* * *
Being a bandit was harder now that Kol couldn’t picture flames. If he did, he could burn the shops around him, the litter on the darkened streets, and most especially the elf. The older wizards might have control and be too focused elsewhere to have noticed, but to Kol the elf still shone with enough energy to already look like it was aflame.
The elf was coming, and Kol couldn’t picture the flames. He couldn’t hide, couldn’t run. The empty streets of Wildred were just as much a prison as the robes and their tower.
So Kol turned his head, gripping the slanted roof of the applestall under him, letting the elf leap beside him lightly as a cat. Silent. Just sitting there, looking out at the street with Kol, as if it weren’t even aware of him.
Then it spoke. “You’re trapped. With the magic users, I mean.”
Kol shook his head. “I grew up ’ere. If I wanted to disappear, I’d do it.”
“Then why don’t you?”
“It’s gotten complicated.”
“How so?”
“You wouldn’t understand.” Kol didn’t even think he did anymore.
“You might be surprised.”
Kol looked back at the elf, unable to hold back a sneer. It didn’t know a thing about humans, especially not Kol’s breed, the scum of the earth. Anyone else would have been glad to stay away, but not the elf. Here it was, begging for another beating like a brainless mutt.
The elf fingered the glowing stone in its hands. “I don’t understand everything about it yet, but the stone shows me things. Visions, I mean, of past memories. After you held the stone, I saw . . .”
The elf looked extremely flustered now, but then its voice lowered and strengthened as it looked at something only it could see. “Your lord took you in after your mother was killed, raised you in his band. He told you standing out was dangerous, but you couldn’t help yourself. You were different and had never been taught to control your magic. Then one of the older thieves started paying attention to you. He said he wanted to help you be a man. You ended up drunk enough to use your magic, and he grabbed you. A knife flew up and stabbed him. Your magic, but you weren’t really in control then. You were scared. Then your lord came and killed him in front of you.”
Kol gripped the stall roof until his hands turned white. There was no malice in the elf’s voice, not even unwanted sympathy, but still Kol wanted it to stop.
He could see it all. Redd’s dead eyes staring. The Lord had been so angry afterward that Kol was more afraid of him than he had been of Redd. Yelling at him, telling him it was his own fault for showing off again, and it had been—it was his knife, his magic.
Then The Lord had said something about “hiding in plain sight,” and Kol had started throwing daggers for Cain’s crew within the month.
He had wanted nothing to do with the blades at first. Cain had beaten him a few times before he went on stage, picturing flames and calling to the wind. Now the blades were the only thing that mattered. His talent, his curse, and his sole identity, same as his blond hair.
“And this was just that one time.” The elf sounded more like itself, watching Kol steadily. “You were never able to trust anyone, were you?”
“Does everybody know my whole life story then?” Kol addressed the dirt instead of the elf.
“I’m sorry.”
“Wot are you apologizin’ for? You didn’t do it on purpose. But wot I don’t get is why you’re still followin’ me around. You know I ain’t a good person.”
The elf flinched. “I shouldn’t have said that. You told me you were a thief, even if I didn’t know what that meant. I didn’t understand, but you were helping me. I didn’t know how much trouble you would get in, what you were risking, but you knew, and you did it anyway.”
“Yeah, but I took the stone and made you stay, let the others call you my pet,” Kol said, determined to finally be on the same page with the elf, if nothing else.
“Then you gave the opal back and helped my brother find me. You’re my friend. Why do you want me to hate you?”
“It would make things simpler!” At least it would make him feel less guilty about the whole thing. Get some closure or something.
“I know you’re a thief,” the elf said. “I just think the stone is telling me that you were meant to be something else. You said that most people wouldn’t want to hurt me. I didn’t believe it because I hadn’t met a lot of humans before you, but it is true, isn’t it?”
Kol shrugged. “Course it’s true. Why do you think Cain had to keep you in the cart all the time? He couldn’t risk anyone else seein’ you. Ears or not, you’re too human and too damn nice for most people to stomach hurtin’ you.”
“But your lord told me you lied. He said everyone would want to see me chained. He told me you would hate me after you went to the Tower, and he was my only chance to escape. He told you the same thing, didn’t he? He told you he was saving you from the Tower, just so he could keep you for himself. And then he sent you there anyway with the worst wizard he knew so his ruse would never be discovered. But Xavian and his brother spoke for you instead. They’re not the same. Xavian’s wife has been helping Tayvin to be a healer, and if I’m going to use the stone I’ll need their help as well.”
The flames were back, stirring in Kol’s mind. The stupid elf had worked it out before him.
It figured.
It didn’t change anything though. The elf might be some all-powerful bearer, but if it really knew who Kol was, who all the wizards were, it wouldn’t be sitting there at all.
Something scraped in the dark alley. Someone was coming.
Kol whirled, pulling his knife out fully, but the distraction was a welcome one. He wanted to fight something. He needed to. “I think we sat a bit too long. This whole city is my family—The Lord’s.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you should run.” The elf was good at that. Everyone should do what they were good at, and Kol was only good for one thing.
He leapt from the apple stall to the ground, moving toward the alley. He found Cain, but not the one that Kol remembered. Same muscles, same stick, but something feral shone in the man’s eyes as he moved through the trash around him.
A desperate man scavenging. Not even worth fighting, but maybe Kol still would.
Cain tossed whatever trash he had found aside, a smile touching his lips. “Back so soon? Thought The Lord sent you to the Tower.”
“And The Lord cut you off.” No man would deal with someone The Lord cut off—straight or crooked. Unless Cain found a way out of Kalum, The Lord’s ruling was a death sentence.
“Yes, but not because of any money we might’ve made on the freak,” Cain said. “The Lord was coverin’ for you. Again. You’ve always been freaky. The Lord wanted me to keep quiet and keep movin’, hide you until he could set everything in motion.”
“At the Tower?” Kol asked. The elf had said it. The lizard had said it. But somehow Kol needed to hear it from a man like Cain—someone he could blame for it, picking the fight he had craved since being locked away. Give the ragging energy, the monster in his chest, a focus at last.
“Seems you made your own plan,” Cain answered. “Can’t say I’m surprised. I told The Lord you were crazed—like keepin’ a dragon on a leash. You might take the Tower down as he planned, but you might burn the rest of us with ’em.”
“You wanted to sell me to the Tower, too.”
Cain shrugged. “Used to be we were all in this for the profit, but The Lord has somethin’ personal against the robes. He uses us all as chips in his own game. But you still have the elf?”
Kol turned. The elf was behind him. The thing was far too quiet, so much like a shadow.
A stupid shadow. Why didn’t it run? It had last time.
Now Cain was smiling as if the alley had started handing out five-course dinners. “Sorren’s still been lookin’, would pay a fortune for one glimpse of that creature, and I’ve heard the healer wa
s keepin’ the older elf ’ere. One freak works as well as another. I don’t have the men to storm the place since The Lord cut ties and couldn’t get it to come out on its own, but Kitti and I got another plan after hearin’ The Lord talk.” He nodded toward the front of the alley. Kitti and another thief stepped out, blocking the way behind him.
Of course, Cain wouldn’t have come alone. He hadn’t been scavenging, he had put himself out as bait to lure them in. Kitti had been spurned by The Lord and gone back to plotting with Cain, just as Kol had thought she would.
“Seemed there was a little girl the older elf had a soft spot for,” Cain continued. “Figured after all the villagers started saying he’d healed or cursed her, the healer would be more willing to bargain, and Sorren and I could make another bargain, but she went and sent the elf to the wizards herself.”
Kol nodded. “You cut the beam free.” And had probably snooped around here every night since then. Nami had been right, and Cain didn’t even have the decency to deny it.
The flames grew hotter in Kol’s chest, more insistent.
“No need to get upset,” Kitti said. “You’re a big boy; you know how these things work and Cain’s about to make you a very generous offer.” Kitti slid into Cain’s side, smiling like the devil-cat she was, leaving the other man to guard the alley’s narrow opening. “That thing follows you everywhere, doesn’t it?”
“We could still work things out, you and I,” Cain agreed. “Sorren will pay enough to make us both rich men. You bring the elf; I talk to Sorren. We split the money and build a new life for ourselves. Pick wotever direction you want, and I’ll go the opposite. Answer to no one but ourselves.”
There it was. Another solution. No more wizards, no more thieves. And the elf would have no one to blame but itself. It knew what Kol was and had followed him anyway.
And it still wasn’t running.
“Why are you still here?” Kol might have trouble slipping around three people without a fight, but the elf shouldn’t. It could climb the alley walls in a blink. “You know what he said. You know what he did.” Cain had said it plain as day, as though he still thought the elf couldn’t speak Kalmic.
The elf shook its head, but its voice quivered. It might not know much about wizards, but it seemed to respect Cain’s fists well enough. “I already knew. Mira saw it. I saw it. The Lord hurt a guard when I wouldn’t go with Picc, and he said he’d hurt a girl next. That woman, Kitti, was there. Cain got the idea from her. But last time I ran, you got hurt. I’m not running again.”
Serious?
“Perfect.” Cain laughed, coming closer. “Come now, and we won’t go after the other one. ’Course, can’t promise no one else will. Town is full of vultures.”
Everyone knew. Soon Sorren would too. The elves stood out wherever they went, the older one and its sword just as bad as the younger one and its magic. If they weren’t content to hide in their smiling forest anymore, they would be hunted everywhere.
The forest might not even be safe for them anymore if this kept up.
“I want it leashed this time, though.” Cain set down his stick and pulled out a chain. "Can’t be too careful with its fairy magic. Heard it burned down the base last time.”
“He burned down the bar?” Kol turned. “That’s how you escaped?” He could have laughed. Maybe the elf wasn’t completely hopeless.
“Sorry.” It was blushing.
Never mind. It was hopeless. “They beat you, dragged you all over this place, and you’re sorry?”
“It was your home, all you had, and I took it away. Just like when the wizards took your name. They might think theirs is better, but for you—Kol, I’m so sorry.”
Took his home away? Kol didn’t have a home. Men like Sorren and The Lord could beat him all day long and no one cared. But the elf did. It came after him, no matter what he did.
“You can turn me over if you want,” the elf said. Its hand rested by its pocket as it faced the men dead-on. “I mean, I wouldn’t like it, but I wouldn’t blame you. I’m sorry. I just really thought you wanted something different.”
Something different. Kol already knew what it meant to follow a man like Cain. The risk always seemed justified for the supposed reward, even if that prize was simply his own freedom far away. Cain’s plan made sense, better than any stupid plan an elf might come up with, but it came with an empty hardness he could never abide. The bandit and the flames.
So he laughed instead.
And Cain stared, hesitating. “Wot are you laughin’ for?”
“It’s just, fire. I can do that now. Or at least, I did.” Kol stepped in front of the elf, pulling for one of his blades. “Lizard said I was stupid for goin’ along with any of you, and he was right. In fact, you stick around long enough and my new wizard master will light this whole place ablaze.”
“Then maybe we shouldn’t wait for ’im.” Cain’s eyes flashed, an inhuman look in them, as he leapt at Kol with his stick. No warning. Like any good thief would—better than Kol who had only seemed to play one stage. The only one Kol might have fooled was himself.
Pain washed over him. A crack in his ribs, reigniting the old injury.
Kol stumbled backward, but the stick connected again without pause. His dagger nearly slipped from his hand, as he grappled with the pain.
“Leave him alone.” The elf’s voice. It was coming closer.
Cain didn’t turn, but he smiled down at Kol. “We’re done. Just one scream, and I might let you go.”
Scream? Of course. This was nothing but another show. Kol would scream and the stupid elf would surrender. Kol stabbed for the man’s heart. “Drynn, run.”
The blade cut through cloth but fell short of its mark, Kol’s movement restricted as he nursed his ribs. Another blow struck, and Kol tumbled to the dirt.
Cain’s eyes narrowed. “Any special reason you’re holding yourself like that?” He pulled Kol’s arm away before striking again.
Kol screamed.
* * *
Drynn’s friend was curled on the ground, but still Cain didn’t stop.
“Leave him alone,” Drynn said.
Cain didn’t turn from his work, and the woman still blocked Drynn’s way. She held the chain Cain had carried, facing Drynn. “You want him to stop? You heard the bargain.”
Some bargain. He would be trapped and beaten again, given to Sorren or whomever paid Cain off. He had been willing to surrender himself if that was what it took to gain Kol’s trust, but these thieves couldn’t be trusted, and Kol needed help in a different way.
Drynn held out his arm, and the woman came closer. He needed her to come closer.
She reached for him. He grabbed her and jerked her around, pressing his knife at her throat. It seemed to be the only language these men understood.
“Leave him alone. I mean it.” Drynn’s hand shook around the blade, mocking his words.
Cain finally turned, the outcome Drynn had both wanted and feared.
“I’ll kill her if you hit him again.” Drynn had no idea what he would do if Cain struck again.
“Will you?” The man laughed, but he stepped closer, leaving Kol on the ground. Drynn caught his breath, and let the woman go. She dashed behind Cain.
The man circled closer, his hand tight on his stick, sizing Drynn up with his eyes. “Do you want to fight me, boy? You think you’re a man now?”
Drynn braced himself. He might not be anything like a human man, but Tayvin had shown him how to fight humans their first day out. He just had to remember.
He was Renewal’s bearer, the Lord of the Past. He could remember everything.
Cain swung. Drynn ducked around him. He could do this. He just had to focus. Dodge and then strike like Tayvin had. As Cain’s arm flew past him, Drynn carved a line of red from the man’s elbow to his shoulder.
The woman screamed. Blood dripped over Drynn’s head. So much red. A knife was different than a sword—especially the wooden ones he had practiced with. No
leverage to use it as a club. Drynn had made the man bleed like Redd. More panic rose in his chest at the thought, matched with Kol’s memories and others Drynn now carried.
Cain roared like a bear and stood much too close.
Time to run. He reached for Kol to drag his friend with him.
“Let’s go.” Drynn grabbed Kol’s arm, and the world spun as his energy drained away.
Already falling, something struck him from behind, and it all went dark.
CHAPTER 35
ENERGY SWEPT INTO Kol’s veins, fire in his chest as he grappled with the pain in his lungs.
The elf had tried to grab him. It had fended off Cain somehow, but then the elf slowed as Kol inadvertently drained its magic, and Cain struck the elf across the head.
Curse it. Kol got to his feet, holding his ribs.
Cain shook his head with mock pity. “You should stay on the ground, boy. I can chain him without you now.” He nodded to Kitti, and the woman started toward the elf, but a bit more warily. The kid had earned that at least. They had expected the elf to give itself up, as it had before. But Kol had helped Cain gain his prize in another way. If Kol tried to fight Cain again, the man would kill him without any pause for dramatics.
How did he summon fire again? Calling for magic had only made things worse.
Cain swung his stick toward Kol. “I suppose it’s too dangerous to leave you as a loose end, even if you did lie down. I’d say it was nothin’ personal, but I’ve been wantin’ to do this too long for anyone to believe it.”
Kol grabbed the far end of the stick before it could connect. Flames ran up the length of the wood and burned Cain’s hand.
Oh yeah. That was how he had summoned fire. Someone had to tick him off.
Maybe he should thank Cain for that, but he would rather stab him instead. Kol pulled the burning stick from Cain’s limp hands and threw it in the man’s face.
The thief dodged, letting the stick hit a waste bin.
The energy poured out of Kol at random. Trash hovered in the air. The flames built, higher than a natural blaze. Cain coughed on smoke, stumbling into the wall. Kol could get the elf and leave now, but that didn’t matter anymore.
The Queen's Opal: A Stone Bearers Novel (Book One) Page 33