Chapter 23

 

The designated day of their plan came. Yanafir attended to Amirya this afternoon, following her to the Academy under the impression of another afternoon study session.

 

Cinna had grown so large that when he stood on his hind legs, he was taller than Amirya. She joked he needed to learn how to shape-shift, but he sneezed at her, offended. Shape-shifting was for high level devils, after all. 

 

Amirya paused. Where had she learned that? From when she was Zee, of course, but when exactly…?

 

“Your Highness?” The knight escort from the academy looked back at her.

 

“Oh, it’s nothing. This way.” Amirya motioned towards benches seated in a circle in the garden they arrived at. 

 

“Are you nervous, Princess?” Yanafir whispered to her before she took a seat next to her on the bench. She had misunderstood Amirya’s spaced out expression, but it was true that the princess was also nervous. She smiled instead of replying. Her part in this was simple compared to Finri’s, Raven’s, the Vonne twins’, and even Sephine’s and Yanafir’s.

 

“Sir Knight,” Amirya said, waving at him. “Sit down. We’re going to have a small picnic before the library. My maid made these herself.”

The knight blushed and while surprised, smiled with a bit of embarrassment, “Oh - no, Your Highness, I couldn’t…”

 

“You can’t follow an order from a royal?” Amirya asked innocently, tilting her head as she bit the edge of a cookie.

 

Now, the knight’s face flamed with red. He sat down with unnatural movements, evidently self conscious, and sat bone straight. Amirya giggled, and his guard around her dropped to near non-existence,  though he was explicitly instructed to stay aware. Amirya grabbed another cookie, offering it to him.

 

“You made this?” He asked, eyes wide towards Yanafir.

 

“‘You’?” Amirya said, pouting her lips. “That’s my lady, you know.”

 

“Oh!” The knight cleared his throat, “My lady… ah…”

 

“Yanafir,” Yanafir said simply. “While Her Highness chose me as her personal maid, it’s an honor I don’t deserve. I’m a commoner.”

 

Amirya rolled her eyes but ignored it - Yanafir was from a fallen noble family. The interest the knight had spiked. Amirya held back a scoff; men were so predictable in their nature. She reached back in the basket and took out a glass bottle. She passed it to the knight and then grabbed one herself.

 

“It’s a sweet juice Lady Yanafir made, so be sure to drink it all,” Amirya said sweetly.

 

The knight took the sealed cap off and gulped several swallows. Amirya raised her eyebrows but looked to Cinna, motioning him over so she could pet his head. 

 

 

“Rya,” a voice called behind them. The knight sprang up, alarmed, and wobbled on his feet. Finri leaned over the back of the bench.

 

“Don’t approach the princess!” The knight hiccuped, staggered again, and then regained his footing, hand on his sword handle. His aura, calm but nervous before, was trembling with distress; the sudden approach of Finri and his inability to stand clued him in that something was wrong.

 

“Be calm,” Amirya said. “And Rya? Don’t call me so intimately.”

 

“Aren’t we intimate?” Finri sulked. Finri had been bold lately, always leaning in too close or finding excuses to make physical contact.

“You like trying to sneak across boundaries without people noticing, don’t you?” Amirya retorted.

 

Finri shifted her eyes away, her expression blank.

 

“Princess, I must notify-” the knight slurred his words. He wanted to alert another knight to his condition and have them watch the princess.

“Come here,” she said in a siren-like voice, using her fingers in a come hither motion. He stumbled, but the knight obeyed. She placed her hand on his, “Bend down.” Now at eye-level, she stared deep into his eyes, reaching into his spirit. “I said… calm down… lie down… let your mind be at ease, as though you’re swept away by a breeze…”

 

The knight’s eyes started to roll up, a light pink near his pupil. Yanafir stood, grabbed his arm, and led him back to the bench where he slumped down. She looked at the princess in amazement but Amirya directed her attention back to Finri to avoid such interest.

 

“Ohhh, what was that?” Finri said with mild amusement.

 

“Nothing,” Amirya easily replied, “He already drank the potion. I just have a way with words. It comes with the status of royalty.”

“Oh, does it?” Finri asked in a voice that sounded mocking. “I didn’t know of such a potion.”

 

“Why are you here? You’ll be late to meet Sir Raven,” Amirya crinkled her eyebrows, concerned.

 

“I don’t like it,” Finri said seriously. Amirya huffed; they’d been over this multiple times already. “Plus, I’m fast. Super speedy. I can be there with a blink. Anyways, we know the least about this Academy bullshit, so you shouldn’t be the one to do it. Not alone, especially. I should be with you. And, it’s not fair, you flirting with a useless knight. I wanted to witness, no, I-”

 

“Don’t worry. It’s literally the easiest part,” Amirya reassured, placing a hand on her forearm. “I just have to wait around.”

 

It was odd. Finri didn’t blink at anything else they uncovered or planned, but ever since the mention of the Academy, she’s been suspicious. 

 

“It’s not!” Finri hissed. Amirya pulled back slightly - Finri was on edge rather than her usual laid back self. Her eyes seemed brighter than usual, the sun reflecting off the yellow, and Amirya felt like she could get lost in the darkness of her sharp pupil. “You don’t know what you’ll actually find. It’s dumb. And unlike you.”

 

“I will give you permission to call me Rya as you like if you drop it and go back to meet Sir Raven,” Amirya offered. 

 

She also didn’t know what to do with the girl’s sincerity. She expected Finri to immediately accept, grin like it had been her plan all along, and skip away. Instead, the girl continued to stare her down.

 

“How is it unlike me?” Amirya finally asked once the silence made her uncomfortable.

 

“Before, at the arena, I get it. You had some sort of personal agenda,” Finri said blandly. “But what exactly do you have to gain by doing this? Who cares if we miss a little bit of it.”

 

“Now, that’s unlike you,” Amirya sharply responded. A protagonist should care about digging out all of the evil.

 

“Is it?” Finri argued.

 

“Lady Finri, please have faith in Princess Amirya,” Yanafir stepped forward. “I will do my part perfectly, I swear.”

 

“I’ll kill you if you don’t,” Finri said dangerously.

 

“Hey!” Amirya shouted, glaring. “Don’t ever talk to her like that. Ever.”

 

Finri scoffed and pushed off the bench. She sighed and scratched her head, relaxing her body. The usual ease she exuded came back as she said, “Fine. It’ll be fine. I’mma come as soon as we’re done over there. So, I’ll see you soon.”

 

Finri left, casting one last glance behind her. Yanafir checked the knight and nodded confirmation he was in a deep slumber. She grabbed the basket and dropped it to the ground, giving it a small kick for good measure. 

 

This garden was a corner garden, behind some bushes, and no one ought to find him for a while - well, not before Yanafir raised the alert, anyways. They left, moving through the garden to their destination. 

 

“Here?” Yanafir asked, looking around. 

 

At the top right of the campus sat the alchemy building and tower; to the left of it sat the training area for the knights and large storage units while beneath the alchemy area was the space for lower class housing. It made the alchemy section impossible to see from the main center of the academy. 

 

To the north, there was a woodland area that stretched across, creating a natural border for the central part of the kingdom. There was a deep crevice in the woods, stemming from the cliffs at the seaside, so there was no natural path to go through the forest to reach the northern country of the kingdom. Nearly nestled into those woods laid an old alchemy tower. They had moved to new buildings below. Vines and other greenery were left to grow wild around and up it.

 

“Here,” Amirya replied back. She did not move forward yet. 

 

She stayed far away from this corner ever since she had noticed the spirits - she intentionally avoided it, even the buildings below it, opting to take longer routes when needed. For the first time, she allowed herself to focus on them. Within seconds, she was overwhelmed and swept up in intense emotions - anger, sorrow, fear. It made her nauseous, and she covered her mouth.

 

“Princess?” Yanafir asked. 

 

Cinna whined, tail lowering. He attempted to herd Amirya away, but she instead moved towards them, closer to that old tower. The tower that exuded an awful feeling and stench. 

 

One of the spirits, an orange wispy spirit vaguely in the shape of a young boy with fox ears and a tail, turned to her. Before progressing her powers, they were emotional blobs. Now, the stronger the spirit, the more she could see the shape they used to take up. Powering through her unease and fear, Amirya concentrated on him. Despondency, hopelessness, dread, and exhaustion filled her.

 

He was just a boy. Like with the living, she tried to read the intention there rather than let them inside.

 

Amirya crouched down, trying a simple, “Hello there, young one.”

 

The spirit flickered in interest. 

 

…Can you see me?

 

The voice was creepier than anything she heard prior, disembodied and broken.

 

“Yes… more like I can perceive you.” Amirya glanced at the tower behind him. “Were you… and the others here… taken here? To that tower?”

 

Yanafir stared but said nothing.

 

Another spirit, gray and purple, strolled up, hovering behind the orange one. Something static-like and gurgling resounded. 

 

“I can only understand one at a time, I’m afraid,” Amirya said. She probably could hear more than one, but if she let all of them impress themselves onto her, she knew it would overtake her and she would lose her senses, just like when she was a kid and did not know better.

 

 

The boy raised his hand and pointed to the side of the tower. 

 

 

“You were cremated?” 

 

The spirit wavered. They did not know that word. Another spirit, from the trees, a dark green and very angry one, peeked out and then inched towards them. Once they knew someone could see them, this always happened.

 

 

The orange spirit wobbled. Their sobs wrecked Amirya’s soul. The purple one danced and traced along the orange one as though to comfort. All the souls here felt so young. Children. The green one was now only two yards away, and even before she fully zeroed in on them, she knew they were screaming.

 

She took a step towards them, and the spirit jerked back. She raised her hands, “I want to stop whoever put all of you here.”

 

The green spirit stopped and considered her.

 

“Do you know where you were kept?”

 

 

Amirya swallowed. She stepped forward again.

 

 

 The spirit started screaming. Something wet dribbled from Amirya’s ear, she touched it, and blood smeared on her fingertips. She knew something horrific was here, more than she let on to the others, but she was desperate to feel like she could do something, anything, to contribute.

 

“...Okay.” Amirya held out her hand. She shook as she carefully touched the spirit. “What do you know?”

 

 

This time, the voice echoed inside her head. Amirya’s vision went black. Cinna began to yip, somewhere behind her.

 

 

 

 

 

...

 

[I'm still having some struggles, but I was able to doodle Cinna a little bit. It's messy and nonsense, but I think it's kind of cute. I am going to upload a double update because the next chapter is pretty short, but this is the only art I made this week.]