The Undying Illusionist

by Candy Crum

  The city would fall.

  "You're right," Amelia replied, "but we can't let them take the city. You know as well as I do—even better than I do—that the Guard aren’t ready. You don't have to call it for long. Focus on the lives that are about to be lost. Use it. Think about the fact that Talia and Scarlett are sitting somewhere safe right now, watching this unfold."

  Judging by the look on Arryn's face, that was the nerve Amelia had needed to strike. With only a single nod, Arryn took a deep breath, her eyes now a vibrant green while the corneas had turned the deepest obsidian she had ever seen.

  Arryn slowly gazed toward the horde, the wind suddenly whipping around her as she did. The thinning fog began to thicken as it rose into the sky, joining the other clouds that were turning black.

  The remnant slowed their attack as they looked at the sky. It was the distraction that her people needed, but as she glanced around Amelia could see they were just as intrigued.

  Arryn's arms were raised at her sides as lightning webbed across the sky. Rain began to fall both inside and out of the city—on their side, though it was an absolute downpour.

  Amelia's eyes were wide as she watched the girl work. She could only imagine how much magic and strength Arryn was using right then, but it was working.

  "Amelia!" Cathillian shouted.

  ***

  The moment Cathillian felt the wind, he knew what was happening. He could sense the change in air and the magic that was being used. He swung his sword relentlessly, slicing through remnant after remnant. Although he was covered in blood, both the enemies’ and some of their own men’s, he continued to fight.

  He looked toward the wall and saw Amelia standing next to Arryn, who was casting with outstretched arms. It began to rain, but it was nothing like the deluge that was pouring down on the other side of the gates.

  As he saw the lightning snake across the sky, he knew what was about to happen.

  "Amelia!" Cathillian shouted.

  Amelia looked down, her eyes meeting his.

  "She's too strong, and her aim is bad! She can’t control the direction of lightning! It's raining over here, too. If she calls down lightning, it could fry everyone!" Cathillian yelled before tearing into another remnant who had run for him.

  He kicked the remnant’s chest hard, sending him backward before swiping upward with his sword and effectively cutting the beast in two. There was a tap on his shoulder, and he turned to attack, but it was Amelia. She’d climbed down from the wall.

  "Use your magic to blow everyone outside the gate back. I'll put up a shield. Whatever remnant are inside will be protected, too, but we can’t help it. I didn't expect her to conjure anything that big."

  Cathillian laughed. "Have you met her? She doesn't do anything small.” He rolled his eyes. “I hate serious moments. I keep missing out on good jokes. That was prime opportunity. Look… She's strong, but she doesn't have the skill to control it yet. She can't help herself—it's all or nothing. She’s winding up right now, but I should be able to help guide her. I'm going to the wall, so get your shield ready."

  A limb from a nearby tree broke free to lift Cathillian onto the wall. He could sense the shift in Arryn's magic as the lightning increased.

  Cathillian's eyes turned dark green as he brought his arms out to the side, focusing on the remnant below. He thrust his hands forward, and a large gust of wind threw them back several feet.

  Pulling his arms back, he hit them with another blast, making sure they were far away from the gate.

  Grabbing Arryn's hand, Cathillian allowed her to lead. He helped guide her magic as they reached to the sky. As they did, lightning rained down into the field before the gates.

  The plan was working, but not as well as Amelia had hoped.

  By that point Arryn's magic had already begun to weaken and as a result, the lightning was weak as well. Judging by the number of bodies on the ground, Cathillian calculated that about half of them had been killed, but the rest were once again running at the gates.

  He shook Arryn, and her eyes quickly faded to their normal dark brown. "Are you okay?" he asked.

  She nodded. "A little weak. I didn't mean to go that hard."

  Cathillian smiled. "I'm gonna let that go because we're in the middle of the battle and you need healing. Dammit, I let one of Amelia's go, too. I don't like war. It makes my jokes inappropriate."

  "Your jokes are always inappropriate." Arryn snorted. "Now, hurry up and heal me. We have to get down to the ground."

  ***

  Arryn wanted to jump down outside the wall and run straight into the horde more than anything, but she knew it would be a bad idea. She was glad she'd been able to take out as many as she had, though she regretted using that much magic that early. Even after being healed by Cathillian, she could still feel the fatigue pressing down on her.

  But that didn't stop her from swinging her staff with fury.

  The battle had begun to fan out through the city, which allowed everyone to move more freely. It also meant that more remnant were able to enter through the gate now that it wasn't so congested.

  Someone on the wall began screaming that a second horde was approaching, though it was much smaller than the first, around fifty or so.

  It was obvious at that moment that had Arryn not taken the measures she did, the city would have been overrun in minutes. While they were still in danger of falling, they also stood a chance at surviving.

  When a large group attacked her, she used only enough magic to blow them backward, allowing her to take them down with her staff. It may not have been sharp, but it was stronger than any of their weapons, and it was more than capable of smashing skulls.

  Arryn heard a loud scream, and she turned to see two remnant dragging a woman into an alley. Arryn growled as she ran, staff in one hand and newly crafted fireball in the other. As soon as she was concealed in the alley, she threw the fireball at one while striking the other in the head before kicking him backward.

  She looked up, ready to help the woman to safety, but immediately regretted her actions. It was not a helpless woman she saw, but the smiling face of Scarlett. Behind her were several people with confident expressions and a few remnant, and Arryn turned to see even more remnant piling into the alley.

  "Fuck—me." Arryn sighed, shaking her head.

  Scarlett’s laugh echoed through the alley. "I would love to, gorgeous, but I don't think we have enough time, and Talia might get mad at me. She's never been respectful of my… needs."

  Arryn turned to Scarlett. "Judging by the excited look on your face, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say these remnant are yours."

  "You have no idea how right you are about that. So, are you ready to have some fun?" Scarlett asked, her expression growing even more excited.

  Without warning, Arryn spun backward, throwing her hands out as she did. Telekinetic energy exploded forward and pushed the remnant behind her out into the street. Arryn surrounded herself with a barrier before running toward the light.

  While she was very confident of her abilities, she knew she'd made a mistake by weakening herself to the point that she had no hope of standing against so many magicians in such close quarters.

  Before she made it into the open, the buzzing in her mind came back, and then it became painful. Sharp, searing agony shot through her brain, bringing her to her knees. She was unable even to scream as she clutched side of her head.

  Arryn was only vaguely aware of someone lifting her head, the pain easing just enough for her to see Scarlett nose to nose with her, smiling.

  "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to give you the illusion that this meeting was voluntary. Attendance is mandatory, I’m afraid."

  Scarlett got even closer, placing her lips by Arryn's ear. Arryn desperately wanted to move, but her body was useless. Scarlet had far too much power.

  "Between us girls," Scarlett whispered, "it's really me who needs you out of the way. You distract Talia too much, and if she's to do what I
need her to, you have to vanish. It's a shame, though. It would've been nice to have fun with you first. But Talia has plans, and for now, I need to entertain them."

  Arryn swallowed, regaining only the smallest amount of control over her body. She tried to speak and failed, but Scarlett seemed to take notice. A fraction of the pain lifted again, allowing Arryn a bit more control over her mouth, but the rest of her body was still unable to move.

  "It's been you all along." Arryn choked out.

  Scarlett smiled again. "What can I say? We mystics are master illusionists. But it’s time for you to go now. Good night!"

  Pain once again tore through Arryn, her entire body tensing before she finally fell the rest of the way to the ground. The very last thing she saw before her eyes closed was Talia stepping into the alley with a smile on her face.

  "Well done," Talia told Scarlett.

  Scarlett's eyes never left Arryn's, allowing her to see the mystic wink one of her snow-white eyes in her direction. "Thanks, boss."

  And with that, unconsciousness took Arryn.

  Epilogue

  Cathillian found his way to Amelia, climbing over several bodies as he went. Luckily, most of them had been remnant, but several of their own had been lost as well.

  At that moment, the Guard was busy piling up the remnant, readying them for transport out of the city where they could be burned.

  “We did it!” Amelia cried, a triumphant smile on her beautiful face.

  She was covered from head to toe in blood, but so were the rest of them. It would take quite a lot to clean up this mess and restore the city to order.

  “We lost quite a few,” Cathillian reported, “but we made it, mostly because of that plan of yours. It was dangerous to use her like that, but it turned out okay. If she hadn’t been so weak by the time we called the lightning, she’d have killed us all, with or without that shield.”

  Amelia nodded, her eyes wide. “No shit. That’s not a mistake I’ll make again.” She chewed on her lip. “We really need to work more with her. Damn, that girl has a lot of potential.”

  “Just a couple o’ Chatty Cathies over here,” Samuel remarked as he wandered up. “Ye act like we didn’t just slaughter an army o’ remnant. That’s pretty normal fer the rearick, but yer people always seem weird after battle.”

  “Good point,” Amelia shot back. “But we’re happy! We survived! And we didn’t lose a ton of men.”

  Samuel chuckled. “That’s because of our girl. Speakin’ of which, where is she? Last I saw her, she was headin’ inta ground combat with Amelia.”

  Cathillian and Amelia looked around, seeing no sign of her anywhere.

  “Arryn!” Cathillian shouted.

  “Do you have enough strength to find her with magic?” Amelia asked, clearly worried.

  Cathillian thought for a moment before nodding. He knelt and placed his hands on the ground, doing his best to sort everything out. Echo’s call from overhead caught his attention.

  He stood then, running toward her and jumping over bodies in the street to reach the area Echo was circling from overhead.

  Striding into an alley, he saw that it looked largely untouched. It didn’t seem to be affected as much as the rest of the city was, but he saw the bodies of several remnant lying on the ground just on the threshold of the street.

  Farther in, he saw two puddles of blood.

  Stepping over them, he knelt and placing his hands on the ground. He could tell it was Arryn’s blood.

  “She was here,” he told them. “All this blood here is hers. There’s no splashing or spattering, so there wasn’t a fight. I’m going to guess she was unconscious when this happened, and they bled her out to weaken her.”

  He turned to see Amelia shaking her head, a look of terror on her face. “How can you be so calm? She could be dead! I’m getting the Hunters.”

  “No!” Cathillian warned. “You can’t trust them, remember? And believe me, this isn’t enough blood to kill her. Not by a long shot.”

  “I don’t care! I have to do something. I’m going to find a Hunter we can trust, then I’m going to go through the minds of anyone who fought in this area.”

  “Look around, lass,” Samuel snapped. “Do ye see the Dean or the mystic anywhere? I don’t know what the mystic looks like, but Talia is unmistakable. I ain’t seen either. They took ‘er.”

  “What do we do now?” Cathillian asked. “I can usually think of an answer for things, but this… I can’t lose her.”

  Amelia took a deep breath, squaring her shoulders as she steeled herself. “I need to meditate like Julianne taught me. If they haven’t gotten too far, I might be able to connect to her. It’s possible I could see something through her eyes, make sure she’s okay. Fair warning, though… I’m not that great. I’m a novice.”

  “If we can get even a hint of the direction they’re traveling in, we can send Echo to scout after them,” Cathillian offered.

  “Sounds like this is the best plan we’ve got,” Samuel confirmed.

  “We’ll find her,” Amelia declared. “And when we do, we’re not wasting any more time. We’re ripping Talia’s fucking head off.”

  ***

  Arryn’s eyes fluttered open several times, and each time she caught a glimpse of some new surrounding before someone knocked her out again. She had no idea where she was or who she was with, though she was sure she’d seen Talia at least once.

  What had happened? Had they won the war? The situation had looked promising last she remembered, when she came off the wall with Amelia just after having called the storm.

  As Arryn slowly began to awaken again, she was painfully aware of the drastic temperature change. Her face felt as though it was burning from the cold.

  She became aware of someone carrying her, someone warm she curled into as she fought the pain in her head. Even the throbbing behind her eyes and in her temples was nothing compared to what she’d felt when Scarlett had taken over her mind.

  And there it was.

  Her eyes snapped open as she remembered everything that had happened. Looking up, she saw that it was Jackson who had been carrying her.

  “Well, good morning, sleepyhead.” Talia’s smooth, sing-song voice was both horribly loud and quiet at the same time.

  Unsure how that was possible, Arryn pushed against Jackson, frantically looking around as she did. He set her down, and she toppled over into more than a foot of snow. Her eyes took in everything around her.

  Talia’s voice had seemed so loud because it was quiet there in the mountains of the Frozen North, and she’d seemed quiet because the sound had been absorbed by the thick snow and vast openness.

  “Oh, hell,” she muttered, fear in her voice. Not much scared Arryn, but at that moment she felt afraid.

  She lifted her arms and threw them out in front of her, conjuring only enough power to shove Jackson back a few inches. As she stared at him, slack-jawed, she noticed the red-stained cloths that were wrapped tightly around her wrists.

  “Oh, you don’t want to move too quickly or forcefully, dear,” Talia offered. “You’ll tear open your stitches.”

  Arryn looked at her in confusion. “My stitches?”

  “Well, we didn’t want you waking up before you got to your new home, and we had to keep bleeding you along the way because, as it turns out, you have the ability to heal relatively fast even without actively calling your magic. I assume that’s a druid thing?”

  Arryn shook her head, unsure how to respond. “I… I don’t understand.”

  Talia smiled as she leaned forward, her thick, black cloak fanning out over the untouched snow. “That’s probably a side-effect of the blood loss. You’re gonna be a little loopy for a while. I’ll make things easy for you and explain.”

  There was a pause as Talia stood and walked over to Arryn, blocking the intense morning sun as she looked down at her.

  “I need you out of my way if I’m going to accomplish what I want to. Killing you seemed like ju
st letting you go. It would be too easy, so we decided it would be fun to bring you all the way up here.” Talia motioned around her. “This is the Frozen North. Temperatures here are so cold that nothing can live. In other words, even if you waste your energy healing yourself—and it’ll be at least a couple days before you can do that because your body will be fighting the cold—you’ll end up starving to death.

  “If you heal yourself enough to travel, you’ll waste your energy. If you use enough magic to create food, you’ll be forced to stay here because you’ll be weak. If you create fire to keep warm, you’ll be stuck here. Do you see a pattern? You’re doomed, no matter what you do. You’re going to die here. It’s going to take a while, though, because you are one of those people who refuse to give up. You’re going to use your hatred for me as fuel. But in the end… you’ll die up here, cursing the day you shook my hand.”

  Arryn couldn’t believe it. Talia hadn’t only kidnapped her, she’d really gotten the best of her.

  Talia and Jackson weren’t the only ones present. There were several others from her group. She would have needed them to teleport as far as she had. They’d collectively used their powers to move Arryn north.

  Memories of the other times she’d awakened started to come back. The random places. The random faces.

  “How long have we been traveling?” Arryn asked.

  “Three days,” Talia replied. “We made it in six jumps. Every night we had to stop for food and rest and to make sure my dearest sister received proper care after the attack in Arcadia. Everyone was so concerned for you.”

  Arryn shook her head, her anger bringing with it a bit of comfort. She didn’t feel quite so weak now that she was coming around to her situation.

  “You bitch,” Arryn spat.

  Talia laughed, but it immediately cut off when she suddenly became excited about something. “Oh! I nearly forgot.”

  Reaching into her cloak, Talia pulled out the very box Arryn had risked her life to steal. Like the knife from Amelia’s office, Talia had managed to find it and steal it back.