Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

He could hear voices. Indistinct. Distant.

Blackness again.

Ainala's face appeared before him. Then her body. She was wearing a blue dress to her ankles. She walked slowly toward him, smiling sweetly.

“Mikol,” she said. “It's a. . .”

Something jostled his body, and Prince Mikol woke up. His eyes sprang open to see sunlight filtering through the foliage above. He realized the jostling was a cart, in which he lay.

He tried to sit up, but became instantly dizzy and went back down. Pain shot through his head and he put his hand to his temple.

“He's up!” came a small girl's voice. “This one is up, ma!”

The cart stopped moving. A woman's face appeared in front of him, smiling kindly.

“You hit your head, it seems,” she told him. “Don't move for a while.”

“Where-” he croaked.

“And don't speak. You have bruises all over your body. You were bleeding out of your right leg when he found you. We wrapped it, but we aren't sure if you'll keep it. The damage was pretty extensive.”

Prince Mikol moaned as he felt pain in that leg, all throughout his thigh.

“I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Galina. My husband found you in the woods. You aren't the only one we've found, either. But you are the first awake.”

Mikol slightly nodded, painful as it was.

“We are nearly to Keiko, my hometown. There will be a healer there to help you.”

Keiko. Prince Mikol realized that the sun was sitting low in the west. It was nearly dusk.

He remembered flying away from the ruins after receiving a warning from Imbert about the strange glowing figure rising from the ruins. The Lady Serendipity had made it about half a kilometer away when it was launched forward, toward the west. Men had been yelling and shouting when everything had gone black.

The cart jostled onward, causing Mikol much discomfort as they neared Keiko.

Holden had found a corner of the aership to hide. He was no longer crying, and his breathing had finally calmed. His pa was gone. He had tried, but failed. He remembered when his father taught him to first play a chord on the lute. Holden had been so excited that he had played that one chord all day until his pa had asked him to give the lute to his ma.

His ma. She did not know yet.

Holden knew he would have to tell her. Should he wait until they reached the academy? Or tell her over a missive?

He decided to wait to tell her in person, thinking that it would be better than over the bowl.

The hours passed on the way to Akademia Magia, Holden wandering the corridors of the ship, mourning his father. Tumus found him as they approached the academy, sitting with a blank look in the engine room. Instead of saying anything, he sat next to Holden for a few minutes.

He broke the silence. “We're approaching the school,” he said quietly. Then, after a moment. “Thank you for saving my sister.”

Holden nodded, but did not stand. Tumus stayed to help Imbert land the ship from the engine room.

They felt a bump when they landed.

“You're ma will want to see you first,” Tumus suggested. Holden stood and followed him to the door.

Imbert opened the door and lowered the ramp to the ground. Ainu, Sulgur, and the others they had left behind were standing in a group, waiting. Liseal was not there. Ainu ran forward as Holden came down the ramp. She embraced him.

“You're alive! Oh thank Jot,”

“Ma,” Holden said, bowing his head as she released him. “I. . . I couldn't. . . pa, he. . . .”

Comprehension dawned on her. She let out a sob, then held him tight. Ainala had followed Ainu, and when she heard what he said, she fell to her knees on the dirt. Imbert and the other three came from the ship.

Sulgur saw Tumus and started rushing at him. Borli stepped between them and stopped him.

“So he DID try to escape! Let me by. He will be imprisoned-”

“No,” Borli said firmly. “Head Maestro, come over here and I'll explain. But he should not be punished.” They walked away toward the academy.

Imbert walked to his sister-in-law and put his hand on her shoulder. She released Holden and embraced Imbert instead.

“Ainu, we tried. Holden was brave.”

Holden knelt down next to Ainala. Their siblings had come over now. Drogun understood what had happened when he saw his mother's tears.

“No,” he said shortly. “No!”

He turned around and ran past his younger brother and sister toward the academy.

“Dro!” Holden called to him, but his brother ignored him.

“Let him go,” Imbert advised. “We should get inside, though.”

That night the family stayed in visitor's quarters. Holden did not return to his dorm, not wanting to explain to his room mate where he had been. He and Ainu informed her two youngest what had happened to their pa as they all sat near the fireplace. She held them as they cried and she cried with them.

Liseal found Holden as he walked slowly across the courtyard. She ran to him and hugged him. As the sun was setting, they made their way to the rooftop. To Holden it felt like it had been months ago since they had last sat here, just enjoying one another's company. Holden explained in only a few sentences what had happened. Liseal held him tight as he told about his father's death. They stayed there until an hour after sunset, then got down from the roof.

Most of the family had a hard time sleeping that night. Despite having been up for almost two days, Holden found his mind racing, unable to sleep. When he did finally drift off, his dreams were about soldiers screaming as he pulled their magic from them and took it into himself. Then he saw Sucius's face laughing at him. Sucius's face turned into Tumus's, and Holden found himself punching him and putting a knife to his throat. Tumus laughed at him. The laugh continued for what seemed like forever, entering Holden's mind until he woke up. He looked at the window. The sky was starting to lighten.

Holden knew he would not get any more sleep, so he quietly got out of bed and left the room. He wandered through the hallways of the visitor dorms. As he turned a corner, he saw Tumus sitting at the end of the hall with his arms around his knees, crying silently.

Walking up to him and sitting down, Holden placed a hand on his friend's knee. He waited until Tumus spoke.

“I lost my father yesterday, too,” he said quietly. Holden thought that maybe his father was a soldier in the Chaelestan army. Then he remembered what Lyra had said. If she was Tumus's sister, that made his father Sucius.

Holden removed his hand from Tumus's knee. His emotions were in conflict. He felt some anger starting to well up, and he wanted to attack Tumus again. But he also felt some empathy, although they had not lost their father's in the same way. Holden's pa had died, but Tumus's had succumbed to power.

“Holden,” Tumus started. “Please, don't-”

“Tumus,” Holden interrupted. “You are not your father, he said calmly.

“Thanks,” Tumus said, truly grateful that he understood.

Lyra came from a room down the hall, dressed in a nightgown that was too big for her. She came over to them.

“Holden,” she said. “Thank you,” she managed to say with a heavy accent. Holden smiled at her.

“I taught her that because she wanted to tell you,” Tumus said.

Lyra sat next to Tumus and they leaned against each other, Lyra's head on his shoulder. Holden stood up and left them, continuing to wander and lost in his thoughts.