บท 38: Chapter 38: Teamwork and Questions

Ravyn POV

Unexpected spell explosions never boded well, and Lilia heard and felt the energy next door. Ravyn held up her hands in response to Lilia's questioning look. "It's NOT me this time."

They all darted out of the room and met Duffy in the corridor. His face was grim. "Do you think they're killing each other?"

Ravyn hissed, "DUFFY."

Dane opened the door and Duffy scurried in, holding his crossbow. Dane and the two witches behind him.

Ravyn tried not to fall over in shock at the scene when she burst into the room.

Jude had Mars, Melisande's conflicted flunky, on the run with a knife to his throat and claws raking his chest. The young mage's strength was no match for Jude's!

Dane grabbed Mars by the arms while Ravyn cast a magic-blocking shield and Duffy menaced him with the crossbow. "You're outnumbered," Dane growled. "Your mistress miscalculated badly. Again."

"Spare me," Mars begged.

A POP from the ground drew Ravyn's attention. Daxius, bound by magic for the second time in an hour, was freeing himself from energy chains. Ravyn frowned.

Lilia noticed it too and ran to her father, using her crystal magic to shatter the energy chains. "Father, are you alright?"

Daxius' smile was a beacon of light in that room. "Never better. Thanks to Jude here and all of you. Even you, Duffy."

The gnome looked satisfied.

"Daxius fought fiercely too," Jude praised.

"But it was Jude's wolf senses that detected our friend here," Daxius said with respect.

Dane also radiated satisfaction, and he looked at Daxius with a new appreciation. Lilia grinned at her father with genuine warmth. Ravyn felt warm all over too, as delightful as a bonfire on a blustery cold day.

"Yes, we took him down quite well working together," Daxius said. "Although if our friend here weren't a junior wizard–"

Ravyn tapped her fingers on the hilt of her staff. "That's right, he is. Those energy chains are a powerful spell for someone of his level. Either he's better than I thought or Melisande is helping him."

"Please let me go," Mars wailed.

Ravyn shook her staff. "You may have learned some advanced spells, but you haven't learned your lesson if you're still following Melisande Bracknell."

Mars struggled in Dane's and Jude's grip, and his eyes flared with resentment and fear at Melisande's name. "She's a powerful master of magic."

"But a terrible teacher," Daxius said bluntly. "She sends you into danger alone for no good reason. I ask you, what has been gained by attempting to abduct me against the wishes of the Wildefell Witch Circle?"

Mars trembled. "You left your family–"

"We're here defending him." Lilia's look could fry Mars' hair. "And there may have been unusual circumstances, as the Wildefell Witch Council is aware."

Mars' disheveled light red hair looked like a sunset cloud around his face. "Senior Healer Bracknell says that Daxius Houdini is a menace who should be brought to justice."

Dane and Jude exchanged glances. Once, they might have agreed. But Melisande Bracknell had stuck her haughty nose in shifter business too many times.

"Does she know that the Witch Council disagrees?" Ravyn asked.

Mars squirmed in Dane's and Jude's grasp. "She hasn't gotten over curing Cyran and thinks the council is far too lenient with you and your family because of the alliance with the shifters."

"Probably," Ravyn said dryly. "But witch politics are as old as magic itself. Does she know that if we had broken any serious magical laws, Judge Chalice would be our worst critic?"

Mars trembled. "EVERYONE is afraid of landing in Judge Chalice's court."

"Except Melisande Bracknell," Dane noted.

Mars' face crumpled. "She said she just wanted to talk to Daxius."

Ravyn's former husband blushed, obviously recalling that he'd tried to force Ravyn to talk to him. But he'd paid for it.

Lilia pressed Mars. "Does Melisande realize that if we hadn't cured Cyran, we wouldn't have stopped Hades, and we'd all have been destroyed? And that we're duty-bound to heal everyone who comes to us?"

Hit with the truth, Mars slumped, and Ravyn snapped, "Dane, Jude, enough. Duffy, put down your weapon. The boy is about to fall over."

Duffy hefted his crossbow. "Ravyn–"

Jude bared his teeth at the little gnome. "She said put it down."

Dane's eyes shifted to wolf colors. With awe, Duffy lowered his weapon.

Ravyn released the magic blocking shield and Dane and Jude led Mars to a chair, where he sat down. Kindly, Ravyn poured him a glass of water from a jug and he drank thirstily. "Thank you. You didn't have to do this," he said.

Ravyn exchanged glances with everyone. They looked at Mars sympathetically. He was a young, easily influenced wizard who was realizing that he'd misjudged Melisande.

"What did Daxius ever personally do to Melisande?" Ravyn asked.

"I don't know," Mars admitted. "She kept talking about him leaving his responsibilities."

Lilia's blonde brows shot up. "She hasn't exactly been a close friend of ours, even before we championed Cyran's cause. Why would she care so much?"

Mars offered a slight smile. "I wasn't aware she ever had any friends to begin with. More like allies and people that work for her."

That summed up Melisande Bracknell perfectly. But why was Daxius blushing?

Jude and Dane smelled something. "Daxius?"

"It was before you and I became close," Daxius said. "It was a flirtation between us."

Lilia's mouth dropped open. "Don't tell me you ran away with–"

Daxius shuddered all over. "PLEASE, Lilia, at least give me some credit."

"I believe Daxius," Jude said simply. "Some men might take Ravyn for granted and find Melisande an intriguing challenge."

Dane attempted humor. "I doubt he's that brainless." Duffy snorted in agreement.

"Thank you," Daxius responded dryly. "And whatever else Melisande is, she's not petty enough to take revenge on me over a flirtation that happened decades ago. A brief attraction that meant nothing to either of us, and it may have mattered even less to her."

* * * * *

Jude POV

He believed Daxius–and he was starting to distrust that story about the man running off with some dancer from a traveling minstrel show. Yes, people could be stupid when it came to sex–men in particular. But the more time he spent with Daxius, the more he realized that Ravyn's former husband deserved the benefit of the doubt.

"What do you say, young wizard?" he asked Mars.

Mars shrugged. "We all think Battering Ram must really be made of wood. No romances, no friends, no family, as far as we can tell."

"We knew that," Lilia commented.

"Many healers are that way," Ravyn noted. "It's a demanding profession, wouldn't you say?"

Mars sipped water. "But I have friends and parents and a sister. I have a love interest. And for at least a year now, the healers have been whispering that Bracknell doesn't even care about healing people. That everything is about power for her. She does heal people, though, so no one can accuse her of that openly."

Jude's eyebrows shot up. "Otherwise, no matter how many allies she has, Edna Chalice would fire her."

"And the Witch Council would cheer." Mars leaned forward. "They've been looking for an excuse to get rid of her, even knowing that she can be nasty–but she does excellent work."

Lilia snorted. "There are plenty of healers in the Witch Circle who do excellent work. That's not much of a reason to employ someone that few people can stand."

Mars gave her another slight smile. "Again, it's politics. Melisande is good at doing favors so the right people owe her."

Duffy had laid aside his crossbow and lit his pipe, which Jude took to mean the gnome no longer considered Mars any kind of a threat. "And what do you owe her, to be taking on two Alphas and Lunas, three powerful mages, and Duffy Kruspodin by yourself?"

"An excellent question," Ravyn said, but her eyes and voice were kind. "What does she have on you, Mars?"

Mars coughed. "Like I said, I have family, friends, and a lover … she did us a favor and has never let me forget it."

Jude smelled the sharp fear clinging to Mars. "And if you don't cooperate, she'll call in the debt in other ways?"

"No, she'll stop helping my loved ones, and they don't even know what she did," Mars muttered. "They'd be mortified if they knew I went to her for help–they're not fond of her."

"Well, now you have a new debt," Jude said. "To us."

Ravyn looked at him in gratitude. "Yes. We'll help your loved ones."

Mars put his face in his hands, overwhelmed, then looked up, his eyes full of tears. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

"Thank us by telling us what Melisande is really up to," Ravyn commanded.

Dane nodded, his blue eyes slitted. "This seems like more than just revenge against Daxius–she's now attacked and injured two Alphas and two Lunas several times, something no sensible witch would do."

Mars took a deep breath. "She wants to weaken and even topple the Shifter Federation, starting with the most powerful packs … Evenhide is linked to Crimsontail, we all know that, and now you both are intertwined with Silverpaw."

"And she's willing to drag the Witch Circle into it, possibly starting a new war?" Lilia put a hand to her mouth, horrified.

Dane growled, "That almost sounds like the Dark Goddess' doing."

"She's tested regularly–all senior Witch Circle people are," Ravyn pointed out, but the wave of anger and guilt hit him through the bond.

"There could be ways of fooling those tests–the Witch Circle can't be blamed for missing something," Jude argued. "I'm sure the High Elves must have examined Drannor Glynthyra regularly, too."

Ravyn growled, "You would have to mention that." Her eyes gleamed with admiration and relief. She smelled grateful.

He shrugged. "Don't tell me you didn't think of it." He suspected she had.

Mars' knees shook so badly he had to sit quietly and breathe deeply for several seconds. When the shaking stopped, he said, "If Melisande were in league with the Dark Goddess, or influenced by her, I'd blast her into oblivion."

"Ah, but you can help us in even better ways," Dane told him.

Mars looked hopeful. "Explain."

Jude guessed Dane's thoughts. "What is her plan? Tell us what you know."

Mars' next words horrified everyone and made Daxius turn pasty white.

"I don't know, but I do know she's going to a certain place in the Heartless Isles. She sent me to slow you down while she travels there. She'll destroy the object of your search unless you get there before she does."