BOOK 11: CHAPTER 39: A HASTY EXIT

39 – A Hasty Exit

Rellia watched the sculpture as Timma ap’Loren, a rare Gravity Mage, lifted it into position atop the rounded bronze dome of her new tower. The art piece was a matching bronze compass rose, designed so that the arrow pointed due north when observed from the front plaza of her palace. It was enormous, spanning more than eight feet across, and the artisan who’d crafted it claimed it weighed nearly two thousand pounds. Even so, Timma handled it effortlessly, saving Rellia’s resident work crews hours of labor, not to mention the tedium of rigging pulleys and ropes.

“Almost there,” Timma said softly, her voice breathy with excitement.

Rellia nodded. “They’ve almost got it—just a little lower.” Even as she said the words, Rellia knew they weren’t necessary; the sculpture settled down, guided by the hands of the waiting metal workers on the roof. “Perfect!”

Timma beamed, pleased to have her praise. She was a sweet girl, daughter of one of Rellia’s oldest friends. They’d hoped she’d develop a friendship with Valla when the two were young, but Valla was everything Timma wasn’t, and vice versa. While Valla loved swordwork and adventure and excelled in her military studies, Timma was a bookworm who loved to sit at home, reading quietly. Where Valla rebelled and challenged Rellia at every turn, Timma was the picture of obedience. To say the girl irritated Valla would be putting it lightly.

“Anything else I can do for you, Miss Rellia?”

Rellia indulged Timma in the quaint form of address; she was almost a second daughter to her after all. “I don’t think so, dear. Not today, in any case. I think I’d like to send a package home with you, though—something for your mother. Do you mind waiting just a moment while I—”

“Lady ap’Yensha!” The strident masculine voice that echoed across the courtyard startled Rellia, interrupting her train of thought.

She whirled to see one of the watchmen from the city, his face flushed from exertion, sweat plastering his brow. He hurried toward her, doffing his sky-blue and gray cap and bowing hastily. It wasn’t lost on Rellia that his spear was missing. “Where’s your weapon, guardsman?”

He shook his head, his eyes wide with panic. “Taken, milady!”

“Taken?”

He nodded furiously. “Th-there’s a man at the stone. He, um, he has wings, but he’s no Shadeni. He killed Rimmon and Lon—m-my patrol mates. He sent me to get someone in charge. He said he’ll start killing civilians if someone doesn’t come quickly.”

Something cold gripped Rellia’s heart as anger and fear fought for control of her tongue. Without conscious thought, she summoned her rapier from her ring, its wicked edge glinting in the sunlight. “Speak quickly, man. Describe this man, and be more specific than winged.”

“He’s got coloring like Lord Victor and that lot, the folks from First Landing. He’s different, though—sharp fangs, white feathers on his wings. He wields a black sword that…Lady, I couldn’t see him move, and then Rimmon was in pieces!” Tears sprang into his eyes, and Rellia slapped him.

“Get hold of yourself, man! Where is he?”

Blinking back tears, face red with embarrassment or anger, perhaps both, he replied, “At the stone!”

“Go into my palace. Tell Polo Vosh to come to the stone.” With that, Rellia brushed past him and stalked toward the gate. She was passing through the long gatehouse tunnel when she heard small feet hurrying behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Timma. “Go back,” she growled, crimson eyes flaring.

“I can help, Miss Rellia!”

Rellia whirled on her. “Go, girl! You’re no fighter.” As Timma stopped in her tracks, face stricken with fear and shame, Rellia turned and continued, her long strides devouring the ground. When she cleared the gatehouse, she could see the evidence of the truth of the guardsman’s words. Her palace was on a mage-crafted hill, and from her vantage, she looked down the long, straight main street of her burgeoning capital. The System stone rose from the ground in a marble-lined plaza not two hundred yards distant.

Usually, there’d be a hundred people on the street and sidewalks between her palace and the stone. Now? It was deserted. Worse, her System stone had a new addition. A tall figure stood atop it, wings spread wide. He was watching her; even at that distance, she could feel the weight of his gaze. “What demon is this?” she hissed, striding forward.

She’d only closed half the distance when the figure leaped from the monolithic stone, his white wings fluttering as he snapped them. He arced forward and down, coming to land just ten feet from her. As he approached, Rellia felt the weight of his presence, and true dread entered her heart. His gaze was filled with naked hatred, as though she’d done something to someone he loved. She couldn’t understand why, though; as far as she could tell, he was a complete stranger.

“You must be Rellia!” He grinned, exposing canines that were certainly longer than her own sharp teeth.

“Why have you terrorized my citizens?” she asked, her voice steady despite the cold creeping down her spine. She held her rapier ready, its blade sheathed in the shadow of her affinity.

“Terror? Bah, a small culling is all. I’m sure there will be more to follow. What do you say, Lady Rellia? Will you exact vengeance for those simple men?”

“What is your name, that I might mark it down on your grave?”

“Oho! How nice to see that you have some verve! You’re quite fetching. That blue skin is familiar to me, but I’ve never seen such eyes and hair! How peculiar! Do all the women of this land have such coordinated coloration? I imagine many of my men will enjoy exploring the breadth of nature’s variety.” He didn’t wait for Rellia to respond, turning toward the System stone. “I’ll bring them along soon. I’ve gained permission to open a portal, temporary for now, but I’ll see about making it permanent.”

“What do you want?” Rellia asked, furious with herself for the fear she felt. She hated the cowardice in her heart that made her question him rather than driving her rapier through his heart. She could feel his strength, though, and he knew it. He had her in the palm of his hand. She just needed to stall—Polo Vosh was coming. He’d been adventuring in Victor’s dungeon for months, and just the night before, he’d confided in Rellia that he was on the cusp of tier eight. Yes, he’d help her put a stop to this madman.

“What do I want

? A great deal, as it turns out. From you, however, a bit of information will suffice for now. Tell me about your friend—the fellow who helped you conquer these lands.”

Rellia took a step back, still holding her rapier between them, as she tilted her head to the side. “You’ll have to be more specific. There were thousands of us involved in that endeavor.”

The man smiled again, exposing those long canines. His eyes were dark, like opals gleaming in the sunlight. “I can take what I want from your mind, but you won’t enjoy the experience. Don’t be coy. Tell me about Victor.”

Rellia didn’t know where it came from, but a sliver of courage found its way into her backbone, and she scoffed, clicking her tongue. “Victor? I’m afraid I’m not familiar.”

The man’s face didn’t betray a reaction, but his wings swelled noticeably, as though he were preparing for flight again. He held out his right hand, and Rellia learned what her guardsman had meant by a “black sword.” A lance of nothingness extended from his clenched fist, emitting a terrible sound that grated against her natural sense of order. It unmade the air as it grew, shredding the invisible bonds that gave the wind a physical nature. When the man’s sword of nothingness was fully formed, he waved it through the air, and Rellia winced, cringing at the horrible sound.

“Your people watch from behind corners and windows. A pretty girl with hair like straw tries to embolden herself to act in your defense. She followed you from your little palace. Shall I pull her apart, tiny bone from tiny bone, or will you stop your games?”

Rellia betrayed herself again by hastily looking back up the road, desperately hoping she wouldn’t see Timma. She nearly wept when she caught a glimpse of her blonde curls peeking out from behind a roadside flower planter. She turned back to the man and his demonic weapon. “What do you want to know?”

“We’ll begin with something simple. Where is he?”

Rellia inhaled deeply, still trying to find the will to stand straight in the face of the stranger’s aura. Could she betray Victor? Shouldn’t she try to fight? If she angered this man, though, what if he made good on his threat? What if he hurt Timma? As the thoughts raced through her mind, she saw movement behind the stranger—a flash of gold near the decorative wall that surrounded the System stone plaza.

Then, with a warcry that sent shivers down Rellia’s spine, Polo Vosh exploded into view, his massive axe held high, his golden armor resplendent in the sun’s light. He moved with speed and power, his great muscles rippling as his axe descended in a deadly arc toward the stranger’s winged back. Then, faster than Rellia could track, the stranger moved.

Rellia stared, her brain failing to comprehend what had happened. One second, Polo Vosh, engorged with Energy and performing a deadly surprise attack, had been charging, full of life and power, and now he lay in pieces, his blood pouring out like exposed secrets. Inanely, she couldn’t stop thinking that there was too much blood. How could one man contain so much?

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Rellia began to shake, her eyes wide with horror as the life of one of her oldest friends, a man who’d known her when she was a silly girl looking for adventure, came to a sudden, ignoble end. Brave, funny, vibrant Polo, master of the axe, killed without a thought. “H-he—” she stammered, trying to form a coherent thought. “He deserved better.” It was a pathetic statement, hardly worthy of a great hero like Polo Vosh, but it was all she could manage.

The stranger whipped his terrible sword through the air, and the sound it made reminded her stunned mind of how it had split her friend in half, and Rellia turned to the side and poured her breakfast onto the cobbles, retching and gagging. As she spat the remnants from her mouth, she felt a warm hand grasp the back of her neck, and her body, even her sick, broken heart, froze. She couldn’t have moved if she wanted to.

“I’m afraid I don’t have the patience for you to process your feelings, woman. Hold still, while I find what I want in here.” As the stranger spoke, Rellia felt a terrible invasion, a warm, prickly sensation as his Energy pushed its way into her pathways, creeping up into her mind. “That’s it, here we go. Let’s see who it is that Victor cares about.” Then, as he began to pull and tug at her memories and thoughts, her paralysis broke, and Rellia screamed.

###

Victor laughed, watching Edeya mime some unknown animal, while Lam, unable to guess what it was, grew increasingly frustrated.

“Just give up!” Olivia teased. “Admit defeat!”

“A roladii!” Lam tried again.

Edeya shook her head, scowling as she hooked her pointer fingers, holding them to the sides of her head while she stamped her feet.

“A, um, did I already say thunderak?”

Edeya groaned and threw her hands up, turning to flop onto the couch. “I give up! I thought you’d get it for sure! We fought a hundred of them last week!”

Olivia nodded. “I knew it right away! Bull snogs!”

The girl, Dalla, jumped up and down, laughing. “Bull snogs! Really? You’ve seen them?”

Edeya nodded, patting the couch beside her. “Sit beside me and I’ll tell you about it.”

Victor sighed happily. He was glad his friends had convinced him to stay a little while. Even Arona was having fun, though, if you didn’t know her, you might not think so. She sat quietly in the corner, observing, while she sipped the brandy she’d produced—a strong variety from Ruhn—upon the commencement of the party games.

The reason he was still there on Sojourn was due to Lesh; the dragonkin had turned Dar’s lake house into something of an encampment. There had been nearly two dozen high-level iron rankers waiting for Victor to transport them to Ruhn, so they could use the gateway to travel to Dark Ember. Lesh had suggested that maybe he ought to open the portal for them before leaving, so they wouldn’t have to worry about offending Dar with their presence.

Victor had agreed, happy to finish his business with Sojourn so that he’d be able to head straight to Dark Ember when his visit to Fanwath was over. After spending an afternoon ferrying the adventurers to Ruhn with Lesh as their leader and emissary, he and Arona had decided to spend a final night at Dar’s lake house.

He walked over to her and sat down. “Any stress?”

She knew he was wondering whether she was worried about her old master, Vesavo, paying a visit. She shook her head. “As we discussed, I don’t think he’d move against me here.”

“We’ll leave early, anyway. No point pushing our luck.”

Arona smiled, nodding. “Thank you.”

Victor looked up to see Trin urging Dalla to approach him. He’d hoped that Arcus might somehow have gotten word out of the Iron Prison to his family. Or maybe that Ronkerz would have made his move and gotten Arcus out of the prison, but that hadn’t happened, and he knew, logically, that it might be years or decades before it did. Still, every time he saw Trin, he thought about Arcus and his plight, and he wished he could tell her the truth. He’d made a promise, though, so he held his tongue. “Hey, you two.”

Trin smiled and gently nudged Dalla forward. “Go on, ask him.”

“Hi, um, Victor,” the girl said hesitantly. “Is it, um, true that you’re a…” She hesitated, licking her lips as she looked nervously at Trin.

“He’s not going to bite!” Trin laughed, shaking her head. “Go on!”

Victor leaned his elbows onto his knees, trying to make himself loom over the girl a bit less. He smiled and prodded, “What is it, chica?” She was a Shadeni, and Victor knew she was a young Spirit Caster with a luck affinity of all things, and, honestly, she reminded him a lot of Deyni.

“Is it true that you’re a Spirit Caster?”

Victor smiled and held out his hand, swiftly forming the pattern for Prismatic Illumination. When he trickled just a bit of hope-attuned Energy into it, a marble-sized blue orb formed in the air over his palm, radiating that wonderful, inspiring Energy. “I am!”

Dalla smiled, leaning close. “It’s beautiful! Hope?”

“You got that quickly! How’d you know?”

Dalla shrugged, her pink irises bright as she stared into the light. “It makes me feel like I do when I remember my ma.”

Trin gasped softly and put her arm around the girl, squeezing her gently. She looked at Victor and mouthed, “Sosad!”

He nodded, then reached out to take Dalla’s little hand, turning her palm so he could move his orb into it. “That won’t last forever like your clever, little luck stones, but you can keep it for now.”

“You know about my stones?”

Victor nodded. “Didn’t Lam tell you? She gave me one.” He would have produced it to show her, but it was in one of his storage rings, and he wasn’t sure which.

Lam had apparently been listening, because she approached and said, “I did tell her, and now it’s time for a confession.”

Victor looked up at her. “Hmm? A confession?”

“I have another reason for wanting to visit Fanwath with you. I wanted to ask you to allow Dalla to stay at your estate and study with Deyni. Thayla’s been getting her training with spirit magic, and I think Dalla would be so much happier there while we’re off on Dark Ember.”

Victor smiled, relieved that the confession wasn’t anything troubling. He tousled Dalla’s dark, curly hair. “Did you know about this?”

She nodded. “Yes. Miss Lam came to visit me and my da to talk about it.”

“And he’s okay with it?”

Lam shrugged. “He was after I paid him. Dalla’s been earning beads to support her siblings and, to be fair, he needed the help.”

“Well, it sounds like it’s settled, then. If you're sure that’s what you want, Dalla?”

She nodded. “Will you be there?”

Victor chuckled, shaking his head ruefully. “I wish I could say yes, but I’m gone more than I’m home. I’ve got lots of friends there, though, and”—Victor looked around the room, spying Olivia on the other couch, chatting with Edeya—“Miss Olivia has sponsored a school there. We’ve got all sorts of experts coming to teach classes. My…” He hesitated, unsure how he should label Deyni. He decided he was like an uncle to her. “My niece is also a Spirit Caster like you, but she’s got an affinity for something called amity. Have you heard that word?”

Dalla shook her head, eyes wide.

“It’s like friendship. Since she was very young, she’s made friends easily, especially with animals, but she only recently uncovered her affinity. I bet the two of you could learn a lot from each other.” He looked at Lam. “You want her to stay at my place?”

She nodded. “It’s close to the school, and I thought I’d offer Efanie an additional stipend to take her under her wing. Do you think she’d be so inclined?”

Victor looked at Dalla again, at the hopeful expression in her big eyes, and he chuckled. “There’s no way she’ll say no.”

Trin squeezed the girl tightly again. “You don’t mind if I come along, do you? I intend to join everyone heading off to Dark Ember, so…” She shrugged, smiling.

“Nah, that’s fine. Glad to have you.” Victor had already assumed as much, considering she’d been hanging around while he’d transported Lesh and his friends to Iron Mountain. He was just getting ready to ask Dalla to tell him a little bit about her class and some of the ways it implemented skills and spells for her affinity when Mr. Ruln, the lake house steward, came into the room and approached, his face betraying concern.

“Milord,” he said, clearing his throat.

“What is it, Mr. Ruln?” Victor stood, sensing the deep tension in the steward’s demeanor.

“There is a party from the council at the door. They’re insisting that they speak to you. I’m sorry, milord, I tried to tell them it was an unseemly hour for visitors…” He scowled, shaking his head. “One of them threatened me, and I daresay I recognized him as an agent of one of Lord Dar’s rivals.”

Victor scowled. What was this shit? More trouble piled on his plate thanks to Dar’s politics? “Which rival?”

“Vesav—"

Arona stood up, her staff suddenly appearing in her hands. “Still your tongue!” she growled. “Do not say that man’s name.”

Victor held out a hand to her, trying to get her to remain calm. When she nodded, he turned back to Ruln. “But he’s with a party from the council?”

Ruln nodded. “Seven men, all high-ranking—steel seekers if I’m not wrong.”

“And they want to talk to me?”

Ruln nodded.

“Victor, we should—” Arona started to say, but, again, Victor motioned for her to be still.

He looked around the room at the faces of his friends, all staring at him expectantly. They wanted to know what he’d do. Would he obey the summons? Victor asked himself the same question. With the presence of Vesavo’s agent, it was evident that the summons was concerning Arona. If they wanted him and Arona to go with them, there was no doubt in his mind that the council, influenced by Vesavo and his allies—and just as much by Dar’s current absence—would find some way to stymie him. They might even bring some made-up charges against him. Vesavo wanted Arona back, and if he couldn’t have her, he’d see her suffer.

“Here’s what you’re going to do, Mr. Ruln. In five minutes, you’ll go back to the front door and tell them you looked all over the estate for me, but I seem to have departed. If they want to search, you can let them. However, be sure to remind them that Dar will not be pleased.” As he spoke, Victor began taking the components of his teleportation array out of his spirit space.

“As you say, milord.” Ruln bowed, then moved off to stand near a large, ornate clock that hung near the fireplace. He was taking Victor’s five-minute timeline seriously.

“Hope you’re all ready to go,” Victor said, placing the first of the portal array stones on the ground.

“Now?” Edeya asked. “What’s this all about?”

“We’ll explain on the other side,” Victor said.

“We?” Lam asked, folding her arms.

“Arona and I.”

“It’s my old master. He must have influenced the council.”

“Are we going to be in trouble?” Trin asked.

Victor placed the third stone, shaking his head. “Nah, they don’t even know about you all. This is some bullshit that Dar will straighten out when he gets back. If not, Arona and I will deal with Ves—”

“Don’t say it!” Arona hissed. “Not until we cross through.”

“You think he’ll hear?”

She nodded. “He’ll know we’re talking about him.”

Victor placed the last stone and clutched the destination orb, looking around the small crowd of his friends. “Last chance to back out. As soon as this charges, we’re going.”

Olivia shrugged, stepping closer. “All my belongings are in my rings, cousin.”

“Same,” Trin remarked. “Well, all my important ones.”

“What about Darren?” Edeya cried.

Victor looked at her, raising an eyebrow. “He’s with Lesh.”

“Oh!” She blew out a pent-up breath, smiling. “That’s right!”

Victor looked down at the portal stones. They were starting to glow, but they weren’t ready. “Just another couple of minutes. There’s a lot of ambient Energy here.” He looked at Dalla. “Ready?”

She nodded, but her eyes looked trepidatious.

He focused on her fist, glowing from the little orb of hope she clutched. Concentrating briefly, he sent more Energy into it, and the light spilled out of the cracks between her fingers. “Feel better?”

She grinned, nodding again.

He looked at Arona. “Good?”

She smiled grimly, pressing her lips tightly together, then pointed to the portal stones, limned in magenta light. “They’re ready,” she rasped.

Victor concentrated, and then the portal appeared, slicing a hole through reality. “Here we go, folks, next stop: Fanwath!”