The Compass Key (Book 5) (24 page)

“Shut up,” hisses a male apprentice. He cringes and chokes down the scream when an invisible force pushes against his stomach.

Trinity rises into the air and hovers an inch away from the young man. “I suggest you be the one to tell me the truth. After all, you seem to be the most secretive.”

“I won’t betray my masters
.”

“Your masters are nursing their wounds,”
the chaos elf mentions. She caresses the young man’s cheek, leaving glittery trails on his skin. “I could do so many horrible things to you. Things that I know first-hand would push you over the edge of sanity. I doubt you have the strength to survive like I did.”

“You don’t scare me.”

“I haven’t even tried to scare you, apprentice,” she evilly whispers into his ear. Trinity kisses him on the lips and feels his body tense as a severe pain surges through his body. “How do you like my pain and anguish?”

The young man drops to the floor as
the more powerful caster gently settles on the floor next to him. She waves her hand and the other apprentices fall to the ground where they remain cowering. She strokes her groaning victim’s head while she waits for him to regain the ability to talk.

“It’s the lockdown spell. Every door in the
tower has a barrier that only the masters and Lady Nyx can undo,” he says in a weak voice, turning to face Trinity with tears streaming down his face. “How can you live with such pain?”

“Because I refuse to let it kill me,” Trinity replies as
hits all of the apprentices with a paralysis spell. “I don’t want to waste time bashing down doors.”

She
walks into the hallway and slams the door closed with a wave of her hand. She twists her hand and listens to the lock fuse with the door frame, confident that any of the apprentices who shrug off her spell will remain out of her way. The sight of the smoke trail drifting out of the narrow slit brings a smile to the chaos elf’s face. She turns into black smoke and rushes toward a gap in the ceiling. A green burst of magic throws her back to the ground, the shimmering barrier becoming visible for a brief moment. Trinity sits on the carpeted floor and feels her blood boil with rage.

“Is that the best these old casters have?” she asks while turning back into the black smoke.

The chaos elf spins and drives herself into the magical barrier, the green shield cracking under her attack. She drills through the barrier and into the stone, which she easily turns to powder. As she breaks into the next floor, Trinity builds up enough speed and force to tear through the next barrier and floor. Within seconds, she erupts into a large chamber that is crackling with magical energy. She dissipates when a bolt of blue energy nearly hits her, the energy striking the far wall and bursting into a cloud of sparks.

Trinity licks her lips as she materializes and sees the lone figure sitting in the middle of a collection of glowing symbols. She slowly approaches Nyx while avoiding the random spells that rush out of the central pool of aura that surrounds the half-elf. Carefully, Trinity moves to face Nyx and grins when she sees that her enemy is in an unbreakable trance. Throwing up a powerful barrier around her body, the chaos elf bravely walks through the thick aura. She sits in
front of Nyx and stares into the blank-eyed face of the woman who has given her so much grief since they first met.

“This seems unfair to me,” Trinity whispers with a gentle sigh. She flicks her hand and cuts Nyx on the forehead, which does not get a reaction. “I could kill you, but then I wouldn’t be able to use you to hunt for the
Compass Key. Although, I guess I could kill you and interrogate your spirit. The Lich taught me a few tricks and that feels easier.”

“I suggest you leave, Queen Trinity,” Delvin demands from the far side of the room.

Trinity walks around Nyx and leaps over the aura to land a few feet away from the warrior. “A knight in shining armor. This must be my lucky day. I get to tangle with both of the new champions on the same day.”

“It didn’t go so well for the Lich when he faced us
. Now I’m willing to let you go if you want.”

The chaos elf
pounces at Delvin, her nails growing long and razor-edged. The warrior leaps away and slashes at her hands, severing six of her fingernails. She stumbles back shrieking in pain and falling to her knees. The moment Delvin lowers his guard, Trinity’s claws grow back and fire at him. He blocks them with his shield, but the movement blinds him long enough for the caster to charge him. A burst of fire comes from his left and he slices it with his sword, splitting the spell and sending half of it at his enemy. He is surprised to see her dodge the spell instead of absorbing it.

“That wasn’t one of your spells?” Delvin asks.

“I was going to use acid,” Trinity answers, her body tense with anxiety. “It seems Nyx isn’t being careful with her magic.”

“Then we should leave,” Delvin calmly states. He looks around the room and notices that the aura is more volatile. “I promise that you will go back to your people if you surrender. We can’t hold someone like you here without risking a war. Take advantage of that and leave Rainbow Tower.”

“You know I can’t do that. Not when I have an opportunity to hurt her.”

Delvin sprints forward and slashes at Trinity, who ducks under his attack. She spins around and rises to kick the warrior in the chin. Before he hits the floor, she uses a wind spell to launch him into the wall. Delvin lands on his feet and charges back toward Trinity, ignoring the dull pain in his back. His longsword harmlessly passes through her as she fades away.

“You’re rather protective of your new friend, champion. Does somebody have a crush on the little half-elf? That’s adorable. It doesn’t say much for your taste in women, but it’s so cute and . . . quaint.”

Delvin slowly turns around to scan the room, his muscles ready to dodge an attack.
“You jumped to that conclusion rather quickly. Nyx has become a good friend.”

“Don’t lie to me,” Trinity hisses into his ear as she materializes behind
him. “I smell your interest in her. It’s like a thick cloud of sweetness that makes me want to scream.”

Lightning bursts from
the chaos elf’s hands as Delvin dives forward to avoid most of the spell. Smoke billows off his armor as he crashes to the ground and groans in pain. He tries to get to his feet when part of the ceiling falls toward him. Delvin manages to get to his hands and knees before the stone slams onto his back. With all of his strength, he fights to stand up, but only makes it up to his knees. He watches helplessly as Trinity approaches Nyx, the chaos elf’s arm transforming into a scythe.

“Don’t worry about your little half-elf,”
she assures him. The scythe slices through part of the aura pool, causing Nyx to scream in pain. “I’m going to separate her from this storm and bring her to meet someone special. She’ll be alive. A useless husk until I put her aura back into her, but she’ll be alive. It’s the only safe way to transport her.”

“Leave her alone!” Delvin angrily shouts. He rolls out from under the ceiling and shoves his hand into the severed section of aura. The raw energy immediately reattaches to the rest of the mass and Nyx stops screaming.

“Well, well, well, young man,” Trinity whispers, stepping away from Nyx. Her enhancer gems glow as a large claw rises from the ground and grabs Delvin. “You have some interesting abilities. I think I’m going to have to kill you before you cause us more trouble. My master will understand my reasons.”

Trinity raises her scythe arm to decapitate Delvin, who closes his eyes and waits for the killing blow. Her arm is about to come down when a heavy footfall makes her freeze.
She barely gets a barrier up in time to soften to blow from Timoran’s great axe. The barbarian’s attack sends her across the room and into the wall where she awkwardly sits in the dent. She groggily gets to her feet and prepares to charge the wheezing barbarian. Her vision is blurry and unfocused, so she never sees Delvin hurl his longsword at her. Luckily, the hilt strikes her in the forehead instead of the blade. Trinity’s eyes roll back and she collapses to the ground, her legs tucked underneath her body.

“What took you so long?” Delvin asks Timoran as he helps the large man to his feet.

“I started breaking down doors, but it used up too much of my strength,” the barbarian answers. They make their way to Trinity and fall to their knees next to her. “I had to climb up to the roof and come down the stairs. I have been poisoned, so I am very weak. It took a lot of willpower and rage to continue moving.” Timoran touches the bump on the chaos elf’s head and glances at Delvin. “Did you mean to knock her out?”

The warrior scratches his head and picks up his sword. “I’ve never thrown my sword before, so I simply wanted to hit her. It was an act of desperation that I will never repeat. I don’t know how people can do that with precision.”

“They practice and use smaller blades.”

“That makes sense.”

“What do we do now, my friend?”

“We restrain our prisoner and get some rest.”

Delvin puts Trinity over his shoulder and reaches down to help his friend stand. Slowly and carefully, the tired warrior leads Timoran to the stairs where the barbarian is able to use the wall for support. Delvin takes a final look at Nyx, who is still unaware of everything that happened around her.

11

Kira Grasdon stares forlornly at the ocean from the rear balcony of her ship, the Matriarch. The chilly air whips at her ebony hair and cuts through her sun-licked skin. She misses the desert heat and warmth of Bor’daruk and silently curses the chaos elves who took her ship captive. Wrapping her white robe around her body, she slips back into her large room and sighs. Every book has been read and every speck of the room has been cleaned. She considers waking Fizzle up from his nap on the large bed, but the drite was exhausted when he was put in the room. She considers herself lucky that he had the energy to tell her a few stories before falling asleep. Kira sheds her robe to put on a silk shift and fresh underwear, accepting that all she can do is go to bed and dream about her freedom.

The heiress
nearly screams when she hears a knock on the balcony door. Instead, she picks up a knife from her immaculate desk and whirls around to face the intruder. The weapon falls from her hand when she sees Luke standing on the other side of the door. She rushes to let him in and stops in the open doorway, her mouth still puckered to give him a kiss. He is soaked to the bone and his chest is covered with blood from a terrible wound. The half-elf looks a little pale in the lantern light as he stumbles forward. Kira catches him, ignoring the blood that stains her shift and skin.

“The ocean pushed me here and I climbed the anchor,”
he whispers in a weak voice.

“That’s the least important thing to tell me,”
she replies, leading Luke to the bed. She stops when she remembers he is bleeding. “Those guards can come knocking at any time. We have to strip you and tend to your wound first. Stay quiet.”

Kira strips
her fiancée down, letting her fingers run along his chest and trembling at the stickiness of the blood. She stares at the skeletal hand mark on his arm as she tears off his damaged shirt. The clothes are thrown under the desk and blocked from view by the chair. She puts his sabers in a nearby footlocker filled with expensive dresses that are now ruined by seawater seeping out of the sword sheathes. Not wanting to wake Fizzle, Kira hurries to get the meager medical supplies that she managed to hide from the chaos elves. Not finding any bandages, she grabs a sheet from the wardrobe and tears several strips off of it.

Luke wavers on his feet and leans against the desk, his eyes drooping with fatigue. He barely notices Kira cleaning his
injuries with a damp cloth until she pours a medicinal liquid into the wounds. The pain is severe enough to lock his body, his mouth clenched to prevent a cry of agony that would give him away. When the heiress pours the liquid over the cuts on his chest, he can no longer keep his mouth closed. The moment his mouth opens it is swiftly plugged by Kira pressing her mouth to his. Wrapping her arms around Luke’s neck, she holds the kiss until the muffled scream is nothing more than whimpers.

“Not the greatest kiss we’ve ever had,”
she teases, helping Luke to the bed where he sits down and holds one of the bedposts. “Fizzle told me a little bit about what you’ve been through since we last saw each other. He said Nyx could tell me more about you dying and returning to life with a griffin spirit. I’m sorry I didn’t try to contact you while we were apart, but my father wanted me to get involved in the family business as soon as I graduated. That’s really no excuse.”

“I’m sorry, Kira,”
the half-elf says, his voice still faint and choked. He cringes as she binds his wounds with the sheet strips. “I wasn’t faithful when we were apart.”

“
Neither was I, which is what we agreed on,” she bluntly states while struggling to tie off the bandages. They continue to loosen whenever she tries to tighten them. “Fizzle told me about this gypsy. She’s going to be steep competition for me.”

“You’re so casual about this
.”

Kira finally gets the bindings to hold and sits next to her fiancée, her sapphire eyes locked on his face.
“I know this is difficult for you because it’s not the way your people see the world. I’m very grateful that you are willing to go through with this. This isn’t even how it normally works for my people. The two of us don’t have the luxury of talking about our other partners until after the fact, which is one of the central parts of the tradition. There’s protocol involved that we’re unable to go through with unless you settle down or I join you on your adventures. Neither of us are able to do that. All that being said, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried that you’ll toss me aside without giving me a chance to fight for you.”

The half-elf gently strokes her cheek and takes a shuddering breath. “I met Caspar in Haven. He’s engaged to my ex-fiancée, which is
a strange coincidence. He told me what was going on with you.”

“I slept with him to earn my dad’s blessing
. Sort of,” she replies, rubbing her arms and pulling away. “My father said I wasn’t performing our traditions to the letter. He told me to pick someone, court them, sleep with them, and prove I’m serious about you. Otherwise, he’d publicly denounce our relationship, which is a big embarrassment in Bor’daruk. The closest thing I can compare it to from your culture is being disowned. I love you, Luke Callindor, and I didn’t want you to feel guilty about that happening to me.”

Luke scratches his head as he tries to understand
the explanation. “I think I get it. Though, I’m confused on why you picked someone like Caspar.”

“He’s a pompous jerk who is easily manipulated and my dad doesn’t like him,” the heiress states with a cruel smile. A cough helps her wipe the expression from her face
, replacing it with a small smirk. “I’m sorry about how that makes me sound. I needed someone who was, for lack of a better term, a whore in order to give a warning to my father that he should stay out of my love life. Again, it’s complicated and confusing for an outsider, but trust me when I say there was nothing between me and Caspar beyond mild physical pleasure. Very mild. I feel very sorry for Ms. Goldheart all of a sudden.”

“Then,
he’s the only one?”

“
I’ve had a few meals with friendly suitors, but Caspar is the only one I bedded.”

“Now I feel like a bastard.”

Kira kisses him on the cheeks and neck while running her hands through his hair. She carefully straddles him, but puts all her weight on her knees to avoid putting pressure on his injuries. A salty taste hits her lips and she breaks away when she realizes a few tears have slipped from Luke’s eyes.

“Great hero of the Callindor line,” she playfully teases
, running her finger along the scar on his torso. “The reason I haven’t been sleeping around, as your people put it, is because I haven’t found anyone worthwhile. This tradition isn’t about sex, but about following our emotions to see what comes of them. You’re a hard act to follow and I’m back among noblemen who never appealed to me in the first place. It’s simply how things happened and we shouldn’t let it cause trouble.”

“
Aren’t you worried about Sari?”

The heiress slips off his lap and sits cross-legged next to him.
“I had you first and I don’t plan on losing without a fight. I know how gypsies can be, but they’re a fling for someone outside of their clan. I have nothing to worry about.”

“Sari might be different,” Luke mentions. He can see
a glimmer of fear in Kira’s eyes and reaches out to take her hand. “She doesn’t have a clan, so Nyx and I have become her family. There’s something between me and Sari. It isn’t like what you and I have, but it’s there. I’m confused and thrilled by it. That’s why I’m apologizing, Kira.”

She
is about to speak when someone knocks on the door. The sound of jingling chainmail and sword being loosened in its sheathe makes her freeze. The heiress snaps out of her fear when she sees the half-elf get to his feet and grab the knife from the floor.

“Don’t be an idiot, Luke. You can’t beat a ship of chaos elves, especially when you’re injured,” she hisses. She snatches the knife out of
his hand and turns to the door. “Give me a moment! I’m not decent!”

“Open the door now!” snaps an angry male voice.

“Get under the bed and stay there,” Kira tells Luke, pushing him toward the hiding place. She waits for him to get out of view before she walks over to the door. “Is there a problem?”

“We want to make sure the drite is still there,” the guard says, pounding on the door again.

Kira opens the door a crack, but the armored warrior shoves it open, knocking her to the side where she stands with her hands behind her back. The tall chaos elf stares at the sleeping drite, focusing on disbelieving illusions. Once he is satisfied that Fizzle is really there, the guard turns around to face Kira. His eyes widen when he sees all of the blood on her shift.

“What have you been up to
, Lady Grasdon?”

“I don’t know what you mean
.”

“You’re covered in blood!
Are you injured?”

Kira cringes and tears form in her eyes as she stares at the guard. “I might have had a small accident with my steak knife.”

The knife falls to the ground behind her, its blade glistening with blood. The guard cautiously steps around Kira to find that she is bleeding from wounds on her arms. Both shallow cuts are too high to cause her to bleed to death, but they are bad enough that her back is getting drenched. The guard sheathes his sword and moves to look the young woman in the eye.

“You tried to kill yourself,” he claims in shock.

“No I didn’t. It was an accident,” Kira contends, holding out her arms for him to see. “I was bored and . . . tried to juggle the knife like some classmates did in my academy days. I slipped when you knocked on the door and startled me.”

“I’ll bring you a healing potion,” the guard calmly says as he backs to the door.

“Can you make it two?” the heiress asks, stumbling to the side as she fights to remain standing. “The potions on this ship are rather weak and I think I may have cut deeper than I thought. It really won’t stop bleeding.”

The guard nods and hurries to get the potions while Kira wanders over to the bed. She notices Luke starting to crawl out and gently steps on his hand. She leans down to gesture for him to get back under the bed. He stares at her arms with concern and reaches out to touch her hand. The door to the room suddenly opens, causing Luke to freeze with his hand near Kira’s leg. She slumps to the ground and uses her slender body to hide Luke from view. Weakly, she motions for the guard to leave the potions on the floor.

“I should-” he begins.

“Please let me retain some dignity,” Kira interrupts, moving into a sitting position. She shifts when she feels Luke’s fingers wiggling under her butt. “It’s embarrassing to let a stranger watch my skin stitch itself back together. In fact,
magical healing is rather intimate situation in my culture, so I would appreciate it if you leave them within reach and depart.”

The chaos elf waits for another second, but the sight of Kira’s bleeding arms makes him give into her demands. He puts the two bulb-shaped bottles by her feet then backs out of the room. The guard’s footsteps can be h
eard going down the hallway, disappearing when he goes up a nearby flight of stairs.

“Here,” Kira whispers, rolling a potion under the bed. She grabs the other potion and gulps it down, her arms healing
swiftly.

“I’m surprised Fizzle can sleep through all of this,” Luke says as he crawls out from under the bed. He takes the bindings off his chest to reveal the wounds are gone. “What is he doing here anyway?”

“Shut up,” Kira growls before she grabs Luke and kisses him with all of her might. She feels him resist for a moment, but he quickly holds her close and pins her against the wall. With an angry sigh, she breaks the kiss and holds his face by the chin. “That’s the type of kiss I wanted. Now, has your gypsy ever gone that far to save you?”

“We’ve risked our lives for each other,”
he replies. He tries to lean forward to kiss Kira again, but she keeps him away with a pinch of his skin. “Although, nothing like what you did.”

“Let me make something clear
, lover. I went after you when you weren’t interested and I proved I was the one for you. Before that, I never pursued anyone. So, I may be following my traditions to some extent, but that doesn’t mean I’ll give you up without a fight. Sari isn’t going to take you away from me unless I let her and that’s not going to happen.”

“She says that she doesn’t want to take me from you
.”

“I don’t believe her because I know how special you are,” Kira declares, letting go of Luke’s chin. “By the gods, I wish Fizzle wasn’t here, so I could
really prove that your gypsy has nothing on me.”

“We could put him on the balcony,”
the half-elf suggests with a grin. She pokes him in the ribs and slips out of his grasp, making him chuckle. “You’re right. This isn’t time with the invasion and hostages. Do you have your chain weapon in here, Kira? I need you to use your warrior training.”

“It’s hidden in the wardrobe.
I had enough time to stash it before we were overtaken,” she answers while stripping off her blood-covered clothes. Grimacing at the mess on her body, she wets a cloth in a basin to clean the blood off. “You realize the two of us can’t take the ship. I’m still not much of a warrior. I can hold my own, but this is beyond me. There’s also the problem of you being in your underwear. I don’t mind, but that’s not the best battle outfit.”