Sentinel's Dagger (D'Vaire, Book 2)

by Jessamyn Kingley

  “Dra’Kaedan, can you summon your familiar?”

  Dra’Kaedan shook his head. “I tried as soon as you told us what was going on. I can’t sense him. It’s like we’re no longer attached, although how that’s possible I have no idea, but Latarian knows some freaky shit, and now she has some moron helping her.” The warlock’s voice was beginning to rise in anger and frustration.

  “It is not possible, Geddy.”

  “Shit.”

  “What do the stones you spoke of look like? Perhaps someone has heard of them, and they have a unique origination.”

  “Milky white in the center. Edges are a light purple-blue. More purple than blue. They are the size of my palm. Each one is oval in shape. I have never seen or heard of such a thing, but it removes all my magic if I touch it. It’s very painful.”

  “Do not touch them again, Geddy.”

  Quickly describing the stones to their group, Gavrael was given nothing in return but confused faces.

  “We need the Prism Wizard. If anyone knows anything about some weird stones that rob magic, it’s Vadimas,” Drystan stated as he yanked out his phone and began dialing. The situation rapidly explained, Vadimas agreed to help, and Dra’Kaedan ported them all to the offices of the Spectra Wizardry.

  Wasting no time, Vadimas ran up to them and spoke. “I’ve never seen the stones you are describing, but I have heard whispers of such a thing. No one has ever seen them that I have met, but it has to be the power of the Cwylld elven. Only they are said to have an ability to drain magic.”

  “Cwylld?” Grand Summoner Dre’Kariston said the word with a snarl.

  “Yes, I know you and Dra’Kaedan did not engage in battle with any Cwylld during the great war that so decimated your people, but your parents and those loyal to them left behind correspondence that speaks of stones that seemed to drain magic. Even Carvallius mentioned them in his journals,” Vadimas explained.

  Laying a soothing hand on his brother’s arm, Dra’Kaedan spoke with none of his usual fieriness. “I thought the Cwylld losses were nearly as great as our own. How can anyone have these stones now?”

  Vadimas’s tone was as gentle as the Grand Warlock’s had been when he replied, “Their losses were steep, but a few dozen were thought to have remained.”

  Gavrael knew it was a touchy subject to the warlocks, and he could not blame them for their anger toward the elven tribe. However, if they did not act fast and find the survivors of that massacre, the list of Cwylld casualties might grow. “Where are the Cwylld now?”

  “I’m afraid we’re not sure. For obvious reasons, they weren’t invited to join the Council of Sorcery and Shifters when many other elven tribes joined us,” Vadimas answered in a conciliatory tone. The Council of Sorcery and Shifters was created by Dra’Kaedan and Dre’Kariston’s parents during their reign as warlock rulers. It would have been tantamount to a slap in the face of the Council’s creators to invite the very elven that had murdered them to join.

  “Vadimas, I know there were elven that did not join us when the Council relocated to North America. Do you have any wizard friends among the Consilium Veneficus who might have records of where the Cwylld were last known to have lived?” Drystan asked.

  “As you are surely well aware, the majority of wizards chose to stay in Europe. They formed the Consilium Veneficus and have allowed many strange rules and practices to flourish. The one thing they refuse to do is have any contact with wizards here. They consider us traitors to our own kind,” Vadimas explained, his voice rich with disdain.

  “If any of them are in North America, we will find them. Many Council elven tribes communicate with those that were either not invited to join or declined the invitation. I will begin contacting all the Council elven leaders and see if they know anything. If they never left Europe, then the fallen knights will be of little use to you. We have no jurisdiction, and we’re not welcome there,” Drystan said before striding off with his phone in hand. His Venerable Knights followed in his wake, and they too were busy with their phones. Hopefully, they would find the Cwylld here in North America; Gavrael did not look forward to a clandestine trip to find them.

  The Prism Wizard’s next words made that trip look more likely than Gavrael would hope. “We have kept records of all we can lay our hands on. I have never heard anything about any Cwylld here. They know the Council would not welcome them and might have found allies among the wizards there. Did you not say a young, powerful wizard was assisting Latarian? I would dearly love to assist you, but it would be too dangerous for me to venture into the territory of the Consilium Veneficus. We have so few powerful wizards it would leave the Spectra Wizardry badly crippled should I be unable to return. However, Delaney could be of some assistance perhaps. He is young in years, but his magic is very powerful.”

  “We left so fast thinking we would simply track Gedeon and Renny down we didn’t think this through. With all of the powerful tools in our D’Vaire arsenal, they are ineffective if we do not utilize them. However, any assistance Delaney can provide will have to be done from home. I wouldn’t feel comfortable bringing a teenager to a place where our wizards are so hated. Gavrael, has Gedeon seen any elven at all?” Aleksander asked.

  “Have you seen any elven?”

  “Elven? No, not a pointy ear to be seen. Why?” Gavrael quickly got his mate up to speed with what little information they had.

  “Anything distinctive about the teenage wizard?”

  “Gav, do not assume because he appears to be a teenager that he is one. While wizards can’t normally glamour their appearance, warlocks can, and Latarian could have altered his appearance, and remember…the Arch Lich looks like a teenager, yet we know he’s over seven hundred years old.”

  Gavrael acknowledged his mate was probably correct in not jumping to conclusions. It would not help them any if they convinced themselves of false logic.

  “If the fallen knights can’t be of assistance, it might be a good idea to contact Chander. He may not be able to help much himself, but surely with two additional sentinels, you can cover more ground. Although I cannot travel with you, please don’t hesitate to call me should you have any questions at all,” Vadimas offered, and they were soon saying their good-byes. Aleksander then informed the D’Vaire group he was taking Brogan and Dravyn up to the Office of the Emperor to inform the dragon leader of what had taken place. The rest of their group was soon heading to the office of the Order of the Necromancia to seek the aid of the Arch Lich.

  Chapter 20

  “Quickly Idris, we must alter our plan,” Latarian began as soon as she and the boy were out of earshot of the dingy room which now held the sentinel and Dra’Kaedan’s familiar. She would continue to lie about the identity of the conscious man in order to keep Idris from over-reacting about having a trained assassin under their roof.

  “Okay, but first I gotta check on Edion,” Idris said as he began walking quickly up the stairs while shouting the elf’s name at the top of his lungs. Latarian rushed up the stairs after the wizard and yanked his arm around so that he was facing her. She pulled her hand back and cracked it as hard as she could across the youth’s cheek and mouth.

  “How many times must I tell you I care not what happens to that filthy elf?” she asked him through her teeth as the boy’s blue eyes began to fill with tears. He was holding his cheek, which she was proud to see had a dark red imprint of her hand on it, and appeared to be quite upset.

  “We’ve been gone a long time. I just wanted to see if he was all right,” Idris mumbled between sniffles.

  “The elf is fine. We have a more important matter to attend to. We have an uninvited guest, and we must dispense with him.”

  “We could ask him to leave.”

  “You idiot, did you not hear me tell him he was unwelcome? No, he will not leave on his own. That is why you must kill him,” Latarian said and watched the boy’s tearful face go white.

  “I can’t do that,” he whispered.

  �
�You have no choice. He must die. He will ruin everything if he is allowed to live. Is that what you want? For everything I have planned for to be ruined? Do you wish me to go on living my life this way? With no power of my own? Do you intend I go on allowing Dra’Kaedan’s cruelty to me to go unchallenged?”

  “Well no, I mean, I know you need power. It’s just I don’t think I could kill someone. I mean it was hard enough for me to stab that familiar. Is he gonna be all right? He barely needed your spell to go to sleep.”

  “Idris, he will be fine. We will be sure of it. After all, it is his magic I need. Do you think me so neglectful I would allow him to be hurt or killed?”

  “No,” Idris agreed as he furrowed his brow. Latarian knew the boy must be suffering greatly as he appeared to be thinking much too hard. Idris had great potential as a sorcerer but it seemed to her such a shame he had not also been gifted with an intellect to match.

  “Good, then you understand we must do everything to protect the familiar so I might have his magic. That man in there could harm him. Surely you can see that. We must do something to protect him. You know I would do it but I fear I am no match for him. He is much larger than I. You are closer to him in height. It is you that must end his life.”

  “How? I’ve never killed anyone before.”

  “He is some kind of magickind. You can use the same blade you thrust into the arm of the familiar. You have had some practice with that now.” She wasn’t going to enlighten him to the stranger’s identity as a sentinel; she could only hope Idris didn’t manage to get himself killed before the assassin downstairs either lost his life or was drained of all magic. As long as their uninvited guest was drained, he was welcome to end Idris’s miserable existence. Now that she had Dra’Kaedan’s familiar to drain and bind, she would soon have no need at all for an annoying and whiny teenage wizard.

  “I guess but—”

  “It must be done, Idris,” Latarian interrupted. The boy seemed to still be conflicted, so Latarian decided to offer him a boon. “Go check on Edion. He will be happy for your concern. Then we will make plans for what needs to be done.”

  “I do wanna make sure he’s okay,” Idris replied as he wiped his nose across the sleeve of his worn shirt.

  “Go on then. Seek me out when you have completed your task, and I will assist you in formulating a plan to deal with the man downstairs. Remember, this will all be over soon, Idris. Then Edion will have his cottage, and you can visit him there whenever you like.” Latarian gave the boy a small push in the direction of the kitchen where she knew the elf was likely to be. Edion did not vary his routine much and generally kept to two or three rooms of the home. She was well satisfied that after his task was complete Idris would venture downstairs and take care of the sentinel. Latarian had not come this far to allow her plan to go astray now.

  * * *

  “Grand Warlock, I do not suggest this because I wish to put your familiar in any kind of danger, but if Gedeon were to teleport home, with three sentinels it may be possible to trace his magic back to Renny’s location,” Benton, the Arch Lich’s current sentinel offered.

  However, Gavrael had little confidence such a plan would help. If Renny was across the continent, they might not be able to trace past the massive ocean that separated North America from Europe. Not to mention that although it had been less than an hour since Gedeon had left the bookstore, he was unsure if he still had the power to teleport. Much to Gavrael’s disgust, he seemed intent on experimenting with the exotic stones stacked in the room that served as his prison.

  Gavrael explained all this to the sentinel and the Arch Lich. Neither one looked pleased with any of the information they had learned since the D’Vaire group had arrived at their offices. It did not help that the Grand Warlock’s phone buzzed almost constantly as his mate was not handling their separation well. Even in a building complex as well-guarded as the Council Headquarters, Brogan took his security duties very seriously.

  “I think we need to get everyone in one spot and compare notes to see if anyone has learned anything useful. Like Vadimas, I have never heard of Cwylld here in North America. When I turned the Council over to Emperor Chrysander, we invited many new people to join us. However, the one race that was never welcome was the Cwylld. Not that they would have likely accepted any invitation; they have always been a very private tribe. As far as I knew, they were living in small family-sized groups scattered across the British Isles, and I only knew of a handful of those,” Chander said.

  “I have no desire to have anything to do with the Cwylld, but Renny’s life may be in danger, and Gedeon needs to be reunited with his mate,” Dre’Kariston said.

  “I believe I would have some sense of where Gedeon was if he were on this continent,” Gavrael supplied.

  “Agreed. Gavrael, perhaps you and I should go speak with Alaric to see if there is any assistance he can provide. Chand, summon Baxter to protect you as soon as I leave,” Benton said, and the Arch Lich gave him a bored look.

  “I think I can handle a few minutes without a sentinel nearby. Hurry and see if your leader can help. Blodwen and I will resummon the two of you in ten minutes,” Chand replied. Without hesitation, Gavrael cast the spell that would take him back to the compound that had once been his residence.

  “How do we locate Alaric?” Gavrael asked Benton who had materialized next to him.

  “I’m not sure; I’ve only spoken to him from my own cell. Let’s start walking and see if we can find an office or something. We don’t have much time.” The two sentinels began walking down the hall with their gray cloaks pulled over their heads. Gavrael felt a strange tugging in his head that seemed to come from the building itself.

  “I feel strange,” Gavrael blurted out.

  “Is this your first time back since you were summoned?”

  “Yes.”

  “The strange sensation is the compound. It slowly drains away our memory. When you live here all the time or leave for only a few minutes you barely feel anything at all, but when you go away for days or more at a time and return you feel a pull on your memory. I believe it’s why we train constantly. If we didn’t, all our skills would eventually fade away just as our memories do. I asked Alaric about it once, and he didn’t seem to understand the question, but I suspect it’s because we don’t always have power over our actions. Necromancers can order us to harm or kill whoever they want. Should we be left with those memories, I doubt any of us would be sane,” Benton said in a hurried tone as they marched toward the end of the corridor. As they turned the corner, they found a small office with the door ajar. Inside the room, Alaric sat at a desk hastily writing notes on what looked like parchment. When he reached the bottom of the sheet, Alaric lifted it from the desk and it evaporated into dark smoke.

  His attention was then drawn to the two men standing in the doorway of his office. “Gavrael. Benton. A pleasure to see you both,” Alaric said as his eyes blazed their usual bright green. As quickly as they could get the words out, they explained the situation.

  Alaric’s mouth twisted before he spoke. “Gedeon’s life is not in danger. Should these strange stones drain every bit of magic he has, his life will remain. He can and will weaken, though. If these stones are as powerful as you say, he is probably already unable to move at our heightened speed. I am unable to leave all the sentinels here alone, but neither of you needs me. You have the skills to locate Gedeon and the warlock familiar. Sentinels never falter in a given mission. Trust your skills. If you cannot locate someone, their distance is too great for your senses. Sentinels are excellent trackers; you simply need to trust your instincts.” Gavrael believed his were calling for him to get to Europe as quickly as he could. It was a vast area to cover to find Gedeon and Renny, and the sooner they got there the better.

  “Thank you for your reassurance, Alaric.”

  “Though the timing may be poor, I would like to congratulate you on your matebond.”

  “Thank you. The others should
know such happiness awaits them as well.”

  “You haven’t the time to waste to discuss it at length, but the knowledge does not help them, Gavrael. They live here. They are unlikely to leave. It is unfair to be told you have a mate when you have no hope of ever meeting them.” Gavrael gave Alaric a nod to acknowledge his words and then felt the room begin to shimmer. Blodwen was summoning him back home, and he had Gedeon and Renny to find. The last thing that caught Gavrael’s eye before he left the compound was a dark banner behind Alaric’s chair. It was plain and had only two faded words that read Lich Sentinel. It was the first time Gavrael had seen the words but they were without a doubt Alaric’s never used but official title.

  As soon as the two men were back in Chander’s office, Benton spoke, “I guess Chand and I are headed to Europe.” Gavrael was relieved Benton’s instincts seemed to be pulling him in the same direction.

  “We need to let Drystan know about our plan. It’s important we keep as low a profile as possible. I’m hated by the wizards there. Latarian has one helping her and we have no way of knowing who he is affiliated with or how many others are close by. Although we are powerful sorcerers, we can be outgunned if they come in large numbers,” Chand said.

  “I agree with you. However, I find it hard to believe Latarian could have a large group of people helping her. She’s not the most pleasant person to be around,” Dra’Kaedan pointed out. The Arch Lich cracked a small smile and called Drystan to update him on the plan. While Chander spoke with the Reverent Knight, Dra’Kaedan took another call from his mate. Brogan, Aleksander, and Dravyn had completed their task with the Emperor, who, like the other Council leaders they had dealt with this day had offered what support they could.

  Since stealth was necessary, they would take no other dragons than the three D’Vaires. Now that the plan was set, the dragons headed over to Chander’s office so Dra’Kaedan could teleport them all back to the house to collect anything they thought could be of use. For Gavrael, it was an unnecessary stop; he already had everything he needed.