Maylin's Gate (Book 3) (26 page)

She recognized the war bird’s form. Connal Deveaux had stolen General Demos on the road from Ripool. Would the guardian lead her to Gregor?

Caree slipped onto Connal’s back and she eased in behind the soul knight.

She pressed her eyes shut and wrapped her arms around the healer’s waist.

Connal Deveaux took flight.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

The Brotherhood

The steady hum of electricity droned in Danielle’s ears.

Blue energy crackled and writhed across the four walls of her windowless cell. A cell located somewhere beneath Zen’s temple.

She replayed the moment in her mind unable to believe Brees had played a willing part in the ceremony. Had Brees played her for a fool the whole time?

What about Keely? She’d known Keely her entire life and would trust the guardian with her life. Had Brees kidnapped her best friend?

She sat on a crystal stool before a plain sandstone table. The room’s lone furnishings. She drummed her fingers on the tabletop and stared past the electric field to the wall beneath.

She’d seen the anger in Brees’s eyes. Would he bother to visit? Would he get a chance before the others dragged her away?

Along the wall, a thin strip of light appeared and a seamless door swung open. An adult-sized figure stood in the doorway silhouetted. An amulet on the man’s chest glowed and the electrical field parted.

The shaman stepped through the doorway and the electrical field closed.

She kept her gazed locked on the table’s surface.

The figure strolled ahead and stopped beside the table. A crystal chair opposite her slid away and the figure sat.

Anger roiled inside her and she refused to meet the man’s eye.

“Hello Danielle,” Brees said.

The hair on her arms bristled. She didn’t know if she should melt into Brees’s arms or slap the shaman’s face. She decided to take the middle road and held her tongue.

“It’s good to see you again.” Brees paused as if waiting for her to speak. “I’m sorry you’re in here. Under the circumstances, you’re lucky. I had to beg them not to execute you.”

She remained silent.

Brees leaned forward. “Why did you sneak into the temple? That was a stupid decision. You could’ve been killed.”

Anger roared behind her eyes and she jerked her head up. “I made a stupid decision?” She thrust her finger toward Brees. “You left Meranthia without a word. What was I supposed to think?”

Brees, who once again wore a simple shaman’s robe, stared at her without reaction. “I told Sir Alcott.”

“You told him you needed to check on your family. Why all of the sudden did you need to find Aren and Catalin? Why didn’t you tell me?” Tears welled in her eyes.

Brees’s gaze drifted to the table. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “That’s it? Where’s Keely? Did you kidnap her? Is she involved in this cult of yours?”

Brees looked up and held her gaze. “I’m not in a cult Danielle, and Keely’s fine. I never coerced her.”

“Why?” Her voice cracked. “Why did you leave me Brees? I thought we….” She held back the words. Words that would solidify her feelings.

Brees’s gaze broke from hers. “Because….” The shaman’s jaw clenched shut.

“Because why?”

Brees met her gazed “Because of the ruins. Because of what I read there.”

Her heart beat faster. “Go on.”

Brees sighed. “Keely and I delivered a book of transcriptions to Sir Alcott in the ruins. He offered to show us his discovery. We obliged.”

“You understand the symbols.”

Brees nodded.

“How?”

“My father taught me.”

“How? When? I thought your father died when you were a child?”

“My father and I were close Danielle. We shared a special bond. When I was a child, we invented a language only he and I understood. At least I thought we invented it. My father knew what he was doing.”

“The symbols. He taught you how to read them?”

“Yes. At the time, I didn’t understand. My father was teaching me. Grooming me.”

“Did he teach Aren too?”

“No. My father and Aren had a strained relationship. Aren envied the bond I shared with my father. It drove them further apart.”

“What about Catalin?”

“She was too young to understand.”

“What did the words say? The ones in the ruin.”

“I’m not sure you want to know.”

Heat spread across her cheeks. “I need to know and you need to tell me.”

“My ancestors wrote the words,” Brees said. “The ones who fled Ayralen.”

“What did the words say?”

Brees held her gaze for several long seconds.

She held her breath afraid to speak.

“The words are a warning,” Brees said.

“Against what?”

“Against experimenting with forces beyond human comprehension.”

“Such as?”

“Such as the three spheres that grant magic to those lucky enough to hold their power,” Brees said.

“How do the Orbs of Power have anything to do with the writing on the walls?”

“The orbs were originally built for a specific purpose,” Brees said. “Generations before Elan, Trace, and Lora, a man named Gabriel discovered the power trapped inside the human soul.”

“I know about Gabriel,” she said. “Ronan told me.”

“Do you know why he created the orbs?”

“To harness nature’s power and spread it among humanity. To better the lives of humankind.”

“If only his reasons were so altruistic. Gabriel meant to harness the orbs’ combined power to build a gateway.”

She recalled the mural depicting the gateway and the heartwood trees. “What sort of gate?”

“Gabriel believed he could travel to worlds beyond this one. He wanted to harness the orbs’ power to create a doorway to another place.”

“Did he succeed?”

“He did.” Brees’s jaw tightened. “With disastrous results.”

“What happened?”

“Creatures came through the gateway. Creatures who enslaved both humans and the baerinese. Did you see the paintings in the ruins?”

She recalled the image of the demon-like creature towering over the man in bondage. “That painting wasn’t real.”

“It's real Danielle.”

“How do you know?”

“The words inscribed on the wall,” Brees said.

An ember of doubt crept into her thoughts. She outlined an invisible pattern on the tabletop with her index finger. “What did they want?”

Silence hung in the holding cell for a long moment before Brees spoke. “Harvest.”

Her skin crawled and she licked the dryness from her lips. “Harvest? I’m not sure what you mean.”

“The ickaret, that’s what they’re called. The ickaret would breed us and consume us like cattle. They dragged us to their world then butchered and cooked us.”

Her stomach churned and a wave of dizziness swept through her head. “Enough.”

“I’m sorry Danielle. You wanted to know.”

“How could you possibly know all this?”

“I told you. I can read the words. The entire history is written on those walls.”

“Why didn’t you tell Sir Alcott?”

“Because, I didn’t know if it was true myself until I came back to Obsith.” Brees’s gaze fell to the tabletop. “Now, I’ve no doubt.”

“Why?”

“I’ve had the story corroborated.”

“From those…people?”

“They’re good people, Danielle.”

“Who are they?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Can’t tell me?” She barked out a short bitter laugh. “Don’t you think it’s a bit late for that?”

Brees sighed. “We’re people interested in earth’s preservation.”

It was we now? A knot formed in her chest. “How utterly vague of you.”

“Danielle, I —”

“I’ve seen that symbol before. The symbol on the altar I mean.”

Brees’s head jerked up. “Where?”

“You should’ve stayed with Sir Alcott,” she said. “He opened another room in the ruins. The last room.”

Sweat glistened on Brees’s forehead. “You shouldn’t take this any further.”

“I saw it on the wall. A mural depicting a gateway. A black triangle with sockets at each point. Sockets filled with the Orbs of Power.”

“Then you know,” Brees said.

She leaned forward hovering inches from Brees’s face. “I saw them Brees. I saw the heartwood trees on the other side.”

Brees jerked backward as if slapped.

A surge of triumph roared through her. “Your…cult wants to keep them from the world. From Ayralen.”

“That’s not it at all,” Brees said.

“How can you sit there and presume to have all the answers? Your emperor is a power-hungry zealot and you’ve drunk in his lies. The trees are a threat to his power. Aren’t they? They’re a threat to you and every other charlatan living on this god-forsaken pile of sand.”

“No.” Brees slammed a clenched fist against the tabletop. “The trees are poison. They’ve always been.”

Her jaw fell open and she slipped backward into her chair.

“Lora never should’ve brought them to this world,” Brees said.

“How can you say that?”

“I didn’t know until a few days ago. The Brotherhood has opened my eyes.”

“Is that the name of your cult?” she said. “I feel sorry for you. They’ve spoon fed you lies. The heartwood saved your life and it could save millions more.”

“The heartwood trees produce a drug that Ayralens have grown dependent on. They’ll die without it,” Brees said. “Why do you think Trace fled the Heartwood all those centuries ago?”

“For more power,” she said. “Have you forgotten what your vaunted emperor did to me? What he did to the dragons?” Tears welled in her eyes.

“The Brotherhood doesn’t support Trace. We oppose him.”

“You just said —”

“He’s not always been this way. Trace founded the Brotherhood. For centuries, the organization worked in secret. They kept the knowledge of Maylin’s Gate hidden.”

“What is Maylin’s Gate?”

“Maylin is the name of the world beyond this one. The gate is the means Gabriel invented to travel there.”

“How has Trace changed?”

“He changed in little ways at first, but then he started talking about building the gate.”

“Why?”

“It happened after the barrier fell. Trace said the Brotherhood should build the gate before someone else did.”

“But, he couldn’t do that without the missing pieces?”

Brees nodded.

“What about the bracers that support the gate? Doesn’t he need those to complete the structure?”

Brees frowned. “What do you mean?”

“We found a piece of the portal in the ruins.”

Brees’s face turned ashen. “The third leg.”

“If that’s what it’s called, then yes.”

“It’s as sought after as the orbs themselves,” Brees said. “Trace believed he could build the missing piece. Others inside the Brotherhood doubted him.”

“Why aren’t the people in Zen getting sick?” she said.

“I don’t know. Neither does the Brotherhood.”

“I think it’s because the last heartwood tree is somewhere in Zen.”

“That’s not it. The Brotherhood would now.”

She let go a short bitter laugh. “Maybe your Brotherhood doesn’t know everything? Did you ever think of that?”

Brees stared ahead stone-faced.

“You are a plague carrier,” she said. “By all rights, you should be dead. That you’re not is a miracle provided by the heartwood you so hate.”

“I don’t hate the trees,” Brees said.

“Zen should look like Mara, but it doesn’t. Why?”

“I wish I knew. I’m hopeful you’ll help find the answer. Once you’re back in Meranthia.”

“I’ve already told you why.” Her face flushed. “There’s a heartwood tree growing inside Zen. It's infusing your food and water with the antidote. That's the entire reason I came here.”

“If that’s true, the Brotherhood will kill it,” Brees said.

“Then you and they are my enemies.”

Pain filled Brees’s eyes. “It doesn’t have to be this way. You can find an antidote. A real one.”

“Does Keely know I’m here?”

Brees leaned back in the crystal chair. “Not yet. You can tell her yourself when you leave. She’s staying in the palace as an honored guest.”

“Leave?”

“The Brotherhood won’t let you stay in Zen.”

“I’m not leaving.”

“Then I can’t let you go.”

“I’ll escape.”