Well of the Damned (16 page)

He
went to the bookcase opposite the fireplace. On a middle shelf was a
wooden chest, which he carried to his desk. Atop the chest sat a
wooden gargoyle figurine with onyxes for eyes, protecting its
contents. Anyone who touched the gargoyle received a nasty shock, and
according to the merchant who sold the magical locks, anyone
attempting to open the box by cutting it with a saw would suffer the
same punishment. Gavin couldn’t find any volunteers willing to
try it, but he had no reason to doubt the merchant’s word.

He
lifted the gargoyle, set it on his desk and opened the chest. Inside,
he kept the two runes of summoning, the rune of time, and two rings
bearing equal halves of the blue moonstone he’d removed from
the rune tablet. He handed the smaller ring to Daia, put the larger
one on the middle finger of his right hand, and withdrew the rune of
time before closing the chest and replacing the gargoyle on its lid.
The rune he would need to back-travel, and the rings he would need to
find Daia and tap into her gift from King Arek’s time.

Daia
put the ring on her left ring finger and sat down. “I’m
ready. Do you remember how to do this? It’s been three months.”

“I
remember.” He went to the door and combed through his hair with
his fingers, feeling a little nervous about meeting with the king
he’d so long revered. They were friends, he reminded himself.
Arek would help him. King Arek was the only person who knew Gavin’s
secret: that he was Arek’s champion, Ronor Kinshield, reborn.

For
years, Gavin had carried the burden of thinking he was forgetting
something — something important. Certain sounds would trigger
distant memories and images that made no sense to him. It wasn’t
until Daia had read to him the letter written by his ancestor, Ronor
Kinshield, that Gavin began to realize he was Ronor’s
re-embodied spirit. He’d reneged on a promise to his king,
locking him in a cycle of dying and returning, a cycle he hoped had
finally been broken by Gavin fulfilling that promise and accepting
the crown. Along with the reign, he’d inherited the magic of
Wayfarer, which he used to travel from realm to realm, and with the
rune, from time to time.

Nine
forty-five in the morning o’the eighth o’Nevebria, in the
year fourteen thirty-one.

With
the date and time in the forefront of his mind, Gavin whispered the
name of the rune: “Taendat.” With his hidden eye, he saw
what looked like a small cyclone of red, about his own height. It
changed color every few seconds, going from red to orange to yellow,
through the colors of the rainbow. He waited until it turned to blue,
the color of the human realm, and moved into it, traveling two
hundred fourteen years into the past. His stomach lurched and
somersaulted.

He
put a hand against the wall to steady himself. When the room finally
stilled, the furniture was styled and positioned differently than in
his own library, and the color of the walls was yellower, but it was
just as he remembered. Daia was gone, and a man of about thirty years
with raven-black hair stood at the window, looking out. He was even
wearing the same black long-sleeved shirt and trousers and golden
belt he’d been wearing when last Gavin visited.

Gavin
cleared his throat. “Sorry to bother you again, Arek.”

Arek
turned with a smile on his face. “Gavin, I was hoping you’d
return. You left rather abruptly, and so I thought you might need
time to recover. Remember my warning this time.”

Gavin
smiled. The last time he visited, he’d started to say something
that could have changed Arek’s future, which, from Gavin’s
perspective, was Thendylath’s past. For his efforts, he was
slammed back to his own time with a headache so severe, he passed out
and had to be carried up the inn’s stairs by three of his
battlers. “I should’ve listened to my instinct.”

Chuckling, Arek took a seat.
“You’re looking well — more relaxed than you were
last time I saw you. That was only a few minutes ago from my
perspective. How long from yours?”

“A
few months have passed for me, and my biggest challenge was faced and
conquered. All I got to worry about now is a wet crop from too much
rain.”

Arek
gestured to the chair beside him. “Please make yourself at
home— though I suppose this is your home as much as it is mine,
yes?”

Gavin
nodded. “My library is furnished like this. I come here to
think and ponder questions.”

“Which
question has brought you—” Arek blinked hard, as though a
thought had startled him. He held up a finger and stared for a moment
into Gavin’s eyes, his brow knitted. “You returned to
this particular time. I would like to know why, but I suppose I can
guess. It has to do with my plan to take Ronor with me to Ritol’s
realm, doesn’t it? Wait. Don’t try to answer that.”

Gavin
fidgeted. He didn’t want to tell Arek he had only a few days
left to live, nor could he if he’d wanted to. It wouldn’t
have mattered anyway — the plan Arek had intended would have
been no more effective than the one he’d carried out. He didn’t
have what he needed to defeat Ritol. He didn’t have Daia.

At
last, Arek leaned back into his chair, more relaxed. “I’ll
contemplate that later. Now, back to my original question. What has
brought you back to see me?”

“The
matter of the Well of the Enlightened has risen. Can you tell me
about it?”

Arek’s
eyes hardened, and his jaw clenched as he shook his head fervently.
“Leave it be, Gavin. I beg of you. Leave it be. Nothing good
will come of meddling there.”

Arek’s
words served only to intensify Gavin’s curiosity. “Why?
What is it?”

With
his lips pressed together, the older king stared at Gavin for a
moment, still shaking his head. “It’s a source of
destructive magic that cannot be reversed, guarded by a being that
cannot be killed. As you know, my own royal apothecary, the man I
trusted to mix herbs for myself and my family, betrayed me, betrayed
all the people of Thendylath, in an effort to control the spring for
its magical properties.”

“Crigoth
Sevae,” Gavin said, nodding. “But wasn’t he a
mage?”

“Yes,
he is, but his duties here were primarily to mix herbs, not perform
magic. He doesn’t understand how dangerous the wellspring’s
waters are. He thinks he can use them to heal people.”

Gavin
knitted his brow in confusion. “Can it heal? It’s just
water, isn’t it?”

“Listen
to me carefully, Gavin. Let me tell you in no uncertain terms the
Well of the Enlightened is misnamed. It has caused the deaths of
thousands of people and has razed an entire city. I tried to tell
Sevae that, but he’s convinced those are nothing but fairy
tales. He’s so convinced, in fact, that he would commit
regicide for his chance to prove me wrong. Or right, as the case may
be.” Arek leaned forward and gripped Gavin’s forearm
painfully hard. “I implore you to leave it be.”

Though
his curiosity wasn’t sated, he trusted Arek’s wisdom. The
last thing he wanted was for someone sharing Sevae’s passion to
reach it and use its power against the people of Thendylath. “It’s
well-guarded then? Tell me about its guardian.”

“Damn
it, Gavin!” Arek’s entire body shook with anger. “If
you don’t trust me when I tell you to stay away from the
wellspring, if you don’t believe what I just told you about its
destructive power, then you’re alone in this.”

Gavin
tried to interject, to reassure Arek that wasn’t his intent,
but the king seemed not to hear him.

“I
won’t help you get closer to it. I won’t help you destroy
yourself and the country I love.” Arek stood, his body rigid,
his eyes alight with fury. “I’ve got a demon hunting me,
and no time to waste on this foolishness. I hope to see you again
sometime, Gavin, and when I do, I hope you don’t try to kill
me.” He went to the door and opened it.

“Arek,
wait.” Gavin stood, opening his hands helplessly. “I
believe you. I trust you to my bones. I know you, remember, and you
know me. The well is dangerous – I understand – but I
need to make sure it’s well protected.”

Arek
turned. “It is, damn it. I’ve told you that. Now leave
me. I must focus on my upcoming battle.”

Gavin stared at the library door,
stunned at Arek’s staunch refusal to give him the information
he needed. He understood Arek wanting to protect people from whatever
was wrong with the water in the wellspring, but Gavin’s desire
to protect his people was equally strong. He would be better off
knowing and understanding the nature of the infamous wellspring than
to accept on faith that the people were safe from its dangers.

He
used his hidden eye to inspect the ring on his right hand. Its gem,
spelled with what was ultimately a lover’s bind, had a haze
that connected to the gem in Daia’s ring by a thin thread
disappearing into nothingness. He felt along the thread with his
intent, past the boundary of time and space, to her conduit, then
focused on opening a vortex back home. He stepped through it once
again and found her sitting in the chair, tapping its arms nervously.

“You’re
back,” she said, standing. “How was your meeting?”

Gavin
shook his head. “When I asked about the wellspring, he got
defensive and warned me to leave it alone.”

“Perhaps
it’s sound advice.”

He
had every intention of leaving the wellspring alone. Going there was
never in his plan. “Well, if I’m going to find out what’s
so special about it, I’ll have to let Cirang take me to the
journal.”

She
had a doubtful look on her face. “Are you sure you want to
know? What if someone gets a hold of the journal and becomes obsessed
the way Sevae did?”

“Well,
we don’t have to worry about him summoning Ritol to eat my
soul,” Gavin said with a snort. To be sure, he would destroy
those runes. They were the only two ever created, and the knowledge
of how to create them was forever lost.

“There
are other ways to kill a king, you know.”

He
winked at her. “With a
vusar
as my champion?” he
asked, using the Farthan word for the mystical conduit. “I’m
practically invincible. Look, if we leave the journal wherever Cirang
has it hidden, someone might find it anyway. It’d be safer
here, locked away.”

She
nodded her agreement. “You’re right. So when are we
leaving?”

“Tomorrow.
We’ll stop at the gaol and get Cirang on our way out of Tern.”

“Who
do you want with us?”

Gavin
looked at the list Jophet had given him of the battlers accompanying
Feanna to Ambryce and those remaining behind. He chose Brawna and
Vandra to guard Cirang, along with himself and Daia. Edan would stay
here to take care of official business in his stead.

She
shook her head with a wary expression. “He’s not going to
be happy about that.”

“I’ll
convince him.”

Chapter 19

Gavin
tasked Quint with packing his saddle bag and gave Vandra the
responsibility for seeing to the rest of their travel arrangements,
including choosing the mount that would carry Cirang. As Daia had
suspected, Edan wasn’t pleased about being left behind, mostly
because he enjoyed adventure as much as the next battler, and tried
to argue that his skill with a bow would be invaluable for hunting.
Gavin waved off his objections. His knife throwing skill was
sufficient, and besides, there were still hundreds of messages to
sort and respond to. He would feel better leaving someone at the
palace who knew how to handle a crisis, should one arise, and as son
of a lordover, Edan was that man.

Feanna
whisked past him in the corridor, no doubt seeing to her own travel.
She touched his chest as she passed, and he tried to grab her hand to
slow her down. “Where are you going so fast? You’ll jar
the baby loose.”

She
paused and turned with a funny smile. “By walking? Gavin, don’t
be daft.”

“I
need to talk to you before you leave. Come see me in my library when
you can spare a minute.”

She
approached and slipped one arm around his waist. “I’m
never too busy for you, darling. Let’s talk now.” He
leaned down and covered her lips with his own, enjoying their
softness and the passion with which she returned his kiss. When she
pulled back, her eyes glittered. “Did you say library or bed
chamber?”

Gavin
grinned. “Library now, bed chamber later.”

“You
truly are an adventurous man.”

He
took her hand and started towards the library, noting her two soft
footsteps on the marble floor to every one of his heavy ones. “Jophet
gave me the list of battlers going with you. I want Tennara acting as
your champion for now. She’s not to leave your side. Eriska is
going?”

“And
Jana and Nila, and Vorner will serve as my footman. I’ll have
everything I need, Gavin. You really mustn’t worry.”

He
followed her into the library and closed the door behind him.