by S. M. Boyce
“Fyrn!” Victoria said, a relieved smile breaking across her face.
Fyrn’s shoulders rose and fell with his exaggerated breaths, and it hurt Victoria to watch him struggle.
“What did Luak do to you?” she asked.
“He’s a monster,” Fyrn said softly. “He’s far more powerful than I realized.”
“Awesome,” Audrey said from the doorway, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration.
Victoria’s jaw tensed, but they had to find out what Fyrn knew. “What do you mean? Has he acquired more soldiers?”
Fyrn shook his head, unable to keep his eyes open as he spoke. “He has four Rhazdon Artifacts, Victoria. Four. He’s a master of fire, water, torture, and metal. Your two are not enough to destroy him.”
Bertha gasped, and Victoria’s hands balled into fists. After everything she had endured, after all the sacrifice…
She wasn’t enough.
Victoria gritted her teeth. “What do I have to do?”
“There isn’t time,” Fyrn said with a weak gesture toward the wall, though he had no doubt meant to gesture toward the castle. “We must attack. We must… We must…”
Fyrn’s breathing settled into a slow and steady pace and Victoria watched her mentor as he slept, utterly destroyed by whatever Luak had done. It seemed as though Fyrn wasn’t long for this world, but Victoria would do everything in her power to save him.
CHAPTER 8
Victoria couldn’t take it anymore. She had to check on Fyrn.
The door to his room had been closed for hours, and only Bertha or Diesel had been allowed in to check on him. Victoria had tried to train, to cook, to do anything besides worry—and while her bear figurine’s magic helped keep the nerves from overwhelming her entirely, a low level of anxiety still hummed like a fly in her ear.
The door creaked as she entered, and she pulled the chair in the corner over to his bedside. At first he continued to snooze, arms resting peacefully on his stomach as his chest rose and fell, but after a while his eyes fluttered open.
“Victoria?”
“Hey,” she said softly. She tried to smile, but it came out as more of a nervous twitch.
“You look terrible,” he wheezed with a laugh.
She chuckled. “Can’t really sleep when I have you to worry about, can I?”
He weakly waved away her concern, though he was not strong enough to lift his hand more than a few inches. “I’m fine.”
“Hardly. You look like you had the life sucked out of you.”
Fyrn sighed and tilted his head slightly. “Something like that.”
“What did he do to you?”
“What’s missing, Victoria? What do I not have on me now that I’ve had with me every time we’ve ever spoken?”
She scanned his face, confused by the question. “You don’t have anything on you. Your hat, your robe, your staff—”
“Exactly,” he said.
“What, your staff?”
Fyrn nodded. “Victoria, what I am about to tell you is an absolute secret. You can tell no one, not even Diesel. Not even Audrey. Do you understand?”
“But—”
“Please, Victoria,” he said with a cough. His eyes fluttered closed. “Please.”
She sighed, shoulders hunched in defeat. “Fine, Fyrn. It’s our secret.”
“Good, good,” he said softly. “My staff was no ordinary weapon. Witches and wizards can use staffs in lieu of wands, yes, but mine was special.”
“What do you mean?”
A mischievous smile tugged at the corners of Fyrn’s mouth, twitching as it fought to spread across his tired features. “My staff was a powerful artifact fused with an even more powerful relic. Do you remember what those are?”
“I think so,” she said, a little hesitant. “An artifact is like a flashlight, and the relic is the battery, right?”
Fyrn nodded. “Just like your Rhazdon Artifact, child. You are the battery.”
She shuddered involuntarily, not entirely liking that fact.
“My staff,” Fyrn continued, “housed one of the most powerful relics known. Paired with the right artifact, it could decimate entire cities. It has immense power, Victoria, and it has kept me alive all these years.”
Victoria scanned his weathered face as she tried to process what he had said. “It keeps you alive?”
He nodded. “I’m far older than I seem, Victoria. By any reasonable expectation, I should not have lived this long. That relic, and that alone, has kept me alive, and if I do not get it back I won’t live long enough to see you depose Luak.”
Victoria stared at him in stunned silence as she processed this news. “But…but…”
Fyrn lifted a weak hand, his fingers shaking as they reached for her. She took it, careful to hold him gently and not crush his hand with her enhanced strength.
“I’m so impressed with you,” he said, smiling. “I believe in you. I believe in your strength. In your kindness. In your courage. You are a brave soul, my dear, and you will never fail those you love, not even if you try. You’re a good soul—a strong soul—and it has been an honor to teach you.”
Weakened and at death’s door, his grumpy personality had all but faded. He had things to say, and he didn’t know if he would have another chance to say them.
She swallowed hard. “Those sound like final words.”
His eyes shut. “I hope they aren’t, my girl, but I had to say them just in case.”
In the silence, Victoria held his hand. He slowly relaxed and his breathing evened out, and he once more fell asleep. Tenderly, Victoria returned his hand to his stomach and squared her shoulders.
“I won’t let you down, Fyrn,” she swore. “I won’t let you die.”
***
Diesel led the way as he and Victoria ran down one of the castle’s secret passages toward one of the castle’s many treasure vaults. She had asked Audrey and Styx to stay behind to protect Fyrn and the safehouse, a request that had involved a shouting match and a few glares.
But they had to face the facts: Diesel knew the castle and Audrey didn’t. Audrey could take out a city block with her magic, and the safehouse needed guarding. And Styx… Well, he could distract Audrey from her fuming.
Besides, even Diesel didn’t know what they were looking for, not really. He thought they were merely searching for Fyrn’s staff, since a wizard’s magical instrument was a source of pride, something he didn’t easily part with.
Only Victoria knew better.
“You know,” Diesel said between huffs of breath as they ran, “you don’t need to go on life or death missions to spend time with me.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Seriously,” he continued. “I have twenty-seven better date ideas. Some of them even involve me cooking food for you. Me! Cooking! For you!”
“Focus,” she chided.
“As you desire, my darling,” he said, slowing to take one of the side passages off the secret hallway.
She followed, not sure if it was worth looking in any more of the vaults. There were seventeen in total, according to Diesel, but there was no guarantee he knew of them all.
In the back of her mind, a flicker of inspiration hovered just out of reach. The familiar feeling burned within her, nostalgic and almost painful. She gasped, slowing and holding her head as she struggled to understand it.
As she sat with the feeling, it melted through her like ice on a hot sidewalk. It was an incredible sensation that became a robust sense of knowing, an unspoken understanding of something great.
“Gah,” she muttered to herself, fighting through the odd sensation.
“What is it?” Diesel set a hand on each of her shoulders, but she closed her eyes to focus on it.
Her intuition flared. This was important. She needed to push through this.
The flicker of inspiration neared, as though someone were handing her the answer on a silver platter…if only she could reach it.
Her ey
es shot open as clarity crashed through her. “I know where Fyrn’s staff is.”
“What? How could you possibly—”
“Luak’s room. Do you know where that is?”
Victoria was grinning with excitement. The moment of clarity had been so invigorating, so overpowering that she could barely contain herself. It only made sense—defeating someone as powerful as Fyrn was quite an accomplishment, one Luak would brag about for the rest of his life. The staff—the symbol of the wizard’s power that would outlive even him—was a trophy.
One he would keep close to him as a daily reminder of his greatness.
Diesel stuttered. “Luak’s room? Why on Earth—”
“It’s there. I know it is.”
Diesel gaped at her for a moment before gathering himself enough to snap his mouth shut. “Yes, I can take you there.”
The confirmation sent a humming vibration deep into her core, and the bear figurine buzzed with excitement. It was confirmation that this hunch of hers was solid.
The relic would be there.
***
Diesel could not believe he was about to break into the king’s chambers. Sure, he knew how, but knowledge was entirely separate from action.
The things he did for this woman.
Victoria peeked out of the secret passage. “Coast is clear.”
“Victoria, please rethink this. He will know the moment we enter that room.”
“I figured.”
“We can’t stay. If the staff isn’t immediately visible, we may have to leave without it. The charms guarding the door are silent and powerful, and nothing I can do will keep them from going off.”
She looked at him, all serious beauty. “Diesel, we’ll be fine. Remember, the staff was destroyed. We just need to get his crystal thingy.”
At that Diesel couldn’t help but smile. She was human, after all—she didn’t know about the magic of staffs or wizards, not really. “Get crystal thingy. Don’t die. Got it.”
“Har har. Now come on, move!”
Diesel kicked in Luak’s door, and a burst of magic cut through him. It was like a punch to the gut, but Victoria didn’t seem to feel it. Unsurprising, as wizard’s magic was usually undetectable to non-wizards, but it still knocked the wind out of him. He lost several valuable seconds as he caught his breath.
Victoria had already overturned three sofas and a table by the time Diesel joined her. He ripped through the sitting room, using every spell he could think of to magically shred cushions and open drawers, but he kept most of his attention on the hallway and the still-open secret passage as the moments passed.
They didn’t have long.
“Found it!” Victoria shouted from the other room.
“Victoria, not so loud!” Diesel hissed.
She ran around the corner with the familiar crystal in her hands, and lifted it for Diesel to examine. He nodded.
“Definitely it, now let’s go.”
Her gaze shifted to the hallway, and he could almost read her thoughts. She wanted to stay. To fight.
“Another day, Victoria,” he said softly.
She tensed her jaw and nodded, running ahead of him into the passage. He slid in and snapped his fingers, commanding the door to shut with a silent spell. As it soundlessly closed, he let out a breath of relief.
They had managed to be in and out in mere minutes, a truly phenomenal feat.
“Now, let’s get—”
Diesel was interrupted by the thump of feet in the corridor, and peeked through an enchanted spyhole at the army racing down the hallway with Luak in the lead. He stormed into the decimated bedroom, fuming.
“Find whoever did this and drag them by the throat to me!” he screamed.
Diesel turned his gaze on Victoria, who shared the spyhole with him. Her body had gone rigid, and Diesel wondered if she would plow through the wall. After all, this was the elf who had not only threatened her life many times, but who had murdered her parents in front of her. Victoria had a vendetta, a bloodlust she needed to satisfy, and only killing Luak would give her that peace.
Diesel set his hand on her shoulder, and she flinched as her eyes met his. He could guess exactly what she was thinking—I want his head on a platter.
“You’re not ready,” Diesel said softly.
She frowned, glaring at him with an icy expression that nearly frosted his skin. After a few tense moments, however, she nodded. “I know. Fyrn said Luak has immense power, and I need to get stronger first. I’m not going to take on a monster I’m not ready to slay.”
Diesel let out a long sigh of relief. “Let’s get the old fart his crystal thingy, huh?”
Victoria chuckled, and she took the lead as they jogged back the way they had come. Diesel loved how comfortable she was when she was in charge—even if she was going the wrong way.
CHAPTER 9
Audrey reclined in one of the kitchen chairs, one eyebrow lifted in disbelief as she stared at Lady Spry. “There are others?”
The regal woman nodded. “Many fled to the tunnels as Luak’s mercenaries took over the city, and they need to be united. They live in isolated pockets of—”
The door to the basement swung open, and Victoria raced through with Diesel hot on her heels. Though she breathed normally Diesel huffed, hands on his knees as he fought to catch his breath.
“Luak is pissed,” Victoria said with a grin, lifting the crystal that had once sat atop Fyrn’s staff.
“I’m going to take a nap,” Diesel said, wheezing. He headed for the living room, only to stop when he scanned the table.
Audrey grinned, watching Lady Spry, Bertha, and Edgar from her peripheral vision. They had all taken seats when the senator had unexpectedly arrived with surprising news.
“What’s going on?” Diesel asked.
“Apparently there are more in hiding, like us,” Audrey said, tilting her head toward the senator.
Lady Spry nodded. “I recently uncovered what I suspect are the secret rebel hideouts of those who couldn’t find a way to leave the city but didn’t want to live under Luak’s rule. They’ve escaped to many of the deepest, most difficult-to-reach caverns beneath the city. They can help you—and I believe you can help them.”
Victoria stood a little taller as the senator looked directly at her.
“How did you find them?” Bertha asked.
The lady’s shoulders drooped. “I uncovered new information about the hunt for Victoria and Audrey. Luak is furious at Fyrn’s rescue, and he intends to go through every house in the city, starting with the deserted ones. He’s coming here, so you absolutely must leave. I needed to find you someplace else to go, and though these are only suspicions, I believe I am correct in assuming there are rebels in these caverns who can hide you.”
“Damn it,” Victoria muttered. She rubbed her temples, still cradling the crystal in one hand.
“We should leave,” Bertha said softly.
Audrey nodded. “The sooner the better.”
“Everyone, pack,” Victoria said. “We won’t have to run for much longer.”
Audrey perked up, leaning her elbows on the table as she leaned toward her friend. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve had a few ideas,” Victoria said with a smirk. “Go get ready. I’ll update you in a minute, once I get this crystal to Fyrn.”
“Reginald and Greggor are still in the tunnels,” Edgar said with a nod toward the basement. “I will wait for them as long as I can and meet up with you.”
“Very good,” Lady Spry said, standing.
Audrey watched Victoria as she headed for Fyrn’s bedroom. She was so confident, so focused. So ready for battle. It made Audrey proud to see Victoria so effortlessly taking command.
With her in charge, they would be fine.
***
Victoria gently shut the door behind her as she tiptoed into Fyrn’s room. He slept in the bed, and she wanted to prolong whatever rest he could get.
“How did it go?” Fyrn a
sked, eyes still closed.
Victoria chuckled and set the crystal on his lap. “Just fine.”
He sighed with relief, apparently too tired to open his eyes, but his hands found the relic and held it tightly. “Thank you, Victoria. Thank you.”