The scene of Valek kneeling next to Vincent’s grave flashed in his head. That strange, light feeling that had cracked the cold, hard ice around him. Had it destroyed his immunity? Yelena speculated that his protection was a null shield that he had grafted to his soul when he witnessed his brothers’ murder. Did finally making peace with that part of his life release his immunity? And if so, what did that make him now?
“Yes, something happened,” Valek said to Fisk in a strained voice. “I can’t...” He held a hand up, stopping any more questions. Then he bolted down the road until they disappeared from sight.
Time alone might help.
He needed Yelena. Desperately.
Valek stopped and leaned against a tree. Emotions surged. His world spun as if he’d been set adrift. Was this how Yelena had felt when she realized she couldn’t access her magic? Perhaps someone had blocked his immunity? Not likely.
Muted steps sounded, and then a warm, soft nose pressed against his cheek.
Ghost No More upset.
Valek jerked as Kiki’s thoughts filled his mind. He stared at her.
She pushed on his shoulder. Go find Lavender Lady.
Yes. They needed to rescue Yelena and Leif. Can you hear me? he asked Kiki.
Yes. Ghost No More.
The horses called him Ghost because of his immunity. Another confirmation that it was gone, and in its place...
Magic, Kiki said.
Mine? Is that why I can hear you? Or is it your magic?
Both.
* * *
When he returned to the clearing, Fisk had packed his bag. All three of them turned to him, waiting.
“Where’s Bruns holding Yelena?” he asked Fisk.
“No.”
“No?”
“You can’t go in there like that.”
“Like what?”
“Open to magic. You need to learn how to block other magicians, or Bruns’s people will seize you as soon as you get close.”
“It’s important to block others,” Zethan said. “It’s the first thing Nell taught us, along with controlling our magic.”
“But I can still hear your thoughts,” Valek said.
“Yeah...about that.” Zethan grimaced. “We think you might be either very powerful or you’re pulling too much magic from the blanket of power and could...”
“Flame out and kill us all,” Zohav said.
Valek stilled. He hadn’t even considered the danger. What else was he missing? “Can you teach me?”
“It’s not safe here,” Fisk said. “By now Bruns probably learned of this location from Yelena. We need to return to my headquarters in the Citadel and plan our next move.”
Fisk was right. No doubt Bruns expected Valek to rescue Yelena and Leif. And he was in no condition to fight Bruns’s magicians.
“Can you keep it together until we arrive?” Fisk asked, misunderstanding Valek’s hesitation.
“I can explain how to build a mental barrier as we ride,” Zethan offered.
He’d have to keep a tight hold on the...magic. Too many people were depending on him. Valek strode to Onyx and mounted. “Let’s go.”
As the others prepared to go, Valek tried an experiment and sent his thoughts to Onyx, Go fast to Citadel?
No response.
Kiki? he asked.
He not Sandseed.
But he understands you.
Kiki speak horse, too.
Valek stifled a laugh. If he lost it now, he wouldn’t be able to recover his composure. He was already sure the repercussions from this...turn of events would echo for a long, long time. Mulling it over as they headed south to the border, Valek found a bright side. He’d no longer be trapped by a blasted null shield. Wouldn’t Bruns be surprised?
This time, he laughed aloud.
* * *
During the two-day trip to the Citadel, Zethan taught Valek how to construct a mental wall that would block other magicians from reading his thoughts and influencing him.
“You tapped into the power source instinctively, which is why you’re hearing our thoughts,” Zethan explained. “First you need to locate that link, that thread to the blanket of power.” He gestured to the sky. “For me, it feels like a current of air, connecting me, which makes sense since I can influence storms. Zo says it’s like a tiny stream of water. Block out all distractions and focus. Tell me when you’ve found it.”
Valek concentrated. He smothered his worries, strangled his anxiety and silenced his doubts. In the resulting calm, a river of energy flooded him. “Got it.”
“What does it resemble?” Zee asked.
“A...flow of...power, as if spraying from a pipe.” Valek struggled to describe the magic. “Almost like a bolt of lightning that doesn’t disappear.”
Zethan exchanged a wide-eyed look with his sister. “All right. Imagine a shield made of marble, or something that can block the lightning and protect you. Use the lightning to construct this shield.”
“How?”
“Imagine you can grab the lightning and mold it into the shield.”
Following Zethan’s instructions, Valek closed his eyes, but he couldn’t manipulate the bolts of power, no matter how hard he tried. Frustrated, he asked, “What else can I try?”
“I don’t know,” Zethan said. “It worked for me. What about you, Zo?”
She frowned at her brother, but it seemed more from habit than a real emotion. “I couldn’t manipulate the water. Instead, I imagined my shield as a piece of leather and the magic as a dye that I applied to the leather, strengthening it.” Another scowl—this one directed at Valek. “I assume you worked in Father’s tannery when you were younger. Maybe that might work for you.”
A good idea, except his power seared the leather and set it on fire—or rather, it did in his imagination. Leather wouldn’t work. Marble didn’t resonate with him, either. What could withstand the lightning and was part of him? What had helped him in his time of need? His daggers and sword—both made of steel. Yet that failed to work. The metal melted. What else?
Kiki jigged to the side of the road and a stone flew out from under her hooves, whizzing past his head. He almost groaned aloud, remembering the gray rocks he used for his statues. Envisioning a large hunk of the rock about the size of his head, Valek used the lightning to carve the piece into a black helmet with specks of silver that would protect him from magic. When he finished, he strapped the helmet on and peace descended.
“Better?” Zethan asked.
“Much. Thank you both, and you, too, Kiki.”
Kiki flicked her tail, but didn’t slow. They were within sight of the Citadel’s walls.
They looped around to enter the east side in case Bruns had set an ambush on the west side.
“But remember, if a magician is more powerful than you and he has the ability to read minds, you’re screwed. He’ll grind that wall into dust.” Zethan twisted his fist into his palm, demonstrating.
“You and Zohav don’t have the ability to read minds. Right?” Valek asked.
“Yes. I can’t reach out to others. But if you send your thoughts to me, I can hear them if I let you past my barrier.”
“Unless I’m more powerful and can break through?”
“Right. The same is true for Zo.”
“Zee!”
“Relax, Zo. If we’re going to help rescue his heart mate, he needs to know our abilities and limits.”
Surprised, Valek said, “You’re not—”
At the same time Zohav said, “We’re not—”
“Nonsense,” Zethan interrupted. “Fisk just said all the magicians are gone. Who else is going to help?”
The boy made an excellent point.
“My network of helpers,” Fisk said.
“Do they have magic?” Zethan asked.
“No.”
“Then how are they going to resist Bruns?”
Fisk looked impressed.
“It’s not our fight,” Zohav said.
&
nbsp; “Nonsense, Valek’s our br...er...friend.”
Valek would have to teach Zethan how to keep a secret. That was the second time the boy almost slipped up.
“I already know,” Fisk said, as if he read Valek’s mind.
“How to rescue Yelena and Leif?” Valek asked, hoping to distract Fisk.
“No. That Zohav and Zethan are your siblings. Don’t give me that look, Valek. Anyone with a modicum of observation skills could see the family resemblance within seconds. Give me some credit. Besides, I have much more than a modicum of skills. You have to give me that.”
“I’ll give you credit for knowing the definition of modicum.”
Fisk laughed.
Valek’s attention turned back to the problem of who would help him. The magicians at the Keep had left, but not all Sitian magicians stayed at the Keep. In fact, many lived in other cities. But according to Fisk, Bruns had been either recruiting them into joining his Cartel or drugging/strong-arming them.
“Fisk, do you know if there are any magicians not under Bruns’s control?”
“There are a few in hiding, but they’re too scared to get involved.”
Valek didn’t want to risk the twins—he’d promised his mother he’d keep them safe, but they might be his only option. Zethan’s storm powers— Ah, of course! “What about the Stormdancers?”
“I’m not sure,” Fisk said. “They’re on hiatus until the heating season. Maybe Bruns missed them.”
Valek hoped so.
* * *
They waited until well after dark to enter the Citadel. After they passed the gate, a young boy appeared from the shadows and approached Fisk. Fisk leaned over Kiki’s saddle as the boy gestured and made quiet tweeting noises.
Fisk’s expression turned grim. “What about the escape hatch, Tweet?”
The boy shook his head.
“What’s going on?” Valek asked Fisk.
“Bruns has an ambush waiting for us inside my headquarters.” A hard edge sharpened his tone.
“What about your people?” Valek nodded in Tweet’s direction.
“Being forced to feed and take care of the guests until we arrive for the big surprise.” Fisk’s disgust was clear. He held Kiki’s reins as if he’d like to wrap the leather around one of the intruders’ neck.
“What’s the escape hatch?” Zethan asked.
“An alternate way into and out of our headquarters. They haven’t discovered its existence yet.”
“How many of them?” Valek asked.
Tweet held up ten fingers, then flashed them again.
“Twenty?”
A nod.
He considered. They’d have the element of surprise if they used the escape hatch to get inside. But he still didn’t like the odds. “Do you know if any of them have magic?”
Three fingers.
They’d need backup. Or would they? What if he allowed them to capture him? They’d think they were safe if he was contained in a null shield. Then they’d take him to Yelena. He wouldn’t have to worry about sneaking in, just getting away.
“Where are they holding Yelena?” he asked Fisk.
“Krystal Clan garrison. About two days west of the Citadel.”
“Near Mica?”
“Yes.”
And north of the Stormdance Clan’s lands. “Can you get null shields for your helpers?”
“No. Bruns stopped the magicians from selling them.”
Damn. “What about the magicians in hiding? Do any of them know how to craft them?”
“One or two, but it’ll take at least seven days to reach them.”
Too long.
“There might be a few of those glass ones that Quinn makes left inside the Keep,” Fisk said.
Tweet piped twice.
“The Keep’s being watched by Bruns’s people,” Fisk translated.
“Has the staff left, as well?”
Tweet nodded, but then gestured.
“Most of the staff didn’t go to the other garrisons,” Fisk said. “Just the magicians.”
“Do you know if Leif’s wife, Mara, was taken?”
The boy shook his head. He didn’t.
Valek considered the information Tweet had provided as he spurred Onyx toward the center of the Citadel. He found an inn with a stable a couple blocks away. After the horses were groomed and settled, he rented two rooms.
Fisk and Tweet followed them upstairs. As soon as they closed the door, Fisk asked, “What’s the plan?”
“You tell me,” Valek said.
“I’m not one of your corps.”
“You could be.”
Fisk smirked. “You couldn’t afford me.” But then he sobered. “I can send a team to check the situation with the Stormdancers and bring them on board if they’re able.”
“Good. And?”
“And you will visit the Keep and see if you can find anything that will help us.”
“What about us?” Zethan asked.
“Stay here for now.” He held up a hand, stopping the protest. “I’m going to need you both when we implement the rescue.”
“You have a plan?” Zethan asked.
“I’m working on it. First I need to see what resources are available. Tweet, can you find out if Mara is still in the Citadel?”
He nodded in agreement and left with Fisk, who planned to check on his helpers. Fisk promised to return in the morning for another planning session.
Valek instructed Zethan and Zohav to remain inside while he visited the Keep.
“What if you don’t come back or are captured?” Zethan asked.
“Fisk or one of his people will take care of you.”
“And if Fisk is caught, as well?” Zohav asked, ever the pessimist.
He handed her a pouch of coins. “Then stay here. I will send one of my Citadel spies to keep you safe until I return.”
“But—”
“Don’t worry, Zo,” Zethan said.
She jabbed him in the chest with her finger. “You said the same thing when those pirates boarded our ship.”
He spread his hands wide. “And look how it turned out! We’re in Sitia!”
“And in the middle of a...whatever this is.”
She had a point. As Valek left, he tried to put a name to what Bruns’s Cartel had been doing. Recruiting only worked for those who hadn’t been coerced, or for those who were too scared to say no. As for those being drugged to obey, they didn’t have a choice—more like a hostile takeover.
He paused. A takeover. Under the guise that it was in order to protect Sitia from the Commander’s army. But a takeover all the same.
Valek didn’t like where his thoughts led him next. The Commander’s hints of massing an army had never made sense to him, and he suspected Owen had influenced that decision. What if that was all a show? What if Owen had made a deal with the Cartel? The Commander’s distrust and hatred of magicians ran deep, but what if Owen and Bruns conspired to demonstrate to the Commander that they could control the magicians, make them obey and show that they no longer had any free will?
But they wouldn’t be content to rule Sitia. Once they’d earned the Commander’s trust, or used magic to hijack him, it’d be just a matter of time before they removed him from power. Then Owen would rule Ixia, and Bruns’s Cartel would be in charge of Sitia.
His stomach churned, pushing bile up his throat. Valek tried to dismiss his speculation as nothing but that—an exercise in logic. However, the inner intuitive sense that hadn’t ever let him down agreed with his conclusions.
A wave of despair washed through him. He paused in a shadow, leaning against a wall. He didn’t have the people or the resources to stop it. Plus, his life had been turned completely upside down. His protection from magic was gone, and he had no idea how to use the power. But Valek knew if Owen and the Cartel won, there’d be no family for him. Yelena, the baby, all the people he cared for would be eliminated, including him. Basic strategy.
He’d find a way to
stop it. Or die trying. Giving up was not an option. He pushed the despondency away. Pure determination fueled his steps. He stopped by the safe house and reassigned his agents. They would also aid in the rescue attempt, but for now, he sent them to protect the twins.
Two watchers crouched in the shadows near the Keep. Valek sensed there had to be more. He scanned the buildings opposite the Keep’s entrance, searching for places he’d use for stakeouts. Ah. Three—no, four more observed from windows and roofs.
Unfortunately, the Magician’s Keep was surrounded by a high marble wall. The four towers at each corner that rose above the walls had also been constructed with the slick stone, which made climbing impossible. And with only one entrance, the place was well protected. However, when the Daviian Warpers had invaded and taken control, that protection worked against the magicians. Which was why the Master Magicians decided to build another entrance known only to them, Yelena and Valek. He’d aided them on so many occasions that they’d grown to trust him. And he’d kept the secret from the Commander.
He ghosted along a row of factories and businesses that faced the west side of the Keep, ensuring no one followed him or was watching. Satisfied, he slipped through a narrow alley, unlocked the third door on the left, entered and secured the door. Torches and flint waited on a table nearby. He lit one and revealed a small landing with steps leading down into blackness.
Valek descended. At the bottom was a tunnel that crossed under the Keep’s wall and ended in the basement of Irys’s tower. Valek reached it without incident. He climbed to ground level and extinguished the torch.
Letting his eyes adjust to the darkness, Valek waited a few minutes before leaving the tower. A half-moon lit the sky. He passed the empty stables and cut through the overgrown pasture on his way to the glass workshop, hoping a few of Quinn’s null-shield glass pendants had been left behind.
The quiet campus felt abandoned and...dead. As if the life had been sucked away. Perhaps it was his imagination. When he was immune to magic, he would encounter sticky pockets of random magic whenever he visited the Keep. Janco called it the Creepy Keepy because he, too, sensed the power. This time, the name certainly fit.
Night Study Page 34