Chapter 4: CHAPTER 4

In the light of day, Jalice cursed her feeble instincts of the previous night. Visions of slain warriors battered her fragile mind, and Delilee’s piercing screams blended with the Temple bells in an unceasing echo she couldn’t shake. The guilt of leaving Delilee behind only fueled Jalice’s intention to escape her captor and return to the Fortress.

At the moment, though, the energy to do so eluded her. As she stumbled along in the forest, her imagination ran rampant. The bleak possibilities of her cousin’s fate harassed her, as did the blur of the night’s events.

After Annilasia had struck her across the face, Jalice had slipped into a numb passivity that she now regretted. Hazy memories showed Annilasia cutting their path out of the Fortress with the deaths of numerous warriors.

That none of those warriors had tried to verify Jalice’s identity still distressed her. Oblivious to her restraints, they’d charged with swinging blades that would’ve certainly slain her. The tamer beasts were even less attentive to Jalice’s predicament. To make it out alive, she had been forced to flee alongside Annilasia.

During their flight, Annilasia had removed Jalice’s bindings as well as the mouth gag to allow a better chance at traversing the dark forest unharmed. Jalice rubbed her wrists now, grimacing at the lost opportunity to escape. The night’s earlier traumas were probably to blame for the submissive trance she’d succumbed to as they’d fled, her arms and voice free of restraints. But this acknowledgment did nothing to alleviate Jalice’s frustration.

Overhead, thick grey clouds formed like rolling hills across the sky. Even shrouded by this dreary layer, the sun’s light made for easier movement through the forest. Dazzling leaves perched on the trees, some diving in a flourish towards the forest floor. Reds, yellows, and maroons flirted passionately to form a rainbow umbrella above the women’s heads.

Despite the daylight and vivid parade of foliage, the forest refused to yield its forbidding disposition. A thickness resided in the air, an unsettling veil resistant to the penetration of light. This heaviness that pilfered the brightness from the forest drained Jalice both physically and mentally. Breathing transitioned into a strenuous burden on the lungs. Any hope she had maintained until now dissolved.

“Where are we going?” asked Jalice. Her voice croaked. The cold air, coupled with the strain of her desperate screams during the night, had dried out her voice. As a result, she hadn’t spoken to Annilasia since passing the wall.

“We’re going as far away from here as we can,” replied Annilasia from behind. Although she no longer had a knife pressed into Jalice’s back, the tillishu remained close.

“But where are you taking me?” asked Jalice.

She made no effort to hide her irritation with Annilasia’s lack of concern. The handful of scrapes she had acquired stung in the spiteful breeze, and her feet ached from the walk. Her stomach growled. When she wet her lips, her mouth stung, cracked where the gag had tugged without care. Twigs tangled in her hair, and tiny mud globs clung like beads to messy strands.

“Our destination isn’t your concern,” replied Annilasia.

“What you’re doing is wrong,” said Jalice. “You’ll be executed for kidnapping me.”

Annilasia snickered. “You no longer know what that word means, Jalice.”

“You will refer to me as Tecalica. I’m chieftess of the Unified Tribes—”

Annilasia gripped Jalice by the shoulder and twisted until the two women faced each other. Jalice gasped when she gazed at Annilasia. The woman’s dark eyes blazed, and a snarl twitched on her lips.

“You’re no chieftess,” said Annilasia. “And even if your forsaken mind can’t accept that, hear this: we’re not at the Fortress anymore. Anyone you go screaming to will be more interested in killing rather than saving you.” She unclenched Jalice’s capote and shoved her away. “Now turn around and walk.”

Jalice bit her tongue and willed herself not to cry. Dried bones, I won’t give her that satisfaction. The tears swelled but didn’t fall. She turned from Annilasia to resume her march.

“You’re a wretched person,” said Jalice. “You tricked Delilee into this treason, and you’ve got her blood on your hands if they decide to execute her. That’s in addition to all those innocent men you felled without remorse.” She gritted her teeth. “Your soul is so stained you’ll have no chance of ever reaching the Ethereal Realm.”

“I don’t care about the Ethereal,” said Annilasia. “I care about the here and now, where our people are treated like dirt under a boot, and the Ikaul are under the spell of a madman. And those men I killed? They murdered innocent people just because your husband ordered it. The world needed to be cleansed of their cruelty.”

“And what of Delilee?” asked Jalice. “You would cast her life aside so easily?”

When Annilasia didn’t speak, Jalice swelled with a sense of pride that she’d managed to silence the warrior. Perhaps some guilt had wormed its way into the heartless woman. But this sense of victory lasted but a moment.

“Delilee is dead, isn’t she?”

“I’m not sure,” Annilasia murmured.

Fresh tears sprang to Jalice’s eyes. She managed to catch some with her fingers before they fell, but a few escaped down her cheek. “Why didn’t you stop her?” Jalice choked down a sob. “Why did she even run back?”

“I don’t know.”

“I hate you.” Jalice stopped abruptly and turned on her heels to face Annilasia. “She was our friend. She didn’t deserve this. She listened to you because you intimidated her, like you intimidated me. And then she changed her mind and wanted to go back to the tower.” Jalice lunged, swinging her fists. “She died because of you!”

Annilasia caught her wrist mid-swing. The tillishu’s brown eyes fumed with impatience.

“No,” Annilasia said firmly. “She died because of you. You turned this world upside down, Jalice. You made one selfish decision long ago for the heart of a boy, and in return you unleashed wickedness onto us all.” She tightened her grip around Jalice’s wrist and leaned forward. “You sentenced us all to death. All of this is because you had to have Hydrim.”

The accusations hit Jalice like stones. Her eyes grew wider with each word until the onslaught became too much. The sobbing overtook her in a spasm of blubbering wails and trembling limbs. Strength abandoned her, and she sank to the ground. As Jalice collapsed into a heap on the forest floor, Annilasia let go of her hand.

“Get up,” the tillishu grunted.

“Why are you doing this?” asked Jalice as she sniffled. “Why have you dragged me out here? None of this makes sense.” A terrible thought occurred to her. “Are you—are you going to kill me?”

“I said get up.” Annilasia bent down and firmly grasped Jalice’s capote again to lift her. “If I was going to kill you, I would’ve done it in your bed chamber. No, I’m going to do something better. I’m going to kill the Sachem and end whatever evil he’s covered the land with.”

Jalice gawked at her. “Why do you talk like he’s wicked? He’s done nothing to deserve such judgement, especially from someone like you.”

Annilasia stared at Jalice with a mixed expression of disbelief and agitation. “You really don’t see it, do you?” She gave a mirthless laugh. “Ironic. You worked your selfish will on him, and now he’s returned the favor. He’s put you under some sort of dangerous illusion that he isn’t a tyrant overlord.” She shook her head in disgust. “Dying stars, he enslaved our tribe. Surely you don’t see that as the act of a benevolent ruler.”

“He didn’t enslave Vekuuv. He unified it with his tribe after the Realms split and the Delirium came. If our people would stop treating him like a tyrant, they wouldn’t need to be under the supervision of the Ikaul.”

“It’s not supervision.” Annilasia flung out her arm and yanked back her protective wraps. Black skin ink stretched across her forearm in harsh lines, plummeting into a smoky, carious skull.

“Your Sachem marked every Vekuuv with a sign of slavery that we must bear for the rest our lives. But you got spared this treatment. The Sachem couldn’t mar his precious Tecalica.” When Jalice stared back at her blankly, Annilasia groaned. “Star flares, Jalice, he even murdered your family! How can you not be upset by any of this?”

The claims stunned Jalice into a moment of silence. She stumbled over her words as she grappled with this newfound absurdity. “He—my parents got infected with the Delirium. If he hadn’t eradicated everyone plagued by it, we’d all be dead.”

“You speak nonsense.” Annilasia’s nostrils flared and her eyes bulged. Her hand moved to twist around the hilt of her sword.

Still, Jalice continued. “Well, nothing of your plan makes sense,” she said. “If the Sachem is who you want dead, then why not go straight for him? I saw you murder at least a dozen warriors last night, and with hardly a scratch to show for it.”

“Are you truly that blind?” asked Annilasia. Her eyes turned to slits. “There’s something wrong about the Sachem—a force beyond sinister in that man’s soul. I’m not arrogant enough to think that I can slay a man who’s mixed up with a dokojin.”

Jalice gaped. “You think he’s possessed . . . by a dokojin? What kind of root have you been smoking, Annilasia?”

The tillishu slowly shook her head and eyed Jalice curiously. “I don’t expect you to believe me. But there’s no excusing everything else you’ve witnessed. I find it hard to believe you don’t remember what led us down this path. You don’t recall the Black House? Something you did there induced this chaos. I don’t suppose you’re willing to confess what happened? All you offered me long ago was some blubbering mess of a story that you’d taken Hydrim there, and that he got hurt.”

The words tickled Jalice’s mind. Foggy images swirled like steam, dissipating faster than they could solidify. Some were clearer than others.

A square structure—black as the void of space—submerged at the bottom of a deep crater.

Miniscule lights like heavenly stars surrounding Jalice inside a windowless room of dark metal.

Hydrim lying on the floor, blood pouring from his neck.

Crimson eyes, with bloodshot rivers that webbed across the sclera, leering from behind a glass cage.

Jalice opened her mouth to speak, but no words came. The visions seemed not quite dreamlike, but she couldn’t place them as memories either. They were far too detached and impersonal. Yet an undeniable dread swept over Jalice the longer each thought lingered in her head.

Her eyes flickered to Annilasia, and heat swarmed in her cheeks.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Jalice. “You’ve gone mad, and your plan makes even less sense now. You claim Hydrim is possessed by a dokojin, but you’ve kidnapped me. How does that work in your grand scheme exactly? And what part was Delilee supposed to play?”

“Delilee was in agreement with me,” said Annilasia. “She isn’t blind to your husband’s insanity.”

“Did she believe he was possessed by a dokojin?” asked Jalice, giving an incredulous look.

“She trusted me. She agreed something had to change.”

Change. The message from the stars. But Jalice pushed past that for now. “And kidnapping me is the change you needed so terribly?”

“Jalice, you need to trust me. What I’m doing is for the best interests of everyone—of both tribes.” The last words had hardly left her lips when Annilasia snapped her head to regard the forest around them.

Jalice eyed her warily. “What’s wrong?” Receiving no answer, she glanced at the surrounding trees. The open forest made her uneasy. It wasn’t the safe stretch of land she had known as a child. Travelers now stuck to the pathways, and in large groups. Horror stories of wild creatures and dark spirits sprang to mind as her eyes twitched in frantic attempts to peer past the gnarled branches.

“Listen to me closely,” said Annilasia as she continued to survey the dense foliage. “We’re being hunted. I know you have no reason to believe me, but if these warriors find you, they’re not going to treat you like a chieftess.” She paused. “They want you dead.”

“You think I’m foolish enough to believe that?” scoffed Jalice. “It’s your head they want on the other end of a spear. They’re trying to rescue me from you.” But even as she spoke, she remembered how the warriors had treated her the previous night. None of them had hesitated. Each had rushed at her with weapons slicing as if she were the traitor.

Annilasia whipped around faster than Jalice could react. In one swift motion, she grabbed the chieftess, turned her around, and forced her hands together.

Jalice shouted, but her protests did little. The familiar texture of the rope wrapped around her wrists, rubbing painfully against the rash it had created in the night. Next, the sour taste and stench of dried vomit assaulted Jalice as the stained gag was tugged to her mouth. Finished with her handiwork, Annilasia shoved Jalice to her knees and crouched down beside her.

“Only run if you see someone coming at you,” Annilasia whispered. “I swear on the stars of my birth, they will kill you. Otherwise, you’d better be here when I return.” Jalice heard Annilasia stir behind her, then the sound of a sword leaving its scabbard. Convinced of Annilasia’s insanity, Jalice quivered. It was clear the tillishu would say anything to keep Jalice under her control. But Jalice had other plans. Let her think I’ll just sit here like a submissive wench.

After Annilasia dashed into the forest, a haunting silence engulfed Jalice. She pressed her sweaty hands together, forcing herself to stay calm despite her racing heart. She twiddled her fingers around her vow ring, the sole piece of jewelry she had taken with her from the Fortress. I will get back to my tower—back to my Sachem.

Despite her intention to run, she stared, motionless, into the endless expanse of woods. A wave of nausea washed through her. She had no idea where she was. The night travel had confused her sense of direction. She wasn’t even sure how far the Fortress might be now. It’d be too easy to get lost, and she had no weapon.

Sahruum, what do I do? Do I run? Do I go the opposite direction we’ve been going? Is that even the right way? Maybe I’ll come across someone before I get eaten by beasts.

The last thought made Jalice shiver. A clowder of grimalkins could make fun sport out of hunting her. Cretaceons, depending on the species, offered mutilation in a variety of ways, ranging from venom injections to decapitation by pincer.

A twig snapped somewhere behind her, eliciting a startled gasp. Astonished that Annilasia had left her bound and defenseless, she wondered if it had been the tillishu’s plan all along to abandon Jalice to die.

Jalice swayed as she rose to her legs without the aid of free hands for balance. She faced the silent forest. Fingernails dug into her palms, and she sank her teeth into the gag. I should’ve paid more attention.

The world blurred as she jumped at the sound of a sharp thud. Trees danced around her as she searched for any threat. A sharp whistle shrilled past her ear, and a dark, thin line sped by. There was another thud, and then silence. Jalice nervously looked for the source of the noise until she pinpointed it—an arrow, jutting out of a nearby tree.

On the arrow’s end, she noted the dark yellow feathers. Amber-hued barbs, belonging to the clipchirp sparrow. A trademark of Ikaul arrows.

Jalice jumped back, heart pounding. If she could just locate the archer, she could show herself. They would be forgiven for aiming at her without knowing her identity.

Another sharp whistle and its accompanying thud brought Jalice to a halt. A new arrow jutted from the ground where she’d previously stood. Her head grew light and the air seized in her chest. One stride forward and the arrow would’ve landed in her heart.

Jalice’s mind screamed at her to move, but her legs refused. She slowly lifted her head and peered into the forest to follow the arrows’ trajectory.

Her eyes almost missed him.

The archer’s dark furs camouflaged with the trees. Red and gold paint lined his face along with swirls of skin ink, further blending him with the colored leaves that fluttered in the breeze. He lifted his bow, its arrow lined straight at Jalice.

She furrowed her brow. The archer could see her, especially with her red hair. She was tied up and gagged. Defenseless. Why is he aiming at me?

Her shriek died in the folds of her gag as the archer released the yellow-feathered arrow.