Legon Awakening

chapter Twelve

Empathy



“It has been said that love is the strongest power for good in this world, and that if more people loved there would be far less suffering. I would disagree with that theory; it is not love itself, but what and how we love, for surely the tyrant loves the suffering he causes just as much as the mother loves her child.”

-Teachings of the Restored Queen



Legon’s eyes blinked open. He felt cold sweat covering him and his breath was ragged. He stared up at the canvas ceiling of the tent; he couldn’t hear Sasha’s breathing. He sat up trying to wave off the grogginess.

“Where is she?” he thought.

The dreams were always a bit better when she was close, but she wasn’t in the tent. Then it came to him.

“The Jezeer,” he said.

Tonight Sasha was learning the Art of the Waking Sleep, a form of meditation that allowed you to stay up for hours with no sleep at all. You could put yourself in a state that was almost as beneficial as sleep, only it took a tenth of the time. Tonight was her night to learn. He had to admit she was doing well with the training, but it still seemed as if they were missing something.

In the two weeks following their departure from Salkay, both of them had learned a lot but felt as though they hadn’t. It was aggravating in many ways. That wasn’t going to matter for long, though, since they were almost to Salez and then maybe Legon would get some answers. Or maybe not—it was hard to say. He wasn’t sure of who to talk to or what to do, and Arkin wasn’t talking about what he needed to do there.

He lay back down, still exhausted. The dreams had been going full tilt now, yet it was odd that they changed every night. Some nights he was close to the black dragon and other nights to that blue light. No matter what he did, he couldn’t figure out what that light was supposed to be. Arkin had said that dreams symbolize what was going on in the mind, but there was no answer for these dreams. What was he supposed to be figuring out? The way he felt when he went to bed seemed to have an effect on what the dreams were like. If he was happy with himself and his day, usually he was closer to the blue light, but if he was unhappy he felt closer to the black dragon.

Legon realized it was going to be morning soon. He needed to sleep. They had a big day tomorrow. They would be entering Salez, and he was going to need his wits about him. As soon as he closed his eyes, though, a noise outside made him start and shoot straight up. “What was that sound?” It sounded like a voice. It could be that he was just hearing things, but he better be sure. He stuck his head out of the tent and saw Sasha sitting next to the fire, eyes closed, trying to master the Waking Sleep. Arkin looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

“Nothing,” said Legon. “Never mind, thought I heard something.” He flopped back down; he hadn’t heard anything. It was just in his head.

* * * * *

Sasha was vaguely aware of Legon saying something as she was deep in concentration, trying to figure out the Waking Sleep. In theory, once in the right state she would have waking dreams but still hear her surroundings. It wasn’t going well. Her mind was reaching a different state for sure. However, that state was sleep. She kept drifting off and Arkin would catch her before she slumped into the fire. She thought she had come close once, but it turned out to be nothing.

Then it happened. She heard everything around her just like Arkin had taught them. She was aware of what everything was, and she could feel her mind and body filling with energy. Strange dreams suddenly filled her mind’s eye. Dreams she wasn’t in control of but could still see, hear, and feel. Time seemed not to exist either, but somehow she knew how long she was out. She brought herself out of the waking sleep and looked at Arkin, who was smiling in the light of the sunrise. She slumped down.

“Why was I out for so long? I thought I should sense time, right?”

“You should. I was ready to tell you to go to bed and get some sleep the old fashioned way, but just then you achieved the Waking Sleep, but only for about five minutes. Then you fell asleep for five hours.” There was a placating look on his face.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“You were fine where you were, and I figured if you woke up on your own you could have another try.”

Arkin stood and walked off without another comment. She was a little put out. She had been sitting there all night long sleeping and he had just watched her? Or did he go to bed himself? If she had been doing what she was supposed to she would have known that, but still, what if she had taken a header into the fire? She stood, feeling stiff, and started on breakfast.

“Morning, Sash,” Legon said, coming out of the tent.

“Good morning. How did you sleep?”

“Meh. Had another one. I don’t know why they affect me more when you’re not there.”

“I have a soothing personality.” She turned and gave him a warm but fake smile.



He laughed. “Yeah that’s it.”



As the day wore on they drew closer to Salez. Soon they could see a dark haze over the next hill, indicating that the city would be just on the other side. Arkin’s training had filled the last few weeks, but some of the most important training was how to protect their minds. Magic users and Dragons could read thoughts, but if you knew what you were doing you could block them out.

“Remember, there are going to be many people at the gate, so if they do have someone checking thoughts they’ll only be looking for obvious things like aggression. In light of that, keep your thoughts focused on the mundane, understand?” Arkin warned.

“But what if one tries to go deeper?” Kovos asked with a little nervousness in his voice.

“You won’t know if they do, but if it looks like someone is paying a little too much attention to you, clear your head. If that doesn’t work then try to hurt yourself.”

“Do what?” Kovos asked.

“Fall off your horse or something like that. Anything that will agitate the people around you and more important, your mind”

“Don’t worry. I’m sure I’ll fall off my horse anyway, so I wouldn’t be too worried about it,” Keither said with a chuckle.



They headed east and came over the top of the hill. When they crested the top, Legon felt his stomach drop. In front of them was the largest city he had ever seen. Salez was beyond huge. The smoke from thousands of chimneys formed a dark haze floating above the city. The harsh smoke made him want to sneeze. The city was built on two hills that were separated by the Kayloose running between them. Farms surrounded the city, which was encircled by a towering stone wall. From the hilltop vantage Legon could see that the wall even spanned the river, which passed though grates built in along the bottom. Towers were spaced evenly along the massive wall. Behind them was slate roof after slate roof.

Further up, he could see other walls with towers indicating where the city had once ended. He counted five of these inner walls, but only the largest outer wall connected both hills. The city rose from the horizon like two mountains, each topped with a fortress. The fortress on the north hill was large but nothing compared to the fortress topping the south. The building had tiers, giving each new level the ability to shoot over the first. He could see nine towers along the first wall just from where he was sitting. It looked like the city walls and fortresses were made of whitewashed granite, making the city bright, but also giving it a striped appearance because of the slate roofs. Legon saw splashes of red, blue, green, and orange everywhere, but from a distance the granite and slate dominated.

“Arkin, how many people do you think live there?” Legon asked.

“Oh I don’t know, around two hundred and fifty thousand. But keep in mind, Salez is not the largest city.”

“You mean there’s ones bigger than this?” Sasha asked amazed.

“Much larger, yes. Now when we get into town, I will go talk to my contact here and find out if he knows anything. You lot will go to the Claw Foot Inn and wait for me. If it looks like we’ve been compromised we need to leave fast, got it?”

Legon wasn’t happy about this part of the plan. After all, he was the one in need of answers, but at the same time the order to arrest him came from the Queen in the capital. Salez seemed like a good place to find those answers. Still, he needed to take Arkin’s lead on this. After all, the man had been living in the middle of the empire as a spy for years.

“Ok, we’ll take your lead,” replied Legon. As he spoke, they saw a large orange creature fly from the north fortress. Far-reaching bat-like wings pushed its long body through the air effortlessly. It flew northeast away from them. A chill ran down Legon’s spine as he noticed that the dragon seemed to leach light from the sky, although not nearly as much as the one in his dreams.

“That was an Iumenta Dragon, wasn’t it?” Keither asked. There was fear in his voice but also interest.

“Yes, it was. Now let’s go.” Arkin started forward to Salez, seemingly unfazed by the monster.

* * * * *

Keither marveled at the dragon that was now just a small dot in the sky. There wasn’t a lot of information available on Dragons, mostly because the Iumenta controlled what information was available to the public. Keither did know that they were a key part in the Queen’s takeover and subsequent reign.

Salez was beautiful, with its whitewashed walls and the way the main city was contained within the barrier. That was real security. As they drew closer, Keither could see that they were easily forty feet high. As they joined the large group of people entering the main gate, he saw that it was roughly as thick as it was tall. That seemed odd.

“Arkin, why is the wall so thick? Isn’t that way too much stone?”

“It’s not solid stone. Most of it is earth and timber. It makes the wall extremely strong. Men can patrol the top and keep ballista and catapults up there with their supplies.”

There was something else that was odd about Salez as well. As they entered they were not greeted by beggars. There should have been lots of them in a city this big, but there was no one out asking for offerings. Sasha noticed this as well. “Where are the people begging for food and money?” she asked.

“They’re in the Queen’s care. There are no beggars in the empire, or at least not in any city big enough to be called a city,” said a man that was next to them leading a donkey laden with parcels. “There hasn’t been in about five years now. If you lose your home you are taken into the Queen’s care”.

“How could the Iumenta be bad if they got rid of homelessness?” Keither thought. Arkin was off base; he needed to figure out what was wrong with the man.

“For how long does one stay in the care of the Queen?” Kovos asked.

“For the rest of your life, of course. If they left her care they would be back to clogging the streets in a week,” the man said with derision.

Well maybe it wasn’t so good. If the Iumenta took care of the poor until they could function on their own, that would be one thing, but for the rest of their lives?

“Ok, you go find the Inn. It should be up that road a bit,” Arkin said, pointing up a street to the right. “I will meet you there in a few hours. Don’t worry about getting us rooms, we may not be staying.”

* * * * *

Legon wasn’t all that thrilled about going off in a big city without Arkin, but he would have to get over it. Thankfully, it turned out the inn wasn’t that hard to find. When they entered, they were greeted by a wave of musty smoke and sound. The inn had a tavern on the lower level and people were coming in from all around for lunch. The group moved toward the last table and sat around it. Legon sat with his back to the window, watching the people and waiting impatiently for Arkin. A tall woman with long red hair and a green dress came by and asked if they wanted anything to drink.

“What’s good here?” Kovos asked.

She smiled warmly. “Everything.”

“Ok, what do you like the most?” Kovos was flirting with the waitress. He loved Emma, but Legon knew that he just couldn’t help himself. That was just how Kovos was. The woman placed her hand on his shoulder and turned herself just a little, subtly indicating that she was talking only to him. Her low-cut blouse and the way she tilted herself just a bit to Kovos wasn’t lost on any of them. This woman was a pro, and Kovos her sucker for today. This was going to cost them.

“Well, I like the ginger tea.” She was playing with his shirt. This always happened. This lady was going to get Kovos to buy the most expensive thing on the menu and then he was going to leave her a huge tip. Sasha was rolling her eyes, looking disgusted.

“Yeah, we’ll all have a cup.” Kovos handed her way more money than any tea was worth and the woman walked off. It was a good thing they had stiffed Bear on the horses. The waitress wasn’t even that good looking.

Kovos turned back to them with a stupid look on his face. “What are you all looking at me like that for?”

“Give me the money,” Sasha said, holding out her hand.

“What? Why?”

“Because you are a moron, that’s why. Ginger tea? Are you for real?”

“She said she liked it.”

“She liked your money,” spat Sasha. Then added harshly, “Our money.”

“Like you would know. I bet it’s great.”

“And if it’s not?”

“Fine, you can have the bag, but if the tea is good, I get it back,” Kovos said as he held out his hand with the money bag. Sasha promptly took it.

The tea came out and was terrible. Legon liked ginger but not like this. Sasha was forcing down a sip when she stood up and clapped her hands to her mouth.

“Oh, it’s not that bad. I kind of like it…” Kovos started, but she was out the door.

Legon turned to see her running out in the street and letting a blonde woman inside. As she entered he took a look at the newcomer. Her hair was long, blonde and she was thin with green eyes and a . . .

“Sara!” he said, getting up and crossing the room. He wrapped his arms around her. “I can’t believe you’re here. Come sit down with us, how are you?”

“Um, well, I…,” she began, looking totally dazed and shocked.

“Sit down, sit down. Oh, I am so happy to see you,” Sasha said, planting Sara next to Legon. Sara took a moment to rearrange the red dress, hiking up its low-cut neckline, and then checked to make sure she hadn’t lost any jewelry. He was surprised by all of the makeup and jewelry. When he had known her she wasn’t a flashy person at all and was a little on the chubby side. Now she was thin and looked good, but there was something off about her.

“I thought you were in the Queen’s care?” Keither asked. Sara’s face darkened and she looked down.

“Yes, I am.”

“Well you look like you’re doing great. Looks like the Queen’s care isn’t so bad after all.” Keither looked at them all smugly.

“No, it’s…” Legon could see tears in her eyes now. The low-cut dress. The makeup. The jewelry. It all suddenly clicked. She was a slave and slaves didn’t have that stuff.

She looked like she couldn’t talk, as if she was ashamed. Like she wanted to go and hide under a rock. With her eyes diverted away from them she said, “Keither, I’m a slave and was sold to an Iumenta that owns a brothel.”

Her voice was etched with the same shame and sadness that adorned her face. Legon was surprised that pain and sadness, not anger, boiled up in him. There was a warm sensation in the back of his head. He tried to ignore it and shifted away from the window, closer to Sara and out of the warm sun. Keither looked dumbstruck and embarrassed. Sasha and Kovos were looking down as an uncomfortable silence grew.

“Can you get away?” Legon asked.

“No, they mark us with magic. Here, look,” she said, turning to them and lifting her hair. It felt like ice water was being poured down his whole body. On the back of her neck was a black tattoo with two circles inside each other. At the center was a six-pointed star. The symbol itself was not the part that unnerved him, but more how it was put there.

“If I leave town and anyone see this tattoo, I will be taken back to my owner, and then…”

* * * * *

Arkin turned the corner into an alley in between two large buildings, looking for the man he was supposed to meet. This part of town wasn’t where you would expect to find an informant. Most of the time you had to go to the bad part of town—the part where the snitches were. Not Monson, though. He wasn’t what you would expect, either.

A figure walked out from behind a carton and waved to Arkin. As he approached, Arkin saw the young man, really a boy around fourteen. His father had been the original informant, but not anymore. Monson’s family was from one of the old human houses, one that had been in charge before the Iumenta swine took over, the House of Grey to be precise. The family was an example of how the queen was able to destroy human nobility. The taxes and penalties that were imposed made it impossible for a family like theirs to exist. Subsequently, all of the noble lines had dissolved, and humanity lost more and more sway in the government. The person in front of him was the last of a line—a line that the Iumenta were keen to destroy.

“What are you doing here?” Monson asked.

“Not happy to see me?”

“It’s not that, but from what I’ve heard, your charge is a wanted man.”

“He is. We took out ten royal guards and are on the run headed south. What can you tell me? How did they find out?”

“Ten royal guards? They really are pathetic, aren’t they?”



Arkin smiled. This is why he liked Monson. He was his dad from his mannerisms down to his attitude. Long black hair obscured much of Monson’s scarred face, a permanent reminder of the fire six years ago. The same fire had killed his father. It was amazing the young boy still lived. Arkin didn’t know much about what had happened, but from all accounts there had been foul play. Monson’s mother had taken it hard and dedicated herself to fighting the Iumenta. As soon as he was old enough, her son joined her. Monson was great at gathering information; because he was so young, people didn’t suspect him.

Monson continued on. “Well, from what I can tell this is being kept quiet. The Queen’s Senashow is in charge. It looks like he just sent out a wide sweep for his first attempt at locating you. But that doesn’t mean that he was planning on his pawns bringing your boy in.”

“What do you mean? And the boy’s name is Legon.”

“Well, here’s the way I see it: They have to know that your charge has some sort of protection, and the royal guard is great at beating things out.”

Arkin gave Monson a wry smile. “I thought you said they were pathetic.”

“Ha! I did and they are, but the Senashow is not. Look at what his planning accomplished. You were flushed right out into the open and now you’re scampering around the Cona Empire without a plan.”

He was probably right. They would need to move fast. By now the empire would have figured out that they were missing soldiers. He kicked himself. It had been dumb to come to Salez, but he needed to figure out how much the Iumenta knew.

“Ok, what else do you know?”

“Nothing. Do you think you’re the first to ask? The Iumenta seem to actually care this time. You need to get south, but be careful. The army has been shipping supplies down that way for a while now.”

“What do you mean? They can’t have everything blocked off.”

“No, but I don’t know what they’re up to. It’s platoons of the main army, so it’s not the Senashow’s doing. But if you’re on a wanted list you’d still better avoid the area.”

Monson turned at a sound down the dark ally. He looked at the end where light was making an attempt to penetrate the dark space. Monson turned back to him. “We need to leave. Just get your people out. Take the long way back to avoid large cities and rivers. If I find out more I will send word.”

And with that Monson Grey walked to the other side of the alley and disappeared. Arkin hurried back to the inn and found his four companions sitting in the tavern with . . . Sara?

* * * * *

Arkin walked to the table, surprise on his face. Legon noticed that the surprise was part hesitation as well.

“Arkin? What are you doing here? In fact, what are all of you doing here?” Sara asked.

There was silence as they all sat, waiting for someone to talk. He reached up and scratched at the back of his head, which was now tingling. Sasha gave him a stern look.

“Where do you live?” Sasha asked Sara, trying to change the subject.

“In my owner’s business. We work at night, mostly, but it’s really whenever a customer comes in or when we’re shipped off to the army for a week or two.”

“They do what?” Kovos said, all signs of sympathy replaced with anger.

“We go to the barracks sometimes when business is slow, or when we first get here as part of our orientation.”

“Orientation?” Legon said with his head now positively buzzing.

“When we get here, if we aren’t willing to work then we get oriented to our new life.”

“What is involved in this orientation?” Keither asked, looking scared.

“A lot of stuff. Usually we are beaten and then given to a large group of people. They’re told to show us the ropes for a few weeks, but not to do any permanent damage to us physically. Even after they break us we stay in orientation until new girls arrive.” Her face was now very pale. “Mine was three weeks,” she said in a whisper.

There was a pit in Legon’s stomach. He felt for this girl. She had gone through a lot in the last few months and he could see that she was hurting. He wished there were some way to make it better, to take away her pain. He reached out to place his hand sympathetically on her forearm, but as his hand touched her, the feeling in his head shot down his arm. Images, scents, sounds, and feelings flashed in front of his eyes. He was a terrified girl being dragged along. Now he was being whipped. He could feel each lash as it burned across his back, splitting the skin. He gasped as he saw the lash marks heal without a scar. He realized that the whip was enchanted.

The fear was so strong now. He was in a room filled with men, all smiling and calling out. They were on her now, ripping off clothes, hitting and kicking. Then the violation, the humiliation tore through him. The memories of the day he broke, letting them do what they wanted, doing to them what they wanted. Then images of client after client ran through his mind. Each time he felt all the emotions, all the pain—everything. It was too much.

He pulled his hand off her arm, breathing hard. Sara yelped and clapped her hand to her neck. Sasha was up in a heartbeat, scrambling around Sara and lifting her hand from her neck.

“It’s gone,” she said with a gasp.

“What’s gone?” Legon asked.

“The tattoo.” Sasha looked at him. There was an awed and frightened look on her face.

Sara looked at him with new tears in her eyes, but this time they were tears of gratitude. “I felt all of my pain leave me. I felt your compassion and love and now my tattoo is gone.” She looked at him intently, looked into his eyes.

“You’re a Venefica.”

“A wha…” he started.

“Silence,” snapped Arkin. ”Sara, don’t say another word, not here. You know what could happen. You lot clear your minds.”

“But . . .” Kovos said.

“Do it now,” Arkin barked as people from around the tavern looked at them.

“Sara, you cannot go back to your owner. You know as well as I do that they will find out what happened. And we all need to leave now. Sasha, give Sara some clothes so she will look normal walking out of the city, and the rest of you get ready. We’re leaving. Now.”

“Arkin, what about getting…” Keither started.

“We have answers, now go.”

They all stood, but Sara looked apprehensive. She was obviously torn between the possibility of newfound freedom and the fear of her owner. Legon had taken her pain into himself for just a moment, but in that moment he had gained an understanding that would have taken years to learn, if not a lifetime. To feel what someone else was dealing with, how they thought and felt during a situation… He wondered what kind of person he would be if he had this knowledge his whole life.

The sensation in his head was gone now. He should have felt scared about what he’d just done, but he didn’t. After all, he did what he had wanted to do. He wanted to set Sara free and to take away her pain. Was it magic? It had to be, there was no other way to explain it.

Sara moved along slowly with the others and Arkin showed them out the door and down the street. The streets were clogged with people and the going was slow, but Legon wasn’t paying attention to that. He kept rolling the thought of magic around in his head. What had Sara called him? “Venefica,” he thought. What did that mean, and how did she know about it? He also wondered what Arkin had learned that made him want to rush out of town so fast. They reached the stables next to the entrance of Salez.

“Sara, do you have a horse?” Arkin asked. He noticed Sara was now in one of Sasha’s dresses. It fit well, but when did that happen? He needed to get his head in the game.

“Ah, no, I don’t.”

“We’ll buy one then.”

* * * * *

Sasha walked close to her friend. She couldn’t believe that Sara was here, but at the same time Sasha felt sad to see her. When Sara had been taken into the queen’s care Sasha had always just hoped that she would be made a common servant of some sort, but that obviously hadn’t happened. Sara looked like she was shell shocked and obviously scared about what could happen to her.

Arkin left to buy Sara a new horse. Legon and Kovos took to walking around the group in wide, meandering circles. Over the last few days Arkin had started to teach them defensive techniques that they now were employing.

“You guys have been through a lot, haven’t you?” Sara asked. Sasha started a bit.

“You could say that. I will tell you more on the road, but yes, we’ve had a hard run so far. Are you ok?”

“I’m fine, just nervous is all.”

“I can see that. Are you worried about getting caught?”

“Yes. If the mark on my neck is gone I should be ok, but still.”

Arkin came back shortly with a new horse in tow. He was also accompanied by a group of children leading the other horses along. He handed the reins of the new one to Sara. She took them and they all began to exit the city. Two soldiers stood guard at the city gate. One was young looking with shaggy, sandy hair and a long nose. It appeared that he was new because he was eyeing every passerby with interest. The other was older looking with a short, scruffy beard and a look of extreme boredom on his face. As they passed, the younger guard stopped them.

“Hold up. You know you can’t leave,” he said, directing his voice at Sara.

“And why can’t she leave?” Arkin asked in a challenging voice.

“Because she belongs to the brothel up the way, that’s why.”