Warden's Justice - Chapter 4
The Magisterium will not be challenged. They do not want you thinking for yourself. Otherwise, you might realise there are questions they cannot answer.
Kaila Dwyn only ever dreamed of becoming a Warden, a protector of her people. So when she discovers an intruder in her village stealing precious agimet crystals, she does what any loyal subject of the Magisterium would do—she tries to stop him. But as the pair wrestle for control of the crystal, something awakens in Kaila. Something powerful. Something forbidden. Magic.
Now Kaila finds herself hunted by the very heroes she once worshipped. Nothing is as the Magisterium taught her to believe, and pursued by a monstrosity of iron and magic, Kaila must unlock her hidden powers if she’s to survive. But there is only one man who can teach her the magic of the Elysian—Theron, the man who destroyed her life. Can Kaila set aside the past and join forces with the Elysian thief?
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Kaila gazed over the flattop roofs of her village, listening as the sounds of men and women retiring to their beds carried from below. Darkness had crept over her little town as she had sat her Trials, and now the stars stretched above, a thousand tiny pinpricks in the sky. The silver sliver of the first moon was just beginning to reveal itself, while the second would remain hidden for another few days before joining its twin in the sky.
There was still no sign of her father. He worked longer hours than anyone else, always the first to arrive at the mine to unlock the great steel gates, and the last to leave after seeing everyone safely out of the tunnels. She was proud of him for that, for the solemn diligence with which he did his duty.
Tonight, though, she had hoped he would return early. The sadness in her soul swelled as she watched the narrow streets, straining to pluck detail from shadow, to preserve Elgoss in her memories as it was this day.
Is this the last time I will see the sun set over my home?
Sister Eurador’s offer hung over her head like a guillotine, set to cut the last strings of hope for a lost dream.
You will never be a Warden.
She closed her eyes, feeling the heat of tears threatening. Her heart battled against it, but this was a truth she must accept. Because she had a decision to make; stay in Elgoss and work in the mines alongside her father, or travel to Tah’raus and accept the position of Sister.
Most wouldn’t have even hesitated. Sisterhood was a chance for a better life, if not of luxury, of comfort at least. There would be no heavy labour or winters spent half-freezing, half-starving. And she would be provided with the means to spread knowledge across the kingdom. Any loyal citizen of Fresia would have leapt at the chance.
All Kaila needed to do was give up on her dreams.
Despite the darkness, she could sense the shadow of the colonnade looming above the other buildings in Elgoss. Their town was an old one. Some of the flats like the one she and her father occupied dated back almost to the Awakening. But the colonnade was different. It had been built only fifty years ago, fabricated from a radical new procedure that took sand and turned it into a material almost as hard as granite. Concrete, they called it. It had none of the imposing beauty of granite and marble, but it was revolutionising the kingdom, allowing Fresia to build faster and higher than anyone could have imagined just a hundred years before.
So the Magisterium had built a colonnade in every Fresian settlement, however large or small. These became places for the children to gather for their classes, and where every seventh day people queued to receive their stipend of food and coal. They even housed the courts, so the local Sisters could sit in judgement of those who contravened the laws of their land.
In Tah’raus was the greatest of all these houses. The Sanctum it was called. It was said to be so large as to contain all of Elgoss and still have space for three more of their humble town. If she travelled to the capital, that would be her home for the next decade, her entire life reduced to a concrete labyrinth of endless grey corridors.
A cold breeze blew across the rooftop. A shiver ran down Kaila’s spine and she hugged her knees to her chest. Temperatures changed quickly in the Iron Pinnacles. Normally when she came up here to the roof, it was to train with her father. Then she was never cold—even on the coldest winter nights, when the snow drifts piled high against the town walls and the cold seeped into your bones, they could always come up here to escape the chill.
A smile touched her lips as she recalled the first time her father had brought her here. She had been a toddler, barely out of nappies, and had stumbled upon a secret compartment behind their coal stove. Inside was an old sword. Any blade longer than a hunting knife was forbidden in the settlements, but she hadn’t known that at the time. Thinking she had discovered a lost treasure, she’d taken it proudly to her father.
He’d smiled and taken it from the child, returning it to its place behind the oven before sitting her on his lap and telling her of his time in the army, of standing side by side with his fellow men and women against their unyielding enemy, and of Wardens in shining armour…
From that moment, the young Kaila had known what she wanted for herself. The world was a cruel place, but those with a noble heart could still make a difference. So in the rare times when she found herself without chores, she had taken to removing the blade from its hiding place. The sword itself was nothing special, an old iron thing, pitted with dents and scratches from a decade of use. But holding it, Kaila had imagined herself a hero like her father and mother before her.
Eventually, her father had discovered her. But rather than admonishing Kaila, he had only sighed and told her if she wished to be a soldier, she should at least learn to fight properly. And so had begun their nightly climb to the rooftop and the long hours of training.
Kaila clenched her fists, but there was no release for her anger tonight, nothing to lash out at. There wasn’t even the shoulder of her best friend to cry on. All she could do was sit with the emotion, with the disappointment and the rage and the hurt of this terrible day.
Until, from somewhere below, came a squeal of hinges. Letting out a sigh, Kaila rose from the ledge. She knew that door—her father was home. A fresh weight settled on her shoulders. He had been almost as excited as Kaila that morning, tense with hope and expectation. She dreaded seeing the disappointment in his eyes, but this wasn’t something she could avoid. There was a decision she must make, one that would decide the rest of her life.
Levering herself over the side, she felt with the toe of her boot for the first hold. The climb had been difficult when they’d first done it all those years ago. She’d needed a rope and more than a little help from her father. Nowadays, she managed it easily, her calloused fingers able to find even the smallest of holds between the ancient bricks. Within minutes, she had descended the two storeys to their flat on the first floor and was slipping through the window to find her father.
***
“You have to accept.”
Of all the things her father might have said, those were the last words Kaila had been expecting.
“What?” she whispered, then with more force than she intended. “How can you say that?”
Her father sat across the table from her, his thick lips drawn in a line, wiry beard giving him the look more of a bear than a human. He was by far the largest man in the village, with massive arms, barrel chest and a face like someone had dropped a boulder on it when he was a boy. She hadn’t inherited his size—or more fortunately, his looks—but she’d always been proud of his strength.
Just now, though, he was looking at her with the strangest look in his eyes. Earlier, the village baker had given her a little package as she’d passed on her way home and thanked her for her bravery, stopping the runaway. It had contained a few biscuits and a scone—which her father’s massive fingers were slowly tearing into shreds. The rest remained untouched in the package between them.
“Kaila, you’re a brave soul. You have your mother’s fire. But don’t you see, this is your chance to be something more! To get out of Elgoss and build a real life for yourself.”
Kaila couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “More than what? A miner? Dad, what you and the others do is important. You taught me that, how each of us has a part to play in the war.”
“Ay,” he grunted, “but that doesn’t mean I want it for you, Kaila. Doesn’t mean I want you down there in the dark with me.”
“I’ve been down there plenty of times!”
Since she’d been old enough to carry water, she had ventured into the depths, bringing the men refreshment and later helping to carry waste rock to the surface.
“Not the deep tunnels, Kaila.”
Kaila opened her mouth, ready with an argument, when she noticed her father’s face. There was something in his tone, in the way his eyes grew distant and his lips twisted downwards.
“We lost Ralph today,” he said at last.
Kaila’s heart stilled. “What?” Ralph was the son of one of the older miners, barely older than her. He’d joined his father in the mine last year after passing his Trials.
Her father’s eyes were locked to the table, as though there was something of great interest in the hardened grains of the wood. “After Leonardo ran…” he said softly. “I was going to lead the shift, but Ralph volunteered instead.” He drew a deep, shuddering breath. “There was gas, the type you don’t smell, that doesn’t give you any warning. One moment the lads were drilling, the next…” he trailed off with a shrug. “Ralph was in the lead. He must have sensed something was wrong, cause he yelled a warning. Gave the others time to go back. But he couldn’t follow. Sid tried to go back for him, but he said it was like someone was hammering nails into his skull. Almost didn’t make it out himself.”
Her father fell silent, eyes on the table. Kaila clenched her fists, mouth suddenly dry.
“Why are you telling me this?” The words came out as an accusation.
“Because you need to know!” Gideon all but bellowed. “You need to understand why grown men would rather cut and run than face those depths!”
“Because they’re cowards!” she screamed back, the emotions she’d been bottling all day bursting forth.
Her father’s dark eyes glowered at her across the table. “We all have our limits,” he said, suddenly quiet again. “I have seen men torn apart on the battlefield, seen soldiers under the influence of the enemy walk off cliffs or into the flames and die horribly. But when we recovered Ralph’s body, his eyes had boiled from his face. And so there are times, Kaila, when even I fear to walk into the darkness.” He drew in a shuddering breath. “But do you know what gives me the courage to continue?”
“Duty?” she spat. “Responsibility to your people.”
“You.”
She had already opened her mouth to snarl at him, but found her words lost at his response. A strange sensation spread through her stomach, like a bubbling, burning warmth that pushed away the anger and emptiness that had been growing there. Wetness touched her cheek.
“It’s the only way I can face it, some days,” her father continued. “Knowing I do it for you. So you can have a chance at something better. And if that can’t be a Warden.” Kaila was horrified to see tears on her father’s face. “To be a Sister?” He shook his head. “Sisters never go hungry or run short of coal in the depths of winter. They don’t have to risk their lives in the mines or the frontlines or even out in the fields.”
“Dad…” Kaila’s voice broke and for a moment she couldn’t say anything. She reached out and squeezed his hand.
Her hand was engulfed as he returned the gesture. “Would it really be so bad?”
“I might never see you again.”
“Even so, it would be better, knowing you were out there somewhere, safe.”
Kaila blinked back the tears. “But, Dad,” she whispered, her turn to glue her eyes to the table. “What if I don’t want to be safe? What if I want to fight?”
“Then fight with your mind. Accept the sister’s offer. Use what the First Matron granted you. Who knows? Maybe amidst all those old books and lessons, you’ll find a way to finally defeat the enemy. And even if you don’t…at least I will not have to bury my own daughter one day.”
The words settled in Kaila’s gut like a lead weight. She looked across the table at the man who had protected and mentored her all her life. His hand was warm around her own, comforting, and yet those words…
“That’s not what I want.”
She rose suddenly to her feet, a quiet fury taking over. She slammed a fist down on the table, causing the baker’s package, still sitting between them, to leap sideways.
“Kaila, you don’t understand…” her father started, but she was done listening.
“No,” she hissed. “It’s you who doesn’t understand.” She clenched her fists, thinking of his words, how cowardly they were. Looking at the man seated across from her, she almost couldn’t recognise him. “Dad, how could I ever be happy when I know others are out there suffering, dying so that I can sit tucked safely away in some library? How can I live a life of security when everyone I know is battling to keep our species alive?”
Her father sat quietly, staring up at her, before he too rose. “Because it is your duty,” he rumbled. “That’s what the Sisters preach, is it not? Of service to a greater good. Like it or not, Kaila Dwyn, in the mines you would just be another body, another pair of hands. But as a Sister, you could do more good in a single year than you could in a lifetime here in Elgoss.”
His words, so close to her own thoughts, struck Kaila like an arrow to the chest. She stood there shuddering, jaw clenched so hard she heard her teeth creaking. There was a shrieking in her ears, a need to scream that he was wrong, that she could help, that she was needed…
…but the repudiation would not come. The truth, like shards of glass, had cut through her dreams, leaving the tattered remnants to slip through her fingers.
She couldn’t be a Warden. But she could still make a difference. However she might loathe to accept it.
“I hate you,” she whispered.
She saw the effect those words had on her father. A little piece of her exulted in the pain that appeared in his eyes. Good, it whispered. He should hurt, like she was hurting. Even if she didn’t mean it. Even if she knew he was only trying to do what was best for her. In that moment, the only thing that mattered was getting even.
So, casting one final glare at her father, she turned and stomped across the little flat they shared and threw herself onto the cot that served as her bed. Her outburst might have been more effective if there’d been a door for her to slam. Kaila made do with pulling the coarse woollen blankets over her head. She knew it was juvenile. She didn’t care.
Tomorrow, she would accept Eurador’s offer and journey to Tah’raus to become a Sister. She would do her duty like a good citizen of Fresia.
Tonight, though, she would relish one final day without responsibility.
Lanterns glowed in the entrance to the mine. Theron couldn’t resist a chuckle. This place was well hidden and well protected. Too well protected. The quiet had made the villagers complacent. There were no guards on the entrance—only a heavy steel door he’d watched the overseer lock himself. Someone intent on taking the mine wouldn’t even need magic—any thief worth his picks could crack an unprotected lock.
Hidden in a patch of nearby shrubbery, Theron didn’t have any lockpicks himself, but subtlety wasn’t exactly his speciality.
What he did have was magic.
The last workers had taken their time clearing out, but now all he had to do was break down the door without sounding the alarm, and he would have all night to explore the mine—and hopefully, discover the precious crystals he needed to make his fortune.
His heart quickened. He had a few pieces of agimet to work his magic, but they were tiny, pebbles concealed about his person. The largest was no larger than his thumb—and even that had cost him a safe full of gold. It hadn’t been his safe, but regardless, the stuff was expensive.
Anything larger cost a king’s ransom—so long as the humans hadn’t tainted it. Cutting and polishing the crystals, as humans were like to do, changed their nature. Even breaking them altered their power, making them unusable to anyone with the Gift. More than one of his kind had burned up their insides using cut agimet.
But none of that would be a problem if this was the right place. Though after passing through the village, Theron couldn’t suppress a touch of doubt. He hadn’t seen a single crystal anywhere in Elgoss, not even for light. It begged the question—if this was really an agimet mine, where were all the crystals they were digging from the ground?
Gritting his teeth, Theron forced the doubt from his mind. This was the place, he felt it in his gut. He would make his fortune. But first, he had to focus. An hour had passed since the overseer’s departure. He wasn’t coming back. Time to make his move.
Rising from the vegetation, Theron slipped through the shadows towards the iron doors. A cautious man might have waited for the lanterns in the town below to be shuttered and the villagers to retire to their beds. But Theron was not a cautious man.
Stones crunched beneath his boots as he climbed the path. If someone had been watching, they would have seen a stranger known to no one in the village. A shadow. A ghost. But the day had been a long one for the citizens of Elgoss, and on this night all were already in their homes, preparing for the morrow.
And even if Theron had been seen, what could a few humans do to stop one of his kind anyway?
As he approached the bolted doors, Theron slipped a hand into his pocket, seeking his largest piece of agimet. A sensation not unlike pins and needles tickled his palm as he closed his fingers around the crystal. It brought a smile to his lips. Some might have described it as unpleasant, like trying to grasp a rosebush by the thorns.
Those people had never experienced what came next. They couldn’t do what Theron could do.
A new light appeared in the night. Not the flickering of a lantern or even the distant glimmer of the rising moon, but a thousand tiny stars, like someone had reached into the heavens and brought the night’s sky to Elgoss. Soullights. The building blocks of the world. They blazed in every pebble, every boulder and tree, in the dogs and the horses, even the great inventions humanity used to make their living and their warring easier. There was even a soullight inside every man and woman and child in the village below.
Most importantly, there was a spark inside the door to the mine.
Like a cat with a mouse in its claws, Theron grasped it with his power.
And with a soft click, then the whisper of old hinges, the doors swung open before him.
Become a paid subscriber to access early chapters of this series, plus many of the other series I have written! You can even take a free 7 day trial to see if my books are for you. You can find my other books on my website.