Cast Out (The Red Enchanter Book 1)

by Mary Swift

  Nora’s hatred for him was growing by the minute. She was going to find a way to destroy him, no matter how long it took.

  Dante stepped into the circle and raised his hand. His followers scurried out of an alley and stood next to him. He grabbed Nora’s arm and dragged her to Devin’s front door. As she expected Dante put his finger on it and it opened. “Let us join this family scene.” he said as he stepped inside.

  The house was dark. Dante clapped his hands together and everything was suddenly bathed in a warm yellow light. At the end of the house Killian was standing next to an old man and Finnegan.

  Finnegan looked at Dante and Nora and shook his head. “This day just keeps getting better.”

  The old man bowed. “Master, I’m so glad you’re here. These two men broke into my house. They’re demanding my granddaughter. One of them is Finnegan Murphy.”

  Dante stepped forward, his long robe billowed behind him. “I will take over for you Mr. Cramer.” He looked at his followers. “Hold them.” The men quickly surrounded Killian and Finnegan and grabbed their arms.

  “I know who you are Dante and I’m not leaving without my daughter.” Killian said. “You’ll have to kill me first.”

  “Your daughter isn’t here.” Dante told him. “She left with a young man not more than an hour ago.”

  “That’s not true Master, she’s upstairs sleeping.” Devin said. “I’m surprised that she hasn’t woken up by now.”

  “Let me up there.” Killian said trying to wrestle free from the followers.

  “Go look.” Dante said to the two remaining followers. They went upstairs. Nora could hear their footsteps above her.

  “He’s claiming to be my son.” Devin pointed to Killian.

  The followers came back downstairs. “There’s no one there.”

  “That’s impossible.” Devin said.

  “As I have already stated Lucy has escaped into the night.” Dante said. “I expect that she’s on her way home.”

  “I want to search the house.” Killian said. “Every inch.”

  “Let him.” Dante said. “We have other business to attend to.” Two of the followers shoved Killian towards the stairs and the three of them went up.

  “Master, must you let that criminal paw through my home?” Devin asked.

  “He is your son. The hair is merely an enchantment. He’s your Killian.” Dante said.

  Devin leaned against the wall and put his hands over his face. “It’s too much for me, after all of these years.”

  “Don’t worry Mr. Cramer, as soon as your son finishes his search I’ll be taking custody of him. He’s an escaped prisoner.” Dante grinned cunningly over his shoulder at Nora. “As far as your wicked stepson goes, we’ll be finishing him right now.”

  “Stepson?” Nora cried. She looked at Finnegan. “Who are you?”

  He sighed. “I’m from Firesea. Killian and I are brothers. I sent him to Wildbush when he was three. I was exiled for it and I have lived among the mortals ever since.”

  “You won’t be living much longer.” Dante muttered.

  “You kidnapped Lucy. Why would you do that to your own niece?” Nora asked.

  Finnegan’s face was red. “Because Maeve promised that she would show me how to possess a mortal’s soul.”

  “Why?”

  “So I could cast another spell. I’m not proud of what I did. But I am the rightful Master Enchanter of Firesea.” Finnegan looked at Dante. “It certainly isn’t some second rate poet.”

  Dante reached into the pocket of his robe and pulled out a silver dagger. He handed it to Nora. “Kill him.”

  “Master-” Devin began.

  “Quiet old man.” Dante snapped. “This has to be done. He’s an exiled enchanter, and from what I hear he was planning to dump little Lucy in a ditch and leave her for dead before our rangers caught him.”

  Finnegan didn’t deny it.

  “Go ahead Nora.” Dante said next to her. “Kill him, run him through.” He nudged her elbow. “He deserves it. He’s scum and you know it.”

  She dropped the knife into Dante’s pocket. “Do it yourself. I don’t take orders from you.” He grabbed her arm. She pulled away from him. “I mean it. Do it yourself. If you could make me you would have done so already.”

  Killian and the followers came back downstairs. He looked pale. “She’s not there.”

  “Let him search the rest of the house otherwise we’ll never hear the end of it.” Dante said. The followers pushed Killian through a door off of the hallway. “We have time anyway, we still have to decide the fate of Mr. Murphy.”

  “Let me go and I’ll never come back to the circle.” Finnegan said. “I promise. I want to get back to my mortal life.”

  “Being a lawyer is that stimulating is it? You just claimed you were the rightful heir to the robe.” Dante turned to Devin. “Why don’t you kill him? He’s the one who took your son away.” He reached in his pocket and took out the knife.

  “It’s murder.”

  Dante shrugged. “I won’t tell anyone.”

  Devin shook his head. “No. I can’t. Banish him instead.”

  Finnegan looked pleadingly at Dante. “I won’t come back, ever.”

  “Oh really? Now that you have your precious baby brother by your side we’re really supposed to believe that you’ll stay away?”

  “I hate Killian. I always have. I hope I never see him or any of you ever again.” Finnegan said.

  Dante put the knife back in his pocket. He turned to his remaining followers. “Have the rangers take him to the end of our territory and dump him.”

  “Thank you.” Finnegan said.

  “Don’t make me regret this.” Dante said.

  “You won’t.” Finnegan assured him. “But Dante, do you really and truly believe you can get away with this?”

  Dante didn’t answer as Finnegan was dragged away to be exiled once again.

  Chapter 75

  Killian searched the entire house. Lucy wasn’t there. He felt hopeless. It seemed that nothing he did could reverse what had happened, she was slipping away from him. He began wonder if he would ever see her again. The two followers brought him up from the dank basement and back to the hallway where the rest of them were waiting. “Where’s Finn?” he asked.

  Dante smiled. “Your dear brother has been exiled for the second and hopefully the last time. I doubt you’ll ever see him again.”

  Killian didn’t say anything. He was growing used to having Finnegan around.

  “I’m sorry Killian. I didn’t know it was you.” Devin said. “I should have known you were my son.”

  Killian didn’t get a chance to respond. Dante stepped in between them. “As you stated earlier you know who I am. I’m sure Finnegan recognized me during your prison break and told you all about me, I’m quite unforgettable.”

  Killian looked at Nora, he wasn’t sure whether to be happy for her or not. “Are you all right?”

  Nora looked up at Dante with pure hatred. “Yes, I’m fine. Dante gave me quite a shock, but I’m recovered now, and I’ll get him for it, one way or another.”

  “What a lovely thought Nora.” Dante said. “And now we have to leave.” He turned to Devin. “You can go back to bed Mr. Cramer.”

  “But my son-”

  “Never mind that. You’ve seen him, you know he’s healthy and able bodied. We have business with him elsewhere.” He motioned to the followers. They grabbed Killian’s arms and pinned them behind his back.

  “What’s the idea?” Killian cried as he tried to break free. “I have to go after Lucy. She’s going to try to get home.”

  “You seem to forget that you are a fugitive. You escaped from prison.” Dante said.

  “You had no reason to lock me up in the first place.” Killian told him. “I have to find my daughter.” He felt the desperation inside of him mounting.

  Killian wasn’t surprised that Lucy had escaped. He had always told her if she was captured by an
other circle she should try to make every attempt to get away but it worried him that she was with a man. Who was he? Was he someone that could be trusted? He wished he could just close his eyes and this whole ordeal would be over with.

  “It’s a lot to take in.” Dante said as though reading his mind. “Why don’t you close your eyes and sleep?”

  The last thing Killian remembered was one of the followers touching the back of his head. When he woke up he wasn’t at his father’s house anymore. The first thing he saw were bars, metal bars. He was lying on a cold surface. He sat up and found that he was in a basement. The air was cold and damp, a slim window at the top of the wall showed it was light outside.

  It didn’t matter what was going on outside, Killian wasn’t going anywhere. The metal surface he was sitting on was the bottom of a cage suspended from the basement ceiling. The cage was just big enough from him to sit up in, the door to it was padlocked shut. He was trapped.

  Chapter 76

  Lucy blinked. The sun was in her eyes. She turned her head away from it. She was lying on the grass near an apple tree in bloom. There was an ache in her leg. The previous night’s events came flooding back to her. She heard a noise and sat up.

  Arden was washing his face in a small stream. His shirt was lying on the ground. Dozens of scars were slashed across his back and arms. As though he was suddenly aware that someone was watching he spun around. His chest and stomach looked the same.

  “Uh, good morning.” He grabbed his shirt and quickly put it on. He tugged on the sleeves, making sure his arms were completely covered.

  “Good morning.”

  “I had to use part of your skirt to dress your wound.”

  She looked down and saw the bottom of her dress was torn away. “Thank you.”

  “If we keep it clean it should be fine, but you’ll probably have a scar.” His face reddened.

  “Arden, thank you so much for helping me. I couldn’t have done it on my own.”

  His face got redder still. “It’s not over yet. We have to keep moving. The rangers will be looking for us. I wanted to let you sleep as long as possible.”

  “Will we be home by tonight?”

  “I think so.”

  “I miss my father so much.”

  “It must be nice to have a father who loves you like that.”

  She wanted to ask him about his own father but she wasn’t sure she should. There was a noise over her shoulder. A large brown horse came strolling towards them chewing.

  “I think he’s ready.” Arden said. “Are you?”

  “Yes.” Her stomach was growling but she didn’t want to complain.

  Arden picked her up. He smelled grassy and fresh. He set her on the back of the horse. “You’re probably wondering about what you saw, about me.”

  “My grandfather told me that you had been tortured.”

  “Did he tell you by whom?”

  “No.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me.” He checked the saddle and the other equipment strapped to the horse. “I almost forgot. Are you hungry?”

  “Yes.”

  He pointed to a saddle bag on the horse’s rump. “Reach in there.” She put her hand inside and pulled out a piece of bread. She was glad to see it. “Check again.” Lucy put her hand inside again and pulled out an identical piece of bread. “It’s a ranger’s bag, it’s enchanted. It never runs out of bread. Sometimes we’re in the field for weeks at a time.”

  “That’s very handy to have.”

  “One of the few positive things to come out of Firesea.” he said as he mounted the horse. He looked over his shoulder at her. “How’s your leg feeling?”

  “It hurts, but I can take it as long as I know I’m going home.”

  He tugged on the reins. The horse trotted through the stream and broke into a light run across the field. On one side of them was an apple orchard; on the other was a stand of pine trees. The tops of the trees swayed in the morning breeze. Lucy had no idea where they were or how to get to Wildbush but with Arden she wasn’t worried.

  They rode for a half hour or so. Lucy ate three pieces of bread. Arden gave her his canteen which was also enchanted and had an unlimited supply of water. They met the stream again as it bubbled over some pebbles and widened into a marshy brook, cattails waved at them. Arden stopped and let the horse drink.

  “My father was a cultural liaison to Pinebush.” he began. “We used to share information, art, traditions. It was part of an old treaty. Anyway, my family moved to Pinebush when I was four. I loved it there. There was a lot of freedom. No one bothered you.”

  The horse shook its head and pawed at the ground. Arden patted its neck and they began moving slowly alongside the brook.

  “When I was thirteen Firesea got the notion that they wanted Pinebush’s land. It didn’t have any natural resources, it was all about power. It’s always that way for Firesea.

  “They came one day to Pinebush and took over. My mother had sent me to the market in the morning to buy flour. That was when they came. Rangers and horses swarmed the market and they took me along with dozens of others. They didn’t know who I was. They never touched my parents’ house, but they didn’t know I was from Firesea because I was in the market.”

  “Didn’t you tell them?” Lucy asked.

  “Yes I told them, but they didn’t believe me.”

  “What about your energy? Couldn’t they tell you were from Firesea?”

  “I don’t know, probably, maybe. There was tremendous chaos and things were confusing, or maybe they knew and didn’t care. It doesn’t matter now. They brought me to the island where the prison is and kept me there for three months.”

  “So it was people from Firesea who tortured you?”

  “Yes. They have a special knife called a Cutter. It makes incisions in your skin just deep enough to bleed but never enough to kill you. They used the Cutter two or three times a day on me.”

  “But you were just a boy.”

  “They were treating me as the enemy. They’re Firesea Lucy. They do whatever they like. Finally my father found me and got me out. But it was too late then, they had used the Cutter all over my body. I’m scarred from head to toe.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “I wish I had heard that from someone in Firesea. My parents, my whole family are very high up in the circle. When you’re at that level it’s all about prestige and appearance. After I came home and they took me places people would whisper and point. The seamstress used to complain about having to cut my sleeves long so that my scars wouldn’t show. When I was sixteen my parents were anxious to find a match for me. But everyone knew what had happened, no one wanted me. My parents were humiliated. Shortly after that they sent me off to be a ranger.”

  “They really sent you away because of your scars?”

  “Yes. They wanted to be rid of their deformed son. My mother told me so.”

  “My mother doesn’t think much of me but even she wouldn’t treat me like that.”

  “You’re lucky.” Arden said.

  “So that’s why you wanted to leave Firesea?”

  “Yes. I haven’t spoken to my family since I joined the rangers. That was four years ago. I don’t expect I’ll ever see them again.”

  “Doesn’t that make you sad?” Lucy asked. “I can’t imagine never speaking to my family again.”

  He looked over his shoulder and smiled at her. “You don’t know how fortunate you are Lucy.” He spoke to the horse and it broke into a trot. “We shouldn’t linger here too long.”

  She put her hands on his waist to steady herself. Through the thin cotton material of his shirt she could feel the raised scars. Above them the sun was high in the sky. She was going home at last; she had never felt more fortunate in her life.

  Chapter 77

  It seemed to Talia that they had been driving forever. Her father frequently pulled over and looked at an old map while Logan kept trying to feed her sandwiches and coffee from a cant
een. Dusk was approaching when they came upon two men walking side by side.

  “We must be close now.” Henry said. “They’re Firesea rangers. The uniforms haven’t changed a bit.” Henry stopped the car as they approached. The men peered in the windows at them. “Good afternoon, or should I say good evening.”

  “Do you realize that these types of wheeled vehicles are not permitted here?” one of the rangers asked.

  “I was not aware of that.” Henry said. “However it is rather an emergency. You see-”

  “Sir you need to leave right now.” the ranger said curtly. He looked at Logan and Talia. “You folks have no business here.”

  “No, no.” Henry argued. “My granddaughter and former son in law are missing. The girl’s father was born in Firesea. We are hoping the Master Enchanter can help us find him.”

  The ranger looked unimpressed. “Sir, I’m asking you to leave.”

  “I helped negotiate the peace between our two circles.” Henry said. “I’m known here.”

  “Listen old man, I don’t care about ancient history. You’re trespassing in an unauthorized vehicle. You have no right to be here. If you don’t leave now you’ll be meeting the Master Enchanter as a prisoner.”

  Talia had heard enough. She got out of the car. “I want you to take us into Firesea.”

  The ranger looked amused. “Oh really?”

  “Yes. My daughter and my ex-husband are missing. I intend to find them.”

  “You do?” he laughed. “Lady, you don’t stand a chance in Firesea. You have no powers, I can tell.”

  Talia clenched her fists. “Don’t push me.”

  The ranger laughed some more and looked at his partner. “She thinks she can take me.”

  That was enough for Talia. She reached back and punched his jaw. He stumbled sideways. “You bitch!” He slapped her across the face. She wanted to fight. She tried grabbing at the ranger’s face and hair. Suddenly she felt Logan’s arm around her waist.

  “Stop it.” he said in her ear.

  Talia had no intention of stopping. She struggled to get free. The ranger pointed at her. Her hands and legs were suddenly bound together by an invisible rope. She fell onto the ground. Logan knelt next to her and brushed the hair from her face.