by Kim Fedyk
She rolled up one of her pant legs and placed the Alondrane against her bare skin. It stuck perfectly, as though it belonged there. She knew it would, that was one of the first tests she had run. That wasn’t what she was testing this time. She rolled down her pant leg to cover the Alondrane and stood up.
“Onantra” she said firmly. Instantly, the Alondrane detached itself from her skin, slid down her leg and rolled along the floor of the cave until it stopped some five meters away from her.
“Good,” Selene said quietly to herself. She walked over to retrieve the Alondrane and rolling up her pant leg again, placed it against her skin one more time. This time, she sat down.
“Onantra,” she said. The Alondrane responded the same way it had before, but Selene wasn’t quite satisfied. She tried one more time, this time lying down flat on her stomach, with the Alondrane on her chest.
“Onantra,” she repeated. Once again, the Alondrane responded the same way. Smiling, Selene bent over to retrieve her Alondrane. It seemed perfect. She picked up the shimmering object and finally satisfied, put it in her pocket.
* * *
Deep in the dungeons of Iridian castle, a spear of green light flashed across a cold stone room. It was thrown expertly and it soared soundlessly through the air until it reached its target. With a sizzle of burning flesh, it lodged itself neatly into the sinews of the prisoner’s arm, just below the elbow. Neve’s brother cried out in terrible pain and clenched his teeth together in a futile effort to reduce his suffering.
He had spent the remainder of the day after meeting with Arleth hiding from Absalom and Rogan. He had known it was a pointless venture though. The night before, he had overheard the two of them talking; something had happened on Tocarra that made them sure they were being spied upon. Even so, he hadn’t been about to give up his mission, and so he had known it was only a matter of time before one of them was able to catch him. That was why he had risked everything to give his message to Arleth. If he had more time, he would have been more delicate, explained things more fully, perhaps even tried to smuggle her out of the castle.
“AAAHHH!” he cried out again, this time louder. But it was too late for all of that now.
“So Tobin, how does it make you feel, that I am going to kill you with the same magic that I killed your sister?” Said Rogan tauntingly, firing a thin spear of green light through his left thigh.
“You’re an ugly bastard,” the spy said through gritted teeth.
Rogan started to laugh, a hollow, joyless laugh, “That is hardly the point now is it?” He bent down in front of the tortured man and stroked his chin with one of his long fingers. Rogan had long nails and a thin line of blood appeared along Tobin’s chin. “But insults are not very nice are they? What would your poor sister think?” Abruptly Rogan stood up and fired two more spears of green light, this time one into each of Tobin’s feet. Rogan left them there for a few moments, watching the blood pool around the edges of the spears. Then with a hiss of satisfaction, he ripped out the spears with a wave of his hand and watched in delight as the pooled blood started to drip down the man’s legs in delicious, red rivulets.
Tobin was starting to feel dizzy, both from the pain and the blood rushing to his head. After catching him, Absalom had dragged him down to the dungeons and had hung him upside down by his ankles from a low ceiling beam. For the next half an hour, the king had questioned him as he hung suspended from the beam. Occasionally, as he asked questions, he had pushed Tobin so that he swung back and forth, or had casually twisted him around and around until the ropes holding him up were tight and then let him unwind, spinning him in fast, dizzy circles. This was done not so much to torture Tobin, as to ease Absalom’s boredom and give him something to occupy his attention. Both captor and captive had known that the questioning was a farce. There was nothing that Tobin knew that Absalom didn’t. He had learned long ago that Aedan didn’t give his spies any information so they couldn’t betray him later in just such a situation. The spy wouldn’t know any of Aedan’s plans. The only information that the spy had that Absalom wanted was where Aedan’s stronghold was. But retrieving this information was impossible. It would require either having him draw a map, which would inevitably be purposefully inaccurate and impossible to follow anyways due to Selene’s magic, or keeping him alive and forcing him to show them. But once again, even if the spy was somehow coerced into showing them the true path, either through magic or threats, they couldn’t get anywhere near the entrance anyways if Selene didn’t want them to.
So Absalom had just gone through the motions for fun. He enjoyed this man being at his mercy, loved that the man knew that every second, every minute he was drawing closer to his death. Absalom relished this kind of power over human life, this kind of control. But, Rogan was so much more creative than he was at actually ending life. Besides, his sorcerer enjoyed it so much that Absalom almost felt bad not letting him. And tonight, Absalom was in a particularly generous mood. Perhaps it was because his Imari were finally ready, or because he had Arleth and even though she didn’t trust him yet, he was confident she would. Whatever the reason, he had decided to let Rogan do all of the torturing this time. And now, looking at the state the man was in, Absalom was very glad he had – Rogan was quite gifted.
Tobin groaned softly and stared at the stone floor beneath him. There was a huge pool of blood underneath him. He realized it was his own, and groggily marvelled at just how much blood a human body had. He was in so much pain – every part of his body burned. He had known how cruel both Absalom and Rogan were. He had known they would torture him and that he wouldn’t die quickly, But the pain was becoming too much to bear. He hoped that Arleth would use the key, that she would find what was behind that door and that she would somehow escape from the castle. If that happened, then his three years of spying would have been put to good use, and he could almost bear his suffering now. Thankfully, he felt the pain begin to lessen as his mind became hazy; he was drifting off into blissful unconsciousness.
Rogan had looked down at Tobin when he heard him groaning and could tell that he was about to lose consciousness. That would be no fun, he still wanted to play. He bent down beside Tobin and put his hands on his back. A pale green light pulsed from his fingertips; that should ensure he stays conscious, Rogan thought. But just as he was about to remove his hands, he sensed something in Tobin. He changed his magic slightly, shifting some threads slightly into a different pattern. Using the new spell, he probed deeper and smiled, stepping back from his prisoner.
“So Tobin,” Rogan said, “I am so glad that you didn’t drift off on me. You see, now you can feel all the pain, the way I want you too, and you have the added bonus of being able to listen to a very funny story I have just discovered.”
Tobin groaned again, all his pain returning in a rush. He didn’t know what Rogan was talking about, but he could imagine that he wouldn’t find the story funny at all.
“Now Tobin, I know you don’t understand anything about magic, so let me explain a little something to you. You see, there are some spells that are so similar to each other that by weaving one, you can still sense the faint presence of the other. When such similar spells are woven, even when the sorcerer is actively casting one of them, anything that is a trigger for the related spell will still be felt. Let’s use for example, a memory extraction spell and the spell that I just cast on you to prevent you from going unconscious. Now as it just so happens, these spells are about as similar as two spells can be. They both require the user to go into the mind of their target and cast threads between their conscious and unconscious sensations. For memory extraction, it is important to extract both conscious and unconscious memories, and for the revival spell that I just used on you, it is imperative to separate the conscious from the unconscious. Really it comes down to a few differences in the threads woven for each spell. In one, unconscious and conscious are joined, in the other; the thread is broken and moved, so that the two are disjoined. Oh I can see t
hat you are starting to see what I am getting at.” Rogan smiled at the expression starting to form on Tobin’s face.
Tobin, did know what Rogan was hinting at. He felt a terrible, gut-wrenching guilt, why had he thought about Arleth?
Rogan continued, “At the moment that my hands touched you in order to cast my revival spell, you thought about Arleth.” Rogan gleamed with pleasure, enjoying every second of his explanation. “As I just mentioned, I sensed her name, it was pulsating on the corner of the spell I cast, so I rearranged some threads to let her name in, and low and behold I had cast a memory extraction spell. And what a naughty boy you were hmm? Telling her that Absalom was not the rightful ruler? Giving her a concealing spell? Giving her a key to my private experimental chamber?”
“You won’t win. Even if you stop her from finding out about your experiments, she will question other things. You can’t stop her from finding out the truth. You need her alive or she will be useless to you.”
Rogan smiled, “There you are only partly right Tobin, we surely won’t kill her, at least not until she does what we want. But she certainly doesn’t have to have her own free-will does she? And thanks to your little escapade, she will lose that forever.”
They are going to enchant her! Tobin thought with horror.
“Isn’t it nice that you will die knowing that you singlehandedly ended Arleth’s life as a free-thinking human? Oh and also how you just cost Aedan the war? How delightful!”
With that, Rogan shot another spear of green light from his fingers. This time, he held on to it, directing it to Tobin’s neck. “Goodbye Tobin,” he said, smiling down at the man’s face. Slowly, enjoying every moment, Rogan slid the spear of light sideways across his neck.
Tobin screamed. He screamed in agony at Rogan ending his life and he screamed knowing what would happen to Arleth. This last torture ended quickly though, and soon his screams abruptly stopped. There was a soft thud on the floor and Rogan extinguished his green light. He turned and faced Absalom.
“So, we are going to enchant her now right?”
“Yes,” said Absalom, conceding to his sorcerer. He knew that Arleth was curious and if left alone, she would definitely go and check out the room that Tobin had given her the key for. It was a simple enough matter to stop her from doing this, or even to let her, but have Rogan cast a shade over the room so that she didn’t see what was really there. But the spy had been right, even if they did that, there wouldn’t be a shortage of other things she would question and now, having her suspicions piqued, she would be hyper vigilant for anything out of the ordinary. He hated to admit it, but Rogan was right. The safest thing to do now was to enchant her and worry about the details later. “Yes,” he said again. “We will enchant her first thing in the morning.”
* * *
Arleth sat bolt upright in bed, shaking. She thought she heard screaming, but as soon as she concentrated on it, it was gone. She had probably imagined it, a remnant of her nightmare. She couldn’t remember the details, but she was sure of three things. There had been a lot of screaming, a lot of blood, and now she had a terrible sense of foreboding. Her skin was cold and clammy, the sheets soaked through with her sweat. The lamp on her night-table had been knocked over – she must have been kicking in her sleep. What exactly had she been dreaming of? She wished she could remember. But then again, taking measure of her rapid heart-beat, and sweat-soaked sheets, maybe she was lucky she couldn’t remember.
Arleth looked around her in the darkness; everything was quiet, the only noise being the even breathing and occasional snores from the other servants sleeping in the room with her. No one else was awake. Still, Arleth couldn’t shake the sense that she was in danger. Quietly, she climbed out of bed and crept her way down the rows of beds to the door. She opened it a crack and peered out, looking both ways down the hall. It was dark, but she didn’t see anyone or anything out of the ordinary. She closed the door again and walked over to the window. Except for a few campfires lit by the guards on night-watch, the valley was dark. She watched the guards for a few minutes just to be certain; everything seemed normal.
Still afraid, but not knowing what else to do, Arleth got back into bed. She propped up her pillow against the wall and leaning against it, pulled the sheets up over her raised knees to rest under her chin. Her eyes darted this way and that around the room, looking for any moving shadows. She felt a jabbing in her side – she had left her belt on when she went to bed, not wanting to risk having the things the spy had given her found or stolen. It felt like it was the key that was now poking into her. She shifted her position slightly and it went away. Having been reminded of her encounter with the spy, Arleth realized that she had just made up her mind. She was definitely going to go and check out the room tomorrow morning. Something was going on in this castle and Arleth wanted to find out what it was.
Propped up against the wall the way she was, with her hands tightly clasping the sheets beneath her chin, it was a long time before she finally drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 16
Aedan looked at the gates ahead of him, squinting to protect his eyes from the sunlight. It was mid-morning and he was standing just outside Iridian Castle. There was a horrifyingly familiar form stuck to one of the doors. He squinted harder trying to make out what it was. The sun was reflecting directly in his eyes, making it impossible to make out anything beyond a vague outline. Still, he had a pretty good idea what he was looking at. He desperately hoped he was wrong.
He kept walking towards the entrance, keeping his eyes fixed on the object. As he drew closer, the gates became larger and larger, until they blocked out his view of the sun and he was at last able to see the form clearly. He drew his breath in sharply and stopped dead in his tracks.
Nailed to the door was the head of his spy, Tobin.
“Bastard,” Aedan muttered under his breath. He knew that Tobin’s death had not been quick and had certainly been anything but painless. Even though both Absalom and Rogan would have known they would gain nothing from interrogating him, they would have tortured him just for fun.
“I’m so sorry Tobin,” Aedan said softly. There was nothing he could have done to protect his spy. Even if he had found out that the man had been discovered, he knew that Tobin wouldn’t have left Iridian Castle, especially now that Arleth was there. Knowing this didn’t ease Aedan’s guilt though. He felt personally responsible for Tobin’s death. He looked up at the dead man’s head again and felt a tear begin to form in the corner of his eye.
The thick nail had been driven through Tobin’s skull so hard that his entire forehead was caved in against the door. Even still, the look of pain in his face was unmistakable. His eyes were still open wide and his mouth was frozen in a scream.
‘I will kill you Absalom Drae’, Aedan vowed, for not the first time. ‘Before this war is over, I will kill you. I will kill you for everyone that you have butchered so mercilessly.’
There was an angry hissing from his left and a strong serpentine hand yanked him violently forward. Aedan stumbled a few steps, but managed to regain his balance without falling down. Once he was steady on his feet again, he looked up in loathing at the Greken who had his arm in a vice-like grip.
‘And I will kill you too’, Aedan thought. ‘You and the rest of you nasty beasts’, he turned his head and his eyes travelled to the other eight Grekens who had him surrounded in a tight circle.
As if hearing his thoughts, the Greken yanked him again. This time Aedan was unprepared and he fell face first into the dirt. As he pulled himself out of the dirt, he thought about how he had gotten here.
He hadn’t tried to sneak into Iridian castle undetected. He had known there was no point; it had been built specifically to prevent an ambush. Aedan remembered his father explaining this to him when he was a young boy. He and his father had stood on one of the higher, enclosed pathways overlooking the valley. Aedan had listened in admiration as his father had explained how their ancestors had specifically cho
sen to build Iridian castle in this valley as it provided the best defence. A young Aedan had felt safe and secure listening to his father describe how difficult it was to attack the castle. He had never imagined then that twenty years later he would be on the other side, trying desperately to attack such an impenetrable fortress, wishing that his forefathers had been a little less clever.
The castle was located in the exact centre of the valley, meaning there were two and a half miles of flat, open land in any direction between the mountains and the castle. Not only would Aedan have been easily seen from the battlements as he made his way across, the valley was strewn with soldiers, guards and Grekens. Even a concealing spell wouldn’t have helped him; it would only have made his presence undetected by magic. If anyone had looked in his direction, he would have been seen and in the open valley, he would have had no place to hide. Coming at night he would have had more of a chance, at least the shadows would have hidden him better. In the darkness, with the help of a concealing spell, he might have been able to sneak his way past all the guards, even the Grekens, but there were still the magical charms and defensive spells placed all over the valley and around the castle itself.
No, Aedan had known it was futile to try to sneak in, so he hadn’t bothered. He had left his stronghold at dawn and when he had reached the valley, he had calmly walked out into the open. It had only taken a few seconds for the guards to notice him and within minutes he had his escort of Grekens. He knew that Absalom would have sent out orders not to kill him; Absalolm would want that honour for himself. So, as contradictory as it sounded, Aedan knew the best way for him to get into the castle was to be captured. Once inside, Selene’s alondrane would do the rest – hopefully.
Their plan was far from perfect, but it was the best one they had and now that he had been captured, Aedan just had to hope that it would work.