“Boy, hold on please. A few more moments,” Markus pleaded. “The Head Mage needs the Silex…. Nolen, DO NOT!”
Gabriel tried to raise hand to touch Mikelle’s arm but felt the energy leave him. Blood beating in his head felt so faint, and he struggled to keep his eyes open. The cold sensation of darkness was welcoming. He looked up to meet her eyes, blurry as they were. “Tell her.”
“No, she’s coming, you tell her.”
Her voice sounded so far away. The metallic taste of blood was heavy in his mouth, filling it with every breath. “Tell her I’m sorry.” His face felt cold as his vision darkened. The noises around him faded away, and the blue of the sky above him turned gray as his breath escaped.
Chapter 18
Ryker kicked at a clump of dirt with his boot, giving the underside an inspection as he waited. Arch Mage Pike would know what the different colors and textures in the soil meant, but Ryker was without him and had no way of knowing if the dark colors meant minerals were present, a glacier once moved through, or if there were human remains beneath it. The night was chilly, and a steady breeze blew through the tall pines, but he was warm in his red coat and Mage cloak.
“Well?” he asked quietly, his voice breaking through the silence of the forest. The young girl beside him gave a start, the green patterns sunk deep into the ground jumped. They walked slowly through the pine leaves that bent and cracked beneath their feet, filling the air with earthy sap.
“Nothing yet, m’lord,” she replied with a timid voice. Sarya had been timid from the beginning of her capture, taken from the second largest city in Anatoly, Hawklin. In the south, people’s faces were streamline and sharp with tilted eyes and pointed chins and noses. He thought her pretty, but she was weak, and there was nothing attractive about that though she made a swift tailor with her Class of Four in Earth. He garbed her in a long green dress that was too loose, so he did not have to remember her Element. Shalabane Mages always wore the colors of their Elements, and he never understood why people this side of the world did not do the same—they were so much easier to tell apart.
“Here,” she said softy and moved to a patch of earth, but shook her head and continued on. “There’re so many remains.”
“Do it be so hard t’ find human ones?” he asked harshly.
“It do—does—it is.” Licking her thin lips she carried on, sifting through the soil with a pattern.
They had been at this past two nights, and Ryker was growing anxious. The other Earth Mage he whisked away from Parion had hung herself the night before, and he was without time to search for another he could easily bend to his will. Prince Nolen was close to the Silex, he could feel it, and he itched to check in on the Prince again as he had twice daily without Nolen’s knowledge. The Class Ten was looking more pale and drawn with every visit, and Ryker had seen enough Mages dying in Castrofax to know his time was close. He would be most remiss if he had to step in to fetch the Silex himself. No one knew the wards protecting the ancient pieces, but he knew the Silex would not be given away freely.
“Here,” Sarya whispered. “Human, a skull and…ribs, arm….”
“Pull them up.”
Sarya set another pattern, and pushed soil away from a central location, digging deeply into the dirt. Graves were usually a few feet below the surface, but she continued much longer until a brown bone poked out of the black loam. After that, it was easy to push dirt aside, and she revealed a complete skeleton, lying on its side. It was missing a foot and an arm, but Sarya found them not far away.
“What happened to it?” the girl whispered.
“Him,” Ryker corrected. “He was tortured t’ death by Jaden Mages, ac his body buried without care. Collect them up them; time’s wasting.”
The girl shuttered as she climbed down into the grave and gathered the bones into a canvas bag.
“Find every single one, even the little ones. I need them all.” The girl nodded and grimaced as she dug through the black soil to come up with a handful of finger bones.
“Why was he killed?” she asked, picking through the vertebrae.
“He knew a great lot about mineself ac mine plans.”
Sarya looked up with her wide round eyes. “You knew this man? When did he die?”
Ryker looked up at the broken star far above them. It shone with similar intensity as the full moon. “An Age ac a half ago.”
“Who is he?”
“Do y’ ne know already?”
The girl looked back down at the scattered bones and put a clavicle into the bag. “Is it Arch Mage Dorian Lark?”
“Nay.”
“Then it is Pike Bronwen.”
“Y’ should be more careful t’ use his salutation.”
It took her a while to find the tiniest bones and discovered broken parts of the skull deep in the soil. ‘Did the bones break with the years or did the Jaden Mages do this?’ Ryker wondered as she picked fragments of his skull up. ‘Cowards in their victory.’
“There is nothing else here but animal bones,” Sarya said as she stood, twisting the soil with one last pattern. Ryker extended his hand to help pull her out, knowing he had to maintain some courtesy to his captives if he ever wanted them to love him. While his words would remain forever harsh and bitter, he had been known to offer a gentle gesture from seldom time to seldom time. He let her carry the bag over her shoulder though.
He fueled the pattern and sped the world along to transport him to Atrox Manor, dropping the Void wards around it to keep captives in and attackers out. He set them in a dark room with a creaking wooden floor and tall ceilings. The walls were unadorned with whitewash, but left exposed rough stone. Four tables sat in the center, one covered by a thin cloth and the others empty. Sarya broke her connection with him and set to work by one of the blank tables as Ryker lit the sconces on the walls to give her light.
Digging into the bag, she took out the largest of bones and aligned them on the table under Ryker’s careful watch. Periodically he would adjust the bones or instruct her which end went up. She remembered most of the correct placements from the first time they set a few bones. Ryker looked over her shoulder at the shrouded table where the bones of his beloved Maxine laid, mummified under preserved wrappings.
He and Maxine had never been lovers in the traditional sense, but she was his favorite of followers. She had been beautiful and bright with a sexuality that instantly drew men to her. She was able to pull anything she wanted out of men. They would do everything she asked, but it was her confident radiance that pulled them in. Talented in her patterns, she knew Void better than any of his followers and most people of the Age. She relied on her Elements to get her what her body could not.
Ryker smiled at the thought. She used to manipulate webs all around them. They wrapped around her fingers so tight, he could not tell if she was for or against him, but by the time she finished, he knew she was forever loyal to him.
Sarya set the skull and bones at the head of the table before stepping back. “Is it alright, m’lord?” she asked.
“It’s fine. Y’ are free t’ go.” ‘It won’t be long now, Maxine. Y’ll be first, then my dear Pike. Ac Dorian, ac Evony as soon as I find them.’
Chapter 19
Robyn saw the spear bloom in Gabriel’s gut, not realizing what it was for a moment. But as he staggered backwards, she screamed and bolted from her guard. The attack was not her imagination, for others had seen the spear strike Gabriel and refocused their attentions on Nolen. She hit the stairs, and Gabriel vanished behind the angle of the construction. The battle around her ceased and moved to the right where she saw Nolen moving behind a new shield. She took the stairs two at a time, beginning to feel the strain in her legs. It had been almost a month since she last went tearing through a forest in a hunt, and her muscles had atrophied. But she was not yet spent, and she pushed on, halfway there. To her right she spied Cordis in attack formation with four other Mages, but when he met her eyes, he dropped the twisting vin
es in his hands and turned to where his son had stood. She saw him move to follow.
Over the halfway mark, she saw the tops of heads standing close to where Gabriel had fallen. A handful gathered: some with abrasions and wounds, others holding some form of a shield in their Element, and three women among them had their hands over their mouths. Robyn pushed harder, feeling the tear in her lungs, and she spotted the soles of Gabriel’s boots. She came over the stair that revealed the beautiful woman’s face, streaked with tears, and spattered with blood. “Gabriel, she’s coming! Hold on!” the woman shouted, and Robyn saw her bloody hands wrapped around the spear angled in his stomach.
Robyn felt the slick surface of the dais under her boots as she finally jumped up. Gabriel lay still on the floor, a pool of blood mixing with icy water spread around him, seeping into the cracks of the stone and into the woman’s purple dress. There was blood on his cheek and spattered over his chin and neck. His shirt was stained with a dozen more wounds, his sleeves heavy with dry brown blood. His eyes were opened, staring at the blue sky, and his lips were cracked agape.
Robyn fell to the ground beside Markus where he knelt with a hand over Gabriel’s forehead and another around the spear. “Gabriel! Gabriel!” Robyn yelled and put a hand on his face, but his blue eyes made no contact with hers.
“Sweet stars,” Markus whispered and held his bloody hand above Gabriel’s chest. “I—I may be able to restart the heart,” he said rapidly. “The brain is still alive for a few moments after—after—I can try, but…I do not know if it will….”
His fingers opened and closed as he controlled a pattern Robyn could not see. As soon as he began, blood spurted from the puncture wound. She could not bear to look at it, but her eyes were drawn to the spear cutting through him. The black shaft thrust through his fine skin in a manner so inhuman. Blood pooled in the dips of his stomach and slid liberally down his waist. Robyn kept looking at it as if her mind were playing cruel tricks, hoping she could see it differently with each blink.
She picked up his hand and heard the sound of metal hitting stone. It took her a moment to realize the sound was important. “Sweet stars,” Markus breathed. Robyn looked to where the sound had come from, and saw the copper Castrofax wristlet laid open on the floor.
“No,” she whispered, tears coming to her eyes and voice. “Please no.” The woman across from her lifted the other wristlet and began to weep, while Markus slid the neckpiece away. “My Gabriel.” Robyn clutched his hand as the sobs came forth, wishing with every breath that his hand would tighten around her own. His open eyes stared skyward. His fair face was streaked with blood, and his curls hung limply across the red stone. He looked unlike himself. He should be sitting with her across a fire, sneaking gazes with a timid hidden grin, trying new ways to drive her mad and get her into his arms. Her golden band was still around his finger, an anchor to her love for him unblemished by blood and grime.
Markus looked sad, but in a manner Robyn could not place through her blurry eyes. “Pull the spear out, and someone signal for the Head Mage.” The fair woman wiped her cheeks, leaving two smears of red across them giving her a primal look. She handed Markus the wristlet and pulled the spear loose. It made a sucking sound as it came free, revealing a sharp spike of stone bound to the black wood. Someone shot a sparkling flame of white into the sky as a signal.
Balien stepped up on the dais, took one look of the scene, and turned away pinching his eyes shut. From behind him came the small footfalls of Aisling who rushed up and choked a weepy gasp. Markus looked up quickly. “Take heart, Lady. The worst is behind him.”
“I had—I had hoped it would not be this way,” she replied. Cordis trotted up the stairs behind her with a ghastly pale face and took a quiet survey of the scene.
“Cordis, go get the Silex,” Aisling said in an exasperated tone.
“There are two hundred Mages fighting for it, one more will not matter,” he replied and stepped up to Aisling quietly, pulling her into his arms. “Don’t look.”
Whatever they were talking about made no sense to Robyn who was awash in grief. Her love laid dead before her. There was little color in his face and lips, but he was still warm to the touch which made him feel alive. She brushed his hair back where it usually would fall and gazed into the eyes she loved. She tried to close them, but the flesh had no response and remained open.
“What happened to him?” she said, tracing his wounds with watery eyes.
“He was a very brave man,” the woman whispered. “He saved us all many times.”
“Casimir is coming,” Markus said and stood, taking with him the pieces of the Castrofax.
The Head Mage popped over the stairs with a grim set to his face. Secondhand Lael, as always, was a step behind him with an equally despondent look. Lael’s red coat was slashed across the chest but not bleeding badly. Casimir bore no wounds as it was up to his guard to take them for him. He looked over his shoulder where the battle was still commencing and took a deep breath.
Casimir clutched a gold band in his hand studded with uncut emeralds, and for a moment Robyn feared it was another Castrofax. The idea brought new tears to her eyes as she took up Gabriel’s limp hand in her good one. He looked so peaceful, but his wounds told her his passing was anything but.
“What is that?” Markus asked the Head Mage. Casimir made no answer. “Head Mage?” The worried tone he used made Robyn look up. “Oh sweet stars, Casimir, is that Pike’s Ring of Rebirth? You must not! My lord, please, we need you here with us!”
“Do not give me reason to doubt myself, or I may find myself not brave enough,” the Head Mage replied solemnly as he stepped around them to Gabriel’s head. “Had I not dallied I may have been able to spare him some of this,” he swept his hand over Gabriel’s body. “But, alas, the world is full of what if’s and if not’s,” he said as he knelt.
“We can wait for the Silex,” Aisling said quickly. “It cannot be much longer now. Please, Casimir, do not use the Ring yet.”
“Even a hundred Class Fives pitched against the Silex will not make the battle even,” Casimir replied. “Nolen can happily sit behind an everlasting shield while we break ourselves on it. Gabriel’s time is running short.” He looked at Robyn who frowned, not understanding. “I have seen many lovers torn apart by death. My own wife was taken from me so early, but with this last act I can undo at least one of those hardships.” He held her gaze strongly. “Today marks your twentieth birth anniversary, and while it is not common in your culture to give gifts, it is with the Mages. I ask that with this final gift you do all you can to help Gabriel stay on the right path. Make him into an even better man.”
“Head Mage, what do you mean?” Robyn whispered.
“Arch Mage Pike made this many a long year ago,” Casimir replied gently. “Do not be frightened, my dear. Lend me your courage.”
Casimir gave a faint smile and looked up to Lael. He opened his mouth to say something, but thought better and gave the Secondhand a small smile and nod. Lael turned his face away taking in a deep breath.
The Head Mage put the golden band across Gabriel’s forehead to sit as a coronet, marking his pale brow as Robyn envisioned it would be once she took him as husband. Casimir twirled his fingers and set them against the coronet. Lael stepped up and put his hands on the Head Mage’s shoulders, and slowly a hum of energy resounded in their ears.
“Oh, my lord,” Markus whispered, his voice mournful.
The wound in Gabriel’s gut suddenly mended, slowly at first but picking up speed, a circular pattern as the layers of flesh closed. Casimir reached up a hand and closed Gabriel’s eyes with two fingers, and to Robyn’s surprise, they stayed closed.
She watched in silence, baffled as her brain told her it was unattainable, and perhaps her mind had finally broken. Tiny wounds across Gabriel’s skin sealed as the garish gut wound closed shut.
Color returned to her love’s cheeks, Casimir slowly turned white as the rosiness in his face drained. H
is eyes were heavy as he blinked, and his steady breath came more staggered. Robyn realized what was happening long before she believed it. Behind her with a choked voice Cordis said, “Thank you, Casimir.” Casimir sagged back into Lael’s legs, and the Secondhand bent to support him, wrapping his arms around the old man’s shoulders. Casimir’s breathing was jagged, and his eyes were closed. Lael leaned to lie him down gently on his side.
“Evelyn,” Casimir whispered, and a ghost of a smile appeared on his lips. With her name came his last breath. As he fell limp into the red stone, Gabriel took in a breath.
Chapter 20
‘Do you understand the price?’
The sky had been gray above him, but now it remained a finalizing black, an unending world of darkness, but there were muted voices all around. The spirit world was a dark place, and the faint voices, muffled as though a pillow held over his ears, unsettled him. His hands felt heavy, as if something was clamped around them, but there was lightness in his chest he could not remember having for quite a while.
In fact, there was not a spot on him that ached, burned, or stung. He could not remember the last time he felt so good, and he took in another deep breath. Somewhere far off the in the blackness, he thought he heard his name whispered.
Suddenly, he realized something foreign and familiar stirred in his chest. Something he could almost put a name to as if it loomed before him in the darkness, but he could not see it. It was a kind of flow and a rage and a healthiness mixed with a purity that he knew well but didn’t. Somewhere his name was whispered, this time louder. It took him a moment to put a name to the stirrings in his chest.
Breaking Stars (Book 2) Page 20