Scholar of Magic

by Michael G. Manning

  “This is a warehouse. Try his shop at the market.”

  “They sent me here,” shouted Will. “Is he here or not?”

  There was a long pause, then the voice replied, “He left the city last week.”

  “Then why did you tell me to go to the shop? You already knew he wasn’t there.”

  “They’re the ones that deal with customers. I’m just a loader. Go away.”

  Will debated with himself, unsure how aggressive he should be. “You won’t even open the door? I don’t even know who I’m talking to!”

  “Not my problem. Fuck off.”

  Will glanced at the spot where Tiny was standing. Then he shook his head negatively. He wanted to use a force-lance to ruin the lock and enter, but the building was huge. If he forced his way in, they might not be able to handle the resistance if there were a lot of employees or worse, vampires, inside. Worse, if they tried and failed, he would have warned them that their location was no longer a secret. During the night they might relocate.

  Reluctantly, he led Tiny away. Twenty minutes later, they were close to the school gates and Will canceled the camouflage spell so his friend could walk normally.

  The big man had a suggestion. “Why don’t I wait out here?”

  Will smiled. “You’re worried I’ll make you climb the wall if you come in and we leave after dark?”

  Tiny nodded.

  “It might be a while before I come back,” warned Will. “I have something else I intend to do before leaving, so you may have to wait a couple of hours.”

  Tiny looked up at the wall. “It’s worth it if I don’t have to scale that damned wall again.”

  “Have it your way.” He left Tiny there and headed for home, moving at a brisk pace. There wasn’t much time to waste. As soon as he reached the house, Blake greeted him at the door. “Welcome back. Where’s Tiny?”

  “He’s waiting outside the school grounds. Is Janice here?”

  “She’s using your study.”

  “Perfect. I’ll need her help with something, and it may take a while. Make sure we aren’t interrupted.”

  Blake’s brow twitched, though he kept his expression flat. “How long?”

  “An hour or two possibly,” Will replied. “Unless there’s an emergency, don’t disturb us. Don’t even knock.” He paused when he saw the manservant’s face darken. “It’s nothing like that.”

  “I didn’t say anything, sir,” responded Blake, his voice uncharacteristically toneless.

  “Listen, you should know me better by now. That business this morning was just a misunderstanding.”

  Blake nodded. “As I assumed, though if a pattern emerges your behavior will come under more scrutiny.”

  Will groaned. “Whatever. I answer to my conscience and Selene. Think what you like.” He moved past the man and headed for the stairs. I don’t have time for propriety, he told himself. The door to the study was open, and he strode in without pausing to make any noise.

  Janice started slightly when she saw him enter. “You’re back.”

  “I need your help.”

  She nodded. “Certainly. What is it?”

  “Something only you can help me with.” He glanced around the study, examining the chairs and the floor. “Hmm, we could do it in here, but the bed might be more comfortable.”

  Janice made no attempt to hide her reaction. One brow shot up immediately. “Exactly what sort of help are you asking me for?”

  “It’s nothing like that. I need some peace and quiet to do some experimenting. Blake will make sure we aren’t disturbed, and with your help I think I have a way to release myself—”

  “Excuse me?”

  “From my physical bounds,” he finished. “Stop thinking about this morning. I plan to try and project my spirit outside of my body.”

  Her grin made it clear she had been teasing him. “I wasn’t thinking about this morning. So, you’re planning to lie on the bed when you do this?”

  “That would probably be best.”

  “As long as you don’t have to pee.”

  Will groaned. “I’m never going to live that down, am I?”

  “Not for the foreseeable future at least. Explain to me how you plan to do this. Is it some restricted spell you stole? I haven’t heard of it before.”

  He shook his head. “I’ll explain later. The main thing I need you to do is help me cheat. I want to recreate the situation that caused me to leave my body last time. Here’s my idea. I’m sure you know the source-link spell—”

  “Of course,” she interrupted smugly.

  “—and you know how to use it to paralyze someone.”

  “No,” she said, changing her tone. “They talked about that, but we never practiced it.”

  “No problem,” said Will. “I can talk you through it, but I’ll need you to go a little farther and disconnect me from my source and my physical senses.”

  “Whoa,” she said, holding up one hand. “Couldn’t that kill you? Separating you from your source?”

  He shook his head. “No, it’s still there, supporting the body. You’ll just be blocking my access to it.”

  “But then you won’t be able to use magic. That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “This isn’t really magic, per se. Just help me. I’ll explain what I know later.”

  “Why are you in such a hurry? It’s almost nightfall. Wouldn’t it be better to do it tomorrow?”

  “I’m going to try and find Tailtiu. They wouldn’t let us into the warehouse. They wouldn’t even open the door. If I can see her and get some clue from what’s around her, I’ll have a better idea whether we should try forcing our way in, or whether we should search elsewhere. It’s already been days. Who knows what kind of shape she’s in?”

  Ten minutes later and Will was lying on his bed while Janice stared down at him once again. This time, however, he was fully clothed, wide awake, and not in desperate need of a place to relieve his bladder. As expected, Janice was a quick study and had already succeeded in paralyzing him twice. Separating him from his source was a little trickier, though.

  “I have no idea what I’m doing,” she complained.

  “It isn’t something that’s easy to visualize,” he told her. “It might be easier if you experience it yourself. Lie down on the bed and I’ll show you.”

  Her eyes were full of warnings, but she said nothing.

  “Blake won’t walk in. Hurry up. The sooner you learn, the sooner I can find Tailtiu.” After a moment she lay down beside him, her eyes on the ceiling. The source-link she had created was still active between them, so Will wrested control from her and reversed the link. Then he paralyzed her and proceeded to sever her link to her source.

  She panicked, though the only visible sign was her eyes rolling wildly in her head—they were the only thing she still controlled. He could feel her will bucking wildly within her, desperate to regain contact with her source. He kept his voice calm. “It’s disconcerting, but try to remember the feeling. I want you to do the same thing to me, plus this.” As he finished the sentence, he went further, cutting off her access to her senses.

  Her eyes went still, but through the link he could feel her emotional turmoil. Despite knowing what he was doing, knowing that he was a friend, terror had taken hold. Feeling guilty, he released her.

  She shot up into a sitting position, gasping loudly as her chest drew in a huge lungful of air. She caught herself and suppressed the scream that almost followed, turning it into a slower exhalation of air. Janice hyperventilated briefly until she could eventually regain her composure. The look on her face as she stared at Will was anything but happy. “Please don’t ever do that again!”

  “Which part?”

  “Any of it. How did you take over the link like that? That surprised me, then you took everything else! I was sort of all right, until it all went black. I don’t think I’ve ever been so terrified in my life.”

  “Control of the link is a matter of will.
The initiator has a slight advantage, but unless they’re close to the strength of the person that they’re holding, they won’t be able to maintain it in a contest.”

  “I’ve been attaching to you easily enough, though.”

  “That’s because I’m cooperating. It isn’t a matter of skill. It’s a matter of will, which is something that comes from time, experience, and what type of training you do.”

  She stared at him thoughtfully. “Well you don’t have me on time or experience, so it must be whatever weird training your original master gave you, right?”

  He grinned. “Probably.”

  “Maybe you can teach me someday?”

  “Maybe. It was pretty horrible, not to mention risky. Let’s talk about that some other time.” They returned to practicing, and after another twenty minutes Janice eventually had the hang of how to do what he wanted.

  “All right,” he told her. “Let’s do it again, but this time don’t release it. Keep me locked inside myself.”

  “For how long?” she asked.

  That was an excellent question, one for which he didn’t have a good answer. Once she had locked him inside himself and disconnected him from his own source and senses, he would have no way to signal Janice when he wanted her to release him. He thought about it for a minute, then made up his mind. “Give it fifteen minutes. If it hasn’t been long enough then I’ll ask you to do it again.”

  “And if it has been long enough?”

  “Then I won’t say anything. I’ll seem like I’m asleep, or dead maybe. I’m not sure what my body will be like exactly, since I hopefully won’t be in it.”

  “Are you sure this is safe?”

  “Perfectly,” he lied, but when Janice tilted her chin downward in disbelief, he stopped. “It’s a little risky. I’ve only done it a few times before, and those were by accident.”

  She seemed pleased by the honesty, but not completely swayed. “Tell me again why I should help you do this if it puts you at risk.”

  “Because it’s the only chance I have to help someone I care about.”

  “A fae woman who couldn’t possibly return the same concern,” clarified Janice.

  “If she doesn’t, it won’t work,” said Will. “There has to be some sort of bond between us for me to find her.”

  She seemed to come to a decision, and when she spoke again it was with no uncertainty in her voice. “Lie down and close your eyes.”

  Chapter 23

  Wrapped in a void, Will could sense nothing of the outside world. Losing his vision wouldn’t have been too bad on its own, but he couldn’t feel his body either, and perhaps most disconcerting, his source was gone. There was nothing left of him but a disembodied mind trapped in a sea of darkness.

  Unlike the first time he had experienced it, he wasn’t panicked. When Aislinn had done it to him, it had been sudden and without him understanding what she was about to do. This time he had chosen it. Hopefully terror wasn’t the key factor. If it was, he likely wouldn’t succeed.

  Rather than try to reach Tailtiu immediately, Will envisioned Janice in his mind. She was close, and they were friends, so there was no doubt in his mind that there was a connection between them. Focusing on her, he began to feel a pressure, as though he was trapped inside a bubble and fighting to pull himself out. It was similar to what he had felt when he had deliberately tried to escape his body, but it wasn’t as strong this time.

  Losing all physical sense of myself must weaken the barrier, he thought, promptly losing his image of Janice. He tried again, keeping his mental image firm this time. Once more the pressure built, and then with a sudden rush of light, he was out.

  Janice sat beside him on the bed, her face worried as she looked down on him. With a little effort and a few false starts, Will managed to position himself above his body but close enough that he could see her expression clearly. Ouch, he thought as he caught side of the redness of her eyes. Why is she so upset? She knows I’m still fine.

  He would have to ask her later. Clearing his mind, he imagined his fae aunt. Her face wouldn’t come to him at first, strangely. Normally he was confident of his imagination, but only an empty, gray space existed where her image should be. No, it’s there. It has to be.

  Yet as much as he tried, the memory of her features wouldn’t appear, and a seed of doubt crept into his heart. Had Arrogan been right? Was she truly soulless, heartless—uncaring? No, he wouldn’t believe it.

  He kept trying, and though her face wouldn’t appear, he began to hear a faint murmuring, as though someone was whispering just out of view. “I don’t care. I’ll kill you all. There is no pain. Set me free and your death will follow.” The words became clearer the longer he listened, sounding like a litany of cruelty and anger, as though a murderous madman’s thoughts were being shown to the world.

  But the voice wasn’t that of a madman. He recognized it. It was pain, his pain. It was his anger too, burning like a sullen ember in the center of his being, desperately wishing it could escape. With the knowledge of its existence, he realized he had a choice, feed the flames, or accept the pain without letting it dictate his actions.

  Neither course would heal the wound. Neither would end the suffering, but one choice would offer the illusion of free will while allowing his pain to control him. The other offered freedom, complete with the unavoidable pain of living.

  Inside himself, he reached out, embracing the ember and pulling it inward. It was like a small child, hurt and angry, not understanding the world that had wounded it. Will held it to his bosom, trying to convey the feeling to his innermost self, you are not alone. I am here with you.

  The words grew louder as the litany continued to repeat, but now he realized the voice was no longer his own, if it ever had been. It was Tailtiu. He listened, and then he tried to call to her. Tailtiu, Tailtiu, Tailtiu, thrice called. Hear me.

  The pain grew intense, coloring his inner world with a searing, white light that exploded outward, blinding him. Then it faded, and two eyes appeared, green with cat’s eye pupils. The pain throbbed at his center of his being, and the eyes receded slightly, while the image of a woman’s face grew around them.

  Will was in a place of darkness, and his aunt lay on the floor in front of him. Her features were gaunt, emaciated, almost lifeless, as she sprawled like a broken doll. Cruel iron chains held her wrists and ankles, and the skin was black around them. She was in the corner of a large building, chained to the massive wooden supports that framed the wall. Off to the side, Will could see pallets stacked with a variety of crates and boxes.

  It was a warehouse.

  As he watched her, Tailtiu’s eyes glittered, focusing on him somehow, and when their gazes locked, he felt something click inside himself. The sullen ember of his pain flared within him as it connected with whatever was inside the fae woman. His aunt’s eyes changed, welling with tears, and her lips formed silent words. “Will? It hurts.”

  Her features twisted as the pain began to register within her. Somehow Will understood, knowing without being aware of where the knowledge came from. The pain, her pain, had been invisible, unfelt, unknown to her—but Tailtiu was beginning to feel it now. Something had changed.

  Her pain grew, and as it did, she began to wail. A scream built, though she didn’t have the strength to express it. Instead it manifested as a breathless, coarse moan, horrifying by virtue of its very impotence. Nearby, Will heard movement, as something drew closer to investigate the sound. He tried to turn and see the source of the sound, but his point of view remain fixed on the vision of his dying aunt.

  “She’s screaming,” said a voice, brimming with curiosity. “That’s new.”

  Another voice chuckled as it replied, “She can’t even scream properly, but I still want to make it stop.”

  “We can’t touch her. Liss will rip our hearts out if we do.”

  “He’s a fool. Look at her! I know you can smell it. He’s trying to keep it all to himself.”

  “
Don’t be stupid. He said the fae were like a drug. I know you’ve tried balung before. It’s like that.”

  “It doesn’t do anything to me now. There’s nothing left but blood—blood and whatever it is that’s inside that fae girl. It smells incredible.”

  “You’re right about that, but we still can’t risk it. What are you doing?” Will heard the sound of something move, perhaps that of a step being taken.

  “It isn’t a drug. Liss lied to us. You know why? Because it’s really power. She’s full of it, and whoever takes her will grow with it.”

  Will saw the creature when it rushed forward, falling on Tailtiu’s frail body. It was the body of a man, heavy-set and bald. As his head leaned down, Will both saw and felt the fangs pierce Tailtiu’s flesh. A moan sounded behind him, and a second form rushed forward from the darkness to latch onto one of her legs. Seconds later and the darkness of the warehouse was alive with the sounds of running feet. The others were coming to feed.

  Sickened, Will fought to escape the sight, and for a moment he panicked. Several terrible seconds passed before he regained his wits and thought to send his focus elsewhere. Janice. The world shifted and changed, and then he was once more back in his bedroom.

  Janice still watched over him, though her expression seemed to have calmed. Will stared at his body and rushed toward it, feeling resistance as he tried to enter. It might have delayed him under other circumstances, but his desperation was too fresh, too raw. Driving inward, he felt his flesh solidify around him, heavy and warm.

  Sitting up suddenly, Will tried to stand and promptly fell over, collapsing onto the rug at the foot of the bed. Janice grabbed his shoulder to stabilize him as he began clambering to his feet, heedless of his lack of balance. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “They’re feeding,” he blurted out. “We have to go. Now.” He was upright now, though still unsteady as he started for the door.

  Janice held onto his shoulder. “Wait, let’s think about this—”

  He jerked free and kept moving. “There’s no time. She’s at the warehouse. They’re going to kill her, and then they’ll be everywhere.”