Wrath Games (6 page)

“Take me off my feet.” He crouched in a fighter’s stance. “Do it now.”

I surprised him with a forceful sideways tug at his back leg, then wrapped the energy around his ankle and pulled while he was already off balance. He stumbled and fell, his armor banging.

He got up, threw off his vambraces, his helmet, and even his breastplate, his face completely indifferent throughout the long process. “Again.”

I took out the same leg in the exact same way.

He jumped up. “Again.”

I playfully pushed against his chest with the energy. He stumbled backward and swatted at it as if it were a wasp. I moved it around behind him as his hands wildly searched for it, then shoved him, not hard but with enough force to knock most people over. He stumbled forward and spun around, trying to grab the energy that he barely could see. But I’d already moved it toward his ankle, wrapped it around, and pulled. He fell.

When he got up again, he moved a bit farther from me. “Now try.”

He was about five yards this time, and it was only slightly more difficult to knock him off his feet three more times.

I started to have trouble at ten yards, requiring much more strength to wrestle him down.

At fifteen yards, I could only get him down once in ten attempts. I was exhausted by then, but Jaymes wasn’t done with me.

“It’s been determined that the mage who tried to kill the king got into his room through the balcony. It’s assumed he used py to lift himself onto it from this very courtyard after first lifting himself over the outer wall. Can you do the same, recruit?”

I wanted to tell the commander that Eizle wasn’t trying to kill the king. Swenn was the target—a man who had murdered my mother, tried to have me arrested, murdered his own brother, and probably had done countless other despicable acts. Somewhere locked in my memories was the image of Swenn stabbing Eizle over and over, blood splattering onto his clothes, a sickening sound as it splashed onto a nearby table. I pushed back the memory to the shuttered recesses of my mind.

But I couldn’t get my thoughts off Eizle and lost track of the question being asked of me. Floating—that was it.

“I tried once and it didn’t work out.” My face and chest had slammed into the ground, the pain a deterrent from trying again.

“Show me.”

I tried to get away with explaining what had happened without recreating it, but Jaymes just shook his head and interrupted me.

“I said
show
me.”

“I don’t want to fall on my face…sir.”

“How are you going to practice if you fear failure?”

“I’m not afraid of failure, sir. I’m afraid of breaking my nose.”

“So make the sheet of energy vertical, lean against it, then slowly lower it and yourself to a horizontal position.”

“Yes, sir.”

I did as he suggested, gathering the energy and then spreading it out to make a thin wall. I stretched out my arms and leaned against it, turning my face to protect my nose. Then I carefully tilted the energy, making sure to keep my chest, arms, and face pushed against it.

As the angle became steeper, my weight on the energy made it want to fall. It took twice the effort to hold it in place, yet the tips of my toes were still on the ground, barely.

“Now for the transition,” Jaymes said. “It looks like you’re going to have to do it all at once—dip the energy quickly enough for your shins to stay on.”

I’d already figured that out. Now it was just a matter of keeping my fear at bay so I could concentrate on holding the energy together. It was an awkward feeling to hold myself, like trying to support an unsteady wall yet leaning my body against it at the same time.

I tilted the py quickly and jumped up to make sure I didn’t slip off its bottom. But as I came down, and nothing caught me, I gasped and flailed. My face slammed into the ground.

For a moment, I feared my nose was broken. I checked for blood and found none. My chest ached, complaining with each breath.

“You let the energy go! Do it again.” The pain worsened as Jaymes complained.

“Shouldn’t I practice this over something soft?”

“The grass is soft enough.” He took a timepiece out of his pocket. “I have to meet the king, but you’re not done until you can float. You’re going to show me tomorrow afternoon. Meet here after lunch.”

An hour, a sore chest, and a bruised face later, I finally managed to stay afloat. But disappointment hurt more than the ground when I fell with my next attempt.

After another hour I was able to get on the energy consistently. I could hold myself for only the span of three breaths, but I figured that was because I was so tired and sore. Tomorrow I would impress the commander. I wondered when he would say I was ready for battle.

But would I ever truly be ready? Battle meant killing people. Would he have me choke them? I shuddered, not sure if I was able. Stabbing someone with a sword was quick, that I could do. But holding py in a tight ring around someone’s neck long enough for him to turn blue and then become limp was something entirely different. Swenn was the only one I could do that to.

Henry was nowhere in sight. If I could find Shara, we’d have time to discuss what to do about Swenn.

A bell chimed as I looked for her. I’d remembered hearing it sometime in the morning. As I crossed through the dining hall and found nearly every seat filled by hungry-looking people, I realized the sound was to announce supper.

I found Shara. And sitting right next to her was Henry.

Damn.

CHAPTER FIVE

Apparently gossip had spread around the castle about a starved pyforial mage screaming in the great hall during lunch. The speed at which this news traveled made me wonder if everyone already knew about me and Eizle and the attack on King Quince.

I explained to Shara what had happened to Laney. She looked as if she wanted to cry.

“The poor woman,” Shara sympathized. “Can you imagine being locked away for three years?”

“I have imagined it many times. What I can’t imagine is how it would affect my mind.”

“I wonder what she was like before being captured. She couldn’t have been this fragile.”

“I’m sure you’re right. What did the commander say to you when we got back?”

“He had me meet Nurse Mayla, who asked me about my past because my last name screams that I was abandoned. I think she needed to make sure I wasn’t a madwoman like Laney.”

“Mayla is the woman who’s taking care of Laney. The commander says she has a week to adjust.”

“And then what?”

“That’s what I asked. He wouldn’t answer.”

We fell silent as we ate. Henry finished everything on his plate and got up to fill it again.

Shara and I both blurted out the same thing when he left. “We need—”

“You go first,” she said.

“We need a place we can speak without Henry overhearing.”

“Can you sneak out of your room tonight?” she asked.

“I’ll try after he falls asleep.”

Henry sat back down just as someone gave the back of my head a startling push. I looked behind me to spot a man I’d never seen before as he walked away.

“Who was that?” Shara asked.

“I have no idea.”

I saw Darri heading my way. I got up to stand in front of him.

“Do you know who that is?” I asked. “He—”

“Shut up.” Darri brushed me out of his way and didn’t look back.

I didn’t exactly think we were friends, but where did this disdain come from? Shara appeared as confused as I felt, while Henry only looked sad. He knew something.

“What’s going on?” I asked him.

He scrunched his mouth and shook his head.

“Let’s try to forget about it,” Shara said. “I want to visit Laney. Do you want to come?”

I selfishly considered how tired I was and how I’d rather spend my time. “Another day. I’m curious to know whether the castle has a library.”

Shara tilted her head, showing a grin like I’d told the start of a joke. “Why?”

“There’s a lot I need to learn. From everything you’ve told me, it seems like books are a good place to start.”

“They are!” She clapped her hands twice in excitement. “I have a feeling I know where it is.”

I hurried to keep up with her. “What about Laney?”

“I’ll see her after.”

The library, or “the great library” as it was called in the castle, took up the entire northwestern corner. Shara gasped at the size of it. Black and white marble made up the floor, which led through two chambers ending at a white door. More books than anyone could read in a lifetime were stacked along white rows of shelves adorned with roses fashioned from bronze. A gold railing ran along the second floor. Paintings of a war in the clouds covered the ceiling, stretching from one chamber to the next.

I couldn’t stop thinking about that white door. I walked straight to it and tried the handle. Locked.

“What will you read first?” Shara asked.

“What do you think is behind this door?”

She made a pensive face. I was glad she was taking the time to think about it, as I didn’t have a clue. Shara looked around, making sure there were no listening ears besides Henry, who stayed close.

She went to her toes to whisper in my ear. “It probably contains the answer as to how to get rid of Swenn.” The start of a laugh came out as a snort.

I didn’t care that she was teasing me. The warmth of her breath and the proximity of her lips had my mind racing to figure out how to make her keep whispering.

“I’m sure it’s nothing that matters to you,” she added, falling back to the bottoms of her feet. “Now what are you going to read?”

“I think I should start with history.”

Of the few people walking around the library, one glanced over, then started straight at us. Henry hastily moved aside as if the scowling old man was dangerous. He raised a shaky finger at us.

“Your names. Give them now.”

“Neeko Aquin.”

“Shara Solo H.”

“The great library isn’t open to you. Get out.”

“Why not?” Shara asked.

“I know what you are. The master of coin warned me.”

“Whatever he said, it’s a lie,” I argued.

“Not another word! Get out.”

Shara and I looked at each other with disbelief.

“I’ll call the guards!” He sounded enthusiastic about the idea.

Shara wasn’t following me, so I put my hand on her back and guided her out.

“Don’t step a foot on this floor again,” the old man warned us.

Henry looked empathetic, showing me a sad look. It just made me angrier.

“Don’t pretend you care.”

He reached out and patted my shoulder. I pushed his enormous hand off.

“That must’ve been Storell Ampart,” Shara said. “He’s responsible for keeping the great library, well…”

“Great?”

“No. Superb.”

“You were going to say great.”

“I was.”

Someone slammed a shoulder into the back of mine. I turned to see Swenn’s squire walk past me, looking back with a glare.

“Useless thief,” he muttered. “You need to leave the castle.”

This was the man who was “honored” to meet me just yesterday, and I hadn’t seen him since. I was certain now: Swenn was telling lies about me.

Not that I would, but I started to wonder what would happen if I left. Would Swenn even let me be? Maybe, but King Quince certainly wouldn’t. I was a pyforial mage. My options were following Commander Jaymes’ orders, going to Ovira with Terren’s party, or spending my life in prison. Only one of those gave me the chance for revenge and to help win this war.

“Calumny!” Shara squeaked at Swenn’s squire. “Don’t believe the calumny!”

Judging by the expression on the squire’s face, he didn’t understand her. Then he was gone.

“Perhaps that wasn’t the best time to show off your vocabulary,” I said.

She sighed. “How are we going to…” Her eyes shifted to Henry. “Never mind,” she added, irritated that she couldn’t speak about Swenn in front of the giant.

“I know.”

She rose to her toes and cupped her hands around my ear. “Meet me in my room after he falls asleep.”

The sensual tone of her whispered invitation made something stir in my chest. But this wasn’t a romantic invitation, I reminded myself.

With night closing in, I decided a bath would do nicely, then I could retire to bed. If sleep didn’t elude me tonight, I could rest while waiting for Henry to doze off. Shara and I might need an hour or two to figure out our plan. Whatever sleep I could get before I met her would help me think.

“I’m going to visit Laney,” Shara said.

We said our goodbyes, and I started toward the bathing quarters.
Gods, is Henry even going to let me bathe alone?

He didn’t.

I had the better part of an hour to myself in my room before Henry tried the door without knocking. I hadn’t bothered locking it.

“So you’re going to spend the entire night in here?”

“Yes,”
he whistled.

“You must be annoyed at Swenn for making you sleep in a chair.”

He pointed at my bed.

“You can’t be serious.”

He folded his arms as he whistled again,
“Yes.”

Sure enough, as I slid beneath my covers, Henry invited himself onto the other side of the bed. I normally slept in just my undershorts, but I would be leaving my room after he fell asleep, so I left my shirt on. Henry didn’t, though. Gods, the man had so much muscle but equally as much blubber. I figured he must weigh close to five out of the six blocks I’d lifted earlier today. It would be a struggle just to get him off my bed.

“I tend to thrash in my sleep, so I hope you’re a deep sleeper.” I didn’t really thrash.

“Yes.”

Good. Knowing I was about to see Shara, and in private, made it easy to forget all of my worries. Since I’d left Lanhine, my heart had been preoccupied with pain and the burden of my troubles, but now it finally allowed me to feel for Shara. And what I felt consumed my entire body every time I thought about her.

CHAPTER SIX