Children of the Elementi (6 page)

“My Lord, I am sorry.” Contrite, carefully stepping out of the circle, Ecu moved to give the young Emperor some tablets he took out of his robe. Guards at either side leaped forward to block his access.

“My Lord, you need only take this medication I have distilled from some herbs and it will abate the pain for a couple of hours. They will help until another remedy can be found.” He offered the tablets.

The guard on his left reached out to pull on a silken chord suspended from a bronze frame. A bell sounded in the distance. Moments later the attendant who ushered Ecu to the room earlier, quietly stole in. The guard nodded at the tablets. She took them and swallowed one. Everyone froze in a still tableaux waiting for a reaction. Seeing none, Aras nodded at the guards. They stepped back into position. The attendant passed the remaining tablets to Aras.

“Do you have any more?” Aras asked.

“I need only a workroom and a few hours to make more, my Lord.”

A young girl, sitting quietly in the corner stood up. Reaching for a glass on the gold table beside her, she carried it over to Aras. Grimly, he took the glass and swallowed the pill. Everyone in the room from courtier to servant tensed, praying that this time it would work. Five minutes passed before Aras’ face calmed showing the pain receding. As one, everyone in the room visibly relaxed.

Aras, stood up, “Ecu! You are a good man to have around. Please stay for a while. Marta will show you to one of the guest-rooms with enough space that you can make the tablets and more.”

“My Lord, you are too generous.” Ecu bowed and followed the attendant out of the room.

Entering the corridor, Ecu and Marta walked in silence for a moment. When they turned the first corner, Ecu whispered conspiratorially to Marta, “Who was the girl?”

Marta eyes appraised him for a few moments before replying.

“That was Shenella. They have been grooming her to become the next Empress. She was against the idea to start with but I hear her family soon beat her out of that notion. I suppose she knows whatever child she has will suffer the same fate as Aras.” She added conspiratorially, “To be honest it is better to be the power behind the throne. Consorts do not last long with that family.”

Ecu thoughtfully stroked his red beard. “Indeed, with a good adviser and a good woman, who knows what can be achieved?”

Marta giggled. “I see we are in agreement. I am already one of his favorites. By the by, do you have a potion or spell which could cement this?”

“You are his favorite, yet he still chose you to test the pill?”

“He trusts no one. I am as much a favorite as much as anyone can be.”

“What about the girl?”

“It would be better to be his love than his wife, she is welcome to him,” she said derisively. “What did you mean that he would not live long in there?”

“With just one source of magic, he would live a long life, indeed with our magic - a longer life than most. The Elementi use a natural source of power. They are incompatible, theirs is fighting ours, curtailing it. Every time he uses it he loses a few years.”

“But, I haven’t seen any evidence of him using the crystal power. He doesn’t even
possess
a crystal.”

“He’s been using it whether he knows it or not. Every time he unintentionally reads another’s thoughts, or even when the other boy uses his powers. They are linked. There can only be one High-King, one of the spirit.” At her blank look, he explained. “The white crystal, he instinctively draws power from the Matrix, all be it weakly. His body is not strong enough to withhold that sort of energy - as well as Magi power.

“Aras should not exist at all, but a small part of the power resides in him nevertheless. As the other boy gets stronger, so does the Elementi power - this weakens Aras and with it our chances to rule through him.”

Searching through his robe, Ecu pulled out an elegant ruby ring. Pressing lightly on either side, the ruby popped up on a hidden hinge. Within, she saw a small amount of white powder. “Find a way to mix this in a drink and he will fall in love with the first person he sees.”

“You just happened to have that in your pocket?”

He grinned, “I have a certain amount of precognition my dear. It has come in quite handy over the years.”

Marta nodded without understanding and pushed open an ornate door with a fountain engraved on the wood. Ecu raised an enquiring brow at Marta.

“This suite used to belong to the Water King and his consort,” she explained. “I thought if you were going to be important you should be given one of the more prestigious rooms.”

In the throne room Aras realized he felt better. As he mulled over what his new adviser told him, he decided to take action. He needed to ‘eliminate’ the boy king before he got any stronger but also find that Citadel. The boy was obviously just finding out about his power or he would have got ill sooner. First, the Citadel.

“Get the new guards,” he called.

Within moments the new batch of mercenaries filed into the room. A few days with his generals and they made credible guards but Aras could only feel contempt for these men. Their loyalties went to the highest bidder. Fortunately for him with the Elementi treasure stolen over a hundred years ago, he
was
the richest bidder around - barring his Magi cousins across the water..

Still, the men wore his uniform well,
he thought with pride. There were at least a couple of hundred recruits all wearing the royal insignia. He could tell they were not comfortable with it. Aras didn’t care; he needed them to display his emblem. The more his power was visible in the streets, the better his hold of it was. The black trousers and shirts were also ideal for missions where his soldiers needed to be inconspicuous at night. For those who saw it, the silver moon and pentagrams on the back of each shirt caused disquiet among watching foe and friend alike. Another good thing about mercenaries over his own guard, he mused was that they obeyed his orders flawlessly - without question. They had no conscience and were usually brighter than the usual soldier. Stupid mercenaries didn’t last long.

Within minutes, Aras had given his commands to the generals in the front and although the men could hear them, the generals in turn informed the mercenaries standing in line behind them. Rows of men stamped their feet on the ground and turned smartly leaving the room on their first mission. Someone out there had to know where the Citadel was.

Task accomplished, Aras turned to the next. With trepidation he rose from the throne. It was always dangerous dealing with spirits and his command of his magic over the last couple of days had not been as good as it could have been.

Aras waived his attendants away and walked to the opposite side of the Great Hall, He entered a small anteroom off the throne room, where a secret room built by his grandfather was hidden. He locked the door behind him, muttering a quick lock spell for good measure. He stepped across to the opposite wall.

Reaching for the second torch bracket from the corner, Aras pressed a stud to the side of it. A tall mirror to his right swung inwards. His gaunt expression in the reflection caught him by surprise, Aras realized the tablets would only last for two hours before the pain would come back. He needed to hurry.

This room was a lot darker than the previous one. Aras muttered “incendi” and the room lit with a dull glow. All the walls and ceiling were black. A cursory glance upwards revealed the perfect reproduction of the night sky painted on the ceiling.

When still a child his father had told him about its construction. The artist who had created it was promised riches beyond his wildest dreams but at the last brush stroke he was killed as had the workmen who had partitioned the room off - as had the magician who had spelled the painting afterwards.

The sky was not only a perfect representation but also it stayed that way. As the world orbited the sun, the painting changed to show the new celestial sky without the inconvenience of clouds.

In the center of the room lay a painted white circle. Aras paused at the reminder. There were burn marks inside it. Shuddering, he composed his mind. This was dangerous. Taking slow breaths he drew in and focused his magic. When he felt he had enough he began to summon a Deoc.

The room began to smell of sulfur as the being he called fought for its freedom. Sweat broke out on Aras’ forehead. His body felt like it was on fire. This was a strong one, or did it show how much he had been weakened by the rise of the Elementi power? An acrid stench filled his nostrils, but he held on. Throwing the last of his energy in, he felt the creature’s presence fill the room.

In the circle, the Deoc glared at Aras. Its body was made entirely of fire but as Aras watched, the flames flickered and died out. Skin formed over the creature’s body, first on its arms and legs. At last its face formed, and it was covered completely in skin. Over this, a robe appeared until a man stood before him with red and gold-flecked eyes.

“What do you want?”

“I need you to kill a boy.”

“Why would I do that?” The creature smiled, confident in its power.

“You have no choice.”

Testing his strength, Aras felt the creature try to find a chink in his defenses. Finding an impenetrable wall, the thing conceded. “Who and where is the boy?”

“The boy is in another dimension. The high Elementi sent the boy to safety where I cannot follow. You on the other hand are a creature from beyond the veil - you can.”

Contemptuously, the creature smirked, “I cannot do this without more information. I am not a god!”

“He has the Elementi Spirit power. This means he has all the four powers in small measure so that he has the ability to focus the combined power of all the families. I too have that power. You can use mine to scent him out. He looks like this...”

An image of the room Aras had seen earlier in the smoke appeared in front of them. “Why me? Cannot one of your own magicians traverse the boundary?”

“They can, but I need you to get close to the boy. The new High-King will have to reunite the powers. He might be able to tell if any person I send is an impostor. Our magic is opposite. We use the spirits and illusion while they use natural magic. You, on the other hand, can pretend to be the fire element. Fire is natural to you as using fire would be to the real fire king or queen.

“Furthermore, I need you to find out where the Citadel is. With this, I would have almost limitless power. I would be able to control the Elementi side of my inheritance and combine the power of the Magi with it. Together I could control the world without the need to fight the battles one by one. Within hours, I could have complete control of the entire world and there would be no one and nothing that could stop me. Not the Matrix and not even my cousins in the Magi Empire.”

“You are mad, human!”

“I may be mad, but you still have to obey me!”

“As you will.”

The creature gave a mocking bow. It realized the task might be more profitable than he at first thought. This human was stupid. If he could find out the location of the Citadel, what would stop him taking it over? He was the fire element incarnate. He stared at Aras, taking in his form, his essence, noting the dark stream of magic running through his blood. Entwined with it was the glittering white power of the Elementi, wrapping around getting stronger as the boy lived. The Elementi power was still the same strength as the Magi he observed. How long before the Elementi side took over and tried to destroy the unnatural Magi? Enough! It was not his problem. He had the scent. It was now time to find that boy!

The spell dropped and Adramelech exploded away. For a moment he stood still between dimensions. He discarded the human shape he had taken to communicate with Aras, returning to his natural fire-form.

Silent, in the darkness he quieted his mind, gently rotating trying to find the trail. Moving slowly now, he searched for the white thread meticulously. After a few moments he saw it, faraway, shining brightly in the complete darkness between worlds. How could he have missed that? As he drew closer it grew brighter and clearer. Whoever had sent the boy out of Eleria had sent him to the future as well. The trail was as fresh as if the boy was sent only a few years ago. In effect, he had. Following the cord, the creature burst into the other reality.

CHAPTER SIX: IRELAND

Men in hard hats watched as another caravan invaded their construction site. Hands in pockets, they stood in clusters by the main entrance, they could barely disguise the hatred that marred their normally jovial features. Some idiot had forgotten to lock the gates last night. It didn’t matter how quickly they could get rid of them, work would be delayed for at least a week, most likely more. They wouldn’t get paid for waiting - not on their contracts. There would be recriminations all round, even the union couldn't help with this one.

Inside the compound one of the new inhabitants, Kiera, stared defiantly back at them. What did these people expect? We have to stop somewhere! Here was as good as anywhere else. Turning away bored, she picked up the washing she had taken down from the line she had put up only the night before. They were here now and the locals had better get used to it.

She carried the washing into the caravan she shared with her father. Luckily, he was out, so after dumping it on the table, she went straight to her room. Kiera sprawled on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. The caravan was such a difference to the tent they had slept in just a few years ago. It had been the traditional way of life, but she didn’t miss it. Now her father had come into some money he had bought the best mobile home in Ireland that could be found.

Kiera reached out to stroke the long green strands of the spider plant in the window. She marveled at their change of circumstances. She hated doing what she had to do, but she had to admit it was profitable. Still, it was only a matter of time before the Garda caught on. They had been lucky so far.

It really was time to move on. Her face twisted with distress, “I hate the city!” She let the despair wash over her. What was the use? Her father insisted they go there. It was better pickings he said and it was a lot easier to hide in. She remembered the first time her father had realized she had abilities. When he’d finally found out she could sense the differences between precious metals and stones.