Frost Prisms (The Broken Prism Book 5) (18 page)

He didn’t look around at the audience to see whether the other Masters appeared to believe him. This story wasn’t new to the ones at Mizzenwald, but as far as he knew, everyone else was getting this account of his time in the schism for the first time, and it probably sounded a little far-fetched to anyone who wasn’t there.

“So Harold was consumed by improbably-fast-acting quicksand,” his interrogator continued, “and how did Tanner die?”

“We encountered an alligator—or a crocodile—I can never tell the difference,” Hayden began. “Anyway, it had magic, and we fell into the water and had to fight it at close range. It took a good bite out of Tanner’s leg before I could throw a flash bomb into its mouth and kill it. I gave Tanner the last of my healing tinctures after I dragged him out of the water, and we ultimately made it out of the swamp mostly-intact, but then we were attacked by hyenas. I got tackled by one, and Tanner put an arrow through its neck right before it could eat me, but another one got him before he could reload. I couldn’t get there in time to save him.”

“You want us to believe that he died saving you—this stranger who had only known you for a day or so gave up his life so that
you
could go on alone?” the mage did nothing to hide the disbelief in his voice.

This isn’t going well at all.

“That’s what happened,” Hayden reiterated. “He knew that I was the only one who could do the magic we needed to seal the schism for good, or else he didn’t see the other hyena coming at him until it was too late. I don’t know for sure, and I didn’t ask him because I was about to be eaten at the time,” he added, nettled.

“Yet you survived even after Tanner was killed…”

“Yes,” Hayden answered reluctantly, knowing how this next part would sound. “That was when my father showed up, though he introduced himself as Hunter.”

Hayden could hear a few muffled whispers from the audience. Some of the Council members shifted in their seats.

The next mage at the table took his turn to question Hayden.

“And you didn’t recognize your own father, despite having met him before?”

“No. Anyone can tell you that I don’t remember what happened on the day he came to my mother’s house, though I’ve spent years trying to recover that memory. I didn’t remember anything about what he looked like, or why he was there.”

“And you didn’t notice the remarkable resemblance you bear to him?” Calahan interrupted his colleague, obviously deciding it was his turn to ask the questions—or else he was allowed to butt in whenever he wanted, being the Chief Mage.

Hayden frowned and said, “Honestly, I don’t think we look that much alike. He’s taller than me and built like a gladiator. He has blond hair and light eyes, while I have my mother’s coloring. Maybe the shape of our faces, once I knew to look for it, but I wasn’t expecting to run into the Dark Prism inside the other realm; he was supposed to be obliterated in the explosion that killed my mother.”

“There is quite a bit of similarity in your facial expressions and mannerisms,” Calahan informed him coolly.

“Well it’s not like I stare at myself in the mirror every time I change facial expressions, so I have no idea what I look like when I’m making them,” he pointed out, his temper getting the best of him.

“The accused will not speak unless spoken to,” Calahan said with vindictive pleasure. Hayden was tempted to point out that Calahan
had
been speaking to him, but the Chief Mage seemed to read his mind and amended his statement. “—or not unless asked a direct question by a member of this governing body.”

Hayden forced himself to remain silent, though he could feel his cheeks burning with anger.

“So what you’re telling us is that both of your teammates died in the other realm: the first from not following a hunch of yours and the second while defending you. Then your father happened upon you when you were alone and in danger and saved you, assisting you for the remainder of your time inside the schism out of the kindness of his heart.”

“Was that a question?” Hayden asked dryly after a moment of silence.

Calahan flattened his lips in displeasure and changed tracks.

“How is it that your father came to be on this side of the schism with you?”

Hayden knew better than to confess that he had encouraged the man he knew as Hunter to join him in this realm. They’d probably skip the trial and just send him straight back to his cell for that.

“I was overcome with the effects of the realm after I cast the Closing spell on the schism, and I wasn’t going to make it back through before it shut. He carried me on his back and jumped through the opening with me.”

Calahan looked like he’d struck gold.

“Why would he go to such extraordinary effort to help you every step of the way, even carrying you out of the realm on his own
back
, if not because you are his son and he was planning to ask you to join him in his return to power?”

Hayden nearly jumped out of his chair he was so angry.

Barely restraining himself, he said, “He didn’t have a clue who he was in the other realm; he thought he was Hunter as much as I did. He was just being a nice guy, after I explained to him that the mighty Council of Mages sent a fifteen year old into almost certain death because they were afraid to risk their own sacred persons.”

There was an outbreak of angry muttering from the Council members, like a buzzing of bees. Hayden didn’t care. It was ridiculous to think that his father was waiting for him all this time in the other realm on purpose—when Hayden hadn’t even been intending to go in the first place—then put on an elaborate show of amnesia to win his son’s trust when he could have just taken his prism and left him behind.

Calahan’s face flushed purple and he barked out, “Careful, Frost. You wouldn’t want us to start wondering whether you purposely colluded with your father to restore him to power, so that you could overthrow this ruling body and exact vengeance upon its members.”

“You’re insane,” Hayden responded to his threat with disgust, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms across his chest in contempt.

How is it legal for him to threaten me with more severe charges just because he doesn’t like what I have to say?

“Do you remember the last words you said to me before you entered the schism?” Calahan asked in a level, unpleasant tone.

Unfortunately, Hayden
did
remember what he was talking about, and knew it wouldn’t look good for him to have it shared with the collective group.

So naturally, that’s exactly what Calahan did. “I believe your exact words were, ‘Cal, you’d better hope I die in there. Because if I make it out of that schism in one piece, I’m going to make it my personal goal to get you ousted from your comfy position in the Crystal Tower. I’m sick of you making my life difficult, and I look forward to returning the favor.’ One might think that those words suggest you
yourself
were planning to take action against this Council, so I suggest you be very careful in how you address us from now on.”

Hayden had to hand it to the man, he had a fantastic memory, or maybe Hayden’s words had just made that much of an impression on him.

“I wasn’t revealing some secret, nefarious plot to bring my father back into play,” Hayden explained as calmly as possible. “I was making a general threat about trying to get you fired because I think you’re a terrible Chief Mage and you keep coming to me to solve all of your problems and trying to get me killed.”

Calahan turned fuchsia again and said, “I’ve heard enough. Are there any more questions from the Council?” He looked around at his colleagues, who shook their heads, perhaps sensing danger from their leader.

“Do you have anything further you would like to say for yourself?” Calahan’s voice was acid.

“I do,” Hayden said immediately. “Please consider that I have absolutely no motive for bringing my father back into a position of power on purpose. I spent ten years fearing him before I even knew who he was, and during my only interaction with the man, he murdered my mother, nearly destroyed my Foci, and blew up our house. I spent two years in Binders and in an orphanage because of him. He’s the reason I entered Mizzenwald with no friends and spent my entire first year getting stared at and attacked by people who hated me because of who my father was. He murdered my girlfriend’s mother for crying out loud—why would I want to bring back the man who tore her family apart? It was an accident on my part and on his, and you all can’t even agree that he’s actually evil right now because he’s fixed a few people’s Foci. Yet you want to pretend like he had this elaborate plan plotted out on the off-chance I stumbled into a schism someday and met up with him, or to threaten me by saying I acted maliciously just because you think I’m more popular than you and you don’t like it.”

The look on Calahan’s face could have curdled milk, but Hayden didn’t care. His wasn’t the only vote; there were nine other mages on the Council, and all he needed was six of them to agree that he was being wrongfully maligned.

After a long silence, during which Calahan looked like he was doing some rapid mental calculations, the Chief Mage said, “I call for Hayden to be tried for returning his father to this realm…unintentionally. I further call for him to be charged with malicious intent against this Council based on his threats against me, and evasion of the law when he was wanted for questioning. This delay in the matter of his guilt or innocence has set us back considerably in our strategic planning against his father.”

Clearly Calahan isn’t one of the mages who are conflicted over whether my father is still evil or not.

To his surprise, Magdalene Trout immediately said, “I second the charges.”

Four more mages raised their hands after her, including Laris, and the motion passed. Thinking that things could have gone better, Hayden turned to look at the Masters of Mizzenwald, who looked absolutely blank. Had something happened in the last two weeks that he didn’t know about? Was Magdalene Trout no longer an ally? Had the entire alliance fallen apart since he’d left and Laris cast doubt on his story?

“It appears we have a majority—” Calahan began, looking pleased, but Mrs. Trout interrupted him by stating, “Furthermore, I don’t think that we’re going far enough with these charges. I think that there is ample evidence to support a charge of malicious intent—that he brought his father back into this realm with a full understanding of who he was and what his goals were. We need to send a clear message to the magical and non-magical community that this kind of treachery will not be ignored, nor swept under the rug. A simple prison sentence isn’t good enough for Frost. Justice must be served, and it must be seen to be served across the Nine Lands.”

Hayden could only sit there with his mouth hanging open in shock as he watched his life fall to pieces around him. Strangely, Calahan was eyeing his colleague as though she was going scarily off-script, and Laris looked slightly perplexed.

“You want to
increase
the charges against Frost?” he asked softly, and when she nodded, added, “What—
exactly
—did you have in mind?” warily.

“I vote that we upgrade the charges to high treason against the Nine Lands.”

Alarmed, Laris blurted out, “But that’s for war crimes and crimes against humanity!”

“Can you deny that Hayden has committed both of those in bringing the Dark Prism back to power?” she scoffed. “We were at war with that monster for a decade: a decade in which he destroyed who-knows-how-many innocent people; entire towns perished at his hand. Hayden intended to resume that war—we all know this, even if no one else will say it out loud—and he should pay the ultimate price for his actions,” Magdalene said forcefully, her voice carrying more authority than even Calahan’s as it rang through the room.

“A charge of high treason comes with an automatic death sentence if he is found guilty,” Laris pointed out to his colleague, as though she could have possibly not known that.

What?!
Hayden thought in panic.
She can’t be serious…this can’t be happening!

“Then justice would be served and the world would understand that we have no intention of letting a colluder off lightly just because of a few paltry medals he was once awarded.”

“What?” Hayden meant to shout the word, but it came out barely a whisper. His voice seemed to fail him at this critical juncture. All he could keep thinking, over and over in his head was,
They’re actually going to kill me. I never thought they’d really kill me…

“I second the upgrade to high treason,” the Councilwoman to her left said immediately, glaring hatefully at Hayden.

Ironically, it was Calahan who said, “Now, now, let’s not be hasty…” only to be shouted down by three more Council members adding their approval to the mix.

“Magdalene, I really think we should reconsider whether Hayden’s crime quite qualifies—” Calahan began desperately. For some reason he was acting like
he
was the one who had been tricked here and was about to be sentenced to die.

“You want to show leniency to a boy you just hinted might have malicious intent against the Nine Lands? If he means so much to his father’s plans, let’s remove him from the equation once and for all.” There was no trace of warmth or emotion in her voice. It was like she had never met Hayden before in her life, cared nothing for him, and relished the thought of seeing him die.