by John Corwin
"Mastery is never-ending." He turned to Shushiel. "Will you scout ahead, friend?"
"Of course, Master Kanaan," Shushiel said in an awed whisper. "Watching you fight was like art in motion."
Kanaan bowed slightly. "You are a master of threads. Thank you for binding the other attacker."
Shushiel bobbed up and down like she did when happy or laughing then climbed the wall and shimmered into camouflage.
"He is quite good," Ambria said to me. She took my hand and leaned against my shoulder. "But we made a pretty good team against Boris, didn't we?"
I let the heat of her body chase away the chill of fear still lingering from the encounter. "Yes, we did, but we can't stand against someone like Garkin."
Kanaan went to the corner and peered around it. He turned and looked me up and down. "One year."
I didn't know what he meant by that and jumped on the wrong conclusion. "It took you only a year to master agility?"
"That is what it will take to teach you the basics." Kanaan motioned us on and we followed a series of webbed arrows through empty alleys and streets. We came to another stop and waited on another signal from Shushiel, so I took the opportunity to ask another question.
"When do I begin?"
"Tomorrow."
"Um, can I learn too?" Max asked.
"Me too," Ambria said.
"I will teach anyone willing to learn." The magitsu master spotted another arrow and we continued on.
When we at last reached the doors leading into the waystation, we encountered our next obstacle—a human dam of bodies blocked the way out. People shouted and demanded to be let through, but only so many could fit through the narrow exit.
Kanaan didn't seem discouraged and continued across the main road and down a narrow street until we stood at the very end of the Grotto where it ended in a dense bank of fog.
Max tried to put his hand in the fog, but encountered an invisible barrier. "What now?"
Kanaan rested his gaze on me. "Tell me what you see."
I looked around. "A tree, some houses, a wall of fog behind an invisible barrier."
"Tell me what you sense."
I wasn't sure what he meant, so I sniffed. "Smells like wet rocks and grass."
He nodded. "Continue."
"I think he means to use all your senses, Conrad." Ambria sniffed and ran her hand along the invisible barrier. She stopped and backed up, running her fingers along a certain spot. "This barrier has lumps."
Max joined her and ran his hand up and down. "It's smooth like glass, but bumpy."
I walked closer and noticed the scent of damp rock grew stronger. It reminded me of freshly dug earth. I felt the barrier and noticed the same thing. Magical shields were usually uniform in shape, though from what I'd learned in history, the barrier in the Grotto was something of a mystery.
Queens Gate was a walled-in valley with a clear view of the sky. The Grotto was similar except an invisible barrier and thick fog surrounded it. I'd been through a crack in the world of Queens Gate and as I stood close to the fog, I realized how much it smelled like that rocky tunnel.
"Is this an illusion?" I asked.
Kanaan watched me but said nothing.
I closed my eyes and touched the barrier, sniffing like a dog hunting a fox. Despite the smooth feel of the barrier, it smelled like rock and earth. I kept walking, feeling the imperfections until I found the corner. Here the barrier took a right turn to block off the front section of the city. It was there that I felt a small hole just large enough to slip a finger into. Hoping it wasn't a trap, I inserted my index finger and found a lever. I depressed it. Something clicked and a four-by-four opening silently appeared.
Kanaan offered a curt nod. "This is an emergency exit built by Underborn. Proceed."
I crawled through the opening and emerged in a huge hall filled with arches from one end to the other. I recognized the black and white stripes of an Alabaster Arch rising above dozens of smaller black arches. A niche to the left held even more. It looked just like the pictures from the history book.
"Whoa!" Max brushed off his knees and looked around. "So this is a control room."
An Arcane in worker bee robes stood at the far end of the great hall, connecting cities on the large map by manipulating a rotating sphere on a pedestal.
"It's a madhouse, I tell you, a madhouse!" another Arcane said as he stormed into the control room.
We took cover behind a nearby arch while Kanaan closed the secret door and walked over to the niche of small black arches.
"What happened?" the controller asked.
"A riot. That weasel Xander Tiberius announced he's running for primus and all hell broke loose." He shook his head. "There's no way that collaborator is getting any votes."
"Wow, I never expected him to run for election." The controller activated the arch and a deep hum resounded through the room. "You know, not all of his policies were bad. It was nice having Arcanes put first for a change instead of the vampires running the show."
"You can't be serious." The humming arch in the cavern beyond the room drowned out the rest of the words.
Kanaan motioned us over to the niche and walked among the small black arches. A silver circle surrounded each one, many marked with red Xs. He stopped in front of one with a green slash and knelt to press his thumb against the circle. Static brushed against the hairs on my arm as a magical circuit closed.
"Where do these arches go?" Max said. "What's with the green slash?"
"Anywhere but here is good," Ambria said.
I didn't have much experience with arches and only knew the bits and pieces taught in the history books. I suspected they kept the information intentionally vague since arch operations required a technical university degree.
Kanaan stepped inside the circle and concentrated on the arch. A silver line split the air vertically from top to bottom and peeled open into a portal the same shape and size as the arch. Familiar gray stone floors lay on the other side. "Enter," he said.
I stepped through. The world warped like a fishbowl and snapped back in place. I stood in the main hall of Arcane University. The portal hovered just above the floor behind me without a corresponding arch to support it. I gaped in disbelief until Ambria leapt through and knocked me on my backside.
"Oh, Conrad!" She giggled and took my hand to help me up.
Max, Kanaan, and Shushiel came through one at a time, then the portal winked into a white dot that faded like an afterimage burned into my retina.
"How was that possible?" I asked. "There's no arch here."
"An omniarch," Kanaan said in his usual brief manner.
Max scratched his head. "Never heard of one. You're saying it can open portals anywhere?"
Kanaan let us figure that one out ourselves and set off down the hall. We hurried to catch up.
"Where are we going?" Ambria asked.
"The mansion." He said it like it was a proper noun.
The mansion used by Arcanus Primuses of the past lay in ruins. The mansions of former Greek Row had been leveled by war. The only one I knew of was Galfandor's house. "Why are we going there?"
"It is a safe place." We continued down the main hall, through the many twists and turns that made the school a maze where many a student had become lost. We went down several flights of stairs until we reached a small room hewn from rock. Kanaan flicked his wand and one of the walls shimmered away to reveal a door.
"This is the Burrows, isn't it?" Max said. "We're not supposed to go in here."
Kanaan twisted his wand in the lock and the door creaked open into a black space. The tip of his wand glowed. He tossed it inside and the wand hovered in a tunnel. "Enter."
"I have always wanted to explore the Burrows." Shushiel bounced on all eight legs. "May I run ahead?"
"Of course," Kanaan said.
The ruby spider vanished into the dark.
Max stepped over the threshold. "Won't she get lost?"
Kanaan touche
d a slender silk thread on the tunnel wall. "She can find her way back."
"Where is this mansion you mentioned?" Ambria rubbed her arms in the cool air. "I don't like this place at all."
With Kanaan's floating wand leading the way, we followed him. "These were once dungeons. Later, a secret place for the Arcane Council to meet. Not so long ago, many called the Burrows home."
As we went deeper, we found old prison cells converted into living quarters, the dust-covered cross of the Templar order on a rocky ledge, moldy clothes, and even silverware. As we crossed the dark dungeon, I saw a dim yellow glow emanating around a curve ahead.
Max jumped at every noise, holding his glowing wand defensively. "I don't like this place at all. How much further?"
We turned the corner and entered a wide hall lit by magic sconces on the walls. Kanaan flicked his wand and another light source brightened until the huge space glowed bright as day. Standing grandly before us stood a huge mansion even larger than Galfandor's.
"An underground mansion?" Max rubbed his eyes as if they might be deceiving him. "Where are we?"
Kanaan pointed up. "The original once stood above. Destroyed by Daelissa, now a pale imitation."
"It's a replica of the original mansion!" Ambria clapped her hands together. "How beautiful."
Shushiel appeared at the top of the roof and crawled down to join us. "Why did people live below ground?"
"Daelissa planted an arch in the goliath arena and invaded Queens Gate." Ambria tapped her bottom lip with a finger. "This was probably a safe place to hide."
I blinked a few times and tried to process what this meant. "Are you saying we need to live down here?"
Kanaan shook his head. "This is where we train." He walked past the mansion and into a small door at the end of the tunnel. Inside stood a black arch about ten feet tall and just as wide. "I will reside in the mansion. You must find your way down here each day we train. In case of emergency, I will use this omniarch to assist."
"Why can't we just come through the arch?" Max shivered. "I don't want to go back through those dark tunnels."
"You may choose not to come." Kanaan's face betrayed no emotion as he regarded us. "But without proper conditioning, I believe you will die."
Chapter 8
Kanaan's stark appraisal was enough to bring us bright and early to the Burrows once again the next morning. The secret entrance he'd opened the day before was gone.
"How does he expect us to get down there?" Max ran his hands up and down the wall where the entrance had appeared before.
Ambria looked up the center of the stairwell. "We did come down the right stairs, didn't we?"
"I'm positive." I'd made a note of the particular statues and paintings we'd passed.
Shushiel dangled from a web attached to the ceiling. "Did you wave your wand like he did?"
Ambria looked at me. I looked at her. Max threw his hands up and groaned.
"I don't remember the pattern," I admitted. Stupid! I should have been more observant.
Shushiel raised a foreleg and flicked through a quick pattern. "Does that help?"
Ambria took the spider's foreleg and pressed it to her cheek. "What would we ever do without you?"
Shushiel's mandibles twitched with laughter.
I took out my wand and waved it through the pattern, but the pattern without context was useless. Though spells didn't require words to work, they needed will and focus to shape them. Words helped novices like us shape the spell into the required form. Or maybe they just helped us focus the purpose of the spell. Despite everything we'd learned, it was still confusing.
Max seemed to have reached the same conclusion. "I don't suppose he said any words, did he?"
"No, but he looked at the wall in a determined way." Shushiel dropped to the floor between us, her padded legs making no sound. "Perhaps that will help."
"It's simple," Ambria said. She flicked her wand in the pattern. The solid wall illusion shimmered away, revealing the entrance. She grinned when she saw the confusion on our faces.
Max's jaw dropped open. "How did you get it to work?"
"Spells work with patterns and willpower to focus them." She reached over and gently pressed up on his chin to close his mouth. "All I had to do was will the entrance to reveal itself."
"Because it was a solid illusion," I said.
She quirked her lips. "Well, I asked it to reveal and open just in case."
Shushiel bobbed up and down. "That was very smart of you."
Ambria rubbed the spider's soft red fur. "That's because girls are smarter than boys."
"I think you are right!" Shushiel tilted to the side. "Though I am not a human girl."
"You're a girl spider, so that counts."
Max waved his hands. "Shushiel, don't encourage her."
Ambria laughed. "Don't be frightened of my superiority, Max."
I checked the time on my arcphone. "We're running late. We need to hurry."
Max bounded through the opening. Bright lights flashed and he shouted with alarm. Shushiel skittered through after him and the rest of us followed. I turned off the illumination spell hovering over us since bright glowballs lit the once-dark tunnel.
A tall wooden wall with ropes blocked our way. Shushiel climbed up and over. She bobbed with agitation and returned to us. "I think it will take some time to reach the mansion."
Max's forehead pinched. "What's on the other side of the wall?"
"Many traps that we must get past." Shushiel's multiple eyes blinked at once. "It looks dangerous."
"That's a tall wall," Ambria said. "Maybe we should go get our brooms."
"I don't think Kanaan would be happy if we cheated," Max said. He blew out a sigh and went to the wall. It stood about ten feet tall with three knotted ropes hanging from the top. He gripped the knots and shimmied up, his body bouncing off the wall with each wriggle upward. After a lot of grunting, he dragged himself atop the wall and lay down. "Oh, man. This is going to take all day!"
Ambria grabbed the rope, braced her feet on the wall, and walked up in half the time it took Max.
"How in the world did you get up here so fast?" Max asked.
"I joined the summer athletic courses." Ambria pulled up her sleeve and flexed an arm to reveal a nicely formed bicep. "After our adventures in the Glimmer, I decided to get in better shape. I asked you and Conrad to join the courses too, but you were too busy."
I vaguely remembered her asking us. It involved hiking, sports, and gym activities, but I was too intent on improving my magical abilities and spent a great deal of time exploring Ezzek Moore's hidden vault that we'd found last year. Between that and learning arcnology from Ansel, I didn't have the time for athletics, although right now I wished I had found the time.
Shushiel crawled onto the ceiling and moved ahead while I followed Ambria's example and walked up the wall instead of shimmying up the rope. I didn't quite match her pace, but I wasn't nearly as tired as Max.
A pendulum with a padded burlap sack on the end swung back and forth across the tunnel a few feet from the wall. Beyond that, I saw a series of ropes hanging over a trench filled with water. Whatever surprises came next were hidden around the bend.
We made our way down the ropes on the other side of the wall. Timed our way past the pendulum. Swung our way across the water trench, though not without mishap. Max and I both fell in once. Since the trench was deeper at the far end, we had to go back to the start to get out and reach the ropes.
When we caught up with Ambria around the corner, she already faced the next challenge. The floor, walls, and ceiling shined like polished glass up a slight incline for about forty yards. Shushiel slipped across the surface, her legs struggling helplessly, unable to find purchase and came sliding back down toward us.
"Easy," Ambria said without prompting. "We run at it, slide up, and reach the other side."
Max knelt and examined the slope. "You'll never get enough momentum."
"I haven
't sat on my backside all summer, Max." Ambria backed up a good ways and dashed toward the slick surface. She leapt at the last minute and landed on her feet, hunched over like a snow skier. The surface proved too slick, even for her improved body conditioning.
Her feet flew from underneath her and she landed on her backside, sliding at a mad pace halfway up the incline, slowing, and then gliding back down toward us. Max and I caught Ambria before she hit the rough floor, despite our gales of laughter.
"Oh, man that was funny!" Max howled with laughter. "You sure ended up on your backside that time."
I wiped tears from my eyes. "That was very athletic, Ambria."
Even Shushiel bobbed up and down in hysterics. "It was a good try and very funny."
Ambria was not amused. "That hurt."
Max held his stomach and managed some words between giggles. "Your ego, or your bottom?"
"Both." Ambria huffed and stood up. "Well, laughing isn't going to get us to the other side."
I took a few deep breaths to ward off another giggle fit and looked at the floor. Max is right. We can't get enough speed to slide up the hill. I imagined flinging someone across the floor, but even if I had the strength to spin someone around and toss them, it still wouldn't be enough. I knelt and touched the glassy surface with my bare hand. The surface felt cool and nearly as slick as Max's potion.
"Can you shoot a web across it?" Max asked Shushiel.
"My web does not shoot," the spider said. "It extrudes and I attach it."
Max frowned. "We should make a web shooting charm. It'd be bonkers if you could shoot your webs."
As they continued to talk about making slingshots from her web and propelling us across, I wondered if maybe we were thinking about this all wrong. The first few obstacles required physical exertion, but this one defied our abilities. Kanaan hadn't told us about his gauntlet, or explicitly stated any rules.
Why not use magic? I took out my wand and focused a fire spell on the slippery surface. It bubbled and melted away like ice, leaving behind bare rock. I swept the spell up the incline, clearing a path. After a few seconds, the rock glazed back over.