Fey 02 - Changeling (100 page)

"Still," Burden said, "you had to come to see."

"I had to see you here, behind bars, to make sure I was safe," Matthias said.

Burden grinned.
 
It made him look even more devilish.
 
"What's the matter?
 
Don't you believe your god will protect you?"

"He has so far," Matthias said.

Burden shook his head.
 
"You've protected yourself."

"Why are you so determined to convince me that I'm part Fey?
 
Is this another way to 'defeat' me?"

"No."
 
Burden crossed his arms.
 
The smile left his face.
 
"It's more of a way of explaining, to myself, what happened in that room.
 
Twice now.
 
No one should be able to defeat us."

"You know, you people always say that, but I have seen no proof," Matthias said.
 
"We have been able to defeat you rather easily."

"We murdered your Rocaan; we murdered your King, and you think us defeatable?"

"And we killed the Black King's granddaughter," Matthias said.
 

A spark hit him in the face.
 
He brushed at it and moved away from the torches.
 
He had never seen torches spark like this.

"I thought it was an accident," Burden said.

"It was no more an accident than you showing up in my room."

"Killing never used to be the way of your people."

"We had to learn something from the invaders."
 
Matthias's hands were cold.
 
He wished he hadn't let them search him.
 
He wanted to kill this Fey too.
 
They were evil.
 
All of them.
 
Evil.

Burden pushed off the wall and came toward the bars.
 
"You want to know how I can tell you have magic?"

"I don't have magic," Matthias said.
 
"I am just Beloved of God."

"You're tall," Burden said.
 
"Islanders usually aren't tall.
 
Height seems to go with the magic for reasons we don't understand."

"The last Rocaan wasn't tall," Matthias said.
 
And he died.

He died.

"You cannot be easily killed.
 
Three times we trapped you.
 
Three times you escaped."

"I have great luck," Matthias said.
 
His mouth was dry.

"But most importantly, it is the way you look.
 
If a person squints, he can see magic energy flickering off another person.
 
It crackles off you.
 
I am amazed no one else ever noticed.
 
I think it was because no one else was looking."

"I think you're making all of this up," Matthias said.

Burden gripped the bars with his long slender fingers.
 
"Should we test it?"

"We can't test anything in here," Matthias said.
 
"And I am not getting you out of here."

"Then why did you come?" Burden asked.

The answer was too complex to admit.
 
He had come to kill Burden.
 
He had come for answers.
 
He had come to see for himself the man who had tried to kill him.

"I came to discover if anyone else is trying to kill me," Matthias said.

"In the Fey?" Burden asked.

Matthias nodded.

"And why should I tell you that?"

"Because," Matthias said.
 
"I could kill you where you stand."

"Your precious poison," Burden said.
 
"Someday we'll learn the antidote, and then you'll know the meaning of Fey wrath."

"I think we've seen enough Fey wrath to last us a lifetime," Matthias said.
 

"We haven't even started yet," Burden said.
 
"Just wait."

"So someone else will try to kill me," Matthias said.

Burden grinned.
 
"I think someone named Wind will try.
 
I suspect Rugar might.
 
I think even your own king hates you enough to try."

"Nicholas had his chance," Matthias said. "We are less —"

The spark floating past him suddenly became a hand-sized man.
 
The man held a tiny sword and plunged it at Matthias's eye.
 
He ducked, then slapped at the man.
 
The man shrank back into a spark and disappeared.

"How did you do that?" Matthias asked, approaching Burden.

"I didn't do anything," Burden said.

"You lie."
 
Matthias's voice had grown softer.
 
It was a growl.

The spark came close, but Matthias pushed it away with his hand.

"See?" Burden said.
 
"Fey can do that.
 
Non-magical beings can't."

Matthias looked at his hand.
 
It was up, but it wasn't pushing the spark away.
 
An opaque wall had formed in the air, inches from his hand, as if mimicking it.

"Stop that," Matthias said.

Burden laughed.
 
"I'm not doing anything."

"Stop that," Matthias repeated.

"I can only Charm, not Enchant," Burden said.
 
'You're doing that."

"I'm not doing anything."
 
Matthias was shaking.
 
The opaque screen was shaking too.
 
The spark waited outside it, like a bug trying to get in a door.

"You have a great magic, holy man," Burden said.
 
He shook his head.
 
"Aren't you ashamed of killing the very thing you are?
 
Or is that why you did it?"

"I'm not like you," Matthias said.

"You're just like me," Burden said.

"I'm not."
 
He brought his hand down.
 
The screen went down too and the spark came toward him.
 
Instantly another screen went up before his face.
 
He felt the screen go up before it appeared.
 
He felt it like he would feel his arm lifting a shield.

The thought infuriated him.
 
He wasn't a demon-spawn.
 
He was a good man.
 
All his life he had worked to be a good man.
 
He was Rocaan.
 
The Holy Sir.

Beloved of God.

"I'm not like you," he whispered.

"That's probably true," Burden said.
 
"Your power is reckless, out of control.
 
You have no idea why you hate as intensely as you do.
 
You hate us because we remind you of yourself."

"I'm Islander," Matthias said.

Burden nodded.
 
"We've discovered a couple others like you.
 
It's why you have been able to hold us at bay.
 
That magic of yours."

"I have no magic!" Matthias shouted.
 
White light shot from his eyes and stabbed into the cage.
 
He felt the light pouring from him, burning out of him, taking his anger with it.
 

Burden jumped out of the way, but Matthias turned his head.
 
The light moved with his eyes.

"Stop it!" Matthias yelled.
 
"You're doing this!
 
Stop it."

Burden sprinted away from the light.
 
He held up his hands and they sizzled.
 
He screamed.

Something slammed Matthias in the side of the head, making his ears ring.
 
He blinked and the light stopped.
 
The room smelled of burning flesh.
 
Something was on his ear, pulling his hair, sticking needles in his skull.
 
He brushed it away.
 
The little man tumbled through the air, but turned into a spark before he hit the ground.

"You did that," Matthias said to Burden.

Burden's face was gray.
 
His hands were bloody masses of flesh.
 
"I wouldn't hurt myself like this for a demonstration," he said.
 
"Go ahead. Finish me off.
 
With your magic, oh religious one.
 
With your magic."

The door opened, and the guard hurried inside, sword drawn.
 
"Are you all right, Holy Sir?"

Matthias shook his head.
 
He was not all right.
 
He turned, grabbed the guard's pouch, and pulled a vial of holy water from it.
 
Then Matthias poured the holy water on his own hand.
 
Then he looked up at Burden.
 
"You lie."

Burden shook his head.
 
He was staring at his ruined hands.
 
"I don't lie about pain."

"You promised me, Holy Sir," the guard said.
 
"Please, give me the water."

Matthias clutched it in his hand and approached the cage.
 
"You're trying to drive me crazy.
 
All this time.
 
You want me dead like the old Rocaan.
 
And if you can't kill me, you'll drive me crazy."

"Holy Sir, please —"

The spark circled his face, but his shield went up again.
 
He wouldn't let anyone near him.
 
He took the vial and held it up.
 
"Before the Roca," he said, "the Islanders believed in revenge."

"You believe in your god, though," Burden said, his voice small.

"The Roca is not God," Matthias said.

"Please, Holy Sir," the guard said.
 
He was approaching, his sword out, and pointed at Matthias.
 
"Don't make me defend the Fey."

"Defend me," Burden said.
 
"I'm not proud."

A shield went up behind Matthias.
 
The sword clanged against it.
 
"You people believe in revenge," Matthias said.
 
"You tried to take my life twice in revenge for Jewel's."

"You had no right to take hers," Burden said.

"But I have a right to take yours."
 
Matthias threw the water at him.
 
Burden screamed and tried to dive out of the way, but the water hit him.
 

"Holy Sir!" the guard cried.

The spark left the shield and hovered over Burden.
 
Burden was screaming, twisting and turning.
 
Mist rose off his body, carrying the stench of burned flesh.
 
He was cursing Matthias in Fey.
 
Then his face collapsed in on itself.
 
He struggled for a few moments more, then stopped moving.