Unlocking Void (Book 3) (13 page)

Chapter 16

His hand sat useless on the desk as he flipped through a folio, the whole arm seemingly forgotten. Mikelle watched him for three weeks, and each day he seemed a little more drawn, a little less in control. He put on a strong face in meetings or in conversation, putting the hand in his pocket, but she knew he despaired its loss. He could manage enough strength to bend the fingers and to offer gestures, but daily things like lacing boots, buttoning coats, or turning pages was beyond his capability. She politely offered to lace up all his trousers, but he turned her down with a glare.

“Have you not considered Baylyn Kay?”

He dropped the folio with a slap and sent her such a vehement look she shrank in her chair. When his point was made, he picked the folio back up and returned to reading.

Baylyn was a Class Six Spirit Mage from Arconia and unfortunately one of the women who had taken him. There were precious few Class Six healers left, and those in the castle could not manage to mend nerves.

Mikelle had done all she could to heal him, from slipping herbs to heal in his tea to instructing his masseuse to work on blood flow in his hands. She even laced his soaps with plant oils to warm the skin, hoping he would feel it, but nothing worked.

Each day she tried to mull over the motive of the Arch Mages attack.
‘Perhaps they wanted to cause him so much pain in the Castrofax that he would ask for the others. Maybe they thought he would not cut the hand off. They likely suspected he would, so the crippled hand must have been their motive—unless there were darker reasons. Nolen allied with them, so they must have known Gabriel’s state of mind. I wonder if they would try a second time.’

Gabriel sighed from his desk. “Has Robyn written
you
?”

“I’m surprised she has not written your cook or chamber maid.”

He huffed and tossed his hair out of his vision. “I’m going to cut this all off. She liked it this length. I wonder what she would say if I cut it as short as my father’s.”

“I will not speak with you until you grow it out.”

“There’s a bonus in that.”

“Remember that spice Prince Balien put in Nolen’s food, so he’d loosen his bowels?” Gabriel grinned, then caught her meaning and gave her a cautious look. “And believe me, you and your hair are very popular with the ladies of Jaden. I’ve heard conversations that would make your blood boil.”

“Keep them to yourself.”

“Have you thought about finding yourself a lady Mage?”

He drummed the fingers of his good hand. “It’s occurred to me; find a Mage and strengthen the bloodlines. But not until the Arch Mages are defeated.”

“I’ve taken the liberty of finding a few women I would pair you with.” She grinned, but she lied. Gabriel was meant to be with Robyn.

“I knew giving you a Council Seat would give you too much power. Next time you devise brilliant plans,
don’t.
” He glanced outside. “When did it get so dark? No wonder I’m exhausted.”

He undid the buttons on his coat, managing smoothly though she watched with anticipation. When he asked her to lace his shirt up that morning, she tied the knots so tightly, she would
have
to undo them. He pulled at the tie at his chest and finally looked to her for help. She took her sweet time.

“Try not to look so smug,” he muttered as she finished, pulling the laces as wide as they would go. “I will see you in the morning.”

She gave him a polite nod and sauntered into the anteroom. Lael was still at his desk, burning two tall lamps.

“How is he?” Lael asked before she could escape. The Secondhand had been very inquisitive over the past weeks, like a hawk watching a mouse.

“His usual charming self.”

Lael pursed his lips. “You will let me know if things change, yes?”

She gave him a sly smile. “If it suits me. Good night, Lael.”

Maxine looked out the dark window into the snow-covered night, debating the perfect wardrobe choice for the evening ahead. Her outfits were her best weapons. She had toppled many righteous men with a plunging neckline or backless dress. She turned to her wardrobe and drew out a lilac dress with shoulder caps and enough front support to distract any man into silence.

“Will you clasp the back?” she asked.

Nolen rose from the couch by the fire and with a greedy look fastened the metal snaps. He was the best of pets to have around, always eager to please. He had his own room in her mansion but spent most nights in hers. She never complained; after all, he was eager to please.

Yet, Nolen had a darkness in him she could never understand. She enjoyed toppling kingdoms and their rulers as much as any woman, but Nolen sought pleasure in violence. He had gone on for hours in great detail of how he broke ‘the Mage’ down to every whip crack, but she long ago learned to tune men out when she was finished with them.

“Where are you going in such a pretty dress?” he asked as he spun her around, his hands on her trim waist.

“Sightseeing,” she grinned. “Do not wait up fo’ me.”

“I must though,” he replied, putting a hard kiss on her neck.

“Then behave yourself while I am gone.”

“I will try.” He mused.

Nolen was ever so fetching wearing only a pair of trousers as he usually did in her rooms. She enjoyed the challenge of reining him in. She put a kiss on his lips and seized Void, vanishing into the night.

While the kingdoms’ borders had shifted, and names had changed, while languages had altered, blended or were forgotten, Castle Jaden had stayed the same. Now and again, an Age would birth a new building, or a Head Mage would refurbish old decor, but Jaden was the unbroken diamond that would never decay.

Ryker believed she was eternally devoted only to him and his cause, but she worked very hard for him to think so. In actual fact, she did as she pleased to benefit her cause, which was usually to ally with the best. She had succeeded since she was still a household name in Mage families. Legendary.

While Ryker thought they had no way into Castle Jaden,
she
actually did. Long ago she captured a Secondhand and took his black ring that bent the wards around Jaden. Ryker thought she lost it to the Ages, but it was her secret to keep. He did not need entrance to Jaden, and she was not sure she wanted to let him in. The look in the Head Mage’s eyes when he recognized the Castrofax kept her awake all that night and haunted her still.

The Head Mage was an interesting conquest.
‘Incredibly powerful in an Age of mediocre Mages?’
It seemed unreal, but she watched him fight and knew the stories were true. He was not just fast at laying patterns; he packed a powerful strength behind them. It was enough to make her shiver in delight.

The wards around Castle Jaden bended to her will as she shifted in and zipped up the stairs of the Lodge. He would be in his room at this hour, and she passed unnoticed through the doors into his bedchamber to find him.

The Head Mage slept on his back, his raven-dark hair a mess of waves on the white pillow. The sheets were tossed and wrinkled, a sure sign he slept restlessly. She laid a sleepers-pattern and set it against his skull, sinking him into a deep sleep from which he would not wake unless she willed it, or eight hours passed.

She threw back the covers and let them fall by his knees. It had been three weeks since the attack. She could have snuck in to spy on him, but the Arch Mages expected him to come to them. She saw why he had not.

The Castrofax was gone. There was only one explanation. She set a reveal-pattern in Void and touched his skin. A bold white line appeared on his wrist—a wound healed by Spirit.

“You did not,” she breathed. Ryker suggested it as a possibility, and she had heard of it done, but this, in an Age where no one could heal him, was a sure sign of desperation. She brushed two fingers through his hair, laying a curl perfectly beside him.

He was ever so handsome, a pet she would love to add to her menagerie, but she supposed he served a better purpose in a position of leadership. She climbed up on the bed and sat beside him, putting his hand in her lap. She laid a glowing pattern of Spirit above her to faintly illuminate the darkness. Kinetic energy moved beneath her and stopped, but she had long since learned to use the tiny energy a person gave off while breathing. The heart and the diaphragm were always in motion.

She spun together a doldrums-pattern and prepared to lift the sleepers-pattern. The glowing light casted beams across his quiet face. She released Void and cut the sleepers-pattern, waiting to see if he would wake. His breathing changed and she held hers.

His right hand flew up and snapped around her wrist as he opened his flashy eyes. She pressed the doldrums-pattern into his chest, and his rigid body grew slack and fell back.

“You
are
quick,” she smiled, taking up his hand. Her many years of laying doldrums allowed her to manipulate specific areas on the body, and she left the muscles around the eyes unrestricted so she could read his expression. He fumed, glancing to the door for help, most assuredly wondering how she got through his wards.

“Calm yourself,” she said and put a hand on his chest. “If I wanted you dead, you already would be.” Her fingers drummed a tune on his chest, delighting in its solidity. “After all, you did not pull yourself off that summit, did you? I am here because you need me. I want to put aside our differences and work together.” He frowned deeper. “I do not believe in torturing my victims as Nolen has done, or meddling with their fragile minds.
My
victims lead far better lives.” She gave him a sharp pinch, and he returned with a dark look that pierced right through her. She tittered.

“You need a Void teacher,” she said. “I am a Void master. I will teach you what I know.” He gave her a skeptical look. “Yes, and in return I will have a Head Mage in my pocket when I need a favor.”

She took up his left hand and sank a delve-pattern to feel for damage, slipping it through his whole body for good measure. Her spine straightened, and she inhaled, passing it against his back again. “What—what
happened to you
?” she gasped. “You are in great need of repai’.”

She sat up on her knees and drew a cloth-pattern down the front of his shirt, ripping it in two. He gave her more than one reproachful look. Seizing Void, she laid the reveal-pattern again to his arm, and suddenly a thousand white lines appeared across his torso, wrapping around his sides and shoulders and under the trouser hem. She gaped openly.

“When Nolen bragged, I thought him pompous. I did not realize he was speaking the truth.” She tugged at the hem of his trousers to see the lines fading. He let out a sharp breath to get her attention and gave her a look that could only mean
‘absolutely not’
. She sat down again, tracing a star-shaped scar in the center of his stomach. There was another crescent scar below it, and her brain wracked to discover what had caused them.

“Here is my deal,” again she picked up his left hand but said nothing; instead, she wrapped a healing pattern into the wrist. The nerves connected like a thousand-thousand sparks going off at once, tickling her fingers. Whoever mended his hand did an excellent job, but there was a vessel misaligned and a loose tendon. Smiling with her best seductress grin, she dragged her fingers up and down his palm.

“I will train with you every night, and fo’ every night you arrive, I will heal a new part of you. I will not tell Ryker I can get through Jaden’s wards, nor that I am consorting with you. In exchange fo’ your alliance, I will teach you all I know of Void. Someday I will ask you to do something for me. Do we have an accord?”

She searched his beautiful and skeptical face as he undoubtedly weighed his options. Finally, he exhaled in acquiescence and closed his eyes.

Maxine smiled, putting a kiss on his cheek that he did not seem to appreciate. “I will meet you at the reservoir lookout point. Tell no one of our bargain, and I will refrain from telling my people.” She gave him another kiss on his lips for good measure and just to see him glare at her.

“I am going to put you back to sleep now.” Before he could argue, she laid the sleepers-pattern into his brain, and he closed his eyes, fast asleep.

She could not break the reveal-pattern from him yet. White lines that varied in size and length covered his skin. She traced a thick line from eyebrow to scalp along with another an inch wide and thick as her finger in the soft part of his hip. Since the nerves in much of his back were severed, she expected the entire thing to be one solid white piece. Nolen went out of his way to break this one.

‘If his body was this broken, what state is his mind in?’

Chapter 17

‘I need to go to him,’
Robyn decided. Gabriel would not respond to her summons, nor her letters, and she had to meet him in person. If he had stayed away this long, he must be fuming mad.

She planned her trip as she flicked through reports, making notes in the margins. ‘Coin, bread, cloak, bow….’ A knock on her door announced Lady Aisling and broke her concentration.

Lady Aisling learned how Robyn treated her son and had been rather aloof over the past three weeks. While she offered advice when necessary and handled the palace beautifully, she no longer treated Robyn as a friend.

“Shalaban is attacking the coast,” she stated in her usual calm tone, though her eyes looked a little wider than usual. “General Calsifer and his segment are holding the Balfor Delta, but the Shalabane have made it as far as Kinsten Kel where Prince Balien is holding. We need to divide the rest of the army and send it their way.”

Robyn sighed heavily. This would keep her from traveling to Jaden. “Are they marching on Cinibar as well?”

“No, they are cutting a line west.”

“What of the Myron Islands?”

“General Calsifer did not say.”

“What do they want with us?”

“Land, resources, slaves, money; the same things all men fight for.” Aisling straightened. “You will need to address the people before they learn from rumors. War will cause mass panic and prices will skyrocket. You will need to prevent this from happening.”

“How many Mages do we have in the City?”

Aisling looked up in thought. “Six, all of us Spirit Mages accept Cordis. If we had a better relationship with Jaden, the Head Mage might send us Battle Mages, or even shift our army to Kinsten Kel.”

Robyn gave her a vehement look. “The Head Mage has a thousand other battles to worry about right now.”

“I dare say he does.”

“You’re pretty judgmental for a woman who abandoned her son for a profession,” Robyn snapped.

“Abandoned?” Aisling breathed.

“You paint this well-rehearsed lie of how the palace was dangerous when he was born, but we all know that was never true. You passed him off so you could sit a Council Seat and an Advisorship without being bothered.”

Aisling stared Robyn down with such anger and hate that Robyn was sure she would attack. “Is that what
he
thinks?” she finally asked.

“No.”

“Then keep your mouth shut on the subject.” She left without another word, but Robyn swore the air crackled around her.

‘Full quiver, boots, blankets, scarf….’

“You have a training session with Water Mage Vinten in an hour,” Mikelle said as she pushed open Gabriel’s door. “Why are you still asleep? I’m assuming you’re not dead.”

He was still abed, even at this hour. She marched to his side and shook a shoulder until he bolted awake with a gasp and looked around for something.

“Morning,” she said, exasperated. “Breakfast is getting…” but he was not listening. Instead he stared at his hand, wiggling the fingers back and forth, and finally snapped a fire-starter pattern. “What…kind of dreams do
you
have?”

“I…” he gasped but did not explain, laying unfueled patterns from his dead hand.

“What happened?” she whispered.

“I…had a special visitor.”

“Is that code for sex? Because I’m not always clear with your colloquialisms.”

“Don’t be vulgar. Of course not.”

“One can never be too cautious.”

He stood in the midst of a new pattern and stopped suddenly, looking down confused. His shirt was split up the center. Mikelle did not complain. He fixed it with a cloth-pattern and walked to his washroom, pulling water from the bath to coat his skin and wick away without getting his clothes wet—the most amazing and laziest way to take a bath Mikelle had ever seen.

He kicked her out, dressed, and joined her for breakfast. His eyes beamed he toyed with the new hand. “If anyone asks, it healed by itself.”

She rolled her eyes. “
Speaking
of bribery, I’m taking Jensen out for a ride this morning.”

“I don’t want to know what you do in your alone time—and who is Jensen?”

“Your horse.”

“His name is Smoke, and no; he’s a highly trained animal.”

“You didn’t seem to mind last week.”

“I don’t remember you asking.”

She tapped a spoon on her lips, “Neither do I.”

The sudden appearance of an Arch Mage behind warded walls worried Gabriel greatly. If Maxine had a way of getting in, any of them could. He knew he had no option meeting with Maxine, for if nothing else, he could keep an eye on her. Her motives were still unbeknownst to him. Most women’s were.

Gabriel waited until the castle settled down before shifting to the lookout spot. Maxine arrived moments later as if she had been watching, but he scanned the area and there had not been a soul nearby.

She was a beautiful woman, and he could see why she was known as a legendary seductress. Her long red dress cut low and hugged her curves. How she moved in it was beyond him. She walked up steadily, moving like gelatin, and paid him a satisfied smile.

“I hoped you would come, my lord.” She had a strange accent that altered her “r’s”, turning some into “a’s”, and dropping some completely. It was a sultry accent and easy to listen to.

“What do you want with me, Maxine? You know I commit treason being in your presence without murderous intent.”

She tittered. “I am flattered. I want much with you, none of which you will believe.”

“Convince me.”

She cocked her head. “Do you know how to break a Class Ten, Head Mage? You do. You break thei’ will, and the body will follow. Nolen started with your body. I believe life should have a balance, and I disprove of Nolen’s actions. I want to balance you. I also know you are a Creator, and I want to know the patterns you created. I want you indebted to me.” She took a small step closer with each desire until she stood so close, he could smell peppermint on her. “There are also no Class Tens left in this Age, so you know what
that
means.”

He frowned. “No.”

Her eyes rose, and she sputtered. “You have much to learn. Come. We will study Void tonight. Select a location you feel safe in, and we will shift there.” She took up his hand and clutched tightly with a pleased grin.

He shifted them out of Jaden, and south to a seclude field. Gabriel immediately set disparage-shift wards in a large circle around them, so no one could shift in.

“You do not trust me.” Maxine smiled.

“I have a hundred history books filled with reasons why,” he replied, walking the edge of the circle. “You said you had things to teach me.”

“And you never thanked me for healing you.” She stood with her arms folded, a hip cocked, and had a look that all women wore when they knew they were right.

“I cannot thank you,” he replied with a stony expression, then smiled, “enough.”

She bit her lip. “You are coy. Very well, we begin. You know Void uses the energy of spirits in the spirit world, yes? When opening yourself to Void, you see a version of thei’ world. The true spirit world is fa’ more wondrous than the haze we see.

“There are rules to being in Void. We never converse with spirits. We do not seek them out. Just as it pains us to seek out a deceased love one, it pains them. If you lose someone, they are gone. That is how it must be.”

“Unless, of course, you are an Arch Mage.”

She grinned and patted his shoulder. “Continuing on, to access a shift, you must be in contact with a solid surface as you surely know. But a shift cannot be completed if you are in water, such as a lake, or in the air. Contact with the earth is required. Do not, for any reason, jump off the ground while in a shift. You will be lost to the space between the spirit world. Do not take someone into a shift and release contact with them. They will slip into that same space.”

“What happens if I lose consciousness while shifting?”

“You will come out of the shift, but you could be at the bottom of the ocean, so I do not recommend shifting while compromised.

“Now, more importantly, do not ever lay a Void pattern of any kind with your mind. I assume as a Class Ten you have done this. Void is a raging, uncharted Element without a leader, and you
will
hurt yourself. I hope you know the legends of the Elements unless this Age forgot those as well.”

“The Element of Spirit killed Void, drawing all of Void’s powers into himself, which is why we must kill a Mage to unlock the hidden Element.”

She nodded, impressed. “I will show you the pattern I used on you last night. This is called the sleepers-pattern, and it has two variations. I can lay it this way,” she formed a flat weave with a circle in the center, “and keep a man asleep, or I can alter the circle into a hook and put a man to sleep.”

“How long will it last?”

“Ah, good question. A man should wake once shook or after about eight hours, but I can fuel the pattern and retain control of it as I did last night.”

“Yes, and I want to know what you did to my shirt.” He folded his arms. “And the rest of me.”

She gave him a sly grin that matched Mikelle’s. “I was getting a better look through the reveal-pattern.”

“That showed off my wounds?”

“All wounds healed by Spirit. It is laid like this,” she demonstrated.

“Why use it?”

“Healers use it to see where lasting damage may be where delve-patterns are not as helpful. It is also a good judge of a person’s mental capacities.”

He frowned down at her.

“You have many wounds. You must have a strong will and a high tolerance fo’ pain. It is likely you still suffer from them.” Her ghostly look of sadness changed to devious as she pinched his side. “Do not be a’feared, I did not molest you further. Now, you try those patterns.”

Gabriel seized Void and laid them. “Why does your hair turn white in Void and mine does not?”

“White hair is a sign of mastery. If you spend enough time in it, you will achieve it as well.”

“Who did you kill to unlock Void?”

She raised her thin brows. “Quite a personal question fo’ our first date. It was my husband.”

“I did not know you were married.”

“Married with two boys.”

He dropped his patterns. “The stories say nothing of that.”

“Is it important? Stories always omit the humanity of legends. People forget we all had lives before Ryker arrived.”

“How did it happen? Books say Ryker recruited you, and that was it.”

She looped a hand through his bent arm—a motion that highly alarmed him—and leaned into him. He instinctively put both hands over opposite wrists to protect them.

“I married when I was fifteen. In the Third Age we married nearly as soon as we could reproduce. He was an Air and Water Mage, a simple fisherman, but he was a cruel man. His temper was something to be feared, and I lived in terror fo’ four years. I birthed him two sons in quick succession and always feared fo’ our lives.” She walked, pulling him along slowly.

“One day I took the boys to a neighbor and went home to wait for him. Back then Earth Mages had a pattern that could track a person’s footprints, and Air Mages could catch the scent of someone. Fleeing was never an option. The only release was death. It was never a question of his or mine, it was always his.

“I blew the cabin up as soon as he walked in, trapping him in bubble of Air. Air bubbles,” she laid one, “are impossible to escape unless one controls Void, and I held him within until he almost suffocated. When I released him, and I told him I was no longer afraid. Then I snapped his neck with Spirit.

“Ryker found me sitting on the hearth without a direction and recruited me into his army. He had a small faction at that time with a few powerful Mages, Evony and Pike being two, and together we marched on a kingdom called Echoveria. I was appointed to seduce the King to ruin his image. Within a month, the kingdom fell, and Ryker took over. After that, I knew my place.”

“As a seductress?” Gabriel accused with a raised brow.

She tittered and patted his arm. “Do not say it with such distain. It is not terrible. Most of it requires a perfectly-timed smile or an enthralling conversation, a dress revealing just enough, or an affectionate touch. Men melt far easier than they believe.”

‘That explains why she’s on my arm.’
Gabriel calculated. “It won’t work on me.”

She grinned. “I’ve noticed you are very guarded. I too have been wounded.”

“How did you get into Jaden?” he asked.

“Shhh, it is our secret. Fear not; your wards still stand. But sadly it is late, and I must return you to your people. Tomorrow we will learn more. I will meet you here at the same time.”