Kalie Rana

“Don’t look like you’ve seen the dead.” Valier looked just like I had remembered him from the decks of the Thorn’s Tamer, beautiful and tanned. But I knew better, the man I was seeing before me was more illusion than flesh and blood. A venus fly trap, ready to spring if I allowed it.

“I’m not quite sure what I’m seeing.”

“The same man that you knew on the boat. If anything, you know me even better now than you did then.” His eyes were intense and unblinking as they bore down on me. While it wasn’t exactly malicious, I couldn’t help but feel my hackles rising.

“What are you doing here?”

“Why wouldn’t I come here? Ol’ Ink Fingers saw to it that I couldn’t get a job this side of the mainland, what else could I do but come to the city.”

“Did you follow me here?”

Did you come for revenge?

The thought was obvious, but too tactless for me to blurt out. God knows what would happen if I did that. At that moment, with him packed so close to me on the busy street, it was like I was standing there talking to a time bomb, and all I had were my words to defuse him.

“That question would be quite self conceited if it wasn’t true.” My blood ran as cold as ice as his slit of lips transformed into a smile. “A new friend asked me for an introduction to you. I told him that you were more likely to run off the moment you saw my ugly mug, but he seemed to think otherwise. Either way, I think, if you believe anything that I told you last time, that you should meet with him.”

“After what you pulled last time why in the world would I go anywhere or meet anyone who has anything to do with you.”

“Because you and I both know that what I was saying last time we met was more important than anything that happened. I know you believe that as well otherwise I’d be hanging from the mast on the Tamer as we speak.”

“It’s not too late for that.”

“Oh Kalie, don’t be cruel. I’m alive because of you and what we both believe. You haven’t had a chance to see it yet but there is a real movement in the alliance. One that’ll see our people finally getting the respect that we deserve.”

“Respect? Is that what you want? If that’s all you want, there are much better ways to go about it than whatever it is that you and your friends have planned.”

“Planned? Princess, we’re no villains! We all have the same things in common, we are the most beloved of Leona. When the sails were filled with wind at your command, it was because of her love. When the waves were calm against the ship by your hand, her love was there as well. You are much more than even you realize”

The words coming from his mouth barely sounded like his own. Although it hadn’t been long since I last saw him, it was like something or someone else had taken his place, and his face. It had barely been weeks since I left him in the brig on the Tamer.

“What happened to—”

“What in Leona’s name is that thing?” Although she was still several feet away from us, Festril’s voice had commanded to be heard. It was as if her words were reaching directly toward me.

“And who are you?” Valier said, turning his surface level charm in her direction.

“It does not matter, not while that thing is there,” she said as she slowly reached her hand down to her side.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, confused by her sudden aggression. Had she been Lux or Hark I would’ve understood, but she had no clue who Valier was, and yet she was treating him with even more apprehension than I was.

“Do you not have sight? That thing!” Festril withdrew a small cylindrical piece of wood from somewhere within the folds of her outfit, aiming it above Valier’s head. Her dramatics were starting to draw passing eyes our way, and with it Valier’s jaw tightened. It was difficult for me to focus on any one thing in the busy market, but through the raw mana that clung to every person passing down the street, I could sense flickers of something hanging over Valier like a gargoyle. Although I couldn’t see it with neither my eyes nor the sight, I knew exactly who it was. Alito.

“It’s okay, it’s just Alito, he’s Valier’s bonded spirit.”

“Oh Kalie, don’t go telling all my secrets, what will you leave me to tell this fair maiden when I take her out for tea,” Valier, either unaware of the menace that emanated from Festril, or acting like he didn’t notice it, continued on with his charming charade. “Do you like tea?”

“I do not.” Festril spoke as she brought the wooden cylinder to her lips.

“Now now, we don’t need to do anything rash, my lady,” Valier’s expression was unshakeable, charming rogue through and through, but his words were built on an uneven foundation. I stepped forward, preparing my internal mana to strike the moment I needed it. Although I knew little about Festril or her majic, I would be an idiot to see the flute she pressed to her lips as anything but a weapon.

Just as the tension between the three of us reached its apex, the worst possible person arrived.

“What in Leona’s name are you two doing!” Cynthia Jesop, Maria, Leanne, and her two guards in tow burst through the crowd, directly into our Mexican standoff.

“Not now!” Festril was first to speak, but somebody else was first to take action deafening me and everyone else with a screech of notes across the street. The effect was one that I was too familiar with. The atmospheric water and water mana coalesced into a jet stream aimed squarely for the heavily armored Jesop guard. The water penetrated the thick armor sending the guard sprawling to the ground. Before he came to a stop the attacker’s spell transformed again, lifting the man into the air, impaled on a spike made of both the water used in the attack as well as the blood of the man himself.

Watching the man’s final spasms of life twitch from his dangling limbs I was frozen in fear and shock. So much so that I barely realized that the death of the man right in front of my eyes was only the opening salvo of majics being hurled at us on that busy market street. Festril wasted no time in returning the favor, a flurry of notes erupted from her flute, producing a whip of flames that aimed to ensnare Valier. But the light majin was a step ahead, dodging the attack while producing his violin from thin air. Before he could even place the bow to the strings, he blinked away into the quickly scattering crowd, no doubt rendered invisible by Alito. I wanted to hate him for this, curse him for even existing and drawing me into this hell but, I couldn't get the look of fear in his eyes out of my mind.

Was this as much of a surprise to him as it was to me?

Before the thought had even had a moment to fully form in my mind, a flurry of vines erupted from between the cobblestones, ensnaring and constricting the second Jesop guard. Thinking quickly, I commanded the icicle spike that had impaled the first guard to break in half, then launched the spike into the base of the vines, killing the plant.

“We need to go now!” Festril spoke briefly between blasts of majic from her own flute. The songs she played were energetic but sharp and piercing, unlike anything I had ever heard before, but the fire it produced was finely controlled enough to burn the vines from the man without hurting him. After finishing the job saving the man, Festril lifted her flames high into a wall surrounding us, obscuring us from the attackers.

“Where can we go? We don’t even know where they are! Where did Maria go?” My questions unanswered and I suspect without a suitable answer, I felt myself flailing at the situation.

Years of training, and this is what becomes of you? Grandmother would be disappointed.

There was little that we could do without even knowing who we were fighting, and yet, my stupid mind couldn’t help but force these unpleasant thoughts onto me.

“Leanne! Help!” Cynthia’s only command was one that I was unsurprised to hear. She wasn’t crying in fear or anything, so she knew enough to keep her head straight. But, her request sounded more like it was coming from a five year old rather than a borderline adult heir to a dukedom. What was a surprise however, was that in response, Leanne began to sing a low tune, another that I was familiar with, although it was not one of my own affinities, rather it was Kunnak’s. Slamming her hands into the ground, a series of stone slats rose up from the street encasing Cynthia safely within. Satisfied that her charge was protected, Leanne turned to help us find and take out the rest of the majin attackers.

“Where are they?” The absolute command in Leanne’s voice was completely and utterly unexpected. Even more so than the fact that she was a majin. That surprise however, didn’t seem to bother Festril much who was busy searching the crowd and the buildings around us. It was nearly impossible to tell where the attacks were coming from because although the sound of music or singing was usually obvious, between the screams of the crowd and Festril’s flames the sound was nearly impossible to pin down to any single direction.

“Lady Rana, I believe that you are the only one who will be able to ascertain the position of the attackers. If we can protect you, do you think that you can manage that?” Leanne’s entire demeanor seemed wrong as she spoke. Too calm, too collected. Like she had done this hundreds of times before and rather than being just comfortable, she was almost bored.

“I can try.”

“You need to do this. If you do not, then there is a good chance that we will not be able to make it out of here alive. That is not something I am willing to allow.”

“I’ll do it! Assuming I can.” I barely knew what I was doing, but in that moment of panic, I allowed my instinct to take control. My song began slow and deliberate, as I reached out for all the air mana that I could.

“Good. Lady Illiu, please, drop your flames.”

“If I do that, then they’ll strike in a moment!” Festril said, between breaths.

“I can handle that. Please, on my mark, drop the fire. Lady Rana, please be ready,” Leanne said, placing her hands to the ground once again. “Now! Drop your flames now!” Barely a moment had passed, but the piercing song came again, louder and even more shrill than before. With it, the slowly melting water of the majin’s first attack came dancing to life, being liquified and lifted from the body of the guard. “Don’t worry about it, find them!” Leanne was quick to speak, and yet completely affectless. I was allowed only a moment between when the attacker’s song began and Leanne’s song began, but it was enough time.

As the attacker’s song rippled through the immaterium, the air mana I had ensnared vibrated, alerting me to the approximate position of the majin.

“There! They’re—” But before I could finish the sentence, the attack came for us. A hail of ice daggers rained indiscriminately over us and the crowd. The last thing I could see before Leanne’s protective rock shield covered the three of us was another lash of Festril’s fire, rocketing from the woman like a wave of fire, engulfing the air above the crowd, and hopefully, the daggers before they made their marks.

“Did you find them?” Leanne’s words echoed off the flat walls she had produced to protect us all, including the guard and Cynthia’s personal cocoon.

“I think so, they were high up, a roof or the second floor of a building. South of us.”

“That’s good enough, it’ll have to be. Lady Illiu, are you alright?”

“Physically unhurt, but my heart and soul are reeling for those beyond these walls.”

“There’s nothing more that we could have done,” Leanne said, resting a hand on Festril’s shoulder, “if anyone is hurt out there—but not dead—then they owe their life to you and what you tried to do. Remember that. They will.”

“Thank you. I will try.” But, the sounds of screams of agony and pain outside, no doubt made that difficult.

“We will only have one chance to get this right. Lady Festril, I believe your fire wall will be most suited to keeping us safe, while we advance. Lady Rana, you will need to direct us. And finally, Sir Royce, it will be your responsibility to deal with any mundane attacks that come our way. I do not want this counterattack to fail because someone has a knife.”

“Yes Ma’am. Of course.” Sir Royce, after finally recovering from the attack that most likely broke many of his bones, was standing at attention, sword in hand.

“Yes!” Festril was emphatic in her response, one that I couldn’t quite muster myself. Despite my racing heart, the only thing I could feel as I smelt the stench of blood was fear.

“Lady Rana! Are you ready or not?” It was the first time anger registered in Leanne’s voice.

“I am, I am. Lets go.” With a nod, she began her low song, sliding the wall of her stone bunker back into the ground, facing the opposite direction of the attacking majin. The sight beyond was horrific. The majin’s ice dagger attack was devastating for those not protected by Festril’s flames leaving many injured and even a few dead on the street beyond. The once packed street was now nearly deserted.

“Be ready ladies. There will be little warning for what comes next.” Like a stack of soldiers, we followed as Leanne led the way down the street. While the majins obviously had a good view of us, they hesitated to attack.

At least, until we were far away from Leanne’s stone bunker. Vines sprouted from beneath the street and from every alley and gap of dirt they could find covering the street and the injured in a moment. Like a net over a school of fish, the vines began to constrict, pulling down on all the injured. Thinking quickly, Festril blew a staccato of hard notes, forming a small whirlwind of flames around us, burning the tips of the vines and keeping them from reaching us.

“So, that’s the game is it?” Leanne, said, putting her guard up. “Lady Illiu, are you able to free those people without harming them?”

“I can, but it’ll be delicate work. It may take a long time.”

“As I feared,” Leanne said, surveying the street, “please, begin now. Sir Royce, stay here and protect her. Do not let her out of your sight, and do not allow anyone to approach.”

“Yes ma’am,” Sir Royce said, as Festril got to work forming the flames to chew through the vines.

“Lady Rana, I trust that you are still prepared to finish this with me?”

“I am.” Again, my words sounded confident, but the tearing doubt that festered beneath the surface threatened to show my true colors.

“Good. This way.” Leanne and I pressed down the street, following in the wake of Festril’s crawling flame. The nature majin’s attack did not stop with the first bout of vines however, and Festril’s careful cool flames were locked in a stalemate with the vicious lashing of the nature majin’s attack. At this point, I couldn’t hear nor sense the nature majin’s songs that had been so loud upon the first attacks. “Lady Rana, be ready. If they attack again, I need you to find them, then we can end this.”

“Of course,” I said, readying the tendrils again. With a soft song, I maintained the notes for a moment until branches of tendrils covered the air above the street. Only a few dozen feet away from Leanne’s stone bunker, the water majin finally went on the attack again. As the first notes of his song ripped open the immaterium again, I sensed the ambient water mana being sucked dry from the air pooling somewhere I couldn’t see.

There goes that as an option.

Vibrations of the nearest tendril told me the direction the majin was in, and following the sound of his voice with it, told me his exact location.

“He’s there!” I said, pointing to the third floor of one of the buildings that lined the street. The tall but thin building looked like a shop with several apartments above it. Increasing the intensity of my song, the tenril became a cyclone aimed at the open window of the apartment, no doubt sending a veritable hurricane into the small sealed place. Seeing the place of my attack, Leanne sang her low notes, no doubt calling forth the nearest ground spirits before grabbing onto the wall of the building. The wall of the third floor and front quarter of the roof of the building were separated with a deafening crack launching itself safely onto the thankfully empty street.

“Keep him busy Lady Rana, I will finish this,” Leanne said before running for the door of the shop. Nodding, I continued the spell, forcing the ever strengthening deluge of wind to increase in its intensity. Responding to my call, several nearby wind spirits joined in, fomenting the cyclone and hopefully the fate of the attacking majin.

In the shop above, signs of a battle were obvious. Even though I couldn’t hear the sound of the battle, the interruption of my wind told me more than enough, coupled with the sloshing of water from the Majin’s attacks, it was undeniable. Within a few notes of my song, several stone missiles flew out from the opening in the wall, landing close to the other end of the street, denting it where they came to a crashing stop.

Seeing that, what came next was no surprise. Following several more blocks and interruptions to my song’s effects, a man flew out over the street, propelled back by Leanne’s stone missile, but held in place by the power of my cyclone. Seeing this, it was obvious what the last step needed to be. Changing the tone of my song, I adjusted the angle of the cyclone until the unconscious majin was being held down by the missile and up by my cyclone. Lowering him carefully to the street, I noticed Leanne approaching the hole she had made in the wall. She was soaked by water and bleeding from several places, but she still stood as imposing as ever. As I rested the man on the street, the cobblestones transformed into a sort of sarcophagus entombing him except for his head.

“Your highness, I believe that we are able to take it from here.” I turned around to find myself face to face with an imposingly tall man dressed from head to toe in thick looking white shining armor. The face of the helmet was shaped into the intricate and detailed form of a vicious looking raven.