The Castrofax (16 page)

“I couldn’t return. We feared my location had
been compromised when Mage Cordis went missing.”

“
We
?” Calsifer questioned strongly,
his military voice taking over. She flicked her eyes to the
tiger.

“What is Cain really doing?” she asked before
he could reply.

“Searching for a Mage. That is all I know,”
he answered as his calmer voice took over. “You—you
do
know
who Cain is, yes?” His voice fell and he took a step closer.
“
He
is Prince Nolen. Do you remember him?”

Her mouth parted, and she looked towards the
fire. “I have not seen him since I was seven. I was spirited away
from Kilkiny Palace before he took up residence.”

“You need to return to Anatoly City
immediately. I will send Aisling a bird that I’ve found you, but
you need to be on your way by morning.”

“Thank you, General, but we will make our own
plans.”

“Lady Aisling is the only person holding
Anatoly together! Queen Miranda has squandered the money reserves
on public relations and forgotten what it is to be a leader—if she
ever knew. Squatters from Cinibar take land across the Ellonine
year by year while Shalaban lands ships off the Myron Islands. Do
you
know
the Islands fell to them last year? Anatolians on
them are enslaved, and I’ve not mustered the strength to free them
because Miranda denies there is a problem.”

Robyn looked down at her tiger who kept his
eyes on Calsifer. “We are heading north. I should like to stay with
the party until they divert, then I will return to Anatoly
City.”

“Very well.”

She gave a sharp nod. “Do you remember my
warden Mage Cordis?” He nodded. “He went missing on his way to the
City. Did you ever hear anything suspicious two summers ago?
Vigilantes or outlaws or anything strange on the Cendal Road?”

“I never did. I thought Nolen might be
searching for him on this trip actually. Be careful around Prince
Nolen. He has a reputation for snapping his temper easily. I’ve
heard and
seen
enough things to know his well-earned repute.
Stay out of his path.”

“Thank you, General.” Robyn nodded. As he
turned she added, “I’m sorry I let you down.”

“The palace is not always safe, and safe is a
relative term.”

Robyn’s shame weighed heavily on her. She had
been living the life of ease thinking all was well when people
needed her. Selfishly she hoped to linger as long as possible in
the cottage with no outer contact, and all this time her people
suffered.
‘How could I have been so foolish?’

Gabriel’s warm tiger frame curled up beside
her, and she rested her head on his arms. Mercifully, he said
nothing after Calsifer left, and when he eventually did speak, it
was to ask about Nolen. Robyn knew little of him, and even in Urima
Manor stories about him had been few. She knew he had a twin sister
and an exiled father. She never considered Nolen was a Mage since
when she knew him, he had yet to attain an Element. She furrowed
her brow.
‘How could I have overlooked such obvious
details?’

By morning she was still glum, but the party
continued north and she did not deviate their path. General
Calsifer rode closer to her than usual until she gave him a glare
that sent him away. The last thing she needed was her cousin
identifying her. She still had not worked out his motives, but she
was sure they could not be trusted.

They continued north for two days before
camping a few miles south from the town of Sabin. They were main
producers of leathers and dyes for Anatoly, and even at this
distance the air mixed with fermenting smells. After they set camp,
Prince Nolen, the General, and a few men headed into Sabin for news
and drinks. Robyn had a few hours to herself to rest as Gabriel
slept, his breath puffing the dirt before him. Calsifer was the
first to return, riding Araybiatt hard into the camp before reining
in by Robyn’s tent.

“I’ve word from Lady Aisling. She thinks that
Nolen is searching for Mage Cordis’s son Gabriel, and Nolen has
mobilized his Air Guard.” He dismounted and let Araybiatt catch his
breath. “Have you heard from Mage Gabriel since you fled?”

Robyn reeled from the declaration when his
words caught up with her. “Wait…
what
?”

“I knew this would happen. I thought when we
stopped by Urima Manor that Nolen may be looking for the Mage
Cordis or his son, or—”

“You’ve come from Urima? Why did you not tell
me?” she hissed under her breath.

“It was inconsequential.”

“So Aisling thinks Nolen is after my
Gabriel,” Robyn growled and clenched her fists.

“
Your
Gabriel?” Calsifer scoffed.
“It’s been years since you left him.”

Robyn balled her fists at her side. “I never
left him. He’s right here!” she whispered and pointed to the
ground. Calsifer looked around the trees, peered into the tent, and
glanced over his shoulder at the men in camp. “General.” He snapped
his head back at her and slowly followed her pointed finger to the
golden tiger.

Calsifer met the blue eyes of the tiger
unblinking, and his mouth parted. “It’s not possible.”

“It is for a Class Ten Mage,” Robyn
whispered. Gabriel put his ears back and sent her a glare. “He
needs to know. What does Nolen want with him?”

Calsifer was still looking at the tiger.
“Stick your tongue out, and raise your left paw.”

“It’s him, be still,” Robyn snapped.

Calsifer cleared his throat and straightened
his coat. “I don’t know what the Prince wants, but Aisling said he
mobilized his Air Guard south.”

At that moment Nolen trotted into camp. Robyn
pushed pass Calsifer and marched over to the Prince as he
dismounted.

“Hullo, Zodie,” was all he got out before
Robyn pushed him square in the chest. He raised his hand at her but
decided otherwise.

“I am tired of gallivanting around like a
trained sheep. You’re going to tell me who we are looking for and
why, or I am leaving tonight,” she snapped. The eyes of the camp
were on her now, waiting to see if the man would answer or dismiss
her. “I will
know
if you lie.”

He scanned the men before meeting her eyes.
“Do you know the Queen’s Mage advisor, Lady Aisling?” he asked.

Robyn shrugged.

“Years ago she lost a dear friend of hers, a
Mage Cordis. We have been following leads all the way to Sabin, and
while I have not located the Mage, I believe I found the men who
abducted him. By tomorrow everything should righten itself, and you
can return to your cabin.” He gave a small forceful smile. The cut
on his lip was healing straight. “Now, would you like to push me
again and see where that gets you?”

“I think the first got its point across,” she
replied and left. As she returned to her tent, Gabriel and the
General were gone, but it took only a moment to track their prints
far into the forest.

She found them in a small depression in the
earth surrounded by old gnarled trees that offered solid cover.
Gabriel was in his human form, seated back against a fallen tree,
and the General stood not far off, bending his knees with a
delighted smile.

“Why are you out here?” she whispered.

“Nolen’s lying,” Gabriel replied. “Calsifer
says Nolen and Aisling are enemies. He would never do anything nice
for her, and I would be surprised if she told him my father went
missing to begin with—it would raise too many questions that would
point back to you. We, the three of us, are leaving tonight.”

Calsifer nodded. “I cannot say for sure where
the Air Guard is, but I am hoping they are still a day away. This
time of day an army would make camp, and seeing as there is no
camp, we should be safe.”

Robyn pointed to his bent knees with
question, and Calsifer looked in Gabriel’s direction.

“His ligaments needed inflating,” Gabriel
answered. He was garbed in his usual black trousers, white shirt,
with a pair of sturdy-looking canvas shoes. He could never alter
the color of a fiber, but he was deft at finding the correct colors
in nature unless he was being lazy, in which all his clothes were
gray. “We will head for Anatoly City staying off the roads to avoid
the army.”

“You two rest up until then. It will be a
long while before we can stop for rest in case Nolen chooses to
pursue us.”

“Which of us does he want?” Robyn asked.

“There’s no telling, Your Grace,” Calsifer
replied.

Robyn looked at him strangely. No one had
called her that in years. “We should retire with the sun.”

“Stay up and have supper to give Nolen no
reason to suspect,” Calsifer corrected.

They returned to the camp from different
directions at different times, and Robyn suffered through another
meal with Nolen, all the while watching him thinking
‘I know
your secrets, cousin.’

Gabriel wearily transformed into human form
once supper was over, and they locked themselves inside their
tent.

“Ready for a long night?” he asked,
tightening the band on his trousers with a pattern. He left a shirt
unfashioned and instead pulled a blanket to his neck.

“We should have seen this coming,” she
sighed, lying back into the blankets.

“I’ve always been too trusting,” he admitted,
pillowing his head with a hand. “There is time to talk later. Sleep
while you can.” He closed his eyes.

She turned her head to look at him, surprised
he had not changed into tiger form, but she said nothing, happy he
was comfortable beside her as a man. It was the first time he had
done such a thing, but before she could inquire, his breathing
changed as he drifted off.
‘Must be nice to fall asleep so
easily,’
she mused.

She caught a few minutes of sleep here and
there, listening to the noises of the camp. Gabriel slept
soundlessly on his back with a hand over his bare stomach. He’d
turned a few times, and the blanket was now half-draped across his
stomach and hip. She watched the rise and fall of his torso under
the moonlight streaming through the tent canvas.
‘His outline
looks silver.’
He was as handsome a man as she had ever seen,
gentle and trustworthy to match. She could not deny a part of her
wanted to call him her own, but she knew she could never have him.
He was too great a Mage and she would water his bloodline.
Still….

She cautiously reached a hand out to him.
Other than massage or a rare embrace, she never touched him, never
truly. Ever so carefully she laid her fingertips on his stomach and
waited to see if he would wake. When he did not, she gently pulled
her fingers across, feeling the curves and dips of his torso until
two fingers stopped atop a rib. He had a solid contact, and she had
always wanted to feel if he was as strong as he looked. When he did
not wake, she dragged her fingers down to his hipbone. It took her
a long, distracted moment to realize his breathing changed.

“Woman, you’re in dangerous territory,” he
said softly, causing her to jerk her hand back with a squeak.

Mortification painted her face as she put her
hand over her mouth. “I am
so
sorry, I thought you were
asleep.”

“That makes it better
how
?” he asked
slowly.

“I didn’t mean to offend—”

“I’m not offended—”

“Can you ever—”

His suddenly sat up, and his whole body
tensed. His fingers flicked and sent a pattern out away from camp.
“Thousands of men. An army,” he whispered. “It’s just over the next
rise. They’re coming.”

Robyn jerked her boots on and strung her bow,
and Gabriel grabbed her arm and pulled her around to face him. “I
will hold them back if they are here for you. If not, you need to
stay with the General and get out of the battle. Either way, run as
fast as you can from here.”

“Gabriel, can you fight an army?”

He clenched his jaw and thinned his lips.
“I’ve never killed a man before.”

She nodded. “Again, I’m sorry.”

His eyes looked pained and she felt a spike
of adrenaline as she expected a damning retort, but before his body
changed to tiger form, he managed to get out, “I’d be lying if I
said I didn’t like it.”

She gaped for a moment as he vanished through
the tent flap, feeling her chest clench with longing at this new
revelation. For a feeling second she saw her whole world
encompassing him if they made it to Kilkiny Palace, and she
realized the desire she denied herself could be actualized if he
shared her feelings. She rushed after him to ask what he meant, but
he was yards away and trotting to Calsifer’s tent.

Outside the camp was still awake. The fire
burned high, and Nolen sat looking as pleased as a pigeon. She
rushed to the General’s tent and woke him, but Gabriel stuck a paw
out and grabbed her leg. Slowly, he shook his head.
‘We’re too
late,’
Robyn realized, and thought for certain she heard horses
not far off. A crackle in the brush far behind her sent her
jumping, and she searched for moving shadows.

Gabriel turned and walked into camp, leaving
Robyn in the shadows as Calsifer readied Araybiatt. Eyes looked up
as the tiger walked in without his usual companion. Gabriel came to
the center, yards off from the fire, and stopped before Nolen. In
the span of two heartbeats, he transformed and stood to the chorus
of gasps. A few men even turned and ran, certain the veil to the
spirit world had opened and revealed a specter.

Nolen smiled coyly taking time to brush
himself off. “Oh,
there
you are.”

Robyn’s face felt cold as the blood drained
from it.
‘He knew. He knew all along.’

The men in the camp were silent as their eyes
flitted from the Prince to the Mage.

Gabriel folded his arms over his white shirt.
“What do you want, Prince Nolen?” That statement got a few titters
out of some.