Chapter 15
15
R oll call that morning showed exactly how brutal the past trial had been. Thirty-six prisoners remained, and everyone looked worse for the wear. Rachelle had bags under her eyes, but her face still lit up when she saw me, and she gave me an excited little wave, nearly bouncing up and down as if she was trying not to run over and hug me. I smiled at her, and continued scanning the group. Ajax had survived as well, but he stood unnaturally still, not meeting my gaze. And Tristen? He was gone. He had survived the last trial, I knew it. So why wasn’t he here?
Standing next to me was one of the two willowy fire spirit twins—Priscilla. Her other twin, Felicity, was noticeably absent. As one of the guards did the roll call, I saw the remaining fire sprite blink back tears when her sister wasn’t called.
“Don’t feel too bad for her,” Rachelle said as she caught up with me as we left the silo and headed to the dining hall. “Her and her sister used to work with a notorious pirate band that used sea serpents to destroy merchant ships. They were the greediest and most violent of the bunch, setting ships on fire using their powers while they screeched with laughter at the gold they’d stolen,” Rachelle shivered. “Fire sprites are the worst.”
“And if I were an evil pirate lord in my past life?”
Rachelle threw an arm around me. “Then I’d ask you when you were taking me on your ship, my pirate lady.”
“Your morals are questionable, Rachelle,” I said as I rolled my eyes.
Rachelle let her arm drop from my shoulders, and she turned to me, suddenly serious. “Thank you for saving me.”
“Of course. We’re in this to the end. And even then… we’ll find a way to keep fighting so the two of us can make it out of here. Together.”
Rachelle smiled, but there was something sad in her gaze. “‘Til the end, my friend.”
There had to be a way for us to emerge together. Otherwise… could I kill Rachelle? I didn’t think so. Not with the way Rachelle danced through the food line at the mess hall, picking out some sort of oat-based dish with raisins and topped with nuts as she flashed her smile at the workers before bounding away to our usual table in the corner.
I still wasn’t sure what kind of person I had been—or who I was becoming. But I didn’t think cold-blooded murderer was on that list—even if we were in a perpetual fight to the death in these trials.
As I set down my plate on the table, I did another scan of the mess hall. Still no sign of Tristen.
“Tristen… he made it out yesterday, didn’t he?” I asked.
Rachelle stopped midway through shoveling food in her mouth to appraise me. “Yep. He was out before me. Why?”
“He’s not here.”
“Probably because he was ordered on lockdown after killing three more guards.”
My eyes went wide. Suddenly, I whipped around, looking for Callum—and then exhaled when I caught the Commander at the far end of the hall, discussing something with a few guards.
“Don’t worry, your golden-haired warrior is safe from Tristen… at least, he has been so far,” Rachelle said. “Shield wielders, y’know? Some powerful magic.”
Callum’s shield flashed into my mind. “Can someone… use another’s magic?” I asked Rachelle.
Rachelle raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“So nobody can access someone else’s magic? That’s not a thing?”
Rachelle froze mid-bite, and slowly set down her fork. “Saffron, did something happen in the second trial after I was disappeared from the Mirror Realm?”
I fidgeted under her gaze. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out. I was fighting the monster, who ended up being my double?—”
“What the fuck? That was your double? Saffron, if that creature was your double… that means you have the most power out of all of us in Ashguard.”
“I know, which doesn’t make sense. But when I fought my double… I used a shield— Callum’s shield—to fight it off. It impaled on the sword?—”
Rachelle held up a hand. “Stop. Stop right there.”
My eyes went wide. “Why?”
Rachelle looked around, suddenly nervous. “We can’t talk here. Library. Right after breakfast during training time.”
As soon as it was time for training, Rachelle snatched my hand and led me down a hallway that passed by the tunnel that sloped up to the outdoor training grounds. We headed down more smooth stone hallways until we reached a wooden door.
Inside lay a huge library, rows and rows of books stacked up to the ceiling with sliding ladders and candles burning softly.
“This was here the whole time?” I breathed, stepping into the cavernous library.
Rachelle sighed. “Yes. For our training, we can either visit the library or the training grounds. The fact that no one else is in here shows you where most of the prisoner’s priorities lie.” Rachelle moved quickly down a few stacks, and pulled out a few volumes.
She motioned for me to sit, and piled the books in front of me at a large table.
“I take it you haven’t heard of the prophecy?”
“Do I look like I remember some prophecy?” I asked, picking up another book.
Rachelle flicked my nose. “You look like someone I would not like to see splattered across the ground in the next trial.” Rachelle dropped another stack of books on the table, and I choked on the cloud of dust in its wake.
“Wow, how kind of you.”
Rachelle fell into a seat beside me and cracked open one of the books.
“The prophecy. Here. Read it,” Rachelle said, opening to a page in the ancient book. The pages were yellowed and felt smooth like silk, and frayed at the edges as if the book itself had seen the rise and fall of empires.
I read the swirling gold calligraphy on the page Rachelle had open before me:
“While ancient chains on Embermere hold,
A Siphon’s heir shall balance the bonds of old.
When twisted shadows dare to falsify,
A true-born’s light shall rise to once more defy.
Seven winds shall blow from shore to shore,
Till the kingdoms unite, forevermore.”
I shot Rachelle a look. “Is that supposed to mean something?”
Rachelle shrugged. “Are prophecies supposed to mean something, or are they just poetic nonsense? That’s the question. But to the King of Luminaria, he’d pay any price to find the Siphon.”
“Siphon?”
Rachelle picked up a candle at the edge of the table. “See this flame? It can only burn because it has borrowed the wick, and it feeds off the air. Our magic is the same.”
“Right. I figured as much—your magic has a cost,” I said.
“Uh-huh. But a very rare type of magic can pull from other magic.” Rachelle took another candle that was unlit, bringing it side-by-side with the first candle. Then, she used the first candle to light the second.
I frowned. “So a Siphon can just replicate powers?”
“Yep. It’s powerful—and rare. This type of magic is only passed down through a bloodline—hence the line ‘Siphon’s heir.’”
“So which families have the Siphon power?”
Rachelle shrugged. “No one knows. According to legend, a Siphon’s power is only revealed in The Ash Trials, and there hasn’t been another Siphon in at least a hundred years.”
“What’s so special about The Ash Trials that it would affect a power like that?”
Rachelle shrugged. “Who the hell knows? Maybe someone with the Siphon ability needs it to be activated somehow, and the soil here is so charged with magic that it reveals power in a way that nowhere else in Septerra can. That’s convenient, of course, because the Kingdom of Luminaria controls this island. And anyone with Siphon magic—that is, magic that pulls from the well of another’s power—is claimed by King West. Either as a pawn or a slave.”
A truth that felt dark and old slithered down my spine. “Luminaria has slaves?”
Rachelle’s eyes darkened. “Not outright. But the Order of the Serafim claim that the prophecy calls for one who wields the power of the Siphon in order to unite the kingdoms. That’s their interpretation, anyway. Anyone with these powers are to be turned over to the King—and anyone harboring a Siphon risks death.”
My throat went dry, and I pushed aside the books. “How does a Siphon duplicate someone’s powers?”
“Through touch,” Rachelle said. “Did you touch Callum before the second trial?”
Images flashed through my mind—of Callum and me, his lips claiming mine, my fingers roaming his body—and my face heated in response.
Rachelle leaned back. “Gods, Saffron. You’re fighting for your life in deadly trials and you’ve already fallen for a handsome but definitely off-limits Commander of the King’s army?”
I swallowed. “Of the King’s army ? Isn’t Callum just Commander of the Guard?”
Rachelle gave me a withering look. “No, dear Saffy. The apple of your eye runs the whole damn army of Luminaria.”
I froze. “He didn’t tell me that.”
“Seems like there isn’t very much time for conversation between the two of you.”
“We talk all the time.”
Rachelle rolled her eyes, but then turned solemn. “How do you even know he really knew you from your past? He could be lying to you—taking advantage of your lack of memories.”
A chill rolled through me. Rachelle was right—I had no way of confirming that Callum was who he said he was. But I didn’t want to let my thoughts go there. “I believe him,” I said, but now there was a note of doubt in my voice.
“Whether you believe him or not, you should still try and hone your power so you can use it in the trials to protect yourself,” Rachelle said as she rolled up the sleeve of tunic, her clothes a dark blue hue that complimented her tanned skin. “Try and absorb my magic.”
I recoiled. “No. If I am… what the prophecy says I am, won’t confirming it put me in more danger?”
Rachelle’s eyes flashed. “Hate to break it to you, but you’re already in considerable danger. Might as well have some powers to keep you safe and understand how they work. You just have to keep them hidden at all costs—and kill anyone who doesn’t keep your secret.”
“Oh, is that all?” I asked.
“I promised you answers, not to make things easier on you,” Rachelle replied with a shrug.
I mulled it over. If I did have this strange power—and it hadn’t been just a wayward shield sent by another prisoner—then wouldn’t it be better for me to know?
Rachelle inclined her head to her bare arm. “Touch me. Unless you think your Commander will get jealous.”
I rolled my eyes. “He’s not my Commander.”
Rachelle snorted. “I think he might feel differently.”
I placed my hands on Rachelle’s warm arm and closed my eyes. I tried to recall the sensation I had felt with Callum. It was a pulling , a drawing sensation, something that had been crawling and begging right underneath my skin.
But I felt nothing. I withdrew my hands from Rachelle, and shook my head. “I don’t feel it.”
Rachelle rolled down her other sleeve. “Who knows, maybe these dampening bands keep you from absorbing anything—but my magic is still there, just lessened. You should still be able to access it because Siphon magic supposedly works different than the rest of ours. Try again.”
I placed both of my hands on Rachelle’s arms. I closed my eyes.
“Power originates at our heart crystals, Saffron. Think of it flowing from me to you.”
I pictured it, the core of Rachelle’s power at her heart. Imagined it flowing underneath her skin, transferring to me. I felt those loops at the edge of my mind, trying to hook my attention through them. My mind was grasping at them, pulling a little, but they weren’t as accessible as when I had been wrapped up with Callum.
“Saffron… you’re glowing.”
I opened my eyes in shock and looked down. Sure enough, my skin had a light glow to it. I pulled my hands away, and Rachelle looked at me in awe.
“Try and shift,” Rachelle demanded.
“What?”
“Try and shift into something.”
“I-I can’t,” I said. The light on my skin dimmed and then disappeared.
Rachelle frowned. “We’ll try again later. Should we go get some training in?”
“Yes. Let’s go,” I said, and got to my feet.
“Oh and Saffron?” Rachelle said as we headed to leave. “In the next trials… you have to keep this from the King. No one can know besides us. Not even your Commander. You don’t want to test his allegiance to you—or his King. He might not choose you.”
“I won’t tell anyone,” I said. Rachelle nodded, satisfied, and I followed her out of the library.
One secret heavier than I had been when we had entered.