Balestone

by Toby Neighbors

  “I’m not a boy,” Leonosis hissed.

  “Your life is as insignificant to me as a fly.”

  “Then release me,” Leonosis argued. “I won’t oppose your plans.”

  “So ungrateful,” Draggah said, adding pain to each syllable, like a bully poking a younger child. “Still, you are the instrument of my design. Very few of your kind have the strength to sustain my presence. Their minds wilt like grass before a bonfire, but not you. Your ambition and greed make you strong.”

  “I would rather die than be your pawn!” Leonosis screamed mentally.

  Pain wracked Leonosis’ body, but he couldn’t move, couldn’t make a sound. He was paralyzed in perfect agony, but the only sign of his struggle was the sweat that popped up on his forehead.

  “Are you well, my darling?” Princess Ariel whispered into his ear.

  “Fine,” Leonosis managed to say, although all he could hear was Draggah’s hideous laughter.

  The pain finally ebbed as the priest’s speech ended. The throng of people moved toward the prince’s body for one final viewing before the boy was finally laid to rest. Leonosis had no control; Draggah was in supreme command of Leonosis’ physical body. He walked forward, just behind Princess Ariel and followed by the other earls. They paid their final respects then retired to the rooms that had been prepared for them.

  Ariel accompanied Leonosis to his suite of rooms. The demon left Leonosis to spy on the other earls. His plan was to wait three days and then slay the king. Leonosis’ hands would be covered in royal blood, a fact that had not bothered him before arriving at Sparlan Citadel but which he now found appalling.

  “What do we do now?” Ariel asked.

  “Your guess is as good as mine.”

  “Don’t take your frustration out on me,” she said angrily, a hint of the fiery impertinence she had displayed on her trip to Avondale showing once more. “You know it’s useless to resist Draggah. You think you’re the only one he hurts.”

  “You have no idea,” Leonosis said.

  “If not for your greed, you would not be here, and my brother would not be dead.”

  “And you would not have to share your pet, is that it?” Leonosis snarled. “You’re angry because you felt powerful when Draggah lent you his power, but now he doesn’t need you anymore.”

  “He needs me more than ever. His whole plan hinges on me.”

  “In a few days, you will have served your purpose. What then? Do you think he will keep you close just for sentimental reasons?”

  “No, but I will not go quietly,” Ariel said. “I thought we were in this together.”

  “No, you tricked me into a cruel half-life.”

  “You are getting everything you wanted, Lord Leonosis.”

  She spat the last words like they were a filthy insult. Ariel and Leonosis were both miserable and completely unable to do anything about it. Their lives meant nothing to Draggah, and worse still, they had no idea what the foul demon’s true intentions were. He would be the supreme ruler in Valana soon, but what did that mean? What would he do then? Draggah had no interest in riches; no human pleasure interested him. He seemed only interested in pain.

  “We could kill each other,” Ariel said.

  Draggah’s presence returned so suddenly that Leonosis was knocked back as if he’d been rammed by a charging bull. All he knew was pain, and he could do nothing but watch helplessly as Leonosis struck the princess. Draggah was careful not to hit her face. Leonosis’ fist punched Ariel cruelly in the stomach, doubling her over.

  Then, with an outstretched hand, Draggah used magic to levitate her body. She was pulled in four different directions, her muscles and tendons stretching painfully. She opened her mouth to scream, but he suddenly dropped her in a heap on the floor. She cried.

  “Death will come soon enough,” Leonosis said, but it was Draggah who was speaking. “Do not be so foolish as to think you can thwart my plans. You will do whatever I command and you will do it without question.”

  Princess Ariel nodded her head but continued weeping. Leonosis felt sorry for her. He had no real love for the princess, but he understood her pain and fear. His hatred for Draggah was a common point for them, and he did feel a small semblance of compassion for her plight, even though he also blamed her for his own ruined life.

  “Now is the time for action,” Draggah said out loud. “The earls will take their evening meals in their rooms. I think it is time we begin our plan to bring them under our control.”

  Leonosis felt himself turn and walk briskly from the room. He went back down the secret passage to the hidden chamber where Leonosis had discovered the depth of Ariel’s betrayal and his own possession by Draggah had taken place. There was a vial of clear liquid waiting on a small table. Leonosis saw himself pick up the vial. He knew without asking exactly what the liquid was, and another piece of the demon’s plan fell into place.

  He carried the liquid back up to the castle kitchens. Eight trays had been set out, each with bottles of wine and fine crystal goblets. Leonosis knew that the earls would be given only the finest foods and wines while they were in the king’s castle, and now he went to each bottle and poured several drops of the liquid inside. Once he had finished, he threw the glass vial into the hearth, where it shattered.

  “Tonight we will gather their bodies and raise them back to life,” Draggah said to Leonosis. “Tonight our power will multiply exponentially, and then we will be free to complete the next stage in our conquest.”

  Leonosis could only shudder in fear. Draggah only shared his plans with Leonosis for his own personal amusement. Leonosis couldn’t imagine what it meant to raise the earls back to life. What would he have to do? How could he look into the eyes of a person he knew was dead and yet see them living? He wanted to scream. He wanted to warn the other earls, but there was nothing he could do. He was trapped, and his captor would torment him until Leonosis was completely insane.

  Chapter 16

  Tiberius

  When the wizard returned to Ti’s chamber, he was no longer alone. Lexi’s eyes were wide with fear, but she seemed to come with the old man willingly.

  “What are doing with her?” Tiberius shouted.

  “Tell me what I want to know,” Gunderlyn said, stepping behind Lexi and pulling her arm behind her.

  He was careful to keep Lexi between himself and Tiberius. Ti couldn’t see exactly what the old wizard was doing to Lexi, but she screamed in pain.

  “Don’t!” shouted Tiberius. “Please don’t hurt her.”

  “Tell me what I want to know.”

  “I don’t know what to tell you. I’m Earl Aegus’ son. I found a book on magic, and when Princess Ariel came to Avondale, she could sense that I was becoming a wizard. I knew I couldn’t stay in the city. Magic is outlawed in the cities, and so when my friend was exiled, I went with him.”

  “A fine bedtime story, I’m sure, but it isn’t what I want to know.”

  Lexi screamed again, her back arching as her muscles spasmed in pain, but she didn’t try to escape. She stood still, as the old wizard tortured her.

  “Scuti Incantatio,” Tiberius said.

  He thrust the shielding spell around Lexi, but there was already a magical bond between the wizard and the girl. Tiberius felt his magic reacting to the old wizard’s power. Working the shielding spell normally felt like lifting a small stone. It was heavy, but Tiberius was strong enough to wield it easily. When his magic contacted the old man’s, he felt as if the weight of the spell had become almost unbearable. He staggered back against the cold stone wall, his chains rattling.

  Gunderlyn fell back, as well, but both men managed to hold onto their spells for a moment. Tiberius didn’t want to release his spell, hoping that he could somehow protect Lexi, but Gunderlyn’s own spell was preventing that.

  “Accendo,” Tiberius said quietly.

  It was the most basic spell of the Fourth Order of magic. Accendo, the fire spell, allowed Tiberius to create fire
and control it, only the powerful magic was difficult to manage under the best of circumstances. Tiberius felt the portal from the magical realm opening, and he didn’t try to stop it. He let the fire pour out, directing the magical inferno toward Gunderlyn. His only real effort was keeping the flames away from Lexi.

  The flames were bright in the dark cell. He could see the stone work on the walls, feel the heat rising in the small room dramatically. Lexi was screaming again, this time in fear. Gunderlyn had ducked back out of the wooden door, which was now burning savagely. Then Lexi began stepping back toward the doorway, directly toward the rush of flames. Tiberius had to clamp down on the magic. It was like trying not to scream while someone tortured him. The effort left Tiberius drained. He slumped down the wall; his only consolation was that Lexi hadn’t been burned.

  The door to his chamber continued to burn, and smoke was beginning to fill the small space. Tiberius coughed. He could control the fire he conjured, at least until it ignited something, and then he was powerless to stop the burning.

  “Fool!” cried the old wizard, tossing a bucket of water onto the door.

  The water made a savage hissing sound and sent a plume of steam into the room, but it didn’t extinguish the door altogether. Tiberius knew that Gunderlyn would have to come back. He slid down so that he was lying on the floor where the air was relatively free of smoke. He was still coughing but he was able to think more clearly. Using the spells of the Fourth Order was dangerous. He could barely control the spells, and they put Lexi in too much danger. But somehow Tiberius needed to break free of the chains and confront Gunderlyn.

  “Tiberius!” Lexi screamed and then she went silent.

  Ti pulled at his shackles again, but they didn’t budge.

  “Lexi!” he shouted. “Lexi, I’m coming.”

  He didn’t know how he could possibly get free but he had to do something. He thought hard about all the spells he knew. He could conjure fire, light, and wind; they were the basic spells of the Fourth Order of magic — Nativus Magicus. He had never attempted the intermediary or advanced spells. He understood that in theory he could build his own spells by combining the words of the spells, but he’d always been cautious and had only tried the spells he had specific instructions for. Now, as smoke from the burning door continued to fill the room, he realized he didn’t have time for caution anymore.

  “Flabra,” he said, conjuring wind.

  The little room had been filling with smoke, but now that smoke swirled around and around the small space. Tiberius directed the wind out of the room, which also sent the smoke billowing out. The door, which was burning steadily, was also slammed shut by the wind. The burning door gave the room some light, and Tiberius could see that the smoke was gone but would soon refill the room with the door closed.

  He needed something to break his chains. He went back over the Fourth Order spells. He had fire, light, and wind as basic spells. The intermediary spells were lightning, focusing light, and cyclone. The advanced spells were crucible, destruction, and sealing. The basic spells were difficult to control, and Tiberius couldn’t imagine what the advanced spells would be like. Over and over again, The Essence of Magic had warned about using spells out of order. A wizard was supposed to master each Order of Magic before moving on to the next. Tiberius only had access to the First and Fourth Orders, so he’d been forced to skip ahead. Princess Ariel had given him a list of practical magic spells that he had memorized as well, but none of them would help him break free from the chains he was bound with.

  Then an idea occurred to him. He remembered in his studies at the Temple in Avondale about curved glass being used to focus sunlight. The prefect had demonstrated that the focused sunlight could be used to start a fire and had gone on to theorize that if the light could be harnessed correctly, it might be possible to cut through stone.

  Tiberius knew he could use the crucible spell to melt his chains, but he had no idea how difficult the spell would be to control. He might end up roasting himself in the process. The focused light spell, on the other hand, might heat the links of the chain just enough that Tiberius could break free.

  He closed his eyes, trying to calm his heart rate and respiration down. The last thing he needed was to get choked on smoke in the middle of casting the spell. He let his senses open up so that he could feel the magic in the room. It was faint and weak — the room was nothing but dirt and dead stone — but he could feel his own power. It seemed to grow and subside, like waves rolling in and out.

  “Specula Fulsi,” he said quietly and immediately felt the surge of magical power. “Specula Fulsi, Specula Fulsi.”

  Light filled the little room. It came pouring out of the magical realm and was so bright that Tiberius had to close his eyes. He directed the magic down, concentrating it like the curved glass had done with sunlight. The magic wasn’t wild like before, but Tiberius felt it draining away his strength. Perhaps he was holding his breath — he couldn’t be sure — but the power of the magic was so great he felt that the light was becoming dangerous.

  He couldn’t open his eyes and had to direct the magic by feeling the room all around him. He pointed the light onto the small links of chain that held him to the thick metal ring that was fixed to the wall. He had hoped to heat the metal enough that it would grow soft and weak, but the focused light cut through the metal and stone. Tiberius had to roll away from the wall to keep the dripping bits of liquid metal and stone from dropping onto his head.

  He still had long chains hanging from his wrists, but he was free from the wall. He stopped chanting the spell, but this time the magic didn’t stop. The light continued boring into the wall. Tiberius lay on the floor, feeling as if he’d just been through a rigorous workout and concentrated on the magic. He had to stop it before it broke loose from his control or drained him of so much energy that he passed out. The magic was willful, like a small child who discovers they can shout and won’t stop. Tiberius demanded that the magic stop, and it slowly surrendered to his control. When it stopped, the room went dark, and Tiberius lay on the floor gasping.

  The smoke had once again poisoned the air in the little cell and sent Tiberius into a coughing fit. He crawled to his knees and saw that the door was now sagging on its hinges. A large portion of the door had fallen into the room beyond, which appeared to be a long hallway with doors every ten paces. Tiberius used the chains like a whip, knocking the door open. He jumped past the burning wood and looked in both directions. One end of the hall was shrouded in darkness; the other held a faint light. Tiberius moved cautiously toward the light.

  His chains clinked as he walked and made stealth impossible, but there was nothing Tiberius could do to stop it. At the end of the hall was a room with a small candle burning near a disheveled bed. Books lay strewn about in the room, and beyond the room Tiberius could see what appeared to be an old, blood-stained table. He recognized the cracked leather straps. It was a torture chamber. Tiberius moved ahead cautiously, unsure where Gunderlyn might be waiting to attack him.

  “Rafe?” Tiberius whispered.

  He couldn’t help but worry that his friends were locked into small cells just the way he had been, but they hadn’t called for help or made any noise at all as Tiberius made his way down the hallway.

  “Olyva?” he called a little louder.

  There was no response. Tiberius went through the torture chamber and found a larger room to one side. There were multiple sets of irons fixed to large metal rings in the room, but no people. Tiberius could just make out where the dirt on the floor had been disturbed and guessed that his friends had recently been held there, but he had no idea where they were now. Gunderlyn had used Lexi to get Tiberius to obey him, and now Ti guessed that the wicked old man was planning to use Rafe and Olyva for some nefarious purpose. Only Tiberius couldn’t guess what that purpose was.

  Gunderlyn knew about Princess Ariel, although how the old man knew was a complete mystery. There was so much he didn’t understand about mag
ic and so much he wanted to know. He had hoped that meeting Gunderlyn would afford him the chance to answer some of his questions, but instead he had been naive and put his friends in danger.

  Tiberius went through the torture room and into the library. The books mocked him as he passed through. There was light coming from the rooms beyond, and Tiberius slowed down, checking the kitchen with its foul stench before moving through and into the treasure room. Light was pouring down from the open trap door above the spiral staircase, and Tiberius wanted to race out of the underground tower, but he had to be cautious. There was simply no telling what the old wizard was capable of. Tiberius was carefully sneaking a glance up the staircase when he felt magic swirling around him. He turned, expecting to see Gunderlyn behind him, but instead he saw hundreds of gold and silver coins rising up the air.

  For a moment Tiberius was mesmerized by the floating coins. Then he ducked as several shot toward his head. The coins pinged off the stone walls and ricocheted back into the treasure room. Tiberius scrambled up the stairs as the coins flew toward him. He raised one arm to protect his face, but several coins hit hard enough to leave bruises. Only the spiral curve of the staircase kept the worst of the coins from hitting him. They slammed into the stone steps and walls then went bouncing down in a cacophony of noise as Tiberius raced out into the open tower.

  There were two horses in the opening but nothing else. Tiberius raced through the large door and onto the dirt-covered streets. Three dogs were waiting for him. They dashed toward Tiberius, who jumped back inside the tower. He just managed to get the door closed as one of the dogs squeezed into the tower. It turned to bite him, and Tiberius lashed out with the chain that was still bound to his wrist. The dog barked as it jumped out of reach of Ti’s makeshift weapon, but it was only a matter of time before the canine attacked again.

  Tiberius backed away from the door, and the dog slowly advanced. Ti knew he was trapped. He couldn’t go back down the stairs, where he could hear the coins continue to pelt the walls. He was trapped inside the tower with no weapon and a dog that was growling menacingly. He knew he needed to conjure some magic to protect himself, but his mind was racing and fear held him paralyzed.