The Chaos Crystal

by Jennifer Fallon

  'And what a busy year it's been,' she said, smiling down at him. 'You've found a mate, made a litter of beautiful babies ...' Got yourself killed by the foolish woman who thought she was doing you a favour by setting you free ...

  The irony in knowing that had she not forged her husband's signature and given Warlock a pardon, he would be safe and well in his cell in Lebec Prison right now, did not escape Arkady. She wished she had more time with Warlock to find out what he'd been up to this past year. More time to discover how it was a freed criminal wound up spying for the Cabal. How he'd met the escaped slave from her own kennels who was now his mate.

  Even as far apart as their worlds normally were, that they could still collide so profoundly left Arkady wondering if there really was such a thing as fate or destiny. It all seemed too coincidental to be mere random chance.

  'Will you help protect my babies, your grace?' he begged, the strain of speaking so great his voice was little more than a whisper. 'Boots acts tough, but she's very young and very frightened and three pups is a lot for any mother, let alone one on the run.'

  Arkady nodded, and wiped his damp brow again, the matted fur cold under her fingers. 'I give you my word, Warlock. I'll do whatever I must to keep them safe.'

  Before Warlock could respond, Boots barrelled down the stairs in a panic with the empty bucket in her hand. 'They're here!'

  Arkady rose to her feet and looked at her oddly. 'Who? Who is here?'

  'The suzerain!' she said, her eyes wild. 'Can't you feel them? No, of course you can't. You're only human.' She hurried to the pups, snatching up Missy who was the closest. 'Perhaps if we hide in the lower levels ...' Then she turned to look at Warlock, her eyes filling with tears. 'Tides ... we can't leave him here!'

  'Why don't you go and hide, and I'll go out there and talk to them.'

  'What for? To protect us?' Boots glanced pointedly at Warlock for a moment and then turned her baleful glare on Arkady. 'Oh, yes. Let's. Because that worked out so well the last time.'

  'You have no choice, Boots,' Arkady told her. 'It nearly killed us getting Warlock down here, and we don't have the time to take him anywhere else. And you need to keep the puppies quiet. Let me go out there.'

  Boots was angry and frightened but she understood that Arkady was making sense. 'What will you tell them?'

  'The truth. That I am the wife of the Duke of Lebec and I managed to swim to safety when the ice broke. The Caelish have won the war and Stellan was fighting on their side. I'll probably be all right. You, Warlock, and the pups — you're the ones who can't risk being found.'

  'I don't know ...'

  'You have to trust me, Boots. Can you tell which suzerain they are?'

  Boots shook her head. 'I can only smell them. I can't tell them apart.'

  'Then let me go out there and lead them away from here.' Arkady glanced at Warlock and added, 'Under the circumstances, it's the least I can do.'

  Boots was still angry with her, but not so angry she couldn't see the sense in what Arkady was proposing. 'You won't tell them we're here? Not even a hint?'

  'I'll pretend to be grateful they've found me,' she promised. 'Tell them I haven't seen another living soul since the ice broke.'

  'What if it's Jaxyn?'

  Arkady shrugged, a little surprised to discover that she really didn't care about her own fate if it meant saving Boots and her family from falling back into the clutches of the immortals. Or perhaps guilt was driving her, making her think she deserved to be recaptured. Freedom was a fine notion, but it was a hard pill to swallow when it felt as if it had come at the expense of her father's life. 'I'll be fine, Boots. At the moment I have more value to these people alive than dead. You just find a way to keep the puppies quiet.'

  Boots nodded reluctantly. 'All right. But don't let them come into the temple, because if it's Elyssa who's found us, I'll kill myself, my mate and my babies before I let that bitch get her hands on my family again.' By the fierce look in her eyes and the proud way her tail was poised, Arkady could tell Boots wasn't making an idle threat.

  'Then hide that damned skull while you're at it,' Arkady suggested with a faint smile, trying to ease the tension a little. 'You can hear them giggling all over the temple when they're playing with it.' She gripped the young canine's shoulder reassuringly. 'And don't worry, Boots. I'll do whatever I must to keep you and your family safe. I promise.'

  'That's what you said the last time,' Boots said gruffly, shaking off Arkady's hand as she shifted Missy to a more comfortable position on her hip. 'And you ended up trying to kill my mate.' She quickly looked up the stairs. 'The smell is getting stronger. You'd better go.'

  Arkady nodded, wishing she had time to say goodbye to Warlock or give the pups a hug, but if Boots could smell the suzerain from down here, then they were very close. She grabbed her coat from the floor, tugging her arms through the sleeves as she climbed the stairs. By the time she emerged into the main part of the temple, blinking in the bright daylight reflecting off the snow that surrounded the ruin, she could already hear their voices.

  The immortals who were heading for the ruins weren't trying to conceal their approach. But then, why would they? They had no reason to suspect anybody was here. Arkady quickly swept some of the scattered leaves across the entrance to the lair in the hope it would pass idle scrutiny and then hurried to her right, away from the door, to stand near the pillar where she'd stabbed Warlock. Arkady could hear voices, male and female, but she still had no idea which of the immortals had found the temple. She truly feared it was Jaxyn, although the ice had broken days ago. Surely he would have stumbled ashore somewhere else along the lakeshore before now?

  There was only one way to be certain; only one way to ensure the immortals came no closer to Warlock and Boots and their Crasii babies.

  Arkady hurried forward, following the sound of voices. As she emerged from the ruins, she discovered it wasn't Jaxyn, with Diala and Lyna by his side, as she'd feared. These immortals were male and they had only one woman with them. Arkady hesitated on the top step, thrusting her hands deep into her pockets against the biting air.

  Two men and a woman approached the temple. Arkady didn't know the woman, nor did she have any idea who the older man was, but the figure on the left she knew all too well.

  I'll do whatever I must to keep you and your family safe, Boots. I promise, she'd foolishly told Boots.

  Tides, Arkady thought. I'll do anything but this. Please, I don't have the strength to deal with him again.

  Nobody was listening, however. The ground didn't open up and swallow her. No lightning bolt came out of the blue to strike her dead when the immortals stopped and stared up at her in astonishment.

  The man on the left was the last person she wanted or expected to see here in Caelum.

  It was Cayal, the Immortal Prince.

  CHAPTER 38

  'This is absolute nonsense, Jaxyn,' Diala scoffed after Declan had finished explaining what Lukys and Cayal were planning. They'd retired to the elaborately decorated room that had once been Stellan Desean's study. It seemed strange to be standing here without Arkady gracing the room, looking every inch the duchess. Strange to be here and not have Stellan sitting at his desk staring at Declan with that odd look caught somewhere between fear and contempt that he always wore when Declan was in the palace. Declan used to take it to mean Stellan feared the spymaster knew the truth about him and was just waiting to expose his secret. Declan never did. He loved Arkady too much to expose her to that sort of trouble.

  And he was protecting her now. In the past few hours, he'd told Jaxyn, Lyna and Diala as much as he could. He'd included almost everything in his tale — meeting up with Cayal in Senestra; Lukys's ice palace with its chamber designed specifically to channel the Tide; Coryna, Maralyce, Kentravyon's revival from his frozen prison — even the story of his own immortal transformation. He'd left out, however, anything to do with Arkady, particularly the bit about how the feline Crasii Jaxyn had employed as his
personal bodyguard was a Scard in the employ of the Cabal of the Tarot and had actually let her escape.

  Declan behaved and spoke as if he believed Arkady was dead, and held no hope for any other news about her fate.

  In truth, Declan was sick over what might have happened to her. He felt even worse that instead of going after her — the very reason he was back here in Glaeba — he'd been forced to abandon his search for Arkady to concentrate on the much larger problem of, well, saving the world.

  For his own sanity, he clung to the notion that Chikita had let Arkady escape in plenty of time for her to get clear of the ice. It was late in the day when Cayal, Kentravyon and Elyssa finally broke the ice-sheet with the Tide, after all. She could have been halfway to anywhere by then.

  At least she was no longer being pursued; there was that to be thankful for. Jaxyn and his immortal conspirators had other things to worry about.

  Jaxyn clearly considered breaking the ice nothing short of shameless cheating. At least that's how he referred to Elyssa teaming up with Cayal and Kentravyon to defeat him. That bothered Jaxyn a great deal more than the fate of any mortal human — even the wife of the man he was trying to browbeat into submission by threatening to kill his wife.

  The immortals took the news about the imminent end of the world well, all things considered. But then, Declan supposed, when you're immortal, after a while nothing must really surprise you any more.

  'I don't know,' Lyna said doubtfully. 'His story has a ring of authenticity about it.' She studied Declan thoughtfully for a moment and then turned to the others. 'You can't deny he's telling the truth about being one of us now.'

  Jaxyn had remained silent while Declan spoke, offering no opinion or any hint as to what he thought about Declan's tale. He was leaning against the desk, his arms folded, and hadn't moved the whole time Declan was talking.

  'I don't doubt for a moment that it's true,' he said after a moment, surprising Declan by adding his weight to Lyna's argument.

  'Why? Because he used to be your spymaster?' Diala asked, rolling her eyes.

  'No,' Jaxyn replied patiently. 'I believe him because Cayal is a lunatic. Destroying the entire world just to end his own misery is exactly the sort of insane, selfish and entirely idiotic thing he'd do.'

  'I suppose you think Lukys is in love with that damned rat, too?'

  Jaxyn smiled faintly. 'Actually, I've always thought it was a little bit disturbing, how fond he was of that rat. I'm almost relieved to hear there's a good reason for his unnatural attachment to it.'

  'Then you'll help me?' Declan asked, not sure he believed he'd ever utter such words to an immortal like Jaxyn Aranville.

  'No,' Jaxyn said. 'I won't help you. There aren't words to describe how little I care about the fate of you or your many boring mortal friends on Amyrantha, Hawkes. I might be willing, however, to do whatever it takes to stop that maniac, Cayal, from screwing it up for the rest of us by destroying a perfectly good world just because he's sick of living on it.'

  'What would be the point?' Diala asked, pacing behind the desk impatiently. She seemed much more interested in taking the fight back to Tryan and Elyssa to reclaim the throne of Glaeba. 'If Hawkes is right, Lukys has a half-dozen Tide Lords lined up to help him open the rift. How would the two of you stop them?'

  'We could stop them finding the Chaos Crystal,' Declan suggested.

  Jaxyn shook his head. 'You don't know where it is and you don't know where the others are, or where they've gone to look for it. You could waste a human lifetime just trying to track them down. You'd be better off heading for where you know they have to go eventually, after they've found it.'

  'You mean the ice palace in Jelidia?' Lyna asked, sounding more than a little exasperated. She turned to Jaxyn, shaking her head. 'Surely you're not thinking of doing this? Even if this fool were right, it'd still be only the two of you against three times as many Tide Lords. You'd not come close to the power the others can muster, let alone if they're amplifying all the power they can channel with this Chaos Crystal he claims they'll be using.'

  'We'd need help,' Declan said, wondering why his grand plan had sounded so much more reasonable in his head. 'Tryan and Brynden, specifically, and probably all the other immortals not aligned with Lukys if we're going to have a chance of stopping them.'

  'What an excellent plan!' Diala said, clapping her hands like a gleeful child. 'Because we're so good at pitching in and working together for the good of all mankind. Maybe afterwards we could all get together and build a barn.'

  Ignoring Diala's sarcastic aside, Jaxyn pushed off the desk, his expression determined. 'Well, let's get to it then.'

  Declan studied him suspiciously. 'You're with me?'

  Jaxyn shrugged. 'It may be the only way to retrieve something from this rather awkward situation.'

  'Retrieve something?' Diala asked. 'What are you talking about?'

  Jaxyn turned to her impatiently. 'We've lost the upper hand here, Diala. Don't you see that? They're on their way, as we speak, to claim Glaeba. The only way to stop Syrolee now is to give her something else to worry about. The spymaster's join-us-to-help-save-the- world idea is a corker.'

  Declan was amazed. Somehow, Jaxyn had found a way to make this all about his desire for conquest. 'So you want to enlist Tryan and Syrolee and the rest of them in your grand plan to save the world merely to

  distract them, while you figure out how you're going to steal Glaeba back from them?'

  Jaxyn smiled at him with approval. 'Got it in one, Hawkes. We'll make an immortal tyrant of you yet.' Before Declan could respond to that, Jaxyn turned to Lyna. 'You should be the one who goes to Senestra.'

  'Why me?'

  'Because you get along with Ambria and Medwen better than anybody else in this room. It'll be up to you to convince them to join us.'

  Lyna didn't seem terribly enthused by the idea. 'If Cayal couldn't convince them to help, why do you think I'll have any more luck?'

  'Because this time they'll have a reason to help. Nobody cares if Cayal wants to die. Everybody cares if we don't have a world left to live on.' He turned to Declan with a frown. 'I'm a little hurt, actually, that Lukys doesn't want me in his brave new world. I imagine, if I put it to her the right way, Syrolee isn't going to be happy about that either.'

  'Do you think you can get them to join us?' Declan asked, wondering if this was what it felt like to sell one's soul. The idea of co-opting the likes of Jaxyn or the Empress of the Five Realms to his cause seemed so fundamentally wrong. But what other choice did he have? There was only one way to stop Cayal and Lukys. And only self-interest would motivate the other Tide Lords into doing something about it. Jaxyn has just proved that in spades.

  But Declan was still full of doubt about whether he was doing the right thing. Maybe I'm making things immeasurably worse. Maybe the world I save won't be worth living in.

  Is there really such a thing as 'better off dead'?

  'Trust me. I can deal with Syrolee,' Jaxyn said. 'And if you're right about Elyssa throwing in her lot with Cayal — which is no great surprise, I have to say —

  then I'm pretty sure Tryan will be with us all the way, too. He hates Cayal on principle. Having him court his sister will only serve to aggravate him further. That leaves you to deal with Brynden, spymaster.'

  That suggestion took Declan completely by surprise. He'd assumed that because they all knew each other so well, it would be left to Diala to deal with the Lord of Reckoning.

  'Why me? I don't know him ...' And there aren't words to describe what I'd like to do to him for selling Arkady into slavery. He kept the last part to himself, certain that voicing his opinion aloud would do nothing to help.

  'You're all shiny and new and uncorrupted, Hawkes,' Jaxyn said, slapping him on the shoulder. 'Brynden has rather firm opinions about the rest of us, and they're not likely to get us a hearing with him. You've a much better chance of convincing that inflexible pain-in-the-backside of the worthiness of your caus
e without any of us around, believe me.'

  Even Diala nodded in agreement. 'He's right, you know. Although you may not find him willing to help, even if you manage to get in to see him. I doubt he's going to lose any sleep over the thought of Cayal dying.'

  Lyna laughed sourly, apparently of the same opinion. 'Knowing Brynden, he'll probably think Lukys is cooking up an apocalypse to cleanse the Tide or rid Amyrantha of all the impure mortals, or something equally idiotic'

  Jaxyn eyed him curiously. 'Are you prepared for that, spymaster? That you might present your noble cause to the Lord of Arrogant Self-righteousness, only to have him decide to throw in his lot with Lukys?'

  'What's the alternative?' Declan asked. 'Just let Lukys open his rift and crack Amyrantha in half because it was too much trouble to do anything to prevent it?'

  Diala's pacing brought her close to Declan and Jaxyn. She stopped for a moment, eyeing him up and down with an approving smile. 'You're so attractive when you're being absurdly noble, Declan. Why were you never like this when you were mortal? You were a rather ignoble and ruthless little prick back then, as I recall. Did the fires of immolation burn away your pitiless exterior to expose the noble champion of injustice underneath?'

  Apparently it was a rhetorical question. She turned from him before he could respond, and strode across the rug to the sideboard where she poured herself a large glass of wine.

  Jaxyn didn't seem interested in Diala's opinion. 'Ignore her. You're right, I'm aggrieved to admit. I'd be monumentally peeved if I ended up helping to destroy this delightful world because we did nothing to stop a suicidal fool and a lovesick maniac from annihilating it.'

  'We'll have to move quickly,' Declan warned. 'Elyssa knows where the crystal is and the Tide is getting higher every day. We may not have long.'

  'Actually, you may have more time than you think,' Lyna said. She was still saying 'you' not 'we', which Declan took to mean she still wasn't convinced she should join them.

  'How do you figure that?' Jaxyn asked.

  She put down her wineglass and turned to them with a thoughtful look on her face. 'Well, I was just thinking ... if this Chaos Crystal channels the Tide, then it's going to play havoc with anybody using the Tide around it, isn't it? I mean ... it's just an inanimate object. It can't choose what it wants to do. All it can do is channel the Tide and if what you say is true, then only Lukys really has any idea how to use it properly.'