Smoke and Mirrors (18)

Eighteen

The Rock Thief

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The next morning, I tried to wake up extra early so I could catch the morning guard before someone else overheard my conversation.

--Unfortunately, I woke up well before the sun ever started to rise, and due to my fear of going back to sleep and not waking up in time, I decided to sit in a chair and stare at the transparent wall of sea.

I nodded off anyway, but at least I tried.

A shuffling and a quiet noise outside my door woke me a bit later. Beams of honeyed light streamed through the ocean waves, making me realise that I might be too late.

Since I had already dressed during my waiting period, I hurriedly threw open the door and stared at my guard, who appeared to just be settling in to watch me until I woke up. Lucky for him, that part of his job was through for the day.

I smiled my sweetest smile. “Good morning, Guard. What is your name? I give you permission and even order you to speak whatever you feel like speaking.”

He blinked and looked at me weirdly as he stood from the floor, where he had just been pulling a sandwich out of his sack. “Uh--Kendrick, Your Highness.” He quickly bowed.

“Oh don’t bother, I prefer to see people’s faces. The back of a person’s head just lacks character, you know?” I cleared my throat. “So, I have a favor to ask you. I need to make a quick run into town, and I need you to escort me. Will you?”

He swallowed. “Er, town? But I’m supposed to guard while you sleep.” He hurriedly added, “Your Highness.”

I raised an eyebrow. “And am I sleeping?”

He slowly shook his head. “Surprisingly, no. I was told you slept late.”

I felt my cheeks turn red. “Yes. Well. That’s obviously not the case for today, is it? Now, can you take me into town?”

He glanced around us, as if the walls would report him to his superiors for even thinking about the idea. “Um, I don’t know. . . I’d need to check with my officers first. And you’d likely need time to schedule it so the Lawkeepers can clear out the city for you. And you’d need to wipe your face, if you don’t mind me saying so, Your Highness.”

“Huh?” I squinted into the shiny buckle on his hat and realised that I had a trail of dribble at the corner of my mouth from sleeping in the chair. I hurriedly wiped my sleeve across my mouth and cleared my throat. “Don’t worry about that stuff. It will be quick, I assure you. And I’ll take full responsibility for any trouble you might get into.”

He was quiet for a moment, and then he said, “Kaeil. The name’s Kaeil. And before you make any jokes, it’s not spelled like the eel.”

I grinned. “Perfect! Then you’ll be willing to go with me?”

He pursed his lips and nodded. “It’s my job.”

***

Water city--There had to be a better name for it, but Father hadn’t talked of it yet to my knowledge--was a wonderful place to journey through. We didn’t tour it long, since that wasn’t my destination, but exiting the castle took us through it, and the last time I’d really seen it, I was running from my own father’s guards. I wasn’t counting the brief drive as we journeyed to capture Seraphina. Ah, fond memories.

We exited the castle and Kaeil withdrew a white, crystal ring, which was slid onto a chain and hung around his neck. He slid the ring on.

“Oh that’s pretty. Did your girlfriend give it to you?” I asked.

He gave me an odd expression. “No, your father did, Your Highness. It allows certain guards to be able to transfer to different areas of the world. It’s linked to his own power, and he only gives them to the guards he trusts most.” I could tell he was proud to have the ring.

“Oh. Sorry. I’m sure you are very deserving of it.” I stopped and cleared my throat. “Proceed.”

He gave me a deep nod, and in a moment, we were gone.

Each ruler’s way of “transferring”, as Kaeil had called it, appeared to be unique to their own talent. This was a fascinating concept, and it made me wonder what it was like for shadow Talents.

Father’s way of transferring was like being wrapped inside of a wave. The wave scared me at first. I thought we would drown. But the gentle ripples cradled our faces like a mother’s hand and continued to swirl us deeper inside this twisted glass vortex of water. It smelled like rain on cement somehow, which frankly was a smell I loved. The ride felt relaxing after the initial shock of it.

All too soon our ride ended and we were standing on Winter’s territory.

Twisting spirals of jagged ice curved in the sunlight and towered over us in arching swirls and structures. The ice of the castle before us gleamed in the sunlight and the ground was covered with a velvet blanket of twinkling snow.

My teeth chattered. “Wow. This is cold.” I tucked my hands under my armpits.

Kaeil nodded and began to proceed forward. “Why did you want to come here, Your Highness?”

I licked my cold lips. “I need to visit family here,” I hedged. “We won’t be long.”

Snow fell like gentle feathers as it descended from the clouds. A clump of it caught in my eyelashes.

I led the way, taking us behind the castle to the magnificent structure of ice and metal and shadows that had been built especially for Seraphina.

“Uh--Your Highness? The door to the castle is that way.” His voice sounded nervous.

I shook my head and continued walking towards the structure. “I’m not going to the castle,” I replied.

“Wait, the Fire Queen is the family member you need to see? No! I won’t allow it, Your Highness. You can’t do this sort of thing! You could be killed! Oh, no. I could get into so much trouble for this.”

I stopped and stared at him. “Feel free to leave if you want, but I really need to be here. I told you, I’ll stand up for any trouble you might get in, okay? I mean it.”

I marched up to the prison structure, which was cold and foreboding with it’s sharp edges and ice bars. I held my hands to my mouth and breathed a breath of warm air over my fingers, but that turned into a sneeze. Water shot out from around me and froze in the air, leaving a trail of tiny spikes protruding from my skin.

“Ah!” I looked to Kaeil for help. “Can you break these off of me?”

He tried to hold back his laughter, but it slipped through. He coughed to try and hide it. “Yes, Your Highness.”

We spent the next fifteen minutes snapping icicles off of my body. When we had mostly finished, I hurriedly knocked on the door before another sneeze could come.

The door slid downwards into the earth, allowing the Shadow guard behind it to see me, but not fully allow me to enter.

I swallowed as I looked at him. It was hard not to stare when you could see the wall behind them through a person’s face. Should I shake his hand? No, too informal.

I tilted my chin up and curtsied. “I am the Princess of water and I would like to see the prisoner Seraphina.” I stood.

He raised an eyebrow. “Boys, come here.” His voice was deep and heavily accented with something I didn’t recognise.

A few other Water, Ice, and Shadow guards appeared next to him.

“She claims to be the Water princess. That true?” he asked.

A Water guard stepped up. “Aye, she’s her. You can let her in.”

I breathed a sigh of relief and stepped inside the structure as the door opened more.

Kaeil followed me and warmly greeted the other Water guards.

“Eh, guarding the Princess, huh? You’ve risen in the ranks a bit!”

“Well you’re guarding a whole queen! Look at you guys.”

The shadow guard kept a stoic expression as he turned to me. “This way, Your Highness. And let me warn you, it’s not a pretty sight.”

He led me down the hall and to a room that was locked up and chained. He undid the chains, then the bolts, then slid the iron-covered-in-ice door open, allowing me to see inside.

Scorch marks lined the ice walls. I didn’t know that was possible, but there they were. Parts of the walls were frozen in a half-melted state. I shivered with cold and dread, and I felt something deep inside me begin to weaken from the cold. Like a warmth being snuffed out.

In a corner, hunched over herself and shivering, was Seraphina. Between us was a pit of water which had been crusted over with a layer of ice that wasn’t thick enough to hold much. Her feet and the lower half of her body were in the icy water and she shivered violently.

Her head turned to mine when I entered the room and her eyes shocked me. Gone was the golden hue I’d seen before, replaced with dull, dark eyes. It was as if they’d been extinguished.

I swallowed. “Sera-ph-ina,” I said between chattering teeth. “Hi.”

She snorted. “Hi. M-miss me already? I kn-knew you’d come back. You had to.”

I looked at the water before me. She was too pitiful to watch. “I hea-heard Father say they’d let you go if you restored th-the horn.”

“So I’ve been told.” Her eyes may have looked extinguished, but they still burned as she caught my gaze. “But it’s more fun knowing that even though I’m here, you are in my own little prison.” She chuckled and rubbed her arms for warmth. “Trapped between need and pride.”

I swallowed. “You’re right. I need you. My powers are getting wo-worse and I need that ho-horn to fix th-them.”

Her dull eyes seemed to twinkle at that. “Take a guard and your fiance and go to the Weeping Stones. Didn’t I already te-tell you wh-at to do? If you want more help than that, you need to let me out of here.”

I swallowed again. “Our guards have searched the stones. Th-they found nothing.”

She scoffed. “Leave it to you to send your guards to do the job I sent you to do. They won’t find it at all.”

I sighed, my eyes pausing on the scorch marks on the walls. “Alright, I’ll get you out,” I whispered, more to myself than to her.

I turned and left.