Shadows

7.

For the second time in so many days, I awoke in a strange place made of keen edges and lines. The floors were concrete, and my back ached from lying against them. When I sat up, the world spun in dizzying circles around me but that didn't matter. All that my sleep-addled brain could process were the bars I was trapped behind once again. There was a lone guard standing near the doorway, slumped against the wall.

I banged my hand against the bars. "Hey! Wake up!" I screamed. "What am I doing in here? What's going on?"

He nearly fell over at the sound of my voice and whirled around to face me, and I saw a look of unease on his face. I realized his hand was resting against a pistol at his hip. He was wearing the uniform of the Little Emperor's guards so I knew I had been returned to the Sun Palace. Worry snaked it's way through me. Was I in the dungeons?

I peered past the bars, trying to locate a lock that I might be able to undo, but I saw nothing. I pushed at the door and attempted to slide it but as expected, it didn't budge. I looked back to the guard, who was shaking now. He looked in danger of wetting himself.

"Where's paulo imperatore? I'd like to speak to him."

"You-you're not permitted to speak to anyone." he stammered.

"Why?" I demanded. "What happened after the battle? Who put me in here?"

He practically shrank into the wall. "I can't tell you."

I slammed my fist into the metal, and then regretted it when I had to try and conceal the pain the came afterwards. "Then get the Little Emperor!" I barked. "He was the one responsible for bringing me here, and if someone doesn't tell me what's going on, I swear I will bring the palace down around us."

His hand reached for the gun and without thinking, I called upon my power. In the daylight, I could properly see what I was doing. The air took on the colour of the object I was forming before it even materialized, bending and rippling. I felt the weight of the object before it actually appeared, translucent and shaky, but still there. A sword that could cut through steel like butter.

I started at the guard's screams. There was raw terror in his eyes as he stumbled back against the door. I immediately dropped the blade, shocked by what I had just done, what I had revealed. If they had been willing to kill me for the ability to control air, something completely unrelated to Revus Umbra, what would they do to me now that they knew I possessed an ability that belonged only to the Shadow King?

"Wait!" I pleaded, but he had already gone, disappearing into the hallway.

XXX

I heard their arrival first. Heavy footsteps and the nervous babble of the guard. They were too far away for me to make out their words, but I could assume that it wasn't going to be anything good.

The heavy wooden door opened with a loud creak and two men stepped inside. One was the frightened guard, who was still trembling. The other man wore a mask showing only his eyes and a small slit to allow him to breathe. Something shiny flashed on his sleeve when he shut the door.

"Adira Genuea, for your crimes against Her Most Royal Majesty Elvira Kyran and our great nation of treason, murder, deceit-"

"What are you talking about?" I demanded, but the guard continued to speak as if I wasn't there.

"-the use of... Revus Umbra's magic, you are sentenced to death by hanging."