Fly or Fall

Chapter Seventeen

Wenly's eyes hardened. "You don't need to know." He turned to Anna and said, "Get behind him, put your fingers against his temples and say the spell." Anna looked gingerly at the man and bit her bottom lip. Wenly's face softened as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. He won't hurt you. I'll be right here." She nodded and stepped into the circle.

"What are you going to have her do?" Orrick asked. "Read my mind?" He scoffed. "Little girl—"

"I'm seventeen, I'm not a little girl," she said with strong conviction.

"Okay fine, young woman," he corrected. "You're on the wrong side of this. Whatever the prince might have told you it's a lie. Lies are all people like him know. They lie to keep power, to oppress those with none and take away from those who they can't control. You're a witch, you know power. Don't let him control you."

"He doesn't control me," she said fiercely. "No one does." She placed her fingers on his temples and started chanting the spell.

Orrick fell silent as his eyes rolled back into his head and he gasped. "Akre juthin poyo." A beam of light shot through his forehead. "Akre juthin poyo." It projected a vision onto the wall.

Orrick sat on the floor of his cell. He had his knees brought to his chest as he whistled a tune the prince did not recognize but then he suddenly stopped. "What are you doing here?" he asked without looking up.

"Is that any way to greet an old friend," a voice spoke. A familiar voice. There was no mistaking that thick Gomean accent. "And after I came all this way."

"We're not friends," Orrick said in a clipped voice as he finally raised his gaze to meet Vory Mon. The older man stood in a dark cloak that covered most of his body but not his face.

"Don't say that, Orrick," he placed his hand over his heart, feigning hurt. "You might hurt my feelings. After all I've done for you—"

"Done for me?" he scoffed. "I'm in here because of you."

"You're in here because of your own foolish mistakes," his tone had grown colder. "I warned you about attacking the palace. Not only did you disobey me but you killed the emperor."

"I don't quite remember it going that way." He rose to his feet. Mon was taller than him, with broader shoulders and more muscles but Orrick stood his ground as he glared at the older man and asked again, "What are you doing here?"

Mon's lips curved into a smile. "I'm planning something," he started. "Things have changed. The empress is distracted with the arrival of two humans from earth. They came with an artefact, the empress called it the Foxton amulet. She believes she can use it to reinforce the barrier. I think it's a fool's errand. Nothing will save that barrier at this point. But for my plan to work I need your help my old friend."

"Ouch," Anna reeled away from Orrick and the projection dissipated. The skin on the back of Anna's left hand, were the Foxton tattoo was imprinted was raw. She winced as she held up her hand. "I'm sorry, I couldn't keep going," she said apologetically and staggered back. She would have fallen but Wenly rushed and caught her.

"No, it's okay. I got what I needed. Thank you."

Her eyes were dazed as if she was fighting to stay conscious. "Who was that man?"

"Someone with a lot of explaining to do." His jaw clenched and he clutched his fists.

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Val stood in front of the tall doors of the ballroom. Her hands shook and her heart hammered. She was about to do something crazy. She'd done a lot of crazy things in her life. But none of them included loving Sage Logan. Loving her made sense. It felt right. She knew she couldn't live without her. No matter how afraid she was, she wasn't going to let Sage slip away. She wanted to fight for her. She was going to fight for her.