Maylin's Gate (Book 3) (52 page)

The white soul knight's beefy arm shot out and blocked the monk's advance. "If you take another step forward, I'll have you arrested."

"Go on," she said unwrapping Jo from her embrace. "Tell the lady."

"A friend of mine, her name is Bess," Jo said. "She and I escaped from Prynesse."

Rika's eyes narrowed. "Escaped?"

Jo let go a deep breath and sat upright meeting the monk's angry glare. "Bess worked in a brothel. It was the best brothel in Prynesse m’ lady. But, Bess worked there against her will."

"Why would the church concern themselves with that? I —" Rika's jaw fell open.

"The church owns all the brothels in Prynesse m' lady," Jo said. "My mother died working in a brothel against her will. When I escaped, I worked in the kitchen to pay back my mother's debt. I fled before my sixteenth name day m' lady."

"Why?" Rika said.

"That's when a girl is called to serve the church."

"Did Bess work as prostitute?" Rika said.

Jo nodded. "Bess taught me to read and write Lady Rika. She was like a sister to me."

If possible, the albino monk's face turned a paler shade of white. "Lies," the monk said without conviction.

"Can you show us the brothels?" Rika said.

"Yes m' lady. I know them all."

Sir Alcott shot a glance at the knights gathered in the doorway. "I want those brothels shuttered and every monk in Prynesse detained."

"You'll not hold me prisoner in my own home." The albino monk moved toward the door and a detention shield appeared around him.

"You'll go nowhere until I say," Sir Alcott said.

Rika's gaze fell on her.

Her stomach dropped. Her moment of reckoning had arrived.

"And you are?" Rika said.

She held the lady's gaze without wavering. "My name is —"

"Lady Finn," a hurried voice said from the doorway. A teenage boy, near Jo’s age, stood between the soul knights red-faced and breathless. "Lady Finn, I've searched high and low for you." The boy glanced between Rika and the white soul knight. "You have to come now. You too Sir Alcott."

"What's wrong?" Sir Alcott said

"It's the baerinese," the boy said. "They've surrounded the city. Thousands of them. They're gathering their forces. General Shotton told me to find Lady Finn. They're starting to attack."

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

Catalin’s Letter

Trembling, Danielle settled into a chair plush with soft cloth and padding.

In the room’s far corner, a basin filled with steaming water sat beneath a shelf lined with dry herbs and powders.

Brees tipped white powder into a mug filled with water from the basin.

“What are you making?” She kept a wary eye trained on the powder.

“Here.” Brees handed her a mug with steam circling its rim.

“Are you trying to poison me? Haven’t you done enough?”

Brees turned to face her cradling the mug. “Yes, you've found me out. I’ve gone through all this trouble to finally poison you.”

A wave of dizziness swept through her head and a clammy sweat broke across her brow. She closed her eyes and leaned back. She replayed the vision of the young mother screaming and the sickening sound of tearing flesh. Her stomach churned and a rush of tinny saliva coated her mouth. “What is it?”

“Ginger tea,” Brees said using a soothing tone. “It will help settle your stomach.”

She took the mug and sipped the brew. The strong flavor of ginger coated her tongue and chased away the bile left from her vomiting. “Thank you.” She managed a weak smile. “It’s good.”

Brees gazed on her without comment while she sipped the tea.

She glanced over the rim and met the shaman’s curious stare. “Why did you put me through that?”

“I’m sorry Danielle. I didn’t know any other way.”

“Was it real?”

Brees shrugged. “We’ve no reason to believe it’s not.”

“The portal, was it Maylin’s Gate?” She said.

Brees nodded. “Now you understand why we can’t build it. We can’t let those…things ever step foot on earth again.

“Those were the ickaret?”

“Yes.”

“Did you see the same vision?” She said.

“I did. Well, it’s different for everybody,” Brees said. “I traveled through the portal and into the hive, but followed the path with the men.”

“I don’t understand why you’ve lumped the trees in with those creatures?”

“You didn’t see them?” Brees said. “There were three saplings on the hill. They use the trees Danielle.”

“And they use people,” she said. “Does that make you evil? Besides, those saplings had been uprooted.”

Brees held her gaze for a long moment before speaking. “On the path the men follow, you can see the tree’s root structure. Their tendrils sink deep into the ickaret’s eggs. They draw nourishment from the trees. We believe it’s how they grow to such massive size.”

“That makes the trees the pariah of humankind?”

“There’s more,” Brees said. “They inject human children with an extract made from the trees. Then they send the children back through the portal.”

She recalled fishing with her father in the Deveaux family pond. Connal would throw back the baby fish until they’d grown full-size. “It’s a fertility medicine.”

Brees nodded. “It’s more than that. It caused humans to grow faster and produce offspring at higher rates.” Brees sat in the chair across from her. “Did you notice any elderly people among the refugees?” Brees said.

She sipped the tea and searched her memories. She couldn’t recall a single elderly person among the crowd.

“We believe those refugees weren’t much older than twelve.”

Her head buzzed and she shot the shaman a hard glance. “That’s impossible. Those were grown men and women.”

“Impossible? You, of all people, should know better.”

Wardens understood a fraction of the heartwood’s potential. Why couldn’t a heartwood extract spur unnatural growth? “The insects didn’t appear advanced enough to derive complex extractions on their own.”

Brees’s head bobbed up and down in an exaggerated manner. “We agree. Which is another reason to leave the portal closed. If those creatures have a master, we don’t want any part of it. Someone or something built those trees to control humanity. We think that same someone could use the trees as a bridge to return here.” Brees glared. “That’s why Trace destroyed the forest.”

Tears welled in her eyes and she shook her head meeting the shaman’s hard gaze. “Has anyone in the Brotherhood ever made a connection with them?”

“A connection with what?”

"The saplings," she said. "The ones lying atop the hill."

"Of course not."

“Well I did. Those trees were every bit as scared and desperate as the humans passing beneath them.

“I don’t see —”

“Did you ever think it possible that those trees might be as unwilling to serve those bugs as the humans they ate for food?”

“Even if that were true, it doesn't change the facts.”

Her vision flashed and heat spread through her body in waves. She tossed aside the mug and stood looming over the shaman. “Doesn't change the facts?”

Brees glared with eyes narrowed. “What will it take to convince you Danielle?”

“It will take more than some ancient parlor trick,” she said storming past Brees on her way to the door.

“Where are you going?” Brees stood and followed her across the room.

“I’m getting my friends out of your prison, gathering my belongings, and leaving. If you want to condemn your people to death that’s your business. I have no intention of allowing that to happen to the rest of the world.” She opened the door and strode out pushing past a sorcerer and shaman standing outside.

“Don’t touch her,” Brees said from behind.

She glared at a shaman who stood frozen. “You’ve all bought into a lie and you only continue to perpetuate it.”

Shaman and sorcerers from nearby rooms piled into the hallway. A low murmur broke out among the assembled Brotherhood.

Ahead, a sorcerer and shaman stood guard outside the cell holding Keely, Arber, and Jeremy.

She paused outside the door and glared down the hallway at Brees. “Tell them to open the door before I get angry.”

Brees pushed through the crowd and paused before her. “I thought if I showed you the gate, you would understand.” Brees gestured toward the door. “Go ahead and let them out.”

The shaman guarding the door spoke a few words and the electrical field vanished.

A sorceress standing beside Brees glared. “We can’t let them go. They’ll deceive us.”

Brees leveled her with a bitter glare. “You’ll find no solace in Zen or anywhere else in Obsith. When you leave here, you are no longer welcome among us.”

“Fine. I’ll take my things and be on my way.”

Behind her, the door clicked open and Jeremy stepped through. Arber and Keely came after.

Jeremy glanced from her to Brees and the dozens of sorcerers and shaman packing the hallway. “What’s going on?”

“I can’t let you have your things,” Brees said. “I never promised them back.”

Something insider her snapped. She reached for Lora’s magic and green energy flowed like molten tree sap around her extended hand.

Blue shields flickered to life around her, Jeremy, Arber and Keely.

Behind her, the low rumble of forest cats echoed across the hall.

The metallic stink of burning ozone filled the air. A dozen amulets glowed and electricity swirled in the open air above the group.

“Wait,” a female voice said from beyond the gathered obsith casters.

Brees’s head jerked toward the voice. “Catalin?”

“Please move. I have to reach my brother.” Catalin pushed past the sorceress standing beside Brees.

Sweat streaked Catalin’s face while sand and dust caked the woman’s disheveled hair.

“How did you get here?” Brees glanced from Catalin to the crowd beyond.

“A friend brought me,” Catalin said breathless. “We’ve traveled non-stop since the day Lady Danielle left Mara.”

“What friend?”

“Easy on the robe. It’s brand new,” a quirky familiar voice said from the back of the crowd. A squat man with a curly mop of white hair pushed through the crowd and froze before Keely and Arber.

Arber snarled flashing a pair of razor sharps incisors.

The wide-eyed man raised a crystal atter staff to ward off the saber-toothed forest cat.

She rested her palm atop Arber’s mane and spoke in a soft voice. “He’s a friend. It’s okay.”

Fizzle’s gaze turned upward and met hers. A hearty smile broke across the herder’s face.

“Fizzle.” Her anger dissipated and she rushed forward embracing the rancher.

Fizzle’s cheeks turned a deep shade of crimson and the atter herder stood as stiff as a statue. “There’s no need for all that.”

Brees’s eyes narrowed. “Can whatever news you’ve brought wait? We’ve some business to attend here.”

Catalin glanced between her and Brees. “No. It can’t wait. I’ve brought news that impacts us all.”

Every eye in the cramped hallway shifted toward Catalin. A chorus of low murmurs broke out among the Brotherhood.

What news would drive Catalin from Mara? She forgot her anger and stepped back giving Catalin her full attention.

Catalin drew an ancient paper from a burlap satchel. “Aren gave me this shortly before his death.”

The age-wrinkled paper rested on Catalin’s outstretched palm. The paper appeared frail enough to turn to dust and blow away.

“What is it?” Brees said.

Eyes glistening with moisture, Catalin held Brees’s gaze for a long moment. “First, you should know that Aren spoke of you before his death. He apologized for his conduct over the years,” Catalin said voice trembling. “He wanted you to know that he loved you and he was proud of you.”

Brees swallowed and nodded wearing a solemn expression.

“Go on,” Brees said.

“Aren found this letter among the emperor’s documents."

“When? After the emperor’s defeat at Freehold?” She said.

Catalin nodded. “He said the letter’s contents changed his life. It was the reason for Aren’s return to Mara.” She held Brees’s gaze. “He wanted to tell you himself.”

“What does it say,” a voice said from the crowd.

“Go on and read it,” a sorceress said from behind her.

The murmurs grew louder until Brees raised a hand and the hallway fell silent. “Go on,” Brees said. “If it’s that important, we should all hear it firsthand.”

Catalin unfolded the single page letter and held it up for those gathered. “This letter was written by the emperor’s own hand.”

A gray-haired shaman standing behind Catalin nodded. “I recognize it as the emperor’s.”