No matter what Xan had done or why, Tasia couldn’t bear to see him get hurt.
“As someone who can channel life magic—” Tasia hated the term death mage. “—I can tell you we’re hard to kill, so it’s not like you’ll be able to carry out your mission, anyway.”
“He can’t use magic when he sleeps, and the queen gave me a vial of the most potent poison known. I’d just have to figure out a way to get into his bed.” Ashley smirked. “However could I manage that?”
All too easily, unfortunately.
“You can’t,” Tasia said. “I mean, you wouldn’t betray him like that, would you?”
She looked away to hide her grimace. Not that she cared. What her cousin and Xan did were their business and none of hers.
Unless …
The death of an innocent man was her business because, really, doing the right thing was everyone’s business. Yeah. That made sense.
“If I had to.” Ashley sighed. “But I hope I don’t. Ideally, we’ll find him to be the same reasonable, pliable young man we all care about.”
Lainey looked up. “You won’t hurt him, my lady?”
“Not unless it’s necessary.”
Tasia narrowed her eyes. “But not hurting him means breaking your promise to the queen. No matter which way things go, you’re betraying someone.”
Ashley shrugged. “If one seeks big rewards, sometimes one must take big risks.”
“There was no need to take a risk at all! If you just stayed quiet …” Tasia let out a frustrated breath.
“Hmm. No need. Let’s see …” Ashley held up one finger. “To influence events, I need to be in the middle of the action, not stuck on the sidelines.”
She added a second finger. “To get from Escon to the middle of the action, I need the queen’s blessing, but she wanted me to spend the foreseeable future endlessly testing mages.”
And a third. “I need to make the decision what to do about Xan. If I hadn’t volunteered to be the queen’s solution, she would have chosen a different one that would surely be more dangerous for him.”
“That …” Made sense, not that Tasia would admit it. “That doesn’t explain how you achieve a winnable endgame. How do you get the queen from assassinating him to allying herself with him?”
“Her greatest desire is to ensure the safety of her throne. If we can show her that Xan is more of a help in that regard than a hindrance, she’ll change her mind in a second.”
Tasia found herself nodding but stopped herself. Ashley’s ridiculous scheming was a sickness, and the contagion was spreading.
“That boy could out-stubborn a herd of donkeys,” Lainey said. “What makes you think you can convince him to help the queen?”
“I have my ways.” Ashley batted her eyes.
“Like you convinced him to swear allegiance to your father?” Tasia said.
Ashley scowled.
“Face it, you can’t do it alone,” Tasia said, “but the three of us working together might have a chance of making him see reason.”
“Maybe,” Lainey said.
“You’ll help me, then?” Ashley said. “Both of you?”
“Yes, my lady,” Lainey said.
Better that than seeing Xan get hurt.
“No one moves against him unless we all agree,” Tasia said.
“Agreed.”
“Fine. You have my word.”
Ashley clapped her hands together. “Perfect. We leave first thing tomorrow. Brant and the rest of our mages will meet us at a place called Heart Harbor.”
“Yay,” Tasia said.
She did not share her cousin’s enthusiasm. With good reason. Bad enough she’d be forced to endure Ashley and Xan being together, but actively helping the relationship along might be the only way to save his life.
Tasia sighed. At least she’d get to see him again.
74.
Xan lounged on the Gryphon Throne.
His head fell forward as he dozed off, and he jerked awake, his eyes snapping open.
Thick black cloth covered the windows. Had he ordered that be done? The vaguest recollection of doing so tickled his thoughts, but when and why escaped him.
Oh well. It wasn’t important, anyway. He’d just been mildly curious what time of day it might be. Or night. Whatever.
When had he last eaten, though? No meals came to mind, but he wasn’t hungry. Of course, he didn’t recall feeling hunger or anything else for a while. Probably not for two weeks, give or take a few days, since he’d foolishly gone to meet the queen’s army.
At least Hosea hadn’t been by to see him. That was a mercy.
On a happier note, he hadn’t eaten a seed for a while. Time for another. Or three.
Tina burst in the door. “My lord wizard! Important news.”
Her words hurt his head. Idly, he lowered their volume. What did she want? He’d given orders not to be disturbed.
“Go ‘way.”
If there were news, Robyn should be the one delivering it. Where was she?
An inkling of a memory answered him. He’d sent her away. Ordered her not to see him again, ever. Why would he do such a thing? She’d … done something.
Tina’s mouth moved, but he heard nothing.
“What?” he said.
Her head bobbed back and forth like she was shouting, but he still couldn’t hear her. Weird.
“Speak up!” he yelled.
She cupped her hands around her mouth and bobbed her head again, but nothing reached him. What the blast?
Oh … he was still removing the sound energy from around her. Might want to dial that back. “What is it?”
“Enemy mages in Heart Harbor, my lord wizard.”
“How many?”
Though, really, he didn’t know why he’d asked. He didn’t care. All he wanted was for her to leave, so he could have another seed.
“Three, my lord wizard. Two death mages and a glamour, all nicely dressed women, either nobles or rich merchants. They arrived from the direction of Escon.”
“So? Maybe they want to join us.”
“We were curious why they took a room at the inn and wiled away the last few days like they’re waiting for someone, my lord wizard, so we sent scouts. A large group is heading this way from Asherton. That group is over forty strong, led by a Marshal Reed.”
Reed. That name was familiar, but Xan couldn’t quite place it. He shrugged.
“General Rocha believes the two groups will meet up and then travel to Eye Lake. And the only reason for them to come with a force that large is if they mean to attack.”
Forty mages were nothing. He had … uh, a hundred? No, more than that. Right?
“Do we have your permission to ambush them in the mountains, my lord wizard?”
Xan waved his hand. Sure. They could do whatever they wanted as long as she left so he could have another seed. “Kill them all.”
75.
Tasia stared out a window.
Heart Harbor was a quaint little town. Beautiful oaks bordered the square, and though not in bloom, small flower gardens occupied the yards of practically every home. Must be absolutely lovely in the spring.
Maybe she and Xan could visit together. If either of them survived that long.
She glanced back inside the room she shared with Ashley, who was on the bed pretending to read. Every five seconds, she’d look up. The waiting was getting to both of them.
“When will Brant get here?” Tasia said.
“Tomorrow. A messenger arrived this morning as I was taking my breakfast.”
Tasia pursed her lips. “We should go to Eye Lake ahead of him.”
He was likely to charge in like an invader, and who knew how Xan would react? If in a way Ashley deemed unreasonable, she might try to kill him.
“You may have mentioned that once or twice.”
“Because it’s the right decision,” Tasia said. “I know your father’s letter told you to wait, but the situation has changed. Haven
’t you sensed the constant magic use in Eye Lake? From Escon, it felt like a lot, but we had no idea how much. From this close, it’s obvious Xan has many times more mages than we do. Brant doesn’t stand a chance.”
Ashley smirked. “I never thought he did.”
“And how will that play out? Brant attacks. Xan fights back. He’ll see those who rode with Brant as an enemy. You. Me. Everyone.”
“That’s why we’ll approach slowly. Give Xan plenty of time to get prepared and realize we’re not a threat.”
“That’s not your decision. Your father put Brant in charge of this mission. You can’t order him to do anything.”
Ashley rolled her eyes. “If a lady has to issue orders to get a man to do what she wants, she’s not much of a lady.”
“Even if you manage that, we’ll still be on the side that’s attacking Xan.”
“You really think I can’t overcome that?”
“Maybe.” Tasia sighed.
He wouldn’t notice she even existed once he saw Ashley. She’d have him trailing her like a lost puppy at the first fluttering of an eyelash.
Tasia plucked at her skirt. If she could just get to Xan first, a few calm words of explanation from a friendly face might make a difference. “We should be careful. The prudent thing would be to at least send a scout.”
“Let me guess, you’re volunteering for the mission.”
“Well … I guess I hadn’t really thought that far ahead.” Tasia’s heart pounded. She hated deception. “Being logical about it, a normal person wouldn’t be able to determine how many magic users we face, so the scout has to be a mage. That limits our choices to you, me, and Lainey.”
“Uh huh.”
“And well, Lainey is Xan’s sister,” Tasia said. “I mean, I trust her, but we can’t ask her to betray her family.”
Ashley gasped dramatically. “We wouldn’t want that. It would be terrible.”
“I’m serious. We can’t send Lainey, so that leaves you or me. If you were willing to disobey your father’s order, we could have gone days ago. So … I guess … that only leaves one person who makes any sense. So …”
Ashley smiled and, an instant later, coughed.
No. Not a cough. A laugh.
And once the first came, many followed. She broke into great guffaws. By the time she finished, tears ran down her face.
“Thank you,” she said once she’d gotten herself under control. “It’s been too long since I’ve been so thoroughly amused.”
“I guess that’s a ‘no,’ huh?”
Ashley didn’t bother to respond.
76.
Xan slumped on a chair.
An ornately carved chair. Where was he?
The room was big enough for a hundred people to gather, and he sat on a platform above them. Some kind of place for speeches.
Wait. It wasn’t just a chair. A throne. With carvings of gryphons.
Maybe he should get up before someone found him sitting on it and he got into trouble. But he was so tired. Just wanted to sleep.
His butt was numb, so he must have been sitting there for a while. And the room was empty other than him. Good. Easier to rest.
But the pins and needles tickling his behind annoyed him, making it hard for him to go back to sleep. And he desperately wanted sleep because that was the only place he was free from thinking about Mar—
No. Stop. Not that name.
A memory tickled his mind. There was something he could do about the numbness instead of suffering. But what?
He could … heal himself somehow. Magic? That made no sense. Magic was bad, right?
Something about him being … a wizard. That was it. But that seemed like so, so much effort. On the other hand, the numbness annoyed him so.
He sighed. And drifted …
His eyelids fluttered. He hadn’t realized they’d been closed. Something moved. Blurred. A figure. No, two figures.
He wiped his eyes. A man and a woman stood just below the wood platform. They looked familiar, but he couldn’t place them. For some reason, though, he thought the woman wasn’t supposed to be in the throne room, which made no sense.
Oh well.
She said something, but he hadn’t been paying attention.
“What?”
As she spoke again, he reached for his bottle of seeds. A seed would help. Seeds helped with everything. He tipped the open bottle into his hand. Nothing came out.
It was empty? How was it empty? There’d been over a hundred in there.
He must have spilled it.
Xan tumbled off the throne and ended up on his hands and knees on the platform, searching the floor for seeds. Nothing. Where could they be?
“My lord wizard, can I help?”
What? Who’d said that? Xan glanced behind him. Oh, the woman.
Robyn!
Finally, he’d remembered her name. He grinned. And the man was … something that started with a “J,” right?
No, a “G.” Definitely “G.”
The hard wood of the platform pressed against Xan’s knees.
Wait. What was he doing on his knees?
The seeds!
A thought popped into his head. Anyone knowing about the seeds was a bad thing. He had to hide them. Wouldn’t want Master Rae to find out he was using them. Bad, bad thing.
“No,” Xan said. “I’m fine.”
He kept searching. Maybe under the throne. Nope. None on the seat either.
Where were they?
“My lord wizard …” another voice said.
Who was that? Xan looked back again. The man.
George? Grant? No, but close. Gregg. That was it. Gregg!
“… the mages from Asherton met with the ones in Heart Harbor. They’re en route through the Bermau pass. Our forces are in position for the ambush.”
“Fine,” Xan said. “Great.”
Why were they talking to him when they saw he was busy? Where were those seeds?
Footsteps stomped away.
Xan glanced back again. Gregg stormed from the room, slamming the door behind him. What had gotten him so upset?
“My lord wizard,” Robyn said, “please, whatever it is you’re taking, don’t take any more. We’re lost without you.”
Lost? That made no sense.
“I’m right here,” Xan said.
“You don’t leave this room. The maids even had to bring the chamber pot here. You sleep on this throne. When you’re not sleeping, you’re in a stupor. You barely eat. Today is the clearest your mind has been in over five weeks.”
Wait. Five weeks? How had so much time passed? And what if the seeds hadn’t spilt? Maybe he’d eaten them all.
That kind of made sense. He’d need to get more.
Wait. Another memory tickled his mind. More than a hundred seeds eaten so fast? His heart pounded. He was lucky to be alive. Not good. And …
“Give me a mirror!” Xan said.
“Excuse me, my lord wizard?”
“A mirror. Now!”
Robyn rushed from the room, presumably in search of one. Xan struggled to his feet, his legs trembling at having to support his weight. His limbs felt like they weighed tons.
What … oh, she’d said he hadn’t been eating.
He plopped down on the throne and waited, panting, until she returned and handed him the mirror.
Xan’s hand trembled as he looked at himself. His eyes. Oh no, his eyes. Rings. He looked away from her. He couldn’t let anyone see that. If Master Rae found out …
Wait. Master Rae. He was dead. Marco was dead.
So much death.
Tears streamed from his eyes.
“My lord wizard, please!” Robyn said. “I’m pleading with you. Eat. Clean yourself up. Oversee the ambush. The people are losing hope. We need you.”
Yes. He needed to get out of the room. Let the people see him. That was what a leader did.
Xan nodded.
“You’ll do it, my lord wizard?”<
br />
“Yes.” He looked down at himself. How long had he been wearing those clothes? He didn’t even want to know how he smelled. “Have the servants draw a bath and get me a change of clothes.”
That was the right thing to do. It was good to do the right thing.
Besides, after this ambush or whatever, he could fly back to Goldstream. Probably running low on gold, anyway. And since the bush was right there …
Yes. Good plan. Ambush, let the people see him, then fly to Goldstream. Perfect.
Wait. Ambush? What ambush?
His addled brain sloppily piece names and faces together. So, so hard to think. Something about mages from Asherton. Marshal Reed? Brant? And three women mages in Heart Harbor who worked for Duke Asher?
“What’s the plan, again?” Xan said.
“Gregg has our forces moving into position outside Heart Harbor, my lord wizard. Duke Asher’s mages are leaving the town now. In about an hour, we strike.”
“And by strike, you mean?”
“Kill them, my lord wizard Gryphon. It’s too dangerous to let enemy mages live.”
His friends had to be with Duke Asher’s mages. And Xan’s troops were about to kill them? Dylan. Brant. Ashley. Lainey.
Tasia!
77.
Xan bolted to his feet.
His head spun, and his legs wobbled. He had to sit back down on the Gryphon Throne.
“I’ve got to stop Gregg,” he said. “Did he establish an abort signal?”
“No, my lord wizard,” Robyn said. “Sorry.”
How to prevent the ambush? Xan’s every thought had to be pulled from a dark, murky cloud.
His heart pounded. “I’ll fly to the top of the pass and send him a sound burst.”
Robyn cocked her head to the side. “With respect, my lord wizard, you can’t even stand.”
“I can …”
No. She was right. He was in no condition to do anything.
“But I have to stop them. How?” His hands clenched the arms of the throne. “What do I do?”
“I’ll send Lauren and Sherry, my lord wizard.”
With that resolved, Xan’s tension eased. Some. “Do that. Fast.”
Robyn spun to leave the room.
Gryphon (Rise of the Mages Book 2) Page 41