Chronomancer (Time Mage Saga Book 1)

by Mackenzie Morris

  Niki headed over to the buckets of water and began undressing. "Come on, Jack. This is no time to be shy."

  Jack groaned as he went behind the sheer hanging curtain. With tightly clenched eyes, he took off his clothes and began bathing with the soap-filled sponges. As he thought back through everything that had happened and what they could be going into, Jack scrubbed harder and harder until Niki snatched the sponge away from him. Jack's skin stung with the suds that had turned pink with blood.

  "Jack, stop. You're rubbing your skin raw. Jack?"

  He gritted his teeth through the building anger as he dumped a bucket of cool water over his head to wash it all way. Without a word, he dried himself on a towel then went to the wardrobe to find the clothes he would wear to stop a wedding and face the man he hated more than any other. Even with the threat of fighting for his life and danger looming on the horizon, he wanted to look decent for his fiance. After all, what was a knight without shining armor?

  Chapter 28

  Like an old bookstore, the musty smell of worn wood, burning oil from hundreds of lamps, and newly cleaned heavy red curtains filled Jack's nose as he stepped into the grand hall of the Royal Opera House. He was prepared for anything with Durendal on the belt of his dark blue trousers. He wore a black coat with brass buttons over a grey shirt and dark blue waistcoat. With his wavy locks greased back and a floppy white bow tie, he blended in like he could have come from there.

  Even Niki looked decently normal in his pale grey wool coat with the tan and baby blue-striped shirt and black trousers underneath. The bowler hat with the wide red ribbon tied it all together. The only thing that stood out was the emerald-studded curved Persian sword on his hip.

  Jack took a moment to take in his surroundings. If this was ultimately a trap, the theatre would have been the perfect venue for an ambush. Hundreds of burgundy chairs stretched down the middle of the hall below the three balconies lit with bright lamps. Golden designs sparkled on the ivory ceiling and dark wood railing. Jack stood in awe of the opulence. Everything was placed perfectly, polished, and clean. It shimmered in the thousands of lights that kept it bright, even in the dark London evening.

  "There's no one here." Niki's whisper carried through the acoustic hall. "Damn, it's quiet in here."

  "Shh."

  Niki drew his sword. He nodded towards the stage.

  The moment Jack took a step forward, the red curtains pulled apart to reveal the slick surface of the deep brown stage with layers of golden fabric as a backdrop. On her knees in the middle of the stage was Ellie.

  Her black hair was curled and pinned to the top of her head with blue butterfly pins. She had her head down, but her perfect dark crimson lipstick, pale pink blush, and delicately lined eyes with the long fake eyelashes were visible in the spotlight. The white gown spread out around her with a large bustle on the back and her waist cinched in with a pearl-spotted corset. Long blue laces trailed down the extensive train of silk and lace. Her light brown skin showed through the lace sleeves that went to her hands, spreading out in ruffles at the ends. Even from the back of the hall, Jack could see the remaining silver charms from her bracelet that had been strung on a black silk cord around her neck, resting against her chest.

  Despite the danger and the unknown of who lurked in the shadows of the boxes and balconies, Jack couldn't take his eyes off of her. She was beautiful. Of course, he had always thought that Ellie was the most beautiful woman in the world, but with her makeup done and her wearing a gown that hugged her body with tailored precision, she was an angel from his dreams. His voice surged up in his chest until her name escaped his lips. "Ellie!"

  Ellie looked up in surprise. "No! No, you can't be here."

  Jack raced down the length of the hall until he reached the orchestra pit. "Ellie, I'm here to save you. We can-"

  "Not a step closer." She stood up, her eyes sparkling with tears in the limelight. "Are you stupid? This whole thing is a trap and you walked into it. Get out of here, Jack. Run! Warp away, something. Niki, get him out of here now!"

  "You remember who I am? My father was killed before I was conceived, so I'm removed from time. I thought . . ."

  "Anyone who has traveled through time still knows who you are. Jack, please, listen to me. Leave before he comes back."

  "What a touching reunion." Wearing a long-tailed white tuxedo with a blue butterfly on his chest, Xander emerged from the left side of the stage. His face was half covered with a white mask that looked oddly familiar. He clapped his gloved hands together. As his loafers clomped on the polished wood, the beads in his braids jingled together. Xander stopped behind Ellie and placed his hands on her thin shoulders. "Everyone, I believe it's time to officially welcome our guests."

  Footsteps echoed through the empty performance hall as Syndicate agents in purple suits and dresses entered from the lobby and doors on the second floor. They held up pistols, pointed from the back doors and the balconies, prepared to fire. When the agents moved closer, Jack reached to his belt to draw Durendal, but Niki shook his head. Instead, he held up his hands, obviously outgunned. Despite the anger he felt at falling so easily into a trap, Jack allowed the agents to take his arms. He yelped when they kicked the backs of his legs, forcing his knees to buckle. He dropped and panted when they brought his wrists together.

  Jack winced in pain when his arms were forced behind his back and thin ropes were wrapped tightly enough to cut off circulation in his fingers. It cut into his skin, instantly bruising to his bones. He heard Niki struggling when two agents grabbed his arms and held him still at the end of the row of chairs. He saw the rage in his restrained Time Knight's eyes. Was this the end for them? Would they die there in the opera house and leave Ellie to a horrific fate, enslaved to a psychotic maniac?

  "Does this place remind you of anything, Jackson? Maybe a little audio can help set the scene." Xander took out a tape recorder and hit the 'play' button. The music filled the opera house. "You know it."

  Jack instantly recognized the song. It was The Music of the Night from The Phantom of the Opera. But something about it was different. When Ellie began weeping and Niki growled, he realized what it was. It was Jack's voice. It was from the play he starred in at school. Had Xander been in the audience recording the entire thing just to play it here to mock him?

  "Clap, my princess. Clap for your Phantom of the Opera." Xander chuckled as one of the agents holding Jack on his knees kicked his side, making Jack groan. "How ridiculously pathetic. Elizabeth, look at his boy. This poor excuse for a man, much less any kind of talented actor that he claims to be. This is what you fell in love with? He's a worm. He's nothing."

  He glared at the man holding his fiance captive.

  "Recognize it, Jackson? You were so cute up there in the lights with all of the audience focused on you and your starring role. I'll give it to you. You know how to sing. And that high note? Clear as ringing crystal. Does it bring back good memories? I saw a few women wiping away tears. They adored you. But now, I am the star, the man in the leading roll. You're removed from time. No one knows you anymore. You were a fleeting wisp in the past. Once Elizabeth becomes mine and I take my time devouring your sweet soul, nothing relating to you will remain. It won't matter."

  Why go through all this trouble? "You set this up here, in an opera house, just to make fun of me? What do you get out of this, Xander? Were you trying to humiliate me with that recording? That was one of the greatest nights of my life."

  "You mean until I killed those people and framed you for it? Manuel Dawson took Ellie on his own terms. I just took advantage of the situation. You see, I've been Syndicate since the beginning. I just had to wait until I could get Elric and his lackeys out of my way."

  "Why me?" Jack asked. "Out of all the other Iskaydrians in the world, why come after me? There are plenty stronger than me."

  "That is true. They are a great deal stronger. However, the power residing dormant inside of you is greater than all of them combined. I
sensed it the moment you were born. I tasted the influx of energy that sent ripples through the waters of time and I knew that I had to have you. I have groomed you to be perfection."

  "So you can eat me?"

  "Through anguish, loss, joy, and love, I have added ingredient after specially-selected ingredient to your soul. Don't you get it, Jack? I'm the one who hijacked that plane and killed the pilot so it would crash in the mountains. There was no accidental sniper shot or turbulence or anything else you've been told. I'm the one who was driving the truck that collided with the car that early morning when your other family members died, sending it into the wall of the tunnel in D.C.. I took your family from you so you would grow up valuing the ones close to you more and more. Then it would be the sweetest torture when they were ripped away. That kind of anguish is like icing on a cake."

  Niki barked at him, the veins in his neck pulsing and his teeth bared like a wolf. "You're an evil son of bitch! And you pretended to be his friend? I get that you hate me for the way I treated Jack. You had some kind of preconceived notion that I was going to be a bad person just because you're racist. But don't do this to him. You're a bully, preying on the weak. I'm sure you're proud of that, right? You want to be the Director of the Zurvan Syndicate, and you can only take out a teenage Chronomancer who you made an orphan? Are you serious? You're not a big bad guy. You're a sad, over-inflated egomaniac who's all bark and no bite."

  A female agent with spiked bright red hair and a scar down her left cheek picked up Shamshir-e from the floor where it had been dislodged from Niki's grasp. She then twirled the emerald-studded blade as she strutted over to Jack and squatted down in front of him. She roughly took him by the belt and yanked Durendal out of its scabbard. The woman stood and winked at him. "Thanks, sweetheart."

  Xander sighed dramatically. "I specifically put no weapons allowed on the invitation. What kind of uncultured barbarians have to carry swords with them at all times? And to a wedding, even. This is a joyous occasion. There will be no fighting tonight. Take those swords away and have them melted down. We have no need for fanciful fairy-tale swords. Now that our guests have arrived and have been seated, the ceremony can begin. Oh, priest, won't you come out here and unite me with my bride?"

  A suave-looking brunette man in a pressed suit that made his lean frame look even thinner sauntered out from the side curtains with a smirk below his thin mustache that curled up at the ends. As if unconcerned about the time he was in, he wore an American flag pin on his lapel, a smart watch, and a wired earpiece, listening to some unknown person on the other end. He appeared to be almost presidential.

  Xander shook the man's hand. "Thank you for coming, newly-instated President Larmer. It's an honor to have this wedding officiated by someone of your revered status."

  "It is my pleasure. Shall we begin?"

  With greedy eyes, Xander seized Ellie's arm and dragged her to the middle of the stage.

  Niki struggled against the agents holding him. "Don't you touch her!"

  "Shut your mouth, or I'll shut it for you. Please ignore them, Mr. President. Carry on once you're ready."

  President Larmer cleared his throat and straightened his stars and stripes tie before holding out his hands. "We are gathered here on this lovely evening to join Xander Sutcliff and Elizabeth Erin Dawson in the bonds of holy matrimony. Please take each other's hands."

  Ellie's crying stopped. She stood tall with her shoulders back. She took Xander's hands as her jaw clenched. She was stronger than Jack had ever known. She looked like she did that evening after the attack in middle school when she bravely sat on that emergency room bed while the nurse stitched up her wounds. Ellie hadn't cried. She hadn't even whimpered. She was a little girl with the composure of a trained soldier.

  Jack was the one losing control over his emotions. He wept openly as he watched the love of his life in a wedding gown, holding hands with another man to accept the ring and last name of another man. He kept his numbing fingers on the shoelace ring he valued more than any other possession. He had loved her. He had imagined their lives together time and time again. Their wedding on a beach, making love for the first time, their innocent love blossoming as they grew together. But now all of that had been smashed, obliterated into irreparable pieces. Out of all the tortures Xander could have put Jack through, the vile ravaging of Ellie's purity weighed on him the most.

  Niki's narrowed eyes and clenched jaw made his profile more intense, revealing his inner rage. Ellie had been like a little sister to him. Even with his weak and battered body, the Time Knight was intimidating, like a captive tiger ready to pounce. The only thing keeping him from rushing the stage and tackling Xander was the dozens of guns pointed at him. Niki's biceps rippled under his grey coat and his shaved head made his bared teeth more intimidating.

  President Larmer placed one hand on Xander's shoulder and one on Ellie's, drawing them closer together. "I will make this quick so we can be away from this place. I know you have plans to attend to, Chronomancer Sutcliff. Now, under the steady guidance of Zurvan, I bring the two of you together into his service and the service of the Zurvan Syndicate. Through time and distance everlasting, the bond forged here tonight will persist until death."

  Niki let out a primal roar, but he was thrown against the wall. He squirmed and writhed as the agents pinned him there and stuffed a ball gag into his mouth, cutting off his protests. The leather strap was cinched down and he was shoved to the floor where the agents stood on his arms and legs.

  Jack's will to fight fled him when he saw a tear slide from Niki's eye to the floor below his face.

  "That's better. Look at him drooling like a wild animal." President Larmer chuckled when Niki groaned from his humiliated position. "Back to the point of tonight. Xander Sutcliff, you have written vows for both of you?"

  "Indeed, I have." He took out two note cards and read from one of them. "Elizabeth, you are the image of perfection, a rare balance between Iskaydrian and Avelayan, Chronomancer and Time Knight, Master and slave. The things we will do together will change the world. I vow to protect you from anyone who would attempt to steal you away from me. Now, you are mine and I will never let you go."

  "Elizabeth, it's your turn." Xander handed her the other card. "Speak loudly so they can hear you, my queen."

  Ellie's fingers lightly shook while she held up the note card, but her voice was clear and steady. Instead of looking at Xander, her eyes were focused on Jack. "I have never met a man as strong and powerful as you. You are handsome beyond compare, the perfect specimen of masculinity. In your arms, I feel safe. I vow to serve you, to obey you, to please you in every way. I will never leave your side."

  Jack slumped in defeat.

  The president handed them a set of rings. "With these rings, your bond between each other and Zurvan is complete. I now pronounce you husband and wife. Chronomancer Sutcliff, you may kiss your bride."

  They slid the rings onto each other's fingers. In a flash, Xander snatched Ellie by the waist and dipped her backwards. He slammed his face to hers and devoured her mouth in a hungry kiss. When he finally released her, blood had smeared on her lips. She breathed heavily, catching her breath.

  "How do you feel, my bride?"

  Ellie's fists tightened at her sides. "I did what you wanted. Let them go. Eat me instead. You said it yourself. I'm rare. I'm Avelayan and Iskaydrian. A hybrid has to be even better, right?"

  Jack lunged forward, but the agents held him there on his knees. "Ellie, no. No!"

  "I don't want to eat you, precious." Xander stroked her face with the back of his hand. "I have other plans for you. Jack can't carry my babies. You're going to be a wonderful mother, Elizabeth. Speaking of which, we need to get on that. Tell you what. I'll allow you to share a goodbye kiss with your ex-fiance before I cut his throat. Go on. Don't be bashful, my blushing bride. Think of this as my wedding gift to you. Unhand him so they can have a moment. You see, I'm not an evil monster, after all. Go on, Elizabeth. Go to
him."

  Ellie's heels clicked on the steps as she descended the stairs then ran to Jack. She threw herself to her knees and wrapped her arms around him. "Jack . . . I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

  "It's not your fault. You didn't do this. I need you to stay strong for me, okay? Whatever he does to me, stay strong." Jack felt the sawing of the ropes behind his back before the tension of his bindings released. Had Ellie cut him loose? Where had she kept a blade? He whispered to her. "Ellie, don't. He'll punish you. It's not worth it."

  "It's done. You know what to do. I love you."

  "There are no words, Ellie. I'm sorry I failed you."

  Jack winced when something sharp poked into his hand. He felt something warm and slick press against his arm. The realization of what was going on dawned on him. He rested his face against Ellie's collarbone and slipped his hands free from the ropes. He held onto Ellie's hand then touched his hourglass tattoo, willing the magic to take them away to an unknown destination.

  The white light washed over him, taking away his senses in a freezing transition between the past and the present, somewhere in the continuum of time. Vibrant colors streaked as lightning through the emptiness and all he could taste was the tartness of blood. A severe headache clawed at his brain for a brief moment of wracking torture, but it cleared so quickly that he questioned if it happened at all. Jack seized up until the white light gave way to darkness then to a soft glow. The ringing in his ears eased away until he could hear the quietness again. The knots in his muscles unwound, his skin prickled with renewed sensation, and he drew a deep breath.

  With a deep breath of potpourri-scented air, Jack felt his body relaxing into the soft mattress of a clean, made bed. His sight returned to him in the warm light from wall-mounted lamps. He opened his eyes to see the maroon walls decorated with trailing gold filigrees, a fireplace topped with rose vases on the mantle, an ivory couch and matching chairs embroidered with white flowers, and a round table in the middle of the luxurious room that was covered with fine porcelain dishes and crystal glasses. Rich wooden dressers sat on the soft tan carpet and a mirror reflected the tall posts and tasseled pillows of the bed around him. In that mirror, he saw the white ruffles and black hair.