Redemption (Ascendancy Legacy 6) Page 7

  “Lies,” Sarah snarled.

  “What’s the catch?” April asked.

  I had to agree with her; there had to be a catch. The demons wouldn’t just leave this world. If what she said was true and Adam broke down the dome, we would be hard-pressed to kill that many demons even with all of us here. Many of our kind would die in the upcoming battle, maybe even enough of us for the demons to be able to finally grow their foothold in this world. Why would they give all of that up? They wouldn’t unless Jackson was doing something worse to them. Maybe Adam had it all wrong. Maybe Jackson was the redeemer and the destroyer, just not of this world.

  “No catch. You help us bring Jackson home, my master will open a portal, and we will leave, never to return. Those are the terms.”

  “I’ll have to speak with someone else before I can give you an answer.”

  She tossed a small stone toward me, and I caught it. “This will open the barrier for the three of you. I expect your answer by midnight tonight. Now go and try not to kill any more of my people on your way out.”

  None of us wanted to turn and expose our backs to the demon. Finally, with a huff, she turned and tapped her man on the shoulder to follow. When we heard the door close, I pulled April into a hug. Then I realized it must have been kind of disconcerting for her; she didn’t even know who I was. “It’s good to see you, April. I’m John,” I said as I let her go.

  She smiled and looked past me toward Sarah. The wolf nodded once and then nudged me. “Right. It’s time to go. We can talk later.” We sprinted toward the entrance. As we exited the house, a group of demons saw us. We stopped running and prepared for a fight, but they all just moved out of our way. If the lady inside of the mansion really did have control over all of these demons, then we might have to consider her offer. I wondered just what Jackson was doing that was giving them such fits.

  We reached the barrier without seeing another demon, and then I held up the stone. It glowed briefly, and a tear appeared in the dome. The three of us walked through, and the magic sealed closed behind us. We were out, and we had April. Now all we needed to do was get my son back, and we could be a family again. I had no idea what the future actually held, but for the first time in a long time, I felt a sense of hope.

  Chapter Eight

  Lucky, 368 A.D.

  Damned if my face didn’t feel like I had been hit in the head with a brick instead of one of the guard’s batons. When I moved, something crackled across my skin. Dried blood, most likely, but I couldn’t see it. For some reason, the guards thought being tied to a chair wasn’t enough. I had to be blindfolded as well. My fingers and toes all seemed to still be in working order. At least they hadn’t taken it upon themselves to start cutting before the inquisitor showed up.

  It was never a good idea to wake up in the cells beneath some lord’s keep. I could count on one hand the men I knew who came out of that type of situation alive. Needless to say, I planned on adding myself to that number. The shackles at my wrist were made out of metal. I could assume the cuffs binding my legs were as well. I wished that I could lie to myself and say this was going to be easy, but that would make me delusional as well as trapped. I had to focus. If I made the wrong move now, I was dead.

  My fingers weren’t long enough to reach back toward the shackles on my wrists, so unless they unfastened them, I wasn’t going to have a chance. I tried to bounce once in the chair, but it didn’t even move. Damn thing was probably bolted to the floor. That ended any chance of me breaking the chair to escape. What was I going to do? I wasn’t ready to die.

  I’d love to tell you that when I heard the footsteps coming toward me, that I thought something positive. Something like thank God, this is my chance. But in reality, the sound of the footsteps moving toward me filled me with terror. The feeling sat in the bottom of my stomach like a lead pancake. It sapped all of my strength, and my will to survive slowly was drowned out by panic. I was going to spend the last moments of my life listening to some asshole tell me about the rights and wrongs of the world. Probably typical for someone in my line of work, but I had always been considered too lucky for something like this to happen to me. Guess I proved all of them wrong.

  The door to the cell swung open. Its rusty hinges squealed just enough to make you cringe. A guard removed my blindfold and then left the cell, closing the door behind him. I couldn’t see anyone waiting to talk to me through the bars. If I was alone, that would give me some time to focus on my restraints. The damn things were made out of iron and were bolted into the chair. Nothing short of a key or getting one hand free was going to do me any good.

  Footsteps started coming down the corridor again, and I waited to see just who controlled my fate. The anticipation was killing me. Was it the lord of the keep, or had they sent in someone else to do the dirty work? Maybe they planned on torturing me to find out where our stash was. Something told me they might not be smart enough to know a thief kept a little gold behind for a rainy day. Damned if this wasn’t the day I wished that I could use that money to disappear.

  A tall willowy man walked in front of the bars, and I knew him on sight. It was the mysterious stranger. The man that cursed me and sent me on this fucking foolish quest in the first place. What in the hell was he doing here? Had the guards just let him in? “You,” I managed to blurt out.

  “Me,” he agreed with a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

  Had all of this been a setup from the beginning? Was this his keep? No, that didn’t make sense. Why would he hire me to steal from himself? He must be someone who worked for the lord and knew what was in the box. Just what made this damn stone so special?

  The stone felt warm against my chest. I could feel some kind of power flowing through me. Something about it scared the shit out of me, but the other half of me reveled in it. Lift your wrists, a voice inside of my head spoke. Slowly, I did, trying not draw attention to them. One second they were in the restraints, and the next, they were lying on top of them. It wouldn’t take much to get free now. All I had to do was tell this mage whatever he wanted to know so I could get the fuck out of this place.

  The stranger was still looking at me. If he had noticed what had happened, he gave no indication of it. Shit, I didn’t even know what had happened. How could he? The smile on his face never faltered, but his eyes grew harder. Nothing in that look said we were going to be friends when all of this was over. If I didn’t have what he wanted, he was willing to kill me himself.

  “Did you get the stone?”

  “Does it look like I got the fucking stone?” The man spat a curse through the bars, and pain erupted in my chest. “I’m telling you it’s not there.” The words had started at a scream and ended in a whimper.

  “Lies.” His words washed over me like cold rain.

  “I’m not lying. The damn thing isn’t in the box. Trust me, I dumped the entire thing in my bag before the guards took it from me.”

  “It must be of some small comfort to you that you will die down here in the dark, considering you lived most of your life in it.”

  “Listen, I did what you asked. There is no reason to kill me. If you let me go, I’ll disappear and never come back.”

  “If I leave you here, you will disappear as well. So either way, I get what I want. But this way, there are no loose ends and I get to watch someone question you for hours, maybe even days. We will find out the truth of the matter very shortly. My inquisitor is very talented at pulling information out of reluctant subjects.”

  “Please.” I wasn’t above trying to beg. I might have even been able to attach a sob and a hitch in my chest when I said it. Being a thief wasn’t always glamorous. Sometimes you had to improvise.

  “If you have nothing else to say, I’ll send the inquisitor to you shortly.”

  Rage clouded my judgment for a moment, and the words burst from my lips before I could stop them. “You bastard.”

  “I’ve been called worse, but still, it wouldn’t do to let your
impudence go unpunished.”

  The mage moved his hand in a gesture, and I felt the back of my hand start to burn. I looked down to see that some kind of shape had been burned there. I had no idea what it meant. I just knew that I hated this man. It had taken all of my self-restraint not to move while he did it. The last thing I wanted him to know was that I had freed my hands.

  He smiled at me one more time. “Next time I see you, there will probably be considerably less of you than there is now. I’d encourage you to talk before he cuts off anything that you find important.” He chuckled as he turned away from me.

  The footsteps slowly receded back up the hallway. I heard a door open and close. As soon as it closed, I got down to business. It took a few seconds for me to free my legs, and then I moved toward the cell door. The lock wouldn’t budge no matter how hard I tried to open it. Jesus, what was I going to do now?

  It sounded crazy to me even as I did it, but it was the only thing I had left to try. I put my hand around the gem on my necklace and tried speaking to it directly. “If there is anything else you can do to get me out of here, now would be the time to do it.”

  Silence. Nothing but fucking silence. As the moments ticked by, I grew more frantic. I almost dropped dead when I heard the door to the dungeon open. What in the hell was I going to do now? There was no way out of here. I wouldn’t be able to fight against men with swords. But if they only had clubs and there weren’t too many of them, there was still a chance for me to break free. I was desperate; I’d grasp at any straw I could find right now. The steps came down the hallway slowly, and I moved toward the back of my cell. I wasn’t going to die without a fight. Those bastards were going to have to come in here and get me.

  Two guards appeared at the iron bars. As soon as they realized I wasn’t strapped to the chair, one of them ran back down the hallway. I could only assume that he was going to fetch my friend the mage. Once the damn wizard showed up, there wouldn’t be anything I could do. They would have me back in that chair in a matter of minutes. The guard waiting outside of the door moved around the cell, searching for me in the shadows.

  “You should make it easy on yourself, friend. If you come back and sit in the chair now, you could save yourself a little pain. Once our lord’s man gets back, you will be in for a world of hurt.”

  All I could think was, screw that idea. There was no way I was getting into the chair. I pushed back against the cool stone wall as deep into the shadows as I could. How had it come to this? I had just taken one simple job. All of my friends were dead. There was nothing left for me here.

  I can get you out, but you have to make me a promise.

  “Whatever you want,” I whispered into the darkness. “Just get me the hell out of here.”

  You will need to open yourself up to me completely. After this, we will be one.

  As much as I hated the sound of that, I hated the idea of being tortured and killed more. “Fine, do whatever you have to.” The stone resting against my chest grew so warm, I could feel it burning me. I fell to my knees and let out a scream. Power and energy rushed through me. I’d never felt anything that filled me with so much pain and pleasure at once. The world started to swim before my eyes. It came back into focus just as the wizard reached my cell.

  “No,” he shouted, banging his fist against the bars. “Whatever it promised you was a lie. Fight for control or you will be lost to this world forever.”

  I could see a ball of fire growing in his hand. The flames danced blue against the darkness of the dungeon. I was only in this position because of him. Laughter broke from my lips. It sounded hollow to me and full of rage. Whatever he wanted me to stop, it was too late for that. Fuck him. It wasn’t like he wasn’t about to try and kill me again or anything.

  The ball of flame rushed toward me, and I moved my hand. The flames veered to the side and slammed into the wall at the other end of my cell. The blue fire bubbled against the stone. The heat was intense. I could see the stone melting from here. I didn’t even know that was possible. What kind of fire melted rock?

  Think of where you would like to go, and it will be so.

  There was only one place I needed to go, back to our hideout. Once I was there, I could collect our stash, buy a horse, and get the hell out of this godforsaken country. There would be people to rob anywhere I went. All I had to do was pick a direction and go. I thought of our hideout and my dead friends. The mage reached through the bars as if he could reach me twenty feet away.

  He screamed as the power washed over me again. His words were drowned out by the waves of power crashing through my body. It felt right somehow that this had happened to me. I had always been lucky.

  Just step backward, and you will be free.

  I stepped back, and the power poured from me. Everything went black, and one word followed me through the blackness. Abomination. The mage had shouted it just as I stepped backward. The darkness abruptly came to a stop, and the world around rushed back in bright vivid colors. I was standing outside of our little lodge.

  I rushed inside, trying not to step on the corpses of my friends. I made it to the fireplace. Sliding inside until I could stand up, I reached three bricks to the left of the flue and pulled. The brick came away in my hands. I removed one more and then started unloading the bags of gold. There wasn’t too much here. Some of it we had saved for the winter to feed our people, and some of it had been put away in case of a day like today.

  All of it would be coming with me now. It wasn’t enough to live like a king, but it was enough to get a nice cushy start somewhere else. I was done with this dreary rainy country. I needed to find somewhere that I could bask in the sun during the day and slink through the starlit night to make a living. I had always heard the south of France was nice. If that didn’t work, then maybe Italy would. Anywhere but here.

  The sacks of gold fit nicely into three saddle bags. Now all I needed was a horse. Six gold coins should do the trick. It was enough for two good horses, maybe even three if the man had a mind to sell, but all I needed was one. It had to be fast and strong, and I knew just where to get it.

  “Is there any way you can do that trick for me again? I have one more place I need to go.”

  As I waited in silence, I built a fire in the hearth. The stone felt warm against my chest again. Maybe the power of travel had weakened it somehow. Getting the horse was going to take a lot longer if I had to do it on foot. I knew that wizard was already riding out of the keep to catch me. I had the feeling he would never stop until I was dead. It would feel better to put as much space between me and him as I could. And I wanted to create that space as fast as possible.

  The fire was ready. I lit several torches and tossed them into the thatch roof. Once that had caught, I scattered the embers across the wooden floor on my way out. It wasn’t the kind of funeral these men deserved, but it was better than nothing. I couldn’t have anyone asking questions about where I was. It was better if they thought we all died here.

  I started to run through the forest. “If we can travel again, now would be a good time. The fire will raise a few questions.”

  Think of where you wish to go and don’t stop running.

  I ran forward, thinking of Byron’s farm. He had just the horse I wanted, and he’d be selling it to me whether he knew it or not. I picked up speed, keeping the farm firmly in my mind. A black portal opened in front of me. My body tried to stop, but I forced it forward. The darkness consumed me again, and then I was standing on the trail leading to Byron’s farm.

  One of his daughters ran down the path to meet me. “Is your father around?” I asked before she could speak.

  “He’s in the stables, like always.”

  Reaching behind her ear, I pretended to pull out a silver coin. I tossed it to her and made my way to the stables. Today was one of the best days she would ever have. That coin would keep her in sweets for three months. She followed after me for a minute, asking for news, but I ignored her, and eventually sh
e drifted away.

  When I entered the stables, Byron looked me over, noticing my saddle bags and lack of a horse.

  “What can I do for you, Lucky?”

  “I’m here for Betty.”

  “You already know she isn’t for sale,” he said with a frown.

  I held out a hand and opened it to reveal the six golden coins. Byron’s eyes widened at the sight of the gold.

  “It’s too much, and she isn’t for sale.”

  “I’ll be leaving with the horse and a saddle. I’d feel much better about it if you accepted the coins.”

  “Now, see here, Lucky—”

  The breath rushed out of his lungs as my fist slammed into his stomach. “Saddle the horse and take the damn money.” I reached into my bag and pulled out another four golden coins. I set the ten of them on his desk. Most of that money was to ease my guilt about what I was doing. Byron had always been a friend. That was a bridge I had just burned, but if I ever needed to call on him again, I wanted the thought of gold coins in his mind instead of revenge. Betty was the finest mare in the county, and everyone knew it. No one would willingly give that up, but today I needed more from an old friend than even I deserved to ask for. I held out a hand to help him up, and he slapped it away.

  “You can have the damn horse, but never darken my doorstep again. Next time you do, you’ll be in for a surprise.” Without a word, he stormed out of the barn.

  Byron turned back and collected the coins from the table and then marched back out. Smart man. You never wanted to leave gold on the table when a thief was in the room. It was just too damn tempting, even though I was the one who put it there in the first place. I grabbed a saddle and a couple bags of feed and got to work. Ten minutes later, I was riding out of the barn on Betty and heading out of the country. I had always been too scared to leave. Now I was more frightened to stay. The world called to me. I hoped it would be wide enough to hide me from the wizard.