Devan Chronicles Series: Books 1-3 (116 page)

Vrooosh!

Two small fireballs arced toward her. She threw herself to one side and they struck Halbert and Moriz in the chest throwing them to the cobbles burning. They screamed rolling on the ground trying to beat out the flames, but magic fire could not be extinguished that way. Her hand was coming up, oh so slowly. Her power reached out and the flames died, but so did her friends with a last gasp of pain. All she could see was Moriz and Halbert lying dead before her. Gideon was dropping to his knees reaching for the guardsmen in an effort to help them while Lorcan moved toward her in a rush slowed by her shock into a snail-like dash.

Time snapped back to normal as Julia recognised Demophon. “You bastard! I’ll—” she began in a towering rage.

“Do nothing or the priest and boy die!” Demophon yelled quickly.

She was drawing deep enough to obliterate this murderer and the entire street he stood upon, but Lorcan… Gideon. She might—only might—be able to shield one of them along with herself in time to stop the fireballs that would surely rain upon them. She couldn’t choose!

Demophon stepped toward her and she did nothing to prevent him. Captain Kell and his men dropped their weapons and she thought that wise of them, until the smirking captain received a pouch of gold.

“Traitors!” she screamed. “Keverin will track you down and hang you all!”

Demophon chuckled as the Red Guards looked nervously at each other.

“The Holy Father?” Gideon breathed in hope.

“Your Holy Father has never been better, I assure you Gideon,” Demophon said in a surprisingly kind way.

Mathius was beyond her range, but perhaps Lucius? Julia strained to reach him but he wasn’t near enough! She could sense he was just out of range. She strained with all her being, but she couldn’t quite grasp his mind.

While Demophon gloated over his success, the other sorcerers stood immobile watching her intently. She frowned at them; something wasn’t right about them and she couldn’t think what it was, but then she realised what had caught her attention. Every one of the black robed men was exactly the same strength! Not possible! If not for the evidence of her eyes, she would have said they were brothers as alike as twins. In reality, they diverged widely from one another. She couldn’t see faces in the dark, but they were of widely varying builds. She had the answer after a moment of thought. They were linking their magic and it had equalised them to the weakest of their group. None could stand against Mathius let alone her alone, but together… she was no match and they knew it.

The Red Guards were dragging something from the alley on her right. Her gorge rose as she realised why Kell’s uniform didn’t fit. Thirteen unclothed and very dead men were dragged onto the street and positioned in rows with a halberd close to hand.

“Just drop the uniforms on top of each one. Time is critical,” Demophon said impatiently.

The fake guards stripped and did as Demophon bid them, then hurriedly dressed in ordinary cotton shirts and trousers.

“If you hurt her, you die!” Lorcan snarled.

Demophon raised an eyebrow at Lorcan. “Well said young man. Not that you could stop me, but well said nevertheless. She will not be harmed; she’s going on a little trip with my friends here,” he said waving a hand at the sorcerers.

“And what of your
friend
Ascol?” Julia said stalling for time. Surely Lucius would move a little closer soon.

Demophon snorted. “Ascol has no friends, as you’re well aware, but he won’t be abandoned I assure you. With you out of the way, he won’t need so many of us to hold his hand.”

“It’s done as you wanted,” Kell said.

“The woman?” Demophon said turning to look. “No I see her. You can go.”

Without a word, the traitors ran off.

Julia stared at the dead woman. She was the right weight and general build, but no one who knew her would ever believe this poor woman was she.

“Take off your dress—you as well, Father. Don’t worry about modesty, Lady. We’ve all seen you practising.” Demophon smiled lewdly. “Very nice by the by.”

Julia’s rage peaked higher than ever but there was nothing she could do. She slowly began to undress. If they wanted her nude, they would get a fight that would make her and the Third Legion last year seem a mere side show! She threw her dress and cloak at Demophon who gave them to one of his men. The sorcerer clothed the dead woman in the dress and fastened the cloak about her throat grimacing all the while. When he was finished, he fastidiously wiped his hands.

Demophon smirked at Julia’s shivering. Her underskirt was cotton, but she was still cold. She vowed that one slip by any of these men, would see them turned to ash on the wind. The silent houses each side of the street seemed to mock her, as she frantically sought a way out of the trap. A face appeared at an upstairs window then ducked away lending her hope of rescue, but it almost had to be a peasant’s face and none but guardsmen could save her now.

Another sorcerer came forward and handed a water bag to Demophon.

“Drink,” Demophon said handing it to her.

“What’s in it?” Julia said warily.

“Tancred—
Stop!
” Demophon snarled as she made to dash it upon the cobbles. “If you do that, the boy dies. Refuse to drink, and they both die, you included. Now
drink it!
”

Julia lowered her arm. She couldn’t drink, she mustn’t! But they would kill her friends if she didn’t.

“Don’t you do it, Lady! Kill them all!” Lorcan shouted pulling a dagger and lunging at Demophon.

A tiny arc of light connected Demophon to Lorcan’s dagger.

“Arghhh!” the boy howled shaking his hand as the dagger flew through the air to land a few yards up the street.

“That was your only warning, boy.” Demophon held up a hand crackling with lightning barely contained. “Don’t try my patience further. I
will
kill you next time. Believe it!”

Julia raised the bag to her lips all the while screaming for Lucius in her mind. One sip and the acrid fumes flooded her mouth making her want to gag.

*
Lucius help me, Luciuuussss!
* she screamed into the void as she swallowed a mouthful. She lowered the bag coughing. She wanted to heave up the vile stuff, but she forced her stomach not to humiliate her further. *
Lucius for the God’s sake answer me!
*

“More!” Demophon demanded.

She shook her head playing for time, but Demophon threatened Gideon. Her hold on her magic was slipping! She struggled to hold on.

*
Luciuuussss!
* she screamed even as she gagged on the vile brew.

*
Julia! What’s wrong?
*

*
Lucius help
—* she began but she lost her struggle. Her magic abandoned her, and with it her ability to reply.

*
Julia? Why don’t you answer?
* Lucius’s voice was diminished now but not gone. *
Tell me where you are… what’s happening? Juliaaa!
*

The world was spinning and she staggered into someone’s arms. She looked up and saw Demophon smiling down at her. She pushed away and sprawled to the ground falling over a body. In the distance, she heard yelling and cursing, but it was far away and getting further every moment.

She looked blearily into a face. It was her own face lying there all cold and dead. Poor Keverin…

* * *

“Well it’s something at least, but how it helps I have not the slightest idea,” Mathius said scratching his head.

Lucius nodded. The something was their latest experiment in contagion magic. They had exhausted the possibilities concerning mirrors without success and had proposed testing the spell’s validity by experimenting on something simple. Simple is a relative term, they had found, but it had been simpler to make the candles. Mathius lit one of the candles with a mundane striker not wishing to contaminate the experiment with his magic. As the candle took flame, its twin on another table sprang alight also.

“That’s it!” Mathius said in delight.

Just moments later, Lucius studied the candles resting upon his table side-by-side. Experimentally he blew one of the flames gently expecting the other to flicker but it didn’t.

Most strange that.

Stroking his beard, Lucius thought for a moment then nodded. “The flames are not twinned—only the candles themselves. They light at the same time, and if we measure the amounts consumed, I would be willing to wager five—

*
—ius!
*

“What’s the matter, Lucius, re-thinking the wager?” Mathius said grinning, but the smile wilted. “Lucius?”

Lucius listened with his head cocked, but then he shrugged. “Sorry, I thought I heard… never mind. Now, I was saying that I would be willing to wager that equal amounts of each candle are used.”

“That’s not much of a wager!” Mathius snorted. “They lit together, they’re burning together. They must use an equal amount of wax.”

“Ah… no. If we restrict one candle to half its length say, but leave the other as it is, I believe they will still use equal amounts and burn for the same length of time.”

Mathius was having trouble believing that, but he dragged the candles toward him. “Let us try that, but not using a half—it will take too long. How about two stubs, one half the size of the other?”

“Fine,” Lucius said.

Mathius cut two stubs from one of the candles—about a thumbnail in length for one, and half that for the second. “I’m lighting the one on the right with magic,” Mathius said and lit the candle.

Lucius watched closely, but neither Mathius’s spell nor the matrix within the candles was distorted in any way. However, not everything went to plan. Both stubs lit as expected, but so too did the longer candles.

“Would you look at that!” Mathius said in wonder.

Lucius wrinkled his nose then laughed. “We should really have expected that, but I must admit to being somewhat surprised.”

Mathius was nodding, but then he frowned. “It will give us a false result.”

Lucius snuffed one of the candles, and the others winked out together. “Submerge the larger two in water then try to light these.” He said pointing to the two stubs. Mathius did that, but the second stub seemed to hesitate before it lit. “Do that again would you, Mathius?”

Lucius watched closely. Yes, there was definitely a slight hesitation. He checked the submerged candles but as expected, they were not lit. “The stub on the left hesitated for just the blink of an eye before lighting. I wonder if the candles are not actually lighting at the same instant, but sequentially. If we call the candle on the left number four, then it would light last. By submerging two and three we can see the delay, where before we couldn’t.”

“You’ve lost me, Lucius. How does this help with the mirrors?”

“Beats me,” Lucius said grinning. “But it’s fun isn’t it?”

*
Luciuuussss!
*

Lucius staggered under the hammer blow of Julia’s scream. It was as if she had screamed directly in his ear and inside his head at the same time.

“Lucius! Are you all right?”

Lucius leaned against the table clutching his pounding head. “Julia!” he gasped.

“What about her?!”

Lucius waved Mathius away trying to calm himself enough to grasp his magic. He succeeded finally, and tried to contact Julia mind to mind.

*
Julia! What’s wrong?
*

*
Lucius help—
*

Lucius waited, but she didn’t come back. *
Julia? Why don’t you answer me? Where are you?
*

Mathius was pacing fit to wear a trench in the floor.

“Julia’s in trouble,” Lucius said. “I don’t know where she is. She broke off almost as soon as she began.”

Lucius swept his table clear ignoring the clatter as everything tumbled to the floor. He placed his mirror in the experiment’s place. He barely noticed Mathius slam out the door, he was too busy trying to find Julia in the mirror. He was being blocked! Demophon, it must be him.

“I’ll kill you deader than dead for this!” Lucius snarled and stormed out of his room. He ran down to the courtyard shouting for the guards all the way. “Athione to me, the God blast you all! Athione!” he shouted again and heard the name repeated as guardsmen took up the cry and gave chase.

People popped their heads out the doors to their rooms as he ran by shouting for all he was worth. When he reached the courtyard Mathius was on a horse and riding out the gate.

“Mathius, you God cursed fool,
wait!
”

His friend ignored him and galloped out onto the cobbled street. The horse slipped badly, and he held his breath, but Mathius gained control and the horse did not go down. Mathius was glowing brighter than he had ever seen him. He must be using his sensing spell, but charging out on his own was stupid—the others would be unable to follow.

“What’s amiss?” Sergeant Burke said as he ran up to Lucius.

Lucius saddled his horse in record time. “Julia’s in the city somewhere and in serious trouble! Send to your lord that I’m going out after her.”

He mounted his horse and charged out of the palace grounds as Burke began shouting orders to every guardsman in sight. Lucius ignored everything but his inner senses. He wasn’t as good as Mathius with sensing, but he could feel his friend racing ahead. He followed him, it was all he could do.

He pushed his horse faster than was safe to keep from losing his sense of where Mathius was. He used his magic to keep his horse upright as he careened down alleys and cross streets jumping piles of junk accumulated over the years. He reined his horse to an abrupt stop, and nearly ended his journey right there as his horse reared. He glanced down the alley to his right and frowned—he had felt a glimmer of magic just then… he thought he had at least, but Mathius had not gone that way he was sure. Lucius bit his lip in indecision, but he had to follow the sure course. He turned his horse to the west and rode after Mathius. He found his friend kneeling next to a badly burned corpse.

“No…” Lucius whispered in horror and jumped down from his horse to kneel opposite Mathius.