Chapter 11 Seren
Chapter eleven
Seren
The day was wasted glancing around corners, daggers gripped so tightly in each hand that my knuckles turned white with strain.
I could feel his presence in every room, lurking at the end of every dark corridor.
He lingered in the dining hall and haunted the barracks.
I searched the faces of every Guardian I passed, hoping and dreading to find him in equal measure.
Logically, I knew I should report the incident to my superiors.
I should let them handle the threat and focus on my promotion ceremony.
But as much as I tried to convince myself to do so, I could not dispel the heavy stone weighing down my stomach.
My gut issued a dire warning of wrongness that spread through me like acid.
My chest burned and the blood that pumped through my veins was scalding.
I sank into an unhinged level of paranoia that I had never experienced. I floated through the day in a haze, finally pulled out of my own mind by a Guardian of the Third Order.
My promotion ceremony was moments from beginning.
The outdoor amphitheater was awash in hazy blue light. Bright golden lanterns and the final rays of the setting sun mixed with the heavy clouds above to cast an eerie mood over the proceedings. I was shoved to the stage, knees wobbling. I still gripped my daggers tightly in each hand.
He was here. I knew he was here like I knew my own hand. His presence was akin to the scar on my thumb—undeniable.
“Welcome, fellow Guardians, to the promotion ceremony of our esteemed Second Order. It is my great honor to bestow upon them the pin of the Guardians of the Third Order. To greet them no longer as students, but as peers.” Guardian Horvat led the ceremony, directing the proceedings with practiced efficiency, but I could hardly hear a word.
I could not see the members of my cohort around me, my vision blurring.
“The five Guardians you see before you have proven themselves to be of exceptional calibre. They have fought for their rank, as they have fought to protect the great kingdom of Ordelés. Honor them with me now, as they graduate to the Third Order.” Guardian Horvat stepped to the center of the stage.
Terror gripped me, squeezing at me like a vise. I had not felt fear this sharp since the day my brother died—since the last time I had felt truly defenseless.
The skin on my forehead prickled. Unseen eyes taunted me, and the hairs on my neck stood on end. My gaze roved over the crowd until I finally found Harkin.
His shoulder rested on a column along the outer edge of the amphitheater as he leaned casually against it. He lifted his hand, saluting me with a mocking wave.
“Guardian Seren Corso,” Horvat called. He raised my pin in his outstretched hand.
Bile rose in my throat, threatening to spill the meager contents of my stomach.
“Seren?” Lili Barta whispered from her place behind me.
“I can’t…” I whined, pressing my fingers hard against my eyes. Maybe if I covered them, I could convince myself that Harkin was not truly there.
A hand gripped my shoulder—Guardian Horvat.
I was dragged sideways, to the center of the stage. It was my turn to receive my new rank, but his fingers squeezed into my flesh too tightly. Fear rushed through me in ceaseless waves.
My breaths were ragged, shallow and unsustaining. “Let… go of me.”
“Why must you always be so difficult, Corso? Just do as I fucking ask, and be done with it!” He growled, yanking me harder.
Like a switch being flipped, my fear morphed into white hot anger—mad desperation.
I tore his hand from my shoulder and shoved, sending my commander toppling off the stage and into the crowd below. Shouts echoed around me, and I doubled over, my mouth watering with the urge to retch. I felt ill. My mind raced as it never had before.
I could not gain control of myself.
What is happening to me?
“Stop me. Use your power, and put an end to this.” Harkin’s voice was a whisper in the wind, curling melodically into the cradle of my ear. A glance in both directions made it clear that, somehow, those words had been for my ears alone.
“No,” I gasped.
“Guardian Corso?”
Anger rocketed within me again. I slammed the heel of my palm into the Guardian’s nose, sending them reeling backwards.
The Guardians around me jumped into action, shock and outrage on their faces.
They moved to restrain me, but I fought like a wild animal, slashing my daggers and snapping my teeth.
Finally, they pinned me. The daggers were wrenched from my stiff fingers and tossed aside.
My sword was relinquished from its sheath at my hip.
I lashed out with my bare hands, nails like claws in my desperation. They tore skin and drew blood, and still, I did not stop.
“Come now, Seren. This is rather embarrassing.” Harkin’s voice was light, pleasant—teasing, still. My head snapped to the side, cheek pressed to the ground beneath me. Harkin stood up straight now, but he did not move from his position at the back of the crowd.
I roared, my anger morphing into fury as I screamed at him. “Stop! Stop toying with me! Whatever you’re doing to me, stop!”
The Guardians shouted my name. Hands and feet and weapons pressed against my body. My fear and anger reflected back at me in their expressions, but all I could feel was a surging energy roiling inside me.
Rain pounded against my face as the clouds opened, an angry torrent upon us. Water slicked my skin and soaked into my clothes.
“Stop!” My voice broke as I screeched the word over and over again.
“You’re so close,” Harkin said, pride in his voice. “Just let go.”
With a pained wail, the tightening in my body finally snapped. I gasped in relief at the lightness that filled me. Water rushed around us, pouring from the sky and rising from the earth. An icy tide pulled Guardians away from me and toppled their formation.
The amphitheater erupted into chaos as the ground swelled with the growing flood. The Guardians scrambled back, away from the storm and me, slipping in their haste to flee.
“Rázuri!” They shouted as they beheld me, torn between running for higher ground and running me through with their blades.
“No…” I pushed to my feet, hands splayed to ease their fears, but as I raised them my breath caught. Swirling torrents of water limned in silver light raced along my palms, twining between my fingers. It licked outwards, seeming almost alive.
My hands tilted, raised to the sky. Mágik settled in my palms like a weapon, ready to be commanded. It danced and twirled, jumping in eagerness as the remaining Guardians approached once more.
I didn’t notice them—lost to my shock as I was. I could not wrench my gaze from the unnatural power coming from within me—undulating around me. Tears poured down my face in a mix of anguish and release, salted emotion mingling with the rain that still poured from the sky.
A wet, choking sound tore me from my own mind. The Guardian before me sputtered, and blood dribbled down his chin. The tip of a sword, stained red with blood, protruded from his chest. He had been skewered, stabbed straight through his spine. The blade withdrew, and his dying body was tossed aside.
The mágik was fading now, leaving me exhausted and boneless. When I looked up again, Harkin stood before me, hand outstretched. “You did magnificently. Now, let’s go.”
“You are a fool if you think I am leaving with you,” I spat, head spinning. I bent against the wooziness which threatened to overtake me. “This is your fault. You did this.”
“I gave you a push, certainly, but the damage was your own doing.” He stepped closer, voice low.
“We’ll have plenty of time to blame each other for this spectacle, but right now, we need to leave.
The Guardians know what you are, and reinforcements will come.
They will not stop until they have taken your head. ”
“I—” I tried to protest—to fight him to the bitter end—but I suddenly found myself willing. My head drooped, neck boneless. I was so tired, so very calm, and I would have done anything he asked.
“That’s it. I’ve got you.” Harkin pulled me close, and we fled into the night.