Chapter Nineteen
Alec
The Alibi was busy that night. It seemed that having a visiting dignitary from the capital was good for business. Alec sat alone at his usual table in the middle of the room. The bustling crowds paid him no mind, and he returned the favor. The miners in their dirty and torn clothes had claimed one corner of the room while the fisherman had the opposite corner. The shepherds — the ones who could escape from their wives and animals at least — had taken over the bar. No one joined Alec, and that was fine with him. He wasn’t really in the mood to party – unless one of the barmaids wanted to take a little break, that was.
Most of the townsfolk didn’t know – or care – who Lady Mage Alba Lequette was, but her presence in town was as good an excuse as any to spend their hard-earned coins on a few drinks. Alec knew perfectly well who the Lequettes were – the Empire made damn sure their puppets knew who their masters were – but he still didn’t care. She seemed just like any other noble girl; polite but reserved, sheltered, naive, soft, and far more beautiful than any one person had the right to be. By the heralds she was beautiful…
He sighed and took another swig of beer. He wanted nothing to do with noble girls, not anymore. That ship had sailed long ago and this mountaintop pisshole was where it had landed him. Still, he thought, that shade had been a pleasant surprise. She seemed to be nothing like her sister; bright, friendly, witty, and genuine, yet reserved and mysterious in a way that intrigued him. It was a shame she had died so young. It seemed the Master was no respecter of age, beauty, or social standing. When He called, that was it. Too bad, Alec thought, if Lady Alba’s beauty was any indication Ona would have grown to make some lucky nobleman very happy. What a couple of girls like that were doing visiting a freezing, backwater, goat-infested territory like Clement he had no idea. Their father was one of the most powerful men in the Empire – exactly the kind of man Alec needed to stay away from.
An angry cry from across the crowded room caught Alec’s attention and he looked up to see a man pushing his way toward him with two foaming mugs of ale in his hands. A few customers were watching him with angry scowls and what looked like fresh wet spots on their shirts where their beers had spilled when he pushed past them. Alec sighed and downed the rest of his beer, wiping the foam from his mouth as he set the mug back on the table with a heavy thunk. The last thing he wanted to do was deal with this particular idiot tonight, but if he had to, the least he could do was make sure he was ready for some free beer. The man reached the table and set the mugs down before taking the seat across from him.
“Evening, Alec,” the man began, but Alec held up a finger to stop him. He let out a loud, and long, belch.
“That’s better,” he said, relaxing back in his chair. “Sorry, had to make some room." He reached out his hand and let one of the mugs slide across the table and into it, enjoying the slight wave of pleasure that came from using his Skill as it washed through him. Drinking was always better when he could combine it with the rush. He picked up the mug and took a sip then wrinkled his nose. “You smell like goat, Boris.”
“And you stink like the Empire,” Boris retorted, eyeing Alec’s medallion where it peeked out of the pocket of his overalls before shrugging and taking a drink of his beer. “Heard you met the crippled princess today.”
“Lady Mage,” Alec corrected. “Albaron only has one princess.”
“Call the little filly whatever you want. What can you tell me about her?”
“Nothing.”
“That’s my beer you’re drinking. It says you need to do better’n that.”
“She’s pretty,” Alec said, taking a nice, long, cold, drink.
“She could’ve been born with one eye and a crooked nose. She’s rich enough she’d still be flippin’ gorgeous. Give me something useful.”
“She’s got baggage,” he said. “Her dead sister’s always hanging around." He set the mug down and used his Skill to swirl the remaining beer around. He smiled a bit as the euphoria kicked the buzz he already had up a couple of notches. Another round or two and he might even enjoy Boris’s company. He looked up at his uninvited companion and decided he would have to drink the place dry before that happened.
“So the shade’s real then?” Boris asked, crossing his heart and kissing his fist.
Alec rolled his eyes and made the beer spin faster. He would have thought that in these modern times no one would doubt the existence of shades anymore, but there was no accounting for ignorant fools.
“Even dead, she’s ten times smarter than you.”
“Watch it, mage,” growled Boris, covering Alecs’ mug and pulling it towards him. “Don’t forget who you’re talking to.”
“I’d say the same to your boss if he was man enough to show himself.”
Boris laughed, sending a spray of spit and beer across the table. “Join us and you might get to see just how much of a man our leader is. We’ve decided to give you another chance. They want you bad, for some reason.”
Alec scoffed and pulled the mug out of Boris’ grasp with his Skill. It slid back into his hand with a slap, sloshing some of the precious golden liquid over the edge. He frowned down at it. “I told you already. I’m the King’s man. You lot are just lucky I haven’t turned you in.”
Boris grinned and Alec had to fight back the urge to knock what few teeth he had left out of his head. “Haven’t you heard? The King’s dead.”
“No, he’s not,” Alec said, downing the rest of his beer in one swig and tossing the mug back to Boris. “He just changed his name.”
“That pretty boy Aarmond?” Boris said, laughing. “He won’t last a year, mark my words. He’s got no clue what he’s doing. He weren’t never meant to be king anyway." He grabbed a passing barmaid by the arm. “More beer,” he growled.
“Hey!” she cried. “Watch it!”
“You watch it, wench,” said Boris, jerking her close to his face and spilling the drinks she was carrying. “I said… more beer.”
“You’ll get it when it’s your turn,” said the barmaid, trying to pull her arm free. “And I’m adding those drinks to your tab, too. They ain’t comin’ outta my pay.”
“Why you mouthy little…” Boris started to say, raising his free hand in a fist. Alec sighed. It was time for Boris to go.
He grabbed Boris’ chair with his Skill and pulled it towards the table as hard as he could. The chair lurched forward pinning Boris between it and the table. The man gasped as the air was pushed from his lungs. He dropped the barmaid’s arm and she immediately pulled free, throwing him a gesture no high-class woman would ever use. Alec smiled. He liked rude women.
“Let me go!” wheezed Boris, pushing against the table. Alec smiled wider as the euphoria poured into him anew. The heavy table began to slide across the floor against the combined forces of Alec’s Skill and Boris’ frantic struggles. Alec grabbed the table with his Skill and held it in place as the euphoria increased even more. This was much better than the pathetic rush he got from spinning a winch all day long.
“Not until you apologize to the lady,” he said.
“To that wench?” Boris asked, managing to look offended at the mere suggestion despite his current predicament. “What for? She one o’ yours?” Alec increased the force on the chair, causing Boris to cough and pound against the table. The chair creaked.
“Not unless she wants to be,” he said, winking at her. She rolled her eyes, but the edges of her lips turned up in a slight smile. Alec grinned. It looked like the rest of his night wouldn’t be spent alone, at least.
“Fine!” Boris gasped as the chair creaked some more. “I’m sorry!”
Alec released his hold on the chair and table, sighing in disappointment as the euphoria disappeared with it. Boris sat back, holding his chest and gasping. Alec turned to the barmaid.
“Sorry about that, ma'am,” he said with a grin. “My companion here spends all his time with his goats and forgets how civilized people should act.”
The barmaid smiled at him and was about to respond when her eyes widened and she screamed instead. Alec had just enough time to see the chair flying towards him before it smashed into his side, shattering and knocking him from his seat.
“Not that tough without your tricks, are ya’?” Boris yelled as Alec tried pushing himself up off the filthy floor. The barmaid began pounding on Boris with her fists. Boris ignored her and kicked Alec in the ribs, hard. The world went red with pain as the air was forced from his lungs. He collapsed to the ground and was only dimly aware of several of the other patrons grabbing Boris and dragging him out of the bar. A few moments later some rough hands grabbed him and lifted him back into his seat. He leaned forward onto the table, wheezing as someone patted him on the back and said something about how out of line Boris had been. Someone else placed a beer in his hands and the barmaid meekly thanked him before she was ushered back to work by the bartender, who was yelling at everyone to calm down before he tossed them all out. Alec coughed a few more times, his ribs protesting with each breath. He was going to feel that one for a long time to come.
“What was that all about?” a young girl’s voice asked from behind him.
“Just teaching a barbarian some manners,” said Alec, cradling his head in his hands. The voice was familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it. It couldn’t be Violet, her father would never let her within a block of the Alibi.
“Well it sure looked like he was the one doing the teaching,” said the girl. “I saw that swing coming from a mile away. Why’d you take your eyes off of him?”
“Just who do you think you are?” Alec asked, lifting his head. “My mother?” He turned, wincing as his ribs told him what they thought of such treatment, and found himself looking into a smiling, translucent, gray face.
“Ona?” he said, blinking. She was the last person he had ever expected to see. “What are you doing here? This is no place for a Lady.”
She giggled and floated around in an arc until she was facing him, the lower half of her torso in the table. “I told you, I’m not a Lady anymore.”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “You’re far too young to be in here.”
She puffed out her cheeks, looking so cute he had to stifle a laugh. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s rude to judge a shade by her appearance?” she said. “I’m older than I look, you know.”
“Don’t give me that,” he hissed, quickly glancing around to make sure no one was watching what was sure to look like a very one-sided conversation. “I’ve met your sister. I know how old you are. What would she say if she knew you were here, anyway?”
“Who’s going to tell her? You’re the only one here who can see me.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” he said, trying to keep his voice down. “There might be an unregistered around, you never know.”
She blinked at him and he groaned inwardly. The thought had clearly never even occurred to her. Just how sheltered a life had she led? “So what?” she said after a few moments, shrugging. “It’s not a secret that I’m here with Alba, after all.”
“Yeah, but it could damage her reputation if it’s known that her sister frequents establishments like this. Even if you are a shade, you’ve still got an image to uphold, you know.”
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“And why is that?” she asked, drifting out of the table and settling into the spot that Boris had been occupying a few minutes before. Alec had to admit that the view was much better this time, even if it was a bit more transparent. “Commoners can come here and drink and party to their heart’s content. But if a highborn chooses to do the same then it becomes a scandal. I never understood that.”
“And what if one of us wanted to come have a drink at the Lord’s castle?” he asked. “How do you think that would go over?”
Ona giggled. “Not too well, though I would love to see you try. Fine, I guess I see your point." She stopped and looked around the room, watching the bustle of activity with a happy smile on her softly shimmering face.
Alec ignored the room and instead watched her, mesmerized by the way her dress and hair flowed about as if she were underwater. Shades had a special kind of beauty that mundane people could never understand, and Ona was in a league all her own. He realized that she was the first highborn shade he had ever met. She flickered in and out of focus a few times, as her kind did, and he blinked hard to clear his thoughts. “How long have you been here?” he asked. It couldn’t have been long, but shades were notoriously good at hiding, for obvious reasons.
“Long enough to see you get laid out,” she said, turning her attention back to him with a smirk. “I had just come in a minute before that. I didn’t even know you were here.”
Alec breathed in relief. That meant she hadn’t heard him talking to Boris. “You didn’t answer my first question,” he said, drinking one of the beers before him. He had enough to last him the rest of the night now. Maybe. “What brings you to a place like this?”
Ona shrugged. “I always go exploring at night. Especially when I’m somewhere new.”
“Does your sister know you do this?”
“Yeah,” she said quickly and a little too brightly, then looked away and added softly, “for the most part." She looked back at him, her face suddenly serious. “Why should it matter, anyway? I’m her sister, not her slave. She shouldn’t have any say in who I see or where I go.”
Alec put down his mug and frowned. It was half empty already. When had that happened? He swirled the remaining half with his Skill, the euphoria helping to clear his mind a little. Ona watched with interest and he couldn’t help but smile a little. Girls always liked it when he used his Skill. “Well,” he said. “You’re bound to her, yeah? So she does have quite a bit of say in it, in one sense.”
That was the wrong thing to say, it seemed. Ona crossed her arms and huffed. “Not you too! What is it with the living? Just because you still have a pulse you think you can boss us around, is that it?”
“Sorry,” said Alec, taking another drink. “I didn’t make the rules. You’ll have to take that up with the Master.”
“He and I aren’t speaking right now,” she said.
“Yeah, I don’t have much to say to Him either,” said Alec.
There was a moment of silence between them before Ona spoke up. “So, you’re telekinetic, then?”
“Yeah,” said Alec, blinking a few times. He was definitely drunk and his mind was running a bit slow. At least it helped with the pain from the beating he had taken earlier, though he didn’t even want to think about how he was going to feel in the morning. “Yeah, I am.”
“That’s a rare Skill. I only know one other telekinetic, my –” she paused. “A boy from my class. How come you didn’t just grab the chair out of his hands before it hit you? That’s what Vincen would have done.”
Alec shook his head, then winced in pain. He shouldn’t have done that. “Uhmm, can’t,” he said, blinking. “Doesn’t work like that. Your friend can levitate stuff?” Ona nodded. “He must be pretty strong. I can only move things around. If it’s already in the air, like a ball or something else that’s been thrown, I can change its direction, but that’s it." Ona nodded again and seemed to get lost in her own thoughts. Alec watched her for a little bit. He was starting to really like her. She was… interesting, but not in the same way he found most girls interesting. She was clearly smart and quick-witted, and talking with her was actually fun. If death had slowed her down at all in that regard she would have been formidable indeed in life. “So,” he said, getting Ona’s attention. “This Vincen guy, is he your boyfriend?”
Ona’s eyes widened and he was certain she would have blushed if she could have. He could see her mind working frantically to find a reply and he stifled a chuckle. Her reaction was all the answer he needed.
“What happened to you?” said a woman’s voice from behind, interrupting any reply Ona might have been about to make. “It looks like you got run over by a horse.”
Alec stiffened up. This time he knew exactly who was speaking. “Jana,” he said, turning to look at the newcomer and forcing a smile onto his face. “Always a pleasure. Does Lady Alyona know you’re down here, mingling with the common filth?”
“I’m on my own time, so I can go where I please. Not that I need to explain myself to the likes of you.”
“And this is why I do so enjoy our little chats,” said Alec, glancing at Ona from the corner of his eye. She was watching them intently, especially Jana. “Your kindness fills my heart with the warmth I need to get through these cold nights.”
“Save it for the barmaids and whores, drunkard,” said Jana. “I just came over to tell you that we never got the blankets and serving tray back from the trolly. Don’t forget or I’ll have Mr. Beaty add them to your Imperial debt." Alec smiled and raised his mug in her direction. She sniffed and lifted her nose into the air. “Anyway, sorry to interrupt what I’m certain must have been a riveting conversation you were having with yourself. I’ll let you get back to it now." She turned and strode away, her hips swaying tantalizingly. He watched her go, thinking it was a shame such a cold woman would be blessed with such a gorgeous body.
“You said there could be some unregistered mages around,” said Ona, breaking him out of his thoughts.
“Huh?” he asked.
“Earlier, you mentioned unregistereds.”
“Yeah, uhh… I guess I did. Why?”
“You think she could be one?”
Alec just about choked. “Who? Jana? No way. Why do you ask?”
Ona shook her head. “I just get the feeling that she can see me sometimes. But if she can, she’s an amazing actress. I can never catch her looking directly at me, even when I get right up in her face.”
Alec shook his head. “It wouldn’t make sense. A lot of lords and ladies have Mages in their service. Why hide it if she is? She’d get a lot better pay, at the very least.”
Ona shook her head again. “Never mind. I’m just being silly." She looked around the busy bar, her smile from earlier having faded somewhat. “What do you see when you look around?” she asked.
“Huh?” he said, surprised by the sudden shift in her mood. He watched the room for a few moments. It was just the same rowdy crowd as usual. “A bunch of drunks?”
She smiled, but it was a sad smile, almost like she felt sorry for him. “I see a room full of life." She sighed, then chuckled. “You know, my father owns a dozen vineyards but I never even had the chance to learn what alcohol tastes like?”
“Consider yourself lucky,” he said, swirling his beer. “It’s the Liar’s brew, that’s what the catechisms say at least.”
She smiled again, a bit more genuinely. “I think I’m going to head out now. Have a good night, Mage Alec.”
“Hey,” he said as she started drifting away. He realized he didn’t want her to go. “How’d you die?”
She turned back. “Does it matter? It happened and nothing can change that. Why are you stuck here?”
“Does it matter?” he replied. “It happened and nothing can change it." He raised his mug to take a drink. When he took it down again she was gone. He frowned. She had looked so sad there at the end that his heart ached for her. He finished his beer in silence.
The bar was nearly empty by the time Alec finally got up to leave. He stumbled a bit and steadied himself on the table. He had finished off three more mugs since Ona left, but no matter how much he drank he hadn’t been able to get her sad little smile out of his mind. There was a depth to her pain that she was hiding beneath her cheerful facade, and it bothered him deeply. Someone so young shouldn’t be so sad. He wanted to make sure she was alright. A young girl like that shouldn’t be wandering around a strange town in the middle of the night. It wasn’t safe.
“My shift’s over, hero,” the barmaid from earlier that evening said, sauntering over with a smile. “Want to help me untie my apron? The knot is always so tight at the end of the night.”
Alec grinned, he had almost forgotten about her. He reached out to take her up on the offer but Ona’s face flashed through his mind again. Damnit, he thought. I need to find her. She’s just a kid. “Sorry, darling,” he said, hating himself. “I need to find someone. Make sure she’s safe.”
“Make sure she’s safe?” said the barmaid, putting her hands on her hips. “Who? That stuffed-up maid?”
“No,” said Alec, rubbing his temples. His head was pounding as if all the heralds in paradise were beating their drums. “No, the other girl.”
“What other girl?”
He stepped around her and began stumbling towards the door. “The dead one.”
The barmaid stood where she was and called after him, “Well if she’s already dead, can’t it wait ‘til morning?”
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Alec woke up wishing he was dead. The drums the heralds had been playing in his head the night before had turned into a full-on symphony of horns and cymbals. His mouth was as dry as the deserts of Neru where he had first been posted. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, working the worst of the stickiness from his lips before moaning and gingerly testing his limbs, stretching and working the kinks out of each of them in turn. His left shoulder was throbbing painfully and a dim memory of a chair coming into contact with it wormed its way to the surface of his very foggy mind. Who had he been fighting with? Oh yeah, that traitorous idiot Boris. Alec hoped he had given him worse than he had received. Given his current state, he desperately hoped he had. The thought of that goat-loving moron besting him was just too humiliating.
His stomach roiled and he barely had enough time to lean over before he vomited up a week’s pay’s worth of beer all over the ground. His ribs erupted in pain as his stomach convulsed and he remembered how Boris had kicked him in the side. He really hoped he had won that fight. He groaned again and shut his eyes tight against the throbbing of his skull. Bile burned his parched throat and his mouth tasted like vomit. He wondered – not for the first time and certainly not for the last – if spending the night drinking was worth it.
He rolled over onto his back and felt the familiar pressure of another body against his. A smile worked its way to his lips as he remembered the barmaid he had gotten into the fight with Boris over. He shivered against the cold air and realized that they were outside, most likely in the alley behind the bar. Well, it wouldn’t be the first time he hadn’t made it back to the trolley shack. He just hoped the barmaid wouldn’t get in trouble if they got caught. He’d hate to be the reason for her losing her job.
That thought sobered him up a bit and he gently nudged her with his elbow. “Hey babe, better wake up,” he mumbled, suddenly realizing he had no clue what her name was. He felt a little bad about that. The barmaid didn’t budge so he nudged her again. “C’m on, honey,” he said. “We better get movin’ before someone finds us out here." He began pushing himself up and realized that he was holding something small and cylindrical in his right hand. It felt wet and sticky. He forced his eyes open, hoping that whatever it was it wasn’t going to be too embarrassing.
It was still dark out, that was good, at least. It meant their chances of being discovered were lower. It was foggy, too. Of course, that could have just been his eyes, they were sticky with goop. He blinked a few times to clear them and saw that it was indeed foggy out, and the first gray hints of sunrise were beginning to show. It was still too dark to see clearly so he set down whatever it was he had been holding and fished a runestone from his pocket, the one with id etched on the surface, and fed it a bit of his essence. It felt like someone had run a thread into the back of his hand and was slowly drawing it through and into the rune. He shuddered but kept pushing. It was uncomfortable, took a lot of concentration, and drained him more quickly than it would a mereologist, but he was better at it than most other twins. It was one of the few achievements in his life he was actually proud of.
After a few moments the stone began to glow softly and the first thing he saw was his knife lying on the ground where he had dropped it when he pulled the runestone from his pocket. The next thing he noticed was all the blood. It was everywhere, mixing with his vomit and running down the cracks in the cobblestones of the alleyway. He looked at his hands in disbelieving horror and saw that they were covered in blood too, still wet but getting stickier by the moment. He instinctively pushed away from the bloody knife and bumped into the body behind him. His blood turned to ice.
No, he thought. No - no - no - no - no - no - no. He said it to himself over and over again, not wanting to turn and look but knowing he had to. Slowly, fighting the instinct to flee, he turned and looked at the body. It was not the barmaid, as he had feared, but Boris, and he was clearly dead. He felt a moment of relief – no one would miss Boris, at least. Then the implications hit him like a pile of bricks; everyone had seen the two of them fighting last night and no one would believe that he hadn’t killed Boris in an act of drunken rage. He wasn’t even certain if that wasn’t exactly what he had done.
“Alec!” Ona’s voice called from above. It sounded like she was somewhere near the rooftop. “Why are you still up? The bar closed ages ago.”
He whipped around and looked up at her. She was floating down towards him with a smile on her face. He quickly extinguished the runestone – not that it would do any good since shades had perfect night vision. “Ona… I….” He had nothing to say.
Her expression changed as she got closer, and his heart sank. “Alec…?” she said, her voice wavering. “What happened?” Her eyes went wide as she took in the scene and she stopped, hovering about as high as his head would have been had he been standing.
“I don’t…” his brain wasn’t working. “I don’t…”
Her eyes locked onto his hands — his blood-stained hands — then she saw the knife and recoiled, hugging herself. “You didn’t…” she floated further back and even higher. “You couldn’t… Tell me you didn’t." Her voice was pleading. “It was self-defense, right? He attacked you again...”
He desperately wanted to tell her yes, but everything from the moment he left the bar last night was a blank. “I — I don’t know…”
Even from a distance he could see the tears forming in her eyes. The soft glow that came from somewhere inside of her made them shimmer beautifully. It was the worst sight he had ever seen. She wiped her eyes and turned away.
“Wait!” he called. Leaning forward and reaching out to her.
She stopped and turned back, a single tear rolling down her cheek. She looked at him for a moment, then disappeared, using the Bond to return to her sister in an instant. Alec sank back to the ground, not even caring that his own vomit was soaking into his pants. He knew he should run, but he wouldn’t. What was the point? No matter where he went, the look of pain and betrayal in Ona’s eyes would follow him forever.
End of Chapter Nineteen