by Todd Herzman
‘She’s after the blood mage because she’s a seeker?’
The monk nodded.
‘Do you think… do you think she could find Ruben?’
Peiter glanced back at Marius. ‘I do not think you would want her to. Blood mages gain their power from those they enthral. If killing Ruben weakened the blood mage…’
‘Oh,’ Marius said.
‘I understand that you will always wish to find ways to save your brother. But one day you might have to accept what happens to him is out of your control.’
Marius thought he’d already accepted that. He wouldn’t have left the village otherwise—but a part of him still hoped that once he’d learnt how to use his powers he’d be able to save Ruben.
They caught up to Lilah in a small clearing. She sat on a rock; the sword she’d used as a machete stuck in the ground in front of her. ‘I will deal with our problem. You two will stay here. Rest your legs. Stay alert.’ She stood and walked from the clearing without so much as glancing at them. ‘You two will be bait.’
Peiter took off his hood. He ran a hand over his shaved head and sighed. ‘I do not like what she is doing. But I fear I have no other options to offer.’
‘Can’t you tie him up again?’
Peiter rubbed his forehead. ‘That only lasted so long.’
‘You said you’ve been able to break bloodlocks before, at the monastery?’
The monk nodded. ‘Some, yes. The technique is beyond me, however. It requires several monks entering the mind of the thrall—the victim. If I were to try myself, I could cause irreparable damage.’
Marius thought on that. ‘Could?’
The monk nodded.
‘So there’s a chance you might not? A chance it might work?’
‘It is not that simple.’
Marius tilted his head. ‘Isn’t it?’ He looked out at the trees. ‘If it were my brother, I would want you to try. This… this man might have a family somewhere, too.’
Peiter seemed distracted. He rummaged around in his robes and pulled out his leather-bound book. The monk ran a finger over the triangle on the cover, then opened the book to a page somewhere in the middle. He read silently, his lips moving and his eyes tracking from one side of the page to the other. Then he looked at Marius. ‘It is dangerous, but there might be a way.’
Chapter 31
Ruben
Ruben held three orbs suspended over his right hand. They rotated slowly, chasing each other and making a circle. He sat on his bed in his locked chamber, staring at them as they twirled.
The mana wasn’t dangerous. He’d tried lobbing them at the wall to see if they would scorch it, but the orbs only went straight through. They gave off light, and Ruben felt the power from them, but they weren’t a weapon.
It had taken him a week to gain this much control. Alyssa had instructed him not to use his fire. There were steps she wanted to teach him, and she didn’t want him setting his room alight.
Ruben couldn’t help himself; he missed the fire. He let the mana sink back into him, reflexively breathing in as the power returned. He felt it in his gut, the energy mingling inside. It was so easy now. He couldn’t help wondering how he’d gone his whole life without sensing it. Had it always been there?
Ruben held out his hands and called the flames. They ignited in a beautiful flowing red. He smiled. This was the power he liked. This was a weapon.
Someone knocked on his door. Ruben extinguished the flames a moment before the latch came free. The door eased open and Alyssa walked through, in the same red dress she always wore. Ruben wondered if she had a wardrobe full of just that one dress, or if it was an illusion she projected upon herself, like the first outfit he’d seen her wear when she’d pretended to be a servant.
Alyssa sniffed. ‘Smoke?’
‘I had the fire running. I got cold.’
Alyssa raised her eyebrows. Her gaze fell on the fireplace, which hadn’t been lit in some time. ‘I’ve been given permission to show you the grounds.’
Ruben perked up. ‘The grounds? You mean I finally get to leave this room?’
‘Under my supervision, yes.’ Alyssa opened the door nice and wide and beckoned him through. ‘Better come before I change my mind.’ She smiled, and Ruben couldn’t help smiling back.
He was warming up to her, which was dangerous, but she was helping him—even if she was being made to.
It was strange stepping into the hall. It made him feel free, which he hadn’t felt for a long time. When he’d free roam of the ship, he’d been under Malarin’s thrall. He’d felt like his actions were his own, but they hadn’t been. They’d been driven by the blood mage’s will.
Taya, he thought. I wonder if she’s somewhere in the castle. Alyssa was the only person he could ask about Taya’s whereabouts. But he worried that if he asked, she would figure out his plan. He hadn’t been here long enough to be trusted.
The hallway was almost as wide as his chamber. The walls were austere. Blank. Ruben kept expecting the God King’s castle to have more finery, but his expectations were consistently thwarted.
‘Come.’ Alyssa took Ruben’s arm. ‘I want to show you the gardens.’
Alyssa led him down a series of hallways, taking lefts and rights until Ruben wasn’t sure he could make his way back to his rooms alone. The hallways continued in the same bare style, and each door they passed looked identical to the last. The castle felt like a maze. Ruben was thankful he hadn’t tried escaping yet. He would have lost himself in these halls and been easy pickings for the guards.
Eventually they reached a set of double doors. Alyssa let go of Ruben’s arm and pushed open the doors with an eager smile. Ruben shielded his eyes from the light. Alyssa stepped into the garden. She spread her arms wide and looked at the sky, basking in the sun.
Ruben stared at the garden in awe. It was filled with colour. There were trees, ferns, flowers and all types of plants Ruben didn’t recognise. The garden contrasted the castle hallways so much that he couldn’t help wondering if it was another of Alyssa’s illusions. Could it really be this beautiful, or was it just her influence on his perceptions?
Was Alyssa as beautiful as she looked?
Ruben decided he didn’t care. He stepped outside and took a deep breath of fresh air, air that wasn’t stale or tinged with the sea. It reminded him of the forest behind his house, where he used to go hunting. He’d felt very much at home in those woods, and while this garden didn’t quite compare, it was the first time he’d felt okay since being captured.
Then he saw the statue in the middle of the garden. It stood twice as tall as Ruben. He froze when he noticed whose face it wore. The God King’s. Ruben’s face turned to stone as he stared at the statue. It brought him back to the great hall, when the God King’s voice had boomed in his mind, when Ruben had flung his flames and found nothing happened.
Alyssa stood beside him. ‘You look like him, you know.’
‘You say that as if it’s a good thing.’
‘He is my God.’ Her eyes glinted as she stared at the statue. ‘He is my King. How could it be anything but good?’
‘Why do you worship him?’
She tilted her head, as if confused. ‘He protects us.’
Ruben put his hands on her shoulders and turned her toward him. ‘He enslaves you.’ He let go of her and stepped away, realising what he’d said. The fear, the anger at seeing the God King’s face, it had brought back his feeling of helplessness. It had brought back the rage in his gut and made him too free with his words. He stared at his hands. Flames sparked.
Her hand came to rest on his shoulder. ‘It is an honour to serve the God King, Ruben. You will see that soon.’ She grabbed his wrists and locked eyes with him, wearing a smile of pure calm.
Ruben focused on the smile, he melted into it. The sparks disappeared.
Alyssa moved her grip from his wrists to his palms. ‘You need to let go of your rage,
if you’re ever going to be at peace with your new life.’
She let go. Ruben’s hands fell by his sides and he watched her walk around the garden.
‘What does he protect you from?’
Alyssa bent down and gently touched the stem of a flower. She drew in the smell, her calm smile still lifting her cheeks. ‘The end times, of course.’
‘The end times?’
Alyssa stood and looked at the sky. ‘Do you know what’s beyond the sky?’
Ruben peered up at the great expanse of blue with a smattering of white. ‘The sun, the moon, the stars?’
His mother had loved the stars. He didn’t often think of her—he’d pushed those memories away. But when he did think of her, it was while he was looking at the stars.
‘There’s more than that. More than we can see.’ She glanced at him. ‘Do you have bright nights where you are from?’
‘Bright nights?’
Alyssa raised her arms, reaching up as if she were trying to touch the sky. She splayed her fingers, her brow furrowing. In one sweeping moment, the blue and white disappeared. The sky blackened and stars sprinkled the dark expanse. Ruben stepped back before remembering it was an illusion.
Then light filled the sky, like the very stars were falling. He’d seen it before, everyone had. Alyssa showed him a starfall. Ruben remembered where he’d been the last time he’d watched one. He’d climbed atop the tavern roof with Taya, they’d laid side by side, holding hands as the bright lights streamed across the sky, trying to glimpse if one reached the earth.
‘A starfall night.’
Alyssa nodded. ‘You know what they are, don’t you? You know what happens when one of those rocks reaches the ground, what it does to the land around it?’ She dropped her arms. The night fell away, the sky returning to day. She took a deep breath, and her palms pointed forward.
Another illusion appeared in front of her. A giant ball of swirling blue and white. Except for the bits of green, it reminded Ruben of the sky. It was a sphere, an orb like the mana he’d been learning to control.
‘What is that?’
‘This? This is Tharania. The world.’ She scrunched up her face. ‘At least, the world as the God King described it to me.’ She waved a hand and another image came into existence. A rock, small compared to that of the world. It shot straight toward the blue orb.
When it hit, flames exploded at the point of impact, then cascaded around, spreading outwards until the entire world was covered in a molten red that reminded Ruben of his forge.
‘The God King doesn’t amass power for his own sake. He’s doing it to protect us—all of us. The power he takes from others will be used to save Tharania. He says there’s a reckoning coming, and he’s the only one who can stop it.’
Ruben stared at the molten ball and felt—deflated. Afraid. His anger and rage faded as he contemplated what he saw.
‘How—how do you know this will happen?’
The image disappeared. Ruben’s eyes were drawn to Alyssa’s.
‘Because he saw it.’
‘And you believe him?’
She tilted her head, confused again. ‘The God King does not lie, Ruben. Now, are you ready for your lesson?’
‘My lesson?’
‘You’ve been eager to use your Affinity for fire.’ She waved at the garden. ‘That’s why I brought you out here. More… space.’ She led him to a bare section of the garden, lest he set the whole beautiful thing aflame.
Learning to use his powers was the last thing on his mind. All he saw was the world on fire—it imprinted on his brain. He grabbed her arm, turned her toward him. She looked into his eyes without a hint of fear. How could she not be afraid of what she’d shown him? ‘Meteorites hit the ground all the time, during a starfall as a kid, I watched one get through. Crashed straight into the forest near Billings, left a crater the size of a wagon and felled the trees nearby.’
Once when he was in the forest with Taya, he’d stumbled upon the point of impact. The ground had blackened and cracked. Nothing grew there anymore. It had become a deadland. His father told him it wasn’t safe to stand in a deadland for too long. Where plants can’t grow, people get sick. Nothing good ever happened in a deadland. Once they’d realised what it was, they’d run the whole way home.
‘So you believe me?’
‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘I don’t know.’ He closed his eyes but couldn’t keep them shut. ‘Rocks fall, but they’re never big enough to destroy the world’—he pointed at the place where the illusion had been—‘not like that.’
‘Come on, don’t get down on me. The threat is real, but the God King protects us.’ She waved a hand and conjured a fireball. It hovered in front of her. Ruben stared a long moment before realising it was another illusion. ‘You need to practice your powers.’
‘Why? What does the God King want with me? Why does he want me to learn how to use my powers?’
‘I told you, Ruben. He sees the potential in you, he wants you to embrace it. He’s not evil. He wants what’s best for us all.’
Ruben gritted his teeth. What’s best for us all. How could being a slave be what’s best for him? He glanced at the statue, saw the world on fire in his mind. This doesn’t change anything, he told himself. The lies. The illusions. None of it matters. He clenched his fists. He would escape this place. He would master his powers and escape this place.
Chapter 32
Ella
When they arrived back on Aralia’s island, many of the crew jumped at the chance to spend time on land, while others stayed behind, seemingly relishing being stuck on a giant floating piece of wood.
The day after they returned, Ella, sleeping on Aralia’s floor, was woken as dawn broke. She grumbled and rolled over on her on bedroll.
‘Wake up, young apprentice.’
Ella cracked open an eyelid. It was dark, not a time for waking. Aralia stared down at her, golden hair draped over her shoulders, fully dressed and ready for the day before it had even begun. Ella thumbed sleep-grit from her eyes and sat up. She yawned, her mouth opening like a giant maw.
‘Cover your mouth when you yawn,’ Aralia said.
Ella clamped her mouth shut and frowned at the woman who’d woken her too early. Then she realised what the woman had said. Young apprentice. She perked up and scrambled to find clothes to wear.
Aralia led Ella away from the village in the morning dew. Ella wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing her shoulders to keep away the chill.
‘Where are we going?’ Ella asked.
‘You’ll see.’
They walked to the edge of town, straight to the cliff face, almost exactly opposite where the passageway came in from the sea. Ella stared at the bare cliff face, letting out a yawn and catching it in her hand.
Aralia walked them down and around the cliff face until they came upon a small cave. Before entering, Aralia closed her eyes. A ball of light formed in her hand. It reminded Ella of the light she’d seen Arin wield—the light she herself had wielded—but there was something different about it. When she stepped closer to Aralia, she didn’t feel any warmth from it, but she felt something else.
The witch looked at Ella. ‘It’s called mana. It’s the energy that gives us power.’ She stepped into the cave. ‘Come now, we’ve a little walk before we get where we’re going.’
The entrance to the cave was twice as wide as Ella’s shoulders. It gave plenty of room to step through but felt claustrophobic all the same. Aralia’s orb illuminated the jagged walls and cobwebbed corners, the light making the critters that called the cave home skitter away.
‘Considering how out of control your powers are, I thought it wise to take you as far from my village as possible. I can’t have you setting fire to the place or causing bolts of lightning to strike my neighbours.’
‘So you’re going to train me in a cave?’
Aralia smirked back at her but didn’t reply.
/> Great, Ella thought. She didn’t relish the idea of spending her day in a cave, but excitement grew in her chest despite it, her heart pumping a fast beat. None of her problems had been solved. They were still working on a plan, and until they had one, they weren’t quite sure how to prepare.
But today, Ella was going to learn magic.
Ella smirked. Old Joslin would have warned her against following a witch into a cave.
The tunnel widened until she could reach her hands out beside her and still not touch the wall. Aralia’s orb grew to encompass the space. Was this where they were going to train? In a cavern just big enough to swing her arms? Ella shuddered at the thought of her powers growing out of control. What if the fire ate the air, and caused enough smoke that they could no longer breathe? What if she sparked the ceiling and caused rocks to fall on their heads?
Aralia walked straight through the cavern. The path thinned again, the walls closing in until not even Ella’s shoulders fit through. They faced the wall, shuffling side to side to get through the gap.
Ella wasn’t sure how long they’d been journeying through the cave when she spotted a line of light ahead. Aralia’s orb dimmed as they got closer. Waves breaking echoed off the walls. Ella could scarcely see through the sun’s brightness. She followed Aralia’s footsteps until she’d come out of the cave.
Her feet hit sand. Ella’s eyes adjusted to see a small beach. Rocks littered the shore and jutted out from the shallow waters. This was no place to bring in a ship, not even a small one.
Ella spread her arms out, basked in the sun and breathed in the fresh air. They couldn’t have been in that cave for much longer than an hour. The sun was still on the horizon and wouldn’t yet have reached over the mountain to grace the village with its light.
‘I often come here to think and to train,’ Aralia said, the sun reflecting from her golden hair. ‘Do you know what a weather witch is?’
Ella frowned. ‘Someone who can control the weather?’
‘In a manner of speaking. But that’s not very specific. When people talk of weather witches, they usually mean someone who can control the wind.’ Aralia raised her arms and summoned a strong breeze. ‘They can bring clouds or part them by manipulating wind currents in the sky.’
