Page 109 of Somewhere down the Ley Line
“We ah… we came to see…” Caelian began, looking worriedly from Felix to the people following behind him. “Forgive me, but what is going on?”
Isolde pressed her lips together to stop herself from bursting into laughter. There was not much to be laughing about, but the helpless, bewildered look on Caelian’s face was so at odds with everything that had transpired that the absurdity of it almost overtook her. Instead, though, she swallowed it down, sucked in a deep breath and pushed past Felix down the stairs. The others fell in hurriedly behind her.
She halted a few steps above the mages and collected herself as imperiously as she could. “The mage Kaeloth tried to sacrifice me in order to keep the Arcaenum bound and restrained. His plan failed. Instead, the Arcaenum is free,” she said matter-of-factly. She kept her voice quiet, but it carried through the early morning air effortlessly. “Kaeloth lives, but magic will serve him no longer.” Caelian and his colleague looked dumbstruck, staring up at her.
And then it hit her, as if the thought fell from the sky straight into her head. She knew without a shred of doubt what came next. What she was meant to do. What she had been meant to do all this time, ever since the Arcaenum singled her out on midsummer night.
“I intend to stay here, to restore the order of leytouched and rebuild the Nexus.” Her voice did not shake; her mind did not waver.
“You and any of your people who remain here are free to go,” she continued. “I have no wish for more violence and bloodshed. However,” and at this she drew herself up to her full height, magic swirling around her menacingly, “I won’t tolerate any form of aggression toward me or my allies. The Nexus will be a place of peace, a sanctuary. A place of learning and of tolerance. If you can respect this, you are most welcome to stay. I suspect we will need all the help we can get.”
Her magic sparkled in the dawn light. Nobody spoke.
Finally, Caelian swallowed, darting a glance at Felix. He hesitated, then lowered his head in a little bow.
“I will have to speak to my colleagues…” He grimaced. “But as for myself, I would like to… to contribute. To what you plan to build here. In some capacity.”
At that, a small smile crept onto her face. The tension in the air slowly dissipated as the climbing sun bathed everything in gold.
“Now then,” Isolde said, as the exhaustion finally seeped into her bones in earnest, “if you will excuse us, we are all in desperate need of some sleep.”
38
Chosen
Felix slipped away from the others on their quiet walk through the Nexus, down the stairs and back to the mages’ camp. He came upon a ledge that looked out over the mountains and sat down. He didn’t know how long he sat there, only that the sky changed from golden to orange to blue and his hands had gone stiff from resting on the cold stone.
She found him, of course. He didn’t react when he heard her footsteps approach, and she hesitated only for a split second. Then she joined him on the ledge, close enough that their shoulders brushed, and he felt her warmth in the cool morning air.
He couldn’t look at her. Now that the adrenaline had worn off and the overwhelming rush of emotions had subsided, he couldn’t feel anything but disgust with himself.
She was quiet for a while, leaning against him, looking at the sky. Her presence, warm and alive andhere,was comforting and unbearable all at once. Finally, she spoke, her voice small. “Would you really have done it?”
Felix didn’t pretend not to understand. He stared straight ahead and let out a long sigh.
“I don’t know.”
He truly didn’t, and he’d carry the weight of that unknown, of thewhat if,for the rest of his life. Part of him wished he could just lie to her and tell her no, of course not, he’d been bluffing. But lying to her now was almost as much of an abomination as holding a dagger to her throat had been.
Isolde wrapped both hands around his arm and leaned her head against his shoulder. “It would have been mercy.”
“No,” he said roughly. “It would have been failure. Horrific. I should’ve thought of a way to save you, to get you out of there. Not… that.” He finally turned to look at her. Her eyes were tired and red, but there was no anger there, no blame. It only made things worse. If only she’d yell at him, call him names, tell him to go away forever. That at least, he’d understand. “I should have protected you,” he whispered.
She reached up and touched the side of his face. “You did.”
He shook his head and stared at his hands. They were quiet for a long moment, until Isolde spoke again.
“If the Wardens of the past had been willing to do what you were…” she said, then trailed off, searching for words. “If they had been willing to make that sacrifice, to choose mercy… maybe we wouldn’t be here now. Maybe there wouldn’t be so many forgotten names on those slabs.”
She was being kind, and he didn’t deserve her kindness. Felix reached out and drew her into a hug. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “I don’t know how to even begin making this right.”
Isolde let out a small laugh. “You don’t have to.”
He did though. He did, and he would.
***
Felix started later that same day by dragging Kaeloth unceremoniously into the room he had picked for the occasion. It was sparsely furnished with a simple tableand two chairs, and only one entrance. He shoved the mage against the far wall, then closed the door firmly behind them.
