Yet he looked like he was unwilling to move.
Jayna wanted to grab Char, wanted to drag him along the street with her, but he stood in place. He was tracing out a strangely complicated pattern on the ground with one foot, but also making another pattern with both hands. They were far more complex than any of the patterns she had seen in the spellbooks he had given her.
Here she thought that working with the spellbooks would give her an understanding of the magic a sorcerer would possess, but she didn’t have anything quite like that.
Of course, Char was working with a very different kind of healing magic. He was gifted in a way that permitted him to use that kind of power more so than she could. With his connection to his magic, along with the knowledge he possessed, he could use that to defend himself.
More than just defend himself.
The energy he called upon was vast. The pattern he traced around his feet focused the power, and the energy he sent outward from his hands washed it over the crowd, directing it. He completed both at the same time, something Jayna wouldn’t have been able to do. As that power took hold, the crowd started to calm.
“Are you compelling them?”
“This isn’t a compelling kind of spell. You know I wouldn’t use that kind of magic,” Char said.
“It seems like you’re calming them.”
“Not calming. Soothing. It’s the same sort of spell I would use on somebody if I were trying to help with an injury.”
“It can’t be the same,” Jayna said.
“Well, I did anchor it so I could summon more than I usually would. Given the size of the crowd . . .”
His gaze became unfocused, and he continued sweeping his hand in a complicated arc as he wove through the pattern, working the magic. The more he held on to that pattern, the more she could feel the spell working.
It was flowing out over the crowd, washing farther outward, as if to soothe them even more than he had before.
Jayna grabbed him, forcing his concentration away from the casting, stepping him out of the pattern, and guided him along the street.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“We need to get moving.”
“We can continue to soothe them though,” he said.
“I don’t know how much more you intend to do, but you have already soothed these people. We need to keep moving now.”
“Keep moving where?”
She had to keep the crowd from following, and she had to get him back to the outpost, where he could then hide out. The outpost was as magically protected as any place within the city. She doubted that the dular would attack the outpost the same way they had attacked in the streets, but she didn’t know for sure.
“Along the street. Just keep going.”
He glanced back at her, watching her, a question burning in his eyes, but she ignored it as she encouraged him to keep moving. The crowd squeezed around her, crashing toward them both. They were mostly soothed, but not entirely. The farther they went, the more certain she was that there was a kind of energy pushing upon her, but Jayna no longer sensed the same strange kind of dark energy that she had before. Now she felt the pressure around her coming from the crowd, nothing more than that.
Occasional bursts of energy struck from behind, the crowd using enchantments again as they shook off the effect of Char's spell. Jayna solidified her barrier around her, but every so often, there came a more powerful attack, and she stumbled forward again.
She glanced back to make sure that Char remained with her. He swung his gaze from side to side, panic settling in.
“You stay with me,” she said.
“I am staying with you.”
“They haven’t been able to collapse it yet.”
“Only because I soothed them. Let me try again.”
Jayna shook her head. She doubted he had enough strength to stop another attack.
It was better for them to just keep moving.
The crowd wasn’t nearly as agitated as it had been before, and she took that as a good sign, that whatever Char had done had mitigated some of the violence. It was a useful spell. Jayna wondered if she might be able to recreate it, having seen it once.
It was far more complicated than any spell she would feel confident in creating quickly, though. If she were to use something like it, she would need time to study the spell to ensure she knew all the aspects of the pattern, and time to work through it. Not at all like Char’s approach.
His was a mastery of the magic that she simply did not yet have. Jayna wondered what it would take for her to get to that point. Maybe she would never learn that mastery because of her commitment to the Toral ring and the power it granted her. She had become reliant upon a different kind of magic.
They reached another intersection, and farther down the street, the crowd began to thicken again. Jayna dragged Char the opposite way.
“I thought you were bringing me back to the outpost,” he said.
“That was my plan, but if the crowd keeps sending us this way . . .”
“You don’t think you can get us through this?”
She arched a brow at Char. “You didn’t want me to.”
“It’s not that. It’s just . . .”
She didn’t give him a chance to finish. She hurried him forward, and they reached an alley. Jayna looked in either direction. “Down here,” she said.
“Why down here?”
“Just come along.”
They stepped into the alley and she held up the Toral ring, clenched her jaw, then focused. The connection to power she needed to use now was a bit different. It was concentrated magic she borrowed from Ceran, but it was concentrated in a way that would permit her to hold up a wall, of a sort, using it to masquerade the space in front of her. All she needed was to create an illusion of a seamless wall. Let the crowd move past.
“You’re just going to create another barrier?” he asked, leaning close to her.
He had a distinct pine scent to him, along with something else she couldn’t quite place. Char had always had a distinct smell, something she’d found appealing. She had always pushed those feelings away, though, wanting to maintain their friendship, and knowing that expressing her feelings could complicate that.
“It’s not just a barrier,” she said, glancing briefly over her shoulder. “This is far more complex.”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m trying to use a layer of power to obscure our passing.”
“A layer?”
“Exactly.” She sent out a flow of energy. It surged along the wall, and the only thing that could overwhelm it would be somebody who knew there should be something there and attacked it, or perhaps someone with considerable power.
“After what we went through in the city the last time, I decided to test what I could do to mask my presence.”
Char grinned at her. “That isn’t the Jayna I know.”
“Yeah? The Jayna you know didn’t deal with dark sorcerers and strangely powerful beings.”
She could feel the crowd moving past, but that was about the only thing she could definitively feel. With the layer of magic in front of her, the street was obscured.
She glanced back to Char. “Would you mind giving me a little space?”
“I was just trying to see what kind of power you were using. I didn’t know if I might be able to learn something from it.”
Jayna chuckled. “For a man who has made it quite clear he isn’t a fan of the so-called dark magic I’m using, you’re certainly curious about it.”
He shrugged. “Just because I don’t want to use that kind of magic doesn’t mean I don’t want to understand it. What is sorcery but a search for understanding of various types of magic?”
“I guess,” Jayna said.
She turned her attention to the wall, holding on to the power within her, letting that energy sweep outward. As she did, she could feel the crowd moving.
“Also, what do you mean, ‘strangely
powerful beings’?”
“What was that?”
“You said you needed to deal with ‘strangely powerful beings.’ Not sorcerers. The choice of words is particularly worrisome.”
“I wasn’t trying to be worrisome,” she said. “They are beings. Dark sorcerers serving some dark god. That sort of thing.”
She took in a deep breath, focusing outward, holding the power through the Toral ring. It solidified enough that she could almost leave it in place. Jayna had wondered whether she could anchor it in some way to the walls on either side of it. She might not have to continue releasing energy and might be able to create a more permanent, or at least semipermanent, illusion.
“I don’t know why the city of Nelar has been targeted so much, but the powers we’ve dealt with are all trying to release another, more powerful being,” she said, trying to choose her words carefully. “I wish I knew more, but unfortunately, I’m still digging for information. Everything I’ve found tells me this power is incredibly dangerous, and for whatever reason, Nelar seems to be the nexus for it.”
“What do you mean by ‘nexus’?”
Jayna shrugged, keeping her focus on the barrier in front of her. “To be honest, I don’t really know.” Ceran hadn’t been clear about it, either, which wasn’t altogether surprising. There were things Ceran did, ways he acted, that she didn’t fully understand, but she knew there were times when he had known more than he had been willing to share with her, and unfortunately, most of those times had been to her detriment. “We had the Celebrants of Asymorn first, then there was this Order of Norej. I don’t know what’s coming next.” She thought back to the strange smoke energy in the forest, which had left her a little unsettled.
“That’s not all though,” Char said.
“What?”
“I figured you knew.”
“Knew what?”
“Before the Celebrants of Asymorn, there was something else. Master Agnew has only spoken of it in whispers since the Order . . .” He hesitated. “Well, you know what happened. He mentioned some sort of magic he’s never seen before. He called it rothand.”
Rothand. The word was an older one in the El’aras language.
She glanced over to him. “You know what it means?”
“It means decay. There was some strange magic here before Master Agnew arrived, but he has protected the city from it.”
“Are you sure?”
Char shrugged. “As much as I can be. Like I said, Master Agnew doesn’t talk about it much. The only reason he mentioned it to me is because I was there during the Order attack. The rothand magic happened before I got here. A strange sort of attack that left the outpost unsettled. I think I barely got this assignment because of it. They weren’t going to bring on new Academy graduates. Had the attack been much worse, I might not have been chosen to come.”
It was something she had to look into.
More and more, she grew increasingly certain that something else was going to take place here within the city of Nelar, but more and more, she wasn’t sure whether there was anything she could even do to influence it. She could feel it as it continued to build around her, this power that would attempt to release Sarenoth.
Could this decay magic be tied into it?
It would fit.
She focused on the barrier again and glanced over to Char. “I think it’s safe for us to get going.” She was stepping forward when Char took her wrist.
“There’s something else too.”
“What now?”
“I’ve been looking into your friend.”
“Which one?” Jayna asked carefully, though she knew. He’d been looking into Eva’s past. Not that she could blame him.
“I read a reference about her kind of magic. Some sort of smoke power.”
Jayna tensed even more. If there was something he'd uncovered about Eva, then maybe it would help. They had not learned nearly enough to understand why she had the power that she did, only that she had some potential. Maybe there were things Eva wasn’t telling her, which wouldn’t surprise Jayna at all. Eva had control over her power, something she wouldn’t necessarily possess if she didn’t understand it. Still, she claimed she didn’t remember what she was. She didn’t remember who she was.
“You need to be careful with that,” she said.
Char shrugged. “Considering you’re spending so much time around her, I thought it made sense for me to dig a bit. What I found was that the type of magic she has is an ancient power.”
“All magic is an ancient power,” Jayna said.
“This is different. It’s tied to a creature of magic, not a person. I didn’t find any references to any people using this type of magic.”
She studied him. “Don’t keep digging into her.”
“I’m just trying to help you.”
Jayna sighed. Char could be helpful, but not if he angered Eva. “If you want to help, look into the name Sarenoth, but carefully.”
“That’s this dark being?”
Jayna nodded.
“I don’t know how much I’ll be able to do without getting into trouble with Master Agnew. He’s already concerned about what I’m doing. I think he knows I’m somehow connected to what’s happening in the city.”
Jayna chuckled. “You’re not connected to what’s happening in the city. But I am.” She released the protection around the wall, and looked out into the street. The crowd had dissipated. She looked over to Char. “Maybe the next time you come out to the city, you’ll leave your robes behind.”
“I’m a member of the Society. I shouldn’t have to hide that.”
“You shouldn’t have to, but if you want to move safely, you will. Besides, it doesn’t change who you are just because you’re not wearing the robes.”
Char glanced along the street before peeling off the robe, then he folded it up, inside out, so it looked like a bundle of black cloth. Underneath the robe, he had on a simple brown shirt and black pants. He could have been anybody in the city.
“Why didn’t you do that before?”
“I told you. I shouldn’t have to hide what I am.”
Jayna grunted. “I do.”
“You have to because you . . .” Char forced a smile. “That was thoughtless of me.”
“You didn’t say anything.”
“I was thinking it.”
“Just be careful.” She stepped out and motioned for him to follow. “I can get you back to the outpost.”
“I can make it on my own.”
“I know you can. I just figure that it might be safer if I go with you.”
He smiled. They were quiet the rest of the way to the outpost. The small, squat, stone building loomed at the edge of the city. There was an energy to it, the power of dozens of spells and enchantments that were placed within the stone, offering the sorcerers inside a measure of protection. Jayna didn’t have to fear anything happening to him once he went inside—at least, as long as there weren’t any dark sorcerers within.
“Look into that name. Let me know what you uncover.”
“Be careful, Jayna. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
She grinned. “You know I’m always careful.”
A sudden pulsing on the dragon stone ring tore her attention away, and she looked into the distance. When she turned back to him, she found Char watching her, a deep frown on his face.
“Go.”
Char took her hand for a moment and squeezed it, sending a strange energy washing through her. When he released his hand, she realized he had solidified the linking spell they shared. She should’ve known.
At the same time, she should have been able to use that linking spell to know that Char had been the sorcerer in danger to begin with.
She generally didn’t pay attention to the linking spell; the only time she did so was when she knew she needed to reach Char. These days, at least within the city, she had found herself using the energy within the spell far more often than she had bef
ore.
“That’s in case I need to find you,” he said.
“You would’ve been able to do that anyway,” she said.
“I would have, but I wanted to make sure you didn’t do anything to keep me from finding you.”
“Did you really think I would?”
“Maybe not intentionally. But it happened once before. If you’re going to be chasing after this danger, I want to know how to locate you if I uncover anything that will be of use to you.”
She shook her head, smiling at him, then gave him a gentle shove. “Get going. And be smart about leaving the outpost.”
When he finally headed back inside, she turned, focusing on the power within the Toral ring and the energy within the city, and she worried. It was the second time today she’d felt such a surge of dark power.
4
Jayna followed the energy within the ring, knowing that dark energy within the city could come from any number of sources. Not only did she have to worry about Asymorn and Norej, but now she had to be concerned about rothand. She didn’t know for sure if it was some sort of dark energy or not, but given what had been taking place within the city over the last few months, it was only fitting that there would be another source of dark magic.
Now she needed to understand the connection between those dark magics. There were twelve powerful Sul’toral who served a greater power, Sarenoth, though she didn’t know enough about them—or why they were suddenly more active than they had been in some time. From what she’d learned, they had been imprisoned, but some or all of them had escaped.
Even more than that, she needed to understand: Why Nelar?
That started to trouble her, and the Toral ring began to constrict again.
It reminded her a little bit of how it constricted when Ceran called upon her, though it was not the same. When Ceran called, there was a steady and rhythmic sort of energy. When she was around dark magic, it constricted, but it stayed tight, as if prompting her to take action—as if the ring itself wanted her to fight.
Jayna had come to recognize that power, even if she didn’t fully understand it.
Smoke and Memories (The Dark Sorcerer Book 3) Page 4