Page 44 of Pawns of Fate

ROSE

T he next morning, Rose and Nicholas woke up later than intended.

They rushed to pick up their belongings and resume their journey, yet Rose found herself wanting to stay at the campsite forever.

She couldn’t help but cast a few longing glances as they rode out of the wooded glen because memories of everything she and Nicholas did the night before continued to parade around her mind.

Their horses dutifully carried them through the increasingly steep and heavily forested terrain. As Nicholas had promised, the mountains of Kai were much larger than the ones in Onanish. Rose occasionally struggled to catch her breath because of the thinning air.

Around lunchtime, they stopped near a lake, letting the horses drink. Rose couldn’t stop looking at the reflection of the mountains and clouds on the water’s surface. She found herself wanting to linger in this beautiful place, too.

“We need to eat quickly,” Nicholas said, unpacking their food from his saddlebag. “We should arrive at Talbot’s castle tomorrow afternoon if we can pick up the pace a little.”

Rose nodded in agreement, though truthfully, she hadn’t been nearly as conscious of their surroundings since last night. She realized she hadn’t even scanned the aural plane to check for the rogue shadow mage.

“Let me just check our surroundings with my magic. Then I’ll eat.”

“Good idea,” Nicholas replied, and he pulled out a few slices of cheese for their lunch.

Rose closed her eyes and expanded her consciousness to the aural plane.

Everything seemed normal enough for a quiet mountainside lake until she noticed a dark, reptilian energy in the bushes behind them.

It felt… familiar. Rose couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d already encountered this life force.

Alarmed, she announced, “There’s something in the brush.”

“What?” Nicholas drew his sword.

“It isn’t the mage. But I think it’s a small monster. Maybe a lizard… or a snake?”

“I’ll still dispose of it.”

Rose felt a twinge of guilt. The creature was hardly attacking them.

A rune on the blade of Nicholas’s sword started to glow, and bolts of electricity danced around his blade. A handful of the bolts were pinkish.

Nicholas pushed the brush out of his way with one arm, sword raised in the other.

He shouted as a massive, black snake rushed out of the underbrush and snapped at his leg.

Dodging the attack, Nicholas released a lightning spell.

Bolts of silver electricity erupted from his sword, racing for the creature.

But the bolts were swept away by tendrils of shadow. The snake lunged for Nicholas again, this time puncturing his calf with its fangs.

Nicholas bellowed with pain and rage, but Rose found herself unable to speak as a gloved hand covered her mouth. She struggled, but her attacker was faster and stronger, hastily pinning her body with his arms.

“If you struggle, I’ll have Kagon bite you too,” a light, masculine voice said in an almost playful tone.

Nicholas fell to his knees, and his skin turned a horrifying shade of red. Rose’s stomach dropped. The snakebite must have been venomous.

Her attacker removed his hand from her mouth to grip her chin instead.

“Look, he’s dying,” the sadistic man said as he forced her to watch Nicholas struggle.

Her thoughts jumbled; the blood in her head rushed to her limbs. The world froze. Nicholas was dying!

“Please, please,” she sobbed. “I’ll do whatever you want. Just save him.”

“That was too easy. I expected you to struggle more.” The voice sounded bored. “Kagon, tie him up, then give him the antidote. I’ll handle our precious Rose.” Her skin crawled at the sound of her name on this man’s lips, but the relief that Nicholas would be alright overrode everything.

Rose’s eyes darted to the black snake. She still couldn’t shake the feeling that this creature was familiar, somehow. Then she saw the golden eyes—this was the creature that had saved her from the twiddletoads! How long had these two been following her?

The snake nodded at her attacker, which would have been bizarre enough on its own, but when its shape coalesced in on itself, then reformed into the silhouette of a large man, Rose thought that maybe her nightmares were coming to life.

“A shapeshifter?”

“Yes, well, technically Kagon is a druid,” her attacker replied.

Rose watched Kagon pour a small vial of liquid into Nicholas’s mouth before binding his ankles and feet with ropes. Her husband’s color started to change as the antidote neutralized the venom. Thank the gods.

Her relief was short-lived. Tendrils of shadow wrapped themselves around her entire body, rendering her motionless. Her attacker pulled his arms away and stepped into view. Rose was completely unsurprised to see that it was the man who had tried to kidnap her in the library.

“You!”

“Yes, me.” The mage raised an eyebrow. His hood was down now, revealing long, lavender hair, half pulled into a ponytail, and half freely flowing down his back. A cruel smirk painted his unfortunately handsome face.

“Why? Why are you doing all of this?”

“Lysander.”

“What?”

“My name is Lysander. I can’t have you calling me ‘you’ for the rest of our time together. We will be working very closely for a while, darling Rose.”

Rose thought she might gag.

“I’m not spending any time with you!”

Lysander jerked a thumb toward Nicholas’s unconscious body. “Fine. Kagon, bite him again.”

A wild panic flooded her body as she realized she and Nicholas were entirely at Lysander’s mercy.

“No!” she screamed. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! What do you want?”

Lysander ignored her and began to dig around in his jacket pockets. He produced three scrolls. When Rose got a good look at the markings on them, she realized they were teleportation scrolls.

“Did you steal those from Lyla?” The thought made her indignant.

Lysander laughed. It was a high-pitched, hysterical sound, more like a hyena than a man.

“Why would I steal from my sister? I’m perfectly capable of teleportation magic without her help.”

“What? Your sister ?” Rose’s mind reeled. She stared at Lysander and saw the physical similarities—the hair, the eyes, even the way he carried himself—that the two shared.

Had Lyla known her brother was behind all of this? Had she purposefully kept it from Rose? The thought was a dagger to her heart.

“Twin sister, to be exact.” Lysander unfurled one of the scrolls and tossed it to Kagon, who had thrown Nicholas’s unconscious body over his shoulder. “We haven’t spoken in years, though. I’m not surprised she failed to mention it.”

Lysander’s words still left a lot of questions.

“But you can travel through shadow? Lyla has an affinity for metaphysical magic.” Rose had heard of siblings with varied magical traits.

It happened when each parent had a strong affinity to unique elements.

It was possible, even for twins. But rare.

Lysander’s words indicated that he could perform teleportation spells as well as the high-level shadow magic she’d already seen him use.

Rose had never heard of a mage with such capabilities.

Lysander unfurled another scroll. “I have dual affinities,” he stated as if that were a simple, common thing, but Rose felt a lump grow in her throat. How could she and Nicholas escape a mage with two magical elements at his disposal and a shapeshifting companion?

“That’s not possible,” she replied.

Lysander scoffed. “Most people think like you, but it’s very possible. Closed minds like yours have caused me and Kagon a sea of troubles.”

Rose glanced over to Kagon. In all official history books, the druids had died of a mysterious illness several generations ago.

But outside of the Imperial City, where the empress’s influence was strongest, people knew the truth.

Genocide. She could only imagine the horrors Kagon must have lived through.

“But, I’ve found that the traits people are persecuted for are, in reality, their strength.

The harassment, the ill-treatment, all of it is designed to make things like dual affinities or the ability to shapeshift seem like a weakness.

It’s a lie, of course.” Lysander continued his speech as he unfurled the final scroll and gave it to his shadows.

A tendril held it against Rose’s arm. She could feel it hum to life, filling with mana.

“And it’s why I need you, Rose. Because you’re going to make my abilities even stronger. ”

The spell actuated, the world around Rose turned to brightness, heat, and an overwhelming feeling of wrongness, far worse than she’d felt when Lyla had transported her and Ava.

Then everything went black.

NICHOLAS

Nicholas rarely gave in to the siren call of drunkenness. He’d only suffered one crippling hangover in his life. But the protests his body unleashed against him now put the pain of that morning to shame.

His head… Was it still attached to his body? It felt like his mind was swimming in poison .

“Nicholas?” A soft, feminine voice called out to him from somewhere. Was it Rose? “Nicholas, please wake up.” The voice was pleading now.

Rose. It had to be Rose. He opened his eyes.

Blessedly, their surroundings were relatively dark. No bright, mountain sun greeted him. Instead, indigo rocks and the faint glow of star crystals filled his vision.

“Nicholas,” Rose said from beside him. Her voice was full of relief.

His arms and torso were bound, so Nicholas craned his neck, looking for his wife. Rose was tied to a slab of rock, thick as a tree trunk and taller than a man. With great effort, he wriggled his limbs and deduced from the smooth, cool surface against his back that he was tied to something similar.

“What happened?” His voice was hoarse; his throat felt like shards of glass.

“A shadow mage named Lysander kidnapped us.”

“That can’t be,” Nicholas murmured as the memory of a black snake with the strangest golden eyes flooded his mind. “A snake bit me. How am I still alive?”

“A shapeshifting druid bit you,” Rose replied. “He’s Lysander’s…companion. He gave you an antidote, then Lysander teleported all of us here.”

He looked over at his wife. Her voice was full of defeat, and while he didn’t see any bruises or injuries, she was bound tightly to the rock, and the edges of her dress were frayed.

Her hair, which had been styled in a lovely braid, looked messy and unkempt.

Her skin was dirty and sallow. How much had she suffered? How long had they been here?

“Are you alright, Rose?”

She grimaced. “I’m just thankful we’re both alive.” Her voice was a whisper.

The sound of soft footsteps echoed through the chamber.

This is some sort of cave, Nicholas thought.

The rock walls didn’t look manufactured, though the floor was too smooth to be wholly natural.

Clusters of star crystals, like bouquets of gems, dotted the walls and ceiling.

It looked like a hideout for fairies or treasure-hoarding dragons, not a villainous lair.

Their captors strode into view. With their black cloaks and leather armor, both of them looked like shadow mages, though Nicholas suspected the taller and broader of the two, with his dark hair and wild, golden eyes, was the shapeshifting druid.

“What the hell do you want with us?” Nicholas yelled, struggling against the ropes.

The mage with lavender hair and madness in his gaze looked at him with undisguised disdain and said, “Good. You’re up.”

“Let us go!” Nicholas demanded.

The mage rolled his eyes and let out a huff of annoyance. “Do we really have to do this? I’ve already had this argument with your wife. Look at her.” The mage casually waved a dagger at Rose, whose downtrodden demeanor broke Nicholas’s heart. “She’s accepted her defeat. I suggest you do the same.”

“Leave my wife alone,” Nicholas replied through clenched teeth.

The mage ignored him and squatted next to Rose, grabbing her chin and turning her face toward him. “You’ve had time to recover from the journey here. It’s time for us to experiment.”

“No,” Rose sobbed.

Nicholas pulled on the ropes tying him down. It was useless; he was helpless.

“Yes,” the shadow mage hissed straight into Rose’s ear. She shuddered with disgust. “I’ll start chopping off your husband’s fingers if you don’t. Why did you think I brought him along?”

Rose started crying. Nicholas shouted; they could chop off his entire hand for all he cared. He didn’t want Rose to agree to anything this madman wanted.

But Lysander untied Rose’s ropes and led her out of sight, leaving Nicholas to yell into the darkness and feeling more alone and useless than he had in his entire life.