Force: Book Two of the Zoya Chronicles Read online

  “Holy shit!” Black Eyes said beside her.

  Tory looked and saw her in all her Melanthios glory. She was standing tall, dressed as she had been the day she had died. She was spinning two daggers in her hands. Her eyes were still black as night.

  Tory must have looked surprised because Black Eyes said, “You ok? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “I have,” Tory said. “I can see you now. And I’ve killed you twice.”

  “Apparently it takes more than two arrows to the chest to get rid of me.”

  Tory saw Malin start to stir.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Tory said.

  “Right. Any ideas?”

  “That’s your job, dead one,” Tory replied.

  “Far as I can see we are hundreds of miles from your actual body,” Black Eyes said. “No idea how we’re going to get back to it.”

  Roald sprang up. He was bleeding a bit from the head. He yelled something and pulled a long sword from his hip. He held a hand outward towards the broken table and gestured it swiftly towards Tory. The table was thrown towards her with so much force that Tory barely dove out of the way. It crashed behind her and shattered into tiny pieces.

  “Ok, so he can throw things with his mind,” Tory yelled to Black Eyes over the crash.

  “Fucking Zoya!” Black Eyes yelled back.

  Roald charged Tory. Malin sprang up as well. She pulled a sword out of the rubble and followed Roald.

  Tory barely managed to avoid Roald’s swings. She didn’t have a sword and was at a severe disadvantage with only a bow. She landed a kick to his chest and he stumbled backwards slightly.

  Black Eyes threw herself between Malin and Tory, parrying her swing with her daggers. The ring of metal echoed on the walls. Tory saw Black Eyes smile hugely and she swung a dagger. It cut across Malin’s cheek and blood started flowing from the perfect white face.

  Tory was so wrapped up watching Black Eyes in disbelief that she didn’t see Roald point his empty hand at her. She was flung back towards the wall. Pain erupted all over when she hit the wall and she crumpled into a heap on the floor.

  Black Eyes saw and, with a final swing, disengaged herself from her fight with Malin. She rushed to Tory’s side.

  “I’m pretty sure if you die here we’re both fucked,” Black Eyes said quietly in her ear. Malin and Roald met in the center of the room. Roald wiped the blood gently from her cheek.

  “They don’t think we can get out of here,” Tory grunted.

  “The Remiel,” Black Eyes said. “Just look into it and try it.”

  Tory shrugged. It was worth the shot. She didn’t have any ideas. She was still holding the perfect ruby in her hand. She stared into it. She didn’t see anything.

  Malin and Roald noticed and started making their way towards her, side by side. Black Eyes stood and positioned herself between them and Tory.

  “Hurry up,” she said.

  “It’s not working,” Tory said. All she saw was a ruby.

  Black Eyes drifted forward, keeping low and light on the balls of her feet. Malin and Roald raised their swords. Black Eyes spun her daggers and steadied herself.

  Panicked, Tory looked into the stone. She pictured herself in the tundra, in her father’s shack. She saw the picture form. She saw herself in the ruby, face up on the floor of the shack. She focused hard.

  She felt the Remiel heat up in her hand.

  “Black Eyes!” she yelled.

  Black Eyes disengaged and ran towards her. Malin on her heels. The Remiel flashed red again, knocking Malin back.

  Tory was transported instantly to a vision of Malin sitting in front of a burning village house. She was holding a bundle in her arms. She was screaming and rocking back and forth. Roald was holding her by the shoulders, tears pouring down his face.

  Tory broke herself from the vision and fell backwards into the black water that had formed around her, grabbing onto Black Eyes’ arm. She heard Roald yell and they disappeared together into the black.

  19

  Tory

  October 26, 210, 01:04

  Location: North Langundo.

  Tory came crashing back into her body. She was lying on her back, staring at the ceiling of the shack. She was sweating and gasping. Her father was wiping her face with a towel. He noticed that she was awake and pulled his hand back in surprise, but Tory was faster than he was. She wrenched his wrist around and sitting up swiftly put her other hand onto his straightened elbow, pushing down hard. The pain and surprise caused him to fall flat on his face with Tory putting a knee into his back and holding on to an arm-bar.

  “What did you do?” she yelled fiercely.

  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he mumbled, sobbing into the floor.

  “Look at me,” she said sharply. He didn’t react fast enough. “Now!” she commanded.

  He turned his head sideways but he couldn’t get his head all the way around.

  “Black Eyes?” she asked sharply.

  Black Eyes, whom she could still see, rushed to her side and looked at her father.

  “He’s clear,” she said. “But probably not for long.”

  Tory nodded and released the pressure on his arm. Her father sobbed and Tory let him up. His eyes were back to their beautiful brown. They were pained, and Tory knew it wasn’t because of the arm-bar.

  “We don’t have much time,” she said. “I distracted them but they will be after you soon enough.” She turned to start packing.

  “Tory, wait,” her father said. She ignored him. She started pulling her extra outside clothes off the hanger in front of the fireplace and was shoving them into her pack. “I said wait!” he said, loudly and with authority. Tory stopped what she was doing and stared at him. She had started crying softly.

  “I need to tell you as much as I can before she comes back,” he said.

  She shook her head and wiped her eyes angrily. She hated crying. The weakness it showed.

  “No, I’m saying it. Then I’m leaving. You’re not.”

  “You said we’d die in the blizzard,” she exclaimed.

  “Yes, most likely. But I have more of a chance of surviving than you. Now shut up and listen.”

  Tory nodded swiftly. Her father started talking fast, years of guilt pouring out of him. “I left when you were a baby. I didn’t go to Carabesh. I went west, over the sea.”

  She shook her head again, “No, don’t lie. There’s nothing over the sea. It’s just us and Carabesh.”

  “You’re wrong,” he said. “There’s a whole big world out there. Langundo and Carabesh are tiny compared to other countries across the sea. We don’t know about them but they know about us. I went to a country called Anzen. There, I met a woman called Malin. She did things to my head. I think you know.”

  Tory nodded.

  “She wanted me to kill you. Just you. It has to do with your mother and a woman called Cass. They didn’t tell me and I didn’t ask. I came back for you. They let me out of their sights for a time, to be sure. She got control again and told me to kill you. Your mother tried to stop me. I killed her in the forest. The grief allowed me to overpower Malin for a short time. I went to the nearest village and killed a young girl around your age.”

  They were both crying.

  “I had to, or I would have killed you. I’m not as strong as you. I can’t fight her. I killed the lovely little girl and I fled. She saw a young dead girl through my eyes and felt my guilt. She let me go and live freely. What she wanted was done.”

  Tory took a step back, “You’re a monster,” she said.

  “I know. I did what I had to do. To protect you! I don’t want your forgiveness,” he said. “I don’t deserve it.”

  He started blinking rapidly and his head jerked slightly to the side.

  “Fight her!” Tory said, rushing towards him. “Dad I know you can do it. Fight her!”

  He grabbed both her shoulders. “Go north,” he said fervently. “I have food stashes
set up under upright pieces of wood. There’s another shack like this a week’s walk. Keep going. Eventually the route will curve west then south. That is Anzen. You will have crossed an ice bridge to the other country.”

  He blinked and his eyes went white. He blinked again and they went back to brown. He was sweating. He was fighting to stay with her as long as he could.

  “There is a monastery in the mountains there. They can answer your questions.”

  His head jerked again.

  “No!” he yelled. “Get out!”

  He let go of Tory’s shoulders and started grabbing at his head. “I said get out!”

  Black Eyes was suddenly standing by Tory. “You don’t have a weapon,” she said.

  “I won’t need one,” Tory answered. She was crying again.

  Her father was beating on his head. He was working his way towards the door.

  “Fight her!” Tory said. “Fight her, then you can come with me!”

  Her father looked up at her, eyes clear for one last time. “They feed on fear,” he said. He mustered his strength and opened the door. The wind howled and the temperature inside the cabin dropped immediately. The fire was snuffed out.

  “Don’t fear,” he said. And, without any outdoor clothing, he ran outside into the storm.

  The cold air rushed inside the cabin. The storm blew snow through the door. Tory stood still, shock and loss rocking her to her core. She watched the outline of her father disappear into the storm.

  “Tory,” Black Eyes yelled in her ear.

  Tory ignored her. He’d killed her mother. He’d killed another girl. To save her. Tory didn’t feel the cold air. She was too shocked to feel anything.

  “Tory!” Black Eyes yelled again. Tory snapped out of it and realized she was freezing. She rushed forward and slammed the door closed. Her hands were already numb. She rushed back to the fireplace and hastily tried to relight the fire. She realized that her fingers were cut at the top and she was missing a fingernail. She managed to light the fire. The warmth was immediate. She held her hands close to warm them.

  “So it was real,” Black Eyes said, nodding towards her hands.

  “I suppose so,” Tory said softly. “I had all my fingernails. At least on the fingers I had left when I drank the tea.” Black Eyes was still staring at her fingers, “And now I can see you. So that makes it worth it too. Though your eyes creep me out.”

  Black Eyes smiled sadly at her.

  They sat in silence for a long time. Tory reached into her pocket and pulled out the Remiel.

  “Any idea what this is?” she asked Black Eyes.

  “None. I’ve never heard of Cass or this Remiel before in my life.”

  “Sounds like Cass is a person,” Tory said. She looked into the stone and spun it around over and over. She didn’t see anything inside. It just looked like a plain old ruby.

  They sat in silence again. Legs folded, staring at the fire.

  “Thanks for saving my ass back there,” Tory said. The wind howled outside and Tory shuddered.

  “Which time?”

  Tory laughed, “Every time. All of it. Thank you.”

  “Well I’m stuck with you. And you’re stuck with me. I think our fates are going to be intertwined for the time being.”

  Tory nodded, “I think you’re right.” Silence. But a comfortable one.

  “Who do you want me to go to first?” Black Eyes asked.

  Tory smiled. She should have expected that she would know the plan, “Ujarak. He doesn’t have much time.”

  “And what should I tell him?”

  Tory thought for a long time. Her father had said that Carabesh and Langundo weren’t the only places on the earth. That was hard for her to fathom. All she knew about were those two countries. No one ever headed west. No one came from the west.

  “Tell him to go east,” Tory said finally, staring into the stone.

  Black Eyes looked at her questioningly. “But the end of the world is east?”

  “Maybe not,” Tory answered quietly. “Maybe not.”

  “I don’t know if I can get to your other friend,” Black Eyes said. “It’s crossing a plain. One that I don’t know how to navigate.”

  Tory stared at the ruby. “Think of it like crossing an ocean,” she said. “You can practice going to Carabesh. Cross the ocean to where Senka is.”

  Black Eyes nodded and stood up, “What should I tell her?”

  They feed on fear, her father had said.

  “Make her angry,” Tory said. “Shouldn’t be hard to do.”

  Black Eyes nodded and stepped away from the fire. She sank to her knees and started meditating, eyes closed, breathing deeply.

  “Be safe,” Tory said to her.

  “Don’t do something stupid like fall through the ice,” Black Eyes muttered back, opening her eyes again to stare at Tory.

  Tory laughed. Black Eyes winked and snapped her fingers, disappearing from the cabin.

  20

  Head Of Housing

  October 29, 210, 17:55

  Location: Solias, Langundo.

  Helena, the Head of Housing, sat nervously in her chair at council. It was the day of the attack. Or it should be the day of the attack. After Mud had sent the raven to the rest of the Revolt they hadn’t heard a response. There had also been no alarms ringing this afternoon, no word of an attack on the city. All was quiet, eerily so. She had a bad feeling about this.

  It’s nerves, she thought, you’re expecting something to happen so the quiet is getting to you.

  She played with her long white braid waiting for the others to show up to council. She was alone in the council chamber. She’d been the Head of Housing in the city of Solias for thirty years. They had mostly been good years, especially when she worked with the Sol line and the late Queen. Queen Anita had always had the good of the people in mind over the good of the King, something that had been new and refreshing. Housing’s eyes teared up just thinking about the demise of the Queen. She’d been a good woman.

  Housing played with her hair, braiding it and re-braiding it. She was never usually the first one at council. And she didn’t know where Justice and Goods were. She figured that they would be here early as well. They needed to keep the council meeting going as long as possible today to give the Revolt a fighting chance at getting as many people to safety as they possibly could.

  She looked anxiously down at her meticulously written list of things to bring up at the council meeting today. She knew she’d make the King angry but that was the point.

  The door burst open and Housing jumped in her chair. Her face reddened as Treasury walked in. She hated that man with every fibre of her being.

  “Jumpy?” he asked gratingly.

  “You surprised me,” she replied tersely through a clenched jaw.

  Treasury walked up to her and leaned over her shoulder. He was too close to her and she wanted to shy away from his foul smelling breath. He looked at her list sitting on the table.

  “Not sure our dear King will want to go over that entire list tonight,” he said lowly in her ear. He made her skin crawl. She was trying to keep her back straight and not lean away from him. She knew that he was trying to intimidate her.

  “He needs to hear about this,” she said weakly.

  The door banged open and Goods walked in.

  “Is there a problem here?” he asked loudly. Treasury slowly stood straight and put a hand on Housing’s shoulder. It took everything in her power not to shrug off his hand. She was scared and felt violated but she kept her back straight. He didn’t need to see any weakness.

  “Not at all,” Treasury said. Goods stared at him hard. “I was just going over the list of things to talk about at today’s council, kindly provided by dear Housing here,” he said.

  “I think you’ve perused the list enough,” Goods said sharply.

  Treasury laughed and removed his hand from her shoulder. Housing suppressed a shudder as he walked away from her to the othe
r side of the table and took his seat.

  She avoided Goods’ gaze. Treasury didn’t need to know that they were a couple. Relationships between council members weren’t exactly forbidden, but they were frowned upon. Goods sat in his chair completely avoiding eye contact. He took out his own notes and began to go over them. Housing kept watching him. They’d only found love and each other over the last year. She’d been alone before that, for sixty years she’d been content to throw herself into her work and serve the King and her city. But the King was insane, the city was floundering, and she was watching everything she’d worked so hard for go up in smoke. Goods had found her one day, and she’d found something to distract her from the city’s demise. When the city started crumbling her life’s work lost its meaning.

  The door banged open and Housing jumped in her chair again, surprise tearing her from her thoughts. Intelligence came in, followed closely by Justice. Housing’s heart sunk. Justice looked gaunt. He had bruising and swelling around one eye and he was looking around nervously.

  Intelligence had caught Justice.

  She was instantly afraid.

  She searched Justice’s face and he avoided her gaze, eyes shifting shamefully to the floor.

  That gave her the answer.

  Intelligence knew about the attack.

  Meaning that the King knew about the attack.

  Housing went to rise. She had to get in touch with the Revolt. Somehow, someway she had to call off the attack. The door burst open and the Mad King bounced in, smiling wickedly.

  “Going somewhere?” he asked her happily.

  “No, sir,” she said hastily and sat down.

  “I thought not,” he said with a wicked grin.

  He went and took his place on his throne, legs draped over the side. Housing waited tensely. The King’s guards, who he customarily brought everywhere, didn’t enter the chamber.