Shadowborn

by Katie MacAlister

  Idril refused the offer of ale, a little frown forming between her pale blond brows. “You went to watch Darius? Why you? You’re not Starborn, are you?”

  “I am, actually, although my mother was from Talles,” he answered, surprising Deo. Denizens of the continent to the east of Genora generally kept to themselves. “More importantly, I spent time at the court when I was young and apprenticed to a bookmaker whom the queen favored, and thus I knew the back ways in and out of Starfall. Hallow was concerned about the thane returning while he and the other arcanists summoned Thorn to the new staff, and decided Ella and Dex would be safer if we were all away elsewhere.”

  “I wouldn’t have thought that Starfall was such a place of safety,” Idril commented.

  “Normally, it would be very safe, but of course, with Darius in charge, we most definitely treaded with care,” Quinn answered.

  “It was especially enjoyable when they noticed me,” Ella added, brushing crumbs from her hands.

  Quinn nodded. “Since it’s obvious Ella isn’t Starborn, she drew more attention than I would have liked.”

  “But surely Darius would not do anything to harm you,” Idril said, still frowning slightly.

  “He wasn’t there,” Deo said before Quinn could answer.

  The captain bent a questioning glance on him; then his confusion passed and he nodded. “Ah, so that’s what happened to him. You took him?”

  “Yes.” Deo moved away from the wall against which he’d been leaning, and went to stand behind Idril, his hands on her shoulders. “I met him leaving Kelos, and brought him here.”

  Both of Quinn’s eyebrows rose. “To see the queen?”

  Deo nodded.

  Quinn gave a low whistle, then continued. “Starfall was oddly empty of Starborn, but a steady influx of Harii were streaming in each day, making me believe something was up. The city itself was in the hands of an arcanist named Lyl. He’s the one who took exception to Ella being there.”

  “He tried to make me his concubine,” Ella said with apparent indifference, selecting an apple from the bowl before biting noisily into it and saying around a mouthful, “He didn’t succeed.”

  “That he didn’t.” Quinn grinned at her, causing her lips to twitch in response. “In fact, he couldn’t walk for a good three hours after Ella…er…convinced him that he should look elsewhere for bedsport. Since things were getting a bit uncomfortable in Starfall, and I had no idea why Darius was bringing in all the Harii, we decided to return to Kelos.”

  “Did Hallow get his spirit summoned?” Deo asked. “Has he found Allegria? If so, I must send them a message to meet me in Starfall.”

  Quinn and Ella exchanged anguished glances, Deo noted with interest.

  “Er…” Quinn cleared his throat. “I don’t know the answer to either question.”

  Ella’s face took on a pale cast. She suddenly shoved the plate away, murmuring an excuse before hurrying from the room.

  Deo watched her before turning back to Quinn, an obvious question in his eyes.

  “There was no one at Kelos,” the captain answered, his expression unusually somber.

  “Hallow and Allegria weren’t there?” Idril asked.

  “No one was there. No one living.” Quinn’s gaze met Deo’s. “Evidently, while I went to Bellwether to check on my ship and crew before returning to Kelos, Lyl marched the Starborn army there. Why, I have no idea, or what happened to most of them. Moved on, I suspect, but when we arrived, all we found were bodies.”

  “Whose bodies?” Deo asked, a pang of worry gripping him. He had every faith in his abilities, but he was no fool—he couldn’t take down Nezu on his own. Together with Allegria and Hallow, yes, he had every confidence that they would destroy the monster, but he needed them by his side.

  “A few score of soldiers, members of the Starborn army Lyl had led out from Starfall. Deo—” Quinn glanced briefly at Idril. “The spirits there, those who hadn’t been driven away to the spirit realm by fear, told me that the Eidolon thane had returned and raised the remainder of his warriors. It was they who slew everything in sight—the spirits that lived peacefully in Kelos, the soldiers that Lyl had left, and the people of several nearby villages.”

  Deo had a moment of nightmarish guilt when he remembered Hallow pleading with him to remain in Kelos in case the thane returned. He closed his eyes against the pain following the knowledge that once again his actions were responsible for the deaths of innocents. “And Hallow?”

  “Was not there. The spirits said he and two other arcanists escaped shortly before Lyl left.”

  He felt the softness of a woman pressing herself against him, her breath warm on his neck. He opened his eyes, looking down to where Idril had wrapped her arms around his waist, her lush body providing wordless comfort. “Thank the goddesses that they got away. And Allegria?”

  Quinn shook his head, his expression still grave as he toyed with a tankard. “The spirits said there has been no sign of her since we drove out the thane.”

  “It’s not your fault,” Idril whispered, her amber eyes filled with such warmth that for a moment Deo wanted to get on his knees and thank the goddesses for her. But he was never one to give in to soft emotions, not when there was work to be done.

  “Perhaps not, but Hallow answered my father’s call when he sought aid in finding my mother, and I will not abandon him when he needs us. Much though I wish to locate this traitor Lyl and bring him before the queen, we will instead go to Hallow’s aid in finding Allegria.”

  “I think there may be a bigger problem facing you,” Quinn said slowly, turning the tankard in his hands, his gaze on the depths contained within.

  “To do with Lyl?” Deo asked, feeling momentarily bereft when Idril released her hold on him to move to his side. “He is no threat to me. He is an upstart, a lackey, nothing more.”

  “No.” Quinn looked up when Dexia appeared in the doorway, wiping her mouth as she slipped inside. “My ship needed repairs after the trip from Eris, so we had to ride here rather than sail, as I would have preferred. All of which meant we came by the North Coast Road. And three days’ ride from here we came across two men riding like the stone giants themselves were pursuing them.”

  “What two men?” Idril asked.

  Quinn’s gaze met that of Deo. “Two Banes of Eris. They were disinclined to pay attention to us at first, until they caught sight of Ella and recognized her as a Shadowborn. Then we barely made it away from them, and the only reason we did is because our horses were fresher than theirs. As it was, they destroyed Dex’s form, which meant she had to take another.”

  The vanth smoothed down her dress. “Luckily, there was a form handy.”

  “A form handy?” Idril repeated, looking confused. “How do you mean?”

  Deo had a very good idea of just how the vanth assumed the forms she wore, and considered whether or not it was something Idril should hear, then remembered the time Idril threatened to geld one of Quinn’s sailors because he insisted on calling the hours in a manner that was highly disruptive to their bedsporting. He decided she would be fine hearing the truth.

  “Dex…er…assumes the physical form of someone who’s passed into the spirit realm,” Quinn said, looking mildly uncomfortable.

  “How very interesting,” Idril murmured. “How is it you only find the forms of small girl children handy?”

  Deo was destined never to hear the answer, for a shouted warning had him running out to the cleared area that served as a central square. A water talker sentinel pulled his horse to an abrupt stop, waving one hand behind him. “Attackers!” he panted. “Attackers slaying the army! Where is the priestess? We must lock the gates!”

  “Who—” Idril started to ask the sentinel, but he raced past them, disappearing into the temple, where the priestess, the Queen’s cousin, resided.

  Deo didn’t wait.
He ran toward the west gate, the chaos inside him lighting his blood, filling his mind with visions of destruction. He knew exactly who was attacking the army of water talkers that his mother had raised.

  Two solitary figures approached, both halting when Deo moved to the middle of the road, arms crossed, watching and waiting for them.

  One of the figures dismounted, hesitated a minute, then came forward slowly. “Lord Deo?” he asked, a look of disbelief clearly evident on his face. Deo recognized him instantly, a bit shocked because Eset—and his brother Kell, who was even now dismounting—were two of his staunchest supporters, amongst the first who had volunteered to become Banes.

  “You are the two who killed Lady Sandorillan?” Deo shook his head, not willing to believe it, but seeing the proof in the black lights that glowed along the runes on their wrist cuffs. “My father said it was three Banes who had betrayed us to Jalas. I assumed it was the men he had spirited away after the Battle of the Fourth Age. Not you. Not the first of my Banes.”

  “You live?” Kell moved alongside Eset, his gaze searching Deo’s face. “But—how can this be? We saw Lord Israel encase you in crystal. We heard him tell the guards to bury you deep where no one would find you. Lord Jalas said that you were lost to us forever.”

  “Jalas was the one calling loudest for my father to destroy me,” Deo said dismissively. “Regardless, he did not.”

  “But we saw—” Kell stopped, his brow furrowed. “We saw you in crystal.”

  “You saw what my father wanted others to see, nothing more,” Deo said, very aware of the chaos burning deep inside him. Thus far it wasn’t struggling to slip his control, but he suspected that control would shortly be tested. He hadn’t decided until the moment he saw the Banes how he would deal with their actions, but at the light that glowed from their runes, he knew their fate was written as surely as the runes had been etched into the cuffs. “Jalas was wrong.”

  “Lord Jalas is wise in many ways,” Kell reassured him. “You do not know him as we do. We have spent time with him, and learned much from him. Did you know he has taken Abet? Your father tried to retake it, but we knew you would not wish for him to regain his power, and thus we helped Lord Jalas defend the keep.”

  “You did me no service then.” Deo shook his head at the dark path of his thoughts. Was it too late to save the men? He felt obligated to try to do so. “It pains me greatly to say this given my history with him, but my father is not the enemy.”

  “No? And yet, Lord Israel is the source of much sorrow in Alba,” Eset pronounced. “Jalas told us how he has abused the Fireborn, and how he—Jalas—rescued them from your father’s tyranny, and in thanks, all of Aryia swore an oath to become members of his tribe.”

  Deo ignored that statement, knowing it to be untrue. The Fireborn were many things, but stupid was not one of them.

  “You do not know, because you were buried in crystal until your father saw fit to bring you back, but Lord Jalas has sought to free the Fireborn from the curse cast upon them so long ago,” Kell said, taking a step forward in his eagerness. “You must join him. He would welcome your help, of that I am certain. We have promised to do what we can, of course, knowing that you would want us to lend our aid to him, but—”

  “What curse?” Deo interrupted, assessing the men. Eset looked angry, and Deo didn’t like the red lights in his eyes, but he couldn’t damn the man by that fact alone. Still, either the Banes would have to accept the truth of the situation and atone for their actions, or be destroyed lest they wreak further destruction.

  “The Grace of Alba. Lord Jalas has engaged abjurors, men from a distant land, to unmake the curse Kiriah Sunbringer laid upon us.” Kell’s eyes lit up with a glint that Deo had no trouble recognizing as that of a fanatic. “With the abjurors’ aid, he will free us, all of the Fireborn, and allow us to become what we were truly meant to be.”

  “And what would that be?” Deo was unable to keep from asking, giving the men one last chance to prove that redemption was not beyond their grasp.

  “Masters,” Eset answered, almost biting the word in half.

  Deo stared in horror for a few seconds, wondering what it was Jalas was up to, and how he had so quickly brought the Banes over to his mad way of thinking. For that matter, why would he want to strip from the Fireborn the power to wield magic? He shook his head, dismissing the question. Now was not the time to ponder the actions of a madman—he had his own problems to deal with. The fact that both men had moved so far from the core beliefs he had instilled in the Banes made his path clear. “You have failed me, but I do not hold you to blame for that. Your fall is a sin on my soul, just as are the acts you have committed since the chaos corrupted you.”

  “Corrupted us?” Eset’s face twisted into a mocking smile, and his hand slid toward his sword.

  Deo settled into a relaxed pose, ready for the fight that was sure to come.

  “Just because we agree with Jalas that we were meant to be masters of the Fireborn does not mean we are corrupted, Lord Deo,” Eset continued, red flaring to life in the man’s eyes. “They do not hold the power we do. In all things, we are their masters—after all, we control the chaos magic, harnessing it, using it as you created us to do. Corrupted?” He gave a harsh little laugh. “Enhanced. Strengthened. Perfected—all that and so much more, yes. But not corrupted.”

  “You, of all of us, know what the chaos can do,” Kell added, his face earnest, and in it, Deo saw with certainty the madness that had called to him before Allegria had filled him with the light of Kiriah. “Without it, we are but useless bags of meat parading around believing we are masters of our own destiny, but in truth, only the chaos gives us the ability to take charge. Using it, we are gods amongst beings of clay and dirt, and for this gift, we will be forever in your debt.”

  “You will be forever dead,” Deo said, regretting that the Banes could not be allowed to continue, but knowing their madness must come to an end. Too many innocents would suffer if he did not do what must be done.

  Voices behind him called from the temple, voices he recognized.

  “Dead?” Kell looked confused.

  “You think to stop us?” Eset sneered, shaking his head and gesturing with a wave behind him. “We have learned much since your apparent death, my lord. You simply have to look at the remains of the so-called army that was camped outside the gate to see proof that we have grown in strength even as we’ve learned how powerful chaos can be. We will let nothing stop us, not even you.”

  Kell frowned at his brother, a flash of uncertainty flickering across his face. “Eset! We owe all to Lord Deo. You must not speak to him in such a manner. He is clearly overset, something to do with his rescue from crystal death—”

  “He has changed. Can you not see it?” Eset interrupted, pointing with his sword to Deo.

  Deo calculated quickly. It would take his father a little time to organize the town’s defense, but his mother—the more experienced warrior—would be faster. He judged he had a minute or less before others would hamper his ability to take care of the two Banes.

  “Look at his runes, Kell—they are yellow, just as the lightweaver’s were. He’s been infected by her, his magic tainted. He’s no longer worthy of leading the Banes of Eris to their rightful destiny.”

  “But we swore fealty to him,” Kell said quickly, his gaze darting from Eset to Deo and back. “We owe him our—”

  “We owe him nothing,” Eset snapped. “We will destroy him just as we will all who are unworthy. We—”

  Deo didn’t let him continue. He’d been carefully nursing the anger inside him, using it to fire the chaos magic while at the same time giving it a focus. Just as he heard the sound of horses coming up the hill from the town itself, he allowed his control to slip. The runes along his harness lit up reddish gold, filling him with a familiar sense of power, one that demanded sacrifices.

  Usua
lly he fought the urge to destroy and to bring about the deaths from which the chaos fed, but this time, he spread wide his arms, and allowed the chaos to flow out of him.He didn’t expect much resistance.

  He was wrong.

  “Kill him!” Eset snarled, leaping forward, his sword in one hand, while with the other he released a red wave of chaos that immediately consumed Deo’s magic. “Kill everyone in the town. We will wipe clean the entire continent of the infection that stains it if we have to!”

  Deo stared for a moment in absolute surprise. Never had his magic failed him. Not even when he’d called upon it to face Nezu.

  But now—long years of training had his sword in hand before he realized it, parrying Eset’s blow that would have taken off his head.

  “Deo! What is he doing out there by himself? Captain, you must help him—oh, Queen Dasa, thank the goddesses. Deo thinks to face his men by himself.” The words were carried up to him by the wind coming from the shore, the voice unmistakable.

  The Banes both jumped him, red magic flying in the air, and for a moment, for one infinitely short moment, he wondered if this was the time when he would finally be defeated.

  “Not this day,” he growled, and slammed the hilt of his sword upward into the jaw of Eset, sending the man staggering backward even as Deo’s other hand wove an intricate symbol that glowed red-gold in the air for a second before it wrapped itself around Kell. “And not by your hands!”

  “You see?” Eset panted, his eyes glowing red in a manner that Deo remembered Allegria describing when he had gone berserk. “Look to his runes, brother! He is tainted! He does not even possess chaos magic any longer. He has diluted it, weakening it until he is a useless blot of nothing.”

  “I’ve been called many things, and by many people, but ‘a useless blot of nothing’ is, I think, by far the most insulting,” Deo said in between short grunts of pain when Eset attacked again, this time with chaos wrapped around his sword. At the same time, Kell danced around him, slashing and stabbing in a manner that just infuriated him further.