He nodded. "It should do."
"Well, yours won't." She rummaged in the bottom of the wardrobe and then tossed him a man's threadbare brown coat and scuffed boots.
He put on both without comment. The coat was large enough to fit over his brigandine, but the boots were a bit too small. He forced his feet into them anyway.
She examined him with a critical eye. "You still look like a vagabond, but at least you won't be walking around barefoot. It'd be better if you got rid of that leather vest whatever-it-is."
"No, I need to keep it."
"Alright, but keep the coat buttoned up all the way. Let's get going."
The door on the ground floor let them out onto a promenade splashed with mid-morning sun. A few people were moving along the promenade, but not many, and all wore durable-looking clothing that he took to be workman's attire. Most had an in-a-hurry pace and none gave the two of them a second glance.
Nali went left a dozen steps along the side of the warehouse, then stopped. "Wait here. I'm going to make a comm to the people I know."
She went far enough away so that he could not overhear and spoke briefly into a device about the size and shape of a scone. Her conversation amounted to only an exchange or three, then she waved for him to join her.
"Luck is on your side. The people I know were able to arrange a meeting today with the people they know."
He let a smile conceal his instantly resurgent suspicion at this very convenient happenstance. "Good. When?"
"In two hours. That's barely enough time to get to the meeting spot. Let's go."
He matched her long strides and felt the boots chaff his heels. "We're walking all the way?"
"No, there's a public port station that's not far away."
"We'll get bracelets there?"
"No, the magic is built in to the stations. The system doesn't cover the whole city, but if you make smart connections you can get most anywhere."
After a few minutes, the promenade rose gradually and made a graceful turn to provide a view of the city that he could scarce deny was magnificent.
"First time in Dhiloeckmyur?" Nali asked. She had caught him gawking.
He laughed off his embarrassment. "As a matter of fact, it is."
"I've always thought Dhiloeckmyur utilitarian and dull. Everyone calls Pyra the 'Golden City.' It must look wonderful."
"I suppose that you're right."
"I'd like to see it one day. Maybe you could take me there?"
He frowned. The Pyra that he knew was nothing more than ruins worn to nearly nothing. "I won't be returning to Pyra."
"Ah."
His gruffness clearly having put off her desire to chat, she left him to his own thoughts as they turned from the promenade and hiked along increasingly crowded ways that wandered over bridges and through building-piercing tunnels. After a quarter of an hour, they reached a plaza with a large, open rotunda built upon a raised platform. A large number of other pedestrians were entering and exiting from the rotunda between the supporting columns. When the two of them climbed the circling steps, he watched as the people entering ahead of them spread across the platform. Each spoke something aloud and vanished.
Nali took his hand again as they reached the top step. "As long as we're touching, we'll port together."
She pulled him off at an apparently random angle across the platform, quietly said, "Ball Harbor," and then they were walking in a different place.
Two more ports and a brisk walk brought them by increasingly less decorous ways to the base of a slab-sided building of burnished metal and glass. The narrow, unadorned street that ran alongside the building was empty and no doors were in evidence. Except for its spotless appearance, he would have considered it an alley.
Nali brought out her scone-sized device and spoke into it. "We're here."
Without delay, a waxy-purple lozenge half a fingerlength in its long diameter appeared on the pavement at her feet and she immediately stooped to retrieve it.
"This is an automated water treatment plant and there's no public access. You'll have to port inside." She handed him the lozenge. "This is coded to pass the wards. It's only good for one trip in and one trip out. Get rid of it right after you exit. It will decompose ten seconds after the second port and these things have a tendency to catch fire as they break down."
"You're not coming in?"
"No. This is as far as I go. Someone will meet you."
He held the lozenge between thumb and index finger and peered at it. "How does it work?"
She gave him a sour look and instructed in an irritatingly pedantic tone, "Put it on your palm smooth side down. Press the center of the rough side with your fingers."
"Got it. Thanks for your help."
Turning to walk away, she patted the trouser pocket containing his Bazaar tokens. "Any time."
As if conscious of his eyes upon her, when she reached the end of the building she turned and blew him a mischievous kiss, then rounded the corner and was gone.
Shaking his head at the peculiar ways of these ancient phantoms, he activated the port.
TWELVE
2170 by the Common Reckoning
(3211 Before the Founding of the Empire)
Secured City of Dhiloeckmyur
Nali rested her head on the high rim of the tub and let the steaming, neck-deep water soak away the tension that had given her a splitting headache.
When the wizard materialized no more than a step away, she did not jump. "Do you always have to visit when I'm naked?"
Zso awarded her an obligatory but perhaps unenthusiastic ogle and then took a seat on her chair. "No, but I do derive a number of delightful benefits from my profession. How was your day?"
"He wasn't interested. Without a philter, he won't give me a second glance."
"You underestimate your considerable charms, my dear Nali. A love potion will not be required. You must have patience. All is going according to plan. The probability that he would suffer instant infatuation was less than three percent and the plan is designed accordingly."
"He said that he has a wife. You didn't tell me about her."
"That minor detail is irrelevant. It will be taken care of."
"When do I have to see him again?"
"Soon. For now, you are to come with me."
"Come back in an hour. I want to finish my bath."
Zso laughed. "I am sorry, my dear. Your bath is not part of the plan."
THIRTEEN
2170 by the Common Reckoning
(3211 Before the Founding of the Empire)
Oaurlervy Faction Investigative Section Headquarters
Secured City of Dhiloeckmyur
The Committee waited with patient but non-committal expressions as Beltr completed his report.
"As expected, the operation at the unlicensed commercial gathering colloquially known as the 'Bazaar' did not result in the recapture of the perpetrator. In accordance with Directive Eighty-Two, twenty-seven individuals were killed while resisting arrest, the facilities of the operation were sealed, and forty-three violators were detained. Thus far, of those questioned, only one has confessed to seeing an oddly dressed man with no shoes."
"Is there some magical significance to the lack of footwear?" Commandant Drough asked.
"None that we have thus far determined, but a number of possibilities have been suggested that relate to casting defensive spells of some sort. It may be that bare feet are necessary to cast his wizardry spells."
Commandant Watl frowned. "Has it been confirmed that he is indeed a wizard?"
"Yes. Residual undertime disturbances have been detected within the inquisition chamber from which he escaped."
"Then he could flee at any moment into undertime. You won't be able to catch him."
"This is why it will be necessary to receive authorization for the release of the Langdyr Artifact."
"Only the Directorate Committee can approve the use of a Level Thirteen device," Commandant Lyreo said,
putting into words something that they all knew. "We would have to certify that the request has emergency priority in order to have it processed immediately."
That, Beltr knew, would place the three members of the Supervisory Committee at risk of reprisal should the Directors later determine that the request had been unwarranted. The repercussions of that would no doubt crush him as well.
"The wizard remains the linchpin of the conspiracy. Once we have him, we will be able to cleanse the Section of all contrary opinion and restore proper order."
Commandant Drough rapped the tabletop with his knuckles to make a sharp sound. "You will have to locate his exact position in order to bring the Langdyr Artifact to bear, will you not?"
Beltr smiled. "We have received information from a previously reliable source that the perpetrator will soon make contact with the Proctors in order to arrange a meeting. Once he does, we will know exactly where he will be."
"Is there any possibility that such will betray our informant?" Commandant Lyreo asked. "The resources that we have invested in that asset are irreplaceable."
"The Predictive Section places the likelihood at sixty-three percent. However, given that we already have garnered the full roster of the Proctors who are operating within the Commonwealth, we should be able to extinguish the organization's operations in our territory even should the informant be eliminated."
Commandant Lyreo leaned back in his chair for a moment, fingers steepled, then said, "Given the nature of the decision, I believe it best to take an official voice vote. I vote aye."
"I also vote aye," Commandant Drough said immediately.
Commandant Watl was silent for a moment, then shook her head. "I must vote Nay."
As the vote did not have to be unanimous, it was clear to Beltr that Watl was simply hedging her bets. Should anything go awry, Watl might be able to shift blame to the other two. If all went as planned then she would simply claim to have done due diligence and voted her natural reservations. Neither of the other two commandants displayed any reaction. Both were clearly not surprised; rivalry fueled by ambition was endemic in the upper levels of the hierarchy as well.
"The request is approved," Commandant Lyreo declared. "Compliance Officer Beltr, begin preparations for your operation. You will be informed when the Langdyr Artifact is available."
FOURTEEN
Mar appeared in a cavern dimly lit by overhead crucibles that glowed orange and blue as they rotated and tilted to exchange black and red fluids. Occasionally, bursting sparks would run along interconnecting rods and brighten an area for a moment before fading to leave persistent ripples in the background ether. Right in front of him, a conglomeration of bulky, convoluted piping manifolds and wagon-sized reciprocating mechanical arms blocked any forward advance. The setup spewed acrid odors and green mists on occasion, discouraging him from approaching any closer. Turning in a circle, he found more of the same and no obvious exit from the eight-pace wide gap that he had arrived in.
Having grown sensitive to the ethereal upset caused by the ports, he was immediately warned a moment later of the arrival of five individuals and readied his standard weapons of wind and fire.
No attacks, physical or ethereal, sprang from the spots where the five emerged near simultaneously. Spread in a semi-circle directly in front of him, all were hidden behind glamours that made them invisible to his eyes but not to his ethereal sense.
Reading the flux interactions of an ethereal presence was an art rather than a skill. Almost always, he could locate a person within his range, generally determine if that person were a man or a woman, and perhaps gain a feeling of their approximate age, but beyond that it was a matter of hit and miss. If he knew someone well, he could often judge the state of specific qualities: their mood, whether they had eaten of late, the nature of objects that they might possess, and so forth. Of these five complete strangers he could read but little and guess hardly more.
All were magenfolk, but he did not think that any were sorcerers. The one on the right was a woman of indeterminate age. Her ethereal presence was rife with spells, but he could tell that her own magical prowess was minor. To her right was a somewhat older man with similar ethereal accoutrements and accomplishments. The next was another woman, perhaps as young as Mar, and then two men, one very similar to the first man and the last much older.
None of them were wizards. The ethereal taint of undertime travel, a barking-sparkle, was unmistakably different from that left by the transportation magic. It still clung to him and he had begun to believe that it had become a permanent part of his flesh. None of the five possessed it.
"He can penetrate the glamours," the rightmost woman, said, waving a hand to disperse her own concealment. Tall, she had features that seemed pinched by a permanent dissatisfaction with the world and short auburn hair that changed shades in the difficult light.
Her lips made a tight line. "The spells are useless."
With various simple gestures, the other four dispensed with their ineffective glamours. All five were dressed similarly in plain clothing of muted browns or grays that might have been chosen to be nondescript. The expressions of the three to the right of the first woman ranged from guarded to severe. On the left, the older man had a hard scowl.
The woman in the center, blonde with a sturdy frame and stature, said, "Very impressive."
None of the five presented that indefinable demeanor that said leader, so he addressed his words to all of them. "Nali said that you could provide instruction in wizardry."
"If you don't mind," the second man, who had a full beard, said, "we would prefer to dispense with names -- yours, ours, and that of anyone that may have facilitated this meeting. Anonymity keeps us alive."
"I know that you're not sorcerers or wizards."
"And we know that you are a sorcerer," the first man, shorter than the other two, said.
"A very powerful alien sorcerer that two nights ago escaped from the forty-second floor of the Investigative Section Headquarters and then fought a battle with patrol aircraft and a phalanx of drones," Auburn Hair continued. "You destroyed nearly all of the latter and escaped without an apparent scratch."
Bearded Man nodded. "Half the city saw it while it was happening. The rest have been watching the recordings non-stop. Even the Faction apologist news nets are carrying it."
"In certain circles," Young Woman said, "you've become something of a hero."
"You're a symbol of rebellion," Short Man confirmed.
"We know what you want and we can provide it," Auburn Hair interjected, clearly to bring the discussion back on track. "Are you willing to do what we want in exchange?"
Mar frowned. "You tell me what you want and I'll tell you whether I'm willing to do it."
"During the Bazaar raid, a man was detained and taken to the Investigation Section Headquarters," Short Man indicated.
"He's in Holding Cell 8 on the eighth floor," Young Woman added.
"And you want me to get him out?"
"Yes," Young Woman quickly agreed.
"Or silenced," Auburn Hair clarified, sending a sharp, meaningful look toward the other woman. "The yellow jackets don't yet know of his association with our organization. He knows things that would be extremely harmful if revealed to the Investigative Section and we cannot allow him to suffer inquisition."
"You want him dead before he can talk."
All five nodded, though Young Woman clearly did so with obvious reluctance.
"Who is he?"
Young Woman started to speak, but Auburn Hair made a sharp forbidding gesture with her hand. "That's irrelevant."
Mar contemplated the group. "I'll take care of your fellow, one way or the other. When will I receive the instruction in wizardry?"
"Accomplish the task and then we'll talk again," Auburn Hair said. She nodded once as a signal to the other four, touched her wrist, and vanished.
"Wait! How do I get to the --"
As the others had already ported in q
uick succession, his words fell on empty air.
With no reason to tarry, he used the lozenge immediately. He arrived in the same deserted spot from whence he had departed, tossed away the potentially hazardous device, and set off, retracing his and Nali's route to the public port station.
His usual expedient of taking to flight to locate the Headquarters building by combing the city from the air was not an option. He had not seen any automatons or skyships flying overhead, but that did not mean that they were not waiting to pounce and he had little doubt that an attempt to fight his way into the stronghold would likely fail. His plan relied upon his old skills, not his new ones. He had been a thief before magic, kingdom, and empire, and there was no reason why he could not become one again.
It was a third of a league, according to his reckoning, to the station, which Nali had named Trenis Cove. As before, the ground level and connecting overhead promenades were little travelled and he focused most of his attention on a review of what he knew about the port stations.
It was clear that travel between the stations was a simple matter of speaking a destination aloud to key the spell, but it was also clear that each station had a limited range and that only destinations within that range could be selected. Of the four stations that he and Nali had visited, he knew the names of the last three -- Trenis Cove, Lordis Bay, and Ball Harbor. As they had not ported to it, Nali had not had cause to say the name of the one near the warehouse. Those three had to connect to dozens -- if not hundreds in a city the size of Dhiloeckmyur -- of other stations and there should be some combination of ports that would bring him to the vicinity of the Headquarters. He did not know what the exterior of the building looked like -- it had been night and his attention elsewhere -- but hopefully he would be able to identify the area based upon the other towers that he had seen during his fight with the automatons.
Trenis Cove was much busier than it had been when he had first passed through it and the congestion gave him a plausible excuse to take his time as he climbed to the platform. Puttering about like someone in no great hurry, he listened covertly to try to overhear others' destinations. To his disappointment, he learned that the majority of those going to and fro were circumspect in the announcement their destinations and wondered if this guarded manner were a simple matter of accepted courtesy or a necessary precaution to discourage the attention of hooligans and footpads. He did catch two names: Iron Pier and Lost Wadi. The former came from a group of chattering youths who announced the name in practiced unison so that they all ported simultaneously and the latter from a hand-holding and otherwise oblivious couple that he closely trailed as they coasted between the columns of the rotunda.
Wizard (The Key to Magic) Page 9