Page 118 of Anathema

Panic flared inside of me. “Dolion! I don’t think he’s breathing!” A shift in my periphery drew my eyes to the shadows frantically weaving in and out of the walls. Deimosi. I snapped my focus back to Zevander.

The older mage scrambled to his feet and shuffled across the room toward us. By the time he reached my side, Zevander gasped a breath that left a concave dip in his mask. He turned to his side, away from me, and unfastened the covering.

I could only just make out what looked like black veins across the part of his cheek I could see. The half of his profile that he’d tried to hide.

He coughed and wheezed, until, at last, he seemed to breathe easy. “Now, that is wind’s vengeance.”

Relieved, I sat back on my heels and huffed. “I thought … for a second …” I stared down at my palm to find the Aeryz glyph glowing a bright silvery blue. “What is this?”

He slipped his mask back over his face and his gaze fell to the glyph on my palm.

“Interesting. I’ve never seen Aeryz as a major glyph before.” Dolion bent forward, reaching out for my hand. “May I?”

I held it up to him, catching a glimpse of Zevander staring back at me, before he shifted his attention toward the mage. “A Corvikae glyph?” I asked.

“Perhaps. It’s always been a minor glyph, a very simple command. But it seems it certainly packed a punch this time.”

“So, the major glyphs glow that way?” I examined the way the silvery blue illuminated the shape of the glyph.

“They are your most powerful, yes.” Dolion released my hand, and the glow faded, leaving only the faint white lines in my palm. “I must record this in the annals. Excuse me.”

The mage jogged back toward the books that lay in a pile on the floor, and I turned my attention back to Zevander. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to … whatever that was.”

“Never apologize for incapacitating your enemy.”

“You’re not my enemy, though.”

“Aren’t I?”

“I mean, you are rude, sometimes. And grouchy. And extremely impatient.” I smiled when he frowned back at me. “But you’re a good teacher. I’ll give you that.”

“Yes, well, we’ll stop for the evening.” He groaned as he pushed to his feet and reached out a hand to help me to mine.

When I stood before him, he continued to hold my hand, staring down at it.

I glanced down to our clasped hands and, for the first time, noticed the thick scars beneath the bands that circled his wrists. Horrific scars, as though something had seared itself into his flesh. “What are they?”

Instead of answering, he slipped his hand from mine, making me immediately regret the inquiry.

“I shouldn’t have asked. I’m sorry.”

“I’ll see you first thing in the morning.” Ignoring my comment, he strode off, back toward Dolion. After a few words exchanged that I couldn’t hear from where I stood, he glanced back at me and exited the room.

Exhaling a sigh, I made my way over to Dolion and helped him gather his books and scrolls. “You mentioned the Solassions earlier.”

“Did I? Oh! Yes, when they imprisoned Zevander.” He hobbled over to the pile of bones that I’d thrown at Zevander earlier, examining each one as he gathered them in his robe.

“For what?” I swiped up a couple of them, curious as to why he’d keep them, but much more interested in Zevander’s story to ask.

“All followers of Cadavros and those who’d struck bargains with him were swiftly executed by King Sagaerin. However, due to her bloodline, Lady Rydainn had always had a good relationship with the king, and as such, he spared Zevander’s and his father’s life, by imprisoning them instead.” He held up a connected vertebrae, brushing his thumb over a marking etched into the bone, and frantically grabbed another. “But Lord Rydainn had many enemies. The most notable being the captain of the Solassion Army, who demanded our king hand both father and son over to them. And, well, King Sagaerin didn’t want any bad blood, so he did as they asked.”

“And the Solassions let Zevander go?”

“Not exactly. For reasons that don’t entirely make sense to me, King Sagaerin himself bought Zevander and three other Solassion prisoners. I believe you met Ravezio earlier. There’s also Torryn and Kazhimyr. He had them trained to be his personal assassins.”

After all the bones were gathered, I pushed to my feet, carrying about a half-dozen in the crook of my arm. “So, you’re saying the king imprisoned him and his father, then handed them over to the Solassions, who then sold Zevander back to the king?”

Carrying the bones in his robe, Dolion walked alongside me as we exited the training room for the corridor. “Yes. The Solassions are a brutal lot. They executed his father in front of him, as I understand, and sent young Zevander to work the mines.”

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