Act 3 Chapter 64
JAYLAH
Word travelled the fastest in this city than anywhere else, so the Azuliné Moriare was a gleaming beacon for Daggen's men to see. We had to leave without a trace, but that was no longer possible given the hundreds of people who witnessed the events within the casino.
"He knows," Alexander whispered at the place the man once stood before disappearing with his tail between his legs. "He knows."
I recognized that panic and grief loosened his tongue, so I simply said, "We must leave this city before he can do any lasting damage. The docks are busy any time if the day, so we will blend in better there than we do here."
"He's already done damage," Alexander said, whether to me or himself, I was unsure. "All those people heard. He can so easily expose me to the wrong figures—" He caught himself and cut off the rest of his fears.
I held his gaze. "Once we are safely on a boat, you will have no worries. No one will touch you. No one will override the word of the Queen."
After a pointed blink, he gave a quiet, "Okay."
Out of habit, I felt again for the locket. "Come. They are closing in, I can sense it. And they will not let us leave without a fight."
Although the Azuliné Moriare was the largest casino in the western part of the city, it was nowhere near the harbors. And due to the commotion caused just minutes ago, the streets were now flooded even more with passerby demanding to know how many were dead and how long it would be until the casino had the bodies removed. I saw Razkoff frantically calling in the crowd searching for someone—Alexander—but he took one look and turned away. It became difficult to move against the throngs, but at least we were unremarkable. The story of who the assassin was fighting had not yet broken.
The harbors were sent in as much of a frenzy as I expected when we reached them at sunset. They were a tangle of dark wood decks with their centers well-worn from decades of relentless use. Ships large and small peppered the outskirts. Some leavers were visible on the horizon, dark against the orange smudge of the sun. There were many of the iron-hulled ships from Tilana, some flat brigs from Fas Kaling. The sight of the latter made two decades of generational warnings well up in me.
We went down a few flights of wooden stairs to be closer to the front. Underneath our feet, the water lapped against the poles holding the entire harbor up. Alexander kept throwing covert glances all around us. I knew he had picked up on the same frantic energy I felt ever since we left the casino in ruins. Call it either intuition or divine intervention, but I knew the Navrikans were here.
My heart was already pounding. We passed several sailors bringing in their ships for the night, unloading passengers, but finding a boat suddenly did not seem like our top priority any longer.
What if they have firearms? The horrifying thought came over me all at once. The assassin after Alexander's title had exceeded all the odds and had tracked us for hundreds of kilometers. He found us in this city populated with millions of people within the third day. And he was only one man. Daggen could have sent hundreds.
I had expected all of this. I had. But now that I was actually here, it felt leagues different. He was a complicated man. He knew the way I formulated strategies better than I did.
As my fears mounted, my pace quickened. I was not walking with a destination in mind anymore. It was too late to turn back now.
I stopped in my tracks. There, in our path ahead, was a group of men I recognized as Daggen's from when they cut the ties of the bridge in the Hochovs. The Bloodiron rings around their fingers glinted in the sunset—their mark of ownership.
Giving a sidelong glance to my right, I saw Alexander was ready to fight. I supposed he needed a distraction more than ever. There were only seven opponents; we could cut them down and leave before any of the others found us.
Drawing my swords, I rushed at them faster than they advanced. The pack was fully sealed, tightly strapped on my back beneath my sheaths—if they wanted the locket, they would have to pry it off my corpse.
My blades whirled in the air to clash first with two long daggers. They scraped up the length of my swords as their owner shoved them upward toward my face. With simultaneous movement, I flicked them back and maneuvered my swords down to parry the double strike for my heart. The Navrikan's hands were cut clean off. I ended it as he began to scream.
By the time I moved onto the next, I was dimly aware of Alexander delaying his fight to retrieve the fallen blades. I had no time to worry about it before three of the others stepped over the fallen body. I moved quickly, swiping out with my blades to keep them from surrounding me. Metal met metal. The one with the longsword swung at my head while I was occupied by his comrades. There was so much force behind his swing I just barely had time to step back and block it. The action put me dangerously close to the edge of the deep water.
I did not come all this way just to be drowned in a harbor. Cleverly parrying the next two strikes, I let the swordsman tip himself off balance and moved to the side so that he tripped over my foot and tumbled into the water.
As he fell, I hit my right sword into his, striking it back into the next nearest enemy. I finished the job when he was forced closer to avoid a fatal wound. Ramming through his thick body, I rendered him a bleeding stuck pig.
The violent floundering of the first swordsman increased my last enemy's tenacity as he continued to attempt to knock me back to the other Navrikan. In the background, the others were shouting with Alexander as he repeatedly avoided their attacks. I only caught snippets, but it seemed they were angry he had not yet killed me. His response was lost to me when the third Navrikan lashed out a low blow near my intestines.
No longer cornered by more than one man, I used a series of rapid footwork to maneuver myself on the opposite side. Now the Navrikan's back was to the water. I arced my blades low to sweep up against his, forced them higher, then kicked him full in the chest. There was a splash and he joined the first man, who floated face-down.
He had no sooner fallen back than there was an ear-splitting bang. On instinct, I half-turned, half-ducked, but it was no use. Both my swords clattered onto the ground. Pain like I had never known it torched through my chest. I gave a shuddering gasp, halfheartedly bringing my fingers to the place under my ribs. They came away dripping. I looked up in time to see men arriving at the harbor in droves, all of them equipped with gleaming blades, and a few with western guns.
This was worse than I feared.
Pain racked every inch of my body and I struggled for breath in spite of it. The man leading the battalion smiled at me from across the deck. "Oh, how the mighty fall. Though I do not need to tell you that, I am sure."
It took all of my strength to remain steady on my feet. My vision swam as I took them all in, the bleariness of my eyes doubling them. Or were they just that numerous?
The only reason I was not yet killed outright was because they were mocking me, spitting at my feet. I could not see Alexander. I did not hear the tall man's voice any longer either.
It was now or never. I reached for the locket, gritting my teeth against the pain that arrived when I twisted my body. As soon as my fingers clamped down on the coolness of its metal, I yanked it out and forced the clasp open. Closing my eyes, I held it to the sky and unleashed its power upon the city.
I had thought of this moment for many dark, sleepless nights. I had imagined lashing tongues of black shadow, the cackling of a disembodied voice, bodies instantly disintegrating at the exposure.
But reality was a hundred times more terrible, because nothing was happening.
I opened my eyes and brought the locket cautiously down to inspect it. It looked as it always did, only it was open now. There was only darkness inside.
The world was deathly quiet. Then laughter.
I breathed through the pain, clutching my wound as I looked to Daggen's men. They were not frightened. They were ridiculing me.
"Oh, naive, foolish Princess," the man with the long black hair chided me as if I were a child. "Your arrogance blinds you. Did you really believe the locket was that easy to find within Westyard's underground labyrinth? You thought you outsmarted those cultists?" He gave a low chuckle. "You were always too ambitious. That locket does not actually hold the power of a dead God."
Blood rushed in my ears as he pointed off into the distance at the tiny outline of a ship on the darkening horizon. "The locket in that ship, however, does. Gods willing, it will be in Navrika by tomorrow evening."
My thoughts raced together in an incoherent scramble. No, this could not be possible. I thought I pulled it off. I thought I pulled it off. They thought I was empty-handed?
The familiar rage set in against my breastbone, as bright and burning as the pain they inflicted on me. Who were these insignificant men to trick and taunt a Queen? I was anointed by the Gods. They were nothing but the blood beneath my fingernails. They forced me down, they painted me as an idiot. They wanted my power.
Now I wanted their pain so that I could twist it in my hands. I wanted to wear it for them to watch as they burned.
Something within me broke. Retrieving the lantern hanging from the post above my head, I smashed it against the wood. Let it consume the harbor. Let them all burn.
Men screamed as they burned alive. The flames ate up the wood and the boats as if they were the finest feasts, then it moved higher. To the city. I could not find it within myself to care. This entire godforsaken city was kindling and its sins were the spark.
Hidden in some dark cave somewhere, my father was finally proud.
Several of Daggen's men were running about with their skin and clothing ensconced in flame. Most of them did not make it to the water. I was glad to see them die with the knowledge of my failure. A small serene smile found its way onto my face as I watched. All holy things were beautiful if one could peer past the terror.
Rounds were fired through the madness. They all missed. A strange laugh breathed from my lips. I could not help it. It was just so ironic. They sought to hurt me?
The pain was debilitating. I clamped a hand over it, but blood loss was making me delirious. A small group of the Navrikans were piling into a rowboat. Escaping the judgement I ordained. There was nothing I could do.
Seifer Daggen. The feared name Klymene gave me all that time ago. A falsity.
"He will turn against you!" I screamed over the roar of the flames devouring the harbor. They would not hear me. It did not matter. "You do not even know who he is! You fools handed my father refuge and the opportunity to raze your land a second time. You unknowingly serve your own butcher!"
Behind me, Alexander made a strangling sound of realization. I whipped around, eyes wide. I had believed he was unconscious. Oh no...
My smile was gone. I watched them escape into the night. Behind us, in a chorus of screams, the City of Luck burned.
▂▂▂▂▂▂ THE END ▂▂▂▂▂▂