Alchemist's Kiss (28 page)

“We will need you to evacuate as many of the prisoners as possible.” Icarus agreed. Something niggled at his mind, a feeling that the answers lay just before him.

“I can place protective wards about the ship,” Archimedes offered, “and make sure any enchantments bounce away.”

Icarus let his mind wander. He still felt that sensation that something important lay just beyond his consciousness. He knew his father fairly well. A man driven by ambition and a hunger for power, he cared for nothing and no one. Icarus' mother and sister, his own son, had all been means to an end for Victor Kane. Once Icarus had hoped his father spared his life all those years ago because of some deep-buried sentiment, but now he knew the truth. His father was only biding his time until he felt Icarus was ripe for the vortex of power that existed within him. That feeling bombarded him, that the way to defeat his father was so very simple. Why could he not realize it?

“Icarus?”

He looked up at Cora's question.

“Is something wrong?”

“Everything is wrong. My father has baited an obvious trap, and he knew we'd get to Robert first. It's why he left Robert with all the answers and a message for me. Still, I feel as if I am missing some crucial point to this. Some answer that lies just outside my reach.” He shook his head. “It eludes me.”

“Let us not forget that Victor has The Hand.” Cora's hand clutched convulsively at her bodice, as if remembering the feel of the talisman. “He will be even stronger with it.”

“Gah!” Icarus turned away, pacing back and forth across the deck. This was the moment of reckoning. The deaths of his mother, his sister, Rivensbrow, and all the people of Longmoore could finally be revenged, and yet he could not see how it would be done.

“Let me contact the aether.”

He paused, mid-step, and stared hard at Cora.

“This cannot be a full assault of your father and his defenses. Likely he has considered every contingency. We must think ahead, anticipate his strikes and his manipulations.” Cora took two steps to him, her hand wrapping around his. “He is a dark wizard, Icarus. Another of many we have faced. We must treat him as we have treated all those before him. Out think him, and destroy him in the end.”

“It will not be easy.” Icarus squinted, the nagging at the edge of his consciousness more insistent. “He has The Hand and the dark aether will rush to do his bidding, looking for a chance to cause chaos.”

“I will need to go deeper than ever before. Speak to the aether on a level that I have never reached before.” Cora took a deep breath, “I will need you to hold my hand, Icarus.”

He tried to break away, but she held firm.

“Cora---”

Her glare cut Archimedes interjection off mid-sentence.

“Take off your glove and hold my hand, Icarus.”

“No.”

She stepped closer, her green eyes earnest and filled with love. “You will not hurt me by touching me with the rune. You are the doorway, I am the voice. The aether will not harm us.”

Horror flooded him. Memories of his first few weeks with the rune, and the impossible urge to release the aether into the world to work. It had killed any living thing it came into contact with. He clenched his hand, the shriveled body of a stray cat he'd dared to pet coming to mind. He flinched when Cora's hand cupped his jaw.

“This is the only way. I must be open to the aether.”

“If you die---” he couldn't finish the thought. Bile choked his throat and he gagged on it, turning from her to lean over the rail. He breathed deep as black dots moved over his vision and his chest constricted with panic.

“I won't die.” Cora was next to him, and he felt the press of her hand on his back. “Icarus, trust me.”

“I do trust you.” he looked at her. The wind whipped a blush to her pale cheeks, and tossed her curls about in riotous abandon. “I do not trust me.”

“It's time to start trusting yourself, then. Would you hurt me?”

“Never. I'd die first.”

She smiled, leaning closer so that he could hear her soft reply over the breeze. “Good. We must do this. It is what we have been running toward, and away from, all this time. The aether is ready, Icarus. It works through us. Let it.”

“I am...afraid.”

She tugged him back from the rail and stood before him, hands on her hips. She tapped the toe of her boot on the deck and shook her head. “Courage is not the absence of fear, Icarus Kane, and you know it.”

Her ire roused him, the challenge in her voice invigorating. “I know.”

“You're the most powerful wizard in the world. Act like it!”

“Whatever we must do, we need to hurry.” The dread in Archimedes voice brought them back around to him and Levisque. He was pointing to the forest, where a thick column of smoke had begun to rise from the trees. “Your father is starting without us.”

“You can do this, Icarus.” Cora smiled gently at him and held out her hand. “Take off your glove and take my hand.”

I did not expect immediate capitulation. Icarus was not the type of man to do as another person said without some thinking on the matter. He stood, frozen, his hand halfway to mine for more than a minute.

“Cora, is this really the way?”

I glanced at Archie with a smile. Such a loyal concern in his dark eyes. His metal hand was clenched, along with his jaw. “Have you ever known something was true, with no doubts?”

“I have.”

“I
know
this is the way. The aether told me before, there are few of us left with the ability to communicate with it. To channel it as Icarus does. It will not hurt us.”

“With that much aether running through your body...” he trailed off, his lips tight. “...look at what happened when all of us were joined in the circle. Imagine the power in every vein. Every pore.”

I turned back to Icarus. “Do you think the aether will harm us?”

“I've seen it do terrible things. When I touched something living with the rune...”

I tried to hold my frustrations inside. Archie and Icarus were protective of me, and that would never change. I looked to the captain for support. “Captain, we must speak to the aether. Would you have us go to Victor with no answers?”

“I wouldn't see you harmed in the process.”

I wanted so badly to be angry with them, but I could not. I understood their fear, and their worry that Icarus' rune would hurt me. What I could not explain was the insistent pressure in my chest that burned and bubbled with the certainty that this was the way to learn the information we needed.

“I must be open to the aether in a way I have never been before.” I tried logic in my argument. “The Hand created the connection in the past, but now it works for your father. I need you, Icarus. I need you to be the bridge.”

The smell of smoke drifted to us, and on the ground I saw Bastion and Lucia turn to look at the evidence of Victor's plan as it rose over the treetops.

“We don't have time for arguments, Icarus. You know I'm right.”

“Icarus---” Archie's words were stopped by a sharp shake of Icarus' head.

“I'll do it.”

I smiled, triumphant.

“I'll...touch you...with the rune.”

The words hurt him, I could tell, but I smiled at him. “Come.” I held out my hand.

It was painfully slow to watch Icarus remove the glove. One finger at a time, a deliberate extrication of his digits as breathed long, deep breaths. When his hand was free he handed the glove to Archie.

“Most likely I will have trouble controlling the flow. If it appears I cannot stop, put the glove back on. Carefully.”

Already blue light was pooling between Icarus's clenched fingers. It streamed and flowed around his hand, a whirlwind of energy. The pressure around us grew, the aether swarming. In my mind I pictured the brightly glowing particles as they had looked when Rivensbrow had illuminated them with his machine. The Captain rubbed his chest with his hand.

“Is this normal?”

“I'm afraid so.” Archie folded his arms over his chest and glared hard at Icarus and I. “If anything happens to the two of you, I swear I will come to Hell simply to pound you flat again.”

I moved to the big man, the best friend I had ever known, save Icarus. I stood on my tiptoe to kiss his whiskered cheek. “I do love you, Archimedes.”

“And I you, Cora Mae.” He grinned at me, pride and fear together in his eyes. “As I might have loved a sister. A troublesome sister.”

His teasing made me laugh as I turned back to Icarus. His eyes were wide, his face pale. Lines of strain pulled out from his mouth, creasing his cheeks and narrowing his eyes.

“Enough dawdling, Icarus.” I used my best imitation of Miss Jane, my schoolmarm in Virginia. “We've work to do.”

I stepped closer. I didn't move fast, but my stride was deliberate. When I faced Icarus again I breathed deep, drawing in the sweet fragrance of foxglove and wood smoke. I reached for him, taking his chin in my palm.

“Cora.” His voice was hoarse, his arms shaking with the strength it took to control the aether teeming around the rune. He swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing.

I smoothed my hand over his cheek, sliding it gently into his hair. His curls wrapped around my fingertips and I pulled his lips to mine. When we were less than a whisper apart I spoke.

“You are the doorway, and I am the voice. Let them come.”

With painful slowness I reached out with my right hand for his left. The blue light swirling around his hand had substance. Weight. It resisted my palm, feeling as a bubble in the bath might feel. I pushed harder, reaching for Icarus through the haze around his hand. When our skin touched lights danced behind my eyes, obscuring the world around me. I gasped, the sound reverberating through my head, echoing into infinity. I blinked, tracing the lines of the brand with my fingertips.

“Palm to palm.” Icarus' voice was faint, but he was right. I stretched out my fingers and laid my palm to his.

***

“This must be what the world was like before the light.” Icarus thought.

Icarus blinked, but it did not erase the inky blackness that surrounded him. He could feel the insistent rush of the aether as it poured through the doorway he had opened between worlds. A plug of panic spiked through his chest, his heart beating harder and faster beneath his ribs.

“Cora!” His words had no weight. They bounced back to him and the heavy fear pulsed. “Cora!”

What had he done? Bile, foul and hot, crawled from his stomach to his throat. His breath came faster, sawing in and out of his lungs. “Cora!”

“Calm down.”

He shook, his knees without the strength to hold him up but he was still standing. She was here. “Where were you?”

“Next to you.”

Her voice was full of exasperated superiority, and he reveled in the sound.

“I haven’t moved a muscle.”

“I cannot see.”

“Neither can I.”

Fingers wrapped around his, squeezing. He breathed in, slowing his heart and letting his panic subside. “What happened?”

She was closer now, and he could smell roses and powders. There was a tickle of her hair across his cheek.

“We have been moved. We are no longer on the ship.” Her tone went speculative, her fingers squeezing his again. “This must be the world of the aether.”

“It looked like Longmoore when we were here last.”

“That wasn’t the aether’s world, it was a memory they plucked from your head.”

Icarus knew the pressure of the aether was growing stronger between their palms. He tried to see what lay around them, but the cloud of black still shrouded them.

YOU HAVE COME.

Icarus stiffened. The words came to his mind, not from his ears, but seemingly from inside his own skull. They reverberated within him. From Cora’s startled gasp it was the same for her.

“We need your help.” Cora’s voice was quiet in comparison to the sounds of the aether.

WE ARE DESIGNED TO ASSIST.

“My father has The Hand and several other dark wizards in his service. How can we save his captives and defeat him?”

WE ARE DESIGNED TO ASSIST.

“Tell us how to defeat Victor.” Cora moved beside him as she spoke, her movements causing her arm to brush against his where their hands were joined.

WE MAY ACT WITHIN THE CONFINES OF THE LIMITS WE HAVE PLACED. TO ACT OUTSIDE THE PARAMETERS WILL RESULT IN TERMINATION.

The aether spoke with stilted precision, enunciating each word carefully. Icarus was not sure it could understand what they wanted, or even if it cared. It was a presence that was wholly inhuman, and though they painted it with human traits in their minds, it was likely the aether had no understanding of morals or justice. “What are the parameters?” he asked.

TO CAUSE TERMINATION OF EXISTENCE IS FORBIDDEN; WE MAY NOT DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY CAUSE THE TERMINATION OF EXISTENCE. WE CANNOT ALTER THE FLOW OF TIME. WE CANNOT ASSIST BEYOND THE LIMITS OF CURRENT UNDERSTANDING.

“You cannot kill, either directly or indirectly you cannot change the past. I do not understand the last rule.” Icarus went over the words in his head, but couldn’t fathom their meaning.

“You are not allowed to give us ideas or advancements in science or magic; we have to come to them on our own?” Cora guessed from beside him. Icarus could not help but grin at her wit. While he fumbled for understanding she grasped it immediately.

TIME IS FLUID HERE. WE SEE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. WE MAY NOT ALTER YOUR PRESENT UNDERSTANDING OF THE UNIVERSE, IN TURN ALTERING YOUR FUTURE.

There were many things Icarus knew about magic, and his understanding of the world was broader than most, but the aether’s revelations left him feeling small. Insignificant in the face of beings that lived outside of time. To them, he and his cause must seem irrelevant. “People will die if we do not intervene.” He tried to explain. “Can you help us?”

WE CAN ASSIST WITHIN THE SET LIMITS.

So they aether could help them, but only while working inside their rules. He closed his eyes, thinking hard of a spell or alchemy ritual that might direct the aether as he needed, without breaking any of the rules. It became clear to him why the aether seemed to choose how to work. Heavy lifting, building, and even warping was within their limits.

“How do dark wizards make the aether do terrible things with blood magic, then?” Cora’s voice pulled Icarus from his thoughts. “And we kill demons, so do we not break the first rule?”

              BLOOD MAGIC CAN ALLOW US TO WORK OUTSIDE OUR PARAMETERS FOR A SHORT TIME. IF THE RULES ARE BROKEN, TERMINATION OF EXISTENCE IS REQUIRED.

“You die.” Icarus felt Cora’s hand tighten reflexively in sympathy for the aether.

The aether did not reply, but Icarus knew that it must be true. Blood magic forced the aether to break their rules, and in doing so they were killed as punishment. He swallowed hard at the disgust that swamped him.

DEMONS ARE NOT TERMINATED. WE RETURN THEM TO THEIR PLANE, AND SO WE ACT WITHIN THE RESTRAINT OF OUR RULES.

Icarus knew that what he was learning now would spark many a fireside ponderance on a dark winter’s night, but now was not the time to ruminate over it. He gathered his wits and tried to focus on the task at hand. “So, if I can design a spell that doesn’t break any of the rules, you could help me?”

WE ARE DESIGNED TO ASSIST.

He took that as a yes. He began to have hope for the first time that he might be able to devise a spell to get all his father’s captives out alive. “Thank you.”

YOU ARE THE DOORWAY. SHE IS THE VOICE. THERE ARE FEW WHO MAY INTERACT WITH US NOW. WE ARE DESIGNED TO ASSIST.

“Can Icarus and I come back?” Cora asked. “When this is all over?”

WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND, “ICARUS”.

“The doorway. His name is Icarus.”

AH, YES. YOU HAVE DESIGNATIONS FOR INDIVDUAL UNITS. THE DOORWAY AND THE VOICE MAY RETURN.

“Icarus. And Cora.”

Icarus could hear the levity in Cora’s voice as she tried to get the aether to call them by name. He tugged her hand and she quieted.

“Thank you.” he said again. He untangled his fingers from Cora’s and wondered how long they’d been gone. Had his father already begun killing his hostages?

WE WILL RETURN YOU IN THE MOMENT THAT YOU LEFT.

Icarus breathed deep, hope swirling in his gut again. No one, not even his father, knew the things he’d learned about the aether. Now he knew how to ask it for help, he knew how to direct it to his purpose within their limits. His stomach lurched as he pulled his palm back from Cora’s and closed the doorway between his world and the aether.

When he opened his eyes he wondered if breaking the connection had really returned him to his reality. He blinked, realizing what he had mistaken for a shadow was really Archimedes blocking out the sun with his bulk.

“I was in the midst of finding a portal to Hell.” The big man frowned down at Icarus with worried eyes.

“Cora?” Icarus asked, struggling to sit up. His head swam, and the burn of the rune on his palm was sharp. He glanced at his hand to see that it was safely covered in his glove.

“She is fine.” Archimedes backed away to let Icarus see Levisque tending to Cora across the deck. “The separation of your hands had you both flying backwards as if pushed.”