David Wells - Cursed Bones

When she was on the move, with a goal in mind, something to focus on, she could keep the Wraith Queen out of her head much more easily, but here … she had nothing to do and no one to talk to. It felt like Azugorath had been stalking her for months-she was exhausted.

“I wish I could stay and keep you company,” he said.

“It’s all right. Did you learn anything?”

“I’m afraid so,” Alexander said, but before he could explain the danger, Isabel doubled over, collapsing to the floor. Then she screamed-a shriek of agony so piercing that he slammed back into his body from the sudden terror of it.

He sat bolt upright staring off into the distance, fear and helplessness threatening to overwhelm him.

“What is it, My Love?” Chloe asked.

“It’s Isabel. I have to get back to her. I think Phane has the other witch.”

He lay down and focused on his breathing, calming himself in spite of the turmoil roiling within his soul. The firmament came to him slower than he would have liked but he found his way there nonetheless. Then in a blink he was floating over his wife.

She lay doubled over, gasping for breath and writhing in pain.

A moment later he was at the fortress island, materializing next to Magda and Cassandra, surrounded by the entire Reishi Coven, save his wife. They were assembled in the scrying well atop the plateau.

“Isabel just collapsed,” he said. “Cast your spell.”

“We’re nearly ready,” Magda said. “You must withdraw before we can begin.”

He vanished into the firmament, helplessness nearly overwhelming him. He couldn’t lose her. After all of the threats she’d faced, to die like this was unthinkable. Worse, he doubted Phane was even trying to kill her …

A moment later he was back on Karth, disembodied and unseen, in a large austere chamber with Phane and a woman that was so sublimely beautiful that he nearly lost his focus and returned to his body … until he looked at her colors, dark and evil, filled with hate and malice, twisted and unnatural.

She was strapped to a torture table in the center of a magic circle and Phane was smiling as he sliced a deep gash along the outside of her arm. She screamed, rage mixed with agony reverberating off the bare stone walls.

Alexander appeared just outside the circle.

“Stop! You’re killing Isabel!”

Phane looked up, droplets of blood splattered across his face, and smiled with such boyish delight that Alexander almost imagined that he could like this man … but only for a moment.

“Ah, Dear Cousin, it’s so good of you to visit me. I see that your command of magic is advancing quickly. Quite a feat in fact, projecting over such distances. I have it on good authority that you’re still recuperating under the care and protection of the dragons. I must admit, I didn’t see that one coming.”

“Drop the small talk, Phane,” Alexander said. “You’re hurting Isabel.”

Phane motioned toward the witch strapped to the table with his bloody knife and cocked his head.

“This isn’t Isabel,” he said. “Surely you can see that.”

“No, but she’s bound to this one by a doppelganger spell,” Alexander said.

“Of course she is,” Phane said. “I saw through her ruse the moment I laid eyes on her. Don’t get me wrong, the Sin’Rath witches are dangerous, but they rarely think things through. Something to do with their lineage, I suspect.”

“If you kill her, Isabel will die,” Alexander said.

“Of course she will, you simpleton, that’s how a doppelganger spell works,” Phane said.

“I thought you had plans for Isabel,” Alexander said.

“Oh, I do,” Phane said. “Of course, I suppose I could just kill her now. Perhaps such a loss would crush you enough to make you give up. But then, it might just make you even more intractable. Decisions, decisions. I must say, seeing you like this, so distraught and helpless, is quite appealing to me. On balance, perhaps revealing more of my plans for your wife will cause you even greater distress.

“Yes, I think so. You see, Dear Cousin, pain leads one to feel anger and anger is one pathway to the darkness. Up until now, Isabel has resisted Azugorath’s influence, but this,” he plunged his knife through the outer shoulder of the Sin’Rath witch, eliciting a blood-curdling scream, “is bound to weaken Isabel’s resolve and drive her toward the kind of action that will tarnish her soul forever and leave her nowhere to turn … save to me.”

“My sisters will feed on you, Phane,” Clotus said through clenched teeth, “one way or another, we will take your link and finally free our mother. Then the Seven Isles will be ours for the taking.”

“Hush, Witch,” Phane said, twisting the knife in her shoulder. “Do you really think me such a fool? Do you really believe I would come here without taking precautions to protect myself against your charms? Here I stand, seeing you for the thing you are, not the impossibly beautiful woman you would have me see, immune to your magic.

“I will slaughter your entire coven and rid the world of your taint once and for all, and then kill the remaining rabble from the House of Karth in the bargain. Even better, you will deliver Isabel into my hands and give me the power to exact my vengeance against my dear cousin here. And the most delicious part of it all is that you have delivered the means to accomplish all of this simply by coming here.”

Clotus looked alarmed, even through the pain of Phane’s torture.

“Once again, you and your sisters have failed to fully think through the potential consequences of your actions, preferring to believe that your plans will unfold flawlessly. Even young Alexander here isn’t so foolish.”

“What are you talking about, Phane?” Alexander said.

He looked up, smiling warmly. “A doppelganger spell creates a link between two people, a link that I can use to locate Isabel, and a number of my enemies with her. So you see, the Sin’Rath have unwittingly played right into my hands. Soon, I will send a force of adequate strength, one uniquely suited to this very purpose, to eliminate the offspring of the Succubus Queen Sin’Rath, end the line of Karth, and collect my future bride.

“With Isabel at my side, you will fall and those you protect will have no choice but to kneel before me or be crushed. Come spring, my Lancers will break your father’s defensive line and swarm into northern Ruatha leaving nothing but blood and fire in their wake. This war will soon be over and I will assume my rightful place as the Sovereign of the Seven Isles.”

“You keep telling yourself that, Phane,” Alexander said as he faded back into the firmament, reappearing next to Isabel. She was curled into a ball, struggling to breathe.

“Don’t give in to it, Isabel,” he said. “Phane is just trying to make you angry so Azugorath can exert greater influence over you. You have to fight it.”

She nodded tightly.

“I wish I could stay with you.”

“Go,” she managed through clenched teeth.

“I love you,” he said as he vanished.

He opened his eyes and sat up gasping from the pain, immediately feeling for blood dripping from his nose and ears. Finding none, he eased back into his bed and closed his eyes, willing the throbbing in his head to subside.

Later that evening, Alexander went in search of Ixabrax and found him hiding in a cave accessible only through a deep fissure in the glacier north of Whitehall. The dragon was coiled up, sleeping fitfully. He was injured, deep gashes oozing blood along his side.

“Ixabrax,” Alexander said, after his projection appeared.

The dragon opened one catlike eye and stared at Alexander.