The Captive Twin Read online

  The guards and soldiers who had stayed with the court dragged stunned victims toward the cave walls. “Quickly now, this way! There may be another!” shouted the guard Xander.

  And there was. Two more devices fell from the ceiling and exploded, peppering everyone with more rock and debris, and gouging craters in the floor.

  Elaina and Alessa had heard the first blast and were already racing to the scene to help. The air grew smoky as they neared. Elaina heard Jaimin in her mind say: I’m okay. Stay away from that room! But Elaina didn’t listen.

  When she and Alessa arrived, the ghastly moans of the survivors were settling down to sobs and sniffles. The wounded bravely listened for instructions while bearing the worst pain they had ever experienced. Xander was carefully picking up the infant Ella, who had been thrown from Carrine’s hands. “You two mustn’t be here,” Xander warned the princesses, “There could be more. Follow the wall and head to Black Tubes.”

  “Are the bombs coming down through the ceiling?” Alessa asked him.

  “Yes.”

  Ignoring Xander’s warning to leave, Alessa walked slowly around the perimeter of the main blast zone, seemingly in a trance, keeping her eyes on the ceiling. As she walked, she reached far with her abilities and pulled snow down into each of the shafts above, packing the snow so tightly that it clogged them.

  Meanwhile, Elaina scouted to see who was worst off. She found the young musician Kotaret attending to Sylvia, who was covered in blood, with sharp basalt shards embedded in her legs and arms.

  “Aura, Your Highness,” Sylvia said to Elaina in a gravelly whisper. “My sister. Is there anything you can do?”

  “Where is she?”

  “Some of her is there,” Sylvia said, pointing to part of a little girl’s body snagged on the end of a toppled cot. It was just a torso with one hip and one leg attached—and, at the end of the leg, a foot in a shoe.

  Elaina recoiled on seeing the remains. A cold pain gripped her chest.

  But, what if…? Shaking, she forced herself toward the partial corpse, and her hands began to glow. She set them on the lifeless flesh. And she tried to believe.

  All at once, many other spots throughout the room lit up bright white, illuminating the smoky air. As Elaina conducted the divine light, each blood cell, each bone fragment, each sinew and slip of tissue that had been Aura shone white and quivered. Sylvia must have had her sister’s blood all over her, because much of Sylvia began to glow as well.

  Bits of little girl peeled off of the places they had stuck and rose into the air. Beginning at the spot where Elaina’s hands rested, the fragments of Aura’s body reassembled themselves as if drawn by a magnet. Glowing pieces of skin, muscle, bone, and organ came floating, some from many meters away, and jostled into their proper positions. An ear, half a jaw, strands of black hair, fingers—Elaina thought she might throw up or pass out, were it not for the light. Before long, every cell that had been Aura was back in its place. As the healing light faded, her little body settled gently to the floor.

  Elaina had saved others from death with the light, but this felt different. Previously, when she had healed, Elaina had felt her soul lock with that of her patient. But this time, there was no soul to bind to hers. Aura had already passed on.

  Aura’s unclothed body lay motionless. Elaina knelt by her and kissed her forehead. Elaina knew that breathing into the little girl’s lungs and pressing her chest to get the blood flowing might comfort Sylvia and the others watching, but it wouldn’t work, and it would waste precious time.

  And so Elaina returned to Sylvia, who had tears cascading down her face. “Her body is whole,” Elaina reported, “but she’s not back with us.”

  “What do you mean?” Sylvia tried to get up, but Elaina stopped her.

  “Hey,” said Elaina, resting one hand on Sylvia’s forehead and another on her chest, “you’re a mess. Hold still.” The white light wouldn’t take to her.

  Sylvia looked over again at Aura’s body. It had the glow of life, but somehow it wasn’t Aura’s life. She, too, felt her sister had moved on. “Thank you, Princess,” she said to Elaina. “I don’t know what more you can possibly do. See if there is anyone else you can save.” Kotaret stayed with Sylvia, comforting her and helping her stop the worst of her wounds from bleeding.

  “Who’s worst off?” Elaina shouted.

  “Over here,” came the quick reply. Elaina ran toward the voice and found soldiers kneeling over Carrine and Patrick, who were critically burned. Elaina found the light as soon as she approached them, but not when she tried to help Edmond, Julia, and a soldier named Rex, whose injuries were not life-threatening.

  “Medics are on their way,” announced a guard. “Everyone stay calm.”

  “New orders are to move all of the wounded to Black Tubes,” a soldier told the guard. “Let’s get them all onto cots.”

  Just then, another explosion was heard—this time distant. The noise came from the lava tube leading down to Three Falls Pool. Alessa grabbed a torch, and she and Elaina again ran toward the danger.

  Halfway down the lava tube, just outside the “barn cave” where the horses were tied up, they encountered a group of Arran soldiers running toward them, some bleeding. “What happened?” shouted Alessa.

  “We triggered the collapse,” said one of them, out of breath. “The Destaurians were coming down on gliders from the cliffs outside. It’s gonna take hours for them to break through to us now, but our guys on the other side of the collapse are as good as dead.”

  “Are any of you seriously hurt?” Elaina inquired.

  “No.”

  “Good,” Alessa told them. “Go on ahead and help. We’ve got wounded too, and they’re being moved down to Black Tubes.”

  Elaina and Alessa ran into the barn cave. They found Nightmare and Tyrant unharmed, but nervous. They threw more feed within reach of the animals, and quickly topped up their water.

  “There’s only one way out of this cave now, and you can’t fit through,” Elaina explained to Nightmare as she patted her. “But we’ll find a way.”

  “Give her a kiss and let’s go,” said Alessa.

  When Elaina and Alessa returned to the site of the initial blasts, medics were already carrying the last of the wounded out on the intact cots, which converted into stretchers with a few adjustments. Elaina and Alessa held torches for the medics and helped them navigate the slippery passage down to Black Tube Caves.

  When they arrived there, they found that most of the Arran soldiers had moved out. After days of preparing, the troops had finally received orders to take their places on the battlefront.

  When the Destaurian general learned that the Audicians were distracted trying to integrate the newly-arrived Arrans, he decided to hit them hard across their front line, from the cliffs westward to their weakest point near the sea, with rockets, archers, and waves of infantry.

  The descendants of Destus and the descendants of Argus had avoided major bloodshed for three thousand years. Now, at last, they were at each other’s throats, and they did not hold back.

  In that first ferocious clash, hundreds of men fell on both sides. There were no winners.

  Neither side was accustomed to war. Lashing out so brutally against each other had one positive effect: it rapidly brought the conflict to a point where the killing was morally exhausting—too much for anyone’s conscience to bear.

  Maybe they all realized they were cousins, and were repulsed by the idea of driving a sword through someone that looked just like them. Maybe they were just unprepared for the reality of war. Maybe the divine spirit was looking after them.

  Whatever the reason, after less than ten minutes, leaders on both sides called a pause. The Arrans and Audicians pulled back, and the Destaurians didn’t pursue.

  The fighting would soon resume, and the war was still on, but from then on the battles would be smaller and more strategic.

  The guard Marco approached Elaina with a message: “Your Highness,
you must stay in the caves until Her Excellency Nastasha comes for you.”

  “Where is Nastasha?” Elaina asked him.

  “She’s out in the forest—I’m not sure exactly where. She just asks that you stay here until she comes for you.”

  “Very well. The moment she arrives, I must know,” Elaina told him. She was eager to get out and save lives. At the same time, she trusted in the judgment of her protectors.

  Elaina found Jaimin helping the injured. He was holding the sleeping baby Ella, who had blood smeared on her head and face.

  “Is she hurt?” Elaina asked.

  “Yes,” Jaimin said. “But I’ve fixed her up some. I’m most worried about her head and neck—I think she landed on her head when she was thrown. We need to watch for swelling.” Elaina set her hands on Ella, and no light came.

  “I’ll check on Sylvia,” Elaina said. She kissed Jaimin lightly on the forehead, and then on the lips. “I’m glad to see you safe. I’ve never seen you hold a baby before,” she said. “You’re good with kids?”

  “I used to hold Tori for hours at a time,” he said.

  Elaina and Tori made several rounds among the traumatized and wounded. They visited Sylvia, who was having bits of rock picked out of her flesh by medics. As they worked, Sylvia was sharing random thoughts with Kotaret loudly and non-stop, her brain clearly addled by a powerful dose of pain medicine. Aura’s dead body had been laid out nearby, covered up to her chin with a blanket.

  Outside, over the hours that followed, the Destaurians made a push and gained back some ground, and several battles took place close enough to Black Tubes Caves that those inside retreated deeper to hiding spots. For the wounded civilians, this meant a lot of shifting, so they were kept on their cot-stretchers. It also meant fear: fear that the brutal invaders might rush into the caves at any moment and slaughter everyone. This fear didn’t ease until the fighting gradually moved away, toward the south and west.

  General Valeriy had also worried that the Destaurians would break through the rubble into Three Falls Caves. However, when Arran troops arrived at Three Falls Pool expecting another battle, they found that the Destaurians had abandoned the site.

  Along the main front, the Arran and Audician generals ordered their forces to start using a new tactic: breaking off groups of Destaurians so they could engage them in closer combat, where Jaimin’s modified swords would give them the advantage.

  And the help the allies were expecting from the sea was not far away.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  O n the lower deck of an Audician warship, Queen Alethea joined her fellow Celmarean volunteers for a late supper. The Arran and Audician navies, now combined, were nearing the site where they would offload their troops and equipment.

  The queen looked almost like a commoner in her light leather armor, with her dark hair brushed out straight, and her eyes heavy with fatigue. She took a seat beside Priestess Ariana, Sima’s wife, who had been Alethea’s confidante and close companion in the old country.

  No crown, Ariana observed in her thoughts.

  “I wouldn’t want to make an easy target of myself,” Alethea explained out loud. “Serenua,” she said to those seated. This simply meant “good evening.”

  “Serenua, Panuse,” they replied.

  “Did you have a nap?” Ariana asked.

  “A brief one,” Alethea replied. An attendant set down warm plates of food before them, and filled their glasses with juice. “In times like these we must force ourselves to rest when we can.”

  After a bit of light conversation over the meal, they sensed the ship was slowing. First Officer Tremayne appeared in the doorway and announced: “Excuse me, Your Majesty, honored guests, we’ve reached the landing site, but two enemy ships are on the horizon. We’ve signaled Admiral Sherman.”

  “You must all join me on deck,” Alethea told the others at the table. “Keep close to the divine spirit. Avarada.”

  Everyone arose quickly and followed Tremayne up two flights of stairs to the top deck. The sea air was frigid. Where most of the sea all around was lit up by bright moonlight, the queen’s ship, and only her ship, had entered a cloud shadow, and the unusual play of light this created was unsettling. Captain Blan stood at the tip of the bow, peering through a spyglass aimed southward, his breath condensing in puffs before his silver moustache. Alethea, Ariana and Tremayne joined the captain, while the others spread out on the deck.

  Off to the south, Alethea could see the two enemy vessels not far off shore. “If you please,” she said to the captain, reaching out for his spyglass. He handed it over.

  The queen raised the brass instrument to her eye and found the magnified image of the Destaurian ships. Reaching out with her intuition, she took in a deep breath and endeavored to feel the enemy’s intent. That’s when she saw something: a splash—tiny, just off the waterline of the nearer ship. And then another splash, just off the hull of the farther ship.

  She quickly handed the scope back to Captain Blan.

  “What is it?” he asked. “Did you see something?”

  “Yes,” said Alethea. Her glossy eyes remained fixed on the horizon.

  Queen Alethea’s spirit spread out across the sea before her, and her consciousness extended a little bit forward in the continuum of time. She took four steps backward. Next, as if blown by a mighty gust, she sprinted forward and leapt into the air, diving over the rail at the bow. Celmareans and Audicians alike rushed to the fore of the ship. With a splash, the queen disappeared into the black sea, and then resurfaced.

  She held herself afloat with her mind, keeping her shoulders just above the undulating surface. Spreading her fingers, she reached out her palms just above the water.

  One of the sailors on deck started to throw her a life ring, but the Celmareans stopped him.

  Only a few of the observers noticed that something small was approaching, just under the sea’s surface, from the direction of the Destaurian ships. As it neared the queen, the object turned completely around in a wide arc, until it was speeding back toward the enemy ships.

  Some also saw the second object heading toward them just below the waves, and this one turned around as well. They waited and wondered. Alethea kept her eyes and her mind focused on the water before her.

  “What were those?” the captain asked Ariana. “Did you see those objects in the water?”

  “Some sort of sea-rockets. She’s watching for more,” Ariana said.

  “Is she all right?” the captain asked.

  “My dear captain,” said the priestess. “You’re at home on the sea. We’re at home in the sea.”

  A few seconds later, they all witnessed a bright orange flash from the hull of one of the distant Destaurian ships. A cloud of flame engulfed the side of the vessel, and a fountain of flaming wooden shards shot high into the air. Next, the boom of the explosion arrived—just as another flash erupted from the other vessel. Some of those watching cheered. Most were just unsure of what was going on.

  Captain Blan peered through his scope. Both enemy vessels were listing drastically as they took on water. Fires climbed up their sails. Enemy sailors leaped into the orange-flecked sea, some men burning as they fell.

  Alethea rode upwards on an arc of water, which lifted her back over the rail and onto the deck. Those in her way scattered. With a graceful swoop of her hands she drove the water from her hair and clothes. Without acknowledging the awestruck onlookers, she strode back up beside the captain and once again extended her perception across the sea’s surface.

  “I think that was all of them,” she said, “but I shall keep watch a while longer. Inform Admiral Sherman of our foe’s new weapons. We have to assume Radovan’s other ships are similarly armed.”

  The captain stepped away.

  “Sea-rockets?” Ariana asked Alethea.

  “They are clever, aren’t they? Just like before,” Alethea said to her. “Always coming up with better ways to destroy us. We cannot let down our guard.”
>
  “We will prevail,” Ariana said.

  The landing site was a broad beach of black sand that the Audician army had secured. Captains maneuvered their vessels as far in as the sea depth would allow, and positioned them for the offloading of troops and cargo. They would use smaller boats to shuttle themselves, their supplies, and their equipment over the surf.

  The Celmareans were ferried in tenders to a temporary dock where General Valeriy and his aides awaited them. When General Valeriy helped the queen up out of her boat, she embraced him firmly.

  The next hour would be tense. The allies worried that the Destaurians would notice the offloading ships and strike the distracted troops hard, but the Destaurians stayed away, and the allies were able to strengthen their front. They now needed only to stay strong, sweep south, and take back the rest of Arra.

  Nastasha had stayed outdoors on the back lines all afternoon, and she only returned to Black Tube Caves after nightfall, dirty and with blood splotches and soot coating her face. She greeted Elaina and Jaimin with hugs. “Thanks for your patience, Elaina,” she said. “It’s finally safe enough for you to come with me.”

  “I’ll come too,” Jaimin said.

  “The plan was for you to stay in the caves,” Nastasha told him. “But if you just can’t bear to be apart from one another, I shall return for you in a while once Elaina is set up. Quickly now, say farewell.”

  Nastasha turned and walked slowly away as Jaimin and Elaina shared a parting embrace and kiss, and then Elaina caught up to her, ready to go.

  “First, some protection,” Nastasha said to her.

  She walked Elaina to the makeshift armory and dressed her in a custom set of steel plate armor. “Arran armorers aren’t used to making armor for ladies,” Nastasha explained, “but we’re changing that. This suit will be much heavier than anything you’ve ever worn—but it’s…necessary.” Elaina found the armor gorgeous but incredibly burdensome.

  From the moment Elaina and Nastasha stepped out into the frozen night, they could hear the conflict in the distance. Royal guards took up their positions in the forest. They would shadow Elaina everywhere she went.