by D N Meinster
Hatswick couldn’t prevent his trembling. “You can’t know.”
“But I do.” And without warning, Aergo planted his lips on Hatswick’s.
Hatswick closed his eyes and passionately returned the kiss. He had waited so long for it that he couldn’t help himself. It didn’t matter that it might not be Aergo. It looked like him and it felt real.
What he didn’t see was the black smoke crawling from Aergo’s mouth like worms and entering every orifice on his head. The smoke went up Hatswick’s nose and into each ear. It climbed into his eyes and forced itself down his throat.
He didn’t feel it though. All he felt were the lips of the man he had spent decades loving.
Aergo pulled himself away. “Do you understand now?”
Hatswick flicked a tear from his face. “You can bring him back?” he asked, skeptical that it was possible.
“Of course,” Aergo answered. “Magenine will let you continue to suffer. My price is small. A trifle. Isn’t it worth it? Isn’t he worth it?”
Hatswick was close to agreeing, but he stared into Aergo’s eyes. They weren’t his eyes. It wasn’t him. This was a trick and he was falling for it. He hated himself for being so weak. Amelia would have already engaged the imposter in battle. Hatswick couldn’t. All he could do was shake his head and try to prevent himself from crying.
“Oh, Hatswick,” Aergo said. “Why would you devote yourself to a goddess that made you second best? Neanthal can release your true potential. No one would be able to challenge you, not even Amelia. What more incentive do you need? You get love and power, while you lose nothing.”
“Aergo loved his wife and his children,” Hatswick sputtered. “If you bring him back to love me, then that’s not really him.”
Aergo’s unnaturally guffaw was unsettling. “You don’t have to be trapped in Magenine’s designs. She will give you nothing, while I will give you everything. Perhaps you need more time to understand. Things don’t have to be the way they are or even the way they were. They can be better. Neanthal can make them better for you.”
Hatswick refused to speak, for he feared he might actually agree. He only managed to slightly shake his head.
Aergo looked at him sorrowfully. “I’m sure you’ll come around eventually. I’ll be waiting.”
Aergo disappeared in a blink, and Hatswick was left alone in his room once more.
He let his staff fall to the floor and he collapsed face-first on to his bed. Had he just turned down his life’s desires? And for what? Amelia? Aergo’s feckless sons? A goddess he didn’t know?
Hatswick’s eyes burned as he cried into his mattress, and he let out a heartbreaking howl.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Heirloom
Slythe grabbed onto Doren’s shoulder and brought his grandnephew to a halt. “The keep has watchers,” he said. “I can take them out and then we can sneak in.”
The Roamer’s newfound concern was odd considering he’d always known they were related. Shouldn’t he have been this protective since they first met? Nevertheless, Doren was not about to let Slythe treat him as some helpless child. He was as much a warrior as him and was not afraid to take on Kahar’s loyalists.
“We can take them out,” Doren corrected.
“You want to be part of the plan?” Slythe asked. “Fine. You distract and I’ll shift.”
Doren nodded. This was a plan he could accept.
Slythe was about to spin in place when a well-timed bark caused him to stumble and fall.
Doren withdrew his shield right away but lowered it when he saw the source of the yapping. One of the miwolves had followed them all the way to the keep. And accompanying the pup was a mideer, frolicking around behind it.
Doren got on his knees and called the animals over. He dropped his shield and started scratching the miwolf behind the ears as the mideer poked him for attention. “That’s it. I’m keeping them.”
Slythe let out a frustrated sigh. “You can babysit if you want. I’ll do what we came here to do.”
“Do you have something against working together?” Doren asked as he stood back up. “These guys can wait here while we go get Rikki.”
Ji-Ji let out a whistle and began chasing Doren’s new pets.
“Ji-Ji can watch them while we’re gone,” Doren suggested.
Slythe didn’t bother replying as his swords dropped from his sleeves and into his hands.
Doren took hold of his shield and said, “I’m ready.”
But before Slythe shifted, he asked Doren a question. “Have you ever heard of Leaf Tunsev?”
“No,” Doren answered, wondering if he was about to hear about a long-lost relative.
“He was an orphan that King Aergo adopted as one of his own. He grew close to the boy, as did Aergo’s natural son, Shine. He was closer with my brother than I ever was. When Shine’s wife was in trouble, he called on Leaf to help him save her. And they were successful, but it cost Leaf his life.”
Doren could see the obvious parallels with the current situation. “I know the risk.”
“I can’t let you die, Doren Tunsev. If it comes down to it, I’m the one that makes the sacrifice. Got it?”
“I’m not the only heir,” Doren said. “There are others out there.” And for the first time since he’d left Kytheras, he wondered who exactly they were and if he’d still call on them to take the throne when the time came.
“Not the point,” Slythe replied.
“Would you be king?” Doren asked, suddenly realizing what it meant that Aergo’s son was alive and well in 300 A.P.
“I never wanted that job,” Slythe said. “That’s why I’m a Roamer.”
“I never wanted it either,” Doren mumbled.
“Is that why you left Kytheras?” Slythe asked. “Running away from your responsibilities?” He smiled at the Prince. “Seems like you wound up running into a whole new set of obligations.”
“Technically, they found me before I could run away,” Doren replied. He was chasing Thalians and Keys before he even knew that’s what he was doing. He followed Rikki off that dais during the Celebration and hadn’t stopped following her since.
“So why do you embrace these duties and spurn your old ones?”
Doren opened his mouth to answer but no words came out. He didn’t have a response to that.
“I would’ve stayed if not for Amelia,” Slythe said. “Mages can have that effect.”
How did he know that’s exactly what he was thinking? He didn’t do this for his father or his kingdom. He wasn’t traversing every kingdom in Ghumai because a goddess had convinced him to do so. The fear of Neanthal’s return barely motivated him, and the shock of Hatswick’s betrayal had worn off.
He was in Terrastream because of Rikki. He would go anywhere for her and do anything she requested. Why, if she wanted him to be king, he would even do that.
As Doren realized the extent of his feelings for Rikki, a commotion by the keep snapped him back to the present situation.
“What is that?” Doren asked.
“Someone doing your job,” Slythe replied before shifting away.
With shield in hand, Doren ran through the remaining tall grass and up the hill until the carved turrets of Valiant Keep were in full view. He stepped onto the gray dirt but went no further as he surveyed the situation. This was not what he was expecting to find outside Kahar’s lair.
Rikki Nasem, bald, armor-less, and clad in tight red pajamas, was taking on a barrage of arrows outside the keep. She stood back-to-back with a shirtless man wearing only blue trousers that matched the color of his hairdo.
When Rikki and Azzer had shifted to what she presumed would be Doren’s location, she was not expecting to end up just outside Valiant Keep. And of course, Doren was nowhere to be found. Instead, they encountered only watchers with plenty of projectiles at the ready.
The bombardment hadn’t let up since they got their first breath of fresh air. With each archer they took down,
another was at the ready to take their place. Rikki let out a green fireball at one while Azzer struck another down with lightning. But as the deceased watchers fell off the keep’s walls, their replacements immediately continued the assailment.
Rikki froze an arrow and flipped it back on its archer. Impaled in the gut, this one stumbled back, only to have another archer climb over him and loose an arrow.
“Can you make a barrier out of nothing?” Rikki asked Azzer. “I can’t.”
“Amelia could,” Azzer replied as he sent out a burst that cracked the top of the wall. “That means you can, too.”
“Maybe if you taught me,” Rikki stated as she created a disc of ice and hurled it at the watchers. It successfully cut through two of them, and their dismembered parts tumbled down the side of the keep.
“I don’t know how to do it!” Azzer yelled as an arrow whizzed past his ear. He retaliated by growing the arrow to ten times its usual size and flinging it back at the archer. Two of the watchers were impaled on the unusually large shaft.
“Then how am I supposed to?” Rikki asked. She wasn’t even able to shift until Grace taught her how to correctly do it. Who was going to teach her such a rare form of magic?
Rikki froze a throwing axe in midair as she noticed reinforcements exiting the keep. “We have to shift out of here.”
As another axe came at them, it was knocked off course by a bronze-armored warrior yielding a matching shield.
“Doren!” Rikki exclaimed with excitement.
As she ran to get closer to him, her path was interrupted by an avalanche of watchers falling from atop the keep. Rikki and Azzer looked up and saw Slythe easily slaying the outmatched loyalists.
Doren was bashing the watchers in a simple pattern, and his armor protected him from their axes and swords as they tried to get at him from behind. But after one of them nicked his ear, he took a better look at how many there were. What they lacked in skill they made up for in sheer numbers.
“We need to leave!” Doren cried out.
He smacked a watcher in the forehead, bounced the shield into another’s chest, caught it as it rebounded, and spun and tripped a watcher as he charged at him from behind.
Doren got another in the chin, then got a few more as he spun in place with his shield extended.
A pillar of green fire burst from the ground in front of him. It swiftly surrounded him, leaving him alone at its center. Only one person was brave enough to walk through it. Rikki.
As she held out her staff for him, Doren took hold of it and their surroundings immediately began to fade away. The fire was replaced by tall grass and trees.
The momentary relief was replaced by anxiety as he thought of the creatures they’d left behind. Ji-Ji and his new pets were just outside the keep. They couldn’t leave them there.
But before he could say anything, Slythe shifted to their location, with all three animals snuggled beneath his arms.
Azzer showed up last, his body in the worst condition of any of them. There were fresh cuts on his face that were only a tenth of the size of the scars on his chest. But none was more unsettling than the K that they’d carved into his skin.
All of them looked each other over before Rikki finally spoke. “Did you come to rescue me?” she teased.
“You’re welcome,” Doren replied.
They both stared somberly at each other until smiles overtook their solemnity. Rikki ran forward and the two shared a passionate kiss before they embraced.
“I love you,” Doren whispered into her ear.
Rikki shoved him away and looked at him like he wasn’t being earnest. “Excuse me?”
“I love you,” Doren repeated even louder.
Slythe and Azzer stood by awkwardly, both intensely watching Rikki for her reaction.
She frowned and rolled her eyes until she hurried toward Doren again and kissed him. This kiss went on for a while until she finally broke away and told Doren she loved him under her breath.
Doren took both of her hands into his. As he gazed tenderly at her, he couldn’t help asking, “What happened to your hair?”
Rikki pulled a hand free and touched her bald scalp like she’d forgotten what’d been done to her.
“Kahar,” she grumbled, and with a thought, magenta follicles began to rise from the barren skin. They stood like the tall grass as they rapidly grew until their increasing density took them down and they fell behind her ears and down her back. Rikki shook her head and patted the new hairs as she tried to return them to their proper shape.
Doren watched, astounded, as he absentmindedly twirled his own black hairs. “He shaved your head?” He glanced at Azzer, whose curly blue hairs remained untouched.
“He took it like it was a wig,” she relayed, fury flashing in her eyes. “He doesn’t get to keep it.”
Doren knew what that meant. She was going back, and this time, he was not going to allow her to go on her own.
“Did he take your armor, too?” Slythe asked as he set the pets down.
“His mage destroyed it,” Rikki stated. She hadn’t had the Bellish armor very long, but she felt more vulnerable without it. There were some things it could do that even magic couldn’t make up for.
“She got him back for that,” Azzer said.
Doren wondered what exactly that implied. Did she kill him?
“You can’t travel through Terrastream wearing that,” Slythe said. “I have an idea.” With a spin, he disappeared.
“Do you mind?” Azzer asked, holding his chest as he moved toward Rikki.
Rikki blankly gazed at him. “What?”
“You can heal all this.”
Rikki knew she could take care of his fresh wounds, but the scars were another issue entirely. How was she supposed to heal something that was already technically healed?
“Please,” Azzer begged. “I cannot be marked like this forever.”
“It’s not like it’s Neanthal’s brand,” Doren remarked.
Azzer glared at the Prince but didn’t contradict him.
Rikki stepped closer to Azzer and laid the tip of her staff on his chest. Her channeling crystal glowed faintly and then started flashing white and blue. Azzer’s newest cuts were gone within moments but the scars would not fade. Was she failing because she expected to?
“You can do this,” Azzer ensured.
“Of course she can,” Doren responded.
Rikki nodded, and in the next few seconds, Azzer’s entire body turned a radiant shade of blue. When she lifted her staff off him, the color began to fade, and his skin returned to its typical pasty shade. Only his eyes, lips, and hair stayed blue, as that’s how they’d always been.
Azzer ran a hand down his newly smoothed chest. The scars had completely vanished. “Thank you.”
“If only the others hadn’t run away, I could’ve healed them, too.”
“What others?” Doren asked.
“The mages that weren’t too far gone. They ran off as soon as they saw daylight.”
“I didn’t see anyone when we arrived,” Doren said.
“Now if only there was an explanation for that, like magic,” Azzer stated sardonically.
“You must’ve healed his spirit as well,” Slythe said as he returned. Held tight in his grasp was a folded silver cloth.
“I must say, I haven’t felt this good since I was actually standing with Amelia,” Azzer noted. “We should’ve had you help Zeniri.”
“There’ll be time for that,” Slythe said before he carefully held out his newly acquired item to Rikki.
She examined it from a distance, though it was very familiar to her. In fact, she’d done battle with its former owner. “Is that what I think it is?”
“The Bellish had no means to destroy it and were more than willing to part with it,” Slythe conveyed. “I’m told there is no trace of the MR on it, so it should be fine to wear.”
Rikki took the cloak from Slythe, rolling her hand along it as she unfolded it. It was
smooth as her armor and softer than her denhare’s fur.
“Made by Amelia,” Azzer reminded her. “It’s fitting that her descendant should have it.”
“But you lost yours,” Rikki said, and she extended it to her fellow mage.
“I got this back,” Azzer said, tapping on his staff. “That’s enough for me.”
Rikki was already in possession of Amelia’s staff and necklace. It made sense that she’d wear a cloak designed by her great-grandmother as well. Yet, it also felt like she was depending too much on her heirlooms.
“Go on, Rikki,” Doren encouraged her.
“It’ll protect you from the elements, from blades, and some magic,” Slythe said. “It will let you shift with a spin and store your weapons with ease. But in the end, it is only an article of clothing. It is up to you to handle the rest.”
“Almost her words, exactly,” Azzer noted.
Rikki pulled the cloak over her head and slipped into it. It seemed to fit perfectly on her body as she unfurled it past her waist and down her legs. She flipped the hood up and stood there stoically with her staff in hand. “Does this mean I’m a Roamer?”
“Roamer, Revolutionary, Magenite, mage.” Doren held up four fingers. “You’re a lot of things.”
“Prince, ass, love of my life,” Rikki said, counting on her fingers as well. “So are you.”
Doren had the urge to kiss her again, but Ji-Ji darted between them and charged at Rikki with a whistle.
Rikki held out her arm and the denhare jumped into her sleeve and disappeared. She looked into her cloak and wiggled her arm but saw no sign of her pet.
“What do you know?” Slythe said. “It stores pets, too.”
“How do I get him out?” Rikki asked as she waved her arm up and down.
“Move your fingers like this,” Slythe instructed, and he curled his fingers into a claw and slowly opened them.
Rikki repeated the motion and Ji-Ji fell out of her sleeve and onto the grass. “Guess you don’t have to hang onto my back anymore,” she said. Though she wondered if wherever it kept him was much better.