She collided with the wall as Rendal floated forward.
“Strength without skill, Riley. You can’t win. You can’t control it. You don’t know what you’re doing. That’s okay, though. Through suffering comes enlightenment.”
“Fuck you,” she uttered, slicing at the mage. His left hand blocked the blade easily, slapping it away.
Every muscle in Riley’s body struggled forward, but she couldn’t break his hold. She watched angrily as Rendal’s right hand moved up, palm facing her.
“See you soon, Right Hand.”
He swiped his palm across her face, and Riley saw only darkness.
Chapter Nine
“RILEY!”
William’s call ripped Riley from the darkness.
Her body reacted without her command. She had no idea where she was, but whirled onto her stomach and then leapt to her feet, sword in hand.
“DAMN IT, RILEY!” William swayed on his feet. “We got to train you better, skinny. You couldn’t handle that fuckin’ old man any better than a toddler could’ve.”
He put his hand to his head, giving her both a grimace and a smile.
Riley didn’t understand what was happening. She stood on the docks, but they were alone. No ships or people, just her and William.
She turned to the jungle.
There was no more jungle.
Only the ashes and red embers of burned trees and buildings.
“What the hell happened?” she whispered to herself.
William stumbled across the docks, his footsteps loud in the otherwise deafening silence.
“I just told ya what the hell happened,” he grumbled. “Ya lost another fight with him. I don’t know how you keep losin’… Ugh, my head.”
“Stop kidding around, William,” Riley snapped. “Where’s Mason? Where’s the ship? Where’s Rendal?”
“Slow down, girl.” William sat on the ground. “What do you remember?”
Riley blinked, looking at the destroyed world in front of her. The island was in shambles, the buildings little more than flaming sticks.
“The group,” Riley gasped, ignoring his question. “We’ve got to find out what happened to them.”
William groaned but put his hand on the ground and pushed himself back up. “What I remember is me trying to caution us against going on that ship, and you pushin’ the issue, so I’m blamin’ you for this damned headache.”
Riley rolled her eyes. “Later. We have to find Lucie and Worth. I don’t see anyone, do you?”
William peered into the burning jungle. “No. No one.”
Riley raced forward. Her head hurt horribly, but she had to see what had happened to her friends.
She moved much faster than when she’d come north last night because there was nothing in her way. William tried to keep up but fell farther behind.
Words from the night before came back to her slowly, floating through her head.
She tried to push them away.
Riley didn’t have Mason, and now she might not have the people that she’d come with. She might have lost everyone.
I’ll take everything from you until there is literally nothing left.
Fuck that, her mind responded, and she focused on the path in front of her, her feet beating the ground rapidly.
She reached the building. Fire burned across the outside, the exterior black with ash.
A dead tree lay leaned on the building.
William caught up, his breathing ragged. “Damn it, Riley. I wish you had fought this hard last night. Maybe none of this would have happened.”
She ignored the jab.
Riley heard and saw no one, simply witnessed the same destruction she’d seen on her way here.
The circular building’s front door opened and Riley drew her sword from its sheath.
Worth stumbled out, and if it weren’t for the chalice in his hand, Riley would have thought him injured.
That, and his purple lips.
“Twocuts. Great wine. Great, great wine.”
He smiled broadly.
“Father and Mother,” William swore. “This lout is drunk off his ass, and the entire island just burned down.”
Hot, happy tears rushed to Riley’s eyes. She didn’t bother sheathing her sword, just ran forward and wrapped her arms around the big man.
“Where is everyone else? Are they okay?”
“Careful!” Worth shouted, backing up and staring into his chalice. “This good! Careful, Riley!” He glared at her.
“Oh, you damn fool!” she smiled as she pushed past him into the building.
She heard William yelling something behind her, but she paid no attention. Once inside, she stopped and looked across the interior.
They’re here, she thought. They’re all here.
Lucie, Erin, Verith—
“Eric? Where’s Eric?” she shouted.
Everyone in the room was staring at her as if they couldn’t believe their eyes.
“You’re alive,” Lucie whispered. “How is it possible?”
“Where is Eric?” Riley shouted.
“It’s okay, Right Hand.” Erin stepped forward and placed her hand on Riley’s shoulder. “He’s injured, but he’s okay. Twocuts took him aboard his ship, and he’s receiving care.”
William entered the room.
“Oh, thank heavens,” Lucie whispered but shut her mouth so quickly her teeth clicked together.
“No need to hide it, Lucie. I heard you. You’re glad I’m alive.” William smiled broadly. “And I’m never gonna let you live that down.” He stepped deeper into the building, taking in his surroundings. His voice changed as he looked at Erin. “I’m very glad you’re okay, my lady.”
“Oh, cut the shit,” Lucie said. “My lady this and my lady that. Everyone here can tell ya got the hots for her.”
William flushed and quickly turned away from Erin.
“I’m glad you’re okay too, Right Hand,” Erin responded.
William acted like he didn’t hear her and stared at Lucie with fresh anger. “What the hell happened here? I left to go kick ass, and when I wake up, everything’s burnt to the ground.”
“Thought both you dead, aye.” Worth walked into the building. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was stumbling much worse than usual. “Said, betcha, both dead.”
“Where is everyone?” Riley asked. “Where are the rest of our troops?”
“You should sit down, Riley.” Verith stepped toward her from the side of the room.
“Hell, no! Tell me what the fuck happened!”
The room fell silent beneath Riley’s rage.
Nearly a minute that silence stretched, then Lucie spoke.
“Fire. It came from Rendal’s ship. I saw it with my mind, and so did Worth—”
“Aye,” Worth agreed. “Saw it, Worth did.”
“It flowed from the ship, barreling right out,” Lucie continued. “It didn’t stop either, like fire should. It kept flowing, catching everything in its wake.”
Again, the silence.
“A lot of people died, Riley. A lot of pirates. A lot of our people. A lot of Worth’s people.”
Worth threw his chalice against the wall. The metal dented, and purple wine splashed across the stone wall. “Aye. He killed Worth people. He killed lots of Worth people.”
Riley knew what that meant to him, because unlike the citizens of New Perth, Worth didn’t have a lot of people. His tent city had numbered perhaps eighty, and each time they ventured out with Riley, more died.
Worth collapsed and leaned against the wall. He put his hands on his face and sobbed silently into them.
Verith kept talking, doing his best to ignore the mourning man. “Lucie and Worth kept us safe. Their combined power formed a shield around the building, although the fire pushed closer and closer, as you can tell from looking at the outside. It never got in, though.”
Erin spoke next. “A lot of pirates died. Those who didn’t took to the sea early this morni
ng. If you walk to the south end of the island, you can see their ships. Eric’s with them. They have better medicine.”
“What are they doing?”
“They’re having a parley and deciding what to do,” Erin answered.
“With who?”
“First, with us,” Erin said. “Secondly, about Rendal.”
“With us?” William spoke up. “I’ll tell them what they can do with us: come here and let me cut them down one by one. What the hell are they talkin’ about?”
“We’re not pirates, and we’re on the sea. Our ships are still intact. By ocean law, they can kill us and take our property if we’re not strong enough to defend it.”
Riley pulled away from both of them. She walked to a chair sitting at one of the tables and sat down.
“Everyone, just hold on.” Riley closed her eyes. “It doesn’t matter what they’re doing. They’re not going to attack us.”
“And how can ya be so sure, skinny?”
She looked up, grinning. “All that brawn, and not many brains. For one, they took Eric to help him heal. I don’t see that as an act of aggression, do you?”
William’s eyes narrowed, but he remained quiet.
“Exactly. They’re not going to kill us. And even if they tried, it’s not a guaranteed thing—unless you’re scared to face the pirates, chubby?”
“More like they’re scared to face me,” William retorted.
“Good.” Riley turned her head to her feet and closed her eyes again. “Do you remember what happened last night, William? We need to focus on Rendal right now. I know the loss of people is painful for everyone, myself included, but if we want to avenge them, we have to stop the mage. Do you remember what happened?”
“Not a lot,” William admitted. “I remember trying to attack him, and then I couldn’t breathe. That’s the end of it until I woke up on the docks.”
“But you said I’d lost a fight. That made it sound like you had watched.” Riley looked at him.
“Just givin’ ya shit.” William grinned.
“You mean to tell me, when you awoke from nearly being killed by a dark mage, the first thing you thought about was fucking with me?”
“Aye.” William chuckled. “What can I say? I’m an asshole.”
Riley rolled her eyes. “You’re ridiculous. Some of what happened is coming back to me. The important parts, and that’s what Rendal told me. He said he’s going to take everything away from me slowly until I join him.”
“Then why didn’t he kill me?” William asked.
“He knows I don’t care about you.” Riley grinned. She wasn’t going to tell William what Rendal had said. Not right now, at least.
“He knows you’d be lost without me, skinny,” William shot back.
Riley kept going. “He told me he’s going to Sidnie to destroy it.”
“That’s impossible,” Verith spoke up. “I’ve been to Sidnie. Has anyone else?”
Everyone stared at the general, shaking their heads no.
“I went as a young man. Even then, it dwarfed New Perth, and I’m not speaking ill of my own kingdom. I love New Perth, but Sidnie is something unto itself. He can’t take it. I don’t care what magic he possesses.”
“That was what he told me,” Riley answered. “He’s going there.”
“You sure that mage didn’t knock your head a bit too hard?” William asked.
“No harder than I’m about to knock yours. That was what he said,” Riley answered.
“He can do it.” Lucie spoke now. “If he says he can, then he can. I felt him last night; I have a close connection to him, even after all these years.”
Riley glanced at William, knowing he would want to make some kind of crude comment. He was grinning but caught her look. He winked and kept his mouth shut.
“He’s stronger than any of us can imagine. That fire last night…it shouldn’t have been possible, yet it wiped out the entire island. Everyone but us, and I think he left us here for a reason.”
Riley closed her eyes, remembering what Rendal had said.
I’ll take everything from you until there is literally nothing left.
And that he was going to do it slowly.
These people here with her—they mattered to Riley, so he’d left them for later.
Riley looked at Verith. “We have to assume he’s telling the truth. We have to assume he’s going there, and he’ll do what he said…and he still has Mason.”
“Did you see Mason?” Verith asked.
Riley shook her head. “We never got close enough.”
“‘Cause you didn’t let me kick his ass like I wanted.” William had a sly look on his face. “If you’d have stepped aside, we’d all be safe and at New Perth by now.”
“If I’d stepped aside, we’d probably all be wearing green or red necklaces.” She turned to Verith. “We have to get to Sidnie.”
“It’ll be easier with ships. We’re nearly halfway around the continent as is, and we won’t have to deal with the Badlands,” Verith responded. “We’ll need to determine how many men short we are to run the ships—”
“None,” Erin interrupted. “Not with our ship.”
“Well, then I suppose we can leave as soon as you want, Riley,” Verith finished.
“No.”
Everyone in the room looked at Worth.
“What?” William said.
“No. We no go Sidnie,” Worth answered.
“Why not?” William asked.
“She no ready. I told you before. She no ready.” Worth looked at Riley. “You need train. You need time. Need focus.”
Riley felt exasperated, unable to explain to this man that they didn’t have time.
“He has the person I serve, Worth. He’s going to kill other people right now because of my decision not to join him. There isn’t time to do what you’re asking of me. There just isn’t. We have to go forward.”
“So dumb.” Worth wasn’t smiling. His lips were purple, but his face was like an ancient gargoyle’s. “Dumb! You lose. Every time. He win. Every time. Because you no slow down. You chase all over world. Here, there, wherever he point. You like pet. You need listen to Worth.”
He stood up surprisingly easily for someone of his weight and level of drunkenness. He looked at William.
“Listen. She no go. You go. You all go. You see what mage do, and you try stop him. Sneaky-like. Not full frontal assault. Riley. Her and Worth, we go train.”
William didn’t give a ridiculous retort but actually seemed to be considering the man’s words.
“No.” Riley stood. “I’m not letting anyone go in my stead.”
“Hush, Riley,” William whispered.
“No! You aren’t going to tell me what the fuck I’m going to do!” she shouted.
William turned to her, his face soft—no jokes in him now. “Hey, just hear me out. Listen to what I’m about to say and then tell me what you think, okay?”
Riley’s face was hot, and she wanted to rip down the entire building. Her hands were fisted, but she only nodded.
“Worth is right, at least about some of this. We are chasing him around. We do go wherever he is, even out into the ocean, which isn’t New Perth’s way. We keep doing the same thing over and over, and it ain’t workin’.”
He glanced at Lucie. “You might think I’m dumb, but I ain’t.”
He turned back to Riley. “Rendal is leadin’ us by the nose, skinny, and if you let go of your pride and your sense of duty for a second, you’ll see it. Why do you think he told you he was goin’ to Sidnie? Because he wanted you to chase him there like a dog chases a rabbit.”
Riley’s hands relaxed some.
“Despite my clearly badass powers, I don’t know much about magic.” William winked before continuing, “Worth does, though. He knows magic, and he has lost as much as anyone in this. You know what I ain’t hear him say a moment ago? He ain’t say he was done. That he was takin’ his people back to the desert. He said yo
u and he need to get to work, skinny. He’s in this, but he’s wantin’ to do it the smart way. You’re not. You want Rendal to keep playin’ ya.”
Riley took a deep breath, steadying herself. “What exactly are you saying, William?”
“Sheesh, Lucie. This girl is as dumb as you.” William grinned. “I’m sayin’ you go with Worth. Wherever he wants to take you. You learn, and when I see you again, you use all this magic everyone says you got. The rest of us, we’ll go to Sidnie. We’ll go undercover, and we’ll find out exactly what the prick is up to.”
Riley looked at Lucie. “What do you think?”
She nodded. “Worth is right. You can’t beat Rendal yet, and he’s using you. You need to learn. You need to dedicate yourself to magic, not think only of savin’ Mason.”
“Verith,” Riley asked, “can you get everyone into the city?”
He looked at William. “I don’t know. Big man, can you be inconspicuous?”
“In-con-whatuous?” William responded.
Verith smiled and looked at Riley. “We’ll be all right.”
Finally, Riley went back to Worth. “Where are we going? Back to New Perth?”
Worth laughed, his usual jolly demeanor returning for a moment. “New Perth have no magic. We go Badlands. Underground people.”
“Under what?” William’s eyebrows raised high.
“Underground people. They show her. They teach her. We go there.”
Erin stepped forward. “I want Eric to go with you. I want him to keep learning.”
Riley raised her eyebrows and looked at Worth. “That’s up to you.”
“Eric fine. He good student. Not like you.” Worth, surprisingly, hadn’t dropped his grin.
Riley laughed. She didn’t know what else to do. Her life had changed so much in the past few weeks that she nearly couldn’t recognize it, yet the only choice was to go forward. To meet these challenges with clear eyes and a full heart.
“Okay, Worth. To the underground people we go.” She looked at William. “Two things: don’t you or anyone else here get killed.”
“What’s the second?” William asked.
“If you try to kiss Erin while we’re gone, don’t blush too bad.”
William’s entire faced turned the color of an apple.
Chasing Magic (Hand Of Justice Book 2) Page 11