Will shook his head. “Not that I recall, though he did spot Aislinn’s blessing when he first met me.” The blessing was a mostly invisible mark that his grandmother had put on him the previous year. It was meant to facilitate his dealings with the fae, but Lognion had been the only human to notice it thus far.
Aislinn turned to her apprentice. “Do you know if your father understands the fae, or the ancient accords?”
Selene looked down. “No, Mistress. His only words to me on the matter were to avoid them. The little I learned before being taken under your wing was from my studies at Wurthaven. I wouldn’t underestimate his knowledge, though.”
“The Arkeshi still teach their disciples regarding the fae and the accord,” supplied Arrogan. “So, the assassin might have been capable of dealing with Tailtiu if she was of a mind to do so.”
Arkeshi, was that what Lognion called Darla? Will couldn’t remember for certain. “The Arkeshi, what are they?”
He could see that Selene was dying to speak, but Aislinn continued to ignore her and answered him instead, “An old cult from Faresh. Fanatical assassins who serve the Great Khan. Although their religious beliefs are ridiculous, their practical skills are some of the best to be found among humans in this day and age.”
“I don’t think it was Darla, though,” Will stated, feeling a certain amount of conviction. “My misunderstanding, her actions, all of it—I really think she’s sincerely acting as Laina’s bodyguard.”
Aislinn arched her brow. “And a bodyguard wouldn’t attempt to remove a dangerous fae shadowing her master?”
He shrugged. “I suppose it’s possible, but she’s working alone. The king’s Driven seem more likely. What are they capable of?”
The ring remained silent, and his grandmother turned to Selene. “Speak, apprentice. You know your father’s servants. What are these men of his like?”
“Utterly devoted,” answered Selene. “They’re recruited from the army and trained for absolute loyalty. They act as a sort of secret police, personal enforcers, and as an elite guard for the king. None of them come from the nobility, but Father gives them up to as many as four elementals, depending on their service. Unlike most, he makes certain they are trained for combat, physical and magical.”
“In your opinion, could they kill or capture one of the fae?”
Selene looked thoughtful. “If they were prepared for the task, there’s little they couldn’t accomplish.”
“You’re all ignoring the creature that appeared in the middle of it all,” said Will. “It was after Laina. It seems obvious that she hired Darla to protect her from whatever it was. The king was probably hunting it too.”
Selene straightened. “Then he should have warned the baron.”
“Maybe he did,” agreed Will. “Maybe that’s why she had an Arkeshi for a guard, or maybe he decided to use her as bait without telling her.” He thought about it for a moment. “No, that doesn’t make sense, either. If he warned her then why would he have been angry about Darla?”
“The sick bastard probably just wanted a reason to torture you,” offered Arrogan.
“You might be right about that,” said Will. “But he had to confirm Darla’s identity, so I’m sure he didn’t know for certain who she was.”
After a few more minutes of rehashing what little they knew, Aislinn made a suggestion. “I’d like to speak to the ring alone, William. Will you give your consent?”
“Why?”
“You and Selene are too inexperienced to provide much more input here. It will go faster if he and I speak directly. At the same time, some of the subjects we will cover are too far beyond your experience and would create questions and distractions you cannot afford at this time.”
Shut up, the adults want to talk, he thought to himself. A glance in Selene’s direction confirmed that she was equally annoyed by the idea. “I don’t mind, but—”
As soon as he had agreed, a source-link shot out from Aislinn and connected to both him and Selene. Over the past year he had come to take for granted the fact that no one he encountered had the strength and discipline to do what Arrogan had done to him routinely while he was apprenticed. His grandmother disabused him of the notion that he might be able to resist her with blinding speed. The connection was made, and his body put into a soft paralysis, in almost the same instant.
He thought of it as a ‘soft’ paralysis because his body first went weak, allowing him to sink to the floor before he completely lost all voluntary movement. From the corner of his eye he could see Selene sagging to the floor as well, but then his senses vanished and he was left deaf, blind, and dumb. Or as Grandfather would say, deaf and blind were added to my usual qualities, he thought dryly.
His limnthal had to remain active for the ring to speak, but Will was no longer able to connect to his turyn, so he had no idea if that was the case. He was sealed in a black void and simply had to trust that his grandmother knew what she was doing.
Considering her hostile attitude when she arrived, he didn’t feel inclined to trust her, and shivers of fear began to disturb the tiny void his consciousness was trapped within. It grew stronger, and after an unknown eternity he wanted to scream, but of course he couldn’t. In desperation, he tried to escape in the only way he knew how. Inverting his instincts, he focused and tried to pull himself out, imagining Aislinn in the room just a few feet away.
He had failed the last time he tried, but sensory deprivation—or perhaps it was the fear—gave him the extra push he needed. With an odd popping sensation, his perspective left the senseless void, and he found himself floating in the air just behind Aislinn. She was holding his hand in hers, the limnthal glowing above it.
“You know what that thing must be,” she said.
“They’re supposed to be gone, but you’re probably right,” answered Arrogan’s disembodied voice. “Either a few escaped or Grim Talek recreated them.”
“We should have destroyed the lich when we had the chance,” she responded, anger tainting her voice. “But you—”
“We weren’t strong enough to risk it.”
“The hell we weren’t!”
“Not safely. I couldn’t bear the thought of you—”
“You were weak, and now your attempt to protect me back then has left the current generation vulnerable.”
Arrogan’s voice was bitter as he replied, “I was human! We both were, in case you’ve forgotten what that’s like. I’m starting to think I’m lucky to be a piece of jewelry, rather than an emotionless monster like you’ve become.”