by J. B. Markes
Her elbow stiffened just before she activated her wand, but I was trained to notice such obvious tells. I cast a phantom bolt of lightning that skipped through the night and canceled her spell as soon as she released it. The smell of ozone filled my nostrils. "I hope your wand is charged," I said, then opened my hand and tossed half a dozen palm-sized ice shards her way.
She ducked instinctively, but three of the frozen daggers hit her squarely—or would have if she wasn't protected by her magical items. I smiled at her skittishness. When she retaliated with another shot from her wand, I once again mimicked her spell and countered it. I stirred the air with my hand, testing the limits of Airlea's protection. The wind twisted around her but died the moment it touched her barrier. It didn't even whip her robes.
She aimed her wand again, but just as I was readying the counterspell, there was movement in my peripheral. Master Xavier appeared and fired a red orb from his own wand. I fell prone and rolled away from Airlea's lightning as the ball of fire streaked overhead. A second later it exploded, ringing my ears, but I was already on my knees condensing a column of water from the humid air to shield myself from the flames. Sheets of water rushed to the silver floor and spread in all directions, drenching me, but not great enough in volume to reach Xavier or Airlea.
Dripping with water and grounded to metal, I staggered to my feet, terrified of Airlea's next cast. I readied the counterspell, but Xavier was taking aim as well and I wouldn't be able to cancel both spells. " Barumnai!" I shouted, raising my arms and gathering the wind to me. Airlea turned her wand to the wet puddle at my feet just as her master readied his next shot, but the wind spun wildly about me, absorbing the fire and carrying the plume upward in a bursting prismatic funnel. The blast obscured Airlea's vision long enough for me to relocate. Her bolt struck the wet silver and rebounded upward, but streaks of electricity radiated outward through the metal surface, barely missing my position. I could feel the heat beneath my moccasins.
I held my spell for a time, widening the torrent, pushing the wall of wind ever closer to the outer edges of the God's Eye, but I couldn't maintain the necessary concentration for the spell while on the move. The wind faded away and I fell to my knees, exhausted. I raised one hand to defend myself and the other to the side to hold my balance, but wobbled and landed on my palm.
"She's spelldrunk," Airlea said. "Father—"
"Shut up!" Xavier looked ready to attack his own daughter. "Another mess for me to clean up."
"I yield," I said, falling forward and slipping Ruby's stone from my pocket.
"Yield?" Master Xavier laughed, but Airlea was dead-eyed. "What do you think this is? Did you forget the terms?"
Zephyr tugged at my mind, and I saw flashes of Xavier burying the prince's seal and releasing the bird with the ransom note. Too late. I nodded, dropping my hands and pushing myself to my feet. I straightened my borrowed apprentice robes—a fortune in silk now ruined. "To the death," I said. "Let Airlea do it. She's earned it."
Surprisingly, Airlea didn't hesitate. She jerked her wand and called the lightning, but I dispelled it with my own bolt.
"You've earned it," I repeated. She made a second attempt, and I countered her again—and then again. I lost my balance momentarily and held my arms out to steady myself. "Come on, Airlea. Earn it!"
There was a bone-trembling screech above us, and I looked to the sky, wondering if Zephyr had transformed into some undead terror. There were two serpents circling the tower, long-tailed wyrms of legend, each with multiple sets of wings to carry its sleek snaking body. Then Seeker Celeste appeared in front of me with Gustobald. They had seen Xavier's flames. I was saved.
I dropped the jewel to the silver surface, crushed it under my heel, and spoke the command word. "Ruby." She appeared seconds later, wand at the ready, but relaxed a bit when she noticed Seeker Celeste in front.
"The Sentinels are on their way," Celeste said. "Throw down your wands and put your hands on the ground or I will execute both of you here and now."
Ruby walked to the edge of the God's Eye to put distance between herself and the Seeker. The two sentinels shared a private nod as Airlea grew paler. It was the same expression she had given me while reading my fortune.
"You've been played falsely, Celeste," Xavier said. "This necromancer has deceived us all."
"Indeed!" Gustobald strolled around the Seeker, ignoring the wands trained on him. "We have the evidence, Xavier. The diviners will find you were the last one to touch the prince's seal."
"The body was in your lab, Xavier," Celeste added. "I don't need you to confess. You betrayed your king."
"I would never!"
"It was Airlea who took the prince's life," I said. "She couldn't stand to see him married to another woman."
Gustobald nodded sagely. "Unlike Lady Ashdown, Airlea was in it for love. How quickly love turns to jealousy—and murder. What exactly happened when your father found out?"
"Another mess for him to clean up," I said as Gustobald passed in front of me.
"Lies," Xavier said, his breathing heavy now, and Gustobald grabbed my wrist to stop me flexing my fingers. "I have always been His Majesty's loyal servant. Celeste, the kingdom would have fallen to ruin long ago without my service. You know this."
"That might be true," the necromancer said. "Nevertheless, Airlea's lack of restraint gave you an idea, didn't it? Perhaps the king called you his cur one too many times? Threw one too many goblets? What a convenient revenge to use his own dead son to tear his kingdom apart."
Xavier shook his head, his anger slowly replaced by fear, casting a sideways glance to Airlea. "None of this was supposed to happen." When the Seeker stepped forward, he raised his wand and flicked his wrist in warning.
"The incompetent wizard was all an act," I said, shaking my head.
"Oh no," Gustobald said. "That part was all too real. It's no use fighting, you puffed up jackanapes. I've won this duel." This last insult was too much. Master Xavier's lip tightened, and I put my hand on Gustobald's arm to warn him. "Tell me, Xavier. Do you have plans for the princess next? The king himself?"
"No, Pitch." The court wizard's hand was shaking, his face red and his knuckles white. "Just you."
I opened my hand to counter Xavier's wand, but my spell failed so I twirled in front of Gustobald to shield him with my own body. The fireball fizzled before it struck me, preventing the explosion. My immunity had returned.
Ruby cupped her hands together, bringing her hands outward and launching her own fireball to explode between Xavier and Airlea, perfectly placed to swallow them both in a red cloud of gas. The flames dispersed to reveal them unscathed, but the Seeker was already calling down one of her beasts. Both astrologists fired into the air. Airlea's fork missed, but Xavier's explosion knocked the wrym from its trajectory. It roared and curled backward, falling face-first into the center of the silver plate, the rest of its body folding over itself like a discarded rope. The building shuddered under the impact.
As the creature writhed and groaned, Celeste cursed and let loose a barrage of force missiles from her wand. The projectiles screamed and whistled, popping harmlessly against Xavier's shield. Two or three of the missiles strayed from the target, seeking out Airlea's barrier. The serpent gave one last wheeze and lashed its tail, which missed Ruby by a few feet and went over the side of the tower, pulling the rest of its body down behind it.
Ruby flipped her wand to release the knife from the hilt, hurling it with full force into Xavier's shoulder. He screamed and discharged his wand at her, but she lunged over the side of the God's Eye and disappeared into the void, evading the blast.
"Give me your staff," I said, not waiting for Gustobald to reply. I grabbed the deathknell staff and ran across the platform, sidestepping the slippery patches the wyrm had left behind. Xavier took another shot at me but it dissolved. His eyes grew wider the closer I came. He turned to run as soon as he realized my intention, but I struck the back of his leg and he fell forward onto
his stomach. I raised the staff above my head and drove it down with force between his shoulder blades as Ruby leapt back up onto the silver platform beside me.
"Stop!" Airlea shouted. She was holding something between her fingers, but I couldn't make it out. "Everyone stop or I'll kill her!"
When I stepped on Xavier's back it pushed Ruby's knife deeper into his shoulder. I put the staff to his head, and Airlea held up a pair of scissors and slid them around a small fiber. "I'll kill her," she repeated. "I'll kill the Seeker."
"Do it," Xavier said, his voice straining with agony. "Don't wait. Kill her now!"
"There is no way out of this, Airlea." Celeste never faltered. She held her wand out as boldly as if she hadn't even heard the threat. "Cut that hair and I die, but you will never stop the Sentinels. They will hunt you to the ends of the earth."
Ruby took a few steps toward Airlea, trying to see exactly what the young girl was holding.
"You think I won't do it?" she asked. "I don't want to, but I will. I'm not joking. I will!"
"Put down the scissors and I'll let your father go," I said, not fully understanding astrologist magic.
The conviction in Airlea's voice told me she wasn't bluffing. "Throw the staff over the edge right now or she's dead!"
"Do not!" Celeste shouted, standing tall in the face of her own mortality. "What is my life worth if not this?"
The urgency in the Seeker's voice convinced me that Airlea's words were true. I couldn't live with Celeste's blood on my hands. My nerve broke when Airlea squeezed the scissors. I backed away from Master Xavier and tossed the deathknell staff off the tower.
"No!" Celeste screamed and charged Airlea. The second wyrm above howled and dove straight toward the apprentice, as well.
Airlea faltered only a moment. Seeker Celeste was fast, but not fast enough. Airlea closed the scissors, severing the Seeker's hair in two, and Belinda Celeste fell to the ground and rolled dead at her feet. Without the Seeker's will to hold it, the wyrm was released from bondage. It halted its descent, curled in on itself and with a screech it disappeared back to whatever hidden corner of the world whence it came.
"Well done." Xavier regained his feet as Airlea pulled a small pouch from her satchel.
Sentinel Ruby stared at the motionless body of the First Seeker. Every muscle in her body was tense and her breath came in hurried gasps. Finally she let out a feral scream and raised both hands, unleashing a barrage of force that battered Airlea's shield. The invisible barrier lit up with each connection, shining brilliantly in the dark but never faltering.
The necromancer was emboldened by her fury. He curled his fingers at Xavier. "Hrahhallar!" The black stream danced between Gustobald and his foe, striking the magic shield, illuminating the barrier at the point of impact. Unable to connect with a living body, the spell was enervating the shield itself. Powerless to help, I kept my eye on the Seeker's body, hoping she would get back up.
The barrier fazed in and out; the more power it created, the more was drained out by Gustobald's spell. Ruby continued to rage, spreading her fingers and launching three unseen orbs to blast Xavier, one after another. The shield turned brighter with each concussion, but on the third strike there was a sizzling pop. Xavier's necklace fell onto the silver floor with a dull clink.
The court wizard fell to his knees, clutching the knife in his shoulder with both hands. I shouted the words of power to burn Xavier alive, but to no avail. The next instant Airlea had another hair between her shears. Ruby raised her hands in surrender, but judging by the spacing between Airlea's fingers, the hair was obviously too long to be one of hers.
"Don't do it, girl!" Gustobald raised his hands in the air. "Stop!"
"It won't work on me," I said.
"Oh yes it will!" Xavier shouted in a blood rage. "Do it!"
"Airlea," I said, shaking my head. There were tears coming down her cheeks, but her eyes were steel. "I know you don't want this."
"Isabel's blameless," Gustobald said. "Xavier, take me. Let the girl go and I'll surrender."
"Just finish it, Ruby," I whispered, but the sentinel wouldn't budge. "Don't let him get away."
"Kill her!" Xavier shouted, finally removing the knife and cursing as he tossed it over the side.
"Let me help you!" Gustobald's voice cracked. "I'll help you escape. Just don't do this."
"No! Forget it, Gustobald! Don't let them get away." I shouted another word of power, but nothing happened. Airlea squeezed the scissors, still debating as I repeated the chant over and over, my words drowned out by the rolling thunder overhead. Finally, I fell to my knees, staring at that invisible line between her fingers—so thin, I couldn't even see it in the dark.
"I know you don't have one of my hairs in that bag," Ruby said, keeping her hands in plain view. "The only way out for you is to make a deal here and now."
"Give me Pitch's!" Xavier said, removing his own pair of scissors as he limped toward his daughter. "Give me his. I want to do it myself."
"No." I whispered. I could barely feel it, but there was something bubbling in the pit of my stomach. At that moment, I was no longer that lonely sad dying little girl. I didn't want to be her anymore; she was a victim—and for that I hated her. I hated Master Virgil for casting me out of the magic school. I hated Regina for pitying me. I hated Airlea and Xavier, who so casually threw life away with no more thought than they would give a burned parchment.
Gustobald was right. Death was all around me and it had paralyzed me with fear. But I had something stronger now. I stood up and held Airlea's gaze. It took everything she had to look me in the eye. I held my hands toward her, curling my fingers downward, and spoke the words. "Hakhamdak!"
The foreign tongue confused her for a moment, but the horror in her father's voice made Airlea freeze up completely. The next instant, Seeker Celeste's arms were around her, the fresh corpse biting down on her neck. The young woman screamed as the Seeker bit deeper into her flesh, pulling her backward all the while. And then they were gone, swallowed by the darkness just beyond the edge of the God's Eye. Airlea's screams haunted the air, but even those faded away within seconds.
"Airlea!" Xavier shouted, rushing to the side to witness his daughter's doom. No spell could save her from the Seeker's death grip.
Gustobald let out a stream of necrospeech I couldn't distinguish, but I loosed my training wand as Xavier spun around to curse us. I released a small burst of force that knocked his hand aside and interrupted his casting. Gustobald made a sweeping gesture and there was a flash, and the astrologist was nothing but bone. His skeleton rattled as it hit the silver surface, disarticulating. His skull rolled a few times and came to rest upright on its maxilla, staring at us accusingly through hollow sockets.
Gustobald opened his hand to reveal the small sculpture of a human finger bone, which flaked into dust and was carried away on the breeze.
"I killed her," I said.
"Well done, Ives," Ruby said, rushing over to where the Seeker had gone over the side.
"She's dead." I looked to Gustobald, not sure if he would reprimand or ridicule me. Instead, he wrapped his arms around me and held me close as the rain began to fall.
Chapter 23
Seeker Celeste's sending was a quiet affair, held in a private chamber deep beneath the Astar Hold. Her body was laid out on a round marble pedestal in the center of the room, the Sentinels gathered around in a circle to pay their last respects. Gustobald and I were requested to witness, an opportunity rarely afforded to outsiders. I was even given a suit of Sentinel's robes to wear since Airlea's apprentice robes were ruined in the duel—and in poor taste considering the circumstances.
The Sentinels' tension loomed over the entre ritual, their anger barely subdued by the respect they owed their dear friend and leader. All Sentinels were present, including the small detachment visiting from the magic city. There were no songs or speeches, only the silence of those left to their own remembrances. Sentinel Jeni brought out a rectangul
ar ivory box displaying the Sentinel's shield. She handed it carefully to the person beside her, who conveyed it to the next, and so on, until each person had shared the burden.
Finally, it came back to Jeni and she presented it to the conjuror Chalke, whom I had successfully avoided over the past few days. He opened the lid and removed a white-stemmed wand, directing it at Seeker Celeste's body with tears in his eyes. There was a dull flash of light, the scattering of fireflies, and Celeste was gone—returned to the ether.
I didn't expect to cry; I didn't know her that well. But her life was snuffed out with such carelessness. I had watched my own end approaching for months, dread and sorrow my constant companions. Celeste had been in the prime of her health and never saw it coming until the final seconds. Even then, she charged it head on. I wiped my eyes and held my breath, promising myself that I would follow her example.
Xavier and Airlea received no such sentiment from me or anyone else. King Eamon ordered their naked bodies thrown out into the fields for the wolves and crows feast upon. For simplicity's sake, I substituted aliases for their real names in this text; their actual names were expunged from His Majesty's records. It's safe to say that few alive today remember them.
After Seeker Celeste's sending I took some free time to explore the city. I wandered purposefully to the northwest, passing the colosseum, now quiet while the capital was in mourning. I passed through the north markets and the warehouse district on my roundabout trek to the docks.
The wooden piers stretched far out into the bay. Workers were walking up and down the floating paths, moving goods to and from those unique longboats that so excelled in the shallow waters near Astar.
I followed the shore all the way down to Bay Landing. People made way as I passed, and I couldn't help but let it go to my head despite the fact I knew it was just the outfit they respected. It was all too easy for Master Thaddeus to spot me, though it must have taken him a while to realize it was me patrolling the western districts and not an actual Sentinel.
