Page 47 of Pawns of Fate

NICHOLAS

N icholas struggled to maintain consciousness. It was probably an effect of the druid’s venom. The antidote had saved his life, but didn’t stop every symptom. Pulling himself out of the fog took effort, and he was trapped in it more often than not.

Someone fed him, kept him alive. Lysander or Kagon, he couldn’t remember which. Rose whispered to him sometimes, which cleared the fog more than anything. He wanted to hold her so badly. Lysander may not have cut off his limbs, but he’d certainly managed to rip out Nicholas’s heart.

Every time their captors took Rose away, Nicholas cursed his lack of magical talent. York could have fried the ropes with a bolt of lightning. But the meager sparks that Nicholas could manage without his sword did nothing.

ROSE

From when Kagon tied her back to the slab of rock to when Lysander came to retrieve her, Rose didn’t sleep a wink.

Between worrying about Nicholas—who was sleeping far too much for her to think nothing was wrong—and how she was going to fool Lysander into thinking his spell hadn’t worked—she couldn’t see the flow of life force and mana, so she certainly couldn’t increase or manipulate his mana flow—Rose had thoroughly strained every fiber of sanity she had left.

“You look terrible,” Lysander said with disdain as he led her to the cathedral-like chamber that housed his strange workshop.

“I’ve had trouble sleeping,” Rose said, returning all of Lysander’s disdain with her tone.

“Well, if you increase my mana flow, I’m sure I could find a cot for you somewhere.”

“I’m more worried about Nicholas than myself.”

Lysander waved off her concerns. “Kagon’s venom has after effects, even with the antidote. He won’t die. It’s probably harder for his body to completely cleanse itself since he’s been so anxious yet sedentary these past few days. You should tell him to get some fresh air.”

Rose wanted to snap at the mage for teasing her about such a thing, but held her tongue.

She’d already gotten a taste of what happened when Lysander was in a bad mood, and the thought that he might have strangled her to death if Kagon hadn’t stepped in had stomped around her mind a thousand times since yesterday, further exacerbating the issue of her strained fibers of sanity.

“Access the aural plane. With my spell, you’ll be able to see the flow of mana and manipulate it,” Lysander demanded. They sat down beside the pillars of star crystal.

It took several minutes, but Rose tethered her senses to the aural plane. Without the spell, all Rose would have been able to see was Lysander’s malevolent, shadowy aura. But today, like yesterday, her connection was enhanced. She saw so much more.

The blooms of star crystals were overwhelming, still filled with tiny dots of light, entire galaxies within every one.

But the pillars at the center of the room were truly something special; she couldn’t look away from them.

Each a universe unto itself, they all faced a holy light at the center, brighter than the sun and yet never blinding.

It called to her, a siren song begging her to reach out and touch.

“ Join us.”

Was that the light? It sounded so warm.

“ Join us, Rose.”

So inviting. She reached out, so close. The tip of her aura brushed the light and disappeared.

Terror filled her heart. Would she disappear into this light, too?

But now she couldn’t pull away. The light had her, and it was sucking in more and more of her essence, her life force, her aura, with every heartbeat.

Something burned her arm. A sting of pain, and all she could see was indigo rocks and the faint glow of star crystals.

“Rose!” Lysander was shaking her. Why were they standing in the center of the room, in the middle of the pillars?

She looked down at her feet and almost jumped; they were standing on a host of inactive spell circles and runes.

This was dangerous. Rose would never walk all over spells like this, even in a dormant state. What happened?

“You were in some kind of trance.” Lysander dragged her out of the pillars and back to his workshop. “What did you see?”

“There’s some kind of deity or elemental spirit, maybe spirits.” Rose pointed to the center of the cavern. “It pulled me in.”

Lysander scribbled frantically in his notebook. “That would be the druid magic. I should have thought of that before activating your spell. Still, I never would have thought you could see it from the aural plane, even with the enhancement.”

“What?”

“This is an ancient holy site for druids. Scholars have theorized that they are some kind of spiritual or mana well. No one knows exactly how they work. I figured it had something to do with effectively channeling the energy of the crystals, though our findings today would indicate otherwise. At any rate, these structures dramatically increase the effectiveness of spells.”

“Is that why you defaced it?”

Lysander frowned. “I used my available resources. No one will mind that I etched a few spells onto some old rocks.”

Rose wasn’t sure that the spirit at the center of the pillars or anyone who revered this place as a holy site would agree with him, which raised an important question.

“Kagon doesn’t mind? He’s a druid.”

“It was Kagon’s idea. Well, at least the one in the swamp.” Lysander leaned in to whisper, “I’m not sure that he loves what I’ve done here, but this site is far more powerful.”

Rose thought about the being of light she’d just seen and hoped there weren’t more out there, haunting the ruins of Albion, especially not if people like Lysander were abusing their power.

Lysander snapped his notebook closed. “Really, you’ve just discovered something fascinating.

It’s a pity we don’t have more time for research.

” He grabbed Rose’s arm and began to tinker with the spell rune until it actuated.

“Now that we know my spell works, access the plane again.” He interlaced his fingers with Roses and looked at her with eyes full of madness. “Increase my mana flow.”

“No,” Rose cried as she pulled her hand out of Lysander’s. “I can’t resist that thing. Don’t make me see all of that again.” Her heart started to pound so loudly she was sure the whole world could hear it.

“This must be why Viscount Robson was so reluctant to use this power in all the historical accounts. He said it was draining on the senses. Such a shame.” Lysander turned his head away from Rose and yelled, “Kagon! Bring Nicholas.”

NICHOLAS

A gloved hand smacked his face a few times, then forced him to drink some medicinal-tasting water that cleared the fog from his mind.

A man with wild, golden eyes told him to get up.

This was Kagon, the druid, if Nicholas remembered correctly.

The man untied his feet and released the ropes holding him to the rock slab.

Nicholas looked around the small cavern and tugged at the ropes that still bound his wrists. Rose was nowhere to be seen.

“Where’s my wife?” Nicholas barked.

“We’re going to her,” Kagon said, voice almost a whisper.

“What have you done to her?”

“I haven’t done anything,” Kagon replied. Was that guilt in his voice? This shapeshifter had poisoned him and enabled a kidnapping. But he felt guilty? Nicholas didn’t believe it.

They marched down a dark tunnel. Star crystals bloomed from the walls and grew thicker as they went. From the cool flow of air, Nicholas could sense a large cavern up ahead even as they plunged downward, deeper into the earth.

A feminine scream echoed through the tunnel. Nicholas’s blood boiled.

“Let me go!” Furious, he yanked on the rope, but Kagon was much larger than him and anticipated his protest, so he simply pulled Nicholas along.

The tunnel opened into a cavern larger than a cathedral.

A dozen pillars stood in a circle at the center of the room, and Lysander had Rose pinned to one of the pillars.

Nicholas felt the world grind to a halt as fury overtook him.

If his blood had been boiling before, his entire being was on fire now.

Nicholas pulled on the rope again, but Kagon was rooted to his spot, staring at Lysander tormenting Rose with disbelief plain on his face. Stupid druid, Nicholas thought. Why act surprised now?

“Stop staring and bring him here,” Lysander yelled across the cavern. “I’m going to cut off his arm.” He brandished a wicked-looking knife.

If Kagon’s venom hadn’t killed him, Nicholas was certain that blade would do the trick.

He looked over at the strange druid who had led him here. A thousand emotions played at Kagon’s features, but guilt stood out the most to Nicholas. Part of him felt skeptical. But then he looked at Rose, bound by shadows, and decided to take any chance fate threw his way.

“You could help us,” Nicholas whispered to Kagon. “Our blood doesn’t have to be on your hands.”

Kagon continued to stare. Shadows whipped across the cavern floor and grabbed Nicholas by the ankles, pulling him down and dragging him to Lysander and Rose .

The shadows pinned Nicholas to the pillar next to his wife, then forced him to hold out an arm. Nicholas struggled, even releasing a few sparks of his lightning magic, but it wasn’t enough. The shadows overpowered him, and Lysander raised his knife with an unhinged glee.

“Lysander, stop!” Kagon’s deep voice called out.

Nicholas hit the ground with a painful thud as the shadows released him and raced for Kagon instead.

The druid summoned a few shadows of his own, but Lysander’s overpowered him even faster than they had overpowered Nicholas.

The darkness felled Kagon and dragged him across the cavern.

Lysander waited with open arms and a knife.

He grabbed a fistful of Kagon’s hair and screamed in his face, “Are you questioning me, now? After months, no years, of unsuccessful experiments? You’re questioning me now? When we’re so close?”

“We’re going too far! You know I’m right!” Kagon managed to free one of his arms from the shadows and grab Lysander’s throat. “We’re no better than them if we continue down this path.”

Lysander swiped Kagon’s arm away, but must have lost some of his shadow’s power to do so, because Kagon freed his other arm and one of his legs. He knocked Lysander over, and the ensuing brawl was a tangle of limbs, violence, and tentacles of darkness.

They knocked over one of the tables, causing books and parchment to fly around like confetti at a celebration. It also launched Nicholas’s sword into the air. The weapon clattered to the ground about a dozen feet away from him.

Nicholas quietly began to inch toward his sword, praying that Kagon’s fight bought them enough time.