Anne Winchell - The Last War

“It’s not poisoned,” the man added.

Even if it were poisoned, she was prepared to take that risk in order to ease the stuffy cotton feeling in her mouth. She took a sip, and another. It tasted like ordinary tea, not sweet and too strongly brewed for her taste. But hot, and wet. She drank the entire cup and when she finished, her headache was starting to go away. She must have been dehydrated, Nalia thought.

That must be the reason she felt so weak when fighting Atheus, Nalia reasoned. She still had no idea what the blue light was or how she managed to attack Atheus with it, but Nalia suspected it had something to do with the bracelet that continued to sting her wrist. It was possible that the bracelet was some kind of weapon, but that didn’t explain why she had fainted. Twice, no less. Once at the fight, and she vaguely remembered leaving the Inn and collapsing into the arms of a stranger.

“How do you feel?”

The man sounded concerned and Nalia managed a weak response. She didn’t want to believe that she had literally fallen into the arms of her enemy. She was a díamont, far too strong and intelligent to go wandering off alone when she felt so ill. And she remembered something about the new girl, Kaela, something dangerous. It was almost as if she could hear Kaela speaking behind her. Nalia turned her head sharply and her head gave a throbbing reminder of its delicate condition. It was Kaela, right in the doorway, talking to the man.

“—talk to you in private?” she was asking.

Kaela and the man left the room and shut the door, giving Nalia a chance to examine her prison. There was a window, and it looked big enough to fit out if she could somehow get the handcuff off. She tugged at the metal handcuff but it fit too snugly. She carefully sat up straight, then hung her legs off the edge of the mattress. She tossed the blankets behind her. At least Kaela and the man had been kind enough to let her rest. Nalia tested her strength by putting a little weight on one foot, then the other. She wasn’t strong enough to stand yet. But she would be, and then she could get out of here.

Nalia hadn’t liked Kaela from the start, but she would have never guessed that Kaela was working with the government. A camera, Nalia remembered, slapping her palm against her thigh. She had seen a camera hidden in Kaela’s eye somehow. And she had left the building and somehow ended up here.

The door opened and the man came back in, alone. She studied him. He didn’t look too much older than her and his mouth and eyes had faint creases from smiling. He looked like an intelligent person, someone who might be willing to let her go if he thought she were unimportant. Then he introduced himself as Raven and she felt her face go white with fear. He said it casually, as if the name had no real meaning, but everyone in the Eastern World knew that Raven was one of the most influential and dangerous people in the government, up there with Medane and the President. His name was especially important to the resistance, however, because there was a rumor that Raven used to be a freedom fighter like them. She had asked her father about it once and he just shook his head. He hadn’t denied it, though.

Curiosity overwhelmed her fear. “What are you doing here?” She waved her hand to indicate the entire slums, not just the specific room.

“Looking for someone. You’re Nalia, right?”

She nodded. He must be looking for Galley. There was no other reason she could think of that would bring Raven into the slums.

“I guess the government is starting to take us seriously, then,” she said, trying to sound proud and nonchalant. Inwardly she was wondering if maybe her father had been right and introducing herself as Galley was a huge mistake.

“Even if the resistance got what it wanted,” he said, lifting one eyebrow as if in scorn or amusement, “You wouldn’t know what to do with it.”

It was a common complaint of the government that the resistance knew what it didn’t want but was unable to articulate what it did want. And to be fair, that had been a major issue before Nalia took over and set up specific goals and timelines. The introduction of Kaonism helped unify the movement as well; regardless of what people thought about having a united world government that ignored minority voices, no one wanted Kaonite laws put into place.

“We’ve changed a lot since you were here,” she said, watching him closely.

He was surprised but quickly recovered his composure. She couldn’t help but feel a little victorious. He had been a resistance fighter, and there was really only one person he could be: the mysterious leader of the movement who had vanished eleven years ago. No one ever talked about him, even though most of the people Nalia knew must have known him. And if he was who she thought he was, there was no way he would kill her.

“I mean,” she continued, “your name is Raven now, but that’s just a public name, right? To prevent anyone from finding out that you’re really Bryce, our movement’s greatest leader?”

He went pale and looked away. Perhaps she had gone too far. After all, she didn’t know why he had left or why he helped the enemy now. She didn’t want him to leave; she needed to keep him talking until she figured out what he wanted and how to talk him into letting her go. He clearly wanted to find Galley, and she couldn’t see any reason not to tell him. He would figure it out sooner or later, and he might feel indebted to her if she were honest.

“I know about public and private names,” she said. He glanced in her direction, but not at her. “All my life I’ve been Nalia, but when I became the leader of our movement I needed a new name for protection, so I picked Galley.”

Silence. Then he met her gaze. “You’re Galley?”

She nodded, suddenly regretting her decision to tell him. She could almost see the calculations whirling through his mind. Raven was the Eastern World’s most infamous assassin. Even if he had been sympathetic to her cause once, why had she thought that he would value honesty and not just kill her? Nalia gulped and tugged at her wrist, still securely locked by metal.

“Medane said Galley was male.”

Nalia stiffened and had to bite back her initial anger. How like the old díamont to assume she was male just because she had power. Had Medane even looked at her when they met? But she had been protected, she reminded herself. The diamond skin hid her appearance. Maybe it was better that Medane had no idea she was female.

“You’re really a díamont?” he asked, and she noticed that he sounded curious more than anything. At least he didn’t share his employer’s limited view of women.

“I’ll show you if you unhook me,” she offered with a sweet smile, lifting her wrist.

He just laughed, and she shrugged. She knew it would take more than that to talk him into releasing her. But laughter was good; it meant that he was seeing her as a person and not just as a potential target.

“If you tell me what you want, maybe we can work something out,” she said. “I know you’re not here to kill me.”

She didn’t know, but she hoped. And his reaction confirmed that he had no intention of killing her. He nodded.

“My job is to take you—Galley—to Medane. After that, though,” he said and glanced at his hands. “You’ll probably be killed.”

Nalia took a breath and tried to steel herself. Death was something she needed to be prepared for. Her mother had given her life to the cause. Nalia should be honored to do the same. But Raven clearly wasn’t looking forward to her death, and perhaps she could still persuade him to release her. A thought flashed across her mind and she spoke without thinking, realizing too late how cruel her strategy was.