“We can make a decision on a second at a later date. I am glad to know you are all aware of others who would be of value to the Council. This brings us to far dire manners. My Secondhand is aware of all I am about to tell you, and I ask you hold your words until I am finished.” As he spoke he pulled out a gold coronet studded with uncut emeralds and set it on his lap to punctuate his words. If anyone knew what it was, there was no reaction. Nervously, he tapped it with a nail. “You know I plan on using the Silex to revive Mage Gabriel when he is slain. If we, for any reason, are not able to obtain the Silex, I have another tile in play. Should I not walk away from this battle, it is my desire that the Head Mage Seat pass to Mage Gabriel.”
The room was silent but for the tapping on the coronet. All eyes were on him as several mouths worked silently, and others stared with wide eyes.
“Why him?” Adelaide finally asked.
Casimir spread his hands. “Gabriel is a youth who controls more than you or I could ever fathom. If Ryker is going to make this Age his home, you need a leader who is capable of killing him. I cannot do that. You need someone you can look up to and respect as a man, trust him to protect you and your loved ones, and someone you too would be willing to lay down your very lives for. The world has an uncanny ability of spilling forth tools we need to protect ourselves, as if some great creator watched over us. I am convinced Mage Gabriel is that tool we need. It is he who must be Head Mage, and it is I who must make it so.”
The Council was silent again until Galloway broke in, “This is a bastard boy with no mother and a loose father. This son of—”
Aisling stood up suddenly, cutting Galloway off. She stood straight with her arms tensed, fists balled, in a stance that spoke of battle. “I am his mother.” All eyes moved to the Lady. “Gabriel is my son, and Cordis is his father. So if any of you think for a moment that he is some baseborn son of a backwater whore, think again. He comes from two powerful lines, Lenis and Lamay, and is heir to both lines. If the factor of his heritage should make problems for his consideration for Head Mage, make it public. I am no longer ashamed—rather, very proud he is my son.”
She sat down and kept the Council quiet until Casimir adjusted his seat. They looked up hopefully thinking he would break the tension. “Is there anything else to say?”
“Both parents on the Council would make him biased.” Dagan said.
“No, it would make him objective.” Markus replied as Casimir nodded.
“I have trained with him as have many of you. Has he ever said or done anything that would give you pause?” Casimir asked.
“Sweet stars, he’s been protecting the heiress to Anatoly for four—five years. That is enough reason to trust him!” Challis exclaimed. “When Prince Nolen came to my palace, he wounded my daughter, and right before Gabriel left, he reached out a hand and healed her. If I am not mistaken, he wears Overturn, which means he knew he would be wounded for healing my Celise. There was blood on the floor where he knelt. I have never been so indebted to a man in my life.”
Aisling spoke up, and this time everyone sat in rapt attention. “Gabriel has an ally in the Air Guard here. The man was burned in the battle, and Gabriel healed him. As a result he split open his wounds and nearly perished for it. He says the reason Gabriel was captured in the end was because he struck down a woman and upon realizing she was female, he healed her mortal wound and thus spent his energy. Selfless has no other description.”
The Council ruminated for quiet moments until Penny leaned forward. “He is taller than us all,” she began.
“Not I,” Dagan replied.
“Than you too, yes. But it is known that in crisis a crowd will turn to the tallest man in the room for guidance. People look up to those who appear opposing and powerful. Gabriel looks the part.”
“He is young enough to appeal to the youth and is still able to be molded to the role,” Lewis offered.
“He knows a great many patterns for defense and attack,” Lael nodded. “And we have enough Mages to teach him their most dangerous patterns in a short time.”
“And if he does no’ want the position?” Galloway asked. “Think of what he has been through. Will he be in his right mind and able t’ lead?”
“We will know when the time is right.” Lael replied.
“Head Mage,” Markus cut in before they could be dismissed. “What is that coronet in your lap?”
Casimir inadvertently stopped tapping it. “It is a tile.”
Nolen had loved Kindle dearly when they were children. She was always the kind of girl who needed protecting, and who better to defend her than her big brother. Someone was always stealing her dolly or pulling her pig tails, and he was never far away to deliver a sound thrashing to any villain.
The past years had been filled with happy memories of his sister, whom he loved so sweetly, but the years changed both of them, and she harbored the one key that kept him from glory.
He woke in the early hours of morning to a cold hearth and chilly room, forcing him to light his own fire with the Mage’s Element. But the room was still cold as the sun peeked over the horizon. He plotted as he watched the flames lick the dried wood, snapping as sap burst within. He would need to dangle something Kindle wanted before her. She had always wanted a husband, a family, and a little cottage with a barn near a river. He could provide all of those for her if she would trade the Silex’s location. Or maybe she wanted power. She could have the Mage once Nolen was finished with him, and when his power dried up, she could have another to put in the Castrofax. Was it knowledge she craved? He could bequeath Madison Library in Jaden to her or make her Head Librarian.
He was surprised when his door opened, and Kindle stepped in, wrapped in heavy furs and shod in boots. He had dressed but still sat bundled before the fire. This far from the dirty air of the City, his indigestion was not giving him problems.
“Mage Gabriel is still in the hall,” she said in a sharp tone.
“I know.”
“Will you free him? He is in pain.”
“He knows how to handle pain.”
“You are not the brother I once knew, Nolen. The City has made you vicious.”
He stood. “I was always vicious; you were just too sweet to see. If anything, the City has made me stronger.”
“What reason do you have to hurt a man you have already broken?”
He shrugged a shoulder. “Is breakfast ready?”
“I am going to cut him loose.” She turned for the door.
“If you tell me where the Silex is, I will do it for you.” She slipped out of the room anyway. “Do not, Kindle! I will make it worse for him.”
She stepped back into view. “This is my home, brother. You will not threaten me within it.”
“I make no threat against you. But I will hurt him.”
She pursed her lips. “If you cut him loose now, I will consider it an investment towards your information.”
The Mage was where he left him, but this time he was draped in blankets and kneeling on more. It irritated him that anyone would take pity on the Mage. His head hung low as he leaned forward, and the closer Nolen got, the more he saw the man quiver. The longer a person spent in the position, the more pain it created. In fact, the Mage could kneel there for quite some time before ripping his rotating joints.
“Did you rise?” Nolen asked. The Mage opened his eyes and shook his head a fraction. His lips were sealed and tight, and Nolen imagined if he opened them, he would make his pain known.
“I tried to cut him loose but he begged me not to,” Kindle said from behind him, her slender arms folded over her flat chest. She had always been so tiny even when they were children. He had wondered if he had sucked all the nutrients from the womb they shared. This new information pleased him. ‘He is truly broken.’
The Prince said nothing as he leaned over to cut the cord binding his Castrofax to the banister. The copper pieces had cut deep grooves up and down his wrist where it looked like he had
moved. His hands were white with blood loss, but the best part was to come. Nolen knew when the body was allowed to return to its natural state, it would stretch and fill with blood again, causing new pains. That was the beauty of the position.
Once loosened, the Mage fell forward onto a shoulder, too weak to put his hands out to catch him. He gasped a familiar tune of pain Nolen recognized so well; a sudden inhale followed by a throaty broken grunt that ended in sharp silence as he tried to compose himself. Nolen cut the ankles free and stepped back to view his work.
The Mage laid there and slowly rolled to his back where he lay gasping. His wide blue eyes on the ceiling focused on nothing. Nolen hated his eyes with their striking radiance. ‘I will take those from him next.’ His hands still shook, as he sucked in breath after breath. The Arconian with the attitude opened her door and stepped out, fixing Nolen with a fiery glare.
“Are you finished with him? Because you robbed me of a pleasant evening.”
He was not sure how he felt about her. She was striking, as were all the Arconians, but she had a certain quality of danger he found appealing. As easily as he would make her his, he knew her loyalty lay with the Mage, and he could not fathom why. ‘Why would the shell of a broken man be more appealing than power and titles like I bear? What does the Mage possess that I do not? Who would not want to be on the arm of the Prince of Anatoly?’
“I welcomed you to my room. It could have been quite pleasant for you.”
“I could never take another lover after this man,” she said and pointed her hand at the Mage. “All else would seem inadequate.”
‘That explains her loyalty.’ Nolen grimaced and made a displeased sound in his throat as he turned away. Kindle followed after offering a whisper of sympathy or apology. He trotted down the stairs to the foyer and found his way to the dark salon his father called home, but the man was not yet up. He flagged a servant down the hall and asked for breakfast along with something warm to drink, then found a plush seat near the cold fire. A quick snap of his fingers and a channeling of the Mage’s Fire Element blazed the hearth. Fire was a powerful Element, raging and dangerous, and so close to feeling like it would slip loose and destroy him.
All the Mage’s Elements felt that way though. Each was so strong, he felt like he would topple over and never rise again, but when he slipped off the control piece, he felt lost and saddened. Sometimes, when he was very lonely, he felt bad for the Mage he destroyed, but he reminded himself it was the only choice.
The Mage was already on the outs from what Nolen could feel. When he first put on the control piece, he felt such energy and power and anger, but now the energy was so dismal and subdued, and not just because he was broken. His well was running dry, and Nolen was very careful to use his Elements only when necessary. With luck, the Mage would make it out of the Silex retrieval alive and given a proper grave, but if he died during, Nolen would leave him.
Kindle entered with a mug of hot water sweetened with honey and took a seat.
“You have gotten thinner,” Nolen said. “Are you well?”
She shrugged a shoulder. “Was I ever, dear brother?”
No, she never had been. Ulcers and cysts had plagued her for years, and it seemed time had not healed her. “I would heal you if I knew how.”
“You would do a lot of things if you knew how, brother, and none of them pleasant I think.” She sipped her drink. “What makes you so power-hungry?”
‘What indeed?’ “I can do better than mother.” He replied and folded his arms. “No man could sit the Eagle Throne, so I knew I would have to do something wonderful to obtain it, all the while searching for you. It just happened that in order to find you, I needed power, and as a result, I need you to obtain the throne.”
She sat looking at him for a while, her back straight and her features pinched. “Here are my demands. I want Brackenrock Castle, staffed and furnished. Once you take the throne, you will form a council and I want a seat on it. The backlash from Jaden will be strong, so I want you to give me Mage Gabriel for my protection, and you will talk with Mage Ryker about setting a security pattern around my new home. Father will be freed, but I do not want him near Brackenrock. You will also not interfere if I choose a suitor, and I will make no claim to the throne that should be mine—you are lucky I never wanted it. Mother will also be given clemency and will take up one of our estates. In turn, I will give you the location of the Silex. Do we have an accord?”
Nolen smiled. It seemed years with father had taught her manipulation skills. “Is there anything else?”
She thought for a moment. “You will put no one else in a Castrofax, and you will see no harm comes to me.”
“No one would put you in a Castrofax.”
“People will do a lot to someone of power, brother, and someone is bound to notice the throne was passed over me for you. I need not remind you only Queens have ever ruled.”
“And it is about time for a change. I think your requests are reasonable. I will see each of them fulfilled. Mage Ryker will be most pleased with you. He is a powerful ally to have.” He paused as a servant brought in a hot mug of spiced wine
She took a moment and stared into the fire. “Give me the control piece. I want to feel Class Ten power.”
Reluctantly, he slipped it off his fingers and handed it over, watching as she slid it on. Her hands tightened and her face turned red and rapturous as she fought with the power he had so often. At such a weak Class Two, he wondered if she would be able to handle it, but she relaxed in her chair. Her eyes closed with a small smile on her thin lips.
“It is so sweet,” she finally said. “Smooth as butter and strong as…I cannot put it to words.” Without pause, she slipped it off and handed it back. If she held it longer, she would never let it go. He, however, slipped the copper piece over his fingers of his left hand and felt the familiar influx of power shoot into his veins. It was fainter than it used to be but such a rush of raw energy.
“Are you familiar with the stories of Roshenin City?” she asked.
“Is not everyone?”
Roshenin City was once the beautiful capital of a long passed kingdom. A dazzling example of architecture and art back in the First Age, it was centuries ahead of itself in modernization. It had plumbing, arched windows and doors without lintels, giant buildings that seemed to pierce the blue sky, transportation that ran on a lost form of science, and a system of government that was both absolute and democratic.
While beautiful and prosperous, it was the commerce and trade of slaves that made Roshenin wealthy, for it was decreed that no other city could sell or trade slaves. In that Age, slavery was as modern as wine with dinner. Both Mage and non-Mage were bought and sold.
Haply, one of the representatives of the center-city was a lovely and immensely powerful Class Ten Earth Mage, a woman by the name of Barbrielly. In fact, Nolen recalled, she was the woman that all Earth Mages compared themselves to when it came to Elemental strength and ranks. As far as Mages knew, there was never a stronger Earth Mage.
Legends said she was in love with a married man name Tollen. While their love was forbidden, they met in secret for years, or months—the stories varied. As comes with all sins, Barbrielly and her love were discovered, and their transgressions made public. As punishment Tollen was reportedly sold into slavery, and Barbrielly was ordered to never see him again. But as a butterfly is drawn to a flower, so was she drawn to him. It took her days to track him down, and when she did, she discovered he had not been sold, but condemned to die. She walked in on him being quartered.
Barbrielly, it was said, broke any self-control that held back her power that day. The buildings made of stone and wood stretched and curved, snapping, pointed jagged fingers at the skies; the roads melted under her feet, and the canals turned to red-hot lava. It was as if a great object had struck the City, for it buckled and wavered like the ripples of a droplet in water. In a moment every glass window shattered, every door buckled, every column b
ent. Sides of buildings and roofs expanded like bubbles, some bursting entirely. Caverns opened in the streets, jugs and jars exploded, and buildings stretched and froze in morbid nightmarish shapes.
Stories said every soul in the City turned to stone in a moment, and it was popular in the Second Age to have a human statue in the homes of the rich. Barbrielly herself was part of them. Her final figure knelt down holding the severed frame of a man who had been put back together. Earth Mages said it was impossible to turn oneself to stone, just like Spirit Mages could not heal themselves, but Barbrielly did.
“No one goes there. It is a haunted place.”
“That is what makes it such a good hiding place,” Kindle replied. “You will find the Silex there.”
“Truly. Where though? It is a massive City.”
“A palace.”
“Stories say there were dozens of palaces.”
She nodded. “There is one on the far southern part of the City that sits on a hill. The Silex is within, and underneath.”
“You will travel with me then?”
“I have never been. I have no wish to go.”
“You must come. If anyone were to discover you were the one who told me, you would be in danger. You must be within sight of my Mage so I may protect you. I want to leave within the hour.”
“Mage Gabriel needs time to rest,” she interjected. “You cannot leave him in such a state all eve and expect him to perform in the morning.”
“You would be surprised what he is capable of,” Nolen replied and stood to leave. “Why did you tell me?”
She held his gaze with their father’s trademark eyes. “As much as you crave your power, I crave my freedom.”
Chapter 13
Mikelle had to be strong for Gabriel. She could not rely on him to protect her in her weakness. She steeled her back and waited for the weakness to pass. It took its time. The solid night’s rest she expected was fraught with worry for Gabriel. She had even stolen out to see if she could aid him somehow, but he wanted nothing. Now a long day awaited them, and she could not give the rest he craved. Instead, she dipped her hands in water, heated the moisture, and held it to his arms, but he opened a window, grabbed two handfuls of snow, and put them on his shoulders.
Breaking Stars (Book 2) Page 14
