Folding the Sky

-40-

    Kalindi paled, her stomach twisting painfully at the thought of her mother sitting bright-eyed upon the throne, bringing down the order that would mean her death. Their relationship had always been far from perfect—more a business relationship than a family one, the personal and emotional only a small fraction of the picture. Still, the thought set something within Kalindi aching. Would her mother really not care if she died?

    She didn't want to think about it. Frankly, she didn't have the time to.

    "Like absolute hell I'm helping you find him," Sorin hissed, ears flattening back against his head, his pupils slitted. "What the hell would be in it for me, anyway? I don't answer to anyone, least of all a couple of royal pricks who can't do shit for themselves."

    Enzi tilted his head, studying Sorin for a moment. Then he sighed, brushing his free hand down the front of his uniform, as if to clean off a sheet of dust. "If you work with us, you get to find Vernon, and we'll let you do whatever you want to him, just short of killing him, of course. And he needs to be able to weave Naino a powerful future, so leave him his fingers. Everything else? Fair game."

    Sorin said nothing, but his ears twitched back up.

    "Sorin," Chike warned, a hand outstretched, as if he could pull the thought from the air. "Don't."

    "Of course, if you refuse to work with us, we'll sell you off," Enzi added, utterly nonchalant. "A unique commodity like you would fetch a high price virtually anywhere, but you already knew that, didn't you?"

    Sorin stiffened, his tail lowering. "Rot in hell."

    The words glanced off of Enzi as if ricocheting off a suit of armor. He swung his sword around in a brisk circle; Kalindi hopped backwards with a gasp. "Chatting time's over; I don't want to be here when this thing goes off," he said. "Goodbye now, Princess."

    The soldier's arm arced up; Kalindi followed it, thrusting her hand in the air, her body humming to life as the air around her vibrated with power. Enzi's weapon floated upwards, nearly freeing itself of his hands, but the soldier smirked and tightened his grasp, white-knuckled. "Nice try."

    Kalindi smiled. "Better watch your step."

    The smirk across Enzi's face flickered. He glanced down just as his feet left the ground, his arms windmilling frantically as he let out a cry of surprise. With a wide sweep of her arm, Kalindi sent him careening into the nearest cupboard, the wood splintering beneath the soldier's weight, a loud jumble of pots and pans clattering against the tile.

    She heard a sigh, and turned to find Jem staring at her, wide-eyed. "I don't know if now is the right time to tell you this, but that was the hottest thing I've ever seen."

    Kalindi rolled her eyes—though she was, admittedly, a bit touched.

    Chike sighed and cuffed Jem gently across the top of her head. "Time to go, Jem."

    There was no discussion. The group made for the small, square hatch in the floor through which they'd entered, careful to step around the pool of blood that creeped slowly from the chemist's body. Kalindi's heart twisted in her chest. The boy was nameless to her, a complete stranger, and yet he had died because of her. She wished, yearned, for more time, for some sort of foreknowledge. Maybe then she could've saved him.

    "Sorin," Chike exhaled. Kalindi's eyes whipped towards him. His arm was in the air, the hatch raised in his fist, but he was frozen in place, his shoulders locked. "Where's Sorin?"

    "I already told you," came Enzi's voice, croaking, gravelly. The three of them whirled; the soldier stood among the mess of broken wood and mangled pots, his lip bleeding, eyes feral. He held Sorin by the neck, dangling him like the spoils of a hunt as he writhed about. "He's coming with me."

    Jem's face fell, then deepened into a glower. "Get your hands off him."

    "You won't leave without him, will you?" Enzi said, and laughed, wholeheartedly, as if the thought truly amused him. "No, of course not. Even after everything he did to you all, you fools still think his life counts for something."

    Sorin opened his fanged mouth, but all that came out was a wheeze.

    Enzi lifted his sword once more, stalking towards Kalindi, one slow, methodical step at a time, until the end of his blade kissed her throat. She wanted to attack him—she wanted to end him—but she couldn't risk hurting Sorin, and the look on Enzi's face told her he knew exactly that.

    "Give up, Your Highness," he said. "You've had a good run, but it's over now. You and I both know that."

    There was a breath of pause: a light exhale, a subtle gust of wind before the dramatic storm. She noticed Chike and Jem tense, their bodies preparing to move even before their minds were made up.

    Then, Sorin coughed. "Over for who, exactly?"

    He was changing, limbs elongating, fur sinking back into very bare skin. The soldier flailed, staggering backwards, but not before Sorin turned and caught him by the throat. There was no hesitation as he whipped a hand free and thrust five razor-sharp claws into Enzi's chest.

    Enzi sputtered, blood pooling over his lips, staining his uniform a deep,  blackish crimson. Only when he'd slumped to the ground did Sorin step back again, mopping sweat from his brow.

    "Holy shit, Sorin," Jem exclaimed, her hands clamped over her eyes. "A fucking warning next time, maybe?"

    "I was literally dying. I didn't have time to mince words," he snapped, his nose wrinkled, but Kalindi noticed the shade of pink spreading gently along his high cheekbones. He lowered to a crouch, shaking himself back into his cat form just as quickly as he'd melted out of it. Kalindi blinked. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting, exactly, but it was a remarkably fluid motion, a sequence as natural as breath.

    "Enzi's dead and this house probably isn't going to be here much longer," said Sorin, tossing a glance at the convoluted mess of metal and wire that was the bomb, which was now emitting a series of fast-paced, anxious beeps. "I say we get out of this place."

     Chike held the hatch wide, and one by one they slipped back into the tunnel, dangling from the sides before they made the two-foot drop down into the cellar. Kalindi was about to join them, Jem standing just below her with her hands held up, when a low, painful groan made the princess turn.

    Enzi's eyes fluttered open, his eyelids veiny and translucent. His whole body was shuddering as he died, but somehow—somehow she thought he was smiling.

    His mouth moved, but his breath was gone. There was no voice to the words, but that did nothing to lessen their weight.

    Long live the Queen.

    A loud boom tossed Kalindi down into the tunnel in a shower of plaster and marble, sending her rolling into Jem's arms. A low cry of pain rang in her ears, though she couldn't be sure if it was hers or Jem's. For a frightening moment, the world was devoid of all sensation, until Chike's face swam into view.

    "What was that?" he was yelling, helping her up. "Was that the—"

    "No. It couldn't have been," Kalindi said, sifting through the hazy fog that was currently her brain. "If I were that close I surely would have been incinerated."

    She turned her head, pulse pounding in her ears. Jem was on the floor, her face buried in her hands, fingers spread just wide enough to reveal the painful grit to her teeth. "Jem," Kalindi said, crawling to her, knees dragging over dust and stone. She caught her, pulled her close. "Jem, oh no, I'm so sorry. Did I...are you hurt?"

    Jem pulled her shaking hands from her face. Her eyes were bloodshot, rimmed a virulent red. "My eyes...the debris, I think—" She stopped, still shuddering. As she met Kalindi's gaze, a single bloody tear slipped down her soot-dusted face. "Kali, what's happening?"

    She wanted to tell her, badly. But she couldn't tell her what she didn't know.

    "Another bomb," said Sorin then, and all of them shifted to look at him. He was sitting frighteningly still, only his whiskers twitching, his pupils dilated enough to leave behind only a faint rim of amber. "There was another bomb near the front entrance."