Shadowguard

by Gama Ray Martinez

  “Jez?”

  The voice was so soft it could hardly have been called a whisper. Bartin tried to lift his head, but the strength to do that had long ago left his body, and he fell back into his pillow.

  “I’m here, Father.”

  “Have you come home?”

  “Yes, Father.” Tears were streaming down his cheeks. “I’ll stay with you as long as you need me to.”

  For a moment, Bartin’s eyes focused on Jez, and the edges of his lips turned up in a smile. Jez began to believe everything would be all right.

  “That’s good.” He closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he was squinting. “You’re glowing. Did you know that? Why are you doing that?”

  Jez looked down at his hands but didn’t see any light. When he looked up, his father had a blank look on his face, and his chest had stopped the gentle rising and falling of breath. He stared at the bed for almost a full minute before the realization hit him.

  His father was dead.

  The room blurred and it took Jez a second to realize he was crying again. Powerful arms encircled him as Osmund drew him into an embrace.

  “I’m so sorry.”

  CHAPTER 23

  Clont gave them warm soup and bread and offered them beds for the night. There were still a couple that weren’t occupied by the sick, but Jez refused. They went outside and found Dusan’s guards waiting for him. Jabur inclined his head.

  “It’s good to see you Jezreel. The baron instructed us to wait until you came out. He offers his apologies for trying to bring you to the manor first. He wishes to see you.”

  “Why was my father here?” Jez’s voice cracked as he spoke. “The baron promised to look after him. Why was he in a sick house for people who had no one?”

  “I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to that. You’ll have to ask the baron.”

  “What if I don’t want to go?”

  “We’ll escort you to your father’s house if that’s what you wish. Baron Dusan arranged for food to be sent there. If you don’t want to see him, you’ll be left alone. Whatever you wish.” He looked at Osmund. “Of course your friend is welcome to come with us if you do.”

  Briefly, Jez considered telling them to go away, but he rejected the idea. It wouldn’t do any good, and he would have to see the baron eventually. He nodded at the guards and they led him through town. The streets were empty. Few people went out after dark, but Jez had never seen the city so devoid of life. Lights could be seen through the windows, but even they seemed dim. Even the manor was almost as still as the city.

  “Where are the guards?” he asked.

  “These are hard times,” Jabur said. “The baron didn’t want his home to seem foreboding so he removed them from the grounds. They’re still inside.”

  “That’s not like him,” Jez said. “At least, I don’t think it is.”

  They came in through the front door. As expected, men patrolled the halls inside. Jabur spoke to one who ran down the hall in the direction of the baron’s counting room. Jez and Osmund were led to a small dining room. This one had only half a dozen chairs around a table and was used when the baron wanted to conduct negotiations in a more private setting. They sat down, but Jez couldn’t bring himself to speak. Jabur had only been gone for a few minutes when Dusan walked in the room. He went to Jez and embraced him.

  “Oh, Jezreel. I’m so sorry.”

  Jez’s suspicion wavered, and he started sobbing into Dusan’s shirt. He looked up when Osmund cleared his throat. Jez wiped away his tears.

  “Sorry.” His voice wavered. “Baron Dusan, this is my friend Osmund. Osmund, Baron Dusan of Korand.”

  Osmund gave a graceful bow, but the Baron smirked.

  “I’ve heard of you. Didn’t you get exiled from the Academy?”

  Osmund’s face reddened, but Jez spoke up. “Baron...”

  “You’re right. This isn’t the time for that. I’ve been told you’ve eaten.” Jez nodded. “I’ll send for some chilled juice then.” He called orders to a servant standing in the doorway that Jez hadn’t seen. The girl’s head bobbed and she turned and ran. “I’ve prepared your room. I’ll have someone arrange quarters for your friend and the men who came with you. They were very annoyed with you for leaving.” When he saw Jez’s expression, he waved him off. “Don’t give it a second thought. I’ve already spoken to the Academy and taken responsibility. I should’ve told them to take you right to your father.”

  “Why was he there, in some inn, dying alone?” Jez didn’t even try to hide the accusation in his voice.

  “Jezreel, I didn’t know.”

  “I left you a message,” Osmund accused, but he backed away when the baron glared at him.

  Dusan sighed at Jez. “You have to understand, a boy with no rank and stinking of the road showed up and asked to speak with me. My chamberlain thought he was a vagrant. He nearly called the guards and had him thrown out. They never thought to give me the message.”

  “But he gave them my name,” Jez said.

  “Everyone in town knows I took you as a ward. He could’ve gotten your name from anyone. I’m sorry, Jezreel. I offered to take your father into my household, but he refused. He was too proud to accept help when it was offered.”

  Jez realized he was nodding and stopped. “That does sound like him.”

  “I decided to respect his wishes. I told him to let me know if he needed anything, figuring he’d tell me if he got desperate enough, but other than that, I left him alone. I regret that I didn’t have someone watching him.”

  Jez almost acknowledged that it made sense when a thought struck him. “But I called you over a week ago. Why did you leave him there all this time?”

  “You saw how weak he was. I sent healers, but they didn’t think it was safe to move him. I provided the innkeeper with gold to take care of his patients. I didn’t know what else to do.”

  Jez’s mind cast about, looking desperately for some way to blame him. This had to be someone’s fault. Jez’s father couldn’t just die. Someone had to be responsible, but everything the baron had said sounded true.

  “I’ve spoken to King Haziel,” the baron said, breaking Jez out of his thoughts. “He’s given his approval for your adoption. The official document is already on its way.”

  “What?”

  “Your father was your only family. You have no one left, and I need an heir. I intend for you to follow me as Baron of Korand.”

  CHAPTER 24

  “Are you all right?” Osmund asked.

  They were in Jez’s quarters. Even after the ostentatious rooms the Academy had given him, these seemed gaudy. His bed was too soft, and the tapestries hanging from the walls hurt his eyes. He and Osmund were seated in ornate chairs around a heavy stone table.

  “There’s just been so much. I don’t even know what to think anymore.” He noticed Osmund glancing around as if afraid to meet Jez’s eyes. “What is it?”

  “It’s just that now that you’re the heir instead of a ward...”

  “You want me to speak to the Academy masters.”

  “I don’t want to impose on you,” Osmund said, “but the Academy has the most complete theological library in the world. There’s nowhere else I can study about the limaph.”

  “Of course,” Jez said, patting his pocket where the key stone was. “The baron’s speaking stone is in his quarters. I’ll go speak to them now.”

  “There’s no rush. We won’t be leaving for a few days, right?”

  Jez nodded. “There’s no reason to wait though. It would make me feel better to do something.”

  He got up and walked into the hall. The guard glared at Jez as he came out of his room. Jez sighed and went back in to belt his sword before coming out again. This time, the guard nodded and let him out. He went down the hall to Dusan’s quarters. They were locked, and there no guard at the door, so he knew Dusan had to be in his counting room. He considered sending a servant but decided against it. If he was to be baron
one day, he needed to know the business of the barony. He led Osmund to the central hall and down the small passage. This door was locked as well. He was about to knock when his nostrils flared at the smell of sulfur. There was something on the other side that didn’t belong.

  “Osmund, the door,” Jez said.

  “What?”

  “Break down the door. Do it now!”

  Osmund hesitated only a second before throwing his arms forward. Fire and wind erupted from his fingers. They crashed against the door. For a second, Jez thought he saw the magic impact against a green energy shield. The flames roared and spread out against the shield. It only lasted for a moment before shattering. The fire consumed the door, reducing it to ash and molten iron.

  The air was still thick with smoke, but Jez didn’t care. He coughed as he leapt through the doorway, but the floor wasn’t where he expected, and he tumbled down a set of stairs he hadn’t known was there. He slammed against the ground, his body throbbing with pain. Osmund’s heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs behind him. Jez forced himself to his feet and looked around. Glowing runes covered the walls casting an unearthly light. Everything radiated the smell of another world. A circle of entwined silver and gold sat embedded in the floor of the center of the room. Jez could practically see energy flowing out from it and passing through the walls. Dusan stood inside of the circle with his arms raised just like last time.

  “Last time?” Jez said to the room.

  Suddenly, the room shifted. The walls and floor became indistinct. Osmund dissolved and glowing runes popped into existence in the air around him. His skin fell away, leaving a glowing body that was more spirit than flesh. Some dim part of his mind realized this wasn’t really happening. It was just like his dream had been, but it wasn’t a dream. Master Rael said she’d shaken some things free in his mind, and one of those pieces had contained this memory.

  The blurred figure from before came together. The red splotch resolved itself to the form of a closed fist, Dusan’s sigil. Jez looked around taking all the runes in. They pulsed with the power that the mortal mage, that Baron Dusan, had gathered. He channeled it against wards Jezreel himself had set long before mortal kind had walked the earth. The magician could no more stand against Jez’s power than a splash of water could stand against a mountain, but just as, over time, water could wear down a mountain to dust, the magician was systematically tearing down Jezreel’s wards, the wards meant to keep the sleeping demon locked away.

  “You must not do this, Mortal.”

  The mortal drew in more power, and Jezreel saw connections he hadn’t noticed before, feeding Dusan power. There were thousands of them. Each was individually so small they would’ve provided next to nothing, but together they enhanced this magician’s power tenfold. His body couldn’t maintain that power for long. Eventually, mortal flesh would burn out. The mage had to know that, but he didn’t seem to care.

  They spoke, but the mage would not abandon his course. Jezreel struck, but his attacked was rebuffed by the green energy shield, one of the same type that had protected the door to this chamber only much stronger. Jezreel examined the room. Everything converged on closed eye. Jezreel’s sword tore through it, and for a moment the rune seemed to be cut in two. Then, it vanished. The crystal the mage wore at his neck shattered. The thousands of link snapped, cutting him off from his source of power, from the dreams of the minds held by the sleeping sickness.

  The shock of the realization drew Jez back to the real world. His eyes locked onto Dusan’s face.

  “It was you.” He looked at the circle in horror. The power emanating from it was slowly infecting those in Randak. “It was you all along. You created the sleeping sickness.”

  “Yes,” he said simply.

  “You killed my father.”

  “That part was not intentional. It takes some people quicker than others. By the time I found out about him, he was already too far gone for me to help. I would’ve preferred to spare you that pain for now.”

  “For now?”

  “Jezreel, you are so much more than he was. I can help you reach your full potential. You can’t imagine what you have the ability to do.”

  “Because I’m a limaph?”

  “A limaph?” Dusan glared at Osmund. “Is that what this thing has told you? That you’re some half-blood with a few enhanced abilities? No, Jezreel, you’re no limaph. You’re what all limaph wish they could be. You’re a full pharim.”

  Osmund gaped at Jez. “He’s one of the afur?”

  Even before Dusan shook his head, Jez knew that wasn’t right. Before, when he had confronted Dusan, it hadn’t been as an exiled being doomed to wander the earth. It had been as one with a singular purpose, one that had to be fulfilled at all costs. He’d succeeded, but not without paying a price.

  “You did this to me. You made me...” Jez stumbled over the word. “Mortal.”

  “You left me little choice,” Dusan said, “but look at what I’ve done since then. I gave you everything. I made it possible for you to experience life in a way no pharim ever had, and it doesn’t have to end. Don’t you understand? Marrowit can give us immortality.” Jez shivered at the name of the demon, but Dusan went on. “With his power, and yours, added to my own, we could overthrow King Haziel. We could take the world. I know you Jezreel. You have a keen sense of justice. The world is a cold, dark place. You’ve seen the Academy. The rich and powerful rule there at the expense of good and decent people. Join me and you could change that.”

  “But you’ve killed so many people.”

  “With Marrowit’s blessing, there’s no limit to what I can do. What are a few lives next to that?”

  “I thought you wanted justice.”

  “You want justice. I want power. Marrowit is the way to both.”

  “No!”

  Ziary’s voice was practically torn from Osmund’s lips. There was a flash of light, and the giant was gone. Ziary stood there, his wings blazing and his sword drawn, burning with white hot flame. Regis had been a bully. All evil needed to be destroyed, but Regis’s had been small, and so the manifestation of Ziary had been minor. What Dusan was doing was vile. It was a perversion against the universe itself, and Ziary came forth in his full power, radiating energy. Jez looked at Dusan, half expecting him to burst into flames under that light, but the baron simply smiled.

  “Ever since I saw you in the arena, I’ve wondered if you would make yourself known. You might have actually succeeded if I hadn’t been expecting this.”

  Ziary lurched at him, but his sword crashed against a wall of green energy. He struck twice more in quick succession, but Dusan laughed.

  “I’ve held back pharim boy, and you’re a far cry from one of them.” Suddenly, the shield expanded and wrapped itself around Osmund, holding him prone. Dusan looked at Jez. “He would’ve killed me, you know. Should I have just stood by and allow that to happen?”

  “You’re a murderer!”

  “You would’ve been too, if I hadn’t stopped you. You disrupted my ritual and destroyed my focusing crystal. The power would’ve torn the entire city apart, and you didn’t care. I had to redirect it, and turn it toward you, to bind you to human flesh so that you could learn what it means to be one of us. Tell me, Jezreel, was saving all those lives evil?”

  Jez stared at him, speechless. He had a point, but he refused to let himself dwell on it. “I don’t know if that’s evil, but I know what you’re doing now is.”

  His fingers moved so quickly he didn’t know what he was doing. Power went out of him and into the energy holding Osmund. It glowed briefly but remained in place.

  “I spent weeks building that trap. Even you won’t be able to disarm it quickly. I’m giving you one more chance. Join me.”

  Jez’s head was shaking before he even realized he was doing it. He threw his hands forward, searching his mind for something, anything he could use to bind Dusan, but the baron was quicker. He uttered a word, and Jez fell to the ground, completel
y unable to move. He’d failed. Again. Dusan stood over him, scowling. Power burned in Jez, demanding to be released, but with his arms unresponsive, there was nothing he could do.

  “Don’t worry” Dusan said. “I won’t kill you. I’ll just hold you and hope you eventually change your mind. Him, on the other hand...”

  He drew a curved dagger from his robes. It gleamed in the light of the runes and he walked over to Ziary. The scion struggled against his bonds, but to no avail. Dusan would kill him, and it was all Jez’s fault.

  Rage mixed with power and threw itself at the magic holding Jez prone, but just as a physical blow delivered from an awkward angle would lack power, magic without word or gesture to release it was devoid of much of its strength. The paralyzing magic weakened slightly, but it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t nearly enough.

  Jez’s lower lip quivered, and he seized on the motion. His magic was all but spent, but he still had his will, a will fueled by anger at the man who had killed his father. Dusan was right about corruption in the world, but that didn’t excuse the steps he took. What he’d done was evil.

  Jez’s mouth opened and closed. He could feel Dusan’s magic writhing across his skin, threatening to freeze him again. He had mere seconds.

  “Stop!”

  He poured every ounce of his remaining power into that word. He could practically see its power rippling through the air and envelop Dusan. It did nothing. The runes pulsed with power. Dusan looked at him and sighed. He shook his head.

  “I’m sorry, Jezreel. You never really had a chance. Not against me.”

  “He didn’t, but I do.”

  If Ziary’s voice sounded like a storm, this voice was a hurricane that could destroy cities and not leave one stone standing on another. It was vast and terrible. It was gentle and kind. The mage’s eyes widened as a point of light appeared on the other side of the room as though it had come through the wall. It floated forward. Then, in a flash of light, it expanded. The figure stood ten feet tall. It had three pairs of wings, the first reached up through the stone of the ceiling. The second stretched out and covered almost the entire wall. The third sank down beneath the ground. It had ivory skin that seemed to burn with cleansing fire. Its robe was the purest blue Jez had ever seen. At the same time, it reminded him of a cloudless sky and the sapphire of the ocean under a noonday sun. They rustled in wind that wasn’t there, and Jez caught the faint scent of the sea. The being’s eyes were flawless sapphires, and though he didn’t know how he knew, Jez could see anger in those eyes. The name came unbidden into his head. Sariel, prince among the pharim and High Lord of the Shadowguard.