Rogue's Gambit - Chapter 9

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“My sweet daughter, I am so sorry, come here.”

Soft arms embraced Eliza, filling her with warmth…

Eliza resisted as she felt the tug of reality against her consciousness. For the first time in months, there was no pain or sorrow or anger, not even the hatred that had consumed her since she’d learned of Elgoss’s destruction. So she clung to the lie of her mother’s embrace…

…until a bucket of ice cold water tore away even that scant comfort.

Coughing and choking, Eliza surged upright—only to find her hands and feet bound to a wooden chair. The coarse rope bit into her skin, and the sudden movement sent the chair lurching sideways. The wood groaned as it teetered on one leg, before gravity reasserted itself, settling her back on solid ground with a thud.

“Oh, good, you’re awake.”

Head pounding, mind still fuzzy, Eliza squinted through watery eyes at the speaker. There was a furry texture in her mouth, like she’d forgotten to brush her teeth the night before, and for the first few seconds, everything appeared dark and blurry.

She struggled to recall where she was, what had happened. There had been a noise in the street…then someone had been standing over her…and later, voices, speaking. She had opened her eyes and seen…

Kaila.

Burning eyes appeared amidst the darkness. A face; not the pale and haggard Kaila Dwyn, but a man. He sat in a chair opposite her, one leg crossed over the other, a piece of agimet held casually between his fingers. Eliza had grown used to seeing the deadly gemstones since arriving in Tah’raus, but this crystal was different. It didn’t glow a pure white, but pulsed from one colour to the next, always changing. And as the colours changed, so too did the light that shone in the man’s eyes.

Eliza did her best to jerk away from the Elysian, but the bindings held her tight. She opened her mouth to scream—only for an invisible force to clamp tight around her jaw, silencing her.

“Ah, ah, ah, I didn’t say you could speak yet.”

Panic well and truly taking hold, Eliza tried to scream again, but the pressure only tightened. The man leaned closer, eyes burning brightly with unholy atar.

“Are you done?” he asked, lips twisted in a sneer.

Eliza quelled, slumping defeated in the chair. Her entire body trembled as fear spread like acid through her limbs. The enemy had her. Every Daughter knew what foul, horrible things the Elysian did to their human prisoners—especially members of the Magisterium.

And here she was, helpless, unable to so much as speak without the Elysian’s permission. Even her thoughts might not be her own—some of these creatures had dark powers over the human mind. So she clung to her hatred, and prayed for the protection of the First Matron.

Nodding, the man leaned back in his chair. “Good,” he said quietly. With a gesture, the pressure around her jaw vanished. “Then if you don’t mind, I have some questions for you.”

“Who are you?” she growled, clinging to her rage like it was her only buoyancy in a storm upon the ocean. “Do you have any idea who I am?”

Her eyes darted around the room. It was the same place she had woken earlier; strewn with discarded cloth and rolls of old silk and offcuts piled high in the corners. There were no windows and only a single iron stairwell for an exit. As far as she could tell though, they were alone.

There was no sign of Kaila. Doubt touched Eliza. Had she ever been there at all—or had that just been another phantom from her past come to mock her, like the dream of her mother.

Leaning forward in his chair, the man steepled his fingers. “Only your name, Eliza,” he said quietly. Her skin crawled, hearing her name from his mouth. “And that you’re a Daughter of the Magisterium. But I’m glad you mentioned it, cause that is, in fact, why we’re here. You see, I want to know everything there is to know about you.”

“I’ll never tell you anything,” Eliza said with more conviction than she felt.

“Are you sure?” Suddenly the pressure was back, only now it closed around her throat, the collar squeezing into her flesh like a vice. She opened her mouth to cry out, but only a squeak emerged. “Never is just so permanent, don’t you think? Like a Daughter who trips and ends up at the bottom of the harbour, never to be seen again.”

Cold touched Eliza’s heart. Her courage wilted before the stranger’s threats. “Please…”

“Oh none of that now.” Abruptly, the pressure vanished. Grasping his chair, the man scooted it closer, until their knees were practically touching. He leaned in, so close that Eliza could smell the wine on his breath. “Come on, you’re a Daughter aren’t you? I’ve never tortured one of your kind before! Where’s that famous wit? The iron loyalty to the Magisterium?” Throwing back his head, he howled with laughter.

Eliza shuddered. This man was clearly insane. She strained against her bindings, desperate to get away, but there was no give in the coarse fibres.

“I won’t…” she started, but as she spoke the man’s head snapped around, a mad smile stretching his lips.

“That’s more like it!” he gasped. With a flourish, a knife appeared in his hand. “Now, let’s put that defiance to the test. Where shall we start?”

He leaned in, bringing the blade to within an inch of her face. It crept closer, the cold steel resting against her lips.

“The tongue?” he mused.

Eliza gave a strangled cry and tried to lean away, but his hand shot out and caught her by the chin.

“No, that’s no good,” he tisked, tapping the flat of the blade against her cheek. “Need you to talk, don’t I? Eye, yes, how about the eyes?” He shifted the dagger again, so that it pointed at her eye. “You don’t need those to talk.”

It was too much. “No!” Eliza cried, squeezing her eyes shut, for all the good that would do. “Please, I’ll tell you anything you want!”

That laughter again. “Are you sure?” he pressed. Eliza didn’t dare open her eyes for fear of what he might do. “Don’t you think a Daughter should resist at least a little torture before spilling her guts? You know, for reputation’s sake?”

“Please…” she sobbed, wits abandoning her entirely now. “Please, just tell me what you want, for the First Matron’s sake.”

The stranger chuckled. “Let’s start with that pretty collar of yours.”

A chill crept down Eliza’s spine. “What about it?”

“I want it.”

Her eyes snapped open, panic gripping her heart. The collar of a Daughter was sacred. It could only be removed by her hand—and she was forbidden. To do so would break her vow to Fresia and the Magisterium, to the Matron herself! And giving it to an Elysian…that would be nothing short of treason.

“Please, I can’t…”

The dagger swept back up, its blade shimmering in the atarlight...

“Theron! That’s enough!”

Eliza startled as a woman’s voice carried from above. Her head jerked up, heart catching in her throat. The point of the knife hovered barely an inch from her eye. But that was not what sent chills burning through her body.

A young woman descended the iron staircase.

It was her.

Her curly blonde locks and rosy cheeks, even her hated button nose. It was almost like looking in a mirror that moved and smiled and walked towards her. Only this Eliza’s eyes were harsh, and she wore a disapproving frown, as though the real Eliza wasn’t good enough to share the same room as her.

“Who are you?” she groaned.

A thin smile stretched the other Eliza’s lips. “Why, I’m your conscience, Eliza,” she mocked, approaching, “you probably don’t recognise me.”

Alarm spiked in Eliza’s gut. She knew that voice. Not the tone, which was eerily similar to Eliza’s, but the way she spoke, the manner of her words. A chill spread down her spine as she stared at her double.

“Kaila?” She practically bit the name as she spoke it. “So it was you behind all this.”

“No, Eliza,” the other Eliza said. Then she sighed. “I mean, yes.” She shook her head. “This is not the way I wanted this to go.”

“I suppose you didn’t want to murder everyone in Elgoss either,” Eliza spat back.

“I didn’t!” Kaila cried, her foul mimicry of Eliza’s face twisting in anger.

She leaned down, then stopped, trembling for a second over Eliza’s chair. Her eyes slid closed, before she swung on Eliza’s tormentor—who had gone silent.

“What the hell was that all about, Theron?”

The stranger stared back at her, unflinching. “I had it handled, Kaila.”

“By putting out her eye?”

“I wasn’t going to actually do it! Besides, it was working, wasn’t it? She was about to give up!” He turned to Eliza with a look of exasperation. “You were, weren’t you?”

Eliza glared at him. Righteous rage burned now in her heart. She knew what they planned to do. They wanted to use her collar and her identity to infiltrate the Sanctum. She couldn’t let it happen.

“Never,” she snarled.

“That word again,” Theron tisked. “Come now, we’ve already seen how far courage will take you.” He paused to glance at Kaila. “I’ll give you a hint—not far.”

“I don’t care,” Eliza interrupted before the other her could respond. “I won’t help you slaughter any more innocents.” Her voice cracked as she thought of her parents, murdered by Kaila’s villainous hands.

“Innocents?” Kaila swung on her, fire burning in her false eyes. “You dare talk to me about innocents?”

“Kaila…” Hovering nearby, Theron tried to inject himself, but Kaila would not be dissuaded.

“You,” she snarled, “whose family enslaved all of us in Elgoss.” She leaned in close, and now Eliza saw the glint of atar burning in the girl’s eyes. It was unnerving, to see that on her own face.

“How could you do it?” Kaila continued. “How could you look us in the eye, day after day, knowing what you were doing to us?”

“I didn’t know!” Eliza snarled. Something in the girl’s words struck that little piece of guilt she had harboured all these months.

A long silence followed her words. The other Eliza looked shocked, lips parted as though to refute her. Then she frowned, and the light slowly faded from her eyes.

“You’re telling the truth, aren’t you?”

“Of course I am.”

“I’m telling the truth as well.” Kaila looked away as she said it. “About Elgoss. It wasn’t me. I ran. I never thought for a moment…” She bowed her head.

Confusion bubbled its way to the surface of Eliza’s rage. Why would Kaila lie now, here of all places? What could the denial possibly serve?

“If it wasn’t you, then who?”

“The Magisterium,” the other her said quietly, “or the Wardens. They’re all the same.”

“Liar!” Her rage came rushing back, flushing away Eliza’s doubt. How dare she?

Kaila sighed. “It doesn’t matter what you think, Eliza,” she said, straightening. Resolve hardened her face. “We need your collar.”

“I’ll never let you take my place.”

It was eerie as the other her looked Eliza in the eyes. “You will,” Kaila said coldly, “or I will go to Sutton Street wearing your face and use my Gift—and the entire world will see that Eliza Wrenn is one of the Elysian.”

“You wouldn’t!”

But Kaila did not flinch. The faint glow of atar appeared again in her eyes, slowly growing brighter. Eliza trembled as she held that iron gaze. The Elysian were the ruthless enemy of humanity, determined to subjugate and destroy their civilisation, to enslave them as they had all those centuries ago. She wanted to be brave, like T’iana the First Matron and all the other heroes who had defied the enemy in the face of certain death…

…but looking into those burning eyes, Eliza’s courage crumbled and instead she bowed her head.

“I hate you.”

“I don’t care,” Kaila’s voice was cold.

“I’m not even sure I can remove it.”

“You’d better hope that’s not true,” Kaila growled. There was a moment’s pause, before she continued in a softer tone. “Tell me how it works. Maybe we can help you.”

Eliza shuddered. That was forbidden knowledge. But she was already doomed—she could not resist Theron’s torture or Kaila’s threats. The words slipped from her lips as she wilted.

“The Matron brought us into the depths of the Sanctum…” she trailed off, her voice quivering at the betrayal, “and bade us swear a vow before the Aegis.”

“What vow?” Kaila pressed.

“To obey the Matron,” she croaked. Why was she telling them this? She should have gone to her grave before opening her mouth to the enemy. Yet something nudged her, something Kaila had said, the way she had said it.

The Magisterium, or the Wardens. They’re all the same.

There had been no anger in Kaila’s words, no hatred or defiance. Just…resignation. Goosebumps spread along Eliza’s skin. Kaila was telling the truth—or at least, what she thought was the truth.

“What happened next?” Kaila pressed.

“I swore the vow,” she rasped, “and then the Matron placed the collar around my neck and closed it.”

Never to be removed until your death…

She swallowed, recalling the Matron’s words.

“What do you think, Theron?” Kaila asked.

“I think she’s stalling,” the thief growled, rising from his chair. The knife glinted in his hand as he approached—and then lunged towards Eliza.

She cried out, trying to pull away, but the ropes held her tight—until the blade slashed through the bindings. She gasped as her right arm came free, clutching it to her chest.

“No tricks,” he said, looming over her. “Remove the collar, now.”

There was no mercy in the Elysian’s eyes. Hands trembling, Eliza reached for the golden collar. There was a groove on the back—though it looked smooth to the naked eye. She had felt it many times, running her fingers over the barely perceptible lump, wondering what would happen if she pressed it. Her life in the Sanctum, her parents’ deaths, nothing had been as she’d expected. But in the end, fear stopped her.

Now it was fear that drove her fingers to find the groove and press it.

For a second, nothing happened.

Then Eliza felt warmth around her neck, gentle at first, but it quickly grew hotter. The breath caught in her throat as she tried—and failed—to scream. It was as though the collar had turned to molten metal. Desperately, she clawed at the golden band, but though she’d pressed the catch, it refused to release. Instead, it seemed to be tightening. She caught the stench of burning smoke, tasted metal on her tongue and choked.

And still it burned hotter, searing into her flesh…

…and then the other Eliza was there, scrambling for the collar. The metal seemed to tighten in response, constricting, trying to kill her. She gasped, but it was like sucking air through a narrow straw. Stars burst before Eliza’s eyes, red at first, then black, threatening at the corners of her vision. But Eliza—Kaila—was still there, still clawing for the gold, struggling—

With a cry of triumph, Kaila tore it loose and threw the burning thing to the floor. Eliza gasped, sweet air rushing to fill her lungs, and sagged in her chair. The pain…it was unlike anything she had ever felt. She barely heard the others speak above the ringing in her ears.

“What the hell was that?”

“You didn’t think the Magisterium would let its servants betray them without reprisal, did you?”

“You knew this would happen?”

Silence.

“Bastard! She could have died!”

“She would already be dead if not for you.”

A longer silence this time. Pain, searing, agony. Head dangling in her lap, Eliza clung to consciousness. The darkness receded somewhat, though not the pain.

“Will…will the same thing happen…if I put it on?”

“I…don’t think so.”

“You don’t think so?” Kaila gasped. “What the hell does that mean!”

“You haven’t sworn any vows to the Aegis,” Theron said calmly. “Theoretically, you should be fine.” He hesitated. “Of course, no one’s ever done this before, either.”

“Then…”

“It doesn’t matter,” Theron said quietly. “Even if I’m wrong, when we have the Aegis, we can use its magic to remove the collar.”

“Unless we fail.”

“We won’t.”

The darkness was looming again. Eliza barely held to the light. It hurt so much. But she needed to know, to see. Light drilled into her skull as she forced her eyes to open, her head to lift. Theron and Kaila stood over her, eyes on one another, but with her movement, they turned. Kaila’s face—or rather, the fake Eliza’s face—softened. A long moment passed as they stared at one another, until Eliza felt the darkness swirl, the abyss rising to sweep her away.

“Kaila…” she whispered, fighting against the pain. “Why…”

The other girl grimaced. “Because it’s the right thing to do.”

The last thing Eliza saw before the darkness swallowed her up was the collar closing around the throat of her old enemy.

Become a paid subscriber to access early chapters of this series, plus many of the other series I have written! You can even take a free 7 day trial to see if my books are for you. You can find my other books on my website.

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