9. Raya
RAYA
“This is the only way, Raya. You know I’m right.”
- ALIAS.
Iced water surrounded me. Drowning me softly. Again, and again. The water leaving me just before my consciousness slipped away.
“How long have you known?” A female voice sounded around me, or above me. I wasn’t sure. My head lolled to the side, a firm grip in my hair the only thing keeping me vertical.
“How long have you known?” The sounds around me suddenly became crisp and the voice belonged to Captain Jala. I snapped back into reality. What was happening?
“Captain Jala?” My voice was hoarse, and water clogged.
“Awake now?” she sneered.
“How long have you known?” Her voice was laced with venom.
“Known what?”
“How long have you known you are a Sorcerer?” Her words struck me like slaps. She dunked my head back into the iced water.
A jeer from the corner of the room piqued my interest. My entire regiment stood in the empty, hollow room watching me be tortured.
Alias stood awkwardly, his eyes not meeting mine, wincing as Jala tugged my hair harder.
“A Sorcerer?” My voice clung to the silence.
“Don’t play dumb with me, girl.” Jala cracked the handle of her sword to my temple, drawing blood.
“Captain,” Alias whispered through gritted teeth. Jala ignored him.
Another crack to my temple pushed me into oblivion.
I woke again, the setting sun shining through the small window. My mouth dryer than sand, I reached out for some water, only to find out my hands and feet were chained. Alias was no longer with me, either he walked out, or he had been dragged away.
“Alias tells me that he did not know.” Captain Jala stalked the chair I was sitting on. We were in the same room as before… sans the ice water.
“Did not know what?” Anger burned in my stomach, hot and heavy.
“He did not know you were one of them,” she spat. I rolled my eyes.
“Sorcerers are extinct, Jala.”
She stiffened at my dropping her title.
“That is not true, girl. Sorcerers live among us. Do not insult me further, we saw the lightning from miles away and it was not from the heavens,” she snarled. “You are one of them, filth.” She slapped me across the face with the back of her hand.
She paced back and forth, her eyes burning like the skin on my cheek.
“I should kill you on the spot,” she spat. “A liar in my barracks, a Sorcerer in Regiment One?” She spoke as though the word burned her tongue.
I stared at her through my eyelashes. Had Alias told her what had happened at the safe house? Why hadn’t he defended me?
He knew I was not a… that I could not be a… Sorcerer. Could I?
Captain Jala pulled my chair forward, so it balanced on its front legs. Her arm the only thing keeping me from slamming into the concrete floor.
“But that would be a waste, don’t you think?”
I grimaced at her, stars floating in my vision. She pushed the chair back down to four legs, the wood rocking back and forth before stilling. Jala lifted a cup to my lips, but I clamped my shut.
Did she think me stupid?
She rolled her eyes. “I see you have not forgotten your training.” She smirked and took a sip from the glass first.
How could I forget my training? How could I forget when Jala had poisoned our food, making us seize and writhe until we were half dead, before administering the antidote. It was punishment she said, we should’ve known to check our food before we ate it.
I recalled the vomit that soaked my clothes.
Opening my mouth, I swallowed the water in one gulp.
“If you want to survive,” Jala bent so that we were eye level, “I suggest you listen carefully because I will not repeat myself.” She refilled the water glass.
“There is a place, a place that is protected so fiercely that none that have tried to infiltrate it have survived. It is home to the last surviving Sorcerers.” She grimaced as my breathing hitched.
“The war in Zetka is escalating, the Southern Continent is now recruiting Sorcerers. Our soldiers are perishing faster than ever before. We need a way to learn their secrets, a way to have the upper hand on the battlefield.” She smirked. “And now we have one.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, knowing full well what she meant.
“You are now of their people.” She paced around the chair. “The Sorcerers are a danger to everyone; they refuse to comply with our laws. Their power is untamable. They are a threat to our peaceful existence.”
“Peaceful existence?” I mocked. “We are fighting a war that has been going on for hundreds of years. Perhaps instead of trying to tame the Sorcerers, you should be asking for their help?” My voice did not falter, did not break.
Captain Jala stared at me.
“I had hoped you would accept the mission without any backlash, but I suppose not,” she hummed in disappointment. “Infiltrate, gain their trust, learn their secrets, and report back.” Her smile was like a snake. “Or I’ll kill you. And him,” she pointed at Alias as he was pushed through the door.
Purple bruises bloomed on his face, cuts and gashes littered his skin. Fat chains hung from his wrists, and I swallowed against my dry throat.
“Let him go,” I demanded.
“I will, just as soon as you agree.” She smiled.
Blood seeped into Alias’s clothing, his eye almost swollen shut. One life in exchange for Goddess knows how many.
Thousands of memories funneled through my mind. Alias and I had grown up together, been each other’s family when there was no one else. I couldn’t let him die.
I pulled against the chains on my wrists.
“Alias?” I called out, he gave a small smile, his teeth coated in blood.
“Raya,” he rasped softly. His voice trickled over me, like a feather trailing my skin. I closed my eyes; would I risk the lives of many for Alias? Jala knew my weakness, my only weakness. The man I had grown up with, my only family.
Guilt clawed up my throat, talons sinking into my skin.
“Okay.” My voice was barely audible. “I’ll do it.”
A wide smile spread across her face.
“You have six moon cycles.” Jala raised her hand and Alias’s cuffs were unlocked. “They have heard about your…” She couldn’t bring herself to talk about what had happened in the safehouse. “They want to meet you, they’ve sent word. They claim that since you are one of them,” she tutted, “You belong with the rest of your people.”
I swallowed against the dryness in my mouth and nodded.
“There is a location in which we will deliver you. You will learn their way of life, but do not fall for their kindness,” she sneered as I scoffed. “They are vicious creatures, unable to feel remorse or love. Their very nature is an untamable violence. Do not trust them.”
I nodded, then she explained that they would most likely check me for weapons before slipping a hand into my boots to retrieve the daggers there, ripping the part of my trousers that covered my thigh, to reveal the knife sewn into the seams.
“You are skilled, Raya,” she winced. “Probably one of the best I’ve ever trained.” She ran a finger down my cheek. “Such a shame that you are one of them.” She pushed her nail into my skin, hard enough to draw blood before er hips swished and she left the room, long white hair bouncing as she whispered, “What a waste.”
Another man, presumably a guard, took her place in front of me.
“In order to protect their location, the Sorcerers,” he bit out the word, “need you to arrive… incapacitated.” I raised an eyebrow.
“Incap—” I began to ask but pressure hit my skull and stars exploded in my eyes.
And then it all went dark.