Asylum

by Kit Bladegrave

  But it had been an illusion.

  I grimaced. “Baladon used the illusion to trick you and instead started to drain your power. You’re the Vindicar. The power within you is great, and he wants it.”

  “For what?”

  “I’m not sure yet, that’s the problem.” I wanted to walk around, but my back was starting to protest just from sitting up so long. “He showed me my mom when we came to save you,” I whispered. “I saw her, and I knew who she was, who he was. But I’m not a warrior. How am I supposed to help when a war when I can’t fight?”

  “You can see what’s to come,” she insisted, reaching for my hand. “You can warn us.”

  “Not if I don’t understand what I’m saying, and if I’m ever too far away from Tristan, I can’t see anymore. Nothing’s clear.”

  It seemed like she wanted to say something on the matter, but the door opened again, and Hank poked his head in.

  “Sabella, how are you doing?”

  “Did Tristan send you to check on me?”

  He gave me a wolfish grin, and I felt my cheeks flush as he chuckled. “He did, but I’ve also been requested to see if you’re able to move to the library? I can get a litter if need be.”

  “What’s in the library?”

  “Greyson, one of the sorcerers, has arrived with your father’s old journals. Crane’s old journals.”

  I pushed to my feet too fast, and the room spun around me as I gasped in pain.

  Kate caught my arm and held me steady. She glanced to Hank, but I shook my head.

  “I’m not being carried down there. I can walk. Just give me a minute.”

  Kate’s lips thinned, and Hank’s eyes flared gold, but neither argued with me. When I thought I could make it, I nodded, and Kate helped me forward.

  “Just don’t let Tristan see this,” I whispered to Hank.

  He growled in annoyance, but Kate laughed.

  “Craig’s the same way. I can only imagine what your wolf would do if he saw you pushing yourself.”

  I smiled. My wolf. He’d been my wolf since he appeared in my visions.

  The walk to the library was slow, but it allowed me and Kate to talk about a few normal things, or as close to normal would be for our lives. She told me about her wedding and being a queen. I told her about some of my more entertaining times in the asylum. Both of us remarked on Tristan’s extremely handsome wolf form.

  Each time we mentioned his king, Hank huffed, but he never said a word about it. “Here we are,” he grunted. “Finally.”

  “Whatever, we could’ve talked about much worse things,” Kate admonished him.

  “Yeah, like how I saw him in bandages and nothing else the other day,” I murmured quietly.

  Kate burst out laughing as Hank’s cheeks burned fiery red.

  “Crane is back there,” he said stiffly, bobbed his head, and left us alone.

  “How did you manage that?” Kate asked with an amused tone as we wove our way through the shelves of books set in a haphazard pattern.

  “He jumped out of his bed to try and stop me from leaving, didn’t realize he was… uh, a bit bare. I have to say once I got over the shock, he’s not a bad looking wolf.”

  She was still laughing when we reached the rear of the library where a large stone hearth occupied an entire wall. There was a fire crackling away in it, and the sorcerer I assumed was Greyson rose, unloading a box. He set heavy tomes on the table and turned when I cleared my throat.

  “Ah, Sabella,” he said, taking my hand and helped me to sit. He placed a pillow against the chair back, so it wasn’t as painful. “It truly is an honor to meet the daughter of Crane.”

  “Thanks, I think, but I honestly don’t remember anything about him… except for his eyes,” I whispered, that one brief memory rising to the forefront of my mind. “He was sad the day he gave me up. That’s all I know.”

  “Well, I wish I could say I have all the answers, but sadly, your father kept you and his relationship with whoever your mother was a secret.”

  Farrah. Her name was Farrah. That, I knew without any doubt in my mind, but I didn’t voice it. I wanted proof before I went around telling people my mom was a… a goddess. Tristan, and of course Kate and her companions knew, but I highly doubted they were going to go running through the realm announcing it to the world. Everyone else would have to wait.

  “Now,” Greyson leaned on the table, “what you see before you are all of Crane’s journals from throughout his life.”

  “There are at least fifty books here,” I mumbled, poking at the stack nearest me.

  “Yes, we like to keep very good records of our lives,” Greyson said with a grimace. “Unfortunately, it makes trying to find answers to mysteries very difficult. I know these have been gone through once before, and no mention of a relationship or a daughter were mentioned. However, I’m running on the hope we missed something.”

  I blew out a heavy breath, tapping my fingers on the table. The truth of my existence was somewhere in these books. All I had to do was find it. “Alright then, here we go.”

  I dragged the book closest to me over, opened the cover, and settled in to read about my dad.

  Two hours later, my eyes hurt, and I was yawning as I closed another one. “Nothing,” I muttered.

  “We’ve hardly started,” Greyson stated without looking up from his.

  “How are you not aggravated by this?”

  He shrugged at my question. “Your father’s work is quite fascinating.”

  “Yeah, guess that’d be true if I understood any of it,” I grumbled.

  Kate laughed.

  My back was sore, I was tired, and hungry, and I hoped by now, there would’ve been some hint somewhere, but nothing. Nothing at all. I reached for another book and flipped it open to find more of Crane’s minuscule handwriting.

  “That one’s blank, don’t bother with it,” Greyson said.

  Confused, I looked down at the page then back at him. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, it was packed by mistake.”

  “Uh, then why is there writing on these pages?”

  He rose, mumbling under his breath about this not being the time to play tricks. “These pages are blank.”

  “No, no they’re not,” I argued. “They’re filled, all of them.” I flipped through the entire book then back to the front page. “There’s a date here, says July 1997.”

  “You found it,” he whispered, then let out a holler of excitement that seemed so unlike his robed appearance. “This is it. This is the missing journal. He must’ve placed some blood magic on it so only his daughter, only you, would be able to read it.”

  I skipped all the way to the back, and the date left a lump in my throat.

  “Sabella, what is it?” Kate asked worriedly.

  “The final date… it’s the day I was dropped off at the asylum,” I whispered as tears pricked my eyes. “I don’t know if I can read this.”

  My hands shook as I shoved the journal away.

  All the missing pieces were right there in front of me, but I wanted to bolt from the room and hide, pretend I never found them.

  The second I found proof of what I was, my entire world would change, more than it already had.

  I would have no choice, no more trying to pretend this was all in my head. I would have to become Sabella, seer, and daughter of Crane and Farrah, a sorcerer and a goddess.

  Taking a deep, shuddering breath, I pulled the journal back to me and started to read about how my dad fell in love with a goddess.

  17

  Tristan

  I leaned against the far wall of the dungeon, glaring at the red-eyed statue trapped within its magical cage. The thing hadn’t moved an inch since being brought back here, but it watched us closely. I doubted that only it was present.

  “You really think Baladon is in there?” Forrest asked from my right.

  “Not in there, but he can see us, hear us probably, too.” I growled, baring my teeth in wa
rning of that god showing his face here, but the statue remained as still as, well, a statue. “We need to destroy it.”

  “How?” Craig muttered darkly. “You said it yourself, you couldn’t put a dent in it and dragon fire is useless.”

  “Give me a sledgehammer and a clean shot,” I stated. “I’ll take its head clean off.”

  My side throbbed from the injury still. The demon’s whips were tucked away upstairs, far out of his reach in case he did get free. I paced closer, feeling those eyes follow me though his head never moved. This statue was the least of our worries. If we were truly facing down the dark god Baladon, we were in serious trouble. As far as anyone knew, a god couldn’t be killed, at least no one knew how to do it, if there was a way. And who was to say we could find our way back to that maze and castle? If he was smart, he would’ve sealed it off, or added more guardians to protect him. Just one problem after another kept stacking on top of each other, until I growled in frustration.

  “Maybe the sorcerers will have an idea,” Forrest suggested.

  “Blowing it up sounds good to me,” Craig suggested, and we all grinned at the notion.

  “We’ll find a way, don’t you worry.” I stared at the statue. “Hear that, Baladon? We’re coming for you, and we’re going to kill you, no matter what it takes.”

  The statue’s head shifted, and it stared right at me.

  The three of us froze, but then it turned back and resumed its previous position.

  I motioned them to get out of the dungeon, glancing once more at the crystals, ensuring they were still in place before I hurried after them.

  “Taunting the god of monsters is probably not the smartest idea you’ve had,” Craig told me.

  “Bastard tried to kill me, think I’m allowed.”

  “And that god almost killed Kate, and me, and Sabella,” he pointed out, as if I needed reminding of how seriously wounded Sabella was.

  Only a god could injure someone through a vision. It was how she’d been hurt the first time she saw the red-eyed statue. And if he did it to her once, he could do it again. Now every time she fell into a vision, I would fear her coming out of it with a new wound, or worse. What if she saw herself die? Would it kill her?

  “I remember,” I finally snapped. “She was hurt saving Kate.”

  Craig growled, and I stood toe to toe with him, sensing the change about to come over me when Forrest stepped between us, shoving us back.

  “Enough, back to your corners.”

  I shook out my head and paced back a few steps as Craig breathed in and out deeply before his body relaxed.

  “We need a plan,” I told them both. “Any ideas?”

  “What about Sabella?” Craig suggested.

  “What about her?”

  “She’s the daughter of a goddess. She’s got some sort of insight here, doesn’t she?”

  “We don’t know for certain yet,” I argued. “But if you think I’m going to ask her to do anything before she’s fully healed, you’re dead wrong. And don’t you dare go asking her behind my back.” I growled in warning and waited for Craig to keep arguing.

  Instead, he smiled. “You’re right,” he said to Forrest.

  “Told you. It’s about time, too, for our dear old friend.”

  “What are you two talking about?” I muttered.

  “You and Sabella. Took you long enough.” Craig smiled.

  I rolled my eyes and turned my back on them. “Go make yourselves useful,” I called out.

  “And where are you going? Checking on Sabella maybe?”

  I ignored Craig and drowned out their delighted cackling as I climbed the stairs, nodding at the guards and soldiers I passed. When I reached Sabella’s room, I knocked quietly, remembering how she’d been sleeping earlier. I opened the door when there was no reply, only to find her room empty.

  “Hank,” I bellowed, and a second later, he sprinted around the corner. “Where is she?”

  “Before you get irate, she moved under her own power,” he said, and I growled louder. “She’s in the library with Kate and Greyson.”

  “Doing what?” I snapped, turning on my heel and storming toward the library, Hank falling in behind me. “And where’s Boris? We need to start making preparations.”

  “Relaxing, I’m certain of it,” he told me, but I knew he lied. “And preparations for what?”

  “For whatever horror Baladon is going to throw at us next. I want to meet with him and the other generals in two hours. As well as Craig and Forrest and whatever council members can get here,” I ordered.

  He took off, and I continued on my way to the library.

  I expected to find Sabella on a couch, but instead, she was sitting in a hard chair, hunched over a journal, with Greyson and Kate standing at her shoulders.

  The table was covered with more journals, and I cleared my throat loudly, making all three of them jump. When the other two moved aside, Sabella’s eyes met mine and the sadness in them tugged me right to her side.

  “This does not look like you’re relaxing.” I threw an annoyed look at Kate and Greyson.

  “No, no, it’s not, but I think I found us some answers.” She slid the journal toward me.

  I frowned. “The pages are blank.”

  “Right, sorry, Crane made it so only I could read them.” She tried to stretch, but stopped short with a wince and settled for standing instead.

  I made to help her, but she moved away from my hands, seeming uncertain all of a sudden.

  Last night when we’d kissed, a life with Sabella became clear, and I swore I sensed the same from her, but now she looked almost as lost as when I first found her in the forest.

  “What did you find out?” I forced myself to ask, hating how rough the words sounded.

  She rested her hands on the back of another chair, across the table from me. “Crane left on a journey to study light magic, and while away, he met Farrah. They fell in love during that time.”

  “And had you,” I said.

  She nodded.

  “So, you are the daughter of a goddess.” I was careful not to let the awe I felt show; I assumed most people would be ecstatic to learn they were part god, but Sabella appeared wary, almost afraid of the notion.

  “And a sorcerer.”

  “But I don’t understand,” I grunted, “why would they give you up? Not tell anyone about you?”

  “That’s the part where the story turns dark.” Her eyes closed, and a shiver rushed through her.

  I was around the table and helping her sit down again just as her legs gave out.

  “Sorry, thought I was better today,” she murmured against my chest.

  I considered scolding her for even leaving her bed, but decided against it. For the moment, at least. “It’s fine, just take your time.”

  I looked to Kate and Greyson to see if they could give me answers, but they both shrugged.

  “Baladon, it all goes back to him,” she finally said. “He and his monsters were banished by the other gods thousands of years ago for trying to take over the realms and make all the beings his slaves. They locked him away in a cage far beneath the earth and left him there along with all his beastie friends.”

  “Then how did he get out?” I asked.

  “Zohar.”

  Kate cursed and sank into another chair, guilt washing over her from what happened in her past life. “He broke the cage,” she whispered, and Sabella nodded. “All the killing he and Cassius did, it was enough evil to let Baladon escape his cage.”

  “And take root in another powerful being, a Darrah. Cassius.”

  “And when we killed Cassius, we let Baladon out into the world?”

  “I don’t think that’s exactly what happened.” Sabella said. “Crane wrote about it in his journals. Farrah and the other gods, they didn’t realize he’d escaped until some of their numbers started to disappear, supposedly while he was with Cassius in the Burnt World.”

  I could guess where this tale headed
but waited for her to go on.

  “Baladon found a way to use his darkness and feed off the powers of the other gods, making him stronger. He used Cassius to try and get to others, and could only enter this realm with him, and since it took forever for Cassius to be able to do that, there’s not much in the journal to go off of how he’s managing any of this.”

  “And your mother?”

  Sabella smiled sadly and wiped at her eyes. “She, uh, she found out she was pregnant with me and kept it quiet from all the other gods, just as Crane neglected to tell the sorcerers. Baladon was coming for her next, she saw it, but she had me first. Crane wrote…” She choked up and had to wait a few seconds before she could go on. “He said she left him one day to meet with the other gods and she never returned. He never saw her again, but he knew if Baladon learned Farrah had a daughter, he would come looking.”

  “So, Crane took you to the human realm and hoped you would, what? Remain there as a human?”

  How could he give up his daughter? Just abandon her like that?

  “I don’t think he realized I had gifted sight, or that it would be amplified because of his and my mother’s power.” She squeezed my arm as if trying to comfort me when I should’ve been the one comforting her. “Tristan, don’t get pissed at the dead.”

  “Why the hell not?” I snapped.

  “Because we have a bigger problem,” she insisted sharply.

  My anger cleared away long enough to focus on her.

  “Baladon still has my mom. I saw her; he’s feeding off her power and who knows how many others.”

  “Why? He can come and go as he pleases in this world, we’ve seen it.”

  “He can, but his monsters can’t, not yet.” She shifted on the chair and without her saying a word, I knew what she pictured in her mind. The wave of darkness crashing over the realms. That’s what he was building up for, and it wasn’t going to be just darkness.