Ancient Magic

by Blink, Bob

  Rigo could feel the scream of energies being released and watched as his own panel faded away. He reached out to try and reestablish the link, but he could only get so far. Something had happened at tower thirty-one. Reminding those he could contact to return to the Outpost, Rigo quickly created a Bypass and jumped to see what had happened. Dozens of Hoplani swarmed around the tower, causing Rigo to unleash wave after wave of Brightfire to blast those nearby. He found the remains of Cris, and could guess what had happened.

  Retrieving the body, he created a Bypass back to the Outpost. They had one last chance, and he wasn’t hopeful. If Tam had been nervous before, the loss of Cris wouldn’t help. He would have to adjust the positions, something he was loath to do given this arrangement had allowed the link to form. He couldn’t very well hope to put nervous Tam where he would be exposed to multiple Hoplani and where someone had just been killed.

  “What happened?” Burke asked when Rigo reappeared carrying Cris’s mangled body.

  “Hoplani,” was all that Rigo needed to say.

  “We lost another,” Jeen said, when Rigo set the body down inside one of the rooms.

  “Another?” Rigo asked sharply. That couldn’t be. Defeat washed over him. They would be short.

  “When the panels fell, some of the Hoplani that had been held back, charged forward and caught one of our people who had felt safe behind the barrier.” Jeen frowned. “We are down to sixty-three, and that includes Tam.”

  Rigo’s shoulders slumped. So close! A few seconds longer and the barrier would be in place. Now they didn’t have the wizards required to try again, and Hoplani were already streaming past the towers. They would have to try and stop them, and that would risk even more being hurt.

  “We might as well gather everyone in the meeting room and tell them the bad news,” Rigo said.

  Once everyone was assembled, Rigo explained about the two wizards who had been killed. He had just given the dreadful news that they were now short of the number required, with no idea how long it might be before another could be found and raised to the necessary level before they could try again, weeks to months probably, when Nycoh spoke up.

  “I can bridge two, maybe three towers,” she said.

  ‘It can’t be done that way,” Rigo told her, echoing Daim’s thoughts.

  “I can,” Nycoh insisted. “I just need anyone with the gift to be located next to me. They don’t need any linking ability.”

  Rigo tried to argue, but Nycoh, despite her young age, wasn’t about to be put off. “What do we have to lose? If we don’t succeed now, it will be too late. Put Tam on one side of me and anyone else on the other side. We have to try. Please!”

  “It’s going to be even more dangerous,” Rigo objected. “The Hoplani have already reached the towers.”

  “So we have to act quickly,” Nycoh countered. “Send a couple of wizards with Tam and whoever agrees to be a surrogate to help protect them. The rest of us will take our chances again.”

  Rigo didn’t feel comfortable putting everyone at risk, but he could see the confidence in Nycoh’s eyes. She had proven able to do things no one else was capable of. Perhaps she knew what she was saying. He put it to a vote. Everyone agreed, although some weren’t happy about it.

  “Be ready to abort if you are attacked,” Rigo warned them.

  Then they all jumped back to their positions.

  Rigo didn’t really expect much. The odds that someone would have to jump away were great, and what Nycoh had proposed had never been attempted before. Of course, in Daim’s time there hadn’t been the need.

  In the short time that they had been at the Outpost, the Hoplani had started invading the space where Nycoh was positioned. Hundreds of the beasts were passing not too far away, and she could see they were starting to move closer to where she stood, clinging to the tower with her hand pressed against the activator plate. She couldn’t leave now. They had to succeed! She realized, however, with this many of the animals passing by so closely, it was only a matter of time before one of the creatures spotted her, and then attacked. When one attacked, the others would as well.

  Almost as she finished the thought, one passed within five paces behind her, but by some miracle it didn’t spot her. She could hear them grunting and smell them as they passed. More and more were coming toward the tower. There had to be several thousand in this group. She doubted she would have time to make a Bypass if she had to leave quickly. After her brave words, she didn’t dare fail now!

  Then she had an idea. While holding the link she couldn’t use other magic, but maybe there was another way. Not daring to hope, she softly voiced one of the verbal commands that she and Ash’urn had studied so carefully. Verbal magic might just be different enough. Unbelievably, she was right. The spell for invisibility washed over her, hiding her from the Hoplani. Now if Rigo would just hurry!

  The link was formed much quicker this time. They were getting better at this. Surprisingly, Nycoh had been right, and Rigo could feel the link solid over the towers she controlled. As soon as the link stabilized, Rigo and Jeen started raising the barrier sections. Once again they spread away from the anchor towers.

  Rigo held his breath as the final sections were about to be raised. There had been a couple of moments where the link wavered and he had thought they would fail once again. But somehow it had held.

  Two to go, Rigo thought. One. Then, against all odds, he felt the power surge as the full length of the magical field was established. The south anchor tower linked with the north, and for the first time in well over two thousand years, an impenetrable wall separated the Ruins from the three kingdoms.

  Stepping back from the tower, no longer having to stay in contact, Rigo marveled at the sight. He grinned. They’d done it. Then he jumped back to the Outpost. They still had a lot to do. Who knew how many Hoplani had managed to get past the towers before the barrier was in place?

  Chapter 94

  “The Hoplani are still getting through I tell you,” Burke insisted. He had cornered Rigo after returning from his shift out in the Ruins where he and most of the other wizards strong in Brightfire were hunting down Hoplani that had gotten past before the barrier was erected. Rigo had just returned to the Outpost after almost a week elsewhere.

  “That’s impossible,” argued Rigo. “The barrier is up. It’s checked daily.” He’d left instructions to have a wizard jump the length of the fence, stopping at each tower to verify no interruption in the barrier. The towers were old and hadn’t been operated for centuries, so it wouldn’t be too great of a surprise if one or more towers exhibited problems. So far that hadn’t happened. One of the first things he’d checked upon his return was the status of the towers and associated barrier. “For hundreds of years it served to cut the Hoplani off from the populated lands. What would allow them to get through now? Has anyone seen any of them able to penetrate the barrier?”

  Burke shook his head. “I don’t know, but there are too many of them for it to be otherwise. We have been killing them in large numbers, but always there are more. And no, the barrier seems effective enough. The Hoplani that don’t back away quickly after touching it, are soon killed. No one has ever seen any make it through. ”

  “You’ve seen the unexpected numbers all along the border?” Rigo asked.

  “Mostly along a large stretch near where you showed us the Rift used to be.”

  “Have you had someone carefully survey the barrier? Maybe something is wrong at some location. Perhaps over the centuries when it was down something undercut it. Maybe they found a way to slip beneath the energy panels.”

  “We just finished a careful check between ten towers in the region where the most creatures are being found,” Kela added. “We had wizards take horses out into the Ruins so they could ride the length of the most likely area. You have no idea how much effort that was. Horses don’t respond well to the Ruins, but the distances were too far to walk and making jumps could miss something. There is nothing wr
ong with the barrier in that area. They aren’t getting under anywhere.”

  “And nothing was found?” Rigo was surprised that he hadn’t been informed earlier, but then he’d been busy elsewhere for a while. Besides, Burke probably wanted to be certain before raising the issue.

  “It might be necessary to expand your check to the full length of the barrier. It’s a wise idea to check what you have. I should have thought of it earlier. I just assumed once the barrier was up, that would be the end of it.”

  “You realize that could take weeks? In the meantime we still have a problem,” Burke complained. “People are starting to worry.”

  That was an understatement. What had been euphoria a short time before was now becoming concern. If the barrier didn’t contain the creatures, what chance did they have? Past experience had shown they didn’t have the manpower to stop them all.

  Rigo thought for a moment. How to narrow the search? Then he had an idea. “Come on,” he said standing. “Let’s try something.”

  Rigo led Burke into the library where the large map of the continent was posted on the wall. There were two more maps like this at the Outpost and one in Daim’s hideaway he could retrieve later and replace this one. That made him feel better about what he was about to do. He retrieved a writing quill and some ink, and walked over to the map. Reaching into Daim’s memories he recalled where the Rift had been and carefully marked it on the map in the approximate location in the Ruins.

  “Can you recall where you personally have encountered herds of the Hoplani?” Rigo asked.

  Burke nodded. “It’ll only be approximate. We don’t have that good of an understanding of what’s out there and it’s difficult to fix positions. I can only recall with reference to the towers.”

  Rigo nodded. “I understand. At least the towers are numbered.”

  “They are?” Burke asked. “I never realized that.”

  Rigo pointed to a series of tiny symbols extending parallel to the border of the Ruins.

  “I guess not being able to read the language I never paid any attention,” Burke admitted.

  Rigo hadn’t thought about it. With Daim’s knowledge he read the numbers and words as if they were the language he grew up with. Quickly he inked in the numbers in modern script alongside the location of each tower.

  When he was finished, Burke pointed to a location on the map. “Here’s where my team found the first herd,” he said.

  Rigo marked it with a “B1”.

  Over the next several minutes Burke pointed out a number of additional locations. Rigo dutifully marked them all.

  “We need to do the same with all of the team leaders,” Rigo said. “Hopefully they remember as well as you do.”

  “I’ll go see who is here,” Burke said.

  Just as he was about to leave, Februus stepped into the library.

  “I heard you were here,” he said, seeing Rigo. “I thought your barrier was supposed to end the problem. Burke and others have informed me that the Hoplani are getting through. I have been waiting for you to return.”

  Februus noticed the markings on the map as he approached. “What are you doing?” he asked aghast at the damage to the ancient document.

  “We’re trying to identify if we really have a problem and where it might be,” Rigo said calmly. “The attempts thus far have been unproductive.”

  While Rigo explained to Februus his plan, Burke hurried off to get the other team leaders. Most should be at the Outpost this late in the day. Not many went out at night unless a call from the Patrols brought them out. He was just finishing explaining when Burke returned, two others in tow.

  “More will be here soon. I thought we could get started with these two,” he said.

  Over the next glass, Rigo and Burke painstakingly marked the reported positions of herds on the map. By the time they were finished it was apparent there was a problem.

  “I told you,” Burke said triumphantly.

  There were marks along the entire length of the border. Certain areas were more heavily marked than others, but by far and away the greatest number of marks were centered on an area that was one to two day’s ride south of a position directly west of the Rift’s former location. The area of the barrier that Burke’s people had checked covered the area where the most frequent encounters had taken place. Something else was happening, and they were going to need to find out what.

  Rigo marked a point that was the approximate center of the heavy distribution of marks. Then he drew a line from that point back to the location of the Rift.

  “Somewhere along that line, or within a couple glass ride to either side is where we’ll find our problem,” Rigo predicted.

  “Do you realize how much territory that is?” Burke asked, looking at the map.

  “More than you’ve already searched by riding along the barrier,” Rigo said, agreeing with Burke’s distress. They would have to take horses and have multiple teams out looking. It would probably take a couple of weeks, especially since they didn’t know exactly what they were looking for. The search would require manpower that was planned for other tasks, but this problem took priority.

  “What do you think? Three man teams?” Rigo asked Burke. “Perhaps a handful of teams. We could start at the barrier where this line intersects it, and then fan out as we head back toward Lopal.”

  Staring at the map, Burke finally nodded. “We could easily miss whatever is out there,” he said.

  “Then we’ll have to do it over again with a different pattern,” Rigo replied. “Can we have everyone you select meet here in the morning and we’ll explain assignments and what we are looking for.”

  The search required ten days, and then it was almost by accident the spot was located. One of the teams had passed it the previous day and noticed nothing, but one of the more alert team members had noticed the unexplained clouds of dust the next morning and they had returned to check it out. They had found a large herd of Hoplani pouring out of a small ravine hidden between two hills. Once the herd had passed they carefully rode into the area, magic ready in case more of the creatures suddenly appeared, and found a large fissure leading deep into the ground. The incline was heavily worn with thousands of footprints.

  “A cave,” Burke said peering into the crevice when he and Rigo had made the jump to the spot less than a glass later. “It must go under the barrier somewhere.”

  Rigo scanned the distance wasteland looking toward the barrier. It was so far away that it couldn’t be seen from their present location. The Hoplani must be traveling great distances underground. From somewhere on the far side of the barrier. The existence of the cave raised a number of questions. Where had this come from and why hadn’t it been known in Daim’s time? Were there other exists like this one? How many places could the creatures enter the underground passageway? Most importantly, could they close it off?

  “Let’s have a look,” Rigo said finally, as he started for the entrance.

  “You want to go in there?” Burke asked uncomfortably. “What if another herd of Hoplani tries to get through while we are inside?”

  “We have our Brightfire,” Rigo said. “You and I are among the most powerful. We should be able to handle them. Besides, they can’t be coming through constantly or there would be even more than have been reported. Tara’s team reported that only one group was seen in almost half a day. For the moment I don’t intend to go very far.”

  Burke was still uncomfortable, but he followed as Rigo descended into the shadowed entrance and then into the darkness beyond, using his wizard’s light to illuminate the cavern. They had walked for a quarter glass when Rigo stopped.

  “Hear anything?” Rigo asked.

  Burke shook his head. “Nothing,” he replied.

  “Me either. I would think we could hear them coming for some distance in a place like this. What do you think?”

  “I’ve never spent much time in caves, but this is very strange.”

  Rigo nodded looking at
the smooth, melted appearance of the sides of the tunnel. It looked as if the walls were made of fused sand, a primitive kind of glass. The walls were not entirely straight and there were places where particularly hard rock had resisted whatever force had made the tunnel, leaving hollows and recesses. The direction seemed to twist and turn slightly as they progressed, averaging more or less a constant bearing.

  “This is probably far enough for now,” Rigo said finally. “We need to think about our plan and how we want to pursue exploring this passageway. We need to know where it originates and how we might close it off.”

  “I would think we could use our magic and simply seal it,” Burke suggested.

  “Hopefully, but it needs to be somewhere on the far side of the barrier and in such a manner that a new access opening can’t be formed. I wonder if some kind of barrier like we have above might be the best way.”

  “Down here?” Burke asked.

  Rigo nodded. “Perhaps in addition to sealing it off somewhere. That’s odd,” he said frowning.

  Looking around quickly, Burke said, “What’s odd?”

  “Try and make a Bypass back to the Outpost,” Rigo suggested to him.

  Burke looked at Rigo oddly, but then did as asked. The easily created arch simply refused to materialize.

  “I can’t,” Burke said finally.

  “Me either,” admitted Rigo. “Something down here is blocking my magic.”

  “What about Brightfire?” Burke asked quickly, suddenly concerned. He picked out a target deeper in the tunnel and released a brief bolt of the bright energy.

  “That works normally,” he said with relief.

  Suddenly a Bypass arch appeared.

  “You managed to make it work?” Burke asked. “How?”

  “This Bypass only goes to the entrance to the tunnel. It lets out still inside the tunnel. It appears I can make a Bypass within the cave, but cannot reach outside.”