A Citadel of Captives by Bella Forrest
“We need to go,” Amane added. “Before they wake up!”
Kailani nodded slowly, keeping her head down as she put her arms out, quietly demanding that we make physical contact. We all gathered around her and linked hands, Amane included. Kailani gave Toris one last look.
“Will he regenerate, too?” she asked.
Amane shook her head. “I’m sorry, no. Ta’Zan didn’t have this regeneration gene for us. It’s only in the Perfects.”
“I see,” Kailani murmured, then squeezed my hand.
I saw the pain in her eyes, and I knew I’d have to do or say something to help her feel better.
But first, we had to get out of here.
Kailani
There was a knot in my stomach that kept pulling and twisting, more painful with every minute that went by. I felt horrible. I’d literally forgotten about Toris during the fight, and I shouldn’t have. Given that he was immobilized and under my control, I’d had a responsibility to keep him alive. I’d failed. I’d never experienced such emotions, and I had a hard time coping.
Elonora held on to my hand and tugged softly. I’d zoned out for a second.
“Kale, we need to zap ourselves out of here,” she said.
I blinked several times, then looked at her and the rest of our crew. I wasn’t sure if they understood what was going through my head, but Amane was right—there was no time for this.
Amane smirked. “I’ve never done this before. I only saw you do it,” she added, then frowned. “Will it hurt?”
I shook my head.
“You won’t feel a thing,” Ridan said, then put his hand out. She stared at it for a moment and ultimately took it. “Now, buckle up.”
I took a deep breath and allowed my senses to expand as I abandoned the confinements of time and space for a split second. We vanished, disintegrating into billions of particles, and reappeared in the deep woods of a small island just south of the lighthouse. I’d made a mental note of it before, during our search for Ridan, as a good and safe escape point, since it seemed pretty isolated and was at a considerably larger distance from the lighthouse, compared to the other isles.
Amane gasped as she came to terms with what had just happened. There was a twinkle of exhilaration in her eyes that put a smile on my face—just for a moment, before I remembered Toris. Guilt was a dreadful thing to carry around with me. I had to find a way to either internalize it or get rid of it altogether, before it took its toll on me.
“That was… different,” Amane replied.
“Thank you for helping us back there,” Rose said to her. “I’m well aware that you could’ve just split when the Perfects came. I do appreciate you staying, though.”
Amane shrugged. “I felt bad for you. Though I shouldn’t. You’re all toast, anyway. All I did was prolong your misery.”
“Puh-lease. I’m not buying one line of what you’re trying to sell,” Ridan teased her.
“How are you so brazen, dude?” Dmitri said, his eyes wide as he observed the exchange. “She saved your ass, had you tied to a tree before we got there, and then she sliced through eight friggin’ Perfects like it was just another day on the job!”
Ridan smirked, crossing his arms. Amane didn’t seem offended at all. In fact, the corner of her mouth twitched as she stifled a smile. “So what? I’m thankful, obviously, but that doesn’t mean I have to believe her when she says we’re screwed,” Ridan said. “If we were screwed, like she claims, she wouldn’t have bothered to help us in the first place,” he said, then narrowed his eyes at the Faulty. “Isn’t that right, Amane?”
She raised an eyebrow in response.
“Is Ridan onto something?” Elonora asked her.
“I doubt it,” Amane replied dryly. “But nothing is absolute, to be honest. Anyway, we can’t stay here for too long. It’s not safe. We need to go.”
I frowned. “This is as safe as it gets, given what planet we’re on,” I muttered.
“I can feel Perfects nearby,” she replied firmly. “It’s only a matter of time before they find us.”
“Wait, what do you mean you can feel Perfects?” Rose asked.
Elonora and I dispensed some healing paste to those of us who’d sustained some injuries during the last fight—we were getting better at it, though. Most of the wounds we had were surface scratches and bruises. Elonora had it quite rough, but her vampire nature was already helping, further aided by the Perfect blood she’d ingested. She wasn’t as buzzed anymore, her body putting more effort into fusing the bones she’d broken earlier. Perfect blood wasn’t enough to speed up the healing process like vampire blood, but where Rose and Elonora were concerned, it did make a small contribution to their regenerative processes, from what I could tell. I figured that the Perfects’ insane healing abilities had more to do with their entire body system, not just their blood.
“It’s something Ta’Zan equipped me with when he created me,” she murmured. “An ability to detect anyone with a Draenir gene. My skin tingles whenever they’re close—both Faulties and Perfects, though I feel the latter a whole lot stronger. It probably has to do with their genetic makeup. The Faulties don’t always pop up on my radar in time for me to run away before they find me.”
Ben sighed, resting his hands on his hips. “No wonder Ta’Zan wants you back. You’re his personal Perfect and Faulty detector,” he said.
“What would be the point, though?” Rose replied, then frowned at Amane. “Can you tell who’s who, or do you just feel a general tingle when they’re around?”
“Just a tingle,” Amane explained. “The closer they get to me, the more intense the feeling, but that’s it.”
“Then that’s not why Ta’Zan wants her back. He’s mass-producing Perfects. It’s not like he’s missing any, since they’re all devoted to him. The only one he’s missing is Amane, here,” Ridan concluded.
“Whatever. Do you want to stay here and find out how accurate my inner radar is, or do you want to go somewhere safer?” Amane retorted, slightly irritated.
She was a tad too evasive for my patience. I had Toris’s life on my conscience. I had zero time to try to guess what Amane was trying to say with her vague remarks about how doomed we were.
“You know what?” I said, with not a damn left to give. “Ridan is right. You helped us for a reason. What’s your endgame, Amane?”
She thought about it for a second, then shifted into a more defensive posture, her arms crossed and her brow furrowed. She pursed her lips, too, for extra dramatic effect. That just irked me.
“No endgame,” she replied. “I told you, I felt sorry for you.”
“That’s a load of crap!” I snapped. “You talk in riddles, you make these blanket ominous statements, like you know more than you’re telling, and yet you’re anxious to get us out of here. What is your deal? How can any of us trust you or go anywhere with you, if you’re not telling us everything? Because it’s obvious now. You’re hiding something. It’s written all over your face. I think Lenny here can confirm it.”
Elonora smirked. “You know, I see fear in her, but I can’t make out what she’s afraid of, specifically. Oh, and there’s this little bluish thread of hope. She’s hopeful about something.”
Amane watched Elonora and me like we were the strangest creatures she’d ever come across. I had a feeling she wasn’t used to being around people who could read her so easily. In all fairness, we were cheating with Elonora, since she was designed to read people’s emotions, as a sentry. But I could tell a lot by myself, too. Amane’s body language was surprisingly sincere, and quite contrary to her words. Either she wasn’t trying that hard, or she was just a terrible liar. Frankly, I preferred the latter. Bad liars were usually inherently decent people. Those who had mastered the art of deception, however, were much more dangerous.
“You’re mistaken,” Amane replied. “I have no interest in helping you or keeping you alive. What part of ‘I took pity on you’ did you not understand?”
&nb
“We’re in the middle of the woods. On a planet that, up until a few days ago, was uninhabited. I was in stasis for over a hundred years,” Amane replied. “It’s obvious that I don’t… get out much.”
“Well, you need to understand something,” Ridan said, his tone sharp and heavy. “We’re GASP. We’ve fought wars and battles against adversaries who were more powerful or more resourceful than us. Granted, we’ve never been faced with something such as the Perfects before, but we have a tendency to withstand pretty much anything you throw at us. We adapt. We recover. We find a way. It’s in our nature,” he said, then took a deep breath, while the rest of us listened quietly—particularly Amane, who couldn’t take her orange eyes off him. “We’re fighters. We’re survivors. We’re scholars. We’re purveyors of peace and tolerance, even if it comes with a loss of life. We understand the natural order of things, and we’ve made a lot of progress over the past few decades. We’re here to get our people back. We’re here on a mission, and I’ll be damned if we’re not going to get what we came here for! We always do!”
“Maybe Ta’Zan and his Perfects are more powerful. Maybe their numbers trump ours. There’s one thing that will never change, and it will eventually come back to bite your maker in the ass: what he’s doing goes against the natural order. The universe has a way of handling aberrations. An invasion of Perfects is just that. An aberration,” Rose added. “Even if he does succeed, what’s next? Okay, the universe is all his. Then what? He’ll devise some other hybrid. Something better than the Perfects. Perfect is never enough for someone like him, and I don’t have to meet Ta’Zan to know this, trust me. So, what, he’ll destroy all the Perfects he’s made up to that point? Replace them with a new species? It’s not his place to do that.”
Amane didn’t speak for a while. But she didn’t seem upset. Her expression was a mixture of fascination, surprise, and admiration. Something told me she wasn’t used to hearing something that didn’t involve the Perfects being at the top of the food chain. Indoctrination often closed people’s minds—and hers was no exception.
“We’re not going anywhere until we get our people back and until we figure out a way to stop Ta’Zan from spreading into the In-Between like a friggin’ plague,” Ridan said. “Now, you’re either with us, and willing to help, or you can just be on your way. I, personally, am in no mood to listen to someone telling me I’m going to die every five minutes. I’m pretty sure the rest of my team agrees.”
Amane glanced at each of us, as if waiting for our confirmation. I stood my ground and kept my chin high, as did everyone else in our group. I understood what Ridan was doing, and, by the looks of it, it was working. Amane’s interest was piqued, and then some.
She let out a long and heavy sigh, her shoulders dropping in defeat.
“I can’t be near you or your people for too long,” she said. “But I can teach you one or two things to help you move around without triggering the Perfects.”
“Why can’t you be around us for too long?” I asked.
“Because this whole sensory thing goes both ways,” Amane replied. “The Perfects can feel me, too. The closer they are, the better they can feel me.”
Ridan frowned. There was definitely something she wasn’t telling us. “Why’s that?”
“None of your business!” Amane retorted. “Now, do you want my help or not? I’ll tell you what I can, but I don’t want to get between you and Ta’Zan. All I can do is give you a better fighting chance.”
Rose looked at Ridan, then at the rest of us. I imagine we all felt the same way, and it showed.
“Might as well take what we can get,” Dmitri said.
“Okay, Amane, we’re willing to listen,” Rose finally replied.
Amane opened her mouth to say something, but a strange whistling sound made her freeze. It came from above. We all looked up. My jaw dropped. My heart skipped a beat, as I recognized the ball of light shooting down from the sky.
“It’s an interplanetary spell,” I murmured.
“They got our message,” Rose breathed.
The light orb slowed down at an altitude of fifty feet, then lowered itself on a vertical trajectory, landing on the soft ground in front of me. The glow dimmed as the spell dissipated, revealing a sturdy metal crate.
“Kale, would you like to do the honors?” Ben asked me, pointing at the crate.
I nodded slowly, then got down on my knees to check out the lock. I recognized the symbols etched onto its surface. “Swamp witch charm,” I said. It was a question-type charm, to be specific. Only the right spoken answer could open it. “What raises the tide?”
“I know that one. Easy. The moon,” Dmitri replied, grinning.
The lock clicked open. They all gathered around the box as I took the lock off and opened the lid. I could almost hear angel choirs singing in the background as I feasted my eyes on the contents of the crate. My heart swelled, hope filling me to the brim.
We weren’t doomed at all. Our witches had our backs.
Elonora
The crate was pretty much a gift from the heavens.
Kailani started taking the items out, one by one, laying them on the ground. I tried hard not to squeal like a giddy little girl as I recognized some of the items. There were blades, shields, and dozens of small pouches filled with what I assumed were spell ingredients—including interplanetary travel paraphernalia, since it was clearly the only form of communication with the outside that actually worked. There were also twenty blood vials, labeled “Perfect blood.” I was breathless.
She took out a smartphone and played the video message that had been saved on the main screen. We got down on our knees, and Kailani put the phone on the lid, for us to see. Caleb and River showed up on the screen, and I instantly covered my mouth to stifle a gasp. Rose and Ben were the first to react, instantly tearing up at the sight of their soulmates onscreen.
I couldn’t read Rose’s emotions, but I was pretty sure they matched Ben’s—glowing, golden threads of love, mixed with grief, sadness, and unbearable longing. It broke my heart to see them like this, but at least they were alive and could still talk to Caleb and River. It was better than being dead, or prisoner to Ta’Zan.
“Ben, Rose, we got your message,” Caleb said in the video, frowning. “Unfortunately, it came a little too late. By the time we understood how dangerous these Perfects are, our fleet was already under attack. We saw your team fighting them in that diamond colosseum and decided to take action. We thought a show of force would make the hostiles more submissive. We didn’t know there were so many of them, though. Thousands…”
“Harper managed to bring the third ship back,” River added. “We compiled a list of everyone who was on the two ships that went down. You’ll find it in a text file on this phone, but, please, be advised that most of them are alive. We saw hundreds of capsules get intercepted and captured in midair, after they safely ejected from the vessels. About six-hundred of those people are still alive.”
“Also, please go through the items we sent you first.” Caleb sighed. “There’s an upgraded invisibility spell in there, along with ingredients for more. You’ve got about fifty portions in total, for your team. We’ve added instructions, as well. This version is excellent for your location because it’s impervious to water, and it can be turned on and off through a spoken word. Mind you, we noticed it only works for three deactivations. The third time you turn it off, that’s it, you’ll need a new batch, so be conservative in how you use it.”
“Now, we’re going to try to keep this as brief as possible, since you’re probably still very much at high risk there,” River said. “During the fleet attack, some of the Perfects came after Harper’s ship. Of course, they
Caleb cleared his throat. “In the meantime, we’re looking at ways to get more boots on the ground over there, without the Perfects getting wind of it. We are, of course, exploring infiltration methods,” he explained. “We’re not yet ready to consider a global-scale response, but we’re aware that it’s only a matter of time until the Perfects and Ta’Zan figure out space travel. We will do whatever we can on our end to stop them from taking flight. I’m sure you understand what that means, and we’ll keep you updated on that, as well. Your worst-case scenario is that you’ll have to hop on an interplanetary spell and get out of there before we intervene.”
“Okay, so they’ve also considered complete destruction,” Dmitri said. Nevis shushed him, watching the message with heightened interest.
“I’ve added a list of everything we’ve sent over in another text file on this phone,” Caleb continued. “I think you’ll find it all very useful. Lumi explained how the speeding up process for the interplanetary spell works, so we’ve included rejuvenation formulas for Ben and Vesta. Over here, we have plenty of fae blood to help us. On your end, I’m aware that your resources are limited. You need all your fighters in tip-top shape for what’s ahead.”
“We did a second scan of Strava,” River said. “We have some troubling news. There are hundreds of new diamond colosseum structures scattered across the surface. They were built practically overnight. You’ll find an updated map of Strava on this phone, as well, with all the hot spots marked accordingly. I hope it will help you navigate.”