by Mark August
The guards clutched their weapons. None accidentally discharged their firearms, but Kincaid was sure they would not let him twitch a muscle.
“Could you explain your statement about the use of magic?” The tone was distinct now. Curiosity seeped into their questions. They’d never met anyone like him. None let down their guard, but they were intent on gathering information. He had a chance to shape this.
“Three thugs threatened my master’s life. When I realized I had to kill or be killed, something shifted inside of me. It wasn’t a snap or anything. My rage turned icy, and power flooded into me. I am not a skilled swordsman, and I had to do something.”
“Use magic to kill three men?” The questioning sorceratti didn’t conceal the skepticism in her voice.
“Not all were men.”
“So you’re saying you killed three people.”
“Yes, I had to kill three people. Magic slipped out of my control, and I brought down the floors to Master Barnet’s shop. I blacked out, and I woke up in prison.”
The woman’s sneer disappeared from her face. She stepped back to the other royal members, and the guards tightened their ring of protective steel. He couldn’t catch the back and forth between them, but the animated hand gestures punctuated the discussion.
The male sorceratti threw his hands in the air with frustration and spun toward the shackled prisoner. Without flourish, he ripped the burlap sack off the prisoner’s head. The shock of red hair spilled out. Kincaid didn’t need to see more than the red hair to know his sister would be used against him.
Her head came up, and tears streamed down her face. Her cheeks were gaunt, and her eyes were hollow. Kincaid reached out with his spirit and tried to reassure her through the look in his eyes. The arcane plane reached for him, its powers waiting for his touch. Kincaid couldn’t grasp for power without starting a battle, and he had to find a way out of this. He wanted to tell her it would all be okay. After all the years on the road running away from everything, she always told him they would make it. She needed him now.
The male sorceratti approached the cell bars, and his face was flush with emotions. His arms were rigid, and his hand balled into fists. Kincaid stood at the opposite end of his cell and didn’t make a move forward. He didn’t want to trigger a firing squad.
“Prisoner, what has Atros tried to get you to do?”
Confusion twisted Kincaid’s face. He cocked his head to one side as he tried to come up with another witty answer, but he wouldn’t hurt his sister. With complete truth, he answered, “I haven’t been asked to do anything by this house.”
The women sorceratti turned toward one another and exchanged glances. The sorceratti from Atros stood with a smug look.
“We’re expected to believe that? You’ve been a prisoner—”
“Thugs attacked me, and I woke up in this prison.” Kincaid’s voice was firm and echoed across the cells.
“During the time they’ve imprisoned you, you haven’t been asked to work for this house?”
“I’ve answered this question. I haven’t been asked to do anything. Use your magic and see I’m telling the truth.”
Spit flew in rage. “Not to my satisfaction.”
Vedette pushed forward, but the wall of guards blocked her path. The female sorceratti laid a hand on her arm and tightened her grip. Kincaid couldn’t understand this interaction between the houses. This was the first time he wished the sorceratti of House Atros would take a stand and protect him and his sister.
“Would you prefer that I made up a story to protect my life?”
“Not your life…”
Magic flared in the room. A burst of light blinded everyone. At least the guards didn’t flinch and discharge their weapons. The woman sorceratti’s hands were covered in flames. One of those fiery hands wrapped around his sister’s throat.
“You do not have the right to assault these prisoners, and these are not the city instructions.” Vedette used her surge of power to summon fireballs in her hands. “You will respect the rights of House Atros.” The guards no longer knew which way to face. They’d been briefed Kincaid was the threat, and they didn’t have instructions for a war between the houses. None wanted any part of an arcane showdown. They wouldn’t survive.
“We must determine the threat to the city, Vedette. Stand down, or you will face the consequences of your actions. Just like your father.”
“What did you say?”
Wild wind whipped around Vedette’s cloak and skirt. Power flowed beyond the surging fireballs and engulfed her arms. Her eyes glowed with deep blue light, and energy sparked in the air around her.
Liane made the only move she could and fell to the floor. Her eyes stayed on the three wizards paired off against each other. She wasn’t panicked, only resigned.
Kincaid shot a plea toward Cormac. The magi’s eyes darted among his former students. As he glanced toward Kincaid, he shook his head to leave no doubts.
Kincaid’s magic was there. A thought would flood him with the power to take them all on. The arcane power could save himself and his sister.
Use it. Free yourself. Show them who you can be.
That voice. Kincaid controlled his mind and glanced again toward Cormac. The chained magi sensed the change in Kincaid and raised an eyebrow. They’d have to discuss this later.
“Please believe me.” He shouted over the voices and the crackling power. “Magi Cormac is teaching me, just like he taught all of you. I haven’t been asked to do anything.”
All eyes turned back toward the standing prisoner. A fight here would be catastrophic.
The vision. The destruction of the city would start right here, in this prison. He gasped and fell to his knees. Is this how it ends?
A whimper escaped from his lips, “No.”
Flames went out, and faces turned from anger to curiosity. “No? You aren’t in a position to give commands.” The sneer was back in her voice.
“A fight between three wizards would destroy us all. If you kept it up, you’d destroy the city. There’s no limit to the power you can summon, and no one knows what would happen if three wizards fought. I want to take my sister and leave the city.”
“That is not possible. We are far beyond that point.” The male sorceratti kept a tight leash on his own magic, but he kept glancing toward Vedette. “We’ll find out more about what you’re able to do. We’re taking your sister with us.”
Vedette’s power flashed with the rage in her eyes. “Absolutely forbidden.”
“The City Council tasked House Atros to provide access to the prisoners and allow for questioning. These are our prisoners, and we have not questioned either of them.”
Kincaid ignored the sorceratti and got back up to his feet. “No, please don’t.”
“You are mistaken, Vedette. We have the authority under the City Council's orders to move the prisoners. We will take her with us. We can keep your pet wizard in compliance by controlling the sister. The City Council will be notified.”
Vedette shook her head. Her lips smashed into a thin line of anger.
“We will be back to ask more questions, prisoner.”
The procession of guards left with the struggling Liane in tow. The pair of wizards brought up the rear.
“My lady…” One of the prison guards from house Atros pointed to Vedette’s clothing. Smoke crawled up from her sleeves, and flames licked her hems as her eyes kept their glow.
Magi Cormac spoke for the first time. “Vedette, release the flow.”
Her eyes snapped open, and her hands unclenched. Kincaid watched the exchange with curiosity.
Forty-Nine
Kincaid - New Plans
The sorceratti stormed out of the prison, and Cormac waited until the guards retreated to their quarters.
“Events are accelerating, Kincaid. The Duke always assumed he could control his plan. He’s wrong.”
“Every time we talk, I wonder how close to the houses you really are.” Kincaid l
everaged his weight against the cane as he lowered himself back to the straw pallet. He closed his eyes and thought about Liane.
Cormac glared at Kincaid. “I’m not playing politics—”
“My sister is a hostage. I have powers I don’t understand, and I’m sentenced to die. Now other houses accuse me of helping Atros. And you keep talking about plans. Escape is the only word I want to discuss.”
“You’re right.”
“Of course, I’m right. I’m the one sentenced to die, and no one comes in here to talk to you.”
Cormac waited until Kincaid’s pulse slowed to normal. The young carpenter opened his eyes and stared at the magi.
“There is more you need to know. Listen carefully to me.”
“I’ve been listening to you for countless days. We need to act.”
The magi sighed and got to his feet. Uncoiling legs and rattling chains always signified an important lesson coming.
“Part of the Duke’s plan was to capture a wizard.”
“Torture?”
“No, worse.”
“Can’t wait now.”
“Kincaid, Lord Attius and I developed a plan to capture a wizard in the city.”
“You already sprung that on me.”
“I didn’t calculate that could be us, and I didn’t understand the consequences.”
Kincaid’s heart burned. Stop keeping secrets. Get to the point. Magic hungered to tear down this cage and destroy this place. He’d carve through these guards and get his sister back. And Magi Cormac kept revealing secrets.
“Kincaid, Attius saw the changing balance of power in the city and needed to control it through wizards. So I sent the thugs to your shop.” Time stopped as power pounded in Kincaid’s head. His soul sang with the symphony of power. He didn’t recall summoning the magic.
“No.” The word whimpered from his lips.
“I felt a new power in the city. Power beyond the sorceratti of the houses. I came up with the idea to use the thugs to search the city. With enough time, I knew I could track the magic down. But the plan came apart when you showed power beyond our expectations.”
“This was your plan?” Power escaped in his breath and created a blue, glowing fog with every word he spoke.
“Yes, but you changed everything.”
Arcane power battered at Kincaid’s defenses and longed for explosive release. Emotions raging in his mind made his skull throb. He couldn’t think straight.
“Attius thought I betrayed him. I changed the plan when I learned what you could do. He thought I turned my back on him. The Duke contrived to put me in prison.”
“What about the chains?”
“Every word is accurate. I forged the chains with the power of a wizard I found outside the city. I killed him to gain enough power to create these chains.”
Kincaid didn’t hold back his scorn. “You pretend to be a mentor. You are a spiteful villain, and you deserve to be in the darkest prison of hell. I hope you—”
“All true.” He waved off Kincaid’s emotions. He was intent on cutting through Kincaid’s anger. “You need to escape from this prison, Kincaid. Your ability to see the future is unique. You need to develop that skill, and you can’t do it for the Duke or the city.”
“Yes. But I never expected—”
“That changes nothing.”
“Cormac, you don’t know me or my sister. You crushed the hopes of my sister to create a life here.”
“Kincaid, listen to me. Your new life is waiting for you. And your sister. It’s just different from what you expected. I don’t care if you save your life and leave me here to die. But you need to think about what you can do with the power.”
“Power? Is that all you think about? No wonder you teach the youngest child.”
“No. I try to teach the good that can come with the use of power.”
“Great.” Kincaid replaced his anger with disgust for the man anchored to the floor in a prison of his own design.
“Kincaid. Escape from here. Travel east and find the scholars of the Empire. They look at magic differently. Magic is a gift, not a crime.”
Kincaid turned away from the man he wanted to trust. He turned away from the man who knew how to help him find his power and get him out of his damn cage. Hot tears came down in streaks and puddled on his pants. He pushed the magic out of his soul and embraced the emptiness within. Kincaid needed someone to trust to get out of here and escape from this personal hell. He was terrified of the vision of the future, but this was just as bad. Kincaid steeled his heart and stared down the man who was once his teacher.
“Cormac, I have no idea if I’ll ever be able to forgive you. What you’ve done to my family is inexcusable. I will never accept the justification for your actions.”
“I accept that.”
“But you will teach me enough about magic to allow me to escape.”
“I will.”
Cormac dropped his head and fell to his knees. The rattle of the chains filled the prison, but the guards didn’t respond to the racket. The magi remained in a kneeling position with his head bowed to the floor.
“And you will teach me how to fight other wizards. I don’t see a way to get out of here without fighting at least one group of wizards. The houses of the city.”
“I will.”
Kincaid found it impossible to stay angry at a man begging for forgiveness.
Fifty
Vedette - Rage
Splinters exploded into the room. The ironbound door designed to resist siege weapons was no match for the arcane torrent, and the remains of the door hung on melted hinges. Vedette’s subconscious mind controlled surges of magic and emanated an aura of destruction around her. Her pace remained unchecked by doors or obstacles.
Hair whipped around her face by an unfelt gale, and her cloak billowed even when she came to a stop.
Her older brothers jumped to their feet, and weapons rasped from their sheaths. Horror and disbelief covered their faces. Guards scrambled to intercept the perceived attacker. Vedette pulled heat from the wood stoves and created magical currents in the weapons pointed at her. The ash wood of the spears smoked from the internal fires, and blades grew white-hot from her thoughts. Weapons rattled to the floor before they burned flesh. Steam rolled off the exposed metal. Guards and members of her family stared at the sorceratti in their midst.
Attius got to his feet and took two involuntary steps away from his daughter. Fortunately, none of them drew pistols from their belt. A curious part of her mind wondered if the heat applied to the barrel would set off the powder. She paused in her approach to stare her father down.
“Vedette, stop, please.”
Vedette could only remember a few times when her mother used her command voice. The quiet sound was more compelling than the shouted commands with threats of violence. Vedette released the streams of magic, and the weapons cooled to a dull gray.
She took a few remaining steps toward the family table and pulled her chair up. “I think we have a great deal to discuss as a family. Don’t you think so, Father?”
The casual tone in her voice unnerved her siblings as they pushed their chairs away from the table. Vedette ignored them and reached for a warm biscuit. Fatigue settled in her bones again, and she couldn’t shake the exhaustion. Destroying the door was foolish, and the guards would not forget her display of power.
Vedette looked up and acted surprised that her family was still standing around the table. “Please sit down.” She gestured with her butter knife to the seats around the table.
If her mother was a sorceratti, Vedette was sure her clothes would combust from the look in her mother’s eyes. Her father was the most indecisive she’d ever seen him.
“I just returned from our prison, and the energy the City Council is putting into our prisoner surprised me. I wasn’t prepared to face down two sorceratti in our own house. Imagine my surprise when they left with one of our prisoners.”
The table exploded
with commotion. Her brothers and sisters were clearly not in the know, and the brazen actions of the Council offended them. Her parents stood silently as the shouted words settled. Vedette quietly finished her biscuit, and she put her butter knife down.
Attius looked at his family as he placed his hands in his lap. “The Council removed me as the Duke of Caesea.”
The deathly gaze from her mother turned toward her husband. “What?”
“The Council voted to remove me. They viewed the prisoners as a threat to the city—”
“Father, are they?” Giomar asked.
“I don’t know.”
The room returned to silence. None could recall a time when their father was not in control of any situation. To hear him confess that things were beyond his iron will was beyond their beliefs.
Vedette answered. “When we had control of the sister, we could control the wizard. He wouldn’t risk her life to seek revenge. He could be desperate. That makes him more dangerous than ever before.”
“What of the sister?” Her mother asked.
“She went off with the other sorceratti. I imagine she’s hidden in one of the family prisons to keep her out of our control. Then again, the city prison would be enough to keep her away from all the families, including ours.”
Her father recovered. “That would make sense, and the City Council wouldn’t allow for any individual family to seize an advantage. At least we can use our contacts to find out where she is. We can get control of this again.”
“Father.” Vedette said, “The houses are against us. We have two wizards in our prison who seek revenge. The leverage against the unchained wizard is gone, and we don’t know where the sister is.”
Attius straightened his shirt and adjusted his belt. Control returned.
“I want the boy to make a distraction. We can set him free on the mainland and have the City Council focused on what he might do there.”
“That’s not a great plan, Attius. We are the ones who imprisoned him and took his life away. If we unleash him in the world, there will always be a link back to us. The Council will only be one of our concerns,” Livia said.