It’s not much of a fleet anymore, thought Byrn, but he held his tongue. He had not seen the battle that raged at Wolfsbane for two days, but it was clear that the kingdom found its victory on the ground. They had only a handful of ships remaining in their navy.
“I have been wondering what to do with you,” said Janus when Byrn did not answer. “At first, I planned to use you against your own people. That would be a fitting reward for you and for them for their betrayal of the crown, but the more I think about it the more I wonder if it is a mistake keeping you alive. What if you got out of that collar somehow? Then I will have spoiled a golden opportunity to get rid of a great enemy. That thought plagued me, but then I had an interesting thought. Why don’t you tell me what you think I should do with you? And please elaborate. I would love to know the details of your reasoning.”
It would have been a cruel joke if Byrn was truly collared- to clinically weigh the advantages and disadvantages of sparing him solely as it related to the king’s well being. Would Kale Aurel have done that? The old king was known to have a hard edge, but it was impossible to imagine him putting someone in this position solely for his own amusement.
Janus waited for an answer. He leaned forward in anticipation of what he might hear. Byrn knew he had to say something, so he finally managed, “It would be a mistake to kill me.” Of course, he had to say that. It was not evident if Janus had any intention of following through on whatever Byrn told him or if he was merely playing at a mind game, but it was better not to take the chance. “I could be a powerful ally to you if we could be persuaded to trust one another.”
“You misunderstand your position, Necros. You are at best a weapon and nothing more than that.”
“I fully understand your intention. You asked what was the most advantageous use of me and I gave it. If I were a corpse, I would serve no use. If I were a slave, I am only useful until the moment I get free. If I were an ally, then I would always be of use to you.”
The room was silent for a minute as Janus considered the new possibility presented before him. Never before had he considered that a magician would willingly seek to ally with him. He descended the dais and stood close enough to Byrn so that he could see his captive’s eyes. Byrn held his skeptical gaze.
“Of your own free will, you would destroy your own kind at my command?”
“Yes,” Byrn lied without hesitation. It was an answer that Janus never would have expected to hear and never would have believed if not for the collar around Byrn’s neck. Indeed, if Byrn did not wear the collar, he never would have attempted the deception to begin with, but knowing that Janus believed him incapable of lying gave Byrn a tremendous advantage. Even so, it was easy to read the conflict in Janus’ body language.
“And what would be the price of your loyalty?” the king’s tone was cutting; disgusted at the perceived treachery of his own people, but Byrn sensed an eagerness in there as well.
“Freedom to do as I please.”
“And if it pleases you to kill me?” asked Janus venomously, but still intrigued.
It was Byrn’s turn to smile wolfishly. “That would not be very loyal of me, now would it?”
Janus turned his back to Byrn and ascended back to his throne. Once seated he addressed Kellen, “Take Necros back to his cell.”
“At once, your majesty.” Kellen bowed and escorted Byrn out. His steel gloved hand bit into Byrn’s arm uncaringly. That would leave a series of bruises on the tender flesh. A soft glow of anti-magic grew around Kellen. It was an unconscious reaction to some mental queue and if not for Byrn’s own attunement to magical properties, he would not have noticed the lightest of drain’s against his magic. He studied that aura during their brief return to Byrn’s compartment, but learned little from it.
By the time Kellen shoved him into the hold once more, Byrn had come to a decision. “Kellen, wait! We need to talk,” he said as the door was closing. It slammed shut. Kellen would not listen to a word Xander Necros had to say, but he might listen to, “Byrn! I am Byrn!” He was almost giddy at saying those words. After pretending to be someone else for so long it was an unanticipated treasure to speak the truth.
The door did not immediately open and Byrn thought that the knight had not heard him. Then the knob turned and the door swung open of its own volition. Kellen stood there barring the doorway. His warhammer was in his hands and it glowed intensely. Byrn stepped back to the rear of his compartment without thinking.
“You lied,” said Kellen and took a step into the room. “Earlier you said you were Xander Necros. Now you say you are Byrn Lightfoot. That collar does not work at all does it?” He progressed slowly. His hatred was intense, but focused. The knight would not be making any sloppy mistakes.
“I am Byrn. It is true. Xander cast an ancient spell that switched our bodies. I know it is hard to believe, but it is the truth.”
Kellen took another step forward. “It does not matter to me who you are. Byrn or Xander, it makes little difference to me and if the collar is no longer working then you are too dangerous to be left alive.” He swung the warhammer and it connected with a hastily constructed shield. If Byrn had not already been pressed against the wall he would have been thrown into it.
Another swing of the hammer forced Byrn into the wall uncomfortably. He held tightly to his shield so that it would not fall. “Listen to me! Xander was an old, dying man with an unmatched knowledge of magic. Now he has my body and you know what I was capable. Imagine if he had that much power at his disposal.”
Kellen stopped before he could deliver a third strike, but stood wary.
“I need your help to stop him.” Byrn went to his knees and began to trace the rune on the ground again. As it came to life, he looked up at the knight and saw a shocked expression. His warhammer was no longer held at the ready. “I need you to train me,” Byrn told him as the rune began to drain his magic. He felt light-headed and his stomach turned. Powerful hands grabbed him as he fell, but unconsciousness would not be denied.
When Byrn woke Kellen was nowhere to be seen and the compartment was once again locked.
Chapter 30
The safehouse was set up a day’s ride outside of Mollifas and upon their arrival Alia was heartened to see an array of familiar faces from the Collective there to greet her. Most notable among them was the presence of Byrn who had apparently taken up the mantle of leadership with her father’s demise. When she first saw him she was unsure of how to react or what his reaction to her would be. The last time they spoke they came to the decision to take their relationship slowly- would that they had done that at the beginning, but Alia did not begrudge him over that since those early nights of passion resulted in the creation of Avelice and she could never think of that as a mistake. There were hurt feelings and betrayals of trust, real or imagined, on both sides and it would take time to sort those things out. Still she found that she was glad to see him and to know that he was well.
Their embrace when they first met was strong, but grudging giving Alia the idea that Byrn was trying to hold her at arm’s length. She resolved to ask him about it later when there were not so many people around.
Byrn greeted Tomlin with a handshake and a few pleasant words. Ryonus received a friendly hug and pat on the back. Riona also received a hug, but it seemed to linger and an instant of jealousy stung Alia though she would not have admitted to it if asked.
To Kaleb, Byrn merely nodded and ruffled his hair without a word before turning to speak with someone else. Not to be dismissed so quickly, Kaleb tugged at Byrn’s cloak and announced, “Alia has made me Avelice’s protector,” and stood there beaming, waiting for praise.
At that declaration Byrn did turn and clasped Kaleb on the shoulder. “I thought I was her protector,” he said with a sidelong glance to Alia that she did not pick up the meaning of as if he somehow took offense to that, but he must have thought better of it, because he added, “Ah well, I guess it would not hurt to have another watching out for h
er. She is very important, you know.” To which Kaleb nodded and agreed emphatically.
It was not until that evening’s dinner that the masters had a chance to sit down and discuss their strategy for taking Mollifas, a conversation that Alia was very interested in having. When Byrn came back to Wolfsbane he had advocated a peaceful solution between the royal family and the Collective, but now that the kingdom had seen fit to attack their home in a brazen attempt to wipe them out she wondered if his position would change and indeed it had.
There were seven masters among them who sat and discussed the coming power grab. Besides them there was another twelve magicians at the safehouse of lesser, but still formidable talents. In addition to theirs, there were three other safehouses. One was outside of the capital and two were located within it. Each one housed about twenty magicians of adept or master abilities. That was only eighty magicians, but they were a collection of the most powerful magicians that the Collective had to offer. The Collective’s tactics up to now had always been to harass the kingdom forces in small hit and run skirmishes, driving them to fear and distraction while forcing them to spread their armies thin. Such tactics were usually only carried out by three or four magicians at a time, but now they planned a concentrated assault with twenty times that number at the seat of power in Aurelia while most of the kingdom’s fighting forces were still making the long trek back from Wolfsbane.
Byrn went over the battle plan, readily receiving agreement from all of the masters besides Alia. “We have the advantage of surprise on our side,” he told them. “My brother believes that we are defeated, possibly decimated, and according to reports he is within a day of the capital by sea and without the majority of his army that still marches. Janus would not expect an attack on the magnitude that we have planned. Once we are sure of the king’s return we will gather in secret in front of the castle gates and once they have been opened for the kingdom’s daily court we will simply walk in. There will be some resistance from gate guardsmen and the like, and they will be treated with prejudice. Any who stand before us will be killed. Is that understood?”
Byrn was answered with nods, some of them were emphatic, from around the room, but Alia stood and stared at him in shock. She had seen him angry before, but the way he talked of casually killing people was completely unexpected especially considering that he could not personally kill anyone thanks to Ashura’s curse. She looked to Ryonus and Riona, who seemed to firmly agree with his plan.
Byrn continued. “We will make our way through the keep to the throne room. Hopefully King Janus and his mother will be in attendance for court business, but most likely they will flee to a safer location once news of our arrival begins to spread. For that reason we must find them quickly and secure them or we could end up in a long, drawn out battle and we don’t want that. I have no doubt that we would be triumphant, but we have lost enough members already.
“The king and queen-mother are not to be killed under any circumstances. We need them and the noble representatives from the various regions alive so that they can swear fealty to me.”
“A subtler approach may be best,” Alia found herself suggesting. “Something that would get us closer to Janus without being detected and even into the presence of the nobles before we reveal ourselves. It would be safer for everyone involved.” She expected that he would pick up on the connotation that by “everyone” she really meant him.
Byrn leaned forward. “I am listening.”
***
“When the battle begins I want you safely out of harm’s way,” Byrn told Alia.
Dinner had just ended and the two spent a quiet minute alone after Byrn had asked to speak with her privately.
“I am flattered that you care about my well being, but I cannot sit idly by while everyone else puts their lives in danger. Kaleb can stay behind with Avelice, and Tomlin too, but I will not sit out this last battle. I have been through too much to just stay behind now.”
“You are so headstrong. It is one of the things that I love about you, but sometimes it can be very frustrating,” he told her, irritably, but Alia did not note his mood only his use of the word “love.”
“So you admit that you still love me?” asked Alia.
Byrn’s face contorted into a pained expression. He looked away. “I’m not in love with you. That is not what I meant.”
“But that is what you said.”
“Alia…” frustration was creeping into Byrn’s voice. “You’re not listening. There can never be anything romantic between us.” He went to leave the dining room, but stopped short when Alia grabbed his hand.
“Why are you acting like this?”
Byrn shook her hand loose roughly. He turned and looked angry like he was about to yell at her, but Alia must have as heart broken as she felt, because his expression softened and he took a calming breath before he spoke. “My dear, I have something important to tell you,” he said regretfully. “I had thought that I could lie to you about who I was or drive you away by making you hate me, but when I look at you I know that I cannot continue this farce- not with you. The others must believe that I am Byrn Aurel, but I am not.” He exhaled heavily and took in another deep breath. “I am really your father.”
Without thinking, Alia smacked him hard enough that her hand stung like a hundred little needles had just pricked it all at once. “What kind of a sick joke is this?” she demanded.
Byrn rubbed his cheek. “It is no joke. I took Byrn’s body. This may be hard to believe, but there is an ancient spell that allows a necromancer’s spirit to invade another person’s body and displace their own spirit.”
Alia turned away from him. She could not look at him at that moment and stormed out of the dining room. She went to her bedroom where Avelice slept and rummaged through her things.
“Are you alright?” asked Kaleb who was sitting in the corner. No doubt that he was taking his role as protector very seriously.
“Not now,” was all she said to him as she found her staff and exited the room as quickly as she had arrived.
Byrn was not far behind. “Let me explain,” he begged, but she would hear none of it. Alia pointed her staff and threw every bit of energy into it before flinging the magic at Byrn like a mental tidal wave. It was an attack that he was completely unprepared for and she grabbed his mind so that she could demand anything from him and he would be forced to comply.
“Tell me the truth,” she screamed out the words in anger. Alia knew that she had lost control of herself, but at the moment it no longer mattered to her. If this was some sick game, then she would have no part of it and if it was the truth- “Who are you?”
A crowd of the other masters and adepts had quickly formed around them. None dared to interfere, either out of fear for their own safety or out of fear of what would happen if the spell she cast was broken prematurely. Mental suggestions were a delicate thing.
“I am Xander Necros,” said Byrn and Alia hit him reflexively with her staff, forcing him to his knees. He was struggling against her spell, trying to break its hold. It was all she could do to hold him under her sway.
“Why would you do this? What could possibly justify betraying me like this?”
“Power,” was his truthful answer. “You have no idea how much power Byrn had at his disposal. Power that he was unwilling to use. I took Byrn’s body so that I could make use of that power and use his name to lay claim to the Aurelian throne. This is about more than just your feelings, daughter. This is about the future of our kind.”
“And all it cost you was your daughter,” said Alia.
“Difficult choices must be made,” said Ryonus from the crowd. “Let him go,” he added sternly. There was no pretense of a request in his tone and his staff was in his hand. He had known about this all along! Ryonus let her think that her father was dead and said nothing. What of Riona, who reported his death, but could not give any details? It seemed likely that she knew as well. Did Tomlin know?
“You ha
ve all betrayed my confidence,” she said, confirming the knowledge to herself as much as to any of them. Alia suddenly felt like a deer in a room of wild dogs that were about to pounce. She edged back into her room, keeping everyone in front of her. Xander was using all of his strength to counter the spell she had placed on him and Alia knew she could not hold him for much longer.
She slammed the bedchamber door behind her and went to grab Avelice out of the crib, but she was already gone! Alia looked around the room frantically, but it was empty. Her baby was gone!
“Alia, hurry,” came Kaleb’s hushed voice and Alia turned to see him signaling for her from outside the window. He held a bundle in his arms and her heart skipped a beat. She crawled out of the window and followed after Kaleb as they ran through the streets of the small town. There was no place safe here that they could stay. They would have to take their chances out in the forest.
“That was quick thinking,” Alia huffed when they could no longer run and finally had to take a short break. “It seems I was right in making you Avelice’s protector, but why were you in the room in the first place?”
“Byrn was acting strangely earlier like he did not recognize me at first,” said Kaleb as he handed over the crying child. Alia attempted to sooth her with a whisper of magic. She did not like the idea of casting spells on her daughter, but she must do whatever she could to guarantee their safety. “I did not know what to think of that,” he added, “but it made me feel…”
“Uneasy,” suggested Alia and Kaleb nodded. “You have good instincts.”
Bouncing balls of fire signaled that the other magicians were searching for them, using the magic as torches to see in the dark.
“We must go deeper into the woods,” Alia told him.
***
Magician Prince Page 24