Chapter 4

Kat

The blow came out of nowhere, rocking me backward onto the sand, my boots skidding out from under me as I blinked at the stars dancing before my eyes.

"What the fuck, V?" I growled as I reached up to touch my mouth. I winced and pulled my hand away, my fingers covered in blood. "This is just supposed to be practice!"

Vlakas grinned at me wolfishly as I glared at him from the ground. The last two years hadn't been exactly kind to him. Hunger, pain, and fear had worn away his softness until all that was left were hard edges and sharp planes of muscle and sinew.

Vlakas had grown several inches after he joined the Legion and had put on corresponding amounts of muscle. He looked a lot like our father. Tall, broad shouldered, and every inch a king. If he hadn't been Mageia.

"Since when is anything we do ‘just' practice, Kat?" he asked as he extended his hand to help me to my feet. "Rule Number Seventeen: They won't go easy on you in the Machi."

"Dick," I said, then grinned. He wasn't wrong. "You'd never have landed that if you hadn't cheated, though."

"Kat's Rule No. 32: There are no rules in the Machi Thanatos," he parroted.

I barked a laugh at having my own words thrown in my face.

"No surrender," he said.

"No retreat," I grinned as I repeated the unofficial Legion mantra.

Vlakas and I were both Hoplites now. I'd been a Hoplite for two years, but he had been one for only about six months. His magic specialty had turned out to be Earth magic. We hadn't had our Machi Thanatos, but at twenty-three and change, my time, at least, was coming soon.

As for Vlakas, since he hadn't been identified as Mageia until he was fifteen, he should have had longer to train, but Elusians didn't believe in fairness when it came to us. Who knew how political machinations would affect how he was treated? Our former family certainly hadn't done us any favors so far.

Mageia were never told exactly when or what we would be facing in a Machi. Our opponents could be soldiers, captives, slaves, beasts, or simply other Mageia. If we succeeded, we were promoted to full Mageia in the King's armies. If we failed, we became slaves to households, craftsmen, or brothels. If we survived at all.

I wasn't looking forward to killing anyone, especially when our captors wanted it, but if the options were kill or be killed, I wasn't ready to die yet. I'd lost one brother already; I certainly wouldn't let my little brother die if I had anything to say about it. That didn't mean I couldn't have some fun with him first.

I slapped Vlakas' hand away jokingly and fought to my feet, spitting blood on the sand of the arena before feigning a bout of dizziness. Predictably, he reached out to steady me and I sent my magic out to swirl around his ankles. He must have sensed something coming because I saw his eyes start to narrow as I flicked my fingers, yanking tight on the magical rope I'd wrapped around his legs. His expression was almost comical as his feet flew out from under him and he landed on his ass in the dirt. Another gesture and his body jerked toward the sky until he was hanging from an invisible wire of Air, his hands just barely brushing the dirt. I chuckled as he stretched to reach the ground to summon his Earth magic, and I hefted him a little higher, effectively neutering him, magically speaking.

"Kat's Rule No. 5: Never drop your guard," I lectured with a grin on my face.

My laughter at the expression on his face was cut short by the inferno of a fiery dagger stabbing between my eyes and the sudden certainty that I would never be able to draw another breath.

"Goddess!" I gasped as I fell to my knees, only distantly registering the sound of V's body hitting the ground as my magic was Suppressed. One fist clenched against my forehead as the pain dug deeper into my brain, the other clawed uselessly at my neck in a vain attempt to relieve my lack of oxygen.

"Kataramenos, I'm disappointed in you. You should know better by now," an oily, taunting voice came from behind me. "You don't make the rules here, we do. You're supposed to be practicing physical attacks today, not magic."

"That's not my name, asshole," I hissed.

"But it fits you so well…Cursed One," he growled. "Remember, you have no name, Hoplite, except the one the Legion gives you," he responded.

I swore while struggling to breathe. It would have to be Maalik on Training duty today. Most of the other Elusians wouldn't have made a big deal about two Hoplites using magic in the training arena, as long as it was clear they were practicing. Maalik, as usual, was a bastard, through and through. He took every opportunity to punish and humiliate us and Suppressed our magic at every turn, even when legitimately training.

"Fuck you, Maalik," I gasped, struggling to my feet. "Call me what you want, you know my name."

The pain grew worse, and my sight began to dim from lack of oxygen. Why the hell was I arguing with him? I knew better than this.

"You are Kataramenos, ‘Cursed One'," he insisted, each statement followed by a push of his power. "You have no father. You have no family."

I struggled to stay upright, my eyes shooting daggers at Maalik, but I knew it was a losing game. He wouldn't be happy until I was on my face in the dirt; and maybe not even then.

His power brought me to my knees. I could just barely glimpse Vlakas kneeling in the dirt of the practice arena, head down and hands on his knees, palm up in the required gesture of Mageia submittal to an Elusian. Only a tightening of his lips into a grim line told me how much he was struggling with his anger. The sight of my brother, who would have outranked Maalik, hell, outranked any Elusian in the Legion if he hadn't had the bad luck to be born Mageia, kneeling in front of this asshole infuriated me, but I knew there was nothing I could do.

I toppled forward at Maalik's feet, unable to catch myself with my hands, the pain knifing through my brain, nausea warring with the feeling of suffocation. Around us, I saw Mageia after Mageia drop to their knees as Maalik increased the Suppression field on me, and I saw Vlakas wince. I knew he and the other Mageia were catching the ambient Suppression even though my tormentor was focusing on me.

"What is your name, Hoplite," he demanded.

My lips remained stubbornly closed.

He pushed harder with his power.

"What. Is. Your. Name." He demanded.

I heard Kira, a young Earth Mageia, puking her guts into the dirt off to the right as I struggled to breathe, and shame stabbed through me. My pride wasn't worth making my fellow Mageia suffer. With a supreme effort I managed to lower my head and stretch my arms out, palms up in the accepted position of submission.

"K-k-Kataramenos," I wheezed.

Even though my head was down, I could feel Maalik's eyes boring into the back of my head, his power pushing without ceasing, and I wondered if this would finally be the time he went too far. Then a voice barked a command.

"Maalik! Quit playing. We have work to do," I heard Sera, one of the Lochagos of the Legion call out.

"As you wish, Lochagos," Maalik said, his voice crisply responding to the voice of command. Even a Crown Prince had to follow the chain of command. The pain and crushing feeling of suffocation lifted so quickly that for a moment I couldn't react, could barely breathe.

"I'll be seeing you soon enough, Kataramenos," He stopped in front of Vlakas. "And you too, mikros prinkipus."

Maalik had always had an unhealthy attraction to our half-brother, even as children. I'd been fortunate enough to date to be able to keep him away from V, but I didn't know if I'd be able to do it forever.

He stroked a finger over Vlakas' lips before leaning down to whisper in his ear. My brother's hands shook with barely suppressed rage.

"Very soon." He whispered with an evil grin before walking to the knot of Elusians clustered at the side of the arena.

I pulled in gasping breaths as the Suppression lifted completely and struggled to my knees, trying desperately not to lose the contents of my stomach in the aftereffects. I saw Vlakas spit and wipe his mouth where Maalik had touched him before helping me up. This time there was no playful banter.

"Thanks," I rasped.

"No prob, Kat," he said. "Fucking bastard," he whispered as Maalik walked away.

"Yeah, no doubt," I agreed.

Mageia could be powerful, but even the most powerful Mageia were powerless in the face of the Elusian ability to Suppress our abilities. With a thought, even the strongest Mageia could be brought to their knees by an Elusian. Like I had been brought to my knees in front of the King, and in front of Maalik. It's what led to the enslavement of my people for the last two hundred years.

"Someday," I promised Maalik's departing figure.

"C'mon," Vlakas said, moving back into practice stance. "Let's get back to work."