Belvedor and the Four Corners (Belvedor Saga Book 1) (32 page)

The girls started to map out their next move, not planning to stay long.

“Pardon me,” said the distinct voice of a man.

Startled, Lessa had strung her bow within seconds and Arianna unsheathed her swords, both searching for the culprit.

“Ladies,” said the voice. Arianna and Lessa didn’t know where to aim until the figure of a man slowly emerged out of the shadows with his hands held high. “What brings you here this evening?”

His smile was so much like Solomon’s. Running to hug him was the initial reaction, though her rational side was better prepared as she raised her guard even higher.

“Who are you?” said Arianna in a quivering voice as she studied the man who stepped closer. “Stay back!”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” he said with a sugary tenor, purring his words as dark eyes studied them, looking them up and down. “Want to turn me over to the general now, don’t you?”

Arianna cocked her head to the side as she studied him, leaning in to whisper something to Lessa. “I think he thinks we’re elders because of our clothes. Go with it.” Lessa nodded, pursing her lips as she calculated the stranger.

“I think we’ll be the ones asking the questions here,
slave
,” she said, narrowing her gaze. She pulled back on the string of her bow effortlessly, going into a perfect stance, and Arianna beamed at the ghost girl reinvented. “Now tell us, who are you?”

“The name is Jeom Kane,” he said. He moved closer, and Arianna stepped back.

He stood much taller than she had realized before, maybe about six foot four, his skin almost as dark as the coal turned ash in the fire pit. Dressed in only tan pants, his bare chest was chiseled and firm, echoing the rest of his muscled body as the lanterns shed light on subtle scars all across his skin.

“Like what you see, do you?” He grinned, chuckling as he pulled on a shirt.

“Hardly,” scoffed Arianna, though Lessa’s blushing cheeks would suggest otherwise. “Which slave district have we found?”

He arched an eyebrow, proceeding after a moment’s pause. “Welcome to Creator’s District where slaves are turned into craftsmen,” he said, arms outstretched once more. “Ladies, you’ve found yourselves in the Inventor’s Zone of this Hell-hole. This is where we’re trained to earn our freedom.”

“Why are you out past curfew?” asked Lessa, her curiosity peeked. He began to inch closer. She shrank back as he towered over her, shamefully utilizing his charm tactics on a person who Arianna thought to be the charm master.

Jeom smiled. It was a sweet smile, and it hid the dagger behind his back just long enough for him to throw it as he dodged to the side, out of the line of fire. A very unskillful throw, sloppy, Solomon would say. The dagger flew through the air, handle-first, bouncing off Arianna’s chest.

Arianna didn’t know how to react. Should she laugh? Should she retaliate? It was just a very silly shock, this failed attack.

Lessa, on the other hand, didn’t see the humor as she sent an arrow flying at him, missing as he rolled behind a stack of wobbling wood slabs. The arrow pierced the wood with a clunk, and Jeom stood a bit shakily as he watched the arrow vibrating to a still. Tearing away an axe buried at the top of the stack, he steadied himself and the weapon, Lessa in sight.

“If you think you’re going to give
me
up to the regulators, think again!” His words rippled off the metallic-lined chamber and rang in their ears.

Barreling towards them, Jeom raised his axe high. Lessa sent more arrows flying while trying to back away, but her precision failed as she knocked into a botched table, the arrow only grazing his arm. The wound did nothing to ail him as he tackled her, slamming her back against the wall. She fell to the ground along with her bow, blood trickling from the side of her forehead.

Arianna ran to Lessa who lay there unconscious, but Jeom raged onwards, turning the fight to her. He grabbed her by the arm, dragging her away with the axe scraping on the floor behind him. She kicked and screamed, trying to break free of his strong grasp as Grinda Risso flashed before her eyes.

“Not this time!”

By wrapping her other hand around his wrist, she was able to push to her feet, knocking him to his knees as Solomon once taught her. A kick would have then finished a normal opponent, but, as her foot landed at his chest, his body stayed sturdy, barely budging at the force.

She decided her swords would be more useful in this fight. Picking up her weapons from the floor, she maneuvered her blades around him, easily blocking the axe he swung around like a child with a toy.

This was no trained soldier, not worthy of a warrior’s fight, but his attacks came strong, and his instincts were quick. With an unexpected thrust of his fist, he sent Arianna flying as his hand collided with her gut. She coughed, clutching at her ribs as she tasted the dusty floor, trying to pull air back into her lungs. Jeom didn’t even blink twice before he raised his axe above her.

“Stop!” She looked up to see Lessa only a foot away and furious.

Somehow, in all the commotion, she had regained control of her consciousness and her bow. Holding an arrow at the nape of his neck, she scrunched her eyes together as if to ward off her spiraling emotions… or possibly just a bad headache. Jeom shuddered as the steel tip pricked his skin, a drop of blood staining the linen on his shirt.

Arianna smiled triumphantly as she pushed to her feet, savoring the shock on Jeom’s face. She knew that look well, could even match the pace of his shaking heart as she remembered all too clearly the shock of being outwitted by Lessa Thur.

Lessa stood fierce while blood trickled down her face, fear completely silent in her mind as her words quivered with a rage that had been waiting to explode since the moment she had left the Healer’s District behind. “If you move even an inch, I will bury this arrow in your neck before you have time to blink. Do not test me. Drop the axe,” she said.

The axe made a loud clang as it fell to the floor. Arianna spat on its blade, seeing her face reflected in the metal. “Why do you mean to kill us?” she asked as she stared up into his dark eyes, pushing up to her tiptoes to appear even vaguely threatening.

“Because you mean to kill me,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. His body trembled as the arrow dug deeper into his skin.

“You’re a slave…” said Arianna. His eyes turned cold, nodding. “Well, so are we! We’re trying to escape, you imbecile! Who do you think you are?” His glare turned from loathing to quizzical in under a second as her words settled in.

“If you’re slaves, then why do you wear elder robes?”

Lessa could hear the skepticism in his voice, and she almost let go of the arrow out of spite. “It’s just a disguise, you giant oaf!”

Arianna went to put a hand on her arm. “And not a very good one at that because the regulators who run this town recognized us as imposters right away. Can’t
you
tell that we’re not from around here?”

He looked them up and down once again, and his whole demeanor changed.

“Can I lower my bow now?” He nodded and Lessa stormed away from him, fuming.

“Everyone just relax,” said Arianna. “We’re all in the same boat here.”

“Why didn’t you make it known you were slaves?” he said.

“Why didn’t you?” Arianna placed her hands on her hips. “We were just taking the necessary precautions,” she said, returning his accusatory glare.

“You’ll do well to remember that!” Everyone jumped as Lessa ran over to Jeom, poking him. “Throwing knives and axes at people… oaf,” she mumbled.

Arianna nearly burst into tears of laughter at Jeom’s reaction, so clueless as he peered nervously down at her friend. How could a giant be so scared of someone half their size?
Note to self: don’t piss off Lessa.

“So…” he said as if scared of his own words, “if you’re trying to escape, then why are you running around another district? Where have you come from?”

Arianna stepped between them. “I come from the Warrior’s District, and Lessa is a healer in training. We ended up here by accident,” she said, tugging Lessa in the other direction. “Now, if you don’t mind, we’ll be on our way.” She gestured to Lessa to take leave.

Lessa called to Sano who obediently jumped to her arms, and Arianna sheathed their swords as they started towards the door.

“Wait!” said Jeom, throwing his body in front of the exit as they reached the wood frame. “But how could you’ve escaped? And how have you come to journey with each other? No slave is allowed contact with someone from another district. It’s unheard of!” He paused for a moment, looking for words. “All of this is unheard of!”

His eyes widened as so many questions formed in his mind.

“We’re the exception,” said Lessa, daring him to stand in her way any longer as she feigned reaching for her bow.

Arianna smiled, realizing they really did leave no rule unbroken, blazing a very new and dangerous trail. The girls shoved Jeom aside, listening for any voices behind the wood. All seemed clear, so they cracked it open and peered down the lane with nobody in their sight.

Stepping into the chilling air, Jeom followed. He donned plush, purple robes, complimenting his chocolate skin, and he still gripped the axe tightly in his hand as he marched through the snow behind their trail. Outside of the Inventor’s Zone, the snow washing him in plain sight, he seemed even taller gazing down at them.

“What do you think you’re doing?” said Arianna, stepping up on her tip-toes again to level her face with his.

“I’m coming with you,” he said, challenging her stance. Like Hell he was.

“You want to come with us?” said Lessa, taken aback as Sano craned his neck to get a closer look.

“That’s absurd. No!” said Arianna with finality. She crossed her arms at her chest, looking to Lessa for backup as the sound of her tapping foot was forever lost in the snow. 

“Either I come with you, or I wake this whole town.” He inhaled a huge breath, cheeks puffed out like a toddler threatening to scream.

Arianna held up her hands, faltering at the coercion. Dropping her voice to a whisper, words hissed off her tongue. “Why do you even want to come with us? You just tried to kill us!” She jabbed a finger at his chest as she talked through her teeth, trying not to make too much noise.

“Sorry… but you took me off guard,” he said, kicking up snow. His voice was impossible to reduce to a whisper, the tenor sounding like the low hum of a drum. “Please, I want out! I
need
out.” He clutched at his shirt, desperate for a moment as he wished to push his own thoughts into something coherent.

“But haven’t you already earned your freedom? Your festivals have ended, haven’t they?” said Lessa, truly confused as she let her fingers run through her hair.

“I don’t care. I can’t take it anymore. I can’t live another day of this death!” He looked to the sky, pulling up his hood as if to hide a shame from the world. “If I walk away from this place on their terms, my soul won’t follow. I’ll never be free knowing I let them control me.”

“But if you stay, you’ll be free of the Four Corners in just a few days,” said Arianna.

Jeom clenched his fists so tight Arianna thought he might pop a blood vessel. “I had to kill my best friend in order to be standing here tonight. So you say I’ve
earned
my freedom?” He shook his head. “I don’t feel very free.”

Arianna’s lips were sealed tight.

“But we’ve been given no other choice,” said Lessa, trying to calm him as her compassion started to eat away at her anger.

“Isn’t there?” He looked between the two of them. “Just because you survive the Free Falls doesn’t mean you’re free. Don’t you understand?” He pointed towards the entrance to the Vanishing Tunnels. “After what I’ve done, I’d rather die in those tunnels or at the hand of your blade than live a thousand years knowing I let them win without a fight.” He suddenly pointed his axe in their direction and both girls jumped backwards out of the way as he ranted. “Isn’t that what you’re doing? I see you both here, and I want that relief. I want to know that I control my own destiny. Isn’t that why you’re running?”

Arianna pondered his words for a moment, not quite understanding. Yes, she hated the King. She hated the regulators and the Jar, and she hated, oh how she hated, the word
‘
slave’. It was the reason she only ever dreamed of her freedom… freedom from that slavery and freedom of the mountains. In her eyes, Jeom Kane no longer claimed that slavery no matter how he came to be free of it. Yet, here he stood, willing to throw away what he rightfully earned for what… pride? Dignity?

Dispelling the riddle as she saw the eagerness in his face, she knew all too well that feeling. Nothing would stop him from chasing this dream, even if she didn’t quite understand why. Lessa nodded in approval at Arianna’s defeated look, sympathy shining in her eyes. There was no way to say no.

“Alright, you can come, but only if you don’t slow us down. We could use an axe man,” she said. “Now, come on! We need to go.”

Jeom beamed at the invitation, shaking firm hands with both girls. “Please, call me Jay.”

“Welcome to the team, Jay,” said Lessa. “You’ve got a lot to learn.” She winked as Arianna broke out in a nervous laughter.

He didn’t even know the half of it.

“Ara, which tunnel should we take next?” said Lessa. “We can either go back the way we came and take the left-hand route, or we can cut our way past those guards, mapping a new one. You choose this time.”

“Why don’t we let the new addition handle this one?” she said, smiling as she bowed to Jeom who buffed up at the challenge.

“I wouldn’t mind giving them a taste of what they dish out,” he said, turning his axe over in his grip. There’s a lot of blood on my hands that needs cleaning up because of them.”

Arianna stared at the number sewn to his chest,
twenty-three
. “Your friend’s death was not your fault…” said Arianna.

Our fault.
She thought of Pippa.

“No matter,” he said, already starting off towards the tunnels.

“I think you’ll fit in just fine,” said Lessa, patting him on the back.