Hope's Curse

Chapter 15:

Chapter 15:

Hope listened silently as Errod explained the situation. He was under strict orders to help her into the secure vault where the keys to her magical shackles and the celestial daggers were kept. If needed, he was even ordered to open the shackles for her. She was to escape the estate and keep herself hidden until she could find a way into the palace to carry out her main objective.

"The daggers won't kill the empress," she told Errod.

"I know they won't, and the master knows they won't, but it doesn't matter."  He shook his head and poured a dark liquid from a flask into his tea cup. "You are ordered to kill the empress. If you fail, you'll be executed for treason. If you succeed, you'll be executed for treason. If you're captured, no one will believe you were ordered to do this, and you'll be executed for escaping." He snorted.

"And if I refuse?" she asked.

"Then Nick will be tortured until you comply or he dies, and then they'll execute you anyway."

Hope went pale. She had hardly seen Nick for weeks, but he was the only friend she had. She'd been so careful at first to hide their friendship, but she'd relaxed her guard long enough for someone to figure out her weakness. She'd let herself be lulled into a false sense of security, and her carelessness could cost her only friend his life. She felt sick to her stomach and angrier than she'd ever felt before.

"Where is he?" she asked. Errod noticed a difference in her tone and looked up into her eyes for the first time since they'd sat down. She was far too calm, and her eyes reminded him of glaciers.

He shivered, "not here, of course. They've taken him far away by now."

"Who're they?"

"Celestial High Council, I'm afraid." He chuckled and poured himself more liquor. "They could have taken him through the portal to the council dungeon or to any of a hundred other worlds by now."

Hope stared into his eyes for several moments while she organized her thoughts. If she was right about the daggers, she might be able to kill the empress. If she was right about her own abilities, she might be able to do it without getting caught. Saving Nick was the problem. She thought it unlikely that they would ever let him go. If he was alive now, it was only so they could use him against her later. Once they were finished with her, they'd certainly kill him as well. Still, she had to try to save him.

"Let's go, then. We're wasting time," she said as she rose to her feet and dressed in a flash.

Errod looked stunned for a moment, then stood. "Child- Hope, I have no right to ask any favors of you, but..." He looked down at his shoes for a moment before breathing in deeply. He met her eyes directly as he asked, "would you please kill me?"

Hope did not flinch or look alarmed at the request. She searched Errod's eyes for any sign of doubt or uncertainty and saw none. There was no sense in asking him why he wanted to die or if he was sure. It was clear that he had given the matter some thought, and Hope respected his wish. It was his life, after all. If she killed him tonight, it would at least be a quick death, and he wouldn't have to face the accusations and torture that would surely come tomorrow. She nodded. She realized that Nick was not, in fact, the only person left that she cared about. She quickly stifled her emotions. There was no time for grief now. If she managed to survive the next few days, she could take time to mourn her losses and tend her wounds.

****

The vault was in the sub-basement of the estate. It was heavily guarded, protected by powerful wards, and accessed through a single door which only the master or Errod could open. Without Errod's help, it would have taken Hope months of preparation to get into it. Errod trained the guards as well as the arena slaves, and was thus in a position of authority over them. Since he often accessed the vault and sometimes required privacy there, the guards were not alarmed when he ordered them to take a break.

Hope slipped from the shadows of the corridor into the vault. There were so many powerful objects stored here that she could not process them all. Errod tossed her the key stone that would remove her shackles, and she took a moment to examine it before removing her shackles and slipping the stone into her pocket. The power that surged through her nearly knocked her off her feet. She couldn't remember a time when her magic was not suppressed, and she was surprised to find out just how strong the shackles had been. The whole world seemed to come into sharper focus around her as she flexed her magical senses to their fullest for the first time. Her concerns about using the daggers evaporated as she realized just how much power she had access to.

Errod retrieved the celestial daggers from an ornate chest as Hope adjusted the intricately runed sheaths that would hold them on her back and conceal their magical signature from anyone or anything capable of detecting it. As she took hold of the daggers, the power vibrated in the muscles of her forearms, and she smiled.

"You can sense it, can't you?" asked Errod. "I suspected as much, but still.... Maybe 'Hope' is a fitting name for you, after all."

She looked at him quizzically. She had suspected that her ability was unusual, but considering that there were runes specifically designed to ward against it, she didn't think it could be terribly rare.

"Only the angels and the archdemons are so connected to the stream of magic that they can detect it even in objects. You are special, child." He nearly smiled, then lowered his head for a moment. "You know that Nick is as good as dead. If you can save yourself, do it. You owe it to Nick and to Sarah. Do not sacrifice yourself for someone you can not save."

She looked up into his dark, sad eyes. She knew that he was right, but she wasn't sure that her heart could withstand it. She smiled weakly, and Errod chuckled.

"I'm ready, then. Good luck to you, Hope, and thank you."

They nodded to each other, and Hope looked him in the eye as she drove the blade through his heart. She'd never seen him look so peaceful.

****

The guards outside Narce's private chambers hardly glanced at Hope, so it was no problem to hide the fact that her shackles were missing. One of them even announced her to the master as though her late night visit was perfectly normal. Narce dismissed them all as she entered the room.

"Fool! You can not be here! Not tonight! I will not be implicated!" He snarled at her.

She smiled as she approached him. He was so certain of his own invulnerability that he allowed her to stand within inches of him. She resisted the urge to talk to him. She'd get a grim satisfaction from telling him how much she hated him, but it wasn't worth it. Talking to him would waste precious time and surrender the element of surprise. There was a time to talk and a time to kill; this was definitely the latter. He was still scowling at her smiling face when she drove Essente into his chest. The release of power was tremendous and satisfying. She could feel it when his soul was severed, and she knew it had worked.

She left through the same door she had entered and returned to her room to avoid immediate suspicion. Using the secret passageways she knew so well, she made her way to the basement and out into the grounds. Once she was outside, slipping away into the night was easy. She took a few supplies from the kitchen on her way out. She wouldn't need much. She doubted her errand would take more than three days.

****