Synin was free. Using a network comprised of the castle’s servants, and most surprising of all, a distraction arranged by her brother, Synin escaped the castle.
Her girlfriend Claire spearheaded the escape, guiding her out of the castle, along the city’s winding streets and out into the neighboring countryside.
Everything was new to her, the uneven feel of the cobbles beneath her feet. The smell of the streets, murky and rotting, but with a sweet undertone. The exhilaration of being outside and the adrenaline of escape, it all felt like a grand adventure. This changed after she saw how much money it took to bribe the city guard.
“10 gold? But we only have-”
“Five left, I know.” Claire lied aloud. Synin remembered her warning not to flaunt how much money they had. She didn’t want them getting robbed. The bribe took a large dent out of their savings.
Synin had to remind herself she wasn’t a princes anymore, and to expect money to be tighter from now on. She clasped her hands as she walked under the probing gaze of the guards. She brushed her finger over the copper ring. She wasn’t going back, it was worth.
They traveled for three days, hiding out in bars and inns along the path. On the fourth night since Synin’s escape, with no obvious signs of someone chasing them, Claire finally declared them safe.
“Thank Rhea,” Synin sighed, “And thank you, I couldn’t have done this without you.”
Claire blushed, but she had a glower on her face. “You shouldn’t have to do this at all, why do your parents have to be such huge assholes.”
“They’re not really,” Synin said despite a look from Claire. “An arranged marriage is a good way to forge an alliance. And it worked fro Daigo, he’s even happy with his wife.” Which made it all the more surprising when he helped her escape. Maybe her cared more for her than she thought.
“You told them you didn’t want to. You told them no, and they went ahead and arranged it anyway. They’re assholes Nin, plain and simple.” She huffed and went to the door, “I don’t want to talk about them anymore, I’m going to get a drink, you coming?”
“Am I allowed?” Claire had insisted Synin stay in their room at every other tavern they stayed in, to avoid anyone recognizing her.
“I could say no, but we’ve seen what happens when people tell you what to do.”
Synin laughed at the joke and followed her bodyguard downstairs. Claire found a table for them, a corner near the entrance, close to a window so they could quickly escape, she explained.
Claire ordered their drinks and brought them to the table, she slammed them on the table.
“Are you still mad about my parents?”
“Are you not?”
“No. They can’t control me anymore, and for that I’m glad. It isn’t that I’m not mad, its that I no longer care about them. If I heard tomorrow that their souls were released, I wouldn’t shed a tear.” She took a sip of her drink. “They don’t matter anymore.”
Claire blinked, then laughed. “Damn, Nin. I never thought you could be so cruel.”
“They knew I was already dating you, and they still wanted me to marry a necromancer. Fuck them.”
Claire broke into a laughing fit. Synin didn’t see what was so funny but seeing her girlfriend laugh made her happy so she giggled along.
“Oh yeah, I never saw the guy you were meant to marry. What was he like?”
“I don’t know, he didn’t talk a lot. I only saw him a few times. Whenever our families would arrange a meeting, he would slouch in his seat and looked like he wanted the whole ordeal to be over with.”
“Aw, now I feel sorry for him.”
“Don’t. He’s a necromancer, one of the most powerful people on the continent. At anytime he could have rejected the offer, but he didn’t because he’s a coward.”
“Wow. That’s true, but wow.” She took a long gulp of her drink, “Now be honest, were you always like this and I just never noticed, or are you being wild now that you don’t have to worry what people think.”
“Bit of both.”
“Ha.” Claire looked into her drink, with a worried frown on her face. “I have some plans in place for if you’re family tries to find us, but I didn’t make any for if you’re ex-fiance or his family go after us. There's nothing I can do to stop them.”
Synin saw the tension in her girlfriend’s shoulders. There was a curse on the continent they lived on. Everything born into it would die, a hundred years later and there was no naturally living creature on the continent.
The only reason for anyone being alive was the necromancers. They reanimated the people of the Dead continent, and in return they ruled over it. To stand up to a necromancer was to risk your own existence, since any skilled one could unravel the bonds that kept your soul tethered to the world.
Synin and Claire were both undead, but Synin was the daughter of a powerful family, and Claire wasn’t. If Synin was captured she would be ransomed, if Claire was captured, she’d be killed. She was risking more by attempting this escape. Synin didn't think she could could ever show how much that meant to her.
“Well, the family could go after us, but that seems unlikely, it was just an arranged marriage, not an important one either. But if they did, they would probably send the fiance, since it would be seen as a slight on his honor or some shit.”
Claire groaned. “But since he has arms as thin as a stick, he shouldn’t be much trouble.” Claire smiled. “In fact, he’s the scrawniest looking guy I ever saw. He had black hair that went down to his shoulders, but it wasn’t washed and looked like a skunk’s tail.” Claire laughed.
“Really?”
“Yeah, he was a shorter than me too. Never mind you, I’m pretty sure I could take him.”
Claire chuckled, “That does put my mind at ease. At least a little.”
The double doors swung open nearby them.
“The guy sounds like a wimp, what was his name again, in case we need to avoid them.”
“Nole Nightshade.” She said and sipped of her drink.
“Hmm?” A voice next to her said.
Synin turned and saw her ex-fiance standing next to her.
He seemed to recognize her at the same time she recognized him. His eyes widened for a second, Synin did the only thing she could think of. She spat her drink at his face. It splashed in his eyes, he wiped at them with a curse.
“Him.” Synin choked out. Claire realized what was happening, she’d left her sword in their room, but she wasn’t defenseless. Synin’s parents had hired her to protect their daughter from any harm. Although this would later include themselves, they hired her because she had a dangerous reputation. And most important of all, because she was a skilled battle-mage.
A wave of kinetic force slammed into the necromancer, knocking him off his feet, and back through the doors he had come through. “Come on!”
She blasted a hole through the window behind them, and dragged them both through it.
Now outside, they started running, but the necromancer was on his feet
He opened his cloak, a dark cloud emerged and was flying after them. Claire pulled them over to the trees, hoping they would lose the necromancer in the thick of the woods. But whatever came after them was fast, it hit them before they reached the trees.
Rather than hurting them, it exploded against their backs, not even halting their progress. Yet.
The cloud wrapped itself around Synin and slid down her mouth. It scratched her throat and caught. She started choking.
Claire noticed Synin choking and stopped. Claire slapped her on the back, but it did nothing, whatever was in her throat was being kept their by Nole.
“Don’t worry, Nin. I’ll save you.” Saying this, Claire eased her down, took out a short knife, and charged at the necromancer.
Nole grabbed the ends of his cloak and opened flung it wide. It reminded Synin of a bat. The dust he kept hidden beneath his cloak flew out and encased Claire, she collapsed in a coughing fit.
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With what he assumed to be the largest threat dealt with, Nole walked over to Claire. The feeling of the dust in her throat being controlled vanished, Claire was able to gather enough saliva to spit it out. Nole politely waited for her to finish.
“Who sent you, my family? Why are you here?” He said
“Why are YOU here?” Synin spat back.
“Why are you here?”
“Why are YOU here?”
“Don’t try and confuse me. Answer the question.”
“Why are YOU here?”
“Stop that.”
There was a scream behind them. Claire shook off the remaining dust and was aiming her knife at Nole. He waved a hand and the dust flew to Claire’s eyes, blinding her. She cursed, and in a reckless move, threw a kinetic wave in his general direction.
It crashed harmlessly a few feet away from them, but threw up a huge explosion of dirt that made Nole’s eyes widen. While he was distracted, Synin reached into a hidden pocket in her coat. In it was a small knife Claire made her carry for emergencies.
The dust at Claire’s feet rose and once again covered her, dragging her to the ground, Nole cast his hand to the side, and the wet clump of spit and dust rose towards him.
Synin pounced on the hand, grabbing it and pulling Nole down with her. She got on top of him and put the blade to his throat.
“Get your fucking dust off my girlfriend or I’ll cut your throat out.”
Nole snarled but his dust stayed where it was. Claire coughed weakly, it was a sad and strangled sound. Synin pushed the blade in and drew blood. She wanted to question him, but she would end him if it saved Claire. Nole’s eyes widened, he gasped and waved his hand wildly, Claire let out a huge, throat tearing cough…
Synin looked behind her, the dust had lifted off Claire in a cloud. She lay in a pile, but was breathing.
“Move it away from here, don’t try anything.”
Nole sighed, the dust launched itself into the air and flew away over the treetops. Synin didn’t believe he had released control, but thought it was at least far away enough not to be a bother.
She got to her feet, and pulled Nole with her, he winced and held a hand to his bleeding neck. Synin had no pity for him. He had come here to take her back and had tried to kill Claire.
She pushed him forward with the knife at his back, trying to get to her girlfriend as fast as she could. Claire was already standing, with her hands on her knees and was coughing violently.
“I need a drink. By Rhea do I need a drink.”
“You going to be okay?” Synin asked.
“If she gets some water she’ll be fine.” Nole said.
Synin dug the knife a little deeper into his cloak. “Quiet you.” It took a minute for Claire to get enough spit into her mouth to swallow and clear her throat, when she did, she took her own knife and held it to the necromancer’s neck. Synin stood in front of him and began the interrogation.
“Why are you here?”
“Why are YOU here?”
“No, we’re not doing that again. Did my family send you? And if you speak back to me, I’ll ask Claire to kill you.” Synin didn’t think she would do it, now she calm. She felt like she could have killed him when he was under her though. Strange.
“Your family didn’t send me, no one did.”
“So you came after us on your own. That’s ballsy.” Claire croaked.
“I didn’t come after you at all.”
“Then why did you attack us?”
“She attacked first.” He whined at Claire. He looked indignant at the accusation. And a little scared.
“If you won’t tell us why you’re here then we’re going to kill you. Or tie you up and let your family come after you.” Synin said.
“Please don’t.” Nole begged. Was he more scared of what his family would do to him than dying? Why did that frighten him more than death?
“I can’t tell you what I’m doing here, but I promise it had nothing to do with you, and it would be a mistake to let my family know I was here.”
“Why should we trust you?” Claire asked.
“Well, I’ve never broken a promise to you too before have I?”
“You never fucking made a promise to us before!”
“That’s what I’m saying, my trust value is neutral, you have no reason not to trust me.” He said. Synin remembered he was a necromancer. Insufferable and cocky, like all of his kind.
“I can’t believe my parents wanted me to marry you.” Synin said.
“And you didn’t?” he asked. His eyes lit up, “Wait, are you running away, because of the marriage?”
Synin gasped, dammit she should have killed him when she had the chance. Claire growled and pushed the knife closer.
“Wait, wait, wait, wait. There’s been a misunderstanding, neither of us is here for the other.”
“What? Why would we come after you?”
“Exactly!”, Nole said quickly. “None of us came here to capture the other, we’re all trying to run away from the marriage, yes? There’s no reason to fight?”
Synin studied him. He was a necromancer, and he had almost killed her and Claire. But right now he looked terrified and like he wanted to cry and most importantly, he looked like he was telling the truth.
“Claire, stand down, please.” Claire went back to her side. The two sides stared at each other for the moment.
“Thank you.” Nole said to them. “What do you want to do now?”
“I just want to get away from here. No offense, but I don’t want to marry you.”
“Oh, you’re gay?”
“Bi, actually. But that’s not the reason. I told my parents I was already in a relationship, and didn’t want to marry someone they chose and they ignored me and tried to make me marry you.”
“I can understand, I didn’t want to marry you either. And I’m sorry for attacking you and your girlfriend. I thought my family had sent assassins after me or something.”
“Oh.” Synin hadn’t expected him to apologize, he seemed like the type to hold grudges. “Well, I’m sorry for stabbing you in the neck.” She laughed and he chuckled.
“I’m not sorry for anything, I was doing my job.” Claire interjected, and put away her knife. “Also, fuck your dust, my eyes are still watering.”
“I have eye-drops if you want them. You learn to start carrying them around when you control dust.” He tossed a small glass bottle to her. Claire grunted but used them anyway.
“Um, out of curiosity where are you going? I don’t want to come with you or even know where exactly you’re going, but if our families look for us, they’ll hear about the fight that happened here,” Synin turned to find a group of people huddled by the inn’s window, observing their conversation. Even when they knew they were caught they continued watching. One even waved.
“I would prefer not to give them the chance of ganging up and coming after us together. So anyway you go one way, I’ll go the opposite.”
“Well, we won’t tell you where, but were going to travel along the main road for a few days, Claire says she’ll to this small town in the east where we can hide out.” That was just a small part of their plan though. In truth, Synin had conspired with Claire to not only leave the state her parents ruled, but the continent itself.
A worried look crossed Nole’s face. “What is it?” Synin asked.
“It’s… not a good idea to go there, if you’re going to Traiton.”
“Why?” Claire asked, not even appearing ruffled by him perfectly guessing where they were going. Nole didn’t answer, he didn’t like where the conversation was going. Synin thought he wasn’t going to say anything, and Claire might be about to force it out of him, when he sighed and seemed to resolve himself.
“My family has an army there. Its small, but its constantly getting reinforcements, taking over the town and the surrounding lands.”
“What? They can’t do that. My family would notice.”
“You forget, my family is already in your state, they’re intercepting the messages. As far as I know, they planned to wait until the army was big enough to force the surrounding states to surrender. Plus, thy were hoping you and I would already be engaged, and your parents would be forced to join them, or even willingly help them.
“But why? Are your family trying to start a new kingdom?”
“No,” Nole’s eyes were disturbed. “They’re building an army to take over the continent.”
Synin stood in shock, digesting the information. Take over he continent? It seemed preposterous. Then Synin remembered, it didn’t matter how well an undead army could fight. It was all about the numbers. The states in the lower half of the continent had the most people. And it would be easy, from Nole’s family’s perspective, to force those people to fight for them with the aid of Synin’s state.
Synin was lucky to grow up in a time of relative peace, but she heard stories about what happened during the wars. When soldiers on either side of the war couldn’t die you had to get creative to make the enemy stay down. This could be as simple as decapitating the bodies of the enemy. or digging mass graves to bury every person in a conquered state under a thick layer of concrete.
Synin’s state was built on the area around one of these mass graves. The people still buried, still living. Too hard to dig them up then repair the ground, apparently. Together alone, forever buried under a kingdom that tried to forget them. It gave Synin’s nightmares.
Nolan’s family wanted to start another round of wars like this?
“Why? What do they think the war will accomplish?”
“I don’t know. My family never told me, I was meant to be the distraction for all this. I didn’t want to be complicit so I left.”
“Damn.” Claire said. “Traiton was the only port I could take Nin to, all the others are controlled by rival states. Any of them going to be attacked?”
“It would take a while, but I don’t doubt my family is planning to take them as well.”
“Shit.”
Synin rubbed at her face, none of this was right. All that planing, only to end like this? She couldn’t even go back to her family now. Nole’s parents hoped they would help them, and they would. Her parents were schemers, always trying to climb the ladder. The fact they had gathered an army at their doorstep would at first anger them. But that anger would turn to admiration, awe, and cunning.
She noticed Nole watching them. He hadn’t anticipated the news upsetting them this bad. He was rubbing at his neck with discomfort. Despite her predicament, she felt bad for him. Her family would be pissed at her, his would try to kill him, and he had still tried to warn them of the danger.
“Where are you planning to go?”
“I’m going to go to the other states to try and convince them to oppose my family. It hurts to betray them like this, but they’re the ones threatening war. Family or not, I won’t let that stand.”
“Hmm.” Synin said. “Can we go with you?”
“What? Claire and Nole said at the same time.
“Our families want to start a war, it doesn’t sit right with me. My parents are snakes, but I think they still care about me, or at least believe they do. If they hear I’m going against them, it’ll give them pause, which will give us more time to build an army against them, ad it will allow me to ensure my state isn’t harmed too bad in the conflict. You need me because I can give you the layout of the local politics.
Nole seemed to consider this. “I guess that makes sense. We would be more convincing if we went together. And your girlfriend could help ward off assassins. Sure, let’s go.”
Claire rushed over to her girlfriend and grabbed her arm. “Nin can I talk to you for a second?” Synin nodded and they moved a few feet away from Nole.
“Are you trying to give me a heart attack? I’m meant keep you out of danger and you’re trying to throw yourself into the middle of a war?”
“There won’t be a war to throw myself into if we stop it before it can even begin. I don’t want to be a hero or anything, I’m just trying to minimize casualties and make sure my state comes out okay.”
“This isn’t the way to do it.”
“What other way is there?” Claire said nothing and looked pained. Synin let her hand rest against her girlfriend’s cheek.
“I’m not going to let myself get hurt Claire. But, if you don’t want to do this, we can leave and try for another port. I trust you, Claire, if you say this is too dangerous, we leave. No arguments from me.”
Claire frowned, considering what Synin said. She gritted her teeth at the strain of some mental argument, she sighed and said, “Fine. We’ll help the dust boy with his peace mongering.”
“Thank you.”
“But. “Claire said, “I want what you said to be a promise. If I think things are getting too dangerous we leave him to die. Understand?”
“Understood.” Synin said, and stole a kiss from Claire. With her girlfriend flustered and distracted, Synin ran back to Nole and told him they would help.
“Alright. The first state we’re going to is Nolric.” Nole said.
Synin winced.
“What is it?”
“That state hates my family.”
Claire let out a heavy sigh.
The End.