The Castrofax (Book 1)

by Jenna Van Vleet

  Thought of Robyn brought him out from the blackness of his mind. He stood outside his room on a small balcony set with a table and chairs. Overlooking the City, it was a chilly night. He denied the pleasure of a cloak, staying instead in a cotton shirt and trousers with the handsome boots fashioned for him. He leaned forward on the stone balcony and watched the people below, servants mostly, hustling about with bundles.

  He looked east and thought of Robyn again. Around the middle finger of his left hand rested the band she slipped on. It was a beautiful golden ring with tiny braids interwoven, but only upon touching it would someone realize it was made of her hair. Aisling had slipped a strengthening pattern in it, so it would not fray. He hoped Robyn was safe, under a warm roof, and as much as he wanted her to stay there, he wished her to return. Her last words echoed in his memory, giving him strength but taunting his helplessness. ‘Why was it now she told me she loved me when I am at my weakest?’

  Nolen had not made due on his threats to break him. Gabriel knew it was a matter of time before the Prince distracted the Queen and Aisling long enough to spirit him away. Certain it would come in the dead of night. Gabriel had taken to wearing his clothes to bed. The Prince stayed away from the prison Gabriel now called his bedchambers, and Gabriel never left. He could not bear for others to see him subjected to the copper bands. He knew the workings of a manor and expected the same of a palace, and he was certain the servants gossiped over the leash. It doubled his shame.

  The only thing he managed to ingest was a mix of herbs Balien brought. Gabriel was delighted to see his old foster-brother. Balien was his usual tricky self. He hinted to have been working on something serious for years, but did not let on. Gabriel suspected Balien held back in case Nolen broke him and the secret forfeit. The watery tincture tasted foul, but it would keep back the pain for a while when Nolen succeeded in accosting him. At the very thought Gabriel went to swig more when the door loudly burst open.

  Nolen stepped in, flanked by four large guards. “Ready?” Nolen smirked as the guards rounded him. Two of them seized Gabriel roughly by the arms. ‘Why now?’ Gabriel wondered frantically, his eyes going to the flask of herbs out of reach. People could see them now; the Queen could stop this. The guards pulled him forward giving him no time to dig his heels in.

  Aisling was in the anteroom, standing in the doorway of her chambers. Gabriel remembered the band on his finger and pulled it off quickly, shifting his weight back to stall the guards. “Aisling, here.”

  “Nolen, I will have none of this!” she yelled.

  “I no longer answer to you,” Nolen replied, holding the doors open so the guards could pass.

  “Your mother will hear of this!”

  “Lady, the Queen bade me to do it.” Nolen’s smile gave Gabriel a chill. The guards roughly manhandled him down the halls and stairs where everyone could see. The entire trip designed to show Nolen’s authority.

  Gabriel refused to go quietly from that point. He wrenched free, and he kicked most fiercely until one man clubbed him over the head. That did not stop him.

  The dungeons were set beneath the west wing where no sunlight could reach. It was built into a series of natural caves that reached far into the earth. Criminals from all over Anatoly were locked away, but the Anatoly dungeons were known for not being overly grotesque. In fact, prisoners were hardly ever tortured here, merely left in their cells. Many of them had the luxury of items to call their own, be it books or crafts.

  With Nolen in the lead, the men took Gabriel deep into the caves. The air was stale and smelled of moisture. They pulled him to a cell at the far end of a hall and forced him inside. One guard unbuckled his boot while another man seized the other and threw them in a corner. They cut the shirt from him and slipped a knife under the top hem of Gabriel’s trousers.

  Nolen put a hand up. “He can keep those.”

  Three guards stepped out while the last clipped a rusted shackle around over the wristlet Castrofax. Nolen closed the door behind him and turned to face Gabriel who stood with a challenging posture.

  The room was small, made of honed rock with a single slab of concrete wall and a tall ceiling. A table stood off to one side bearing a coil of rope and other long objects while more hung on the walls. A chain draped from the ceiling connected to a pulley, and more chains and shackles swathed the rock.

  “The fittest are the first to fall.” Nolen looked far too pleased with himself and slowly took off his coat revealing a pristine white shirt underneath. ‘He must not think to bleed me.’

  “Does it bother you my mother permitted this?” Nolen asked as he stepped up to the table, lifting sharp objects. “After all, she was your protector for a while.”

  Gabriel found his voice, and with it his gumption. “I’m certain you bullied her into it.”

  Nolen’s brows went up, and he smirked, selecting a metal scourge. “How right you are. She is an easily bended woman.” He put the scourge back down, and Gabriel released his held breath. Nolen grinned and picked the scourge up. “You know I have an Air Element. How long do you think this will take? I give you two days, and I consider that generous.”

  Anxiety rose in him. ‘He expects me to last that long?’ His brain racked itself for a riposte when he remembered an old excerpt from a book in Jaden. He straightened a little. “Don’t you know? Class Tens are nearly impossible to break.”

  Nolen hefted the scourge in his hand. “Everyone breaks.”

  As scribe for the Head Mage, it fell to Secondhand Lael to intercept and read all mail. With Council members Adelaide and Galloway out battling the latest crisis, Lael searched for something else to go askew in their absence. The mail so far was nothing unusual, pleas for help and assistance, thanks for jobs well done, and every now and then a letter damning their power. Not everyone revered the Mages. Such power could be dangerous.

  He unrolled a small scroll carried by bird from Anatoly City, marked with the crest of Councilwoman Aisling. He did not get halfway through before he rose to his feet and ran through the Head Mage’s rooms. Casimir was meeting with the librarians, but Lael knew what he had to say would trump the Mages. He burst through the double doors of the sitting room and silenced their conversation.

  Casimir looked up sharply, his face worried rather than angry. Lael of all people would never interrupt without good reason.

  “Mage Gabriel’s been captured,” Lael stated.

  “Good, we have been looking for him.”

  “Prince Nolen captured him with—with—a Castrofax.” Lael whispered the last word as if saying it quietly would soften the blow.

  “Oh,” Casimir breathed. “Oh, my. Oh no,” he put a hand on his forehead. The four librarians sat in mortified silence. Lael saw the grief on his lord’s face and knew Casimir did not know what to do. Casimir had plans for the boy, and they were extensive.

  “Power like that in Prince Nolen’s hands,” Casimir whispered. “We may as well go set fire to Kilkiny Palace. I …” Casimir began and trailed off. “I have a lot of planning to do.” He stood. “When Galloway and Adelaide return, please convene the Council.”

  “This is no coincidence, Head Mage.”

  “Ryker escapes, and the only man who can stand against him is captured? You are quite right. Gentlemen, lady, please excuse me.” Casimir gave a polite nod and left them. “I need some time alone,” Casimir said quietly slipped into his study and closed the door.

  Robyn hated horses. Their gate was too long and bouncy. She kept thinking she was going to be thrown at any moment. It had been years since she had ridden one, and she forgot they did not understand her commands. She still found herself shouting “Slow down!” at the beast. Calsifer kept his smirks mostly to himself, but she caught him grinning now and again.

  They had been on the trail for days now, keeping off the main roads, and diverting into the countryside. The land was beautiful, with full fields and gently sloping green hills dotted with cattle.

  Talon and Andolyn
Estrin were cousins from her father’s side with no claim to the throne. Their parents were wealthy merchants who spent most of their time on their estates in Cinibar. Both Talon and Andolyn were a few years older than Robyn, and she expected both to be married with children by now. They had been close when she was younger, and though she rarely saw them, they held a special relationship. She was especially close with Andolyn who shared the curse of an older brother with no sisters.

  Robyn’s face unknowingly soured the further she rode from Gabriel. She could do no good for him there, but she had not been parted from him for years. It felt foreign to wake up without him. She spent the time plotting Nolen’s demise to make her feel happy.

  “Is that it?” Calsifer asked and pointed to a large section of forest up ahead. From it poked a spire with a blue-and-white striped banner blowing limply.

  “That’s it.” She would give anything to be off her stubborn animal. Calsifer kept telling her it had a soft mouth, but she didn’t know what that meant and continued to saw away until the beast did what she wanted.

  Under an hour later, they walked their mounts up the road to the manor. It was a large estate, larger even than Urima, more of a small town than it was a manor. A pack of screaming children ran passed chasing a dog while a mother shouted to watch the riders. The smells of baking bread and hay filled the air and took Robyn back to a simpler moment.

  A footman came to hold the horses as they dismounted before the massive manor. It stretched five stories, made of a gray-tan stone local to the area. The manor had been in Robyn’s father’s family for many generations, and when he married up in status, his sister became the heiress to it. A doorman invited them into a long foyer with marble floors and asked they wait while he fetched his masters.

  The sweeping ceiling and the spiraling columns had vines carved into them. She remembered the way her little voice and footsteps echoed through the room that wound up the center of the building. Flexing her lips, she drew a sharp whistle and listened to it echo up the foyer. Her chuckle followed.

  A whistle echoed back, and she faced upwards to see a tall man with long blond hair brushing his shoulders walking down smoothly. She could hardly tell if he was someone she knew, but the dark blond hair gave her reason to believe this was Talon. He had grown into a handsome man, with a brown goatee and dark eyes. He wore a long cream tunic with sleeves that bore several gray stripes interlocking over the fabric to join in the center of his chest.

  “You must be far from home,” he smiled as he took the last few steps. “Though, Keiryon Manor is far from everyone’s home. What brings you here?”

  She looked up at him and waited, hoping he would recognize her, but he said nothing. She washed the dye from her hair the day before, so she would not look so strange, but it seemed the years had taken her face from his memory.

  She opened her mouth to reply when a gasp followed by the shatter of ceramic came from her left. A woman with blonde hair cropped to her jaw, dressed in flowing black trousers and a tight yellow coat stood not far off. It was unmistakably Andolyn who was a few years younger than her brother. Her cute face hardly changed from the girl Robyn knew.

  “Robyn?” Andolyn gasped. Robyn gave her a grateful smile. “Idiot brother, do you not recognize royalty?”

  “Not when it is dressed in…what are you wearing?” Talon asked with a cloy smile.

  Andolyn rushed to her cousin and pulled her into a rough embrace. “I thought you were dead. Everyone said the Novaculas killed you years ago,” she pushed Robyn back. “Look at you! You grew up!” She looked at Talon. “Oh, brother, we must send an apology to the Novaculas for that cask of manure wine we sent them.”

  “Don’t,” Robyn replied.

  Talon scooped Robyn up in one arm. “Whatever you’re wearing smells like horse.”

  “Come in, come in,” Andolyn urged and gave General Calsifer a hug for good measure. He looked unsure of it and kept a tight grasp on his sword hilt. “You must tell us what brings you here over tea. Bethney! Tea and refreshments.”

  “She should bathe first,” Talon added, keeping an arm around her shoulders.

  “You smell like roses. Since when did that start? You haven’t gone all pansy on us, have you?” Robyn retorted.

  “No, no. Worse. I got married. Lady wife won’t let me use any other soap.”

  “Pansy.”

  Andolyn pulled them apart and put Robyn next to her, holding her hand. “What brings you here, and why now, and where have you been all these years, and who is that man with a steel rod for a spine?”

  Calsifer raised a brow.

  “This is General Arden Calsifer, and you will find he is made of steel.”

  They stepped into a round room decorated in dark grays and blues with small rounded windows. The hearth was quickly being lit by a servant, and it cast a muted orange glow to all the blues. Andolyn pulled Robyn to a couch, still clutching her hand.

  “Sit, sit, my love,” Andolyn commanded Calsifer and waved him to a couch that he took gingerly. Andolyn found it easy to make friends—and frighten people. “Now where have you been?”

  “All sorts of places. Mostly out in Hollow Downs, but over the past two years we’ve been everywhere and nowhere.”

  “You and the Steel Spine?”

  Robyn bit her lips. “No. That’s why I’m here. The man who has been protecting me all these years was captured by Prince Nolen.”

  “Prick,” Andolyn snapped.

  “Language,” Talon cut in. “Forgive her. She blows abandon to the wind when she gets excited. It is why I cannot marry her off.” Talon sighed.

  “I marry on my choosing, not yours. Everyone knows Prince Nolen is trouble. Who is this protector of yours?”

  “He’s the first of his kind, a Class Ten Mage.”

  Talon blew out a long breath while Andolyn stared at Robyn for a moment. “Out with the whole story, then.”

  Robyn took several minutes to recall her life since Urima Manor. By the end Talon had taken a seat and stared listlessly at the wall.

  “What will you ask of us?” Talon asked. “Say it, and it is yours.”

  “Are you talking to your cousin or your Princess?” Robyn asked, testing his motives.

  “The girl with her heart broken,” he replied.

  She nodded, satisfied. “I need to recapture Gabriel. I have a theory that if he is brought to the edge of death the Castrofax will unlock just long enough for us to remove them. I would see all your expenses paid for.” Talon waved a hand of dismissal. “There is more. Lady Aisling told me a legendary Mage in Castle Jaden has woken from an Age-long hibernation. Do you know the name Ryker Slade?”

  “I’ve read of him,” Talon replied. “He has a fierce reputation.”

  “We are of the thinking that his waking and Gabriel’s capture are connected.”

  “We are no match against a Mage,” Andolyn added, and Calsifer nodded.

  “Yes, but if we succeed, Gabriel will protect us. He’s really very skilled.”

  Calsifer leaned forward. “From a military standpoint, this is overly dangerous. You are the only heiress Anatoly has, and if you should be injured or captured, your bloodline will be forfeit to the Novaculas. Prince Balien has no children, and you can be certain Nolen will ensure all the Bolts are wiped out. I suggest you wait here until you come of age to take the throne. However, you and I know the limits of Kilkiny and her hidden corridors. We could hope Nolen’s wits are too energized to think of protecting the passages. It is possible that we spirit Gabriel into a corridor and try to free him there. How would you do it?”

  “Do it? Try and kill him? I was thinking suffocation because the breath can be reintroduced quickly.” Robyn replied, and Calsifer nodded in agreement.

  “We have hunters and fighters here and in the surrounding countryside. We could call for them to join us. How many men do you need?” Andolyn asked. Tea had been brought in during the story, and she perched a cup on her knee.

  Robyn l
ooked at Calsifer in question. “As few as possible, but only the best,” he answered. “You do not want to bring in fifty men when five will do just as nicely.”

  “Ginjer has a brother with a good sword arm,” Talon offered. “Malic here is your bowman.”

  “I’m the only bow you need,” Robyn cut in.

  “Still bold, after all these years. Very well. Rojer’s son here is deft with an ax, but there’s Merian’s brother—”

  Andolyn put a finger up. “Count in your head or go outside and do it aloud.” She turned back to Robyn. “You wish to leave as soon as possible I imagine? Give us some time to muster the men and supplies. Until then, you and I have to catch up.” The mood instantly changed with the subject. “Is it true what they say about Class Tens being the best lovers?”

  Calsifer flushed red, and Talon snapped “Really, Andolyn?”

  Robyn smirked. “I wouldn’t know.”

  “Yes you do, you just won’t say it in front of these men.” Andolyn hauled Robyn up with her. “General, see to it my brother finds you nice rooms. We will be drinking elsewhere. Wine, Robyn?”

  “Something stronger.”

  “Double it for me!” Talon yelled as they slipped out.

  Andolyn pulled Robyn’s arm into her elbow as she used to when they were young. “Tell me more.”

  “I’m not lying with him,” Robyn repeated. “Not yet at least.”

  Andolyn cackled a laugh before falling serious. “You would have him for your husband, then?”

  “If he would have me.”

  “I see your true motives now,” her cousin smiled. “We’ll fetch your pretty Mage back for you in no time. He is pretty, isn’t he?” Robyn couldn’t hide the wide smile that came to her face. “Stars above, I need to see this man. I may just steal him away from you when you’re not looking.”