Master of Tomes

by Raconteur, Honor

  Zaffi was laughing, and it was the laugh of one who had figured out how to win.

  Mei Li really, really did not like that sound. It grated along her ears.

  And then another person dropped their magic, and the magical line they had created wobbled. Visibly wobbled.

  From further down, she saw Shunlei stop and confer with a mage before going one person down. From this angle, she couldn’t see exactly what was happening.

  But she saw him soundly slap the mage upside the head. Wasn’t that Sylvia?

  Well, apparently her husband had found the problem. And that seemed to help, as a moment later, Sylvia shook herself like a dog coming out of a bath. And promptly joined back in.

  Alright, well, that problem was solved. But they had other mages dropping like mayflies.

  “This one here!” Alina called. “Master Shunlei, to my right! It’s Sotejo!”

  Shunlei darted over, promptly heeding that call. He smacked the mage in question, jarring him back out of whatever daze he’d been in, and a few moments later, Sotejo joined back in.

  Mei Li heaved a sigh of relief. Alright, well, as long as Shunlei kept slapping people, they might make it through this. Although, she started wishing they had a more powerful charm to mentally shield people. Apparently, this would be a problem.

  Maybe she should work on that at some point.

  “Master Shunlei, to my left!” a male voice called.

  Urgh, she felt it, the ripple as the magic faltered. This was seriously not good. Every time one person dropped out, it cast an additional burden on the rest and risked the stability of the whole sealing.

  “Dragons, watch the mages!” Shunlei commanded.

  “It won’t do any good,” Zaffi snarled. “I’ll just move to the next.”

  Shunlei moved right into the seal, his nose almost against it, and snarled in response, “Why don’t you try and see if you can influence me?”

  “You think because you’re so old, you can evade me?”

  “I’m older than you, Zaffi. Come, see if you can bend an elder dragon’s mind to your will,” Shunlei said with a mocking grin.

  The gauntlet was thrown, and Zaffi apparently couldn’t resist picking it up. He marched right over to lock eyes with Shunlei, neither of them moving an inch, the two barely even breathing.

  Mei Li would have loved to just sit there and watch, but somehow she had to get everyone else back into sync with each other. The other dragons picked up where Shunlei had left off, shaking mages who were dazed back into action. She felt each come back in, the magic strengthening, and when the last mage returned, she breathed out in relief.

  Thank all gods. Alright, now they had a chance to do this.

  Mei Li mentally dug in and held on, watching the sealing inching its way upwards. It finally picked up a bit more speed as people steadied, returning to the consistent outpouring of magic they’d been producing before Zaffi meddled with them. There, good, that should do it.

  Halfway up, the sealing became thick enough that Zaffi could no longer lock eyes with Shunlei. It was like looking through frosted glass. Frustrated, he broke off with a howl.

  Mei Li didn’t think he’d be able to do anything to Shunlei. Her husband was notably stubborn when he set his mind to it. Still, she was relieved Zaffi had given up. That had to have been hard on Shun, too. The charm on her husband wasn’t infallible. Clearly.

  Zaffi marched over to her, the ground shaking a little at his approach, and leaned in so that only the seal and about five feet of space separated them. He exuded heat—it came off him in almost visible waves—and his breath smelt of sulfur and rotten eggs.

  “You might seal me again today, mage,” he snarled, his lips curling up to reveal truly terrible, jagged teeth. “But next time, you won’t be here. And then I’ll be free.”

  “Oh, I’ll be here,” she promised him with a winsome smile. “And the records of how to seal you will not be lost, I’ve made sure of that. But I will be here.”

  Feeling Shunlei come to stand at her back, in full dragon form and with his own menace, she promised for them both, “We will both be here.”

  Zaffi lifted his eyes from hers, locking instead with Shunlei for one last glaring contest.

  Which was fine, as it kept him occupied. Mei Li was perfectly content to let him do that for however long he wished to.

  It was Shunlei who broke the moment with a taunt. “Do stay close, Zaffi. You’re keeping my wife nice and warm as she reseals you. But maybe face the other direction, as your breath is truly foul.”

  Zaffi reared up on his hind legs, howling in outrage.

  For the umpteenth time, he threw himself at the seal, putting his entire body weight into it. But it was strong enough to hold him this time. It threw him back, making him skid along the basin, which threw water up in all directions like a mini tidal wave. He picked himself back up, shaking the water off, then turned to glare at her once more. The water was almost at its peak, now. It would only ever cover Zaffi up to his waist. But that was fine, as long as it held steady at that level. The sealing would have all the power it needed between the water and the wind.

  Mei Li could see the moment he realized that while he’d been glaring and posturing, the new seal had made significant progress. It was now as high as Zaffi’s chest when he was on all fours. And the water was deeper, a little, giving strength to the new seal.

  His head jerked frantically this way and that; he even turned once in place to check the progress on all sides. But it was the same no matter where he looked. And only growing higher as the dome rose up and up, aiming to fuse together over his head.

  “You can’t do this to me again!” he howled, slamming his fists uselessly against the walls of the old sealing.

  “You’re feeling sleepy,” Mei Li intoned like a hypnotist. “Very sleeeeeepy.”

  Zaffi turned, trying to glare, but his balance was off. He fell to his knees, struggling to stay upright.

  She figured it was about time for the soporific effect of the sealing to kick in. It was over halfway up, after all.

  “Curse you both,” Zaffi managed even as he fell sideways with a loud and ground-shaking thump. “Curse you, and a pox be on your souls.”

  “Curses can’t penetrate the sealing, so sorry.” Mei Li focused not on him but on the sealing, which was reaching higher and higher.

  It took another half hour, perhaps, but by the time Zaffi succumbed completely to a deep sleep, the seal overhead finished without a flourish. It was solid, compact, much like the seal she had formed a week and a half ago. That is to say, five thousand years ago.

  Time. And tenses.

  Mei Li shook her head at her own thoughts, amused with herself, and held steady with her magic until she was absolutely positive that the sealing was finished on all sides. It seemed to be, as it hummed with energy.

  Excellent.

  She released her own magic even as she called out, “It’s finished, release!”

  Everyone did so thankfully. After an almost two-hour drain, they were all glad to be done. Mei Li turned her head to share a smile with her husband.

  “A good day,” he said, sharing her smile.

  “A very good day. I say we rest, pack up in the morning, and leave for Odom. We all need a little rest, I think.”

  “Mei Li,” Dolan called to her, “can we pack up and go to an inn instead? I really want a hot bath.”

  She pointed a finger at him, delighted by the suggestion. “You’re brilliant. To the nearest inn, go!”

  Everyone laughed and cheered in agreement—even the dragons. One might say especially the dragons. They trudged toward the camp with gusto, determined to yank everything down and pack it up quickly. Hot water was calling, not to mention soft beds.

  Mei Li followed slowly. A thought tickled at the back of her brain, and she turned in place to look at Zaffi once more. His parting shot about being awake in another five thousand years, and breaking free then, bothered her. She didn’t
believe he’d succeed. He was zero to two on that scoreboard. But the fact that they would run into the same situation again, and that she’d be forced to trek down here for a third time, irked her.

  Shunlei paused as she did. “Something wrong, my love?”

  “I’m just…” She paused, not sure how to put this feeling into words. “I think I’m frustrated.”

  “But everything went well?”

  “I know, but I basically sealed Zaffi twice this month. I know the events were technically five thousand years apart, but to me it only feels like a couple of weeks.”

  “And rightfully so.” Shunlei’s tone indicated that he was waiting for her to tell him what was truly bothering her. He’d always been a good listener that way.

  “And Zaffi’s parting shot irked me. Frankly, having to come back down here to seal him all over again sounds exhausting. On the flip side, it was easy to seal him. We didn’t have nearly as much struggle as I expected. This party that we have now works very well together.” She pursed her lips in thought. “I suppose what I’m wondering is, do we need to keep resealing things? If we have the right manpower and firepower to deal with something, shouldn’t we just destroy it?”

  Shunlei’s eyebrows shot into his hairline as he pointed toward the sleeping monster. “You want to destroy him, now that he’s resealed?”

  “Him and…hear me out. This will sound crazy. I think we can destroy Odom.”

  Shunlei nodded slowly. “You’re right. I do think you’re crazy.”

  She smacked him on the arm for that.

  “At least ask questions first. As powerful as Odom is, consider where he’s sealed. How he was sealed. His nature should be weakened by that. He might be on par with Zaffi’s power now. If that’s the case, we have the chance to destroy him outright and then we won’t have to worry about him ever again.”

  Shunlei studied her carefully. “You’re not being impatient here.”

  “No, I promise I’m not. It’s just that the memories of sealing these two are fresh in my mind, and I can see the possibilities. I’d rather rid the world of their evil altogether if I can. I’ll pass this by everyone else, work them through my logic, and the logistics of how to do this. If they vote no, we can reseal Odom instead without issue.”

  She turned her head to study the pipelines, still gushing water into the deep basin. It wasn’t even a third of the way full, although it would fill up eventually. And then spill over into the dry riverbed that once fueled Zaffi’s seal.

  “I think that I want to come back here, though. If I can get the design right, we might be able to add another level to the water so it can chip away at Zaffi. Let the water do the work for us so that he’s destroyed before the seal needs to be renewed again.”

  “You think that’s possible, eh? You really have been thinking about this.” Shunlei spread his hands. “I, for one, would like to stop repeating the same battles over and over again. Fewer adversaries would be my preference. If you can see the path, I’ll walk it with you.”

  “Having you with me was never in question.” She popped up a little on her toes to kiss him. “Let’s pack and get to that inn. We can talk more about this while we’re sitting in front of a roaring fire.”

  “Sounds blissful.” He sighed with longing.

  With the full party of mages and dragons at the inn, they basically filled it to the rafters. The inn was only two stories; it wasn’t really meant to hold this many guests at once. But the innkeeper and his family were delighted to have them and did their best to accommodate.

  Frankly, just being out of the snow and having a proper bath was heavenly. They had no complaints.

  It did mean that Mei Li couldn’t linger in the baths as long as she would have liked. There just weren’t enough tubs. So, she retreated to the main room, her hair wrapped up in a towel, intent on combing her long hair dry.

  As she walked through the narrow hallway, she passed Simeon and Budworth, who were clearly on their way to the baths. She hadn’t had a chance to speak with them one-on-one since she’d come back. They looked tired, but everyone was tired.

  “Going in?” she greeted them.

  “Now that we have a few open tubs,” Budworth answered with a nod. “You look like you’re coming out.”

  “I am indeed. The baths are nice here.”

  “Good to hear. We didn’t get a chance to relax much, what with Zaffi breathing down our necks.” Simeon paused and looked at her carefully. “I overheard you mention that you have a plan to destroy Zaffi?”

  “I think we can do it. It’ll mean tweaking the sealing spell and laying another on top of it that will wear him down over the years, break him apart. It’s an option I want to explore, rather than repeating this rinse-seal-repeat thing we’re doing.”

  “If you do go back, call me,” Simeon urged her. “I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but my mother’s from this area.”

  Mei Li blinked at him. “No, I hadn’t been aware of that. Is that why you volunteered?”

  “In part. I have a lot of family in Horvath. The same for Budworth.”

  “More friends than family,” Budworth corrected him, shrugging. “And part of me doesn’t like the idea of people suffering because a demon’s chosen to stomp around and throw a hissy fit. I was glad Dolan invited me here. But we’re with you on this, Tomes. We’d rather defeat them than reseal them.”

  “Good. I’ll remember that when I come back around to dealing with Zaffi.” Whenever that would be. Mei Li had no timeline in mind, and no idea when she’d actually have time for it. “For now, go soak in a bath.”

  “Will do.” Budworth went ahead, a man on a mission.

  Simeon called to her retreating back, “There’s cool tea and cookies on the far-left table in the bar!”

  “Thanks!” Mei Li might need to snatch one on her way. Because cookies.

  One of them did find its way into her hand as she went up to her room to drop off her dirty clothes. And another one may have leapt into her mouth as she passed back through on her way to the main room. Good cookies, yum.

  Shunlei was already sitting at the main fireplace, a comb in hand, obviously waiting for her. Seeing it brought a pang to her heart. Throughout their marriage, he’d loved doing her hair. Ever since she’d broken her arm, that habit had developed and stuck with him. He must have been itching this entire time, ever since she was found by Hui, to resume those old patterns.

  Now that he had her properly back, he certainly wasn’t losing any time.

  She smiled as she approached him. “Waiting on me?”

  “Always,” Shunlei answered simply. He gestured to the stool placed strategically in front of him.

  “The next time we have the room for it, I’ll preen you,” she promised. She couldn’t resist giving him a quick, sweet kiss, seeing the smile he gave her in return. “Mm, you smell good.”

  “They had yuzu for the baths,” he answered. “I may have indulged.”

  “Did they really? Rats, I missed that somehow.” Granted, she’d been in something of a hurry to get into the water.

  Shunlei patted the stool, prompting her, so she sat with her back to him. He unwrapped the towel from her head, letting it drop to the floor, then gently took the comb to her wet locks, starting at the bottom. It felt nice, it always did, so she let her eyes fall closed as she indulged.

  “Um…am I interrupting?”

  She blinked her eyes open to find Dolan standing uncertainly in front of them. “Not at all. What is it?”

  “I wanted to discuss our schedule for tomorrow.” Dolan snagged a chair from a table nearby, orienting it so that he could sit and talk with them both comfortably.

  Even though the room was crowded, it wasn’t loud. People were tired and lethargic after a hot meal and waiting on baths, or quietly enjoying the heat from the multiple fireplaces in the rooms. They mostly sat and watched the flames dance in the hearths. It was easy for Dolan to be heard at this conversational tone.

/>   And easy for Mei Li to answer him without having to pitch her voice louder. “I think we should leave no later than midday. It’ll take a day to fly to Odom, and we’re short on time as it is. I wish I could pause and let everyone rest, but we’re not in a situation where we can do that.”

  Dolan nodded, expression understanding. “That’s what I figured your answer would be.”

  “Dolan.” Mei Li bit briefly at her bottom lip, trying to phrase this right. “This group worked very well together. Better than I expected.”

  “Most of the mages here have worked together in the past,” he explained. “I had friends calling in friends. They’ve all worked together at least once, in some configuration or another.”

  “Is that right?” That certainly explained it. Mei Li had felt sometimes as if she was the one still figuring out how to fit in with the others. Not the other way around.

  “You’re plotting something.” Dolan said this in the same tone he would have used had he been accusing her of being an axe murderer. “Master Shunlei, why is she plotting something?”

  “That’s what she does,” he said peacefully, still combing through her hair. “Plot and destroy things.”

  Mei Li would resent this description of herself but…well…she couldn’t find a good spot to start her defense.

  Deciding to ignore this byplay, she forged ahead. “I want to run a possibility by everyone. I think, instead of resealing Odom, we might be able to destroy him.”

  Dolan’s jaw dropped, and he half rose out of his chair as he spluttered, “WAIT, WHAT?!”

  It got the attention of most of the room, people’s heads coming up and around to see what the commotion was about.

  Mei Li focused on Dolan as she answered. “Think about this. We worked so well together with Zaffi; the first seal didn’t even falter before we got the second one up. The first seal actually improved while we were building the second seal. That’s remarkable in many ways.”

  Dolan was still spluttering, making duck-choking sounds.

  “And we had to create a whole irrigation system for that to happen. Odom will automatically be easier, as he’s not in a barren patch of mountain canyon. He’s right on the coast. We’ll have both ocean water, with all its natural power, and the coastal wind to work with.”