Chapter Eight

Morning of the battle…

Aegeus woke long before the first hints of sunlight touched the horizon. He couldn’t wait any longer, though his heart wished that he could remain in bed with Ellora. He wanted to hold her, to cradle her to him and savor every second that he could touch her. His body still felt warm and satisfied from making love to her the night before, but it wasn’t enough. He could never get enough of her. There would never be a moment in his life when he felt that he had spent enough time with her, given her enough kisses, held her for long enough.

He watched his young sons sleep for several minutes, wanting to remember the sound of their breathing so that he could mimic the slow, steady rhythm when he stepped into battle. That rhythm would calm him, keep him controlled as he waited for the moment that he had been building toward for so long.

Finally, the light began to stream into the windows and his children woke, smiling to find him in their room. It was a special treat for them to see him when they first rose in the morning and he treasured the sound of their delighted voices and the feeling of their tiny bodies clambering up into his arms so he could carry them into the kitchen for breakfast. They ate together happily, Maxim talking as quickly as the words would tumble out of his mouth and Kyven chattering along with him, oblivious to all that was happening. Ellora held Aegeus’ hand over the table, squeezing it occasionally as if just to make sure that he was there. She knew that he was leaving that morning for battle. It was something that he had done many times before. Though those times apart were never more than a few days, and often far shorter than that, she always dreaded the moments when he would walk out of the house.

When the time came for him to leave Aegeus kissed each of his sons on their heads, taking a moment with each to tell them that he loved them, never wanting them to doubt, even for a second, that he carried them in his heart everywhere that he went. He would be back soon. They might barely notice that he was gone. But until he was back, he wanted his presence with them. Maxim looked up at him, lifting his hands to touch them to his father’s cheeks as if holding his face still. He stared into Aegeus’ eyes for a few long seconds.

“Love you, Papa,” he said.

The little boy said the words with such seriousness as if it was the most important thing to him in that moment that his father know he loved him. Aegeus’ heart felt like it might burst and he held his son to him for a longer hug, whispering the sentiment in return, before releasing him back to play.

Ellora met him by the door, the smile on her face tremulous and not reaching her eyes. She always smiled at him before he left. It was something that Aegeus loved about her. One of the countless things that he loved about her. She never wanted him to walk out of the house without seeing her smile. He took her hands and brought them to his lips, kissing them softly.

“I love you,” he said.

“I love you, too. Stay safe.”

“I will.” He leaned down to kiss her. “I’ll be back. I promise.”

She nodded.

“I know.”

He kissed her again and left, not allowing himself to look back over his shoulder at her. He never gave himself that moment. It would be too hard to pull himself away if he saw his wife with the smile gone and the fear and worry etched on her beautiful face.

What happened then? He had to remember.

The feeling of the vehicle beneath him as they rode toward the badlands. They would hide the vehicles out of sight so that when the enemy army approached they wouldn’t know what they were facing.

Then what? What happened?

The smell of the badlands burning. The acrid air burning down his throat and into his lungs. The sound of the cracking and sifting of the earth beneath his feet, suddenly obliterated by the air-splitting battle cry of the Denynso and they streamed down the rocky hill and into the battlefield.

When did they come? Remember. He had to remember. When did he see them for the first time? He couldn’t remember. All he could remember was the chaos around him and the weight of the sword in his hand.

He drew his father’s sword and ran into the growing fray. Though he couldn’t see them, he knew that the Irisa and the Eteri warriors were on either side of him. They wouldn’t acknowledge him, wouldn’t even look at him. The less that they interacted, the less likely it was that anyone would notice what really happened to them when they disappeared.

They were there. He knew they were there. They wouldn’t forsake him. They wouldn’t forget him.

Athan was behind him. Aegeus could hear the sound of his battle cry rippling through the armies. He didn’t know what was to come. He only knew that he was to meet Aegeus back at the war room after the battle. They had hidden the final plans from him, not because they didn’t trust him or think that he deserved to know, but to protect him and the plan itself. If he knew what was to happen, there was a chance that he could do something, even inadvertently, that would reveal what was happening to those around him. Not only could that prevent any of it from happening the way that it was supposed to, but it could put his very life in danger when the Panel realized that he was a part of the rebellion all along.

He watched him disappear. Athan was there. Every moment. He watched him get tossed into the air by the Valdician and then disappear, swept into the arms of the Eteri that was as invisible to those around him as Aegeus was, cloaked into looking like the badlands around them by the Irisa. It had begun.

Aegeus bit into his lip to prevent his groan from being heard. The snap of electricity that had hit him when he rose into the air had seemed to explode in his belly, sending painful shockwaves through him, but he had to stay silent. He couldn’t let anyone hear him as the Eteri flew him away from the battle and back toward his home. If they did, if even for a second they believed that there might be somewhere there, the reflection would dissolve away and he would be revealed.

How far did he get? Did he get back to the Kingdom? Those moments had disappeared from his memory. He didn’t know how far the Eteri flew or where the enormous winged man went when he set him on the ground. Aegeus fought against the chains, screaming, the pain and anger of that day boiling in his blood and vaporizing the air in his lungs until he felt he couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t remember the flight. He couldn’t remember the sound of the battle fading behind him. He couldn’t remember when the Eteri stopped to put him down. But he could remember the pain.

The hard blow to the back of his head sent Aegeus sprawling across the ground. The impact took the breath out of his lungs and pain coursed through his legs where his knees had dug into the dirt. He rolled over, but before he could begin to get up, another crushing blow in the middle of his chest flattened him to the ground again.

How many of them were there? How did they find him?

The blasting, blistering pain of boots smashing into his head. The cold of metal around his wrists.

Where did the Eteri go? Did he survive? What was his name? Why couldn’t he remember? Dear god, why couldn’t he remember?

The suffocating feeling of the hood coming down over his head for the first time. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t see what was around him.

Where was he?

The feeling of his body being dragged through the dirt and hideous laughter as he choked on the dust that clogged his throat and filled his lungs. Stone beneath him. The clang of a metal door slamming closed in front of him. Breath. Deep breaths. Not his own. There was someone else in the space with him. Someone else was close enough that he could hear the air behind dragged through his mouth and down his throat and then forced back out, taunting Aegeus and his desperate draw for air through the hood.

Breathe. He had to breathe.

Then a voice. A voice that he had never heard. Dark and sinister even in its youth. A voice close enough that it could be in the room with him, yet he knew that it was just beyond the metal door that had slammed closed. He couldn’t get to the person, even as he clawed his way across the floor, stopped after only a few feet by the chains smashing against the rings that now bound him to the wall behind him.

“Aegeus,” the voice said. “The Great One.”