Sword's Call (6 page)

Even though it was not his main gift, Falor Ryhan had also possessed some healing magic. He’d been gentle and loving.

Her mother had always said it was her father’s healing powers that’d shaped him. He was a good man.

Her father’s smiling face danced into her mind. Jorrin’s eyes wavered, and a droplet of liquid hit her hand.

Damn tears.

She lifted a hand, discovering her cheeks were soaked. Cera wiped her cheeks, only to find Jorrin staring at her. Her stomach flipped, but she forced words out of her mouth. “He packed it away, to send to Tarvis, to my Aunt Emeralda, Avery’s mother. The sword never made it.

“The former archduke, Lord Varthan, is consumed by his greed and desire to hold the throne of King Nathal. He’s convinced the sword will assist him. He and his shades, who are boy mages under his control, attacked Castle Ryhan shortly after midnight on the full moon two months ago.

“He killed my father. He beat and tortured my mother and sister,
raped
them both, one of those still loyal to Ryhans told me. Thank the Blessed Spirit my father didn’t have to see that. My sister, Kacheralda, little Kait, was only fourteen. He killed Kait in front of our mother. He made her watch and then he killed my mother, too.” Cera’s voice wavered as the words caused the reality to wash over her.

They’re really gone . . .

Swallowing a sob, she trembled so hard her teeth rattled. She let Avery take her hand, but she got no comfort from the squeeze he gave.

Trikser whined and crawled into her lap. His heavy body was something she needed. She moved the sword and buried her free hand in the thick fur, fighting the urge to hide her face against his warmth.

Jorrin’s expression was drawn, as if he could feel her pain. His warm sapphire eyes bored into her, comforted her, though they were not touching.

Cera wanted to push away from her bondmate and cousin and bury herself against Jorrin’s chest.

Would he hold her?

Drawing strength from the half-elf, she sucked in a breath. She needed to continue.

“He took over Greenwald. Sent his shades all over the Province and killed those who were too loyal to the Duke of Greenwald to leave alive. I . . . I was not at home when it happened. I was returning from Spring Training with the King’s Riders. I joined the messenger service when I was fifteen. We were training new recruits, and I was chosen to help teach archery and sword fighting.

“Our steward Michal, a man who’d served our family since my father was a boy, got two other servants out and met me on the road with the sword. They’d stolen it while Varthan slept, and they knew they had to get it to me. I went straight to the
Dragon’s Lair,
Marshek’s tavern. Varthan didn’t know where I was. When he realized the sword was gone, the bastard killed Michal, and the two who had brought it to me. Michal’s son, Venton, managed to remain undiscovered, and brought me information for the first sevenday I stayed in Lower Greenwald.

“Varthan knew all was not lost if he could find me. Only a Ryhan could handle the sword, and he hadn’t killed them all. I’m sure Venton was tortured when he was discovered, but he didn’t tell him my location. Varthan killed him as well. By now, he knows I’m gone from Greenwald. There’s no way word of the scuffle when I met you hasn’t reached him . . . the fact that he also went to Tarvis proves he’s guessed my next move.

“He’s killed my family, my friends, and now he has my aunt and uncle because of this stupid sword, a stupid piece of metal. And I wasn’t there. If I’d been there the day he killed them, maybe they wouldn’t be dead. I wasn’t there.” Her tears were hot on her cheeks.

“Cousin, I think you put too much stock in your skill.” Avery’s voice was quiet and he squeezed her hand again. “Do you really think you could have changed anything?”

She should’ve been hurt by the words, but she was numb.

“I should’ve been there,” she protested, but her energy was suddenly gone.

“No, Cera, then you’d be dead, too,” Jorrin said.

“Maybe that would be for the better. Then he’d still be puzzling over how to use the damned thing.”

She cast the sword to the ground.

Trikser wuffed softly and left her lap to inspect it.

Jorrin knelt in front of her. He cupped her face and forced her to meet his eyes. “No . . . if you were dead, he’d find some other way to override the spell. There is
always
more powerful magic. And if he hadn’t killed you, you’d probably be wishing you were dead now. No, Ceralda Ryhan, too many people value you.” He drew her into his arms.

Cera buried her face against his neck. She wrapped her arms around his waist and felt him pull her even closer. She closed her eyes as she inhaled the pleasant mixture of Jorrin’s clean scent and leather. Fighting tears, she swallowed against the lump in her throat, but quickly lost the battle when Jorrin started making comforting circles up and down her back, rubbing with just the right amount of pressure.

The first sob slipped out, then the second, but he only held her and let her cry as her body shook against him.

****

“What I don’t understand,” Jorrin remarked sometime later, “is why the king didn’t do anything to prevent this. And why didn’t he send an army to Greenwald?”

“Ah . . . I have an answer for you,” Avery said as he groomed Valor. “Varthan may not have magic of his own, but his shades are the most powerful human mages on the continent. Believe it or not, some work for him willingly. He knows they have a gift and offers them training. In return, they are indebted to him for a time, but they usually stay in his service out of some demented sense of honor. It’s rumored that he has them trained by even more powerful mages than they are . . . elfin mages. Many other shades though . . . they never had a choice. For them, there’s nothing else. No other way to be.”

Jorrin shook his head. It disgusted him to think that any of his mother’s race would assist a madman like Varthan.

“It’s the darkness that makes them stay.” Cera’s tone was quiet. “They can’t break away. Dark magic makes them hungry . . .”

Avery nodded.

Jorrin looked from one to the other. The family resemblance was obvious. They had the same gray eyes. Avery’s hair was several shades lighter than Cera’s red, and it curled more than his cousin’s.

Avery was young. He’d confessed to Jorrin he was a few months shy of his eighteenth birthday, and he was tall—almost his own six feet three inches. And though he was somewhat lanky, he probably had girls all over Tarvis flocking after him.

“What does obsession with dark magic have to do with the siege on Greenwald?” Jorrin asked.

“The power of his mages has everything to do with it. Varthan isn’t stupid. Wouldn’t life be simpler if he was?” Avery mused. “Unfortunately, evil people are often intelligent, and Varthan is no exception.” When Jorrin smirked, he continued. “Magic is stronger when performed in a group, correct?”

“Well, yeah.” Jorrin sighed.

Spit it out, kid.

“The night of the siege, Varthan got all of his shades together and cast a large shield, a bubble if you will, over the capital city, over the castle . . . everything.”

“Over all of Terraquist? Couldn’t King Nathal’s own mages do anything about it?” Jorrin asked.

“They could cast inside, but anything they threw at the bubble bounced back.”

“They got zapped with their own magic?” Jorrin gasped.

“Yes, but it was gone the next day. Investigation yielded nothing. Perhaps they thought a powerful mage was experimenting and it was a side effect.” Avery frowned, shaking his head. “Then they got word of what happened. The king was frantic.

“They left Terraquist that very evening, the king himself leading his best knights and their men, along with his most powerful mages. But when they got to Greenwald, Varthan and his mages cast the bubble spell again, but this time it was to keep something out. A few of King Nathal’s mages were injured when they tried to dismantle the shield at Terraquist, but they tried to get in anyway . . . nothing worked.”

Cera shot a glance to her cousin. “But I was in Greenwald then . . . how?”

“The wall was virtually invisible, and even though you didn’t know it, you passed through it. And when Varthan fled to go after you, he let it fall. He also left in secret, before the king and his men entered Greenwald, and then Castle Ryhan. Mother sent me to find you, so I don’t know what happened after I left.”

“But how were we able to pass through?” Jorrin asked.

Why hadn’t his magical senses picked anything up?

He’d always been able to tell when there was magic around him.

Always.

How the hell had he missed something as large—and as serious—as a spell covering a whole Province?

“The shield over Terraquist was designed to keep something in. I’m sure people entered the city when it was up, but they couldn’t get back out. The shield over Greenwald was made to keep something out, which is why you were able to leave. If you’d tried to return to the Province, you wouldn’t have been able to. Movement through the shields differed because of the nature of each spell.”

“Aunt Em saw all this?” Cera asked.

“Actually—” Avery blushed. “I figured out the nature of the shields, but yes, Mother saw everything.”

She nodded and chewed her bottom lip.

“You really don’t fear for their safety?”

“Not right now. Father will hold the castle with his personal guard. There are no stronger men in the entire Province. Mother saw Varthan coming. She sent me to find you because she needs you to come to Tarvis. Varthan is using them to draw you and the sword.”

“Bait. And since he wants her to come, he definitely won’t set up a shield to keep her out,” Jorrin said.

Avery nodded. “Varthan is still planning to kill King Nathal and take over the kingdom. If he succeeded, he’d kill the remaining Dukes of the Provinces, my father included, and possibly their heirs.” He pointed to his chest, then to Cera. “And though he needs you to handle the sword now, I’m sure as soon as he disposes of the spell, he’ll dispose of you.” He winced.

Cera nodded, her eyes misty, and Jorrin’s stomach jumped. He couldn’t abide her tears.

“I’m pretty sure—and Mother agrees with me—in order to break the spell on the sword, Varthan’s mages need you to be holding it when they attempt the counter spell. I’d hoped we could try to break the spell ourselves. Unfortunately, I have no idea what spell would do it. I’ve looked in many spell books—even ancient texts, researching—but I’ve come up with nothing. I don’t think anything I could write would work, either, since I don’t know what Uncle Falor’s spell contained.” Avery’s shoulders slumped and he sighed.

“What do we do now?” Jorrin whispered.

“We go to Tarvis, that’s what. Wasn’t that always the plan?” Cera made a fist, her chest rising with her deep breath.

He reached for her hand and smiled when she didn’t pull away.

Chapter Five

They left at sunrise, following Cera’s original route.

Avery argued that if they turned off the westerly road and continued due south, they could make Tarvis in four days, even with stopping for the night.

She pointed out that Varthan might have sent shades out to find them, and if they were to turn onto the main road, they’d be intercepted. And although Varthan was expecting her to arrive at Castle Lenore, if they were caught they’d lose any element of surprise they had.

Jorrin listened to them both, leaning toward Cera’s plan, because she was right about needing any advantage they could muster. He said nothing, and hid a smile from time to time during their bickering.

“I made it in three days,” Avery muttered, just loud enough for both of them to hear as they were tacking their horses and preparing to move out.

“Yes, you may have; but you rode seventy-two hours straight, strapped to your horse so you wouldn’t fall off,” Cera barked.

Jorrin ducked behind Grayna, reaching for his saddle pack to hide his amusement.

“My way was clear and safer.” Avery crossed his arms over his chest.

“Not with shades after us. Discussion over, Avery. We go the way I say, or we don’t go at all.” Cera glared, making a cutting gesture with her hand.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Cera. We
have
to go!”

“Exactly. So shut up and get on your horse.” Her expression declared an end to the argument as she mounted Ash. He whinnied and Trikser wuffed.

Jorrin could feel her sudden remorse at being rough and saw her caress the stallion’s neck before they tore off to the road.

He sighed.

It’s gonna be a long day.

They caught up quickly, but Cera rode at least ten feet ahead, nudging Ash faster if either of them got too close.

He chuckled and Avery threw him a black look. “So . . . how long do you think she’ll stay mad at you?”

The younger man sighed. “One time, when we were little, I put a frog down the back of Kait’s shirt when we were swimming. She screamed, went under and swallowed some water. She coughed and coughed, but was all right. Cera beat me up, got me in trouble, and then didn’t talk to me for a whole sevenday.”

Jorrin laughed. “Somehow, I can believe that about her.”

Avery gave a small smile and glanced around.

“Don’t worry about Cera, anyway. Her pride was only a little hurt at the thought of you challenging her prowess, I think,” Jorrin said.

He shot him a sharp look. “Prowess? She’s
my
cousin. I know her a bit better than you do. After all, you have only known her for a sevenday.”

“A sevenday is a long time to get to know someone, sometimes.” Jorrin shifted in his saddle, looking away. Without waiting for an answer, he gave his heels to Grayna’s sides.

The mare bolted forward and soon she and Ash were abreast.

Trikser barked a protest at being nudged over by the bigger animal, but neither horse, nor humans paid any attention.

“Hi, there,” Jorrin ventured, giving Cera a once over.

She was brooding; her emotions positively reeked of it; his magic tingled.

Cera glanced in his direction and their eyes locked.