for her. Vi’s death haunted her. The horror of it unfolded before her eyes again and again. Her chin quivered as she sniffed back more tears.
She was sobering up. It made her feel vulnerable, weak and terrified. She rubbed her temples and winced, squinting as the pain shot through her head. It would get worse as the drug wore off.
She paced around the cell, rubbing her arms to keep warm. As she walked by the door the Empire emblem on the back of it mocked her.
“For the Empire, for Nor,” she muttered in disgust.
It was part of the oath she had sworn when she enrolled at the university. All Masters in training did. It was an oath of loyalty, of vassalage, but Mia’s words had been hollow as she uttered them. She had no intention of devoting the results of her studies to the Empire, or even remaining in their service.
She ran her fingertips over the walls as she measured the cell with her footsteps, meticulously searching for any flaw she could exploit. Anything. Her mind raced. There has to be a way without the drug.
She couldn’t see much. The dark shadows surrounding her grew darker by the moment. The world around her blurred to grey as her system purged the ku. Tears rolled again as the last wisp of aura vanished from her sight. She sobbed, dropping to the floor as she strained to see her pale flesh. She wished she could see just how tainted her aura had become. How silly she had been to think no one would notice.
She forced herself to stand again and took a deep breath. Her resolve strengthened. There has to be a way out. There had to be a way to save Kale and Lio. She would find it.
***
Kale’s face twisted in pain. Back against the wall, he gasped with every breath. Shooting pains ripped across his side. He panted, helpless in his cell. Vi was dead and after six years he had failed his mission.
All the miserable time I spent at the stupid university looking at goddamn bricks was for nothing!
Of the hundreds of Trademaster skills that the university offered, masonry was arguably the easiest. Even so, Kale had trouble in his studies, but the ruse allowed him to stay on the grounds and keep an eye on Vi and Mia.
As a Trademaster, Kale had too had sworn an oath to the Empire, vowing that he would work wherever the Empire chose in repayment for the skills he was taught. He had always scoffed at the whole thing. He was so inept at his trade that he joked he would never be able to repay his benefactors anyway.
The truth was he never intended to. If all had gone as planned the three of them would have been safely out of Muoro, but Mia had needed to stay longer…
Mia, Kale thought to himself. I still have to protect her. He had been doing so for as long as he could remember.
Thick, dark blood ran in tiny streams down his dirty, fractured face. His left eye was so swollen he couldn’t even open it. He would likely be blind in it if he survived, but that wasn’t the worst of it.
The pain in his side was intense. His ribs were broken. Even the tiniest breath sent pain searing through his torso, causing him to flinch and sputter out what little oxygen he managed to take in. With every fibre of his being he wanted to get his hands on the Myrmidons, but he could do little more than sit and bleed. He was so badly injured the guards didn’t even bother to restrain him.
Even healthy, Kale was simply no match for a Myrmidon in a fair fight. Years of practice made the Kuvaleer’s process of creating them too effective. They were too strong and too fast.
He gasped for air in the darkness, wiping the blood from around his mouth only to have it replaced by more. Tiny drops dripped to the floor. He needed a healer.
Vi could have helped me. She had done so countless times in the past. Her incessant need to practice healing every cut or bruise he had used to annoy him. He longed for such treatment again.
The tears that flowed from his good eye mixed with the blood running down his face. He shook and sobbed as he replayed the Myrmidon’s viciousness. He saw it happen again and again. In the darkness of his cell, he made a promise to show every Myrmidon he encountered the same viciousness. He would repay them.
Through his functional eye, he squinted at the shadowy outline of the door as the sounds of the people he had heard earlier came back. His heart beat in his throat; his eye and face throbbed in sync.
“Fine, if you won’t let me clothe that one, at least let me heal this one. He’s worse off than the professor.”
After a few seconds the screech of metal on metal replaced the arguing. Kale clenched his fists. He didn’t know what to expect as the door swung open. The light from the torches in the hall broke through the darkness. A woman entered the cell with two Myrmidons trailing behind her. Her robe draped the floor as she bent over him.
Her voice was soothing. “I’m going to fix your eye, your face and apparently…your ribs too.” There was kindness in her tone. She reached toward his head; her palms hovered inches from his face.
Kale winced and took a deep breath. After a moment, an audible “pop” sounded throughout the cell as his bones snapped back into place. He flinched as his cheek-bone reset itself, grunted as the skin stretched back over it. His cuts healed, leaving no trace of the injury. The process took only a few minutes but the pain was unbearable. He let out a small cry as the last of his ribs slid back into place.
Her work completed, the woman touched him briefly on the shoulder and nodded before she stood and left the cell. As she touched him, her slender fingers tucked something between his back and the wall. The gaggle of Myrmidons followed her when she left. The metal screech faded after the door slammed shut. Kale could only hear their footsteps for a few seconds before there was silence once again.
He waited a while. When he was positive they were gone, he put his hand behind his back and leaned forward. A small object fell into his waiting fingers. He fumbled for a moment, almost dropping the tiny thing, eventually managing to secure his grip on the vial.
With his thumb and forefinger, he carefully examined the contents sloshing about inside. He knew what it was. There were a few doses left. He could only formulate one thought.
Why?
He pondered, probing the brow around his newly healed eye. He blinked deliberately as he looked into the vial. Although he wasn’t particularly skilled at his craft he had managed a few minor manipulations in his time at the school. Those he did master were mundane things. He could give bricks a sheen like metal or make them harder or softer—useless skills at the time he learned them.
He rose to his feet. He removed the stopper, pulled out the pipette and brought it up to his lips. He closed his eyes as he ran the thin glass tube down the middle of his tongue. Tiny droplets of the drug stained his waiting taste buds. His eyes closed.
It burned like fire. The sensation rushed over his tongue and made its way through his mouth, spreading into his sinuses, seeping down his throat and into his belly. His whole mouth burned as the vicious red liquid dissipated. It was more potent than any he had used before. His brain tingled and his thoughts clouded as the drug worked its way into his system. He opened wild eyes and blinked a few times. It took a moment to check his equilibrium before he rose and walked toward one of the cell’s interior walls.
He reached for the wall. The process would take a while. For the first time in his life, Kale wished he had studied harder.
JAILBREAK
Mia paced around the cramped jail cell, trying in vain to keep herself warm. She rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was tired, cold and miserable. Her stomach rumbled again. She was starting to lose hope.
Her breath was all she had to warm her hands. They were so cold that pain wracked her knuckles when she flexed her fingers. Her toes were numb. The damp chilled her through to her bones. With no clothing or blanket she worried she might die of exposure.
The Myrmidons couldn’t have known about the wristband, she thought to herself.