“Hurry up, I want to show you something.” His footsteps retreated back down the stairs.
Yeah, and I don’t want to show you these. Oh, why did I let them out? She flexed her wings, hard, causing papers to scatter over the floor from the currents of air.
“Sera, do you want breakfast?” Liana yelled from downstairs.
Her wings continue to flap. What if she couldn’t retract them? No, she wouldn’t think of that. Back, go back.
“Yes, I’ll meet you downstairs.” Sera scrambled through her pack, searching for something that might help.
If he saw her wings Bas would kill her on sight. She went into the bathroom, turned the shower back on, ordered cold water. She yelped as icy water range down on her. Bone popped again as her wings finally retracted, and she let out a breath.
Bas stood waiting for her at courtyard. Sera ran a hand through her damp hair that she’d pulled back into a loose knot. “What are we doing today? More training with staffs?” she asked.
Bas shook his head. “No, come with me. There’s someone I want you to meet.”
5
Sera still felt her wings fluttering against her spine as she followed Bastian to the mansion lived in by his family. The gleaming white washed walls of the Novare Manor gleamed in the early morning sun. She couldn’t tell if it was nerves or excitement making her wings flutter. Finally, she’d gained access to the place where she might find clues to the keystone – without even trying to. Excitement yes, but nerves too. She hadn’t brought any of her equipment with her.
“Why are we here?” Sera asked, tucking a lock hair behind her ear.
“You asked me why I hate the fey so much, so I thought I’d show you,” Bas replied.
Sera’s stomach knotted, and her wings vibrated against her spine and rib cage. Why had she asked that? Must keep my emotions in check, she scolded herself. Bas led her through the house. Beautiful stone statues, oil paintings and weapons adorned the corridors as he led her upstairs, down the hall and into another room. The walls here were decorated with flowers and a mural of the sun rising over the citadel.
A girl sat propped up in bed, her skin so pale it looked almost translucent. Her dark hair fell in loose waves and she had the same electric blue eyes as Bastian.
Bas smiled, bending to kiss the girl’s forehead. “Morning, sweetie.”
Sera stood unsure of what to do. She could sense sickness racked the girl’s body yet she couldn’t have been more than ten years old.
“Clara, I want you to meet my friend, Sera,” Bas said. “Sera, this is my sister Clara.”
Sera smiled. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Clara held up her hand and Sera took it. The feel of disease almost made her draw back. “You’re pretty,” Clara murmured.
“So are you.” She gave the girl a warm smile.
Bas sat talking to Clara for a while, then pulled out a game and played it with her. It surprised Sera to see him like that. Gone was the hunter and any trace of him.
A woman with long grey hair, carrying a tray of food came in. “Now, Bastian, don’t tire her out.”
“I won’t.” Bas ruffled Clara’s hair. “Silly old Nadia worries too much.”
Clara giggled, but Sera’s eyes fixed on Nadia – the first Ithereal she’d seen working for the prince’s family. She couldn’t tell Nadia’s true nature by the woman’s appearance, but Sera’s senses tingled in recognition of her own kind. It was disturbing to see how aged Nadia looked. Fey didn’t age the way mages did. What could have caused it?
Nadia caught her staring and shook her head when Sera gave her a questioning look.
Sera focused on Bas again as he rose. “Sera and I have to get back to work now.”
“Will you come and see me later?” Clara clutched her brother’s hand.
“Of course – if you’re still awake. We have lots of bad guys to catch.” He kissed her forehead.
“Bas is teaching me to be a hunter like him,” Sera told her.
“I’m going to be a healer when I’m grown up,” Clara said. “I’ll cure everything.”
“Sure you will,” Bas said, and Sera caught the sadness in his eyes.
“Off with you now. The girl needs to eat.” Nadia made a shooing motion and gave Sera a look.
She can sense what I am. Sera’s heart pounded in time with her fluttering wings. Yet she didn’t feel Nadia was a threat as she stared at the other Ithereal.
Bas took Sera’s arm, led her outside until they reached a balcony that looked out onto the city. “Clara seems sweet.” Sera didn’t know what to say. She wanted to ask more about Clara but thought better of it.
Bas sighed. “She is. She’s the sweetest, kindest person. So much like our mother.”
“Did your mother have the same sickness?”
Bas looked away. “No, she died when Clara was born. Their ship was attacked by a band of fey resistance fighters. It crashed and sent her into early labour. Clara is lucky to have survived.”
“I’m sorry.” Sera touched his arm. She couldn’t believe it. Her people would never do such a thing, would they?
“Now can you understand my hatred for them?” he asked.
Sera nodded. “Do you think they caused Clara’s illness?”
Bastian’s jaw tightened. “She has some kind of bone disease. It affected her growth and her body’s ability to heal itself. She gets sick all the time,” he said. “No healers been able to heal her, even the alchemists could only come up with things that relieve the pain.”
“Do they know what caused it?”
Bas shrugged. “They’ve come up with all kinds of theories, but I know the fey did something to her.”
Sera looked away. The Ashran might be ruthless when it came to their freedom, but they’d never do anything like this, not even to a mage child. She felt an uneasy ache in her chest. If Bas knew she what was, he’d hate her just as much. The thought was more painful than she’d imagined.
“Is something wrong?” Bas asked.
“No, I’m fine.” She hugged herself. “That woman – Nadia is fey, why do you let her care for your sister given how much you hate her kind?”
“She used to be fey but now she’s powerless. She’s worked from my family for years. I wouldn’t trust anyone else to care for Clara. Maybe not all fey are bad. It’s the damned resistance who are the evil ones.”
What would you think if you knew I worked for that very resistance?
“Clara doesn’t have long left – perhaps a few months. I thought…” Bas’s voice trailed off.
“You want me to help her,” Sera realised. “I’m not a healer, most of my tricks come from experiments.” She wanted to say she’d help, do everything she could but most of her experiments were tested first on willing participants. She’d never tested anything on a child before, nor would she want to. “Bas, I couldn’t live with myself if I made her worse.”
“Can you just try something? Anything?” He gave her a pleading look. “I don’t expect miracles, but her pain blockers aren’t helping much now.”
“I’ll do what I can,” she blurted out before she could stop herself. “No promises.”
“Thanks, Sera.” He squeezed her hand. “I have a few things to take care of here then we’ll go back to training.”
Sera let out a breath. What are you doing? she asked herself. Rule number one, never get emotionally involved.
Bas walked off back to Clara’s room. Sera saw her chance. She cast her senses out, scanning every inch of the mansion with her mind as she moved down the hall, checking to make sure there were no guards around.
Heavy wards hung around the entire structure, the energy prickled against her skin. Mages employed wards to keep fey and other undesirables out, but Sera had designed away around the wards by using her mental shields to cover her true energy signature. She’d taught it to other members of the resistance too.
Sera headed up to the second floor until she reached a corridor that end
ed with no sign of the door. She avoided the house sensors as she moved as well as the cameras. There had to be something here, she could feel the vibration of energy stronger in this area. Sera waved her hand in front of the walls and static charged against her skin. She narrowed her eyes, seeing the different spectrums of light than made up the ward covering a concealed door. Finally, a clue. Sera examined it. She’d need tools to get in there but knew she could do it. Visits to Clara would give her the perfect excuse to do just that.
The murmur of voices and sound of footsteps made her freeze.
Diving out the window, Sera perched on the ledge, pulling a glamour spell tighter. It didn’t make her invisible, only camouflaged her body to blend in with her surroundings. Her wings came out, but she flattened them against her back, holding her breath as she froze in place.
Prince Anton and McGregor came into the hall. “Any word on that strange creature Bastian’s team found?” Anton asked.
McGregor snorted. “No, I don’t expect them to. They shouldn’t be worried about such things. Creatures come out of the old world on occasion. They should be more concerned about the fey resistance.”
“It’s been quiet over the past few months,” Anton remarked.
“Yes, I thought capturing a few fey in Aldwin would stir things up,” McGregor replied. “We’ll need something bigger. This peacetime has to end. It’s time our people remembered why we need the fey gone. I’ll arranged for my men to attack again. We can make it look like a rogue fey.”
Anton smiled. “Good, that should be enough to break the resistance out of hiding.” A keypad appeared. He punched in the code and the door opened. He and McGregor disappeared inside.
Sera jumped down from her perch, her heart pounding. She had known forces within the city stirred up trouble between the races, but she hadn’t realised how much. She stepped towards the door, but it swung shut in front of her, barring her entrance. Sera ran back down the hall. She had to find Bas before he came looking for her. But first she had to warn Alward of the mages’ plan.
6
Bas groaned when he checked his data tab and saw another mysterious death had been reported. He looked for Sera after leaving Clara but she’d vanished, so he headed back to his house.
Liana appeared, her red hair a fiery mess as she came over. “Just got the report, we’ll be geared up and ready to go in five.” From the looks of it she and Niall had been sparring. Niall now sported a black eye and a grim expression.
“Right – where is Sera?” The was no sign of her in the courtyard.
“She ran upstairs a few minutes ago,” Niall replied. “Probably brewing something again.”
Bas bit back smile. One thing he’d learnt about Sera over the past few days was she liked to experiment – especially when she thought no one was looking.
Liana rolled her eyes. “She’s been doing that since we were kids. Lay off her, moron.” She grabbed her wooden staff and swung it at his head.
Niall ducked. “Hey! I didn’t say anything bad.”
Bas headed inside to grab his own gear while the other two bickered and got their own stuff.
Sera ran downstairs, her nose deep in the book. Her pack was already around her shoulders. “Are we leaving yet?”
He frowned. “How did you know?”
She held up the tab he’d given her. “Report came in a few minutes ago. I told the others – they were too busy trying to wallop each other.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, they’re like that. Let’s get moving.”
This time he let Sera take the front seat beside him. He noticed her grip the armrests as the ship took off. “Don’t like flying, do you?”
She grimaced. “Flying yes, ships not so much.”
“Why other kind of flying is there?” He frowned.
“I meant flying in small ships,” she added. “Bigger airships are safer.”
“If you say so.”
Liana and Niall bickered in the back seat, but Bas ignored them, focusing only on Sera until the bickering became background noise. “Have you been on the bigger ships a lot?” he asked. Airships were confined to only the larger cities. Some mages had never even seen his jumper, let alone the large vessels.
She shrugged. “A couple of times when travelling.”
Another vague answer. What would it take to get her to open up to him? He wanted to know more and couldn’t understand why she kept holding back.
She glanced at the tab whilst he concentrated on guiding the ship. “Is it another wraith attack?”
“You read the report. It just says another unexplained death,” Bas said. He had an uneasy feeling about this mission and the wraith attack. “Have you dug up anything on what the wraith is or where they came from?”
Sera shook her head. “I’ve been scouring the guild and city archives. I think it might be something from the old world or an experiment left over from the war.”
The old world was the land outside of the borders of the realm ruled by the mage council. The world outside those lands had become uninhabitable after the last great war between the races. Both sides experimented with both magic and technology to try and destroy each other. The mages had poisoned parts of their world, yet the fey still flourished there.
Bas suspected the wraith had been just another experiment gone wrong but knew he needed proof first. He’d gone to see McGregor that morning to ask to be able to investigate further but the chief of hunters had refused, saying they didn’t have the time or resources to waste. Their job was to keep the fey in check, not “go hunting for ghosts” as he called it.
Over the past couple of weeks, Sera seemed to be getting through her training well. She could fight too – but he didn’t understand her aversion to it, or to using weapons. She’d soon be ready to complete the trial and become a fully-fledged hunter. After that he hoped she’d stay in the city and remain a member of his team. At least he’d have her back in his life.
He landed the jumper in the clearing. There were close to the border again. This time a man had been killed outside his home. “Sera and I will look at the body. You two see what you can find out,” he told the others. “Question the townspeople. If there is a rogue fey, we’ll find it.”
Liana and Niall wandered off, still bickering. Sometimes he wondered how they got any work done.
He headed straight to the address and found the local lieutenant there.
“Sir, I’ve been expecting you.” The guard straightened.
“I’m Bastian Novare, this is Sera, one of my team,” he said.
The guard led them inside where the body of a man had been covered up. “We found him a few hours ago.”
Bas pulled back the cover and held up his scanner to search for any signs of contagion is. The man’s glassy eyes were wide, his mouth hanging open in a silent scream.
Sera pulled out her kit and started pouring out a powder. Bas didn’t ask what it did, too much technobabble made his head hurt.
“He has the same marks,” Sera said to Bas. “It looks like all the power was drained from his body.”
Bas grimaced. “Did you or anyone see anything?” he asked, turning towards the guard. “Anything unusual? Strange mist or the sound of screeching?”
“No, sir,” answered the guard. “Nothing. I’ve already asked around. No one saw anything.”
“Okay, you can go back to work. We will take a look around then you can arrange for burial.”
Bas paced the room, looking for any trace of an attack or struggle. His scanner revealed nothing. Instead he cast his senses out, searching for any signs of fey magic. Hunters were trained to sense and track fey. He lowered his mental shield and let his senses roam free. Energy hummed around them.
Too bad he couldn’t read the mind of the dead guard but without any magic being left in the body, there would be nothing left to see.
“I’ll be outside,” he told Sera. Sera nodded but said nothing as she continued to examine the body. It fascinated him to watch her
work, but Bas left her to it, knowing not to disturb her.
Bas moved around the house, kneeling when he saw an indentation on the earth where the body had been. Footprints were outlined, running towards the house. The victim’s no doubt. Bas followed them, keeping his hand on his stunner. Only one set of tracks, just like the other attacks. The killer had left no trace. He cost his senses out, scanning for any traces. Both mages and fey left energy traces wherever they went, hunters could track that.
An icy feeling brushed his mind. The wraith or whatever the hell it was called must be around, he realised. Bastian’s hand went to his stunner, whilst magic flared in his other hand as he conjured an energy strike.
Moving out of the town, he entered woodland. Damp leaves and the smell of pine cones filled the air. Yet, no sounds of birds chirping, or animals scurrying greeted him. It felt eerie to have no familiar sounds of nature around him, he had no idea what might have caused it.
Li, Niall, have you found anything yet? he asked.
People report seeing strange mist, Liana replied. Nothing much else to go on.
Keep asking around; then join Sera back at the house.
Has she found anything yet? Niall wanted to know.
Not that I know of. You know how she zones out when she’s working.
Bas shrugged. She’s always been a little strange. But he’d always liked that about her. She didn’t act like most women, and that had drawn him to her in the first place.
She does that, Liana said. Don’t think she can keep up with her mind either at times. Best to let her get on with it.
Trees and branches caught on his clothing. Liana came and appeared beside him. “Niall is with Sera, he wants to do his own test. Thought I’d help you track.”
Bas said nothing, keeping his mind focused as he followed the tracks.
You getting anything? He asked.
Yeah, a nasty cold feeling. She shivered. Bas, I don’t like this. We’re so close to the border we’re almost on fey land.
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