Vetica
It had been five years since Vetica called her sister a monster. Five years since they last talked. Vetica had her own room now, and she sat in it quietly, contemplating which of her belongings she would take with her. She’d take her knife, of course. She’d grown attached to it ever since she’d learned how to use a blade hex. Watching its color turn that satisfying shade of blue always filled with her delight. Even the sensation of first manifesting it. When a person first develops a hex, it’s almost like it all clicks into place. Like the world suddenly makes sense. That’s how magic felt. It’s how it felt when you discovered a new power you didn’t know you had. Blade hexes weren’t all that rare, but for Vetica, it was proof of her strength. It was happiness. Her thoughts been happier in general lately. A happiness that lasted right up until her father kicked in her door without warning.
The door flew against the opposite wall. Vetica shot back in her bed and looked toward the doorway. “Father?” she asked, unable to hide the alarm in her voice.
He didn’t say a word. He walked up and grabbed her by the wrist. Vedic wrenched her off the bed and dragged her after him.
“What are you doing?” she asked, pulling back against his grip. He moved quickly, dragging her down the hallway. Her instincts told her to run. Had Lilica shown signs of the power? Was this the end for Vetica? No. Her instructor would save her. Instructor Sarena promised that—
Vedic tossed her forward into a room. She tumbled headfirst and landed sprawled out by a pair of boots. She looked up at the woman occupying them. Her instructor. Sarena’s eyes appeared soulless. Like she wasn’t aware of her surroundings. “What did you…” Vetica turned back to look at her father. “What’s wrong with her?” she asked.
Vedic ignored her. “I have eyes everywhere, Vetica. You had to have known that. Yet you asked your instructor to help you run away. I know children get rebellious as they get older, but I thought you’d be wiser than that.”
A pit formed in her stomach. He knew about their plan? How much of it? She rubbed her wrist where he had grabbed it, trying to numb the pain. “No. We were just talking. It wasn’t serious!” she said. She wondered if the lie was believable.
Vedic chuckled. “Amusing. Even now you lie. Sarena herself told me.” He looked up at the woman Vetica depended on. The woman she trusted. “You said you didn’t want to be a part of my family anymore. You asked your instructor to help you escape because one day you wanted to start your own family. I knew Sarena was soft, but to indulge such childish fantasies…” Vedic sneered. “Your mother used to speak such nonsense about how children are precious. Did she fill your head with that? Do you really think I’d let you run away, fall in love, have a child? Did you believe you were anything more than my daughter?” he asked.
He knew too much. He knew things only Sarena should know. She looked up at her instructor. “You told him?” she asked.
Sarena didn’t respond. Something was wrong with her. Vetica was confused. What was going on? Why was she acting like this?
“Sarena isn’t aware of her surroundings anymore. She can’t help you,” Vedic said. Behind him, in the doorway, a woman entered the room. Vetica recognized her. She was a member of the Rawlins. She was trained in assassination, as most of them were, but her specialty was actually medicine. Surgery to be specific.
Vetica took a step back. “What are you going to do?” she asked.
Vedic smiled, drawing his knife. “I’m going to make sure you know the only family you’ll ever have are the Rawlins. I’m going to take away those childish fantasies. Your dreams will die here in this room, Vetica.”
What followed was a blur. She only processed bits and pieces of the next hour. The worst hour of her life.
Pain.
The surgeon shouted. “You cut her too high, Master. I have to work quickly, or she’ll die.”
Someone was screaming. Vetica wished they would stop. The screaming made the pain so much worse. Wait, was that her own voice? Were those her own screams?
She faded in and out of consciousness. A thud next to her. The surgeon’s body lay beside her on the ground. Lifeless eyes stared at Vetica. There was a knife in the back of the surgeon’s head and a surprised expression on her face.
Someone killed her?
Darkness.
Consciousness.
“I’ve got you, Vetica. Don’t die, please,” a girl’s voice. There was a painful sensation where the surgeon had been working.
A bright light.
“Why are you…helping me?” Vetica whispered.
***
For the first time since their fight started, Vetica was afraid.
“Lilica! Stop this!” Vetica shouted. Her sister shot forward, her blade whizzing through the air. Vetica glanced backward. She realized she was being pressed toward the wall. Lilica jammed her blade toward Vetica’s side. She just narrowly dodged. The dagger sunk deep into the wooden wall behind her. Vetica swung a hand toward her sister but was too slow. Lilica ducked and then shot forward, head butting her.
Her ears rung. She escaped to Lilica’s left and put some distance between them. Her sister followed. Each one of Lilica’s movements was a blur. Left. Right. Right. Parry. Jump back. It was all Vetica could do to stay ahead of her much faster sister. Had she been so focused on saving her sister that she had doomed herself? Was she going to die here with Charlie and Merlin watching? Was this it?
Lilica disappeared. Vetica’s head swiveled. “What?”
She heard someone laugh behind her.
Something hit Vetica in the back. An impact. She blinked. “What?” She looked over her shoulder. Lilica was behind her. Vetica took a step forward and turned. There was an intense feeling of heat on her back. She reached behind her and felt the dagger’s hilt. “How did you…” Vetica stumbled. “How did you move so fast?”
Lilica swayed like a snake. Her eyes were dilated as she approached Vetica and loomed over her.
Vetica realized she was on the ground. When had she fallen?
“Vetica! Are you okay?” Charlie asked in her mind. Vetica looked toward the audience. Her eyes locked on Charlie. His hand was outstretched.
“No,” she mouthed, shaking her head. She had to do this alone.
He hesitantly withdrew it.
Lilica slipped a hand under the bottom of her shirt and pulled out a new dagger. Vetica gritted her teeth and forced herself to stand. The hex on her own knife was wavering. The blue glow faded in and out. Each time the blue returned it was lighter than the last time. The wound on her shoulder was bleeding profusely. The knife in her back was the only thing keeping her other wound from doing the same. She needed to end this fight quickly.
Lilica threw her dagger right at Vetica’s face. Vetica shot out of the way in time, but while she was distracted, Lilica closed the gap. A fist to Vetica’s core sent her flying back into the wall. She slammed into it. The knife in her back dug deeper. She recoiled and fell to the ground. Vetica wiped blood from her chin.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Vetica…” Charlie said in her head again. She didn’t look for him this time. She just shook her head.
Vetica stood and stumbled forward. Lilica pounced again.
She struck Vetica so fast it was like she had ten fists.
Impact after impact. Blow after blow. Vetica barely had time to breathe in between punches. She could feel her body giving way. The knife in her hand was useless against an opponent she couldn’t see. The hex on it faded. It clanged to the ground. Vetica slipped a hand behind her back and pulled the dagger out of it. She swung it blindly forward, hoping to ward Lilica away. Her sister grabbed her hand and crushed it, forcing her to let go of the blade.
Lilica pushed her back again. Vetica screamed as her open wound slammed against the wall. Her sister stared at the blade and smiled. “I told you I’d take more blood this time. Thank you for the gift.”
Vetica stared up at her. The knife she had dropped sat in between her legs. “So, you know who you’re fighting now? You don’t think you’re trying to save your sister anymore?”
Lilica shook her head. “What?” she asked.
Something was definitely wrong with her sister. Something beyond her psychopathic tendencies. Almost like Lilica shifted in and out of reality. It didn’t matter. It was clear now that Vetica couldn’t win this fight. Whatever technique had enhanced Lilica’s body was beyond what Vetica could handle.
Lilica took a step back and stared at her. “You mocked me earlier. You don’t get to die on your ass. Stand up and fight. Let’s finish this,” Lilica spat.
That was fair. Vetica stared at the blade in front of her. Truthfully, if she was going to die, she wanted it to be with a dagger in her hand.
“Blue Hex—” Vetica paused. She had a strange feeling. When a person first develops a hex, there’s a sort of feeling associated with it. It’s almost like it all clicks into place. Like the world suddenly makes sense. That’s how magic felt. It was how she felt now. Like it all suddenly made sense. Like there was a power inside her she had never noticed before. She couldn’t hear its name. Unique hexes were like that. Sometimes they didn’t reveal everything about themselves at once. Sometimes they just stopped by to say hello and that they were there.
This was one of those cases.
Her dagger shimmered to life. But the blade wasn’t blue. It was a dark black with blindingly bright lights dotting along it. She only noticed for a second before chanting. “Blue Hex Blade!” she shouted. The familiar blue covered the uniquely colored blade and hid it from view. She could feel the two hexes overlapping with one another. The more powerful hex hidden beneath. The audience hadn’t seen since her leg had hidden the dagger from view. Her eyes flickered toward Lilica, but her sister was smiling, staring at the blade with Vetica’s blood on it in her hands.
Vetica didn’t have time to think about what this meant. What it meant for the Rawlins. For her sister. She didn’t have time to think about what it meant for her life. But as far as she could tell, no one had noticed.
When she lifted the blade, a surge of power coursed through her. Her limbs felt lighter. The pain in her back and shoulder subsided. It was like she was on a long run, and she’d suddenly found her second wind. Whatever this hex was, whatever its name was, it was powerful. Powerful enough to end this fight.
Vetica shot to her feet, jumped, and kicked off the wall behind her. Lilica barely had time to react as Vetica shot past her and swung her blade. Vetica landed beyond her sister and looked over her shoulder.
A long scar slowly appeared on Lilica’s cheek. Lilica lifted a hand to her face and noticed the blood. “How?”
“I’m sorry, Lilica,” Vetica said, before disappearing into a blur of movement.
Lilica tried to react. She was faster and stronger than she had been earlier in the fight, after all. But even the technique their father had taught her wasn’t enough.
Vetica was like the wind. Her blade flashed.
Blood trickled.
Flesh tore.
Her dagger danced.
Lilica was helpless. The knife in her hand flailed. But Vetica ignored it, moving around and through Lilica’s defenses to strike her repeatedly. She could end this fight in a single moment if she wanted. She could take Lilica’s head or stab her through the heart before she could react.
But the expression on Lilica’s face was no longer the face of a trained assassin. It was the face of a scared little girl, facing her death.
“It’s over,” Vetica said. She ran forward and brushed Lilica’s blade to the side. It flew toward the audience and embedded itself in the ground several feet away from their father’s feet.
Lilica tried to jump back, but Vetica was too fast. She tackled Lilica to the ground, pinning her down by her wrist.
Lilica wouldn’t look her in the eyes. “Get it over with,” she said.
Vetica’s face softened. “I don’t want to kill you, Lilica,” Vetica whispered.
“They’ll kill both of us then,” she said.
“I won’t let them,” Vetica said.
Lilica seemed taken aback by that. She swallowed. “Killing me would guarantee your survival.”
Vetica glanced toward the crowd and leaned in. She pressed her knife close to Lilica’s neck. She had something to say. This way, it would look like a final taunt before a killing blow.
“When our father cut me open, you were the one who saved me, weren’t you?”
Lilica’s eyes widened. “I thought you didn’t have any memories from that day…”
“I don’t remember much. I know someone saved me. But I can’t remember everything. There was someone with me, though. I’d always thought Sarena had found some way to break father’s spell. But I know now only he could undo it. So, it had to be you. You saved me and stitched me back together, didn’t you? You risked your life for the girl who called you a monster.”
Lilica’s eyes fell. “Do you still think I’m a monster?” she asked.
Vetica sighed. “Yes.”
Lilica looked away from her.
“But you’re also my sister, and I’m grateful for what you did. I’m grateful you saved me,” Vetica said.
Lilica was at a loss for words.
Vetica eased off of Lilica. She dropped her dagger and stood. The hexes on it faded. “This fight is over. There’s no need for me to kill her. She lost. Call it, father,” she said. Her declaration caught the crowd by surprise.
“This is a duel to the death,” Alona protested.
“Even so, my father is our leader. We’ve determined a victor. There’s no need to waste Rawlin blood. Especially not an heir,” Vetica spat back.
Vedic shook his head. “You have a lot to learn, girl. A pity.” She realized he wasn’t looking at her. He was looking past her.
Vetica sensed it, too. She gasped. She drew the only weapon she had left, the light weighted dagger on her waist, and spun. Lilica was on her feet, her dagger inches away from Vetica’s face. Vetica backed away and lifted her own dagger to parry. It was close, but she should be able to—
Something hard hit their blades and sent both daggers flying. Vetica recoiled and covered her face. When she recovered, she turned to look at her sister.
Lilica had fallen to the ground. She was laughing manically.
Vetica shook her head. “What happened?” She looked down and saw pieces of crumbled rock at her feet. Her eyes went wide. She turned to look at the audience and saw Charlie with his hand outstretched.
He’d intervened.
He’d broken the rules.
“Don’t worry Vetica! I’ve got your back!” he shouted.
Charlie
Vetica didn’t react in quite the way he’d expected her to. Sure, he wasn’t supposed to get involved, but her sister had almost killed her. Surely she wasn’t mad at him for saving her? That wouldn’t make any sense.
And yet, the face she made wasn’t a grateful one. It was the face of heartbreak.
The audience was so silent that even in the second row, he could hear her.
“Why didn’t you just trust me? I asked you to trust me…” she said. Her eyes were watery. She fell to her knees.
His mouth parted. Charlie did trust her. He just didn’t want her to get stabbed. He’d done the right thing. Hadn’t he? He looked at Merlin, but Merlin was staring nervously at Vedic and his advisers.
Alona stood. “The rules have been broken. An outsider has intervened in a duel and broken our laws. Punishment must be administered.”
Charlie’s nostrils flared. “I’d like to see them try. I’ll kick their butts!” he said to Merlin and Orb.
Vedic stood. But he didn’t make a move toward Charlie. He moved toward Vetica.
“Charlie, I don’t think you’re the one they’re looking to punish!” Merlin called out. He broke into a run. Brushing past the people seated around them.
Sister called out for them to wait.
But as fast as they’d seen Vetica and Lilica move during the fight. Neither was comparable to Vedic.
Suddenly, he was behind Vetica. His dagger flashed.
He stabbed her through the heart.