A Spell of Seven

Chapter 9

 The cell was dank and dismal. Alexander's heightened sight and smell took in the mageling chained with glowing shackles to the wall, bleeding, cloaked in various spells to keep infection away. Alexander wanted him alive yet.

"My eyelids are swollen shut," said the mageling with a load of false bravado. "So I can't see you, and you've chained my magic, so I can't sense you. If you're John, you're awesome, because you'll be bringing food and I'm starving. If you're Hammurabi, I'd appreciate it if you would pour the slop bucket over yourself and go away."

"You are disrespectful." Alexander made sure his voice could be clearly heard.

"Who're you?" Jax snarled. He yanked on his chains. "Another tormenter, probably," he answered his own question.

"I am Alexander." Alexander smirked at the abruptly terrified expression on the boy's face.

"Oh," was all the mage said. There was a long pause. "What do you want?"

"What do I want? I want your cooperation. You're going to die for my cause, at some point." He heard the mageling's nervous intake of breath. "I need you for your magic. I don't need your brother as pressingly. He's a fire mage, and I have made use of one of those already. You have also so kindly informed Hammurabi that he cannot do dark magic, so he may cause my designs some difficulty if I tried to use him. However, I do want him. There are plenty of other magical tasks around here that need doing. I also want Ahra. You know her as Freya."

The mage caught the inflection in his voice, however tiny. "I can't tell if you hate her guts or if she wronged you but you want her back."

"Both," Alexander said truthfully. "She's my sister. She was transformed by magic because I was."

"Wait up!" the mageling exclaimed. "Freya is your sister? She never told us that!"

"She's ashamed. When she was transformed, she did not understand her strength, and she fled from it. The change was so unexpected that it broke her spirit. I regret that I gave her no warning in advance." That was definitely not true. Alexander did not regret his treatment of Ahra after he'd been made strong. "She betrayed me, but I will deal with her later. Meanwhile, you will cooperate, and I swear I will not harm your brother. I might even be persuaded to move you to more... agreeable conditions."

Alexander watched the wheels turning in the mageling's head. He knew what Jason would say. Alexander did not understand such family loyalty himself, but while he knew that the mage would be reluctant to give up his fight, it would be outweighed by his love for his brother. It made anyone weak, Alexander thought, anyone who had family.

Sure enough, the shadow mage said, "What do you need me to do?"

*          *          *

Freya had managed to find them a room for the night in a small hotel that wouldn't have cost much and didn't ask questions when Freya offered to pay the manager in an 'antique' dagger rather than money. The manager was in fact quite thrilled, as a collector of unusual items. Falan had to wonder how Freya had found such an ideal setup.

"If this keeps up, I'll run out of weapons before we even reach the Brotherhood," Freya muttered as she turned the handle to the room. It contained two beds in a very traditional hotel setting.

"Not possible," Falan said. "You must have a hundred knives on you."

"Eight, now," Freya corrected.

She'd taken one from her baldric, and five were left there. Falan supposed the rest were hidden beneath her armor. Despite escaping the Order's headquarters without her pack, she had not come unarmed, or unarmored.