by Rain Oxford
“Of course it did!” He pointed his defective wand at me. For once, I was relieved to see it, because he knew I couldn’t lie when he used it. “Where is she?!”
“I don’t know. I’ve never met or seen your wife.”
He paled and lowered his wand a little. “That’s impossible. You’re lying.”
“I can’t lie when you’re pointing that at me. You know that.”
“But I used it on your mother, and she said my wife was here! She said her son had Sheba!”
“Are you sure she didn’t mean Thaddeus?” Gideon asked.
“Who?”
“My brother. You know… Ilvera’s other son.”
“You said you banished five of your brothers to another world and the last one ran away.”
“He came back. He was the one who got me out of the fight with you and stopped me from going after my mother. He was also the one you fought in our last brush with her. Do you really believe that I, of all people, would lock up anyone?” Livia, Gideon, and Merlin looked at me. I rolled my eyes. “Besides that one time I condoned the imprisonment of Blue, which doesn’t really count because she tried to kill my friend.”
By that point, the wand dangled from Sven’s hand, forgotten. “She said her son had my wife, not your name. It does make more sense that your sorcerer brother would be the one working with her.”
“I’m not convinced Thaddeus has her, either. He doesn’t want to have anything to do with her.”
“We know someone here is a traitor, though,” Gideon interjected. “Someone told Ilvera that we were all here.”
“What do you mean?” Sotis asked.
“He means that my mother tricked you because someone in the castle has been telling her who all is here. Livia arrived moments before you, but she has been expected for a while now. For the first time, all fourteen of us are together. That’s why she didn’t take Livia when she had a chance.”
“I don’t care. I demand to see your brother right now or I’m going to start killing people.”
“Like I said, you’re outnumbered, so---” I cut myself off as he pulled his normal wand out of his pocket and aimed it at Kalyn.
“I may be outnumbered, but you can’t stop me from killing her.”
Sotis backed away, not devoted enough to defend Kalyn or side with Sven.
Kalyn closed her eyes, but there wasn’t fear on her face. We all knew he would do it, but she was deciding not to be afraid. How could I possibly let Sven kill her like that? “Fine. I’ll take you to him, but you can’t kill him, even if he does have your wife.”
“You don’t have the power here! I’ll kill who I want!” he roared.
“Then you’ll never see your wife again,” I said calmly. It wasn’t a threat; it was a simple truth. I hadn’t shouted, yet everyone took a small step back.
“You sounded more like your father than yourself just then,” Merlin commented.
“If you hurt any of my friends or my brother, you’ll regret it. Livia.” Fortunately, while he was still trying to process my uncharacteristic behavior, Livia knew exactly what to do; she drew her wand from her sleeve and pointed it at Sven. Both of his wands vanished.
“You can’t do that!”
“She can’t?” I asked. “That’s weird. I thought she just did. Now, do you want to meet my brother or not?” Livia handed me Sven’s wands and I slipped them into my pocket.
Sven turned and we headed inside. “Is anyone going to attack me as soon as I step inside?” Sven asked.
“With any luck.”
Just in case, I let Sven go first with Sotis and Kalyn on either side of him. Merlin and I followed behind. If Sven was attacked the moment he walked in before I could explain, I wasn’t going to complain.
As we walked, Kalyn reached for Sven’s arm. Her posture was rigid, as if she didn’t really want to touch him. Knowing he would smack her away, I grabbed her arm before she could touch his. Her hand slipped into mine and… settled there.
“Do you have something to tell me, young sorcerer?” Merlin asked.
“Like what?”
He just laughed.
We entered through the back door. By the time we reached the staircase, most of the people in the castle were watching us from a distance. At the top of the stairs, Goat greeted me with her happy bleats. Then she tried to ram Sven, but Kalyn pushed her away.
“Why is there a goat inside and why is it attacking me?” Sven asked.
“She’s inside because I let her inside and she’s attacking you because she senses how hateful you are.”
“Just take me to your brother and stop trying to be smart.”
Merlin muttered out loud, too garbled to understand, and I was certain it was something insulting and inappropriate.
When I knocked on Thad’s door, he called out for us to enter. He wasn’t expecting an enemy at the castle… or at least, not this one. He and Mason were on his bed, discussing something in a book. From the looks of it, Mason was teaching him to read.
“What is he doing here?” Thaddeus sneered when he saw Sven. He and Mason simultaneously pointed their wands at the sorcerer.
“I remember you; you were there when Ilvera’s plan failed,” Sven said, about to attack. “Where is my wife?”
“Why would you think we have her?”
“Your mother said you did!”
“Well, my mother’s an evil manipulative monster.”
“Ilvera was the one who took her and my family,” Mason said. “If Thaddeus knew where your wife was, he would have said so, because my family is there.”
“You stay out of this, wizard, or I’ll---”
“Do nothing at all, because you don’t have your wand,” I interrupted.
Sven’s face reddened with anger. “Then Kalyn will.”
“You need to clear up this misunderstanding before it gets out of hand,” Merlin warned.
“Thaddeus, have you ever gotten anything from Mother or her house that could be used as a key or map?”
“No. Why? You don’t suspect me, do you?”
“I don’t, but Sven isn’t going to believe any of us until we find her.” And unfortunately, we needed him for our plan.
“Ayden, search the room for magic,” Merlin advised.
I did. It was especially unclear because everyone in the room was radiating magic, including Merlin. Merlin didn’t have as much magic as the others, but he definitely had more than he previously did.
Maybe Nasku was wrong and Merlin will break the curse on his own. “Hey, what’s that on the bookshelf?”
“Books,” Thad said like I was crazy.
“Something there is magic.” I went to the bookshelf on the far side of the room and started searching for anything besides a book. When I didn’t find anything, I looked behind the books. “I don’t see anything. Are these all books from Magnus’s library?”
“Yes. I didn’t have a chance to grab anything from my little shop.”
“What happened to the animals there?”
He rolled his eyes. “I let them go. I’m a sorcerer, not heartless. Why do you care about the books?”
“Because…” I pulled one down. It had a black leather cover with no writing, only a magical sigil in silver. “Because this book doesn’t belong to Magnus. I’ve read every book he has in our language and I’ve studied those I couldn’t read.” I opened it up and saw that it was in my language. I skipped to the middle and read a few lines, which described a woman trapped in a tower. “I don’t see how it’s important, though.”
“There is more to books than ink,” Merlin said. “Direct your magic into the book with the intention of revealing its secrets, just like you did with Shae.”
I pointed my wand at the book and focused.
“Why are you wasting time reading a book?” Sven shouted, disrupting my focus.
I turned my wand on him. “Stop talking.” My magic, fueled by irritation, zapped him without hesitation and his mouth snapped shut. He open
ed it again, but no sound came out. I returned my focus to the book. “Reveal whatever you’re hiding.” My magic struck it and rebounded. “Well, that was worthless.”
“Did you mean it?”
“Not really. I’m not convinced it will do any good.” That was the problem, though. “Mason and Sven, you both have the most at stake in this.” I took out Sven’s wand. “I’m going to give this back to you and you’re going to do the spell I tell you to. If you attack me, Merlin will eat your entrails.” I handed it to him. He glared at me, but he didn’t attack.
“What do you want us to do?” Mason asked.
“I don’t know if this is going to show a map or a key, or what, but it has magic and its presence is strange. Point your wands at it, focus on your loved ones, and tell your magic to reveal its secrets.”
Sven glared with all his might, but he couldn’t argue. “Can you keep him this way?” Sotis asked.
Sven and Mason aimed their wands at the book and after a moment, white magic shot out of Mason’s wand, followed by red magic from Sven’s. The energy disappeared into the page and the letters glowed gold.
“Get back,” Merlin said. I relayed the warning and we all backed up to the door. As we did, dark red and black smoke flowed out of the book, quickly filling the room. Then, just as swiftly, it vanished, leaving all of Mason’s family and a stranger crowding the room.
Sven instantly grabbed the woman and pulled her into a tight hug. “We were having breakfast, and now we’re here… What’s going on?” the woman asked. I was confused; the woman wasn’t at all what I expected.
She was a witch.
Her long, golden blond hair was braided with colorful gems, which paled in comparison to her amazingly blue eyes. They were light blue around her pupils that faded to dark blue towards the white. She had a slight tan, indicating she had spent time outside. Her dress was silver and blue with sparkly, translucent, blue sleeves.
Sven reached over and punched my arm.
“Oh, right.” I aimed my wand at Sven and retracted my curse.
“A sorceress captured you and trapped you… apparently in a book. She forced me to do her bidding.”
“And who are all these other people?”
“Other captives mostly.”
Mason’s family was hugging and reassuring each other. “The last thing I remember is reaching the castle,” Mason’s father said.
“I went to bed for the night,” Masy said.
* * *
We left Mason alone with his family so Mason could explain what had happened. Thaddeus left to explain the situation to Magnus and Livia, mostly so that Sven wouldn’t attack him. Sven was convinced that Thaddeus had known she was trapped in the book, but since he had his wife, he wasn’t willing to risk her safety by attacking my brother in the middle of the full castle.
Merlin and I showed Sotis, Kalyn, and the reunited couple to some rooms.
“We’ll talk later,” Sven said as I shut his door behind me.
Sotis thanked me, saying, “This definitely beats living in the woods. I suppose once Sheba cools Sven’s temper, we’ll be on your side.”
“He can hold a grudge like no one else, but he’s not as unreasonable as he seems,” Kalyn said.
Last was Kalyn, and that gave me a chance to ask what I had wanted to know since I left the cabin. “What happened? Did Sven punish you for letting me go?”
“I was able to fool him for days. He figured it out this morning and was about to punish me when you contacted him through the mirror. He lost interest in me at that point.”
“Will he join our side now?”
“He said he would and I think he’ll uphold his promise. After all, he has his wife back. He won’t want her to lose magic. I’m really tired. Can we talk in the morning?”
“I plan to be defeating our enemy by then. We all need sleep in order to be at our best tomorrow, so I’ll leave you alone for now. Besides, there really isn’t anything for us to talk about.”
“Oh. I thought there might be, but never mind, then.”
“What?”
“Close the door, young sorcerer,” Merlin said. “You do not need another complication right now.”
“Good night.”
Chapter 19
My dream was full of lava and quakes. I saw villages bursting of sick people, forests dead, and oceans dried up.
It was still dark when I woke, but I went to Merlin’s room anyway. He wasn’t in his bed, though, so I went to his favorite place in the castle; the second-floor balcony overlooking the practice field behind the castle. He was sitting there, not watching the sky as usual but the ground, where I saw Kalyn practicing with a thin sword.
Although her strikes and blocks weren’t all that different from Gideon’s, she moved like she was dancing. We watched for a while in silence.
“Go back to sleep,” Merlin eventually said. “Tomorrow is going to be a big day for everyone.”
* * *
I woke to the sound of arguing, groaned, and climbed out of bed. Instead of hard wood, I felt fur under my foot. Goat bleated with alarm. “I’m sorry!”
She licked my foot and then climbed onto the bed to sleep some more. I grabbed my wand and robe and left my room. Down the hall, Thaddeus and Sven were trying to fight. Thad’s nose was bleeding. Mason was holding Thad back while Sotis was stopping Sven from getting another shot in.
If Sven was instigating anyone other than a sorcerer, I would have interfered, but it was natural for two sorcerers of different families to fight. Even sorcerers who were good friends fought.
I went downstairs to find Merlin, the Minof family, and Livia eating breakfast. I grabbed a piece of bread because I knew Merlin would insist and then headed outside to find Gideon and Kalyn sparring. Kalyn was faster, but Gideon was stronger, and they were both so adept it was clear they were born for it.
Kalyn would have made a good warrior. I wondered where she learned it from, considering her father wasn’t able to sell her to the guild. There were some female warriors, but only males could be sold against their will to the guilds.
Sven joined me after a while with a bad cut on his forehead. “Did you reach a truce with my brother?”
“For now. Whether or not he knew where my wife was, it was your mother who kidnapped her in the first place, so we have a common enemy.”
“Everything you told me about your father and aunt, that was all a lie?”
“Most of it, yes.”
“How are you married to a witch? You can’t possibly have anything in common. What does she like about you?”
“I joined the assassin’s guild when I was young and was assigned to kill Sheba. The moment I saw her, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to. Her father, Dayrel, raised her alone. He was very wealthy, yet humble. He believed that she needed a mother, so he married a sorceress he considered suitable. Melissa was lovely to Sheba and had two daughters of her own who always included Sheba when they played. Soon, Dayrel died of suspicious circumstances.
“Melissa immediately became cruel and tried to get Dayrel’s wealth. He kept it in a secret room in their home, but he had never told Melissa how to get into it, so she demanded that Sheba give it to her. However, Sheba wanted to save enough that her future children could survive if anything happened to her. She offered Melissa a handsome allowance, enough that Melissa and her two daughters could live in castles.”
“I take it Melissa was furious and demanded all of it?”
He nodded. “She tortured Sheba. Sheba ran away without telling Melissa how to get into the secret room, so Melissa hired my guild to kill her. I fell in love with Sheba and gained her trust. She didn’t care that I was a sorcerer or an assassin; she only cared that I was kind to her. No matter how badly Melissa betrayed her, she was still completely innocent and pure of heart. I never thought that I would like that in a woman, but I did.”
“Does Melissa know Sheba is still alive?”
“When I found out what she had done
to Sheba, I killed her.”
“I bet Sheba was livid.”
He frowned at me. “She was. It took more than a year to make her forgive me. I have no idea why, though. How do you know? Did she say something?”
“No, it’s just that she’s a witch. They don’t think like sorcerers do. You thought of it as protecting her, and probably defending her honor.”
He nodded.
“Well, she would have thought of it as you killing her father’s wife. Melissa may have been a cruel sorceress, but she was the only mother Sheba knew, and the woman Dayrel loved.”
“But she hurt Sheba.”
“In a witch’s mind, two wrongs don’t make it right.”
He thought about this for a moment. “I need to talk to her.”
“Don’t tell her she’s wrong.”
“But she is.”
“You’re making me really glad I’m not just a sorcerer right now. Witches and wizards do not argue their opinion. You can’t change her mind by arguing or making threats. Speaking of which, what are you going to tell Kalyn?”
“What do you mean?”
“Kalyn loves you.”
“So? I have my wife, I don’t care what Kalyn does. If she wants to keep serving me, I don’t mind as long as she doesn’t bother Sheba. Now, I said I would help you if you saved my wife and you did. Jeb explained this plan of yours and we’ll do it.”
“Jeb explained it?”
“Yes.”
“I’m surprised.”
“Why?”
“He’s kind of… antagonistic.”
“He’s the only one of your friends so far that doesn’t want to be a martyr. You could learn something from him. He doesn’t care so much about the black star as he does about defeating your mother and this other guy. I understand that we stand the best chance of surviving this by working together, but once she’s dead, we’ll be enemies again.”
“I don’t have a problem with that.” The sky darkened and we both looked up. “It doesn’t matter. This has to end now.” The sun was turning red and the same hole from my dreams was opening up in the sky.
The black star had come.
