Arbiter (The Arbiter Chronicles Book 1) (21 page)

"…That hurt," he admitted. "Would you like to see what I can do?"

Rae's eyes widened as he raised his scythe, pulling at her bonds. The chains held fast, dark black things that held her in place as the Reaper brought the staff down. This was it. She would die here. She would die…

And then he would take Cathel. He would take Mika.

Their faces flashed through her mind as the Reaper brought the scythe down, the curved blade heading towards her. They would die, because she wasn't strong enough to face the Reaper, even in a dream…

…And suddenly, the world stopped, and she felt no fear, just simple, cold truth. She saw the Reaper in front of her, saw the scythe moving, and she understood. She knew what she had to do.

She couldn't allow herself to lose.

Rae grit her teeth, allowing all of the anger she had ever felt towards the Reaper to course through her, adding fuel to the fire and allowing her to finally grasp her Source. She used the anger to take the edge off her fear, keeping her mind filled with Cathel and Mika's faces—Cathel and Ania, Cathel when he had first taught her magic, Cathel in the Ivali village, Cathel and High Lord Alcian, Mika in the Ivali village, Mika demanding that she be allowed to come along, Mika stuffing her face in Elrithea's castle…

Those images filled her mind as the light around her grew, growing brighter and brighter and becoming stronger and stronger until at last, she heard the sound of something shatter.

The chains broke, a blast of light rushing outwards from her and slamming into the Reaper. Rae immediately got to her feet, breathing hard as she stared at the man in front of her. The Reaper slowly stood up, his eyes wide in surprise as he watched her with one hand gripped tightly around the shaft of his scythe.

Rae stared at him, and at once, she understood.

This wasn't real. This was her mind.

A pool of light formed at her fingertips, rotating in lazy circular motions beside her.

This was a dream…

Rae thrust her right hand into the pool, her fingers closing around something cold.

And for the first time in her life…

She grasped it tightly in her hand, drawing it forth as the light around her began to intensify.

…She was awake.

With a shout of rage, Rae pulled a white sword from the pool of light, holding it tightly in her hands as she rushed towards the Reaper.

She saw the next set of events as though they were unfolding in slow motion. Rae rushed toward the Reaper, the sword in both her hands as she pulled it back and lunged at him in the same way Cathel had taught her. The Reaper stared, his eyes wide and his scythe pulled back as he prepared to slash at her, but it was too little, too late. She knew this now. The dream was hers, the mind was hers, and in her mind, she decided that she could move faster than normal and that the Reaper couldn't move at all.

She saw his expression change as he realized this, going from smug, to shocked, to enraged. The last expression she barely registered as she locked eyes with him, pulling the sword back and thrusting it at his chest.

The white sword pierced through his clothes, stabbing the Reaper straight through the heart. Rae screamed, throwing her weight forward and pushing it behind the sword. The sword went further, meeting almost no resistance at all as it slid further through, sinking deeper into the Reaper’s heart.

The Reaper shattered into shards of light around her sword. They struck the floor of the alley with a faint tinkling sound, like shards of glass.

The world around her shattered as well. 

Rae's eyes snapped open and she took a deep breath, staring at the high ceilings of Elrithea’s castle. It was nighttime again, light coming from several silver orbs that hovered in the air and lined the hallway. She turned her head to find that the mirrors that lined the hall had shattered, shards of glass littering the hallway floor. She sat up, looking around the room.

Mika and Cathel lay on the ground just a few feet away from her. As she watched, they began to stir as well, Mika picking herself up off the ground with a confused expression. Her face was tear-stained, as though she had been crying. Cathel slowly sat up, his eyes fixed on the ground. His hands were shaking, his face pale. His green eyes were wide, the expression in them slightly hollow.

She didn't like seeing that expression on his face.

From the other side of the hallway, she heard the sound of slow applause. Rae looked up, her eyes widening as she saw Elrithea begin to slowly approach them, clapping softly. There was a wide grin on her face.

"Oh, well done, Arbiter," she said. "That was a brilliant performance. I'd love an encore, but I don't think you'd be willing to provide one"

Performance…

The memory of the Reaper's words came back to her, of the things he had said before she had finished him off and won back control of her mind.

Yes, she supposed that was what it was in the end.

A performance.

"I must say, I haven't seen an Arbiter put on a show like that in years," continued Elrithea. She sounded amused. Rae clenched her fist tightly, her eyes narrowing at her. "I was a little worried you were going to falter. The illusion seemed quite real, I will admit. But you held through till the end. Marvelous, simply marvelous. And your friends did rather nicely too, I'll admit. 
Tarethan
, the spell at the end was a nice touch."

"Shut up…" muttered Cathel under his breath, not looking at Elrithea.

Elrithea grinned. "I mean it. I haven't seen such a display of magic in a long time. Who knew my niece could react like that?”

"I said shut up!" shouted Cathel, getting to his feet. His voice echoed throughout the stone corridor, and Rae stared, her eyes widening as she turned towards him. Beside him, Mika sniffed, raising her hand to wipe away the tears under her eyes as she gave him a puzzled look.

"…Cathel…?" she asked softly.

"What do you know?" asked Cathel, ignoring Mika as he turned towards Elrithea. "What do you know about anything? How dare you force me to do that? How dare you put Rae and Mika through that?"

He gestured wildly, his face contorted in rage as he glared at Elrithea. Rae shivered, staring at him. She had never seen Cathel like this before, had never seen this much rage coming from him. Not even when he had been fighting Skor had he looked this angry, not even when they had had their argument in the woods. Even Elrithea seemed taken aback by the outburst, but she quickly recovered, turning towards him.

"You should know better, 
tarethan.
You cannot come to a High Lord's house without being tested in some way. That
 
was simply a matter of course. I made you do nothing. You did what you did out of your own heart."

Cathel tensed, and for one moment, the whole world tensed as well.

Then it all came crashing down.

"Bind!"
 
he commanded, holding his hand out towards the castle walls.

There was a great groaning sound, and then the walls snapped forward, the stone of them winding around Elrithea's wrists and legs and holding her tightly in place. Her eyes widened in shock, and she struggled as faint light began to surround her, words writing themselves into the light. They didn't look like any words Rae had seen before, but she understood that they were runes. Cathel lowered his head, quietly muttering under his breath.

Mika's eyes widened in terror. "Cathel, stop!" she yelled, tugging at his pants leg.

Cathel pulled his leg out of her grasp, continuing to chant. Rae's eyes widened, and she turned towards Elrithea as the bright light continued to surround her, becoming brighter and brighter as the runes wrapped themselves around her, winding tighter. She felt the temperature in the room drop and heard Elrithea scream. Rae didn't understand what was happening here, but a fundamental part of her seemed to recoil from it—the part of her that was Ivali. And she knew suddenly—without a doubt—that if she let this continue, it would break Cathel utterly, shatter him beyond repair. She knew it as clearly as she knew her own name.

The runes coiled tighter around her, Cathel's incantation becoming more feverish as the words came closer together. Mika got to her feet and wrapped her arms around Cathel's waist, shouting at him as she tried to pull him back. He dug his heels into the ground, seeming blind to her and blind to everyone around him, and seeming focused only on the bound High Lord in front of him.

Elrithea screamed. She no longer looked like a great and powerful High Lord anymore. Now, she simply looked like a girl, a girl that had bitten off more than she could chew. Her bright gold eyes opened, and she stared at Rae, the look in them pleading. She reminded Rae of a butterfly that was about to be crushed, of a criminal awaiting execution. The runes grew brighter, and the uneasy feeling inside Rae reached a fever pitch.

She couldn't allow things to go on any further.

Rae took a deep breath.

"Cathel! Stop!" she yelled.

Silence followed her statement, the last fading syllables of her plea echoing further down the hallway.

Cathel slowly looked away from Elrithea, blinking in surprise as he stared down at his hand. He looked from Rae to Elrithea, and suddenly his eyes widened in fear, and he took a step back, the color draining from his face. The stones holding Elrithea in place suddenly receded, the High Lord slumping to the ground as the rope of runes faded away. She covered her face with her hands, her long, flowing black hair falling like a curtain around her.

Elrithea took in a shaky breath. Cathel stared at her, as if he couldn't believe what he had just done.

"…High Lord…?" he asked tentatively.

"Go," said Elrithea, no longer sounding as smug or as confident as she had sounded earlier. "Just…go."

Cathel wasted no time. He stumbled back, then turned, running out the door on the other side of the hallway. Mika and Rae stared, watching as the door to the dining hall slammed behind him.

Behind them, Elrithea ran her hands over her face, taking a deep breath and sliding back to lean against the wall.

Rae watched as Elrithea slowly composed herself, handing the High Lord the drink of water that she had requested. Behind her, she saw Mika slowly beginning to push some of the broken glass aside with a broom, attempting to clear a path through the hall. Elrithea drank deeply from the silver goblet that Rae had offered her, before setting it aside and waving her hand at Mika.

"There is no need," she said. "The castle will repair itself."

"I…I know," said Mika, shaking her head as she looked up from where she stood. "But it's giving me something to do…"

Rae honestly couldn't blame her. She felt a kind of restless energy as she stood there, attending to the High Lord. Part of her wanted to run after Cathel, to ask him what that had been about and to make sure he wasn't going to do something incredibly stupid, but the rest of her knew that she had to stay here with the High Lord first, if only to smooth things over so that Elrithea didn't kick them out onto the street or throw them in a dungeon. Or worse. She was well aware that the High Lord was capable of worse, although she didn't look it right now.

If she was being honest, right now, Elrithea didn’t look like she was capable of much. The High Lord sucked in a breath, pushing her black hair out of her face and shaking her head. "What the 
tarethan 
did…" she began.

"Cathel is not the type of person to attack someone like that," said Rae quickly. "Not without being provoked."

Elrithea raised a hand to quiet Rae. "He was not unprovoked.” She rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand, her palm moving in slow circles as she paused for thought. "I provoked him. Had I known how close he was to true mastery of his Series, I would not have done so. Be at ease, Arbiter. I fully acknowledge that the fault is mine."

Rae settled back onto the floor beside Elrithea. She hadn't noticed before how ready she had been to defend Cathel, no matter what personal cost she incurred from it. Elrithea glanced at her out of the corner of her eye, and Rae was surprised to see the High Lord offer her a strained smile. "Your devotion to your friends is well noted. I have seen it while you were taking the test. Rest assured, no harm will come to you or yours because of this."

Rae stared at Elrithea as if trying to gauge whether or not the woman was serious. She seemed serious, but she had seemed serious before, and she had been lying then. Elrithea met Rae's eyes, seeming to understand her question.

"I give you my word," she said. "If you know anything of the High Court, then you know that we are not given to breaking our word."

"I…believe you," said Rae hesitantly, nodding once as she set down the goblet in her hands. It was odd, but she did.

Elrithea was…different from Alcian. But she was still a Lord of the High Court.

"I rule the mind," said Elrithea, quietly. "The tricks of the mind are mine. Within a person's mind, I have ultimate power. Outside of it, I have very little. Understand this, Arbiter. This is why I must force you to fear me."

"You don't have to force me," said Rae. "I've seen what you can do. It's scary enough."

Elrithea smiled. "Ah, but you see, Arbiter, you have
 
a mind. And thus, you fear what would happen if someone else should enter it, to discover your deepest secrets, your uttermost fears, and your wildest dreams. There are those to whom this is not a deterrent."

Rae raised an eyebrow. She found it very hard to believe that anyone could stand in front of Elrithea and not find her powers intimidating.

"And they would be?" she asked.

"Idiots," Elrithea replied with a snort. "Even the most weak-minded of men have something to fear. But I rather enjoy working with strong minds. The three of you have them. Every strong-minded human I have encountered has shown me something interesting of themselves. You three are no exception."

She wanted to ask what Elrithea had seen in Cathel and Mika's minds, but that was too personal a question. Instead, she lowered her eyes to the ground, clearing the broken glass away from the carpet nearest her so that she could sit down. She felt drained. Even though it seemed as though very little time had passed since she, Mika, and Cathel had first fallen unconscious, it felt as though her mind had been working for two days straight. It must have shown on her face, because Elrithea sighed, leaning back against the wall.

"Go," she said. "The two of you may go. There have been rooms prepared for you. Go through the other door in the dining hall to find them. The 
tarethan 
has a suite prepared for him as well. Inform him that I am not offended by his behavior, but that I would appreciate it if he removed himself from my presence until I invite him again."

Rae thought about arguing in Cathel's favor, but Elrithea's icy tone stopped her. She knew that nothing would sway the High Lord on this. After seeing the display, she supposed Cathel was lucky he wasn't dead or about to be. "…I'll tell him," she said.

"I have given you my acknowledgment," said Elrithea, getting to her feet. "But my Decadal Spell is not so easy to learn as my sister’s, and I am drained. Allow me a moment of rest, and I will begin the process of teaching it to you."

Rae nodded, watching as Elrithea got to her feet. She stood up as well, keeping her hands at the ready to catch the High Lord should she appear to stumble, but not insulting her by attempting to help her stand. Elrithea nodded once at Rae and Mika, and as the two of them watched, she began to fade away. Most of the silver lights in the hallway faded with her, leaving only one—Larin, Rae's wisp. It floated in the air  between Rae and Mika, the two girls staring at it.