Page 46 of Blood Red Woes

“Do you really think I can do it, Rune?” I ask quietly. A gentle breeze blows around me, caressing my face in a way no other person ever has. Soft, tender, like it’s trying to remind me I’m not alone. “Do you think I can kill the other two empresses? Even if they are mad, they’ve had a lifetime to master their magic. I’m a newbie.”

Rune takes his time in answering. “I think, together, we’ll be able to. What other choice do we have?”

As true as that statement is, I just can’t get over the nagging feeling inside. “I’m not a killer.”

“Look at what they’ve done. Or at what they haven’t done. The empresses were supposed to be kind leaders who use their powers to protect their kingdom. Look at Laconia now. The woes still ravage the land, unfettered. Their own people are afflictedin the streets, the walking dead. As far as I’m concerned, the empresses deserve retribution for the chaos and misery they let go on.”

“Uh-huh. And your little speech has nothing to do with the fact that they shoved you into a crystal?”

“Soul gem,” Rune mutters, annoyed with me. “But you are right. Perhaps I wish to see them get their comeuppance more so than I would if I was not trapped inside a soul gem for so long.”

“Do you remember the woes?” Rune’s memory is hit or miss; the empresses really did strip away everything that made him a person, keeping him a shell of what he used to be. A punishment for going against the norm of Laconia.

Rune says in a whisper, “No, but perhaps they were already tainted with madness when they dealt with me. It is hard to say now. Everything is… blurry when I attempt to look back.”

I sigh for about the millionth time this afternoon. I don’t know how long I’ve been sitting here, but the sun is even lower in the sky now. It’s about time for me to get up, I suppose, and make my decision.

Do I want to go to Pylos and back to Magnysia—where the freaking dragon is—with the vain hope that I can take down the remaining two empresses? No, of course not. Fighting women who’ve basically spent their entire lives being living weapons sounds like a suicide mission to me.

But, on the flip side, do I have any choice? It seems as though I’m shit out of luck here. Doing what that asshole wants might be my only hope to get home, seeing as how Frederick lied to me.

Frederick said he’d help, but he wants to fix everything wrong with Laconia first. If I wait for that, I might be waiting an eternity. It might not ever happen. Could I be that patient, sit around while I wait in the hopes that, miraculously, Frederick figures out what countless men before him couldn’t?

Shit. As much as I don’t want to admit it, Rune is right. I need to do what the Emperor wants and see if he can help me.

I get up, my mind decided, and I turn to head back to Laconia. As much as I don’t want to do it, I don’t have any other choices here. Before I set off in another region of Laconia, I’ll need to stock up on more food.

It’s a bit of a hike to get back. I have to use some magic to climb up some sharp cliffs, but I manage. The sky above is full of clouds of pink and purple by the time I reach the grate in the stone wall. I crawl inside and hike around the pond the locals use to clean their clothes. It doesn’t even hit me until I’m around the pond that everyone is gone.

Once I realize it, I pause and glance over my shoulder. What hits me as strange is the fact that the people left their clothes in piles, like they had to abandon them quickly.

Hmm. Weird.

I go to Frederick’s hut. It’s not that I want to ask him for food and such, but I figure I can guilt him into it since he lied to me. Besides, maybe I can get him on-board with the whole killing the last two empresses thing. Tell him it’ll help him with the woes or some shit.

I knock on his door. I don’t hear anything inside the hut, so I push inside to find Frederick isn’t here. That’s odd, but maybe he went to the markets or something? That possibility rings hollow when I step outside of the hut and realize I don’t see a single soul.Not everyone could’ve gone to the markets.

What the hell is happening now?

I’m seconds from asking Rune what he thinks is going on when I hear shouting in the distance. I react instinctively, pushing into a run. Darting through the empty streets, I come upon a set of stone stairs that lead to the market district of the city. The shouting definitely came from there.

Once I’m up, I can see the large crowd gathered around the circle where the stalls are. Body to body to body; I’m on the outskirts and can’t see a thing. The people are so huddled together, watching whatever has their attention, I have no clue what’s going on. It’s like everyone from the lower district is here, making the market more crowded than it’s ever been.

I hurry around the crowd, trying to find Frederick. I bounce on my feet to get a little higher, to peer over some of the people’s heads. I make it around the crowd, to where the people become sparser, and I immediately see why.

They’re not alone. Two huge armored people stand near the old pillars of the marketplace. Black metal armor with hints of blue, their skin is covered by their helmets, gauntlets, and greaves. They almost look like nine-feet-tall shadows in the shapes of men. One wields a sword that’s as long as I am tall, and the other has Frederick kneeling before him, a huge ax raised in the air.

“Bring out the demon,” a woman’s voice comes from the soldier with the ax. “Or my vengeance will be swift and severe. Harboring a traitor will be your undoing.” The metal gauntlets holding onto the ax’s shaft tighten, and he lifts it in the air.

Is it a woman or a man in there? I don’t know, but I do know that these two are looking for me, and they’re about to kill Frederick to bring me out.

Frederick, on his knees before the large soldier, stares down the face of his would-be executioner. “Kill me,” he says, much calmer than I would be in his place. “Kill all of us. What does it matter? We are all already dead.”

I’m in the process of pushing past the people on the edge to get to the two soldiers—to save Frederick’s life even though he’s a goddamned liar—but someone else darts out of the crowd and places herself between Frederick and the lifted ax.

Prim.

And she’s defiant as ever, puffing herself up to make her frail body appear larger than it is. “She’s not a demon!” Prim declares loudly, for everyone to hear. “Her name is Rey, and she’s an empress, too. She’ll save us!”

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