by S. M. Boyce
Her body collapsed onto the ground, her bear’s will shattered and her body too broken to heal. With a last shaky breath, her world went dark.
CHAPTER 15
When Victoria finally came to, she bolted upright with her fists at the ready.
She blinked rapidly as she tried to clear her blurry vision, and it took several tries before she could make out the hazy outline of a four-poster bed and a window. Someone was hunched in a chair by the door, and she leapt out of the bed before the final blurry elements of the world around her came into focus. Fists cocked, she was ready to pick up where she’d left off.
“Victoria, it’s me!” Diesel yelled.
The man in the chair stood, and Diesel’s familiar face came into focus.
“Oh, thank goodness,” she said, leaning against the mattress as she calmed down. Her world still spun, and her head throbbed.
Diesel held her tightly, pressing her head against his chest. His pulse thudded erratically against her ear, and she couldn’t help but smile with gratitude at his worry.
Worry. Wait, I should be worried about… About…
As her mind cleared, she straightened and grabbed his shirt. “Audrey! She’s in an alley and she needs help!”
“She’s safe,” he said gently, hands on Victoria’s shoulders. “Sleeping. She doesn’t have instant healing like you do. Fyrn healed her himself, but she will be out for a while.”
Victoria sighed deeply and sat on the bed, head in her hands as she tried to calm down. “I lost.”
Diesel perched on the bed beside her and put an arm around her shoulders, squeezing gently as he held her. “You lasted longer than most would have.”
“That’s not good enough.”
He sighed. “At least you survived.”
“How, though? He’d knocked me out cold.”
Diesel flashed a cocky smile. “I rescued you.”
She laughed. “I’m never going to live that one down, am I?”
“Not in a million years. I will forever be the one who rescued the fair Victoria Brie in her time of need. So effectively, when you save Fairhaven I should get the most credit since I saved your life.”
She rolled her eyes. “Thank you, Diesel.”
His smile fell, and he tilted her shoulders toward him. Still reeling from the battle with Luak, she didn’t resist. He hesitated, his eyes darting between hers and the floor as he searched for what he wanted to say.
She set a hand on his chest to stop him from saying a word. “You want me to not face him again, but you know I will. You want to save me, but know I don’t need saving. You’re trying to show me how much you care without annoying the living crap out of me.”
“Maybe,” he admitted.
With a chuckle, Victoria stood and rubbed her aching neck. Her Rhazdon Artifact must have worked overtime to mend everything in her body. She suspected most people would have died from a fight like that. In fact, she was likely one of the few who had walked away from a battle with Luak.
Lost in thought, she paced the room. “He must have a weakness—something I can use against him.”
“Just rest, Victoria. You need to heal.”
“I am healing. I need to figure out how to kill Luak before he gets any stronger.”
“He’s not—”
“New troops every day. Bottomless pockets and a rich benefactor. And after that fight, he’ll probably realize he needs a bit more power to beat me. I can’t let him win, Diesel.”
“Even if you die?” He stood up, a good foot taller than her as he stepped closer. For the first time, his expression twisted into one of anger.
He was mad…at her. Victoria had to admit she had never thought she would see the day, but in this he was wrong.
“Yes, Diesel,” she said softly. “Even if I die.”
His brows twisted upward and he reached for her shoulders again, but this time he couldn’t bring himself to touch her, so his hands hovered an inch from her skin. She watched him, waiting for him to tell her to stop and rethink this, but he didn’t. After a moment, he just nodded. “That’s what makes you a hero, Victoria.”
“Diesel, look—”
The door burst open and Fyrn stood in the doorway. He lifted one hairy eyebrow at the scene, and Diesel stepped back without another word.
“I told you to come get me when she woke up,” Fyrn said.
Diesel crossed his arms. “We had things to discuss first. A lover’s quarrel, if you will. Our first, I might add!”
“Oh my God, Diesel,” Victoria muttered. She shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose.
At least he was back to his old self—no more anger. He knew what she was willing to do to protect those in her beloved city, and not even he could stop her.
No one could.
For Fairhaven and for justice, she would do what needed to be done.
“We have to talk,” Fyrn said with a nod to the hallway. “Come with me.”
***
“He nearly killed you,” Fyrn said as they settled into couches.
Victoria sipped a warm cup of tea, savoring the wispy heat radiating from the liquid. There weren’t many places of comfort in their rocky hideaway, but the refugees had managed to sneak out a few nice-ish things. The checkered green couch she sat on had seen better days, and a few threads of the overstuffed cushions tickled the inside of her knee as she fought to get comfortable.
“Luak’s stronger than I realized,” Victoria admitted. It was her way of agreeing without admitting it outright.
“You need more power,” Fyrn said with a disgusted grunt. He reclined in the cracked brown leather armchair that reminded her somewhat of his chair back at his house. By now his home had probably been ransacked.
From his chair by the smokeless fire, Diesel quirked an eyebrow. “More power? She’s a freaking superhero, Fyrn. How much more magic can you shove into a human’s body?”
Victoria absently tapped a finger on her chin as she debated her options. She kept coming back to one, but she didn’t like it.
Not one bit.
Diesel stood and started pacing. “So what do we do, protection spells? You think I haven’t done a million of those already?”
Victoria tilted her head. “You’ve been performing magic on me without telling me?”
“Of course, my darling. I need to make sure luck is on your side, after all. A few prosperity potions in your tea, a victory and triumph charm or two. Nothing major.”
Fyrn chuckled. “Those spells would have cost your entire fortune, Victoria, if this idiot wasn’t absolutely enamored with you. They were quite good.”
“Hey, I… Thank you?” Diesel seemed confused as to whether to address the insult or the rare compliment first.
“Hold on, how did I not know you were performing magic on me? That’s kind of a big deal!”
“It was for your safety, my darling.”
“It… Well, yeah, and thank you, but what if other people are performing magic on me too? This is—”
“You’re fine, Victoria,” Fyrn interrupted. “We’ve placed wards to keep other wizards’ charms and magic off you as much as possible.”
“Well, telling me would have been nice.” She rubbed her face. Freaking wizards. Always doing magic without telling me anything.
At least this was in her favor.
“So there aren’t any more spells we can do,” Diesel said, rubbing the stubble on his jaw.
“No amulets or small magical tokens would be powerful enough,” Fyrn added.
Victoria eyed Fyrn’s staff. “What about an artifact and a relic fused together?”
Both wizards paused in their thoughts and stared at her—Diesel with concern and Fyrn with surprise.
“Wielding a powered artifact is incredibly dangerous,” Diesel said.
“The only two relics powerful enough to defeat Luak are…” Fyrn glanced at his staff and then at Victoria, and she pieced it together.
The only two relics Fyrn kne
w of either powered his staff or had been put aside to power the golems.
Victoria sipped her tea, her gaze drifting to Diesel. “May I speak with Fyrn alone for a moment?”
The younger wizard sighed. “Of course. I’ll go…scout something.”
“Thank you.”
When the door had shut softly behind him, Victoria gestured toward it—someone might overhear them. Fyrn had the same idea, and as he had when they had visited Drefus in his drug den, he summoned a glimmering bubble of silence. No one outside the bubble would hear anything said inside.
“It’s a solid idea,” she said.
“It would be if you knew more about powered artifacts.”
“Then enlighten me.”
“My staff keeps me alive, Victoria, but I trained for decades to master its power. Relics and artifacts as powerful as this can be erratic, and if you’re unprepared they can overwhelm and destroy you when you try to control their power. It takes years to master one, and that’s time we don’t have.”
She let out a disappointed sigh. “And the golems?”
“They can be used if we can find a means of controlling them. The power of the relic fueling them will be diluted since there are many golems, and it won’t overwhelm whoever controls them.”
“So we just have to find this ‘connection to something profound’ to control them.”
“It’s too vague. We can’t awaken them unless we’re certain the connection to this…thing, whatever it is, is powerful enough.”
Victoria stood with a frustrated huff, pacing the small bubble as best she could. “We have to do something. Our little spat in the town square proves I can’t defeat him on my own, at least not yet. When we face him, everyone else will fight his army but I’ll face him, and this time I can’t lose.”
“I know,” Fyrn said softly.
An idea hovered just out of reach in the back of her mind. It was an infuriating sensation, same as she had felt earlier when training with Audrey and Fyrn. This was one of her new powers, and the one she perhaps understood the least. With her bear figurine she had access to intuitive knowledge and understanding of the world around her, but she didn’t quite know how to use it yet.
Frustrating, to say the least.
She did, however, have one idea on her own.
“I should find another Rhazdon Artifact,” she said softly.
He sighed with disappointment. Apparently he’d had this idea, too.
“Is there one that would help me?”
“There are dozens that would help you,” Fyrn said. “And dozens more that would turn you into what Luak is now.”
“I’m obviously not like him, Fyrn. I have two Rhazdon Artifacts already, and I’m fine.”
“Absolute power corrupts absolutely,” he said, quoting Lord Acton.
“You yourself said that I needed more power,” she pointed out.
“I know.” He rubbed his forehead, frustrated.
“With my bear figurine, I have the force of will and discipline to overcome any temptation that may come with whatever Rhazdon Artifact we choose. I’ll also be able to keep its ghost in line.”
“Is that what you want to do every day for the rest of your life?”
“If it means protecting Fairhaven, yes!”
Fyrn watched her for a moment, the lines around his eyes betraying his age. He looked weathered and deeply weary.
“If anyone can handle three Rhazdon Artifacts, it’s you,” he said.
She smiled, grateful for the compliment. “If you’re going to keep saying nice things to people, they’re going to wonder if you’re losing your mind.”
He chuckled, rubbing his beard. “I suppose they will. I’m the old fart, after all. Can’t go around giving compliments.”
She laughed. “It just wouldn’t be right.”
“Very well.” He stood and dismissed the golden light protecting them with a wave of his hand, and the magic shield popped like a bubble landing on the point of a needle.
“Don’t we get a say in this?” a familiar male voice said from behind her.
Victoria spun on her heel to find Shiloh leaning against the wall. Elle draped her arms over the back of the couch Victoria had been sitting on, and both watched her.
“I’d like a new friend. I bet they’ll be nicer than you,” Elle hopped onto the couch and reclined, stretching her legs. The tiny ghost barely filled the length of the couch.
“Maybe they’ll keep you from bugging me all the time.” Shiloh inspected his nails, bored as ever, and Victoria couldn’t help but wonder where the ghosts went when they weren’t around her. It seemed as though Elle didn’t bother Shiloh a bit, but there was likely more going on than met the eye.
With magic, there always was.
“I guess it’s settled, then,” Victoria said with an amused shake of her head. That was easy.
Besides, they couldn’t stop her.
Shiloh lifted his chin as though he had read her mind, and their eyes locked. “Let me remind you, Victoria, that we are mild compared to many of the ghosts tied to Rhazdon Artifacts. Before I was bound to mine, I saw the sort of…people…Rhazdon chose for this magic. Some would actively lead their hosts to death out of vengeance for being trapped, and others will torment you night and day in hopes you’ll end yourself. Not all ghosts are good.”
“That’s enough, Shiloh,” Fyrn snapped.
The ghost shrugged. “It’s true. There’s one nearby.”
“There’s—wait, you can sense other Rhazdon Artifacts?” Victoria stood up taller.
He nodded toward Elle. “So can she, but she’s too loud and obnoxious to notice.”
Elle pouted, arms crossed. “You are so mean!”
Victoria stepped between them, trying to settle their little spat. “Guys? Guys! Focus.”
“There is in fact another Rhazdon Artifact nearby,” Fyrn said. “Sort of.”
“Where?”
“In the bowels of Fairhaven.”
Victoria set her hands on her hips. “You mean there was a Rhazdon Artifact here and you sent me to Sedona to kill a sphinx?”
“Hey!” Elle said.
Victoria glanced at the little elf girl. “I’m grateful to have you, little one. I am.”
Elle smiled.
Fyrn stared into the fire. “This one wouldn’t have given you the strength you needed to wield your sword and shield. Its powers are largely unknown, save for one—divination.”
“What does that mean?”
“The future is fluid, changing every moment, but you will have the power to see what is coming for you. I believe this will help you instinctively avoid danger in a fight. You will see the blow seconds before it hits you, so Luak will not be able to hurt you unless you let him.”
Victoria grinned. “If he can’t hit me, I can kill him.”
“Precisely. But it comes at a cost.”
She rolled her eyes. “Doesn’t it always?”
“The ghost tied to this Artifact is truly insane. Legend has it she was unhinged before she was killed for the Rhazdon Artifact, but the process broke her. She will actively try to get you killed every minute of every day. You must never listen to her.”
“Lovely.” Victoria looked at her ghosts. They were crazy, but they were the fun kind of crazy. “Having a psycho killer in the family would really balance us out, don’t you think, guys?”
“You’re hilarious,” Shiloh said dryly.
“Where is this Rhazdon Artifact, Fyrn?”
He sighed. “In the deepest tunnels of Fairhaven, where even I don’t go. But for you—for this—I will.”
An involuntary shiver raced down Victoria’s spine. If even Fyrn wouldn’t go there, it must be a truly dark place.
“It sounds like we should get a team together,” Victoria said.
Fyrn nodded. “Audrey should wake within a week or two, and Diesel should join us, but aside from those two we should go alone. The tunnels are filled with dangerous things, and a large g
roup would get lost.”
Victoria nodded. “Works for me.”
“In the meantime, I need to research what’s down there.”
“Are you sure the Rhazdon Artifact is there?”
He nodded. “I’m many things, Victoria, but I’m not reckless. I’ve spent my life researching the Rhazdon Artifacts, and I know where many are. I’ve cross-referenced enough printed and handwritten knowledge to know it’s there. I simply need to verify a few things before we head down, which will take some time.”
