“She’s here.” Rendal stepped in a bit farther. “Unharmed, of course.”
“You say it like I’m supposed to believe you. You nearly killed the other Right Hand and me. Your words are meaningless. You’re scum.”
“Oh, Riley, you wound me,” Rendal replied. “Lucie is fine. I’ve had to put a necklace on her like you’re now wearing, but other than that, she’s perfectly okay. I think you have the wrong idea about me, and I hope I can change that over the next few days.”
“Like I’m your fucking guest or something?” Riley wanted to rip his throat out. “You threatened war with my city if they didn’t give me up, so I came willingly. You should remember that I’m only here because I decided to be. I could have killed that whole army by myself, and if you doubt me, give me another shot right now.”
“No, no.” Rendal smiled. “I don’t doubt your skill with a sword. And yes, I know you came of your own accord. It was very noble of you. It saved a lot of lives.”
Riley gritted her teeth, her jaw flexing. “Let Lucie go.”
“Okay, I can do that,” Rendal answered. “I’m willing to give up a lot for you, Riley. You’ll come to see that soon.”
“For me? You’ll never have me. I’ll sleep with that fool Belarus before I give myself to you.”
The mage laughed loudly, looking at the ceiling.
“Oh goodness, Riley, that is funny. Belarus certainly is a fool, and I saw you snap his wrist. That brought me a lot of happiness, I must say. However, I don’t want you like he did. You’re going to be an important part of my kingdom. Not a queen, but an heir. You understand?”
“I understand that if you try anything like Belarus wanted, you’ll end up with a nub for a dick. And as for being your heir?” Riley smiled. “I think I’ll prefer burning this place to the ground.”
“Yes, yes. Another reason I think you have finally found your destiny. Loyalty. Nobility. You possess all the necessary traits in an heir. But there will be time to talk about that later. Come, let’s eat. We’ve prepared a feast.”
Riley’s first instinct was to tell him to fuck himself again, but she had to be smart about this. Going on a hunger strike would do nothing except weaken her body. She needed strength, because there would be a moment when the defenses of this place fell—if even for a second—and she had to be ready.
“Yes?” Rendal asked.
Riley nodded.
“Come, then.”
The two walked through the hallways, Rendal leading her to a different dining area than last time.
The food was plentiful, and the smells were mouth-watering. Riley hated herself for it, but she couldn’t help feeling ravenous.
“Go on,” he instructed. “I can tell you’re hungry. Eat. Drink.”
Riley glanced at him and, feeling traitorous to New Perth, she went to one of two plates at the table. She piled it high and then sat down, ignoring Rendal completely.
“Why do you think of Mason so much?” Rendal asked.
Riley looked up, and her eyes narrowed. He couldn’t know Mason from when he had been in New Perth since her leader hadn’t been born yet. Yet he was asking about him?
“He’s constantly in your mind,” Rendal said as if answering her question. “Even when concentrating on nourishment, you think of him. Why?”
“Don’t talk about Mason. Don’t even let his name slip from your mouth or I’ll kill you with the plate in front of me.”
“I have no doubt you’d try. Would you die for him?”
Riley ignored that, focusing on the most important question. “How do you know what I’m thinking?”
The mage moved to the other plate. He was quiet as he put his food on it, though not nearly as much as Riley had taken. He finally sat down across from her.
“You don’t understand the power of magic. There are many different kinds, and that’s only one of them. I have the ability to wander through people’s minds like you might walk through a hallway.”
“You can read thoughts?”
Rendal nodded. “Yes.”
And I can talk to you through them, too.
Riley stood up, again reaching for a sword that wasn’t there. It was his voice inside her head.
“Don’t do that.”
“I’m sorry.” He smiled and took a small bite of meat. “It can be a bit shocking at first, I understand. I only wanted to show you what I meant. Please, sit and eat.”
Riley paused a second longer, hating him even worse. He had been inside her mind, his voice filling it.
Like Lucie did when she told you to run.
“Please. I won’t do it again,” the mage promised.
Riley slowly took her seat again.
“What you did outside with the fire was a basic maneuver, much like the first stance you learned as a fighter. There is so much more to magic than fire.” He looked up from his plate, meeting her eyes. “Riley, I’ve been all across this continent. From New Perth to Sidnie, and even north to the Fallen City. I’ve been through the Badlands countless times. I’ve never seen anyone with the magic potential you have. It’s greater than mine was at your age. It’s greater than all the mages in Sidnie.”
Riley looked at the plate in front of her and took a bite of food.
She didn’t like hearing this.
She didn’t want magic. It wasn’t part of her community or her culture.
“But it’s a part of you, Riley.”
“Get out of my mind,” she snapped.
Rendal nodded, looking sincere. “Yes. I’m sorry.”
She didn’t believe him, of course. This was all lies. He’d nearly killed William and her, and now was treating her like royalty. All of it was bullshit.
“With your potential and my knowledge, we could do so much good for people. There are so many things that can help New Perth if only the people would embrace their magic. You and I, we can show them that, Riley. Not through force. Not through war. Simply by living it. You have only to embrace your magic and join me.”
Riley looked up, a smile on her face. “Did you think it would be that easy, Rendal? I’d show up, you’d wine and dine me like a cheap date, and then I’d simply join you?”
Rendal shook his head. “No. You wouldn’t be the right person if that were the case. We’ve got time. You’ll come to see the truth, that magic is the way of the future, and that you and I can change the whole continent for the better.”
Riley thought about keeping her mouth shut, but realized it wouldn’t matter. He could just read her mind.
“If we’re talking time, you better make sure you keep me away from any weapons. Because the first time I see one, I’m going to stick it so deep in your guts you’ll wish you’d killed me the first time you saw me.”
Riley took a bite of her food.
Chapter Eighteen
The first day of travel was done, and although William wanted to continue, Mason said no. The crew would be no help to Riley if they showed up without any sleep.
“You. Come. Me make you magic.” That was what the bald man told William once they’d all eaten, right before walking away from the camp, leaving the fires behind and venturing into the dark wilderness.
William almost threw an axe at him, but instead, he’d looked at Mason and Verith.
Verith only shook his head, smiling.
“Go on,” Mason told him. “Go learn some magic, William. Unless you want what happened to you yesterday to happen again?”
William almost threw the axe at the Assistant Prefect.
Instead, he mumbled, “We don’t practice magic.”
“Times are changing, Right Hand. Magic might be the only thing that saves us.”
“Come! Come!” Worth hollered from the darkness. “I make you magic!”
William shook his head and stood up. He grabbed his broadsword and slapped it across his back. He wasn’t sure what was about to happen, but he thought he might have to kill that jolly giant. He was okay with that.
He
walked into the darkness and stood in front of Worth.
“Sword. Good.” Worth put his hand out in front of him. “Me see. Please.”
“You’re out of your damn mind. You’re not touching my sword.”
The smile on Worth’s face dropped, and William saw a seriousness there that he understood. A sincerity.
It’s the same look I see in those I train for battle, the ones who care. The ones who want to serve. Who want to do well. It’s the look I take on before battle. It was the look Riley wore, too.
Riley wears, his mind corrected. She’s still alive.
He took his sword from the sheath and handed it over hilt-first.
“Thank you.” Worth squatted, letting the sword lie in both hands. “This like magic. This similar. When you fight, what you feel?”
William shook his head. This was stupid. What did he feel?
“Nothing. I kill. That’s all.”
“Lies, Right Hand. Lies. Think. Don’t be dumb. Think. When you fight, what you feel?”
Worth didn’t look up but stared at the sword shining in the moonlight. He was serious. He wanted to know what William felt when he went to battle.
The Right Hand closed his eyes.
“The sword is part of me. It’s not separate. It’s the same as my hand, something that listens to my commands and immediately does what I want. I imagine it’s even more like that for Riley because she’s better with it. I feel like my arm has grown an extra four feet.”
“Yes. That right. Your arm grows. It is part of you. That like magic. It is part of you.” Worth looked up at him. “I show you how magic help? May I?”
William’s eyes narrowed. He knew what the man was asking, although not exactly what he meant. “Go on, Worth, but be careful. If you do something dangerous, I’m going to kick your damn teeth in.”
“Shh, Right Hand. Shh. I be careful. You watch.”
Worth looked down at the sword, and his hand lit on fire. William jumped back, but Worth didn’t move. He simply stared at the sword.
And the fire started to spread across the blade.
“Hey!” William shouted, forgetting his fear and moving to protect his blade.
“Shh, shh. The fire is like arm. It part me. It won’t hurt sword, also part me. Your hand not hit your face. Same here.”
William watched as his silver blade turned into a fiery one.
Worth looked up. “You ready?” He was smiling, a devilish-looking thing that said much more than his words.
William was quiet, having no idea what was about to happen.
Worth stood. “I go there. You stay. You watch.” He turned and walked into the night, saying nothing else. William stared after him, his sword a red light in the darkness, flames dancing across it but not blackening it.
The man stopped twenty feet away.
He gripped the sword with both hands, took a step back, and then swiped—a heavy, harsh throw of his arms that looked like a solid swing.
Fire ripped forward, crossing the night air. It moved fast; William might have been able to duck if he hadn’t been frozen in awe.
The flame stopped mere inches from his face. William could feel the heat, almost close enough to singe him. He stared, not comprehending what he was seeing. The fire stretched all the way back to Worth, attached to the sword and his hand.
Worth pulled the sword to him and the fire disappeared, remaining only on the blade.
William didn’t move as Worth started to swirl the sword. He did it quickly, clearly someone who had been trained in the art of battle. The fire moved with the blade, shooting into the air at times, pulling back at others, and William finally saw what it meant.
What magic could do for someone like him.
On the battlefield protecting his Prefect, he would be a hundred times deadlier if he wielded a blade of fire that stretched as far as he wanted.
Worth stopped slicing with the sword, and the fire died.
He walked back across the expanse and handed the sword hilt-first to William. He was smiling. “I make you magic, aye?”
William took the sword, half expecting it to burn his hand. It didn’t. It was the same temperature as when he’d handed it over in the first place.
“Aye. Make me magic.”
The two stayed up late, the rest of their crew going to sleep.
“You tired?” Worth asked.
William shook his head. “No. I want to learn this.”
“It take time. Long time, sometime.”
“We don’t have a long time. We have three more days, and if I have to stay up every night learning this, then that’s what I’ll do.”
Worth nodded. “I like. I like.”
William was finding it beyond difficult to do anything Worth told him. Anything at all. They’d been at it for hours, and the most William had felt was a slight warmth in his hand, but that might have just been blood flowing from his own frustration. They had a few more hours before the sun came up, and then he’d have to start riding north again.
William wasn’t concerned about sleep. He’d been up countless nights in this life, and most of the time it was for what would come in four days: battle.
What he cared about was the fact he couldn’t learn this.
“Sit. Sit,” Worth insisted.
William hated the man bossing him around. No one spoke to him like that, and only the Prefect and his son commanded him, yet he couldn’t say anything. If he wanted to learn, he had to listen to this goofy tent dweller.
William sat down on the ground. They’d been at this for hours. William had tried starting with the sword, but the damned tent dweller had only laughed at him. When William tried to slice through the air and throw fire, Worth fell on the ground holding his stomach.
“You’re too fucking fat to be rolling around,” William had said.
Now, Worth sat down in front of him. He scooted up close, crossing his legs in front of him so that his knees pointed outward on either side. “Like this.”
“You want me to sit like you now?”
“Yes. Like this.”
William did it, crossing his legs over one another, though it was hard for him to pull his feet in tightly.
“Tight. Tight,” Worth urged.
William glared at him, but the big man only smiled back.
The Right Hand did as he was told, pulling his feet closer to his groin. Worth scooted a little closer, so their knees were touching.
“There. Good. Now, hand. Me see.”
Worth put one hand out, palm up. William gave him his left hand.
“Other too.”
William extended it, both hands now palm up in Worth’s.
“Eyes. Close.”
You’re doing this for Riley, he reminded himself and closed his eyes.
“Good. Good.”
He felt Worth folding one of his hands over the other and clasping them in his large ones.
“Magic inside. It in here.” Worth pressed down on his hands. “But not just here. It here, too.”
Worth touched the side of his head, and William flinched but didn’t open his eyes.
“Most important, here.”
He touched the left side of William’s chest.
“No might bring magic. Heart bring magic. Why you here?”
William opened his eyes.
“Close!” Worth hissed. When his eyes were closed again, Worth asked again, “Why you here? For who?”
Riley’s face came to him. It filled his whole mind.
“Yes. Her. Good. Focus. Find her. Why you here? Her. Find her.”
The words Worth spoke at that moment didn’t matter, only Riley did. Because she’d saved him, dragged him across hell to make sure he lived, and now he would go through anyone and anything to get her back.
“Good. Good. Keep going. Focus. See her.”
He would get her back. He and Mason and this ragtag group of mutants would march into that fucking bastard’s compound and burn the whole thing down, a
nd no one was going to stop him. If they tried, he would stomp them into the ground until there was nothing left and—
“Look,” Worth told him.
William opened his eyes.
Worth no longer held his hands. They were in front of him, and they were on fire.
“You magic now. You bad student, but you magic.”
Mason had seen William’s hands light up last night. He’d nearly jumped up from his mat when it had happened.
The man’s dedication had been remarkable. Mason watched the entire night. He hadn’t moved, though, when the Right Hand finally blazed. He’d remained on his mat, far away so that the two couldn’t see he was awake.
He’d let William have the moment because he deserved it. Also, any recognition might have ended it, because William didn’t want to practice magic of any kind. Mason knew why he was doing it, and it was the same reason Mason had crossed the Badlands: Riley.
William might not want to practice magic, but Mason wanted him to learn. The more people who could light their hands and swords on fire, the better.
William was at the front of the line, his horse leading the way. Verith was behind Mason and Worth directly in front of him.
Mason spurred his horse and trotted up to the tent city leader.
“Aye, Mason.” The man didn’t turn to look at him, and he wasn’t smiling either. The tent city leader was usually smiling almost stupidly. Mason had only seen him look this serious when he had first shown up at the tent city.
“I wanted to talk to you about last night with William.”
Worth nodded. “Talk.”
“Thank you for doing that. Can you continue? Will you teach him more?”
“He have potential. I make him magic.” Worth nodded, still looking forward.
“He’s going to need sleep, but teach him as much as you can before we get there, okay?”
“He no need sleep. He warrior. Like Worth. Sleep for babies, not warriors.”
Still no smile from the big man, and Mason didn’t like that.
“Is something bothering you, Worth?”
He nodded. “Aye.”
“What?”
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