He smiles and pats me on the shoulder. I try to look grateful, but all I can think about is getting out of here. Unfortunately, the sudden appearance of Lady Flitt and Azi tells me that’s not going to happen any time soon.
“I’ll be on my way,” Victer says. “Unless you have something more?”
“No, thank you, Victer. Mya will settle up with you.” Azi turns to look at me while Flitt wanders around the room and Victer shows himself out. Her brow furrows as her eyes meet mine.
“Can you see well?” Azi asks me.
“Oh, your eye!” Flitt gasps. She tries to skip over to me but her feet get tangled and she stumbles into Azi again. “Honestly!” she groans.
“What happened to you?” I ask her.
“Well, I grew myself up,” Flitt whispers conspiratorially, “but I think I got the feet wrong.”
“Flitt has come to talk to His Majesty,” Azi explains.
“Right!” Flitt agrees as she scowls down at her feet. She screws her eyes tightly shut and we all watch as they shrink a size or two. “That’s better, I hope,” she murmurs. Then she sniffs her shoulder and wrinkles her nose. “Can’t do much about the smell, though, I guess.”
Azi gapes at her for a moment, blinks, and then turns to me again.
“Apparently there’s going to be a visit in the morning from an assembly of them…” she trails off and looks to Flitt again.
“Yes. The Ring chose a whole group to come. They’ll be arriving at dawn to meet with His Majesty. I was sent ahead to give some notice. I just wanted to check on you first. I promised Ki,” Flitt nods. “So if you’re okay, I’ll be on my way.”
“Yeah,” I push myself up. Test my feet on the floor. Stand up. I feel amazing. Not just healed, but like I could do anything. I glance across at Maisie. I know exactly what that anything’s going to be.
“There’s something else,” Azi says. “That coin. Do you still have it? Rian was asking after it.”
I shove my hand into the pocket of my crusted, tattered short pants and pull out the coin. It glints in the light that Flitt gives off. I inspect the tower in the cloud design and remember the floating land in the clouds.
“I’ll give it to him,” I say to Azi. “If that’s all right. I need to ask him something.”
She looks at me like she’s trying to determine something.
“Do you know what it’s for?” she asks. I shake my head.
“Well,” she glances at Flitt, who shrugs at her. “All right. We left Rian in the hall. We’ll take you there, and then Flitt and I will go to the palace. Saesa?”
“Lady Knight?” Saesa perks up after being mostly forgotten.
“Will you please let Mouli know to check in on Maisie? Then meet us in the hall. I’ll need you by my side at the palace.”
Saesa’s eyes flash with excitement. She gives me a quick hug and then rushes out looking proud and excited.
When she’s gone, Azi turns to me.
“Rian,” she says quietly, “is just as distraught as you are about letting the boy slip through his fingers.” She glances at the coin. “While Flitt and I are at the palace, I hope you two don’t do anything reckless.”
She waits for me to agree, and then we go off together to the meeting hall.
When we get there, Cort and Bryse are gone and everyone else is just mulling around. Mya’s strumming her lute, Elliot’s sleeping. Lisabella’s tucked in a corner with Benen. Her peace pulses over him. Toward the back, at the table, Rian and Master Gaethon are bent over that wand. Everyone looks up when Flitt comes in. They all smile softly. Like they’re relieved she came back. Flitt doesn’t seem to notice.
Azi crosses to Rian and bends to kiss him.
“You have a stinky Mage stuck to your face again, Azi,” Flitt giggles. Everyone else laughs, too.
“We’re back to Stinky, are we?” Rian teases her without looking away from Azi.
“Oh, so much more so, now that my sniffer is the size of a burrowing mole,” Flitt pinches her nose shut.
Rian smirks and rolls his eyes.
“I see her charming personality grew with her,” he pushes to Azi, who laughs and shakes her head.
“There’s nothing left but to go to the palace, now,” Azi says quietly. She turns to the others, looking nervous.
“We’ve discussed it,” Mya says with a nod. “Gaethon and I will escort you. If His Majesty intends to question you, I think its best if I’m there. And if they hold you for some reason, Flitt will need another escort.”
Gaethon smiles warmly at Flitt. She pretends not to notice. Instead she clings to Azi’s arm, looking impatient. She only lets go when Azi and her parents exchange hugs. Benen looks like he’s definitely unhappy with the plan. Lisabella looks worried. So does Azi. Nobody argues, though. It must have been some discussion they had.
Saesa comes back while Azi and her parents and Rian and Gaethon are whispering conversations. With nothing else to do, she comes over and hugs me. Really tight. I pat her arm with one hand and wriggle free as she kisses my cheek.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” she whispers.
“Don’t do anything rash,” Gaethon’s words to Rian echo Saesa’s.
I watch Saesa go with the group. She looks small beside the rest of them, except for Flitt. Small, but determined. Beside me, Rian chuckles.
“What?” I ask him with a scowl. He shrugs and grins.
“She’s pretty, don’t you think? Saesa?” His brow goes up. When I don’t reply, he grins and shakes his head. “Don’t look at me like I have two heads, Tib.”
“What’s that got to do with anything?” My fingers curl around the coin in my pocket. “She’s Saesa.”
“Aha. All right then.”
Beyond him, Lisabella and Benen laugh. I don’t get the joke.
“We’ll be off as well,” Lisabella says quietly. She stands up and offers Benen her hand. I wonder if he knows how much power she has over him with that pulse of hers. Wonder how much his temper would control him if she let it.
After they leave, Rian glances at Elliot, who’s been asleep this whole time. I know why. He’s the same as Margy and Zeze, except for him, he’s a fox. I wonder if she told the king yet. I wonder if she’s safe.
Beside me, Rian clears his throat. He leans down and looks me in the eye.
“That’s new,” he says.
“Yeah,” I rub my eyelid absently.
“The healer did a good job. Not even a scar,” he looks harder. “So what’s it do?”
“Is it obvious it does something?” I ask. He shrugs, and I tell him how I could see Azi and Flitt through the wall.
“That’ll come in handy,” he exclaims.
“I’m going back to the keep,” I whisper. “I have to get him back.”
To my surprise, he gives me a slight nod, then tips his head toward Elliot.
“Now, Tib,” he says loudly for Elliot’s benefit, “you heard what Master Gaethon said. We mustn’t act rashly. We must go about this with caution. I’m to interview you about what you saw in there. I’m to write it all down so there’s a reference for later. Then we’ll go to Nessa’s and fetch Loren and wait for Master Gaethon to return. Those are my orders. Do you feel up to it?” He glances again at Elliot.
I nod. I get it. He’s got to do this first. We huddle at the table together. I tell him as much as I can remember about the keep. Everything I saw, both inside and out. He asks good questions and gets more out of me than I thought I knew. It doesn’t take long.
“Well,” Rian leans back against the wall and takes a deep breath while he looks over the notes. “This should be enough.” He looks at me with a glint of mischief, then glances at Elliot and leans closer. “Do you have the coin?” he mouths.
I pull it out and show it to him. He nods.
“Let’s hurry to get Loren,” he says loudly again. “I hope it’s not too late to call.”
“Nah,” I say. “Nessa stays up reading, and she’ll be glad to see me, I think.”
&n
bsp; We slip out into the street together. As we pass by a column of guards, he straightens up and looks confident. Like he’s doing exactly what he’s supposed to be doing and there’s no reason for them to be suspicious.
“Rian,” I say when they pass. “What about Errie?”
“Loren first,” he whispers. “We’ll get him back to the hall. After that, I have a plan to get us to the stronghold.”
“Just you and me?” I ask. My heart’s racing. “How?”
“That coin. I figured out what it does,” he says. “It opens a portal. It’ll bring us right there.”
“But you could do that anyway,” I whisper. “Couldn’t you? Through the Half-Realm?”
“Not this time,” he says. “From what Da said, it’s too well-protected. It’s risky as it is, since I’ve never been there myself. If we use their portal, it’d be easier.”
“But they’d know, wouldn’t they? They’d be able to tell someone used it.” I think of the keep. All the magic. All those Sorcerers. Rian is a powerful Mage, but he’s only a Mentor. There’s no way he can stand up against forces like that on his own. “We need a better plan. There’s too many of them not to have one. Even if we do get there and manage to stay in the Half-Realm, it’s dangerous.”
“That’s true,” he nods thoughtfully. “I’m impressed, Tib. You’re usually a lot less cautious.”
I clench my jaw and scowl. He’s right. I usually just jump into these things. “That’s what got Errie taken. I won’t risk him again by getting us killed before we can get him out of there.”
“The good news,” Rian says, “is we have time.”
“What do you mean?” I ask as we reach Nessa’s street. It’s late. Nearly midnight. Moonlight glances off the cobbles. The face of the manse is washed in blue from the moon and yellow from the lamplight.
“It’s complicated,” Rian rakes his fingers through his hair. “The ritual they’ll be performing. The spell. It requires Errie to be in perfect health. They’ll take some time to pamper him. To heal him up. Get him fed and happy. Then there’s a period of waiting. Acclimation, they call it, where they’ll put him in close to Eron.”
He pauses and closes his eyes, like he’s trying to push the mental image of it away. I picture it, too. Maisie’s son, in that dark place.
“So, what? They put him in a room with a corpse?” The thought of it makes my stomach churn with anger again. “That’s disgusting.”
“Our hope is we’ll have him out of there before they get to that part,” Rian closes his eyes and shakes his head.
The Ganvent Manse is mostly dark, except for a single light in the sitting room window. Nessa’s waiting up. I feel a pang of guilt. I’ve been gone a while. I think of how happy she’ll be to see me. How relieved. I’m glad I have Nessa to come home to, no matter what. I’m so excited to see her that I take the steps two at a time, throw the door open, and rush inside.
“Nessa!” I call eagerly. Rian closes the door behind me. Maybe it’s because I’m not expecting it. Probably because I never would have thought of it. The sight of the Sorcerer bowls me over. Osven. Here. The foyer spins. I stumble backward into Rian, who is quick to utter a spell. I feel the wards settle over us. I allow them to protect me.
“Nessa!” I scream. My heart thuds in my throat. If he did something to her, if something happened, I swear I’ll make him suffer. I’ll make him bleed.
“Don’t worry,” Osven purrs to me. “Lady Ganvent and I have become quite well acquainted, though her current accommodations are not quite as lavish as these. Pity the admiral couldn’t be here to see her go, but, as you know, he had an important shipment of books to oversee. They, too, should be making their way into our hands soon. They will make for quite a library. It is really rather remarkable how well crates of books can float when the ship carrying them has been obliterated.”
“No,” I whisper.
“Foolish of you,” he takes a couple of steps forward. Picks up a dainty figurine of two playing children from Nessa’s hall table, “not to ensure the safety of this place. I was surprised to find it left so utterly vulnerable. Quite an unfortunate misstep, to be certain. I did, after all, offer some warning that we were aware of the manse and your association with it. It would have been prudent to send a warning to the Lady Ganvent and her husband.”
He’s right. I should have warned Nessa and the others. I should have made sure there were wards. Guards. I was careless. I took this place for granted. I push the thought away. Try to think rationally. What he’s saying can’t be true. Admiral Ganvent is smart. Strong. He’d have protections, himself. He’d be prepared for an attack. There’s no way his ship was attacked. Osven’s just trying to get a rise out of me.
“What about the others? What did you do to them?” I growl at him. Reach for a knife from my belt. Behind me, I feel Rian’s energy building. The wand is pulsing with it. I sense his hand around it even though my back is to him. He’s ready to cast. When he does, it’ll be devastating.
“A little drain is all,” Osven waves his hand dismissively. “They’re comfortably nestled in their beds. I’ll spare them and return their mother,” his eyes darken, “if you agree to come with me.”
Behind me, Rian’s unspoken spell reaches its peak. It’s ready to be unleashed. He moves, just slightly. Osven’s eyes flick to him. The figurine in his hand bursts into flames.
“Do not be a fool, Eldinae,” he says calmly and moves to set the flaming statue back onto the wooden table.
I look upstairs, toward the bedrooms. Just like before with Azi and Flitt, I can see them through the walls. Not in detail, just in outlines. The kids are up there, asleep. Loren, too. If it’s like he said, if he drained them, they have no chance of waking, even in a fire. They’ll die. Osven follows my gaze. While he’s distracted, I reach into my pocket for the coin. I sneak it back to Rian.
“Find me,” I mutter, and then I step out of the wards.
“Don’t,” he pushes to me, “there’s got to be another way.” There isn’t, though. We both know it.
“Let’s go,” I say to Osven. “Before I change my mind.”
“Impressive. Though…there’s brave and selfless, and then there’s just plain foolhardy,” Aster pushes to Rian. Her words make me pause.
Osven eyes me with that same hunger he did the first time we met. This time, though, there’s something else there. Triumph. Ownership. I feel my healed eye pulse. My attention is drawn away. In the closed pantry behind the Sorcerer, I see her. A woman, tied up. I try hard not to react, not to let him see what I’ve discovered. He’s a liar. He never took Nessa. She’s been here this whole time.
“Come, now,” the Sorcerer beckons me greedily. He knows he can’t force me. I can only go willingly.
He doesn’t expect me to attack him. He’s so haughty with his own power and distracted by Rian’s threat of a spell that he forgets me, again. My lips curl back and I charge him before he can even think. I crash through his wards like they’re nothing and hit him with the full force of my weight. He flies backward with a very un-elflike grunt and skids across the floor with me straddling his bony chest.
His crackling hands claw for my throat. The charge of lightning coming from them would kill me if I was anyone else. If I couldn’t do what I can do. He’s too weak to even strangle me. His hands are too frail. They’re trained for spells, not for combat. I claw them away from my throat easily. Raise my fist. Punch his filthy, lying mouth.
“Who’s a fool now?” I spit at him. “Coming here with no guards, thinking you can lie and get me to do what you want? Did you forget the last time I attacked you? Did you think I wouldn’t do it again?”
He lies stunned. Wide-eyed. Panting. Shocked that I’d dare touch him. I swing again and his head snaps to the side. That gets him going again. His eyes flash with rage. He raises his hands. Whispers. Behind me, something crashes and sizzles. I grab his hand and bite his wrist until I taste blood and feel bones crunch. He screams. Claws at me
with his free hand. Gasps in pain.
Rian shouts something behind me. Sleep spell. The pink cloud settles over us. Osven’s eyes don’t even close. He just laughs.
“What are you?” he growls with a sneer past me at Rian. “Fifteenth Circle? Sixteenth? And not even a hint of the Mark. Not a shadow of it. Your spells cannot touch me, Eldinae. You’re too weak. Too Light.”
I feel the power behind his words. They’re entwined with a spell that streaks past me. It sways Rian. Fills him with doubt.
Osven thrusts his uninjured hand upward. The ceiling cracks and crumbles. Chunks of plaster break free and crash down. I raise my arm to shield myself and fight the urge to roll off of him. I won’t let him get away.
I brace myself for the barrage of plaster, but just before it strikes us a heavy wind gusts through the foyer and sends it spinning away.
“Sorry I’m late,” comes a whisper from Rian’s general area.
“Not at all, Shush,” Rian pushes.
Osven whispers. I don’t have time to react. All around me, the wood of the floorboards splinters and crackles. Spikes of wood poke up, writhing. They shift and change and slither. A dozen of them. A score. White fangs drip with sickly poison. The serpents eye me hungrily.
“I’ll call them off,” Osven hisses much like the snakes. “It’s not too late to agree to my terms, Nullen.”
I have no idea what sort of spell it is. I’ve never seen one like it. I know it’s very possible if these are actual serpents, they could kill me with a bite. I catch myself actually considering his terms, until a conversation between Rian and Shush interrupts my train of thought.
“Yes, they’re certainly real serpents. Very impressive.”
“Impressive and easy enough to…” Rian’s voice trails off.
The pink cloud forms and settles again. The snakes coil up and go still, sound asleep.
“I’ll distract him,” Shush pushes.
He sends another gust of wind that catches my breath. Osven screws his eyes shut and turns his head away from the blast. It’s so strong my skin ripples under the force of it. My hair feels like it’ll tear out by the roots. Osven and I start skidding away across the floor. Out of the range of the snakes. Onto Nessa’s flower rug the admiral brought from Elespen. The vines on it pulse and grow plump and alive. The green tendrils wind around Osven’s mouth first. They bind his arms. Twist around his fingers and squeeze his hands closed. I jump off as they curl across his body like a hundred leafy ropes.
Call of Brindelier (Keepers of the Wellsprings Book 3) Page 29
