by Cege Smith
The guard glared back at him.
“I think this may actually be your lucky day, friend,” Connor said, staring deeply into his eyes. “Your lucky day indeed.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“They would have taken her back to her room,” Malin said. He and Rhone were making their way across the palace grounds, but it was taking much longer than either of them expected. Every few steps either a noble would stop Malin asking what was being done to find Lord Redley’s killer, or one of Rhone’s guards would appear with an update. The palace was in chaos.
Finally, after what seemed liked hours, they arrived on the floor that led to the Queen’s chambers. Malin tried to piece together everything that he had heard so far. “So you have the real Lady Redley sequestered in an inn on the edge of the city. No doubt the news of her father’s death is going to bring her to the palace gates no matter what you told her. No one suspects anyone other than every other noble house in Lord Redley’s death even though no one understands what there is to gain by his death, which makes everyone suspect that Lord Redley had a secret that he was killed for. So far we have no leads on our fugitives, and gossip runs rampant through the palace.”
“Sums it up pretty well,” Rhone agreed.
Malin was trying to plan out how he was going to explain the situation to his sister in a way that she would understand enough not to raise any alarms with Rhone. Rhone knew Angeline almost as well as her own father. It wouldn’t take more than just a wrong gesture or word for Rhone’s warning bells to go off. The man was skeptical enough, and the last thing Malin needed was to disrupt their tentative truce. He briefly considered telling Rhone the whole truth, but then decided that would be too risky. Perhaps once they had the vampires in custody, he would be able to tell the truth.
As they approached the Queen’s chamber, Malin saw something that unsettled him greatly. There were no guards at the door. Malin looked at Rhone and saw the same question in the eyes of the Chief General. Something was wrong. His heart sank as they approached the door and he saw red streaks on the walls and floor.
“Someone’s been here,” he said grimly.
Rhone pushed in front of him and drew his sword. Then he grabbed the doorknob, but realized that the door was already cracked open. Putting his palm on the door, he pushed the creaking door open slowly. The room was empty. Nodding to Rhone, Malin pulled his knife from his belt and followed him into the room. They quickly went through each room. Rhone stopped at the spot on the floor where a red stain was clearly evident.
Malin knew that was where Elvry killed Angeline’s personal attendant, Clarissa, earlier that day. They hadn’t had time to clean up the all the blood, and now Rhone was going to assume the worst.
“The Queen is hurt,” Rhone said, pointing at the floor. A litany of curses fell out of his mouth then, and Malin waited for the Chief General to calm down. He felt a cold sweat break out over his body. His sister was gone.
“We will assume that she is still alive until we discover otherwise,” Rhone said harshly. “I will gather the guards, and we will search the palace grounds from the roof to the basement. Then we’ll move into the city. If she’s still within the city walls, we will find her.”
Malin nodded numbly. “What do you need me to do?”
“You need to corral the nobles and get everyone back into their rooms for the rest of the night. If we haven’t found her by morning, we’ll come up with a cover story.”
“Tomorrow is the Ascension Tournament.”
“We’ll worry about that tomorrow!” Rhone snapped. Then he stormed out of the room, yelling for every soldier within hearing distance.
Malin stood there, not knowing what to do next. When he felt the hand on his arm, he leapt back with a cry. Then he let out a sigh of relief. His sister stood there staring up at him.
“Malin! I was so worried. Everything happened so fast at the Ball. There was all that yelling and screaming. The guards brought me here before I could find you to ask what I was supposed to do.”
Malin gripped his sister’s shoulders. “What happened here, Corrinda? Where are the guards? Where were you?”
“I had to hide, Malin. Right after we got back, I heard a commotion outside, so I made myself invisible and hid inside the closet. I heard men’s voices outside the door looking for me, but I tucked myself as far back into the closet as I could manage. I was scared. I didn’t come out until I heard your voice, but that man who was with you? I didn’t know if he was a friend. So I waited for him to leave to release the spell.”
“Who were the men that came into the room before? Did you recognize them or their voices?”
“No,” Corrinda said, shaking her head.
“Are you sure?” Malin knew that his sister had done at least three circuits of emissary work for the Clan to the Master’s coven. The only explanation that made sense was that it was the vampires who had stolen into the palace intent on kidnapping, or worse yet, killing the Queen. “Think, Corrinda. Were the voices familiar at all to you?”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Malin. I don’t know. I was afraid they’d find me. I just didn’t want to die.”
The open nakedness of her vulnerability stunned him. That was when he realized that he still cared for her. She was his only sibling. He saw the girl that he had known when they were little before their mother corrupted her, and the magic took hold inside of her. Malin took her into his arms and held her while she shivered.
“You are allowed to protect yourself, Corrinda, don’t forget that,” he said, stroking her hair. “You are strong. You are the most powerful spellcaster in the Clan.”
She laughed then and pushed him away. “Mother would kill both of us if she heard you say that.”
“Mother is afraid of what her children will do when they are no longer under her thumb,” he said. He wanted badly for Connor’s compulsion to hold over her, but it was inevitable that it would fade away. He was starting to get nervous about how long Angeline and Connor had been gone.
“How can we find out what’s going on with the Clan?” he asked. “We need to know when Angeline will return. Things are growing desperate, and I need her here. The kingdom needs her.”
“I can go there,” Corrinda suggested.
Malin shook his head. “No, that is too dangerous.” He tried to think. “Is there a way that you can locate her in Tanagor from here?”
“No, I would need her blood,” Corrinda said.
“Damn it,” Malin cursed. “We need to get back to the common area and calm the nobles. There has to be a way to communicate with her.”
“Are you sure that you feel strongly for her?”
Malin looked sharply at his sister. This was the type of question that he expected from the old Corrinda. “I care for her enough to risk everything to help her.”
Corrinda took his hand. “Blood calls to other blood. It is the nature of us all. No one wants to be alone. We all want to create connections that bind us together. If you have created a bond with the Queen, I might be able to locate her using your blood. I won’t lie. It’s a long shot, but it’s possible.”
Malin nodded. “Whatever you need.”
Corrinda pointed at the chairs in front of the fireplace. “Sit here. This won’t take long. Either it will work or it won’t.”
Malin sat in the chair next to the fire. He couldn’t help but remember that just a few days before he sat in the same chair late one evening talking to Angeline about their future. Malin knew that whatever happened out in the Forgotten Lands of Altera shifted how Angeline felt about him. He had been her childhood crush, and there was a part of him that ended up being overconfident about that. He never imagined that she would meet anyone who could possibly dredge up romantic feelings. That’s why he ensured that the King sent her away from court and to a convent until the time when their betrothal became public knowledge.
The plan never accounted for Connor Radwin.
The feelings of possession and
jealousy were foreign to him. He thought that he had done everything to make sure that when Angeline returned, she would fall into his arms. Instead, the woman who entered Brebackerin was indifferent and distant. It meant that, for the last three weeks, Malin had been on his heels.
Corrinda knelt in front of him. She reached out and took the knife from his belt. He had forgotten that he had even returned it to its pouch. It was simply a part of him. She took his hand in hers and then looked at him as if asking his permission one last time. Malin nodded and leaned his head against the back of the chair. Whatever was about to happen, he was certain that it would take a toll on him.
Pricking his finger, Corrinda began to chant. She took the bleeding finger into her hands and squeezed, ensuring that a steady stream oozed from the tip. He wasn’t sure what to expect, but when the scene in front of him faded away and was replaced by another, he was still surprised.
His first reaction was relief. He saw Angeline.
“It’s working,” he said out loud.
“Shhhhh,” was Corrinda’s only response.
Angeline was in a cluttered room that looked vaguely familiar. Then Malin saw the face of a man he knew all too well. The man looked over Angeline’s shoulder, pointing at the passage of a book that Angeline held in her hands. Malin saw the words at the top of the page, but that was all he saw before the image floated away.
“Tobias!” Malin’s shout startled Corrinda, and her hands broke with his. “Bring it back!”
Corrinda’s face was pale, and Malin could see that she was sweating. The expression on her face was pained. “I can’t. Malin, I don’t feel very good.” She put a hand to her forehead, and then her eyelids fluttered before she fainted.
Malin reached out to catch her and then pulled her up into his arms. He quickly crossed the room to lie her down on the bed. His thoughts were a whirlwind. He thought that the spell worked, but now he was even more worried. Angeline was in even more dire straits than he anticipated, but at least she was alive. He found small comfort in that.
His immediate concern though was his sister. He touched her forehead and hissed. She was burning up. He hurried to the doorway and looked into the hallway. A young servant girl was passing by with a pile of linens in her hands. She jumped and squeaked before dropping into a curtsey.
“Get me Padlem Hand. Now,” Malin said. Padlem Hand was the palace healer. He didn’t want to start a panic, but he could tell that there was something terribly wrong. He turned back to look at the bed. He could see that Corrinda’s breath was coming in short, labored gasps. He wasn’t sure what had happened when she cast the locator spell, but something had made its way back along the magical binding to affect her. It was the only explanation.
So far the image spell was holding, but if something happened to Corrinda, it would fade away. Malin needed Angeline to come back. He knelt next to the bed and held Corrinda’s hand. He had to find a way to contact Angeline and tell her to come home, but until then, all he could do was wait.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Angeline felt the whisper of an invisible presence and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Then Tobias’s finger was tapping at a place in the text in the book open in front of her and the sensation subsided.
“So after the ritual that opens the portal, I will go through and then present myself to the Immortal Ones? Who are these people again and why have I never heard of them?”
“At the creation of time, the Immortal Ones joined blood, flesh, and magic and created the Clan. We assume that, at the same time, Mamette and Arduro were also birthed and set on a collision course with the Clan. No one has ever seen the Immortal Ones because they returned to their slumber once they gave oversight of our world to the Clan.”
“They are the Gods that you so badly want to emulate,” Angeline said, crossing her arms.
“These beings exist on a higher plane of existence. They are as close to Gods as we could ever hope to become. They are all-knowing and all powerful. If you are the One, they will grant you the gift that you so badly desire.”
“They will remove the wraith?” Angeline felt shivers down her spine as she considered presenting herself in front of mythic creatures that could control her entire fate. It was almost amusing to her that until the last few moments, she thought that the Clan was all she had to worry about.
“They will elevate your human form. Death and disease will be stripped away. You will bring that back to us, and we will all be able to cast aside the bindings of the mortal coil.”
Angeline remained silent on that point. She had no loyalty to the Clan, and she surely had no desire to gain an advantage over them that she would so freely share with them. If the Immortal Ones were the ones who had the power to take away the wraith, she would do whatever was necessary to make them do it, regardless of whether or not she was ‘the One’.
“So I go through the portal and then ask them, and that’s it?”
Tobias sighed. “The impatience of youth. No, it is not that simple. By presenting yourself to the Immortal Ones, you are submitting yourself to the ceremony called the Trials of Truth. You will have to answer for your actions and truths will be revealed to you that you have to decide if you can handle.”
“What truth would be so awful that I would not be able to handle it?”
“The truth knows no moral code. The truth is black and white. There is no judgment wrapped around it. It simply is. When the truth is given, there are many who cannot stand it without going mad. Someone weak in mind or will would be destroyed.”
“I am a Robart,” Angeline sniffed. “I can handle anything.”
“Let us hope so,” Tobias said. “For your sake and your companion’s.”
For several moments, Angeline had been able to block out the fact that Connor faced a death sentence. She shook her head. “I am not concerned with Connor’s fate at the moment. I need to know everything you can tell me about these Immortal Ones and the Trials of Truth.”
Tobias stood and pulled several books off the shelf on one of the bookcases. He took out a small vial and then handed it to Angeline. The vial had a thick layer of dust on it that obscured the contents. She looked at Tobias questioningly.
“What’s this?”
“Theodora thinks that all of the Immortal Ones’ blood is locked away in the Council chambers. Treven Robart hid some away and gave it to me when he died. You will want to keep that with you. There are magical qualities contained within the blood that increases the strength of any spells.”
“Am I casting spells?” Angeline shivered remembering her last experience casting a spell. She raised the spirit of Alair Robart, and that had not worked out well for her. “I have no experience doing that. I’m as likely to mess it up as get the spell right.”
“That’s why you need that,” Tobias said, pointing at the vial. “If you are put in a position where you are asked to cast a spell, substitute the blood required with just a few drops of that vial.”
“Why would you give me this?” Angeline asked. “Why are you helping me? What’s in it for you?”
Tobias chuckled. “I admit that I do have a few personal self-interests in this endeavor. My ask of you is simple, Majesty. If and when you return here to the Clan, and assuming that you found my assistance in your success worthy of a reward, I want to be proclaimed Master and First Seat of the Clan.”
Angeline cocked an eyebrow. “So this is about Theodora.”
“When Treven Robart passed on from this world, my name was put forward to take his place. Theodora made her move in the last few moments and swung the one vote away from me that I needed.”
“Why would I be able to do anything about that? Obviously Theodora is very powerful. Thomas told me that her ability to control the magic is almost absolute given her meld with it.”
Staring into the fire, Tobias’s face softened. It was as if he were looking through it. “At one time, I was quite close to Theodora. I nominated her for Council membersh
ip in her husband’s stead, as he was required to remain in Brebackerin as advisor to your father. I coached her and taught her everything she knows about the Clan. She repaid me by taking the First Seat, which was rightfully mine.”
“Revenge is a bitter pill,” Angeline said.
“This isn’t revenge,” Tobias said with a scowl. “This is simply setting history straight. Theodora is not the one who should be in control, and she plots her own secret schemes outside of the Council’s eyes. She is a wicked and cruel leader.”
“Then how is it that she is still First Seat?”
“Everyone is scared of her,” Tobias said, spitting into the fire. “I am not, but I have had to bide my time. Your arrival was the signal that things are going to change. Are you going to accept the terms of my assistance or not?”
Angeline realized that if she said no that Tobias would leave her on her own, and she needed every bit of help that she could get. “When I return, assuming I don’t find out that you betrayed me, I will help you take First Seat.”
A wide smile broke out on Tobias’s face. He nodded to the vial in her hands. “Trust me, I think you will be very grateful for that gift.”
“The Immortal Ones,” Angeline reminded him. She could feel her time ticking away. She was about to be thrust into another unknown situation, and this one was even more perilous than the one she was in.
“No one has ever seen them. Their influence was last felt on the world when they created the Clan,” Tobias said.
“Why has no one attempted to see them then?” Angeline asked. “If they exist on this other plane, why does no one go there? Don’t you have to seek their wisdom or guidance from time to time?”
“Their blood is the key to our magic. Long ago, members of the Clan tried to reach the Immortal Ones, and they were cast out before they saw them and were severely punished for their intrusion. The Immortal Ones made it clear that the only person welcome, ever, was the One.”