Death Flag

  He knew that Erin and Shayna were anxious to find out what had happened to Burke. Gregory had told them that he had been banished, that he was no longer a Guardian, but those were just words spoken in the heat of the moment and in anger. They might well be nothing but lies intended to rile them up and hurt. But they might also be true. Madison suspected that, as anxious as the sisters were to find out the truth, they were also fearful of it and what it might mean if it were true.

  “How long has it been, Warren?” Madison asked quietly without looking up.

  The ranger shifted on his feet uneasily as he considered the question and then asked, “How long since what?”

  “Since you dragged my sorry ass out of the forest,” Madison explained. “Since you brought me here. It was at sundown then, right? Now it’s sunrise, and I’m coming back again.”

  Warren chuckled softly as if he knew where this was going. “You aren’t in much better shape now than you were then,” he said contemplatively. “You had just escaped from the slavers, right?”

  “Yeah,” Madison answer quietly. He remembered all too well. He had been filled with fear and anxiety. He had been thrown into a foreign world and left for dead with no idea where he was or how he was supposed to survive. He had escaped from a battle at sea between two sets of pirates before being taken captive and marched to auction as a slave. “That day I finally realized that it was either kill or be killed. That was the day I started fighting for my life.”

  “You never really explained why you let yourself be taken by them,” Alyanna said quietly. “I’ve heard the rumors and snippets of conversation, but I don’t know if I ever got the full story. “Couldn’t you just fight your way free?”

  Madison suspected that the parts she had heard had been as much through second- and third-hand sources as it was from him. He had willingly admitted to her that he had been with them and that they were likely looking for him after she had blamed him for her brother’s death, but he didn’t recall ever explaining the entire story with her present—and he didn’t really want to do that now considering he had no idea where to start or how to make her believe him. He’d fill her in when he had the time to it properly, but this wasn’t it.

  “Just bad luck, I guess,” he responded at last. “I sort of stumbled into the middle of their camp without knowing what was going on.”

  “So you’ve always been an idiot,” Shayna observed, instantly seizing the chance to mock him. “I thought you just got dumber since coming to K’yer Utane.”

  “It was certainly an eye-opening experience,” Madison answered vaguely. “It’s strange to think that our paths started in two very different spots and yet somehow managed to intersect here.”

  “You can never predict the path of time,” Alaynna waxed cryptically, likely quoting some aspect of her religious beliefs.

  Warren shifted again and said, “We should be heading back soon. There’s a chance of making it to breakfast if we leave now.”

  “Warren, you and I never make it to breakfast. Do you know how many times we tried and failed?” Madison asked sarcastically. “Something is always getting in the way. Just give it up!”

  “Maybe if you would stop picking fights with everyone you come across,” Warren said crossly. “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, you know.”

  “No thanks,” Madison answered.

  “Not going to happen,” Shayna replied at the same time.

  Madison looked over at where she sat next to Erin, and she gave him a sly grin.

  “You know, I really need to get around to going to a class sometime. Who knows what I might actually learn if I put my mind to it.” Madison added. “I can’t believe I was here for all that time and never made it to a single one.”

  Warren chuckled again, and Shayna snorted. “Maybe you should stop getting into fights after all,” Shayna replied.

  “I’m a bit eager,” Alyanna chimed in. “If they can teach me to use this power, to develop it more . . . it would be great.”

  “You’ll learn that and much more,” Warren proclaimed boastfully. “This is the best collection of mages and knowledge left in the world. If there’s anything you want to learn about magic, this is the place to do it.”

  “You can’t teach an old man new tricks though,” Shayna said snidely, pushing the conversation back so that she could poke at Madison again.

  “Just how old do you think I am?” Madison asked defensively. Then, unable to pass up the opportunity to get in a shot of his own when she teed it up for him, he said, “We can’t all be children our entire lives like you, ya know.”

  Unusually, Shayna just smiled. Madison caught sight of it while watching for a reaction out of the corner of his eye, and he couldn’t help but smile himself. That was the smile she only used on very rare occasions. That was the smile that made him want to protect her.

  “She has a good point,” Alyanna said as if realizing something. “I’m willing to bet that you’re already a better swordsman than everyone here. Who would be able to teach you? Who would even challenge you?”

  Madison reached up and scratched his head as a way to by some time to think. He wasn’t really uncertain, he just wasn’t sure if he wanted to bring up the topic at the moment. In the end, he had to. “Ryder is still a better swordsman than I am,” he answered honestly. “Although, I’m confident that I can beat him with enough time to train. Every time I swing my sword . . . It’s hard to explain, but it’s like I’m remembering how to do it. Sudden bursts and flashes come to me in the middle of a fight . . . It’s like I’ve forgotten how to block and parry and then transition to an attack and string together the proper sequence of combinations, but then there are these times when it all flows together seamlessly when I’m not thinking about it. When that happens, when I’m in that zone . . . Nothing else matters except for the fight in front of me, and I don’t even have to think about it. My body just reacts.”

  “When did you become the warrior-philosopher?” Shayna asked skeptically.

  Madison rolled his eyes and heaved a breath, and Alyanna answered, “I think I know what you mean. If I try to force my magic to work, there are times it doesn’t cooperate. It’s like it fights against me, not wanting to show me something. I have to just relax and let it happen naturally.”

  “That’s fairly correct,” Warren said. “Most people who have natural gifts say the exact same thing. Anyone can be taught to use magic if they have the aptitude, but gifts like yours are extremely rare. They’re something you’re born with, and they’re as much alive as you are in certain ways. You have to learn to flex that gift like any other muscle. It just takes practice, time, and hard work.”

  “You read too much,” Madison said sarcastically. “Don’t tell me you studied at the wizard’s tower too?”

  “Of course I did,” Warren answered candidly. “It helps tremendously with—”

  “Where do you think he is?” Erin asked suddenly, interrupting Warren and turning to look his way. “And what are you going to do?” When Madison looked at her, however, he realized that she was looking past him at Alyanna, who was on his left. The young heiress blinked once as if confused and then settled in solemn, contemplative expression.

  “I’m going to learn everything I can,” she answered resolutely. “I’m going to learn what I can to help my people. There’s still a war in the east, and they’re going to keep trying to drag us into it. They want our military, and they want our riches. They think we’re far wealthier than we already are . . . Well, we might actually be that well off if what Burke said was right . . . But I need to know everything I can to help them.”

  Madison nodded. “That’s it. That’s all you can do. Make yourself better; prepare every way you can. Learn and do everything you can to stay alive. If you can help out a few people along the way, that’s all the better. I know you’re only here for a few months, but use that time wisely. I think your home is safe with your father for a while longer.”

  �
��I have no doubt,” she answered, somewhat coolly. There were still a lot of things that she was going to have to sort through when it came to her relationship with Lord Fox, and her reaction was likely a result of her not knowing how to act at all as much as anything else. He had abandoned her, attempted to trade her off like a bargaining chip, and then left her for dead. She understood why he had done it—for the sake of their people—but that didn’t mean she was willing or able to forgive him for it.

  He also knew that she was going to have to come to terms with whatever had happened to her while she had been held as a captive. She hadn’t said a word about it so far, but he could tell that it was bothering her. It only showed up from time to time in small ways, an erratic or irate word or action, but she was slightly off from how she had been before. Everyone dealt with psychological trauma in their own way, but repressing it wasn’t the right choice at all. She had everything that had been going on since then to focus on and occupy her mind with, but sooner or later, she was going to have to deal with the demons that had been created inside of her.

  Pushing those thoughts and concerns to the side for now, Madison asked, “And where is who?” repeating Erin’s first question that had gone unanswered.

  “She wants to know where Ryder is,” Shayna explained. “But what she’s really asking is ‘Where is Burke, and is he safe?’”

  Erin turned to scowl at her sister, but she didn’t correct her either.

  “It’s probably safe to assume that they’re both still somewhere in the East, right? Ryder went to meddle in the war there for whatever reason—likely because I put some wrench into his master plan to drag K’yer Utane out of retirement—and Burke went to salvage things and stop him. I’m sure he’s safe,” he added confidently, reaching over to wrap his arm around Erin’s shoulders and give her a small squeeze. He rested his hand on her head when he was finished and ruffled her hair, eliciting a small shake of her head.

  Then, remembering what Alyanna had said about returning home, he added, “I want to make the trip north with you when you return home, Aly.”

  “Really?” she asked excitedly. She seemed both surprised and pleased by that idea. “You want to see Stargrave?”

  “Yeah,” he answered. “I have some business there that I need to tend to as well.” The dragon had advised him to visit another of her kind in the north before it was too late, and he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity. Not only did it mean finding out more about his mysterious past, but it meant meeting another hulking, winged behemoth—which was just kind of cool in its own way.

  “In Stargrave?” she asked incredulously.

  “Probably wants to ask for your hand in marriage,” Warren responded, drawing a snicker from Shayna.

  Madison jerked his head around and looked up behind him as if he were wounded. “You too, Warren? Really?”

  Alyanna smiled, kicking her feet back and forth over the edge for a moment. She had shared part of her past with Madison, and the idea of someone courting her was probably appealing on some level since she had basically been shunned by her entire social circle her entire life. They had mocked her and derided her because of her gifts, but she was going to have to learn to deal with them now that she was the heir-apparent. No matter how much they feared her or detested her because of her magic, they couldn’t refute the fact that she was poised to inherit control of Stargrave.

  Before she could answer, Warren continued. “There’s a tournament coming up, you know. You might want to stick around long enough to watch—both of you, that is.”

  “Tournament?” Alyanna asked, glancing back at him questioningly.

  “It’s basically the biggest event we have here. Someone came up with it a long time ago as a means of letting everyone go all out without reservations. A lot of people don’t like the dueling and bullying that goes on, so this gives them a chance to let out their pent-up frustrations,” he explained.

  “I’m assuming that it also defines a clearly-spelled-out pecking order,” Madison added wryly. “You said that there are worlds of difference between a Class and a Sworn, right? Making the two square off wouldn’t even be fair.”

  Warren shrugged. “You’d be surprised. Putting a rogue against a fighter or a mage can have different outcomes. Everything is a variable when you’re going all out: weapons, terrain, cover . . .”

  “I get it,” Madison said, realizing what was being hinted at. “This isn’t just two people going into an arena, and one man coming out.”

  “Not exactly,” Warren answered with a chuckle. “But something close to that. And, you’re not wrong: there is a power ranking. It’s grouped based on skill level, and everyone’s on it somewhere or another.”

  “Like everything else around here, I’m sure it’s filled with gossip and drama,” Madison said sardonically. He could only imagine what rumors had been going around while they were gone. Gregory had given him a pretty good idea about some of the things that might have been said, but again, that didn’t mean that they were true. He was certain, however, that he wasn’t going to be welcomed back with open arms. Coming back here might be a mistake completely, but it was one that he had to make. If he was going to get stronger, if he was going to do the exact same thing that he had advised Alyanna to do, then he was going to have to take that risk. He really did need to get stronger and learn more. Above all else, he needed to get back into the training room and learn whatever it was his mysterious doppelganger wanted to teach him about fighting and using magic—things that he supposedly already knew. “I’m also sure that certain groups are going try and glory-hog everything.”

  Shayna snorted. “Like Randall and his cronies? And his entire fan base of brain-dead worshipers?”

  “That group has power, certainly,” Warren contended, “but there are others as well. I know you never gave them a chance, Shayna, but there are certain factions here who would protect you if you let them.”

  “You mean people who would use me and then sell me out the moment they got a chance or it was opportune? No thanks,” she answered flatly.

  “Things are likely going to be worse now that all this has happened,” Madison added thoughtfully. “I left a growing number of enemies here before we left, and I didn’t exactly make any friends while we were gone. I’m fairly certain that your simple association with me will earn you a whole new bevy of people who are willing to challenge you at the drop of a hat, and I doubt you’re going to get very many recruiting offers. I’m guessing that I’m gonna have to answer for what I did on the mountaintop, huh?” He had killed one of Randalls henchmen, Nicholas, and he knew that alone was enough to paint a target on his back. Everyone from K’yer Utane who made it back alive would tell the tale of how he had slaughtered everyone there. He could only imagine what filthy lies that pudgy redhead must be spewing even now to save his own face. His involvement with Alyanna and Shayna before they left was just fuel to the fire at this point. That said, he had no reservations about the fact that he would have people gunning for him for anything that he had done.

  “Aww . . . You’re worried? Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe,” Alyanna cooed patronizingly. She wrapped his arm in hers and leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder. She had become rather touchy lately, not that Madison minded, but he had begun to suspect that it had something to do with her time in captivity. It was almost like she was looking for reasons to be in contact with someone else whenever she could.

  “Is that even possible?” Madison asked rhetorically. “Everyone’s out to kill you around here, remember? And the target on my back is extra-large. Plus, you’ve only got a few months before you leave, so what will I do once you’re gone?”

  “Hopefully eat breakfast!” Warren added impatiently.

  Madison pulled his gaze away and looked back at the ranger, suddenly remembering why he kept changing the topic without directly answering. He looked to his right and studied Erin. It was easy enough to forget that the quiet, mousey girl was even there some
times since she rarely spoke or acted out unless she was agitated or angry. One thing that was true, no matter much she never voiced it, was that the mention of time almost always upset her. At the moment, however, she seemed content.

  “How long has it been?” Madison asked again, rather pointedly, turning his gaze back to the valley.

  “Fifteen years,” Erin answered in a gentle voice that was barely more than a whisper. “Fifteen years since I watched the sunrise over this valley for the first time.”

  Madison glanced over at her, and both she and Shayna were studying the sunrise intently.

  “Fifteen years,” Shayna echoed. “And how many lifetimes have we given up? How many more?”

  Madison understood then. The flow of time could be altered, but it couldn’t be stopped. They had gained power and strength and knowledge in K’yer Utane, but the price they paid for it was time. They grew stronger every day that they spent there, but that meant that, while Burke was risking his life out in the world to keep everyone safe and maintain the status quo, he was growing exponentially older by the day and at an alarming rate. If you left something behind in the outside world, you risked having it pass you by completely in order to study here. That was the same price he was going to have to pay if he wanted to defeat the witch and get home.

  “As many as it takes,” he answered. “We don’t stop until it's finished.”

  Appendix