The Death Kingdom

It's time. My dark blue eyes meet Akita's brown ones, my heart pounding in my chest. Fynn nudges my right shoulder and I turn my head to look into his light green eyes, the intensity shining bright. With a quick breath, we jump into action, gloved hands grabbing the ropes we already secured to the roof of the two-story building we're on top of. I propel my body over the ledge of the roof, gripping the rope just enough to keep myself from free falling. The three of us slide down the side of the building in unison. When my feet touch the cobblestone street, I take off, running towards the carriage lead by two midnight-colored horses. The coachman and guards notice our abrupt approach, but too late. Before they can make a noise, Akita strikes the coachman in the head with the handle of her knife and then moves on to another guard. Fynn makes his way to the two guards hopping off the back of the carriage, his arrogant swagger coating each step. He engages those as I take on the one standing in front of the very door I wish to open. The guard swings his staff out in a crushing arc, narrowly missing my head as I duck. I lunge forward and smack the outside of his hand holding the staff. It clatters to the ground in between us. The guard makes a desperate move to pick up the staff but I ram my knee into his chest. He takes a staggering breath, the air knocked out of him, but I don't let him finish it. I elbow him in the temple hard enough that he collapses to the ground unconscious. I don't spare another second and yank the carriage door open. A middle-aged man is clutching a sword in his trembling fingers. It's probably the first time he's ever had to pull his sword from the scabbard hanging from the side of his hip. His graying hair matches his gray eyes that are pulled wide with fear. "What do you want?" He tries to sound dignified, but his voice cracks at the end. He stares at me, taking in my black cloak with the hood pulled far over my face and a scarf wrapped around my nose and mouth. I step up into the carriage, moving until I stand right in front of him. I lower myself to be eye level with him, tilting my head in the process as I take in the emerald green of the Reserve's military uniform. "I think it's very clear what I want," I say, a smirk forming on my lips even though he can't see it. I quickly glance at the chest of gold resting on the bench next to him. That gets him to straighten up. "This is the King's gold! You think you dirty little thieves can steal from the King?" His face starts to flush with his anger and he swings his sword at my neck. I jump back, just out of the way before grabbing my dagger from the inside of my left boot. The man makes to swing again, but before he even gets the chance I kick out with my foot, slamming it into the hand holding his sword. The sword clanks to the ground and in the same second my knife presses against his exposed throat. He swallows and a little bit of red blood starts to spill down his neck. I savor the way his bright red blood slowly travels down his neck. The power high I get when holding a blade to a person's throat start coursing through my veins. What I would give to make him shed a little more blood. I tighten my hold on my dagger and give me head a light shake. I need to snap out of this. "Wrong move," I tell him, my teeth clenched together. "Fynn!" "Right here," he replies from the opening of the carriage door. I turn my head to look at him, my brows furrowed. Has he been standing there this whole time? "I saw nothing you couldn't handle." He gives me a cheeky grin, before stepping in and grabbing the chest from the bench inside. I roll my eyes at him. "Not the point," I mutter. "You could've grabbed that a minute ago." The man's eyes whip wildly between Fynn and me. "Well, I got it now." He shrugs with the chest now in his hands. Classic Fynn, always driving me insane. He turns and leaves the carriage, running with Akita over to our previously selected ally way for our getaway. I turn my attention back to the King's guard. "Sleep well." I bang the hilt of my knife into the side of his head, knocking him out cold. He falls forward, slamming his face that holds a nasty scowl on the carriage floor. I turn and leap out of the carriage, my cloak billowing out behind me as I race toward the alleyway after Akita and Fynn. I stay light on my feet, the cobblestone streets dangerously uneven. I bound around the corner of the building we propelled down from and find Akita and Fynn already on their horses, the chest of coins tied to the back of Fynn's gorgeous black steed. Akita reaches her hand down and I grab her arm, using it to help haul me up onto the back of her horse. "Go, Sera," she says hastily to her horse and we take off, hearing nothing but the sounds of hooves clacking on cobblestones. We don't speak for a while, the possibility of being caught still too great to relax. The horses speed through the great city of Delphine, maneuvering effortlessly through the complex streets. The horses have been trained for this exact escape route over and over since we needed this mission to go our way. We've had far too many close calls in the past couple of months. The buildings pass by us in a blur as we head for the outskirts of the city. I listen closely to see if I can hear anyone behind us in pursuit but find nothing amiss. Hope starts to swell in my belly, and I close my eyes for a brief moment to try and crush it. We're not safe yet. I glance over at Fynn, his face a shadow in the night. The dim lanterns placed on the streets practically do nothing to add light to the hazardous street. No one goes out at night for fear of what might happen. Even in the prosperous city of Delphine execrable things happen when the sun goes down and the King's military doesn't have the proper tools to keep the city safe outside the walls of the castle. Delphine is located too close to the Misty Forest where the creatures are deadly and starving for anything they find. And too often the creatures manage to find their way into the city, taking many lives before finally finding their end on a blade. The buildings around us finally start getting further and further apart. We're nearing the edge of the city and soon we'll find ourselves in the woods surrounding. The terrain starts to turn green, trees and grass taking over as the buildings stop completely. We charge headfirst into the dark woods, ducking now and then from a branch dangling low. After about five minutes of racing through the dense woods, I let out a breath and start laughing. Fynn hears me slows his horse to a trot, Akita doing the same. He flashes me a wicked grin, his teeth shining in the night. "I think we can call tonight a success," I comment, leaning back from Akita into a more comfortable position. I stretch out my back, letting all the tension from tonight disintegrate. "We're not back yet," Akita remarks, turning her head so I can see her face. She raises an eyebrow at me and I roll my eyes. "The Reserve isn't going to following us into the woods. They worry it's overrun by the vicious creatures from the Misty Forest," I mutter. "How the King can be that afraid of the forest monsters to not even check if the woods are overrun is beyond me. If he would just check he'd realize the monsters don't like to leave their little forest," Fynn chimes in. He leans down over his horse to rubs her side, whispering something in her ear that I can't hear. He truly loves that horse. "Fynn," I start, waiting until he looks up at me. "We don't want the King to know that, remember?" I ask, raising both my eyebrows at him even though it's too dark for us to see each other's facial expressions from more than a few inches away. "Yeah, yeah. I know that, I'm just saying," he retorts. He tucks his cloak tighter around him. The adrenaline finally wearing off and now the crisp night air is taking its full effect. "No, I don't know you know that. I didn't even know you had an actual brain," I reply, giving my best s**t-eating grin even though he can't see it. Together Fynn and I are about as mature as a ten-year-old boy making fart jokes. If it were just the two of us on missions we would never have any success. Akita is the one who keeps us together and gets us to behave so we can fulfill our duties. "I'm so over playing mother to you two children," Akita huffs, her tone annoyed. "Oh, c'mon Akita. You know you love us," Fynn says. I can hear the humor in his voice. This is normally how our time together goes. Fynn and I banter back and forth and Akita pretends to get all riled up, but we all know it's only for show. At least Fynn and I hope. "At least I can agree with Saige and say Fynn you know absolutely nothing," Akita replies, waving her hand around as if to match her rolling eyes. "Wow, is today gang up on Fynn day?" he asks, fake hurt in his deep voice. "I thought that was yesterday?" I say to Akita who turns to look back at me. Her mysterious dark brown eyes look black in the darkness and the shadows across her face make it look more angular than it already is. I take in her sharp eyebrows, straight nose, and then her mouth as her lips curve around a small smile. "No, that was the day before." She places a hand on the side of her head as if she's thinking. "Oh," I say, drawing out the word. "Gang up on Fynn day is every day. That's right, I remember now." "Ha Ha," Fynn remarks to the left of us. "Very clever ladies." Akita and I grin at each other. Akita doesn't always join in on our squabbling, but when she does it's always on my side which makes Fynn incredibly fussy. It's always quite entertaining to watch as he gets pouty and moody, making comments under his breath about how his life is fully run by women. This is when we joke and ask him if he would want it any other way, but he always replies with a serious no. It's a conversation we have a least once a month and is sort of becoming our little inside joke as a crew. Fynn loves us and his mother and enjoys constantly having us around, even though we're always telling him what to do. But he needs us to help keep him out of trouble since it seems to be one of Fynn's main talents. "We are rather clever, aren't we?" I say, my voice chipper. "Akita that was a brilliant idea to propel down from the building. They didn't see what happened until too late." I watch Akita's back straighten in pride. "I knew we had to make a stealthy approach and propelling down seemed like the best option." "It was brilliant," I commend. Akita doesn't normally take compliments very well, which is surprising since she's always been one of the most confident people I know. I guess she also happens to be the most complex person I know too. Akita is strong-willed and steady, a person I trust to always have my back. Her loyalty is challenging to earn, but once you do she will never waver from your side and it's one of my favorite things about her, that and her uncanny ability to read me like a book. Akita learned from a young age how to read people and use it to her advantage. Stuff like that happens to children all too often in the kingdom of Delphine. The kingdom forces children to grow up fast—way faster than anyone should have to—and it always takes a piece of the soul away because of it. Purity is a lucky luxury most children aren't fortunate enough to keep. I know mine was taken from me well before I ever wanted it to, and the same with Akita and Fynn. It's what makes us stick together, what made us turn to the rebellion. We continue riding through the dense woods, hearing nothing but the soft brush of hooves over the dirt and grass and the hum of insects all around. We finally reach the meeting spot for the watch group to meet us at. We always meet beforehand to make sure nobody is following us. The Reserve military finding out the location of the rebellion would end it before we managed to make a difference. We haven't necessarily been intelligent about trying to spread out so that if we're hit in one location it wouldn't matter because we'd have many more, instead, we're all crammed into one location because it's the safest location outside the city. The camp is deep into the woods, after checking in with the watch we have hours of riding to do. The only reason the King hasn't found us is that he doesn't know that the creatures are only in the denser forest and not the more thinned out woods surrounding. Once the creatures decide to leave their home they mostly attack Delphine wherever they can. Now and then there are a few beasts that come crawling out from the deepest parts that are more vicious than all the others, more violent. Those are the ones that come out for the hunt. They circle the city a few times to find the best place to strike and when they do, the bloodshed is devastating. It's how Fynn lost his father five years ago. One gruesome creature made it half-way into the heart of the city before being slain. The creature ran ramped tearing its way through twenty people and was about to rip into a young girl when Fynn's father sacrificed his own life to save her. The death of his father devastated Fynn. I never saw what he was like then, but I still see how it affects him now. There's a permanent sorrow deep in Fynn's green eyes, visible even during his happiest moments. The watchers descend on us, five of them on horses herding us tightly together until I can feel Fynn's horse brushing against the sides of my boots. "Report," the one in front of us demands. He's encased in shadow, only a faint outline of him on his steed is visible. From the sound of his voice, he sounds like Commander Jackal. I smother a groan. Jackal always acts like he's got a massive stick up his ass and enjoys taking out his constipation frustration on us. For some reason, he especially despises us and likes to make us suffer whenever he can. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the time Fynn and I teased him about how his beard was growing in all patchy like he was still an adolescent. It wasn't even that good of a roast but Jackal still got testy over it. Akita straightens in front of me. "Squad Eleven reporting in with a successful mission. We were able to secure the goods and get out without a trail. No incidents to report." "Good. Stay put for confirmation." His voice is gruff as he orders the other watchers to scour the woods and double-check that we weren't followed. This is my least favorite thing about missions. Dealing with the watch. I understand they have an important job protecting the location of the rebellion, but Jackal is only here to make us wait even longer than necessary just because he can. He's been loving exerting this power over us the last few missions we've gone on. He's taking his pettiness to a whole new level. "Jackal," Fynn says from beside me in greeting. I can hear the humor in his tone and subtlety reach my foot over to kick his. Fynn makes a small grunt in the back of his throat and whips his head to me. I give him a warning glare and notice Akita doing the same. "Wow, you both are on the same page today," he murmurs, a puzzling look on his face. Akita and I don't reply, hoping that if we all just keep quiet this will be over with sooner rather than later. The fatigue that comes after missions is starting to hit me and there's nothing more I would like to do than to curl up in my cot and fall into a deep sleep. We all stay quiet as the watch maneuvers around us in dead silence. They're specially trained to be able to move through the woods soundlessly and undetected. For my training, I had to partake in some of the classes they took and nearly failed. No matter what I tried to do I always managed to accidentally find some small stick on the ground and step on it. I got moving through the woods swiftly, but the quiet part is something else entirely. It takes me a second to realize that Jackal never even acknowledged Fynn's greeting, but that's fine with me. If he wants to give us the silent treatment I'm game for it. Jackal is one of the few people in the rebellion I don't enjoy. I used to wonder how he ended up here and ended up as one of the most loyal and high-ranking members, but then I learned he just hates everyone and everything because of what happened to his daughter. Seven years ago, the Reserve arrested his fourteen-year-old daughter when she refused to serve the disgustingly drunk soldiers that had been grabbing at her inappropriately the whole night. She finally had enough when one of them managed to slip his hand under her skirts. She asked them to leave which only caused them to get even rougher with her until she slapped one in the face. They arrested her on the spot and Jackal has never seen her since. I'd say he has a decent reason for being mad at the world. Everyone in the rebellion has a story like Jackal's, something the kingdom has done to wrong them. It's why the rebellion started, why we fight every day to try and create a better world for us to live in. One of the watchers comes back and speaks softly in Jackal's ear. "You've been cleared. You may ride the rest of the way." He gives his head a jerk and tugs on the reins, his horse turning and riding away after the other watcher into the bleak darkness. "I think that was record timing," I say as Akita gently nudges Sera forward, Fynn a movement behind. Akita chuckles. "See what can happen when you keep your mouth shut Fynn?" she asks, turning her head in his direction. Fynn grumbles something unintelligible under his breath and Akita and I give each other matching grins. "Saige is the one who commented on his beard in the first place," Fynn defends when he notices our smug looks through the small sliver of moonlight coming through the trees. I scoff. "But you took it too far when you compared it to the hair that grew up your—" "I swear to the Gods if you finish that sentence Saige I'm going to punch you in the face so hard you'll forget your name," Akita cuts in, throwing me an admonished glare over her shoulder. Fynn bursts out laughing while I sit there and cringe. She has a fair point; those words don't deserve to be spoken aloud ever again. "I had a hard enough time getting that grating visual out of my mind the first time," Akita adds, a disgusted shiver sliding down her spine. "Me too," I amend. A small smile spreads across my lips, loving our relationship with each other. We've gotten each other through some of the worst times in our lives and have formed a familial bond with each other that's indestructible. I don't know what I would do without them by my side. We ride in slience for the next few hours, conserving out energy to stay awake for the long trek back. It's the biggest downside to our missions in Delphine, but the rebellion couldn't risk making camp so close to the kingdom. The more distance we have the better in case of an attack, and we've learned to be ready for one at any time. Finally, the faint lights of camp start to glow brighter and brighter and we make our way over to the stables. We quickly hand over our horses, Fynn grabbing the chest of the back of his and hefting it into his arms. Fynn and Akita joined the rebellion years before I did. I only joined about a year ago while Fynn has been here for three and Akita since she was ten. She's practically been raised here after her parents were imprisoned by the King for stealing food to try and keep them alive. Akita has been here ever since. Horses are hard to come by and there's a massive shortage of them in the rebellion. If a horse is found it goes to the members who have been here the longest, which is why Akita and Fynn both have one and I don't. We head toward the main tent in the center of camp that contains what Atwood likes to refer to as the "war room" even though it's barely got more than a couple of desks for important documents and one small meeting table. Quincy Atwood is the leader of the rebellion. He and a group of others banded together around eleven years ago to start attempting to fight back against King Valor, but unfortunately, they haven't made it very far. Many people are still too afraid of the wrath of the King to ally with the rebellion. Every day ten to twenty people end up being imprisoned by the King's military for mundane offenses and are never heard from again. There are rumors that the people taken are never imprisoned, but are killed even though the number one rule in the kingdom is no one is allowed to commit murder. It's the one rule people are the most terrified to break and it's because even a tiny whisper about you considering murdering someone will end in you being taken by the Reserve. It is the utmost offense in this kingdom that shall never be crossed. It's something that makes missions difficult­, granted I don't necessarily want to be slaying people, but we must be much more careful about how we attack. We use the hilt of our blades rather than the blades themselves because of the chance of someone accidentally bleeding out from a cut are too great. When we reach the front of the tent Akita steps in front to hold open the flaps to let Fynn in and then we follow in behind. "Right on time Squad Eleven," comes Atwood's charming voice. Quincy Atwood is in his late thirties; the only sign of his aging are the small lines around the corner of his violet eyes. His ebony skin glows in the lamplight and he grins at us as we saunter further into the tent. "We have a gift for you," I say cheekily, a small smirk forming on my lips. Our relationship with Atwood is an interesting one. He's a charmer and a flirt, but also bossy and shrewd. He's never quite felt like a father figure I know Akita and Fynn desperately want him to be, but it just isn't Atwood. He doesn't make connections like that. He enjoys being alone, finds it easier since he's in a position of power, especially since our numbers recently reached a thousand in camp. I tend to joke with Atwood more than Akita or Fynn do, trying to appeal to his calmer lighthearted side. I find it much easier to deal with than when he goes full-on rebellion leader. A deep laugh rumbles from Atwood. "I love it when you bring me gifts." Fynn places the trove on the meeting table where Atwood is currently standing by. Fynn steps away and we all watch as Atwood takes his knife from the strap around his leg and jams it into the lock until it snaps open. We watch in awe as Atwood slowly pulls open the top and we gleam down at the gold coins within. "Holy Gods," Fynn breaths, his green eyes shining in the golden reflection of the coins. "I've never seen such wealth." "Well, it's ours now." Atwood closes the chest and turns to face us. "You three have done well. Very well. You do the rebellion proud." Fynn, Akita, and I all share matching grins. "I knew, of course, that your squad wouldn't have any issues," he continues, waving a nonchalant hand our way. "But it also proves you're ready for something bigger. I admit this mission might have been a bit of a test, but nevertheless, you all proved just how big of a contribution you are to this cause." Atwood walks over to the desk on the far side of the tent and grabs some papers off the top of it. I exchange confused yet intrigued looks with my squad-mates. Atwood leisurely strolls back over to us and hands us the papers. "Now that we have funds, we're in desperate need of information. We need more information on the King and whatever supposed magic he claims to have besides his apparent immortality." His voice takes on an irritated note. "A servant position has just opened up in the castle and we've managed to secure the spot for one of our own. It is imperative that we get someone on the inside." "You want one of us to infiltrate the castle?" Fynn questions, his eyebrows furrowing. I agree with Fynn's muddled look. None of us have ever been trained in the art of spying and don't know the first thing about infiltration. Growing up I was always caught by my parents whenever I attempted to sneak out at night. We've always been more of a brute force group rather than a sneaky finesse kind of group. "Yes, you're the youngest group that has the most training and success. The King enjoys having young servants who never tire of doing chores and trivial tasks for the high and mighty." Atwood rolls his eyes but continues, "You three are our best bet." I share a grim look with Akita and Fynn only to find they're more willing than I am to do this. I am the new one to the rebellion and still figuring out the answer to the question of whether I'm willing to die for my cause or not. I'm not nearly as brave and noble as I'd like to be. Atwood's hypnotizing violet eyes meet mine. "We're going to send you in Saige."