“Well, you won’t find anything. It’s in
my
head, and
I
don’t know how it works. My Magic is erratic at best, anyway.”
He was still rummaging on the table. “I’m not sure if I believe you. I think I’ll learn your secrets myself. I really don’t want to do this to you, Cemagna.
You really were such nice company, even asleep.”
I struggled, shivering.
Why was it so cold in here?
The metal buckles touching my skin were even colder.
“If I knew how Halfway Magic worked, I’d tell you. But I don’t. I actually, really don’t.”
“That’s too bad.”
He was rubbing something on his hands.
“I haven’t had someone to experiment on in a long time.
Many years, actually. The Order keeps them all locked up tightly. It was lucky for me that you came along.
Now I can continue my research.”
He turned towards me, holding a strange-looking instrument with several mirrors and a smoky glass sphere at the center.
“How is torturing me going to help you get the answers you want?
I can’t tell you things I don’t know.”
He held the instrument over my face.
“This isn’t torture. This is only the first step.
I am going to discover the limits of your abilities.
No matter how much you’ll try to hold it in, eventually you’ll lash out with your abilities full force.”
That was when the pain began.
Chapter 18
Temet
The moment Temet reached the city, he pulled his hood up to hide his face. If there were any Wizardly Order Enforcers about who recognized him… well, best not to think about that. The Enforcers could be…
harsh
with anyone who disobeyed the rules, and at that moment, that meant him.
He suppressed a shudder at the thought of the Enforcers. They were a division within the Wizardly Order given almost unlimited authority to track down rogue wizards or anyone thought to be a threat to the Order. The Ten Ring’s angry dog. That’s what they were, and they enjoyed their work too much. Even most ordinary wizards became nervous around them in their anonymous, faceless robes.
He hurried faster towards the duke’s palace.
The gate was locked, but a quick burst of Temet’s Magic opened it rather violently. He stepped through into the garden, surrounded by sculpted shrubbery covered with a layer of snow that had already begun to melt. Past the garden he could see a partially enclosed courtyard, paved with bricks. He ran towards it, seeing doors under archways—a way in.
He froze as a woman’s scream reached his ears. Cemagna?
There were two doors on opposite sides of the courtyard—which one? Where was she?
“I hadn’t expected to see you for years yet, but here you are. Welcome home,” said a voice from behind him.
Temet turned slowly. Before him stood a man in robes too big for his skinny, emaciated body. The face was gaunt and sickly, but the eyes shone with life.
“Who are you?” asked Temet.
“You don’t recognize me? I’m the man who single-handedly changed your life forever. I’m Aylward.”
“You!” cried Temet, hardly daring to believe this frail creature had once been the healthy man who had stolen him from his home. But the face—he recognized him now. It
was
Aylward. “Who are you—
what
are you? Everyone at the Order said you were dead before we even met. And I saw you die, too. How are you alive?”
“I’m not alive in the
normal
sense of the word, but I am alive.” Aylward smiled. “I’m glad to see you again. You look well.”
“None of that,” Temet snapped. “Who are you? Why did you bring me to the Order? I could have lived in peace with my family and the Order would never have found me! They tried to
kill me
!”
“Yes, yes. That particular incident wasn’t part of the plan. My apologies; I did not realize they’d view you as a threat.”
“What?” Temet felt his blood boiling. “What do you mean by that? This was a
plan
?”
“Yes, actually, all of this was. You were as much the duke’s experiment as Cemagna is right at this moment. We wanted both of you—one who grew up without training, as Cemagna did, and one who grew up with the best training of all—the Order. That would be you. Von Chi’s known about you from the beginning. I’m sure he will find studying the differences in Magic between you twins enlightening.”
“You work for the duke?” Temet spat.
“Of course. He did give me life, you know. I did die a long time ago as the Order told you, but the duke had a way of resurrection. It’s not perfect, as you can see,” he said, motioning to his frail body, “but it worked on me. Actually, I was the
only
one it worked on.” He laughed. “He presented me with a choice—work for him or die again, permanently this time.”
“How did you know about us?”
“I helped Nessy escape from Von Chi when she was pregnant with the two of you. I helped her hide in that house on the cliff.
In return, she promised that if her children could manifest Halfway Magic, she would give them to the Order.”
“Nessy would never have made that promise!”
“Oh, but she did. The Order is far better than Von Chi. What she didn’t know was that she was playing right into his hands by making that agreement.”
“You stole a ship and staged your death in the storm so I’d go to the Order without anyone having to know about you.”
“You’re too clever.”
He heard another scream, a louder one. Aylward was wasting his time; he had to get to Cemagna!
“Well, I’m not going to be your experiment, Aylward. I’m going to find my sister, and we’re going to leave you and your experiments—and whatever else your twisted minds want to do to us—far behind.”
“I don’t think that will happen.” Aylward reached one emaciated, pale hand up. He snapped his fingers.
Immediately dull gray figures leaped forth from the two snowy puddles on either side of him and grabbed Temet by the arms.
Temet screamed and the dull figures exploded into raindrops.
“Impressive,” murmured Aylward.
“Aylward, last chance. Stop this insanity.”
“Insanity? No,” he shook his head, lank hair flying. “We need you, Temet.”
“For what?”
“To finish our work. Don’t you see? This is important to the future of the city, of the whole of the world. You and your sister—the duke has stacks of unfinished notebooks! You and Cemagna would be his life’s crowning achievement.”
“I still think being alive is more appealing.”
“Well, if you won’t be convinced by reason, we’ll just have to take you by force.”
Three more of the dull, humanoid figures appeared from the melted snow and reached for him. Their hands were unnaturally cold. Were they made from water? They must have been. Water and some sort of twisted Magic Aylward could do.
Two of them grabbed him by the arms as the third clapped a hand over his mouth and nose.
Though the figures gripping him seemed strong, he knew they were only as strong as the Magic binding them together.
With a howl, he released a fiery burst of Magic and the figures dissolved into mist.
Aylward stared at Temet, emotionless. The figures materialized just as quickly to grab Temet again.
He set his feet and would not budge.
“Why do you resist so much?” asked Aylward in a calm voice.
Temet dissolved the figures again. “Give up, Aylward.
You’re not as strong as I am.”
“Oh, I think I am. I was a wizard long ago and the duke’s been giving me some lovely Talents, Talents he found ways to develop artificially through his research.”
Temet lunged forward to smash his fist into Aylward’s face.
“Because of you, I was ten years without my sister! And my mother is dead!”
He punched only air.
From behind him came a watery laugh. Turning, he saw Aylward standing there.
“How do you do that?” He lunged again, faster this time. Aylward vanished.
The man reappeared in front of him, shoving him backward to slide on the slush-covered bricks.
With another laugh, he vanished, then appeared above one of the doors, feet carefully secured atop the ledge, head just shy of the archway.
Temet’s hands stung. He looked at them in dismay to find he had skinned both his palms on the grains of sand that covered the bricks.
“Look what you did, you beast!” he shouted to Aylward, holding out his palms.
Aylward laughed.
“You’re not permanently damaged. Baby.”
“Yeah, but I could have done without that,” Temet snarled, taking a handful of the grit and flinging it at Aylward.
“See how
you
like it.”
Aylward’s eyes bulged and he fell as the grit hit him, to Temet’s surprise.
That shouldn’t have hurt
him.
Aylward’s body melted, dripping to the ground, only to re-form as he hit the ground.
Incredible. The duke had changed Aylward, somehow. He had become like water, same as the figures who attacked Temet.
“Clever,” said Aylward.
“Were you
ever
a decent person? Why did Nessy ever trust you?” Temet wondered.
“She didn’t have a choice. The Enforcers had marked her; they would kill her if they found her.” Aylward paused. “This is, interestingly, the reason Cemagna came to the duke. The Enforcers thought she was Nessy and tried to kill her. She was running blindly in the night… I left the gate open so she would wander in. She was looking for you, you know She came here to find you.”
Temet heard another scream from inside and howled with rage. Aylward was wasting Temet’s time while Cemagna might be dying.
Scooping up a handful of snow, Temet focused. He knew the chemical compound; it had been taught to him at the Wizardly Order. He moved the molecules with Magic, changing them.
Aylward moved closer. “You can’t kill me with snow, you know. You’ll just tire yourself out, and then I’ll take you to the duke. It will be quite easy.”
The compound was formed. Temet shot it deep into Aylward’s body with a burst of Magic.
Aylward screamed, eyes wide, realizing what it was. Within moments, he was gone.
It was the poison given to wizards who refused to join the Order.
Chapter 19
Cemagna
I fought him.
He wasn’t going to make me use my abilities. He wasn’t. I was in control. Not Von Chi. Me. Cemagna.
In a strange way it hurt as he tried to force me to use my Magic. It was my will against his.
I had lost track of time.
Minutes seemed like days, hours seemed like years.
Had it been hours?
It must have been.
“
Just show me what you can do,
”
Von Chi pleaded.
“
I want to see your Halfway Magic.
”
I resisted. He had too much power already. He would not take more. I was not going to give him what he wanted.
He had his contraption and several lenses focused on my forehead. I ignored his pleas. If I used Magic, even to fend him off, he would have a way in to my mind. I couldn’t let him have a way in. He could not be allowed to grab more Magic.
I could feel the strain on my mind as he, tired of trying to make me to use Magic, tried to force his way into my mind and reach it. He was probably as exhausted as I was, though the blank eyes were unreadable. All I had to do was wait him out. If I could last that long. I had to focus. I had to concentrate on blocking him, keeping him out of my head.
Blank eyes still locked on me, the duke leaned back and reached behind himself.
I saw the knife in his raised hand. It sliced downwards
…
I screamed as the blade landed deep in my hip. And in that moment, my concentration broke.
I screamed again, this time in rage at my defeat as Von Chi dove into my mind. His presence felt like tiny pinpricks.
The pinpricks shifted.
I winced.
You react like normal humans do to pain and other stimuli.
So no abnormalities there.
Stop fighting me; it will hurt less.
The pinpricks shifted.
You raised yourself!
Very nice.
And hid your abilities from your mother for fear of the Order. Clever woman.