“No,” she rose from the fire. “Where are you going? Who are you with?”
“It’s not Robyn.”
“I know, and it is dangerous for you to seek companionship after love’s loss. I am concerned.”
He hung his cloak and coat, carefully holding Maxine’s hair around his finger. “Where do you think I’m going?”
“Sneaking off at night and currently half-dressed gives me reason to think you are seeing a woman, a lover. I can only imagine you have formed some sort of guilty dominant-submissive relationship with an Arconian you feel especially bad about. Or is a Councilwoman or a relative of a Council Member.”
He stood there with wide eyes. “Your imagination needs reigning in.”
“So I am right.”
“Far, far from it.” He stooped to unbuckle his boots.
“Then what is it?”
He straightened and exhaled. “Can you trust me to do what is right for Jaden? For the Mages? I keep secrets to prevent hurting others, and believe me; you don’t want to know this one.”
“But that makes me want to know it all the more! Oh, men are infuriating!”
“Not just men,” he muttered. “Trust me, please.”
She folded her arms and frowned, muttering something in Arconian he didn’t quite catch. “Good night, then.”
Chapter 23
Kinsten Kel had fallen.
Outmanned, Balien had no choice but to pull his men out of the city as soon as the walls were breached. He lost a legion in the process, but a hasty retreat minimized his losses. They pulled back to a natural break in the land, an old quarry with plenty of fortifications and height advantage. Most of the civilians made it out of the walls, and were camped in the surrounding country behind the battle lines.
While Balien was well educated in battle tactics, he lacked experience and wished Calsifer was there to offer his own advice. Part of Calsifer’s army had arrived the morning after the battle, marching twenty more miles than the Shalabane army. Fresh troops arrived, but the entire army could only wait for the Shalabane to come out of the city.
Scouts inside the city said the Shalabane had looted and pillaged, though they did not seem like they would be settling. Balien expected an attack within the next few days, but with only 17,000 men against their 22,000, he knew he was in for a bloody battle. Thankfully, the Commanders knew how to use rock fortifications to their advantage. They already built rock slide traps and assigned bowmen to the highest points.
“How is the arm, Commander-Prince?”
Balien looked up from his maps. The head Commanders from each faction gathered in his tent to discuss their options. “It fairs.” In the battle he had sustained a wound from a Shalabane scimitar, but the Spirit Mages had put it together well enough. Though it still ached. “I want to send riders to Ratlin and Twin Pines and inform them of an impending attack.”
“You do not have much faith in our men.”
“I have nothing but faith in them, but I would rather warn the towns than have their goods sacked and their women taken should we fail.”
“I agree, and we can see if they have men they can spare.”
“What about your friend the Head Mage? Could we ask him to bring a group of Battle Mages?”
Balien shook his head. It was something he had considered for half a moment, but Gabriel had much bigger battles to fight. “It is not an option. We have survived Ages without Jaden’s help, and just because of my relationship with the Head Mage, I will not resort to pulling him away from his people and duties.”
The Commanders went back to discussions of building more permanent fortifications, and Balien slipped back to his thoughts.
“Who were the men in the colored uniforms?” Balien cut in during a pause. “The army wore yellow, so who were in the others?” Men on horseback had sat behind the lines of foot soldiers with broad stripes of various colors across the chests of their yellow uniforms. “Officers? Mages?”
“Officers had red stripes on their chests.”
“Mages,” someone muttered.
“We are going to be at a very high disadvantage if those are Mages.”
“No, we can use this to our advantage,” Balien piqued up. “Mages cannot manipulate oil, light, animals or metal, and unless they control Air, they cannot alter the course of a projectile.”
The men talked over each other. “How many archers do we have?”
“How many arrows?”
“Do we have bows for the rest? All these men are bow-trained.”
“There is a cart of tar. We can pour it off these two monuments and slow their approach.”
“No, I don’t want to lose the horses like that.”
“Reflective surfaces—if the sun sits right.”
“Quench any fires and prevent any water from jostling, and you will have cut their energy in half.”
“What kind of Classes are we looking at? No higher than Six I assume.”
“No higher than Five. If there were Sixes, they would have sidestepped around us.”
Balien leaned back, wishing Gabriel was there to ask better questions. Balien knew more about Mages than most nobles, but even his understanding was limited. He did know if the Shalabane put their Mages up to the line, he would suffer great losses. ‘If one Class Ten Mage could wipe out half a legion, what could one hundred Class Fives do?’
‘Water, bridle, wax cloak, flint….’
Robyn’s head popped up from her notes as a knock on her door sounded. She covered the notations and went back to a request from a nearby city for rights to cut part of a forest she owned.
Aisling rustled in wearing a high-necked pale yellow gown holding a small scroll between her fingers.
“News from the battle?” Robyn asked. She was hopeful for encouraging news.
“Balien had to pull out of Kinsten Kel but is holding not far away. He lost a thousand men.”
Robyn braced her hands on the desk and stared at the parchments. She so desperately wanted to summon Gabriel and beg him to help, but Aisling had been correct. She needed to help the kingdom with the kingdom.
“Any word on our reserves?” Robyn had thousands of men dotted around the countryside. They had been trained with the army and were prepared to pack up and leave at a moment’s notice.
“They started coming in this morning.”
“I want them grouped with the Fourth legion and sent out when their numbers reach 2,000. For the remaining, put them with the Fifteenth and do the same.”
Aisling nodded her approval. “I will see it done.” She turned to go.
“Lady Aisling,” Robyn called. “I am sorry.”
Aisling gave the smallest of smiles, nodded in acceptance, and quietly left.
Gabriel was swathed in a cloak that wrapped and pooled around his shoulders like a raging rapid. He did not think the Council Hall was cold; he wore it to look imposing. Mikelle had draped it accurately as he stood there with his eyes on the ceiling. She gave him several extra pokes, prods, and an unwarranted pinch with a sternly quipped “If you roll your eyes any harder, you will see your brain.”
He stood at the end of the oval table in the Council Hall, his Council assembled with Lael on his right and Mikelle on his left. Lael swore them in to secrecy and motioned to sit.
“I have good news,” Gabriel stated as they all sat. “I have learned much of Void over the past few weeks, and I have discovered a very important pattern. It is called the searchers-pattern, and with it I can locate anyone.”
Mikelle slowly looked up from her writing and fixed him a hard look. She would never have seen half the patterns he learned written anywhere in her notes.
“I require a part of each of you, preferably a single hair, so I can locate you.” He could never wear anything around his neck like Maxine. A wristlet would be most practical but most definitely out of the question, so he had taken resin and manipulated it into a small chain, setting Maxine’s hair in one. He had already collected hair from
Mikelle, Lael, and his parents. Strangely, when looping the pattern through any hair, he instinctively knew who he was searching for without having to remember which chain link held who. For now he looped it around his belt.
“Can you locate Ryker with this?” Adelaide asked.
“Once I get a piece of him.”
“What of Nolen? Surely there must be a piece of him somewhere in his rooms in Kilkiny or Jaden. With it you could locate Ryker.”
Gabriel shook his head. He shifted to Kilkiny early that morning to search the rooms, but they had been gutted of all his possessions and cleansed. Even the bath drain was clean. “I’ve already looked.”
“So we must wait for another attack before we can obtain a part o’ them,” Galloway sighed.
‘Not exactly.’
“What else have you learned?” Penny asked eagerly, her hands laced before her on the table.
“I can form armor, bind people, cut a Mage off from the Elements for a few seconds….” He paused when a few of them straightened.
“I did not know that was possible,” Markus said quietly and regarded him for a moment with a nervous gaze. “That kind of capability is dangerous.”
“How do you think incanted rooms and the Castrofax were made?”
A few of them nodded in realization.
“Some of the patterns will benefit me in battle, but the most helpful are the searchers and the shift. If I have learned nothing but those, it still would have been worth it.”
“Where did you learn all these things?” Adelaide asked.
“Books.”
“Which books?”
“My books,” Gabriel said with authority. “I have reason to believe Ryker has only raised two of his Arch Mages, so let us hope we can locate him before he raises another.”
“How do you know that?” Adelaide challenged.
‘Maxine mentioned it.’ “If he had raised all the Arch Mages, he would have attacked by now. Also, he needs the bones of the deceased to bring them back, and he has not come here looking for them.”
“Do we have them?” Dagan asked.
“We have something he wants,” Gabriel answered.
“What is your next step?” Adelaide asked in a tone Gabriel perceived as accusatory. Everyone knew finding Ryker was their most important task, and he hated the idea that he had access to an Arch Mage’s current location but could not reveal it. He could be charged with treason.
“Actually,” Dagan piqued up, “I have a suggestion.” He took out a rolled map of the kingdoms and marked five colored locations where specters had been reported. “Do you notice anything strange?”
The Council leaned in to investigate. “There are no specters in this area,” Cordis replied quickly, pointing to the area surrounding Castle Jaden. Except for a red dot marking Selene and a green marking Kieran, the north was also vacant. “Though there are not many villages there.”
“There were none in Aidenmar where that fire started, or here in Cinibar where that lake soured. Ryker may have control over them, but once he has set them loose, even I would not want them near my home.”
“That is Jaden territory,” Gabriel whispered. “He could have been here all this time.”
“No one knows where he abided when alive, but there is nothing up there.”
Gabriel snapped his fingers. “There is a Void pattern that shrouds an object from view. It manipulates the eyes, so they see the surrounding area but not a structure. A strong enough Class could shroud a building. He could live anywhere up there, and no one would ever see it.”
Once again Mikelle gave him a suspicious look. He itched to send a searchers-pattern for Maxine to see if she was north. That morning she had been south, as she had the night previous.
“I could shift through the area and feel for kinetic energy,” Gabriel sighed. Those mountains were vast, and it would be incredibly time consuming. Perhaps he could do it while waiting for Maxine to reveal the true location. He would have to shift to her and see if south was correct first.
“What of Shalaban?” Gabriel asked as they returned to their seats.
“They broke through Kinsten Kel and—”Aisling began.
“Was Balien well?” Gabriel cut her off.
“Yes, and they are holding up a few miles west.”
“We still have no motive for why there are here,” Cordis offered.
“Queen Robyn has been very astute directing the armies however,” Aisling added, shooting Gabriel a pertinent look.
“Yes, when is the marriage to happen?” Challis asked.
“Marriage?” Gabriel curled his upper lip at the word.
“Well of course, we all saw you dancing with her—and only her—at her coronation. We know your relationship. It seemed obvious.”
‘Carefully get out of this one.’ “No, no, we were not meant to marry. Forgive me for not saving a dance for you, Your Grace.” Challis tittered and blushed. Lael gave him a pinched look. Mikelle blessedly said nothing.
They lapsed into discussions that disinterested Gabriel, and Lael eventually closed the meeting and dismissed them. Mikelle sidled up before he could escape.
“Where are you finding these patterns all at once?” she whispered.
“I said to trust me.”
“You….” Whatever she was about to say died on her lips. She might have put the pieces together. “I will bring up lunch.”
Coal was sitting on his desk when they arrived, basking in the slanting sun. Gabriel finally learned why Mikelle smirked when she saw the cat. He dressed that morning to find black cat hairs all over his trousers. Closing the door to his dressing room seemed to have no effect, and as far as he knew, there was no Earth pattern to collect cat hair. There was one for dust, why not hair? He sent a request to the librarians to find one.
Gabriel put himself in a window seat and stared out at the landscape. He hated the idea of lying to his Mages, but there was so much Maxine could teach him about Void, Class Tens, and the Arch Mages. How she got into Jaden was still a mystery he refused to ignore.
He signed and laced a hand through his hair, propping an elbow on a windowpane. Maxine had no proof of their relationship, so he could not be discovered, but if anyone saw them together in the few instances she entered Jaden, he could lose the Head Mage Seat. Her kiss had been welcomed and enjoyable, but Robyn was still on his mind. He thumbed her ring.
Mikelle finally arrived with a tray of lunch and uncovered the lids. Coal made it clear he wanted to assist, and Mikelle talked to him quietly as she set things out. Gabriel heard the smacking sound of a cat devouring something, and Mikelle shooed him off the table.
A familiar smell rose from the table, and he craned his neck with a disbelieving look. “Cinnamon? I told them no cinnamon!” He jumped to his feet and threw his hands in the air. “Stars! How hard is this to remember?” Mikelle took several steps back as he strode forward to the offending dish. He picked up a bowl of warm cinnamon apples, and with all the force his arm could muster, threw it against the wall. It exploded in a shower of porcelain, and Mikelle shrieked and covered her head.
He pinched the bridge of his nose, realizing his anger had gotten out of his control. Without another word he marched into his bedchamber and slammed the door. When he finally ventured out, Mikelle and the meal was gone. She did not return for the rest of the day.
Gabriel shifted back to Shalay Le’Inchanna late that night and perched on the edge of a wall to wait for Maxine. She arrived several minutes later.
“Do you sit in Void with a searchers pattern on me until I move?” he asked, his head leaning against the stone. Her dress tonight had a plunging neckline and was made of a light material that swished in a hundred ripples.
“Around this time of night, yes.” Maxine smiled.
“Are you with Ryker?”
The question took her aback. “Why, no.”
“Where is he?”
She looked concerned. “I cannot say, Gabriel.”
“
Then where is Nolen? You’ve mentioned a few times that he talks a lot. I’m assuming he’s with you.”
Her concern faded to amusement. “He abides with Ryker. Why the inquisition? Difficult day?”
“No more difficult than usual.”
“Shall we continue to practice flying?”
He nodded and unbuckled his cloak and coat. “Would you show me how Air Mages fly?”
She looked pleased and began setting patterns in her hand. Slowly her arms spread wide, and she lifted off the ground. Her gown whispered around her as her hair blew about her shoulders. After a little distance, she flattened her feet, lowered her arms, and stood in the air as if standing on a column.
“That’s incredible,” he muttered as he unlaced his shirt, pulling it over his head. “I’ve read of such things, but no one can do that in this Age.”
She swiped her hand flat across her chest and dropped to the ground solidly as the pattern cut from under her. “Air is often overlooked but only because Mages are not strong enough to use it. If it is strong enough to blow ships across the water, be certain it can hold a body in air.” She stepped right up to him and met his expecting eyes. “We are going to try something new tonight. Remain calm.”
Before he could ask why, she wrapped her arms around him, pinning his hands to his sides, and the two of them shot up into the air so quickly it left him dazed.
“What are you doing?”
“Trust me,” she replied, her lips nearly brushing his neck. “To know how to fly, you must learn how to fall.”
“You better not—” he began, but she opened her arms with a grin and let him go.
He swiped for her but fell away too fast. Instinctively he rolled to his stomach as he opened himself to Void, laying the wings-pattern. The wings shot out of his back, and he opened them to break his fall, but the sudden jarring snapped his neck forward and left him stunned. He fell, this time without trying to slow his decent.
Maxine zipped up and grabbed him under the arms, holding him tightly to her chest as his vision cleared, and his senses came back to him. “What happened?” she asked in a tone that said she knew the answer.
Unlocking Void (Book 3) Page 16
