Cursed Bones

chapter 16



The following morning, Alexander slipped into the firmament again, mindful of his limitations and intent on taking care with his new ability. He wasn’t sure what kind of damage it could do to him if he projected his illusion for too long but he didn’t want to find out, especially in the wake of such a painful experience the day before.

He went to the fortress island where he requested that Cassandra send two Sky Knights to the Spires. She was reluctant but agreed after he explained his reasons and assured her that Bragador was willing to permit the intrusion.

He’d spoken to Bragador the night before about Zuhl’s use of the collars to control dragons. She’d been incensed at the idea, nearly beside herself with rage. After she’d calmed down, Alexander explained his plan and the need for speedy couriers to take the book to Fellenden for the exchange. The fact that the Sky Knights were part of a plan to kill Zuhl was the thing that persuaded her to permit wyverns to encroach into her territory—an unthinkable breach of security under other circumstances.

Cassandra also reported that the coven was nearly fully assembled, and the Reishi witches were making preparations for the spell that would undo the link between Isabel and the Sin’Rath witch Clotus.

His message delivered, Alexander returned to his body.

“How do you feel?” Jack asked.

“My head hurts a little, but nothing serious,” he said. “I’m going to talk to Zuhl next … tell him that I agree to his deal.”

“Why don’t you wait awhile? At least until your head stops hurting,” Jack said.

“I agree with Jack, My Love,” Chloe said. “It always worries me when you’re away, but now more than ever. You should go slowly and be careful with this new power, at least until you understand it better and understand your limits better as well.”

“There’s just so much to do,” Alexander said.

“I know, My Love, but you only have one healing draught left. What happens if you overdo it again? There’s time to implement your plan. The most urgent part has been set in motion.”

“Maybe you’re right,” he said, relaxing into his bed and closing his eyes.

After lunch, he took the next step, sending his consciousness into the enormous white marble fortress on the southern tip of the Isle of Zuhl.

He found Lord Zuhl in a room that would have made Lucky giddy. It was easily a hundred feet square with forty-foot ceilings supported by a row of polished white marble pillars. The entire room was filled with worktables, each occupied by a different project. The walls were lined with bookshelves filled to overflowing with all manner of written works.

Zuhl was talking with another man about some obscure point of magic that Alexander didn’t understand. The man was old—judging from the magic swelling his colors, probably very old. He looked like the quintessential wizard, long white hair and beard, grey robes, and a staff leaning against the nearest bookshelf. The colors of the thin silver collar around his neck screamed of magic as well, dark and powerful.

As Alexander watched them from the firmament, Zuhl abruptly turned and looked right at him.

“Ah, hello,” Zuhl said. “I was wondering when you might pay me a visit. Welcome to Whitehall, we have some business to discuss.”

Alexander projected an illusion of himself in front of the two men.

“Quite impressive,” the other man said, turning to Zuhl. “You say he is still on Tyr with the dragons, Lord Zuhl, yet he’s capable of projecting all this way. Quite impressive, indeed.”

“Ah, that is much better, Alexander. May I call you Alexander?” Zuhl said.

“Call me whatever you want,” Alexander said.

“You and your sister certainly share one trait,” Zuhl said, somewhat bemused, “a lack of respect for your elders.”

“It isn’t your age I don’t respect,” Alexander said.

“Quite,” Zuhl said. “Allow me to introduce Mage Harkness. Aside from your Mage Gamaliel, I believe he is the only other enchanter mage in all of the Seven Isles.”

“Mage Gamaliel doesn’t belong to me or to anyone else,” Alexander said. “From the looks of that collar, it doesn’t seem that you can say the same, Mage Harkness.”

“Indeed,” Harkness said, absentmindedly touching the collar around his neck. “Lord Zuhl put this on me a very long time ago. The worst of it is the fact that I enchanted it myself. I was very bitter about it for many years, but in time I’ve come to see the value of my position within Lord Zuhl’s court.”

“You’re a slave,” Alexander said. “Whatever you get from Zuhl can’t be worth your freedom.”

“I have far more than most free people,” Harkness said. “A workshop that any mage would envy, perfect security, and the liberty to pursue any line of enquiry that catches my fancy. I could do far worse.”

“I suppose if you tell yourself that often enough, you might actually come to believe it,” Alexander said. Then he looked at Zuhl. “You have my sister.”

“Yes,” Zuhl said, “have you received my terms?”

“You want an old book from Malachi Reishi’s private collection,” Alexander said. “I believe I have it.”

“Your sister suggested that you would never part with it, not even for her.”

“She underestimates her value to me.”

“Huh, I was beginning to believe that both you and she were insane,” Zuhl said. “Your decisions up to this point have been most perplexing, and yet speaking to you face to face, so to speak, you seem quite reasonable, rational even. Shall we make arrangements for the exchange?”

“Yes,” Alexander said. “I propose that our representatives meet on the open plain south of the Iron Oak forest along the road to Irondale. No dragons, no wyverns.”

“Agreed,” Zuhl said. “I will escort your sister there myself so that I might verify the contents of the book.”

“Regrettably, I’ll be unable to make the exchange myself,” Alexander said.

“Quite understandable,” Zuhl said. “Your representatives will suffice. I must say, Alexander, I didn’t expect you to be so … practical. Perhaps there’s another matter we could discuss.”

“I’m listening.”

“Withdraw from Fellenden entirely, then open the Gate from Zuhl to Andalia, and I will wage war against your enemies, leaving Ruatha and Ithilian entirely unscathed.”

“An interesting proposal, but what about the people of Fellenden?”

“What of them?” Zuhl said with a shrug.

“I’ll consider your proposal,” Alexander said, fading into the firmament.

A moment later he appeared in Abigail’s quarters. “Hi, how’re you doing?” he asked.

“I’m bored silly.”

“All things considered, that’s good,” he said. “I’m working on a way to get you back.”

“I know,” Abigail said.

Alexander smiled at his sister as he faded back into the firmament and returned to his body and a splitting headache. He sat up and put his head in his hands.

“Oh Dear Maker, that hurts.”

“I didn’t see any bleeding,” Jack said, sitting forward.

“It’s not as bad as the first time, but it’s not good either,” Alexander said. “I think I’ll rest for a while before I go find the dragon that Abigail befriended.”

“Things didn’t go well with Zuhl, I take it.”

“No, he’s a liar,” Alexander said. “He has no intention of giving Abigail back, but I don’t know what his game is yet.”

“Well,” Jack said, “if the objective is to get the book into his hands, then it doesn’t really matter if he gives us Abigail, so long as you have another plan to rescue her.”

Alexander nodded with his eyes closed. “I do, I think.”

“That’s not as reassuring as I’d like.”

“No, but it’s all I’ve got right now.”

His headache persisted until he fell asleep that night. He was anxious to move his plan forward, but he was also determined to be cautious with his new power, at least until he knew if it could actually kill him or not.

The following morning, while he lay in bed wishing that his leg would heal faster, Bragador approached. He was starting to become familiar with the sensation of danger that he felt when she was near. This time it was different … there was another with her.

She stopped at the door to his Wizard’s Den and shoved a man to the floor, her eyes flashing with fury.

“A small boat entered our waters in the night,” she said. “Twelve men and one of Phane’s abominations he calls wraithkin. All are dead save this one. I have questioned him, but I do not believe the answers he has given me.”

The man looked up at Alexander, a mixture of fear and determination in his eyes as he fixed his gaze on the Sovereign Stone.

“What’s your purpose here?” Alexander asked, knowing the answer before the man spoke.

He hesitated the way a man does when searching for a plausible lie.

“Did you come for this?” Alexander asked, touching the Stone. The man’s colors flared with anxiety.

“Was this the only thing he sent you for?” Alexander asked. Again, the man’s colors shifted and rippled with fear and deceit, though he held his tongue.

“You will answer his questions or I will rip your arm off and eat it while you watch,” Bragador said.

He glanced back and flinched at the coiled rage boiling in her golden eyes.

“Prince Phane sent us for the Sovereign Stone, your head, and any books in your possession,” the man said, his voice cracking. “He has my wife and son. I’m just a sailor, nothing more.”

Alexander sighed. “He speaks true.”

“Very well,” Bragador said. She fixed the sailor with an angry glare. “You will carry a message to your master from me. If he or his agents invade my home one more time, I will call forth every dragon in this mountain and we will wage total war against him. You will tell him that my patience for his meddling is at an end.”

With that, Bragador grabbed the man by the throat, lifted him from the floor and carried him outside the Wizard’s Den where she transformed into her true form, still holding the terrified sailor, and launched into the sky.

“I don’t envy him,” Jack said.

“No, I don’t either,” Alexander said. “But he did confirm that Phane is aware of the lich book.”

“That doesn’t change anything, does it?”

“I don’t think so,” Alexander said. “The Sky Knights should be here today. We’ll proceed as planned.”

“Can we destroy that terrible book now, My Love?” Chloe asked.

“No, Little One. I’m not sure why, but I feel like it might still be important.”

Alexander appeared before a startled Isabel.

“Hi,” he said.

“I was beginning to wonder if you’d forgotten about me.”

“Not a chance. There are some other things happening that required my attention, and I’ve discovered, rather painfully, that I can only project over such distances for a short period of time without hurting myself.”

She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I haven’t spoken to anyone since you left and I’m starting to go a little crazy.”

Isabel thought she was putting things mildly. She’d discovered that being alone was the most difficult. Azugorath seemed to sense her idle mind and choose those times to push against her will, sometimes hard, forcing Isabel to devote everything she had to resisting, other times slow and steady, forcing Isabel to be vigilant over long periods of time. Those attacks were the worst—she didn’t dare try to sleep because the nightmares would be bad.

When she was on the move, with a goal in mind, something to focus on, she could keep the Wraith Queen out of her head much more easily, but here … she had nothing to do and no one to talk to. It felt like Azugorath had been stalking her for months—she was exhausted.

“I wish I could stay and keep you company,” he said.

“It’s all right. Did you learn anything?”

“I’m afraid so,” Alexander said, but before he could explain the danger, Isabel doubled over, collapsing to the floor. Then she screamed—a shriek of agony so piercing that he slammed back into his body from the sudden terror of it.

He sat bolt upright staring off into the distance, fear and helplessness threatening to overwhelm him.

“What is it, My Love?” Chloe asked.

“It’s Isabel. I have to get back to her. I think Phane has the other witch.”

He lay down and focused on his breathing, calming himself in spite of the turmoil roiling within his soul. The firmament came to him slower than he would have liked but he found his way there nonetheless. Then in a blink he was floating over his wife.

She lay doubled over, gasping for breath and writhing in pain.

A moment later he was at the fortress island, materializing next to Magda and Cassandra, surrounded by the entire Reishi Coven, save his wife. They were assembled in the scrying well atop the plateau.

“Isabel just collapsed,” he said. “Cast your spell.”

“We’re nearly ready,” Magda said. “You must withdraw before we can begin.”

He vanished into the firmament, helplessness nearly overwhelming him. He couldn’t lose her. After all of the threats she’d faced, to die like this was unthinkable. Worse, he doubted Phane was even trying to kill her …

A moment later he was back on Karth, disembodied and unseen, in a large austere chamber with Phane and a woman that was so sublimely beautiful that he nearly lost his focus and returned to his body … until he looked at her colors, dark and evil, filled with hate and malice, twisted and unnatural.

She was strapped to a torture table in the center of a magic circle and Phane was smiling as he sliced a deep gash along the outside of her arm. She screamed, rage mixed with agony reverberating off the bare stone walls.

Alexander appeared just outside the circle.

“Stop! You’re killing Isabel!”

Phane looked up, droplets of blood splattered across his face, and smiled with such boyish delight that Alexander almost imagined that he could like this man … but only for a moment.

“Ah, Dear Cousin, it’s so good of you to visit me. I see that your command of magic is advancing quickly. Quite a feat in fact, projecting over such distances. I have it on good authority that you’re still recuperating under the care and protection of the dragons. I must admit, I didn’t see that one coming.”

“Drop the small talk, Phane,” Alexander said. “You’re hurting Isabel.”

Phane motioned toward the witch strapped to the table with his bloody knife and cocked his head.

“This isn’t Isabel,” he said. “Surely you can see that.”

“No, but she’s bound to this one by a doppelganger spell,” Alexander said.

“Of course she is,” Phane said. “I saw through her ruse the moment I laid eyes on her. Don’t get me wrong, the Sin’Rath witches are dangerous, but they rarely think things through. Something to do with their lineage, I suspect.”

“If you kill her, Isabel will die,” Alexander said.

“Of course she will, you simpleton, that’s how a doppelganger spell works,” Phane said.

“I thought you had plans for Isabel,” Alexander said.

“Oh, I do,” Phane said. “Of course, I suppose I could just kill her now. Perhaps such a loss would crush you enough to make you give up. But then, it might just make you even more intractable. Decisions, decisions. I must say, seeing you like this, so distraught and helpless, is quite appealing to me. On balance, perhaps revealing more of my plans for your wife will cause you even greater distress.

“Yes, I think so. You see, Dear Cousin, pain leads one to feel anger and anger is one pathway to the darkness. Up until now, Isabel has resisted Azugorath’s influence, but this,” he plunged his knife through the outer shoulder of the Sin’Rath witch, eliciting a blood-curdling scream, “is bound to weaken Isabel’s resolve and drive her toward the kind of action that will tarnish her soul forever and leave her nowhere to turn … save to me.”

“My sisters will feed on you, Phane,” Clotus said through clenched teeth, “one way or another, we will take your link and finally free our mother. Then the Seven Isles will be ours for the taking.”

“Hush, Witch,” Phane said, twisting the knife in her shoulder. “Do you really think me such a fool? Do you really believe I would come here without taking precautions to protect myself against your charms? Here I stand, seeing you for the thing you are, not the impossibly beautiful woman you would have me see, immune to your magic.

“I will slaughter your entire coven and rid the world of your taint once and for all, and then kill the remaining rabble from the House of Karth in the bargain. Even better, you will deliver Isabel into my hands and give me the power to exact my vengeance against my dear cousin here. And the most delicious part of it all is that you have delivered the means to accomplish all of this simply by coming here.”

Clotus looked alarmed, even through the pain of Phane’s torture.

“Once again, you and your sisters have failed to fully think through the potential consequences of your actions, preferring to believe that your plans will unfold flawlessly. Even young Alexander here isn’t so foolish.”

“What are you talking about, Phane?” Alexander said.

He looked up, smiling warmly. “A doppelganger spell creates a link between two people, a link that I can use to locate Isabel, and a number of my enemies with her. So you see, the Sin’Rath have unwittingly played right into my hands. Soon, I will send a force of adequate strength, one uniquely suited to this very purpose, to eliminate the offspring of the Succubus Queen Sin’Rath, end the line of Karth, and collect my future bride.

“With Isabel at my side, you will fall and those you protect will have no choice but to kneel before me or be crushed. Come spring, my Lancers will break your father’s defensive line and swarm into northern Ruatha leaving nothing but blood and fire in their wake. This war will soon be over and I will assume my rightful place as the Sovereign of the Seven Isles.”

“You keep telling yourself that, Phane,” Alexander said as he faded back into the firmament, reappearing next to Isabel. She was curled into a ball, struggling to breathe.

“Don’t give in to it, Isabel,” he said. “Phane is just trying to make you angry so Azugorath can exert greater influence over you. You have to fight it.”

She nodded tightly.

“I wish I could stay with you.”

“Go,” she managed through clenched teeth.

“I love you,” he said as he vanished.

He opened his eyes and sat up gasping from the pain, immediately feeling for blood dripping from his nose and ears. Finding none, he eased back into his bed and closed his eyes, willing the throbbing in his head to subside.