Trial of Shadows (Order of the Elements Book 3)

by Emma L. Adams

  The node… where a shadowy form flickered into view. Then another, multiplying until a row of shadows filled the swampland.

  “Death King,” I warned, pointing. “We have company.”

  More liches emerged from the node, joining the fire mages. Oh damn. Maybe ditching the Spirit Agents had been a mistake.

  At a command from the Death King, his own liches flowed from the gates to join the battle on our side. Davies raised his hands and blasted flames over the mages’ heads, right at me. I deflected and the attack hit a lich, turning it to dust. Heat singed my face as Davies sent another blast of fire my way, his mouth twisting with hate. The heat rose, and he didn’t seem to care that his allies cringed away from his blazing hands.

  “You’re dead, Liv,” said Davies. “Like Brant will be when I find him.”

  “You won’t find him.” So that would explain why Brant hadn’t returned to join his allies from the House of Fire after his escape… it seemed Davies inexplicably blamed him for his predicament. “And you’re way down on my list of concerns, mate. Who’s calling the shots here? Have you really been hiding in the House of Fire all his time?”

  Twin streams of fire burst from his hands, colliding in front of me as I conjured spirit magic to my hands and blocked his attack. The ongoing burst hit two liches, disintegrating them. Yet the forces emerging from the node didn’t slow. If anything, the Death King had underplayed how many of his allies had defected.

  Why? What do they have to gain from siding with the rogues?

  More liches came from the gates to join the fight until I could no longer tell who was on which side. The mages fought with fist and flame, and while the Death King fended them off, a group of them had reached the castle gates—only to be met with an army of wights on horseback. The wights trampled through the fray, sowing even more confusion.

  “What’s in it for you?” I traded blows with another mage. “Why side against the Death King? It sounds like his House is the only one which is remotely fair to its members.”

  “He’s a liar and a murderer.”

  Before I could ask what in hell he meant, a flash of blue light ignited, and a semi-transparent figure flitted into view.

  Harper and the water sprite ran up to us, the sprite’s magic crashing onto the nearest fire mage like a tidal wave. Behind her, Dex flew over to join them, waving at me.

  “Where have you been?” I said.

  “Around,” he said. “You won’t believe—"

  “You.” Davies advanced on Harper, flames flickering between his fingertips. “Thought you’d come back, did you? I could have given you a far better deal than the Death King, you know.”

  So he was the one who’d been threatening her? Couldn’t say I was surprised.

  Harper gave him a defiant stare. “I’m not your lapdog.”

  Davies indicated to his liches, who surrounded her on all sides. “You made your choice.”

  “Hey!” I ran behind him, but the liches already had their prey in their grip.

  Harper’s scream reverberated in my ears as I found myself nose to nose with Davies. He laughed coldly. “Don’t look so hurt. She was dead the instant she turned on me.”

  I punched him hard in the face. Blood spurted from his nose and the pain in my wrist and hand were totally worth his stunned expression.

  “I thought you were saving your revenge for Brant.” A smirk appeared on his face. “It was worth taking my place at his side to see your reaction when you found out who he really was.”

  Another punch, this time to his mouth. “I always knew you were a bastard.”

  He laughed, spitting out blood. “He still hoped to save you. He should have guessed the Order would never let you walk free. Even the Death King knows they want you dead no matter who comes out on top.”

  What? “The hell are you talking about?”

  “The Death King, of course.” He choked on another laugh. “The only reason he even gives a shit about the Order being taken over is because he knows the instant the Order falls, you’re dead.”

  He was lying. He must be. “You’re full of shit, you know that? The Death King doesn’t even like me. Besides, I’m pretty sure whoever’s leading the coup in the Order wants everyone dead who isn’t a traitorous scumbag.”

  “The Order could have used you,” he said. “Even with your memories gone, you might have been given a second chance, if you hadn’t taken his side. You should listen to the Death King more often, given all he does for you.”

  “Are you jealous?” I said. “He gave you the opportunity of a lifetime, and you threw it away.”

  He spat out blood. “I picked the winning team, Liv. The Order and the Houses are finished, including the House of Spirit. I got out while I could. If you weren’t so ignorant, you would have done the same.”

  “Davies!” Ryan’s furious cry rang across the swampland.

  I let Davies go and he sprang to his feet, just as Ryan’s attack slammed into him. He flew several feet into the air, yelling, blood streaming from his nose. Ryan screamed and released another attack, and Davies hurtled through the air—right into the Death King’s waiting grip.

  His fist entered Davies’s chest and withdrew in another instant, glowing with light which dissipated on the wind. Davies’s lifeless body fell to the ground, eyes half open, while I reeled at the suddenness of his demise.

  Around us, the sounds of the battle were quietening, the arrival of the Elemental Soldiers and their leader spurring the fire mages to flee. Those who were still alive, anyway. The Death King’s army had triumphed. And yet the victory felt hollow.

  “Olivia,” said the Death King. “You need to go home before the vampires come back.”

  I wheeled around to face him. “Did you know? Did you seriously know the Order has wanted me dead all along?”

  “One side believes you are like Alban and too dangerous to survive,” he said, without looking at me. “The other sees you as a threat to their own plans.”

  “Which you know about.” I stepped towards him. “I could report you to them, you know. For not warning them.”

  “Why do you think I was there?” The unexpected despair in his voice stopped me in my tracks. “They refused to take my word for it. Cobb’s allies hid too well, and they’re in every level of the Order’s ranks. They’ve been waiting for years for the chance to restore the Order of the Elements to what it used to be… with the spirit mages at the head.”

  Impossible. Impossible. “Are the Spirit Agents involved?”

  “No,” he said. “They’re likely to be targeted, however, if the Order does indeed end up falling. I cannot say I didn’t try to warn them.”

  “You might have warned me.” The words snapped out, my voice brittle. “Half the upper room already wanted me jailed for life. Even Cobb and his allies only wanted to use me because he’d lost his own spirit magic. I guess this time they’ve decided they don’t need me after all.”

  “Olivia.” He took a step towards me. “I wouldn’t do anything rash. The vampires—”

  “Need to see the Order, who want me dead. Which, I assume, Lord Blackbourne already knows.” I caught sight of the other Elemental soldiers removing the bodies of the fallen mages. “If you’re going to use that as an excuse to reach out and offer me another position in your service as long as I don’t ask the wrong questions, then you can get fucked.”

  I walked towards the node, remembering belatedly that it no longer led to my house now I’d accidentally turned off that node. Which, no doubt, the Death King had known, too.

  “I’m sorry it turned out like this,” I said, without turning around. “I almost understand why you did it. But I’m done apologising for shit other people did to me, and I’m done letting you manipulate me. I’m going to warn my friends.”

  I entered the node, my mind spinning like the current of energy, and landed on the street down the road from my house. Then I walked home, my rage simmering and then fading as the day’s events hit
me like an avalanche. One way or another, there was no turning back from this.

  Maybe I’d been too harsh on the Death King. It wasn’t like he’d known I might have wanted to join up with the Spirit Agents, given the chance, and besides, they hadn’t exactly presented themselves as on the straight and narrow, either. There was still the question of which spirit mage had attacked us through the node on the first day of the trials. The fire mages had only fought alongside liches, not spirit mages.

  The closer I got to home, the tighter the vice clamping around my chest grew. The Death King hadn’t been blackmailing me at all when he’d hired me. He’d wanted me to take a job working for him because it was the only way I’d be out of the Order’s reach. Even if I’d ended up losing my soul and turning into a lich. Which, ironically, would have been safer for me than the alternative.

  But in the end, the enemy would always have tracked both of us down. There was no point in wondering how things might have gone if I’d made a different choice.

  For now? I needed to be ready to fight.

  I made my way to the shop and unlocked the door. Devon wasn’t in, and the lights were off. The node was still dead, too. Unease skittered down my spine as I made my way through to the living room. Devon wasn’t in there, either. She’d gone.

  I checked my phone. No messages. That wasn’t usual at all.

  They took her. Someone took her.

  19

  Dammit. Who had taken Devon captive? The Order, the mage survivors from the battle, or the Spirit Agents? The Order was most likely, but if they hadn’t openly turned against the Death King yet, they’d outright deny it if I strode in there and demanded they give her back.

  I needed backup.

  As though conjured by my thoughts, a knock came from the door. I tensed, then went to answer, reaching for a cantrip as I did so.

  Ryan held up their hands in surrender. “Whoa. I’m not here to attack you. I didn’t want to leave you alone with so many people out to get you.”

  “I figured.” I drew in a breath. “Devon is missing. I’m almost certain the Order has her, but I don’t know if their coup has gone public yet. Cobb, though… he might have figured out I’d used one of his cantrips on the node and realised I saw him at the Order yesterday.”

  “Shit,” they said. “Some of the fire mages might have survived the battle if they got through the node in time. Maybe they’re the ones who took her.”

  “The fire mages don’t know Devon,” I said. “The Order does—and Cobb threatened my friends and family already. Have you seen Trix?”

  “No,” they said. “Not recently. Maybe he’s home in the Parallel. Do you want me to fetch him?”

  “I’d prefer not to risk his life, either, but I don’t think even the Death King can get me out of this one,” I said. “Unless Devon’s at the school reunion, which is where half the Order’s staff will be tonight at any rate.”

  “Tonight?” they said. “Wait, you mean the academy?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “You went there?”

  “I did, but you probably don’t remember,” they said. “I can’t say I particularly like the idea of going to a reunion.”

  So we’d all been there at the same time, and yet we’d never crossed paths. Not that my memory would cooperate anyway. I was still missing too much.

  “I doubt Devon’s really there,” I added. “She hated school as much as I did.”

  Ryan pressed their lips together. “Okay. I’ll go with you to the Order… but the vampires are still looking for you.”

  “I figured,” I said. “I notice they didn’t give us a hand during the battle.”

  “Vamps aren’t fans of fire,” they said. “Liv… I’m sorry. And I think my master is, too.”

  I didn’t meet their eyes. I couldn’t think about what Davies had told me, not with Devon missing and the growing suspicion that the enemy had taken her as bait. If I’d challenged the Order yesterday, I might have avoided this… but let’s be real, they’d never have taken any accusation lying down. Walking in without the Death King as backup wasn’t appealing, either, but the reality was that he had less influence over the Order than I’d ever believed. I was on my own in this one.

  “The node is still blocked,” I said. “We’ll have to use a different one.”

  Ryan and I made our way to the node down the street. As we walked, Ryan said, “I’ll go back and fetch the others, but we need a meeting spot.”

  “The node near the Order will do, as long as nobody is waiting outside, but I don’t think they will be,” I said. “They’ll all be on their way to get drunk at the school reunion.”

  Ryan went through the node first. I counted down from thirty seconds, then I stepped through and approached the Order’s base.

  Two unfamiliar guards stood outside the door when I walked up to them. “Hey. Have you seen Devon?”

  “No,” said the man on the right, who looked like he was part shifter. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in the Parallel?”

  Did everyone hear about the vampires? Surely not.

  “The Death King sent me home from the contest early,” I said. “Devon is missing. I want to speak to someone who can tell me where she is.”

  “She isn’t here.” He loomed over me. “You should go.”

  “I don’t think so.” I peered past him into the lobby, but I didn’t even see anyone on the reception desk. Were most of the staff at the reunion? “I need to speak to Mrs Carlisle, head of the Retrieval Unit.”

  “She’s not in.” He looked me up and down. “Aren’t you the one whose mind was addled by a spell?”

  At one time, his words would have made me leave, contrite, but not this time. I shoved past him into the lobby, ignoring his look of outrage… and found the place deserted.

  Deserted, aside from the sound of footsteps on the stairs. I backed towards the door to shout a warning to Ryan, but it was too late. Mr Cobb walked into the lobby, his footsteps echoing on the polished floor.

  “So it was you,” he said. “I take it you finished off those rebel fire mages?”

  “With the Death King’s help.” I turned to the guards, who hadn’t budged an inch. His allies, then. “Who the hell in the Order agreed to work with you? You had their people killed.”

  “Some here remain loyal to the original Order, despite everything these pretenders did to us.” He trod along the polished floor towards me. “Others were easy to persuade. There are always some who are open to bribery, and others who see the futility of allowing the new Order to remain intact when its very foundations were built upon our destruction.”

  “You’re talking about the spirit mages.” My throat closed up. “But they didn’t all die. The survivors are in the Court of the Dead, and yet you tried to kill their leader when he’s as much of a victim as you are.”

  “Do you truly believe that?” he said. “To think you’ve allied yourself with someone who turned on his own… but I suppose you still don’t remember your own history.”

  A hollow feeling formed inside me. What more didn’t they tell me?

  “Enough taunts,” I said. “Tell me where Devon is. I swear, if you’ve hurt her—”

  “I have no reason to harm your friend,” he said. “I simply wanted her out of the way, and she gladly saw my reasoning. A school reunion is hardly torture.”

  “That’s where you sent her?” Disbelief laced my tone. “Then what the hell are you doing here, waiting for the Order staff to come back so you can gloat in their faces?”

  “Liv.” Ryan pushed past the guards, who blocked their way with snarls of warning. Yelps followed when Ryan’s magic levitated them into the air, and Dex flew into the building, pursued by two sprites.

  “You’re outnumbered, dickhead,” he told Cobb.

  Aria flew in behind him, along with the water sprite, and the three sprites circled Cobb. He must be here for a reason. He couldn’t have known I’d show up, with half the Parallel hunting me down.


  His eyes narrowed at Dex. “I beg to differ.”

  The elevator doors slid open and a number of people ran out into the lobby. All of them wore the same faded grey uniform. They’re prisoners. Cobb had set them free.

  Cobb gestured with one hand. “Take her.”

  The former prisoners swept through the lobby like a tide. A fair few ran for the exit, but others circled me, their eyes pale and their faces lined. The Order took their magic. Like Cobb.

  Hands grabbed for me, and I reached for my cantrips and set one of them off, paralysing the nearest mages. Then I called on the power of the nearby node, and magic filled my veins and spilled out, crackling like an electric charge.

  “Stop her!” Cobb snarled. “Don’t kill her. I won’t have her power wasted. Turn her off.”

  A cantrip snapped, and the ceiling lights sputtered and died. At the same time, my own power went out like a light switch. I went rigid with shock, numb, unable to feel the power of the node in my veins any longer.

  He turned off my magic. Those cantrips he’d stolen didn’t just work on nodes.

  Hands seized my shoulders. I fought every step of the way, but strong arms lifted me off the floor and propelled me across the lobby.

  The elevator doors closed, and then we were travelling down, and further down, as though into the very centre of the earth.

  The doors opened, revealing a corridor lit with fluorescent lighting, panelled in metallic silver. Cold concrete touched my feet and a familiar pressure hit my skull as they dragged me along and pushed me through a glass door into a room as cold as a refrigerator, containing only a metal table and several chairs. Not a cell… but shivers ran down my arms and the pressure on my skull worsened. This wasn’t the first time I’d seen this room.

  I’d sat here during my interrogation after Dirk Alban’s death.

  “This is a holding cell for spirit mages,” said Cobb. “I was stripped of my magic in a similar room. No doubt you were held here, too, if you remember.”

  Two mages pushed me into a seat, and cuffs snapped into place over my wrists and ankles. “You want to strip out my magic, then?”