Dawning Ceremony (Sexcraft Chronicles Book 3) Page 10

  “Justice has been administered,” she said. “You are free to return to your duties as an Honored Valkyrie, Zoria, daughter of Felice.”

  “Thank you, my Empress,” said Zoria. She dusted her hands off, and then scanned the crowd one last time, grinning as her eyes passed over Gardius.

  Hal pushed up a little bit in his seat, trying to make himself more obvious so that she’d see him when she looked in his direction. She could help him if she knew that he’d been enslaved. He might not even need to go through with an escape, if Zoria could afford to purchase him and Vrodas out from under Lady Katara.

  “There’s a woman staring at you,” muttered Willum.

  Hal frowned. He glanced at Willum, who gestured to the other side of the hall, where the humans were sitting in the back. It all a few seconds to spot who he was talking about, but he did, his breath instantly caught in his throat.

  She wasn’t wearing her eyepatch, but everything else about Cadrian was unmistakable. Her black hair was woven into an intricate braid, and she wore a tight red tunic over black leggings. Her expression was one of surprise and confusion, but she didn’t look away.

  Hal held her gaze, feeling a smile creep onto his face. The eyepatch had been a ruse; there was clearly an eye underneath it, and it made him feel a sudden appreciation for his master’s guile to know that she’d gone to such great lengths to make her opponents underestimate her.

  Hal’s plan immediately shifted to accommodate Cadrian, instead. She could likely play the same role he’d just been imagining Zoria in. It would only be a matter of time before he and Vrodas were free men again.

  Wait… Why is she here?

  “Did you do something to end up on the Ardstone’s radar?” asked Willum. “I think that’s… Elyse. I’m not sure though. She’s one of the younger cousins, and spends most of her time scouting on the surface.”

  “Elyse… Ardstone,” repeated Hal. Most of the people in the hall were standing up and preparing to leave. Hal stayed sitting where he was, overcome by shock and disbelief. The pieces fell into place in an instant of unwanted realization.

  Cadrian was the dragon rider.

  CHAPTER 19

  Hal shook his head, not wanting to accept it as the truth. It fit too perfectly, and it explained too much. He looked back toward Cadrian and saw that she was pushing past people toward the Hall of Justice’s exit. Willum and Lady Katara were busy making small talk with another group of elves and their entourage, and it gave Hal a chance to slip away.

  He tried to stay calm as he pushed his way through the crowd. His heart was pounding in his chest, and his mouth was dry. A dozen different rationalizations expanded and deflated in his thoughts, none of them explaining Cadrian’s situation and circumstances as well as what he now believed to be the truth.

  Hal made it outside in time to see Cadrian hurrying off down a side alley between two hexagonal buildings at the end of the street. He walked toward them as fast as he could, not wanting to draw too much attention to himself as a human and as a slave.

  He made it to the mouth of the alley in time to catch up with her, though she didn’t stop walking. Hal swallowed, and it took him two tries to push words out of his mouth.

  “I never suspected a thing,” he said. “You had me fooled.”

  Cadrian didn’t stop walking. Hal ran to catch up with her, not concerned about being seen, now that they were in the alley.

  “It all fits,” said Hal. “Your mysterious disappearances. How you always seem to know everything. The way you refused to let me get close to you.”

  She didn’t even glance in his direction, even though Hal had almost drawn even with her.

  “Listen to me!” he shouted. “Cadrian! Or Elyse, or… whatever you call yourself.”

  Cadrian reached the end of the alleyway and stepped back out onto the street on the other side. Hal scowled and kept following, annoyed by the fact that they were back in public.

  “You killed my family for the heartgem,” he said, almost spitting the words into her ear. “You did all that killing, just to find that it had already bonded to me. And that’s why you were so eager to have me as your apprentice.”

  And so eager to seduce me. She’s been toying with me since the very beginning.

  Anyone watching could see that something was wrong. Hal was speaking too loudly, and letting his anger show on his face. Cadrian was unaffected, her expression so neutral that he almost wondered if she could even hear him.

  “Say something, dammit!” shouted Hal. “You took everything from me!”

  His fury flared, and he pushed Cadrian hard in the shoulder. She countered instantly, punching Hal in the stomach hard enough to wind him and taking a step back. Hal met her gaze and saw nothing in it. No emotion, whatsoever, as though he was just some random lunatic who’d accosted her on the street.

  “Lilith! And Mauve! And… my father!” Hal attacked her again, jabbing his fist into a feint before trying to sweep her legs out from under her with a kick she’d taught him. Cadrian blocked it, twisting his leg to throw him off balance. Hal dove into a roll and rose with his face turned away from her, wiping away a loose tear as he did.

  How could she have done this to me? I trusted her. I… loved her.

  Hal let out a furious, primal roar. He found himself wishing that he had his heartgem, and that he could take the emotion was feeling and put it to use. He rushed at Cadrian and attacked in a flurry of pointless strikes. She knew his technique, and countered each attack in the same way she would have during their training.

  Hal seized her by the shoulders, trying to twist her into a throw and get her on the ground. He wanted to pummel her face into the brick until his knuckles were broken and bleeding. There were shouts from up and down the street in both directions. Cadrian reversed Hal’s throw and did to him what he’d been wanting to do to her, flipping him onto his back on the stone.

  He caught a single glimpse of her expression as she threw her next attack. There was no shame in it. No regret, no sadness. No conflict. Just a sliver of annoyance, along with what looked like pity. Her palm slammed Hal’s skull against the stone, and that was the last thing he remembered.

  ***

  His head was pounding when he woke up. Hal groaned, blinking open his eyes and wincing at their sensitivity. He was lying on the ground, but he wasn’t outside, and he wasn’t anywhere he’d been before.

  He was in a jail cell. The simple décor seemed to be one of the universal constant across cultures and civilizations. Hal was lying on the stone floor of an eight foot by eight foot cell. A single window with iron bars was set into a heavy wood door, and light from crystal lamps in the hallway outside was seeping through, falling directly on his face.

  Cadrian betrayed me.

  He was unsure if that was the right word for it, but that was what it felt like in his heart. She’d been the one on Aangavar’s back for the tragic night on which he’d lost everything. And then, she’d brought Hal to Krestia’s Cradle in the dragon’s claws, dumped him on Laurel’s doorstep, and waited for her chance.

  Had Laurel been in on it, too? Hal considered the possibility for only a second before ruling it out. Laurel was too honest and kind. Cadrian had known that she’d take Hal in, and though she’d played a role in helping Hal recover and find her in Lorne, it had been an unwitting one.

  What had Cadrian been planning to do with him? She’d been teaching him to use the heartgem and slowly building his loyalty to her. She hadn’t brought him to the Upper Realm, which didn’t fit perfectly with Hal’s other conclusions.

  She’s Elyse Ardstone. Maybe… she had a plan for me that didn’t involve the all-powerful Empress knowing that I existed.

  Hal clenched his teeth and dug his fingernails into his palms, feeling the sharp edge of his emotions. His chest hurt, not from any of the attacks that Cadrian had thrown. It hurt worse than what physical damage in hand to hand combat could have inflicted.

  He cared for Cadrian, and she�
��d led him on, lying to him when she’d needed to and manipulating him for her own benefit. Hal thought of the man he’d killed, the man who he’d thought had been the dragon rider, due to wearing that same golden helm. It had all been a farce plotted out by Cadrian, and it fit her personality so perfectly. She’d assumed that he’d move past his revenge once he’d killed the man in the golden helm, and Hal almost had.

  Part of him refused to believe that it was true, but Cadrian’s silence had spoken louder than words. She could have explained herself in a couple of words if any of Hal’s accusations had been far flung or nonsensical. Why hadn’t she? Hal almost wished that she’d lied to his face. It would have at least showed that she cared, on some level.

  “Cadrian…” whispered Hal. “I won’t forget this.”

  He pulled his knees up to his chest. His head was pounding from where she’d hit him, but the pain paled in comparison to the dull ache of his heart. The stone floor was cold underneath him, and it made him want to close his eyes and go to sleep again.

  Before he could, footsteps sounded from down the hallway, slowly approaching his cell. Someone knocked on the door, and then Hal saw a familiar face through the bars of the window.

  “Halrin,” said Lady Katara. “You foolish, foolish boy.”

  She waited a moment, but Hal stayed where he was, only slightly inclining his head to indicate that he was awake.

  “The witnesses say that you attacked someone in the street,” said Lady Katara. “That, combined with the fact that you left my company without express permission, puts you in a very serious situation.”

  Hal wanted to tell her everything. There had to be at least a few elements to truth of what had happened between himself and Cadrian that would land her in trouble. He opened his mouth, and then closed it.

  Admitting to the existence of the heartgem and that he was the one bound to it seemed like it would either be too outlandish for her to believe, or too important of a fact for him to escape from. He wasn’t interested in being used by anyone else. He’d rather be a slave.

  “Unfortunately, the fines that I’d have to pay to make this go away are… steeper than expected,” said Lady Katara. “I would like for you to come back to the Edge Hive as much as anyone. I really felt as though you could be a good addition to my household.”

  Hal almost laughed. He lifted his head up, but found that he didn’t have anything to say to Lady Katara. She didn’t matter. Nothing mattered, except for finding a way to get free and confronting Cadrian.

  “You’ll be entering the Dragongrounds, Hal,” said Lady Katara. “I am truly sorry that it came to this, and I wish you the best. We’ll be cheering for you.”

  She smiled. Hal had no idea what she was talking about.

  CHAPTER 20

  Hal wasn’t sure how long he’d been in the cell for. Lady Katara had left hours earlier, but he only had his own estimate to go off. He’d fallen asleep again, for a time. A guard had arrived and pushed a small loaf of dense, stale bread through the window, which he’d eaten after realizing how hungry he was.

  He ran over the mistakes he’d made in his mind, wondering if he could have done things differently and somehow avoided his fate. It didn’t matter, and it just led him back to Cadrian’s plotting and deception. Would he have been better off if he’d stayed on the surface, and never discovered her ulterior motives?

  A guard came and opened the door of his cell after one more period of rough sleep on the stone floor. Hal was dragged down the hallway without explanation, eventually finding his feet and walking alongside his elven captors.

  They put shackles on him, and though they didn’t have any runes signifying that they contained the magic of command bracers, they were still enough to keep him from trying anything.

  Hal was led through hallway after hallway, until he finally exited out into the street. He was surprised to see that he’d been imprisoned underneath the Hall of Justice, and also by the fact that it was a dark, cloudy night outside.

  Just how long was I in there for?

  The guards pulled him through the streets at a brisk pace. There were a few people out and about, but they didn’t pay him any attention. They kept going, only stopping when they came to the edge of the very place Hal had seen upon arriving in Zelnata.

  The dragon landing strip was alive with activity. Several dozen other slaves were huddled into a group, surrounded by guards, most of them as confused as Hal was. His own captors pushed him into the group, and he fell to his knees next to another man, who appeared to be in the middle of having a panic attack.

  “Please,” said the man. “Please! I didn’t do anything! My master just doesn’t like me! He made up the charges, I didn’t do anything, I swear!”

  “Shut your mouth!” snapped one of the guards.

  A tall, thin elf with straight blond hair down to his waist appeared to be the one in charge. He finished speaking to one of the guards, and then pointed at a nearby storage box. Several guards began pulling odd looking, x-shaped belts out of it. They reminded Hal of the bandoliers some of the gunman wore back in his homeland, except these were studded with crystals in the place of bullets.

  “Hello,” said the tall elf. “I’m sure that most of you already know why you’re here.”

  He paused and glanced over at another guard to his left. It was only then that Hal noticed the view crystal the man held in his hand. He swept it back and forth, moving from the tall elf across Hal and the other prisoners.

  “You’ve all been chosen to partake in the annual Dragongrounds,” said the tall elf. “In other words, you’ve all committed horrible crimes. Look around at your fellow participants, and you’ll see murderers, rapists, and thieves. And I, of course, am the Event Master. I’ll be overseeing the Dragongrounds this year.”

  The panicked man next to Hal let out a terrified scream. He tried to bolt out of the crowd. One of the guards clubbed him in the head with the butt of their spear, and his unconscious body was dragged over to rejoin the rest.

  “There’s no need to fear,” said the Event Master. “You’ve all been given a chance at freedom. One chance, for one of you, to earn enough honor and credit to your master’s name to live the rest of your life in comfort. Assuming you have the type of master who appreciates the majesty of the event we’re putting on here.”

  The crowd of slaves was silent, but a few of the guards let out knowing chuckles.

  “I’ll explain the rules while my helpers assist you into your event harnesses,” said the Event Master. “First and foremost: any attempt to remove the event harness or fiddle with the crystals attached to it will result in a very painful death.”

  A guard grabbed Hal roughly and pulled one of the belts he’d seen earlier onto him. It was made with two bands, which crossed over his chest and attached at the back. At the center of the cross was a white crystal, and there was a red crystal on each shoulder.

  “Any attempt to block the line of sight of the central view crystal will similarly be punished!” said the Event Master. “We’ve heard every excuse before, from it happening accidentally, to someone doing it out of a misguided sense of modesty. Slaves with modesty, yes, that is a real thing.

  “Rule number two: only one of you will be allowed back. The event only ends once we have a single remaining participant. I suggest you do everything in your power to ensure that you stay alive, up to and including evading, murdering, betraying, and tricking your opponents.”

  The Event Master’s voice was full of a wild energy that would have been intoxicating in almost any other context. Hal was barely listening to his explanation. The crystal harness had been attached over his clothing, and he shifted to keep the edge of it from chafing.

  “And finally,” said the Event Master, “we come to rule number three. All one hundred of the slaves partaking in this year’s Dragongrounds will be dropped onto the island to face each other. But you must understand that the island is as much your enemy as each other.

  “
There are traps of a number of types, some psychological, rather than physical. There are weapons, food, supplies, everything you will need to kill each other, or turn yourself into an enticing target. And every six hours, the event area shrinks by one mile in diameter. You’ll be left with only the award grounds by the dawn of next morning, for any of you who make it that far. Come prepared!”

  The Event Master’s grin made Hal wish that he was one of the other participants. He waved a hand at the guards, and Hal and the other slaves began being guided toward four dragons, lying lazily across the strip with carriages already attached to their backs.

  He felt numb as he climbed into one of them. Too much was happening too fast. He sat down on the bench running along the dragon carriage’s wall, between a boy who looked no older than fifteen, and a girl around his age with loose, curly hair.

  Why had Cadrian done what she’d done? The question seemed to take priority over even the stress of his current situation. It hadn’t been a betrayal, not exactly. She’d been working for her own interests, or for her family’s interests, from the start. She had deceived him, with both her words and the way she’d offered herself to him.

  The thought cut surprisingly deep, as though he’d picked up a shard of glass and accidentally closed his hand on it. And she would go on with her life, with Hal, the heartgem, and the entire episode of him serving as her apprentice fading to the background and becoming no more than an odd memory of another failed mission.

  No. She’s not going to get away from me.

  The dragon flapped its wings and lifted into the air. Hal looked around the dragon carriage again. Most of the other slaves wouldn’t meet his gaze, but one of them did. A tall, muscular human, his head completely shaved, with his neck tattooed to look like animal scratches on wood.

  He met Hal’s gaze, and Hal could see that they were both sharing similar thoughts. What would it take to kill ninety-nine other people? What would be the most effective way to spill that blood, to survive, and return to more pressing matters back in the outside world?