Little Lightning

Chapter 9

"What?" Lyrical blinked.

Zyan has been sentenced to death.

"But he said--" 

"I don't know what he said, but that's the verdict." He cut in. She stared at him in disbelief.

"Well, can I at least ask Yia?" He shook his head.

"No. Yia was there, so she already knows, but you never know who might be listening."

"But--" Lyrical protested.

"You're not allowed to speak of this to anyone, do you understand?" Kirtash towered over her, his pale eyes boring into her. She swallowed and resisted the urge to argue. 

"Understood." She whispered. 

"Good." His gaze softened back to its normal emotionless state. "I'm sorry, Lyrical, but the Loram's word is final. It's the law. We can't argue with him and the rest of the Educatrix when the decision is made final, as much as we might want to."

"Am I at least allowed to talk to him before he dies?"

"I don't know." He looked at her. "Oh no. I don't like that look. Whatever your planning, don't even think about trying it."

"What look?" Lyrical asked innocently.

"That one. You're already in trouble for disobeying my direct orders, and then leaving the Consilium before the meeting was over."

"Yeah, but look where we ended up!"

"With you having had your mind invaded, a random stranger set to die, and you in major trouble?" He lifted an eyebrow.

"Ok, so we didn't end up in the best place. But we're fine!" Kirtash sighed placing a hand at his temple. He didn't say anything for a minute.

"Just don't do anything stupid, ok?" He looked at her.

"Ok."

"Oh! I forgot to give this to you." He pulled out a pair of thin metal sticks about half a centimeter wide and about two inches long. They were flat on one side, and shiny on the other. "They're to block his ability."

"Zyans?" He nodded.

"Remember how easily he managed to break into your mind?"

"How could I forget?" She rolled her eyes.

"These will help block him out. At least, they should. Based on what I saw earlier, he has to have contact to invade your mind. I'm guessing his ability is a spin off of Yia's ability, so I tweaked it in case he can do it at a distance. Let me know if it doesn't work."

"Wow. That's... surprisingly nice of you."

"Pull your hair back, I need to attach them." Lyrical obliged, pulling the hair away from her ears. He attached it right behind the cup of her ear, on the little strip of exposed skin right before the hair. Surprisingly even when he pulled back she didn't feel them on her skin. She traced a finger over them to make sure they were actually there.

"So... where did they take Zyan?" Kirtash eyed her as if he knew exactly what she was doing. Which he probably did. He knew her far to well to be fooled.

"No, I didn't. But, I would guess that he's somewhere in the Consilium." Lyrical bit back a groan. She had no idea how to navigate that place. She had barely made it out last time even with the help of a shadow that she happened to come across. "You should sleep. You look dead on your feet." His eyes watched her carefully, no doubt trying to guess what she was planning. She sighed. She was tired. Maybe after a night of sleep she would figure out how to get into the Consilium.