“We don’t know who did it or how the killer got access to the king’s private chambers. Not many are allowed inside. Someone put the poison in his water jug. Seve must not have bothered to check it for any tempering…and…” Alicia’s voice broke, and tears escaped her eyes. She brushed them aside with her hand.
“Why would he check the water? None of us ever do. Nothing like this has ever happened before.” Zo tried to imagine someone trying to poison her brother but couldn’t come up with any possibilities. Seve was a well-loved king. He was new at his job, but he did it well, treating everyone pleasantly and with respect. It was hard to imagine anyone harboring any personal grudge against him.
“Sultan has alerted the guards, and every inch of the castle is being searched for signs of an intruder,” said Alicia.
Zo put the matter of the killer out of her mind for now. She would deal it with it later. When she found the culprit...? “Have you administered the healing potion? How long before he wakes up?” She ran her fingers over her brother’s cheek, hoping to see a sign of improvement.
Zo’s faith in her sister’s magic was absolute. Alicia was the master healer in the castle, in fact, in the kingdom. No one knew the healing properties of plants, shrubs, and flowers as she did. Her healing spells were legendary and she had a number of apprentices who worked with her, learning the craft only as she could teach them. Her gift was strong and powerful, and ran true in her blood. Just like the magic that ran true in Zo’s blood, and made her the dueling champion in the kingdom.
“I can’t heal him,” Alicia stated.
Zo snorted. “Come on, Alicia. How is that possible? Don’t test my patience.”
“Listen to me, Zo.” Her sister’s voice was like shards of ice. “Seve has been poisoned.
Luckily the guards called me in time. I’ve put him under a spell. It will halt the spread of poison in his body but it will not heal him. To make him recover, someone will have to get the newly bloomed flowers of rosem. They have the magical properties needed to save him.”
“All right. I’ll go get them. Where do they bloom?” Not wanting to waste any more time on questions, Zo sprung up, having decided to do what her sister was saying. She couldn’t trust someone else to do this important task. One of Alicia's assistants would go with her to recognize the flower and once she was back, and Seve was safe, she would get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding the attempt on his life.
Alicia closed her eyes for a moment. Beads of sweat appeared on her forehead. “At the plateau on the lone mountain of Ibarjan.”
“Where the hell is that?” Zo knew the geography of her land well enough. Their island didn’t have a lone mountain. They had the jagged peaks of Vassa, against which the castle stood. What was Alicia talking about? Had she lost her mind?
“It’s on the mainland, and you’ll not go there. I won’t allow you. It’s too dangerous a journey…what with the war that engulfs the mainland and rumors of strange sightings of demon mages.”
Zo stared hard at her sister. For the first time, she noticed the dark shadows under her sister’s eyes; eyes the same hazel shade as hers, as was the rest of the face and body. Alicia was her identical twin, born moments after her own birth. As children it was near impossible for people to tell them apart. As they grew, Zo kept her hair short and spiky, while Alicia’s were long and curled well below her shoulders. Even their dressing styles were different; Zo preferred cloaks worn over a tunic and hose while Alicia wore long gowns that lent her a grace and dignity beyond her years.
Today, she looked exhausted. Her usually rosy cheeks were hollowed and beads of perspiration shone on her heart-shaped face.
Walking over to her sister, Zo knelt and touched her hand. It was cold. Ignoring her sister’s edict for now, she said. “Which spell did you use to halt the poison?”
Alicia’s eyelids fluttered, and she sighed. “Someone mixed the juice of Ikamin in his drinking water. It’s a potent poison, made from snake venom of a very rare species, liaka leaves and dugar seeds. Everything that goes in the preparation of this poison is hard to find and gather. It’s even harder to mix the ingredients since they have to be added with deliberate care, with precise movements, and at a certain temperature. The potion makes for a lethal combination. Colorless. Odorless. Hard to identify even with basic precautionary spells. “
“Which spell did you use?” Zo prompted her sister, her heart hammering against her chest. A frightening notion took root in her head, and she wanted…no, needed her sister to deny it. She couldn’t have…Alicia wouldn’t have taken such a risk. It wasn’t possible. She couldn’t have been so foolhardy.
“The binding spell. It was the only thing I could do to prevent his death.”
Zo lifted her sister’s right hand, and turned it palm up. She pushed up the sleeve of her long, yellow gown. Sure enough, the telltale circle of the binding spell glowed as bright as the moon on Alicia’s wrist. For a moment, all Zo could do was to stare at the mark that bound her sister to share their brother’s fate.
She had only read about the binding spell before. Not many dared to put it into practice.
“Are you mad? How could you…?”
“He would’ve died. I don’t have the herbs or spells to heal him. This would buy us some much needed time.”
“Could you not have given him some potion…something…?” Zo stood and pounded her fist against the wall. The pain in her knuckles was nowhere close to the despair in her heart. “Surely there’s something else that could’ve bought us some time?”
Alicia remained calm. “There was no other way. Did you want me to let him die?”
“Don’t be silly!”
“You would’ve done the same thing in my place.”
“I wouldn’t even have known how to begin weaving a binding spell.” Zo ran her bruised hand over her face. Turning, she looked at Seve. He looked the same as he always did. But she had never seen him so quiet, so helpless. She didn’t acknowledge or deny her sister’s statement. They both knew any one of the three of them would die willingly to save the other. The bond between the siblings was as true and strong as the magic that ran in their veins.
“How much time do we have?” she said.
Alicia looked down at the circle that marked the binding spell that for now halted their brother’s death. “It’s hard to say. The binding spell ensures that whatever healing potions I drink would slow the spread of poison in his body. Perhaps two weeks? If we’re lucky, three weeks. No more than that.”
Zo tried to take a deep breath. Something seemed to be lodged in her throat. Was it fear? Two weeks was too short a time. “And when he dies…you die with him?”
“Yes.”
Zo looked out at the full bright moon that shone in the clear sky. “And this flower of rosem? Will that save you both?”
“Yes.” Alicia nodded her head with certainty. “The flowers are the main ingredient in a healing potion that is the antidote for any poison. I’ve never made it before, but if someone manages to bring me the flowers…I will try.”
“I’ll go myself.” Zo raised her hand to stop her sister’s protests before she began. “There is no one better suited for the task. I am the master mage of fire and air, and such missions fall under my domain. Also, I have a vested interest. I want to save you both. No one will be as motivated as me to complete this charge successfully. What’s more…” She took a deep breath. “I can’t stay here, twiddling my thumbs, seeing you both die day by day.”
Alicia grasped Zo’s hand. “No. You can’t go. It will break the blood oath.”
The blood oath was a magic invoked by their father more than twenty years ago. The spell ensured the safety of all siblings from magical attack as long as they remained on the island. If any one of them stepped off Iram, the magic would shatter and they would lose the protection.
“It didn’t help us much, did it?” Zo glanced at Seve. “The blood oath failed us.”
“That is why they used a
poison because no magic would have worked.”
“It doesn’t matter, does it? Seve is dying. Whether by magical means or others is irrelevant. If we don’t do something, we will lose him…and you.”
“We can send someone else. Even if something happens to us, at least you will be safe here,” Alicia insisted.
“What is the use of this safety if I have to watch you die before my eyes?”
Alicia gripped Zo’s arm hard. “If something happens to you…”
“Nothing will,” Zo said in a firm tone. “I’ll make sure I come back with the flowers. Believe me I am not ready to lose you or Seve. Now, let’s not waste any more time with these silly arguments. If someone has to go to the mainland, it’s going to be me, blood oath be damned.”
Alicia nodded. “You will bring the flowers,” she acquiesced.
Zo pushed her hands through her hair, resisting the urge to tug at the ends in frustration. Although she didn’t doubt her sister would succeed in making the potion - Alicia never failed at duplicating a recipe for a magic potion, brew, or herbed mixture – Zo was worried about the limited time they had.
The mainland was a complete mystery to her. Zo had never set foot outside the island. In fact, none of them ever had. The three of them were born and raised on the island, and never traveled outside. Their paternal grandfather made the island his sanctuary more than forty years ago when he’d fled here along with his son and a band of loyal supporters, to save their lives from his tyrant brother Sian. No one from his family ever went back to the mainland.
Their father had further strengthened their ties to the island by invoking the blood oath. Breaking this oath would certainly make them all susceptible to future attacks.
However, Zo’s first priority was to save her siblings. The rest would be dealt with later.
Her mind worked with utmost ferocity. “Don’t these flowers grow in our kingdom?” She paced the room, resisting the urge to kick something to relieve her frustration. “I mean…isn’t it possible that you don't know that they grow around here somewhere? Perhaps on a plateau on our mountains?" Zo searched for other nearby, easily accessible, possibilities.
“You might be right. No one has ever scoured every single crevice or nook of the mountains to see all that grows there,” Alicia admitted.
“But we don’t have the time to do that now.” Zo planted her fist on the wall again and uttered the sentence her sister left unsaid.
“No, we don’t. But it’s a good idea. Once you leave, I will dispatch a few of my assistants to search everywhere. Perhaps they might find something.”
“How can you remain so calm…so poised?” Anger tore at the vestiges of Zo’s control. How could this have happened? Both her siblings were on the brink of death, and the only chance she had to save them lay outside their beloved kingdom.
Alicia rose. She didn’t acknowledge her sister’s anger. “You will have to erect a safety shield around Seve. We can’t afford another attempt on his life while he sleeps. You know that I’m not as good with protection spells as you are.”
“No one is as good as me.” There was no arrogance in her words. It was a simple statement reflecting her conviction in her gift. Striding over to her brother, Zo planted a kiss on his forehead. Gently, she brushed her fingers against his cold cheek. “I promise that I’ll get those damned flowers in time to save you. You’re a pain in the ass, but I love you all the same. Once you’re up, together we’ll find the person responsible for making you ill and tear him apart limb to limb.”
“What a lovely image.” Alicia smiled. “I’ll help you both.”
Zo stood straight. She raised her arms, her hands over her brother’s still beating heart. “Air that shapes, air that gives life,” she muttered calling the element that would weave the spell. The words weren’t really necessary - she could manipulate the element with her will - but the words helped give shape to her thoughts.
The magic came easily. It glowed in her veins, passed out through her hands and cast a powerful shield around her brother. A bright blue net of thin spidery lines covered him from head to toe.
“I’ve made it as strong as possible. It’s not tied to me and will remain stable even when I’m not around. It’s not invisible. That makes it potent, and also you’ll be able to know if anyone tries to temper with it. He will sleep peacefully under its protection,” she told her sister.
Alicia nodded her approval. “Looks good. Come, let’s discuss the route you’ll take to the plateau of Ibarjan. You should start at the first light of dawn. I’ve already send someone to the dock to tell the harbor master to get a boat ready. ”
Zo followed her sister. At the door, she stopped and glanced back at her brother’s still form. She blew him a kiss. “I promise,” she muttered once more. With an impatient hand, she brushed back the tears from her eyes and stepped out, closing the door shut behind her.
Chapter Two
The dome shaped hall was blisteringly hot. An acidic, sulfuric smell permeated the air. In the center of the room, a velvety, black cloud of smoke and ash hovered, its edges smudged with red and gold streaks. Occasionally a strange hissing sound escaped from within the cloud as if lightening trapped inside its inky depths longed to be free.
Sweat trickled down the mage’s face as he opened the door to admit the royal visitor.
“Is it going well, Ara?” King Vindha said as he stepped into the lava-induced heat that was being generated by the complicated spell brought into existence seven months ago.
“Fairly well, your majesty.” Ara neatly bowed, looking a bit flustered. His sweat-drenched tunic clung to his body. “We are short of bodies, though.”
“I’ve brought one with me,” said Vindha as he constructed a protection shield, safeguarding himself from any stray spells and the sweltering heat that was a by-product of the extraordinary magic unleashed in the hall.
The king surveyed the three concentric circles of mages, clad in black tunics, who surrounded the crack in the earth which bubbled with red-hot lava deep within the fearsome pit. The outermost circle of mages, eleven in all, consisted of air mages. Their job was to make sure that the air above the crack remained contained until the other two circles, comprising fire mages, were ready to let out a demon from the hissing flames of molten lava. If their protective shield around the circles collapsed or weakened, the demons could escape unchecked, and more likely than not, an escaped demon always tried to gain control of a live mage.
“Have there been any more accidents in the past two months?”
Ara shifted on his feet. “Once, your majesty. A demon escaped while we were in the middle of a summoning.”
Vindha pursed his lips in a thin line of disapproval. “What kind of a demon was it?”
“It all happened too fast for us to study it, your majesty.” Vindha’s voice wavered. “The demon must’ve been lurking at the edges of the crack, waiting for a chance. Once all the mages were occupied trying to pull another captured demon into the body of a dead mage, it zoomed out of the lava and latched on to a live fire mage.”
The king sneered, his bony face showing his displeasure at the unpleasant news. “Another mage lost? How many altogether now?”
Ara winced, taking the question as the insult it was meant to be. “Five.”
“Five mages, at the prime of their magic, are now being controlled by demons. It’s a huge loss.”
“Yes. They must be wrecking havoc in the countryside,” Ara said.
The king shook his head, more concerned with the loss of the five valuable mages than the damage the live demon mages would inflict on his subjects. The life of each mage was precious, not only because they were needed to keep the general population under control but also because in war, victory or defeat was usually decided by the ability of the mages. That’s why it was taking so long to create demon mages. For each demon that was captured they needed a fresh corpse of a mage. Once the demon was inside the corpse, it answered only to the commands
of the king because he was the initial creator of the spell. It was he who forced the earth to split and form a crack over the bubbling sea of lava.
The lava harbored the demons, the ferocious, terrifying, and powerful underworld creatures that longed to be free of the lonely depths to which they had been banished by the gods. Demons had tremendous magic at their disposal but they could only use it on earth if they had the required physical shell. And that was a human mage. The demons preferred live bait over a corpse because their freedom was curtailed when their essence was poured into a dead mage. If they managed to capture a live mage, they could control his actions, thoughts and mind.
The king sighed. He was realistic in his expectations; the loss of the mages to these errant demons was collateral damage he would have to suffer if he intended to enjoy the fruit of the spell and that was the creation of demon mages who obeyed his every command.
Still, it wouldn’t do to let his subjects relax in their vigil against the ever present danger.
He glowered at Ara. “Did you manage to kill any of the live demon mages?”
Ara quailed under the royal gaze. “As you are well aware, your majesty, no magic works on the demon mages. They are impossible to kill or maim. Live demon mages usually leave the temple because the demon within is eager to escape. The last one even killed two of our air mages but we used their corpses to capture two demons, so it wasn’t a total disaster.”
“Hmm…” said the king as he eyed the mages who raised and lowered their arms in union, each muttering the incantations they had been taught. Any wrong word or inflection and the spell could go haywire…resulting in more death and mayhem.
It was a cumbersome project. The capture and creation of a demon mage took at least a week. The task was made more problematic simply because not all demons were equal in strength or magic. Each potential demon had to be carefully evaluated to see if it was the right candidate. Too strong a demon and it would break through their spell and escape, and too weak a demon would be near to useless in the performance the king had in mind for each creature.
The Demon Mages (The Power of Three Book 1) Page 2
