"How dare you speak to me like that?" Sam seized Niki by the throat and slammed him against the wall of the house with bone-cracking force. He pinned him there as he shouted in his face. "I am not your enemy, Avelayan. I highly suggest that you keep your ungrateful heathen mouth shut before I cover your arms with penance scars. Everything you just implied was his side of it. You don't know what really happened. He is a handful. And I see he rubbed off on you. Do you know what he took from me because of his actions? I'm out here instead of being with my wife right now because he screwed up and I had to take up the slack to show the Syndicate that I'm a capable Director. I will respect my son's wishes and not put you in your place. You make one more false accusation and your Chronomancer will find your bloated body at the bottom of my well. You are nothing to me, you disgusting pig of a slave. Your father would have broken your neck as a baby if he knew what you would become. Get some sleep, both of you. We have a long day tomorrow."
After Sam went inside, Jack rushed to Niki and rubbed at the fingerprints left behind on his neck. "He's stressed. He's dealing with a lot. He didn't mean that."
"If you want to choke me, too, go ahead. I failed you. That's painfully obvious now. I'm too hot-tempered. I'm losing control. I'm a liability."
"No. He wasn't right. My father doesn't understand the way we are. You can't listen to what he's saying."
Niki blinked, sending tears down his cheeks. "You didn't stop him."
"What?"
"You didn't do anything to stop him. You didn't even interrupt him. I watched you. When he first pinned me to the wall, you had your hand on the hilt of your sword, but he said something that made you remove it. I know we have our problems. I know most of them fall on my shoulders. If you agree with your father, then I won't say anything else. I just want the truth, Jackson."
"About what?" Jack asked.
"How you really feel about me. It's my fault you're in this mess to begin with. If I had come to your play, watched you give the performance of your life as the Phantom of the Opera, we could have ran and hid together. I would have taken you somewhere safe. You never would have gone to Ellie's apartment and found that disk. You wouldn't have been marked. You wouldn't have gotten on the police's radar at all. I wouldn't have told you to run to Allen's office, making you look guilty. The truth is, they suspected you right off the bat because of my record. I was dumb and I did things that automatically made me look guilty in their eyes. It didn't take much to help them make the jump from shoplifting and vandalism to murder."
"Don't do this now."
"Why not? Because I'm hurting? Jack, I've been hurting since I was born. You know it's true. Here." Niki took a vial of clear liquid from the skirt he was wearing and handed it to him. "I started going into withdrawal when I was with Cleopatra's medics. She knew right away what was wrong. I need to deal with this before I make you regret more, before I fuck up again and destroy another part of your life. I'm going for a walk."
"Niki, don't go alone. I'm sorry. He doesn't, he can't, he . . ."
"Go inside with your father. If I don't come back before sunrise, take a look around. Maybe you'll find me in the well."
Chapter 25
Jack drank the hot spiced tea that was dark with star anise, cinnamon, and honey while he sat on the rug in his father's home. An hour had gone by in the deep darkness of early morning before dawn with no sign of Niki returning. At least the night was quiet. No screaming. No shouting of slavers. No fighting. He eyed Sam from across the carpet while Allen cleaned up from dinner. "Dad?"
"Hmm?"
"Why did you do that?" Jack asked, cleaning the traces of food from his fingers on a wet cloth.
"Do what?"
"That whole show out there. Why did you do that? You knew it would drive us apart."
"I believe in tough love, my boy. I knew if I pushed far enough, one of you would break. It doesn't take a psychologist to see the tension you two have. I know you love each other, but you can't keep hiding the problems you have."
"You didn't mean what you said to him."
Sam drank his wine. "Of course not. I wouldn't dream of harming your brother. That's what he is. But even brothers have issues with each other every once in a while. I said what I said to get you two to have this much-needed conversation. I don't want you two to fall apart like Allen and I have. We used to be close, but the stress of having to leave my life behind is a heavy burden to bear."
"Did you do those things to him?"
"They've been embellished through anger and fear, but yes. They weren't as bad as they're made out to be. However, I am guilty of enacting cruel punishments when they weren't called for. I have a temper that I'm not proud of. Allen has a temper worse than mine. We butt heads. A lot. For every time I've punished him cruelly, he has hit back. He's smashed chairs over my head. Broke my front teeth with a wine bottle. Stabbed me in the thigh with a shank. He locked me in a sinking car until I had nearly drowned. He even poisoned my food once and I had to get my stomach pumped. It's a mutual cycle of abuse that I can't let you and Niki get caught up in. I saw the beginning signs, so I did what I thought I had to do. I apologize if I crossed a line."
Maybe it was a line that needed to be crossed. "You're right, you know? I resented the fact that things escalated so quickly because Niki hadn't listened to me about obeying the law and being a good kid. I would always tell him that he would get me in trouble someday. I don't hate him."
"No one thinks you do, Jack. This is why you need to work this out. Communication prevents the sad excuse for a relationship Allen and I have."
"Do you think Niki will come back?" Jack asked.
"I know he will. The slavers aren't out at night, so he'll be safe. Give him time. The biggest thing I want you to take with you when you go back to your present is to know that whatever comes between you two, whatever you're fighting about, it's not worth it. Don't be like me, my boy."
A heavy thud came from the doorway, knocking sand free from the walls and sending a string of dried dates falling to the carpet.
"What was that?"
"Stay here. I'll check it out." Sam grunted as he stood up and went to the fabric over the doorway. He pushed it out of the way then drew a quick breath as he moved to show the solid stone that blocked the exit. "Something's been put in front of the doorway."
Jack jumped up when something clanked behind him and a shadow moved in front of the torchlight outside. He went to the window where wood had been set inside. "The windows have been covered too. Dad, what's going on?"
"Shh. Stay quiet."
"Are we trapped in here?" Jack asked, his heart fluttering.
"Quiet, Jack. Allen come down here. Allen!"
Allen stumbled down the stairs, his hair frazzled and looking half-drunk. "Uh, what? What's going on, Sam?"
Sam snarled at him like he was going to attack. "Have you been drinking? I told you I need your mind clear tomorrow. You're coming with us to the temple. I never gave you wine. Did you steal from me?"
"What? Oh, come on, Sam. Sammy. Samuel. I just needed to relax."
"I'll deal with you tomorrow."
The smell of sweet burning wood caught in Jack's nose. He listened over the sound of the locusts to hear the crackling like a torch, but closer. It grew louder as wisps of smoke rose out of the cracks of wood in the windows. "Dad, there's smoke."
"Fire. Damn it. Jack, help me get this off the doorway. On the count of three, we run and throw our weight against this. It has to break."
Jack stood beside his father and waited for the signal. On the count of three, he ran with him at the stone covering the doorway and threw his body against it. He yelped when the stone refused to budge, leaving him and Sam with sore shoulders. "It didn't work."
"I see that." He bent over, coughing loudly. "We can't breathe more of this smoke. Damn it. We're warping."
"I can't leave Niki."
"We're going to die if we don't get out of this house." Sam bit into his thumb wit
h his canines to produce a bead of blood. He wrote on his Chronomancer mark then took Allen's and Jack's hands. "Here we go."
Jack waited.
The heat wrapped around them and Sam jerked his hands away. "Shit."
"What happened?" Allen asked.
"It didn't work."
"A block?" Jack asked. "Like a base mark? You're the Syndicate. You can get around them."
"Usually, yes. I've never had this happen. Something more powerful than me is keeping us here. Smash one of those windows, Allen!"
The Time Knight did as he was told, smashing the wood to pieces with a blacksmith's hammer. The cool fresh air was a welcome change, but the influx of oxygen fanned the flames that had now overtaken the thatched roof.
Jack hurried to the open window and gulped in the much-needed air. With sweat pouring down his body, making his clothes stick to him, he shouted for help. The village, however, remained quiet. Not that anyone would have been able to understand English anyway.
Then, in the glowing moonlight, he saw an angel.
On the back of a black horse, Niki rode up the road then jumped from the blankets on its back. He gave a primal cry as he took hold of the stone slab and inched it to the side.
Jack jumped when hot coals broke free from the floor above and rained down around him. Allen patted out a flare up that took hold on his Chronomancer's robe, burning his bare hands in the process. Jack knelt down to breathe clearer air near the gap between the doorway and the slab. He reached out for Niki's sandal-clad foot. "Niki! Hurry. It's coming down in here. We can't breathe."
With a scream and a surge of adrenaline, Niki pushed the stone slab to the side where it cracked up the middle when it hit the ground. "Come on. Get out of there."
Jack crawled out of the house with Sam and Allen close behind him, just as a section of blazing straw fell through the wooden slats of the second floor to blanket the first floor with fire. He clung to Niki as he was lifted to his feet. "You came back."
"I never left. I was down the road watching the stars. When I saw a strange figure moving around the house, I came to check it out."
Sam pointed into the darkness. "Boys, we have company."
Slow, sarcastic clapping came from the cloud of smoke that surrounded the house as the fire died down to smoldering embers inside the clay walls. A figure emerged, a dark-skinned man in a black jumpsuit with combat boots and a wooden staff on his back. The silver beads in his braided black hair jingled together as he stepped closer. "Well done. You always can count on your Time Knight to come when needed, like the dog he is."
"Xander. Why are you doing this?" Jack asked, drawing Durendal from his belt. "You could have killed us."
"Darn."
"Take the camels to the stables, Dad. Take Allen with you. This is my fight." Jack made sure they were out of sight before he set his sights on Xander. He needed answers. "Why did you turn against us? Why did you hurt Niki?"
"You figured it out. Well, guess my ruse is over."
"I thought you were my friend."
Xander spit onto Niki's feet. "You deserve a Time Knight much better than that weak piece of garbage. Did you see the video? He was whimpering and blubbering like a little girl."
"You raped him with a meat hook."
"And I should have done it harder. I should have slit his throat and made him choke to death on his own blood."
"Why do you hate him so much?" Jack asked, pointing the tip of his blade at the man he had once called his friend. "Why? Why did you pretend to be my friend?"
Xander took his dark hickory quarterstaff with the braided metal cap on the end and twirled it. The end brushed against the sand, calling up a shadow that swirled around him and slowly took form. It developed a human-like figure that stood to Xander's elbow. Its body was transparent, swirling, and devoid of any identifying features other than a male body and lanky limbs. Two piercing white eyes stared directly at Jack.
"What is that?" Jack asked, inching away from the apparition. "What is that thing beside you?"
"There are things you will never understand, Jackson Carter. This is my new partner. You look scared. You should be."
"Where's Opal?" Niki's fists clenched at his sides. "If that thing is your new partner, what have you done with Opal?"
"What I had to do, what anyone would do with an unruly wife."
Niki made an audible whine. "Wait. What? Wife?"
Xander grinned darkly. "You didn't know. I married Opal after she was beaten within an inch of her life by Ryan, her Chronomancer before me. I saved her life by being able to pay for her hospital bills with my insurance. You should be thanking me."
"So you did what?" Niki asked. "You hit her? You hit her too hard then dumped her body somewhere?"
"She's dead to me, not actually dead. We divorced. We broke our bond. I have no interest in traitors. Besides, she'll be facing the new expedited death penalty that the government has adopted for rebels. She's probably standing on the White House steps with a noose around her neck right now. You'll never see her again."
Niki hissed at him. "You bastard. You sick, demented bastard! You used her. She was loyal to you in every way and you used her. When she wasn't useful to you anymore, you threw her away."
"I only have use for people who know what true loyalty is. Opal bought her fate the day she called the FBI to raid Sand Headquarters and told the agents lies about me. Do you know what she said? She told them that I was abusing her, that I had turned her into a slave. She wanted attention. It's sickening."
Jack held out his arm to keep Niki from rushing him. "You did treat her as a slave."
"Speaking of slaves, I brought you something. It's in the pot over there. The big one. Go on. You want it, I promise."
"Go, Niki. Go open it."
"Right away." Niki slowly approached the red clay pot that sat next to the fence along the road. He lifted the lid and gasped. "It's Thyme! He's in here. Is he . . . is he dead? Did you kill him?"
Jack shouted at him in urgency. "Get him out!"
The Time Knight grabbed a rock from the end of the fence then smashed it against the clay, shattering it and sending Thyme sliding out on a waterfall of grain. The boy was lifeless and paler than normal. His t-shirt and shorts were smeared with mud and blood and his sneakers had been secured to his feet with multiple layers of duct tape around his ankles. His slender wrists had been bound in front of him with more of the strong silver tape and a section had been placed across his mouth to prevent him from talking.
Niki ripped through the bindings then peeled the tape off of the sage's mouth, revealing cracked lips hat had a halo of purple bruises surrounding them. He tore open the boy's shirt and placed his ear to his chest. "He's breathing."
"Is he unconscious?" Jack shook his sword at Xander. "What did you do to him? What did you do?"
The older Chronomancer licked his lips. "You know, I never was one for hurting kids, but it's starting to grow on me."
Niki called to him. "Jack, he's bleeding."
Jack repeated his question, his time his voice deeper with anger. "What did you do to do him?"
"He was so soft. He just laid there and let me do whatever I wanted to him. The way he obeyed every word, it's precious. I took him to a freezer so he could know what his daddy's Time Knight went through on that video."
"No! You're dead!" Jack raced at the older Chronomancer as quickly as his tired legs could move him. He closed his eyes as he swung the sword, hoping to hit, but not wanting to see the damage. Durendal sliced through the air, missing his target. Before he could lash out again, Xander hooked his staff behind Jack's knees with well-practice ease and pulled, dropping him on his back.
Xander chuckled and spun his staff over his head, flaunting his dexterity.
"Jack!"
He held out his sword to keep his Time Knight away. "Stay out of this, Niki. I'll deal with him. You tend to Thyme."
"Yes, Nikolas." Xander lowered his stance and prepared to strike. "Tend
to the boy, because that's all you're good for. That sage will need some help after what I did to him."
Jack shook with rage. "He's a child! He's eight, Xander!"
"So?"
"You hurt a kid. You hurt a baby! He was helpless and you touched him. You beat him. You . . . why?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "Because I could."
Jack darted to the right, narrowly avoiding the heavy slam of the polished wood that could have easily broken his arm. Wielded by a man of Xander's stature and strength, the quarterstaff became very much a potentially deadly weapon.
Jack pivoted on his toes then raised his sword to block the oncoming staff. The two weapons clanked against each other with a force that sent pain shooting up his arms. They remained locked there for a moment as they glared into each other's eyes before Xander delivered a brutal kick to Jack's stomach. With a cry, Jack fell backwards and hit his head against the side of the still-smoking house. Dizzy, he found himself on his knees and Durendal a few feet away from him.
The shadow creature weaved between Xander's legs like a dog, squealing as it circled him.
"You hold that sword like it's a snake. Having problems with the blade between your legs, too, boy? Oh, wait. You don't even know what it's used for."
"Shut up!"
"Make me."
Jack swung Durendal at Xander, but the shadow creature leaped in front. Its ephemeral body contorted around the blade then let out a shriek as the white light pulsed from the hilt. Power radiated from it with a blast, throwing Jack to the ground and disintegrating the shadow with violent energy. It gave a lingering howl that sounded almost human.
Xander smirked as the shadow being turned to mist and dissipated around him. "I knew you were a killer. Come at me, Chronomancer. Show me what your father's DNA can do."
He tasted the tart metallic liquid before he felt the pain when Xander's boot collided with his jaw. He spit out bright blood into the scorched sand then lunged at his opponent with renewed fury. He clawed his way up the wall then lifted Durendal once again.
Chronomancer (Time Mage Saga Book 1) Page 42
