“I am.”
Victus smiled and made to speak again, but broke into wracking coughs. He got over his fit and spat on the stones a second time, then smiled at D’Jenn with bloody teeth.
“Does this please you, boy? To see me on my knees? Your enemy, humbled before you?”
“No,” D’Jenn said. “I didn’t want you for an enemy, Victus. Make your peace with the gods. I’ll make things quick.” D’Jenn readied his magic to stop the man’s heart.
“You’re not going to kill me, D’Jenn.”
“Those are the words you want uttered at your funeral? ‘You’re not going to kill me, D’Jenn’? You could have done better than that,” D’Jenn said. He shook his head, and tensed his magic.
Victus favored him with another bloody smile.
“Don’t be a woman about it, D’Jenn—give me a warrior’s death,” he cackled. “Go ahead.”
“Victus—”
“Your friends,” he coughed, spitting another wad of blood to the side, “oh…how they screamed. Fire does that, you know.”
“I think I’ll change my mind after all,” D’Jenn snarled.
Victus’s eyes grew wide.
D’Jenn screamed and brought the axe down into Victus’s skull, piercing the bone with a metallic clunk. He yanked it free to bring it down again, but started back as sand exploded from the wound. Victus smiled as for half a second, then his body disintegrated, whispering as it became a pile of sand.
D’Jenn felt a sudden moment of panic, and dove to the side on instinct.
Something cracked through the space that he’d just occupied, and he felt a sharp burn across the back of his leg. D’Jenn hissed in pain as he rolled to his feet, trying to ignore the numb feeling that was creeping through his thigh. A twisting burn mark was painted on the wall—evidence of the lightning bolt that had nearly killed him. The axe was still tight in his hand, his Kai singing a tense, angry melody.
“The arrogance simply astounds me,” Victus’s voice said.
D’Jenn looked around the room, but the deacon was nowhere to be seen. He cast about with his senses, but was met with a cloying fog where clarity had been only moments before. Something in the room was interfering with his magic, and he was blind to Victus’s position.
The fucking tobacco smoke, he realized. How could I have been such a bloody fool?
“Don’t be a coward,” D’Jenn said. “Show yourself!”
“Show yourself,” Victus’s disembodied voice repeated, laughing under its breath. “The universal rallying cry for those who are about to die.”
D’Jenn poured power into his magical shield, and hardened it against attack. He spun around, flicking his eyes in every direction. Dread reached cold fingers up his spine, and he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Air whipped by the open window, making a low whine.
“I find it a bit odd, in any case, that you would throw such a demand at me,” Victus said, “after climbing the tower, blowing a hole in my study, and attacking me at my desk. Show yourself, indeed.”
D’Jenn felt the attack coming in the split second before it hit.
He turned, hardening his magical shield as a blow hit him like a charging bull. He slid backwards over the stone, heels scraping as he held himself on his feet with the force of his own power. His shield came to rest against some of the disturbed furniture, and a lightning bolt slammed against it, leaving a bright scar across his vision. It arced all over the room as D’Jenn deflected it, igniting several flammable things.
D’Jenn lashed out with a Splinter, but Victus’s power was already quiet, and the man was nowhere to be seen. How was he hiding himself? D’Jenn was nothing but vulnerable until he figured it out.
Just as he had that thought, a vicious spike of power pierced his Kai, and he felt his magic violently unravel. He stumbled back as his arms and legs went numb, his mind momentarily stunned. D’Jenn reached for his magic, clawed at his Kai, but it would not respond.
Victus had Splintered him.
The energies that D’Jenn had gathered rushed into the room, seeping into the floor. The stones under his feet crumbled, eaten away by the random expulsion of magic. D’Jenn had a moment to despair over the fact that he could barely feel his arms and legs, and there would be no way to hold to the steel cage beneath the study. He tried to scream as he scrambled at the crumbling stones beneath him, but nothing would come out.
Then, he felt Victus’s magic squeeze down on his chest, cutting off his air—and arresting his fall. His legs dangled over the yawning hole in the floor, the shadows of the steel webbing just visible against the moonlit stone. D’Jenn tried to suck in a breath, but Victus was squeezing too hard on his torso. He could barely hold in the air he already had.
“D’Jenn,” Victus said, “did you really think it would be so damned easy to kill me, boy?”
D’Jenn just let out something close to an urk.
In his head, though, he was cursing.
“Climb right up the tower, slip in through the window, and end me—easy as you please.” Victus materialized from the air, as if he was just coming into focus. He smiled at D’Jenn as he walked around the edge of the hole, shooting irritated glances through it to the grounds below. “It will be an entire year before that’s fixed. I love this bloody view, boy—you’ve ruined that for me.”
D’Jenn wanted to retort, but he couldn’t breathe.
“The others—well, most of them just tried to run, after all. None of them actually thought they could kill me,” Victus laughed. He shook his head and smiled, as if D’Jenn had done something endearing. “I would have thought you were smarter than this. Dormael would do this—he’s always been hot-headed, impulsive—but not you, D’Jenn.”
D’Jenn gave him as baleful a stare as he could manage.
“Oh, don’t look at me like that,” Victus said. “You know very well why they had to die, boy. I couldn’t leave them out there to gather strength against me. I didn’t want to do it, D’Jenn, but I had to. I had to.”
“Keep…telling yourself…that,” D’Jenn squeezed out. The use of air made him light-headed.
Victus turned an angry stare on him.
“I was hoping to the gods that you and your cousin would join me, D’Jenn,” Victus said. “Hells, I even said a prayer—me! A prayer, can you believe it? I even left an offering at the temple for good fortune, lot of gods-damned good that did me. You were my best tactician, D’Jenn, the most shrewd of my students. I would have made you my right hand, your cousin my left. The two of you…you’re like sons to me.”
D’Jenn felt like vomiting. He would have, could he summon the air to get it done.
“You know I can’t let you live. Not after this.”
D’Jenn was jerked out through the open window, and felt his groin tighten in terror as the night air embraced him. Victus held him out in the air, hanging in the cold wind. D’Jenn struggled to reach his magic, but it still wouldn’t respond. He could barely move his arms and legs, but his chest was still crushed. Spots began to appear over his sight.
Come on! Keep talking for a bit longer, let me regain my strength!
“I wish I could tell you how I did all of that back there,” Victus said, gesturing over his shoulder at the ruins of his study. “You, most of us all, would have loved it. Now, though…well…what can one do? Make your peace with the gods, son. I suppose this means your cousin will come after me. I promise to make it quick on him, D’Jenn. Despite what you may believe, I am honored to have known you. Luck, on your trip through the Void.”
D’Jenn had a panicked moment to pull his arms over his body, then something white and painful hit him square in the chest. He saw the lights of the city spinning around him—orange trails burned through silver and shadow. He smelled charred fabric, and burnt hair. He felt the wind rushing through his beard.
Allen’s going to be angry that I lost his axe.
Then, a frigid darkness, and nothing.
**
Bethany turned at hearing Dormael call her name, the fear in his voice tightening her muscles with alarm. Bethany had heard the scream—a blood-curdling howl from some unknown creature. She shuffled back and forth, trying to get a look at what was happening, but everyone was standing in her way. Fat Lilliane, bull-chested Torins, ice-lady Lacelle, and Shawna—all of them were blocking Bethany’s view of what lay in Dormael’s direction.
In her father’s direction, she reminded herself.
Bethany skipped forward, dodging around Lilliane’s blubbery arms as the woman tried to grab her cloak. Adults were always so slow and unwieldy, like bears in dancing dresses. Torins stood frozen in fear, and he didn’t even see as she rushed past. Lacelle turned an alarmed gaze at her, and hissed something as Bethany ran by, but it was lost to her as she saw what was happening. She had already stopped when she felt Shawna’s hand clench the clothing at her shoulder.
Dormael and Allen stood, weapons leveled at a pair of dark forms with burning eyes. Other things—people, Bethany thought—were running into the boiling room, disappearing into the gloom beneath the kettles. The drop from the walkway was enough to hurt someone, but these people made the jump without a noise of exertion, or cry of pain. They ran in complete silence.
Something tightened in Bethany’s stomach, and she summoned her magic.
“Jev!” Lacelle called, coming up behind Bethany and Shawna. “Where is—oh…oh, no!”
Allen had moved forward to engage one of the running men, and Dormael had taken another with magic, but there were three more rushing out of the shadows toward them, and Jev was still limping on his injured leg. Bethany watched in horror as the things caught up to him.
“Jev!” Lacelle screamed.
Jev uttered a surprised scream of terror as one of them grabbed him. He was jerked to the ground, and the other two things fell on him, limbs rising and falling, scrambling in the darkness as Jev let out pained, gurgling cries. The crazed men—at least, Bethany thought that was what they were—tore Jev apart in complete silence. When they were done, they tore down the walkway toward Allen and Dormael.
“Lady Baroness!” Lacelle hissed. “Lady, what do we—”
“Aren’t you bloody wizards, for the gods’ sake?” Shawna said, her swords ringing as she slid them from their sheaths. “Do some magic!”
“More of those fucking things in the dark!” Lilliane said.
“Gods of the sky, gods of the Void, protect these poor souls—” Torins intoned, his eyes shut against the dark. Bethany watched the three wizards in complete astonishment. These three were nothing like Dormael and D’Jenn.
“This is no time for prayer, you drooling idiot!” Lilliane hissed.
Lacelle clenched her jaw and gave a sharp nod, looking around at everyone standing on the walkway.
“Right! Everyone, gather in the middle of the path! Now!” she said, the fear gone from her voice as if it had never been there. Torins and Lilliane rushed to her side, and Shawna nudged Bethany toward them, too.
“Go on, kid,” Shawna said, hefting her swords. “I’m going to need room to swing these.”
Bethany wanted to stay and help, but she knew that she’d only get in the way. She scurried over to the three Philosophers. Torins and Lilliane kept shooting fearful glances at the darkness under the boiling globes, but Lacelle got their attention with snapping fingers.
“We’re going to link,” she said. “We may not be trained to fight, but we can provide some safety for the rest of our people to run to. Open your Kais, and I will take control of the link.”
“Safety,” Lilliane said, a haunted look in her eyes. “Not for Jev, no safety for Jev. Oh, gods, it was my fault! Jev died and it was my fault!”
“Focus!” Lacelle snapped. “Clear your heads and open your Kais, or do you need to be instructed like children?”
Lilliane nodded, a sour look on her face. Bethany felt Lilliane’s song eek out into the world, sharp and fearful, like the woman herself. Torins opened his own Kai, and joined it to hers. Lacelle reached out and took control of the other two, the three songs joining to make a new melody.
“I’m going to create a Ward!” Lacelle shouted, probably for Shawna’s benefit as well as the other two wizards. “A shielded area that won’t allow anyone past!”
“Will I be able to get in and out?” Shawna asked, eyes still trained on the darkness around them.
“I’ll let you in, Lady Baroness.”
“Good,” Shawna said. “Keep everyone on the inside of your…whatever you called it.”
Lacelle nodded, and started to work with her students’ combined powers. She gestured to the stone of the path, and dust rose from its surface as symbols were cut into its face with her power. Bethany shuffled back, trying to make sure she didn’t step on anything. Once all her symbols were cut onto the floor, Lacelle did something else with her power that Bethany couldn’t follow. Her ears gave a low pop, and then the three of them were standing inside a bubble of blue werelight. Their surroundings were visible through the wall, but tinged in hues of blue, purple and black.
“That will hold out anything that wants to get in,” Lacelle said. “This is one of my personal little tricks. We shouldn’t have anything to worry about.”
“Poor Jev,” Lilliane said, sniffing as tears came to her eyes. “I didn’t want him to die, not really. Not really. I didn’t mean it. Not really.”
“It wasn’t your fault, Lilliane,” Lacelle said. “Tell her, Torins. Tell her.”
Torins only stared at them in turn, the blue light reflecting the sweat on his brow. His eyes were wild, and Bethany had seen that look plenty of times before—he was desperate. His big bull-chest was heaving up and down with short breaths, and his jaw was clenched. Bethany shuffled away from him, closer to Lacelle. She wasn’t going to be close to that big, dumb animal when he spooked.
“Torins,” Lacelle said, trying to break through his fugue. “Torins, it’s going to be alright.”
“It’s not, though,” he rumbled in reply. “It’s not.”
“Yes, it will. Lilliane, pull yourself together and stop blubbering, for the gods—”
“Incoming!” Shawna called. Everyone turned their eyes in her direction.
Something rushed out of the blue-tinged darkness, eyes locked on Shawna. She quick-stepped to the side and cut a long gash into the thing’s neck as it ran past, legs scrambling to turn back in her direction. It slammed into Lacelle’s ward with a sharp crack, the bones in its nose shattering as it ran into the wall of magical force. Bethany stared in horror as the thing’s dead eyes tried to roll backward to turn toward Shawna, and it pushed itself off the ward without even changing its expression. Horror froze the breath in her chest, but then a silvery swipe took the thing’s head from its shoulders. It dropped to the walkway, its head tumbling out into the shadows below.
“What the fuck…what the fuck was that?!” Lilliane screamed.
Shawna was already yelling in defiance as she fought another, having to dance backwards and plant a sword through the thing’s throat to bring it down. The creatures—corpses, Bethany realized with a chill—fought with a level of vicious abandon that chilled the blood in her veins. She was terrified for Shawna.
“You have to let her back in!” Bethany said, tugging on Lacelle’s sleeve. “Tell her to come back in!”
“Give me a moment, child,” Lacelle said, eyes darting around.
“There’s more of them in the shadows! You have to let her back in!” Bethany said.
“Lady Baroness!” Lacelle called.
“I’m going for Dormael and Allen! Stay there!” Shawna yelled back, but then she was fighting again, and Bethany watched in terror as more of the things began to scramble over the side of the walkway.
“Tell her to come back in!” Bethany said. “Shawna!”
“Be quiet, child!” Lacelle hissed. “Please!”
“Torins! Torins, what are you�
��ack!” Lilliane screamed.
Bethany and Lacelle turned back to find the hulking Torins restraining Lilliane, one meaty hand wrapped in her hair, the other with a knife stuck to the woman’s throat. He stared at Lacelle with crazed eyes. Lilliane grappled with his wrists, trying more than anything else to stay on her feet as he manhandled her across the stone floor.
“Torins? Torins!” Lacelle snapped. “Torins, what are you doing?!”
“You don’t understand,” Torins said. “None of you understand! He…this must be part of his plan, right? It must be!”
“Whose plan, Torins?”
“Victus’s plan, for the gods’ sake—you know what I’m talking about!”
“I don’t, but if you calm down and tell me, talk to me like a sane person—”
“He’s not bloody sane,” Lilliane snarled through her teeth. “The idiot has finally gone soft in the—”
“I don’t want to kill you, Lilliane, but I will,” Torins snarled. “I will!”
Bethany looked back to where Shawna fought, now dancing between two of the corpses. She held her own, felling them both, but Bethany could see more of them coming in the distance. There was no way she could hold off so many.
“You will do no such thing, Torins! What has bloody gotten into you?” Lacelle hissed. “Put her down!”
“Gotten to me?” Torins said. A look came over his face like a dark cloud, and his shoulders fell the slightest amount. Lilliane struggled, but she was no match for his strength. “He’s had something on me for a long time. He…he wanted someone in your camp, someone—”
“Someone to keep watch on me,” Lacelle said, eyes widening. “To spy on me.”
“Yes,” Torins rumbled. “I didn’t want to, I didn’t…but he knew something about me. He knows something.”
“What?”
A sick smile came over Torins’s face.
“Lirium,” he said. “I’ve been on Lirium for a long time.”
“You fool,” Lacelle said, shaking her head in dismay. “You poor, bloody fool.”
“I never wanted any of this!” Torins growled, shaking Lilliane by the hair. “It was always just information! Just harmless stuff, nothing important.”
The Knife in the Dark (The Seven Signs Book 2) Page 45