I froze.
Not from fear of this low grade sloppy Jalyon and his blade between his fingers, but from complete concentration over how we had to manage the next couple of moves.
Kâl tensed behind me without betraying her thoughts or reaction to the rest of the group, the Tiara confirmed she was afraid, not terrified. She was waiting to see how I was about to play this. We’d talk succinctly before entering the room but we really gambled on our success being discrete and unrecognizable. Obviously, things went south.
Srail smirked and approached his other hand, his fingers crooked as he was gesturing to me to give the Orb back. I heard the intonation of the word. He knew more than he showed. Regarding his character, he must have snooped into Vishan’s office the same way we did a little bit earlier. Might explain the reason why the room wasn’t locked. He had opened it a few minutes before. Who knew how long Vishan had disappeared? We had been away for several days.
“I don’t like to repeat myself little boy,” he snarled, advancing with small steps. “Klory, right?” I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Listen to me, we don’t play around here. We steal, but not from each other. If you don’t want to lose your tongue, like your friend right behind you, I suggest you give me that back.”
“You mean, I stole something that belonged to you?” I answered. Their snarky attitude was reducing my patience drastically. My fists were itching and although I didn’t have any powers seeing the future, I was convinced one of them would finish on his jaw. Maybe both. “Because I thought this was your leader’s?”
He winced and stepped back. No point in pretending now. We knew what was happening. We had to fight. I stood, sounds had stopped entirely in the room and utter silence filled the whole space, suffocating everyone around. The Orb escaped my sleeve and I handed it to Kâl, without taking my eyes off Srail. And by the look he was returning, he knew what was happening too.
I missed this. The tension, the longing before one would throw the first punch, the chase, the hunt, the stare, the scent. Nobody moved, yet they were ready to unsheathed their weapons and stab anyone close enough. Seconds passed, my heartbeats oddly settling in my chest, as I was acknowledging all that was around my body, to the lights flickering in the backroom where toilets probably must be, and the smallest piece of dust wavering left and right from their ragged breaths, slowly falling toward the floor. Only when it touched the ground, sending a shockwave over my boots that only I felt, had I jumped at Srail’s throat.
Kâl drew out her weapons and lifted her hood, as I did the same, and we used that splinter of a second from their shock to knock Edgar and Dael out with throwing knives, their bodies slumping on the floor like ragdolls. Mio and Srail yelled, as the last one fled, making me wonder if he was a Jalyon at all, and Kâl slithered her way behind Mio, one hand over his throat and the other steadying a large blade right under the ribcage, aiming for the heart.
Srail had his knife into his palm, but the action lasted only two seconds, his eyes had time to widen and his mouth to open for a large and deep breath. One of my hands imprisoned his nape and I didn’t bother to protect my body from any throwbacks, as I could see in his stare that not only he recognized me, but he was drop-dead afraid. Despite being one of the most powerful species that ever existed, they decided we were untouchable. “The Weapon,” he murmured.
“My name is Nolis. And I’m taking the Orb.” His brows frowned for a second, as if he didn’t know what that was, before putting the pieces together and connecting the last two neurons in his brain to understand. “You already have it anyway,” he stuttered.
Kâl loosened her grip on Mio, his face wrinkled by shame, anger and disgust toward his partner. We stayed focused all the way to the exit, receding backwards in case their pride would submerge their bodies and they attacked us eventually. But as we were stepping back, their faces changed. And we understood, a bit too late, that they weren’t the problem anymore.
“Is there a party in here that I should know of?” Vishan interrupted.
Again, we had to act in a matter of seconds. So, as I pivoted on my right, Kâl ducted and crawled between his legs as I threw my fist into his jaw, that barely made his neck move. My hand throbbed with pain. “Nice to see you too, kid.” He added.
Kâl had managed to pass, her body slim and small enough to be fast, but as she tried to get up, Vishan withdrew a dagger and launched it on her shoulder, keeping his eyes over mine, and pinned her on the ground, the blade splitting her flesh, muscle, bone and entering the dusty earth as if it was butter.
Two seconds passed before Kâl screamed.
I didn’t blink. His face was more tanned than usual and I imagined he went on an expedition to retrieve something else on his little list. He also had more scars, one red over the scalp that tore off handfuls of hair, and his clothes were devastated by sweat, dust and… blood. “Killing half of my crew wasn’t enough for you, Hidramma?” He growled while bending on the right to see the two corpses of his subordinates on the floor. He eyed Srail and Mio and I could feel the disappointment hurling out of his body.
The Tiara shared the moans of agony Kâl was whispering, the flood of the blood over the dry earth, although the dagger was keeping her from bleeding out completely, and I mentally begged her not to move while I was thinking of a way out of this. My whole being was fighting against the need to fall on my knees and help her but I had to stay put. She never would forgive me if I jinxed everything just to save her. Vishan was strangely calm and I was even more anxious for that reason. His confidence was showing and it could only be bad.
The crown over my head channeled power and my blood froze as I was sensing its abilities ordering my members. The Chief didn’t wear any bags nor had pockets filled, but he could have left his findings into his office before noticing us in the cabin from the window, just as we did minutes before. Kâl squirmed and tried to reach for the blade. “Don’t move,” I commanded her and she obeyed, when I waited for a scathing answer.
Vishan and I were still facing each other, his dark and onyx eyes focused on mine. “What a delicious convenience you two end up in my lair, again, where I can handle you the way I want. It’ll be slow for you, Shadow,” he said.
“You could have killed us instead of throwing us in cells the last time,” I answered, my lips uncontrollably frowning, as a beast showing teeth. The fact that they did, try to kill Kâl, but unsuccessfully, was even more ironic.
He didn’t reply. “I had other things to do, not that it concerns you. You want to whine about not being dead sooner?”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t express myself properly. You could have tried to kill us.”
Despite the fierceness of my posture and my gaze over his old and muscular body, he laughed, almost patting my shoulder with his hand, as if we were ancient friends finally reunited. I had a hard time controlling myself as I was imagining my blade shoved from his chin to the top of his head. “See, kid, either you’re dead or not isn’t going to be a problem anymore,” he admitted and I instantly knew what he was referring to. His plan to become a God must have made a breakthrough for him to be this certain.
“Having trinkets won’t make you the Master.”
As I said the words, his face faltered for a second, before he managed to recompose himself. Searching for any weaknesses in his eyes, the Tiara sent me information regarding the two remaining Jalyons that started to reach me as we talked. I tilted my head to the left and with painful slowness, I smiled. “Tell your dogs to back out or I’ll turn them into food for the others.” His eyes widened and with a quick gesture of his hand, ordered them to stay where they were, by the bar next to the bottles. A glint of red lights reflected into his own irises and my eyebrows reached one another.
“Listen, Hidramma, this is going farther than you can comprehend,” he said, words I already heard, that time at Steretta. “This isn’t about you or any mortals on this damned planet. It’s about greater good.”
“Greater good? Since when do you care about it?” I questioned him, truly surprised. I could hear the cracks of Srail and Mio’s skin frowning into uncomprehension.
“What’s the point in ruling a place in ruins? A place that is doomed?”
Doomed is the word Hidram said before dying. He had my hand in his and he told me to flee from this doomed planet. Were they saying and thinking the same thing? Did they really have an understanding when Vishan employed us to find the gem? What was that whole act if he really cared about the stone? Pretending he had fooled us just to get us out of the picture? “Why did you trick us, Hidram and I?” He lifted his brows, bored. “If you care about the stone, why did you cheat us?”
“Oh,” he exclaimed and turned over to Kâl, his hands on his back and a huge smile on his face. “I see.”
I was the one to lift my brows as he walked toward her, noticing his slumpy steps. His left leg seemed crooked at the interior. I didn’t know where he went but he definitely fought for his life.
He planted his foot over Kâl’s shoulder, who shouted so loud, it fled into the skies and beyond, as well as throwing my whole body into shivers. I took one step forward and glanced back at Srail and Mio, hoping my glare would finally make them stay still. “Stop,” I roared.
But he didn’t listen. He bent over her and with a swift but long motion, he extracted the steel from her scapula, the pain so excruciating, she only had her mouth open but no more sound could come out of it. My composure was decaying as the seconds passed, until he spoke again, and I stiffened. “She didn’t tell you then,” Vishan raved, a horrific smile on his face as he was admiring the blood dripping from the dagger. “I thought she might have, but old habits die hard, as we say.”
Kâl rolled on her back and tried applying pressure with the ground as she was ripping her clothes for a tourniquet. She was so concentrated on her wound; she didn’t even hear the conversation Vishan and I were having. “What are you saying?” I ended up asking after a few moments of brain freeze.
“I didn’t think you would trust her so fast, to be honest,” he continued as if I wasn’t speaking to him. My patience lashed.
“What are you saying?” I repeated, yelling. Three steps and I was behind him. Srail and Mio moved to the threshold but didn’t go further. My blood bubbled up in my veins and I could sense the monster lurking around the corners of my mind, ready to take the lead any time. The same monster I unleashed here, who killed a dozen of them without blinking. I couldn’t care less that he was Vishan, that he was the Jalyon’s Chief, that killing him would establish an even more disturbing chaos around Kendara but my shackles were exploding, one by one, and I wasn’t planning on staying here very long. My abdomen rose so hard and powerfully I thought my heart would jump out of my throat.
“This lady here, shared interesting information in order to stay alive. She was so miserable and afraid, she talked about the first thing that came to her mind, knowing it would hold my full attention,” He turned to face me again and Kâl looked at me, hurt by the wound but also by Vishan’s speech. Mixed emotions filled my head and I couldn’t analyze them. “She talked about a legend. She talked about a prophecy, even if it’s way more than that.”
My breath quickened, although I didn’t think it was possible. “She knew I had a project, and she filled me with pieces I lacked, in exchange for her life.”
“For our lives,” Kâl interrupted, her gaze solely on me. Her expressions couldn’t be misunderstood. She felt bad. And I was furious.
“Yes, well, I didn’t think you would end up infatuated with the guy,” he joked, still brandishing the blade firmly.
“I’m not…” she responded.
“Anyway,” Vishan continued. “She said you had the stone I would need, in your tiny cottage…”
“You said the stone was just a ploy,” I interrupted, the anger raging through the pulse of my heart. His smile brought shivers to my skin.
“People lie. The stone was the beginning, but she also explained your father was probably there, and that I could get rid of him. Since you were not totally cooperative working together, I figured that, without your dear Collector, you would be more interested in another contrat. I was so happy when you suggested that idea yourself, I was convinced you and I were finally seeing the same. But then you decided to side with the Shadow. She must have talked her way through with brio because the Shadow only serves herself, Nolis. You learned it the hard way.”
I stopped listening. I didn’t need to. I knew everything that happened.
I glanced at Kâl and saw tears falling down from her cheeks, and wondered if they were meant for the pain in her shoulder or in her heart. I walled up the power the Tiara was sending and my mind darkened, the monster appearing by my lids, my veins charged with violence and unstoppable strength as I took a step back and watched the show.
They went to my place and ransacked the cottage for the stone. Vishan pretended not to care. He had this idea of a plan that he didn’t want the rest of his pack to know and had taken matters to his own hands. He wanted Hidram dead and had hoped I would work for him, if this was the only way to stay alive. He imagined I would take the only other option that was left to me. Work for him. To retrieve whatever he needed for his pitiful plan. A breathy laugh escaped from my mouth. Vishan had asked the Jalyons to search for it, not even remotely interested about my father and the bargain they had, the way out of this doomed place he promised. And she was the one saying where the stone was, thinking I had left it in the house. She lied. The tear that slid along her cheek that time, in the cell. The one I swiped carefully with my thumb. What was she really crying about?
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The Chief’s lips still moved but I couldn’t hear a thing. I was focused on Kâl and walked toward her, my body bigger and heavier than usual. She had that red light reflecting in her eyes too but I stopped asking myself questions, and started to ask others. “This is the real reason Hidram died.”
She waited a second, her memory running through the corridors of her souvenirs to remember what I was referring to. In Maorat, whirling in the pool. I didn’t know what to answer at the time. I couldn’t really understand how my father’s death was really her fault. Not with her explanation. But Vishan’s confession changed everything.
She only closed her eyes, and that was all I needed for an answer. He had managed to escape. Kâl gave him away. And I was the mean, rough, despicable man for not trusting easily.
Sounds eventually reached back my ears, that were muffled by the pulse of blood all over my body, and I sighed realizing Vishan was still speaking. “… you and your father really never were a threat—”
“Enough,” I barked out. And they all stared. Kâl whimpered as I approached her, and I tensed for a second, seeing absolute horror for the first time, in addition to being the one to cause it. My hand scooped her armpit as I dragged her up, deliberately choosing the aching shoulder as a personal vengeance. She contained her scream and locked eyes with mine, plead written all over her face. But was she begging me to forgive her? Or spare her from my wrath? “We’re leaving. With the Orb. Do not follow us,” I ordered Vishan and his expression wavered for a second.
“I don’t think so—”
“I don’t care,” I insisted, showing my back to him as a translation of my annoyance.
“The Orb is mine; we’ve fought before and I won. It’s mine,” he repeated, his anger getting the best of me slowly. My indifference forced him into finding a subject I would be willing to argue on. As he emptied the list of things, my mother, my father, Kâl and my own, he finally understood I was attached to nothing in my life. I had nothing to fight for and was only told to. But that ended when Hidram was slaughtered.
He started yelling as we paced away, Kâl’s arm over my shoulder, and despite the rage fueling my every pore, I couldn’t let her die in the hands of that hideous character. He followed and screamed louder and louder as the seconds passed until he shouted, “Stay the fuck where you are!”
And I couldn’t bear it anymore.
I withdrew Kâl’s arm and let her stand as much as she could, one hand over her bandage, as I turned around, and faced the Jalyon.
Nolis, Kâl, can you hear?
Samay was reaching. I stopped for a moment and took the reins back from the monster as I glanced at Kâl and saw that she heard it too. But that second of inattention sufficed for Vishan to jump over me.
He stabbed my thigh and stomach and I almost fainted at the pain. It took every single ounce of my energy to push him back, roll over and unsheathe a dagger of my own, once again giving up to the monster as we started fighting, throwing punches and blows, some landed, some didn’t. I touched his cheek and sliced one piece, he cut my forearm, almost puncturing through and through. His breath was so ragged, I thought he would drop dead any second but his Jalyon’s physique prevented him from being drenched out too quickly.
He stumbled backwards after another jag at his jaw with the handle of the dagger and I remembered his broken leg. I didn’t need much else to tackle him to the ground and pin him close.
Are you there?
“Not now!” I screamed, as Vishan punched on my sternum and blew the air out of me for precious seconds. Kâl mumbled my name behind, but I needed to be perfectly concentrated on the combat. Vishan might have been old and harmed, he was a tough adversary.
We were all sweat and blood, but no tears, only rage traversed our bodies. The monster in me was taking even more space than there was and I felt my being mingled with this side of my personality, as if we were only one and not a character I was using. I was getting dizzy by the blows and Vishan was starting to be unrecognizable with all the blood he had in his face.
“I don’t want to kill you, kid, but I will,” he whispered, not enough energy to pronounce the words adequately. We were exhausted by the fight and I was so profoundly angry, I had no more patience to give. He had a hard time standing tall and I figured it was as if I was leaving him to die. So, I started walking back to Kâl.
This is Samay, can you hear me?
“I knew you were a coward,” Vishan spitted blood all over the floor. “You’re not better than your father, you’ll be nothing in this life. Leave the important missions to the adults, you incapable fucking idiot.”
I snapped.
Not because of the words, or the assumptions, or the insults, but because I could, and I was tired of acting decent.
It happened in a second, and even I didn’t know it was possible. Only when I had Vishan’s head dislocated from his body, I felt like silence had lastly found my ears. The rest shut down.
“Nolis…” Kâl winced again and I saw her on her knees before I saw a dozen of Jalyons surrounding us. A part of my being crackled and I sensed the consequences of another life ended by my hands as my heart stuttered and hurt so much, I thought it would ultimately stop. Although it felt like the right thing to do at the moment, I realized I’d let my swollen ache of emotions get the better of my logical sense and here I was, holding a head by the hair, the eyes of Vishan staring at the void ahead, his mouth slightly open and his face all red.
The Jalyons didn’t move. They all watched, their irises wide and black as the darkness in my heart. Kâl whined again.
If you do hear, respond.
My body was tense but my mind was wandering off to a safe place, where it wasn’t hurting anymore, where I felt safe, where no problems could harm me. I closed my lids, letting my breath catch up with my thundering heartbeats, my fists still clenched over Vishan’s black and sweaty hair. The space between us seemed frozen, as if time had interrupted its course, just enough for me to recover, physically and mentally.
Nolis.
Samay reached again and I cleansed my thoughts, chasing the shadows whirling around the nooks of my soul as I focused on the sound and tried to join it. I spoke back, with the little voice in my head, half certain it would work. I hear.
A soft blow of wind caressed my cheeks and I felt the freshness over my face, wondering if my sweat cooled my temperature down or tears had fallen without myself knowing.
Your mind is disturbed. How does he know?
Things have… escalated. I scraped my scalp and I flatten my hair back with a sigh. My eyes were still closed and I wondered why nobody had made a move yet.
Is there a problem, human?
Problem is an understatement. Time seemed to resume and the white noise of my own mind faded into the silence of nature around.
All of them gawked with pure rage in their eyes and I was weakened enough for them to destroy me in a few seconds. Kâl was severely wounded, trembling from head to toe, probably from the pain but also the violence we had fought, seeing two monsters attacking each other until the end.
I hated that part as much as I thanked it every day. That whole other person had saved me multiple times during my missions as I was growing up and still helped when I needed it. Sometimes I wondered if it was me at all, as I was so deeply terrified whenever it took the reins in hand.
My fists lifted my trophy for all the Jalyons to see, even if my silhouette betrayed how hard I had been hit during the combat. I hoped it would suffice for them not to try to end me. And Kâl. As I dropped it to the ground, it rolled, the stickiness of the blood picking up the dirt along its path, until it bumped into one of them’s feet, where they all looked and stilled.
The tension was unbearable. The last bits of confidence drooled out of my body as I started walking back toward Kâl, and dragged her back up, measuring how well she was. “Can you run?” I whispered into her ear as she was pushing my shoulders down to stand. She nodded. “Because we’ll need to run like we never did before.”
My eyes roamed the area quick enough, the Tiara mashing the work as I glanced over a small path to our left, right behind the stairs and the pillars, cornering Vishan’s altar and apartments. Less Jalyons were stationed there but they were so numerous, and had their full capacities, they had all the chances to tackle us to the ground and throw punches until we would black out. Kâl shifted her hand from her shoulder to my stomach, where Vishan had driven his blade and pushed her palm over it as I bit the inside of my cheek, muffling a scream of sharp pain from her touch. “What are you doing?” I hissed between my teeth, but she needn’t answer, as the scarred tissue began to reform, and the hard throb I was feeling receded into an uneasy feeling of tingles. She was healing me.
I glanced at her shoulder and realized there was no blood there. While she stayed on her knees, she grabbed the opportunity to fix her lesion. And as she was doing the same for me, not only my arm regenerated in seconds, but my general well-being improved exceptionally. The soreness, the pain, the tiredness. All vanished into the night and disappeared in the darkness.
Jalyons shuffled their feet on the ground and we understood they were advancing toward us. They must have ogled each other, while we were whispering, and made a silent deal that they would avenge their leader. Although he had made poor choices by the end, at least ones the Jalyons weren’t very fond of, he had led them for several years and had always put their loyalty and safety first. I knew, the moment I was twisting his neck, that the repercussion would be terrible. The moment I saw the flesh being lacerated and implode, I saw the blood poured out, the moment I ripped his spine with a final and atrocious twist, I understood the consequences. But when I had felt the most horrible person slaying that not so innocent Jalyon at the Maor’s house, I couldn’t feel anything while holding his head. And I wondered what it meant for me.
We had only a few more seconds before they all would charge. I took a couple of them to reach Samay. We need to shelter somewhere, we’re being surrounded.
His response arrived almost instantly, the echo submerging the space around, and by the time he finished his words, we moved. Halei’s fifth ray.
Our legs were filled with blood as we split the wind so fast, we already had advanced from all the others. We knew this place, this whole city by heart and we didn’t even need to talk to realize we were choosing the exact same paths without perturbing the other’s velocity. Besides the footsteps behind us, we could only hear the wind jostle between our hair, members and clothes. Everything was terribly silent, nobody screamed, even the Jalyons were so focused on the goal to catch us, they were completely aware and concentrated.
The soft rays of the sun starting to rise up lightened the horizon and traversed the cracks between the branches of almost fallen trees and ruined houses along our trail. The Tiara seemed to shift and diminish its powers, as I wasn’t needing them as much as in plain darkness. But the weight on my head and around my scalp did not lower. The heaviness of its importance still pounding all over my body.
Our ragged breath crashed down instantly on our faces as we ran and ran, faster and faster each second, some twigs whipping our cheeks and forehead with our speed, never failing. In an instant, we were already seeing the lines of the very center of Kendara and down below, the gigantic fountain with her fifteen arms around. They were all numbered, with a blue panel at each section, but we wouldn’t be able to stop and search for it as the Jalyons were still hot on our tail.
I spoke to Samay. Fifth is the widest. Opposite to the garden of Elengra. He answered.
There is no garden anymore. Never has been since I’m born. I winced and swore but never stopped.
Mayra’s shop? Red and gold curtains on the side by the corners?
Never saw something like that in my life. Talking in our heads prevented us from falling out of breath.
By the Gov, do you still have the statue by the east? Two hands interlaced pointing toward the sky?
That we have, although it doesn’t look like two hands anymore.
That statue is between two streets. Take the one to the right.
His voice echoed and slowly faded as we arrived at Halei’s, and lost two seconds looking for that statue.
One Jalyon threw a knife that lodged into one of Kâl’s thighs.
She screamed and swore, but she kept running, as I told her not to stop. She moved her arm behind, withdrew the knife and brushed two fingers over the wound, that sealed the cut enough so it wouldn’t bleed. As she raced, her face looking forward, she threw the knife behind us, and we only heard a thump on the ground that confirmed she aimed right. One of them shouted.
The sculpture was barely visible but there were no mistakes. We turned right and sprinted as fast as we could, all the footsteps reverberating along the walls of the ruins and the abandoned buildings all round.
You’ll have a tunnel at the very end of the street. It will be on your left after two intersections. One is the quarters of Somat, and the other is Treoy’s affairs division, if that still exists. I should be able to lock the entrance once you are in. Say the word and I’ll execute.
The places he had shared had never existed during my years and as Kâl glanced in my direction, I understood she was thinking the same. Two intersections before the tunnel on the left. I would have to count and cross my fingers we would not fail.
My legs started to lose their strength and I grunted as my throat burned from the air entering and leaving at an incredible speed. I wanted to glance over my shoulder, just to see how far the Jalyons were but I couldn’t risk misusing my momentum, especially when Kâl was falling behind, her hand over her heart. “Are you alright?” I yelled. She didn’t answer.
One intersection passed and I checked inside only for a blink of an eye, the image I managed to mentally take flashing before my lids, but nothing I quickly saw could confirm we had crossed Somat quarters. The sun was almost out by the time people stormed into the streets, one almost crashing into my abdomen as I succeeded, rotating on the right side, making a whole turn and seeing that a few Jalyons collapsed and bumped into freshly awake Kendarians.
But a lot were still chasing us and we had no time to waste.
Almost there! I shouted in my mind, perceiving the second intersection from afar. In a dozen of wide steps, we arrived at what must have been Treoy’s affairs division and instantly targeted the tunnel.
Time stretched and slowed, as we surveyed the whole area and saw the entry point, not large enough to contain two people at the same time. Another raw grunt escaped my throat as I launched for the open door and waited for Kâl to reach it first. “Now!” I screamed out loud.
But as Kâl barged in, and I penetrated the tunnel right after, the door closing not even a second later, one Jalyon jumped the three remaining steps, and collided with me. His dagger thrusted in my back, incising right between my two shoulders, the blade large and long enough to attain the other side. My trachea fissured, and I gasped for air as I lifted my eyes toward Kâl, and saw her panicked face, until I lacked enough oxygen to lose sight, and faint.