by Blink, Bob
A wizard! What nonsense! The message had further indicated the wizard came and went through magical doorways in thin air and had indicated he would be visiting the other forces Lopal had deployed to bring their attacks to an end, and would then appear in Sulen for an audience with Cordale directly. Cordale had been quite uncertain what to make of the message.
Then matters had become even more complicated. Within a glass of receiving Turton’s message, he had received a second message, this one from Roit himself. The man was a remarkable survivor, and had somehow gained his release from Lopal. That message was far better worded, but lacked information details that Cordale would have liked as well. Roit indicated he had just returned to camp, and would investigate strange reports circulating among the troops about some kind of magic being used to defeat the forces Lopal had attempted to set loose on Branid. There it was again. Magic! Roit wasn’t the type to over react to events, yet he indicated seeing a field of bodies burned to a cinder, which gave some substance to the men’s tales.
Even more disturbing was the rest of the information in Roit’s brief message. Roit indicated he had briefly seen the young female assassin they had long believed dead at the front close to Captain Turton’s tent. The Kalabhoot! Cordale still felt goose bumps up his arms when he recalled the words. Even now he shuddered, realizing that if the assassin were indeed alive, he had something very real to fear. The reputation behind Kalabhoot was very consistent, and if she felt he’d betrayed her, nothing would stand in the way of her addressing the situation. Given her reputation, that would very likely result in his death. Castles kept out invading armies, not skillful assassins as he well knew. Cordale couldn’t see how it could have happened, yet he had never known Roit to make a mistake identifying someone. The man had an incredible memory and required the briefest of glances to pick out a familiar face.
There had been more disturbing news. Seen with the assassin had been the young swordsman who had flirted with his daughter and who Cordale had planned to hang before he had mysteriously escaped from the dungeon around the same time as they had failed to kill the assassin. That suggested the two were working together, and indeed had perhaps been connected somehow in the past. That meant two individuals he had reason to worry about. How he wished that Roit were back. He trusted the man’s sword and would like to pry at the details and specifics of what the man had seen. Roit had mentioned nothing about a wizard, and whatever the man really was, Cordale wondered how he had managed to convince his men that he had some kind of magical power.
The damn messenger birds couldn’t be ordered to any location one desired, having been raised at the castle and trained to return to that specific location, and therefore he had been unable to send back his wishes or demand additional information. While he was certain a messenger had been dispatched with a more complete report, it would be some time before a man could ride from the front back to Sulen, and Cordale expected Roit to arrive in advance of any messenger anyway. The man had the ability to cover impossible stretches of ground in a short time. Eager for more detail, Cordale had sent a bird to his own castle to the east with instructions to dispatch a rider to the front demanding clarification of certain details. Being so much closer to the fighting, that rider had been able to get there in a couple of days, and the message Cordale had just received had been the result. Captain Turton reiterated that some kind of magic had been applied by the young wizard. Beyond the destructive forces unleashed, the man had apparently returned with a team of other wizards that had applied magical healing energies to bring men almost instantly back from near death.
It was too much. Cordale didn’t believe in magic, yet Turton would have to know that if he were making something up it would cost him his head when Cordale learned the truth. And if, and Roit had confirmed this, the forces from Lopal had withdrawn, what possible reason could Turton have for lying? He would more likely be claiming it was his leadership that had seen the removal for the enemy. No, something was happening that he didn’t understand. More to the point, he sensed he was at risk. If the Kalabhoot lived, and was present where such strange events had taken place, she was somehow involved. She would also know exactly where to find him, and that was not at all reassuring.
Cordale had doubled his personal guard since receiving the news the assassin lived, and was considering changing quarters. He knew the rooms he now inhabited opened into the secret passages. He had liked the ability to move unseen, but now wondered how safe he could be here. Once again his eyes roamed across the wall that hid the passageway just beyond. Perhaps it would be better to be in a room with no such access. He didn’t know how he would explain moving out of the quarters he had been so eager to inhabit in the beginning, but he was the King, so he shouldn’t have to.
Other mysteries now haunted him as well. The miserable Lord Sooz and his daughter had recently gone missing. Sooz had been badly tortured and had supposedly been near death, yet his cell was found unlocked and the man gone. Where could he have gone in such condition and who had helped him? The guard they had found asleep had known nothing, verified by the inquisitor. On the same day his lovely daughter had wandered off as well. The unexplained escapes brought to mind the two men that had escaped his hangman in his own castle some months before. The fact that one of those men had been seen recently caused Cordale to wonder if there could be a connection. Could the missing young man have been here in this very castle helping Sooz and his daughter?
All of this made Cordale anxious to push up the executions of Rhog and his priest friend. The way matters were progressing, the young man might disappear as well. He had planned a triple execution, but with Sooz gone, he would have to adjust his plans. He would have to ask his advisors whether the people had worked up enough enthusiasm for the execution. He could probably use the announcement of Lopal’s withdrawal as an excuse for a celebration, topped off with the elimination of the traitorous Rhog and his accomplice.
His thoughts in turmoil, Cordale read the unsatisfying message a last time, then threw it into the fireplace. A few more days and he could reasonably expect Roit. In the meantime, he would temporarily relocate to other quarters. Turning, he headed to the door and ordered one of his guardians to send for his assistant.
“What do you think the message said?” Kaler whispered to Daria as they slipped out of the secret passageways and into the lower levels of the castle following the route they had learned from Usaya.
“He should have learned about events at the front some time ago,” Daria replied. “This must be something else.”
“Do you think he has learned about us?” Kaler asked, a momentary touch of clairvoyance coloring his thoughts.
“It would seem unlikely that anyone would know either of us, but there is always the chance that one of his men who was involved in his attempt to kill me was at the front. I almost hope so. That would make the bastard sweat.”
“We’ve really learned nothing that connects him with the plotting and deaths of the former King,” Kaler said. “Rigo will be disappointed.”
“It doesn’t matter. Cordale is a dead man. He has only a limited time left to him.”
“He is the King,” Kaler reminder her. “Without proof of treason, how can we remove him?”
“I don’t need proof for what he did to me, and wanted to do to you and Rigo. That alone condemns him. There is no way I will allow him to live.”
“Rigo might not approve.”
“I don’t have to have Rigo’s approval for that.”
“Have you ever killed a king?”
“Not a king, but more than once a close relative. Cordale’s death will be a welcome addition to my accomplishments.”
Soon they were outside the castle walls, moving with the mass of people who came and went to the castle daily. They walked the four blocks to the rendezvous where Jeen would pick them up shortly.
“Maybe Rigo will be back to the inn tonight,” Daria said. “He indicated a few days ago that he was almost done cha
sing down Lopal’s forces. Then we can get back to business.”
Chapter 80
Stupid Fool! Daim wondered if he were cursing Rigo or himself. He had let himself become complacent, watching carelessly from the depths of the mind he shared with the young wizard. They shared the body, but were not equal partners. Rigo held the upper hand, by a wide margin. Daim figured he had less than a third of the control that Rigo enjoyed. He had come to see that he could nudge the younger man when required, and basically they shared a common goal. That had caused him to let the other maintain control without conflict and without Daim trying to oversee their every movement.
There was no such thing as a shield or barrier that would protect a wizard from harm any different than a normal man. It was his power and his awareness of everything around him that allowed him to move unafraid and without risk through the world. For some threats there were warning fields that could be raised. Most other threats required constant alertness. That meant keeping one’s mind and senses tuned and ready to react to any threat that developed. That kind of attentiveness had allowed Rigo to deal with the hundreds of arrows that had been fired at him in the battle some days earlier. But this time he’d been caught unaware.
Daim had sensed the arrows just as they pierced the skin. That was too late to warn Rigo, and far too late to act since he had relinquished control of the magic this body possessed to the other. He had wanted to scream as the pain of the large broad heads tore through their flesh.
Now the body lay in the grass. Daim had one advantage over Rigo. Because he wasn’t in control, but lingered in the background somewhere in the back of the brain where his magic had imprinted his memories, his awareness hadn’t been shutdown by the trauma like Rigo’s. As Rigo toppled unconscious to the ground, Daim had remained aware of the body crumpling and the jolt as it struck the grass covered dirt. He had acted quickly, doing the only things he was able. He slowed the flow of blood significantly, and started repair on the vital organs that had been damaged, breaking the arrow and pushing both ends outward and away from the innards. When the first archer had checked for a pulse, Daim had made sure there was none to detect. When the second archer pulled on the shaft of an arrow, he caused the skin to hold onto it so as not to reveal the shaft had been halved. When the man listened for the heart, once again, Daim stopped the beating until the man moved away. Then he held the body inert until they were gone.
As soon as it was safe, he had moved to resume control of the mind. There was little that could be done directly. He couldn’t bring the body back to consciousness. It had been too severely damaged for that. He could have probably created a Bypass, but lacking the ability to move the body through it there was little point. The Bypass couldn’t be detected on the other end, at least by these inexperienced wizards, so none would be aware. Sadly, his abilities with healing were poor, even on himself. He’d always kept himself from harm, and he had not needed to perform healing on himself before. He knew his lack of experience with the skill would make it taxing, yet if he didn’t act soon both he and Rigo would die.
First was to rid the body of the damaging arrows. He had used more magic to push them out, the broken halves falling out the back and pushing into the ground below the body. Those halves were the most difficult by far. He found that it was far more difficult than he would have expected to access the magic from his position in the back most regions of the brain. Even simple tasks like extracting the arrows was difficult. Of course, the pain didn’t help his concentration either.
He finished sealing off the blood leakage. He knew the clothes were soaked with drying blood, but at least he had preserved what was left. Running dry wouldn’t do at all. Then he mended the most critical items, focusing on the heart that was stuttering badly. He was able to get it working almost normally, but he was aware that the repairs were poorly done and wouldn’t last. Someone with a talent for healing was required. He did less on the remaining organs, knowing they were functioning poorly or not at all. He simply lacked the ability and more importantly the magical reserves to do much more.
Magic didn’t require any of the bodies energy to perform its wonders, but it required a body that could think and function. As Daim strained to complete the repairs, he was pushing the reserves of the badly damaged body dangerously low. Those reserves were needed to keep them on this side of death.
Daim surveyed what he had done. He’d repaired the most critical items. Not completely, and not well enough for the long term, but he’d bought time. He possibly could do a little more, but that would require the very last reserves of strength and the body would die. That would be the end. What he had done would give them a slim chance. Not much of one he realized unhappily. Another day at the most. Probably less. If someone strong in healing magic didn’t get to them by then, all his efforts would have been in vain.
He let his mind search out Rigo. The youth was still there, but unaware of what was happening to them. That part of the brain had shut down. Daim made sure it was getting sufficient blood so that he would survive if a miracle happened and they were discovered in time. Daim should have been staying on top of the boy’s training. He had been doing so well. Well enough that Daim had come to think of him as a mature wizard. That wasn’t really the case. He had access to Daim’s memories, but that wasn’t quite the same as being experienced.
He was tired. Daim let himself slip back, barely keeping the brain active. They needed care, water, and nourishment. All unlikely out here. He risked a bit of magic to help keep the exposed body warm, then had settled in to wait. As he waited he tapped their remaining reserves to try and reach out to Jeen. She was the only one who might be able to sense him, and she had the ability to help.
Chapter 81
Jeen had been busier the last couple of days than she could ever remember. Rigo had left her to oversee events at the Outpost, and each day it seemed there was more to do. Her own powers were progressing nicely, but she was far from her peak, which meant some of the tasks she had set herself were more draining than they would have been had she the kind of strength that Rigo enjoyed. As near as she could tell, the wizards they had activated were all moving along as well. Burke was ahead of the lot, but then Rigo had said he was already a level three when they first met him.
She hoped that Rigo would understand her passing the Bypass magic to the entire group. He had said to pass the skill to more of them, but hadn’t meant all. She was convinced that doing so was the right thing to do, but Rigo had been reluctant initially to give that ability to very many. But then, he hadn’t seen what was happening here. More of the Hoplani had been reported, some in a small village that Burke had visited to search down a new novice. The beasts had reached the populated areas and when Burke showed up, half the village had been destroyed, the novice killed along with a number of others. While Burke had been strong enough to destroy the three Hoplani that had invaded the village, it was clear that some kind of active watch was required. Jeen and Kela had jumped around the Ruins, visiting each of the towers and looking for signs of the creatures. What they found was not encouraging. At half a dozen locations they found small herds heading west. After forming a team of the dozen more proficient in Brightfire, they had launched a series of raids and thinned out the herds they knew of. That didn’t reveal how many might have slipped through and were potential threats to Lopal.
The advancing Hoplani had been one reason Jeen had decided that everyone needed to be able to move around freely. If they were to watch the border, Jeen and Kela couldn’t spend all of their time transporting the others. The second reason was the towers themselves. She had talked extensively with Nycoh, who had explained what Rigo hoped to accomplish once he had the resources. It would mean a wizard at each tower simultaneously for the system activation. That would be easier if each wizard could be assigned a tower and could put himself where he needed to be at the proper time.
Right or wrong, it was now an accomplished fact. Well, Rigo had told her to use her bes
t judgement. He’d have to accept her decisions. Passing the skill had been easy, but training that many wizards on how it was used had taken a lot of time. She had worked with groups, having each trained group pair with one of the people in the succeeding group to act as mentor. Now they had a full watch, with assigned teams moving through the Ruins systematically locating moving Hoplani. When too large a group was located, one that couldn’t be handled by the wizards who found them, then they would return and assemble a task force. Thus far it had worked well enough.
For the most part, everyone here had accepted the change in focus and was pleased with recent developments. Even the Elders, with the exception of Februus had responded favorably. She could sense that Februus was not happy with the loss of his privileged position, and still wished for a way to regain his former control. That wasn’t likely to happen, no matter what actions he might attempt. The wizard community had grown, and they sensed a new purpose and would be unlikely to respond well to being guided solely by the wishes of one older wizard who knew no more than they did.
Everyday Jeen had to make a trip to drop off and retrieve Kaler and Daria, who spent their time in Sulen. Nothing specific had been learned about Cordale’s involvement in events that had placed him on the throne, but there was a great deal of circumstantial evidence. Daria was more than ready to take the bastard out, but Jeen kept reminding her that Rigo had said the time wasn’t right. Jeen could tell that Daria wasn’t happy with the restrictions placed on her actions, and complained that Rigo had been gone too long.
Jeen rubbed her temples. She had a headache and knew she was neglecting something. For more than two glass she had been feeling this nagging sensation in the back of her mind that she was forgetting to do something important. Until a short time ago she had been too busy to worry about it and had pushed the feeling aside, but now she was trying to recall what she might have overlooked. She closed her eyes and thought. Nothing came to her. It wasn’t Ash’urn and Nycoh who spent their time working on something. She pulled over the list she had created that contained everything she needed to complete. Her finger moved along the list, but found nothing.