“He is usually in here,” Lael whispered. “Mage Aelony?”
Gabriel had yet to venture down this far into the library, and with great care, removed a book from a shelf. It needed no dusting, for Earth Mages prevented dust with a pattern, and it held together with another pattern. He flipped through the pages finding nothing forbidden, and set it back on its shelf, but he jumped back. A face appeared in the shelf, stepping forward to reveal a man.
He shimmered in gray and white like a smoky campfire caught within a glass vessel. His feet did not quite touch the floor. Shorter than Gabriel, he was of average appearance, his hair tied back, and a short beard on his cheeks. He wore strange garments, a coat cut very oddly in a circular pattern in the front, high-waisted breeches and stockings. He looked Gabriel up and down. Gabriel looked through him.
“A Head Mage,” the man said, his voice echoing faintly. “It hast been many decades since one paid me a visit.” He lifted a smoky brow and pursed his lips arrogantly.
“Aelony, I come seeking information.”
“As do they all. As do we all.” He waved a hand and began to fade away.
“How did you get like this?” Gabriel cut in, knowing if people wanted to talk about anything, it was about themselves.
The specter solidified. “I? Why, I lost mineself to Void.”
“Then you must know Void well.”
Aelony chuckled. “Oh, I once did Head Mage, but that was Ages ago.”
“I need to know how to unlock it.”
The specter nodded, putting a finger on his chin. “Aye, ye would not find it in books, nay. All that sweet knowledge t’was burned after the Mage Wars.”
Gabriel remained resolute, his face stern.
“Ah, but what could ye do for me?”
“What do you ask for?”
“Access to thine loft.”
Gabriel glanced at Lael. Knowledge of his loft was a secret even from his right-hand man. “What do you seek?”
“Knowledge.”
Gabriel steeled himself. The loft was the most secure location in the castle, holding many ancient secrets and powerful relics along with three complete sets of Castrofax. “If you tell me, I will bring out what books you need. I vow it.”
“I want inside.”
“No man but I go inside,” he said sternly.
Aelony shrugged a shoulder. “I want to see all the books.” Gabriel nodded. “Then may the horror be on your head. Do ye know why Void was struck from the records? Ye know the story of Spirit killing his brother Void, aye? The Element of Spirit grew so angry at Void for reasons lost to the Ages. Spirit murdered him, unwittingly drawing all Void’s powers into him. That is why all Spirit wielders can use Void but no one else. In order to unlock Void, ye must murder someone in cold blood.”
“I—I’ve already done that,” Gabriel muttered quietly. Flashes of darkness and red images appeared before his eyes. With great effort he pushed them away.
“Did ye see anything strange when they died?”
“I was a bit preoccupied when it happened.”
Aelony nodded suspiciously. “When ye murder a man it rips at the soul—creates a tear in the veil of worlds. Ye will see the tear. Void will open to ye.” He raised a hand. “Easy as turning a page.”
Gabriel looked at Lael, his lips parted as he searched for the right words. “How do I…?” He pinched his eyes shut. “Thank you, Aelony. Once I am sure it is successful, I will summon you for your reward.”
“Do not dally, Head Mage.” Aelony made a bow with his head and faded away, leaving them alone.
“Head Mage, I would much rather be sensitive and tell you it must not happen, but we all know this cannot be,” Lael said.
“How can I choose to end the life of someone I vowed to protect?”
Lael stepped up quickly. “We do not have a choice in this matter. I do not want to rush you, but I need you to move on this.”
“Give me time.”
“You have little.”
Gabriel nodded and pinched the bridge of his nose. Lael clapped him on the shoulder sympathetically, and without another word, the two of them returned to their quarters.
Chapter 6
Prince Virgil proved to be far better company than Robyn expected. Since his eldest brother would take the throne, Virgil had to make his own way, and he had chosen the life of an officer in the King’s army. He was an excellent conversationalist when it came to weaponry, and Robyn found herself discussing archery well after supper had been cleared away.
“I would like to see you use a bow. I have never seen a Queen handle a weapon. It is simply not done in my kingdom.” His voice was much deeper than Gabriel’s, vibrating in her chest with calming waves.
“You shall see it someday if I in turn may see your swordsmanship.”
“It would be my great pleasure. Why did you choose archery rather than something more tactile?”
“Archery can be completed from a distance, so I am removed from a battle but very much a part of it still.”
“You have been in battle?” he asked, his eyes brightening. It had been several days since his arrival, and he had been fitted with a red guard’s uniform and adopted the style of slicking his tawny hair back.
“Only once. Tournaments, plenty, but only one battle.”
He leaned back in his chair with a look of wonder, swirling his spiced wine. “I am truly amazed. Do you thirst for more?”
She drummed her nails on the table. “I thirst for hunting, but not people.”
He nodded respectfully. “Battle brings out a part of us we do not know we have until battle is over. Perhaps, a lust for adrenaline and power.”
“Well put.” She felt both when she fought for Gabriel, but watching him fall and clapped with the Castrofax melted all her battle lust.
“Are you also the type of Queen who sneaks into the City at night and drinks a mug with marauders?”
She chuckled and leaned forward. “I did once.”
He slapped the table. “I knew it! We must do it again.”
She grinned at his brazenness and nodded. Virgil was a kind man with the rigidity of a soldier and the mind of a warrior. Despite being well educated, he was not quite as quick of wit as Gabriel. Nor was he as fair, though his jaw was squarer, and his eyes set more deeply. It wasn’t as if he was displeasing to look at either, with the muscles on his muscles….
Robyn quickly took a sip of her wine, and the door opened for the Mistress of the Kitchens. Marya bustled in with a platter in one hand. Robyn greeted her warmly.
“Bless me, your Grace,” she whispered. “I don’t know where you find all these handsome men, but send them to the kitchens when you have no further need of them.” She set down the platter and revealed tiny pastries. “I heard you were still up here and most likely in need of refreshments.”
“That is very kind, Marya.”
“Has my dear Head Mage returned? I was making peach cobbler and thought of him.”
“I am afraid his duties keep him away,” Robyn replied coolly.
“Well you know where to send him when he returns, bless me!”
“Control yourself,” Robyn laughed.
“Why start now?” Marya replied and exploded in laughter as the doors closed behind her.
Maxine left Castle Jaden and shifted to Atrox Manor. Ryker was propped up in a cushioned chair, a scroll in his hands, and a cup of tea balanced on his knee. Nolen stood beside him, leaning his arms on a table looking over a map.
“Nolen, you were not truthful with me,” Maxine said as she appeared.
Nolen’s head popped up. “How so?”
Ryker picked up his tea. “Another day, ac I would have given y’ up par dead.”
“You told me the Head Mage was fair to look at. That was not the full truth.”
“Ack! Do give it a rest, Maxine,” Ryker growled.
Nolen tapped the table and gave her an ugly look. The young man amused her. He seemed to think she belong
ed only to him and should fancy no other men. Ironic for him to leer at every Atrox servant.
“What did y’ find?” Ryker continued.
Maxine took a graceful seat near Ryker. “The Head Mage is well respected by his people despite being so very young and easily distracting. I found it interesting he had no guard with him.” Nolen frowned in confusion. “In our Age, the Head Mage always had an escort of four to protect him.”
“We no longer do that then.”
“One can see. His Council seems strong, and despite the fact both his parents sit on it, he has taken to his role of guardian swiftly. I saw him sparring one day and by my lady, he is very fast. Strong too, and very well built.”
Ryker cleared his throat.
“I will be pleased to note that whatever Nolen did to him had quite an effect on his thoughts. It was obvious the boy still struggles, I could see it in his eyes.”
“See what exactly?” Nolen asked excitedly.
Maxine raised her manicured brows. “You broke his mind. Such a thing cannot be healed in a moment. You continue to torment him without even being there.”
“Does this happen to all Class Tens?”
“Nay, it happens to all peoples. Have you never seen a soldier return from a battle with a twinge of unsettlement in his eyes? Have you ever watched a man emerge from a burning building to see a pain on his face that does not leave for many days? You meddled with Gabriel’s very soul when you broke him.”
“I am glad to know it.” Nolen smirked.
Ryker grinned, and he looked at the ex-prince. “So what do you propose we do?”
Nolen straightened as he deliberated. Ryker made it clear he wanted the Head Mage Seat, but his timeline was unclear. “I say we make the Mage take himself out.”
Maxine leaned forward. “How so?”
“If his mind is as unstable as you think, why not toy with him a little more until he kills himself.”
Ryker nodded. “We’ve seen it before.”
“Luxantine,” Maxine replied. “What would you do to him?”
“I think you should seduce him,” Nolen answered. Maxine chuckled. It had crossed her mind more than once. “Draw him away from his lady love, break their betrothal,” he stopped suddenly and looked at Ryker. “Do you have another set of Castrofax?”
The room fell silent as Ryker considered Nolen’s implication. “I may.”
“Then there is your solution. He will kill himself if you clap in him another.”
Ryker nodded thoughtfully and perched his fingers on his chin. “I think y’ might be ont’ something.”
While Gabriel despised the idea of cold murder, Lael suggested they find a criminal in Kilkiny’s dungeons bent for execution. Lael donned an appropriate black coat and slicked his hair back. Buckling his Mage cloak, he strode out of his quarters into the anteroom. Gabriel already waited resplendent in white; one side of his cloak hung over a shoulder as he fingered through a book.
“You read more than I do,” Lael smiled as he walked up.
“I daren’t believe that,” Gabriel replied and shut the book with a snap. “At least you look better in a fine coat than I do.”
“Do not tell yourself these lies. I would rob your wardrobe in a moment if your coats fit me.” Lael loved few things in this world more than a tailored coat.
“These would fit you,” Gabriel countered.
Lael chuckled and spread his hands across his shoulders that were not as broad as the Head Mage’s.
Lace rounded the open door, lovely in a dress of pale green with a gray shawl around her neck clasped with her Mage pin. She looked a little pale today as was her new usual, but Lael had not worked out why.
“Are we ready?” Gabriel sighed. Lael grasped Gabriel’s shoulders as they began the sidestep patterns. “I’ll lead.”
They fueled the patterns, and the anteroom slowly faded away to be replaced with cold dark stone with a massive black door set before them. Gabriel dropped them right in front of the dungeons, and Lael felt him take in a deep breath and exhale slowly. Gabriel swiped a finger down his neck and adjusted his collar as if it would protect him.
Lace held onto Gabriel’s arm tightly with a knowing look. He hesitated, swallowed, and wrenched the door open. He marched right up to a guard at a standing desk, but the guard took one look at him and raised a finger.
“I’ll have him right out, Head Mage. Her Grace sent the death warrant down this…. You look very familiar.”
“Perhaps you don’t recognize me without blood all over,” Gabriel replied coolly.
“Stars above, the castrated Mage.”
“Not castrated,” Gabriel cut in. “Castrofax.”
“Castrofax, aye, Head Mage,” the man nodded rapidly and shouted at another a guard to fetch the prisoner. “If you would step in here.”
The guard led them into a cavernous room hewn into the rock below the palace. Several chains were set into the floor and walls. Gabriel stood in the center and faced the door. One hand clamped over Lace’s. Lael could tell, even at a distance, that the Head Mage was nervous, and most likely not because he was about to kill a man.
“Castrated,” Lace chuckled lowly to lighten the mood.
“That’s not a rumor I want spreading,” Gabriel replied with a tinge of a grin.
They waited a few more minutes, and bootfalls on the stone gave way to a set of burly guards leading a skinny man with a beard between them. He was clapped in chains, dressed in dirty clothes. Kilkiny’s dungeon was known for being humane, and his hands and face were washed, and his hair brushed.
“So you’re the one who’s gonna do it,” the man sneered. “How’s it gonna be, white man?”
“You address the Head Mage of Jaden,” Lael interjected.
“I’m not even to be killed by my own kind?”
A guard handed Gabriel the warrant which he perused and rolled up again. He released Lace’s hand and stepped forward. “For your crimes against the women of this kingdom, I will take your life as retribution,” Gabriel stated and snapped a pattern together. He gave the man no time to argue and pointed a finger at his head, flexing another digit. Lael recognized the pinch-pattern. Gabriel pinched a vessel in the man’s brain to kill him almost instantly.
The man opened his mouth to yell in defiance, but he fell silent and slumped to the floor.
Gabriel looked around him as Aelony had instructed, but he stood for some time with a confused expression. “There is nothing here,” he said to Lael.
Lael put his thumb in a pocket and drummed his fingers on his hip as he wracked his brain for an answer. Lace stood patiently, unsure of the true implications of their journey. The guards dragged the man back out, and Gabriel watched with a look in his eye Lael could not place.
“Let’s get back to Jaden,” Gabriel finally replied, but he stopped dead in his steps when someone far down the hall screamed. He quickly set the sidestep-patterns and latched onto both of them. They returned to the anteroom, and Gabriel finally exhaled, wiping his dewy brow with a hand. Lace patted his arm encouragingly.
“I’m going to speak with Aelony,” he said and waltzed off with Lace on his arm.
Lael returned to his desk to review the tallies as Jaden prepared for the heart of winter. He never had such a full castle when going into winter, and it meant they needed more food, timber, oil, coal, and other resources.
It was not long before Mage Shayleen came to visit him, a pile of books in her hands. She had become quite the helpful volunteer when it came to Void research. She deposited the stack on the corner of his desk and explained her findings in the Arconian books with a thick accent, but she had a much better grasp of the language.
She was nearly finished when Gabriel walked back in, a glum expression on his face. Shayleen paused to greet him.
“Aelony says it must be a Mage.” Gabriel said quietly. “Elemental energy released in the death is what tears the veil.”
Lael made no response, quietly trying to rea
d the Head Mage’s face. Gabriel stared at the floor, hands in his pockets.
“Shayleen, would you play for me?” Gabriel asked finally.
“Of course, Gabriel,” she replied.
She rushed off and returned with her violin. Moments later Lael heard the sweet sounds of music filling the rooms.
Chapter 7
Ryker slipped the long gray coat over his arms and tested the shoulders as he buttoned it. His servant, a young girl he dressed in a green gown, had finally learned his measurements. Even the belt cinched appropriately. It had taken a sound backhand to the face for her to get it right. The imprint of his signet ring left an impression on her forehead and was turning green.
Pike knocked on the door and pushed it open, wearing a smart blue coat and yellow vest. “Are you ready?”
“I am,” Ryker nodded and seized Void, beginning to lay the shift. Pike stepped closer, frowning at the servant girl and put a hand on her forehead. She flinched, but he pulled the hand away lifting the bruise. “I wish y’ would ne do that.”
“I like them looking their bes’.”
Ryker gripped his shoulder and fueled the shift pattern, sending them across the colorless landscape. It took several minutes to travel across Anatoly, under the Dahrry Sea, past Arconia and into Shalaban. They made for the capital city of Irukanji in which the Emperor resided.
Shalaban was an arid country that bordered the Klemnon Desert in the east and the Dahrry Sea on the west. Their architecture never changed, nor did it deteriorate. Irukanji was made of ten thousand ziggurats pointing skyward, all the same orange color of the earth. Cinibar’s history was steeped in Shalaban roots as could be seen in their architecture, but where Shalaban’s structures were famous for eternal straight lines and symmetry, Cinibar adopted spirals in their structures.
Straight lines spoke of control, of intelligence, and science. Shalabane charted the stars before Anatoly was even thought of, and while their culture was considered odd, they were a disciplined people. A patriarchal society, women were seen more as objects than people; however, Mages of both sex were highly revered. Men took two wives and female Mages were allowed two husbands. The Emperor knew his power lay in the Mages, so he inflated them, gave them positions of power, and doted on their whims.
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