by Nichols, TJ
I fear they no longer exist. Their own people didn’t trust magic users. Some lived here until they died. She shook her head. Some mages once said humans cannot be trusted with magic. They get a taste for it and then cannot live without it.
For all that he didn’t trust the Mayans, their way was at least more respectful. Where on the map am I?
She pointed to the edge. This way.
Have you heard of Lifeblood Mountain?
We were trying to reach there. She pointed to a triangular mark on the map. I am so close… but I will not make it.
You are alone.
I am. I have been drinking the blood of those that have died, but the scarlips are getting braver.
Will no one from Lifeblood come for you? When had his tribe become so untrusting?
They will not answer. Perhaps they are also dead.
No! He wouldn’t believe that. He took a moment to compose himself. That is where I am from. In his heart he wanted to return one day, but only when Vinland was safe for Angus and only if the Lifeblood mages stopped demanding the death of all warlocks.
I am sorry. Her sadness echoed in Saka’s mind.
So am I. I would come to you if I could.
You have. She bowed her head. Thank you. I have not died alone.
He didn’t see the blade, but he felt it as though it were in his own skin and the heat of his blood was spilling out onto the sand. He gasped, but the connection weakened as her life ended.
He reeled back until he was aware of the ground beneath him and the tree root that bit into the back of his thigh. Wek steadied him, but he wasn’t ready to talk.
“Are you all right? Did you push too far?” She lifted his chin to search his eyes. “What did you see?”
“Death.”
Chapter Fifteen
The last time Terrance had been in this room, his life had hung in the balance. He wasn’t sure it was different today. Cadmael was in another of his bright pinstriped suits—they seemed to be popular with the men and women who favored more formal attire.
It was the first time Terrance had bothered to dress properly in weeks—training was always done in a loincloth—though a summons to the Intelligence Temple wasn’t the occasion he wanted to dress for. He was sure he wasn’t going to be rewarded for his outstanding performance on the court.
Everyone at the school was stunned at his win, including his trainers. He’d since learned that magic was the only way to get the ball through the hoop, though it was something they never trained for nor did they select players who were magically trained. If it happened, it happened. Had Cadmael thought him too stupid to use magic to save his life, or had it been another test?
He’d been using magic since he first sensed it, much to his grandparents’ horror. It happened only six months after his wizard parents disappeared, and he had no doubt that the college had killed them. Even as a child, he’d understood the danger of what he could do and what would happen if people found out. His grandparents encouraged him to concentrate on sports instead of magic.
For that he would be ever grateful.
Hopefully they were still alive. These days he didn’t put any faith in hope, only in things he could touch. He’d like to touch Cadmael’s throat and squeeze until his face matched the purple of his shirt. Terrance curled his fingers but otherwise didn’t move. He was tired of games. They should concentrate on more important things.
Cadmael had watched Terrance silently from the moment he walked through the door. Perhaps Cadmael was about to toss him through the void. There were worse places, and he was sure Angus would get him back from Demonside.
He didn’t know what they’d do after that. They needed a plan.
Their first plan had been to flee Vinland, then to make it to the Mayan Empire. But all they’d done since was try to find their feet and live. This wasn’t home or even a safe place, and nowhere would be safe until the Warlock College was a footnote in history and a warning to magic users that nothing was free.
If the silence was meant to intimidate him or make him want to talk, it was failing. Terrance had played with wizards and warlocks and pitted both sides against each other for too long to fall for that game. He could wait. He had nothing more pressing to do.
He’d been used before to keep Angus in line. Even the threat of death was nothing new. Cadmeal would have to try harder.
Cadmael took a few paces forward but didn’t get too close. Had he watched the game? Weeks of training had rebuilt the muscles Terrance lost on the trek across Demonside. The drills had made him faster, and he could ignore pain—he’d learned to do that years before.
There was nothing Cadmael could do to him that would hurt, except put Angus in danger. If he put Angus on the court, Cadmael would see exactly what a third-rate wizard with a talent for ball sports could do with a Mayan head. It would bounce quite nicely off his elbow. Terrance bit back a smile.
“Congratulations on your win.” The words were almost said sincerely, but the tightness around Cadmael’s lips and eyes gave away how he truly felt.
“Playing with balls and saving my ass is what I’m good at.” He’d saved his partner’s life too—this time. But his win had condemned two others to death, which had stolen the glory and left him feeling sick. For all that he’d tried to adapt to their mindset around pitz and death, he couldn’t quite get there.
Cadmael nodded. “You made a good team, a team people would like to see play again. Although, given that you have put the ball through the hoop once, I’m guessing that doing it every time will no longer be a challenge.”
“I play to win. If that’s the best way to win, then that’s what I’ll do.”
“I thought warlocks didn’t use magic like that.”
Terrance smiled. “I only became a warlock because they offered me a scholarship. College isn’t free in Vinland. My grandparents couldn’t afford it, so I decided that getting a demon was a price I would pay for getting to play rugby.” He didn’t add and eventually getting out of Vinland.
“But you don’t have a demon.”
Aqua, the scarlips that he’d tamed with his blood, had been killed by the college, and Cadmael knew that. It had come out when he was first questioned. “Not currently.”
“You will not be able to play pitz again. Once someone has revealed their talent for magic, it is forbidden. They are supposed to train to become a priest.”
Terrance allowed his grin to form. “I would be happy to get a demon. I believe we’ve had a conversation very similar to this.”
Cadmael shot him a glare. “I do not believe that bonding with Saka will be possible. He has vanished.”
Angus had said something about getting word to Saka, but he hadn’t wanted to hear it because he’d been getting ready to play. Wherever Saka was, it couldn’t be that far. Saka wouldn’t leave Angus.
Terrance shrugged. “I’m sure he’ll turn up. He’s probably doing magey-type stuff. He was always very magey. Magic and tribe first and all that.” Terrance had heard Angus’s frustration more than once, but it was always tinged with admiration and a little jealousy. Saka had a place, something they’d never have in the Mayan Empire. But the trek had revealed that Saka did have a heart beneath that tough metallic hide. Terrance had seen the love he had for Angus, and for a brief moment, he had been allowed to step inside that warm bubble.
He wanted that again.
He was never going to get all of Angus, and that was fine. He wanted to be his anchor in the human world, the one who made sure Angus could always get back and the reason he wanted to come back.
Terrance wanted to stand with Angus, bring down the Vinnish warlocks, and grind every last one of them into dust.
“Maybe,” Cadmael said. “But he refused the bond with the chosen priest.”
Saka not blindly obeying? Terrance wasn’t even surprised. “He clearly doesn’t want a priest.” Terrance didn’t blame him.
“You will become the anchor for another priest, not An
gus.”
“And if I refuse?”
“You may not be allowed to play pitz anymore, but there are other ways for you to die. Criminals are often sentenced to death, and with the world in such disarray, the death penalty has become more necessary.”
“Do as I’m told or die.”
“Yes. I knew you’d see reason.”
Fuck that. He’d seen it all before. “I want to be able to see Angus.”
“I’m not unreasonable.”
“We came to help, if possible, not to be treated as criminals.”
“You defected, and your loyalty has always been to the highest bidder. You, out of everyone, are the one I will watch. One stumble—”
“Yeah, I’m dead.” Terrance crossed his arms. Some things never changed. “You aren’t the first and probably won’t be the last to make that threat.”
“Then why?” Cadmael frowned.
“Why what?”
“Why not change—swear loyalty and mean it?”
“Why should I give my loyalty to people who are not loyal to me? Who will throw me over for the slightest reason?” No one had ever kept their word. His parents had promised to return, but they never did. His grandparents, who promised to love him no matter what, were terrified of what trouble he’d bring to their door. The underground had promised to keep him safe, but they had their own agenda. And the college had vowed to overlook his parents’ sins if he just did a few things for them.
Angus had cared enough to fight for him, and Saka had helped him in the desert.
“Perhaps you need to show it to get it in return.”
Maybe, or perhaps most people thought he wasn’t worth it. He certainly wasn’t going to vow undying loyalty to a man who tried to end his life. If Terrance were a cat, he’d be burning through his nine lives, and as a human, he was just bloody lucky. Luck and timing and a little magic could go a long way. “If that’s all, I’d like to get my things. I’m guessing there’s a room for me at the priest college near Angus?”
“We’ll talk again soon.”
“I’m sure we will.” Like everyone else, Cadmael wanted something from him. Like everyone else, he was going to be disappointed.
The Training Temple didn’t bring the relief it should have. There was another set of rules, and he hadn’t learned enough of the language to get by. He didn’t even want to be there, but it was the only way he was going to be able to see Angus.
Terrance dumped his limited possessions on the bed and walked straight out of his room. There were no locks on the doors, and while he didn’t have anything worth taking, he didn’t like it. But if he asked for privacy, Cadmael would just assume he had something to hide.
As he walked down the corridor, he had no idea how he was going to find Angus. There seemed to be an endless number of doors, and he couldn’t knock on each one. Well, he could, but it wouldn’t be smiled upon.
The priest he would eventually anchor for—which would never happen—was supposed to be acting as his guide and supervisor, but the priest hadn’t shown up, and Terrance wasn’t going to wait around.
When he turned a corner, he came face-to-face with a young woman. She saw him and stopped in her tracks. Then she widened her eyes in terror and stepped back.
Terrance forced a smile. His head was shaved, but he didn’t think he looked that bad. “Have you seen Angus?”
A rapid stream of Mayan flowed from her lips. Clearly she didn’t speak a word of Vinnish. Doors opened.
It was his turn to step back, but even if he ran for his room, there was no lock and he wouldn’t be safe from a mob.
But the mob didn’t attack. Some grinned. He could understand the word pitz and very little else. Maybe they were impressed with his win? But they weren’t smiling. Maybe they were unimpressed because he was Vinnish? That was probably closer to the truth.
The group gradually parted and Angus stepped through. The tension thickened, and for a moment, Terrance was sure the mood was going to turn from suspicion to violence. But Angus smiled and said a few words in Mayan and the onlookers drifted off and returned to whatever they had been doing.
Angus walked over and took his hand. His fingers were cold. “No one expected you to win. They’re impressed, but it’s rather a bad omen, given that you’re Vinnish.”
Terrance frowned. “I don’t see how a game has anything to do with the war.”
“They’re wondering if all of Vinland is filled with magic users.”
“Cadmael knew I was trained. He should never have put me there.” But Cadmael hadn’t realized that Terrance could use the magic around him the way a wizard could. While the priests knew about warlocks, they didn’t seem to know a lot about wizards.
Angus nodded. “But they don’t know that.”
“True.” Everywhere he went, people didn’t trust him. He glanced at Angus, and his doubts resurfaced. Terrance wasn’t loyal or good at anything except saving his own ass. He didn’t deserve a man like Angus, but he couldn’t walk away. He loved Angus, and he needed to believe that Angus loved him.
So he stepped closer, not sure if Angus would accept his embrace, but when Angus did, Terrance let himself relax. “I’ve missed you.”
Angus was silent for several heartbeats. “I thought you were going to die.”
Terrance swallowed hard. There was still a good chance that they would all die. They didn’t fit in here, and no one really wanted them. As glad as he was to be out of Vinland, the Mayan Empire would never be home. “Yeah. I’m hard to kill.”
His grandmother had called him stubborn and often warned him that it would get him into trouble. But he couldn’t keep his head down and pretend obedience.
“I’ll show you around. Did they assign you someone to help you settle in?”
“Yes, but they haven’t turned up yet. I don’t really want the grand tour.” He held Angus’s hand. “I found you, and that’s enough.”
Angus smiled. “How about I show you where my room is. That’s pretty important.”
Terrance grinned. “That’s the only room I care about finding.”
Hand in hand they walked around the corner and down another corridor that looked just the same. It was like one of those nightmares where there was no way out. He was never going to be able to find his room again, but he’d worry about that later.
Angus opened a door. The room was exactly like Terrance’s, but there were books on the desk and clothes on the bed.
“You’re already studying.” Terrance flipped open a book. The page was a mess of glyphs. He stared at it and willed it to make sense. “You can read this, already?”
“No, but I’ve learned what the glyphs mean. They’re sounds, not letters. But because I don’t speak Mayan, what I read makes no sense.” He picked up what looked like a piece of glass the size of his palm and placed it over the text. The glass went dark, as though filled with blood-colored ink, before words appeared in Vinnish.
Terrance had seen plenty of magic and used it himself, he’d never seen anything like that. It was so ordinary and yet so powerful.
“What is that?”
“It was developed to break codes during the first demon war. The Mayans were spying on us. This one has been keyed to translate to Vinnish. It wasn’t easy, and that’s my blood doing the translating. Kabil showed me how to do it.”
Terrance glanced at Angus. “Kabil?”
“The priest Cadmael wanted Saka and me to bond with. He tried to force it while you were training, but Saka and I refused. Now I can’t get hold of Saka, and he won’t answer my summons. Maybe he’s not safe. I hate not knowing what’s going on in Demonside. I don’t know if he’s alive, but I think I’d know if he were dead.”
“What of the message you sent?”
“I have to go back tomorrow and see if there’s a reply… or if it even got delivered. Hopefully there’ll be some news. You should come. It’s an odd place.”
“What do you mean?” Everything in the Empire was odd.
Terrance frowned. “But you got in trouble for that.”
“Because there’s a rule that priests shouldn’t have sex with their demons.”
“Why?” If the magic should be kept flowing, wouldn’t it be better if it were allowed? Some of the rules around magic seemed arbitrary.
“Because it can ruin a working relationship.” Angus leaned on the desk, his feet apart. He gripped the edge until his knuckles whitened, and kept his gaze on the floor. “I want you to be our anchor, but what if it all goes bad? I’ve broken so many rules already. My knowledge of magic is a mash-up of bits and pieces. I’m not anything, and yet people want to know what I am.”
Terrance stepped between his legs and cupped his face. “You’re you. Your relationship with Saka is something to be envied.”
“Even other mages thought it was too much.”
“He loves you.”
Angus grimaced. “If he does, he shouldn’t. He told me that early on. A mage always has to put his people first.”
“Which is why he left his tribe to take us across the desert. I think the time for discussing relationships has passed. We’re in this together, no matter what.” Somehow they had to put everything right. He didn’t trust the Mayans any more than he trusted the Vinnish warlocks.
Angus looked up and gave him a weak smile. “I thought we’d be safe here. I’m sorry.”
Terrance kissed him. “Nothing to be sorry for… unless you’re quitting and wanting to make a home here.” Angus loved learning about magic. It was the kind of place he could be happy. “Are you enjoying this?”
Angus nodded. “It’s more what I thought magic should be like. I want to go to the World Council of Demonology and learn what other countries do. There’s so much more. Mages should be at the council. And if they had been, then maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess.” Angus’s eyes were bright, the way they always got when he talked magic. He thought it was something good.