Chapter Twenty-Two
THE GENERAL
Why did she smell of cherries? I scowled at the memory.
When she had that dull sword pressed against my neck, her face so close to mine, my body couldn’t decide if it was ready to fight or poised to…
I silenced the rest of that thought. She was a woman with too many secrets, a woman who was using me as much as I was using her. I cracked my neck.
She had seemed surprisingly angry at the fields. I suppose if I were stuck in a foreign realm and hunted by bat creatures, I’d have an attitude as well. Maybe I should get her more romance books. Women loved those.
I took a deep breath and let my rings melt down around my fingers.
When I saw her falling from the sky, fear had consumed me.
If Finn had not cast his gravity affinity toward her, slowing her descent, I would be burying her instead of sparring this morning.
I didn’t have time to examine the emotion that surged at the thought.
My brisk pace increased. The way she fought those creatures off, and the way she desired to fight for Aphellion, had a kernel of respect growing between us. And foka, where had Bowen come from? The elixist needed to keep his distance from her. He had plenty of ladies fawning over him.
My rings formed blades as my emotion sharpened. It wasn’t my concern. So why did I want to make it my business? My blades darted around me in a swarm of angry bees. I clenched my hands.
The sound of my boots reverberated in the afternoon’s silence. The soldier that interrupted our training needed me to identify a body that had been found in the woods. I was curious if it would match one of the bodies recovered from Nolan’s mine.
My forces had recently discovered a Berine mine within the Auren Mountains. We were in the process of shutting it down to staunch the flow of the drug. There were many fronts we were fighting.
Time was of the essence. King Nolan was amassing an army of drekis.
The Yaritian ruler, Queen Avery, was alerted, but as usual, she stayed in her jeweled castle, turning a blind eye.
She stayed preoccupied with the prophecy.
Many years ago, an oracle shared the vision that the queen’s own magic would be drained by a child of the gods. Her paranoia consumed her.
The Liberation stayed under the radar, behind our wards, moving in the shadows. The erratic queen kept a small army, but her loyalties to the king were unknown. Her inaction bred questions.
Finn and I stepped into the great stone building at the edge of Aphellion.
It was three stories of granite with four levels below the ground full of guarded cells.
Some rooms were used as a mortuary, some for imprisonment, others for extracting information by whatever means necessary.
The cell we headed to now was in one of the subterranean rooms. It was brightly lit with numerous torches.
A stone table sat in the middle of the room, a limp figure upon its surface.
I covered my nose and mouth with the cowl at my neck, stifling the rancid odor that emanated from the body.
The soldier in charge of the corpse lowered the sheet covering the man.
Innumerable small holes covered his graying skin.
It appeared as if his body broke out in boils that erupted all at once.
The capillaries beneath his skin shone gray and black as though flushed with char.
I cataloged the body, then nodded at the soldier to return the sheet.
We exited the room. The queasiness that settled at the sight of the corpse made me grateful for my empty stomach. This was the fourth body we had found in the last month. Finn and I moved to the upper levels toward my office.
The soldier who summoned me and brought us to the dead body followed close behind.
“Have an elixist come in to test the body for death magic.” He nodded in affirmation and left with his orders.
I glanced up at Finn whose glazed expression indicated his own thoughtful processing at what we witnessed.
The scent of leather and parchment greeted us as I opened my office door. The window on the far wall lay cracked open, barely reducing the stifling heaviness these granite walls imposed. I slouched into a worn leather chair that faced a vastly underused fireplace.
Finn nestled into the opposite chair, his foot tapping in thought. He turned to me, “Do you think this is a warning? A practice run? Or a random act from a random creature?”
I stared, unseeing, out the window. “This is the fourth body. The same wounds. The same stench. The nymphs have not seen anything, but these bodies keep appearing in their midst. Alert our soldiers and spies. They need to be informed and prepared.”
Finn nodded. “We did hear back from Delah, the elixist defector. She reported a new sweep on the citizens. Nolan is targeting orphans again. Several have gone missing. Most of them girls. I’ve already sent out some of our own to search for them, and bring them back here.
Sieren and Xuri are preparing the old space.
It’s like a repeat of when we were kids, when you used to go in search of them. ”
It was how I found her. She wasn’t an orphan and I couldn’t just steal her away from her family, even if her father was a monster. But I visited her every chance I could, just to make sure she was alright. Until she actually did disappear. I still harbored hope that she was alive. Somewhere.
Nolan’s collection of children had always been subtle and easily dismissed because they belonged to no family.
No one to care about their absence meant they could vanish without any outcry; it was one less mouth to feed.
But to have a large-scale operation with obvious missing persons… His desperation did not bode well.
Finn moved on. “Preparations are in place to destroy Nolan’s mining operation. We also attempted to send one last message to Queen Thaleia in the Nereids. But who knows if she will have received it.”
I began pacing. “I want the wards fortified around the whole of Aphellion. Extend them skyward if at all possible. With yesterday’s incident, we have likely been discovered. Make sure guards are doubled around all entrances, and around our Primes.”
“I already have a plan in motion. Most of the commanders have been briefed about our departure and their orders. I will make sure to reiterate before we leave.” Finn’s eyes sharpened as he slowly smirked.
“That was some interesting sparring this morning. Maybe I can find a defector to ‘train’ with.”
I shot him a warning glare. Even if I wanted to be the only one who made her smile, it wouldn’t matter. She was off-limits. Maybe it would be better if she did forge a connection with Bowen. My mind was becoming too preoccupied with thoughts of her. I needed to figure out a way to silence it.
I swept out of the room to the echo of Finn’s annoying chuckle.