The Catalyst

Chapter 25

"I could memorize it." But Caleb didn't sound very sure.

"The spell has ten lines," Jaden specified. "What if you blunder as you recite it to the queen?"

Caleb stared him down. "I'll get parchment and ink. You stay there and wait."

"I was planning on taking a stroll but since you're asking so nicely, I'll just stay here," Jaden said as Caleb locked the barred door and strode off.

A voice pealed through the stone separating Jaden from the next cell.

"Well played." She had a Laethi accent.

"I'm glad at least someone appreciates my efforts." Jaden smiled, then winced as pain flared along his jaw.

"I'm intrigued by that spell, now." She sounded amused.

"Unfortunately, I find myself scant of inspiration for ten-versed spells that activate mysterious magical artefacts."

"So you're going to let him torture you?" Now she sounded disappointed.

"Did you get tortured as well, my charming neighbor?" Jaden inquired.

"No. The queen had me arrested without any explanation. I still don't know why I'm here."

My sister and her sick games. "I'm sorry that happened to you."

"Whatever. I have faith that something good will happen soon, and that many of us will be freed."

Jaden raised an eyebrow. "And what, if I may, instigates such faith?"

"Matt Dawnson," she said. An ache far deeper than his physical wounds snared his heart.

An incident . . .

But then she said, "He escaped."

Jaden's heart skipped a beat, then started to race. "He did?"

"Hard to tell the time down here, but I think it's been nearly two days. He must be planning something by now."

"Unless the queen's men caught him first . . ." Jaden wondered how he would survive tied up in this tiny cell with such incertitude haunting his mind.

"Do you think our friend Caleb speaks Laethi?" his neighbor asked.

"Highly unlikely."

There was mischief in her voice as she said, "I've got a spell for you."

***

On top of her chambers in the east wing, Tessa had a whole floor to herself in the keep, one of the upper levels. She sat now in one of the rooms behind a winged oak desk, the walls on either side furnished with tidy bookshelves that were mostly for show. The view behind her was stunning. Veicira's tight network of paved streets and buildings, and beyond the city wall, strips of farming land and little villages stretching to the south under an afternoon's clear sky.

So she forgave Caleb, when he stared dumbly at the window after entering her office.

"Sit with me." Tessa motioned at the chair on the other side of her desk.

"Highness." He bowed and took his seat. "Your brother – forgive me, half-brother – gave me the information you requested."

"Why did it take so long?"

Caleb fidgeted in his seat. "My deepest apologies, Highness, but he only woke up less than an hour ago."

"I see. Your report?"

"There is a magical spell," Caleb explained, dragging a piece of parchment from his pocket. "To activate the catalyst. I penned it for Your Majesty. I did my best, but it isn't in Felleran so please excuse any misspellings."