“You have one too!”
I leapt to my feet and strode around the table. Forgetting Yalek’s hostility, I reached out, took ahold of his arm and attempted to twist his large hand. After a moment of resistance, he allowed me to turn his wrist. The vambrace was the same design; the thin interwoven metal, the scorpion with its pincer lying fat and its legs wrapped around his forearm. Everything was the same except for the colour.
“I had no idea that there were other people…” I quickly changed my mind on my wording. “I had no idea anyone else had a vambrace. Rayon didn’t tell me.”
I looked up at Yalek to find his forehead and his eyebrows were still scrunched together and his jaw clenched. Instantly, I dropped my hold on his arm and took two steps back, bumping into the table. We might have two vambraces, but that’s where our similarities ended.
“Yalek,” Maxim said, “drink some tea and stop being so overbearing.”
Surprisingly, Yalek obeyed, his long legs folding slowly underneath him. He didn’t seem to be a person who would take orders from anyone, but from what I had observed so far, he listened to Maxim, and I wondered how this working relationship between these two very different men had formed.
Yalek leaned forward, reaching for a cup and brought it to his lips. He kept his pensive gaze on the table.
Maxim breathed loudly through his nose and lowered his shoulders, but a smile came to his lips. “Right. Let’s try again. Why don’t you tell us where you got the vambrace and how you unfortunately came to be doing Rayon’s bidding. Then, since you appear to have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into, we’ll discuss what the vambraces are for and what they signify.”
Defeat weighed down on me and I crumpled back into the chair as I pictured the size of the city in my mind’s eye. ‘Doing Rayon’s bidding’. Was I? I hadn’t seen him since I had stepped on the first stone stair of the temple. I stared at both Yalek and Maxim and they let me analyse them, without asking why or without judgement. Well, Maxim did. I was sure Yalek was judging me. His glare was unrelenting. Could I trust Maxim though? He seemed friendly enough. Trying to find Rayon right now felt unsurmountable. If I could persuade them to take me back to Rayon then everything would be fine.
I took a deep breath. “Rayon told me that I needed to get the dagger to save my friends. Please, you have to help me. Queen Olesya will get the antidote to save my brother and his best friend. The Phaleans froze them. All I want to do is go back home with my friends.”
“Where is the Ruby Dagger?” Maxim asked. “Please, tell me that you haven’t already given it to Rayon.”
Yalek shook his head. “If she had, she wouldn’t be here.”
“No, I haven’t given it to Rayon. I haven’t seen him since I entered the temple. He completely disappeared. He said he was going to help me but…” my voice started to crack and I closed my mouth.
“That does not surprise me. Rayon and his men may have been outnumbered. The Zaylan Clan is at odds with the Phalean temple guards.”
Yalek closed his eyes. “Did you lose it? The dagger?”
“No, I hid it.”
He opened his eyes and a hint of a smile played on his lips. It was the first time that he looked impressed by something I had said. “Good.”
I paused, suddenly wondering. “Are you related to Queen Olesya?”
Yalek laughed and Maxim snorted.
“No, not in the slightest,” Maxim said, shaking his head. “For one, Queen Olesya is not of this world. I, on the other hand, am.” He leaned forward, and very quietly he asked, “You’re not from Alandra, are you? For if you were from Alandra, you would not ask these questions.”
“She would if she was a…”
“Shh,” Maxim cut Yalek off.
Before I could even consider what Yalek had been trying to say, Maxim continued, his voice soft but firm, “Where are you from?”
I didn’t want to say it. The whole idea of it still sounded absolutely ridiculous. The mere thought of saying those words would surely only lead to their ridicule. I took another deep breath.
“I found the vambrace in my grandparents’ roof on Earth. I’m from Earth.”
Yalek’s cup clattered to the table, spilling his tea on himself and the floor. Maxim sat up sharply and he shook his head. Even Rajin, a statue of calm and silent composure, brought both her hands to her cheeks. She opened her mouth as if to speak, but seemed to catch herself and closed her lips as quickly as she had opened them.
Maxim shook his head. “And here we were thinking you were…”
“Don’t lie to us, little girl,” Yalek spat, and I lurched back in my seat, afraid he was going to attack me, all too aware that his two daggers were still on the table. “The gate to Earth has been closed for centuries,” he continued. “No one has been able to find it. You’re nothing but a Crolecan.”
“A Crol… what?” I stammered. All the muscles in my body tensed again, fear making me hyper-vigilant. He might have saved me two nights ago, but he looked like he wanted to murder me now.
Maxim rose to his feet and walked to the back of his chair. He braced both hands on the back of it. The colour in his face had drained away. He didn’t say anything. Instead, he stared. Stared and stared until I felt like he could understand everything that I was thinking.
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“We should just send her back to Crolecia,” Yalek stated.
“Be quiet, Yalek!”
It was the first time Maxim had spoken in a loud angry voice. Yalek shut his mouth and looked away across to the other side of the room which I was sure was in the direction of the table where all his other weapons were laid out.
“Tell us everything that happened,” Maxim said.
I lurched into my story. I told them how I found the vambrace, how I had been with my brother and friends and how the Phalean had attacked us in the scrubland. I also explained how Rayon had said I had somehow managed to open the gate which caused another confused glance between Yalek and Maxim. I also told them of coming to Alandra and finding Shane and Nate frozen and how Rayon had told me to get the dagger in exchange for the antidote.
Maxim seemed to take a big breath before he said, “Have you always been on Earth?”
“Of course! I didn’t even know anything about these gates or vambraces until this all happened.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes! Earth is all by itself. It’s not like here where the worlds are linked.”
“Only two are permanently linked at the moment.” Maxim started to pace behind the back of the two chairs. “Or maybe three now. What colour were the Phalean? The ones that attacked you back on Earth.”
I shrugged. “Blue.”
Maxim shook his head, a smile that looked like disbelief on his features. “Unbelievable.”
“Unbelievable?” I asked.
Maxim stopped pacing and leaned heavily on the back of his chair again.
“Do you believe this?” he asked Yalek. Maxim didn’t wait for an answer. He turned back to me. “Later this evening, I want you to tell me everything about Earth. Everything! But first, we have some hard truths.” He sighed and walked back around to the front of his chair and sat down heavily.
“Rayon has undoubtedly deceived you.”
“What?” I shook my head. “What do you mean?”
“Those Phaleans in the forest, in your homeland, are actually working for Queen Olesya and Rayon. They don’t need an antidote. They have it. They’ve had it all along. The blue skin and tattoos you described are indicative of the Zaylan Clan. The whole thing was staged to make you believe and trust in Rayon. The poison they gave your friend and brother, is one of the Phalean’s greatest weapons. Upon arriving in Alandra, Queen Olesya formed an alliance with the Zaylan Clan. It’s how she gained so much power in such a short amount of time here. If she wanted to release your brother and friend, she could do it any time she wanted.”
He paused in his explanation. I was glad he did. I needed to process what he had just said. I needed to decide whether I was to believe him. If what he had said about Rayon was true, then Rayon was manipulative and untrustworthy. Was Arina in danger too then? If I didn’t return, would they do something to her?
My gaze went to Rajin who was now sipping her tea slowly. Her original calm manner had been welcoming but now her unreadable personality was becoming unnerving. It was as if she was a robot unable to share real emotions. I blinked. I was directing my frustration towards her and that wasn’t fair. I turned my attention back to what Maxim had just told me and I considered his words.
I didn’t even want to ask how many clans there were. Were the Phaleans capable of making agreements? Were they capable of reason and exchange? Could I deal directly with them instead of Rayon?
“Can any Phalean give me the antidote?” I asked.
“No.” Maxim shook his head. “Only the clan leaders can give that out and each clan has its own variation. It allows each clan to remain strong and formidable.”
The sight of the Phalean circling around Arina and myself in the scrubland, came forth in my mind and I swallowed the idea down. Rayon. I had to come up with another plan. Even if what Maxim had said was true and he was playing me, I was sure I could play him too. It was just a matter of making him believe I was doing whatever I could to help him.
I held no allegiances to anyone but my brother and friends. My gaze went back and forth between Maxim and Yalek hoping they wouldn’t guess what I was thinking. Once we were back on the other side of the gate, a pair of pliers on the vambrace and I would never have to look at any of these people ever again.
“No matter what you’ve told me,” I said. “I still need to take the Ruby Dagger to Rayon. That was the deal. The Ruby Dagger for Shane and Nate.”
“Well, that’s where we come to a problem,” Maxim said in a low voice. “We can’t let you give Queen Olesya the Ruby Dagger.”
I threw my hands in the air. “Why?! I just want to go home with my friends! My friends are frozen, prisoners, and if what you tell me is true, Arina could also be in danger.”
“Simply going home with your friends is not an option when you’re wearing the vambrace. You’re now part of an ancient truth, and,” he glanced at Yalek, “whether the two of you like it or not, you’re now a part of this together for everything that has happened, only reinforces that the time of Awakening has started.”
Yalek sighed through his nose and kept his gaze on the small table in front of him. He didn’t need to worry. The feeling was mutual. I didn’t want to have anything to do with him either. Why had he bothered to rescue me if he was going to hate me so much?
“Going back to Queen Olesya will be a trap,” Maxim continued, his tone flat. He paused then, his lips pursing as if he was trying to decide how much he should tell me. He leaned forward, his arms resting on his thighs. “The only person who can wield the Ruby Dagger is the person with the Ruby Vambrace, so the Queen will want to keep you by her side. What’s the guess that when you return with the Ruby Dagger, she asks you to do one more thing which will be to find the ruby medallion. Queen Olesya can’t control you yet, but if she gets the ruby medallion, you’ll be hers for eternity.”
“Eternity!? There’s a medallion?” My head was starting to pound. “And what’s to say you’re both not trying to do the same?” It was my turn now to cross my arms over my chest. “How do I know you’re not trying to manipulate me so you can have the dagger yourself?”
Maxim sighed and he smoothed the material of his trousers along his thigh. “We’re only going to keep going around in circles,” he said. “I feel like there is only one way we can move forward.”
“And what’s that?” I asked.
“We’ll arrange a meeting with Queen Olesya and Rayon and you will be able to see for yourself and learn the truth.”
Hope surged through every inch of my body. “You can do that?” I asked. “You know where his compound is?”
“Of course, I can and of course, I do,” Maxim stated. “It’s my job to keep an eye on what’s going on in this city.”
“Can we go then, right now?” I asked, jumping to my feet.
Maxim shook his head. “No. I will send out a messenger to let them know we would like to meet. We’ll have to arrange somewhere on neutral grounds.” It was Maxim’s turn to rise to his feet. “Rajin,” he said, holding out his hand. “Can you please return Jaliyah to her rooms while we arrange this meeting.” I opened my mouth to argue, but Maxim held up his other hand. “I will be able to arrange this much faster if I can focus all my energy on it. Once it is sorted, I will come to visit you. I do have one favour to ask.” I glanced at Yalek and he gave a fierce nod. I didn’t want to dare arguing with either of them. This was the first time I had a hint that I could be moving in the right direction. But a favour?
“What’s is the favour you ask of?”
“I will explain later.” There was thick tiredness now in his voice. Maxim smiled but then motioned with a quick move of his hand to Rajin for me to leave. And just like that I was dismissed.