A slight glint of contempt gleamed in her eyes—no doubt because he had woken her—but it vanished as she acknowledged him with a bow of her head. “Prince Lorrek.”
Forgoing any formalities, Lorrek pushed away from the table and began to pace. “Countess Verddra, I know your time is precious, so let me get straight to the point.” He stopped behind a chair, grabbed its back and braced himself against it as he leaned toward the lady. “The Jechorian experiment should be called off. It only endangers all those in the program. You cannot extract magic from an individual and have them survive any more than you can expect someone to survive tearing their soul from their body. It is ridiculous.” He straightened from his hunched over position. “I demand you put a stop to this operation—immediately.”
Verddra considered him for a long silent moment, and then she pressed her lips together as she approached Lorrek's desk. He stiffened when he realized the parchment of his father's journal was still laying on the table. Skimming over the parchment with her fingertips, Verddra sighed and looked up at the prince. “Extracting magic is only part of the program, Prince Lorrek. The other part is infusing those with magic who would benefit from it.”
“Like whom?” Lorrek leaned forward, gripping the chair, forcing himself to stay in his position and not strike out at her.
For the faintest of moments Verddra's coy mask faltered, and sadness clouded her face. She ducked her head and looked at her hands as she contemplated her next words. “My daughter.” She finally lifted her gaze up to Lorrek again in time to see surprise flicker across his features, and she nodded. “I call her my little fawn. She's so sweet and delicate, and her mind...it's sharp—sharper than most people I know, but she needs magic.”
“Why?”
Verddra hesitated then lowered her gaze. “She's broken—in the mind. Magic can mend that.”
Lorrek walked around the chair and sank into it. Resting his elbows on his knees, he leaned forward, cupping his chin in his hands as he considered what Verddra had just told him. He never imagined her having a daughter or being a loving mother. She came across as too harsh and controlling to have something as unpredictable as a child in her life. However, here she stood before him with the same look in her eyes he had come to recognize as the face of a parent when their child was at risk, and she remained firm in her belief that this operation was the answer to her prayers.
“What if this doesn't work?” He looked up at her and noted how she was taken aback by his sudden question and stared him, confused. Realizing he hadn't made himself clear, Lorrek sat back again and rephrased it. “What if this operation doesn't help your daughter? Then what are you going to do?”
A black fire flickered in her eyes at this thought, and Lorrek straightened in the chair—ready to magick away if she threw a fiery orb at him. Yet she never moved a muscle, but stood almost too still as if rooted to the floor. On her face Lorrek saw her travel in her mind down each possibility of failure, and finally she came to a conclusion and locked eyes with him—cold, inhuman, and determined. “I will simply kill them all. After all, if all this fails, there is no need for anyone to try and resurrect a doomed operation.”
Lorrek grimaced at the thought of such a slaughter, and this made his decision for him. Verddra was a massacre waiting to happen, and no doubt the Jechorians were unaware as to her full potential, and her exact motives, or how she did not tolerate failure of any kind. As much as Lorrek loathed the idea of having anything to do with the operation, he knew someone needed to be nearby to shield others from Verddra's wrath when that day came, and he knew he was the closest one who could match her in magic.
He looked at her. “This operation—you said I could oversee it as well?”
Verddra nodded and smiled. “Yes. We need more talented sorcerers who are attuned to what is happening within the magic realm because the Jechorians are clueless. They rely on us to tell them how much is too much and when they should stop extracting or infusing the magic. They would be very delighted to have you join us on this expedition.”
He still didn't like the idea, and he had one condition. “My cousin, Loroth, will accompany me. If this operation is a success, I would like his magic to be extracted because it is killing him.” This accomplished three things: it kept him near Loroth in case he neared death once more, it kept him near Verddra in case she unleashed her wrath, and it also gave them the potential remedy for Loroth's condition.
Lorrek did not like any of this, but what other choice did he have?
Verddra smiled, pleased with his decision. “We would be honored by your presence. Set your things in order here. Follow my magic signature, and you will know where to find me in Jechorm.” With that, she bowed her head to him then vanished in the wind.
Lorrek stared at the wall and sighed, not knowing if he had made the right decision.
Segment 2
“You honestly expect me to let you take my husband someplace where he may or may not die?”
Lorrek shared a look with Loroth, and then both turned to look at Vixen, who stood in the center of the room with her hands on her hips and a fierce glare aimed at Lorrek. The sorcerer smirked and cast his cousin another look. “She lives up to her name, doesn't she? A spiteful woman.”
“Indeed she does.” Loroth nodded then stepped back when Vixen marched up to Lorrek and grabbed him by the front of his tunic and yanked him close to her face.
“I'm talking to you. Now answer me.”
Lorrek lifted his hands to show he meant no harm, and then he phased through Vixen. He chuckled when she growled and whipped around to grab him again, but this time he stayed out of her reach. “I told you I might have found a remedy for Lo's condition, and that is where I am taking him. I will keep him safe—with my life.”
Vixen crossed her arms and glared at him. “And what exactly is this 'remedy'?”
Lorrek cast his cousin a look. He had only just finished explaining it to Loroth, and he didn't feel like repeating himself. They didn't have time for that.
Loroth stepped up to his wife and touched her elbow to draw her attention to himself. “Extraction of the magic—the Jechorians are testing way to remove magic from an individual.”
Her brows furrowed with confusion as worry clouded her face, and her eyes shifted from Loroth to Lorrek and back to her husband again. “What exactly are you saying?” She looked hard at Lorrek. “I thought you said that magic couldn't be removed because it is part of an individual's soul.”
Lorrek struggled with an explanation. He knew what magic meant to him, and it was difficult for him to comprehend how people could simply not have in their being something as powerful as magic when it was so closely knit to the imagination. Yet he had witnessed in his father's court the diversity of the imagination—how some individuals were gifted in writing, painting, dance, and other forms of creativity and beauty while others lived by a stricter creed of living moment by moment, step by step, as if their lives were all part of a system. Both were intelligent and necessary but vastly different, and that was the imagination without magic. He still couldn't wrap his mind around the thought of being without magic, but he understood that some were meant to have magic while others were not.
“I don't have all the answers, Vixen. I don't know the exact plan to carry out the extraction or what the consequences will be for Loroth, but I will be there every moment. If anything goes wrong, I will know immediately and stop the procedure.”
“Sure you will.” Vixen nodded and unfolded her arms as she went to the table near the bed and picked up a bag. “But I'm still going with you.”
Lorrek furrowed his brows. This entire conversation was about that? Although he could think of many reasons why Vixen accompanying them was a bad idea, he knew better than to argue with her, so he nodded. “If that is what you desire.”
“It is.” She slung the bag over her shoulder and made her way to the door.
The cousins shared another look, shrugged, then moved to follow her. H
owever, when she opened the door, she stepped aside to allow the men to see who stood on the other side.
“Therth.” Lorrek acknowledged him with a nod and tried not to frown, but he had the feeling that this was Vixen's doing.
With one hand on the bag at her shoulder and her other hand still on the door after pulling it open, Vixen fixed her eyes on the men. “I knew you had concocted some crazy plan, Lorrek, and I may or may not have mentioned my suspicions to Therth. He’s coming with.”
Therth folded his powerful arms and leveled his cousin and brother with a hard look—an unspoken confirmation that there was no way they would be able to talk him out of going.
Sighing, Lorrek nodded. “Well, this complicates things, but you may all come with on one condition—you will do exactly what I say without any argument. I am going there to supervise an operation on Loroth because he is our priority. You will stay out of the way.”
Vixen and Therth exchanged a look then glanced back at Lorrek and nodded.
Lorrek gave them the slightest of smiles. “Then let us be off.” He gathered his magic around the four of them and whisked them out of Cuskelom into the confines of Jechorm.
Jechorm—the proud kingdom of advanced technology and civilization. The roads into the kingdom changed from dirt and mud to smooth cement. Narrow buildings of glass stood towering toward the high, high sky. Horse-pulled wagons were traded for speedy, sleek vehicles that hovered over the ground or flew high through the streets in an organized fashion, but still people walked from building to building. Crowds moved through the city from all directions, going every which way. People twisted their bodies to avoid collisions with others as they walked, unaffected by the chaos around them.
Lorrek, Loroth, Vixen, and Therth appeared in the corridor of a glass tower far above the ground. Through the massive window before them that reached from floor to ceiling, Lorrek noted the numerous other towers—skyscrapers—jetting out of the ground and reaching forever for the sky. Some buildings were blue, black, gray, or reflective. Each one stood like a proud person in this organized society—each in its place separated only by straight streets and narrow alleyways.
Here the sky was only a blue patch high above the ground—a narrow strip of blue. Lorrek doubted sunsets were notable here, and that thought left the taste of bile in his mouth.
However, he sensed a presence nearing them, and he turned to see Verddra approach, accompanied by a man and a woman. Verddra had changed out of her preferred style of dresses, and instead she wore black trousers and a tunic with a golden trim. She looked ready for anything—confident and relaxed.
Lorrek shifted his gaze to the man, whose white hair might have earned Lorrek's respect, but he did not like the deviousness he sensed in this person's soul. His choice of Jechorian business clothing—trousers, buttoned down white shirt, and a suit—indicated his status and involvement in this operation. Lorrek had no doubt that he was one of the masterminds behind this endeavor—one who would either be swayed to agree with Lorrek's way of thinking or one Lorrek would have to eliminate altogether.
Pocketing these thoughts for another time, Lorrek turned his attention to the other woman. Though her hair was brown, she was obviously older than Verddra—closer in age to her male companion. Her painted face and pale lips gave her an ageless appearance, but it was her choice of clothing that surprised Lorrek the most; she wore a scarlet, curve-hugging dress that flaunted her well-toned silhouette, and she walked on shoes with spiked heels that gave her a confident and determined aura. However, Lorrek already dismissed her from being high on the list of threats; there was no way she would be able to fight her way out of a situation in that dress and in those shoes. She probably depended on others to come to her aid, and that was where her confidence came from.
Lifting his chin, Lorrek situated himself so that he stood between his companions and Verddra.
She smiled at him as she approached. “Prince Lorrek, so good of you to agree to come and assist us. I see you brought others.” She nodded to those behind him then gestured to her companions. “This is Pelham—the head director of operations here.” She motioned to the man then to the woman, “This is Asalda—his chief consultant. They are responsible for this organization. We will oversee the operations with them. Pelham, Asalda, this is Prince Lorrek—the powerful sorcerer I told you about, and that is his cousin, Loroth, who—I assume—wishes to have his magic extracted because it ails him.” Then she locked eyes with Vixen, and spite flashed over her features, but Verddra smoothed over the introductions, “And this is Loroth's wife, Vixen, and his brother, Therth. Neither of these two have powers of any kind.”
“Forgive me for saying this,” Asalda spoke up as she looked between Lorrek and Loroth. “The resemblance between you two is incredible. Are you certain you’re not twins?”
The two cousins shared a look. Outsiders did not know of Loroth’s existence, and this could complicate things, but Lorrek decided to smooth over it. He turned back to Asalda and smiled at her. “We are not, yet we are often asked that. However, we have a more pressing matter at hand.”
Pelham nodded in greeting to them and then pushed back his suit to place his hands on his hips as he regarded Vixen and Therth. “And why exactly are you here? Seeking magic infusion?”
Vixen opened her mouth, but Lorrek knew she had a smart remark on the tip of her tongue, and he beat her to it. “Actually, yes—she is. Because of the natural bond between husband and wife, I suspect that she would be a perfect candidate to take Loroth's magic when it is extracted from him.” Lorrek didn't look over his shoulder at her, but he felt her glare burning into his shoulder and heard the question in her mind, “Why didn't you tell me this part of your plan?”
For this, Lorrek had no answer, so he refused to glance her way.
Pelham lifted his brows then exchanged a look with Asalda.
The lady pursed her lips and tilted her head, regarding Vixen and Loroth. She narrowed her eyes and finally lifted her shoulders in a slight shrug. “That could work. That is an angle we have not yet explored, but what of him?” She jutted her chin in Therth's direction, but Loroth stepped in front of him before Therth could speak.
“He's my brother. He is here to observe. If this does not please you, then we will be leaving...” Loroth moved as if to leave, but Asalda shook her head as a smile played on her lips.
“Of course, that is fine. We understand the delicate circumstances we find ourselves in. Extra protection and extra eyes will help us prevent a dire situation. Your brother is welcome.” Though she said this, Lorrek sensed no sincerity in her words, but she turned and gestured for them all to follow as she led them on a tour of the facility.
While they passed through arching glass corridors and walked on polished marble floor, Pelham and Asalda explained different aspects of the program, “We have magic users and non-magic users, and we let them all interact with each other. This is not a prison.” They passed through a glass catwalk, and down below they saw a single massive room where individuals trained and fought with weapons, hand-to-hand combat, and magic. “We encourage exercise, especially after a procedure. It allows the original non-users to test and see if they can access the magic infused in them, and it gives us the opportunity to see if the users whose magic has been supposedly extracted can still use their magic. None of those trials have been successful though.”
Lorrek paused to watch two men fight hand-to-hand and with magic. The leaner man's blond hair indicated his lineage in Athorim, and Lorrek frowned. Why would any user of pure magic want to have his magic extracted? Then he focused on the other individual—a larger man with dark hair. Both moved around each other with the familiarity of close friends or brothers, and the blond said something that Lorrek couldn't hear, but the words sent the bigger man into a blur of movement—kicks, punches, strikes, magic. The blond laughed as he blocked and deflected each attack with ease.
“Sometimes the stress can be too much, so they resort to simple spa
rring,” Asalda's voice broke into Lorrek's thoughts, and he looked at her to find that everyone else had moved on except for the two of them.
At her gesture to continue the tour, Lorrek nodded and fell into step with her, taking the opportunity provided by being away from the others to ask questions. “Are there any children in this operation?”
Asalda shook her head. “None. We do not believe that would be safe or beneficial. I understand you have acute knowledge in this regard.” She lifted her chin to him. “Perhaps you wouldn't mind sitting down with our scholars, and give an account of what you know, so we can record it for future reference?”
The only knowledge he had pertaining to children and magic was his father’s actions with Loroth before his cousin was even born. He hoped no one would be able to duplicate that procedure, but still, he was polite to Asalda and bowed his head. “Perhaps,” but he had no intention to follow through. He brushed past the woman to rejoin the others—his sole purpose in the front of his mind: keep all magic-users, including his cousin, safe during whatever operations these people imagined. If he had to burn down this place to accomplish that, he was willing to do that, but first he wanted to fully understand what exactly was happening here.
Segment 3
Verddra left Lorrek and the others to get settled in. She had someone important to see before this evening's operation.
Passing through the lower, darker corridors where the glass windows had been replaced with steel as a precaution against random bursts of magic, Verddra did not acknowledge the doctors and nurses in their plain white trousers, tunics, and lab coats. When one babbling researcher ran up to her with a tablet and exciting news, “We might have located the gene that contains magic...” she merely turned her hardened eyes upon him until he realized his words meant nothing to her, and he stopped walking with her.
The Chronicles of Lorrek Box Set Page 24
