JOURNEY OF THE SACRED KING II

by JANRAE FRANK

  Josiah's stomach clenched. If he had not hesitated, if the two halves of his incarnations had been melded, Aejys would never have had to put her life on the line to save him. "Why didn't you kill me as a child?"

  "Couldn't. After that first time, when I gave you back to your 'father,' I fully intended to get hold of you again when no one would know. But that fool Branch took a lock of your hair and sealed it inside that totem pole of his. His totems wouldn't let me or any of my agents near you. He had you warded against my even entering the same building as you. My lord Mephistis sent me a token to get past them yesterday late."

  Josiah's eyes widened in alarm and he fairly screamed, "Get his clothes off! Quickly!"

  Becca, remembering how she had found those papers in the duelist's boots the previous summer, grabbed Dinger's boots, jerking them off. The first one held nothing. She felt around in it to be certain and dropped it, looking in the next. A pair of glowing red eyes looked up at her. She shrieked, throwing the boot across the room. A round dark object fell out as it flew.

  Josiah glanced, and then whipped back on the sa'necari with a word of roaring power. Skree had not finished severing the last three shaukra connections. Josiah burned them all out, including the severed ones.

  The sa'necari shrieked in agony, writhing in near convulsion on the floor.

  Skree looked Josiah in the eye, stating simply, "Shaukra Death."

  Josiah nodded and lunged across the floor after the token. He stared in revulsion at a skull woven of human hair and gut in a small silver circle. The sa'necari that murdered him had worn one; it would get a mage past any wards another set. They were rare and incredibly difficult to make and empower and they were unique to the upper echelons of the sa'necari. He incinerated it with a word leaving a smoking ring burned into the floor. "That is how he got past Branch's wards."

  Becca shoved the balled up gag back in Dingarim's mouth, then she stood and kicked him repeatedly. "Well, I guess I will have to find someone else to teach the children. Know anyone trustworthy enough to do that, Skree?"

  "Are you asking for one of my people?"

  Becca nodded. "Seems like a good way to further goodwill between yours and mine."

  If Skree's heart had been a little less heavy at that moment he would have smiled. "Yes, I know someone. She is quite old, but still quite hale. She loves children and reads and writes every language of your coast. I will send for her as soon as I finish with Cedarbird tomorrow." He looked around for Josiah, seeing that he had moved to the chair beside the bed and sat stroking Aejys' hair. Skree joined him there, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You love her."

  "Yes," he answered and changed the subject. "When the sa'necari burned the magic out of Josh, he separated us, deprived Josh of my memories and knowledge. But now when Josh drinks I am fully awakened with both Josh's and my own memories, as it should be in reincarnation. I have both memories. They are completely integrated. Josh, however, does not have them yet. You must try to heal those magic centers, get the two of us to merge when he's sober."

  "Do you know how I can do that?"

  "Without a lifemage? No. The holadil got the centers to heal a bit, but they are healing wrong."

  Skree nodded thoughtfully. "I will see what I can do."

  "I'm going with you tomorrow."

  "Is that wise? The drink..."

  "Is destroying my liver. But one more round of drinking will not kill me yet. Cedarbird will not get away with hurting her."

  The sound of a body being dragged, bumping into furniture broke their talk and they turned to see Becca dragging the struggling sa'necari towards the door.

  "Where are you taking him?" Skree asked.

  "Lock him in the cellar downstairs."

  "Don't put him with the other one. The blind one. Put him in a closet."

  "Okay."

  Skree walked over, hefting the little man to his shoulder. "Let me help you. Lead the way."

  "I wish we had some real dungeons," Becca muttered ruefully. "When Aejys builds that new place, make sure there's some dungeons."

  * * * *

  Josiah sat in the chair nearest the bed, his upper body bent forward so that his forehead rested against Aejys' cheek. He could feel the fever burning in her. Skree called it a sign that her body was resisting the venom. He had told Skree that the locals called that particular viper the 'ten-step' because humans rarely took more than ten steps before the venom killed them. That sa'necari and Cedarbird had planned very well, using one of the few vipers deadly enough to take down a Sharani and then using that attack as a distraction to come at the rest of them. Had Josh possessed Josiah's knowledge and reflexes when sober Aejys would never have been bitten.

  The bells in the Ishlani temple rang the hour. Josiah counted three rings and sighed heavily. So far Aejys had outlived everyone he had ever seen bitten and Josiah Abelard had had a very long life. "I keep failing you. I'm sorry. You held us together on the long march to Shaurone. Kept more of us alive than anyone else could have under the circumstances. We need you. I need you. You pulled nearly every one of us out of the gutters and gave us something better. Tomorrow we start giving something back. Cedarbird's going down – hard. Then Skree and I will find a way to shield you from Mephistis and you can heal so you can take him down. And your sister with him. There is going to be an end to this madness."

  Josiah felt Skree's arm slide around his shoulders, gripping him tightly on the left. He had not heard the triton return. "Yes, there is," Skree said. "I swear to you and to her on my honor most precious and before My God to do everything in my power to help achieve this."

  Josiah turned slightly, his head pressing Skree's side as he looked into the triton's face. "It is good to have family again after so long, godfather."

  Skree's heart filled with gladness at Josiah's words and he gave his shoulder another squeeze before letting it go. "Now you need to move so I can Read her again."

  Josh pushed the chair back, rose, and moved to the window seat. Skree took his place. He lifted her wrist and held it for several minutes, reading as deeply as he could, then laid it down again.

  "Any change?"

  "None."

  * * * *

  The attack had come at closing with little more than a handful of the regulars lingering for a last round and those of the household, mostly caravan guards and drivers, who liked to cage a second dinner from the kitchen leftovers. They had proven tougher than Cedarbird and Dinger had expected, especially with Skree and Josiah on hand. Nonetheless, four regulars, three servers, two of the kitchen staff and three of the general household workers, including Molly, were dead. Zacham had arrived with reinforcements around the time that Skree and Josiah brought the situation under control.

  Becca sent Cook and those of the kitchen staff still hale to fetch the families of the wounded and the dead regular customers. Becca made it her place to inform the families that Cedarbird was responsible for this atrocity. Becca knew that their loud weeping and wailing and general air of helpless bereavement would quickly turn to anger and they would have the word on the streets by morning. She encouraged their anger, seeded it. Becca covered all of her opportunities to get at Cedarbird. There would be chaos, but she intended to see that it worked to Aejys' advantage.

  Becca was still up and running on adrenaline when Fezelbaum entered her office in the wee hours of the morning to inform her that not only did they have Darlbret secured in the stable loft, but they had taken every book and paper from Cedarbird's office as evidence.

  * * * *

  Becca threw on her heaviest cloak, following Fezelbaum to the stable. She climbed the plank stairs into the loft at the west end. The sight of Clemmerick's table and chairs where they had held a last council about how to defend Aejys on the long march last summer made her feel very sad and lonely. She missed the big ogre terribly, as well as Tagalong and the others. They would get home eventually, but the home they were coming back to would be much different from the one they left.


  The pixies had thrown Darlbret onto Clemmerick's bed. The small mon was bound and gagged. His large frightened eyes appealed to Becca to release him, or at least make sense of his kidnapping.

  Darlbret was a tiny matchstick of a mon with mousy brown hair, an angular face with a long thin pointy nose which ended in a tiny up-turned knob that jutted out over his gag made of stained, dirty socks. He wore a stripped blue nightshirt with pink bunnies embroidered on the hem and wrist. His knobby knees stuck out beneath the shirt that was pulled up by the ropes the bouncers had tied him with. He reminded Becca of an over-sized pixie.

  "Promise not to scream, and I'll take the gag out," Becca told him sternly.

  Darlbret nodded frantically. Becca sliced the gag away with her knife rather than simply pull it out just to make a point of her own dangerousness. He sucked in a deep, shaking breath, and regarded her in silence.

  "Did you know that Cedarbird intended to attack the Cock and Boar?"

  "Yes."

  "How long have you known?"

  Tears of fright started down Darlbret's face. "Yesterday. He's been hiring toughs from one of the local gangs for weeks now. I asked him about it. He was drinking heavily. He doesn't usually do that, you know. He started boasting he was going to 'fix her.'"

  "Did you know that Arlethan Dinger worked for him?"

  "Yes. He's worked for Cedarbird for a decade or more now."

  "Did you know that Dinger was sa'necari?"

  "He is?" Darlbret squeaked in honest startlement.

  "Do you think Cedarbird knew?"

  "I don't know. It's possible. He doesn't confide in me as much as he used to. He's gotten very secretive ... I don't know. I just don't know anymore." He started to sob.

  "Yesterday, Branch's little village was attacked, most of his family and all of his people were murdered. Dinger did that on Cedarbird's orders."

  "He did?"

  "That's what Dinger tells us."

  "Oh, gods! Oh, my dear sweet gods." Darlbret pulled his knees up to his chin, turning into a little ball of misery as Becca went into graphic detail, repeating the grisliest parts of Skree's descriptions. After that she launched into the assault on the tavern including the murdered customers and the viper. By the time she finished, Darlbret was gasping and blubbering out, "What to do. What to do."

  "Well, to start with, you could testify about what you do know when I call together the guildmasters and the syndics."

  "Of course. This is awful. This is simply awful."

  Becca started to feel sorry for him, yet still refused to give an inch. "I'll need to leave you under guard here. I can't take a chance on you getting loose until it's all over."

  "Until what's over?"

  "Cedarbird dies tomorrow."

  That sent Darlbret into fresh weeping.

  Becca pulled a thick layer of blankets over Darlbret, tucking him in. "I don't want you cold. I don't mean you any harm, understand? I just can't take chances. If you need something, ask the pixies. They'll do anything you want except untie you or bring someone to see you." Then she left.

  Fezelbaum followed her out. "What now?"

  "Now we wait. I want as many of your men as possible to remain with me tomorrow."

  "It's already today. You mean we can't go fight?"

  "I need you to stay and defend the Cock and Boar in case anyone gets past Skree and Josiah," she had started calling Josh by his proper name, as Skree and Taun did, "and comes after us before they get back."

  "Okay."

  "And if anyone does attack the inn or tries to break in, I want you to kill them. Do you understand? Kill them."

  * * * *

  All who wanted a piece of Cedarbird gathered in the little quad formed by the tavern, stable, and winter quarters. Skree had made it clear that participation in the assault would be dangerous and was strictly voluntary. The guards and drivers bristled with blades. Several of the household staff and servants stood with them, armed with kitchen knives, brooms, whatever they could set hands to. Cook, a large, round mon, brandished a huge cast iron fry pan, smacking her hand against it impatiently. Anger radiated from them all like a palpable force: For some their anger was cold, dangerous, and determined; for others it burned hot, made them bright and eager to fight.

  Skree counted over thirty in his small army as he stood at their head with Josiah. Josiah had gone through the weapons in Aejys' cabinets. He carried her long Aroanan rune-sword, which she had been given when she became a paladin at sixteen, similar to the one she had lost at Dragonshead, at his shoulder hanging from a baldric and a pair of long knives at his hips. A flask of whiskey rested in his shirt pocket.

  People were already on the streets when they marched. Shouting began, drawing folks from their homes and shops; a mob formed behind them. As Becca had known, the word had gone out, spread, and set fire to the hearts of the populace. The radiant energy of anger had now become rage.

  Cedarbird's house stood in the wealthiest quarter, a sprawling three-story mansion with a high walled garden. Skree's army drew together before the wrought iron gates, awaiting his orders. The mob, free citizens and not under anyone's command, beyond influence and reason in their rage, threw themselves at the walls, going over in a wave.

  "Mark them," Skree said quietly to Josiah with a nod at the house.

  Josiah took a long drag from his flask, arousing the power, and cast Revelation. The spell swept through the house and grounds, and then slipped his control as it had at Castle Rowan, spreading over the city. Screams erupted in the house as he set his burning brand upon the faces of the guilty, those who supported Cedarbird's crimes in either their hearts or actions whether they had participated or not, and they awakened at the brief, searing pain.

  Skree turned to his myn and the mob still hanging behind them, he raised his voice, pitched it like a battle cry to be heard above the growing noise. "The guilty have been marked! Throughout this city. No one has escaped the magic. Let the innocents go unharmed, but death to the guilty."

  Nearly half the mob broke away, running back through the city, hunting, going house-to-house, shop-to-shop, in search of the brand. Josiah turned and cast another spell; he did not want mindless violence to destroy the city. The spell was called Clarity and like Revelation it enveloped Vorgensburg. Josiah Abelard had not been called the mage-master without a reason and Josiah Abelard-Stormbird was now completely his incarnation. The Vorgeni mob formed into small groups, found their leadership, and moved with purpose.

  Skree grasped the wrought iron gate, ripped it off its hinges, and cast it aside. He strode into the garden, up to the door, and kicked it in. Screams erupted and the fighting began. Cedarbird's guards, some of them branded, some not, engaged their forces. Josiah drew Aejys' sword, it whirled and danced in his skilled hand. Myn died. He stalked on, ignoring unmarked servants and aides who fled before him. Josiah found the stairs in the grand hall and went up. He had scryed the house hours earlier and knew where to find Cedarbird on the third floor. He killed only those who attacked him or bore the flame-red hellbrand on their foreheads.

  * * * *

  Cedarbird fled from his bedroom into his office. The office caught the morning light through four wide, tall windows, flooding it with gold from the west. Diamond paned skylights lined the east ceiling above a mirrored wall. At all times of day the room seized and reflected all the sunlight that could be captured. Thomas had always loved the sunlight, spending all the time he could growing up in the outdoors. When he inherited his maternal grandfather's shipping business and saw that he would need to spend the majority of his time indoors working, he hired a talented architect to bring the outdoors in. Rare plants thrived in deep boxes along the windows and dwarf trees grew in huge pots in the corners. His desk, a table, and three over-stuffed, claw-footed chairs nestled in the center of the lush greenery. In times past this place had been his sanctuary, his comfort as well as the seat of his power. Now he would die here among what he loved. His people did not be
lieve in suicide for any reason. He could only wait until it found him.

  He had made some grave mistakes in his greed, his anger, and his hate. He saw that now. Cedarbird stripped down to his waist, shoved everything off his desk onto the floor, climbing on top to sit cross-legged, waiting. He looked about himself and said a quiet prayer to Raven that they would not burn it.

  The door opened and Josiah entered, bloody sword in hand.

  "Kill me. But do not let them burn this place, my beautiful sanctuary."

  Josiah nodded, realizing that Cedarbird had been touched by his spell of Clarity though it had not been meant for him. In the rest of the city the spell would fade in a matter of days as it always did. "This place will not be burned."

  "Thank you." Cedarbird spread his arms, threw his shoulders back, and lifted his eyes to heaven. "Raven, hear me! I accept the blade." Then he lowered his eyes to Josiah's. "I am ready."

  Josiah caught his shoulder to hold him steady, and then shoved the sword in under his breastbone with a violent twist. Cedarbird gasped, his body tensing and jerking at the impact and cold, searing pain. He fought down a whimper as Josiah pulled the blade out, falling back, collapsing on his side, his nails digging in around the wound. Josiah wiped his sword on Cedarbird's leg and sheathed it. The mage watched him dying in great pain, silent, not giving an inch, not begging for a quicker, easier death. Whatever Cedarbird might be, he was not a coward. Josiah respected that. He laid his hand over Cedarbird's heart, stilling it with a word. He dragged the corpse off the desk to a window, which he opened. Fastening the end of a long drape around Cedarbird's body, he shoved the corpse out. It turned slowly in the early morning breeze.

  "Withdraw," Josiah shouted. "Leave this place in peace. Cedarbird is dead. His holdings now belong to Aejystrys Rowan as payment for his crimes against her."