Page of Swords (The Demon's Apprentice Book 2) (33 page)

I shook my head and turned to take stock of things and a wall of knuckles slammed into my jaw and knocked me on my ass. I sat up and saw a pair of Sentinel Carters looking at his fist in disbelief. Just as my eyes started to focus, he started forward again, only to find himself facing a wall of people. Lucas was at the front, with Steve and Shade flanking him. The rest of the pack poured in behind them, and behind them I saw the kids we’d just rescued.

“Move aside. The punishment for aiding a warlock is death,” Carter said.

As if to make his point, he held up his ankh and extended the paramiir’s blade from the circle at the top. Magick-enhanced steel glowed as he held it in front of himself. I tried to pull myself to my feet and keep someone from getting killed when Cross appeared at my side and hauled me up with his good hand.

“You okay, kid?” he asked quietly.

“I just got sucker punched by a freight train, but other than that, yeah, I’m doing great,” I managed to slur.

“Back off, Carter,” I heard T-Bone say as I tried to stumble toward the Sentinel.

Cross helped me along, and I saw T-Bone step between my friends and the super-sized mage cop.

“I don’t answer to you, Hand,” Carter sneered. “We were charged with bringing the warlock in if he tried to take the artifact anywhere but to the Council. That’s exactly what I plan to do, and no one is going to stand in our way.”

“I’m standin’ in your way,” T-Bone said calmly. “You think you got a chance of goin’ through me?” Carter’s determined expression cracked, and I saw doubt on his face. I stepped forward.

“I’ll go with you on my own,” I said. Doubt turned to outright disbelief on Carter’s face. T-Bone just turned and nodded at me. “I just need to get the Maxilla.”

“The sword is no longer your concern,” he announced. “We will return it to the Council.”

“You’re welcome to try,” I said with a wave toward the sword.

He waved a dismissive hand at me as he went over to where the sword was stuck in the floor, retracting the paramiir as he went. He grabbed the hilt and tried to pull it free, then yanked his hands away with a cry of pain. Steam rose from the handle, but it didn’t look as if it was hot.

“Looks like it’s in there pretty good,” Steve said from beside me as Carter glared at the sword.

“Yeah. You sure you don’t want it?” I asked. For a moment, the heavy weight that had been on my soul seemed to shift as I offered the blade to him.

“I’ve got enough on my plate as it is. I don’t need to be adding a magic sword to my problems.”

“Guess I’ll have to hang on to it for now, huh?” I said.

“Dude, you’re welcome to it,” he chuckled. The burden on my soul settled back on my shoulders, both a disappointment and a relief as he inadvertently reaffirmed my duty to carry the Maxilla.

I stepped forward and gave Carter a smile. “Told ya,” I said before I grabbed the handle and pulled it out of the floor easily. I gave him a smile and shucked the scabbard from my back to sheathe it. “Now I’ll go with you,” I said to him.

He put a pair of spellbinders on my wrists and led me out of Inferno as it burned behind us.

In the distance, we could hear the sound of sirens.

Chapter 23:(Equinox)

~ The Seeker’s true task is not finding the Maxilla. The sword will see to that itself. The Seeker is burdened with a worthier task. ~ Sydney Chomsky.

Somewhere along the way, midnight passed, signaling the start of the Spring Equinox and my birthday. I’d made it to sixteen, but odds were stacked against me seeing seventeen. They’d blindfolded me and put me in spellbinders as soon as I turned myself over to them. They kept me in them during the ride, and while I sat and waited in a little room. I had no idea how long they made me sit there, but I was sure I dozed off at least twice. Finally, they came for me and led me to face the Council.

“This is most irregular! I call for a vote!” I heard Polter demand stridently.

“Really, Andrew, do you really want to squander the remaining influence you have on something so petty, or do you fear the presence of witnesses so much?” Draeden’s calm voice said. There was a mix of grumbling and laughter, then I was announced by one of the Sentinels and led into the middle of the floor.

“Master Draeden!” the voice I thought belonged to Hardesty called out. “This is an outrage! Allowing a warlock to come armed? Sentinels, relieve him of that weapon!”

“We can’t Madame Hardesty,” Carter said sourly from beside me. “He’s the only person who can pick it up or carry it. He came peacefully and gave an oath not to resist over the sword itself. I found it sufficient, given what we saw tonight.”

“We will see if this Council agrees,” Polter said. “For your sake, I hope that it does, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.”

“Chance Fortunato, you have been called to face the justice of this Council. You have been given an Ordeal, one which you appear to have failed. What do you have to say in your defense before the Council passes judgment?” another voice called out.

“I have a lot to say, but I’d prefer to say it when I can see the Council.”

“Remove the blindfold and the restraints,” Draeden ordered. “Unless anyone here thinks a fifteen-year-old warlock is too powerful for the gathered Council to face.”

No one said anything, and a few seconds later, I was facing the Council with my hands free. I could see Dr. C, Shade, Lucas, Wanda, and Steve in the crowd, and I felt a little less alone. They were probably what had Polter’s panties in a wad. I wished my Mom was there, but I felt better knowing she was somewhere safe.

“Speak your piece, then,” Draeden ordered.

“First, sir, I think there is the matter of what to do with my tools and my other property?” Several members of the Council nodded. “I’d like to bequeath my wand and my working tools, and all of my other possessions to my sister, Dierdre Murathy.”

“Preposterous!” Polter bellowed. “Tools like that are too dangerous to give to a child, especially from a warlock! An eight-year-old girl is not capable of using such things responsibly! Your request is denied! The Council will decide what is to be done with your property.”

Several heads nodded in agreement, though Draeden’s remained still. His eyes narrowed and I thought I could see the faint beginnings of a smile.

“Then why do you think that I was capable of making life and death decisions when I was seven?” I demanded, catching the direction Dr. C had wanted Polter to go. “If my eight-year-old sister is too young to be trusted with a wand, then how was I supposed to be better prepared for facing a demon? Make up your mind!”

“That point is irrelevant,” Polter sneered. “You agreed to the Ordeal, and you failed miserably.”

“The Ordeal was to return the Maxilla, and fulfill the fate set by my wyrd. I did that almost an hour ago.” That made the whole chamber erupt. Liar was the kindest thing they called me. It went on for a couple of minutes, until Draeden raised his staff and slammed it down with a boom that I felt in my feet.

“Explain yourself,” he demanded.

“The wyrd
on me was to find the Maxilla, which I did around eleven, and to return it, which I did just before midnight. I even managed to do it right.”

“You lie!” Polter exclaimed.

“Speak out of turn again, Andrew, and I will have you removed from these proceedings,” Draeden said. The edge of his voice was so sharp I was sure thousands of air molecules went screaming to their death just being too close his mouth. He nodded to me.

“Thank you sir. I was never supposed to return it to you. The Maxilla doesn’t belong to you. It’s a responsibility, and it chooses who guards it and who carries it, not you. It was never stolen, and Dr. Corwyn never had it. Sydney Chomsky hid it before he died, but he kept the case at his house so everyone would keep going after it instead of looking for where he hid the sword.”

“How do you know all of this?” Moon asked me.

“The night I fought Dominic King, I found the Page of Swords card and a note with the case saying that Mr. Chomsky had hidden it. I never told anyone because I thought it was safer if everyone thought someone else had it, so no one would start looking in the right direction. I think that was why the Maxilla chose me to be the Seeker. But that’s the thing; I’m just the Seeker, the Page of Swords. The Maxilla also chose a Wielder, a Knight of Swords. My wyrd wasn’t to find the Maxilla. My wyrd was to find the Wielder, and I did that a while back, I just didn’t know it.”

“With respect to the Council, Master Draeden, this tale is becoming increasingly hard to believe!” one of the Council members who’d voted with Polter before blurted.

“Have you some way of proving what you say?” Draeden asked.

“I do sir,” I said. “I need to draw the sword to do it.” Draeden nodded.

The sword slid free of the scabbard with a metallic hiss, and I held it up for a second so everyone could see it. With everyone’s eyes on it, I took it in both hands, turned it with the point down, and decided to be a little dramatic. I thrust down hard, and drove the point into the floor. There was a sound like a bass string being plucked, and it felt like the whole world rippled in its wake. I turned to face the crowd.

“No one can pull this blade free except for the Wielder and me.”

“You don’t mind if we test that, do you?” Moon said.

I shook my head. “No, I don’t. That’s exactly what I need you to do.”

“Master Clay, you voted to have this boy executed. Why don’t you try it?” Moon said.

The wizard three places from the right end of the line of Masters flinched at that, but he pulled his hood back to reveal a handsome face and salt and pepper hair. He came down and pulled his sleeves back a little and put his hands to the leather of the handle, and almost immediately snatched them away. His palms were red and a wisp of steam rose from his right hand.

“I can barely touch it,” he admitted.

I gave Draeden and Moon a glance, and they nodded. I turned and faced the one person who’d been there for almost every vision of the sword, the one person who had the birthright to carry the sword I’d just busted my ass to find. The man I’d offered the blade to twice, and who had refused it two of the three times required.

“Steve Donovan,” I said simply. He stepped out of the crowd and looked at me like I’d just passed sentence on him. “Your turn.”

His steps were slow, reluctant, as he walked toward the sword sticking up out of the floor. When he got within arm’s reach, he put his right hand out and gripped the handle. With barely an effort, he pulled it free, then he turned and handed it to me.

“You take it. I don’t want it,” he said, refusing it the third time. “This . . . it’s too big. I barely understand what I am. I can’t do this too.”

“Steve,” I said gently as I reversed the blade and offered it to him again. “This is yours to carry. It was never mine. My duty was to find it, and deliver it to you. Nothing more. You’re one of the line of Samson, a Nazarite, sworn to serve a higher purpose. A Divine Warrior. You, my friend, are the Maxilla’s Wielder. You’re what you are because you were born for this.”

I handed the Maxilla to him, and the blade blazed for a second before it faded and went back to normal. His eyes had the faraway look I imagined mine had right after I first touched the sword.

“Thrice offered, thrice refused,” I said, once again saying things I wasn’t sure how I knew to say. “You, my friend, are worthy to carry it.”

“This is all very impressive, but it comes too late,” Polter said from behind me.

“It isn’t the first time Donovan’s held the sword,” Cross rumbled from my left. “Nine Sentinels, T-Bone, and I all saw him use it to kill Etienne and disrupt the ritual he was trying to perform. I say that the sword was returned before the Equinox, Master Draeden. I will attest that the Ordeal has been completed.”

“Me, too,” T-Bone said.

“I saw Donovan use the sword as well,” Carter said from his place on the staircase.

One at a time, eight other voices backed me up, even if they didn’t all sound happy about it. I turned to face the Council and waited for their decision. I wasn’t holding my breath. Slowly, almost every member of the Council nodded. Polter’s head remained locked in place.

“Your Ordeal is completed,” Draeden said. “By your actions, you’ve proven to this Council that you are not a warlock, Chance Fortunato. The accusations against Wizard Corwyn are thus void. Though you still have much to answer for, this is not the forum for that. Now, we come to you, Mr. Donovan. The first Wielder the Maxilla has chosen in more than a century. You’ll be given the best instruction in its use we have to offer, of course, and tutored in your role.”

“With all due respect to you, sir, you can all go piss up a rope,” Steve said. That brought a lot of gasps and exclamations. He forged ahead as if they hadn’t said a word. “You people are the best the Conclave has to offer? I’d rather eat broken glass than listen to you.”

“Those are some harsh words, young man,” Moon said. “You mind explaining yourself?”

“All this week, I’ve seen Chance bust his ass to do what you people are
supposed
to be doing!” Steve said, his finger pointing at the Council. “He’s been looking for a girl who was kidnapped by a vampire, trying to keep his own family safe from the guy who took her,
and
looking for this sword. While he’s trying to do all that, he’s under this Ordeal, trying to prove himself to you so you don’t kill him! And tonight? When it came down to saving his own ass or helping someone else, he chose to save his friend and twelve other kids: kids
you
should have been looking for, instead of sitting on your lazy butts judging my friend. If you ask me, he shouldn’t have had to choose between kissing your collective ass to save his own life and doing the right thing. He did the right thing even when you might have killed him for it, and frankly, I’ll follow his example over yours any day of the week.”

In the silence that followed his rant, I looked at him with a new respect.

“I believe,” Moon said after a few moments, “that we’ve been rebuked, Master Draeden.”

“Justly so,” Draeden said as he pulled his hood back. “And while you speak from ignorance, Mr. Donovan, you raise an excellent point. No man should have to choose between the Council’s displeasure and doing the right thing. And in spite of Wizard Polter’s dismissal of his argument, your friend Chance has raised a valid argument, in that we expected more of him as a child than we had a right to. Our offer remains open to you, Mr. Donovan. We hope that you will look upon us in a better light in days to come. Both of you. Our business here is done. We open this circle.”

“Let it remain unbroken,” the crowd responded, and the Council turned and filed back through the doors behind them.

A pair of long, slender arms wrapped around me from behind, and I felt Shade’s lips against my neck. I put my right hand on her wrist and turned my head to kiss her full on the lips before I turned to wrap my arms around her and give her a serious kiss.

“That’s for standing up for me at Inferno,” I said when our lips parted.

She kissed me hard back.“That’s for saving the world tonight,” she whispered.

Not to be outdone, I kissed her again.“That’s for . . . oh, Hell with it,” I said as I found her lips again.

Someone cleared their throat, and we came up for air again and favored them with a double dose of a harsh look. Carter stood out of easy reach, impervious to our best glares. Damn mages.

“Master Draeden respectfully asks you to join him,” he said.

I left the circle of Shade’s embrace after I gave her another kiss, and followed Carter. After a series of turns, I found myself being led down a hall to a familiar looking set of doors.

Draeden sat behind a table on the raised dais in the middle of the dining room I’d first met him in. There were two place settings at the table, and he was already sipping a pale wine from one of the glasses in front of him. My jacket and both holsters were laid on another table, along with my wand and the bag of candy Lucas had given me. He gestured toward the seat across from him, and this time, I hurt too much not to take it.

“You look a bit the worse for wear since our last visit,” he commented.

“It’s been a long week,” I agreed.

A waiter appeared from behind me and filled one of the glasses in front of me with water. I reached for it as soon as he pulled the pitcher away.

“And it appears that you’ve been a busy young man. I would have asked why you didn’t tell Polter that you had Thraxus’ leave to confront Etienne, but such concessions don’t come with a guest list. Making the Sentinels chase you into Inferno was a rather inspired way around that. We were able to make the case that they were following you in the course of their duties, and Thraxus was . . . mollified. I gather that was your intent?” he asked.