The Sorcerer's Dragon (Book 2) (17 page)

“That’s all I need to know,” she said, dropping to her knees and putting her hands up in the air. “I give up.”

When they lifted the bandana blindfold from her eyes and pushed her toward the cold stone slabs, she didn’t expect to see Alicia in the corner, clawing at her head as she wept. The sight scared her more than anything her mind had come up with on the way there.

“Alicia,” she said, rising to her feet. Though her arms were still shackled together with chains, her feet were free. What kind of prison was this that they allowed their jailed to walk around casually? Didn’t they know what their prisoners could do?

“No, no,” Alicia sobbed as she burrowed her head into her chest. She leaned further against the wall. Remi saw that there was light coming from the ceiling of the small circular room. Sure enough, several yards up, there was a grate that led to the outside. The rest of the dungeon was cold and made of stone, but the walls didn’t look secure. Remi summoned her eidolon from her shoulder and leaned to the left so that the blade sliced through her restraints. She picked up her eidolon from the floor and cut through the chains around her wrists. The fact that she was able to free herself so easily was disconcerting. What was keeping them there? The guards? Perhaps the ten that the other guy mentioned were outside…and was Olivia one of those ten?

“Alicia has been like this the whole time,” Remi heard someone say. She turned to her right to see Milo in the corner, hidden under a veil of darkness.

“I didn’t see you there,” she replied.

“Ha. Ha. I get it. I’m dark.”

Remi walked over and freed him of his chains. He rubbed his wrists as his eyes stayed on Alicia.

“She’s not doing well.”

“What’s wrong with her? Did they do something?”

“Didn’t seem like it. But I’m not sure.”

“Where’s your suitcase?”

“Fell in the battle,” he sighed. “I don’t think I’m getting it back. At least I still managed to hold on to Alicia’s clothes.”

“It’s just so weird seeing you without it…um, so what happened?”

“On one of her passes…when she swooped in low, a dozen guys jumped onto her back from the roof. They were so quick that I didn’t even see them until they had already grabbed me. Alicia swooped in to save me but it was a trap. They started throwing gigantic nets on top of her with weights attached to the corners. Then they started pelting her with boulders from the catapults. She was knocked out and went crashing into the city. I don’t think anyone was killed in her fall though. They were definitely waiting for us…the city looked like it was empty when we arrived.”

“Yeah,” she said. “I didn’t see anyone that weren’t part of Cimmerian’s forces.”

“How did they get you?” he asked.

“I gave up after learning that they got the two of you. I knew that together we had a better chance at escaping, and if I kept on fighting, I might be wounded.”

“Speaking of together…where’s Eckard and Olivia?”

“Yeah,” she said, rubbing her forearms. “She betrayed us.”

“Really?” his voice nearly cracked. “But…why?!”

“It’s who she is. She wants power, and Cimmerian probably made her a deal she couldn’t refuse, contingent on capturing me and Alicia. Eckard…he’s just a follower.”

“So it’s just the three of us?”

“And Kace…wherever he may be.”

“So we’re getting out of here?”

“For sure,” she said. “But that’s what worries me. Again, it shouldn’t be this easy. I think they’re waiting for it. Not to mention that they’re probably listening to us right now.”

“Well, we’re not going anywhere with Alicia like that.”

“I know,” she said, walking over to her and bending down to her level. Remi rubbed her back as Alicia continued to weep.

“I’m sorry,” Alicia growled. “I’m trying to stop crying…I hate crying.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Remi said, putting her head on Alicia’s shoulder. “We’re here for you.”

“They won’t stop talking,” she said, scratching her hair. “They keep talking.”

“Who is?”

“The dead,” she whispered. “My dead.”

“Loved ones?”

“No…the soldiers. The ones I killed out there. I hear them. They…” Alicia paused to punch her forehead and then she leaned back up against the wall. “They become a part of me. Or something. I don’t know. They won’t stop talking.”

“That’s why you didn’t kill us in the forest,” Remi whispered in realization.

“I don’t know why this happens…I’m sick of it.”

“I get it,” Remi whispered, hugging Alicia tight. “It’s how the Sorcerers designed you. It’s your weakness. We all need one so we don’t get too strong. Yours is hearing the dead. Mine is my illness. I didn’t want to mention it earlier, but I’ve felt my health declining for months. It’s not even close to how bad it used to be, but I’m sure that over time, I would end up back where I started.”

“Do the voices go away?” Milo asked.

“They never do,” Alicia muttered. “But they become whispers. I can tolerate them.”

“How long does that take?”

“A few days,” she said and Milo looked to Remi for answers.

She sighed heavily. “Then we’ll wait.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? They might not feed us in that time.”

“We’re no good without her. We’d have to carry her on our backs and run out of here if we left now, and I doubt we’d make it far.”

“Yeah,” he said, looking at her. “In the meantime, I’ll do some thinking. Maybe I can come up with a device that can help with the voices.”

“You can make something like that?”

“No,” he laughed. “But I have nothing better to do. I might as well put my mind to good use. Of course, even if I do come up with some theories, there’s no way to implement them without my tools. But oh well, we’ll keep a lookout for some new equipment on our travels.”

“Thank you,” Remi said, giving him a weak smile. “I’m really glad you came with us.”

“No problem,” he said, looking back at Alicia. “Is there any chance that Olivia’s coming back to us?”

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Remi sighed as she leaned into Alicia’s ear. “From here on out, I don’t want you killing anyone you don’t have to. We need you. So from now on, you wound, and I will finish them off.”

Alicia nodded and Remi rose to her feet, preparing her mind for the escape in the next few days.

*              *              *

They didn’t feed them, but that didn’t break Remi’s spirits. Her mind just went back to the early days when she was still weak, sick and hungry. Learning how to deal with little had made her stronger than she thought, and it was in times like this that her horrible upbringing had been a positive contribution to who she was.

Milo had started to panic after the first day but Remi had sat him down and broke it all down to him: how the body would use itself for energy and therefore, without sustenance, it was best to exert as little energy as possible until it was time for them to act. She began to explain to him that the world was something that couldn’t be changed, but the way he reacted to it was the one thing he could do. While Alicia writhed in the corner and slowly became herself again, Remi breathed and waited. Breathed and waited.

She wondered how Kace was doing and if he still had hope that they were coming for them. She thought of Olivia and her inevitable betrayal. Strangely, it didn’t make her mad like it should have. She wasn’t sure if it was because she knew it was coming and that had prepared her for the worst, or if she had grown herself. Olivia did what Olivia had to do. Remi knew this was who she was, and yet she still took her along on the journey.

And why was that?

It wasn’t her friendship. It wasn’t because she felt like she would change who she was by spending time together. No…the more she thought about it, she realized that it was because she could use Olivia’s talents to further her mission. Olivia was talented, and although she was a traitor, she was also valuable.

Remi had
used her.

And she wasn’t sure if she was a terrible person for doing so.

Was it bad to use someone when they would betray you at a moment’s notice? Was there commonality to be found even amongst enemies? Although they had opposing views, they had both used each other to get closer to their goals. Was that wrong?

Was that what the Sorcerers did?

Remi’s eyes opened as her thoughts came back to Kace. The Cimmerian had said he was one of the Sorcerer’s creations. If he was, then that meant there was a good chance he had not arrived at her town by accident. Not likely.

But…he had a childhood. A Quietus family…or did he? She had found it strange how weak he was considering his heritage. Maybe he wasn’t a Quietus at all.

And it was convenient that he happened to be captured, and she had set off to find him. If it had been Olivia, Eckard, Catherine or anyone else, would she have found herself in Cimmerian so soon? Not likely…

But if he wasn’t a Quietus, and the Sorcerers had created him…who else did they make? Who were their pawns and who were genuine?

“It’s a lie,” Remi said aloud, awakening Alicia and Milo from their thoughts. She looked at them both one by one. “The Sorcerers really are involved in all of this. All that posturing…saying that they wouldn’t participate in the war, and that they won’t be bothered…it’s a lie. They’re using us as pawns.”

“Why?” Alicia said, clearing her throat. She rubbed her forehead from where she had repeatedly pounded against it. “What’s their endgame?”

“No clue,” Remi admitted. “But if we keep on pushing, we’ll find out more.”

“Or get killed trying,” Milo said.

“True,” Remi said. “But I don’t think we’re going to die just yet.” She stood to her feet. “All of my actions up to this point have been controlled.”

“What do you mean?” Alicia scowled.

“Tell me something, Alicia. If you never had your weakness—hearing the dead…would you be traveling around Terra and the other worlds, looking for your creators?”

“Of course,” she said. “I want to know why I was made to be a dragon and others like you weren’t. I want to know what my purpose is.”

“And it’s possible that you might be the only Sorcerer weapon that can fly. If that’s true, it means that the Sorcerers would want you grounded as much as possible until you’re needed. What better way to do that than give you your weakness? Think about it. You are built to be an ultimate killing machine. You can fly. You’re virtually indestructible. You can take down whole cities all by yourself. But your weakness cripples you. You’re not going to kill anyone if they plague your mind like that.”

“True,” she said, deep in thought. “The only reason the Cimmerians were able to take me down was because I was trying to shut out the voices of the soldiers I killed.”

“My situation was a little different but also similar. While you had a strong body and a relatively weak mind, I had the opposite. My sickness kept me stationary until at least one of the Sorcerers decided it was time for me to move on and begin carrying out their wishes. That was when Kace suddenly appeared in the town. One of the men I fought told me that the reason they have Kace is not because they wanted to bait me to Cimmerian. It’s because he has a Sorcerer’s signature within him. He was created by the Sorcerers although he’s not one of the weapons.”

“You’re kidding,” Milo said. “So…he was just a catalyst to get you moving?”

“That’s it,” Remi said, shaking her head. “He was my way out, and so I left with him, and he stuck with me the whole way, keeping me safe as much as possible. He was a friend to lean on when Olivia turned against me. And he couldn’t be too strong because I still had to be in control of my destiny, or at least, that was the illusion that had to be kept up.”

“So Kace being captured…that was to get you here.”

“Exactly.”

“But why? What happens next?”

“I’m not sure, but we have to tread carefully from here on out. It’s obviously that me and Alicia are important to their plans, whatever they may be. We have to think about how we would act in certain situations and then do the opposite.”

“Or not,” Milo replied. “So far, it seems like they want to keep you safe.”

“They’re using us though,” Remi said. “And that means that whenever we reach the end of our usefulness, we’ll be discarded, and no one’s going to leave weapons like us lying around for someone else to pick up. We’ll be destroyed just like the non-human weapons Cimmerian got to in Paragon.”

“We’ll have to pick our battles,” Milo said. “Because we want knowledge as to what they’re doing, but we don’t want to fight so much that keeping you around isn’t worth it anymore.”

“You were the one to get me out of my fortress,” Alicia said, groaning as she climbed to her feet. “Your compassion and talks of destiny. You appealed to what I wanted most. But…why do the Sorcerers want me out here now?”

“With you at my side,” Remi said, “we have a better chance of retrieving the others.”

“Yeah, and I know our reason is to fight against the Sorcerers, but what if it’s bigger than that? What if once we’re together, one of the Sorcerers swoops in to take us all and use us against the others.”