Pangea - Power and Honor Preview

Before

A mild breeze signaled the start of the harvest season. An ocean of stars lit her face pale blue in the dark. Jaymes stared at her admiringly. High above the rest of the sleeping city they sat, nobody could be heard from their secret perch on the tower overlook, a familiar private sanctuary. Abra was leaning on Jaymes' shoulder. They were staring up towards the painted sky with their legs dangling over the side of the tower gently kicking through the air. Hands being warmed by each other's grasp. Jaymes looked back over his shoulder behind him. Rays of light danced in the evening mist, shining through the cracks between the heavy oak door and it's frame.

"Someone is coming," he said quickly.

Jumping to their feet they ran past the doorway and around the corner of the curved stone cut wall. They could feel the door burst open as they clutched the granite and did all they could to disappear into the shadows. A lightly armoured man crashed with every step as he walked to the edge of the tower and turned to his left. Then he took two steps and stopped, following a pattern that had been repeated countless times before. Jaymes' and Abra's grasp on each other's hands grew more firm as they held their breath, hiding around the corner and holding each other closely. The man walked back in their direction and looked over the edge. His path brought him closer yet and Abra squeezed her eyes shut, thinking that this would somehow be quieter. The man's breath echoed through his metal helmet. He seemed to get even closer, she thought with her eyes still closed tight, the guard had changed his routine. Finally, he went trudging back and slammed the door shut as he headed on his way to the next stop on the night watch.

For a moment silence fell and it seemed even the wind died and the locusts had stopped their whispered songs. Jaymes let out a heavy sigh and it was Abra who started giggling first. Jaymes looked at her with a furrowed brow and then burst out in laughter too. Abra escaped from Jaymes' hand and started walking along the tower's half-walled edge and Jaymes followed a few steps behind.

Faster than he could react or even think, a stone gave out beneath her foot. She fell backward and Jaymes stared in shock as Abra fell to the ground with a great thud. It was only a second but in his spinning mind it could have been an hour. She was gone. She was lifeless on the ground. A hard lump grew in his throat. All the plans they had exploded through his mind like lightning strikes tearing through the sky; jagged and angular. Bright and blinding flashes of dreams that would never be. His face went pale and his crystal blue eyes welled up with tears.

Is there even a point to anything now? Is this real? he thought. This is real. And there is no point, his mind thundered as the winds that were his thoughts quickened. She was gone and he could simply join her right then. With one step forward he could close his eyes and be with her.

Three guards ran to her broken body and then in unison looked up to see Jaymes staring down at them. He took a step back and fell onto the tower's cold floor. It seemed like no time passed, that he didn't have time to blink, before the guards rushed up the spiraling stairs. Everything was fading around him. He thought he felt drops of rain land on his cheeks. He felt a hard kick on his chest and then on the back of his head.

"Sir, the princess," a voice said shakily from the dark.

Jaymes barely opened his eyes; he was in a different room now and his head pounded heavily. Through his hair he could see Abra's father sitting on his towering throne. He kept trying, thinking, but he couldn't find any words. His whole body ached as if he had been dragged all the way up the hill that this castle stood upon.

"She was pushed from the tower by this boy," a guard accused sharply.

The king's eyes narrowed slightly. He got up from his throne and walked towards Jaymes slowly. He leaned in close to the young man's tear streaked face. The king's stare was piercing, dark and focused. His gaze was like a knife. In Jaymes' mind the thunder rumbled on in the distance and the sky flashed from east to west across the horizon. Raindrops fell cold, his head grew heavy and he faded to darkness again.