Serpent's Blood (Snakesblood Saga Book 6)

by Beth Alvarez

  “We have little time to decide if we’re to act.” Vahn wanted nothing more than to mount a rescue, but without his soldiers or Firal’s mages, he knew they were at the mercy of Vicamros and what he thought was best for the Triad.

  Sensing his restless eagerness, Vicamros lifted a hand and motioned for him to settle. “We can’t do anything until we know how many mages we have with us. If we can provide a large enough network to support him, we may still win this fight.”

  Vahn clenched his teeth and released a long, controlled breath through his nose. Growling or sighing wouldn’t do. Rune might have gotten away with it, but Vahn didn’t have that sort of charisma. Or that kind of connection with Vicamros.

  Their chances of assembling that many mages in so little time were slim. Though Redoram and Alira had set out again that morning to retrieve more mages from Roberian and Lore, their efforts proved slow-moving. The chapter houses here—embassies, they called them—weren’t like the ones on Elenhiise. They were manned by skeleton crews, inhabited by more Giftless people than mages.

  Umdal’s Collective could have been their saving grace, but their vagrant nature meant Stal promised nothing before he went after them. Though Stal was Umdal’s Archmage, the different vagrant groups changed leaders often and he knew none of them well enough to Gate directly to the groups.

  One more shortcoming of magic, Vahn supposed. As a man with no magic, he often had to remind himself the power was not a panacea.

  But he had no intention of giving up without a fight. Not on Rune and not on Elenhiise, but fighting was easier when it was an even match. He hated feeling incapable, as he had since the first moment Lulu disappeared. Then again, he’d had a different task then; hunting Envesi, a woman who could break him with a thought.

  This was different. This was doable. Vahn had delved into the dungeons to free his friend once before, he could do it again. He owed it to him to try.

  In truth, he owed him a great deal more.

  “Is that really the only option?” Vahn looked around the table. So early in the morning, the meeting was small. With three members of council out scouting for more mages, it was reduced even further. Aside from himself and Vicamros, the only full-time councilor in attendance was Garam. Sera was there to speak on behalf of Umdal, and Kytenia and Edagan represented the temple. He thought he’d seen Rikka in the hallways, but she hadn’t deigned to join them. Firal had refused to leave Lulu’s side and council was no place for children.

  “He has a point,” Rhyllyn offered. He sat hunched in a chair beside Garam, making himself small. “Everything we’ve discussed has been action with offense in mind.”

  While not a part of the council, Rhyllyn had been included because of the subject at hand. Vahn had been startled by the boy, but Firal was quick to shut down his speculation. He didn’t know the situation and wouldn’t pretend to, but the suggestion he was Rune’s son was evidently offensive. Vahn wouldn’t make that mistake again.

  “I think we all agree defeating Envesi is our favored outcome, but if Ran—I’m sorry, Rune—is being held prisoner, there’s no reason we can’t go retrieve him.” Vahn glanced at Rhyllyn, who nodded. Good. If anything he had in mind was to work, they’d need Rhyllyn’s help. “If we act fast, we can open a Gate directly to him, pull him out of the dungeon, and bring him back here. If he’s our best shot at killing her, there’s no reason not to retrieve him.”

  Vicamros nodded slowly and rubbed his beard. “We couldn’t risk sending anyone to somewhere Envesi might be. She’d shut us down in a heartbeat, and every mage is precious right now. But if they’re certain he’s in a cell, it’s reasonable. Opening a Gate directly to a person, what does it entail?” He glanced to Kytenia for an answer.

  “It’s a precise art.” She twisted a lock of auburn hair around her finger, her eyes glazed with thought. “My predecessor, Archmage Nondar, was the first to do it. We know it requires a strong familiarity with the person you’re trying to reach. He succeeded in opening a Gate to someone with a slightly inaccurate impression of her once, but he never passed the intimate knowledge of its workings to anyone else before his death.”

  “So we need someone who knows him well to open the Gate to him. Rhyllyn?” Vicamros turned to the youth.

  Rhyllyn squirmed. “I know him well enough, but I’m not skilled enough to open a Gate on my own yet. I did it once, with Alira, but it took hours to get it to work. I don’t think we have hours to spare.”

  “Sera could do it,” Garam muttered, “but she’s not supposed to work with magic until the baby is born.”

  “You should ask Firal,” Sera suggested with a smirk. “She got enough of an eyeful the other night when he answered his door. It should be enough to refresh her memory.”

  Vahn’s cheeks heated.

  “That is an inappropriate suggestion to make in front of the woman’s husband,” Edagan snapped.

  “I’m sure Firal could do it,” Vahn said dismissively, “so the question is how we get him back out. How many mages can you spare for this, Vicamros?”

  Rhyllyn half rose from his chair. “I’ll go.”

  “You will not.” Vicamros pressed a finger against the tabletop as if ordering the boy to sit and scowled when he didn’t. “Not only do I need you to stay here and keep working with the barrier, you just said you don’t have the skill to open a Gate on your own.”

  “I don’t need to open it on my own,” Rhyllyn said. “Rune’s there. He and I work together all the time. Even if he’s injured, all he has to do is direct my power, not use his own.”

  Garam cleared his throat. “I understand your concerns, Majesty, but I think he may be the best choice. It’ll be a lot easier to get one or two people into a prison than a whole legion of mages. We’re talking about cramped quarters in a situation where drawing too much attention means death. The fewer people who go, the better.”

  “It will have to be at least two,” Kytenia said. “Rhyllyn to lend power for Rune to open a Gate back here, and someone to help Rune walk.” Her eyes caught Vahn’s.

  He nodded. She’d been the one who’d aided him with just that, all those years ago. Vahn had held one arm and Kytenia held the other as they half dragged their friend out of the dungeons to help him flee.

  “That’s why I’ll go,” Vahn said. “I’m the best option for the second. I am Ilmenhith’s king. Anyone we encounter in the dungeon answers to me.”

  “Assuming they haven’t taken to lapping at Envesi’s feet in the past few days,” Sera said.

  Vahn tried not to think of that possibility.

  Vicamros closed his eyes. “You make it hard to argue. I only have one question.”

  “Name it,” Vahn said.

  “What’s your plan for if Envesi catches you? I’m at risk of losing my most valuable mage, my Champion, and my ally.” Vicamros leaned back in his throne. “Rhyllyn cannot work with Firal on his own and cannot open a Gate by himself, which means you need my blessing. I will give it, if you can convince me this is all in hand. But if she gets hold of Rhyllyn, I can’t guarantee even the Royal City and its barrier will keep my people safe.”

  Vahn stared across the table, at a loss for words. He couldn’t disagree with that assessment, but he couldn’t think of any words to reassure Vicamros, either. Rune’s had been a suicide mission. Theirs could be the same.

  “Easy,” Rhyllyn said. “We kill her.”

  Vicamros blinked at the boy, taken aback.

  “I don’t think that would be so easy, Rhyllyn,” Sera said softly.

  Rhyllyn shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. But there’s no other right answer, is there?”

  “You don’t have the control necessary to face a mage like her.” Edagan snorted. Her withered face crumpled into a scowl. “The Triad’s council spent days deciding not to send you because you wouldn’t stand a chance against her in a fight. What makes it different now?”

  “Because we won’t be fighting her,” Vahn said. “We’ll find anot
her way.”

  “The mines.”

  The councilors twisted in their seats to face the door.

  Ordin Straes pressed a hand to his chest and bowed, first to Vahn and then to Vicamros. But it wasn’t the captain who’d spoken. It was the shorter, dark-haired man beside him.

  Vicamros frowned. “Who is this?”

  The man stepped forward and bowed. “Forgive me, Your Majesty. I could not help hearing the conversation. I was told to wait until council broke, but I cannot stand to waste time. My name is Tobias. I am the leader of a faction beneath King Vahnil and Queen Firal. My people are the ruin-folk, those responsible for running the island’s mines.” His accent was thick, like most of the island inhabitants, but his grammar was excellent. Sometimes it seemed the shorter-lived ruin-folk learned faster. Vahn supposed they had to, given their lifespans. Vicamros had learned the island’s native Old Aldaanan fast, as well.

  “Why are you here, Tobias?” An edge colored Vicamros’s words, though his face remained neutral. “Do you not see my council discusses matters of life and death?”

  “I do, Your Majesty.” Tobias bowed again. “But I believe I can assist, if you will give me a moment to explain.”

  Vicamros looked to Vahn, seeking his opinion. It was flattering, but Vahn couldn’t spare thought for that now. He nodded, and Vicamros motioned for the man to continue.

  “Though we look to Firal, my people remain relatively self-governing,” Tobias began, striding forward to join them at the table. The captain bowed and retreated from the council chamber as Tobias went on. “When Queen Firal was taken from Ilmenhith, my people decided it was best to retreat to the city around the mines until trouble blew over. We’ve never been high in the Archmage Envesi’s esteem, you see.”

  “We encountered his people when we fled the temple,” Edagan said. “They offered us hospitality in Core before we made our way to the Grand College by means of the permanent Gate in the mines.”

  Tobias nodded. “The Gate in Core’s mines doesn’t actually lead to the college, but instead to a cliff overlooking the same city. Its location is convenient to a major trade road, which makes it ideal for transporting ore and gems. It was planned that way on purpose.”

  “We don’t have time for exposition,” Vicamros growled.

  “Forgive me, Your Majesty.” Tobias ducked his head and cleared his throat. “The past several days, Envesi has been scouring the island in search of mages. If they do not join her cause, she strikes them down. For the first time in centuries, there are mages among my people and I must protect them as I can. We sent scouts through the Gate in the mines and they returned with a message offering sanctuary in the Triad. Core is now empty. My people are on the road between here and the province of Lore, but I came ahead when I heard my king and queen were here.”

  Vicamros nodded. “I am glad to grant asylum to your people. But you believe your mines offer the ability to kill a powerful mage?” Skepticism colored his tone.

  “Certainly. The issue at hand is a lack of control, correct?” Tobias chanced a glance toward Rhyllyn, indicating he’d watched their meeting for as long as he’d listened. “Simply flee through the mines. Core is abandoned, not a soul left there or in the ruins above. Should Envesi try to follow, control would not be necessary. If your mage has the strength to begin a collapse, she would be buried. Mage or not, she is still flesh and blood.”

  “You couldn’t!” Edagan cried, leaping from her chair. “I’ve seen the tunnels that run beneath the island. I’ve explored them like no other. Collapsing the mine could cause a chain reaction. Half the island could fall into the sea.”

  Vicamros scoffed. “This isn’t the time for exaggeration.”

  “I am not exaggerating,” the mage protested. “We traveled through the tunnels on our way to Core. Had I not the skill with earth I possess, we would have been buried. Careful, controlled digging from one tunnel to the next put us at extreme risk of collapse. More than once, sections did collapse and slow us down. Deliberately causing mine shafts to cave in would spell disaster for all of Elenhiise.”

  Troubled, everyone at the table turned their eyes to Vahn.

  His stomach sank, but the pleading, desperate look Rhyllyn wore bolstered his resolve. “We cannot know that until we try.”

  Vicamros met Vahn’s eyes and nodded. “Be swift, my friend. We don’t know how much time we have.”

  Edagan fell back into her chair, so pained it seemed she might cry.

  “Are you mad?” Firal shook her head, unable to believe the words that spilled from her husband’s mouth.

  Vahn squeezed his eyes closed, exasperated. “Can you do it or not?”

  She hesitated to reply. Of course she could. She wasn’t as skilled as Kytenia and her other friends who’d continued to study after her expulsion from the temple, but the court mages had assisted her learning. Leading the opening of a Gate was something she’d done dozens of times before. Opening a Gate directly to someone, however...

  It had been years since Firal had tried, and her first and only attempt had ended in failure. She hadn’t thought of that effort in years, but at least now she knew why it hadn’t worked. She’d envisioned Rune the way she last knew him. He’d grown, changed, earned the scars that striped his back, and put on new muscle. Even the way he carried himself had changed. He’d become more precise, more comfortable, but still with a hint of animal fluidity in the way he moved.

  “I can,” she said at last. “But you still should have discussed this with me before—”

  “We didn’t have time,” he interjected. “We still don’t. I promise you can discuss this with the mages and Vicamros and anyone else you want, but if we’re going to do this, we need to do it now.”

  She swallowed hard. “Very well.”

  Lacing his fingers with hers, Vahn pulled her toward the door.

  She put her heels down and held out her other hand. “Lulu, come here.”

  The child looked up from where she played on the floor. She planted her hands on the floor and kept them there until she found her feet, then straightened and toddled to join them.

  Firal scooped the girl into her arms, shooting Vahn a glare that challenged him to protest.

  Wisely, he said nothing.

  The pace he set through the palace’s corridors made it hard for her to keep up, but she clung to her daughter and did her best.

  “You’ll need to speak to Edagan as soon as we’re gone,” Vahn said, glancing over his shoulder. “I may have ruffled her feathers.”

  A disgruntled Edagan was the last thing she needed on top of all this. Firal heaved a sigh, then hefted Lulu onto her other hip to make walking more comfortable. “Any other surprises you’d like to drop on me before you go?”

  He stopped dead in his tracks and she nearly walked into his back.

  Annoyed, she glowered. “What’s gotten into you?”

  Vahn stared down the empty hall, then bowed his head. “I know this is difficult, coming out of the blue. I know I’m asking a lot of you. But none of this should have happened, and it’s my fault. I owe it to him to fix this.”

  Firal’s brow furrowed. “You’re not making any sense.”

  “He should have been there. In Elenhiise. Not here, not trapped with no magic.” Vahn shook his head. “He should have been with you. He should have been king. Not me.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, Vahn. You couldn’t help that. None of us could.”

  “But I could,” he insisted, “and I didn’t.”

  Her pulse quickened. The weight of his words threatened to make her ill. “What are you saying?”

  “He asked me to protect you. If I hadn’t made that promise, I wouldn’t have married you.” He couldn’t look her in the eye, his face etched with remorse. “But I had the chance to set it all right. For one time in my life, I made a selfish decision.”

  Firal drew back a half step, the ill-fitting puzzle pieces of the last few weeks slowly righting themselves in her mi
nd. “His letter.”

  “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen,” Vahn insisted. “No one was supposed to get hurt. I did it because I loved you. I thought there was a chance you could feel the same way and I had to know.”

  “When we needed him, you came straight to Vicamros.” Her heart wrenched. Tears pricked her eyes. “All this time, you knew where he was. Didn’t you?”

  Vahn shook his head. Not in disagreement, but in a silent war with himself. “I never meant for any of this to happen. All I wanted was a happy ending. But if we don’t hurry, he’ll never get his. We’ll talk about this all you want later. Right now, he’s waiting for us.”

  She tried to make herself walk but her feet wouldn’t move. Disbelief warred with hurt and disappointment. A seething sense of betrayal welled up beneath it all. Everything they’d done, everything they’d built together had happened because she thought her husband wouldn’t return.

  Because she hadn’t received the letter he sent, trying to tie their lives back together.

  And Vahn didn’t deny he’d intercepted it.

  He stopped not far ahead and looked back. His face softened and for a fleeting moment, she thought she saw guilt. Too little too late, it only stirred her anger and brought more tears to her eyes.

  “Please,” was all he said.

  She wanted to scream. Even more, she wanted to cry. Breathing deep and drawing herself up, she carried on with her heart slowly shattering in her chest.

  The mages were waiting when they arrived, all of them anxious. They greeted her with curtsies, her role as queen evidently restored. Firal ignored them and instead trained her attention on the young man before them.

  Rhyllyn had a calm air about him, though Rune’s jeweled sword at his hip made him look even more of a child. It was too long for him, the tip of its sheath only inches from the floor, but Firal was glad to see he carried it. Their plan still sounded like madness, but she couldn’t make herself think about it now. She couldn’t let herself think of anything, or she wouldn’t be able to do what was so desperately needed of her.