by C. Gold
They all stumbled out into the hallway, half asleep already. Amira yawned and followed Radcliff as he took the passages by rote now that his memory was fully restored. There were still some holes in it, but most were about things he experienced while trapped inside the spell and could stay forgotten as far as he was concerned. He mumbled a goodbye to the seer and entered his suite. Taking off clothes as he walked, Radcliff hit the bed and immediately fell asleep.
A stranger barged into the tower, his foul stench preceding him. The man bristled at the interruption of his routine. “Who are you?” he demanded.
“You can call me Spider.” The stranger advanced.
The menace in that voice and the violence promised by the stranger’s body language made the man take a step back. “I don’t like visitors.”
“I don’t care.” Spider lunged and grabbed the man by the arm.
“Let go,” the man demanded. He struggled to get free, but the stranger had an iron grip and was too strong.
Spider made an evil throaty chuckle before punching the man hard in the gut.
The stranger landed several more blows that the man failed to block. “Why are you doing this?” the man managed to get out in between painful breaths.
“You have something I want.” Each word was punctuated with a blow.
The man must have passed out because he was on the floor now. He could barely see out of one eye. A woman was kneeling at his side.
“Hurry up and heal him,” Spider demanded.
The man was curled up in a ball of pain, but as warmth flowed through his body and radiated out from his chest, the sharp pains that stabbed him every time he breathed began to fade.
As soon as he started to relax, Spider yanked the woman away. “That’s enough. I don’t want him too strong.”
The woman cringed and scuttled away.
Spider watched her with a twisted grin of amusement on his face, then turned a predator’s gaze back to the man. “Let’s see how tough you are now.” Grabbing the man’s hair, Spider slapped his palm against the man’s forehead. The man felt pressure in his mind and instinctively pushed back. “Stop resisting!” Spider shook the man’s head and his eyes gleamed with a frothy blend of fury and evil. The man continued to resist and realized that in this, he was the stronger.
As soon as the man’s lips twitched into a smirk of defiance, the beatings resumed. Over and over he’d fall unconscious, the woman would heal him just enough, and the stranger would attack his mind. After untold assaults, Spider finally shoved off him. “You’re just a mere shadow.” The stranger was spewing spittle he was so mad. “You can’t hold out forever.” He leaned over and shoved a crooked finger in the man’s face. “I will break you if it’s the last thing I do.” Then he whirled on the healer. “Come here!”
The woman shuffled her feet as she reluctantly obeyed.
Spider grabbed the woman by the head and wrenched her neck. Like a puppet cut from its strings, the woman collapsed where she stood. Spider took out a wand and pointed it at her. “Waste of a good resource but I can’t have any witnesses.” The fireball reduced the woman’s corpse to ash.
The callous way Spider just ended an innocent life sent chills down the man’s spine. He glared at the stranger with every ounce of defiance and censure he could muster.
Spider grabbed the man’s arm and dragged him up to eye level. “I’ll be back,” he promised.
At the tug on his arm, Radcliff blasted the vicinity with a burst of air before he was even fully awake. When he heard the sickening thud of soft flesh against stone, he jumped out of bed, summoning a light. “Amira!” he shouted upon seeing her laying against the wall, dazed and injured. He leapt from the bed and knelt by her side, oddly reminiscent of the nightmare that still lingered in his subconscious. When he felt a bump on the back of her head, he gently laid a hand over it and applied a small bit of healing magic to reduce the swelling and heal the cut. It wasn’t until she blushed that he realized he was stark naked. Radcliff felt his own face heat up. Momentarily flummoxed, he jumped up and turned around to find his pants.
“It’s ok. It’s not like I haven’t seen you naked before,” Amira said.
“It’s not the same thing,” he muttered. He still kept his back turned, embarrassed for some reason to face her. A calloused hand pressed against his back.
“Are you ok,” she asked.
He finally turned around. “I should be asking you that question. I’m sorry about what happened.”
“I felt pain through the link. When I saw it was a nightmare, I tried to wake you up.” Then she looked up at him with sympathetic violet eyes that caused a fluttering deep inside. He backed away to the bed and sat on the edge.
“What happened?”
Normally he’d rebuff the question with some terse phrase. Instead he surprised himself by replying. “It was an old memory that your lover hid from me.”
She sat down next to him on the bed. “So that wasn’t your memory?”
Radcliff shook his head. “No. I took all of his dark memories that I could find, but that one must have been buried deeper than the rest.” To answer her next obvious question he continued. “He is too gentle to have such ugliness. It would break him.” He wanted to keep that piece of himself unsullied from the darkness that occupied too much of his life.
“Yet you remember all of that?”
Her blatant admiration and concern was making him uncomfortable. “I can handle it, he can’t.”
She put her hand on his back and asked a different question. “Will you tell me how you got the scars?”
The physical contact was causing things to stir that were best left alone. Radcliff twisted and pulled her hand away. “They are courtesy of my master. He taught me to cast spells through the pain.”
“That’s barbaric.” Her eyes flashed with sympathy.
Radcliff shrugged, uncomfortable talking about personal matters. “It was a long time ago, and the man is dead.” By his own hand no less, but he kept that to himself. He looked down and realized he was still holding her hand. Part of him was reluctant to let go. A sure sign it was time to end this whatever this was. “You should get some sleep.”
“I could stay if you want. Make sure the nightmare doesn’t return.”
A longing ache ripped through him. He brutally shut it down. “No. Your lover would become quite jealous of that. It’s best if you leave.”
Amira stood and said, “You’re not what I expected.”
He merely raised an eyebrow. She wasn’t what he expected either, but he’d die before admitting that.
She smiled. “You have light inside you despite the dark exterior.”
Radcliff wanted to argue and tell her how evil he truly was, and how any light was from the copy. Except he knew what she said was true. He hadn’t gotten rid of it completely and it hadn’t been snuffed out even after a thousand years of nightmares. He smiled and watched her go in silence. That kernel of light must be as stubborn as he was. This time when he fell asleep, he dreamed of a future with her by his side.
CHAPTER 25
Race Against Time
Pounding at the door interrupted Radcliff’s morning ritual. “Be there shortly,” he called out as he dried his face. Tossing the towel aside, he picked up his spare tunic and put it on. When he opened the door, the Shae twins, Pika and Leilani, were standing on the other side.
“You need to come quick, there’s trouble.”
“What’s going on?” he asked as they walked briskly down the corridor.
“A mob took Amira. They are trying to take over.”
“What?” Radcliff stopped abruptly. The intensity of his rage shocked even him. Banking it back, he cast his senses outward.
Use the bond! His image was shouting, equally agitated.
Good idea. He unlocked the bond and immediately located her position in a small room surrounded by four humans. Since they weren’t currently touching her, he yanked, and she popped into the air ne
xt to him. He steadied her when she stumbled and pulled her into an impromptu hug. “You’re safe,” he reassured. She hugged him back before pulling away and looking around. That’s when he noticed she was unarmed. “Where’s the staff and dagger?”
“Back in my room.” At Radcliff’s growl she threw her hands up in the air. “What? I was supposed to expect an attack on my way to grab breakfast?”
“We are under siege. You should know better.” He jabbed at her chest. The twins wisely backed up and pretended an exciting interest in the wall carvings.
“Why?” Amira crossed her arms, livid. “I’ve never been in one before and the people seemed settled yesterday.”
Radcliff’s eyes smoldered with anger, momentarily stunned silent at her sheer stupidity.
“What?” she prodded when he didn’t speak.
He took a deep breath to restore his calm. He shot his image an annoyed look. This was probably its emotions bleeding into his. Radcliff took a step closer to Amira so they were practically touching. “You are to have both dagger and staff on you at all times. No exceptions.”
She rolled her eyes. “As if I hadn’t worked that out myself.”
“You mustn’t die.” Part of him was horrified at the pleading note in his voice. In an overwhelming need to comfort, he wrapped her in his arms. At the contact, his emotions swirled with fear, confusion, anger, and longing. That’s when he remembered the bond was still open between them. He promptly shut it off which reduced the intensity but didn’t remove them entirely. Apparently he was more affected by her than he realized. This is your doing. He aimed the barb at his image who was still lurking although less agitated. It just looked back at him and shrugged.
“You can leave the bond open you know. I don’t mind,” Amira said. She rested her head against the wizard’s chest.
Radcliff’s magic brushed up against hers before pulling back. It was so light and untainted, like her spirit. How could he risk tainting such beauty with his darkness? He shook his head. “Best not.”
Pika cleared his throat and Radcliff reluctantly let Amira go. “What is it now?” His gruff attitude didn’t faze the warrior one bit.
“There’s still the matter of a takeover.”
“Right. Lead the way.” He fumed while thinking about the coming confrontation. Radcliff hated how irrational people got when put into tight spots. When he rounded the corner and saw the standoff, he shook his head in disgust. Don’t these people have better things to do than to fight?
In the area outside the dining hall, a large group of well-dressed people had gathered, many of them armed with finely jeweled swords and daggers. Nobles, Radcliff sneered. He never liked the arrogant lords and their trivial demands on the emperor’s time. They were greedy, always wanting more, and never satisfied with what they had, which was quite a lot. More than enough in Radcliff’s opinion. He never saw the need for wealth. Now power, that he could understand. Those with power made the rules and were safer than those without.
It looked like the current power holders belonged to a group of Shae warriors who had erected a barrier of barrels and crates to block the doorway. Tactically, it was an excellent defensible choke hold. They also had spears which had a longer reach than the nobles’ weapons and a strong will to use them judging by their fierce expressions.
Right now both sides were shouting at one another but how much longer before it turned to bloodshed? Putting up a shield around his small group, Radcliff pushed his way to an open spot between the two sides. “What’s going on here?”
At first only a few people fell silent, most were too invested in their shouting match to stop. But all it took was one person on either side to see the Destroyer. Swift as an avalanche, the ripple of awareness swept through the crowd, leaving a wake of tense silence behind.
One of the nobles finally turned around to see what the problem was. When Radcliff saw his face he immediately recognized him as the same troublemaker from last night. The food hoarder.
The noble’s eyes landed on Amira. “You!” He stalked towards her with angry eyes. “What are you doing here?”
Radcliff growled and stepped forward to block the man’s path. “So you admit to taking her against her will?”
The noble’s eyes widened once he recognized who was standing before him. “You,” he sneered. His eyes lit up with fanatical zeal. “Take him down, Ardros!”
Radcliff raised one eyebrow. “You’ve got to be kidding, right?” The man next to the noble glowed with magical ability but he wasn’t making any moves. Instead he was looking at his friend in disbelief. “See?” Radcliff pointed at the mage. “He knows who I am and what I can do.” He folded his arms and affected a bored demeanor. “Now, tell me what this is all about.”
“They were caught trying to break into the food stores,” Ekewaka said from across the barrier. “We put a stop to that.”
“Not for long, you filthy barbarian. We have magic on our side now,” Food Hoarder said.
One of the female Shae warriors waved her spear and taunted him. “Bring it, the Alashaesen aren’t afraid of your magic.”
Wikolia, his image said. It also sent him a burst of memory showing her sparring with Amira.
“There will be no fighting. The enemy is outside our very gates, not in here. Not unless you are keen to invite them in?” He glared at each person, Shae and noble alike. “No?” He singled out the mage. “Why aren’t you outside defending the shield?” While the man was sputtering a feeble defense, Radcliff yelled at Food Hoarder. “And you seem spoiling for a fight. Why aren’t you out there as well?”
“Why aren’t you?” Food Hoarder shot back.
Radcliff looked like a predator who just caught his prey. “I have worked out a way to get us out of this mess. What have you done to help?” The man’s eyes grew wide and for once he was speechless. Radcliff swept the room with his gaze. “I want everyone here to construct bags, carts, wagons, and anything else you can think of to carry off all our food, weapons, animals, and as many of the food bearing plants as you can. Each person should be able to carry a bag plus a cart of supplies. You,” he pointed at Food Hoarder, “will lead the team responsible for carting the animals.” No way would he trust the man near the food supplies. “Ekewaka, please work out a plan to carry out all the food. I don’t know how much time we have left, but assume we only have a day or two.” When nobody moved, he shouted, “Move!” Suddenly everyone began talking. Radcliff glowered at the nobles until they cleared out. At least it looked like they were headed for the animal pens.
“Thanks for that,” Ekewaka said as he scooted in between two barrels to get outside the barrier. “I wasn’t sure how to stop them from fighting.”
“Idleness and fear are a bad mix.”
Ekewaka nodded. “Is it true you worked out a way to get us out?”
“In theory. Actually, I should get going so I can work out some things. Assuming you don’t need me?”
The Shae elder smiled. “We can handle that bunch if they come back looking for trouble. Don’t worry, we’ll have your food distribution problem solved in no time.”
Candlass was already in the library when Radcliff and Amira arrived.
“I’ve reorganized the notes and placed them in what I think should be the correct order.”
“Did you get any sleep?”
The old man’s lips twitched into a slight smile. “I was too excited, so I returned just before daybreak.”
The man’s smile was infectious. Before he knew it, Radcliff gave one of his rarely seen smiles. He rubbed his hands together. “Let’s try a portal.”
All three shoved aside books, tables, and chairs to clear enough floor space. “Think we should use something less permanent?” Candlass asked.
Radcliff shook his head. “Why bother, this place will be overrun soon.”
“Good point.”
Since Candlass was more precise at rune work, he knelt and began the tedious process of etching the stone. Radcliff
watched over his shoulder to make sure there were no mistakes. Even a small one could create quite an explosion if the portal destabilized.
Amira went back to her spot by the door.
It took around an hour to finish. Both men stood outside the circle staring down.
“Think it will work?” Candlass asked.
“Only one way to find out.” Radcliff shook out his hands and studied the page detailing the spell one last time. Then he stood at the south end of the circle and began the long incantation. At first nothing seemed to happen, but soon he felt a tug on his magic. Slowly he released a small stream into the center of the circle. One by one the runes lit up. Radcliff closed his eyes to shut out the blinding display and maintained a steady rhythm over the most difficult part of the spell. Here, he wasn’t as sure of how to pronounce some of the words, hence the need for a test run. When he got to the end, the spell snapped into place and there was a popping sound. Hoping for success, he opened his eyes and stared into the creature pen. “It worked!”
Candlass clapped him on the back. “Well done. I’m going in.”
“No wait!” But it was too late, Candlass already stepped through. Fortunately, the portal appeared stable and he could see the elder on the other side waving back as if that wasn’t any risk at all. “Can you hear me?” He guessed the answer was no when Candlass didn’t react. There wasn’t any mention of whether sound traversed through the portal, but he wasn’t sure why it wouldn’t be. Perhaps there was some magical interference? Definitely a mystery to be solved at a later time. At least the drain wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. Those ancients knew a few tricks even he hadn’t learned. Though when Candlass popped back, he gratefully released the flow and cut off the portal. “You fool, we should have tested it first with an object.”
Candlass waved him off. “It looked right. Besides, I get the feeling we are short on time.”
That turned out to be prophetic when Kaholo barged through the door, knocking Amira aside, and shouted, “You’re out of time.” The young man was panting and looked distressed.