CHAPTER EIGHTY-FOUR
*~~~**~~~*
King Te’Korei
*~~~**~~~*
2nd of Janus, 936 PC
----------------------------------------
Shade leaned against the rocks beside King, his black clothes blending in with the night so well King’s fading eyesight nearly lost him. He wanted to turn and face the man but the pain in his lower back made any movement feel like it was severing his spine with a dull blade.
“A shame it isn’t hideous,” Shade said, staring at the floating castle. “There’s something bittersweet about being the one to bring down something so beautiful.” Only the most important words were worth fighting the burning sensation in King’s throat. Instead, he lifted his cane and tapped Shade’s boot with it. When they looked at one another King shook his head, hoping the gesture would express all the words he couldn’t get out. The assassin nodded. “Aye. Every root must be torn from the earth to rid ourselves of her. But you can’t deny it’s a sight you’ll never forget.”
A peaceful silence hung over the sleeping coast, made majestic by the glow emanating from the stone pedals high in the sky; like a light given to a child to scare away monsters. Unfortunately for the Lotus, Narah and Shade were scared of nothing. Except failure.
Occasionally a sound would come from the outposts at the bottom of the arches around the circular chain of mountains but Shade and Narah had scouted the two closest and deemed the Lotus guards inadequate and lazy. Narah’s words. The odds of them spotting the Purists were so low she actually relaxed the tensions in her shoulders enough to look like a normal person. Briefly.
“You’re sure they’ll bring it down?” Shade asked. King could hear the explosive bones grinding against one another in Shade’s hand as he gave a nod and that could have been missed even if your eyes were on him. “Where’d you get them?” King shrugged, knowing there weren’t enough words left in him to explain that. There was no doubt they would work after being doused in the alchemicals he’d had in pocket until they were practically water-logged. “Five on each arch?” Silence responded for King. He thought about giving the assassin a thumbs up but the ambition necessary to do so was absent.
Narah approached, hands on her hips and looking at her brother like he wasn’t about to risk his life by climbing a thousand feet into the air to bring down a castle. “Ready?”
Shade practically floated to his feet. He hugged Narah, letting his cheek sit on top of her head.
She spoke into his chest where the fear in her voice might be mistaken for muffled mumbling. “Five on each arch. Plant and move. I will signal Maddy to bring the Hunter up when we hear the first blast. By the time you set the second we’ll be on our way to you.” Less King, of course. He’d chosen to stay behind and say goodbye to the world here on the mountain. With his last image being the floating castle tumbling to the water.
Shade disengaged. “I got it. I was born for this.” Not at all an arrogant exclamation of confidence. Simply a statement of fact. Still, King found himself wishing he had his own magic to pour over the man before he left. Then he thought about how tainted his magic was and thanked Tol for freeing him of his tragic blessings.
“If you see them again, tell them I love them,” Narah said.
“You have no faith in me.” Narah stared at him firmly, like no other message could ever be so important. “I will.”
Shade knelt in front of King. “You’re a good man, King Te’Korei. I’m glad to have met you.” He knew better than to touch King’s aching body. So instead, he simply whispered a line from The Creator’s Prayer. “May all walk the road home with good health and good fortune.” He was gone before King’s tears fell from his cheeks. They’d only known one another for a span of days reserved for love at first sight but the mysterious assassin had made an impression on King that wasn’t much different, helping him to realize what he’d been for Colin. And what he hadn’t been. The latter shattered anything that was left of his heart.
*~~~**~~~*
If King had not been looking for Shade, he would have never noticed him as he moved along the top of the arch like a lost ant searching for his colony. Slowly but surely he made his way to the halfway point; where the arch began to narrow down to what looked like a tight rope from their vantage point. Narah crouched near the rock in front of King in perfect stillness, watching with absolute focus.
“He can do this,” she whispered.
King had no doubt Shade could make it to the platform. What good would his magic be if something terrible happened when he used it? It was the hundreds of Lotus inside the fortress that could sense the use of his magic that worried King. If they spotted him too early Shade would have nowhere to go but back down the arch, right into the arms of the Lotus in the outpost. If they weren’t too lazy to catch him.
Narah’s hips bounced slightly as Shade reached the platform, like she might jump into the air with excitement. She turned, the first uncontrolled expression of happiness he’d seen plastered on her face. “He’s on.” She said it like she hadn’t had to be convinced to let him sit and rest in his last hours without ropes around his wrists. He smiled though. Now was not the time to hold a grudge.
They waited nervously for the Shade to place the explosives.
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
There was nothing for much too long. Then even longer.
“What’s he doing?” Narah asked.
Crack the bones and get away. It’s simple Shade. What are you waiting on?
Ten seconds passed. Twenty painful seconds passed. Thirty mind-numbing seconds passed with no explosion.
“Something’s wrong,” Narah said.
She stood and began to move toward the other side of the cliff when the quiet harbor erupted in chaos. A cloud of smoke mushroomed into the air around the arch. Streaks of fire shot out of the smoke. Chunks of stone flew through the air. There was a long moment of silence before the deep claps of blocks crashing into water echoed off the mountains. No sign of Shade. Horns were sounding from inside the fortress and in the city below.
Narah turned and rushed to King and crouched, putting her hand on his ankle gently. “I could put you to rest painlessly.” The proposal was quite attractive now that all the pain of the world had congregated in his body, but he had no interest in missing a story he would tell those he met on the walk home.
He was about to shake his head when his eyes widened. When Narah realized he was looking past her, not at her, she spun around just in time to see a body falling from the platform. Like a shooting star that had lost its shine, faded to an ominous black as it lost its way. Arms waved. Legs flailed. No elegance. No perfection. Just tragedy in motion. There was no sound when the body hit the water. There was no sound on the cliffside.
“No! No! Shade doesn’t fall!” The horns were still blaring but Narah wouldn’t be drowned out. She needed to be heard. Had to be heard if she was going to bring her brother back. She collapsed to her knees. “No!” she screamed. “No! Please!”
The soft swoosh of the Hunter sounded at the side of the cliff; Maddy waiting to be the hero.
You evil bitch! Why would you take him before me?! I am worthless. He was a man of honor and morals! Suddenly, something came to him. Not by voice, not through an immaculate sign. Just a deep sense of realization he knew he couldn’t reach on his own.
For a moment, all he could do was process what he’d realized, prepare himself for what he had to do.
I was a fool to doubt you. He groaned as he pulled his wool mask off his fragile face, winced as he bent one knee. He almost screamed as he put his weight on his delicate wrist. Standing took time off his life, that couldn’t be denied but what was the difference between an hour and ten minutes? Not enough to care. Every step tested his will but he took them. One by one. Awkwardly and stiffly. When he reached the side of the Hunter he yelled, “Maddy! His voice sounded strange in his head. The tiger in his throat clawed its way toward his open mouth. “Maddy! Teach me to fly this thing!”
The boy stared at him as though he’d asked to forget his first kiss.
Suddenly, something spun him around. Narah.
“No,” she said.
“Yes. It’s my way to help.” A pause, during which Narah was not convinced of letting him go. “It’s over for me. I won’t be here to see the sun rise. We both know it. Besides, I have a story to finish.”
*~~~**~~~*
It took longer to get King on the ship than it did for Maddy to transfer the knowledge of flying it into King’s mind, but during that time the harbor had broken out in absolute pandemonium. Horns in the city were being blown with such vigor he wondered how the people blowing them hadn’t passed out. Ships were rising from within the stone flower and flying off in every direction. He had to act quickly or too many Lotus would escape.
The few bones he had left were now resting in his hands. It would take a bit of luck to shatter the second arch but he was due a bit of good luck, was he not? There wasn’t enough strength in his voice to be heard over the horns so his goodbyes came in the form of a simple wave.
When the Hunter emerged from the mountainside he saw the hundreds of torches that lined the edge of the water – curious onlookers wondering how their queen’s untouchable fortress had been attacked.
An even larger sense of urgency filled King as he locked his eyes on the arch that had been damaged by the first explosion and flew toward it with the confidence Maddy had given him.
He gripped the wooden wheel tight with one hand, the bones with the other. He clenched his teeth so hard his head began to tremble. The bellowing horns grew louder as he approached, drowning out any thought but the one entrenched in his mind. Even his pain hid from the angry world around him. Lotus from other ships noticed his ship flying the wrong direction but there was no way to tell what he was about to do. It was unthinkable.
He cracked one of the bones with only a few seconds before he hit the arch then lowered himself to his knees as the Hunter surged forward. He threw the bones at the arch just before the ship slammed into it at full speed. Wood crunched. Stone cracked and crumbled. King was thrown into the wooden wheel, slamming his shoulder against it hard. He hit the deck even harder, slid across the wood several feet. The sound of the explosion tore through his ears.
He was dazed and confused for a few long moments. When his eyes shot open, dread shot through him. The ship had wedged against the platform, holding pieces of the arch in place. Still, the structure shifted sideways, groaning in agony not unlike his own.
His head was bleeding. His eyes were blurry. Screaming everywhere. Cold air. Pain. Lots of pain. It took a moment to register that the screams were coming from the platform. When it did, he smiled, knowing the bastards would die with him.
Then, the ringing in his ears was replaced by the oddly satisfying sound of wood snapping. The Hunter lurched backward, tipping slightly more, preparing for a one-way trip to the water below. But it stopped, clinging to the arch like a scared child wrapped around his mother’s leg. He begged it to let go. It refused.
Then a streak of purple lightning flashed through the night. Another. Several more. He cracked the final bone and prepared to finish off the arch but he froze when an image that would haunt him for all eternity appeared. A man in black was fighting a Lotus on the crumbling platform, moving swiftly, striking fiercely, performing a display of masterful elegance as he sent Lotus after Lotus to their deaths. The Lotus fell, screaming until they were too far down to hear. The assassin glanced at the wreckage, spotted King. The confusion on the Shade’s face… the thought that King had betrayed him…
Suddenly, the ship snapped and cracked. Shifted again, moaning loudly as it did. Shade disappeared around the corner of the stone castle as the damaged arch gave way. What was left of the Hunter slid loose, dragging jagged stones with it. The ship fell, taking King with it. Then the whole fortress was chasing after him. It vanished behind a wall of flames as the last bone exploded in King’s hand.