Brave Men Die: Part 3 (12 page)

‘So it’s just going to be us again?’ asked Edrazil, looking at Avernus.

‘It’s too risky exposing any more of us. The numbers would be welcome but I don’t think we should have too much of a problem. You two just have to be prepared to kill a lot of goblins and the like.’

‘Ah the supernatural hey …’

‘Guess we will need a few more shots of courage Ed before we go taking them on,’ said Devilin, putting the bottle to his lips and finished his drink, thinking it one big joke.

‘Get everything in order. I’m going to check on the student magi. We leave in the morning.’

After Firadon, the Academy lacked a certain freedom. The weeks spent in the south had been a pleasant, if not surprising, interlude to her studies. Her relationship, for lack of a better word, with Rigel, which had immediately become more physical than usual, had returned once more to mage and acolyte the moment they had returned.

But his body hadn’t been the only pleasurable treat on the journey. The three books that Carina had obtained from the archaeology group were unprecedented. She’d had plenty of time to have an initial read through all three on their journey home and arrange a meeting with some of the Council.

Sitting at the desk in her room, she tapped her fingers against the wood and drifted away with the memories of their last night before returning. Rigel had rented a room in a tavern, the first bed they’d managed to get the entire trip. In return she’d been gentle with him, made sure the wound in his side didn’t burst again. It had been fun.

Carina sighed and tried to focus on the task before her. There was an art to copying and transcribing spells. The smallest of mistakes could be disastrous, either altering the spell with alarming consequences or causing her to burn out. But the risks were worth it; they were always worth it. And if she judged the content correctly, she would be ready to sit the Eighth Circle trials not long after learning the spells within.

The last spell in
Beyond
was more complicated than any of the others and by the time she had finished, Carina was unaware that a sheen of sweat had built on her brow until it dripped down onto her desktop with a small splash. Throwing her head back to avoid any damage to the pages in her personal spellbook, she managed to wipe her forehead with the back of her arm.

Transcribing the spells would help her commit them to memory and allowed her to travel without a cumbersome library. By touch of the cover alone, Carina could feel the power emanating from the pages, now much stronger after the recent additions. Closing her eyes she could see every spell, every character handwritten and inked on the velvet pages.

Opening the bottom drawer she piled the recently acquired books in neatly, then reinserted the false bottom. Satisfied that only an idiot would discover them, Carina looked around for the time while she stretched. It was about time that she went and met with Elder Kilke.

Rigel would be somewhere on the acolyte training grounds, he had already reported in to his generals about the incident in Firadon. It had been her Council that had held everything up. Carina wanted to head somewhere remote to learn her new spells, somewhere that she wouldn’t be noticed while channelling weaves no one had used for centuries. She had to master them quickly. The incantations from
Battle Lore
especially, she was eager to destroy something with powers that had been lost for centuries.

Walking through the Academy grounds, the presence of the novices didn’t bother her today. Normally Carina found them underfoot, always hovering, trying to learn things above their rankings instead of just spending the hours in the library, pouring over the ancient lore. Today, they breezed past her, as if nothing.

Carina found Rigel shirtless with a sword in his hand. He was in the middle of the courtyard, his muscles straining under the exercise of sparring with one of the others. Instead of interrupting, Carina found a seat amongst the initiates, other acolytes, and the novice magi who had yet to choose and earn their own acolyte. They were all watching in earnest as the fight moved back and forth across the courtyard.

Rigel was on the back foot, completely on the defensive. There were cheers from the crowd as the younger acolyte pressed the advantage. Rigel’s hand never went to the scar that was still red and raw but even Carina knew he didn’t have the full range of movement and wondered why he was pressing himself so hard, so quickly.

The younger man was playing to the crowd. Carina had no idea who he was but the younger magi in the courtyard were certainly aware of it. They were all smiling as he continued forward, the blade dancing in his hand. Rigel was countering, although slowly. Too slow. He’d just slayed a demon that most men and half the acolytes would never have been able to, some wouldn’t even have been able to track its movements. That demon was a monster designed for hunting its prey and killing anything that moved. Rigel was amongst the elite.

Carina scanned the younger man. He was fast and agile, and seemed to enjoy the sport of challenging Rigel. But Rigel didn’t seem to be on top of his game. The wound was practically healed, he should have the confidence to press forward and Carina didn’t understand why he was holding back. It was the twitch in his hand that gave him away. It took her only minutes to spot it, but it was there. Rigel had been by her side for so long now she knew exactly how his body moved.

And knowing what he was doing meant she knew what to expect next. Nearing the edge of the courtyard, Rigel countered at twice the speed he had been. The younger man wasn’t expecting it. Covered in sweat, Rigel quickly pressed forward and took the fight to him, his blade moving swiftly in his hand, blurring to life.

It was over quickly and the crowd dispersed, taking their disappointment with them. It appeared that most of them — nearly all of them — were supporting the other guy. Rigel had sunk to his arse in the middle of the courtyard, smiling up at her — the only spectator left in the stalls.

She smiled back. Carina couldn’t help it. His face brightened when he smiled and it was contagious. Her head tilted to one side, as she stared back at him. Rigel’s chest was heaving from exhaustion, his muscles covered in a sheen of sweat and his legs stretched out before him.

All he could do was shrug before collapsing to the ground, his hands going back behind his head in lieu of a pillow. Carina stood up and walked down to him, removed her robe and threw it over his face. Rigel playfully pretended to suffocate and struggled out of it before tucking it behind his head.

Carina sat down beside him, hugging her knees while he lay beside her.

‘What was that all about?’ she asked.

‘I don’t know, I guess I felt like stretching.’

‘You’re recovering from a near fatal wound.’

‘I’m pretty much good as new. See?’ he said, turning on his good side so she could see the red scar.

Carina poked it.

‘Ow,’ Rigel mocked.

She rolled her eyes and returned her gaze to the distance.

‘I’m okay, you don’t need to worry about me.’

‘As if I ever worry about you.’

‘Well, just in case you changed your mind.’

They both let the silence hang in the air between them. There was little else to be said on the matter. Carina would never commit to anything more than what they were. And Rigel would wait for her always.

‘The meeting with the Council elder on your mind?’

Carina turned back over her shoulder. His body was prone and his eyes were closed. He wasn’t watching her but could just feel her mood, sense how tense her body was. She hated that he could do that.

‘It will be fine if they pull their heads out of their arses.’

‘So it’s not that. Did you find out where Ara went?’

‘I asked around but no one has seen her for a few weeks. And Daria is gone too, she would have been the only one she told where she was going.’

‘I’m sure she is fine.’

Carina rolled her eyes and turned to look over at him, but now his eyes were closed and his face looked serene.

‘Ara’s up to something, I know it.’

‘Sure she is.’

Carina leant over and punched him in the side. ‘Don’t be so condescending with me.’

Rigel sat up and rubbed where she hit him, and looked at her apologetically. ‘How can I make it up to you?’

Carina looked around the empty courtyard, sighed, and smiled cheekily. ‘You’ll have to do a lot …’

Happily sated, the rush of power and lust that had built from working with the incantations earlier had been replaced with a sense of relaxation. Carina hadn’t realised just how badly she had wanted him to touch her. Happy that she had relented, it did cross the boundaries that she had created to keep them at a distance within the Academy walls. In here, relationships could be used against you.

Rigel didn’t seem to be fazed by what had just happened and what it meant. He untangled himself from her legs and walked naked across her room to the small fireplace and put the kettle on the rack. Carina rolled on her side and propped her head up with her arm and stared at his scarred torso. He looked back and coughed, tilting his head at the fireplace. Whispering the incant, a ball of flame appeared under the kettle and boiled the water quickly.

It was one thing to give him the impression that she enjoyed using his body, but Carina was determined never to tell him exactly how much. Rigel returned with a cup of coffee in each hand and waited until she had sat up before handing her hers. He stood there, naked and oblivious, as he sipped the hot liquid.

‘It’s probably time to get ready for your appointment right?’ Rigel asked, taking another gulp of his coffee.

‘Yeah, something like that, so go put on some pants and put that thing away.’

There were two acolytes standing guard outside the elder’s door when Carina and Rigel arrived late for the appointment. They stood loosely against the wall, both older men that had served for decades longer than Rigel and were armed with blades strapped to their waists. If Elder Kilke called, they would both be inside in seconds.

They stepped inside and Kilke graciously looked up from her desk, ‘Close the door behind you please.’ Inside the room were another two acolytes, both at ease, just waiting to strike if the command was given.

Carina hadn’t planned on this, she thought she would just be reporting in and speaking quietly with a member of the Council about the events in Firadon. This situation felt like something else altogether, like something else was going on that she was unaware of. Rigel instantly picked up on her discomfort and stepped closer to her body.

Carina moved away from Rigel’s rigid body, making her choice to distance herself from the acolyte, despite the feeling of unrest that had settled over her. He had surrendered to his instinctive protectiveness and his body had tensed, his hands clenched into tight fists and the veins in his forearms bulged to the surface.

The memory of Rigel’s last stand flashed quickly to the forefront of her mind. He was young, temperamental and even more protective of her back then. One of the elders had detained her, had said something that Rigel had overheard and took as an immediate threat. Before she could detain him, he had gone nose to nose with the elder, puffed out his chest and stared her down. The elder could have killed him on the spot, burned him from the inside out. Instead, more cruelly, the elder had ordered that Carina be whipped as he watched and that had broken him. After her five lashes, having heard her screams of pain, he stood there and took fifty, with the elder amplifying the pain tenfold. He never uttered a sound as the lash struck, but sunk to his knees after the first twenty, brought down to his hands after the next twenty. The last ten made her wish she had never kissed him the day before. It was excruciating watching him suffer because whatever loyalty he felt for her had foolishly led to this.

When it was over, the elder satisfied that she had broken him for his insolence, Carina waited until the public courtyard had emptied completely before walking over to him and ordered him to his feet, had told him that if he was to continue as her acolyte he was to never act without her instruction and if she had to undergo another lashing she would see to it that he suffered a pain so intense he would wish he was dead.

She cringed at the memory but had hoped it would prevent him from repeating the same mistake again. Carina didn’t know if she could watch him take that kind of punishment again. And yet he’d stepped forward again instinctively as soon as he realised the shift in the room. He hadn’t put a hand to his weapon yet, but he had stepped forward and that was enough for the two other men in the room to stand up and take positions to either side of Kilke.

He had to remember the lashes, the way the leather had torn open the flesh of his back, the magically enhanced pain he had underwent. And the idiot didn’t even hesitate. Maybe she loved him because of it.

Carina silently drew breath and moved in front of Rigel, hoping that he got the message that she could handle this and that Kilke didn’t see Rigel’s reaction as a challenge to her authority.

Submitting to the older woman’s superiority, Carina bowed, before starting her report.

‘Recently I was in Firadon, in the north of the country, at a dig site that a group of archaeologists are excavating. They have uncovered a secret chamber that is centuries old, that contains many relics from the age before the purge. I feel that the historians here at the Academy would be interested in some of the artefacts that they have discovered.’

‘Secondly, and the more concerning matter of why I sought an appointment with one of the Council, my acolyte slayed a demon in the surrounding countryside that was terrorising the diggers. It had somehow been summoned when they opened the chamber.’

‘It is my advisement that we send someone down to Firadon to find out where the demon came from. It was a creature of magic and darkness, but I have a limited knowledge in demon lore and couldn’t identify it successfully.’

Kilke looked back at her calmly, absorbing all the facts from Carina’s brief report. ‘Was there any sign that there were others like it?’

Carina screwed up her face. ‘I don’t think that’s the point.’

‘Certainly it is. We need to assess the situation before we commit any of our magi. I will not have anyone walk into a horde of these demons in the name of research.’

‘Both myself and my acolyte could only sense the one, and we scoured the surrounding countryside.’

‘Then the populace is safe.’

‘Not if another one comes through whatever portal the first one came through.’

Kilke stood up to emphasise her point. ‘The demons can be killed. Your acolyte did so. Ultimately there is no threat that cannot be dealt with.’