Breaker of Rings

Chapter 16

"Dean?" Just as with Seth, Bex felt strange using his name, but since he was estranged from The Shield—she wasn't sure anyone could truly leave such a unit—it felt slightly more natural. Paige's eyebrows rose in surprise, but Finn only nodded slightly.

Dean nodded as well, and the woman at his side squeezed his arm in support. "So at least one of my brothers remembers me. That's good to know. Which one was it? Seth or Roman?" Before any of the Horsewomen could reply, he added, "The brooding one or the tall one?"

"Seth," Bex replied. Finn had quietly poured mead for the Four Horsewomen and set their mugs on the table, and she thanked him before turning back to Dean. "He said—"

"You're fire," Dean said brusquely. The woman beside him grimaced a bit at his interruption, but it hadn't seemed rude somehow. He gestured at Becky's unnaturally orange hair. "Seth's hair never did that, but Hunter had found some legend that said it was the mark of a skilled fire-forger." Then his gaze moved to Bayley. "Earth. You have a sense of gravity just like Roman does. Did." He blinked rapidly, a hint of sorrow seeping into his voice. No matter how much he might have hated the Skull King, it was clear that he had loved his Shield brothers. He looked back and forth between Sasha and Charlotte for a minute before settling on the water-weaver. "Water," he declared. "You feel like high tide." Smiling, he turned to Charlotte. "That makes you air."

Before Charlotte could protest—there were other affinities, after all, though they were even rarer—a gentle breeze ruffled her hair, and only hers. Bex and Bayley both watched the realization dawn on her face, the feeling of kinship they had both experienced. "You are too? I've never met another—"

"Not surprised. We're rare. We all are. I've only met one other air-archer before you, and that was when I was a kid. Seth was the first fire-forger I met and Roman the first earth-etcher." Dean met Sasha's gaze again and gave her an approving nod. "Met a few more like you," he added, "but none as fluid."

Sasha accepted the compliment with a deep nod before gesturing at the woman. "And this is the bard? The one who helped you break free?"

The woman smiled wryly. "The story changes a bit each time he tells it, as the best stories do. But yes, I'm the bard. Or at least I was. The Skull King has made it harder for me to tell my stories, so I have to be careful about where I go and who's listening." She rose and gave a small bow. "My name's Renee. Paige has told us all about you."

Paige resumed her seat, smiling smugly. "They've been taking refuge in England for months now. I didn't say anything at the summit because I didn't want to put them at risk, but as soon as I returned home and started readying my knights, Dean asked what was going on."

"And then my fool of a husband decided to jump back into the fray." Renee said the admonishment with absolute warmth and affection, and it drew Bex's gaze to her hand, where she wore a strangely wrought ring. Renee noticed her looking and smiled. "Yes, we used some of the rings from his thrall bracelet to fashion it. I was against it at first, but Dean insisted."

Dean leaned over and kissed her cheek, shutting his eyes for a moment. "Now I get to choose to give my allegiance every day, and I'm lucky that she accepts it. That's the difference. Every minute I spend with her is a choice and a chance and a blessing." He idly traced some of the scars on his wrist. "I'll never be free of these and I can't ever change that, but I could change what those rings would mean to me. Now, they mean choice. She chose me and I chose her."

Renee rested her head against his shoulder. "I'll be honest. I didn't want him to come back. I'm worried the Skull King will be able to tangle his magic up again. But this is about more than us. Paige told us about the villages, and even just being here for a few days, hearing the stories from the refugees, I know Dean was right. Hunter has to be stopped. When I was his bard, I knew some of what he and Queen Stephanie had done and I did nothing about it." She pursed her lips and looked away. "I'm not proud of that, but I want to be honest. For a long time, I looked away and I ignored things and when it came time to craft his stories for the mead halls, I . . . I made myself pretend it was all made up. Just exaggeration meant to bolster his reputation. Then once I started seeing some of the battlefields for myself, I knew how real it was—how little he cared for the lost and the dead. He didn't want stories of his deeds for glory. He wanted them to sow fear."

The Four Horsewomen settled at the table, reaching for some of the food that remained rather than calling for more. "When you were with The Shield," Bayley asked slowly, "did the Skull King ever try to find a water-weaver?"

"Of course. And he did find some, but none as powerful as he wanted." Dean pointed to Sasha again. "Definitely none as strong as her. Is that what he claims to be doing now?"

Bex and Charlotte exchanged a look. Dean was clearly willing to fight against his brothers to defeat the Skull King, but that didn't mean he wasn't still fond of them; telling him they had captured Seth and questioned him might not gain his favour. "Seth said he wants a set of four elementals because he's trying to resurrect someone."

Even during the bleakest parts of his admittedly brief confession, Dean had seemed almost blase, as if the past, no matter how grim, meant little to him anymore. Now he paled a bit and he set down his mug as his hands started to shake. "Resurrection," he muttered softly. "That bastard. Of course he would." Then he shook his head, staring up at the high ceiling for a moment as if he could see straight through to the sun. "Who is he trying to bring back?"

"Someone named Shawn," Charlotte answered, "but it sounds like that's just the beginning."

Dean scoffed and shook his head. "Of course. The bastard kills Shawn over a disagreement and then damn near blames it on him—says the man broke his heart. I'd say I'm surprised Stephanie's agreeing to this, but she probably has her own reasons."

"Resurrection is the ultimate power," Finn remarked. He had been so quiet, Bex almost forgot he was there. "If they gain that, they can bring entire countries to their knees. How many kings would give anything for the return of a slain son? If the Skull King can offer that in exchange for absolute fealty and allegiance, he'll have the run of the continent before winter."

"And it's not like we can just hide all the elementals," Bex added. They were already few in number, but because they were so persecuted in some places, most endeavoured to keep a low profile; some stopped using their magic entirely, preferring to suffer the spirit-sickness that resulted from lack of magic use to the punishments they would likely receive if they were caught.

"They would need to be strong," Renee offered. "Incredibly strong. I saw some of the spells he wanted to cast and they take an immense amount of power and skill. Of course, that wouldn't stop Hunter from testing them first and killing them in the process, but it would mean he wouldn't be successful."

The Skull King also wasn't likely to succeed without Shawn's skull either, but none of the Horsewomen mentioned that. Bex still wanted Asuka to examine the relic, just in case Seth's story wasn't true, but listening to Dean and Renee had banished most of her doubts. "Can you remember any of the spell? The ingredients or instructions or . . . anything that would be helpful?"

Renee thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Not much. He had such a vast collection of spells, and I only got small glimpses. He would need the body, I would guess, or at least the head. Pure elements, probably: water from the top of a mountain, soil that had never been used to grow anything, that sort of thing."

More and more it looked like the Skull King's quest would be impossible to achieve, but that wasn't as reassuring as it should have been. Hunter wasn't the type to stop until he got what he had wanted; if resurrection eluded him, he would just make everyone else around him suffer. "Then we'll just have to make sure he doesn't get an air-archer or a water-weaver," Sasha declared.

Bex expected Dean to speak up on his brothers' behalf, to advocate for their freedom, but he stayed silent, looking only at Renee. He had made his choice, as he kept saying, and it might not have had any room for Seth and Roman any longer.