Dierdra swallowed involuntarily, looking this way and that, as if she thought they were being watched. When she leaned over Isabel’s shoulder to put her plate on the table, she whispered, “The shade.”
Isabel nodded to herself, stifling a smile. If Rankosi was thinning the ranks of Phane’s soldiers, that served her. And if Phane decided to banish him to the netherworld, that served her too.
She stabbed a piece of meat, but a horn sounded just below her balcony before she could bring it to her mouth. Dierdra went white. Isabel looked to Wren with an unspoken command: Be ready.
A flash of light lit up the sky, like a single ray of sunlight stabbing down through the gloaming of late evening. Isabel knew exactly what had caused it in an instant. The roar of a wyvern answered the alarm horn.
Isabel pushed away from the table and faced Dierdra. “Sit down and say nothing. If you interfere with me in any way, I will kill you.”
Dierdra went white and sat down, nodding tightly.
Isabel raced to the balcony and smiled when she saw two Sky Knights overhead. A muffled thump outside her door drew her attention. Before she could take three steps into her chambers, the door opened. Wyatt and Ayela slipped inside.
“Lady Reishi, it’s good to see you well,” Wyatt said. “Lord Reishi commanded that we bring you this.”
He held up a gold ring, set with a dark gemstone. Isabel smiled in triumph, snatching the ring from him and putting it on.
She hurried to Wren and said, “Hold still.” When she touched the ring to Wren’s collar, Isabel felt a tingle of magic dance over her followed by a knowing: She was master of that slave collar now. With a thought, it popped open and she took it off Wren’s neck.
“Hurry,” Ayela whispered harshly. “I hear boots.”
A man shouted an alarm out in the hallway.
“What’s your exit?” Isabel asked Wyatt.
“Kiera will land on your balcony at the signal.”
Isabel handed Wyatt the collar. “Deliver this to Mage Gamaliel at your first opportunity.”
He nodded, slipping the slave collar into his tunic.
The door opened. Ayela blew a handful of dust into the two soldiers’ faces. They stumbled forward, falling over a step later. More were coming, and fast.
“Signal Kiera,” Isabel said. “I’ll hold the door.”
Ayela nodded, racing across the room to the balcony.
Wyatt stepped up beside Isabel as she cast her shield spell. The first man through the door took an arrow through the throat. The man behind him was blown back by Isabel’s force-push, crashing into the two men behind him.
A flare lit up the room from behind them, followed only moments later by a gust of wind as Kiera’s wyvern slowed its descent and landed on the balcony railing.
“Quickly!” she shouted.
“Take Wren and go,” Isabel said.
“What about you?” Wyatt asked, loosing another arrow at the doorway, killing a man who peeked around the corner.
“I’m not ready to leave yet. Besides, Lacy may still be alive and I won’t go without her.”
Wyatt hesitated, looking at her pleadingly.
“Take Wren to safety and you’ll help me more than you know.”
In the space of a blink, he made his decision, turning and scooping up Wren like a doll, carrying her to the waiting wyvern and helping her into the saddle behind Ayela and Kiera.
Isabel sent a light-lance through the wall two feet beside the door. A man in the hall fell. She raced to the balcony as Wyatt was mounting up.
“Have your people prepare to assault this fortress,” Isabel said to Ayela. “Phane’s plans all revolve around the Nether Gate. As soon as he leaves, this place will be vulnerable.”
“Understood. Take care of yourself, Isabel.”
She nodded with a smile. Then she looked at Kiera and said, “Take Wren to the fortress island. Tell Cassandra to prepare her for the mana fast if she wants it.”
“By your command, Lady Reishi,” Kiera said.
“I love you, Wren,” Isabel said.
“I love you too,” Wren said, wiping a tear from her cheek.
“Go,” Isabel said, turning back toward the door, expecting to see soldiers streaming into her room, but seeing only Dierdra, sitting with her face in her hands as if closing her eyes would shut out all of the evils of the world.
A whoosh of air swept past Isabel as the wyvern leapt into the night sky. She removed the slave master’s ring and quickly buried it deep in the soil of a potted plant on her balcony. Then she went back to her table and sat down. She was chewing a piece of meat when a dozen soldiers filed in, shields raised and swords drawn. She ignored them, taking a bite of potatoes and washing it down with a sip of wine.
“Where are they?” the sergeant demanded.
“They flew away,” Isabel said. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m eating.”
The soldiers fanned out around the room, all still at the ready, though none of them seemed to know how to react to her.
She was halfway through her meal when she felt a collar snap into place around her neck. A wraithkin smiled at her when she turned to see who was behind her. She nodded to herself, taking another bite of beef just as Phane strode into the room.
“Explain yourself,” he demanded.
She cocked her head, frowning a bit before smiling. “I serve the light and I’ve come here to kill you.”
He lifted her from her chair with his magic and drew her through the air until she was floating a few feet before him.
“Don’t trifle with me, Isabel. I can make your time here even more unpleasant.”
“Everything about being near you is unpleasant.”
“Where is the child?” he asked, as if noticing Wren’s absence for the first time.
“Like I told your men, she flew away.”
His golden eyes glittered with anger. “Explain.”
Isabel shrugged. “My friends came here and rescued her.”
“They rescued her, and left you, Lady Reishi, here in my grasp.”
“Yes,” Isabel said.
“Why?”
“I told you, I came here to kill you, and you’re not dead yet.”
Phane touched his slave master’s ring, shaking his head with mock sadness. “Your little friend is dying right now.”
“If you say so.”
He scowled, dropping her without notice. She stumbled but caught her balance before falling.
“You have a slave-master’s ring,” he said, shaking his head slowly. “You’re really beginning to try my patience. Give me the ring.” He held out his hand.
“I didn’t keep it,” Isabel said. “What would be the point? I knew you’d just figure it out and take it.”
He cast a spell with a few words, looking Isabel up and down intently.
“Well, now that you have a collar of your own, I bet you wish you’d kept the ring. Not that it would do you any good. In light of recent events, these comfortable quarters are no longer in order.”
“What, you’re not going to beat me again?”
“Would it do any good?”
“Probably not,” Isabel said with a shrug.
“Come with me,” he said, turning on his heel. The soldiers fell in line behind them.
“Much has transpired since last we met,” he said, an edge of anger in his voice.
“What’s the matter? Did you just get word of Alexander’s escape?”
He stopped, facing her with a flash of fury in his eyes before regaining control and forcing a smile.
“A temporary setback,” he said, leading her out of the estate and onto the street. “In the end, your beloved will fall. One way or another, I will rule the Seven Isles. The only question that remains is which path I will have to walk to reach my rightful place.
“Your temporary defeat of Azugorath was impressive, as was your rather unsettling spell.” He stopped again, this time with an expression of genuine concern tinged by a
hint of confusion.
“I was expecting a simple light-lance … nothing I couldn’t defend against. What you hit me with was altogether beyond my experience, and not just magically speaking. I felt things that I’ve never felt before. For a few moments I actually felt bad about some of my past victories. Your spell turned triumphs over bitter rivals into something other than they should be.
“For those brief moments I believe I felt shame, remorse, and even guilt. Until then those things were just empty words to me. Thankfully, the experience passed quickly.” He hesitated, frowning deeply as if trying to comprehend a facet of human nature he’d never given thought to before.
“Tell me, Isabel, is that how you experience life? Do those feelings haunt you?”
She laughed, not to mock him but because she couldn’t help it. When he looked on the verge of action, she stifled her humor and shook her head.
“No, Phane, those feelings don’t haunt me. I don’t hurt people who don’t deserve it. It’s a simple thing, really. If you do right by other people, you don’t feel remorse or guilt or shame.”
He regarded her seriously for several moments. “For the first couple of days after you tried to kill me, I was very angry with you. Not because you made it possible for Lacy to stab me, I was rather impressed by that, but for the feelings you made me have. They were disturbing. But now that I’ve had time to reflect on the experience, I realize that you’ve given me a gift.”
“What are you talking about?” Isabel asked, hair standing up on the back of her neck.
“You asked me once when I realized that I was different. I was six. I had a dog. Helpless little thing, wouldn’t stop whining. It peed on my bed … so I killed it. My mother came into my room not a moment later. She was distraught at the sight of the dead mutt. I didn’t understand why. She said: Don’t you have a conscience? Then she left the room, crying.
“I’ve often wondered at her reaction. And until now, I never fully understood it. Conscience has always been just a word to me. But for a few moments, while I was under the influence of your spell, I believe I actually experienced it. I didn’t like it, but that’s beside the point.
“I see now, more clearly than ever before, why most people are so beneath me. To be constrained by such feelings, to be haunted by such unpleasant sensations, it must be paralyzing.”
Isabel shook her head sadly. “You don’t understand at all. You aren’t just immune from the unpleasant emotions people experience when they do wrong, you also miss out on the good things. In many ways, you’re not even fully human.”
He cocked his head as if he was considering beating her to death, but seemed to think better of it.
“Well, it would seem that my lack of humanity, as you put it, affords me an advantage that you and your precious Alexander simply can’t match. After this little conversation, I’m more confident than ever of victory over your lot. Zuhl is another matter. He’s like me. I guess that makes him a worthy adversary … and a dangerous one.”
Phane started walking again. “Come along.”
They walked in silence for several blocks. Isabel thought about Phane’s words, his new understanding of himself and his enemies. Ultimately, his very nature isolated him. He could never fully trust another. He could never love. He could never care enough for another person to lay down his own life to preserve them. What’s more, he would never expect his enemies to do such a thing.
That made him shortsighted. It narrowed the field of options he would even consider. He was all alone. While resourceful and very powerful, he could never be allied with a group of like-minded people all working toward a common goal. His lack of conscience might be an advantage in the short run, but ultimately, it would lead to his ruin.
Evil isn’t sustainable, Isabel thought. She smiled. Alexander would like that.
“You seem pleased with yourself,” Phane said without stopping.
She considered her response, a number of flippant options tumbling through her mind, but she decided to broach another subject.
“What did you do with Lacy?”
“Oh, you won’t be seeing her again,” he said.
Isabel felt a thrill of fear and loss course through her. She’d been worrying about the princess for days, but didn’t really believe that Phane would kill her. He seemed much more interested in turning his adversaries against everything they held dear rather than taking their lives.
“What does that mean?”
“It means that her usefulness has run its course.”
Isabel stopped, her anger rising quickly.
“If you killed her, I’ll—”
He spun to face her, rage flashing in his eyes.
“You’ll what? You’re collared. Your magic is beyond reach. Without it, you’re helpless—at my mercy.
“Oh, Isabel, do you think your paltry resistance to Azugorath has saved you? Do you believe the rescue of your friend has placed your soul beyond my grasp?
“I’m taking you to see the scope of your doom. You believe me to be unfeeling, but I assure you that I will take great pleasure in the look of horror on your face when you see the true nature of your future.”
She froze, all manner of possibilities cascading through her mind. And for all of her imaginings, she knew that Phane had probably conceived of a worse fate than she was willing to imagine.
He smiled at her distress like a child with a new toy.
She struggled to still her sudden trembling when one of the soldiers in the cordon surrounding them drew his dagger and stabbed another soldier in the back. The cry of pain drew Phane’s attention. With a word he burned a magic circle into the road. Another quick incantation and the circle became a shield wall surrounding him and Isabel along with the three nearest soldiers.
What followed was madness. The soldier attacked another of his companions, wounding him grievously before two others stabbed him. No sooner had he fallen to his knees than one of the two who’d killed him turned on the other and hacked him in the neck, spraying blood on the street.
Three more attacked him, killing him quickly, but then, just as quickly, one of the three turned on the other two. He killed one, then wounded the other before he fell. The four remaining men attacked each other as if they believed that any man with a weapon was a threat.
The last soldier standing laughed with twisted glee.
“Fear is such a marvelous thing,” Rankosi said. “It will make a man kill his own brother … only to lament his crime so deeply that he will then take his own life. I must thank you for preserving these three.” He gestured to the guards within the magic circle. “It’s always best when there are a few survivors to tell the story.”
With a malevolent smile he sliced diagonally down the length of his forearm, spilling bright red blood onto the flagstones. His expression of glee abruptly transformed into one of pain and terror as the shade left his victim.
“Looks like you’ve made a new friend,” Isabel said.
“I knew there would be consequences for taking the dragon from him, but his wanton murder is becoming a problem. My soldiers are beginning to lose their nerve.”
Isabel looked at the carnage surrounding them and shook her head. “Looks like a bit more than a problem. If this keeps up, your men might start deserting you.”
He looked at her with fresh rage flashing in his eyes. “I assure you, they fear me far more than they fear the shade.”
From the looks on the faces of the remaining three men, Isabel wasn’t so sure.
“If you say so. But that doesn’t change the fact that you’re losing men.”
“I suppose you would have me banish him—close off the darkness within your mind.”
“That’s one option,” she said with an innocent shrug.
“Always pushing. In truth, that’s one of your more endearing qualities—to a point. Come along,” he said, dispelling the magic circle with a gesture and walking briskly toward the black tower looming at the end of the street.
>
***
Isabel was dismayed when she entered the tower and discovered that it was much like Blackstone Keep in its magical construction and defenses. Corridors were warded and shielded. A few passages were fully walled over until Phane uttered a command and the stone barring passage vanished only to reappear behind them. She knew without doubt that escape from this tower would be nearly impossible.
There were no soldiers, only wraithkin and a few serving girls, all young and all fearful. Phane ignored them as he led her through a series of magically lit passages, down many flights of stairs and past numerous security measures, some mundane but most magical in nature.
They came to a room with two wraithkin at the door and three more within. Set into the far wall was a slab of stone that looked nearly identical to the Reishi Gates, except much smaller. The smooth black stone arch was carved with similar runes.
Phane laid his hand on the archway, spoke a word and the stone transformed into a passage. He stepped through without a word, turning back toward Isabel, commanding her to follow with a look. Once she was through the gate, it closed. They entered a small, austere room. Then Phane led her through a door and down a long hallway to a double door at the end. Two wraithkin stood guard.
The door opened onto a balcony set into the side of an expansive domed room. Isabel stepped up to the railing, her heart in her throat. The entire perimeter of the room was enclosed by a magical circle, but that wasn’t what made her blood run cold.
Floating in the center, well off the ground, was a set of three magical circles cast in silver and accented with gold. Each was twenty feet across and each was set at ninety degrees to the next, in effect creating an area of magical confinement in the shape of a sphere.
Within the sphere was Azugorath, the Wraith Queen, Isabel’s own personal tormentor. A creature of darkness and shadow without a distinct form. What substance she did possess writhed and squirmed as if she longed to be free. As Isabel stared at her, a set of red eyes formed out of the darkness, staring back. The malice and hatred for life shining from those eyes made Isabel tremble. As much as she wanted to look away, she couldn’t seem to break the hold those eyes had on her. Her eyes began to hurt. Then the pain spread to her head and a coldness started to seep into her bones.
Sovereign of the Seven Isles 7: Reishi Adept Page 11