Jaylen looked up at the pale yellow flag of Vilyron, still bearing the silver sun sigil that the old paladins had held so dearly. It flapped in the wind, high up on the main mast above the sails that were filled with the ocean breeze, pushing them out from the empty harbor. The mage-glow in the sky was still dim with the early morning haze of pale gold and orange, but was barely visible with all the fog and the overcast skies.
While he watched the front of the ship slice through the choppy waves, Jaylen thought back to everything he was leaving behind in Ilyan and to the warning that Paladin Commander Tyrin had given him. He knew that leaving so soon in his rule as king could have unintended and detrimental consequences, but it was a chance he would have to take. No matter how much people wanted him to be king, Jaylen couldn't simply stay locked up in some castle for the rest of his life, only issuing orders for other people to carry out. If he was going to be king, he would make sure that all the very important decisions were carried out by him and him alone.
"Not a very nice day for sailing, huh?" Xair joined Jaylen's side, followed by Amari. "The crew is hard at work and all of our supplies have been stored in their places below deck."
"And our prisoner?"
"Nimiel is secured in shackles and chained up below deck on one of the cots. He won't be moving from that place unless he is led somewhere."
Jaylen took a deep breath of the frozen air. "Good. I think I will go speak with him later. I haven't even met the kid yet. Oh, and hello, Amari. It's nice to finally get to spend some time with you as well. I hope you are settling in well around here."
The albino woman smiled and bowed.
Xair tucked Amari's pale bangs behind her ears. "She is content. I told her about the extreme mercy you showed me three days ago. Jaylen, my life and my allegiance lie solely with you. I am at your service for eternity. You have spared my life when you should have taken it." He held out a thick silver bracelet engraved with runes then secured it around Jaylen's right wrist. "Amari sends her gratitude."
Jaylen turned his wrist over, looking at the glittering runes. "It's beautiful. What is it?"
"The divine Ka'taylin runes of the sultanate. It has been passed down for generations through my family. The Arcanas will help protect you as long as you wear it. It is a very valuable and precious heirloom, but it is the least we can give you for sparing my life."
"I will treasure it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some things to check on below deck."
Xair caught his arm. "One more thing. I know what you did for those two servant kids. Letting them sleep in your bedchambers and have all the food and luxuries while you're gone. You will spoil servants if you treat them that way, you know? Take it from someone who has had many servants."
"Good. They're kids. They need to be spoiled sometimes. I did leave Abby and Tristan a short list of chores to do in my absence, but I also gave them some oil paints, an easel, books, a ball, and musical instruments to have fun with. I told them to play in the gardens and if any guards gave them a hard time, to tell them they had my permission and to show them the written orders I gave myself. Kids need to be kids. I didn't have a childhood, so I wanted to make sure they did."
"Don't get me wrong. I think it is a very nice gesture."
Jaylen thought about those two children and smiled. "They were going to send the girl to a brothel. I couldn't let that happen."
"You're a good man, Jaylen. Just remember something. You can't save everyone."
"Then let me save the ones I can."
"Very well."
Jaylen walked to the stairs then went below deck into the darkness. He went down past two levels where the others were either asleep on their cots or busy doing research to the bottom deck. Down on the far end, there was a single cot with no blankets or pillows where a grey-winged young angel was sitting on the edge by a ball of Oviel's purple mage-glow. The boy was chained by his ankles to the iron bars of the cot and his wrists were locked in the golden enchanted shackles. Jaylen's heart ached for him when he heard sniffling and whimpering as the boy cried quietly. The fledgling surely didn't look like a bloodthirsty monster.
Nimiel jumped a bit. "Who's there?"
"It's me, Jaylen."
"No!" Nimiel dropped to the floor and hid on the other side of his cot, pulling against the chains as tightly as they could go. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please don't hurt me. Please no paladins."
"You have something against paladins? Why are you so afraid of me? I'm not the one keeping you in chains."
"You paladins are all alike. Trevor-"
"Trevor?" Jaylen asked. "Trevor isn't a true paladin. What did Trevor do to you? I haven't even seen him since getting on this ship."
Nimiel pointed to a small door in the side of the wall. "Don't let him find you. He's angry."
"Are you sure we're talking about the same Trevor? Trevor Treylan is a nice man who would never harm anyone. Just stay quiet and I'll figure out what is going on." Jaylen went to the hidden door then pushed it open and stepped inside. It was a small room, piled high with wooden crates up to the ceiling. Trevor and Brinx stood around a circle of burning candles with a makeshift altar of black roses and a shallow silver bowl.
Trevor was busy reading from an old book and adding ingredients to the bowl. He held up a glass vial and showed it to Brinx. "One vial of virgin blood."
"Where did you get that?" Brinx asked, stripping the leaves and thorns from a few of the roses.
"From our trusty little virgin boy. I took some from Jaylen when he was unconscious from the medicine the royal guards gave him. It was simple enough to sneak into his bedchamber while he was on suicide watch. Seems that no one was actually watching him. Typical."
"That's the real reason the clergy tries their best to keep their paladins pure. Virgin blood is always on hand."
"Yep. Well, thanks to Jaylen, we have all the virgin blood we need. There's no reason to go hunting anywhere else."
Jaylen's hand tightened into a fist as he continued to listen to the people he used to call friends. Was that all he had been to them? A constant fountain of virgin blood for whatever dark rituals they needed it for? What he heard next from Trevor was even more concerning.
"With Nimiel's mind so malleable, I was able to manipulate him easily, opening a path to get to Jaylen without having to fight with Zeriel. You know, for a fledgling, Nimiel was surprisingly resistant to my magic. But it only took a complete memory wipe to make that half angel behave like putty in my hands. Want to know what's even more beautiful than that? The fact that I can control Nimiel any time I want. All I have to do is have Jaylen's blood, Doran's blood, a demon's blood, and an angel's blood."
"Why do you need Jaylen's and Doran's blood?" Brinx asked.
"Because Nimiel is somehow connected through the Arcanas to Jaylen's bloodline. Haven't you noticed how similar Nimiel and Jaylen look? I've been analyzing both of their blood and what I've found is truly fascinating. If I didn't know any better, I would have said they were brothers. Anyway, I then combine the blood together and write with it like ink. Anything I write becomes the visions that Nimiel places in people's minds. Brilliant, isn't it?"
Brinx handed him a rose. "Very. Let us finish this ritual, though. We don't need to be gone long."
"It's early in the morning. No one is going to find us. We will have everything cleaned up and hidden before we're out at sea. No one suspects me, Brinx. They all think I can't have magic because of my bloodline. It's the perfect cover. Now, they have Nimiel chained up every hour of the day and night. All that does is help us out. We don't get discovered and they help us out by keeping Nimiel imprisoned, leaning him right where we want him. He can't run away if he's their number one enemy."
Jaylen had heard enough. He wasn't going to stand there and let whatever kind of dark ritual this was to be carried out. He stepped out of the shadows and drew his longsword from his hip. "I know what you are, Trevor Treylan."
Trevor placed the silver bowl back down o
n the table. He turned around to face him. "Oh? And what do you think I am?"
"A mage."
"Oh, not really. You and Oviel were right. I don't have the capacity for magic in my blood, but that's not what really matters. The magic I use is from rituals, blood, and ancient scrolls. I taught myself. I wasn't born with it. I'm a warlock." He waved his hand, causing the door to slam shut, trapping Jaylen in the room with them.
"Trevor, why are you doing this?" Jaylen asked. "This kind of magic is strictly forbidden by the scriptures."
"Do you really think I care about the scriptures? Open your eyes, Jaylen. Your beloved scriptures are nothing more than lies used to control you."
"Why are you harming Nimiel and forcing him to do things to people's minds?"
Trevor sliced his hand open and squeezed his blood into the bowl. "Because he is a very special weapon. Since the day five years ago when I found him washed up in the harbor and mostly dead, I have been keeping him locked away where no one could find him. It was only recently that I was able to fully erase his memory and embed his brain with my special enchanted crystals. Nimiel is nothing more than my little slave. It feels so good to own an angel."
"I can't let you continue this."
Trevor glared darkly at him then placed his hand on the bowl of ingredients. As he whispered something where Jaylen couldn't hear, a black smoke rose from the altar and circled around Jaylen, forcing him to drop his sword to the floor and every muscle in his body to seize up. "How does it feel, Jaylen?"
"Stop this. Stop this, please!"
"I will stop as soon as you agree to not breathe a word of any of this to anyone, especially not Oviel. No one needs to know what I am or what the truth is about Nimiel."
Jaylen struggled against the magic bonds. "This has been going on the entire time?"
"Since before we were both sent to Cilona. I had kept Nimiel in the shed behind my father's blacksmith shop. At first, Nimiel was terrified. That fear was what allowed me to manipulate him into staying silent and not trying to escape. No one ever suspected a thing. Listen, Jaylen. I'm not your enemy. I'm still Trevor. Just now you know about my hidden little secret. I don't use it for evil. I am keeping Nimiel from hurting people. There's no telling if he's dangerous on his own or not. At least under my control, the fledgling will not be a threat to anyone."
"Why did you have him mess with my mind?"
"Because I needed your blood. I knew you wouldn't simply give it to me. I had some of your blood from when you were injured a while ago, but I ran out. You really do bleed a lot, you know?" Trevor asked mockingly.
"What do you need my blood for this time?"
"This? This potion is just to ensure the wellbeing of my child." Trevor poured the mixture into a tin cup and handed it to Brinx. "Drink up, darling. You see, Jaylen? Not all warlocks are evil. We appreciate both sides of the Arcanas. What Xair doesn't know won't hurt him. But if he finds out, you will be hurting."
Jaylen was desperate to get out of this. "Just don't hurt anyone and I'll let you continue. I don't want anyone to get hurt with all of this. Let Nimiel go."
"Not a chance. He is my constant source of both angel and demon blood. Not only that, but his downy feathers make the most powerful potions. No wonder fledglings are highly prized. Xair should know all about that. Ka'tayl once had a black market that specialized in fledgling angels who were stolen from Heaven and sold to the most powerful mages. Once I stop his growth to ensure that he doesn't experience his awakening, Nimiel will be a fledgling forever."
"You can do something like that?"
"There are many things I can do, Jaylen. Then when I choose, I can set Nimiel off like detonating a bomb. All his pent-up anger and hatred from years of torture and neglect will explode from him in a fury of magic and energy. He is our weapon for destroying Carvael and those demons parading around like angels in Heaven. It is our only hope for finding out where Sola is. It's all too obvious that our goddess is gone. I will be the one to save her."
"At the cost of an innocent fledgling's life?" Jaylen asked.
"It's one fledgling to save millions of humans and angels, both alive and yet to be born. I understand if you only see this as being evil, but you have to trust me with this. I know you're all about protecting innocence and defending children and all that, but look at the bigger picture here."
Jaylen growled. "And if I don't?"
"I will kill you. Believe me, I don't want to go that far. You are still my friend, Jaylen."
"Just let me go. Please."
"Then swear that you won't breathe a word to anyone and Nimiel stays under my control." Trevor said roughly.
"Deal. But we let Nimiel out of the shackles."
"That's up to Oviel."
He sighed, defeated. "Fine. No one finds out."
Trevor snapped his fingers then the black smoke vanished. "You're free to go, Your Majesty."
Without another word, Jaylen left the room and closed the door then went to the fledgling who was curled up on his cot and shivering. "Nimiel?"
Nimiel looked up with his wide eyes brimming with tears. "Yes?"
"I know you didn't do those things to me and Zeriel out of your own free will."
"Can you help me get out of here?" Nimiel asked weakly. "I just want to stop this."
"Trevor is controlling you, right? Why didn't you tell anyone before now?"
"Because Trevor threatened to wipe my memory again. I was scared that I wouldn't even remember my name this time. Please help me, Jaylen. Please don't let Trevor kill me."
Jaylen reached out and gently touched the boy's arm. "Don't worry, Nim. I'm here for you."
Nimiel held up his wrists that were bound by the shackles. "Can you unlock these?"
"No. That's up to Oviel. I will speak with him, though. Being that you can't fly yet and we will be in the middle of the ocean for about a month, it shouldn't be an issue."
Nimiel wiped his eyes on the backs of his hands. "I'm hungry."
"Did you not get dinner?"
"No. Oviel hasn't given me food in three days. The last thing I ate was some stew Gavin brought me. Oviel says I don't get to eat if I'm evil. But I'm not evil . . . at least I don't think I'm evil."
There was nothing evil about him. "You're not evil. I will get you some food and a blanket. Even if you are still under Trevor's control, I will do my best to ensure that you are treated better than this."
"Thank you, Jaylen. Oh, can you remove the needles from my back?"
"What?"
Nimiel turned around to face the wall. "Lift up my shirt. Trevor has been using them to drain and study my blood. He says he leaves them in to teach me a lesson."
Jaylen pushed Nimiel's shirt up and gasped when he saw the four hollow needles buried deeply between the angel's wings until only a centimeter sticking out from his skin. Dried blood still stained the boy's skin. "How long have these been here?"
"Two days. They hurt."
With steady fingers, Jaylen gently pulled the three-inch-long needles from Nimiel's back, making the boy whimper. He set the bloody needles down on the floor. "There."
"Thank you. I know Trevor will just put them back, but maybe I can get some sleep until he needs me again."
Jaylen stood up to leave, but leaned close and whispered into Nimiel's ear. "If Trevor ever tries to touch you again, you scream for me, okay? I'll come down here with everyone else and we will kill him. I don't care if he is my friend. I will not let him harm you."
Chapter 13
Six days passed with Nimiel still in shackles and Jaylen constantly trying to avoid Trevor at all costs. That was a confrontation he didn't want to deal with. There was no telling how powerful Trevor truly was. Jaylen also knew that if he was to voice his true opinions to Trevor, all of that anger would be taken out on the innocent Nimiel.
During the past week, Jaylen had been sneaking food and water to the fledgling every night. They would stay awake in the darkness whispering to each other and telli
ng stories just to pass the time and get Nimiel's mind off of the pain he was going through. Over that short amount of time, the two of them grew close, almost like brothers or as if they had known each other for years. The last few nights, they had even joked around with each other and laughed. But none of that reopened any of Nimiel's memories.
Tonight, Jaylen carried a wooden bowl filled with vegetable soup and stacked high with thick wheat crackers down to the bottom level where Nimiel was eagerly awaiting him on his cot. He went up to him and set the bowl down. "Hey, Nim."
"Jaylen, there's something important I need to tell you."
"Then go ahead and do it. No secrets here, remember?"
Nimiel shamelessly began devouring the soup and crackers. "Oviel and Brinx left about an hour ago. I overheard them talking about going to Heaven together. I don't know why. Trevor gave them some potions he made to take with them. What would they need those kinds of magic things in Heaven for?"
"I don't know. Where is Trevor?"
"In his secret room."
"Stay quiet and eat. I'll see what he's up to." Jaylen opened the hidden door and stepped into the room where Trevor was sitting at a table reading from a scroll of parchment. "Trevor, where have Oviel and Brinx gone? Tell me what you are doing."
"This is none of your concern, Jaylen. You will thank me for helping them."
"Thank you? Thank you for what?"
"Today marks a new era for Heaven, one where only the true angels will rule the skies. Oviel and Brinx are strong enough to make the beginning push that will send the rest of the bricks toppling down. And guess who will be there to rebuild. We will. Heaven will be ours, Jaylen. Being the king of Vilyron pales in comparison to being the king of Heaven, don't you think?"
"I . . . don't know. What about Sola?" Jaylen asked.
"Sola is dead. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you can move on and actually begin living your life the way you were intended to live it. Now, if you are going to hang around here and pry into my business, then I expect payment for my time that you've wasted."
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