Knight of Wands (A Steampunk Fantasy Adventure Novel) (Devices of War Book 2) (2 page)

After that, Mother and Father united their two tribes and created the council of the Seven Great Families. The Arrows disappeared.

But I often wonder.

How can we be certain they were eradicated when we never knew who they were? And if they weren’t destroyed, then where are they? What are they doing? What are they planning?

I pray to the Sky Father we never find out. I have enough to deal with already.

CHAPTER 1

A KNIGHT IN THE MAKING

Detox.

That’s what they called it anyway. I’d been out in the real world too long.

The elements of my power surrounded me; fire and lava. Stone, round walls cut me off from the light from our suns.

Powerless.

I had no way of manipulating the fire in the stone channels bordering this small room. They had to have slipped a drug into my water. I couldn’t even lift my Mark from my sweat-soaked body. I was at her mercy.

Dyna, Queen of Swords.

When I’d saved Sky City after Queen Nix brought it tumbling from the sky, Dyna had offered me a way out, a way to save the tribal families, to seek revenge for what Nix had done.

This wasn’t training, and there was no way out.

I was supposed to forget. Bound, starved, only water to drink for days. Forget my past life with the families, forget those I loved, those I’d lost. Remember only the love of the Hands. They were my family now.

Never!

The song of the Hands filled the small space, bouncing off the pale gray walls, building over the rasping roar of the fire, the gurgling spit of the bubbling lava.

In the days of old, before the light of the Hands . . . ”

I was supposed to forget how wonderful it was to be free.

“ . . . darkness bled through the night of the land.”

To watch the stars, and the sleeping red planet, Kel’mar, rule the sky. The blazing asteroid belt rising above us in blues and greens and oranges and reds.

“To harry the weak, and strengthen the bold . . . ”

How it felt to be surrounded by the fleet of my Family as we ruled and protected the skies.

“We are the family to hold you close . . . ”

El’Asim.

“ . . . to comfort and protect . . . ”

To forget the carnage brought by the Hands of Tarot, specifically Nix, Queen of Wands.

“ . . . to love you when you’ve been forsaken . . . ”

To forget the looks on the faces of the Umira children as they were forced to watch their fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles, grandparents burn.

“That is the vow of the Hands of Tarot.”

To forget the smell of their burned flesh as Nix made her point, letting me know that defying her was senseless and would only end in the suffering of those I loved.

“ . . . to keep you safe . . . ”

To know what it felt like to watch children die because I refused to submit.

“ . . . to keep you warm . . . ”

I was supposed to forget the sound of a lethara dying as he fought to save the humans living in his gigantic jellyfish tentacles . . .

“ . . . to lift you up . . . ”

. . . as the Hands blew him up, his tentacles twisting in the air as he fell into the poisoned ocean, the screams of his people, his humans, deafening his own.

“ . . . when you fall . . . ”

I was supposed to forget my Family.

“You need no other . . . ”

El’Asim.

“ . . . to love and protect you . . . ”

I was supposed to remove any trace of love or loyalty toward them, and love only her.

“We are your savior, your protector, your harbinger of truth.”

Nix. Queen of Wands, keeper of my soul.

“Join us, love us, live . . . ”

I was supposed to embrace my new identity.

“Join us, love us, live . . . ”

Synn Primus, son and knight of the House of Wands, to join her as my ravaged heart wanted to. I was to remove all reason to hate her, any motive to resist the bond she’d placed on my soul. I was to follow her, give her my undying trust.

“Join us, love us, live . . . ”

That thought fueled my rage, my hunger for justice.

The Families
would
be avenged. That monster of a woman would not win.

“Synn,” a voice like an icy sword said, talking over the words of her song.

My eyes barely had the energy to open. My arms were pulled to either side, bound to the walls. Thick ropes wrapped around my chest, suspending me in mid-air. More ropes tethered my legs to the floor. I hadn’t moved in days.

The heels of her boots clipped the stone in a slow, circling gait. “You’re doing well.”

I clenched my teeth and let my head fall forward, not because I wanted to, but because I had no energy to hold it up.

Her cool hand cupped my cheek, lifting my head to meet her steel gaze. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a severe braid, her body sheathed in a uniform of pale blue leather and shining silver. “You are our hope, Synn.”

I tried to use my rage to focus, but it wasn’t enough.

“Remember who you are.”

I would never be a Primus.

Her eye twitched. “Good. You are, and always should be El’Asim.”

What? What
was
all of this for if not to make me forget?

“Yes.” Her expression softened. “You’re not here to be broken. That is not my intention.”

My breaths were shallow in the restraints. If this wasn’t to break me, then what was it?

Her empty hand rose to cup my other cheek, her long fingers like ice. “To build you, fuel you. That is the only thing that will sever the bond my sister has put on you. You are too powerful a creature to be within her control.”

I agreed, but did she really think this was the cure for what Nix had done to me? What was she intending? To break me in other ways? Perhaps bind my soul to her instead?

“I have to be able to trust you. The things we are about to do, Synn.” She shook her head. “If we fail . . . ” She closed her eyes, her mouth open. “If we fail, the world will no longer be worth living in.”

“The world—” Dear Sky! Was that my voice? I swallowed. My mouth was beyond dry. The last time they’d offered me water, I’d spat it out, refusing to be drugged. I needed to reach my Mark, to use the lava around me to break free of this cell.

“Yes, Synn.” Her jaw ticked as she pulled my head to meet her lips. Her lips pressed on my forehead for a long moment before she let me go. “The world will go on. I have no doubt, but would it be a place we’d wish to live?”

I studied her as she pulled away. What was she doing? Was this another attempt to win my allegiance? If that were the case, torture wasn’t her best approach.

The only thing I saw was sorrow, tear-studded eyes shining with honesty.

I blinked, confused. Could I believe the emotions I saw? Or was this simply another game?

She licked her lips. “She’s—Nix has gotten worse. She’s beome—” Dyna’s small nostrils flared, her mouth open. “She must be stopped.” Her eyes met mine. “Synn Kadar El’Asim.”

“Let me . . . ” Talking hurt, my throat was so dry. “ . . . out.”

Her lips flattened. “Not yet. You’re not ready.”

I reached for the lava, for the fire, fighting to find the source of my power, to use what was all around me to free myself.

Nothing.

I sagged where I was bound, all of my energy spent.

“Let the love of the Hands lift you up, banish your despair.”

Queen Dyna rose to her full height, a mask of steel settling over her features. “I have brought someone.” She turned toward the door.

I couldn’t see around her.

The swishing of cloth and the tinkling of tiny bells bounced off the stone walls.

Dyna turned her attention back to me. “This is High Priestess Aiyanna. Synn, she can be trusted.”

I frowned. Seriously? How could I trust any of them?

The Queen of Swords took my face in her hands, my gaze captured in hers. “Let her in, Synn El’Asim. Let her heal the wounds inside your heart. Let her remove the weapons you harbor. Nix will use them against you.”

I tried to pull out of her grasp.

“Do this, Synn, and you shall have your vengeance.” Dyna let go. “Be kind to him, Aiyanna. Tarot knows he hasn’t been shown much kindness from the Hands.”

With the queen no longer blocking my view, I could see the high priestess. She reminded me of Oki, my oldest sister.

A memory of Oki’s round face hovered in my mind’s eye, her slanted brown eyes gleaming with mischief.

A finger of curiosity touched that thought.

I frowned. Was this the drugs? If so, why was this the first time I’d felt this? Someone else was inside my mind. How was that even possible?

A feather of thought that didn’t belong to me touched the memories of my sister.

I banished the vision of Oki, closed off my thoughts, and studied the woman before me.

Scarves of purple and blue covered everything except her hands and her eyes.

Large and doe-like, surrounded in a flurry of long, dark lashes, her black eyebrows high. What was a high priestess?

A feeling swept through me that was not mine. An ancient knowing, an understanding of life. Acceptance of things outside my control. Determination to contain things within it. An overwhelming sense of
life
and its extreme proximity to death.

Death.

Guilt washed over me. It took control of my entire existence.

Why?
the foreign voice asked.

My heart answered before I could stop it.
I survived
. He
should have. His death was my fault
.

Another question, a gentle nudging of curiosity.
Who?

My heart and mind stilled.
My father
.

Understanding filled me, infusing me with a comprehension that life meant death.

I fought it. I didn’t want to understand. I didn’t wish to forgive, to lessen the hurt, the anger, the rage. My father had died to protect me. The El’Asim Family needed him, not me, not my sister, Zara, who refused to lead them. They needed my father.

The foreign voice rummaged through my heart and pulled out an emotion I’d attempted to bury: contempt twisted with love, respect, and lust.

Nix.

I let out a guttural growl.
Kill
, was my only answer.

Satisfaction was the voice’s reply.

My eyes flared, the priestess’ face growing fuzzy before sharpening back into focus again. What was she doing? How could she enter my heart, my soul?

The priestess hadn’t moved. Her silver rings and embroidery gleamed in the flickering firelight. Those large, brown eyes stared at me.

What little body heat I had departed as chills ran down my spine, shooting icy fingers along my bound arms. I was powerless. I had no way to defend myself. If she could enter my mind, she could find out things I had to keep secret, technologies the Families had developed.

I forced myself to stop thinking, slamming down walls in my mind before I gave away any more.

Radio?
came the tendril of thought laced with mild interest.

No
, I muttered in my mind, repeating it over and over. I couldn’t allow her to have that information.
No, no, no, no
.

Protect?
The word was infused with what I felt for my family; the love, the respect, the acceptance.

Yes
.

Visions flooded my mind, filled with emotions; horror, disbelief, despair, loss . . . being unutterably alone.

My father burning alive, his face rigid, his eyes boring through me.

Loss, overwhelming, completely taking over. Guilt
.

The children Nix had saved, only to kill later to prove a point because I had dared refuse her.

Guilt and disbelief rolled into disgust
.

The sound of the
lethara’s
screams as his jellyfish body was blown to weeping bits, his black-blue blood dripping into the ocean, his mountainous body writhing in pain.

Beyond belief. Incredulous. Guilt
.

My best friend’s plane buried in sand, never to be seen again. His face crestfallen as his pride-and-joy was smothered.

Numbed beyond pain, beyond the notion of self-recrimination. Guilt for destroying my best friend’s hope
.

The sound of Keeley’s voice over the radio, terrified and begging not to be left behind.

Desperation, the need to protect a treasured friend
.

The poisoned tides filled with red, killing all life in its path.

Terror and the burgeoning comprehension of responsibility
.

The faces of those still living, desperate to know how they were going to survive, what would happen to them next.

Weight, heavy and unmoving, understanding the mistakes made and the feel of blame
.

I knew all of these memories. They were my own.