A Dangerous Legacy Pt 15

©Nora Quick 2013

Chapter Seventeen

The tunnel was intense. When my consciousness had been pulled into the past, both times I had done it, it was smooth and instant. Bringing bodies was much harder and going this far back made it feel like I was coming apart as we hurtled on. When the lights faded and the striated passage receded, we were left standing once more in a pristine landscape.

Having been born when the machine age was ending and the technological age was rising, pollution was normal to me. A dimmed sky, putrid waterways, garbage flows in the ocean, all status quo. Now the sky was a shade of blue known only in dreams, the grass pure green like Technicolor come to life, but the smell...the smell made me want to vomit.

A wave of nausea filled me at the putrid smoke rising from over a hill and Diego brushed against me, reminding me I had magic. I started to cast a spell but Shin-Zan beat me to it. Suddenly the nausea was gone and the smell of Lotus blossom filled my nostrils.

"This is it," Jericho said in shivering awe.

Shin-Zan cast his eyes down. "The battle will rage for another day."

Jericho folded his arms, and behind him Olivia came up to wrap her arms around him. "We fought them in the day. Vampires could move in the day but were much stronger at night. The sun seemed to weaken their power. This was an attack. The vampires gathered for strength here, the last of their numbers and we attacked. The council of Alphas made us." Guilt shuttered his face and he turned into Liv's embrace.

Shin-Zan nodded. "We watched, and did nothing. I have often regretted that. Once there was a council of alphas, the strongest of the alphas, the leaders of leaders. Political faces, though amongst alphas it was democratic."

"Feudal," Andre corrected. "Historically alphas do not consent to pack decisions." His hazel eyes slid to me. "That has changed under witch rule."

"What is it we're looking for?" Pierre asked, his tone hard. I saw the soldier in him. he sniffed the air, muscles tense, and had moved slightly back to guard me. The soldier had come out.

"A feeling," I said and everyone looked at me questioningly.

"I can feel it. Something is wrong with the timeline and I a connected to it. If I follow that feeling I will come to the source. It's here."

"My queen, do you use any weapons?"

"Magic, and my hands," I said simply. There was a time when I had used guns but I had long ago sworn never to do so again.

"Magic, then," Shin-Zan said.

With a wave of his hands he summoned armor for us all and weapons for the wolves. My armor was light, chainmail probably spelled to not weigh a ton, and it gleamed white gold in the sunshine. The men had what appeared to be sixteenth century German plate mail armor what everyone thinks nights always wore. Damn heavy, they did so only for a short time, and it was ore dress uniform than anything due to weight. Spelled by magic and worn by unnaturally strong creatures, it was breathtaking. Hey, every girl loves a man in uniform.

Liv's armor was like mine, so was Shin-Zan's. The men bore swords, all except Jericho and Shin-Zan. Jericho and Olivia both had a bow and a quiver of arrows on their back. I wanted to ask if it would be better to transform, but I knew when they became wolves they became true wolves, not as scary or as powerful as people thought.

Andre was exempt, I remembered as my eyes slid to him Alphas could become a third form, man and beast in one, with all the advantages of both. I was curious, but knew seeing this would mean great danger and that I wanted to avoid.

"Where?" Andre asked.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on the feeling of wrongness. It was weak now, so weak, but I finally latched onto it. "The eastern side of the village."

Shin-Zan nodded and showed us the way. We walked up a large hill and at the rest we saw the fire to the village. Humans were feeling but the battle raged. There were thousands on each side, snarling vampires fighting men and women, and the half-beast forms of the alphas.

The violence was incredible as people were torn apart, necks ripped open. A wave of nausea rolled over me before I spelled it away. There were no words. I was a product of the modern age, where the media covered up the true cost of war by selective images and reports, where men and women wore armor, drove tanks, where even drones dropped bombs. It was s impersonal, and now I knew why.

This was Hell.

"What now?" Julian asked.

"We must get closer."

"No," Pierre said. "It's not safe."

"We shall be invisible, untraceable by smell," Shin-Zan vowed and I nodded, a glare cutting off Pierre's well-meant protest.

Slowly we ambled down, and poor Diego, unarmored, kept pressed to my side whining slightly as we went. I tried to soothe him but my metal-covered hand made him jump so I murmured gentle tones. Each step brought the sell of fresh blood, emptied bowels, and burning flesh closer. Without magic I would have been gagging and vomiting, but the magic held me steady. Plus, as Queen, I supposed I should show no weakness, even amongst so many I trusted.

We came to the edge, not even a hundred feet from violent action. Dead bodies and pooled blood littered the ground. The niggling feeling became a roar.

"Shin-Zan, can we cast a spell to detect a witch?"

He shook his head. "Vampires and wolves are pure magic. Casting a spell through them would be like shooting an arrow into the sea."

"I can feel it. Soon, someone will appear and turn the tide of war. Someone from a future time will enable the wolves to exterminate the vampires, and magic will weaken. It's coming, I know-"

Something flew at us but it was Shin-Zan's reaction that drew forth mine. Like him I threw my hands up and called forth magic. Unsure of what to do I blended mine to his and felt a protection bubble cover us. Almost at the same time a powerful spell hit it, and I tasted its strength and also...a familiar flavor. Deeply familiar.

"Hold it!" Shin-Zan yelled and his magic left mine to hold off the spell that I had no doubt would have killed us.

The familiar tang swallowed me. It was someone close to me, someone whose magic I knew, but who? The answer was coming, closer and closer, but suddenly I was yanked back into the tunnel of time. The protection bubble burst and I hurtled through the tunnel fuming with rage. One second longer and I would have known!

We were back in the hotel, back in my suite, and the armor and weapons disappeared. I stalked to Shin-Zan, killing mad. "One second longer and I would have had the culprit! You pulled us out too soon!"

"What the hell-" he stopped, eyes widened and sighed, his shoulder collapsing, He looked truly like an old man. "I look at you and see a queen. Sometimes it is hard to forget how young you are, how inexperienced. Majesty, that spell would have eaten through your magic alone and killed you if we hadn't left. It was a powerful death spell."

"How did he or she cast a spell with all that chaos?"

"I do not know, but I know without pinpointing the location of our attacker we could not have survived it. Even if I held the bubble with you it only would have delayed a grisly death." He glanced to the wolves around us. "I must go and report this to the council. Protect her." With that, he disappeared.

"What happened?" Andre asked.

I made my way to a I and flopped down Diego dashed over to curl atop my feet. "It's there. Whoever has been killing so many, first they weakened magic by killing vampires and throwing magic off balance. And somehow...somehow whoever this was was more powerful than me."

I may as well not have slept for as tired as I was. I wanted to weep in frustration, but do it alone. I loved my pack but they hovered. "I need to be alone."

"And we need to protect you," Andre countered, folding his arms and letting his thick muscles flex, trying to intimidate me.

"Fine, then do it from out here." I rose and disturbed Diego before nearly running into y bedroom. I closed the door on even my familiar, barely sealing myself in alone as the tears came. How could I do this? How could I fix magic, fix the timeline, free the wolves, and rule those who could not be ruled?

Selfishly as I curled on the floor and wept, I wished for a moment life was as it was before. Somehow being poor, struggling, and lonely wasn't nearly as scary or overwhelming as all of this.

***

I snuck out with magic. They might have been expecting it, but my wolves could not prevent it. I couldn't fully explain it, but I needed to talk to someone who understood. Heavy is the head that hangs the crown, and only Malachai would have any clue to the pressures I felt.

I found him alone in the hotel pool, swimming laps.

For a moment I watched him and appreciated the sight. He had the build for swimming, long and lean, and when he stopped and rose his long dark hair was loose, slicked back to show the clean lines of a very handsome face. His tanned body was heavily scarred, and I had to wonder why he hadn't gotten rid of the scars.

He leveraged out of the water and saw me looking. Grabbing a towel he dried his face and then wrapped it around his waist, covering the very brief swimsuit.

"I was born a barbarian, I don't even remember where it's been so long. I knew nothing of my heritage until the day a sorcerer came. I had been in many battles. Back then scars were marks of valor, and I was a warrior to be feared. When they told me I could change whatever I wanted about myself I merely fixed my teeth, my eyesight, and my general health. I was quite vain."

If he'd been born looking like that he should have been, I thought as he sat next to me.

"What troubles you, queen?"

I stared off at the pool, framed by a row of windows overlooking a snowy arctic afternoon, contrasting with pleasant warm humidity of the room. "That."

"Come again?" he raised a dark eyebrow and smoothed back his wet hair.

"Being Queen. How long have you been king?"

He thought for a long moment. "Almost two millennia, perhaps longer. I can no longer remember."

I turned towards him fully now, hoping even with that experience. "Have there ever been times when it was too much? When you just wished to e a regular witch, maybe even human again?"

He gave a very contemplative look to the wall and it struck me that maybe he'd begun his life a barbarian, but he was more of a chess master now.

I felt magic and his was quite different. Witch magic, light magic, was an essence shimmering in the air. His felt like a velvet cloak touching us and the walls, and it tasted lie chocolate. Interesting.

"I would prefer no one hear this, not even my loves. Anna, I am weary. To rule is to be responsible. There is never time off. There is no true escape. To rule e must control him- or herself at all times, and seek to control each and ever situation. To rule well you cannot how emotion. Love must be guarded against petty jealous eyes. Anger must be shown in measured increments to control. Vengeance must not be sought with zeal. Happiness must never be left unguarded. Sorrow must never be known to anyone but the ruler." He sighed and glanced back to me.

"If there were a way to step down aside from death, I would take it. When your Kenneth came to us, I thought for a time there was a way. But he is not dark enough to ruler sorcerers, not light enough to rule witches. He is a man apart.

"I envy you, Queen Anna. You have youth and promise. You have the ability to shape your world. When I became king I had no access to books on those who came before, no choice but to adopt a society as it was. You come from an age where knowledge is all around you, when distant parts of the world can connect through technology. You can free your wolves, expand or dismantle your council, rule any way you choose. I suppose if I had any yearning, it would be to know your place in life."

I stared at the water, now calm. "No, I doubt you would. Kenneth..." I said rightly, glad for a change in subject, "What was he like when he was with your people?"

Malachai frowned slightly and something like regret passed through his intense eyes. "His mother dumped him at my home. It's a real palace, second-hand now from a human line."

"Where?" I asked, mildly curious.

"At the base of the Carpathians. It was a long ago gift from the leader of the vampires. Anyway, he was left with a note. His mother is one of yours, and she was raped by one of mine. We may be the dark side of magic but we are not evil, and I do not tolerate rape, the harming of children or animals, nor cruelty to those who have lesser power. The penalty is death, and I vowed Kenneth's father would face it.

"It was four hundred years ago. A sorcereress I favored at the time had just born her first child by another and agreed to nurse him. I regret I left him to her care and paid little attention, sending some of my favored soldiers to hunt the mother down and question her.

"When Cassandra found out he was a halfling she tried to kill him. She brought him to a mountain we hold sacred and planned to leave him to the elements. She thought having his death caused by the elements would save her. It did not. I found her and killed her, stripped her magic and gave it to Kenneth. I did not know then he would have so much of his own, but I knew among my people or yours he would not be welcome.

"I had long ago had my own child by a sorceress and Kenneth was raised like my own but with no playmates. I did not see the wrong in it until he was nine and I brought others with children of an age to my home. Kenneth was taunted most cruelly, and as his coloring favored his witch mother, he as fairly brutalized by small fists and harsh words.

"Kenneth withdrew into himself, became a scholarly lad preferring books to al else. I confess I was callous and did not see his plight. I knew that if we did not find his father he would be sent into the human world, and so I raised him as human as possible, as I had with my own get.

"When Kenneth turned fourteen he was a man in those days. I regret to say that handsome as he was, my women took note. None were gentle or kind, all were cruel. There were times he looked at me with such a haunted look I realize now there had been rape. I did not realize that for many years.

"He was an accomplished secretary and when I offered to finance him in a good position with humans begged to stay on as my librarian. Not caring overmuch, I granted him this and he was able to hide himself from the cruelties of our women. Unfortunately for him, he experienced the cruelties of men. Kenneth has no love for men in that way and it nearly destroyed him.

"I did not find this out until I walked in on such when he was eighteen. I killed the sorcerer attacking him and demanded to know the names of others. I did not know much compassion in those days, only vengeance and duty, and what I perceived as justice. I was cruel and harsh, and he cursed me, locked himself away.

"All I knew to do was give him a gift and awaken his magic. His mother had not been found but through a spell I saw the doing of it. To my shame his father was my second, my best friend for centuries, Seamus. It broke my heart, but I killed him, thinking when Kenneth ascended in just six years he would be grateful."

Malachai broke off and stood, muscles tense. He turned from me as he continued, and I knew there was shame in him.

"He raged at me, punched and flailed like a child. I had stolen his vengeance, and he cursed me for it. I knew then he was lost, and asked for the kindest of us, and ancient sorcereress named Milicent to care for him. I sent him with guards, cast a spell that any who dared abuse him in a sexual manner would know instant death, and swore to collect him when he was twenty five.

"I did not write or visit, left him until that day. Our tests are like yours but when it came time for the three dragons I picked, they chose death rather than to lay with a Halfling. Because I had granted Kenneth Cassandra's magic it was enough, and with my blessing he transformed.

"Oh, Kenneth was magnificent. So angry and so powerful. I could not control him. He barely finished his most basic lessons before he left. When I caught up to him he had killed them, killed them all, all the ones who ever hurt him.

"I tried to protect him and he stayed with us another hundred years. He was feared, hated. I taught him courtly manners, how to fight, to fit in, but Kenneth hated it. He began to build up a fantasy that witches would be different, that his celibacy and loneliness would end. I tried to dissuade him, and swore I would him discover how to align his magic solely to dark, and we fought.

"He had always seen me as an unwanted guardian, a boogey men if you will," Malachai said softly as he turned back to me. "I saw him as a troubled member of the flock. If we could have been as father and son, or brother and brother, it perhaps would have worked. But I failed him greatly, and he left us."

A part of me had wondered if this fated child between us might have been Kenneth, but truly it appeared Alessandra was his mother. Somehow his resentment made sense. I doubt he was accepted in witch society any more than sorcerer, and perhaps he dreamed of ruling simply to control. If you could not belong, better to rule, perhaps.

"Why the interest?" Malachai asked and sat on the bench once more, our knees nearly touching.

"I thought perhaps he might play a role in this mess." Without meaning to, I let the story slip of what had transpired in Chengzhou.

Malachai shook his head. "Alessandra, his witch mother, is very distantly related to you. Kenneth's magic tastes of rain from a thunderstorm, ozone and nature, power of life and death. From what you describe I do not think it him."

"But perhaps Alessandra. She seems to want Kenneth to rule."

"Things are not what they always seem, my queen," he reached out and cupped my chin.

I would have had to be dead not to feel something, but guilt made me tear from his grasp and stand, and he remained seated with a knowing smile.

"Speak to your Marcus. I know all of Kenneth's life with my people, Marcus knows all of his life with yours. Perhaps you are right and there is something here. If so, it is likely due to my failing in his care, and I will do whatever it takes to right this."

"Thank you," I replied softly and with magic zapped back to my room. In a way it was running, but I pushed the temptation of Malachai to the back of my mind. I felt measurably better to know someone as old as the sorcerer king felt the same harsh pressure of rule I did.

And that lasted all of half a second before I was grabbed and tossed on the bed. I cried out and landed on my back, blinking up at three angry wolves. "Uh, hey," I managed weakly.

"Where did you go!?" Andre shouted.

"Personal business!" I grumbled back and sat up. They didn't back off, all three half brothers looming over me. "I have a right to-"

"You are in danger and we are supposed to protect you!" Andre raged, stopping only when Julian laid a long-fingered hand gently on his alpha's tense bicep.

Pierre shook his head. "Anna, if you had but asked us, we would have escorted you anywhere and made sure you were safe."

"What could be so pressing?" Julian asked.

I stood and forced my way past them, walking to the desk to grip the back of the chair tightly. "It was all too much. The responsibility, the pressure. Malachai had to be updated anyway, and I had to know..."

"What?" Andre ground out.

I turned back to face them. "I had to know if I am merely a coward or if any leader would feel this way. Malachai is my counterpart, responsible for just as many fates as I now am." Closing my eyes, I sighed.