He passed under stone archways, down long and short hallways, turning left, then right until he neared the throne room. He wanted to become invisible, but using magic like that drained him. He needed to save all of his powers for what might happen.
Only one open archway remained to take him into the throne room. The room where the royalty dined, partied, and generally did 'blue blood' things. Feminine laughter, high and false mixed with the clinking of wine glasses, the metal tap of a fork on a plate, and the voices of the men. He actually rolled his eyes at the sounds; they threatened to take him back in time. The royal males commonly raised the pitch of their voices, which for the most part were naturally deep, in order to not sound like the prolitare. Telal didn't understand it when he was a kid, and he still didn't.
He crept closer to the opening and stopped, preparing himself for his entrance. He picked up on random pieces of conversation. From discussing the delicious food, to buying a new dress, and getting a new slave. His gut clenched. A slave?
Suddenly a booming voice rang out, echoing out from the room and down the hall. “Krishnoe!”
At the command, immediate silence stuttered over the room, words stopping in mid-pronunciation and echoing off the walls like a bell. Silence, the deep voice had said. Telal recognized the voice, but it had changed, grown deeper with age, harder. It was not his father's voice.
“We have a visitor. Come forth and show yourself...brother.”
Resolution came over him. Back straight, Telal stepped into the throne room, ready to face his brother for the first time in a thousand years. At least a hundred eyes stared back at him, but only one pair was dark as a moonless night.
“Hello, brother.”
CHAPTER 16
He left without me.
Lily slammed the taxi door behind her, marched up to Rosa's shop, and banged on it with a fist until she heard movement inside. Rosa peered through the small square window in the door then threw it open.
“What are you doing here? It's late, Lily.”
Lily brushed past her. “I need some of your magic skills. Telal went into the rift without me.”
“So?”
Lilly turned on her friend. “So? He might need help. He hasn't been back there since he left, and I'm pretty sure everyone down there thinks he betrayed them. He'll need help.”
Rosa pushed her frizzy dark hair out of her face with a sigh. The right side of her face had a red mark from where she'd been sleeping on it. “What do you expect me to do? I'm not a demon that can go transporting you around, you know.”
“I know that. But you can make a spell and send me there.”
Rosa made a choking sound, half laughing, and half snorting. “No way. I don't even know if I could do something like that, but if I did then it'd completely wear me down for God knows how long. No way, Lily. Just wait for him to get back. I'm going back to bed.” She crossed her arms like she was cold and ambled towards the back of the shop.
“Rosa, I know you can do this.”
“Blah, blah, blah. I'm not doing anything,” she said with a yawn.
Lily followed her. “Are you saying you're too weak to do a spell like this?”
That stopped her in her tracks. She slowly turned around, her eyes narrowed, lips pulled taut. “Don't you dare antagonize me, Lily Bellum.”
Lily gave her an innocent look. “Hey, if you can't do it then that's not my problem. You're the weakling.”
Her lips twisted as she ground her jaw side to side. “You are such a bitch,” she said finally. Lily only shrugged. Rosa's shoulders sagged. “Fine, I'll do it.”
Lily clapped her hands. “Now that's the spirit. Let's get started. I don't know how long he's been gone.”
Rosa turned on the lights and grabbed her spell book off the shelf. “Hypothetically, let's say I can get you to a rift. The nearest one crosses from Tennessee up to Wyoming.”
“No, not that one. I need the one in upstate New York.”
Rosa glared at her. “And why is that?”
“That's the one Telal used. Must be for a good reason or he wouldn't choose that one, right?”
Rosa fished through the pages of her book until she found the right one then started gathering ingredients and mashing them with a pestle. After a few minutes, Rosa shook her head. “And how do you plan to get by the Atal Warriors?”
Shit. She hadn't thought about that. Those bastards were stationed at intervals along every rift in the world. No getting past them. At least, for most people.
Rosa saw the look on her face and laughed. “You hadn't even thought that far ahead, have you? What about weapons? You have no idea what the shahoulin demons are like under the rift. They all might not be as nice as Telal.”
“I'd hardly call him nice,” she said. Though his touch had been a whole lot more than nice.
“Whatever. You know what I mean.”
“I'll borrow two of your daggers.”
“You do know I don't enchant my own weapons, right? I can't do harm—”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Give me the good old fashioned ones.”
Rosa told her where she kept them and Lily went to fetch them. Her heart beat like a big drum in her chest, not quite a frantic rhythm but one that proved just how nervous she really was. She wasn't stupid. She understood the risk she took by going into the rift alone, without any guidance. But for him, she'd take it.
She came back and Rosa started working on another set of herbs.
“How long is this going to take?”
Rosa sent her a scathing look that had Lily throwing up her hands in the universal sign for 'don't hurt me'.
“The spell won't take you to New York. If I'm lucky this will take you to the closest point of the rift in Tennessee. That's if this even works. I've never tried to port someone over long distances. Hell, even a short distance.”
Lily clapped her on the back. “See Rosa, I'm just helping you to broaden your spell crafting abilities.”
Rosa sent her another glare that had her pulling her hand off her back like it burned.
“Here's the first one,” she said dropping a potion and a piece of paper with text written on it. “Drink it then read the spell. The quicker the better.” Lily eyeballed the drink which was nothing more than a shot glass full of dark red liquid.
“That isn't blood, right?” Her taste buds curled at the thought.
Rosa sighed. “No, it's not. Here's the second one. This should, maybe, take you into the rift. I made enough for you to get back out, too. So don't lose it or this spell.” She slid over another piece of paper, no bigger than a Post-It note with her cursive scrawl on it.
Lily read both spells out loud to make sure she said it right. The last thing she needed was to summon another demon by accident.
“That's correct. So, how do you plan to get around the Atal Warriors?” asked Rosa, one brow cocked in question.
Lily nibbled her lip. “I'm just going to be really fast.”
Rosa laugh, the sound filled with sarcasm. “That's your great plan? ‘Be really fast.' Well bambina, I wish you all the best. You have your protection anklet on?”
Lily nodded.
“Good, get out of here and if you actually manage to do all this, then give me a call. I'd like to hear about it.”
Lily grabbed her stuff and put it in her brown shoulder satchel. At the last second, before she turned to leave she said, “Hey Rosa, when do I die?” Rosa's vision of her death had been something she wanted to ask her about and avoid forever. But if this happened tonight, with the choice she was about to make, then she wanted to know.