by Linsey Hall
“Not as we know it, no. But the seer’s message has been passed down for generations. We didn’t know when the Triumvirate would arrive, only that they were the physical manifestations of the balance between life, death, and magic. And that they would be faced with a great task.”
“A series of tasks,” Castille added.
“Great,” Del muttered.
“One for each?” Nix asked.
“We think,” Alton said. “But we do not know. That is for you to find out. We believe you must fight something greater than yourself.”
“I need my magic if I’m to accomplish some great task,” I said. The hollowness inside me felt even wider now that I knew I had some prophesied great task to accomplish. Without my power, I couldn’t handle my own life recently, much less a Great Task.
“And what about the statues at the Black Fort?” Nix asked. “Were they built there? Did my parents live near there?”
“And mine?” Del asked.
“I am sorry, but we do not know about either of your parents,” Castille said. “Those statues were not built by human hands. When the McFanes moved to Inismor, the statues formed there. By magic, we believe, because they never saw anyone go to the Black Fort and erect them. It’s as if the place were waiting for your arrival, Cassiopeia.”
“Whoa, slow down.” This was getting a lot more serious than I’d anticipated. “It sounds like you’re saying I’m some kind of chosen one.”
“And Del and Nix.” Alton gestured to them.
“I don’t think we’re qualified,” Del said.
“I agree.” I nodded vigorously.
“Other people disagree,” Alton said. “Victor Orriodor is one of them.”
“Him? What do you know about that bastard?” I asked.
“He is the rogue FireSoul that our league was formed to defeat.”
Oh boy. This was getting a lot more complex. And a lot scarier. I wanted Victor to be some nobody power-hungry asshat, not some ancient, all powerful evil that inspired the formation of a magical Justice League.
I glanced at Del and Nix. Their queasy expressions showed they were thinking the same.
“So he’s been alive for centuries,” I said.
“Yes. When he kidnapped you eleven years ago, we staged a rescue attempt,” Alton said.
“Eleven years ago was the battle that decimated your numbers,” I said.
“It was the same battle. We failed to save you. Your parents and many others died in that fight.”
“All to save me?” Horror welled in my chest, pushing on my ribs.
“And them.” Alton indicated Del and Nix. “We didn’t know who they were, but we assumed that if Victor Orriodor had you, he might have the other members of the Triumvirate. We had waited for you for thousands of years. We couldn’t let you die.”
Then they had died trying to save the Triumvirate, not me, for whatever great task we were prophesied to accomplish. That was a bit less massively guilt-inducing.
“Thank you to all who fought to save us,” I said through a tight throat. How many people had lost their lives trying to free us? It was awful.
“So, what the heck are we supposed to do that’s so important?” Del demanded.
“We believe that one task may be to defeat Victor Orriodor,” Alton said. “We will give you what help and information we can.”
“To get my power back,” I said. “I only have a few days before I’m prophesied to meet Victor Orriodor. If I don’t have my power by then…” The hourglass was flowing, and my death was at the end.
“You have time,” Castille said. “Though the time for talking is done. We will show you what you need to know.”
8
“To defeat your enemy, you must understand him,” Corin said.
“All right, Master Splinter,” I said.
Corin grinned. “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?”
I shrugged. “It’s a pretty high compliment to be compared to a Ninja Rat. He was very wise.”
“Fair enough,” she said. “I’ll take it.”
We had been fed a quick lunch in one of the medieval-looking kitchens and were now standing in the courtyard with Alton and Corin.
“If you are ready, I’ll take you to see a moment in Victor Orriodor’s past,” Corin said.
“She’s an Illusory,” Alton said.
“Wow,” I said. I’d love to bring her on some of my temple-raiding jobs. An Illusory could bring the past back to life, replaying events so that present-day people could see them. Illusories were incredibly rare, but I was fascinated by their power.
“Ready?” Corin asked.
She’d replaced her paint-splattered t-shirt with the same red leather armor that Alton wore and had two wicked swords crossed over her back in an X-shaped sheath. With her short blond hair, dark eyes, and firm jaw, she looked like a total badass.
“Yeah.” I didn’t know where we were headed, but I wanted whatever answers were on the other end.
She drew a small black stone from her pocket. A transport charm.
“Do you have any more?” I asked.
“A small stockpile, though they’ve recently become harder to come by.” She grimaced. “The supply is almost completely cut off. Any wizard we’ve gone to in the past month no longer has them. All sold.”
I frowned and nodded. “Victor Orriodor. We think he’s stockpiling. We’ve had the same trouble finding them.”
“He improves his ability to pop out of the air and attack his enemies while cutting off their easy escape,” Nix said.
“Bastard,” Del muttered.
“That’s the truth.” Corin’s eyes glinted hard.
I wondered if she’d lost anyone in the battle to save us eleven years ago.
“Ready?” she asked.
“Yes,” Del said for all of us.
Corin threw the stone to the ground in front of us. It exploded into a glittery gray cloud, and we walked in.
I stepped out on the other side into a massive old-growth forest. The sun was low in the sky, close enough to the horizon that it was probably late afternoon. The forest looked and smelled a lot like the one outside of Aidan’s childhood home, not far from the lands of the Alpha Council headquarters at Glencarrough.
“Are we in Scotland?” I asked, thinking of the hovel where Aidan had spent much of his youth.
“Yes,” Corin said. “Though this area hasn’t been inhabited for hundreds of years.”
She pointed to a low stone wall that was only about two feet tall. I walked to it, realizing that it was the footprint of a small home. All that remained were the broken down walls. Corin went to another small stone wall footprint and pointed to it. It was only about ten feet away from the main house and had probably been an outbuilding.
“Where are we?” I asked.
Corin gestured for me to join her near the footprint of the outbuilding. “Come here and I’ll show you.”
Nix, Del, and I went to her side. She waved her hand toward the old house, and her magic rose on the air. It shivered against my skin like lapping waves.
A moment later, the walls of the house appeared, though they shimmered with a slight transparency. It was a small place, with a thatched roof and only a few tiny windows. Very old, from the looks of it.
The distant beat of horse hooves rumbled the ground. I looked around, trying to find them, but saw only trees. They were still a ways off, though coming fast.
“Can they see us?” I whispered to Corin.
She shook her head.
A woman came out of the house, her apron dusted with flour. Her dress was a drab brown and some kind of old style. Medieval, maybe. Or a bit later. She scanned the forest, her expression terrified.
“It’s them, Felix! Argus, come here!” She ran back into the house, but appeared a moment later, towing a small boy by his arm.
He had messy brown hair and looked to be about twelve years old.
“Leave off, Mum!”
“This is wha
t I’ve been telling you about.” Her voice was frantic as she towed him toward us and the outbuilding. “They are coming. You must obey me.”
Hurriedly, she yanked open the door to the outbuilding and pulled Argus inside. I peered around the door to see in.
She kicked away some straw to reveal a door in the floor.
“I’m not getting in there!” Argus said.
“You will! This is why we’ve been hiding, Argus. They’ve found us. You must hide.”
“No!” He started to cry, tears spilling down his cheeks.
The woman dropped to her knees and hugged him. “I love you, Argus. But you must hide. Do not come out for anything.” She shook him lightly. “Do you hear me? For anything. Wait until all is quiet. Come out, but continue to hide. Forever.”
He shook his head frantically. “No! Hide with me.”
“I cannot.”
A man appeared at my side. I jumped, though he was also a semi-transparent apparition.
“Do as your mother says, son.” His dark eyes were weary. Defeated. “It is the only way.”
The boy threw himself at his father and hugged him. The sound of hoof beats grew louder.
The man squeezed him as the woman opened the hatch. Argus struggled as his father picked him up and lowered him into the hole.
“Stay,” he commanded. “No matter what you hear, stay. Tell no one what you are.”
“No!” Argus looked up, his face tearstained.
“Hurry!” his mother said to the man. She looked at Argus. “I love you.”
The man lowered the hatch and covered it with straw. The hoof beats were nearly here. My heart thundered as I listened for whatever was coming.
The man and woman hurried away from the outbuilding.
“They have no reason to suspect us,” the woman whispered. “We’ve done nothing wrong. They must let us go.”
“You know they don’t need proof of what we are. Or proof of wrongdoing.” The man leaned over and pulled the woman to him, then pressed a hard kiss to her forehead. “I love you, Lily Crane.”
She squeezed him, blinking back tears, and they hurried toward their house.
Just as they were re-entering, a dozen mounted men arrived in the small clearing. They wore old style armor and had full beards, and they formed a circle around Felix and Lily and the house.
“Felix and Lily Crane?” the biggest man demanded.
“We are not them,” the man said.
“We have reports that two FireSouls have been living on this land. We have orders to locate them and treat them appropriately,” he said.
Felix opened his mouth as if he were going to speak, but he raised a hand and threw a massive fireball at the leader. Magic rose in the air, many signatures at once. Scents, sounds, feelings.
Lily’s body glowed as smoke rose up from the forest floor, obscuring her and Felix. The horses stomped their hooves as their riders leapt off.
They stalked toward the gray cloud that hid Lily and Felix. Balls of flame and smoke burst from the cloud, heading straight for the advancing attackers.
A burst of burning smoke landed right in front of us, singeing my clothes. I stumbled back and coughed.
“Is that supposed to happen?” I asked. If they couldn’t see us, should we be able to feel the smoke blast?
“No!” Corin waved her hand so that the vision of the past disappeared. The smoke cloud, cottage, and Shifters disappeared.
On the other side of the clearing, only a dozen yards away, stood four shadow demons.
“What the hell?” I drew my daggers from my thigh sheaths.
Before I could fling Righty, something bowled into me from behind. I crashed to the ground, skidding on leaves and roots that scratched my skin. My head rang from the force of the blow, and my chest ached. My shirt was singed and my skin burned, but it was the ache in my sides that made me wheeze. The blast was strong enough to crack ribs. I ignored the pain and scrambled to my feet.
We were back in the real world and were surrounded by shadow demons. Del yanked her short sword out of its scabbard and turned into a phantom while Corin pulled her two swords off her back and threw herself at a pair of nearby shadow demons. Nix conjured a bow and arrow, knelt, and fired straight into a demon’s throat. The arrow plowed through and sunk into a tree behind him.
I flung Righty, piercing the heart of a nearby demon. He grunted as he dropped heavily to his knees, then keeled over. Demons fell to our blades as we dodged their blasts of smoke.
When one of them got the drop on Nix, bowling her over with smoke and then leaping on top of her with his dagger raised, I kicked him off, then stabbed him in the neck. Warm blood sprayed me in the face and I gagged, spitting out the disgusting stuff.
I was a pro. I should remember to keep my mouth closed when I stabbed necks. I grabbed my dagger and rolled off him.
“Thanks.” Nix panted as she scrambled up. “Looks like five down, two to go.”
Corin drew both blades across the neck of a nearby demon, grinning in victory. His head toppled to the ground. Behind her, Del went corporeal long enough to stab a demon through the back. She twisted the blade, pulled it free, then kicked the demon in the back so that he crashed onto his face.
“Check them for transport charms,” I said.
Quickly, we rummaged through their pockets.
“Found one!” Nix raised it high, her bare arm showing the distinctive red burn mark of the shadow demon’s smoke.
“Me too.” Corin stood.
“I’m empty.” Del limped toward me, her hand to her side.
“You okay?” I asked as I peered down at my charred shirt. I was still decent, but barely.
“Yeah, just got blasted while I was corporeal. Cracked rib, maybe.”
I knew the feeling. My own ribs were aching, a sharp pain coming from the lower left. I breathed shallowly so as not to disturb it as I patted down the last demon, disappointed to find no charms. We were lucky to have found two, considering.
“Let’s get out of here,” Corin said. “I don’t know how they showed up, but I don’t want to meet any more.”
“Victor Orriodor has a seer hunting me,” I said. “Sometimes they get lucky and see through my concealment charm.”
“Shitty concealment charm,” Corin said.
“Didn’t used to be.” I joined her under a big tree, Nix and Del at my side. Del and I had our arms wrapped around our middles, trying to lessen the pain of our cracked ribs. Nix blew on her burned arm, though from the grimace on her face, it wasn’t doing much good.
Corin tossed the stone to the ground. When the glittery gray cloud poofed up, we walked into it. Normally I’d hate to waste a transport charm when Del could take us, but if Corin was willing to use her charm, we’d let her. Then Del could save her power for an emergency.
We stepped out on the other side, in the FireSoul Compound. The sun was still shining and the birds still chirping.
“Did we see what we needed to back there?” I asked.
“I’m sure you can guess what happened,” Corin said.
“They killed Felix and Lily for being FireSouls.”
“Did they find Argus?” Nix asked.
“No. Though he came out to find his parents dead.”
I could hardly imagine how horrible that would have been. The poor kid would be scarred for life.
“Why did you show us this?” I asked.
“Because that boy no longer goes by the name Argus. He is Victor Orriodor.”
9
“Right. Of course,” I said. Figured. “So we just witnessed his Super Villain origin story?”
Corin nodded. “Pretty much.”
“Makes me almost feel bad for the guy,” Nix said.
“Bad for the kid, maybe. Victor Orriodor is no longer that boy,” Del said.
“That’s for sure.” I fiddled with the holstered dagger at my thigh. “So what happened after that?”
“Considering that you’re currently a mag
net for shadow demons, it’s unsafe to bring you there to see for yourself. I don’t fancy another fight. But we can go to the library, and the historian will tell you.”
“And then you’ll tell me how to get my power back?” I asked. I wanted to learn Victor Orriodor’s past—Corin was right, understanding him would help me defeat him—but all the magic here at the FireSoul compound was like a blade to my heart. I felt the loss of mine even more keenly.
“Yes,” Corin said. “At least, as much as we know. Which I doubt is as much as you want to know.”
Damn. “Let’s get started, then.”
“I’ll take you to the infirmary first. Get those wounds looked at.” She indicated my charred t-shirt currently flaking away from my chest. “Maybe get you a fresh shirt so your striptease doesn’t go all the way.”
I grinned and wanted to argue, that we should get a move on with the information, but she was right. If I was ambushed again, it’d be hard to fight with cracked ribs. And I did need a fresh shirt.
We made our way across the courtyard and into a small round building. Inside, everything was white and bright, from the walls to the four narrow beds. Even the healer was a pale man with white-gold hair, as if he, too, had been scrubbed clean.
Boris, as I learned he was called, healed us all quickly with little more than a touch. Aidan had a bit of the same healing ability, but Boris was the real deal.
“Thank you,” I said as we left.
He inclined his head, in keeping with his earlier silence.
I felt immensely better as Corin handed me a fresh shirt and then led us into the biggest building I’d seen yet. The massive wooden doors gave way to a huge oval-shaped room. Within was the largest, most fantastic library I’d ever seen. Bookshelves climbed to the ceiling three stories overhead with seven spiral staircases leading to balconies that provided access to the books. The middle of the room was dotted with round tower-shaped bookcases that extended two stories up. Chairs and tables were scattered in between.
“This way.” Corin led the way between the towers.
