Unlocking Void (Book 3) (15 page)

“What…is this for?”

“You
like
cats. You are one. This is a Reglajae mountain cat, bred for being in the snow.”

The cat sat and looked up at him with large eyes. He often noticed cats doing this, as if they saw the tiger in him and submitted. “What’s his name?”

“Smoke.”

“That’s the name of my horse.”

“Coal.”

“Better.” He reached out a hand a scratched the cat under his chin. “Why are you grinning so much?”

“No reason,” she grinned. “How was Anatoly?”

“Robyn tried to apologize.”

“
And
?”

“And I walked out.”

Mikelle slumped her shoulders and took a seat. “You are going to burst someday from all this anger.”

Gabriel blew his hair aside with an angry moan. Coal walked across his desk, flicking his tail as if it was a weapon and blew parchment around. “I was going to give you your own gift, but you started talking.”

She clamped her mouth shut.

“Stand up and brace yourself on something,” he said. She rose and put her hands on the desk, bending a little at the waist. He stood behind her. She abruptly straightened and gave him a venomous glare. “Knock it off and turn around,” he sighed and turned her back around. When she was positioned, he drew Spirit and laid patterns in both hands, sinking them into her lower back. He gripped her waist tightly as the patterns took their effect, which was right about the time Lael walked in.

Gabriel looked up. “It’s not what it looks like.”

“It’s exactly what it looks like,” Mikelle replied, wavering on her knees. Gabriel kept her standing.

“I…would leave but am interested at your explanation.” Lael smirked.

“Stand up slowly,” Gabriel said, holding on as she straightened. “How does that feel?”

“A little tight. What did you do?”

“No, how do you
feel
?”

Her eyes brightened, and she suddenly spun her head around. “My fatigue, it’s gone!” She broke from his hands and marched around the room with a look of amazement. “What did you do?”

“Your kidneys were too small and failing. I repaired them to compensate for an adult.”

“You can do that?” Lael breathed.

Mikelle wrapped her arms around Gabriel’s neck giving him a sound kiss on his cheek. “I don’t know how I could repay you.”

“Stop riding my horse.”

“I could bring dinner up instead!” she said and released him, rushing off.

“Did you come to meet my cat?” Gabriel sighed.

Lael eyed the big black creature on the desk. “I was always more fond of dogs.”

“I am insulted.”

“I came to see if there was any word from Anatoly City.”

“Yes, Shalaban marches on it.”

Lael had most certainly referred to Robyn, but the news was immediately distracting. “
Why
?”

“They don’t know, but I moved some troops around and saw the frontlines were functioning.”

“I must write to her Grace. Can we spare any Battle Mages?”

“No one will leave Jaden. You know how hard it was for Dagan to find twenty people to hunt specters. This is not our battle. Anatoly must handle their own problems, for Jaden has plenty of their own.”

Lael nodded slowly in agreement. “I will leave you to your work.”

Chapter 19

Gabriel set his shift bent for Arconia, off the west coast near the Black Cliffs. He had been there once before to hurriedly deposit Lace and had made a swift retreat, but it never sat right with him. The girl had been his ally and companion. It was not right of him to deposit her.

He cut his shift behind the great white mansion and took in his surroundings. It was a small, fully-functional property with cattle, chickens, and a substantial garden. The air was warmer than Jaden since the kingdom sat lower in altitude and longitude. Gabriel embraced the warmth on his face.

Not all were as well educated as those he usually spent time with. He was not surprised when no one recognized what his white clothes meant. Several servants gave him pleasant nods until he got closer to the structure. A page in a pale blue coat rushed out to greet him in Arconian.

Gabriel asked to be taken to Lace, and the page invited him as he vanished to find the lady of the house. Lace lived alone in this mansion. Her parents owned many homes through Arconia and usually stayed in the capitol Rabier. It was a beautiful old structure with soaring ceilings, tall arches, and windows everywhere to illuminate the pale walls dotted with portraits. He sauntered into the foyer that smelled of roses and saw a massive vase filled with flowers.

“Gabriel?” the soft voice came above him. He looked up the staircase, and little Lace, dressed in a flowing yellow gown, rushed down the stairs. She threw her arms around his neck, “Whatever are you doing here?” The young page behind her cast a knowing look as he strode off.

“We left on ill terms last time, and I wanted to ease your mind.”

She released his neck which made him relax a touch and took up his arm instead. Lace led him up staircase, and he flagged down a passing maid requesting tea for her sitting room.

He took a seat. “I left you unceremoniously and did not want you to think ill of me. I caused you great grief and never apologized for it.”

She laid her hand on his knee. “Yes, yes and you frightened me terribly, but I know you did what you had to. I forgave you long ago.”

“You’re a gem. I miss your company.” He had shared a part of himself with her that no one else he cared about had, and it made him feel connected to her on a deeper level.

She rubbed his leg. “I am happy to be home though. I handle one of my parent’s mines not far from here, so I feel like I have purpose again.”

“Shouldn’t you be resting?”

She laughed and slapped his knee. “I am pregnant, not an invalid. I can do everything I always did. Do not think women are so fragile.” She was just beginning to show through the dress.

“I’ve never dealt with a pregnancy before.” Gabriel said awkwardly.

“Oh, I see. Do not worry yourself.”

“I…” he trailed off. “I want to make sure the child is taken care of.” He raised a hand to the ceiling. “I know your family is wealthy and can afford whatever they desire, but I want to aid from a distance.”

“I assumed you would want to remain absent entirely.”

“I don’t know what I want,” he sighed and leaned back. “I want to be there, but I don’t want anyone to know.”

She tittered. “They will learn. People know I was in the Anatoly party, and word is getting around why we went. People are bound to figure everything out.”

“Really?” he breathed and looked at the ceiling as if it had answers. “Only a few in Jaden know. I’d like to keep it that way as long as possible.”

“You may want to tell people before they hear it from someone else.”

He drummed his fingers on the armrest but sat up nobly as a maid brought in peppermint tea. The peppermint reminded him of Maxine.

“Let us talk of happier things. What news from Jaden?”

He spent several minutes recounting the attack of Arch Mages, his amputation, as well as Shalaban’s attack on Anatoly.

“I had no idea,” she finally said as he finished.

“It seems you are safer here.”

She took up his left hand. “It looks good as new.”

“It was carefully healed.” He was still getting used to feeling with it, and her nails on it made him shiver. She grinned from ear to ear.

“Will you play a game of Tiles with me? It is so dull without Mikelle.” He nodded, and she fetched a box with blue and green tiles. They played several rounds until she came out the victor. Their pot of tea finished, Gabriel looked to the ocean to see the sun beginning its decent.

“I must return to Jaden,” he said sadly.

“I am glad you visited.” He took her hand and kissed it, holding it tightly.

“I…never apologized for that night,” he said lowly. “I should have told Nolen no and—”

She squeezed his hand. “Do not fret your head about it. I vowed to help you any way I could, even if it meant bedding you, so Nolen would not send someone worse.”

Gabriel winced, “It’s not as simple as that.”

“Banish this guilt from your mind. It is not yours to bear.” She leaned in and kissed his cheek. “Jaden needs you.”

He stood and drew her to her feet. “I will return when I can. I would bring Mikelle, but she would tell you all my secrets.”

She grinned and gave him one last kiss on the cheek before he broke away.

Maxine sat open to Void with a searchers-pattern trained on Gabriel, waiting for him to leave Castle Jaden. He had been stagnant for a while, and she worried he had gone to sleep. But he zipped north minutes later and stopped outside Evyne on the edge of the Dead Lake. She followed, arriving in half a minute.

She had seen many Head Mages in her time, but he wore the white garb the best. White had the tendency to make large people look larger in the wrong places. He was so long in the legs and broad in the shoulders that white made him look more lanky and imposing. It helped that most of his trousers had strips of embroidery or ribbon that ran up the outside seam, elongating his legs.

She stopped and could go no further, feeling a disparage-shift pattern already set up. Gabriel hooked his thumbs over his belt when he saw her, ready to loosen them to fight if necessary.

“How old are you, Head Mage?” she asked.

“Twenty-four.”

She tapped a finger on her lips as she sashayed forward. This evening she chose a dress with two slits up the sides to show off her legs. The movement of her hips played eye games with her thighs. “I know of only one Head Mage who was younger. A woman actually, twenty-two when she took the Seat.”

“Did she die fighting the Arch Mages?” he asked snidely.

She gave him a sympathetic look. “Is that your fate?”

“I seem to have no alternative.”

She stopped walking within a few feet of him. Despite Maxine’s height, he still had a few inches on her. “Well, I have the tools to aid you.”

“Yet you offer me no promises that I will not have to fight you in the end. As far as I know, you are giving me the tools to my own demise.”

“If you use them incorrectly, yes. And if you use me incorrectly.” She touched his jaw with her finger affectionately, but he only glared down at her.
‘So guarded.’

“I want to teach you a bloom-pattern,” she said. “As you know, Void alters body and mind and very rarely anything else. It is not considered a weapon, but it can be effective in a war or a home.”

She laid a complex pattern of black strings, twisting them over each other. He watched cautiously but with great interest. So far he had been able to replicate the patterns with only one demonstration, and she could only imagine how high his intellect was.

She held up the knot of strings. “The bloom-pattern causes feeling of hope to bloom in ones chest. It is very hard to alter emotions, and this is the only successful pattern I know. Mages of old tried to change will and love and instill fear and sadness, but they were all unsuccessful and usually ended with someone’s death. Thankfully you only have to worry about this one. I would like to try it on you.”

He eyed it warily, and she saw his fingers wiggle as if preparing a pattern, but he stilled and nodded. She pressed the pattern into his head.

His countenance immediately changed, but not the way she expected. Most Mages brightened and smiled, but he closed his eyes and lowered his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. He stood silently for a few moments and stated “Take it out” with a voice that wavered. She pulled it free and let it unravel into nothing. “Let’s not try that again.”

“Are you well?” she asked and put a hand on his forearm.
‘Are you so devoid of hope that even a little would bring you to your knees?’

He dropped his hand; his emotions composed, and replicated the pattern with expert precision.

“Excellent.” She stated. “This pattern can only be used when you are close to someone and will slip loose if you walk too fa’ away. You have a good thirty steps. I like to use this pattern to push someone who is on the edge of decision. Now, how strong are you feeling tonight?” He shrugged. “I have a pattern that will pinch nerves and cause pain.”

“Go ahead,” he sighed as if he had no choice.

“I do not want to hurt you, Head Mage.”

“Go ahead,” he repeated.

She ignored his
‘everyone else does’
implication and set the pattern. “This is called the pierce-pinch and can be set as small as a single nerve or as wide as foot in diameter. This pattern also only works if you are holding the pattern. It cannot be set into someone and left to fester. Pick a location.”

He bent his arm and pointed to upper area, tucking his wrist under his other arm. She supposed he had every reason to be paranoid. Carefully, she set the pattern into a muscle, watching his face for a reaction. He did not wince, so she widened her hand to extend the surface area of the pattern. He finally grunted quietly, and she pulled the pattern loose.

“You try.”

He opened himself to Void and laid a pattern, but he did it so quickly, she did not know what it was until he grabbed her arm. She flinched and braced herself, ready for the pain to shoot up her shoulder, but nothing happened, and she opened her eyes. He stared at her face with a concerned look. It took her a moment to realize he had touched her with the reveal-pattern.

“I was worried you lied about your past,” he said quietly, “but it seems you told the truth.”

Her face bore white marks of many hits, bloodied lips, cut cheeks, and chin lesions. He touched her jaw with his other hand to better look at the white Spirit-healed scars.

“He was left-hand dominant,” Gabriel stated, looking at the right side of her face. His eyes traced a line down her neck to her collar, then to her arms. She had defended herself more than once, and her forearms and hands had many white lines. “I am sad that you were treated this way.”

She smiled faintly at his concern and was impressed that he believed her. He released her and wove the pierce-pinch. “I do not wish to hurt you,” he said, letting it slip away in smoky black tendrils. “Why did you wait four years to kill him?”

She shrugged a slender shoulder. “It took that long to find my courage.”

“What did you do with your children?”

She pinched her lips. “I was absent from their lives.”

“What happened to them?”

“They lived, grew up, had happy families. I have descendants in this Age, I am sure of it.”

“Do you ever regret leaving them?”

“Aye, but I could not return to that life. What of you? Do you have children?”

“No,” he replied in a terse voice that commanded to not press further. It seemed Nolen’s stories
had
been true. “I would like to know more of Class Tens in older Ages. Were they as great as the books say? Did they control all the Elements?”

“They were very great. Everyone controlled two or more Elements. Most Mages controlled three, but there were a precious few from ancient, unblemished bloodlines that controlled all six. Mages that powerful were taxed by the Elements, so they did not live as long, but to live and be in perfect harmony with the world for an hour is enough living.”

“What of Creators?”

“There were quite a few. Creators spring from the Earth line, so anyone with Earth’s bloodline has Creator potential. She stopped reproducing at the end of the First Age, so it is a wonder you have any potential in this Age with all the blood-watering.”

“What of Anomalies?”

“They come from Spirit’s bloodline, but I do not know his story.”

“Do you know much of the Elements themselves?”

She raised a brow. “The originals? Nay, no one does. They have been absent all my life.”

“Tell me more about Class Ten nature.”

She grinned. “My dear Head Mage, that is a conversation fo’ a lower-cut dress. Now, I will see you in two days’ time.”

“Wait,” he said and reached for her arm. “I want to learn how you keep finding me.”

“That is a pattern fo’ a day when I know I can trust you.”

“
You
don’t trust
me
?”