Something clanged a ways down the hallway, and Iason hurriedly closed his hands over the ball of light, snuffing it. He stood there in the dark, so close to Levi he could feel his breath.
“I heard you talking,” a voice said. It was a man’s voice, low and almost musical, like a singer’s. “Come to ask your questions again, slave?”
Levi closed a hand protectively over Iason’s arm, and that strange heat started to burn inside him, despite the fear that turned his belly. Iason eased out from under Levi’s grip and cast an illusion spell, making him look like a cat again.
“I can answer them,” the voice said. “No, I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know that, either. It’s all been taken from me.”
Iason crept down the hall. He let a little light fall from his hands, casting a glow like a candle flame. The next archway was barred, and runes of warding and confinement were etched deep into the stone and shone faintly on the bars themselves.
As Iason’s illusory cat came close, a figure slammed into the bars. Pale, slender fingers curled around them, and a beautiful face twisted into a ghoulish rictus of rage.
“Cast off that spell andfreeme, you worthless slave,” the man snarled. His long black hair fell over his face, and his eyes were blue, not the inky blackness of a mage with a demon. He rattled the bars, and Iason changed the illusion, making him look like a typical Mislian with dark hair and eyes.
“Who are you?” Iason asked. “I’m no slave.”
“That’s whathesaid, but he bore the mark. Let me see your chest. Show me.” The man tried to reach through the bars, but his fingers stopped a few inches out, as though hitting an invisible wall.
“I don’t even have a demon,” Iason said. “Who’s keeping you here?”
“I don’t know. I can’t remember.” The man drew back, then slammed into the bars again. “A demon. You said demon. Do you know where they are? Can you find them for me? I think I had one. I must have had one, but it isn’t there. It’s empty. Everything is empty.”
“Wizard,” Levi whispered. “This man is unwell. We should leave.”
“Wizard?” The man looked about him, gaze darting into the dark. “Yes, I could use a wizard. Do you have one?”
“What would you do if I did?” Iason couldn’t move away, even when Levi took his arm again.
“I would let him blast that boy to pieces,” the man said.
“The boy?”
“The one who did this to me.” The man stepped back, covering his face with both hands. “He made sure I remembered his face. His face is like mine. Younger, but like mine. Sometimes I think he’s me. But he can’t be. He must be something else. A demon. A slave playing a trick. When I find him, I will take him apart with my bare hands. I’ll make him bleed, make him weep for death and howl when I don’t give it to him.”
“He took your memory,” Iason said. The unease was rising, a horrible weight filling his stomach. “When the person who comes here asks you questions, does he call you anything?”
“Drakos,” the man said. “But I don’t know why. I don’t remember a Drakos.”
The Archmage. Iason shuddered, stumbling backward into Levi. That was Archmage Drakos. The man who’d overseen Iason’s entire life, who had him beaten, broken, who shaped him into a loyal pawn who would kill on his orders. And now he was this—a shattered shell of what he’d been, just a seething mess of hatred and rage.
“The man who meets you here isn’t a slave,” Iason said impulsively. “There aren’t any slaves in Mislia. Not anymore.”
“That’s what he said.” The former Archmage narrowed his eyes. “So you’re with him. Him and the boy, the one who did this to me. You all took it from me, you tookeverythingfrom me.”
“Youdid,” Iason said, and his voice echoed in the dark hallway. “You stole my childhood. I don’t deny my actions as a man, but you—you—I think I loved you. I loved you like afather.”
“I have no use for sons,” Drakos said.
“But you had a use for me.” Iason was shaking. “Why didn’t you just leave me alone?”
“Wizard,” Levi said softly, “we should go.”
“Why didn’t youleave me alone?” Iason shouted, and he snaked a tendril of magic out to loop around Drakos’s body, slamming him into the bars. Drakos struggled to brace himself, eyes wide, as Iason searched for a knife. He drew one from his belt and stepped forward. “You said mysisterwas the negative influence?” Iason snarled. “Let me show you what your influence taught me.”
“Enough.” Levi’s voice thundered with the force of his power, and Iason swayed, knife hanging loose in his grip. “I don’t care if you kill this man, but I know you will. People will notice if he’s dead, and then you’ll fuss over them finding you. Let him be.”
Iason was still shaking, throat tight with anger. “I can’t.”
“Let him be.” Levi stepped forward and lay a hand on Iason’s cheek. “Come home.”
