Sleeper Of The Wildwood Fugue (Book 7) (42 page)

“True and I choose to fight until it’s completely clear that I lost,” the heiress says, giving Sari a wet kiss on the cheek. Letting go of her rival, she goes to the food cart and grabs a piece of bread. “When Luke is here, I’ll prove my love and show him why I’m the better partner. Give him a taste of what life would be like if he marries me. With you not wanting to talk about that step, it’s my biggest advantage and I will gladly talk to him about the future from dawn to dusk. Feel free to shake your breasts in his face or do whatever it is you do to get his attention. I can’t stop you, but I can make you seem more like a phase that he has to go through to get to me. Oh and if you use any of your magic, I’ll do the same with a potion. Love spells cancel each other out after all.”

Sari squares her shoulders and marches over to Kira, extending her hand for a shake. “If that’s the battle you want then I’m in. Enjoy being in the lead while he’s with you because the moment we’re out of Bor’daruk, I’ll show him some real fun. If you want to wait for him to get bored with me then go ahead and enjoy growing old alone. You come at me and I’ll strike back just as hard, Grasdon.”

Kira accepts the handshake and cringes when Sari digs her nails into her palm. With a mad smile on her face, the heiress plunges their hands into the bubbling soup. She can feel the cold frost from the gypsy’s body on her palm, which makes the pain on the back of her hand even worse. When Kira lets go and pulls her hand out of the hot liquid, she looks at the red and blistered skin in wonder.

“Oops,” she says with an eerie chuckle.

*****

“Well, it took nine chaos elf casters and three adult Eblems, but we finally put Stephen to sleep,” Nyder reports as he closes and locks the door behind him. He throws his blood-soaked goggles onto a nearby table, ignoring the frown from his master. “I suggest putting Yola in charge of him in case he wakes up. I’ll use Vile’s old contacts to locate a powerful psionic or a creature that can finish the job. It won’t be easy.”

Baron Kernaghan nods and rises from the polished chair, his gloved hands having left burn marks in the wood. He whispers a spell at the wall to make it transparent, revealing the gore-covered room. Body parts of the casters and the serpentine demons are everywhere, several puddles of acidic blood eating through parts of the floor. In the middle of the carnage is Stephen who has been stripped of his clothes and chained to a metal table. His bonds throb with demonic energy and creak whenever he moves in his sleep. With a heavy sigh, the Baron turns away from his son and faces the exhausted gnome.

“Do what you must,” he says before undoing the spell on the wall. He speaks in a heavy, guttural voice and the door to Stephen’s room is encased in silver crystal. “Do you know what my daughter did to him?”

“The Eblems told me before they melted and exploded. Not all of them died in that order by the way,” Nyder answers, shuddering at the memory of the demons’ dying screeches. “Dariana hit him with something that rearranged his mind. His humanity and self-control are badly damaged, but the beatings he took from Trinity and yourself prevented him from losing them completely. Amazing what pain can accomplish, but his memories are still scrambled. They’re all over the place and he’s unable to sort them out. The best way to explain it is that he knows where he is, where he’s been, and what he’s done, but he doesn’t know the order. At one point he was screaming about how he hated you hiring Tyler as if it happened yesterday. Then he was ranting about a time the champions led an army against him, which sounds like two different events have been combined. If Stephen stays like this for very long, he’ll slip so far into madness that you may be forced to destroy him.”

“I hope that it does not come to that,” the Baron whispers as the castle shakes. Violet energy courses through the walls, a few strands reaching out for the two men. “I will send Yola to watch over my son. It appears I am needed to handle our other problem.”

The immortal nobleman transforms into a shadow and sinks into the floor, swiftly passing through the castle. He hits a barrier of magic, which forces him to search for a crack that lets him slip into the sealed room. Before the Baron can take his true form, lightning pins him to the wall and drags him along the stones. With a burst of raw power, the warlord destroys the attacking spells and steps out of the shadows. A barrier of crimson energy deflects a barrage of fireballs and acid blasts that explode around the barren room.

The Baron nods to Yola Biggs and kneels next to the mumbling form at their feet. He can smell the fresh blood that has pooled around Trinity, the precious liquid still pouring from her palms, forehead, and stomach. There is a violet shimmer to the red serum and the puddle occasionally throbs like a beating heart. He reaches out to caress her cheek and pauses when he feels the pure aura running through her body. It is a jolt of blissful energy that runs up his arm and makes him lick his lips.

“You may go and watch over Stephen. If he wakes up then put him back to sleep immediately,” the Baron orders Yola in a stern voice. The goddess is about to talk when he snaps his fingers and her mouth disappears. “I am not in the mood for your antics today. My daughter has attempted to kill my son who I might have to put down like a dog. For all his faults and in the face of the problems we have had, Stephen is still my precious boy. Take care of him and try to ease his suffering, Yola.”

“I’ll give him happy dreams,” the Chaos Goddess promises before transforming into a swarm of hummingbirds. She dodges the next wave of attack spells and zips out the crack in the barrier.

Trinity surprises her master by touching his hand, her fingers passing through a barrier that should have kept her at a distance. She tries to avoid getting her blood on his ivory shirt, but there is so much that it is impossible to avoid. The Baron is impressed that there are no tears on her face or any sign that she has been crying. The pain and fear in her eyes is tempered by the defiance that he has come to admire in his agent.

“The gems sunk into my body and now I can’t stop the blood,” the chaos elf says in a shaky voice. She holds out her hands to show the deep pits that appear to go further than her physical body should allow. “I didn’t think I had this much blood in me. Do you know what’s happening, master?”

“Your true power has appeared, my dear channeler,” the Baron replies, squeezing her fingers in his gloved hand. “Do you want me to train you?”

Shocked by the offer, Trinity looks into his face to find nothing but genuine concern. A small nod is all she can muster before she faints and falls into her dark master’s arms.

The adventure continues in

The Merchant of Nevra Coil