Ascension (53 page)

“
They took up
residence in the old ruins of the stables. They
’
ve been camping out there for
nearly two weeks. The King has sent a few rounds of guards to the
stables to try and bully them into coming back, but they put up a
good fight and the King just doesn
’
t have enough man power right
now in the city with almost all of his men surrounding the
wall.
”

“
Croxley, we need
to join up with them,
”
Jean told Croxley.
He nodded.

“
I know, I was
thinking the same thing. But first, we need to save the rest of the
girls in the tower.
”
Croxley then turned
to Winnerva.
“
Winnerva, do you know which
tower the girls are located? And where we could possibly get a
key?
”

“
They are in the
north wing. As far as a key, I can
’
t help you there. I
wouldn
’
t know
where to look, but my best guess is that it would be with the
King.
”
Winnerva held up a hand to silence
them, and cocked her head to the side. She listened for a few
heartbeats, then said,
“
Hush now, you
have to go. Someone is coming.
”

Jean took
Winnerva
’
s
hand, whispered her thanks, and ran with Croxley towards the
King
’
s throne
room.

Ξ

“
I
haven
’
t been to
the throne room since my evaluation,
”
Jean murmured quietly.
“
To be
honest, it
’
s
making me nervous.
”

Croxley thought
guiltily about all the evaluations he had attended, sitting through
them with disinterest. For him, it was only a chore. But for those
under inspection, it must have been nerve-racking. A simple wave of
the King
’
s hand
could determine the job you had for the rest of your life,
something that could make the difference between being a guard for
the castle or being a garbage collector.

He remembered, as
well, the pain he saw in Fara
’
s eyes when he had to feign
indifference to her fate. The way she had looked at him, as if he
had turned her over to the wolves without a second thought. Well,
it must have seemed like that to her.

He and Jean
slowly made their way through the empty throne room, and Croxley
wondered where the King was. He was almost always in the throne
room. The only times he left was to sleep, dine, and fight. Oh no,
thought Crolxey, he must
’
ve gone to the wall. Croxley
made a silent plea for the health of his friends on the outside of
the wall, then turned his mind to focus on where the King would
place the key.

A distant memory
tickled the back of his mind while his eyes scanned the room. They
stopped at the foot of the throne, and although he
couldn
’
t see
anything, he wasn
’
t able to tear his eyes away from it. He simply felt like
there was something there. He studied it, looking for some kind of
clue, but the only thing out of the ordinary was the rug under the
throne, which was a little crumbled.

Suddenly, the memory revealed
itself, and he watched a faded scene play out in his mind of him
and the Prince playing around the throne when they were children.
The King had been busy at a council meeting, or rather, the time
when the King told everyone what they had to do, and Prince Erik
was sitting on the throne.

“
This will be me
one day,
”
he announced in his high
pitched, seven year old voice.
“And I
’
ll be the meanest, strongest,
most powerful King there is.
”

Croxley was sitting at the foot of
the throne, picking at the edge of the rug, when he noticed
something underneath the it.

“
Hey Erik,
what
’
s
that,
”
he had asked, interrupting the
daydreams of his friend.

“
What? I
don
’
t
know.
”
Erik jumped off the throne and
knelt next to his friend. They both inspected what looked like a
small door underneath the back leg of the throne. They looked at
each other, their eyes ablaze, thrilled by the new mystery to
solve. They ran behind the throne and tried to push it forward,
using all of their seven-year-old strength, but it
didn
’
t move one
budge.

They were huffing
and puffing from the effort, but they didn
’
t give up. They pushed once
more, just barely getting the leg off the door, when suddenly the
King appeared from behind them.

“
What are you
doing,
”
he fumed, his eyes crazed and his
face contorted in anger. He grabbed Erik by the arm and pulled him
back, lifting him into the air, dangling him in front of his
face.
“
Do not touch this.
Ever!
”

Croxley just stood nearby, watching
Erik try to hold back the tears forming in his eyes. He looked
away, not wanting to see his friend lose face. From that point on,
Croxley was always wary of displeasing the King.

Now, in the room again, Croxley
walked to the corner of the throne. He pulled back the rug, and
sure enough, there was the door. The leg of the throne had already
been moved, no longer covering the door.

“
Jean, come
here,
”
he said, calling her
over.

She wandered
over, and looked in astonishment at the door.
“
Is that what I think it is? Where does it
go?
”

“
I
don’
t know, but whatever is down there is
important. The key to the tower might be in there,
”
Croxley told her.

She focused on it
as she joined Croxley
’
s side, as if trying to decide if it was real or not.
Croxley opened it and saw a staircase leading down.
“
Shall we?
”
He stepped
down into the room and was about to call Jean down when he noticed
the flicker of a lantern.

“
Wait up
there,
”
he whispered to Jean before
quietly descending back down.

As he made his
way around the corner, he saw a figure in the center of the room,
standing next to a large pedestal. He couldn
’
t quite figure out what it was
on top of the pedestal, until the light from the lantern flickered
across it. It was a jewel the size of Croxley
’
s fist, a bright blue shade that
seemed to radiate from inside. The figure
’
s back was to him, and he was
about to find a place to hide when they grabbed the jewel and spun
around.

“
Lena!”
Croxley
couldn
’
t hold
back his cry of astonishment. At the same time, Lena let out a hiss
of anger.

“
You! What are
you doing here?
”

“
I should be
asking the same of you!
”

Lena
shrugged.
“
Well, there
’
s no point in hiding it.
I
’
m taking the
source of Ahrenia
’
s wealth.
”

“
What?
”
Croxley couldn
’
t seem to find anything else to
say.

“
You mean you
didn
’
t know?
Here, I
’
ll give
you a little history lesson. Throughout the neighboring lands,
there are tales of Ahrenia
’
s wealth, tales of all the
different gems and jewels that have been found in your mines. A few
centuries ago, Ahrenia found this beauty right here,
”
she paused, rotating it in the lantern light. It
caught the light and refracted it throughout the room, dancing
across Lena
’
s
face like a mask.
“
Wrought with greed,
the King at the time became obsessed with finding more jewels like
this. And although they came up with many smaller, less impressive
stones, he was never satisfied. So he sent all the poor, the
disabled, the criminals, anyone he saw as expendable, to the mines
in the quest for a jewel greater than this one. He told the people
that it was a Purge of sorts, and he would only let them back on
the surface if they could find a stone of even greater beauty.
Obviously, it was never found, but he died before the mines were
shut down, and all those people were left down in the mines, with
no one bothering to bring them back up.
”

Croxley tried to
wrap his mind around this. It went against all he had been told
about the origin of the Nethers. Either way, no matter what the
true story, sentencing a mass of people to life underground was
wrong, he reminded himself. But to think that all of this
prejudice, all of this war, was because of some greedy
King
’
s quest
for more riches? And to be told this by a foreigner?
“
How do you know all this?
”
Croxley demanded.

“
Everyone else
knows it. But all you Ahrenians have been brainwashed into thinking
you are better than everyone else, including some of your own
people. It
’
s a
pity, really. Your country has so much potential, and its all
wasting away underground.
”
Lena put the
jewel in her cloak.
“
Well,
that
’
s enough
story time for now. I
’
m going to take this gem and go back to my home country.
You all have fun with your civil war here.
”

“
Wait,
stop!
”
Croxley blocked the entrance and
drew his sword against her.
“I can
’
t let you take that.
”
He pushed her back against the corner of the
room, and she put her hands up, fear in her eyes. But Croxley
watched the fear changed into amusement as her gaze traveled over
his shoulder.

“
How about I
offer you a trade?
”
She said, and Croxley
turned around slowly, keeping his sword trained on Lena until his
eyes found what she was looking at.

“
Jean!”
Jean had
a knife pressed against her throat by a guard, the same one Croxley
had seen going in and out of Lena
’
s room before.

“
I
’
ll have Bentley release Jean if
you forget this whole thing and let me, with the gem in tow, leave
this country,
”
Lena offered with a slick
glean in her eyes.

Croxley looked
between the gem and Jean. He felt as though he was being forced to
chose between his nation and the girl he
…
loved? His mind filled in the blank, and he realized that
he did love Jean, just as much as he hated what the gem symbolized.
If this was the reason so many people had been banished
underground, if this was the reason Ahrenia had been split for so
long, he believed that Ahrenia would have a better future without
it.

Bentley pushed
the blade harder against Jean
’
s throat and she gasped. That
sound spurred Croxley into making his decision.

“
First release
her, and then I
’
ll let you go,
”
Croxley told
Lena, lowering his sword only slightly. She smirked in triumph as
she motioned for Bentley to release Jean. He shoved her towards
Croxley, who had to drop his sword in order to catch her from
falling.

“
I knew you would
chose her over the gem. You always were a sap, Croxley,
”
Lena said, picking up Croxley
’
s sword and running to the
exit.
“
Oh, and good luck with your little
rebellion,
”
she threw over her shoulder
as she and Bentley ran up the stairs and out of the room. Croxley
inspected Jean
’
s neck, looking for any wounds, but only finding the scar
on her neck from their encounter with Mathelda.
“Are you
okay?”
He asked her, still holding her in his
arms.

“
I
’
m fine, I
’
m fine. Actually,
”
she said, pulling something out of her
pocket,
“I
’
m
more than okay. I think I got the key to the tower.
”
She held up a key and smiled.
“
I snatched it from that guard when he had me in
his grip.
”