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FINAL SOLUTION
Sels’s feet were like lead weights as he and Sesay joined Arara and Ottont in the sitting room. Even Arara’s excitement about the special Yakan fighting technique that Ottont had showed her couldn’t fully penetrate the fog of grief.
The ancient book that Sesay had found in the archives was open, the corners of the curling pages held down with green swirled granite paperweights. Arara and Ottont were at the far end of the table examining two of the illustrations.
Arara’s ears were perked forward and her tail was wagging so hard it threatened to knock over the drinks sitting on the end-table behind her. While a little more subdued, Ottont’s excitement was still palatable within the set of his ears and tail.
Ottont’s voice twinned, echoing oddly in his senses as it did lately when he and Arara were close but not adjacent. The effect was disconcerting and Sels wasn’t sure how Recka and Sesay dealt with it, but he could tell from Sesay’s expression that now was not the time to ask.
“As you experience in Throne room, no magic user will be a match for him,” Ottont gently hovered his paw above the picture, careful not to touch the ancient parchment. “Not when he has access to power of both Moon and Sun.”
Sels and Sesay took a seat on the couch nearby. Sels reached out and put his arm around Sesay’s shoulder, unable to give up the comfort of her touch.
“How did Elric cast Moon magic, do you know?” Sesay trembled under his arm.
“I just about to explain,” Ottont smiled at Sesay.
Sels almost jumped in surprise at the warmth in the look. He’d thought Ottont didn’t like Kin, the Royal Family especially. But then, Ottont had been with them on the balcony and gotten hit with the strongest Royal Magic that Sels had ever seen, and he didn’t have a sedyu-bonded to protect him from its affects. Until the magic wore off he’d be devoted to them; with the massive blast of power the Queen and Tukura had unleashed who knew when that would be.
“Remember Elric’s staff?” Ottont wagged his tail, gazing at Sesay with puppy-dog eyes.
Sesay nodded. “Yes, the perfect defense against any Sun Magic we would wield against him.”
“The metal core,” he nodded. “But have you not wondered why metal is anathema to Sun?”
Sesay’s eyes grew distant. “There are many theories...”
Sels groaned internally and braced himself for a long discourse on obscure magical theory. To his relief Ottont cut Sesay off with an excited yip.
“Not theory, truth. Metal not destroy Sun magic power, but transform and store.”
Sels nodded. He’d already learned that much from his star-metal. “I’m not sure that answers the question of how he can cast both. It just means that no matter when we hit him he’ll be able to retaliate.”
“I am not done.” Ottont held up a paw, then spread it over the illustrations in the book that they’d been examining. “It is the original purpose of sedyu-bond.”
“The picture?” Sesay sat forward and Sels let his arm drape across the back of the couch instead. Sesay stood and moved around the couch to kneel next to Ottont and Arara.
Arara’s tail wagged harder. “Yes, look, this-” Arara pointed to a Kin posed to do a spell. “The picture is faded and hard to see but when Ottont explained the text to me-”
“Wait, Ottont can read this?” Sesay asked in surprise.
“Yes. Back home, before made to come fight, I was scholar.”
“Anyway, this Kin is casting a fire spell at the Yaka, just like Sels.” Arara continued. “It is a very rare power, which can only be unlocked with a sedyu-bond.”
Sels frowned. “But, the first time I cast a spell like that we were not bonded, remember, with the kwaso?”
“No, but you had the potential for it. Plus, I was there, close by.”
“So Elric had the potential, too, but that would mean-” Sesay’s eyes widened. “He did find an old book in the archive then! Something that revealed the secrets of Royal Magic, which he is using to create this false-sun.”
“Probably, but what can do about it?” Ottont pushed up to his back legs and stalked around the table. “You can’t cast around Elric’s staff,” he pointed to Sesay, “and you can’t cast unless you are around his staff,” he pointed to Sels. “Arara and I are the only choice to kill him.”
“Actually,” Sels reached into his sleeve and pulled out the box with the star-metal. “Don’t be mad,” he told Sesay as he opened it.
The power hit Sels in a rush he hadn’t realized he had been missing. The stone gobbled up all the stray Sun Magic in the room, to the point that even the light globe on the table went out with a wink.
Sesay’s mouth dropped open and she gasped. “Where did you get that?”
“Elric gave it to me, when he was training me.” Sels closed the box and shuddered as the magic left him. “I think he was trying to use it as a bribe, to recruit me over to his side.”
“No, too dangerous,” Sesay shook her head. She’d gone pale and he suddenly wondered if it had even drained the magic from her. “Elric can use that power just as well as you can, probably better. We go with Ottont’s plan. Sels and I will accompany the two of you inside. Once there, we will do our best to provide a distraction while Ottont and Arara take out Elric.”
Ottont wagged his tail and grinned at Sesay. Arara gave Sels a little smile and sent a burst of love through the bond.
“Sesay, you should stay behind. If something happens or Mother doesn’t pull through, we need one of the Royal Family to survive,” Sels protested. Besides, the thought of Sesay getting injured or killed in the fight made him panicky.
“I’m coming with you. He has my Recka.” Sesay’s expression brooked no argument. “Would you stay behind if it was your sedyu?”
Sels shook his head. “No, and I won’t stay behind either. Although, do we have to kill Elric?” Sels’s stomach twisted and he felt light-headed.
“Of course,” Sesay nodded, face hard.
“But, as long as we can take him out before his spell becomes permanent, there isn’t any need for such extreme measures.”
“No, the time for talking is past. He cannot be reasoned with, as you saw, and he is too powerful for us to risk letting him live,” Sesay stood and smoothed her robes. “Let’s all get some sleep for the rest of the day and reconvene at twilight, before false-sunrise.
Sels could only nod, soul-sick. He’d never wanted to hurt anyone again. Tears pricked at his eyes and he kept in a sob only because of Arara pressing up against his side.
*****
SELS CROUCHED BEHIND a rosebush in Elric’s yard, breathing hard. Sesay joined him a moment later, looking like a stranger in a tight-fitting tunic and pants.
The false-sun had barely begun to rise in the east and already the temperature was barely tolerable, even for him. The night let things cool off and rest. If they didn’t stop this soon, the world would cook before a week was out.
Across the garden he could feel Arara’s gasp of relief as she settled into position in the shade of a weeping evergreen. She was panting rapidly and had already drunk half of the water skin strapped around her side. Sels suspected she had the beginnings of heat sickness again. At least her fur was still short. Next to her Ottont, with his thick full coat, looked about ready to keel over; his eyes were glazed, his head low, and his tongue hung so far out it practically brushed the ground as he walked. Arara prodded him to drink the rest of his water, and he perked up a bit, but they needed to get inside soon.
“Are you sure he’s here?” Sesay whispered to him. “I mean, it’s a bit cocky to threaten the Royal Family and then just waltz back home.”
“Yes.” Sels bit back his exasperation.
During the carriage ride, just to be sure, Ottont and Arara had joined together to search the city for Elric and Recka’s life energy. To everyone’s surprise but his, they’d followed their signs straight to Elric’s own manse just as Ottont had said. His father was arrogant to the extreme; a trait Sels struggled with a bit himself, so he knew Elric wouldn’t flee or try to hide.
<Neither Ottont nor I feel anyone or anything moving around.> Arara sent.
“It’s a trap,” Sesay breathed into his ear.
“I know, but we don’t have any choice.” Without waiting for more protests from his cousin, Sels stood up and strode purposefully across the grass, over the crushed stone of the carriageway, all the way up to the first step. He stopped and took a deep breath.
“Father!” he shouted at the house.
The morning breeze rustled the needles of the pine tree and shushed over the grass. A bird cawed in the distance. Small animals scurried through the underbrush. The house remained dark and quiet.
After a few more moments of silence, Sels shrugged and arched a brow at Sesay. She rolled her eyes and joined him on the steps.
“We’re going to have to go in after him,” Sesay stated. “Can you feel Recka? Where is he?”
“Everyone’s in the center of the house,” Arara panted as she and Ottont joined them on the step.
"Off to battle the big evil sorcerer, armed with two toy Jegera." Sels's frazzled nerves, jumping at every rustle and skitter, found release in a giggle.
Arara just glared up at him, too hot to move, until Sesay put a firm hand over his mouth. Sels placed his own hand over-top hers and struggled to stop laughing.
“Sels, I understand needing to release some tension, but if you’re too nervous to continue you need to go wait in the carriage.” Sesay’s hand pressed down harder.
Sels shook his head, and with Arara’s help he got control, clamping down on his emotions until Sesay nodded and released him.
“I’ll be already. I, I want to help,” Sels wiped away the tears of mirth. He tried to hide his shaking hands in his sleeves through force of habit, but his tunic’s sleeves were too narrow. Instead he clasped his wrists and gave Sesay his best court face.
“I’d almost feel better if you returned to the palace,” Sesay said, but sighed and strode forward.
They’d had this argument in the carriage again on the way over, ending in stalemate. If anything happened to Sels before they wed, the rule of the empire would fall to Sesay. However, if Sesay died things were murky. As the only child Sels would be the heir by default, but in the millennium since the founding of the Empire there had never been a male ruler. The slightest fight over succession would crumble the already teetering Empire.
But the very thing that made them Royals gave them a huge advantage in this fight - their sedyu-bonds. They had increased speed, senses, and agility, as well as more magical power than the average Kin. Sesay with her bond was a more skilled mage than the Headmaster of Sunspire University, widely considered the most accomplished magic user in the Empire. With the power that Elric had at his disposal - as well as what they guessed was his own sedyu-bonded - Sesay and Sels together might be the only ones in the world capable of standing up to him.
The double doors into Elric’s home opened at his touch. Unlocked. Sels and Sesay pushed them open and left them that way, in case there was need of a flighty escape.
Once inside, they were at a loss. Sels and Sesay had both been here before for parties, but neither had been deeper into the tree than the gardens and ballrooms. So Arara and Ottont took the lead, using their noses to detect which way to go. It was slow going.
Bright false-sunlight streamed in from the windows and skylights, illuminating the empty-hallways and dusty furniture. As they neared the center of the house they left behind the windows, which were replaced by lines of bulbous globe lanterns. Chanting echoed in the silence.
Ahead, Arara stopped and held up a paw. Through her he sensed a life energy in front of them and moving rapidly in their direction. A Kin and a Jegera.
<Bad news,> Arara sent. <The two of them are sedyu-bonded and are blocking Ottont and me.>
Just as she finished the guards rounded the corner. The Kin was female, vines braided back and secured at her neck. A small female Jegera followed after, her eyes to the floor, tail curled between her legs, and ears down. Odd behavior for a sedyu-bonded.
Even as they came into view the Kin girl’s hands were moving. She chanted, throwing up her hands. Air roared out of her open palms and filled the hallway, knocking over end tables, flinging planters, and ripping paintings off the walls as it howled towards them.
The blast hit Arara first; she skidded along the wood floor, her claws catching and tearing. Ottont didn’t get a grip in time and the wind picked him up and smashed him into the wall. Sels was pushed backwards, landing on his back and whacking his head on the floor. He lay there dazed as the wind pushed him backwards, sliding him along the slick wood and leaving a large streak of sap from his head wound. Sesay screeched in pain, but Sels couldn’t see her through the gale.
The Kin girl started another chant; the words of the spell were unfamiliar to him. In case she was targeting him, Sels rolled to the side as it was quicker than trying to get to his feet. Just in time, as lightning struck the floor to his left, stinging his arm as it went by. Static electricity buzzed through him and the flash left him blind. The floor next to him was on fire, he could feel the warmth of it on his face and hands. Moon magic tingled in the air around him.
While Sels rubbed his eyes, trying to see something besides flashes and sparks, fighting raged around him. Through Arara’s eyes he could see some of the action. She was attacking the sedyu-bonded concert with Ottont, but the subdued Jegera had joined the fray with claws out and eyes blazing, standing protectively between them and the mage.
Sesay was somewhere behind him, chanting. Sels pushed up to one elbow, blurry flames dancing in his vision as he gathered the Moon magic in the air to him. Fire was his element, and he gathered the flames from the floor next to him with barely a thought.
Arara cried out and torment flared down through his arm from his shoulder. Sels collapsed, the pain preventing him from holding up his weight. The fire in his hands sputtered. He grit his teeth and pushed himself back up, doing his best to ignore the phantom pain from Arara’s injury.
Sesay completed her spell, sending a deluge of water rushing up the hall. The force knocked the Kin to the floor; Arara, Ottont, and the Jegeran girl were able to use their claws to keep themselves upright.
Only his force of will kept the fire in his hands alight as he was hit with some of Sesay’s water. His focus narrowed onto the flames and he sent them twisting out like rope, using all the control that Elric had taught him. The living flame wrapped itself around the Jegera and the Kin girl before she’d regained her footing. Their screams echoed up the corridor. The stink of burning silk, fur, and leaves seared his nose. Smoke billowed up from them; they were now thoroughly on fire.
“Yield!” Sesay cried over the din. “Yield and you’ll be spared.”
“We yield,” the Jegeran croaked out. “Please don’t kill my bonded!”
The fire fought his control, greedily demanding to devour everything around it, but Sels forced it down, tamping and strangling it with his will until only wisps of smoke remained. He’d put out the flames through strength of will alone, an exercise he’d never been able to master during practice. Elric would be proud.
Sels slumped to the floor, putting his hands over his face to hide his tears. In the moment he'd just reacted to protect his bonded, but his soul ached that one again he'd hurt someone with his magic.
