The Lost War (Hectic Series: Book One)

Chapter 10

Kim's condition worsened over the next few days. She would begin to feel better for a length of time before crashing back down to worse than she was before. 
Being the busy little worker bee she was, she paid little attention to Oliver's attempts at putting her on bed rest.
Despite her hard resolve, it was getting difficult to deny that there was something seriously wrong, but she shoved those feelings down behind the Empress Mask like a good Hectic and trudged on.
The humans had moved in. An estimated five billion of them, two billion more than had been anticipated, had plunked their lives down right on the edge of the Alliance.
Kim herself was on edge. Sooner or later there wouldn't be enough resources to sustain them and then the humans would push the boundary.
She hoped they would just start massacring each other, but of course she knew that wouldn't happen.
Right now everything was at a standstill. They were just waiting for the momentum to kick up again and then things would really start happening.
Something was certainly happening inside her head, she thought as she sat at her desk. It was like drums pounding inside her skull.
She wondered briefly where Oliver was, then remembered that he had went down to the kitchens to get lunch.
Now she was going senile, too. Wonderful.
Kim took a breath and a drink of tea. Ever since Mary had given her the safe-haven in beverage form she had been drinking it consistently. It helped for a bit, but unfortunately wore off relatively quickly, and then Kim was usually left feeling worse than she had before.
Oliver believed that she was dying of some horrible, mysterious ailment.
Kim told him it was simply from being over-worked.
She looked up when the door slammed open, expecting Oliver with Dex at his side, but in their place was a soldier.
She thought his name was Robert, although she couldn't be for sure. He didn't talk much.
He had dark skin and hair and light brown eyes, and he was wearing the traditional black leather uniform that was required of soldiers, along with a sword strapped behind his back.
He looked panicked. "The prison....it..." He was gasping for air, having just run all the way to the Palace.
Kim stood abruptly, sliding the mask into place. "What about the prison?"
"It...it has been robbed!"
Kim's brow drew down in confusion. "Robbed? Not a jail-break? What could possibly have been-"
"The cuffs," he gasped, "you're cuffs!"
Her breath hitched.
There were bracelets fashioned specifically for each eye color that, when snapped on, made them unable to use their power. They had been made during the time of the Lost War, the instructions long lost, and so the cuffs they had now were the only ones they were going to get.
There were only four Hectic cuffs in existence. Hectics weren't exactly expected to be arrested all too often.
And for one to go missing...
Kim stumbled after the soldier. "Did you see who took them?"
He shook his head frantically. "No, Empress. A guard noticed a hooded figure leaving the prison, and then the cuffs were just gone."
They passed Oliver in the hall, carrying a tray of tea and sandwiches, and Kim blurted "Emergency, stay here," before bolting off down the hall.
Once outside she took off into the air as the soldier followed on foot.
She tried to make it look like she was going slow out of consideration for him, but truthfully her wings were too weak to beat any faster.
Tamera's prison was, fortunately, only a few miles away and it didn't take long to reach.
Kim followed the guard inside and to the room where the cuffs were held.
The prison was a rectangular structure made out of cinder blocks with four floors. The last floor was where the offices were. Where the cuffs were held.
Kim nearly collapsed when she reached the office doorway. The soldier was right on her heels.
Without hesitation she went to the back wall and pushed in a brick. A small group of bricks swung back to reveal three boxes, all filled with different cuffs, and in the spot where her cuff should have been...nothing.
She stared at the empty spot for a moment, her mind reeling, and then a sudden wave of cold understand washed over her.
She turned around slowly to face the soldier, the circumstances threatening to crush her, to find him mere inches from her face. A cold metal band snapped around her wrist.
She felt a nerve flare hot down her spine.
"Where is the guard who keeps watch up here?" She asked calmly.
The soldier grinned and drew his sword.
He nodded toward the tall window  behind Kim. "Opened up a window pane, dumped him out."
She backed up as he advanced, silently cursing herself over and over.
"Now, Hectic, come with me." He brandished the sword. "Unless of course you want me to jam this blade right up your pretty little-"
Kim kicked him in the crotch.
He doubled over and she dove, trying to slip past him.
She almost made it when he grabbed her wrist and jerked her around, pressing his forearm against her throat.
Gasping, Kim thrashed and kicked and twisted. He grunted and only pressed harder, completely closing off her airway. She felt him press the edge of his sword to her wing.
She couldn't breathe. Her head pounded in sync with her heart. And she was pissed.
She threw her head back and heard his nose break when it connected with her skull.
She spun, kicked him in the crotch again, and punched him into the wall, holding him by the throat.
She spoke quietly, calmly, but with the cold authority that would drop her subjects to their knees. "You are very lucky that I do not have the use of my power," she hissed, bringing her face close to his. "Now tell me where the key is before I break your neck."
He grinned, revealing bloody teeth. "Sorry, bitch. I'd rape your freak little ass before I told you that." He spat in her face.
Before Kim could react he lunged, pressing her up against the desk. He had both her wrists in one hand and his sword in the other.
Kim could feel his hot breath on her face as she bent backward over the desk.
He pressed his sword to her wing and smiled. And then he yanked on it, slicing her wing down her back.
She screamed and twisted away before he could sever it completely.
Pain lanced up her back and exploded so sharply in her skull she almost blacked out.
Kim smacked her forehead into his and he stumbled back long enough for her to back up, but as he advanced again, bloody sword in hand, she saw there was no other choice.
He ran and she threw herself backward.
The window shattered.
She fell and pulled him down with her.
Flapping her one good wing chaotically, Kim watched him fall to the ground as she did the same.
She tumbled through the air, desperately beating her wing against the wind.
Her left wing was attached by barely a few strings of muscle. It felt like the wind would tear it right off.
And she just kept falling and falling and falling and falling and then-
she hit the ground.