Eleanor stared at him with murderous contempt.
"He's right," said Antheka, one of the other council members. She had dark, lustrous skin and wore a luscious blue cloak that seemed to move around her lithe body. "We cannot allow them to break the sphere with the Word. It would be disastrous for the Council, for the city."
"They broke the Pact," said Eleanor. "They must be punished, or how will we function as a society?"
"The same as we always have," said Antheka, "but we won't be a society if they break the sphere and set loose those that would hurt us. You must make the deal, Eleanor."
Eleanor's eyes went a little wild as she considered it. "I must do nothing of the sort. I cannot. As head of the Black Council, I forbid it."
"Then you should be removed from the Council. You have led us well for a long, long time, but it is time to move on. I nominate myself as head of the Black Council." Antheka addressed the other members. "Do I have your support?"
Jax Ringer, the Council member who dressed like a suave pirate, immediately stepped forward as if he'd been expecting this turn of events.
"I concur. Yes for Antheka to replace Eleanor as head of the Black Council."
Right after, before even Eleanor could voice her complaint, Loren Pale, the fifth council member, spoke with a slight lisp. "Antheka for head of the Council. Yes, yes."
Antheka turned her head towards Tamako, who looked just as stunned by the events as Eleanor and everyone else in the room. The pale maetrie's slate-gray eyes surveyed the other Council members before finally resting on Eleanor, who looked painfully resigned to what was about to happen.
"You can't do this to me," said Eleanor. "The people of Deathbird have supported me for a long time. They will not accept this."
"The people of Deathbird accepted you as long as you led us well. Using the sphere to enforce the Pact was a mistake. It has cost us. You cost us this, and the people will see it," said Antheka.
The calculus of power didn't take long, and Tamako only nodded her head and said, "Aye for Antheka."
Eleanor's face paled. She strode from the room like a queen to her beheading. After she was gone, the tension released from the room.
"Very well," said Antheka with a small breath. "Once this is over we shall find a new fifth member of the Council. Until then, I offer the freedom from the Pact if you can stop them from using the Word, assuming you also bring the thieves to us for justice."
"Only if you promise to destroy the sphere," said Zayn, before Priyanka could say anything. "On your own terms of course, but you shouldn't put people in there. Either find a better way to hold them, or let them die mercifully."
The corner of Antheka's lips twitched while her eyes glittered with amusement. "Very well. Once you have met your part of the bargain, we shall find a more equitable way to keep those that have sinned against us. I, for one, won't miss looking at that awful thing every day."
"But what will we do...?" asked Tamako.
"We'll find a way," said Antheka. "But first, go, and retrieve them and the Word."
"Where are they?" asked Priyanka.
"The Ice Hold," said Zayn, praying that she'd know where it was.
"Ice Hold on the Fifth Ring. No one else would be there right now. It's the perfect place for the ritual." She nodded. "Everyone else stay here"—she held out her hand towards Zayn—"except for you, Zayn. If we're going to move fast, I can only take one."
No one objected, because the other instructors were too injured. He reached out and grasped her warm hand. Bits of dirt crumbled from their palms.
"Ready?"
"Ready."
The speed at which they left the room turned his insides into a maelstrom. Through some link of faez, Zayn's legs churned faster than they'd ever moved before. Only through her guidance, did they not crash into anything while they ran through the rain-soaked city.
When they reached the portal, Priyanka gave him no time to catch his breath.
"I need to get us there faster than normal, so this is going to hurt."
Before he had time to register the warning, he was flying into the void.
Chapter Thirty-One
Ice Hold, April 2015
Final decisions
Landing in a cold, white place, Zayn crashed to his hands and knees, vomiting until his sides hurt. It was the worst portal transfer he'd experienced, as if he'd been tied to the back of a rollercoaster to dangle along behind it as it whipped through its paces. After, he shakily climbed to his feet, spitting a few times to get the taste of bile out of his mouth.
Behind him, the glistening obsidian portal stuck out amid the frozen white expanse on three sides, while the fourth fell away to a cloud-filled valley. Streaks of snow skittered across the landscape beneath a pale sky as the wind rose and fell in a lonely howl.
Despite the temperature, the portal was set into warm bedrock, kept clean of snow and ice by runes that had been etched into the stone. A short rock wall circled the portal with steps leading down a slope, through a jagged gap.
Priyanka grabbed his arm. Her eyes were red from her own battle with vertigo.
"Spell yourself against the elements. Once we step away, the frigid cold will take hold. It's negative thirty during the day."
When he was ready, she told him, "We're going to hit them fast. Follow my lead. Incapacitate them if you can, but not at expense to your life."
As soon as they stepped away from the portal circle, the full brunt of the frigid winds hit him. Even with his enchantments, the cold cut him like a knife. He jammed his hands into his armpits.
The rough-cut stairs led through a jagged gap in the rocks, following along a cliff to a grotto in a cliff wall. Further into the grotto was a lodge that looked large enough to hold forty or fifty people in comfort.
"What is this place?"
"Ski lodge," said Priyanka. "The Ice Hold has the best skiing and mountain diving in all the realms. People in our line of work like to come to these places to get away. But it's the off season right now. Too cold, even with enchantments."
The inside of the Ice Hold looked like every ski lodge Zayn had seen in a movie, with a massive fireplace above which a horned creature's head stuck out of the wall, except it wasn't a deer or an elk, but what looked like a manticore, complete with leathery wings plastered on the wall next to the lion-like head.
The fireplace crackled with a dim fire as if it hadn't been tended recently. Priyanka led them through the main area, back rooms filled with exercise equipment, and small restaurants, eventually coming to the back of the building.
Zayn had expected more rock, or maybe a ski storage building, but instead he found a lush garden filled with trees and flowerbeds. The warm moist air was a balm to his skin after the brief journey through the wintery landscape.
Priyanka pointed to a path that led through the foliage, indicating he should take it, while she went wide, disappearing into the trees even as he tried to follow her with his eyes.
Creeping down the path, Zayn heightened his senses and reflexes, so he heard them long before he saw them. Tally and her father weren't hard to find. He could have found them by smell alone, since whatever they were doing was putting off a lot of faez.
The trees ended, leading into a concert stage for plays or musical acts with a couple dozen seats around it. Halfdan stood on one side, speaking in a low tongue, his mustache trembling as he spoke, while Tally stood on the other side, her melodic voice filled with intense inflection.
Between them hovered the Word of Annihilation, the scroll stretched open, its runes slowly coming to life, burning as bright golden coals.
He couldn't help but look to Tally, standing tall, red hair thrown over her shoulder in a thick braid. He imagined her crashing into battle with a massive hammer, or pouring molten iron into a mold, or lying beneath him as he pressed his lips against hers.
Not now, he thought.
But it was hard not to. He empathized with what she was trying to accomplish. H
e wanted to do the same for his family, but there was no way he would sacrifice others to achieve it like she had.
When Priyanka blurred out of the shadows behind Halfdan, Zayn leapt into action. He was halfway down the steps when there was an explosion.
Fear flooded his limbs as he saw the smoke and light were Priyanka had been standing. Halfdan had laid a trap for her, and she'd run right into it. Zayn froze, quickly searching around him, but his arcane sight wasn't as well developed as his patron's. If she hadn't spotted any traps, he'd have no chance.
When he looked back up, Tally was looking at him sideways while continuing the ritual that would release the Word.
"Don't do it," said Zayn, carefully stepping forward.
He couldn't see the traps, but kept going. He made one furtive glance to his left where the explosion had been, hoping to get a glimpse of Priyanka, but he saw neither her nor a body.
When he was almost to the stage, he saw a faint shimmering light before him, indicating a barrier. His skin crackled with electricity when he moved his arm near it. The barrier must have been what Priyanka had run right into in her haste to get Halfdan.
The barrier curved around until it was flush with the rock wall. Halfdan had foreseen this complication.
"Tally, please. You can't do this. I know we didn't know each other for very long, but you don't want to do this. It would change you forever. Stop the ritual, let us take the Word back," he said.
The fierce determination he'd seen on her face when he came in cracked with emotion. Her jaw muscles tensed as she continued speaking the ritual words.
The runes on the Word of Annihilation were nearing their completion, with nearly all of them glowing a golden hue. They were running out of time, and Zayn had no way around the shield.
"You don't need the Word anymore. Eleanor is not the head of the Black Council, and Antheka agreed to destroy the punishment sphere," said Zayn.
Tally's head snapped towards him. The last rune was halfway burnt, but did not continue burning as she looked towards him.
From the other side of the stage, Halfdan grunted, clearly trying to hold the ritual in place. He said, "Don't listen to him. He's trying to trick you."
"I'm telling the truth. You don't have to do this," said Zayn.
"How convenient that this happened now," said Halfdan. "Even if he's telling the truth, they're probably lying to him."
"They're not," said Zayn, sensing movement along the rock wall where Priyanka had hit the barrier. He couldn't see her, nor did he want to look and give away her location, but he sensed her working at the barrier. He needed to keep them distracted. "There are other people in the sphere that they don't want out, so they were willing to make the deal. Please listen to me, Tally. If you can achieve the same goals but without hurting so many people, why wouldn't you?"
"But they're not going to die," she said.
"That's the lie your father told you so you'd help him," said Zayn.
"Tally, just finish the ritual, and you can have your mom and grandfather back. We're almost done."
Tally looked like she was being compressed by an invisible hand. Her forehead bunched up as her mouth contorted.
At the corner of his vision, he saw Priyanka halfway through the barrier. Somehow she'd pulled the energy field away from the wall with a spell, and was sliding behind it.
"Tally," said her father. "One last push of faez and we're done. With me, now."
Tally glanced to him, expression pained. The last rune resumed burning, snaking along its angled shape until it reached the end. Priyanka was almost through the barrier, but she was too late.
In a desperate attempt to give Priyanka even a few seconds more, Zayn yelled, "I love you, Tally."
The words hit her like a hammer blow. She squeezed her eyes shut. When she looked back, he could see that she had strong feelings for him. She started to open her mouth, when Priyanka blurred over to Halfdan and struck him cleanly in the back of the head. His legs fell out from under him, and he landed in an awkward pile. Zayn felt the hum of the protective barrier around the stage disappear.
The words poised on Tally's lips turned to a snarl. She lunged towards the huge sword lying on a bench behind her. Tally looked ready to cut him in half.
"You lied to me," she said, holding the massive sword in guard pose.
"No, I didn't," he said. "They're going to destroy the sphere. Your mom and grandfather will no longer be in pain."
"But they'll be dead," said Tally, lips squeezed tight.
"I don't know what they're going to do," said Zayn, his body numb from seeing her in such agony.
Tally heaved a big breath. Her face was wracked with anguish. She looked ready to smash her sword into him at any moment, but Zayn made no move to defend himself, and Priyanka had stayed near Halfdan's fallen body, holding the ritual in place.
"Do you really love me?"
Her gaze searched him with need. He wanted to say yes, to give her the answer she craved, a lifeline back to the world, and while he had enjoyed her company, and could find himself falling for her under different circumstances, the fact that she'd been willing to come this far and sacrifice so many people for her selfish cause made it impossible for him.
"No," he said, shaking his head softly.
Tally screamed in his face, raising the great sword above her head. For a brief, terrible moment, he thought she was going to cut him in half, but then she threw it away, to clatter against the seats. She ran past him, into the garden, the verdant foliage swallowing her whole.
Priyanka acknowledged what had happened with a small nod, then said through gritted teeth, "Take up her position. We can complete the ritual. Send your faez into the Word. I'll keep it in place while you concentrate your thoughts on destroying the virus."
He found the Word of Annihilation ready and waiting to accept his faez, as if it were hungry for more. The artifact's design was relatively simple. The only thing it'd really needed was enough faez to activate, and Tally and her father had gotten it most of the way.
As the runes on the Word brightened, Zayn sensed this vast machine in the spell, like a living algorithm with only one purpose, to destroy. It was both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time, as he sensed the power of the Word could destroy a whole city or burning star if he wanted it to.
The moment before the spell triggered, he thought about changing the target to the Lady's poison. If it destroyed the poison in everyone's veins, and the Lady herself, wouldn't Varna and his family be free?
He had the power in his hands. It would only take a thought, not the years of subterfuge and strategy that would likely end in his death. He could save Keelan, his parents, Aunt Lydia, his siblings. He saw their faces looking back at him in his mind, not the versions of them in Varna, but the ones they'd imagined as themselves: Neveah wore a chef's hat at a Michelin star restaurant in Paris, Keelan was riding through the mountains on a motorcycle, his parents were laughing in their formal clothes at the grand opening of their architectural firm.
Time stretched as he hesitated. Across the stage, Priyanka wrinkled her forehead at him.
Suddenly, with the power to help his family in his hands, he knew how Tally must have felt. One spell. One intention. It would all be over.
But so would the lives of so many others. And while the answer was easy, it wasn't right. He couldn't do it.
With thoughts of the virus clearly in his mind, he focused his energy back into the Word of Annihilation. A thunderclap, followed by a brilliant flash of light, concluded the spell, knocking both him and Priyanka on their backs. The sudden release of energy left him gasping for breath. The air smelled burnt as if it'd been the site of an electromagnetic bomb.
"It's finished," said Priyanka, dusting herself off.
Part of her black shirt was torn from when she hit the barrier, but she looked otherwise unharmed. She searched him with her eyes, a question on her lips and suspicion in her gaze.
"I'll be fine,"
he said.
"It's not easy," she said. "When you have to use someone's feelings against them. But you did good. Had you not, the spell would have completed, and we would have been too late. You saved millions, possibly billions of lives."
"It doesn't feel like that," he said, thinking about how he'd almost chosen Varna over the world. "Mostly I feel like an asshole."
She raised an eyebrow. "Sadly, that doesn't go away. But it means that you're not a psychopath, which is good, because I don't allow them in my hall."
"Then what about Eddie?" asked Zayn with a grin.
She gave him a sigh and a shake of the head, before patting him on the shoulder. "Come. Help me with Halfdan. You can put the bindings on him. It'll be good practice."
"What about Tally? Will they still honor the agreement since I let her go?" asked Zayn.
Priyanka's lips drew flat as she lifted one shoulder slightly as if to say she didn't know.
But finding out didn't take as long as expected. As they led Halfdan through the lodge, now awake but bound in shimmering bonds that didn't allow him to move his fingers or speak a single word, they met with the remaining members of the Black Council, who had a bound figure with them as well. Tally's head hung low as she shrunk against her bindings.
"She ran right into us as we arrived at the portal," said Antheka.
"A spot of good luck," said Priyanka. "We were busy with the ritual, or we would have given chase."
Antheka glanced in Zayn's direction with an air of skepticism. "Either way, it is done. Both the Word and the thieves in question."
"And the punishment sphere?" asked Zayn.
"It will be taken care of soon enough," said Antheka. "Don't worry, we hold up our agreements. The sphere will come down. It was an abomination."
"Thank you," said Zayn. "What about Tally and her father?"
"She's not an innocent party to this," said Antheka.
"I wasn't suggesting that she was," said Zayn.
Antheka glanced to the other members of the Council. "Unlike her other family members, I don't believe she'll lose her life for this, but we will have to find a way to keep her for a very long time."
The Reluctant Assassin Boxset Page 47