The Iron Rose: Volume 1

The night was so thick. Thicker than it usually seemed to be. It made the atmosphere heavy and the air hard to breathe. Gudomlay stood at the base of Kunagi’s tower and pushed back her hair as the wind pulled it in front of her face. She paused there, taking her time to gaze at the sky despite the chance of being caught out past curfew. If there was one skill she was confident in, it was her stealth. She’d never gotten caught sneaking around campus. And she was fairly confident that the guards wouldn’t catch her now.

Thinking about that made her take pause to look at the iron fence surrounding the school grounds. It was pointed and formidable looking at night. How strange that the daylight made it seem like a golden gate which beckoned in those that marveled at it.

She’d passed it several times before, and the temptation to do so now was starting to itch at her skin. Where most wanted to go through to come in, she always wanted out of them. She thinned her lips and glanced back at the dark door she’d come out by. The door that led into the only place on campus she felt truly safe…

Kunagi was sleeping as a result of her putting his power to bed, but he wouldn’t be that way long. She wondered if she had enough time... He didn’t like her wandering around. And to be honest, she didn’t know if he knew she would leave campus sometimes. She wasn’t supposed to. By both the order of the school and his desire to keep her safe. But. It was so hard not to leave sometimes.

Her eyes flickered to the fence again. And then, making a decision, she typed in a code on her bracelet. In result, an image of black assassin’s clothes projected itself onto her uniform. With the image set, she took off.

She cleared the green space between the tower and the fence in a matter of minutes. Then, she ran half way up a fifteen-foot tall iron bar that was a part of the fence. When she was high enough to reach its top, she grabbed it and swung herself the rest of the way over. She then landed with a barely audible thud against the grass on the other side. Even so, she kept crouched down low. Her breathing was still as she strained her ears to listen for anyone who might have spotted her.

Nothing.

She dashed down the hill the academy sat on, blending in with the inky midnight shadows. Finding her way down a path, she raced into the town below the academy. And then she found the transport alley where people could rent a vehicle for an hourly rate.

The ten in that part of town sat on the edge of the black road near the sidewalk and a few shops. From the light posts, a golden glow shone down on them so they were easily spotted. And each’s legs were in a resting position so their bellies touched the ground.

There were spiders, scorpions, and mantis. It always amazed her how literally they looked like the insect they were developed after. She found her favorite, a scorpion designed crawler for a single person. And then she put in the coins required for the few hours she expected to be gone. The bronze metal vibrated to life and the legs rose as a cool breeze rustled her hair and made the edges of her hood flap. And then she watched it stand as the bulbs on the outside of its body let out a soft projection of light. She mounted it, planting her feet on its board and grabbing the pincer-like steering rack.

She turned out of its parked position, and it crawled out from the street light it’d been under. The soft tapping of its legs was rhythmic and relaxing as she took it down the street and out of town. Once she went off the road, she flipped some switches and the thing rose a little higher. Shaking as more life was brought to it, it sped up so they went from a leisurely pace to a full sprint.

The scorpion zoomed through the grass and past the trees. A few birds flew out of its way while a rabbit darted from between its legs. Gudomlay on her ride looked like a faint shadow with an even fainter glow rushing through the outskirts of town. It was as if a wraith had found a playground in the grass. The wind blew back at her and she smiled. Crouching to keep herself firmly steady, she urged the thing on even faster.

With a grin, she rushed the twenty miles between town and the outer wall that protected the city. And then she slowed down once she came within range of the guard’s scopes and sensors. She turned off all the lights of her vehicle and put it in stealth mode. It lowered onto its belly and started crawling toward the wall. The tail, which curled around overhead, drooped low. Gudomlay crouched under it so she was almost to her knees. She kept her eyes up, watching the searchlights as they moved from left to right on her side of the wall.

The guards were pacing, keeping an eye out for anyone or anything. They mostly faced the Wild Land’s side, for it was rare that anyone ever wanted to exit the city. Though, Gudomlay hadn’t actually ever heard of anyone trying to come in from the Wild Land’s… Either way, when those people came, it was the guard’s job to stop them whether they wanted in or out. But Gudomlay had never been caught before, and she wasn’t about to let them get in her way now.

When she made it to the wall, she reset the settings of the scorpion. In response, it attached itself onto the wall so it lay flat against it. She dismounted, landing in the grass that sprouted up around the gray stone. And she, already knowing where the emergency ladder was, hurriedly climbed the wall. Waiting for the opportunity to sneak over without getting caught, she glanced around. And then she slipped up to the top.

Once there, she slid down the ladder on the other side even more quickly than she ascended it. Though the wall was tall and heavily guarded, there was not a soul that could spot her. Not even their mechanics were able to pick her out. Not with the projection of her assassin class camouflage. If the school couldn’t develop things that would fool its own city’s security, then it had no business training stars and stripes.

Gudomlay landed safely on the other side of the wall without incident. But she pressed up against it when the search lights on that side swept over her head. When it’d gone, she dashed from the safety of the wall’s shadows and bolted into the tress beyond into the Wild Lands forest.

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Zhi parked his mantis under a tree and frowned at the wall. She really came here? With the leaves rustling over his head, he looked down at the tracker he brought along. He gawked pensively to realize that she was on the other side of the wall. When the device he’d put onGudomlaystarted beeping to announce she’d move outside the academy’s grounds, he never expected to discover that she was headed in this direction. He thinned his lips, grateful now that Britta had asked him to keep track of her. She hadn’t explained why, but her adamancy had made him suspicious and admittedly worried. And then there was what Bard had told him…

He grit his teeth, wondering. What would possess a third-year student to try her hand at infiltrating the Wild Lands? He tightened his fingers into his palm and typed in the code for his ninja’s camouflage. After turning off his ride, he found the gate which led outside the city. Once he spotted it, he determined the safest place to scale the wall.

The gate was the most obvious place to pass through and so the most heavily guarded. He glanced about, lifting his arm to input another code so a holographic screen popped up. On it, he could make out the heat body signatures of the guards and the electric pulses of their tools.

How had Gudomlay gotten through all of this? She didn’t have the same kind of equipment he did for not being a tech student. He thinned his lips, his black-lined eyes narrowing. Well, it seemed he had no choice but to sneak in as she had. He smirked. Considering his ancestry and training, it wouldn’t be a problem.

If there was one thing Jyukai could do--it was fly.

Having visually confirmed what had shown up on his radar, he picked a path. And then he ran. But before ever making it to the wall, he leapt up. Catching the branch of a tree with his foot, he vaulted himself further into the sky. And then he floated over the wall without a sound or notice from the guards below him. Gliding over in total silence, he landed safely in a tree on the other side. Glancing back at the wall he’d cleared, he felt fairly impressed with his own abilities. And then he went deeper into the woods in search of Gudomlay.

__

Gudomlaypeered down from the tree she was hiding in to watch the family of feathered foxes she had come across. She admired them from afar, thinking them the most fantastic of all the Wild Land animals she’d ever seen. Accident or otherwise.

She watched, fascinated by their extra-long tails and the additional fur at their paws. But what was most interesting was the feathers that decorated them. The father was all black. He had raven like feathers extending out from above his tail that also covered his chest. He had gold markings on his face too. And he had a gracefulness and elegance about him that was different from normal foxes.

The mother was also dark. But she had a red back and glossy black feathers with a green hue. They came out from above her shoulders as well as fanned down her tale. She was watching her skulk, the cubs playing together and rolling over each other. Gudomlay giggled to herself as she watched one bite the others ear and flip over him. They both tumbled onto their father who was sitting nearby.

Watching, she thought quietly to herself. She’d discovered that feathered fox’s markings, feather placement, and color wasn’t specific to gender. It seemed to her, however, that the more colorful they were, the more vicious they acted. It was as if their brightness was a dare to their would-be predators. She’d read of them being able to take down bears on their own too, no easy feat for something so small.

Having her fill of them and their young, she hopped to the next tree. She wanted to make sure she was far enough away to not be a threat to them before coming down onto the forest floor. And then she landed easily among the ferns and grass and wiped her hands on her pants free of the dirt and bark of the tree.

She walked on, careful not to alert the wildlife around of her presence. Normal animals would be difficult to deal with on their own. But if she disturbed a bearded tiger or armored bear. Well, she might find herself in trouble.

Meeting locals, however, was on the bottom of her list of ideal run-ins. Even more so than any animal. She just had to keep away from any signs of human life and turn around if she did. Except, when she came to a pool at the opening of a cave with ruins around its mouth, she paused to gawk instead of spinning around to go back as she had advised herself to do just before finding it.

The cave seemed to be the bed of a small river above it which trickled down its sides. The water dripped over its opening rather than fall straight over its lip to hide it. It also flowed into a ring around the pool at the cave’s mouth and then softly from it into the pool.

She glanced into it, wondering at its strange aquamarine color and soft glow. She glanced up then to see if the stars shone overhead and marveled that they did so brilliantly. She’d never seen the sky like that before. She blinked and looked back at the cave, wondering at the ruins which were etched on its rim.

She thinned her lips, thinking again she ought to turn around. Curiosity got the better of her, though. And she soon found herself balancing on the ring where the river came to empty into the pool to go to the cave’s entrance.

She hopped down at the opening of it and peered in. Her hood caught the dripping of water that occasionally came over the mouth of the cave as she did. It made a dull tapping noise against the cloth as she thought on whether she ought to go in or not. It had a gradual downward slope and plenty of rocks to steady herself on should she choose to make a descent.

And so, she went in.

Careful for the moisture inside, she made her way down. She checked her footing and the grip of her boots on the slippery rock before going in all the way. And then she made it to a flat chamber. It looked as if it’d been swept and cleaned by a meticulously organized individual.

Did that mean people came here? Or was someone living in this place? She looked around. Despite her wondering about it, she couldn’t see any signs of habitation. That gave her some relief. After hearing all the stories of the people who lived outside of the city, she didn’t want to risk any encounters.

It wasn’t a very large room, and it was only somewhat lit by a pool like the one outside in its center. Gudomlay lifted her arm and typed a code into her band so it produced a bright light like a torch. She directed it so she could see more clearly and wondered at the paintings and ruins she found on the walls.

It made her frown, for she’d not studied languages. A subject she hadn’t considered important for her desired field. Now she was thinking it better be something she learn. At least those of the area she intended to explore. She pushed her lips to one side as she pondered the images. And then she directed her light on the floor to make sure she didn’t trip over anything.

That’s when she saw the markings around the pool. She lowered her brow and squatted to lighten it better to look at it. She tilted her head, not knowing what it meant. Though she recalled seeing something of this nature in one of her books.

“A magic circle?” She wondered. Though the city didn’t believe in the existence of magic, Gudomlay had always been under the suspicion that it was real. Living with Kunagi made her think that a lot of things the city believed was wrong.

“A sealing circle, actually,” a voice commented above her head.

Gudomlay yelped and, twirling up onto her feet, hurriedly put some distance between herself and the voice. She blinked, surprised to find Zhi standing over where she’d been. His hands were in his pockets, and his head was bent as if to still look over her shoulder. But his eyes were lifted to gaze at her. She swallowed, a hand coming over her heart.

“What are you doing here?” She gasped, frustrated by both his being able to sneak up on her and her reaction at making himself known.

“I was following you,” he said, his brow coming down over his eyes. “What are you doing crossing the wall and coming out here?” He asked, his tone hard.

She blinked at his scolding her. She’d never heard him talk like that. “What is it to you?” Why’d he bother to follow her himself instead of alerting the school’s security? But then she thought better. A friend wouldn’t squeal of her activities but do something about himself. At least, that’s the way it seemed to be with the people she made friends with. Zhi appeared to be no exception. But why come all this way? She didn’t imagine even Tapp or Britta would follow her so nonchalantly into the forest beyond the city wall. Not even to keep an eye on her.

“The security team is on high alert right now. We’re expecting an attack from Death Stalker. You shouldn’t be leaving academy grounds. One it’s against school law and second, it puts you in danger of being attacked,” he explained.

“I’d say it’s safer out here than in there if you’re expecting an attack from D.S. on school grounds,” she retorted. She looked back at the circle around the pool and tilted her head. “How do you know it’s a sealing circle? What’s being sealed?” She asked. Though, for some reason, his explanation made sense to her. Or rather… it felt right. Though, she couldn’t account for why she’d think that way.

Zhi glanced back at it and then the pool. “I’ve studied all circle types in most languages still in record,” he explained. Though he was a little curious to be finding something like this so close to the wall. “I couldn’t guess what’s being sealed. It may be to keep unwanted visitors out or something within.” He peered into the pool and frowned. “Though, I don’t see anything inside to keep locked up. But...” His brow came down lower. “There are more markings in the pool.” He squinted, trying to make them out, but he stepped away without saying what it read. “Anyway. We need to get back before our absence is discovered.”

“That won’t happen,” she said confidently. She was still wondering at the markings at the bottom of the pool. For some reason, she felt compelled to reach out and dip her hand in the water. But she refrained and stepped away before she could do so. She glanced at Zhi and flashed a smile. “You’re too smart to get caught. And I notified the school I was staying the night with Kunagi because he’s sick and needs looking after. No one is going to check up on me there.”

Zhi shook his head at her. “Why come out here at all?” He asked.

Gudomlay blinked. She looked up at the cave ceiling and tilted her head to realize that there were crystals up there. They were reflecting the light from the pool. “I don’t know,” she said, her voice soft with wonder. “Because there’s nothing like it in the city...because...I feel like...” That this was where she belonged. How could she say that to him?

And then she realized...

“Every time I came over the wall. I’ve been getting closer and closer to this place. As if.” She looked at the pool again, getting close enough now that the tip of her boot was at the edge of the sealing circle. “As if something wants me here...”

For a moment, she was completely mesmerized. In fact, as she stared into the water, she thought she saw something strange. The pool’s bottom disappeared and someone was looking up at her. She blinked, completely surprised. He was tall and his skin looked dark, but not black. It actually looked like a pool of motor oil on soft gray skin under the sun. He was staring at her, his eyes wide. And then he reached up as if he meant to take her hand.

Gudomlay! Gudomlay gasped. Had he…spoken her name?

She was about to reach for him, a yearning in her heart pulling her forward. She didn’t know this man. She had never seen his face before but… But there was something about him. Something about the way he was looking at her. It was as if he’d been waiting for her. There were tears in his eyes. Why was he crying?

But then her arm was grabbed and she was pulled back a couple of steps away from the pool. She blinked, the glossing over in her eyes melting away as she came back to her senses.

“Come on, Gudomlay, let’s go back,” Zhi said, his eyes giving nothing away of what he was thinking. It didn’t even seem that he’d been aware of what was happening in that moment.

She stared at him, her mind trying to make the transition of what she’d just seen and what had just happened. She gave a wary glance at the pool, wondering to herself. Had she…really just seen someone in there? She shut her eyes and shook her head. There was no way. Her mind must have been playing tricks on her.

She sighed and nodded. “Sure...”

Zhi started out and she followed him, giving a glance back at the pool. She’d almost tried to dive into it. To take that man’s hand. Though, she hadn’t realized it herself until she stood there about to go back up out of the cave. Why? What would make her want to...

Gudomlay! She paused, hearing that voice again. It was so full of anguish. A tightening in her chest made it feel as if her heart was squeezing. She put a hand to her chest, wondering…

But then she bit her lip to cut off the voice and the question and went back up, following Zhi out of the cave. They went through the forest and back up over the wall to return their rides. And then they hurried back to school grounds before anyone realized they’d ever been gone.

And Gudomlay forgot about the man in the cave.