The Castrofax (19 page)

Everything rushed back at him at once. Vision
sharpened, pain shot through him, and sounds of battle and
screaming filled his ears. He was not sure if it was he who was
screaming.

“Let him go, he’s harmless now,” Nolen’s
voice said above him. The hands and bodies on him released, but
Gabriel remained where he lay. His mind kept him in a state of
shock as he processed the last few moments over and over again,
trying to change the outcome to no avail. Overhead the stars
blurred in fuzzy pinpoints.

“Spirit Mage!” the Prince yelled. Voices
sounded around him and people shuffled in and out of his vision,
but he lacked the strength to move. His lips parted wider as he
sucked in a shaky breath and tears slid down the sides of his
face.

An older man in a yellow mantle came into his
vision, a face he did not recognize. By his mantle Gabriel knew him
to be a healer. Battle Mages always accompanied legions to help
heal the wounded.

“Fix him up. Make him ready for travel,”
Nolen commanded, standing off to the side of Gabriel’s vision.

“He’s far gone, m’Lord,” the man said in a
thick backwoods accent. “He’s lost a lot o’ blood.”

“Fix him
quickly
then,” Nolen
snapped.

The Mage quickly began sealing the wound to
his leg. “M’Lord, Mage Aries was killed in the foray, and Mages
Dareis and Melen dispersed to heal. I cannot heal him fully and
still have stamina to tend to the rest.”

“Stitch him up and leave the rest for Lady
Aisling.”

The Mage nodded and lifted his hand from
Gabriel’s leg sealing the long gash on his hip. “This will hurt,”
he said as he put a palm beside the quarrel. Quickly he yanked it
free, but Gabriel did not scream. The quarrel had pierced deeply,
and the work to repair it would take a while, but as the Mage
worked, Gabriel realized he was only patching the skin.

“I ain’t never seen such a thing in all my
life,” the Mage whispered as he worked. Gabriel judged him to be a
Class Four by his handle of the patterns. “Falling stars. Bless me!
The bards’ll sing o’ that for Ages. Nah I don’t know Lady Aisling’s
skill in healing, so you must tell her to mend the bones in your
leg and ribs. The ribs aren’t broken bad, but need some patching.
I’ll need to roll you to your side to get the shaft, so stay with
me.” He had a pleasant voice through the chaos in Gabriel’s
mind.

The Mage rolled Gabriel to his right side and
pulled the shaft free slowly. “It just went through muscle, yer a
lucky man.” Gabriel inhaled and felt the pain with every breath. “I
can’t mend it fully. You must understand I have other men to tend
to. I’ll stitch the edges together, just like that.” He finished
sealing the shoulder and rolled him back taking up Gabriel’s hand
and leaning forward to meet his gaze. “I’m…sorry.”

He let Gabriel’s hand go and stood, giving
the Prince a short report before running off to tend to the worst.
Gabriel had still not moved or said a word, grappling with his mind
that challenged reality to substitute his own. “Fetch the wagon and
load him up,” Nolen stated.

Slowly Gabriel raised his wrists to look at
the copper bands, cold against his flesh and glimmering in the
firelight. He stared at them for some time while hoof beats sounded
through the cries of the dying.

“What did you do to him?” a voice shouted,
and for a moment Gabriel hoped it might be Robyn, but the voice was
too deep to be a woman’s. He parted his wrists to look at the
newcomer on a palomino palfrey.

“Balien?” Nolen’s disbelieving voice asked
sharply. “What are
you
doing here?”

It had been years since Gabriel saw Balien,
but the face was the same though he had grown into a handsome man
with slender legs, waist, and a thick torso. The golden hair was
almost the same as Robyn’s. The Prince wore a red coat to blend in
with the men, but the sword belted around his right shoulder was
unlike the simple swords soldiers wore on their left hips. Balien
kept a firm hold on his palfrey and looked down at Gabriel. “I
asked
what you did to him.”

“And I asked what you are doing here.”

Balien side-stepped his palfrey a pace
towards Nolen and backhanded the Prince as hard as he could before
smoothly dismounting. Nolen reeled back and flicked together a rod
of Air, clubbing his cousin. Balien remained unbothered by
something it looked like he was used to. He rushed to Gabriel’s
side.

“Brother? Look at me. What is wrong? Stars
above, you are covered in blood. Can you hear me?” He struck a high
cord as his voice inflected concern. “What is wrong with him?”

“Shock, I imagine,” Nolen replied and turned
to a soldier. “Where is that wagon? Go find it!”

Balien gripped Gabriel’s shoulders and gave
him a shake. “Brother, look at me.” Gabriel met his eyes slowly.
“Talk to me. Are you weakened? Have you lost so much blood? Did he
do something?”

Gabriel put a hand on his neck, feeling the
neckpiece for the first time. “He’s…gelded me.”

“Wha…?”

“My Elements,” Gabriel choked out and felt
the tears fall anew. “They’re gone.”

Balien took a moment to sink in his words
before he marched over to Nolen, and punched the man solidly in the
jaw. Nolen managed to dodge the worst of it, but Balien’s signet
ring left an impression. “You star-crossed fool, are you
so
blinded by greed? Remove those things at once!”

Nolen chuckled and wiped his cheek. “Not
without killing him.”

“Explain.”

“The only way a Castrofax can be removed is
if the Mage within dies.”

Gabriel closed his eyes as the truth sank in.
‘Trapped. Trapped forever.’

Balien stood there stupidly, staring
wide-eyed at Nolen before he pointed at the Prince. “I will make
your life a walking nightmare.”

Nolen took a threatening step forward. “With
the power of a Class Ten at my fingers I am the strongest Mage
alive, and by right I stand above your hierarchy. You would be wise
to stay out of my way.”

Balien leaned forward. “You have no power
over me.” He turned back to Gabriel and took a knee. “Brother, I
will ride for the City and make ready for you.” He gripped
Gabriel’s shoulder for a lingering moment, his face unsure.

“Go,” Gabriel whispered. Balien nodded and
jumped into his palfrey’s saddle. Kicking her sides, he sped
northward out of Gabriel’s vision.

“Why?” Gabriel suddenly spat out, his voice
heavy with emotion. In the momentary lapse of his focus, his mind
reached out to seize Spirit, and he was cruelly reminded of his
fate. For a moment he latched onto the Element, but in his fatigue
it slipped loose, and he grunted as though punched. Nolen smiled a
little.

A lumbering carriage pulled up close by but
could not reach them for the piles of bodies. The carriage looked
like a moving prison painted black with two small barred windows
and a well-locked door in the back. The driver jumped down and
unlocked the backdoor.

Nolen pointed to several waiting soldiers and
snagged a passing forth with a raw burn to the side of this face.
“Get him up and in the carriage.”

Two men grabbed Gabriel’s arms lifted him.
Gabriel made a pitiful attempt to resist but lacked the strength.
Nolen followed them, twirling a set of three conjoined rings around
one finger with a dark smirk. The men hefted Gabriel into the
carriage and laid him on the bare and comfortless floor.

“You,” Nolen said to the man with the burn.
“Ride with him. Make sure he does not try to kill himself or
escape.” The man swallowed and gave a small nod. The doors shut
behind him, locked by several deadbolts, and darkness fell on them.
Blessedly, it was quiet inside.

The carriage lurched to a start, bouncing
over several large objects that could only have been bodies. The
soldier took a seat; his burned side turned towards Gabriel, and
draped over his bent knees locking his fingers together. Gabriel
watched him not sure what to say, and noticed the man’s fingers
trembled. He looked again at the face. He was young and
average-looking with ears a little too wide and a nose too bold.
The burn scarred well up into his hair line, melting his left ear
and probably leaving his eye without use. When he blinked, the lid
did not fully close. Blood still seeped from his cheek and ear, and
his lips trembled a little in the dark.

“How much pain are you in?” Gabriel asked
softly. His mind slipped loose from the shock as it fixated on
something else. For a blessed few breaths, he forgot his fate.

The boy licked his lips. “I’m not to converse
with captives.”

“Then grant me your name, and I will say no
more.”

The soldier gave a moment’s pause.
“Lieutenant Lex Shepherd.”

Gabriel raised his hands and focused all his
energy finding Spirit. Deep inside his chest, it stirred weakly,
like a fluttering bird buffeted by storms, but he could still feel
it. If his power was not completely gone, then at least he had some
hope. He lay there for some time, struggling to seize hold of the
Element he knew so well, waiting for strength to return. Finally he
pulled the strings from his chest with a triumphant feeling and
laid a healing pattern.
‘Let us see which Castrofax this
is.’

He reached out a hand and snapped to get the
boy’s attention. Lex looked like he would resist, but finally
leaned to the side and raised his good eyebrow. Gabriel could
usually apply a healing pattern without touching a person, but in
his weakened state he did not think that possible. He touched a
finger to the boy’s neck, and before Lex could pull back, Gabriel
fueled the pattern.

The boy jerked back and raised a hand to his
face as the skin mended, lifting the burns and scrapes to renew
flesh, rebuilding the ear and eyelid, bringing light to the eye.
The only thing that could not be rebuilt was the hair. Before Lex
could run a hand over the new skin, Gabriel gasped and let out a
silent scream as pain ripped through him.

The previously healed wounds tore back open,
stretching wider this time and digging deeper. As he gasped in
another breath he felt the weakened ribs give, flexing as he
exhaled. Pain took vision from his eyes. The scream finally found
its way to his lips, and with its dying note he lost
consciousness.

Robyn watched the battle from Araybiatt’s
saddle, clamping her legs so tightly to the destrier that Calsifer
had to keep him tightly reigned. Her hands gripped the General’s
shoulders as she watched volley after volley of men swarm forward
only to fall back. The sounds of war filled her ears, battle cries
followed by death throes. Some men even turned and ran when
lightning began to fall from a cloudless sky, while others stopped
to watch in horror.

After some time it occurred to her Gabriel
had not used his Water Element and she knew he must have not been
able to find its energy. Slipping from the saddle, she snagged
Calsifer’s water canteen, dashed to the edge of the rock and shook
it.

“Majesty, please get down!” Calsifer
whispered and grabbing her shoulders, pulling her to a knee. “If
they take him, you will need to lie convincingly that you did not
know his identity.”

“They will not take him,” she replied
defiantly. She had long ago lost track of the numbers dead, and at
this distance, the piles of bodies could be anything from three to
eight men each. She knew Gabriel’s skills, knew him well enough to
have faith he would slay every man. He suddenly doubled over with
an arrow in his right leg. That was right about the time the stars
seemed to fall from the heavens in a terrible and wonderful display
of his might. She had never seen such a thing, and her respect for
him grew. The battle felt like it raged for hours, but no more than
twenty minutes passed.

The smile on her lips slowly slipped as a
rider broke through his defenses and Gabriel cast the man to the
ground. As the horse skittered about the enclosure, to her surprise
Gabriel went to the man. “What is he doing?” she whispered.

Calsifer leaned forward and squinted. “She’s
a member of the Maiden’s Calvary.”

“A woman,” Robyn exhaled.

Gabriel suddenly reeled back, clutching
something on his wrist before drawing a knife. A quarrel took him
to his back and Robyn felt the sharp scream escape her lips.
‘Sweet stars, he’s not going to make this.’

She jumped to her feet yanking her bow and
quiver free. Riders filtered through his fire barrier, and she took
one down, quickly followed by another. The distance was
significant, but she had practiced for well on nine years.

“Those are Maidens,” Calsifer warned.

“And that’s my Gabriel they’re after,” she
replied, notching another arrow and picking her target. A bannerman
fell with an arrow in his shoulder, and she cursed the distance.
Stringing again, she took a woman down off to Gabriel’s far right.
There was a scramble inside the barrier, and she feared hitting
Gabriel, so she waited. When everything smoothed, Gabriel was
pinned down with his limbs spread, and Nolen was advancing with a
far-too-confident stride.

She took down a man crouching on Gabriel’s
leg before directing her attacks on the Prince. The arrow bounced
off him. She tried again.
‘Curse you to the darkest
skies!’

She watched in horror as Nolen knelt over
Gabriel with something metallic in his hands and put it around
Gabriel’s neck. When Nolen stood, and the soldiers released their
hold on Gabriel, Robyn finally realized what the object was.
Gabriel lay where he had fallen and made no attempt to rise, though
she could see his eyes were open.

“A Castrofax,” she whispered and brought her
hands to her lips. The General’s face snapped up to look at her.
“Oh stars, Gabriel, no, no….”

“The Elemental-binding shackles?” Calsifer
asked and rose to his feet. “But those were lost to the Ages—or
locked away in Castle Jaden.”