The Wizard's War (28 page)

Mordon left a few minutes later to go to Dylan’s
place. We all knew Mordon would be back whenever he felt like it and not a
moment sooner, so there was no point in asking when he would return.

“Would having another child make you happy?” I asked.
The worst part was that I wanted her to be happy. I could never make her proud
of me, and it was only her dragon instincts that prevented her from terminating
her pregnancy, but I still wanted her to be happy.

“Yes,” she said without hesitation. “As long as it is
with Mordon.”

I considered for a few minutes, and then sighed. “I
need a ruby.”

“You know you are not allowed to have gems.”

“If you get me a ruby, I can make sure you have
another child.”

Mordon was a respectable man who would never hurt her
unless she attacked Dylan. I still didn’t understand the bond between Mordon
and Dylan any more than I did the one between Ron and Hail. Nothing could come
between the two pairs, not death, time, or even the love of a woman.

Dylan

“For the hundredth time, he’s perfectly fine. He just
needs sleep.” Mordon’s tone was frustrated.

“He’s been sleeping for three days! He’s in a coma!”
Abby argued.

Three days and I only had one vision? That’s
great.
Of course, it was very unusual for me to have a vision in which I
was someone else.

“He’s awake now. Dylan, open your eyes.”

I did and found myself in the bed I used at Ronez’s
house. “I see you’re getting along with Abigail as well as I did.” Mordon,
Abby, and Edward were standing around the bed like it was my funeral. I took
particular notice of the fact that Abby and Mordon were merely inches apart.

“Actually, I am getting along just fine with your
sister.”

“My what?”

Edward scowled at Mordon for a second and then gave
me a fake smile. “Did I forget to mention that Ronez was Abigail’s father?”

“Yes, you did.” Their words and even my own seemed
odd. I felt like the world around me was becoming clearer slowly, like I was
still trying to wake up. I pushed the covers off and got out of bed. Mordon
frowned, obviously wanting to help me but knowing I didn’t want help. “Are the
boys okay?” I asked.

I knew something; I just had to let it come to me.
Something had changed while I was asleep.

“They’re together. Xul popped in to say they were at
home. We have all of the god weapons to use in the war, as well as a strong
alliance of people on every world waiting for the signal. Avoli has also
offered his world in order to minimalize casualties.”

“Edward, please take my sister home.”

“I’m not getting sidelined!” she yelled. “If you
really are Ronez’s son, then that makes you my little brother.”

“Don’t you have to save Maria?” I asked.

“I already have and took her home to be cared for by
my mother. She was tortured and was barely alive.”

I’m getting really tired of demons.
Drawing on
the nominal energy of the room, I did what was essentially the reverse of
reading someone’s mind to push my thoughts into Edward’s head.
“Abigail is
half human and you said she knew nothing about the gods. You know her better
than me, so whether she helps us or goes home is up to you.”
Even while I
was giving my old mentor the choice, my instincts were screaming at me to leave
her here.

“She is a powerful witch, as I said before, but I
think it is best that she goes home. Mordon and Abby have been flirting since
they met. After the loss of Sydney, I think Mordon would be distracted.”
He
turned to the woman. “Abby, you need to go home.”

 “I can help you,” she said.

“She has the right to be in this,”
Mordon
said.
“If the demons win, many people will die and the survivors will likely
be enslaved. She has a right to choose. There are people of every world,
including Earth, who are preparing to fight.”

I felt very deeply that her life would end in the
battle, which was odd because I always tried to give people the benefit of the
doubt.
“And you’re okay with her getting herself killed?”

“Arazel died because I wasn’t protecting her.
Sydney died trying to protect me. We are going to lose people we care about,
and I really wish I could have saved her, but if we go into this expecting to
lose, we will.”

“Abby, we are about to go to war with demons,” I
explained. “This war will take place on another world, where we will fight side
by side with other beings of other worlds. In fact, there are demons on our
side. There are also dragons, fae, and shifters in this. Is that something you
would like to be a part of?”

She frowned and glanced between Mordon and me. “My
mother would kill me. I… I really can’t.”

“We understand,” Edward said quickly, then politely
encouraged her out the door before she could change her mind. He returned a few
moments later. “Have you figured out why you and Mordon were separated?”

“Yeah.” I flashed the three of us home to Duran and
sent out a call to Divina and my demon at the same time.
Xul doesn’t belong
to me anymore, so he doesn’t have to answer my call.
Unfortunately, I knew
he would be vital to our success.

As soon as the light cleared and left us in front of
my cabin, the door opened. Ron, Hail, Sen, Sari, and the griffins came out onto
the porch. Divina and Xul appeared a moment later.

“What’s going on, Dad?” Hail asked, taking Ron’s hand
and tugging him closer as if we were about to be attacked.

Ron’s hair was dark purple and his eyes were deep
azure. His shirt was button up, satin, and matched his hair and eyes both. It
would look one color or the other depending on the lighting. His blue jeans
actually looked plain in comparison. I knew he looked the way he did and said
the things he did to garner attention. When he learned to see himself for who
he was, he would still be eccentric, but he would be happy.

“Someone is messing with us,” I said.

“Zero?” Ron asked.

“I was unconscious for the last three days and I only
had one vision…” I paused.
“Which you and I need to talk about,”
I told
my brother. “…but I had a lot of time to think.”

“Uh oh.”

“Shut up, Mordon,” I said.

“Did you remember Zero?” Hail asked.

Samhail was another matter entirely. My older son was
true to his heart to a fault. Hail would be a lot happier if he was more
selfish, but until he had someone in his life to come between him and his
brother, he would never see himself as anything more than Ron’s protector.
Whereas Ron wanted to be loved, Hail wanted to be appreciated. Ron knew his
brother very well, but he didn’t understand that he never expressed
selflessness. He never expressed his respect for his brother, and that would
have to change.

It had made it considerably more difficult to figure
Zero out when I couldn’t remember him possessing me, but that turned out to be
a clue. “Actually, I don’t. However, I have figured out who he is.”

“Damn!” Ron swore. “I wanted to be the one to figure
it out! Was he keeping us apart?”

“No, actually, it’s a lot more complicated than that.
The gods are---”

I was cut off by a small explosion a few feet in
front of me. Mordon pushed me back, his claws and teeth shifted, before I even
realized there was danger. When the smoke faded, Janus was struggling to his
feet.

The man was torn up and bloodied, but since he was
alive, he couldn’t complain much. “Dylan…” he panted. “The war has begun.”

“I know. Thank you for healing Samhail and for
getting those hunters off our backs,” I said.

“It was Mordon who healed me,” Hail said. “At least
he healed the urgent stuff. Vretial healed my blindness and powers.”

“I didn’t heal you. I told you it wasn’t me,” Mordon
argued. “How did you know about that? I didn’t get a chance to tell you that
Hail thought I---”

“You told me while I slept.”

“No I didn’t. I pretty much forgot about it.”

“Daddy, where was the battle axe?” Ron asked.

“On Mulo.”

“Where did I get the wand?”

“The wand was actually the mage staff, which you got
from Ronez and gave to the mage king.”

“Oh, shit,” Divina said. “You’re more powerful than
ever; maybe even more powerful than the Iadnah now.”

“No, that’s what I’m trying to tell you! Never mind,
we’ll have to talk about that later. Someone has been keeping us apart and
wasting our time. Janus has been going around and trying to help us in
disguise. He went to Divina looking like Ronez and the boys looking like
Mordon.”

“Now we’re out of time,” the void guardian said.

“Who are you?” I asked him. “I know something, but I
haven’t figured out what yet.”

He grinned. “If you haven’t figured it out by the end
of the war, I will tell you.” The burns on his face and cuts all over his body
were fading as he spoke. His dark brown hair slowly faded in color, not to
gray, just in intensity. His dark brown eyes looked a little less clear as
well. Although the wounds were healing, it was taking a toll on him that might
not have been worth it.

“You’re dying.”

His smile was sad. “Yes, but I have enough life left
to help you win this.” As he said this, he reached out as if grasping an
invisible weapon. A sword appeared in his hand.

“Shouldn’t you be helping by guarding the void?”
Edward asked.

“The two demons Dylan put in charge can do more than
I can to guard it. Besides, I have been waiting for as long as time to be on
the other side.”

“Is everyone ready?” Of course, there was no time, so
it didn’t really matter if they weren’t.

I knew… somehow… that demons were beginning to flood
the universe.

Ron pulled the dagger from a small holster on his
side. “We have the dagger and battle axe, Regivus has the bow, you have the
wand, and Vretial has the sword,” he said.

“We need to get the mage staff,” Mordon said.

Along with many other things I had no explanation
for, I knew about Rojan’s deal with Atos. Mordon was my brother and could never
betray me for anything. Rojan, on the other hand, was a dragon and would do
what dragons did, which was to protect their family. Arazel was his family.

I also knew about Mordon’s deal with Vretial, which I
could appreciate. He did what he could to help my son and I was glad he did.
The problem was that if I gave Mordon the weapon, he would be torn.

Another factor I had to account for was Ron and
Hail’s visions of Mordon killing me. Divina was correct; I knew too much now.
The fact was, losing my life was the least of my concerns in this case. The
boys were not going to tell me their secret and put the decision in my hands,
but I would make the decision anyway.

I could see what would happen if I gave my brother
the weapon, and I could see what would happen if I gave it to Vretial myself.
There was no path I could see that would bring happiness to my family, but I
knew which one could possibly work out okay in the end.

“I’m sorry,”
I said to Mordon.

“For what?”

“The next few months are going to be very
difficult for you. I’m going to leave the mage staff in the magic room.”

He hesitated.
“If that’s what you think is best.”
He hated himself for not telling me about Rojan’s plan, but I knew he would
have told me before I gave him the staff. That was okay; he would hate me
before this was over.

I closed my eyes and focused on the gods. It was my
intention to inform them of our situation, but they apparently already knew
what was going on, because when I opened my eyes, we were on a new world. This
was not a world I wanted my children living on.

The sky was more green than blue, which made me
cautious in breathing. There was no plant life or water in sight, so it must
have been by Avoli’s magic that there was oxygen to breathe. It wasn’t exactly
a desert either; the ground beneath us was hard and cracked, like the bed of a
dried up river. We were on a cliff overlooking a vast span of nothingness.
There was nothing alive as far as I could see.

“Mordon, go check on Nila,” I said. I could feel his
frown, but he would do as I asked. I flashed him to Dios knowing full well Atos
was going to be one of our greatest challenges.

Then demons began appearing on the ground in front of
us, which put us at a much higher elevation since we were on the cliff. The
gods all appeared behind us, even Vretial.

Avoli hid from the older god behind Regivus. “What
are you doing here?” he demanded.

“Don’t worry, I’m not here to stay. I just wanted to
drop this off,” the dark god said, holding out the sword he used to temporarily
hold off Zero. He leaned in close enough to whisper as he handed me the sword.
“This is your last chance,” he said quietly. “Give me the staff.”

I grinned. “You’re starting to sound like a broken
record, Vretial. I’m not a clueless child anymore. I know what I’m doing.”

“They’re going to hate you.”

“At least they will be alive to do so.”

“Goodbye.” He vanished.

I should have been shaking or at least
second-guessing myself. Instead, I was calm. As demons appeared as far as I
could see, Guardians and then people from every world arrived to defend their
universe. Life depended on our success.

Nila

I sighed with frustration as three young— very young—
women stood before me… shaking.

The world was a better place for sure now that we had
sunlight and plenty of resources. A new High Kingdom was built, for the people
still insisted on segregating themselves. After many years, I gave up on the
idea that my people could be united. Instead, they rebuilt their cities and
appointed new city kings. I was still High King.

Since the lower cities were reclaimed by the earth
dwellers, like the trolls and goblins, I was finally able to move above ground.
Kseve was the only guard I retained with special allowances from Zer. My god
gave the goblin the power to live in the sunlight for as long as he served me
and with the promise that he would never have children. Immunity to sunlight
was not something that any goblin should have, but I had refused to relocate
without my most trusted friend.

It took time for my guard to adapt, especially since
the architects of this new world insisted on building more windows than walls.
I was not a fan of sunburn.

Kseve stood to the left of my pompous throne with his
usual scowl. I knew he was laughing on the inside, however. Nano stood to the
right of me, barely containing his uncalled for amusement. Sunlight streamed
through the skylight, illuminating the carefully placed girls. The council,
made up of twelve older, boring men who only ever wanted to talk about money,
sat in their seats that lined the official throne room.

Desaco, king of one of the smallest cities, came
forward. He appeared too young to be the father of the three women that were
presented to me, but who was I to talk?

“High King, there is no one else worthy of any of my
daughters,” the man said. Three of the councilmen snickered.

Nano put his hand on my shoulder, as if offering me
support. In reality, I knew he was trying to tell me to hold my tongue. There
was nothing I could say to the visiting king that would have been mature and
reasonable.

“You can choose any of my daughters to take as your
wife. If you choose, I would be honored for you to have all three.” Eskreda,
one of my councilmen laughed until her husband put his hand over her mouth.

With as much dignity as I could muster, I studied the
women. They were all light blond with light blue eyes. Each of them was
gorgeous, had lovely, unblemished complexions, and proportional, symmetrical
features. They all wore fancy, colorful dresses that carefully displayed their
womanly assets. The oldest wore a light blue dress, the next wore a bright
green dress, and the next, who I couldn’t imagine had even reached puberty, was
wearing a pink dress.

Desaco may have ruled the smallest of lands, but he
was also one of the richest of any man on Dios due to the natural resources of
his lands. However, his money was not the reason I was forced to remain in my
seat and be subjected to this horror. Three other kingdoms were starting to
band together and develop weapons. Of course, they insisted it was for
self-defense, but I knew better. Worse, they were planning on trying to appoint
a new High King and were gaining supporters. One of the reasons they were so
successful was because I had no wife.

Desaco was accosted by this rising opposition, but
money proved more powerful than blades. The king then offered his alliance to
me, including the aid of his money and the unwavering loyalty of more than half
of the remaining population of my world in exchange for my marriage to one of
his daughters.

I felt like I should have had the loyalty of my
people after I gave them back the use of the surface world, but there were many
factors that acted against me. The greatest deterrent, of course, was the fact
that I was a void. Nobody wanted an unmarried void who looked like a child to
rule over the entire world.

I never told anyone that I actually had the
opportunity to end my curse, nor that I would make the same decision again if
it ever came to that. My appearance was not something I could change. Although
I was older than the king standing before me or even any of my councilmen, I
barely looked like an adult. This was most likely because of my bond with the
abyss. I still felt as young as my body; I still wanted to have fun, travel,
and shirk my responsibilities.

Instead, I had to sit here and choose a wife or risk
losing my kingdom. Worse than losing my position, I was afraid of the next High
King using his power to build weapons. My people were too prone to violence to
have such a temptation.

I tapped Nano’s hand until he leaned down. “Explain
this to me again,” I whispered.

He sighed. “You need to marry and have a son. If you
were killed now, your throne would be up for grabs and there would be no
bloodline to take it by default. If you are killed while your child is too
young to take the throne, your appointed advisor will take command in the
child’s stead until he is old enough to make his own decisions.”

I glanced as Kseve, whose scowl never wavered. He was
already old when I was born; he was getting tired of people. I knew he cared
about me, but I didn’t want him to die to protect me. He was getting too old
for me to rely on him.

“Daughter in the blue dress, what is your name?” I
asked.

“Zeda,” she said, her voice brave and polite. The one
in the green dress looked like she was about to cry and the youngest daughter
looked terrified. Zeda looked almost angry that she and her sisters were put in
this position.

“Where is your mother?”

“She died giving birth to Ada.”

“I take it you raised your sisters?”

“We had a governess,” she said, taking her sisters’
hands. They may have had someone to clothe, feed, and teach them, but Zeda was
the one to love them.

“Daughter in the green dress, what is your name?”

The middle daughter halfway hid behind her older
sister. Zeda was their strength as well.

“Her name is Thessa, and she does not like to talk.
Thessa would not make a good wife,” she said, a glare sneaking across her
pretty face as if she was daring me to argue with her. Desaco looked like he
wanted to smack her, but he didn’t move.

“If I choose not to marry any of you, will you be
punished?”

“Our father loves us, but unmarried daughters bring
him no honor. He would marry each of us off as fast as he can,” Zeda said
boldly.

Ada shook, staring intently at the black marble floor
as if we would all disappear as long as she ignored us. We were all monsters to
her. She couldn’t have been more than twelve or thirteen. How many years before
her father found someone to marry her to?

“I will take all three of them,” I said.

The councilmen all displayed shock. Zeda’s face
turned ashen and her sisters both hid behind her while their father could
barely contain his excitement. Even Kseve looked at me with bewilderment. Nano
held up his hand when the councilmen started talking and within a few moments,
they fell silent again.

“You mean to take three wives?” Nano asked me
carefully.

“Of course not! I will take Zeda as my wife, but her
sisters still need her. Zeda will be their official guardian so that no one can
marry them against their will.”

For a few blessed moments, not a sound disturbed the
air… and then Desaco looked mortified. “You propose to take all three of my
daughters, but only to produce an heir by one of them? Then if you have no
son---”

“It would be my problem, not yours. You will still
have three daughters in the house of the High King. What you tell your people
is your business. While they live here and receive a quality education, many
kings and princes will cross their paths. They will be happy and can still
marry into royalty. If you refuse, I will respect your decision, but I will not
choose any one daughter on her own.”

“Can you have children?” Zeda asked before her father
could respond. “I mean no offense, High King, but you are a void. Are you able
to produce children?”

“I am, it would just mean I could not touch the child
for too long.”

“The void is in your blood. How can your child not
carry the affliction?”

“My affliction is a curse placed upon me by my
father’s murder.” Even as I said it, I really didn’t know if I was correct or
not. I knew my blood could destroy a person’s bond with magic, but if it could
be passed to my offspring, it was truly worse than I had anticipated. I
couldn’t bear to bring a child into the world with the same curse.

It wasn’t that being a void was so bad; I just didn’t
want my child to suffer the same estrangement I suffered. Even knowing that I
was going to be High King of Dios, my own mother treated me like a disease. If
I had a child with void-bonded blood, I couldn’t be sure that Zeda would treat
him any better than I was treated.

Zeda bowed. “Then I would be honored to be your wife,
High King,” she lied. Nobody wanted a void as their husband, especially not
when I looked younger than her.

*          *          *

Three days later, I was standing in front of the
doors of my castle, waiting for my wife to arrive. I shuddered.

Kseve put his hand on my shoulder. “Would you like
more tea, Nila?” he asked.

“I had six cups of tea today. I want to throw up.
This is wrong, Kseve. I was never supposed to be married.”

“Zeda is young, but she has a strong spirit. She can
speak with the elegance of a queen, but I have heard her speak in private with
her sisters. She is no child. Also, her library is even greater than yours, and
I heard from her servants that she is bringing her collection with her.”

“Really? That would be great. She may be educated,
but I expect her to be the most boring snob I have ever met.”

“Do you know many boring snobs?”

I shrieked with surprise and Kseve pushed me behind
him. Zeda was leaning against the door, somehow having snuck behind me and my
guard. She could have killed me!

Kseve did not like to be startled, so he
instinctively drew his sword and held it ready. Zeda’s eyes widened
dramatically. “Did you just draw your sword on the High King’s wife?”

I nudged Kseve’s arm gently until he lowered his
weapon. “What are you doing here?” I asked while Kseve sheathed his sword. “I
thought you were traveling with your servants, your sisters, and your things.”

“They were moving too slowly and I got bored.
Besides, I wanted to test your security before I entrusted my life to it. I
will need my own guard, because I refuse to stay locked up in the castle all
day,” she said. Kseve nudged me in the side, but I ignored him. “And I will
need my own library because I doubt yours will be big enough for my collection.
When I am home, I will be in there.” Kseve nudged me harder. “Also just because
we are married and will have children, I expect my own room. If I must smile
and pretend to agree with egotistical, money-hungry bigots all day, I will need
a place to retreat to that I can lock from the inside.” Kseve nudged me even
harder. “Now, I am not difficult to please. If my library is private, that can
be my bedroom. As far as food goes, I will eat whatever. I do, however, like
tea in the morning because listening to royal meetings gives me headaches.”

Kseve nudged me hard enough I was almost knocked
over. “I know, I know!” I barked at him.

Zeda gave me a look like I was being irrational. “Do
you need some tea?” she asked.

My guard finally couldn’t take it anymore; he began
to laugh, right there in public. People on the street stopped to stare, as my
guard was as stoic as they came and a laughing goblin was a strange sight to
see. “You believe you will be just fine, Nila,” my guard said.

*          *          *

Over the next few days, I rarely saw my new wife. We
met outside to be greeted by visiting kings. Zeda was polite and elegant to the
point of being nausea-inducing, only to vanish the moment we were out of the
public eye. Her library was indeed larger than mine, but Thessa invited me to
explore it, while the oldest of the siblings was nowhere to be found. My
guards, who were all dile except for Kseve, reported seeing her return to the
castle in common clothing with treats and trinkets from the town for her sisters.
Apparently, she was enjoying the city.

It was disappointed, because I felt like I should
have been introducing my wife to her new home myself. She was really a
beautiful woman. She was twenty years old, the same height as me, and was too
smart for her own good.

Since we only ever saw each other in the public eye,
I would pretend to be even more proper than her. This caused her to
reciprocate, until we were playing a game of who could be more elegant and
sophisticated in public. Nano thought it was hilarious when he himself wasn’t
gagging and the town thought Zeda was having a good influence on me.

I once made her laugh in front of the entire council
by purposefully mispronouncing the name of one unfortunately-named king. I woke
up the next morning with a small, glass songbird on my nightstand. The little
trinket was a replica of my favorite bird.

I found out from Kseve that Zeda had found it in the
city and got it for me. That day, while we were posing for a painting, Zeda had
the brilliant idea to change the color of her scarf every time the artist
looked away. I found it so amusing that the artist glared at me, assuming I was
the cause, since Zeda kept a completely pleasant and innocent smile.

For making my afternoon so enjoyable, I went out as
soon as we were done and found a very rare and special book, which I asked Ada
to leave on Zeda’s nightstand. When I opened my door the next morning, I found
my arms full of my wife and she hugged me with absolute enthusiasm. After a few
seconds where I was frozen with shock, I pushed her away gently.