Ancient Magic

by Blink, Bob

  Hesitantly Inge held out her hand. What he said was true and she did recall the fun times on the ship. She had never expected to see him again, but now, as unlikely as it seemed, she felt he was here to help her. Rigo focused on the memory she was holding. It was weak, but there was enough for him to use. He opened the Bypass, then released her.

  Inge took a sharp breath. “What is that?” she said, eyes wide in disbelief, indicating the arch that had appeared in the far corner of the room. She looked at Rigo with a kind of wonderment and a certain doubt. There hadn’t been time to clear out a space, and the bed that was in that corner was now neatly sliced in two, half awkwardly tumbled onto the floor, the other half partially veiled behind the arch itself. Rigo wondered what Cordale’s men would make of the bed when they found it.

  “That will take us to your father,” he said.

  Inge started shaking her head doubtfully. Just then Daria returned with Jeen and Kaler.

  Rigo decided introductions could wait.

  “What about the guard?” he asked.

  “He’ll wake up in a half glass or so,” Jeen said.

  “Good enough,” Rigo agreed. “Once again there will be guards where we are going. Inge said there were three present the last time she was in the dungeon where they are keeping her father, but it may have been more than usual because she was visiting. Most of the bastards that man the dungeons are worthless, but we can’t know for sure, so if possible restrain them without killing. If Jeen can use that little trick she demonstrated, it would be for the best.”

  This time Kaler and Daria went through first. They were the most skillful fighters and would be able to subdue anyone on the far side. Inge gasped as they disappeared. Rigo’s creation of the arch had been unexpected and shocking enough, but to see two people disappear as they leaped into the opening was more than she was prepared for. It was clear they had vanished as they could see the far side of the room, albeit somewhat shrouded in haze, beyond the arch.

  Jeen was next. Then it was time for Rigo and Inge. He took her hand and urged her forward.

  “No!” she objected resisting his urging. “I can’t go in that!”

  “It’s safe. Just stay away from the edges of the arch. Do you think my friends would have jumped through it so willing if not?” Pulling her with him, Rigo stepped through and they were suddenly plunged into a darkened room lit only by a single torch on the wall some twenty paces away.

  “No guards nearby,” Kaler said when Rigo looked at him. “There are a couple down that way somewhere, but none here at the moment.”

  “This cannot be!” Inge whispered in amazement as she recognized where she was. “Such a thing is not possible,” but she looked at Rigo wonderingly. Quickly she looked toward the cell where she had last visited her parent. “Father!” she cried out inadvertently when she discovered the prone figure on the stone floor inside the barred cell behind them.

  “Shhhh!” Rigo hissed at her.

  “He looks to be in a bad way,” Daria said.

  That was clearly an understatement. Even from here Rigo could see the bruised and discolored face, the eyes swollen shut from the abuse they had taken. The fingers of both hands were bent in impossible directions, and both knees were bloodied with one leg bent back upon itself in an unnatural angle.

  “Is he even alive?” Rigo asked, trying to determine if the body showed any signs of breathing.

  “Barely,” Jeen said. She was already at the door and using the trick Rigo had taught her in the Digs to open the lock. She had barely opened the door when Inge pushed past her and dropped at her father’s side, moaning as she looked at the damage.

  “He promised!” she moaned. “He said if I stayed quietly, my father wouldn’t be hurt.”

  “Cordale’s word isn’t something to put much trust in,” Daria said.

  Rigo was at a loss, but Jeen knelt next to Inge. She looked up at Rigo. “I’ve never tried this, but my mind says I can. I’m going to try and heal him, at least enough so we can get him out of here. If we try and move him like this he hasn’t a chance. Pray that the skills you passed to me work as I feel they must.”

  “Keep a watch outside,” Rigo asked Kaler and Daria.

  As they moved back outside the cell, Jeen’s arm suddenly glowed a deep orange with the light seeming to flow down and into the body of the broken man. She could feel what needed to be done, and while she had no training in the body, instinctively her magic knew what to do to make it right. At first nothing seemed to be happening, but then as they watched the worst of the bruising faded and the swelling receded. Impossibly the fingers straightened, and the hands looked almost normal.

  Inge hissed her surprised, and looked wonderingly at Jeen. “Praise Risos,” she whispered. “I don’t know if it is truly magic as you claim or some form of trickery, but if it heals my father I thank you. Can all of you perform such miracles?” she asked Rigo, but her eyes remained focused on Jeen and her father.

  “Just Jeen and I have the gift. Kaler and Daria are talented in many other ways,” he replied.

  Jeen moved her glowing hand down to the knees, which slowly took on a normal look as well. She lingered at the knee of the leg that was bent, then softly said to Rigo, “Straightened it.”

  Nervously he reached down and did as she asked, half expecting a scream in protest from the man. The leg move fluidly as if the bones were missing, but once it was in the proper position, the rigidity returned, and after a moment the glow faded and Jeen sat back. The man hadn’t made a sound through the entire process.

  “I’ve blocked his mind and made him sleep. He’s unaware of what is happening. I also fogged his mind so he will remember little of the tortures itself. More will be required once we get him somewhere he can recover. For now, he will be safe to move.”

  “Is there somewhere you have family?” Rigo asked Inge. “Somewhere far from here. Perhaps at the coast. I seem to remember you saying on the ship that you lived there.”

  “They will come looking for us there,” Inge complained.

  “I doubt it, and not at first. They would not believe it possible for your father to be moved very far. More than likely, they would think him dead and not worth looking for.”

  “My aunt,” Inge said finally. “She has a place south of Garth.”

  “Can you picture it as you did before?” Rigo asked.

  “We can go that far the same way?” Inge asked incredulously. She was almost ready to believe anything that Rigo wished was possible.

  “Distance doesn’t matter,” Rigo said automatically. He took Inge’s hand once again and opened another Bypass.

  “Kaler,” Rigo called his friend softly. “Time to go,” he said when his friend arrived.

  “One guard,” Kaler said. “Daria distracted him and I thumped him. He’ll be out a while and have a sore head when he wakes.”

  Rigo used his magic to surround and gently lift the inert form of Inge’s father from the floor of the cell, another skill he could thank Daim for giving to him. He raised the unconscious figure to waist height, then directed the floating man after Jeen through the Bypass opening. Moving him this way was much more gentle than carrying. Inge followed on her own this time, familiar with the arch and anxious to remain close to her father. Daria brought up the rear. Once they were on the far side, Rigo pinched off the Bypass behind them.

  “How do you think they will explain the disappearance of both Inge and her father?” Kaler asked as he and Rigo followed behind Inge who led them up the steps to the large house that had been near where they exited the Bypass.

  “I doubt they will be able to understand it at all. But I hope it causes Cordale some serious worry.”

  Inge’s aunt reminded Rigo of Inge’s mother, and once she overcame her shock at seeing Inge and state of her father, especially his ragged and blood soaked clothing, she hurriedly escorted them into a back room with a large bed. Rigo and Kaler pretended to be carrying the man rather than have to explain to the
woman how he could be floating. Gently Rig deposited the man on the bed, then stood back so Jeen could have another look at him. Once again the orange glow appeared, and with intense concentration, Jeen directed the magics to finish the job she’d started in the dungeon half a country away. After a long time, the glow faded and Jeen stepped away.

  “He’ll be fine now. I can’t promise he won’t have a limp, and he’ll be tired and weak for a couple of days. When he wakes up he’ll want food and water. It’s also safe to cut the clothes off and bathe him if you wish. Then let him rest.”

  “I don’t understand,” Inge’s aunt said as they exited the room a few moments later. “What happened in there and how did you bring him all the way from Sulen? We were told he was being held in the castle.”

  “It’s magic,” Inge told her aunt, an instant authority, but Rigo felt the words would be more likely believed if they came from her. “The kind from the old stories. We were in Sulen just moments before we knocked on your door. I wouldn’t have believed it. But you must keep it secret, isn’t that so?” she said looking at Rigo.

  “Only because talk would direct those who wish your father harm to you. Soon enough, everyone will become aware of magic’s reappearance in the world.”

  While Inge’s aunt hurried off to fetch supplies and servants to help with cleaning up the victim, Inge pulled him aside. The wonders of what she was seeing were finally dawning on her. Earlier her thoughts had been focused on her father, but now that he appeared out of danger she was realizing the impossibility of what had happened. “You have to explain what this is about. You never showed you could do such wonders when we met before. What has happened to you? What is this all about?”

  “The tale will take some telling,” Rigo replied. “I will tell you briefly what is happening, but the full tale will have to wait. There are other urgent tasks that my friends and I must see to. Is it true you know the former Queen? I would like very much to speak with her. Could you provide that introduction?”

  “You said she is being held much as I was?” Inge said.

  “Even more closely, but you have seen we can get to places others cannot. I must attend to other matters, but once you are reassured your father is mending I will return if you would be willing to help.”

  “Of course. I could do no less after what you have done. Thank you, Rigo. I never thought to see you again after the ship, and now you appear with wonders at your command to rescue me and my father. I owe you everything.”

  Rigo took her into a room to one side and spent more than a glass explaining what had happened to him since they last met and the dangers facing the world that most were totally unaware of as yet.

  Chapter 73

  “You have some history with her we should know about?” Daria asked with touch of a grin once they were back in the inn.

  Rigo colored, but shook his head. He told them how he had met Inge, neglecting to reveal some of the more private thoughts he had had about her at the time. When he was finished, Daria looked at him knowingly, but didn’t press the matter.

  “I think Inge can help us with Queen Usaya, but before that it’s important that I see how matters are at the Outpost. I don’t like leaving Ash’urn there all alone too long,” Rigo said. “Perhaps we should all go together tomorrow.”

  Daria immediately objected. “I want to go back to Sulen. There’s nothing useful I can do at the Outpost with all of you wizards. It’s time to start checking up on our old enemy Cordale. I’m sure that soon enough we’ll want to get rid of that bastard.”

  “I’m going with Daria,” Kaler said immediately.

  “I’ll need Jeen with me at the Outpost,” Rigo explained. “If they have decided to accept the conversion, it’ll take both of us to finish in a reasonable time.” Rigo had passed Jeen the skills required to perform the activation and pass the selected spells. “If she goes with me, it’ll be difficult to contact you and you won’t have an easy means of escape.

  “I’ve been there before and have been able to handle myself well enough when hundreds were looking for me,” Daria reminded him. “This time, no one even knows we are around as yet. I wouldn’t worry overly much.”

  In the end they decided to jump back to Sulen and visit a number of spots that would be their nominal contact points. They would use Mirk’s shop as their primary location which is where Rigo would open the Bypass to in the morning, and look for them at the end of the day. By the time they had finished in Sulen and returned to the Prancing Pony, it was getting dark.

  After sending off Kaler and Daria, Rigo and Jeen made the jump to the Outpost. This time Rigo had selected the large gathering area, and was showing Jeen around when they were noticed. It wasn’t long before Burke came hurrying over to greet them. Jeen tensed once she saw Burke approaching.

  Rigo had wondered what to expect from Burke now that he’d been given the additional skills and would be able to sense his power growing. What he learned was that Burke was slightly awed and humbled by the changes.

  “I can’t believe it,” Burke said enthusiastically after he’d greeted the pair. “The new skills you passed are already at my command. And I can feel the growth in my power. I was always strong in what you call Brightfire, but I can tell I’m far more capable already!”

  “Some of that is actual growth, and some of it is misleading as it’s a sense of what you will grow into. You’ll find it will take a number of weeks before your full potential is reached.”

  “Is that the way it works for everyone?” Burke asked.

  “Daim tells me that people weren’t usually raised to their full power this way, so even he isn’t entirely sure, but in the cases he’s had experience with, that’s what happened.”

  “He’s really in there with you?” Burke asked.

  Rigo nodded. “Without him I wouldn’t know any of this nor have the power that I now wield. For me, because he is experienced and did the internal activation, I somehow bypassed all of the waiting.”

  Burke was anxious to be shown how the Bypass spells worked. Rigo was half surprised he hadn’t tried on his own, but as Rigo had requested, he had waited.

  “We will round up the others and I’ll give you a demonstration later. First I want to see Ash’urn, Nycoh, and then talk to the group. I want to know what people have decided.”

  “Most everyone I’ve talked to has elected to go along with what you proposed,” Burke said. “Especially after I’ve explained how effective it is. Come on, I’ll show you where Ash’urn is. He has been spending a lot of time in the library.”

  Jeen followed as Rigo and Burke set off in search of Ash’urn. As Burke had promised, Ash’urn was walking down the aisles of books, peering at title after title.

  “What good does it do to look if you can’t read them anyway?” Rigo asked.

  Ash’urn looked up and grinned. “Nycoh has started giving me lessons. I want to see how many words I can recognize. That girl is amazing.” He noticed Jeen and smiled. “Hi, Jeen.”

  Jeen smiled back. The two had always gotten along well.

  “Where’s Kaler and Daria?” Ash’urn asked. “If Jeen’s here, how will they get around?”

  “They’re looking into other matters,” Rigo said. “We’ve made arrangements for pickup later. How did everything else go while you were here?”

  “No one bothered me,” Ash’urn said. “I think that Elder Februus had something in mind. He came by after dark, but for some reason he couldn’t find me.” Ash’urn grinned. “Then he noticed that Burke was watching and left. Burke had set me up with a room next to his own.”

  “I’ll have to keep an eye on Februus it seems.” It appeared that Burke was good to his word, and his one time enemy was now on his side. More time would be required to be certain, but Rigo sensed the other’s good intentions. Rigo handed Ash’urn the three books he had taken from the Sanctuary. “Give these to Nycoh and ask her to look at them. After I’ve met the group here, and hopefully able to advance the lot of the
m, I would like to meet with her.”

  Ash’urn accepted the ancient volumes that looked virtually new just like the rest of the books here that were all protected from age by magic.

  “Okay Burke, let’s see what people have decided.”

  Once they were assembled, Rigo learned that all but one older man had elected to make the change. Some of the women were reassured when they met Jeen and learned that she would be the one who would perform the activation process on them. Even the three Elders had elected to allow the process, but Rigo wondered how much of their decision was based on not wanting to be left behind and an idle hope that they might grow enough to be able to confront Rigo. It was early afternoon by the time they were completed.

  After a quick lunch, Rigo and Jeen sat down in a private area with Nycoh. She was immediately interested in Jeen, but Rigo explained they would be able to get to know one another later.

  “Have you looked at the books I brought?” Rigo asked her.

  Nycoh nodded. “They are all about the towers. How they are constructed and maintained and activated. I haven’t had time to try and read them.”

  Rigo, and more importantly Daim in the background, was reassured. If she could tell that much then there was no doubt she was really able to read the books. That was all that Daim felt was necessary.

  “You don’t require the normal activation,” Rigo said. “For some unexplained reason all of your nodes are already activated. I would like to ask your permission to give you awareness of a number of spells as well as try to pass the tower information. That last item requires that you be able to read the books, which you have just demonstrated you can.”

  Nycoh didn’t hesitate. She had been expecting the request and agreed willingly. Taking just slightly longer than he had with Jeen, Rigo completed the transfer. He gave Nycoh the same spells as the other, adding the ability to make the Bypass doorways that he had only given Burke and his two assistants. He could sense that Daim was awed by the sense of potential strength he sensed in the young girl. Then he had her place her hands on top of the stack of books, which themselves had long ago been prepared with certain magical spells. He used magic that Daim directed him to, so that the contents of the massive volumes flowed into her, passing in moments what would have taken laborious weeks of study to learn otherwise.