Chapter Twenty-Seven

‘Since the beginning of time, the Wardens below had been a functioning of the Nine Wardens. Now as assassins they had to find new ways to feed their ranks. They took the children in the night from those they killed, or those left unattended. Using the tricks of the past they made them wardens.’ 

Creft heard the door open. His hearing had somehow become keener. He saw Seer Pryce place a stool in the corner of his cell and sit down. The last time Pryce had visited Creft in his cell, he couldn’t see a thing. Now he was stronger, had better vision, and had no fear.  

It had been a long while since the mice beat Creft to a piece of bread or a puddle of water, even though Creft felt no more hunger. The mice had not been around in some time now that Creft came to think of it. They seemed to have adapted to the knowledge Creft was no longer useless. He could fend for himself, even amid the suffocating darkness that surrounded him.  

“You can see me, can’t you?” Pryce asked, his voice calm as he pulled out a stick pipe from the front pocket of his vest. It was already packed full of tobacco and without a match he somehow lit it.  

Creft sat up, leaning his back against the wall. “I can,” he answered. He had no reason to lie to Pryce, and maybe conversation could be the distraction he needed.  

“It is alarming at first, is it not? Being almost something different inside the same core you had before. It is like waking up after a lifetime of sleep and knowing that everything that had come before was a wasted venture.” Pryce drew on his pipe, smoke filling the air between them. “I remember when it first happened¾it was like a drug, I thought I could gain more and more without any effort. However, soon I realized that isn’t the way that it works. There is much more to it, and gaining more is harder and harder each time. To gain the energy, you have to pull it from something just as strong and finding something strong enough is not as easy as one might think.” Pryce wasn’t looking at Creft, he was staring at the corner of the ceiling as if he were reminiscing rather than talking to another person.  

“Is that why you kidnapped me?” Creft asked. “To get the power I held?” 

Pryce laughed, choking on the smoke he had just taken into his lungs. It took him a moment to regain his composure, and Creft wondered if he had just squandered his best opportunity.  

“Your power? Creft, you have a lot to learn about power. Your power is superficial, given to you by a democratic vote of the people. It has no real value, no more so than any other man or woman of the city. You were voted into a seat where only the idea of power exists. You are not the strongest fighter, you are not the smartest brain, you are nothing more than a man who was lucky enough to sit your pale ass in a seat and call yourself a leader.” For a moment, Pryce’s eyes flashed down to stare at Creft’s. “You are nothing… well, a little less nothing now, but still mostly nothing.” Pryce took another pull from his pipe and the smoke grew thicker inside the cell.  

“Then what did you need me for?” Creft asked, not sure why he expected any form of a real answer.  

“I didn’t. Sometimes life isn’t about needs, Creft. You should know that, you had plenty of your wants met. You wanted to be a leader, you wanted to build a city, you wanted to do a lot of things, and because of your position, you did them. I just wanted to make sure you were out of the way, and so I did that. Taluva was the one who insisted on you being in the room, it was more for show than anything else. That man is all about the theatrics of the event, but I don’t suppose I blame him, he gets nothing out of any of this. At the end of the day, he is still just a normal man; a smart man, but normal.”  

Creft knew nothing about Taluva beyond the average public knowledge. He knew the man was an adamant servant to Cros and the coal-supporting districts. Creft knew that Taluva had taken over Ruvian University to combat the ideas of Seer Alyn and her school. However, the only real interaction he had with Taluva was during that little show in the room somewhere above.  

“Never mind all that now. Taluva knows his mistake, although he isn’t quite sure why it happened. Somehow the power chose you and not me.” Pryce shrugged his shoulders. “Guess it was your lucky day, but that doesn’t change the fact that you messed everything up.” Pryce patted the pipe on his knee, discarding the used tobacco on the floor.  

“I had plans to keep you around for a little while. Not because you mean anything at all alive, but because I get bored and like to play. It doesn’t seem like the logical thing to do anymore, however. Not now that you have a taste of power in your veins. Seems dangerous, and just downright irresponsible of me to keep you ticking.” Pryce rambled on.  

Creft scooted to his knees as Pryce talked. He doubted he could win a fistfight against Pryce, but he had to try, because he knew the alternative was losing the battle to time down here. Even if he could see in the dark, even if the cold no longer affected him, he would still die down here if he did nothing at all.  

“I just wanted to take a moment and come down into the cells to wish you a last goodbye. Or maybe I just wanted to see your face as you realized that your time was up. I really don’t know which it was; maybe I just wanted to see the power that you had taken from me.”  

Creft did n’t get the chance to pounce. Pryce came across the room in a blur of speed. Creft had been silly enough to think he was strong. He had tricked himself into believing he could win this fight. With Pryce’s hands around his neck and a mad hatred in his eyes, that delusion quickly faded into oblivion. There was no way Creft could break Pryce’s grip. Whatever Pryce had done to himself; it was as if his hands were a vise and Creft’s neck was nothing more than a feeble twig. Creft tried to swallow but couldn’t get the spit to pass his narrowed throat. He felt his chest start to burn. He had involuntarily screamed as Pryce lunged for him, expending any extra air he had stored in his lungs.  

Creft could feel his face growing hot and his eyes watering. That was when he realized he had not even bothered to fight back. He had just gone limp, accepting his fate.  

Creft’s arms and legs numbed, and he was sure he would soon close his eyes forever. His arms were throbbing painlessly.  

Suddenly Creft’s arms rose. Pryce looked out of the side of his eyes, watching Creft’s arms slowly lift to the side of his head. Creft felt like he had no control over what happened next. His right arm came in with speed and power, smacking into Pryce’s jaw. Pryce’s head wobbled a bit in surprise, but it had not been enough to knock him off. Creft felt his left hand come in and do the same. It had little effect on Pryce, but something else happened. Pryce started to laugh, making the pressure on Creft’s neck ease. 

Pryce stepped back, letting go. He was still laughing, but Creft saw no humor. Pryce straightened his vest and rubbed his jaw where Creft had landed his first punch.  

Creft was left gasping on the floor, but oddly, he didn’t feel much worse. He still felt more alive than he had ever felt before.  

“The power would have suited you well, Creft. Too bad you won’t have the time to test it out and figure out how to use it properly.” Pryce walked toward the door. “Tomorrow evening, you die, Creft. I almost lost my cool and did it here today, but I think you would be better used to show the world. I will publicly hang you from the rafters of Cros District Hall for all to see. The message will be clear¾Cros will win this war, and any who oppose it will die. It will be a good story to spread that you set fire to your own house, killed your envoys, and then tried to destroy me as well. Greed and pride, I think, maybe, I will tell them, but you just weren’t good enough to beat me. I think, maybe, I will be the next overseer, how does that sound, Creft?” 

Pryce left, not giving Creft a chance to answer. Creft realized he had already caught his breath, fully recovering from the ordeal, but it was too late to fight back now. All he could do was wait for the inevitable; he was going to die.  

*** 

“It is all over.” Creaton plopped down on the stool he had just gotten up from. The legs creaked and Alis wondered if it would give way, leaving Creaton on his backside. Creaton huffed, running his hand over his face.  

Caid moved from the bed, where he had been sleeping during the attack, and sat on another stool across from Creaton. Alis poured a glass of water. She was somehow calm, as if she had screamed and cried herself out over the last few days.  

“It is disappointing we are back to square one, but being we are still alive, I can’t help but think it isn’t over,” Caid said.  

Hav’Un had gotten away, Ha’Ane too, and a small band of slaves Alis couldn’t recall by name. Alis had heard, during her one trip above ground, that some other slaves had survived by kneeling and showing subservience.  

The slave quarters were still locked up from the outside, and guards had been posted along the perimeters, but they still lived.  

Creaton had ventured out, finding the remaining envoys huddled inside Parian’s District Halls. They refused to leave in fear of losing their lives and Creaton reported that without something major occurring, he wouldn’t be getting them to budge anytime soon.  

“We had something,” Creaton said, “we were close to getting something together and then, boom; it all faded away. You had them all coming together, Caid, whatever you did, whatever trick you pulled.”  

Caid fingered the daliwin beneath his shirt collar, and Alis found herself wishing she had finished hers. If Caid could do what he did with his daliwin, then she may have been able to save more of those slaves. She may have been able to fend off the entire attack. She didn’t know the extent of the power.  

“It wasn’t a trick, this isn’t a magic show, and I am no magician,” Caid said.  

Creaton huffed again, moving the stool another few inches backward.  

“Then what exactly was it, Caid?”  

Caid looked up from the floor, looking into Creaton’s bloodshot eyes.  

“If you would have stuck around with the Wardens and not left, then maybe you would know.”  

Creaton laughed. “Known how to kill? Known how to be a slave under the pretense of being in a family? I didn’t want any of that and you know it, Caid. That life wasn’t and still isn’t for me. If staying with the Wardens had taught me how to do what you did the other day, then I don’t want it, ever.” Creaton stood for another bout at pacing.  

“When you left, hadn’t you finished your daliwin, Creaton?” Caid asked his voice less accusing.  

Creaton stopped pacing but remained standing. “It was finished about a month before I left, why?” 

Caid pulled out his own daliwin, observing it. “Did they make you destroy it?”  

“They highly recommended it, but no one actually took it from my hands, so I kept it.”  

“Do you still have it? Maybe we could use it.”  

Creaton laughed, which caught both Alis and Caid off guard.  

“What is so funny?”  

Creaton stopped laughing long enough to reply, “I gave it away.”  

Caid looked horrified. “You gave a piece of your life away? This isn’t a toy or a trinket you gift away.”  

“I didn’t know what it could do,” Creaton said, sitting down again. “I still don’t know what it is. You wardens seemed to think it unimportant once I left.”  

“You can’t leave a family and expect a gift in return,” Caid said with some venom. Then he shook his head as if purging the negative thoughts. “Never mind that, who did you give your daliwin to? Maybe if we can get it back…”  

Creaton shook his head. “Not very likely.”  

“Who did you give it to?” Caid asked again.  

Creaton looked uncomfortable. “You don’t have to use your imagination to guess, Caid, but you’re not going to like it.”  

Caid chuckled this time. “Creft,” he almost whispered.  

“It was a trinket to me, Caid. A symbol of giving up my past for a future with him. I know that isn’t what you want to hear, but it is the truth.”  

Alis tried to keep up with the conversation as best as she could. For one, she had no idea why Caid would care about Creft, or what Creaton had been to Creft. She realized she knew little about either of these men. What she knew was Caid was reclusive and calculating, always thinking. Creaton, on the other hand, had been more apt to laugh and joke, although no one laughed after the slaughter.  

“We can get it back.” Caid almost seemed pained to say the words.  

Creaton fiddled with his nails, trying not to look Caid in the eyes but stopped suddenly and turned to him.  

“How, what?” Creaton took a deep breath. “What do you mean, we can get it back?”  

“We can track the daliwin. If the person who made the daliwin is present, they can track it. It is why it’s pointless to ever steal a daliwin from a warden who is still alive. You either break it or leave it. That daliwin is the essence of a person, it isn’t just a trinket; it is you, Creaton. This is the most dangerous thing a warden makes in their life, and if the daliwin breaks, so does the man or woman. Not a death, but a constant feeling of emptiness that can never be filled.” Caid turned to Alis. “Happiness is gone from you after that.”  

Alis felt the heat of her unfinished daliwin. Caid told her again daliwins were nothing to play with. He had stalled and tried to get her to change her mind several times, but what was the point in fighting if you would not be willing to sacrifice? 

“How do we do it?” Creaton asked. “Does it come with some map?” 

Caid looked in no mood for sarcasm. “It really is pretty simple; all we have to do is make a compass.” 

*** 

Creaton had watched the slaughter of his former men and those everyone else referred to as slaves. He had carried the screaming Alis through the dusty path of the slave district, slipping her back into the tunnels below. He had fought her at the base of the ladder, physically holding her in place until her body went limp with exhaustion. He then carried her to where Caid slept by mere chance and both let their worries fade away for a few hours.  

When Creaton awoke, the pang of regret and sorrow flooded back to him with a vengeance, and his body refused to calm. For the next two days, he felt his heart would explode, and the contents of his stomach would never stay down again. Finally, on the second day, he ate and drank. Then, he visited those envoys who had survived, although they didn’t look much like survivors. They huddled in the District Hall, behind barricaded doors. They refused to even allow him to pass the threshold of the staircase. Instead, Tic yelled from the second floor window that they weren’t budging until this had all passed over. They were no longer willing to participate in a war where they had no chance of survival.  

Creaton couldn’t blame them. As a young man, he would have probably chosen the same route¾maybe he had technically chosen it when he abandoned the Wardens. Creaton sulked his way back to the tunnels after his brief conversation with Tic. Alis and Caid had expected little but the young girl still cried again.  

Creaton looked over to Alis now who sat stone-faced, staring at both Caid and himself. She looked like she had cried herself into a state of numbness.  

“How do you make a compass?” Creaton asked Caid, keeping his eyes on Alis.  

Creaton couldn’t make eye contact with Caid his increasingly complex emotions made it difficult. On one hand, Caid had brought slaves and envoys together, almost succeeding in putting together a fighting force; on the other hand, he had shown off and then left them to die alone. Adding to this was the fact Creaton still carried remnants of his early affection for Caid, although his relationship with Creft had diminished them.  

“Just reverse the process for making your daliwin,” Caid replied.  

Creaton dared to look at Caid, who seemed to have shut himself off completely.  

“I don’t remember the exact process, Caid, that was many years ago. I know the ingredients, but not the order.”  

Alis answered, “First, you need sweat given to the cause. Second, you need blood from the battle, and third…” Alis turned to Caid.  

Caid laughed. “I guess you both need to finish the process.”