Kingdom of Deceit by Roberto Ricci

Author:Roberto Ricci [Ricci, Roberto]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy
ISBN: 9781538002742
Goodreads: 25484633
Publisher: Nook Press
Published: 2016-10-04T23:00:00+00:00

17. Dawn of Darkness

The guards marched me through the Ashi tunnel past the cage where I had stood but hours before, convinced I was about to be impaled by spikes, along the dark passage to the entrance and out past the gateway into the shadow of Adio and Adia. After making good and sure that I wasn’t about to make any attempt to re-enter the city, they went back inside. I heard the clanking sound of the gates and door closing echo out. I was alone. It didn’t take long for me to do what I had felt like doing ever since Chtomio had revealed his true self to me. I sank to my knees, put my face in my hands and let a loud cry escape from me. I felt empty and completely alone. But I also felt angry, for placing my trust in someone that wanted to use me.

I longed for my old life, my Mother and my house in Axyum; for a world that was simpler than the one I had been thrown into from the moment we had been summoned to the Palace of Elders to be told of my father’s death. When I finally got up and looked up at the statues of Adio and Adia, they seemed to mock me: “Look at the weak and feeble tears of the worthless young Black, begging for our pity!”

“You know nothing of me!” I shouted at them. “Nothing!”

“Asheva!” The whisper came out of the darkness.

“Who is it?” I said, turning towards it.

“Over here!”

I followed the voice until I saw two shadows moving in front of me.

“You made it!” came another hushed voice. “You actually made it back alive.”

Daerec and Enyac, my merchrome friends, moved through the shadows towards me.

“What are you doing here?”

“We followed you ever since you left us!” said Enyac.

“You didn’t think we’d miss this did you? I mean, no one ever tried to enter Samaris like you did tonight! No one!”

My anger and rage fell away in an instant. Here were two true friends who thought enough of me to give up their fishing and wait all night for me to come back from the prohibited city. We clasped arms and then they bombarded me with questions. How had I managed to get inside? What did the city look like? Were noble female chromes as beautiful as everyone said?

I told them about most of the things I had seen, from the older chromes and their heated debates about useless trivialities to the checkerboard dances of the younger chromes, the astounding beauty of Princess Cestia and the way I had made the conceited buffoon Erai pay for his arrogance. This last story had the pair of them staring at me in open-mouthed awe.

“Did you find your friend?” Daerec finally asked.

It was easiest for me to lie. Less complicated. How could I possibly explain what had happened and expect them to make any sense of it?

“No, I looked and asked. He is travelling in the territories, away from the Red Kingdom.

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