“Only because Elus did it first,” Kitty snapped. This had the sound of an old argument.
“Peace, sisters,” Kate said as she held up her hands to each of them to silence them. “It would be up to you to find the Mageian and convince him to help you.”
“Well, we might be able to help a bit with the ‘finding’ part,” the old woman muttered, shaking her map.
“Fine,” I sighed in resignation. “What do I need to do?”
Chapter 3
Kat
The noise in the Legion dining hall was almost deafening, but I was used to the din. Most of the tables were filled, and the noise of hundreds of people filled the room. Kids as young as eleven or twelve scampered through the aisles, casting fearful glances around and trying not to be noticed as they clutched their meals to their chests and ran to find a safe place to eat. The older cadets were scattered throughout the room, occasionally groups of two or three clustered together for protection.
“Hey Kat,” Levi said as he and Daphne sat down across from me. “Sorry I missed your birthday.” I shrugged. I had turned eighteen a few days before, not that it mattered here.
They were a couple of cadets I had formed cautious partnerships with to help survive in the Legion. A single person was easy prey for one of the many gangs that prowled the halls at night. I nodded but focused on my plate, ignoring the events around me as much as I could, mentally reviewing the facts for an upcoming exam. There was more than one way to fail in the Legion.
This was a sociological exam on Alexandrian society. Our society was a rigid, militaristic one: You were Elusian, human,or Mageian, in descending order of importance and decreasing number of rights and opportunity.
Elusians sat at the top of the social structure. The King was Elusian as well as the members of his Council. All members of military leadership were Elusian: they had to be, to control the Mageia. Elusians believed they had been granted authority over the world by their god, Elus.
Humans were soldiers, artisans, and bureaucrats among other things. They could gather wealth and grow in prominence and influence, but they would never be part of the ruling class except in very rare circumstances. My thoughts drifted to Luke, as they did from time to time. I hadn’t heard whether he had developed Elusian powers, or even been declared just human, so part of me clung to some hope that his mother might be able to protect him.
I turned back to my notes, not that I needed to study for this part. It was my life.
Mageia were the lowest of the low. Identified Mageia were feared and distrusted by Elusian, humans, and pretty much other Mageia, too. We were disowned by our families for fear of tainting them with our mere existence. Any Mageia discovered were automatically sent to a Legion to “train to serve”, supposedly. Stripped even of our names, the Legion turned us into slaves and weapons and used every tool possible to crush our will. The ideal Mageia was one who did not think for themselves, but who lived only to serve.
I was so not the ideal Mageian. I could fake it normally, but some days it got to me, and the whip marks on my back stood as mute testament to that fact. I’d been in Legion training since Erix had died, so after seven years this pretty much was my normal.
Someone sat down in the seat to my left, and I gripped my knife automatically, refusing to look up. While there may beallies, there were no friends in the Legion, and everyone wanted something. Trust no one.
“Hey, Kataramenos,” I heard Edell purr.
Kataramenos was what the Legion had named me the day Maalik had hand delivered me to their representatives. It meant “Cursed One”. Seemed appropriate.
Edell was a Hoplite, one of the oldest in the Legion, and an Air Mageia. That wasn’t saying a lot. She was maybe twenty-one and would be undergoing her Machi Thanatos soon. The Machi Thanatos was a test. Groups of Hoplites were taken from each Legion and sent to the Machi Arena to be tested against each other. Once you left for your Machi, you returned either a full Mageia, a slave, or you didn’t return at all.
“Edell,” I acknowledged without looking up. I didn’t like Edell, but I didn’t want to piss her off unnecessarily, either.
“I hear you’re going to be promoted soon,” she said leaning her left arm on the table, sliding her right hand along my bicep, her voice low and sultry. I didn’t respond. What was there to say? I was past due to be promoted to Hoplite.
“It can be dangerous in the Hoplite quarters at night. Lots of gangs that would like to have a piece of your lovely ass,” she said as she slid her hand down my arm to my thigh. “You’re not very good at making friends. That tends to make people a little…sensitive,” she said. That was an understatement. I was a right bastard. It was the only way I knew to survive. I tensed as she moved her hand toward my crotch.
“We could become friends. I could protect you,” she breathed in my ear, leaning forward to squeeze my cock through my pants. “For certain… concessions.”
My knife hand shot out, the blade piercing her left hand and pinning it to the table.
“Cocksucker!” she screamed, her right hand going to the pinned wrist.
“Yeah, well, you knew that already, didn’t you, Edell? After Nadir left your bed for mine, I thought it was pretty apparent,” I chuckled.
Nadir was Edell’s partner and had been in the last group to go to their Machi Thanatos. Stealing him away from Edell before he left had been petty revenge for years of insults from her, but very satisfying. In more ways than one.
“I will fucking kill you, Kataramenos,” she yelled, yanking on the knife that was buried deep in the wooden tabletop, blood beginning to pool under her hand.
“Careful with that, Edell,” I said, standing and taking my bowl to the conveyor belt that took dirty dishes to the kitchen for cleaning. “I’d hate to see you without the use of your hand for your Machi.”
A hand injury could spell death in the Machi when you were fighting everything and everyone for survival. I wasn’t that much of a dick, though. I had made sure my blade hadn’t broken any bones and had slid between muscle and tendon when I’d slammed it home. She would be fine in a day or two, if she didn’t jerk it out the wrong way. Bitch or not, I had no desire to see Edell dead. Despite what the Legion tried to teach us, she was Mageia, after all, and there were few enough of us as it was.
