The Book of Never: Volumes 1-5

by Ashley Capes

  “That is what it will take?” Snow raised an eyebrow, a trace of disappointment in his voice. “So be it. I will do as you ask and then you will join me in unlocking the last secret of the Amouni, the Memory Seeds. Do we have an agreement?”

  “The Memory Seeds?”

  “The final piece, as I told you. Do we have an agreement, Never?”

  He nodded. “Call Andramir.”

  Snow turned to Sacha. “My dear, would you find a Hawk to run my little errand?”

  “And then it’s my turn to ask the questions,” she said, still frowning.

  “Yes.”

  Sacha sent Never a warning look as she left. The meaning was very clear; he was not to attack his brother.

  “There is no-one else like her, Never. No-one who could possibly stand beside me.” Snow said, fondness in his voice. “So strong-willed.”

  Now it was Never’s turn to raise his eyebrow. “You think I’m going to reminisce with you, about Sacha?”

  He shrugged. “Why not? She’s not the first woman we’ve both loved.”

  “This isn’t about Zianna.”

  “I suppose it’s about you and I.” Snow sighed as he began to pace. “Don’t you miss having a brother? I do, Never.”

  Never closed his mouth, cutting off whatever retort he’d been about to deliver. Snow.... And then Never kicked a nearby footstool. The side crunched; a deeply satisfying sound. “No. Don’t try and manipulate me.”

  “I am not trying to do that.”

  “Of course you are! You are always trying to have me dance to your tune. I cannot trust you, brother.”

  “Yet you must.”

  The frantic ringing of a bell cut through the room. An alarm? The bell on the city wall, the bell that should have rang when the Vadiya first invaded. And now its cry tore across the darkness.

  Never ran for the window, joined by Snow.

  Down beyond the walls, the orange glow of fire rose, colouring the underside of climbing smoke. It came from the tent city before the gates. An attack? But who? “Trouble afoot,” he said.

  Snow did not answer; his eyes were closed. “Confirm it for me, I want to know if it’s really him.”

  Never frowned. “Who are you talking to?”

  Snow waved a hand, eyes still shut, as if listening. Finally he growled. “I know that, don’t tell me we’re stretched thin. Just be ready.” And then, after another wait, his voice changed, a note of weariness entering. “So be it. I will deal with Sirgeto – just hold your ground until I send someone.” His eyes snapped open.

  “Captain Sirgeto is here?” Never asked.

  “Yes.” Snow rubbed his temples. “He’s here with a thousand men, nearly half of them infected by those damnable swords of yours!”

  Never repressed his own concern at such news. “Isn’t that your problem?”

  “No, brother. It’s yours, since Andramir is down there protecting his men – and you’re going to save him, if you want him to wake your friends.”

  “What?”

  “Find a way and be quick about it – Andramir is my greatest creation, Never, I will not lose him.”

  Never couldn’t stop a shiver at the words: greatest creation. “No-one can touch him, I fail to see how you’d lose him.”

  “His abilities are finite, he cannot always walk between flesh and spirit. If he exhausts himself he will be killed.”

  Still Never did not move. “Surely you could save my friends?”

  “No, what Andramir has done I cannot undo. Stop stalling, Never.”

  Was Snow telling the truth? Even if he was lying, would he even want to save Luis and the others? At least Andramir would follow Snow’s orders. “And just what will you be doing?”

  “Everything else, it seems,” he said, throwing his hands into the air. “Even we Amouni have limits, Never, and you don’t know the half of what I am currently tending to.”

  “The half of what you tend to? Don’t feed me such –”

  Snow pointed at Never. “Be Amouni for a moment, will you? Can’t you sense it? There’s another force attacking via the mountains – I must put a stop to them.”

  “Who?”

  “That imbecile Jenisan – now get moving, Never. You want to save your friends? Then do your part to save my city.”

  And then he was striding from the room, Never staring after.

  So, Jenisan had rolled the dice. A bold move indeed. Or was he somehow in communication with Sirgeto?

  Never shook his head, time was wasting.

  He lifted the pouch of batena powder, taken from Vantinio, and swallowed two great mouthfuls.

  The sour flavour exploded in his mouth.

  His heart thumped and his body trembled but it banished the effects of his weariness, a tiredness he hadn’t even noticed until now. The powder gave him new strength with the alertness, as if he had rested a week.

  If that’s what it took.

  Never leapt into the air, driving himself up with his wings. At the broken section of roof, he knocked a few jagged shards free then slipped out of the dome, where he worked to gain altitude. Smoke beyond the walls was now tinted blue. “Gods be damned,” he cried. Mere moments ago and he’d have welcomed an attack! With Jenisan in the mountains there was a chance the city could be retaken – but now he couldn’t simply let Sirgeto into the city to wipe out the Vadiya.

  From his vantage point it was easy to see Sirgeto’s force, their blue swords flashing. The greater glows came from two positions before the gates, Sirgeto and Mondesa. Yet other fighters bore their own tinted weapons. The Steelhawks and infantry who faced them were cut down quickly – though crossbow bolts from those lucky enough to get off a shot felled their targets, blue weapons or not. Never swooped lower. Andramir was a pale shadow, leading a counter-charge, nearing Mondesa – which meant Never was headed in the same direction.

  He dived, streaking down to crash feet-first into a Marlosi farmer, sending the man sprawling. Never barely kept his feet, spinning to blast a pair of ex-Imperial soldiers with his wings. They were thrown off balance and engaged by a Steelhawk. The shouts, screams and crackle of flames washed over Never as he faced his first opponent with a glowing weapon – a wide-eyed man with the look of someone who had once wielded a quill rather than an axe.

  The blade glowed blue as it moved. Never ducked and slashed at the man’s knee. Steel bit into flesh and the man crumbled to one leg – yet his axe leapt forth of its own accord. Never swung one of his knives, a mere reflex.

  Sparks flashed when the weapons met, pain shooting up his arm.

  He swore, dropping the suddenly-hot knife.

  Both blades hit the ground, in a heap of twisted steel, the axe still aglow.

  The Marlosi man was frothing at the mouth as he clawed the hewn earth, dragging himself toward the weapon. Never kicked him aside and snatched the handle of the axe. A blue screen dropped over his vision – and in an instant he knew what to do. His connection to the other weapons was so strong. Every sword thrust and swing, every jab from spear or crushing overhand blow from a blacksmith’s hammer was clear to him.

  Above all, the director – the Amouni sword.

  It was alive. Or if not, it was terrifyingly close. It drove Mondesa’s body tirelessly on, the man’s personality now no more than a tiny thing that clung to the blade, a mere spark, and Mondesa’s hatred for the Vadiya linking man and sword, feeding the sword. Never understood now. Amouni blades took on personality traits of the wielder but with humans the exchange would start even but quickly turn in favour of the blade.

  A figure rushed toward Never, breaking his concentration.

  This imperial soldier bore no special weapon but swung his blows with precision, despite appearing momentarily distracted by Never’s wings. Never caught each blow with the axe but did not fight back – there was no
need. His opponent’s sword was melting, deep gouges appearing in the blade. The man fell back in frustration. Never pressed his advantage, backhanding the fellow with his birch hand and felling him instantly.

  If the man survived the blow, he just might survive the battle, so long as no Steelhawk stumbled across the fellow. There was every chance the imperial soldier would be mistaken for dead and wake up later.

  But it wasn’t Never’s concern – that had to be Andramir.

  The man was slipping through the fighting, untouchable but still helping his men by dropping each enemy with a word or silent blows from his transparent hands. He was closing on Mondesa and the young man’s beacon-like sword.

  Never focused on the weapon again – the link was there. Between every weapon and between every man and his own weapon. All Never had to do was sever it – he could feel its tenuousness. Or maybe it was only tenuous to someone with his blood. The link, the weapons, they all responded to him, expectant – even Mondesa’s sword. Was it so simple? Never took the axe and lifted it over his head.

  “Break,” he cried, swinging down and snapping the handle over his knee.

  The blue glow died all around him.

  Cries of despair rose, followed swiftly by screams of pain. A little stab of guilt ran through him, but if the axeman was any indication, the men were better off dead, rather than enslaved by an unnatural grief.

  The Marlosi force faltered. Crossbow bolts snapped and conflicting orders rose from different quarters as Sirgeto’s forces continued to take heavy losses under the Vadiya counter-attack. “Retreat, fall back,” Never roared in Marlosi.

  Would it make any difference? Mondesa might be able...

  Never whirled.

  Andramir had paused, shock evident even in his see-through face. Once he saw Never, he seemed to understand and offered a salute with a hand before fighting on. Nearby, standing stock still, a deep frown of confusion on his face, was Mondesa. He looked as if he was waking from a dream. Andramir bore down on the unsuspecting man.

  Never charged. “No!”

  But Andramir was already upon the young man, pale hands flashing.

  And Mondesa crumbled to the earth.

  Never thundered over the ground, leaping over dead bodies, using his wings to cover the distance. He landed before Andramir, who was breathing hard.

  “Thank you for that. Your brother told me you’d be coming. And that I’m to help you – so let’s finish up here, yes?”

  “The sword’s grip was broken, there was no need –”

  “He is still my enemy,” Andramir said, his different-coloured eyes hard. “Help me put a stop to this attack and then we’ll go to the Spire. Not before.” He bent, as if to retrieve the Amouni blade.

  Never snatched up the sword first, muttering a curse. “You might not like what this does to humans,” he said. “If that’s what you are.”

  Andramir grinned, an echo of Snow. “Coming to accept your heritage?”

  “Just move.”

  Sirgeto’s force fought nearby, cutting through the Vadiya camp with relative ease. Yet reinforcements were soon to outflank his force thanks to the crumbling of Mondesa’s men. Thanks to Never. “I need one of their weapons,” he said. “Something with a wooden haft.”

  Andramir nodded and shot forward.

  Never slowed to help a Marlosi soldier to his feet. “Flee,” he said, shoving the man toward the dark beyond the still-burning camp. The man took one look at Never’s wings – or maybe his expression – and ran.

  Andramir was returning, a spear in hand. “Here.”

  “Keep everyone away from me,” Never said.

  “Done.”

  Already the blue had enveloped Never. Movement of the weapons washed over him like a furious tide. Yet one sword stood brighter than the others – Sirgeto’s. While the unfortunate Mondesa’s sense of self had survived, in a small way, Sirgeto did not exist any longer. The Amouni sword had taken on his hatred and desire to recruit men, his need to reclaim his nation, and then overwhelmed him.

  Yet as before, all weapons and their tiny awareness’s seemed to turn to him – a true master, Amouni.

  Never brought the spear down across his other knee. “Enough!”

  And the glow disappeared – every sword, axe and knife, all but Sirgeto’s sword. Never swore, his voice lost in the fresh cries of anguish. The link between Sirgeto and blade was no longer in place, it was as if there was no link anymore. As if the two were simply one.

  “Well?” Andramir was staring after Sirgeto, whose blade was a blue blur, cutting his way free of the press, even as all around him his men faltered – and then it seemed to Never that Sirgeto was slaughtering even his own troops in his mad flight.

  “He is no more, there’s no link to break. I have to face him,” Never said. It had been a mistake, ignoring the threat posed by such blades but that mistake was in the past. He had a chance to do something about it now.

  Never leapt into the air, wings beating hard.

  He climbed enough to see where Sirgeto now fled into the darkness and angled after the man, only to have a Vadiya soldier below lift a crossbow. Never banked sharply and the bolt flew wide. Below, Andramir was shouting for his men to cease firing but another bolt hissed by Never’s arm. He twisted again, swooping low and cursing. He was a fool; he’d been lucky to get away without being shot at as long as he had.

  But at least there was no more steel flying forth.

  He landed with a thump and strode to Andramir, ignoring the awed murmurs from the Vadiya. Never pointed to the darkness. “He’s escaping. Who knows where he’ll end up.”

  “I’m sure your brother will have an idea of what to do, after he deals with the Hanik,” Andramir said.

  Never turned back to the palace.

  “Once I organise my men, we’ll head to the Spire,” he said. “After which, your brother is expecting you in the palace. I hope you will not be tardy.”

  Chapter 24.

  Andramir simply stood over each sleeping figure in the lamplight and spoke a single word ‘wake’ and their eyelids fluttered. After which, he gave Never a look which suggested Snow was waiting, and passed through the wall, leaving the same way he had arrived, something Never thought best.

  “Thank you, Pacela,” Never said as he slumped against the wall with a long sigh. He’d come close – too close to failing them. And his relief was further marred by another thought. Just what had Snow done to Andramir to give him such abilities?

  Tsolde was first to come fully awake, sitting with a frown, rubbing at her temples. Relief crossed over her face when she caught sight of Never. “What happened? I... I was in the Eyes and then nothing.” She glanced at the others who were also rising, but her gaze lingered on Luis. “Were they hurt?”

  “I don’t believe so.” He took her hand. “Tsolde, I’m sorry. I was a fool.”

  “We seem to be safe enough now, Never. Forget it, just tell me what happened.”

  Once everyone was awake Never explained the chaos that had followed their failed attempt as best he could, finishing by raising the Amouni weapon. The blue glow was soft. “And now I bear Mondesa’s sword but Sirgeto has escaped. Whoever the Vadiya sends after, I could almost pity them. The Captain has been completely devoured by the sword.” He looked to Elina. “There is more.”

  “What has happened?” she asked, voice wary.

  “Jenisan is trying to break into the palace via whatever mountain path the Vadiya themselves used. Snow promised to stop him.”

  She shot to her feet. “Take me there.”

  “He will kill you, Elina.”

  “You can protect me from your brother. I must go, Never. Jenisan is my King, whatever our differences.”

  Never shook his head. There was no guarantee that he could protect anyone, he had accepted that once more. Luck h
ad been on his side, luck of the Gods, perhaps. After walking blindly into Snow’s trap, he’d been offered a second chance to keep his friends from danger. At least if they stayed in the Spire, they’d be out of harm’s way for the most part. Of course, Andramir could leave and enter at will – in all places except the inner chamber.

  But if Never had his way, Andramir would perish along with Snow.

  Somehow.

  “I will go alone.”

  Protests from all quarters, but he only raised a hand, refusing to speak until they quieted.

  “Snow sent Andramir to kill you all, you know this. He sees you as impeding my Ascension. He will kill you if you follow me, swiftly this time and without remorse. Somehow, despite my mistakes you survived his last attempt but I would be a fool to believe my luck is boundless. I will not take you knowingly to your deaths.”

  Tsolde opened her mouth but only swallowed, as if she could find no words.

  Luis put a hand on Never’s shoulder. “We are not safe anywhere, Never.”

  “But if you come with me your deaths are certain,” he said. “If you stay here, the High Priestess may be able to protect you.”

  “Even from Andramir?” Vantinio said.

  “Perhaps. Jardila has her own secrets. If motivated, I believe she could defend this place,” he said. He paced as he spoke. “And I may need you to stay for another reason.”

  “What?” Tsolde asked.

  “Jardila showed me something that her predecessors have long protected and I fear Snow seeks it. It must be protected if I fail.” Never explained about the silver man. “And so if you wish to help me, stay and pledge to defend this place. Andramir cannot enter the inner chamber but Snow might. Help Jardila flee with the silver man if it becomes necessary. It may be the only thing that can stop Snow if I cannot. Take it to Elina’s grandfather, perhaps he can unlock its secrets.”

  Elina spoke. “When I leave, I am heading for the palace. It is my duty.”

  “It is not your duty to throw your life away.”

  “Nor is it yours.” She folded her arms. “Do you know how to stop your brother?”