“So that’s how the Family obtained their unique skills?” he said. “I did wonder why they seemed to have talents far out of reach of what can be achieved with a cantrip. Given their previous ties to the elves, I ought to have guessed sooner.”
So should I, given that I’d lived with them. Yet I hadn’t set eyes on an Akrith until I’d held one in my own hands and felt its power humming beneath the surface, while they’d taken care to restrict my magical education to human methods only.
“Luckily, the elves believed me in the end, and they let me go,” I said. “Have the Family really not tried to make any trouble since I left?”
“Miles told you that?” he guessed. “I can’t say I’ve been watching them closely, but I don’t expect their silence to last much longer.”
“Yeah, I expect they’ll reappear as soon as they figure out where I’ve been,” I said. “Adair didn’t consult them before opening the door to the elves’ realm. He did it in a fit of bravado because I taunted him as a distraction so that he wouldn’t notice the elves sneaking out of the warehouse. I didn’t expect his plan to actually work. Not sure he did either, come to that.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” he said. “Adair doesn’t strike me as a sophisticated planner. Even when he was in jail here, he didn’t have a strategy.”
“Yeah, the Family left him to rot when he was jailed here in the castle, but they might feel differently about the elves holding him captive,” I said. “Especially when they might mean him bodily harm. In fact, they hinted that they might know how to kill the Family permanently. I didn’t think it was even possible.”
“I thought they might,” he said. “That’s why I wanted you to contact them.”
I suppressed an eye-roll. “Is there anything you didn’t predict?”
“I’m sure you’ll find something if you think hard enough.”
Honestly. “I nearly got speared to death when I mentioned you, because it sounds like your predecessor was a bit of a dick. Did you see that one coming?”
The Death King arched a brow. “That’s certainly consistent with what I know of the former Death King, but I can’t say we were close to one another.”
Guess not. I was pretty sure he’d killed the last Death King in order to take his place, in fact. Miles had mentioned he and the Death King had grown up in the Spirit Agents’ house together, which meant neither of them would have been alive when his predecessor had taken power and the elves’ realm had been cut off. As a result, he could hardly be blamed for the last Death King’s crimes, so the elves should have no problem forming an agreement with him. I hoped.
“Did you know the elves built the citadels, not the spirit mages?” he asked. “I didn’t, until Miles told me.”
I raised a brow at the change of subject. “I know. Trix told me. Why did the spirit mages want to take credit, do you know?”
“The spirit mages wanted everyone to believe they were the destined rulers of the Parallel,” he said. “Before the war, they ruled alongside the rest of the Council of the Elements, but some among their number believed they were entitled to more than their fair share of the power. Perhaps some of the punishment the survivors inflicted on them was justified.”
“You mean the people who cursed the House of Spirit and turned the other Houses into prisons?” I asked. “I know they were murdering maniacs, but it’s not like we’re responsible for their crimes.”
“Perhaps not, but it’s on us to fix the damage,” he said. “I hope you’re ready.”
“You mean to fix what the Family did to the elves?” The Family had cut off their realm from this one and stolen the very heart of their magic. Was it even possible to undo the damage, let alone make up for what they’d done? Regardless, before anyone could even consider how to rebuild the links between the elves in their realm and this one, I needed to find a way to bring the Family to justice for their crimes. Preferably before Lex and Roth reached the elves first… though I did have some leverage at the moment. Namely, I knew where their son was held captive. If I could figure out how to use that information to my advantage without drawing the elves into an open conflict with the Family before they were ready, it would be a starting point.
“To start off with, go and rest,” said the Death King. “I’ll have another update for you tomorrow.”
“Sure,” I said. “Thanks.”
As I left the hall, a lich passed right through me, prompting a grimace at the cold sensation. The lich spun around, revealing Harper’s face, which split into a delighted grin. “Bria, you’re alive!”
“I am,” I said. “Did Miles tell you?”
“He also said you found the elves.”
“Yeah, I did.” I walked with her down the corridor leading to the area of the castle which belonged to the Elemental Soldiers. “Guess everyone wants to know where I’ve been.”
“You’ve got it,” said Harper. “Liv and Devon aren’t in, but the others are here, and we’re all very interested to hear your version of the story.”
I let out a fake groan. “Can’t Miles tell you?”
“Sure, but we also have food. Since I can’t eat, you’ll have to take my portion instead. Does that convince you?”
Come to think of it, I was starving. “Yes, it does.”
As I’d expected, the other three Elemental Soldiers waited expectantly for me in the break room. I launched into an explanation of where I’d disappeared to for the last few days while devouring a large pizza someone had presumably ordered from Earth. Trix entered the room halfway through my explanation.
“Is it true?” asked the elf. “You made it to the elves’ realm?”
“Yeah, thanks to Adair.” I bit into a slice of pizza, while Miles reached for another from his spot next to me on the sofa. “Long story short, he got in way over his head and is currently locked in a cage.”
Trix listened in awed silence as Miles explained what I’d already told the others. I interjected when he reached the part about the meeting with the Elders.
“I’m lucky they agreed to speak to me, considering their history with the Family.” I put down my half-eaten pizza slice. “Turns out the Family stole some artefacts when they had access to their realm, in order to make themselves immortal.”
I didn’t say they’d done the same to Adair and me, but from the way Trix’s eyes rounded, he’d read between the lines. “The elves still let you leave?”
“Yeah, eventually,” I said. “Once I convinced them I wasn’t working with Adair, they let me explain myself to the Elders. I asked if they’d be willing to meet with the Death King, though I did have to clarify that the Death King isn’t the same guy who was in charge back when their realm was cut off from this one. His predecessor was apparently a complete dick.”
“Yeah, he was,” said Miles. “Can confirm.”
“Anyway, it sounds like the Elders are willing to meet with him if he agrees to help protect them against the Family,” I added. “Which he will. The slight issue is that they also want to get back what the Family stole from them before the first war. Namely, the Elders’ Akrith.”
Trix swivelled to face me. “They stole the Elders’ Akrith? No wonder they’ve never been able to open a way back through to this realm.”
“They must still have it, too,” I said. “The Elders said it must be the source of their immortality, but I don’t remember seeing a pretty tree carving in their house at any point. I assume they stashed it in a safe somewhere.”
“I don’t doubt they’ll have hidden it well,” said Trix, “but I’m willing to help you retrieve it.”
Ryan shot him a disapproving look. “We’re not breaking into the Family’s house. Even with Adair locked up, the others are just as dangerous, if not more.”
“They are,” I admitted. “But we have the elves as potential allies. As a bonus, Adair’s power didn’t work on the other elves. Trix, do you know why that might have been?”
“Probably because the elves’ power
is stronger in their own realm,” said Trix, confirming my guess. “In this realm, it would be trickier to subdue him… and the others.”
An idea occurred to me. “Should we lure Lex and Roth to their realm instead? If they came with us into the elves’ realm and walked right into a trap, then they’d be at the elves’ mercy.”
Especially if I told them Adair was imprisoned and the only way to get him back was to talk to the elves directly. I’d have to discuss the idea with the Death King first, but what better way to corner them and leave the path to retrieving the Elders’ Akrith wide open.
“Not a bad shout,” Miles commented. “In fact, it might just work.”
“Are you sure they’d go for it?” said Ryan.
“It’s worth trying,” I said. “What I’d like to know is why the Family hasn’t checked up on the elves who were working in that warehouse. You’d think they’d have sent someone after Adair by now.”
“The warehouse was probably too far away for them to bother with,” said Miles. “Not like they can be in four places at once. I reckon it was Adair’s responsibility, and he was supposed to shut it down when it no longer became necessary.”
That made sense. The Family might be occupied with other matters, but one of them would go to check up on Adair eventually. We had to corner them beforehand, but only with the elves’ permission. The Family had already inflicted enough pain and destruction upon them.
Like the Death King had said… it was on us, or on me, to fix the damage they’d done.
I intended to take a shower when I got back to my room, but instead I passed out fully clothed on the bed. Nobody woke me for guard duty, for a wonder, so I slept straight through the night. The following morning, I took my time showering and changing into clean clothes while I thought about how to explain my plan to the Death King.
The universe had other ideas. When I reached the break room, it was to find no signs of Miles or the other Elemental Soldiers. Instead, Trix sat alone in the room, and he gave me a smile when I headed to the kitchen to scrounge some leftovers from the previous evening. “Is Ryan not around?”
“Not at the moment,” he said. “Assassins attacked my house yesterday, so Ryan insisted on letting me stay at the castle for the foreseeable future.”
“You might have mentioned that earlier.” I retrieved a slice of cold pizza. “What about Drina?”
“I haven’t seen her since our last visit,” said Trix. “She’ll want to know the Elders survived, I’m sure.”
“You want to drop by her house today?” It wouldn’t be a bad idea to put word out among the local elves that their realm wasn’t completely cut off after all. “We could take her to see the Elders, too, but I’d need to use the Akrith. Is it still in the hall of souls?”
“Why’d you put it in there?” asked the elf.
“It’s the safest place I could think of,” I said. “I need to ask the Death King to loan me the key.”
“He isn’t in,” said Trix. “He went out earlier, and I don’t think you can get into the hall without him.”
“Seriously?” I said. “He picked a fine time to go walkabout.”
I needed the Death King with me when I spoke to the Elders, too, or else they might not take my word for it that he’d hold up his end of the bargain. Admittedly, I’d also need to run my plan past him first, but I’d slept for the better part of twelve hours and was acutely conscious of the ticking clock.
“I’ll come with you to see Drina first,” Trix said decisively. “She’ll want me to let her know I’m safe.”
“If she knows someone tried to blow up your house, then I imagine she’d appreciate an update.” I spotted Dex flitting around the ceiling, chasing one of the other sprites. “Hey, Dex. If you see the Death King around, can you tell him I need to speak to him? Whenever he gets back from where he ran off to.”
“Where are you going, then?” he asked.
“To speak to a friend.” Cramming the rest of the pizza slice into my mouth, I walked out of the break room with Trix and left the castle via the back doors.
I didn’t see any signs of Miles near the gates, instead finding two unfamiliar Spirit Agents on guard duty. He’d mentioned being on the rota with the other Spirit Agents, but I hadn’t seen him since before I’d crashed out the previous night and if he’d been on security duty, his shift must have finished. Admittedly, I’d been in such a deep sleep that I wouldn’t have heard him knock on my door anyway. Maybe he’d gone with the Death King on whatever urgent quest had taken him outside the castle.
Trix and I made our way to the node before transporting ourselves into Arcadia. From there, we retraced our steps to Drina’s house. Trix reached the door first, but when he knocked, the door moved inwards as though she’d left the house without properly locking the place up.
Trix’s expression was tight with worry as he pushed the door fully inward, revealing an empty room on the other side. The same spiky plants covered the interior, and when we entered, they waved their thorny vines threateningly in our direction. I backed into the doorway and my heart sank when I saw several dark bloodstains on the floor.
“It’s not Drina’s blood,” said Trix immediately. “Look at the plants.”
I grimaced at the sight of more spots of crimson gleaming on the spiky plants. “Guess we’re not the first trespassers they’ve attacked.”
Who did the blood belong to, then? The thorns circled me as though keen to add mine to the décor, so I backed out of the room before they speared me. Who took Drina? Not the Family? They weren’t active in Arcadia, but that didn’t mean they hadn’t sent assassins after her if they’d somehow found out about my visit to her.
“She might have gone into hiding, like me,” said Trix. “But she wouldn’t have left her plants behind.”
“Why would anyone capture her? She said she was no fighter.” Her plants were a different story, but unless someone had been watching when Trix and I had visited her house, it made no sense for them to take her.
“I don’t know.” Trix’s expression clouded. “Maybe her neighbours saw who took her.”
Guilt and worry churning within me, I approached the door of the house next to Drina’s and knocked. A young male practitioner answered, his face nervous and stained with soot. I recognised the acrid smell within the house as similar to the stench that hung around Arcadia’s warehouses and wondered if he made a living carving cantrips for the Collective of Spells to sell at the market.
“Hey,” I said. “Sorry to disturb you, but I came to visit your neighbour and she’s not in. Did she go out?”
His moth pressed together. “I don’t know my neighbours.”
“It’s okay, I’m not with the authorities or anything,” I reassured him. “I just wondered when you last saw her. I’d be really grateful if you let me know, because I think she might be in trouble.”
“I saw a group of people break the door down,” he mumbled. “They… they took her away with them.”
“Were they human?” I asked.
“I didn’t see their faces. They wore masks.”
Assassins. Of course the Family had been up to their usual tricks. Had they targeted her alone, or had other elves been taken, too? They couldn’t possibly know what we’d discussed in our meeting, but now I had an extra incentive to get our plan underway.
Once the elves and the Death King came to an agreement, we’d spring our trap on Lex and Roth, find the Elders’ Akrith and give it back to its rightful owners, and then the Family’s long-lived immortality would come to an end.
15
The Death King, thankfully, had returned to the castle by the time Trix and I got back to the swampland. He listened with surprising patience as I laid out my plan to ensnare the Family by using Adair as bait. “And you’re sure they’ll come to Adair’s rescue?”
“If they find out the Elders have him?” I said. “I guarantee they won’t be able to resist. But we need to hurry. I just found out the Family’s assa
ssins have been kidnapping elves from Arcadia and they might have attacked Trix, too. They’ve been entirely too quiet while I’ve been gone, and I’d rather get them into our trap before they realise Miles and I freed those elves from the warehouse.”
“So you’ll use the Akrith to open the realm of the elves so I can meet with their Elders,” he said. “Then after we make sure they’re on board with our plan, you’ll go to the Family yourself and tell them their son is their prisoner?”
“I think I’m the only one they’ll listen to, to be honest,” I said. “Do you still have the Spirit Agents guarding your territory?”
“Most of the time,” he responded. “Why?”
“Where’s Miles?” I asked. “I haven’t seen him all day.”
“I believe he went to check on the elves who he freed from the warehouse.”
Uneasiness skittered down my spine. I’d been out for the count and he probably hadn’t been able to wake me before I left, but his absence bothered me. Still, the first and most urgent stage of our plan was to bring the Death King to meet with the Elders, and we didn’t have any time to waste.
“We’ll need to go to the tree near the warehouse,” I told the Death King. “Then I’ll use the stone to get us into the elves’ realm. Unless you want me to bring an ambassador from the elves to meet you here? I’m not sure what effect their realm has on liches.”
When liches roamed too far from the nodes on Earth, they turned to dust and expired. I didn’t know if the same was true of the elves’ realm, but now did not seem a good time to experiment, especially with the Death King being one of the few who had the ability to resist the Family’s powers.
The Death King studied me. “A fair assessment. I would also prefer not to disappear for several days while my Court is in a crisis.”
Tower of Fire (Parallel Magic Book 3) Page 14
