Cage of Fire (Parallel Magic Book 1)

by Emma L. Adams

  I went slower, figuring this was a handy way to learn my way around. The castle grounds consisted mostly of unbroken swampland, surrounding the castle on all sides. Aside from the arena, the only two landmarks were the gleaming node—currently guarded by two shadowy liches—and the smaller building I’d seen near the node earlier. Another pair of liches guarded the door around the back of the building.

  “That’s the jail, right?” I muttered to Harper.

  “Yep,” she whispered back. “They say nobody stays in there long.”

  “Because they get executed and turned into liches,” I said. “I’ve heard the rumours.”

  I hadn’t seen the Death King himself since his return to the castle following our near-miss by the node, which to be honest, was something of a relief. Once he showed his face, I’d be hard-pressed to figure out a way to escape without the transporter spell. Not that I had many ideas. Cloaked liches guarded every inch of the gate near the arena, while the fences surrounding the castle were too smooth and tall to climb.

  Spotting a glint of light near the bushes, I crouched down and unearthed a small silver coin. Hello, a token. As I picked it up, I heard a commotion nearby. Sledge and another contender wrestled one another over another coin.

  “Hey, I got it first!” Flames sparked from his hands, and the other guy’s shoes caught fire.

  “Ow!” The young man hopped up and down, cursing in agony, and Sledge took the opportunity to grab the coin from him. I glanced towards the Elemental Soldiers, but none of them had moved an inch. Wasn’t that against the rules?

  “Hey!” said the guy with dreadlocks, clearly agreeing. “You cheated.”

  “Shut the hell up.” Sledge lumbered over, but the contender he’d set on fire blocked his way. Punches flew left and right, and within seconds, the Elemental Soldiers ran over, the Air Element taking the lead and raising their hands. A bolt of air shot from their hands, and Sledge and the others flew backwards as though knocked aside by a speeding cart.

  “Damn,” I said to the Air Element. “Nice one.”

  They grunted. Not prepared to meet on friendly terms, then. Still, nobody ever said I didn’t try. If I wanted to be in with a shot of surviving this, I could do worse than try to befriend the people in charge.

  4

  My plan didn’t exactly go as intended. Not only did the Elemental Soldiers remain distant and unfriendly, but when I tried to engage any of the liches in conversation, they ignored me, too. I knew for a fact that liches weren’t incapable of speech, despite their faceless mask-like appearance, so presumably they’d been ordered not to talk to the contenders.

  So much for sending one to beat the shit out of Miles.

  At the end of the day, we returned to the dorms, where the Air Element called everyone to attention. “There are spare uniforms for you on the beds. If you have any problems, ask one of us.”

  “I have a problem,” said Sledge, picking up the grey outfit nearest to him. “This looks like a prison uniform.”

  The Air Element shrugged. “If you want to find someone who gives a crap, you’re going to be looking for a long time. Alternatively, you can try directing your complaints to the Death King and see how that goes for you.”

  The uniform wasn’t exactly as fancy as the Elemental Soldiers’ gear, but at least no more of my clothes would fall victim to the swamp. Lucky, because all I had was my single bag of possessions. After double-checking the pendant wasn’t in there, I waylaid the Air Element by the door. “Did you confiscate anything from my bag?”

  “Anything magical will have been taken,” they responded. “We don’t want anyone having an unfair advantage. You’ll get it back when you leave the trials… or if you win.”

  If you asked me, my magical skills would be more of an advantage than any device I brought in, but I wasn’t about to start an argument in front of an audience. If the Elemental Soldiers found out how I’d sneaked in, then I’d be booted out of the contest and they’d probably keep the transporter spell for their own.

  “Okay, as long as I get it back later,” I said. “I don’t have much more with me than the clothes on my back.”

  The Air Element made a noise that sounded more disdainful than sympathetic, and walked away, leaving me alone in the entryway. I walked back into the dorm, shaking my head, and sat down on my bed.

  “You okay?” asked Harper, two beds over. “Did they take your weapons as well?”

  I grunted. “Bloody Elements. They live in luxury and they still had to swipe all our stuff.”

  “They took my cantrips as well as my weapons,” she said. “Dick move, but I can understand why. That Sledge cheated a dozen times without any magic being involved.”

  “Unless you count lighting people’s shoes on fire.”

  The guy was trouble, yet he’d been allowed to stay, and so had I. For now, at least. The Elemental Soldiers didn’t seem to suspect I’d sneaked in with the aid of a group of spirit mages who’d claimed to be the Death King’s allies and yet sent me to spy on his potential future Fire Elements.

  You’d think his own security team would be enough to deter any potential mischief-makers, but the Death King didn’t exactly seem to be keeping an eye on us. Unless he had security cameras here, Earth-style. He might. As someone who was possibly the richest person in the Parallel, living or dead, he could afford it.

  After the Elemental Soldiers called us to dinner, I waited for the dorm to empty before searching under the beds and in every corner, but I found no traces of any cameras. No hidden magical traps, either. That they’d taken everyone’s cantrips as well as mine was a massive nuisance, because I could have ‘borrowed’ one from, say, Sledge, and used it to explore the castle overnight without getting caught.

  The Elemental Soldiers must have put our confiscated contraband somewhere, right? Assuming one of them hadn’t taken it for themselves, anyway. Breaking into their rooms was pretty much a non-starter, but tonight, I’d have a look around the castle and see if I could find another way out of this place.

  The Elemental Soldiers patrolled the corridor until after most of the dorm had dozed off, but I couldn’t sleep. Not because of Sledge’s snoring on the other side of the room, but the sense of guilt over Tay’s absence hammered at the inside of my mind and made it impossible to relax. I kept my clothes on, too, but my chances at escape during full darkness were not high. With all the lights off in the castle and no artificial lighting outside at all, how was I supposed to spot an oncoming lich when I couldn’t even see my own hand in front of my face?

  Dammit, I need that transporter spell back.

  When I was sure the footsteps had faded from the corridor outside, I slipped out of bed and tiptoed to the door, easing it open as quietly as I could before exiting into the dark corridor. The right-hand path led to the Elemental Soldiers’ rooms and then to the grounds, but to the left lay the rest of the castle, which was mostly a mystery to me. The other liches presumably lived somewhere in there, but it wasn’t like they needed to sleep. It was time to familiarise myself with the rest of the castle, so I turned left, finding myself in a draughty corridor, and spotted the Air Element walking through a wooden door. Holding my breath, I remained out of sight until the door closed behind them. Then I trod closer, listening out.

  A familiar cold voice spoke, turning my blood to water. “What is it?”

  “I wanted to talk to you about a contender who showed up late,” the Air Element responded. “We found her hiding in the bushes after we already fished out everyone who sneaked in with the first group. Liv thinks she should be disqualified.”

  Dammit. If this Liv was who I thought it was, it seemed the spirit mage hadn’t given up her vendetta after all, and now the Elemental Soldiers had decided to take the matter straight to the Death King. If he’d found out that I’d sneaked in through the node as a spy, I’d be lucky if he didn’t rip out my soul on the spot.

  “Is this candidate the one who started the brawl earlier?” asked the
Death King.

  “No,” they responded. “That was Sledge.”

  “Tell Olivia that unless this candidate has done something else to warrant being disqualified, then she is to leave it alone.”

  Thanks, Death King. Plainly, the guy didn’t want to get involved in any disputes among the contenders, which worked in my favour.

  “I will, Sir,” said the Air Element. “It’s unlikely that someone with little discipline will survive until the final round, regardless.”

  Hey! Bloody cheek. Not that I planned to stick around, but there was something odd about the Spirit Agents’ stealth mission which went beyond the half-cocked way they’d gone about it. What did they want me to find in here?

  “Do as you like,” said the Death King. “And please do not disturb me again.”

  The door creaked, warning me of the Air Element’s return. Grabbing the nearest door handle, I pushed it inwards and instead felt a vigorous shock jolt through my nerve endings. Every hair on my body stood on end, and I let go with a hiss of pain.

  “What,” said the Air Element, “are you doing out here?”

  Oh, hell. I forced my chattering teeth apart. “Got lost. What in hell was that?”

  They eyed the door. “Trying to break into the storeroom, were you?”

  “I didn’t know what was in there,” I protested. “I heard footsteps and I panicked.”

  The storeroom, huh? Was this the room where the Elemental Soldiers had stashed my pendant? If so, they’d taken great pains to ensure nobody would break in. My gaze went back to the smooth wood, and I spotted the gleam of a cantrip wedged into the door frame. An improvised piece of security, but it worked. My skin was still tingling all over.

  The Air Element’s eyes narrowed. “What were you looking for?”

  “The bathroom,” I lied. “Then I heard you say my name and got curious. Are you going to kick me out?”

  “My boss has decided to give you another chance,” they responded. “It’s not up to me. And if you were thinking of stealing anything from the storeroom, you can forget it.”

  Busted. “It’s not the cantrips I want. That pendant I was wearing is valuable to me. I don’t want it to get stolen.”

  “It’s less likely to get stolen here than in the dormitory.” They pointed over my shoulder. “Go back, before I change my mind about giving you another chance.”

  I hesitated for a moment. “Why does that spirit mage work for the Death King? I didn’t know he employed other mages aside from the Elemental Soldiers.”

  The Air Element’s frown didn’t budge. “That’s between the two of them. Go on.”

  I backed around the corner to the dorm, caution telling me that getting booted out of the contest in the middle of the night would not be a smart idea. Phantoms and other beasts lurked in the swampland, and the only safe place in the area was, ironically, behind the walls of this very castle. The liches guarded all the ways in and out of the grounds, night and day, so there was no chance of making a quick trip outside. Once I was out, I was out.

  The Air Element left me outside the dorm and walked back through the doors into the main part of the castle. I heard their footsteps retreat, and a rush of recklessness seized me. Once I was alone, I walked swiftly past the dorm in the other direction, past the Elemental Soldiers’ quarters, and tried the door to the quarters of the future Fire Element.

  I didn’t expect the door to be unlocked, but it swung inwards, revealing a dark sitting room. Hey, this is pretty swanky. Certainly by the Parallel’s standards, anyway. I closed the door behind me, admiring the leather sofa and polished wooden furniture… and the transparent figure on the other side of the room.

  I jumped violently, fire leaping to my palms and revealing the figure wasn’t a lich, but one of the three spirit mages I’d met earlier. Shawn, the third member of Miles’s contingent.

  “What the hell are you doing in here?” I gasped.

  “I could ask you the same question,” he responded.

  “Excuse me? You asked me to spy on the Death King.” I let the fire die down a little, glad I’d closed the door behind me first. “Now his Elemental Soldiers have confiscated my only way out.”

  His brows rose. “They took the transporter?”

  “I hid it inside a pendant,” I explained. “They don’t know it’s in there, but they confiscated every cantrip or other magical object the candidates were carrying and stuck them in a booby-trapped room.”

  “Shit,” he said. “That throws a wrench in things.”

  “You’re telling me,” I said. “What’re you doing in the Fire Element’s quarters?”

  “Having a look around,” he responded. “Astral projecting here is a pain, but it’s my only way in.”

  “Why here, though?” I asked. “What do you expect to find?”

  “There are rumours the Death King covered up the real reason his last Fire Element got kicked out,” he said. “I wanted to find out the truth.”

  “First I’ve heard.” I switched on the light and gave the room another scan. I spotted a bathroom through a side door and a kitchen at the far end. Nothing appeared out of place, but I’d assumed the former Fire Element had taken his possessions with him when he’d left the castle. “I thought you wanted me to spy on the contest so you and your mates could back the Death King up against a potential incursion.”

  “That’s what Miles says,” he said, “but I think there’s something more than an impending coup going on. Can you open that drawer there?”

  I moved over to the desk he indicated and pulled open the top drawer. Nothing was inside it. “What’re you looking for?”

  “I don’t know.” Frustration underlaid his voice. “The last guy—Davies—vanished off the face of the earth after he lost the job as Fire Element. I think the Death King wants someone else to take his place to stop people talking about why he really kicked him out.”

  “So?” I tried the next drawer, spotting a scrap of paper wedged down the side. On it were several inexplicable scribbles. “Can you read this? It’s worse than trying to decipher one of Striker’s notes.”

  The reminder of Tay made a fist of guilt clench around my chest. My gaze panned over the scrawled words on the paper. I picked out the word ‘cantrip’, the word ‘mage’, and the word ‘Arcadia’.

  Shawn peered at the page. “Looks like an address, I think.”

  “In Arcadia.” The text had smudged and faded, so I conjured a flame to my hand to illuminate the last part. The note was signed, Flare. A code name, I’d guess.

  “Damn,” he muttered. “If that’s his handwriting, it means the last Fire Element was meeting with a vigilante behind the Death King’s back.”

  “He’s not here anymore,” I reminded him. “If the Fire Element was conspiring with someone from outside, the Death King already caught him at it.”

  “And hid it from everyone else,” added Shawn. “Including his potential replacements.”

  “I don’t get it.” I lowered my hand. “I’m not keeping this note, though. The Elemental Soldiers will think it implies that I’m involved with whoever that Flare person is.”

  “Sounds like a fire mage.”

  “You think?”

  He shot me a sideways look. “I don’t want to be here either, you know. I’m just convinced there’s something more going on.”

  “Yeah, good luck with it,” I said. “I’m going to get the transporter back and then get the hell out. Also, thanks a bunch for getting me on Striker’s hit list.”

  His mouth parted. “Miles told you that?”

  “He said you’re the one who got me on Striker’s radar as a troublemaker by asking about me,” I said. “And it’s clear you didn’t think through the potential implications either.”

  “Wait,” he said. “Bria, I know we didn’t tell you everything, but we weren’t counting on you being on the run from the authorities before you got in here.”

  “Or them taking my friend captive,” I added. “Wh
ich wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t drawn their attention to me.”

  “I don’t think it was the authorities,” he said.

  “What makes you say that?”

  His gaze was steady. “Bria, I know you’re mad at me, but think about it. Was your bolt hole ransacked when you got back?”

  “Well… no.” Actually, Tay had left her bag behind. Which, now I thought about it, indicated the person who’d took her hadn’t been inside the house when they’d grabbed her. “But I haven’t been back since.”

  “I have,” he said. “Her bag was gone, but everything else was still in the same place.”

  “Her bag was gone?” Dammit, I should have brought it with me, though she needed it more than I did, and plenty of Tay’s possessions wouldn’t have survived the Elemental Soldiers’ purge either. “Did you see who took it?”

  “Maybe one of Striker’s people, maybe the authorities, maybe Tay herself.” His gaze shadowed. “I swear none of us intended this to happen—”

  “Spare me,” I interjected. “I’m getting out of here. I don’t care if I have to live on the run, but there are places I can hide which aren’t stuck behind a wall of liches.”

  Problem was, I was pretty much out of allies and short on resources. I’d walked out of the House of Fire’s prison once before, but not with another person in tow. Assuming that’s where Tay was, and not… somewhere else.

  “What kind of defences are on the room where they put the transporter spell?” he asked. “I’d help you get in, only I can’t open regular doors, let alone booby-trapped ones.”

  “Which is why you need me, I know,” I said. “I was under the impression you had a whole stash of magical weapons. Like that transporter.”

  “That was one of a kind,” he said. “We’re lucky the authorities didn’t catch us after you ran.”

  “Miles gave me the only one you had?” Nice of him. Part of me kind of regretted getting mad at him earlier. Ultimately, I was the one who’d chosen to leap headfirst into this crap. “Where’d you get it, anyway?”