Chapter 9
Rue took Thane's hand and led him back inside to where Abigast was still sitting, still staring at the spell book adamantly. This time, he looked up, and his eyes would not leave Thane's face. Thane wanted to look away, but Abigast's red gaze was piercing. The guilt Abigast felt was evident on his face. He did not want to end Thane's life. He did not want to be responsible, and yet, by giving the potion to him, he felt completely responsible.
“Don't feel guilty,” Thane said.
Abigast swallowed a lump in his throat. “I wish there were some other way,” he whispered. “We all do,” Thane said calmly. Moments earlier, he had been sobbing. So fearful of what was to come after he died. The unknown was calling to him, and it was terrifying, yet here he was, now trying to calm someone else. He wondered how convincing he sounded. Maybe he didn't sound convincing at all, and the fear could clearly be heard in his voice.
“I'm not ready to give you the potion yet. I just want to make sure I have the incantation right.” Rue placed a hand on Abigast's shoulder. “You're shaking,” she pointed out.
Abigast looked down at his hands. They were trembling seemingly uncontrollably. “This is so difficult,” he breathed. “So very difficult.”
Rue squeezed his shoulder, and in turn, Thane also placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “It has to be done,” he said. “Just as you said, there is no other way.”
“I'm a terrible person,” Abigast said. “Making you die. You're still a young man with so much to live for. How unfair it is to end it all before you get a chance to live. How can I do that to you?”
“I'm the only one who can do it, Abigast. It has to be me. Yes, it's unfair, but life is rarely fair.” Thane's voice was now trembling; he was doing a bad job of trying to stay strong. In a few minutes, it would all be over. He wouldn't have to cry anymore, and he wouldn't have to be around to see Abigast's and Rue's grief. He wouldn't be able to bear it. He only hoped that they could.
“All right, I guess I can't keep practicing the incantation forever,” Abigast said. “I can't keep delaying this just to keep you around longer. There's an entire Kingdom depending on this potion.” He wiped away the tears that had been falling for a long time, and almost at once, Abigast's entire demeanor changed. The sadness was replaced by determination as if he didn't want to acknowledge that he was about to lose a friend.
“Stand right there,” Abigast said, pointing to a spot that had been cleared of any clutter. He stood up, holding his spell book.
Thane looked at Rue, and hugged her one last time, kissing her forehead. “I'm going to miss you,” Rue said, resting her head against his shoulder. “I'm going to miss you so much.”
“You have to keep Galbar safe,” Thane said, looking her in the eyes. “It's up to you, Rue. Kill
Adaranth, bring peace.”
“I promise you, Thane. I won't let your death be meaningless. I won't let it be a waste.”
“Thank you,” Thane said. “I know it's a lot to ask, but I trust you.”
“I won't let you down,” Rue said.
Thane pulled away, taking the potion from Abigast's hands and moving to stand in the designated spot.
“Ready?” Abigast asked.
“Ready as I possibly can be,” Thane said, his gaze not leaving Rue's.
“Then I shall begin the incantation. As soon as I start, I want you to drink the potion, Thane.”
Thane nodded. “All right.”
For a second, time slowed down. Thane realized that these were really his final moments alive. He soaked everything in, the house, Abigast, Rue. Especially Rue. The smile she had given him earlier was still fresh in his mind. He looked at that image right now, and he smiled; he was at peace.
Abigast began to speak, and as Thane lifted the potion to his lips, he looked towards Rue, silently telling her he loved her. Telling her to avenge his death. Telling her he was sorry things had to end like this. He hoped she understood it all. He hoped that she would be okay. He downed the potion, tasting bitterness with just a hint of sweetness. It didn't taste bad; it was amazing that something that seemed so harmless was about to kill him.
Tears fell from Rue's face; she did understand. She probably understood far too well, because the tears would not stop. Thane wanted to wipe them away, but it was too late, the potion bottle was empty, and he could feel himself slipping away. His time was short. It was ending. Everything was ending, and he still didn't feel as if he had properly said goodbye. There wasn't enough time in the world to say goodbye.
Suddenly, as Thane's eyes began to close, as he began to fall to the ground, a black mist appeared, creeping through the windows and door, enveloping Thane, wrapping around him, engulfing him, like it was a monster devouring a soul. Thane felt no pain, and strangely, he felt no fear, despite the blackness surrounding him. He felt nothing at all, as if the mist numbed his emotions.
He could no longer see Rue, the mist was was too thick, too dark. Where was she? He wanted to see her one last time. He wanted to kiss her. But the mist was taking him away from her, it was killing him. He loved Rue. He loved her so much. This was Thane's last thought as he finally slipped away, the blackness putting him to sleep forever.
When the enshrouding fog finally lifted, disappearing as fast as it had appeared, Rue leaped to Thane's side. He was a corpse, just a dehydrated, empty, corpse. There was no life in him, she couldn't feel his heartbeat. She couldn't look into his eyes and see the deep love he had for her. All she could see was emptiness. Thane, her friend, her love, was gone. And it was the most devastating experience imaginable. Rue sobbed into his chest, wishing he would wake up. Willing him to stand up again, to talk to her, to tell her it was all a cruel joke, that there was no plague and that Thane was fine. But Rue knew better. Thane was not fine. He was dead.
Chapter 10
Rue knelt at Thane's side for several minutes, silently crying. He wasn't going to wake up. No matter how much she wished he would, it just wasn't going to happen. Thane was gone, and there was nothing she could do about it. The potion had worked perfectly. Just as Abigast had planned, after all of his practicing to get the incantation down correctly, after sweating and shaking over how to get things to work correctly, everything had gone smoothly. And though Rue knew it had to be done, that sacrificing Thane was the only way to achieve peace in the Kingdom, she couldn't help but wish that the potion hadn't worked, that Abigast had messed up an ingredient or that he had messed up the incantation. If something would have gone wrong, Thane would still be here, hugging her right now as she cried tears of happiness. But everything had gone too right, Thane's eyes were closed, and his body was still.
He looked like he was at peace, for the first time since Rue had met him. He had always been restless, perhaps constantly at war with his mind. His eyes used to dart around, as if he was always scanning his surroundings, looking for enemies. He talked quietly, often in hushed tones, like he didn't want anyone to overhear him, even when no one else was around. It was evident in the beginning that he was a mercenary or at least some sort of unsavory character, but as Rue had gotten to know him, he had started to seem different. He had started to change, becoming more and more like a regular person, more comfortable, with others and with himself. Until the end, when he couldn't stop crying, when he didn't want to leave the world behind. When he didn't want to leave Rue behind. It was devastating, seeing him like that, watching as he lost everything he had worked for. But at least he had found redemption.
The plague was gone because Thane had sacrificed himself. So many lives had been saved because of him. That had to have brought redemption. Rue wondered what the world would be like now that that the plague was gone. There had been a tremendous amount of sadness and darkness ever since the plague had begun. She and Abigast had been working so hard to combat it by helping the people of Maplefrost, helping them forget that their loved ones were dying in towns and villages all around them. Luckily, the plague hadn't affected Maplefrost
anywhere near as much as it had affected other places. Rue had heard stories about how bad it was, how it made people look, how it made them suffer so greatly. Thane had told her stories too, about what he had seen on his way to Maplefrost. It sounded like the stuff of nightmares, and Rue was grateful she had not been exposed to it. And now she would never have to be exposed because Thane had sacrificed himself in order to end the nightmares.
Rue was incredibly grateful for him. They had known each other a very short amount of time, but it was enough time to see what a great person he was. He was not the bad person he had been for so many years before they had met each other. He had a heart, and it was a heart of gold. He had loved her, and Rue loved him too. She always would, and though life went on and she would eventually move on, the former mercenary would always have a place in her heart.
Thane was in a better place now, fully redeemed and hopefully happy. Rue didn't know whether there was an afterlife, but she hoped there was, for Thane's sake. He deserved to live a life a good life, and even if it wasn't a life with her, she hoped that it was a life worth dying for. And she hoped that she would be able to someday join him in that life.
Finally, Rue stood up, standing in the place where Thane had stood minutes earlier. She could clearly still see the image of him drinking the potion, staring at her and saying a million things silently. Thinking of that almost made her want to cry again, but she realized that she shouldn't. Thane wanted her to be strong, and she needed to be strong for herself. Rue was not a weakling, she never had been, and she wasn't about to start now. She would grieve, she would be sad, perhaps for a very long time, but she wouldn't allow herself to succumb to that sadness. Giving in to emotions did no good, it was a waste of time. Rue was a wizard's apprentice, she had jobs to do. And there was one task in particular that was extremely important. Kill Adaranth.
It was Thane's dying wish that Rue take the Prince's life. She was not going to let him down. He had pleaded with her, and even though he said she didn't have to go through with it if it was too difficult, Rue could tell Thane hoped she wouldn't back away from it. He trusted that she would complete the job. Admittedly, it was incredibly difficult. Rue had no idea how she would even get to Adaranth let alone kill him. And how would it make her feel? Thane had described what killing a fellow human was like, and it sounded awful, almost impossible. Rue was used to helping people, lifting them up, not killing them in cold blood. But she had to keep telling herself that Adaranth deserved death; he did not deserve mercy. He did not deserve to walk away unscathed and without scars. Death was the only sufficient punishment for what he had done, and even though it would be extremely hard, Rue was going to do it.
It would be Rue's task to make sure Adaranth was exposed as the horrible person he was. She wondered how many people in the Kingdom believed that he was a good, innocent, Prince. He could be charismatic when he wanted to be, and he could probably pretend to be nice when it suited him, but Rue knew better. Thane's words had revealed a vicious, vile waste of human life, and Rue wanted to make sure all of Galbar knew what rubbish Adaranth was. It was his fault the plague had come about. He knew Sluforn would unleash it if Adaranth had Sluforn killed. What his motive was, Rue had no idea. Nevertheless, by sending Thane to murder Sluforn, the plague was released, and Adaranth was truly the one responsible. He had been dishonest, pinning the crime on Thane and subsequently trying to have Thane killed. It was Adaranth's fault that thousands had already perished from the plague. That made him a worse murderer than Thane had ever been. It made him pure evil. Rue would tell all of Galbar this. She would make the unrighteous Prince suffer.
It was Adaranth's fault that Thane was now lying dead on the floor, an empty shell, a ghost. The sacrifice should have been made by the Prince, not by Thane. The Prince would soon meet justice. Rue would make sure. She would avenge her friend's death and fulfill his dying wish.
“Rue?”
Rue stirred. She had forgotten that Abigast was even in the room; she turned to him, seeing his grief-stricken face. “Abigast,” she stood up, immediately embracing him. She patted his back, comforting him, even though she too needed comforting.
“I feel like a murderer,” Abigast whispered.
“No, Abigast, please don't feel that way. You're not a murderer.”
“I gave him the potion. I knew it would kill him and I still gave it to him anyway.”
Rue pulled away from him, looking straight into his eyes. “You're not a murderer. Thane sacrificed himself for the good of the Kingdom; it had to be done. He knew it, and you know it.”
“Why do I feel so horrible then?”
“Thane told me what it was like to take a human life. It feels terrible, even when they deserved it, or even when it was absolutely necessary.”
Abigast shook his head. “It wouldn't have been necessary if Adaranth had done it.”
“You said the person who drank the potion had to do it willingly,” Rue said. “Adaranth certainly wouldn't have been willing. Only Thane was.”
“It's not fair,” Abigast sighed. “I looked through every spell book, read everything I possibly could, and the only way to stop the plague was by sacrificing someone. Maybe I missed something, maybe there was another book in this house that I didn't read. Or maybe some other wizard wrote one that I didn't manage to get my hands on.”
“Stop, Abigast, there's no use blaming yourself. You saw Thane, blaming himself for the plague, you saw how it ate at him, crushing him. I don't want that to happen to you.”
“How can I stop feeling responsible?” Abigast asked.
Rue did not have an answer. How could she stop feeling sad? How could she kill Adaranth? All of these questions didn't have an answer. But both she and Abigast needed answers. They needed to figure out how to move on and what to do.
“I don't know,” Rue answered truthfully. “I really don't know.”
Abigast walked across the room, picking up a blanket hidden in a pile of clutter. He gently placed it over Thane's body. “I suppose we can say goodbye to Thane.”
“We'll have a burial,” Rue said. “Tomorrow morning at sunrise. It'll be beautiful; I think Thane would appreciate that.”
Abigast nodded. “All right. Tomorrow at sunrise.”
“Abigast?”
“Yes?”
Rue took a deep breath. “Before Thane drank the potion, he and I talked. He asked me if I would kill Prince Adaranth.”
Abigast's eyes widened. “Really?”
“I'm afraid,” Rue admitted. “Incredibly so. He said that if it was too much to ask, I didn't have to go through with it, but I know he wanted me to do it. He didn't trust anyone else to, and I don't think anyone else would go through with it except me.”
“Well, are you going to kill him?” Abigast inquired.
“Of course,” Rue answered. “If not, Adaranth will continue to wreak havoc on this Kingdom and Thane's death will have been for nothing.”
“But how will you do it?
“I don't have that answer either, Abigast. I'll have to find him first. I don't know if he'll be in his castle, it was near there where the plague was at its worst. Adaranth could have fled a long time ago. He could be hiding somewhere we've never even heard of.”
“I could help you find him,” Abigast said. “I can come with you on your journey if you want.” Rue contemplated Abigast's offer. She hadn't thought she would have a companion. She had assumed she would be alone, that she would get the job done and come back to Abigast without entangling him in the mess she'd surely get into. There was also the fact that Abigast was not young and spry. He was a very weathered, wizened old man, who moved slowly, sometimes precariously. He could slow her down, and that wouldn't be any good in the face of danger. Rue knew this wasn't going to be an easy journey. Adaranth was evil, he was spoiled, and he was awful, but he wasn't an idiot. He would most likely catch onto Rue's plan, and he would send men after her to kill her before she could kill him. It would be a game of cat and mous
e, and Rue would certainly be the mouse if Abigast came along.
But Abigast was also very wise. He had lived many decades and had a vast amount of knowledge and experience to offer. He was valuable, even if he was slow. What Rue lacked in wisdom, she would make up for with brawn. Abigast was an asset that Rue probably couldn't afford to do without. She could not go on this journey alone. She didn't know the Kingdom the way Abigast did. She wasn't even thirty years old yet, and she hadn't done much traveling. Abigast had seen the entire Kingdom in his lifetime. He could guide her, help her before she lost her way.
“Yes, Abigast, you're welcome to come. In fact, I think I need you.” Abigast smiled. “I won't let you down, Rue.”
“It's strange, isn't it. Master and apprentice, except the roles are reversed,” Rue said.
“It's not strange, you've earned it,” Abigast said. “You've been my apprentice for years, Rue. You've dedicated so much time and effort into your work. I know I don't always let you get into magic and you sometimes feel more like a maid than a wizard's apprentice, but I'm extremely grateful for everything you've done for me. It's about time you put some of your skills to use outside of Maplefrost. I'm proud of you.”
Rue smiled for the first time since before Thane's death. Hearing that Abigast was proud of her made her feel amazing, at least for a few seconds. She felt as if she was ready for whatever the journey ahead would throw her way. She would be able to accomplish killing Adaranth, and she would bring peace once and for all.
“We are going to avenge Thane's death,” Abigast said. “His death won't be in vain.”
“Thank you, Abigast, for deciding to come along with me. I thought I would be able to do it alone, but that would have been foolish.”
“I believe you could have done it alone,” Abigast said. “You're remarkably strong, Rue, and stubborn. You always get your way if you really want it. I would worry about you too much though if you went alone. I know you would make it back okay, but-”
The Wizard Page 6
