Mabel

  “My mother gave it to me,” smiled Madame Song, waving a hand over the backwards boy’s shoulder. Tiny golden healing motes leaked from her palms and settled over a deep wound.

  Mabel watched the boy shudder in pain.

  “It’s beautiful,” she said, staring at Madame Song’s silver bracelet. “I adore the blue pendants especially.”

  “Mhm, those are my favorite too.”

  Madame Song rubbed a pad over the boy’s wound and began to wrap it in gauze. “Mabe... have I ever shown you a photogram of my mother?”

  “No.” Mabel shook her head.

  “I will. She’s very beautiful, you know? The most talented healer to come out of our village. A true prodigy when she was younger...” Madame Song’s voice trailed off as she parted the backward boy’s hair to search for more cuts. “This poor thing. I can’t imagine what he went through out there.”

  “Senela Vytsyaka.” The boy said, quietly.

  “Hmm?” Mabel gave him a smile, unsure of what that meant.

  He kept staring at her. A lost gaze, as if his body was present, but his mind someplace else.

  “Thank you for being here Mabe. I’m sure he really appreciates it.”

  “I don’t mind-”

  Mabel’s attention shifted to what sounded like a faint knock on the remedy room door.

  Madame Song looked up from her work. “Could you get that?” she asked, busy applying tape to the gauze. “It’s probably Mr. Piggot.”

  Mabel stood up from her stool and rounded the nursing bed. The room had a fresh smell to it, like the first petrichor of the monsoon rains. She normally didn’t like to be in this room. It reminded her of the time she had caught the river flu. A nasty bundle of weeks it was, bloodwarm and stricken to a bed as she coughed the nights away. It was Madame Song who had finally healed her, after Lady Elenora had begged the church to find her a competent healer. Madame Song had become a permanent stay on the estate after that. She was family.

  Odd. Mabel thought.

  There was no one outside. The corridor was dim, and the door to the empty storage room directly across from her was slightly ajar.

  “Um, there’s no one-”

  A cold metal touched her forehead. She turned to look, but a hand grabbed her by the shoulder and strangled her into a grapple.

  “Madame Song!”

  “Mabe...? Oh my goodness!” Madame Song dropped everything in her hands and stood up from her chair.

  Mabel’s abductor pushed her into the remedy room, closing the door behind him.

  The barrel of a pistol still to her head, the abductor moved the hair that was covering Mabel's neck to one side.

  “Let-her-go! NOW!” Madame Song gritted through her teeth, her body lighting ablaze with a channeler’s aura.

  “I don’t want to make this any harder than it already is.” The abductor muttered, quiet and monotone. “I’m going to take this girl, and I’d rather not have to hurt you along the way-”

  A flash of red blinded Mabel. She felt the fabric of Madame Song’s dress sway by her face as a heavy force pushed her to one side of the room. Her back hit a table full of empty flowerpots, one of them tipping over and spilling some cold soil onto her hair.

  Bodies moved around her in a tussle. The flashing of motes, the sparking of shield, and the release of aya.

  Madame Song had pounced. Without any hesitation. Two beds flipped over on the farthest side of the room. The wood of stools cracked and splintered as the fumes of battle filled the air.

  The Abductor was fast. Defensive in his movements. But Madame Song was fluid in a pair of sandals, a surprising amount of technique evident in her martial style.

  She had him on his back foot. But the abductor’s well timed shield pulses seemed to be keeping her in check.

  And then... a pop. Like a cracking whip hitting the floor. The abductor's green eyes flashed midnight gray behind his aya-lock pistol.

  No...

  Madame Song fell over to her side. A clean shot to the prima lobe.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  The release of aya from the projectile could stun even the most formidable channelers, overloading their lobe, ceasing their consciousness.

  Mabel tried to scramble and run, but the abductor was already on top of her.

  “Don’t,” said the man, grappling Mabel into his arms. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “Why are you doing this?” Mabel bawled, trying to break free from his hold.

  There was no answer.

  He dragged her back to the front of the room.

  Mabel called out for help. But there was no one to hear her.

  No one except...

  "Get out of the way, boy.” The man raised his pistol. “I will shoot you, if you don’t.”

  The backwards boy was standing in front of the door, his head pointing down. Something leaked from his lips, a gloomy liquid that was pooling onto the floor.

  “Run!” Mabel shouted to him. “Get help!”

  “Tiol’s grace...” Mabel heard her abductor shudder beneath his own breath.

  The backwards boy twitched and convulsed. A long shadow, tendril-like in form, crawled out of his back as if it had cracked through its newborn shell.

  Mabel felt the abductor's grip loosen from around her shoulder.

  The shadow shot outwards like a cannon, engulfing the space, killing every terra star in their lanterns and veiling the room in a pitched darkness.

  Footsteps sprinted towards Mabel. She felt something pass through her body and come out the other end.

  “GAHHH!” Came the abductor's screams.

  A shattering sound. A splitting sound. And then, the ripping of meat.

  Mabel used her hands to walk through the darkness. She cowered low, crawl-walking to where she had last seen the door. Her breath was hitching, rogue tears coming down her eyes.

  But this was no time to cry.

  The creature, shadow, thing, whatever it was, moved behind her. She could hear it. Feel it.

  Tiol save me. Tiol save me.

  Please. Please...

  Mabel desperately reached ahead of her, feeling her way around the obstacles of the room.

  Another scream. This one more horrifying than the last.

  Tiol save me. Tiol save me.

  Yes!

  She’d found the door. Yanking it open, she sprinted out, slamming it shut behind her.

  Engin

  The Lady had entered the foyer with dread shadowed across her face.

  And though it was grim, the gravity of her presence seemed to ground what little hope there was left remaining in the air.

  “Lady Elenora.” Engin sobbed at the sight of her, some rejuvenation in his spirit.

  She walked with her hands at her sides, catching Perry as he ran into her arms, letting him cry through her gown.

  “Ahh...the Lady herself.” Amadeus bowed, bringing Engin down with him. “How exciting.”

  The Lady’s eyes burned violent blue, like a raging tide at sea.

  “We finally meet, my Lady,” said Amadeus, swinging his dagger around with a careless spirit. “You are a very difficult woman to get a hold of around here, you know this?”

  “You have my child,” said the Lady, refusing to play into Amadeus’ games. “Let him go.”

  “Oh, but my lady, we’ve only just met.” Amadeus smirked. “Perhaps we can acquaint ourselves. Get to know one another, before we make any hasty demands, hmm?”

  “You can have whatever you want. I will give it to you. But you will let my child go first.”

  “Demanding. They did tell me this about you, my lady.” Amadeus jerked on his hold near Engin’s throat, choking him in the process.

  Engin coughed a nasty fit, crying out for help.

  “But you see,” he continued, pressing the dagger closer to Engin’s gullet. “I have a bit of a stubborn side myself.”

  Burn stepped forward with a face full of fury, but the lady put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

  “It’s an impressive bit of wealth,” said Amadeus. “An estate like this. But does it ever bother you, my lady. The terrible lie it was built upon. Does it ever hurt you to know... how much you lie to these wonderful children every day. So many of them under your care, serving only as fodder to hide the one you really want to protect.”

  Amadeus increased the pressure around Engin’s throat.

  Engin felt his legs go numb, as if they were dangling off the edge of a tower.

  “Where is the girl?” Amadeus demanded, switching his tone.

  “I don’t know what you are talking about,” replied the Lady.

  “Don’t you dare lie to me, my lady, because I will not hesitate to burn this estate to the ground if it comes down to it!”

  The Lady moved Perry behind her. “What does it take to turn a man’s heart this cold and bitter? Is it coin? Heartbreak? Or an undying servitude to a cause that treats him like nothing more than a roach under their feet.”

  Amadeus laughed maniacally, spitting onto the floor. “Oh, my lady, wouldn’t you like to know.”

  Engin.

  The world seemed to enter a state of eerie blur around Engin, the other voices becoming muted behind a singular tone.

  It was Lady Elenora. It was her voice. In his head.

  Don’t say anything, my dear. Just look into my eyes.

  He did as she commanded, meeting her gaze through the somber of the world.

  You’re going to run Engin. You’re going to take your brothers and sisters and you’re going to run. As fast as you can. Get everyone out. Through your rooms and out of the windows.

  Engin felt his heart racing.

  I know you are scared, my love. And I wish I could make this all go away. But for now, I need you to be strong. To be brave. For me. For Perry.

  On my mark, Engin.

  The Lady’s eye color shifted, deepening like a dark ink spilling into a sea of water.

  Run, and don’t let anything stop you.

  You children are the light of my life.

  Don’t ever forget that.

  It was hard to breathe. It was hard not to cry. It was hard not to fall right then and there and let everything happen as it was going to.

  But in those moments. Those very few seconds he had stared into her eyes. He had made her a promise. One that he intended to keep.

  Now! Engin! Go!

  The foyer became a beacon, a spherical dome of light so bright it could illuminate the moons.

  A high-pitched friction reverberated across the room.

  Amadeus shrieked a scream of pure terror, his grip on Engin loosening just enough to fight it.

  Engin used his hands. It was all that he had.

  The dagger cut his palms in a struggle. But somehow, he had the strength to pull it loose from Amadeus’ hands.

  A horned monstrosity, crimson in color, came charging like a raging bull through the light, wielding a blade towards Amadeus.

  They clashed, sending ripples of mote magic scattering in all directions.

  A burst of fire propelled towards the ceiling, raising the temperature of the room. The floor behind Engin became a boiling pot of embers.

  Somewhere in the luminance, the Lady stood tall — radiant and terrifying, the eye of a storm he wasn’t meant to see.

  Engin kept running, as far as his feet could take him.

  There was Perry. And there was Krip. Waiting for him in the corridor.

  He’d made a promise.

  Not to look back.

  And it took every ounce of his will to stick to it.