Remains of Urth Read online

  “My fellow Urthmen, do you want these humans to live?” He spits the word humans. The chant resumes, only this time, the paunchy prince doesn’t reveal his annoyance. Instead, he forces a smile, raising his hands a second time. Once he has quiet, he says, “Well then, you have spoken. Being the benevolent leader of this land, I say,” he pauses for a beat, savoring the power he wields and that his people wait on his words with bated breath. “Let them live!” Cheers and screams ring out, so loud I can’t even discern what’s being said. The guards lower their weapons and Reyna and I are left standing in the center of the sand.

  “What’s happening?” I strain to be heard over the noise.

  Turning to me with wide eyes as pale as the sky scrubbed clean after a storm, she says, “They’re sparing us. It’s what the crowd wants.”

  I hold her gaze. “Why?” I can’t help but ask.

  She shakes her head. “They want to see us again.” She looks to the crowd. Urthmen, more than I can count, are riled to the point of being frenzied. On their feet with faces reddened from strain and veins bulging in zigzag patterns down foreheads and necks, they shout and clap, stomp and pump their arms. They are the embodiment of bloodlust. Of savagery. Of ugliness.

  I realize in the seconds that the words leave her lips that the Urthmen, bloodthirsty and longing for violence, have just received a great gift from us. We’ve satiated the need. For now. We’ve put on a good show. Entertained them. And for that reason, and that reason only, we’ll live another day.

  Chapter 15

  Swarmed by Urthmen guards and swept from the arena in a flurry of attention, Reyna and I are brought back to the chamber in which we spent the night. A booted foot kicks the small of my back, causing me to lose my footing and fall to the stone floor. The moment my knees slam against the stone, an Urthman is upon me instantly. He grips my wrist and slaps cuffs around them then affixes them to a length of chain anchored to the wall. Bound with my hands over my head, I’m barely able to move, and even then it’s only my lower body. Reyna, kicked to the floor just as I was, is chained the same way. I hate seeing her handled roughly. I resist the urge to protest, to fight. Tethered as I am to the wall, anything I attempt will be ineffective, or worse, might result in her being harmed further. I don’t want that, couldn’t handle that at all. I’m grateful she’s alive. She survived the beatings yesterday and the arena today. The time we have now is a gift. It may not seem that way on the surface. Perhaps I’ve lost my mind. After all, both Reyna and I are badly bruised and battered. Regardless, I sit, biting the inside of my cheek until the taste of blood is thick on my tongue, until the Urthmen leave, slamming the cell door shut behind them and locking it. As soon as they’re gone and out of earshot, I swallow metallic tasting saliva and turn to face Reyna. “Do you think they’re coming back to kill us?” I ask.

  “No. If they were going to kill us, they would’ve done it in the arena,” she replies. She’s right of course. They’d have made a big spectacle of it then served food. Judging from the size of Prince Cadogan and the amount of vegetables, fruit and other food that pelted me in the arena, food is in abundance, so much that it can be thrown about and wasted. Surviving as I did in the forest, all sources of sustenance were valued. None could be wasted. Ever. We utilized as much of every animal we killed or vegetable we harvested. Watching the Urthmen audience slob down food while human beings battle to bloody deaths has been sickening on many levels. Their thirst for violence is as hideous as their appetite for food. They cheer and shout, mouths full and overflowing. The sight is nauseating. Of course, my focus on them was only fleeting and can be reflected upon in hindsight. Watching people I arrived with get slaughtered, as well as the promise of impending death, demanded my attention.

  “You think they’re keeping us alive for a reason?” I ask. My skin prickles with fear as I wonder what that reason could possibly be.

  “I do. I just don’t know what that reason is.” Her words echo my thoughts almost identically, and thoughts of what they would use us for congeal, rolling around in my brain like a greasy ball. I’m confident of two things. Regardless of what they decide, if we live, first, it will be to serve them, and second, it will be to cause us shame. And pain. Leaning my head back against the stone wall, I consider the horrific possibilities, based solely upon what I have personally witnessed. Who knows what they could dream up?

  Minutes pass and quickly turn to hours. Reyna and I remain as we are. Not that there’s a chance to move. Our wrists are bound and chained to the wall over our heads. Still, as uncomfortable as I am, I manage to close my eyes and doze lightly. The sound of booted feet clacking down the hallway greets me, waking me. Within moments of hearing the sound, the cell door swings open and Prince Cadogan crowds the doorway. Flanked by uniform-clad guards that look so similar in appearance facially I’d swear they’re all related, his gaze lands on me. Eyes pulled high, halfway up his forehead so that they slant in a feline manner, I have no way of reading his expression. Is he angry? Is he disappointed? Is he scared? I’ll never know. The only emotion that translates based on the upper portion of his face is surprise. If I weren’t chained to a wall and at his mercy, I’d giggle. Stepping close to me and gripping my chin tightly, he lifts it so that I have no choice but to stare directly at his face. And when I do, I see nothing but rage lingering in the depths of his pitch-black, too-high eyes. “I bet you think you’ve won something. That somehow you’re going to survive.” He pauses and glowers at me. All impulse to giggle transforms from mocking thoughts to nervousness. “Well, let me assure you, all you’ve bought yourself is another day of life.” His tone of voice is calm and measured. Perhaps that’s what causes every hair on my body to rise and quiver. Nervousness seeps into terror as I anticipate what’s to come, what else the arena can bring. In a matter of hours, Prince Cadogan assures me I’ll be dead. Gone. Other than my siblings, not a single trace of my existence will remain on the planet.

  “I don’t think we’ve won anything.” The words come from me. I hear them. Hear my own voice, yet the reed thin quality to it sounds foreign to my own ears.

  “Good,” Prince Cadogan hisses. “I’m glad because you haven’t. Today, you won over the crowd, which is good. It’s the first day of the games and thanks to you, ticket sales will skyrocket. Tomorrow, however, when those stands are packed to capacity, you’ll make your final stand.” He squeezes my chin harder. I try to turn away but he doesn’t let go. His gaze clashes with mine. “You and your girlfriend will die tomorrow.” He releases my chin and stares at me with disgust.

  “We’ll see about that,” Reyna spits each word defiantly.

  In the space of a breath, Prince Cadogan backhands her. The slapping sound fills the room, and fills me with rage so concentrated I feel as though I could explode. He then grabs her face, pinching her cheeks between his thumb and index finger and forces her to face him. He stares hard at her. “Yes, we will see about that.” He lets go of her face, shoving it to one side as he does. He spins to face the door, which is blocked by guards. “Let him in,” Prince Cadogan orders. His guards oblige and part, opening a space through which Cas promptly steps. Covered in blood and wearing a smug smile on his face that grows broader when he sees me, he stops inches from my feet.

  “Guess whose blood is all over me?” he enunciates each word, unblinkingly.

  My heart speeds dangerously. Thoughts race through my mind, blazing at warp speed, too terrifying and muddled to grab hold of. “Whose is it?” my voice cracks, a fact that makes Cas’s smile grow so wide it threatens to split his face. I lock eyes with him, panic spreading through my chest in anguished-filled waves.

  The smile, sadistic and depraved, melts from Cas’s face. He drops his eyes and points to a large spot on his bare chest. “This is your older brother’s.” He points to a second spot. “This is your little brother’s.” Then to a third spot he says, “And this spot is the best of them all. It belongs to that sweet little sister of yours.” Cas laughs, but it’s dr
owned out by the sound of blood rushing behind my ears in time with the frantic beat of my heart. The constant thumping is quickly replaced by a shrill ring. Darkness teases the edges of my vision and I launch every ounce of strength I possess against the chains. I want nothing more than to free myself, to feel Cas’s blood upon my hands and avenge my siblings deaths inasmuch as any death can be avenged.

  “If you hurt them, I’ll kill you.” Fragile as it is, my mind clings to threads of hope, though deep in the marrow of my bones, I fear he has.

  “You’re going to kill me?” Cas shakes his head and laughs mockingly. “There’s a joke if ever I heard one.” He continues laughing. “But you’ll have your chance. I was just informed that tomorrow you’ll face me in the arena.”

  Feeling my blood simmer, my heart still galloping, I say through gritted teeth, “I look forward to it.”

  “Enough of this nonsense!” Prince Cadogan fans his hand in front of his face and scrunches his altered features unattractively. “Do you really believe I’d allow your family to be killed without forcing you to watch?”

  My head rears as if I’ve been slapped. “They’re alive?” Hope springs from me like a seedling chute through dark, rich soil.

  “Only for the night,” Prince Cadogan warns. “Tomorrow Cas will face each of you one at a time. Saving you for last.” He points a pudgy finger at me. “You’re going to watch your siblings die one at a time. And her, too,” he adds. “This friend of yours.” He rakes his eyes over her with disgust. “She will die just before you.” Prince Cadogan steeples his fingers in front of his chest and allows his deranged gaze to volley between the two of us.

  Cas stands by and smiles sinisterly. He turns to Prince Cadogan. “Thank you, my lord, for allowing me this tremendous honor,” he says and for the first time there’s a note of sincerity and humility there.

  Prince Cadogan turns to Cas. He does not smile and his tone is not cordial. “Do not let me down.” Warning trembles in the air. Cas is well aware of the unspoken threat. To the guards, the Prince says, “Take them out of here and put them in the tombs.” The guards jump at his command. In the space of a breath, I’m unchained from the wall and dragged down the corridor, my feet and at times my knees scouring the floor. I barely feel the scrapes and cuts that abrade my skin. All I can think of are my siblings facing Cas in the arena. The moments I believed their blood marred his skin haunt me. I cannot allow it to happen. I must think of a way to stop it, to save them. But how? As I fall down the narrow space that leads to a cramped, tube-like cell, all I can think is that I failed my brothers and sister. They will lose their lives unceremoniously, agonizingly. And I can’t save them. All I’ll be able to do is watch.

  Chapter 16

  My perception of time is skewed, cramped in the most confined space I’ve ever been detained. I’m left to await not just my death, but the death of my family as well. And Reyna. Reyna who managed to survive this long. Beautiful Reyna. I remember the first time I saw her, the pure resilience she radiated. Her poise. Her unbroken posture. The determination in her eyes. She survived long enough to be here. She survived the arena. Survived Krono. Until me. My arrival changed everything for her. And now she’ll pay for knowing me. She’ll pay for helping me. She’ll pay with her life. Dropping my chin to my chest, that harsh realization sinks in my gut with the weight of a boulder. I let her down. I’m killing her, my brothers and sister, whether it’s directly or indirectly doesn’t matter. Their blood will be on my hands, even if that blood is only there shortly before my life is taken too.

  Darkness surrounds me, fills me and swallows me whole. All light from above has been eclipsed and I’m left to dwell in it with panic that bowls through my brain like barbed wire. Head pounding with thoughts more painful than I ever dreamed possible, the claustrophobic space in which I’m left is no longer relevant. My head spins. My pulse drills against my temples and my throat is scorched. If what Prince Cadogan has said is true—and I am certain it is—the people I care about most will be killed before my very eyes as soon as day breaks. The promise of that is my worst nightmare personified. I take my head in my hands and squeeze my eyes shut. The change is minimal. Swathed in pitch blackness, all I can see are images my mind produces. Cas covered in blood. Blood he claimed belonged to my siblings. Violence. Death. I want to cry out, to thrash and punch the walls of dirt and rock around me. But I know any energy I put forth will be wasted. I need every ounce of it to think of how I can possibly save Kohl, Pike, Ara and Reyna. The answer eludes me completely. I don’t think there is one.

  Keeping my eyes closed, I rack my brain. Preventing their deaths seems an impossible feat. I plunge into despair and before long, sleep claims me, filled with tormented dreams of chaos and murder.

  I’m not sure how long I’m asleep when a loud clanging sound wakes me. It’s followed by me being yanked from my pit of gloom. A blurred image sharpens to reveal the face of an Urthman guard. Snarling so that his nearly absent upper lip is curled over his teeth, the Urthman guard makes a sound somewhere between a huff and a laugh. “Ready to watch your useless family get slaughtered in the arena?” Menacing and vile, his words are pure venom. My muscles tense and all warmth drains from me. Staring at his face and processing what he’s said, I’m at a loss for words. Complete and utter fear is all I feel, turning my lungs to twin blocks of ice and freezing any response in place. The Urthman studies me. I swear that disappointment shrouds his features, as if he hoped I’d react and he’d be given an opportunity to square off with me. I’ve denied him that. And not intentionally. Regardless, he mumbles something inaudible and pulls me to my feet. He shoves me forward, forcing me down the first in a labyrinth of long, narrow passageways I feel as if I’ve traveled a hundred times.

  Moving with limbs stiffened by panic, dread and a night spent with my knees tucked to my chest, I walk woodenly until we reach the cage that holds those awaiting their turn to battle on the outskirts of the sandy arena floor. Peering beyond metal lattice, I see Reyna, Kohl, Pike and Ara. They’re surrounded by tiered benches, packed with Urthmen who cheer and shout. They look small. Even Kohl. Terror is apparent in both Pike and Ara’s faces. Kohl’s features remain hard and unreadable. But I can’t imagine that even someone as strong as he isn’t afraid. His eyes sweep the space, and I see it, see a flicker of fear flash in them. A dam of unparalleled guilt breaks free, flooding my senses so that breathing becomes difficult. The three of them are going to die. They’ll die because of me, because of my actions. It doesn’t matter that I acted to protect my sister, and I doubt I could’ve lived with myself if she’d have been attacked by Krono. But at least she’d live. She wouldn’t be here now, clad in a ridiculous white tunic that does little to cover her body properly, on display and about to meet a grisly fate. I stare out at her. My heart clenches painfully. Thinner than ever, her nose is red and her cheeks are flushed. Tears stream from her eyes and she looks frantically in all directions. Pike is only slightly better off. He withholds his tears but I see them, unshed, shining in his eyes. I realize my death has begun.

  Numbed by insurmountable pain, I’m vaguely aware of the pointed tip of an arrow prodding me in the back. I do not need to turn to look. I know an Urthman guard is holding me in place, forcing me to stay and watch what unfolds. To watch my family die. “The big one goes first while Cas is still fresh,” one of the guards barks. “Then the boy followed by the girls,” he continues to his men. He then approaches me, grabbing my chin the way Prince Cadogan did, and forces me to look at him. “You’re going to watch closely as each of them dies.” He smiles and reveals small, dark teeth, pointed and foul. “And then you’ll go out and meet your fate.” He releases my chin, shoving it toward the gate. He gazes at Cas, who stands with both arms raised over his head, each hand gripping a sword. The steel is polished to a high shine. It catches the light and gleams lethally. The crowd roars. He plays to them and they reply with savage enthusiasm. Watching him strut, hearing the roar, and feeling the terror that rad
iates from my brothers and sister in agonizing waves, allows anger to infuse my guilt. It surges like a tidal wave, washing away any other emotion and leaving me trembling. Cas isn’t like me. He isn’t like anyone I’ve ever known. The vicious excitement in his eyes, his thirst for the blood of his own species—a fourteen- year-old boy and girl who’ll be counted among his numerous conquests—makes me see him for what he is. He’s a monster, a being as inhuman as the Urthmen he serves. I come to the realization that humans have the capacity to be as evil and sick as Urthmen. They can hate other humans, just as Urthmen do. It shocks me. Overwhelms me. Humans are the global minority as far as I know. To hate or kill another is senseless. It contradicts all that I’ve been taught, all that I’ve known. The fact that my brothers and sister are his intended targets causes rage to course through my veins. I want to see Cas fall. I want to be the one to bring him down. Maybe it makes me no better than he is. We’re both human. But my sister and brothers’ lives are at stake. I flinch, making a slight move forward, and instantly the arrow at my back digs deeper. “Don’t even think about moving, scum,” the Urthman behind me growls. From beyond the cage, another Urthman yells, “Grab a sword, human!” to Kohl. My attention rips from all else and focuses on him. He walks toward me, toward a rack just beyond the cage that holds an array of blades. He’s close. So close I could reach out to him. But I don’t. I won’t risk an arrow being launched at him through the matrix of metal trapping me.