Storm Glass (46 page)

  “Now you know what I want. The question remains. Are you going to help me?”

  I kneed him in the groin. He hunched forward and I rammed my knee into his nose. But as he fell, he kept hold of me. His hands slid to my waist and he pressed his thumbs into my hip bones.

  The pain sucked my breath from my lungs and everything from the waist down numbed. Seconds, minutes, years passed before he relaxed his grip. He had regained his breath. Blood dripped from his nose.

  “I take that as a no.” Devlen reached for my collarbone.

  My situation hadn’t improved. Not surprising, but I could hope. When I woke for the second time in my room, I was attached to the wall. Once I managed to get my weight on my feet-rather difficult with ankles hooked to the wall clasps, I glanced up. My wrists sported the same metal cuffs. I tugged both arms and legs to no avail. The clasps had been securely fastened to the wood.

  I was completely vulnerable. Memories from being in this same spread-eagle position boiled up from the depths. Then I had been staked to the ground. The number and location of all the pain spots on my body scrolled through my mind. What had he called them…? Pressure points. He had also used metal C-shaped clamps wide enough to fit over various parts of my body, leaving them there so his hands wouldn’t tire.

  Panic simmered. I wanted him to stop even before he started. But I couldn’t agree to help him. Or could I? He knew my dreams led to the glass prisons. I’ve been dreaming about snow and ice. Kaya said Kade was in northern Ixia. If I told Devlen the prison was near Icefaren Station, we would go there. He would have to figure out how to cross the border and travel through Ixia without being caught. During that time, I might get an opportunity to escape, or send a message to Zitora or anyone at this point. If not, when we reached northern Ixia, I could trick Devlen into searching for Kade instead of the prison.

  A nasty little worry that Kade might already be dead tried to speak up. I slapped it down and continued plotting. Once I found and freed Kade, we could search for Ulrick.

  There were so many ifs and unknowns, but I didn’t have any other options and now I had a plan to focus on. I rolled my shoulders, easing the pain. The worst part would be convincing Devlen I had given in. He would be suspicious if I agreed too soon. I had to endure his torture longer than before. But this time, I had a goal in mind. I had a measure of control. A tiny one, but it was enough.

  When the door swung wide, I centered my thoughts on my goals. He held two clamps. Save Kade. Save Ulrick. The words echoed in my mind.

  “Will you help me?” he asked.

  Save Kade. “No.” Save Ulrick.

  His mouth pressed into a grim line as if the prospect of torturing me was unappealing. “I need to hurry things along this time.” He waved both clamps in front of me. “Something new for you. Two.” He ran his hand along my right leg. “Let’s see, where was that spot you particularly hated.”

  My leg jerked when his finger found the location on my upper thigh. He positioned the clamp and twisted the screw. Every muscle in my body spasmed, but there was no preparing for the waves of burning pain that would not stop. I writhed and bucked, but no position eased the torment.

  Distantly, he mentioned the second, and as he pushed against me with his body an additional center of stabbing pain exploded from my left shoulder. My stomach heaved, trying to expel the agony. Too much, I couldn’t draw breath and I hovered at the edge of passing out.

  “Oops.” He fiddled with one of the clamps.

  I sucked in great gasps of air, quite conscious. He left. Save Kade, I thought as each wave of agony slammed through my body. Save Ulrick. Save Kade. But eventually the words just buzzed in a haze of unrelenting pain. I rocked and moaned, wishing for it to stop.

  When it did stop, I sagged in my restraints. Joy was in the relief. And gratitude.

  Devlen nodded. “Two gets the job done faster. Before you lasted three days.” He frowned. “I wasn’t planning to do this. If you had kept taking Leif’s potion, I’d still be trying to romance the location from you.”

  I shoved the romance comment into my glass heart and focused on the details. “Leif’s potion?”

  “It wasn’t Leif’s. It was more blood magic. I mixed my mentor’s blood with a sleeping potion to help your dreams become more specific as to where his prison is located. It was working until you switched potions. Then I had to go to Plan B.”

  Did I even want to know? Better to keep him talking than the alternative. “Plan B?”

  “Lure you away from the Keep and…” He waved a hand at me.

  “So the diamond merchant they stopped at the border?”

  “I made it up.”

  “But Zitora-”

  “Believes you’re going to help that Stormdancer with his sand search. Why do you think I arranged everything? And wouldn’t let you mention business at the dance?”

  “Because I’m an idiot.”

  “No. You’re not an idiot at all. I’ve been watching you since we had the fight in Thunder Valley, waiting for you to trust someone other than Master Cowan and that Stormdancer. Both too powerful for me to trick. Ulrick, however, was easy to convince. He wanted magical power more than he wanted you. I made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. He has taken the first step to becoming a Warper.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “Or is it you don’t
want
to believe me? How much did you care for Ulrick
before
I came along?” He stroked my face.

  Jerking back from his touch, I banged my head.

  “Ulrick’s thoughts and emotions were easy to read. Frustrated, disappointed, craving more from you, but feeling he received more warmth from a glass statue. His memories showed me everything. A couple of kisses, was it? All you gave him before cooling in his arms. Not nearly enough from you for him to refuse my offer.” He leaned into me. “You certainly gave me
much more
than a kiss.”

  I tried to bite him, but he stayed just out of reach. He lied about Ulrick. I held on to that thought, because to think he told the truth would make me sick.

  “I wouldn’t have given you anything, if I’d known it was you,” I said.

  “If it makes you feel better, you can lie to yourself, but we both know the truth. Ulrick would have waited for you like a dog ordered to stay.
I’m
the one who showed initiative. Such a shame you had to be so stubborn about that Stormdancer. I was enjoying myself, playing the boyfriend.” He leered.

  I stifled my desire to scream at him, preferring to keep him talking. “How did you get to Ulrick?”

  “I trailed him back to his sister’s factory and listened to their little family squabble. She was proud her work passed for diamonds and supports Councillor Moon’s sister. He tried to convince her to switch sides and join Master Jewelrose and Yelena. She hit him on the head with a glass plate and ran.” Devlen stared into the past. “He was dazed and I led him to a small inn just outside of town, pretending to take him to a healer.” He rubbed a spot on his temple. “I did heal the gash on his forehead. Then I showed him what he could do with blood magic. He was hooked.”

  I shook my head. “I still don’t believe you.”

  He shrugged. “You asked.” His mouth twisted as if he tasted something bad. “Are you going to help me find my mentor? I would like to put all this unpleasantness behind us.”

  “No.” It was easy to say. My muscles pulsed with a desire to pound him into a bloody pulp.

  He nodded, not surprised by my answer, and positioned the clamps in two new spots, twisting them tight. I lost track of time, of my sanity and my reasons for living.

  After the third session, I didn’t need to pretend to give in. At that point I would have done anything. I clung to the fact that it wasn’t a complete submission, because I had planned to tell him all along.

  “Icefaren Station.” The words puffed out between my cracked and bleeding lips. My raw throat burned and I longed for a drink. “In Ixia on the ice sheet, but I don’t know where.”

  “How interesting. I know where it is. Before the Commander’s takeover, Ixia was divided into provinces. Icefaren province was renamed Military District 1.” His forehead creased as he considered. “I knew we’d have to go into Ixia eventually. Good thing I have a few contacts in the area. Hang out here for a while, I need to fetch some supplies.” He shut and locked the door.

  Too exhausted to care, I leaned against the wall. Anything was better than that pain. Anything.

  I even fell asleep. Cold air whipped through my clothes, freezing the sweat on my skin. Kade was trapped in a block of ice and I couldn’t get to him. My legs refused to move. I drowned in a snowdrift.

  The door banged open, waking me.

  Devlen threw a bundle onto the floor and set down a bucket of water and soap. “Clean up and change your clothes.” He unhooked my wrists from the wall. “No trouble. You will do
exactly
what I tell you. Any deviations and you’ll be punished. I’m bringing a gag and my clamps. Understand?”

  I nodded.

  “I’m leaving your cuffs on. They fit together. See?” He demonstrated, securing and freeing my wrists.

  When he left, I removed my soiled and stained clothes. There was no dignity with pain. I tossed the ruined garments. They landed with a muted clunk.

  A bubble of hope pushed up my throat as I dug through my clothes. I had learned my lesson with the robbers and hid weapons on my person. Ulrick…Devlen knew about it and probably searched me. But I found a little nugget of glass inside my pants. Even though it was a spider, it was the most precious item. I didn’t know how I would use it or when. What mattered was I had it.

  I washed the grime from my body and dressed in the clean clothes. The black pants sagged around my waist. I used the sash to tighten them, hiding my spider in the folds of the material. Down the long sleeves of the white tunic was a column of black diamond shapes connected end to end. A row of three black diamonds decorated the breast pocket. I wore an Ixian uniform.

  The door was unlocked. I joined Devlen in the other room. He stood with my saddlebags and my sais at his feet. Wearing another black and white Ixian uniform, he examined the empty orb.

  “Planning to steal magic?” he asked.

  “Yes. Give it to me.” I held out a hand.

  “Okay. Catch.” He flung the empty sphere across the room.

  It shattered against the wall. The sound from the impact cut through me.

  “Now, what should I do with this one?” Devlen removed Kade’s orb. Iridescent colors swirled in agitation under his touch.

  “Smash it,” I said. The storm’s trapped energy would kill us both.

  “Nice try, but I’m not stupid.” He packed it into a large backpack. Another pack rested on the floor next to it. “I’ll sell it. I know a group of Krystal Clan members who are looking for full orbs.”

  “Sir’s gang?” When he nodded, I asked, “Why were you with them? What’s their goal?”

  “Don’t know. Don’t care. I was just the hired help. They needed a swordsman for a job and I needed money. Hiding out from the Sitian authorities is expensive. If I had known our target was a Master Magician, I wouldn’t have taken the job, but it led me to you so it worked out nicely. Don’t you think?”

  “No. I would rather you were still locked up in the Thunder Valley jail.”

  “Watch it. Your attitude is not helpful. Do you need a reminder in how to be helpful?”

  “No.”

  “Good. I think we’ll leave the rest of your stuff here.” He closed my bags and pushed them along with my sais into a corner of the room. “Don’t want any of your little creatures to get in my way.”

  Devlen handed me the smaller backpack, a cloak and a sheet of parchment. Three white diamonds decorated the black cloak.

  “Just in case you’re seen and approached by the Ixians. You’ll tell them you’re a kitchen attendant returning home from visiting relatives in MD-7. You live in MD-1, General Kitvivan is the general in charge and the uniform colors for MD-1 are black and white. If you’re asked for papers, you are to give them that sheet without question.”

  Permission to visit MD-7 was printed on the parchment. My first name was written in the bearer’s space. At least I didn’t have to remember a fake name.

  “Don’t lose that paper. It cost a small fortune. Also don’t try to alert any Ixians about your situation. I will confess, telling them you’re a magician. And you know what they do to magicians in Ixia.”

  Killed on sight. Depending on my circumstances, I might give myself up. Better than the alternative. I shuddered and Devlen seemed satisfied with my reaction.

  “Horses?” I asked, wondering if Quartz was nearby.

  “I stabled them. Only high-ranking officers travel with horses in Ixia. We’ll go on foot.”

  “How do you plan to cross the border?”

  “The Daviians set up a number of smuggling routes. Valek and the Ixian border patrol have discovered a few, but there is always a way through.” Strapping his sword around his waist, he shouldered a short cape and the large backpack. “Come on. We’re wasting time.”