Mindbender (43 page)

When Alexander heard the shrill scream come from the ruins, the fear it evoked mingled with the thrill of his plan taking form. He was hoping beyond hope that the answers to his many questions would be found in the chambers and passages below the keep.

The terrifying creature stepped out of the door of the manor and screamed again. The sudden fear was primal. It engulfed Alexander, freezing him to the spot where he stood. He withdrew quickly into the safety of that corner of his mind where emotion was distant and powerless, slowly regaining control over his body.

His companions were also frozen with the unnatural fear created by the revenant’s scream. Jataan broke through the fear first, followed a moment later by Lucky. Everyone else remained paralyzed. The rain was just starting and the wind was blowing. Flickers of lightning danced through the swirling vortex of black clouds high overhead, but the light of the night-wisp dust was clear and bright.

Then something happened that Alexander hadn’t counted on. A second and then a third revenant stepped out of the ruins and screamed in unison. The sound was deafening and palpable. It penetrated through Alexander and found its way into the depths of his psyche, awakening a basic and instinctual terror. For a long moment, he couldn’t overcome it. He felt panic well up within and threaten to drive him mad.

When Evelyn screamed and ran from the protection of the light, Alexander’s fear-induced paralysis broke. She sprinted toward the crumbled gatehouse, fleeing from the revenants in blind panic. Two of the three revenants launched into the night sky, while the third and largest slowly advanced toward Alexander’s paralyzed companions.

Alexander spun and dashed toward Evelyn. She’d lost all reason in the face of the magically induced fear and was headed for the edge of the ruins. He ran with all the speed he could muster, closing the distance to her before she reached the mound of rubble that used to be the gatehouse. With one hand he grabbed her arm and turned her toward him and away from the cliff’s edge. When she wheeled around to face him, Alexander saw nothing but terror in her eyes. There was no rational thought, no reason, only the most basic need to escape danger. She looked up past him and screamed again.

The revenant landed in the middle of Alexander’s back, pushing him on top of Evelyn. The beast’s clawed hands pinned him to the ground and crushed the air from his lungs. He struggled to draw breath as it sank its fangs into the left side of his neck.

He felt a sharp pain at first that stunned him anew but the pain quickly turned to a numbing coldness as he felt the strength of his will sapped from him. The numbing coldness spread quickly from the wound as the revenant drained first his strength and then his life force itself.

The second beast landed nearby, yanked Evelyn from under Alexander and clamped its fangs into the side of her neck. She tried to scream but only managed a helpless whimper.

Alexander struggled to resist but his energy was waning. His arms and legs felt too heavy to lift. The numbing fatigue and penetrating coldness threatened to overwhelm him. Just as he was about to surrender, he felt a thin line of hope as Chloe linked herself to him and fed his life force with her own. Her love for him sustained him and gave him the strength he needed to renew his struggle against the beast.

He jerked free and rolled to face the creature, sending the revenant toppling off him. With a great effort he gained his knees and then staggered to his feet. Through his weariness, he assessed the situation with his all around sight. He was so tired and drained that he had to remind himself to care about the outcome.

Evelyn was collapsed on the ground like a discarded rag doll, the revenant clamped onto her neck. The beast feeding on her was oblivious to everything transpiring around it as it fed. The one that had bitten Alexander was drawing itself up to scream again. Somewhere in the distant fog of his mind, he knew he wouldn’t have the strength to resist the fear of its scream in his weakened state. He staggered in an effort to remain standing.

Within the circle of light, Jataan and Lucky broke free of the paralyzing effects of the revenants’ screams. Jataan sprinted toward Alexander with magical speed. Lucky rummaged around in his bag.

The third revenant launched itself into the air, spiraling into the sky.

Then the world exploded. A bolt of argent-white lightning stabbed down from the swirling clouds overhead and struck the remains of the tower on the left rear corner of the ruins. The lightning dazzled Alexander, leaving him blinded and stunned. The revenant that had bitten him screamed in pain at the sudden onslaught of brightness and launched itself into the sky. The one feeding on Evelyn fell back, simpering and mewling from the pain of the light.

The tower exploded as the thunder of the lightning strike reached them. The ground shook. The force of the explosion sent Alexander onto his back, gasping for breath once again. Evelyn lay helpless and pale where the revenant had left her. His companions still in the grip of the revenants’ screams tumbled to the ground as the spell was broken.

Jataan managed to keep his feet and his wits even in the face of the sudden detonation. He darted between them with such speed that Alexander only caught a blur before the battle mage cleanly decapitated the revenant that had fed on Evelyn. In unison, the other two screamed again from somewhere in the darkness of the magically tortured sky. The world lit up again as another bolt of lightning struck the ruins on the right rear corner and shattered part of the building into rubble.

Jataan stood, sword in hand, and watched the sky for any sign of a threat as Anatoly and Boaberous charged up to the site of the brief battle.

“Take them to the light,” Jataan commanded.

Anatoly didn’t miss a beat; he scooped Alexander up and tossed him over his shoulder, then turned and ran for the light flooding the magic circle. Boaberous carried Evelyn. Jataan followed. They lay them both down and moved away to stand guard while Lucky went to work on their wounds. He slathered healing salve on Alexander’s neck, then did the same for Evelyn, handing Conner a bandage before he returned to Alexander to bind his wound. Evelyn woke with a start and tried to struggle with her brother for a moment before she realized who he was. Then she collapsed into his arms and wept.

Alexander schooled his mind and conserved his strength. He kept his eyes closed but assessed the scene with his all around sight. They had succeeded in drawing out the revenants. All that was left was to get into the dungeons beneath the ruins. Then they would have the time they needed to recover their strength while the enemy faced the revenants.

He reached up and grabbed Lucky’s robe to pull him closer. “Into the ruins,” he whispered with a great effort.

The revenant had sapped so much of his strength that he felt unconsciousness claiming him in spite of his struggle to remain awake. As he slipped into darkness, the world shook again in a brilliant white flash.

Chapter 25

Lacy held her breath. They’d been fleeing south for the past week with soldiers always just behind them. Wizard Saul had used his magic to deceive their pursuers several times, buying them precious hours to gain distance from them. The week had been terrifying and exhausting. And now that she was so close to the Fellenden family crypt, the enemy had caught up with them.

She and the wizard crouched behind a moss-covered rock at the edge of the forested area surrounding the entrance to the crypt, the location of which had been chosen at the end of the Reishi War. It had been built overlooking the battlefield where Carlyle Fellenden had died defending the Old Law against the ambitions of Malachi Reishi and his armies. In the intervening centuries, the family had expanded the crypt to accommodate the kings of Fellenden that had died since.

It was built mostly within the stone of the rocky hilltop, the only entrance being a simple but solid stone archway and heavy door. Lacy felt in her pocket for the key and took small comfort that her father’s last request was still within her reach.

She and Wizard Saul had been riding hard until Lacy’s horse came up lame not a league from the crypt. They just made it on foot before the platoon of soldiers chasing them arrived on their heels.

Now they were trapped. The thirty men on horseback had immediately separated into squads of six. No doubt, they knew Lacy and Wizard Saul were on foot. The only place to hide was in the woods that covered most of the butte, giving the soldiers a limited area to search. It was only a matter of time.

Six of the soldiers were milling around the entrance of the crypt, looking for some sign that their quarry was nearby. Sounds of the other soldiers could be heard off in the distance as they searched. Lacy didn’t know what to do. She had followed the lead of Wizard Saul for the entire week as he worked with magic and cunning to preserve them. Now there was nowhere left to escape, and she still had to get into the crypt before she could make her way to Ithilian.

She was exhausted, bruised, and sore. In her whole life she’d never exerted herself like she had over the past week. Before her life had been turned on its head, she was prone to losing her temper when she didn’t get her way but now that the stakes were real, she found there was no time for her emotions. She had to think clearly and make good decisions or she would die, and badly.

Oddly, she found that she was stronger than she would have ever imagined. Once the initial fear had worn off and the pain of loss had settled on her, she discovered that she was angry. Not the simple petty anger at her dress being hemmed wrong but a righteous anger that fueled her and drove her to accomplish things she would have never thought possible. The people of Fellenden had done nothing to warrant the atrocities that were being inflicted on them. She was angry that they were being made to suffer, she was angry that her family had been torn asunder, but mostly she was angry that she was powerless to stop what was happening.

Over the course of the week, an idea had begun to take shape in her mind and then take root in her soul. If she survived this ordeal, she would do whatever was necessary to gain the power to protect her people.

Power had always seemed like such an abstract thing. Her father had power. People did as he told them but he never used his power for anything great or sweeping. Mostly, he concentrated on the mundane things that made life in the city possible: the supply of food, the removal of waste and garbage, the flow of water to the people and the fields. He paid attention to the army, but not a lot. He was far more likely to put great effort into negotiating with neighboring territories to avoid conflict.

The past week had taught Lacy that there was a whole different dimension to power. It could be used to destroy or it could be used to protect the innocent from those who would destroy them.

On one occasion, three days into their journey, a scout had located them. He tried to flee to tell his superiors where Lacy and Wizard Saul could be found, but Saul killed the man with a spell. It wasn’t fancy or flashy, but it was effective—Wizard Saul caused the man’s horse to lose control and throw him. The scout broke his neck when he fell. Saul didn’t blink at what he’d done. Instead, he searched the man’s belongings and took a good knife, some food, and two waterskins, along with a pouch of silver coins.

Lacy stood watching Saul search the freshly dead man with a growing sense of horror. When she confronted the wizard, he just shrugged and said that war was ugly. She thought a lot about that as they rode. By the time they reached the crypt, Lacy had promised herself that she would learn how to fight so that she could defend her people—she just had to survive first.

The six men fanned out in the area around the crypt entrance. Then one started coming straight for them.

Wizard Saul touched Lacy on the back of the head and she heard his words in her mind even though he didn’t speak aloud.

“Remember your training, let it guide your hand. When the opportunity presents itself, open the crypt. I’ll be right behind you.”

She processed what he had said even as he started whispering words of power. At first, she couldn’t imagine that he would attack six armed soldiers . . . but he was a wizard. When she thought about it for a moment, the fear of battle subsided and the anger she’d been nursing rose to the surface. These men had come to her homeland and killed her people. They were trying to kill her. She drew her knife.

Wizard Saul stood abruptly. The soldier that had been heading toward them stopped for an instant and then called out to his companions. The other five men turned as one and pulled their horses around. Saul planted his staff in the ground and spoke the final word of his incantation. The tip of his staff grew bright with a yellowish light. The light arced from the tip and hit the first man squarely in the chest. The crackling yellow fire maintained an arc from Saul’s staff to the first soldier, then leapt to the next nearest soldier and then to another and finally to a fourth. The spell ran its course in the span of a few seconds, leaving four men dead with holes the size of a grapefruit burned through the center of their chests.

The remaining two soldiers called out for help as they charged. Lacy waited until their horses had enough momentum to make changing course difficult and then darted for the crypt. One of the soldiers pulled his horse around wide and tried to lash out at her, but he was too slow. The other soldier headed straight for Saul who was softly muttering words of a long-dead language. The soldier’s horse reared and threw him to the ground before he reached the wizard.