SpellBreaker: First Ordinance, Book 4 (32 page)

I think it's more like who the hell just happened
, I responded. Liron was furious, that much was certain. I imagined that Quin suffered broken bones, he'd thrown her so forcefully against the stones of the courtyard. I hoped she’d remain unconscious—if she woke, the pain would be excruciating.

Deris and Daris, faced with an angry army of witches and warlocks, began to back away, looking to hide behind N'il Mo'erti that no longer followed their commands.

Or Liron's
.

Their Karathian allies either cowered inside the Queen's palace or had folded space to get away when things began to turn against them.

"Show yourself!" Liron shouted, his wings unfurling at his back. "I wish to see my enemy, who has chosen to die first!"

"You look just like an angel. Except for the nasty grimace. You should work on that," Zaria appeared before the rogue god. With Black hair crackling about her, she still looked small and insignificant against Liron's might.

"You are nothing, Q'elindi," Liron snarled at her.

"Maybe not." All of us stepped back for a moment when she changed. This way, her height was nearly that of Liron's.

Corinnelar, the Larentii had arrived.

Liron knew her, now.

"Come closer and I kill the girl," Liron hissed.

"Really?" Zaria barely lowered her eyes to Quin, who’d wakened and now huddled in pain, weeping at Liron's feet.

"Once she is dead, I care not what you do, Larentii. I will see the worlds die."

"Then I'll save you the trouble on this one."

Yes, my legs refused to hold me up when Corinnelar held out a hand and reduced Quin's body to a pile of pale ash.

* * *

Bel Erland

"No!" My shout was echoed by Bleek, Lafe and the others. If Rigo hadn't appeared at my side to hold me back, I would have run toward what little remained of my love.

That would have been a mistake; Liron would have killed me with half a thought.

Deris and Daris turned to run inside the castle, but something stopped them. Yes, I'd heard it was done before, but this time, it appeared even more humorous—to all except Quin's mates and loved ones.

Daris shrieked inside her invisible ball, running faster and faster, only to make the ball rotate with her until she fell. Her ball continued to rotate for a moment, flinging her about inside it. Deris discovered his cage fast enough; he stopped running and sat down to pout, much like a spoiled child.

Light formed about Liron—his anger was rising.

Zaria didn't seem to care. For me, it didn't matter that she was Larentii. I intended to kill her the first chance I got, for murdering Quin.

Holding out a hand, Zaria
Pulled
something from Quin's ash. From where I stood, it looked like a bubble ball with fragile spikes. The object settled onto Zaria's outstretched hand.

"So this is it—how you knew where Quin was and forced her to do your bidding. You're a colossal asshole, you know that?" Zaria accused Liron. The object she held winked out of existence in a flurry of sparks.

"You no longer have any hold on Quin without that," she shook a finger at Liron.

"She's dead. It doesn't matter anyway," Liron pointed out. Yes, I could see he wanted to kill her too—but something held him back.

"Ah, how little you know," Zaria laughed. "Remember when we met before, Liron? When I told you that only a few had the power to bring someone back from the dead, and that you weren't one of those few?"

"As you are not, either," Liron insisted. "Larentii or not, I grow tired of this conversation with you. You threatened to kill Siriaa, and it died. I will have no mercy."

Zaria laughed. Rigo was forced to hold on tighter as my fists clenched. I never wanted to kill anyone so much in my life.

"Your own people killed Siriaa," Zaria chuckled, waggling her finger at Liron. "With the help of a foolish wizard you employed to hide Fyris and the poison it contained from all others. That's how Siriaa died. I used what I saw in you to get you to leave Earth. The plan you came up with set the destruction in motion. I had nothing to do with it."

Down the line, I heard Berel gasp. Somehow, Zaria had forced Liron's hand; he'd acted and the result was Siriaa's destruction. I imagined that Berel now wanted to kill Zaria as much as I did.

"I do not accept this blame—it is all your fault," Liron snapped.

"You know, I'm really tired of listening to you," she stated flatly. "I have other, more important things to do, and none of them include listening to a delusional rogue."

"What?" Liron's voice sounded like thunder.

"Things like this." Zaria the Larentii held out a hand while her entire body began to glow with blinding light. Even Liron took a step backward and hid his eyes with a wing.

The rest of us gaped as Quin's ash stirred, rose in the air and reformed. Bones became visible, and then were surrounded by organs, muscle and flesh.

Quin fell with a sigh once she landed on her feet, her hair long and blonde, with streaks of gold, silver and copper whipping about her face. The three metallic colors in her hair matched the bands on the ends of lovely, white feathers. She was naked—until Zaria clothed her.

Reaching out, Liron's hand grasped for Quin, who disappeared before he could touch her.

"Nope," Zaria said. "Not even if you say please."

"Then I kill you," Liron pulled power to him. He intended to blast all of us—not just Zaria. I could see it easily in his face.

His light—and power—flickered.

Eyes opening wider, he tried again. This effort was weaker. Less.

The Orb moved over his head.

Quin appeared next to me.

"Destroy the Orb," she whispered and nearly fell.

By that time, Bleek and Berel had reached us; Bleek's arms went around Quin while Berel moved in front of them, his blade held steady before us.

Kill the Orb!
Zaria's voice startled me from a near-trance.

Mustering the blasting spell Granddad taught me, I launched it against the Orb the moment a thousand Larentii appeared.

Chapter 18

Karathia

Queen's Palace

Terrett

Nobody understood why the N'il Mo'erti failed to heed Deris' command. They'd been prepared to fire at us. Perhaps we could have destroyed some of them, but there were others waiting to kill us from another location.

Until Zaria arrived and became a Larentii.

I watched Quin die and then live again. Whatever Liron employed to control Quin was now gone—we'd all watched as Zaria destroyed it.

Liron—I could see he wanted to shrink into himself the moment Bel Erland launched the spell that destroyed his Orb.

It had been his hiding place for years, but Bel destroyed it in a blast of blinding light. Quin sagged against Bel Erland afterward, and he was more than happy to lift her in his arms.

Why have the Larentii come?
Berel sent mindspeech.

At least a thousand had appeared randomly throughout our crowd. Liron knew they'd come. He was fearful as a result.

Two Larentii waded through our army to stand beside Zaria.

"Who are you?" Liron feigned contempt. He was terrified by now.

Why was a god terrified of the Larentii?

"I am Valegar, son of Nefrigar, Archivist for the Larentii," the blond Larentii spoke.

"I am Kalenegar, son of Ferrigar, Head of the Larentii Council," the red-haired Larentii spoke. "This is Corinnelar, our mate," Valegar nodded toward Zaria.

She had another name?
I was astounded.

"My father was killed by a rogue god," Kalenegar said. "I know exactly what happens when a Larentii dies," he added.

It appeared that Liron did, too. He made himself smaller.

"What do you want?" Liron asked.

"Whatever Corinnelar wants," Kalenegar said. "But first we wish to inform you that all the glass spheres at Avii Castle have been removed. They now rest upon the Larentii homeworld, where you cannot siphon the power they hold."

Liron went completely still.

As did I.

* * *

Lissa

"What are you cheering for?" Charles appeared at my side with no warning, causing me to jump.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I hissed, elbowing him in the ribs.

No, it wasn't wise to elbow Wisdom in the ribs, but really, he had it coming. Besides, you didn't cheer for a
what
, you cheered for a
who
. I wanted to follow up my first question with a
"Where the hell have you been?"
but I didn't. I figured he already knew what I was thinking—Wisdom was like that.

"No, it's a what. What should Zaria do with Liron?"

"Oh. Now I get it, yuk, yuk," I muttered. "Well, I'd like to see his particles scattered, but he'd have to be truly corporeal to do that."

"It can be arranged," Charles shrugged. "We owe Zaria—Corinnelar—whatever name she wants to use," he said.

"Then why are you asking me instead of her?"

"Because you're going to have to deal with your own problem in very short order. I thought I'd give you a pleasant experience before we get to the hard stuff."

"You can't get harder than this," I insisted.

"You say that now," Charles waggled a finger, much like Zaria had at Liron.

His words troubled me—they were a warning. I had no idea what he meant and I didn't like getting blindsided.

"I'll send a message to Zaria. At least she'll listen, unlike that asshat Ilya."

Charles disappeared. I think the entire army went to its knees when Zaria held out a hand and reduced Liron to winking sparks that died within seconds.

* * *

Avii Castle

Berel

None of us saw Zaria again for weeks. Speculation was that she was on the Larentii homeworld. Quin chose to stay with Bel Erland on Karathia, but she'd been visited by all her mates—except one.

Justis waited for her at Avii Castle, so I chose to wait with him. Deep within the bowels of the glass behemoth, no more glass spheres remained. Queen Lissa had misted inside the cavern and come out again, shaking her head.

Not even the tiniest marble remained.

She'd been visited by both her Larentii mates, or so I'd heard, and appeared afterward more thoughtful than before. I wished I'd been invited to that meeting, but not even her other mates attended.

Deris and Daris were captives inside power light cages in King Rylend's dungeon, awaiting a day of judgement. I had no idea when that day would come, but I'd already sent mindspeech to Bel Erland, asking to attend. He responded, saying all who desired could do so.

The whole thing seemed anticlimactic to me in some ways, and still I pondered how the N'il Mo'erti had been rendered powerless.

I believe that question lay on many minds, with no ready answers available. What I do know is this; all those machines disappeared when the Larentii left Karathia. I assumed they did something with them, but I couldn't guess as to what that might be.

There was a sadness in Quin, too, that I imagined was due to her temporary death. I, like all the others, skirted that issue. She was alive now and that's all we wanted.

"If you had wings," Justis turned toward me as we stood on the balcony outside his suite, "I'd ask you to fly with me around the castle."

"What color wings should I have?" I asked, smiling at the king.

"Blue—the scholar's color," he said without hesitation. "You deserve them."

* * *

Le-Ath Veronis

Lissa

Seldom did outsiders receive royal commands to appear at hearings conducted by the Karathian court. Included in my invitation was a guest list of other invitees. The list was rather long and included my father, my grandfather Wylend, and several others connected to Wylend's court.

It did involve family though—this hearing, so I supposed anyone with connections to Deris and Daris were commanded to come, although a few of the names puzzled me.

Quin's presence was required; all her mates were strongly advised to attend as well. Quin would testify against Deris and Daris—I had little doubt as to that. She'd been forced into their operation by Liron, disguised as the Orb.

I hadn't spoken to her since the incident on Karathia—she'd been busy reuniting with her mates, although she chose to spend most of her time on Karathia.

Zaria—Corinnelar—I had no idea where she was. When I asked my Larentii mates, they didn't hazard a guess, either. I assumed she was with Valegar and Kalenegar; they'd come to help her on Karathia, so it made sense.

Edden Charkisul asked often whether I'd heard anything from her. The answer was always no—with an apology. He'd been invited to attend the hearing as well.

* * *

Karathia

Bel Erland

Valegar had asked for some time before we passed judgment on Deris and Daris. My father was happy to allow it.

"Tea?" Corolan set a cup of my favorite at my elbow while I sifted through questions Dad and I wanted to ask of the twins.

Their ultimate fate depended upon the answers.

"Thanks, Corolan," I smiled at him. He'd watched after me so many times when I was small. Sang songs to me when I went to bed and helped me filch food from the kitchens when I was hungry.

He'd stayed with Dad when he took the throne after Wylend's abdication, while Garek, Wylend's other mate, chose to go with Wylend.

Both had been with Wylend from the beginning, although I had no idea of their history before Wylend took the throne.

"You're going to learn a lot today," Corolan sighed. "I trust you not to be hasty in your judgments."

"They're filth," I shook my head at Corolan. "Whatever Dad decides to do with them, I'll support."

"I doubt that's the only thing you'll see or hear today that will affect things going forward."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing, perhaps. Perhaps everything." He shrugged and folded space.

"Son, we have an addition to the hearing," Dad poked his head inside my study.