by David Wells
If Isabel was dumbstruck, Abigail was indignant. “You lie!” she said flatly with defiance flashing in her pale blue eyes.
Magda shook her head gravely. “That is why we brought you here. When we saw both a man and a woman with Reishi blood approaching the Reishi Isle, we sent riders to retrieve the woman and kill the man because we assumed he must be Phane. Sky Knights who are not of the maternal line of the Reishi Coven cannot see the bloodline, so they took you both. It’s vital that we learn the truth of you and your brother.”
“The truth is simple,” Abigail said, still angry, “Alexander and I lost our brother to the Reishi and since that day, Phane has been trying to murder us. He’s sent beasts from the netherworld, soldiers, assassins, and wizards to try to kill us. Since that day, we’ve been struggling to survive and fight back. We never asked for any of this.”
Magda’s expression hardened a bit and Isabel knew they were coming to the heart of the matter. “What is Alexander’s purpose on the Reishi Isle?”
Abigail and Isabel looked to each other only briefly before Isabel answered, “I will not betray him.”
“Very well then, let me speculate,” Magda said. “The Sovereign Stone is trapped in the aether within the Reishi Keep. Your husband entered the Keep this morning and not long after, a force of Andalian Lancers led by General Commander Jataan P’Tal of the Reishi Protectorate entered the Keep in spite of our best efforts to stop them.”
Isabel and Abigail looked at each other with both elation at hearing that Alexander was still alive and fear for his safety.
“I suspect he intends to retrieve the Sovereign Stone,” Magda continued, “although I’m unsure of his reason. If, as you say, he does not know he is Reishi, then what can he hope to accomplish by bringing the Stone out of the aether? How does he expect to accomplish such a difficult task? Does he not understand the danger to the world if Phane gets the Stone?”
Isabel’s mind raced. Magda had guessed so much. If she was truly trying to keep the Sovereign Stone from Phane, then they had the same purpose. It was even possible that they might form an alliance. The Reishi Coven would be formidable allies against Phane.
But if they were actually agents of Phane, then they may be trying to determine if Alexander could actually retrieve the Stone so they could decide whether to let him proceed in hopes of stealing it from him the moment he succeeded. She decided that the truth was the best course. If they were truly on the same side, they might help Alexander, and if they were working with Phane, it would buy Alexander time if they believed that he could retrieve the Stone from the aether.
She looked to Abigail before she answered. Abigail nodded, clearly thinking along the same lines.
“Alexander is trying to prevent Phane from getting the Sovereign Stone,” Isabel said. “Phane already made it to the Reishi Keep once in spite of your best efforts to stop him. He tried to use the powersink to get the Stone, but it didn’t work, so he went to the Temple of Fire to use the powersink there, but the dragons chased him off.
“He won’t stop until he gets the Stone and we can’t allow that to happen. Alexander plans to secure it in the Bloodvault at Blackstone Keep where Mage Cedric left the Thinblade for him. The Bloodvault will only allow Alexander to enter and it can’t be breached, even by magic as powerful as Phane’s. The Stone will be safer there than anywhere. As for how . . . Alexander has bonded with a fairy named Chloe, and she will retrieve it from the aether for him.”
The three witches were leaning forward with great interest. When she told them about Chloe, they all sat back with a gasp. Isabel hoped she hadn’t revealed too much.
“That’s not possible,” Gabriella said, shaking her head. “The fairies have forsaken the outside world.”
Isabel smiled fondly at the memory. “Alexander and I were married in the Valley of the Fairy Queen. Ilona herself bore witness to our vows.”
Abigail nodded, smiling softly at the memory.
Magda composed herself with a visible effort. “Assuming what you say is true, you risk far too much. The Stone is safe where it is. Phane has already failed twice. He doesn’t have the power to retrieve it or he wouldn’t have needed a powersink.”
Isabel’s face went deadly serious as she slowly shook her head. “You’re wrong. The shades are loose. As soon as Phane discovers this, he’ll bind one of them to his service and he will have the Stone.”
All three witches stared in shock, fear, and disbelief. “How can this be?” Cassandra whispered.
Isabel looked down for a moment. She still felt a stab of guilt for her part in the shades escaping from the netherworld. “Alexander accidentally freed them,” she said when she looked back up at the three witches. “I was lost in the netherworld and he came in and saved me. The shades were waiting. They escaped when Alexander brought me back into the world of time and substance. I can tell you their names if you like.”
“No!” all three said in unison. Isabel smiled slightly. She had their attention. Before they could regain their composure, she pressed on.
“We’re fighting for the same thing. We both have more than enough enemies. Help us . . . please. Alexander can put the Stone beyond Phane’s reach once and for all. Call off your wyvern riders and stop trying to kill my husband.”
The three witches were impassive, although Isabel thought she saw a flicker of emotion in Magda’s eyes, but she couldn’t tell what it might represent.
“We must discuss what we’ve learned before we make any decisions,” Magda said. The other two nodded agreement. “If you will promise not to kill any more of my people, I will provide you with more comfortable quarters.”
Isabel and Abigail looked at each other and nodded slightly. “We will not harm any of your people for now,” Isabel said, “but understand, I will die from poison in three weeks’ time. If that happens, any chance we might have to form an alliance against Phane will die with me.”
Magda smiled warmly. “Mage Gamaliel gave me something to help with that. He said it will draw the poison from your body. We are examining the item and will administer the remedy once we’re confident that it will work.”
Hope flooded into Isabel. She could see the relief in Abigail’s eyes as well. When the guards removed the shackles, the sisters hugged each other and followed their guards to a much nicer suite of rooms with comfortable furniture, ample space, a bathtub, and a high balcony overlooking the ocean. Then they heard the guard bolt the door and the feeling of being in prison returned, even if it was far more comfortable and they had each other to talk to.
Chapter 50
Phane sat in his Wizard’s Den with his feet up on the table and a bowl of nuts cradled in his arm. He was looking through his magical mirror at Jataan P’Tal fighting his way into the tower chamber where the pretender was.
He had to admit that he was impressed how his young adversary had managed to retrieve the Sovereign Stone from the aether when he himself had failed twice. Of course, in all fairness, the pretender did manage to enlist the aid of the fairies.
Phane knew he would never be welcomed into Ilona’s valley. In fact, if he were to attempt to enter, the Fairy Queen would probably violate her highest law and send him bodily into the aether just like the shade had sent his father away. No matter. He was on the brink of victory.
Commander P’Tal quickly dispatched two of the pretender’s Rangers as he made his way up the staircase and into the room. Phane adjusted the view through his mirror as he popped another nut into his mouth. He was going to enjoy this. P’Tal moved with impressive speed. Phane had never known a battle mage before. The man was formidable, especially in close quarters.
He watched P’Tal advance on the pretender’s axe-wielding protector and chortled gleefully when he saw how easily the big man was bested. Phane dropped his feet to the floor and leaned in for a closer look as Jataan P’Tal slipped around the alchemist and raised his knife for the kill strike. The pretender was on his knees, holding something in his hand.
Phane’s mouth fell open when he saw that the item in the pretender’s hand was the Sovereign Stone . . . and it was glowing.
“That can’t be,” he said to the empty room.
Then Jataan P’Tal stopped his strike.
“No! No! No!” Phane spoke each word louder as he stood looking at the mirror in disbelief.
When he saw Commander P’Tal order his men to stand down, he tipped his head back and screamed in rage. He watched helplessly as Jataan P’Tal helped kill the Andalian Lancers, and he felt his rage build into something beyond murderous when he heard the General Commander of the Reishi Protectorate declare that the pretender was the Seventh Sovereign of the Seven Isles.
Phane sat back down heavily and stared at the scene of his greatest triumph as it morphed into defeat, and he felt hot fury well up within him, supplanting what little restraint he possessed. He stood quickly and stomped out of his Wizard’s Den into the well-appointed sitting room of his chambers in the modest keep on the southern Isle of Tyr.
He opened the door and barked to the serving girl sitting outside his quarters, “Bring me travel food for a month and a barrel of water.”
She didn’t hesitate. The rumors of Prince Phane’s temper and unseemly appetites were well known. She sprang to her feet, nodded, and ran off down the hall.
Phane slammed the door and paced back and forth in front of his Wizard’s Den, muttering curses and oaths of vengeance to himself while he waited. He stopped in midstride.
“Kludge!” he bellowed. His familiar appeared in a cloud of inky black smoke a moment later, beating its wings furiously to hover just below Phane’s eye level.
“Yes, Master. How can I serve you?” The little monster wrung its hands as it spoke with subservience and a hint of fear.
“Go to Karth and tell General Rada that the Gates are open. Tell him to invade Ruatha with all of his forces and to crush everything and everyone without mercy. Then go to Andalia and tell the Andalian King to prepare to move his Lancers through the Gate as soon as the army on Karth has moved through. Go now!” Phane barked the orders at his familiar, which only made it nod and wring its hands with even more subservience.
Kludge swirled into an inky cloud of darkness and vanished with a loud clap. Phane resumed his pacing until he heard a timid knock at the door.
“Enter!” he barked. The door opened and three young women filed in with two large bags of food and a barrel of water on a cart. None of them would meet his eyes. He regarded them for a moment and an idea started to form. He actually smiled, but without any humor at all.
“Put it in there,” he commanded, pointing to his Wizard’s Den.
The three young women stared in surprise when they saw the magical room. Everyone knew magic existed, but most people never saw any real magic, let alone something as wondrous as a Wizard’s Den. They loaded the food and water into the little room while Phane watched. When they stepped out of the Wizard’s Den, he waved his hand and the door vanished.
“Come with me,” he commanded as he went to his summoning chamber. The three young women followed, sharing nervous looks with each other. He held the door for them and then closed it loudly behind them. Then he threw the bar and cast a simple binding spell to hold it shut.
The three serving girls looked around at the bare circular room with a mixture of wonder and fear. Phane started chanting and their wonder dissipated as their fear grew. Everyone had heard the whispered stories of Dora, Phane’s first serving girl.
The air within the circle started to darken. Then it turned inky black and swirled into a great vortex that filled the magic circle to the ceiling. When the hateful yellow eyes started peering out of the darkness, one of the serving girls screamed.
Phane turned to them with murder in his eyes, roughly snatched the first girl’s arm and tossed her into the blackness. The other two screamed hysterically, backing toward the door as their friend was torn apart. He reached out with his magic and grabbed them both. With a flick of his mind, he tossed them into the circle with the nine nether wolves he had summoned.
He turned to the swirling darkness and listened to the dying screams of the three women he’d just sacrificed to bind the beasts of the netherworld to his will.
“Go forth and kill everyone on this island except for me.”
The nether wolves howled with lust and fury. Phane waved at the door; the bolt slid open and the door swung wide. He stepped across the edge of the magical circle, breaking the hold on the nether wolves. The nine beasts crossed the threshold and bounded through the door, eager to begin their slaughter.
Phane whistled to himself as he walked through the halls of the keep, listening to the screams of panic and death that tore through the night. He entered the stables and found the stable master hiding under a staircase, trembling in fear.
“Prince Phane, what’s happened? It sounds like the netherworld itself has come to destroy us all.”
Phane smiled at the man. “It has,” he said before strolling to his horse.
The animals were terrified from the sounds of death and fear, but Phane placed a hand on his horse’s neck and spoke a few words. The animal settled immediately. He saddled his steed and rode out of the keep. People were running in every direction, some moving to engage the threat, others fleeing the sounds of death and dying.
Phane fixed his rage on his target. He would skin Jataan P’Tal alive and boil him in salt water. He’d killed people that way before. The Reishi Prince remembered how satisfying it was.
When he got to the top of the hill half a mile away, he dismounted and tied his horse to a fence post. He faced the keep, extended his hands and started casting a spell. A bubble formed between his outstretched hands and filled with the swirling orange-red glow of liquid fire. It started out two feet in diameter but he fed more power into it, and the surface of the bubble undulated and rippled as it grew. Still he fed it and it grew even more. When he released the bubble, it was twelve feet across. It streaked toward the nearest tower of the keep, glowing bright and angry, and burst explosively, sending a shower of liquid fire down on the people, buildings, and streets below. Within moments the entire place was ablaze. Sounds of panic, terror, and the howling of nether wolves filled the night.
Phane nodded in satisfaction at the carnage and destruction he’d inflicted on the Reishi Protectorate. He knew they would serve the bearer of the Sovereign Stone. With the pretender bonded to the Stone, everyone on this island was now his enemy. Phane mounted his horse and rode toward the Reishi Gate, whistling to himself.
Chapter 51
Lord Zuhl, King of the Isle of Zuhl, the northernmost of the Seven Isles, stood atop the stone tower he had built so many centuries ago. He remembered stacking one stone on top of another until the modest little twelve-foot-tall structure was complete. He built it as a monument to his goal, as a symbol of his life’s work. He had come here often during the past seven hundred years to remind himself to be patiently persistent.
Kaja Zuhl smiled to himself. His long effort and consistent devotion to his singular purpose was bearing fruit.
When he inherited the House of Zuhl, it was little more than a minor territory on the southern coast of the island, but it was a proud house with a long and storied history. His family had ruled the Isle of Zuhl for two millennia, presiding over an age of peace and prosperity that had never been seen before or since. They had been loyal to the Reishi and to the Old Law—their loyalty had been repaid by betrayal, treachery, and murder.
When the secret of Wizard’s Dust was stolen from the Reishi, a number of secret Wizards Guilds formed as a result. One of those guilds was located on the Isle of Zuhl.
The wizards it produced were sworn to the Old Law and did good works for the people. Then the Reishi declared open war on any non-Reishi magic. The House of Zuhl helped the wizards go into hiding and protected them against the penalty of death that had been decreed by the Reishi Sovereign. When Malachi Reishi discovered that they were
harboring those he thought of as enemies, he declared war on the House of Zuhl.
At the beginning of the Reishi War, all seven of the Island Kings owned a Thinblade—each given to their line by the First Reishi Sovereign as a gift for their loyalty and as a badge of office, a symbol of the Reishi Sovereign’s support of their right to rule.
What none of the Island Kings knew was that the Thinblades could be used against them.
The Swords of Kings were tied to the power of the Sovereign Stone, and the holder of the Stone could release the ancient magic that bound a Thinblade. The result was a catastrophic explosion of magical energy capable of killing anyone nearby.
When Malachi Reishi discovered that Zuhl was protecting non-Reishi wizards, he detonated the Zuhl Thinblade and killed most of the Zuhl bloodline in one moment of indiscriminate murder. Only a few survived, but the Reishi Sovereign wasn’t satisfied with that. He wanted to eradicate the entire line of Zuhl for all time.
With beasts conjured from the dark realms of the netherworld, Malachi Reishi savagely attacked what remained of the House of Zuhl. He sent his inhuman minions to wantonly slaughter the people of the island, people who looked to the House of Zuhl to protect them. Seeing the indisputable evil of Malachi Reishi’s tactics, those of the line of Zuhl who survived the destruction of the Thinblade sided with the rebellion against the Reishi.
The Reishi War ravaged the Isle of Zuhl, leaving it broken and desolate for centuries. The scattered tribes who survived eked out a living hunting dangerous beasts that roamed the frozen wilds of the north and fishing the frigid waters in the south. It was a thousand years before the population of the island had recovered to the point where building cities even made sense. During those dark years, hundreds of petty nobles, more accurately described as warlords, staked out their territories and fought viciously to protect the scraps of mostly frozen and barren land they claimed.
