Tower of Fire (Parallel Magic Book 3)

by Emma L. Adams

  “That too.” Time was of the essence. “I’ll bring an ambassador to speak to you, then. I need my Akrith first, though. I left it in the hall of souls.”

  “You mean this?” He held up the stone, which dazzled me with its light, and then tossed it to me so I had to catch it one-handed.

  “Have you been carrying it on you all along?” I frowned at him. “Death King, you do realise this is a prized artefact of which there are only a few in existence, don’t you?”

  “Yes, I do,” he said. “I thought it’d be safer with me than anywhere else. Don’t be long.”

  Shaking my head, I pocketed the Akrith before leaving the castle and using the node to transport myself back to the warehouse. From there, I retraced my steps to the sprawling shape of the elven tree underneath the cliff, tensing when footsteps sounded behind me.

  I spun on my heel as the Death King walked into view. “I thought you were staying behind.”

  “I’d like to see how this elf stone works,” he said. “Go on.”

  “Right.” I held up the stone to the tree, mimicking what Adair had done and hoping it would obey me in the same way. Light shot from its surface, and I screwed up my eyes against the vibrant glare.

  A discordant shouting noise came from behind me and my eyes flew open as a spear flew past, grazing my cheek. I stumbled back, my feet on the forest path, staring into the furious eyes of two elves bearing down on me.

  “Whoa!” I said. “Hey, it’s me. I’m here with the Death King—”

  “You’re with the Vetran,” snarled the elf on the right, who I recognised as the male who’d escorted me to the Elders when I’d last been here. “Aren’t you?”

  My heart dived. “They already came here?”

  Dammit. We’re too late. They must have come looking for Adair and used their own Akrith to travel into the elves’ realm as soon as they’d figured out where he’d gone.

  “She’s not responsible,” insisted his female companion. “She didn’t do this.”

  I looked past her, my heart sinking in my chest. Several elves lay on the path, bearing grisly wounds, some of which appeared to have been inflicted by their own wooden spears and swords.

  “And him?” said the male elf, his gaze fixed at a point over my shoulder.

  Belatedly, I remembered my companion. The Death King came into view, still wearing the appearance of a human, though I frankly had no idea of the rules governing whether or not he could use his lich abilities in this realm. He must have been confident that he wouldn’t fall to pieces without access to a node, at least, or else he wouldn’t have followed me here.

  “Who are you?” asked the female elf.

  I didn’t expect the Death King to understand the elves’ language, but to my bafflement, he replied fluently. “I am Greyson Beaumont, more commonly known as the King of the Dead. I wish to meet with your Elders.”

  The male elf gawped at him. “You are the King of Liches?”

  “At present, yes,” he said.

  “The Elders requested to speak to him,” I told them, deciding to save my questions about how in the world the Death King had learned to speak the elven language until later. “The Family isn’t still in this realm?”

  “No,” responded the female elf. “The prisoner broke out of his cage as soon as the other Vetran showed up, and then they ran. Not before inflicting a great deal of damage to our forest in the process, of course.”

  Shit. “That means we need a new plan. I hoped we might be able to use Adair’s capture to convince the Family to surrender, but I didn’t count on the Family making it here first.”

  I’d naively assumed the Family had only had the one genuine Akrith between them, but not only had they been prepared to come back to the elves’ realm, they’d been prepared to take them on in battle as well. Now we’d lost our advantage, and to add insult to injury, they were probably kidnapping more elves back in the Parallel as we spoke. Including—

  My heart sank into my shoes. “Death King… if the Family knew Adair was here, they must also know the warehouse is empty. They’ll have figured out Miles and I helped the elves escape captivity.”

  And Miles had been missing since his own visit to the elves. Dread clenched tight jaws around my lungs, constricting my breath.

  “You want to go back?” The Death King switched back to English. “You think they might have targeted the other elves?”

  “Unfortunately, I think they have.” I turned to the two elves and switched back to speaking their language. “The elves who we saved from the Family’s warehouse might be in danger. I need to go and help them, but I’ll come back as soon as I can.”

  “You mean to abandon us again?” said the male elf.

  “Not at all,” said the Death King. “I am willing to assist you in taking on the Family, as I’m sure Bria told you. If you choose to come to the Parallel, then the forces of the Court of the Dead will have your back.”

  “Too late.” The male elf spoke in bitter tones. “We need to rebuild our army before we can amass a defensive force. They were more than prepared to meet us in battle.”

  “I’ll come back,” I promised the elves. “As soon as I possibly can.”

  Urgency blared inside me. Lex and Roth must have come for Adair and found the warehouse empty, and the elves’ former domain was the logical place for them to search for him. If Miles had been there at the time… I shut off the thought. In a trembling hand, I held up the Akrith again, and a flash of brightness filled my vision.

  A moment later, the elves’ forest vanished, leaving the Death King and me alone beside the tree near the warehouse.

  I drew in a breath. “The bastards. I should have known they wouldn’t take Adair’s capture lying down.”

  The Death King eyed the warehouse. “I can’t sense anyone in there.”

  “No…” I walked away from the tree, scanning the area at the top of the cliffside. No sign of Miles… or any of the elves either. “The elves’ town isn’t far from here, but only Miles knows where it is. I never saw it for myself.”

  “Ryan knows,” said the Death King. “Miles told them. We’ll go back to the castle and ask them to show you the way.”

  “All right.” I returned the stone to my pocket and followed him back to the node, hopping over into the swampland.

  The Death King and I entered the grounds, where Trix strode over to join us. “You’re back already?”

  “The Family got to the elves’ realm first,” I explained. “There’s a good chance they might have found the elves Miles and I saved from the warehouse, too.”

  Trix’s eyes widened. “The Family attacked the elves in their own realm?”

  “They also rescued Adair, so we need a new plan.” I waited for the Elemental Soldiers to catch up to us, then addressed the Air Element. “Ryan, the Death King said you know the way to the elves’ town. The elves from the warehouse, I mean. The Family found out we rescued them—and Miles is missing.”

  “I know the way,” said Ryan. “If the Family’s there, though, we might well be going to our deaths.”

  “We have to help them,” Trix insisted. “We can’t leave them to die.”

  “The Family might not be there at the moment,” I added. “They just rescued Adair from the elves’ realm, and the elves in the Parallel aren’t their priorities at the moment. I think they’ve mostly been delegating.”

  I hope. Worry over Miles’s disappearance writhed inside my chest like a serpent, and each second made the constricting sensation tighter. Especially when I recalled Adair’s warning that he had no need of the warehouse any longer.

  “We’ll go,” said Trix. “I’ll be right behind you, Bria.”

  Ryan’s gaze slid to Trix. If not for the elf, I had little doubt they’d have refused point-blank to walk into a potential trap, but they said, “Fine, but if we’re outnumbered, we have to run.”

  The Air Element strode out of the gates, while Trix and I followed them towards the node.


  I’ll find you, Miles.

  We reappeared back by the warehouse, where Ryan strode into the lead uphill. Before long, we came to several dilapidated buildings. As Belgi had said, the elves’ town hadn’t been far from the warehouse, but the downside was that the Family would have had no trouble tracking them down again.

  The houses grew more numerous the further we walked, and though nobody came to the doors or windows to look at us, they remained intact enough for me to suspect the Family hadn’t unleashed any inferno cantrips. Please say they were more concerned with finding Adair than with punishing the people here. Please…

  A surprising number of trees overshadowed the rooftops, while greenery sprouted between the stone walls and their gardens looked even better tended than the lawns around the Spirit Agents’ house. No wonder the Family had found this the natural place to search for a living elven tree—and found one, too.

  Our group came to an abrupt halt when two figures appeared among the houses, dressed in dark clothing and carrying gleaming knives in their hands. Assassins.

  “There they are,” I muttered. “Ready?”

  “Ready,” said Ryan, raising their hands.

  The assassins broke into a run towards us, and the Air Element’s magic sent both of them flying back several feet. Both men landed sprawling on the path, but they were back on their feet by the time we caught up to them. One had even managed to keep hold of his knife, and dread trickled through me at the memory of Tay’s death. Miles had been here. If the assassins had caught him first…

  No. I won’t let that be true.

  Two more assassins ran out of the shadows as my fist came up into the nearest man’s jaw, a torrent of flames setting him ablaze. Ryan did battle with the second assassin, while Trix intercepted the newcomers with an uncharacteristic expression of fury on his face. The assassins might have a speed advantage over regular people, but Trix and I were more than a match for them, while Ryan’s magic flung the assassins into the air like rag dolls.

  Seeing the others had the situation in hand, I moved towards the nearest house, where movement stirred behind the window. The elves must have sheltered in their only available hiding places, though I wouldn’t have been keen to give up a nice town like this either. The Family had no right to barge in and terrorise everyone.

  I spotted several figures crouched behind the window, and recognised one of them as Belgi, the elf I’d spoken to at the warehouse. He lifted his head, relief flitting across his face for a brief instant. “You have to leave before they come back.”

  “I’m here to help you,” I said quickly.

  “Are you, now?” A familiar soft voice spoke from behind me, and my body tensed. They’re already here.

  I rotated on my heel as Lex walked into view. As per usual, she was dressed entirely inappropriately for the wasteland backdrop, and wore a lilac dress and a flowery hat as though she was on her way to a summer carnival. Her face was artfully made up, while her elfin features made her look scarcely a day older than me. Of course she’s still using the Akrith’s power to restore her youthfulness.

  “Where the hell is Adair?” At a guess, they’d sent their assassins here instead of coming in person once they’d realised Adair had crossed into the elves’ realm, but I should have guessed that either Lex or Roth would be back to see to it that the elves were punished for escaping captivity. Question was, where did that leave Miles?

  A grin twisted her mouth. “He’s at home, thinking about what he did. The foolish boy was always too impatient for his own good.”

  “I don’t think his master plan of invading the elves’ realm played out the way he hoped it would,” I said. “Care to tell me what you’re doing here?”

  “I thought I’d come and check up on Adair’s pet project,” she said. “I have to admit I’ve been guilty of underestimating your commitment to making a nuisance of yourself.”

  “You’re guilty of far worse and you know it.” I raised my fists. “Get out of here. These people have done nothing to you, and Adair told me he had no use for the warehouse any longer.”

  “Adair needs to learn when to keep his mouth shut, too,” she said. “But if you won’t obey me of your own free will…”

  She gestured, and I found my arms contorting painfully as my body turned against itself. Pain screamed through my limbs. I bit the inside of my cheek in order to avoid crying out, determined not to break.

  Behind me, the elves in the house didn’t move an inch, but none of them were immune to her powers, either. A scream built in my chest, and I heard another strident noise from somewhere further down the path. Not a scream. A whistle, and one I’d heard before. Trix?

  An answering cry sounded from somewhere nearby, and a dark shape appeared in the sky, soaring overhead. A long spiky worm-shaped creature with pointed wings. I hadn’t even known the wyrm was still in the area, and while Trix had said that they weren’t usually inclined to attack people, the wyrm would surely remember its years held under the Family’s spell.

  I tilted my head to the sky and gasped out, “Get her.”

  Triumph washed over me as the beast obeyed my command, diving at her from above. Lex gave a startled shout when the wyrm’s body slammed into her, crushing her into the dirt.

  At once, the pain vanished from my arms. I straightened upright, breathing hard, and when the wyrm lifted its head, Lex lay in a crushed tangle of limbs and blood. Silently thanking Trix for his quick intervention, I pushed open the door to the elves’ house. They all flinched away from me when I walked in.

  “Relax, I’m not here to hurt you,” I said. “You have to leave before she recovers.”

  “There’s nowhere we can go where we’d be safe from them,” Belgi insisted. “We have people to take care of here. Injured elves. Besides, we will not abandon our home.”

  “The Family are willing to hurt everyone who stands in their way.” I grimaced when another twinge of pain went through my abused arms. “Have you seen my friend Miles? The spirit mage who helped you get out of the warehouse?”

  “He was here earlier, but I thought he left,” said the elf. “Before they came.”

  Wait. Had the Family not taken him captive. A brief spark of hope appeared within me, while the wyrm gave Lex a prod with its claw, growling.

  I walked out of the elves’ house and faced the creature, looking into its pitted eyes. “Can you pick her up and toss her somewhere far away from here? Preferably not a place with humans living in it, but not near Elysium or Arcadia, either. She might look dead, but she’ll get over it.”

  I wasn’t certain the wyrm would understand every word I spoke, but it growled and picked up Lex’s limp body in a claw before taking to the sky.

  As for me, I had the inkling I was fighting a losing battle when it came to convincing the elves to move out of their town to somewhere safer. It wasn’t like there was room for all of them in the Death King’s castle, especially with all the Spirit Agents currently sheltering in there.

  “I haven’t seen your friend since this morning,” Belgi said from behind me. “I think he mentioned going back to Elysium.”

  “Did he?” Then he might have just missed them. Or else he’d run into trouble in the city. “Thanks for telling me. It’s appreciated.”

  Ryan jogged over to me with Trix on their heels. “Are we getting them out of here?”

  “They don’t want to leave,” I explained. “I ordered the wyrm to drop Lex as far away from here as possible, but that won’t stop Roth or Adair from coming back to finish what she started.”

  “I doubt we’re their priority,” said Belgi. “Don’t waste your resources on us.”

  “I have an alternative,” said Trix, reaching into his pocket and pulling out an Akrith.

  I looked at the glowing stone. “Are you going to open the elves’ realm again? I mean, they were just attacked by the Family as well. Not sure they want visitors.”

  “They did agree to help the Death King, didn’t they?” s
aid Ryan.

  You’re only saying that because it’s Trix’s idea. Maybe they had a point, though. The elves sheltering here would be more inclined to listen to their Elders than to anyone else, right? Not to mention, the Elders would have more avenues to catch up on everything they’d missed while their realm had been cut off.

  Belgi eyed the stone, his eyes wide. “You mean to take us back to our kin?”

  “If you want to,” I said. “You know the Family will come back to punish you for escaping the warehouse. There’s nowhere safer for you than in your own realm.”

  The elf closed his eyes. “We’ve never found a genuine Akrith with enough power to reopen our realm in all our years of tending our town. We’ve guarded our tree for decades, regardless, but to know that the first visitors to our realm since before the war inflicted such grievous harm on them…”

  “I know,” I said softly. “I’m sorry. I really am. They deserved so much better, and so do you. I believe the Elders would be willing to help you. I did tell them we rescued you from the Family’s warehouse.”

  The elf lifted his head high. “Then I will talk with them.”

  “Trix will lead the way,” I said. “I have to run. If Miles isn’t here, then the Family might have ambushed him in Elysium.”

  “Are you sure?” asked Ryan.

  “He’s been gone for hours,” I said. “Besides, Roth’s still unaccounted for. I don’t know where else to look.”

  “You can’t go alone,” said Trix.

  I shook my head. “The elves don’t have long before the Family comes back. Help Belgi and the others get to safety.”

  “Go on,” said Ryan. “We’ll be right behind you once we help the elves get out of here.”

  I doubted it’d be quick or simple, but it was the only way I could think of to keep the elves safe without giving the Family any more openings to get at them. I wished I could be there, too, but Miles needed me more.

  I needed to find him before he suffered the same fate as the last person I’d trusted with my life.