Felling Kingdoms (Book 5) (20 page)

Gabriel knew in an instant what they were attempting. Holding an unwilling Spirit Mage and ordering her to murder another could only mean they were making her unlock Void.

Gabriel moved without thinking, letting instinct take over.

A light shard appeared in his hand, and he cut the skim right behind Pike, grabbing a fistful of the Arch Mage’s hair, and drawing the shard across his neck. Pike’s head came off his body easier than picking a ripe peach. A fountain of arterial blood sprayed above him.

Ryker turned with horrified eyes as Gabriel grabbed the back of Pike’s coat and flung the body to the ground. The girl slipped from his limp grasp and ran screaming. Gabriel snapped his fingers and shot white-hot fire into the body. Every ounce of it burned from all but memory only to leave the charred outline of a body.

“Rebuild
that
,” Gabriel snapped and shot out of the palace leaving Ryker speechless. It took place in the span of four heart-beats, enough time for Ryker to react. But it seemed the Arch Mage had not expected him at all.

‘Did Maxine not tell him I broke free?’

He searched Shaun and found him far west. Instead of returning to Jaden, he searched Maxine and appeared outside the room she resided in. He put his fingers on the latch and paused, ignoring the nagging feeling that he should return to Jaden.

He pushed the door open to a bright room decorated in yellows and creams. She stood in the window with her back to him, swathed in a high-necked, sleeveless crimson dress. To his surprise, Virgil sat in a chair beside her. His head was bowed with his hands tied behind his back. He did not look up as Gabriel walked in.

“I knew you would come,” she whispered and turned to face him. Her eyes went from his face to Pike’s head in his hand. Her plump lips parted in sadness. “I liked him.”

“He had to die, he killed my loved ones.” Gabriel slowly stepped in, fingers poised to set a pattern. “You did not tell Ryker I was free.”

She looked away despondently and gestured to Virgil. “Did you come for his head?”

“I will settle for yours.”

She smiled. “Not yet, precious. Take him instead. I think I broke him.”

Gabriel looked at the comatose man. “What did you do to him?”

She shrugged. “Nothing. His guilt overcame him, and he just…stopped. It is not the first time I issued this response.” She dragged a nail over his cheek, but he remained motionless.

Gabriel stared at her quizzically. “Whose side are you on?”

She flicked Virgil’s cheek. “My own.” Gabriel stepped closer and reached for Virgil, but she raised a finger. “You still owe me.”

“
Do
I now?”

“I taught you Void, and you offered no recompense.”

“I will not kill you at this moment. Is that enough?”

She screwed her lips into a smile she fought to contain. “Before this is over, you will need me.”

“Let us hope not.” Gabriel clapped Virgil on the shoulder and shifted them out, uncertain what he would do with the Prince. He had to die, there was no question. The only factor was
when
.

He grimaced and altered his shift east, holding Pike’s dripping head away from his trousers. Virgil remained motionless, his listless gaze on the gray floor. Gabriel was not sure what he would say, but he knew his pride could not beat his moral compass. Steeling his resolve, he shot them towards Arconia.

He was not sure how to find King Victor, for he never attained a hair, so he zipped into Shshonan Palace and cut the shift in a small room. Virgil showed a sign of recognition and looked up a fraction before dropping his head back with a shallow sigh of defeat.

Gabriel stepped out into the hall and quickly found the nearest servant who looked at Pike’s head a terrified gaze. “Tell the King, the Head Mage wishes to see him,” Gabriel stated in Arconian, and the boy ran off with a relieved expression.

Gabriel stepped back in. Virgil had raised his face, and their eyes locked. “Please just kill me.”

“I would not give you the satisfaction of death, Virgil. You deserve a long life of suffering,” Gabriel replied. “For one moment, did you ever think your plan would turn against you?”

Virgil did not break contact with his eyes. “Of course, but not once you were captured.”

Gabriel grinded his teeth. “Do not mistake my actions. I very much wish to break your neck between my hands, but I will not contribute destroying a kingdom. You do know it is likely your kingdom will suffer as it never has from your actions? It will be a marvel if Queen Robyn does not pull every Anatolian off your soil and sever all trade. You can be certain I will not intervene with her plans. You
do
realize the Arch Mages planned this from the beginning?”

“I do now.”

“My kingdom was a hairsbreadth away from collapse because of what you did! Can you image what would happen if Jaden fell? The Mages would scatter; chaos would replace them; Ryker would snatch up the best and enslave them until the name
Mage
was a title of fear. They would go uneducated and unprotected. It would be a matter of generations before Mages bred themselves out or Ryker killed all non-Mages, I guarantee it.”

Virgil frowned. “I do not see the problem with that. Had it not been for these Arch Mages, we would not be in this situation.”

Gabriel seethed. “Do not blame them for
your
faults.
You
chose to aid.” Virgil opened his mouth, but Gabriel snapped a hand with a silencing look, and the Prince sealed his lips.

“I had the crown, you know,” Virgil whispered. Gabriel raised a brow that said to go on. “I had the control piece to Glittering. I would not give it to Maxine. I said it was lost.”

“It does not absolve you.”

King Victor took his time coming, leaving Gabriel to stand by the window with a sour look. The city moved slowly beneath him. Finally, the footsteps constantly passing in the halls stopped outside the salon and the door buckled inward.

King Victor made no surprised utterance as he saw his son, closing the door behind him quickly.

“What has happened?” he whispered to Gabriel, keeping himself back. “What have you done?”

Virgil kept his head down.

“Your Grace, your son nearly brought Anatoly and Jaden to their knees. He allied with an Arch Mage. We are all very lucky he did not fell your own kingdom in the meanwhile.” It took Gabriel a few minutes to retell the story.

The King stood silently looking at his crestfallen son. “What will you have me do with him, Head Mage?”

Gabriel stood beside Virgil. “Too many people have died in this past month. I very much want his head, but I have chosen mercy.”

The King blinked and looked faint. He stroked his trimmed beard as he braced himself on the back of a couch. “I do not deserve your clemency, Head Mage. My family has nearly ruined you. You have every right to kill him.”

Virgil did not argue.

“I am aware. However, not putting him to death is an act of compassion I must do. I have witnessed much death already.”

The King looked to the head in Gabriel’s hand. It had stopped dripping.

“I want him locked in an incanted cell and guards posted day and night until I say he can be released. I cannot have him surfacing during my last battle.”

Victor drew his hands into his sleeves before him. “And if I decide to enact…other measures?”

“Do it in the incanted cell. He still belongs to Arch Mage Maxine, and she will come for him if he’s in danger.” Her relinquishing him was just a tile played.

Victor looked pale, and he moved himself to a chair.

“Head Mage…I cannot accept your mercy. You must take his head.” Virgil made no motion to argue. Gabriel looked surprised at the King. “I cannot have word of this reaching my people. They will lose faith in their King, and their Crown Prince, making us appear rotten. Every rotten apple must be discarded. I ask you to take his head, quickly, before I lose my courage.”

“Are you certain?”

Victor swallowed. “Sometimes the best thing a leader can do for his kingdom is the hardest.” He looked up. “For you and for me.”

Gabriel gave a steady nod. “Would you like to look away?”

The King shook his head.

“Prince Virgil, for crimes against the Queen of Anatoly and the Head Mage of Jaden, I end you.” He snapped his fingers together to make a light-shard of Spirit. With lightning speed he drew it across the Prince’s neck. He grabbed Virgil’s hair and gently pulled back. The wound had cauterized, leaving little blood as he pulled it off the body that slumped forward in its binds.

King Victor stood with a white face and an inconsolable expression. “Thank you for your mercy, Head Mage. You are a noble lord if ever one ruled. Now, if you will permit me, I must bury my youngest child.” His voice cracked, but he remained stoic, giving Gabriel a hard nod. Gabriel paid him a full bow, a gesture of the highest respect a Head Mage could give, and vanished into Void.

Chapter 25

Lael waited on the edge of his chair for someone to arrive from Viorica. Surprisingly, no more than an hour later, Challis walked through the doors to the anteroom. She looked drained and distracted, garbed in a soiled dress. He stood and let out a breath as he went to embrace her. “I am relieved to see you alive.” The embrace she returned was desperate and she held him tightly for several breaths. He squeezed all the tighter.

She was followed by her three daughters. All dark haired and tanned skinned with their mother’s beautiful face though they looked a little exhausted and worn.

“Were you mistreated?” he asked Challis as she broke away, but the Queen shook her head.

“He locked us in incanted rooms, no more.”

“What happened?”

She turned to her daughters. “Please escort yourselves to my chambers and leave the Secondhand and me to talk.” The girls all bowed and left respectfully. “Viorica has fallen. Ryker took over with an army of Gaelsins and a collection of other races, powerful Mages. They purged the city of anyone who could stand in their way. The pyramids and great families have been burned from their homes, and the few Mages left have been killed.”

“Who?” Lael breathed.

“Lord and Lady Rocan, the Tresden twins, and the Etchen family.”

Lael lowered his head. “Stars.”

“What happened here? Who did we lose?”

“Aisling, Lewis, and Penny.”

Challis looked away and thinned her lips, “Stars. How did the Head Mage escape? He truly broke out?”

“He did,” Lael smiled. “And in perfect timing. The rest of us were horribly broken. Another day and I think Dagan would have been lost to us forever.”

“At least Jaden stands.”

“We have Shaun to thank for that. He assumed control in our absence.”

Challis smiled thoughtfully. “I always liked him after his Classing.”

“Please do not expound on that thought.” Challis flushed red and covered her lips. “There is much to fill you in on but…”

A flash of white halted Lael, and he breathed a breath of relief as Gabriel appeared. His relief turned to astonishment when he held up Pike Bronwen’s head in one hand and Prince Virgil’s in the other.

“You—you….”

“I know,” Gabriel whispered, neither elated nor weary.

“How?”

“Quickly, with Pike. Ryker has an army of at least two hundred Mages, though I only skimmed the hallways. The main pyramids burn, but there are four smaller ones that still stand. Much of the city is evacuated.” He looked to Challis. “The Cinibarian army is dead.”

“What?” Challis breathed.

Gabriel shook his head as he set his burdens down. “One of the fires burning in your city is a pyre of soldiers.”

Tears rose to her eyes. “I…I had
thousands
of men.”

Gabriel tucked her under one of his arms, and she fell into his chest. They shared a bond Lael never understood fully, but thought it sweet.

“Cinibar really has fallen,” she whispered as she broke away, drying her eyes. “What do we do now?”

“We bury our dead, we refill the Council, and then we take the fight to them,” Gabriel answered.

“What of Prince Virgil?” Lael asked.

“For his crimes, his father wished him dead. It was the most merciful thing I could do.”

Gabriel slowly marched behind the coffin in the winding procession to the necropolis deep in the mountains. Cordis walked beside him. The three coffins were flanked by the families left behind, while the streets lined with every soul in Jaden holding candles, flames, or glowing balls. Silence fell as the coffins passed, quieting Castle Jaden to the point where the wind itself gave a moment of silence.

Gabriel had spoken words over each coffin to the masses gathered in the courtyard. He knew all three well: Lewis who had maintained all calm when severing his hand, Penny whose grandmotherly attitude kept him from frustration more than once, and Aisling who kept everyone in line and helped control two kingdoms. They could never be replaced.

They silently proceeded into the necropolis lit with green balls. The statue of Barbrielly and Tollen welcomed the newcomers. Each was given a notch in the cold tunnel reserved for Council Members. The pallbearers carried the coffins to pre-carved holes, and with flourish slid the bodies into the mountain while the family members paid their last respects.

Gabriel sealed the holes with an Earth pattern, and embossed their names and statuses over the front with their Elemental symbols. He did his best not to shake as he sealed Aisling’s niche. Families passed their hands over the graves in a last farewell. Lord and Lady Lamay were in front with the Council with friends trailing behind. The ceremony was over too quickly, and soon Gabriel stood before Aisling’s grave alone, staring at the words he wrote over her head.

Cordis found him solemnly standing there some time later.

“You alright, lad?”

“I feel like I never knew her.”

Cordis put his arm around Gabriel’s shoulders, almost matching him in height. “No one ever truly knows a woman they love, my boy, or really any woman at all.” He squeezed Gabriel’s shoulders. “We must be thankful for the time we spent with her. We are but a breath away from sharing her fate.”

“I wish I had a chance to say goodbye.”

Cordis nodded and pulled him through the necropolis, extinguishing glowing balls in his wake. “She loved you very much, Gabriel, though it was hard for her to say it.”

“I know. I know I was a burden to her.”

“Lad, where do you get such ideas?”

“She did not raise me,” he replied. “I got in the way of her career. I’ve known for a while, but I came to accept it long ago.”

“Don’t think of it like that. Think of it as she rather wanted someone to raise you with unconditional devotion. She could not have done that.”

Gabriel nodded.

“Buy you a pint or two?”

“Two.”