by Ben Hale
Hawk jerked his head to look at the speaker. Shivering, he chose not to respond.
"And where is our dear oracle?" he said. "I was expecting her to accompany you.” The hood turned to the side as he considered Tess's absence, and then he shook his head. "I did so want her to be present for my victory."
"You are a fool . . . to think you can . . . defeat her." Hawk forced the words through chattering teeth, unwilling to admit defeat.
"In five days I will gain my army, and you will be dead," he said. "But first I would like you to watch her die. Then I will not restrain Saraaq. I admit I am tempted to watch you two fight in the air, if only for my own amusement."
"I would destroy him!" Hawk snarled.
Ranson laughed. "Nine of your kind could not destroy him before. What makes you think you alone can survive, let alone kill him?" He waved his hand. "No, I think I will just let him freeze you." He stepped closer and added, "It's his favorite thing, you know. He likes to freeze someone so solid that his war shriek shatters them into bits of ice.
His lip curled into a sneer. "That will be your fate, Reiquen. Your flame will be extinguished and you will die as nothing more than flecks of frost. It is a fitting fate."
Ranson chuckled to himself and turned away. Hawk couldn't gather enough strength to retort. Shaking inside a pillar of ice, he felt the hand of death on his neck. Ranson paused and turned to the iseonix.
"If he freezes before the others arrive, send him to oblivion." Then he stepped onto a shimmering air board and flew into the short building's opening.
With frost climbing onto his cheeks, Hawk stared at his ancient enemy and fought to stay alive.
Chapter 44: Frozen
Classes resumed in earnest following the Christmas break, and in the span of days all the decorations disappeared. The only thing that remained was the snow and a few stubborn snowflakes that had refused every effort to capture them. The auren new year approached with little fanfare.
Tess had heard nothing from Hawk—or the Guild, a fact that caused her constant worry. A week after Christmas she left her light class and jumped into the air. Ten feet off the ground she subconsciously slowed. She swung back and forth, trying to ease the tension she felt. It did not abate. Why wasn't Hawk contacting her? He'd gone off on his own before, but this time she felt a foreboding deep in her blood.
She wished Stel was with her, but the grend was still enjoying Derek's present, and hadn't wanted to leave. It surprised her to realize how much she missed having the creature warming her arm or neck.
"Did you have a good holiday?" a voice called to her.
Startled, she spun in a tight circle. Surprise and rage burst across her frame as she saw Drake floating twenty feet from her, casually standing on an air board. In an instant, fires blazed across her arms.
"I wouldn't," Drake said casually, and tossed her a glass orb.
On reflex she caught it. Then she recognized Hawk. Encased in ice, his lips were blue and he was shaking. Alarm warred with her anger.
"What did you do to him?"
"Me? Nothing," he said. "The Master was ready for him this time."
"He's going to die like that." She ground the words out.
"That's the point," he said.
Her rage caused fire to cascade off her shoulders. "How can you say that? Hawk has never done anything but help people."
"He's a phoenix," he countered, "a dangerous relic from a dead age. The world does not need or want him."
She wanted to argue with him, to scream and pour her magic at him until it burnt him to a crisp, but she knew it would be useless.
"What do you want, Drake?"
"It's time you met your destiny," he said. "I need you to come with me."
"That's not going to happen."
Drake shrugged. "I will make this simple. If you come with me, you will have a chance at keeping him alive—at least for a couple of days. If you don't, he will freeze to death by tomorrow. It's your choice."
"Where are we going?" Tess asked.
"To where it all began," Drake said, "Xshaltheria. Now, let's go. It's a long trip, even with boards."
He pulled a large ball of silver from his pocket and tossed it to her. Before she could react it stretched and flattened into a sleek air board. He banked his board away and flew toward the cloudwall. Tess didn't move.
She knew it was a trap, that much was obvious, but what could she do? If she didn't go Hawk would die. They wouldn’t stand a chance without him. Growling under her breath, she made her decision.
Drake's back was turned toward her, so Tess pulled an object from her pocket. Knowing she had only seconds, she whispered a quick phrase and dropped it. Then she accelerated toward Drake as fast as she could. By the time he'd turned around she was by his side, so he didn't see her spectacles fall to the school grounds.
"Let's go, Drake," she barked. "But don't expect me not to kill you if I have to."
He laughed and sped away. "I'm glad you like my present," he said, and gestured to the board. "I should say it's a present from the Master. He wanted to make sure you made it to our destination."
Tess almost kicked off her board and destroyed it right then, but she kept her anger in check. Whatever the source of the gift, apparently she would need it. Without a word they flew through the cloudwall and left Auroraq behind.
Their boards were fast, much faster than anything Tess had flown on before. The Atlantic ocean slid by beneath them as they crossed. An hour passed, and then five, and then she lost track. Drake showed no signs of slowing as they reached the western shores of Europe. He tried several times to engage her in conversation, but she refused to respond. She even refused the food he offered her, and after a while he fell silent. When he wasn't looking she ate a distilled sandwich. It tasted like chalk, but she wasn't willing to eat anything Drake had touched. She drew moisture from the air to drink.
Tess considered her silence a protest of everything Drake represented. To her satisfaction, he was visibly annoyed by the time they neared their goal.
"You know there's a lot we can learn from each other," he said.
Tess flashed him a scathing look and didn't respond. Drake sighed, and gestured to the twin peak mountain they were approaching.
"Welcome to the ancient forge of Xshaltheria," he said. "The forge itself was destroyed in an eruption ages ago, and the remains were buried by the mages so they wouldn't be discovered. Now the mountain is just a tourist attraction for aurens in the summer.
Tess had no idea where they were, and she did her best to keep the interest from her eyes. From basic geography she knew they were somewhere in southeastern Europe, or possibly western Asia. She mentally cursed herself that she hadn't paid more attention to geography in middle school. Who knew she would need it like this?
Releasing an irritated sigh, Drake led the way toward the mountain's summit. After a moment's hesitation, Tess followed him. She was resigned to being held captive, but it didn't stop her from paying attention.
The greater of the two peaks looked jagged compared to the other. Spikes of ice extended downward like sharp angled icicles. Right at the top there was a curving section of ice that vaguely resembled an angular head. She wondered if the shape was natural or if it had been carved by someone.
The saddle between the summits was large and filled with snow. At its center the snow had been cleared to allow a blazing white fire to burn. Glittering in its depths, she recognized the Sword of Elseerian stabbed into the ground. Twenty feet to the side of the fire the mountain bore a natural windbreak, a flat wall of stone. Ice and snow had been peeled back until the bare rock was in the shape of a thirty foot door.
Opposite the stone door, a small structure stood. She peeked into her magic sight and saw that it contained little more than a set of stairs that descended into the mountain. As her sight penetrated the space below her eyes widened.
Halls, corridors, and rooms filled the upper levels of the mountain. Marked by spots of
warmth, hundreds of people filled the secret chambers. By the size and breadth of the complex she suspected it to be the Harbinger lair. Blinking back to normal vision, she returned her gaze to the fire.
Then she noticed the pillars of ice near the flames. Two figures were encapsulated in solid ice. The one holding Hawk was obvious, since its base was twenty feet across. Nothing less would have been able to hold a phoenix in check. Her chest went rigid as she realized who was in the second one.
"Alice," she said aloud.
"I'm glad you found your tongue," Drake said.
"Why is she here?" Tess demanded.
"You don't think your father would just let her go, did you?" Drake said. "We've been watching her for a long time. He wants her to see his triumph. A simple note from you drew her out of the Guildhall."
Tess felt sick, and desperate. "Listen to me, Drake. What your Master thinks is behind the portal is gone. Draeken's fiends were—"
"Oracle," Drake interrupted, and pointed to the ground. "Ranson would like to speak with you."
Tess swallowed her words and descended to the knot of Harbingers that had exited the stairs. For the first time they did not shroud their heads. The display did not calm her fear, it fueled it. The only reason to disregard caution is because you stood on the verge of victory.
"Oracle," High Chancellor Ranson exclaimed. He stepped from the others and came to greet her. "We are glad you have come."
"You didn't leave me much choice," she snapped.
"True," Ranson conceded. "But there is someone else that would like to speak with you more than I." He stepped aside and allowed another man to take his place.
Tall and well built, the man had glittering black eyes that drilled into her, haughty and arrogant. Across the right side of his face an ugly scar rippled and knotted his skin. The mark was unquestionably from a horrendous burn, one that even a mage healer had been unable to repair.
"Oracle, this is your father . . . Varson," Ranson said.
"Welcome home, Tess," Varson said.
Tess was stunned to silence at the name. They had never met, but she knew who he was. He had been the one to imprison and torture Breaker. Breaker had said he'd been killed.
"This is not my home," Tess spit the words at him. "And you are not my father."
Varson didn't blink. He just stared at her with his black eyes. "I had hoped you would learn your true place, but perhaps I allowed you to be with the aurens for too long. Your mother—"
"Is dying," Tess snarled. "How can you do that to her? You already took her magic and banished her. "
"She deserves so much more," Varson replied coolly. "And we will make sure that she receives her reward."
"Did she do that to your face?" Tess asked. She was angry and wanted to hurt him, but with so many Harbingers around she didn't dare use her magic. "I think it has improved your features."
Varson's lip curled into a sneer and his gaze flicked to the other pillar of ice. Tess blinked, and realized that Hawk was the one that had scorched him. She felt a burst of pride for his effort.
Perhaps afraid that Varson would lose his temper, Ranson stepped in front of him. "Why don't you check on them?" he said, and gestured to Alice and Hawk.
Tess didn't know if he meant it or not, but she darted to Alice's side first. Only her head protruded from the ice. Her hair was covered in snow and her skin was almost white. Tess would have thought her dead except for the breath coming from her blue lips.
Then she spotted a rope of red coiling through the ice, and realized why she hadn't been killed yet. She reached out and touched Alice's cheek, and winced at the chill she felt there. Casting a challenging look at Ranson, she sent a current of warmth into Alice—and the thread of red that was keeping her alive. Alice shuddered, and then her eyes fluttered open.
"Tess?" she croaked. "You need to . . . flee."
"I know," Tess said, her heart caving in to the guilt. "I will."
Alice shivered and closed her eyes again. Rage surged through Tess’s frame. She'd just found her birth mother, and refused to watch her die. Several wild ideas flitted through her mind, but they were suicidal and she knew it. She clenched her jaw and forced her anger into a tight bottle inside herself. She was going to need it later.
She moved to Hawk. There was no thread of red keeping him alive, but she guessed that was intentional. With his own magic he was probably doing that anyway. The ice holding him was much thicker than Alice's. As with her, only his head protruded. His black and red hair was frosted with snow, but Tess noticed it was thicker, indicating he had been there longer. His face was blistered with frost. Tess touched his cheek and hope abandoned her.
Then she felt a flicker of warmth. Faint red suffused her features long enough for him to whisper four words.
"Can't reach . . . heat below."
Tess gathered what heat she could and sent it into his body. His eyes flickered open, and she saw gratitude in them before they closed again.
She whirled on Ranson. "They're dying. You have to let them out."
"Their fate is sealed, Tess," Ranson said. "Just as yours is. Now, you can either come inside . . . or remain out here with them. It's your choice."
Tess folded her arms and glared at him. Ranson merely shrugged. His gaze flickered over Tess's shoulder as he said, "Saraaq, if you please."
She turned her head—and her courage evaporated. The jagged icicles she'd seen were just the wingtips of the largest bird she had ever seen. Lifting itself free from the peak, it turned its frost covered head toward her—and she realized what it was.
"An iseonix," Tess breathed.
"The iseonix," Ranson corrected. "He took quite a beating when he destroyed Hawk's family, but managed to survive long enough to be reborn. He still bears the scars though."
Before Tess could move the icebird lazily opened its jaws and issued a blast of cold. Ice erupted from the ground at her feet and climbed up her body. Tess threw her arms downward in an attempt to stop it but the ice caught her fists and ascended. Her teeth began to chatter as the cold penetrated the heat shield she'd been using to stay warm.
"Add some ink to her bindings," Ranson said to Drake. "I don't want her getting out before tomorrow night. The Master wants her to see it."
Drake nodded as Tess said, "Ranson, Draeken's fiends are gone. You are going to release something else."
"The Dark?" Ranson's smile was pure evil.
"We didn't think . . . you knew . . ." The cold seeped deeper into her body.
"My dear naive Oracle . . . we're counting on it."
Chapter 45: Taken
Iris caught the thread, isolated it, and then disregarded it. Spotting a curving stretch of intertwining threads, she pulled them to her and cast a sourcing charm. Like a beacon of light, she saw that its source was the top of the Spirus. A moment later the charm confirmed her theory.
—An invitation to play World of War craft cropped up on the lower part of her vision. She shut it down instantly, along with the subsequent request to play Halo 6, the unreleased version that the techno mages had been playing for a month now. On impulse she sent a note back to Riley and said she'd play later, if she could.
"Where's Tess?" Derek repeated the question.
"I said I'm working on it," Iris said.
"Do you want your beanie?"
"No, Derek, I need the extra resources," she said. The rising annoyance in her voice was evident, and her brother backed off.
Her tracking charm finished its work and came back negative, causing her to frown. She'd spent months placing her own monitoring motes all over the school and city, as well as discreetly tapping into the school's monitoring motes. Even with all of them, the results had come up empty.
"She's not on the grounds now," Iris said.
"We always meet for lunch after our water class," Rox said. She sounded worried.
Shorn nodded. "And then she comes to Tempest practice. We have a game in two weeks. She wouldn't miss our practice
."
"Are you sure she isn't in your room? She might just be sick," Derek said.
Iris grunted in irritation. "She's not in our room—do you want me to say it again? She's not in our room."
—Her playlist finished, and she absently flicked her wrist to switch to a different channel. Prior to Pandora radio she'd had to create her own radio stations, now she just had to modify the Pandora feed, which was easier. A song by Incubus came on, and a stray thought lowered the volume into a background.
Her attention on the music lasted half a second, and she dismissed the thread entirely and returned to scanning the school motes. She enacted one of her new cracking spells on the school scheduling department and watched its threads split open, spilling sparks of light that were bits of information.
Snatching an image of Tess from her own memory, she fashioned a makeshift charm and set it loose. The tiny bubble of light swirled around the spilling schedules until it found Tess's. Then it streaked away. While it linked with the motes that were located along her schedule, Iris flicked her gaze back to the interlacing thread from earlier.
Masked as a simple work message for an obscure technology shop, the thread was actually a heavily shrouded Harbinger message. Fashioned from more than a thousand distinct threads, the true message lay within layer upon layer of shrouding enchantments.
As a rule the more magic applied to a message the brighter it would be. Keidon had discovered a trick whereby enchanting an empty message created a dim thread that was a fraction the size of a normal message. Wrapping thousands of such notes together created an interlacing shroud around the true message—which was already enchanted to prevent intrusion—
"—No, Riley," Iris barked, "I can't check out the new liquid core sniper rifle."
She sliced the incoming thread before it could distract her further and returned her attention to the Harbinger thread. The problem was that after Keidon had learned of Iris's intrusion, he'd begun to hide alarm charms inside the empty messages. Between the heavy signal protection spells, the shrouding, and the hidden sentries, the message was all but irretrievable.