His lifeless body fell hard to the ground, the eye sockets blackened and empty.
Jolted from fear, Kalah fled the Great Hall.
Zykeiah, instead of fleeing, pulled out her dagger, jumped onto the table and raced to Amana. As she reached the spot where Amana stood, Zykeiah drew back her dagger and without hesitation sliced Amana’s tender cheek, the pain piercing through the foggy cloud-like dream and awaking her from her trance.
“Oooh…” Amana howled with agony. “What am I…”
Sarah snatched Zykeiah wrist before she could strike again, “Wait!”
Zykeiah glanced back at Sarah and growled, “What?”
Just then Amana, holding her cheek, placed the sphere back into her pocket and disappeared. She vanished into the thin chilly air of the Great Hall, leaving in her wake stunned silence and confusion.
Chapter Fourteen
Zykeiah snatched her dagger and shoved it back into her thigh holster. “Now what Savior?”
Sarah flinched at her harsh words.
Zykeiah wiped her mouth and muttered as she paced the length of the table. The Great Hall had emptied except for her and Sarah.
“Were you brought here to assault Marion?” she demanded as tears welled in her eyes.
Sarah shook her head in disbelief; numbly she muttered, “I do not know what just happened.”
Zykeiah balked and stalked over to her, smacked her hard across her cheek and quickly drew her dagger and pointed it at Sarah’s throat. “Marion’s soul has been extracted and it is because of you.”
The hard knot in Sarah’s throat grew larger as Zykeiah pushed the dagger’s tip into her flesh.
“Zykeiah, Sarah, what has happened?” Queen Zoë wearily stepped in to the Great Hall followed by Octiva. “I no longer feel Marion’s presence on Veloris.”
Zykeiah cleared her throat and slowly removed the dagger from Sarah’s exposed neck. She took a deep breath before turning to Queen Zoë.
“Queen Zoë, Marion’s soul has been stolen,” she announced firmly, keeping her voice from wavering.
A new wrinkled frown emerged on Queen Zoë’s face as her burning pale gray eyes searched the deserted hall and then Zykeiah’s face.
“Amana,” Queen Zoë whispered as numerous tears spilled over and streamed down her face. As her eyes landed on Marion’s discarded body, she broke down and wept.
“No!” she crumbled to the ground and stayed there as her grief escalated. Octiva remained by her side, trying in vain to comfort her. Zykeiah soon grew tired of the scene and left the Great Hall in a fit of frustration and rage. Her curses and cries echoed down the hall.
“Queen Zoë, surely we can rescue him.” Sarah reached down and patted the Queen’s shoulder. “Send the Knights to Solis.”
She stopped her moans, briefly, as she looked up at Sarah. “Send the Knights?”
“Yes, they could rescue Marion’s soul before it is too late.”
“Sarah, Marion was the Minister Knights!” Queen Zoë gingerly stood. “Kalah has never seen true battle; Zykeiah has only been a knight for a short time,” the queen said angrily.
Sarah recoiled from the fury in Queen Zoë’s face and voice. She knew it wasn’t her fault, but she felt the anger and hostility directed at her.
“Sending them to rescue Marion would be sending them to their deaths!” she said.
“I mean no disrespect my queen, but isn’t that the true purpose of the knights…to rescue souls?” Sarah asked softly.
She gave Sarah a puzzling look before Octiva guided her out of the Great Hall and to the kitchen. She stopped short and said to Sarah, “Come to see me later; we must talk.”
Sarah nodded before leaving the Great Hall for the cleansing quiet of her quarters.
As she walked to her quarters, memories of Marion cropped up wherever she turned. The first night she arrived at the foyer; the morning in his quarters when he divulged her destiny and purpose for Veloris, and the evening when he carried her to the Great Hall after their trip to the Oracle. As she continued up the spiral steps, she recalled the look in his eyes when she awoke to find him in her quarters. She smiled at the memory and her heart was flooded with a warm feeling unlike she had ever felt before. She grabbed her chest and giggled.
“Where did that come from?” Sarah asked the empty hallway.
She remembered the look in his eyes, the concern. Sarah slowly realized that tonight in the Great Hall, Marion’s eyes were filled with concern, that day in her bedroom they were not; he was feeling something else.
She opened the door to her quarters as the watery voice of the oracle whispered into her psyche the true orientation of the look in his eyes. The Antiqk Oracle’s vision too became clear as her eyes were truly opened and the scales of ignorance were removed. She could now identify the people in the vision and she began to weep. “No, oh, no. I have been a fool!”
Sarah created a fire with the flick of her wrist and an unconscious thought for warmth. Her powers were growing rapidly, but it was little consolation to the emotional pain she was now feeling.
The echoes of Queen Zoe’s cries filtered into her memory and she felt it was her fault. Amana would not have taken Marion’s soul purposefully. She knew that there had to be more to her sister’s arrival…a reason or a debt. She desperately wanted to believe she had nothing to do with it, but Amana would not have come to Veloris had she not been there.
Sarah lay on the soft blankets of her bed and continued to cry at the horror. She had lost her sister and her only friend, all in one day.
* * *
Zykeiah paced the length of her quarters as she twirled her dagger in her right hand, almost as an afterthought. Kalah had been a coward and Sarah an emotional menace. She would have had Amana sliced into chunks and Marion could have been freed had it not been for Sarah’s interruption.
Savior?
Only if Amana was out of the way could Sarah be the true savior. But as long as she worked for Valek, Sarah would be useless to them. The stupid girl kept letting her feelings get in the way of doing business.
Zykeiah stopped pacing as a more sinister thought came to mind.
What if Sarah was working for Valek?
Marion had suspected Amana, but why not Sarah as well?
Sarah could have manufactured the markings on her hands. As for the powers she demonstrated at the Stocklah Oasis, Manola could have conjured those for show. Zykeiah knew of Manola’s powers all to well. She also knew of Manola’s skill at deception.
She quickly left her quarters and knocked on the neighboring door. “Kalah, open the door. It is Zykeiah.”
“Leave me!” his strained voice boomed. His voice sounded strange as if it was filled with tears and something else.
Shame?
“Open now before I kick it in.”
Heavy footsteps and then a small crack in the door as Zykeiah entered Kalah’s quarters.
She had been in Marion’s quarters many times, but she had never been in Kalah’s. The outer room had two broad wooden chairs; both well cushioned by pillows and short stools reserved for the feet. A danker rug lay sprawled across the outer room and leaves had been scattered across the plush fur. A tiny open hearth burned thin logs of evergreens. The outer quarter smelled of fresh open forest and musk.
The fire provided the only source of illumination. Shadows danced across Kalah’s face as he sat down in front of the fire. He placed his feet on the stool and leaned his head back over the chair.
Zykeiah rubbed her neck for the position looked awkward and painful. “Kalah, what if Sarah was sent to destroy the Minister Knights?”
He sat up and searched Zykeiah’s face.
“I mean Amana obviously was sent here to kidnap Marion,” she explained.
He groaned and shook his head. “Bah!”
“Think about it. Ever since her arrival, she has placed a wedge between us,” she went on.
He rose and went to his bedchambers. He returned with a pitcher of bottl
ed ale. It was warm and he grimaced as he took quick sips.
“Zykeiah, Queen Zoë said Sarah is the chosen.” Kalah returned to his seat. “You know the scrolls.”
The fire’s embers danced in the paleness of Kalah’s gray eyes.
“Yes, but she could be –”
“…and Marion and I were not exactly close. That had been established since his birth before mine and long before her arrival on Veloris.”
“Damn you!” Zykeiah spat. “Do you not care for him? Are you merely a coward hiding behind his mother’s skirt?”
Kalah stared into the fire. “I thought you would be glad to see your rival gone.”
He turned to her and stared directly into her eyes. “No?”
“You are not worthy to be his brother,” Zykeiah cursed as she left.
* * *
Kalah’s ears stung as Zykeiah slammed his door.
He continued to sip his ale. He swallowed the bitterness with a mixture of pleasure and searing pain. He should be excited and joyous as the sole heir to the Veloris throne and the leader of the Minister Knights.
Since his youth he had waited for this day. He could almost feel the sunlight on his face as at last he could emerge from Marion’s shadow. His desire for Marion to be gone and for him to be the favorite son had pushed him into doing the most ridiculous things to win his mother’s affections, not to mention the most deceptive.
Now that the path had been cleared, and Marion was gone, he felt hollow. His victory was empty and his mother’s grief would destroy her health and more than likely her life, making his accession to the throne a thing of the near future.
He stood groggily as he remembered Marion’s drunken stupor in the Great Hall. He had swooped in to seize the opportunity to humiliate his brother and become the leader of the Minster Knights when Sarah arrived.
Marion’s savior, Sarah. Did not the scrolls foretell of their love…their place in history already predicted by the ancients?
Kalah stumbled into his bed, knocking vials of dried herbs to the floor. They smashed into hundreds of tiny pieces of glass and leaves.
Marion would come for him had his soul been taken.
But would he do the same? Could he conjure the courage to try to save his brother from the soul cages?
He did not know.
* * *
Valek lifted his crystal glass and quickly gulped the wine. Peppery was the word that came to mind as he slowly observed Richard and several of his advisors.
Few candles were lit during evening meal as they dined in the modest dining hall in Valek’s castle. He had few rooms that were accommodating for entertaining guests, but the client insisted. Orono had prepared a satisfactory meal of baked owlers stolen from Earth 3012 and decorated with orange and served with sweet bread.
Valek noted the savory meal and made a mental note to add cook to Orono’s growing list of responsibilities.
“Valek, it is quite dim in here.” One of the advisors leaned forward with his protruding nose and beady eyes. “You are not so poor as to not be able to afford more candles?”
The other advisors and Richard chuckled at the question.
A trick question, Valek smiled. Answer “yes” then they would make the comment that his love of money ruled him and they would pass on purchasing the Solance.
If he answered “no”, they would think his price was too much and that he was trying to get rich from them.
Valek sipped his wine as several of the advisors held their breath and nervously looked at each other in anticipation of his answer.
“I am not proud of this, gentlemen, but the light hurts my eyes,” he answered smoothly.
Yes, the wine was too peppery, he thought as Manola patted his hand like a good, dedicated wife, although she was no such thing.
Appearances mattered a great deal in the “selling” process and Earth 4016 was a small kingdom that embraced the theories of family and community. A slight amendment in his lifestyle to land the contract was worth the charades.
“Valek, it is rumored that you keep slaves. Is it true?” the same advisor asked yet another question.
Valek noted that he would have to get rid of that advisor; perhaps MaxMion would like him as a little after-meal treat.
“I do occasionally take slaves, but only for additional payment in lieu of silver. I do not make it common practice.”
Some of the advisors shook their heads and smiled at his deceptiveness. Richard also smiled, nervously.
Pushing gently back from the table, Valek announced, “Now for some entertainment.” He beckoned to Manola from the doorway.
Manola walked to the center of the dining hall.
“MaxMion get in here,” he ordered.
MaxMion hurried in to the hall from the kitchen with a tambourine and a look of mischief.
“Play,” he demanded as he sat back down. He watched from the corners of his eyes as the advisors whispered and gasped at MaxMion’s appearance. They would forget all about him once Manola started to dance.
MaxMion sat on the floor and began to play as Manola danced in her scantily clad black bodysuit. Several sections had been removed to reveal parts of her flesh.
Her fiery hair spun as she twirled and danced, mesmerizing the men in the makeshift hall and bringing a satisfying grin to one that was neither male nor female.
* * *
Valek was not the only one watched.
From the entranceway to the kitchen, Orono watched the evening meal as he ate cold gosha from a stool in the equally dim and filthy place.
He angrily stuffed yet another cold, gritty spoonful into his mouth as he remembered Valek’s demand that he “take the role of butler.” Reduced to serving Valek’s snotty new clients from Earth 4016 only fueled his desire for revenge. That witch Manola should be the one serving.
“Get the drinks, Orono,” he mocked as he backed away from the entrance. “Cook the meal, Orono.”
The bowl clanked as it made contact with the washing tin and gosha splattered against the wall. He picked up the remains of feathers, owler parts and leaves and he tossed them, too, into the washing tin.
“I will show you,” he continued to mutter as he cleaned the tiny kitchen with the same apathetic attitude in which he performed all of Valek’s commands.
Manola interrupted his mutterings as she slithered into the kitchen. She was not quiet enough; he quickly turned around to face her.
“What do you want?”
“Valek wants the celebratory bottle of wine,” she said.
Orono blocked her path, “For what reason?”
Manola lifted her palm and blasted him in the stomach with a ray of green light. “You will have to ask him yourself.”
Orono was knocked backwards to the washing tin and into the stone kitchen wall. His head tingled and a small cut appeared just above his floppy ears as he crashed to the floor.
Manola reached into the cupboard, withdrew the bottle and returned to the dining hall without looking back. Roars of laughter grew louder and more boisterous as the evening meal continued without any concern for his safety.
He unsteadily stood up and blinked repeatedly as he reached for the edge of the sink.
“Bitch.” He swore again as he slowly made his way back to the entranceway. He knew all about their plans to expand Solance to Earth 4016. Nothing was secret in the castle, except what Orono wanted to keep secret, no matter what Valek believed.
Valek always overestimated himself.
Orono continued to watch as Manola began to dance again, this time to the strong musical voice of MaxMion. His voice was fantastic despite the leftover food and bones the advisors threw at him, which only made Valek laugh. The sadness swelled up in MaxMion’s eyes, but he continued his song and play as if they were not there.
Then a smile so genuine and true spread across his face as he caught Orono’s eyes watching him from the kitchen.
“Soon,” Orono whispered, “very soon.”
&nbs
p; * * *
Amana’s huge tears burned as they raced down her face and into the open cut on her cheek. She pressed her hand hard against her cheek, but it did not halt the bleeding.
She had arrived back through the Allerton Circle, yet she did not know how. The throb of the sphere in her pocket heated the spot on her leg as if it was demanding to be returned to Valek.
* * *
Valek clasped a hand to his ear as the evening meal drew to a close.
“Are you all right, Valek?” Richard asked. “Too much wine?”
“Yes,” Valek replied coolly. “Excuse me.”
But he was not all right. Amana had returned.
Chapter Fifteen
The morning came upon Veloris with the same ignorance and obliviousness to the pain and betrayal that had touched all in the castle the day before. It pulled them from the safe comforts of sleep and into the brilliant light of day to face again the plights that were abandoned the night prior.
Whispery and cool, the wind blew through the small cracks in the castle’s walls, reducing the amount of warmth that filled each room, making Sarah burrow further under her blankets.
She finally gave up and sat up in bed. She had dreamed little the night before and slept even worse. Since her arrival on Veloris, she had received little sleep or rest. She thought the long shifts of the soul cages were rigorous, but this new life had proven that wrong.
Queen Zoë had taken her in, sent her own son to rescue her from the cages, and had fed her. She owed Queen Zoë a huge debt, not to mention it was her sister who stole Marion’s soul and fled.
Zykeiah was not entirely wrong. Sarah was not sent to Veloris to kill Marion or to destroy the knights, but her presence on Veloris had done just that. Why else would Amana come to Veloris and steal Marion’s soul? It had to do with her.
Octiva had asked Sarah to come and see her. Perhaps now was the time to go. She crawled out of bed and dressed. She went to the window and noted that the sun shined and the clouds had parted. There was no threat of snow, but she grabbed her coat anyway.
She was hurrying down the stairs when she met Octiva coming down the hallway.
Modern Magic Page 201