Memory's Wake Omnibus: The Complete Illustrated YA Fantasy Series (27 page)

“Thayl? Thayl!”

The calling voice grew closer, and Thayl’s eyes drew into small slits, annoyed by the interruption.

“Where the hell are you? Son of a…” A small figure popped onto the verdant horizon, seeming almost as surprised as he.

He smiled in recognition. His heart beat painfully. “Loredanna.”

Rising from the wood and copper bench, Thayl strode quickly through the manicured rose garden. He met her with a wrapping embrace.

“Ew, gross, really?” She pushed him away violently.

Thayl froze, head tilted back, eyebrow twitching. “You?”

“Yeah me,” the girl said in a defensive mumble.

“Not dead then?”

Thayl thought he saw her hesitate before she spoke again. “Just. Someone saved me, healed me.”

“You’ve also changed.” Thayl stared at her rough cropped hair, now a heartbreakingly familiar blonde.

“Not a lot.”

Thayl dropped onto the garden bench, suddenly right behind him again. He rubbed his eyes, knowing he was dreaming.
You shouldn’t be able to feel so tired in a dream.
He often dreamt of Loredanna amongst these roses. Beautiful, blessed moments of dream. Not tonight though. On every rose vine blossoms turned to ash and fell onto the ground as dust. “What do you want, demon? Why are you here?”

“Don’t call me that. You know I’m not,” Memory said, frowning at him.

“Tormentor, then.”

She folded her arms across her chest and paced in front of him. “I came to make a deal.”

“Why would you, now, knowing what I want from you?” Thayl blinked his eyes clear and leaned back, draping both arms along the back of the bench.

“I’m kind of hoping you want other things more, and maybe we can forget about that whole sucking-my-remaining-soul-out thing?” Memory peeked from the corner of her eye and made another lap in front of him. “You’ve got the Wizards’ Council, and with Alward dead too, I’m out of other options.”

Thayl stared, waiting.

She licked her lips, and then blurted her words out under his still gaze. “Eloryn’s alive.”

Thayl jumped to his feet. Storm clouds doused rose bushes that now stood as big as ancient oaks, filling the air with the scent of rain. The shade of a bloodied dragon swooped overhead, making Memory flinch.

“You’d better not lie. What do you offer?” Thayl growled.

“Eloryn. I can bring her straight to you. But you have to promise you won’t try and take more soul or memories from me. I don’t even need the other ones back. I know I wasn’t happy in that hell I was in.” Memory’s pace increased with the rapid flow of her words. “And also, I want to rule after you. I know you never married, that you have no heir. I want to be your heir. I should be anyway. I’m older than Eloryn, but everyone only ever wants her.”

Thayl put out an arm, stopping the girl in her tracks. She stood pouting in front of him, all fire and unshed tears. As full of emotion as her mother.

“Those are your complete terms?” Thayl asked. “You bring me Eloryn, I take no more memories from you and make you my heir?”

“Will and Roen, they aren’t anything to you. I want them too, alive,” she said, her cheeks colored feverishly and shoulders shaking. “It has to be a promise.”

The child was too terrified to know what she was doing. Thayl smiled.

“I agree. By the fae, our deal is binding, our oath unbreakable. Repeat what I just said.” He pointed solemnly at her, waiting, and she fumbled out the words.

The garden returned to its original state. Warm sunlight shone from an unclouded sky above a field of thorned beauty. Thayl suppressed a joyous reel of laughter.

He dragged a finger through her hair, and smiled at the look of horror on her face as she shied away from him. “I didn’t know you were identical twins. Even when I travelled through the Veil, right after your birth and found you grown, magic matured and ready to steal, you looked not a thing like your mother. Not like now.”

“How did you do it? How did you find me when I was sixteen, just after I was born?”

“You think I know?” Thayl’s laughter boomed through the garden. “You think I planned it all? Think child, what magic did I have, before I stole yours? I had help.”

“The one who dropped baby me through the veil door?”

“How do you know her?” Thayl looked around, alert, then calmed. He hadn’t seen the witch in years, since the last time she appeared demanding he repay his debt. A debt he only owed when his revenge was complete. He knew when it was, she’d return, and that would be soon.

“I saw what really happened when I was born, what you didn’t show me in our little memory lane excursion,” she said.

“And how do you judge me now? What wouldn’t you do for the people you love?” Thayl said, watching her expression.

“Probably not carve up their baby and throw it into Hell,” she said through a twisted mouth.

“What do you know? You obviously have no people you love,” Thayl mocked with a smile, but strain pulled it into a sneer. It didn’t matter what this girl thought, he still knew the truth of his part, and she wouldn’t be around much longer to torment him with her words and her face. His smile calmed and he watched her steadily.

“What are you going to do with Lory?” Memory asked. “I know you want her alive. You didn’t want the dragon to hurt her.”

“You bring her to me. That is our pact. What I do with her after that is whatever I wish. I am not too old yet to take a wife. I’m sure she’ll be agreeable when death is her only other option.”

Memory wobbled back a short step as though trying not to fall.

“Regretting the terms of our deal already?” he asked with melodramatic sympathy.

“You could say that,” she whispered.

“Perhaps you should have considered them more carefully. But we are bound now,” Thayl said. “Don’t be glum. You get a kingdom and your two boys to play with. There is more I can show you too, about your past, after you’ve completed your side of the bargain. Which you intend to do, how?”

Memory’s face lost all emotion and life. “It’s happening soon, early this morning while it’s still dark. Eloryn thinks we will be going to free the Wizards’ Council, and with them as a distraction, we would come for you, but I’ll bring her straight to you instead. I just need to see where to take her.”

Thayl shifted the world around them to the castle with a blink. Flying by walls and doors of spectacular wealth, he led her to the main hall with a growing smile.

The room dripped with ivory and gold. Crystal chandeliers spun colored light throughout the room, lighting the blood-red carpet beneath.

This was the very place where the blood of King Edmund and many of the Wizards’ Council went cold some sixteen years earlier. This would be the place his final revenge would be had. “Bring her to me here.”

This was the place every last member of the Wizards’ Council and this cursed offspring of Loredanna and her forced husband would meet their ends. As the child faded out of his dream, he let laughter of relief and anticipation fill the grand hall.

Memory awoke covered in a thin sheen of sweat, still exhausted, anxious and restless. If it hadn’t been for the dream she wouldn’t believe she had slept at all. She’d never made it back to bed. Her limbs were locked into a crumpled form fitted to the armchair she slept in. Only moonlight showed through the wide windows of the sitting room. Early morning but still dark, it must almost be time to go.

The front door opened and Roen walked in from outside, covered in a damp layer of dew. He looked pale, his tawny eyes lined in red and smudged grey underneath. His face, still so charming, was marked by a frown that had become far too familiar. Thayl’s face, with his tired, bitter eyes played into her mind.

“You shouldn’t frown so much. Wind will change and you’ll get stuck that way,” Memory said and stood up beside him, groaning when she stretched her back. She paused and frowned as well. “Is that actually true? Is that some magic thing?”

“If it was, I don’t think it would apply to me,” Roen said, but his face softened.

“Look, I know it’s not exactly kittens and circuses right now, but I hate to see you always sad. Isn’t there anything that can make you smile?”

Roen looked at her through haphazardly ruffled hair. The golden color of it over his tired eyes made him look like a fallen angel. His eyes searched over her face and his lips turned upwards.

The smile that appeared slid away quickly when Eloryn joined them. They all stared at each other in silence for a few moments, until Eloryn spoke. “Ready?”

Memory nodded.
I should tell them. I should warn them. I shouldn’t be doing this at all.
Memory struggled to hold their gaze and excused herself instead, leaving the cottage.
It’s too late now.

Outside, the air was thick and white, as though the Veil mist from the horizon had grown and rolled in like a tide. The mist caught and refracted the moonlight, making the night brighter than it should be, and formed cold droplets on her skin.

Memory knew she could create the Veil door inside, but the idea of it felt weird to her. It was somehow easier to grasp the concept out in the open, and at the moment, anything easier was better.

Her pulse fluttered behind her collar bone, echoing up through her throat like a feeling of sickness. She tried to imagine how this might play out. It felt as though all her other experiences until now hadn’t ended very well. She struggled to picture the possibilities before her. If she had more experience, more memories to draw from in general, would she have made different choices? Would she have, if her soul weren’t broken?

Roen stepped outside, Eloryn behind him. She smiled thinly. “This will work. We will get your memories back.”

Memory chewed her lips, her face flickering between smile and frown. No matter how this ended, she just wanted to get it done.

On the low stone boundary wall, Memory saw the clothing she’d left out for Will the night before, now soggy from dew and sea breeze. He wasn’t anywhere in sight. Memory sighed, not sure whether in sadness or relief.

“Mem, it’s time,” Eloryn said.

Memory caught her breath. The last chance to back down; unbreakable oaths aside. She wasn’t sure whether creating this Veil door or what lay beyond it scared her more. She wondered what happened if you broke an unbreakable oath.

Memory tore a hole in the world, ready to lead them all to their fate.

“Ready?” Roen took them each by a trembling hand.

“Wait. Just, I need a moment.” Memory pulled away. She flicked her eyes back and forth through the fog, seeking any movement.
It’s for the best. He shouldn’t have to be part of this.
Memory turned back to the Veil door.

The roof of the cottage creaked, and Will stepped down, standing behind Memory almost as though her small form would hide him from the others.

“You don’t have to come,” she whispered, staring at the ground.

“I won’t lose you again.” He held out a hand. She took it and led them all through.

It took a moment for Memory to recover from passing through the Veil. It felt just as it had every time – like being pulled through a bastard hybrid of a vacuum cleaner and a smoke machine while having a bad hangover.

The big castle room wasn’t as glowing and pretty as it had been in the dream, despite being brightly lit. A smell of decay filled the hall. The finely decorated walls were dusty and run down.

Memory squinted, her eyes still adjusting to the change in light.

Scores of guards in solemn military uniform didn’t help the atmosphere. Between every few guards the old men of the Wizards’ Council were held, subdued and shackled. At the end of the hall, Thayl towered, staring down at them from a raised dais.

“What happened? Why are we here?” Eloryn cried.

Memory turned and watched her friends with sad eyes. Guards grabbed them from behind, locking shackles around their wrists. Will threw his fists into one guard’s gut, knocking him back three steps. A heavily gauntleted hand hit the back of his neck and he fell to his knees. Shaking off dizziness he tried to stand again. Memory shook her head at him, her expression full of warning.

The look he returned stung, but he stilled.

Memory’s teeth clipped against each other, knocked by panicking nerves. No guard came to shackle her.

Comprehension showed on Roen’s face first. He spoke slowly, dangerously. “Mem, what are you doing? What have you done?”

Eloryn said nothing, her face shaking with emotion.

I can do this, I can do this,
Memory thought, playing the mantra on repeat.

Roen wrenched his hands in the manacles, testing their strength.

Thayl called down the hall to them, his voice echoing in the perfect acoustics. “Don’t bother to fight. The shackles are runed to block any behests. Memory, why don’t you come here and take your rightful place to watch the executions?”

Memory, feet still bare, pushed slowly over the carpet toward Thayl. She winced her eyes shut and called back without looking behind her. “I’m sorry, Eloryn. This is the only way I can get what I want.”

The gaze of every wizard and guard in the room followed her. The weight of judgment in their eyes rattled her, making each step she took a painful internal struggle. Hayes shook his head in disgust as though this was foreseen.

I can do this, I can do this.

Midway down the long hall she called to Thayl, “You said once I brought you Eloryn, you could tell me more that you knew about me.”

Thayl barked a laugh. “Obviously I was lying. I just wanted to make sure you would come, so I could dispose of you.”

Memory’s stomach acid turned to steam, bubbling up through her body. But she was prepared for the worst. Thayl made no threatening move yet. He stood as confident and smug as she hoped he would, after finding just the loophole in her bargain she knew was there.

She continued toward him, projecting every bit of real pain and fear she felt into her words. “You can’t, we made a deal!”

“You people and your deals. I learned long ago that when making a deal, you should be sure exactly what you will be getting. As you have yours, my side of our bargain is honored. You are my heir. Does everyone here understand that?”

A low chorus of agreement sounded through the ranks of guards as she progressed down the room.

“But that doesn’t mean I can’t kill you.” The laughter fled from Thayl’s voice. “If I can’t have the rest of your power, I can’t risk anyone else having it. As much as you look like Loredanna now, you’re too damaged to be anything to me. Better to put you out of your misery.” Thayl lifted his rune-scarred hand.

Not yet. Not close enough.
Memory’s mind found a new height of panic-fuelled overdrive. “There’s something you don’t know!” she cried out. “Something Alward knew, Eloryn knew, that you didn’t. Something you need to know before you do anything to us.”

Thayl sniffed, his eyes half shadowed by dark eyebrows. His hand relaxed. “Tell me if you will, but I’ll make no more deals with you.”

Just steps away, Memory said quietly, as earnestly as possible, “You’re our father.”

The impact was instant. Thayl’s frown deepened, eyes widened, mouth gaped.

Memory stepped right up in front of him.
I can do this.
Eloryn’s plan was too risky, putting too many people in Thayl’s line of fire: Eloryn, Roen, Will. What she always wanted, since she could first remember. Her family. This way, they might be prisoners, but they were alive. This way, if she screwed up, it was all on her.

“Can it be?” Thayl whispered, his forehead scored with deep lines.

Now.
I can do this.
“Of course it can’t. Obviously, I was lying.”

Fury screamed from him, shooting through his outstretched hand.

Memory screamed out at the same moment, focusing all her thought on the sharpest sword in the room. “Beirsinn fair nalldomh! Bring it to me!”

Thayl’s magic passed harmlessly through her.

The sword now in Memory’s hand passed through Thayl’s wrist.

The world ended in blinding light.

Thayl’s scream echoed down the hall to Eloryn. She saw his hand fall to the floor. It thumped in time with her heartbeat, and then the end of the hall lit as if a sun had been born within the room. She shielded her eyes with shackled hands, the light too painful to look upon.

A sandy-haired man stepped forward, peering into the glow. He turned around and raised an arm high in the air.

Guards loyal to Thayl stood dumbstruck by the violent amputation and explosion of magic. Those not loyal to Thayl were ready, waiting on the opportunity they had been promised. At the signal, they stepped forward and unlocked shackles down the line of wizards.

Eloryn’s breath shook and she tried to comprehend what happened. This wasn’t her plan, but the result was the same.
She did it. She really did it.
Thayl’s rune-scarred hand was cut off, the source, the vessel of his power removed, leaving him powerless, a normal man and returning what he stole to Memory.
But we were supposed to be there with you Mem, helping you.

The fluttering moment of peace broke. Cries of outrage marked the beginning of the battle when the actions of the resistance were seen and comprehended. Warring bodies scattered the hall and the eerie light show faded.