Isabel listened to Phane, hoping beyond hope that Alexander was watching, yet knowing that he probably wasn’t.
“Ithilian has been taken by the Sin’Rath, as has your brother,” Phane continued. “You will receive no more support from Abel, and Torin is quite beyond your reach. Zuhl has put his ships to sea with great success, never wavering from his objective of capturing the Iron Oak Forest and Fellenden with it. Your people are battered and broken, most are refugees, scattered and displaced. However this war turns out, they will be impoverished by it.
“I’m going to win, Lacy. I’m going to rule over all of the Seven Isles. Isabel’s faith in her husband is admirable, but what she fails to accept is that Alexander is wearing one of those slave collars around his neck right now as we speak. He’s already lost. It’s too late for him, but it’s not too late for you, or for Fellenden.”
Lacy shook her head.
“I’m offering you salvation, Lacy. You can be the Queen of Fellenden; you can rule as you see fit. You can protect your people from the famine and suffering that will befall them without my help.”
“I’m not going to help you,” Lacy said. “Not ever.”
“Just remember that I offered you every chance,” Phane said, turning away from her as if she no longer existed.
“Wizard Enu’s death was a setback,” he said to Isabel. “His spell to separate you from your will was brilliant. With him gone, I’m left with few options. I could try to create a potion or charm, but the simplest plan would probably be to re-create Enu’s spell.”
“Take your time,” Isabel said.
“Even after all this,” he said, gesturing to the bruising that discolored her entire face and left her eyes puffy, “you insist on being flippant. When are you going to learn to respect me?”
“When you do something worthy of respect,” Isabel said, holding his eyes with hers until he walked away from the table, shaking his head.
“I suppose I could always send an assassin to kill the fairy,” he mused.
“What makes you think you’ll get anywhere near Chloe without Alexander seeing you coming?” Isabel said.
“Not Chloe … what’s her name? The child fairy.”
“Sara?”
“That’s the one.”
“Why? What’s she got to do with any of this?”
Phane laughed at her, shaking his head in disgust as he sat back down and took a long pull from his wine flagon.
“I’m fighting children! None of you have even a basic knowledge of magic … and I even told you how it works.”
“How what works?”
“Your link to the realm of light flows through Sara,” Phane said. “If I kill her, your link goes away and Azugorath will have her way with you.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Isabel said, knowing full well that he certainly would dare if he thought he could get away with it. “Ilona would stop you.”
“Unfortunately, I believe you’re right on that second count,” Phane said. “That leaves Enu’s spell-two, maybe three days lost to re-create it. I was hoping to avoid that.”
Isabel held her tongue while her mind spun. Pieces were starting to fall into place. If killing Sara would close her link to the realm of light, then banishing Rankosi should close her link to the netherworld. She could be free of the darkness … permanently.
There was a way. Not an easy way to be sure, but there was a way.
“This cursed isle is almost totally devoid of wizards,” Phane said. “I had the Andalians send me Enu, and now he’s dead, like most of the others they sent. Understandably, they’re not happy about the situation, but I think I have a solution that will please them.”
“Aren’t you afraid of the shade?” Isabel asked, ignoring his musings.
He frowned for a moment, then smiled. “Not really. He’ll try to take me but he’ll fail. Then he’ll try to kill me, and he’ll fail again. Then, he’ll get frustrated and make a mistake. When he does, I’ll press him into service.”
“How? He’s already in the world. What can you possibly offer him?”
“The shades have unseemly appetites that can be leveraged … but enough about them. I’m trying to explain how thoroughly you’ve already lost this war and how futile your resistance really is.
“I’m going to capture your wizards one by one and strip them of their magic, bestowing their power upon candidates from within my forces who demonstrate exceptional aptitude and loyalty. Your Wizards Guild will be diminished while mine is increased-yet another path to victory.
“Speaking of which, I just got a report from Hector’s expedition. They’ve reached the swamp. It shouldn’t be long now.”
“That swamp might just eat them alive.”
“Face it, Isabel, you’ve lost … on every front. You’re just prolonging the inevitable. I’ve cultivated so many paths to victory that I can’t help but win. For example, I have a company of my best trackers hunting Trajan. He’s fled to the northern jungles.”
“Good luck tracking him in there,” Isabel said.
“Admittedly a challenge, but well worth the resources I’ve committed.” Phane shook his head incredulously. “Don’t you see, I have a plan to win, many plans, in fact … and you don’t. You’ve never had a chance against me. I set my plans into motion within days of waking from my long sleep. I have vast resources working toward my objectives … whole island kingdoms waging war by my command. You are a prisoner. Your husband is a prisoner. All is lost. Surrender. I will be merciful.”
Isabel couldn’t help but laugh, looking Phane right in the face past her swollen eyelids and bruised cheeks. “You mean like this?”
Lacy and Wren looked down at the table.
“You deserved that and you know it,” Phane said, pointing his finger at her face. “Anyone else who did what you did would be dead or dying very badly right now. A beating was lenient. In fact, you may well suffer additional punishment at my whim.”
“You call that mercy?”
“In your case, yes,” Phane said, standing abruptly. “The three of you will remain on these estate grounds until I return in a few days. We’ll continue this conversation once I’ve mastered Enu’s spell.”
He left them without another word.
“What happens then?” Lacy asked.
“According to Phane’s plan, I’ll kill Wren, then feel so guilty about it that I’ll embrace the netherworld and help Phane kill my husband.”
“That’s insane,” Lacy said.
“I know, but given the circumstances, it’s not entirely implausible,” Isabel said, continuing to explain her situation with Azugorath in as much detail as she could. Lacy listened with intent horror, shaking her head from time to time while Isabel detailed her entanglement with the Wraith Queen.
“So, if this demon gains control, she’ll make you kill Wren,” Lacy said.
“That’s Phane’s plan,” Isabel said. Then she looked at Wren. “That’s why I sent you away earlier than planned. Wizard Enu succeeded in casting his spell, but fortunately, you were out when Azugorath took control of me.”
“So what do we do now?” Lacy asked.
“I’m not entirely sure,” Isabel said. “Those collars complicate things.”
They spent the better part of the next two days talking, first about Phane and his strategies and his lies, but then about more mundane things, like their childhoods, their friends and family, their hopes for the future.
Despite Isabel’s first impression, she came to like Lacy, but that didn’t change her assessment of her-the princess was in over her head. But then, Isabel had to remind herself how inexperienced she’d been the day she left Glen Morillian with Alexander not so very long ago.
Lacy had come far, especially considering her burden, but she couldn’t hold her own in a fight and that would be a problem. What’s more, Lacy knew it, confessing that she wished she could go back in time and learn how to fight.
Isabel tried to remain upbeat with her two friends but inwardly she was facing a kind of doom marching inexorably toward her with every passing moment. Phane would cast the spell and Azugorath would assert her will.