First Apprentice

Chapter 4 Part 3

"I took your weapons to keep him and whoever Joel sent alive," Grandfather said.

"Then you are a fool," I bit out. "You took away my ability to neutralize him without lethal force. I am a master sealer, a dracon with over eight years practice conjuring aes and separating it into fire and ice. I am never disarmed." My voice dropped an octave as a I leaned forward, clawed fingers digging into the edge of Grandfather's desk. "Think on this. Reattaching a soul is beyond my ability. If Joel hadn't come himself, Director Nease would have died whether I fed him to the gates or not. I nearly killed a man trying to escape a trap you set. Instead of talking to me like a reasonable being, you set me up to be imprisoned or worse."

"I tried talking. Manfred tried. Endellion even brought her master to speak with you, but you refuse to listen. We will not stand aside and watch you commit suicide!" A perfect opening for our old argument, the same one we'd had weekly since my fifteenth birthday. It always ended with one or both of us storming out – my retreat.

"Hearing and agreeing are different concepts. I heard you, but the evidence doesn't support your conclusions. Fact, ferepris can and have been suppressed. Fact, suppressing them prior to their First Transformation allowed them and their families to survive said transformation. Fact, suppression seals can be removed. There is no reason the same method won't work for an Ancient Dae. It is my life, not yours."

"Endellion burned out the seal during hers, leading to the deaths of her aunt and uncle," he retorted.

"The seals were subsequently altered and used for Aunt Sumati's without any consequences."

"Sumati lacks Endellion's raw power as you well know. Yours will exceed both of theirs put together. She also had a mate; you don't."

"Neither Saar nor Khalida had mates. They both survived."

"They were twins of equal power. What one couldn't handle, the other siphoned off and shunted to the Gates. They also used the Dracon Gate, which is not an option for you."

"Selim. Joel," I said, eying the man who was now watching us like a trainer judging a sparring match. "Terry. All survived."

"Selim had parents, grandparents, multiple sibling bonds, and kinship bonds with the entire Seven. He had a town supporting him where you have four people, five if you count the Central Keystone. But helping you could destroy him, killing millions. He won't pick you, Alannah. He can't."

"My point remains. Others in a similar or worse situation survived."

"Terry survived because he mated Asha. Joel's nearly breached two gates. Your power already matches Terry's. It will double between now and your First Transformation. Even if we use the Ancient Gate and all the Keystones, it won't be enough. You need bonds, Alannah. Family who can see you through this. Maybe if I were younger or Endellion wasn't a guardian, we'd be enough. As it stands, we won't."

"My seal will work. Selim and I used it tonight successfully." Not quite. My magic still wouldn't accept it unless I initiated the seal, which I couldn't do during the transformation. "It's not the first time either. I still need to adjust the power array, maybe add a few more rings and a way to link another gate in, but the concept works. It will bleed off whatever excess magic my body can't handle. All you'll have to do is talk me through shifting into my Dracon form, flying, and landing. Why can't you understand that I don't need another family or a mate? I can do this on my own without hurting anyone if you'll just let me!"

"I will not trust your life to an experimental seal, Alannah, especially not one based on the vilest suppression seals in existence."

"They were created for a reason."

"To strip us of our magic and our freedom," Grandfather raised his voice. Uncle Manfred winced, but didn't interfere. I didn't expect him to. As he'd told us both multiple times, he would not choose between his lover and his niece. If we knew what was good for us, meaning if I wanted to avoid being a walking bruise after our daily training sessions and Grandfather preferred the bed to the floor, we wouldn't ask him to.

"To save us. The first gates were built because daes were dying. The suppression seals were created and used by them. It had nothing to do with creating new worlds or politics. They were mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters who lost their entire family during a botched First Transformation. This is the truth I see when I link with them."

"The histories do not support your truth. If I find you've linked with the Dracon Gate – "

"Her screams invade my dreams. It is impossible to unchain myself from her when my blood was bound to her millennia before I was born. They are torturing her, killing her, while your precious Border Guard does nothing. Attacking a gate, any gate, is an act of war," I said, clearly enunciating each syllable. "That is the oldest law in our society, dating back to the earliest gates nearly a thousand years before Rainer and Endellion formalized it in the Marstallis Accords that ended the First Clan War and founded the organization your so damned fond of. Every time the Border Guard sits back and allows a clan to attack a gate, even one that belongs to said clan, it breaks the agreements that founded the Border Guard and ended both clan wars. By doing nothing, the Border Guard violates their own laws. I love you, Grandfather, but I will not join your merry band of hypocrites and fools. I will survive on my own or not at all."

I spun on my heel and swept out of the room. The door slammed shut behind me, rattling on its hinges. A smirk spread across my lips when I realized Joel still had my bracelet. If my status didn't entice him, the so-called impossible seals on my bracelet would.