by Gage Lee
“Did you hear who we recruited after we saw you last?” I called out. “Hey, Kevin, let Auntie Theodosia hear you cry for help.”
“I’m here!” Kevin shouted. “He’s got us blindfolded and tied up. It’s me, and—”
Theodosia’s words snapped through the air like a bullwhip’s crack. “You are an outlaw, Elder Warin. The Right of Primacy does not apply to any duels you sanctioned.”
That was a clever maneuver. I’d give Theodosia, or whoever was pulling her strings, some credit for that. But, again, she was talking, and that was an opening for me.
“Then Kevin and his little buddies are still members of the Disciples of Jade Flame,” I said to keep her occupied while I examined a promising thread. I put my serpents to work weaving around it. “Getting them killed during a raid on my clan would be an ugly blotch on your permanent record, Theo.”
The silence that followed my taunt was music to my ears. Theodosia, who was obviously calling the shots on the ground for her aunt, Consul Reyes, was stumped. If she ordered the Golden Wardens to take me down, the nasty Eclipse Warrior man might do something terrible.
Like slaughter four of her clan members.
The entire Right of Primacy mess had kicked off when the clans had freaked out because they wouldn’t be able to recruit members the old-fashioned way. They would not be pleased if four promising up-and-comers took a permanent dirt nap, no matter the circumstances of their untimely ends.
While Theodosia struggled to find a way out of the potential disaster she’d stepped in, I subtly gestured for my clan members to move away from the doorway and behind the Golden Wardens. The connection we shared through the Borrowed Core helped carry the message. It was almost like my clan members were part of me, moving according to my unspoken wishes.
The path out became clearer with every passing second. I found threads and wove them together, straining my core to its limits with the amount of jinsei I cycled and pumped into the elaborate sorcery. It was, by far, the most complicated spell I’d ever woven, and I was doing almost all of it behind my back to hide the work from the Golden Wardens.
Who still weren’t moving. Theodosia must have given them the command to stay.
Good golden doggies, I thought. Stay right there while I gather the completely ridiculous amount of jinsei it’ll take to fire off this spell.
“Release your prisoners,” Theodosia demanded, “and I will let your clan members walk out of here unharmed. They will be reassigned to other clans, who will train them properly. I will take you into custody to await trial for your crimes.”
Tremors of fear ran through the Borrowed Core technique, followed immediately by defiance. My clan members did me proud. They wouldn’t go down without a fight.
“My crimes?” I put some jinsei behind my laugh just to be sure Theodosia heard the scorn. “I’ve done nothing wrong, lady. Whatever lawbreaking you’ve dreamed up is nonsense, and you know it. Now buzz off, before Kevin falls down and gets a nasty boo-boo.”
My spell weaving continued as I spoke. The serpents found more of the threads I needed and bound them in coils of jinsei. I really wanted to get a look at their handiwork, but that wouldn’t be possible until all the Golden Wardens were out of my hair.
And I still wasn’t sure I had enough sacred energy to trigger the sorcery. I’d never tried anything like this before. Even borrowing heavily from the work of others, I’d still need enough power to light up a small city to save my clan.
“This is your final warning,” Theodosia shouted. “You have until the count of five to surrender. If you don’t—”
“Five!” I shouted.
My outburst caught the Wardens off guard, and the wild leap I made over the tips of their pikes must have really blown their minds. They didn’t even have time to raise their weapons before I landed in their midst and fired up the Thief’s Shield.
In the same instant, the technique spread through the Borrowed Core to my clan mates. They obeyed my unspoken command to charge into the backs of their enemies. Their fusion blades struck with a combination of their young muscles and my skill, to spectacular effect.
A lightning storm of jinsei erupted from the Wardens’ armor. The scrivenings held, even as my clan hammered them with relentless strikes. At my command, those kids put everything they had into their ambush, and we were all temporarily blinded as torrents of sacred energy burned off the defensive wards.
The Thief’s Shield stole more sacred energy from the Wardens than I’d ever seen in one place. My core ached with the effort of containing it all, and it soon filled my students to overflowing. We funneled the power into our channels and used it to fuel one blistering attack after another. Jinsei flowed through the air in such quantities it burned like rivers of lightning.
And still the Golden Wardens stood fast, their defenses intact.
Where could they possibly get all that power?
The Wardens tired of our shenanigans and retaliated. Their pikes swung out in unison, a perfectly coordinated assault that drove my clan members back and hemmed me in with a flurry of precise thrusts. If the Vision of the Design wasn’t malfunctioning, I could have avoided all those attacks and found an opening to counter.
As it was, I narrowly slipped out of their trap and jumped onto a mound of books. The Wardens followed me with eerie precision, as if they were five bodies with one mind. And, to my spiritual sight, that seemed to be exactly what they were.
While I kept my students out of stabbing range and nimbly leaped away from the pikes that tried to kill me, my sharpening spirit sight showed me the intricate web of jinsei and threads of fate that tied the Golden Wardens into a cohesive whole. It was amazing work, far beyond anything I could have managed.
But it was also utterly unnatural and as flawed as anything made by a mortal’s hands. It filled the Golden Wardens with power from some distant, inexhaustible source. But the Wardens couldn’t control that jinsei. It flowed through the circuits scrivened into their armor as if from a wide-open tap.
That was a flaw I could exploit.
Once again, I called for my clan mates to rush the Golden Wardens from the rear. This time, though, I didn’t have them attack with their fusion blades. Instead, they threw themselves onto the arms and legs of the warriors, grappling them. The Thief’s Shield ripped the jinsei and strength aspects out of the metal-clad warriors and fed them into my clan. We grew stronger by the second as the seemingly endless supply of energy flooded through us.
The Golden Wardens fell to their knees. My clan mates pinned them down and wrenched their weapons away. My core stretched to accommodate the massive amount of power that flowed into me. I felt like I’d grabbed a bolt of lightning.
I couldn’t hang on much longer, but I didn’t dare let go until I was sure I had enough to complete my utterly ridiculous spell.
“Time’s up, Elder Warin,” Theodosia shouted over the stormy din. “My reinforcements will be here soon. If you are still resisting, it will not go well for you.”
I ground my teeth against the pain of hanging onto the Wardens’ power. It was as if they were plugged into the writhing, primal chaos at the dawn of the universe. The jinsei that flowed out of them was an endless torrent.
“Hey, kids,” I said through gritted teeth, “wanna see a magic trick?”
I turned my attention to the spell my serpents had nearly completed. It was a thing of beauty, but it was so complex, with such far-reaching targets, I’d worried it wouldn’t work.
With the power at my disposal, that was no longer a problem. I fed the jinsei into the lattice and watched in wonder as it stretched and grew, the connections I’d made growing as solid as if they’d been there for an eternity. My sorcery gobbled jinsei like Niddhogg at a bacon buffet, and I drew more from the Wardens to keep it fed.
Reality bent to my will with a terrific shriek.
Identical doorways appeared behind each of my clan mates. They were identical in every way because they were all the same
door with the same destination.
“Open the doors,” I barked to my clan mates. “I’ll catch up to you.”
“No!” Ricky shouted. “You need us!”
“Get. Out. Of. Here,” I said, putting all the willpower I could spare behind the command. Holding the spell together was taking its toll on my mind. I couldn’t keep thirteen different representations of space and time in my skull for much longer without going bonkers.
As one, my students turned and opened the doors. Golden light poured through the portals, and they gasped in wonder. I’d seen their destination while looking at the wide-ranging network that was the School of Swords and Serpents. It was the safest place I could think to send them.
I hoped they enjoyed it, because they were probably going to be there a while.
My clan’s members stepped through the escape doors I’d summoned for them, their steps rigid as they fought against my command. Their fear was like acid through the Borrowed Core. They were angry, too.
That was all right. They could be mad at me for treating them like puppets for a few minutes. At least they’d be alive.
With my clan members safe, I opened two more doorways with my spell. One opened beneath the wardens, and they vanished without a sound. They’d land a moment later, deep beneath the School, near the waste disposal unit.
The other opened in the floor of the New Moon’s hidden chamber, transporting the orichalcum core somewhere safe. I still needed that.
With my enemies gone, I released the last of their power. My core, exerted past its limits, chose that moment to advance.
A thunderclap split my mind. I staggered and fell from my perch atop the pile of books. My spiritual knowledge suddenly ballooned as difficult concepts unfurled before me, as simple to understand as a children’s comic strip.
I might be able to scriven.
“You will not escape justice this time!” Theodosia screamed.
Still dazed from my advancement to master, I struggled to put the pieces of the puzzle in front of me together.
The dark-haired quorum member flew across the wrecked library, her fusion blade extended in front of her like a spear, her body propelled by jinsei and rage. She was a missile of destruction aimed straight at my heart.
A shadow fell through one of the doors I’d opened. Byron exploded into motion, his body a blur of sacred energy and raw speed. He held no weapon and there were no defensive techniques around his body. His only concern was to put himself between me and harm’s way.
For the second time that day.
If I let Theodosia close the gap to me, her sword would skewer Byron. I saw that as clear as the noon sun on a cloudless day.
I couldn’t let him die.
And I couldn’t let Theodosia kill me.
My new core allowed me to move faster than ever before. I darted past Byron to intercept Theodosia, my fusion blade appearing in my right hand at the speed of thought. She’d see me coming and divert her attack to avoid getting run through.
She had to.
The Disciple glared at me, and I instantly knew I’d made a terrible mistake.
She didn’t dodge my blow or divert her path to avoid my fusion blade. Theodosia threw herself onto my weapon.
Her sword pierced my chest with a sickening crunch at the same instant that my heavier weapon blasted through her sternum and exploded from her back.
“Jace,” Tru shouted from the shattered wall of the Stacks. She stormed through the rubble, a squadron of dragons behind her.
Did she have wings now?
Nah, couldn’t be. Must be the blood loss.
Theodosia spat in my face. She released her weapon and raked her nails down my cheeks. She hated me so much she’d killed herself to see my end.
“Die, fiend,” she said, pink foam bubbling from her lips. “Die and dishonor my clan no more.”
I opened my mouth for a witty comeback, but there was no air in my lungs. I made a sick gargling sound at the back of my throat.
We fell to the floor.
I followed Theodosia’s last command.
And died.
The Prisoner
“GET UP, YOU BIG FAKER,” Tru said, raising her voice over the rhythmic rumble of a lift engine.
To my surprise, I felt her tap my forehead with one of her claws. That was unusual. I was sure dead people didn’t feel anything.
Or hear anything.
I opened one eye and found myself inside a rectangular black container that seemed to be moving at a very rapid pace. Someone had put me flat on my back and manacled my arms and legs. Whatever I was lying on was hard and distinctly uncomfortable. The thick padding that immobilized my head suggested it was an emergency gurney.
“Why am I still alive?” I asked.
“Because you’re too stubborn to die,” Tru snorted. “Want me to sit you up?”
“Yeah, that would be good,” I said. “I don’t want to stare at the ceiling while we talk.”
The young dragon struggled to maneuver in the tight spaces. Her tail banged against the side of a cargo bay, and her wings scraped against the ceiling. The space reminded me a lot of the transport Hagar had used to ferry me to and from our missions. Tru finally made it to the back of the gurney, fiddled with some levers, then shoved me upright and locked the backboard in place.
“Nice wings,” I said. “You made it to the next stage?”
Tru smiled at me, her deep amethyst eyes kind above a scattering of purple scales across her cheeks. Thicker, broader scales covered the center of her forehead and dusted the newly pointed tips of her eyes. The wings jutting above her shoulders matched her eyes.
The young dragon took a seat to my left and rested her chin in her hands. Her claws tapped against her cheekbones while she considered what to say to her former friend and current prisoner. Her eyes were utterly unreadable to me, and so many conflicting aspects filled her aura I couldn’t tell what was on her mind.
“Yeah,” she said at last. “That orichalcum pushed my hoard over the edge. My big prize was wings, about fifty extra pounds, and two stubby little horns hidden under my hair. Not to mention a bunch of new hormones to help me put on mass and change my bone structure so it can weather the transformations. It’s like puberty all over again, with the addition of deadly claws and fiery breath. You should really try it.”
I chuckled at that and marveled at how little pain I felt. Theodosia’s blade had gone right through my chest. There was no way she’d missed important things like lungs, arteries, and my heart.
“Seriously,” I said, “how am I still alive?”
Tru rolled her eyes. “You’re a master. They’re hard to keep dead. The amount of jinsei in your channels was enough to heal the damage Theodosia caused and jumpstart your heart. You were dead. But only for a little while. Then you got better.”
Well, that was interesting news. I’d really thought a sword through the heart was enough to kill even the most advanced sacred artists. Fortunately, I’d been wrong.
“Learn something new every day,” I said. “I’m glad the orichalcum got you over the hump. I was worried you wouldn’t use it.”
Tru looked down at the floor, shoulders slumped. “I shouldn’t have. My parents said trusting you was a mistake. But the only way I could be with Eric was to get to the next level. And I’d seen what happens when you’re so paranoid you won’t accept a friend’s help...”
She let her words trail off and shrugged.
“I never gave anyone a reason to mistrust me,” I insisted. “The only secrets I kept were to protect myself and my clan. I thought you understood that.”
“You set off a jinsei eruption that seers could identify from space,” she said sarcastically, “after you told me you wouldn’t make any big moves until I’d spoken to the Scaled Council. You think that looks trustworthy?”
“What was I supposed to do?” I said. “Give you permission to run my life so I wouldn’t mess up the First Scepter’s precious plans?”
“You should have let your friend help you,” Tru snapped. “And even after I called you on that crap, you ran off and tried to finish the quest, anyway. You didn’t give me any choice but to mistrust you.”
Great. This wasn’t the conversation I wanted to have after I’d so recently returned from the land of the unquiet dead.
“I already explained to you why I couldn’t do that. The Scaled Council would’ve tried to control me,” I said. “They wouldn’t have let me finish the Flame’s quest until they were positive they could use it to their advantage.”
Tru snorted twin puffs of flame from her nostrils and rolled her slitted eyes. “You’re in the back of a prison cargo transport, headed to judgment by the Consul Triad. The halls of the School of Swords and Serpents are dueling grounds, so something tells me you didn’t finish the quest, anyway. If you’d let us work with you, instead of treating your friends like enemies, maybe you wouldn’t be so screwed right now.”
It was hard to argue with that logic, though I hated to admit Tru was right. “How bad is it?” I asked.
“Real bad, Jace,” she said. “Half the adjudicators in the world think you turned the School of Swords and Serpents into your personal slaughterhouse. The clan elders are screaming for your blood. And Consul Reyes wants your head on a platter.”
“I feel so bad for the clan elders,” I said, venom dripping from my words. “They hatched a plot to punish me, and it blew up in their faces.”
“That’s what you got out of what I just said?” Tru stared at me in disbelief. “I just told you that Reyes wants you executed.”
“Because of Theodosia?” I asked. “She attacked me. Her sword went through me before I even touched her. Any halfway decent adjudicator will get that dismissed.”
It was Tru’s turn to let out a frustrated sigh. She banged her fists together in frustration. “You’re alive. Theodosia, the niece of one of the three most powerful Empyreals in all creation, is dead. Reyes took my testimony while you were out. They’ve already decided you murdered her, Jace. Not even you can talk your way out of this one.”
