The Sartious Mage (The Rhythm of Rivalry) (21 page)

Kalli was somewhat chubby when she was younger, and the guards seemed to put more effort into making that painfully obvious than in helping us.

I tried to force a smile, knowing my sister was only trying to help. “Thank you for your concern,” I told her. “But don’t worry about me.”

“She’s using your trust against you. I can feel it.”

“Then why did she save my life?”

Kalli squinted, unsure what I meant. “When?”

“With Exo. She warned me he was coming back to kill me.”

Kalli’s mouth tightened. “That’s simple. She’s more scared of him than she is of you. Anyone who meets you knows within a handshake that you have a gentle heart. With that mage it’s the opposite. He reeks of cruelty.”

I didn’t want to believe my sister, but I couldn’t find the logic to disagree, either. I decided to say something to ease her worry, to show her I was listening, while I figured out what I really thought later.

“Maybe my gentle nature was why the King took advantage of me. He thought he could get away with it.”

“But we’ll make sure he doesn’t.” Kalli squeezed my arm lovingly. “We’ll get you the cure. As long as you don’t let the pretty girl distract you.”

I returned to my bedroom with a lot on my mind. I
had
begun to trust Lisanda, whether I wanted to or not. And the thought of going back to how we were when we’d first met was painful. It felt like I would be losing a friend, which reminded me of the slaughtered animals I’d already lost.

My entire body clenched from the tight pinch that death created. I missed Rubble dearly. Literal pain hit my stomach and swelled into my chest.

Lisanda was on her back, dead asleep. She had one hand up beside her head so that it was resting on her wild black hair strewn across the pillow. Her other hand moved up and down on her stomach with each breath, bobbing like a boat in the middle of the ocean.

The moment I saw her, I forgot everything Kalli had just told me.

Chapter 19: Bonds

In the morning we took four bags, two wheelbarrows, and a wagon, filling each with food, jugs of water, and all the valuables we could fit. Although we left some belongings in the farmhouse, they were only what we didn’t mind losing if the house was raided by guards.

Most of what we took were clothes. Kalli also took her lute and some books, while Sannil took all the portraits he’d made over the years, neatly stacking them on the wagon that our horse pulled. Most were paintings of Kalli and me throughout childhood, along with two older ones of Sannil’s late wife, Janie, who I knew little about besides the way she looked.

Sannil had told me that Janie had a fever a few days before Kalli was born and never recovered after the blood loss from the birthing. Kalli is two years older than me, so I never met Janie.

In the few instances Kalli or I asked about her, Sannil’s eyes would look inward and find old memories that must’ve become scars. I could see him reliving the pain. He’d wear a smile and try to answer us amiably, but Kalli and I knew better.

The discomfort those conversations created was stronger than my curiosity. So I’d stopped asking about Janie long ago.

After breakfast, the four of us were ready to make our way into the forest. As the horse was most comfortable with me from our trip to the farm, I led him while my father and sister each pushed a wheelbarrow.

Lisanda’s bag was the same size as the rest of ours, but it looked big on her small frame. She seemed unused to caring a heavy load, constantly using her hands to shift the bag to various positions on her back, sometimes hopping to straighten out the sagging straps.

“Kalli, where are you going?” Sannil set down his wheelbarrow to ask.

Kalli had veered off toward the pigsty. “We have to check on him before we go. What if he escaped?”

Sannil put his hands on his hips. “He couldn’t have. He’s wrapped in chains.” Sannil lifted a hand to shield his eyes from the rising sun as his glance followed her. “Kalli, he’s dangerous even without a wand.”

“Then come protect me,” Kalli called back over her shoulder.

Sannil sighed and walked after her. I turned to Lisanda and motioned with my head. We followed.

As I came to the door of the small brick building, the stench of rotting flesh invaded my nose and eyes with a slight burn. Lisanda coughed, covering her face with both hands. She shook her head and went back the other way.

“Come on.” I waved her forward.

“No,” Lisanda said through her hands, still shaking her head.

“I need to go in,” I told her. “And I can’t leave you out here. It’ll be quick.”

Her shoulders slumped, and she turned to follow me.

Kalli and Sannil were inside already. I expected to hear Kalli yelling at Exo, but there were no sounds, not even a murmur.

The sight I saw when I entered was so shocking I hardly noticed how much stronger the stench had become.

My sister and father were staring at the broken chains as if they were watching the world beginning to shatter, a moment of terrible discovery and astonishment.

“How?” Kalli whispered to anyone who could answer.

I went to investigate the chains, lifting them into the light coming through the high window.

“He heated them until they melted enough to break.” I shook my head in disbelief. “He must’ve been burned severely by the amount of heat needed to melt the metal, especially since he didn’t have a wand or staff to direct the Bastial Energy from a single point.”

I dropped the chains back into the pile of pig blood and entrails and walked out so I could think straight.

Even if I could put up with the terrible burns, I didn’t have the strength for all the Bastial Energy needed to melt through chains. The power and determination that it took was frightening. And where was he now?

The rest of them joined me outside. Confusion was shared by all, though Kalli’s face held anger as well. Her eyes were twisted as she looked back at the pigsty.

“Why didn’t he attack us once he got free?” Kalli wondered.

Sannil glanced quickly in each direction. “He was probably barely alive when he finished burning himself to get through the chains. We need to move before he recovers and comes back.” Sannil went back toward the wheelbarrows.

“We should’ve killed him,” Kalli muttered.

“Kalli…” Our father gave her a sad look.

Normally, Sannil had a warm smile. With a wide mouth and thick lips, a grin from him caused deep lines to form high up his cheekbones. But I hadn’t seen one of his smiles since I’d returned.

I missed them.

I knew Sannil to be a handsome man. His graying hair still had streaks of dark brown along the sides with some strands mixed in atop his head as well. His eyes were brown and youthful. Above them were eyebrows that were still dark. Sannil never let his beard grow out, but he usually had sandy gray stubble that accentuated his smile—when it came.

My father was big, about a forehead taller than me and with wide shoulders. He never complained of a sore back or a lack of energy. Instead, he’d often mutter how there weren’t enough hours in the day, waking up early with the sun and staying out until darkness made the simplest task impossible.

Sannil was looking at Kalli like she was plagued with a disease. “You’re upset,” he told her. “But this isn’t you. I know you don’t really wish to take another’s life.” His tone was accusatory.

Kalli’s anger turned to embarrassment from the chiding. Her eyes found Lisanda for a blink and then looked into the dirt.

“I want him dead.” Kalli spoke so quietly I wasn’t sure I’d heard her correctly.

Sannil wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Kalli’s head still hung low. “As do I,” he agreed with a soft voice. He switched his grip to hold both of her shoulders, bending down to look her in the eye. “But it’s not our decision whether someone lives or dies. Understand?”

I turned and put my hand on Lisanda’s back to lead her away. This was a moment Kalli didn’t want to share with anyone but family. I could feel it.

My sister loved our animals, the cats and horses especially. I figured she must have so much hatred for Exo for killing them that she couldn’t contain it all. As often happened with emotions too powerful for our own bodies, her hatred had begun to fragment with much of it directed at the Takary family and Lisanda specifically—the only one here to answer for their crimes.

But I figured that misguided blame would fade soon enough.

“Is your sister usually violent?” Lisanda asked when we were some distance away.

I shook my head with a smile. “Definitely not.”

Lisanda didn’t look relieved. She absently stared ahead at a fallen tree with nearly naked, gnarled branches. It lay among three others just like it that were still standing. Something had knocked the tree over, causing it to rip from its roots. It was a gloomy sight. I wasn’t sure why Lisanda couldn’t take her eyes off it.

Our farm was on the outskirts of the forest, and after just a couple miles we were surrounded by trees.

Sannil and Kalli were far behind. It seemed as if they had a lot to talk about, so I gave them their distance.

Lisanda and I talked while we traveled, first about nothing—what to expect from the weather, nothing of interest. Long pauses between empty statements made it clear we each had heavy worries we weren’t sharing.

Eventually, I couldn’t keep them to myself any longer. I told her of my concerns about putting my family in danger and how I hated myself for what happened. I knew Lisanda was the wrong audience for purging my emotional conflicts, but I continued nonetheless. I told her that I should’ve behaved myself in her father’s throne room, that I’d let rage take over.

“You could take me back,” Lisanda said with a pessimistic tone when I was done. She knew full well I wouldn’t do that.

I felt embarrassed about exposing my remorse to the girl I’d kidnapped. Now all I’d done was make the situation awkward. Luckily, my father called to me from behind, asking me to wait.

He and Kalli caught up to us. Kalli gave me a smile and a nod and continued forward with her wheelbarrow while Sannil held me still with his hand on my shoulder.

“Come on, Princess,” Kalli told Lisanda. “Walk with me.”

Lisanda showed me a nervous look.

“Go ahead,” I said, trying to ease her worry with a smile.

When they were too far to hear us, my father and I slowly started after them.

“I wanted to talk in private,” he told me.

When I turned to meet his eyes, I was pleasantly surprised to find the smile I’d been missing. I felt relief swell into my lungs with my next breath.

“Kalli and I’ve been talking,” he continued. “While I can’t say I would’ve
advised
you to kidnap a Takary, I’m not going to scold you for it, either. I know you would do anything for the cure to your darkness, and Kalli and I don’t blame you for that, nor do we blame you for what happened at the farm. So, you shouldn’t blame yourself.”

I gave a subtle smile to show my thanks while really I was glowing. It’s amazing how approval from the right person at the right time can set your upside-down heart back upright. I could feel some of the hatred for myself withering away.

“And Kalli and I can’t let you finish this on your own,” Sannil continued.

“I was hoping you could stay with Lisanda while I go back into town to set up the trade,” I told him.

He shook his head. “After this is over I’m going to move, but I have some arrangements to make in the city first, some people to meet.”

“Wait.” I could feel my heart starting to flip again. “You’re not suggesting that you tell the King’s men about Lisanda to try to set up a meeting?”

“I’m going into the city anyway, no matter what. You and I can discuss a time and date for the trade. We’ll write it on a note, and then I’ll give it to a guard and leave before he even reads it. I’ll make sure to finish everything I need to do in the city first.”

“As soon as he reads it he’ll chase after you!”

“I’ll take the horse and give the note to a guard on foot so he can’t catch up.” My father sat down the wheelbarrow. “In fact, we should switch so the horse can get to know me. What’s his name?” Sannil left the wheelbarrow to pet the animal’s neck.

“I haven’t named him yet.” I didn’t budge. “Father, if they stop you they’ll torture the information out of you. It’s better if you stay with Lisanda and let me go. I can speak to whoever you need to find in the city.”

My father didn’t take his eyes off the horse. “You didn’t name him?”

“I didn’t think I’d be keeping him. Enough about the horse, will you stay?”

“Am I that old and frail that my children worry about me more than themselves now?”

“It’s not that.”

“You forget that your old man is the one who taught you magic in the first place?”

My eyes fell off him. “No. Of course I remember, but—”

“Besides,” Sannil interrupted, “I need to go to the city myself. There are tasks there that you cannot do for me.”

“The blacksmith?”