Chapter Thirteen

Stupid and Reckless

Part Two

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Kazia emerged in the great hall of a castle, where perhaps a dozen people sat around a table.

She drew the dagger from her belt as they all stood at her appearance - all but the woman who sat at the head of the table, next to Kelvaran.

“You see, Kel,” Yilina said. “Stupid and reckless.”

“Kelvaran...” Kazia said, but his name stuck in her throat.

An immense cloud of sheer wickedness emanated from these people - Alchemists all, she could tell. Their malevolence was almost visible, a mist of darkness shrouding her eyes and cloying in her lungs, and as it settled over her it felt like oil, oozing into her skin as it smothered her.

Her stomach lurched, trying to reject this seemingly physical invasion.

“Take her,” Yilina said almost casually.

Four of the Alchemists advanced on Kazia.

She lunged at one with her dagger, but she was losing focus and her limbs were shaking. The man caught her wrist and bent it backward, sending sharp pain shooting up her arm until she dropped her weapon.

Two of the men held her by the arms, and she almost passed out from their proximity. They began searching her, taking all of her daggers, and the Seamist from her pockets.

“How did you know she would come?” Kelvaran said.

“You told her to,” Yilina answered, rising from the table and sauntering toward Kazia. “Alright, I told her to, sort of. Those Walspa curses are quite insidious. I could have scrambled her little brain if Gorvan wouldn't kill me for it.”

Kazia drew in a sharp breath at her father's name.

“Kelvaran!” she called out. “Help-”

The men holding her pushed her down onto her knees as Yilina approached.

“He is helping, Lady Devratha,” Yilina said. “He is helping me. I've added him to my collection of Alchemists.”

She waved a finger around, indicating the other men in the room, then crouched in front of Kazia, smiling maliciously and staring coldly into her eyes.

“How do you like my boys?” she asked. “How do they make you feel?”

She laughed as Kazia's eyes widened.

“Oh, yes, your father has told me all about you, although I thought you were supposed to be some kind of super sneaky warrior assassin? Didn't your daddy teach you how to take care of yourself?”

Kelvaran approached then and Kazia stared at him, pleading with her eyes. She could feel nothing of him through the nest of vipers surrounding her.

Yilina turned her head to look at him as well.

“Do you know what our little Lady Devratha can do, Kel?” Yilina smirked. “Everything we feel - you, me, anyone who comes close to her - she knows,” Yilina told him. “She knows what is in our hearts. Empathy, it is called. Not many with that ability around these days, right? She's a rare bird. What do you think of that?”

Kelvaran stared at Kazia through narrowed eyes.

“I knew she was a good liar,” he said coolly.

“Only one little problem with an ability like that, and you'll love this part,” Yilina said, looking back at Kazia with a clownish expression of mock sympathy. “Mean people make her sick. How pathetic is that?”

She stood and took the vials of Seamist from the Alchemist who held them.

“Is this what makes you feel better?” she asked. She dropped one of the vials on the floor and crushed it under her boot. “Oops.”

“No,” Kazia whispered.

“I'll keep the other one,” Yilina told her. “If you behave yourself you can have some later. Take her below, and send a messenger to Gorvan.”

“Should we chain her?” one of the Alchemists asked.

“Don't bother, she's not going anywhere,” Yilina answered, returning to the table. “She didn't even cast that portal. From what I hear she can barely summon a little orb.”

She turned to Kelvaran with a sneer.

“Is she really an Alchemist? What sort of future could she have? Someone's assistant? Pathetic.”

Kazia stared at Kelvaran as they dragged her from the hall.

He only mirrored Yilina's sneer and watched Kazia go.

~~~*~~~

Kazia had no idea how long she'd been in the cell. Hours, perhaps a day.

She was mostly alone, although every so often an Alchemist would come sit in the dungeon, sustaining that sickening dysphoria.

She slept, or perhaps she had fainted. Any form of unconsciousness was a reprieve, at any rate.

Someone entered the cell, but she was beyond caring what would happen to her now, as long as they weren't here to take her to her father. Even this nightmare was better than that.

“Kazia.”

Kelvaran's voice cut through the miasma and she looked up, barely able to see him through the fog.

He knelt down beside her, holding out one hand to her.

“It's your medicine,” he said, “in my palm. One drop. Will it help?”

Kazia stared at his hand skeptically, and he moved it closer.

“Please take it,” he whispered.

She took his hand in both of hers and pulled it over her mouth. When she touched her tongue to his palm, she felt a shiver go through him, and she met his eyes with a reproachful glare.

“If you were supplied could you make this?” he asked, keeping his voice low.

It took a moment for his words to sink through the haze in her head. She looked at him warily and nodded.

“Listen closely,” he whispered. “You can pick the lock, yes? I've seen you do it.”

“Where would I go?” she asked weakly, her voice breaking in her dry throat. “I don't even know where I am.”

Kelvaran left the cell and looked over both outside doors to make certain no one was there. Then he put a hand to the wall opposite the cell door. Light came from his hand in a strong burst that quickly sank away into the stone.

He returned to Kazia's side and knelt down close to her again.

“When you get your chance, touch that wall. You will find what you need in the kitchen.”

“What?” Kazia asked, bemused. “What kitchen?”

She wondered if she was hallucinating, and any small hope began to dissolve again into despair.

“It will only last a few hours. Try to go soon.”

“Kel?” Yilina's voice came from the door. “Cozying up to your lover?”

“Please,” Kelvaran scoffed. “Only ensuring that you haven't killed her. I wouldn't want to see your lovely head on Gorvan's gate.”

He left the cell, locking Kazia in again.

Yilina came to the cell door and grasped the bars, putting her face between them.

“Still alive, my rare little bird?” she taunted. “How I would love to crush your little bird bones. Perhaps Gorvan will let me, if you won't sing for him.”

“Come, Yilina,” Kelvaran said. He took her arm and led her out of the dungeon.

Alone again, Kazia leaned back against the wall and relaxed some.

One drop of the tincture wasn't nearly enough to handle her current state, but it was lulling her into a more comfortable sleep than she'd had today. She woke again when another Alchemist came in to sit with her, and any relief of that one drop of Seamist was dissolved.

She waited, staring at the wall where Kelvaran had touched it, until the Alchemist left again.

Kazia crawled to the cell door and pulled herself up to her knees. She felt into the lock to find its pathways.

It was so much more difficult than usual. Everything felt slower and heavier. Even a tiny bit of magic would be exhausting now, she knew, and it took her several tries just to produce a spark.

When she managed it, she immediately applied it to the lock, which thankfully was a fairly simple mechanism.

The door swung open, and she crawled across the open dungeon to the wall.

She touched it, and suddenly felt as she had that night in the Archive, lying against Kelvaran with his arms around her.

Then she was falling through nothingness.

She lost consciousness, but only until she slammed painfully into a hard landing on a tiled floor.

~~~*~~~