Chapter 31: Calliope

Western Woods, The Belleming Forest, near the town of Osda

"I don't trust them, Calli."

It wasn't the first time Sebastian had spoken to her during their journey back to Delos. But it was the first time he had so openly said what he had obviously been thinking since they left the dwelling. Unfortunately, Calliope was in no mood to defend her choices.

"Perhaps if I could have trusted my father—" Calliope began.

"Calli."

"You didn't have to come, Sebastian," she reminded him with a sigh. "I made my decision for me. Not for you."

"Maybe Gabriel was going to let you go riding off with a group of complete strangers but I wasn't."

"I'm not helpless, Seb."

"He lied to you about who he was, Calli. He's the prince of Delos and he gave you a fake name and let you lead him into the wilderness. I don't know why Gabriel is keeping things from you but he must have his reasons. He's a good dad, Calli. You're lucky to have him."

With a frown, Sebastian flicked his horse's reins and rode forward ahead of her. Calliope sighed, watching his back as he approached Neva at the front and feeling miserable. No matter how upset she was with Gabriel, complaining about her father to an orphan was low.

"Is there something going on between you and the prince?" someone asked suddenly. Calliope, having been lost in thoughts of an entirely different nature, whirled in her saddle to find that Aditya had ridden up alongside her. The beautiful redhead was smiling warmly her way and waiting for an answer to her entirely out-of-the-blue question.

"Excuse me?" Calliope replied, stunned.

"Forgive me. You aren't accustomed to the casual gossip of young women our age," Aditya mused, pausing for a moment as if waiting for Calliope to chuckle at her joke. She didn't. "I can see how you look at him. And how he looks at you. I've known him for years. You aren't the least bit interested in what I might be able to tell you?"

Aditya raised a brow. Whether this was a test or an attempt at conversation, Calliope wasn't sure. The girl had been right about one thing. She was not used to conversing with women her age. She wasn't quite sure how to take the lively redhead.

"I find I get a better picture of someone by observing their actions rather than by the words of their peers," Calliope answered.

Aditya's gaze narrowed only slightly but it was noticeable enough for Calliope to get the feeling that it had been a test and she thought she might have passed it.

"You're quite the conundrum, Calliope Barlowe. I look forward to learning more about you," Aditya said after a moment.

They rode on in silence for a while. Calliope considered all that had been said on the journey and what she knew about the people she was travelling with. When Aditya spoke again, it startled Calliope so much she nearly fell from her saddle.

"One thing about the prince I will tell you," Aditya said, a faint smile on her lips as she stared ahead at the prince leading them onward. "He's just as altruistic as he seems. But believe me, it gets annoying after a while."

Calliope couldn't help but smile at that and, just as she did, they came to a stop. Maverick had halted the progression from the front. They had crested a small hill and stood a few meters away from the forest line. Maverick was looking off to the west and discussing something with Neva and Sebastian in hushed tones. Aditya and Calliope exchanged a look before they approached. Zephyr moved forward as well but Delphi remained behind, horse standing still and eyes on the sky.

"--the plan that makes the most sense," Sebastian was arguing when they approached. "You're all from the palace, nobility or high servants or soldiers or whatever else. Calliope and I are Ysuelt. Our people are seen travelling through these lands all the time and no one pays them any mind. We won't even be noticed if we slip into town and purchase enough food for seven people. They'll just assume we're stocking up to stake out the riverlands for some monster."

Maverick and Neva exchanged a glance. Calliope didn't know Maverick well but she could already tell when he was about to say no.

"He's right," she added, leading her horse forward so that they all looked to her. "No one knows who we are. It's the most sensible plan we have."

"Delphi says you're important and she's never lied to me before," Maverick debated. "I can't just send you into some strange town alone if–"

"She's not alone," Sebastian bristled.

"Let them go," Neva said, reaching out and touching Maverick's arm. He calmed at the contact, shoulders relaxing and face falling.

"Fine," he agreed, turning to Sebastian. "If anything happens to her–"

"I kept her safe long before she was important to you, prince."

Sebastian spat on the word prince and then leapt from his horse, wiped his mouth on his sleeve, and marched off toward the small town of Osda. Calliope sighed, sliding from her saddle and handing the reins to Zephyr.

"We'll make camp nearby," Neva told her. "Close enough that you'll be able to find us when you return. If you're gone longer than an hour, we'll assume you've been compromised and move on."

"Neva," Maverick warned. His loyal guard's eyes snapped to him. He sighed, scrubbing one hand over his face and running it up through his hair. "Just... be careful, okay?"

Calliope gave a firm nod and jogged off to catch up with Sebastian.

That was no easy feat. He had always had much longer strides than her, given his massive height advantage and he was walking even quicker since he was angry.

"You've kept me safe," Calliope repeated once she had finally caught up with him and they were walking side by side toward the village.

He looked over at her and frowned.

"Yes, I have," he answered. "Just as you've kept me safe. Just as Bruin and Gabriel and Sven and all the others keep each other safe. You're a Ysuelt, Calli. You're a part of my tribe. You're my responsibility. Not his."

"I am not anyone's responsibility, Sebastian," Calliope snapped, fuming at this foolish boy, her closest friend, and his inane jealousy. She hurried ahead of him, standing in his way so that he was forced to stop and look at her. "I chose to leave, Sebastian. I did. So stop being mad at Maverick and direct your anger to the person who deserves it. Me."

With that, she turned and stormed off toward the town, hardly hearing when Sebastian called out from behind her, "Calliope."

Sebastian had been right. No one looked twice at the two young Ysuelt warriors buying enough food from a local merchant for a week in the woods. A few whispered and pointed to the first female Ysuelt in history but no one questioned their motives at least. And when they had their satchels full of bread and cheese, they paused at the river to fill their canteens with water before heading back toward the spot where they had left the others.

There was no sight of them from the road but Calliope and Sebastian knew that only meant they were well concealed somewhere not far into the surrounding woods. After a few passes scanning the treeline, Calliope spotted the tiny black ribbon tied conspicuously to a protruding branch and pointed in that direction to Sebastian.

A little ways into the forest, they found the others. All of them sitting around a fire, chatting or watching the flames dance against the growing night. Maverick looked up as they entered the clearing and Calliope could have sworn she saw him visibly relax at the sight of their return.

"You made it back," Zephyr said in a way that indicated he wasn't impressed at all. Sebastian tossed him his sack and the hulking soldier started rifling through it at once. "What? No sausage? I thought villagers gave their best to the Ysuelt or does your reputation precede you?"

"Why don't you go next time?" Sebastian snapped. "If you're so—"

"Sh," Neva hushed them, standing just as a twig snapped nearby. In an instant, weapons were drawn. Even Aditya pulled a small blade she'd hid upon her person. Only Delphi remained unarmed, staring into the dark woods with her head cocked to the side in eerie interest.

"You're becoming quite the pest, bastard prince," a deep, low drawl sounded from just beyond the tree line.

A moment later, a man emerged, smirk on his lips, sharp brow raised. His hands were behind his back, clasped neatly, calmly. He strolled forward unafraid despite Maverick's shuffling feet and raised sword. His cloak was blood red with a strange symbol etched upon each shoulder which Calliope thought she might have seen before. His dark hair fluttered in the light breeze as his even darker eyes fixed on their small group.

"What a happy accident to stumble upon you in empty woods," he said, grinning delightedly. Though his tone dropped an octave lower as he finished. "Now, to finish the job that Jyn could not."

He flicked his wrists and his cloak snapped from his shoulders, falling into a heap on the dirt below. Zephyr, Neva, and Aditya immediately stepped up to Maverick's side.

"There are more of them," Delphi said serenely.

As if summoned by her words, three people in matching armor stepped forward, scowling at the group in front of them.

"Jyn," Neva snarled, glaring at the girl on her left, the one with the bright purple pixie cut hair.

"Chaos," Maverick added, nodding at the man in the red cloak.

Chaos? As in the Chaos? Calliope stared at the man in the red cloak in a whole new light. Could this truly be the famous Chaos? If so, how did Maverick know him? Suddenly, it was all becoming clear to her. Maverick had left the palace because someone had tried to kill him. He had said he didn't know who it was. Just how much had the prince lied to her about?

The first blast knocked her off her feet. A bright purple bolt of lightning struck the ground where Aditya had been a moment before, so close that Calliope was temporarily blinded by the brightness of it. Helplessly, she crawled backwards in the dirt, far too outgunned for this fight.

She made it back to the fire pit, coughing up the dirt that someone had sent flying into the air when they had uprooted the very earth beneath her. Calliope was no stranger to magic. She sang to swords and fought otherworldly creatures all year long. But this was something else. This was something she had never even seen before. Human beings shaping the very elements of the world around them, bending them to their will in rapid succession. It was impossible. And yet—

A fireball the size of the horse she had ridden from the Ysuelt stables shot right toward her. Sebastian dove forward, knocking her out of the way just in time. But their proximity to such a massive flame had its consequences. He let out a scream and held his sizzling shoulder in one hand. Calliope's eyes widened as she realized her own hand had been on that same shoulder when the fireball passed. She held her breath and waited for the pain but it never came. And when she held up her hand to examine it, the skin was intact. Unlike Sebastian's blistering shoulder. In awe, she couldn't take her eyes from her fingers, flexing them as if there were some injury she hadn't seen yet.

"I would advise you to get down and remain there," Delphi said easily from nearby. Calliope blinked at her in shock but then lowered herself to the forest floor, brought back to reality by the sounds of Sebastian screaming in agony.

She did what she could for him, pouring the water from a canteen over the burn. He kissed in pain, gnashing his teeth together to keep from screaming.

A projectile that Calliope hadn't seen before, some gnarled chunk of old dead wood, hurled itself at them suddenly. She had just enough time to see Jyn standing nearby, arm outstretched and narrowed gaze focused on her targets when Zephyr emerged and, in front of him, a massive oak thrust upward from the ground, shielding them from the projectile which bounced harmlessly off its bark. As Zephyr turned and looked down at Sebastian, vines began to grow from the tree and circle menacingly in the air.

"Are you alright?" The naturalist asked.

Calliope blinked at him, too stunned to speak.

"Calliope—" he tried again.

"I'm fine but Sebastian. He got burned."

"Stay here."

She nodded. He dropped his hand and the tree fell away to reveal Jyn and Neva now locked in hand to hand combat on the other side.

Trees all around her burst into flames as they were hit, one by one, by the Chaos' fireballs. He was aiming for Maverick but the prince was dodging, taking every shot he got at the Chaos though they were few and far between. The poor prince had brought a sword to a magic fight.

Nearby, Aditya shifted suddenly from the petite redhead beauty to an ugly brute of a man twice the size of even Zephyr and started swinging hard at the earth shaker. Zephyr was locked in a dizzying battle of tree and vine and lightening with the electron. Neva was dodging Jyn's projectiles and running her down. But it was the Chaos that held Calliope's attention. It was in the way he walked, the way he spoke to Maverick, shouting through the trees, even the way he lazily flicked fireballs all around the clearing. This wasn't a fight. He's already won. Maverick didn't have a chance against him and he knew it. He was just toying with him.

Calliope got to her feet.

"You thought you could run," the Chaos was saying, his deep voice rumbling through the woods like thunder. "You thought you could hide?"

A fireball flew past her face, so close it fried the ends of her curly hair. But she felt no heat. None at all.

"Calli," Sebastian hissed. "Get down."

"You thought you could defeat me with your band of misfits and strays?" The Chaos barked again, malice dripping from every word he spoke.

Another fireball slammed into a tree nearby and Calliope walked toward it.

"Calli," Sebastian hissed, more urgently now. "Calliope."

"You are everything that is wrong with this movement," the Chaos growled. "Your pity, your charity, as if we are weak, as if we need your mercy."

Calliope reached into the fire. She watched as her fingertips became engulfed in flames. But her flesh did not melt away. Her skin did not burn. She looked back to Sebastian who had fallen silent. He stared at her, wide eyed. It didn't matter. She understood now. This fire, his fire, it could not hurt her.

"But I will end your pathetic little refugee camp," the Chaos snarled. "Right here. Right now."

He raised a fist, clutched it. The biggest fireball Calliope had ever seen came to life in thin air and flew towards Maverick. She dove.

Hands outstretched, she jumped in front of the prince, making herself as big as possible, taking as much of the hit as she could. But it never hit her. The flames fizzled into smoke just a foot away from her hands and that smoke shot backwards, back into the Chaos' clenched fist. He gasped, falling to his knees and clutching his wrist.

The fighting stopped. Everything stopped. And everyone stared at Calliope, at the Chaos. He was gasping for air, having trouble breathing. Calliope cocked her head to the side, just watching as his pale lips turned blue.

"Calliope," Maverick said her name first, breaking her concentration. She heard another gasp, a greedy intake of air, behind her as she turned to face the prince. "Let's go."

She didn't have to be told twice. She took Maverick's hand and they ran, Neva at their side as Zephyr and a transformed Aditya lifted Sebastian easily between them and carried him off as well. Delphi followed, running quickly through the trees as they fled.

The Chaos let out a guttural cry from behind them and the entire forest was suddenly illuminated by a wave of intense flame emanating from the clearing they had left behind. But they didn't look back. None of them even turned as they ran on into the night.