The Ancient Ones (The Legacy Trilogy Book 3) (16 page)

‘She will kill you,’ sounded a familiar voice, and a figure in black robes pushed through the curtains behind her.

‘Samuel,’ Leopold said, remembering the magician’s name.

He too, had a residue of smoke clinging to him. The edges of his cloak were singed and torn. The smell of burnt hair and cloth was pungent upon the air.

The magician raised a finger and pointed it to Leopold sternly. ‘Lord Samuel!’ he corrected.

Leopold’s head felt weighed down with stone, and his feet pointed to the ceiling by their own volition as he struggled to rise.

‘You cannot fight me here, Samuel,’ the woman said, ignoring Leopold’s efforts beside her to stand. ‘Thann was a fool to entrust his boy to you. You have brought me exactly what I wanted. Now ... now you are here, what will you do?’

‘You tell me,’ the magician responded. ‘This is your plan.’

She laughed, and it was a melodic sound. Leopold ceased his efforts to rise and rolled his head to take in her wonderful presence.

‘I don’t know what you thought to accomplish, my Samuel, except the death of all these men. It is true, you have destroyed countless legions of my soldiers and beautiful beasts already, but I have more than enough to grind the last of the Turians to dust. My armies are only tools to get me what I want: you ... the boy, and of course my treacherous Thann. That’s all my revenge demands. Such things are beyond the cost of mortal lives. Besides, now that my strength is at its peak I can summon any number of creatures to bolster my armies. I can bring a hundred fiends for every trembling soldier you can gather who can hold a sword. There is no hope of defeating me, Samuel. You must realise that better than anyone. You annihilated me, along with my beautiful palace, my city and most of my precious Paatin worshippers, yet here I stand before you, born anew, and I know you will not dare to raise a finger against me.’

‘Yes, I cannot destroy you, Rei—especially not when you inhabit that body. It must have taken you years to track her down. She would have had no chance against you. You knew of all the people in the world, I would never be able to harm my own kin.’

The woman smiled gloriously. ‘I said I would do it, Samuel, and I am one to keep my word. You took away my Thann and you saved his rotten child.’ Her smile vanished and anger ignited in her words. ‘You destroyed my city and my empire of sand. The least I could do was find the one person you still love and take possession of her. So, are you happy to meet your precious Jessicah again? You should thank me for finally reuniting you with your cousin. Do you like what you see?’ She ran her hands down her sides, over her waist and her hips, accentuating her figure.

If her words were designed to infuriate him, it worked, for Samuel was squeezing his fists and curling his lips with rage. Leopold was truly surprised; enough to force his head away from the woman and stare at the magician with disbelief.

‘Damn you, witch!’ Lord Samuel hissed, letting spittle fly free. He took a step towards her, but held himself, precariously balanced between fury and good sense.

His response amused the woman. ‘Come, Samuel, you know she does not really share your flesh and blood. She is no more your kin than I. It was the Circle’s insipid plan to leave you in the care of her parents. I’m sure you must have realised that by now. I have every one of her memories readily available. Your good friend Lomar paid the old fools to act as your aunt and uncle—nothing more. It was just another link in the Circle’s chain of treachery. Oh, how I do enjoy this body. See how I have preserved it? She is no older than the day I found her. It is nearly as pleasurable to possess as my last one. You remember that, don’t you? Such smooth, tanned skin. You seemed to enjoy it at the time as I recall; although, I have become accustomed to this lighter tone by now. It likes to be kept out of the sun.’

Samuel was riled, but calmed himself enough to speak his mind. He returned his clenched hands to his sides and let them open, resting against the soft cloth of his cloak. He spoke quietly, but firmly. ‘I am sure aggravating me has long been on your mind, but surely this is not the full extent of your designs? It has been an expensive exercise if so. Tell me, Rei, Queen of Lies, what comes next?’

‘Well,’ the woman said, assured and pleased. ‘Actually, this moment has been chief in my plans for such a long time that I am not sure if I want anything else to happen. I am quite enjoying it, but I suppose we must move along. Your intuition serves you well, Samuel. There is more. While you have come here to frustrate yourself once again, I have sent a ground force to flatten Seakeep; and with it, the last of those Turian sluts and their spawn.’

‘Thann’s wives? His daughters?’ the magician replied with surprise.

‘Of course. They shall pay for lying with my beloved one. I will see everything he touched or loved destroyed. I have prepared the most lavish deaths for all of them. They will wish they could scream as my pets slowly devour them, but they will find the act beyond them. Such slow and agonising deaths. I had to scour the depths of five hells to find such exquisite creatures as them. I wish I could be there to see it, but I have something better to occupy me here.

‘Now I have you, I will kill you and torture Thann’s son. Then I will broil his mother in front of him.’ One edge of her lip curled as she savoured the thought and she held one palm before her and clenched it, visualising her foes crushed within. Sated, the savage look left her visage and she returned her gaze to Leopold with a smile, smoothing his brow with her hand, stroking him like a pet. ‘Actually, now I have seen this handsome young man I think I will keep him. It is fitting that if Thann refuses to be my husband, his son should act in his stead.’

‘And what after that? Will you not be joining Poltamir? Will you not be serving Lin?’

‘Pah!’ she spat. ‘Your rotten child has not shown his face and Poltamir is nowhere to be seen. I have been doing Lin’s work for him, ridding the land of men and freeing their souls for his nourishment, but he has not seen fit to thank me. Their life force roams free and useless and I have been left to self-amusement. I miss those days before, when I knew nothing of my past. At least I found interest with my wars and conquests, but now I recall having done so a thousand times before, and little remains to fascinate me beyond vengeance upon you and Thann.’

‘Then you have no idea where they are?’ Samuel asked her.

‘So, you still have not found where Poltamir is keeping your son? His growing presence shouts aloud from the south. I’m sure you can feel that as well as I. But I have no care for where Poltamir is or what he is doing. Lin’s hold on us has failed. Poltamir has him trapped—or perhaps he is dead,’ she added with a smile.

‘He is not dead,’ the magician said squarely.

‘No ... no, he is not, but unless he frees himself it will not matter. Now come; enough banter. Tell me; where you have hidden my Thann? And why were you fool enough to bring his boy to my very door?’

At that, the magician smiled knowingly. He lost all pretence of anger and frustration, and mirrored Rei’s smugness, switching faces with ease. ‘Then you want to know where he is?’

She smiled too, taking Samuel’s change in demeanour to be a ruse. ‘I feel his presence about you, Samuel, so I know you have been with him of late. Tell me ... where is Thann?’

‘He killed him,’ Leopold announced from his place upon the bed and the woman spun her head to look at him with uncertainty.

‘It’s true,’ Samuel said.

‘Then he has been reborn!’ Rei declared, returning to confidence. ‘Thann cannot hide from me so easily. I will find him no matter what face he wears.’

‘No,’ Samuel said, shaking his head. ‘This time he will not return. I have severed him from Lin’s service and freed him from his bond. Thann is dead. He sacrificed himself for the wife and son he loves. He gave his spirit to me and I have absorbed his immortal essence.’

The woman wavered as she realised the implications. She backed away from the both of them, away from the bed, looking at Samuel with horror. ‘You did what?’ she stammered. ‘Such a thing cannot be done!’ She looked to Leopold with equal apprehension. ‘Then, you brought the boy to lower my guard. You ... you knew I would be after him. You fool!’ She fell into laughter, cackling loudly, an unconvincing facade. ‘I could have killed him at any time!’

‘You could,’ Samuel admitted, ‘but I know how you like to gloat. And how would you hold any sway over me if you went and killed the only thing you have to bargain with? I have not wasted all these years with plans of pointless revenge, Rei, as you seem to have done. I have busied myself, and believe me when I tell you what I am capable of doing.’

‘But, if you have Thann’s power ...’ she began, trailing off.

‘Then I can defeat you,’ Samuel confirmed. ‘The standoff so far was to lower your guard. Your self-indulgence for revelling in victory is much appreciated. I will take your power, as I did Thann’s, and give Cintar back to the Turians in return for their aid in distracting you. Then, I will find my son. Given that you have told me everything I need to know, this charade has no reason to continue.’

‘I am not finished so easily, Samuel,’ she stated defiantly. ‘You may think you have me, but your handful of soldiers will never retake my city. You will never reach Seakeep in time to save the women of Turia and the daughters of Thann. Even if you left now, you would never be able to save those harlots. They run like scared sheep into the wolves’ den, and the last soldiers of the Empire perish in my streets below as we speak. You have delivered to my armies a momentary blow, but I still have more than enough to wipe the remnants of Turia from the world. My generals serve me with absolute loyalty. Even if you remove me, they will continue my work in my stead.’

‘I do not care for any such things, Rei. Kill them, crush them—I do not care. All I want is to save my son.’ The magician’s words were delivered callously.

‘Hah!’ she scoffed. ‘Ever on your hopeless, selfish quest. Marrag Lin can never be saved. He can never give up what he has become! His cycle of destruction will continue for time eternal.’

Samuel met her rising desperation with a blank wall of calm. ‘Thann has stepped aside and soon you will be no more, too. Once I have removed Poltamir, Lin’s minions upon this world will be gone. How can he continue then? I will pull his plans from under him until the demon in him abandons all hope. When only my son is left behind, I will be victorious.’

‘He will find a way! He cannot be stopped! Don’t you think we have tried? We tried to stop him many times ... his power is absolute. He bound us to our task, and we cannot resist him. Even Poltamir is doomed to fail eventually. Lin will escape when he wishes, and the cycle will begin anew. He will find new agents to replace us and it will not disturb him in the slightest.’

‘We shall see. When the last of the Ancient Ones are gone, it will be time to parley.’

‘You can never rid the world of such evil,’ she insisted.

‘I will do it. I have already taken Thann. You are next.’

Rei hesitated at his remarks, then laughed gloriously. For some reason, his words pleased her and she regained much of her confidence. ‘You are a fool, Samuel, bumping around in the dark. You know so little yet strive to do so much. You are the father of this demon and you helped him come to power, yet now you would undo all your own good work. Don’t you remember anything of what happened in the beginning—when we first forged our pact?’ He did not answer. ‘Of course you don’t,’ she said with amusement. ‘So …’ She stalked the magician, circling him slowly, deliberately. She reached out one finger as she moved and ran it around his middle.

‘So what?’ Samuel asked, unmoving as stone.

‘The choice is yours to make, Samuel. Will you kill me and lose your cousin forever or let me go and try your luck another day? We could join forces you know. Wouldn’t that be glorious. I wonder if you have given in to the Change or if you are still ... capable.’

She stopped in front of him, and inched closer, putting her arms around his neck until she was nearly nose-to-nose with him, only a palm’s width shorter than him. She twisted her head slowly as she looked him in the eyes, like a charmer beguiling a snake, and slowly, he gave in. He reached his arms up and drew her against him. He nestled his head onto her shoulder and closed his eyes, relaxing into her embrace.

‘Samuel!’ Leopold called with alarm. He tried to stand on legs that would not take his weight. He clung to the side of the bed: a hollow keg floating in stormy seas.

‘There there, Samuel,’ the witch cooed into Samuel’s ear. ‘How could you hurt your dear Jessicah? You dare not risk bruising the poor thing. Her love is pure and innocent. She could never harm anyone.’

‘I could not,’ the magician replied and his arms snapped tight around her. She yelped in his crushing embrace, but could not move, even as she tried to struggle. ‘But neither can I stand to see her like this. I will see her dead before I let you have her.’

The woman fought against him as the room began to shake. All the vases and trinkets dropped from their shelves and pedestals as the woman bucked and shrieked to escape. The power gradually eased, and Rei, still locked in his arms, laughed mockingly.

‘You do know what I found inside of her, don’t you, Samuel?’ she whispered, hoarse in the throat. ‘I am sure you have felt it. Just as there is darkness within you, something also lurks within this precious girl—an abomination the likes of which I have never seen, a burning light that pales the sun. You cannot ignore it, Samuel. It is there, sheltered in the shadow of her innocence. Even if you succeed in ridding the world of me, you will have to deal with her eventually. Can you do that, Samuel? Can you punish her as you have so many others?’

‘You know nothing about her!’ Samuel roared with rage, and the room shook again.

The magician crushed her in his grip and Rei wailed, shaking her arms and legs as if devoid of bones.

Finally, she languished into his arms. Now he held her so she would not fall, her head flopped sideways and her mouth hung open, and Leopold saw tears streaming from the magician’s eyes.