My entire body trembled as he held me and I wanted to close my eyes, but each time I did, I saw that strange creature, bleeding and tied to the altar. What my uncle was doing was wrong, evil, but if my aunt’s words were true, the Others would kill us if released. Still, there had to be a way to stop this madness, but I couldn’t figure it out and time continued to rush away.
When we arrived back at the castle, Oren was silent. He hauled me off the death horse and held my arm as he escorted me back inside his creepy home. Waves of fury shimmered around him, and I held my tongue. If he was aware of what I’d seen, it would only make him angrier, perhaps desperate. But we needed to talk. I wanted a full explanation, more than what my aunt had told me.
He put me in a chair in front of the fireplace, and I was grateful to sit on something that didn’t move. Ironic. I’d enjoyed riding on horseback until I’d met Oren and his skeletal horse. If it weren’t warm under my thighs, I might have thought it was a dead thing moving with supernatural speed.
Oren went to the bookshelf and brushed aside odds and ends to reveal a decanter of amber liquid. Taking two crystal glasses, he filled both of them three fingers high, passed me one, and then sat down across from me. He drained his glass in one swallow and I followed his lead. The liquid burned my throat but warmed my belly, and within a few moments, a numbness spread through me.
I examined him, drinking in the hard lines of his masculine jaw, the smoldering anger in his deep-set eyes, and the way he held his broad shoulders, as though he carried the weight of the world. He made a fist, then stretched his slim fingers out, crossing his legs, and then uncrossing them. He looked like an angel in his perfection, a dark angel with tormented eyes.
“I entered the vault,” I said.
His eyes snapped to mine, and I detected a glimmer of hope.
“I assume magic seals the doors, and they are covered in runes you might be able to decipher. I snuck in when the sorcerers were coming and going. They keep the magic-thralls down there, but you already knew that, didn’t you?”
He nodded once.
I bit my lip and forced myself to go on. If I didn’t, he’d make me, for I was his informant. “One of them lay bound to the altar. It was awful. They keep them in cages. Is it true if they go free, their magic will destroy Dowler?”
Oren turned away from me, pinching his chin with his fingers. “They are alive. Did they speak?”
“One did. She sounded as though she was in my mind. She asked me to help and to find… you.”
He squeezed his hand into a fist, then hurled the crystal glass into the fireplace. It shattered and I jumped, surprised by the fury in his movements. He leaned forward, eyes blazing. “It doesn’t matter if they would destroy Dowler, they don’t deserve what is happening to them.”
“Is that why they put you in the tomb all those years ago?” I asked.
His jaw clenched. “I tried to free them once before, this time I will succeed.”
Standing, he marched out of the room.
15Oren
Outside, I paced backed and forth in the courtyard. I needed to be alone to consider what my next action should be. Summoning bats and frogs was easy, magic born out of impulsive impatience, but turning the waters to blood had taken more thought and drained my magic. I needed something stronger to persuade Lord Faren, something the sorcerers could not unravel in a matter of hours. Each time I cast a spell, they crafted a counter-spell. The waters were clear again, and by the end of the night, the frogs would be gone too. At least they would have done their irksome duty, instilling fear among the people.
Tanith’s confession only made my fury grow. Secretly, I’d hoped it might be over and that I’d slept through the evil that lurked beneath the palace. But the plight of the magic-thralls had only gotten worse. What made their situation a nightmare was that even though they decayed, they were like me—undying.
Now that I was back, time was of the essence to save them, and Tanith—my eyes and ears on the inside—had given me a clue. The doors were sealed with magic. I paced as the semblance of an idea came to me. Sealed. By Magic. But not the thrall’s magic, no. It must be the joint power of the sorcerers. I’d never entered the vault because the collective power of the sorcerers and the rock that lined the cave walls were my undoing. It made me weak and my will slipped away while their voices in my head grew stronger. I needed Lord Faren to give his word and allow the thralls to go free because I could not enter the vault and save them myself.
I walked to the barn, considering Tanith’s words. She’d asked if the thralls would destroy Dowler when they were free. At first, they’d be too weak to do much of anything, but they were a powerful race. Their strength would return and then, perhaps, they’d seek revenge, and I did not have the power to control them with my flute. But the people of Dowler deserved retribution for what they’d done or turned a blind eye to. The rot in the city was impossible to ignore. Even Tanith knew that all was not as it should be.
Her desire to flee was right, and I could not fault her for it, only the way she went about it. Unfortunately for her, even if she met the terms of the deal I’d set between us, I had no way of financing her journey to Solynn. The riches I had were in the crypt and they were cursed by magic. Better to remain there than see the light of day. All except for the crystal pyramid which I’d locked away.
Inside the barn, I put a rope around the donkey’s neck and led the creature out to the forge. It would take a while for it to heat, but I secured the donkey to the wheel that fed the fire and gathered materials. My clever idea just might work. In the meantime, I’d consider another blight to torture Lord Faren.
I threw myself into the work, unaware of time. Humans carried many assumptions about immortals, assuming long life made us callous, magic made us cruel, or our hearts were hollow drums, beating for no reason. In truth, I keenly sensed more, and it left me craving that elusive emotion humans called love. I desired a partnership that combined the needs of the mental and physical into something indescribable.
My lovely wife was a welcome distraction, but although flares of heat passed between us, we were far from single-minded. The only bond we had was a vow she had no intention of keeping. Still, I relished her tiny gasps when I got close to her, the taste of her silky lips, the way her eyes widened when I touched her. Through it all, she hadn’t broken down or sobbed or begged, even though I was forcing her to choose between her family and my needs.
A bolt of forbidden desire passed through me as I thought of her and I stood, suddenly realizing I’d been working for hours. Was that the glimmer of the sun seeping through the windows? Had it been a day, two days, that I’d left her alone in the castle?
I stared at the cooling iron, still hot to the touch. Lifting it with the tongs, I put it back in a box, and leaving the donkey chewing on hay, headed back to the castle.
More animals were around now. I sensed their presence and saw their tiny footprints in the mud. A few deer had passed by, some rabbits, and the barn would have more of my familiars. Loneliness had made me single-minded, and even the animals and my stone servants did not make up for the lack of contact with others. I was sure Tanith would be upset unless she’d managed to run away. And there was also that unwelcome house guest I’d forgotten about.
16Tanith
After Oren left, I took a bath. I hurried, unsure of when he’d return, but grateful to wash the filth from my body. If only I could wash away what I’d seen in the vault. Part of me wanted to understand what the sorcerers were doing, but the other part of me, the stronger part, wanted to run. Even though earlier that same day I’d decided this was my fault and I had to fix it, as I scrubbed my skin in the tub, I concluded it was far too big and too dangerous of a task for me.
