THE EMBERWITCH

CHAPTER TWO

LIRA

'Alive! Alive! Alive!'

What was I doing? I didn’t come this far to die because I couldn’t control myself.

'NO. You stay put.'

'Darkness. I help.'

'No, we don’t help. You stay put and I hide. That’s how you protect.'

'But–'

'Please.'

'Cannot accept.'

Fuck it! There’s no reasoning with it.

I slammed the ember down—hard—like crushing a burning coal under my heel. The heat hid itself with the same guilty urgency I knew too well. My breath came sharp and fast.

Footsteps thundered across the courtyard from the wall, soldiers racing toward the breach. I didn’t have to see that the wards had been activated. I could feel the magic brimming in my bones.

I never quite understood how they could do that. The Ironborn didn’t have that kind of magic.

They never really entertained the use of their own magic either, not after it being banned centuries ago. I was sure they had all forgotten what it was like, to have power simmering in your blood, just begging to be set free.

I heard commands being barked and a terribly loud screech and then… quiet.

They had defeated it.

It had to be a minor rift creature. The bigger ones wreaked more havoc and were extremely powerful.

I thought they said rift creatures didn’t come here?

I sighed.

I couldn’t remember nor pin point the exact moment the rift was formed. I don’t think anyone could really, I’d never even seen it.

I could only remember the first time I’d laid my eyes on one of them, but it was dead already, killed by my village people. It was fading away. The first time anyone had ever seen such.

You’d have thought we’d imagined it but so many people couldn’t imagine the same thing and the destruction it had caused was evidence enough.

It was a small creature i first saw, an ugly thing too. Eyes too big for its small head, no nose and large sharp teeth jutting out of its mouth.

Its skin was a sickening shade of grey, slime all over it. It looked the size of a three year old child but slightly bigger. Its huge stomach protruding out its belly.

Before we knew it, the realm had been infested. The creatures, both big and small, each of them different, attacked everywhere. Sightings and killings in all kingdoms became the norm and soon, Emberborn weren’t just being killed by the creatures, we were also hunted down by the Iron Kingdom.

I stood at the courtyard, empty hands and a bucket on its side, feeling useless and sick.

The ember still hummed inside me like a plucked string.

A shadow streaked across the tower wall. Too fast, too long limbed to be human. A low, rattling screech echoed in the vast open space.

Behind it, I saw guards sprinting my way.

Run. I willed my body.

I refused to fight, I refused to be exposed, I refused to die.

My body moved as fast as I willed it. I snatched up the bucket—still half full somehow—and sprinted toward the laundry door.

Every instinct inside me screamed ‘go to the fight’, but the voice that had kept me alive since the day my mother died was louder.

Hide.

Disappear.

Live.

The palace guards would take care of it. It was their job to protect the people with their lives.

I skidded through the doorway and slammed it behind me just as another alarm bell toll crashed through the palace.

Half the washroom looked up. The other half didn’t dare stop moving. Fear was one thing, but they knew better, if a time ever came when the palace was not safe, we would all be evacuated or too dead to realize.

“What was that?” the young girl asked, clutching her skirt like a blanket.

“The rift.” I answered.

The second the word left my mouth, gasps echoed across the room, and the half that hadn’t looked up before were now facing me, eyes full of attention.

“B-But that’s not possible,the prince—“ One girl started.

“Is not here. And even if he was—If the wall was breached…. then—“ Another continued.

“Someone must’ve tampered with the sigil.” Lilac surmised. Well, thank you Lilac for stating what we were all thinking by now.

Apart from the jokes she made occasionally, I didn’t much like her. She never truly gave me a reason to feel that way. I just did.

“We have to tell the guards.” A girl spoke up.

Pretty sure they know.

“I’m sure they must’ve figured it out by now.” Another girl retorted, a bit of an annoyance laced in her voice. I think her name was Rhea. She was one of the girls with a lot of bite and a lot of bark. Her. I actually liked. Though we never spoke.

Even I’m consistently surprised, especially with the fact that I’d been here for fourteen years. You’d think I’d have made a good number of friends.

“Don’t be so sure, those brutes are more muscle than brain.” Old Marra chirped in this time, a little snicker in her words.

“Except Lilac’s boyfriend.” A girl joked.

The entire room chuckled, the former tension slightly eased.

“Well what do we do now?” Lilac questioned.

“Nothing. We work as usual, and pray to the gods that the Iron kingdom stays intact. After all, we are the only kingdom that has remained standing.” Old Marra answered. Closing a door on the topic.

There used to be three kingdoms.

Now, only the Iron Kingdom stood tall. It was part of the reason it was so revered.

I took my place again, though my muscles vibrated like plucked wires.

And the ember—gods—it was restless, prowling the edges of my consciousness like a caged thing smelling open air.

'I come out, I stop them.'

My ember tried to convince me, purring inside me. I simply ignored it.

I scrubbed harder, jaw aching from clenching my teeth.

My hands trembled. I tucked them under the water to hide the shake and hoped the steam masked the flush on my cheeks.

Another distant crash reverberated through the palace. Then shouting. Then…silence.

The rift had never opened so close to the palace, talk less of within palace walls. The wards kept them away.

Most importantly, it kept me safe.

Now that they appeared, I was too sure that the prince would be on the prawl for a traitor and an Emberborn upon his arrival.

To say I was terrified would be an understatement. More than anything, I didn’t want to die.

I had done my best to assimilate into the palace. I kept my red hair dyed black. I had been doing so since my mother first dyed it after the first raid on our village.

I remember she and my father deciding they needed to give me away. Although, I didn’t really know what it meant at the time.

Then she came to kneel before me and she told me that they’d protect me but I needed to stay with my father until her return.

For as far back as I could remember, my parents had never been on the same page for anything. They fought all the time. Till one day, my mother took me and left.

I don’t think my parents ever loved each other but all I know is, in that single moment, when my mother looked over to my father after saying that they were going to protect me, there was nothing but trust in their eyes. Complete and utter trust.

And after she said that, she left.

My father explained that my mother knew of a way to hide me. That she would turn my red hair, black.

I didn’t understand why she would want to do that.

While red hair wasn’t the most common color of hair for Emberborn, that would be blonde hair, red hair was also a sign that you were Emberborn. You would know an Emberborn by the color of their hair, blonde or red.

I didn’t understand why they would want to take away the thing that makes me, me. So I threw a tantrum.

Crying all over the place because well… how dare they want to cover up my red hair?

If I had been with my mother at the time, she would’ve pampered me till I stopped crying and then explained but my father… he simply wrapped me entirely in a blanket and put me to lie down.

After trying to get out of it and failing, I finally fell asleep. By the time I had woken, my mother was back, her hand stained black, a mortar and pestle by her knees. She and my father stared at me, almost astonished.

“It worked.” My father exclaimed.

Those were his last words before a sword went through his head.

…I didn’t know when tears started falling from my eyes till I felt something drop onto one of my arms, buried deep inside the washing basin.

The Iron palace destroyed my life and gave me this in return.

And yet, I didn’t want to die.

But why?

Why was I trying so hard to hide? To stay alive?

To avenge my people? My parents? Was it just fear? Did I want to find others like me?

As I asked myself the same question I had asked myself a thousand other times, I realized, just like always, that I did not have an answer.

How could I not have an answer to a question that held more weight than my life itself?

Was it the Iron palace that made me like this?

Would things have turned out differently if I hadn’t been captured?

Tears flowed freely from my eyes as i mulled over questions to which I had no answer.

The sound of the door opening snapped me out of my head. I turned to see some of the girls leaving, already done with their laundry work for the day.

I sighed and wiped my face with my arms.

I needed to get out of here too. I needed to start rinsing.

I looked over to the nearly empty bucket I brought back with me.

“Shit.” I said under my breath. My head falling between my arms.

————

I nearly sagged with relief as we hung the last shirts, emptied our basins, and herded toward the corridor like exhausted sheep. My boots squelched. The damp hem of my skirt slapped my calves. My hands tingled unpleasantly—thankfully though, it wasn’t my ember this time, but the low sting of scrubbing so much today.

As we trudged past a window slit, I glanced outside. Torches flickered on the walls. Identical men patrolled in rigid pairs. Guards would be up tonight because of the rift but I was curious why they hadn’t begun the search for the traitor, or maybe they had and we just didn’t know about it but that seemed unlikely because we’d be the first to be searched. Either that or they were waiting on Prince Kael’s return.

I tore my gaze away before someone noticed.

We reached the servant dormitory hall—small rooms stacked like crates along a long, narrow corridor. This particular dormitory hall belonged to the lowest level servants. Us.

Atleast Old Marra had better living conditions. Her room was at the very end of the hall, slightly removed from our cramped rooms. She had more privacy. She also had more space. Not that we really needed it, we had exactly three pairs of the exact same clothes, and basic furniture of a small single bed, and knobs protruding from the wall where we hung our clothes. That was it.

However, we were free to add whatever to the room that wouldn’t make it hard to clean it out should we die or be promoted. Which the second had never happened as far as I knew.

I slipped into my room and was immediately greeted by my bare walls and a small window that looked toward the inner courtyard. I wished I could once see the sky or city from here.

But I was not that far up.

I didn’t know if I’d ever be that far up.

The only thing I owned was a mortar and pestle and a small piece of a mirror, I had hidden it and carried it with me upon my capture, along with some beetroot and tuck.

I told them I kept it for my health. That I ‘struggled with nausea and breathing’.

No one but me would ever know its purpose.

The last time I dyed my hair was nearly two weeks ago, I would be due for another one in about two days and I was all out of what I needed. Which meant a market run had to be in order. Preferably tomorrow.

A knock rattled my door.

I nearly jumped back.

“Lira.” Maeve’s voice hissed.

I exhaled, my tension dropping a fraction. I cracked the door open.

Maeve, my only real friend in this place, slipped inside before I could invite her. Her long brown hair whipping past me.

“Did you hear?” she whispered, her big brown eyes stared wide-eyed at me. “They say it almost got into the palace.”

I sighed internally. I needed a break from anything and everything rift or magic. It was too much for one day. Sadly, that wasn’t something I could tell Maeve.

“I know, I was outside when it happened.” I locked the door and went to sit on the bed.

Maeve gasped, I could feel her excitement coming before it even happened.

She practically pounced on me.

“Oh my gods!” She screeched in my ear.

“Maeve! My ear drums!” I yelled back. It wasn’t meant to chastise her. I always yelled back when she was being loud. Just so she could understand what I meant when I asked her to stop shouting.

“Oops, sorry.” She snickered.

She got off me and sat normally beside me, curiousity in her eyes as she looked at me.

“Did you see it? Did you see the guards kill it? What did it look like?” She fired question after question.

“Yes, I saw it. I went to the courtyard to fetch more water, and i saw it running towards me. I didn’t have time to look at it because I was too busy running for my life but I did see the guards chasing it before I ran.” I answered her, flopping down on the bed.

Maeve flopped down beside me and sighed.

“How was work today?” She asked.

And I shrugged.

“I scrubbed off blood again, so– normal, I guess.”

She knew how much I hated it but she’d been born and bred in these palace walls, try as hard as she might, she would never understand it.

“You?” I finished.

“I tried on some of Lady Morgana’s perfume today.” She chuckled.

“Maeve Dumont! You did not!”

She immediately sat up, a mischievous smile on her face.

“I did! When she came into the room and perceived, I told her it was her pet cat.” She voiced proudly.

Oh no, she didn’t —

Maeve unwraps the edge of her skirt from the cloth belt we all had on our clothing. And lo and behold.

Yes, she actually did it.

“You stole from Lady Morgana?”

“Silly, it’s just a small perfume pouch, she doesn’t even care for it. She said so when I told her it was the cat.”

“What if someone finds out?”

“They won’t. I’ll use it sparsely. For instance, when I visit Sir Jacob in his quarters tonight.”

High ranking guards almost never got involved with servants. As a matter of fact, it was unheard of, except Maeve.

And I could understand why.

She was a beauty. She had the perfect slightly sun kissed skin, not a single blemish in sight. She wasn’t so skinny.

Servants didn’t get so much food, so we naturally didn’t have so much flesh. But in that area, Maeve was so blessed, her hips are bust were filled out, like a lady of the high court.

I didn’t look so bad in the area but certainly not as endowed as she was.

She had the perfect heart face, it was full of life. Not gaunt and hollow. Full pink lips, big brown eyes and hair that fell around her face like curtains.

With beauty like hers, perhaps it would only be a matter of time before she married a high ranking official, like the guard whose bed she occupied.

I would be happy for her, truly. After all, it’s been her dream for as long as I can remember.

“Well, I hope your night with Sir Jacob has you in high spirits tomorrow and not too tired to work. I hear the Prince is coming back tomorrow. You will be busy.”

“Yes ‘Madam’, I’ll make sure I’m in good shape for tomorrow’s work.” She said, teasing me.

“Are you sure I shouldn’t talk to Sir Jacob about matching you to a guard? They I’m sure whoever it is will take care of you like Sir Jacob takes care of me.”

I was sure this was nothing short of the millionth time she had asked me the question since she began her nightly trysts with Sir Jacob.

“Once again Maeve, I assure you that I’m fine without it.”

It wasn’t that I didn’t want care, I just didn’t want it from someone I cared nothing for, especially when that someone was a proud Ironborn. Maeve and Old Marra were exceptions and I didn’t have a lot of those to give out.

“Fine! But you and I are going to watch the Princes’ procession tomorrow.” She said, wiggling her brows.

“You know I’m not allowed, I’m a low bred servant, I’d be lashed if I was caught and I’ve had enough of those to last me a life time.”

“You won’t get caught. I asked Sir Jacob about it and he told me about this narrow corridor that is rarely ever walked. I won’t be with you because I’d have to attend to Lady Morgana’s lady in waiting but you can watch from there.” Her eyes sparkled as she spoke like the devious woman she was.

“Sorry but no, thank you. I have no interest in seeing Prince Kael nor watching people celebrate his return.”

I wanted nothing to do with the man who made sport of hunting down my people. Ember killer.

Maeve jumped around and huffed like an angry child.

“But I want you there! You have to be there.”

“We aren’t even going to be together.”

“It doesn’t matter! We need to gossip after the day is done and it will make it infinitely harder for you to follow if you aren’t there.”

I sighed and I saw her face light up instantly. She knew I was caving.

“If I’m caught—“

“You won’t! I promise.” She interrupted. The largest smile on her face.

“Okay.” I agreed. Which earned me a loud squeal and Maeve barreling me into the bed while her hug.

Laughter choked out of me as I returned her hug.

Who knows, maybe the procession won’t be so bad. So far as I look anywhere but the Prince.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Maeve repeated, smile happily into my ears.

“Of course, you know I’ll always give in to you.”

Maeve chuckled at my statement and removed her weight from me, standing up and heading for the door.

“Bye bye Lira.”

“Bye bye Maeve.”

She smiled at me before opening the door and closing it behind her as she left.

My eyes went to the ceiling with her departure. Tomorrow I would lay eyes on the now grown Emberkiller. I wonder what he would look like. I wonder if my blood would boil and my ember would overwhelm me in its thirst for revenge.

I wonder…

I thought as sleep finally took me, exhausted from the day.