Demon Revealed (High Demon Series #2) (6 page)

"Your concern is noted, healer," Norian sounded
snippy. Karzac then proceeded to hold a lengthy conversation with Norian, still
in a language I didn't understand. Norian looked well and truly chastised when
Karzac was finished and stalking away.

"I've offended the healer," Norian muttered, before
he and Lendill followed Karzac.

"Reah, come here, baby." Tory was holding his hand
through the bars between our cages. I walked over and sat down next to him. He
was barely able to kiss my forehead between the bars. "It'll be all
right," he soothed.

* * *

"I send you after information, and I see this on the vids
instead?" Wylend Arden looked as if he were about to tear his luxurious
private suite apart. Erland watched the King of Karathia pace.

"My son is part of this too, I'll have you know,"
Erland pointed out. "As is Gardevik's. I can assure you, I couldn't see
for the smoke billowing from Garde's nostrils when he learned of this. All I
can say is that Norian Keef and his Vice-Director will be very dead men if this
does not turn out in a satisfactory manner."

"I will be there before you, and they will suffer before
they die," Wylend agreed.

* * *

"Reah, promise you will come back to me. Promise." Aurelius
was stroking my face. He'd folded aboard the Alliance ship, run by ASD
operatives—all of whom were trusted by Norian and Lendill. I didn't know how
far to extend that trust if I were honest with myself.

"Auri, I will do everything I can to come back to you. I
promise that," I said. I had no idea if any of us were going to live through
this.

"I love you," Aurelius whispered and then
disappeared before either of us could weep over the parting. I was shaking
afterward.

"Very nice. Now get in your cell," the ASD agent
snapped. He'd been watching us the whole time. Norian had given official
permission, as he'd called it, for a visit before I was hauled off to Tulgalan.
Meekly I entered my tiny cell and the door was shut and locked behind me. If I
hadn't known that I could skip away from my cell, my claustrophobic Thifilatha
would likely have been beating the door down.

I had no way to gauge time as we traveled—I was sealed off
from the others inside the cell—there was barely enough room for the narrow bed
and the food dispenser in the wall. No room to walk, pace or worry. No windows,
either, so no way to communicate with my fellow prisoners. Except Ry and Tory
had mindspeech.

Don't fret, avilepha
. Tory's voice came; he was talking
in my head quickly.

Reah, it will be fine—you'll see
. Ry was now weighing
in.

Oh sure, you've done this a hundred times, probably
, I
said right back to them. Not that it would do any good.

Reah? Did you just say somethin
g
?
Tory sounded
shocked.

Did you hear me?
I was shocked, too.

I heard you
. Ry's mindspeech was thick with disbelief.

Holy crap
. I used one of Gavril's favorite phrases. I
hadn't been allowed to see Gavril—I'd been handed a comp-vid and we'd said good-bye
that way. Gavril had been about to have a meltdown, as was I. He said much the
same thing Aurelius had, asking me to promise to come back. It was so hard,
saying that good-bye. Now I tried something else.
Bel, can you hear me?

Reah?
Shock was a mild word—astonished might have been
closer to the mark.
You have mindspeech, Reah?
He thought to ask the
second question.

It seems so
, I answered.
What about Hish and Max?

Not all the wizards have it—Delvin has it too
.
Hish
and Max don't
.

Where is Delvin?

Keeping the High Commander happy with his shielding tricks
,
Bel muttered mentally.

Poor Delvin
.
I thought Hish was the only one who could
shield
.

Hish is much better at it—Delvin's shields are weaker and
he can only protect himself and one or two others. The High Commander is only
worried about his own skin.

So Delvin is good enough for that and Hish can risk his
life elsewhere?

Yes
.

You know the High Commander is a coward
.

Reah, don't say that to anyone other than to me or Delvin.
And then only mentally. Understand
?

That sounded worrisome. Did Bel suspect some of his own
Rangers? I was going to have to talk to Tory and Ry about that. I did. Immediately
and at length. I told them about all the Ranger wizards who still lived, and what
their talents were.

* * *

"Where are you going?" Wald asked. Edan was
shrugging into his heavy coat; it was snowing outside. Edan's half-brother Wald
didn't want to open the restaurant alone that evening.

"To the nearest constabulary station," Edan grumbled.
He'd seen the vids, just as everyone else had. The name didn't fit, but he'd
know that face anywhere. Reah had managed to get herself into too much trouble.
It sounded as if she'd found a bad crowd after she'd been sent to who knew
where by the idiot who worked for the Governor of the Realm. Edan had no desire
to claim a daughter as his mother demanded. This was his excuse—he was ready to
hand fabricated information to the constabulary and the ASD—that would absolve
him of any responsibility where Reah was concerned. She was nothing to him, and
he'd see to it that Addah Desh could never lay claim to her talents, either.

"Edan, there's someone here to see you," his
assistant cook, Mardin, showed a man into Edan's office.

"I don't have time," Edan snapped, smoothing out the
collar of his coat. He backed up quickly when an ASD badge was shoved in his
face.

* * *

"Well, Edan, you managed to drag me into your little
mistake, didn't you?" Marzi Desh hissed at her son.

"As if you didn't force me into it," Edan snapped back.
The two had been left in an interviewing room together. Lendill was smiling as
he watched the vid-recorder. They were about to give him everything he wanted
and he wouldn't be forced to ask a single question. The rest of the family
could be kept quiet if Lendill promised to keep this out of the news. He had an
interview set up with Addah Desh the following afternoon.

* * *

It's time, Reah
. I'd fallen asleep but Tory's voice in
my head woke me.

All right
, I said. Our escape had been carefully
planned. Ry would provide the initial explosion—Bel said he didn't know if he
could control his blasts well enough. We didn't want to breach the hull of the
ship—that would come later, just for show. The whole ship shook anyway with the
force of Ry's blast. Cell doors popped open. Only a few remained locked. Nods'
door was one of those.

I was out of my cube quickly and running down the hall. Tory,
using the strength any High Demon possessed, ripped off spelled cuffs—they held
no power against him. I was immune as well, and ripped my own cuffs off. Ry
didn't need Tory's help to remove his; he'd been the one to spell the cuffs to
begin with. I hadn't known that until Norian Keef let it slip earlier.

Bel, Hish and Max were all glad to get rid of their cuffs—I
could see that easily enough when Ry released them with a power-filled gesture and
they dropped to the floor with a metallic clunk. The six of us had gathered in
a designated ship's corridor while ASD agents shouted and ran toward us—we had
to make this escape look as real as possible. The agents were randomly firing
laser pistols at us, too, causing pieces of the ceiling and the walls to
explode outward. I ducked as some of it came my way.

"Get us out of here!" Tory shouted at Ry. Ry didn't
even blink as he folded all six of us away.

* * *

"The captured wizards were stronger than we
anticipated," the Captain of the prison vessel declared in an interview. He
was actually a mid-ranking ASD operative. The news vids were showing images of
the blasted-out hull where all but one of the prisoners had escaped. That
prisoner was shown as he was loaded into an armored vehicle before being driven
to the local cell that awaited him.

"It is most fortunate that this particular prisoner did
not escape—he is the reported gunman," the journalist noted. "As you
can see, three ASD agents were killed during the escape." Norian watched
the newsfeed—it had been a stroke of genius, finding three bodies to transport.
None of his agents had been injured during the escape. The breach in the outer hull
had been made by his own agents aboard ship, shortly before they reached port
on Tulgalan. All on board were well away from the blast that created the hole
in the side of the ship. Ry, Tory and the others had gotten away without
mishap.

* * *

"Are you sure the compulsion will hold up?" Norian
turned to Rigo, one of Lissa's vampire mates.

"Oh, yes. And no word will ever reach Mandil that we
violated the treaty in that way. Nods will not reveal any secrets other than
what he's told us already, after I placed compulsion to be truthful."

"Yes. I couldn't believe what came out of his mouth
before you stepped in," Norian offered Rigo a grim smile. "The wizards
who planted those lies in his mind were quite powerful, according to Lord
Morphis." Norian turned back to the news on the vid-screen. Erland Morphis
had also stated that no wizard or warlock could outdo an old vampire on
compulsion. It was information Norian squirreled away. It might prove useful,
someday.

* * *

"My Prince, we managed to escape with a little assistance."
Bel indicated Ry, Tory and me with a quick gesture. "These were arrested
with us and have agreed to help."

I was frightened that the Prince might recognize me, but I was
dressed scruffily enough and Bel had nearly shaved my head again. Tory hugged
me after my hair had been whacked off for the second time.

"What can these do for me?" The Prince sounded less
than hopeful as he looked the three of us over.

"This one holds power greater than mine," Bel nodded
toward Ry. "These two can provide shields than no wizard can crack." He
pointed toward Tory and me. "If you stand with them, your protection will
be assured."

"They can protect me in this way?" The Prince was
intrigued and rose from his seat. Rich robes rustled about the Prince Royal of
Mandil as he studied Tory and me thoughtfully, a finger tapping his lips as he
considered us. I was grateful that none of his wizard guards were with him—the
High Commander had called the Prince's wizards away to investigate an attack on
the military station. All of them were loyal to the High Commander, of course,
and left when the High Commander asked.

We'd created the diversion the High Commander was
investigating, blowing out a section of the western wall surrounding the
military facility. Ry had used just enough power to make the rogue wizards
believe their current opposition was behind the attack—a few of the
lesser-talented wizards still opposed the High Commander and his cronies. The
High Commander had fooled the citizens, but other wizards were not so easily
taken in.

"The boy will not be so easily noticed by the
others," the Prince had stopped pacing and was now eyeing me carefully. I
prayed he wouldn't see me as female.

"No, my Prince. He is quite useful, too. He can run
errands and carry messages for you—he has experience in this area, along with
toting sums. I understand he also has good cooking skills." Bel flashed a
smile in my direction. I wanted to kick his shins.

"So, a late-night meal might be had, should one be
required?" The Prince sat down, still keeping his eyes on me.

"The taller one can serve as a bodyguard to me and the
others," Bel bowed slightly. "The wizard we will keep among us—he
will stand in for Pell, who needs to go home to his wife. She is about to birth
her first any day."

"Will the disguises hold?"

"Certainly, my Prince."

"Then it will be so. Boy, come. You will carry messages
for me this afternoon." The Prince snapped his fingers at me. I went.

* * *

"Where did
that
come from?" There was no
mistaking the contempt in his voice as the rogue wizard looked me over. The
Prince's wizards had returned after checking the hole blown in the wall. At
least one wizard was instructed to stay with the Prince at all times, unless
the High Commander pulled him away. It was a ruse, to make the Prince believe
he was being guarded. Neither the Prince nor I were fooled.

"I needed a boy to run messages and cook for me late at
night when I am hungry," the Prince snapped. "It is such a chore to
have my cook awakened when it is late."

"That is certainly true," the wizard agreed.

"I can only imagine that he will cook for my wizards as
well." The Prince examined his fingernails. "Boy, send for my valet."
He made a bored, shooing motion with his hands. If he were acting, he deserved
an award, I think.

"Yes, my Prince." I bowed low, as required of one
with little or no status.

"Scurry," the Prince waved a finger. I scurried.

* * *

"As required, my Prince." I'd brought the valet, who
seemed less than enthusiastic.

"My nails need work, Alvis," the Prince held out a
hand.

"I will see to it," Alvis settled next to the Prince,
lifted a kit from a deep pocket inside his black robes and set to work. Alvis
was used to this sort of thing, it appeared.

"If you do not need me," the wizard bowed slightly
to the Prince Royal.

"No," the Prince sighed. "Feel free to amuse
yourself." The wizard, dressed just as richly as the Prince, left the room
quickly.

"Alvis, this one can shield us," the Prince grabbed
my arm with his free hand and dragged me to his side. "How large is your
shield, boy?" The Prince hissed.