The Chaos Crystal (7 page)

Jaxyn scowled at her. 'This is about securing a comfortable place to see out the next High Tide. If you don't like it, find someone else to sponge off.'

Lyna smiled apologetically. 'Now, now, dear, let's not be snippy. I was just wondering what will happen when we win, that's all. Syrolee's not going to hand over the kingdom she's earmarked for her new empire without putting up a fight. So you must have something to offer her that will make them back off. I mean, if it comes down to it, Tryan and Elyssa could wipe the floor with you, darling, if they combine their power once the Tide has peaked.'

Jaxyn knew that. He also hadn't quite figured out the solution to that minor but important detail. He did not intend to let Lyna know that, however.

'There's no need for you to concern yourself with that,' he told her. 'If, and when, your input is required, I'll let you know. Are you packed?'

'Ah
...'
Lyna said, a little sheepishly. 'About this trip to Lebec
...'

'You're coming with me, Lyna. Don't bother trying to wheedle your way out of it.'

'But why?' she asked, with a petulant scowl. 'There's nothing to do in Lebec. The weather's awful. It rains all the time
...'

'Lebec is two days north of us,' he said. 'The weather is exactly the same as here in Herino. And if you think for a moment that I'm leaving you here in Herino with Diala so the two of you can plot behind my back, you've another think coming. Besides, you're my betrothed. It would look odd if you didn't accompany me to Lebec'

'And what am I supposed to do while you survey your ducal holdings? Hold tea parties for the landed gentry?' She rolled her eyes with a heavy sigh. 'Tides, you'll be wanting me to socialise with half-wits like Tilly Ponting next.'

'Tilly Ponting isn't nearly as stupid as she'd have you believe,' he warned, rising to his feet. 'And you'd

do well to at least pretend to care about the rest of the
landed gentry,
as you call them, until the Tide's high enough that it doesn't matter.'

Lyna glared at him unhappily, then after a moment she shrugged. 'I suppose. What are you going to do?'

'See to the estate. And to some other business in Lebec that I haven't had time to attend to until now.'

'You mean your precious little deposed duchess, don't you?' Lyna asked with a sly smile. 'The one I brought back from Senestra. She's a feisty little thing. Do you think the wait has softened her up at all?'

Jaxyn turned to the large map, detailing his invasion plans that was laid out on the table and began to roll it up. 'She's probably thought of nothing else but what I might be planning to do to her since she was confined in Lebec Prison. The wait may not have softened her
...'
He smiled wistfully for a moment, it might well have driven her mad.'

'You're such an evil little prick, Jaxyn.'

He smiled even more broadly. Coming from Lyna, that was probably a compliment, 'I have my moments.'

'And what
are
you planning to do to her, now you've got her in your clutches? I can't believe you're going to take to her with a lash and a red-hot poker. You're long past getting a kick out of watching something suffer mere physical torment. Your tastes are much more sophisticated these days.'

'I'm going to use her to bring Stellan to heel,' he said.

Lyna smiled at him in a way he didn't much care for. 'Ah, yes
...
It all gets back to the boyfriend, doesn't it?'

'The
boyfriend,
as you insist on referring to the traitor Stellan Desean, is currently residing in the palace of a foreign queen, urging her to invade us, so he can take the crown of Glaeba from its legally appointed heir.'

'Unlike you,' she said, trailing her finger along the table as she approached him, 'who's currently planning

to invade a foreign power so he can take the thrones of both Caelum
and
Glaeba from their legally appointed heirs and then appoint himself king of the whole blessed continent.'

Jaxyn wasn't fooled by her scolding tone. 'And the only reason you're striding the halls of this palace in all that finery and a snow-bear fur cloak, my dear, is because you're quite happy to go along with it,' he pointed out, securing the map with a length of red ribbon.

'I didn't say I disapproved, darling,' she said, leaning forward to kiss his cheek. 'I just think I'm going to be bored witless in Lebec'

'Deal with it, Lyna. You're coming with me.'

'Can I watch you interrogate the duchess?'

'No.'

'Afraid I might be jealous?'

'More afraid you'll get in the way, actually.'

'Will you tell me about it?
All
about it. I'll want every tiny little detail.'

He sighed. 'If that's what it takes to keep you hosting tea parties for the landed gentry, Lyna, then yes. I'll tell you every tiny little detail.'

She took a step back from him. 'Well, I'd better get packing then. When do we leave?'

'Tomorrow at first light.'

'I'll be there,' she promised. 'And if you promise me at least one visit to watch you working on your little duchess, I'll even try to pretend I'm thrilled to be there.'

Jaxyn wasn't amused by her attempts to manipulate him, but there probably wasn't any harm to be done by letting Lyna visit Arkady once. 'We'll see,' he told her, not quite prepared to commit to anything just yet.

'We will indeed,' she agreed, before turning on her heel and flouncing out of the council chamber, stopping only long enough to retrieve her white snow-

bear cloak on the way out. Jaxyn watched her leave and then turned to Chikita. Like the well-trained Crasii she was, the feline hadn't moved a muscle during the whole conversation, although noticing where she was now standing, Jaxyn did wonder if she'd been inching her way closer to the fire.

'Take this map to my office,' he ordered, pulling a chain from around his neck from which a small key dangled. 'Make sure it's locked in the cabinet, and then return the key to me. I'll be in the king's parlour.'

Chikita took the map and the key and bowed low to her master. 'To serve you is the reason I breathe,' she said.

Damn right it is,
Jaxyn thought.
And the world
would be a much happier place
if
everyone on Amyrantha thought the same.

CHAPTER 6

Lukys walked a little further into the fabulous ice chamber, admiring his own handiwork. He seemed inordinately pleased with himself.

Declan stared at his father's back, a little surprised. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it seemed wrong that all this effort had been expended to kill an immortal if all it would take for him to die was to have him holding a lump of rock at the critical moment. 'Cayal will be
holding
the crystal?'

'Focusing the Tide into the Chaos Crystal is a tricky business,' Maralyce said stepping up beside Declan. 'You can't just lay it on the ground and hope for the best. It needs something organic holding it in place.'

'Otherwise the magic just
...
bounces off,' Lukys said, squatting down to examine some minute flaw in the ice cavern's polished surface that only he could see. He studied the ice for a moment and then rose to his feet. Declan couldn't help the feeling 'bounces off was not what Lukys originally intended to say.

Lukys looked around with satisfaction and then turned to Declan. 'The ice walls should keep the magic contained and channel it back where it's needed.'

Declan felt as if he was starting to get some hint of the bigger picture. 'That's why you built yourself a palace here in Jelidia, isn't it?' he said. 'It wasn't because you liked the idea of living at the bottom of the world in regal but isolated splendour. You needed to cover this up. You had to do something with all the ice you cut out of this chamber.'

'He doesn't miss much, does he?' Lukys remarked to Maralyce.

'I did try to warn you,' his great-grandmother replied. Declan wouldn't have bet money on it, but for once she sounded almost proud of him.

'Do the others know about this?' he asked.

'Kentravyon does,' Lukys said. 'He helped me build the chamber. And of course, Taryx, who disposed of all the ice we hollowed out, in a very aesthetically pleasing way, I have to admit. As for the others — well, we haven't really felt the need to involve anybody else at this stage.'

'Were Kentravyon and Taryx around the last time you tried this?'

Lukys nodded, slipping his hands in the pocket of his vest. It was so cold in the chamber their breath frosted with every word. But Lukys was dressed in a plain white shirt, a simple knitted vest and linen trousers with sandals on his feet, which would have stuck to the ice had he tried to walk on it barefoot. 'Kentravyon is one of the original immortals. Pellys, too, but I'm not sure he still has the ability to concentrate enough to be of use.'

Declan wasn't sure how much of this he believed, but it seemed foolish to waste such an opportunity when Maralyce and Lukys were feeling so garrulous. He pointed to the platform in the centre of the chamber. 'So this is where we put Cayal and the Chaos Crystal when we find it? On that? And then what? We all stand around chanting until Cayal explodes, opening a gateway to this other world you're planning to escape to?'

Lukys smiled, turning to glance at the altar. 'Near enough. Of course, we have to find the crystal first. Or at least retrieve it. Which, thanks to my dear, dear friend, Maralyce, may happen sooner than we'd hoped.'

Declan turned from the distracting vista of the chamber to look at his great-grandmother. This is

what he'd come here to find out. Why she'd come here. Why she'd leave Glaeba, abandon her mine. 'You've found it?'

'If only I had,' she said with a sigh. 'Alas, nobody has found it yet. But it seems Elyssa might know where it is. According to my spies, she's managed to get her hands on an original Lore Tarot.'

'The one Taryx was talking about?' Declan asked, a sudden wave of guilt washing over him. His responsibilities to the Cabal of the Tarot were a burden that grew increasingly heavy, made worse by the fact that despite his noble intentions, he'd learned almost nothing useful since coming to Jelidia, except how to better control the magical Tide. Even now, standing here in the chamber where Lukys intended to kill Cayal, with his father actually explaining the details, Declan realised he was none the wiser.

And when did Maralyce acquire spies?

'When the Cabal stole the crystal from us,' Lukys said, resuming his inspection of the floor. Declan supposed he was looking for cracks. He really wasn't sure. 'They drew a map of where they hid it and then buried the map within the Lore Tarot so only a few key members of the Pentangle would know about it. And then they copied the Lore Tarot, both correctly and incorrectly, and spread it around like chicken feed, to further confuse the issue.' Lukys squatted down again, brushed away a speck too small for Declan to see from this distance, and then rose to his feet and resumed his walk toward the altar, his head bent as he studied the floor while he walked.

is that why you joined the Cabal?' Declan called after him, his voice echoing off the walls, thinking of a meeting held long ago around Tilly Ponting's table in Herino, where this man had sat there and pretended he was just as desperate to find a way to kill an immortal as they were.

'Partly,' Lukys called back. He looked up, smiling. 'But mostly, I have to say, because it was rather fun, Declan. I quite liked being Ryda Tarek, respected gem merchant from Stevania, noble member of the Cabal of the Tarot. It was almost as much fun as when Cayal and I joined the Holy Warriors.'

Had he been closer, Declan might have been tempted to slap that smug look off his face. He wanted to rail at every member of the Cabal for being such fools and allowing themselves to be taken in by Lukys. The Tide Lord turned back to his inspection of the floor, moving farther and farther away from Declan. Suspecting Lukys had lost interest in explaining anything further, Declan turned to Maralyce. 'How do you know Elyssa has the map?'

'You'd be surprised what I know.'

'Nothing would surprise me about you, Granny,' he said. 'But how do you know she has the map?'

Maralyce looked as if she wasn't going to answer him, and then shrugged. 'I think I've mentioned before what a remarkable source of intelligence Clyden's Inn can be. It's a favourite meeting spot for the Cabal's spies, and young Lord Aleki Ponting, righteous freedom fighter for the cause, seems to labour under the misapprehension that it's a safe place to do business. I overheard one of his men reporting to him. Apparently, your Cabal has a Scard in Elyssa's service. He's the one who passed the information on to the Cabal.' And then she frowned, putting her hands on her hips. 'And if you ever call me granny again, my lad, I will make you sorry you ever drew your first breath.'

Declan bit back a smile. He wasn't sure what Maralyce had in mind, but if looks could kill
...
well, it was a good thing he was immortal.

'Do the Cabal realise the significance of what she's found?' Declan asked. He knew the Lore Tarot was important, but the knowledge that it contained a map

of the location of the Chaos Crystal was lost to history. Certainly, the idea that the Chaos Crystal was the key to getting rid of the immortals would come as news to them.