging at her. A volley was released, and the arrows arced toward them from all sides.
Hanabi slammed a hand on the tome, sending out a blinding light and covering the book in strange symbols. Alexander tensed his muscles, but the impact of the arrows never came. All of the barbarians were frozen mid-charge. Some fell over, others were stuck with their mouths open, mid-battle cry. It was as if time had stopped altogether. He glanced at himself, then the others. None of them seemed to be affected. What was going on?
The flames from the castle were drawn unnaturally around them in an instant ring of fire, and the incoming arrows crumbled to ash. Scarlet’s eyes were glowing as she directed the fire in a protective circle. But instead of remaining around them, the flames burst outward, scorching the men in the battlements. Kakeru thrust his hands to the ground, and the earth split apart, swallowing the barbarians to their left.
Alexander stood there, dumbfounded. His sword suddenly seemed very inadequate. A moment later, the remaining barbarians began to move again, as though nothing had stopped them in the first place. With their formation ruined and their men dying left and right, the barbarians backed off, glancing at each other nervously.
Hanabi staggered away from Lord Tamar, who clumsily dug his hands into the earth. The ground shook, enough for her to trip, and her movements seemed slow and painful.
Cynric dashed to grab her, hoisting her onto his back. Kakeru pulled up a large piece of earth, kicking it toward Lord Tamar at high speed. The fearsome man was knocked back as the earth crashed into him, and the large mass flew over him and into several other men.
“Let’s go!” shouted Kakeru. He looked like he was gasping for air.
Alexander hesitated. If there was ever a time to finish off Lord Tamar, it was now. But more men began pouring out onto the grounds, and their escape route was shrinking by the second. He turned, sprinting after the rest of them.
Kakeru pushed the earth on which they stood, and it rose into a pillar, launching them back over the wall and crumbling the second they jumped off. A voice roared out after them, but Alexander didn’t pause to look.
There was no further resistance as they fled the city.
18
Chapter Eighteen
Reinhardt
Lord Reinhardt crossed one leg over the other, leaning against his armrest. His deep blue cloak, pinned at his right shoulder with the Elorian emblem, caught in the sea breeze and billowed in his councilor’s face. He casually tucked it behind him, trapping it between his back and the chair. Luckily, his councilor remained silent. That was embarrassing.
Before him, two of his best fighters faced off in the arena for the final round of the tournament for which he never asked. When one of his personal guards had injured his leg, his soldiers went wild over the available position. One thing led to another, and here they were, at an unscheduled event that everyone seemed to know about in advance except for him.
At least it would let some of them work off the excitement they’d built up, now that they weren’t marching into battle against Lanadrin. Reinhardt shifted his sword belt again, the decorative sheath in pristine condition. The fighters were signaled to begin. This was a nightmare.
The two opponents went at each other with unbridled ferocity. Reinhardt adverted his eyes slightly, biting the inside of his lip with every clash of the sword. They could have at least used practice weapons. But no, everyone had insisted on steel—for the pur
pose of displaying their merit, of course. One let out a cry as a line of blood blossomed across his arm. Reinhardt tugged at his collar, swallowing. If they had used wooden swords, that wouldn’t have happened.
“A glass of wine, my lord?” That silky voice again. With beautiful brown eyes and a dress that accentuated her already voluptuous chest, this noble girl wouldn’t leave him alone.
He smiled at her. “No, thank you, Alyssa.”
She slid in beside him, perching atop his other armrest. Ever since the women caught wind that the wedding was canceled, they seemed to be making even more of an effort to catch his attention.
“I’m sure you must be thrilled that my father’s fishing endeavors have brought you much gold. Lysanthir is rather difficult to interact with, much less close a successful trading deal.”
Reinhardt internally rolled his eyes. Someone had put those words into her mouth in an effort to make her sound more worldly and impressive, no doubt, but he could see right through it. The way she presented herself irritated him.
“It was indeed fortuitous.”
Alyssa leaned in closer. “He thinks he found a way to cross the reef.”
He blanched, staring at her. “Nonsense. There is nothing outside of our empire, and that reef itself is cursed. Anyone who approaches it dies in a violent storm. I forbid him to try.”
Her hand flew to her chest. “My father is only trying to do what’s best for me. If only I were married, he wouldn’t have to worry about my wellbeing and find new ventures to take care of me.”
Reinhardt relaxed his muscles. Good. It was just a silly ploy to get closer to him. The Sea of Dunite was treacherous if one went too far, and many of his best men had died trying to venture farther out. It was a well-known fact that no one could cross the reef. She began to press him further, but his eyes were drawn back to the duel. In a flurry of attacks, one man stopped just short of the other’s neck.
Reinhardt stifled a gasp. The crowd erupted into cheers, and the winner was declared. Thank dragons that it was finally over and no one was seriously injured. Then, the announcer turned toward him in a grand gesture.