Exile in the Water Kingdom (The Elemental Phases Book 3) (14 page)

Gion
was honestly touched by the vote confidence.  “I appreciate that.”

“You’re
welcome.”  Tharsis gestured to the television.  “Now, pay attention, or you’ll
miss the elimination round.”

The low'ring element
Scowls o'er the darken'd landscape.

John Milton-
‘Paradise Lost’

Since
Ty escaped the Air House dungeons, Parald had been compensating by fucking as
many women as he could on the stone floor of her cell, imagining that they were
his errant Match.

As
always, he made sure that his partner faced away from him.  It made it so much
easier to pretend that he was really taking Ty.  The current woman was too thin
and lifeless to be a satisfactory substitute.  Her straight, dark hair was a
far cry from the Water House’s lush red.  But, he made do until he could have
the real prize under him.  Parald had to compromise on so much and he
hated
compromising.

His
hand twisted in the offending locks and pounded into her from behind.  “Did you
let Gion touch you like this, Ty?”

“No,
sire.”

“I
think you did.  I think you let him take what’s mine, didn’t you, you bitch?”

“No,
sire.”

Parald
glanced over to the open doorway where he’d ordered Isaacs to stand.  Parald
liked demonstrating his power to his men.  Liked them to watch.

Gion
had been a total wash out at it.  The one time Parald had tried forcing him to
watch, the son-of-a-bitch had looked Parald up and down, flashed that cold,
derisive smirk, and walked out of the room.  That had ruined the mood, as far as
Parald was concerned.

Saxon,
on the other hand, enjoyed the shows.  His cruel face always reflected pleasure
as Parald fucked some woman into submission.  He actually got off on it.  But,
that bastard had let Gion get away, so Parald wouldn’t be rewarding him anytime
soon.

Isaacs
did as he was commanded and stayed put, but his obvious hatred for the shows
came through loud and clear.  His shoulders hunched, his eyes focused on a spot
three feet to the left of the action, he just stood there and endured.  In a
way, Parald liked that reaction best of all.

It
gave him power over Isaacs and the girl.

Parald
sped up, gripping the woman’s hideous hair tighter.  Phases from different
Houses were in the Air Kingdom for various reasons, but they were never worthy. 
This one should be grateful he’d noticed her, at all.  If he could only find an
authentic redhead, he would have accepted her, no matter where she came from. 
And, if she already had a Match who he could take her
from
, it would be
so much the better.  He loved the idea of taking
anything
from weaker
men.  Parald was the King.  He could have anything he wanted.

“Who
do you belong to, Ty?”  He demanded.

“You,
sire.”

“I
didn’t hear you.”

“You,
sire!”

“Who’s
your Match?”

The
woman was new, but she was already used to his demands.  “Parald, King of the
Air House.”

He
slammed into her savagely.  “You’re mine, Ty! 
Mine
.”  He came hard,
roaring out his release.

In
the doorway, Isaacs cringed in disgust.

Sedated
and out of breath, Parald got to his feet, again, leaving the woman on the
floor.  He didn’t bother to even glance in her direction as she meekly gathered
her clothes.  She’d served her purpose.

“So,
why haven’t you brought me my Match, yet, Isaacs?”  Parald hadn’t removed his
pants, so he just zipped them back up as he marched forward.  “Do you think I
like fucking whores, when I should have a queen?”

Isaacs
glanced over at the woman and then away, again.  “I’m working on it, sire.  Ty
rarely leaves the Water Kingdom.  And, since we grabbed her in the human realm,
her security’s been better when she’s there, too.  The only other spot she ever
goes is the Agora…”

“So,
get her
there
, then!”  Parald interrupted.

“Sire,
we can’t.”  Isaacs looked shocked.  “The Agora is a safe zone.  There’s been no
fighting there since Vandal, of the Light House six hundred years ago.  Job
will…”

“I’m
the King of the Air House!  I can do anything I want!”  Parald screamed the
words.  “I want my Match and I want her, now!  I don’t give a shit about Job!”

Isaacs
sighed.  “Yes, sire.”

“And
once I have her.”  Parald continued dreamily.  “I’m going to take Ty right
there in the great hall, where every one of my soldiers can watch me break
her.  Won’t you enjoy that?”

Silence.

“I
said, won’t you enjoy that, Isaacs?”

“Yes,
sire.”

The
grudging words filled Parald with satisfaction.  He had no idea why so many
people disliked the idea of “yes men.”  Personally, he reveled in the power to
force everyone to agree with him, even if they didn’t want to.  “What else do
you have to report?”  Parald despised Gion, but, he had to admit, the
son-of-a-bitch wrote a hell of a security report.  Isaacs wasn’t nearly so
skilled.

“There’s
some rumbling about the rebels that I’m concerned about.”

Parald
rolled his eyes and made his way out of the dungeon.  There were always
rumblings about the so-called “rebels.”  Some mythical band of freedom
fighters, poised to bring down the Air House from within.

It
was all horseshit.

Parald
had scoured the kingdom from top to bottom and never discovered a single one. 
He’d even tried torturing the information out of people, looking for anyone who
might secretly oppose him.  He’d found nothing.  In fact, he’d found so
much
nothing that Gion made him feel like an idiot for even continuing the search.

Frankly,
it amused Parald that anyone would try to rebel against him.  He was the King. 
No one could possibly overthrow him.  He regularly executed suspected traitors,
mainly just to scare the others, but a few whiny malcontents weren’t something
that he took seriously.

“
Gion
was never concerned about the piss-ant rebels.”  Parald recognized Isaacs’
insecurity when it came to Gion and used every opportunity to throw him up in
Isaacs’ face.  “Gion actually had some balls.”

“Well,
since Gion betrayed you, sire, I’m not sure he’s the greatest authority what’s
best for the kingdom.”

Parald
turned to pin him with a dark look.  He hated it when anyone questioned him.

Isaacs
jaw clenched and he looked away.  “Kingu also asks that you come to the house
when you have a moment.  He wouldn’t tell me why.”

Excellent.

Parald
trotted up the steps and into the main section of the Air Palace, dismissing
Isaacs from his mind.  His subjects bowed their heads as he passed them. 
Parald savored their fearful respect.  As a boy, he’d been one of them; one of
the faceless nobodies huddling in corners as the king walked by.

Seneca.

That
arrogant bastard had lorded his powers over everyone.  In his youth, Parald had
worked in the Air House kitchens.  Even then, he’d known he was made for
something better and he never let anything stop his rise.  He’d seen what it
meant it have real control over people.  Now, he was the one in command.

Walking
out into the high grass plains of the Air Kingdom, Parald made his way to Kay’s
house.  The holder of the primordial Khaos, Kay had been trapped in the Air
Kingdom by her sister, Tessie.  Kay’s imprisonment became Parald’s good luck. 
With Kay’s help, he’d begun gathering the fabled Tablets of Fate.

For
millennia, the Tablets of Fate had been an Elemental fairytale. 
Liberty,
Health, Love, Happiness, Compassion, Justice, Valor, Peace, and Reason;
nine small boxes that spelled out the fate of the world.
 
Neither good nor bad, each one had its own
powers.  The individual Tablets were sealed into boxes.  Separate, they packed
a wallop that could end the world.  But, put together, the Tablets were the greatest
force in the universe.

Since
Parald discovered their existence, he’d been determined to possess them all. 
So far, he’d had two and they’d both been pretty fucking useful.  Without the
Health Tablet, for instance, he never would have been able to create the Fall.

Unfortunately,
for Parald’s plans, Tessie also knew how to use the Health Tablet.  That whore
of Job’s put Kay into a supernatural coma and stole the Health box for herself. 
Without Kay, he lost his most important ally.  By himself, Parald wasn’t sure
how to manipulate the one Tablet he had left and he needed to pull a rabbit out
of his ass if he was going to get Ty away from Gion.

Kay’s
home was a grotesque Minnie Mouse concoction of pink gingerbread.  Parald hated
looking at it from the windows of his castle every day.  Even with Kay in the
coma, though, he feared her too deeply to order it torn down.

Something
else he had to compromise on.

He
didn’t bother to knock on the front door.  He just walked inside.  “Kingu?  Did
you solve it?”

“I
solved it.”  Kay’s son came into the foyer.  Parald preferred surrounding
himself with beautiful things, but he’d had to compromise with the Dragon Man,
too.  Kingu’s monstrous body towered over him, which annoyed Parald, and the
guy’s hideous, slightly reptilian features gave everyone the creeps.  At least,
he wasn’t entirely useless, though.

For
years, everyone assumed that Kingu didn’t have any powers of his own.  Now,
Parald wasn’t so sure.  The unnatural bastard obviously understood
some
of how the Tablets worked.  He was egotistical and weird, but, since Kay was
down for the count, Kingu was Parald’s only option.

God
knew, none of his idiot subjects could have lent a hand.  Sometime Parald felt
like he ruled over the biggest bunch of nimrods in the universe.

“Well,
it’s about time.”  He kept his eyes off of Kingu’s vaguely snake-like skin.  “I
thought I’d have to write the damn thing myself.”

“I
have the translation we’ll need.”  Kingu said flatly.

Parald’s
boyish face creased into a smile as Kingu placed the box into his hand.  The
size of a Rubic’s Cube, its mirrored sides were covered in archaic writing.  It
seemed impossible that something so small held so much power.  “I found the
bait, too.”  The woman he’d been screwing earlier had actually been the one to
help with that.  Who would have guessed that the stupid bitch could serve an
actual purpose off of her knees?

Kingu
nodded.  “Then, we’re ready to begin.”

Parald
tossed the box into the air and caught it in one hand.  “Let’s go get my Match
back.”

The feminine
element in the brilliant audience seemed curiously puzzled.

Gaston
Leroux-‘The Phantom of Opera’

Ty
didn’t sleep well.

Most
nights her insomnia kept her awake until the wee hours of the morning.  Ty
dreaded closing her eyes, because she knew the horrible scenes that waited for
her in the recesses of her mind.  Her nightmares were infected with
frightening, half-remembered images from her past.  Worse, laying alone in the
darkness left Ty feeling incredibly vulnerable.  She jumped at every sound, tense
and waiting for an attack.

Night
was her enemy.

Through
experience, Ty found that it was better if she worked from of midnight to five
am.  Once Ty saw the sun coming up she felt safer.  Childish and silly as it
seemed, she’d rather live on three hours of sleep a night than surrender to her
memories.  Besides, that meant she had more time to focus on her projects.

Currently,
the energy she felt with Gion took most of Ty’s considerable attention.  Why
did they feel it?  How could it possibly be explained?  Gion might not be
interested in the answers, but Ty certainly was.  Since she had no intention of
stopping
the connection, Ty didn’t see how researching the phenomena
would break her promise to him.

Ty
was looking for explanations on her laptop, when she heard the music.

Continuous
silence was a mixed blessing of living in a kingdom devoid of people.  On the
one hand, it was usually pretty peaceful.  But, on the other, when something
did make noise, it tended to catch her attention.  Ty had gotten used to the
quiet.

She
pulled herself out of research-mode and blinked over at the clock in the lower
right hand corner of the computer screen.  Who the heck was playing music at
2:47 in the morning?

Actually,
that was sort of a rhetorical question.  Gion, Brokk, and Tharsis were the only
other fulltime residences of the Water Kingdom, now.  And violin concertos
weren’t exactly in her cousin or Brokk’s repertoires.  That dramatically narrowed
the suspects.

Ty
hesitated for a beat, then gave into impulse.  Saving her data, she stood up
and went to investigate.  The tile was cool under her feet, but she didn’t
pause to find her shoes.  Ty hurried for the door, grabbing up her robe as she
went.  The soft white fabric fell against her legs as she headed down the hall.

She
recognized the song, now.  
Ashokan Farewell
.  The sweet, melancholy
sound on it filled the corridor, drawing her forward.

It
could only be coming from one spot.  The music hall housed all of the Water
Kingdom’s instruments, including the violins.  Before the Fall, the Water
Palace had put on legendary concerts in the large, acoustically designed
chamber.  Ty vividly remembered sitting next to her parents, listening to the
greatest performers in the Elemental realm.  Those were some of the happiest
days of her life.

It
had been so long since she’d heard instruments played in the palace.  All the
best Elemental musicians died in the Fall, their voices and harmonies silenced
forever.  Not even the Sound Phases held concerts anymore and they were all
incredibly gifted performers.  Ty had never thought that the Water Palace would
echo with music, again.  She played the piano, but she certainly didn’t consider
herself a great talent.

Not
like this.

Not
like Gion.

Utterly
enchanted, Ty made her way to the music room’s door.  It stood open, so she
could peer in at him.  With one violin, in a darkened room, without an audience
or sheet music, Gion put all the sad longing of the world into a single melody.

Ty
felt eyes sting the back of her eyes.

All
the Elemental’s musicians hadn’t passed to the next world, after all.

Gion
remained.

The
notes wept from the violin as he played. 
Ashokan Farewell
was a modern
composition.  A romantic lament.  Ty loved the song, but she wouldn’t have
thought that it suited Gion’s tastes, at all.  It seemed like he should have
selected something heavier to amuse himself.  Wagner, maybe.  This lonely,
bittersweet tune seemed like the complete antithesis of Gion’s sinister image.

And
yet he played it beautifully.

It
took Ty a second to realize that his accomplishment went beyond musical
virtuosity, though.  Gion held the violin, but he hadn’t picked up the bow. 
His fingers held down the notes, while he moved his Air powers to move back and
forth over the strings.  He was playing the song with nothing by his energy and
imagination.

No
one should be able to do that.  The concentration of power that it must’ve
taken to carefully manipulate the pressure against the strings, the precision
of the Air sliding at just the right angles to produce the notes, it was…
amazing.  Impossible.  Except, somehow, Gion was doing it.  Not another single
Phase in the universe could’ve accomplished it.

Just
Gion, of the Water House.

Ty
felt stupendously proud of that.

She
might have ruled over a tiny kingdom, but now she had an
artist
as one
of her subjects.  How many other queens could say that?  Ty hadn’t exactly
known what to do with Gion the
mercenary
, but Gion the
musician
was a real boon for her.  Her parents had always taken pride in the Water
Kingdom’s commitment to culture. 
Finally
, she’d accomplished something
that lived up to their example. 
Finally
, her tenure as queen had
produced something worthwhile.

With
one inadvertent recital, a lot of Ty’s paralyzing fear about how this amnesty
thing could possibly work, faded.  Far from plotting to harm anyone or trying
to cause trouble, Gion was already making a place for himself.

Ty
started smiling.

The
song ended far too soon.  The final haunting notes faded away and Gion lowered
the violin.  There really wasn’t anything left to do, but applaud.  Ty didn’t
even think about it.  She just started clapping.

Gion’s
head snapped around like she’d fired off a canon.  Apparently, not many people
ever snuck up on Gion.  His mouth sagged open in shock as he spotted her
standing there.

“That
was incredible.”  Ty felt the dazzled grin on her face.  “I had no idea you
were a musician.”

“I’m
not.”  Gion said instantly.  His eyes stayed fixed on her face.  He’d looked
that way when she smiled at him in the library, too.  Like her expression
fascinated him.  He set the violin down.  “I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t even be in
here.  I wasn’t stealing anything or…”

“Of
course, you should be in here.”  Ty interrupted.  “The music hall belongs to
everyone.  To all the citizens of the Water Kingdom.”  She edged further into
the room.  “Really, you’re the only musician left now, so this is all yours, by
default.”

“I’m
not a musician.”  He repeated.  For the first time ever, Gion looked
embarrassed. “It’s just an exercise to direct my powers.  I have to keep them
under control.”

Ty
ignored that.  The last thing Gion needed was stronger powers.  Besides which,
she’d never heard of a single exercise program that featured violins.  He made
music because he loved it.  “Where did you learn to play?”

“Parson,
of the Wood House taught me.”  He watched her warily.  “I didn’t mean to wake
you.  I couldn’t sleep and I was making sure the palace was secure.  And then I
saw the…”

“Secure?” 
Ty interrupted.  “
Again
?  Didn’t you do that earlier? And then again
before that?”  All Gion ever did was worry about security.  He was taking his
assignment very, very seriously.

“I
did check earlier.”  He agreed in a humoring tone.  “But, you have too many
places here that can’t
be
properly secured.  Too many doors and access
points.  Like that, for instance.”  He gestured towards the exterior wall,
which was composed entirely of glass panels that could slide out of the way and
make the room open to the outside.  The music hall connected to an exterior
balcony that overlooked the sea.  The large space had always been a favorite
concert spot in the summer.  “Why doesn’t that door lock, Tritone?”

“Lock
against what?”  Alone in her room, Ty often gave into her fears and barricaded
doors, but, here with Gion, she felt secure enough to shrug at the
pointlessness of it.  “Nobody left in the kingdom would hurt me.  And if anyone
else is strong enough to get through our barriers, I really don’t think that a
locked door will stymie their plans, do you?”

Gion
scowled.  “You need to be more careful.”  He insisted, not backing down.

Ty
didn’t want to argue with him.  She tuned out his grumbling and ran an absent
hand over a harp.  The strings made an enchanting sound as she trailed her
fingers along them.  Gion must’ve been digging around the in storage area,
because he’d unearthed a lot of different instruments.  Flutes and cellos and
some Elemental instruments that only a few people left alive could even play. 
The thought struck Ty as tragic.  “We had recitals here, you know.  Phases came
from all over the realm to enjoy them.”

“I
remember.”

Ty
couldn’t exactly describe his tone, but she knew instinctively that Gion must’ve
attended one.  “Really?”  She glanced over at him, pleased.  “Which concert
were you here for?”

“I…uh,”
he cleared his throat, “I went to several.  The first time I ever saw you was
here in this room.  Clea, of the Sound House gave a performance.  You wore a
white dress.”  Gion briefly met her eyes and then shrugged.  “You wouldn’t
remember.  You were very young.”

Ty
considered that for a beat and realized that she didn’t recall a time when Gion
wasn’t
a part of her life.  She didn’t remember when she’d formally met
him, because she’d
always
known he was there.  Even before they spoken
or interacted, Gion had never seemed like a stranger.

And
she vividly recollected Clea’s concert.  The woman had possessed the most
beautiful voice in the universe.  Everyone who heard it was spellbound.  Clea’s
talent was a gift from Gaia.

She’d
died the third afternoon of the Fall.

“Clea
sang Puccini.  My dress was eyelet with a blue sash.  I remember that night.” 
Ty shook her head.  “I thought I looked very grown-up.  I’d just turned
eighty-four.”

Gion
glanced at her sharply.  “You were only eighty-four?”

Ty
nodded.

“Of
course, you were.  Jesus.”  He muttered.  “I’m going straight to Hell.”  Gion
was quiet for a beat.  Then, he actually chuckled.  “You
did
look very
grown-up in that dress, though.”  He agreed dryly.  “I thought that, too.”

Ty
blinked at his unprecedented show of amusement.  Gion’s laugh sounded rusty and
dark, but it vibrated something deep inside of her.  It actually took Ty a
second to understand that he’d just paid her a compliment… sort of.  Ty loved
compliments.

“I
was going to apologize for not remembering you being there, but I think it’s
probably good that I
don’t
.  Lecherous old man.”

Instantly,
Ty wished that she could take the words back.  That was the closest she’d ever
come to teasing Gion.  Really, it was the closest she’d come to teasing anyone
but her family since the Fall.  Ty liked to keep her distance from people and
joking with them didn’t facilitate that goal.  Besides, she was never confident
that anyone else understood her sense of humor.  Parald used to look at her
like she was from Neptune whenever she’d shared something funny with him. 
Either that or he took her seriously and demanded that she explain what she
meant by that remark.

Ty’s
body tensed up, waiting for some outraged complaint.

Instead,
Gion’s mouth curved.  “Yes, well, even if I did break a few decency laws with
my admiration of you, I still don’t repent.”

Ty
let out a breath, relaxing, again.  Gion
got
it.  He was bantering
back.  She felt a stab of relief and delight.  The Darth Vader of the Elemental
realm had a sense of humor.  In one day, he’d already jumped about
three-hundred places on Ty’s “Why did
he
have to survive the Fall?”
list.

She
flashed him another grin and her hand slid over a trumpet.  Gion had the
instruments set up here and there on the music hall’s white chairs.  “Well,
maybe you came to ogle little girls, but I mostly remember the music.  That’s
all I really cared about at any concert.  I was never good at socializing.”

“Neither
am I.”

“No,
but you have so many other talents.”  Ty sighed.  “I wish my parents were
here.  We had an entire artists’ community, at one time.”  She looked around
the music hall and seeing it as it once was: alive and full of magic.  “I wish
they could have heard you, just now.  They would have been so proud that you’re
part of the Water Kingdom.”

Gion’s
expression reflected such astonishment that Ty almost grinned, again.  He
watched her as if he expected her to burst out laughing and proclaim that
statement a ridiculous joke.  “Are you kidding?”  He prompted when Ty remained
silent.