The princess flinches, opening her mouth as if to defend herself, but is unable to when Suyai continues to talk.
“The person’s struggle, it uses up their samay. Even if it doesn’t lead to full mimicry, their body expends it in a desperate last attempt to get away. You’ve probably never felt the difference… They’re all weak compared to you… We all are.”
Suyai collapses onto her hands. She doesn’t sound like the quick-witted girl we got to know. She sounds lost in pain, both physical and mental. She sounds like a child begging for the torture to stop.
But we can’t afford to lose him now.
“What does this mean for us?” Pucaru asks, quieter than ever.
“I can’t drain more than one person until my samay is depleted again. We… we tested it. I had to test it. Years ago. The second person I try to drain might die from their wounds but never from the samay transfer,” Princess Yanami stutters through her sentence. Her abrupt stops and starts raise the hairs on my skin. It sounds unnatural for such a powerful being.
A young being.
Years ago. Her mother had her doing this since she was a child. The dead Inka I despised forced her daughter to kill not just for necessities but for experimentation. It’s sickening.
Here we are doing the same.
Bile rises up my throat, and I spit it out without hesitation. It coats my mouth with acid, but I don’t gag. I’m outside of my body and mind. I am simply here to finish a task.
“Willing participant,” is all Suyai says, but we all understand the meaning.
Princess Yanami has to drain someone who won’t fight back. Their samay will be more potent that way. If the rumors are true that the Samay Stone was created and gifted by the Guardians themselves, I can’t help but marvel at their technique. Give the rulers infinite power, but only if their people are willing to die for it. If not, it will always be a bloodbath.
I guess not even our powerful Guardians could predict how many people saw blood as just another liquid that spills.
Including us.
We don’t have the advantage of numbers on our side anymore. One willing participant can save Cashan’s life where a hundred unwilling ones can’t. We can kill every person in the empire, but unless we get lucky and find the one who’s ready to face death with no struggle, it won’t do a thing.
And Cashan doesn’t have that kind of time.
I struggle to flex my fingers, feeling every bone grind against the other. My cartilage has worn out. My body is functioning at alevel years beyond my actual age. Rest will help me regain some strength, but the years I lost to using so much of my samay, that will never be recovered.
The princess agreed to help us with one thing, healing Cashan. She won’t kill more people to restore my samay, or Paria’s, or Izhu’s.
I was willing to die to save him the second we set foot in the palace. So, why is it so hard to lay down my life now?
Because I know he won’t be happy about it.
I have to do it without any doubts in my head. I have to do it humbly, submissively, no fighting, no pride. Cashan would kill me if he thought I was considering it. People like us, we don’t lay down our lives. We die in battle, whether it’s a fight, a mission, or the battles we faced every day as children ourselves. If I were the type to give up, I wouldn’t have survived past five years old.
Cashan will never forgive me, but I have made up my mind. At least he can be alive to hate me for the rest of his life. At least my sacrifice will be worth something, unlike his.
I stand from my chair when commotion breaks out below us. Qajay puts a firm hand on my shoulder as the others move to the edge to see what’s going on.
I hear Pucaru scream. I hear Izhu’s gasp. They break into a run, positioning themselves in front of Cashan and Paria. I wait for Tutay to run up the steps and onto the platform. She’s our last line of defense, which means she retreated, causing Pucaru and Izhu to get into defensive positions.
Except I know Tutay would never retreat.
I slap Qajay’s hand away with more force than I thought I had. I get up, stumbling, falling to my knees in slow motion. Qajay is at my side. Pucaru is telling them to hold me back.Quillari can’t see her like this.
I can’t see her like what? Tutay may look like a brute at times, but I always liked that about her. I like watching her fight. I like watching her defend us.
I love–
I try to crawl forward, but Qajay uses their full strength to force me back into the chair, and I’m helpless to fight against it.
Qajay steps in front of me, but it doesn’t make sense. Tutay wouldn’t let any threat make its way up to us. She should be here reporting what happened already.
