He could have been discussing the weather, for all the emotion in his voice. And yet, that device had been the only way they’d had of knowing when I was in my father’s presence, so it was a good bet there was a lot of background anger and frustration happening right now.
“Yes,” Azriel replied evenly. “And if you think to rectify the situation in any way, be prepared for the consequences. She is Mijai now. Attack one, and you attack all.”
That certainly explained the attitude of the reaper bearing the two swords. It wasn’t just that I’d made Azriel fail, it’s that I’d put them all in a bad light.
“We have no need to attack either of you,” Yeska replied, a hint of amusement in his tones. “She will comply when the lives of her friends are at stake.”
“No, she won’t,” I spat back. “Because if you harm one hair on the head of anyone I care about, I promise you, the remaining keys will be broken into little pieces and placed where absolutely no one —”
“Do not threaten us.” His fury whipped around us, snatching my breath and stinging my skin.
Amaya reacted instantly, her fire almost sun-bright. Just for a second, I caught a shimmer of energy behind the shield. The Raziq, and more than one of them.
Kill can, Amaya said.
I glanced at her sharply. How? Valdis can’t break the shield, and she’s stronger.
Am smarter, Amaya replied. Use floor.
I glanced down. Fuck, she was right. The floor wasn’t shielded. None of the cavern floors had been shielded, when I thought about it.
They’d see you coming. And see me throw her.
Flame out can.
Yeah, but there was still the whole throwing problem. Amaya could move under her own steam, but I suspected it would be easier for her to cut through the stone if she had some momentum behind her.
Under different circumstances, it would be a good plan, Azriel said. But it will achieve little in this instance, and only amplify the danger to your friends.
Then we need to nullify that first.
There is no reasoning with the Raziq. As with all Aedh, it is only their plans – their desires – that matter.
Then maybe that’s the tack we need to take. To the Raziq, I said, “Look, I don’t give a frig who actually gets the keys. I just want to get back to normal life again.”
That statement has a scarily fierce ring of truth about it, Azriel said.
I ignored him and continued on, “So, really, it behooves you to actually do what you can to help me rather than offering a long and tedious line of threats to both my near and dear.”
“We cannot help find the keys, because we have no idea where they are hidden.”
“No, but you can help me find the bastard who keeps stealing them from me.”
“That is not possible. We do not interact with the human world.”
Unless it was to fuck or torture us, of course, but I bit that remark back. “No, but you interact with the fields, and the sorcerer has to use magic to access the fields and the gates. Therefore, he must have a particular entry point somewhere on the fields.” After all, a door always opened into the same room. I didn’t know much about magic, but it seemed logical a transport portal would do the same. “If you shut that point down, it confines him to Earth, and gives me more time to find him and the key.”
“Why shut it down, when all we have to do is find it, and then wait for him to step through?”
Well, there was that. I hesitated, thinking fast. “Except he has to know that’s a possibility now that he no longer has Lucian to guard and guide him. He may wait until he has both the remaining keys to make his next move. The fact that he hasn’t used the second key even though he’s had it for several days certainly suggests this is a possibility.”
And I mentally crossed my fingers that Azriel was right, that the Raziq and my father couldn’t read my thoughts. That they’d believe this was a very real possibility, and not realize that the only reason our dark sorcerer hadn’t used the key was the fact that he still didn’t know which of the artifacts he’d stolen it was.
“Even so, all we would have to do —”
“No,” I cut in. “You’re not getting it. Our sorcerer was working with an Aedh – someone you not only tortured, but abandoned on Earth. Let me tell you, he wanted revenge, and he wanted it badly. And he was canny enough to ensure that, even if he was killed, you’d never get your mitts on the one thing you truly wanted.”
Dark energy flowed around me, thick and threatening. Amaya’s mental hissing ratcheted up another degree, and my heart began to pound a whole lot faster.