Balestone (25 page)

Chapter 34

He ran back into the feasting hall and toward the door where the earl had come from earlier that day. Ti knew that the soldiers would be sent to search for him and he kept the cloaking spell in place, even though his body ached and his mind felt numb. He raced up the stairs, gasping for breath, his legs on fire.

It took him a few moments to find the vestibule on the opposite end of the wide corridor that led to the earl’s bedchamber. He hurried up the wide staircase that led to the palace’s roof, and to his utter relief, he saw the stairs of the sky ship lowering. He let the cloaking spell end and ran out onto the roof.

Tiberius wasn’t the only person to see the sky ship opening the stairwell that served as a gangplank for passengers to board the mighty vessel. Tiberius heard people all around the palace shouting about the ship and he knew it was only a matter of time before the soldiers caught up with him.

“Hurry!” Tiberius shouted.

Rafe was at the bottom of the stairs as it slowly descended. The sky ship wasn’t tethered to the palace, and a gust of wind rocked the ship sideways. Tiberius heard footsteps coming up the stairs from the vestibule and he knew he was out of time. The ship was shifting to his right, and the stairway, still five feet above the rooftop, was almost out over the edge of the roof.

Tiberius raced toward the ship. Rafe saw him and took hold of the thick rope that lowered the stairs. He bent low, reaching out for his friend. Tiberius didn’t think he could pull himself up into the ship — he had never had much upper body strength. But he trusted Rafe completely. If he could just get to Rafe, he knew everything would be okay.

He got to the edge of the roof, and the ship was still slipping away. Tiberius didn’t stop but stepped up onto the short crenelation that circled the palace roof and jumped. For a moment he was falling again, and then his hand slapped into Rafe’s, and Tiberius felt a grip-like iron.

“Got you!” Rafe said, using Tiberius’ momentum to swing his friend up onto the stairs.

There was a shaky moment before Tiberius got his balance and his head stopped spinning from fear and fatigue. The soldiers on the rooftop were looking on in disbelief. Rafe hauled Tiberius up the stairs, and they collapsed into the hold. Olyva was squealing like a little girl as she raced up the stairs shouting for the captain to lift off. Two sailors hoisted the stairwell back into place as Tiberius caught his breath.

“You look like hell,” Rafe said through clenched teeth.

“You sound like it,” Tiberius said. “That was some catch.”

“Great jump.”

“I just thought, what would Rafe do?”

Both men laughed as Rafe led the way back up to the main deck. The captain looked angry, and Olyva’s sisters were storming forward demanding to know what was happening.

“We have to go get Lexi,” Tiberius said.

“We are going back for another person?” the captain demanded.

“Not back to the city,” Olyva said with a mischievous grin. “To the bottom of the mountain.”

“What?” the captain said, aghast at the suggestion that he should take his ship down below the mists.

“Look,” Tiberius said. “I know you have a lot of questions. Let me answer one right now. Yes, I’m a wizard, but I’m a good one.”

The captain and Olyva’s sisters were so stunned they couldn’t speak.

“Let me see your shoulder,” Tiberius said to Rafe.

Rafe’s left shoulder was still bleeding. Tiberius ripped the shirtsleeve off.

“That was my last shirt,” Rafe said.

“I’ll get you a new one,” Tiberius said. “
Grasilis Abscido.
”

The wound knit itself back together, and the captain’s eyes grew wide.

“We came here looking for help,” Tiberius said. “This was Olyva’s home once. We thought we might have help getting to Sparlan Citadel.”

“The earl’s orders were to take you there,” the captain said.

“And that’s why we can’t go. There is some very powerful, very evil magic taking place in Sparlan Citadel.”

“I thought magic was illegal!” the captain snapped.

“It is, and I’m sorry to mix you and your crew up in this. But the earl was under the influence of a spell or something worse.”

“He was dead,” Olyva said sadly. “He was dead, and something was using his body like a puppet.”

“So what do we do now?” the captain asked.

“Your first duty should be to get the countess and her daughters to safety.”

“And where exactly would that be?” the captain demanded.

Tiberius looked at Rafe, who nodded encouragingly. The earls had all agreed on Leonosis becoming the new king, and now Tiberius knew why. The earls were all dead and being reanimated by some horrible dark magic. The only earl who hadn’t gone to the capital was Tiberius’ father, so Ti knew where they had to go.

“Avondale,” Tiberius said. “Take us to Avondale.”

Chapter 35

The fire was burning low. Lexi could see the graypees pacing at the bottom of the hill. They were waiting for the fire to burn out, and Lexi had used all the wood she had. The horses were pacing nervously and neighing in terror whenever the graypees hissed or growled.

One had come close to the edge of the cleft, climbing easily up the steep slope, but the fire had kept it at bay. Seeing the creature up close, Lexi felt silly with her makeshift spear. It felt like a child’s toy, and her Wangorian dagger would not save her from the predators that were almost as big as her horses.

She picked up a burned-out chunk of wood and went to back wall of the cleft and wrote using the blackened wood.

Tiberius, I love you. I believe in you. I will always be with you. Remember me.

Then she turned to face her fate, but what she saw coming down out of the mists took her breath away. At first all she could see was the dark wood of the sky ship’s hull as it descended through the mists. It was easily a mile out from the little green valley where Tiberius had left her, and even further from her own location. Still, the sight of the massive vessel descending from the heavens made Lexi feel invincible. She snatched up the stick with the sharpened point, determined to survive until Tiberius could reach her.

The ship was moving toward her, and even though Lexi couldn’t see Dancer, she knew the little glider was making her way toward the ship to show Tiberius where Lexi was. It was difficult to keep an eye on the graypees who were climbing up toward her, slowly preparing to scramble over the edge of the cleft and pounce on their prey, when all she wanted to do was watch the sky ship descending. It was moving closer to the foothills, but if Tiberius and Rafe got off the ship too far away, they might not make it to Lexi in time.

The wood was mostly smoking embers, and Lexi kept peering over the edge to see how close the graypees were. They knew she was trapped and took their time, waiting for the fires to die. The last of the flames were winking out, so Lexi took a chance. She rushed forward and kicked the embers over the edge. The embers were still hot, some even glowing red as they fell. She shouted as she rushed down the length of the cleft, kicking the embers defiantly.

The graypees fell back from the hot embers but quickly regrouped. Lexi looked up, but the airship was still a mile away. She backed slowly away from the edge of the cleft. She could hear rocks tumbling down the hillside as the graypees crawled back up. She tightened her grip on the stick and glanced up at the airship. It was much closer and so large, but it still seemed impossibly slow and far away. Lexi didn’t know what she’d expected from the ship anyway. Tiberius couldn’t fly, and he probably didn’t have the weapons to fight off an entire pack of graypees.

Then a savage growl brought her total attention to the creature in front of her. One of the graypees was crawling over the edge of the cleft. It had a livid white scar on its snout and it opened its mouth to hiss at her. She could see the rows of pointed teeth and the bright pink flesh of the creature’s mouth. The graypee was on the far side of the cleft, and the horses were huddling behind Lexi. It moved forward with a slow and easy stride, the tail waving behind it.

Suddenly dirt and rocks from above them rained down into the edge of the cleft. Lexi didn’t think about the graypees attacking from above, but they had scaled the incredibly steep hillside so easily that it was certainly possible. Lexi tensed, waiting for a chance to strike at the hissing creature approaching her. Then Tiberius’s body swung down. He dropped into the cleft, stumbling and falling hard on the unforgiving stone as the graypee dove forward.

“
Accendo
!” Tiberius cried, and fire engulfed the graypee.

There was a roar, and the graypee flipped backward, rolling on the stone floor of the cleft, trying to escape. Lexi could smell the foul stench of the creature’s roasting flesh. Another scrambled up into the cleft, and Tiberius, on his knees now, sent another gout of flame shooting across the space toward the newcomer. It skittered to the side, then toppled off the cleft, falling down the hill with a howl of pain.

Tiberius got to his feet and stepped to the edge of the cleft. He let his magical fire pour down on the graypees, which fled from the fiery attack. Once the danger was past and the fire stopped, Lexi ran to Tiberius. He turned just as she jumped into his arms. Their kiss was fierce and passionate.

“You kids okay?” Rafe said, his head peeking down from the steep hillside above.

“We’ve got this,” Tiberius said.

“Yeah, I guess you do.”

Lexi laughed and held Tiberius so tight.

“I’m sorry I almost got here too late,” he said.

“You’re not too late,” she said happily. “You’re just in time.”

Epilogue

Draggah was furious. Leonosis had caught glimpses of Earl Marcus’ fight with Tiberius and Rafe. Draggah had left Leonosis during that time, as much as he ever left the young noble. Leonosis had then felt the intense pain that Draggah felt as the earl’s cadaver was destroyed in Hamill Keep.

The pain wasn’t shared, but Leonosis could tell the demon was hurting. Of course he then tortured Leonosis for absolutely no reason and then beat a servant to death with Leonosis’ bare fists. The entire ordeal had left the demon drained and angry. Leonosis lay on his bed, unsure what to do. He had control of his body for the moment, but he didn’t want to do anything to draw the demon’s attention back to him.

Queen Ariel had disposed of the servant’s body and spread word that the servant had been sent away. It was a flimsy lie, and Leonosis doubted that anyone believed it, but it would serve their purposes. She then returned to the opulent rooms they shared in the highest level of the castle. Ariel had sent her mother away and then replaced everything in the spacious rooms. They shared a massive bed that was covered in the softest furs. Leonosis lay on the bed when Ariel came crawling up the mattress toward him. She was alluring, and he naturally desired to be with her, but Draggah wouldn’t allow it. Leonosis guessed that was why she constantly flirted with him, just to torture him a little more.

“What are you doing?” she said softly, curling up beside him on the bed.

“Resting,” Leonosis said. “And trying not to bother anyone.”

“Why? That sounds so boring.”

“You know that the earl in Hamill Keep was destroyed,” Leonosis whispered.

“Yes, but how does that have anything to do with us?”

“My brother was involved.”

“Tiberius?” Ariel said as if she were impressed.

“Yes.”

“Interesting. He must be growing stronger.”

“Obviously,” Leonosis said. “He also has something we want?”

“He does?” Ariel said, sitting up suddenly excited.

“Something called a Balestone.”

“I know what that is,” Ariel said, scrunching her forehead in thought as she dug through her memory.

“Before the cataclysm there were three jewels imbued with power. Some of the strongest wizards — well, alchemists really — found a way to store up magical power in certain objects. The Balestone was one, and the other two were called—”

“Do not speak of them!” shouted Draggah, suddenly taking control of Leonosis’ body.

He slapped her hard and then pounced on top of her lithe body, his face almost touching hers as she squirmed under his weight.

“You babble on about things you do not understand,” Draggah said. “You primp and flirt, even though you despise this body. But do not think that because I withhold his advances, I will not crush you if you try me.”

“I’m sorry,” Ariel cried.

“I need a pure vessel for the magic that lies ahead, but I do not need one with a tongue.”

He grabbed her face hard, forcing her mouth open.

“Keep wagging your tongue and I will rip it out.”

He slapped her hard, and Leonosis, helpless to stop the abuse, winced. Draggah stood up and stalked out of the room, leaving Ariel weeping on their wedding bed. The demon left the castle and went to the commander in charge of the king’s army.

“Summon your men,” Draggah said. “I will call on the war bands of the other cities.”

“What do you wish us to fight?” the commander asked dubiously.

“I do not wish you to fight,” Draggah said, emphasizing each word. “There is a wizard in Valana. He has slain the earl in Hamill Keep. We must find him.”

Leonosis’ consciousness quivered in the back of his mind and couldn’t help but think of Tiberius. His youngest brother, now a wizard, was also a fugitive, sought by an entire army.

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