29. Lowlife sellsword #2
“There is a song,” she said, excitement in her voice.
“A lullaby. It’s quite old. One verse mentions something ‘bound’ by mages.
” Her fingers danced across the neck of the instrument, and she cocked her head, trying to find the tune, but winced at a false note.
“Ouch. The rain did a number on my poor baby.” She fiddled with the pegs and tried again.
“It is a longer song, but the verse I mentioned goes like this…”
She plucked at the strings, then sang.
“Arcaenum bound by mages’ might,
So all can rest in quiet night.
No magic wild, no spells astray,
All our fears are kept at bay.”
When she finished, all was silent. Even Biscuit was sitting quietly, his ears perked up in Mia’s direction .
Isolde racked her brain so thoroughly it gave her a headache. Arcaenum, where had she heard that word before? “Has anyone ever heard of this Arcaenum?” she asked the others, mentally crossing her fingers.
Please. Just one hint. One.
“Um, well,” Leif began. Isolde rounded on him, holding her breath.
“Not exactly the same, but in the language of my people, the spirit who stole the heart of the earth was called Arkanni…”
At that, the pieces slotted seamlessly into each other in her head.
“That’s it!” She bounced on her feet, clasping her hands together to keep them from shaking. “I have sensed it each time we crossed a ley line. The fourth god, the spirit, the Arcaenum. It is real, and it is bound… at the Nexus.”
Mia stared at her. “Bound by the mages! That’s what the song says.”
“Yes!” Isolde nodded vigorously. “And they want – need – my help to renew the binding. That’s why they let me live. They need a leytouched. But I won’t help them. I will free it instead, if I can.”
She looked around at the others. Her gaze landed on Garren, his face set in a frown. Isolde took a deep breath.
Say it.
“And even if the mages’ ritual could cure me…
I don’t want it. This magic is mine, and I am keeping it.
” She tilted her chin ever so slightly up in defiance.
It was like shedding skin. Garren’s eyes narrowed, his frown deepening.
Isolde looked away from him, past Luella, whose expression was impassive.
Felix caught her eye, grinning widely and winking at her.
She permitted herself a small smile in return.
Garren broke the silence. “My lady… These are but tales and songs for children. We can’t decide what actions to take based on stories. Your father sent you to the Nexus to be cured, not to chase after some myth.”
Isolde spun to him, her face set in a scowl. “Surely by now you can see that what they told us was not the truth? That this mage never once believed I could actually be ‘cured?’ He always had ulterior motives. My father didn’t want to see it. ”
“Your father only wanted to keep you safe,” Garren retorted, crossing his arms. “You speak as if he offered you up like a lamb for slaughter.”
“Because he did!” Her voice shook, and she hated it did, but she couldn’t help it. “He didn’t even ask me what I wanted, or how I felt, or anything at all! Something happened that he didn’t understand, and his first instinct was to cut it out like a disease.”
Garren took a step forward. “He was only looking out for you.”
Isolde laughed, a harsh, bitter sound.
“Isa…” Felix said quietly from behind her, a warning, but she ignored him.
“And yet his solution was to order Felix to kill me if it turns out there is no cure!”
The blood drained from Garren’s face. His expression twisted into something close to a snarl as he turned and fixed Felix with a look of utter loathing. “I wouldn’t have imagined you stooping quite that low to get your way.”
Felix clenched his fists and shifted his stance, but did not respond to Garren’s accusation. That was good, because Isolde was not done. Swirls of magic gathered around her as she stepped between Garren and Felix to force the former’s attention on her.
“You are so quick to see the worst in Felix and the best in my father, even though he happily sent me off blindly without a thought for the sense behind it. Only so he could avoid a scandal!”
“You are blinded by infatuation,” Garren said dismissively. “If you were older and wiser, you would realise this is a mistake, a childish indulgence. You are a noblewoman, educated, intelligent. You have value. He is nothing but a lowlife sellsword.”
Felix raised his eyebrows. “I’m standing right here, Garren.”
“This is not about Felix!” Isolde all but shouted.
Garren ignored them both. “Your father cares about your long-term happiness, the wellbeing of your family, while Felix only sees you as fleeting entertainment. It is in his nature to encourage you to be reckless and make rash, dangerous decisions. He doesn’t care about your future.
He will tire of you like he tired of that bard, and probably plenty of other easy women before that, and disappear when things get too difficult.
When half the world comes after you because you made the wrong decision, he will not be there to protect you. ”
Behind her, Felix moved, and she felt the heat of his rage at her back.
Isolde tried to step in front of him, but he ducked around her effortlessly and dashed at Garren before anyone could stop him.
His fist connected with Garren’s jaw hard enough to make him stagger backwards.
Felix lunged after him, landing a second punch before Garren could defend himself.
Luella started forward to intervene, but Mia grabbed hold of her arm. “Wait,” she said, her eyes gleaming. “Let him get a few more in.”
“Let him… what?” Luella replied, blinking at Mia in confusion before she shook her head, pulled free and shoved herself boldly in between the two men. “Stop it, both of you,” she barked.
“Get out of my way, Lu,” Felix snarled. “He’s had it coming for far too long.”
Leif, meanwhile, was struggling to pull Felix back by one arm, but Felix was not backing down. Isolde didn’t think she had ever seen him this angry, even when they had had that argument in the Crovan village.
Mia turned to her, eyebrows raised in faint amusement. “I suppose we should probably do something. Will you or shall I?”
Isolde stared at her but didn’t move, so Mia shrugged and stepped forward.
She wove around Luella as graceful as any accomplished dancer and spread her hands out, looking back and forth between Garren and Felix.
“Boys,” she said sweetly, and as soon as she did, Isolde felt Mia’s power.
It was a small, quiet thing, nothing like her own wild current that immediately wanted to reach out to Mia’s, pull at it and draw it in.
But she did not let it, and a flush of pleasure and pride ran through her at the realisation that she had that level of control now. It was almost effortless.
“You may have your disagreements,” Mia continued, “but beating each other up will solve nothing. Stand down and talk this through calmly and politely, like good boys.”
Garren shook himself like a dog, as if trying to clear his head. “Right,” he mumbled. “You’re right. ”
Felix, however, only scowled. “Don’t try that shit on me, Mia,” he grunted, then lunged sideways and tried to get around all of them, only to be intercepted by Luella and Leif.
Isolde had enough. She forced her way through the press of bodies until they stood toe to toe. “Felix, please.”
His face softened when he finally looked at her, but his eyes were still dark and stormy, full of anger and hurt.
“He insulted you! How do you expect –”
“It isn’t important, Felix!” She interrupted. “I don’t care what Garren thinks about us being together.”
Garren huffed behind her. Luella smacked him.
At Isolde’s words, though, all the fight seemed to go out of Felix.
His hand covered hers, still pressed to his chest. The ghost of a smile crossed his face, small and warm and for her alone.
He opened his mouth as if to speak, but his eyes flicked over the others and he closed it again, exhaled slowly and nodded.
“Fine,” was all he said, and stalked back to where he’d been standing before.
Mia was eyeing Felix with a mixture of confusion and amazement. “Right,” she said finally. “I suggest the boys stay quiet and let the adults talk. Isolde, you were saying you need to free something, but that mage needs you to bind it. So, what do we do?”
Isolde bit her lip. They all looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to tell them what to do. It made her feel strong, but also terrified. What if she was wrong?
While Isolde pondered this, Garren could apparently not help himself. “The only reasonable course of action is to simply meet this mage at the Nexus and wait for your father.” He took a deep breath. “That would be the sensible thing to do.”
Mia pressed her lips together, slowly breathed out through her nose, then rounded on Garren. “I said,” she snarled, “be quiet, or I will show you what easy women like me are capable of when windbags like you push them too far.”
Garren was quiet. Luella looked like she seriously considered giving Mia a pat on the back, but settled for a look of faint amusement.
“Maybe…” Isolde began, still frowning, “we should just meet the mage. Pretend I’m willing to help with his ritual. ”
“What? No, that’s insane,” Felix said.
Mia glared at him.
“Um, can I say something?” Leif piped up.
Mia’s expression changed to a wide smile. “Of course you can, Leif.”
“What if this ritual is dangerous to you, Lady Isolde? How can we just let you walk in there if we don’t know what they might do?”
“Exactly,” Felix agreed.
But Isolde shook her head. “I’m not afraid of mages. They are afraid of me. We know they are ahead of us, so most likely they have set up some kind of base camp at the Nexus. We’ll have to get past them to get to the Arcaenum.”
Felix shrugged. “We can just kill them.”
Both Luella and Garren scoffed.
“You’re assuming the six of us can simply wipe out an entire force of mercenaries and who knows how many mages?” Luella sputtered. “That is overconfident to the point of stupidity even for you, Felix.”
Felix shrugged again. “That would be my choice. But it’s up to you, Isa.”
Isolde smiled at him. “I appreciate your confidence, but I would rather not do that. A ruse should work. I will go along with the mage’s plans to get us inside the Nexus. Somehow. I hope… once I am there, I’ll know what to do.”
Felix did not like it; that much was clear. She didn’t like it much herself. But it seemed like the most obvious course of action.
“Fine,” he said with a sigh. “But you’re not going into this ‘ritual’ alone.”
Mia was looking doubtful. “Are you sure about this, love? I don’t like it. We could try some kind of diversion?”
Isolde shook her head. “I don’t think diversions will work against mages, and I’d rather not turn them outright hostile against us if we can avoid it. I don’t want any of you to get hurt.”
Mia pursed her lips, then nodded. “It’s your call.”
Her call. Isolde looked around and realised it was true. They all agreed it was her call, some more begrudgingly than others. So she made it – one more night in the keep, then five days until the end.