“But after a long night,” the narrator said, “Princess Aki’s taigas prevailed. The prince was fatally wounded, and his warriors took his body as they fled the kingdom, never to be heard from again.”
Daemon and the apprentices who played the remnants of Prince Gin’s army dropped their weapons and ran to the back of the courtyard, as if boarding ships that would take them away from Kichona’s shores.
Sora and Fairy remained in fighting stance for a few moments longer. Then the black tarp above them was retracted, and the moon shone brightly once more, as if the goddess Luna herself were smiling down upon them.
All the apprentices who had participated in the exhibition match stepped back into the middle of the courtyard. This was supposed to be the end, the part where they bowed.
Instead, they looked to Sora.
She looked at Daemon.
He nodded, and that reassurance was all she needed.
Sora hurled a throwing star at the hair trigger she’d set up on the parapets. The Imperial Guards knew it was coming, because Fairy had convinced them it would be a good idea; she could be very persuasive when she turned on her charm.
As soon as the star hit the trigger, the roofline over the courtyard lit up with a hundred sparklers.
“Yes!” Sora pumped her fist.
Their teachers, however, shouted in alarm and immediately began to cast spells to prepare themselves for a fight. The ones closest to Empress Aki ran to protect her from what they thought was an attack. Others began trying to shepherd the apprentices to safety.
But the Imperial Guards around the empress simply stepped in closer to her, holding their hands up to stop the teachers from leaping to her aid. The teachers stopped in confusion, until one of them turned and growled, “Spirit—”
He was cut off by the sky exploding in fireworks. Small yellow flowers, stunning purple starbursts, and red rockets careening across the glowing moon.
And finally, the pièce de résistance—an enormous tiger, composed entirely of crackling blue fireworks, topped with a sparkling gold crown. It was something Fairy and her gemina, Broomstick, had invented, a perfect combination of her expertise with chemicals and his passion for explosives.
Sora smiled so hard, her cheeks were about to break. Daemon, Fairy, and Broomstick piled around Sora, jumping and cheering.
Their teachers stood around the edge of the courtyard, seething at the ruins of what was supposed to be a solemn exhibition.
Empress Aki, however, seemed pleased. “Bravo,” she said, clapping with abandon. “How different from past performances. It’s very exciting that you are the next generation of taiga warriors. Kichona is truly blessed.”
Sora almost burst from the pride swelling in her chest. She grinned, and the apprentices all bowed.
Chapter Two
The Imperial City was made up of three parts, with most of it carved into a mountain. At the top, Rose Palace perched on a cap of steep white quartzite, with sheer faces impossible to climb. A deep moat had been chiseled around the summit, another layer of protection for the rulers of the kingdom.
Below the moat, the face of the mountain shifted dramatically from white quartzite to dark granite, with only a winding, two-mile road etched into the rock, connecting Rose Palace to the world below. Sora and the Level 12s marched down that path now, heading back to the Citadel, the Society of Taigas’ headquarters on the lower third of the mountain.
Unlike the empress’s castle, the Citadel was a fortress where all the buildings were as dark as looming twilight. Black was the color of stealth and, hence, of the taigas, Kichona’s soldiers. The Citadel was the base of their operations, as well as where students like Sora trained. Its black outer walls were intimidating by design, severe and smooth, towering ten stories high. Inside the compound, everything was black too. Glorious, dark buildings covered in shiny, tiled rooftops as strong as armor. A black outdoor amphitheater sliced into the mountain. Even the temple to Luna was black from its pagoda roof to its wooden floors.
And then, the last part of the Imperial City was the Field of Illusions around the base of the mountain. But this was no ordinary field of grass; rather, it was a sea of black-and-white sand that shifted constantly in optical illusions, confusing and dizzying, such that the only people who could pass were taigas trained to filter out the hypnotic patterns, or those escorted by the warriors.
But tonight, Sora wouldn’t have to deal with that. They were approaching the Citadel from Rose Palace, so they’d be able to enter through the rear gates. Which was a good thing, because Sora was busy reveling over the fireworks she and her friends had pulled off, and she might not have been able to concentrate well enough on getting through the illusions. She probably would have found herself face-first in the sand.
Her reverie, however, was interrupted by Fairy, who broke ranks from farther back in the formation and jogged up to Sora and Daemon.
“What are your plans before everyone goes home for Autumn Festival?” Fairy asked.
“You mean, other than packing?” Sora said as she continued marching.
Fairy skipped alongside her. “That will take you all of five minutes.”
Daemon inched closer to join the conversation. “We were going to get in one last spar if we had the time.”
“Oooh, you have a wrestling date?” Fairy raised her eyebrows suggestively.
Sora laughed. Her roommate collected boys like some girls collected seashells. “You know, the male apprentices are more than just things to kiss.”
“I actually prefer to think of them as fresh meat to devour. Although Wolfie here can be pretty ferocious. Maybe he’ll devour me, which would be nice for a change. . . .”
Daemon shook his head, smiling.
“Fairy,” Sora said, laughing, “you keep fishing, but it’s not going to happen.”
Her roommate smacked her hand sarcastically to her heart and stepped backward, nearly jostling the next apprentice in line. “Spirit! You’ve mortally wounded me with your cruelty!”
“I think she’s broken,” Sora said to Daemon. “She keeps yammering at full speed. It’s like—”
“She put a cheetah spell on her mouth instead of her feet,” Daemon finished.
“Hey.” Fairy scrunched up her face. “I can hear you, you know.”
Daemon gave her a crooked smile. “We’re just teasing.”
She batted her eyelashes. “I like when you tease me, Wolf.”
Daemon laughed, and it blossomed through his and Sora’s gemina connection like a field of golden poppies.
Sora smiled. He’d let Fairy flirt with him, but she knew he wasn’t tempted. They’d all been friends for too long. And Sora was glad for that. Not that she wanted Daemon for herself. Society Code didn’t allow geminas to be together, because it could get in the way of their ability to serve the kingdom.
“Anyway,” Sora said to Fairy, “what did you run up here for?”
She shrugged. “Oh, nothing important. I just heard that the Council is going to give the Level Twelves their scouting missions today.”
“What?” Sora stopped.
The apprentice behind her bumped into her. “Hey!”
“Sorry,” she said and resumed marching. She turned her attention back to Fairy.
A scouting mission. The true marker of the final apprentice year. The Council—the Society of Taigas’ governing body—would be watching the Level 12s constantly this year, observing and ultimately deciding where to assign each gemina pair for their first post after graduating to full taiga-warrior status. The scouting missions were tests to show how each apprentice did in the field. The first mission would set the tone.
And yet Sora wasn’t sure whether to believe Fairy. Her roommate was a monstrous gossip, and only 20 percent of what she said was true. The other 80 percent . . . who knew what she was thinking?
“How do you know the Council is handing out missions tonight?” Sora asked. “They usually wait until after Autumn Festival.”
“My gemina works in their office, remember?”
Right. Broomstick—who’d been given the name because he’d been scrawny as a child—assisted the Council with administrative work, which, not so coincidentally, was the source of the 20 percent of Fairy’s gossip that was actually true.
“The Council decided to give us our assignments now,” Fairy said, “so we can go straight from the holiday break if we wanted to, rather than having to come all the way back here.” She shrugged. “Makes sense to me.”
“Wow,” Daemon said. “Our first mission.”