SpellBreaker: First Ordinance, Book 4 (22 page)

When she died
.

While Karathia didn't have anything equivalent to a national newspaper, I did consider that I might read of her passing in the Archives with something akin to a smile.

Hegatt—well, when I considered his death, I also considered doing a celebratory dance of some kind. I looked forward to seeing Warlend, so I might understand his thinking when he took Helsa as his second wife.

Helsa and Hegatt were so overwhelmed with their particular insanity and greed that I couldn't get the full history of the marital alliance from them—not from Warlend's perspective, anyway.

Poor Wellend—he didn't have a clue, since his parents hadn't confided anything to him through the years.

Wallend is here, with his wife and the twins
, Ilya warned.
Deris has already set hay on fire as a prank and Daris is arranging her hair and asking her mother which style is better to meet with Hegatt.

Are their parents attempting to control them?

Deris is already a stronger warlock than Wallend, so nothing from him. His mother warned him not to hurt the horses, but that's it. They're coming toward the house. Get ready
.

Perfect. The only thing worse than spoiled brats was powerful, spoiled brats with no parental control.

"We need extra sandwiches, tea and cake," I announced to the kitchen staff. "Prince Wallend and his family have just arrived."

* * *

The kitchen felt like a place of solitude with all the activity going on throughout the rest of Helsa's palace, until the moment Deris chose to visit.

Filth here
, Bekzi announced as he chopped vegetables for the evening meal.

Deris strode in with a swagger, dressed in the finest brown velvet jacket and pants, with a cream silk shirt and knee-high, calfskin boots.

"I hated the cake you served at tea," he said, his back half-turned toward me. I could still see his face, however.

Lie
.

I watched as he studied the shelves of canisters, jars and sealed containers of spices, sugar, salt and other cooking supplies near the massive cooking stove.

"You have to be punished for such shoddy work," he turned his full face on me, then. Everything on the shelf exploded as the spoiled fucking brat disappeared with a laugh.

"No, stay back," Bekzi cautioned the others as I surveyed the mess.

The mess I could fix.

Deris had fired the first volley at me. I saw what I'd expected to see in him—contempt for those he considered less than himself. The only person he had any sort of respect for was Hegatt, and only because Hegatt was currently stronger than Deris and didn't put up with any rudeness from his grandchildren.

With a sigh, I employed power to put everything back to rights in the kitchen, watching in grim satisfaction as the smallest jar of the most expensive spice dropped into place at the last.

Not even a dusting of flour was left on the kitchen floor afterward. It would take a Fourth-level talent to do what I'd just done—to the extent I'd done it. "I hope you all know to stay quiet," I turned back to our helpers, then.

All three nodded silently. They were just as helpless as the rest of the staff and understood their employment, as well as their lives, could hinge on that reserve.

Going back to work on the evening meal, I considered what else I'd seen in Deris Arden before his abrupt exit.

He thought himself special. Not because he was the son of a Prince and a potential heir to the throne.

No.

He thought himself heir to a prophecy—a prophecy he hadn't been allowed to read as yet.

The strongest of tornadoes will lift trees, homes, debris and even soil into its whirling vortex, rendering it so dark you can no longer see what is churning inside it. Bekzi, Ilya, Gerrett and I were watching the storm come toward us, with no idea what it would batter us with before it swallowed us, too.

"Go back to work," Bekzi ordered our assistants. "We make good food. Nobody else say different."

He was angry; I could hear it in his voice.

Our three assistants felt defeated. This was just one more insult in a long line of insults hurled at them by one who thought himself more than special. One who went out of his way to belittle those about him, even if it took lies and violence to achieve that goal.

I wondered if Daris believed the prophecy, too, both now and in the future, and worked at her brother's side to ensure he was given his due.

I hoped Warlend knew the prophecy; if he didn't then I had digging to do. Cooking for this family left little time to search quietly through family history to find something so small, it could be a single sentence in one of many, massive volumes in Helsa's library.

Wellend didn't know it—I'd seen him already and there was nothing concerning a prophecy in his eyes.

"Have you seen Deris?"

Wallend appeared in the kitchen, making me jump.

Turning toward him, I blinked as I read what he was in seconds.

An angry, angry man.

Who knew of the prophecy.

It was written in Warlend's book, after all.

The last living Q'elindi had given this prophecy to Warlend's father, before setting off a spell to end his life of serving Worlend.

Your son's son will father a child who can rule Karathia better than any other who has come before
, the Q'elindi said.

Wallend had been allowed to read Warlend's book, as he'd fathered children.

Wellend, whose wife remained barren, had not been allowed to see it.

Hegatt and Helsa knew of it through Wallend, but Deris couldn't take the throne before he gained his majority at twenty-two.

Perhaps Hegatt wanted to jump the gun and put Helsa on the throne first, then allow Deris to take over once he was old enough.

Eight years would be more than enough time for Deris to refine his talent for torturing people; his father and grandparents believed that Deris was destined to be a king like no other.

He would be—it just wouldn't be to their liking.

Wallend didn't know about the coup; that plan had not been hatched, yet.

I wondered why.

Two eight-days remained before the date came as recorded in history and reported by those who'd survived.

* * *

Le-Ath Veronis

Lissa

"My father had some skill at drawing; my talent is less," Kellik informed me as he handed a comp-vid to me. On it were his renderings of the machines he and Rigo had seen on Goor-Phin.

"Was your father a vampire too?" I asked. Rigo told me that Kellik was turned by his own grandfather, who was long dead.

"No. My father—there are records in the Hraedan archives," Kell shook his head. "My father hated my grandfather's teachings. He loved money more than he loved his family, and often left my mother and me alone while he attended court."

"So your mother is your grandfather's daughter?"

"Yes. My father married into the family. I believe Mother regretted her decision to marry him many times. Eventually, my father was accused of treason and died in his cell by his own hand."

"Treason?"

"Selling secrets against the crown," Kell shrugged. "He was caught before he could cause a great deal of damage."

"Do you know what secrets?" I asked. Something bothered me about that revelation, but I couldn't say what.

"Those were never publicly disclosed; the trial was private rather than open and only a handful of the King's most trusted advisors attended, that's how sensitive the situation was."

"I understand," I said, although I worried just the same. I would have to speak with Rigo about this, just to see when the plans for the N'il Mo'erti were removed from the King's treasury on Hraede and hidden by the Rith Naeri.

I pitied Kell, too, if he ever learned what his father may have done. Kellik was honorable in every cell of his body. Learning that his father may have been responsible for this sort of betrayal could bring harm.

"I see you've figured out my family secret," Kellik's smile was sad. "My father did perhaps the worst thing any Hraedan can do, and sold out not only his own people, but those of the Alliance, too."

"Are those his drawings?" I asked, reaching for my own comp-vid in a desk drawer.

"They are mostly his drawings, Tiessa," Kellik dipped his head. "A few things have changed, and I know those things are not my father's handiwork."

"You've seen them already?" I blinked in surprise.

"Rigo showed them to me. You forget, Tiessa, that we are the ultimate spies. Very little will get past us."

"Tell me which parts are not your father's drawings," I pushed the comp-vid across my desk. "This way, perhaps we'll know what it is that Deris and Daris seek in changing those machines."

"This," I pointed to one component in the machine's schematics. "It looks to me as if this should have been larger—as if something were left out."

"That's the computer brain controlling the machine," I whispered.

"And these, here," he pointed to a drawing of the power cells that kept the machine working, "These have been changed, but I cannot say how. Also, this," he indicted the weapons system. "This has also been altered in some way."

"You know all this because you know your father's hand at drawing," I shook my head. "You have a very, very good memory, Kellik of Abenott."

"It has served me well," he dipped his head to me. "I would give my life to see these machines destroyed forever."

"I want those machines destroyed, too," I sighed. "But I don't want it to take your life. We need you, Kellik. Now, perhaps, more than ever."

"Then call me Kell," he smiled. "My closest friends do, and I prefer it."

"Thanks, Kell," I said. "Are you hungry? Might I interest you in lunch?"

"Ah, food. I'd forgotten what a pleasure that was," he grinned. "Yes. Lunch will be good."

* * *

Tulgalan

Bel Erland

"Rigo says they didn't see Quin on Goor-Phin, but they didn't go everywhere on that plantation—it's enormous," Granddad said. "We do know that only Daris is there, likely overseeing the drakus seed operation and protecting the army of N'il Mo'erti stored there."

"So we know Quin was on Hraede, but she could be with either Deris or Daris, now. Why would the Orb send her to those two, without letting her get rid of them, somehow?" I asked.

"We don't know or understand the Orb's ultimate intentions," Dad said.

We'd sneaked away from Karathia and now sat in a private room at Dees, where Mom was supposed to join us for dinner. Drinks and appetizers were set on the table for us, but we'd barely nibbled and sipped while we discussed the current status of the twins. At least we knew where Daris was, but things were pointing to the fact that Deris was the more dangerous of the two.

Corolan, who often disguised himself as Dad, had taken up residence in Dad's private suite so nothing would seem amiss.

The private room here was spelled against intrusion or listening devices as we held our discussion. "We're here," Mom arrived with Farzi and Nenzi. Nenzi gave me a huge smile and a hug before sitting next to me. Farzi tousled my hair and sat on my other side so Mom could sit with Dad.

"What's going on?" Mom asked after Dad kissed her—maybe longer than normal.

"We know where Daris is, but not Deris," Granddad said.

"Where's Daris?" Mom's eyes are green—she inherited them from her grandfather. Mine are deep brown; I'd inherited them from my grandfather. Her green eyes were trained on Dad and Granddad.

It didn't matter that Uncles Farzi and Nenzi were here; they'd never give this information away.

"On Goor-Phin," Dad said, lifting Mom's hand to kiss it. "The intel we have was gathered quickly, so we don't know whether Quin is there or if she's with Deris, wherever he is."

"Strange that the twins split up now," Mom said, reaching for a breadstick. Nenzi pushed the basket toward her so she could reach it easier.

"We know what Daris is doing, protecting a huge plantation filled with drakus seed plants and sheds filled with N'il Mo'erti," Granddad grimaced. "We don't know what Deris is doing, wherever he is."

"What are Kooper's plans for the N'il Mo'erti?" Mom asked before crunching into the breadstick. "Mmm, cheese crusted—my favorite," she mumbled.

"They're still working on that," Dad said. "Everybody's worried that this may not be the only cache, and if that location is taken, it may release chaos on the Alliances."

"So we're watching and waiting? Is that it?" Mom shook her head.

"That's pretty much it," Dad declared. "BlackWing VII has found six more wrecked freighters, with nobody alive on board and the cargo taken, just like before. Those ships were loaded with everything from preserved foods to comp-vid components."

"We can't infiltrate the Goor-Phini plantation?" Mom asked.

"There are spells to prevent unauthorized visitors, you can count on that," Granddad huffed. "It's clear enough that Deris placed a shield over the entire place; sat-bot images confirm that."

"Both he and Daris have placed a disturbance spell on the property unless I miss my guess," Dad nodded.

"What about snakes?" Farzi asked.

"What?" The rest of us turned toward Farzi when he spoke.

"Same spell for animals, or just people?" Farzi continued.

"I would imagine that it's for people," Dad began, then stopped as the implications came to him.

Deris and Daris were looking for humanoid infiltrators, in all likelihood. There were snakes aplenty on Goor-Phin, in addition to other animals—small and not so small.

"Snakes get in," Farzi shrugged. "Shapeshifters too, if they look native."

"Why didn't we think of that before?" Granddad scooted his chair back and stood. "Yes," he slapped a hand on the table while a slow smile spread across his face. "I'll be back," he said.

"Tell Mom I said hi," Dad grinned.

Chapter 13

Le-Ath Veronis

Lissa

"I believe the reptanoids will all volunteer—except Bekzi, who's with Zaria, wherever she is," Erland said.