Chapter 4

" H urry up! We're late!" Janie screeched from the street outside.

Janie, with her good saving habits and work ethic, had bought a car last year. The rusted machine had a sometimes defective solar absorption rate that caused it to break down at the least convenient of times, but for the first time in their lives, they could get around the city without using the bus transit. Vala usually took the bus to her job since Janie's grocer was on the far side of the city. But over the weekend, through cupcake baking and a dramatic radio program on dragons going extinct in this world but surviving forever in the Dynn, she and Corina had finally persuaded her to stay off public transport and avoid Sandy's for the time being. At least she would lessen the chance of running into the Masked Man again, as her friends had begun to call him. They had concluded—after a long discussion—that he was indeed mentally disturbed and as such, his warning was harmless.

This decision did not make Vala feel more at ease.

Janie and Corina figured general avoidance of the Masked Man would do the trick to keep her safe and she had not bothered to correct their flaw in logic; that he had provided the warning and not necessarily the danger. He had pretended to care so much for her…and maybe he did, thinking she was someone else. It felt nice to have someone say the things he did, even if he had ill intentions. Every guy she had slept with had barely considered her worth more than a quick fuck, although trading sex for favors in prison and the streets afterward had kept her alive and, in many cases, fed and clothed. Sex had always felt…transactional. The Masked Man acted as though he valued her as a person. She sighed and finished buttoning her dress. Some dreams were best left to the confines of a night's sleep.

"Coming!" She yelled back from the window that overlooked the street.

The view outside showed crumbly apartments, dripping with laundry lines, metal fire escape ladders, and years of caked soot and grime. She tugged on her sneakers and took a last glance in the narrow mirror. Her face was pale; her eyes, gray as frozen ice. No one ever complimented her iris color, not even her friends. But what had he called her? Bright Eyes. She suppressed a smile and scrutinized the remaining details. Red hair plaited in a braid down her back, a long-sleeved shirt stolen from only the gods knew where, sweatpants, and sneakers—scrubbed to indiscernible white—created an image that would make even Heep frown in unwilling approval.

Professor Victor Heep. Literally the most annoying person to encounter at the Imperial Academy of Dynn Managers or anywhere else for that matter. But he had been appointed by the court to supervise her janitorial work. Why a professor had to monitor her, she could not fathom. Maybe he needed some charity work to fill the holes in his personal life? Either way, Heep made every effort to ensure she knew his monitoring was a blessing and she hated him for it.

"You look gorgeous. Move it now," Corina shoved her aside and primped in the mirror.

"Are you coming with us?" She grabbed her backpack and gingerly stepped over the clothes, shoes, dirty plates, bedding, boxes of sundry junk, and dozens of books that tumbled across the floor of their studio apartment. She had stolen the books from the Academy Library and no one had ever noticed, not even the laser-eyed Heep. She had browsed through them all looking for information on Dynn Knights and yet found nothing that could explain the strange, warning-filled visit at Sandy's.

Another visit to the library was due.

Corina winked at her and ran a brush through her black hair. "Nah, Ericc's coming by in a few. He's interested in the watch."

Vala frowned. That name again. Ericc. Did she know him? Bumped into his naked body one night as he exited their bathroom and clambered back into Corina's top bunk bed? Eye contact the next morning had been beyond awkward on his part. She had seen enough naked flesh to be unbothered. Or, was he the one with the funny beard? She wondered what the Masked Man's name was or if he even had a name at all.

"Fine, but can you clean up first?" She gestured around.

"Why? You know I'm not talented at cleaning. Besides, it's not my mess," Corina tugged at her bra.

That was debatable. "Corina, don't. We both work and you clean and cook. That's the deal."

Corina made a face. "We should've left you alone in that alley."

Vala grinned. "Whatever. Being nice leads people to make assumptions. Like those cats that yowl all night waiting for you to feed them."

But a shadow tugged at her heart. That time had been an endless cycle of begging, drinking, and finding a street corner to curl into for the night, hoping to gods that no one would notice she was a girl and attack her in the darkness. She had been so hungry and drunk; she could not remember what month it had been. Corina, after stumbling over her prone form with a curse foul enough to scorch the alley walls, had brought her home and made hot soup while Janie put her to bed in their shared mattress. It had been the single best moment of her life. Since then, Corina had pinched a second mattress from their neighbor who had been killed in a drug deal gone wrong. Then, she scored a squeaky bunk bed, much to Janie's everlasting angst when Corina's many lovers visited.

Vala bit her lip, quelling the thick anxiety welling up in her throat. Her future may be cursed but, for now, life was better than it had ever been. She had to remember that fact above all else. She had survived and she had two amazing friends. That alone was enough.

"At least my cats never argue with me," Corina reflected, but her eyes sparkled. "A few more years, and you'll be nice and plump like me."

"VALA FLOWERS." Wow, Janie had lungs.

"Good gods above. Go downstairs before she breaks a window with that voice."

"Maybe she has a career as a singer. Can you do the dishes at least?" Vala wrenched open the front door.

Corina's breezy laugh echoed after her.

The salty breeze slapped her face as Vala hopped over the giant front wheels that allowed for easier driving on mountain roads when rain fell. She fastened her seatbar and slammed the car door shut. After a weekend of heavy thunderstorms, the gray dawn above 33 Midway Road felt promising of a rainless day. Janie shifted the car into a reverse that made the engine rattle and Vala clutch the seatbar.

Janie drove with both hands on the steering wheel as if her life depended on it. The solar hum was loud but mostly consistent, promising a timely arrival. "Look, I want to give you a lift to work to help keep you safe from the Masked Man and all, but you have to be on time or I get into trouble."

"Sorry, I really do appreciate the ride." She put her feet on the dashboard then quickly removed them at Janie's aghast stare.

They merged onto the elevated main highway that curved above the city's southern slums, its concrete support pillars and overpass signs covered in graffiti. On either side, rows of apartments and shanty villages sprawled, wet and muddy from the rain, sliced through by the swollen waters of the canals. Beyond Janie's nose, to the left of them, she spotted the glimmered edges of the harbor, the vast Imperial sunship fleet dimly hovering above the black waters, mechanical lights twinkling in the ocean fog.

The best sight rose high before her. Ovgarod, mountain city of legends, international business hub and rune trading epicenter for the developed world. A thousand centuries ago, a lone volcano had existed in this black harbor where the world's largest river, the Ringold, met the ocean. The land was sparsely inhabited by fisher people and simple traders, but with time, the strategic vantage point attracted more ambitious settlers. A bustling town soon hung around the mountain's outskirts and ships darted from the teeming harbor to other countries, establishing important trade routes through the perilous ocean waves.

As various kings and queens rose to power and squabbled over the long centuries, the town's leadership changed hands in a multitude of bloody skirmishes. By the time the last royal family reluctantly bowed to the first Emperor—a young conqueror with an unstoppable battalion of Dynn Knights—the town had become a thriving city of brick factories and busy marketplaces. The power adjustment had proceeded smoothly, despite the occasional citizen's bloodshed and the new empire quickly grew in strength.

With peace came technological leaps—first electricity and then solar power. Sunships hovered above the water, able to faster traverse the increasingly violent ocean. Trains zigzagged throughout the empire, connecting the vast continent in trade and transport on solar tracks. Cars, radios, and telephone communication, all powered by the sun, brought money and mobility to the burgeoning middle class that dwelt in the Mid Levels and the various garden city suburbias erected in the quieter areas of the realm. The following emperors established the Academy, the Rune Treasury, and the beginnings of what developed into the Imperial Exchange. As a crowning triumph, they sealed off the dormant mountain peak and built a great palace of stone and iron from which to rule the land.

Nowadays, the city glittered with glass skyscrapers thronging around the mountain, woven throughout by elevated highways jammed with vehicles, exhaust pipes spewing black fumes into thunderous skies. Upon the higher slopes lived various noble families, the twinkling lights of enormous mansions being securely parted from the business district and Mid Level homes by a thick, guarded wall. At the mountain's peak, obscured by heavy clouds, the palace gleamed like a beacon, remodeled to shine with marble and gold. There, the god-emperor Luiximor lived with sunfire in his veins and power so vast, the world trembled at his word.

After all, the last immortals had died out a millennia ago, having killed off each other as only immortals could. It had taken demonstrable magic and attempts on Luiximor's life before people believed he was the reincarnated sun god, the first human-born god that had been seen in thousands of years. Vala had read that he suffered through all the immortality tests with humor but those who had doubted him had a tendency to die soon after and in mysterious ways. She wondered if Luiximor could ever die, considering there were no other gods alive to kill him and no one would ever be brave enough to destroy his forest of rune plants in the Dynn. His future was so secure, the Exchange considered rune trades in his name to be the most dependable rune trades in the world.

"I guess he will live forever," she muttered and turned her head away from the car window.

"Huh?" Janie frowned ahead, her nose scrunched in concentration.

Vala fiddled with the knobs on the dashboard, hoping this time the heat would work. "Oh, I'm thinking of the Noventury this Friday. Nine hundred years under one Emperor."

"I just don't get it. I'd hate to live forever. Think of all the friends and family you'd see die but you just keep on going." Janie straightened pensively. "Maybe he IS depressed with so many years alive. I mean, look at all the gross rain we've been having. It's terrible."

Vala patted her friend's arm. She highly doubted Luiximor cared much for the lives that came and went but Janie most certainly did. "You're a national treasure. You always think of everyone but yourself."

Janie honked and swerved, narrowly avoiding a car. "Not when I'm stuck in traffic."

They approached a Mid Levels checkpoint and a long line of cars idled ahead, waiting for admittance. It was a daily annoyance but standard protocol to keep the sprawling mass of Lower Levels and their crime and poverty separate from the rest of the city. Only Lower Level dwellers with work permits or other documented reasons were admitted beyond the spiked, guarded gates. Vala pulled out her worker ID card and held it up to her face in preparation as did Janie.

As they idled, Vala settled into her seat and turned her thoughts back to the emperor. Fire gushing from his hands to burn people alive, eyes of immortal silver, and power beyond compare. Ever since the last gods had massacred each other thousands of years ago, there had been no more immortals born. That is, until Luiximor ascended the throne and revealed himself as the new sun god and sole survivor of that killer species.

She thought of Janie's point. Most days of the year, it rained in Ovgarod. Or sleeted, snowed, thundered, or fogged. It took days for the imperial sunships to charge their engines and most cities had converted to electricity due to the lack of consistent power supply. Crop rot was becoming a commonplace part of the rune equations she created for the Exchange's grain traders. She wondered why Luiximor had deprived the Empire of his precious sun power. Janie might think he was depressed but it struck her that he was angry. Why else would he cloud the skies and fill the cities with rain if not to punish his subjects?

The guard waved them through and Janie drove on past the checkpoint. The street zigzagged upwards, cutting into the towering high-rises like a plunging knife. A billboard over them declared that the upcoming weekend was a holiday. The celebration of the Noventury and a royal wedding rolled into one.

" Celebrating the nuptials of our Princess Helen and Prince Rafael of Theves ," Janie recited and grimaced. "Look at how beautiful she is. Imagine being her and having to marry that foreign prince."

"What's so bad about him?" Vala pressed her face against the window, watching the people throng the sidewalks. "The Thevian prince is the future leader of our chief competitor. Luiximor is probably scared of their economic strength and sea power. The marriage makes sense."

Janie looked perplexed. "Sure, but everyone knows the prince is an idiot…he's only interested in alcohol, women, and gambling. Theves won't be a superpower when he becomes king. That's what everyone is saying, the radio stations, magazines… everyone . I feel so bad for our princess!"

"I'm sure she will be perfectly fine." Vala rubbed her hands together to get warm. The car heater had never worked and Ovgarod's winters grew worse each year. Unlike Corina, she had zero interest in the tabloid romantic lives of the noble families, least of all, the much-adored Princess Helen. Such a total waste of time. All that pouring over fancy dresses, which courtiers were dating or breaking up, and the lavish parties that cost more than a sunship and lasted for weeks. She preferred studying her books in utter fixation, until the printed runes levitated from the pages and formed equations in her mind, glowing with fire and possibility.

"I'll bet their engagement gala on Friday will make the city traffic stand still," Janie went on. "All the noble families are traveling to Ovgarod to attend. It's the crowning event of the Noventury celebrations. I think he's even going to your Academy. Some sort of welcoming ceremony? By the gods, I hate this city."

Janie honked as a vehicle cut in front of them, narrowly missing their fender. The streets were packed with cars and people. And not just the regular, office-going folk, but Academy students hustled along with the ecstatic bounce in their steps that bespoke of a school holiday.

Vala remembered hearing something to this effect broadcast over the school speakers last week. "Yeah, he's arriving in a few hours. I had no idea so many people would be here to meet him."

"Wait, Prince Rafeal will be at the Academy today ? Will you see him?"

Vala made a face. "Janitors are supposed to work sight unseen."

"Wait, stop…stop! There's going to be tons of people, international coverage…and I read about some big surprise from Theves…no one knows what it is. This may be the danger the Masked Man talked about. You shouldn't work today."

Vala exhaled, annoyed at the sudden unease that pricked her spine. "Nonsense. The Academy is always entertaining visitors from overseas or wherever." She pointed to a small alley, cutting between the skyscrapers, leading to emptier streets beyond. "Try that side road. It'll take us around to the back of the school. Janie, I must keep this job. You know my guardian will report me to the Court if I miss a single day."

Besides, she thought to herself, Masked Man and warning be damned, she had questions that needed multiple acquired rune books to answer.

"It's your fault we're both late," Janie retorted but the appeal to the job worked on her and she jerked the steering wheel right, towards the turnoff. "Just promise me you'll be careful. Try to keep your head down and not insult anyone important today."

Vala grimaced. "Yeah, I know."

Janie squeezed her kneecap. "Don't beat yourself up. Tits was riling us all up. But remember who we are. No one knows about us or cares what we do. You can't ask for a better freedom than that."

Her breath was frosty on the glass as Vala looked to the street beyond and quoted something she had read a long time ago. "Freedom can't be found in limitations."

Janie frowned. "Hm, I think freedom exists in how you respond to things. You can be beaten, robbed, starved and yet no one can take that feeling away from you. Absolutely no one."

Vala gave her a long look. "They can if they prune your runes."

Janie clutched her steering wheel. "I don't know much about the runes but I think you're wrong. Rune plants are plants all the same. You prune them, sure, but they can always grow back."

Vala said nothing. Janie just didn't understand. The government did not allow her runes to regrow. Since she could not enter the Dynn and try to fix her rune plants herself, she was forever at the empire's mercy and justice. The government knew it and she knew it, and so her whole life was ruined , she thought and grimaced.

Their car sputtered down the narrow tarmac street, past dumpsters and alley doors. When they reached the building's end, they found a spacious avenue curving up to the left, leading to a stupendous sight.

Towering above them, built upon enormous retaining walls edged with iron fences and elegant lamp posts, rose the massive rock buildings of the Academy. Several dozen huge structures clustered together, dark windows and ivy hiding the scholarly activity within that produced the Empire's finest Dynn workers. Rearing beyond the Academy, an edifice of rock and marble, a columned stadium was partially carved into the original mountainside. Great flood lights shone out from the stadium roof and the grand statues of former emperors glowered from alcoves erected into the curved sides.

She directed Janie to drive up the street and park beside a gate level with the grounds. She could see the manicured lawns, gravel paths, and magnificent flower beds interspersing the grand architectural sprawl. The denizens of the Academy—students in gray robes and red caps—hurried across the green expanse, clutching books and coffees, their breath clouded in the sharp, mountain air. The main entrance, barely visible on the far side, looked to be absolutely thronged with people. Rows of city buses parked within the grounds, quick transport for those who lacked the means to travel by Dynn. Several news station vans lined the street, reporters holding cords and recording mouthpieces, crews shoving and angling for the best shot of the imperial cavalcade.

She leapt from the car and flung her backpack over her shoulders.

Janie rolled down the window. "Be here at four o'clock sharp so I can pick you up. Promise me you'll be careful."

"I'll only do what you would do." She grinned.

Her friend scowled. "Don't tease me. I mean it. I'm worried for you."

Vala held up her hands placatingly."I'm sorry. I swear I'll keep an eye out."

"Good, because if anything happens to you, I'll have to discard my business dreams and go murder some people, including the Masked Man. Don't put me in that position."

Vala laughed in spite of herself. "I'll be fine. I swear."

With a last cautionary eyebrow raise and a splutter of the engine, Janie drove off.

Vala heavily exhaled as she cleared a guard's checkpoint and entered the grounds. Janie was even bossier than herself sometimes but she loved her. Besides, she had survived years of incarceration. She had hidden from terrifying prisoners, sneaked extra food in her clothes, wrapped her body in her allotted blanket and towel to find warmth in the frosted cement cell, and done a thousand other abysmal things she would rather forget…just to stay alive. The Masked Man did not terrify her. Indeed, his warning sounded flimsy and silly in the cool, morning light. What could the empire do? Arrest her again? Fling her back into prison? Been there and done that , she thought with some bitterness.

At the entrance, a great shout arose. She suspected the Thevian prince had arrived.