by Kel Kade
“What is wrong with them?” Frisha asked.
Tieran said, “I do not know. Perhaps Aelis was controlling them somehow.”
“That makes sense. He got us out of our room and down into the caves. He was probably using them as a distraction.”
Ilanet added, “We do not know that he was working alone.”
Tieran glanced at her and then griped his sword, anxiously awaiting attack. It was not long before they were set upon by someone who appeared as equally willing to kill them as Aelis had been.
“What, in the bloody Hells, are you doing out of your room? I go in there to make sure you are all secure, and what do I find? An empty chamber!”
Tieran said, “I apologize, Striker Kai. We were tricked into seeking refuge elsewhere, only to be confronted by what we presume was a demon in Healer Aelis’s body.”
Kai stared at Tieran. “What?”
Three and a half hours after the battle ended, Rezkin stood in the dawning light watching as everyone who was gathered in the courtyard filed into the palace. Kai had met them on the steps to inform him of the attack, although Rezkin bade him save the details for later. As his troops wearily dragged their feet through the doors, he stepped up behind Malcius and gripped his shoulder. Malcius jumped at the intrusion.
“What is it? Is something wrong? Shiela?” Malcius said with increasing alarm.
“Be calm. Everything is fine. Shiela is well.” He waited for Malcius to release his pent breath and then said, “I need to speak with you alone for a moment.”
Malcius nodded and followed Rezkin away from the crowd. Rezkin pulled a handful of crystals from the pouch at his waist. Three of them were colored and three were clear.
“Are those the fire crystals?” Malcius asked.
“More like life crystals,” Rezkin said with displeasure. “Two did not take the flame because the demon hosts were already dead. One had turned blue but became clear again when the man died. This one”—he pulled a brilliant red gemstone tied to a black leather lace from the pile—“belongs to Yserria.”
Malcius stared at it in awe. It was deeper than any ruby he had seen, yet brighter than a garnet, and he imagined he could see the fire trapped within its lustrous structure.
“I need you to carry it,” Rezkin said.
“What? Me? Why?”
“Wesson believes it may be dangerous for Yserria to carry her own crystal. He says he has no idea what will happen, but it is conceivable that prolonged exposure to it could continue to drain her life force, thereby killing her. Conversely, it is possible that the life force may drain out of the crystal into her with the ritual attached. It might kill her or open her to a demon possession or both. We do not know. Until we figure out how to disconnect her from the ritual, someone will have to carry this for her.”
“Why can we not just leave it in a vault somewhere?” Malcius said.
“That is even more complicated,” Rezkin replied with a frown. “It is a sense that I got when I was inside the crystal, like it is alive. No, not alive, but waiting for life—or at least some king of energy. Now that power fills it, the crystal needs to be fed.”
“Fed?” Malcius exclaimed. “You mean it would feed off me?”
“No, I think it will use very little. The natural energy you release should be sufficient. If it is left without an energy source, though, the fire within will eventually burn out.”
“Yserria will die,” Malcius said.
“Yes, I believe so.”
Malcius’s face twisted with anguish. “Why me? I hate her. I want nothing to do with her or her life stone.”
Rezkin looked at the crystal and then back to Malcius. “Wesson believes the spell linking the life forces to the ritual may become unstable if the crystals are separated from their donors for prolonged periods. As I said before, though, the victims cannot carry the crystals themselves. Wesson says that strong feelings for others, like love, create a bond between people that affects their energies. He thinks that if someone bearing this connection carries the stones, it will increase the chance of stabilizing the ritual spell. Wesson has studied much about life magic, so I am inclined to heed his concerns. I intend to give the other crystals to family members of the other donors. You and Yserria share a bond—”
“We most certainly do not,” Malcius spat.
“It is a bond formed through your brother,” Rezkin said, and Malcius’s face dropped. “You continue to love him even though he is dead. Yserria did not know him long, but I think his loss has solidified her bond to him nonetheless. Through him, through his memory, the two of you are already linked, but the strong emotions do not have to be good ones. Your hatred for her also links you.”
Malcius met his gaze with fury. “If you know how I feel about her, why would you have me carry her life stone? I could crush it under my boot and kill her.”
Rezkin shook his head and laid a hand on Malcius’s shoulder. “You are a good man, Malcius. You are an honorable man. I trust that you will carry this burden with honor. Do it in Palis’s name if you must.”
Malcius fumed, his nostrils flaring as he inhaled air and exhaled anger. He snatched the stone from Rezkin’s grasp and said, “Fine, but you had best find a way to destroy the link to the ritual quickly.” He turned to leave, but Rezkin stopped him once more.
“Malcius, it is probably best that we not tell Yserria about this.”
Malcius clenched his jaw and then huffed. “I have no desire to let that infuriating woman know I am chauffeuring around her life stone.”
Once Malcius stormed away, Rezkin was left alone in the yard—at least as alone as the strikers would allow. Shezar stood at the steps to the entrance, and Kai watched from the gate. Rezkin sighed. He needed some time alone, but he was not to get it. As soon as he stepped foot inside the door, Xa slinked out of the shadows to walk beside him.
“What do you want?” Rezkin said.
“I was helpful to you this night,” Xa said.
Rezkin waved the strikers away. Once he was within the citadel, they begrudgingly gave him space.
He glanced at Xa as he felt the tingle of a mage ward surround them, but he continued walking. “Are you begging for appreciation? Desire for such sentiments seems beneath you.”
Xa grinned. “I only wish for you to recognize that I protected you when you were vulnerable.”
“I acknowledge the fact, but it will not diminish my vigilance.”
Xa shook his head. “When you prove yourself to the Ong’ri, you will tell him that I served our cause?”
Rezkin abruptly stopped and captured the assassin in his icy gaze. “Need I prove myself? I do not serve the Order.”
Xa stared at him knowing Rezkin was right but angry to admit it.
Rezkin said, “Why did you kill the girl?”
“What does it matter?” Xa said.
“I was poised to strike. Why did you kill her first? Was it to prove a point?”
Xa glanced down the corridor and then turned back to him with a grin. “Your lady would be upset if she heard that you killed a child.”
Rezkin said, “The child was already dead.”
“She would not understand,” replied Xa.
“Why do you care?” asked Rezkin.
Xa bowed as he started backing away and said, “I serve the interests of the Riel’gesh.”
The mage ward dropped, and the assassin disappeared around a corner.
When Rezkin arrived at his chamber, he wanted only to wash and rest. He found a horizontal prism that was low enough to the ground and then sat to shuck his boots. The little tortie crawled onto his lap and bumped his chin with her head.
“Is not the right place for the feline race,” said a craggy voice.
Rezkin lifted his gaze to meet orange globes that were entirely too close. The cat hissed and then abruptly began purring as it rolled over languidly in his lap. Bilior lifted a twiggy appendage and dangled a leaf over the cat. It batted at the fluttering diversion bef
ore growing too lazy to continue.
The katerghen said, “In this palace of stone, with your crystal throne”—he slapped a branch against Rezkin’s seat—“no cat should call home, in the forest they roam.”
“I do not force it to stay here,” Rezkin said. “It may leave at any time.”
“It stays, as do you, and yet you are few,” Bilior replied.
Rezkin glanced down at the cat. He had not considered that it might want more of its own kind or that it might feel out of place. It seemed happy enough. Was a cat capable of putting on a façade? Or was it just making do with what it had? He suddenly felt that he had more in common with the cat than the rest of the citadel’s occupants.
“What do you want?” he asked.
“Daem’Ahn threatens sanctuary. A deal was struck. Here I must be.”
“Yes,” Rezkin said, “I was told of a strange serpent that turned into a tree. You helped to defeat the demon. How did it get here?”
Bilior stepped back and bent at the waist as if bowing but tilted his head up to look at Rezkin. “The Ahn’tep invites for the Daem’Ahn to call. The gates between realms are not open to all. On dead wood it traveled, across the sea, into the hall, amongst you all.”
“You are saying that we brought it with us? How can that be? Why did you say nothing?”
Bilior blinked at him and rattled his branches. The sound of rushing wind and rain filled the room. Once it settled, the katerghen said, “Rheina and Nihko the Daem’Ahn be.”
“I do not understand,” Rezkin said.
“Powers of Rheina are ours and theirs, powers that fill this Ahn’tep palace. Daem’Ahn powers of Nihko we cannot see. Ahn’tep must find them.”
Rezkin stood, the cat plopping to the ground unhappily. “You cannot sense the demons. That is why you need us—why you need me. You need an army that can find the demons. Once you knew where it was, why did you not kill it yourself? You obviously have the power.”
Bilior rattled and said, “These Daem’Ahn, they were not here. Possession from afar. Human bodies held the power. Rules we must follow, to stay in this realm.”
“So you could not interfere because humans were wielding the demons’ power. We did not kill the demons, then. We only destroyed their hosts.”
The katerghen was in his face again while hanging upside down from a stone spike. “Safety, a haven, a kingdom for an army.”
“In case you did not notice, three of our people died,” Rezkin said. “And I know, I must bring an army. I have told you that it will take time. Our kingdom is not yet secured, though. I must go to Gendishen to strike a deal with King Privoth. I do not know what he will want. Only after Cael is mine can I begin to concern myself with your army.”
“Rezkin?” a soft voice said from behind him.
Rezkin turned to see Frisha standing in the doorway that he was sure had been closed.
“Yes?”
“Are you okay?” she asked with a pensive expression.
He finished removing his boot and said, “I am well. Why do you ask?”
“Because you are talking to a tree,” she said.
Rezkin turned to see that Bilior had once again taken the form of a sapling.
She said, “Is that the tree you were asking about earlier?”
He glanced at it again and said, “Yes.”
Frisha crossed her arms. “Yserria went missing, and you were worried about a tree that was in your room the whole time?” When he did not bother to respond, she huffed and said, “You didn’t even come to check on us.”
“Kai said you were well,” he replied.
“But, didn’t you want to see me? To see how I was?”
Rezkin furrowed his brow. “I knew how you were. Why would I need to see you?”
Frisha pursed her lips and then ran into Tam as she turned to leave.
“He’s fine,” she snapped and then stormed away.
Tam watched her retreating form and then looked to Rezkin. “What’s wrong with her?”
Rezkin shook his head. “Nothing is wrong with her. It is I who does not belong.”
End of Book Three
Rezkin will return in Kingdoms and Chaos
(King’s Dark Tidings, Book Four)
Characters
Rhesh Carinen – Second son of Lord Gresh Carinen; firemage
Gresh Carinen – Villainous lord who supports Caydean
Alon Gerrand – The second son of House Gerrand
Moroven – Swordmaster, Rhesh’s instructor
Malcius Jebai – First son of Count Simeon Jebai, Rezkin’s friend
Palis Jebai – Second son of Count Simeon Jebai, Rezkin’s friend who died in Skutton
Frisha Souvain-Marcum – Rezkin’s Girl Friend, General Marcum’s niece.
Tieran Nirius – Heir to House Wellinven
Shiela Jebai – Daughter of Count Simeon Jebai
Brandt Gerrand – Heir of House Gerrand, friend of the Jebais
Tamarin Blackwater – Rezkin’s best friend and apprentice
Wesson – battle mage
Reaylin de Voss – warrior/apprentice healer (Ashai)
Drom Nasque – Baron of Fendendril (Ashai)
Waylen Nasque – Drom Nasque’s son
Jimson Bell – Ashaiian Army captain, friend of Rezkin
Drascon Listh – Second Lieutenant in the King’s Army (Ashai)
Brell Millins – Sergeant in the King’s Army (Ashai)
Zankai (Kai) Colguerun Tresdian – Ashaiian striker loyal to Rezkin
Merk Estadd – Captain of the Stargazer, the ship leaving Skutton
Bilior – Katerghen; wood nymph
Brendam LuDou – Captain of the Royal Guard for King Desbian of Torrel
Lord Gerresy – Middling Torreli lord; tournament ambassador
Colton – Tieran’s man servant
Grebella – Brothel owner in Serret
Suras – Butcher in Serret
Urmel – Woman in brothel (Serret)
Tiani – Woman in brothel (Serret)
Count Mestison – Minister of Agriculture in Serret
Councilor Rebek – Member of the King’s Council of Channería
King Ionius – King of Channería
Councilor Harid – Member of the King’s Council of Channería
Councilor Onelle – Member of the King’s Council of Channería
Ilanet – Daughter of King Ionius, Channería
Mables – Ilanet’s nursemaid
Prince Nyan – Ilanet’s betrothed, second son of King Vargos of Jerea
Ikaxayim (Xa) Jeng’ri – second in command of the Order in Channería (Lus)
Rella – Woman at brothel (Serret)
Hvelia – Ahn’an of wind
Uspiul – Ahn’an of water
Liti and Itli – Ahn’an of fire
Goragana – Ahn’an of earth
Commander Cosp – Guard in Serret
Collectiare Tiblot – Head of the Temple of the Maker in Channería
Dronnicus – Captain of the Channerían Royal Guard
Minder Barkal – Priest of the Maker in Channería
Elder Minder Thoran - Priest of the Maker in Channería
Minder Finwy - Priest of the Maker in Channería, Minder Barkal’s assistant
Tami – Shiela’s maid
Uratel – Assassin of the Black Hall
Hespion Mulnak – Duke Atressian’s youngest son and heir
Fierdon Mulnak – Duke Atressian’s eldest son
Adsden Vesti – Guildmaster of the Serpents (Justain)
Baelin Gale – Thirty-year-old wind and water elemental mage
Leyton Wuald– LeukCaptain, King’s Army and former House Nirius Guard
Yserria Rey – Female commoner Swordmaster from Skutton
Yerlin Tomwell – Life mage
Marlis Tomwell – Ashaiian Knight of the Realm, Yerlin’s brother
Tresq Abertine – Sandean Viscount who traveled to Cael as refugee
&nbs
p; Jespia Lonneli – Healer from tournament
Nanessy Threll – Elemental mage, fire and water affinity
Aelis Cress – Healer
Regis Namm – Corporal, King’s Army soldier, assisted the escape from Skutton
Grath Jaeg – Eastern Mountains man, Viergnacht Tribe
Prask Berly – Eastern Mountains man, Viergnacht Tribe
Gurrell Yuold – Eastern Mountains Chieftain of the Viergnacht Tribe
Myerin Ilgoth – Eastern Mountains Second, Viergnacht Tribe
Fedrin Malto – Young man from Torrel; brother of fallen Fifth Tier Swordmaster
Dennick Manding – Elemental water apprentice mage, Nirius house guard
King Desbian – King of Torrel
Opohl – Shielreyah of Caellurum
Elry – Shielreyah of Caellurum
Yeshri – Shielreyah of Caellurum
Groa – Half-Pruari guildmaster of the Diamond Claws thieves’ guild in Kaibain
Breck – Guildmaster of the Razar Edge thieves’ guild in Kaibain
Briesh – Master Assassin of the Black Hall
Cobb – A thief of the Justainian Serpent Guild
Simeon Jebai – Count of Glasbury; General Marcum’s older brother
Manaua – Shielreyah of Caellurum
LeukSergeant Yail Stratus – Tournament official, former Third Tier champion
Gillis Cormack – Alternate identity for Striker Farson
Striker Farson – Rezkin’s former trainer
Marcum Jebai – General of the Army of Ashai, Frisha’s uncle
Pethela Jebai – Countess of Glasbury, Simeon’s wife
Adelina Marcum – General Marcum’s wife
Morgessa Freil – Elemental mage; earth and fire
Ondrus Hammel – Life mage
Aplin Guel – Apprentice life mage
Definitions
Kingslayer – Sheyalin longsword
Bladesunder – Sheyalin shortsword
Jahartan Empire – Ancient foe of Ashai during King Coroleus’s reign
