Outlaw magic, p.3
Outlaw Magic, page 3
The blonde swallowed hard. “They’re not shooting at us, per se,” she said, spreading her hands. “They’re shooting at anyone who approaches the island, for any reason. It’s a very old, very secure defensive system for the Inscribers’ hideout. If they knew it was us, I’m sure they’d turn the system off long enough for us to fly the Titan’s Claw to the center of the island.”
“But they don’t,” Alec said, sliding the Diamondspear back into his robes. “So they can’t. Why would they have this thing on at all, then?”
Alison’s face grew grave. “There are a number of reasons,” she said, taking a sip of her tea. “None of them good. Most likely, the Inscribers have put the entire island on lockdown for one reason or another.”
“A lock down?” Maimonides flexed his fingers, contemplating something in the wood grain of the tabletop. “You think they may have been attacked already, then?”
In the worried look on Alison Raleigh’s face, Alec finally began to understand something that had eluded him. “You think they struck first,” he said, the realization dawning on him. “Dean Wolfe, the Chaos faction. Baldir Diamondspear.”
Tears formed in the corners of Alison’s eyes. Suddenly Alec realized what a very great struggle it was for the blonde to keep her composure.
“It’s been in the back of my mind ever since we heard about the Royal Academy,” she said. “The Inscribers are a thorn in Dean Wolfe’s side. He’d stop at nothing to wipe us out—along with the other noble houses. They all hate us—”
“With good reason,” Rawiri snapped.
Alec held up a hand. “Later,” he told the big man. “Are you saying the Inscribers might already have been conquered? That the center of the island is a trap?”
Alison shook her head. “No—if that were the case, they’d have shut down the defense system entirely. The Inscribers—my parents—they have to be there. Maybe they’ve moved, given up the Redoubt for a more secure location. But they’re alive, Alec. They’re out there.”
“Redoubt?” Eleira asked.
“That’s the name for the Inscriber base,” Alison explained.
Alec wondered how much he believed Alison. No doubt her desire to see her parents again colored her judgement. It was an awful thing to think, he knew, but he had the safety of his entire crew to worry about. He had Eleira to worry about.
He thought it over and came to a conclusion. “Okay. So tell me how we get to the center of the island without going by air, then.”
Rawiri Igneous and Imogen Mossflower groaned in unison.
“You can’t be serious,” Imogen said, glaring across the table at Alison. “She could be lying to you, Alec! For all you know, this was an attempt to kill you—and now she’s bringing you into the jungle so she can finish the job!”
Vodalus snorted in response. “I’m not a fan of the Inscribers, either, but if Alison Raleigh wanted to kill Alec, she’s had plenty of opportunity to do so before now.”
“That’s a roundabout plan to kill us all in any case,” Jolenta added, finishing her glass of wine with one long swig. “You’d think she could pull out a knife, or cast a spell, or something.”
Rawiri sat forward, stretching his muscular arms across the table. “Alec Diamondspear,” the big man said, something almost pleading in his voice. “Listen to me. Forget the Haunted Isle. Let us take the Titan’s Claw to my homeland instead. My father knows that I am no traitor. And when I tell them of the exploits of Alec Diamondspear, how he has treated all men with honor and has saved my life, he will know that House Diamondspear are no traitors, either. House Igneous will shelter us.”
Alison’s mouth filled with horror. “You can’t!” she cried, gripping the side of the table so hard her knuckles turned white. “My parents could be in danger! You can’t bring me all the way to the Haunted Isle and force me to turn back now!”
“Your parents are not my concern,” Rawiri said, shaking his head with what appeared to be genuine sadness. “I apologize for my rudeness, but it is true. Come, Diamondspear. Give the gnome the commands, and we will set sail for my father’s kingdom.”
“The gnome can make his own decisions, thank you very much,” Maimonides said, giving Rawiri a sideways glance. “I feel like quite a few people are trying to tell me what I should be doing with my own airship. Funny, I don’t remember any of you building it.”
Alec’s mind had begun to work the moment Rawiri made his suggestion. He could see the sense in the idea—the homeland of House Igneous was likely to side with their wayward son, no matter what lies Dean Wolfe and the Royal Academy attempted to spread. And Alison’s stories about the Inscribers came with their own caveats. He had made a promise to return the girl to her own people, to be certain, but did that stand in the face of risking his own life? In risking Eleira’s life?
As the table fell to arguing, the Bloodcloak began to whisper around Alec’s shoulders. The crimson thread glowed softly against his shoulders as a tide of murmurs whispered in his ears, just beneath the threshold of hearing. Invisible currents brushed against him, as sightless as the wind but just as powerful as the explosions that had rocked the Titan’s Claw.
The Bloodcloak didn’t speak with words. Instead, Alec saw a vision of a deep jungle, thick branches covered in leaves blocking out the sun. He heard a growl fill his ears, then the vision abruptly tumbled beneath the ground, plunging him through the cool air of nameless tunnels.
He dropped like a stone, the wind whistling around him over the sound of Maimonides and Rawiri arguing in his ears. Alec felt as if he’d suddenly become two people—one sat in a chair at the table of Maimonides’s meeting room, eyes closed as the fragile coalition he’d brought to the Haunted Isle broke apart before his very eyes. The other fell further and further beneath the island, plunging toward something that pulsed like a beating heart.
A surge of longing filled Alec. Whatever the Bloodcloak wanted with this place, it was here—down deep, beneath the earth, at the Haunted Isle’s heart. What was it?
It’s enough, Alec thought. He’d made his decision.
“Rawiri,” he said, opening his eyes.
The people sitting around the table were on the verge of blows. Rawiri had the front of Alison Raleigh’s blouse in his fist and looked to be about to haul her bodily off the floor. Behind him, Maimonides held a metallic device studded with gems, whispering to himself as an aura of power grew around the device.
By the Archon. How close had he just come to the group breaking up.
“Here’s what we’re going to do,” Alec said, meeting Rawiri’s eyes. “First, you’re going to set Alison back down.”
Looking suddenly ashamed, Rawiri Igneous let go of Alison. The blonde sank back into her chair, smoothing down her robes with a dismissive sniff. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment—both at how close she’d come to a fight and how easily Rawiri had bested her.
“You’re right about your kingdom,” Alec said smoothly, feeling himself more in control of the situation by the moment. These people need a leader, Alec thought, a little amazed with himself. Why have I been so reluctant to take the reins? “They could be a valuable ally. And if your father hears from you, it will help counter the lies being spread by the Royal Academy—it might even discredit them completely.”
Rawiri’s face changed, filling with friendliness and relief. “Finally! Some sense!” The man clapped his hands together, taking his seat with a smile. “You will be treated as an honored guest in my father’s house,” Rawiri assured him. “To save the life of a member of House Igneous—this is not a thing my people dismiss lightly. I will take you to House Igneous’s court, you and your friends.” He glanced down at Imogen, who beamed up at him. “I cannot wait to introduce you to my mother, Imogen…”
“I’m sure that’ll be a wonderful reunion,” Alec said. “But I won’t see it. I’m not going.”
Rawiri’s face filled with shock. “What!?”
“Yes, what!?” Jolenta added, so startled she knocked over her goblet. “Come again, Alec?”
“It’s possible that none of us will come back from the Haunted Isle,” Alec said, giving voice to what every member of the group was no doubt thinking. “If that happens, the story the Royal Academy is giving out about us cannot be allowed to go unchallenged. Someone has to get the truth out there—to give people the real story about what’s happened to Dean Wolfe and the other teachers. Otherwise, the forces of Chaos win.”
Rawiri paused for a long moment, then nodded. “It’s a good idea,” the man rumbled. “I still wish you would come with me, Alec Diamondspear.”
“I’ll come visit your kingdom someday,” Alec promised. “Right now, what they need is you: to tell them the truth about me, and Uriel. It might not completely reverse the lies being told by the forces of Chaos, but it’ll put a serious dent in their plans for a takeover.”
Maimonides raised a hand. “Lad,” the gnome said, as sweetly as could be, “you know I’m extremely fond of you. You’re Uriel’s favorite nephew as well—although, given that you’re the Archmage’s only nephew, that’s only to be expected. He and I have tried to give you all the best things in life, and stood by you during the harshest of trials…”
Alec had to fight to keep a laugh from leaving his throat. At times, Maimonides could be every bit as dramatic as Jolenta and Vodalus. “What are you trying to ask me, Maimonides?”
The gnome spread his hands. “Are you suggesting I just give my greatest invention to Rawiri and Imogen?”
Alec had expected to meet a bit of resistance on this point. “The only other option is to send them back on Firemane,” he explained. “I doubt Eleira could take being separated from her familiar for that long.”
“Nor could he stand to be apart from me,” Eleira said, staring up at the ceiling as if she were looking right at her dragon. “No—something tells me we’re going to need both our familiars if we’re going to make it to the center of the Haunted Isle in one piece.”
“I agree,” Alec said, looking right at Maimonides. “So there you have it.”
The gnome looked as if he wanted to argue, but Alec wasn’t about to let him. Maimonides’s mouth worked soundlessly, like someone who’d been tricked by a carnival game trying to figure out how they’d been so effortlessly bamboozled. Then something in the gnome’s posture bent, and he shrugged.
“Very well, lad,” the gnome said. “They can borrow the Titan’s Claw in order to gain passage back to Rawiri’s homeland. But I expect to see it again, and in one piece!”
The sound of a scraping chair reached all their ears. Rawiri rose from his seat, strode over to the gnome, and bowed so deeply that Maimonides could have put his hand on the top of the much taller man’s head.
“You have my word,” Rawiri intoned, sounding as if he were making a sacred oath. “I will safeguard your vessel as if it were my own. I will protect as if it were my very heart.”
No one could miss the way he glanced over at Imogen Mossflower when he spoke of his heart—or the way the redheaded colored so deeply that her cheeks matched her hair. Dimly, Alec wondered if he wasn’t the first man in their group to propose to his sweetheart after all.
Maimonides nodded, accepting Rawiri’s pledge with all the gravity it deserved. “And I hope you’ll understand,” the gnome said, turning back to Alec, “that I won’t be going with my creation. I’m accompanying you to the center of the Haunted Isle. Can you even imagine what Uriel would do to me if he found out I allowed his nephew to venture into that place alone?”
Alec smiled. Maimonides could talk about honor and duty all he wanted, or stress his longstanding ties to House Diamondspear until the cows came home. He knew the real reason the Shadebringer wanted to come along to the Haunted Isle. He’d known since he saw the look on the gnome’s face at the sight of those energy weapons.
Maimonides the Shadebringer, as ever, was in search of knowledge. He wanted to know what made the Inscribers tick—and if he could protect Uriel’s charge while doing so, then so much the better.
“Of course,” Alec said smoothly. “You’ll be most welcome.”
“That should give our enemies quite the fright,” Jolenta said, rubbing the back of her neck. “Rawiri and Imogen stepping back onto the world stage after disappearing over the ocean? The forces of Chaos will think they’ve seen a ghost—no, two ghosts!”
She expected Alec to laugh, but the look on his face was serious. “Better make it four,” he said, nodding gently at her. “You and Vodalus are going with them.”
Jolenta stared at Alec as if he’d made the cleverest joke she’d ever heard. When his face didn’t change, hers fell. The student’s black lipstick made a little ‘o’ of surprise, her jaw dropping so hard it nearly hit the floor.
“You’re joking,” Jolenta said, even if by then she knew Alec wasn’t. “You simply can’t be saying what I think you’re saying…”
Alec modulated his voice, making it as gentle as he could bear. “You should get out of here too,” he said, his gaze traveling between Jolenta and Vodalus. “The Haunted Isle is no place for either of you. I might have made a promise to Alison Raleigh, but that doesn’t mean either of you have to risk your lives. Not when there’s a better option available.”
Tears spilled from Jolenta’s eyes, and not all of them could be blamed on the drink. “You’re a cad, Alec Diamondspear!” the student moaned, covering her face with her hands. “Do you simply have to be so Archon-damned honorable all the time! Can’t you ask for help when you know you need it?”
Vodalus leaned over and covered Jolenta’s hand with his own. The change in the dramatic student was so sudden and strange it nearly made Alec shift his chair backward. For a moment, the two looked not like a pair of young lovers, but a husband and wife who’d been married for decades. I’ve underestimated them, Alec realized. The thought was a bolt from the blue, spearing him to his seat.
He’d wondered about the shifting allegiances of Jolenta and Vodalus’s relationship for so long that he’d begun to take their love for granted. But obviously, neither of them had.
“Darling, you know he’s right,” Vodalus said, wiping a tear from his woman’s eye. “This was all fun and games when we were riding a dragon to a magical hideout full of rebels, but this is serious now. The fate of kingdoms rests on whether or not we get the truth out.”
“I know,” Jolenta said with a sniff. “But I wanted to be a rebel! The speeches, the dress sense—I was born to stand on a podium and crow about revolution! I just know it!”
Vodalus chuckled to himself. “You can do all that from Rawiri’s kingdom, dear. Why don’t you tell the people you were captured and brainwashed into becoming a loyal Inscriber? Add a flair of cult programming to your usual verve and vigor?”
Jolenta’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. “Why, Vodie, that’s a tremendous idea!” Apparently Jolenta thought so much of it that she sprang from her chair and embraced the man, showing Vodalus a great deal more physical affection than Alec or Eleira had ever seen from the woman before. “Haha, I’m going to be the talk of every society page and political pundit in the kingdoms! They simply won’t be able to figure me out!”
“I’m glad you’ve found yourself a niche,” Maimonides said, giving the pair a skeptical eye. “Whether the common man will believe it is quite another matter…”
“Oh, don’t underestimate them,” Alec with a laugh. “I’ve seen the two of them act—you can bet they’ll put on the kind of show the Royal Academy will never forget.”
“All our sins will be forgiven!” Jolenta was saying. “We can blame it all on those dastardly handlers within the Inscribers. Those bets I laid on Alec Diamondspear as Combat Magic champion? All that money I owe the noble houses of the Royal Academy’s upper class? Simply a misunderstanding…”
As the pair crowed to each other about their future schemes, Eleira leaned over. The elf girl dropped her voice, snuggling up next to Alec with a casual intimacy that spoke of how far their relationship had come in such a short time.
“And am I coming with you to the Haunted Isle?” Eleira asked. Her face was unreadable.
Alec had to search his emotions to come up with the answer. “Were I a stronger man, I’d say no,” he told her, slipping a hand around Eleira’s slender waist and pulling her closer. “You’d undoubtedly be safer leaving along with Rawiri and Imogen—not to mention bringing Firemane along with you.”
“Mmh hmm,” the elf girl replied. Her eyes were heavy-lidded, which always meant she had trouble on her mind. “So why not send me along with them?”
He sensed she knew the answer—but that she wanted to hear him say it.
“Because,” Alec said, favoring the girl with his most handsome smile. “I don’t think I could handle being apart from you for that long.”
“Nor I you,” Eleira said after a moment, the corner of her mouth curling in a smirk. “You’ve grown on me, Alec Diamondspear. Plus, you are kind of cute.”
“Kind of?” Alec asked, grinning like an idiot.
Eleira laughed—then leaned forward and kissed him.
All the arguing, the plans around the tables, all of that faded away. He felt her body against his, warm and inviting, and knew that no matter what, he’d never have let Eleira leave with the others. A dark, exotic island was romantic. Saving the world was romantic as well.
This might not have been their honeymoon, but Alec anticipated enjoying every moment he was allowed to spend in the company of Eleira Leafwalker. And if danger heightened their senses, it would only add to the pleasure as the elf girl curled up in his arms at night, safe and secure under their blankets.
Alec couldn’t wait. Once his friends were safe, he’d see Alison to her people. And then the real work of conquering the Haunted Isle would begin.
Chapter 3
