[Crystal Two: Little Butterfly]

  Maya's Perspective

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  “I knew you could do it!” Valorie remarked when we were out of earshot, holding her cut of meat like a trophy.

  “Whatever, Val,” I dismissed. We were walking back home now so Val could make her soup, but I knew the house was probably still steeped in the smell of that awful flower.

  “I don’t recognize that guy,” Val pointed to a man brooding on a nearby ridge, overlooking the marketplace. He was wearing a mask, and his dark clothes were decorated with sharply pointed sigils.

  “He’s Syndicate…” I seethed nervously under my breath. Northstar Syndicate was the antithesis of Snowcrestian culture and were strictly prohibited from the village. Everyone was taught from childhood to avoid them at all costs.

  But now, he was here.

  I grabbed Val’s arm and yanked her back to the marketplace. I didn’t know what the man wanted, I just knew we needed to hide from him. It had been a slow day; everyone was already closing shop. They hadn’t noticed the man, and they weren’t likely to believe that the Syndicate had broken the pact in broad daylight like this. But—

  DOOON!

  The flurries of snow suddenly intensified into a whirling vortex. I could hardly see in front of me. Val and I were wearing our coats, but the howling wind pierced through the fabric. We tentatively inched backwards. Runemagic, but perhaps we were only collateral.

  Perhaps we weren’t the target.

  Then, a voice.

  “Where is… the Tiger’s Fang?” it rasped. It seemed to come from all around us, but when I turned, I saw him.

  The assassin. Trudging through the snow, holding two serrated ice picks. He was barely more than a silhouette in the torrential snow.

  “Wh-who are you talking about?” I stammered. If I knew, I’d have told him immediately. I’d have done anything he wanted if it meant getting him away from me.

  “Feigning ignorance?” he rasped, still trudging towards us, “Against the Snow Leopard? It seems the Snowcrestians really are bold.”

  Valorie and I kept backing away from him until we found ourselves pressed against an abandoned market stall. She remained completely silent, her eyes wide. The Snow Leopard stopped just five paces in front of us, a smile forming around his beady eyes.

  “I’ll ask you again,” he cooed, sheathing one of his ice picks to crack his knuckles, “one more time. Where is the Tiger’s Fang? I know you know where he is—don’t play dumb, now.”

  Valorie gritted her teeth and pulled away from my grip, charging at the Snow Leopard. As she raised her fist to hit him, he blocked her wrist with his remaining ice pick, wrapped his free hand around her neck, swept her legs out from under her, and—

  DOOM!

  Slammed her into the ground. Then—

  SPLURCH!

  Drove the ice pick into her abdomen. Valorie began softly weeping, curling into a ball as she bled into the snow.

  “Ow…” she whimpered, then, more panicked, “ow…”

  The Snow Leopard turned towards me, leaving his ice pick in Val’s stomach, but unsheathing his other. Tears welled up in my eyes, but nothing would come out of my mouth.

  “Oh?” he taunted, “You’re not going to cry out your little friend’s name? You’re not going to scream, ‘Nooo!’ and rush in to avenge her?” I caught my breath I had to run, now!

  But the moment my muscles tensed—

  DOOON!

  He drove his pick into the ground, freezing my feet in place.

  “None of that,” the Leopard sneered, closing the distance. I struggled against my bind, and I could hear the ice around my feet cracking under stress. I was strong enough to get free, but just as the ice broke, his icy fingers snapped around my neck—

  DOOM!

  Crk!

  Something cracked as he rocketed my body into the ground.

  “Now then,” he smiled, “are you sure you don’t know any Tiger Fang? Your little friend might not, but you… you look just like him.”

  Look like him? I thought. He can’t be talking about Marcel… can he?

  “Oh, the look of familiarity just crossed those beautiful purple eyes of yours. Siblings? Cousins?” I remained silent. “He’s much older than you but here you are being the protective one. That doesn’t matter…”

  DOOON!

  DOOON!

  He struck the ground near my arms with his pick, encasing them in ice and pinning them to the snow.

  “We have ways of uncovering…omitted information.” He flipped his ice pick to its flat side, where I saw a familiar silvery-white sheen.

  Runeiron.

  He placed it on my forehead and leaned in close.

  “Where is the Tiger’s Fang?”

  Marcel, lying helplessly on the infirmary floor, came to mind, and—

  I squeezed my eyes shut, convulsing as a torturous, grinding object emerged from my forehead. A memory crystal. I could see its bright yellow glow manifest through my eyelids. The assassin torqued and twisted and wrenched the crystal from my head. It felt like an animal was clawing out from inside my skull.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “This was avoidable, no?” the assassin taunted. After an eternity of torment, he finally managed to tear the crystal free. “Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

  I opened my eyes, and I could’ve sworn I saw a smile in his. Supernaturally floating in front of his ice pick was the glowing, yellow memory crystal. My mouth flooded with saliva—

  I turned and heaved, vomiting into the snow.

  The assassin snatched the crystal from its bind and peered into it.

  “An infirmary?” he remarked. “Well, that changes things.” He stood and walked toward Valorie, almost leisurely. He knelt and tugged at the ice pick. She yelped but held onto it.

  “Please…” she murmured. “Don’t.” The ice pick was serrated. If removed, it would take her entrails with it.

  “Oh, you want a souvenir to remember me by?” The assassin tilted his head. “I’m flattered! Well, if you insist, you can keep it!”

  That’s when I fainted.

  ***

  My head hurts… I thought listlessly. I could feel the fabric of Eliza’s mat on my back but I didn’t want to open my eyes. If I was here, then so was Valorie. If I opened my eyes, I would see her mortally wounded. Maybe dead. That would solidify it, then.

  I’d failed her.

  “You’re not going to scream ‘Nooo!’ and rush in to avenge her?”

  No. She protected me while I froze in place. She was probably so scared, bleeding out in the snow.

  And I couldn’t even say her name.

  If she’d died then, or died in Eliza’s care, the last thing she would’ve heard was… his wretched voice.

  And my brother… the Snow Leopard was after him, but why? Why did he call him “the Tiger’s Fang?” Why did we have to suffer because of it? What did we do wrong? Was it because we told white lies and stole a little grain?

  I kept my eyes closed. I prayed Hypnos would take me, but my prayers went unanswered.

  My chest hurts… I thought.

  ***

  “Wake. Up.” It was Chief Thorin’s voice. And he was furious. I kept my eyes closed, but he started shaking me.

  “Don’t touch me!” I shrieked, slapping his hands away. Marcel was missing. Valorie was next to me, covered by a white sheet. Anxiety shot through me, but I saw her tremble slightly. She was just hiding.

  “You have ties to the Syndicate,” Chief Thorin growled.

  “What the hell are you talking about!?” I shot back.

  “Val said an assassin came and started asking about Marcel. How long have you—”

  “Shut up, shut up!! You think if I was one of them, that man would’ve attacked me?”

  “Attacked? As far as I know, you’re sitting here wasting everyone’s time! My daughter was the one stabbed, not you.”

  “He ripped a memory crystal from my head!”

  “Oh really? Then where’s the scar?” I touched my head, and—

  It felt normal. It felt like someone had driven an icicle into my forehead, but it was still smooth to the touch.

  “That face is more of a confession than anything. To think how much Val really loved you…”

  “I did nothing wrong! We were together she’ll tell—”

  “She won’t say shit—!”

  “Thorin!” Eliza interrupted. “Why in the hell are you harassing my patients!?” His face flushed red.

  “I—”

  “She just told you she experienced a forced extraction, and your response was to create more distress!? Get the hell out of my infirmary!!”

  “My apologies, Ms. Eliza.” He bowed and briskly exited the infirmary while Eliza knelt next to me.

  “I’m sorry, Maya,” she held my hand. “I shouldn’t have allowed him in here.”

  “Am I going to be okay?” I whimpered. I wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn’t come.

  “I… I don’t know,” she admitted, hanging her head. “Forced extractions are… delicate. They have so many…” She shuddered, as though she’d experienced one herself. “Adverse symptoms. Hallucinations. Delusions. Amnesia… and to my knowledge, there’s nothing we can do other than hope and pray.”

  Hope and pray… I’d seen Eliza breathe life into the dead, but there was nothing we could do except ‘hope and pray.’ Amnesia was a runemage’s equivalent of quadriplegia—

  I wasn’t taking that.

  “I wish there was more I could do for you,” Eliza’s voice broke. “I—”

  “Where’s my brother?” I asked her. I could taste blood in my mouth. I was nearly chewing through my tongue from distress.

  “Thorin convened the Council,” Eliza explained. “Marcel is currently testifying. If the chief had his way, you’d be joining him.”

  “That’s not—”

  “Shhhh, Maya. I know. I won’t let him touch you as long as you’re under my care.”

  “And how long will that be?”

  “I… don’t know,” she began weeping. “I don’t know, Maya.”

  “And he said something about a scar, for some reason. Is there supposed to be one?” She looked up, regaining her composure.

  “No…” she sniffled. “I don’t know what he was talking about.”

  “Well…”

  “You must have a headache and a fever. I’ll brew some medicine for you.” She stood and retreated back to her room. Shortly after she left my field of vision, I heard her break down in tears.

  “Maya?” Valorie called from next to me.

  “??r?? mi?” I answered. She let her eyes peek out from under her blanket. They were bloodshot from crying.

  “Do you hate me?”

  “Why should I?” I tilted my head.

  “Because my dad…”

  “That’s your dad. Not you.”

  “He wants you out of the village. That’s what he told me.” Banishment was the highest form of punishment. The Forest was ruthless; exile was the closest we could get to the death penalty.

  “He’s not banishing any—”

  “He said he’ll spare no expense.”

  “I already knew he hated me, Val,” I told her simply. He just needed an opportunity to say how he really felt. “How’s your wound?” She blushed.

  “Uh… Eliza says it’ll take maybe a week to heal fully. She keeps casting runes on me; I can feel it closing. Feels so weird, but it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

  “I’m gl—”

  “I thought I was going to die!” she burst into tears and hid herself back under her blanket. She ended up crying herself to sleep, her jagged breaths slowly calming to gentle snoring. I shortly followed her into Hypnos’s caress.

  ***

  “Mimi,” Marcel shook me awake. “Mimi!”

  “If you’re about to ask me if I’m okay,” I looked at him sternly, “then save your breath.”

  “I…”

  “That’s what I thought.” I turned over, nursing my headache. The Tiger Fang was Marcel’s alias, I’d concluded. If he was Syndicate, he was no brother of mine.

  “Listen…” he started.

  “Shut up,” I warned, “before you wake Val.”

  “Thorin forced me to testify before the Council. They wanted me removed promptly, but they gave me a few hours’ grace period.”

  “Aww… so you want to spend your last moments in the village with your sister?” I mocked.

  “Yes,” he responded, densely. “I had Hugo extract these from me.” He produced two memory crystals, glowing green and white respectively.

  “That has nothing to do with me.”

  “It has everything—”

  “Your ‘friend’ dragged a memory crystal out of my head and nearly killed my sister, and now you want me to listen and take things from you?” He made an uncomfortable expression I couldn’t read.

  “I’m—”

  “Oh, you’re gonna apologize now? How long have you been lying to everybody?”

  “How long have I held the truth!? It’s not like I wanted—”

  “What do you want then? You brought me here, and you leave me for months because you think I’m ‘safe,’ but no one gives one singular shit about me! Why would you bleed so much for me, just to leave me with these people?”

  “I… wanted to protect you.”

  “So you leaving and going to some far-off land is somehow protecting me? It’s somehow for my sake?”

  “Yes,” he said flatly.

  “Do you know how much I’ve cried because of you? That’s not what I want or need from you—it never was!”

  “I’ve… suffered,” he said, clearly struggling to articulate his feelings. Maybe if he wasn’t a murderer, he’d be more in touch with his emotions.

  “That somehow justifies abandoning me? Or these people, who’ve saved our lives? Eliza didn’t hesitate when we brought you in—that was recent! Who knew you were creating patients elsewhere?”

  “I’m trying to tell you it’s more complicated than that. I wanted to be with you I really did. I would’ve stayed if I’d had a choice, but I would’ve been killed.”

  “Then die! You’d had that resolve at just fourteen where did it go? To the Syndicate?” He didn’t answer right away.

  “They promised me… power. Strength.”

  “Bull. Shit!”

  “Listen, Mimi,” he started, holding his palms out in submission. I could hear him holding tears in his throat. “It’s too late for me. And the Council… they’re split at best.”

  “And whose fault is that?”

  “There’s a safe spot in Mnemosyne,” he continued. “It’s called The Puny Axe. The owner is Cosmaran, his name is Olayemi. Tell him I sent you; he’ll recognize you. These will guide you on your way.” He placed the crystals next to me and looked at me expectantly. He was waiting for me to say something.

  I didn’t.

  “I’ll find you,” he promised.

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