The Prince of Exiles (The Exile Series) (66 page)

Memories came back to the Prince as he walked toward his brother. Geofred had been both the kindest of his siblings and the most remorseless. He did what he did for reasons that none but he could understand. The Prince, when growing up, had idolized him, far more than his other siblings. Far more even than his Mother. He was the man always looking to the future, ready to do what was necessary, even when that meant performing immoral deeds. He had the ultimate good in mind, one that transcended the rights of a single man or woman – he was tasked with guarding the good of an
Empire.

But now that admiration was gone. Now the Prince had lived among the men and women his brother so carelessly disposed of. The men he had killed – were they the price to pay for a better world? Was such a price
worth
paying?

The Prince stopped several yards away from the altar, just outside a small wooden fence that no doubt kept even the Most High from transgressing the sacred space that only the Empress or Her Children could enter. Such things seemed so foolish to him now … they seemed so
wrong.

He felt Tomaz and Leah come up to him on either side, and stop only an arms length away – just far enough that, should they need to move quickly into action, they wouldn’t be in each other’s way, but still close enough together to allow them to defend each other should the Eagle attack.

“Mother wouldn’t like you sitting in her chair brother.”

Geofred sighed and unfolded himself. He bore the look of a disappointed tutor as he stood upon the great imitation of the Diamond Throne.

“You never understood the first lesson I tried to teach you,” the Eagle said, eyes the blue of a cloudless morning sky. “Power is an illusion. Even Mother’s.”

“She is a God brother,” The Prince said, uneasy. Even with all of his time spent in Exile, he knew this to be true.

“And yet you fight against her.”

“I fight against the injustice the Empire has caused,” he responded.

“You do but equivocate,” the Eagle said, amused. “To fight the Empire is to fight the Empress, and to fight the
injustice
of the Empire, is to fight the
injustice
of the Empress. You cannot say it is otherwise – we both know that our Mother rules this land with an iron fist. If there is anything that can be said about Her it is that she does not let a day go by without putting Her personal stamp on the lands She rules.”

Geofred raised a hand and snapped his fingers.

Three figures came out of the shadows, holding stones that glowed blood red, wearing robes with black hoods.

“Bloodmages!”

The three of them dove for cover but they were too late. The stones glowed red and strips of metal detached themselves from the walls and from the floor, bent, and flew toward the Prince, Leah, and Tomaz. The momentum of the metal threw them to the walls around the altar, where they were held fast as the metal dug into the walls, glowing red under the Bloodmage enchantment.

“Perfect,” Geofred said with a smile. “Now leave us. Kill as many of the Kindred as you can before you are taken. I didn’t intend for them to breach the walls in force – keep them from entering here until I am finished.”

The three mages bowed and left.

“How are you doing this?” The Prince asked, shocked. Bloodmagic couldn’t touch him – he had a Talisman. This shouldn’t be possible.

“Ah!” Geofred said with a smile. “My own little trick. Bloodmagic can’t hold you – or your friend there with the Aspect of Strength – but it
can
still manipulate things around you. So I had them embed the metal in the wall and fuse it with the stone, keeping the enchantment from touching you at all. Quite a neat little loophole.”

“I built these walls you know,” he said, looking at the Cathedral dispassionately, “as soon as they were threatened, I knew, and I came here.”

“You knew before then. You set this all up – you convinced Tiffenal to steal the Elder’s dagger.”

“Ahhhh … fascinating. So the Raven Talisman really does work on the other Children. I thought that, because of the way the Talismans interfere with each other, there might be some kind of problem. But no, it looks like you were able to get around that.”

“Don’t change the subject,” the Prince snarled, straining against the metal that held him pinned to the wall of the Cathedral. “You convinced Tiffenal to steal the dagger. To kill an Elder.”

“Very well,” said Geofred, raising an eyebrow at him, showing his disapproval at the Prince’s outburst, once again assuming the stance of a disappointed tutor. “You are correct - I did. But if we’re going to
really
get into it … you should also blame me for the death of General Oleander.”

“He was a construct,” said the Prince, watching his brother, trying to think of a way out of this predicament, but coming up with nothing. They were powerless – even Tomaz couldn’t break his bonds, try as he might. Geofred could kill them any time he chose and there was nothing he could do about it.

“He wasn’t originally a construct,” Geofred said, smiling, “but he was after Tiffenal’s little assassination. The original Oleander has been dead for months now – the construct could only work for so long, we knew that going in, so we had to make it count. I didn’t decide who to make it until we heard from the remaining Seekers about the situation in Vale. He was the most convenient … though Henri Perci would have served just as well.”

“How did you turn him?” Tomaz asked, murder in his eyes. “He’s one of the most loyal Kindred we’ve ever known – he would never betray us.”

“He made a deal with us,” Geofred said with a sneer. “The last remaining Seeker came to him after you’d been chosen Prince of the Veil and offered him a trade – if he would deliver you and the Kindred army up to us, we would give him Vale, and we would let the Kindred live in peace as a protectorate of the Empire. We lied of course, but he didn’t seemed to understand that was a possibility. Odd, really. I’m assuming he thought he could somehow retrieve the dagger and retrigger the enchantments, putting everything back the way it was. Foolishness really. Likely he is with Dysuna now, trying to make her hold up our end of the bargain.”

“But
why
?” Asked Raven. “Why did you do it all? Why did you want us here?”

Geofred looked at him with an expression both of pity and affection. It was the look a master would give a loyal family pet.

“Because I want you to
win
of course!”

For a long moment, the Prince didn’t say anything, and neither did Leah or Tomaz. In the stretching silence they could hear the distant sounds of battle as Dysuna attacked the walls.

“
What?
”

“Not the Kindred you understand – just you. I actually intended the Kindred army to be crushed by Dysuna – but I knew you’d sense me and come here. All Mother and Dysuna really cared about was crushing the Kindred – I know you think you’re somehow vitally important to Mother, but you’re not, you’re a means to an end. Long before you were born, there was a Portent that came to me while Mother was gone from the Fortress. I didn’t believe it at first, so I cast my own auspices. I checked and rechecked every possible variable; I even called the Visigony together to confirm it, though I had to go through the trouble of resetting their memories after – a long and painful process. Painful for
them
mostly, which is unfortunate, they don’t work well when they’re in pain. It was all for nothing though, the Portent was true. I should have known all along …
 
the Eagle Talisman cannot lie. It can show branches and merges, dead-ends even, but it cannot show something impossible … no. And so when I saw this land bathed in blood I should have known right then that it was the future. Well …
a possible
future.”

“What does this have to do with anything?” Tomaz rumbled.

“Bloodmagic,” Leah said, her eyes flicking back and forth as if she were seeing some invisible book of answers. “This has to do with Bloodmagic.”

“Precisely!” Cried Geofred. “Oh good, I was so hoping that you’d be intelligent after all. You seemed the plausible candidate, but I had my doubts.”

“Plausible candidate?”

“Yes!” Screeched the Eagle, his blue eyes blazing furiously. “Do you not see it yet? No matter, you will soon.”

“What are you talking about?” The Prince asked harshly.

Geofred ignored him and pulled something from under his robes … something small and white … something that he quickly hid by wrapping it in a dark piece of cloth, which he handled very gingerly. It was as if were afraid the thing inside would burn him.

“What does any of this have to do with anything?!” Roared Tomaz. He pulled against his golden bonds, his enormous muscles bunching and stretching, the veins in his neck and head standing out, and the red light of the Ox Talisman shining from beneath his remaining armor. “Just kill us and be done with it!”

“Hmm … yes, he is very much like Ramael. Well chosen brother.”

He approached the giant then and studied him carefully.

“Ah yes … I remember you. The banished BladeMaster! You haven’t figured out the Ox Talisman yet, have you?”

Tomaz grew very still, and his eyes narrowed, turning hard as stone.

Geofred spun and pointed to the Prince, taking in Aemon’s Blade that he still held in his hand, though it was currently trapped against his side and useless.

“First you have to know about the Blade - the Blade you hold is not truly a Blade at all. It is an amplifier … and a way for the bearer of the Talisman to, in a sense, loan his own power. The reason the Raven Talisman exhausts you so much when you try to heal someone dear brother, is that you are giving the one you wish to heal your own power, and letting them drain
your
life in order to save
theirs
.”

“No,” Raven said, “no they said Aemon’s Blade turns the Talismans pure again, turns them into Aspects.”

“Only the giving of Talismans can turn them from dark Bloodmagic back to light. Your Talisman was never given … it was ripped from the soul of some poor unfortunate man, held by Mother, and branded onto you the day you were deemed worthy. Your Talisman will remain dark until you give it away – and your life with it.”

Trumpets sounded outside, and there was another swell in the sound of the far off battle. What was happening? Had the Kindred managed to close the gates?

“Our time grows short,” Geofred said. “I must be brief. Listen carefully, this is important. The Talismans exist in different classes – three are equalizers, two are gifts, and one binds.
 
The first three: the Raven, which grants the bearer power over life or death; the Ox, which grants the bearer strength. The Wolf brings stamina, endurance, and will. Each of these need a source – the Raven needs life to gain life, the Ox needs strength to gain strength, the Wolf needs will to give will. The next two: the Eagle gives clear sight of events to come. The Fox gives luck, allowing it to shape events in unpredictable ways. Neither needs to draw on others for their power, but they both have downfalls of their own. Arrogance, foolhardiness. In truth they are two sides of the same coin: order and chaos. Both lead to the same end if kept unchecked. Last is the Lion, which is the most powerful, for it is binds men and women, and can give hope or despair to all that hear its roar. It commands men, enslaves their souls, or breaks the chains and sets them free.”

“The Ox is either protector or aggressor – nothing else. Either he takes strength from those he fells, or he is granted strength by those he protects. The Ox has become an Aspect again, which is why it doesn’t work the way you think it should. Whereas Ramael grew stronger with each man he cut down, you will gain strength for every man, woman and child you keep from harm’s way. It is a natural thing – the strength they give you will not hurt them, for it is freely given.”

“The real problem is the other Talismans though,” he continued, turning from Tomaz back to the Prince. “In order to make them clean again they have to be
given
, not taken. And, as useful as the Talismans are when they are turned to their black purpose, they are not useful in the way I need them to be. Which is why you are here – and why I needed you to have that Blade.”