Stolen Compass (The Painter Mage Book 4) (16 page)

Brand’s mouth twitched. “There are secrets to painting I have yet to learn, and few ways to learn on the other side. The Elder left a trail, but not enough.”

A part of me wished
I
had been the one to find that trail. “Why now?” I asked. “Why take the compass now?”

“My father isn’t the only one who’s collected soulstones. Now that I have the shardstone, I can finally use them.”

I laughed at him. Brand froze, his sword wavering in the air. “Even with the shardstone, you really think you’ve got enough juice to go after both the Trelking and the Druist Mage? Man, you are ballsy.”

There was a snarl from one of the shifters that started our way. A low thundering sound came with it.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” Brand said. “It is time that I return.”

Devan turned away and set a pair of figurines on the ground. She whispered to them, and they began shaking and growing. Taylor appeared from the trees and moved toward Devan, holding her paintbrush out from her like a wand.

A shadow appeared from around the edge of the tree, and I thought it might be one of the hunters, but something about it was different, as if it had more form to it than the invisible nightmare creatures we had faced before. It hovered, a cold darkness to it that seemed focused on Brand.

Brand flicked his eyes over to the figurines. “Oliver, it appears you’ll have to choose whether to stop me or help your love. I wonder what you’ll do?”

I raised the cylinder at him. “Both.”

With a surge of power through it, I activated the patterns. White light shot from the cylinder. Brand simply caught the light with his sword as he started to move. It bounced off and shot toward the barrier. Had it not been in place, it would have struck Devan.

He glanced at me. “Interesting. I might need to have that.”

Faster than I could react, he shot toward me and simply grabbed the cylinder out of my hand. I couldn’t do anything to stop him. He twisted it, considering the patterns briefly, and then pointed it at me.

I dove, moving toward Devan.

Brand turned slowly. Knowing what I did of Devan’s capability with patterns, I had no doubt that he’d figure out how to use the cylinder.

“Devan!” I shouted.

Brand fired the cylinder. The light looked even brighter coming at me from this direction, searingly bright, and seemed to twist in a pattern as it spiraled toward me.

I rolled, dropping the focus I poured through the barrier as I did. The light shot past me. I hoped that it struck what I intended—the hunter still hovering behind me—and not Devan.

Lunging toward Brand with another charm in hand, I squeezed, firing the shot of ink and infusing it with power at the same time. Brand used the sword and swiped away the power as if it were nothing.

Damn.

He pointed the cylinder at me. I was sprawled out in front of him. I could roll, but there wasn’t much else I could do to get away from him.

“Don’t,” I begged.

He tipped his head. Light started to form in the cylinder. I ducked my head, not wanting to watch as it struck me. There was a strange sucking sound, and I wondered if I was shrinking.

Nothing came.

I twisted my head and looked up. Devan’s fox creature stood on top of Brand, pinning him to the ground. His mouth clenched tightly to the arm holding the sword, keeping him from swinging it.

Scrambling forward, I grabbed the cylinder from Brand’s other hand. The fox bit down, and Brand dropped the sword, unable to do anything else. I quickly triggered the cylinder, not giving Brand a chance to move.

Light flashed from it, striking Brand in the arm. He immediately started to shrink, slowly contracting into a miniature, much like Nik had. The fox started away.

I grabbed the sword, scooped up baby Brand, and dropped him into my pocket as I spun to see what would happen with the shadow from the tree. Devan stood over a body. Her twin trolls stood on either side of her, looking like bouncers providing protection. The shadow I had seen before slithered away from the tree, moving toward Devan. Clearly my earlier maneuver had been unsuccessful. There was no doubting that it was a hunter, only one like I’d never seen before.

Without waiting, I pointed the cylinder. I was tired from the energy I’d used tonight, but hoped I still had enough to push through the cylinder one more time. Aiming at the shadow, I pressed all the power I could muster. White light shot from the cylinder, catching the shadow. Like with Brand, it started to shrivel and shrink, twisting into something that was all condensed angles.

“Devan?” I asked.

“Ollie—”

I staggered toward her. The troll bouncers let me pass. Devan caught me and gave me a tight hug. “What happened? Who is…” I trailed off as I saw who it was. Taylor lay on the ground, not moving. “What happened?” I asked again.

Devan motioned toward a new figurine on the ground. It vaguely resembled the miniature Agony charm I had. “The hunter.” Well, at least I had hit my target this time. “How did it cross?” I asked, but even as I did, I was starting to have an idea; only what came to mind made me incredibly uncomfortable.

I crouched next to Taylor and rested my hand on her neck. There was no pulse, nothing that told me she was alive. The hunter had gotten to her.

It was strange that she looked otherwise fine. There were no injuries, nothing that I could see that would explain her death. Only she no longer breathed. Her heart had stopped. I knew hunters fed off painters’ magic, and it was as if sucking the magic from her had killed her.

There was a flurry of motion.

I spun, raising the sword in front of me, but I didn’t see anyone. Then I looked down.

There was little Nik. He stood next to Taylor, his grayish hand grabbing her shirt. “The Druist did this?” he said.

Devan’s bouncers turned toward Nik, readied to attack. I held up a hand, restraining her.

“I don’t know,” I lied.

Nik turned and looked up at me. His eyes drifted to the sword and widened slightly. He recognized it. “Sorry about the car. I had to slow you down if I wanted to reach the shardstone first.” He looked to Agony, staring at it like he was trying to solve a puzzle.

“That was you?” Shit, and I’d thought little Nik wouldn’t have much power remaining. How wrong was I? He had enough to stop a car moving along at a pretty good clip.

He forced a smile. “Now you’ve taken away any chance of me crossing.” He glanced back at Taylor. “And the Druist has taken away the only person I’ve managed to care about,” he said softly. He seemed to take a deep breath, as deep as his little body would allow. “I will teach you what you need to stop him.”

I pointed the cylinder at him.

“Hey, I said I’d teach!”

“That’s fine,” I said. “But after what happened, I’m going to keep you in storage for a little while until we sort things out.”

I fired.

With him already small, I wasn’t sure what would happen, but he only shrank back to his previous size, freezing into place. I plucked him from the ground and dropped him into my pocket next to Brand. Let the two painters duel it out in there.

I reached for the hunter figurine as Jakes appeared out of the darkness. He was bloodied, a gash in his arm bleeding. He managed to wear pants, but no shirt. I didn’t have to look over to know that Devan was checking him out.

“Don’t,” he said.

I paused and pulled my hand away from the figurine. “What?”

He shook his head. “I’m not certain how safe it would be for you even in that form.”

Jakes grabbed the mini hunter and then crushed it between his hands with a grunt. Dust burst from his palms, catching the wind and disappearing.

“What now?” Devan asked.

I looked over at the compass, and at Agony. Somehow we would put them back where they belonged, but first, there was something else I needed to do.

“Now we summon your father,” I said.

W
e stood
in woods much like those where we’d lost Taylor. I waited, staring at the trees, my painted pattern circled around to provide as much protection as I could. Which at this point, wasn’t much. Devan stood outside the circle of protection, three shifters standing near her. I wasn’t sure if the Trelking would try to take her, and right now I didn’t want to take the risk. Not if what I suspected was right.

Jakes stood next to me, dressed in his T-shirt now stained with blood from the injury to his arm. He refused to stay outside the circle. I felt a certain reassurance having him with me, even if he probably couldn’t do much to help.

“Are you certain this is wise?” he asked.

“Not really,” I said.

Typically, I’d have some smart-ass remark about never really being all that wise, but I wasn’t in the mood tonight. We’d lost Taylor. Brand had nearly stolen the compass and Agony—that bothered me more than it should—and a hunter had wandered free in Conlin. I was lucky to be alive.

We didn’t have to wait long. Power surged as the doorway started to open.

It came like a veil parting, peeling back to reveal darkness on the other side of the Threshold. The doorway opened and the Trelking stepped through.

His hard eyes glanced past me to Devan and the shifters around her and then to me and Jakes. “This seems a little bit much, don’t you think?”

I shook my head. “Not after what you tried to pull.”

He tipped his head. “And just what do you think I ‘tried to pull’?”

I pulled the sword from behind my back and held it out toward him. The Trelking reached for it, but I shook my head and withdrew it from him. Now that I’d seen what the sword could do, I wasn’t about to let the Trelking have it.

“Don’t think so.”

He smiled at me, giving me the expression I’d seen him give before sentencing someone to die. “Oliver. You were the one to summon me. I presume that means you have found the shardstone box that I require?”

I shook my head. “No box. Not for you.” He wasn’t going to have that kind of power, not if I could stop him.

“That…is unfortunate. Then I will require De’avan to return so that she can fulfill the bargain that was struck.”

“Nope.”

“Are you certain that is the path you wish to take?” the Trelking asked.

I wasn’t certain of anything anymore, only that he wasn’t taking Devan back across the Threshold, especially now that I knew what he was willing to do. And by doing this, I would never find out what the Trelking knew about my father, if anything. That was the price I would have to pay. “You know, you could have left us alone. You could have given me the chance to learn what we needed to face the Druist Mage. That might have been enough. But you couldn’t, could you, not when he was involved?”

“The Druist Mage presents a unique challenge to the Protariat,” the Trelking started.

“Not the Protariat. And not the Druist. This was personal for you. You didn’t want
Brand
gaining any more influence, did you? You knew that he had learned to use painter power to augment his own, and that threatened you. I’m not sure why, but it must have, otherwise you would have left him alone. Instead, you sent the hunter after him. And only him, otherwise I would have been attacked sooner.”

“You did this?” Jakes asked.

I glanced over and saw a mixture of emotions flicker across his normally stoic face. He would struggle with what the Trelking had done. Allowing a crossing was one thing, allowing a
hunter
to cross was quite another.

From the lack of emotion on the Trelking’s face, I knew that I was right.

The Trelking ignored Jakes completely, as if he didn’t matter. “Where is he?”

I sniffed. “You really think that you get to question me now? You let your war creep across the Threshold. And then you tried to draw me into it, using me to find this shardstone box that I’m not completely certain you were meant to have. That’s why my father hid it here, behind the protection of the compass. And you sent a hunter to kill your own son.”

The Trelking smiled. “You almost sound like your father, Oliver, only he had the weight of the Protariat behind him. You? You have chosen your path. In time, you will fulfill the responsibility I set before you.”

“I don’t think so. I’m done with your bidding. So is Devan. Conlin is my home, and it’s because of you that it was attacked. Again. You let your shit cross over and put others in danger. Innocents who have
no idea
about what happens on the other side of the Threshold.” I turned to Jakes. “Are you still willing for me to serve?”

I looked past him and Devan nodded. If we were going to make a stand against her father and the Druist Mage, it might as well be somewhere difficult for them to reach, a place where others able to help surrounded us. A place where the compass might shield us from her father and the Druist Mage.

“The offer stands,” Jakes said.

I turned back to the Trelking. He studied me with an unreadable expression. That wasn’t anything new, but what
was
new from him was the tension at the corners of his eyes. Had he not foreseen this?

“So now, Conlin will have the protection of a painter. I might not have the same skill as my father—yet—but I have something he did not.”

“And what is that, Oliver?” the Trelking asked.

“Why, I’ve got the heir to the Trelking to help.”

The Trelking flicked his gaze past me and fixed on Devan. “What of my son?”

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the little Brand figurine and tossed it over to the Trelking. “You can have him. Careful though. He’s fragile.”

The Trelking took the figurine and slipped him into the pocket of his cloak. “You really think you can provide the balance the Protariat requires?”

I shrugged. “Don’t know. I’m sure as hell going to try.”

He hesitated a moment, and then he smiled. The bastard actually smiled. “Good.”

With that, he turned and stepped across the Threshold through the still-open doorway. When through, he released it, and the veil shifted closed, leaving us standing in silence for a moment.

I released the barrier that I’d been holding. Devan ran across, and I pulled her into a tight embrace. Jakes glanced at us and then made his way to the other shifters, giving us privacy. “What if I just made a horrible mistake?” I whispered to Devan.

“Why would you think that?”

I looked over at Jakes to see him watching me. His normally hard eyes were softened with something almost like relief. “I mean, us protecting Conlin? We don’t know anything about what my father used to do to keep it safe. Hell, we don’t even know
why
he had to keep it safe. What if—”

Devan shut me up by giving me a soft kiss on the lips. “You’re an idiot, Ollie, you know that?” When I frowned at her, she explained. “You were always meant to make this decision.”

“Yeah,” I said, looking toward where her father had disappeared. The Trelking had seemed
pleased
that I’d agreed to serve. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

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