“Of course, Your Grace,” Harold answered.
“And that is why you’ve risen so high, my friend. You remember the important parts.” Rendal grinned and walked over to Goland Ire’s large desk. “I like this. It fits me well, wouldn’t you say?”
“It does, Your Grace,” Harold answered dutifully.
“I’m going to have this whole place redone. Goland had it done up in such a drab way. We can really liven it up some. I’m going to do it for the entire castle, actually. I never liked how this ancient thing looked. But I know you didn’t come here to talk about decorating. Tell me, how is Artino doing? Has he gotten all his engineers and such situated?”
“Yes, your Grace. He is still working on it, but things are going as expected.”
“That’s good. That’s what we want.” Rendal leaned back in the chair and kicked his feet up on the desk. “This kingdom…it’s not like Sidnie, is it? Riots outside, and people dying when we came in. That didn’t happen at all in Sidnie, but that’s why this is my home. New Perthians are not easily swayed. They are strong people. This is where I belong. I only need to show them that I’m stronger. Then they will obey.”
Rendal inhaled deeply.
“Place smells like tobacco. Hey!” he shouted to one of the decorators. “Whatever in here smells like smoke needs to be removed. If it’s in the walls, figure out how to get rid of it!”
“Yuh-yes, your Grace!” one of the decorators called back.
“Sorry, Harold. So much on my mind, as you can see. Now, magic usage. I asked you to look at that. What’s your report?”
“It’s non-existent,” Harold responded. “No one in the entire kingdom uses it.”
“You’re sure? This place is completely devoid of magic?”
“I’m not sure of much, your Grace, but I am sure of that. You and the people you brought are the only ones who use it. Lucie has magic, but as you know, she’s locked up.”
“Ah, Lucie,” Rendal mused, thinking about his old lover. “Yes, too bad she chose wrongly. Now she’s feeling the consequences. Let’s not focus on the past, though. There’s too much promise in the future right now. We need to begin teaching the New Perthians the use of magic, but that’s going to be quite an undertaking.”
Rendal sat up, taking his feet off the desk.
“I’ve been considering this for a long time, as you well know, Harold. It’s an endeavor that will need to be controlled. Sidnie was right about using magic, but wrong about how they let every commoner on the street practice it if they had the ability.”
“What do you have in mind, sir?”
Rendal stood and walked to the window behind him. The streets were empty. Harold’s guards having swept them clean, breaking noses until they got the point that rioting or protesting would only cause them pain.
“We’re going to institute a class system,” Rendal explained. “Those who use magic, and those who don’t, and do you know who will be at the top of that class?”
“I have an idea, Your Grace.”
Rendal grinned, his back to his second-in-command. “I’m sure you do, Harold. I’m sure you do.” He clapped his hands and turned around. “Okay! I’d like to see Mason. Bring him to me.”
“Any use for Goland?” Harold asked.
“No, let the old man begin rotting. I may bring him out later, but for now, I’m fine leaving him there.”
“Yes, your Grace.”
Harold left the room, and Rendal turned back to the decorators. He was keeping his mind busy, that was for sure. There was much to do, both inside and outside the castle.
When he first had imagined taking New Perth, this had been it. Becoming Prefect. Nothing else.
And yet, Riley Trident nagged at him. If she wasn’t dead, she would come for him again.
Would she bend, and if not, would she be too powerful?
“How do you like your new home?” the dark mage asked.
“Well, truth be told, Rendal,” Mason said, “It’s about the same as the rest of my homes have been lately, so if you want me to grovel, you can kiss my ass.”
Mason felt sick to his stomach, looking at the sight in front of him. Harold had personally come and got him from the prison and brought him up here to his father’s old chambers.
The bastard had movers taking furniture out while Mason stood and watched it go. His father’s furniture.
“You like what I’m doing with the place?” Rendal grinned.
Mason forced a smile. “I’m going to like it more when your head is on a spike outside the kingdom’s gates.”
“Oh, Mason,” Rendal mocked. “We’ve been through so much. Why must you talk to me like that?”
“Why am I here?”
The dark mage’s grin faded, and he stepped around Goland’s desk.
“Where is she?”
“Who?” Mason asked, his eyes wide as he played dumb.
“Careful, boy. I don’t have time for your fucking games right now.”
“Sorry, I’m just a bit confused. Who are you talking about?”
Mason couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Rendal angry, but now his eyes flashed red in an instant. His voice was nearly a growl.
“What did you do with her, Mason? Tell me, or you’re going to regret it.”
Mason gave a sad smile. “Do you think you can really threaten me to say anything? After everything you’ve put me through, you think I’m just going to give up Riley now?”
Rendal’s hand moved upward, his fingers wrapping around an invisible throat.
Ten feet away, Mason could no longer breathe, his airflow suddenly restricted.
“I think you’re going to do whatever I tell you,” the mage whispered. “Or I think you’re going to die.”
Mason’s face was turning red, and his lungs were aching for air. He struggled to open his mouth, managing to say, “Go fuck yourself, Rendal.”
The mage’s hand dropped to his side, and Mason felt air flood back into his throat.
He collapsed to his knees and started coughing
“Maybe I won’t hurt you, then. Maybe I’ll hurt your father.”
Mason shook his head. “He won’t tell you anything. He’s not like you, Rendal. He has a backbone. He has integrity.”
“Oh, integrity-insmegrity,” Rendal mocked. “He might not talk, but maybe you will if you’re watching him suffocate.”
Mason slowly pulled himself to his feet. “No one in this place will help you find her. We’ll die first.”
“Yes,” Rendal said, the anger fading from him. “You very well may.” He leaned on the desk. “The thing is, I’ve already won. I have the kingdom. I have the military. I have the mages. New Perth was taken without a single battle—”
“Then why in the hell are you so concerned about Riley?” Mason managed a “fuck-you” grin despite the pain in his throat.
“You know she’s dying, right?” Rendal flashed a grin right back at him. “That was what I did to her. I corrupted her insides since she won’t listen to reason.”
“Since she wouldn’t corrupt herself, you mean.”
“To-may-toe, to-mah-toe. She’s going to die, if she hasn’t already. That’s what I’m thinking might have happened here. She might already be dead, and you just don’t want to tell me. You think the threat of Riley might be enough to stop me or at least hold me at bay.”
“Tell me, do I appear sad? Do I appear heartbroken? She’s not dead, you prick, and I don’t know where she is. You can probably use some kind of magic to dissect my brain, but you won’t find that piece of information. I won’t tell you because I can’t. She’s going to come again, since you just can’t seem to stop her, can you, Rendal?”
The mage sighed and walked behind the desk, facing the window as Mason’s father had done so many times.
You’re not half the man my father is, Mason thought.
When Rendal spoke, his voice was just above a whisper. “You’re going to make me do things I don’t want
to, Mason. You’re going to make me hurt a lot of people. My own people. New Perth’s people. That’s too bad.”
Mason looked down at his feet for a second. “She’s not dead, Rendal, and she’s still coming. Do what you want here, but you’ll pay for it when Riley arrives. Do everything you want, but just remember: that fucking bill will come due.”
“I should never have listened to any of you.” Brighten shook his head. “I didn’t have the best life in Sidnie, but it beat the hell out of being locked up in a foreign kingdom.”
“Oh, you’re such a fucking wuss,” Kris shot back. “Think of it as an adventure.”
Brighten chuckled without amusement. This wasn’t an adventure, it was a nightmare. They’d traveled across the desert at a breakneck speed, arrived at New Perth, and promptly watched the mage and a vast army show up just behind them.
And what had come after that?
Well, all Brighten had to do was look around. Metal bars for days and days. Stone floors and no beds.
“Plus,” Kris said, “it could be worse. At least you have a roof over your head.”
Brighten groaned, laying down on the cold ground.
“You two cut it out,” Erin said. She and Lucie were in here with them. Lucie and Brighten had those damned necklaces on, the ones that kept them from being able to use any of their magic.
“How do you always sound so positive?” Brighten asked. “We are locked in an evil mage’s dungeon with no hope of rescue or escape, yet you sound as if we just won a prize or something.”
“The power of positive thinking, young whipper-snapper. The more positively you think, the better things will be.”
“How’s it working out for you so far?” Brighten asked.
“Better for me than you, because I’m thinking about how to get us the hell out of here rather than rolling around on the floor like a slug, moaning about my woes.”
The cell fell quiet. No one had mentioned escape. Brighten had hardly thought the word.
He rolled over on his stomach and stared out past the bars. The four of them had been placed in an offshoot of the rest of the prison. They were in solitary confinement, a very small room with this cage stuck in the middle.
No guards were in the room right now. Indeed, they hardly came. They delivered food and allowed the group to use the bathroom, and that was it.
“What are you talking about?” Kris said.
Lucie stood up slowly from her place on the other side of the cage. She’d been mostly quiet for the past few hours.
Erin leaned against the bars and looked at the other three. “I’m not going to sit in here and wait for my execution, if that’s what’s coming. I’m going to try to get out of here. You three can sit here and do nothing if you want, although I’d advise against it. You all should be just as ready to leave as I am.”
“How are you going to do that?” Brighten asked. He was beginning to think Erin had lost her mind. He liked the woman. She helped him a lot, both with courage and believing in him. But there simply wasn’t any way out of here.
“That’s for me to know and you to find out, whipper-snapper. I just need to know that when the time is right, you’ll be ready to move. That you’re not going to be paralyzed by fear.”
Brighten rolled back over on his back again and closed his eyes, letting out a groan. “I don’t want to do this anymore.”
“Oh, hush it,” Kris snapped. “Of course he’ll be ready. He’s just more scared than a whore with a herpes outbreak, unsure of how she’s going to make money for the next two weeks. What’s your plan?”
Lucie and Kris laughed. Brighten kept his eyes closed, doing his best to keep from cracking a smile.
“Just leave that up to me. All I need from you three is to do exactly what I say when I say it. Lucie, you’ll be able to lead us out of this maze?”
Lucie nodded. “Yeah, I think I can. If you can get us out of here, we need to find a way to get this damn necklace off.”
“Okay, but first things first. We have to get out.”
“Agreed,” Lucie told her.
“I’m in,” Kris commented.
Brighten could feel everyone looking at him, waiting on his commitment. “You all are going to get me killed. I’m surprised you haven’t yet.”
“We all are giving you stories to tell your grandkids,” Erin said.
“If he ever finds a girl who will let him knock her up, that is,” Kris chimed in.
Erin chuckled. Brighten just shook his head.
“Yeah, I’m in. What other choice do I got?”
Chapter Four
Linda stood over Riley, the two of them alone.
This wasn’t something Linda ever foresaw happening. In fact, she’d never seen such a corruption of someone’s body. Rendal must have grown truly powerful over the decades—powerful and insane.
This…
“It’s not right,” Linda whispered. “It’s an abomination.”
The woman’s skin was cool to the touch, and Linda understood that a war was being fought inside her.
Linda didn’t want to be pulled back into this, though. She had made her decision a long time ago, and she’d worked hard to ensure no one made her change it.
I didn’t work hard this time, did I? she mused.
No. Linda had sensed this group coming. She’d seen them arrive, and yet she’d sent none of her usual apparitions or weather turmoil to push them away. Linda had let them walk right into her city, and why?
“Because I knew,” she whispered. “I knew they were different.”
As she observed this young woman, Linda understood that something was different about her. Perhaps that had been what she’d felt. When Linda had been younger, she’d been looked at as different too, her magical potential far outpacing anyone else she knew. Ezekiel had found her, and he’d understood that potential.
Ezekiel had helped groom it and then sent her out of Arcadia to teach others about magic. About how to use it for good.
What would he say now? If what these people are saying about Rendal is true, one of your own magical offspring has gone bad. Did you succeed, or did you fail miserably?
A sad smirk fell over Linda’s face because the answer was obvious. If Ezekiel saw this, he’d whack her with his staff. She’d failed.
Bring this woman back, and maybe that will make up for some of your failures.
Or maybe it won’t, but to let her die is unacceptable. You can do good here, so you must do it.
Linda moved her hands so that they hovered over Riley’s chest. She put one hand on top of the other as her eyes turned red, and the old feeling she’d known for so long—the feeling of power and might—flowed into her. The ability to do nearly anything she wanted.
Pale-blue light flowed out of her hands and onto Riley’s chest.
It began as a single tiny circle, then spread outward. It moved up and down her body, slowly covering every inch of Riley. It reached her legs and continued to her feet, wrapping around her back as well. The blue light illuminated her neck and shoulders, and then her head. It made its way up her arms until the person beneath the light could not be seen.
She was wrapped in a cocoon of pale-blue light.
Linda remained like that, holding her hands over Riley’s chest for long, long minutes, the light continuing to flow.
It passed from Linda to Riley.
“You have grown strong, Rendal.” Linda closed her eyes, focusing on the task before her. Trying to cleanse the corruption and set things right inside of Riley.
Sweat popped out on her brow, and her legs started to tremble.
Stronger than me? she wondered. Can I do this?
Linda gritted her teeth.
The blue light flowed faster, some of it not confined to Riley’s body but shooting into the air.
More, she thought. More.
The room had taken on a blue glow, the magic flowing all around Linda now. Her legs weren’t just trembling now but shaking, and she did
n’t know how much more she could give.
Another minute rolled by. Her heart thudded in her chest so hard that she was able to hear it in her ears.
“No more!” she cried.
Linda fell to the floor, the blue light from her hands dying instantly.
She could see Riley’s hand from where she lay. It hung slightly off the bed and was still wrapped in blue magic, although it was fading. It dissipated from Riley’s index finger, showing the skin beneath.
It continued disappearing until her entire hand could be seen. It didn’t move.
Did I fail? Was I not strong enough? the old woman wondered.
She felt herself about to go under, blackness creeping around the edges of her vision. It had been too much for her old body to handle. Rendal’s magic had been too strong.
Linda’s eyes fluttered, but just before they closed, she saw Riley’s finger twitch.
“We thought you were both frickin’ dead.” William sat in a chair at the head of Riley’s bed. He’d been there for two hours, having not moved. Alexandra sat at the foot, although Riley thought she envied William’s spot.
Worth and Eric sat on the floor near the doorway, and the strange old woman was lying on a separate bed that William had pulled in.
“Came in here wondering what the hell was going on. It’d been hours and hours. Both of you were just laying there, the old witch on the floor and you on the bed.”
“’Old witch,’” Linda murmured. “I may end up having to kill you, boy.”
“Yeah, not right now. You can hardly open your eyes.” William glanced at Riley again. “Anyways, Worth over there started screaming and crying like a woman—”
“Not true,” Worth interjected calmly.
“And Alexandra didn’t know which way was up, but I, of course, handled everything perfectly. Came to you, checked, saw you were still breathing, and then you opened your eyes—praise the Father.”
Alexandra rolled her own eyes. “About ten percent of that is true. He was the first person to see you awake.”
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