by Eric Vall
“He could be in a coma,” Layla suggested.
“Or dead,” Varleth added with a shrug. “I hate to say it, but I don’t think we should jump at shadows based just off this old prophecy. Let’s ignore the Beastmaker and pay attention to the problems we can see. We need to imprison Phi and get Sera out of Gryff’s head, and that’s that.”
Arwyn smiled. “I’m glad you’re such a go-getter, but the final decision on how we act will be up to Sleet. I’m giving him this report tonight, and of course I’ll tell him you all are back as well. I’m sure he’ll call a meeting first thing tomorrow.”
“How’s the Headmaster doing?” I asked curiously.
Arwyn sighed. “Just a little better, which means he’s healing slowly. It’s because he won’t stop trying to handle all of his duties to rest, so I’m afraid it will be a while before he’s entirely back to normal.”
“He’s a stubborn old man, is what you mean,” Varleth joked goodnaturedly.
“That he is,” Arwyn agreed with a laugh. “Now, you guys still look like you haven’t been treated by Meridan, so I assume she’ll be breaking the door down any moment. Am I right?”
“Meridan’s too nice to break down any doors,” I disagreed. “But she’ll definitely be looking for us soon, so we’ll go.”
We met Meridan in the hallway on the way back to her, and she showered us with praise for our prudence in getting treated. None of us mentioned that it was Arwyn’s idea, so we basked in the motherly glow of Meridan’s care for the next hour until we were released.
After that, Layla and I tracked down Braden and Nia in the library for some long-awaited catching up, since we’d been gone for a week on their side of things.
Our friends were overjoyed to see us back, and we made sure to tell them everybody made it, even Gawain.
Nia gave us all graceful, reserved hugs full of emotional restraint that were worthy of any noble’s tea party. When she got to me, I made sure to reel her in for a real bone-crushing snuggle, and it made us both dissolve into laughter.
“Sorry,” Nia apologized as she wiped the tears from her face, “I’m just so used to political functions these days. Everything has to be so polite and withdrawn.”
“As a Wilds boy, Gryff is the perfect antidote to politeness,” Layla quipped teasingly.
I laughed and elbowed the petite summoner in the side lightly for the jibe.
“It’s true,” I confirmed solemnly as I sobered up. “In the Wilds, we eat manners for breakfast and piss rudeness. We’re actually the major producers of swearing and mockery.”
“What a boorish, vile place,” Nia agreed with a huge smile and no real heat in her voice.
“It’s pretty great,” I returned with a wink.
“It’s good to see you, man,” Braden greeted as he closed his book and set it down. “How about I get one of those Wilds hugs?”
I grinned and held out my arms as my enormous friend enveloped me in a bone-crushing hug that squeezed the breath from my lungs. I laughed and tapped his back until he let go of me.
“Not fair,” I wheezed out dramatically as I held my chest.
“Sorry,” Braden apologized, but his smile didn’t shrink an inch. “I just couldn’t resist.”
The four of us hung out together for the next few hours, and Layla and I gave them the full story of what happened on our mission. Braden would be out of the loop for Sleet’s meeting, since he was mostly uninvolved with missions at this point.
In turn, Nia and Braden updated us on everything that had been going on at the Academy while we were gone. General Kenefick had been voted up to Grand Mage with a whopping eighty-one percent win, though Nia wished voter turnout had been higher.
“You kidding?” I asked in surprise. “We’ve never had to vote for a mutiny or an uprising or anything like that before. I’m just impressed people knew what the right decision was.”
She sighed and smiled, but I could tell she didn’t quite agree with me. It was just like Nia to be unsatisfied until she’d gotten everything absolutely perfect.
At dinner, the whole team joined in to eat together except for Almasy, who was away on another mission, and Gawain, who was still resting and recovering in the clinic.
Arwyn dragged herself from the labs to join us for a quick dinner. She’d checked in with the clinic before she left, so she had more information from Meridan on the fire mage’s condition. Apparently, Gawain was pretty badly malnourished from his time under Phi’s control, so he would be doing a lot of sleeping and relaxing as his body tried to make up for lost calories.
“Do you think he’ll be at the meeting tomorrow morning?” I asked the flame-haired professor.
“I’m not sure,” Arwyn admitted, “but I think Sleet will want to hear his side of the story. I’m sure Kenefick will also want some reassurance from Gawain himself that he won’t betray us again.”
“He won’t,” I said firmly.
“I believe you,” Arwyn said with a smile. “I’m sure Gawain himself will be just as convincing.”
“He looks so pitiful,” Layla added with a snicker, “Kenefick and Sleet are sure to be nice to him.”
We had a good chuckle about that one, and everybody dug into their meal with hunger. It was some kind of spicy rice bowl with sauce and eggs today, which Cyra informed us was a western dish called Lak’nshela. Braden fell in love with it and had at least five servings while Layla tried to match him unsuccessfully.
It was a great end to a hard mission, and I went to bed just as happy as I was exhausted.
When my head hit the pillow, I’d totally forgotten about my promise to Sera, and I fell asleep within minutes.
The Archon didn’t let me forget, though.
Well, well, Sera purred, and her voice cut through the gray, indistinct landscape of my dream.
“Sera?” I asked out loud with a frown.
My voice sounded strange as it echoed through the fog that surrounded me, and I twisted around to try to spot the Archon.
Did you forget your promise to me? she asked slowly as seduction dripped from her voice. It’s just one little kiss. Nothing we haven’t done already.
She stepped out of the fog, and I gulped at the sight of her. She looked the same as she always did, but the thin strips of black cloth that once curved around her sides were absent this time. Her breasts bounced at the lack of support, and her hair swished over her chest with a tantalizing, swaying movement. At any moment, it seemed like she could be completely exposed.
“Just a kiss,” I repeated in a thick, strained voice.
“I know you’re looking forward to it as much as I am,” she teased in a voice that came out real and solid.
“You’re the one who demanded this,” I reminded her, but I didn’t deny how much I was going to enjoy the kiss.
“Perhaps I’ll start, this time,” Sera considered in a devious murmur.
Before I could respond, she flashed toward me with nearly-unreadable movement, and the speed of it startled me.
Sera’s lips met mine with a hunger that threatened to devour me, but I matched it with an eagerness for dominance I didn’t know I had in me. I wanted all of her, and I wanted it now, and damn the consequences.
Her lips were smooth and red, and her skin was unexpectedly soft. She looked as firm and unyielding as alabaster, but the Archon molded as easily as clay against my body. She moaned as I scraped a hand down her back and buried my fingers in the small feathers at the bases of her wings.
Her hand reached around to clutch at the back of my head as we fought for superiority through our kiss. Her tongue rasped through my mouth like a lion tasting its next meal, and I bit her lip hard enough to draw blood. The salt and metal taste of it bloomed through my mouth like a warning, but I ignored it.
She was the sun once again, and she was as radiant as she was deadly. I gasped for air as I began to run out, but her kiss was an attack I couldn’t pull myself away from. I wanted it too much to give it up, and I fe
lt willing to drown just to have more.
A distant voice called my name, and my focus snapped back to the reality of what I was doing.
“What’s that?” I panted breathlessly as I let my hand run down Sera’s lower back.
The distant voice called again, and I tilted my head in confusion.
“Hmm, pity,” Sera said, but she didn’t look disappointed in the slightest. “Sounds like it’s time for your meeting with Sleet.”
“Shit,” I swore as reality came crashing in around me.
Sera laughed musically and stroked a line down from my lips to my chin.
“Don’t worry,” she promised, “there’s more where that came from.”
“Wait,” I asked, but it was no use.
The dream shattered around me, and I woke up without a second’s pause.
“Gryff,” Arwyn called through the door. “Wake up, your team has an official report to make.”
“Coming,” I answered with a voice that crackled with sleep.
It felt awful to be interrupted in the middle of my dream, but it was probably for the best. I didn’t know if I would’ve taken things further if I’d been left to my own devices. It seemed like a really bad idea for me to give Sera even an inch, since I knew she’d take a mile.
I followed Arwyn to the secret meeting report room yet again, where General Kenefick, Nia, and all six of my mission teammates joined us. Kenefick looked tired, but he didn’t seem as despairing as he was the last time I saw him at one of these meetings. I leaned back in my chair and expected for us to start soon, but we’d have to wait for Sleet first.
Goredrin walked in after a few minutes and sat quietly at one of the unoccupied chairs with an uncharacteristic silence. It was my understanding that Sleet had taken over most of the Headmaster duties again, so Goredrin didn’t have much of a role in running the Academy anymore. I could tell with one look at the man’s face he had only one concern in his head, and that was his son.
Finally, Sleet came through the door, followed by Meridan and Gawain. I strongly suspected there had been an argument about whether Gawain should be allowed to attend the meeting despite his poor health.
Meridan followed the fire mage with a stern look on her face and a glass of water in her left hand. It seemed just like Meridan to insist on keeping the fire mage healthy by coming to the meeting personally. She would fight tooth and nail for any of her patients, and she didn’t care about politics or protocol getting in the way.
“Gawain,” Goredrin choked out as his eyes landed on his son.
Gawain smiled hesitantly back at his father, but the fire mage’s uncertainty quickly turned to surprise as Goredrin got up to rush over to him. The big man gave his son a heartfelt hug, and tears formed in both of their eyes.
“I’m glad to be back,” Gawain said quietly as he returned the embrace.
“I’m so sorry for doubting you,” Goredrin struggled to say. “I’m so sorry, my boy. I’ll believe in you from now on.”
“Don’t apologize,” Gawain replied with renewed firmness. “Phi might have taken over my body, but I made more mistakes than I can count. I still share in the guilt.”
They exchanged a few quiet words, and I looked away as the exchange became too personal for me to watch.
Headmaster Sleet eased down into his seat and rested his wrinkled hands on top of his staff. The two Madox men took the hint and dried their eyes surreptitiously as they took their own chairs at the table.
“Ah, we’re all here,” Sleet began as his cloudy eyes roamed over the meeting room. “I’d like to personally thank Gryff, Orenn, Varleth, Layla, Erin, and Cyra for your incredible work. You retrieved the final ciphers, saved Gawain’s life, and went up against a threat more powerful than we could have expected. I must apologize for putting you all in harm’s way.”
“I think I speak for all of us when I say we were happy to do it,” I replied with pride as I looked around the room. “We were doing important work for all of Mistral, and retrieving the ciphers was the biggest weight on our minds for over a week. The fact we got to rescue our friend as well was the perfect reason for us to go.”
My friends nodded in vigorous agreement with smiles on their faces.
Sleet smiled. “I’m very glad to hear that. Now, let us have the full story, from beginning to finish.”
Just like before, we took turns narrating the journey. Sleet seemed particularly concerned by the near-opening of the permanent rift, as did Arwyn.
“Phi should not have been able to do that,” the red-haired professor said adamantly as a worried wrinkle creased her forehead. “The ciphers were clear that very difficult conditions would have to be met.”
“We’re sure?” Cyra asked as she gestured over to me. “Even if the ciphers don’t bring it up, it’s possible they missed this type of situation. After all, how often can this kind of thing happen? Phi invaded a human’s head while he was already carrying a second Archon. It’s kind of a ridiculous circumstance, actually.”
“Besides that, Phi has been around for what, thousands of years? Maybe she’s stronger than she was when the ciphers were written,” Layla added with a convinced nod of her head.
Arwyn glanced at Sleet uncertainly.
“I suppose,” the red-haired professor allowed, but her tone was still worried.
“I suggest you students don’t worry about this new question,” Sleet interjected with a firm voice. “We will research it more, but I urge you to make no assumptions until we know for sure what happened.”
I was dissatisfied with that answer, but Sleet was correct about the situation. Debating possibilities might satisfy the itch of curiosity, but it wouldn’t bring us any closer to actually knowing what happened.
We finished off our story, which left the final mystery of our mission. I asked everyone in the meeting room if they had any idea who Jace could be, but nobody seemed to have a good answer.
“Maybe she’s the Beastmaker,” Layla said conspiratorially. “She’s just sitting on the sidelines and waiting to make her move.”
“She might be another Archon,” Erin objected. “She can make portals, plus she looks evil. We still have seven Archons unaccounted for, so I wouldn’t put it past her.”
“Maybe she has an Archon in her head, just like Gryff,” Orenn threw out as another idea. “She seemed pretty human to me.”
Sleet calmed us with a gentle wave of his hands, and we obediently settled down.
“It’s a good idea for us to figure out who this Jace is and what she wants,” Sleet decided. “Arwyn, pick the best member of the research team who you think will be good for this task. We may find nothing, but it may be that Jace is an important player in this war.”
General Kenefick shifted in his seat to look in Gawain’s direction, and the rest of us followed suit.
“Gawain,” Kenefick addressed the fire mage. “I’m afraid you have important information about Phi that the rest of us weren’t privy to. If you can tell us everything you remember, it could be extremely helpful.”
Meridan shot upright in her seat. “I cannot allow you to interrogate this young man. His body and his mind have been through incredible stress, and it’s unfair to ask him to do anything more.”
“Meridan, it’s fine,” Gawain disagreed as he put a calming hand on her arm. “I realize you’re worried, but I promise to sit here just as calmly while I’m talking as I am now. In fact, most people here probably know I’d rather be chatting away than keeping quiet.”
Layla snickered, and we shared a moment of amusement with Gawain before Meridan pursed her lips and finally gave in.
“Fine,” she said with a frown on her plump face, “but I’ll be listening to make sure you don’t strain his constitution.”
“Go ahead, Gawain,” Sleet directed gently.
The fire mage took a deep breath as he settled his nerves, and then he began on his story.
Gawain started by saying how he’d gotten injured so badly. After we c
hased Phi and him out of Bathi Highlands, Phi ordered Gawain to attack Tietra, a town I had visited once before in search of information on the ciphers. Tietra’s ancient library was incredible, and the town was impossible to find by any who weren’t mages.
“The residents were far more formidable than I expected,” Gawain murmured with distant eyes. “Though, I wasn’t really myself at the time. I charged in with no plan and barely any conscious thought to my actions. One of the townspeople put a spear in my gut, and Phi finally let me open a portal out of there.”
“An attack on Tietra?” General Kenefick asked with a serious expression. “I should have heard of this.”
“Believe me,” Gawain said with a self-deprecating shake of his head, “it was barely an attack. It might come as a footnote in a report, but nothing more. After we got back to the palace, Phi left my mind. For the first time, I was clear-headed again, but it was too late. I was dying, and I had no way back to the human realm.”
There was a moment of silence as we considered his dire words, and I was glad I knew the story ended well.
“How did the possession start?” Headmaster Sleet asked carefully.
Nothing was too unexpected, at least not to me. Gawain explained how he thought he was going crazy at first. Phi didn’t reveal her name, and he didn’t recognize her voice in his head. She used the more adult, mature version of her voice, and Gawain had only really met her as a child.
Phi bothered him, but Gawain feared our reactions, so he kept quiet and decided that if he ignored it, the voice in his head would soon go away.
Instead of going away, Phi only bothered him more.
On a frustrated whim, Gawain began to respond as he listened to the voice’s demands. After he started to engage Phi regularly, her torment only got worse.
She would scream and yell at him in the middle of the day, or she would turn sinister and threaten him in his dreams at night. At times, she would throw tantrums worthy of any child, but she would also tempt him with clever little jibes about how much stronger he could be if he only let her take over.
By the time we went to Ralor’s Stead, Gawain was on the edge. Every day, he considered spilling and telling us everything, or running away from it all, or going back to the Academy to ask Meridan for help. He felt crazy, since he couldn’t tell whether the voice was real or not. Phi dissuaded him from ever telling anybody, and she threatened him every time he considered trying to get help.
