SWNOVELS Fireblade: Chapter 12
MARIN’S CONFIDENT POISE vanishes for a second and I notice the frown of pain, the tightening of muscle around his jaw, the tension threading through his body.
“Ariel, don’t. I thought Deris had explained what we have been forced into.”
He walks over to sit beside me but he doesn’t try to touch, not even to take my hand. If he had, I would have pushed him away, yet his reticence still hurts. I suppose I’m just looking for a chance to reject him, to retaliate for the way it still feels like he rejected me.
“Did Tandarion actually agree to this?” I only met the old King on two brief occasions so I can’t claim to know him well, but his acceptance of this travesty of Samarian law seems unlikely. He may be frail, unwell, disillusioned, but he isn’t stupid.
Marin tries to keep his words dispassionate but he only partly succeeds.
“Of course not. My father believes I have shut him and Sarinder away in one of the royal apartments for his own safety, when in fact he is my prisoner. Temporarily, I hope. When this is all over, if we succeed in freeing Samaran, he must be able to lay his hand on the stone of the Five Warriors and swear the truth, that he was imprisoned and knew nothing of this. Only Jantian, myself and Deris know that my father and my cousin are still alive. We told everyone that Sarinder died from the assassin’s wound and Tandarion died a few days later of a broken heart. I’m hoping the story will also help to reduce the risk from Farang’s assassins and kidnappers, now they think their quarry is already dead.”
I consider this for a few moments. “And the apparent deaths of the King and his heir were also the cue for the real heir to suddenly step forward and claim the throne?”
“Yes. It wasn’t easy. I had to face three days of interrogation by the senior Elders of the High Council to convince them of who I am. Things I knew about my family and my life in the palace as a child.”
I still can’t understand how he could have managed this. So many of our historical stories focus on the disaster of Samaran’s first military dictator––and the need to ensure that anyone who can wield Maratic’s dangerous power can never control both military and civilian laws ever again.
“How did you persuade them to break Samaran’s most sacred law and accept a Power Mage as King?”
“I didn’t. I lied. Told them I was smuggled out of the palace after the Queen was murdered, which of course is true. But I said I had been raised in exile in Annubia, not Maratic. And that I have been fighting as a mercenary for the Khalim since I turned fifteen. Everyone knows Tandarion is no war leader, so I think Samaran’s present need helped convince the Council that my story is genuine. No one seemed very motivated to investigate too deeply.”
I give his changed appearance another appraisal.
“It’ll never work, Marin. That black hair and beard is too thin a disguise. People will see right through it, just as I did. It won’t be long before one of the Eldrin notices that their captain has changed status.”
“It has worked so far. While I was with the Eldrin I avoided the royal entourage and the High Council as much as possible, partly because my main duty as captain lay elsewhere, but also in case anyone noticed my connection to my father––just as you did on our first day at Blackthorn. So it wasn’t difficult for the disguise to work on the aristocrats. They have only seen me from a distance, if at all.
“My role now is to inspire our collection of disillusioned nobles to muster their troops for me to lead into this next battle. Jantian will lead the Eldrin while I stay out of the way of former comrades in arms. You’re right, they would surely see through the disguise if I were to get close enough.”
“And after that? You can’t keep this up indefinitely. Eventually one of the Eldrin will notice how their trusted captain has been elevated to royalty.”
He lets out a long breath. “They won’t get the chance. After we win this battle… If we win this battle and by some miracle I survive it… Jantian will try to fake my death. Then the crown reverts to Tandarion, once he is set free and everyone sees that he and his nephew are still alive.”
“And what will happen to you?”
“It may be possible for me to ditch the disguise and go back to the Eldrin. If not, I don’t know. Blade adepts like us are still considered a mortal threat to Samaran. Too powerful to control. Too dangerous to be allowed to live.”
So my worst fears are true after all. I thought there could be no greater shock than to see Marin about to marry my sister… but this?
I have almost grown used to having a death penalty hanging over me the minute I demonstrate a failure to keep this deadly power under control, but feeling responsible for inflicting it on Marin feels far worse.
“If the Eldrin are going to break their solemn oath never to set a Power Mage on the throne, shouldn’t Jantian simply own it and tell the High Council that this is the only way to defeat the invaders?”
“He considered it. But that risks the Council sticking to the law and refusing to cooperate, dividing the nation just when we all need to come together. If the Elders do go along with breaking that law, then we risk the Blade’s plan succeeding. He would finally get his opportunity to reclaim Maratic if this transgression brings the Eldrin into disgrace. If that happens Samaran would be under the yoke of a more powerful tyrant than the Emperor.”
“Marin, you can’t do this. Too many chances for them to discover that you’re really a Mage-warrior who lied your way to the throne! You’ll be executed. Even if you don’t care if you die, you can’t put that burden on your father.”
“If the Five Warriors could make the sacrifice to save their country, so can I. And so will Tandarion when he finally learns what is at stake. I do have a chance of surviving this, albeit a fairly slim one. Face it, Ariel, if we don’t win this battle, we’re all dead anyway.”
“That’s why Deris said I would regret my name being associated with yours on the formal handfasting document.”
How to turn all my hopes and dreams into dust.
“Ariel, you can claim that you were duped, deceived into this marriage and this military alliance. The High Council will believe that you’re just an innocent victim.”
I raise a doubtful eyebrow. “A Blade adept? Innocent victim? Not worth the breath of saying it.”
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t see another way. I would never have drawn you into this, but the defeated and disillusioned aristocrats were resisting all Jantian’s attempts to persuade them to fight. The slow rot of Lord Farang’s influence has run deep during the years he spent betraying his country.” Marin hesitates. “Maybe you can escape back to Annubia as soon as the battle is over?”
I can’t believe I’m hearing this. “You mean run out and leave you to your fate?”
He gives a wry smile. “It’s no more than I deserve after running off with your sister.”
The sadness in the way he says it suddenly reveals how much it hurts him to break every principle he has lived by his whole life. His beautiful hazel eyes focus on me, so familiar, almost reassuring. One thing about his appearance he hasn’t been able to disguise. And now filled with so much pain.
I wrap my arms around him and press my lips to his, feeling the warm, soft moment when he gives up on trying to remain distant and objective. All the doubts and fears that have haunted me since my return melt away as he draws me close and I can feel the heat and passion of his kiss.
At last he pulls away a little and looks at me, brushing a strand of hair from my eyes, his hand caressing my face and bringing a flash of desire arrowing through me. The ache of loving him so deeply comes back to me in a rush, escaping from wherever duty and survival had buried it while I was away from him.
I can’t bear to lose him now.
“Marin, come with me. Forget Jantian’s plans that may or may not work out. If we’re still alive at the end of this battle, we could both escape to Annubia. Everyone would think we had been killed in the fighting.”
“Live in exile?”
I can see him considering how it would be. Whether a life of exile would be worth living, cut off from the comradeship of the Eldrin, separated from every friend he has ever known. Always looking over his shoulder, checking the faces of traders or bounty hunters for that sudden alert, that flash of recognition…
For me, it feels like a hard future but it means life. I know Marin’s discipline and training runs deep. Maybe too deep to break free. Jantian insists it is the only way anyone can master the power of Maratic, but it has become so much a part of Marin now…
Finally he speaks. “I don’t know, Ariel. I hadn’t thought beyond the fact that under the law, Blade adepts like us are under sentence of death anyhow. We’ve had temporary reprieves because we’re needed for this war––but only so long as we can prove we are still in control of this fearsome power.”
“And you are in control of it! Far more than I ever was. All your years of Eldrin training must make a difference?”
He frowns, staring at his hands. “It’s getting harder since I started taking more from Maratic than Eldrin law permits. I can understand now that those constraints are there for good reason.”
“We would have a better chance to work something out once we’re away from this war. Away from the constant demands to use what we have to save the country from disaster. Have you had any time to think about anything beyond survival, duty, obeying orders?”
He lets out a long breath. “No. You’re right. All I’ve known since I escaped the palace as a child has been Eldrin discipline and obeying orders. There is no choice once you take the path of Power Mage. You have to learn to control what you take from Maratic before it controls you. In some ways it was easier to only think as far as winning this battle.”
“Even if what comes next is being dead?”
“I suppose I convinced myself there was no alternative.”
“There is. Staying alive. Even if it means exile.”
He pulls me to him for another kiss. “If it is with you. Yes. I would choose life, however hard or homeless––”
Lupine prods his knee with her nose while pressing her paw heavily on my foot. I break away, still clinging to Marin’s hands as if that will somehow seal a bond between us strong enough to cheat fate, to give us a chance of a future.
“Seems like Deris is sending us a message that we have work to do.”
Marin gently but reluctantly eases his hands from mine.
“He’s right. I can’t leave all the responsibility for military recruitment to Alina.” He stands up to go but I call him back.
“Marin, wait. I promise you this is about work. Did you already empower a fighting force of Blade adepts among the Eldrin, ready for this battle?” I watch his expression close down and harden. Another crime he swore he would never commit.
“Not yet. Jantian has been quietly asking for volunteers. Not a single refusal so far.”
“Have they been told they will be executed after the battle even if they survive the fighting?”
“Of course.”
“Marin, this is all going too far. Trying to keep one part of the Order separate from the oathbreakers. You can’t preserve the reputation of the Eldrin based on a lie like this. It creates as much of a stain on their integrity as those who commit the actual crime.”
“Maybe. If the price we have to pay for the country’s survival is the end of the Eldrin, then it has to be. Jantian will have to find another way to defend Maratic from the Blade’s conquest.”
I can hear in my memory Shadow’s triumphant hiss when he revealed the endgame in his long plan. His strategy to ensure the Eldrin were disgraced and disbanded, finally giving him access to reclaim Maratic from the Power Mages who had driven him out so many centuries ago.
“Marin, at least that is one terrible thing you don’t need to do. I’m here, I can fight with you, and there is an enormous fire-drake waiting for me in the forest a few miles from Blackthorn’s boundary. We fought together to defeat the Rapathian army on the borders of Annubia.”
I watch the weight of an unholy task falling away from him and wish I had told him this sooner.
“That is the first good news to reach us since you disappeared to Annubia. Are you sure you can win another victory with him? I heard that the Guardian of Rahimar is unpredictable. That he has even killed several of the Nishan.”
“Misinformation I think. Probably because of their efforts to keep everything so secret. I already discovered first-hand that Zandar is unpredictable, but he told me himself that Nishan volunteers asked to be bound to him. For reasons that neither he nor the Nishan understand, they burned to death in the initiation. When I made my own request, Zandar warned me that it might kill me. I don’t know why I survived. Maybe the binding with Shadow protected me. Ice against Fire. Anyhow, it has worked so far.”
At last, Marin breaks into a real smile. “If you knew what a relief it is to know I don’t have to condemn my friends by turning them into adepts. I can go into this fight with a cleaner conscience than I expected.”
A dark shadow falls across my face as a hiss of intense fury cuts the chilled air like a breath of frost.
“You think you can betray me?”