Chapter 5: Ignis IV

Chapter 5: Ignis IV

There were many consequences for my choices that night. Most immediate was the size of my honor guard. When I had left for the coronation, I was flanked by nearly a dozen men. On my return, I was followed by one. That was still one too many.

Take the night off. I said. We approached my doors, and the last thing I wanted was a guard giving a detailed account of the princes escape to Thaddeus.

With all due respect my lord, thats not a wise idea. The guard walked backward to talk to me, taking the moment to survey the hallway behind us. His eyes werent erratic, but never stayed in one place for long. It was like he was attempting to make up for the absence of protection by looking everywhere at once. Locks of dark hair hung beneath his helmet, covering golden eyes. He was young for protection detail, possibly a few years younger than me. Yet the combination of his easy posture and subtle intensity betrayed experience.

Why? I asked, The rest did. My voice came out more bitter than intended. After all, Id just stood in front of the entire kingdom and flipped them the raven. It was hardly the sort of behavior that inspired loyalty. Im not your king.

You are my prince.

Tomorrow, I will likely not even be that.

Then Ill reconsider. Tomorrow.

Hells take you then. I slammed my bedroom door in his face. Let him stand out there all night and may Elphion smite him. Loyal or not, his presence was throwing a major wrench in my plans. My getaway was contingent on a variety of factors, several of which were now compromised. First step of the plan was pissing off the entire kingdom to the point that no one would want anything to do with me. The second step was getting the hell out with at least an hour lead before anyone knew I was gone. And now my unwanted shadow was impeding both.

There was an alternate path. I glanced at the window. I strapped the rucksack I had purchased in the market to my shoulders, now teeming full. Immediately, my palms began to tingle and shivers went up and down my arms. I closed my eyes and chided myself. Youve done it before. Just do it again. Carefully, I leaned out. The frigid night air whipped at my ears, the ground far below seeming to shift and ripple. I immediately lost my balance and threw myself backward, falling hard on my ass.

Shit. That wasnt happening. Not tonight. Endless possibilities and considerations ran through my head. After the coronation there was a feast. Id order the guard to bring me something. He was being difficult because he thought there was a high chance of trouble, not because he thought I was going to run tonight.

It took some convincing, but he finally agreed, looking at me with a face that seemed a bit too insulted. Im a guard, not a maid, it seemed to say.

Pillage something for yourself as well, guardsman. This will be a long night.

With that he seemed to agree, and gave me one last questioning look before trotting off towards the banquet hall. Finally.

Before I could grab my things, there was a soft knock on the door.Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

What? I shoved my rucksack under the bed for the second time, almost shaking from nerves and frustration.

Cairn. Its me. Seras voice. But she sounded strange. I opened the door and Sera came rushing through.

I thought youd be drinking your new subjects under the table by now. I said, unable to hide a smirk. But Sera didn't laugh. She didn't even smile. It was only then that I realized what she was wearing. Dark garments, covered by a black cloak. Sera shivered like shed just marched through a blizzard, her cheeks and eyes red.

Sera? Whats-

Sera rushed forward and wrapped her arms around me, her cloak trailing behind her.

Brother. Im sorry.

I never saw the knife that killed me the first time. One moment, Im embracing my sister, wondering if the pressures of the throne have broken her. The next, theres a fire blooming in my gut, ravenous, hungry, consuming my nerves and my every thought, save one: I never really knew Sera at all.

I shoved her backwards and the blade went with her. Dully, as I pushed against it to staunch the bleeding, it dawned on me that it was far too gaping and open. She twisted the knife. The pain grew unendingly, magnifying, sending waves of agony through my core and up my back. Sera watched through teary eyes, her bottom lip trembling pathetically. Just minutes ago such an expression would have my immediate attention and concern. Now there was only hate.

Why? I hissed through the horrible haze. The throne is yours. Freely given. Why do this?

They made me. Sera held herself, wrapping her arms around her shoulders.

Father?

No! Sera cut the shout short. She stared down at the ground. Her whole body shook, as if the earth was shaking underneath her.

Why wasnt she saying anything? My blood roared in my ears, but I cocked my head. It wasnt just my blood. Finally, I heard the screams, punctuated by the sounds of combat and war. I groaned, the horror of it coming into sharp focus. Sera hadnt just played me. Shed played everyone.

What did you do, Sera? I pushed myself up and leaned against the bed. It was all I could do not to focus on the steady pulse of liquid oozing between my fingers. What did you do? I screamed at her.

There was no other way! Sera yelled. She shuddered, lowering her voice. Our time is over Cairn. Siladon is done. Its been a long time coming.

Whos attacking?

Everyone. The demon-kin, the elves, the dwarves, all of them. Theyve been plotting this for years.

The magnitude of it floors me. Of course, individually, theyd want revenge. Father had subjugated all of them, held a boot to their necks, killed their friends and loved ones with no reparations. But for them to come together made no sense. As much as wed done to earn their hatred, they hated each other exponentially more. We only had a few hundred years of bad blood. The dwarves and demon-kin had thousands.

So what? I panted at her, gesturing helplessly in the air. Murder your brother and you get a free pass? The only human left alive in the land of monsters?

Im not, Cairn. Sera looks at the ground.

Not free?

Not human.

Was she saying the rumors were true?

Bullshit, I whispered.

Wealth wasnt the only trophy father took home, Sera said bitterly.

I'd like to say that I rose to the occasion. Assumed my role as the hero of this story. But the truth is that Alten carried me, sometimes literally.

Yes, I'd made up my mind to storm the castle, to rescue my sister, free her from the grasps of the evil demons and demi-humans. But my resolve was based almost exclusively on fairytales, and went up in flames as easily as the paper those stories are printed on. Literally, as it seemed the castle itself was on fire.

Ivory pillars and white stone walls burned under purple flames like kindling, their colors melting from light to a dull corroded iron. The heat was unbearable, rising from the flames in constant visual distortion. Smoke gathered in the high ceilings like billowing storm clouds.

Alten had not exaggerated. It wasnt so much a battle as a massacre. The bodies of both servants and subjects piled as high as the guards, if not higher, blood strewn across the marbled floor like brush strokes from a manic artist. Most were strangers to me, but every third or fourth body, Id recognize the face of someone I once knew. One of my previous honor guards. A friend Id fallen out with. The cook, who always snuck us something extra on our birthdays, despite our fathers dogged insistence on not celebrating such pointless frivolities. Id grown more and more numb before Alten took me by the arm.

Dont focus on the faces. Let the dead flow past you like a river, lest you be drowned with them. Alten said, his voice quiet and firm. Hed dropped the my lord and its variants fairly quickly after wed begun our journey. That was fine. I didnt feel much like royalty.

We were under attack by every race Id ever learned of, and a few I hadnt. I watched small creatures with a striking resemblance to the kind-hearted pixies from fables tear a man apart with nothing more than their teeth, his screams crescendoing octave by octave until finally fading away, most of his flesh shed to the bone. Elves of both light and dark varietyand something in between Id never seen beforeoutfought every opponent with easy agility and fast strikes. Their eyes flashed crimson in the smoke-filled haze, lithe bodies flipping and striking as easily as a child walked.

Dwarves, making up for stature with number, struck at mens knees and groins to topple them before pulverizing their chest plates and helmets with axes and hammers.

The infernals were the worst. Purple, red, and blue horned demons that danced around their opponents, mocking and laughing, infernal speech twisting their voices into something that shook the soul as they set everything on fire.

Still, if I had to pick one person out of the entire massacre Id prefer not to fight, it would be Alten himself.

An elf flipped away from Alten to create distance. But one didnt distance themselves from Alten without paying a price. Alten leapt forward, smashing the pommel of his sword against the elfs head as it rose. The elf made a decidedly inelegant sound and went down hard, smashing his face into the stone and not getting back up. Two more elves hesitated, before one of them threw a knife. Alten, one-armed and unbalanced from the blow, instead pivoted his entire body and kicked the knife out of the air with a crescent lash of his heel.

The sword was growing too heavy in my hand again, so I had to improvise. I managed to take advantage of the elves hesitation and grab one around the neck, pulling it to the ground in a blood choke. Dishonorable, my father would have said, but we were past anything resembling honor at this point. Before his fellow could turn and slay me Alten was on him in a blur of motion. The remaining elf, a female, was built for speed and battered at Alten from every angle, constantly dodging into and pressing the attack from his armless side. The elf beneath me made choking noises, his wriggling growing more frantic, every movement sending a shockwave of pain in my gut.

Altens opponent pushed him back, managing to land several blows against his armor.

My elf went still. I almost let go, but its head suddenly rotated like an owls until it faced backwards, glowing crimson eyes inches from my face as it smiled at me with pointed teeth that gleamed in the firelight before biting into my shoulder.

I screamed.

It flipped up in a blur of feet and grabbed my sword, raising it high in the air with both hands.

It was over. I closed my eyes.

There was a sound of a sword impacting flesh. But it was not my flesh. Something warm and thick spattered across my upheld hands. I opened my eyes to see a bleeding stump where the elfs head once was.

Alten placed a foot on the elfs corpse and shoved it off, then unceremoniously sat down beside me, both of us gasping for air.

Id mocked him for being the only one of my honor guard to stay. This was the third time hed saved me. The man was worth more than all of them put together.

They really kicked you out of the silver swords?

Yeah. He gasped out.

Idiots. I said. Alten smiled then, and moved over, studying me.

Come on, nows the fun part. He inspected our surroundings before finding what he was looking for: a relatively clean piece of flaming wood. I groaned, already knowing what was coming.

The flesh in my shoulder sizzled from the makeshift torch pressed against and I gasped, squinting. No screaming. Much better than last time.

Are those bite marks? Alten asked incredulously, using the fire to get a better look at my wound.

You know those mummers tales about the possessed dolls whose heads turn around all the way?

Yes?

Well thats basically what happened.

No shit. He passed me the torch, trying not to smile. I took it from him and he turned, eyeing me carefully.

You remember-

Yes, yes, two second intervals. I said. His wounds were on his side, two jagged horizontal slashes beneath his blackened stump of an arm. I cauterized them quickly and carefully. Alten, of course, didnt make a sound. It had seemed excessive to do this with every wound, but the way hed explained it, wed both lost too much blood: him from his arm, and me from my gut. It was unpleasant, but the reality was it served us better to staunch any blood loss as quickly as possible, rather than risk falling unconscious or into shock.

Alten turned to me and spoke quietly. It feels like were being herded.

But were still heading the right way. I whispered back, but considered his words. While Alten was a great fighter, he was still just one man. Wed encountered considerably less resistance than some groups Id seen getting completely overrun. Maybe there was something to that. But it begged a question. Why?

It feels wrong. Just be ready.

I nodded.

We moved from room to room stealthily, only getting into minor scuffles that Alten dispatched of quickly. Altens words festered in my mind. This was probably the most direct path from my rooms to the pavilion. It was also a main thoroughfare. Why were there not more enemies?

The feeling of unease built. I began to hear the ringing in my ears, growing louder and louder. Seras parting words came back to me.

Shes coming

A chill went down my spine.