by Guy Antibes
Carlo shook his head. “It is plain to see he is lying. If we are going to die, I’ll not go alone,” the man said, getting up and picking up Ferrio.
Ferrio pulled out a short metal wand and zapped Carlo with a bolt. It was too weak to kill, but it was enough to throw him against the wall. Ferrio was about to call for the guard, but Jack punched him in the face hard enough to make the priest unconscious.
“That hurt,” Jack said while he gently shook his aching hand. That was the same one he broke before. He went to Carlo. “Are you all right?”
“Nothing a few minutes’ rest won’t cure. That isn’t the first wizard bolt I’ve had to endure.” Carlo grimaced but then grinned. “That was a good punch. I didn’t know you had it in you.”
“That isn’t the first punch I’ve thrown,” Jack said echoing Carlo’s words. “Gag him. I’m going out. If you would put him on the floor.”
“Out? You look too different from him to swap clothes.”
Jack grinned. “I have my ways, but I will still need some preparation.” He took Ferrio’s wand and sat back on the bunk. “If I faint, don’t worry about it.”
Just as Jack imbued Takia’s fire into Ferrio’s wand, he collapsed. He woke up and looked over at Carlo snoring away. Ferrio had been dragged out, but Jack still had the wand that he had imbued. He had no idea how much time he had, but he would let Carlo sleep until he came back to take him out of the cavern.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
~
J ack teleported out of the room into a pitch black corridor. Jack lit a tiny light and found the room he hoped Penny and Helen were in. He unshielded his mind and called for Penny.
“You are waking me up!” she said. Jack could barely sense the anger in her voice.
“I think I am outside. Knock on your door, so I know this is the right cell.”
He heard a knock on the other side of the door.
“Take me with you. Helen, Barria, and I have been cooped up in here all day, or night or whatever it is. They put Myra in our cell.”
Jack nodded to himself in the dark.
“She is a minder. Ferrio was in our cell, but we had to subdue him.”
Was that a laugh he sensed? It was hard to detect emotions.
“We did the same to Myra. Take me out of here, please.”
Jack mulled her request. He didn’t want to say no, but what if he needed help. Should he ask if Helen should come? That wouldn’t work, not now. Penny would be merciless.
“Stand away from the door,” Jack said as he teleported into their room. He bumped Penny aside and had to hold on to her, so she didn’t fall on Myra’s sleeping form.
Helen sat up. “What are you doing here? I didn’t know you two had made up,” she said.
Penny pushed Jack away. “He bumped into me when he entered and nearly knocked me over.
Helen looked at both of them. “Well, that’s the story anyway.” She raised her hand. “It is none of my business. Is it time to go?”
Jack shook his head. “Be prepared to beat a hasty retreat. We may have to leave everything behind.”
“You have something planned,” Helen said accusingly.
“Grishel and I do,” Jack said. He wouldn’t elaborate. He grabbed Penny’s hand and left the room.
“What do you intend to do? Nothing honorable, I’m sure,” she whispered.
Jack nodded. “Nothing honorable, but Grishel wanted me to do something before we head to the abbey to retrieve the feather.”
“The abbey? Grishel? How would you know what Grishel wants?”
Jack pursed his lips. Bringing Penny was not a good idea. He nearly took her back into the room, but he didn’t. “Sometimes I can talk with the gods. I talked to Eldora,” Jack said. This was not the time for storytelling. “I talked to Grishel. Just accept it, okay?”
“I don’t have a choice.”
“Right now you don’t. We need to find the library.”
“What library? There is a library?”
Jack pulled her along and had to communicate telepathically now that Penny was a font of questions.
“This used to be a research center for Grishel worship. The Black Finger Society took it over and made it into a magic research center—”
“You are going to steal their books?”
Jack stopped and sighed. “No. Grishel wants me to burn them.”
“You can’t do that,” Penny said.
“I can, and I will. If you want me to stuff you back in the room, now is the time. Our path could be dangerous.”
“Myra said we could be killed tomorrow.”
“That might happen a little earlier if we are unsuccessful,” Jack said.
That was enough to shut Penny up. Jack pulled her along. Invisibility wasn’t required in the dark passages of the cavern until they emerged into the brightly lit square. The administration building was on their left. Jack found an open side door on the facade that extended out about twenty feet into the deserted square.
They crept in with Jack ready to invoke invisibility as soon as he heard voices or footsteps. He figured the library would be deeper, cut into the stone of the mountain. He had to chance opening doors.
Jack hadn’t found a single residential room, but he did find a storeroom, and their weapons were stacked on a table along with the others.
“Grab your sword and the wand,” Jack said, “but take nothing that will make a sound.
Jack retrieved his sword and knife. He also strapped on Helen’s sword. The Toritos would have to make do without weapons. He didn’t see their purses anywhere, and their money was likely in the pockets of a slumbering Black Finger. He sighed. At least he had his sword, if nothing else. Now he had two objects with Takia’s fire.
They were about to leave the storage room when Penny called. “There are more than weapons in here. The Black Fingers have forms.”
“Forms?” Jack asked aloud. “Sword forms?”
“No, silly. Paperwork. They are organized and here is a stack of maps of the inside of the cavern,” she said.
“A map? That is great. Where is the library?”
Penny took a map and put it on the table, letting both of their tiny lights illuminate the page. The map was of the entire cavern, but there was a section for the administration building.
“Memorize it. You are good at that,” Jack said. “We might have to retreat in the dark.”
The researchers located the library in the back of the administration building. They weren’t that far. Penny nodded her head.
“I have it in my mind,” she said while she folded the map and put it in a pocket.
Jack looked at Barria and Carlo’s weapons, hoping there weren’t any family heirlooms there. They left the room and turned right, knowing they were heading away from the front. No one lurked in the building. Why should they if the gates were shut, Jack thought?
He turned right, but Penny tugged his sleeve. “Not that way,” she whispered.
Jack tried to recall the layout, but suddenly doubt hit him. He would have to rely on Penny, something he didn’t look forward to after they escaped, but he had to destroy the library before they left the cavern. He might have a casual relationship with Grishel, but Jack wasn’t a dummy. Gods were still gods, and you had to do what they asked. They weren’t like your parents or Alderachean priests.
“It is right around the corner,” Penny said in Jack’s mind.
Jack stepped ahead of Penny and turned the corner. He saw light through the frame of the door leading into the library.
“We will have to be invisible in case there are people in the library,” Jack whispered. “Grab my hand.”
Jack opened the door a crack, but he didn’t see anyone. They each invoked invisibility, and Jack led Penny inside, closing the door behind him. Two floating lights hovered on either side of a sleeping Black Finger with books arrayed around him.
Jack looked at the man and sighed. He couldn’t leave the man in the library to bur
n, so he hit the slumbering man on the head and used the man’s clothing to bind and gag him. Jack turned the man over to find it was Addio Barumi. The books were on Fifth Manipulation, from what Jack could gather. He cut off the invisibility spell.
“You should kill him. He wants to kill us,” Penny said.
Jack sighed. “Can’t do it. If he faced me with a knife or shot wizard bolts at me, I could, but not this way. We will find a place where he stands a chance not to get burned.”
“You are just a softie after all, aren’t you, Jack Winder?”
Jack looked at Penny. “I guess so. I could have left you to die in the forest on the day of our duel, but the old softie carried you home.”
Penny looked up at him. “Oh.” That was all she said, but it was a meaningful “Oh,” Jack hoped.
They found an alcove with a table and some chairs. Jack dragged the furniture out, and they put Addio next to the stone wall closest to the books. Jack figured that was enough of a chance to live.
Jack wandered around the stacks of books and sighed again. It was going to be a night of sighs, he thought. He pulled out Ferrio’s wand and gave it to Penny before he drew his sword. He didn’t know how much power he had left, but he would use what he had to carry out Grishel’s wishes. That was the price for Fasher, Corina, and Tanner Simple’s lives.
Jack took a deep breath and pointed the sword at a rack of old books. He was about to use Takia’s fire when he felt someone punch a hot iron into his back. He gasped and arched his back before he fell to the floor. He managed to roll over on his wound to see Penny point his own wand at him. Her face looked strange. She walked closer, but Jack pulled the wand out of her hand and tossed it aside. Penny blinked a few times before she turned to get the wand
Jack knew what had happened. He struggled to his feet and staggered to the alcove. The monk’s eyes stared at him. Jack didn’t know if it was out of anger or fear, but he didn’t have the time to find out. All he knew is that the man had reached into Penny’s mind and made her do something she wouldn’t have. If that wasn’t justification for what he was about to do next, he didn’t care. He put a wizard bolt between the man’s eyes and left the dead monk in the alcove.
Penny collapsed to the floor. “I couldn’t stop,” she said moaning. “I’m so sorry.”
Jack helped her up and hugged her. “I know. He was studying Fifth Manipulation texts so he could rule the Black Fingers for a long, long time.” She didn’t pull away but hugged him tightly until Jack felt her hands clutch the back of his shirt, and she jerked away.
“What am I doing? You aren’t manipulating me, are you?” She took a step back with an expression not much different from swallowing a fly.
Jack shook his head. “No, but Addio’s provocation was all I needed.” He began to apply a light version of Takia’s fire to the stacks of books. Some of the tomes nearly exploded as the flames destroyed the books. “Get your earrings back on,” he said.
While Jack continued to work, Penny dragged Addio’s body back to where he fell asleep studying.
“Maybe they won’t notice we were here,” she said.
Jack smiled. That was good thinking. He was afraid he would have to help her back to their cells, but it looked like Penny was more resilient than he thought.
“Stand back,” Jack said as he washed the table where they put Addio’s body with Takia’s fire, careful not to overdo the spell. He took the wand and used it on the rest of the stacks.
One of the bookshelves toppled over onto another, which cascaded into a ball of flame that had enough heat to ignite the closest tables.
“We need to get out of here,” Jack said. “I’m not going to burn with the books.”
As they both took one last look, Jack wondered if he should have taken a few books from the library, but it was too late for that. They rushed through the administration building. Jack had no idea where they were, but Penny opened the side door, leading out into the square. The alarm hadn’t gone out yet.
They crept toward the women’s cells. Jack was ready to remove Helen’s sword when three Black Fingers ran into the hallway.
“What are you doing out of your cells?” one of them said.
“Looking for a healer. Penny has a fever,” Jack said.
“She is sick?”
Jack nodded.
Two of the three went to Penny who began to moan. Jack throttled the remaining Black Finger and between Penny and him, physically subdued the others. He teleported into the women’s cell.
“Get up. We have to leave,” Jack said.
He looked down to see Myra bound at his feet. “I am going to bring in some companions.”
He teleported the pair of women out into the corridor and replaced them with the three Black Finger wizards after he had removed the keys from them.
After handing Helen her sword, he retrieved Carlo, and they stood in the corridor.
“Do you know the way out from here?” he asked Penny.
“I’d head where they came from,” she said.
Helen shook her head with amazement as they followed the apprentice through the dark halls. The call had just gone out about the fire. Wizards headed to the administration building. The five of them hugged the shadows as they made their way to the main gate. A boom rang out and then a shudder flooded the cavern.
“The gates must have been shut,” Carlo said.
Penny nodded and pressed her lips together. “I know of a back door. It was on the map,” she said. “Perhaps I can redeem myself.”
“Redeem?” Helen asked.
“Just go, Penny. We will follow,” Jack said. “We have to move quickly.”
Penny led them to the right, to the left, and to the right again. Jack didn’t know how she maintained her sense of direction, but the dim light of dawn appeared as a tall rectangle about Jack’s height.
They emerged and took in the aroma of the stables. They ran to their horses.
“There you are,” Rucco said. “I thought you might want some help. I just finished putting on your saddles. The minute I heard there was a fire in the administration building, I felt it had to be you creating a diversion. I’m going with you since I’m afraid I can’t make the leap to the new order.”
“Feel free. You do so at your own risk,” Jack said. “Check your saddles. If Rucco did them himself, they might not be tight enough.” He laughed but checked his saddle. They mounted with Rucco leading them out of the twisted road out of the valley at the entrance to the cavern.
They passed a few other riders as they made their way to the crossroads. One of the tracks led back to the abbey. They stopped once no one was in sight.
“If you are headed to Raker Falls, there is a pass to the south,” Rucco said.
“No,” Jack said. “We head north to the abbey. We have unfinished business which we need to finish before the abbot receives word of the fire.”
“I have unfinished business,” Penny said. “Take off your shirt.”
Carlo smirked. “Right here?”
Barria laughed, but Penny paid them no attention. “Jack was hit by a wizard bolt. I should at least treat it before we go any farther.”
Jack had forgotten about the wound, but as soon as Penny mentioned it, he could feel the wound bore into him. The girl should have kept her mouth shut, but she was right. She couldn’t let it fester.
Jack endured the hasty healing. He would have to make some healing rods for them and for himself when they stopped.
They turned left and made their way to the Grishelian abbey valley.
“How did you get out of your rooms?” Rucco asked.
“I can pick locks,” Jack said.
“Where did you set the fire? I heard it was in the administrative building.”
“In the library,” Penny said.
Rucco stopped his horse. “The research library?”
Jack nodded. “Addio Barumi was doing some advanced studying. I guess he couldn’t wait to get his hands on Fift
h Manipulation spells. Those books are what surrounded him when we left him.”
Penny giggled.
“What is so funny?”
“We will tell you later. I would imagine the library is destroyed by now,” Jack said.
Rucco looked shocked. “That was our reason for moderation. We were above the fray among the Black Finger chapters since we held the knowledge.”
“That was about to change anyway. Addio would have moved your chapter in a much grimmer direction.”
Rucco nodded. “I had already figured that out, but it is so hard to accept. I have put years into the society and now…”
“Now it turns nasty,” Helen said. “You wouldn’t enjoy the society. Addio didn’t stop with his coercion. If he were put to death, perhaps Jack wouldn’t have had to destroy the library.”
Jack was about to object, but he bit his tongue. He didn’t want Rucco to know about his chat with Grishel, at least not before they secured the feather.
They continued to talk about Ferrio and Myra, assuming the roles of spies. Rucco had to accept that their presence in the cells indicated that Addio had prevailed. He sighed and went silent. The discussion faded away as they traveled in a string heading north.
The sun began to lighten the sky until they arrived at the abbey in the morning light. No one had caught up to them with news of the cavern.
As they rode down into the valley, Rucco moved to Jack’s side. “Why are we headed to the abbey?”
“I need to verify something before we can move on. I think that the object that drains power might contain a spell that works like Grishel’s Feather does. If we drain the magic from everyone, the illness spell will drain away with everything else,” Jack said. He might have lied, knowing what Grishel told him, but could he really trust Rucco after all this? He might have been a spy extracting information from him when they went on their weeding task.
“You think you can get the abbot to part with that?”
Jack shrugged. “It’s worth a try. I still have sick friends even if Grishel’s Feather is back at the cavern.”
“Oh. You think you can replicate the spell with your power?” Rucco asked.
“I’m not sure, but anything is worth a try. We didn’t come to Passoran to fail.”