Darkness Falls: Cirenthian Chronicles (Book 2) Read online

  I hated being ignorant, it would have been nice to know about the laws before I wasted so much time worrying about it for no reason.

  I continued, “It happens fairly quickly too. The voting happens by spell, one much like the communication spell but instead it tallies the votes. She doesn’t believe cheating is possible either. The one elected has an opportunity to turn it down and a month to get to the capitol and be crowned before it falls to the second choice. Either way, it’s somewhat of a relief it won’t be another problem, or at least, not as big a problem as we thought.”

  Sienna said, “We can hope not. That does sound better though, I had no idea they had anything like that in place.”

  Ari shrugged, “They don’t really teach the commoners here much about the laws, except to stay out of any mages way and obey their orders.”

  Sienna nodded in agreement…

  The third day out in the afternoon our scrying picked up some information. Nothing happening in the cities, but a few miles ahead there was a group of forty soldiers and it looked to be two mages setting up camp for the night.

  Ari suggested, “They can’t scry us, why don’t we just leave the road tomorrow when they get close and let them pass us by?”

  I frowned, “They may have trackers with them, watching the road. It’s what I would do if I couldn’t magically locate an enemy. If they see three horse tracks suddenly stop and go off the road… Still, we can try it.”

  Sienna asked, “Can’t you confuse the tracks with magic?”

  I pondered that for a moment. “A fair sized wind might hide the tracks if they’re shallow enough, but it would exhaust my magic though to do it long term. We’d probably erase all the other tracks as well which would be just as suspicious.”

  Ari shrugged, “We’ll be travelling a lot faster, once we get passed them they’ll fall behind quickly. Even if they track us off the road and realize we circled them they’ll never catch us, not on foot.”

  I blew out a breath, “I’d prefer not to leave an enemy behind me, just in case there’s another one ahead, but I don’t want to fight if we don’t have to either.”

  I weighed the risks in my mind. Fifty soldiers and two mages would be a lot for the three of us, perhaps too much fighting both steel and magic at the same time. If the mages can successfully block our magic for a handful of seconds we’d be overwhelmed just in sheer numbers.

  “Alright, we’ll do it your way, but let’s leave when it’s still dark out, we can cast our night vision magic on the horses and Sienna. The magic to muffle sounds as well in case they have sharp eared sentries. We’ll be around them and long gone by the time they wake, pack up, start moving, and find our trail.”

  We turned in a little early that night after setting the wards. We made the wards quite a bit larger just in case the enemy sent out scouts; we were only a couple of miles away from their camp after all.

  I actually woke up first, which was rare. I smiled and decided it was my turn to give the wakeup call and slithered down underneath the covers…

  My two extremely happy mates and I broke down the camp and after setting the wards went off the road. We must have gone at least a mile when we finally turned parallel to the road. We were making fairly good time since all of our noise was muffled by magic we didn’t really have to sneak. After about four miles, we figured we were about two miles past them and moved back toward the road.

  I had my senses out as far as they could go and didn’t detect anyone as we reclaimed the road and then went into a canter, trying to widen our lead. Hopefully it would take them a while to figure out we passed them. If not, as Ari said we were far enough ahead I doubted they would catch us unless we were forced to stop for a long time.

  As the light grew on the horizon we dropped our muffling and the light enhancement magic and kept going. Ari pulled up next to me a little bit later, a cautious look on her face.

  I asked in concern, “Something wrong love?”

  She waffled, “Depends on what you might think of as wrong. You realize it’s been over a week since we mated…”

  I nodded slowly, “Yes… and…” holy shit I was so thick. We hadn’t had another one of those crazy, lose our mind, desperate fuck since that day in the temple.

  I beamed at her, “Really?”

  She smiled shyly back, “I’m not positive, but it’s looking that way yes.”

  I asked, “You thought I’d be upset?”

  She shrugged, “No necessarily upset about the possibility, but what it means on this mission and me putting myself in danger. I won’t be coddled, at least not for eight more months or so.”

  I snickered.

  She glared, “What’s so funny?”

  I hedged, “Umm, nothing dear. Except I don’t see you sword fighting at eight months.”

  She frowned in confusion, “Why not, I won’t be very large until at least twelve months.”

  I smiled and grabbed her hand, “Misunderstanding then, human woman are only pregnant for nine. How long…?”

  She sighed, “Fifteen damn it, which means Sienna’s probably going to beat me.”

  I gaped, “Is she too?”

  Ari shook her head and replied, “Not that I know of, but it’s certainly possible. The way neither of us can seem to keep our hands off you for more than one day it would be a miracle if she isn’t within six months.”

  “Got it… fifteen minus nine. Although you’ll be carrying a half elf, will that make a difference?”

  Okay, so I was a little slow right now and I was also stating the obvious, but in my defense I just found out I was going to be a father.

  She replied thoughtfully, “I didn’t think of that, I don’t know. I’ll send a message to mom, if she doesn’t know she can ask a healer.”

  I said fervently, “I love you Ari, I can’t wait to meet our child. You’ll be an amazing mother.”

  Her eyes tightened and she asked, “How do you know?”

  I smiled, “Because I know who you are, you will approach it with grace, strength, harmony, and ferocity. The same way you approach fighting, loving, dancing, sex, and everything else.”

  She asked with a lump in her throat, “Is that truly how you see me?”

  I nodded, “Yes, haven’t I told you that before? If you don’t believe me ask Sienna, she’s the most perceptive out of the three of us.”

  I almost fell out of the saddle when she grabbed my shirt and pulled me down for a kiss. I forgot all about hoping the horses didn’t shy away from each other, Ari constantly amazed me and her kisses could still make me forget to breathe. Regardless, I managed not to fall off my horse, somehow.

  She’d gotten my blood flowing and I said with a teasing smile, “Does that mean I have to wait over a year before I can claim you like a piece of property again?”

  She smiled at me mysteriously and said sultrily, “I don’t know, that kind of sounds like fun. Maybe… if you can catch me and pin me down.”

  She winked saucily and rode off with a giggle at my pole axed expression, leaving me speechless… and very hard.

  When we stopped for the night the first thing I did was put up a large ward. I wanted plenty of advanced notice if they circled back, or if someone was still coming from the other way, maybe to box us in. It was probably paranoid, but one good thing about paranoid people was they were hardly ever surprised. Besides, they really are after me.

  Ari and I also scryed a few miles in each direction and it looked clear, but I wouldn’t depend on it. We took some time for sword and magic practice, after dinner we just tried to relax. Ari and Sienna must have talked, because after a while Sienna left us out here on our own.

  I’m not sure which of us enjoyed it more when I took Ari hard and fast and claimed her as mine. The flavor of it was different of course, without being driven out of our minds with the need of it, but if anything that added another pleasurable dimension to the encounter. We cuddled for a while under the stars before we made love for our second round.


  She was precious to me, and I was thankful that she was truly mine.

  My last thought that night as we joined Sienna and I spooned Ari, wrapping my arms around Ari protectively, wasn’t about us however. Instead it was not without a little awe it finally sunk in, I was going to be a father…

  The next couple of days we made good time. I stopped worrying so much about what was behind us as we left them farther behind each hour and we discussed what we would do depending on what we found in the next town. The enemy probably had a pretty good idea where we were going, although they couldn’t be sure; it would be easier to set traps inside a town than it would be to find us out in the open.

  Aja also got back with Ari and we found out her pregnancy would last a little over a year. It would take a little bit longer than the difference between humans and elves. I smiled sardonically to myself at my thoughts. Piece of cake, just fix the world in a year, or at least our little part in it. Regardless I had a timetable…

  Chapter 12

  We were just a few hours from Forest River when we started out that morning. It was still a good way to scry; since we hadn’t been there I had to start from where we were and move the scrying up the road with my mind. There were just a few local farms, probably just enough to support the town. The town itself seemed to be split by the river with two bridges, and there were some piers with equipment that looked to be for putting logs into the river.

  I didn’t see any more than a normal amount of guards and didn’t spot any mages, but the latter didn’t mean much, they could all be at the mansion. We discussed it and decided to just go straight to the mansion; we’d be there by late morning. There was no point in trying to sneak since there was not a large contingent of soldiers, if there were a few roving mages waiting for us, they would detect us just as we detected them.

  We could hide ourselves from scrying, but not from magical detection. Unfortunately I knew the reverse wasn’t true, they had a spell that could hide them from my air magic, but I took comfort in knowing my vampire senses would still pick up the magic of whatever spell they used even if my elemental magic would not. The catch was I’d have to be a lot closer to feel it.

  We rode into town expecting just about anything, but none of the guards looked alarmed by our arrival. It wasn’t until we got close to the mansion that I felt the five mages inside. I pulled up on the reigns and we stopped in the street drawing a few looks. I hadn’t felt that many mages in one place since we were in the capitol, Ciren.

  I asked, “Five mages, what do you think?”

  Ari asked, “Don’t you recognize one of them? I’m pretty sure one of them is Steven, the air mage trainee that we liked.”

  I frowned, “I think so, so we go ahead?”

  Sienna shrugged, “It’s why we’re here.”

  I nodded. I knew I was being overly protective right now after Ari told me she was pregnant, but I knew they’d kill me if I even suggested I go alone.

  “Alright, let’s get this over with. Five of them could overwhelm us, if they attack we fast travel out, agreed?”

  They both nodded and I released a protective ward with just enough magic to defend against a handful of attacks on myself and Sienna; I didn’t want to go in there overly confrontational either. I felt Ari’s go up as I prepared a fast travel that I could release with a thought and we started toward the building. We dismounted and tied up our horses before walking over to the door.

  I said to the guard, “I’m Marcus, and this is Ari and Sienna. We’re here to see the mayor.”

  The guard opened the door, a few moments later a servant stepped out.

  “Please follow me.”

  We walked toward the back of the mansion where all five of the mages seemed to be gathered. We were led into a fairly bare room, it only had a plain table and unadorned chairs. The walls were stone; it looked a lot like a practice room. That put together with the five angry faces of the mages led me to believe they expected a fight. I tensed, but I held off on acting as the door shut behind us.

  I recognized Steven; next to him was another young man. There were two older women, somewhere in their late forties or early fifties and an older man as well. I picked out the mayor because I knew she was a healer, I had no idea who the rest were.

  I said carefully, “Mayor Nialla…” I trailed off as she raised a hand in my direction.

  Nialla said, “Only my respect for Serina and Steven’s belief that you’re not a murderer is stopping me from taking action. I want you to tell me what you know of my daughter’s death.”

  My eyes tightened in confusion, “Who?”

  Steven cleared his throat, “Erin, my cousin. The healer in Ciren…”

  I immediately saw the resemblance in Nialla now that it was pointed out. I also felt guilty; I should have forced her to leave that day and ignored her wishes. I hadn’t known her that well, but it had been obvious she was a generous and good person, and in love with the king. Love makes people do stupid things.

  I sighed, “I regret my part in that matter, and although it is the end of the story I was going to tell you I’ll start there.”

  I explained how we had gone to confront the king, to determine if he was the author or just another victim to the conspiracy. When I told them Erin had refused to leave with us, it felt like a weak excuse to my own ears. As I finished I waited for them to decide either way on finding me guilty.

  I hadn’t killed her, but I hadn’t saved her either. I hadn’t even given her a second thought after that day to be honest.

  Steven said in a dead voice, “The king lied about it, sent out the news that you’d attacked him and killed her in your attempt to assassinate him. I didn’t believe it, and when Carl left I decided to come home too.”

  The older man put his arms around Nialla, “I’m Thad, Nialla’s husband. The other young man here is our son Dan.”

  He gestured to the other older woman, “This is Nell, my sister in-law,” he continued in a broken voice, “Please leave, get a room at the inn... whatever, just come back tomorrow to tell the rest of it. We need to… mourn.”

  Ari said compassionately, “I’m sorry for your loss.”

  I just nodded; I couldn’t speak past my guilt. I had liked Erin and I knew Ari had as well, why didn’t we just grab her? I knew it wasn’t that simple, abducting her against her will would have led to different problems. We also left the bastard alive, which no doubt has led to other deaths, hopefully less than the alternative. But that seemed like an empty excuse. It wouldn’t have stopped me from protecting someone I loved; I might as well have just killed her myself.

  I turned and we left. We walked the horses across the bridge in the direction the guard indicated and found the inn easily enough. We got the horses into the stable and unloaded them, a short time later we were up in the room alone.

  Sienna sat on my lap and gave me a hug.

  She said in a determined voice, “It wasn’t your fault. None of us knew if he would really do it. Hindsight is always perfect, we are not. I know if we knew what would happen, we’d have taken her. The king did this, and his time of reckoning is coming. The best we can do for her now is live, and make sure the king doesn’t enjoy his throne for much longer. We are already doing it.”

  Ari joined us on the bed and agreed. I wasn’t so sure though. Sienna and Ari may not have been sure, but I had a good idea it would happen, didn’t I? I ignored my feeling though, because they were breaking down the door and I was a lot more worried about getting my mates out of there. I was focused on washing my hands of the whole stupid kingdom and starting over in Arinith. I knew I wasn’t guilty of murder, but I was guilty of ignoring it…

  By the next morning I had gained back a little perspective. Guilt was an emotion I hadn’t needed to deal with in a very long time, probably from before I was turned millennia ago. But I had promised myself I’d learn from my mistake and not ignore those impulses ever again. The sad fact was I couldn’t save everyone, I was okay w
ith that, but I should have been able to save Erin. I knew though, that I still wouldn’t hesitate to make my mates and family the priority, much like I had done before when I abandoned the king to his own fate to save Ari and Sienna.

  The day was a little tense as I told the full story again from the beginning. I could tell Erin’s brother Dan held me to blame for not forcing her to go, but if he had any plans to act on it he kept it to himself. The rest of them just seemed sad.

  When I finished telling my story and answering questions it was close to noon.

  Nialla sighed, “Very well, I’ll inform Serina we will back her. I would have done so simply because the bastard killed my daughter, but it’s good to know the extent of his crimes. You should move on today if you can, the soldiers I sent up the road are on the way back.”

  Ari asked, “You sent them up the road?”

  She nodded and quirked a smile before it dropped off her face, as if she was guilty of something by smiling, “Yes, I figured you could avoid them easier if they weren’t camped out in my town.”

  I asked, “I do have a strange question for you, do you know a way to put an animal into a forced sleep, or calm?”

  She pondered that for a moment, “There is a spell, I assume this is important?”

  I nodded, “It could be yes.”

  She nodded, “Give me a few moments, then you should be on your way.”

  She stepped out and everyone else outside of Steven followed her. We talked for a few minutes until the mayor got back and handed me a piece of paper. It had a spell on it, but I only recognized about half the symbols, I hoped the others would be in the books we had with us.

  Nialla said, “This will put them in a false calm, they won’t be capable of panicking. Healers will use it to calm horses and other animals so they won’t attack during a healing.”