The Castrofax (24 page)

The only thing he managed to ingest was a mix
of herbs Balien brought. Gabriel was delighted to see his old
foster-brother. Balien was his usual tricky self. He hinted to have
been working on something serious for years, but did not let on.
Gabriel suspected Balien held back in case Nolen broke him and the
secret forfeit. The watery tincture tasted foul, but it would keep
back the pain for a while when Nolen succeeded in accosting him. At
the very thought Gabriel went to swig more when the door loudly
burst open.

Nolen stepped in, flanked by four large
guards. “Ready?” Nolen smirked as the guards rounded him. Two of
them seized Gabriel roughly by the arms.
‘Why now?’
Gabriel
wondered frantically, his eyes going to the flask of herbs out of
reach. People could see them now; the Queen could stop this. The
guards pulled him forward giving him no time to dig his heels
in.

Aisling was in the anteroom, standing in the
doorway of her chambers. Gabriel remembered the band on his finger
and pulled it off quickly, shifting his weight back to stall the
guards. “Aisling, here.”

“Nolen, I will have none of this!” she
yelled.

“I no longer answer to you,” Nolen replied,
holding the doors open so the guards could pass.

“Your mother will hear of this!”

“Lady, the Queen bade me to do it.” Nolen’s
smile gave Gabriel a chill. The guards roughly manhandled him down
the halls and stairs where everyone could see. The entire trip
designed to show Nolen’s authority.

Gabriel refused to go quietly from that
point. He wrenched free, and he kicked most fiercely until one man
clubbed him over the head. That did not stop him.

The dungeons were set beneath the west wing
where no sunlight could reach. It was built into a series of
natural caves that reached far into the earth. Criminals from all
over Anatoly were locked away, but the Anatoly dungeons were known
for not being overly grotesque. In fact, prisoners were hardly ever
tortured here, merely left in their cells. Many of them had the
luxury of items to call their own, be it books or crafts.

With Nolen in the lead, the men took Gabriel
deep into the caves. The air was stale and smelled of moisture.
They pulled him to a cell at the far end of a hall and forced him
inside. One guard unbuckled his boot while another man seized the
other and threw them in a corner. They cut the shirt from him and
slipped a knife under the top hem of Gabriel’s trousers.

Nolen put a hand up. “He can keep those.”

Three guards stepped out while the last
clipped a rusted shackle around over the wristlet Castrofax. Nolen
closed the door behind him and turned to face Gabriel who stood
with a challenging posture.

The room was small, made of honed rock with a
single slab of concrete wall and a tall ceiling. A table stood off
to one side bearing a coil of rope and other long objects while
more hung on the walls. A chain draped from the ceiling connected
to a pulley, and more chains and shackles swathed the rock.

“The fittest are the first to fall.” Nolen
looked far too pleased with himself and slowly took off his coat
revealing a pristine white shirt underneath.
‘He must not think
to bleed me.’

“Does it bother you my mother permitted
this?” Nolen asked as he stepped up to the table, lifting sharp
objects. “After all, she was your protector for a while.”

Gabriel found his voice, and with it his
gumption. “I’m certain you bullied her into it.”

Nolen’s brows went up, and he smirked,
selecting a metal scourge. “How right you are. She is an easily
bended woman.” He put the scourge back down, and Gabriel released
his held breath. Nolen grinned and picked the scourge up. “You know
I have an Air Element. How long do you think this will take? I give
you two days, and I consider that generous.”

Anxiety rose in him.
‘He expects me to
last that long?’
His brain racked itself for a riposte when he
remembered an old excerpt from a book in Jaden. He straightened a
little. “Don’t you know? Class Tens are nearly impossible to
break.”

Nolen hefted the scourge in his hand.
“Everyone breaks.”

As scribe for the Head Mage, it fell to
Secondhand Lael to intercept and read all mail. With Council
members Adelaide and Galloway out battling the latest crisis, Lael
searched for something else to go askew in their absence. The mail
so far was nothing unusual, pleas for help and assistance, thanks
for jobs well done, and every now and then a letter damning their
power. Not everyone revered the Mages. Such power could be
dangerous.

He unrolled a small scroll carried by bird
from Anatoly City, marked with the crest of Councilwoman Aisling.
He did not get halfway through before he rose to his feet and ran
through the Head Mage’s rooms. Casimir was meeting with the
librarians, but Lael knew what he had to say would trump the Mages.
He burst through the double doors of the sitting room and silenced
their conversation.

Casimir looked up sharply, his face worried
rather than angry. Lael of all people would never interrupt without
good reason.

“Mage Gabriel’s been captured,” Lael
stated.

“Good, we have been looking for him.”

“Prince Nolen captured him with—with—a
Castrofax.” Lael whispered the last word as if saying it quietly
would soften the blow.

“Oh,” Casimir breathed. “Oh, my. Oh no,” he
put a hand on his forehead. The four librarians sat in mortified
silence. Lael saw the grief on his lord’s face and knew Casimir did
not know what to do. Casimir had plans for the boy, and they were
extensive.

“Power like that in Prince Nolen’s hands,”
Casimir whispered. “We may as well go set fire to Kilkiny Palace. I
…” Casimir began and trailed off. “I have a lot of planning to do.”
He stood. “When Galloway and Adelaide return, please convene the
Council.”

“This is no coincidence, Head Mage.”

“Ryker escapes, and the only man who can
stand against him is captured? You are quite right. Gentlemen,
lady, please excuse me.” Casimir gave a polite nod and left them.
“I need some time alone,” Casimir said quietly slipped into his
study and closed the door.

Robyn hated horses. Their gate was too long
and bouncy. She kept thinking she was going to be thrown at any
moment. It had been years since she had ridden one, and she forgot
they did not understand her commands. She still found herself
shouting “Slow down!” at the beast. Calsifer kept his smirks mostly
to himself, but she caught him grinning now and again.

They had been on the trail for days now,
keeping off the main roads, and diverting into the countryside. The
land was beautiful, with full fields and gently sloping green hills
dotted with cattle.

Talon and Andolyn Estrin were cousins from
her father’s side with no claim to the throne. Their parents were
wealthy merchants who spent most of their time on their estates in
Cinibar. Both Talon and Andolyn were a few years older than Robyn,
and she expected both to be married with children by now. They had
been close when she was younger, and though she rarely saw them,
they held a special relationship. She was especially close with
Andolyn who shared the curse of an older brother with no
sisters.

Robyn’s face unknowingly soured the further
she rode from Gabriel. She could do no good for him there, but she
had not been parted from him for years. It felt foreign to wake up
without him. She spent the time plotting Nolen’s demise to make her
feel happy.

“Is that it?” Calsifer asked and pointed to a
large section of forest up ahead. From it poked a spire with a
blue-and-white striped banner blowing limply.

“That’s it.” She would give anything to be
off her stubborn animal. Calsifer kept telling her it had a soft
mouth, but she didn’t know what that meant and continued to saw
away until the beast did what she wanted.

Under an hour later, they walked their mounts
up the road to the manor. It was a large estate, larger even than
Urima, more of a small town than it was a manor. A pack of
screaming children ran passed chasing a dog while a mother shouted
to watch the riders. The smells of baking bread and hay filled the
air and took Robyn back to a simpler moment.

A footman came to hold the horses as they
dismounted before the massive manor. It stretched five stories,
made of a gray-tan stone local to the area. The manor had been in
Robyn’s father’s family for many generations, and when he married
up in status, his sister became the heiress to it. A doorman
invited them into a long foyer with marble floors and asked they
wait while he fetched his masters.

The sweeping ceiling and the spiraling
columns had vines carved into them. She remembered the way her
little voice and footsteps echoed through the room that wound up
the center of the building. Flexing her lips, she drew a sharp
whistle and listened to it echo up the foyer. Her chuckle
followed.

A whistle echoed back, and she faced upwards
to see a tall man with long blond hair brushing his shoulders
walking down smoothly. She could hardly tell if he was someone she
knew, but the dark blond hair gave her reason to believe this was
Talon. He had grown into a handsome man, with a brown goatee and
dark eyes. He wore a long cream tunic with sleeves that bore
several gray stripes interlocking over the fabric to join in the
center of his chest.

“You must be far from home,” he smiled as he
took the last few steps. “Though, Keiryon Manor is far from
everyone’s home. What brings you here?”

She looked up at him and waited, hoping he
would recognize her, but he said nothing. She washed the dye from
her hair the day before, so she would not look so strange, but it
seemed the years had taken her face from his memory.

She opened her mouth to reply when a gasp
followed by the shatter of ceramic came from her left. A woman with
blonde hair cropped to her jaw, dressed in flowing black trousers
and a tight yellow coat stood not far off. It was unmistakably
Andolyn who was a few years younger than her brother. Her cute face
hardly changed from the girl Robyn knew.

“
Robyn
?” Andolyn gasped. Robyn gave
her a grateful smile. “Idiot brother, do you not recognize
royalty?”

“Not when it is dressed in…what
are
you wearing?” Talon asked with a cloy smile.

Andolyn rushed to her cousin and pulled her
into a rough embrace. “I thought you were dead. Everyone said the
Novaculas killed you years ago,” she pushed Robyn back. “Look at
you! You grew up!” She looked at Talon. “Oh, brother, we must send
an apology to the Novaculas for that cask of manure wine we sent
them.”

“Don’t,” Robyn replied.

Talon scooped Robyn up in one arm. “Whatever
you’re wearing smells like horse.”

“Come in, come in,” Andolyn urged and gave
General Calsifer a hug for good measure. He looked unsure of it and
kept a tight grasp on his sword hilt. “You must tell us what brings
you here over tea. Bethney! Tea and refreshments.”

“She should bathe first,” Talon added,
keeping an arm around her shoulders.

“
You
smell like roses. Since when did
that start? You haven’t gone all pansy on us, have you?” Robyn
retorted.

“No, no. Worse. I got married. Lady wife
won’t let me use any other soap.”

“Pansy.”

Andolyn pulled them apart and put Robyn next
to her, holding her hand. “What brings you here, and why now, and
where have you been all these years, and who is that man with a
steel rod for a spine?”

Calsifer raised a brow.

“This is General Arden Calsifer, and you will
find he
is
made of steel.”

They stepped into a round room decorated in
dark grays and blues with small rounded windows. The hearth was
quickly being lit by a servant, and it cast a muted orange glow to
all the blues. Andolyn pulled Robyn to a couch, still clutching her
hand.

“Sit, sit, my love,” Andolyn commanded
Calsifer and waved him to a couch that he took gingerly. Andolyn
found it easy to make friends—and frighten people. “Now where have
you been?”

“All sorts of places. Mostly out in Hollow
Downs, but over the past two years we’ve been everywhere and
nowhere.”

“You and the Steel Spine?”

Robyn bit her lips. “No. That’s why I’m here.
The man who has been protecting me all these years was captured by
Prince Nolen.”

“Prick,” Andolyn snapped.

“Language,” Talon cut in. “Forgive her. She
blows abandon to the wind when she gets excited. It is why I cannot
marry her off.” Talon sighed.

“I marry on my choosing, not yours. Everyone
knows Prince Nolen is trouble. Who is this protector of yours?”

“He’s the first of his kind, a Class Ten
Mage.”

Talon blew out a long breath while Andolyn
stared at Robyn for a moment. “Out with the whole story, then.”

Robyn took several minutes to recall her life
since Urima Manor. By the end Talon had taken a seat and stared
listlessly at the wall.

“What will you ask of us?” Talon asked. “Say
it, and it is yours.”

“Are you talking to your cousin or your
Princess?” Robyn asked, testing his motives.

“The girl with her heart broken,” he
replied.

She nodded, satisfied. “I need to recapture
Gabriel. I have a theory that if he is brought to the edge of death
the Castrofax will unlock just long enough for us to remove them. I
would see all your expenses paid for.” Talon waved a hand of
dismissal. “There is more. Lady Aisling told me a legendary Mage in
Castle Jaden has woken from an Age-long hibernation. Do you know
the name Ryker Slade?”

“I’ve read of him,” Talon replied. “He has a
fierce reputation.”