by R D Martin
"And have you?" Darius's voice rose an octave. "Have any of you? No. Of course not. You would rather bury this under the rug. But that cannot stand." He turned his back to the other members of the Council and raised his arms. "Justice must be had."
As though his words were a rallying cry for the wave of delegates pounding on the shield, their efforts increased, creating a cascade of color as the shield held them back. Bella could already sense it beginning to weaken.
"Darius, the proprieties." The calming voice of the only other woman on the stage was almost a shock. "If you believe them to be guilty, by all means, let us have a trial. But this…" She waved her hand at the horde pounding against the shield. "This is not justice. It is a slaughter that will rip us apart as surely as any betrayal."
The other members of the Council made noises of agreement. Darius whirled and stared at them. His normal bloodshot eyes had taken on a deeper hue and his entire body seemed to vibrate. "This is the only true justice. They're guilty. We know it and now the entire Conclave knows it."
"You lie!" Bella screamed, rising to her feet.
"Bella, no. Stop," Wallace warned, fear etched into his features. "It didn't work. They didn't believe me."
"I don't care. Can't you see he's trying to frame us both? We're dead if we don't do something now."
"I can get you out. I can get us both out." The pleading look on his face and the desperation in his words stung like a knife in her chest.
"No, no, you can't. Don't you see, he doesn't want us to leave here alive." She turned away from her friend, ignoring his outstretched hand, and faced the Council members. "Darius murdered the Algonde. He's responsible for my master's kidnapping." She hated calling the Finder her master, but the situation called for it. "He's trying to start a war and drag you all into it."
"Sit down, you stupid bag. No one told you to speak," Darius snarled. His eyes had gone almost completely red and his fangs protruded from his mouth. Bella could see he was caught up in the frenzy, and his expression was almost enough to make her heart freeze. His civilized façade had fallen away and she was seeing the real him for the first time, and it made her want to run even as it turned her legs to jelly. He was a monster, sharp in tooth and vicious in claw, and only held back the beast with a hair-thin string.
"I, I have a witness!" Her words seemed to boom across the stage and bored into the crowd. The pounding on the shield slowed but did not stop. As though the words were a ward of their own, one holding back her fear of the monster she faced down, her heart shook off its freeze and pumped faster. A flush of blood suffused her cheeks, and an electric tingle played across her skin. The rush of blood in her ears drowned out the questions from the Council along with Wallace's pleading. Taking a deep breath, letting the air fill her lungs until they felt as though they were ready to explode, she screamed out again.
"I. Have. A. Witness!"
27
Her words crashed through the crowd like a wrecking ball through a brick building. The pounding of the delegates on the shield slowed to a halt as if they'd come to their senses. Though Bella couldn't hear anything beyond the magic wall, she imagined it was as quiet on that side as it was on the dais. The eyes of each Council member bored into her as though drilling for some truth from her soul. She couldn't recognize the expression on each face, but the ones she did held a mix of curiosity and consternation. Everyone but Darius. His face was pure anger.
"She's lying," he spat, looming large as though preparing to attack.
"Are you, human? Are you lying?" Jurile asked.
"No. There's a witness," she said, nodding. "He saw Darius admit to killing the Algonde."
"Then where is this witness? Why hasn't he come forward? Who is he?"
"Darius, you will not interfere." The metal-on-crystal voice of Bob broke through Darius's questioning with a power Bella wasn't sure words should have. For a moment she wondered if the translation spell the creature used was for more than just making words heard.
"I have a right to question my accuser," he snarled back as he reached out and stepped forward. The red gem in his signet ring caught the light and winked, but his hand was as steady as a rock.
"Enough." It wasn't Bob that spoke this time; rather, it was the Lady in White. Reaching out with her slender hand in a slow, graceful motion, she touched Darius in the chest. When her fingers touched the vampire, light flared in a flash so bright Bella didn't see what happened next.
Rubbing her eyes, clearing the tears away, she promised herself she would learn who the lady in white was if she lived through this. As her vision cleared, she realized something was wrong. Even with spots still floating in her vision from the bright light, she should have been able to see Darius. The spell the lady had used shouldn't have hurt…
Bella pivoted and looked to her left in time to see Darius picking himself off the floor. Behind him, she could see the stone retaining wall had gained a dent with several large cracks spiderwebbing from it. Bella's jaw dropped. Whatever magic the lady had used was enough to toss the Elder vampire across the room with enough force to break stone.
"Now," the lady continued as though nothing had happened. "You said you had a witness."
Bella nodded, still not trusting herself to speak just yet. If this woman was powerful enough to treat Darius like a rag doll, she was not someone to mess with.
"Well? Where is he?"
Bella watched the vampire Charles walk down the long stone steps toward the dais and tried to ignore the twisting in her stomach. Nothing had gone right so far, and in some deep corner of her mind, she'd expected something to have happened to him. It would have been easy for Darius to ensure that the youngling had an accident or was conveniently nowhere to be found.
As Charles reached the bottom of the steps and made his way toward the dais, he held his head up and somehow maintained the look of an old-world European aristocrat who'd just smelled something bad. When he looked in her direction, Bella tried to gauge how he was doing, but his gaze said nothing beyond what she'd seen before, that he was better than everyone around him and anyone he deigned to speak with should count themselves lucky.
"Lord Darius," he said, approaching the dais, "I do not understand. I—"
"Do not speak," interrupted the lady in white. Since her demonstration of power, it seemed she was the one in control. "You will not speak except to answer questions. You will speak the truth as you know it and only the truth."
Charles's eyes opened wide before he nodded as though he was seeing genuine power for the first time and wasn't sure how to respond, and Bella didn't blame him. The woman gave off an aura of authority as she spoke that almost made Bella want to nod along with the vampire.
"We have called you as a witness, to testify before the Conclave on what you have seen."
"I don't understand. I, I already testified before the Council."
"You are not here about that. You are here because the accused claim you've witnessed certain events. Before the bells tolled for assembly, were you in the chambers of the Imperium Representative?"
"I was." He gave the reply in such a sure manner, Bella's heart began racing. They had Darius now, trapped like a bird in a cage with no room to escape.
"And did you witness Lord Darius enter the chambers?"
"I did."
Bella's heart thundered in her chest like a rampaging herd of elephants. This was it. They would clear her name, they would bring Darius to justice, and she could leave this place in her dust. They had him.
"And did you witness Lord Darius admit to the murder of the Algonde?"
"I… uh, I…" For the first time, he hesitated. Reaching up, he ran his fingers through his black hair, giving it a tussle that stood at odds with the rest of his well-groomed look.
What are you waiting for? Bella screamed in her mind. Tell them. Tell them all. He came in, smashed the fake Moab, snapped Amalga's neck, and admitted killing the Algonde. Tell them.
"Well," intoned the lady i
n white. "Did you witness this?"
"I, uh…"
"Answer the question." The lady's face shifted from soft to stern as she called for her answer, lips pursing in a thin line as she waited.
Tell them! Bella's mind screamed. Her heart was beating so fast a fighter jet would have a hard time catching up to it. Just tell them.
"I, uh, I did not."
Bella's heart went from a million miles a second to a dead stop and her blood ran cold. Even the breath in her lungs seemed to freeze. This couldn't be happening. He'd agreed to watch, agreed to testify. He was lying, but why? Staring at the young vampire, she almost didn't notice the cries of the delegates roll over the platform like a thunderstorm over the Great Plains. They'd heard all they needed.
"You did not?" The lady's tone stated she would not tolerate any misunderstanding at this point. Charles shook his head again, repeating his answer. "So, what were you doing in the Representative's chambers?"
"She, uh, they, they tricked me into coming. They tried to bribe me. They offered to remove Lord Darius so I could take his place. They threatened me if I refused. But I am loyal to my maker."
Loyalty? There was no such thing as loyalty among vampires. Just control and self-interest.
"He's lying," Bella shouted, jumping to her feet. "It's not true."
"Be silent." The power of the lady's words slammed into Bella like a tidal wave. Her legs shook and her knees gave way and dropped her to the dais floor hard enough to send spikes of pain shooting up her legs and spine. She tried to speak, tried to shout down the lies, but her lips refused to form the words, even fighting against her to open enough to breathe.
The lady in white turned her attention back to the vampire, and he seemed to shrink in on himself as she did.
"Do you swear before the Conclave, knowing if we find you to be lying you will share the fate of the accused, that what you have said is the truth?"
As he nodded and spoke, Bella raged inside, helpless to do anything beyond listening to the lie. Anger burned in her chest as she strained against the magic holding her quiet and still. She wanted to scream the truth, though the roar of the delegates almost stated they wouldn't believe anything she said. If he were anything but a vampire, she'd demand a truth spell be placed on him. If only there was a magic to make them see.
A small spark lit in the darkness in the back of her mind. There was a way to see the shadows of the past. The Tuhinga Mua spell. It was a weak spell, something that only showed the outlines of the past, and it required being in the same room where the action occurred. Bella shook her head. No, there was no help this time. She would not leave this stage alive.
Looking up, she locked gazes with Darius, and she felt her stomach turn. He'd gotten away with it, framing her with ease and convincing the Conclave to fall in line behind. She would die, and then they'd vote to break away from Imperium rule, starting a war that would only end with the vampires on top and everyone else nothing more than feed stock. She was helpless, but she refused to be the first one to break the gaze. Make him look away. Make him feel a sliver of guilt for what he was doing. Instead, he smiled.
Rage like she'd never felt flared like a forest fire. How dare he? She didn't think, didn't plan or consider the consequences as she tore open the floodgates holding back her magic. Energy poured into her, filling every hidden crevice, lighting every dark spot in her until she and it were the same thing. Even when she reached her limit, the power continued to flow, to force its way in, demanding she use it.
Voices rose, and someone was yelling at her. Her control of the magic was slipping and the shouts of Wallace, the lady, and even Darius had become noise heard through water, garbled and unintelligible. She needed to do something with the magic, channel it away from herself before it killed her. Her core, the part of her that formed what made her an individual, started shrinking in on itself as the magic tore away at everything else, and she barely noticed. The pain, the pleasure, it was all the same as she endured the throes of power. She was an addict in the middle of a fix.
But the fix wasn't complete. The magic didn't just want to be held, it wanted to be used. With the power flowing through her, she could do anything. She could fight the strongest being here. She could destroy Darius with a thought and a wave of her hand. It would be easy too. She turned and stared at the vampire. His face still held the same pleased expression that lit the fire in her stomach. He thought he was safe, and that angered her more. She'd show him. She'd show them all.
She gave the magic its head, acting as a conduit for the power as she guided it, making it warp the space above the stage. The air shimmered as it fought against her magic, but this was a fight she wouldn't lose. When the air stopped shaking, a silver surface like a floating mirror appeared, hovering in the air above her. She still didn't know how she did it, but she felt a stab of fear as she watched it form. She wasn't in the magic mists, and Wallace had said that was the only way to form one. The magic wavered, and she pushed her fear down. Enough time to think about that later.
It was still too small, though. The Council could see, but she needed everyone. Concentrating, she guided more power into it, pushing back the edges until it jerked. The frame only expanded a few inches at first, fighting against making itself bigger, but Bella pushed. She felt the edges of the frame tear and guided magic in to fill the cracks. The more tears appeared, the more she filled in, and the Water Window grew. She heard gasps from both the Council members and a few of the delegates, but she didn't understand them. When the frame was as large as a movie screen, she stopped. Sweat dripped from her forehead as she held the spell, but it wasn't over.
She concentrated on Wallace's chambers, and the image in the Water Window flickered and blurred before sharpening enough to see the entire antechamber. Amalga's body was nowhere, for which Bella was both grateful and a little annoyed. If the hive creature had been there, it would add a little more credence to her story, but she was glad the assistant was still alive.
She pushed a thread of magic against the opening and felt the slightest resistance before it passed through. As soon as it did, she guided as much through as she dared. This was more magic than she'd ever held in her life, and she could feel it burning away at her insides, but she needed the Window to stay open.
As magic filled the room, she worked on shaping it. Lines of red fire flared and ran across the floor, burning deep into the stone as they etched rune patterns. She heard someone say Tuhinga Mua, though where the voice came from she wasn't sure, and smiled. Someone out there had caught on to what she was doing.
Her flames dug deep, changing color from orange to deep red before burning out. As they did, the lines left behind filled with a bright white light. As the last lines converged, shadows appeared as outlines of the past. She could make out herself, Amalga, and even Wallace, but that was because she'd been there. Every other being watching would just see shapes. She needed more. They had to be cleaner. She pushed more magic into the runes, filling them to the brim. And where it threatened to overflow, she dug the rune deeper into the stone.
The shadows sharpened, clearing until they were solid outlines, but it still wasn't enough. Bella pushed more magic and felt something else tear inside her. It was a race now. She had to show them the truth before the magic burned through and killed her.
As she fed magic into the spell, it cleared until not only could she identify the shadows as what they were, but something else happened. Later, she would say it was like watching a black-and-white television tuning into a color channel. Splotches of color appeared first, but they soon grew.
She heard the confusion of the Council members as shadows changed beyond what they had seen before, and she couldn't help feeling a little warm spot in the pit of her stomach as Jurile hissed in surprise.
Colors flared and flashed, going beyond what the spell should have been capable of, until it looked less like watching a movie and more like watching events take place live.
Sweat pou
red from Bella's forehead, stinging her eyes as they traveled down her face. She didn't dare move to wipe it away, though. She couldn't afford to lose the concentration. The magic was too much for her to hold, and with every moment she continued, she felt more breaking inside her.
The view in the Water Window shifted, focusing on the door as the past images of Bella and Darius entered the room.
"It's a trick," she heard Darius yell off to her left. She knew he had to be yelling, but it still sounded tinny and muted in her ears as the magic beat inside her head with its own rhythm. "She's manipulating—"
"Seize him," another voice said. She'd heard this one before, a metal-on-crystal sound, but her mind was becoming foggy. What was his name? Bill? Bob? That's it. Why is it so hard to remember?
The image shifted again, and she watched as Darius slammed his hand on the desk, squashing the little piece of Amalga she sacrificed for their plan. A sound like cannon fire echoed throughout the chamber, and the image wavered as Bella fought to keep it under control. Sound? There shouldn't be sound.
Bella slumped forward, barely catching herself before falling on her face. Something popped, making a sound like a small firecracker that bounced between her ears. Blinking away tears and sweat, she saw something else drip to the floor. Something red and shiny that dripped and mixed with the puddle already forming.
"Why did you kill the Algonde?"
Bella lifted her head in time to watch the image of herself, high above her head, question Darius. Why did she need to know that? It was important, she remembered, but why? Her head spun and her arms, the only things keeping her up, gave way to send her sprawling on the platform.
The world turned, and her stomach churned as it did. Darkness began creeping in at the edges of her vision and she shivered though she was covered in sweat. She tried to tilt her head, to see what was going on, but she didn't have the strength for it. Everything was going dark, and though she tried to fight it, the darkness kept coming.