Sworn To Secrecy: Courtlight #4 (6 page)

She hesitantly placed a hand on Inga’s still arm and looked at Vana. “So what now? Can you fix it?”

Vana stood abruptly as she said, “Fix what?”

Vana’s sole focus seemed to be on something behind Ciardis and Inga’s fallen form. Ciardis stood and turned around, as well. “Inga. Can you fix her?”

“No, I can’t. But I know someone who can. The person who did this is the only one who can reverse it,” said Vana.

Ciardis narrowed her eyes. “You mean they have the cure with them?”

“Not exactly—rather that the cure is within their powers. If they created this malady, they can undo it,” Vana said. “The change in her mental state could have only been accomplished by a mage. A mage who has to be nearby.”

Thanar had come over at this point while Caemon stood guard over Kane’s immobile form. Vana cocked her head at Thanar and he nodded briefly to tell her he understood. No words were spoken. No thoughts exchanged. But Ciardis suddenly realized what Vana meant.

She stood in between them with her hands on her hips as she asked, “As in, in this
ballroom
?”

Her eyes widened she stilled herself before she could give in to the urge to peek around the two of them.

“Perhaps,” said Thanar as he looked down at her, his wings slightly spread to shield her and Vana from the view of the others in the area.

“Or perhaps even closer,” concluded Vana as she gripped the knife in her wrist sheath and drew it out slowly to mask the sound of the escaping steel.

Thanar’s eyes were cold as he said, “The mage had to be
very
close by to affect Inga so quickly. And I suspect that they got caught within their own trap.”

A cold shiver went down Ciardis’s back as she remembered that there was one other mage inside the sight and sound shield with them. One mage that she had invited in. One mage that she didn’t know well.

Turning from Vana, her fists clenched against her sides, she looked at Thomas. But instead of seeing Thomas, she whirled around into a face full of taut, leathery wing. She put up her hands futilely to push Thanar’s outstretched appendage back and finally snapped, “Thanar,
move
.”

He grinned down at her attempts to push back at his huge wing, which was far stronger than it looked despite its thin, leathery appearance. She opened her mouth to object again and he disappeared in a whirl of smoke. His body vaporized and became a gray cloak of swirling dark winds that rose up in a funnel and descended upon a hapless boy trapped inside with four very angry friends.

The winds reformed until Thanar stood behind Thomas with his left hand clenched around the young mage’s throat. Thomas began to frantically claw at Thanar’s tight grip as Thanar lifted him, inch-by-inch, and he tried to speak. His airway was restricted and he couldn’t get the words out. Not that it mattered. He was the source of Inga’s illness. Ciardis could see it in his eyes. Fear and guilt.

Thanar was so tall that he had Thomas dangling in the air in front of him as he kicked his legs futilely. Swallowing deeply Ciardis walked up to the pair, dread in her throat and heartsick. She didn’t even know Thomas, but she still felt anguish—anguish and anger. Why would he do something so despicable to someone he didn’t even know? Thomas was desperately looking from one person to another as she and Vana approached. Sweat beaded on his forehead and his robes were tangled in his legs as he kicked out in desperation.

“Put him down,” Ciardis firmly commanded when she stood a few feet in front of Thomas.

Thanar raised an eyebrow and looked over her head at Vana.

Vana nodded slowly in response and unsheathed a second knife, which she twirled leisurely between her fingertips. “Do anything that I don’t like and I’ll gut you.”

Thanar dropped Thomas without a word. Thomas’s breathes came in harsh gasps as his hands slapped down in front of him to halt his fall. His now rumpled mage robes pooled around him on the floor as he slumped forward, his stringy hair hiding his face. For a minute nothing but the sound of harsh coughing filled the air.

When Thomas looked up he was trembling.

“Why?” said Ciardis, looking down at him imperiously. If he had truly known her, he would have seen the anguish in her eyes.

Shaking as tears dripped down his cheeks, he said haltingly, “Th-they m-m-made me.”

Vana hissed in irritation, “Drop the pitiful act. And act like a mage. How are you hiding your true presence? A concealment spell?”

Ciardis had time to wonder why Vana simply didn’t reveal his true form herself. Her mage title was Cloudbreaker, after all. Anything concealed she could unveil.

“N-n-not a-a-an act,” Thomas said as his stutter became worse. Vana smiled coldly and reached forward to trace the edge of her blade on the pockmarked skin of Thomas’s cheek. The blade was so sharp that it left a shallow cut with blood dripping down leisurely in its wake.

Looking from Vana’s unforgiving face to Ciardis’s more appealing face, he tentatively reached forward as if to touch the bottom of Ciardis’s dress. “P-p-please believe me. I d-d-didn’t w-w-want to.”

Vana stepped forward with her right foot and pressed the heel sharply down on his hand. He squealed.

“I told you not to do anything that I didn’t like,” she said in a tone as sharp and dangerous as the edge of her blade.

He shook his head back and forth. “I-I j-j-just...”

Thanar growled, “The boy is useless like this. We need him to talk.”

“Any suggestions?” Vana said in a dangerous purr as she ground her spiked heel into the back of Thomas’s hand.

“One,” said Thanar in disgust.

Ciardis grimaced. “Am I going to like where this going?”

Thanar flicked his smoke-filled eyes to her while he unfolded his arms from across his broad chest. “Probably not.”

Thanar reached forward, and in a lightning-fast move grabbed a hold of the hair on the back of Thomas’s head.

“Thanar,” protested Ciardis just as Thomas yelled in fear.

Thanar sighed in irritation at Ciardis and said, “Relax.” When the whimpers from Thomas didn’t abate, he shook the boy’s head roughly and said, “Shut up.”

Then Thanar opened his power reserves. The black mist of his aura flowed down his arm and swirling around his wrist in a funnel as it leached into Thomas’s head. In Ciardis’s eyes, now was the time to panic. She stepped forward resolutely, yet unsure what she was willing to do to stop him. In any case it didn’t matter. Because Vana slapped the flat of her hand into Ciardis’s waist with a meaty sound, holding her back.

Ciardis yelped. That stung. She looked at Vana accusingly. The woman ignored her. She simply withdrew her hand and nodded at Thomas. Ciardis looked down at the boy kneeling before them and gulped. His eyes had turned pitch black. The whole of his iris had been overtaken until not a drop of white could be seen.

Ciardis asked, “What did you do to him?”

Thanar looked up at her, and to her consternation she noticed weariness in his gaze. Even his wings and shoulders were drooping a little.  For a daemoni who strutted around with the pride and vigor of ten men, that was saying something. The healing, the maintenance of the shield, and the mental intrusion into Thomas’s mind were taking its toll on him. She thought about offering her assistance, boosting his power even. But she forced that thought ruthlessly down. The last time she had helped Thanar he had used her gifts to kill hundreds of innocents. She wouldn’t make that mistake again.

“I put the barest of glamour on his mind and in the process lowered his inhibitions. He’ll speak to us clearly now. No stutter, no cowardice.”

“You what?” Ciardis said stiffly, eyeing the silent boy in front of her. Anger started to form in her gut.

Thanar said, “I don’t need to explain my actions to you, Weathervane. Many a time your bleeding heart has gotten you almost killed.”

Ciardis whirled on him. “Just because I
care
that you’re torturing the poor boy—”

“Poor boy?” sneered Thanar. “That boy has unleashed a dark magic that has been forbidden since before the Initiate Wars. Need I remind you that practitioners of dark mind magic are summarily executed? I’d be more concerned at how this
poor boy
learned how to use those gifts.”

Ciardis didn’t back down. “And torture is your answer?”

“If necessary, yes,” Vana said.

“I disagree,” Ciardis said, folding her arms resolutely.

A dark laugh escaped Thanar’s mouth. “I don’t care. You seem to forget who I am, Weathervane. I don’t serve you.”

“Then why are you here?” Ciardis nearly shouted.

“To get what is owed to me,” he said simply.

Ciardis was breathing hard at their confrontation. Fury clouded her mind. But she slowly took a mental step back. She couldn’t afford to lose Thanar right now. And she was certain she wouldn’t win anyway. Not with Vana on his side. She looked from Thanar to Vana and back to Thomas. The blackness in Thomas’s pupils slowly began to leech away. White formed on the outer rim as Thanar withdrew his magic until only his irises were a dark color.

As if loosened from a spell, Thomas shook his head in confusion and looked around.

Thanar stepped forward into his line of sight as he leisurely said, “Now, my young friend, we have some questions that need answering.”

Thomas wasn’t shaking anymore. In fact, he looked up at Thanar with something akin to eagerness.

“Anything you ask.”

Revolted, Ciardis echoed, “What’s wrong with him?”

Vana stood back, her face like stone.

Pleased with his work, Thanar stood over Thomas’s kneeling form and said to Ciardis, “It’s only temporary. He’s just more eager to please. Now he’ll tell us what we need to know.”

Ciardis didn’t have Vana’s restraint. She slapped Thanar across the face so hard that the sound of the slap echoed. In the silence that ensued, only one noise broke through the glacial feelings that permeated the air: the sound of Kane’s labored breath as he awoke and struggled to stand.

Ciardis’s hand stung but she was ready to slap Thanar again or whatever it would take to release Thomas.

“What’s going on?” Caemon asked from where he was helping Kane to his feet.

Ciardis said, “Thanar turned Thomas into his slave.”

She didn’t even register the pale look on her brother’s face as he helped Kane hobble over quickly. Thanar’s heavy-lidded eyes darkened and Caemon’s skin turned him into a ghost.

“Watch what you accuse a person of, Weathervane,” Thanar hissed.

Ciardis laughed so sharply it was almost a cackle. “I’m not the one who just took over a young mage’s mind in order to force him to do his bidding.”

Caemon slowly released Kane so that he could stand without support. Coming forward with tightness in his expression, he said to Thanar, “
Bruder, was hast du getan
?”
Brother, what have you done?

Vana answered before Thanar could respond. “He made him more amenable to our inquiries.”

Ciardis interjected, “And he needs to fix it!”

Vana continued with reluctance, “Not yet.”

Ciardis whirled around, her mouth agape. “You condone this? Never mind—of course you do.” The last was said bitterly as she remembered Vana presiding over her own torture under the truth serum.

Vana’s mouth tightened. “I’ve watched as you let your anger towards those who have wronged you dwindle. You didn’t attack us for the torture session in the north. You let your mother and brother dictate the actions which lead others into peril. Today you take this mage’s side even though he stands here with proof written on his face that he attacked Inga. You forgive and you forget much too easily, Ciardis. Let this be a lesson. Many of us will do much to serve the greater good and if one person is hurt along the way, so be it.”

Ciardis shook her head. “That’s where you and I differ. Every person is worth saving. Every person is needed.”

Thanar said, “Even when one person has the power to destroy countless others?”

Ciardis turned to him, bitterness in her throat. “We all have that power. Every person, mage or mundane, can kill another being. Whether it’s through the force of their hand or the orders that spring from their lips, it is their burden to bear. And I will never forgive you for what you did in the sanctuary. You killed thousands of innocent
kith
to build your own power and open the rift between this world and the next. It was and is unconscionable. But I need you. We need you. To halt the
blutgott
’s advance.”

“And as I have told you time and again, Weathervane, I am his servant.”

With fury, Ciardis said, “Well, in this moment you serve me. You serve my goals.  You are here under my command.”

Thanar said, “If you think that, then you are fooling yourself.”

“Enough,” said Caemon sharply. “Everyone’s loyalties may lie elsewhere, but right now we need to focus on Inga and why she attempted to kill Kane. What can Thomas tell us that necessitates you bind him like this?”

Vana said simply, “He’s the mage that nearly killed Inga and forced her to attack Kane.”

Caemon swallowed sharply and looked reluctantly at the kneeling boy at Thanar’s feet. “Can you reverse what you’ve done?”

“Of course,” Thanar said smoothly.

“Then he should give us answers as quickly as possible,” Caemon concluded, holding up a firm hand to halt his sister’s protests. “So that this is
over
as soon as possible.”

Thanar nodded. “Very well.”

He turned to Thomas and asked, “Why were you trying to have the soldier called Kane killed?”

“To leave the Weathervane vulnerable,” Thomas said, eyes fixated on Thanar. “If the guard died by the frost giant’s hand, it would leave the Weathervane without two of her protectors.”

“Which Weathervane?” said Thanar with a frown.

Suddenly Thomas stiffened as if in apoplexy. He began to shake.

“What are you doing Thanar?” said Vana.

“It’s not me,” said Thanar as he knelt down in front of Thomas. “My powers are weaker than normal, allowing him to fight back for control of his mind.”

“Or someone could be trying to kill him before he talks to you,” Caemon said.