Hollow

This story contains brief descriptions of blood and deceased people.

Princess Acantha stood over the broken body of Prince Dolan, heir to the throne of Calceri. The scent of smoke from the burning ships in the bay choked her soldiers and the remnants of the Calceri forces alike.

But the smoke wouldn’t bother her, nor would the heat from the still-burning flames, thanks to her blessing from Emri. The smoke and the heat would no longer trouble Dolan, either, though his reason was quite different from hers.

The fight with the remaining Calceran soldiers would be just as uneventful as the battle itself had been. The prince had been unprepared to deal with the full might of Precipa’s army, and he’d sorely underestimated their capabilities and tactics, not to mention their ferocity.

He clearly hadn’t expected them to set fire to the ships, and no one could’ve predicted the speed with which the ships burned. Well, no one, that is, except Acantha herself. Because while the fires had started with a barrage of flaming arrows, it’d been Canth’s power that fueled their fervor.

She might’ve overdone it.

But that was her homeland at her back. And while she was reluctant to fight in the rest of the war, she had been, morbidly, excited to fight for something she believed in, for something that mattered.

Yet she cringed as her troops’ cries of victory rang out over the sounds of crashing blades and burning wood.

Their fight had been less of a battle and more of a slaughter. Dolan lost his head the moment he stopped squealing orders like a pig and drew his blade. His guards, slower than Canth could ever force herself to move in a fight, had dropped their swords and run the moment her blade met Dolan’s throat.

She’d been standing alone on his burning ship, holding back the flames, resulting in a ship that burned but did not sink. Her troops would call the flaming ship an omen from Emri, the goddess of fire and the sun, but Canth was the only omen from Emri here. She was no longer certain that the choices she was making in the goddess’s name were the correct ones. How could they be when they left her feeling so…hollow?

Not that she wasn’t pleased to have killed the pompous asshole who would’ve one day been an even more pompous king. Or that she wasn’t relieved to have fended off his attack, she definitely was.

But was she really?

Did it even matter?

Some intrinsic instinct told her that it did, that the answers to those questions might change everything.

But how could it? Her people needed food, and the best way to secure that for them was to fight with the Kalioss forces. Even if their original agreement had already been fulfilled, and even if it opened up their lands to attack, as it clearly had.

The Kaliossi weren’t here, though. This had just been Precipa and Calceri. Why were her people fighting for a country that wouldn’t stand with them? And that was the least of her misgivings about the Zealot Queen and her people.

Canth was starting to suspect that what was best for her people was what was worst for the realm. And that was unsettling. Very.

She couldn’t stop staring at the stump where Dolan’s head once rested.

“Damn, Canth. You really did a number on the jackass, didn’t you?” Kaia, her closest friend and top general, asked, coming up from behind her.

There was blood spattered in Kaia’s short, coily hair.

“Yeah.” Canth answered, her voice low.

“You’re not feeling guilty for killing him, right? I know he’s your ex-fiancee’s brother and all but…”

“This isn’t about Cerrin and you know that.” Acantha snapped.

“Well, here’s the Canth I know. So what is this about?” Kaia flashed a too-wide smile.

“The same thing it’s been about. I thought fighting for us instead of the Zealot Queen would be better.” Despite the fact she and Kaia were the only two on Dolan’s burning ship, Acantha kept her voice low.

“You don’t think defending our territory is a worthy cause?” There was no challenge in Kaia’s voice, just a note of curiosity.

“It is. Gods, Kaia, I know it is. But there’s this stupid nagging thought telling me Dolan never would’ve come here if we hadn’t sided with Kalioss in the first place.”

“So this is your parent’s fault, for siding with the Zealot Queen?” Once again, there was no challenge in Kaia’s voice.

“No. My parents are doing what is best for Precipa. That’s not debatable.”

“So why do you sound so uncertain?” Only then did that note of challenge creep into her friend’s tone.

“Because this isn’t right! None of this is right. It’s not okay that our kingdom was attacked. It’s not okay that we’re sending our soldiers to help one country conquer and slaughter another. It’s not okay that you and I are Guardians chosen by the gods and we’re wasting our gifts, using them to slaughter soldiers who have no hope of even scratching us with their blades. None of this is okay!” Canth rubbed at her face, her fingers smearing the sticky blood beaded there. Dolan’s blood.

“You’re right. None of this is okay.” Kaia paused. “So how do we make it right?” The sun chose that exact moment to shine through the smoke, illuminating the two of them. Maybe Emri was listening, after all.

“I’m not sure yet.” Acantha inhaled sharply. “But we do have to do something to clean up this mess. Because this isn’t what Emri or Timna wanted when we were chosen. It can’t be.”

“So are we running off to Dallan like good little Guardians are supposed to?” Kaia asked with a snort. Dallan, the Holy City, was where all those chosen by the gods were meant to go, but that idea never sat right with either of them. How could Guardians protect the realm if they all lived in the same city?

“No. Maybe one day, but no.” Her mind flashed to the one other Guardian she’d met. One who’d betrayed everything he knew and cared about. She’d ridiculed him the last time they crossed paths. “I think we talk to the one person who’s in the same situation we are.”

Kaia’s eyes flashed with understanding. “You’re talking about Prince Steele.”

“He betrayed Kalioss for a reason. I intend to find out why.”

Acantha had an appointment with the Guardian of Death.