by SA Magnusson
“Then you should have known to wonder what it means for you. The sword will find its master. And if that’s not you, then you must be ready for whoever the sword’s master might be.”
She stood, pulling her hand away from its tracing of the water, and the image began to fade, disappearing altogether, before becoming nothing more than the rippling of water.
Solera turned away and headed toward the trees.
I hurried after her. “That’s it? That’s all that you’re going to tell us? What about the shifters? The Great Ones?”
“There is nothing else that will help with what you must do. The Great Ones cannot escape, so there is no danger.”
“Let’s say there is danger,” I said. “How do we stop them? How can I stop them?”
Solera paused. “You would have someone else tell you? That isn’t how magic works on this side or the other. You must explore it in order to understand it, much as you must explore yourself in order to understand what you can be.”
“What if I really did see Torn?”
She stood perfectly still. Even the air around us seemed to hesitate, as if it were catching its breath. Everything seemed to pause. “You never said you saw him.”
I needed to choose my words carefully. More than I had so far. What had Aron suggested? Trading information. Not making promises. That was the key to interacting with Solera. “I saw him when we went to learn what happened.”
Her smile shifted, and the dangerous gleam in her eye didn’t change. Had I said something wrong?
“Then you are lucky to be alive.”
“Why? You called him the Watcher. What does that mean?”
“If he’s involved, then perhaps there is more to fear than I have seen.” Solera studied me for a moment. “You know so little, yet you possess such power. It’s a shame that you won’t live to understand how to best utilize it.”
She turned away from me, and as she headed into the forest, a debate warred within me. Did I go after her or should I return, lucky enough that nothing worse had happened to me? I don’t think that I’d made a promise that would force me to serve her, though I didn’t know with certainty. It was possible that I had said something that might be interpreted in a way that implied promise, despite every effort on my part not to do so.
But we’d come here for answers. I couldn’t leave without obtaining them, which meant that I needed to chase her, even if it meant risking her wrath.
When I caught up to her, I grabbed her arm. She jerked free and sent me spinning off to the side, blasting me with magic that trapped me to the ground. I tried to resist, struggling against the magic, but it held me pinned in place.
This was different than the paralytic the dark mages used on me, a spell that I still had not been able to figure out. I was able to burn off that spell with my connection to magic, and while it wasn’t perfect, it did allow me to avoid having them hold me in place, at least when I was able to reach for my magic.
The spell—or whatever it was—Solera used on me pressed me to the ground, holding me like a sheet stretched over me. A magical sheet that demanded I stay in place, unable to move.
Solera stared down at me for a long moment, seemingly as if trying to determine if I would get up again. Did she think my magic would allow me to overpower her?
I had some power—even those around me who had power kept making comments about that—but not so much that I suspected I would have the capability of overwhelming one of the fae.
“Do not think to lay your hands on me,” she said.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to offend you; I just wanted to get your attention. Tell me about Torn. Tell me why you think I won’t live long enough to discover the answers I seek. Tell me—“
Solera leaned close to me. “Tell you? Understanding doesn’t come in such a way. Do you think that I gained an understanding of your world by having someone tell me all about it? Do you think that I became the master of this place because someone told me how to do so? Do you think that I am here because someone shared with me a secret?”
The spell pressing down on me eased and I was able to move, finally standing and dusting myself off. I had the sense that she didn’t want to hurt me, though I had the equal sense that she had every ability to do so if she wanted.
“I don’t know where to go for understanding.”
“That’s a better approach,” she said.
“How do you expect me to discover what you’ve learned? You came from the other side of the Veil, and I don’t have the ability to do that.”
She arched a brow at me. “Don’t you?”
“Everyone has told me that crossing the Veil requires great power and that it’s dangerous.”
“There you go again, relying on what everyone has told you. Do you not think to challenge those assertions?”
I almost smiled. It was something similar to what I had learned while in medical school. But there, I was encouraged to believe and trust the physicians who came before me, to rely upon the knowledge they imparted, and to use that to make me a better doctor.
Would there be anything like that for me to become a better mage—or whatever I was?
“Are you suggesting that I could cross the Veil?”
“I’m suggesting that the possibility exists that you might find what you’re looking for if you search in places you believe to be beyond you.”
“The Veil isn’t just beyond me. If I crossed the Veil ignorant, what would happen to me?”
“There’s only one way for you to know.”
She turned away from me and this time I didn’t grab for her, having learned my lesson the last time.
“Why are you here?”
“For many reasons, but the easiest to explain is that I’m here for understanding.”
“Understanding of what?”
Smiled at me. “Understanding of many things.”
“And Torn?”
“If he’s here, then it’s for a different reason.”
“What reason is that?” I asked as she neared the shadows between a pair of trees. I feared that if I didn’t get her to provide some answers to me now, I wouldn’t be able to get any from her.
“One that is likely to be deadly.”
She disappeared between the trees, almost as if the shadows swallowed her up. I walked, a part of me thinking that she would return, but she never did.
Eventually I turned back, looking for Aron.
What had I learned?
We had come here for answers, and Solera hadn’t provided anything that would be of use to me, had she? I had learned that the demons weren’t exactly what I believed, but why would they want us to believe anything else about them?
I needed to talk with Gran and Gramps.
Did we have time to do that before trying to get to Ariel?
I didn’t know whether we did or not. It was possible that I didn’t have that time and the longer that we waited, the more that we delayed, the more danger Ariel faced.
I found Aron at the clearing. He watched me, and there was a flash of darkness across his eyes and a question that lingered.
“What did you promise her?” he asked.
“I made no promises. I was trying to find answers.”
“Solera wouldn’t have provided any answers without exchange, and I could tell from the brief interactions you two had that she wasn’t in the mood to make such an exchange.”
“She didn’t provide me any information. She wanted me to figure it out on my own.”
“That sounds like her.”
“She implied that I could cross the Veil.”
“It’s possible that you could,” Aron said.
“Possible?”
“We know you have power that is more than simply a reflection of the power on the other side of the Veil.”
“What do you mean by that?”
A spell built from Aron. With it, he created a shimmering energy that swirled around him. It was beautiful, but I suspecte
d it was largely useless, merely a display of power rather than anything more than that. “The magic that we have here, the magic that mages possessed, is nothing more than a reflection of power. We have inherited our gifts, drawing from those with much greater power, but we are limited compared to real power.”
“By real power, you mean the fae.”
“I mean the fae. The fallen gods. The demons.”
“Daemons.”
“Fine. Use her term for it, but just because the fae have named it something else doesn’t take away what they are and what they have done over the years.”
I studied Aron for a moment. The fact of the matter was that I didn’t know what the demons had done over the years. All I knew was what I had been told. Wasn’t that what Solera was asking me to do?
“And what have the demons done over the years?”
“There’s a reason the mage council formed the archers.”
“Do you know what reason that is?”
“Because the council has been attacked by demons over the years. They crossed the Veil, wanting nothing more than to weaken it, and to… I don’t know why you need me to tell you any of this. You saw what nearly happened when the demon king attempted a crossing. You’ve seen how powerful the demons can be. There’s no question how dangerous—and deadly—they are.”
I sighed. “Solera wanted me to discover truths on my own, but I wonder if she was simply playing me.”
“It’s possible that she was, but Solera often has different purposes than what we can understand. If she was playing you, it fits some goal of hers. I don’t know what her endgame would be, but if she refused to provide any information, and then chose to encourage you to question, it would…”
Aron growled.
“What is it?”
“She wants to delay you.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. By having you challenge everything that you’ve been told, she would delay your ability to pursue Ariel.”
I didn’t think that was it. I hadn’t even told her anything about Ariel, so it seemed unlikely that what she told me had anything to do with it. All I told her about was Torn. And maybe telling her about that was enough. It was possible that hearing about Torn told her what I was after, but maybe there was more to it than that.
“I need to see Gran and Gramps,” I said.
“They aren’t in the city.”
“You have some way of reaching them and, knowing my grandparents, they have some way of traveling quickly. Call them.”
I could call them, but if I did, it wouldn’t carry the same urgency as if Aron called. Having one of the archers call and request they come to the cities would carry with it a different meaning than having their grandchild call and ask, regardless of what magical potential I might possess.
“When we get off the island, I will call them.”
“And then we’re going after Ariel. I don’t know what choice we have.”
“You intend to have your grandparents come with us?”
“Only if they want to.” Knowing them, they probably wouldn’t refuse, especially if they thought I might be in danger by going.
9
The car ride back to my condo was quiet. Aron drove like a maniac, as he often did, and we reached my building quickly. It was late in the evening, more time having passed than I realized, and as I climbed out, clutching my sword this time so I had it if it were needed, I realized Aron wasn’t getting out of the driver’s side.
“Aren’t you going to come in?”
“You wanted me to reach your grandparents.”
“I did, but I didn’t realize that meant you had to drive off somewhere. Don’t you have some way of calling them? Or maybe some sort of magical way of reaching them?”
“It’s not quite so simple,” Aron said.
“Fine. Leave me with the shifter again.”
“You’ll be fine with John. He’s devoted to Ariel, which makes him useful.”
“What if he decides to leave before you get back?”
“Then he leaves. You can’t stop him, and I don’t want him shifting in the city. There is enough difficulty for the council these days that we don’t need to deal with stories of shifters changing forms within the city.”
“We?”
“Fine. They.”
I watched Aron for a moment. He served the mage council, but he had never really referred to himself as a part of it before. Either something had changed, or my understanding of his commitment to the council had been wrong.
Could he have shared with them more about me?
That didn’t fit with what I knew about Aron, but my understanding of him was limited.
“Hurry back,” I said. I threw the door closed, probably harder than I needed to, and he sped off, spinning his tires as he streaked off down the road.
I glanced up at my building. It was three stories, each story having several units and filled with people who had become something like family. Because of me, a dangerous target had been placed on this building. Aron might have placed protections upon it, but those protections could only do so much, and I didn’t want to draw attention to the kind people who lived near me.
Maybe it was time for me to find another place.
The only problem was that I didn’t want to find another place. I liked where I lived. It was close to the hospital and it was in walking distance of most places I needed to get, including public transportation. I could take the train pretty much throughout the city, and if I didn’t take the train, bus lines would get me where I wanted to go.
I headed up the stairs, taking them two at a time, and threw my door open just as I realized something felt amiss.
Power surged out from me without meaning to. It flowed through the sword, feeding the blade with a deep, purple coloration. A barrier formed around me. I stepped carefully into the room, closing the door behind me and wishing I had a way of sealing it closed the same way Aron did, but I needed to use my magic to create this barricade.
“John?”
The shifter didn’t answer.
Could he have already left?
The inside of my condo didn’t look damaged, with no signs of anything to suggest that there had been an attack here. I was becoming something of an expert on attacks in my home, and nothing looked out of place. The carpet had the regular lines across it from my Roomba, and I can only imagine what John might have thought watching my robotic vacuum work its way across the carpet, bouncing off furniture.
That was if he were still here. There was the possibility that he had disappeared and had decided to go after Ariel. If he did, there wasn’t anything I would be able to do to stop him. Without his shifting ability, I wondered what he could do.
He might still have access to his shifter magic. That would be valuable, even if he couldn’t change forms.
As I stepped into the kitchen, I froze.
John sat at the table, his shoulder dressing clean and recently changed. His shirt was off, revealing his muscular chest, and he looked almost as if he’d showered recently.
Jen turned away from my fridge and smiled at me. She was dressed in jeans and a comfortable shirt, the kind of clothes that she often wore when she came over for a night in. The barrier faded.
Shit. Had I agreed to a night of relaxation? I didn’t think so, but maybe I had.
“Well. There you are.”
My heart hammered. What was I going to say to her about this? There wasn’t anything I could say that would explain why I had one of our patients in my kitchen. The same patient who would have been broken out of the hospital.
“How about a glass of wine?” she asked, pulling a bottle of Riesling from my fridge.
“I don’t drink wine,” John said.
“I think she was asking me,” I muttered. I made my way around the counter, grabbing glasses off the shelf and setting them on the counter. I stared blankly at them as Jen poured two full glasses. After the day that I’d had, maybe a glass of win
e would do me good, though I didn’t want—and couldn’t afford—my mind to be foggy. I needed my wits about me if we were going to go after Ariel.
“I came by to see if you wanted to have a drink and was a little surprised when your friend met me at the door.”
“Jen—”
She smiled and shook her head. “You keep things from me. I’ve known that for a while, and it’s not like I try to force you to tell me what you’re keeping from me, but this? Kate, you know what they’re saying at the hospital, don’t you?”
I grabbed the glass and took a long sip. It was sweet—I generally preferred a more robust red, but Jen liked her wines sweet—and I grimaced as I swallowed. “What are they saying?”
“That his brother came by. A man who looks an awful lot like your friend. They’re saying that he was with someone else, a dirty-looking woman.” She studied me, looking me from head to toe before shrugging. “I wouldn’t have figured that to be you. You’re usually pretty clean.”
“We’d been up north,” I said. There was no use denying I had been there that night. I didn’t want to lie to Jen, not about this. She might not be plugged into the magical world, but she was my friend, and maybe now was the time to share more about me. It would’ve been nice to have had a choice in it, but seeing as how that didn’t seem to be the case, I would share as much as was possible.
“Up north? Wait… We?”
“Aron and me. He—” I nodded to John—“knows a friend of ours. The fact he came with a note asking for me was a sign she needed my help.”
“And who is he?”
“He is sitting right here,” John said.
“Be quiet,” I said.
John growled and Jen looked over at him, smiling widely. “He’s really quite sweet. I took the time to change his dressing—it’s really good that you have supplies here—and was a little surprised to see how well it already healed.”
I hadn’t even seen how much John’s wound had healed. Considering that he was a shifter who hadn’t shifted, I didn’t expect him to heal, but maybe his connection to magic allowed him to restore himself anyway.
“What’s going on here, Kate?”
I took another drink of wine. “Trust me, Jen, you don’t want to know.”
