Go out with a Bang

  Laken

I paced back and forth waiting for my father to come home from leading our people in the final battle of a hundred years war. He’d told me not to worry for him, but of course, I had no choice to do otherwise. I’d begged him not to leave us, that his generals could handle the decimation of the demons on their own but alas he patted my head and said, “Laken what is the fun in that?” 

       I chewed my lip while twisting my hands tightly together and watched out our castle windows for the light of the victory torches. 

       “Why aren’t they back yet?” I murmured and tucked my arms around my waist. 

       “War doesn’t run on your schedule, Princess Laken. They’ll be home as soon as it’s meant. Now quit fretting before you give yourself age lines.” Sarah, my handmaiden, patted the chair next to her. 

       Sitting, I took the offered tea from her hands and stared into the fire while my mind drifted into all the things that could go wrong. What if they lost the battle? What would happen if my father perished in battle? It would mean my six-year-old brother would be King. The thought of that almost made me giggle. He peed his pants yesterday and still played with dolls---a King he was not. 

       The bells rang, vibrating through the stone walls, Sarah and I looked at each other in alarm. Quickly we rushed to the windows, the tea slipped from my hands as what came towards us was not a victory march but a sea of armed demons. 

       “They lost…” I stuttered, stumbling away from the window. “I need my sister and brother.” Leaving Sarah, I ran up the stone stairs towards my siblings room. 

         As the palace guard rushed passed me, I eased a sword from one and brandished it like I knew how to use the heavy steel. Before making it to my siblings, I heard their terrorized screams echo through the castle. Shoving open the door, my heart stopped as the bodies of my baby sister and brother lay motionless on their bedroom floor. Walking towards them, I fell to my knees as their sightless eyes stared at the ceiling above and their warm blood flowed out of multiple wounds. 

There was a scraping sound behind me, and I stood quickly on shaky legs. In the door frame dressed in full black armor was one of the wild demon men that had murdered my kin. Without a single rational thought, I ran towards the beast with the sword out in front of me and, laughing, he dodged my haphazard attempt at revenge. 

Due to my momentum, I was unable to stop before I fell out of the open castle window, losing the sword and tumbling down the stone front stairs. Unable to catch my breath, I stared at the starless sky as chaos reigned around me, the screams of my people, and the crackle of fire. 

“Princess...Princess!” The whisper buzzed in my mind and I tried to focus my eyes on the darkness. 

“Princess, come on. Get up.” Someone pulled at my arms and shaking my head I slowly focused on our village witch. 

“Draga?”

“Yes. Yes. Come on.” She pulled me up and began dragging me towards the woods. 

“Wait! Our people.” I tried to yank away from her firm grip. 

“Stop it, you silly fool. You go back there, and you will die. If you want to save us, you must follow me.” 

Not knowing what else to do I stumbled behind her towards the sacred circle of stones in the woods. She handed me a bag and shoved me hard into the center of the circle. “What? What’s happening?”

“You must go to another world, Princess Laken. And find a man named Rook Nicodemus. He will be able to help you save us.”

“But the cost of traveling through the worlds…”

“You must pay that cost, Princess, or we all die.” 

I chewed my lip as the smoke broke through the tree line as my kingdom, my home, burned. What else could I do other than pay the fine for magic?  “Alright, Witch Draga. I’ll pay the fee.”

Draga frowned. “I am sorry Princess. If I could go...If I thought he’d listen to me...I’d go. But I can’t and you are all we have. And the Gods demand a sacrifice for magic.” 

I walked to Draga and hugged her tight. “I know, Madam Witch. I understand. I will find this Rook Nicodemus and he will help us.” 

       Tucking the bag close to my chest, I closed my eyes and whispered the forbidden words. Magic whipped the wind into a frenzy as it spun me around and around, the loud screeching almost made me lose the bag as I clutched my tormented ears. Blood dripped between my fingers and tears splashed down my cheeks as the Gods stole my most precious gift. 

Rook

       “Dude come on. You can’t possibly be so savage.” 

       Smiling, I spun the knife in a circle on my desk and smiled, cruelly. “Thomas, my man, do you not remember who or what I am?”

       Thomas, a robust man of fifty with thinning hair and gold chains, stared back at me in terror. “Course, I know who and what you are, Rook. How could I forget? But you are talkin’ about makin’ all these people homeless. You gotta have some kind of heart…” 

       Chuckling, I tossed the knife in the air and let it hover just in front of Thomas’s heart. “I don’t have a heart, and neither will you, Thomas, if you don’t do what I say---”

       They were both knocked back as a wicked wind tore through the office. Thomas screamed like a little girl as a woman crashed landed on top of him. As she rose to her feet, in shock, I stared at the Princess Laken of Cordelia. Her normally beautiful purple hair was whipped into knots from her trip, her feet were bare and as dirty as her nightgown. Her lovely face was tear streaked and blood trickled down her neck. 

       Leaning back on the desk, I smiled. “To what do I owe the honor, Princess Laken?”

Laken

       My head was pounding and buzzing as I tried to orient myself. I was in a room of some kind, although the dimmed light made it difficult to see the details. There was a large man huddled on the floor and another dressed in a suit giving me a snide look. He spoke, but the words were lost in the buzzing. I rubbed my ears and the buzz stopped but what followed was complete silence. 

       “Princess Laken?” The man spoke in silence, again. 

       Panic licked my insides as I began to realize that the token paid had been my hearing. Cordeilan’s were known for their gifted hearing; they could hear a baby's heartbeat in the womb or enemies miles away. It was what had made them so formidable. Now it is gone. 

Rook      

I narrowed my eyes as the Princess began to panic and my realization dawned. The foolish child had given up her sacred hearing to walk across the worlds. I laughed as she began to cry. 

       “Oh, poor, stupid Princess.” But her tears grated my nerves and I sighed. “Thomas, leave. Now.” 

       I waited until Thomas scrambled out of my office before I pushed off the desk and walked to the Princess. She startled, as if forgetting I was there, and I sat her in the chair across from me. 

       Grabbing a legal pad, I wrote: Why would you give up your hearing to come here to me, Princess?”

       She was still able to speak and although, slightly too loud, her voice was musical. “Witch Draga said tis the only way to save us. My father has been slain as well as my brother. Our kingdom is rumble.”

       So, Onyx finally beat the Cordelian King? You shouldn’t have come. I will not help you.” 

       He watched as her tears dried up and she steeled her spine. “Why? You must help me. The demons have broken our lines.” 

       Why? Because Princess, I will not fight my family for you or your people.  My eyes flashed red, and the Princess stumbled out of her chair. 

       “Why would the witch send me to a demon?”

       Draga pretends to know what she does not. I suggest you forget your home and find a life in this world. 

       Walking to the door, I held it open for her. Stubbornly she stood but refused to move. Growling, I stomped over to pick her up and in defiance she wrapped her legs tightly around my waist and sunk her sharp teeth into my neck. 

       “God Damn it!” I tried to shake her off, but she was a barnacle. 

       She spat my blood back at me and snarled. “You will not send me away, Demon. You will help me save my people or I’ll drain you here and now.”

       I snorted. “And you call us demons.” Holding, my hands up in surrender I closed the door and with the Princess still attached to me I walked towards my desk. Grabbing the legal pad again, Let go. We’ll talk.

       She nodded, slid down my body in a way I enjoyed far too much, and sat back in the chair. “Can you help me?”

       Can I? Maybe. Will I? I can’t imagine any reason to help you.

       “I will give you whatever you want.”

       I sat back, grinned and lifted a single black brow. Anything? You sure about that Princess?

       Laken twisted her hands in her lap and stared at him veiled contempt. “Anything, Demon. Anything you wish.”

       Pretending to think about this, I walked to my window and stared out at the bustling street below. I’d been in this world for almost a hundred years and there was that matter of revenge against Onyx. Maybe it was time to handle that, I glanced at the beautiful Princess who awaited my answer and smiled to myself. I was going to murder my brother anyway...why not get a golden prize for my efforts? 

       Deal, Princess Laken of Cordelia. I will save your precious land from my brother. 

       “What is the price I am paying?”

       Did you ask that before you crossed the worlds?

       “No, I didn’t.”

       Walking to the Princess, I twirled her pretty purple hair around my finger, dropped it and wrote, Then I wouldn’t ask now.

       She blanched but didn’t take back her bargain with a demon. 

Laken

       It wasn’t hard to figure out what price the demon wanted and although, it was a hefty price, it was worth it to save my land. If he weren’t a demon, he’d have been handsome with an angelic face, deep black hair and eyes that when not red were a light blue color like the grass back home. 

       He spoke into a machine that had come out of his pocket and although I couldn't read lips, it looked as if he’d given orders to someone. The silence was deafening inside my head and I don’t think I’d ever get used to not hearing what was going on around me. For the first time in my life, I felt vulnerable and unsafe, how would I ever survive without being able to hear life around me. I’d never be able to hear my own babe cry, or my future husband's voice, and I’d never be able to listen to the brook babble as it flowed over my feet. 

       Why are you crying?

       I swiped the tears from my cheeks. “None of your business, Demon.” 

       He narrowed his eyes at me, but I lifted my chin in defiance. 

Fine. Follow me. 

       It had been weeks since I arrived in this strange world at the feet of Rook, and I was done with his nonsense. Not to mention my growing feelings for him. At first, I enjoyed the small, lavish home that stood at many feet above the street. The bathroom was a particular favorite of mine...but I missed my home, and spent my days worried about what was happening to them as I sipped bubble wine, ate exotic food and showered in clean, hot rain inside the stone. 

       Rook helped me learn some hand language so that I could communicate with him and not need paper. He’d also taught me how to swing and use a sword properly. I felt more than ready to go home and save my people...he disagreed. 

       I marched into the office where he was always on the thing he called a phone or moving his fingers over the thing he called a keyboard, and I had no problem interrupting both activities. I stood, hip shot and crossed my arms over my chest. 

       He raised an eyebrow and hung the phone up. Using his hands, he spoke, “Yes, Princess, what is it?”

       “I want to go home.”

       “No. You are far from ready to go home.”

       “I’m leaving.”

       He snorted. “Yeah. Sure. Okay. Listen I’ll have dinner brought in and we will talk after we eat. Deal?”

       Hissing, I stormed out and slammed the door. 

       Forget him, I was going home. 

Rook 

       I pinched the bridge of my nose as I hung up the last call for the day. It had been a long one and I wondered, swirling my first of many whiskeys, why I bothered running all these companies. I could be on a warm beach somewhere with a few beautiful women happy to bounce on me. Speaking of beautiful women...it had been awfully quiet since Laken had stormed in looking so cute with her mad, pouty face and said she was leaving. 

       Maybe I’d take her out tonight instead of ordering in. Going with that idea I went in search of my Princess. I’d admit that the Princess had been getting under my skin in a way most females could not, and I wasn’t exactly hating the sensation. She was determined, tough, funny and adorable---how could a man hold out against such a combination. 

       Part of me was hoping I’d be able to talk her out of returning to Cordelia, eventually. If I knew my brother, the place would be in charred ruins and her people enslaved by now. He’d be thrilled if he could get his claws on Princess Laken. Onyx started this war because Laken’s father refused a union, a fact that I was sure Laken didn’t know. 

       She’d blame herself for the fall of her kingdom and the loss of her people---so it was better to not tell her. I opened the door to the room she’d been using and frowned. Where was my princess? I listened at the bathroom door and heard nothing. Opening it, it was empty. 

       “Where…” My heart dropped as I saw my sword was gone as well as the single bag she carried everywhere. “No. No, Laken.” Panicked for reasons I didn’t want to examine. I ran out of my apartment and towards the gates to the worlds. 

       The magic was still humming as I came to a halt outside the stone circle. She hadn’t been gone long. I stepped into the circle and using my own magic I called Cordelia into focus. It was time to face my brother, save the woman I was forbidden to love and protect a kingdom of bloodsucking monsters who thought themselves heroes. Things were going to get complicated. 

       “Ah, well, I’ve lived long enough. Why not go out with a bang.” I muttered as the magic whisked me from my home.