Alchemist's Kiss (32 page)

“I can’t leave him to face that monster on his own.”

“It is his fight, Cora.” Levisque’s hand was soft on my shoulder. I stilled, tears of frustration gathering in my eyes.

“He should not be alone.”

“He is not alone.” Orrin’s voice was quiet from the bird’s beak. “We will all go.”

Levisque shook his head, but he grinned. “He’s going to be very angry with us.”

“Not us. You take the others back to the camp. Take care of Archie.”

“You’re not leaving without us.” Bastion shouldered his way through the crowd with Archie close behind, already healed by Lucia. I grimaced to see Grayson right behind them.

“Or me.” The young mage said.

“Don’t argue.” Orrin advised. I swore a grin slid over the raven’s face. “They are all too stubborn for their own goods.”

I sighed. “Very well. Captain, take care of the others, please.”

He bowed low and kissed my cheek. “As you wish, Adept.”

He walked away with his long stride and I looked at my other companions. “He is not going to like this, but we cannot let him face Victor alone.”

“No.” Orrin’s familiar flapped his wings. “We cannot.”

Icarus knew he was a fool in many ways. He was blind when he should see, deaf when he should hear. Many times he ignored the truth as it lay clear before him, and often times his instinct was to rush ahead when care should be taken. Still, he did not lack courage. He understood the way of the world, and knew that the courageous flower, the first to poke its head through the soil, was the first to die in the frost.

“I am a fool.” He muttered. He tugged on his gloves as he walked, straightening his coat and following the path through the empty town that would take him to his father. “I should have known.”

Remember this place, my son?

Icarus could never forget the hut at the back of the town, the smell of burning wood and molten steel still floating in the air around it. Icarus tried to calm the too-rapid beat of his heart, to slow the rush of blood through his veins that made him giddy. Now was not the time to fear. It was not the time to anger. His father was a master manipulator, and Icarus would have to step carefully to avoid his devious traps.

I am waiting for you.

“I am not your son.” The words hurt, but they were true. Icarus had no father. He approached the hut with a hesitant stride. He sensed no magic protecting it, but the bite of the aether on his palm was sharp. He clenched his hand together and raised his chin. He could not let his father leave this place alive. Too many deaths, too much innocent blood, stained his hands.

Victor stepped from the hut as Icarus approached. He was regal; tall and fit in dark coat and polished boots. He regarded Icarus carefully, his hands at his sides.

“Hello, my son.”

“Victor.” Icarus refused to be swayed by the warmth in his father’s tone. Everything about the man was a lie that Icarus had once believed. A lie that had cost him his mother and sister.

“Come inside.” Victor turned and ducked inside the hut, leaving Icarus standing alone.

The smell of molten metal was thick inside the hut, though the coals of the forge were long burned out. Icarus squinted into the dark, the terrifying night of the bonfire returning to his mind, as fresh as the day it happened. He drew in a breath, glad it was steady and not shaking.

“You must know that I came to kill you.” Icarus winced at the sharp bite of pain behind his eyes. The constant niggle at the back of his mind was more insistent now, shooting pain through his head as he continued to ignore it.

Victor stood across the old fire pit, his hands behind his back as he studied Icarus intently. “Do you fear this place? Or is it me?”

“The only thing I fear is that you walk out of this hut to hurt more innocent people.”

“People.” Victor’s disgust was clear. “Sheep, you mean. Even the wizards are weak and the magic dwindling. Orrin has destroyed magic.”

“Orrin tried to salvage the mess you made.”

Victor’s lip twitched and he shrugged. “None of that will matter soon. With you to channel the aether through there will be more magic than ever before.”

“That will never happen.”

Victor smiled, and Icarus was instantly wary. The baring of his teeth was more a show of victorious dominance than humor.

“Tell me, my son, what would you do to save your mother? Your sister?”

Icarus could not help his involuntary step backwards as the words rocked him. “They are dead.”

“Are they?”

“What are you talking about?” The world narrowed in on Icarus as he stared hard at Victor. The man was earnest, staring at him with wide eyes. “You lie.”

“Do I?” Victor turned and from the shadows he pulled a woman and a girl. They were bedraggled and pale, their hair over their faces. The woman’s hair was greying, her hands wrinkled where they clutched at the girl.

“What kind of trick is this?” Icarus could not look at the women, his heart so loud it banged a symphony in his ears.

“Trick?” Victor shook the older woman’s arm, “Say hello to your son, Samantha.”

Icarus could not take his eyes off the older woman as her head raised, oh so slowly, until her eyes met his. “Icarus?”

The sound of her voice was a tidal wave, washing shock and disbelief over him. The woman wept, and she pulled the younger girl to her. “Sera, it’s your brother.”

Eyes the color of bluebonnets turned to Icarus from the pixie-thin face of the younger woman. Her lips were plump, her chin stubborn as she raised it to stare hard at him. “Bubba?”

“Stop it.” Icarus backed up another step, his mind telling him it was all a ruse while his heart begged him to believe it.

“I knew that someday you would be ready to face me, son. Do you think I would not have leverage?” Victor’s grip grew tighter on the old woman’s arm and she cried out.

“Stop it!” Icarus stepped forward despite himself, and Victor grinned, easing his hold.

“Do as I ask, Icarus, or I will burn them this time. I will burn their bones from their bodies while you watch.” As Victor spoke the flames rose in the old pit, forcing Icarus back again.

“What have you done to them?”

“A stasis spell and nothing more. They have slept these past years, waiting for our time to come.” Victor’s free hand ran over the dark blonde of the young girl’s head. “They aged, but only a bit.”

“Icarus.” Samantha’s voice was strong as she stared at him through the flames. “Do not do as he asks. Let him kill us.”

“Yes, son. Let me kill them.” Victor’s smile grew as he stepped closer to the fire with the women. Icarus stripped off his glove and the smile went feral at the sight of the blue light surrounding his hand. “You won’t though, will you? My son, the noble, loyal fool.” Victor’s tone turned cruel as his eyes flashed, “Open a channel, boy, or watch them burn.”

The spike of pain was back as Icarus looked down at his hand. The aether was there, waiting for his call, but he could not imagine allowing his father to control it. His body quaked with tension, but he shook his head. “No.”

“You leave me no choice.” Victor pulled the women apart, pushing Sera to the ground as he grabbed Samantha’s arms. He tensed to push her into the flames when the side of the hut exploded, sending dust and flames high into the air. Icarus coughed as wind whipped through the old forge and the interior was lit.

“Archie, now!”

Icarus narrowed his eyes at the sound of Cora’s voice. He grinned as Archimedes leaped over the flames, reaching through the fire with his copper hand to snatch Samantha from a stunned Victor’s hands. He rolled with her, making sure she was unharmed as he shuffled her to her feet moments later.

“Your friends can’t save you, boy.” Victor rounded the fire, grabbing Icarus by his coat. They struggled as Cora ran inside the hut with Machiavelli on her shoulder. She knelt by Sera and wrapped the shaking girl in Archimedes’ coat.

Icarus struggled with Victor, keeping his glowing hand far from the man. He would not damn the aether to death for killing Victor. He punched the bigger man, twisting from his grip and backing away. Victor wiped a trickle of blood from his lip and lunged, taking Icarus to the ground beneath him. Icarus could not count the number of hits he took, his head ringing with each. His jaw snapped beneath his father’s punishing fists as he struggled against him.

“You will give me what I want, boy.” Victor hit him again, bloodying his knuckle against Icarus’ teeth. His hands went around Icarus’ neck as he tried to send him to unconsciousness.

Icarus flailed, turning at last to the aether. He tried to communicate with it as he struggled for air, struggling to give it direction. He felt it hot against his hand but without his command it could not work through him or for him.

Icarus gasped as Victor was suddenly flung away from him. He coughed raggedly as air at last invaded his lungs. He sat up as Archimedes and Victor fought. The crunch of Victor’s arm was loud as Archimedes landed a punch to his shoulder with his mechanical hand. Victor staggered but Icarus felt the dark magic begin to gather and he knew Victor was not finished fighting.

“Archimedes!” Icarus shook his head as his friend paused before landing another blow, “Leave it!”

Archimedes backed away, barely escaping a cloud of dark aether that enveloped Victor. Icarus stumbled to his feet, the smell of rot making his stomach turn. He looked for Cora and saw that she and Bastion were in the corner with his mother and sister.

“For all that you love me, Cora, stay there.”

She nodded, and wrapped her arms around his mother as Bastion carefully worked to heal them.

Why do you fight me? You cannot win. Give me what I want and I will allow your companions to live.

Victor’s voice was infused with the dark aether’s, and Icarus grimaced at the sound.

“Down, Kane!”

Icarus instinctively ducked as the big raven flew at Victor, a stream of aether trailing from his claws. He could not get too close to the dark aether, but he flew around it, wrapping it in the light.

Icarus held up his hand to shield his eyes as the light flared, and he had only a moment’s hope as his father laughed.

You cannot win, boy. I have decided to kill them all.

“He’s right, Ic.” Archimedes moved closer, standing shoulder to shoulder with him. “We cannot win against his magic unless you unleash the aether, which we cannot do.”

The pain was back, and Icarus groaned as it engulfed his head. What was once a whisper became a wail. The cry of the aether, breaking through to him at last.

YOU CANNOT FIGHT HIM WITH MAGIC. THERE IS ANOTHER WAY. REMEMBER CROFT.

Robert? Icarus’ mind scrambled to make sense of the aether’s message as his father advanced on Cora and his family. What could Robert have to do with this?

MAGIC IS NOT THE ONLY WAY. SCIENCE CAN PREVAIL WHERE MAGIC CANNOT.

Icarus fumbled in the pocket of his jacket as the answer came to him all at once. Like a bolt of lightning his brain finally accepted what the aether was trying to say.

“Archimedes take them outside.” He nodded to his friend, and ignored the worried frown. He grasped the item in his pocket and held up his glowing palm. “Is this what you want,
father
?”

Victor’s eerie black eyes swung to Icarus, his tongue licking at his lip as he drooled over the light of the aether.

“Come and get it, then.”

“No!” Cora strained against Archimedes’ hold as he tried to drag her from the hut. “Don’t let him have it.”

Icarus tried hard to ignore her, but he could not. He met her eyes, and smiled at her. “Go with Archie, darling. I will be with you soon.”

He ignored her wail of despair as he beckoned his father closer. The stench of the black aether made him choke, but he didn’t move as Victor crowded him.

YES. OPEN THE WAY. LET US BATHE IN POWER, MY SON.

Icarus could not hold back the grin that blanketed his face. He opened his palm to let his father see what rested there. “One thing you cannot understand, Victor, is that I AM NOT YOUR SON.”

Icarus pressed the sphere with his thumb, activating the dieclectric field within it, True to Robert’s boast it was ten times more powerful than the larger models and it pulsed to life within seconds. Victor felt the first pull of the field on his magic and he backed away, but Icarus followed. He stalked the dark mage and ignored the scream of his own body as the dampening field encapsulated them both.

“You see, Victor, I cannot defeat you with magic. But science, I am learning, is a wondrous thing.” Icarus’ head swam as he stumbled. The field was cutting off his own connection to the aether, and what was a painful experience for Victor was excruciating for him.

“You’ll die, too.” The sound of the dark aether had receded from Victor’s voice as he went to his knees. He was shaking as he looked at his hands. The gnarled and shriveled before his eyes, and he raised his eyes to Icarus.

“Perhaps.” Icarus held onto the sphere even though it was burning a hole through his palm, skewing the rune and possibly cutting off his access to magic forever. “But it will be worth it to see you rot.”

Victor’s laugh was harsh, a coughing rasp that left him shaking as he deflated before Icarus’ eyes. “My noble son, murdering his own father.”

Icarus bent, staring intently into Victor’s eyes. “I believe in justice.” He couldn’t hold himself up any longer and he went to his knees beside Victor.

“So, we die together.”

Victor fell, a shriveled husk in the fetal position as the magic that sustained him was pulled from his body and returned to its own home. The world around Icarus darkened and he fell, the dielectric rolling from his hand. It was the last thing Icarus saw as he died.

I knew he was gone before I entered the hut. Archie could not hold me back from his as I pulled his body to my lap. I smoothed back his wayward curls and cursed him. Archie smashed the dielectric with his boot, cutting off its dampening field.

“Always a loyal, noble fool.” I kissed his forehead, smoothing away the wrinkles that still creased his skin, even in death. “I hate you.”

“Cora.” Archie’s hand was heavy on my shoulder, and I could hear the tears in his voice. Somehow his grief made me angrier, and I shoved him away.