Sworn To Conflict: Courtlight #3

by Edun, Terah

  Sebastian waited a moment. Clearly expecting something.

  The general glared at him and then slowly he lowered himself to one knee, head bowed. His men quickly followed suit. The sky continued to darken with ominous dark gray clouds as the winds picked up fiercely, and Ciardis saw flashes of lightning in the distance. She knew it was Sebastian doing all of these things, and she felt visceral fear at their approach. For the first time Ciardis—and, she suddenly realized, the men surrounding her—truly felt respect for the Prince Heir. Sebastian had done more with his powers in a blink of an eye than any of those that surrounded him could do: He called the land, the sky, and the ethereal to his bidding.

  Out of the misty form a voice that she had last heard in the Ameles Forest emerged. “Welcome, Prince Heir, I serve.” The Land Wight had joined the festivities. A distinct crack of lightning marked the Land Wight’s entrance, descending down in the middle of the group, inches from Prince Sebastian, lighting his face in an impressive display.

  “We all serve the imperial family,” said General Barnaren from where he knelt, looking at the ground. His men echoed the statement, and like a wave, “We all serve,” spread throughout the camp.

  Finally the lightning dissipated and the rumbling of the earth quieted.

  Ciardis breathed a silent sigh of relief.

  “General,” said Prince Heir Sebastian in a steady voice, “we must speak, and we must do so now. There is nowhere in this camp where we would not be overheard, so forgive my request that it be here and now. You may rise.”

  The general stood with a wary look in his eyes. Not fear. Calculation.

  The Prince Heir turned to the Land Wight. “If you would cast the spell.”

  To Ciardis, he said, “Join us, Weathervane.”

  She stepped forward, as an ally and a mage, next to the Prince Heir.

  “Join us, General.” A command. Not a request.

  Barnaren stepped forward and waved for his men—common soldier and commanders alike—to stay where they were.

  A barrier of sight and sound descended around the three. A gift from the Land Wight. And the meeting to decide the fate of the war began.

  “General,” said Prince Heir Sebastian, “I’m going to be forthright. I hope you will, as well.” His tone was one of steel.

  “I have never been anything less, sire,” the general said. He wasn’t backing down.

  Ciardis realized that power for power, mage for mage, the two were about even. It was the experience that made the general so much more than Sebastian. But even that experience weakened in the face of the imperial prince’s righteous ire.

  “There have been things I’ve seen. Disturbing things,” the prince said softly.

  “Such as?”

  “A leaderless army with shades at its beck and call. A Sarvinian band of kith claiming genocidal slavery...”

  The general didn’t interrupt this time.

  “And a commanding general who does everything in his power to keep the hidden nature of this war from me,” Sebastian ended in a dangerous tone.

  The general exhaled with a soft breath. “So you’ve found out, eh? Your father warned me that you were a smart one.”

  “My father is the emperor of these lands,” replied Sebastian, “And I would appreciate you not invoking his name to belittle me in this conversation. It is only you and I. You and I who will emerge from this meeting. And only I will make the decision of whether or not to have your head served on a platter for treason against the people of this empire and an unprotected land.”

  The general snapped, “You impudent whelp. Whose orders do you think I answer to?”

  Lightning crashed around them as if sensing the heir’s anger and responding.

  “Mine,” Sebastian growled.

  Before the general say more, Ciardis stepped forward, “Are you saying the emperor ordered this concealment? This genocide?”

  The general turned to her with narrowed eyes and spit out with contempt, “If you had stayed in your place, in your tent, none of this would have happened.”

  The look in his eyes made Ciardis take an uncertain step back. But Sebastian stepped forward. “Watch your tone and answer her!”

  In a cool voice, the general said, “This was done for the greater good.”

  “The greater good of whom?” said Ciardis in disbelief. “The kith who die under the lash in the darkness of the mines? The people of Sarvinia, who live in fear of enslavement?”

  The general let out a tired sigh as if the world was on his shoulders. “For all. For the people who die underneath the evil that will come if we don’t do everything in our power to stop it.”

  Sebastian said, “What evil?”

  “How can your evil possibly outweigh the evil you have done in those mines?” Ciardis spit out in a furor.

  The general laughed with a bitter tone. “Child, you speak out of innocence. You speak of a moral evil when I talk of the evil. A creature so virulent, so chaotic, that it will wipe out every land that it touches when it comes. The blutgott.”

  A hush came over the three.

  “The blutgott? I’ve never heard of it,” said Sebastian.

  The general turned in his eyes to the Prince Heir. “Only ten people in this empire know of its existence. Its name has been wiped from history. It was last seen during the Initiate Wars, and ever since then we’ve been fighting to keep it chained.”

  Ciardis licked her lips. “And if it’s unleashed?”

  “Death and destruction of everything in its path,” said the general flatly.

  “How have you kept it chained?” said the Prince Heir in frustration, “and what does that have to do with this damn war and the kith enslavement?”

  “For two hundred years, a regiment has been posted on this border to watch for the signs of its emergence. To warn of the blutgott’s coming and heed the instructions of the mages gone long before,” he said with resignation. “The mages knew that eventually the enchantments would fail. They only imprisoned it for a limited time. They didn’t destroy it. They couldn’t. Fifty years ago the foot soldiers you saw at the bottom of the cavern began appearing. One by one. They stayed there. They didn’t leave. Initially we planned assaults on them. But they kept coming. They never fought back farther than the sides of the canyon. The more we killed, the more appeared. And so we left them. We feared what it meant but there was nothing a small band of army soldiers could do.”

  “And the kith slaves?” Ciardis said resolutely.

  The general turned his angry eyes to her. “What did they tell you?”

  “That they were Sarvinians that escaped the mines and found the Sanctuary here. That you’re looking for them and will press them into servitude at any cost.”

  “All true.”

  Sebastian said, “Why?”

  “Because it is only the kith who can work in the mines to find the object sought. The one that legend says can open the gateway to the bluttgott’s home and strike it down before it rises. And we certainly can’t take the kith from the Ameles Forest to do it.”

  In rage, Ciardis said, “And that justifies the evil that you’ve portrayed? An object?”

  “Do you even know that it will be able to accomplish what the legends suggest?” asked Sebastian.

  “That’s not the point,” snapped Ciardis.

  “That is the point,” said Sebastian, his eyes steady upon the general’s. “Can it do what you say it can?”

  “It can, Your Imperial Highness,” said the general softly. “All the mages and the lore confirm it.”

  “What is it?” questioned Sebastian.

  “We don’t know,” the general admitted. “We only have the knowledge that it was swallowed deep in the mines long ago and is the only thing that can send the blutgott back to the hell where it belongs.”

  “How long before we must face this blutgott?”

  Ciardis stood silently, a stormy expression on her face.

  “Could be as soon as two we
eks, but no more than two years.”

  Sebastian nodded. “Very well. I don’t agree with your methods, and I certainly don’t agree with the tactics. You will cease hunting the survivors in the Sanctuary immediately and we will see if we can negotiate a more amicable workforce for the mines.”

  “In a deadly environment without telling them what they’re seeking or why?” Ciardis still wasn’t happy. They both ignored her.

  “One more thing, Prince Heir,” the general said. “Did the Sanctuary leaders tell you why else I’m hunting them so relentlessly?”

  “I only know of the mines.”

  The general nodded and said sharply, “That’s because the Daemoni are lying Sarvinian bastards who serve their own cause.”

  She shook her head. “You’re wrong.”

  “No, I am not,” he said icily. “These Sarvinians want one thing and one thing only. Death and destruction. They don’t care how much it costs. No, there is no kingdom of Sarvinia. Yes, we fabricated it in order to hunt and chain the free kith who live beyond the mountains. Why? So that our own people wouldn’t know what goes on up here. So there wouldn’t be panic. Wouldn’t be fear. But we are not fools. The Daemoni serve one master across all lands. Whether they are Sarvinian or Algardian, the Daemoni have, and always will, serve the blutgott. They did so during the Initiate Wars, which was part of the reason we eradicated them and hunted them down. There are no more Daemoni in Algardis for a damned good reason.”

  Ciardis took in a sharp breath. She knew Sebastian heard it from the slight shift of his body. She didn’t care. That’s it, she thought. I’ve had enough.

  Before she could speak, Sebastian turned slightly and cautioned her, “Let’s hear him out.”

  The general turned directly to Ciardis Weathervane, his voice mocking. “What did they tell you, Weathervane? That their only concern was to protect their people? They didn’t lie then, but they left out a key fact. The Daemoni only care about the Daemoni. They damn sure don’t care for any of the other kith races. They’re servants of the blutgott and they will do anything to free him.”

  Sebastian said in the pained silence, “Such as?”

  The general turned to Prince Heir Sebastian. “Like getting two young and dumb Weathervanes to fire up a crystal so they can drain the life force of every kith in the Sanctuary.”

  Ciardis couldn’t be silent. Not anymore. “Why would they do that?” her voice was quiet, shaken.

  The general turned to her. “Because they can.”

  Sebastian shook his head. “They must have a reason to concoct such a plan. To convince Caemon and Ciardis. They didn’t even know she’d be there.”

  The general sighed. “The drained lives will be enough to boost their powers. Enough to crack open the doorway a little wider to their blutgott.”

  “You’re wrong,” Ciardis said. “I was just in Sanctuary; no one was harmed.”

  “Then go, Weathervane, go and see what the throwing around of your powers has wrought,” the general said softly.

  The Land Wight dropped the barrier and Ciardis raced off, Kane right behind her.

  *****

  Behind her, Sebastian and Barnaren faced off. “You knew. You knew where she was all along.”

  “I suspected. I knew there was nothing I could do about it,” the general said.

  Ice formed in Sebastian’s voice. “We could have done something about it. We could have helped her.”

  The general laughed. “I have been searching for that thrice-damned sanctuary for two years. It’s impossible to find. Searching for it would have brought nothing but more deaths of my soldiers in the snow.”

  Sebastian said, “That wasn’t your decision to make.”

  The general stepped forward and leaned down to whisper in Sebastian’s ear, “As long as you’re making decisions because of love instead of using your head, the decisions are mine to make.”

  “Now,” said the general loudly enough for the surrounding soldiers to hear, “upon your orders, Prince Heir, it’s time to hunt down some Daemoni murderers.”

  Sebastian realized he had missed his chance. The general had grabbed back the mantle of power, the soldiers’ approval, with a single well-timed statement. If he backed down now he would be seen as a coward, unfit for leadership.

  “Yes,” said Sebastian with conviction.

  The roar of approval from the soldiers was deafening.

  Chapter 23

  Ciardis raced to the horses. She was unconcerned that Sebastian wasn’t following behind. She also wasn’t worried that she had no idea how to get to the Sanctuary. She had a feeling that her itchy hand knew just where to go. She was startled to see soldiers running past her to the stables. When more than ten outdistanced her she stopped, turned, and snagged the closest one.

  “What’s going on?”

  He halted, panting. “The general and Prince Heir Sebastian have called up the troops. We’re heading out for the Daemoni.”

  She shook her head, baffled. “They have no idea where they are.”

  “The general does now,” he said. “Something to do with a crystal and energy readings.”

  Ciardis blanched. She had to get there before they did. Shaking, she dropped her magical barriers and sought out the power that resided in her hand. With a smile she saw the blue cold of power radiating just under the golden color of her own gifts. It lurked almost hidden until she sought it out specifically. Coaxing it forward gently, she grabbed at the power and got it enough in her grip that she knew she could open a geisttor instinctively. Or, rather, her hand could.

  Before she could jump, Maris came rushing up in a fury out of nowhere.

  She bared her teeth. “I’m not going to stop you. But the gods know what you’ll get yourself into without me. I’m coming with you.”

  Ciardis didn’t question her. She simply grabbed on to a furry paw and they jumped together.

  Her fear triggered the power of her hand and she was off in a dizzying whirl of power into the air. This time the geisttor became visible as she flew up into the sky and through the power-filled door. When she arrived, she was dropped from the air straight down. Falling four feet down, smack dab in the middle of the Sanctuary.

  Breathing slowly, Ciardis scrambled up, not believing her eyes. There were bodies everywhere. Most were stiff with cold and rigid from death. She choked back a sob as she went from body to body, searching for signs of life. They were all dead. Not a mark on them. Mother, child, father, brother, and sister. All of the kith of Sanctuary were dead. Shuddering, she slumped to the cold ground in detachment.

  She startled minutes later as she heard clapping.

  She turned around to see Thanar walking toward her with three other Daemoni. His hands slowly clapped in a taunting way.

  She shouted, “How could you?”

  He looked around in genuine surprise. “How could I what? Kill these inferior beings? It was easy.”

  Her lips pulled back in a growl. “You demon.”

  “It’s Daemoni,” he said mockingly. “Where that name comes from, actually.”

  “Why?” Ciardis asked. “Surely you had enough power.”

  Thanar smiled a cruel smile. “Silly human. This isn’t about power. It’s about opening the gate to the blutgott’s plane of existence. It’s the only way”

  “What’s the only way?” she said. “I don’t see any blutgott here.”

  Thanar shook his head. “It can’t just be one kith race. The sacrifice must come from many, including four of my own.”

  Ciardis narrowed her eyes. “You’re saying that you need to die.”

  He shrugged. “A means to an end. But first, I’m genuinely curious, didn’t your mother ever teach you to fear my kind?”

  “My mother’s dead,” said Ciardis tightly.

  “Oh. Well, now you’re about to join her,” he said, conjuring up a giant fiery ball in the palm of his hand.

  “I don’t think so,” said a tight voice.

  Ciardis
couldn’t believe her eyes. Behind Thanar stood Barnaren, Vana, Sebastian, and twenty of his men.

  “How?” she choked out.

  “I knew you’d go for the Sanctuary,” said the general. “I had Vana track you and had another of our team create a geisttor of our own.”

  Ciardis swallowed, thankful for once that the general was there.

  “I suggest you surrender,” said Sebastian softly, “and answer for your crimes.”

  Thanar sighed loudly, as if this was all a joke, and raised up his hands. “I surrender.”

  It took no more than a few minutes to chain the four Daemoni and take them back to the Algardis camp. A trial convened. Conveniently judged by the general and prince heir. When Ciardis fought her way to the front of the scene, she made her way impatiently to the prince heir’s side by elbowing some stomachs.

  Around him soldiers were cheering. Sebastian had just pronounced a death sentence in front of them all.

  “You don’t need to be here, Ciardis.” A flat statement from Prince Heir Sebastian. He worried that she would blame herself. For the deaths of all those in Sanctuary. She did blame herself, but that didn’t cloud her judgment. Something was wrong here. Something key.

  Sebastian was a fool if for one minute he thought she couldn’t feel the emotions flaring in his mind like an angry torrent: worry, anger, fear, and more worry. She didn’t use that against him directly. But she wasn’t above reading his emotions to find out what was going on. The crazy thing was that most of that worry, fear, and anger wasn’t directed at Ciardis.

  It was directed at the four Daemoni in front of her.

  Ciardis let out a shaky breath and watched as a cold mask dropped over Prince Sebastian’s features. His eyes were dark green in the cold northern air as their breath misted out in the morning air.

  “Don’t do this,” she pleaded.

  He frowned. “It was done the moment they drained those people.”

  She shook her head angrily. “He’s up to something. Thanar is—I can feel it. This will only serve the blutgott’s cause.”

  This time, Vana Cloudbreaker interjected, “Their death will serve the blutgott’s cause? I don’t think so.”