A King's Ransom

by Lia Black

  Aegeus kept one hand barely hovering above the prince's face to maintain the appearance that he was doing something, although with no one ever having seen Transference, he could have juggled apples and they would have believed it was part of the ritual. With his other hand he brought his thumb to his mouth and licked it, then used the small bit of moisture to wipe away the containment mark laid on the papery flesh of the king's forehead. He shuddered involuntarily as the listless spirit began to rise from the body. As expected, it fought to remain within its human shell, but a little tug and it began to flow, sparking and slithering up the mage's arm. It took all of Aegeus effort not to recoil from the vile spirit—weak, but corrupted by the poisons of tyranny—as it began to sift towards the magnetic draw of the crystal cage.

  It took great determination to continue to be patient with the slow trickles of the kings spirit crawling through the path Aegeus had made using his own veins. It moved like globs of oil through water, and each moment made Aegeus feel like he might be violently ill.

  Once the last dribbles were inside the crystal cell, Aegeus mentally began to work the thread of magick around and around the king's spirit, binding it loop by loop to the crystal. The spirit fought, but was unable to break the webs. Like a spider wrapping a wasp—one wrong move could sting Aegeus to oblivion and set the vicious insect free. But determination was on Aegeus' side today. This toxic spirit would not be allowed to inhabit the same world as his Finn.

  Just one more pass, then Aegeus could exorcise the spirit from his own body and house it in the faceted prison. Each time he wrapped a loop of the magick webbing, it felt like the crystal was being sewn through his own skin. A sensation that seared him both inside and out, that sharp jab then the hard tug as the thread felt resistance. He smelled his own flesh burning from the heat of the crystal as the king's soul churned inside of it. Aegeus fought back a cough as he began to work the containment through to completion--tying the first of three knots that would imprison the king, and allow Aegeus to pull the net and the spirit free from his body.

  From somewhere on the edge of his perception, he became aware of a disturbance in the flow of magicks. Power was drawing nearer—nature—like the magic of many elves deeply in touch with their spirit kin. Had Veyl's lover enlisted some help from the Northern Wind Court? Or perhaps the elves of the region were finally coming to take back their own. An invasion and slave revolt at this crucial time would be the ultimate ironic disaster. Aegeus began to laugh at his continued bad luck.

  "Magus! What is taking so long?" Rheton's nostrils flared. It seemed he, too, was becoming aware of the change in atmosphere.

  "Go," Aegeus said to Melina, his throat filling with the soot from the magick burning through his organs. "Run as fast as you can."

  Without hesitation, Melina ran around the perimeter of the circle, heading towards the door. One of the guards made a grab at her and the protective ward shoved him back. He stumbled, his heel dragging across one of the chalk lines and breaking the protection of the circle.

  The guard screamed as the magick fastened itself to him, using his body as a conduit to keep the power flowing. The sudden disruption in the frequency, and the flow of new energy slammed into the crystal and sent Aegeus flying backwards with the force of a battering ram to the chest. He landed with his back against the wall and tried to breathe, but all there came was burning, wet pain that flowed into his lungs, and the sensation of air going to places it shouldn't be.

  He looked down dumbly, his eyes trying to comprehend what his body already knew. The crystal had shattered, leaving a smoking hole where it had been centered above his chest. Blood rushed in around the opening, mixing with magick filtrate, and boiled up Aegeus' throat. He coughed; his body's futile reaction in an attempt to clear his ravaged windpipe, and crimson-streaked gouts of black ichor splattered down his chest, the sound like rain as drops hit the floor. When he tried to bring up his hands, he realized that they wouldn't move, and that the sudden numbness spreading through him was not just a side effect of shock. Out of the corner of one eye he could see the broken stone, indicating he'd hit the wall so hard, he'd managed to somehow break through it. Amazing what flesh and bone could do against a solid object when hurled against it by such power.

  Voices closing in were distorted by Aegeus' stuttering heartbeat and the magick roaring through his ears. He could feel the desperation of the contained spirit being released from the shattered crystal. He felt the ice seep out of the severed webs, chilling his blood as it followed the path back through Aegeus own damaged spirit, trying to cling onto life.

  Damn you, magus! What have you done to me?

  Aegeus heard a voice in his head that was unfamiliar to him, not his own. Ah. That's right. The king. He was dimly aware of pieces of stone splintering down from above, the dust stinging his already watering eyes. The bodies of the prince and king were hastily removed, and Aegeus wondered if they would be coming for him next; if there was even anything left of his mangled body to bother with. The king and he would leave this world together then, bound forever in oblivion. A fitting punishment on both counts, Aegeus thought.

  "Finn...I'm sorry." The boy's face was an apparition in his mind's eye, and the child wept, reaching out to his master. There was something so sad and beautiful there. The boy's crimson eyes glowed like a rose window on a summer garden, and Aegeus felt such warmth, like the softest down, as he imagined laying back into his warm embrace. "...I love you..." Aegeus croaked. He closed his eyes, and called the earth down upon him.

  CHAPTER FORTY FOUR

  Elves

  It was an hour until sunrise when they came in through the aqueducts under the dungeon. Barlan escorted Kaidos and Crow ahead to verify the grate had not been replaced. Crow and he would split up once inside to try and locate Veyl, the mage, or both.

  Kaidos waited patiently while Barlan and Crow shared a long embrace from which Barlan seemed hesitant to release the elf. "You be careful, little scout. You too, Wanderer," he added, reluctantly letting Crow slip from his arms.

  "I've got luck on my side," Kaidos winked, trying to smile although the tension in his guts had turned his belly to lead.

  Crow shimmied up first, hanging upside-down momentarily to give Barlan a peck on the forehead. Blushing, Barlan turned to Kaidos.

  "You're up next, Wanderer."

  "Thanks, Barlan—for everything." Kaidos said, letting Barlan give him a boost onto his shoulders so he could climb up through the opening.

  "You'll have plenty of time to thank Crow and me later." Barlan grinned.

  Kaidos climbed out onto the wet stone floor, shuddering to think about what kind of putrescence was floating around the stagnant puddles and holding his breath in an attempt to avoid finding out. They made their way through the dungeon corridor to the corner where the staircase led up and crouched, listening for movement above. Crow gripped Kaidos' shoulder, making him nearly jump out of his skin.

  "I sense no one above." Crow whispered to him. Kaidos looked towards the pale flickers of light down the hallway, watching for shadows inside the cells.

  Kaidos nodded. "No reason, I guess." He and Barlan had probably been the only two prisoners that the king had bothered to lock up. The thought chilled him further; how many innocent people had gone to the gallows since they'd escaped?

  Still, they went cautiously up the stairs. When they reached the top, Crow and Kaidos thought it would be best to split up to look for Veyl. Although Crow had never seen the man before, based on Kaidos' description, it was certain that he'd know him when he did.

  "Gods watch over you." Crow said earnestly, tipping his head.

  "You too," Kaidos responded, feeling for the first time that the man offering him blessings truly meant it—and based on what he'd seen of Crow, the elf just might have an influence.

  Kaidos took to the walls and rooftops, and Crow kept lower, to the deeper areas of the castle.

  Although he understood it would be futile, the first place K
aidos looked for Veyl was in his chambers. He was not surprised to find them standing empty, but it looked as though he had been in here not so long ago. The bed linens were in disarray, and Kaidos fought the urge to lie down and seek out Veyl's heat and comforting smell. If this all happened the way he prayed, he would be holding the real man in his arms tonight, and not just a trace of his memory.

  A sound from outside drew his attention back to the window, and Kaidos looked out to see a large section of the stone paved courtyard shudder, then collapse into the earth. A long-house nearby sagged as one side of the foundation cracked and people—elves, began running from inside, several of them carrying children.

  "What in the name of—?"

  From the sharp angles of what remained, it was plain to see that there had been a room beneath the ground. What had once been walls and pillars had tumbled down like children's wooden blocks. Another dungeon? His heart skittered to a painful stop as every fiber of his being told him that Veyl had been down there.

  Kaidos shook his head to clear it. No. He couldn't think like that and give up so easily after everything they had fought for. He would not believe that there was no hope until he held Veyl in his arms—one way or another.

  There was movement below at the base of the nearest tower that faced the large hole in the ground. Kaidos watched as a few guards ran over to help two men who emerged covered in debris, and struggling under the weight of two bodies. Kaidos' guts hardened painfully into stone, and his limbs felt heavy and numb when he saw a flash of long, golden waves. The frail, limp body in a dirty white shift was passed to the arms of a waiting guard.

  "Veyl," Kaidos gasped. It took every ounce of rational thought to keep from launching himself out of the window. From the way they handled Veyl's body, it appeared that he might be alive. He was handed over like glass, and carried in the guard's arms the way Kaidos had carried him onto that damnable ship.

  The other body appeared skeletal—even from this distance, Kaidos suspected that it was dead. Was that the king's body?

  Kaidos followed the path of the familiar dark robes with his gaze and realized it was that chamberlain fleeing with Veyl and the guard. They were using the panic down below to move across the courtyard and they headed inside another tower on the other side. The remaining guards watched over the body on the ground, one covering it with his cloak as it began to lightly rain. The rest struggled to contain the chaos of panicking younger recruits fleeing, and elves who seemed to be trying to either find a way out of the castle or back into the long-house.

  Now would be the optimal time to slip out and try to go after Veyl. It wasn't part of the original plan, but then neither was the earth collapsing in on part of the castle. Kaidos climbed out the window, also using the benefit of the current mayhem to slip out and move along the ivy to get to the roof.

  The tower he was headed to was on the far corner of the castle, and normally it would take a lot of slow crawling and picking his way over to get there in order to keep from being spotted. But, keeping his body fairly low, he was able to nearly make it all the way without being spotted. Nearly.

  "Hey!"

  Kaidos heard the man yell from behind him. He must have been on the bulwark that ran along the inner wall when Kaidos leapt across to the tower, and for some reason, this particular guard wasn't paying as much attention to the happenings below. The distraction caused Kaidos to fall short of the leap to the far ledge. His hand scrabbled at the thick vines of rain-dampened ivy but became slick and sticky from mashing the leaves in an attempt to grab on.

  He went sliding down the wall, certain he'd end up as a splatter on the ground, when his foot hit something, sending a jarring pain all the way up his leg. The bones in his ankle shattered from the abrupt stop and blood filled his boot. Kaidos swallowed back a cry and caught what he found was a stone awning over a balistraria, half-obscured by vines. The opening was only wide enough to get his hand through and he hung at the lower edge, his other hand gripping the vines to try and distribute his weight as he got his bearings.

  He had fallen roughly thirty feet. Fifteen feet below him was the walkway that led to an open doorway in the tower. The guard who had yelled at him was closing in, but he had no where else to go.

  Sucking in a deep breath, Kaidos released his handhold, dropping to the hard stone, and rolled so he could spread out the landing. The guard reached him a moment later, as Kaidos was trying to get himself upright and inside the tower door.

  "Stop!"

  The guard tackled Kaidos and the two went tumbling inside. They rolled off the small landing that served as a break in the spiral staircase, which curved around the inner walls of the tower. Kaidos' teeth clacked together as they bumped down the steps. He cried out as he shot out his leg to keep them from rolling all the way to the bottom. The jolt radiated up his thigh, making him nauseous. The throbbing, searing pain of his broken ankle was making him light-headed—not the best condition to be in when wresting with a guard who apparently wanted him dead.

  Kaidos managed to catch the man with an elbow to the temple to break the guard's hold. He scuttled backwards up the stairs to try and put some distance between them, but the man grabbed hold of his injured ankle and Kaidos saw black spots converging at the edges of his vision as pain lanced up his leg, all the way up his spine. He couldn't pass out. Passing out would mean certain death, and death meant never seeing Veyl again.

  With every ounce of strength he had, Kaidos kicked the man in the face with his other leg, knocking him free. The man grunted, sliding backwards down the stairs.

  Kaidos was unaware of whether the man had continued to roll down and break his neck, or if he was recovering and working his way back up, but he didn't have time to wait. Veyl was somewhere inside of this tower, of that he was certain, and the only way to get there was by going up.

  Biting back the pain, Kaidos pulled himself to his knees and began to crawl up the winding stairs, trying to conserve as much energy as he could. Although he'd seen no sign of the mage that Barlan had described, the guard and chamberlain would be more than enough to have to deal with in his current condition.

  Somewhere between what Kaidos felt like could have been minutes or hours, he finally reached the top. Sure enough—as soon as he appeared through the open archway, the guard rose up with his bow and let an arrow fly.

  Kaidos moved in time for the arrow to avoid hitting anything vital, but it lodged in his upper arm, ripping through the muscle and bone. He hissed and dropped back, forcing himself not to clutch at the wound. Instead, he pulled out one of his throwing knives, and slid as far back into the darkness as the staircase would allow. His head had been roaring with blood, so he was certain he hadn't been as stealthy as he should have been on the way up; he should have expected that they would have been waiting for him, but he foolishly hadn't counted on a bow.

  "Go after him! I want him dead!"

  Kaidos heard the chamberlain's voice, and the guard's silhouette blotted out the grey dawn coming through the open archway. His hand was on his sword and he was drawing the blade slowly, perhaps hoping that Kaidos was stunned and that if he was quiet enough, he could catch him by surprise. The reason didn't matter—Kaidos was thankful that the man was taking his time. It allowed him long enough to line up a shot and let the knife fly.

  "Oof!" The guard took in a loud breath and stumbled backwards as the blade hit him in the stomach. Kaidos didn't wait for him to land before dragging himself the rest of the way up the stairs and onto the platform outside the tower.

  *~*~*

  Barlan was heading back from the dungeon grate when the ground below their feet rumbled.

  "What was that?" Renwal asked, turning to the soldier with him, but before the man could respond, they were being pelted by dust and small pebbles shaking loose from the dungeon above.

  Barlan had spent enough time in the lands near the mountain ranges to know that at times when the earth was angry enough to shake, it brought massive stones rumbli
ng down upon many an unwary traveler.

  "Out!" Barlan roared, pushing the Duke and his archer, Kel, away from the overhang of the castle and back out into the cave.

  The duke landed on his back in the mud, his eyes wide and Kel rushed to his side. Then the dungeon floor above them cracked and a huge section of the stone floor came crashing down.

  Barlan shifted to bear form just in time to take the brunt of it with one shoulder, unable to move out of the path. He grunted as the force and weight of the block snapped his bones. His right shoulder, part of his chest, and arm were pinned as he landed facedown in the mud.

  "Quickly!" Renwal cried.

  The two men rushed to Barlan's side, trying to dislodge the huge stone block, but it was futile. The thing was nearly as large as he was.

  "Get…get to safety…" Barlan mumbled, the taste of blood filling his mouth. He couldn't feel the pain, just an icy tingling. This was bad.

  "Kel! Find help!" Renwal ordered the archer, and then turned back to Barlan, his face gone completely pale. "I'm staying with you, Barlan." Renwal dropped beside him and took off his cloak, laying it under Barlan's head to cushion it and keep the mud from getting into his mouth. He then took off his shirt, dipping it in the cool water of the stream to press to Barlan's forehead.

  It was then that Barlan realized that he was sweating, and that he'd shifted back to his human form. An uncontrolled shift was never a good sign. It meant that the damage was an incredible shock to his system; the kind of damage that might cause him to die. Although his body could heal, it couldn't do so while he was crushed. The trauma to his organs might not kill him immediately, but the loss of blood eventually would.

  He hadn't been happy that Crow was going in without him, but the little elf was much stealthier—probably more so than the thief was. Still, he'd worried that something might happen. Apparently, something had; Barlan just hadn't expected that he'd be the one to whom it happened.