Raven's Hand (21 page)

I suspect that what happened next was
completely unexpected by everyone in the room. The results of this
ritual were not a triumph. It could not possibly have been called a
success.

The brilliantly luminescent sword came
stabbing down through the water of the pool into the foundation
stone of the pedestal itself. Nathan staggered backward, dropping
the bejeweled chalice upon the flagstones. He was choking, clawing
at his own throat, gasping in agony.

Energy was thrown outward from the sword,
shattering the pedestal. Evelyn barely managed to throw a shield up
with her wand before pieces of rock hurled through the air at us.
The shield forced the power of the explosion away from us just in
time. Red hot fragments beat against the opposite wall, and a wave
of hot wind blasted around the circular chamber, buffeting us like
a whirlwind.

Nathan was foaming at the mouth, lying on his
back upon the floor. Evelyn lunged for her son with her wand,
waving it over him. I sank down beside them, my strength spent. My
wrist was still bleeding. I concentrated what little strength I had
on stopping the flow from my arm.

I barely managed to muster enough power to
close the wound. Still, a purple bruise spread beneath the skin.
The pain had diminished to nearly nothing by now.

Kane swept into the chamber amid the smoke
and debris. Many of the wall sconces had been extinguished by the
blast of wind from the explosion. He stood over Evelyn and Nathan,
but did not interfere.

The queen barely took notice. She worked
feverishly with her wand, attempting to draw out the poison from
his body. That was what this looked like. He looked like someone
who had ingested something deadly.

Gradually, Nathan’s spasms began to subside.
His labored breathing evened out. Evelyn lowered her wand and its
luminescent runes diminished in brightness.

Evelyn looked sternly at me and then up at
Kane still standing over us all. The blessed sword had shattered
the pedestal and its pool of water and now stood upright, buried
halfway into the foundation stone. Nathan appeared to be
unconscious, but he seemed better now.

“What happened?” Evelyn asked her assassin.
“Why did the ritual fail, and what has happened to my son?”

Kane looked down at the sleeping prince and
then to Evelyn and finally to me. “I suspect, Mistress, the girl
cannot bond with Prince Nathan at the moment.”

Evelyn looked at me and then at the assassin.
“Why not?”

Kane grinned in my direction. “Obviously, the
girl is already bonded to someone else.”

My mind reeled at Kane’s statement. Already
bonded to someone? I had only ever been at the abbey. I had not
been bonded to anyone at any time. Dazed, I remained on the ground
wondering at this possibility—only it couldn’t be a possibility!
Could it?

“What are you talking about?” Evelyn asked,
standing abruptly to face her servant.

She only stood to the height of Kane’s
throat, but she did not show any hesitation. Somehow, Evelyn was
not intimidated by the assassin. No doubt, he could have killed her
on the spot. We all realized this, but Evelyn didn’t care.

She was King Stephen’s wife, a queen, and she
would not cower. Despite my feelings of contempt for the woman, I
could not help but be impressed by her demeanor. She commanded
respect by title and privilege and attitude alone.

I had no such courage as this. I had no title
or position of power. I was a Daughter of Eliam with great control
over the energies present in the creation. Still, quite honestly,
Kane scared me to death.

“Mistress,” he said deferentially, “I have
seen this before. Her blood is compromised.”

“But how is that possible?” she said to him,
turning to look at me disapprovingly. “Are you saying she performed
the ritual with another?”

“No, Mistress,” he said. “I believe, in this
case, it may be as simple as a kiss.”

“A kiss?” she said. “You mean the boy?”

The assassin nodded once.

“A bond made by her love for him and a
physical connection,” he said. “The blessed blade appears to also
be connected to him. He used it to stop my advance in the alley,
when I came upon them together.”

Evelyn stammered for a moment. “But how?” she
said. “I don’t understand.”

“Perhaps, Mistress,” Kane replied, “it is
more important to believe that it has happened and come to terms
with what must be done to undo it.”

Evelyn turned back to him. “It can be
undone?”

Kane grinned in his devilish way again. “A
bond can only be broken by death.”

The realization of that statement suddenly
hit me like a tidal wave. Could it really be true that Killian and
I were bonded, as Kane had said? Immediately, I felt that I knew
the answer to that question.

I loved him and would die for him. I could
feel him even now somewhere in the dungeon below, feel his pain and
sorrow. We were one, despite the fact that I had no idea how a kiss
could do such a thing. And, because that bond stood in her way,
Evelyn would surely kill him in order to break it.

“No!” I screamed, attempting to come to my
feet.

Evelyn’s hand came down hard, striking me
across the face. “Silence!” she bellowed, her voice echoing off of
the stone walls of the Malkind temple chamber.

“Hold her here,” she said to Kane. She raised
her wand. “I’ll deal with Radden’s son myself.”

She started out of the chamber, her hair and
her dress in a disheveled state. Kane remained behind, standing
over me as I wiped blood from my mouth where Evelyn had struck me.
The assassin smiled down at me.

“No, please!” I pleaded, as she walked over
the threshold of the room. “You promised he would come to no harm,
if I cooperated.”

Evelyn turned then, her wand held so that she
could strike out at me if she desired. Yet, the runes remained
dark.

“You are the one who killed him, girl,” she
hissed. “You killed him with a kiss.”

I was left in the smoking ruin of the Malkind
Temple. Honestly, I couldn’t help but wish that I had been the
direct cause of this disaster. I would have liked nothing better
right now than to set this entire palace aflame with Evelyn and her
son and her assassin inside. Wishful thinking, but impractical
now.

Prince Nathan had been removed to another
room where a physician was looking him over for injury. It may have
been that he was incapable of continuing with the ritual today. It
was too bad my blood hadn’t killed him straight away. At the very
least, this mayhem might have bought me some bit of precious time.
Yet, what to do?

Kane stood guard here in the chamber. He
remained so still, I was beginning to wonder if he had fallen
asleep. But I was sure that wasn’t the case. If I tried to escape,
or move an inch from where I had been left sitting upon the
flagstones, he would know it and stop me.

The revelation of my apparent bonding still
had me reeling. With my mind, I thought it must be impossible. Yet,
with my heart, I felt like it had been true for a long time—ever
since I had fallen in love with this boy in my dreams while still
at the abbey.

Could I have bonded with him in my dreams?
Perhaps, it hadn’t been the kiss at all. Maybe, I had been bonded
to Killian for much longer. Perhaps, that was why I was able to
communicate with him in those dreams.

My eyes remained fixed upon Kane standing in
the chamber near the blessed sword. Minutes ago, the assassin had
attempted to remove it from the base of the pedestal. He couldn’t
even keep his hand upon it. I almost laughed, when he jerked his
hand away. He looked like he had taken hold of a hot coal.

My thoughts went to Killian—not just
wondering about him, but trying to seek him out and make some
connection like we had in our mutual dreams. This required me to
split my mind. Finding him turned out to be almost effortless. Was
our connection really so strong?

He was still in his cell in the dungeon
nearly one hundred feet below and to the south. Killian had
regained consciousness. I could feel his waking mind. A more
concerted effort on my part allowed me to sense his thoughts.

Killian wanted very badly to get out of his
cell. He was angry and concerned. These thoughts gave me pause and
broke my heart. He was concerned not for himself but for my
well-being. He wanted to save me from my fate as Nathan Rainier’s
slave.

Something else was happening now. I sensed
new thoughts, turmoil and hatred. He was focused upon someone. The
queen had arrived in the dungeon.

I pushed my mind out even further, trying to
join as completely as possible with Killian, so that I might know
what was being said. Words were exchanged between them, but I could
not make out the conversation. Still, I could feel the mounting
tension in that chamber far below.

Something happened that made Killian fear.
His life was about to end. I could sense his resignation, his
desire to live, and the understanding that he would not.

I cried out in my mind, desiring to see him,
to feel him in my arms. Why could I not have had a vision of him
now? I reached into the depths of power residing inside me, as a
Daughter of Eliam, more than ever before. Killian came into sharp
focus with Evelyn standing before the bars of his prison cell.

She raised her wand to strike him down. The
runes glowed brightly. This all happened in a fraction of a second.
I had no time. Evelyn meant to end his life. Eliam, help me! What
can I possibly do?

Killian stood when the door opened at the end
of the corridor. He heard the voice of the queen commanding the
guard to attend to her. The big oaf complied quickly, making every
attempt to bow and scrape for her as he ushered her down the hall
toward his cell.

The guard brought a torch with him and placed
it in an iron sconce upon the block wall. He then stepped away, so
that Evelyn might speak to the prisoner unhindered. Still, he
remained only a few feet away, just in case Killian attempted to
harm her in some way; though, with thick steel bars standing
between them, it seems unlikely.

Evelyn started a little when she saw him. She
had not expected the young man to be so battered about the face.
His jaw was swollen and purple, as well as around his eyes.
Rivulets of blood had dried upon his skin, issuing from cuts and
scrapes inflicted recently.

He appeared rather ghastly, and Evelyn
wondered for a moment if the soldiers might have entertained
themselves after the boy’s capture. Still, she had not come down
here to do the boy any favors. He was the cause for the ritual
failing. He was the reason why her son had almost died while
attempting to bond with the girl. Killian Radden-son had outlived
his usefulness.

The young man came to the bars in his fury.
His voice was muffled. His jaw appeared to have been broken during
the beating he had suffered. That was now the least of his
worries.

Evelyn found herself yelling at the boy,
telling him how foolish he had been to interfere in her affairs.
She was angry, but Killian Radden-son was only incidental to the
situation. Evelyn’s temper had loosed because her family was in
danger.

A civil war could erupt over the fate of the
throne at any time. House Rainier was ill prepared for a major
conflict. They might hold the capital city, but they’re power and
resources had waned since Stephen’s health began failing him. The
multitude of business contracts held by the throne had gone to
rival houses in recent years, making them more powerful while
Rainier slowly diminished.

Evelyn had attempted to intervene, to make
things right and negotiate their long held arrangements. However,
the king’s health was public knowledge. Those businessmen who had
once dealt faithfully with the crown, knew how to recognize the
winds of change blowing. They hedged their bets on Rainier’s rivals
which had only fueled the likelihood that one of the great houses
would take advantage of the situation and seize control.

As queen, Evelyn saw her kingdom slipping
away day by day. As a mother, her son stood to be executed in order
for power to transfer to whatever house chose to put its heir on
the throne. As a wife, she felt alone. Her husband had become a
burden, and a childish one at that.

Now, her anger burned hot and she would no
longer hold it back. This boy must die in order to have any hope of
saving her great house. She raised her Malkind wand, pointing it at
Killian’s chest. The boy, for his part, did not flinch away. He
stood firm, ready to receive what she would deal to him.

The wand brightened as its runes illuminated
with the power Evelyn awakened with her thoughts. Those thoughts
were death to Killian Radden-son. The power of the Malkind spirits
would fulfill her desire gladly. A bolt of power erupted like
lightning from the glowing tip of the wand.

It forked outward through the prison bars and
struck the wall behind, leaving a flaming scorch mark upon the
stones. Evelyn stammered, searching for the boy she meant to kill.
However, Killian Radden-son was no longer there.

I gasped as the energy from Evelyn’s Malkind
wand charged through the air at my love. My eyes flew open, only to
find Killian standing before me in the temple chamber next to the
shattered pedestal. He had been beaten severely about the face and
head, but I could still see the shock in his expression.

I had no idea what had happened. One moment
Killian had been below in the dungeon facing a bolt of power from
Evelyn’s wand that would surely have killed him, the next he was
standing before me, appearing without so much as a sound. We stared
at one another in bewilderment for mere seconds before I remembered
who else was in the chamber with us.