“However,” Alaria said, laughter stopping as abruptly as it began, “I will not trust the secret of arcanism with just anyone. You must prove without question that you are loyal to me. That will involve great sacrifice on your part. You have already done well coming this far. While here, you will serve these non-humans. They believe that we all wish to become vampires and, to that effect, we have promised them that we no longer have our wands.” There were several murmurs of surprise, Alaria ignored them. “You will of course keep your wands with you, but be warned if you should accidentally reveal yourself to even a single non-human, they will not be the only one I kill.”
Everyone glanced around nervously as she maliciously left the rest of the threat unsaid, leaving us to wonder if she would kill just the person responsible… or all of us.
My mouth went dry; I was still hoping that Serana was wrong, that I could somehow let the others know I was here, but after just a few minutes with Alaria – seeing what she was willing to do just for someone asking a simple question – it was clear I couldn't possibly risk it. I doubted I could let her catch me talking with them, even if they didn’t know who I was.
As everyone glanced at each other I realized that it wasn't just nervousness, it was suspicion. I got the sense that they were all ready to take matters into their own hands out of self-preservation to make sure that nobody screwed up and made the non-humans suspicious. Alaria did have eyes everywhere, even if they didn't realize they were acting for her.
“Congratulations,” Alaria said suddenly. The word seemed out of place coming from her lips. “You are all now officially initiates. In six months, if you have proven yourselves, you will join me and become my disciples and take another step toward your glorious future as arcanists, by my side.” She looked reluctant and returned to her chair, drumming her fingers absently on the armrest. “Are there any questions? Be warned, this is the only time I will ask that.”
There were a few mumbles and some shuffling as people shifted their weight.
After a moment, Lucy cleared her throat. “How exactly will we serve these non-humans?” I could hear the scorn in her voice.
“You will bring them food and drink. You will clean their rooms. Above all else, you will make them utterly convinced that you want to become vampires. Is that clear?”
We all nodded.
Jim raised his hand like a student.
“Yes?” Alaria said impatiently.
“I'm… I’m not sure what the non-humans are all doing here?” he said softly.
“Ah, that. You see, this is our farm,” Alaria purred. “These non-humans will be used as our sacrifices. Both for the occasional use of blood magic and, when the time comes, to gain your first powers as arcanists.” She paused thoughtfully. “It may be distasteful to you to cater to their needs… but imagine that one day you will be able to slit their throats.”
Everyone laughed at the thought while my stomach twisted in disgust.
“One more thing; my name here is Adaira. If you refer to me as Alaria in front of anyone...” A ball of fire flared up in one of her hands and she clenched her fist around it, before fixing us with a sickly sweet smile. “You two, will come with me and Malcolm.” She pointed to Sarah and Jim, then nodded to the wizard with Kayla. “The rest of you, Kayla will show you to your rooms. Leave me.”
As Lucy and I followed Kayla, I realized that the two people Alaria wanted with her were the ones with familiars. I swallowed hard and walked with the others, forcing myself not to look back. I knew that I wouldn’t see the familiars again.
Undaunted, Kayla led us away through several more hallways and down more than a few stairways, until we reached a long, dark corridor. Kayla pulled out her wand and cast a night vision spell on herself, so Lucy and I did the same. Kayla kept walking swiftly, not seeming to care if we were keeping up.
She dropped us off in our rooms. They were sparse and empty, with small uncomfortable looking beds. My bed had a pile of folded brown fabric on it and I knew before even picking it up that they were the dresses Alaria and the other witches had been wearing.
We were instructed to meet Kayla at the bottom of the staircase in fifteen minutes. I freshened up in my tiny bathroom, changed, and spent the rest of the time pacing and trying to psych myself up for what I was going to have to do. This was going to be my life until I could get close enough to Alaria. Seeing her cruelty again, up close and personal, reminded me just how important it was that I take my time. I couldn't get impatient and risk ruining everything.
All too soon, I met back with Kayla and Lucy. A few minutes later, Malcolm returned, just as I suspected, with the other two initiates and no familiars. They were both pale and sick looking. Malcolm took them down to their rooms; Lucy frowned curiously after them, but Kayla started off and we had to follow her.
She took the two of us on a tour of the castle. At times it felt more like some sort of weird resort or even a university. Kayla reminded us that we would not be partaking of the “amenities”, which were for the non-humans.
“What are they doing here?” Lucy asked her as we walked through what looked like a sports bar. “If they don’t know about us…”
I listened grimly as Kayla explained the dreadful truth about the castle. That Victor thought he was in charge of everything and had aspirations of creating an army. “There's a fight tonight,” Kayla said as she finished.
“A fight?” asked Lucy.
“Yes,” said Kayla. “Once a week the non-humans host a fight. They believe it is to help them determine their ranks, should they ever have the opportunity to actually take steps to achieve Victor’s vision.” She laughed darkly. “Of course, this actually allows Mistress Alaria – that is, Adaira – to figure out who the best sacrifices are.” She stopped in front of a small doorway. “You will not serve tonight, but you will watch.” She fixed us with a stern look. “Remember your places.”
She opened the door and we followed her up a long, narrow staircase. It opened into what I could only describe as an arena. There were people sitting all around it, eating and drinking. I spotted several blood casters, in the same brown outfits, serving food and drinks.
I realized with a start that if all the non-humans were here…
“Is this all of them?” I asked.
“Yes,” said Kayla. “Attendance is mandatory. There will be three randomly chosen fights.”
I swallowed nervously and scanned the crowd, trying to look like I was just checking things out and not searching for familiar faces. The arena was well-lit, but the seats were dark; my night vision spell with my new wand wasn’t strong enough for me to clearly see any faces.
Suddenly, the arena fell silent. I looked to see that a man had come to the railing on the other side and raised his arms for silence.
“Good evening,” he called.
“That is Victor,” Kayla said softly. “He and Lord Reave are the ones in charge here,” she added with an amused smile. I knew she was saying it for the benefit of any nearby non-humans who might be listening.
Another man and a fire elemental woman joined him, I wondered if they were the same two from the parking lot at Cavaliers, they looked similar.
“For our first fight of the evening,” Victor announced. “Let's have… Flint and…. Tierra!”
I watched as two people from different places in the audience stood and began to make their way down toward the railings. They jumped over them and walked into the middle; they looked like stone elementals.
“Begin,” called Victor.
My mouth went dry as I watched the two people obediently walk toward the large racks filled with weapons on either side of the arena. This was insane. Surely Thomas and the others weren't forced to do this!
I looked around the audience again, uncertain if I actually wanted to spot my missing friends or not.
I heard a bang from the arena and looked down to see that the two people were swinging huge clubs at each other. We all watched, wide eyed; it
was a violent, brutal fight. With each passing minute I started to wonder if I had made a terrible mistake by coming here.
“Whoa,” breathed a voice.
Malcolm and the others had joined us. They still looked a little rough after losing their familiars, but were both staring at the fight in a mix of fascination and alarm. I half-listened as Malcolm quietly explained the fights to them, at least the parts the non-humans could overhear.
The fight ended abruptly when one of the elementals successfully knocked the other down, clubbing her in the head with a sickening crunch that split through the roar of the crowd. The cheering became a chant and I realized they were chanting the name of the winner; Flint looked quite pleased with himself.
A door on one side of the arena opened and several blood casters came out. They dragged the loser back through the doors, as Flint casually followed.
“There's a recovery room,” said Kayla. “It has healing potions and other things that non-humans need after being injured in the fights. Some of you may find yourselves having to take care of them.”
“We have to take care of them?” asked Jim in dismay.
Kayla leveled a glare at him and he fell silent and swallowed nervously. “It is an honor to care for our non-human friends,” she said tightly, glaring daggers at him. “After all, it is our wish to join them one day, is it not?”
“Yes,” he said, clearing his throat. “Of course.”
Victor called for the next fight. I couldn’t tell what the two fighters were; they didn’t look like elementals or weres. Once the fight began, however, they began to move so quickly I could hardly keep up: vampires.
The fight was a blur. The crowd clearly had favorites as they chanted the names and cheered and booed. There was a disturbing excitement in the air as they fought; it felt like it would be easy to get caught up in the thrill.
“Do they ever… kill each other?” asked Sarah.
“Sometimes,” said Malcolm with a dark smile. “Regardless, the fight continues until one can no longer fight.”
I shuddered. Even as he spoke, one of the vampires tackled the other and drove a stake into his chest! I gasped along with the others.
“Enough,” Victor called, sounding almost bored.
Once again, the fighters were helped from the arena to the recovery room.
I sighed and hunched miserably into my seat. This was awful. Were we expected to do this every night? I could see the blood casters still wandering around with food and drinks like this was some sort of sick sports game.
“For our final fight,” Victor announced, “Delta and… Cane!”
I watched as an air elemental jogged down a set of stairs and vaulted over the edge, floating down to the dirt below. Movement caught my eye and I noticed the air elemental’s opponent going down another flight of stairs. He swung over the railing and my throat tightened at the sight of a water elemental. God, he looked so much like Dani. My breath hitched as I got a clear look at his face and I almost gasped out loud. It was Dani. I had almost forgotten the fake name we had come up with for him, back when we thought he’d only be using it for a few short hours while at Cavaliers.
I blew out a long breath, trying to calm down. My eyes prickled with tears as I watched him, emotions washing over me. I squinted into the darkness to where he had come from. I could see a bunch of empty seats, stretching up above the arena and there, one person, sitting alone, several rows away from anyone else. It was too dark to see him clearly but somehow I knew, I just knew, it was Thomas. I stifled a sob and took another deep breath.
But wait, why weren’t Charlie and TS with them?! I scanned the audience, looking for anyone who could be them, when the sound of cheering brought my attention back to the fight, reminding me that even though Dani was alive now that could change at literally any moment.
Even though I wanted to turn away, I couldn’t tear my eyes from the fight once it started. My nails dug into my palms as I clenched my fists, forcing myself to sit still and appear calm. Act like I cared as little about the outcome of this fight as I had about the others.
Meanwhile, I watched as Dani barely kept up with the speed of the air elemental. I wasn’t surprised that he was managing to hold his own, but knew just how easily a fight could turn.
“Come,” Kayla said suddenly. “We have seen enough.”
“But—” I frantically bit my tongue before I even finished the word.
“There will be plenty of fights to see,” she promised, thankfully completely misunderstanding my reluctance.
I followed, casting one last glance over my shoulder at the arena. How could I possibly do this?
Kayla led us down a couple of narrow staircases and we found ourselves in a large, low-ceilinged room with several beds and hanging curtains. The room reeked of potions and blood. I spotted the vampires from the previous fight. One was sitting in a chair, sipping blood from a glass. The other was sprawled on one of the beds, feeding from the wrist of a wizard sitting next to him.
“They feed from us?!” Lucy cried.
“Of course they do,” Kayla snapped, shooting her a furious glare. “And it is an honor to give them our blood. Let us hope that one day they are generous enough to gift us with theirs and turn us,” she continued through clenched teeth.
“Yes,” Lucy said meekly. “Let us hope…”
“This is the recovery room,” Kayla continued, briskly moving on. She led us around a little, explaining how we might be expected to pitch in for some of the more severe injuries. If I didn’t know any better, I honestly would have believed that she had the best interests of the non-humans at heart.
As Kayla gave us the tour, both vampires got up and left. The wizard who had been fed from nodded to Kayla and left too. Malcolm took his place and began to tidy up the beds and remove the bloody sheets.
“Without magic,” muttered Jim.
“Silence,” Malcolm snapped. “This is our sacrifice.”
“Right…”
The door opened and a couple of people came in. The air elemental who had been fighting Dani was leaning heavily against two witches as they practically dragged him in. That meant… my heart stopped as Dani followed them into the room. For a moment, I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. I noticed, with a twist in my gut, that the air elemental had hurt him; there were several blood-stained rips in his clothes and I was pretty sure he was hiding a limp.
I forced myself to turn away, trying to act interested in the potions Kayla was showing us. If only I could signal him, risk it… was this what I was doomed to endure until I could get to Alaria? Being so, so close to my friends without any way to tell them I was here? Even to just warn them what was happening?
I hadn’t noticed there was a large tub until Dani swung a leg over and dropped in with a splash.
“Can I take your clothes?” asked a wizard.
“No worries, mate,” Dani said casually. “Don’t bother.” I nearly made a face at the unexpected accent.
The almost happy memory of him suggesting stupid accents for his character to annoy Thomas with came back. I guess he had decided on using one after all and now – my stomach churned at the thought of it – he was stuck with it.
Dani stretched and dropped his head back against the edge of the tub and actually closed his eyes, as if this had become routine. Delta, I reminded myself, his name was Delta here.
“Wow,” Sarah said softly to me. “Get a look at him.”
I could have laughed at the absurdly normal observation. I was used to people being wowed by Dani, but not like this. I noticed that Kayla frowned at the comment.
“He’s a water elemental,” I said as scornfully as I could manage. I was rewarded by an upward twitch of Kayla’s lips. She turned back to the potions.
I started to look back to Dani and to my surprise he was looking at us, eyes narrowed almost suspiciously. I quickly turned my attention to Kayla. Was it me?! Had he recognized my voice?! No; Serana said that potion would change my app
earance, my scent, and my voice. There was no way he could possibly recognize me.
After a few moments I risked a quick glance in his direction. Once again, he was settled back with his eyes closed. I wondered what had caught his attention.
“Come,” said Kayla.
This time, I knew I couldn’t look back. I had to be more careful. Holding in a sigh of despair, I forced myself to follow her away. This was going to be so much harder than I imagined…
Chapter Two
Charlie
Danio was right about time in the castle blurring together; after a few days of feeling out of place, everything suddenly felt strangely normal, even though keeping track of the individual days grew harder. Danio and Thomas returned to their routine but TS and I didn’t join them for a few weeks – agonizingly slow weeks, in my opinion – out of fear that it would be suspicious if we spent too much time together so soon after arriving at the castle.
TS and I were forewarned about having to fight after our first week, but nothing truly could have prepared us for actually being called into the arena and forced into a potential fight to the death. Fortunately, we both came out relatively unscathed, but quickly learned that the only thing worse than knowing you were going to be chosen for the upcoming fight was not knowing.
We spent the next couple of weeks trying to blend in and doing our best to ignore Joe and Delta, despite the fact that after six months TS and I wanted nothing more than to stay as close to them as possible.
I honestly couldn't say who had it worse. Werewolves tended to need physical contact and I knew that TS was going crazy that he couldn't so much as sit anywhere close to Thomas for the first couple of weeks. Instead, he comforted himself by subconsciously sitting just a little too close to me, not that I minded. I knew that after six months his instincts were also screaming for him to spend time with Danio too; after all he was a packmate and they had been close friends and roommates for years. Soul-packmate bonds aside, I knew that Danio was at the top of the list of people that TS cared for deeply.
Rise of the Arcanist Series: Books 1 - 6 Page 64
