The Iron Butterfly (29 page)

Scar Lip looked at the Queen and whispered under his breath, “So close, we are so close. Next time Queen Lilyana, it will be different.”

All heads were turning to watch the Queen pass, this was my distraction. My muscles tensed with anticipation, knowing that this may be my only chance for help. Scar Lip felt me tense and pressed the knife deeper into my back. “Don’t even try it!” He growled into my ear and slammed my head against the stone building to prove his point. I cried out from the pain and no one noticed, or almost no one noticed. An old woman couldn’t seem to take her eyes off of Scar Lip.

“Get moving!” He hissed to his companions. “We are supposed to meet Raven’s carriage around the next bend.”

The Raven! He was here, in the city!

“What about the other one? Weren’t we supposed to bring both of them?”spoke the Septori who had Jury under his cloak.

“I’m not waiting around for that one.” Scar Lip hissed. “Besides it was this one that Raven specifically wanted back, the one that worked. He doesn’t care about cast-offs or failed experiments. He wants this one so he can duplicate her results. Now get moving before I tear you to pieces and leave you for what’s left of Raven’s demon dogs.”

The Septori looked scared, closed his mouth and shuffled faster toward the road. Scar Lip mentioned Raven’s demon dogs, or what was left of them. It was obvious then, who controlled the beasts.

The crowd started to dissipate as the Queen and her guard turned down the first street. I looked after them longingly, knowing that I would have to find another way to get Pim, Jury and myself out of this mess.

The two Septori and Scar Lip pulled us into another alley and I could see an enclosed carriage. I knew if I got into that carriage it was over. I started to struggle with Scar Lip and he grabbed the back of my hood and a handful of hair and pulled hard. Tears formed in my eyes but I didn’t stop.

“Kill the girl!” Scar lip ordered. “She’s fighting me.” The Septori looked up at Scar Lip and grabbed at the bundle under his robe. I could hear Jury start to cry.

“NO! Please no.” I screamed and instantly went limp, showing Scar Lip that I would behave. He looked at me before motioning one of them to open the door. I saw a dark carriage with velvet padded seats, something that only someone rich could afford. Scar Lip reached inside and pulled out a vial of green liquid.

“Drink this and I will let them go.” He spoke to me and his bad breath made me gag.

“You promise? Do you promise me that if I drink this, you will not harm Pim and Jury?” I looked at the kids who clung to each other, as tears ran down their faces. I raised the vial slowly to my mouth.

“Yes,” Scar Lip answered and held up his hand as if making an oath. “I promise I will not hurt them. You should be familiar with the contents of that vial; it’s what we gave your kidnappers when we first acquired you from your village.”

The vial froze on my lips. This was the first news I had heard about concerning my family. If that was true and drinking the drug would erase my memories again, then it wasn’t worth it. My hand shook as I asked, “What village was that?”

“Doesn’t matter will it? You will never remember them, an unfortunate side effect of this particular drug. I brought it just for you. Now drink!” He raised his hand and motioned toward Jury.

I felt a silent tear slide down my cheek and tasted the first bitter taste of serum as it touched my tongue.

A scream racked the alley as an old woman with wild eyes, charged into me knocking the vial from my lips. I watched as it crashed to the ground and broke.

“What the…,” Scar Lip broke off midsentence as the screaming banshee of a women turned on him and started scratching at his eyes with her nails.

I spat out as much of the serum as I could and looked up as poor old Ruzaa attacked Scar Lip. “I remember you… you evil VERMIN! You will pay for what you did to me!”

The Septori stood dumfounded and released their hold on Jury and Pim. I looked up in horror as Scar Lip took his knife and turned it on Ruzaa.

Anger overtook me; I felt my blood boil as I reached for power. Not caring who or what got hurt as long as they paid for their sins. Jury and Pim ducked under the cover of the carriage as I held out my hands and pulled not on my own energy, but the Septori’s.

I saw Ruzaa fall to the ground, her body still, my hatred pouring out of me. The ground started to shake, the wind picked up as I tried to lift the carriage and protect the children under it. I was breaking it apart, little by little and what I had swallowed of the serum was starting to dull my senses. I didn’t have much time left.

Scar Lip turned toward me, bloody knife in hand and fell backward onto the ground. He had no leverage over me now, the children were safely behind me and my enemy lay unprotected before me. The Septori tried to run but were struggling to move as I drew their energy away.

A loud scream could be heard as I ripped apart the carriage in the air and brought it down with a loud crash onto Scar Lip and the two Septori. A mass of wood, wheels and iron sat in the alley, all that was left of the noble carriage, and under it were three bodies.

I fell to my knees exhausted and crawled toward Ruzaa. I touched her warm body and rolled her over.

“Oh, please no, not Ruzaa!” Tears were falling freely as I touched the old weaver’s face. Her eyes slowly opened and she smiled at me, blood trickling down her chin. “I got ‘em back. I did. I got ‘em, he won’t hurt nobody anymore.”

“You mean Scar Lip?”

Ruzaa coughed and more blood trickled out her mouth. “He was one of them that hurt me years ago. I will never forget that face, but I didn’t see the other one. He’s a tricky one that one.”

“Ruzaa, tell me what to do? I’ve never healed anyone before, please help me. Just tell me what to do?” Jury and Pim crawled over by me and were hugging each other.

“Don’t know how to heal, it’s not my gift. Never much worried about it before now.” She laughed and her familiar bark of a laugh was weak.

“Please! Someone help us!” I screamed down the alley toward the roads, and someone heard. I could hear voices and people shouting. “Just hold on Ruzaa, please hold on. Someone will come; we will get you to a healer.” I grasped her hand in mine and I could feel her squeeze them slightly.

I looked at my hands and tried to mimic what Joss and the other healers had done, but all I kept picturing in my mind was what I had done a few minutes ago, and in the arena. All I had ever done with my gift was steal power and destroy. What if I accidentally destroyed Ruzaa, instead of healing her? I let my own fear hold me back.

Her breathing became more ragged and people rushed to aid us. All of them reaching toward her trying to help staunch the flow of blood from her wounds, but there were too many.

“Someone run and get a healer,” a large man yelled.

Ruzaa looked at me and I could see her eyes start to turn glassy, her face was pale. “No one will hurt no more…I did it.” Her hand became slack in mine and I let the people in the alley pull Ruzaa from me and carry her away. I knew it was too late, she had drawn her last breath.

Two pairs of hands reached around my waist and hugged me. I didn’t need to look down to know that it was Pim and Jury. I put my arms around them and cried. We didn’t know who comforted who but we knew we needed each other at that moment.

I felt a familiar pull on my spirit and somehow I knew Kael was near. He came running down the alley, out of breath and pale. He looked upon the mess of carriage parts and stared, he was the only one that noticed the blood pooling underneath the wreckage.

I didn’t care that he had come to rescue me, I was angry and sad, and hurting.

“Where were you?” I cried out loud, letting my frustration out on him. “You who are supposed to protect me, failed. When I needed you most, you weren’t here! And look! Ruzaa’s dead, and it’s all your fault!”

Kael stopped and stared at me, bewildered. Clearly he wasn’t expecting my outburst, but I had just taken three lives and I wasn’t prepared for the emotional havoc it was causing on me. I should never have had to face Scar Lip alone. If only he had killed him when he had the chance, instead of letting him escape then this would never have happened. I wouldn’t be a murderer.

I knew it was unfair, after all, this is why the Queen and the Adepts wanted me to be trained in self-defense. It was what Kael had been preparing me for, to attack, to fight back, to be able to save myself. And I did it, but at what cost? Ruzaa’s life.

Jury and Pim buried their faces into my hip and I turned them away and started walking with them toward the Citadel. Kael reached forward and tried to touch my arm.

I snarled at him, “Don’t touch me. You weren’t here, when I needed you!”

Kael’s hand dropped quickly to his side and he held his breath as if he were in pain, I could tell I just deeply wounded his pride. “You’re right, I should have been here.”

“But you weren’t, and it’s obvious I don’t need you to protect me anymore.”

“Thalia, let me explain…”Kael reached for me again.

“Leave me alone!” I slammed Kael with a flash of power. The blast lifted Kael off of the ground and sent him spinning through the air to hit the wall. I grimaced as I heard the smack of his body against the stone wall.

Kael’s reflexes were those of a fighter. He dropped and nimbly landed in a crouch, ready to spring back into action. Slowly standing to his feet, he circled me, keeping his distance. It was like two wolves sizing each other up, and I had two cubs I was ready to protect.

Kael’s jaw twitched in anger and his blue eyes stared into my own. I wasn’t expecting to hear a pained voice reply, “If that is your wish. You will never see me again.” Kael turned and was gone. Breathing a sigh of relief and remorse, I felt a sudden chill of apprehension of what I had done.

Chapter 29

The next morning I was woken by a very disgruntled Tearsa.

“Wake up!” she hissed, shaking my shoulder roughly.

Groggily, I tried to open my sleep-encrusted eyes.

“I already sent Forrest to wake you earlier, but you wouldn’t answer any of his knocks,” she went on, grumbling, but I only caught bits and pieces as I tried to make sense of my muddied memories from last night. Ruzaa had died and I killed three people. A pain in my chest felt like it was going to explode.

The curtains on the window were thrown open, and the light pouring into my room made me throw the blanket back over my head to block the blinding light. My armoire opened and the not-polite sound of shoes and other objects being thrown around the room made me want to burrow deeper in my covers and hide from the formidable Tearsa. She was obviously on a rampage because she had to personally wake me up.

I groaned because there was no justice in the world. The Adepts questioned the shop owner, Joss and Cooper, and they couldn’t find any deceit in them, even Syrani. Apparently she had nothing to do with the kidnapping and the Septori had been following me for days, and found a lucky moment to grab me. The truth was, Syrani was only being nice to me to get near Joss, but of course she didn’t want to be seen in public next to someone covered in dirt, so the stop was purely to dress me. How typical, how very much like Syrani. What worried me the most was that I hadn’t even had a chance to speak to Joss, to tell him I was fine. I had been sequestered in my room after the battle and given very little time to adjust or mourn for Ruzaa. It was not what I had wanted, nothing happened how I wanted it too.

“No one had a key, so I had to drop everything I was doing to come and help you. The Council Session starts in fifteen minutes and here I am playing maid to you.” Her words finally started to filter through the down comforter into my foggy brain and I sat up in a panic.

“Finally, you realize the importance of the situation,” she harrumphed.

Jumping out of bed, I put on the clothes she had laid out, barely giving them a glance. I tried to run a tangled comb through my disheveled curls from the night before. Using some water I was able to pull them back and secure the curls with a blue ribbon.

I had forgotten that the Queen had called an emergency session and the Adepts asked me to be there for the proceedings.

“Now remember,” Tearsa said as she looked me over, giving me a nod of satisfaction. “You have been asked to sit in, not participate. There is a viewing section to the side where you can watch and listen from. You hear me?” She placed her hand on her hip and began waving her finger at me. “You are not to speak unless spoken to.” Her fingers waved dramatically.

Looking at Tearsa, it was really hard to hold back my tears, she reminded me of Ruzaa. I had made it back to the Citadel last night and Tearsa took one look at Pim and Jury and immediately gave them baths, food and put them to bed. Yes, she was a rough and tough mistress, but she did it for the right reasons. Running to Tearsa I gave her a quick hug, which surprised her and made her blubber in admonishment at me. Shooing me away with her apron, she yelled at me to get going or I was going to be late.

Running down the halls, I was almost to the Council hall when someone grabbed my shirt and pulled me into a small alcove. Warm strong arms embraced me and I started to fight before I looked up into the concerned green eyes of Joss. I was once again struck by how handsome he was and I felt weak in the knees. His hand went to my face and he cupped my cheek before leaning down and pressing his lips to mine. At first I was startled, then I struggled and then I melted. It was soft, warm, gentle. Before I could respond in turn to the kiss, he pulled back enough to whisper softly into my ear.