The Unseen Tempest (Lords of Arcadia) Page 18

  Kor got up off the bed slowly, feeling the extent of his injuries. “Those won’t be humans he’ll be facing.”

  The diamond swiveled in midair, orienting on the elf. “You’ll excuse the language; we use the term ‘human’ to define any flesh-based life form, elven or otherwise.”

  “I find that mildly insulting,” Kor stated as he continued to test his body, not finding anything that hurt. “My people have heard rumors of the Crystal Court. An almost immortal group of beings who refuse to commit to a side.”

  Adamas sounded amused. “And my people know much about yours. A race of longer-lived humans who believe their intolerance comes from a higher power.”

  “Where is my bow?” Kor asked, ignoring the jab at Koran.

  “Safe,” the diamond answered neutrally.

  “Is the ruler of the Crystal Court so… cautious that he refuses his guests their belongings?”

  Adamas refused to take the bait. “I am afraid of nothing, least of all elves and their magical toys.”

  Kor took a step toward him. “Then give it back to me.”

  Adamas covered the rest of the distance until they were face-to-face. “No.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you wish it, and I am in no mood to grant you anything.” There was a pulse of light, and Kor found himself pushed back onto the bed. “Do not attempt to test me, little elf. I have no patience for idiots with a death wish.”

  Silica floated in as if summoned by a silent message.

  “Make sure this one stays put,” Adamas ordered as he floated out. “By any means.”

  As soon as the diamond was gone, the nurse floated nearer to Kor. “Now, we were discussing your reproductive organs.”

  ATER HELPED Titania out of her cell and waited.

  “What?” she asked him.

  “You are free of the cell, so use your magic to get us out of here.”

  Sighing, she walked past him. “It takes time to recharge my abilities, dark elf. They are not like a candle that can be instantly relit.”

  Convenient, he thought to himself as he followed her. “What about the changeling?”

  She paused and looked back at him. “What about him? He is a traitor to the throne. He deserves what he gets, no matter how clever his plan may have been.”

  Ater looked at Puck. “And you’re okay with that?”

  “She’s the queen,” Puck croaked back at him. “What else can I do?”

  “We’re wasting time,” Titania said, climbing the steps. “Let’s go.”

  Ater was not happy.

  EVERYTHING IN the castle was made of ice.

  I’m sure that sounds like it would be like fourteen different kinds of cold, but it really wasn’t. I mean, sure, it was crisp, but not as mind-numbingly cold as I remember Ferra’s camp was. The furniture was constructed out of ice carved to look like wood, but I think all of it was made of what passed for trees here. The rugs were woven with threads of ice, each one a different color, making the pattern shimmer slightly as we moved over it.

  “Why is it not freezing?” I asked as we followed Olim.

  “Where you come from, ice is made by lowering the temperature of water. That isn’t the case here. This is Niflgard, where all ice comes from. It is elemental here, a source of life in itself, not the byproduct of cold.”

  I thought about that for a moment and then admitted, “That makes no sense.”

  She laughed as we entered a huge dining room, complete with a long table made out of glistening ice. “It makes no sense in your world. Here it is just the way.” She gestured to a few of the seats, made out of a dark blue ice that had highlights around the edges. “Please, have a seat. You must be exhausted.”

  The plates, silverware, everything was ice, just different types of it. The plate looked like a turquoise glass while the forks and knives looked like they were made from a slate-colored ice that wasn’t as transparent. When I sat down, I expected my ass to freeze instantly, but it felt no colder than a normal chair, which was freaking me out. Hawk unrolled the napkin, which was again just tightly woven ice threads, and put it in his lap, which was his way of telling me what etiquette required of me.

  So karus, huh? I thought at him as I copied his movements. You never told me what that meant in detail.

  Though I could have plucked the meaning out of his mind if he wasn’t ready, I tried to stay away from things he wasn’t ready to share yet. I mean, there was no way he could be cool with someone in his head all the time, ’cause Lord knows I wasn’t. In no way was I a pervert or anything, but since bonding with him, I had found more than a few of my thoughts were inappropriate to share, especially when it came to Hawk with his shirt off. I know he caught a flash of them before I could lock them down and thought it was quaint, but let me tell you, having someone know what you’re thinking all the time kind of sucks.

  How could she know anything about your mother? he thought back at me, obviously upset. I thought she had died when you were young.

  There was more to the question than he was letting on, but I couldn’t get a read on it. She died during childbirth, I explained, trying to keep the emotion out of my thoughts. That was about as successful as trying to stop a leak with your hand. Sure, you can hold some of it back, but some comes rushing out no matter what you do.

  I felt his thoughts soften at my words. I’m sorry. He stayed quiet for a few minutes, holding me close in his mind and loving me until the ache lessened. Then, tentatively, he added, It starts to make sense if your mother was not of your world. It would explain some of your abilities.

  You mean my impossible things? I knew Ruber, and he wouldn’t lie to me, but I still found what they were telling me hard to accept. Me? Special? Come on! I was the most boring person in all of Athens.

  “Don’t you think so, Prince Hawk’keen?”

  We both looked up and found the queens looking at us.

  “I’m sorry. My mind wandered,” he said smoothly, picking up the glass on the table in front of him and sipping from it. I could feel his shock the moment before his expression changed. “What is this?

  “The closest thing in Faerth you’d have is honey,” Olim answered. “So do you agree or not?”

  Do you have any idea what they were talking about? Hawk thought at me.

  I gave him a look that made it pretty clear I didn’t.

  Thankfully, Ruber threw us a lifeline. “I am sure the prince is reluctant to comment since he is so close to the subject matter.”

  “Oh, come now!” the ice queen said, leaning across the table. “Either the Dark have a valid complaint or they don’t. I’m not asking you to choose a side. I am just curious to what you think of their plight.”

  I felt Hawk squirm in his head as he balked at the answer that instantly came to his mind. He hated the Dark because he still blamed them for what had happened with Puck and the revolution. But we knew better now, and I could feel his thoughts soften a bit as he answered, “I thought we were here to talk about your sister’s insane plan. Not idly talk about how we feel about other people.”

  Olim raised her glass and tilted it slightly toward him. “A deflection worthy of a fairy.” He didn’t return the gesture, and she sighed. “Yes, yes, let’s discuss Inmediares and how easily she convinced your mother to betray the Nine Realms.”

  Hawk slammed his hand down on the table, causing the ice creations to jump from the impact. “My mother had no idea what she was doing, I am sure.”

  Demain arched an eyebrow at him in surprise. “Are you? You didn’t even believe your mother had stolen the world tree at first, and now you are such an expert on her you know what she did and did not know she was doing? Come now, Hawk’keen, just admit you might not know your parents at all.”

  Olim chuckled and looked at her sister. “Well, at least the one you’ve met.”

  They both laughed like mean girls enjoying watching the nerd get picked on at the mall. And though I had no idea about magic or other realms or ev
en talking animals, I sure in hell understood how to be bitchy.

  “You know what the problem is with people who know more about something than the people they are teasing? They don’t end up looking smarter or wiser. They just look like two mean hags who like making other people miserable.”

  Demain gave me another death glare—surprise—but what I noticed was the small smile and nod of approval from Olim. The one her sister didn’t see.

  “Oh! The earth boy is going to tell us the way of the universe!” Demain put her glass down and gave me her full attention. “Go ahead, Kane, dazzle me with your superior knowledge. Please tell me how you are not just some pathetic orphan who has survived only because the crown prince has low standards when it comes to life mates. Because all I see is a lost little boy who is way out of his depth and shouldn’t question his betters.”

  I am going to admit, I heard nothing past “orphan.”

  My fists slammed down on the table as I shouted “Shut up!” at her as loudly as I could.

  My head swam a little, and I felt myself slump back into my chair as chaos erupted around me. It was like a head rush but lasted way longer. The voices screaming around me were muffled and distant, so I just stared up at the ice chandelier and wondered what the blue flames were made of.

  That was when Hawk shook me hard, bringing me back to reality.

  “—ve to change her back!” he yelled at me. “She’s dying, Kane! Karus, turn her back!”

  I had no idea what he was talking about, but he was upset enough to use my formal title, and that fact yanked me back from wherever my brain had gone. He pulled me out of my chair and led me around the table to Demain, who lay on her back, writhing on the floor as if in pain. Olim knelt beside her, casting spell after spell at her sister to no avail. She looked up and pleaded with me. “Please, she meant no harm!” I still had no idea what was going on until I saw Demain’s face.

  Or, in this case, lack of face.

  Her face was completely smooth, devoid of features. No eyes, no nose, no mouth. It was just smooth skin, and from the way she was clawing at her face, she couldn’t breathe.

  “Change her back,” Hawk whispered to me.

  I looked over at him in shock. “Me? I can’t.”

  Olim looked close to panicking herself. “You did this. You are the only one who can undo it. My magic isn’t affecting it.”

  “But… I didn’t…,” I protested, backing away from the faceless thing on the floor.

  “Kane,” Ruber said in his perfect British voice. “You have manipulated reality around her. You must change it back.”

  See, this is what I was talking about when I said there were a slew of things I needed to get used to. Changing reality to erase someone’s face was never something I had to worry about before I met Hawk.

  “But I don’t know what I did!” I said, feeling panicked.

  I could feel Hawk’s presence in my mind, instantly calming me. Just listen to my voice, he thought to me. I’m right here with you; you’re safe. After a few seconds, I nodded. Reach out with your mind, feel the world around you and the flow of energy. I could hear his teacher’s voice echo his own and realized he was teaching me what he knew of magic. That energy is all around us; just reach out and touch it.

  All that was nonsense to me, but I felt his mind moving my own toward something. I could feel his phantom hand take mine and reach out to nothing.

  And I could feel something touch me back.

  I jerked back in my mind, and he held me steady. No, that was it. Don’t be afraid, just reach out and touch it. You’re safe. I’m with you. He carefully eased my hand back into the nothing, and this time when I touched it, the contact came like a mild electric shock, but in my mind, not on my skin.

  Now open your eyes, he said. His free arm, the one not holding my hand steady, wrapped around me, keeping me in the now.

  I opened my eyes, and the world was exposed to me for the first time.

  The room was alive with magic, flowing around us like a trillion particles of energy that glowed in every molecule of ice in the castle. Color surrounded each person. Ruber was glowing a bright purple, and I just knew that was his connection to his home plane and the magics he tapped there. Olim had a golden hue around her that had hidden folds of blue within. Hers was a divine power, and I could feel it hum around us. I looked down and saw the same golden glow around me, and I knew that was my power.

  Demain jerked on the floor again, and I could see the skin that now made up her face was blue.

  I also saw the reality I had used to erase her features. It looked like a little kid had just grabbed a hunk of Play-Doh and tossed it away. At first I didn’t understand it, but as soon as I questioned it, the knowledge was there. I moved my hand back over her face and let the clay go back to where it belonged.

  Demain gasped as she sucked in air, scrambling away from me at the same time.

  Olim helped steady her sister, and they both looked at me with eyes wide in terror.

  “So, yeah,” I said feeling drained. “The lesson here is, don’t be a bitch.”

  And then I passed out.

  IT TOOK less than an hour for Adamas to come back into the infirmary, an hour Kor hadn’t wasted. He had spent the time meditating on the cot, focusing on the connection to his bow.

  “Ater was not there,” Adamas said once he and Kor were alone.

  “Then my people must have taken him. Was there anyone there?” Kor asked, knowing the answer.

  “No, all my scout found were bodies and an abandoned city.”

  Kor felt a part of him die inside as he thought of the children he had seen huddled in the alleys. Cutting it off, he stood up and proclaimed, “I need to go.”

  “You still haven’t convinced me that you were sent by Ater.”

  Kor closed his eyes and felt out for his bow again; this time the connection was much stronger. “You’re just going to have to take my word for it, Your Majesty,” he said as he felt a pulse across the room. “But Ater is in trouble, and I need to help him.”

  The gemling said in a stern voice, “I’m not going to allow you to just leave.”

  Kor opened his eyes and looked at him. “I know.”

  Grabbing the metal tray next to the bed, he slammed it into the diamond as hard as he could. The move caught Adamas completely off guard, and he went flying across the room into the far wall.

  Kor was already moving.

  He ran toward where he had been feeling his bow since the king had left him last time. Sorcelleries and their bows had a mystic bond that was almost impossible to dampen. All Kor had needed was time to concentrate to find it. Time the diamond had given him.

  He could feel it on the other side of the wall, most likely in some kind of magical compartment. Pressing his hand against the stone, he closed his eyes and focused his entire will at his weapon.

  “You dare strike me?” Adamas bellowed as he flew across the room at Kor.

  The elf ignored it and pressed harder against the wall.

  Adamas glowed a bright yellow as he powered up his magic.

  Kor felt the heat behind him as he gave a prayer to Koran.

  The beam began to shoot out of Adamas….

  Kor turned and fired an arrow at him.

  “Stase!” he screamed as the spell hit the energy.

  There was an explosion of light and then silence.

  Kor opened one eye and came face-to-face with a bolt of energy floating inches from him. He took a step back and saw his spell had succeeded; the diamond was frozen in place. Sighing in relief, he said to the immobile monarch, “My apologies, sire, but I need to help Ater.”

  Pulling back his bow, he pointed the magical arrow skyward. “Pays.”

  There was a streak of light, and Kor was gone.

  Leaving a very, very angry Adamas to wait for the spell to wear off.

  “SO YOU have a plan?” Ater asked her.

  “My plan is for you to get us both out of this castle
and away from the king. I am in no condition to face him right now.”

  He had expected an answer like that. “And where would you have me take you, Your Majesty?”

  “Where is Hawk?” she asked.

  Before he could answer, the door slammed open, and two guards came charging in.

  Ater spun and produced two more daggers that found their way into the men’s eyes. “So you’re powerless?” She nodded. “Well, that’s just great,” he muttered as he grabbed the downed guards’ weapons.

  Tossing one to the queen, he said, “Please tell me you can use that.”

  She caught it deftly and spun it around before bring it up to bear. “I can manage.”

  “Are there any secret passages that lead out of the castle?” he asked.

  He saw the outrage in her eyes. “I am not going to reveal state secrets to you.”

  He forced down a sigh and limped over to the door. “I’m not going to be running anytime soon, so we move surely and as quietly as possible.” He waited to see if there was anyone else coming. When it was evident the coast was clear, he motioned to her. “Come on, stay on my heels. Do not wander off.”

  He could see the resentment in her eyes. “Just go.”

  Moving as one, they made their way into the palace.

  I WOKE up in a lush room with Hawk looking down at me.

  “Oh God, I’m still here,” I groaned, trying to sit up. “I was really starting to hope you were some hot farmhand that I imagined when I hit my head on a pig stall.”

  His confusion lasted a few seconds as he searched my thoughts for what I was talking about. “No. And, to be honest, dropping your house on a witch might not kill her. I am not even sure what the water thing is about.”

  For some reason Hawk’s speculation cheered me up, and I grabbed him tightly in a hug. “What is wrong with me?” I asked him as he hugged me back. “I erased her face.”

  He was torn between telling me something pleasant, like everything was going to be all right and telling the truth, which was he had no idea what was going on with me. Finally, he just thought back to me, No matter what it is, I am going to be with you for it.