Leoht (BloodRunes: Book 3) (20 page)

The heat was growing stronger now, and
spreading down her face to the rest of her body. How dare he! How
dare he say those things about her! She was an important person!
She had done those things herself, no one had manipulated her!

“At least I’ll die knowing that
whore
died today,” she spat at him, wanting -
needing
- something
positive to hold onto.

“Layna is very much alive. Unlike you, she
can handle her power.”

It couldn’t be! She had seen the man taking
her, intent upon her death. He had to have killed her, he had to
have. She couldn’t die without knowing the whore had gotten what
she deserved.

The temperature of her skin was growing
uncomfortably hot and she was vaguely aware that she was connected
to some sort of power. The remnants of Devon’s last gift to
her…anguish mixed with anger…and fear and despair. She looked down
in horror to see that her flames were dancing off her body.

She looked up at the King, imploring him to
help her, but he just watched her evenly and raised his eyebrows,
commenting, “Oh dear. You never could control those emotions.”

She tried to bat away the flames that were
growing stronger, and the smell of burning flesh reached her
nostrils, sickening her. She vomited and it was full of blood. The
fire worsened, engulfing her until all Jezebel knew was pain…

*

Nathair watched as Jezebel burned herself to
a fiery crisp. When all that remained was a charred corpse on his
floor, he rang for a servant. As the man came scurrying in, his
gaze landed on the body and he gulped.

“This one,” Nathair told him, his eyes wide
and exaggeratedly innocent as he pointed to it, “Wasn’t me. Clean
it up for me though, will you? I already ate.”

The man’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head,
and he stammered, “Of, of course, Sire.” He bowed and exited the
room, then returned moments later with a dustpan and broom. As
Nathair watched him brush up the unfortunate end to Jezebel, he
pondered the ramifications. He was actually relieved to see her
dead, she had turned out to be way more trouble than she was worth.
It was a shame that she had brought Devon with her, however. Now he
would have to go and physically retrieve the books himself. It
would give him a chance to figure out who else had been using her
though, that was some consolation.

Not much of one for all the annoyances the
woman had caused, but at least she had provided him with some
entertainment as well. The servant had brought a large reed basket
meant to hold garbage and he was dumping dustpans-full into it.
Nathair chuckled to himself.
How fitting
…

When the servant had left, Nathair traced
Jezebel’s spell back to the location she had transported from and
followed it with his own. He materialized in a wooded area and he
raised a shield. There were large amounts of drying blood on the
ground and Devon’s body was propped up against a tree. Even the
extra power hadn’t been able to save him from Jezebel’s greed. He
opened himself to the power, feeling where the waves of it had been
disturbed. Jezebel had mentioned that Layna had been killed. He was
connected to her enough to know that she was still alive, but not
enough to know what the woman had been talking about. Large amounts
of power had been used near here recently, however, and he jumped
to the spot.

A man dressed in black lay dead, crumpled on
the ground with wounds on his legs, but the obviously fatal one
being the bloody hole in his chest. Nathair narrowed his eyes at
him, something about him seemed familiar. He had the same magical
‘taste’ to him as did the one who was controlling Jezebel, and it
seemed vaguely familiar.

It dawned on him; the woman who had collared
him. She had felt like that. So it was her that wanted Layna dead
and had bothered to subvert Jezebel’s purpose to wanting her dead
as well. Not that a push in that direction wasn’t all the woman
needed, but still, she had already been under
his
control.

But still the question remained, why did she
want Layna dead? He still hadn’t been able to find out what their
intentions were once they had the Bloodstone either. Obviously it
was that they wanted, but then what? He needed to speak with Katya,
perhaps she would have some answers for him. It was still early,
however, so Nathair followed Jezebel’s scent back to the inn she
had been staying at. He looked around the sparse room with
amusement. She certainly had taken a fall in life. There was
evidence of where she had made the staff make the room more fitting
for one of her station - or at least he imagined that was the
wording she had used - there were fancy velvet tablecloths covering
each of the wooden surfaces, the regular chair that normally sat in
an inn of this one’s popularity by the fireplace had been replaced
by a worn plush one, probably taken from around the hearth in the
common room where a more regal ‘throne’ was oftentimes provided for
traveling bards and minstrels to perform from, adding to the
majesty of their entertainment.

No doubt the staff would welcome Jezebel’s
departure with eagerness. And they would relish in looting the
possessions she left behind. His books would not be among them,
however. He searched the room and with a disdainful snort found
them stuffed haphazardly underneath the bed, devoid of wards or
illusion to mask their presence.

To think he had entrusted such valuable
artifacts into her undeserving possession. To his surprise, not
only were there three books as Devon had reported, but all three
were unlocked. Finding the keys to them was no small matter. He had
assumed Devon had meant she only found a way to unlock one of them.
As resourceful as Devon was, he highly doubted that even his
expertise could have found three books and the keys to unlock them
in the short amount of time they had been at it. And Jezebel…he
snorted. She wouldn’t have been able to figure it out on her
own.

Which meant, that the person who had
redirected Jezebel’s goals towards killing Layna probably also gave
her the keys to use the information to do so. And the woman who had
collared him would indeed have this sort of sway.
Hmm…

He gathered up the books and then paused,
deciding on the best approach. Eventually, he chose illusion and he
waved a hand over the bed, making three books exactly like those he
now carried appear in their previous positions. Only now, if
someone disturbed the illusion, he would know, and he had no doubt
that the woman would come back for them. This time, he wouldn’t let
her get away.

When he was back in his own room, nightfall
couldn’t come soon enough. Nathair retired early, on the off-chance
that Katya would have done so as well and settled in to wait. He
had been asleep for hours when she finally came to him.

“
Do you know who is trying to kill
Layna?”he asked her, taking her hand and walking along the
dream-beach.

“
Not specifically,” Katya answered, “but
the man said something about a prophecy. The closest one we were
able to come up with is one that the Order was obsessed with for a
time which dealt with the dragon and the phoenix coming together to
produce one who would be able to either wake or destroy the
Bloodstone.”

Nuko’s consciousness tickled the back of his
own, temporarily taking him out of the dream. Nuko’s knowledge of
the situation combined with Nathair’s own information from meetings
with the Order suddenly made all the pieces fall into place…

“
Interesting. What are the two of them up
to these days? Have they figured out a way to get close to the
Bloodstone’s host?” He had found that speaking about himself in
terms of simply the ‘host’ made her feel more comfortable
discussing it, like she could separate it in her mind somehow that
way.

“
They’re going to use connections they
have at the Golden Girls and hitch a ride in with them. They figure
that even with enhanced security, the nobles won’t be able to give
up their carnal pleasures.”

Nathair laughed out loud and was rewarded
with one of Katya’s rare smiles. He regretted the need to use her
in this manner, but once the reunion with their body was complete,
he would convince Nuko that she would be a valuable asset in their
plans. “They are probably right. Well, that should work out
wonderfully for them. And then how do they plan to subdue him?”

Katya’s smile disappeared. “They have come
into possession of a collar, they plan to use it on him to prevent
him from performing the rite to reunite essence and body.”

“
A collar?” Nathair repeated, adding extra
tones of horror behind his words. “How can they even think to use
such a thing when that’s the kind of atrocity they are saying they
want to stop? Not to mention your own past experience…” he let the
thought trail off, not quite dredging up her own animosities about
it, but enough that she did it herself.

“
I’m not happy about it, but what choice
do we have? He’s much too dangerous otherwise.”

Nathair smiled. “That’s true, but there must
be another way.”

Katya’s mind faded out from his and he
figured she must have fallen into a slumber too deep for dreams.
Their conversations had been getting cut shorter and shorter and
Nathair assumed it was because the area she was entering was
becoming more and more dangerous, requiring more of her attention
and energy during her waking hours.

Nathair blinked his own eyes awake. The stars
were still out in full force, their tiny twinkling lights filling
his window. The sun would not be up for hours yet, but he couldn’t
sleep anymore. Nuko’s voice sounded in his mind.

-
Stupid humans. The prophecy
is nothing of the sort. It simply means that a mix of those two
particular bloodlines would produce someone strong enough to handle
a god’s power. Leave it to your puny minds to make it more than it
is. A child like that could be produced many different ways and in
any time, and of course it could either help or destroy depending
on its personality. Making it some all-important prophecy was
someone’s way of controlling his followers, nothing
more
.
- The rant was one of the longest that Nuko had
ever bothered to share with Nathair and he felt an undercurrent of
smugness underneath it all that Nathair recognized as more than
just what he had just said.

“What are you so happy about?” he asked him
suspiciously.

-
Obviously the dragon
bloodline is being a descendant of the one who I inhabited and
spread my ancestry through
.
- He paused and Nathair
waited for the kicker. -
I’ve only just realized the
significance of the other, and its irony is
delicious
.-

CHAPTER 13

Ranis was beside herself with worry. Not only
had the assassin failed a second time and gotten himself killed in
the process, but apparently her hold over Jezebel had weakened and
she had transported somewhere and ended up dead as well. Everything
was falling apart.

She needed to retrieve the books and take
care of the girl as quickly as possible. Lord Telvani and the
others would be checking in soon and she needed to have something
positive to report.

She transported to the inn and searched its
contents for the books. Scoffing at the woman’s ineptitude, she
spied them under the bed. She reached under and grabbed them, in
her haste failing to notice her error until it was too late.

Her hand passed right through them, but she
felt a tingle as the indicator spell that had been rigged on the
illusion sent ripples through the power back to its maker. Ranis
abruptly raised a shield and prepared to transport out of there,
but was forcibly prevented from doing so.

“Well, well, well,” a familiar voice cooed
from behind her. “We meet again.” Ranis turned slowly and her
breath caught in her throat. It was the King. Caught unprepared for
him, and already in his grasp, she knew she was doomed. All she
could do was hope she could convince him to let her live.

“Before you kill me, there’s something you
should know.”

“There’s something you know that I don’t? I
doubt that.” He circled around her menacingly. “But, I have a few
minutes so I’ll humor you, what is so important that you think your
life is worth sparing?”

“There is someone out to stop you from waking
the Sleeping God.”

“Oh please, he’s already awake, we’re working
on much grander plans now. And is this person who is trying to stop
me named….Layna? Or Gryffon maybe? Perhaps Katya? I could go on,
there are a few you know.”

“Perhaps you know her name, but do you know
her significance? She was born with the family crests of dragon and
phoenix, and not to the parents Gerald and Evelyn…but to Richard
and Elizabeth?” Nathair paused and Ranis jumped at her chance. So
he hadn’t known that particular detail. “She could ruin you in more
ways than one. But I can help you stop her. We’ve been trying to
stop her for some time now. We’re on your side!” She pleaded and
lied, trying to break free of the iron grasp his spell held her
in.

Nathair’s look of interest quickly passed.
“It means nothing. My kingship hardly matters when I am a god.”

“I can help you!” Ranis exclaimed in
desperation.

Nathair actually snorted. “Just like you’ve
been trying to help me all along. I know what the true mission of
the Order is. Your loyalty to the Dark King’s purpose was as
short-lived as a drop of water in the desert. How soon after he was
dead did you stop trying to wake the Sleeping God and turn instead
to trying to find out how to control him when he was woken? How
many decades did it take you to come up with the collar to restrain
me, to restrain
him
, to use the power that we control?”