The Obsidian Order Boxed Set

by martinez, katerina

  “Sharri is… an invisible friend that comes from a far, far, away place. A place of storms, and lightning, and power like you couldn’t imagine. Most mages have a guardian like her.” She paused. “Yeah, alright, no one has one quite like you. I’d appreciate it if you could butt out of my conversations, please.”

  “I think I’m losing track of the conversation…”

  “You wanted to go down this rabbit hole with me. I’m trying to give you the tour, which is more than most mages will do for an other like you. As far as mages are concerned, we should study you, and you should never know about us. I could get into trouble for telling you what I know, so you’d better not go running your mouth.”

  “I won’t… why do necromancers wish they were you?”

  “Because they study death, but I’ve been touched by death. They force their way through the dark doors and into the land of oogies and boogies, but I have a key. A key I made from my own blood and bone. There’s only one other person like me in the whole world, that I know of. Anyway, I don’t want to be too specific; we probably don’t have the time anyway…”

  “I get that… but I also just realized I don’t know a lot about you. I don’t even know where you’re from.”

  “Little place called Ashwood.”

  “Ashwood isn’t a little place; it’s a city.”

  “Oh, it’s pretty fucking little when it needs to be. The amount of times I ran into people I didn’t want to meet? You wouldn’t believe it. Anyway, you want to know if I’m going to meddle with you if you give me your hair. I won’t. But I do want to understand it.”

  “It’s hair.”

  “Yeah, but it glows. Hair shouldn’t do that. So, do we have a deal?”

  I frowned. “I guess…”

  “Good. Remember, you’ll still owe me after this.”

  I shrugged. “I always owe you.”

  Bastet grinned, then she sauntered over into her kitchen and pulled a pair of scissors from a drawer. I’d never let anyone except Fate near my hair before. She’d always been the one to cut my hair whenever it got too long, and vice versa.

  Now I was sitting still, with a mage with a pair of scissors in her hand standing only a few feet from me. My entire body was tense, even though I knew Bastet wouldn’t do anything to hurt me. I waited, shut my eyes, and then I heard the snip. A shudder pulsed through me, a feeling that grew and evolved into something like a pinch of pain.

  I winced, then Bastet showed me the lock she’d cut. “There,” she said, “I was discreet where I snipped; no one should notice a thing.”

  I touched my head. Something felt a little different. I tried to ignore it. “Alright, so… Valoel, what can you tell me about him and the mages he’s been talking to?”

  Bastet walked over to her kitchen, opened a small metal pot, and deposited the lock of my hair into it. “He sets the hackles up, this Valoel,” she said.

  “What does he want?”

  She headed back to the sofa and sat down. “As far as this little kitty knows, Mister Valoel is hungry for a fight. He’s unhappy with the status quo and thinks things need to change, the endgame being him on top. Of course, this ruffles all the right feathers, and some of the wrong feathers, too. There are a lot of mages who are pretty upset with the way things are being run around here and could do with a change of leadership.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, your kind has its Orders. Each is separate from the other, each wants something different and goes about its business in a different way. Mages have their Orders, too; each of us a different stripe to the last. But there’s also a governing body that tries to keep all of these Orders in check, and that’s just no good. Strays will be strays, domestics will be domestics—you try forcing them to see eye to eye. For all of our power and wisdom, mages are fucking stupid, and petty.”

  “I need to find him, Bastet. He’s gathering an army, and now he has mages on his side. Can you tell me the name of someone working with him?”

  “You’re not planning on tracking them down, are you? Understand that mages aren’t like you. We have access to vast powers, powers I’m not sure your kind is ready for.”

  “I have to try. I can’t sit back and do nothing while this guy grows his number of supporters. I’m a little surprised you’re not jumping into the fray.”

  “Me? Oh, sweetness, no… that life is behind me. I’m afraid I’ve already done enough harm to the world for a couple of lifetimes. Maybe I’ll get back into the game in a century or so.”

  “Century? What the hell?”

  “Never mind that, honey. Now, you need a name and a deal is a deal. The one mage I know has joined Valoel and his cause is called Slade, and he’s a special kind of dickhead. He’s the kind of stray to piss on people’s cars, crap on their windows, and get into fights with the other neighborhood cats. I think he had a brother on the council. The two of them would get into scraps here and there.”

  “Do you know where he hangs out?”

  “Oh, sure. He and the mages like him haunt a strip club in Queens. The Glittered Goddess. I actually think he owns it now? We used to hang out back at the Academy, but I haven’t spoken to him in years.”

  “The Glittered Goddess…”

  “I know. Cute, right? Anyway, if you want to find him, I’d start there, but be careful. He’s as sharp as a razor’s edge and twice as deadly.”

  I nodded. “I’ll be sure to be careful when I go after him.”

  Bastet stood and hopped over to me. She took my hand and pouted. “Please don’t let this be the last time I see you?”

  “I won’t.”

  “I mean it… even if you manage to deal with Slade. I expect a visit.” She leaned against my ear. “Otherwise, I promise I won’t go easy on you next time…” She snapped at my ear with her teeth.

  “I believe you,” I said.

  Bastet pulled away from me and I stood. Searching for Rey, who had been strangely quiet throughout this entire conversation. I found him tucking into one of the bowls of food Bastet had laid out. When he realized I was looking at him, he craned his head around his shoulder and licked his lips repeatedly, and thoroughly.

  “What?” he asked. “I’m a growing cat. I’ve gotta eat, too.”

  “You could’ve asked?”

  “Oh, don’t be silly,” Bastet said, “Rey can eat whenever he wants.”

  He turned around, still licking his lips. “Actually, I was wondering if I could stick around. I have a couple of things I’d like to talk about with you.”

  I arched my eyebrows. “What could you want to talk to her about?”

  “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”

  “You know, you’re starting to get on my last nerves.”

  “Am I? I hadn’t noticed.”

  Bastet waved her hand. “It’s fine, let him stay. I’ll make sure he gets back to you safe and sound.”

  Frowning, I nodded. “Alright,” I said, “But remember, it’s dangerous out here. Even for you.”

  “Yes, yes,” Rey said, rolling his eyes. “Whatever. Now go.”

  I left Bastet’s apartment, carefully navigating the sea of cats hanging out around the door to her place. As I walked through the hallway, a cold chill worked its way into my nerves, and I remembered what I’d felt earlier on. I had even more questions about what she was now than when this day started, but that would have to wait.

  I had a mage to hunt down, but I knew I couldn’t do it alone.

  I found Draven in the vault, looking over the golden singing stone.

  “Come here often?” I asked, walking through the doors into the dark chamber. My hair had already started to glow, creating soft, shifting shadows on the walls.

  Draven turned his head and looked at me. “Sometimes,” he said. A pause. “What did you find out?”

  “I have a lead, but I thought I would come and find you before diving into the deep end of the pool.”

  He nodded. “Good idea. Init
iative is one thing, impulsivity is another.”

  “More like I know my limits, and hunting a mage down on my own probably won’t go well, even for me.”

  I walked over to him. “What are you doing down here, anyway?”

  He turned his eyes onto the stone again. “I cannot touch it,” he said, “But I feel like you should be wearing it as a pendant, or maybe a ring.”

  “That’d make for the biggest ring anyone’s ever seen. It’s the size of a golf ball.”

  He shook his head. “Not all of it, just a piece.”

  “You want to turn it into jewelry?”

  “It amplifies your power… why wouldn’t you want to use it?”

  I took a breath as I looked at the stone. “Its power is… overwhelming. I feel like it wants to take my mind to places I don’t really want it to go, not when what I need to do is use the stone’s power to make myself stronger. It’s distracting, having to concentrate fully in the moment, on the here and now.”

  “But the stone gives you your kithe… your magic. For us to better fight what is to come—”

  “I know what you’re saying, but I don’t know how to tame it.”

  “Practice, like everything.”

  “You know that for certain?”

  Draven looked at me, his facial features thrown into stark contrast against the glow from my hair and from the stone. “Magic is a muscle. The more you use it, the better you become at using it.”

  “I don’t want to use it.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m terrified of that thing, Draven.”

  Again, he pressed. “Why?”

  I swallowed hard. “I feel like it wants to show me things, and I don’t know if I’m ready.”

  He took a deep breath, then exhaled. “I can understand that… I remember when I first fell, I was plagued with nightmares. I would hear the voices of the people that fell through the rift with me, I would hear them scream as the rift tore them apart. There was nothing left of them when we reached Earth. I was the only one to survive—or at least, I thought I was.” He shook his head. “I blamed myself for their deaths. I blamed myself for still being alive when they had died, but I didn’t know the truth of what had happened, the truth of how we had ended up there. I didn’t want to.”

  “Did you ever find out?”

  His expression hardened. He turned his eyes away from me. “I think I know some things one minute, and then whatever facts I have turn to smoke. I’m constantly doubting myself, always trying to figure out what’s true, and what’s just a fabrication.”

  I stared at the side of his face for a long moment, then looked at the stone. I was touching on some kind of wound. I knew that. I’d been here before, or at least I’d come near it before. Right now was the closest I’d ever gotten, and already I could see him closing up. That was the last thing I wanted, so I decided to back off.

  “Do you really think you could turn the stone into some kind of jewelry?” I asked. “Touching it might kill you.”

  “We’ll deal with that obstacle when we get to it.”

  “This thing could literally kill you. It’s risky, Draven.”

  “I know.” He turned his eyes on me. “But we’re at war, and I have a feeling Valoel isn’t going to wait for us to bring the fight to him. We need every weapon we can bring to bear, and this right here… you… this is a weapon we can’t spare.”

  “I don’t like that you’ve just called me a weapon.”

  “I don’t know how else to put it.”

  “Well, if you really want to put this weapon to good use, you’re gonna have to put your money where your mouth is.”

  “What do you mean?”

  I extended my hand. “Let’s do it.”

  He stared at my hand like it was a bloody knife he’d rather not touch. “Right now?”

  “Why not? Are you ready to die if this doesn’t work?”

  Draven’s throat moved. “We should think about this for a second.”

  “There’s nothing to think about. You’re either ready to die for this cause, for this war, or you’re not. If it doesn’t work, you’ll die… are you ready to die?”

  Because I’m not ready for you to die.

  He took a deep breath, hesitated, then he took my hand. “Do it.”

  Nodding, and hating myself for doing so, I went for the stone, plucking it out of mid-air and holding it tightly in my hand. The room suddenly flooded with white light. I tried to shut my eyes, but it didn’t work. The light was too intense, too powerful. I wasn’t even sure if my eyes were closing at all.

  Sounds, and air, and sensation swirled around me like the tides, and I didn’t know how to swim. I thought I was flailing wildly. I felt like my arms and legs were kicking and thrashing, but at the same time knew I was standing perfectly still. My senses weren’t working right, my mind was all over the place, and all I could think about was Draven.

  Had I killed him? I wasn’t even sure if I was still holding his hand. It was like I was dreaming. Nothing made sense. Up was down, left was right, in was out. I staggered back trying to reach for the walls and fell to the floor on my back.

  I blinked hard, trying to regain my bearings. The room sparkled with the glow from my ghostly, golden kithe. In one hand I had the stone, in the other hand, Draven. He was unconscious, and not moving. I scrambled over to him and tapped the side of his face. “Draven,” I said, going from tapping his face to checking for a pulse. It was there. He was alive.

  I kept trying him, brushing his hair out of his face and tapping him on the cheek. Nothing was working. I arched over him and stared at him, watching the way the light from my ephemeral wings danced on the landscape of his face. He was beautiful. Gods, that face, those lips, that jaw.

  I swallowed the ball of anxiety clawing at my throat and clutched the stone more tightly. With my other hand, I stroked his cheek, ran my thumb across his lips. They were warm, and full, and soft. I felt myself drawn to them, felt myself inching toward him. My heart raced inside of my chest, my entire body warming and trembling as, slowly, he started to stir and open his eyes.

  “Are you alright?” I ventured.

  “I’m not dead…”

  “That’s a good start.” I showed him the stone in my hand. “If you were going to die from this, you’d have died already… I think.”

  “I have a feeling you’re right. Did something happen to us?”

  “We passed out. I don’t know for how long.”

  Draven tried to stand. I stood up and helped him, and in his eyes I caught the reflection of my wings glowing at my back. Their light dazzled and sparkled inside of the dark chamber. I almost thought I could hear a faint hum in the air, too.

  “Beautiful…” Draven said, his voice trailing off. He’d been staring.

  I cocked an eyebrow and decided to jibe him. “Me or my wings?”

  He grinned but didn’t answer the question. Good move? I wasn’t sure. “It looks like your body absorbs the stone’s power, enough that it won’t kill me if you’re holding it.”

  I nodded. “Do you think you’ll be able to make something I can wear like this, though?”

  “Maybe, maybe not. Are you good with a hammer and chisel?”

  “Never attempted to use either in my life.”

  “Then you may have to learn. Let’s go to my workroom and see if we can’t turn this into something fashionable.”

  I shook my head. “There’s actually no time for that… it’s why I came to find you in the first place.”

  Draven frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “I went to see Bastet today. She gave me the name of someone who may know where Valoel is, or at least how to find him—The Glittered Goddess. It’s a strip joint in Queens. I came to find you because I knew you wouldn’t approve of me going on the hunt for a mage on my own.”

  “You made the right decision. I’m impressed.”

  “I like to think I’ve learned a thing or two while I’ve been here
. Anyway, I know the guy’s name and where he hangs out. The sooner we can get to him, the better.”

  “What about the stone?”

  “I think I should leave it here. I don’t see us getting into a fight, and it may just attract unwanted attention.”

  Draven nodded. I hadn’t noticed, but his hand was around my waist. What the hell was happening? My heart hadn’t stopped hammering against my chest. It was as if something had dramatically changed from the moment before we passed out to now, only neither of us realized it on a conscious level.

  How long had we been out? What had happened to us? I couldn’t dwell on any of that right now, and it killed me. I wanted to explore it. I wanted to explore him. Desire burned within me, kindled from out of the dark it seemed. I licked my lips as I stared at him, wetting them slightly maybe in anticipation of another kiss… one that wouldn’t come.

  Standing here and making out wasn’t on the agenda.

  Draven took my hand and led me out of the vault. Together we moved quickly into the Black Fortress’ main halls where we’d be able to use a teleportation orb. The vault had powerful protective spells in place to keep people from being able to teleport in and out. The same kind of protections were in place around Draven’s room.

  He asked me if I was ready, and I nodded. Draven then produced a teleportation orb and tossed it into the air. The orb exploded into a sizzling, crackling vortex of blue light, and I walked through it behind him, following his lead.

  I wasn’t entirely used to the sensation of travelling through these portals, but the disorientation wasn’t lingering for as long as it did the first couple of times I’d gone through one. The air was wet when we stepped through, light fluffy rain fell from the sky and whipped around us.

  Draven had dropped us on a rooftop across from the strop place, the red neon sign shone brightly against the street. Already I could hear music floating out from inside. At the front door, three men shared a conversation and a joint, white smoke circling around them. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but one of them started laughing like he’d heard the world’s funniest joke.