What Once Was One (Book 2)

by Marc Johnson

  I slunk along in the near darkness as I navigated the passageways. Once I stopped and peeked through of one of the spyholes beneath my feet. Twenty feet below was a guard. I left him and pressed on.

  At the end of the corridor, I reached a dead end. On the floor was another small, discolored stone. I leaned against the wall and listened. No sound traveled through it. I put out my fireball and pushed the stone. The wall opened up to darkness, its tiny scraping noise blasting through my ears. I held my breath, fearful of anyone hearing it. I exhaled in relief when no one shouted at me.

  I poked my head through the opening. When my eyes adjusted to the lack of light, I gasped at what I saw. A woman and a man cradled each other while sleeping on the lofty bed, their naked bodies pressed together for warmth. I left the bedroom and went back into the passageway, sealing the door.

  I back-tracked and took another route. In the middle of the corridor was another stone. After I opened that one up and stepped through, I banged my head on an overhanging pan. I cursed myself when I realized I was in the kitchens. I slipped back into the passageway before someone saw me.

  I spent the next two hours searching the secret passageways. My time was running out. When I put my ear against the walls, I began to hear servants scurrying about, getting the day ready for their masters.

  I hurried to get back to the library before dawn broke. I was still about an hour away, and if I was lucky, there would be no one there this early in the morning. When I was four corridors away, a tiny bit of light shone near my knees. When I bent down, the opening was bigger than I thought. I cursed myself. How many other openings like this had I missed in the darkness?

  I peeked inside the small hole and saw a rat scurrying away from me. I placed my hand on the top edge and glanced back down toward to the library. If I searched this place quickly, I could make it back in thirty minutes.

  I squeezed myself into the hole and shimmied along. I ignited another fireball and focused on my breathing. I hated being in cramped places, but I remembered why I was doing this. Krystal.

  The small tunnel turned upwards into the keep. I crawled with my forearms. Sweat ran down my face as the small flame in front of me burned. I ignored the spiders crawling by me and went faster. I understood the need for secrecy in having these tunnels, but I didn’t understand the reasoning behind the way they were built. For all I knew, this opened up in the sewers.

  The tunnel leveled out again and grew brighter. Dawn’s light shone at the end. I had wasted too much time. I couldn’t risk going back to the library in case there were people there. Whatever was at the end of this tunnel, I was going to have to face it.

  I extinguished my flame and crept to the end. Two pairs of feet faced me across from the little hole I peeked out of with the shafts of their pole-arms resting next to them. Guards. They stood, unmoving in front of a door. Whatever they were guarding must be important. This might be what I was looking for.

  I had to take the guards out before they noticed me. I gathered in mana to render them unconscious. I inched closer to the end of the tunnel to get a better look at the surroundings. One of the stones beneath me clicked. Pink gas blew into my face from a tiny crack above me. I coughed and summoned wind to blow it away.

  The two pairs of feet ran towards me and yelled, “Intruder!” Before I could disperse the gas or crawl backwards, I passed out.

  ----

  My eyes opened to near-darkness, and the world tilted on its side. I blinked and moaned, feeling something heavy attached to me. I struggled to sit up, but shackles bound my wrists and legs. I remembered what Stradus once told me. He had said there were bindings that could be used to contain a wizard’s magic, but I still felt mine. A stench forced its way into my nose and I knew exactly where I was—a dungeon.

  I had been in Alexandria’s dungeons before, but never on this side of the door. Thirty feet in front of me, near the dungeon’s stairs, was a burning torch hanging on the wall. I summoned my magic to brighten it. Nothing happened.

  I stood up and performed the spell again. Still, nothing happened. I opened my hand to test my magic. A small fireball bloomed. But why couldn’t I perform any magic outside of this cage?

  I stepped to the bars, and they glistened with a sheen of enchantment. I tried to shoot my fireball through the cell, but my magic dispersed when it reached the bars. I created more fire in my hand and flared it so I could see.

  There were two empty cells on either side of me. These dungeons were small and couldn’t hold more than a dozen people, total. There were no guards. I sighed and sat back against the grime-covered wall. How was I going to get out of this? What was happening upstairs? I stopped my spell. Eventually, the light from the torch burned out, plunging the dungeons into darkness.

  A guard eventually came. He relit the torch near the staircase, then plopped a plate of stale bread and mush in front of my cell, along with a tin cup of dirty water. Then he left, ignoring all my questions.

  I marked time by the guard’s arrival. Three days passed, and all I could do was think. What surprised me was that I didn’t only think of Krystal. I thought of my home in Sedah, my mother, and of Kathleen, my first love.

  Would things have been better had I stayed home and settled down with her? If I had, I might never have unleashed my powers that fateful day. And even if I had, I still could have learned from Stradus how to control them, and then returned home. Krystal wouldn’t be dying, Stradus wouldn’t have died, and I wouldn’t be stuck in a dungeon.

  I banged the back of my head against the wall. Assuming I could get out of here, was it too late to return home now? Would Kathleen want me still? I knew she had been with Nathan, my childhood enemy, when I left, but that couldn’t have lasted. I stared at my hands, illuminating the darkness with my fire. There was so much I could do now.

  I could control and smother any wildfire. I could make sure we had a bountiful harvest in years of drought. I could make sure wolves couldn’t get the livestock anymore.

  If I went back to my old life, I wouldn’t have to worry about watching people I cared about die, about fighting creatures bent on killing me, battling other wizards, or having an entire city hate me. I could worry only about myself, my mother, Kathleen, and my small town.

  What were they doing right now? Would they take me back? Maybe I could return, but first I had to leave here.

  I passed the time with these thoughts. Krystal’s agony, and the hate-filled looks on the faces of Alexandria’s people, continued to plague me. And I dreamt of dozens of ways I could torture and kill Premier.

  “Hellsfire,” a voice said, pulling me out of my slumber. “Hellsfire.”

  I opened my eyes and lifted my tired head. The torch was still out, but the cloaked figure carried a candle. He set it down and opened the cell. I sat up, expecting Prastian or Jastillian to have come to get me, but the person was too tall, and clearly human. It might have been Ardimus.

  “Hello,” she said, pulling back her hood.

  “Krystal?” I asked. “Krystal!”

  I wanted to reach out and hug her, but stopped when I remembered what had happened when I last touched her.

  “It’s all right,” she said. She closed the distance between us. “Just be careful not to make contact with my skin.”

  She slipped under the shackles that bound my wrists and swept me into her arms. We crushed our bodies into an embrace and hung onto each other, afraid to let go. She was alive and well, and that’s all that mattered to me. We stood there, the silence speaking volumes.

  We pulled back at the same time, but the lower halves of our bodies were still intertwined.

  “Are you all right?” I asked.

  She cleared her throat and said, “Yes.”

  She lied. Her skin was pale and she had lost a few pounds. Her grip on me moments ago wasn’t as strong as it once was.

  She slipped back under the chains, and then the princess’s gloved hand went flying and slapped me hard across the face. />
  “What was that for?” I said, rubbing my throbbing face.

  Krystal’s face firmed. “You’re imprisoned for sneaking around in the castle using our secret passageways. Passageways you shouldn’t have known about in the first place, or ever used again. I’m fighting for your life, Hellsfire. There are those who would see you swinging at the end of a rope both for trespassing and for what you did to me.” I looked down, not daring to meet her fierce eyes. “I’m sorry. I was looking for that magical vault you have so I could help you. The books you had in the library were useless, and it’s too far to return to the White Mountain.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Damn it, Hellsfire! That’s what you were doing? Don’t tell anyone that. It’ll only make things worse. Thank the gods you weren’t anywhere near it.”

  “I wasn’t?”

  “No, and I’m not going to tell you where it is.”

  I threw my hands up in frustration, the chains nearly hitting my face. “I wanted to help you, Krystal! You were in a coma and you weren’t getting better. It was my fault you were dying. The healers barred me from you and I had to do something!” I sighed, feeling exhausted. “I would never have forgiven myself if you died because of me. I should never have gone to the Wastelands or brought down the barrier.”

  Krystal’s hands were on my cheeks. She stroked my face with her thumbs. “Don’t. You did what you had to do. There’s nothing to forgive. It was Renak’s fault.”

  I smiled, remembering how she could always make me feel better and how much I missed her. My smile disappeared. “No. It wasn’t him. It was Premier.”

  “Premier?”

  “Yes, I’ve thought about it for days. Renak warned me about him. He was puzzled by what was happening to the nexus’s light. Premier must have planned this—all of it! I’m sorry, princess, I should have foreseen.”

  “I know you made a vow to Stradus—”

  “But I’m making a new one to you,” I said. “The next time I see Premier, I will kill him. I would have killed him the second I saw him had I thought he would do this to you. Your safety means more than anything to me.”

  “I know.”

  We stood there, not saying a word. I was thankful that she was alive and would recover, but there was something else on my mind.

  “Your father doesn’t want me to see you anymore,” I said.

  She had a sad look on her face. “I know. I also know that if you touch me, I’ll die.”

  “What are we going to do about us?”

  Krystal held her breath. “Let’s worry about getting you out of here—then we can focus on that.”

  I remembered the king’s words about there being other men, and how I wasn’t the first. Now would be the perfect time for her to cut any ties with me. As devastating as it would be, I wouldn’t blame her. She had a kingdom to run and responsibilities to tend to. We’d had a lot of fun, but I always thought it could be more than that.

  “As you wish.”

  “Good,” she said. “I’ll try to get you more food sent down here. For good or ill, this will be over in a couple of days.” Krystal looked exhausted. She had come back from the verge of death, and now had to defend me to her people and her father. “I’ll do my best to make sure you’re set free.”

  “Thank you.” She went to leave, but I stopped her. “And Krystal, I’m sorry...for everything.”

  Krystal placed her hand on the cell’s bars, her back to me. She turned, then ran towards me, throwing her arms around my neck and squeezing me. She pulled my hood up and kissed me on the cheek with the fabric between us.

  “I know you are, Hellsfire.”

  She pulled away, and I watched her go. I couldn’t help but wonder if that was a goodbye kiss.

  ----

  Three days later, six guards came and I knew it was time. They drew their weapons when they opened my cell. I left it and they surrounded me, then escorted me out of the dungeons. We walked up the stairs, and when we got to the top, the morning light blinded me. One of the guards pushed me from behind and we continued on.

  Everyone got out of our way as they led me down the keep’s halls. They stood to the side, stared at me, and whispered. It reminded me of when I left Masep. I tried to read their faces, but one of the guards said, “Eyes front.”

  As we moved down the stone halls, I knew where we were headed—King Furlong’s audience chamber.

  The chamber was crammed full of people. They stood a respectful distance from the king, but crowded along the walls. The king sat on his throne and Krystal stood behind it. Guards littered the place. Nobles in their fine clothing waited in groups. My friends were there too. They nodded in greeting, and I walked up to stand before the throne. All conversations halted, and the silence in the chambers was deafening.

  “Your Majesty,” I said and bowed.

  The king scrutinized me, but didn’t say anything.

  I glanced at the princess. She couldn’t help me now, and I couldn’t read past her royal mask. Did she know the outcome? Would I be executed? Would I even allow the sentencing to come to pass? The king didn’t have a way to shut off my powers. He couldn’t stop my magic, not outside of the enchanted cells. He would have been better off leaving me there to rot.

  I shook my head. If I didn’t accept the king’s sentencing, she would get blamed for it. I didn’t know if she’d ever wanted us to be together and possibly something more, but I knew I did. I also didn’t want her to remember me killing her soldiers. I would accept the outcome, whatever it might be.

  “Wizard Hellsfire,” King Furlong said in a booming voice. He leaned forward. “You have been found guilty of committing crimes against Alexandria. You have trespassed and you have been a danger to the princess. Those are very serious crimes, the latter often carrying with it the penalty of death.”

  Death it was then. I held my head high, praying that I would have one last chance to talk to Krystal, and that my mother wouldn’t take my death too hard. From the corner of my eye, I saw a couple of the nobles smile in triumph. The fire inside boiled, threatening to burst out.

  I clenched my fist and squashed my magic. Now was not the time.

  “As you wish, Your Majesty,” I said and bowed.

  “I’m not finished,” the king said. “You have also saved my life and rescued Alexandria from the clutches of the wizard Premier. I have taken that into consideration. Because of those things, I sentence you to banishment from Alexandria.”

  Banishment? My friends looked relieved, but my heart was in pain when I looked at Krystal. I would never be able to see her again. In some ways, it would be easier if I was to die.

  I bowed. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

  “Gather your things, Hellsfire. You are to leave as soon as possible.” The king motioned to one of the guards, who came over and unshackled my wrists and ankles. “If you are ever found in Alexandria again, you will be sentenced to death.”

  “I understand.”

  King Furlong rose and left. Krystal gave me one last look before following him. All around me, people conversed in hushed tones. One woman and man shook their heads in disgust before walking away. Another woman gave me a stare colder than winter. One man pointed, his finger shaking in anger. Those standing nearby tried to calm him down.

  My friends made their way over to me. Jastillian clapped my back and said, “I suggest we hurry, lad. If things are this bad in here, they’ll be worse outside.”

  “Thanks for staying,” I said. “I really appreciate it.”

  “I just wish there was something more we could do,” Prastian said. “I have your belongings. The princess made sure to get them to me.”

  “Thank you.”

  We departed the room and went to the rooms the elves had stayed in. I got my potions and purse back. I guessed it no longer mattered that I couldn’t test a couple of rituals on Krystal to see if we could ever be together again. While we were getting our things, Demay and Behast left to get our horses and supplies ready. The
y would meet us at the city walls. Prastian, Jastillian, and I then made our way out of the keep.

  As we left, I kept peering down the hallways in hopes that I would see Krystal again. Prastian said I shouldn’t search for her, despite how much I wanted to. I knew I couldn’t touch her, but I needed to say goodbye to her one last time. Everyone I passed stopped and stared at me. Servants paused with their trays in hand, guards stopped sparring, and gardeners ceased pruning.

  We walked down the hill towards the surrounding castle walls. I kept glancing back, still hoping to see her. I gave up when we were near the exit. She couldn’t come to see me. There were ramifications if she did. I kicked the ground, scattering some small rocks. I guessed what we had was nothing more than fun, as the king said. Perhaps not saying goodbye was for the best. I had no idea what I would say to her anyway.

  “Hellsfire,” Prastian said. “Sharald could use a wizard’s services, especially now that the Great Barrier is gone.”

  “I believe Erlam would pay more,” Jastillian said, raising his bushy eyebrows.

  “They would have to,” Prastian said. “If you have Hellsfire study old, boring artifacts and sites.”

  Jastillian laughed. “The future is in the past. Give me those boring books. They’re far less dangerous than the people you deal with.”

  Prastian was about to say something, but then stopped. His ears twitched. “I believe we have company.”

  Krystal held her skirts up with one hand while she ran down the hill to us. We bowed when she reached us.

  “I wanted to see you before you left.” She didn’t look at me, but at Prastian and Jastillian. “I wanted to remind you that we will soon send our own expedition into Southern Shala, and since you’ll be there before us, we will appreciate any information you can share.”

  “Of course, Your Highness,” Prastian said.

  My friends moved away and gave us privacy. Krystal and I stared at each other, but didn’t say a word. There was so much I wanted to tell her. Things I should have told her before I left for Masep. It all seemed pointless now. I was banished from Alexandria, and I couldn’t even touch her without killing her. I would never see her again.