Pursuit: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles Book 4) (8 page)

“So how’d they get here then? You said it yourself, this is a demon world.”

“Well…” he trailed off for a moment. “That’s the thing. Masataka has been doing some bad stuff back home. He got your mom to open the gate. He tried to get me to do it, but I escaped before he could manage that. Your mom was ordered by the council to open the gate here.”

“My mom wouldn’t help Masataka, not after what he did,” I replied and couldn’t keep the relief out of my voice as tears filled my eyes. It was the first good news I’d had in a long time because, despite the Royal Guards coming for me, Masataka hadn’t killed my mother after our squabble.

Joshua spun, grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking me so suddenly that it surprised the crap out of me. I was raising my hands to throw him off when he stopped and looked at me with a mixture of pain and anger that didn’t fit on his normally aloof face.

“Lillim, you don’t get it. You’re a fugitive from the Dioscuri and Masataka is
forcing
everyone who knows anything about you to help bring you in. He’s saying you murdered Reath Al Akeer.” Joshua’s voice was so angry that it made me shiver. I swallowed once, not quite looking at him.

“But Masataka killed him. My mom was there, she saw it—”

Joshua cut me off with another shake. “So what? That’s what you don’t get. Your mom is a prisoner in the dungeon. Nothing she says matters. Even your dad can’t get her out of holding. No one but Masataka is talking to her.”

“How can that be possible? She’s the leader of the Dioscuri, the Sagalie Tyee!” I growled. “She’s the most powerful Dioscuri in Lot.”

“And Masataka is the leader of the Royal Guard and brother to the King. You think Mitsoumi is going to stop Masataka? Mitsoumi won’t do anything to stop his brother, you know that,” Joshua said with a sigh that made my heart sink.

That was true. For better or for worse, Mitsoumi would not interfere with his brother, even if it destroyed the entirety of the Dioscuri. I knew that, so why was I so surprised? Wait a second…

“Why do you all keep calling Mitsoumi, King? I know he’s the heir and all, but when did he become King?” I asked.

“It happened while you were in Fairy. His father died, hence Mitsoumi who was the heir, is the King,” Joshua said, looking at me like I didn’t know how succession worked.

“I know how succession works. I hadn’t realized the king died… but he wasn’t that old, how could he just die?” I asked.

“Age doesn’t matter when you’re stabbed through the chest by a spear,” Joshua said with a shrug. “We had a break in about a month back. The King was killed. Mitsoumi took over. That’s part of the reason Masataka can get away with whatever he wants. Like I said before, everyone knows Mitsoumi won’t overstep him, so everything he does is basically with the King’s authority.”

“Still, it seems unreal that Masataka can put a chokehold on the entire Dioscuri. I mean it’s my mom we are talking about. No one tells Diana Cortez what to do,” I said, pulling myself free of Joshua’s grip and fixing him with my best glare.

“Lillim…” he sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know how to make you understand.”

“Make me understand what, Joshua?” I asked.

“Everything that’s happened since you and Kishi went into Fairy. I know it’s only been a few days for you, but it was a couple months for us. Things have changed…” He looked up at me with such sadness that it actually made me take a step backward. His eyes opened wide for a split second before his face went completely unreadable.

“What?” I asked, taking a step back toward him. “What did you think of?”

“I think I know what I have to do,” he said.

“Oh and what’s that?” I asked, but I had a sneaking suspicion what he was going to say.

“Show you what’s happened,” he replied. Before I could move, he reached out and grabbed my face with both of his hands. Power exploded around us, tinging the air with the smell of fresh cut oranges as the scenery melted together in a swirl of colors.

I staggered back, collapsing to my knees as the entire world spun around me. “What are you doing, Joshua?” I cried, trying desperately to find some part of the world to hang onto.

“Showing you everything that has happened,” he said, his words fading like the last grin of a Cheshire cat.

I was suddenly standing in the middle of the Dioscuri council building as Reath Al Akeer addressed the entire council. He was leaning across the oak pulpit in the center of the room, resting one huge arm on its surface. His massive bulk dwarfed my mother, Diana Cortez.

She sat next to him in a small wooden chair because it wasn’t her turn to speak. Reath was caught in mid-gesture, frozen in time with one hand pointed accusingly at my mother. His face was curled into a snarl that my mother seemed to be ignoring, her face an unreadable mask of smug contempt.

I glanced around, looking for Joshua, but couldn’t find him. I knew he was a master of illusions, hell, I’d been trapped in a pretty devastating illusion when he stole my magic gun from me last year, but he had never used his power to show me one of his memories before. Of course, the whole thing could have been made up, but as I looked around, I sort of doubted it.

All throughout the room, various councilors sat in the pews that lined the huge hall, but I couldn’t really make out any of their faces because the light coming from the candelabras was too dim. It must have been nighttime, otherwise sunlight would have flooded the room from the skylights overhead.

Off to my left, Masataka was sitting next to his brother Mitsoumi in the Royal box. It wasn’t super ornate or anything. It was an ordinary bench that was reserved for the King or his representative. Mitsoumi had a look on his face that was a cross between annoyance and exasperation as he leaned his head on his good hand. He was wearing the purple and red cloak that befitted his station over a standard Dioscuri fighting suit, but had no other jewelry on.

Masataka looked like he was wearing the standard black fighting suit too, only I could just make out the shape of his Vajra, frozen in mid-writhe. Most people who had attuned to a Vajra, and were authorized to use one, didn’t really wear clothes. Instead, their Vajra covered the entirety of their body like a living, breathing uniform. I’d been told that some Vajras could even mimic normal clothes, though I’d never seen that particular trick in action.

“That’s why we need to send a force into Fairy! We need to rescue my daughter and bring her kidnapper to justice!” Reath snarled and his voice was so loud in the silence of the room that it made me jump. I swung my body around, glaring at him as he gesticulated at my mother. White hot rage filled me, so blindingly intense that my vision went a little hazy as I took a step toward him, hands curled into fists.

“I didn’t kidnapped Kishi! She came of her own free will! In fact, it was her idea!” I snarled at Reath, but he didn’t react to me at all, which all in all, wasn’t all that surprising because I was just watching a scene from the past.

“My daughter did not kidnap your daughter,” Diana Cortez said, her voice an ocean of calm serenity. “All accounts state that they left together.”

“Lies!” Reath bellowed, pointing his finger at my mother’s face from only a couple inches away. “My daughter would never leave the city. She knows better. Your daughter must have done something to her!”

“Reath! Calm yourself and act like an adult,” my father called, rising from a bench at the back of the room and striding forward between the pews. I hadn’t even known he was there but now that I saw him, my jaw dropped. He was dressed in his formal judge’s robes, and they were so bright that I had to shield my eyes from the sight of them. They were sewn from solid silver thread and flashed in the light like an effervescent fish as he moved.

“I will not calm myself. Your spawn has absconded with my daughter,” Reath cried, whirling to face Mitsoumi. “How can I expect Lillim Callina to be found when the person in charge of her investigation is her mother? How can I expect her to be appropriately punished for her actions if her father is the one judging her?”

Mitsoumi quirked one eyebrow at Reath, but before he could say anything, Masataka put his hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“I have a suggestion, brother,” Masataka said with a shrug.

“What is it, Masataka?” Mitsoumi asked, glancing from Reath to his brother.

“I can go retrieve Lillim Callina—”

“Out of the question!” Mitsoumi said, cutting his brother off in mid-sentence. “You
will not
be the one to pursue her.”

“And why not?” asked Reath, taking a step toward the brothers, hands clenched into fists at his sides. “If we were trying to find anyone else, we would send Masataka. Is it because Lillim Callina is
their
daughter?” he asked, whirling to point at my parents. They both stood there looking at him like he was a very annoying rodent.

“No, it is not.” Mitsoumi rose to his feet and strode across the floor. His silver-green hair fell over his eyes as he moved, which was a little odd because he normally kept it cut short. It wasn’t exactly long either, more scruffy, as if he just hadn’t found the time to get it cut in the last couple months. “It is because I,
your
King, has declared it so.” Mitsoumi was nearly to Reath now.

“That isn’t a reason,” Reath mumbled to himself as Mitsoumi stepped up in front of him, glaring at the huge man. It was strange because even though Mitsoumi was a foot shorter and not nearly as bulky, he somehow dwarfed the bigger man.

“It is a reason, Reath Al Akeer,” Mitsoumi said as he turned and addressed the audience. “In case you have all forgotten, Lillim Callina saved this city just a couple months ago from the Blue Prince. She also killed the dragon that threatened to take over the world.” He narrowed his eyes at the crowd. “And you would repay her valor by accusing her of a crime for which there is no proof?”

“There is proof,” Reath said, calm leaking back into his voice as he spoke. “My daughter is missing and was taken to Fairy.”

“I’m not saying we don’t send in a force to find
both
of them, but I am saying it is not to arrest Lillim. We will ask them what happened when they are brought back here,” Mitsoumi said with an air of finality.

“Finally, someone says something intelligent,” my mother said, relief filling her face as she spoke. “I was beginning to think all the brains in this building leaked onto the floor.”

“Diana,” my father scolded. “You can’t talk to people like that… here.”

Reath turned and glared at my mother. She smiled sweetly at him. “Diana, this isn’t your heathen army. You will treat the councilors with respect,” he growled.

“I have sat here listening to you berate my daughter for the last hour when all she has ever done is try to save lives. What have you ever done, Reath? When Manaka came, you hid. When the orcs came, you hid. When are you going to do something?” she asked, her voice laced with fury.

“An excellent point,” Mitsoumi said, and his voice was like a sudden intrusion into the room. Everyone turned and stared at him. “For too long, we’ve kept our purest blood stuck inside these walls when they should be out there fighting. We use Manaka as an excuse, but besides my brother, the only noble who has ever been on the front lines in the last decade is Warthor Ein. It’s been going on for too long, and I don’t think it’s good for the Dioscuri. Dioscuri are supposed to fight monsters, not cower behind the pureness of their blood.”

The room grew so silent that I could actually hear myself breathing. “What exactly are you saying, Mitsoumi?” my father asked after a moment of silence so long that it had grown into a very large, very awkward thing.

“I am proposing a joint mission into Fairy. Both Diana and Reath will go. I will even send a contingent of Royal Guards with them. They are instructed to retrieve any and all Dioscuri within the borders,” Mitsoumi said, glancing over the room. “Have I made myself clear?”

“And who will lead the mission?” Masataka asked from his seat on the bench.

Mitsoumi turned to glance at him. “What do you mean, brother?”

“Diana is head of the Dioscuri, so she
should
lead the mission. Reath Al Akeer is a councilor, and I somehow doubt that he will actually listen to her in the field. Finally, the Royal Guards report only to me. While, I have no doubt she will act professionally, and that my guard will as well, I’d rather not put either of them in a situation that could be cause for confusion,” Masataka said with a shrug.

“And what would you suggest then?” Mitsoumi asked with a sigh that rippled through his entire body, and I had to resist the urge to smirk. Mitsoumi always sighed like that, it was his thing.

“That you let me lead the mission. I will take my Royal Guards along. As your brother, Reath
will
respect my authority. Diana and I have worked together on numerous occasions, so I doubt her following me on this mission will be a problem,” Masataka replied and an annoyed expression crossed Mitsoumi’s face.

It was an expression that let everyone in the room know that he knew he was being played, and he did not appreciate it. “I do not think you leading a mission to find Lillim Callina is a wise idea—”

“Why are you so against Masataka leading the mission? It’s his job to track down lost Dioscuri!” Reath said, cutting off Mitsoumi.

Mitsoumi whirled on the huge man, grabbing Reath by the throat and effortlessly forcing him to his knees. Gobs of sea-green energy dripped off Mitsoumi’s flesh, casting the room with a horrific light that was almost too bright to look directly at. “Did. You. Just. Interrupt. Me?” Mitsoumi asked, his eyes burning with silver fire.

“No, sir,” Reath squawked, reaching up and wrapping his huge hands around Mitsoumi’s wrist. It was like watching a toddler try to squirm out of a parent’s grip.

“Good. Not only would it be really rude to interrupt your king while he is speaking. It’d be dumb too,” he replied and released Reath. The big man fell backward, sprawling across the white marble floor. “And I don’t need to explain myself to the likes of you.”

“It’s okay Mitsoumi,” my mother said as she got to her feet and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I will do whatever you think is best, but Reath is right. Masataka would normally be sent on these missions. I admit, I do not know your reasoning, but it will be odd if he does not come along.”