Chapter 26
twenty-six
. . .
Aten
“Go to sleep, Ten. I can hear your brain whirring from here.”
“I still can’t sense Ever.” I stare up at the sky, cursing this place.
My body isn’t healing as well as it would back home. But at least most of my wounds are scars and sores now. I’m tired. We’re both tired.
“What’s the plan, Ten? Because there’s no way in Zuns that they’ll let us get to her, and we’re not getting out of here without something changing.”
As I listen to her, I realise how badly I’ve let Crimson down, and Ever, too. My friend has risked everything to be here, and we’re stuck. No plan. No answers. I’m meant to protect her. I’m meant to be able to protect the woman I love, and I can’t. All I’ve done is bring misery and pain to us both.
“Quick. Reinforcements!” A deep voice echoes from outside, rousing Crimson as she sits up and listens.
“On whose order?” the guard grumbles.
“Fenix. He sent me to call for reinforcements. The prisoner has escaped.”
Ever!
Crimson and I glance at each other, but don’t move, not wanting to spook the guard. I’m sure it’s Kalan’s voice, but it’s too dark to see.
“You’re needed!” Kalan’s voice turns insistent, and he finally steps into view, a hulking shadow at the gate.
The guard still doesn’t abandon his post.
“Very well.” Kalan pulls a blade and stabs the guard before he has a chance to react. The blade is in and out of his body in a flash, and the man slumps in front of our gates.
We both bolt to the entrance and watch Kalan pull the key from its resting place at the entrance.
“You’ve decided to help, this time?” Crimson quips.
“Enough of that, deary. Ever needs you. Tonight.”
“What’s the plan?” I ask, adrenaline now humming through me that we’re doing something—anything against the threat to us all.
“No idea. She just needed to know you were out. Tonight.”
“That’s it?” Crimson’s temper rises.
“Hey, we’re out. That’s better than last night.”
“Here.” Kalan hands me the knife he used, and I take it, realising it’s my knife—the Ciro knife, Ever had for safe-keeping. I run my thumb over the hilt and the red stone that always signified a Warrior, before securing it behind me.
“Come on, we need to—”
We all stop dead at the sight of a glowing beam of light coming from within the forest—deep within the camp. Its golden glow is unlike anything I’ve seen before. It reminds me of the light bestowed at a Transference Ceremony, as Aslendrix casts you in your Order. But never this colour. This aura.
“What the?”
A strange wave of power rushes over us, and the glances between us tell me it’s not just me. It’s similar to the sense of power we receive on a full moon, where our power is at its height, when Aslendrix is at her strongest. But we’ve just passed a new moon, and our power is only just returning.
Just as quickly as it started, it fades, leaving us in darkness.
“What was that?” Crimson asks.
“No clue, but we need to go.” Kalan leads us in the opposite direction to the origin of the light.
“Ever! We’re not leaving without her.”
“She told me to get you safe.”
“And I’m not leaving without her.” My hand wraps around the hilt of the blade he’s only just returned, and I draw the knife, ensuring the tip presses right under Kalan’s jaw. He raises his arms as the pressure grows and nods.
“Come on.”
We break into a run, heading right for camp.
But as we get closer, we find people lying on the floor. Crimson’s next to one of them in a second, checking for a pulse.
“Alive,” she calls.
We venture farther towards the main camp and find more and more people on the ground.
Bodies, all unconscious. I use the hum of my magic to cast out a web to sense for anyone else. There are slight vibrations from people, a presence, but nothing more.
Was this because of Ever? Did she do this?
The connection between us is still dormant, like it has been since she ran away. Kalan said that Ever wanted us out. Tonight. Is this her plan? Clear the way for us to escape?
But where is she?
Finally, at the edge of a clearing of sorts, near a line of trees, I see a body on the ground with nobody around it.
My stomach sinks, because before I’ve even reached her, I know it’s Ever.
I race towards her, and my knees hit the dirt as I lean over her, and use all the energy that’s now come to life in my veins to break through to her, but there’s nothing.
Cold.
Icy.
“Ever!” I scream.
There’s a dark mark at her throat, and I swipe my fingers over it, hoping it’s not blood. But it’s not. It’s hot. A burn. And there’s no sign of her necklace.
“Kalan!” I shout as I lift Ever, pulling her up against me. “Come on, Ever. Wake up. Wake up. Show me those eyes.” I’ve seen her like this before. It doesn’t mean anything. She’ll come round. She has to. The words tumble into one another as my mind whirls.
Kalan stands over us, an ominous shadow in the dark.
“She’s not wearing her necklace.” I saw what it did to her when it was taken from her in her cell. I brush her hair back, desperate to feel her. Desperate for her touch, and for her to wake up and to feel the inevitable pain of our connection once again.
We’re not in the snow. It’s not cold. I cling to those thoughts, finding myself hoping that there might be a future that shows the truth, only so I know this one won’t lead to her death.
“Well, seems like you’ve chosen which sibling to support, Kalan. Have you finally picked a side, or are you still looking out for both of us?” Fenix’s voice drifts from the tree line, the darkness of the night still cloaking much of the detail.
“What did you do? What did you do!?” My anger unleashes, and I feel a surge of power, casting out towards him. I want to know what he’s feeling. I want to know what he did.
But a tug at my back and a blur past me tells me Crimson’s snatched my blade from the holster and is heading straight for Fenix.
“Kalan!” I can’t leave Ever unconscious, but Crimson needs me. “Kalan?” I look around but can’t see him anywhere. He’s gone.
As gently as I can, I set Ever on her back and brush the loose curls of hair from her face before trailing my finger to her throat to check her pulse to double-check she’s still breathing.
She’s fine.
She’ll be fine.
Crimson’s fighting Fenix when I look over to them, just a blur of shadow on shadow.
With everyone knocked out, why is Fenix still conscious? Where’s the Usher? My mind jumps through questions, coming up with information, layering it over and over again. Weirdly, it’s like our magic is back to normal—normal for Kirrasia, anyway.
It’s the first time I’ve been able to think clearly in weeks, but there are so many questions, and it’s time to get some fucking answers.
I close the gap between me and the fight, making out more than just the silhouettes of the figures now, and it’s clear Fenix isn’t at full strength. He’s not using any of his tricks, so maybe he’s not such a threat. Kalan was right. His magic is tied to the day.
In a blink, they’re grappling, no longer trading punches.
I know how viscous Crimson is, and for all these weeks, she’s been biding her time. Before I reach them, I watch as she strikes. So fast. Thrusting the blade into Fenix’s chest. But he doesn’t go down.
Everything around us goes still, including me, as I watch.
But, almost like a premonition—as if his intent is there for me to read, I know what he’s going to do.
“Crimson!” I warn, but I’m too far away. He grabs her neck with his hands, the blade still shoved into his chest, and he twists.
The crack is audible from here, and Crimson drops to the ground.
“No!” I watch as her body crashes and lies still—frozen—where she falls. At least Fenix slumps into the dirt next to her. “No. No, no, no…”
I reach her, skidding to my knees just as I did before Ever, a few moments ago.
Her face is turned to the sky, her eyes wide open, vacant.
She’s gone.
As simple as that. All this time. All this pain, the trials in the ring, just so he can do this to her! White-hot rage races through me, threatening to detonate, and I scream up at the sky, venting the anger.
I look over at Fenix, already bleeding out, the blade still oozing where she left it.
She did it for her brother, for revenge, as any Warrior would. But I know she’s only here because of me. She did this for me, and it got her killed.
This is on me.
“We have to go. Now,” Kalan’s voice is suddenly back.
“Where were you!”
“Leave her. She’s gone.”
“I can’t leave her here.”
“We can’t take her and Ever. Ever’s alive.”
Crimson isn’t. I finish his thought.
My hand brushes her eyes closed, and I send up a prayer to Aslendrix to watch over her.
The ruby-red stone in the hilt of the Ciro knife winks, as if mocking me, buried in the chest of Fenix. I snatch it and rip it free, the hurt and grief like an avalanche, threatening to pull me under.
“Leave her, come on,” Kalan shouts.
First Ever. Now Crimson.
Crimson, who’s been at my side since I was a kid. Since the three of us were kids.
“Aten, we have to go, or her death will be for nothing. We must get Ever out.”
Rustling from around us draws my attention, and I see a few of the downed men starting to come around.
Kalan’s right. We need to go.
But I won’t leave my friend behind.
I wrap my arm behind Crimson’s knees and lift her in my arms.
“You get Ever. We go. We don’t look back,” I demand.
He nods, and we flee.
Leaving no one behind.