The Kingdom of Eternal Sorrow (The Golden Mage Book 1) (20 page)

Allison sighed audibly, feeling that she should be angry with him for
probing her mind without her knowledge, but not able to feel even a hint of
annoyance.
I have enough to worry about without getting mad at every little
thing
, she thought, suddenly feeling weary to the bone.

She sent,
“To tell you the truth, Aidric, at this point, nothing you
say will really surprise me. I swear, if it’s not one thing, it’s the other. Why
me?”

“Why you, indeed,”
Aidric agreed sympathetically.
“The burden
that rests on your shoulders is more than any mortal should ever have to carry.
If I could, little cat, I would bear this burden for you willingly.”

Before Allison could reply, Raya suddenly stepped between them and
demanded, “What have you two been talking about? I’ve been trying to get your
attention for at least five depths now. What’s so secret that you have to use
thought-speech?”

“No one but I and the twins know of your possible bardic-mage
ability, and it must remain that way,”
Aidric warned.
“If the people
should get wind of this, it would cause a chaos that could only end in
disaster. Reveal this to no one.”

Even as he was thought-speaking her, he said cheerfully to Raya,
“Nothing, nosy. Allison was only asking me about the bards and a few other
things, and it was just more practical to use thought-speech than trying to
make ourselves heard over the noise. And if you must know, I was also warning
her about Keldan and Aren’s—
hem
—none-too-subtle attentions whether they
are wanted or not.”

Allison blushed as Raya turned to her, her eyes dancing with amusement,
and said, “That’s advice I wouldn’t take too lightly. Believe me, with your
beauty, they most likely will be circling you like two dogs in heat over a
bitch!”

Allison blushed even brighter at Raya’s bluntness as Aidric scowled at
her and gave her a hard nudge with his foot.

“Sel, how many times have I told you to keep a leash on that barbarian
tongue of your wife’s? Hellsfire, her bluntness is enough to make
me
blush!”

“If I’m not mistaken, wasn’t it you who brought up the
subject in the first place?” Sel asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Damn, so I did,” Aidric admitted sheepishly, “but that doesn’t change
the fact that you still need to keep that blunt tongue of hers on a leash.”

“Beast,” Raya growled.

“Barbarian,” Aidric countered.

“I warned you—” Sel threatened menacingly.

“Try anything, and I’ll be forced to allow Allison to have a stab at
you!”

“Hey! Leave me out of this!” Allison retorted as she glared at Aidric
in mock anger, her lips twitching as she tried to keep herself from laughing.

“I thought you were on my side,” Aidric pouted, doing his best to look
hurt, but failing miserably.

“Well, I suppose I have no choice but to be on your side,” Allison
said, her eyes bright with mischief. “If I don’t, then you’ll kick me out of
your suite, and where would I live then?”

“I hear Patrym still has room for one more in his harem,” Selwyn
offered.

Both Allison and Aidric glared at Selwyn who looked at them innocently
for a split-second before he ruined the façade by bursting into laughter.

As Aidric made to strangle Selwyn, a new voice suddenly said from
behind Allison, “Always fighting—typical. What am I to do with you two?”

Allison started at the unexpected voice, stifling a shriek, as she
whirled around to face the new arrival. It was one of the twins, though she was
not certain which. She stared at him with wide eyes, willing her racing heart
to slow its hectic pace. He tilted his head to the side as he looked her up and
down with his piercing blue eyes, smiling at her expression with amusement.

As he stared at her, that little nagging thought in the back of her
mind stirred, trying once again to surface. She shivered at the feeling and
hastily shoved the thought away. She had the distinct feeling that she was
better off not knowing what it was.

“My pardons, milady. I didn’t mean to startle you,” the bard said with
the most melodic voice Allison had ever heard, at least a hundred times more
melodic than Raya’s. “I am Keldan, a friend of Aidric’s. You, of course, can be
none other than the Golden Mage, Allison. It’s a real pleasure to meet you at
last, and you are most definitely as beautiful as the prophecy says the Golden
Mage would be.”

Allison mumbled a greeting and fidgeted uncomfortably under his
intense, certain that she was blushing scarlet by now. She suddenly wished that
she was somewhere far away. This man intimidated her.
And he’s supposed to be
one of my prospective teachers!

To her immense relief, Aidric came to her rescue by stepping between
them and slapping the bard on the back in greetings. Allison used the
distraction to slowly and inconspicuously inch herself as far away from him as
she dared without being rude.

“Where is Aren?” Aidric asked.

“Getting us food and drink,” Keldan replied as he nodded his greetings
to Selwyn and Raya. “At least he is
supposed
to be getting us food and
drink. I wouldn’t be too surprised if he’s off in some dark corner right now
entertaining some poor, unsuspecting maiden.”

As if you should talk
, Allison thought darkly.

“I heard that,” a voice pretty much identical to Keldan’s
called out above the noise, and a few seconds later, Aren appeared beside his
brother as if he had conjured himself there magically, his hands loaded with
plates of food and a wide bottle of what appeared to be wine balanced precariously
underneath his arm.

For all I know, he probably did conjure himself up
, she thought
with an unpleasant jolt.

“Now, now, you know I was merely teasing,” Keldan insisted innocently.

“Bah! I doubt that, big brother,” Aren said dryly as he handed his brother
one of the plates. “I shouldn’t even give this to you after such an insult.”

Then he seemed to notice Allison for the first time, and Aren
immediately ignored his brother and sauntered over to her, his eyes looking her
over hungrily as if he planned to devour her instead of the food he had
brought. It took every ounce of willpower she had within her to prevent herself
from turning on her heal and running away from him.

Allison groaned miserably to herself and thought,
Just great. I
thought Keldan was bad enough. Aidric was right—they
are
a curse. Why
doesn’t he go bother someone else?

“The prophecy doesn’t do your beauty justice, Milady
Allison,” Aren purred sweetly. “Not too surprising, really. After all, what
would a pious, dried out old Seer know about women anyway? It’s a real pleasure
to make your acquaintance. I am Aren.”

I’m sorry I can’t say the same about you.
“It’s nice to meet
you, too,” Allison replied evenly, careful to keep the annoyance she felt out
of her voice.

“Aidric, Aidric, you are one damned lucky bastard to have such a
beautiful woman living under your roof! You must be careful lest you wear
yourself out!” Aren said, grinning slyly at Keldan as Aidric flushed up to the
roots of his hair, though in irritation, if the murderous gleam in his eyes was
anything to go by, rather than embarrassment. Allison had frozen and could only
stare mutely at Aren in shock.

“And you accuse
me
of having a barbarian tongue!” Raya chided
Aidric.

“Come now, little brother, you’re embarrassing her,” Keldan
said. “I apologize, milady. Aren loves to tease. We promise to behave from
henceforth.”

Ha, I’ll believe it when I see it
, she thought darkly as she
sent to Aidric,
“Where in the world did you dig up these two—uh—gentlemen?”

Although Aidric’s face remained passive, his reply was layered with
laughter.
“What, you don’t find them charming?”

“As charming as a snake, perhaps.”

Aidric choked when he heard her reply, and the twins suddenly eyed him
suspiciously as he struggled to control himself.

“What’s so funny?” Aren demanded.

“Nothing,” Aidric replied casually. “Aidius, can a man not choke
anymore without one getting suspicious?”

“Not when the man in question is you,” Keldan said dryly.

“You’re no fun,” he said with mock disappointment, and then to Allison,
“Hisssssss.”

Allison lost her entire composure then, doubling over with
laughter as everyone eyed her strangely. Then all eyes turned to Aidric who
gazed back at them innocently with eyes that seemed to say “who me?”

“I was right,” Aren said accusingly to Aidric. “You
were
talking
about us!”

“Prove it,” Aidric challenged.

Aren muttered a few words under his breath in a language Allison didn’t
understand, but they sounded suspiciously like curses. She couldn’t recall a
time when she had ever laughed so hard.
And to think you didn’t even want to
come to this celebration at all
, she chided herself as she watched the
twins advance towards Aidric, their eyes threatening all kinds of violence.

Then, without warning, Allison was suddenly knocked to her
knees by a mental blow that left her mind reeling in pain and utter confusion. She
opened her mouth to scream, but no sound emerged.

One gasp, two, and then just as suddenly as the blow had
come, her mind abruptly filled with terrible images of what appeared to be countless
soldiers being slaughtered by dozens of creatures straight out of her worst
nightmare. They looked like enormous clouds of smoke, except for the fact that
two very solid, very large fangs, at least a foot in length, were clearly
protruding from within each of those hellish, swirling masses.

Impossible—they are impossible—

Men and women were being disemboweled and decapitated everywhere, and to
Allison’s horror, she could actually feel both the fear and the pain that was
thick in the air. The creatures, it seemed, were trying to slash their way
through the group of soldiers to get at what Allison
knew
was a village
that had been the creatures’ main target all along.

Vaguely, through the haze of the madness, she could feel herself
retching, sickened by the bloodbath she had just witnessed, and trying to
scream. She distantly heard somebody shouting her name as if they were a mile
away, but she couldn’t answer while her mind was still lost within the tight grip
of madness.

It was only when Allison felt the sting of a sudden, violent slap
across her face did she break free from those horrifying visions and come back
to herself to find Aidric’s frightened, pale-violet eyes staring down into her
own.

“Aidric! My God, the people!” she cried frantically. “Those
things
—they’re
dead—dear God in heaven—they ripped them to shreds—so much blood—blood—”

“Damn it, she’s in shock!” she heard what sounded like Raya’s voice
cry.

“The people! You’ve got to help the people!” Allison shrieked over and
over desperately, until someone slapped her face again.

She immediately stopped her hysterical ravings and fell silent when she
felt the shock of the blow. The sharp pain was something she could focus her
mind on, and Allison soon found herself thinking more coherently and realized
that she was freezing. At the same moment, a bone-deep exhaustion swept over
her body, and her vision darkened alarmingly along the edges.

“I’m cold,” she whispered, no longer having the strength to manage more
than that.

Immediately, Allison felt blessed warmth flow throughout her body, and
a little corner of her mind that was still thinking rationally knew that
someone was healing her. She could feel the familiar warmth destroying the
unnatural coldness that had invaded her body, and as the healing wiped out the
last bits of coldness, sense returned to her.

She blinked up at Aidric in confusion and rising fear and whispered,
“My God, what happened?”

“Bless the Thrones, she’s making some sense,” Aidric said with a heavy sigh
of relief. “I don’t have the time to explain now, Allison, but I need you to
relax because I’m going to probe your mind for the images you saw. We may yet
prevent whatever horror you’ve Foreseen from coming to pass.”

Allison didn’t understand everything he was saying, but she obeyed him
and tried to relax as best she could. She immediately felt Aidric’s now
familiar presence probing around in her mind, a light feathery touch on the
surface of her thoughts. A moment later, Aidric withdrew his probe, and when
she saw the haunted look in his eyes, she knew he had seen what she had seen. His
face had paled considerably, and he looked sickened.

“It’s Roderick!” Aidric exclaimed in both horror and anger. “He plans
to Summon a
dyani
swarm and release them on Idona!”

Allison heard several gasps, and then it seemed as if
everyone began to talk at once. She looked around and noticed that a large
crowd now surrounded her and that she was lying flat on her back on the soft
grass. A few familiar people—Aidric, Raya, the king and queen—and many
not-so-familiar ones knelt or stood in a tight circle all around her.

At Aidric’s revelation, King Diryan’s expression hardened, and then he stood
up abruptly and ordered, “Someone find me the Lord Commander and General Caith,
and send them here immediately!”

“Majesty, I am here!” a gruff voice called out a split-second before a
tall, brown-haired man shouldered through the crowd and presented himself
before the king at strict attention. Allison noted absently that his face was
covered with scars. This man practically screamed military.

“Rally your troops as swiftly as possible to ride to Idona,” Diryan
commanded. “The mages and healers will follow shortly after. I’ll have Aidric
thought-speak the stables and have them saddle the horses.”

“There’s no time to ride there completely by land,” Aidric protested. “We
must go by portal, for Roderick plans to attack within the sand-mark!”

Diryan cursed loudly. “Very well. General Caith, have your men report
back here when all is ready. Lord Pyrs will issue you further instruction
then—if he ever gets here! Now go, and make haste!”

General Caith bowed his head and disappeared into the crowd within the
blink of an eye. Allison could soon hear him barking orders somewhere in the
distance.

“Everyone clear the way so that I may cast the portal spell!” Aidric
shouted. He then turned to Keldan and Aren and said, “My friends, I need your
assistance with the portal spell. I don’t dare risk draining myself too much
before this battle. The Idonans, Seni help them, will need every drop of
strength we mages can give them.”

They both nodded solemnly. Allison was amazed at the twins’ transformation
from the loud, obnoxious men who had teased her so crudely to these serious men.
Aidric turned once again to King Diryan and began to silently confer with him. After
a while, a man who was probably the Lord Commander the king had called for and
a few more people joined them in the conference.

Raya stayed beside Allison, helping her to sit up, and
explained a little of what was happening. What she understood was that she had
somehow been given a glimpse of the future, but Raya wasn’t sure how it had
happened since Aidric had blocked all of her abilities ever since he had found
her unconscious in the forest.

Whatever it was that had happened to her, Allison felt as
if she had been dragged facedown through the pits of hell. Her head throbbed
painfully in sync with the rhythm of her heartbeat, and it took every last ounce
of her strength just to sit up.

“Raya, what were those—
things
?” Allison asked tremulously, shuddering
at the memory.

“
Dyani
,” Raya replied grimly. “They are demonspawn from the
first hell of Ter-ob.”

Allison had no idea what Ter-ob was, but she knew by the
look in Raya’s eyes that she didn’t want to know.

Instead, she asked, “They looked like a swirling cloud of
smoke with teeth. How is that possible?”

“When conditions are right between the magical planes,” Raya explained,
“a dark-mage has the ability to Summon creatures from any of the six hells of
Ter-ob. However, the light of Seni prevents them from entering completely into
our world. Only a hint of the darkness from their realm—the swirling smoke as
you call it—and their fangs are able to become completely substantial and only
when night falls across the lands.”

She nodded, wishing she had not asked. Allison knew that she wouldn’t
sleep a wink that night, especially if she was going to be alone in Aidric’s
suite. Maybe Raya wouldn’t mind having her over for the night—that is, if she
could make herself actually ask. She hated to intrude, friend or no friend.

As Allison watched the Lamian army, now equipped in armor, helms, and
swords, gather into the courtyard, Aidric suddenly turned away from Diryan and
hurried over to where Raya and she sat.

“Are you all right?” he asked her, his brow furrowed with worry.

“I think so,” Allison replied uncertainly, “except I feel like I was
just trampled by a mob of crazed people. My head’s throbbing something fierce!”

Aidric nodded and said, “You should since you’ve just suffered through
both a mental and magical shock. Even though we should have expected Roderick
to try something like this in the midst of our celebration, none of us actually
Foresaw this coming. According to Seer Penrith, even the Providencen priests
had no Forewarning.” He then turned to Raya and said, “Can you please stay with
Allison and make certain she’s properly taken care of? I don’t know how long
this battle will wage on, and I don’t want to leave her alone so soon. Seni
knows when and if I’ll return.”

“Of course, if you’re sure I won’t be needed,” Raya said.

“At the moment, I believe we have mages enough, but I’ll bespeak you if
the need suddenly arises. Now, I must be off. I believe we are ready to
depart.”

“May Seni guide and protect you,” Raya said softly.

Allison could say nothing as Aidric gazed down at her solemnly, nodded
his good-byes, and rejoined the army.

“Will he be all right?” Allison asked fearfully as she watched his
retreating back.

Raya tilted her head to the side and regarded her with a little shrewd
smile. “You care for him don’t you? I mean, more deeply than just friendship?”

Allison looked away, feeling the blood rising to heat her cheeks. Did
she dare?

She refused to look at Raya when she answered, “I think—I think—yes, I
like him, more than I probably should.”

“I thought so,” came her answer.

Allison started and turned astonished eyes on Raya, who was smiling. “Don’t
look so surprised,” Raya said gently. “It’s clear how you feel about him every
time you look at him. Even a blind fool could see it. My only question is, why
haven’t you acted upon it?”

“I don’t think I could ever be that bold!” Allison replied anxiously. “Besides,
I don’t know how he feels about me, and until I do, nothing will happen
at
all
. I don’t want to make things awkward between us, so promise me that you
won’t say anything to him about this!”

“But why?” Raya asked, puzzled. “You love him, and yet, you don’t want
him to know?”

I didn’t say anything about
love
!
Instead of arguing the
point, Allison merely pleaded, “Please, just promise me.”

Raya sighed and said, “All right. Although I don’t understand why under
the Thrones above you would wish it so, I promise I’ll say nothing to him, but
I wish you wouldn’t keep your feelings to yourself. I admit that I don’t know
Aidric’s feelings towards you, except that he obviously sees you as a friend,
but he’s been long without a lover. He’s overworked and lonely. I think you
would be good for him. He’s been brooding much too often these days.”

“As handsome and kind as he is, I’m surprised he has no one.”

“Oh, he could have any number of lovers if he chose, but he’s been hurt
too many times in the past and is wary to give his heart to anyone. I’ll let
him tell you about it if he chooses. It really isn’t my place to speak of his
past, personal troubles.”

Allison nodded and turned her attention to Aidric once again, who,
along with Keldan and Aren, was beginning to cast the portal spell. She watched
in spellbound silence as Aidric suddenly began to glow with a brilliant, golden
incandescence. He raised his hands high above his head and began to gesture
with them in a series of complicated patterns. She could see his lips moving,
but his words were lost in the strong hum that had suddenly filled the air. A
few seconds later, both Keldan and Aren began to glow with that same brilliant
light when they each placed a hand on either side of Aidric’s shoulders.

Allison felt a slight tingling along her arms as the glow of power
illuminating the trio brightened to the point where she had to shield her eyes
with her hand. Then, to her amazement, a beam of sparkling, golden light
emerged from the palms of Aidric’s outstretched hands, and with a sudden sweep
of both hands in a circular motion, the power left his hands and formed what
appeared to be an outline of an oval of golden light.

As Aidric began to move his hands in various weaving motions, Allison
suddenly understood what it was he was doing. He was literally “sculpting” the
power into the shape he desired, although she couldn’t even begin to imagine
how he was accomplishing it.

Criss Angel, eat your heart out
, she thought, awestruck.

When the last empty space of the oval was flooded with power, there was
a loud boom that sounded as if a cannon had gone off, and the very air within
the oval seemed to tear in half amidst a brilliant flash of colors. Aidric
dropped his hands to his sides, looking not at all tired from his efforts.

Before him stood a more refined version of the “rip” that had
transported her from her world to this one. Allison shivered at the thought of
traveling through one of their portals again.
Never again!
Not if I
can help it!
she promised herself fervently.

Allison watched with a sense of dread as one by one, whole
groups of people walked into and disappeared within that brilliant, shimmering
light until only Aidric and the twins remained. As Aidric stepped towards the
portal, he turned to gaze in her direction, winked, and was gone. Then, before
she could so much as blink, the portal dissipated in a great flash of colorful
light.

Raya must have been watching her expression when Aidric had walked
through the portal because she suddenly said in a reassuring tone, “Don’t
worry. Aidric is a powerful mage, and if there’s anyone who can survive a
battle without so much as a scratch, it’s him.”

Allison stared at the spot on the lawn where the portal had been only
seconds earlier and said grimly, “I just pray that you’re right.”

Yep, she would definitely not sleep that night.