The Wizard's War (7 page)

The couple on the bed woke with a start and sprang
from the bed, shock turning to matching embarrassment and horror as they
spotted the wronged husband.

“Jason… I’m…” Aurora struggled to speak.

Her eyes clearly betrayed the thoughts racing behind
them as she tried to think of a lie to get her out of trouble. There was no
guilt.

“Aurora, please don’t. I can’t take it right now.”

“How did you…?” she asked, breathlessly.

“Emmy told me you were here with Mark. I knew for a
long time you were cheating on me, I just didn’t think it was with my friend.”
Mark avoided his friend’s gaze.

“Then why aren’t you upset?” Aurora asked.

“I am. But I also know this is partially my fault
because I’ve been spending so much time at work. I know I’ve been neglecting
you. I’m going to fix that. I already filed the paperwork at work and booked
the tickets for a surprise second honeymoon. I asked Emmy to make sure you made
it home on time tonight so I could take you to a romantic dinner, during which
she would pack our bags. That’s when she told me where you were.”

The room melted around me and I thought it was
completely black. After a few minutes, however, a candle was lit, which was
used to light five more.

Aurora was now in a circle with four other women. The
room was darkened with black walls whereas the floor was hardwood with magic
symbols carved all over. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, the woman joined
hands to form a circle.

As soon as they began chanting, I heard static and
the scene broke up. When it finally reformed, a demon stood before them. He was
not an Ancient, but he was powerful enough.

“What have you called me here for?”

“I want you to kill my husband. I love someone else
and he’s not letting me go. I can’t stand to be married to him for another
day.”

“And what do you offer me?”

Aurora frowned and her friends looked frightened. “I
offer his soul.”

“Unless he is your child, you cannot offer his soul.”

“I’m pregnant. I can offer you the baby right now.
Then you will kill my husband?”

The demon growled at her. “Even I have scruples,
woman. Call me again the moment the child is born. It must be a living and
healthy child.”

Once again, the vision melted, only to reform in the
same room. The women were all wearing different clothes while Aurora held a
bundle wrapped in pink blankets. I wanted so desperately to go to her and take
the baby, to protect it from the horrors that were to come… but I couldn’t.
This was a vision of what had already occurred.

The demon appeared is smoke, which quickly
dissipated. “Hand her to me,” he said briskly. Aurora handed off her baby as if
it were an inanimate object. The demon, however, cradled the child carefully.
“She is healthy. I see you took good care of her.”

“You said she had to be healthy. Now, hold up your
end of the deal. I want Jason dead.”

“You are a fool,” the demon snarled at her. When she
gaped, he snapped his fingers. Right in front of her baby and all her friends,
her heart exploded from her chest, painting the room in her blood.

The women screamed and ran from the room right as the
witch hunter appeared beside the demon, who rocked the quiet infant soothingly.
“Go after the rest of them.”

“What are you going to do with that?” the witch
hunter asked.

“I will get her back to her father.”

*          *          *

I woke staring straight up at the ceiling. I realized
slowly that Edward and Abigail kneeled on either side of me.

“Are you okay?” Edward asked.

I nodded, sitting up, and twisted back to look up at
the woman on the table. “She deserved what she got. Let’s go. If I have to look
at her again, I might just choose to support the demons over the humans.”

Hail

I would never have done anything to hurt my brother.
Even when the darkness was more in control than my brother, I was close by. The
problem was that I could never lie to him, not even about what I wanted.

Ron liked Vretial and had already made up his mind
where he wanted to be. He tried to hide it from me, but we could hear each
other’s thoughts. He wanted us to be the Noquodi of Raktusha. The problem was
that I hated Vretial. He helped us so many times, helped me to understand my
visions, yet something about him drove me nuts. That was why I wanted to create
the same magic Ron was using in order to protect his mind. Still, Vretial was
able to talk to us, because Ron let him.

Ron didn’t have the same morals as Dad did; my
brother was more like his mother. He was perfectly happy lying and keeping
secrets when he thought it was to protect me, just like our mother did to our
father. I just wanted the truth. Nevertheless, I stayed for the same reason my
dad stayed with his mate; I loved Ron. He was my little brother. I was there
from the moment he was born and I would be there for him until the end.

I just needed a break. Keeping my opinion private was
very difficult. Ron was used to demanding the attention of the room and always
assumed I would agree with him. If I could keep him from sensing my discontent,
it was all the encouragement he needed to go full steam ahead with whatever he
wanted.

Unfortunately, he did get something other than his
looks from our dad; if there was even a hint of mystery, he went at it like a
dog with a bone. He could also think his way out of any situation. He could
even predict the moves of people before they knew they were being played. As
close as we were, as well as he knew me, I didn’t stand a chance.

Therefore, when I met Sari, a sweet girl who was not
really any more interested in me than I was in her, we made good friends. She
offered me a place to get away from my family and I managed to keep Ron from
eating her entrails. It helped that she had no power whatsoever and never had
an unkind thought for anyone; she was no threat to the balance.

I planned to spend the few days I had away from Ron
to figure out a way to change his mind without him knowing I was involved. I
just wasn’t very good at being deceitful. Oh, I could be plenty stubborn,
pushy, and vengeful, but that wasn’t the way to handle my brother. I had to
come up with something, because really didn’t want to be Guardian of Raktusha.

What made the decision difficult for me was that
Avoli only wanted me as his Guardian of Lore, not my brother. Avoli was afraid
of Ron because my brother was too much like our parents. Vretial wanted us
both. I was damned if I did and damned if I didn’t and I knew I would give in
to what Ron wanted.

“Do you want some salt?” Sari asked. I looked at her
over my book. She was a gorgeous young woman with long strawberry blond hair
pulled back in a strap and light green eyes. Her shirt was fitted, the same
light green as her eyes, and her black pants fit snug on her hips.

“Why would I want salt?” We weren’t eating or
anything; I was lying on her bed, reading one of her fairy tale books while she
sat on the floor, working on her computer. She was a writer and historical
interpreter… not at the same time; she wrote fiction novels.

Her room was littered with bookshelves full of books
she wrote or interpreted. What little wall space that was left consisted of
ancient maps and framed letters from people long dead. The floor was made of a
sort of foam-wood, which was very common to Duran. It was strong as hardwood,
water-resistant, and slightly flexible. The bed I laid on was soft and low to
the ground with light green sheets and a blue blanket.

Sari got off the floor and left the room for a moment
before returning with a small jar of salt. “You were clinching your teeth. That
will cause irreversible damage,” she explained.

“How would salt help?” I asked, not seeing her logic.

She patted my cheek until I opened my mouth, then she
sprinkled a little of the salt on my tongue. Having eaten nothing yet that day,
the salt woke my taste buds in the worst way. I held out my tongue and
scrunched up my face. I couldn’t even say anything because I didn’t want my
tongue in my mouth.

Sari laughed. “See? You cannot clinch your teeth like
that.”

I glared at her as she handed me a napkin to wipe the
un-dissolved salt off my tongue. Once I could speak, I really had nothing to
say.

She sat beside me. “Is it Ron?”

“Isn’t it always?”

“Does it bother you to be here with me knowing that
he dislikes me?” she asked. Sari had met my family only twice, and both times
Ron not only dominated the attention, but was extremely rude to her.

“Actually, he doesn’t dislike you. When you’re not
around, he is very civil about you. He doesn’t mock you like he does most
people.”

She laughed. “It’s just to my face that he has a
problem.”

“Yes, but that’s with anyone. And there are two sides
to Ron. There’s the sweet, quiet boy he was when he was little, and there is…
well… the one you met. But despite the things he does and says, he really just
wants to know that he is loved and isn’t about to be abandoned.”

Ron said things he didn’t mean and acted outlandish
to divert attention, usually away from me. He constantly worried about my
safety and my visions. I knew he really cared about my opinion, like in the
matter with the Raktusha and Lore, but he never really asked for it. He always
assumed I would agree with him. I didn’t tell him that I wanted to choose Lore,
because that would leave Ron out of being Noquodi.

“Do you want something to eat?” Sari asked. I nodded.
She patted my arm and left for the kitchen.

Sari’s father had died a few years before, so she was
being raised by her mother. Luckily, the woman adored me. When she had to leave
for work for several days, she had no problem at all with me staying with her
daughter. Honestly, there was too much trust in Anoshii. If this were Shomodii,
there would be a father sitting on the porch with a shot gun… even if it wasn’t
the girl’s father.

My headache came on quick; a telltale sign that I
would have a vision soon. Even though Sari was aware that I was a seer, I
wanted to give her a heads up before it happened.

It occurred to me that Sari was taking too long about
the same I realized it was too quiet. Ron always made a lot of noise in the
kitchen. I got up and went to the door. There was no sound. “Sari?” I called.
It was uncomfortably familiar to be calling her given name without her title,
but we always kept up the pretense of being a couple. Of course, I called
people of Earth by their first names…

There was no answer, so I walked down the short hall,
checking the empty bathroom as I made my way to the kitchen. The closer I got to
the kitchen, the more my head pounded. I couldn’t push this one off.

When I saw Sari, my vision was the least of my
worries; Sari was unconscious on the floor. I ran to her side, knelt, and
checked her neck for a pulse. It was strong, and when I put my fingers in front
of her nose, I could feel her breathing. I turned her over, but there was no
sign that she would be coming around any time soon. There was no blood or
bruising, either.

Summoning my Iadnah energy, I scanned for any injury
or clue as to what could have caused her to faint. Instead of a mental image of
ruptured blood vessels or broken bones, lethargy flooded my system. It was my
only excuse for not reacting quicker when I felt the sharp sting in my right
shoulder. Even as my limbs became limp, I managed to halfway turn to look
behind me before something heavy and hard came down on my head.

*          *          *

It was my nightmare again. I would never admit to it
being a vision, even though it became clearer and more vision-like every time I
saw it. When I first saw my uncle kill my father, it was very foggy and
confusing. The worst part about it was that even though Ron saw it too, I
couldn’t sense him.

Mordon and my father stood facing each other, both of
them with a resigned expression. Mordon had blood all over his front, his claws
were out, and his chest heaved as he panted… It looked like he had been in a
battle. Mordon raised his black-bladed sword just a little.

The sword made with the legendary azurath metal
actually belonged to my father, but since Mordon was his brother, his balance,
he was the only semi-mortal in the universe able to wield it. My dad was not
one for swords. He usually came up with the plan and used the magic, but when
he needed strength, Mordon was there for him.

My father stood still and remained calm as his
brother slid the blade into his chest. Blood blossomed over my dad’s blue
t-shirt. The vision faded.

I couldn’t smell anything or hear anything. My
visions always came with clues as to how to stop it from coming true, but I couldn’t
figure it out. That was more Ron’s area; I would have a vision and he would
come up with a plan to let it happen or stop it. In the five years that I have
been enduring this nightmare, hiding it from our parents and Mordon, we never
came up with a plan or even figured out why I saw Mordon killing his brother.

*          *          *

My entire body hurt. I felt like Ron looked when he
tried to work out. I think every single muscle in my body hurt, including those
I didn’t know could hurt. I tried to send my magic out in a pulse to check my
surroundings… but it didn’t respond. My Iadnah energy felt sluggish and
confused.

I rolled over onto my back, slowly and carefully, but
kept my eyes closed.
“Ron? Can you hear me?”

No answer. We were able to communicate pretty much on
opposite ends of the world, so the fact that he couldn’t hear me meant one of
us was no longer on Duran. Since it would have been impossible for a mortal to
transport me in my sleep, I had to assume it was Ron who was off world. I
couldn’t feel him.

“He is awake, Kade-mas,” a woman said in Sudo. So I
was at least with sago, for mas was the title for a medical doctor. I didn’t
like that.

“Yatunus-tai Samhail. It is nice to meet you. How do
you feel?”

I opened my eyes to find myself in little more than a
cage. At least I was lying on a thin futon instead of on the metal floor. Oddly
enough, the bars were made of stone, not metal. The cage was about
six-by-six-by-six; a disturbing cube. The floor and ceiling were metal, but the
bars looked like some kind of dark granite. Breaking out would be child’s play
for a dile, even a half one like me.

“Can you hear me?” the doctor asked when I didn’t
answer him. He looked at his assistant. “Can he hear me?”

The doctor was an older man, maybe in his sixties by
appearance. The man’s eyes were light blue and his hair was white, cut short
and styled cleanly with no facial hair. He was tall and thin with a white lab
coat. If my magic was responding, I could have determined if he was a wizard,
but I was drawing up blank.

The woman beside him was younger, probably about
Mordon’s age. She had a computer tablet in her hand, checking it every few
seconds for reference. I focused on it and heard the soft, rhythmic beeping. It
was recording my vitals. I really didn’t like this.

“Physically, he is functioning fine. The drug is
still in him, so he will be slow to respond and may have difficulty focusing.”

“And his magic?”

“The gordzite is doing its job.”

The doctor walked around to the side of the cage and
crouched down, only a couple of feet from my face. He examined me carefully as
if he were fascinated and concerned at the same time. “It’s not affecting his
health?” he asked the woman.

She hesitated. “It is impossible to tell with alien
substances. There are no current physical effects that I can see. However, you
should come away from the bars.” The doctor stood and returned to the woman’s
side. “Maybe we should come back when he is more awake,” the woman suggested.

I opened my mouth to ask what was going on, but
nothing came out. It took too much energy and I was too tired. Instead, I
closed my eyes and fell back to sleep.

*          *          *

I woke again. This time, I felt like I slept too
long, and also a little bit like the time Ron had dared me to drink a full cup
of coffee. Dad always made his coffee strong and instead of warning me, he
laughed the entire time it took me to choke it down. Mom got onto him about
encouraging Ron to bully me, but the damage was done.

I opened my eyes and sat up. The doctor and woman
were gone, but I could hear a soft whimpering from somewhere in the room.
Outside the cage, the room looked like a basement. The floor and walls were
stone, there was an overall smell of wet dirt and mold, and there was very little
light. What I could see was three more cages, all with metal bars. They were
flimsier than the one I was in.

The whimpering stopped just as I noticed a small lump
shaking in the cage directly opposite of me. I pulled myself to my knees and
crept closer to the bars. Feeling an odd sense of heat, I reached out and
touched them. The stone bars were warm.

I felt like the Iadnah energy shuddered before it
retreated further inside me. For the second time in my life, I was completely
out of control of my energy, and I didn’t like it. While I rarely used my
mortal magic before my Iadnah energy overcame it and the ability evaporated, I
liked having it there, as it was much less volatile than Iadnah magic.

“Who’s there?” I asked when the whimpering started again.
My voice was scratchy, but at least I was able to speak. The little lump in the
cage sat up and leaned against the bars so I could see her face. It was Sari.
She looked unharmed, but really scared. “Are you hurt?” I asked. She shook her
head. “Do you know why we’re here? Did they say anything to you? How long have
we been here?”