by John Corwin
Quiff flashed a dimpled smile. "Many on the council were replaced. It is only a matter of time before the Overlord takes his rightful throne and makes Arcanes first in the Overworld."
A strange disjointed melody echoed from somewhere on Kanaan's person, drawing confused looks from Quiff and Grint. He shrugged. "The ringtone on my arcphone."
Grint waved away his explanation. "If you surrender now, we will only take Conrad and Kanaan. The rest of you may go."
"An appealing offer," Kanaan said. "I must have absolute assurances that you will spare the others."
Grint leaned forward eagerly on her broom. "Of course. I will see to it myself."
"I would like to have a cup of tea before I surrender," Kanaan said. "I will return in ten minutes."
"No, you can't surrender!" Ambria shouted. "They're lying!"
Right then I knew two things for certain: One, Ambria was right, and two, Kanaan would never surrender us to them. I grabbed Ambria's arm and gave her a sharp look. "It's the only way. We can't escape, I won't let you starve to death." I squeezed her arm twice, hoping she got the message.
Ambria's eyes narrowed, but she relented. "I hope you know what you're doing, Conrad."
Quiff displayed her dimples again. "One cup of tea and then you will lower this barrier and surrender. Any further delays and we will rescind our generous offer."
Kanaan nodded. "As you say." He turned and ushered everyone back inside, closing the door behind us.
Asha raised an eyebrow. "What are you up to, Kanaan? I know you don't mean to simply give up."
Kanaan tapped the pendant on his cloak. "Shushiel, you may try it now."
"The tea room," Shushiel replied.
"Are we going to climb out of here on webs?" Percival said. "In case you hadn't noticed, we're underground and trapped by solid rock."
Kanaan walked into the tea room. A portal flickered open in the middle of the room, shoving the table and chairs across the room. Shushiel stood on the other side of the gateway, bobbing up and down. "I did it!"
Max's mouth dropped open. "A ruby spider can activate an arch?"
Ambria frowned at Kanaan. "More importantly, how did you open an arch if they're using a portal blocker?"
"The portal blockers were used in the war." Kanaan tapped his arcphone. "I have the musical frequencies to turn them off, but required close proximity."
"That's what your phone was playing," I said. "Grint and Quiff didn't even know what you were doing."
Stan burst into laughter. "You realize they'll probably sit out there for hours without realizing we've gone."
Max snorted. "I hope they rot out there."
Once the group went through the portal to the omniarch room, Kanaan closed the gateway, and reopened it to somewhere dark and dim. Once more, we stepped through the gateway and into a cavernous room lined with arches of all sizes as far as the eye could see. Once everyone was through, Kanaan closed the gateway.
Max looked around in wonder. "We're in an arch control room, aren't we?"
"El Dorado." Kanaan leaned against a black arch that looked like the omniarch near the mansion. "We should be safe from Victus until we decide our next move."
Max groaned and sank to the black polished floor. "I don't understand how Victus outsmarted us. How'd he know that we were coming to rescue Ivy and the others?"
"Where did he put the originals?" Ambria said. "How are we supposed to find them?"
"This is the man who orchestrated the events that stranded Justin Slade and the Eden army in Seraphina," Stan said. "Hell, he planned his own death and resurrection when his back was against the wall. He probably planned for something like this too."
Asha turned to Kanaan. "Do you think Garkin knew you were spying on them?"
"I am certain no one knew I was there." Kanaan took out one of his wands and started polishing it. "I was careful to avoid all wards."
The discussion continued, but I tuned it out, too embroiled in my own thoughts. If Victus knew we were coming, why did he let us take so many preservation chambers? Why didn't he spring a trap on us? He could've surrounded and taken us long before we'd destroyed the pattern in the foundry. No matter how skilled Zarin might be, creating a pattern like that wasn't easy.
It only meant one thing. Victus hadn't known we were coming. The remote location kept the foundry secret from every except the people who worked there. He suspected that the soul fragments left inside me after his and Delectra's resurrections might have inadvertently given me information about the foundry, or maybe he thought Ansel betrayed his secret. Even then, he probably considered it unlikely I would launch a raid against his secret base. Sending Garkin to kill me had been insurance.
Victus didn't trust anyone, not even his associates. Ivy Slade and anyone else he kept in those ruby chambers were of immeasurable value. That meant Victus had put clones of them in the foundry and put the real people somewhere else because he wanted sole access to them. But where? For all I knew, he could have them hidden in a cave beneath the foundry, or stashed them in a warehouse anywhere in the world.
But he hadn't.
Ansel helped Victus with the first foundry. That's where the originals are.
There was only one other person Victus trusted nearly as much as himself. In fact, he trusted him so much, he'd staked his life on it. Rufus Cumberbatch had resurrected my parents and proven his absolute loyalty to Victus. If anyone knew where the original foundry was, it would be him.
"I think we're done." Stan's words broke through my mental dam. "You're all welcome to stay at my house. I think you'll be safe there even if Victus comes into power."
"No." I clapped my hands, drawing all eyes to me. "We're not running from this. We're going to confront Victus and win. If we don't, the Overlord returns and everyone loses."
"We've already lost." Max drooped. "We don't have Ivy to help us."
"Who needs Ivy Slade?" I said. "Every one of you just helped me raid Victus's foundry. We robbed him blind and nearly got away with it. As far as I'm concerned, you're all heroes."
Harris perked up at the word. "You really think so? Victus completely outsmarted us."
"No, he didn't outsmart us." I let that sink in a moment. "Victus hid the real Ivy and others because he doesn't trust his underlings enough to leave his most prized possessions lying around for them to steal."
"Whoa." Max scratched his head. "So he hid them because he's paranoid?"
I nodded. "Yes, and I think I know exactly where they are."
Ambria's eyes flashed wide. "The same place Victus and Delectra's bodies were kept."
"Exactly." I projected an image of a grand estate in St. Ives in southwest England. "In the wine cellar of Rufus Cumberbatch's estate, probably near the first infernus foundry."
"Victus probably thinks we were fooled by the infernus in the coffins," Lily said. "Quiff and Grint told him we're trapped in the mansion. I'll bet if we go to Cumberbatch's estate, we could take everything without him being any the wiser."
"If Victus is as paranoid as he seems to be, he will likely check with Cumberbatch to ensure the originals are safe," Asha said.
"It is possible," Kanaan agreed. He looked at the holographic image of the main gates guarding the entrance to the estate. "Do you have a picture inside the cellar?"
"No, this is all I have." I turned off the hologram. "Is it enough?"
"It means we will have to traverse whatever security he has to reach the cellar." Kanaan turned to Shushiel. "Unless one of us can sneak inside and take a picture."
The spider bobbed up and down. "Gladly."
"One problem," Asha said. "We don't have the vampires to help us anymore."
Natalia flexed a bicep. "Not to worry, darling. The spider and I are plenty strong to lift coffins."
"I don't think they'll be in coffins," I said. "More likely, they'll be hidden in large wine casks."
"I do hope the man has a good selection of reds," Percival said. "Because I need something to calm my nerves.
"
"Just because Shushiel can camouflage doesn't mean she can avoid wards," Max said.
"I could go," Natalia said. "I'm sure a small cat could slip through unnoticed."
Kanaan shook his head. "I suspect someone like Cumberbatch employs deadly wards scattered like land mines across the estate, but to prevent animals from triggering them, they are likely attuned to humans, wolves, and felines."
"Why wolves and felines?" Baxter asked.
Max looked at Natalia. "Because of felycans and lycans."
Natalia scowled. "Perhaps."
Shushiel's mandibles twitched. "But not giant spiders, I hope."
"Remain on the driveway," Kanaan said. "I doubt anything deadly is there. Otherwise, he would inadvertently kill someone."
"Yes, I will definitely stay on the road." Shushiel reached a mandible toward me and took the arcphone from my hand. "Wish me luck, my friends."
I leaned down and hugged her.
"Please do be careful," Ambria said. "I don't know what we'd do without you."
Kanaan opened a portal to the outside of Cumberbatch's estate. Shushiel rotated and bobbed goodbye before shimmering into camouflage and starting her dangerous mission.
Chapter 30
Kanaan closed the portal to avoid detection and we played the waiting game, praying for the photo that would give us access to the wine cellar. Nearly twenty minutes passed and still no word.
Harris huddled against the base of an arch, eyes squeezed shut while Lily and Baxter tried to talk to him. He shook them off. "I don't believe Victus. My parents didn't work for him."
Lily patted his arm. "But Galfandor said—"
"Galfandor doesn't know what he's talking about!" Harris pushed up to his feet and glared at the omniarch. "How much longer will this take?"
"Harris, it doesn't matter what your parents did or didn't do," Ambria said, "It's what you do that matters."
Harris's lips pressed into a thin line. "They were heroes. They died fighting the Overlord."
Max groaned. "Lying to yourself won't help. Do you think I like having a father who's nothing but a lapdog to Victus?"
Harris looked at the unconscious form of Galfandor on the flying carpet and shook his head. "My parents were good. I'm good."
Max rolled his eyes.
"We should go after Shushiel." Ambria approached the omniarch, but Kanaan shook his head.
"Ten minutes more." He checked the time on his arcphone.
Shushiel sent a picture of the entrance to the wine cellar several tense moments later and Kanaan opened a portal. Stan started toward it, but the magitsu master put a hand on his chest and shook his head. "Wait here."
Stan protested. "I'm not useless just because I'm old."
"Remain." Kanaan's voice was firm. "We must move quickly and your bad leg will hinder you."
Stan sighed but relented. "Be careful."
Asha kissed him on the cheek. "We'll be back soon."
Harris stepped through first, followed by Baxter. Lily remained close to me, Ambria, and Max, her eyes worried. Kanaan and Asha took out their wands and approached the door to the cellar. Shushiel shimmered into view.
"I could not get through the door," she said.
"We'll take it from here," Asha said.
Kanaan worked his wand around the brass lock for a moment. "This door is magically sealed. We may have to use brute force."
Stan poked his head through the portal. "I know you don't need the help of an old man, but it might help to know that you're looking at a Jenkins four-hundred series magical lock that's bonded with a diamond-fiber, hermetically sealed door. The lock is nearly impossible to pick, and forget trying to blow a diamond-fiber door off its hinges."
Asha raised an eyebrow. "You know this from your days as a Blue Cloak?"
"Sort of." Stan smiled sheepishly. "Damien Shelton and I became bounty hunters after we left the Blue Cloaks. Let's just say we acquired some necessary skills."
Kanaan stepped back from the lock. "Can you open it?"
"Gladly." Stan stepped through the portal and slid his compacted staff out of its holster. Instead of expanding it, he traced a rune along the edge and the end popped open. Inside was a leather pouch. Stan opened the pouch and removed a piece of chalk and two balls of beige clay. He pressed one piece of clay to the lock and the other to his ear.
"What the heck does that do?" Max asked.
Stan was too intent on his work to hear the question. He tapped his wand around the lock and used the chalk to draw symbols next to his feet on the stone walkway. As he worked, Asha and Kanaan took positions at opposite ends of the walkway, peering around the tall hedges that lined ornate gardens to the side of the mansion.
The old man grunted and crossed out a symbol, replaced it with one that looked similar. Stan put down the chalk and checked his wristwatch. "Seven minutes. Damn, I've lost my touch."
"Is it open?" Max asked.
"All but opened." Stan pressed his wand to the door and traced the symbols he'd drawn on the sidewalk. The lock clicked and rotated. What sounded like bars of metal slid somewhere on the other side and clinked to a halt. Stan pushed on the door and it swung open silently on well-oiled hinges.
"Cool," Baxter breathed. "Can you teach me how to do that?"
"He won't even teach me," Natalia said. "Probably thinks I'll turn to thieving."
"Well, they aren't called cat burglars for nothing," Max said.
Natalia shot him a dirty look. "Not all felycans are thieves."
"Maybe I should think about passing on these skills," Stan said. "I'm not getting any younger."
Kanaan stepped past us and went inside the door. I followed close behind, my chest growing tighter with every step. I'd been to Cumberbatch's residence several times as a child for testing meant to gauge my magical potential. The Goodleighs took all their orphan wards to Dr. Cumberbatch for such an evaluation because Arcane children were valuable on the black market.
Since I'd been under the living curse that kept my parents' souls bound to my own, I'd been dull-witted and a magical zero. Cumberbatch had known the truth about me, but kept it from the Goodleighs. Now they were dead by my hand, but I could still feel their presence in this foreboding place.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and led the way, a vaguely remembered path to a metal chair with straps. The breath hitched in my throat at the sight of it. Ambria gripped my arm and stared at the shining metal. Crusted blood still clung to the edges of the seat—my blood drawn by my own mother shortly after her resurrection.
Concentrate! I shook my head to free myself from the visions of that day and located the large wine barrels my parents had risen from, still lying open even after all this time. "Why did Cumberbatch leave them lying here?"
"They're kind of big." Ambria pointed to a series of hooks and pulleys that had probably been used to move the barrels into position. "Maybe we can use those to move the others."
I pointed down the aisle to a back wall filled with more of the large wine barrels. "Then I suggest we move back there."
Natalia walked around the barrel that had held my father. She heaved up on the hinged top quarter half and closed it. "These things are a lot bigger than the coffins. It'll take us ages to get them up on the pulleys, onto carpets and through the portal. I don't even know how to keep them from rolling off."
"We'll figure out something." I headed to the back with the others where the oak barrels sat atop thick concrete blocks. I turned the spigot on the first one I reached and red wine dribbled out of the end. Everyone else ran up and down the long line of barrels testing each one.
Percival took a long draw from the one he tested. "Hmm, very dry, but nice."
Harris dashed out from between two of the barrels. "I think I found them."
We followed him between two barrels and along a stone wall. A tall stack of crates blocked the view of a doorway. Beyond it was another large room. In this one, the wine barrels lined up to either side of us. N
one of them had spigots, but they also didn't have clasps like the ones my parents had been in. Stan used his tricks to locate levers hidden in the sides. When pulled open, slats in the barrel slid back to reveal the clasps.
Kanaan opened the first one to reveal a young woman lying inside on a small bed, her brilliant blond hair splayed like a sunburst. A shimmering preservation spell hung over her like webs of gossamer.
"That's not Ivy," Max said.
Ambria peered at the woman. "Who is it?"
"A test subject." Kanaan waved Percival closer. "We must remove these people from the barrels so we can move them quickly."
"Why don't we just open a portal inside here?" Lily said. "Then we don't have to carry them far."
Kanaan raised an eyebrow. "An excellent idea. Can you do it?"
"Yes, sir!" Lily saluted him and ran out of the room.
"I certainly hope removing this spell doesn't kill her," Percival said as he waved his wand over the woman. Numbers danced in the air around his wand as he scanned her. "Her soul seems mostly intact. Perhaps it's had plenty of time to heal."
"Let us hope," Kanaan said.
The portal flickered open a few feet from the doorway and Lily stepped through from the other side. "Mission accomplished, sir."
Kanaan's lips twitched. "Good work." He turned to Percival. "It is in your hands now, healer."
Percival cracked his knuckles. "No pressure, eh?" He worked the wand around the edges of the spell. Cracks formed along the preservation shield. The webs flickered and faded. The woman gasped a ragged breath and jerked upright. She shouted in a foreign tongue, eyes wide with panic.
Kanaan held up a hand and spoke slowly in the same language.
Her eyes narrowed. She raised a hand. A small globe of light flickered and vanished.
"What in heaven's name?" Percival said. "What sort of magic is that?"
"She's Seraphim," Kanaan said. "She doesn't remember her name or what happened to her. She only speaks Cyrinthian."
"Seraphim?" Percival rubbed is hands together. "Memory loss is common with long-term preservation spells. I'm sure she'll be right as rain eventually."
Kanaan spoke to the woman again. She shivered and held out a hand to me. I took it and helped her out of the barrel. She collapsed against me and I struggled to hold her up. Max took her other arm and we walked the woman through the portal and into the dim arch control room at El Dorado.