Maylin's Gate (Book 3) (48 page)

“I think now, it was sorrow and confusion.” She shook her head. “He must’ve thought I’d lost my senses. I suppose I had.”

“I’m sorry,” Jo said.

“I never should have meddled with dark magic. Why didn’t I just go to Elan?”

“It’s not all bad,” Jo said.

“What can possibly be good about any of this?”

“Elan said he knew a way to remove the dark magic. Don’t you see? You can rid yourself of the curse.”

She squeezed the notebook. “Maybe Elan left the answer in here. The next step is to translate the journal’s contents.”

“Is that her?” A voice came from outside the alcove.

A chill raced along her spine and she jerked her head toward the intruder.

A monk with close-cropped white hair and white eyes stood a dozen paces away and pointed.

Beside the monk, a blue souled knight held a ball of spirit in an outstretched palm.

Beside the knight, a short nobleman with a thin goatee and a haughty sneer pointed a gold cane toward her and Jo.

“That’s her,” the nobleman said. “She’s an impostor.”

Her stomach sank and she reached for her dark magic.

The soul knight squinted and stepped toward her and Jo. “You’re sure?”

Jo squeezed her hand and she released the magic. A wave of exhaustion swept through her body. Tapping into her magic would continue to drain her unless she took a life.

“Neither of these…law breakers has any business in the archives.” The nobleman pounded the cane against the marble floor. “I demand an immediate arrest.”

“There’s no need for tempers,” the soul knight said.

The nobleman limped across the alcove wearing a look of murder.

Her stomach dropped. They’d found her. Now what? Execution?

Jo squeezed her hand tighter. “Don’t leave me.”

She furrowed her brow and glanced sideways.

The nobleman paused before the women while the monk and the soul knight lumbered behind.

The weasely man glowered between the women before grabbing hold of Jo’s arm. “Thought you could get away with it did you? Lord Balmoral will see you hang.”

Jo’s face turned ashen and blue shields sprang to life around her and Jo.

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

Condemned

A blue haze of electricity swirled and buzzed around Danielle.

Why had Brees left her locked in this room? Was he torturing Jeremy, Keely, and Arber? Or worse, were they dead? How had she underestimated him? She considered herself a good judge of character, but Brees’s betrayal left her numb.

Dim light filtered through a murky window leaving her cell draped with shadows.

She stretched her mind outward but met the barrier's resistance. She dared not touch the field. She’d made that mistake before. A mistake that nearly cost her life.

A low rumble came from across the room and a wall of light appeared in the corner. A robed man stepped into the light and paused.

The rumbling stopped. The man strode forward and appeared before her electrical prison.

Brees peered through the barrier wearing a grim expression.

Insider her, anger flared. “Let me out,” she said raising her voice above the low hum of electricity.

Brees held her gaze for a long moment. “I’ll drop the barrier on one condition.”

She folded her arms and glared.

“You give your word that you won’t try to harm me or anyone else until you’ve heard me out,” Brees said.

Not hurt anyone? This from the man who stole two of the world’s most precious artifacts and locked her away. “What have you done with Keely, Arber, and Jeremy?”

“They’re fine. I promise.”

“Your promise is worth exactly a hill of beans,” she said.

“I swear on Catalin’s life,” Brees said.

She glared without speaking. What alternative did she have? Stay here forever? She couldn’t do that.

“If I’d wanted to harm you, I would’ve already,” Brees said.

She gave a short sharp nod. “I promise,” she said through clenched teeth.

A lopsided grin covered the shaman’s face, and the electrical field dropped.

Heat spread through her cheeks. She found no amusement in her situation. Fresh air washed over her and she breathed in chasing away the stifling humidity of her prison. “I want to see my friends,” she said without taking her eyes from Brees.

“And, I’ll take you to them after we talk. They’re all awake and fine. We’ve not mistreated any of them.”

“Where are my belongings? You’ve stolen both Elan’s and Lora’s spheres. You will endure the wrath of two nations should you not return them immediately.”

Brees grinned again.

“Am I amusing you?” She said. “I find nothing about this funny.”

Brees motioned toward a table in the room’s far corner. “Come sit and we’ll talk.”

“I prefer to stand Mister Broderick.”

Brees sighed. “There’s no need for anger. We saved your life or did you forget?”

“I think that’s a bit of an overstatement,” she said. “I would’ve managed.”

“Didn’t coming face to face with that tree tell you all you need to know?” Brees said. “The trees are parasites.”

“I happen to know that’s not true,” she said.

“I’ve told you about the gate. I’ve told you about what waits on the other side. Why do you continue to pursue this? Do you want to see your friends and family endure a fate far worse than death?”

“Of course not,” she said.

“Then why?” Brees stared at her dumbfounded. “Go home Danielle. Work on a cure for the plague, but leave the trees out of it.”

“Don’t you find it the least bit troubling that the plague has left Zen untouched?” she said. “Why do you suppose that is?”

Brees held her gaze for a long moment before speaking. “The tree might have prevented the spread of the disease. I won’t argue that.”

“Then let me retrieve the cure. I’ll pop in and pop out. After that, you can do whatever you want with the gate.”

“It’s not so simple. Why won’t you believe me?”

“A two-thousand year old legend won't sway me into inaction. Unlike the rest of you, I choose to rely on facts,” she said.

“Legend? You think we’re making this up?”

“Like any cult, you’ve grown up believing a thing that no longer holds truth. Meanwhile, a very real plague is decimating your people and you seem not to care a whit.”

Anger flashed behind Brees’s eyes.

Satisfaction welled inside her. She grinned. Take that Brees Broderick.

“It’s not a legend or a myth. It’s real and I can prove it.”

She barked out a short bitter laugh. “How? Can you suddenly time travel?”

“I can do better.” Brees motioned toward the door. “Come with me and I’ll show you.”

“How do I know a hundred sorcerers won’t incinerate me as soon as I step through the door?”

Brees stopped at the open door and waited. “We’re not all bad. I promise. Come on.”

“If I agree, I want to see my friends first.”

“Fine. But, I can’t agree to let them go until I have your word you’ll leave Obsith and go home.”

She would never agree to those terms but she thought better than to say so. She edged forward and stood at the opening.

A smooth marble hallway ran a short distance ahead and disappeared around a corner.

“Lead the way,” she said.

Brees brushed past her and disappeared around the corner.

She followed the shaman down the hallway.

A few feet ahead, Brees paused before a closed door. Outside the door, a sorcerer and shaman stood at attention. The shaman acknowledged Brees with a slight nod.

She reached inward and grabbed a thread of Lora’s magic. If they attacked, she wouldn’t go down without a fight.

Brees waved her forward. “Come look through the window.”

She edged forward keeping an arm’s length from the obsith casters.

The sorcerer and shaman exchanged an uneasy glance before the shaman spoke. “Make sure the lady keeps her distance Ajahn.”

She hadn’t heard that honorific used since the day she met Brees.

“It’s okay Brian,” Brees said. “She’s given me her word.”

Brian, the shaman, shot Brees a dubious look but nodded without further comment.

“Come look Danielle. They won’t bite. I promise.”

Did Brees think her afraid? The idea enraged her. She pushed past Brees and peered through a window built into the door.

A blue weave of electricity flowed across all four walls obscuring the people inside.

Movement caught her eye and she tracked the source.

At a table in the room's corner, Keely, Arber, and Jeremy hunkered over trays of food. None appeared injured.

She exhaled and relaxed.

“I’m not interested in harming you or your friends,” Brees said. “None of us are. Under different circumstances, you’d find many allies here.”

She stepped back but wouldn’t meet Brees’s gaze. “Thank you Mister Broderick.”

Brees’s eyes registered disappointment. The shaman started to speak then paused.

Had she been too hard? Brees did save her life. But, he’d chosen to lock away her and her friends. For what? A silly superstition?

“Satisfied?” Brees said.

“For now.” She smoothed away an invisible wrinkle on her blouse.

“Come on,” Brees said. “What you need to see is down the hallway.”

Brees led her from the cell and walked ahead through a series of twists and turns. Brees walked past rooms filled with scholars and warriors. Other rooms held books and trinkets. Most rooms stood sealed behind stone doors. No windows to the outside appeared along the hallway.

“Where are we?”

Brees paused and turned to face her. “This is where the Brotherhood convenes. Many of our brethren call this place home.”

“Do you have something against sunlight?”

A regret-filled smile touched Brees’s face and a slow ache throbbed in her gut.

“We’re underground,” Brees said. “Beneath Zen.”

“It doesn’t take a genius to figure out we’re underground. Where in Zen?”

“Not the city of Zen,” Brees said. “A hundred yards up lies the great dragon’s skeleton.”

“You mean we’re literally under Zen?”

Brees nodded. “Come on. This is it.” The shaman’s lips moved and the amulet around Brees’s neck glowed a light shade of pink.

A rumbling came from the door before her. A slab of etched sandstone slid away revealing a room enshrouded behind a haze of swirling energy. Streaks of blue, red, and yellow light crisscrossed in random patterns and flows.

Brees held up a hand. “Don’t go near it Danielle. Not until I know it’s safe.”

She had no intention of testing the barrier's strength.

After mumbling a few words, Brees’s amulet flared. A blinding pinpoint of light glowed inside the amulet.

She raised her hand to shield her eyes.

Like a curtain, the energy barrier parted. An amorphous silver object appeared before her.

“You can step through the opening,” Brees said. “Be careful not to touch the barrier. The wards are strong enough to level the entire complex.”

She edged forward and stepped across the opening.

Brees stepped through after her. The light in the shaman's amulet faded and the barrier sealed shut.

A silver glowing tubular-shaped vessel sat hunkered like a caged beast. Like a school of fish, threads of red light moved in unison across its surface. A low throbbing hum came from its surface. At the vessel’s near end, an opening appeared. An opening large enough for a grown man to pass through loomed as if waiting to gobble up its next victim.

Her flesh crawled. “It looks like —”

“An affinity chamber,” Brees said finishing her statement.

She edged backward and goose bumps flared across her neck. “Is it?”

“It’s not an affinity chamber,” Brees said. “I believe it inspired the affinity chamber’s design. Only the emperor can answer for sure.”

“What is it?” She said.

Brees stared at the vessel for a long moment without speaking.

“Don’t you know?”

“I don’t know how to answer your question,” Brees said and faced her. “Nobody knows where it came from or who built it.”

“Did Trace build it?”

“No,” Brees said with an edge of certainty.

“What does it do?”

“It explains…everything,” Brees said.

“You want me to go inside. Don’t you?”

“I think it’s the only way to convince you.”

“What if it kills me?”

“It won’t kill you,” Brees said, but she detected a hint of doubt in the shaman’s voice. “Traversing its chamber is part of the ritual for entering the Brotherhood. Every member must pass through it.”