Silver's Redemption (Soul Merge Saga Book 3)

by M. P. A. Hanson

  Silver looked around for the creature, but couldn’t see it.

  “Alda has her.”

  Her gaze shot to the old woman who nodded fractionally yet still made the movement look solemn.

  “This is my deal, demon wytch; by some twisted turn of fate I am able to tell you things about Llewellyn’s daughter that you need to know. I will only do this once there is no threat to my familiar. Find her, and you will know all you wish about Alda.”

  Silver rose from the kneeling position, ready to leave, but Grandmother Black stopped her.

  “As a gesture of good faith, you should know that the puppet master sees through the eyes of everyone she touches, yet for all her power she cannot see those touched by Ancient’s blood.”

  “Thank-you, I shall return when I have your familiar.” Silver so rarely thanked anyone that the words felt strange in her mouth.

  “She tells me she is kept by the sea on a ship so she never remains in the same place twice.”

  Silver hated the sea and she grumbled about the thought of the salt getting in her wings as she left through the front door, ignoring the glares of the assassins.

  Chapter Sixteen

  EXCHANGE

  When Silver arrived back at the caves she found Keenan waiting for her in a dust covered armchair which sat before the unused fireplace that she exited out of. The thief didn’t seem surprised to find out that her fireplaces connected to the secret passageways throughout the city of Morendor and Elvardis. His calm expression forced Silver to wonder just how much the thieves’ guild knew about her.

  “You’re early.” She stated. “It’s a pity the kingling cannot be as convenient.”

  Keenan tilted his head in silent question, but she chose not to answer him.

  “Loke, see if you and your brothers cannot hurry him along; I have things to do, places to see, people to kill and I don’t feel like putting my plans on hold for the little king today.”

  There was a growl of confirmation from the shadows which made Keenan jump.

  “What was that?” His calm tone belied the fear she could sense in him.

  “You will have to get used to demons. I am their queen and they are useful. Just try not to get killed by any of them; they can be a bloodthirsty lot at times.”

  Keenan’s eyes were wide as saucers. “So that is your power? You control demons? We knew you were a wytch, but the Ancients gave you that amount of power? What were they thinking?”

  Silver smirked. “The Ancients didn’t give me anything. They’re just glorified wytches and sorcerers. They reincarnated me after my death into a half-ancient’s body. Even they were surprised by my gifts. But they still trained me to use them. Fools.” She smiled at Keenan’s expression. “You’ll stop thinking me a heretic when you meet them.” She paused as she caught the sound of movement outside the caves. “If you don’t want Romana or the king to know of your affiliation with me you may want to move into the shadows.”

  Keenan did move, but it was only to stand behind her and slightly to her right. When she arched an eyebrow at him he shrugged.

  “If I am to shadow you, they will soon know of the guild’s association with you anyway.”

  “Fair point.” Silver muttered.

  She opened a portal to the third world and called a demon through. A hulking beast with great broad shoulders and arms that were strangely large in comparison to the rest of its body stepped through, its black skin glinting in the light of the skylight in the ceiling. At the sight of her it bowed its small head and let out a shrill whistle that announced its greeting and willingness to serve.

  When Romana, Marten and three wytches stepped into the room with Tommy they were met by the sight of Silver and Kennan flanked by ten of the huge demons who were fully armoured and standing still like her own little toy soldiers. For obvious reasons the six of them stopped a distance away.

  “Hand him over and leave.” Silver instructed.

  “Sister,” Romana greeted her and then proceeded to ignore her in favour of looking at Keenan. “Keenan, I did not expect to see you here, especially not in her company.”

  “The thieves are committed to a business partnership with the Silver Eyed Wytch.” Keenan replied. “We ally with her.”

  Marten’s gaze narrowed, his deep blue eyes locking with Keenan’s ice coloured ones.

  “Have you still not gotten over that little biting incident, boys?” Silver asked, sensing the tension between the two. “That was almost two decades ago, Romana’s neck and Marten’s legs have obviously recovered so why do you both have such angry faces all of a sudden?”

  She knew what the hostility between them really was; Marten had once had a pact with the thieves’ guild, which let them exist in the city of Morendor as long as some of them would come to work for him as spies. Keenan had just informed him that the thieves considered their pact with her more important than their pact with the crown. Not in words, but by the way he remained on Silver’s side of the room.

  “You have agreed not to hurt Tommy.” Marten reminded her as he ignored her question.

  “I won’t harm him unnecessarily.” Silver agreed. “Now can you just hand him over and get out? The long he remains conscious the more Alda learns about all of us.”

  Tommy, without waiting for a signal from Marten and completely ignoring the demons behind her, walked straight up to Silver.

  “What are you talking about?” He demanded.

  Instead of answering, Silver pushed back her glove and quickly sliced into the skin there with one of her throwing knives. Her blood bloomed red and began a stead river down her arm. She sheathed the blade, dabbed the fingers of her other hand into the warm pool of liquid. Her next move was a blur so that Tommy would not see it coming. With little hesitation she painted a line of her blood down one side of Tommy’s face.

  He crumpled instantly.

  Romana cried out in alarm but Marten held her back, clearly still aware of the demons that made up Silver’s side of the room.

  “Alda was using him to watch you, yet she can only inhabit those untouched by Ancient’s blood. And we, dearest sister, are of their blood, are we not?” She moved over to Keenan, bloody fingers outstretched. The thief accepted her blood, but did not pass out as Tommy had. “The boy will be fine; his brain is simply losing the tether Alda placed upon it.”

  She motioned to a demon which scooped up Tommy in its great arms.

  “Thank-you for the information.” Marten said, his tone icy as he realised the ramification of Tommy being controlled.

  Silver would be that the boy was privy to more state secrets than she would care to count, and Marten wouldn’t want Alda knowing any of them.

  The wytches that had accompanied Marten and Romana turned to leave and Marten followed them. Romana stayed behind.

  “Ky, are you sure?” She asked, hesitating in the doorway. “You could come back with me, no questions asked.” Her voice was hopeful.

  “I will do my duty to my guild.” Keenan replied, robotically. And in that instant Silver realised that the thief was in love with Romana, and half of the tension in the room before had been because Marten had known it too.

  “She will hurt you,” Romana warned, walking back towards them and hugging the blonde haired thief.

  “I’m tough.” Keenan pasted a smile on his face, and it was only because Silver had so much practice faking smiles that she recognised the expression as false. He pushed Romana towards the door, indicating that she should leave with Marten and the others.

  Keenan may not fear being hurt by her, but he didn’t want Romana to be in danger.

  She snorted. “This is all very touching, but we need to be going.”

  “Vow not to kill him.” Romana blurted. “Or neither of you is going anywhere.”

  The wind in the room picked up, forming a tempest which blocked all of the entrances with a swirling fury that was only visible due to the dust in the room being picked up and blown around within it.

>   Silver sighed and using her speed dashed behind Romana, knocking her out with the pommel of one of her daggers.

  “Too reliant on magic.” She snorted in disgust. “You’re lucky I’m feeling merciful today, sister dearie, or I’d kill you for your error.”

  She turned to Keenan, whose eyes seemed to glow with anger at the sight of Romana’s long slender body crumpled on the ground.

  “Get a grip lover boy, with her healing ability she’ll be up in five minutes. I was just getting sick of watching you around her. As interesting as your crush is, we have things to do.”

  She heard a dragon’s roar from above her; Romana’s familiars were here, and her sister was safe.

  “If you wouldn’t mind following me, knocking out a dragon is a damned sight harder than knocking out a wytch.”

  Silver walked into the fireplace tunnels, and watched as the thief picked up his bag, gave Romana one long last lingering look before following her at human speed.

  Chapter Seventeen

  PAINFUL REMINDERS

  When they arrived at Dalmorin, the thief looked around at the dwarves. “You really did take over a castle.” He muttered, “And nobody in the guild or the palace could tell which one. We assumed you’d been bluffing.”

  “It’s the Dalmorin fortress, and the demons made sure that none of the dwarves questioned my sudden appointment as their leader. The few deaths that occurred as a result of the battle were blamed on cave-ins. All in all, a quiet handover of power and a base for my operations that neither my enemies nor the kingling will ever find.”

  Silver dismissed the demons which had followed her back with the exception of the one carrying Tommy and led the way through the dwarven tunnels and into the replica of her caves that she had had made.

  Recognition flashed on Keenan’s face and then his jaw dropped as Leigh walked into the room.

  “What are you doing here?” He demanded. “How did you know about this place and yet not tell the guild?”

  “Because her first loyalty is to me,” Silver explained. “I raised Leigh from the time when she came to me as a child; she has been my ally for centuries.” She looked at Leigh, “Though it was a surprise to see her in a city of thieves.”

  “It was a decision I made in your absence.” Leigh explained to her. “You would have found Miria waiting for you with the other master assassins had you not completely ignored the fake den they set up for you and proceeded to sneak into the house of their most sacred leader.” There was a knowing smile attached to that. “Needless to say, the assassins were not pleased at the lack of difficulty you had with finding the aforementioned leader.”

  “They were easy enough to follow once I found the mercenaries in their employ.”

  “Mistress?” Lena called from the kitchen, “Is that you?”

  “Yes Lena, I’ve brought a guest, make him up a room.”

  “A room or a cell?” Lena asked, coming around the corner and eyeing up Keenan.

  “Room.” Silver confirmed. “He is shadowing me as part of a deal with the thieves.”

  Lena walked over and took Keenan’s bag from him before disappearing into one of the rooms.

  “You may as well go and get settled in.” Silver replied. “I want to get Tommy into one of the cells before he wakes up and changes.”

  “Changes?” Keenan looked at Tommy, clearly not seeing him as much of a threat.

  “You and he have more in common than you realise.” Silver muttered. “He is half-elven; the trauma of what Alda did to him made him lose what little fragile control he had over his animal traits. Hence, a cell is necessary.”

  Keenan’s expression turned from shock to rage to sadness in the space of a few moments.

  “Why did the king give him to you?”

  “Because none of his healers can do anything for him,” Silver replied. “I have a chance at being able to save him from insanity, and I need information about Alda that he has locked away in his mind.”

  “Information?”

  “He was tortured by her; his memories will contain clues as to where she is hiding.” Silver explained. “But in order to get to it I need to destroy whatever defensive walls Tommy has created to shield his sanity.”

  “It sounds a lot less like saving him and a lot more like violently invading his mind.” Keenan gave her a stern look. “You want to destroy the block that’s protecting him from going insane?”

  “It’s not protecting him.” Silver argued. “The lapses in his control over his animal is proof that he has only managed to delay insanity. Thankfully, insanity and I have a long running history.”

  “I think Tommy would prefer to die, than to become like you.” Keenan muttered. “The man I know despises bloodshed. If you heal his mind but he becomes like you, it’s not really healing at all.”

  Silver was offended. “I thought the guild respected my talents.” She growled.

  “No, the guild needs your talents. Usually they have a strict policy of not killing anyone on the job.” Keenan looked relaxed, but she could see him tensing, his hands shifting to his pocket where she would bet a blade was hidden.

  “Ironic seeing as bankruptcy leads to starvation and eventually death,” She argued. “Tommy will decide who he is once he comes out of the chaos. But I can guarantee he will never be the same.”

  Keenan looked thunderous. “Did you warn Romana of this?”

  “She has no other option, why bother her with the details? I said I can heal him and I will. There will just be a few side effects.” She moved from where she had been standing and opened a cabinet filled with phials of blood of the demons of the fourth world. She took one out, and moved over towards the cells.

  “Where are you going?” The half-fey demanded, as if he had the right to know.

  “None of your business.” She retorted angrily. “Get your sword and meet me in the east paddock in fifteen minutes. Be late, and it will hurt even more when you lose. Training starts now halfling.”

  There were a few grumbles, but Silver heard him stalk off to his rooms. With a sigh she entered Tommy’s cell, clasping the phial of greenish blue liquid. The thief who she still wrongly called a boy sat on the cot in the cell.

  “Have you recovered?” She enquired, glancing at the empty soup cup beside him.

  “The headaches have stopped since you touched me with the blood.” He admitted, touching his face in the memory though the blood was gone. “I still cannot remember anything though. Whatever that potion you’re holding is, it won’t work. The wytches tried everything they had.”

  “I do not believe that the wytches had access to demon blood.” Silver stated.

  She had debated whether or not to tell him what it was she was giving him, but the look in his eyes had made up her mind. Tommy would do anything to regain his memory. Demon blood would disgust him, but it would be a small price to pay. But would losing himself be too much?

  She frowned as the latter question popped unbidden into her mind. The stupid halfling was getting to her.

  “What is it going to do to me?” Tommy looked alarmed, but didn’t question that she was telling her the truth.

  “There’s a chance that in order to get past the shielding Romana put on your mind, Alda caused physical scarring on your brain, which is what is affecting you now that her taint has been removed.” Silver explained. “This particular breed of demon spreads disease with its touch, but I have yet to find a sickness or wound it’s blood could not cure.”

  “Prove it.” Tommy commanded, and Silver silently approved of the boy’s common sense.

  She removed her glove and showed him the slightly red mark where they cut she had made earlier had healed.

  “As you can see the previous cut has only just healed. That should give you an indication of how long I take to heal normally.” She swiped out a thin blade and recreated the cut as Tommy watched. She then unstoppered the phial, uncaring of the blood she smeared onto the glass in the process.

  A s
mall sip, enough to fill a thimble, and the cut was completely gone.

  “It even tastes good.” She smirked, showing him her unmarked skin.

  Tommy stood and took the phial, eyed it suspiciously and then took a long swig.

  “Not too much in one go.” Silver advised, taking the phial back. “Now leave it a few hours and then I will return to see if you can remember anything more.”

  “Where are you going?” Tommy asked as she moved towards the cell door.

  “You have not sworn fealty to me, or vowed never to repeat my secrets, so I will not entrust you with that information.”

  “Why is Keenan really with you?” He then demanded, correctly guessing that was where she was going. “He’s like my brother; you have to tell me if he’s in danger.”

  Silver glared at him, she’d already said he wasn’t going to be trusted with information unless he made a vow to her. What part of that did he not understand?”

  Tommy glared back, then unexpectedly he dropped to one knee.

  “I vow to the Ancients never to give your secrets to anyone, steal from you or harm you and your allies unless Keenan Iceblood dies by your hand. I will not betray you as long as he lives and if I do, may I rightly be punished for doing so.”

  A conditional vow, but a vow nonetheless. He finished and gazed at her expectantly.

  “I will hold you to your vow.” She replied. “Keenan is here to learn to become the guild enforcer. Apparently your past guild has some problems that require a violent solution.”

  “Keenan will be all the more terrifying to the others just for being trained by you.” Tommy sat back on the cot, brushing his hand against his lips to remove the blood on them.

  “That is why I need to go.” Silver explained. “I have to see how terrible his swordsmanship is.”

  “I wish to accompany you.” Tommy said, “Please permit me to train with him. It will enable you to focus more on the task of teaching.”

  He was right, but that didn’t stop Tommy from being dangerous and a flight risk.