Raging Sea and Trembling Earth: Disciples of the Horned One Volume Two (Soul Force Saga Book 2) (15 page)

T
he sorcerers gathered once again
in the yard surrounding the navy fort. The two remaining urns sat on the ground between them. Damien had sunk the third one twenty-five miles off the coast in about eight hundred feet of water. For good measure he’d buried it ten feet under the sea bed. If anyone was going to find that item they’d have to work for it.

“Sasha and Lon, you two will take an urn to The Tower. I’ve already told Thomas to expect you. He has the key to the vault. Damien and I will take the second urn to the royal castle. Send a message to my office there when the artifact is secure. Questions?” When no one spoke up the archmage clapped her hands. “Good luck.”

Lon formed a bubble around their urn, conjured a griffin, and took off. Sasha flew a little ahead of him on a blue dragon. Gaudy, but if they ran into trouble she could send it against any foe in an instant.

His master formed a bubble around their own urn. “Ready?”

Salem came running out of the fort waving her hands. “Wait for me.”

She skidded to a stop beside them. “I want to help.”

Damien glanced at his master who nodded. “Great, we’d appreciate it.”

The three of them flew east and a little north. The archmage rode her eagle while Damien stayed in the lead on his own and Salem brought up the rear on a carpet of soul force. If they didn’t push it they’d make the capital an hour before sunset. That was a long time to be exposed, but since no one knew they were coming Damien wasn’t too worried.

Noon came and went with no sign of problems. Below them The Great Green spread out for miles in every direction. The nearest civilization lay fifty miles north. At times like this Damien was reminded of just how big the kingdom was and how few people really lived here. There was so much emptiness.

“Stop!” Salem said.

Damien and his master pulled up short.

“What is it?” the archmage asked.

“My sister, she’s close. I’ve always been sensitive to her soul force.”

Damien tapped his core and power crackled around his hands, ready to be shaped. “Is she alone?”

Salem shook her head. “I can’t tell.”

A golden speck rose out of the forest below and flew towards them. It moved closer and he recognized Maishi. There was no sign of David, but he had to be around here somewhere.

Salem flew over to her sister, tears in her eyes. They embraced and Salem said, “Are you okay? I’ve been so worried.”

“I’m fine.” Maishi glared at Damien and the archmage. “You’re the one that’s been a prisoner of the enemy.”

“Oh, no, everyone’s been nice. They’re nothing like David said. People here aren’t afraid of sorcerers like they are back home. We can have a normal life, with friends and everything.”

“They tricked you, Salem.” Maishi grabbed her sister by the shoulders and shook her. “We only have one friend in the kingdom and that’s David.”

Damien sensed him and lashed out with a blast of soul force. David’s invisibility screen crumbled and he tumbled through the sky away from the urn.

“Damn you, boy!” David screamed when he’d stabilized his flight.

David hurled twin blasts of soul force. They had no real power behind them and Damien slapped them aside.

“Tell us where Connor is and we can protect you,” the archmage said.

“Ha! Connor has people everywhere. You can’t protect me, you can barely protect yourselves. Maishi!”

A squeak from behind him drew Damien’s attention. Maishi had her arm around Salem’s throat. Salem fought, but Damien recognized at once that Maishi was the stronger sister.

“Give us the urn. Don’t make me hurt my sister.”

“Maishi, please—” Salem’s plea was cut off by a squeeze from her sister.

“We’re not giving you the urn.” Damien shook his head. “I’m sorry, Salem.”

A golden lance shattered Maishi’s shield and pierced her skull. Her power vanished and she tumbled to the ground, her wailing sister on her heels.

Damien turned on David, his power blazing. “When I’m finished with you, you’re going to wish Connor had killed you.”

“Take him alive.”

Damien looked at his master in disbelief. “Alive?”

“We need to find Connor and he’s the only one that can tell us where to look.”

Damien ground his teeth. “Yes, Master.”

David had flown a good half a mile north when Damien turned back. A beam of golden energy struck the fleeing sorcerer in the back and transformed into chains. Damien bound his prisoner from head to toe before reeling him in like a fat fish. David fought with everything he had, but his power was nothing compared to Damien’s.

When he finally floated, bound and drained, in front of Damien his head hung and he gasped for air. “Just kill me now. It’ll be a kindness compared to what Connor or worse, his black knight, is going to do to me.”

“Much as I’d like to oblige, that pleasure’s been denied me.” Damien punched him in the side of the head. No power protected his fist or enhanced his muscles. There was nothing but the simple satisfaction of knuckles on skin.

“I have to check on her, Master.”

The archmage nodded. “Quickly. We need to keep moving.”

Damien flew down and found Salem kneeling in a bed of pine needles beside her sister’s body. He crouched next to her. “I’m sorry. I feared she might hurt you.”

Salem sniffed and looked at him through red-rimmed eyes. “You were right. I felt the malice in her. Maishi would have killed me to get that urn. My own sister would have killed me. If I’d been stronger I could have fought her off. You wouldn’t have had to…” A sob cut Salem off mid-sentence and she wrapped her arms around him.

Damien rubbed her back and let her cry for a little while. He couldn’t take too long. His master was right about that.

After a minute he said, “We can’t stay here. Do you want to take her body to the city or bury it here?”

Salem wiped her eyes and looked around. “This is a pretty spot. I think Maishi would have liked it here.”

Damien conjured a rectangle of soul force and drove it into the ground. When it rose a perfect grave had been gouged out of the earth. Salem created a litter of soul force and slid her sister’s body into the grave. Damien covered it and found a three-foot boulder jutting out of the ground. A little brute-force shaping carved it into a headstone which he sunk into the ground at the head of the grave.

Salem knelt beside it and carved her sister’s name and the short epitaph: Beloved Sister. She put her hand on the stone for a second and stood up. “I’m ready. Thank you for this. My sister was your enemy and I know you didn’t have to show her even this much kindness.”

As they flew up to rejoin his master Damien said, “I didn’t do it for your sister. I did it for you. Friends look after each other.”

L
on followed
Sasha due east toward The Tower. He’d heard rumors about the vault, everyone had. A place where the high sorcerers kept dark artifacts too powerful to be destroyed alongside equally dangerous divine items that might be of use one day. He’d assumed the rumors were just that, Tower gossip spread from one year to the next. Nervous as he was to be transporting the urn Lon was looking forward to seeing the vault.

Lon flew through the clear blue sky, his every sense alert for potential trouble. He found it two hours out from port. A familiar, corrupt darkness he never wanted to experience again. Ahead of them a black speck floated in the sky.

“Run for The Tower!” Sasha raced to engage the darkness.

Lon swung out wide of the combat zone as fast as he could manage. Once he escaped, Sasha could disengage and flee. He’d seen the black knight’s power before and held no illusions about their combined ability to defeat him.

A stream of black flames brought Lon up short. He tried to dive under them, but the fire shifted to block him. So much for running. It appeared he’d have to fight after all. Lon spun his griffin toward Mikhail and raced to back up Sasha.

The blue dragon lunged toward Mikhail, jaws wide enough to swallow him and his mount whole. A single swing of the black sword followed by a burst of hellfire blasted Sasha’s construct to glittering shards. Lon clenched his jaw. She’d put a lot of her power into that dragon and Mikhail had destroyed it in seconds.

Sasha sent a dozen beams of golden soul force hammering into Mikhail. Some he deflected with his sword and others he let bounce off his armor. None of the blasts so much as made him flinch.

One of Mikhail’s arms had been replaced by a black-scaled demon limb ending in rending talons. Sasha attacked again and Lon added his own power to the effort with explosive orbs that detonated against Mikhail’s armored back with no more effect than Sasha’s beams.

Mikhail was a nightmare and Lon had no idea how to end him.

The black knight swept his sword through the air and a wave of hellfire hammered Sasha back. The attack left her body red and smoking. It looked like it was all she could do to stay in the air.

They couldn’t stop Mikhail and they couldn’t flee. Lon saw only one option that didn’t end with him and Sasha dead. The archmage wasn’t going to be happy.

Lon brought the urn up where Mikhail could see it. “Is this what you’re looking for?”

“Give it to me and I’ll kill you quick.”

“Catch!” Lon hurled the urn away with so much force it looked like a comet.

“No!” Mikhail raced after the urn, his enemies temporarily forgotten.

Heaven’s mercy, that was close. Lon gathered up Sasha and flew toward The Tower at full speed. When the black knight caught up to the urn Lon wanted to have a thick stone wall between them.

D
amien
and the others landed in the castle courtyard with two hours to spare before dark. Two patrolling Crimson Legionnaires had joined them as they descended. Damien didn’t know the two men, but they looked more like warriors than most sorcerers he’d met. They led David off to the dungeon where he’d be kept under constant observation by at least two sorcerers.

The archmage let her eagle vanish and strode towards the castle. Damien and Salem fell in behind her, but she waved them off. “I can take care of this. Why don’t you get our guest settled in and rest up. Once David breaks we’ll be moving against Connor. It’ll take a few days to gather our forces. Until then you’re free.”

Damien couldn’t have been more pleased. He was so tired, both mentally and physically, it took all his concentration to put two thoughts together. His master left them standing in the courtyard.

“She doesn’t trust me,” Salem said.

“If it’s any consolation I don’t know where the vault is either. Give her time. She’ll warm up to you. In the meantime let’s see if we can’t find you a room.” Damien’s stomach grumbled. “And something to eat as well.”

They found the kitchen in full roar. Servants ran around with trays heaped with food. A dozen chickens roasted on spits by the oven. His favorite honey rolls were cooling on a rack. Damien spotted the head cook and waved.

She scowled, her white hat cockeyed and flour over half her face. “No! Dinner will be served in an hour. I haven’t time to fix you anything.”

If she was going back on their deal there was nothing to keep Damien from snitching a couple rolls. He concentrated and a pair of rolls flew across the kitchen and into his waiting hands.

“How many times have I told you to leave my rolls alone?” The cook waved a wooden spoon at him.

Damien waved back and led Salem toward the guest quarters. He handed her a steaming roll and bit into his. He sighed as sweet, yeasty, buttery perfection melted in his mouth. Of all the things he’d missed, honey rolls were near the top of the list.

“These are wonderful,” Salem said. “I’ve never tasted anything like them. I don’t think that woman was very happy with you stealing them.”

“It’s an old game and we’ve been playing it for years. I’m not certain where we’ll find Dale, the castle seneschal, but you can rest in my room until we track him down. There’s always several empty rooms in case of unexpected visitors.”

“I wouldn’t want to put anyone to any trouble.”

“It’s no trouble. Handling things like this is Dale’s job. My friend John’s around here somewhere. He’s a gift for healing as well. I bet you two would hit it off.” They reached the door to Damien’s room and he pushed it open. He conjured light globes, filling the room with golden radiance. Everything looked just the same as he left it. “Be it ever so humble.”

“Excuse me?”

“Nothing.” Damien waved her over to the room’s lone chair and sat on the edge of the bed. “Hopefully, in time, you’ll come to think of the kingdom as home.”

K
arrie and John
sat at the dining room table in the royal apartment putting the finishing touches on their plan for Damien’s party. Her parents had loved the idea and so had Jen when she received Karrie’s message. Even Fredric had agreed to come. John had flown them over from The Citadel just that morning. Everything was pretty much set, they just had to decide on the menu.

A knock sounded on the door. John opened it and a servant was waiting outside. She bobbed a curtsy. “He’s back, Princess.”

All the servants knew she was anxious to hear when Damien returned so Karrie didn’t need to ask who. She beamed a smile at the girl. “Thank you so much. Where is he?”

“I passed him headed to his room. Princess—”

“I should go say hello.” Karrie brushed past the servant, walking toward Damien’s room as fast as decorum allowed. John was still talking with the servant, probably flirting. The man couldn’t seem to help himself. Not that any of the ladies minded. They all giggled and smiled whenever he paid them the least attention.

John caught up to her halfway to Damien’s room. “Maybe we shouldn’t bother him right now. He’s probably tired after his mission.”

Karrie waved him off. “I won’t stay long. I just want to poke my head in.”

John shook his head and fell in beside her. It took only a minute to reach Damien’s door. Karrie straightened her dress and hair then knocked. The door opened a moment later revealing an exhausted-looking Damien. He mustered a weak smile. “Princess, John.”

Karrie wasn’t listening. Her gaze was focused on the pretty brunette sitting in the chair beside Damien’s bed. Apparently he wasn’t too tired to bring a girl back to his quarters. Why was it every time he returned from a mission he was being overly friendly with a different beautiful girl? First Lane and now this…person.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us?” Karrie said.

“I was. You weren’t listening. This is Salem. She was a sorcerer on the ships from the Old Empire. Salem, this is Princess Karrie and my best friend, John Kord.”

Salem offered a hesitant smile. “Hello. Damien has been very kind to me since the dragon sank our ships. Perhaps we could talk about healing sometime.”

Beside her John brightened. “You studied healing as well? I’d love to hear about the Old Empire’s techniques.”

“I don’t know that I could show you anything you don’t already know, but it would be nice to chat.”

“How about right now?” Karrie grabbed Damien’s wrist and dragged him out of the room. “We need to catch up anyway.”

“Good idea.” John eyed the girl like a hungry shark.

Damien dug in his heels and Karrie couldn’t budge him. “Go easy, John. It’s been a long few days.”

His voice held an edge Karrie hadn’t heard before. John must have noticed it too. His expression softened. “Kid gloves, Damien, no worries.”

Damien nodded and turned his gaze to Salem. “I won’t be long.”

She smiled. “I’m sure we’ll be fine. Take your time.”

Damien let Karrie pull him down the hall. He was awfully protective of the girl. Was she yet more competition? Karrie wanted to scream. Damien collected pretty girls like a garbage bin collected flies. How come she was the only one he didn’t show any interest in?

When they moved out of earshot Damien pulled away from her. “What was that about?”

“I find you alone in your room with a strange girl and you ask
me
what it’s about?”

“I don’t see that it’s any of your business who I bring to my room. You act like you own me. Let me make this clear: you don’t.”

Karrie couldn’t have been more stunned if he’d slapped her. Damien turned to leave. She grabbed his arm and spun him around. “What about your precious Lizzy? Will you cheat on her with anyone as long as it isn’t me?”

His expression darkened. Karrie didn’t care. She was sick of being ignored. “John told me about her. How you loved her so much I didn’t have any hope of winning you over. Looks like you don’t love her so much after all.”

“You stuck up, arrogant brat. Salem’s in a strange place, surrounded by strange people. Four hours ago I had to stop her sister from killing her by blasting a hole in the deluded woman’s head. I dug a grave for her in a pine grove in the middle of The Great Green. I’m the only friend she has in the kingdom. What did you want me to do, leave her in the entry hall with a note around her neck asking Dale to find her a room?”

Karrie didn’t know if she’d ever seen Damien so angry. After hearing everything that had happened over the last few days she didn’t blame him. She’d seen him alone with a girl and spoke without thinking. It was getting to be a bad habit where he was concerned.

Damien yanked his arm free and stalked back toward his room. Karrie ran after him.

“I’m sorry. Damien, please, I’m sorry. I overreacted, jumped to conclusions. I didn’t mean it.”

He stopped and spun to face her. “That’s the problem. You did mean it. You meant every word. It’s like you imagine if you say or do something I’ll fall head over heels for you. I’ll forget about everything and everyone else I care about and focus all my attention on you. Well, I won’t. Even if I liked you the way you want me to I wouldn’t suddenly abandon everyone else.”

Did she really think that way? When it came to Damien, Karrie guessed she did. She obsessed over him every minute despite the fact that he only liked her as a friend, and at this point she wasn’t entirely certain he even liked her that way. She had to do something to change his mind.

“I’d like to meet her. Lizzy, I mean.”

Damien just looked at her. “What?”

“Please, I want to see what it is that makes you care about her so much. Your father is visiting Daddy and I put him in the room next to yours. Maybe you could borrow the sword and introduce me.”

“Are you serious?”

Desperate times and all that. “Yes. I know I’ve done some things that annoyed you. Well, more than annoyed you. I thought maybe if I understood what you like a little better it would improve our relationship.”

Damien sighed. “All right. If she’s in the room next door that’s close enough for a psychic projection. If you really want to meet her come to my room after Dad and Uncle Andy finish telling war stories. I should have Salem settled in her own room by then.”

Karrie almost danced in place. He’d invited her to his room. Just the two of them, more or less. Finally she’d have a chance to convince him, show him how much she loved him. Even better if she could convince the spirit that she’d be a better partner for Damien. If she won Lizzy over they could convince Damien to do the right thing.

“Daddy’s not much of a night owl. Around nine sound good?”

Damien nodded and left her smiling in the hall.