They were all hurt in some way, even Lena herself. She felt bruised all over, as if the beating her Protect spells had taken had transferred, at least in part, to her. She sat in the floor between Thadius and Kane, who were still coughing from the smoke. Orin wheezed as he slept in the narrow cot, his own lungs damaged as well, though, blessedly, he appeared fine otherwise. Redden, on Kane's other side, had taken a gash across his arm, whether from fleeing the fire or from fighting the dead outside, Lena didn't know, but the night's events had left him without enough power to heal it magically. And Jack...
She didn't know what Jack had done. Stealing the fire from the house had hurt him somehow. He sat on the floor in the corner, and Lena saw him wince every time he moved. Viewing him through her soul sight showed her nothing. His soul seemed fine, better, in fact, than it had on the day they met. The black bands she had seen then, the scars on his soul, were smaller now, glimmering blue at the edges, a lighter blue than the rest of his soul, but no longer black. Still, he seemed weak in body. She didn't know how to heal it; she couldn't see anything wrong.
I couldn't heal him anyway, she thought. Any of them. I don't have enough power left myself.
They were locked in some sort of shed. One of the manor's outbuildings. Apparently, it was where Leiden had kept the dark mage who had attacked Thadius. That man had escaped at some point during the fighting, helped along by other members of the Brotherhood, according to Thad, who had overheard their plans. It hadn't taken him long to relay what he'd heard. Redden's story, though, was more complicated.
"Spymaster?" Kane asked. He sat in the floor beside his father, knees crossed. "But you're... You're the most visible member of the council! You're the court bard!"
Redden rested his head against the wall. "'Court bard'," he scoffed. "Because I tell the king stories. Cascius's little joke. He has a twisted sense of humor when you get to know him."
"I thought I did..." Kane said, leaning his own head back. Both of them sitting that way, the resemblance between father and son was uncanny despite their vastly different builds.
On her other side, Thadius whispered to Jack. "But he has to be a mage, right? That was a spell! His eyes glowed and everything!"
"That wasn't a corona," Jack said without moving. "I don't know what it was. I've never seen anything like it before. His aura... it was bigger than it should have been. Like he'd drawn and held the aether, but it was all him."
Pollendina. He'd swooped in at the end of the fight and saved them from Leiden, but he was the one who'd locked them in this shed. Well, the door wasn't locked. Lena didn't think the guards outside, all Avenue Inspectors, would stop them if they tried to leave - she didn't sense that intent from them - but the secretary had made it very clear they should remain here until he and Leiden decided what to do with them. He made a show of deferring to his lord, but... The way he ordered Lord Leiden around, Lena thought Leiden seemed scared of him. The dark mages were scared of him too. Not human, Thad said.
"Are there other kinds of mages? Like black and white and dark and... whatever he is?" Thad asked.
"If there are," Jack said, "I've never heard of..." He trailed off, his eyes going to the door, then he pushed himself unsteadily to his feet.
Lena sensed it shortly after. Pollendina's aura. He was coming back.
They were all standing, save Orin, by the time the secretary knocked politely and stepped inside, leaving the door open behind him.
"I do apologize," he said, holding out a basket for them. "I've nearly convinced him you aren't the enemy."
Redden took the offering, looking inside, and drew forth a small bottle. "Healing potions?"
"You seemed like you needed them. I know you're spent, and I suspected Lena was as well."
Kane stepped in front of her. "We don't know what you're talking about."
Pollendina chuckled. "Gabriel says otherwise. I'm afraid I'm going to have to borrow Miss Lena. I have need of a white mage." He motioned toward the inspectors who waited behind him, and two of them stepped inside.
The boys blocked her in, all of them, Kane and Redden, Thadius and Jack. Jack's eyes blazed white, an ice spell, and Lena gasped as she felt what it did to him, casting it now when he'd already done so much. The guards cried out in alarm as the spell flew at them, a brutal blast of ice and snow.
Pollendina stopped it with a wave of his hand. He turned his hand, held it out, palm up, and the spell coalesced there, tightening and shrinking. When he closed his fist over it, his eyes glowed golden again.
The tiny shed grew silent. Nobody moved but Jack, who swayed on his feet. "What are you?" Jack whispered.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," the secretary said. "Sit down before you fall. Your little stunt with the fire earlier should have killed you, shifting that much aether. Redden, get a potion into him."
Nobody moved. The air was thick with their suspicion and distrust, but beneath it all, Lena felt Pollendina's genuine concern over Jack's current state. He isn't a bad man, she thought. Could she trust him? She looked into his eyes.
"Oh, for pity's sake," Pollendina sighed. He held out a hand for her. "Miss Lena, I swear by Titan's name I mean you no harm. I only need your wisdom, your training, for a few minutes."
She saw the truth of his words inside him. She saw his devotion to his god. He would never break that vow. "Alright," she said.
The boys protested but she pushed past them. Jack reached for her and he nearly fell. "Take me with you," he said.
"You can hardly stand!" Lena said. "Please, rest. I'll be alright."
"I'll go," Kane said. He and Jack exchanged a look. Jack nodded reluctantly.
"By all means," said the secretary. "And your father as well, if it please you. But we go now."
They crossed the lawn, passing scores of wounded. Lena had never seen so many in one place. Their combined shock and despair hit her like a punch to the gut and for a moment she felt physically ill. Pollendina placed a hand on her arm. "They've been seen to," he said. "We've treated the worst of them already."
She nodded, but beyond the wounded was a row of still forms, perhaps a dozen in all, and the people who huddled over them exuded grief. Pollendina pulled her past them, shaking his head. "There's one who needs your attention more than those."
The manor was in poor shape, but still standing. The south east corner, where Leiden's office had been, was the most damaged. The long balcony that stretched across the front of the house sagged there, but the front doors stood wide open. More people huddled inside the foyer, though it smelled strongly of smoke.
Sergeant Quincey waited before the parlor door. When he saw her, he felt such hope that Lena's heart ached for him.
"You snake!" Kane growled. "You told him?"
"I'm sorry," Quincey said, wringing his hands. "Miss Lena, I'm sorry. I didn't know what else to do."
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"My brother - Logan - he's hurt."
Pollendina said, "The wound is deep. My best healers have checked it, but they're none of them white mages. I thought it best to seek your opinion."
After a brief argument, she entered the parlor alone, though it took both Pollendina and the sergeant together to keep Kane and Redden out. Logan was laid across one of the long couches. A man in an inspector's uniform bent over him, keeping pressure on a wound to Logan's shoulder, close to his neck. Logan's face was pinched with pain. Beatrix paced behind the couch, muttering angrily. Her dress was ruined, singed across the skirts, stained with blood. Lena tried to ignore the ugly red welts on the girl's arm and focus on Logan instead.
"Miss," the soldier said, nodding to her. "You're the white mage?"
"Yes," she said, kneeling beside him. "Let me see."
The man moved the bandage aside, revealing the terrible wound. "Don't know any spells," he said. "Just a bit of field medicine. It's bleeding more than I'd like.."
"It's a bad place for it," Lena said. "Hard to keep pressure on it without strangling him."
"I'm prepared to help with that," Beatrix grumbled.
Lena rolled her eyes, ignoring the other girl, but Logan smiled weakly at the remark. Lena leaned close, surveying the edges of the injury. "This is a bite wound! The dead did this?" Lena asked.
"Bit a chunk right out of me," Logan croaked. "I can't move my arm."
"Nor should you," she said, carefully prodding at the wound, inspecting the damage. "You'll be in a sling for months. This muscle's destroyed. But it looks worse than it is. No major arteries hit. We just have to stop the bleeding and keep it clean until I can heal it properly." She turned to the soldier. "I need..." She closed her eyes, trying to decide which treatments would be most effective without spells to aid them. "A pot of honey, some strong wine, more bandages, and needle and thread."
The soldier nodded and left through the door that led to the kitchens.
"I'm not much for wine," Logan said.
Lena grinned. "It's not for drinking."
Logan scowled, but Beatrix stepped closer, reaching across the back of the couch to hand him a pearl-inlaid flask with the stopper removed. He raised an eyebrow at her.
"Mead," she said. "I think you'll find it strong enough."
"Where were you keeping that?" he asked, taking the flask in his good hand and sniffing it cautiously.
Beatrix shrugged. "This dress has pockets."
Logan's smile widened. "Have I ever told you how much I admire your practicality?"
"Help me shift him up," Lena said. "The shoulder really should be higher than the rest of him."
He was heavier than he looked. All men looked smaller when they were injured, but injured or not, Logan Quincey was still solid muscle, almost too heavy for Lena and Beatrix to move between them. If he hadn't been awake, helping as much as he was able, Lena wasn't sure they could have managed it with just the two of them.
Logan's face paled visibly from the exertion and Lena worried he'd lost more blood than she thought. Beatrix moved a pillow behind him to support his head, and Lena again noticed the burns on her arm. "Beatrix, your arm... Has no one treated it yet?"
Beatrix looked down at the blistering patch of skin as if she hadn't noticed it before. "It's minor," she said. "They had us pinned to the wall, but the fire..."
"I saved them," Logan said, shifting to get comfortable in his seat but wincing as he did. "Charged in from behind... got three of them before they noticed me." He raised the little flask in a congratulatory toast to himself then put it to his lips and gulped down its contents.
"You're an idiot!" Beatrix hissed angrily, snatching the empty flask away. "What were you thinking?"
"'Idiot'?" Logan scowled. "Woman, your life was in danger! Your whole family! You needed me!"
"Please," Lena said, putting a hand on his chest. "You really shouldn't exert yourself-"
Beatrix cut her off. "Do you think I'm incapable of protecting my family? Do you think I'm weak?"
"No, I only meant to-"
"I don't care what you meant!" Beatrix said, rising to leave.
"Beatrix!" Logan said. His uninjured hand shot out, grabbing hers. "I walked through fire for you!"
"Nobody asked you to!" Beatrix snapped, shaking his grip loose roughly.
"I did it because I love you, you ungrateful harpy!" Logan bellowed.
The room went still. Lena froze. Logan's words seemed to echo in the sudden silence, but neither Logan nor Beatrix made a sound. Logan looked up at Beatrix, pale face set and determined. Slowly, Lena turned her head to Beatrix, saw her staring back at Logan with an expression of complete shock.
"Miss Lena," Logan said, quietly, but it startled her. "Would you give us a minute?"
Lena nodded and stood to leave, but Beatrix grabbed her arm. "She hasn't finished yet," Beatrix said, her gaze never leaving Logan's face.
"He's stable," Lena said, but Logan talked right over her.
"You and I need to have this out."
"I can see your collarbone!" Beatrix shrieked.
Logan sighed. "Miss Lena, is this wound likely to kill me in the next ten minutes?"
Lena cleared her throat, but her voice came out in a squeak. "At this point it's unlikely to kill you at all…"
He nodded, wincing again, covering his wound with his good hand. "Very well. A minute, please. Thank you."
Lena turned, hurrying out. She closed the parlor door behind her, found Gabriel and Pollendina waiting expectantly in the hall beside Redden and Kane. Gabriel frowned when the sounds of Logan and Beatrix shouting drifted through the closed door. "Um..." she said. "He'll be alright. He just... They needed to talk."
From behind Redden, Leiden's voice said, "So do we."
He stood in the soot-blackened hallway, flanked by his men, his son at his side. Though he spoke with authority, Lena felt fear from him.
Is he afraid of Redden? she thought. Of Pollendina?
But then he said, "Redden... They've taken my daughter."
The west end of the house had come out relatively unscathed. From the servants' dining room, behind the kitchens, Kane couldn't even smell the smoke over the scents of wood polish and the lingering smells of the roasting meat they must have served at the party earlier. Kane's stomach growled, reminding him how long it had been since he'd eaten, but there was no food here now. The two empty tables were sturdy, undecorated wood, lined with benches rather than chairs, smaller than the long table in the main dining hall, or the massive, imposing thing Leiden used in his office. The main dining hall, however, was unreachable at the moment, the office a blackened ruin.
"The boy's statement checked out," Leiden said, standing at the head of the table where Kane's father sat across from Pollendina. "We looked for Gilbert among the wounded and slain, but he wasn't there. I have three witnesses - two guards and one staff - who remember him leaving the house shortly before the fighting started. Two more place Ruby with him, heading toward the training yard. No one remembers seeing Ruby during the fighting, nor since."
At the other table, across from Sarda, who seemed to have lost touch with events again, Kane sat beside Harvey, who stifled a sob.
"Steady," Gabriel whispered from Harvey's other side, patting his shoulder.
Harvey nodded.
Pollendina shook his head. Kane couldn't see his face from his position, but he could hear the man's sneer. "He was right under our noses all this time and I didn't see it. I'm so sorry, my lord."
"He was careful," Leiden said, fist clenched on the tabletop. "He's worked for me for years, gods damn it, but I never once noticed my wards had been compromised before Redden came here." He looked at Redden. "You swear it was only once?"
Redden nodded. "When I realized you'd warded your files, I never touched them again."
"He must have known I'd suspect you and yours first," Leiden said, leaning forward, bracing his hands on the table.
"So... you're what? A white mage?" Kane asked, brow creased. Leiden looked across at him as though he'd forgotten Kane and the others were there, his frown deepening. "If you were the one warding your office, then-"
"Red," Sarda said without looking up. He hunched over the table, scribbling on a sheet of paper. He'd done a stack of drawings that Kane had only paid half a mind to: pictures of fields and deserts, forests and mountainsides, ruins that looked to be underwater, villages the old man could never have visited. "A red mage, like a man he admired once."
Leiden glared at Redden a moment, then he shook his head. "I never got very far with my studies. Wards are the extent of my abilities." He sounded ashamed. Kane wondered if it stemmed from his lack of skill with the craft or the fact that he dabbled in it at all. He must have admired my father a great deal.
"And… Vince too?" Harvey asked, voice still unsteady.
"Yes," Leiden said. "Vince too."
Kane saw his father glance toward Pollendina. The secretary was no red mage, Kane knew. He was something unknown. Pollendina seemed to shift in his seat. Did he feel guilty for deceiving his lord?
Sarda scribbled a few more lines, then passed his latest creation over to Kane: Cornelia Castle, as seen from a distance. It was the view they'd seen as they left it, climbing the slopes north of the kingdom as they had begun their journey. Kane's father had told him to look back, and Kane had seen Cornelia laid out below them, the castle's gray walls and spires set against the backdrop of the glittering Aldean Sea. Redden had told him to take it in, one last glimpse of home. Would he ever go back there?
Kane took the page, stammering out a quiet "Thanks," but Sarda was already drawing his next picture.
"Redden," Leiden said, looking to Kane's father with haunted eyes, "you said you had a lead on the Brotherhood's location."
"The old mine north of the cave." Redden shook his head. "We can't be sure that's where they would have taken her."
"You know they're there!" Arthur snapped. "Your scouts-"
"Found evidence of the Brotherhood, yes. But we don't know that your daughter is there."
"Jack could find her," Kane said. "Like he did with Sarah."
"Not in the state he's in. He needs a few hours at least," Redden said.
"Hours?" Harvey said. "I don't understand! Why do we need magic? Why aren't we tracking them now? If we sent men with dogs-"
"They Teleported," Redden said. "There's nothing to track. We have no way of knowing how far the spell could have taken them."
"A few miles at most," Pollendina said. "According to my studies, Teleport spells are-"
"Jack Teleported the two of us thirty miles once," Kane said.
The secretary turned around, staring at Kane with wide eyes. "I..." he stuttered. "I know what he did with the fire was an amazing feat, but to Teleport both of you that distance-"
Kane shrugged. "I don't know the details - there was some kind of ritual involved - but if he did it, so could they."
"At any rate," Redden said. "I do think it's the most likely place she'll be, but we wait for confirmation. It's a full day's hike to the old mine. We can't afford to get there and be wrong about it.
"I won't wait for Jack," Leiden said. "Ready the men. We go south."
"No," Redden said.
Leiden stared at him, expression suddenly sharp. "...No?" he asked.
"No," Redden repeated. "There is no 'we'. You're not going. It's too close to the cave."
"Redden's right, my lord," Gabriel said. "You can't possibly lead this expedition. You're too important."
Leiden slammed his fist to the table. "She's my daughter! Her life is in danger!"
"This is bigger than your daughter's life," Redden hissed. "If you'd seen that weeks ago, she'd still be here."
Pollendina held up both hands, palm out, a calming gesture. "You don't even know that she's there, Arthur! She could be in town somewhere! Or out in the swamp!"
"Am I supposed to sit on my hands until morning? Waiting on the word of some bastard mage? She could die if we wait!" Leiden snapped.
"She could be dead already," Redden said. "It will do you no good to join her."
"But we know where their hideout is!" Harvey said, a whining plea. "Even if Ruby isn't there, we can hit the Brotherhood at their source! We can wipe them out!"
"You definitely aren't going!" Leiden snapped. "I'll not risk both of my children!"
Redden spoke in a calm tone, but Kane could see signs of his temper flaring. "So you admit it's a risk. You're the Lord of Melmond, Arthur. You can't lead your men into what might be a suicide mission just to save your own child."
"I can!" Leiden shouted. "They're my men! Not yours! I am Lord of Melmond. You don't give commands here!"
Redden stood, the sudden motion making his old friend flinch. Easy, Kane thought. Don't let him set you off. Count to ten.
Redden breathed steadily, facing Leiden down. "No, I don't give commands here," he said at last. "But you don't command me either. I won't go with you, Arthur. You're on your own."
"Father!" Kane said.
Harvey and Pollendina both began to speak at once, but Redden spoke louder, talking over them. "You still think I'm here as some pawn of Cornelia? Here to take over your armies? Fine. They're yours, Arthur. Take your soldiers and go without me."
Leiden's mouth twitched. He glared daggers, but Kane saw tears in his eyes, tears the Lord of Melmond wouldn't let fall. "I should have known," he said, his voice thick. Kane heard the betrayal in it. "I should have known you would abandon us as you did before... I let myself believe..." He shook his head. "You were my hero once."
Redden held Leiden's gaze a moment, then he looked away. "I never should have been," he said. "The prophecies were wrong."
"Yes," Leiden said. "I see that now more than ever." He straightened, squaring his shoulders. He strode toward the door, barking orders at the men who waited outside.
"My lord, please!" Pollendina cried, rising to follow him, but Leiden didn't stop. Harvey and Gabriel both called after him as he left, but he ignored them too.
Harvey buried his face in his hands. Gabriel braced his hands on the table, his head hanging down. Kane looked between the two of them, these boys he had befriended over these past weeks, and he felt powerless.
"Kane, with me," Redden said, walking to the door.
Kane didn't move.
The secretary caught Redden's arm. "Redden, go after him! Please! You can't let him do this!"
"I'm not," Redden said. He looked back at the table. "Kane!"
Pollendina's grip tightened. "You... have a plan, then?"
"Of course I have a plan," Redden said. "I've been planning to go check out that mine for days. I was only waiting for Kane to return." He looked to his son, raising an impatient eyebrow.
Kane stood. "You were really waiting for me?"
"I said I would fight beside you, didn't I?"
The secretary still held Redden's arm. "But Lord Leiden-"
Redden shook his head. "I can't talk him out of going, but I can beat him there. He's hiking overland across the Rot. We have a ship."
Pollendina looked doubtful. "The seas are too dangerous. Particularly the coastline near the Rot. You'd never get close enough."
"They aren't dangerous for us," Redden said.
The secretary didn't let go. "You aren't invincible, Redden. You said it yourself. You're no prophesied hero."
"No," Redden said, shaking his head. He pointed to Kane. "But he is."
Pollendina blinked, confused. He looked from Kane to Redden and back again. "You're not serious."
"No, I think he is," Gabriel said, standing. "At least, I believe it enough to go with him."
"And me!" Harvey said, standing as well.
"Sit down, Harvey," Gabriel said, pushing him, but Harvey held his feet.
"Ruby's my sister! I can't be the only one doing nothing!"
Redden shook his head. "You're the heir to this house. We can't risk you and your father both."
"Don't give me that!" Harvey snapped. "I'm not my father! I'm no 'Lord of Melmond'! You know it! I know it! If anything happens to him..." He shook his head. "We just have to save Ruby first, right? We save her, we save him!"
If Lena had been the one taken, or Sarah, Kane thought, I would be halfway to that cave already. "Father," he began, but Sarda interrupted him.
"He has to go," the old mage said. "He's a very important man."
"Are you even here right now?" Redden asked in a withering tone.
Sarda shrugged. "If I'm not, I'm sure I was at some point." He held up another drawing.
Kane took it gingerly, but this one wasn't a scene he recognized: walls of stone, a darkened cavern, and in the center, a short stone pillar.
Redden snatched the page out of his hands. He stared at the paper, his face paling. "Why draw this?" he asked, voice rough.
Sarda looked up, his eyes distant. "The girl. Ruby. That's where she is."
Part of him knew he was dreaming again. He viewed the creature with cool detachment, no fear, like looking at a painting. There was no sound, no heat.
His mother cast Protect. The creature - the marilith - slammed into it, the scene playing out as it had many times before, but this time, as the force of the blow drove his mother to her knees, Jack knew she felt it. Somehow he knew that he would never again be able to watch this scene without remembering how it felt: Lena holding him, throwing out Protect over and over as the dead pounded at the spell. He had felt those blows.
"Momma..." he whispered.
And his voice broke the silence. Sound came crashing back. The crackling of the burning forest, his mother's ragged breath, the shrill laughter of the creature, its evil voice. "You're weak, witch! What makes you think you can defeat me?"
No longer dreaming. He was there. He could feel the flames now, the heat. He could smell the smoke. He was only a boy, small, helpless. His feet itched to run to her. No, he begged himself. No, no... Don't move. Don't.
If he moved, the creature would attack. The fire would envelope him, leaving him alone again.
His mother held forth the fire orb. "Behold the power of Light!"
"Jack."
He started awake, thrashing out at the hand that gripped his shoulder.
"Hey! Hey, calm down! It's just me." Kane released him, held his hands out in front of him.
Jack looked around. He was still in the shed. Orin slept on the cot nearby. Thad watched him curiously from the corner opposite. Redden waited by the door.
"Where's Lena?"
Kane rolled his eyes. "Inside. Waiting for you. That's why I'm here. Come on."
Jack stood, feeling the stiffness in his muscles, the consequences of hard casting. He winced as he stretched, listening to joints creak and crack.
Kane cocked an eyebrow at him. "You gonna live?"
Jack shrugged. Even that hurt. "Too soon to say."
They didn't talk as Kane led him back to the house. Most of the damage was on one side, at the front. The foyer boasted one blackened wall but was still accessible. Kane passed through it, down the hallway that led to the kitchens, leaving the damage behind. He stopped at the door to the servants' dining room and knocked politely, though it stood open.
Lena sat inside at one of the tables. It was scattered with papers, what looked like landscape drawings, and Lena was looking at them. She looked up at the knock, her worried expression replaced by a relieved smile. Jack went to her, sat on the bench beside her, but Kane didn't follow.
"What's going on?" Jack asked him.
"We're leaving," Kane said. "Going to that cave. That's where Ruby is."
Lena gasped.
Kane nodded. "I have things to prepare. Pollendina said he needed to speak to you - both of you. As mages." His expression soured, his distrust of the man apparent in the twist of his mouth. "He said he would meet you here."
"We'll be alright," Lena told him.
He huffed a frustrated breath. "I'll be back to check on you when I can," he said, stalking away.
Lena watched him go, looking worried again. She jumped when Jack reached for her hand.
"Sorry," he said.
She shook her head. "I'm all nerves. I was helping with the wounded. I don't have any spells left, but I did what I could. They were so scared."
He nodded, closing his hand over hers, trying not to think of his own fears. He looked at the drawings. They were messy, done in charcoal pencil - there were several of those amidst the papers - but they were very good. He saw one that he was almost certain was a west-facing view of Crescent Lake, and he reached for it.
"Are you alright?" Lena asked.
Was he? The fire spell had done something to him. His soul ached like an over-extended muscle... He'd drawn from her afterward. What was worse, he didn't remember doing it. He shoved down his guilt, trying to think what he could say to ease her mind without lying to her.
He was spared the trouble as Pollendina chose that moment to return, crossing the room to sit across from them. Captain Bayard came with him, carrying a ledger. He didn't sit, but stood just behind the secretary and to his left.
Jack couldn't decide which of them he distrusted more. He glared at the captain, surprised to see him again, but Lena squeezed his hand beneath the table, shaking her head slightly. She would have felt it if he meant us harm, Jack told himself. Bayard caught his eye and smiled - a contrite smile, Jack thought, remembering their last conversation. I trusted him once. Jack looked away, unsure if he could trust the man again.
"Thank you for meeting with me," Pollendina said.
"I wasn't aware we had a choice," Jack said.
Lena cleared her throat, shaking her head again.
Pollendina smiled, gesturing behind them. "You may go if you wish. The door's open. I only wanted to have a little word with the two of you. Will you hear me out?"
Jack clenched his jaw, distrustful, but Lena caught his hand in hers, gave it a reassuring squeeze.
"Kane said you wanted us because we're mages?" Lena asked.
"Yes."
"You're no mage," Jack said, unable to keep the sharpness from his voice.
Pollendina nodded. "Correct. Least ways, not like either of you. I can see the aether, feel it, draw it. I can, and have, lived off of it for some years."
"Lived off of it?" Lena asked, eyes wide.
Pollendina nodded. "I do eat, but... I don't need to. I don't feel hunger, I don't thirst. The aether sustains me. But I can't shape it." He looked sharply at Lena. "That's where you come in."
"Me?" Lena squeaked.
"Yes," Pollendina said, unsmiling. He held up his hand, and Bayard passed him the ledger. He opened it, and slid it across the table toward them, revealing a stack of papers showing a series of aether diagrams. Lena pulled them closer, holding them so that she and Jack could both see, but she frowned as she looked at the first page and Jack knew the diagram was too complicated for her to read. "What you're looking at there is the white spell Father Bram designed to counteract the evil flowing from the cave. The second page shows the changes made by the mages of White Hall when they performed the ritual the final time. Everything after that is my own speculations. I've dedicated the past ten years to studying this spell."
"But you can't cast it," Jack said. He flipped through the papers, revealing increasingly complex diagrams, while Lena grew increasingly distraught.
"No," Pollendina said. "But she can. I know it."
"I'm not sure I can!" Lena said.
Pollendina looked at her, voice pleading. "Your magic is strong. I can feel it. You're not attuned to earth as Bram was - as I am - you're clearly a water mage, but you're all we have."
"A water mage?" Lena said.
"I've never heard of white mages being attuned to the elements," Jack said.
"All mages are," Pollendina said. "Black, white, red, whether they realize it or not."
Jack shook his head, flipping through the diagrams, letting his eyes drift over the pages, taking in the designs. "I fail to see how this spell is connected to either earth or..." He came to the last page, Pollendina's most recent attempt to perfect the spell, and he stopped. "This is... I know this..." He dug through the table's papers, finding one of the pencils, then turned over one of the landscape drawings to sketch on the blank side. "This piece," he said, scribbling in the curves of the diagram, "it's reversed, and if we cut out these passages..." He drew hastily, but when he handed it to Lena, she gaped.
"But that's... That's my rain repelling charm! The one I've been working on! I've never seen it drawn out before."
"Rain repelling charm?" Pollendina said, reaching for the page. Lena passed it over. "Like the wards they put on spellbooks?"
"No," Lena said, shrinking beneath that critical gaze. "On people. To keep the rain off."
"On people?" Pollendina said, aghast. "That's not possible."
"I assure you it is," Jack said. He picked up Pollendina's spell again, showing it to Lena. "This wards against earth instead of water. Can you do this?"
She ran her fingers over a curve of the spell, the part that - yes, now that Jack looked at it - drew its shape from earth magic. "I don't know..." Lena said uncertainly.
Jack stared at the design, considering. Earth spells were complicated, borderline destructive. The few he knew of - but had never dared try - could reshape the very land. He grabbed another page, sketching. "If we start with your repelling charm here," he said, pointing, "and add these other passages, we could..." He added another curve, changing the design. He sat back, looking at it.
Pollendina's eyes widened as he leaned forward and snatched it up. He stared, mouth moving as he talked to himself, mumbling, puzzling it out. "A ward against... aether. Aether itself. Nonelemental..."
"Would it work?" Jack asked.
Pollendina shrugged uncertainly, passing the paper to Lena. "I suppose you'll find out."
"You... you're not coming with us?" Lena asked.
"I cannot." Pollendina shook his head. "I can't go near the Rot. The aether there would kill me, as sure as poison. I feel it even now, even from here. Should you fail, the Rot will reach this city and I will die. As will all like me."
"Are there many like you?" Jack asked.
Pollendina looked at him, unblinking. Jack didn't look away. Finally, Pollendina sighed. "Not many," he said. "But enough."
Jack held Pollendina's gaze. He thought of the Rot, what it felt like to him as a mage. What would it do to a being sustained by aether?
Jack nodded, gathering the diagrams, closing them away in the ledger. He looked to Lena, who sat huddled beside him, eyes wide and fearful. He put a hand to her cheek. "You can do this," he said. "I know you can. I can help you."
Pollendina sighed. "Then... I suppose I'll leave it in your hands. I've ordered a cart to carry you to town, to your ship." He motioned them toward the door.
"Now?" Lena squeaked. "It's the middle of the night!"
"I suggest you rest on the journey. Patch will accompany you," he motioned toward Captain Bayard, who nodded, "as will two dozen of my inspectors. Volunteers, all. I'll force no man into this. I believe your friends are waiting for you outside."
Jack pulled Lena to her feet, trying not to stare at her legs as he helped her over the bench. Pollendina walked out with them. The cart was waiting as he'd said it would be, oxen lowing gently as the driver checked their reins. Orin and Thad already sat in the back of it. Jack helped Lena up, hauled himself up beside her.
He watched the activity, Pollendina and Bayard both ordering men around, inspectors, alongside Redden and Kane. Some of the men lined up around the cart, but others crowded into it, wedging Jack into the corner, forcing Lena closer to him. He put his arm around her without realizing it, but had to remind himself to breathe again when he noticed. He caught a whiff of himself, his clothes stinking of smoke and fear sweat, but Lena settled against him easily as the cart began to move.
She fell asleep there, nestled against his shoulder. She must have been exhausted, he thought. Of course she was. He'd drawn from her. I'm sorry, he thought, nuzzling his cheek against her hair. He could barely feel it through the scarf he still wore.
He was asleep in minutes. He dreamed of her kiss, the feel of her lips against his.
It felt unusual laying in his hammock on the ship again. Kane had grown used to the oversized mattress in his room at the manor, even if he had spent every other night in the floor, taking turns at the bed with Jack. Still, as exhausted as he'd been from the events of the day before, he had no trouble sleeping as the ship made its way south.
He felt rested enough when his father shook him awake.
"We're here," Redden said, already dressed in a set of hardened leather armor, his sword at his waist. Kane wondered when he'd retrieved that from Jack. Redden approached Jack next, in his own hammock in the corner, and Kane heard him groan as he woke, but the mage still hadn't moved from his resting place by the time Redden went upstairs to the ship's deck.
Kane buckled on his own armor, the red leather of a Cornelian guard, as the pirate crew buzzed around him, readying themselves for battle. A few soldiers moved about as well, though Kane knew most of them were up top. The mood was somber. No one spoke, but Kane was sure the pirates were all thinking of their lost crewmates, Cole and Felder. Cole had died, his corpse desecrated by the power of the necromancer. Felder, still missing, likely shared his fate.
The morning was gray when Kane ascended to the ship's deck, still blinking sleep from his eyes. A fog clung to the water, not thick enough to cloud the view, but enough to make the air wet, to make everything look somewhat hazy. The crew had set anchor a fair distance from shore; the ship's boat was already halfway there, rowed by two figures who, from their size, must have been Maxell and Gus.
Inspectors crowded the deck, shuffling their feet, waiting for their turn at the boat. The man Kane recognized as Captain Bayard ordered others around, preparing supplies. He nodded a greeting when he saw Kane, but didn't stop to talk.
He found his father on the quarterdeck with Captain Gabbianni. The grizzled old pirate wasn't joining their expedition, but most of the crew were. Redden nodded to Kane as he approached, but neither he nor the captain said a word as the three of them stood watching the boat row out and back, out and back, carrying soldiers and pirates alike, until finally Gus came back alone for the last of them.
"It's time," Redden said, walking toward the rope ladder that led down to the boat.
"You're sure you won't come?" Kane asked the captain. "I've seen you fight. We could use every man we can get."
Gabbianni shook his head. "There's a difference between fighting sahagin in the broad light of day and fighting these cursed things below ground. I know my limits. Best I wait here with Biggs."
Kane nodded, and followed his father.
The captain wasn't the only one staying behind. Orin, too, would not be joining them. He sat at the prow, beside Thad, with the listless ochu, Oscar, between them. The plant creature looked worse than Orin did, but Orin looked bad enough. Kane walked to them, extending a hand to Thad. "Come on, Shipman," he said.
Thad nodded, letting Kane pull him up. The boy shook with fear. Kane could tell he'd been crying.
"Where is master Jack?" Orin asked.
"He's... Gods, I hope he's not still asleep. Father will skin him." He turned toward the stairs that led below just as Jack was coming up.
He still wore the tailored black suit and the red scarf he'd been wearing the night before, but over it, he wore again his leather coat and his ridiculous pointed hat. In the absence of Redden's sword, he instead carried his white wooden staff.
Kane sighed. "I thought we'd got you away from that coat."
Jack shook his head. "If I'm going to fight for these people, I'm doing it as a black mage."
"At least leave the hat behind," Kane grumbled. "I can't take you seriously in that thing."
"You'd better start," Jack said, simply. He turned as the door to the captain's cabin opened, and Lena came out. She wore her white robe again, hood up over a messy braid, with her hammer at her belt. Jack held his hand out for her, and she walked to him and took it.
Mages now, Kane thought. No more hiding. Yes, it seemed right. No matter how Kane felt about that hat, Jack was right. I'll protect them, he told himself. I'll protect all of them. He squeezed Thad's shoulder reassuringly. "Come on, then," he said, waving the three of them toward the ladder down to the boat.
There was a charge to the air as their makeshift army assembled outside the cave, an energy. Emotions - fear, determination, anger, confusion - clamored like a bell. The inspectors, a little more than twenty men, bustled about distributing lanterns, lighting them, checking their gear. Behind them were the pirates, their motley clothing a stark contrast to the inspectors crisp uniforms, though their emotions were the same.
Lena stood off to the side with Jack, feeling the nothing that surrounded him, the absence of feeling that told her he had once more shut his emotions away.
He does that when they're strongest, she thought. When he thinks he can't handle them, when they would overwhelm him. What was he feeling now so strongly that he had to shut it away?
He glanced down at her, caught her staring, then flicked his eyes away again, color rising to his cheeks. "I'm afraid for you," he said, as if he'd read her mind. "Even these men are afraid, and they're soldiers. You're not."
"Neither are you," she said, feeling her own blush. "But we're both warriors, Warriors of Light." Oh, but it sounded so silly to say so out loud.
He shrugged. "That doesn't make you a fighter."
"No," Lena said, "it doesn't." She could see Harvey and Gabriel at the front, near Redden and Sarda. Gabriel, with his black guardsman's uniform looking oddly out of place among the inspectors gray-trimmed ones, kept his own fear locked tight, a low buzz Lena could barely detect, but whenever she caught his eye, she could feel his belief in her, belief in the white hood she wore, in what it represented. Lena found that belief more intimidating than comforting.
Harvey, though... Harvey didn't seem to notice her, preoccupied with the task ahead of them. Harvey was no fighter, but beneath his fear, Lena could feel his determination, driven by his love for his sister. I can do this for him, she thought, and for Ruby. "Those creatures are the work of necromancy," she said. "White magic. There's a chance white magic can stop it. I have to try this spell. I have a duty here."
Jack looked down at her, blue eyes sharp over his red scarf. He nodded. "As do I." Then he looked away, watching the real soldiers check their weapons and prepare for the fight ahead.
Lena started to say something to him, but she held her tongue. Following his lead, she thought. He still stood with her, he wanted to be near her, but he was done talking now. Holding back again. Did he fear losing control of his powers in front of the inspectors? They knew what he was now - they'd seen him remove the fire from the manor. Lena saw the way they looked at him, awe and admiration mixed with both hope and fear. It was the same way some of them looked at Redden.
He wants to look strong for them, Lena realized. Well, she could help with that. After all, Jack never looked more confident, more capable, than when he was talking about magic. She dug in the pouch on her hip and pulled out the folded paper Jack had given her, the one with his aether diagram for the spell she would need to cast. "Jack, will you explain this to me again? I just want to be sure I have it right."
He hesitated, looking down at the paper she held up for him, but then he nodded. "Well," he said, the lecturing tone coming out as he pointed out one of the turns of the diagram, "if you imagine using your rain repelling charm as the base..."
She smiled. She felt the awe of the soldiers nearest them as they listened, felt their confidence soar, as she let Jack explain again the spell she had already memorized on the ship. I'll borrow their confidence, she thought. It wasn't that she doubted her abilities. She'd practiced on herself as best she could. She knew she could cast the spell, knew it would do... something. She just didn't know if it would be effective against whatever evil emanated from this cave.
Redden barked commands. The inspectors prepared to move, and Lena felt their confidence shaking even as their resolve stiffened. She closed her eyes, trying to shut them out before the undercurrent of fear wore her own resolve away. She felt Jack move closer, felt his arm around her shoulders, but she didn't open her eyes.
She'd nearly succeeded in shutting them out when a cold spike of terror drove into her, taking her breath away. Her eyes snapped open, seeking the source, seeking Thadius, and she ran to him, feeling a trace of confusion from Jack as she left him behind.
She slowed as she reached him. Behind the rows of soldiers, Thad stood with their pirate crew, the huge Gus and Maxell towering over him, the young Leo beside him with a hand on his shoulder. Thad looked fine, his face completely blank, his breath even and shallow, but Lena felt his fear. The pirates eyed her curiously as she knelt in front of him, putting her hands on his face. "Thadius?" she said.
"It's..." he whispered. "It's... dark… the cave..."
"I know," Lena said. "I know you're afraid of the dark."
"We'll be there with you," Jack said behind her. She hadn't realized he'd followed her. "Right, Kane?"
"Right. I'll protect you," Kane said. Lena felt his fear too, though she heard none of it in his voice. He was committed to the task ahead of them, she felt that as well. That's bravery, she thought. To feel that fear and act anyway.
In front of her, Thad began to cry, unable to maintain his composure. She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him close. "We'll be with you," she whispered into his ear. "All of us, together."
"Leave him," a voice said behind her, so cold, so emotionless, that she didn't realize it was Redden's until she turned to see who'd spoken.
"What?" Kane said, shocked.
"Leave him," Redden repeated.
"He's one of us," Kane said, anger rising.
Redden looked at his son, his eyes flat and expressionless, and Lena knew he was terrified. She couldn't feel it - he'd locked it all away, the way Jack did - but she knew. "I won't take a coward," he said, his voice level. "He'll only get in the way." He turned and walked back toward the cave's entrance where soldiers stood watching the exchange, curious and fearful.
"Father!" Kane said through clenched teeth, stepping after him.
Jack grabbed his shoulder. "Don't," he said. "Not here."
Kane growled, frustrated, shaking him off, but he stayed where he was. He turned back to Thadius. "Don't listen to him," he said. "You can do this."
But Thad shook his head. "I can't!" he cried. "I can't! I'm sorry!"
"It's alright," Lena said, holding him. "You don't have to."
"Stay with me!" Thad begged. "Please!"
His fear tugged at her own. "Oh, Thadius... I want to..."
"But she can't," Sarda said, shrugging. "She has to go. And you have to do what you think is right." Then he turned, following Redden toward the cave mouth.
"We can't just leave you here!" Kane said. "The dead could be roaming the hills!"
"We'll stay with him," Leo said. The young pirate looked to the rest of the crew, ten men altogether. They all nodded agreement.
"Don't like his attitude," Gus said, sneering at Redden's retreating form. "If he turned away all the cowards, he'd be going in there alone."
"Aye," another said, as other pirates muttered in agreement.
He wouldn't be going in there at all, Lena thought. He's more scared than any of us. She shuddered to think what could be so frightening as to scare a man like Redden Carmine so badly.
Maxell smiled. "And if it all goes tits up, we can take the boat back to the ship."
"You'd leave without us?" Kane asked.
Maxell shrugged. "We'd feel right bad about it."
Kane grumbled, then he looked toward the cave entrance and he cursed. Their army was nearly all inside. "Fine," Kane huffed. "Fine. Stay, then. Jack?"
"I'm ready," Jack said. He turned to Lena, piercing blue eyes catching hers. He held out his hand, and she took it, rising to her feet, trying to shut out the sound of Thad's crying as Jack pulled her away toward the cave, toward the darkness.
The cave stank of death. It was musty and damp, a wet earth smell, but beneath it, the stench of rotten meat, the metallic tang of blood, permeated the air. In the dark ahead of them and down every side passage, Kane heard movement, whispers and skittering legs, creatures too small to be the dead, too large to be anything benign. Kane held his sword ready, stepping carefully in the inadequate light cast by the lamps several of the men carried.
He walked at the head of their troop, following close behind his father who led the procession holding his flaming sword. Redden wasn't himself. He hardly spoke, and when he did, it was only to bark terse orders that the men obeyed without question. It was as if Kane was seeing his father as he had been twenty years ago when he was regularly leading expeditions to this place. Occasionally, one of the dead would come shrieking out of a dark passage, and Redden would cut the thing down without hesitation. Redden could feel them in the aether, Kane knew, but even then, the swiftness and brutality of Redden's defenses was startling.
Beside Kane, Harvey whimpered as Redden cut another of the things down. The young lord carried a lantern in one hand, a thin dueling blade in the other. It seemed a child's toy beside Kane's sword, beside Gabriel's. The sergeant walked protectively on Harvey's other side, mumbling Leifenish curses. Kane wished Jack were closer to give him a translation, but Jack walked toward the rear, senses alert to the aether, prepared to warn them against attack from behind.
Kane glanced that way, trying to see either Jack or Lena, who walked with him. The line of soldiers stretched out behind Kane in the narrow corridor, obscuring his view, but he caught a glimpse of Lena's white hood, bright against the black and gray uniforms of the inspectors, against the darkness of the cave.
In the middle of their company, Kane saw Sarda, walking with Killian and the other West Hills men who served Kane's father, the only Melmond guards with them besides Gabriel who weren't numbered among Pollendina's inspectors. Sarda smiled as he looked about him, admiring the cave walls, pointing out rock formations, as though he were on a tour of Cornelia's gardens rather than a cursed hole in the ground. Kane wondered if the elder mage saw the place differently than it was now, if his mind had strayed from the present again. The West Hills men eyed him nervously.
Kane felt Redden stop in front of him. He whipped his head around, eyes forward again, seconds before he would have collided with his father. Redden stared at something ahead of them. Kane stepped around him to get a better view. "Well," he said, unable to look away, "that explains the smell."
They'd come to a wide, circular room. Not a natural part of the cave, but a room in truth, smooth floor, smooth walls, some sort of half-pillar in the center. It was the place from the drawing Sarda had made, except unlike in Sarda's drawing the floor here was strewn with bodies, piles of bloody meat so disordered that they no longer looked human save for the occasional scrap of clothing, the robes favored by the Brotherhood.
"This is where we found the sword," Redden said, pointing to the stone in the center.
"What happened here?" Gabriel asked, as Harvey turned aside and vomited loudly.
"A ritual," Redden said.
"What kind of ritual does this?" Kane asked.
"The failed kind," Redden said flatly.
Killian stepped forward, followed by Sarda, whose smile had faded. "They tried to kill Scarlet," Sarda said, shaking his head. "She was already dead, but she didn't know it. They knew it though," he said, pointing at a pile of rotting meat. "She was looking for her son when they killed her the first time. They turned her into the night plague."
"If they made her, why try to kill her?" Kane asked, stepping carefully over a chunk of meat and bone that might have been a leg.
Sarda sniffled, wiping his eyes. "He made her, but he couldn't control her. She was too strong for him," he said with pride.
"Scarlet was a powerful white mage - powerful enough to create a vampire of her own, one the necromancer couldn't control," Redden said.
"The cathedral?" Gabriel said.
Redden nodded. "I think the Brotherhood tried to contain her with their rituals, tried to dull her power, but she proved too much for them in the end."
"Some of these bodies are new," Killian said.
"Yes," Redden agreed. He pointed. "That one's Porter, the man who escaped."
"G-Gilbert..." Harvey said, pointing out another mangled corpse.
"They disappointed him," Sarda said. "He has a temper. The skull is always smiling but the teeth are sharp."
"You said the girl was here," Redden said.
Sarda shook his head. "She was. Now she's deeper."
"Then we go deeper," Redden said, stalking forward.
The noises grew worse as they journeyed on, yet the attacks became less frequent. Kane's muscles tensed every time they passed a side passage and he heard the dead snarling but his father moved on so quickly that Kane and the others had trouble keeping pace with him in the poorly lit conditions.
"Father!" he called. "Slow down. We need to stay together."
"I know where we're going," Redden growled without slowing. Kane thought his father's sword blazed a bit brighter.
Finally, he stopped. The cave opened up ahead of them into a huge room, larger even than the one where they'd found the dead cultists. Redden proceeded slowly, walking toward a stone altar in the center. "Spread out," he told the men behind him. "Check the shadows."
"You heard him!" Bayard said. "Lanterns at intervals. Light every corner of this room."
The men who followed them did so, steadily filing in without crowding the cavernous space. As their light spread, it revealed the room, empty but for the altar, a flat, squat stone of a darker color than that of the rest of the cave.
Kane circled past it, following the room's edges. The smooth, polished floor could only have been man-made, but the walls were rough and uneven, almost as if they'd been formed by natural forces rather than carved. The lantern light played over them, revealing thick iron manacles, hanging from chains, set at intervals along the wall's length. Some still held skeletal hands. Beneath them, ancient skeletons lay crumbling to dust where they fell.
Farther in, the skeletons seemed more recent, still held together by scraps of flesh. Kane stopped beside one that seemed almost fresh, a woman, half-mummified in the cave's dry air, her face sunken and gaunt beneath a white robe. He could smell the decay.
"He pulls his power from them," a voice said beside him, making him jump.
Kane turned to find Sarda standing there. The West Hills guards remained with Redden, checking the altar at the room's center. Kane looked back at the dead woman, at the skeletons on either side of her. "Were they all white mages?" he asked.
Sarda nodded. "He needs their souls. He doesn't have one anymore."
They walked on, Kane noting the bodies he passed, another woman, then a man, another fleshless skeleton, a young boy so recently dead he'd only just begun to bloat…
A woman in a red party dress, filthy and torn. She moved weakly.
"Gods!" Kane said, rushing toward her.
"Ruby!" Harvey called, surging past him with Gabriel close behind. Kane caught up to them just as Harvey gathered his sister in his arms.
She was bruised, bleeding from a dozen cuts, but she lived. She sobbed hysterically, trying to speak, but her words were incomprehensible.
Gabriel tugged at the chains that held her, looking for a way to release them from the wall.
"Watch it," Kane said, lifting his sword. He hacked at the place where the chains were anchored, chipping the stone. The chains fell free with a clang.
Gabriel looked at him strangely, but then knelt beside Harvey and Ruby as the girl sank to the floor, unable to stand on her own.
Kane looked down at his unblemished sword. I just chopped through stone, he realized. Somehow, he had known the sword could do it.
Redden, still moving at a slow, cautious walk, reached them, and he laid his hand on the girl's head, casting Cure. The West Hills men walked with him, guarding him, and Sarda followed so that Kane found himself standing next to the elder mage.
"Oh, sister," Harvey said, holding Ruby tightly. "What did they do to you?"
Ruby only cried.
"It's like food to him," Sarda whispered. He stood beside Kane again. Kane doubted anyone else could have heard him. "The soul of a white mage."
Lena, Kane thought. He looked back as the last of their soldiers shuffled in, with Jack and Lena bringing up the rear. He waved to them to catch their attention. Lena hurried forward when she saw the sobbing bundle in Harvey's arms.
"Don't," Redden said, stopping her mid-Cure. "Save your power. You need to cast the other spell."
"I have enough for this!" Lena said, shaking him off. "Ruby," she cooed, touching the other girl's face with both glowing hands. "Hush now. Shh. We'll get you out of here."
Ruby tried to speak again, though she was hyperventilating. "He... he was..." She stopped as Lena's Cure sank in. Then she looked up, looked at Kane. "He looked just like you..." she said.
The cavern seemed silent and still, but then a sound like a fierce wind rose though the air didn't move. A sound like whispering, like shuffling feet in the dark, and a sick, sinister laugh rose with it - his father's laugh, but twisted. Redden turned, staring at Kane, and the look in his eyes said he heard it too.
Men cried out, startled, as several of the torches died abruptly. The lanterns flickered. The shadows at the edges of the room grew deeper, and then they flowed toward the altar stone, darkening, forming the shape of a man.
"A vampire!" Gabriel said, stepping so that Harvey and Ruby were behind him, putting himself between them and the thickening shape. Around the room, men panicked, crying out, facing the thing at the center.
And then the shadows snapped into being, and Kane looked up at... himself. A man in armor, sword in hand, with Kane's own face.
"Cid!" Redden snarled, and Kane saw it then as the two men faced each other, a figure not quite like himself, but like a younger version of his father.
"Dear brother, returned at last," said Cid, in a voice like Redden's, only drained of all kindness, all joy. Cid smiled, and it was almost Kane's own smile - the one he saw in the mirror - but for the fangs.
"You were dead!" Redden shouted. "I felt you die!"
Cid laughed again, a malignant chuckle. "I am dead, even now. But the dead belong to him! As will you."
Redden roared, charging ahead. Kane hesitated, torn between aiding his father and protecting his friends, but the West Hills men followed Redden without a word.
On the altar, Cid raised his sword, and the shadows moved. Around the room, soldiers cried out as previously empty space became filled with snarling dead men. A man near the exit screamed and tried to flee back into the cave, but his cry of terror became shrieks of pain as something caught him in the dark. It was the only warning they had before more of the dead flowed in from behind them.
"Form up!" Bayard called, rushing toward the door. "On me!" Men hurried to obey. A few fell, taken by surprise, but more succeeded in fending off their foes. The dead didn't seem interested in the men around the perimeter, instead rushing toward the back of the room, toward Kane and the mages with him.
"Jack!" Kane said, moving closer to Lena.
"I know!" he said, holding his staff in both hands, eyes blazing with power. Sarda cowered behind him.
On Kane's other side, Gabriel stood protectively in front of Harvey and Ruby. Kane caught his eye and Gabriel nodded. He was ready.
Kane raised his sword to chop down a charging foe, but before it reached him, a bolt of white light blasted into the thing and it exploded, scattering flesh and limbs. Kane turned to see Lena still kneeling behind him, one glowing hand raised before her. "You did that?" he said, stunned.
"I think so..." Lena said, looking at her hand in awe.
"What happened to 'harm no living thing'?" Gabriel asked.
"They're dead!" Kane said. "She can harm them all she likes!"
Jack nodded, pulling Lena to her feet. "'Cure for the Dead', indeed!" He braced himself beside her. "Together, my lady?" he said, throwing fire into the darkness.
Lena nodded uncertainly. She raised her hand again, and a bolt of white shot out into one of the things near the wall. Men cheered as it struck, exploding the beast as readily as it had the first time, freeing those men to fight elsewhere.
She's fine, Kane thought, turning back to his father.
Redden fought against the vampire. Against Cid. The Cid. Kane had grown up on stories of this man, of his skill with a blade. He'd known in his heart that the tales were exaggerated, colored by time and distance and grief, and yet as he watched the man fight now, he knew that his father had not been exaggerating in one regard at least: Redden couldn't beat this man, not alone. The vampire moved with speed and skill, dodging every blow, striking out of the shadows. Redden was barely fending him off. The West Hills soldiers tried to help him, but the dead kept them back.
He needs me, Kane thought. "Jack?" he said, motioning with his sword.
The mage looked where he pointed, then nodded. A line of fire streaked out from Jack's hand, briefly clearing a path to the altar. "Go!" Jack said.
He hurried to his father's side, sword swinging at Cid, but his target turned to smoke. It reformed just to his left.
"Ah-ah," Cid said, wagging a finger at him. "My brother and I have catching up to do. I'd ask you not to interfere."
Kane roared in defiance, swinging at him again. His father attacked from the other side, but Kane's sword clanged against Redden's as their target faded into smoke once more.
The smoke surged outward, pushing past him, a palpable force. It hit the West Hills men hard. Kane watched as one of them, behind Redden, was thrown sideways. The man scrambled to his feet, but the smoke took shape above him, Cid's sword slamming downward point first into the man's chest.
"Father!" Kane said, pointing with his sword, but Redden didn't turn. He was looking past Kane, eyes widening.
"Behind you!" Redden said, pointing over Kane's shoulder.
Kane turned, saw the shadows thickening there too. Two of them! Kane thought. He felt his father behind him, back to back, as the writhing shadows coalesced…
The dark-skinned Felder stood before him.
"Huh?" Kane said, stiffening.
Felder grinned cruelly, flashing blood-stained fangs. "My lord," he said, bowing. "Another dance?"
Kane barely got his sword up before the former pirate charged.
Jack searched the aether for anything else he could use. He'd tried not to draw it, not to rely on his reserves, to make his powers go farther, but as he went on, he was running out of options. The aether here wasn't shaped like any spell he knew.
He felt the stagnant aether as he drew it, felt it like a drink of boiling oil, rasping and stinging every nerve in his body, making him choke on his own breath. He tried to ignore the pain, forming fire.
Lena fought beside him, panting, yelping each time she cast that strange spell. They fought at the back of the room, at the edges, clearing the dead there one by one. The dead came for them, for her, for the white mage their master required, but none were able to reach her.
Strong, Jack thought, pride reaching him even through the pain as she obliterated their last enemy. My lady is strong.
"Jack! The door!" she said.
He turned to the front of the room where their men fought, crowded around the room's narrow entrance. They should have been able to hold it - logistically, they should have been able to - but to Jack's surprise, they couldn't. The dead coursed in, flowing over one another, crushing one another, crushing the men blocking their way. Men screamed as the creatures poured over them.
"Come on!" she said. "We have to help them!"
Her eyes. Jack barely had time to register it before she ran off, toward the danger, toward the fighting. Her eyes were glowing.
"Wait, Lena!" he called, following after her.
Kane could feel his father behind him, could feel him struggling, but he couldn't help him now. This wasn't like when he had fought with Felder on the ship. The Stone Coast pirate was stronger than he had been, muscles aided by his unnatural transformation. That transformation had changed more than his physical body: he swung his sword with an anger and viciousness unlike anything Kane had seen from him before.
"Felder, please!" Kane said, ducking a blow that would have taken his head off. "This isn't you! We were friends!"
The pirate sneered, showing his fangs. "The dead need no friends!"
A sword struck from the side, taking Felder in the arm, leaving a wide gash that didn't bleed. Felder hissed in rage, facing the interloper.
"The dead may not," Gabriel said. "But he does." He jerked his chin toward Kane.
Felder's eyes narrowed. He chuckled as though Gabriel had made a joke. "But how can you defend both of your friends at once?" He waved his hand toward the back of the room, where Harvey still knelt cradling his hysterical sister. At Felder's wave, two of the snarling dead broke off from the men they were fighting and ran that way.
"Harvey!" Gabriel called. "Look out!"
Felder struck out at the distracted sergeant. Kane dove in, getting his sword up in time, but then Felder pelted him with a series of strikes that Kane wasn't ready for. He's too fast, Kane thought. He blocked another strike, but the young vampire twisted deftly out of the way, bringing his own curved sword around in an arc aimed at Kane's head.
Gabriel blocked it, but his eyes darted to the side. Kane saw Harvey standing over his sister, his thin-bladed weapon drawn and ready just as the charging creatures reached him.
Hold on, Harvey, Kane thought. Just hold on.
Jack squinted, the light of the remaining lanterns stinging his eyes. The aether... I can't keep drawing here, he thought, remembering the risks of aether burn. He fought near the room's exit. The dead gathered there, pushing against the soldiers.
Lena cried out as she cast that spell again. She must feel it. If she was drawing this corrupted aether too...
One of the dead climbed over the other creatures, scrambling over the top of their heads like an insect. It leaped, clearing the wall of soldiers, landing in front of Jack and Lena with a sickening crunch of bone. Jack brought his staff down on the thing's snarling head.
Another appeared beside it, reaching for him. Bayard's sword sheered through its arms. "Hold!" the captain called to the soldiers. "You hold!"
"There are too many!" one of the men replied, screaming as the dead broke through.
Jack fell. The dead charged over him, stepping on him. He lost his staff. He lost Lena. A hand grabbed him roughly by his coat, pulling him up. Bayard. The captain still had his sword, sweeping it left and right as he roared at his undead foes.
Jack searched frantically for Lena.
There! She'd been pushed back against the wall with three of the soldiers.
Jack drew the aether, ignoring the pain as he called up fire again.
Lena held her hands up, funneling all of her power into a Protect as the three men struck out with their swords. She again felt the blows as the dead beat at her defenses. Where was Jack?
The creatures in front of her burst into flames, shrieking as they fell.
She looked up, past their writhing forms. She saw Jack, his hand outstretched toward her as fire flew from his fingers. She saw another wave of the dead closing in on him from behind. She cried out...
And then more men rushed into the room, living men, waving swords and cudgels. She recognized them: Gus and Maxell, Leo and Paul. The pirates! They hit the dead with force and fury. So fast! So unnaturally fast! As though they were aided by some spell...
By Thadius.
Kane heard the commotion near the door, but he couldn't spare more than a glance that direction. Felder toyed with them, with Kane and Gabriel both, knocking each swing of their swords aside easily, his own swings fast and unpredictable. Sparks flew from the impact as Kane's blade blocked one of those strikes. The pirate twisted like a snake, and the sword flew from Kane's hands.
Felder laughed, bringing his sword up, down again, hard. It whistled as it cut through the air, only to stop inches from Kane's head as Gabriel blocked it.
One of the dead moved in, tackling Gabriel around the middle. The sergeant grunted, thrown to the ground. Felder laughed, raising his sword again.
Kane dove for his own weapon, the tips of his fingers glancing over the hilt, pushing it farther away.
Felder stood over him now. He smiled, showing his fangs, sword held high.
This is how I die, Kane thought as the blade came down.
And then Harvey appeared. He dove on top of Kane, slamming him to the ground. "No!" Kane cried as the blade struck with an audible crack like a hammer blow, but instead of a spray of red, there was a flash of white, a Protect spell.
The sword fell from Felder's hand, his fingers sizzling. His face twisted in an unrecognizable rictus of pain and fear, no longer resembling the young pirate Kane had known. The thing that had once been Felder screamed, a screech of agony.
The scream cut off abruptly as Gabriel cut off the creature's head.
I'm sorry, Felder, Kane thought. He felt an instant of grief, but he heard Lena's voice, a cry of pain, and he knew he couldn't let his feelings overwhelm him yet. The fighting wasn't over.
"You alive?" he asked Harvey.
Harvey nodded, though he grimaced in pain.
"Move!" Kane said, pushing him off, collecting his fallen sword.
He turned toward the door, where he'd heard Lena's voice. She stood with their remaining soldiers, with Jack, and, surprisingly, with Shipman and the pirates who had remained outside. You have to do what you think is right, Sarda had said. Kane watched as Thad zipped among the dead, ducking their outstretched hands, laying about him with his little sword. You are a warrior, Kane thought to him. Father was wrong to leave you behind.
Wait... His father...
Frantic now, Kane searched the room.
There! Near the altar, Redden fought the other vampire: Cid, his own brother, frozen in youth, as he'd been when he died. The last of the West Hills men fought with him, Killian and one other. Kane could see two more dead at their feet. Of the fifth man, he saw no sign.
They were losing. Kane could see his father's fatigue, how sloppy his strikes had grown. His sword no longer burned with a spellblade. The creature fought lazily, blocking his enemies' attacks at the last moment. Was it toying with its prey, as Felder had done?
His father wouldn't last much longer. Kane hurried toward him, but he froze when the creature spoke.
"I waited for you," it said. It didn't smile as Felder had. Its face was serious. But that voice...
It's like hers, Kane thought. Like Scarlet's. It hit his brain without seeming to pass through his ears, a painful rasp that he felt in his bones. He saw his father's blade dip, his hands shaken. The men fighting beside him stiffened. The creature backhanded Killian so hard that blood flew from the young man's mouth. He fell and did not rise.
"He told me you would come," the creature said. "He told me you would join me here, to fight beside me forever."
The other West Hills soldier cried out, swinging his sword, but the creature caught the blade in his free hand, jabbing his own sword into the hapless soldier's throat. The man fell to his knees, looking startled. He tried to raise his hand to the wound, but then he tipped sideways, twitching as he died.
Redden attacked. He managed a weak slice to the creature's side. Cid took it without moving, but when Redden tried to strike again, higher, it turned to smoke and reappeared on his other side. "You never came," the creature said.
Kane stepped forward. He could barely control his legs. His sword felt like a dead weight in his hands, heavy, impossibly heavy, but he fought to lift it, fought against that voice that kept him rooted to the spot. The sounds of fighting behind him faded. Kane didn't know if it was because the fighting had ended or because that voice had taken over his senses so completely.
"Didn't you love me, brother?" Cid asked, his face an expressionless, inhuman mask.
"Yes," Redden said, his jaw quivering. "More than anything." He struck at the vampire. It swatted his blade aside with casual grace.
It turned its head, eyeing Kane contemptuously. "And yet you've replaced me." He took one step toward Kane, only one step, and Redden struck out with such violence that the creature had no choice but to turn its full attention back to him.
"You died!" Redden said. "This isn't you!"
"Isn't it?" Cid hissed, the tenor of his voice echoing through the cavern, piercing Kane's senses. "Then tell me, brother: why haven't I killed you yet?"
"Because you're stronger than he is!" Redden cried, striking out again.
Cid accepted the blow, a huge gash to his thigh that would have been fatal to a living man. The vampire staggered, then stood up straight once more, head cocked. "Nothing is stronger than he is."
"Scarlet was!" Redden said. "She remembered herself at the end! Remember, Cid! You were the son of Titan! You were a hero! Fight him! You can still fight him!" The point of his sword dipped to the cave floor. He was breathing heavily, exhausted, open to attack.
The creature stared. It raised its sword, but it hesitated. Kane felt its powers withdrawing. Sound returned to him, the sounds of his friends, of their soldiers. He heard Jack call out, "Redden!"
Cid snarled, bringing his sword down. Redden threw himself backward out of the way.
Kane surged forward, crying, "Father!" The creature turned to face him, raising its sword again.
Redden yelled, his sword springing alight once more, the flame roaring as he drove it through the creature's back.
Cid screamed as the blade's glowing point protruded through his chest. The creature became smoke at the edges, but he seemed trapped there, pinned by the sword, unable to shift away. It screamed, and smoke poured from its mouth, from its eyes as they blackened in its skull. It screamed, and the scream died away as Redden withdrew his sword and the flames rose to consume the thing.
The creature fell to the ground, a blackened husk, yet still it moved. It snarled, exposing its wicked fangs.
"How is it not dead yet?" Thad asked from behind Kane.
"It is," Redden said, voice heavy, face blank, as he stared down at the thing, now unrecognizable.
It reached toward Redden with a clawed hand, seeking, sensing, charred skin flaking off as it moved. "Br...oth...er..." it gurgled.
Redden hacked its head off. "My brother is dead," he said. He looked at Kane, as if to verify that his son was alright, then he dropped his sword, fell to his knees, and buried his face in his hands.
Author's note: 5/3/19 - Okay, so you remember in the original Final Fantasy game, you fight the vampire in the earth cave? And, like, that's a serious mini-boss at that point in the game. But then later! Later, the game just… throws a bunch of vampires at you? Like, they're a regular mob that you encounter regularly. Of course, the first time you see one outside the cave, you're thinking, "Oh, nooooo! I'm not ready for a boss fight right now!" But it's not a boss fight anymore by then. It's just a routine mob that you take out with no effort. Dragon Warrior 1 did the same thing with those obnoxious green dragons. Anyway, all that is to say, I added extra vampires. There's precedence for it.