CHAPTER SIXTEEN
*~~~**~~~*
Alana Hurd
*~~~**~~~*
17th of Decepter, 935 PC
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A short wall separated Alana’s sleeping quarters from Kit’s identical one. They sat with their backs to one another, talking quietly. Last thing either of them wanted was a bunch of angry men harping at them for waking them up in the middle of the night. Most of the lamps on the beams nearby had been blown out but the light from one inched right up to the side of her bed, not quite brave enough to rid the corner of all the shadows. She stared at the faint glow of her fingernails as they lay across her lap. Symbols of pride and status. They had felt that way for the first few weeks after she changed, but now, all they did was serve as a reminder of the disgusting death that awaited her. Resentment started to grow in her chest. I’d like to walk right up to the Lotus Queen and smack the bitch in the face. I had a pretty good- She stopped, refusing to admit she’d be better off standing in front of an oven at Elagor’s Bread and Pastries.
“How are you feeling?” Kit asked for the tenth time.
“Still fine.” Lucky, considering she’d spent most of the evening at the side of the ship with the taste of vomit in her mouth and tears running down her cheeks. She’d still be there, contemplating rushing to the end, if Lieutenant Pallani had not all but carried her below deck.
“Right. Good.” Kit had barely left her side since she’d admitted she was ill – something she wished she could take back. Having put it into the world made her fate feel less deniable. Sadness had seeped into her heart that same night, fear had filled her mind. She now knew the wooden planks above her bed better than ever. “And you promise you haven’t been taking your doses?” She managed to put her annoyance into the silence she let answer him. “Right. Good. I think you should eat more too. You’re looking too skinny.”
“Yes, father.” She had noticed she was melting away too though. In the past, she’d have given anything to lose a few pounds. Now, she begged to keep them. In fact, any change in her body brought a wave of dread and hours of worrying. Captain Rouille didn’t appreciate her complete disregard for her responsibilities but he hadn’t even considered learning the cause. He’d just chewed her out something fierce every time he spotted her daydreaming about death. “I’ve been trying to eat. I throw it all up every time.”
“Give it time. Your body’s just adjusting slower than most.” Kit sounded confident but he had no idea. “Berath da Ka’mier.”
“What?”
“It’s ancient Mornish. It means something like time heals all wounds.” Kit spoke more languages than The Creator herself. It was as if he was born to keep dead languages alive. He was quite impressive in that regard. She’d always wanted to learn a second language but that would have required much more work ethic than she possessed.
She opened her palm to see two lotus capsules looking dark in the dim glow of the lanterns. Nothing like the bright beauties that had drawn her in the first time she’d taken the false magic. No matter what she told Kit, she hadn’t slowed her doses at all. If anything, she’d started taking more once everything had sunk in like it was some kind of crutch to get her through the day. She used a rough and tumble Lotus named Meila to support her growing habit. The two would regularly trade capsules for food that would be sent off to the woman’s family. A win, win in Alana’s eyes at first but maybe now she’d hold onto her food, gain some weight back.
Did she have that kind of maturity in her? Probably not.
The capsules made her feel good. Food made her vomit and that felt anything but good. She put both capsules in her mouth. Rather than crunch down on them loudly she tucked one between her teeth and cheek and let the other rest on her tongue, sucking on the powdery coating. The taste was incomparable to any food or drink. Maybe if all the greatest foods in the world could become one magnificent work of culinary art there’d be something to compare it to but as it was, nothing so perfect, or addictive, had ever graced her taste buds. She laid her head back on the top of the wall as her throat worked to swallow the euphoria bit by bit.
“I was thinking,” Kit whispered. She cursed to herself in annoyance then made a grunting sound to coax him on. “What if we tried to find a healer?”
She hadn’t expected to hear an interesting enough thought to make her open her eyes. “A Purist healer?”
“Aye. Maybe their magic could-”
“I follow.” She considered what it would require of them in order to find a Purist healer. “We’d have to disappear for a while. Maybe forever.”
“Like I want to be here anyway.”
“Good point.” She sucked on the capsule even harder as she thought. “You really think we could do it? Purists don’t exactly make themselves easy to find. Especially healers.”
“The way I see it, no one’s going to help ya here. You’ll just be another pointless casualty in this stupid war.”
He was right. Lieutenant Pallani would be the only officer that would care to get Alana any help and that was only if she was willing to put a friend before her duties. Would she? The fact that no obvious answer presented itself only helped Kit’s case. “Captain Rouille would probably hunt us down if he knew we’d deserted.”
“He wouldn’t dare waste time on us. He’d just let us dry out.”
“There is that,” Alana said. “How could we get around that?”
“We’ll figure it out.”
The Cloudcruiser changed course slowly, making Alana’s stomach churn and sink. Oh, please don’t puke. Not now. She put a hand to her mouth and sucked the capsules for comfort.
*~~~**~~~*
Alana yawned as she bent forward to touch her toes. Morning calisthenics had to be her least favorite part of the day, even before she got sick. Lotus could send streaks of death from their fingertips. Who cared if they were in shape? Not her. But, there weren’t many ways to simply disappear for a few hours on a ship floating through the sky. So, there she was, standing an arm’s length from Kit on one side and a new recruit named Darrius Holloway on the other. Darrius kept his black hair short enough to see his scalp and had more muscles than brains from what she’d seen of him so far. The top half of his left ear was missing and no matter how hard she tried not to look at it her eyes always found it.
“Morning!” Darrius said, cold breath fluttering, smiling from ear to half-ear. It was too early for that shit in her opinion, but she smiled back. No words though. Her stomach hurt too bad for small talk. When didn’t it now? He got the hint.
Her hand inched toward her pants pocket and the lotus capsules that hid there. She stopped when Lieutenant Pallani’s voice rang out from the front of the perfect square they’d all formed. She appreciated the fact that the man in front of her this morning was large enough to hide her laziness.
Lieutenant Pallani led the exercises with enough enthusiasm for the entire company combined. She relentlessly encouraged them all to push themselves harder and harder. That was the lieutenant though. In her mind, you could make anything happen with hard work. Alana didn’t share the same optimism.
She laid down, letting her forehead rest on the deck as she prepared for push ups. She was hardly ready when Lieutenant Pallani started her militaristic chanting. “Up!”
Alana’s arms shook as she lifted herself.
“Hold it!”
There were tremors in her muscles.
“Down!”
She lowered herself all the way to the ground, knowing she couldn’t be seen in the back.
“Up!”
The second repetition was twice as hard as the first. At this rate, she was sure her arms would fall off by the time they reached twenty.
On and on they went, Alana getting about half the required repetitions. She hit the deck so hard she thought she might fall through just before the lieutenant let everyone finish. Kit hadn’t struggled at all, yet he mumbled under his breath in a variety of tongues, effortlessly switching from one to another like she might change the finger she scratched her ass with.
They caught each other’s eye. “I thought about what we discussed,” he whispered.
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“Do tell,” she said.
“Not now. During target practice.”
*~~~**~~~*
Alana and Kit spent most of their time sparring just standing and watching the Pallanis. As did a lot of the other Lotus. Hard not to. Only a fool would think they hadn’t grown up around weapons. They lunged and parried, swung and stabbed. So smooth, so elegant. Perfection in Alana’s eyes. Put a real sword in the lieutenant’s hands when she was pissed off and Alana might just run away. That or lay down and accept her fate. Probably that since it would take less effort. The wooden swords always felt like a toy in Alana’s hands. She and Kit swung them as such too. They looked ridiculous when compared to Lieutenant Pallani and her brother. The siblings went so hard at each other that the crack, crack, crack of wood on wood could be heard over the flapping of the Cloudcruiser’s wings. No easy feat. The damn things could be heard a mile away.
Suddenly, the sister was inside the brother’s reach. The handle of her sword smashed into his nose. His head snapped back hard. She planted a knee in his gut and sent him reeling. She was on him before he got himself balanced. She kicked the side of his knee, buckling him horribly. She lifted her sword up to deliver the execution. Io didn’t flinch, just looked up at her, holding his bloody nose. The lieutenant lowered her sword and offered a hand but Io was angrier than usual. He slapped it away and stood on his own, walking away without a word.
Alana wondered what it felt like to be such a fucking badass. For a moment she thought about putting in the effort to improve her skills but a pain shot through her stomach and whisked that idea away as quickly as it had come. She settled for a single touch. It’d be a first for her or Kit.
“Defend yourself, fool,” she said, smiling for the first time in days.
Kit raised his sword much like someone who had never held one might but who was she to judge? He blocked her first strike. Not quite like Io had done it. Not even close, really. More like a crying child might swing his arms during a tantrum. He said something in a language she didn’t understand that made her lower her sword and look at him like he’d cheated. “It’s Old Serelley for, feeling spry today, I see.”
“Shut up.” She struck again, this time thrusting the tip of the sword at his stomach. He parried. She came again, feeling quite remarkable but knowing she wasn’t. He sidestepped the attack. He grabbed the sword with his bare hand just before it poked his green gambeson on her third assault. Caught it like a hunter snatching a fish out of the river. “What’s that?!” she said, disappointed she hadn’t landed the killing blow.
He tried to act as though he didn’t care that she’d pressed him good for once. They were both horrible at it all but Kit usually had the slight advantage. “If a Purist cuts me down with a sword, I’m doing something wrong.” Every Lotus was told that on their first day. Ranged fighting, that was the goal.
She mockingly drove the tip of her wooden weapon into the deck and crossed her foot in front of the other ankle, toe down, heel up. “Well, you’re definitely doing something wrong, but I get your point.” His bow was full of insincerity. “You know, I could give you some pointers if you want.”
“Best you save your energy.”
She couldn’t tell if it was a dig at her health or genuine advice.
A gust of wind swept across the deck. Was that the tingle of cold sweat on her forehead? She wiped at it. It was! Another first in her short sparring career.
*~~~**~~~*
“Pull!” A redheaded Lotus named Preesha dropped her hand and a clay disk went soaring through the air off the side of the ship. The white clouds all around them watched intently.
Alana leaned on the railing beside Kit as Io’s purple streak raced toward the disk, crackling and sparking. Tiny pieces of clay tumbled through the air like rain as the blast shattered the disk. She actually enjoyed target practice. It was one of the few things about being a Lotus that she wanted to be good at. Even though she put about as much effort into improving as a normal commoner. She figured that should change since she wanted to be better prepared if Captain Rouille laid a hand on her again.
“Pull!” Another disk flew through the air. Another blitzing streak of purple destroyed it. Io turned and walked toward Captain Rouille proudly after having only missed a single target. Even then, he’d gotten it on the second try before it fell too far out of reach. The captain clapped him on the back and smiled, showing every one of his rotten teeth.
It wasn’t until Io was standing alone that signs of the pissy mood his sister had put him in came back.
Lieutenant Pallani was up next. She bounced around as she waited for the signal to position herself at the railing. She’d settle for nothing short of outperforming her brother.
Kit leaned into her shoulder with his own to get Alana’s attention. “I spoke to Commander Caylen earlier.”
“When?” Alana asked as the lieutenant took her place. “You’ve been with me all morning.”
“Pull!” The disk exploded almost as soon as it entered the sky. The lieutenant’s eyes were intense. Io’s were rolling.
“While you were shooting, well, missing the targets,” Kit said.
Alana’s turn hadn’t gone any better than it ever did – one near miss, eight wild misses, and one close call when her blast somehow shot sideways along the railing. The captain had chewed her out for that. Rightfully so, she had to admit. Even still, she’d claimed it had been the wind’s fault.
“Well, what did the commander say?” Alana asked, still watching the performance.
The lieutenant was simply unbelievable this morning. She shot left-handed and right-handed. Quick as a snake’s bite and twice as deadly.
“We’re scheduled for a stop in Resk soon. We’ll be there for four days then in the air until the invasion after the new year. Who knows what things will be like during the invasion. Eyes everywhere though. I can guarantee you that.”
She turned to him, hearing the underlying message in his tone. “So, you think we should be ready when we land in Resk?” He nodded. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Positive.”
“Pull!”
Alana’s head jerked to the left just in time to see the lieutenant’s last disk explode. A perfect score. She couldn’t help but smile at the lieutenant’s boasting and Io’s sarcastic applause. She looked back at Kit. “Then we should start planning.”
“I already have.”
“Spader!” Captain Laspin yelled. “You’re up!”
They looked at each other.
“Wish me luck.”
“I’ll keep my head down,” she said. He laughed before strolling away.
*~~~**~~~*
Alana and Kit sat side by side in the Cloudcruiser’s classroom below deck, listening to the self-proclaimed apothecary, Sathariss Alibee, lecture the newer Lotus on detecting magic when it was used around them. The Lotus Queen was a stickler for preparing her soldiers to encounter Purists. Hardly admirable though. Not like she was out risking her life to capture the deadly enemy. Still, it was nice to feel informed, if not terrifying. They’d learned of Purists that could rip people apart, control them like puppets, and even change the temperature of their insides until their blood boiled. According to Sathariss, the best defense against those Purists was to catch them sleeping or run for your life. Great advice. She’d never have thought of it on her own.
Sathariss paced back and forth at the front of the room with growing disappointment as the recruits threw out absurd answers to his questions. The only thing she could ever think when she looked at him was that the man had been left in the oven for too long. His skin was so tan and dry it could almost be heard cracking as he walked.
Like every other day, the apothecary’s arms were crossed, hands tucked away in his armpits. Presumably to hide the lack of lotus in his fingertips. More than one recruit had pointed out the oddity that they were learning how to be a Lotus from a man that was not, in fact, a Lotus. Alana had felt her own bit of disconnect during the first few days of class, but Lieutenant Pallani had explained the Lotus Queen believed those who could keep her soldiers alive were too important to deal with the ill-effects of the false magic. Though the lieutenant hadn’t called lotus false magic. That was a term of endearment only the more sour Lotus used. She had also pointed out that the man had earned his pin without magic – a feat not accomplished by many – and since Alana didn’t have her own pin, she couldn’t be too hard on the man.
“Think! Think! You must think!” Sathariss said. “There will be no room for these egregious misunderstandings when there are Purists lurking in the trees.” He stopped walking for a moment and raised his hand sarcastically. “An easier one then. What are the three ways to earn your pin?” Even Alana knew this answer but the three hells would freeze over before she ever raised her hand to answer a question willingly. A young woman across the room did just that though. Bethamie Stick-up-her-ass if Alana remembered correctly. Sathariss pointed at the woman. “Miss Connoly.”
“A Lotus may earn his or her badge by killing a Purist, capturing a Purist, or by performing an act of duty that is deemed admirable beyond normal expectations.” Stick-up-her-ass smiled proudly at the rest of the room.
No one smiled back except Sathariss who revealed his yellow teeth and said, “Very good, very good. And can anyone give us an example of a duty that might be considered beyond normal expectations?”
Kit raised his hand, shocking both Alana and Sathariss. “Mister Spader. How considerate of you to join the discussion for once.”
“Would showing mercy for a Purist be considered admirable enough, sir? Beyond normal expectations, that is?”
A hush filled the room as Sathariss glared at the blonde smart-mouth. Eventually, the apothecary made his way to Kit’s chair, kicking the boy’s boots with his own and telling him to sit up straighter. “Do you think your wit will be cunning enough to stop a Purist from boiling your blood, Mister Spader?” Kit went to open his mouth but Sathariss continued. “Do you think your wit will make them less savage?” Do you think they will sit and have tea with you if you entertain them with your humorous sarcasm?” Sathariss’ breath seeped out his nose angrily.
“I think it is perfectly reasonable to think that Purists are every bit as human as we are and would be less likely to rip us limb from limb if we weren’t purging them.”
Sathariss considered Kit’s answer respectfully, then said, “Don’t expect my help when they lay your bloody body on my examination table.” He turned his back to Kit and returned to the front of the room.
Suddenly, the door opened and Captain Rouille’s ugly mug appeared. The son of a bitch always had a pinch of suri in his mouth and a snarl that could frighten a lion. The room somehow fell even more silent. Most of the Lotus sat up straighter now, acting as though they hadn’t just seen what they’d seen. Not Alana though, she’d been sidetracked by the resentment for the abusive cunt she felt in her stomach. Her magic danced around inside her fingertips, begging to be used. Unfortunately, there were too many innocent people sitting all around to fire off a blast with aim like hers.
“Spader. My cabin. Now,” Captain Rouille said. He didn’t wait for Kit to stand up, or even respond. He just closed the door loudly.
Sathariss said, “You heard him. Be gone.”
Kit mumbled something in another language and smiled as if he’d made himself laugh. He looked at Alana. “Cards later?” She nodded.
As soon as Kit was out the door she slid her hand into her pocket and popped two lotus capsules into her mouth. Sathariss’ boring voice drifted into the background as she let the warmth of the false magic soften the anger in her belly.