The Fifth Vertex (The Sigilord Chronicles) (42 page)

She didn't remember finishing the work before she slipped into a deep sleep.

She awoke in the middle of the night, surrounded by campfires and dozens of little groups of soldiers of every shape, size, and race all discussing the day's events. Words like "fireball" and "witch" dominated the conversations.

Cailix leaned forward, steadying herself.

"Easy now, dear," Orla said, propping her up and stuffing a hot bowl of soup into her hands.

"Urus," Cailix said, her throat dry and itchy. She couldn't remember the last time she had been that parched or ravenous. "Did he survive?" she asked then downed the bowl of soup in a single gulp, dividing the portion equally between her mouth and her clothes.

"Ask him yourself," Orla said, gesturing to a shadow approaching from around one of the camp fires.

"Urus!" Cailix jumped up and rushed to him, squeezing him, hard.
 

"Easy now, you're going to break all the bones you healed." Urus met her gaze. Something deep behind those dark brown eyes had changed, but she couldn't put her finger on what exactly. "Orla told me everything," he said.

Only when he took a step back to gape at her did Cailix imagine the sight she must have presented, with her red hair flying wild and her ruffled and stained bright blue festival dress.
 

She blushed, hoping he didn't notice in the dim light of the beach fires.

"Cailix threw fireballs and giant waves at the blood mages from the shore," Goodwyn said, coming to stand next to Urus, his usual distrustful stare replaced with a look of appreciation. She had to admit she liked the change. These people felt like family to her, but the good kind of family, not the kind of family that hits you or hurts you or discards you like so much trash, but real, good family.

"You do know how to make an entrance," said a tall man who looked like an older, graying version of Urus, spinning Urus around so he could read his lips. Aegaz nodded to the unmoving suits of armor standing vigil nearby. "The knights were a nice touch."

"Uncle!" Urus shouted and hugged the man.

"I would have come by sooner, but I felt you could use some rest. It is good to see you up and walking, we were all worried."

After a long time, Urus finally peeled away, tears flowing. "Uncle, there is so much I need to say, so many—"
 

Aegaz held up a hand. "There will be plenty of time for that. But for now, what happened with the vertex? Did you save it?"

Urus stared down at his chest and absently ran a finger along the burned outline of the vertex sigil on his shirt above where Cailix knew the culled brand lay.

"I think so," he said.

"What happened with the Order?" Goodwyn asked.
 

"I killed Draegon, the head of the Order," Urus answered.
 

Cailix grinned. With Draegon dead, it would be that much easier to hunt down and kill Anderis.

"What do you mean you
think
you saved the vertex?" Aegaz asked. "Murin, what happened?"

"I honestly am not sure," Murin replied. "Urus should explain."

Cailix was as happy that there was finally a question to which Murin did not know the answer as she was that Draegon was dead.

"The Order is gone, so they won't be going after the vertex. Draegon wasn't able to destroy it because I was able to move it."

"What are you talking about? Where is it?" Goodwyn asked.

Urus pulled himself up to his full height and answered quietly. "I
am
the fifth vertex."

32

EPILOGUE

Urus sat on a large piece of driftwood, watching the soldiers relax and celebrate around the bonfires that ran up and down the shore. The sun had almost set, but the men were hungry, thirsty, and in need of a release, to revel in the fact that the fighting was done. He marveled at the way the last remnants of the sun glistened off the motionless suits of armor, still kneeling in the sand.

He watched Goodwyn, Therren, and the other First Fist gathered around their own fire. Aside from Goodwyn, they seemed like strangers. The Kestian soldiers all had that look in their eyes, that steely gaze of a true Kestian warrior. He couldn't imagine that there was ever a day when he had envied that look, when all he wanted was to be such a warrior.

He stood up, groaning against the aches and pains that still remained after Cailix had healed him, and walked down to the water, admiring the colors of the sunset rippling on the calm seas, seas that had been raging with battle just a few hours earlier. It was funny how nature could return to such a natural state of beauty as soon as people left it alone.

He sighed, picked up a flat shell, and skipped it along the surface of the water.

A second shell bounced along the water's surface, following behind the one he had thrown. Urus turned to see his uncle approaching.

"So much water," Uncle Aegaz signed. "Isn't it beautiful?"

"You can't drink any of it," Urus replied. "It makes you sick."

Aegaz laughed. "That doesn't make it any less beautiful."

"What good is water you can't drink?" Urus signed, turning away from the ocean.

"What's wrong?" Aegaz asked.

"What good is power you can't use? Or power that hurts people if you do use it?"
 

"It's like any tool, I suppose," Aegaz began. "You can use it to tear down or to build up. Everyone hits their own thumb with a hammer before they learn how to use it."

"But this isn't like hitting my thumb," Urus said. "When Cailix doesn't control her power, buildings collapse, tornadoes run wild. I-I did things. When I use my power, people get hurt. People die."

Aegaz stroked his beard, then signed, "People die in war, Urus, you know that."

"What about my father?" Urus asked. "Did you know what really happened to him…what
I
did to him?"

"When I came and found you that day, and I saw your father there," Aegaz signed. "I figured he had boxed your ears one too many times and finally got what he deserved. Your sire, my brother or not, was a cruel bastard, and my only regret is not taking you away from him sooner."

"It was the sigil power," Urus signed. "I summoned something with it and it killed my father."

"Urus, you need to understand that—" Aegaz stopped short, staring off into the distance. Urus turned to see the source of his uncle's fixation.

A swirling vortex of light hovered just above the sand. Out of it stepped four men, each wearing armor unlike any he had ever seen—blacker than the blackest night but thin and somehow reflective. It gleamed and reflected the light of the vortex. A fifth man stepped out, a man in simple robes with a red sash. His gaze was fixed on Urus, and he ignored all others on the beach. The four men assumed guard stances next to the portal.

Urus took a step back, drawing Hugo. After what he knew about Hugo and the sigil on the blade, the sword seemed heavier now.

Aegaz drew his sword and Goodwyn and Therrin appeared at his side. Before the robed man could take another step, Urus felt Murin's presence directly behind him.

"Stay back or we will cut you down, stranger," Aegaz said.

Urus felt Cailix put a reassuring hand on his back. He hadn't even seen her approach.

"You will do no such thing, radix," replied the man in fluent Kestian. He turned his attention again to Urus and asked, "Are you the sigilord?"

Tell this man nothing
. Murin's thoughts entered Urus's mind.
He is an arbiter, and nothing good can come of this meeting. Say nothing
.

Urus did as he was told and did not reply to the man's question.

"That is fine, you do not have to answer. I know you are the sigilord. You positively reek of it," said the man, looking down his nose at Urus. By this time most of the briene and Waldrene soldiers had gathered observe the commotion.

"You have no jurisdiction here, Arbiter," Murin said. "I know your oath, and you cannot interfere with the natural course of things on this world."

"And I know you, Murin Elimhaer of Futanishar, Viceroy of the Second Legion of Arbitration, and Dean Emeritus of the Academy of the Magic Sciences. Your past service with the arbiters will garner you no favors here."

"What is your business here?" Murin demanded.

"The sigilord has violated the Continuum Protection Act. He is to be brought back to Almoryll for judgement and sentencing."

"What is the cont…protection act?" Urus asked, unable to reproduce the word he had read on the man's lips.

It is a law the arbiters passed to justify their inaction during the Fulcrum War as they watched, and often encouraged, the blood mages' genocide of the sigilords,
Murin projected in Urus's mind.
They justify their right to persecute those who wield more power than they do.
 

"It is a law that prevents the use of unsanctioned sigilcraft. It preserves the balance and punishes those who would set the balance out of order," said the arbiter.

"You and your laws have no jurisdiction here, Arbiter," Murin repeated.

"Oh, but I do, and
you
have no say in this matter,
former
arbiter Murin," the man said. He reached out and touched Urus on the shoulder. The beach, the water, the people, the entire world vanished.