This story was inspired by one of the "Thinks" proposed by Dr. Seuss's "Oh the Thinks You Can Think!". If you are unfamiliar with the book, you can find an online version of it here. Every day from now through February 15th, I'll be posting a short story or poem based on one of the "Thinks" in the book. Enjoy!
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The long Night approached.
From a purple-stoned balcony atop his family estate, Zemsta
Amicus surveyed the sprawling city below. Na-Nupp, the capitol of his world,
shone in the last dying rays of Dusk. But that season was drawing to a close,
and soon the season of Night would reign.
He savored the golden light as it played across many-hued stone
buildings, shaped by master carvers into the likenesses of great trees,
breaking waves, seashells, even varieties of mythical beasts. For three months,
the only light to warm them would come from electric torches.
A breeze drifted across the balcony, ruffling his black hair and
kicking up the tails of his red and gold formal jacket. Zem breathed in until
his chest was full, willing his nerves to settle. These first few hours of
Night would be the most important of his life. He would need absolute focus.
A subtle click came from behind and the balcony door whooshed
open. The festive buzz of his family’s
annual Nocturne Ball washed over him, shattering the moment of quiet that was
likely to be his last of the evening.
“Hard to believe we’re in
the last season already,” a familiar voice said. “Dawn,
Day and Dusk went by too quickly this year.”
Pik Tadarys slouched against the balcony, the colors of his suit
shifting subtly between shades of blue as he moved. His family’s
signet ring, an intricate weave of silver thorns topped by a ruby fireblossom,
clinked against glass as he offered Zem a drink. He flashed his trademark lazy
grin.
“Your guests are missing you. Don’t
tell me you’re going to skip your own ball again.”
Accepting the glass, Zem forced a smile and met his oldest
friend’s gaze. “Technically it’s my family’s
ball. My parents are leading the revelry, which leaves me free to be the
rebellious and ungrateful son.”
Pik snorted. “As your oldest friend, I
approve of the one time per year that you’re
irresponsible.” He mirrored Zem’s
stance and pointed skyward. “Manen and Marama are
out.”
Zem nodded, observing the two full moons above them. “Menulis
won’t appear until complete dark.”
“That’ll be soon – only a half-hour’s
left in the cycle. So if you’ve planned anything
villainous, better tell me now. The tekitiwhi won’t be
asleep for long.”
Though he forced a chuckle, Zem was only half listening. He’d
never let Pik see it, but the tekitiwhi had indeed been on his mind. Once they
had been a popular challenge for hunters due to their uncanny ability to avoid
traps. Then, a few decades ago, scientists had discovered the crafty tekitiwhi
bird’s hidden talent – precognition. Through
some twist of genetic fate, the bird’s
ability allowed it to glimpse into the future and discern its hunter’s intentions.
Moments after this discovery, the Constabulary had come
knocking. Although crime on their world was uncommon, and violent crime was
rare, the leaders of law enforcement leapt at the chance to stamp it out
completely. Tekitiwhi genes had been crossed with much larger birds of prey,
their intelligence boosted, and soon the Constables had a tool for predicting
major crimes and capturing the perpetrators before any damage was done.
But the Constables kept a secret. Though it was carefully
guarded, the rich and privileged tended to acquire knowledge that the average
citizen never would – and Zem and Pik were most definitely rich and privileged. So it
happened that, two years ago, they had learned the tekitiwhi’s
only weakness.
Soon that weakness would come to its full, and with Pik by his
side, Zem would finally go to work. He took a long gulp of frost brandy,
savoring its burning chill as it oozed down his throat.
“Actually, I do have two things to attend to before the ball is
over. Family duties.” He glanced at Pik. “Care
to join me? You might find one of them interesting.”
Pik waved toward the door with a flourish. “As
long as we get to misbehave, who am I to deny the richest man in Na-Nupp?”
***
Zem and Pik stepped out of the gravity lift, into a round atrium
that adorned the very top of the Amicus estate – the
Crystal Garden.
The circular wall – a
single sheet of ironglass – had been shaped and
stained to portray scenes from Na-Nupp’s
history. The dome, formed with more ironglass and inlaid with gems to mimic the
constellation patterns, had been retracted for this special occasion. Like the
petals of a flower, it opened fully to the darkening sky.
Dozens of pedestals formed concentric rings in the floor, each
topped with sculptures wrought in glass, blood opal, rainbow emerald, and
nebula-stone. And in the atrium’s very center, seemingly
suspended on nothing, the gigantic Starcrystal glimmered. Silvery, ethereal
light glowed from deep in its core. The light was dim, but in a few hours it
would blaze to new life again.
A mousy man with graying hair and a long wrinkled coat darted
around the console beneath it, consulting a chart in his hand and making
adjustments to the massive stone’s
orientation. He spoke to himself in a hurried voice, oblivious to their
approach.
Pik laughed softly. “You
always find the best mad scientists.”
Zem stifled a chuckle and waved his hands to get the older man’s
attention. “Master Eolai?”
“Gah!” The master stumbled
back, clutching at his chest. “Good gracious, sir, you
move like a ghost.”
“Apologies.” Zem gave an indulgent
smile. “Is everything in order?”
“Oh, um, very nearly. Uh…yes,
very.” Consulting his chart,
Master Eolai spouted a string of equations describing the lunar cycle and began
spinning nobs and flipping switches. As the speech reached a crescendo, he
finished by throwing one last lever. “And
here we go!”
With a rumble, seams between the floor stones split apart and
hundreds of mirrors rose into the atrium. Observing them with affection, Master
Eolai seemed to relax.
“There you have it, sir, all arranged perfectly. In mere moments,
Menulis will appear and the harvest will begin. Of course, I will remain here
for this cycle to ensure all goes well. As you know, this light can be quite
deadly if uncontrolled.”
Zem nodded, having heard what he’d
expected. Night season’s silvery moonlight supplied most of Na-Nupp’s
power. During this next twenty-six hour cycle, the unique arrangement of all
three moons in the sky would allow them to collect over half of their entire
year’s power needs. Zem’s
family had possessed the Starcrystal, their world’s
most powerful lunar battery, for countless generations, and what power they
didn’t use they gave to the people.
He favored the scientist with a pat on the shoulder. “I
never doubted you. We’ll leave you to it, then.”
Turning to leave, Zem spotted Pik and stopped short. His friend
had approached a pedestal several yards back, its sculpture depicting an
iridescent dragonfish leaping from wave to wave over an amethyst sea. Head down
and shoulders hunched, he traced the delicate lines of the sculpture with his
finger.
Zem stepped toward him, then hesitated. Okay, he said to
himself. You knew this conversation was coming. It had to happen.
Reaching into his trouser pocket, he brushed the rectangular object resting
there and drew comfort from it. Just be supportive. Steeling himself, he
moved to Pik’s side.
“I can’t believe it’s been a year,”
Pik said, his voice almost a whisper. He turned to Zem with a
pained expression. “How is Ara, Zem? Has there been any change?”
“She still sleeps, and no one knows why.”
Zem shook his head, allowing his own grief and despair to
surface. “Whatever they did to her, it’s
like her body is trying to heal but her mind won’t let
it.”
Zem’s heart wept for Ofiara, his twin sister. Exactly one year ago,
he had discovered her under a grove of chorus trees in a remote corner of the
estate grounds – unconscious, beaten and half-strangled, her dress cut to
ribbons. Although the Constables had investigated tirelessly for months, they
had come no closer to uncovering a solid motive or the identity of the
attackers.
But they didn’t know what Zem knew.
“It would’ve happened tonight, Zem. We would have been married if they
hadn’t…” Pik clenched his fists.
“She never hurt anyone.”
“Take heart, my friend.”
Zem squeezed his shoulder. “Justice
may be closer than you think.”
“Menulis has arrived!”
Master Eolai exclaimed.
Menulis emerged from the shadows. The radiance of three moons
intermingled, shifting and deepening until it felt almost solid, as if the
energy possessed a physical presence. It danced around them and leaped from
mirror to mirror and finally soaked into the Starcrystal. The immense jewel
hummed as it spun on its axis, drinking in the light. In moments its internal
glow began to brighten.
Zem smiled to himself – a
dark smile full of intention. His window had opened, and the real work could
begin.
“I have one more thing to do,”
he said. “Then we’ll rejoin the ball and forget our sorrows. For now, though, I
need an ally who can be discreet.”
“You know that you have one.”
“Good. We must appear to have separated, so you should go first – back
through the ballroom, and wait for me at the lift in the southeastern wing.
From there, we’ll proceed to the vault.”
Pik gaped. “You’re
taking me to your vault?”
Zem flashed a mischievous grin. Each noble house kept a vault
containing the bulk of their wealth, but none ever shared the location outside
family. As the wealthiest of the nobility, the Amicus family took special care
to guard theirs, and rumors of its location had been the subject of gossip for
years. Traditionally, the firstborn of each generation carried the vault key
until it passed to their offspring. And although Zem and Ofiara were twins, it
was known that Ofiara had been born first.
Pik gave him a reappraising eye. “Zemsta
Amicus, plotting something secret?”
Draining the rest of his drink, he moved toward the lift. “This will
be a night to remember.”
After he disappeared, Zem counted to one hundred, all the while
brushing the object in his trouser pocket. One by one, he reviewed every step
of his task this night. When the moment came he would have to act swiftly. At
one hundred, he squared his shoulders and stepped through the gilt and
clockwork doors of the lift.
Moments later, the doors opened on the festivities. Zem worked
his way through the colorfully costumed crowd, stopping occasionally to
socialize with a guest or admire the acrobats swinging from chandelier to
chandelier above them. Occasionally, the sounds of celebration were punctuated
by tiny bursts of sparkling light from smokeless micro-rockets.
Finally, he reached the far side of the ballroom. After plucking
two twisted flutes of ghost wine from a passing tray, he ducked through the
exit.
***
“I can’t believe it. All along, the vault was under your estate?”
Pik shook his head in disbelief.
“It is the last place people would expect,”
Zem said. “And we’re farther underground than you might think.”
Pik sipped his ghost wine, the foggy liquid swirling around his
lips and nose in lazy tendrils as he drank. His eyes stayed locked on the
monstrous doors before them, as if he couldn’t
look away.
Zem tried to see the doors the way Pik did now, as if this were
his first time beholding them. Large enough for a small airship to pass
through, they felt more ancient even than the mansion they hid beneath. Covered
with an intricate web of patterns wrought in gemstones and an unbreakable
reddish metal that no one could identify, they practically shouted for would-be
intruders to turn away.
The friends stood for a moment in reverent quiet, as if this
were a sacred place. The gravity of the doors seemed to drink in all sound
until Zem could hear his own pulse. Or perhaps his heart was thudding harder
now. The time was drawing near.
“I figured out why,”
he finally said, glancing over at Pik. “Why
they attacked Ara.”
Pik stiffened, swallowing. “There’s no
motive good enough.”
“But there is one that makes sense. They were after her
key.” Zem gestured at the
vault door. “Everyone knows she’s the
firstborn. That’s why her dress was cut.”
“But how could they use it? Only your family knows where this is.
And me now, I guess.” Pik sighed. “Just
another mystery.”
“There’s something they didn’t
know, though.” Reaching into his breast
pocket, Zem withdrew a long sliver of ironglass. Notches were cut into its fine
edges, the sides etched with angular designs and inlaid with silver. Even in
the low light, it shone as he turned it over in his hands. “Not
every family tells the truth about who was firstborn.”
Zem reveled in the shock and confusion painted across Pik’s
face. His mouth twisted as if he were trying to force out words that his mind
couldn’t find.
“What…but…” He rattled his head from
side to side. “Sh-she never even told me! Me!”
“And now you know.”
Zem lifted his eyebrow with a conspiratorial air. “No
going back now. Shall we continue?”
Without waiting for a response, he approached the vault. A
moment later, he heard Pik shuffle along behind him. As he neared the ancient
doors, veins of gemstone began to glow and pulse, their light flowing toward a
chest-high image of the Amicus family sigil. Zem reached out with the key and
the sigil opened to reveal a backlit keyhole. The key slid smoothly into the
aperture with a satisfying click, and a tiny metal sliver lanced from the door
to jab the top of Zem’s hand. He flinched involuntarily.
“Two-stage security. The doors respond to the key – the lock
responds to my blood.” He darted a look at Pik,
who was still white-faced but doing his best to appear unaffected. “Whoever
attacked Ara would never have gotten in anyway.”
Pik nodded mechanically. Chuckling, Zem turned the key. A series
of heavy clinks and thunks resounded through the doors, and finally a seam
split down their middle. The air shifted, sucked into the vault as the doors
swung inward. Zem took both their wine flutes and set them outside the doors.
They stepped inside and Pik’s
mouth fell open again. Before them a chamber – no,
a cavern as massive as the ballroom above – held
shelves, tables and chests, all glittering with more wealth than he ever
thought could exist in one place. Again he grasped for words, and again he
failed. Observing him, Zem saw as Pik’s
eyes slowly changed from stunned to hungry. Desirous.
Pik turned away, sliding his hands across a chest of
color-shifting nebula-stones. “If only they’d
known the truth…maybe she would be with us now.”
“If only.”
Grasping the rectangular object in his pocket, Zem focused on
his friend’s back. “I heard them escaping, you know. I was moments too late, and
they must have heard my approach. Then it became a choice of chasing them or
helping my sister.”
“Cowards,” Pik growled, dragging
his hand through the gems. “Villains.”
“Yes. What they don’t
know – what no one knows – is
that I found something that the Constables never did.”
Pik’s
shoulders stiffened. Zem pressed on. “By
the time they arrived, it had disappeared. But I saw it.”
Pik’s head turned slowly. He looked over his shoulder with narrowed
eye.
“I saw the mark on her neck. The mark of a ring from the hand
that strangled her. A signet ring.”
He tensed, waiting for the perfect moment. “And
then I realized something. Ara would never have gone to that grove with
someone she didn’t trust.”
Pik exploded into action. Whipping around, he swung with his
right arm as a slim dagger sprang from his coat sleeve. Zem danced back,
missing the blade by an inch, then struck out with lightning speed. His right
palm slapped against Pik’s chest, and a mechanical click sounded as the rectangular
object attached itself to his costume.
Stunned, Pik paused for an instant to stare at the strange
machine whirring against his chest, its red indicator light blinking. In that
heartbeat, Zem flipped the device’s
single switch and stepped back. Pik made a choked sound of surprise.
The four sides of the device popped open. Four silvery wires
sprang out, each capped with a diode and a blinking light, and wrapped around
his wrists and ankles. Two hidden compartments in the vault floor also opened,
as well as two in the ceiling. As if guided by an invisible force, thick chains
snaked out and clamped onto the four diodes clinging to Pik. In the blink of an
eye, they retracted enough to hang him spread-eagle in the center of the vault.
“You would have been wed today.”
Zem stood before his captive friend, his expression grim. “Except,
you wouldn’t have. Because Ofiara had doubts –
doubts she confided only to me – about the sincerity of
her beloved Pik Tadarys. About his love for riches and his thirst for more at
any cost. She came to realize what you truly wanted.”
Gasping, Pik struggled against his bonds. “Everyone
knows the naivety of an Amicus,” he
spat. “With a fraction of this vault, you could control half the world.
I could have helped your power grow, and she was going to ruin everything! All
I wanted was to help you – to help her!”
“I found my sister bloody and lying in a heap, cradled
only by the light of the moon!” Zem
shouted, breathing hard. “And by the light of the moon again, I will have justice.”
Pik’s eyes widened in horror. “Zem,
I’m your friend! Would you really do this? Take your vengeance,
only to face the Constables and leave your family?”
“It’s the Nocturne, friend.”
Zem smiled, allowing satisfaction to show through his fury. “The
time of three moons – the one cycle the tekitiwhi lie dormant. Just like the
night you took her from us. I have awaited this moment for a year.”
“What –” Pik swallowed hard. “Will
you…? P-please don’t kill me.”
“Did she beg, too?”
Zem stepped closer, eyeing daggers at his betrayer. “Did
Ara beg you to stop?”
Pik hung his head, all bluster and bravado gone. “Please,”
he whispered. “I can disappear.”
“Yes. You will.” Zem
walked back to the vault doors and opened a panel on the wall beside them.
After twisting four numbered knobs to enter his code, he began adjusting levers
and flipping more switches.
“Do you know what pure, distilled Nocturne light does to living
tissue?” He asked over his
shoulder. “Breaks it down at the microscopic level, slowly unraveling it
until nothing remains but mist.”
“Zem, I –”
“Did you also know this vault has another layer of security? At
random intervals, it floods completely with Nocturne light. You simply cannot
be too careful in these uncertain times.”
“I swear, I’ll –”
Zem turned back to his foe. “Even
I don’t know when it will happen. Perhaps tomorrow. Perhaps in a week,
or even two. So the real question, Pik, is what will take you first? Thirst?
Hunger? Your own cowardice?” His
gaze hardened. “Or just the moonlight?”
“People know I was with you! What will you tell –”
“But, we were last seen at the ball separately,”
Zem replied with mock sincerity. “And
you left early, while I still mingled with my guests. So, how could I have any
idea where my friend Pik has disappeared to?”
“Whatever you ask of me, I’ll do
it! I’ll…I’ll confess to the Constables!”
Slapping the panel closed again, Zem retrieved his key from the
door and backed out of the vault, his deathly stare locked onto Pik. With a
faint groan, the ancient doors began to swing shut.
“Please, Zem! A thousand times, I’m
sorry!”
“You wanted Ara’s wealth?”
Zem spread his arms wide, taking in Pik’s
surroundings. “You can spend the rest of your life with it.”
“Noooo–”
The doors shut with an echoing boom, and silence fell once more.
With a deep, satisfied breath, Zem smiled and let the tension seep from his
body. Slipping the key into its pocket, he returned to the ball and shook hands
with his guests once more.
From the balcony where the evening had begun, he drank in the
Nocturne glow, looking out over the city with renewed vigor. More than ever, he
was proud to live in Na-Nupp – the great city where
everyone was happy and healthy. Where nothing bad ever happened, and friends
were true friends…to the very end.
Love this!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Morgan!
ReplyDeleteHeck yes worldbuilding. I loved the frost brandy, the ghost whine, and the nocturne light. What a fantastic place to spend a story.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly the feel I was going for. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks, glad you liked it!
ReplyDelete