King Of Souls (Book 2) (42 page)

Thoth shook his head. “Doing so would kill me in an instant.”

“How does the emperor use them to control you?”

“He controls the crystals using a bracelet joined with his elemental sphere,” Thoth said.

“Can it be removed?” Ronan said.

“It’s unknown. Trace has never faced a human his equal who might try. But, you have enough power.”

“Me?” Ronan’s jaw fell open. “I’ve only held magic rivaling Trace’s for a few months. He’s had centuries of practice and an army of sorcerers. Look what he’s done to the forest. How could I stop him?”

Thoth paused a moment before answering. “If not you, who?”

Ronan clenched his jaw and shook his head. “Thoth, I don’t have the strength.”

“But you do. I can see the strength inside you.”

“I told you, I just earned this magic. It’s —”

“No human. You misunderstand. I speak not of the artificial magic under your control but of the real power blazing inside your soul. It’s separate but a part of you like your heart or mind.”

“That’s what Moira said, she —”

Thoth’s eyes widened. “Moira! Where did you hear that name?”

Near Ronan’s feet, Rika stirred, and a slight moan escaped her lips. “Ronan? Where are you?”

Ronan knelt beside Rika and took her hand. “I’m here Rika.”

She sat upright with eyes closed and rubbed the back of her head. “The first tree…did it really fall?”

“It fell. I’ve not seen any sign of my father or Kelwin, but that doesn’t mean we’ve lost them.”

“We have to find them Ronan.”

“Rika, before you open your eyes, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Ignoring Ronan’s warning, Rika’s eyes shot open, and she screamed. She pushed backward scooting away from Thoth’s towering presence.

Ronan raised his palms trying to calm her. “Rika, it’s okay.”

“Climb on Ronan!” Rika shifted into her hawk form and screeched.

Ronan held up his palms and shook his head. “Rika, wait. It’s not how it looks. He won’t hurt us.”

The bear cub sat on his haunches and cocked his head staring at Rika like she’d lost her mind.

Rika didn’t move for several moments as she looked between Ronan and Thoth. The dragon stood unmoving over Ronan’s right shoulder. She shifted into human form and folded her arms. “Ronan, do you mind explaining what this creature is doing here?” She shot an angry glare toward Thoth.

Ronan spent the next few minutes explaining to Rika what happened after their crash.

Rika glanced over her shoulder toward the fiery wreckage blocking the first tree’s entrance. “How are we going to reach them? What if they’re still alive in there?”

“We’re going to need help to clearing a path, and I fear bringing the knights too close until we’re better prepared,” Ronan said.

“What now?” Rika said. “Trace will come for Elan’s Heart. He’ll destroy Freehold just like he did the Heartwood.”

Ronan’s piercing green eyes held Thoth’s for a long moment. “I might know a way to stop that from happening.”

“You want to go after Trace don’t you? You think you can remove his bracelet?” Rika’s eyes pleaded with him to stop and think. “Ronan, that’s madness.”

“He’s holding Danielle prisoner. I can’t let him kill her. She came for me last year when I needed her, and I won’t abandon her when she needs me. Besides, if we can stop him before he invades Meranthia, we’ll prevent thousands of deaths.”

Rika’s expression softened, and she nodded. “Of course, but do you even know where to find Danielle?”

Ronan closed his eyes and channeled as he had earlier that day. A low thumping sound reverberated in his head originating far to the south. “Yes. I can find her.”

“I can take you to her,” Thoth said. “If Trace is imprisoning her at his camp, I can enter without raising suspicion.”

“Those sorcerers would attack us on sight,” Ronan said.

“I’ve some Obsith clothing in my saddle,” Thoth said. “Lady Rika might pass for a sorcerer provided she keeps her hood raised, and you could be her shaman. I can fly you past the sentries on the camp’s perimeter.”

Ronan furrowed his brow and rubbed his chin. “I can’t think of a better plan. Rika?”

Rika shook her head. “I still think it’s crazy, but if your minds made up, we should enter Trace’s camp during the night.”

Thoth nodded. “Yes, I agree. A nighttime approach would be best.”

“We’ll fly to Elan’s Gap and tell Jeremy our plan,” Ronan said. “He must think we’re dead.”

“I’d advise against that strategy,” Thoth said. “With such thick cloud cover, the dragons can attack at will. Acting with haste will maximize the element of surprise.”

Unease gnawed at Ronan’s stomach. Flying into an enemy camp without telling Jeremy seemed foolhardy, but Danielle needed him. “Jeremy will come looking for us, and he’ll try to dig out any survivors that might live beneath the first tree. I’ll leave him a note, and tell him what I can.”

“It’s settled then,” Rika said.

“We’ll leave at sunset,” Ronan said.

The Emperor

The moment she stepped into the emperor’s quarters, Danielle felt Lora’s Sphere call her forward. She wouldn’t leave camp without it. She’d die first. She pushed away sweat-soaked curls clinging to her temple but resisted an urge to pull the sphere toward her and run.

A dozen sorcerers and shaman flanked a man seated atop a jeweled throne along the airy chamber’s far wall. Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires blanketed the emperor’s throne. Glittering rings matching the thrones opulence adorned all ten of his fingers.

Flecks of gray sprinkled the temples of the blond-haired emperor, and a thin confident smile appeared on his face. He sat relaxed like a man in charge of his own destiny. His robes, tailored using a high quality burlap, appeared softer than those worn by sorcerers and shaman.

Lining each side of the crystalline chamber, several Obsith women knelt. Each held over-sized fans made of a stiffer version of the burlap material. They worked the fans in a slow steady rhythm toward the emperor’s throne.

To Danielle’s left, Arber stood with perspiration soaking his tattered pants and bloodstained tunic. Unlike Danielle, they’d left him unbound.

A thin chamber of flowing electrical current smelling of overheated metal surrounded Danielle. Her prison walls stood nearly invisible except for electrical waves distorting the air a few feet around her.

Aren slid shut a crystalline door carved with angled slots allowing air currents to circulate the room.

The man seated atop the throne tipped his head toward Danielle in a casual sign of acknowledgment. “My apologies for the crude restrictions imposed on you Earth Mother, but for my own safety, I fear it’s necessary. My name is Trace. I’m emperor of these lands.”

Aren prodded Arber in the back using a short crystal crop. “Kneel before the emperor, fool.”

Arber grunted and fell forward landing on his hands and knees. Perspiration shook free of his bald head disappearing into a rug woven with crystal beads of red, yellow, and green. He lowered his arms and bowed in submission to Trace and the crystal throne.

Aren turned a sharp glare on Danielle and raised his crystal crop in her direction when the emperor held up his palm.

“There’s no need for that Master Aren,” Trace said. “Our guest deserves the respect granted her station. I’ll not see her treated like a commoner.”

Danielle balled her fists and gritted her teeth. “What do you want from me?”

A sideways smirk slid across Trace’s handsome features. “It’s right to the point is it? Alright.” Trace stood and glided across his quarters toward an intricately carved crystalline cabinet. “It’s Miss Deveaux is it not?”

Danielle offered a curt nod, but her glare never wavered.

“What do you know of the earth sphere’s internal workings?” Trace said.

A dull heaviness weighed in the pit Danielle’s stomach. How Lora’s Sphere worked fell well beyond her knowledge, but she couldn’t afford to express any doubt. “I know enough.”

As soon as the words left her lips, Danielle cringed. Her voice sounded hollow and lacked true conviction.

“That’s good. I’m glad to hear you left it well tended in my absence.” Trace knelt and opened the cabinet. He flattened his palm and directed it inside the cabinet’s shadowed recesses. As he stood and stepped backward, the amulet dangling from his neck glowed with bright blue light.

Lora’s Sphere floated free of the cabinet’s shadows. It followed Trace as he stepped backward pausing near Danielle. The air surrounding the sphere looked distorted causing the green energy on its surface to appear smeared.

Danielle opened her mind and reached for Lora’s Sphere willing it toward her. But, her hold on it felt slippery like holding a conversation across a crowded room. She couldn’t quite find the handle.

Trace showed no fear or worry and stared into Danielle’s eyes for several moments without speaking. “You can’t reach it. I’ve made sure of that. You see, I know a great deal about the earth sphere. I made it after all.”

Heat flashed behind Danielle’s eyes, and her gaze latched onto Trace’s confident smirk. “You? Lora created that sphere, not you.”

Trace let go a long sigh. “Two thousand years hasn’t shifted public opinion I see. Even so, it’s true. As its creator, I know you didn’t restore the earth sphere without help.”

A sharp chill flared at the base of Danielle’s neck. She pressed her lips together and decided against speaking further.

Trace shook his head and circled Lora’s Sphere never taking his eyes from its flowing green depths. “The earth sphere is built in tandem with its twin.”

Dread clung like a parasite to Danielle’s thoughts. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Trace pitched his head back and loosed a deep rumbling laugh. “Oh come now. I’ve lived a long life Miss Deveaux. A good liar believes his lies. You aren’t a good liar.”

Danielle clinched her jaw and anger flared hot in her mind.

“The earth sphere and soul sphere are inseparably linked, but you already know that.” A bemused grin spread across Trace’s face, and he shook his head.

A warm flush spread through Danielle’s cheeks. She’d never heard Ronan or any Meranthian refer to Elan’s sphere as a soul sphere, and she didn’t like knowing this monster had.

Trace turned a blistering stare on Danielle while continuing his slow march around Lora’s Sphere. “Where’s the soul sphere Miss Deveaux?”

Despite the room’s warm temperature, a pang of icy fear crawled across Danielle’s flesh. “I don’t know.” Her mouth felt cottony and dry as the lie sounded hollow even to her ears.

Trace glanced toward Aren and gave him the barest nod.

Aren reached inside his robe and pulled free a whip made from interlocking sections of studded crystal. With a grunt, he unleashed a rage filled swing on Arber’s prone and exposed back.

Arber’s already torn and bloodied tunic ripped in half as the whip lashed his back. A thin line of electricity leaped from the whip’s glowing tip and Arber’s wounds tore open. A fresh line of scarlet bloomed on his bare olive skin while the older wounds opened sending streaks of blood flowing down his back.

Arber’s eyes bulged as he craned his neck skyward and screamed. The veins on his scalp and neck strained and thickened, and a mask of agony warped his face.

Danielle leaped forward and reached for Arber. Her fingertips brushed the walls of her electrical cage, and her body stiffened. Electricity surged through her fingertips continuing into her arms, back, and legs. She opened her mouth to scream, but couldn’t find her voice. Her legs buckled, and she crumpled to the ground. Danielle strained her neck upward finding Trace’s sneer. “Don’t hurt him.” Her voice sounded throaty and weak.

“I can do whatever I want Miss Deveaux. I want the soul sphere, and you’ll tell me where to find it.”

Arber gasped for air and struggled to his hands and knees. “Let him kill me Danielle. Just hold your tongue.”

Sensation returned to Danielle’s arms and legs, and she pushed herself to a seated position. “Your people are sick Trace. There’s a plague spreading among your cities. Even your sorcerers aren’t immune.”

“I like to think of it as a culling of the weak.” Trace tipped his head toward Arber. “Thank you for bringing it to my people Master Stroman. My cities had grown overcrowded, and now I pick who lives and who dies.” His eyes gleamed with delight.

“You’re mad,” Danielle said. “By killing the forest, you’ve destroyed the only cure on earth.”

Trace raised an eyebrow, and a slimy smile slithered across his face. Without taking his eyes from Danielle, he snapped his fingers.

A pint-sized sorcerer scampered toward the open cabinet where Trace had retrieved Lora’s Sphere. The sorcerer knelt and pulled free a thick crystal pot filled with fresh rich soil. Growing in the jewel studded pot, a tiny heartwood sapling stood strong and vibrant.

Danielle groaned and opened her mind to the heartwood, but met resistance from the energy field around her body. Her gaze locked on the plant, and she stared at its trunk and blooming canopy like a prisoner denied his last stay of execution.