by Terah Edun
She didn't really have a reason why her anger was so heavily focused on Seven, but he triggered everything in her psyche.
He was evil, maniacal, and bad, her heart screamed at her. Not just because of his disposition, though.
In a way that she could not overcome with logic, she knew that whatever he was, it wasn't human and it wasn't whole.
With a lazy hand, Seven reached up to the collar of his shirt and undid the buttons to his waist, one by one.
Ciardis followed his fingers, mesmerized. They all did. But it wasn't an intellectual curiosity that had them riveted on his long, thin fingers.
No, it was the idea that in a few seconds those same digits would confirm the singular thought on everyone's minds.
Ciardis felt herself holding her breath in anticipation.
He stopped just before the last button and then flicked the shirt open with a flourish. A stripper revealing the long-awaited prize.
A golden-plated metal torque fell out of Seven's open shirt, and Raisa cursed.
It was the collar of Diamis.
Ciardis eyed it clinically. It wasn't so much a collar, but a broken piece of a necklace that had once been a solid gold diadem, which Ciardis was sure had once encircled a ruler's neck. This piece of the once magnificent whole still shone with the fire of a thousand suns as it lay against Seven's deathly cold alabaster skin.
Hanging between two silver metal chains, it shimmered in the light until Seven closed his shirt again and broke the spell, freeing them all as if he'd undone a spell from one moment to the next.
Seven began to climb down the stairs with a casual leisureliness. He stopped in front of Ciardis with a smile.
“Is this what you were looking for so diligently this morning?” His eyes fairly twinkled with mirth as he said it, and Ciardis couldn't help but wish for the ability to slap the smirk off his face.
But that would do them no good then or now.
So he knew all along, Ciardis thought bitterly. Their little charade had done nothing but given him a well-deserved laugh as they crisscrossed the city for something in his possession from the start.
Still, she didn't bother dithering around with niceties or trying to lie. “Yes,” said Ciardis. “I don't suppose you know what this is…and who it belongs to?”
She was holding out for one last miracle. That he had stolen it somehow. That it didn't belong to him, just happened to be on his person at the time.
Seven continued down the stairs. “It's mine. It has been since the day I turned twelve and found it alongside some very interesting objects in the treasury the fleeing council officials were so very nice to leave behind.”
Ciardis almost bit her tongue through while trying to be diplomatic and not say the wrong thing.
Fortunately, Sebastian stepped in and said suavely, “You know, then, that the collar of Diamis is an object of some desire.”
“And great magical importance, of course,” said Seven while turning to look back up at Sebastian with an expression that only could be described as sly.
“Of course,” said Sebastian.
“And as such,” Rachael said as she came to stand a step below Seven, “we need to authenticate its abilities.”
Seven looked at her with narrowed eyes. “And exactly how would that be done?”
Catching on, Ciardis said slowly, “If you'd take it off and hand it over?”
Seven smiled wickedly. “I'm not sure that's the best thing.”
“I assure you,” the shaman said, “we'd return it immediately.”
Ciardis hoped Rachael was lying, because she had no intention of returning the pretty bit of magical jewelry. Aside from the properties it may or may not have been bestowing on Seven, she'd rather have the necklace alone than with a wearer who was as blatantly evil as this one was.
She wasn't sure if the necklace could even be worn by another bearer, but if the probability that it could was anything greater than one-tenth, she was willing to take it. He freaked her out just that much.
Unfortunately for them all, Seven put a lid on that kettle before the plot had even fully hatched.
“As much as I would love to accommodate you,” Councilor Seven said with a look in his eyes that said he'd rather do anything but, “the necklace cannot be separated from my person.”
One of the older female councilors said as she came outside to see just what was going on, “Believe me, we tried.”
Seven smiled smugly.
Oiye hastened to add, “When Seven was a youngster and he first found that hunk of metal, we thought nothing of it. Long before the council had taken inventory of all the precious metals and jewelry that had been left behind in haste.”
“The others and my mother soon saw that much of it was useless,” Seven said.
Oiye nodded. “What use did we have for gold bars and emeralds when surrounded by a fortress wall in a city which was rapidly descending to anarchy?”
Sebastian frowned.
“We, of course, mean no disrespect to the emperor's rule,” Oiye added. “But nothing good could be done with what were previously known as precious jewels and commodities. There was no market to barter them with, no economy strong enough to stockpile them, and soon enough, not enough people living to care for them.”
“So,” Seven said, “by the time I was old enough to walk and explore the city, I had free rein of where I could go. Nothing was off limits. Including an abandoned treasury and this rare bit of gleam that caught my eye.”
He petted it with a lazy finger.
Ciardis felt herself gritting her teeth before she was even aware. Does he have any idea what it can do?
Besides the fact that we want it and it enhanced his power tenfold, Sebastian replied, I doubt it.
Thanar spread his wings wide and transitioned them slowly from the leathery composition that was normal to the wings of raven-black feathers that represented a more dangerous side of him. He was careful to keep his wings slightly spread so they caught the bright sun's rays and gleamed as if they were opals.
His efforts did not go unremarked upon. Seven's jaw dropped in appreciation, and his eyes took on the look of rubies as they glimmered with bright interest.
He looks like a child who has found a new favorite toy, Ciardis thought.
She wasn't wrong.
Seven said in a wonder-filled voice, “My, what pretty wings you have.”
Thanar replied, “You're not the first to say so.”
Ciardis shivered. His words weren't leaning one way or the other. His tone said that those people had died for that privilege.
Seven turned his back fully to Ciardis and put a finger to his lips.
“Perhaps,” said Thanar, “we can come to some…accommodation.”
Seven gave the daemoni prince a dark look. “Perhaps we just might, daemoni prince, if you first could tell me what about this necklace would make you offer up your splendid wings on such lovely day.”
Thanar responded, “I'm only offering what I can shed easily.”
“Easily?” teased Seven. “As easy as a bird molts its feathers?”
Thanar narrowed his eyes. “You might say that.”
Ciardis looked back and forth between the two and got the feeling she was missing part of this conversation.
When she glanced over at Rachael, the shaman's face said the subliminal messages were perfectly clear to her.
Ciardis tried not to take it personally.
She cleared her throat and brushed a hesitant hand against the back of Seven's arm. “If you wouldn't mind, we're in a bit of a hurry and we'd love to get this done.”
Seven didn't take his gaze away from Thanar, who promptly plucked a feather from somewhere inside his plumage and held it up with a twirl of his fingers.
Seven actually licked his thin, dry lips but managed to keep his fingers to himself, though Ciardis noted they were twitching like a drug user's just before they got hold of something they really wanted.
T
hanar looked over at Sebastian and raised an eyebrow.
They didn't seem to have any actual coherent thoughts pass between them, but Sebastian understood him just fine.
He hesitated and then stepped forward.
“I'd like to sweeten the pot,” the prince heir said. “I think you know what the collar does. I think you know what it can do.”
Seven gave him a lazy smile. Neither confirming nor denying his words.
This time it was Sebastian's turn to lick his lips, but his actions were in nervousness.
“Very well, then,” Sebastian said. “We are in need of a bearer, and seeing as you are the only one…”
Sebastian's voice trailed off as beside Ciardis, Rachael stiffened, almost as if she was going into shock.
Ciardis rushed to catch her before she fell. She caught the edge of her sleeve and was about to go falling down the steps with her before the dragon ambassador caught them both in a leap and braced all three of them before they could fall.
“Nice catch,” said Seven jovially.
None of the women were paying him the least bit of mind.
Ciardis stared in perplexity as the shaman's head jerked back with such force that she slid further into the dragon's lap.
Her body lifted up in a curve as if strung by a giant's bow, and she gasped as if she'd been winded and couldn't catch a breath.
Frantically Ciardis searched the shaman's face as she tried to support her upper body as much as she could.
As soon as she did, the shaman started thrashing around like a fish out of water.
Only the dragon's strong grip kept her from falling down the stairs.
“Where's Christian?” Ciardis shouted.
It was Councilor Oiye who responded: “Still on the western walls as he reviews the few among us who still retain their mental faculties.”
Ciardis let out a few curses that she was sure even Sebastian hadn't heard from her before.
Raisa snapped, “Take off your wristband and put it between her teeth.”
Ciardis took off the band on command without thinking, but hesitated at the request. The shaman was lashing out with a fury.
Raisa shifted Rachael in her arms and then bound her with a single grasp while sticking a finger in the shaman's mouth with her other hand.
“Now,” the dragon roared.
Ciardis jumped to do her bidding as she barely heard Seven say behind her, “My, what mighty strength you have…especially for a human woman.”
She knew he was talking about Raisa. If the dragon had been anyone else, her fingers would be shredded and her arm probably twisted.
It wasn't and she was fine. That was enough for Ciardis, as she shifted her hands to do her best and helped to keep the shaman still.
Slowly the fit subsided and Rachael quieted in Raisa's arms.
They waited a minute, then two, and she opened her eyes.
Or rather what had been her eyes.
Her irises and pupils were as pure white as Seven's were solid red.
Neither was preferable to the other, but Ciardis had to wonder what this meant in a shaman.
Then Rachael spoke, and the meaning was quite clear.
“The one who will ride the dragon is here. Two, not one, can make the leap,” she said in a voice so unlike hers that Ciardis jumped and released her head.
It didn't make a lick of difference to Rachael, who continued, “The collar will give them the gifts. But it must choose the one who will bear it forward.”
Then the shaman's head fell back into Raisa's chest and her eyes began to roll in her head. When the confusion cleared, her normal voice returned as she croaked out, “What did I say?”
“Not what happened?” Ciardis said.
Rachael gave the Weathervane a scornful look. “I'm a shaman, not an invalid. This happens whenever I have a vision. I wake up alone or with people but always with the aftereffects that make me think I've been drinking the wine of the gods for three days straight.”
“And what did those gods say?” said Seven as he leaned down the steps but didn't move toward them.
The shaman gave him an irritated look. “There's a reason I asked you all. My gift is not to recall, but to recite.”
Ciardis nodded and licked her lips. “You said something about dragon in flight and the collar giving the rider gifts. Or maybe it was the dragon gifts.”
She paused.
Raisa rolled her eyes and recited the vision word for word.
Rachael struggled up out of her lap and muttered, “Thank you, lady.”
Ciardis wasn't sure if she was talking about the total recall of the words or catching her when she fell.
Either or both worked just as well, she assumed.
Raisa smiled thinly. “Don't mention it. Part of my position at court is to recall anything that's said to me at any time, otherwise I wouldn't be a very good ambassador, now would I?”
Ciardis saw Seven's attention snap cleanly between Rachael and Raisa with those words.
“He's like a dog with so many interesting new playmates that he can't choose,” she muttered to herself in disgust as she dusted off her dress.
“Ambassador, you say?” he said in delight. “Those are few and far between in the lands of Algardis, and, in fact, I know of only one female one at this time.”
Raisa gave him a grin with a full view of her pointed teeth. Oiye blanched and shuddered back.
That's rich coming from someone undead, Ciardis thought.
“One would question how you knew about the diplomatic missions through this empire at all,” Raisa said softly. “Being locked in this fortress, after all.”
Seven said, “We have our ways.”
“I'm sure you do,” said Sebastian. “But we must get on our way, and I'm afraid that we'll need your services as well to complete this mission, and one…of import as well.”
Ciardis was glad that he hadn't come out and said he wanted Seven to go with them to the gates of Ban halfway across the empire, to use the necklace on a mission that was both hazardous and unlikely to be successful.
Seven twisted his neck around, and then his whole body, as he turned back to Thanar and Sebastian standing beside him. “Go on.”
Sebastian began to spell out his offer as he pulled a knife slowly from his waist. “Go with us and…”
Ciardis nearly jumped out of her skin when a clammy hand latched on to her bare wrist.
She turned to look in surprise at the shaman, who was still being supported, if only for balance, by the dragon ambassador.
Rachael said with some urgency in as low a voice as she could manage, “Tell the prince heir to only offer him his deal if he gives us the collar of Diamis.”
“But…” said Ciardis with wide eyes.
“Just do it,” the shaman said.
Ciardis hesitated. Without the wearer, the collar was supposedly useless. It was a big risk to leave him behind.
“Trust me,” the shaman pleaded. “This is what you brought me here for.”
Ciardis thought for a second and then nodded.
She said to Sebastian mind to mind, Whatever you're going to give him, make it sweet, but make the requirement even more stringent. He's not coming with us. We need the collar alone.
32
To his credit, Sebastian didn't even question her decision.
Maybe it was faith.
Maybe it was trust.
Maybe it was love.
Whatever it was, he obediently played along and said, “And we'll make it worth your while. However, give us the collar to use for our needs and I promise you something more lucrative than gold.”
Seven tilted his head back and said, “I have gold. I have jewels. Those I have no need of.”
“And access?” Sebastian replied smoothly. “Access to as much of the empire as you could ever dream?”
Seven stared at Sebastian full in the eye. “There is no such thing.”
“There is to a prince of the blood,” Se
bastian said.
The council members on the highest step stirred. Apparently this was familiar to them.
Interest flared in Seven's eyes. “And yet, I'm tempted to say no. After all, I’m to die today.”
“And what if you could live?” said Thanar.
With a wave of his hand, Sebastian said, “I have spoken to your comrades. They have all expressed their will. They're ready to move on from this world to the next.”
“To begin a journey of the dark realms,” said Thanar, “as they should have passed into shades long before.”
“But you,” said Sebastian as smoothly as any merchant selling a product no patron could resist, “you are the youngest of those still living here.”
“The most vital,” said Raisa with a hiss.
Ciardis jumped in to interject. “They're right; there's so much for you to see. So much for you to learn. I can attest to that. Things that you can experience which no book can teach you.”
Seven turned his red eyes from one person to the next, and the next. He was no fool. He knew they wanted something desperately from him, but it seemed that they had found something he wanted desperately in return.
Something that even he hadn't been aware of until now.
Freedom.
“I could take this from you,” said Seven brashly. “It could be mine with a flick of my wrist.”
“It will not be yours,” replied Thanar as he plucked his feathers and waved them in front of the councilor's nose. “Not if we don't give them freely.”
“We?” said Seven weakly as his eyes glazed over in lust and he quickly shook his head to snap out of his revere.
“You have not yet seen what I will give you,” said Prince Heir Sebastian while brandishing his weapon.
“A knife?” said Seven with a hint of disdain.
Sebastian clucked his tongue and shook his head. “Don't be so literal, my friend.”
Ciardis wrinkled her nose at the word “friend.” She had to wonder if they were laying on the praises too heavily.
But Seven looked like he was eating it up, as he turned his head this way and that as if he couldn't focus or think straight.
He probably can't, Thanar said gleefully. My gifts for subtle persuasion are useful in situations like this, and with the two of you boosting me without realizing it, he probably feels drunk out of his mind.
