Unbound (30 page)

Without waiting, she began walking towards the
elevator, her confident stride indicating that she expected us to follow.
 
Staring at her impeccably dressed back,
I looked down in dismay at my rumpled clothing and brushed my hair with my
fingertips, hoping to ease the worst of the snarls. I supposed it was too late
to ask to use the washroom.

Grim-faced, Eaden met my eyes with no trace of a
smile. His hand rested on the small of my back as we moved silently in her
wake. Reaching the burnished steel doors, she punched in a code that seemed
ridiculously long. They slid open noiselessly before us and shut just as
silently once we were all enclosed. My heart thumped heavily in my ears and my
palms felt so damp I was continuously wiping them off my jeans. From the corner
of my eye, I saw Elora reach out tentatively to grasp Mara’s fingers, although
her eyes remained locked on the doors.

The hydraulics of the elevator were so advanced that I
barely registered we were moving, but the small space seemed smaller
nonetheless, the air thicker with each breath. Sensing my panic rising, I began
to fret uselessly about the likelihood of having a full-blown panic attack
before the Council, which of course, did nothing to ease my overall level of
anxiety. Becoming frantic, I turned to Eaden, desperate enough to be soothed if
necessary. One glance at him told me that he was as terrified as I was, only
better at hiding it. His body rigid, the cords of his neck stood out under the
pressure of his clenched jaw. Only his eyes maintained the flat neutral
expression he wore as a mask. It should have sent me over the edge. His panic,
coupled with mine. At one time it might have. Instead, I slipped my hand into
his and leaned against his arm. We would get through this together. Or we
wouldn’t. But knowing he needed me as much as I needed him made it easier.

The doors slid open before I had even recognized that
we had stopped. The airy, brightly lit room we stepped into was as spare and
elegant as the lobby, somehow reminding me more of a corporate office than the
headquarters for the assembly of ancient beings. Another almost identical
efficient-looking woman greeted us with a cool smile. Folded over her arm was a
garment bag, which she handed to Amerlyn deferentially. Mara helped him unzip
and remove the long, black cloak that he donned atop his corduroy pants and his
woollen sweater. He looked like a caricature of a druid. If the circumstances
had been different, I might have giggled.

“The proceedings are quite formal, young one, but do
not doubt I will be working on your behalf with all the power bestowed to me.
Do not speak unless you are called upon, but when you answer, do not
dissemble.” He squinted at me kindly and patted my cheek. “Speak your heart,
Rachel Dawes. It has the answers.”

Tugging the heavy wooden doors open, the small woman
gestured towards us and we filed slowly into a room that was like no other I’d
ever been in. At the far end of the chamber, I counted twelve men sitting on a
raised dais. The thirteenth seat stood empty, presumably Amerlyn’s.

The floor beneath my suddenly trembling legs was solid
onyx, radiant and deep in the daylight that streamed in from the swath of
windows above us. On either side the walls were constructed of translucent
glass; above us, tiers stacked like layers on a wedding cake, each tier jutting
out with its own observation gallery. It was more like a gilded birdcage rising
to the heavens than a council chamber.

And on each of the galleries above us, floor upon
floor, witnesses gathered to watch the proceedings. They were all men. They
were all immortal. My entrance seemed to cause a slight stir; shuffling and a
low murmur filled the space and echoed throughout the vast chamber. Each and
every pair of eyes in that room regarded me with a cool interest that chilled
me to the bone. Like Stuart, these men would have never felt the presence of a
Mafte’ach
before. Never imagined what it
would be like to feel their own reaper. Their first brush with mortality. No
wonder they regarded me warily. It made me wonder what it would feel like to be
able to sense the presence of another, the way Eaden and the others could sense
me, never alone, and yet not wholly together either.

As I spotted Stuart’s fierce hair among the crowd
easily, his shoulders sagged with relief at the sight of Sita, whole and
healthy. I met his eyes, and although he didn’t smile, they crinkled around the
corners in a way I was already familiar with. Half-raising his hand
self-consciously, he grimaced and then let it drop quickly.

I glanced at Eaden, hoping he hadn’t noticed Stuart’s
apprehension and saw that his eyes were locked on the dais. I’d thought he
might remain a bit more distant in this formal setting, that he would defer to
the long tradition of emotional containment that being an immortal seemed to
entail.

I thought wrong.

He walked directly behind me into that overwhelming
gilded hall, with his customary protective vigilance. When we reached the dais
and stood within the white marble square marked in front of it, he placed me
physically behind him and leaned to whisper in my ear. “Stay close.”

Amerlyn continued slowly past us and approached the
dais, climbing the short flight of stairs to take the empty seat.

The thirteen immortal men who sat as still as stone
facing me were nothing like one another in colouring or physicality, but for
one remarkable characteristic. Each and every one, save Amerlyn, appeared to be
in peak physical condition. Young, virile, radiantly healthy, they stared down
at me with dispassionate interest, their alien eyes examining me curiously,
like a bug in a jar.

The three intrepid Sisters, my new friends, stood
silently behind me.

Nobody moved.

Finally, the man in the middle of the dais with clear blue
eyes and white-blonde hair turned to look at Amerlyn. “
Salve
Veneficus
. The Council is always
honoured by your presence among us.” His words were tinged with a Scandinavian
accent.

Amerlyn
inclined his head graciously, but did not speak.

They
stared at each other for long moments until the man turned his gaze back on us
and looked directly at Eaden.

“
Coniunctis
viribus
.”
                                                                                           

The
floor rumbled beneath my feet as hundreds of male voices replied in unison, as
if by rote, “
Aeternus eternus
.”

Eaden’s
face was impassive as stone as he joined in the intonation.

The
man tilted his head slightly as if trying to hear something behind the words
Eaden had repeated. “Greetings,
Bellator.
It is unusual for the Council to convene twice in so short a time. Once
again we find you are the catalyst for this assembly.”

He
moved his eyes from Eaden’s and looked intently at our small party. His mouth
twitched slightly. “And you’ve brought guests from the North. How intriguing.
We welcome the Sisters of Cailleach to the Council.” He inclined his head
formally towards them and then dismissed them with the briefest glance. His
porcelain-blue eyes returned to Eaden. “But it is the young mortal female who
has truly brought us all together, is it not?” He looked at Eaden expectantly.

Eaden
stiffened slightly, his eyes guarded. “Rector Gabriel Anselm, may I present
Rachel Leah Dawes to the Council.” He stepped slightly to one side to allow the
full weight of the Council’s gaze to fall upon me. Stunned, I almost staggered
back at the impact. If time itself could be embodied, it would look like these
men’s eyes. Eternal, infinite, inhuman. It was like looking at a mountain and trying
to comprehend the forces that had created it.

“Greetings,
child. It is rare to have a mortal amongst us. There have been very few of your
kind who have known of us, much less been given the opportunity to stand before
us. Perhaps you do not realize the commotion you have caused. It is
quite…unprecedented.”

I
said nothing, mindful of Amerlyn’s warning, but also because I had no idea what
to say. How do you answer time itself? Floating somewhere beside myself,
disconnected from my body, I was sure that I should be terrified and was surprised
that I was merely stunned. The weight of their immortal eyes was like a
physical force on my skin.

Gabriel
appeared to notice Eaden’s protective stance beside me and frowned, if only
slightly. “You may leave the mortal and join the others.” His tone was
indifferent.

Eaden
stepped back in front of me instantly. “Respectfully Rector, I cannot.”

I
saw a flicker of impatience flit across Gabriel’s perfect brow before it
smoothed again. “You cannot?”

Eaden
shook his head imperceptibly and a low murmur rippled across the dais.

“It
is unlike you to be impertinent.” He looked down at the end of the dais.
“Amerlyn, perhaps you would like to offer the Council an explanation for the
irrational behaviour of your pupil?”

Amerlyn
nodded agreeably. “With pleasure. Eaden cannot leave his
Mafte’ach
unguarded as he believes she is in danger. There have
been two attempts on her life, thus far. I daresay he is not eager to find out
if the third time is actually a charm.”

The
murmur now spread from the dais to the balconies above us. All twelve men
turned their gaze on Amerlyn, who merely shrugged. “Come now, let us not
dissemble. Do you deny knowledge of this, Amun?” He raised an eyebrow at a man
with olive skin, a hooked nose and sharp cheekbones sitting at the other end of
the platform. He reminded me of the dark prince on the cover of my tattered
copy of
One Thousand and One Arabian
Nights
, a book my father had often read from before I went to sleep at
night.

Amun
looked slightly bored. “You really do need to find a more useful hobby, Wizard.
Your interest in mortals borders on the obsessive.”

Gabriel
addressed Amun directly. “Have you attempted to damage the female
Mafte’ach
in advance of the Council’s
decision?”

Amun
shrugged lazily. “As the Council is aware, my student was confused by her
call.” His eyes glittered as they fell on me. “He acted impulsively and has
been punished for it. We cannot blame the lion for snapping at the gazelle when
it bleeds in his presence, can we? She is rather…compelling.” He flicked his
eyes up to the second-tier balcony and I was unable to stop myself from
following the direction of his gaze. Instantly, I wished I hadn’t.

Sabas
stood with his arms folded, watching the proceedings below with detached
interest. Catching my eye, he winked and flashed me a mocking smile. My mouth
went dry.

Amerlyn
sighed. “It was an attempt no less. And the airport?”

Amun’s
eyes opened wide with innocence. “Was the mortal harmed at an airport? She
looks fine to me. But if one of my students has violated her in any way, please
do tell me.”

A
low growl seemed to be emanating from Eaden’s throat and his eyes were locked
on the second tier with a ferocity that frightened me.

Gabriel
held his hand up for silence. “Enough. Eaden’s rights over his
Mafte’ach
, no matter how unusual the
circumstances, cannot be called into question. If he believes his ownership is
being challenged, Council law decrees he may protect her.”

Ownership?
Was I a pet to these people?

“If
I may?” Amun interjected. He waited until Gabriel paused and then went on.
“Eaden stood before the Council less than two weeks ago and renounced his
claim. Truly, she is no longer his
Mafte’ach
.”

If
he’d been mortal, Gabriel might have sighed. Instead, he simply twitched an
eyebrow. “A valid point, Amun, but as evidenced by his actions, Eaden appears
to have changed his mind. Until we decide how best to proceed with this matter,
he will be allowed to remain close to his mortal. He seems quite...attached.”
Distaste coloured the last word. “I’d like to move on to more important items
that need to be discussed.”

My
insignificance as an individual was a foregone conclusion.

Gabriel
gazed along the line of immortal men on the dais, their faces expressionless
under his scrutiny. “First, Amun has proposed that the
Mafte’ach
be studied intensively in a bid to understand the genetic
basis for her...unique characteristics. This has been met by a counter-proposal
– put forward by Amerlyn – requesting that she be released and suggesting
that the Council formally abandon its efforts to genetically alter the mortal
race any further.”

The
low murmur above us rose in intensity to an audible buzz.

Gabriel
continued, unperturbed. “Each Council member will be given an opportunity to
substantiate his proposal, after which a decision will be made. “ He looked
pointedly at Amun and then at Amerlyn. “A final decision. I mean to have this
matter settled before the end of the day. I do not intend to let this fractious
issue cause further dissent among us.”

Rising,
Gabriel pitched his voice to address the now-silent men who watched from above,
shoulder to shoulder. “
Antiquus Fratri
,
for millennia you have been entrusted to witness the events of the human race.
Today you are called to witness the Council’s decision. Whatever the
conclusion, all who are present will be the record keepers of our history.
Coniunctis
viribus.”