Masquerading

22. Trying to Get Killed

SLIDING with full force into the alcove beside Killi, Leyva was relieved he was still fighting with her and not against.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" she hissed.

"I could ask you the same thing. Not fighting back? What are you thinking?"

"Thinking? What's that? I'm just trying to stay alive."

Killi sent another arrow flying, and Leyva flinched at the sound of it hitting flesh and the ensuing curse that spewed from Kyden.

"Stop shooting them!"

"Stay back Kyden! I could shoot you with my eyes closed!" Killi called out. "I'll hold them. Think Leyva, think."

Leyva could not understand why the Nagori did not affect her. Or Killi for that matter. It seemed to be such a thorn in the Nagori's side, it was trying to break them using the others. In the open room, it seemed Tavis and Kyden had broken the glamour for each other, by asking how they spoke to their dead fathers. The respite from their attacks did not last long however.

The Nagori, enraged, soon had them in the thrall of her grimlings again. This time, Leyva turned green as Kyden caressed the decaying face of a grimling and swore to kill its imposter. Her. This time they were seeing her. The Nagori had convinced them the real her was the grimling.

Racking her mind, she searched for a way to let them know it was her.

"Truth," she whispered. "Truth, Killi."

"You already tried that, remember?" Killi renocked his arrow, aiming the bow for their friends and yelling another warning, "That's close enough!"

"No! I mean, the grimlings cannot know our hearts! If we speak truths only we know, they copy us. If we tell lies, the grimlings will copy them! It could work to break the hold."

"We need more than that, Leyva. What happens when we run out of lies or truths? What then?"

He was right, of course. Cursing her mind for not reaching a solution. It always did. What use was her stupid gift, if it failed her at the moment she needed it the most?

Her gift! Thank the Feyrie!

"Killi, why don't the grimlings affect you?"

As he shrugged, Leyva noticed burnt-orange hair twisted into his thick black locs; orlie hair. The Naori had something about hair, hadn't it? Hairy friends! Leyva couldn't be a match for it, even though she'd visited its hairy friends. She looked down at the tuft of Eldri's blueish-white hair hanging around her neck, stark against her dark green bodice. Was that what it did?

Leyva decided Eldri had known that she would face the Nagori, as he'd known about Kyden not being an enemy. She whispered an appreciation for Eldri as she eyed the Nagori on the throne. It called to Killi and her, telling them to give up as more grimlings crept into the room. The starburst shaped pendant with the Jewel of Nagora hung around its neck, blindingly white. Finding it before the Nagori did would have been ideal, as it was well out of their reach now. Unless...

"I need to get close to it, Killi. I need to get the pendant."

"Wonderful idea Leyva, but how exactly?"

Leyva scanned the room once more, as she worked out the best route to Kyden and Tavis and then her destination of the throne. An idea formed that made her question her own sanity.

"Killi. Promise me you will go along with what I do."

Killi's gaze darted from his targets to her for a moment in question.

"You would kill for the Princess, Kyden?" she laughed, "Only a royal fool like you would believe I cared a wit for you!"

Killi tensed beside her, muttering a hope that she knew what she was doing. Leyva was glad for the small mercy of Kyden's confusion; he looked from her to the grimling.

"That's not true."

"Oh but it is," she yelled to him. "If there's a man that makes my heart sing, it's Killi!" Leyva leaned to caress the side of Killi's head. She tugged a small bit of the orange hair from his locs and hid it in her palm. Tavis' eyebrows shot up as he regarded her in shock.

Her words caused Kyden some distress. "No!" He shook his head at her and then at the grimling as it repeated the words.

The Nagori twitched. "No! Don't listen to them!"

Leyva squeezed Killi's shoulder. "Promise me you won't let them stop me."

Killi nodded firmly as across the room Kyden shook his head. "No! That's a lie! You're not real. Neither of you are real!"

"It's not a lie." As she crossed the room to him, Leyva felt bad for what she had to say. "I hate you!"

Kyden's face crumpled as the grimling no doubt spouted something similar. Leyva had to bite her cheek to keep from allowing it to upset her. Instead she smiled and said, "But, Prince Leif loves you."

Her gamble worked and Kyden looked at her as if he really saw her. "Lei," he whispered.

On the throne, the Nagori was screaming, "Don't listen to it! It's not real, I'm Leyva! I'm Leyva!"

For one quick moment, Leyva relished the feeling of Kyden holding her. She quickly grabbed Tavis and tucked the bit of Orlie hair into his armour and then took her talisman off, much to the excitement of the Nagori.

"Do not take this off, Kyden!" She looped it over his neck and pressed it to his chest. "The grimling's magic cannot reach you with this."

"What about you?" He pulled her back against him and tried to return Eldri's hair.

The Nagori's terrible cackle bounced around the throne room, and her grimlings moved closer. Leyva could see now that some of them gestured for her to move with them.

"I'll be fine," she whispered knowing what she was about to do would terrify Kyden. "Protect the others, Kyden. Take them home."

Forcing herself to look at the grimlings, she stepped away from Kyden and let them lead her toward the steps.

Her mother had taught her how to stay her reactions, veiling her truth underneath an expression so pleasant she would never be read. It had been a hard lesson to learn, but well worth it now. The feel of the grimlings' hands on her skin, the sound of the Nagori's wretched voice as it called to her, Kyden's screams as Tavis and Killi shouted for him to stay back. All of it was locked behind the mask of her own face, as she pretended to be taken in.