by Dianna Love
“That’s the problem. I don’t know. I am prepared to withdraw from the Beladors—”
Evalle gasped. “No.”
Tzader gave a stern, “Quinn!”
But Quinn continued. “By keeping her body, I have put the Beladors, as well as my child, at great risk. The killings in Atlanta are not random. They’re tied to Kizira’s body. Medb warlocks and witches are being tortured by people who are after her body. I know you’ve heard a preliminary report sent to Tzader. I did not recognize the suspects, but based on my team’s experience in Atlanta just before dawn, we believe there is no explanation other than that the killers are Beladors.”
Tristan asked, “What if Queen Maeve has cooked up some spell to make it look like they’re Beladors?”
Quinn shook his head. “If you met one of them in battle, you wouldn’t think it was merely a spell.”
Daegan said, “It’s not Queen Maeve. She would simply compel her people for information and if she used Noirre majik, it would be evident.” He turned to Storm, “Correct?”
“Yes. There’s no hint of Noirre at the crime scenes, but there’s always a residue of Belador power.”
Quinn gave Storm a nod of thanks and said, “I had hoped it was only a lone Belador turned vigilante for some personal reason, but I never considered that a group of our people would be committing these crimes. I probably still wouldn’t if I hadn’t been there in person. Evalle, Devon Fortier and I faced attackers who used kinetics, telepathy and linking powers like we do. But the smoking gun was revealed when I had to enter the mind of one man who was trying to kill me. He and his partner had linked their powers and were using them to crush me against a tree. When the guy whose mind I entered died, so did the second man.”
“You did what to their minds?” Daegan asked.
Quinn quickly explained his mind lock ability.
“That’s an impressive gift,” Daegan said, then rolled his hand in a sign for Quinn to continue.
“I didn’t have an opportunity to retrieve anything of value, because from what I could tell, someone had placed a spell on the attacker that triggered immediate death upon having his mental shields breached.”
“You almost didn’t pull out in time,” Evalle muttered.
“True, but my point is that the moment I entered his mind, I encountered the familiar essence. I’ve never seen anything like it except in those born a Belador descendant.”
Evalle confirmed, “They had kinetic ability that rivaled ours. They’re also generating some kind of cloaking cloud that buzzes. It interrupts normal telepathy, and it sometimes makes private telepathic messages available to others. When I got close, I heard voices inside the buzzing cloud. Devon heard their telepathic conversation before the energy field broke apart, which means we have to be careful about who we speak to telepathically. I would know any of you, but in a battle we could be tricked by imposters, or they could eavesdrop on our strategies and plans.”
Tristan said, “Who are these people? Beladors from another continent?”
“I can’t answer that, because we have no image to show other Maistirs who could identify them for us,” Quinn admitted. “The chilling part is that they had no issue with killing both Beladors and Medb alike.”
Tzader rubbed a hand over his bald head, a habit he had when he was working out a problem. “I’d think missing Belador warriors would have been reported.”
Daegan’s brow creased in deep thought. “Quinn, you said these people are after Kizira’s body?”
“Yes. Devon heard them talking about it.”
“You didn’t tell me,” Evalle accused, sounding hurt.
“I didn’t want to say anything until I knew more and we had too many people around at times.” Like Isak, who was not within Quinn’s circle of trusted confidantes. “I figured I’d tell everyone at the same time, but we first needed to find out whether our captive had any involvement.”
“I got you,” Evalle said, nodding that she understood he was referencing Reese.
It was time for Quinn to tell them all that he’d learned, but Daegan had been leaned back, looking up at the high ceiling.
The dragon king clearly had something on his mind. He brought his chin down and worry stretched through his face. “We have to find out who is behind turning Beladors against their own people and we must stop them from locating Kizira’s body.”
Brina asked, “Why?”
Quinn supplied the answer. “Because someone can use necromancy to unlock the secrets that Kizira hid, Noirre spells and more.”
Daegan said, “That would be a deadly result, but that is not the sole reason we must keep her body away from everyone.”
Now Quinn was as confused as the rest of the group appeared. He had to protect his daughter. But Daegan should be concerned only with how this affected Beladors.
Quinn said, “I don’t understand.”
“You wouldn’t without having lived as long as I have,” Daegan replied. “How old would your child be?”
“Twelve.”
Daegan put a hand to his forehead, squeezing his head then dropping his hand to the table. “Putting aside that we have Beladors hunting Kizira’s body for some unknown person, Queen Maeve wants the body to withdraw every drop of information she can about what transpired prior to her reincarnating as the current queen of Tŵr Medb. But the minute she discovers Kizira had a child who still lives, the queen will unleash all her resources to locate that child.”
Tristan snorted. “Are you trying to say that crazy queen wants to play grandmother?”
“No. In Queen Maeve’s hands, a child of powerful Medb and Belador blood would become a weapon capable of wiping out Beladors systematically and completely. That’s before you consider whether this child inherits Quinn’s mind lock gift. Allowing her to fall into Queen Maeve’s hands would be like handing her a weapon much like those nuclear bombs humans created, but with the ability to target only her enemy. That would not stop her from wiping out humans and nonhumans alike if they didn’t fit her plan for ruling the world.”
Mouths dropped around the table.
Quinn clapped a hand over his eyes and murmured, “What have I done?”
Instead of ordering Quinn to a dungeon or worse, Daegan segued into strategic planning. “We can’t bury the body on this island. The land would reject it, but we can take it to a proper location to—”
Quinn looked up and stopped him. “No, we can’t.”
Daegan finally lost his calm, which is what Quinn had been expecting sooner. The dragon king stood. “I would not condemn a man who made a mistake born of grief, but I will not allow you to put every Belador life in jeopardy for the same reason.”
“You don’t understand.” Quinn rose to his feet. “I would do anything I can to prevent someone from finding my child and I would definitely do anything to protect my Belador brethren, but there’s a problem with your plan.”
“You haven’t heard it all. How can you know it won’t work?”
“Because you’re suggesting we burn the body and spread the ashes with salt.”
“Aye.”
“I went by the cemetery on my way to meet up with Evalle before coming here. The tomb I buried Kizira in is gone. As of tonight, the killers aren’t hunting the body. They’re looking for someone who can open the tomb I sealed it in. There’s nothing but an empty space where it stood. I don’t know who has Kizira’s body.”
Chapter 14
Daegan dropped into his seat, sweeping a look at his newly formed council of advisors. This would be a hell of a first task for this group. His mind raced through all the potential thieves who might have stolen Kizira’s body.
Thumping the table, Daegan said, “Queen Maeve is the obvious choice, but not the logical, which leaves us where?”
“What about Macha?” Evalle asked. “Could she be building her own Belador army to battle you?”
“She’s a valid candidate, but Macha is not one to get her hands dirty. She requi
res followers to do her work. She would have had to organize a team in just four days. It’s not impossible, but a bit improbable. Unlike Queen Maeve, Macha plans and takes her time to be sure she’ll succeed if she’s going to crush someone.”
“Wow, you do know her.”
Better than you can ever imagine. “That doesn’t mean she’s not on our list of people potentially behind this, but if she is responsible, she’s found a powerful ally to do her bidding. Either Maeve or Macha could be doing this, or it could be a different enemy.”
Quinn appeared to be waiting to speak again. Daegan nodded at Quinn, who continued, “We must assume a preternatural stole the tomb, as doing so required great power. Queen Maeve knows I’m the one who placed the body inside, but someone else may or may not know. Queen Maeve and Cathbad would certainly have enough sense to not attempt teleporting inside a tomb I sealed, though they may have compelled one of their followers to try. If someone other than the Medb has tried, they’ve also figured out they can’t teleport in. At this point, any nonhuman with enough power to move the tomb would now be expecting a deadly repercussion when an attempt is made to open it.”
“You have this tomb rigged in some way?” Daegan asked, respecting this Quinn’s ability more every minute.
Tzader snorted. “My man Quinn? I wouldn’t try to break into anything he wanted kept hidden. You booby-trapped it, didn’t you, Quinn?”
“Yes. Whoever took the tomb paid a price just by separating the structure from the land. I did not ward the outside against immortals, simply because a ward would have acted like a neon sign to our kind, announcing that the tomb contained something of value. The spell around the base was meant as a first warning and deterrent to someone the level of a Medb witch or warlock.”
“How much of a deterrent could it have been for them to go ahead and steal the damn thing?” Tristan scoffed.
Quinn said, “The first use of majik to dislodge the base would have destroyed someone’s eyes, past the point of blinding them. There would be no orbs left in the sockets.”
Everyone flinched.
“At that point, whoever attempted to then break the spell would have had to use significant power to separate that tomb from the land. I had an identical tomb built to replace the original historical one I happened to know was empty. The one I had built was bonded to the land with the spell. Taking it from the land was akin to ripping a limb away from a body. Everyone involved in extracting it would have felt pain as though they’d had their own limb ripped off. Those of lesser power may have, in fact, lost limbs.”
Daegan sized up Quinn. Though he was sorely disappointed the man had held onto an immortal witch’s body, he could tell the decision had not been an easy one to make and one reason might have been to save something a person of dark powers could use for locating his child. That would not be honorable, but Daegan wouldn’t criticize the man since Daegan would do that, or worse, to find his kin.
Tristan had grown more serious throughout the meeting. “What happens when they do try to open the tomb?”
Quinn shook his head. “If someone cracks the outer wall, they’ll suffer a power lash that would cause the equivalent of a severe headache for a preternatural. But to actually open that tomb for access would be quite deadly. Even if they could, which they can’t, they would die in the process. I’m the only one who can open it safely. If someone did manage to survive opening it, they’d have to break a ward placed on the body by someone half as old as Daegan. If the ward is broken, the body will erupt into flames.”
“No worries then, right?” Tristan asked, addressing everyone with that comment.
Evalle asked Tristan, “If you wanted that body and went to the trouble to take the tomb, realizing that you couldn’t open it, what would you do?”
Tristan’s forehead creased. “Shit.”
“Exactly. You’d take something or someone and hold it hostage to trade for opening the tomb.”
Daegan stood. He needed his council to prioritize the problems. “First, what will happen if we tell this VIPER and Tribunal bunch the truth, that we believe someone has turned a number of our warriors against us? What will they do, Evalle?”
“They won’t believe us. The Tribunal has dealt with conflicts between the Medb and Beladors for too many years, and those have been escalating lately. The deities have gotten short-tempered and go for the simplest answer that demands as little time on their part as possible.”
Brina offered, “We wouldn’t be havin’ these escalatin’ problems if the Tribunal had not accepted Queen Maeve and Cathbad the Druid into the coalition. We’ve been fighting each other nonstop since VIPER allowed Medb warlocks and witches to enter the human world to infiltrate our communities. You probably know about that since you were in Táur Medb when that decree was passed, Daegan.”
Nodding that he did, Daegan said, “That was a stupid mistake on VIPER’s part.”
“Agreed,” Evalle said, picking up the thread. “It’s an ongoing situation that is only getting worse. The minute we hint that a Belador might be behind these killings, the Medb will take advantage of that and point fingers at us over every infraction. Then VIPER will drag our people in to face Tribunals where justice is not always served.”
Daegan pondered this. “Power residue is the only evidence of Beladors at the killing locations?”
“Yes,” Storm said. “When I picked up Belador scents at each one, I hoped it meant your people had been on the human police investigations, but the areas where I found the scents bothered me. I picked up a demon scent near each one, which didn’t appear connected until I heard about tonight’s attack.” He held his hands open in resignation. “Unfortunately, if I was forced to testify at a Tribunal, I’d have to say the Belador scent was at every crime scene.”
Brina snapped her fingers. “About those demons. Tzader told me one was with the group you stopped tonight. Why would they have demons if they can kill with the ability of a Belador?”
Evalle studied the table a moment, then said, “I don’t know. That’s a good question we need to answer. We also need to find out how they’re powering their cloaking device. Adrianna didn’t mention whether she noticed anything, but we cut our meeting short to come to Treoir. I’ll ask her about that.”
Tzader pointed out, “Whether or not the Medb are behind the attacks in the southeast, if the only evidence is Belador power residue, we can’t hide that if they bring in another tracker. If that happens, VIPER will start bringing in our people anyhow. We’re pretty much damned if we do and damned if we don’t, and that means we’re on our own with this and need to get answers yesterday.”
“It’s unacceptable for our people to be persecuted.” Daegan held up saying more when Quinn spoke.
“While in the cemetery, I found a Nightstalker and shook hands for intel.”
“Nightstalker?” Daegan glanced around the table. He’d missed much during his time imprisoned. “I heard the term used in Tŵr Medb, but have no idea what it is.”
Tristan explained, “We have ghoul informants in the human world who have no loyalty to any group. If someone with power shakes hands with them, they’ll share intel on the preternatural world and in exchange they receive ten minutes of corporeal form.”
“What do they do while in solid form?”
“Drink rotgut, usually. They’re homeless people who died during weather disasters.”
Interesting. Daegan returned everyone’s attention to the intel. “Go on, Quinn.”
“I just recalled something the Nightstalker said, which didn’t register at the time because the only information he’d been able to share was that two people had visited Kizira’s tomb earlier in the day and they wore hooded robes.”
Tristan quipped, “That could be anyone. It’s like saying someone drove a white pickup truck.”
“Exactly,” Quinn agreed. “The Nightstalker hadn’t been around the tomb during the theft. I was distracted, trying to figure out if Queen Maeve was behind this
so I didn’t pay close attention when he said, ‘they want Alterants.’ Thinking back now, he may have meant those two in the hooded robes who visited the tomb. The thing is that no human would have gone near the tomb, because of the repellent I put around the outside.”
Evalle sent a pointed glance at Storm as she said, “Before everyone gets lathered up about these people hunting Alterants, I am not going into hiding. I’ll be sure to work with a partner.”
Storm only grunted, clearly not happy about her being at risk, but it was obvious that Evalle would not tolerate being left out. Daegan felt more and more certain that he’d chosen well with this circle of warriors as advisors.
He asked Tristan, “Have you informed them of your new assignment?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I share nothing that you say without your permission.”
Damn good answer. Daegan said, “This may help bring us answers sooner. You may share our strategy now.”
Tristan explained about the plan to send Ixxter to Atlanta soon, and that Tristan would tail him. Ixxter would be a prime candidate to draw attention as a Belador and as an Alterant, especially one who wanted out of the gryphon pack.
Evalle leaned forward. “Is he bait for them to take or bait to draw them out or what?”
“We’re thinking they’ll go the easier route and try to recruit him first, before they try to grab him. It’s easier to control someone who holds a grudge against his own people. If they do flip him to their side, I can discover who is behind this and determine whether Ixxter is going to be loyal or not.”
Tzader asked, “Do I detect a large amount of doubt?”
“Yes.”
Evalle said, “Ixxter’s a hothead, but he’s been stuck here a long time. I wouldn’t judge him based on the past few months.”
“Why not?” Tristan sat forward. “He’s not the only person who has been stuck here for months, but he’s the troublemaker, and the most belligerent of the gryphon pack. He’ll have a chance to show his true colors. He’s either with us or against us.”
