Sebastian reluctantly spoke. She could tell his reservations weren’t necessarily about Thanar’s manner, but rather about what he’d just encountered instead.
“The door is sealed with the blood of the Algardis Empire,” Sebastian said through gritted teeth.
The look of absolute fury he had on his face when he said that would have chilled her to the bone had it been directed at her.
“Sebastian?” Ciardis asked quietly — trying to understand the intense change in his voice without being too intense.
His mouth closed and his shoulders tensed as he stared at the door and eventually looked at her.
Reluctantly Sebastian said, “I’m just tired. Tired of discovering new secrets about my heritage and my family’s ties to the empire through…mistakes, accidents, and deals.”
Casually the daemoni prince said, “I could see how that would be annoying.”
Sebastian shot him a harried look. “Since half of those deals seem to involve you, you should.”
Thanar didn’t bother taking offense, he just waved his hand suavely.
“You should be proud of the duplicitousness of your past ancestors, Emperor,” Thanar said while eyeing the door with a contemplative eye.
“And why is that?” Sebastian said in disgust.
Thanar blinked in surprise. “Well, because they obviously were taught very well. Of course, among my people a bloodline is only as good as its secrets.”
The look of absolute irony on Sebastian’s face at that moment sent Ciardis into gales of giggles. She couldn’t help it. The circumstances were just too perfect.
27
When she’d finally stopped and gotten control of her mirth, Thanar said with no trace of irony, “So besides this being connected to your ancestors, Sebastian, do you get anything else from it?”
“No,” the Emperor said as he tried to consider the door into the mountains with something resembling parity.
“You’re sure?” Thanar said in a prodding voice.
Finally, reluctantly, Sebastian added, “I have traveled through a door like this once before.”
“You mean like that door we went through when we first unlocked Sebastian’s gifts and spoke to the LandWight?” Ciardis asked fascinated.
“The very same,” Sebastian said, troubled.
“And what better way to protect a weapon used by your bloodline than to locate it offshore and only accessible by your own family?” Thanar said with a flash of a dark smile.
Sebastian snorted. “That doesn’t mean it’s the weapon or even a weapon that’s effective against a goddess.”
“You never know,” the daemoni prince said in satisfaction. “Your family has always been such effective multi-taskers, after all.”
“I’m going to ignore the insinuations in that,” the new emperor said flatly. “And I suggest we take the quickest way off this island.”
Thanar smirked and rocked back on his heels. “But it is the right way?”
Sebastian rolled his eyes and looked at Ciardis to ask, “What do you think, Ciardis?”
She studied both of them and then looked at their finds.
Reluctantly, she asked, “Are you sure this is a portal to the mainland Sebastian?”
“Positive,” he replied confidently.
She flicked her eyes to him and then landed her gaze on Thanar.
“Thanar, why do you think the gods dropped us on an island within minutes of a live portal but didn’t send us where we wanted to go in the first place?” she asked seriously.
Thanar flicked his gaze over to the portal and narrowed his eyes as he thought.
“Perhaps they wanted us to see something here first,” he conceded.
“Could it be that mountain gate?” she asked.
“It could,” the daemoni prince said.
Ciardis turned Sebastian’s question back on him. “What do you think, Emperor? Is what the gods wanted us to see worth losing this pathway to where we need to be?”
Sebastian didn’t rush into an answer and she was grateful for that. The fact that he was able to move past his ingrained prejudices against anything that had to do with his family and bloodline wasn’t easy. She knew that. He was taking responsibility for something that even he couldn’t have anticipated — an artifact with no providence and every potential possibility of being a big problem for them. She could expect him to rail more at the deceptive natures of his ancestors, instead he walked back over to the door in the mountain and traced the sigils engraved into the metal door thoughtfully.
Turning back to them, he said, “I can’t read every word, but I know this door and what lays beyond it is important…in some way.”
“But it’s not essential to our mission?” Ciardis asked with raised eyebrows.
“No,” said Sebastian defiantly. “In fact, I can’t imagine it would lead to an escape at the moment, just more problems.”
Ciardis looked to Thanar to see what he thought.
And it was clear he was pondering their dilemma in his mind.
The daemoni prince nodded and said, “Fine.”
One word, but he conceded his defeat.
Gracefully, Sebastian held out his hand to indicate the portal in the sky. “Then shall we proceed?”
“Yes,” Thanar said. “But we will be coming back here.”
“Oh there’s no doubt,” Ciardis said cheerfully as she hooked an arm in the crook of Thanar’s elbow and patted his hand—a somewhat poised attempt to sooth his ruffled ego.
“Whatever’s behind that mountain door will certainly be something worth returning for…and soon,” she said while looking back at it with eager anticipation in her eyes.
For a moment more Ciardis stared at the door into the mountain with uncertainty.
“Why do you think they brought us here?” she finally said in almost a whisper. She was talking to herself really, but of course Thanar heard.
“There’s something interesting behind that door,” Thanar mused to himself.
“Yes,” said Sebastian while placing a firm hand on each of their shoulders. “But it has nothing to do with what we need to get done.”
This time it was Thanar and Ciardis who exchanged knowing glances. But they didn’t object to their bondmate’s urgency.
Walking side-by-side, the triumvirate came within steps of the cliff’s edge. They were ready to follow Sebastian through the portal that would take them to fight a goddess.
Even if it’s one that can’t wait to tear us limb-from-limb, Ciardis thought.
“I can’t wait,” Sebastian muttered, but Ciardis wasn’t sure if he was referring to what was directly in front of them or just behind.
Ciardis stared at the portal that was in mid-air and no more than three feet away. Just as it was also a long, long way up off the ground.
Her mouth twitched as she wondered, They couldn’t have opened the damned thing on land? That would have been a lot easier.
Now what fun would that be? Thanar replied in her head.
“Any chance of this being actually easier than it looks?” Ciardis said through clenched teeth. “Or you know…we can take some time — think this through?”
“What? Jumping off a cliff?” Sebastian said in a voice laced in irony. “We could think it through but the outcome would be the same.”
Ciardis was this close to slapping the emperor on the back of the head just this once.
I have to be within my rights to do so, she grumbled to herself. The Windswept Isles are partially sovereign territory here. So he’s not the Emperor here. He’s just another man that’s getting on my nerves.
She knew that wasn’t true necessarily but it made her feel better thinking about it anyway.
“No,” Thanar corrected resolutely but gently. “We act. We move. We have no time to necessarily think through. Some actions are going to have to be instinctive.”
He was repeating a mantra that had become almost gospel to them all in the past few days. Looking at the tear in the sky Ciar
dis wished it were enough to buck up her courage, though.
“You’d think I’d be used to this by now,” Ciardis said with a chuckle. “Jumping into the darkness anyway I could all those times had to be good practice.”
“You knew you wouldn’t die then,” Sebastian pointed out calmly in an understanding manner. “Being back in the real realm, in your physical body. That’s different. The game has changed.”
“Right,” Ciardis said faintly as she eyed the several hundred feet drop below them. Thanar had nothing to worry about, he could fly. But the rest of them? Well, it was a long way down.
Still she had to try and make some efforts to think things through.
“Maybe we can build some kind of air bridge…with magic,” Ciardis reasoned aloud.
“I don’t have any kind of experience with that,” Sebastian said disgruntled.
“I do,” Thanar said, “and it wouldn’t even take all that long to do.”
Then the energy of the portal started to crackle with sound and Ciardis had a bad feeling.
“It’s getting smaller,” she shrieked.
“Let’s go,” barked Thanar.
Pressed for time and seeing the horizon opening and closing with every passing second, Sebastian shouted, “Jump now!”
And jump they did. By taking running leaps into the future. Their future.
When they landed Ciardis’s heart was racing and her sense of orientation would take some adjusting but she immediately knew that they were exactly where they were supposed to be.
Primarily because within seconds of falling through a tear in the sky and landing in what felt like an extremely large puddle of mud, they were immediately surrounded by a phalanx of guards pointing halberds menacingly down at the new strangers in their midst.
For a heartbeat all was silent.
Then one guard said, “Hold strangers, who are you?”
Sebastian stood up first while assisting Ciardis and her mud-covered gown as gamely as he could. Thanar tried to stand up but as soon as the daemoni prince so much as flexed his legs, the pointed ends of the halberds none-too-subtlety got closer to the necks of the closest kneeling member of the triumvirate.
Seeing the unspoken threat, Thanar backed down in the mud while eyeing the guards balefully.
Finally Sebastian said pleasantly, “Do you not recognize your reigning emperor?”
There was some unease and shuffling. They refused to break rank though or back down.
The mark of excellent training, Sebastian told her proudly in her head while keeping a perfectly blank face.
Ciardis for her part was too worried about the weapons pointed at their still vulnerable throats to properly assess their training. She and they waited standing still in the muck as the soldiers who wore chain mail and heavy helmets with visors were deciding to believe whether or not their reigning ruler was actually in their midst. She could only see wary eyes peering back at her through the metal slits in their gear and that didn’t reassure her. Not one bit.
Then a voice spoke over the shoulders of the others who ringed them in.
“Clear the way,” commanded the captain of the guard of Sebastian’s personal guard.
Ciardis recognized him from the introductions he’d made after the prince heir’s installment to emperor. He had been perfunctory but professional and she had liked that about him. His calm demeanor carried through in his voice as well as his actions. She had known even during their first meeting that it was a good thing to have a captain who could project a commanding presence in the field, whether they stood knee-deep in mud or surrounded by courtiers in a pavilion. It seemed that this one excelled at both.
Ciardis watched the captain’s face, bare of any helmet to block his features, transform in respect as soon as he saw Sebastian standing before him. Without hesitating the captain dropped quickly to one knee and the guards surrounding them realized they had better do the same as well.
They all took to the knee and Sebastian impatiently waved them up.
“Formalities can wait,” Sebastian said curtly. “What’s the status of our mission?”
The man bowed and indicated with a lifted hand that they should follow him this way. “We’re all accounted for Your Imperial Majesty. Simply awaiting your orders. We set about regrouping as soon as we arrived here days ago and now can be confident that we are ready to move out.”
To Ciardis’s amusement he didn’t ask where they’d been, and Sebastian didn’t offer to explain either.
Benefits of being Emperor, Thanar said blithely in her head. No one questions what took you so long.
Why not? Ciardis asked innocently.
Because it could very well be an upset Emperor who decides nosy servants deserve to lose their heads, Thanar said in a non-joking manner. Only you would or should be able to question Sebastian’s whereabouts and if I were you…I’d do so gently.
Ciardis gave him a roll of her eyes. He’s Sebastian.
For her, that was all she needed to say. She couldn’t view him as anything else personally. But as she stared at the reverence in the surrounding guards’ eyes, she got the feeling that she may have been alone in that viewpoint.
The boy prince heir is now a man with power to wield over an entire empire, Thanar said blithely. Don’t underestimate his capacity to use it.
Ciardis pursed her mouth in displeasure at Thanar’s line of thought but there was nothing much she could say in the presence of so many watchful eyes, so she chose to drop the matter.
Aloud, Ciardis spoke directly to the newly arrived captain, “Captain — it’s good to see you. Where are the loyalists assigned to our groups in particular?”
“And the others?” Sebastian asked.
The man rose with a quick bow.
“Lady Companion, they are here,” he said smoothly. “The others we have spoken to by mind link when available. They have arrived at their placements.”
“When available?” Thanar said while snapping open and close his wings a bit. More to shake off some lingering mud Ciardis thought than to intimidate but you never knew with Thanar.
The captain nodded tersely. “There have been magic waves emanating on periodic bands which have prevented even our strongest mind mages from reaching others at their respective camps.”
Unsettled Ciardis asked, “What interference? From where?”
The captain waved one of his men over who Ciardis was surprised to find was a woman when she took off her helmet and a long brown braid fell from its interior.
She said grimly, “Mind Mage Rosea, reporting for duty.”
“Tell them what you told me,” the captain said quietly.
Eyes darkening, Rosea said flatly, “The interference is strong and it is fierce. Unlike anything I encountered while studying at the Madrassa itself. But I’ve conferred with fellow mind mages. It is foreign in origin.”
“Foreign as in?” Thanar quickly asked.
The mind mage pinned an unflinching gaze on the daemoni prince. “As in not of this empire or of this realm.”
“The goddess then,” Thanar said with a characteristically manic grin.
“I believe so,” Mind Mage Rosea said.
“Very well,” Sebastian said. “Keep abreast of developments in other camps but don’t get caught up in the interference yourself. We can’t afford to lose a mage and we certainly can’t afford for the goddess to find out what we’re up to.”
“Of course my liege!” the woman said while snapping a stiff salute. With a quick nod of approval from her captain she fell back to her original position in the rankings.
“Captain,” Sebastian said grimly. “Where can I find the loyalist assigned to me?”
“Lieutenant,” the captain said. “Direct the emperor to his charge.”
“Aye sir!” said a burly man as he turned to point up the hill. “The dark emperor waits chained with guards. The rest required respite in the shade.”
Ciardis wondered why the captain didn’t just ta
ke them himself but it soon became clear that he considered his position as more suited to personally guard the emperor from his flank in case of a surprise attack.
Several of the guards fell out in point formation to do that very thing while about a third broke off to join their compatriots on the hilltop.
“For how long have they been resting?” Thanar asked flatly.
The lieutenant straightened perceptibly and said, “They’ve already gotten a good two hours. I say they’re ready to move out if you are.”
“Good, good,” said the daemoni prince satisfied as he looked over at the emperor with a raised eyebrow.
Sebastian smiled. “I think we’re ready to start moving.”
“Oh good,” Thanar said with a gleam in his eye. “I was just getting bored. Torturing Maradian will definitely brighten my day.”
Sebastian didn’t say anything as they began to walk up the hill and if the guards had any commentary on the subject — they kept their opinions well to themselves.
28
As Sebastian reacquainted himself with Maradian, Thanar — despite his threat, waited on the sidelines. When the guards brought out horses for them to mount, and a few provisions to munch on while in the saddle, Ciardis thanked them quietly.
She’d questioned earlier why they’d needed to mount again and the captain had simply said that they’d understand when they’d arrived, but suffice it to say the interference from the goddess extended to beyond just conversational difficulties. Ciardis got the impression that part of their way was magically blocked, and even the kith’s instantaneous travel couldn’t overcome those difficulties. Considering that the gods themselves had been able to snatch them out of the air mid-transportation, Ciardis had no doubt that the goddess, if she so chose, could do the same.
So they would ride the rest of the little way. Using the stealth of normal travel to get where they were going when traveling by magic any further would have landed them in a world of trouble. Realizing they had no other choice, Ciardis had grabbed onto her saddle with no complaint. Whether the ride was three hours or thirty minutes wouldn’t make much of a difference in comfortability with how she was dressed.
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