“Boots,” Jovan reminded her, gathering his own things, pausing only to look down at the severed collar where it lay on the floor.
Melody took her staff and stood beside him, staring at the hateful thing. Pain still coursed through her, and shame, and anger – no. Not anger. Rage. This was not Jovan’s emotion she felt, it was her own. Fierce. Cold. Stronger than she’d ever felt from him.
Her magic appeared, unbidden, ready. Angry. Eager. She brought her staff down on the lifeless collar, a sharp strike that shattered the enchanted gems and burned the leather in a brilliant blue flash that even Jovan saw.
“Melody…?”
She sensed his surprise, but she didn’t look at him. I’m ready.
30
Garen was waiting impatiently when Corben finally ushered a sleep-slow Casius into Ving’s office. Everyone else was already assembled: his twin Hunters, Ving’s personal guard, and the Captain of the Duke’s soldiers— regrettably loyal to Korith.
“Now that he has decided to join us,” Garen said, “young Master Casius will be our guide. I want all available men on this. Magic users they may be, but I need them alive, whatever it takes. I have plans for them, so long as the storm holds off.”
Garen’s thoughts turned to Melody as he and the others followed Casius through dusty streets, the air thick with the humid threat of rain. His anger at being interrupted simmered, tempered only by the thought of her there in the stable, waiting helplessly for his return. She was his. The daughter of Bethcelamin and her mage lover was finally under his control. That alone made this charade of obedience to Korith more bearable.
Melody would need discipline, of course. That thought drew a smile to his lips. He had often played out those scenes in his mind, he knew exactly how he would motivate her, how he would punish her. Her training would be secret. Korith would never know that the witchchild he dreamed of killing was right under his nose, not until it was too late.
“This is it,” Casius whispered, stopping in front of an unremarkable door in an equally unremarkable alley. The young informant examined the lock for a long moment, then produced a set of tools and began to work at coaxing it open. “Give me a minute.”
This witch-hunt was nothing more than a distraction for the fool of a Duke. It was keeping Garen from his delectable prize, but he could be patient. She wasn’t going anywhere. Korith would be disappointed in Garen’s failure to capture Melody, which Garen would of course blame on the Duke recalling him too early. The discovery and destruction of a nest of magic users would satisfy him, though, for a time. The fact that they had been operating under Ving’s nose for years may even give Korith a convenient outlet to focus his impotent rage.
Casius stepped back, indicating that the door was unlocked. The other men were already in place at the locations Casius had identified as back doors or escape routes. He’d best have found all of them. Garen stepped forward, knowing every eye was on him, waiting for his signal. Before he could give it, though, a distant screeching whine howled once, briefly, in his head.
Foolish girl, he thought, not unkindly. Melody’s stubborn defiance would make her training much more difficult— for herself, anyway. Garen was looking forward to every minute of it. He gave the signal, and the feedback from Melody’s collar sang again. This time, it did not stop.
Garen frowned. What was she doing? What could she do?
“Lord?” Tovar paused, waiting until Garen’s eyes focused on him. “Are you well?”
“Who knew she was in the stable?” His ears were still ringing with the feedback – not as painful as it must be in her head, but unexpected.
“Only us, Lord.”
Garen rubbed his lip, listening to the sound only he could hear. “Go on in. Be careful.”
The Hunter inclined his head, and disappeared into the doorway where screams were already drifting out.
Garen’s anger mounted. She couldn’t possibly be inflicting that much pain on herself, he thought. She couldn’t. She would have lost consciousness. Someone was helping her— but his enchantments were lethal. One or both of them was going to die if they didn’t stop soon.
Still the whine continued, and he found himself grinding his teeth, waiting. Garen looked back down the street, wanting to go to her, stop her – but he couldn’t leave. Not in the middle of a raid, not with so many soldiers loyal to Korith there. He seethed, clenching his fists. This was unthinkable. He couldn’t lose her. He wouldn’t.
Soldiers were filing out with their captives when the echo of the feedback spell in his head broke off abruptly. Garen couldn’t determine if the enchantments had succeeded or failed. He pulled Casius to one side.
“Go to the stable, rat. Retrieve the girl for me and I will double your reward.”
“Which girl?” Casius smiled, but only for a moment.
Garen slapped the smirk off of his face. “Play dumb and earn nothing, boy. I have no time for games. You know who I want.”
Casius bowed. “As you say, m’Lord.” He disappeared into the alleys, forgiving Lord Garen for the indignity of the slap – mostly. He would find the girl, he thought, savoring the memory of her wide eyes and delicate features. He would even bring her to the Chancellor as he had been instructed … eventually.
31
“Yes, m’lord, I saw it.” The boy stared up at Jovan’s scowling face and bloody shirt with wide, frightened eyes. He was terribly brave for his eight years, his pa had told him that, so he didn’t run away. “There were a lady, and she brung the soldiers, and the soldiers took the man. They gave her some money, and then she left.” He pointed helpfully. “She went that way, m’lord.”
Jovan growled low in his throat. “The man. Where did the soldiers take the man?”
“Into the woods, m’lord. There.”
Jovan’s glare followed the boy’s finger. “You are certain?”
“Aye, m’lord,” the boy said. “He tried to get away, but a soldier conked him a good one on the head. Then they dragged him off. Weren’t no way he could stop ‘em.”
Jovan handed the boy a few coins. “You didn’t see me, you understand? Or her.”
The boy nodded vigorously. He was terribly smart for his eight years, his ma had told him that, so he took the money and ran.
Jovan spun on his heel and headed towards the woods, the way the boy had pointed. Kallisti and her betrayal would have to wait. “Can you track at all?”
The boy was not lying, she offered. But I will need to speak with the trees to see which way they passed.
Jovan picked up the pace towards the tree line, almost jogging. Melody’s exhaustion and pain were troubling, but Kaeliph needed him – and to find him, he needed her. She could rest later.
Breathing quickly from the pace, Melody laid her hand against the nearest tree and sent a soft greeting to the spirit within. Trees had little sense of urgency, so it took several long moments to get the information she sought. Finally, she sent her gratitude and stepped back, letting her fingers trail down the bark in farewell.
He is ahead, she told Jovan. They do not know how far. He said one of them shelters the man we seek from those who wish him harm.
Jovan had no time for riddles. “Which means what?”
Melody smiled halfheartedly at him, and he suddenly remembered how she had looked that afternoon in the Haven, how she had been so confident and easy. She was not so now. Once Kaeliph was safe, Jovan swore, he was going to hunt down Tambor and—
It means he’s escaped and climbed a tree and the soldiers can’t get to him.
Now it was Jovan’s turn to almost smile. “That’s my brother.” He readied his sword and set off at a slow jog, wanting to make haste but also knowing he would need his strength.
Melody stopped him with a touch after they had traveled for some time, raising a finger to her lips. He’s up ahead. Listen.
Jovan strained. What Melody heard came to him as something he might have imagined. “I can barely hear them,” he whispered. “What c
an you tell?”
Melody closed her eyes to better focus on the sound.
There are five of them. And they are angry. They are talking of cutting the tree down, but none of their weapons will work. Kaeliph is laughing.
Jovan nodded, and stretched his sword arm a few times. Despite the blood dried to his shirt and skin, the wound at his neck was completely gone. “Stay out of sight, do you understand? Don’t try to help. Kaeliph and I can handle them.”
She agreed. They moved slowly towards the noise up ahead, Melody guiding them around until Jovan could see the backs of all five soldiers at the base of Kaeliph’s tree. Jovan cracked his neck, took a deep breath, and then let out a deep, bellowing shout as he charged.
“Jovan!” Kaeliph’s call was gleeful, there was not a trace of fear in his voice. Melody looked up, and saw the younger brother perched fairly high up, laughing. The soldiers turned to face the new threat, and Jovan stopped in mid stride. If he could get them to come to him, he thought, Kaeliph could descend and hit them from behind.
“Ready to die?” he asked, setting his feet and beckoning with one hand for them to give him the best they had. Four of them responded. Melody obediently stayed out of sight as she moved through the woods until she was behind Kaeliph’s tree, invisible to the fifth soldier.
The others made a loose circle around Jovan, seeing him as easy prey. Jovan let them believe it, and simply waited out the feints and taunts. When one of the men finally tired of the game, Jovan was more than ready.
Melody watched as he dipped and spun and stabbed and slashed, her heart in her throat. Jovan had told her to stay out of it, but— The soldiers were no match for Jovan alone, but together the numbers were in their favor, and they knew it. She swallowed her fear and began to sing, just loud enough for the sound to catch the breeze and ride to the ears of the fighters.
Sleep, she told them as she sang, making sure the magic brushed against the single soldier at the tree first. Sleep. The soldier slumped against the tree, unconscious.
On the other side of Jovan, another soldier was overcome with drowsiness. His sword slipped from his grip, and Jovan’s sword plunged into his gut. The soldier was dead before his sword hit the forest floor.
“Oh no you don’t.” Casius had been following her since she left the Inn with Jovan, but he was not so foolish as to risk her large companion’s wrath. With Jovan distracted by the soldiers, though… Casius came out of the woods at a run, barreling into Melody. His momentum carried them both to the ground, knocking the song from her lips and the breath from her lungs.
“Oh, no you don’t, stranger.” Kaeliph dropped from his perch in the tree directly onto Casius just as the man reached his feet, sending them sprawling together beside Melody.
Casius wormed out of Kaeliph’s grasp and cried out to the soldiers for help even as he pulled his sword and the two began to circle. The younger brother dropped his hand to his side, forgetting his rapier had been taken by Korith’s men. He paled.
Melody scrambled to her feet and shoved her staff towards him. Kaeliph, use this. She backed away from the fighting, trying to watch both brothers at the same time.
Kaeliph grabbed the staff, thankful that Jovan had taken the time to teach him the basics when they were younger, and sticks were the only weapons they had.
Casius pressed his attack as the soldier by the tree shook off the sleep spell and stood up, but Kaeliph handled her staff like he’d been using it his whole life. Both of his hands guided the wood to block, thrust, and deal several crushing blows to the stranger before the man even got in a swing.
The soldier, fully awake again, recognized Melody. Bringing her to Duke Korith, he knew, would make him a very wealthy man. He ignored Jovan and Kaeliph, and bolted towards the girl.
Melody saw the soldier sprinting with eyes only for her, and gasped – there was no time, nowhere to go.
Kaeliph heard her. “Not today, friend.” He spun around with a cheerful grin, knocking the running soldier’s feet out from under him with her staff, sending him sprawling.
Melody watched helplessly as Casius appeared behind Kaeliph with a satisfied smirk she would never forget. The bright, excited smile on the younger brother’s face twisted into a grimace of pain, and Melody watched in horror as the tip of the man’s sword emerged from the front of Kaeliph’s chest in a blossom of red blood against his white shirt.
She screamed.
The overpowering force of her shock and dismay slammed into everyone within range of the sound. Casius, the closest, staggered back with an involuntary shout, pulling his sword from Kaeliph’s body and bending double as though he had been kicked in the stomach.
The younger brother slumped forward, and Melody caught him, sinking with him to the ground. His blood was hot on her skin. “Kaeliph!”
Jovan struggled to keep his feet as the force of her cry tore through them all, knocking the soldiers to their knees. Kaeliph. He turned to see a man in a worn gray cloak stumbling back, pulling a sword from his brother’s back. He saw Melody’s expression. He saw Kaeliph collapse. His vision blurred red, and he charged.
Casius heard thundering footsteps bearing down on him, and had only a split second to decide whether to turn or simply run. He chose to turn, stepping closer to the tree to avoid the charge, but Jovan was prepared. His sword sliced through Casius’ neck in a clean, even sweep, embedding itself in the tree trunk.
The soldiers had recovered too quickly from the shock of Melody’s powerful voice and were on Jovan’s heels even as he wrenched the blade free and turned to face them.
Melody wanted to help him, but Kaeliph… His face was ashen, and blood flecked his lips as he struggled for the smallest breath. No, Kaeliph, no … stay with me, stay, you’ll be all right, stay… Her desperate hum was broken by her hitching sobs as she sank into her place of focus and directed her energies at the horrific wound. Stay with me.
The pain was not as great as she feared, but Kaeliph was in grave danger. Tears soaked her cheeks as her own heart stuttered frantically along with his. She wiped at them with bloody fingers, needing to see the wound.
Melody cradled Kaeliph gently against her, refusing to distance herself from him. The injury was too great, but still she coaxed and pleaded with his body to respond, pouring her magic into him, begging him to stay. He wanted to obey, she could feel it … Jovan sank to his knees beside them, breathless and bloody, the final soldier still moaning on the ground behind him.
“I’m here, kid,” he said, grabbing his brother’s hand. It was too cold, he thought, there was too much blood. “You’re all right.”
Kaeliph coughed, wheezing, and when he spoke, his voice was somehow liquid. “Jovan, I …” Kaeliph winced and closed his eyes. His fingers went limp in Jovan’s grasp.
Jovan couldn’t breathe. “Hang on,” he begged. “She’s here, she’s got you.”
It was too late. Kaeliph’s chest rose, and sank, and did not rise again.
“Kaeliph? Kaeliph, no!” Jovan turned dark, desperate eyes to Melody.
She couldn’t stop weeping. She had stayed with him to the end, and felt the life slip from Kaeliph’s body as if it had been her own. It left her empty… hollow.
“Do something!” Jovan’s grief and desperation were crushing, flooding through the connection they shared to overpower her own anguish. She could do nothing but open and close her mouth around words that would not come.
“Sing!” Jovan shouted at her, suddenly furious at her silent, helpless stare.
Melody couldn’t move in the face of his anger.
“Sing, Lich take you! You’re the damned witch, help him!”
The two of them faced off over Kaeliph’s lifeless body. The last of his blood leaked steadily into her lap.
I … I can’t.
She stared at Jovan, bruised and pale with his brother’s blood smeared on her cheek. Jovan’s vision went red again, and he shoved Melody away as hard as he could. He needed to be free of that guilty,
horrified stare.
“Then what damn good are you?” Jovan felt the flash of surprised pain from her as she fell, but his own rage overwhelmed everything else. He didn’t care. He was beyond caring. Kaeliph was dead.
Melody got to her knees, tasting her own blood from where she had bitten her tongue. Not you, he had sworn to her. Never you. And now … The hatred in Jovan’s eyes stole her breath and twisted her stomach with fear.
“Just go,” he spat. “Get out of my sight. Let the damned Duke have you, or the Lich King for all I care.” His voice was rough and jagged. He bent over his brother’s body, but when she didn’t move, he reached for his sword – and he meant to use it. “Go!” he bellowed.
Melody went.
Her heart was breaking. Go where? She stumbled through the trees, exhausted and blind. She couldn’t stop weeping. Even with the staff, her footing was unsteady. No part of her body had forgotten Garen’s assault, or the collar, or the strain of the hasty journey here. Her head ached almost as much as her heart. She spat another mouthful of blood, nauseous. Jovan hated her. Kaeliph had died in her arms. It was too much. Melody sank against the base of an ancient tree, curling into the roots, unable to go further.
The spirit of the tree felt her sorrow, and remained respectfully silent – though she was one of the precious few who would have heard him speak at all. The girl in his roots slept, but it was a light, uneasy sleep, the sleep of the troubled. He sang to her, his deep bass voice quiet and rumbling, reminding her of the sun and the seasons and the new sprouts that came in the spring.
“Dweller, wake! Come to me!”
Melody shot straight up, wide-awake, residually terrified. Whatever had driven Rhodoban to her restless sleep was scaring the life out of him, and his urgency had flooded through her dream and into her body. She stood and laid a hand on the elder who had sheltered her, offering her thanks.
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