“Dul Graiphen,” the emperor said. His eyes took in Graiphen’s robes. “Or should I say Ultim Qardon?”
“I serve the empire and the temple both.” Graiphen bowed again.
The emperor shook his head. “I fail to see how that is possible. Too many times, the two worlds conflict. For example, I understand your temple was responsible for the deaths of twenty people in the square and that your priests executed two senators in the street. Have you come to present yourself for justice? To ask for mercy?”
“Your highness, Braetin’s temple had nothing to do with the deaths of Duls Eliam and Tarsten. I swear this to you. We were framed to draw your attention. And the acolytes of Braetin gave themselves willingly, as her servants have the right to do, according to the law. The others who died in the square were an unfortunate accident. Surely the crown cannot hold me responsible for accidents?”
A voice floated to Korbin’s mind. Hurry, Octavia said.
“If I could interrupt?” he said. “I’m really sorry to be rude, your highness, but we’re here to tell you something important.”
The emperor raised his eyebrow in a way that made Korbin feel about as tall as a flea. “You must be Dul Korbin.” He glanced at Graiphen. “I fail to see the resemblance.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Korbin said without thinking, and the emperor barked a laugh. The emperor had a strange sense of humor, but Korbin thought he must be quite bored with all the bowing and ceremony. Surely he’d want to just get to the heart of the matter.
“Be quiet,” Graiphen hissed at his son. “Do you not realize who you’re talking to?”
The emperor chuckled. “Let him talk, Graiphen. Do tell me what has brought you here.”
Emboldened by the emperor’s encouragement, Korbin continued. “Your host Dul Seba. We have proof that he’s practicing black magic. He’s the one that was behind the attack on my father, the one that led him to take refuge in the temple to begin with. He’s abused me and others. We believe it likely he has some hold on the other members of the Council as well. According to the Kilovian conduit who taught him, he bears a grudge against all of the Council of Eight and their families. He’s determined to kill or destroy us. He’s the one who killed Dul Eliam and Dul Tarsten.”
The emperor stared in silence for a moment, then blinked slowly. “That’s quite a list of accusations. And based on the word of a foreign witch. You have proof?”
“I don’t, but—” Korbin began, and Graiphen spun to face him.
“Are you insane? You and your witch companion told me you could prove Seba’s corruption.”
The emperor frowned. “I think it’s time you both went. Dul Graiphen, I will not strip your title until your crimes have been assessed, but you’re no longer a member of the Council of Eight. Confine yourself to your temple or your residence until such time as a trial can be arranged.”
“Wait, please,” Korbin said. “I’m not saying there isn’t proof. There is. It’s here. In this house.”
The door opened and an older man walked through. He looked harried and distressed. “Your imperial highness,” he said. “I’ve been concerned.”
“Seba,” Graiphen muttered. “What are you doing, bursting in here uninvited?”
“Quiet,” the emperor said. His voice was low, but commanding. No one dared breathe. He turned to Seba. “You’ve looked ill all evening and keep disappearing.”
“Forgive me, your imperial highness. I think I ate something at midday that made me feel poorly all afternoon. A bit of spoiled fish, perhaps.”
“Spoiled fish,” Graiphen muttered.
The emperor turned to Korbin. “What is this proof you speak of?”
“Proof, your highness?” Seba asked, looking mildly concerned.
“Of your black magic,” Graiphen said.
“Surely you don’t put any stock in such nonsense,” Seba said to the emperor.
“I’m here to investigate what has been happening in the city, Seba. Earlier today, you denounced Graiphen to me, saying he and his son both had practiced dark arts, that he had two of my senators killed, but you offered no proof. These two say there is evidence. If there is, I will see it.”
“I am to be insulted in my own home by this boy and his crazy father? You know of the rumors of his ill health, your highness, but perhaps you do not realize his illness was of the mind. It’s tragic, of course, but we should not listen to his ramblings. His son could be forgiven for his bad manners, naturally, but we mustn’t indulge them too far.”
Korbin addressed the emperor. “He’ll be wearing some kind of talismans of Kilovian witchcraft. Next to his skin. Objects of power he crafted himself. They will have hair, blood, and bones attached. The most powerful substances in those arts. I expect there will be four, assuming he no longer wears the ones attached to Duls Eliam and Tarsten.”
Seba’s temper boiled over. “Next to my skin?” he spat. “So you want me to strip down to prove my innocence?”
“Yes,” Korbin said.
“This is outrageous,” Seba shouted. “I will do no such thing.” He turned to the emperor. “Call your guards. Have these men removed.”
The emperor didn’t even blink. He stood completely still. A perfect silence fell on the room.
Seba stuttered, realizing what he’d done. “I mean, if it please you, your highness. Forgive me, I beg you. I’m in a state of utter exasperation.”
“Dul Seba,” the emperor said. “Take off your clothes.”
The Dul blanched. “Your imperial highness, surely—”
“Do it or my guardsmen will help you.”
Seba’s face went red with anger and a string of curses erupted from his mouth. A look of pure hatred warped his face, and he flung himself at Korbin, his bony fingers outstretched to wrap them around his neck. “You!” he shouted.
Before he could cross the distance, the imperial guard had swarmed the room. “Arrest him,” one of the guardsmen ordered. “Protect the emperor.” Two placed themselves between the emperor and Seba, and the others pulled the wiry old man away from Korbin.
Even Graiphen looked shocked at the transformation in Seba. The once quiet and reserved Dul was spitting with fury, shouting and kicking.
“Pull back his robes,” the emperor said. “I want to see this ‘proof’ for myself.”
“Be careful,” Korbin warned, then quickly added, “your imperial highness.” He bowed. “Anything you find might be very dangerous and should be disposed of properly.”
“My temple can assist with the disposal,” Graiphen added.
“Or my friend Octavia will help. She’s quite an accomplished practitioner. She’s been working to protect all of us tonight.”
The emperor listened but didn’t answer. Instead, he nodded to the guardsman, who began to strip Seba’s clothing off. The old man fought, but couldn’t stop them from revealing the objects he wore around his chest. Six tiny heads wrapped in wire with little barbs distorting the features fashioned into a necklace. One looked alarmingly like the emperor himself.
“Don’t touch them,” Korbin warned the guardsman. “Put them in a sack but don’t expose your skin. I’ll take them to Octavia.”
The emperor curled his lip in disgust. “Do as he says.” Turning to Korbin, he added, “I’d like to meet this Octavia. She is Kilovian?”
“Yes, your imperial highness,” Korbin said, watching the guardsman carefully remove the objects from Seba’s chest. “And if I might, Dul Seba should be checked for other objects. He probably has a workroom here in the house. It will need to be cleaned by someone who knows what they’re doing.”
“Braetin’s servants are pleased to assist in this,” Graiphen said.
“Very well,” the emperor replied. “I will be pleased to have the temple’s help in this matter.”
“Of course.” Graiphen smiled and bowed.
Seba began to laugh hysterically. “It doesn’t matter. Your witch is dead,” he said to Korbin.
“Octavia,” Korbin said. Without another word, he ran for the door.
“She couldn’t best me. And I will not be silenced about the evils you both practiced against me.” He turned to the emperor. “She was taught by the same witch who taught me. She cannot be trusted.”
Chapter 26
Octavia’s eyes opened and she felt no pain. The white, misty air curled around like smoke, but it smelled faintly of jasmine. She’d always liked that scent.
“I’m dreaming.” Her voice echoed as though she were in a cave, although the mist kept her from seeing any walls.
“Perhaps,” said a familiar woman’s voice. Trinity.
Octavia turned and saw her sister, sitting beside a clear pool. The area grew clearer, and she could see large willow trees and soft mossy grass. “Trin?” she asked, but she knew that face, that voice.
Her sister smiled and held out her arms, and Octavia ran toward her. She knelt on the grass and wrapped her sister in an embrace. Hot tears ran down her cheeks. When she pulled back, she realized they were both crying. “I’ve missed you so.”
“It’s seemed like the blink of an eye for me,” Trinity said. “How many years have passed?”
“Six.”
Trinity frowned, as though trying to understand the passage of time, but in the end, just shrugged. “Well, we’re together now.”
“I’m dead?” Octavia asked. She’d always feared death, but now wondered why. It was softer and so much more pleasant than life. No worries, no pain.
Trinity nodded.
“What is this place? Are there others here? Is Rhikar here?” Octavia had never been certain about the existence of an afterlife. The teachings of the One dealt mostly with the realm of men, although other realms were mentioned, some only reachable through death or the elevation of the soul.
“This is a between place,” Trinity explained. “I’ve been sent to meet you, to talk to you about the realm of men. To ask you to return.”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Most don’t,” Trinity said. “But the realm of men is in danger from the one you know as Braetin and the others of her kind.”
“The eight Spirits of Light and Shadow?”
“Yes. They do not belong. They were driven back before, but at great cost. The temple of Braetin has been lured into recalling their goddess, and in doing so, have invited terrible things into the realm, things that will, in the end, cost all of humankind. They may be the destruction of the One.”
“Is that possible?” Octavia asked.
“Our realm had a beginning, and so it may have an end.”
“What if it ends?”
Trinity shrugged. “All things end.”
“It cost me my life to defeat Seba, and he was a mere human, aided by the dark side of the One. Braetin is so much worse. I was able to confine her only because she was not watchful, and even then, only for a few moments.”
“Your success is not guaranteed,” Trinity agreed.
“What help can you offer me?”
Trinity smiled sadly. “None.”
“I’m on my own?” Octavia stared, disbelieving.
“You’re never on your own. I can perhaps guide you, but the dead cannot exist in the realm of men. You know that.”
Octavia nodded and stared into the distance, thinking. “It hurt so much there. There is pain and suffering and betrayal.”
“Your road has been difficult lately. There are good things, too.”
Korbin’s face sprung to Octavia’s mind. Now that Seba was defeated, Korbin would be restored. He would likely go on with his life, but what would that life entail? “If I return to battle these interloping Spirits, the road will be even more difficult than before.”
“Yes,” Trinity said. “I expect so.”
Octavia sighed. “All right. I’ll go.”
Trinity smiled. “I knew you would.”
“Yes, I suppose I did, too.”
∞
Korbin stood in the garden, staring at dark branch covered with cherry blossoms. Spring had come early this year, and for that, he was grateful. The winter had been bitter, in more ways than one.
“Dul Korbin?”
He turned and saw one of the nurses the emperor had ordered to watch over Octavia. “Yes?”
“She’s awake and asking for you.”
Korbin smiled. “Thanks.”
Octavia had woken for the first time only a few days before, but she still slept a lot. The healer said he’d never seen someone wake at all after so long and so deep a period of unconsciousness, so he had little to offer in terms of whether or not the process was normal.
Korbin had yet to speak with her, having never been at the palace at the right time, so he trotted through the corridors of the emperor’s home in Vol, not caring a whit about protocol. He had to see Octavia.
When he arrived at her room, another nurse was combing Octavia’s hair while a third washed her face.
“Korbin,” Octavia said softly, shooing the women away.
When the last nurse reached the door, she said to Korbin, “We’ll be right outside if she needs us, Dul.”
“Thank you,” he said.
Now, seeing her awake, he hardly knew what to say. He’d sat beside her bed so often while she slept but had not been convinced this day would ever come. Now that it had, he felt strange and awkward.
“What day is it?” she asked.
“Friarsday,” he told her as he approached.
“So it was only yesterday that—”
“No. I’m sorry. It was two months ago.”
Octavia pressed her head back into her pillow, suddenly looking pale. “I’m all right,” she said finally. “Two months? It’s seemed like the blink of an eye for me.” The phrase seemed familiar, but she couldn’t remember why. “Where are we?” She looked around the opulent room with its fluffy white bed and elegant furnishings.
“The emperor’s palace just outside Vol.”
“Is he here?”
“No, he returned to the capitol after Seba’s arrest.”
“And your father?”
Korbin frowned. “The temple has been quiet of late. No more deaths, though.”
“You haven’t seen him?”
“No,” Korbin said. “I haven’t wanted to.”
Octavia smiled. “He did what he had to do. I asked him to call Braetin.”
“Did she help you?” Korbin asked. “When I arrived at the temple, they said you betrayed their mistress. If they hadn’t believed you dead already, I’m not sure what they would have done to you.”
“She protected me while I prepared, yes, but in the end, she tried to seduce Seba. I had to stop her.”
Korbin chuckled. “You stopped a goddess. What does that make you?”
“Foolish,” Octavia said. Her expression told him she was only half-joking. “I couldn’t have maintained it for long. And as you say, if I hadn’t been already dead…”
“But you weren’t dead,” Korbin said.
Octavia smiled. “Of course not. I’m sorry. I’m still a little dazed. I feel so tired.”
“Do you feel like getting out of bed?”
“Soon,” she said. “But maybe not today.”
“Okay,” Korbin replied.
“I’m surprised you’re here. I thought you’d be off to the sea.”
Korbin frowned. “I couldn’t leave you. I told the emperor I wouldn’t make any decisions until you recovered.”
“Decisions?” Octavia sighed and closed her eyes.
She looks exhausted, he thought. “I’ve been asked to take a place on the Council of Eight. With four places vacant, the emperor has been making appointments. It’s been difficult to get him to wait this long.”
She turned her head and met his gaze. “You don’t want to do it?”
“I don’t know. I suppose I’ll have to do something, and being a messenger isn’t exactly what the emperor has in mind. Honestly, I never thought I’d have to make
decisions based on what he wanted.”
“Mm hmm,” Octavia muttered, her eyelids fluttering closed. For a moment, Korbin watched her sleep. They did what they’d set out to do. They’d stopped Seba and released Graiphen from his influence. In doing so, they also prevented him from doing further harm to Korbin as well as the remaining four members of the Council, all of whom had been affected by Seba’s witchcraft. Dul Ursin was now the head of the Council, by the emperor’s appointment, and life was returning to normal for most people. But Korbin doubted his life would ever be normal again.
Soon, he’d have to make decisions, get on with life. Octavia would have choices, too. Maybe she’d even leave Vol. Thanks to the emperor’s public gratitude and acknowledgement that as with all things, Kilovian witchcraft had both a good side and a bad one, her face and name would be well known, even more so than when they were wanted criminals.
All of that would wait, though. For now, he wanted to watch her sleep as he had done so many times over the past weeks. He knew now that he’d fallen a little bit in love with her, but also that he could never tell her. A sense that they were about to be ripped away from one another grew within him, the belief that their lives would be driven apart by tides they couldn’t control. For now, he had just this moment, and he would savor it.
A Note from the Author
Thank you so much for reading Spirits of Light and Shadow, the first book in the Gods of Talmor series. If you enjoyed it, please take a moment to leave a review at your favourite online retailer.
I welcome contact from readers. At my website http://www.indiadrummond.com you can contact me, sign up for my newsletter to be notified of new releases, read my blog, and find me on social networking. Follow my Facebook page to hear about upcoming releases and giveaways.
—India Drummond
The Gods of Talmor series
Book 1: Spirits of Light and Shadow
Dark magic spreads throughout Talmor’s second largest city, threatening to disrupt the balance of power between the temples and the senate. Soon, the most powerful man in the city is cursed, and only his estranged son Korbin can help. With the assistance of Octavia, a Kilovian conduit schooled in the magic of the One, Korbin seeks to help his father—and find redemption. When an ancient Spirit of Shadow sets the pair in her sights, however, their hope of redemption and restoration fade, and they seek only to survive.
Spirits of Light and Shadow (The Gods of Talmor) Page 26
