by Terah Edun
“You want to talk about games?” she hissed as she kept her glaive at a wary stance. “We came to the imperial court to warn everyone. Nobles, merchants, mages, and militia alike. There is a god coming. A god of death and destruction that wants nothing more than to erase our society and make Algardis a mere note in history.”
Jason held up a cautious hand. “Regardless of your assumptions—”
“They’re not assumptions, they’re facts,” Ciardis interrupted. “If the denizens of this entire city weren’t so enamored with staring up their own asses to figure out how they can be the most devious and insipid beings in the land at any point in time, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
Well— Sebastian said in her head.
What? she groused.
Technically, if you hadn’t helped Thanar and his cohort bring down the shielding on the Sanctuary we wouldn’t be in this mess.
She felt some mild regret and annoyance. Mostly annoyance, because he was right. But they were facing an unknown threat. The least he could do was support her.
Don’t start with me, she snapped back. You’re either on my side or you’re not.
I’m on it.
Jason SaAlgardis and Sebastian Algardis exchanged almost identical male glances. Glances that said the female that stood between them had gone insane and neither was going to say a word about it.
Ciardis snorted.
Carefully she said to Jason, “I’ve been back to court less than a week. In that time I’ve been threatened, blackmailed, beaten up, and had my mother imprisoned for a crime she didn’t commit. On top of that, I’ve been instructed to fight a god who can’t be killed and tried to unravel the swirl of plots within the capital without being dragged down myself. Therefore, there’s no way in hell I trust you. I don’t know who you are or how you found us, but you need to leave.”
The older man in front of them sheathed his sword. “What if I told you there was a way to amass your army while ensuring the true ruler would assume the throne to control it?”
“As long as you don’t mean me, then keep talking,” said Sebastian.
Ciardis stared at him. “I’m listening.”
Jason gruffly said, “Let’s get off this roof first.”
Thoughts flew through her head. Her primary concern was something she didn’t want to voice aloud.
Instead she sent a quick thought to Sebastian. What about Thanar and Vana? We can’t leave them here.
We won’t. We need them at our backs, Sebastian thought back.
She cracked a slight smile. For once this week, they were immediately in accordance.
Privately she thought to herself, This relationship thing might not be so bad. He’s already agreeing with me.
The man in front of them cleared his throat. She and Sebastian hadn’t been looking at each other but she guessed they both had that far-off look pasted on their faces that said they weren’t focusing on him either.
“While you two make up your minds,” said Jason, “I’ll find us a way out.”
Ciardis lifted a curious eyebrow.
The older man half-turned away as he said, “You didn’t think you’d get out of here the same way you came in, did you? Those blasts were physical and magical. Triggered to shut down the inner tunnels all throughout the villa. You’re lucky you were already in one. Otherwise you’d be stuck where you were until the villa guards came for you.”
“I don’t know if I’d call that lucky,” Sebastian said darkly. “You nearly killed us.”
Jason shrugged. “It did its job. It will slow down Carne’s forces since its how they move from place to place in the interior walls. But this won’t stop the forces arrayed along the outer wall. Which is why we need to move. They’re probably on their way to target whatever auras of strangers are still left alive in the building.”
“Fantastic,” muttered Ciardis as she watched him walk away.
As soon as he was out of ear shot she whispered, “I don’t think he knows about Vana and Thanar. What if they’re trapped inside?”
Sebastian turned to her, his gaze dark. “We better hope they’re not.”
She frowned. “We need to do more than hope.”
“Any suggestions? We’d have to loop back around the entire villa to get to the chambers from here with the entrance we came through sealed.”
“I’ll think of something,” she said.
Her voice turned contemplative as she turned back to eye their lone rooftop companion. “Do you trust him?”
“Do you?”
Ciardis watched the older man walk to the edge of the parapet and throw a rope ladder over the side.
“No.”
“Why not?” Sebastian asked.
She narrowed her eyes. “I can’t put a finger on it. There’s just something...wrong.”
“I can.”
She turned to him in surprise. Sebastian’s face was tense. She’d never seen him so troubled. No, that wasn’t it. His mouth was twisted into a stiff line, like he’d bitten into a bitter lemon and didn’t like the taste. “You know something, don’t you?”
“Jason SaAlgardis isn’t who he seems to be.”
“What do you mean?”
Sebastian turned to her, his hand clenched tightly on the pommel of his sword. “He’s not a blood relative of the Algardis imperial family—bastard or otherwise.”
Shocked, she asked, “You’re sure?”
“Very.”
“Then how did he know the emperor is an imposter?”
“That’s what we need to find out.”
Chapter 3
Jason turned and looked at them. He beckoned. She walked forward with Sebastian by her side.
“Any bright ideas?” she whispered.
“A few.”
“Anything that we can deploy in the next five seconds?”
“None,” he acknowledged.
She almost cracked a smile. Almost.
Then they reached the edge of the parapet. She position herself next to Jason, then she looked down. She really wished she hadn’t. The height was almost dizzying. It was a lot like staring off the precipice of the tower ramparts of the north. Without the bitterly cold winds in her face that is. But it was a good vantage point. She was able to see that they had climbed up much further than she initially thought. They stood at the peak of a half-moon tower close to the edge of the embankment that encircled the Duke of Carne’s villa. Twenty feet below lay a verdant green garden and an abundant number of green trees with golden orbs on them. Orange trees perhaps. She’d heard of them. Ciardis knew that the emperor supposedly had a garden dedicated to them and other tropical island fruits, but had never seen them. So seeing them here made sense. Anything the emperor had, his nobles were likely to mimic in a fawning attempt to display their wealth and taste for opulence.
As her eyes traveled from the base of the tower and over the expansive garden, she saw the villa wall to the north. It was made of smooth stone blocks and to her naked eye, looked almost too strong of a barrier for a city villa. What did a gregarious duke who threw lavish parties every season have to be afraid of, after all? The occasional thief or pickpocket that would steal over his walls would be her normal answer. But after tonight she was beginning to think the Carne family had more secrets than a back-corner thief dealing in forged coins. This wall alone would hold back the onslaught of most of the inhabitants of Sandrin in addition to a small invading army.
“So, Master SaAlgardis, how do you suppose we get from here to there?” Ciardis asked.
The old man let satisfaction flow into his voice. “The same way I got up here. We fly.”
Ciardis didn’t bother turning to look at Jason. Sebastian stood on his left. She could feel the steady thrum of anticipation running through him. Occasional flashes of awareness would drop into her mind from second to second. Through those flashes she could feel Sebastian as if his body was an extension of her own. She knew that his hand gripped his sword’s pommel so tightly that it
was as if metal and flesh had become one with the blade pulled a few inches out of its leather-wrapped sheath. She could feel the tension in Sebastian’s back like the hot fire of anticipation lit at a steady burn. His muscles bunched as he readied himself to spring into action at any second and the pit of his stomach had butterflies in it. Or, rather, what she would call butterflies. Sebastian probably referred to it as something like ‘nervous anticipation’ if he acknowledged it at all. Whatever the case he was ready to take Jason on if he so much as stepped the wrong way. She stood to Jason’s right with her glaive gripped in her right hand. She was confident she could swing her body away from him and attack with the glaive as she did so. He’d taken them by surprise once. He wouldn’t do so again.
Even after such a long day, from the trial to the altercation in the duke of Carne’s bedchambers, she felt light on her feet. There was almost a bounce in her step and she felt the ridiculous urge to rock back and forth on the balls of her heels.
Where’s this energy coming from? she wondered.
She was getting better at her resistance training but even for her this much enthusiasm was unusual. Ciardis gulped audibly as she opened her mage sight and looked inside at her mage core briefly. Briefly enough that she wouldn’t get distracted if Sebastian needed her, but long enough to have a sense of disbelief cloud her mind.
Her mage core, usually an orb as effervescent as the sun, had changed. From what she was able to take in at a glance, she’d say it now resembled a golden orb with chains wrapped around it. Two very distinct chains. One that even now snaked from her own power to Sebastian’s in a silvery loop. The other chain looped around her core was the color of onyx and was weaker. The links of the onyx chain felt less substantial. To her eyes even the luster was less clear. She surfaced for a moment to take stock of her options. She wasn’t sure if the onyx chain was weaker because it was being forced to stretch farther toward its end goal or because it was just a weaker connection. She didn’t really care, either. Neither belonged around her mage core.
Taking a deep breath, Ciardis dropped back down into her magic. Whatever these loops were they couldn’t be good. She had time to wonder when Sebastian’s power source had become the silver color of a molten coin, but she angrily pushed that thought aside for a moment. Ciardis wasn’t a trained mage. What she knew she had learned from experience and sheer dumb luck.
Mainly because my tutors have had a habit dying or disappearing too quickly along the way, she thought wryly as she flashed back on memories of all of those former instructors. Damias, the tutorials instructor with the witty repartee. Maree Amber, the head of the Companions’ Guild and Council. Last but not least in Ciardis’s memories was Lady Serena, her Companions’ Guild sponsor and mother in disguise.
Damias Lancer and Maree Amber were dead. Serena, now revealed as Lillian Weathervane, was imprisoned. Which left Ciardis fumbling for answers to unlock her own gifts. But this time was different. She may not have been classically trained or had gone to a mage school, but she knew a mage binding when she saw one. Those links were draining the power from her core just as Sebastian’s aunt had done so over the years with the locket that hung around the emperor’s neck. Ciardis refused to the think of her ruler as Sebastian’s father. Mostly because it was no longer true. No one knew how long Maradian had been posing as the emperor in his brother’s place. There had been no time to really speculate in the half day since the truth had been uncovered. But Ciardis had the feeling it was a lot longer than any of them wanted to have to admit to.
But for now, in this moment, her problem was with these two syphoning links to her core. She knew the links could have other properties but with time to only take glimpses of it, she couldn’t be sure. She wasn’t sure she would have cared even if she did have time. Even if they made her immortal, they were one intrusion too many. It was enough that she had to share her mind with Sebastian. She didn’t love him enough to give him her power with no restrictions on access. This didn’t make her uneasy. It made her downright fearful. The fact that these two links were draining her of power, even small amounts, didn’t sit well with her. Her brother had been used as a pawn of the imperial court’s will his entire life. She wouldn’t be a victim of the same treatment. Not for anyone or anything. She had agreed to build a relationship with Sebastian, she hadn’t agreed to be his slave. So with the determination only a frightened young woman with the power of weathervane could summon, she grabbed the silvery loop and yanked hard. It lifted.
For a moment the world was still and Ciardis forgot how to breathe. She watched the sun rise in the distance and heard the chatter of birds in the garden below. She didn’t move. She couldn’t move. If Jason decided to attack at that very moment, she was going to be defenseless. The moment stretched into seconds. Her chest tightened and her heart stopped for a brief moment in time. Not in a good way, like the moments time had stopped when she and Sebastian had locked into a heated kiss. No, this was in an oh-so-bad she-was-going-to-die-if-she-didn’t-let-go-of-the-loop kind of way.
Her entire body felt like it was straining to lift an inexplicable weight. Her muscles strained. Her posture tensed. But her struggle wasn’t physical. She was however struggling for control of her magic and her soul. Except for the fact that she might be turning blue, nothing showed on her face. But she knew Sebastian felt it. She could tell. He rolled his shoulders as if there was an itch down his spine at the uncomfortable sensation. He was too well trained to turn to her. Not unless she fell out on the ground or started bleeding but that didn’t stop him from speaking to her mind in alarm, What just happened? Are you all right?
She didn’t answer. Not because she didn’t want to but because she couldn’t. Her lips wouldn’t speak and she couldn’t project her thoughts. Her body and mind felt frozen. Alone in its thoughts. It scared the hell out of her. She didn’t like it. One bit.
Ciardis? His voice was tense with worry.
Ciardis dropped her internal grip on the silvery loop and let the small portion she’d managed to tug away from her core drift down to resettle along its surface. She gave up. But she’d rather give up one small battle to win the war. She’d figured out what it was and she’d eliminate it in her own time. For now, she concentrated on feeling normal again. She could move her muscles. She could project. She sucked in a long breath and her mouth felt like it was on fire. Ciardis realized that she had bitten her lip when she first grabbed the loop. The reflexive movement had nipped her flesh so hard that she’d drawn blood and the scrape burned when the cool air touched the flesh of the laceration.
Sebastian nudged her again. You’re worrying me over here.
I’m fine. I’m fine, she said. Her thoughts were shaky. She felt anything but fine. What was this? What had Sebastian done to her? How had he done it to her? In addition, she had to wonder whom the blasted onyx loop belonged to.
She had a sneaking suspicion of the answer to that last query but she’d keep her thoughts to herself until she could prove it.
As she turned her focus outward, she saw that Jason was now holding a small stone in his hand. Smoothed from time, she stared in partial wonder. It was a fire opal. The stone’s rounded exterior glimmered with the natural radiance of reds, yellows, and white stones sparkling through a sheer glaze-like surface. As the fire opal glittered in the dawn’s light, the pulse of its internal fire grew greater. It began to glow with a rhythmic pulse. Bright. Dim. Bright. Dim. Bright. Bright.
“It’s a signal,” she said aloud.
“Yes, it is,” said Jason
His vision was focused on something in the distance as he overlooked the city to the east of the Duke of Carne’s wall. As she looked up and away from the opal’s hypnotic pulse, a sharp wind hit all three individuals on the rooftop in the face. The night sky was giving way to the light of a morning sky. But it wasn’t full morning. Not yet. The sun rose, but the chill of a cold night and deep clouds lingered in the air. Giving the whole city a sleepy, darkened feel. The feeling j
ust before everyone woke, before carriages took the streets and hawkers began to shout their wares.
She thought about all of the time that had passed. Just as the distance from the duke’s bedchambers had grown once she had last seen the outside, time seemed to have passed by just as quickly. They had entered the Duke of Carne’s villa intent on setting up a truce in the darkness of night. Now the paleness of day threatened to steal over them as they left.
Reluctance in his voice, Sebastian asked, “How do you suppose we fly from here, then? As far as I can see, none of us have wings.”
Although she wasn’t sure if the reluctance was due to the fact that Sebastian wanted to question her more or he was really afraid of the answer Jason would give.
The man pointed to the sky. Ciardis squinted. It looked like little black dots were coming towards them. Even if the sun wasn’t yet a fourth of the way into the sky, it still put the figures into shadow. As they drew closer Ciardis saw wings, large ones, flapping back and forth. A weird mixture of relief and dread filled her stomach. One of those winged figures was familiar to her. It wasn’t just the shape of the figure she recognized. She couldn’t make out their features from a distance like this anyway. It was that figure’s soul. The soul that connected to her mage core with an onyx rope like a chain strangling her heart. But she didn’t love this person. She knew that without a doubt.
With an indecipherable sigh, she said, “Thanar’s coming.”
She felt Sebastian’s shoulders lose some tension. She knew he was relieved that Thanar had survived the collapse and even more relieved that they might have another ally by their side soon. It was a depressive state of affairs for Ciardis personally that two of the people she was supposed to be able to count on were nearby and she had more doubts about them than the suspicious lunatic who stood watching the two strange winged figures approach with anticipation.
“My life is not what I wanted it to be,” she grouched under her breath.
Sebastian said from Jason’s other side, “None of ours is.”