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A metallic boom echoed through the air. We all whirled towards it. Across the stage, the election official stood holding a heavy mace and in front of him lay a metal shield. He looked thoroughly out of breath as he let the large weapon fall to his side.
“General Marcellus,” he panted. “All the votes have not been announced yet.”
Marcellus scrunched up his eyebrows. “What are you talking about? The votes from both the nobles and the workers have already been announced.”
“Yes, but for the position of General, the third class have voted as well.”
“The third class?”
“Yes, I believe they call themselves underworlders now.”
The General flicked a hand dismissively. “They don’t vote.”
“They have now.”
“Fine.” Marcellus blew out a frustrated sigh. “Announce their votes. But unless you can scrape together over forty-six thousand so-called underworlders, it won’t matter. And I can tell you right now that an Underworld barely exists in this city.”
The election official cleared his throat. “These are the votes from the Underworld. For Marcellus, zero. For Konstantin, zero. For Gregory, zero. For Suleiman, zero. For Jeremiah, zero. For Shade, ninety-eight thousand four hundred and forty-four.”
Deafening silence followed the announcement. I worked my tongue around inside my parched mouth. By all the gods, what had just happened?
“That can’t be true.” Marcellus ripped the paper from the moderator’s hand and stared at it. “Are you seriously telling me that there are almost a hundred thousand people in this city who can’t provide documents of employment? It’s absurd! What would all those people be doing for a living? This has to be some kind of trick.”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “But you know as well as I that you can’t cheat the election. It appears as though the portion of the population that you... and I... and everyone else have been pretending doesn’t exist, is far larger than we thought.”
Marcellus stared unblinking at the piece of paper. My heart continued thumping in my chest. One hundred thousand underworlders? I had so not seen that coming. And what in the world had made them all vote?
“Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce the new General of Pernula: Shade!” the votes announcer called across the square.
For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then, a cheer rose. It grew in volume until the whole area echoed with excitement. Shade rose from his knees and snapped his fingers at the closest guard.
“You,” he said. “Make sure the elf on that roof is released unharmed. Right now.”
The man snapped to attention. “Yes, General.”
After climbing to my feet as well, I just continued staring dumbfounded at the people around me. How had this happened? I jerked back as I recognized a bunch of people standing in the mouth of an alley some distance away from the stage.
Vania stood with her arms crossed and a satisfied look on her face while Kildor and other people I recognized from their local tavern waited behind. Yngvild raised a large hand to his brow in a salute. A surprised smile spread across my face as I replicated the gesture.
Moving my eyes closer to the stage, I noticed another figure I recognized. At the mouth of a side street nearby, a woman with red hair had appeared. Her green eyes twinkled as she winked at me. I let out a stunned laugh.
While I moved towards the stairs at the back of the stage, Shade approached the detained former General. Hatred burned in his eyes but since his own former guards held him captive, he could do nothing more than glare.
“Marcellus,” Shade said, his voice quiet and deadly. “If you’re still here when the sun has set, you’re a dead man.” An evil grin flashed over the assassin’s lips as he motioned for the guards to release their prisoner. “You’d better run.”
For a moment, it looked like Marcellus was about to fight but then he thought better of it and thundered down the steps next to me. Sunset was only an hour out so the fallen General was in an understandable hurry.
“I’ll be back,” I said to Shade. “I just gotta talk to someone.”
The new General of Pernula nodded. “We’ll meet at the walls above the main gate in an hour and watch Marcellus hightail it out of here.”
I snorted. “Good plan.”
While Shade made his way back to the election official, I wove through the crowd until I reached my intended target. The copper-haired woman I had saved in that warehouse fire so many weeks ago stood at the front with her arms crossed while a mass of people filled the whole road behind her. Watching her warily, I stopped in front of her.
She held out her hand. “I’m Rowan.”
Reaching out, I took it. “I’m–”
“The Oncoming Storm.” She let out a brief chuckle. “Yeah, I know. After that stunt you pulled, standing up to the Rat King like that, there’s probably not an underworlder in the whole city who doesn’t know who you are by now.”
“Oh, uhm, I see.” I cleared my throat. “So, how’s it going being the leader?” I nodded at the crowd behind her.
“Still sucks. But I don’t trust any of the others to lead so I’m stuck with it.”
I chuckled in recognition before turning serious again. “So, you got your whole gang to vote for Shade, then?”
“Figured I kinda owed you after you saved my life and all.” Her eyes sparkled as she narrowed them at me. “Though I still remember the slaps.”
“Yeah...” I scratched my jaw. “Sorry about that.”
Rowan waved her hand as if to say that she’d been joking. “Besides, an assassin for General? Who would pass that up?” Before I had a chance to reply, she pressed on. “Alright, the Oncoming Storm. I’ve gotta go.”
I watched her in silence for a second before making a decision. “My friends call me Storm.”
“Storm.” She cracked a smile and looked me up and down. “Well then, Storm, if you ever decide to set up shop in this city, come find me, won’t you?”
“Will do.”
After one last nod, she turned around and disappeared into the mass of people behind her. A few moments later, her whole crew moved out as well. I tore my eyes from their retreating backs and made for the next alley.
The scent of warm stones and spices filled my nose as I drew in a deep breath of air. All around me, the square was alive with excitement. People were chatting and gossiping about tonight’s events while trying to push their way out of the packed space. Some had given up and remained rooted in their spots until the outer streets were clear but they were all engaged in intense discussions.
With basically none of the nobles to help him and mostly soldiers backing him from the working class, Shade would sure have an interesting start to his reign. But knowing what I knew about him, he would make it work regardless.
“Do you know who that was?” Yngvild said as soon as I was within earshot.
“Who?” I threw a look over my shoulder. “That woman over there? Yeah, her name is Rowan.”
“That’s Red Demon Rowan,” the tattooed warrior said. When I just looked back at him with a blank face, he elaborated. “She took over the second biggest gang in the city after their leader died in the warehouse explosion. It’s the only gang even close to rivaling the Rat King for power.”
“Huh.”
“How do you even know her?”
“I sorta saved her life back in that warehouse.”
Both Yngvild and Vania looked at me with raised eyebrows. The blond warrior woman leveled her piercing eyes on me.
“Interesting things happen around you, don’t they?” she said.
I let out a short chuckle. “I guess. Speaking of interesting things, what the hell happened tonight? I thought underworlders didn’t vote.”
Yngvild lifted his broad shoulders. “We haven’t had anyone to vote for. Until now.” He spread his hands. “Look, word of what you’ve been doing during this election has kind of spread. The ruined dinner, the drugged debate, the angry mob and the riot. All that. People talk.” He shrugged again. “We’re underworlders. We appreciate good shady skills when we see them.”
“Precisely,” Vania picked up. “And then when word was out that there was an assassin running for General, people actually started talking about voting. How often do you think an assassin and a thief run a political campaign in this city?”
Moving aside, I stepped out of the way as a group of well-fed gentlemen bustled past us on their way out.
“Not often?” I supplied while Yngvild and Vania joined me by the wall.
“You’re right about that,” the muscled warrior said and adjusted the battle axe on his back. “Then that night in the square with the Rat King, what you said about having an assassin General being good for us, it really resonated with a lot of people. The Rat King still hates your guts but even he understood the advantage of it and told his gang to vote for Shade. And after that, I think most crews decided to vote. Didn’t know there were this many of us, though.”
Wow. How about that? By sending the Rat King after me, Marcellus had actually started the process of his own demise. Though, I suppose I couldn’t fault him too much. Not even the underworlders themselves had known how many they numbered. But now we knew. And the future looked bright for Pernula.
Casting a glance over my shoulder, I watched the sun edge towards the horizon. If I was going to make it to the city wall in time, I had to leave.
“I’m sorry, I’ve gotta...” I hiked a thumb over my shoulder.
“Same.” Yngvild reached out and clasped my forearm. “Don’t be a stranger.”
After nodding and doing the same with Vania, I took off towards the main gate. This incredibly intense day was almost over. Almost. I grinned as I jogged through the streets still packed with people. First, I had a fleeing General to watch.
***
THE LONE FIGURE THAT was Marcellus tore out of the gate with not a minute to spare. His fast horse kicked up a cloud of dust as it disappeared into the grasslands. Leaning against the still warm stones, I watched him being swallowed by darkness.
“You let him go,” I said to Shade.
“Had to,” the assassin replied next to me. “Killing or imprisoning the previous General on my first day in power would’ve made a bad impression.”
“True.”
Shade was quiet for a moment before turning to face me again. His arm brushed against mine, sending a pulse through my body. “Thanks. For... uhm... you know, backing me up today.”
“Yeah.” Trying to ignore the strange sensation that had coursed through me, I scratched the back of my neck while my mouth drew into smile. “Anytime.”
We watched the darkness fall around us in comfortable silence until our resident grumpy elf stalked over. He crossed his toned arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall next to Shade.
“You’re incredibly arrogant and have an infuriating habit of ordering people about,” he said to the assassin.
Shade lifted his eyebrows while I was completely unsuccessful at stifling a surprised snort. Elaran turned to scowl at me.
“And what are you laughing about? You’re rude, violent, and the most disagreeable person I’ve ever met.” He drew his eyebrows down. “But...”
We both watched him with amused expressions on our faces while a struggle raged behind Elaran’s eyes. It seemed as though he had decided what to say earlier but was now suddenly unsure of whether he actually wanted to say it.
“You’re underworlders,” he finally pressed out. “You do things that I’ll never understand and never approve of and I thought that meant you had no honor.” He moved his eyes to Shade. “But then you fought me honorably and so well it ended in a tie. But then you fought dishonorably against Marcellus. But then you were ready to sacrifice your own damn life to save mine!”
No one said anything as the elf ran a hand over his tight side-braid and blew out a forceful breath.
“How was I supposed to make up my mind about what kind of person you are?” Elaran cleared his throat and shook his head as if to get himself back on track. “What I’m trying to say is, you do have honor. Maybe I don’t always see it or understand it but you have your own kind of honor.”
A memory from the under the ash trees of Tkeideru drifted past in my mind. Honor? I had scoffed at Elaran. I have my own kind of honor. He had used my own words from the summer we met. Turning away for a second, I wiped the wistful smile from my face before he could see it.
The tall elf straightened and held out his arm to the assassin. “Besides, anyone willing to risk his own life for me is a brother of mine.”
Shade clasped his forearm. “Likewise.”
I rolled my eyes and blew out a sigh. “Yep, this is officially a bromance.”
“Shut up,” both fighters said in unison.
However, before I had a chance to retort, Liam approached. Shade and Elaran exchanged a look, apparently taking the hint, and slid further away to give us privacy. Liam placed his arms on the gray stones next to me and leaned against the wall.
“Remember that couple I talked about who sell hats? The ones I made friends with?” he said.
Sand lodged under my nails as I picked at the stones. “Yeah?”
“They’re opening up a new shop and they think I’d be the perfect salesman for it so they offered me a job.” He paused for a few seconds. “I said yes.”
Uncontrollable laughter bubbled inside me but I didn’t let it out. Sell hats? After everything we’d been through, everything we’d done, he was going to sell hats? The sheer ridiculousness of it all threatened to have me break down so I used all my self-control to shove it aside.
“That’s wonderful,” I said instead. “Congratulations.”
His face was caught somewhere between a happy grin and a sad smile. “But that means I’m staying. Here in Pernula.” Putting a hand on my arm, he turned me towards him. “Storm, I finally know. This is what I was meant to do, where I was meant to be. With the money I make I can help Norah keep the school open and we can let even more poor kids go to school. And living here, I don’t have to be that person I don’t want to be. I can just be me.”
“I’m really happy for you,” I said and truly meant it. “I’m glad you’ve figured out what you want from life. And Norah is a lucky woman.”
My friend blushed. “I really like her.”
“I know. If staying here with her makes you happy, then I’m happy.”
I gave his arm a short squeeze and showed him a bright smile but inside, my heart was shattering into a million pieces. My best friend was leaving me.
Liam drew me into a tight hug. “Thank you for saying that.”
When he released me, it was only by sheer force of will that no trace of the heartbreak was visible in my face.
“Are you coming?” he asked and moved towards the stairs.
I shook my head. “I think I’m gonna stay for a while.”
“Okay, I’ll see you back at the school.”
One by one, my friends climbed the steps back down to the ground while I watched the darkness. What an adventure it had been. We had actually won an election in a foreign country, despite Elaran’s previous pessimistic predictions, and now Shade was the new General of Pernula. No war would be brought to our island as long as he held that position. And given everything I’d found out about that power-hungry assassin who also happened to be the real heir to the throne of Keutunan, I had a feeling that he was going to stay in power for quite some time. The war against Pernula had been won. By deceit and trickery. I cracked a grin. As most things in my life were.
“The others have left,” Zaina said as she paused behind me. “I’m heading back too.”
“Alright,” I said before a sudden thought struck me. “Wait. I have a question.”
“About?”
Turning around, I met her eyes. “What’s Ashaana?”
Laughter erupted from her throat. “Funny.” When I just stared at her, she drew back. “You’re serious?”
“Yeah.”
“You don’t actually know? What you are? All this time...” She ran her hands through her curly black hair. “Wow.”
“Well, to be fair, it was the only thing keeping you from slitting our throats there in that alley so I figured it was best to play along.”
Zaina let out a hearty chuckle. “Good point.”
“So, what is it?”
“Ashaana is another name for your people.”
In my chest, my heart thumped against my ribs. This was it. I was finally going to find out what I was. “My people?”
“You’re a Storm Caster.”
Air rushed out of my lungs. A Storm Caster? What did that even mean? As if she had heard my thoughts, Zaina continued.
“I don’t know much about it, no one does, because your people are very rare and very secretive. They exist, but I’m afraid that’s about as much as I can tell you.” She rubbed her hands up and down her arms. After clapping a hand to my shoulder, she moved towards the stairs. “I’ll leave you to it.”
The darkness inside me lay quiet, oblivious to the monumental truth I had, at long last, learned about myself. I still didn’t know how it worked or how to control it, but now I had a lead. Excitement built in my chest as I stared out into the darkened wilderness. There were others like me. Out there. Somewhere.
Finding them would probably not be easy. It might take years and require lots of threats, bribery, and intimidation. But I was good at that. And when I wanted something, I made sure I got it. A great challenge awaited me but at least now I knew what I was. I was a Storm Caster.
Do you want to know what happens when Shade and Elaran make fun of Storm while Haela is trying to teach her how to ride a horse? Get your exclusive bonus scene here and find out: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/57og8k4hda
In the meantime, your favorite knife-throwing thief is waiting for you in A Storm of Glass and Stars, book four of ‘The Oncoming Storm’ series. Continue Storm’s adventures here: www.books2read.com/astormofglassandstars
