The Magelands Epic: Soulwitch Rises (Book 7)

by Christopher Mitchell

  ‘I love you too.’

  They leaned closer together until their lips touched, Keir’s mind lost in a surge of blind panic and joy. He reached up with his free hand and ran his fingers through her hair, then touched her cheek and her neck as they kissed.

  A door opened.

  ‘I knew it,’ said Belinda as Keir and Thorn broke apart. ‘This is bullshit. Thorn, he’s a liar and a coward, who ran out on his family. He’ll do the same to you.’

  ‘No,’ said Thorn. ‘I’m sorry, but I think you’re wrong.’

  ‘People like that don’t change.’

  ‘But everyone deserves a second chance. Didn’t you used to work for Agatha? Didn’t Karalyn give you another chance when she saved you from being executed after you tried to kill the Empress?’

  ‘Yes, but Karalyn scoured my mind; I’m not the same person.’ She pointed at Keir, her eyes flashing. ‘He is.’

  Thorn shook her head. ‘I brought him back from death, and restored him to a new life.’

  ‘I know you’re just trying to protect Thorn,’ said Keir, ‘and I’m sorry for all the mistakes I’ve made, but I swear to you that I’d never betray her. I love her, Belinda; my soul is tied to hers.’

  Belinda sighed. ‘Fine. Can I ask you to leave now? Shouldn’t you be giving the news of the Rahain’s arrival in the Plateau to the evening briefing?’

  Keir glanced back at Thorn. ‘She’s right. The inner council should know what’s happening. I’ll tell them that you’ve awoken, and that you’re in fine health. Will I see you later?’

  ‘I hope so.’

  Belinda frowned. ‘You need to rest.’

  ‘I’ll be resting in the arms of Keir tonight,’ she said. She turned to him. ‘Go and speak at the evening briefing, and tell them about the Rahain, and speak words to encourage them. Then, when you’ve finished, and your work is done, come back, Stormwitch. I’ll be waiting.’

  Chapter 26

  Ripples

  Severton, Domm – 4th Day, First Third Spring 526

  ‘Thanks for coming with me,’ said Karalyn, keeping her eyes fixed on the view of Severton outside the carriage window.

  ‘I’m just glad you’ve managed to leave the apartment,’ said her mother. ‘It was doing you no good being stuck inside every day crying.’ She glanced at the grey skies outside and shook her head. ‘I thought it was supposed to be spring? Does the rain here never end?’

  ‘It’s what makes it so green. I like it.’

  ‘It suits your mood, I suppose.’

  Karalyn glared at her.

  ‘Sorry, Kara-bear, that was a little insensitive of me. Perhaps if you’d told me what happened between you and Lennox, then I would understand. You didn’t kill him, did you? We’re not going to walk into the cottage and find his body?’

  ‘Don’t be stupid, mother. He won’t be there.’

  ‘And you know that for sure?’

  ‘Aye.’ She glanced at Daphne. ‘I sent him away.’

  ‘And he agreed?’

  ‘I was… persuasive.’

  ‘Oh, I see.’

  ‘I made him forget all about me, the pregnancy, everything; and told him to leave Severton.’

  Her mother winced. ‘I’m sure you had your reasons, but… I don’t know, Kara-bear. He’s the father of the children you’re carrying. Whatever it was that he did, couldn’t you have worked something out?’

  Karalyn started to cry. ‘No.’

  ‘Then I can only assume the worst,’ Daphne said. ‘Did he raise his hands to you?’

  ‘What? No.’

  ‘Was he having an affair then, maybe with that Carrie girl? I used to see her in his company.’

  Karalyn wiped her face. ‘You wouldn’t understand.’

  ‘I was your age once, though you may not believe it. Try me.’

  Karalyn lowered her eyes, picturing Lennox’s face at the moment she had confronted him with the truth, right before she had obliterated a chunk of his memory. She wiped her face again. She had wept more than she had thought was possible over the previous days; would it ever end? She took a breath.

  ‘Do you remember,’ she said, ‘when Rainsby got attacked last summer, from the sea?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘It was Lennox.’

  ‘I don’t follow. You mean he was there; he took part in the raid?’

  ‘It was a massacre, mother, and Lennox was the fire mage that did it.’

  ‘He’s a fire mage?’

  ‘Aye.’

  ‘And he killed all those people?’

  ‘Hundreds. Civilians, children, and patients in the hospital.’

  The carriage fell into silence, and Karalyn listened to the sound of the wheels splashing through the deep puddles in the road.

  ‘Well?’ she said. ‘Say something.’

  ‘Such as?’

  ‘You must have some opinion. What are you thinking?’

  ‘I was thinking that Lennox would have fitted into our family quite well.’

  ‘See? This is why I didn’t tell you.’

  ‘Your Aunt Keira killed hundreds of thousands. Your father and I, not quite as many, but more than most. There was a war then, and there’s a war now. Lennox was a soldier, and he…’

  ‘I can’t believe you’re defending him,’ Karalyn cried. ‘Actually, no, I can believe it. What’s the slaughter of a few hundred between mass-murderers? I broke my own rules and went into his mind to check if it were true, and I saw his memories of it.’ She shook her head, feeling nauseous. ‘It was terrible, mother. Children were screaming, running wildly with their skin burning; their clothes on fire; and I felt the rage within him that was making him do it. He wanted them to burn, he wanted to kill them all.’

  ‘He was ashamed of it,’ said Daphne. ‘He told me he felt a deep shame for his actions in the Army of Pyre, and I believe him.’

  ‘Is shame enough to excuse what he did? I could tell he was sorry; I could feel the regret eating him up, but it doesn’t undo what he did, mother. Nothing will.’

  ‘So you wiped his mind and sent him on his way? And now your children will be fatherless.’

  ‘I couldn’t bear to look at him. All my time with him feels tainted.’

  ‘You no longer love him?’

  Karalyn paused.

  ‘Are you angry with him?’ her mother went on.

  ‘Of course I am. I’m furious. How dare he keep that from me, when I trusted him. I genuinely believed that he was different, that he was honest; and he was lying to me the whole time.’

  ‘But you haven’t been honest with him. I’m sure there’s much you didn’t reveal.’

  Karalyn glared at her. ‘None of my secrets involved burning children to death.’

  ‘But if he had told you, then you wouldn’t have gone out with him in the first place.’

  ‘Maybe that would have been better.’

  ‘”Maybe”? Kara-bear, you’re carrying his children.’

  ‘Do you think I’ve forgotten, mother? I think about it every moment of every day, and even if I tried to forget, they won’t let me.’

  Daphne frowned. ‘Who are you talking about?’

  ‘The twins. I hear them. Faint, passing, but there, inside me.’

  ‘Old Kalayne began skulking outside my door when I was pregnant with you,’ Daphne said. ‘Then after you were born he came to see me, and told me that he’d sensed you in my womb. The same thing is happening with you. You’ll be forever connected to these twins; it’s going to be tough.’

  Karalyn said nothing.

  ‘And your father wasn’t there for your birth. He missed the pregnancy, and the first year of your life. I would have given anything to have had him by my side, Kara-bear. It’s not too late. Find Lennox, and bring him back. Restore his memories of you, and wipe the ones of Rainsby. If he can’t remember any of it, we’ll be able to pretend it wasn’t him; it’ll be just as if it wasn’t him.’

  ‘I would know,’ she said. ‘I can’t wipe
my own memories.’

  ‘You do still love him, though?’

  ‘Alright, mother, aye, I do; but I hate him too.’ She stared out of the window as her eyes began to well again. ‘Both will pass. I’ve made my decision.’

  ‘My heart aches for you, dear daughter. You’ve gone from the happiest I’ve ever seen you, to the unhappiest, and I wish I could help you.’

  ‘You are, mother, by coming with me to the cottage today. I couldn’t have faced it alone.’

  Her mother reached out and squeezed her hand.

  ‘We’re here,’ said Karalyn, as the carriage slowed.

  Daphne peered out of the window at the mist and rain. ‘Are we?’

  ‘It’s a bit of a walk. This is as close as a carriage can get to it.’

  Their driver opened the door and a gust of wind rushed into the carriage, carrying cold rain, which sprayed across them. Daphne muttered under her breath and pulled her raincoat over her shoulders as they stepped down to the path.

  ‘Stay here,’ she said to the driver, her voice almost shouting over the wind. ‘We may need your assistance carrying some baggage when we have finished inside.’

  The driver grunted, closed the door, and climbed back under the shelter of the carriage’s canopy. Karalyn opened the gate to the cottage garden, and they walked down it, holding their coats tightly as the rain lashed them. The hillside was barely visible in the mist, and the sound of the rushing burn was drowned out by the wind. They reached the cottage, and Karalyn halted on the path, unsure if she could go on.

  ‘Don’t stop,’ said her mother.

  She urged Karalyn on, and they reached the front door. It was unlocked, and Karalyn pushed it open. They tumbled inside, and she closed the door behind them, shutting out the wind and rain. She shook her head, spraying water from her soaking hair, as Daphne glanced around the dim interior.

  ‘You actually lived here?’

  ‘It’s not that bad,’ said Karalyn.

  ‘Let me see; it’s cold, dark and damp.’

  ‘It warms up with the stove and the fire both on,’ Karalyn said, taking her coat off and hanging it up. ‘And with the shutters open the sunset comes right through the windows. Lennox was going to install under-floor heating in spring, and we…’ She paused, trying to suppress the swell of emotion inside her.

  Daphne leaned over by the stove and squinted at it. ‘We should light it now. I’m freezing.’

  Karalyn took a moment then walked over. ‘There’s no wood. Lennox must have used it. We’d need to chop more.’

  ‘”Chop”?’ Daphne said. ‘Maybe we could burn the furniture.’

  ‘Just let me get on with packing. I shouldn’t be too long.’

  Her mother nodded and took a seat by the dining table, her coat still wrapped round her. Karalyn went over to a chest and pulled out several large bags. She glanced over the floor, and the bed. Lennox’s things were gone, and it was clear that the place hadn’t been lived in for days. She began to pack, throwing her clothes into a bag, and finding that she had fewer possession than she had imagined. Had it all been a dream? Had she really believed that she and Lennox were going to make a new life in the cottage; in Severton?

  She sat on the bed and wept, holding her face in her hands. Her mother had been right; she had never been happier than when she had held onto that dream; and now it was over, though its consequences would stay with her forever. Twins. How was she going to cope?

  ‘Everything’s going to be alright,’ said her mother, putting her right arm over her shoulder. ‘You’ll see. We’re going to be fine.’

  ‘What have I done, mother?’ she sobbed.

  Daphne said nothing, her arm holding onto her daughter.

  ‘What should I do?’

  ‘Do you want my honest advice?’

  ‘Aye.’

  ‘Alright. If you’re set on going your separate ways with Lennox, then I think you should leave Domm and come back with me to the Plateau. Wait,’ she said as Karalyn opened her mouth to speak; ‘listen before you say anything. I know how you feel about working for the Empress, and the war, so let’s not go to Plateau City.’

  ‘Where, then?’

  ‘When I gave birth to you, I was helped by someone.’

  ‘Mage Shella?’

  ‘Precisely. We should go to Colsbury. You can stay there, hidden if you wish, and Shella and I will help you.’

  ‘But what about your job?’ Karalyn said. ‘I thought you needed to get back to being First Holder.’

  Daphne smiled. ‘Don’t you know me, daughter? You’re family, and you’ll always come first.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Karalyn said, her tears mingling with her mother’s hair as they embraced. They sat like that for a long time, until Karalyn pulled away, wiping her face.

  ‘So you’ll consider it?’ said her mother.

  She nodded.

  ‘We could leave in a few days,’ said Daphne, ‘once we’ve packed up and said our goodbyes. And we can travel by Quadrant, of course. Jemma will be so relieved; she was dreading taking Cole so far by road.’

  ‘Try not to sound so happy, mother,’ Karalyn said, standing and beginning to pack again.

  ‘I assume it’s somewhere in the cottage? Safely hidden away?’

  ‘It’s safe,’ said Karalyn, ‘but it’s not here.’

  ‘What?’ said Daphne. ‘Just to be sure; we are talking about the Quadrant, yes?’

  ‘Aye. It’s not here. I don’t have it.’

  Her mother stared at her, her eyes wide. ‘Please tell me you didn’t throw it away.’

  ‘Of course not. As I told you; it’s safe. I left it with Kelpie at the World’s End.’

  ‘What? Why?’

  ‘I saw the expression on your face when I let you hold it. You sensed its power when it spoke to me, which means that, given time, you might have worked out how to use it. I wasn’t taking any chances, so I asked Kelpie to keep it hidden for me.’

  ‘You left it with a stranger because you don’t trust your own mother?’

  ‘Kelpie’s not a stranger; I met her when I visited before, and she was a good friend of father’s. We can trust her.’

  ‘But you can’t trust me. I see.’

  ‘I wanted to save you from any temptation.’

  ‘And have you noticed me being tempted? Have I ever asked you for its location, or requested to look at it again? I think you’ll find the answer to those questions is no.’

  ‘Sorry, mother; I was wrong.’

  Daphne shrugged. ‘So we have eight days on a wagon? Oh well, at least it’s not three thirds. Next time, though, have some faith in your mother.’

  ‘Were you really never tempted?’

  ‘Honestly?’ She shook her head. ‘I obsessed about getting that damned thing to work all the time I was stuck in bed; it was all I thought about for a while. Such power; and it was yours to use whenever you chose; how I dreamed that I could do the same. And now I’m fit again, and stronger than I’ve been in years, then yes, I won’t lie to you; I want it. I want to have the power to appear where I wish. I would make all of our enemies suffer.’ She frowned. ‘But it’s not mine; it’s yours, and I have to respect that.’

  Karalyn finished packing the bag and fastened the straps that closed it. ‘We should go.’

  Daphne glanced around. ‘Is that all you’re taking? What about everything else?’

  ‘There’s nothing else I want.’

  ‘So we came all this way to collect a few bits of clothing we could have bought in the market for a couple of coins?’

  ‘Not just that, mother, I needed to see the place one last time.’

  ‘And has it made you feel any better?’

  Karalyn shook her head. ‘I feel as if someone close to me has died.’

  ‘That makes sense. Lennox loved you, and he’s gone. He may as well be dead to you. I wonder where he is.’

  ‘I told him to leave Severton, but didn’t give him any guidance about where he should go
next. I wasn’t thinking particularly clearly at the time.’

  Daphne stood. ‘I know you’re in pain now, but it’ll pass.’

  ‘But I’ll think of him every time I see the twins; every day they’ll be a reminder to me. And what will I tell them when they get older?’

  ‘Don’t worry about any of that now,’ her mother said. ‘Let’s take things one step at a time; there’s a long pregnancy to get through first. Have you given much thought to the birth yet?’

  ‘I’m trying not to.’

  ‘Just to warn you, Shella might suggest you do it in a bath; she has trouble remembering we’re not all amphibians.’

  Karalyn put on her raincoat and slung the bag over her shoulder. Her eyes glanced over the interior of the cottage. She had been happy; she should acknowledge that, even if had lasted only a short time.

  She turned and opened the front door, the cold rain lashing into her face.

  It was still raining when they returned to the apartment block in the wealthy part of Severton, and the roads were flowing with the run-off from the gutters. They hurried from the carriage across the pavement and into the warm building.

  ‘This is like a little oasis of civilisation,’ said Daphne, taking off her coat. ‘Doesn’t make up for the appalling weather, but one can’t have everything.’

  ‘Hi,’ said Jemma, walking out of a doorway into the hall, Cole held on her hip. ‘Did it go alright?’

  ‘I got my things,’ said Karalyn, placing the bag down and hanging her wet coat on a peg.

  ‘Do you know where Corthie is?’ said Daphne. ‘We need to speak to you both.’

  ‘He’s ransacking the kitchen, I think,’ the young Holdings woman said. ‘If you take Cole, I’ll go and fetch him.’

  Karalyn reached out for the baby and held him close to her as Jemma disappeared through another door.

  Daphne glanced at her. ‘Imagine doing that with two. At least you’ve had plenty of practice with nappies and bottles. Have you taken a guess as to when we should be expecting the new arrivals?’

  ‘Early autumn?’ she said, rocking the child in her arms. ‘I’m not sure.’