by Mary Swift
“Sir.” Nora said to the old man. Surely this could all be explained in a few simple sentences. “You see, we were-”
“Young woman, you have not been instructed to speak.” the man said angrily. “Why hasn’t she been silenced?” He looked at the guards that brought them in.
“We tried.” one of them said. “The man went easily, but the woman is different.”
Nora looked at Tom. They had done something to him, that was why he was so lethargic. She noticed that his hands were not tied with rope but simply stayed together on their own. Spells. They were trying to use spells on her but it wasn’t working.
“How are you resisting us?” a woman behind the dais asked.
Nora didn’t answer. They wanted her to be quiet so she would be.
“Let’s be done with this.” said the old man. “It’s past my suppertime. Bring the man here.” He pointed a long gold stick at Tom, the end stuck to his head. “A mere simpleton.” the man announced. He removed the stick. “He’s just a mortal, a teacher. Nothing special. Send him to the workhouse.”
The scantily clad guards began dragging Tom away. “No!” Nora screamed. She tried to run but a soldier caught her arm.
“Will someone bring her here.” said the old man.
“My brother has done nothing wrong.” she told anyone who was listening.
The soldiers pushed her forward. Nora found herself facing the same stick that they had used on Tom. It poked her and then fell to the ground. The people on the dais stood up looking shocked.
“What’s happening?” someone asked.
A soldier picked up the staff and handed it to the councilman. The elderly man pushed it at Nora’s head. The stick fell to the floor once again.
“She’s an enchanter!” someone cried.
“No, it works on everyone.” The councilman adjusted his hat and glared down at her. “Who are you?”
“I am just trying to help a friend rescue his kidnapped daughter. I mean you and your circle no harm.” The council looked at one another but no one spoke, it was impossible for her to tell if they believed her or not. “I’m looking for Lucy Cramer. Have you seen her? She’s been taken from her home in Wildbush.”
The old man’s face softened. “Lucy Cramer you say?”
“Yes.” Nora began to feel a glimmer of hope. From somewhere behind her she heard a door opening. “Do you know her? Has she been here?”
The old man started to answer and then looked past Nora. “Master Enchanter, we need your help.”
Nora turned around to see who he was talking to. Her mouth fell open.
“I’ll take care of this for you.” the Master Enchanter told the council. “I’ve already been informed of the problem here.” He leaned in and put his lips to Nora’s ear. “If you say one word out of line I will make sure that your brother and that redhead are never seen again. And don’t forget Nora, you’re immune to them, not to me.”
“Uh huh.” Nora’s knees began to shake. She didn’t know what to do.
The Master Enchanter looked up at the council. “I’ll take care of this one myself. She won’t trouble you anymore.” He put his arm around her. “Not one word.” he whispered. “I’m in charge here; they’ll do whatever I tell them.”
“Yes Dante.” she murmured as they left the council hall.
Chapter 58
Finnegan stumbled backwards and fell against the wall. Killian had just socked him. “What was that for?”
Killian lunged at him. “What did you do with my daughter?” His fingers crept towards Finnegan’s neck. “Where’s Lucy?”
“I don’t know.”
Killian’s eyes were wide with fury. He raised his hand and slapped Finnegan across the face. “I don’t just get beat up; I can give it back too. I’ve learned every trick there is. Now tell me where Lucy is.”
“Now listen, the thing is-”
Killian slapped him again. “You’re going to tell me where Lucy is or I’ll kill you. I don’t care. I have nothing to lose.”
“I didn’t want to do it.”
“I knew it!” Killian shouted. He wrapped his fingers around Finnegan’s neck and began to squeeze.
“Wait.” Finnegan sputtered as he tried to pry Killian’s hands away. The room began to spin and he felt dizzy. Death in a Firesea prison at the hands of his own brother, he supposed it was fitting end after what he had done.
Killian grinned madly. “How do you like that?” he cried. “How many times have I wanted to do this?”
Finnegan realized that Killian wasn’t speaking to him but to Talia. He gasped, trying to get enough breath to speak. “Lucy. She’s alive. She’s with your father.”
Killian suddenly let go. The other prisoners took no notice of their confrontation. “What did you say?”
“Listen Killian, just listen to me.” Finnegan said as he rubbed his neck. His fingers were tingling from the lack of oxygen. “Killing me isn’t going to do you or Lucy any good.”
“I don’t know about that. It felt good.”
Finnegan was tempted to explain to him that he was really getting out repressed aggression towards his ex-wife. But he suspected that Killian would not be receptive to his theories, despite having taken a psychology class in college. “I’ll explain things, but you’ve got to promise not to do anything crazy.”
“Go ahead then, say whatever it is you have to and then I’ll decide what I’m going to do. I doubt if this lot will mind if I kill you.”
Finnegan looked at the men around them. They were sunlight starved enchanters in rags who couldn’t have cared less what happened to him. He opened his mouth and then shut it. It was hard to know where to begin.
“Well?” Killian asked. “Spit it out Finn.”
“All right, all right. Shortly after I came to town I got rather heavily involved with Maeve Baker.”
“Yeah I know.” Killian said. “You were sleeping with her. What’s the point? I want to know about Lucy.”
“I’m getting to that. Maeve promised me certain things if I took Lucy away from you.” He watched Killian’s face as he processed this information.
“Why? What has Lucy done to her?”
“Lucy isn’t the point. Maeve wants to hurt you. That’s what she’s always wanted.”
“I’ve done nothing to her. She’s been on me for years and I don’t know why.”
“Well that’s tricky.” Finnegan swallowed. “I took Lucy from your backyard and drove her north.”
“And?”
“And I didn’t plan on coming near Firesea, I really didn’t. I guess I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. I was trying to decide what to do next when-”
“What do you mean, what to do next?” Killian took a step forward.
“Please don’t hit me.” Finnegan whined.
“I won’t if you would spit it out.”
“Maeve wanted me to dispose of Lucy but-”
“Dispose? Why don’t you just say kill?”
“All right she wanted me to kill her. But I couldn’t do it, I really couldn’t. I knocked her out with chloroform, I was going to leave her somewhere and go.”
Killian licked his lips. “You were going to dump my daughter and leave her to whatever or whomever found her?” His hands circled around Finnegan’s neck.
“Well, yes but- Oh don’t choke me again.” Finnegan begged. “I got interrupted by Firesea rangers. They took us back to the circle and put me here.”
“You belong here.”
“I know.” Finnegan sighed. “I’m not here just because of Lucy. I’m an exiled Firesea enchanter.”
Killian didn’t seem surprised by that statement. “So where is Lucy?”
“I told you she’s with your father. We appeared before the council and they used this thing, it’s called the Truth Staff. It probes your mind. They found out who I was and they sent me here. They found out who Lucy was and they called your father.” Finnegan hesitated. “You’re from Firesea.”
“I know. Nora and I figured it out.”
“Nora.” Finnegan scoffed. “What on earth does she have to do with this?”
“She and her brother brought me here.”
“Nora and Tom are in Firesea? They didn’t get caught too did they?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Because any mortal who comes into Firesea gets made a slave. They usually start them in the workhouse. It’s a good way to make sure their will is broken.”
Killian rubbed his forehead. “I’ll get them after Lucy. Do you know where to find my father? He may try and take Lucy back to Wildbush. I can’t go back there, I’ve got to find her before that.”
“He won’t go to Wildbush. You need special permission to leave Firesea. I doubt he has it.”
Killian glared at him. Finnegan was reminded of their mother, they both had her eyes. She had given him an identical look when she discovered what he had done to his brother. “How do you know I’m from Firesea? Can you tell by my energy, or do you know something else about me? I asked you once but you never answered me.”
“Maeve told me. She was from here too.”
“I know that now. Did she share with you why she hated me so much? Did she give you a clue Finn?”
“She was once engaged to your father. The engagement had to be broken because your father impregnated another woman and the council forced him to marry her.”
“Go on.”
“Uh, well, if she had married your father she would have been on the council, she would have had power. Instead she married a lower enchanter and had nothing.”
“So what? What does that have to do with me?”
“Isn’t it obvious? You’re the child that changed everything, you’re the reason that her engagement was broken.”
“If any of this is true that’s not my fault. I can’t help how I came into this world.”
Finnegan watched a prisoner take a sip of dirty water from the spigot on the wall. “Your birth changed things for many people.”
“Is this what Maeve told you while you were rolling around in bed with her? What was it that she was going to give you for getting rid of my daughter?”
Finnegan felt ashamed of the words that were about to come out of his mouth. “She was going to show me how to possess a mortal’s soul. I want to cast another spell.”
“What happened to your first one?”
“I wasted it.” Finnegan said. “Kind of like Talia turning your hair red.”
Killian poked him in the chest. “Don’t talk about my hair. What was the spell?”
Once again Finnegan hesitated. “I had a younger brother. I was jealous of him. I used to be the center of my mother’s life and he took that away. When I was twelve years old I cast a spell to get rid of him. I sent him to another circle.”
Killian frowned. “Why would you do something like that?”
“Because I was a young boy who watched my father get murdered. I was denied my rightful inheritance. My mother remarried and shortly after she had my brother. It was a lot to deal with.”
“I grew up with no parents. I had no family.” Killian said bitterly. “I lived with Talia and her father and her two brothers who treated me like the dirt under their feet. Then I was forced to marry Talia and she beat the crap out of me for two years. I don’t feel sorry for you.”
“I don’t expect you to understand. I’m just telling you what happened. I’ve only recently begun to realize what a mistake I made.”
“It took that long for your conscience to kick in?”
“No. I met my brother and I realized that he’s ten times more of a man than I am.”
“That’s a pretty easy mark to hit.” Killian snorted. “You’re pathetic.” He looked around the damp cell. “We have to figure out how to get out of here.”
“We?”
“Yeah. You put us in here, now you’re going to help get us out.”
“Killian.”
“What? Don’t you ever shut up? I’m trying to think.”
“I have to tell you something.”
Killian shoved him against the wall and pinned him there. “If you are about to tell me that everything you just said was a lie I swear I’ll break your neck.”
“No, it was the truth, but there’s more. Can you please let go of me?”
Killian shook his head and stepped away. “Go ahead Finn.”
Finnegan’s heart was racing in his ears. He could have just let it go, Killian wasn’t interested in his life story. He would never ask more about it. Finnegan could keep their connection a secret forever but he didn’t want to. “That brother of mine, he’s you. I’m the one who sent you to Wildbush.”
Chapter 59
“What did you just say?” Killian asked Finnegan.
“I’m the one who sent you to Wildbush. I’m your brother.”
For years Killian had longed to find out where he came from, now that he was finally getting some answers he didn’t like them.
“Did you hear me?” Finnegan asked.
“Yes, I heard you.”
“I almost didn’t tell you just now.”
“Then why did you? Do you think I want to be related to you?”
“I feel bad about what I’ve done.”
Killian stepped forward and he flinched. “I should just kick you in the head and get it over with.”
“Oh please don’t. I never expected you to be this violent.”
Killian glared at him. “What did you expect? Did you think I would shake your hand and thank you for ruining my life?”
“I wasn’t going to kill Lucy. I told you I was going to leave her somewhere and go. I never thought you would come after her so quick.”
“Did you think I would just sit around and wait for her to come home? She’s my child.” Killian jabbed him in the chest. “You’re the stupidest man I’ve ever met.”
Finnegan wiped his nose on the back of his hand and slid to the floor. Killian ignored him and walked to the other end of the room. He stepped over sleeping prisoners and suspicious looking piles of garbage. The stench was so bad that he soon found himself back with Finnegan. He sat next to him. “Are you sure we’re related?”
“Yes.” Finnegan answered. “How many other Killian Cramers do you think there are in the world? Besides, you look like your father, except for the green eyes and the red hair.”
“I told you not to talk about my hair.” he said angrily.
“Sorry. I didn’t realize you were so touchy about it.”
“Well I am, so for your own sake don’t mention it again.”
“How much did you know about yourself growing up?”
“Nothing.”
Finnegan sighed. “I shouldn’t have sent you away.”
“I can’t believe this is just coming to you now, after thirty years.”
“I know it sounds awful, but all of those years that I didn’t see you, it allowed me to continue to justify it to myself.”
“When did you have this sudden change of heart?”
“When Nora wrote me about Wildbush. She said that there was a man with green eyes like mine. I knew in my gut it was you. I had to go there and see you, I wanted to laugh at you and put you down in my mind. But when I met you it was different. We weren’t children anymore and you weren’t some annoying little boy. And then when Maeve told me about how Talia used to beat you-”
“I don’t want your pity. I can defend myself just fine.”
“I’ve realized that.” Finnegan said rubbing his neck. “And I don’t pity you. I like you Killian.”
“I don’t like you.”
“Maybe someday you will.”
“Don’t hold your breath. Why would I ever care for someone who took me away from my home and family? You’re dreaming. As soon as we are out of here you and I are going our separate ways and I hope I never see you again.”
Finnegan sighed.
“What was so special about getting another spell anyway?” Killian
asked. “What great act of charity did you mean to perform?”
“I wanted to return to Firesea. I’m the rightful heir to the Master Enchanter’s robe.”
Killian was disgusted. All of this boiled down to power, something he had no interest in.
Finnegan sighed again. “I’ve been on my own in the mortal world since I was twelve years old. I’ve been poor most of my life. I worked my way through college and law school. I haven’t had it easy.”
“So what? Do you want a medal?”
“I’m just saying that I am the rightful heir to- Oh never mind. Nothing I say will make any difference. If we get out of here I won’t go back to Maeve.”
“I know you won’t, she’s dead.”
Finnegan’s mouth dropped open. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. I was there when it happened. I had just discovered Lucy was missing. I pushed her and she hit her head on something. It didn’t seem like that hard of a fall at the time.”
“Sometimes it’s how they hit their head, not the force of the impact.”
“Thanks Doctor Murphy. I guess I’m wanted for murder in Wildbush.”
“No listen, there’s a good chance it would be considered an accident. I’ll go back with you and act as your lawyer. I can help you.”
It would be useful to have someone to help him, Killian knew nothing about the mortal legal system, but he wasn’t ready to admit he might need Finnegan for anything. “Don’t get all brotherly on me.”
“I owe you. I’ll do whatever you want.”
“Funny how you discover all of this family empathy now that you’ve been caught kidnapping a sixteen year old girl, your niece no less.”
“I mean it.”
Killian didn’t believe him but it didn’t matter. “My father, can he be trusted with Lucy?”
“Devin? I haven’t seen him in thirty years but yes. He’s a good man. I hated him as a boy, but I guess I didn’t really-”
“A yes or no will suffice. I’m not interested in your opinions.” Killian stood up and pulled Finnegan to his feet. “Get up.”
“You’re not going to hit me again are you?”
“Don’t tempt me. We have to figure out a way out of here.”