Ky'cina

I stumbled up and grabbed at the door handle. It was locked; where was the key?

Lil had a key in her pocket. She tossed it to me.

Bang!

The gun in the enclosed room was eardrum-shattering. The air filled with smoke. I thought for a second Ky'cina had shot Lil, before realizing she’d shot me, in the leg.

I crumpled to the ground.

I’d been shot before, by Sy’anh, but that had only grazed me, not gone through. Ky'cina had shot a hole through my thigh, and blood was pouring out.

Her aim was so precise, just at the right zone to be disabling: a central hole near where my thigh connected to my hip. She could have shot me or Lil in the head easily, if she wanted.

She hadn’t, which meant she didn’t want either of us to die. One of her most useful inside agents and a potential ultra-powerful magician: it made sense. We had no such handicap, which gave us an advantage.

But I didn’t feel very advantaged, lying on the floor, watching her come closer.

Lil gave a war cry and hit Ky’cina over the head with a book. It didn’t seem to have any effect. Ky’cina styled her voluminous hair on top of her head, which softened the impact, and as for Lil she was a scrawny little fourteen-year-old.

“If you don’t stop,” Lil said, “I won’t be your pawn anymore! You don’t have anyone else who’s in such close touch with Sai-ee, right? And he’s basically the key to the whole empire!”

“You’re useful,” Ky’cina said, shoving her backwards—Lil hit the ground with a thud—”but don’t get ahead of yourself. I’d never let you run around my house like this if I didn’t have a backup.”

“Shit!” Lil said, scrambling up. “Who is it? That priestess who beats him? I thought she recognized your name once!”

“A-Anyone could recognize Ky’cina’s name, but yeah it is,” I managed. “Lil, stop it.”

“I don’t want her to have you,” Lil said. “This lady doesn’t deserve the power of a god, she hardly deserves me working for her!”

“Maybe I don’t have the power of a god.” My leg was numb, cold, and tingling all over. It was worse than pain. I wanted to stick it in a blazing fire or scratch my nails all along it just to stop that icepack-with-no-washcloth, pins-and-needles feeling.

“Why shouldn’t I have the power of a god? I’ve done so much good for all you people. The poor, the downtrodden, the oppressed…I take refugees in, when I’m empress—the mother of the empress—I’ll open up the prisons wide and let all the unlawfully jailed Asan and Koteran out—”

“So they’ll swear undying loyalty to you, huh?”

“Lil, it’s fine. Stop it.” I wished I could stand. I still wasn’t a fighter but I’d gotten a little better. At least they weren’t fighting. But Ky’cina had her gun aimed right at Lil now.

“I thought you were selfless,” Lil said.

“I am. I would be the best possible person to lead, and you know it. That’s why you started working for me, right?”

“Well…not really…it was cause I saw how bad Sai-ee got treated…”

“But you could have chosen anyone rebellious to work under, and you chose me. You understand. You’re a smart girl.”

“Why’d you shoot her? Naomi.”

“Do you not realize how dangerous she could be?”

“You made her cry.”

“What do you really know about her?”

“I guess not a lot…”

Not good. I didn’t like the direction this was going.

Though I’d been trying to convince Lil to stand down too. Maybe this was better? I’d wanted to work with Ky’cina. Maybe I should just let her do what she wanted with me?

My left ear was on the ground, pressed against the hardwood flooring. I could feel the vibration of Ky’cina and Lil’s voices, the sounds of them moving. Hear the magic-powered pipes.

Hear a set of running footsteps, coming closer and closer.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Ky’cina twisted and leveled her gun at the door as it gave way into splinters of wood. Jayla, panting for air, brandished a hatchet in her direction.

She was alive and breathing. Unable to get up, I hugged her legs, burying my face into her rough linen pants, feeling her kneecaps press against my forehead. A moment later I let her go—suddenly remembering that she’d need to move, to fight maybe. What did she think she was doing, running into a dangerous situation like this!

Ky’cina’s finger went to the trigger.

Lil jumped on her, knocking her down to the ground. The bullet embedded itself in the baseboard behind Jayla.

“You, Naomi,” Ky’cina said, pushing herself up, “you don’t know what you have. How can you flee here, without using your powers for good?”

Ky’cina had spent most of her life without power. She’d been born into a poor family with no connections to royalty. At twenty, she’d joined the army, like most young people her age. There, she’d been consistently denied a promotion, despite having the skills to become an officer. Daughters and sons of high-ranking military officials got carried up the ladder instead. She’d met her husband there, and retired from the army a few years later to have a child—Ana. After Ana was one, Ky’cina’s husband went back to the army, but he’d died in battle due to an incompetent commander.

She had a strategic mind and a morally grounded outlook. If she was power-hungry, it was only because she really did deserve the power.

She would love it if she’d authored a book, then ended up in it. She could write more books, perfect the world system, create characters who would follow her unquestioningly.

Jayla who I’d thought died scooped me up in her arms and fled the room.

She ran down the hall at breakneck speed. I hugged her neck and said in a rush, “You’re alive! What about Lil—she’ll die! Are you okay? How’d you get in here!”

“Hold this!” Jayla said, pushing the hatchet at me with her elbow. “Press this to your wound.” A wad of fabric. “I’ll explain later!”

Ky’cina had a green-glowing silver bell engraved with runes in her pocket. She rang it, and the sound reverberated out to the entire manor. I winced at the noise.

A stampede of footsteps; people running out of their rooms to try and catch us. Well-dressed servants, scrappy probably-rebels, no guards with armor and spears but everyone with a knife, or a pistol, or something else nasty in hand.

A group of four blocked the stairs, big brawny guys holding guns. Jayla took a step back, reaching up for her hatchet I was holding.

“Really think you can take them?” I hissed in her ear. “I got another idea.”

I jerked my chin towards the hall window. This one was an open hole with a wire sheet against intruders and bugs, no glass, more typical of the area.

“Y-You’re kidding, right? When I jumped before—”

More guns were being trained on us. “Just do it!”

Jayla twisted on her heel and ran for the window. I cut across the bottom of the wire with the hatchet, and she pushed through it and tumbled out.

Freefall vertigo.

I kept a tight hold of Jayla. The ground rushed up faster and faster to meet us—

And we got caught by a cushion of air. Our fall stopped about a quarter inch from the ground.

Just like what’d happened with Sai-ee and that cliff.