Chasing Bloodlines (Book 4) (12 page)

Chapter 14

Gabriel spent two days shifting people to and from Jaden. He brought Council Members and other people he trusted to organize and carry things in Tintagaelsing while setting dozens of others to work in Jaden. They had several buildings vacant for habitation, but Gabriel did not want to segregate the Gaelsins, and the current Jaden Mages were eager to welcome.

The little time Gabriel did spend in Jaden made his heart warm. Everywhere he went Jaden Mages worked diligently to accommodate their new neighbors in the castle. He had been honest with the Gaelsins concerning Ryker and the Arch Mages, but assured them the walls were unbreachable.

The kitchens, hop houses, and tea shops opened early and stayed open late. Clothiers rolled out their fabrics and tailored outfits with no charge. Gabriel felt water running through the buildings as Gaelsins had their first warm bath in ages.

He woke in Tintagaelsing on the third day of transport and went back to the market square he had been operating. Shaun stayed behind to help orchestrate, and Mikelle insisted she stay to help him. Gabriel rolled his eyes as he walked up.

“How’s your brain look today?” she grinned, but her grin slipped. “We’re getting reports of an unusual amount of Gaelsin Mages missing. Apparently it’s normal for some to vanish off the streets, but it has been happening more rapidly than usual.”

“Has your King decided to take what’s his?” he asked Shaun. The Gaelsin had removed his collar and taken to wearing the handsome coat Gabriel fashioned brazenly before the sell-outs and guards who watched from the shadows.

“It’s right possible he realized his power source is vanishin’, and he is takin’ what he can before it’s gone.”

“How many are missing?”

“From t’is part of t’ city, forty. I’ve got reports comin’ in later from t’ rest.”

“I need to speak with your King about his captives.”

“What luck, he wants to speak with you,” Mikelle said and handed over a scroll. “Arrived this morning.”

Gabriel unrolled the parchment with delicate penmanship. Stamped at the bottom was a sigil of a long-nosed jumping fish he did not have a name for. “He wants to negotiate a trade. Like lives can be traded so easily.” He crumpled the scroll in a fist. “I’ll deal with him when the Mages are safe.”

“We’ve had some resisting to leave,” Shaun chimed in between discussion with Councilman Galloway. “Some of t’ older ones. Some too scared to t’ink what t’ King will do if he catches them. And some waitin’ for t’eir loved ones to return.”

“Gather whomever you can today. I’d like to be done with this half of the city.”

“Most Mages live on t’is side. T’ rest will be much simpler.” Shaun turned and called orders to a man in brown. “T’ese are the keepers of our history. T’ey have stored Ages of lineage and history t’at make up our culture.”

“We’ll have the manuscripts transported to our library.” Gabriel motioned Markus over and explained how they would move the books and scrolls while calling orders to Adelaide regarding the transport of a butcher and his family.

“Look at that, he does two things at once,” he heard Mikelle state between breaths. He ignored her.

He spent the rest of the day shifting people and their goods to Castle Jaden. Later on he found Lael in a hastily erected tent in the middle of the courtyard. A fire blazed in a corner without burning the canvas while Lael hunched over a book, copying down a hundred scraps of paper beside him.

“You look busy.”

Lael smiled as he continued writing. “Someone must keep track of everyone’s location.”

“How many vacant shops do we have on Lorian Street?”

“Six storefronts, nine lofts. I have already started assigning businesses to them. I would also like to open the Trace and Megen streets for commerce. They sat vacant for so long though we have plenty of Mages in those sections.”

“Very well. How many Gaelsins have shops?”

“More than you would think. Many of them opened businesses to supplement their income from non-Mages who hired them. I have leather-crafters, wood-carvers, quilters, even someone who felts towels and blankets. They are quite soft…. I might need a set myself.”

Markus ducked in with a stack of papers and set them on the desk as Gabriel chuckled quietly. Lael quickly reviewed the supply tallies and signed the bottom of each order.

“Where is Mikelle?” Gabriel asked.

“Assigning rooms in Challis’s absence.”

“Where has she assigned Shaun?”

“The Lodge.”

“Perfect,” Gabriel sighed. “The King of Tintagaelsing has requested an audience with me, and I am planning on attending tomorrow. Would you accompany me?”

Lael looked up. “Of course, but why bother? Plus, setting foot in an incanted building will be very dangerous.”

“I will have to go in eventually to free his captives,” Gabriel shrugged. “And I would like to explain why I am taking his Mages.”

“Very well, but I suggest you take a Mage with you that knows hand-to-hand combat just to be safe.”

Gabriel nodded. “I will be staying the night in Tintagaelsing to prep the rest of the city. I’ll return for you in the morning.” He slipped out and walked the castle for a good hour.

Shaun had reports of non-Mages getting into fights and ordering guards into the slums in search of their servants. Some Mages worked full time in kitchens or craft houses for non-Mages. Now that Mages were leaving, these tasks were left undone. The more Mages that abandoned their jobs, the more came to Gabriel searching for answers and freedom. It would be no time before every Mage was out of that cursed city.

Gabriel woke and put on his best coat before shifting to Jaden. He retrieved Lael and two large men he recognized as gate guards, Ariad and Kaden. They were skilled in weaponry and hand combat. Lael rattled off new information on the Gaelsins as they shifted, and Gabriel deposited them just outside the large black gates of the palace.

“Hold a moment,” Gabriel muttered and laid four armor-patterns against each of them, covering up to the collar. “This should hold off three patterns before it fails.” Lael unbuttoned the front of his fancy black-and-yellow coat to look at the shimmering gray skin with amusement.

“We are here to see your King,” Gabriel told the guards as they approached the gate, handing over the crumpled summons. The guards looked them up and down with confused gazes, always going back to their dark hair.

Six guards in dark gray-and-cream flanked them as the gates open. Gabriel took one step over the threshold and felt the all-too-familiar absence of his Elements. He took in a deep breath and did not pause. He noticed Ariad and Kaden did, and Lael put on a strong face for he had dealt with incanted rooms before. It never ceased to unnerve Mages who relied so heavily on their Elements.

The palace was a beautiful structure of ever-taller spires, as if a geyser had burst and continued to climb before freezing to the hill. Anarma Palace, he heard it called. The great doors were painted blue as well as the inside curtains, making the whole building sparkle.

The inside had tall arched ceilings, blue tile floors, marble columns, and silver furnishings. Nobles and dignitaries dotted the halls, garbed in long lavish coats and dresses that trailed behind them. Hair was often worn down, or bound in an elaborate braid. Even the men had long hair to surpass Dagan. Gabriel’s party got more than one strange look, but he was learning how to ignore it.

“Why are there no brunets here?” Ariad, the taller of the two, asked.

“I don’t know.”

One of the guards piqued up. “They went extinct hundreds of years ago.”

Their bootfalls echoed through the halls as they climbed dozens of staircases, wound through many halls, and finally stood before a tall set of blue doors. A guard whispered to a page who slipped in to announce them.

The doors opened to a round salon decorated in grays and blues, revealing shelves of books, an empty hearth, and several inhabitants who looked up. A shorter man in a long silver coat stood and set his glass goblet aside. He was near Cordis’s age, with a fair face unused to seeing sun, and long blond hair bound in a tie. His face, while handsome, was perturbed.

“You are t’ man taking my Mages, I presume.” His accent was slight.

“You are the man enslaving them.” Gabriel folded his arms, longing for the touch of his Elements again.

“You have taken a great wealth from my city, and I wish to be paid for t’em.”

“Mages are not a commodity to be bought and sold.”

The man gave an aggravated smile. “T’ey may not be where you hail from, but our culture is different. Since you have upset it so, I t’ink it only fair I receive retribution for t’ose stolen from me.”

“They were not stolen, they were liberated, and I will not pay you for them. You can accept the fact that your Mages are now being cared for, with proper roofs, meals, clothes, liberties, and education.”

“If you have t’ money to support an entire Mage population, you have enough t’ pay for them. Most fetch a sack of grain or corn, some of t’ stronger ones warrant flasks of oil or wine or honey. I would consider a trade of your resources with mine.”

“Seeing as you no longer have several thousand mouths to feed in this city, I see no need for you to require resources as your expenditure has diminished. I will, however, send you a cask of my finest Jaden gold wine as thanks for your hospitality.”

The King ground his teeth. “For every Mage taken.”

“No, just one cask from me.”

“You have not only taken a basis of my income but my power source.”

“Yes, I realize that. I will be returning for the Mages you keep torturing in this palace and liberate them as well. I understand you have been increasing your abductions since I arrived.”

At that, the King wrinkled his brow and looked to a man in blue sitting in a window. The man opened a folio, then shook his head.

“Nevertheless,” Gabriel cut in. “I will return for them, unless you would like to bring them to me.”

“T’ey are within an incanted building and will remain mine.”

Gabriel narrowed his gaze. “I will be seeing you shortly.” He turned to go, his retainers following.

“Afton,” the king barked, and suddenly Gabriel’s armor shivered. He turned to see where the attack had come from, scanning the few faces in the room. A movement from the corner of his eyes betrayed the person he had missed, a slight girl standing between a pair of bookshelves. She flicked her hands together, and three patterns suddenly flung from them.

“How?” Gabriel breathed as he raised an arm to block the pattern before it hit his face. Kaden rushed forward to grab her with Ariad close on his heels, and Lael stepped in front of Gabriel. The girl never stopped flinging patterns. A pattern pulsed from her chest, and Gabriel looked closer to see her eyes were white. Her hair was a darker blonde, so there was no way she was in Void. She too was blind, but her patterns hit as easily as if she saw.

Kaden fell right before her without a sound. Ariad made it to her and wrenched a pattern loose before he too fell. Lael steeled himself and whispered, “Run!”

“Not so strong without your Elements, Mage!” King Rayner yelled as Gabriel bolted for the door. A third pattern struck his back as he reached for the latch, hearing Lael fall with a gasp.

He bolted out the door and raced down the hall. Blood seeped into his throat as he rasped against the exercise. Footsteps behind him said someone followed. The girl, Afton, was not far behind, but she held no patterns in her hands.

He rounded a corner and tore down the stairs down another hall. Ducking left, he could not remember how they had come since there were so many twists. If he could get to a low enough level, he could burst through a window and make it to the gates. If he could only get one ounce of flesh onto normal stone, he could shift out.

Footsteps announced Afton a moment before silence fell. Gabriel hit the ground; all feeling gone from his body.
‘Doldrums-pattern.’
He coughed as his lungs took the jar, spitting blood onto the blue floor as he rasped for breath.

Slippered feet and a light blue dress stepped into his vision. Afton knelt beside his head. “Blood?” she whispered and put a hand on his lips.

“Did you get him?” The voice of the King called from the stairwell. His bootsteps echoed off the tile. “Good. Take him downstairs.”

It took four guards to lift him onto their shoulders. Gabriel watched the upside-down world as they carried him; blood collecting in his mouth. His head throbbed where he hit the ground, and his shoulder and knee smarted, but it was furthest from his mind. Lael, Kaden, and Ariad were out there somewhere sharing his fate, and he had no way out.

The guards took him down a dozen flights of stairs, each one becoming darker until they were lit with glowing bowls. The air grew cold and musty. They stepped into a small round room where a man in a long black coat stood.

“Where do you want t’is one?”

The man in black frowned. “You damaged him.” He gripped Gabriel’s face with a hand and turned it back and forth, shrugging, “Put him in 128.”