The third Weapon hesitated, and when Amilton cast his gaze his way, he stopped his advance altogether.
“Fools.” Two voices in unison, issued from Amilton’s mouth. One of his own biting tenor, the other was lighter and melodious.
Amilton’s blue eyes rested on King Zachary. With a flick of his hand, Zachary fell hard to his knees. Captain Mapstone started forward to aid him, but he shook his head. “Stay put, Laren,” he said. Of Amilton he asked, “What has happened to you, brother?”
Amilton held his hands up before him, letting the magic weave between his fingers. “We have learned much,” he said with the strange double voice. “Together we combine our strengths.”
We? Stevic wondered. Our?
Zachary attempted to stand, but Amilton’s hand swept down, and the king fell to his knees again.
“You must observe proper obeisance,” Amilton said.
“You are not a king,” Zachary replied.
The Amilton of old would have exploded with fury, but now he simply gazed down at his brother with cold, alien eyes. “You may capitulate now and save yourself pain. Or you may make life not worth living for you and your minions.” He turned his attention to Captain Mapstone. Stretching out his hand, he clenched it into a fist.
Captain Mapstone’s eyes bulged, and she clasped her throat, gasping for air. Her breaths were raspy and ineffective. She sank to her knees.
“Stop!” Zachary said.
Amilton dropped his hand, and the captain fell the rest of the way to the floor, panting and gagging. Stevic thrust Lady Estora into Sevano’s arms and stepped over to her, his heart hammering against his chest.
“Are you all right?” he whispered.
She was white around the lips, but she looked up at him with wide hazel eyes. A strand of red hair had escaped her braid and fallen across her pale face. For the first time since he had met her, she looked truly frightened. She opened her mouth to speak, but could only choke. He helped her to sit up.
“Does this mean you capitulate?” Amilton asked.
“Your argument is with me,” Zachary said. “Leave my people out of it.”
Amilton’s eyebrows bobbed up in mock surprise. “We think not, not after your spies and messengers have hurt us. One nearly destroyed us. They must all be punished, but it is up to you how severely.”
King Zachary’s gaze roved over the worried nobles, his injured Weapons, Captain Mapstone, and the woman who assumed the role of the Mirwellian officer. His brown eyes even settled on Stevic and held him for a fleeting moment. It was enough time for Stevic to sense the grave consideration in the king’s eyes and to mark how his features were carved by grief.
It was enough to break Stevic down to despair, but the king held himself with such unbending dignity, though he was forced to his knees at the tyrant’s feet like a common dog, that Stevic felt strangely uplifted.
“I have loved this land from birth,” King Zachary said. His voice was calm and firm. “The rugged seacoast, the heart of the Green Cloak, and the mountains. The land shapes the people, and the descendants of the Sacor Clans are strong.” He looked up at his brother. “You should know that. Whatever evil you are in league with will not take Sacoridia so easily.”
King Zachary turned his gaze back to his people. Now his expression was fierce. “The people who defend me and stand with me serve Sacoridia first—always first. We serve out of love. Therefore, for the sake of Sacoridia, though it means I may sacrifice myself and a few others, I dare not capitulate.”
“Well said, Sire,” the Mirwellian officer said.
Others murmured their agreement and Stevic found himself adding his voice to theirs. There was no better man to be king, he thought, than this man who knelt humbly when all others should be on their knees before him.
“And we,” Amilton said, “are not displeased.”
One by one, lamps along the west wall blinked out, throwing the room into half shadows. Stevic wondered what new, terrible torment was about to come upon them, but Amilton appeared just as surprised as everyone else. His eyes searched the wall as if he were trying to see something. For once, he was not the source of strange happenings.
Captain Mapstone grabbed handfuls of Stevic’s cloak and drew him close to her. She tried to speak, but could only choke and wheeze. Finally, she mouthed one word: Karigan.
Stevic’s heart leaped and he looked wildly about. He saw no one, but more lamps blinked out. And King Zachary vanished.
Karigan placed her hand on the king’s shoulder, and he started at the unexpected touch.
“Shhh,” she whispered to him.
Karigan absorbed him into the gray world, and he became a filmy ghost in her vision. She bent and whispered into his ear, “You are invisible.”
His shoulder flexed and jerked beneath her hand. He looked up at her . . . through her . . . with startled eyes. “Karigan! I cannot see you.”
“Shhh.”
He staggered to his feet and nearly broke contact with her to charge at his brother, but she grabbed his arm. “No. We must be touching, or the spell will break. And you will not stop him by simply leaping on him.”
Indeed, Amilton—or should she say Amilton-Shawdell? —had become more than he seemed. With the spell of fading upon her, she could see the transparent form of the Eletian overlapping Amilton. She was not sure if he could see her, but he did not seem to. When she had last disappeared in his presence, he had vanished from her own sight, but now it was not so.