Eight Will Fall, page 26
Larkin held the tutor’s stare. “If it means saving the remaining Empaths in the city, then yes. I have no other choice.”
Hela’s gaze hardened. “Just be mindful that you don’t grow too comfortable with the idea.”
“If you’re trying to imply that I won’t be able to control the magic Kyran passed down to me…”
“Killing a person changes you, Larkin.” Amias ceased his pacing, his hands clenched into fists. “It doesn’t matter what side of the battle they’re on.”
Larkin stood, raking her fingers through her hair. “I can’t just keep waiting, not when Ilona has my family.” She thought. “What about Jacque’s battalion? You heard what Jacque said, how they were prone to rebel. Maybe they’ll help us.”
“Do you know which battalion?” asked Hela.
“I know they’re stationed at Seaside Port,” said Larkin, remembering the sea of tortured soldiers, and the woman who spoke to her. Gods, she wished she could forget the moment.
“There are many battalions stationed there. Do you know the lieutenant’s name?”
Larkin didn’t. She knew nothing of Jacque’s battalion other than the fact that Jacque was second in rank.
“I’ll try to find out more about her battalion, but you need to lie low.” Hela rolled up the maps. “If Ilona finds out that you are alive, your family will be in even greater danger.”
Larkin cried out in frustration.
Hela flinched as a vase near her bed shattered, then glared at Larkin as Larkin unclenched her hand. “That was expensive.”
“So make a new one, Empath,” Larkin said sourly.
“Breaking things won’t suddenly make Hela wrong.” Amias chastised, as though she were a stubborn child fishing for attention.
She wasn’t fishing for attention, but she sure as hells was stubborn.
* * *
That night, as she lay on the floor next to Amias, Larkin thought of the ability of destruction she’d acquired from Kyran. Other than saving Amias, she’d hardly tapped into the magic, but she didn’t feel differently than she had before Kyran had died.
She was the one who wanted to fight Ilona and her armies, not Kyran. She was certain of it.
Hela reentered her room at the break of dawn, waking them.
“I have news,” she said gravely, dropping a second sack of food at her feet.
Larkin shot up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
“Queen Melay—Ilona—is rounding up the remainder of their soldiers. They are up to something, and I’m deeply worried for the remaining Empaths on this isle.”
“You think she’s going to kill all of us?” Larkin asked, horrified. Amias sat up next to her, alert.
“Her power has been threatened, Larkin. The city is desecrated, and her army has been greatly weakened. The dynasty may not withstand another riot. We have no other option than to act now.”
Larkin and Amias exchanged glances. To hells with a plan. They needed to get to the streets and warn the canyon.
“But that isn’t all,” said Hela. “You told me that your entire party died. Why did you lie?”
“What are you saying?” Larkin’s heart leapt into a frenzy. “I watched them die, one by one.”
“Are you sure about that? The queen’s battalions just returned to the Surface, two girls in tow. They’re believed to be the only survivors.”
Larkin felt hope flare in her chest. Jacque and Elf … They were alive.
THIRTY-FIVE
“I told you.” Amias stood from their nest of blankets, his excitement fluttering across Larkin’s skin.
“You said she’d conjured wings, did you not?” Hela asked.
She had been so quick to disregard Elf’s wings, so scared to hope.
“I didn’t think she could use them,” Larkin said.
“You doubt our magic,” said Hela. “I don’t blame you. You’ve been stripped of what you are actually capable of.” She studied Larkin closely. “Well, not anymore.”
“Where are they?” asked Larkin. “What’s going to happen to them?”
“The queen received word from a messenger only moments ago,” said Hela. “I was with her. I came right here.”
“So they are bringing them back to the palace?” Larkin’s heart beat heavy in her chest.
“Yes, to be imprisoned and interrogated,” said Hela grimly. “And then likely executed.”
Of course. Larkin should have expected this. “We shouldn’t have waited to do something.”
“You will not act rationally with such anger,” said Hela. “You are going to end up getting Jacque and Elf killed if you allow rage to lead you.”
“I’m going to kill them?” she cried. “Ilona’s armies are organizing as we speak. I should have warned the canyon the second we resurfaced!”
Hela matched her fury. “Be quiet!”
Larkin siphoned the tutor’s fiery anger, holding it like a breath. Her fingers flexed in anticipation. Hela shielded her face, and Amias winced.
They were both expecting this from her—this loss of control.
Larkin forced herself to relax, her fury losing charge and fizzling out. “When will they be here?”
“Likely after dark.” Hela swept across the room and barred her door. “We have a few hours to devise a plan. If you can control your temper.”
“Who has them?”
“Hathius.”
Hells. Larkin dreaded the thought of seeing Melay’s lieutenant again. “I’ll meet them in the stables.”
She waited for Amias to argue with her. To tell her that he was coming along.
But instead, he said, “You’ll be able to use magic in places I can’t. My resistance to luminite is weak in comparison to yours, now.” He smiled sadly at her. “Hathius won’t expect it.”
She returned his smile. “I hope you’re right.”
Hela was silent as she thought. “You will need something to distract Hathius and the soldiers. The queen’s alchemist has been creating small explosives to stanch the riots. I can set one off close to the palace.”
“And I’ll distract Ilona,” said Amias.
“What?” Larkin stared at him. He couldn’t be serious.
“Amias…,” Hela said quietly.
“Imagine what would happen if I arrived in the throne room. I would be the loyal spy returning to my commander. She’ll want to know everything: how I managed to escape the Reach, how I entered the palace … how I destroyed the rest of you.” Amias leveled his gaze at Larkin. “It will distract her long enough for you to save Jacque and Elf, at the very least.”
“Absolutely not,” said Larkin. “I’ve sensed how you fear the queen. I can’t let you do this.”
“It’s not your choice,” Amias told her. “It’s mine.”
Larkin hated that Hela was with them. She wished she could speak to Amias alone. “I promised you…”
“I know what you promised.” He brushed her hand with his knuckles. “I’m not holding you to it.”
He was trying to remain strong, forcing his unyielding calm to the surface. But Larkin knew better, and what she’d soaked up from Kyran was only aiding her. This emotion was different from anything she’d felt from him before. Cold and crushing, but painfully slow.
“She will hurt you.” Larkin’s voice shook. “After everything we’ve been through.”
“Larkin is right. If she suspects anything, she will take you to the catacombs, Amias.” Hela’s dread was so heavy that Larkin could barely breathe beneath it. “Ilona will keep you there until she gleans from you everything she wants to hear.”
“I know.” Amias reached out, and his tutor took his hand.
“I don’t know if I can bear to witness it, Amias.”
“Why would she take him to the catacombs?” Larkin asked.
“It is surrounded by a reef of luminite,” said Hela. “Magic can be performed within, but Amias won’t be able to escape.”
“She’ll torture you!” cried Larkin, rising to her feet.
“Just as she’s done before. And I’ve survived, Larkin. Every time.” Amias stood, gathering her in his arms. Larkin clenched the back of his shirt, burying her face in his shoulder. She could do nothing to stop him from making this decision. If Ilona was distracted, her family would have a greater chance at living. She needed to believe that.
Amias kissed her forehead. “Get them back, Larkin. Get them back, or all of this will be for nothing.”
* * *
Larkin pressed herself to the outdoor wall of the palace. She tilted her head up to examine her handiwork: twenty barely noticeable hand- and footholds made from destroyed bricks leading from Hela’s window to the ground.
With the cover of twilight, Larkin crept between the wall and the mountain scrub. The stables were just down the hill, if she remembered correctly. She hadn’t spotted any guards around the outside of the palace, yet. Then again, Queen Melay was running desperately low on guards.
Ilona, amended Larkin. There was no Melay. Larkin still struggled to accept it.
The isle had been beneath the same queen’s rule for a thousand years. If Larkin and Amias didn’t stop her, she would rule for another thousand.
Amias.
Had he entered the throne room yet? Knelt before the queen, surrendering himself to her?
Move faster, damn you, she thought, hurrying forward, ducking behind a luminite statue. She slid down the hill behind the stables, and then pressed her back to the stone structure and held her breath, listening and hearing nothing.
According to Hela, Hathius was due to arrive tonight, but what if the information Hela received was inaccurate? What if Jacque and Elf had already been escorted into the palace? No, she wouldn’t think like that. Amias’s sacrifice couldn’t be for nothing.
Larkin looked around, spotting wooden barrels at the far end of the wall. She climbed between them, sinking until she was pinned between barrel and stone. The sky darkened to the periwinkle of Bianca’s cavern, and then to a deeper blue. Finally, onyx.
She spotted only one person, a stable boy lighting torches along the walls and the nearby path that led to the palace’s gates.
Hooves sounded from down the hill. Soldiers.
Larkin scrambled from her hiding place, scooting along the wall until she could peer around the corner. She counted twenty soldiers on their horses, Hathius among them. Hells.
Hela had said she would set off an explosive as a distraction. Larkin hoped that as soon as it went off, most of the soldiers would race off to investigate.
She listened intently, but instead of a loud pop or a crackle of sparks, the ground vibrated, reminding her of Casseem’s cave-in.
Avalanche.
“What in Ilona’s name!” Hathius roared.
One of the watchtowers at the city gates had crumbled. Hela. She’d used magic. She remembered Casseem telling her of the secret spots in the city out of reach of the luminite. Had Hela known about those places?
Larkin marveled at the kind of power she would have to possess to destroy something so large.
“You! Go figure out what in hells that was,” Hathius snarled. “The rest of you, stay with me. Something’s afoot.”
Larkin swore beneath her breath as the single soldier took off toward the crumbling tower, leaving most of the soldiers still pacing in front of the stables.
Elf was close enough that Larkin could hear her whimper.
“Please.”
Larkin sensed her anguish; they had hurt her already.
“You’re lucky the queen wants a word with you, or I’d kill you here myself,” said Hathius.
Larkin was out of time. If Hathius wanted blood, she would give it to him. She stepped around the wall and into the clearing.
Larkin spotted Jacque and Elf before they saw her, Hathius himself holding the ends of their luminite shackles. The other soldiers were scattered across the clearing, unpacking from the ride, and she counted sixteen of them. Larkin sensed their alarm and confusion as they drew their swords.
Elf squeaked her name before Jacque clapped a shackled hand over her mouth.
“What are you doing?” hissed Jacque.
Larkin slowly approached. “I don’t want to hurt you, Hathius.”
She expected Hathius to laugh, but instead, he stared at her stone-faced, and she sensed a trill of nervousness. Larkin dared to look away from Hathius to find Jacque and Elf once more. They were covered in grime and blood, Elf’s tunic bright red and plastered to her skin. They cut off her wings. No wonder she was in so much pain.
Hathius flung an arm out at his guards, ordering them to stay back.
Larkin continued forward. “Let my friends go, and tell your queen they escaped.”
“The moment she finds out you are here, your brother will die,” Hathius declared, his smile contrasting sharply with the emotions he emitted. “If he isn’t dead already.”
“Larkin!” Elf screamed.
From the corner of her eye, Larkin saw three soldiers running forward, swords raised. Within a breath, she siphoned and projected Elf’s terror. Their swords disintegrated. One screamed and fell to his knees, clutching the spurting stump of his wrist. She’d taken his hand.
Larkin’s fingers trembled at her sides as the remaining soldiers faltered. She’d terrified them.
“Seize her!” Hathius screamed.
Five more soldiers lunged toward her. This time, Larkin siphoned more deeply. The soldiers collapsed, screaming.
The wounds would heal. Eventually.
Her pulse thrummed in her ears as the remaining soldiers ran, abandoning their lieutenant. Hathius did not retreat. He grabbed Jacque by the hair and hauled her to him.
“I don’t want to kill you, Hathius,” Larkin said. And it was true. As much as she knew he deserved to die, she’d already spilled blood, the injured soldiers groaning as they crawled away.
Hathius grinned wildly and whipped out a dagger, making to slide it across Jacque’s throat, but Larkin was quicker.
She crushed his head, his body falling forward limply onto Jacque. The soldier gave a yelp and leapt out of the way, sending Hathius’s corpse tumbling to the ground.
Blood. It pooled around the fence posts the way it had the legs of the quartermaster’s table. For a moment, panic seized Larkin before she turned to her friends, who stared at her in awe and horror.
She pointed to the stable. “In.” They had little time before Ilona was notified of their presence.
Elf and Jacque quickly complied, entering the barn doors, where the three embraced at once.
“I thought you were dead,” Larkin cried into Elf’s hair.
“We almost died.” Jacque pulled away. “Especially me. But Elf—”
“I flew, Larkin.” Even exhausted, Elf’s grin was bright. “Well, glided.”
“Flew, glided … you saved our hides.” Jacque lifted her tunic to show Larkin the starburst scar that marked her abdomen. “She fixed me up right too. Destroyed that thing coming out of me.”
Elf frowned. “Ignore the scar. I was panicking. I’ll fix it.”
Jacque studied the mark before dropping her tunic. “I kind of like it.”
Larkin quickly sensed the air for anyone approaching before whispering, “How did you get caught?”
“After we fell to the bottom of the chasm, we couldn’t return to you,” said Jacque. “The drop was long and there was no easy way up. But there was a passage beneath the river, one that looked”—she shared a glance with Elf—“well traveled.”
“I think we passed into another disciple’s sector,” Elf said excitedly.
“Did you see anyone?” Larkin asked, remembering the vast landscapes of the Reach that Kyran had shown her.
Elf shook her head. “Luckily, no. If I remember Tamsyn’s map correctly, we were on the outskirts of Brendis Pellager’s territory.”
The disciple who liked to kill for fun. “Thank gods for that.”
“We hiked upward and crossed into the river,” said Jacque. “We’d made it to Bianca’s cavern when we were captured.”
The soldiers had entered the Reach to seek them out. Ilona wasn’t going to risk them getting away.
Jacque watched her carefully, and Larkin wondered if she was trying to read her emotions. “It’s true, then. You killed Kyran. How in hells did you get back to the Surface without getting caught?”
Larkin quickly told them everything, leaving both Elf and Jacque in shock when Larkin relayed Melay’s true identity.
“And you’re obviously Kyran’s.” Jacque gazed out past the barn doors at the carnage Larkin had wrought.
“We’ll discuss it later,” said Larkin quickly, still shaken by what she’d done. “But, Jacque, I need to talk to you about your battalion lieutenant. If you found her, could she be convinced to fight alongside the Empaths?” She explained the situation with Ilona and Amias, and the planned slaughter.
“I don’t know. I may have squelched any hope of her uprising when I refused to join them.” Jacque frowned, the dread heavy in her heart. “They’re stationed at a private outpost a few miles north of the city. I may be able to reach them before they’re ordered to the capital.” She scratched the back of her neck. “If they’re still alive.”
“I know you can convince them,” said Larkin. “For Amias, and for Risa. Ilona has them both.”
Jacque steeled herself. “I guess I can no longer pray to Ilona for sweet mercy, now, can I?”
“If we have the advantage, I can begin leading the Empaths to safety before any violence breaks out,” Elf said. “But I’ll need time to get them out.”
“Good thinking,” Larkin said.
“We’ll need your help, Larkin,” said Jacque. “Melay—Ilona—has lost a lot of soldiers, but there are still more than my battalion will be able to conquer.”
Larkin thought of Garran. Her family. The moment she finds out you are here, your brother will die.
“I’ll be the distraction,” said Larkin. “I’ll try to keep as many soldiers off both of your backs.”
Jacque’s eyes glittered. “I’m glad you’re all right. You and Amias.”
“Me too,” Larkin said. She could be thankful she and Amias were still breathing, but it wasn’t enough.
