King Of Souls (Book 2) (40 page)

His shirt had pulled away near his shoulders revealing three crisscrossing welts raised on his flesh. The lines appeared red and swollen, and Danielle’s stomach fluttered with apprehension. “Arber, show me your back.”

Arber’s brow furrowed, and he gazed into Danielle’s eyes. “Why?”

“Show me.” Danielle paused and took care considering her next word. “Please.”

Arber let go a deep breath and nodded. He turned so his back faced Danielle. Even before he raised his shirt, long streaks of blood and shredded fabric revealed much about his time spent among the Obsith.

Despite the heat, a tingle of dread rippled along the base of Danielle’s neck, and she bit her lower lip.

Arber raised his shirt revealing a dozen long whip marks stretching from his shoulders to his waistline. Raised pockets of puss and blood oozed from several red streaks looking infected and in need of treatment.

Despite what he’d done, in that moment Danielle’s heart broke. She reached for her pouch, but found it missing. She carried nothing that could treat his wounds or cure his infection. Her voice trembled as she spoke. “Oh Arber…” She shook her head as silent tears rolled down her cheeks. “What happened?”

Arber lowered his shirt, turned, and leaned against the wall wincing in pain. “Where should I start?”

“At the beginning,” Danielle said. “What happened in Freehold last summer?”

Arber held her gaze for several long heartbeats before he spoke. “I’ll say first that no matter how crazy my story might sound, it’s true. Every bit of it. Every decision I made. Every action I took. It was all to save Ayralen.”

Danielle nodded. He sounded convincing.

His shoulders sagged, and he closed his eyes leaning forward. “Pride pulled Brendyn and me from the death camp and stowed us away in his dungeon. Brendyn was at the end of his rope Danielle. He would pace the cell morning, noon, and night. I thought he was going to have a mental breakdown. Anyway, Pride must have sent for him because he disappeared one day, and I never saw him again.”

Danielle held her tongue not wanting to reveal any details of Brendyn’s fate until she’d heard his story.

“After he left, I had a strange visit,” Arber said.

“From who?”

Arber sighed. “This is the part that’s hard to believe, but it’s the truth. I swear it.”

In all the years she’d know him, Danielle had never heard Arber speak an untruth no matter how slight. She considered his character beyond reproach which made his duplicity that much more painful. “What is it Arber?”

“I remember the visit, and I remember what the visitor said. But, I can’t remember anything about the person. I can’t even tell you if the visitor was a man or a woman?”

“Maybe you were hallucinating?”

Arber shook his head. “The visitor put me into some sort of trance. I don’t know how else to describe it. After that, visions played in my head.”

“Visions?”

“I’ve seen it all Danielle. The visitor showed me visions of dragons, sorcerers, and strange desert cities. In my vision you were next to me crying in the sand, and we watched the Heartwood die. I’ve seen visions of Ronan in the mountains speaking with Rika and an old woman.”

“How do I know you’re not lying?”

Arber never hesitated. “I saw a vision of Keely. An atter struck her hip in the desert. Did that happen?”

Danielle’s pulse quickened, and she leaned forward. “How did you know that? Did Aren tell you?” But as she spoke the words, she knew Aren couldn’t have told Arber. Danielle thought back on his brief visit to Brees’s home. He’d paid no attention to Keely, nor did he ask about her. She leaned against the blurry crystalline wall and winced. The sweat soaking her dress sizzled like bacon in a skillet. She straightened and used the cloth covering her wrist to soak up a bucket of perspiration streaming down her forehead.

The conversation’s direction caused a pang of dread to darken her thoughts. What would he reveal next? Did she want to know?

“The visitor said the Heartwood’s survival was of extreme importance to humankind,” Arber said. “The visitor said the visions were of a future that might be, but I had the power to change it.”

“How?” She thought she knew, but wanted to hear him say it.

“The visitor told me to destroy either Elan’s Heart or Lora’s Heart. If I did, shard magic might die, but humanity would live on.”

“Saved? From the Obsith?” Danielle said.

Arber shook his head. “In the visions, I saw the plague decimate the Obsith.”

Danielle’s stomach twisted. “Without the Heartwood, the plague will kill everyone won’t it? Does the fruit’s antidote fade over time?”

“I can’t say for sure, but every vision has come true since my…failure.” Arber hung his head.

“You wanted Pride to destroy Lora’s Heart didn’t you?”

Arber lifted his head and stared without focus as if recalling old memories. “The visitor assured me no harm would come to you or Ronan. I refused to help otherwise.” His focus sharpened as his gaze locked on Danielle’s. “Yes. I wanted it destroyed. You would too if you’d seen what I’ve seen.”

“But, that didn’t happen,” Danielle said.

Arber shook his head. “If I failed to destroy either heart, the visitor told me to meet a man named Martell at the forest’s edge. The visitor said he could help me.”

“Help you with what?”

“Help me stop the invasion. If we could convince the emperor of the Heartwood’s importance, he might alter his plans.”

“He didn’t believe you, did he?” Danielle said.

Arber shook his head. “No. He thought it was a trick.”

A horrible thought struck Danielle. If Arber hadn’t visited the desert, the plague wouldn’t have spread. The Obsith could’ve lived ignorant of the Ayralens for decades longer. She almost spoke the theory out loud, but realized he would've reached the same conclusion by now. “Arber, it would’ve happened regardless. You know that right? It was only a matter of time.”

“The emperor seemed surprised by visit, but not shocked. It felt like he’d been waiting for the news.”

“What bargain did you make with him?”

“Danielle, I saw thousands of sorcerers gathered in Zen. The Obsith have ten times as many shaman and sorcerers as we have wardens and guardians. Even if you added the Meranthian shard knights the ratio wouldn’t change. That’s too large an advantage to overcome, and that’s without their pet dragons.”

“Arber, the bargain?” Danielle said.

“The emperor promised to leave the forest whole…and to leave you unharmed. In exchange, I’d lead him to Lora’s Sphere.”

“How did you know where to find it?”

Arber shrugged. “Even though I’ve released the magic, I feel an affinity for it. I feel it now.”

“Why didn’t you come to me with this before you gave Lora’s Heart to Merric Pride?”

Arber raised his eyebrows. “Would you’ve believed me?”

Danielle recalled her emotional and mental state last summer. “No. I would’ve thought you’d lost your mind.”

A slight smile flickered across Arber’s face. “Maybe I have.”

Danielle stood, crossed the room, and sat beside Arber. She gripped his massive hand and squeezed. “I’m sorry for what I said earlier. It was wrong, and it’s not true.”

“So you believe me then?”

She leaned her head against his shoulder and nodded. “I’m sorry about Martell. He sounds like a good man.”

“He was a good man. There are others like him among the Obsith. They’re a decent people Danielle, and don’t deserve what’s about to happen to them.”

“Martell was a shaman?”

Arber nodded, and his grin widened. “I couldn’t figure out how he could walk all day in the desert and never sweat. Once I discovered his power, we had a good laugh about it.” His grin faded, and his expression turned bleak. “I didn’t even think about the plague when he fell sick. I shouldn’t have listened to the visitor. If I’d left the desert people alone, they wouldn’t be dying right now.”

“Our contact with the Obsith was unavoidable. It just so happens it was you.” Danielle said. “Besides, there’s no point reliving a past we can’t change. We need to find solutions to our present problems.”

Arber nodded. “Thank you.”

“Did the emperor reveal anything of his plans?”

“He didn’t, but Martell believed he’d need both spheres to carry out his plan.”

“Then Meranthia’s next.” Danielle sighed.

“He won’t know where to find it,” Arber said.

“Which means he’ll have to flush out Ronan just like he did me in the Heartwood,” Danielle said.

“In my visions, I saw Freehold under attack,” Arber said.

Danielle nodded. “We can’t leave camp without Lora’s Sphere.”

Arber raised his brow as if surprised. “We?”

“You didn’t think I’d leave you here to die? Not after everything you’ve just told me, did you?”

Arber’s face reddened, and his condition appeared unrelated to the heat. “Thank you for believing me Danielle. No matter what happens, my spirit can rest easy. But, the emperor must have a dozen sorcerers guarding Lora’s Sphere.”

“We’ll make it out of here Arber. There’ll be no talk of dying.” Danielle turned her head toward the sphere she felt less than twenty yards away. “How much do the Obsith know of guardian powers?”

“I can’t say for sure. I’ve not mentioned them to anyone. Not even Martell.”

A loud grating noise came from the cell’s crystal door, and a moment later it slid free. A stiff breeze blew through the open door settling over Danielle and Arber.

Fresh cool air washed over Danielle’s skin drying sweat in her hair and face. She experienced instant relief on a level she’d never dreamed possible. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment shutting out the figure standing outside the prison’s open doorway.

The high-pitched whine marking Aren Broderick’s unwanted presence shattered Danielle’s brief respite. “On your feet.” His gaze flickered between Arber and Danielle. “The emperor wants to see both of you right now.”

A Forest Find

A thunderous groan preceded a loud crack that rang like a funeral toll across the Heartwood. The first tree, engulfed in flames, split near its center separating the upper limbs and branches from its thick root base. As the tree fell, a storm of smoke and embers blew upward sending an avalanche of ash and charred debris shooting skyward.

Ronan’s mouth hung open too stunned to move. A cold numb sensation started at the base of his skull and spread along his spine creeping into his fingers and toes. At his side, his sheba blade hung still and limp.

Rika loosed an earsplitting screech and glided in a semi-circle around the first tree’s wreckage. She tilted left arcing downward toward the forest floor three-hundred feet below.

Dozens of Ayralen archers leaped from the falling tree’s fiery upper decks. Bloodcurdling screams rose above the first tree’s groans. Its human defenders fell into a tomb of black smoke and ash a hundred feet below.

Ronan sheathed his blade and raised his hand preparing spirit to shield the falling archers when the sky went black. Movement, swift and sudden, jerked Ronan’s body sideways ripping him off Rika’s back.

Ronan’s shield flashed, and a spider’s web of glowing blue lines crisscrossed its outer shell. From the billows of smoke, a mid-sized dragon roared, streaming spirit magic from its ten-foot tail.

The dragon arced lower disappearing into the churn of smoke and ash. Ronan plummeted, and the nauseating sensation of falling set his heart racing.

Rika’s wings flapped in desperation, but she couldn’t overcome the dragon’s crushing blow. She fell a few feet to Ronan’s right while her shield pulsed with shades of white and blue like an earthquake’s aftershock.

Ronan’s stomach lurched, and he twisted his body sideways trying to grab Rika’s extended talons. If he lost contact with her, he couldn’t shield her body from impact. His fingertips brushed her leg then slipped away before his hand closed on empty air.

The gulf separating Ronan and Rika widened and filled with thick clouds of black smoke and ash.

Ronan pushed layers of spirit around his body hoping to blunt the trauma of impact. He searched the surrounding smoke for Rika’s shield but would’ve had more luck staring through a stone wall. He channeled magic into his vision, but he couldn’t overcome thousands of tons of burning ash.

Ronan gained speed as time itself slowed. At any moment, he’d hit the ground, and he braced himself for his second crash landing that month.

Impact came without warning. Ronan’s shield burst into a radiant globe of blue and white energy shining like a beacon in the twist of burning limbs and branches. He bounced six-feet off the ground and craned his neck sideways searching for a flash of light marking Rika’s location.

From what appeared ten miles away, a hazy flash of white energy blazed bright enough to mark Rika’s location.

Ronan’s shield clattered and sizzled before resting against the embers of a fallen tree limb. His shield strained to protect his body from the orange coals glowing like a campfire under his backside. He felt his magic reserves drain under the relentless pressure.