The thought then occurred to him that they may have been dreams after all. It was possible that all his moments with the woman had been only fantasy and that she felt nothing for him at all. He put the thoughts from his mind, berating himself forentertainingsuch selfishnotionsat such a time.
‘What are you doing to her, old woman?’ he asked.
‘Helping her bear her child, of course!’ Shara returned, and Samuel was surprised by her tenacity and impressed by her desire to protect the girl. ‘The mother is nearly ready, but the babe will only be born in nature’s own good time.’
‘It’s you!’ the Koian god-woman gasped, straining to see him, and the old woman had to restrain her from her attempts to sit up. ‘I knew you were not dead. That witch told me over and over that she had killed you. My dreams were always of you, but then you left me and I couldn’t find you. Where have you been?’
He kept his back to her and held his stump by his chest, so as to keep it from view.
‘I have been under the mountain,’ he said.
‘This is your child inside me,’ she said. ‘We shall have a son together.’
‘I know.’ He kept his gaze to the window. ‘How is this possible?’ he asked her. ‘I am a magician, and you told me yourself that you could not have children.’
‘I don’t know,’ she said, shaking her head upon her pillow. Then she yelped and her hands went to the sheets over her belly.
‘The pains are more frequent,’ the old woman said, ‘but there is still some way to go. I suspect this will not be easy.’
‘Then promise me, woman, that you will not abandon her.’
‘I will not,’ Shara responded, ‘but no birth is simple. You have frightened off everyone who could assist with the birth. I am not a healer or a midwife. I have only ever helped with such things before.’
‘They cannot come in,’ he told her. ‘Your Queen has evil plans. She will kill the mother and trade the child for a victory in her war. When she can be moved, I will take them away from here.’
At that, the midwife’s eyes opened insudden comprehension, and he knew that she believed him. ‘Something terrible has happened to our beloved Queen, to put our city beneath such a cloud of fear. Very well, I will do my best.’
‘What are you saying?’ the Koian asked, for she did not understand their Paatin talk.
He kept his back to her and huddled within his robes. ‘Why did you not tell me you are a witch?’ he asked her.
‘I am not a witch!’ she said, painedby his accusation.
‘Yes. I know it now, but you are something. I don’t know any other word for it.’
‘Then don’t call me anything.’
‘And you can see magic,’ he said. ‘That’s how you managed to navigate your way around the catacombs.’
Again, she nodded. ‘That was a long time ago.’
‘Not for me. Time passes strangely under the mountain. Hours and moments are interchangeable and the fevers I suffered made it all the worse. There, bound in my prison, I had a dream. I had returned to the fortress of Ghant and I was injured and dying upon the floor. I saw Grand Master Tudor struggling against the Paatin. Something happened to me and then I stole the life of everyone there. It saved my life, but I consumed theirs. Tudor died, and only you remained. Somehow, I know it was not a dream at all. You saw it all, but you didn’t say anything.’
The Koian woman took a breath. ‘I saw you and I was afraid-not because of what you could do, but because of what it meant. It frightened me because,for once, something that Canyon had told me had been true. He said that we were the same in nature, and we were supposed to have a child that would save our nation. I thought he was lying but,when I saw you consume those people,I knew he was telling the truth. It is not an evil power Samuel but,as with any power,it can be used in many ways.’
‘I will kill them for this,’ he said darkly. ‘We are not pawns to be pushed together and used for their whims.’
‘Do not say such things. There can be no goodto behad from these feelings. Let them do as they wish and let us do the same.’
‘I cannot help it. At times like this, my anger comes boiling up into my heart and I feel there is a dark and terrible thing lurking inside me. It makes me want to kill and rend and tear my opponents to pieces. It takes control of me and it uses me like a puppet-and I let it. Sometimes, I think I will become that thing altogether, and the man called Samuel will cease to exist. Perhaps it has happened already? Perhaps that is what happened to me in Ghant.’
‘Don’t speak like that. I have never seen anything in you but a good and true man. If anything, you are too honest and too pure,and a little more suspicion may have kept you out of this trouble. It is others who have taken advantage of you. Do not doubt yourself, for I will never doubt you. I hope that means something to you. Please…look at me. Why do you keep yourself turned away?’
A flare of magic caught his attention. It was Anthem, far above, rallying his magic and readying himself for battle. With a flick of his wrist and a loud crack,Samuel sent a spell that sealed the door for good, cracking and twisting the stone around it. The lintel warped, seizing the door in place. It would never open again.
‘My teacher is calling me. I must go to him and teach him something in return.’
The Koian woman was puffing quickly, holding onto her belly, but she held one hand out to Samuel as he stepped away. ‘Don’t leave me!’
He could not even turn back to look at her, lest she see his hideous face. Instead, he ignored her and went to the window, where he drew his magic and leapt.
Anthem’s location was as obvious as if a flaming beacon had been set above him.Samuel boundedalong the terraces and rooftops, leaping like a human flea towards the blaze of gathering magic. The Star of Osirah still burned far above them in the night sky, and the people of the citycontinued tocelebrate beneath it, ignorant of what was unfolding in the palace.
Grand Master Anthem was waiting in the hall of the Desert Queen, where Samuel had witnessed their treachery. He was wearing his Order blacks and stood defiantly, straight-backed, in the middle of the room, surrounded by power. Alahativa was waiting to the side, with the Emperor draped in chains beside her. The man looked infuriated, but it seemed he was helpless against her magic. No servants or guards lined the walls. All had fled or been told to leave lest they be consumed in the coming conflict.
‘Samuel,’ Anthem said in greeting, granting a welcoming smile. ‘We have much to discuss.’
‘I want nothing to do with you any more, old man,’ he replied and Anthem scowled back.
‘I see you’ve grown a bitter tongue, but it would pay you to hold it until you have learnt everything there is to tell. Would you not hear how Gallivan and I fared in Garteny?’
‘I have already heard all I need to hear and I am in no mood to listen to more lies and stories. And what would you expect? Look what she’s done to me-my hand, my eyes!’ and he pulled his sleeve up over his stump, to reveal the mottled, pink skin that bulged around his elbow. He raised his chin to let the light fall onto his ravaged face and even the Desert Queen looked disgusted.
But Anthem was resolute and went on. ‘Yet,even blind, you have learnt to compensate for such injuries. You are truly gifted, Samuel.’
Alahativa also spoke up. ‘I applaud you for surviving my dungeon, Samuel. It is a feat that no one has ever accomplished.’
‘Your dungeon is much overrated, witch. First, Balten escaped, and now, so have I. YourEmpire is decaying from within. Even your own people have turned against you. You have lost yourEmpire with your madness.’
She looked enraged by this, despite her best efforts to maintain self-control. After a moment of tussling with herself, she snapped back into her perfect,beguiling smile. ‘Please, give up this foolishness. We all know that without the ring on your finger, you are helpless. You are blind and crippled. This is foolishness.’
‘You are wrong. Without the ring, I am more than I was. I have thrown
away that crutch and learned to walk on my own. Without my eyes,I have learnt to see more than ever before. My body is just a vessel. It can be broken, but it can be mended and made new again. With every moment free from your mountain,my strength returns. I wanted to show you, old man, what I have become. There is nothing you can teach me any more. Behold.’
With that,he opened himself up like never before and his own fresh, untainted magic surged into him. Wonderful power rippled within him and boiled around his form. It was boundless power, and it was his to control. He willed it tobeconcentratedin his withered eyes and shattered stump,and it glittered there like the sun glimmering on still waters. Anthem and the Desert Queenheld their arms up to shield their eyes, for the light blazing fromSamuel’swounds was blinding. The magic swelled inside his skull, grasping and mending the flesh, creating and stitching matter where there had been none. He called from his memory all the sensations that he knew should exist, and filled his spell with his intent that he should be made whole, and his magic went to work. The orbs of his eyes grew into place,like tiny buds blooming into maturity, and,when he felt the spell was complete-when he could feel his eyeballs pressing and sliding against the backs of his eyelids-he let the magic subside and he opened his eyes.
The world appeared before him as it had before, cast in shades of colour and light, marked by depth and dimension, yet enhanced by his superior magician’ssight. But he did not rest there. He steered his magic towards the stump of his arm and watched as the veins and flesh rippled forth from around the shattered bone, knitting themselves anew. Meat and tendons stretched themselves across the bone that grew out from the wound. A layer of skin spread about to envelope the flesh, pale and soft, before it browned to match the skin around it, and soft hairs and freckles grew in place, exactly as he remembered each of them. His forearm grew voraciously up to the wrist, and then spread out as his hand came into being. The hand divided and five fingers sprouted into place. Pink nails slid out from beneath the cuticles as the digits rounded themselves off and sealed themselves closed.
When he was done, Samuel let his magic dissipate and the blinding light he hadcastabout himself flickered from existence. He turned his hand over before him and flexed his fingers, forming a fist and relaxing it, marvelling at the muscles bunching under his skin.
‘I was but a shell of flesh,’ he said into the room, ‘but now I am something greater. The tree has become the fire.’
His new flesh felt and looked exactly as it had done before-before it had been so suddenly hacked from his body. His senses all throughout his being felt heightened and he could feel the tiny,individual pieces of himself at work, all doing their tasks and assisting each other: minuscule motes that toiled individually yet together, forming the flesh and matter that comprised his whole. He was not a creature of flesh, playing with magic-hewasthe magic, riding upon a vessel of bone and meat that it had crafted, and the more power he summoned,the greater he became.
He would have continued examining the marvel of himself, but Alahativa began wailing and she disturbed him from his task. ‘What kind of man are you? What demon has taken you? Anthem, what have you created?’
‘This is not my doing, woman!’ he told her gruffly. ‘I have never seen anything like this before.’
Samuel gathered his words and passed them from his throat, echoes riding the air. ‘No. I have made myself. I would like to rejoice at these discoveries, but that must wait. What I have learnt from your own mouths has deeply upset me. It seems, Grand Master, that you have kept secrets from me all this time. You have been tending to me all this while, hoping only to harvest my son. I am bitterly disappointed.’
‘It is not as simple as you make it seem, my boy. My goal has only ever been for peace for Amandia. We killed the Emperor and I believed our work to be done, but it seems that was only the start. The world is in peril, not by gods or demons as Celios had raved, but from man himself. We need to stop these infernal wars before civilisationitselfis destroyed. This madness has spread like a plague, leaving only death and suffering in its wake.’
‘Yet you have surrendered Cintar to the witch. She will not spare its occupants. She will kill every last soul within its walls. How does that end this madness you speak of?’
‘But millions more will be saved. I know the cost is high but,in return,she has given us your child-a babe that will grow into a king-a magician beyond all others, even beyond what you are now, who can quell armies with his will. No nation will dare affront another and magic will finally bring peace to everyone. Such a prize is beyond value! It is immeasurable! I had no intention to harm you, Samuel. I had no part in the kidnapping. I only sought to pair you together and see what would result. When I arrived here,I thought you were dead. I only wanted to make most of the situation. The arrival of the Koian woman seemed too good to be true. The answer to all our problems had been delivered to our very door!’
‘How can I believe anything you have to say? You forsook her without a second thought. You did not hesitate at the mention of this wretch’s axe.’
‘I’m sorry, Samuel. I have been blinded by my goal. I am so close to achieving the world I always imagined that I have sunk to such shallow methods. It is my life’s dream.’
‘And you will never see its realisation.’ He turned to the Paatin Queen. ‘Give me the rings.’
She glared at him. ‘Never!’
‘Then I will take them. I cannot allow them to be used by the likes of you. I will take them to Cang, so the world can be kept from harm.’
‘You have no say in the matter,’ she said defiantly. ‘These rings are not yours to demand.’
Samuel struck out, calling forth his newfound power, and sent a piercing beam of magic at the woman. She had her protection in place, rippling from her finger, before Samuel’s spell could reach her. His brilliant ray of death spat and hissed, stopping in the space directly before her eyes.
‘You need more power than that to harm me, Samuel,’ she said with a teasing smile.
‘As you wish,’ Samuel said and pressed his beam in towards her. She had the power of her Argum Stone at her command and her defences would otherwise have been considerable, but to Samuel it was not at all difficult to overwhelm the woman. He felt as if his power was limitless; that, should he call for it all at once, he could slice her head clean off.
Alahativa’s smile vanished as she shuffled backwards, but the beam followed her, digging in through her shields towards her.
‘Stop it, Samuel!’ she bawled. ‘How can you do this? We were lovers, once! Does that mean nothing to you?’
‘You are a vile witch, filled with evil and selfishness. Everything you have ever done has been for your own reward. I feel nothing for you.’
He felt satisfaction at the thought of her death, and he pressed his magic further upon her. The beam was inches from her face, when Anthem stepped in between them. Samuel’s spell was deflected as the old man thrust it aside and the magic arced away, carving a path of destruction along the palace walls and ceiling. Cushions and curtains turned to flame at its touch before Samuel could dispel it.
‘Come to your senses, boy!’ the old man commanded. ‘What you are doing is folly!’
‘I must take those rings and return them to the Circle,’ Samuel replied.
‘Are you bereft of your wits? Have you fallen to the wiles of them yet again? Their stories of disaster are nothing more than air and wind. We have real threats to face! I will not listen to talk of nonsense.’
‘Nevertheless, I will have the rings. It is obvious now that the Order and the Circle have little difference. If anything, the Circle is more to be believed, or did you not realise that women can use magic after all?’
‘Of course I knew, but it is forbidden. This is a law above all others. No woman can be allowed to use magic.’
‘And who is responsible for killing them, for no other reason than this? Is that what happened to my mother?’
‘That has never been part of m
y role, but it is possible. The Order is tasked with maintaining the old Laws,establishedlong before we even existed. We have kept a vigil upon the landto ensurethat no witches should come to power. I admit that some have been overzealous in their task, but the safety of society must outweigh the concerns of a few.’
‘To what end? How can such murder possibly be justified?’
‘See for yourself?’ and he gestured towards the Queen. ‘This one has raised an army and caused chaos upon the land. Women are not to be trusted with magic of any form.’
‘Then why do you now protect her? You should be pleased that I see to my duties, as a faithful member of my Order.’
‘Calm yourself, Samuel,’ Anthem told him. ‘Can you not see what is happening? Don’t be overwhelmed by your hate. Do you not remember what became of Master Ash?’
‘My hate is justified. I have every reason to despise you and what those of your kind have done. Ash was no Master. He was ignorant of the powers the Staff of Ancients had granted him. I have reached a stage of understanding that I doubt even you can comprehend, Grand Master,’ and he spat out the title with unbridled disdain.
‘Confounded fool! Have you not learned? All manner of dark forces wait to overcome a magician made silly by the power of his magic. Already I feel the taint of black magic within you. It has begun to corrupt you and it will continue until you are nothing more than its servant.’
Then Samuel felt something tickling at the edge of his perception. Looking down, he found a sliver of magic had been worked around his leg, sucking at his energy like a hungry leech and passing it back towards the old man. He blasted the thing apart with a thought and raised his gaze back to Anthem.
‘I know all your tricks, old man. Now, stand aside and let me at the witch.’
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