Loyalty and War

by Devon Vesper

  Valis snorted and gave his husband a gentle pat on the shoulder as he passed in his pacing. It was one of the constant activities he had adopted ever since he dismissed the scry that showed him the enemy monastery and the route he needed to take to get to it. “I can’t help it. It’s not just a monastery, Tav. It’s an exact copy of Avristin. But…” He sighed. “You know me well.”

  “I do,” Tavros said fondly. “So, instead of you pacing, I want to go ahead and teach you how to meditate. If nothing else, it should calm you down. You also seem more awake now than you were when you finished scrying with Thyran.”

  Valis’s sigh turned into a groan. He turned around and walked straight into Tavros’s chest, relaxing when his husband wrapped him up tight in his arms. “Yeah. And I need to contact him again to let him know what I found in that scry. But it can wait until after the meditation lesson, I suppose.” He let himself take a moment to bask in Tavros’s warmth and strong arms, then squeezed him and backed away. “All right. Let’s get this done.”

  Tavros laughed as he grabbed Valis’s hand and led him from the office. “It will be relaxing, you silly shit. You said that like you were facing a death sentence.”

  For once, or perhaps all too often, Valis wished he didn’t have to adhere to duty. But hopefully, learning to meditate would be less fraught with obstacles than when he learned how to scry. Either way, he trusted Tavros when it came to his need to learn things that his husband could teach. No matter how much they didn’t get along in the early days of their relationship, Tavros had always been fair when it came to lessons in both scholastic aims and physical training. He had little doubt that now, after they had married, Tavros would be this enthusiastic about a lesson if it would be exceedingly hard to learn or teach.

  To Valis’s surprise, Tavros didn’t take him to their chosen room. Instead, they ended up in a warm conservatory where three of the walls consisted of glass panels. The muted sunlight made the fresh snow glitter and sparkle. The fires in the two hearths kept the space warm. Still, there were luxurious blankets in royal blue on the two white sofas and three intricately woven wicker chairs, and pristine white cushions lay strategically placed around the area on the floor, their size just right to lie down and watch the fat snowflakes drift in lazy swirls to the small drifts that seemed never to build up. Valis briefly wondered if it was magic. Then he felt the magic hum across his skin and consciousness, confirming his suspicions.

  “Take a seat on one of the cushions,” Tavros instructed. “Get comfortable with your legs in the knot position.”

  Valis chose one that had the best view of the splendor outside. Once he sat down, he arranged himself to Tavros’s specifications and relaxed into the plush luxury. He pulled the blanket over his legs to ward off the slight chill that the two hearths couldn’t chase away and gave his husband his full attention.

  “Comfy?”

  Valis grinned and nodded. “Now what?”

  “Keep your posture straight and rest your hands on your knees, palms up.” When Valis complied, Tavros sat across from him. “Close your eyes and take slow, deep breaths. In for the count of eight, out for the count of eight. Clear and calm your mind, focusing on only the numbers and of the feeling of filling your lungs until you’re completely relaxed. Then once you reach a level of consciousness where you can feel and hear everything around you more crisply, turn your focus inward and into wherever you feel your power manifesting.” He grimaced. “Unfortunately, that’s as much as I know. Anything after that, you have to figure out on your own, because that’s not an exercise I was ever taught. They never taught us to find where our power comes from, only how to draw upon it and put it to use.”

  Nodding, Valis closed his eyes and worked to relax his body further. “If I can clear my head enough to scry, I can clear my head for meditation. Good thing it took me forever to learn to scry, otherwise this might be harder than it sounds.”

  Tavros chuckled. “This is a completely different animal. Now hush and do as I told you.”

  Valis opened his eyes and winked at his husband. “Yes, master.”

  “Cheeky shit.”

  Grinning, Valis closed his eyes again and let himself relax. Clearing his mind took a few minutes. Every time a new thought entered his head, he acknowledged it and let it drift away into one of those little rooms in his mind that he used for splitting his focus. Aenali had taught him that useful trick, and now he used it to let himself just be.

  With the way his consciousness settled, he could feel his birth father, Roba, as a warm, glowing light in his mind, a ghost who had somehow lodged in his consciousness for an unknown amount of time. Now that Roba had been purified and was no longer abusive, Valis took comfort in that warm feeling and let himself drift even deeper into his mind.

  That’s when he heard it. His hearing sharpened, Valis could hear the whisper of snowflakes as they fell onto the curved glass roof, and could track their descent down the slope that kept the snow from accumulating into a weight that the glass couldn’t bear. The shushing sound the flakes made as they hit the snowdrifts below calmed Valis even further until he could hear sounds of others walking throughout the manse. Tavros’s quiet breaths sounded like he was breathing directly into Valis’s ear. When he compartmentalized the sounds that filtered their way into his mind, his shoulders sagged, and he fell even deeper until all he could do was feel.

  “That’s it,” Tavros whispered. “Let everything go and turn your focus inward. Follow your magic to where it originates, and find a way to expand it.”

  How Tavros could tell he had reached such a heightened consciousness, Valis couldn’t tell. Was it due to their bond? How much had it grown? He pushed the thought aside with a soft smile and did as his lover instructed, calling upon his magic and following it within himself to its origin.

  It seemed too easy. He mentally followed the trail of what looked like braided light and darkness toward his solar plexus, then followed tendrils that wrapped around his guts like the way the Kalutakeni and mercenaries lashed down their supplies into the wagons. At least now he could see why his stomach pitted so hard.

  In the center, he saw what looked like what he imagined to be a shared barrel, half with roiling black magic and half with intensely bright but gentle light. But rather than staying in the “barrel,” they both pulsed and sloshed over the sides, splashing around inside Valis in unconstrained waves that kept growing and receding like rolling tides that Valis had no power over… yet.

  It almost seemed like liquid storm clouds, and Valis felt the storm surge throughout his entire body, like lightning shooting through his core and limbs, lighting up his brain like a funeral pyre. The barely controlled chaos seemed to grow wilder with every slow, deep breath Valis took.

  Shouldn’t it be tamer with as deep into relaxation as he had gone? Why was it surging so violently? More importantly, how did he expand that container so that his magic wouldn’t slosh and spray everywhere like miniature geysers?

  After a few moments of watching the epic mess that lived inside him, someone tapped him on the shoulder.

  Valis whipped around, his hands balling into fists automatically. He pulled his right arm back, ready to swing. But the moment he saw who had touched him, all the fight left him and had Valis gasping. “Dad?”

  Roba seemed stunned. He reached out a shaking hand to touch Valis’s face. “My son…”

  “Am I still meditating?” Valis asked. “Because I’m pretty sure this is impossible on so many levels.”

  Roba tilted his head, his eyes going distant for only a moment. “I believe your meditation slipped into dreamwalking. However, it is highly irregular. You are dreamwalking inside your body, which is not how dreamwalks are supposed to happen. They simply do not work that way.”

  Valis snorted. “Apparently it does. Or this is something else that we’ve never encountered before.”

  “Possibly,” Roba said. He rolled his wrist, motioning to the wellspring of Valis’s power. “Th
is isn’t supposed to happen, either, but it is. This is why your eyes were turning colors, not just because you forced your power into your eyes. You either need an outlet, or you need to make this damnable well larger.”

  While Valis took a moment to ponder that, he studied his father. Roba looked exactly as he had in life, but instead of his face infused with rage and hatred, he looked… free. A slight sincere smile lit up his relaxed face as he studied the anomaly that lived inside Valis while he organized his thoughts.

  Roba was about to say something when Valis spontaneously pulled his father into a tight hug, startling Roba into returning it without thinking.

  “Are you all right, Valis?”

  Valis smiled. “I am now.”

  Roba tutted. “You are a strange child.” But he held Valis just a little tighter. His hands fisted in Valis’s shirt. He rested his forehead against Valis’s ear, let out a soft sigh, and whispered, “I thought I would never have this.”

  “Aw, Dad…” Valis stroked Roba’s hair back. Even as his power roiled around them, it seemed to calm the longer they clung to each other. “If meditation can give us this, I may do it more often when this war is over. I promise, okay?”

  Roba shivered and whispered so softly that Valis had to strain to hear, “If I don’t disappear. This could still be temporary.”

  “Don’t do that to yourself, Dad.” He backed away just enough to look Roba in the eye. “What have you taught me?” When Roba didn’t answer, Valis continued. “Don’t waste your time worrying about something that may never come to pass.”

  Valis poked Roba in the side and turned back toward the well of power that pulsed within him. “Now. What do we do with this mess?”

  “Unfortunately,” Roba hedged, “I only know of one way, and you don’t have time for that.”

  “What is it?”

  Roba wrinkled his nose and went back to staring at their current glowing problem. “Let it grow naturally as you gain power. But you are gaining power at an alarming rate by draining Qos adherents, and getting blasted with holy magic before you departed Avristin… I’m surprised it has taken this long for problems to arise.”

  Valis groaned and stared forlornly at the font of his power, wracking his brain to find a solution. He sighed. “I don’t suppose grabbing the edges of the well and pulling will work, would it?”

  His father choked on a snort. “I doubt it would hurt to try. And if it does, we can stop immediately.”

  “Then grab an edge, and let’s get our hands dirty.” Valis stalked over to the edge of the well and grabbed the side, squinting hard as the light from his holy magic nearly blinded him up close. It was so bright that when Roba rounded to the other side, he could no longer see his father.

  “I am ready when you are, my son.”

  Valis took a deep breath and let it out, closing his eyes. He concentrated on expanding the well exponentially, silently willing his font to heed his orders. “Now.” Valis pulled with all his strength. He heard Roba’s labored grunts and pulled harder. It strained against him, but he felt it give, just enough for him to have to take a step back.

  It seemed to take forever. Valis started to fatigue, but he kept pulling, taking another step back, then another, and another. Then, without any warning, as Valis envisioned it blowing up into a walled-in lake, he and Roba went flying backward.

  “Valis?” Tavros’s worried voice filtered into his meditation. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m okay,” Valis whispered for his husband. “Just a few more moments.”

  The moment he descended back down into the pit of his magic, he saw the lake he had envisioned. His magic coiled and undulated gently, lapping at the edges with much room to spare. He called out to Roba and heard him groan before muttering, “Warn a man next time.”

  With a chuckle, Valis rounded the expanse until he found his father and helped him up before tugging him into a tight hug. “I would, but I didn’t realize it would work. I should have remembered my own training, and that which you gave me. It reacted to my will, surprising me, and we both went flying when it obeyed.”

  “I’d rather not fly again,” Roba groaned. “The landing isn’t pleasant.”

  Valis smirked, but refrained from teasing his father. “All right. We won’t go flying again.”

  He paused and glanced at the lake. “Do you think that’s big enough?”

  Roba glanced over at him with a blond brow raised. “You cannot be serious.”

  Shrugging, Valis bumped shoulders with him. “I’m very serious. But I’ll keep an eye on it. I’ll be meditating every morning if I can get up early enough.”

  “Just don’t tire yourself out,” Roba warned. “Make sure you get enough sleep.”

  Valis smiled and ducked his head. “Promise.”

  “Good. Now, go back to your husband,” Roba said gently. “You have much to do yet.”

  “Yeah.” He gave Roba another tight, warm hug. He lingered a little too long but wasn’t willing to let go. Roba pulled back and squeezed Valis’s biceps. “Go now. I will still be here when you next meditate.”

  Nodding, Valis took a few steps away, drinking in the sight of his dad, then opened his eyes to the real world. Tavros sat staring at him and grinned when he realized Valis had come out of his trance. “Did it work?” Then he tilted his head. “It must’ve. Your eyes are blue again.” Valis had pushed black magic into his eyes to read a few of Braywar’s documents that had literary wards on them, and his eyes had turned black. When Thyran complained, Valis had shoved golden magic into them. Thankfully, only his irises had turned gold, or he would be a little more upset than he was. Now, he was relieved. If they were blue again, Thyran would hopefully stop worrying.

  Valis stretched his back, groaning when a series of pops and cracks sounded in the hushed quiet of the conservatory. “It worked,” he said once he relaxed again. “Now, let’s—”

  The world went black. The sensation of falling made Valis cry out. And the last thing he heard was Tavros calling his name.

  Chapter Two

  Valis groaned inwardly as his vision came back in waves. Did he faint? When he tried to look around to see what happened, he groaned again. The place reeked of power and sex. His host had a manic smile in place, spreading his arms wide as he basked in the magic that flooded the cramped room. The man’s erection pressed against his rough robes, and the friction and a sudden surge of overwhelming power made Valis’s host’s back arch with his powerful orgasm.

  “It is done, Master,” he called once his brain returned to its normal functioning. The man’s voice echoed through the room though there was no logical way for it to do so with how cramped the space was. Valis cringed inwardly as his host stepped forward, lifting a woman’s head by jerking her hair back. The woman wore a simple black robe, and it looked like she wore nothing beneath. She barely flinched at the abuse, but an erotic groan left her as the power rolled over everyone present.

  “We must prepare for the other three anchors,” a man said from the back of the room. Valis’s host tried to see the speaker, but there were too many in the room, and Valis’s host was too short to see over anyone’s head. All he could see was the top of what appeared to be a gilded, high-backed throne. “If we are fortunate, we will have the first of them in place before the first thaw of spring.”

  Valis’s stomach swooped. Nausea bubbled up in his throat, and his heart started racing. Could he and his army make it before first thaw? First thaw could be anywhere between the months of Protection and Ambition, depending on the year. Hopefully, with the frequent blizzards this year, first thaw would be delayed. But even so, they weren’t planning on creating a new anchor on the day of the first thaw. They just wanted to make sure it was done before then.

  Valis let out a string of curses in his mind. This complicated things too much, and turned Valis’s brain to mush as he tried to figure out a way of first, seeing if this vision was past, present, or future, and second, finding an exact date for the
second anchor’s induction other than “before the first thaw of spring.”

  He expected to wake up from his vision at any moment, but as bodies milled about the room, reveling in the power that still had yet to dissipate, Valis started to worry. Why wasn’t he waking up?

  “Kesin,” the one called “Master” said with a rolling purr.

  Valis’s host went rigid. “Yes, Master?”

  “Take the ritual items to the vault.”

  “Yes, Master.”

  Kesin glanced around, then headed into a bloody circle and picked up a few items, carefully stashing them in the many pockets his robes possessed. Valis looked eagerly, but there was nothing he could find of interest. Still, he memorized the contents, and soon they were on their through what would be the Hall of Communion if this were Avristin. The guards at the doors to the reliquary scowled at him but reluctantly opened the doors to let Kesin pass on the orders of their Master.

  After a few brief interludes where scholars stopped Kesin for quick, somewhat friendly chats, he went straight through the reliquary and then used his own power to open the magical door that led into the vault.

  When he raised his eyes from the floor and started rooting through his pockets, Kesin’s gaze fell upon a single clay jar with an aged patina that said it was exceedingly old. Valis gasped internally as he recognized it from when Thyran had allowed him to touch the god jars. Qos’s jar sat on a pedestal against the back wall. He finally had a location.

  Kesin drew his eyes toward a display case and started cleaning and putting the ritual artifacts away, and as soon as he cleaned a dagger and put it in the case, the world went black again, and again Valis felt like he was falling through a vast abyss.

  “He’s waking up,” Tavros said. “Brogan, get the door.”

  “On it,” Brogan said. A moment later, Valis heard a door open. He shivered until he remembered to magically adjust his internal temperature.

  “Watch his head,” Tavros ordered. “Help me get him onto the bed.”