Zane Halloway: Omnibus Edition

by P. T. Hylton

  “Lily,” he said. “There are so many things—”

  She grabbed him and pulled him into a tight embrace. There were so many things, but she didn’t want to hear them. Not now.

  She went down the gangplank and began her journey back to Langton.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Lily held her sword in her hand. She was attempting to make it spin. It was not going well.

  There was a knock on the door.

  “Come in,” she said. The response was automatic. This was life in the castle of the King of Opel. Servants were always coming and going, entering and exiting, cleaning this and carrying away that. She didn’t know most of their names or even their functions, which made her feel guilty, like she’d somehow betrayed her lower-class upbringing. But there were so many of them! Getting to know all of them would have taken up all her time, and there was so much to do. Between what had happened on the Gamlond Sea, and what she needed to do next.

  The door opened, and Lily was surprised to see Jacob standing there, his face pale. He never came to see her in her room. If he needed her, he sent a servant to fetch her. His sudden appearance made her heart jump into her throat. Had something happened?

  The thought only fazed her for a moment. After everything she’d been through these past few years, she felt she was ready for anything.

  If she was lucky, he was just here to scold her for losing his favorite shimmer.

  Jacob walked in sat down on her bed. She turned her chair so she was facing him. It was odd; for once, she was sitting higher than him.

  Without preamble, he said, “We’re at war.”

  A chill ran through Lily. “What? How?”

  Jacob shook his head. “Apparently Tavel is willing to proceed even without proof that Longstrain was working for the Opel crown. A rider just arrived. They attacked three border towns yesterday.”

  “My God.” Lily’s heart sank. “So it was all for nothing.”

  “Of course not,” Jacob scoffed. “You weeded out a traitor in the king’s ranks. He’s been in the king’s ear for years, and you got him to show his true colors.”

  Lily tilted her head in surprise. She was almost certain that had been a compliment.

  She’d returned only yesterday, and she’d given Jacob a full report. Nearly full, anyway. She’d left out her final conversations with Zane. She wished she could have left her former mentor out of it completely, but the six returning King’s Guards had seen him. And she wasn’t about to ask them to lie. Not so soon after their former leader had been revealed to be a traitor. They would have undoubtedly begun to suspect her motives.

  “The king was furious, of course,” Jacob continued. “His own Sword working for Tavel. He might have started the war himself if Tavel hadn’t made the first move.”

  She put her head in her hands. It had been more than seventy years since the war with the elves, and nearly one hundred fifty since there’d been a major conflict with another nation. But this thing with Tavel had been brewing for a long time, and it wouldn’t be quick. The nation was in for a rough time of it.

  Jacob sighed. “Lily, I want to say I’m sorry about Caleb.”

  She looked up and saw he had a strange look in his eyes. It took her a moment, but then she got it. He knew. He knew about her relationship with Caleb.

  “How did you know?” she asked. “And why didn’t you ever say anything?”

  “What was I supposed to say?” he snapped. “You’re a grown woman, and it wasn’t distracting you from your studies. In truth, I was glad you two were keeping each other happy. Happiness is rare in our field.” He looked into her eyes, and there was something in him that looked almost like kindness. “I’m sure you’re hurting right now. But the king needs us to be strong. He’s a good man, but he’s a man of passion. He’ll go at this war the same way he goes at everything else: like it’s his God-given duty. He needs men and women of logic to help make decisions.”

  Lily nodded slowly. “What do we do?”

  The abditus ran a hand through his hair. “There’s so much. I’m needed at the front. There will be balmsmen and thornsmen and tanglesmen, but they’ll need a representative of the king to coordinate the abditus. I’m also needed here. The king won’t go to the front, not yet, and someone needs to talk some sense into him if his plans get overly ambitious, which they are sure to. Finally, I’m needed in the Crags.”

  Her eyes widened at that.

  “Our Navy is strong,” Jacob continued. “Stronger than Tavel’s. But we need ground support. If we can convince the Cragsmen to align with us, the war could be over by winter. We’ll send the king’s brother to do the actual negotiation, of course, but the Cragsmen will be offended if we don’t send an abditus.”

  “I’ll go to the front,” Lily said quickly. “I’m good with soldiers. Just ask the King’s Guards. And my ferox training will come in handy to—”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. There’s no way the abditus at the front would follow an apprentice, even mine. You’ll be going to the Crags. I want you to sit in on the negotiations.”

  Lily jumped out of her seat. “You’ve got to be kidding me! My skills in those types of situations are atrocious. If you don’t want to send me to battle, I’ll stay here with the king. He likes me, right? Maybe he’ll listen—”

  “This is not a discussion,” Jacob interrupted. “You’ll go to the Crags. You’ll keep your mouth shut. You’ll do a little magic, if asked. And this is how you’ll serve your king.”

  Lily scowled at her mentor.

  His face softened a little. “Listen. War is a terrible thing. No one wants a war. But, as in all things, there is a positive. War presents the opportunity for great power and great wealth for those who are brave enough and smart enough to reach out and take it. I intend to exit the other side of this war a very wealthy man. And I’ll make sure you have the same opportunities. But you have to listen to orders. Go to the Crags. Help me end this war. Then I will teach you what real power looks like.” He paused a moment, then said, “Will you do this thing I’m asking of you?”

  She paused for a long while, then nodded. The next day, she was headed into the mountains.

  ***

  Zane crouched on a tall rock overlooking the city. The homes here in the Crags were difficult to pick out from one another, the way they were all carved into the mountain. It was a hard place, just like the people who lived here.

  Amber had taken Zane south and dropped him in Tavel. He’d made his way through the lowlands, traveling by night and hiding in the woods by day. It wasn’t the easiest way to travel, nor the quickest, but things were on a razor’s edge and care was worth the effort. If he’d been caught in Tavel, he’d be no use to anyone. When he arrived, he’d given the pre-arranged signal: two blue candles lit in a certain window of a certain inn.

  He waited an hour before a shadow moved across the rooftop and a woman crouched down next to him.

  “You’re slow,” Zane said. “Your mentor’s made you too reliant on shimmers and glides, I’d wager.”

  Lily scoffed. “No. I just found a better observation point.” She pointed at a ledge across the canyon.

  He grunted softly. That was a better observation point, but he wasn’t about to say so.

  “I waited there for an hour before I realized you weren’t coming,” she said. “This was the second best spot.”

  “Jacob give you any trouble?” Zane asked.

  “No. He’s easy to manipulate. Just let him know where you don’t want to go, and he’ll see you sent there.” She flashed a grin, and he was just able to see her smile in the moonlight. “The most difficult part has been the negotiations with the Cragsmen.”

  Zane said, “They are tough negotiators.”

  “It’s not just that,” Lily said. “It’s the rituals! Every day, it’s two hours of ceremonies and exchanges of gifts and commentary on the weather patterns before we can even begin. I swear, Zane, it’s enough to make me wish I was back on Amber Long
strain’s ship.”

  “Then perhaps you’re ready for some fun?”

  She smiled. “I’ll have to attend the negotiations during the days. But at night, I’m all yours.”

  He nodded toward the sword at her hip. “Do you remember how to use that thing.”

  She drew the sword, spun it around, and gently tossed it into the air. It hovered three inches above her outstretched hand. “I may have learned a trick or two since my days training with you.”

  He shook his head. “Lily Rhodes, the abditus. Who’d have thought?”

  She grabbed the hilt and swung the sword in a precise s-cut. “I’m still a ferox at heart. Even if I’ll never be one in name.” She looked out over the mountain city below them. “So all we have to do is find a pirate-warrior and convince his rogue ferox faction to betray him?”

  “Don’t forget about ending a war,” he said. He gestured toward her sword. “We’re going to need any advantage we can get.”

  “I brought plenty of advantage,” Lily said.

  “Then let’s get started.” He paused. “Lily? I’ve missed you.”

  She touched his shoulder. “Me, too.”

  With that, they went down into the city and started the search for Caleb Longstrain.

  BOOK FIVE: LIES AND CROSSROADS

  EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO

  Zane took a deep breath and squeezed his hands into fists, trying to stop them from shaking. Someone touched his shoulder, and he turned to see Jacob Von Ridden, a reassuring smile on his face.

  “Courage,” Jacob said. “This will all be over soon. Then we will both be a lot richer.”

  Zane pressed his lips together, cutting off the response that wanted to leap from his mouth.

  It had been a month since Zane had discovered Jacob was making and selling unapproved shimmers. Shimmers that didn’t change appearances, but instead changed the emotions of the target. Jacob had been quietly selling them to rich men who wanted to win the affections of younger women, merchants who wanted to smooth business dealings, and nobles who simply wanted their subjects to adore them. In only a year as an abditus, Jacob was making more money than many senior shimmermen. However, he hadn’t shown his creation to the Abditus Society. As a new application of shimmer magic, it needed to be approved for sale. The Abditus Society had seen their reputation suffer during the magic boom when the market was flooded with hundreds of untested magical devices, and they were rather careful now about what they allowed out for sale. But the approval process could take years, and Jacob, it seemed, hadn’t wanted to wait to make his fortune.

  In Zane’s opinion, this was both short-sighted and foolish. He’d offered Jacob the opportunity to make things right. If Jacob took his invention to the Abditus Society, Zane wouldn’t reveal Jacob’s crime. Jacob had agreed, but only if Zane would assist him with one final sale first, a sale too lucrative to pass up.

  Now they were waiting on the docks for the customer, a customer who was willing to pay the exorbitant price of fifty thrones, a sum Jacob had offered to split evenly with Zane. Twenty-five thrones each. Practically a fortune. Zane had given the matter a lot of thought before agreeing to it. Setting up business as an abditus was expensive, and that much coin would position him nicely.

  But the customer…not only was this sale illegal in the eyes of the Abditus Society, it was illegal in the eyes of the crown. And, it was dangerous.

  Zane heard the gentle, rhythmic splashes of oars and, a moment later, saw a small rowboat approaching the dock. The hand on Zane’s shoulder tightened. Zane didn’t know whether that was fear or Jacob’s attempt to reassure him.

  The bulky, hunched-over figure in the boat tossed a line onto the dock. Zane grabbed it and tied it off, grateful to have something to do with his hands.

  The large figure climbed clumsily onto the dock.

  It was the first time Zane had ever seen a Cragsman up close. He was just as big as Zane had expected. However, he was not wearing his hair in the traditional Craggish style. In all the paintings Zane had seen, Cragsmen were bald except for a carefully wrapped knot of hair at the tops of their heads. This man had uniformly short hair, cropped close, and no bun.

  “Which of you is Von Ridden?” The Cragsman’s voice was deep and resonant, as if it had been created specially to call to mind the jagged, harsh mountains of the man’s homeland.

  Jacob put out his hand. “I am.”

  The Cragsman shook Jacob’s hand, then glanced at Zane. “Why is it necessary to have him here?”

  “Ah,” Jacob said. “This is my apprentice. Zane Halloway.”

  Zane was surprised at the lie, but he did his best to keep his expression neutral. He held out his hand, and the Cragsman glared at it for a moment, as if disgusted by the very possibility of touching the apprentice. Finally, he shook it.

  “This is not well begun, Von Ridden,” the Cragsman said. “I risk much by coming here, and I do not like surprises.”

  Zane saw a bit of red leap into his friend’s cheeks.

  “You’ve risked much?” Jacob asked. “If we are caught, we could be hanged.”

  The Cragsman chuckled.

  “You don’t have hangings in the Crags?” Zane asked. He was a bit surprised at his own question, but he was genuinely curious why the foreigner would find the idea of execution humorous.

  “We do not have hangings,” the Cragsman said. “We have pressings.”

  “Pressings?” Zane asked.

  The Cragsman nodded. “The guilty party is made to lie on his back in a hole in the ground. All his friends and kinsmen over the age of four are required to file past. Each drops a single stone onto the convicted. The person is slowly crushed under the weight of the stones dropped on him by his loved ones. So you ask why I laugh at the idea of a hanging? Perhaps it is because I’ve been an executioner since I was five years old. I find the concept of a man swinging from a rope while the public watches from a safe distance…quaint.”

  Jacob scowled. “This is all very fascinating, but what say you we move to business?”

  The Cragsman glared at Jacob. “I haven’t decided if I trust you.”

  Jacob glanced pointedly at the Cragsman’s hair. “You don’t trust us? We are honored citizens of our nation. We’ve never been disgraced.”

  The Cragsman’s face went crimson, and the tendons stood out on his neck. “If you question my skill—”

  “I don’t,” Jacob said, holding up a hand. “I apologize if I offended you.”

  The Cragsman glared for another moment before nodding. “Fine. The sooner begun, the sooner done, then.” He grabbed a bulging cloth sack hanging from his belt and tossed it to Jacob.

  Jacob loosened the string and poked around inside for a moment.

  “You are young,” the Cragsman said, “so I’ll ignore the insult of counting my payment in front of me. But I suggest you hand over my purchase before I change my mind.”

  Zane glanced at Jacob and saw his friend was teetering on the edge of anger. Jacob was not used to being questioned in these transactions, Zane knew. The nobles he usually dealt with were all too grateful to have his black market magics. Zane wished he could put a calming hand on Jacob’s shoulder the same as Jacob had done for him, but he didn’t dare. The Cragsman might take it as a sign of weakness.

  Jacob reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, diamond-shaped shimmer. He placed it in the Cragsman’s hand.

  “It better work,” the big man said.

  “It does,” Jacob snapped. Then, in a more calm voice, “It’s set to bond to you. Simply touch it with your index finger to activate. Then you can either wear it and enact a subtle influence on all those around you, or have someone else wear it and that person will be greatly affected.” He paused a moment, then said, “Just remember, it’s not instantaneous. This isn’t a love potion from the old elf stories. It takes time. The longer someone is exposed to its presence, the more they will be affected. Prolonged exposure is key. Understand?”

  The
Cragsmen nodded and put the shimmer into his pocket. “In the Crags, the abditus won’t share their devices with anyone not magically trained. They say it’s not safe. So God bless you for your lack of ethics.”

  Without a further word, the Cragsman turned and climbed back into the boat.

  “Untie me, apprentice,” the Cragsman said, the disdain thick in his voice.

  Zane crouched down and undid his knot. He didn’t mind the Cragsman’s condescension; he just wanted this to be over. He put his boot against the edge of the boat and gave it a shove.

  “If I have any problems, you’ll be hearing from me.” With that, the Cragsman slapped his oars against the surface, spraying Zane’s legs with water. He smiled and began rowing in slow, powerful strokes that quickly carried him away from the dock.

  Zane and Jacob watched in silence as the small boat disappeared into the mist.

  “That went as well as could be expected,” Jacob said. “And now you’re rich enough to set up your own shop when you are placed. If that’s your inclination. Or buy a small house. Whatever your tastes, you’ll be starting with a leg up on your peers.”

  But at what cost? Zane wondered. How much would this moral compromise cost him? “And what of you?” Zane asked.

  “Yes.” The voice came from behind them. “What indeed?”

  Zane and Jacob both turned. Rebecca Waters stood behind them, her small frame quivering with anger.

  Zane drew a sharp breath at the sight of his mentor.

  “I heard your speech,” she said, glaring at Jacob. “Never mind that you betrayed your nation by selling magic to a foreigner. Never mind that you’ve corrupted my apprentice. This is what most concerns me.”

  She unclenched her fist and revealed a small pendant. “When you were my apprentice, I tolerated your presence because of your natural skill. I was flattered when you gave me this gift after your placement exam. I’ve worn it ever since. I never once questioned why my feelings toward you changed. Why I suddenly became so fond of you. Perhaps more than fond. Even now, everything inside me wants to explain this away, to find a way to help you cover up your crime.”