Felling Kingdoms (Book 5) (19 page)

“I nearly was,” he whispered and held her back. “I cannot stay long, but I wanted to make sure you were well. How is Pesh?”

“She grows every day.”

“And you?”

“I am even better seeing you.” She broke away.

“Lace, I am concerned for you, and the other women who bear my children,” he said quietly. “Arconia is about to be caught in treachery, and I fear your lives may be in jeopardy.”

“What has happened?”

He explained everything briefly. “Will you do something for me? I need you to locate all the women I….”

“I know.”

“And tell me where they are. I plan to bring you all to a safe place before this plays out.”

“I thought you wanted nothing to do with them.”

“I’ve had a change of compassion. They are still my children.”

She smiled and nodded. “I will do as you ask and summon you when I have their locations.”

He kissed her hand and slipped back into Void and back to Jaden. Robyn was alone standing by the windows, a steaming teacup in her hands.

“Where did you go?”

“To Lace.”

Robyn turned. “Is she well?”

Gabriel stepped beside her and leaned on the window frame. “She…gave birth.”

He winced, waiting for her hurt face, but she smiled broadly. “Your first born? Oh, how wonderful. Boy, girl?”

There it was, the little twinge of jealousy that flitted through her lips. It quickly died as she composed herself. She was entitled to it.

“Girl, a little thing named Pesh.”

“She was born early.”

“Pike attacked. I fought him and brought him here…it was all part of his plan.”

She slipped a hand around his waist. “Do not blame yourself now for what you could not fathom then. Rejoice you have a healthy child.”

He looped his arm around her shoulders to say with actions what he could not say with words.

“Marry me,” she whispered.

He smiled. “Not yet. Soon. This will not take much longer, I can feel it.”

“Will you…tell me what happened with Lace?”

He looked down to see her large eyes staring expectantly up at him. “I….”

“I think I know, but I wanted to hear it from your lips.”

He flicked his hair off his forehead nervously and searched the horizon for an answer. “Nolen suspected I was not bedding the Arconians, so he watched to make sure I did.” He turned his head away, ashamed. She squeezed him tighter. “Please don’t hate Lace. She had to otherwise he would have known I had allies.”

“I do not hate her,” Robyn replied sincerely. “Thank you for telling me.”

He nodded, slipping for a moment back to the memory. He sat by the fire, a cup of Jaden gold in his hand. The crushing weight of Robyn’s loss compounded every movement, every thought. Nolen had entered with Lace in tow. The girl looked terrified. Gabriel thought they were sidestepping somewhere terrible to destroy someone else.

He slid out of the memory easily. It did not bother him as it once did. In fact, all the memories of time with Nolen did not bother him as much. He could not remember the last nightmare he had. Even the Glittering Castrofax had not brought them back.

It seems he was stronger than he thought.

He leaned down to kiss Robyn. “Do you want to tell me about Virgil? You have said nothing of it.”

“There is nothing to tell. He gave me orders, I followed them blindly.”

He waited patiently as she dithered.

“He made me kiss him.”

He held her tighter. “I am sorry, my love.”

“I am keeping you from resting,” she said a few moments later.

“I spent a week resting. I can manage.”

She released her grip on him. “You need to be fully rested for tomorrow. I will leave you to your supper and sleep.” She stretched up to kiss him and broke away. “I will be here in the morning.”

Chapter 24

Lael rose well after the sun, taking a blessed long soak in his walk-in bath while enjoying a cup of tea as he comprehended the day ahead. The Head Mage had called for a meeting in his sitting room after breakfast. Lael dried with his new favorite Megen Street towels and dressed himself in black and red, slicking his hair back with oil. His shoulder tingled, but Afton said it would until he stretched it out. It was new, after all, and needed breaking in.

Lael had a few minutes to arrange his notes for the day, and he went to the sitting room. Gabriel was already waiting, Mikelle on his left chatting heatedly about chocolate. The Head Mage was dressed in battle cloth, a fine piece of thick, compressed, tightly-woven fabric, so dense it could stop a bow-shot arrow. It was a piece Challis gave him when he took the Seat, and covered his chest and back from neck to mid-hip. It did not take long for the rest of the remaining Council to arrive. They looked wonderfully better than they had days before, though Dagan was still a little pale.

Gabriel stood, battle-ready. “Please sit as you would in the Hall.” He walked to the door and watched them arrange spare pieces of furniture where Aisling, Lewis, and Penny had sat. The Council watched him with interest.

“I want to know which Arch Mage attacked which person, to the best of our guessing.” He looked to Cordis first. “Your neck was broken, so that was Spirit, and therefore Pike. Markus, do you know what struck you?”

“It was a Spirit pattern, so Pike again.”

“Dagan, you were bound with vines, so it could have been Dorian or Pike.”

“I never saw who.”

Gabriel nodded. “Galloway?”

Galloway shook his head.

“Mikelle?”

“It was an Air pattern, so Dorian.”

“Lael?”

Lael frowned. He hardly remembered the attack, only the searing pain mixed with shock brought immediately afterward. “I do not remember. It was a clear attack—I never saw it, but it could have been Air or Spirit.”

Gabriel nodded. “Adelaide?”

“It was Dorian.” She pointed to the three empty pieces of furniture beside her. “Pike struck Penny’s chair which exploded in my face, but Dorian impaled Lewis through the chest with a stone from the floor. I did not see who took Penny down…but I believe Pike killed Aisling.”

Gabriel nodded morosely. “It was a Spirit pattern that killed her, so it could only have been Pike.” He silently counted on his fingers with a dark expression. “Pike dies today.”

Lael smiled. He rarely saw the Head Mage angry. It was a powerful thing to behold.

“I will be bringing Challis back with me and see what kind of state Cinibar is in. Our sidesteppers say the city has been sacked, and I am assuming Viorica has fallen. I will be taking Shaun and two teams of sidesteppers to see if we can aid the city. If I don’t come back with at least one Arch Mage’s head, I won’t be returning.”

“How will you get in unseen?” Adelaide asked.

“I know enough Void patterns to cloak myself right before them.”

To Lael’s surprise, she smiled and nodded approvingly.
‘When did you two become friends?’

Gabriel changed his solid stance to become somehow smaller as he bowed. “I plan to bury our fallen Council Members tonight.” The silent room grew even quieter. “We have big seats to fill in their passing…. I know it is too soon, and for the next year it will be too soon, but we need to fill the Seats. Please consider replacements, and we will meet tomorrow to discuss.”

They nodded solemnly.

“Rest up, I expect you on your feet tomorrow,” he said with a grin. With that, he swept out, his white cloak billowing behind him.

Gabriel sidestepped with Shaun and a team of Gaelsins just outside Cinibar’s capital. They stopped to view beautiful Viorica from a hill. “By the stars,” Gabriel breathed.

The city burned.

The spiraling pyramids were in various stages of smoldering. Some collapsed, some burned shells, some still aflame. There were few people on the road outside the gates, but most of everyone had already fled. Gabriel saw spotty smoke columns behind him from the refugees. Chaos reigned everywhere. Buildings reduced to piles of rubble, and it seemed nothing breathed within the city. If anyone still resided here, they hid well.

“Dorian is here,” he said quietly to Shaun on his right. “I don’t want you in the city.”

“I can help you.”

“I can’t risk you, yet.”

Shaun folded his arms. “Mikelle would kill you.”

“Exactly.” He narrowed his gaze on Telmon palace. The beautiful structure spiraled out of the center of the city. “I am going to make this as fast as possible, but I anticipate Challis will be guarded heavily.”

“Trap,” Shaun clipped. His blond hair kicked in the breeze that smelled of smoke. It made his nose wrinkle.

“I am aware. But she has three Mage daughters in there as well.”

“And a King?”

“No, he is dead.”

Shaun nodded. “Don’t die, mate.”

“Sweeter words were never spoken,” he replied and Shaun grinned broadly. Gabriel searched Challis and shot towards her.

He appeared before her but hid himself with a Void advantage-pattern. It cloaked him, using the blindness between blinks.

Challis was kept in an incanted cell. Her three daughters were in neighboring cells around her. Gabriel looked around. Numerous guards stood around him, but no one saw him. A few squinted and blinked as the pattern took its toll. He frowned, not yet seeing a trap.

‘Did the Arch Mages place Challis’s life so below themselves to think I would not come for her? Well, why not? If they were all in the palace, it was the perfect place to strike.’

“Challis,” he whispered, and her head shot up. She was garbed in an old dress, dirty around the hem and bloodied down one arm. Her lovely dark hair hung loose from its unnatural curls.

She inched closer to the bars that covered the front of her cell, looking for him, but he did things she did not understand. He crouched down before her.

“I’m right here,” he breathed.

“Head Mage, my stars,” she whispered in a moment of surprise. “Do not open our cells. The doors are designed to release an incanted pattern into the floor and ceiling.”

“Don’t be silly,” he replied and grabbed her arm, shooting her out of the palace and to the hill where Shaun stood.

Challis looked up at him as he helped her to her feet. She looked alarmed, frightened, and hopeless. “You escaped?”

“I am so glad to see you alive,” he breathed and embraced her. “I broke free. Have you been harmed?”

She released him, and her pretty face raised majestically to his. “My people have been scattered. I am wounded beyond your repair.”

He gripped her shoulder. “Words cannot express my sadness.”

She nodded and composed herself regally. “Do not set foot in the ballroom. The whole place was warded against you.”

“Shaun.”

Shaun instantly threw a bubble shield around them and took the Councilwoman’s arm.

“I’m going in for your girls next. Celise, Merina, and Ainslee, yes?”

“Yes.”

Gabriel shot back towards the incanted chamber. The youngest sat closer to the bars than the other. He touched the bar for a moment as he stretched his arm through, and his Elements drained from him a moment before he grabbed her arm. She screamed as he took her into Void and deposited her before her mother a moment later, still screaming.

He rushed back for Merina, but the guards had noticed Challis’s absence when Ainslee screamed. They stood before the grates that still held Celise and Merina.

Gabriel cut his advantage-pattern and appeared before them. “Leave, or fall,” he said darkly, still in Void, a terror in all white.

He had not realized it before, but these guards were blonde-haired and fair eyed. Certainly Gaelsins—which meant they were all Mages.

He raised a shield a moment after the first attack came, feeling something sharp strike his leg. Warmth bled into his thigh as he delved into the advantage-pattern. He slinked into their vision as patterns battered against his shield. He rushed them, hiding right before them as he reached into Merina’s cell. The slender woman stood not far off, drawn to the bars. He grabbed her leg and shot her to her mother.

Merina screamed and kicked him as soon as they hit turf. Challis had to throw her off him as he pushed her off.

“Oh, Head Mage!” Merina gasped as he stood. “Oh Head Mage,” she muttered as he rose to his full height, looking him up and down.

“Merina!” Challis hissed.

“Sorry—not sorry.”

He blushed with a grin and shot back to retrieve Celise. Her cell was now guarded by a dozen Gaelsins. Their hands were raised, and their faces terrified.

Gabriel appeared before them, his shield up. “I am Head Mage Gabriel,” he said before they could shoot a barrage of patterns at him. “Halt!” he shouted, waiting a moment for them to realize it was useless to batter against his shield. “Ryker has taken you from your homes and families, whereas I have welcomed your culture into my castle. I may even have your families safe within my walls. Lower your hands, and come with me. Ryker will have no hold over you.”

He watched Celise behind them, her lovely face fracture by steel bars. He healed that face once, an Age ago.

“Lower your hands.”

A few did while others looked between themselves for answers.

“Move,” he commanded, and a few jumped, but more stayed put. Celise reached her arm through the bars, stretching for him. Cautiously he lowered his shield and blink-shifted to her, snatching her hand.

The world exploded.

Gabriel flew back against a set of bars and hit the ground hard. Someone had struck him—powerfully. He forgot some of these Mages were Unclassed and terribly strong in their Elements. The moment he lowered his shield, someone had hit him. He tried to rise to his feet but slipped. Realizing he was vulnerable, he slid into Void and moved himself in a blink-shift. Attacks fell where he had laid, and he staggered to his feet behind them.

He grabbed Celise’s hand and shot them both to the hill, holding her tightly by the waist.

“Thank you, Head Mage,” Celise whispered. “It seems you have saved me yet again.”

“You are bleeding,” Challis stated.

“Things never change. Shaun, take them straight to Jaden and remove the sidesteppers. There is no more we can do here.”

Challis looked devastated. She gazed out over her kingdom, watching the pyramids burn. “Who did this?” she asked.

“Dorian, he was the destroyer.”

“Slay him.”

Gabriel nodded. “I will do my best.”

There were unshed tears in her eyes. “Does Jaden stand at least? I cannot go from one fallen kingdom to another.”

“She stands, stronger than ever, but she will need you to make her greater.”

“Oh, Viorica,” Challis breathed.

“She will not be down for long.” Gabriel looped a searchers-pattern through the amber chain, and searched Evony and Maxine. They were roughly in the same location. “Is the ballroom the only trap?”

“There could be others, but I only heard them speak of the ballroom.”

“So the ballroom could be the only safe place.”

She raised her brow, and he winked, shooting himself into the palace.

There were few things about Arch Mages that Gabriel knew, and no Mage in their right mind would surround themselves with incanted stones, but he knew Ryker was power-hungry, and history always repeated itself. Power-hungry people were prideful, and Gabriel wagered of all the places in the palace that could have hidden traps for him, the throne was not one of them.

Gabriel knew the palace well enough to easily find the ballroom, but he took several detours, zipping quickly through the halls to gather an idea of what Ryker had done. It broke his heart. He only encountered one set of incanted stones, but quickly backtracked and continued his shift.

By the time he arrived in the ballroom, he seethed with anger. He carefully positioned his shift to cut on the Moon Throne, coming to stand upon it. The massive moon behind encircled him.

The room was lined with blonde-haired Gaelsins, each dressed in one of five colors. Gabriel’s eyes instantly went to a commotion in the center of the room, and he smiled and cloaked himself in a skim-pattern, allowing him to control his shift in a circle around the room which he fell into easily.

Ryker, Pike, and Dorian stood in the center of the room. Pike held a Gaelsin woman dressed in white while Dorian held a young man just shy of Classing age dressed in blue. Ryker gripped the woman’s wrist tightly, holding her hand up to the man. Both tried to wriggle from the Arch Mage’s grasp.

“Make it quick, ac he’ll never know what hit him,” Ryker snapped to the woman. She cried and pushed against the slippery floor tiles. “I have only so much patience, Gaelsin!”

“Strap a knife to her hand,” Dorian stated, his hands clamped on the man’s shoulders.