He nodded, scowled and looked at Gannon.
“Is it true that you’ve kept a new Mage, with wild magic, a secret from this Council?”
“Yes.”
“Is it true that you didn’t tell us when you came up with a solution to the collars”?
“Yes. No. It’s complicated.” Karn watched Jubi take off Gannon’s cuffs. He held completely still, not moving or giving away the fact he was free.
The room shook. Debris from the ceiling crashed to the floor.
“What is going on here?” one of the Council demanded as they were pushed under the bench.
The shaking subsided and a dark haired, olive skinned man stood in a hole in the side of the room.
* * *
“Mikhail.” Kayla choked out, sliding to her knees, watching as the man she thought was dead morphed his face into the one she despised above all others.
“Keaton.” She whispered the name.
He looked at her and grinned, his face melting, dripping off in large chunks.
He cackled. “I go by that name, yes. But I prefer Master to you, wife.” He bounded into the room. Grabbing her around the throat, he chucked her across the room with a single swipe of his hand. She landed near the door and lay there, still for a moment.
She lay stunned, then felt a tiny hand clench hers. She looked to where the owner of the hand should be but saw nothing. She remembered that smell, and the voice coming from the void. Her gut clenched. Sasha.
“Stay still, Mama. Grandma Rosen taught me the words to say before the bad men took her away." Kayla clung to the small hand as she listened to her tiny, haunting voice.
“I banish thee, father, back whence thou came. I banish you to the depths from which thou sprung. I banish you, father, to the lands of your birth. Never grace this path again!”
He screamed and howled.
Kayla pulled out her blade, giving the tiny hand a squeeze, then pushed the invisible girl back behind her. She stood, stalking toward the howling creature that had once been her husband. Tormund squared off on the other side of Keaton. He nodded to her, their animosity set aside for the moment. A few creatures sprung from the hole Keaton had made in the wall and attacked the Mages who’d been standing around watching one of their own go down. They scampered over its back in a futile charge.
She sliced a thick slab of skin away from Keaton’s arm. He howled and raked her with his claws. She growled and bit down. Focusing on Keaton, she put herself between him and Sasha. She only had one goal in mind: protecting her child. She realized now that the small child was hers. The puzzle fell into place. Keaton and Mikhail were the same person.
He would pay. She hit him again, hacking on one side while Tormund tore into the other. They settled into a rhythm. She blocked and thrust again, striking the beast that had once been Mikhail under the ribs, destroying the body she’d once held in her arms, the beast she’d been cornered by for the last few years. She screamed inside until she felt a small tug on her arm, so small she almost didn’t feel it. She stopped. The almost invisible form of her daughter stepped in front of her, solidified and sent a glowing orb of fire into the chest of her father. “I said, I banish you,” she shrieked.
He fell to the ground. Then Kayla noticed the magic melting a crater in the chest of the creature. It spread like a cancer from within, and the chest cavity caved. He dissolved, holding her eye the whole time.
The little girl clung to her leg, and the fighting momentarily came to a standstill. The Council leader pointed at Kayla and the girl. “Kill the abomination before she spreads her poison.”
Kayla whispered, “Hide for me, baby.”
“I can’t, mama.”
Tor turned on her and raised his sword. The man she’d just stood shoulder to shoulder with became her enemy. “I have no choice. I am sorry.”
“You will never take her! I will not lose her again.” She felt Roo press against her leg. Growling.
Nyx flickered into view between Tormund and Sasha and transformed into the man from her dream. He looked Covington in the eye. “This woman is the daughter of a man you do not want to anger. This child is meant for a purpose, and you have no more control over her life.”
“She is a Mage. We have every right to decide her fate.”
Kayla watched from the corner of her eye as Nyx turned on Tormund and told him to look at the Council.
“These men and women before you are not what they appear to be. They are not what they once were, and they will never be that again. The Mage Covington has corrupted their minds. The bands of dark magic ring their necks. Think before you act.”
Tormund’s sword dropped half an inch. He turned his head and looked at the Council.
Kayla gripped her sword tighter, seeing the glimmer of a slave ring beneath the woman Council member’s collar. The woman’s eyes rolled back and spittle dripped out of her mouth.
Kayla’s eyes shifted to Covington, whose hand rested on the woman’s neck.
“Take your hand off her.” Tormund shouted, on his way towards the dais before he finished speaking.
“Why should I?” he cackled, kicking over the woman’s body. It hit the floor and didn’t move. The other Council members sat stone still, didn’t even stir to look around them.
“You see, I’ve nothing to fear from these husks.” He gripped another one around the neck and she saw something curious forming behind him. The space began to dip in on itself and bow backward, like a seam ripping in slow motion.
“No! Covington, stop! You don’t know what you’re doing!” Gannon screamed, racing after Tormund.
“Oh but I do, Gannon. I do, and this time you’re not going to stop me.” He gripped the final Mage around his neck and the fabric of space tore open. The swirling maelstrom tugged at Kayla’s clothing. She shoved Sasha towards Karn. “Take care of her!” she screamed, watching the scene unfold before her. She ran towards Gannon, throwing a bolt of blue flame at Covington’s chest.
It missed. She gathered her strength for another attempt. Gannon stepped into her line of fire and she dodged to the left for another shot. Her feet pounded up the steps, seconds behind him.
“Stop or he’s dead.”
She froze. Covington’s palm was planted directly over Gannon’s heart and she could see the power emanating around his fingers.
A dark brown streak flew through the air, knocking Gannon out of the way. It took her mind a second to register that it was Roo. She tossed her power at Covington, but he hit the ground. Rolling away, he smirked. He sprang to his feet and hefted the limp body of her dog off the ground and onto his shoulder.
“I’ll take a Guardian over a waste of a Mage any day. Wouldn’t you like to know what I’ve done with your dear Rosen?”
“What the hell did you do, Covington!”
“You’ll have to wait to find out.”He tossed one last bolt of magic in Gannon’s direction and stepped back, disappearing into the maelstrom.
Gannon stood, leaning heavily on the dais. All Kayla could do was stare at the spot where her beloved friend had been, while the battle raged around her. She felt Gannon pull her into his arms before the numbness wore off enough to register what he was saying.
“Shush now. We’ll get him back.” A bloody Nyx stepped in front of her.
“No we won’t, but I will.” She glared at Nyx. She pushed Gannon from her. Looking them both in the eyes. “Take care of Sasha. I’ll be back in few hours. If I’m not, take her to Jerry. At least with him she could have a semblance of a normal life.”
“Kayla, this isn’t your fault.”
She ripped open a gate, unwelcome tears streaking her cheeks. “Take care of her.” She walked through the portal.
“Kayla, wait!” Gannon’s scream cut off.
She stepped out into a hot, dusty landscape. Her lungs burned. The tears evaporated on her cheeks. She staggered out into the sand, taking slow even breaths, growing accustomed to the feel of heat through her heavy clothing.
“My loyalties are to you, not Gannon. Roo is my Alpha. Of course I would come to find him.”
She paused. “Of course.” She didn’t expect any less from him. She burned with anger, even though Keaton was dead. She focused it at Covington.
She would get Roo back even if she had to kill everything in her path. There was a soft cough. Kayla jerked and turned her head. The massive Battle Mage stood a little apart, watching them.
“What are you doing here Tormund?” She raised her sword. Her next action very much depended on what he had to say.
He waved her off. “Your child is safe. I come for reasons of my own. Since I cannot gate, the only way for me to track Covington is to stay near you.” He paused, looked at the ground then back up at her. “I pledge that nothing I do will harm you and yours for as long as I follow you.”
She kept her eyes on him and relaxed her stance a bit. “You want to follow so you can destroy Covington? I might let you if you can tell my why.”
“I’m a Council Battle Mage. My job is to protect the Council, and I’ve failed. I failed because of that monster, and I want to bring him in.”
“I’m not bringing Covington in, Tormund. If your goal is to keep him alive, you can turn away now.”
He clenched his jaw and glared at her. “He should stand trial.”
“Let me tell you a little something about Covington. He had my daughter and a lot of other Mages in a dungeon. He tortured them with creatures I’ve never seen before.
“He uses their magic for who knows what, and it’s tearing them apart. Sasha was alone in a pitch black room. She was covered in filth, and in pain, and you want me to allow this man to live?”
He turned away a second and she watched him gather himself. “I had no idea it was as bad as that.”
“I’m sure it was worse, but that’s what we saw.”
“I’ll bring him down, Kayla, if we do it my way. Otherwise you’ll just get in the way.”
“I’ve done this before, you know. I made a living bringing in scum, and he’s just another thing that needs scraped off my boots.”
“Not like this, you haven’t. Covington’s powers have morphed. We don’t know why. We don’t even know how, but if he’s consorting with beings like you’ve described, we can only assume the worst.”
“Whatever the case, let’s get going. Karn, I hope we can find shelter from this heat soon. We need to locate the tracks where Covington came through. I think I sense something in that direction.” She felt a pull on her magic. It felt like Roo.
She started off, looking back over her shoulder at Tormund. “Well, aren’t you coming?
Adriane Ceallaigh has been writing fiction since her early teens. She hopes you enjoyed the story you’ve just read. To find out more about her and her work, visit her or email her at:
www.adrianeceallaigh.blogspot.com
[email protected]
Unbound (Kayla Blackstone) Page 16