Still, if anyone knew what was happening, it would be Dean Blane.
Chapter 19
Conryu stepped out of the library and into a tropical jungle. All around him were tall trees, hanging vines, and red flowers the size of his head. The small clearing where he and Kai arrived was the first opening in the dense undergrowth he’d seen during his long survey of the island. The heat and humidity took his breath away. How could this island be so different from the one where he lived?
According to Maria, this island actually spent two months over the arctic. In that kind of cold, there shouldn’t be any growth like this. He shook his head. Despite the power magic gave him, sometimes Conryu really hated it.
“How will we search the entire island, Chosen?” Kai asked.
“We won’t. Even though the islands are a sealed environment, there are still minor spirits living here. Nothing with a real personality like a sprite or dryad, but still enough to let us know if anything strange has happened in the last few days.”
He closed his eyes and focused. If there was any danger, he trusted Kai to deal with it. His thoughts and magic reached out to the wind spirits. If any of them were going to notice something, it would be the spirits of the wind.
There weren’t many, but he finally found one with enough presence to respond to his call.
Has anything happened here?
It didn’t seem to understand his question. That was the problem with dealing with the weakest spirits. They existed on the very edge of sentience.
Have you seen anyone strange?
He got a vague impression of his and Kai’s faces.
Controlling his annoyance, he clarified. Besides us.
The spirit radiated joy when it finally understood what he wanted. An image appeared of another face, female and flawless, like she was wearing a glass mask. That was promising.
Show me where.
He opened his eyes and a faint blue spark appeared in front of him.
Kai reached for her sword, but he shook his head. “Our guide. The spirits have seen someone. Let’s go.”
They set out into the jungle. Conryu conjured a dark magic aura that disintegrated any vine or branch that might have delayed their travel. Even with that helping them, it took almost an hour to reach another clearing. As soon as they set foot in the little patch of grass, the blue spark vanished.
He sent his thanks to the spirit and focused on the matter at hand, a clear crystal obelisk three feet tall.
“What is it?” Kai asked.
“Beats me. Prime?”
“I don’t know,” the scholomantic growled between clamped teeth.
Conryu pointed and loosed a weak stream of fire. The spell hit the crystal, doing no damage, but not being negated either. What exactly was the bloody thing doing? It had to be what caused the island to fall out of the sky, but now it was just sitting there, inert.
He stepped closer and reached out.
Kai grabbed his shoulder. “What are you doing?”
“Checking for a vibration. My guess is, whatever this thing is supposed to do, it must work like the testing crystal. Something has to trigger it. If there’s no vibration, then it isn’t active.”
“I’ll test it,” Kai said. “You stay back.”
Conryu didn’t like putting others in danger, but Kai could be as stubborn as Maria at times. “Okay but be quick.”
She nodded, darted in, and put her palm on the crystal.
Nothing happened.
After a few seconds she stepped back. “I felt nothing.”
“Good. Let’s put some distance between us and whatever that is and I’ll see if I can smash it.”
“Shouldn’t we bring it to your mother?” Kai asked.
“I’m sure she’d like to check it out, but the only way to get it out of here is through the library and no way am I taking that crystal into the library. Who knows what kind of damage it might do?”
They backed up to the edge of the clearing and he brought the staff out from its pocket dimension. He leveled it at the crystal and the gem at the tip turned white. A lightning bolt lanced out, hit the crystal, and deflected into a tree, blowing ten feet of the trunk to splinters and sending it toppling to the ground.
Next the gem turned black and he hit the crystal with a blast of pure dark magic. All the grass around it withered and died, but the crystal itself didn’t get a mark. Fire had already proven to be a loser and cold was equally worthless.
When he’d cycled through all the elements, Conryu frowned and scratched his chin. Destroying things usually wasn’t a problem for him, but this crystal was proving especially durable. Then again maybe he was just approaching this from the wrong direction. The crystals seemed designed to defeat his magic. Something cruder might be the way to go.
The gem turned brown and Conryu pointed it at the ground near the far edge of the clearing. As his command, two boulders as big as his upper body ripped themselves free of the ground. He directed them to either side of the crystal and smashed them together.
A tinkling like shattering glass filled the air. He grinned and tossed the boulders aside. The obelisk had been reduced to hundreds of finger-length shards. “Bingo! Blunt physical force is the way to go. Let’s check the other islands. The last thing we need is to have more of these things falling out of the sky.”
Angus and Sienna left Conryu’s building in Sentinel City disappointed. His mother hadn’t been home and there was no indication of where she might have gone. A quick call to the Research Department got him the short reply that she was no longer employed there. That had surprised him more than not finding her at home. From what Angus understood, she loved that job. Something serious must have happened if she either quit or got fired.
When they reached the sidewalk Sienna asked, “Now what? You told me the mother could put me in touch with Conryu.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault she wasn’t home. I’m not a psychic. The next best bet will be his girlfriend, but she’s at the wizards’ academy near Central. Can you magic us there?”
“No.” Sienna grimaced. “I’m not powerful enough to open a proper portal. I can shift myself, but no one else.”
“If you show up alone, you’re going to get into trouble. Strange wizards aren’t welcomed at the Academy. I guess we’ll have to take the train. Do you have money for a ticket?”
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a gold coin. “Is this enough?”
Angus looked around but no one was paying attention to them. “That’s plenty, though they don’t take gold coins at the station. Tell you what. I’ll cover the tickets and you can pay me back.”
She offered a shallow bow. “I accept your offer. Thank you.”
He flagged down a cab and they made the drive across the city to the train station. Everything seemed so normal. There was no indication that the world knew a legendary city had returned. He hadn’t expected the government to make a big announcement, but he figured there’d be some sign, an increased security presence at least.
“Do you think anyone knows Atlantis has returned?” Angus asked. He flicked a glance at the driver to see if the woman had made any note of his comment. Her gaze was focused on the traffic not them. Besides, driving a cab in this city, she probably heard stranger things every day.
“It is possible no one here knows,” Sienna said. “The wizards would have felt the city’s return, but they probably had no idea what it meant. The Kingdom of the Isles knows, I told them, but whether they shared that information I couldn’t say.”
The cab pulled up to the train station and Angus paid their fare. Hundreds of people were streaming in and out of the huge complex, most on their cellphones or chatting with a companion. It was the busiest transport hub in the city with trains coming and going all day and all night to every corner of the Alliance.
“What now?” Sienna asked.
“Now we hope we can get seats on the next train to Central. It’ll be a six-hour wait if it’s fu
ll.”
Angus led the way up a long flight of stairs to the terminal. Overhead, flat-screen televisions were covered with arrival and departure times. The next train to Central left in an hour and a half. He started toward the ticket counter, but Sienna broke off and went to one of the many smaller tvs playing the news. She walked like a zombie, seemingly totally unaware of the people she was bumping into.
Muttering a curse on wizards in general, he hurried after her. Sienna stopped ten feet away from the tv. Apparently, there had been an accident in Madagascar. He read the text under the attractive brunette that was delivering the news. He blinked and read it again.
One of the floating islands had fallen out of the sky and destroyed a large section of the island’s interior. In all of recorded history, no floating island had ever crashed like that. If they were going to start falling randomly out of the sky, that was a huge problem.
“What a mess,” Angus said.
Sienna looked up as though just realizing he was there. “They’ve struck the first blow.”
Angus took a moment to process that. Keeping his voice pitched low he said, “You think Atlantis brought down the island? Do they have that kind of power?”
“I’m certain they did it. Madagascar is the ancient homeland of Lemuria. Though nothing remains, the attack is symbolic, a blow to their ancient enemies. And they certainly have the power. When it comes to negating magic, they are second to none.”
Angus took her arm gently, his throat tight. “Come on. We need to get to the Academy. Even if Conryu is out of touch, they need to know what’s happening.”
He’d get tickets on the next train even if he had to buy them from another passenger. After what he just saw, it was clear there was no time to waste.
Chapter 20
Conryu and Kai left the floating island and its ruined obelisk behind and an instant later emerged on a second island. This one featured an open plain surrounded by jagged mountains. It looked like someone dropped a section of the Midwest of North America in a huge stone bowl. It was warm, but dry instead of humid. He half expected to see a herd of bison go trundling by.
Interesting as the change of scenery was, they had a job to do. Conryu closed his eyes and reached out to the local wind spirits. They had nothing of interest to report. It looked like whoever was setting the crystals in place hadn’t reached this island yet.
Kai put her hand on his shoulder. “Chosen, something is coming.”
Conryu’s eyes snapped open and he looked where she was pointing. Way above them, higher than the mountain peaks, something – he squinted to try and get a better look but found the sun too bright – flew toward them. It wasn’t a bird, not moving in such a straight line.
“Can you make it out?”
“Not yet,” Kai said. “What should we do?”
Conryu looked around. There wasn’t a ton of places to hide. “We wait and see who it is and what they want. Maybe we can come to some sort of understanding and avoid a fight.”
Prime snorted and Conryu had to admit he wasn’t likely to get his wish. Still, if he could avoid a fight, he’d prefer to.
The object, it had a rectangular shape, but he couldn’t make out anything else, passed through the impenetrable barrier surrounding the island like it wasn’t even there. Whoever they were, they had powerful anti-magic abilities. He’d have to use indirect magic to fight them. Just to be ready, Conryu reached out with earth magic and grabbed a trio of boulders buried under the prairie. He could jerk them out and crush any threat in a second.
Kai reached for her sword, but Conryu said, “Not yet. We don’t want to look aggressive. Let them make the first move. Besides, I’ve seen you draw your sword. It’s hardly necessary for you to have it in your hands.”
She didn’t argue which he appreciated.
As it got closer, the object resolved into a boat made of crystal. Not that he was going to say that out loud, he’d sound like a madman.
“What is that?” Kai asked.
“Just what it looks like. I’ve never seen or heard of anything like it. Have you?”
Kai shook her head.
“Prime?”
The scholomantic’s jaws were clamped so tightly together that his cover was bunching up. Flying crystal boats were apparently another thing he wasn’t free to talk about.
The boat landed a hundred feet away from them. Seated inside was a single, distinctly female, figure made entirely of crystal. Golden energy swirled through its… her… Conryu wasn’t sure how to classify the person. She stood, stepped out of the boat, and turned to face them. Her crystal face betrayed no emotion as she studied them.
“Hello,” Conryu said. “I’m Conryu Koda and this is my friend, Kai. The surly looking book is Prime. This is going to sound strange, but you didn’t happen to leave a crystal obelisk on another of the islands, did you?”
“Two children of Lemuria, and one a male. How remarkable.” The crystal woman had a musical voice that sounded a bit like wind chimes. “This must be my lucky day.”
Conryu had no idea what Lemuria was. He glanced at Kai who shrugged.
“Lemuria was the first kingdom of magic,” Prime said. “They developed the first version of modern magic with the direct aid of the spirits.”
“Finally, something you can talk about,” Conryu said. He turned back to the crystal woman. “What should we call you?”
“Death!”
The crystal woman slammed her wrists together, filling the air with the most discordant, ear-rending noise.
Light flashed in Conryu’s eyes as he struggled to remain conscious.
Kai rushed toward her, sword drawn.
The crackling black blade slammed into the woman’s shoulder and shattered.
Kai rolled under a backhanded blow, sprang to her feet, and threw her ruined weapon aside.
The noise had died enough that he could think again. His first thought was to pull the boulders he’d tagged and hurl them toward their opponent.
The ground trembled as the stones ripped free and raced toward the crystal woman.
When they were only a few feet away, she punched them, smashing the rock as easily as Conryu might break a board in the dojo.
The crystal woman pointed.
Conryu leapt away just ahead of a red ray that burned a path through the grass behind him.
Enough playing around. “Reaper’s Cloak! Dread Scythe!”
Two of his most powerful spells settled around him. Time to see how she handled this.
Conryu raced toward her, the transformed staff raised and ready to lop her crystal head off.
The crystal woman pointed again.
Wait until she saw her magic was useless against the cloak.
Dodge!
The Reaper’s voice so surprised Conryu he almost ignored it. Years of training saved him. At the last second, he jumped right, evading the red ray. It barely caught the trailing end of the cloak, burning a chunk of it away.
Despite his surprise, Conryu continued his attack. The Dread Scythe came down hard on his opponent’s raised arm. Instead of slicing it off, the enchanted weapon just bounced off.
“How?”
My power is useless against Atlantean magic, as is all other elemental magic. Flee or die, boy.
Great, how was he supposed to win without magic?
Conryu leapt another ray that would have taken his legs off at the knee.
He released his worthless spells and enhanced his body, making himself stronger and faster. Now he needed some kind of weapon.
“Chosen!” Kai was standing in the crystal woman’s boat. “She has more of the obelisks in here.”
“Stay away from those.” The crystal woman thrust her palm at Kai and a shockwave blew her into the air.
With his enhanced speed, Conryu ran and caught her. “You okay?”
“Yes, thank you. There are three more obelisks.”
He might not be able to defeat this enemy, but maybe he could at least el
iminate the threat of the floating islands falling on more cities. “Can you keep her busy for a few seconds?”
“I can try.”
Kai leapt at the crystal woman, kicked her in the face, sprang off, and spun away. She should be okay for a few seconds. He needed to focus.
Reaching deep into the earth, Conryu latched on to a stone bigger than his motorcycle. With a great heave of magic, he pulled it free. Dirt flew everywhere, blinding him for a moment.
A powerful force slammed into the stone, smashing it into chunks. Through the dust, he spotted the crystal woman pointing her raised palm at what was left of the rock.
“You will not ruin my work,” the crystal woman said. “Your miserable kind have done enough harm to us.”
Conryu was pretty sure he would have remembered offending people made of crystal. She must have been talking about wizards in general. Not that Conryu had heard anything about crystal people being at odds with wizards.
It didn’t matter anyway. Even broken the mass of rock was enough to do what he needed.
He slapped his hands together and stone obliged his will by hammering into the crystal boat until nothing remained but shiny shards.
“Kai! Time to go.”
The ninja appeared beside him, a nasty bruise on her cheek. “I was little help, Chosen. Apologies.”
He opened the library door and they backed in followed by the crystal woman’s roar of frustration.
Merik, Tanidel, and Curly flew through the bright, clear sky above their army of crystal soldiers while Larry marched along at the head of the column. Since their transformation, the force had destroyed three villages, killing dozens and taking scores more to add to their number. They hadn’t faced more than a token resistance. Not surprising considering that anyone that might have resisted in anything resembling an organized way was already a crystal soldier.
He felt sick just thinking about it. When he agreed to free Atlantis, no mention was made of this butchery. He’d thought he was righting an old wrong, but now he wondered if the wizards of ancient times weren’t right to try and wipe out the Atlanteans.
Atlantis Rising Page 15