16
I ran towards the warehouse and returned to the node, thinking hard. The only reason I could think of for Miles returning to Elysium was to get supplies from the Spirit Agents’ old house on his way back to the castle, so that would be my first stop. I transported myself to the node nearest to the Spirit Agents’ base, and a blazing light caught my vision, shining over the rooftops from the direction of the citadel in the city’s centre.
The transporter must be active again. Shit. I think I know where Miles is. If I were him, I’d have run straight for the citadel the instant I saw the light. Question was, who’d turned it on?
I pelted down the streets, not stopping until I reached the citadel. I glimpsed a few people as I tore by, but none wore the uniforms of the Houses. In fact, when I passed the door to the House of Fire, it looked as though it’d been bolted from the inside. Maybe they feared the light in the tower signalled a repeat of the incident with the cursed cantrips, because it wasn’t like they could see inside the tower to find out whoever had turned it on. Didn’t make them any less cowardly, though.
Leaving the Houses, I sprinted up to the citadel and tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t give. “Dammit!”
The only way in was via the transporter on the inside or to ask a lich to let me in, but before I could take more than a step backwards, a hand grabbed my shoulder from behind and the cold kiss of a knife pressed to my throat.
I twisted free, turning on the masked figure behind me, but the assassin snagged my arm in an iron grip and pushed me towards the citadel door. An instant later, the door flew open to reveal a second assassin, who caught my arm and hauled me into the downstairs room. Dazzling lights gleamed from the runes on the walls, while a humming noise permeated the room. One brief glance told me Miles wasn’t downstairs, so he must be on the upper level.
I let the assassin steer me towards the stairs, and then I pivoted and kicked his legs out from underneath him. Breaking out of his grip, I punched him in the throat and rammed an elbow into his solar plexus. He flopped over backwards like a dying fish, gasping for breath.
Leaping onto the staircase, I shot a fireball that sent the assassins scrambling for cover before running up the spiralling stairs so quickly it made me dizzy. Reaching the top, I shoved the metal door open. The machinery inside the room gleamed with multicoloured lights, including the raised platform in the room’s centre, while a cage was hooked up to the machine at the side of the room.
Inside the cage, Miles lay in a limp heap on the floor, unmoving. No. Elements, no.
“I thought you’d show up to rescue him.” Shawn the former Spirit Agent stepped into view, the lights making his pale face look ghostly. “But you’re already too late, Bria. He’s gone.”
I launched myself at the spirit mage with a strangled cry, tackling him to the ground. My fist hammered into his face before he pushed me off him with more strength than he should have possessed. I caught my balance against the wall, launching myself at him again, but a burst of energy slammed me in the chest, pinning me to the metallic surface. Bloody spirit magic.
Worse, Miles still wasn’t moving. No. He can’t be dead. I won’t accept it.
“Fuck—you,” I wheezed. “Are you alone? Because I don’t think Hawker would be impressed with you for stealing his transporter.”
“Why shouldn’t I?” he said. “I’m the one who rebuilt this place, not him. I did more for the good of the spirit mages than anyone else, and this dickhead and his friends decided to reward me by turning on one of their own.”
“You opened the portal and risked kicking off a war just for the sake of revenge on Miles?” Damn. Shawn. Why had I forgotten he was out there, alive and angry? Why had I forgotten he wanted to kill Miles?
“Why not?” he said. “He ruined my life.”
“You’re the one who turned against your allies!” Anger pulsed through my blood. “You betrayed the Spirit Agents and you conspired with the worst of what the Parallel has to offer. Miles fought back, but you’re the one who threw the first punch. You can’t deny it.”
Shawn’s jaw clenched. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted movement in the cage. Miles’s hand lifted a fraction. He was alive. Alive.
I looked away, but not before Shawn caught the direction of my gaze. “I think I’ll let you watch me torture him for a bit before I kill you.”
“You’re only hurting yourself,” I warned him. “Your own allies will be pissed off with you for hijacking their transporter. They’ve willingly slaughtered people they’ve worked with before, and don’t think they won’t do the same to you.”
“I don’t give a shit what they think.” His hands glowed, and he reached for a button on the machine.
I leapt at him first, tackling him to the ground. We crashed to earth in a tangle of wires, and I kicked Shawn in the head, half-crawling towards the cage. Pain exploded across the back of my head as something hard struck me from behind, but I ignored it and grabbed the cage door with my fingertips.
Miles lifted his head and mouthed my name. I tugged harder, and the cage door came open. I leapt upright, positioning myself between the cage and Shawn’s oncoming attack.
“Why did you give up everything I offered you for her?” Shawn spat at Miles. “She’s not even human. She’s a freak show.”
“Wow, I’m wounded.” I could feel warm blood trickling down my face, but that didn’t matter. Miles was alive, and I refused to let Shawn lay a finger on him again. “Word of advice? Get in that transporter and take yourself somewhere nobody can follow you, or else I’ll kill you here and now.”
Energy blasted from his palms. I dodged and returned fire, literally, and Shawn leapt behind the bank of machinery to avoid my attack.
“Ow.” Miles pushed his way out of the cage. “Fucking coward.”
“Are you okay?” I walked over to him, keeping one eye on Shawn. When the other spirit mage emerged from behind the machinery, Miles raised his hand and shot a vibrant bolt of spirit magic into his chest. Shawn flew head over heels, landing on his back on top of the transporter’s controls.
Miles climbed upright, unsteady on his feet, and approached Shawn’s sprawling body. “I should have killed you the first time you betrayed us.”
Shawn rolled off the machinery and tackled him to the ground, but Miles’s fist slammed into the other spirit mage, and a glowing light ignited in his hand as he drew a bright stream of energy out of Shawn’s body.
“You’re—no match for me,” Shawn gasped.
“I beg to differ.” Miles’s face showed the strain, but he held onto the stream of energy tightly while Shawn’s struggles grew weaker. “You burned yourself out when you turned that machine back on, didn’t you?”
Shawn choked on a breath, and then he fell back as a final bolt of white-blue energy surged into Miles’s hands. I stepped in and caught his arm to help him keep his balance, the torrent of magic making my teeth rattle in my skull.
The vibrant glow dimmed, and Miles reeled back on his feet. A faint glow outlined his body and shone in his eyes, while my fingers tingled with static when I took his hand. “You okay?”
“Better than he is.”
“He’s dead?”
He grunted yes, and I wrapped him into my embrace. His head pressed to my shoulder, his arm around my back. “You’re bleeding.”
I rubbed my face, blood caking my skin along with the mud from the swamp. “I thought you were dead. I thought…”
“Came pretty close,” he said. “I have a soul amulet with me, but I hoped not to have to use it.”
“Don’t joke about that.” I hugged him fiercely. “Seriously. You were lying there in that cage, and—I thought I got here too late.” Like Tay, a voice in the back of my head whispered.
He released me, but that static tingle still hung in the air between us. “No. He zapped me pretty hard when he threw me in that cage, but I’m good. Better than good, now I have Shawn’s life energy rattling around inside me.”
“You spirit mages really know how to throw a party.” I turned to the glowing transporter. “Got one of those neutraliser cantrips handy?”
“The one which was already there might still have some power left inside it.” He crouched down and picked up a discarded cantrip from the floor. “I’ll put it back in and ask the Spirit Agents if any of them wants to volunteer to guard the place for a bit to make sure nobody else shows up here. I think Shawn was acting alone, but you never know.”
“Wise idea.” I slumped to the floor, more out of relief than exhaustion. Miles was alive. Alive…
Miles decisively shoved the neutralising cantrip into a slot in the machine. At once, the lights died down, the transporter’s humming noise fading to silence. “I think we need to tell the Houses the coast is clear in case they think Hawker’s taken over the place again.”
“The cowards are hiding,” I said. “Let them think what they want. Anyway, the Spirit Agents at the castle are probably worried about you.”
He grimaced. “Yeah, I know. I shouldn’t have taken a detour. I came here to grab supplies, but I didn’t count on running into an old friend.”
“I thought it was the Family,” I said. “While you were gone, they got to the elves’ realm and set Adair free. Then Lex threatened the elves from the warehouse. Trix and Ryan were helping them evacuate their town the last time I saw them, but I had to make sure you were okay.”
“Oh, damn,” he said. “I actually tried to convince them to move elsewhere when I visited their town this morning, but they refused point-blank.”
“Trix and I talked them into following him into the elves’ realm so they can meet the Elders,” I said. “I hope it goes smoothly, though it doesn’t help that the Family left a real mess behind them when they broke Adair out of jail.”
“I bet they did,” said Miles. “Guess taking them to the elves’ realm is probably the only option, short of bringing yet more people to the Death King’s castle. Is Roth around?”
“I’ve no idea where Roth is, but Adair’s at home in disgrace,” I said. “I also had the wyrm take Lex for a ride, so that’ll keep her busy for a bit.”
“You did what?” he said. “Seriously, where do you come up with these ideas?”
“Improvising, mostly,” I admitted. “And compensating for bringing disaster on everyone I care about.”
“You didn’t bring disaster on me,” Miles insisted. “I walked into Shawn’s bait intentionally.”
“Still.” The clenching sensation in my chest intensified. “They don’t care who they hurt. Hell, they specifically target the people I care for the most. They think that because they—they made me, they turned me into this—they have the right to control my life. It’s like Shawn said, I’m a freak of nature. I can dress it up how I like, but that’s what I’ll always be.”
Like them. They want me to watch everyone I care about die while I endure alongside them. Forever.
Miles met my eyes. “I’m not bothered by them. Besides, I just ripped out a man’s soul. I’m pretty sure I can handle you.”
My heart leapt into my throat to see the intensity in his gaze. “You know nothing will ever be simple for us.”
“Doesn’t matter to me.” He took my hand in his. “You know, when I was stuck in that cage, all I could think about was that I’d never told you how I felt.”
The clenching sensation in my chest withdrew like the bars of a cage had lifted, and an inexplicable grin came to my mouth. “You did tell me. When you rescued those vampire chickens.”
“Guess I did.” He released my hand, casting another glance at Shawn’s fallen body. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
We headed for the stairs and climbed down into the main room of the citadel, stepping over the burned bodies of the assassins who’d dragged me into their trap. On the other side of the front door, a deserted town square greeted us.
“I think the mages in the Houses were scared someone had started throwing infected cantrips around again,” I said to Miles. “They barricaded themselves inside their headquarters.”
“Yeah, they all ran off as soon as the citadel lit up,” he said. “You know what, you’re right. We’ll let them hide for a while before we send someone to tell them there’s no threat.”
One trip through the node later and we landed in the swampland, where Miles approached the Spirit Agents on guard duty to explain where he’d been. I, meanwhile, found Trix and Ryan nearby, without any signs of the besieged elves. Did that mean their mission had been successful?
Spotting me, Trix glided over to my side. “Good, you found him. He wasn’t with the Family?”
“One of the ex-Spirit Agents who used to work with the enemy decided now was the time for revenge, but it backfired on him,” I said. “Did you manage to help all the elves escape their town?”
“We did,” said Ryan. “Had a few hitches, but Trix managed to convince the elves in the other realm to help the refugees from the town. It helps that he speaks their language, because I didn’t understand a word they said.”
“You met the Elders?”
“No,” said Trix. “The guards said the Elders were too busy to speak to anyone, considering the Family attacked them so recently, but they were glad to help their kinsmen.”
“Good.” A wave of relief crashed over me. The elves had made it to safety, Miles had survived, and we had one enemy crossed off our list now Shawn was taken care of. “I worried you might run into Roth.”
“You didn’t see him when you went to find Miles?” asked Ryan.
“No, Shawn was acting alone,” I said. “I’m sure Lex will be back to berate me when she scrapes herself off the ground wherever she ended up, but I haven’t seen any signs of Roth. As for Adair, he’s back at the Family’s house in disgrace for his major fuck-up in the elves’ realm.”
“So we can’t use him as bait anymore,” Trix said.
“Yeah, our plan blew up.” Which left me at a loose end. “It wasn’t a perfect strategy, but the elves’ magic is stronger in their own realm and I hoped they might be able to collectively overpower Lex and Roth. I didn’t count on them striking that fast or doing so much damage.”
I’d been a fool to underestimate them, given that it hadn’t even been the first time the Family had attacked the elves’ realm and left chaos in their wake. It was unsurprising that the elves had instantly suspected foul play when I’d shown up again, and I was grateful beyond measure that they’d been willing to help their fellow elves escape the Family’s siege despite their own troubles.
Trix’s eyes clouded. “What about the Akrith they stole? How will we get it back without anything to trade in return?”
“You think they might have accepted Adair in trade?” I said. “Not sure they would have, but I hoped we might have been able to distract them in the elves’ realm so we’d be able to sneak into their house and steal back the Elders’ Akrith.”
“I’m lost on what this Akrith is,” Ryan commented. “Isn’t it the same as yours?”
“No, it used to belong to the Elders and is far more powerful than any other,” I said. “The upside is that if we take it awa from the Family, the elves implied it ought to be possible to take them out permanently.”
“The Akrith enables their bodies to keep regenerating,” Trix explained. “Without it, they’ll age as normal humans would. I expect they’ve been using the Akrith’s energy for decades.”
Nausea flooded me. “The same can’t be true of regular Akriths, can it? I know elves are long-lived, but not invincible.”
“The Elders’ Akrith is stronger than any other,” Trix said. “It’s not meant to be used on a single individual.”
“Aren’t most elves more or less immortal, though?” asked Ryan.
“No,” said Trix. “We can heal from most injuries and we’re resilient, but we don’t live forever the way vampires do. Even the Elders don’t. Our trees are everlasting, however, which is likely what gave the Family the i
dea of stealing pieces of them in order to extend their own lifespans.”
My mouth parted. That probably meant I would live a normal lifespan, as I hadn’t had contact with the stolen Akrith at all. At least I didn’t think I had.
“Why don’t you try to steal the Akrith back from the Family, then?” said Ryan. “You can get into their house if you need to, can’t you? Once you have the Akrith in hand, I can’t imagine they’d want to risk declaring war on anyone in case you used it against them.”
“That’d be an option if I had the slightest clue where they hid it,” I said. “I could pretend to surrender to them and try to get them to give up its location, but I doubt they’d fall for the act. I’d be more likely to end up stuck under their roof and at their mercy again.”
Miles walked up to us, hearing the end of our conversation. “Could you fake being under Adair’s control?”
“Theoretically, but I’d have to be really careful,” I said. “I definitely couldn’t fake being under Roth or Lex’s control, because their powers are controlled by their intentions and it’s not like I can read their thoughts to know when they’re giving me commands. With Adair, it’s just words. Or rather, the words he speaks aloud.”
“So Adair’s the only one you have a chance at fooling,” he concluded.
“A low one,” I said. “Also, if he thinks he has me at his command, he might tell me to hurt people or to do things which I wouldn’t normally do. If I refused, it would give me away.”
“Bastard,” said Ryan. “Let’s face it, I doubt the rest of us could convince the Family we wanted to surrender. You’re the only one they won’t kill outright.”
“Not permanently, but they’d try.” I was less than thrilled at the notion of placing myself at their mercy in any capacity again, but neither could I think of any better options at the moment. “Did I ever mention the first time they killed me was for breaking a priceless ornament? Lex ‘accidentally’ used her powers to snap my neck. I was twelve.”
Miles’s jaw tightened. “She’s fucked in the head.”
“No kidding.” I blew out a breath. “Can we scheme later? I’m too tired to think, and we have a brief reprieve from Lex’s scheming for as long as she’s incapacitated.”
Tower of Fire (Parallel Magic Book 3) Page 16
