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“WE THINK IT’S BEST that you keep your head down, just to be cautious.” Scirocco says gently, pulling my scarf further over my head. “The Sono kingdom have their own way of doing things, and they don’t take too kindly to outsiders, especially magic users.” I nod as our caravan rocks through the outskirts of the Sono kingdom just as more houses and shops come into view.
I bundle my new blue coat around me tightly. It was one of the gifts from Prince Kuruk. After exchanging letters about the Lost Souls upcoming shows and where we were headed next, he also voiced his concern about the tolerance of magic users in the Sono kingdom. He also sent this coat, saying it gets really chilly there around this time of the year.
I tried to send it back since it’s so expensive, clearly not something a commoner could afford comfortably, but he vehemently refused and said he’d take it as an insult.
I snuggle deeper into the warm coat and smile. I’m very grateful for it, I don’t have much clothes to begin with after running from Hivena. And there’s only so much that can fit me that isn’t tailor made.
We arrive at our place of stay. Unlike in Zaphyre, where we were openly invited to stay at the palace, here in Sono, we were told to stay at an inn a few blocks away and were quietly ushered through backdoors when nobles or other people of importance wanted to meet with us in private to gush over our reputation as performers.
After such a long journey, we finally settle into the inn with our things. Veronica and Sol huff as they flop down onto one of the couches in the den while everyone’s still bringing their stuff in.
“This place isn’t as nice as the palace,” Veronica pouts. Jubilee gruffs.
“That’s because they hate us.”
“I think staying at the palace in Zaphyre has gone to some of your heads.” Emitt chuckles. “We’re not royalty or nobles, we’re just performers.” Scirocco nods in agreement and gathers her skirts.
“Exactly, let's look at the bright side of things, no need to get all pessimistic. Let's get a good night's rest so we can be well prepared for tomorrow.”
We nod and all head to our respective rooms. Scirocco and I are sharing a quaint room with two beds, a shared wardrobe, two trunks and two nightstands. Simple, and clean.
When we first entered into the Sono Kingdom, I could immediately tell the difference in culture from Zaphyre. It gives me a bit of anxiety because a lot of Sono actually reminds me of Hivena.
Although I’m not surprised. Queen Mother used to attend gatherings with the Queen of Sono all the time. If they got along so well, there’s no telling what beliefs they shared that made them so close.
The next day we practice and warm up for majority of the day. Since arriving in Sono, we haven’t really had any time to check out the space where we’ll be performing beforehand since it’s in the castle, so we’ll have to make do and just be aware and on point with our routine.
Late afternoon eventually turns to evening and we’re finally ushered to the castle for our performance. There’s no prep room or extra time to get set up, as soon as we enter the castle we’re silently escorted straight to the ballroom without so much as a greeting from the guards.
The heavy doors to the banquet open on squeaky hinges and we enter into the bustling party at the Sono castle and stand off to the side of the oblivious guests. From what Rowan told us, the party is in honor of the king and queen’s anniversary.
I stand in line with my friends, taking deep breaths and going over the routine in my head, when an unseen announcer finally announces that we’ve arrived.
As we walk into the affair through the crowds of people, I feel weary. The energy feels much different than in Zaphyre, and even Farrah.
It even feels different than a respectable Hivena party.
The guests stare at us in curiosity and wonder as we stroll by, and I can’t help but stare back feeling the same. My face pulls in horror as I gaze to my left where a nobleman has a woman and a man on jeweled leashes. The woman's hair is flowing in the air like it’s made of water. And the man looks haggled, but also like someone slapped some respectable clothes on him to look presentable to others.
Magic users.
The nobleman tugs on one of the leashes and the haggled man bends and blows on the noble’s tea, cooling it down in an instant with the ice crystals that drift from his breath.
My face falters and my steps begin to slow.
My gaze snaps to my right where a man in a human sized cage is being poked and prodded to transform his skin into different animal skins, and is rewarded with laughs and claps as he complies.
My heart pounds heavy in my chest and I have to clench my jaw to keep from looking at them in disgust.
I look from the poor magic users to my companions who also have uncomfortable and stoic expressions on their faces.
This is what the Ringmaster was trying to explain to me. My own little rebellions that I wanted to display at the pub in Zaphyre or at the castle in Farrah would have been selfish and pitiful. I’m not the one who would’ve been affected by the noble’s collective outrage. They would have been. The magic users who aren’t protected.
We reach the platform and stand in front of the king’s throne where he greets us with a big toothy smile.
“Ah, the entertainment is here.” A chorus of chuckles ripple throughout the room as the remaining nobles turn to look at us jovially.
Rowan puts on his charming smile that I’ve come to know well. His smile says he’s eager to please, his eyes say ‘I’m ready to murder’.
“Your Highness, thank you for inviting us here on this special occasion.” He bows and we all follow suit. When I look up, I peek over at the king and queen. I’ve never seen them at the castle before when I was younger, but they aren’t exactly how people described them either.
The king is a jolly and robust man with an unsettling look in his eyes, and the queen looks completely... startling, to say the least. She looks equally malnourished and overfed at the same time. She’s dressed in a lavish gown, but it’s almost like the servants gave up on trying to style her correctly and just placed it on her so she’d have something to wear.
My eyes drift around the room to see if anyone else is questioning the queen’s state, and no one seems to be worried about it at all, even though she’s slouching over as if she can barely hold herself up. Her eyes stare straight ahead as if she’s barely coherent of her surroundings.
I’m confused.
The last time I heard about the Queen of the Sono kingdom she was spoken of as a lively party animal. She would party with Queen Mother and some of the other high noble women from Hivena regularly.
What’s happened to her?
“Well, get to it.” The king claps at us, snapping me out of my thoughts. I shuffle over with the others and we get into position for our performance. Since we didn’t have time to set up beforehand, Jabari, Emitt, and Rowan have to lay our equipment out quickly.
The music starts to play and the performance begins, and for the first time since I’ve been performing with the Lost Souls, I feel gross. The guests' have no sense of decency whatsoever. They often get too close to touch some of the performers’ and their magic. And when they did manage to back up and give us our space, their eyes continue to grope my friends and I. Salaciously gliding over Jabari and analyzing Sol as if they were deciding if they wanted to buy a new trinket they couldn’t live without. I feel gross and exposed, like a circus animal.
The silks lift me and the other aerialists a little higher into the air for the finale, and as I’m spinning in the air, the laughing faces of the nobles and guests whirl around me, making me sick as we finally come to the end of our performance. We dismount from the silks and strike a pose with the rest of the troupe that’s met with rambunctious shouts and claps.
As I’m bowing and catching my breath, a glint of jewelry sitting on one of the womens’ chests catches my attention.
I peer closer.
I definitely recognize that brooch. I’ve seen it a few times back in Hivena, and it’s a shape I could never forget.
A pin made up of melted faces sits proudly on her chest...and she wasn’t the only one wearing it.
My eyes roam through the crowd. Now that I'm aware of its presence, it isn’t hard to spot the many men and women sporting the same brooch. The one I know that explicitly belongs to the secret society in Hivena...The People.
The audience claps louder and shouts for an encore, trying their best to get us to do more. Usually we never decline and are always happy to give our audience a bit more, but this time is different.
Rowan graciously declines and tries to usher us away from the guests as they crowd us, urging us to dance with them and show them more.
“My, aren’t you a fine specimen.” A man in a long yellow coat and burly sideburns says as he grabs onto my wrist while he and his wife eye my physique curiously.
“Thank you,” I nod hurriedly. “I must be going now.” He tugs on my wrist harder and the woman fans herself.
“Why? The party’s only just begun.” Then she takes a step closer, looking up at me. “Tell me, how do I get a stature like this?” She grabs at my waist. “Can you make me like that? Is your magic making you this way?”
“You know, I did hear a rumor that if you consume a magic user's blood you’ll gain their power.” The man looks me up and down. “Is it true?”
Chills run down my spine. I’ve had enough of them crowding my space and touching me. I was debating on whether I should wrench my arm away and give them both a piece of my mind, or just try to get away without causing as much of a scene as possible, when a collective gasp erupts from across the ballroom and everyone turns toward the throne in stunned silence.
During the festivities, the queen has keeled over in her seat, unmoving, and the servants rush around her, trying to wake her up.
“Is she dead?” Someone voices from the crowd, followed by a slew of murmurs.
The king just looks at her still body out of the corner of his eye, unbothered and almost...disgusted.
One of the servants looks over toward the king with a worried expression and slowly shakes his head in sympathy. Shouts and screams erupt from the crowd.
“She’s dead!”
“The Queen is dead!”
“It has begun!”
“The Queen is dead!”
“It’s the magic users!”
“We knew this day would come. You can’t trust the magic users!”
My heart pounds in my chest as Veronica grabs onto my arm and we huddle together worriedly.
What are they talking about?! This isn’t because of magic users. Clearly the Queen was in a horrible and neglected state before we even got here!
More shouts and screams ensue as one of the nobles climbs over a table and attacks one of the magic users on a leash, plunging a dagger straight into his chest.
Chaos erupts.
“We have to get out of here!” Rowan shouts, grabbing at the nearest performers and pushing us towards the door.
The nobles attack, trying to grab at us. We have to fight them off, pushing against the crowd and throngs of people climbing over each other. Some of the guests are attacking other people in the crowd who I can only assume are also magic users that were present.
I stop in my tracks and look in horror as a couple of nobles climb onto the table where the caged magic user is trapped, and crowd him. There’s nowhere for him to escape!
Oh no!
Dante grabs my arm.
“We have to go Zemira!” Tears of fear prick my eyes as I watch them open the cage door. Dante tries to snap me out of my shock. “There’s nothing we can do, we have to go!”
I let him drag me away, feeling helpless. We run amongst the chaos, but the myriad of bodies flailing about knock into Dante and he topples to the ground. The nobles trample all over him in their madness to fight or escape.
“Dante!” I use my strength to push people off and help pull him to his feet. Suddenly, two black holes appear in the ground beside us, swallowing up a couple of aggressive nobles aiming to tackle us before disappearing all together. I gasp in shock. Rowan appears beside us moments later and helps me get Dante to his feet. He looks a little bruised and jostled, but he’ll make it.
“Let’s go!”
We run to catch up with the others, following behind Sol as we emerge through the ballroom doors and into the hall. Guards come out of nowhere and attempt to grab and corral us into a corner.
Jabari and Jubilee step out in front of us, their hands igniting on fire. They use their powers to create a barrier between us and the guards and keep the savage nobles at bay. The heat from their flames is intense and scorches the floor.
“This way!” Rowan shouts, and we follow. I notice Scirocco holding her side so I lift her arm over my neck and carry most of her weight so she doesn’t fall behind. We run down a stream of halls until we find a side door and spill out of the castle, making a run through the grass towards the gate.
“How are we gonna get through!?” Emitt panics. Jubilee steps forward and melts the bars with her hands, allowing a gap for all of us to slip through and spill out onto the streets.
My heart plummets as I see left and right the whole city has gone into an uproar. People are attacking one another in the streets, and some buildings have caught on fire...or were put on fire.
“Over here!” Jabari pulls us into a dark alley between two shops so we can catch our breaths away from harm.
“W-what are we gonna do?” Veronica cries, her whole body shaking in fear. Pierre has to give her a bear hug just to calm her and keep her from hyperventilating. Rowan looks from us to the chaotic streets and shakes his head.
“I...I don’t know. It’s straight up mayhem. They’re killing magic users.” We all go quiet, the night air further exacerbates the tremors of fear running through us all.
There’s no way for us to get back to our inn. It’s almost five blocks away. We wouldn’t be able to make it past the subjects in the streets. And god forbid we go back into the castle. The king looked completely unbothered at his wife’s passing. The fact that he allowed leashed and caged humans in his ballroom tells me all I need to know about him.
Suddenly, Sol steps forward.
“I think I know a place we can go where we can be safe.”
Rowan looks at her, and for a moment he looks like he might protest, but he quickly nods in agreement.
“How are we going to get there with this many people roaming the streets?” Pierre asks. Sol's lips go into a tight line.
“You’re not gonna like it, but follow me.” She leads us down a couple side streets that are fairly deserted to a sewer behind an abandoned building, where we promptly drop down and follow the waterways away from the chaos.
The smell is acrid. I have to cover my nose and mouth to keep from throwing up. But, as she said, there wasn’t a person in sight, and it kept us clear from anyone who wished to do magic users any harm.
Sol leads us through the series of sewers expertly as if she has a sixth sense for direction.
“Wow, Sol really knows how to get around.” I comment through my shirt to Scirocco, and she nods in front of me.
“This is where Sol was born and raised.” I look at her in shock as we continue following the group.
Sol is from Sono? Wow. She’s such a bright and beautiful person. I can’t imagine her growing up in such a harsh and intolerant place as Sono. That explains why Rowan doesn’t have any objections in following her to a safe place. She probably knows the city better than any of us here. But did she often travel through the sewer?
We walk the tunnels for what feels like forever, and I fear I might pass out from either the smell or trying to hold my breath. Suddenly, Sol stops and points upward, signaling that we’ve made it.
Jabari and Rowan help us to climb out of the sewer one by one, and the fresh night air is a welcome relief on my lungs. Pierre offers me a hand to steady myself and I take it, pulling myself the rest of the way out.
“What is this place?” Dante asks, looking around.
“It’s an old factory. No one came here after it shut down decades ago, so it became a good safe house for those that need to get away.”
I look up at the giant abandoned factory. I can see why people would try to avoid it. It doesn’t look like a very friendly place.
I look back towards the city in the distance where smoke is billowing from multiple burning buildings. I can still hear shouts and screams coming from the streets.
At least we’re far enough away from that.
“This way.” Sol calls, and we follow her through the gates onto the factory grounds and slip through a side door that looks heavily chained from the outside, but opens just wide enough to fit through.
It’s really dark, and there are funny smells. From the machinery I wouldn’t even be able to guess what they made here. Maybe bits and pieces for other machines.
We follow Sol, who walks confidently through the factory, and stops right in front of a sliding door before turning to us.
“We're here.” She opens it, and inside, almost a hundred people are gathered. They startle at our presence, but relax as soon as they see Sol.
“Sol, my dear girl!” An older woman cries out. Sol rushes to her with a hug and buries her face in her shoulder
“Mama Willow. It’s so good to see you.”
“You too girl. I hadn’t received a letter from you in weeks. I knew you were coming for a performance at the castle, but when everything broke out and the nobles and citizens started killing magic users in the streets, I had feared the worst.”
“No, I’m fine. I’m glad you all made it here safely. These are my friends from the Lost Souls I’ve told you about.”
“Ah, more magic users.” She nods to us and we greet her back.
“What is this place?” Jubilee asks, looking around at all of the scared people who I presume are other magic users and sympathizers. Mama Willow turns to her.
“This is our safe house for the magic users of Sono. This kingdom has not always been kind to us. Many have suffered over the years. This is where we gather to share resources and funnel magic users out of the kingdom safely. Although I must admit, there aren’t a lot of safe places we can go in these times.”
Sol nods.
“Mama Willow is the one who took me in when I was a young teen and helped me escape to the Lost Souls.”
“And we’ve been grateful to have her ever since.” Rowan bows to the woman, stepping forward.
“Why haven’t you tried to send everyone?” Pierre asks.
“Getting out of Sono isn’t easy, there are guards and watchful commoners everywhere who dislike us, and would rather see us suffer than leave.” Mama Willow says somberly.
“They’re a bunch of demons!” A stocky man says as he steps forward to stand beside Mama Willow. “How do we know we can even trust this bunch to not sell us out, huh?!” Mama Willow turns to him.
“Hush Raymond. They’re magic users as well. We’re amongst kin.”
“Yeah, but aren’t they also the famous Lost Souls?” He spits at us. “Haven’t they been living luxurious lives? Rubbing elbows with the nobles and aristocrats alike? We’ve seen too many fellow “kin” who’d sell us out in a heart beat for the promise of a better life.”
“I understand your concerns, sir.” Rowan offers. “But we’ve taken in thousands of magic users and offered them safety amongst our troupe. The Ringmasters mission has always been to save those in need. We know what it’s like to fear for our lives and live in poverty. If you’d allow us, we can take you with us and find a place for all of you where you're protected under the Ringmaster’s magic.”
“Is there really a Ringmaster?” A young boy asks with wide eyes. “I thought he was just a myth.” Sol smiles at him.
“The Ringmaster is very real. I’ve seen him myself!” The young boy gapes at her amazed.
“How do we get there?” A woman from the crowd asks. “All of the roads are blocked and there’ll be guards waiting at every major checkpoint.”
Raymond turns to us and nods.
“She’s right. If I’m correct, the Lost Souls are rumored to live far east. And we’d have to travel through the mountains. The only road that would be open is to Veah.” There's a ripple of gasps in the room at the mention of the name.
Veah? I vaguely remember hearing whispers from nobles about the rumors of Veah. It was fabled to be a once magical kingdom with magical artifacts. But has been since buried and abandoned.
“But Veah is nothing but desert,” I inform him. Raymond turns to me.
“That’s what they want you to think. But I believe Veah is there and thriving. I’ve heard the whispers from other magic users who’ve been. Veah lives!”
“Veah isn’t real!” A man offers from the crowd. “The only reason the Sono guards leave that road open is because it’s nothing but desert. They take sick pleasure in knowing gullible magic users travel there only to starve to death.” More unsettling gasps from the crowd.
“It’s not true!” Raymond protests.
“He’s right!” Another woman speaks up. “Veah is real. The others have already gone ahead of us, including my son. That’s where all the other magic users are hiding.”
“That’s a load of shit! If we go to Veah we’ll all die of dehydration!”
“We should go to Veah!”
The crowd shouts over each other as they debate on whether Veah is real or not and if we should go.
“Now now, settle down.” Mama Willow calms the crowd. “Do you want all of Sono to hear you?” The crowd calms to a murmur. “One thing is for sure, we can’t stay here.”
“She’s right.” Jabari agrees. “The Sono nobles looked like they were on a mission. There’s an inherent belief among them that magic users need to be eradicated, and the death of their queen was just an excuse to do what they’ve always been wanting to do. We can’t stay here.”
More gasps erupt from the crowd.
“The Queen is dead?”
“Did he say the Queen?”
Rowan slowly nods and looks to the group.
“We don’t have any other choice. The Sono Kingdom’s road leads right to Veah, and if the other major roads are being heavily monitored and blocked, we have to go.”
After hearing more about the queen’s death and what we saw at the castle, it doesn’t take long for people to start loading up in obscure wagons in the back of the abandoned factory. From what Mama Willow said, some of them were put here to help other magic users escape, and some must have been driven here by the fleeing magic users.
We all cramp in as much as we can, no one was getting left behind. If we were able to grab our caravan we would have had more room, but attempting to go back for it at the castle would be too dangerous.
We set off and drive through the night, avoiding any major roads and checkpoints. Barely anyone talks as we make it to the road that’s gonna lead us straight to Veah. It’s long and bumpy, like not many people venture this way. Some of the road just turns to dirt and becomes more and more obscure the further north we travel. Many people hold their breaths as we travel. Too afraid to sleep, just in case the Sono guards changed their minds and decided to stake out this road and attack unsuspecting magic users who had hopes for freedom.
It takes us all night to pass through the mountains and reach the borders of Veah, and as we approach, just as the stories say, it's a barren land of dust and sand.
Before officially crossing the border, a woman with two young children leans forward.
“Are we sure about this?” She asks as she looks out at the barren land. “If there’s nothing here, we could die of hunger and thirst.”
“Well that’s better than being slaughtered by the nobles back in Sono.” A man grits out across from her. Rowan turns around from the passenger side.
“Nobody’s dying today.” Then he turns to Raymond who’s driving the wagon. “Is there a way to cross over into Ugway?”
Ugway is the small territory to the east that also borders Veah. I don’t know what the state of the people will be in Ugway, but it has to be better than Sono. The man nods.
“There is, but I don’t know the lands of Veah. I only have a rough map to go to where the lost city of Veah was rumored to be. From there you may be able to navigate out.”
So it looks like we’re going to Veah regardless. There’s no use in trying to aimlessly ride through the rest of the desert to Ugway if we don’t know where we’re going.
Raymond signals to the other carriages that we’re going on and the wagon jerks forward. As soon our carriage makes it into the sand, I gasp as a surge passes through me, making my entire body seize up.
It’s only present for a moment before it dissipates to a thrumming vibration, and I can’t help but sign in relief at the tingles and warmth it sends through my body. I feel...invigorated for some reason.
The worries I had of getting lost in the desert and what we faced in Sono just melts away as a familiarity and comfort asuages over me. Like I know this land...or this land knows me.
We begin the long trek to the city of Veah through the desert, and no one says much. Some people were probably still ruminating on if this is a good idea and if we’re just riding to our slow deaths, and some were probably afraid that if they spoke it would jinx our safe passage.
Everyone sits in silence for the journey, and the grimness that transpired in Sono, all the hate and the death, starts to catch up with me. My throat burns with emotion, and I’m not the only one.
I turn to comfort a crying Sol as she sniffles silently next to me.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” she whispers. “Sono has always been a harsh and intolerant place, but to just start killing magic users in the streets...it’s madness.” I nod in agreement. It is madness.
“It’s going to be okay.” I comfort her, even though I’m not sure of that statement. But I refuse to let us and others go on like this any longer. I have to figure out what I can do to help free magic users of this humiliation and prejudice, so they can live normal, healthy lives like everyone else. Not bashed and killed for their gifts. They have a right to a peaceful life just like everyone else.
We ride through the rest of the day and night, and the longer time passes, the more restless the other passengers become.
By morning, Raymond begins to slow the wagon and signals to the others to slow too. He looks at his drawn map, then back out towards the sea of sand and sun. A couple minutes go by of him talking quietly to Rowan when a man calls from the back.
“So where is it?! Are we there?”
“There’s nothing here!” Another woman echoes. Raymond turns to the passengers.
“Now just give us a minute. It has to be around here somewhere.”
“You said that we’d be safe here! Now what are we to do?!”
Many of the passengers begin getting loud and anxious, and Jabari, Pierre, and Rowan try their best to keep everyone calm.
“It won’t help to panic.” Pierre tries to tell them. Rowan nods.
“Yes, you can all just come with us as we reroute out of here to Ugway. From there we can get food, accommodations, then make our way to the Lost Souls camp.”
While the others are shouting and panicking, something pulls at me intensely. I make my way to the back of the wagon and step out onto the soft sand. Underneath the sound of chaos from the passengers, I feel a humming vibration that’s only gotten stronger the farther we’ve ventured into Veah. It tickles my skin and gently chatters every bone in my body. Singing to me.
“Do you guys feel that?” I breathe. But no one pays me any attention. I look around at the surrounding sand stretching on for miles.
It feels like something is pulling me. Like there’s something here begging for me to see it.
“Wait...”
The others continue to argue about how they’re going to manage navigating out of the desert and this being a waste of time that put them all in danger.
“Guys.” The vibration feels like it’s surging up right through my feet to the point where I feel like I’m going to overflow with energy.
“Guys!” I try again. Suddenly, the ground trembles violently and everyone goes completely silent. I know they felt that!
“What was that?” Veronica and Jubilee ask, sticking their heads out of the wagon. The ground beneath the sand starts making a strange cracking sound.
Sand shouldn’t sound like that.
Alarm fills my entire body. I don’t think anyone wanted to move.
“What’s happening?” Scirocco whispers. I decide to tiptoe my way back to the wagon and try to get in, when the sand suddenly begins to sink. The ground opens up into a gaping hole and I lose my footing. Shrieks of terror fill the air as the sand sinks fast, grappling us all into its elusive clutches and taking us all with it.
