CHAPTER ASHBORN 428: FINAL MOMENTS (TWO)

With each painful step, Maiya grew increasingly desperate. Not because she’d been marched out of the cell with Ira, or because their path had been lined with thorns and tiny metal pins, all designed to cut into their bare soles. Or even because of the countless lashings they’d received as they were paraded around the Commons like livestock.

Their rags had been cut to shreds by the whips the Sonamites had brought out, many of which had barbs designed to cut deeper into their skin.

As a result, Ira’s pristine back was now a canvas of red, and by the pain, Maiya imagined her own didn’t look too different. Something she suspected was true for most parts of her body—the enraged populace wasn’t too particular about their aim, resulting in shredded rags that were on the verge of coming apart.

But Maiya had endured her fair share in her lifetime. Pain and shame could be endured and ignored. Andros’ holding the other end of the chains that bound their necks could not.

Despite having messaged all the Children of Ash in the area to come to her aid, they struggled to penetrate the thick crowd of jeering onlookers. It was with a sick feeling that Maiya realized more people had turned out for their execution than even a royal parade.

The Sonamites’ enthusiasm had effectively blocked Maiya from any aid she might receive. If an escape was to be attempted, it would have to be done on their own. And without weapons, magic, and under the watch of the most powerful Talent wielder in the Human Realm, Maiya suddenly felt like a liar. How could she even hope for a successful escape when she couldn’t even break the chains that bound her?

And so, Maiya bided her time, desperately searching for an opportunity—a moment of distraction they could use to get the slip on Andros. It was why she failed to notice Ira’s fall until she almost stumbled over the princess.

“Are you alright?” Maiya asked, rushing to Ira’s side.

“Fine,” Ira said, breathing heavily. “Just a bit weak, is all.”

“Up!” Andros bellowed, yanking on Ira’s collar. The action sent Ira all the way to the ground, where she was mercilessly whipped by the onlookers.

Maiya immediately moved to block the strikes, taking them on her back and arms instead.

Ira’s eyes bulged. “No! Maiya, don’t—”

“Please, Ira, just get up,” Maiya said, smiling through gritted teeth despite the pain. “This stings a bit, you know?”

Ira scrambled to her feet as quickly as she could, but not fast enough.

“I said, get UP!” Andros thundered, slapping Ira across the face with the back of his armored hand.

Blood and teeth flew from Ira’s mouth as she shrieked in pain, nearly collapsing to the ground again. The only reason she didn’t was because Maiya was there to hold her.

“Pathetic!” Andros roared. “My own daughter! The weakest of the Kin’jal. You dare seek my throne?”

“No one wants your throne,” Ira said, spitting out a broken tooth. “I only sought a better world.”

Andros barked with laughter. “Kin’jal has been the embodiment of perfection for millennia. Perfection has no need of your meddling. Nor of your continued existence. Now, march!”

“Just ignore him,” Maiya muttered, helping Ira to her feet.

Maiya couldn’t help but be shocked at how bony and fragile the princess felt. Ira had always hidden them under her frilly outfits, but now, seeing her up close, she more closely resembled a skeleton than a healthy human.

And she’s been shunned her whole life for her frailty.What a stupid culture.

Ira had one of the most brilliant minds of anyone Maiya knew. To be reduced to this? To be punished with such a cruel fate for trying to better the world… To have failed…

Maiya’s thoughts were interrupted by the sight that came into view in the distance. A massive iron cauldron and the bonfire that raged below it, in the very center of Sonam’s largest square. Ｒ𝙖ɴȯ𝐁Εṣ

Maiya couldn’t allow that to happen to Ira. She refused to.

There was but one weapon left in Maiya’s arsenal. An imperfect weapon, but one she’d have to rely on. A weapon no human had a defense against.

It was her only hope. They neared an alleyway that was only partially filled. Her seric opportunity.

“I must thank you,” Andros muttered, too quiet for any prying ears to hear. “Truly remarkable. Not only did you hand me Hiranya, you’ve given me Sai as well. Just as I’d intended.”

Ira whirled. “You couldn’t have.”

“Couldn’t have laid the bait?” Andros asked, smirking. “Couldn’t have sown the seeds to tempt you into this course of action? I suppose I couldn’t have ignored all the reports of your clandestine activities, either. Your mistakes were many, daughter, but you should not have trusted your handmaidens so blindly.”

“They’d never betray me,” Ira said. “I vetted each thoroughly.”

Maiya knew firsthand just how true that was. Ira had made no mistake there.

“They would never betray their country,” Andros said. “And I rule this country. Not you.”

This has to stop, Maiya thought.

Andros’ words were like poison, seeping into Ira’s skin. With every exchange, Ira’s willpower broke, surely and steadily.

Andros, it seemed, was not merely a fierce warrior. He was a master manipulator as well.

Two can play at that game.

Summoning every bit of her willpower, Maiya gave the Children of Ash her order—sow chaos!

Almost immediately, fights broke out nearby, as Children cultists attacked their neighbors. Given the size and density of the mob, it took little to set off a wave of mass panic. Kin’jals might individually have been tougher than most, but as a crowd, they behaved the same as any other human.

That was to say, stupid, disorganized, and panicky.

People trampled one another in a desperate bid to escape the Children aggressors, and in doing so, caused yet more people to panic, creating a chain reaction.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

Maiya’s convoy came to a halt as her Balarian Guards tried to calm the rampaging populus.

That just left Andros, and for him, Maiya had quite the special gift.

Spinning on her heel, she locked eyes with the Imperator and opened her Life Chakra, forcing it further than ever before, willing Andros to succumb to her mental attack.

The Kin’jal monarch’s eyes immediately glazed over. His posture slackened, and his mouth hung slightly open.

It took Maiya a full second to realize her attack had worked, but when she did, she moved with a purpose. Her mental attack was incomplete and would not last long.

Yanking her chain from Andros’ slack grip with her left hand, she grabbed Ira’s hand with her right, pulling the princess out of the road and into the crowd before darting into the alley.

She stopped when she realized Ira was no longer following.

Turning, Maiya found the princess on the ground, clutching her foot.

“I’m sorry,” Ira breathed, her face screwed up in agony. “Look at me. This is pathetic! Any one of my handmaidens would brush something of this level off…”

“You can’t blame yourself,” Maiya said, kneeling beside Ira. “Believe me, this isn’t easy for me, either.”

It was likely the princess had never once endured anything even remotely like this in her life.

Glancing back, Maiya saw that both of them had left a trail of bloody footprints. Footprints that could be easily tracked by someone as capable as Andros.

Losing no time, Maiya clubbed a fleeing Sonamite woman, rendering her unconscious. She quickly stripped off her sandals and tied them to Ira’s feet, while she herself ripped off the torn sleeve of her rag before wrapping them around her own.

“This way, we’ll leave no trail,” Maiya said.

“You’re rather incredible, you know?” Ira said through tear-filled eyes. “You held true to your promise. You really managed to save us. I admit, I didn’t think you would. I thought we would be forced into that cauldron.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” Maiya muttered. “Not until we’re out of Sonam. I know a place we can hide. Somewhere no Kin’jal would dare enter. If we can make it to Jatan Forest, we’ll be safe.”

Ira might not appreciate the company, but the Children’s den offered the perfect hiding spot.

But how do we get there?

Each of Sonam’s districts was separated by walls with internal gates. To travel from one to the other, one had to enter the enormous wall and proceed through a tunnel with checkpoints on both sides. Andros need only lock down the Commons district, allowing no one through without inspection.

Which meant they’d need another option.

Holding Ira’s hand, Maiya guided the princess through the crowd, receiving far too many looks for Maiya’s liking. Collared and chained as they were, it would be more surprising if they didn’t.

“We can’t do this,” she said, pulling Ira into another alley. “Sooner or later, someone will notice us and inform the Balarian Guard. Are you aware of any secret passages that connect to the different districts?”

Ira thought for a moment before nodding. “Yes, there is one not far from here. It’s not seen use in decades, though. Perhaps longer.”

“All the better for us. Lead me to it.”

With Ira’s instructions, they found the side road soon enough.

“There! It should be in that alley!” Ira said, pointing to an intersection up ahead.

Maiya’s heart leapt. Once they were in the tunnel, their chances of getting caught dropped immeasurably. And if they found they couldn’t escape the city safely, they could simply hole up inside and wait for Vir. He couldn’t be more than a day away.

They could do this. They could—

Maiya suddenly found herself on the ground, looking up.

Huh? How did—ngh!?

A heavy armored boot pressed down upon her stomach, cracking ribs and pinning her in place.

“I know not what vile magic you used on me,” Andros said slowly. “But I now know that you shall boil first. You are far too dangerous to be allowed to live.”

“Ira! Run!” Maiya wheezed, but her words came out as a mouthful of blood. The princess stood where she was, glaring at her father.

“If we are to die,” she said. “I would rather we die together.”

Grakking chal! She picks now of all times to be heroic!?

----------------------------------------

Maiya awoke sweating and in pain, squinting against the light of early dawn. In front of her was a crowd of thousands. Perhaps tens of thousands. Everywhere she looked, excited eyes stared back at her. What were they so excited about? They looked so happy.

That was when Maiya realized her legs were dangling. Looking up, she found her wrists bound by rope to a wooden beam, and her bare soles were suspended mere inches above a cauldron easily large enough to swallow her whole.

A cauldron that was boiling and steaming.

So my attack failed, then…

With a sudden sense of panic, Maiya looked around, trying to find Ira, hoping not to find a boiled corpse.

To her relief, Ira was directly behind her, at the edge of the cauldron. She was on her hands and knees, eyes closed shut, her lips moving silently in prayer.

Don’t think the gods are going to help us now, Ira…

While Ira’s wrists and ankles were bound and blood was smeared across her face, at least she was still alive. That was far more than Maiya would be able to say for herself in just a few moments.

As far as executions went, boiling alive was among the worst ways to go. Death would not come quickly. They would lower her slowly into the pot to ensure it, and Maiya would suffer excruciating pain all the way until she was cooked from within.

Imperator Andros cleared his throat, and it was only then that Maiya noticed he was standing on a raised wooden dais just to the side of the cauldron.

“Warriors! Citizens of Sonam! My people!” he announced, his voice amplified through the use of an orb. “Today has been a most unholy day. Today, my own family has betrayed me!”

Andros clutched his heart, making a show of looking hurt. Maiya doubted the man would blink an eye if his whole family was burned before his eyes. He’d simply think of some way to benefit from their deaths and move on.

“… Instigated a rebellion against me in the hopes of killing me and taking control of Kin’jal! Not through time-honored combat. But subterfuge and deception! And now, our glorious city burns.”

He wasn’t wrong. From her elevated position, Maiya saw that fires burned throughout the city. If she didn’t know better, she’d have thought the Altani had bombed the capital with their fast attack skyships.

A round of booing and jeering went out, and were it any other situation, Maiya would have rolled her eyes.

As it was, she had a hard time paying attention to Andros’ speech. The panic Maiya had suppressed for so long now raged unrestrained as the full weight of her predicament weighed upon her.

She struggled desperately to think, to divine some way out, but all she had was her Life Chakra. Even if she managed to occupy Andros with an illusion, what good would that do now? What good would riling up the Children in the crowd do, except condemn them?

They were so far away, and an army of Balarian Guard stood between them and her.

The more Maiya thought about it, the more hopeless her situation seemed. Her options were nonexistent. She’d tried, and she’d failed. Perhaps Ira was right. Perhaps now was the time to pray. If not for this life, then the next.

“Hanging before you is Maiya, a lowly Hiranyan commoner who infiltrated our most inner circles,” Andros announced, full of energy and anger. “As Princess Ira’s highest subordinate, Maiya was her confidante and instigator. Without her, no rebellion could have happened. She is scum of the highest level!”

At long last, the tears that Maiya had never shed began to run unabated down her face. She cried not for herself, but for Vir. For the sadness her death would bring him. For all the precious moments they would never share together.

Now, at the very end, Maiya had but one wish. One regret.

“May her suffering be penance for those who sacrificed their lives in the defense of this great nation!”

I wish you were here, Vir. I wish you could hold me in your arms, one last time, before… I’m so scared, Vir. I don’t want... Not like this.

Maiya’s tears streamed down her cheeks, weeping silently, and nothing she did restrained it. Her vision blurred, and the crowd became distant. Her raging thoughts stilled, and then, in the distance, she saw him.

That unmistakable form, more manly and muscular than Maiya remembered. Bathed in flames as black as midnight, a pair of horns jutting straight up from his head, piercing into the sky.

He wasn't alone. Standing proud from the highest rooftop, a half-dozen black wolves beside him.

He looks like a god.

Maiya shook her head. How silly. Vir never had horns. Was this the image her fantasies had planted into her head? Besides, how could she possibly make out his features from so far away?

Maiya didn’t mind. Hallucination or not, it was good to see Vir one last time. Seeing his dashing figure brought her a sense of peace. One that seemed impossible just moments ago.

“For these crimes, I condemn Maiya of Hiranya to die by boiling alive.”

But then something happened. The figure in black fire jumped, sailing through the air to land in the middle of the square. Some panicked. Others ran. A few thought to attack him, only to crumple to the ground.

Maiya blinked. Had her mind truly broken? Was she truly imagining this?

Vir’s burning form grew larger and larger, and as he did, Maiya’s conviction grew. That faint spark of hope that had died out long ago relit, bursting into bonfire as he jumped up, locking his beautiful red eyes with hers.

It was then that Maiya that knew.

He’s real. He's real! And he made it! He made it! He made it he made it he made it!

A lurching sensation. The sound of something being cut.

Maiya’s stomach dropped, and not from excitement.

Her feet lit on fire, and she realized she was falling.

Straight into the pool of boiling water.