Chapter 36
He left the Klese guards outside his tent and only two inside. I was tethered by the collar to a pin sunk deep into the center pole of the tent and even my two guards could see the high energy of the magic coruscating from the chain to my neck. I quivered as each exchange touched me. It was not pain I felt but a weakening of the power that filled me from feeding yet it did not drain me. It was more of a tug-of-war keeping me in a constant state of flux so that I could not think straight or move efficiently. I twitched and jerked as if I were one of those unfortunates born with a seizure condition.
It took some time before I could control enough of my body to sit up, cover my eyes and groan. I heard one of the guards move behind me and a man’s hand gripped my shoulder. “Toby, can I get you something?” Siobhan whispered. He came around and examined my face, the chains, pin and collar. “How does this thing come off?”
“It doesn’t. Unless you remove my head.”
He stopped. “The chain?”
“Only Blackfin can remove the chain and Connacher the collar. Where’s Arianell?”
“Here.” She came forward with her hand on her sword hilt foregoing the wand.
“That won’t work on me either,” I said dryly.
“How can we free you?”
“You can’t,” I said flatly. “You should leave before I betray you.”
“No. I won’t leave you,” she protested.
“Even when he takes me to Lyr Averon’s Court?” I questioned and she blanched.
“I can’t. Lyr Averon would know me, even under the masking spell,” she said in a low voice.
“But he wouldn’t me,” Siobhan said. “I’ve never been to Court or been seen by any noble.”
“I’ll see to it your assigned as his guard if you go, Siobhan,” she vowed.
“I must do what he has ordered me,” I repeated.
“Can you tell us the wizard’s plans and why Connacher has lent his squad of Klese Rangers to your wizard’s use?” She asked. Because Blackfin had ordered me to obey Connacher’s wishes unless it interfered with his own, I could outline his orders. These made both of them turn white in anguish at the scope of the black perfidy of the human wizard.
Their shift changed after four hours. Four hours that I spent telling both where I had been and what I had done for the last half year since I’d left them at their family’s farm. They told me how the Imperial Faet warriors had invaded, confiscated their land, animals and dragged off her family as prisoners. She and her brother had escaped before the Faet had found them, attacked the soldiers on the way back to the High Court and rescued her parents and siblings.
As the pair handed me over to the new guards, one of them gave me a cup that he said was from Blackfin. I took it and swallowed a thin liquid that had just a touch of blood mixed in with sour wine. I grimaced but finished it knowing that it came from the wizard. Knowing also that it was drugged because my strength and ability to fly had frightened him. As the doctored wine filled my stomach, my eyes and limbs grew heavy and I slumped to the ground. Then, the two new guards approached me, daring to open my mouth and prod at my fangs, lay their hands on my chest checking for a heartbeat. One even took his knife and cut me to draw a thin watery blood from my belly.
“’Tis true,” he said in surprise. “He bleeds red blood the same as we do.”
“Not the same, I heard. He can lose more blood than you or I and cannot die. Not even silver can stop him.”
“Well, his fangs are pulled now, Burton,” the guard snickered. He gave me a few kicks but I didn’t feel them and slowly sank into doldrums of indifference that didn’t abate until the magic essence of the King’s wizard re-entered the tent. He sent the guards outside and lifted my head off the floor where it had lain in a puddle of drool.
“Tobias?”
“M-m-m-master,” I mumbled and blinked to bring him into focus. There were three or more of him standing–no, floating in front of me. And another figure that I knew, my grandfather and his cadre of bodyguards and war staff.
“By the Seven Gods of Holy Church, Blake!” The Earl of Gleneden shouted. “What have you done to him?”
Blackfin snickered. “Do you like my pet? He’s well broken in and well trained. Tobias, greet your grandfather.”
Slowly, I rolled over and climbed to my knees. Standing was beyond me and I knew it. I kissed the hand that I could reach and murmured, “My Lord.”
“He’s safe enough for you to return him to the Court and present him to my father, Avril,” the wizard said casually. “He’s bound by his given word and by a forced blood geas.”
“Will you stay to set up the new regime in the city?”
“The last of the scientists and their families are holed up in some kind of vaults buried in the lowest levels. So far, we haven’t found a way in but Ricbom told us that there is enough food, water and air down there for less than a month and that there is no other way out,” the wizard shrugged.
“Do you believe him?” My grandfather snorted and the look on Blackfin’s face was horrifying.
“Oh yes,” he said gleefully. “He couldn’t hold out even a tenth of what Tobias has endured.”
“I hope he’s still alive,” the Earl said ruefully.
“He is. Do you think I would damage such a find of scientific value? He is worth more than everyone in the city.”
“What will you do with the prisoners?”
“The ones that aren’t scientists, technicians or mechanical engineers will provide future meals for Tobias. We can bleed them, store their blood in freezers and dispose of the remains,” the wizard said without a hint of remorse.
“The women?”
Blackfin sneered. “Take those that tickle your fancy, my dear Avril. I have no use for them.” He turned and ordered the soldiers to drag me out to the area where the condorlas waited saddled and piloted. Thrown atop one, I was cuffed and tied to the saddle and the pilot mounted in front of me. Blackfin had his own bird and four others flew with us in a cordon around me as we departed into the cold evening sky.