A Queen Among Blood: Chapter Fifty - Yildiz
A Queen Among Blood: Chapter Fifty - Yildiz
Makbule and I spent our entire shift going over everything we could recall regarding Isolde and Manon and the more we analysed it the more suspicious things started to appear. You have to understand, we’re talking about crimes spanning centuries, but there could be decades between these crimes. Assessing them as each one occurred seemed straightforward, but truth is, nothing is straightforward when magic is in play.
Makbule and I have found it to be strange how someone on the run would repeatedly leave witnesses to so many of her crimes. It’s also strange that in the event that started a chase that has lasted centuries, how was Manon the only one to survive? Given Isolde’s alleged blasé attitude towards life, why not just kill all these people and not have witnesses at all? I even thought back to what we learned the other month about the barrier placed around Longsang. Why would the most powerful makkari on earth ask a lesser makkari to create a barrier that they could easily create in their sleep? She then killed the makkari who made it and disposed of the body. She was openly working with Emperor Zixin, so hiding her identity couldn’t have been the goal, especially not based on what Empress Mei had reported to us. None of these occurrences made sense and yet we dismissed them because again, the evidence was overwhelming and many just chalked it up to the erratic behaviour of a psychopath. But psychopaths aren’t erratic, in fact, they tend to be methodical, patient, and good planners, which are all things we had come to learn about Isolde.
So, again, none of this made sense. Unless, of course, you look at it another way. What if it wasn’t about hiding what was done, and all about hiding who did it? What if it was all about allowing us to continue to believe Isolde was the culprit?
On top of that, we both noticed something about Manon. Manon most of the time avoids answering direct questions. She either answers a question with a question or she words things in a very specific way. Again, we never thought anything of it until we decided to sit down and go over everything with a fine toothcomb.
For example, I notice whenever Manon refers to Isolde and the crimes she’s wanted for, she never directly says Isolde committed them. She says things like, ‘the witness said they saw Isolde kill that person’ or ‘I hope she pays for these crimes’. At first, those don’t sound suspicious at all, but when you put all the pieces together and us being two beings who are adept at detecting lies, we noticed that it’s the same strategy we use to allow us to skirt around the truth.
Hypothetically, if Isolde is innocent and Manon knows this, then her saying ‘I hope she pays for these crimes’ is a phrase that either way rings true. She isn’t telling us that Isolde committed them, simply admitting she hopes she pays for them. If she tells us the witnesses say they saw Isolde, again that’s a truthful statement. She’s not telling us Isolde did anything, she’s just reporting what another person said they saw. Since we see Manon so infrequently, we never noticed the pattern, but it also explains why her tone always holds more truth to me than her words do. Right now this is all conjecture and for us to get our sisters on board we’d have to come up with hard evidence fast. So our next step will be to go over every file we have on her and every eyewitness account, even reinterview them if we have to. Perhaps this will all just be a wild goose chase, but I’d rather that than take an innocent life.
“You know there’s no way Arthwin or Aulen will want to hear this. They’ve been hunting her for centuries. They’re convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that she’s guilty,” points out Makbule.
“Which is why they are the last people we should tell. You saw how they acted when they learned the Orraikam was attacked. They immediately pointed fingers at Isolde without a single drop of proof. It was a literal witch hunt,” I say in disappointment.
Makbule gasps dramatically, “You said the W word.”
I smile softly, “You know what I mean. Either way, it’s not how we operate. We fight for truth and justice and if we don’t do everything in our power to make sure we uphold those values, then what are we?”
“Politicians,” she deadpans.
I snort with laughter, “Pretty much.”
“Well, there’s only two hours left on our shift. Do you want to hit the records as soon as we’re done?”
“Absolutely. It’ll be weighing on my mind too much anyway, no way I’d be able to sleep.”
“I’m glad we have a strategy planned. It’s just convincing our sisters that I worry about,” she sighs.
“There’s no way all of them will agree. But some of them will, and some is better than none,” I say, rubbing her back reassuringly.
Just as I do, the sound of thunder sounds around the Kartheca and far in the distance we can hear the sound of a lightning strike. In that same moment, excruciating pain the likes of which I’ve never felt in all my life hits my body, knocking me to the ground as I scream from the sheer magnitude of it. It feels as though I’m rolling around in uncut diamonds while someone injects me with acid and sets me on fire. I’m vaguely aware of Makbule calling out frantically, but I can’t make out what she’s saying. The pain is so severe it’s all I can think of. A brief thought pops in my head as the pain wrecks my body. Am I about to die in the same place as my sister?
As the pain starts to die down that’s when I sense where the pain is coming from. It’s not my pain at all. It’s Osiah’s. We haven’t completed the bond and yet his pain is taking over me like it has a will of its own. For something to cause him this much pain, only one person can be behind it. Jartre. Jartre is hurting him. I have to find them. If the thunder and lightning we just heard was Jartre, then it means he’s on the islet.
With all the strength I can muster, I force myself to my feet but as soon as I do my knees give out. Luckily Makbule catches me.
“Yildiz, what’s happening?” she asks in a panic.
“Osiah’s… being… attacked,” I manage to say, “I have to help him.” I force myself to move one foot in front of the other and cling to the cavern walls to support my body. I feel as though all energy has been zapped from my body – no pun intended. I’ve never felt anything like it. But if this is how I’m feeling, surely it must be so much worse for Osiah.
“You can barely walk, what do you plan to do?” Makbule asks frantically as she tries to help me walk.
“I don’t know, but I have to do something. Go and make sure our sisters stay inside the Kartheca,” I instruct.
“But–”
“GO! There is a psychotic God unleashing hell on my animai, I am not letting him near my sisters too. Keep them inside, now!” I say as I shove her to get her moving. To my relief, Makbule doesn’t argue with me and has bolted off before I can blink. I have no idea what I can do to stop a God, but I have to try something. I just lost Nuray; I am not losing Osiah too.
I continue to force my feet to move, and with every step, I can feel the cavern shaking causing debris to fall from the ceiling. I finally manage to make it to the cavern’s cliffside exit and just as I feel the spray of the ocean’s waves crashing against the rocks below, another wave of agonising pain ruptures through my abdomen and burns through every muscle in my body. I scream from the pain and drop to my knees, but the scream becomes garbled when the force of the blow causes me to cough up blood. I’ve never once heard of a case of the animai bond ever doing this to someone, certainly never when the bond is only half complete. Sure, animais can feel each other’s pain, but the partner will never truly live that pain. If you cut one the other doesn’t bleed, and yet Jartre is hurting Osiah and I’m the one coughing blood.
With great difficulty, I force myself to stand, though doing so feels like I’m fighting against gravity. I’ve never felt so weak. Moving on sheer willpower, I walk up the stone staircase along the cliffside and follow the sound of nuclear bombs going off. From the smell, I can tell I’m in the garden. I fumble a little until my feet find the stairs that lead further into the garden and as I do I can see two burning auras that have collided. One familiar burning bright the colour of blood, its flecks of silver pulsating and glowing with an intensity I’ve never seen before. The other is burning painfully bright the colour of ultra-pure white, with a bright ring of silver around it. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out whose aura that belongs to, even without the sounds of earth-shattering destruction. Knowing these two are going head to head has crippling fear spreading through me and on instinct, I scream out Osiah’s name.
“Now it’s about to get interesting.” I hear an unfamiliar baritone voice say. So that’s what Jartre sounds like. I’ve only ever heard him speak using Osiah’s voice, so this is a first.
“Yildiz get out of here!” Osiah shouts.
“Oh no, I think she should stay,” Jartre says playfully with a malicious undertone. I suddenly watch as a large ball of white energy is thrown at Osiah sending his blood-red aura flying back. I feel the pain hit me to another excruciating degree and can no longer keep myself standing. My body completely gives out and I collapse on the ground, curling up in the foetal position as I will the pain to stop, while simultaneously fearing for Osiah’s safety.