The Indigo King - James A. Owen [63]
“Meridian!” he exclaimed. “What are you—”
His sentence remained unfinished as the girl, perhaps twenty years old, if that, suddenly awoke and pulled the cloak they’d used as a blanket over herself in fear. She had dark hair, skin that glistened, and eyes that were clear and focused.
“I can explain,” Madoc began, rising.
“No need,” Meridian said, taking a spear from the wall closest to him. “I now know all that I need to.”
“Jack!” John exclaimed, realizing the Cartographer’s intentions. “We can’t let him kill Madoc!”
Before any of them could move, Meridian lunged at his brother with the spear. He missed, but only just.
The girl leaped to her feet, crying out in fear, and Madoc placed himself between her and Meridian. “Don’t do this!” he implored. “You don’t realize what you’re doing!”
“Wrong,” Meridian answered. “I know exactly what I must do.”
Jack and John grabbed him, and they were surprised to realize that they could barely hold him. His strength was astonishing. “Meridian!” John shouted. “We can’t risk killing him! Bind him! Then we can decide what to do!”
The Cartographer nodded and cast aside the spear.
Madoc turned to the girl, who was pulling away from him, screaming in terror now. He clutched at her robe, which tore in his hands as she ran from him, tears streaming.
“Please!” Madoc cried to her, imploring. “I’m sorry! Forgive me! Please!”
But no answer was forthcoming, and she disappeared through a second doorway at the other end of the chamber. Voices and footsteps could be heard coming from the other rooms. Her screams had alerted the library that something was amiss.
“We’re about to have company,” Chaz said grimly. “We got t’ hurry.”
Meridian leaped forward and knocked his twin to the floor, then spun him about. He held Madoc down, pinning his brother’s shoulders with his knees. Meridian bit down hard on his thumb, then marked Madoc’s forehead with his blood. And then he began to speak the words:
Madoc, son of Odysseus
By right and rule
For need of might
I thus bind thee
I thus bind thee
By blood bound
By honor given
I thus bind thee
I thus bind thee
For strength and speed and heaven’s power
By ancient claim in this dark hour
I thus bind thee
I thus bind thee.
As Meridian finished speaking, both brothers screamed and convulsed, spines arching, as if they’d received a tremendous shock. Panting, Meridian rolled away from his brother and staggered to his feet.
“You are thus Bound, Madoc,” he rasped. “By blood, and by the Old Magic, I have Bound you. And I command you …” He stopped and looked hesitatingly at John. It was the question none of them had any answer to. How, even Bound, could Madoc be stopped without simply killing him?
Suddenly Meridian’s eyes glittered, and he turned back to his brother, who was still struggling to rise to his feet.
“Madoc, duly Bound,” said Meridian, “I command you to go to the very ends of the known world, there to stay until you are summoned again, by blood.”
Madoc looked stricken. For a brief instant, John actually felt compassion for him. This man still had no realization of what was happening to him, of what had been done to him—and of what fate his own twin brother had just sentenced him to.
Madoc stood shakily and reached a hand out to his brother. “I’m to be exiled?” he said pleadingly. “Again? But I don’t … I don’t … When?” he asked. “When will you summon me back?”
But Meridian didn’t answer. He turned his back on Madoc and gave a grim smile and a brief nod to the companions. Then, without another word, he ran from the room and disappeared.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The Sword of Aeneas
Madoc simply stood there, looking at John, Jack, and Chaz with a stricken expression.
“I know you,” he said in wonderment. “We have met before.”
“Yes,” John said, feeling a strong twinge of compassion that he had to fight to keep down. “And for what it’s worth … we’re … I—I’m sorry, Madoc.”
Jack’s mouth dropped open, and Chaz just looked at the others as if