by Karen MacRae
Elona knew her men were dead. She fought to move but could see the White coming straight for her. She realised she might die today, but at least she would outlive this do-gooder Sword Fighter.
The Chancellor saw the girl’s birthmark and knew her to be the King’s Shaper. “Take her!” he cried, pointing at the running figure in black. “Guards, take the Shaper!”
At the opposite end of the hall, the orange-robed linguist put his mouth to the Chancellor’s wife’s ear. “How extraordinary,” he said. “She looks just like Ruth.”
Emily looked at Ade in surprise then turned to stare at the girl running across the room. Her hands gripped the balustrade in front of her as she released her gift straight into the Shaper’s soul. She felt love, resolution and belief in the first touch. Such strength. Such power. Such an enormous weight of responsibility. She sensed the strange net around the girl’s heart and opened herself to it. Tears streamed down her face as memories flooded her mind.
Those able to see auras in the room saw a wave of white explode from the King’s Shaper into the strange emptiness around the opponent’s body. The woman fell as if struck dead, but the Shaper ignored her completely. She slid to a stop side-on to the Chancellor and his sobbing wife and knelt beside the candidate and the handsome man who held her. Her team were moments behind her, taking up positions all around the trio, facing out, their weapons in their hands, leaving their fallen comrade to the care of the prisoner in a King’s Navy uniform.
Quorum Guards closed in, glad to finally know who they were supposed to attack. As soon as they got within ten feet, they fell to the ground, senseless. The Shaper’s men were untouched.
The nearest heard the Shaper call, “Cherry, take the bolt out!” The ebony-skinned man snapped the end off the bolt protruding from the candidate’s chest then gently lifted her to haul the remaining part out through her back. He cradled the candidate in his arms, weeping, his face full of trust and hope as he looked up at the girl standing over them.
The Shaper’s brilliant white aura mingled with the candidate’s fast dwindling silver and the blackness over the still heart seemed to fade and then vanish completely. The Shaper raised her arms and power seemed to explode from the ground, flooding the white, driving it bigger and bigger, brighter and brighter, until it burned like a new sun over the entire width of the hall.
Anna felt her aura meet and then cross Jimmy’s purple light. The wound was dreadful, but straightforward. She visualised the blackness being sucked into the crystal around her neck and it was gone in moments.
No one noticed the thin channel of black cross the space between the fallen giant and the Shaper, but everyone could see the mortally wounded man’s colour return and his breathing ease. Within seconds, he was sitting. Within a minute, he’d ordered the man with him to stay put, picked up his sword and run across the room to join his comrades.
Lying right beside Seleste and Malik, the white energy woke Elona. She could feel her face and hand knitting back together, just as if she were being Healed, but, more than that, her entire body seemed to be pounding and fizzing with life. She opened one eye just enough to see what was going on and was almost blinded by white light. She closed her eye and thought fast. The white light that morning in Shae hadn’t been to protect, it had been to Heal. She’d never heard of the like, but as Nystrieth was more than a Shaper, so too, it appeared, was the White. She sneered internally: trust a White to be a Healer.
She risked another peek. The Sword Fighter was only inches away, still in the arms of Malik Brewcherrion. Behind them were the child-like legs of the White. Much as she would love to take out the Mastran, the White had to be the priority. It would take only a second. Malik wouldn’t get to a blade quick enough and the brunette was near dead. No one would get to her in time. She inched the arm under her body closer to the hilt of her dagger.
CHAPTER 44
E lona snarled as she felt the sword point prick the back of her neck. “Don’t even think about it,” she heard Braxton growl. “Get up. Slowly.” She pushed herself up to sitting. All around her, guards were stirring on the floor, the white power rousing them.
“Everyone’s waking up, Anna,” warned Sy.
Almost without thinking, Anna changed the white energy field, causing a whirlpool outside the heart that lay centred over Seleste. The guards passed out again. This time, they stayed sleeping.
The Chancellor was incensed at the brazen show of Aura Shaping. Where were his guards? He called and called, but none came. He looked across to the Master of Ceremonies. He was pressed to the wall, his face white, his body shaking. In front of him stood dozens of King’s Guards, their weapons drawn, ready to rush in at the slightest encouragement from the Shaper. Just then, the doors behind the black-gowned girl were forced open from outside; Quorum reinforcements had finally appeared. He yelled at them to do their duty, to take the Shaper, but they could see their comrades lying prone around the girl. A few brave souls began to inch forward towards the line of swords between them and their foe. They fell to the ground as soon as their auras touched the whirlpool.
The Chancellor pounded the arms of his chair in fury. The King’s Shaper stood in the middle of the hall, her arms wide, her swirling white aura almost filling the room, a rainbow of colours whirling around her body. The light poured from the Shaper into the candidate’s silver aura. And it was growing. Was there was nothing he could do to stop this atrocity?
He turned to his Inner Quorum and asked them to do their duty. This creature was an anathema, her very existence against the law. They were sworn to kill her. Why did they not do something? His reminder of the law was enough to rouse three of his Humanity colleagues. They sent their gifts flying across the hall only to find the Shaper completely unaffected by them. The Chancellor saw the girl’s aura flare as each flash of colour crashed into the white. It shielded her!
“Elements, do your duty!” he shouted.
None responded. The Element-gifted Inner Quorum supported King Rybis.
“Stop that creature!” he shouted to his High Quorum. “The law demands her capture!”
The crowd looked down to see every one of the woman’s many victims still breathing and the man who had been dying now recovered and wielding a blade in her defence along with four others. Up in the balcony, a man with long red hair slowly swung a sling in his hand, his eyes scanning the crowd. Everyone had seen him kill two of the tattooed guards with single shots. No one was going to risk his retaliation, never mind what the Shaper might do to them if they hurt one of her followers.
Malik felt Seleste’s body come alive again in his hands. He felt pummelled but rejuvenated by the power he was accidentally being exposed to. He remembered his joke about being a hundred miles away next time the Shaper needed help, but he wouldn’t have chosen to be anywhere else.
Seleste opened her eyes to find her love looking straight at her. For a moment, she wondered if they’d both passed into the light, but then she saw Anna and her incredible rainbow halo. She sat up and the room erupted with cheers.
Anna released her gift from the peristones then poured a little more crystal energy into her aura to Heal her headache. She took a few calming breaths and let the power go as Seleste and Malik picked up weapons and joined the ring around her. She held up her hand for silence. “King’s Guard,” she called. “Put away your weapons. There will be no more bloodshed here, especially not on my behalf.”
Finn nodded his approval and ordered his team to put down their blades.
Euan swung down from the balcony to join them and all nine turned to face the Chancellor.
The crowd expected the King’s Shaper to speak, but it was the man with the short red hair. “Chancellor, the woman I hold at sword point is Elona of Ruustra, also known as Margrit, also known as Norella,” he began, pulling off the woman’s black wig to reveal shining blonde beneath. “She is a leading agent of Nystrieth. She is also wanted in relation to three murders in the Rim that occurred just two d
ays ago. It was she who made the statement about a supposed assassination plot against you. It was a complete fabrication, devised to stop us impeding her mission to kidnap Professor Kirklund. Elona’s attendance here this evening was specifically designed for that purpose. As you can see, she and her men have been thwarted. We respectfully ask that the King’s Guard take this woman into custody and that we be free to stay in Ionantis until we have ascertained that all of her associates have been captured.”
The Chancellor heard what the redhead said, but his mind was trying to work out how to salvage something from this mess. It suddenly occurred to him that his plans were unaffected. Indeed, they were strengthened. Here was the King’s Shaper and here were her confederates. The punishment was death. Lady Kuri would vote with him or they would all be executed.
The Chancellor frowned at his Master of Ceremonies and the man straightened his gown and strode forward, trying to get his tattered nerves under control. “We have a vote scheduled,” he reminded the skittish man then raised his voice to address Rybis’ spies. “We will consider your requests. A decision will be made after the scheduled votes. They are pertinent. You will adhere to our decision?”
Finn looked to Lady Kuri. Her face was completely still, but Anna and Seleste could see the sorrow in her aura. She gave a tiny nod. Finn understood his duty. “We will,” he promised.
The Chancellor nodded to his Master of Ceremonies.
“Here this,” the man called. “As is customary, a two-thirds’ majority is required to change the current law. The first vote regards the relationship between the Quorum of Gifted and The Kingdom. The Inner Quorum are well versed in the arguments. Unless there is new information, we will proceed straight to the vote.” All was silent so the man continued. “Raise your hand if you wish independence.”
Thirteen hands were immediately raised in the air. The Chancellor turned to the King’s Councillor and lowered his voice. “The Shaper, her men and the crew of the Lealta will all die if you don’t vote with me.”
Lady Kuri, her face stoic, shook her head. “I will not.”
“Thirteen of the fourteen required by law are in favour of the motion,” proclaimed The Master of Ceremonies. “The motion is not carried. The current law remains in place.” A smattering of applause and booing broke out in the HQ seats, but it soon withered in the tension in the room.
“A second motion is before us,” the Master of Ceremonies called. “According to international law, Aura Shaping, in all its forms, is punishable by death as is any form of collaboration with an Aura Shaper. Before us stands an Aura Shaper and eight confederates…”
An uncomfortable rumble began to grow in the High Quorum ranks. Surely the Inner Quorum was not going to order an execution after all this? Not when the only people dead were agents of Nystrieth, a Black Shaper who murdered and enslaved gifted without mercy?
The Chancellor’s wife lifted a hand to get her husband’s attention, but her wave was feeble, the emotions in the room and in her own heart taking her to the edge of passing out.
Her husband was oblivious to her panic and her deathly pale pallor. He listened with satisfaction as his Master of Ceremonies concluded.
“Raise your hand if you choose to accept King Rybis’ recommended amendment to this law so that the Aura Shaper, Anna Northcott, and therefore her confederates, are exempt.” Sixteen hands were raised, but three were grudgingly lowered when the Chancellor’s steely gaze reminded them of all they had to lose should they vote against him.
“No, Ade, he must not. He must not. You must stop him. She must live!”
“Stop! Chancellor, stop!”
The Chancellor ignored the heckling, pointedly looking at his Master of Ceremonies to urge the man to conclude.
“Chancellor! You must stop! Stop!”
“Continue, Master of Ceremonies,” the Chancellor growled.
“But your wi…”
“I said continue!”
“Thirteen of the fourteen required by law…”
“Chancellor! Chancellor Desmarais! Your wife insists you stop!”
“… are in favour of the motion,” proclaimed The Master of Ceremonies. “The motion is not carried. The current law remains in place.”
“Seize them!” ordered the triumphant Chancellor Desmarais, husband to Emily, father to Ruth and grandfather to Anna. His wife, Anna’s grandmother, collapsed into her friend’s arms.
The King’s Shaper and her confederates offered no resistance. The King’s Guards, under orders to stand down, watched in horror as the nine were manacled. The High Quorum roared their disapproval.
“Shame!”
“Dishonour most terrible!”
“How much did the Emperor pay you?”
“The King’s Shaper must live!”
“There were sixteen hands!”
The Chancellor was puzzled by the crowd’s response. This wasn’t what he’d envisaged. He raised his hands to calm his people, but they refused to obey. He looked across the room to get his wife’s advice but couldn’t see her. Ade was on his feet. Was he calling for a Healer? Behind him, a small yellow-gowned figure lay across the seats. The Chancellor’s heart leapt into his mouth. He screamed at his colleagues to get out of the way and ran out of the door.
With Braxton’s sword gone from her back, the distraction was all Elona needed. She disarmed the nearest guard and leapt at the White screaming, “Nystrieth is God!” Her blade swung straight for the girl’s neck.
Anna didn’t even flinch.
Elona’s hand opened halfway through the swing and the blade went flying point first into the wooden floor. Her feet touched the ground just where she’d planned but rather than finish the girl, her body refused to move, just as before. She fought against the white light tightly enveloping her, but nothing responded. She crouched there, frozen in place, her ferocious eyes fixed on the White.
“He is not a God,” the King’s Shaper said into the shocked silence, her voice perfectly calm, her eyes fixed on Elona’s. “He is just a man with a gift he chooses to use for evil. He is nothing we have not faced before. He has nothing we have not faced before. He is just a man. And he will lose.”
The Chancellor appeared in the doorway to his wife’s balcony as a roar of approval rang around the hall. He heard the noise but had eyes only for Emily. Indigo gowns scattered to clear him a path to the middle of the front row.
“She’s fine, Chancellor. She just needs to be somewhere quiet.”
Chancellor Desmarais looked up to see who’d spoken.
“She’s going to be fine,” the King’s Shaper repeated, “but get her out of here.”
“Nobody moves,” he shouted at the nearest Quorum officer before gently lifting his wife and carrying her out of the hall.
The orange-gowned Ade Whitehall followed his friends to a nearby empty room. The Chancellor sat with his wife in his arms as the trio waited for the on-call Healer.
“She doesn’t want this to happen,” Ade told the Chancellor. “She told me to stop you. She said the girl must live.”
“She must have been confused. She’s always supported the Shaper Laws. The level of emotion and violence was overwhelming in there. It’s no wonder she got it wrong.”
“No one but you wants this to happen, Felix. You’ll regret it.”
“Independence is the only way to protect four million Quorum members. It may be unpopular, but we have to break with Rybis else we’ll be consumed in the coming war. Upholding the Shaper Laws will force his hand. He’ll have no option but to cut us free.”
The linguist knew there was no point in arguing further; Felix Desmarais was as persuadable to another view as the sun was to setting at dawn. He stood aside as an out-of-breath Healer rushed into the room.
Empath met Empath and Emily was declared overwrought, but otherwise fine. She would wake as soon as her gift had calmed.
Ade left the Chancellor and the Healer to settle his old friend. She’d understand his absence.
<
br /> A little later, quite sure of his legal and moral authority, Chancellor Desmarais left his wife in the Healer’s care. He had executions to oversee.
CHAPTER 45
O n the opposite side of the Hub, two murderers were finding the rehearsal crowd difficult to please. They’d thought their speech hilarious, but the only laugh they got was when four King’s Guards marched onto the stage to arrest them. “On what charge?” squealed Sandon.
“Tedium!” shouted a bright spark in the front row.
“Murder and brutal rape,” intoned the guard, his voice deathly serious. “You’re for Tullen for life, the pair of you. Your professor gave you up and we’ve got a witness.”
“Professor Ebdry?” asked Echiba, devastated at the man’s disloyalty.
“Singing like a bird,” the guard confirmed. “Begged to be allowed to take his friend to the library then he’d tell us everything he knows. Couldn’t really stop him; not done anything against the law that we can tell. I suppose we might get him on conspiracy and failure to report a crime, but he’s got a smart mouth. Might talk his way out of it. If he gives us enough.”
The pair were being dragged out of the auditorium when the library alarm went off for the sixth time that evening. The Quorum Guards looked at the King’s Guards they were supposed to be accompanying. “Can you manage on your own?”
“Sure, you go deal with that. We’re good.”
The Quorum Guards headed off at a sprint, just two of many multi-coloured figures converging on the library. The alarm demanded an all hands’ response, but they were getting mightily sick of all these false sirens. Angry words were exchanged with a frazzled librarian as, yet again, the HQ member being detained had nothing on him and witnesses swore he’d been alone. An invisible figure smiled as he watched from the stairs leading eventually to the second floor. He had a few other books to steal before he left.
The Concealer browsed the Light section of the library for an hour, finally selecting three books that covered all sorts of Concealing techniques he hadn’t known of. He was actually looking forward to Elona being camped out in the Captain’s cabin. This time, he’d have plenty to keep him occupied during the voyage and getting home would be even easier once he’d mastered his gift. Nystrieth would be pleased with his progress and even more pleased he’d persuaded Elona to let him try getting the books while she went after the librarian. He chuckled quietly. And she’d thought he’d fail.
