“I wasn’t suggesting that you would shirk your duties, nor should you. You won’t have trouble in the morning, will you?”
Pancras shook his head. “I have no classes scheduled for the morning, but I do need to return by the afternoon. I would hope we’ll be finished by then.”
“Yes, hopefully.” Gisella picked up a piece of fruit and stood. She bowed to Pancras. “I will see you in the morning, then. At the Screeching Griffon?”
“I’ll see you there. Good night.”
After the Golden Slayer left, Pancras tidied up, leaving the tray of food outside his door for one of the apprentices to pick up. He prayed to Aita before going to bed, hoping for further insight, but his goddess remained silent that night. He fell asleep to the peal of bells, tolling for the third and final Night of Exodus.
***
Delilah led the group down the stairs, past the myriad bookshelves, and to the cavern in which the rune circle resided. The torch-shaped sconces along the walls erupted with magical flames as she passed. When they reached the bottom, Theros whistled as he surveyed the room.
“All this underneath this abandoned little shop. Gerah was a sneaky one.”
Kali raced down the last few steps, catching up to the group. “I’ve told Ori to tell any visitors we’re out, and I barred the door.”
Alysha knelt next to the circle, tracing one of the runes with her finger. “These are the same as the ones on the circle in my castle.” She pointed to the indentation. “Except that. Mine has a stone in place that I haven’t been able to remove.”
“I take it that wasn’t always your castle.” Theros offered Alysha his hand and helped her to her feet.
“A coven of hags led by a pair of nasty cathar occupied it when I arrived. I cleared them out and claimed the castle as my own.”
Delilah shivered at the mention of the word, recalling her own battle five years earlier with the cathar warlock outside the gates of Drak-Anor. She tossed the angled stone in her hand and approached the socket.
“Deli?” Kale approached his sister. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
Delilah glanced at her brother. “If you’re scared, leave.” As she said the words, she realized they might have sounded a bit harsh, but she was still irritated that he’d chased away Alysha’s dragon. The fact that he was reckless enough to endanger his mate didn’t sit well with her, either. It was a topic she decided to broach with him at some point, but not likely this day or the next.
Kali pulled her mate away from the circle. “Stand over here with me. Let the wizards do their thing.”
The drak archmage knelt at the runestone and slid the red stone into the socket.
Nothing happened.
Theros tapped a steel finger against his chin. “Perhaps there’s an incantation of some sort?”
Alysha leafed through the tome. “I don’t see anything in here about that. Maybe whoever wrote this never got one of these working.”
“I read about these circles as a student.” Theros’s hooves clicked on the stone floor as he stepped around the runed circle. “Gil-Li the Graven was the last one known to use one.”
Delilah perked up at the mention of the legendary drak archmage’s name. “Kale.”
“Yes, Deli?”
“Go to the university. Seek out my apprentice and have her bring my grimoire.” She wasn’t keen on interrupting one of Katka’s lessons, but she didn’t trust Kale alone with Gil-Li’s tome.
“They won’t let him in.” Theros placed his hand on Kale’s shoulder. “I’ll go with him.”
“Do I need to go to keep you boys out of trouble?” Kali put her hands on her hips and lashed her tail.
Theros cocked an eyebrow. “Certainly not.”
The two males left, leaving the three females alone in the cavern.
Delilah stood and cracked her back. She strode around the runed circle, flicking away pebbles with the butt of her staff. “I’m not blind, Kali. And frankly, I don’t blame you for being angry with my brother.”
“He didn’t even think about the fact that the dragon might not extend his protection to me!”
Alysha laughed. “Yaamkyrsku wouldn’t have gone through with it. He talks a lot, but doesn’t eat anything that talks back.”
Delilah regarded her brother’s mate. “So, what are you going to do?”
Kali regarded the stairs and threw up her hands. “What can I do? He’s my mate now. He’s reckless, foolish, and irresponsible. He’s not the dashing hero—”
The drak archmage approached her and placed her hands on Kali’s shoulders. “He can be. He wants to be. But… you’re not wrong. He needs someone like you to keep his head on straight. I can’t be, and I won’t be, around all the time anymore.”
Magnitude of admitting her life was bigger than just herself and Kale hit Delilah at that very moment. She felt very far from home. Deep down, she conceded she would never again see any of her friends in Drak-Anor unless she made it happen. Although Kale’s future path had not yet revealed itself, she accepted some time ago that her path diverged from his. Until now, it had not mattered since both their paths had run parallel.
The orange drak glanced at the floor and rubbed the back of one of her legs with the other foot. “I’m just going to stew a few more days, and then I’ll talk it out with him. Boss Steelhand… Theros, I guess, he’s going to introduce me to some people who work with him. He needs us to help return the draks and minotaurs to the upper city.”
“This is all very nice, but we should be trying to figure out how to activate this.” Alysha pointed to the runed circle.
“We will.” Delilah released Kali and turned to the tall human woman. “I have the Grimoire of Gil-Li. The answers are likely in it.”
“Well, Archmage, you certainly are full of surprises, aren’t you?”
I hope it doesn’t let me down.
Chapter 16
Theros helped Kale locate Delilah’s apprentice, and they directed her to retrieve the grimoire. The young human refused to release the book to him, and she insisted on carrying it herself.
“Fine.” Kale waved his hand. He didn’t feel like arguing. “Come with us, then.”
“As fascinated as I am in seeing if these Runes of Selene actually work, the archduke is expecting me.” Theros knelt before Kale and rested his steel hand on the drak’s shoulder.
“Settle this business with your mate. I need the two of you. I would be very disappointed if your spat disrupted my plans.”
The winged drak wondered if he forgot about Theros’s plans before he narrowed his eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“Plans I’ve been discussing with your mate. Frankly, she seems more reliable than you. Now that your sister is archmage, we have an opportunity to change things here in Muncifer for draks and minotaurs. I sat idle for too long under the yoke of the Manless; I’m not going to let anyone further disrupt my plans.” He squeezed Kale’s shoulder and nodded to Katka before he stood and briskly strode away.
Katka eyed Kale. “What was that about?”
“It’s not important.” Kale didn’t fully understand it himself, and he wasn’t prepared to admit that to Katka. He was sure Delilah would tell her all about it soon anyway.
“Oh hey, did that harness I enchanted help with the egg?”
Kale clenched his jaw. “I don’t want to talk about that.”
Katka pursed her lips. “I’m just curious if my enchantment worked well enough. I’m still learning—”
“Yes, it was fine.” The instant Kale snapped, he chided himself for overreacting to her question. The young woman shook her head and said nothing further about it. She cradled Delilah’s grimoire in her arms as if it were a precious child and walked alongside Kale, adjusting her pace to match his. “Your sister is going to make a really good archmage, Kale. I hope you know that.”
“Of course she is. Deli’s always good at everything.” And I haven’t been good at anything since we left home.
>
“Your shop looks nice now. I remember what it was like when you first moved in.”
“Yeah.” He kicked a stone out of the way. I wish you’d shut up.
“Have you thought about selling stuff other than that limner’s services?” She adjusted her grip on the grimoire. “You could probably do well selling quills and inks and other scribe supplies. There’s only one other person in the city selling them, and he’s a grumpy old man who hates life.”
“What’s the point? No one is going to come down to the undercity to buy them.”
“You’d be surprised. Maybe not the nobles, but they’re all stuffy muffins anyway. Most scribes and priests in the city aren’t nobles. They don’t mind rubbing elbows with minotaurs and draks. Half my parents’ farmhands are minotaurs.”
As much as Kale didn’t want to contemplate a boring future running a shop in a city months from home, he admitted the idea had merit.
“I guess we can talk about it.” If Kali ever talks to me again. How bad would it be if I just left? Draks mated for life. A drak who abandoned his mate would be a pariah. If I go far enough away, no one would know.
Katka rambled on, her voice fading into the sounds of the bustling city. Kale allowed his mind to wander as they trekked to his home in the undercity. When they arrived, they found Ori still at work, illuminating his latest manuscript. Kale grunted a greeting and opened the door to the cellar for Katka. He shut it behind her and shuffled to the kitchen.
He found Kali seated at the table, a plate of sweet rolls placed in its center along with two steaming goblets, one before her and one opposite her. She gestured to the seat across from hers.
“Join me?”
Kale sat, never taking his eyes off his mate. The flickering light from their kitchen lanterns made her rust-colored scales seem almost iridescent. She gestured at the sweet rolls.
“Help yourself. They’re your favorite, right? I just mulled the wine.”
The winged drak reached for a sweet roll. “Does this mean you’re not mad at me anymore?”
“Kale, why did you mate with me?”
He bit into the pastry. The spices mingled with the sweet honey as he chewed. Kale grunted and shrugged. He really didn’t know what she wanted from him.
“It wasn’t because you wanted a lifelong commitment, was it? Because you wanted a brood of hatchlings with me? You didn’t even think of those things, did you?” She leaned back in her chair and folded together her hands, placing them on the table before her.
“I guess…” He had not thought about it at the time. Any of it.
“You’re impulsive and rash. You don’t think things through. Am I wrong?”
She wasn’t. He was loath to admit it though. Delilah had always been the thinker; most of the time, he cooperated with her.
“No.”
“I’ve done a lot of dishonest things in my life, Kale. I’ve lied, cheated, stolen, killed. All to survive in Almeria. But when I make a promise, I see it through. Do you know what I’m saying?” She rapped her knuckles on the table. “Hey, look at me.”
He met her eyes. To his surprise, she wasn’t scowling.
“You’re my mate. I take that seriously, Kale. We wouldn’t be mates if I didn’t want to be with you. To have a family with you.” She sipped her wine.
Kale lifted the goblet before him and brought it to his lips. The hot wine eased the nervous gnawing at his belly, and the warmed spices made his nose tingle.
“I’ll try to be better.” He stared at a knot in the wood tabletop, picking at it with a claw as he shuffled in his seat.
“I know that tone.” Kali shook her head. “You just think that’s what I want to hear. I know you don’t want to be here, that you’re bored. It’s as plain as those wings you’re so proud of. I only want you here if you want to be here.”
He eyed her while he chewed. “What are you saying?”
“You’re my mate, and this is your home. But, if you feel you need to be somewhere else, I won’t stop you. Just don’t forget you took a mate and she’ll be here in Muncifer waiting for you.”
Kali stood and picked up the plate of sweet rolls. She left Kale alone with his thoughts in the kitchen.
***
“So? Does it tell you how to work this thing?” Alysha paced the cavern, poking at the runed circle with the butt of her staff. Katka stood with her arms outstretched, holding the grimoire open for Delilah as the drak leafed through the pages.
So far, the drak archmage had been unsuccessful in coaxing the grimoire to reveal any secrets about the circle. Delilah wasn’t surprised; the grimoire never showed her what she wanted, only what it thought she needed to learn at the time.
“Nothing yet. I was hoping I might have more control over it.”
The arcane script on the pages writhed and danced. Delilah tried to hold them steady in her mind, but her effort yielded no results. She flipped to a new page.
The page flipped back.
“That was interesting. I’ve never seen a book do that without there being a gust of wind.” Alysha licked her finger and held it in the air.
“It’s not just a book. I told you, this is the Grimoire of Gil-Li.”
“Wait, you were serious about that? The grimoire?” Alysha stopped pacing and moved closer to Delilah and Katka. “That was lost before The Sundering, in the Age of Legend.”
“Yeah, and Terrakaptis gave it to me.”
Alysha moved to touch the edge of the book. A bolt of azure energy arced from the page and struck her in the chest, blasting her across the room. Katka jumped backward and dropped the grimoire on Delilah’s feet. The drak yelped, crashing to the floor, her staff clattering away.
The human sorceress groaned and rolled over before pushing herself to her feet. “I guess it doesn’t want me touching it. Interesting.”
Katka stood at Delilah’s side and helped her up. “Are you all right?”
“Fine, fine.” The drak steadied herself on her apprentice’s arm. In truth, her foot ached where Katka dropped the book.
Delilah noticed a glimmer of motion in the tome and dropped to her knees to gain a closer look. The text swirled and coalesced into a silvery orb before it splashed down onto the page. She ran a claw down the page.
“What is it?” Alysha walked over and peer down at the book.
“I saw something.” Delilah looked up at Katka. “Did you see it?”
The young woman shook her head. “Just that dancing text, like always. It still gives me a headache.”
Alysha squeezed her eyes shut and backed away. “How can you stand to look at that?”
“It showed me an orb. A silvery orb.”
“What… like a ball of silver? What’s that got to do with anything?” Alysha retrieved her staff.
Silver didn’t seem like the right descriptor. It was silver, and yet not silver. “No, maybe quicksilver? It seemed, fluid.”
“An orb of quicksilver?” Katka picked up Delilah’s staff and handed it to her. “I think there’s an alchemist in town who has quicksilver.”
The drak rubbed the back of her head. “It doesn’t feel right.” She regarded Katka. “I think we need to do some research in the library.”
Alysha sighed. “I guess I’ll be helping you with that. I can’t really do much without Yaamkyrsku.”
As they prepared to leave, Delilah heard the door at the top of the stair open, and the telltale sound of clawed feet on wood descending. Kale entered the cavern, carrying his puzzle box.
“What are you doing with that here, Kale?” Delilah tried to keep her tone even. Any disappointment she felt toward him would have to wait until after his mate dealt with him.
He set it on the lowest bookshelf. “I got it open a few days ago, so I don’t really want it around anymore. I thought it would be safe down here. I think it might be dangerous.”
“Dangerous?” Delilah approached her brother. “What’s in it?”
“That thing?” Alysha pointed at th
e box. “That’s just an old puzzle box, isn’t it?”
Kale regarded the human sorceress. “Terrakaptis gave it to me. It has this thing in it.” He shivered. “It showed me The Sundering, Deli. Like a memory or something. I don’t know what it means, but I don’t want to bother you with it right now.”
“A thing? What did it look like?” Alysha moved forward and lifted the puzzle box off the shelf.
Kale scowled at her. “It was a silvery ball. It was weird, like it was molten, but not really, you know?”
Delilah froze. That can’t be it.
“Show us.” Alysha handed the box to Kale. He took it and backed away, shaking his head.
“I don’t know; it was awful. I don’t want to see it again. You didn’t see what I saw. They had a rock called a heartstone and this other faceted black stone. When they touched them together, it killed Rannos—”
“Yes, yes.” Alysha slashed her hand through the air and pointed at the box. “I know the death of Rannos Dragonsire caused The Sundering. Open the box!”
Delilah inhaled and placed her hand on her brother’s shoulder. “I need to see the orb, Kale. It’s important. Please open the box.”
“Okay, Deli.” He hung his head and crouched as he removed some tools from his pouch. After a few moments of tinkering with the box, it shuddered, clicked, whirred, and unfolded.
A silvery-grey orb hovered above a base shaped like a truncated cone. Kale stood and backed away, climbing to the third step and sat. He pointed at it. “I just touched it, and it showed me The Sundering.”
Kale pulled up his legs and hugged his knees. “I don’t understand what I saw, Deli. It felt so real. Like I was really there when those humans murdered Rannos Dragonsire.”
Delilah handed her staff to her apprentice and sat in before the sphere. She eyed Alysha and set her jaw. Then she touched the orb.
Salvation (Scars of the Sundering Book 3) Page 22