Kalie Rana

I slammed into the wall across from my door as I entered the hallway, disoriented by the mass of spirits. Even though they were nothing but ephemeral touches, each one pulled my focus away from my target, and the man between the two of us. Lux was only a few steps in front of me. Even in the darkness, I could still see the pair of daggers in his hands. The idiot was ready to try and fight majic with steel.

All for me.

It was annoying and endearing all at the same time.

At the opposite end of the hall from us, stood the nature witch. In the immaterium as the vast quantities of nature spirits flowed into her outstretched hands, the energy and mana concentrated to such a terrible degree that it flexed at the walls of reality.

Seeing that, it finally came to me. A nature spell that required so much mana, so many spirits that it would take this kind of time to sing. The only sort of spell that a nature majin would be making in the Lord’s manor.

Death’s touch.

“Don’t let her touch you!” I yelled after Lux as he began his bull-headed charge at the majin.

Death’s touch was one of the few offensive nature majic spells. Long and arduous to perform, easy to get wrong, and it takes such a serious toll on the majin’s body, that it’s clear why it is used so rarely. But, it is second to none in it’s absolute lethality. A single finger can kill even the most powerful of beasts. A single touch could kill any man, no matter how great. And all I was doing was watching Lux run headlong toward it with no hint of fear in mind.

I was just watching.

Pathetic.

What sort of Petrel will you become? The sort that allows others to die on their behalf? Or the one who leads the charge, and defends others? Are you nothing more than a Princess? Have you no—

“No!” The word ripped from my mouth as a primal scream.

I will not be allowing anyone to die for me. No one.

I began to sing. For the first time since I had left the Tamer, and the sea of Thorns, I sang properly, fully, and proudly. Throwing the words of my spell as far, and as wide as they could go. My song was only a few notes long—all the time I had before Lux was mere steps from the hand of Death—but it was enough. The air of the majin, the hall and the manor beyond was sucked toward me. What little air mana was there, responding to my call, drained from the small space. In a moment, it had gathered into a tight formless shape in front of me, waiting on my command. Despite having no air in her lungs, the witch managed to press on, and so did Lux.

Had I been a moment faster, he would’ve realized my plan. I had already won this fight. An enclosed space like this one, there was little time for the air to return to her lungs. If I could have just keep her away from Lux until then, it would all have been over. But alas, Lux, the single minded, single-visioned, man that he was, couldn’t see anything but his target in the throngs of a fight.

Lux pressed on, his blades at the ready, continuing his charge all for me.

Risking his life, all for me.

Without a thought, I pressed forward all of my internal mana, directing and shaping the concentrated air down the hallway into a tight column of super fast moving air. Given a place to go, the air greedily sprung from its cage, and rushed down the column, narrowly grazing Lux’s shoulder, releasing all the pent up air into the chest of the nature witch. The pressure alone was enough to launch her off her feet, sending her barreling down the hall into the back wall.

With the air returned to the hallway, Lux’s frantic steps were matched by his frantic breathing as he sprinted toward the limp woman.

“Lux wait! Don’t touch—” Before I could finish my sentence, my worst fear came true and she sprung her trap on him the moment he got close. Her mana infused hand appearing from within her black cloak, reached out for him like the leviathan from dark water. “Lux!”

But, quicker than I could even see, it was over. A burst in the immaterium rocked the manor as nature spirits exploded from between the two of them. All the energy of the spell had been released.

As I ran toward them, Lux stood completely still. Like a lifeless stone, gazing down at the witch below him.

“Lux!” I screamed out for him again. Each of my steps pounded on the floorboards as I got closer. The only sound I could hear was the sound of the woman’s agony. No doubt, the cause of which being the damage from my wind tunnel.

Even though it had only been a few steps, the moments felt like they took ages to pass. As the agony built up, I could barely control my emotions. Unconsciously, the air in the hallway formed into blades as sharp as steel, all awaiting the moment that I could exact my revenge, if she had done anything to Lux.

She wouldn’t even live long enough to feel the pain.

But then, he turned around.

“Kalie? Are you okay?”

The screaming winds that I had brought forth all disappeared on impact with his gaze. I collided with him, allowing myself to fall into his embrace.

“You’re alive?” I asked, “but I saw the spirits, they… I saw the spell!”

“I think I managed to dispel it.” He released me, allowing me to see the witch writhing against the wall in pain, and a black, gnarled branch of tree bark, in the shape of a human hand laid in front of her. Its fingers still reaching out.

“Her hand? Why does it…” And that was when I finally remembered something my grandmother had told me.

The price. That was the price that she paid. That was what Grandmother said. When you commune only with spirits, there is always a price.

“I separated it from her before she could touch me. If it wasn’t for your warning, and your voice, I would’ve died there. Thank you.”

“If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have been in danger at all! It’s me who should be thanking you.”

“Well we can discuss this later. We still have this one to deal with,” he said, flicking his attention to the woman struggling to get away from us. “Where do you think that you’re going?” Lux asked as he drove a heel into her formless robe covered body. Upon contact, the sound of splintering wood came from within the robes.

Just how much of her had been sacrificed already?

The witch sprawled onto her back, moaning in pain. The move finally revealed her face. Like her hand, it was covered in corded treebark and moss. She looked more like a tree than a woman.

“What poor miserable excuse for a person are you?”

“Lux!” I said, chastizing him.

“Don’t tell me you’re about to ask for mercy for this wretched soul are you?”

“Mercy?” Was that what I was wanting? “No, but there’s no need to go that far.”

“A moment ago, she was trying to kill me. And you! And now, what’s changed?”

“We’ve won. And now is the time for a sort of mercy.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because dead lips hide many secrets.”

“Very good point. We will need to send word to—” But before Lux could even finish his thought, the witch reached for her neck. Between the scales of her bark that covered her from head to toe, a thin black collar of iron became visible.

“The water breaks the bow!” She screeched before gritting her teeth. She then touched the collar, imbuing it with a flash of mana.

Before Lux could kick her hand down again, the flash of mana became a blinding light, followed by a deafening crack. I closed my eyes, but even through my eyelids, I could clearly see the outline of a semi-formless fire spirit. Opening my eyes, the spark of blue flame was already fading from the hallway, leaving behind the now headless corpse of the nature majin.

“What in Leona’s name? What did she do?” Lux asked, standing between the body and me.

“It was a lesser fire spirit.”

“How? I thought that she was a nature majin?”

“I don’t think she commanded the spirit. Just gave it the go ahead. The collar she wore held the spirit.”

“It was enchanted? The cost of something like that is exceedingly expensive. There’s no way that a common assassin would have something like that. Not if they’re working alone at least.”

“You don’t think she’s alone? Do you think there’s someone else here?”

“Not today at least. If there was, then they probably would’ve shown themselves already. The true problem is that there are more waiting for us out there. So, Princess, I will ask you here and now, are you prepared for that?” For the first time since I met him, Lux’s strangely serene dark eyes were almost savage in their intensity. “Are you prepared for what is coming? This is what life will be like for you. Death may await you if you continue on. Are you willing?”

“I don’t… I don’t know. If I don’t, then won’t Cerith be at risk?” Lux’s serious expression broke as confusion twisted his eyebrows.

“Cerith? What in the world do you mean?”

“It’s as you said, if I chose not to be presented to your tyrant king, then it won’t just be my head on the chopping block. It would be Cerith as well.”

“I’m sorry,” Lux said, running his hand through his hair, “what are you saying? There’s been no threat to Cerith, nothing I’ve said at least.”

“You may not have said anything, but you do see the implication in all of this, don’t you? You show up on our door step with an armada, you see that, right?” I really felt like I should’ve seen what came next coming, but the smell of charred wood and burnt blood in the air made it seem like the situation wouldn’t be suitable for Lux to laugh in my face, but yet, he did.

“That wasn’t a threat! Cerith is a tiny nation far from the shores and minds of the mainland. There had been open discussions of an invasion of your charming little archipelago during the days of the empire, but those discussions have never gone away, they’ve just gone behind closed doors. Although the White Raven has been trying to normalize majinhood since the Ravencourt took power seven years ago, the average citizen of the mainland has never met a majin before. There’s not much that we could do if you and your Petrel wanted us to stay away.”

“So, if it wasn’t a threat, then I didn’t even need to come? At least not for your king?”

“If it wasn’t my words then that convinced you to leave my princess, then it would’ve been the words I said when I reported to the White Raven. Hearing that, there would’ve been no way he would’ve been able to let you go.”

I couldn’t decide whether I should’ve been even angrier at Lux, or blush even more. With a slight shake of my head, I was able to break the ironclad gaze he had on me.

“Do me a favor, and don’t give him that report, alright? Just tell him that I’m ill tempered, and hard headed. In fact, be sure to mention all the times that I’ve acted rashly and uncouth.”

“I’m sorry to tell you, but I don’t think it would matter what words I chose to describe you. No matter which ones I used, I think the truth of the matter would make itself clear.”

“Then maybe I should just run away here and now? If I’m not presented then there’s no way that he would steal me away.”

And steal me away from you, you idiot!

“I won’t stop you if you decide to leave right now. But, I think that if you were to leave, that you would be leaving a hole that could never be filled.

“Are you talking about by the White Raven’s side, or by yours?” That question was enough to stump Lux for a moment longer than I expected.

“Is it too wrong for me to say both?”

“It isn’t, no.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” And, just as I felt the attraction between us finally pulling us closer together, Maria’s door slammed open, bringing us back down to that hallway, and the reality that we were standing near an actual dead body.

“What in the world!”