by Todd Herzman
‘He was never supposed to know about you, or Ruben, or Ella… he was never supposed to find out you existed.’ She took a shuddering breath. ‘That’s why I left.’
‘Who? Who wasn’t supposed to know?’
She shook her head. ‘You’re just a child. To burden you with this—’
Marius stood fast. ‘Just a child? Do you know what I’ve been through? How many people I’ve lost? What I did to get here?’
The anger left her face. Her fists unclenched. She opened her palms and no power escaped. She put her hands on his shoulder without hesitation and hugged him. He was frozen still at first, so shocked to be in her arms, still fuming at her words.
‘I am sorry I wasn’t there to keep you safe, my brave boy.’
Brave. The word hit him, chipped away at his anger and left him shuddering in her arms. He hugged her back and sobbed. ‘You were gone.’ His voice choked. ‘You were dead and things just kept getting worse.’
His mother held him. She ran a hand through his hair. ‘I’m here now, my boy, my son. I’ll never leave you again.’
‘Promise me. Promise.’
‘I promise.’
Marius sunk into her arms. He didn’t know how much time had passed when he stopped crying. Eventually, he disentangled himself from her embrace and sat back on the couch. He looked up at her. Both their eyes were red from tears. She came to sit beside him and wiped his cheek with her sleeve.
‘Who’s after us?’
She wiped his other cheek and let out a sigh. ‘I hoped I would never have to tell you. I hoped you and your brother and sister would be able to live your lives without ever knowing. That’s why I left… I never wanted to, but I knew if I didn’t leave, he would find me.’
She took his hand and went silent. Marius restrained himself from asking who she was talking about again and waited. She seemed to be building the courage.
‘My father,’ she said, ‘is a very powerful man.’
Marius frowned. ‘Your father? I… I thought your father worked in a mill.’
She tilted her head to one side. ‘That’s just a lie I had to tell. If people knew who he was, they wouldn’t have accepted me in the village. My father is the reason I have power.’ She looked at Marius’s forearm, noticing a scratch he’d gotten during the fight. She put her palm over it. A light appeared. When she moved her palm, the scratch was gone. ‘He’s the reason you have power, too.’
Marius took a moment to think about that. He remembered what Peiter had said the first time he’d been told he had powers. He looked at his arm, the scratch fully healed. It runs in the family. A powerful blood mage had taken his brother and was hunting for him… family doesn’t lie to family, that’s what the thrall had said.
‘Your father—my grandfather—is a blood mage?’
His mother nodded. ‘Not just any blood mage.’ She looked away, her gaze distant again. ‘He’s Renial. The God King.’
Marius let go of her hand. ‘The God King?’ he asked. ‘Does that…’ He stared at her. ‘Are you a blood mage too? Am… am I?’
She looked at him, confused, then gave a small smile. ‘Blood mages aren’t born, they’re made.’ She raised her hand, and in a moment, without seemingly needing to concentrate, she produced a ball of mana. ‘I don’t steal power from people. I take what I need from nature, and from my own soul.’ The ball hovered there a moment. She closed her hand, and it vanished. ‘And I’m always careful not to take too much.’
Marius looked away from his mother. He stared at the cave wall, or rather through it. The attack on his village, the blood mage taking Ruben, the blood mage after him… it wasn’t a coincidence at all. Peiter had worried it was a part of a bigger plan. But why?
‘Why does he want us? Why can’t he let us live our lives?’
‘Blood magic is… complicated. The blood that runs through our veins is the same blood that runs through his.’ She paused. ‘Do you know how a bloodlock works?’
Marius thought for a moment. ‘A blood mage takes your blood, and then they can control you.’
‘To put it simply, yes. But there’s more to it than that. Those bloodlocked must give in to the mage before the lock can be complete and they become enthralled. Often, this can happen instantly—especially with those who have no powers. Some people can fight it. The monks here train their minds in such a way that it would be difficult for a bloodlock to work on them.’
‘What does that have to do with us? Your father?’
‘Renial doesn’t have to take our blood.’ She moved his hand, turned his arm around to run a finger over the veins on Marius’s wrist. He stared at the blue veins running beneath his skin. ‘He already has our blood running through his veins, as we have his. If we gave into him, relinquished our will, he would have power over us—a similar power to that which a blood mage holds over a thrall.’
‘He could control us?’
‘He could influence us. But, more importantly—for Renial, at least—he would be able to feed off our power. The stronger we became, the stronger he would become.’ She squeezed his hand. ‘All my father has ever wanted was more power. He’s convinced he can save the world, convinced it is his destiny to do so. His quest for power is more important than the wellbeing of his subjects, and it is certainly more important to him than his family.’
‘That’s… that’s why he took Ruben?’
‘Somehow, he must have found out I had children. I thought—’ She looked away. ‘I thought I had done the right thing, leaving as I did. I thought it was the only way to protect you.’
Marius didn’t know how to feel. He was still angry, and when he looked at her, he felt the loss of all the years they had missed together. He felt abandoned, but he saw the sorrow in her eyes, too. And if she were telling the truth about her father, about what he was and what he could do to them…
He edged closer to her on the couch. He had few memories of his mother. Just snippets, here and there. Mostly he knew about her from the stories he’d been told. But he loved her. And she was here, right in front of him. He’d lost so much, so many people, that it was hard to believe this was real.
‘If what you’re saying is true, that means Ruben’s still alive.’ He shook his head. ‘I don’t know where Ella is, but if she’s been captured too—your father won’t hurt them, if he needs them.’
When Marius had first met Peiter, he’d asked the monk if he would help save his brother, but the monk’s code of non-violence prevented him from helping. Master Flynn’s words came back to him. Something tells me your journey doesn’t end in the Tahali mountains.
Marius had never stopped wanting to save his brother.
‘We can save them. Master Flynn told me how powerful you are, and I—’ The sound of bones snapping, of men and women falling to the ground, echoed in his mind. He looked away from her. ‘I can fight. I’m powerful too.’
She put a hand on his cheek. ‘Oh, my brave boy. You were never supposed to have to live with any of this. I am so sorry for all that has happened.’
He leant into her hand, just for a moment, then moved it away. ‘I don’t blame you—I wish you had been there. You should have been there. But I don’t blame you.’ He glanced at the doorway, wondering if their words had slipped out through the tunnel walls to Lilah’s ears. Could she hear them in here? She had waited a long time. Marius wanted to keep his mother all to himself, now that he had her again, but he needed to tell Lilah what had happened. ‘I have a friend. She can help us. She’s a warrior, a—’
‘Seeker,’ his mother said in a flat voice, looking toward the door. ‘I smelled her Starblade.’
‘She’s not like other seekers. She saved my life, more than once. I wouldn’t have made it to the monastery without her.’
His mother bit her lip. It reminded him of Ella, she did the same thing just before she was about to argue. ‘If you trust her, then I trust her,’ she said. Marius frowned. His mother noti
ced and smiled. ‘What?’
‘You’re listening to me, trusting me.’
She tilted her head to the side. ‘Of course I am, you’re my son.’
‘I just—I’m not used to adults taking me seriously.’
His mother glanced at the doorway, then looked back at him. ‘The seeker let you walk into this room, with a powerful sorceress, all by yourself, didn’t she?’
‘Yes.’
‘It sounds like she takes you seriously.’
Marius wondered on that. ‘I thought she was just afraid of how you might react to… well, her.’
His mother nodded. ‘She probably was.’ She narrowed her eyes. ‘And she was wise to. But you’re right, if she’s not like the seekers I have met in the past, it couldn’t hurt having her help.’ She stood from the couch and opened the door to the other room.
‘What are you doing?’
She looked over her shoulder at him. ‘Preparing for the journey.’ She nodded toward the tunnel doorway. ‘Go get your seeker.’
Chapter 52
Ruben
Ruben gazed up at the vaulted arches as he walked toward the throne. Last time he was here, in chains at the God King’s feet, looking up seemed impossible. The ceiling was enormously high, the stones of the walls looked as if they’d been smoothed by a river.
Renial sat on his high-backed throne, flanked by guards in black armour. These were different to the guards Ruben had seen before. The guards at the doors to the throne room had looked at him with suspicion, no doubt wary as he’d killed the last two who stood their post. The guards flanking the God King didn’t so much as turn their helmeted heads. They held halberds, vicious looking spiked axes at the end of long poles. Ruben had only ever seen sketches of the weapons in his father’s old papers.
The God King himself wore his light leather armour and long black cloak. He held his head high as Ruben approached. Ruben stopped a little ways in front of the throne and, not sure what else to do, bowed his head. ‘Your grace.’ The words felt strange in his mouth. The last time he’d spoken to this man—his grandfather—he’d threatened to burn down one of his villages.
Renial sighed. ‘No need for such formalities, Ruben. You are not one of my subjects, you are my family.’
Ruben nodded and raised his head. He looked into the God King’s red eyes, wondering how they could always be so red. He’d seen Malarin’s eyes flash red when he’d consumed more power, leeched more blood, from one of his thralls. The God King must always have that much power.
‘I’ve been looking for your brother and sister,’ Renial said.
Ruben blinked, his focus coming back to the present. ‘You have? Why?’
‘Why?’ Renial’s brow furrowed. ‘They are your family, my family. Their place is on this island with us. They have powers I am sure they do not understand, destinies they have not imagined.’
Ruben thought back to being in his chambers, when the God King had probed his mind and memories—he’d seen Ella, somehow watching. ‘Have you found them?’
‘I have.’ Renial shifted in the throne. ‘The boy, Marius, hides from me, somewhere my thralls cannot get to.’
‘Marius? He’s not back in the village?’
Renial shook his head slowly. ‘He left home a long while ago—with a monk.’
‘Why are you telling me this?’ Ruben narrowed his eyes at the God King. Over the last few days, he’d done a good job convincing himself that the castle was the safest place for him and Taya right now. But he’d never imagined extending that to his brother and sister. They were out there, living their own lives. What good would coming here do for them?
‘They are not safe out there.’ The God King raised a hand to the side of the throne, he curled his fingers in a come here gesture. Footsteps came from the shadows in the corner of the room. A woman in a red dress.
‘Alyssa?’ Ruben said.
There was a bandage on her neck. She looked at him, her eyes blank, a slight smirk on her lips, but she didn’t say a word.
‘Show him,’ the God King’s voice boomed.
Alyssa brought her hands up in a flourish. Energy and light coalesced in front of her, between Ruben and Renial’s throne. It made a circle, and in the that circle an image formed.
Ruben stepped forward. ‘Marius,’ he whispered.
The image showed his brother in a headlock, held by a large man. He was in the middle of a fight—a battle. A man in the robes of a Tahali monk and a woman wielding two blood-soaked swords fought together against a half-dozen men and women.
‘What are you showing me? What is this?’
‘This is a memory,’ the God King said. ‘My memory. It happened yesterday. Don’t worry, your brother wasn’t harmed.’ The image froze and focused on the woman, her righthand sword mid-swing. ‘Do you know what this woman is?’
Ruben looked to Renial, to Alyssa, then back at the image. A memory, he thought. It was just like when Alyssa had shown him the meteor heading for the world. He shook his head, and tried to focus on the woman, wanting to answer his grandfather’s question.
Ruben knew little of how to wield a sword, but this woman clearly knew what she was doing. Except it was strange, he’d never seen anyone wield two swords before. Why would she have two swords? Then he noticed the clasp at her neck. He stepped closer to the image and squinted at the metal clasp.
It showed a meteorite. He let out a breath. ‘A seeker?’
‘Yes,’ the God King said. ‘Your little brother travels with a seeker. Do you know what seekers do?’
Ruben nodded. ‘I’ve heard stories.’ More like sermons, he thought. ‘They seek to destroy those who wield magic. People like—well, me.’
The God King inclined his head. ‘And me. The seekers have long been an enemy of mine.’ Renial waved a hand. ‘Though there isn’t much they can do, an ocean and miles away.’ He nodded at Alyssa.
The image shifted again, moving in closer to the sword in her right hand.
‘A Starblade,’ Ruben breathed.
‘Do you know what would happen to your little brother if this seeker were to find out he was related to me? That he was not only a powerful mage, but the grandson to Renial the God King? Her entire order is mandated to destroy people like me, whether she saw the boy as a threat or not…’
Ruben narrowed his eyes at the image. ‘It looks as if she is trying to protect him.’
Renial waved dismissively. ‘That is what she thinks she is doing, surely. But just as the safest place in the world for you is here, so it is for your brother and sister.’ He nodded at Alyssa. The illusion disappeared. His red eyes pierced Ruben’s blue ones. ‘You understand this, do you not?’
Ruben inclined his head. ‘Of course I do.’ He cut himself short before saying your grace.
‘Good.’
Ruben thought back to the beginning of the conversation. ‘I still don’t understand why you’re telling me all this.’
‘I am telling you because you are my grandson. Why would I not share information about your siblings with you? I told you that I would gain your trust, your belief, in me, Ruben. I did not give you empty words.’ He motioned to Alyssa once more. ‘Right now, there is nothing we can do about Marius. He is far up in the Tahali mountains, at the monastery there.’ He shook his head. ‘Why the monks would let in a seeker…’ The God King sighed. ‘It does not matter. If he stays in the monastery, he will be safe, but if he leaves with the seeker…’ He let his words trail off.
Alyssa brought her hands up again, waving them in a circular motion, another image came into being—a teenage girl with light brown hair and green eyes, eyes like their mother’s.
‘Ella,’ Ruben said. It was the exact image he’d seen when the God King had entered his mind. Ella, sitting in the cabin of a ship. Or rather, the reflection of her. He was looking into a mirror through her eyes. A woman stood in front of her. She was blonde, and older than Ella—at least past her th
irtieth summer.
‘Your sister is on her way here.’ Renial paused, as if letting his words sink in. ‘I received word not long ago, from one of my lords, that she sits safely in a comfortable cabin on his ship.’
Ella was on her way here? ‘You—you kidnapped her?’ Ruben took a step closer to the image, touching a hand to it. The illusion shimmered, then faded away.
Renial’s eyes flashed anger, though he seemed to hold it back, as his voice did not betray it. ‘As I have said, Ruben, our family is safest here. I am doing whatever I can to bring this family back together.’ He tilted his head. ‘Perhaps you still think me a tyrant. “Blood Tyrant” they call me in the south.’ He scoffed. ‘They do not know what you know. They do not know that I have gained my power for one reason and one reason only—to protect this world from destruction.’
Ruben looked at his feet. He felt guilty at speaking the way he had to his grandfather. Grandfather, he thought. Since when do I call him that even in my own thoughts? He raised his head, feeling every bit as young as he must look to someone who has lived beyond a hundred years. ‘Will I be able to see her?’
A smirk travelled across Renial’s lips and fell away by the time he spoke. ‘That is why I summoned you. Your sister does not trust me, does not even know of me yet.’ He looked down, his red eyes seeming sad. ‘I do not want her to have the same introduction to me as you did. I do not want my granddaughter to look at me in fear. I know what people outside of my empire think. I know how they see me, but I am not that person.’ He looked Ruben in the eye. ‘Your sister trusts you, does she not?’
‘She does.’
‘She loves you?’
‘As I love her.’
‘Then she is far more likely to believe your words over mine. Her ship is set to be here tomorrow. I wish you to be at the docks.’ He looked from one of his black-armoured guards to another. ‘Two of my personal guard will accompany you, to ensure you do not get lost among the city.’ His eyes glinted. Ruben’s gaze fell back on their helmeted faces, their eyes obscured in shadow. The halberds’ blades, expertly sharpened, standing taller than their heads. ‘They will escort you and your sister back to the castle. You will tell her how safe it is here, will you not?’
