by Rowe, Andrew
His tone softened, and he looked back to her. “Vaelien protects his people. His children are supposed to be an extension of that.”
“I note that you say ‘supposed to’,” she began, but his expression soured. “We can discuss this another time. Thank you for giving me some context on your side of things. What precisely do you think Edon was trying to do, if it’s not like how the Vae’kes work?”
“I don’t think he ever discovered a way to move a bond directly from one person to another. Rather, he was trying to break bonds on Rethri and replace them with different bonds – like changing a Rethri’s bond from flame to stone, for example. He would make attempt after attempt, and someone named Morella would gather information from his tests. She seems like she’s his partner in all this. I think she’s a former Paladin of Sytira.”
Lydia tilted her head to the side. “Morella? A Paladin of Sytira? Why do you say that?”
“There are references about them being together at ‘the citadel’. I think they grew up together, and when he was excommunicated, she went with him. From the notes, she seems to have types of sorcery that he doesn’t, so he needed her for his research.”
Knowledge and memory sorcery, Lydia considered. Both commonly practiced by paladins and priests of Sytira. I learned the former myself, but never the latter.
“And this research – you’re saying they succeeded?” Lydia asked absently, knowing she had already experienced the answer.
“It seems so. They managed to break bonds first, but wisely he didn’t include any details. After that, they struggled for years to try to fix bonds they had broken, and from there, I believe they found a way to make dominion bonds through some new method. A way that works on humans, not just Rethri,” he explained. “One of the people he seems to have managed to give new abilities to is a sorcerer named Veruden. That was the man you were sitting with at the arena, correct?”
Lydia nodded. “Yes...that might explain his bandages, actually.”
Jonan quirked a brow. “Bandages?”
“Veruden has been wearing bandages on his right hand for at least several days. He claimed it had something to do with trying to teleport the Sae’kes out of its scabbard, but I tried using sorcery on the sword myself, and I never triggered any sort of defenses.” She paused for a moment, considering.
“Taelien told me a while back that the only thing keeping the sword in the scabbard was his own metal sorcery. Maybe Veruden hadn’t figured out what was locking the sword in place, but he didn’t want anyone else experimenting with it, either.” She took a breath, adjusting her glasses. “We’ve been seeing unusual runes in several locations. All around the Esharen, on Myros’ armor, and possibly those markings around the eyes of the Rethri children. What if those are dominion marks, like the ones on the Sae’kes? They could be the mechanism by which Edon is giving new sorcery to humans – and Veruden’s marks are concealed beneath bandages.”
“Hmm,” Jonan muttered. “That sounds plausible, but dangerous. I studied reports on attempts to perform the Rethri dominion bonding ritual on humans several years back. The reports concluded that humans naturally excrete excess dominion essence. It’s a protective mechanism. If you saturate someone in the power of a particular dominion, they will excrete it as quickly as they can, until their body eventually just breaks down and dies.”
Lydia brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. “A localized mark might function differently. Since dominion marked items are so rare, I’ve never had a chance to study one for any length of time. It’s possible that a dominion mark can contain essence in a specific location, rather than spreading it across the entire body.”
“Well, that’s just fantastic.” Jonan scratched at the stubble on his chin, shaking his head. “In a worst case scenario, that means he could give any person – including himself – access to any or all dominions. We need to think about what might be restricting him, if anything, and any weaknesses this might provide.”
“Veruden’s bandages – or rather, the flesh beneath them – appeared to physically bother him. It’s possible that whatever procedure he uses to make the marks is uncomfortable or damaging.”
“The markings around the children’s eyes,” Jonan half-whispered. “They could have been burned on, like a brand.”
“Permanently damaging the skin does seem like it might be necessary for making a dominion mark. That might somewhat limit the rate at which Edon would apply these marks,” she noted.
“Good. What else? Resources, perhaps? He’d need planar essence for a specific dominion to make a mark, I assume,” Jonan noted.
“Maybe,” Lydia said uncertainly. “Or some sort of alternative power source.”
“Like the Rethri themselves. Or the artifacts he’s been gathering.”
Lydia nodded grimly. “Yes. And it’s also possible that the dominion saturation that you mentioned earlier could still happen, even with his new method. That might limit the number of marks he’d put on himself, at very least until he’s tested the process on others.”
“Well, that’s a slight comfort, at least. He also might be limited by his vocabulary,” Jonan mused.
“Vocabulary? What do you mean?”
“Maybe that’s the wrong word for it, but if those runes are dominion marks, they most likely correspond to specific spells or keys. He might need examples of them to make copies,” Jonan offered.
Lydia quirked her lips to the right, mentally debating that line of logic. “That implies that there’s something intrinsically linking the shape of the runes to some sort of function. As you’ve pointed out to me yourself, words have no real meaning for casting sorcery – they’re just a helpful tool. Why would these runes function differently?”
“That’s an excellent question, and one I don’t have a good answer to. Maybe it really is the language of the gods,” he offered.
“That doesn’t explain anything in itself. ‘Language of the gods’ doesn’t automatically mean ‘words cause specific effects’,” she noted out, pointing at him with a finger to add emphasis.
“Fair,” he raised his hands defensively. “I knew it was a bad argument, but I didn’t have – okay, better idea. Maybe it’s not the shape of the rune that matters, but maybe when the gods made the first dominion marked items, they always put specific spells in specific runes. If it was a language they could read, that could have had a useful function. Looking at an item, they could determine what the function of the object was, and maybe even how to activate it.”
“That would mean that in order to learn how to make more marks, he’d need to find existing items with the same marks – and learn how to copy their function,” Lydia considered aloud. “Yes, that would explain a great deal about his behavior – and why Veruden wanted to keep the rest of us away from the Sae’kes. He must have realized how valuable the runes on the blade would be for research.”
“All right, this is good information – but we still need to go figure out what’s happening with Taelien. If we’re right, they could be trying to take the sword away from him right now,” Jonan concluded.
“Right. Let’s go, then. We should try to avoid engaging Edon and anyone else with him in direct combat until we have a better idea of their exact capabilities. For now, I’m going to put a defensive spell on both of us, and we’ll try to focus on extracting Taelien and escaping to rendezvous with the queen. You’re going to have to wrap your invisibility around us, rather than targeting us directly, otherwise you’ll trigger my barrier like you did a while ago. Does that sound like a good plan?”
“Sure,” Jonan offered. “It sounds like a great plan. I’ll look forward to seeing how it falls apart.”
Lydia grinned. “You’re cheerful today. Ready to go?”
“As ready as I’m going to be,” he muttered.
“Dominion of Protection, fold against my skin and teach me the secrets of the dominions that assault you,” Lydia incanted, renewing her own Comprehensive Barrier first. The tingle
that spread across her skin lasted longer than usual – a sign that she was exerting herself too much. Still, susceptibility to bruising and sickness was a pleasant alternative compared to the maiming and death that her barriers had prevented. Next, she extended her hand, and Jonan took it.
“Dominion of Protection, fold against his skin.”
Jonan’s skin shimmered briefly, and then he waved with his off-hand while Lydia grit her teeth at the lingering tingling sensation from her own spells. For a brief, disorienting moment, her own body disappeared – and then his – and then they both reappeared.
“All right, we’re invisible, but I’ve excluded the two of us from the effect. Keep holding my hand, it’s easier that way.”
She was mildly skeptical about that last part, but his hand was pretty warm and surprisingly soft, so she didn’t particularly mind. The sorceress led the way down to the Paths of Ascension.
Lydia had been to the door leading to the chamber in front of the Paths of Ascension before, but she had never actually been inside. A single guard stood at the door – a problem that could have easily been solved with violence, but she had no interest in hurting an innocent.
Even just opening the door would attract his attention, she realized. Grimacing, she inched her way closer to the guard, glancing back at Jonan just before she came close enough to touch the soldier.
Jonan just shrugged at her, so she shook her head and reached out, touching the man’s cheek with a hand.
“Sleep.”
She felt a tingling sensation in her hand as the Dominion of Dreams surged through her. The guard didn’t even have a moment to register alarm – he simply collapsed, and Lydia stepped in to catch him, laying him gently down on the ground. Glancing side-to-side, she detected no other onlookers, and she dragged the guard out of the way of the door.
“Am I still invisible?” she whispered to Jonan. She could have checked with a spell, but she didn’t want to tax herself further.
“Yeah,” he confirmed. “As long as you stay close, keeping you invisible isn’t particularly taxing.”
“Can you get him, too?” she asked, indicating the sleeping guard.
Jonan gave her a nervous look. “Sure, as long as I wait right around here.”
That’s going to be a problem. I could drag him to a side room – he should be asleep for a while – but someone is going to notice his absence eventually. And my sleep spell isn’t going to keep him asleep forever. He’ll probably raise the alarm as soon as he wakes up.
“I’ll drag him into the room with us,” Lydia decided. “Make him invisible now, and then you can keep him invisible while I go into the paths.”
Jonan nodded, waving a hand. A shimmer of light washed over the surface of the fallen guard’s body. Lydia lifted him carefully, straining against the dead weight. “Get the door?”
The scribe inched forward, looking at the door knob like it was a venomous serpent, and hesitantly reached out to touch it. After a moment, he turned the handle and slowly pulled the door open.
The room inside was grand in scale and marvelous in design. Beyond a set of tall pillars, Lydia could just make out a pair of figures on the opposite end of the chamber – Edon and Myros.
Hope they don’t hear us.
Lydia lifted the guard and slowly dragged him inside, while Jonan followed a moment later and closed the door quietly behind them. The sorceress laid the guard down to the side of the door, so anyone walking inside wouldn’t step directly onto him.
Maybe I should drag him further inside, she considered. It would take him longer to reach the door and raise an alarm if he has to wake up and run across this huge chamber to get out. On the other hand, he’s more likely to wake up prematurely if he’s close enough to hear people making noise – and Edon and Myros look like they’re talking over there.
She left the guard where he was, gesturing for Jonan to move up with her. The pair crept forward, and Myros and Edon’s voices became clearer as they approached.
“If you’d just let Byron take the throne, maybe Tylan would back down,” Myros said, gesticulating with the Heartlance. The voice still boomed out from Myros’ helmet with sorcerous amplification, sounding clear even from dozens of feet away. “He’s more than old enough, and we both know it.”
“Age is irrelevant. The boy tried to have me killed.” A deep anger was evident in Edon’s tone, and the older man’s hands trembled as turned his head away from Myros.
The armored figure shook his head. “We still have no evidence he hired those men.”
“Morella will find something. I am certain of it.”
He’s talking about those men that were discovered in the palace months ago. Everyone has been assuming they were targeting the prince – but if they were targeting Edon... Well, that certainly explains why Morella has been claiming to have ‘more important’ things to deal with lately.
“It’s been two months. They’re long gone. If you try to delay the coronation again, it’s just going to look like you’re the one trying to hold onto all the power.”
Edon shoulders slumped. His response was too faint for Lydia to hear, but she didn’t dare to quicken her step to hear more.
“That might be true, but is it worth risking a civil war?” Myros argued.
Lydia was close enough to hear Edon’s response this time. “It won’t come to that,” Edon insisted. “I’ve already taken precautions.”
“I think you underestimate her level of support,” Myros countered. “Have you noticed that most people don’t even refer to her as ‘regent’ anymore? She’s just the queen to most people.”
“Supporting her does not mean supporting the prince,” Edon argued. “I have supported her for years – and I continue to. Keeping the prince away from that throne is the best for all of us.”
Myros shook his head. “How many delays do you think Byron will tolerate? He’s already furious.”
The sorceress perked up at that. Is Edon planning on executing a coup? That would explain why Tylan had the Rethri removed from the city.
Beyond the pair, Lydia could see stairway leading downward toward a titanic metal door. Some sort of runes were etched into the surface of the metal, and the base of the door was immersed in a large pool of water.
Resh, how am I going to get down there and open that without attracting any attention?
“It’s not about delaying. Tylan will have other things to worry about soon, and she’ll eventually see that our current situation is superior to the alternative,” Edon replied, folding his arms across his chest. The crystal on his ring flickered brightly as Lydia came closer, and she eyed it warily.
That’s definitely some kind of dominion bonded item, but I’d need to get close enough to touch it to figure out specifics.
“I think you’re deluding yourself. You can’t have it both ways – the queen regent isn’t going to be satisfied until her son is crowned. How do you expect to keep her-“
A large hole suddenly appeared near the top of the door, and a flood of water carried a figure – unmistakably Taelien – out into the chamber.
He had a long fall.
Lydia rushed forward, but Myros was faster. The armored figure was a blur, leaving a trail of displaced water that led to the spot where Taelien landed. A moment later, Myros lifted Taelien from the pool, carrying him out to where Myros and Edon had been standing before.
Lydia inched closer, her hand on the hilt of her sword. She was almost in striking range of Edon now, and closing the last few footsteps wouldn’t take more than a moment. She glanced at Jonan – he was hovering a dozen yards further away, his expression neutral.
Taelien clutched the Sae’kes tightly in his right hand. Only one azure rune flickered on the surface of the sword, but even that sight filled Lydia with a sense of hope and exultation. The sword still glows. He’s alive.
She turned her attention to a gemstone that had slipped out of Taelien’s hand when he hit the water. She didn’t recognize
the stone, but dominion bonded gemstones were common in ancient legends. Could it be a piece of Cessius? That does look like a Xixian structure.
Taelien managed to push himself to a sitting position, but his arm had been badly mauled, and blood still trailed from several wounds. He glanced at Edon nervously, and then back to Myros.
Myros retrieved the gemstone from the water, examining it for a moment, and then thrusting it toward Taelien.
“I think you earned this,” Myros said, and Taelien took the offered stone.
“Thanks,” Taelien replied, his expression dubious. He began coughing a moment later, and Lydia had to suppress the urge to step closer to inspect his wounds.
The armor-clad god of battle reached down and hauled Taelien up to his feet. The swordsman looked more than a little unsteady, which was unsurprising, given that he was soaked and still badly bleeding.
Might not need to turn this into a fight after all, Lydia considered. If they wanted to attack him, they probably would have done so already.
Edon looked Taelien up and down, grinning. “You’ve done very well, Taelien, just as I had hoped. Now, hand me the gem, and we’ll see about giving you godhood, as you deserve.”
Or not. Lydia stepped around behind Edon, putting her hand on the hilt of her sword.
Taelien wiped the water out of his eyes, and then groggily reached out with his hand, offering the gemstone to Edon. “Here,” he said. “Take it.”
Edon stepped forward with an outstretched hand, but Myros stepped in between the two of them, raising the Heartlance. Lydia looked back toward Jonan, finding him holding a potion bottle of some kind in his hand. He was circling around to a flanking position, and he nodded at her.
“Don’t give it to him yet. He has some questions to answer first,” Myros demanded. The armored knight was standing in front of Taelien defensively, as if expecting violence to break out at any time.
Taelien unsheathed a second sword, dropping it to the floor, and returned the Sae’kes to its scabbard. Lydia inspected the other sword, noting that it had an unusual red metal blade. Something from the vault? Probably not worth worrying about right now. Why is he putting the Sae’kes away?