Alchemist's Kiss

by AR DeClerck

  Go dti an taobh eile

  (Like the knife pierces skin

  Let the aether pierce the veil

  Guide us, I ask you,

  To the other side.)

  Icarus' voice was haunting. Filled with a melodic undertone I'd never heard before, it called to me as he said the ancient magical words. He'd always recited the words with scant emotion, but now there was reverence and respect in the tone. I shuddered as the air grew heavy with aether. It pressed down on my skin, blanketing me. How much, I wondered, could fit in the room before there was no place for oxygen?

  I opened my eyes, and turned my head away as the bright blue of Icarus' rune hurt. It was like looking into the sun on a summer's day in Virginia. Glaringly, beautifully dangerous. I forced myself to turn back and focused on Icarus' face. It was lit by the blue of the rune-fire, and I could see the shimmer of aether in the light.

  He stared as the aether swarmed around his hand, pouring through the doorway he'd opened for it into our plane. I had a hard time breathing as more aether came through, and I could feel it coating every surface of the ship.

  “Everyone.” Icarus' voice was strained, but he kept it even. “Take a deep breath. When we warp you will feel pressure and possibly lose consciousness.” He grinned, delight sparking in his eyes. No one else but me could see it, but he was fascinated by the deluge of aether moving through him. No other wizard could sustain such an outpouring, but rather than draining him the movement of the aether seemed to energize him. I felt static crackle in the air around us as the aether particles rubbed against one another, packed too tightly inside the cabin.

  Hello again.

  I stiffened as the aether spoke to me, a whisper of thousands of voices past my ear.

  Hello. I thought my answer, knowing the aether could read my thoughts.

  You fear for him.

  Yes.

  Do not fear. As we speak to you, we move through him. We will safeguard the gateway.

  He is more than a gateway. He is a man. A good man.

  As you say.The aether did not sound disbelieving, but I imagined it to be.

  Will you protect him?

  Humans.I did detect a note of amused disgust beneath the words, though my mind was fogging from the pressure of the warp. It is possible I imagined it.We are designed to assist you. We will protect him.

  I wanted to speak again, to think so many more questions and demand more assurances from the aether, but I could not as my ears roared and the light dimmed. My mind slipped into unconsciousness as the ship moved instantaneously from Trafalgar Square to Wales.

  I don't suppose it is easy to explain the shift of one's body from one place in the world to another instantly, but I liken it to the slow pour of pudding from a bowl. Time was at once moving too slowly and too quickly, the particles of my being stretched and pulled until I was molten sludge. I awoke more slowly than I had fallen into unconsciousness, blinking eyelids that seemed too heavy.

  “Cora?”

  Icarus was kneeling before me, stroking my cheek with his hand. He was pale, his edges tinged with green and I knew the shift had been harder for him than for us. Still, he had managed to direct and focus the flow of the aether to accomplish something it usually took an entire coven of wizards to do.

  “Have I finished melting?” I asked, to which he smiled. He understood my nonsensical words, as I knew he would.

  “You are back to your comely self.”

  I smiled at his compliment, unused to the softness in his eyes. I soaked it up as I groaned. “The others?”

  “Coming around.” He frowned, tracing the line of my nose. “Are you well?”

  “No lasting effects.” I took his hand from its slow perusal of my face. “You?”

  “I'll not be attempting it again for a long while.” He rubbed my fingers with his thumb. “The flow of the aether is...intoxicating.”

  “That was rubbish.”

  I grinned at Archimedes' surly growl. He was awakening, rubbing his temples with his palms.

  “I'd prefer you not do that again, Ic.”

  Icarus smiled. “We are here, are we not?”

  “I don't know.” Archimedes was taciturn, rolling his shoulders to loosen the tension. “Are we?”

  “We'd better be.” Levisque was the next to rouse, his lips trembling as he gathered his wits.

  “See for yourself.” Icarus moved about, untying us. Archimedes took Lucia into his arms as she moaned and her eyelids fluttered. She smiled when she opened them to see him. Bastion came to last, his hands shaking as he stood to lean his forehead against the cool glass of the window.

  “I'll be damned.” he murmured, drawing us all to the view. “We are in Wales.”

  The forest below us was dense with trees. Far to the west I could see the glint of the Llyn Bodgynydd Bach, and I knew it was the Gwydir. The foxglove was blooming, much as it had been in Icarus' dream-state. There was no heavy fog here, and the sun shone brightly over the rolling green of the countryside.

  “Two hundred and fifty miles in seconds.” Bastion shook his head as if his eyes might jest. He glanced at Icarus. “A feat of impossible power.”

  “Not impossible.” Icarus pulled his glove on over the rune, straightening his cuffs with a shrug. “Imagine trying to move a boulder with the water from a straw. That is impossible. Moving the boulder with the force of a tidal wave would not only be possible, it would be easy.”

  “You are saying this was easy?” Bastion shook his head, his eyes wide. “That much power is dangerous, Icarus.”

  “And exactly the reason my father hoped to turn me into a dark wizard.” Icarus looked at us all, “He will do anything to manipulate me. He will threaten you, hurt you, kill you, to harden my heart and force me to spill blood in anger.”

  “This isn't the American War, Icarus.” I tried to keep my voice steady despite my fear. “We aren't simple farmers drafted to the battlefield to die. We are capable of defending ourselves using magic.”

  “I know.” He smiled at me. “I admit I doubted the wisdom of allowing you near my father, but you are right. You are capable. Together we will be stronger than my father will expect.”

  “You are stronger.” I looked out at the fields of purple and green, and I knew that the empty shell of Longmoore stood somewhere beyond the trees. “You are not the boy who ran away all those years ago. You're a man. The warden of London and the Grand Adept. Your father underestimates you, Icarus.”

  “I hope to use that to our advantage.” Icarus dropped his arm over my shoulders. “We will set up our healers here, a fine distance from the town.”

  “We cannot forget that Baiandelio and Gecko are most likely lurking somewhere nearby.” Archie said, and I did not miss the way Lucia's face paled at the mention of the dark wizard Baiandelio. “They will try to separate us and weaken us, so we must be prepared.”

  “Excellent.” Icarus moved away and clapped his hands, and though he smiled he had worry in his eyes. “Captain, gather your men and begin preparing the triage. Lucia and Bastion will supervise. When you are done join Archimedes, Cora and I and we will discuss our plans.”

  “We have a plan?” Levisque asked dryly, a tug to his skullcap righting it. “I was under the assumption we would make things up as we went along.”

  “Alas, our previous mode of operation will not apply, Captain.” Icarus' grin grew and amusement softened the hard worry.

  “Very well.” Levisque's lips drew up in a smile of his own. He nodded to Lucia and Bastion. “Join me, please.”

  Archie looked at us as the others filed out. “I'll join you shortly.” he said, a frown puckering his forehead. “I have something I must do.”

  “Very well.” Icarus turned to me as Archie hurried away after the others. “Do you think he might tell her he loves her?” he asked.

  “Since when do you recognize love, Icarus Kane?” I teased. “You were blind to me for six years.”

  “Love is a flaw, Cora. Never no
ticed until brought to one's attention, but something one cannot ignore once it's seen.”

  I chuckled at his description of love as a wart on the face of a lovely woman. “As for Archie, I cannot say.” I took Icarus' arm and sighed. “They've known each other a short while, but I sense they have a strong connection. Love is perhaps a stretch, but he should express his feelings while he has the chance.”

  “No doubt following his own advice.” Icarus agreed. He smiled down at me, catching my chin in his hand and kissing me on the lips. It was quick, but full of passion and promise. I had to catch my breath when he pulled away, my heart racing.

  “What brought that on?”

  “I never want you to wonder how I feel about you, Cora Jenkins.”

  “Then never stop telling me.”

  He nodded, leading me toward the deck as Levisque's men began to stumble from the hold. I knew that nothing that lay ahead was certain. We might not have had any tomorrows, and we certainly had no assurances. All that we had was one another. Surprisingly, that was enough.

  ***

  Icarus watched the tents go up in the grassy field and was again transported to Gettysburg. The scream and cry of dying soldier mixed with the smell of cannon powder and blood. It wasn't his war, but he'd been unable to turn from the Confederacy as its soldiers died in droves. He was no proponent of one side or the other, and his moral compass lay against slavery, but the Confederate soldiers were no more than boys and old men. Farmers with no grasp of war, they were brave and reckless to a fault. He'd tried to help, to keep as many of them alive as he could, while the generals fought on, too stubborn to see they'd lost. In the end Gettysburg would end the war, the number of dead too high to count. He'd walked from the battlefield that night numb and tired, hoping never to see the savages of war again.

  “Does it remind you of Gettysburg?”

  He smiled at Cora's intuition. “It does.”

  “Most Englishmen fought for the North, you know.”

  “They did. I was only in Virginia because I followed Josiah's demon there.”

  “After all I've seen, and the demons we've fought, I still think that was the most horrific sight.” Cora leaned into him, resting her head against his shoulder.

  “My father would seek destruction greater than Gettysburg.” He looked over the fields to the trees that shrouded the ruins of Longmoore. “And again, the desires of the powerful will spill the blood of the innocent.”

  “We can win, Icarus.” Her voice was quiet. Strong. He liked the way it warmed when she said his name, and the way her Southern accent softened it. Ick-uh-ras.

  He shook himself from his musings. Gettysburg was the past, and an even deadlier threat lay before them now. America was whole and thriving, healing from the travesty of its civil war. All that blood spilled had fertilized the ground, the life of the men sacrificed for nationalism and abolition running deep into the soil of the country. His city, the world, was in danger if his father succeeded in Longmoore. The deaths in Gettysburg would be petty in comparison to the havoc his father could wreak.

  “We need a plan. We must be prepared for my father and his minions.” Icarus looked over his shoulder as Archimedes joined them on deck. His face was suffused with color, his mouth a tight line. “Did your business not end well, old friend?”

  Archimedes' eyes were grim. He shook his head, and leaned against the railing, his twisted metal hand tapping the wood. “Perhaps I was hasty to give you guff in respect to matters of the heart.”

  “Archie, don't despair. We will have time to work this out.” Cora patted his cheek. “Dealings between men and women are often rocky at the start.”

  “I fear I have less than six years to convince her.” Archimedes immediately shook his head at his slight. “I'm sorry, but I have never experienced such vexation. I fear I am now receiving my comeuppance for enjoying the strife between the two of you.”

  “Cora is right. Your relationship will work itself out.” Icarus could not help the grin that spread over his face, despite the spark of irritation in Archimedes' eyes. He schooled his expression and sobered. “Tell me, friends, what recourse do we have in the matter of my father?”

  “Let us discuss what we know.” Archimedes took a deep breath. “Your father, along with Gecko and Baiandelio, have kidnapped the majority of Desmond House and transported them here, to Longmoore, your childhood home.” Archimedes softened the last bit. “He wishes to force your hand, making you do something so terrible that you will forever darken your heart and lose the way of the white.”

  “Concise.” Icarus said dryly. He nodded to Levisque as the man strode up to them. “We know my father has a penchant for bonfires. He left the one burning in Trafalgar as a message to me. He can, and will, burn all of Desmond House alive to see me turn.”

  “Will he have wards about the town?” Levisque asked. “Something to stop me from flying in?”

  “Doubtful. He will want me to come.” Icarus looked at the captain. “An idea brewing, Captain?”

  “Perhaps.” Levisque held up his arm, where the mechanical device was flashing. “I still have this. I can fly over the town without being seen.”

  “We will need you to evacuate as many of the prisoners as possible.” Icarus agreed. Something niggled at his mind, a feeling that the answers lay just before him.

  “I can place protective wards about the ship,” Archimedes offered, “and make sure any enchantments bounce away.”

  Icarus let his mind wander. He still felt that sensation that something important lay just beyond his consciousness. He knew his father fairly well. A man driven by ambition and a hunger for power, he cared for nothing and no one. Icarus' mother and sister, his own son, had all been means to an end for Victor Kane. Once Icarus had hoped his father spared his life all those years ago because of some deep-buried sentiment, but now he knew the truth. His father was only biding his time until he felt Icarus was ripe for the vortex of power that existed within him. That feeling bombarded him, that the way to defeat his father was so very simple. Why could he not realize it?

  “Icarus?”

  He looked up at Cora's question.

  “Is something wrong?”

  “Everything is wrong. My father has baited an obvious trap, and he knew we'd get to Robert first. It's why he left Robert with all the answers and a message for me. Still, I feel as if I am missing some crucial point to this. Some answer that lies just outside my reach.” He shook his head. “It eludes me.”

  “Let us not forget that Victor has The Hand.” Cora's hand clutched convulsively at her bodice, as if remembering the feel of the talisman. “He will be even stronger with it.”

  “Gah!” Icarus turned away, pacing back and forth across the deck. This was the moment of reckoning. The deaths of his mother, his sister, Rivensbrow, and all the people of Longmoore could finally be revenged, and yet he could not see how it would be done.

  “Let me contact the aether.”

  He paused, mid-step, and stared hard at Cora.

  “This cannot be a full assault of your father and his defenses. Likely he has considered every contingency. We must think ahead, anticipate his strikes and his manipulations.” Cora took two steps to him, her hand wrapping around his. “He is a dark wizard, Icarus. Another of many we have faced. We must treat him as we have treated all those before him. Out think him, and destroy him in the end.”

  “It will not be easy.” Icarus squinted, the nagging at the edge of his consciousness more insistent. “He has The Hand and the dark aether will rush to do his bidding, looking for a chance to cause chaos.”

  “I will need to go deeper than ever before. Speak to the aether on a level that I have never reached before.” Cora took a deep breath, “I will need you to hold my hand, Icarus.”

  He tried to break away, but she held firm.

  “Cora---”

  Her glare cut Archimedes interjection off mid-sentence.

  “Take off your glove and hold my hand, Icaru
s.”

  “No.”

  She stepped closer, her green eyes earnest and filled with love. “You will not hurt me by touching me with the rune. You are the doorway, I am the voice. The aether will not harm us.”

  Horror flooded him. Memories of his first few weeks with the rune, and the impossible urge to release the aether into the world to work. It had killed any living thing it came into contact with. He clenched his hand, the shriveled body of a stray cat he'd dared to pet coming to mind. He flinched when Cora's hand cupped his jaw.

  “This is the only way. I must be open to the aether.”

  “If you die---” he couldn't finish the thought. Bile choked his throat and he gagged on it, turning from her to lean over the rail. He breathed deep as black dots moved over his vision and his chest constricted with panic.

  “I won't die.” Cora was next to him, and he felt the press of her hand on his back. “Icarus, trust me.”

  “I do trust you.” he looked at her. The wind whipped a blush to her pale cheeks, and tossed her curls about in riotous abandon. “I do not trust me.”

  “It's time to start trusting yourself, then. Would you hurt me?”

  “Never. I'd die first.”

  She smiled, leaning closer so that he could hear her soft reply over the breeze. “Good. We must do this. It is what we have been running toward, and away from, all this time. The aether is ready, Icarus. It works through us. Let it.”

  “I am...afraid.”

  She tugged him back from the rail and stood before him, hands on her hips. She tapped the toe of her boot on the deck and shook her head. “Courage is not the absence of fear, Icarus Kane, and you know it.”

  Her ire roused him, the challenge in her voice invigorating. “I know.”

  “You're the most powerful wizard in the world. Act like it!”

  “Whatever we must do, we need to hurry.” The dread in Archimedes voice brought them back around to him and Levisque. He was pointing to the forest, where a thick column of smoke had begun to rise from the trees. “Your father is starting without us.”