Prophecy Unravelled- Heir Series Box Set

by Rin Grey

“True.”

  They didn’t say much more that night. So much had been said, so many possibilities opened up. Now that her guilty admission was past, Elizabeth could actually believe she might get the chance to get to know him.

  Merron relieved them of the watch as the moon crossed over the horizon.

  Elizabeth was relaxed enough she was asleep as soon as her head hit the blankets.

  Chapter 14 - Searching

  By morning, the remainder of Jon’s team still hadn’t arrived back, not that either he or Elizabeth expected them by then.

  Merron gave Elizabeth one or two suspicious glances, but she was relieved he said nothing out of the ordinary.

  They debated their next course of action over a hurried breakfast.

  “Hopefully that blast took out some of the mercenaries as well,” Jake said. “There are seven of us, four mages, we should be able to handle anything that we encounter.”

  “That didn’t help the nine mages who didn’t make it out last night,” Jon pointed out. “They were obviously outnumbered.”

  “They’re your men, do you just plan leave them there?” Merron demanded, unimpressed

  “Of course not. But I don’t think numbers are to our advantage. I say we take a small group and go in quietly to see what is going on. No point in risking more lives than necessary.”

  Even Jake had to see the wisdom of this plan, “Who goes then?”

  Jon shrugged, “I’m going, obviously and I’ll take one of my men. The rest of you can decide who goes from your side.”

  He was watching Merron with narrowed eyes.

  Elizabeth was too. Would he pick her?

  Was Jon counting on him not? That would be one way to keep his promise to Sean.

  But she had to give Merron credit. He didn’t hesitate. “I guess, since you’re our only mage, then you’re coming with me, Elizabeth.”

  Elizabeth couldn’t help feeling nervous as they headed back towards the ruined city. It looked slightly less menacing in daylight, and an initial reconnaissance showed no sign of guards, other than those who had been dispatched last night.

  Still she couldn’t help feeling uneasy. Something had gone badly wrong last night, and she still had no idea what.

  She made Merron invisible, and Jon did likewise for his man, and they went in.

  The city was eerily quiet today. There wasn’t even a breeze to stir the leaves in the trees. Their footsteps were surprisingly loud in the silence, but no one came to investigate the sound. It was as if the twenty odd mercenaries that were in evidence yesterday had just disappeared.

  They reached the crater without incident. It was bigger than Elizabeth remembered, about the size of a city block, deep enough that you wouldn’t see a two story building hidden in it.

  The group stopped on the edge and Elizabeth said quietly, “I’ve never seen this much magical destruction before.” Her voice sounded loud, even to her own ears. The scale of the blast was inconceivable, impossible to believe that it could have been done by one person.

  It was rather weird talking when she couldn’t see anyone. But after a moment, Jon replied, “I haven’t either. I don’t think there’s anyone around though, so we can probably dispense with the invisibility.” He dispelled his as he spoke.

  His warrior appeared a moment later and Elizabeth dispelled the invisibility for her and Merron as well.

  Once everyone was visible again, they waited for a moment, half expecting someone to jump out of the nearby buildings, but nothing stirred. They soon got over feeling exposed, as they walked around the crater, looking for any clues as to what had caused it.

  “It must have been a bobby trap.” Jon said eventually.

  “You’re certain it was magical?” Merron asked. “Any chance the mercenaries had a mage in their midst that we missed somehow?”

  Jon didn’t deign to reply, so Elizabeth explained. “It is highly unlikely that one mage, especially one without extensive training, could have done this on their own.”

  “Could you?” Merron asked.

  Elizabeth considered that for a moment. “I’ve never tried anything like it, but possibly.”

  “How about the other guy? The one who is supposedly dead?”

  Elizabeth frowned. “Just what are you suggesting?”

  She could feel rather than see Jon’s attention turn back to the conversation. “Yes, what are you suggesting?” he said, his voice suddenly containing a hint of steely threat.

  Merron looked at the two of them, his eyes narrowing. “Well apparently, if the two of you are to be believed, the only group of mages around here capable of doing this are dead. Unless you count the two standing in front of me.”

  Elizabeth stared at him in stunned silence, unable to think of a response to that.

  Jon was not so surprised. “My men are dead and you think this was a set up?” he demanded angrily.

  “We only have your word for it that they’re dead,” Merron pointed out. “You don’t seem that cut up about it.”

  Elizabeth intervened. “We’re all a little shocked by all of this, but I don’t think accusations are going to help anyone.” Instinctively she put a hand on Jon’s arm to calm him.

  Jon obediently broke off, but Merron was not so easily silenced. His eyes were on Elizabeth’s hand, and his frown was dark. “No, we’re outnumbered and out powered by these mages, what chance do we stand? What chance did we ever stand against them?”

  “Merron. That’s uncalled for. And it isn’t helping the situation at all.” Elizabeth had no idea if he would accept her authority, no idea if she had any authority, but she had to do something. “We have nothing to go on here except that the building was destroyed by a magical blast. And currently, the mages are our allies. I suggest we gather as much information as we can to take back and present to Jocelyn, rather than running around accusing people without reason.”

  For a moment, she thought Merron was going to argue, but after a few moments he backed down. “You’re the heir. Don’t think I won’t voice my suspicions to Jocelyn though.”

  Jon shot her a quizzical, sideways look, but said nothing.

  Elizabeth frowned at his threat. Would Jocelyn share his suspicions? Did she care? Not that there was anything she could do about it right now.

  Instead, they walked around in silence for a while, all of them more than a little awed by the destruction they saw. There was no sign of anyone, living or dead. They checked the nearby buildings and found nothing either.

  “The blast would have been centred almost on top of the building we were looking for I think.” Jon commented, checking the map for confirmation. “Seeming to back up the possibility that it was a booby trap.” He looked at Merron pointedly.

  Merron frowned, and came to look over his shoulder. “That doesn’t prove anything. It makes sense to destroy the evidence.”

  Elizabeth frowned at him and he lapsed into silence. She was relieved to see that Jon just looked amused. An all-out confrontation between the mages and Jocelyn’s people would not be good.

  Especially since she had no idea which side to take.

  “I’m going to follow back to where my men would have entered the city, see if I can see any survivors.” Jon said instead.

  Merron was obviously unwilling to leave him alone, so the whole group followed.

  Though they found evidence of the warrior’s entry, a few guards slumped in heaps at various points, there were no other clues as to what had happened after that. There was nothing else to be seen, so they all returned to the camp.

  “So what now?” Merron asked Jon pointedly.

  Jon looked sober. “I think I’d best return and tell Prince Veryn we’ve lost a Seeker and nearly a dozen of our best warriors. I doubt he’s going to be too happy about that.”

  Elizabeth looked sympathetic. “I don’t envy you.”

  Merron frowned, obviously not convinced, but either unable to find anything else to say, or unwilling to challenge the mages.


  There was an uncomfortable silence, then Merron began ordering Jake and Cyril to break camp. He ignored Elizabeth totally and she hesitated, unwilling to leave things as they were with Jon.

  “Are you going to be all right?” Jon asked quietly. He jerked his head towards Elizabeth’s group. “They seem to be more than a little suspicious of you.”

  Elizabeth shrugged. “I couldn’t care less. They’ll get over it.”

  Jon hesitated. “Merron said something about you being the heir?” he asked curiously.

  Elizabeth shrugged uncomfortably. “Apparently. It’s a long story.”

  Jon just nodded and they both stood there silently for a moment. “I feel bad for not seeing you back to Jocelyn’s. Both to be sure you’re safe, and to help deflect any suspicion. But I also need to inform Sean of what happened. He’ll be waiting to hear.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Elizabeth said immediately. “There’s no sign of any danger now. The city is empty.”

  Jon nodded again. “That’s what I thought too.” He hesitated for a moment, then said quietly, “Well, I guess this is goodbye.”

  “Yes, it would seem so.” Elizabeth was equally sombre.

  “I hope we can meet again,” Jon said softly.

  Elizabeth couldn’t help but smile. “I’d like that,” she agreed.

  Jon gave her one last smile, then he and his remaining men quickly packed their belongings. Standing together they pulled small objects out of their belt pouches. Jon looked at Elizabeth one last time and she sighed softly as they disappeared abruptly.

  Merron, Jake and Cyril looked quite surprised. “What happened? Are they invisible?” Merron asked Elizabeth.

  She shook her head. “They teleported back to the Dome.”

  Merron shook his head. “I’m not too happy about any of this. But since we can’t teleport.” He paused and looked at Elizabeth for confirmation.

  She shook her head.

  “Right, well, since we can’t, we’d better start moving. With any luck, we can make it back to Asherad before nightfall tomorrow.”

  Chapter 15 - Reporting

  Jon teleported to directly to his father’s palace with the remaining warriors. Sean would already know of Carlis’s death of course, but he would be waiting to hear the details from Jon.

  Though he’d gone over the events several times throughout the night, Jon had no idea what he could have done differently.

  He didn’t think he’d been distracted by his conversation with Elizabeth, but he had to consider the possibility. No matter how many times he went over the events of the last few days though, he couldn’t think of anything he would have done differently.

  The explosion had been so out of the blue. He could have lost another warrior, and even himself, had it not been for Elizabeth’s quick actions.

  He only wished he knew what had happened. He should have been there with his warriors. Maybe he could have done something. But he knew that was pointless. Carlis, who had far more experience than he, hadn’t been able to save them.

  Once in the palace, he sent the remaining warriors home, no point in them hanging around. Sean could question them later if he deemed it necessary.

  Jon walked through the corridors, nodded to Janice, and knocked on Sean’s door.

  “Come in.”

  He entered and sat opposite his father, wondering where to start. This was his first assignment and he knew he would have to deem it a failure.

  Sean didn’t beat about the bush. “Carlis is dead? What happened?”

  “There was an explosion, at the target site. Most of the men are gone,” Jon answered solemnly. Those men’s lives would be on his conscience. He had been responsible for them and he had failed them as much as he had failed his liege.

  Sean’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t not betray any other sign of his thoughts. “Elizabeth?”

  The question was a formality of course. Given his specific orders, Jon would have mentioned immediately if anything had happened to his mother. “She’s unharmed, we were on the other side of the city to those who were lost. She’s returning to the Salingas.”

  “Did you retrieve the items?” was Sean’s next question.

  Jon shook his head. “I’m afraid I have to declare the mission a failure. The explosion occurred before we were even close to the building, and everything was destroyed in the blast. We were unable to retrieve the items.”

  Sean nodded. “Who have we lost?”

  As Jon related the names of the missing warriors, he felt a crushing sense of failure. This had been his first mission, and he had lost more than half the men under his command. This job was not all adventure and excitement, as he had initially thought.

  He had known there were risks involved. His mother’s husband, the man he no longer thought of as a father, had died on such a mission, but though he had accepted the risk for himself, he had not realised that he might be responsible for the death of others.

  Sean nodded, and noted the names down. “Do you have any idea what caused the explosion?”

  “It was magical, that much was obvious. I suspect that Carlis and his men set off one of the many booby traps around the building, but it’s impossible to be certain. Elizabeth said she might have been able to do something that large, and after seeing her in action I could well believe it, but it would certainly be beyond the capabilities of any mage outside of the Dome.”

  Sean nodded. “How did the Salingas take it?”

  “Their leader, Merron, did everything but come outright and accuse Carlis of being responsible. Elizabeth calmed him down, but with the outcome of them suspecting her as well. I hope they don’t cause trouble for her.” Though Elizabeth had been unconcerned, Jon was well aware that their closeness was at least partially responsible for their suspecting Elizabeth’s involvement.

  Sean seemed unconcerned. “I have no doubt she can handle them.”

  Having seen her in action, Jon supposed there was no reason to doubt that.

  Sean folded his hands in front of him and stared at Jon thoughtfully for a few moments, before asking, “Do you think that the Salingas had anything to do with the explosion?”

  That idea hadn’t even occurred to Jon until now. He thought over the events, and shook his head. “I didn’t see anything that might suggest that. With only one mage, it seems unlikely. I know Elizabeth is powerful, but there really was no chance for her to have been involved, and her reactions seemed genuine. Unless you have some reason to think she might have?” Sean knew his mother better than he did of course. If he thought…?

  Sean shook his head. “No, I wouldn’t believe it of Elizabeth, although it doesn’t pay to put anything past her. But there are others in the Salinga family who could have.”

  Jon frowned. He’d seen no Salinga other than Elizabeth even capable of magic. “Even if they did, I don’t see how they could have accomplished it.”

  “True,” Sean agreed. “Well, I suppose there is nothing to be done about it now. You’d best get home and get some sleep.”

  Jon hesitated. Though the thought of his bed was more than appealing, one last responsibility still tugged at his conscience. “I should inform the families of the men who died.” It was his responsibility, he knew that, but he had not the faintest idea of how to go about it.

  Sean hesitated, then said quietly, “I’ll take care of it.”

  “Would you have said that to Carlis?” Jon demanded, trying not to feel relief at his father’s suggestion.

  “Carlis had ten years of experience. You have not. If Carlis had been around to accompany you… but if he had, the job would not require doing. There will be other opportunities, Jon. Let me take care of this one.”

  Jon hesitated, relief waring with the worry that his father would think less of him for shirking this responsibility.

  “I’ll make it an order if it makes it any easier?” Sean suggested.

  Tiredly, Jon shook his head. “I’m sorry. I’m afraid I’m not very good a
t this.”

  “Go home, son. Get some sleep. It will all seem better in the morning.”

  Exhausted, Jon did as he was told.

  Chapter 16 - Loyalty

  It was a long ride back to Asherad for Elizabeth and Jocelyn’s team. They pushed on relentlessly, riding until just on dark, setting up a brief camp, then packing up and moving on again at sunup. No one seemed inclined to discuss the dismal failure of the expedition, though Elizabeth had no doubt it was on all of their minds.

  When she gave Rianna her head and left her to her own devices, the well trained horse obediently followed Jake’s horse, leaving Elizabeth’s mind free to review the events leading up to the explosion over and over.

  At first, she could see what the others were talking about. The idea that the explosion was intentional, that the other Seeker and warriors had escaped with the entire cache of magic items seemed, well, ludicrous.

  Of course, she was coming from a position where she implicitly trusted Jon and Sean. If one took away that fact…

  If one did, in fact, come from the opposite side, from a position of mistrust, the implications were so obvious they almost took her breath away. Then if you added back in the information relating to her relationship with Sean and Jon, the possibilities became even more clear.

  If the mages from Linarra were determined to have those magic items, what better way to get them than to send someone guaranteed to distract the only mage on the rival’s team? The only person who had any hope of anticipating or seeing what was going on.

  The possibility made her mouth go dry. Had she just let Sean and Jon take those items out from under her nose? Had she played right into their hands?

  She gave herself a mental shake. Just because it would have been a brilliant plan, doesn’t mean that it occurred that way. There was no more reason to suspect that Sean had set her up than that the other team had set off one of the booby traps.

  If the Dome had wanted those magic items, there would have been nothing to stop them simply taking them. They outnumbered Jocelyn’s team clearly, even not allowing for the fact that they were mages. All they would have had to do was put the lot of them to sleep, if they were too squeamish to kill them, and walk off with the magic items. Nothing to stop them at all.