The Rival (43 page)

A powerful one.

One Rugad didn't recognize.

His body was tingling.  It felt its age.  He had forgotten how a young body felt, all vibrant and full of life.  His had aches, aches he had grown accustomed to, but aches all the same. 

An Enchanter.

He had purposely not sent an Enchanter with Rugar on his invasion of Blue Isle. Rugad's excuse had been that there weren't enough Enchanters  —  which was true  —  but if he had thought the mission had any chance of succeeding, he would have sent one.

What had Boteen said?  That he had felt others like him in this place?

Others.

One might have died in the destruction of Shadowlands.  But one hadn't.  Rugad knew that for sure.

And the one that hadn't had enough power to dislodge an old and powerful Visionary from his post.  And then lock him out.

"Are you all right, sir?" The voice was young.  Rugad opened his eyes.  An Infantryman stood before him, tall enough for magick, but still with the slenderness of extreme youth.  The boy hadn't come into his power yet.

Rugad didn't feel all right.  He felt shaken, startled, and slightly ill from the touch of all that light.  "What's your name, boy?"

"Percival, Sir."

Percival.  The name clearly gave his age.  Percival.  A Nyeian name.  While Rugad respected the Fey tradition of taking names from the conquered countries, he rather regretted it for the last generation.  Nyeian names were flowery and fanciful.  They didn't belong to soldiers.

"Well, Percival," Rugad said, making certain his voice sounded strong, "how did you cross country to get to this place?"

"We came up through the marshes and back country, sir, shortly after we came down those mountains."

He sounded a bit shaky when he mentioned the mountains.  Rugad couldn't blame him.  The trip over the mountains had been very difficult for the magickless infantry.  They had had to climb up the ocean side, using Domestic ropes held in place at the top by spelled spikes, and then they had had to climb down the other side.  Only one rope had snapped, and Gull Riders had managed to shore it up before it took too many lives.

"Did you cross farmland?" Rugad asked.

"Yes, sir," Percival said.  "In the center of the country.  There was a vast amount of it.  Well tended.  The harvest looked good."

Rugad smiled.  His soldiers were well trained.  Even though they had learned the art of battle, they knew what good land looked like.  They had to.  They were under strict orders not to destroy good land or healthy crops.

"How far is it from here?"

"Several days' fast walk," Percival said.

Rugad nodded.  Several days.  By that time, his great-grandson would be gone.  It wouldn't do to go himself.  He would have to try to Link one more time, and if that failed, then he would have to send someone after the boy, someone who would be able to get the information out of those Islander farmers.

Someone he could trust.

He would have to think on that.  He would have an idea by the time he reached his own Shadowlands.

"Thank you," he said to Percival.  "How much longer before the work finishes in here?"

"We're nearly done, sir, getting all the salvaged magick items. Then we leave it to the Caps.  They seem to have good hauling, sir."

Rugad nodded.  Good hauling.  Lots of blood and flesh and bones for the Warders.  He had brought quite a few Warders with him, not certain how many he would need.  The poison and its effect on Fey might be an unhappy accident.

Then again it might not.

He worked on the theory that it was not, that the Islanders had other tricks, other ways of defeating the Fey, ways he had not heard of yet.

His son, Rugar, had come to this Isle with the idea that it would be easy to conquer.  Rugad had come with the idea that it would be difficult.  Rugad had not only Rugar's experiences to rely on, but also Fey history.  The Fey seemed to work hardest to capture the smaller countries.  Somehow the larger ones toppled in quick disarray.

If Blue Isle toppled quickly, wonderful.

If it did not, then Rugad was prepared. 

But before Blue Isle fell completely, Rugad had to find his great-grandsons.  It wouldn't do any good to win the Isle and create chaos by accidentally killing someone of Black Blood.

"You've done well," he said to Percival.

Percival smiled, clicked his heels together, bowed slightly, and left.  Rugad watched him go.  The troops were doing very well.  The entire Isle would be secure in a short period of time.

The key to success, though, would be that Fey Visionary Rugad had met just briefly.

The one who repaired Shadowlands at the age of three.

Gift.

FORTY-SEVEN

It took a moment for Sebastian's words to penetrate.  Gift was hurt.  Nicholas's blood son.  The son he had never known.  The son stolen from him.

The happy, chubby newborn with the alert eyes.

Gift.

"How is he hurt?" Nicholas asked.

Arianna had crossed her arms, turned her back and was peeking through the tapestry at the birds below.  She was pretending not to listen.  She had, apparently, decided to hate her real brother.

Sebastian didn't answer.  His mouth was open and his eyes were empty again.  A tiny line of drool ran between his upper lip and his tongue.

"Sebastian!" Nicholas snapped.

Something in his tone made Arianna whirl.  The tapestry flopped against the window.  She grabbed Sebastian's arm.  He tilted his head and moaned.

Nicholas had never seen Sebastian like this.  He had always thought the boy's eyes were dull, devoid of intelligence, but he had never really seen it until now.  The eyes were empty.

Completely empty.

"Sebastian!" Arianna shook him.  His head flopped back and forth.  It creaked as it did so.

Nicholas moved closer, grabbed Sebastian's other arm, and led him toward the chair.  Sebastian's legs moved, but as if he were a doll.  He had little control over them.

"Sebastian!" Arianna's voice was full of panic now.  She looked up at Nicholas, as if Nicholas could make it all better.  He had no idea what to do.

"Have you ever seen him like this?" Nicholas asked.

She pursed her lips together and helped her brother into the chair.  She had.  She obviously had, but she didn't want to admit when.

He didn't have time to fight his strong-willed daughter.

He knelt in front of his son.  "Sebastian?  Sebastian, come back."

Sebastian blinked and then was present in his eyes again.  They filled with tears.

"Sebastian?" Nicholas asked. 

"Gift … is … gone," Sebastian whispered.

Nicholas felt a chill run through him.  Sebastian wailed when Jewel died.  Sebastian had felt his grandfather's magick once, long ago.  Sebastian had felt the magick of the birds outside.

Now this.

"What do you mean he's gone?" Arianna asked.  Her lower jaw was set.  She didn't like talking about her real brother.  Something in that expression bothered Nicholas, but he didn't have time to focus on it right now.

"He's … u-sual-ly … some-where," Sebastian said.  The tears fell as he spoke, running like water down his cheek.

"Everyone's usually somewhere." Arianna's words were clipped as if she were angry with Sebastian for having a relationship with Gift.  Any kind of relationship.

Nicholas brushed the tears from Sebastian's cheek.  The boy was trembling.

"In-side … me," Sebastian said.  "The … Link … "

"Oh." Arianna turned away again, going back to the window.  She acted as if the conversation were over.

Nicholas smoothed back a strand of Sebastian's coarse hair.  "The Link is gone?" he asked.

Sebastian nodded.  He brought his free hand up and wiped the water from the underside of his jaw. 

"But how can that be?" Nicholas asked.  Unless Gift was dead.  Wouldn't Sebastian know if Gift died?  Wouldn't that have traveled across the Link?

"It … snap-ped," Sebastian said.

The chill grew inside Nicholas.  A sudden ending.  But Sebastian spoke slowly.  Maybe he meant something else. 

"It's broken?"  Nicholas asked.

"Some-one … else … cut … it … off."

Nicholas rocked back on his heels.  He had not expected that answer.

Apparently Arianna hadn't either.  She crossed her arms and leaned against the window frame.  "You mean like someone killed him?" she asked.

Sebastian shook his head, the movement even and methodical.  "Like … a … thread … cut … with … scis-sors."

"Is Gift alive?" Nicholas asked.

"I … don't … know," Sebastian said.  His voice rose in a wail.  Arianna came back to him, wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and frowned at Nicholas.

"Don't upset him."

"I'm not," Nicholas said.  He didn't want to fight his daughter too.  "Think, Sebastian.  Was he alive when the thread was cut?"

" … yes … "

"I thought Links were stronger than threads," Nicholas said.

"What does it matter if he's dead?" Arianna asked.

Sebastian threw himself forward, toward Nicholas, out of Arianna's arms.  He moved faster than he had ever moved.  "It … mat-ters.  I … love … him."

Arianna held up her hands.  "Sorry," she said.

"Wouldn't it be different if he died?" Nicholas asked.  "Wouldn't the Link remain?"

He hated magick he didn't understand.  Hated it.  If only Solanda were still here.

But she wasn't.  They had to figure this out on their own.

And quickly.

Sebastian frowned.  The tears had stopped, but his eyes were still wet, as if more tears threatened.  "I … don't … know," he said.  But he looked uncertain as if he hadn't thought of Nicholas's question before.

"Can you find him?" Arianna asked.  "Reestablish the Link?"

Sebastian blinked and disappeared from his eyes again.  Nicholas hated that.  This Sebastian was truly an empty shell.  He didn't want this boy to go away.  Nicholas couldn't bear it if he did.  It shook him deeply, made him wonder if he shouldn't have sent his two children below despite Arianna's arguments.

Then Sebastian blinked.  He was back, and so were the tears.  "I … can't … find … him."

"Well, we'll find out what happened soon enough," Arianna said.  She went back to the tapestry, and peered through the side.  She was right not to forget those birds.  Nicholas needed to get back to that matter, but he couldn't.  Not yet.

Gift was his blood son.  His firstborn.  The one that the Black King would want.

" … stop … " Sebastian said.  He had turned toward Arianna.  " … stop … "

"Stop what?" Nicholas asked.

Sebastian's lower lip trembled.  More tears ran down his cheeks, making them black and shiny. 

Like water on stone.

" … Gift … is … im-por-tant. … " Sebastian said.

"Not to us," Arianna said.  "Whatever happens to him happens."

Nicholas squeezed Sebastian's hand.  "No," he said.  "Sebastian's right.  Gift is important.  Like it or not, he's family.  And Sebastian seems to be the only one who recognizes it.  If Gift is dead, we need to know by whose hand.  And if someone cut the Link between Sebastian and Gift, we need to know who did and why."

"Did you ever think that Gift did?" Arianna asked.

" … Why … ?" Sebastian asked.

"So you wouldn't know what he was doing," Arianna said.  "So you wouldn't know what he was planning."

"Or," Nicholas said, "so that someone else wouldn't know about Sebastian.  You said there was a third party involved?"

" … four … ," Sebastian said.  "For … a … mo-ment, … I … felt … four."

"Four what?" Arianna sounded bored.  She still wasn't watching, but her back was rigid. She cared more than she wanted to admit.

"Me … , Gift … , and … two … others," Sebastian said.  "A … big … pres-ence … and … then … the … snip-per."

"The snipper?" Arianna said.

"The one who cut the Link," Nicholas said.

"See?" Arianna said.  "He's trying to hide something from us."

"No!" Sebastian pushed himself out of the chair. Then he swayed for a moment.  "Gift … would-n't … hurt … me."

"Don't be so sure," Arianna said.

"I … know … him," Sebastian said.  Nicholas sat back and watched the boy.  He had never seen him so animated, so intent.  "Why … don't … you … be-lieve … me … , Ari?"

"Because she's jealous," Nicholas said.  He needed to interrupt, needed to get this back on track.

"Of that Fey?" Arianna whirled, fists tight.  "I am not!"

"It doesn't matter," Nicholas said.  "I thought Solanda said your Link sustained both of you."

"That's … bound," Sebastian said.  " … Link … is … like … talk-ing.  … He's … quiet … now.  … May-be … gone."

Maybe gone.  The phrase chilled Nicholas.  But he could do nothing about it.  Neither could Arianna.  If he understood Linking right, it wasn't part of her magick.

"So he's gone," Nicholas said,  "and I, for one, want to know why."  He stood, brushed off his wrinkled robe, and sighed.  "But it will have to wait.  Those birds are our focus now."

" … no … " Sebastian said.  His voice was soft, but plaintive. 

"No, what?" Nicholas said.  He spoke gently, not wanting to upset the boy.

" … I … need … Gift," Sebastian said.

"Why?" Arianna asked.  Her face was a small thundercloud.  She looked like Jewel for a moment, all angles and strength.

"I'm … all … by … my-self," he said in a very small voice.

They had had that Link from the moment Sebastian was formed.  Even if Nicholas thought of Sebastian as his son, Sebastian really wasn't.  He was a creation, a creation of Gift's.

And now Gift was gone, severed from him.

"You're not alone," Arianna said, wrapping her arms around him.  "I'm with you."

"But … not … in-side," he said.

"No," she said, smoothing his coarse hair away from his face.  "Not inside.  But you're inside.  Most of us are all alone in there.  You'll be all right, once you get used to it."

He sighed and leaned his head against her.  He was still trembling.  His gaze met Nicholas's.  Nicholas couldn't entirely understand the feeling.  Nicholas had always been alone in his body. But if Solanda were correct, Sebastian had never been.  He had been created when Gift left parts of himself inside the stone.