by Ian Gregoire
“A barrier sphere?” queried Neryssa. “Is that it?”
Kayden nodded. “Now we wait.”
“How will we know if it worked?” Bartis inquired. “I’m certainly not going to risk picking that box up.”
“When the intensity of the glow has dimmed, it means the connection to the ley-line has been severed. Then I can break the ward. Then we can take the box and get out of here.”
“Kayden?” said Sinton. “How is it you know so much about Zarantar Jist? I don’t recall learning any of this stuff from the Masters.”
There was no opportunity for her to respond. In unison, they all turned their heads towards the sound of someone attempting to open the door to the office. She darted to the open doorway of the bedchamber and peered out to investigate. The glyphs on the doorframe were still glowing red; the ward remained unbroken. Her three companions were quickly at her back to also hear the conversation of two male voices coming from the antechamber beyond the locked door.
“See? I told you!” said the first voice. “The door is obviously still warded. Even if anyone had managed to slip past us, they couldn’t have gone inside.”
“I’m telling you, whatever that noise was it came from in there,” insisted the second voice. “I’m going to fetch Terio. He can break the ward so we can go inside to take a look.”
The four apprentices stepped away from the doorway.
Kayden promptly checked on the state of the ward protecting the box. The intensity of the glow remained undimmed.
“How much longer, Kayden?” asked Sinton quietly.
“Any moment now.”
An increasingly agitated Bartis paced haphazardly back and forth. “We can’t afford to wait,” he complained, “they’re going to catch us.”
“Cool your boots!” Kayden demanded. “They’re sending for one of the Sanatsai; we still have enough time.”
“No we don’t.” His rebuttal was more urgent this time. “Let’s just hide in the secret passage and wait for them to finish checking the room. Once they leave we can come back for the box.”
Kayden glared at her panic-stricken cohort with contempt. “Are you an idiot? With all the rummaging around, not to mention Lazar lying unconscious right over there, they will know we were here.” It was impossible not to sound condescending while explaining simple things to an idiot. “They won’t vacate the room until Lazar regains consciousness, and even if he keeps his mouth shut about the hidden passageways, there’s no reason to think the guards will leave until they can figure out how we got in here without coming in through the front door.”
“Kayden!” interrupted Sinton. “I think you did it.”
She looked away from Bartis back to Sinton who was staring up at the ceiling. She did likewise to see that the glowing red glyphs of the ward had, indeed, dimmed. Casually, she brought down her barrier sphere then raised both hands upwards. With the link to the ley-line severed it was a simple matter invoking Yuksaydan to now break the ward. Moments later, the glowing glyphs briefly flared, appeared to change to a gaseous state, then dissipated out of existence with a fizzing sound.
“You see?” she crowed triumphantly, for Bartis’ benefit. He said nothing in return. “All right, Sinton, grab the box and let’s get out of here.”
Sinton hesitated; the look of apprehension on his face clear for all to see.
“Oh, for crying out loud!” huffed Kayden. She bent down to pick up the box. Nothing untoward happened as she grabbed the box then tucked it into a pouch beneath her tabard. She was inclined to chastise her fellow apprentice for having the nerve to doubt her, but something more pressing diverted her attention. Her head turned sharply toward the open doorway.
“Drat! They’re about to come in.”
Bartis reacted first, darting to the doorway to peer out into the office. The glowing glyphs on the doorframe had flared and were now becoming gaseous in appearance. “That’s it, I’m out of here!”
He bounded out of the bedchamber in a futile dash to reach the hidden passageway. Neryssa attempted to follow suit but the door slammed shut in her face before a translucent barrier formed across the doorway, preventing it from being opened again. She looked back over her shoulder to see Kayden—left hand outstretched in front of her, right hand pressing a finger to her lips.
“Hold it right there, apprentice!” came the voice of one of the guards on the other side of the door. “We’ve got you. This assignment is over for you.”
Kayden lowered her outstretched left arm, and pulled her right index finger away from her lips to beckon Neryssa to walk towards her and Sinton.
“How long has your colleague been unconscious for?” asked a previously unheard third male voice—presumably that of the Sanatsai named Terio. “And how did the two of you even manage to get in here in the first place?”
An annoyed looking Neryssa stood in front of Kayden. “You’ve trapped us in here,” she whispered.
“Would you rather be out there having failed the mission?” Kayden whispered back.
The bedchamber door rattled as someone outside tried to open it.
“We’re as good as caught anyway,” whispered Sinton. “Even if you could sustain your Inkansaylar indefinitely, to keep them out, we can’t leave to deliver the box to the rendezvous point, can we?”
The rattling stopped.
“The door’s locked,” came the voice of one of the guards.
“It shouldn’t be,” came the response from the third male voice. “There are three more apprentices unaccounted for. They must have barricaded themselves inside. Tell them to come out; the game is up.”
The man’s knowledge of their numbers effectively confirmed Kayden’s assumption that he was the Sanatsai called Terio whom the guards had fetched to break the ward to permit them to enter the office.
Neryssa’s shoulders slumped in resignation. “You may as well let them in, Kayden, we’re out of options.”
“All right, apprentices, it’s time to come out,” the voice of first guard called out to them.
“She’s right, Kayden,” sighed Sinton. “It’s over.”
“It’s not over yet,” hissed Kayden defiantly. “Over here!” She marched to the wall where the remnants of the room’s bed still lay. Neryssa and Sinton followed, and stood on either side of her. “The hidden passage that brought us into the office terminates behind this wall.” She gently patted the stonework in front of her.
“If there’s an access to the hidden passages in here,” whispered Neryssa, standing at Kayden’s side, “why didn’t you just say so?”
“There isn’t one.”
From beyond the door the guard barked out a second order for whoever was inside to come out immediately.
“If the passageway cannot be accessed from inside this room,” continued Neryssa, “then how are we supposed to enter?”
“We go through the wall.”
“Kayden, if we blast a big hole in the wall to escape,” whispered Sinton, “they’ll know for certain we were here, then they can simply pursue us through the passageways.”
“I didn’t say anything about blasting a hole in the wall,” replied Kayden cryptically. “I said, go through the wall.”
Neryssa and Sinton exchanged wide-eyed looks.
There was heavy thudding on the bedchamber door indicating that the guards were attempting to shoulder charge the door open.
“Have you been drinking, Kayden?” blurted Neryssa, in a hushed tone. “We’re still just level seven apprentices. We can’t pass through solid objects.”
“Exactly,” agreed Sinton. “We won’t be trained to master the invoking of Naymutandushay until we become level ten apprentices.” He could barely keep the exasperation from his hushed voice. “Besides, to invoke it safely requires the wearing of a siphon cloak, like all the Sanatsai of the Order wear.”
“What you say is correct. And it just so happens,” Kayden tugged at the hooded cloak she was wearing. “I created a cloak of my own a few
months ago, though I didn’t anticipate needing to use it tonight.”
The pounding against the door grew louder, but the Zarantar induced barrier keeping it closed did not yield.
“Kayden, even if you could do what you’re proposing,” whispered Sinton dubiously. “How does that help me and Neryssa? We’re wearing these ordinary cloaks, and lack the ability to pass through a wall, anyway.”
“Doesn’t matter. All you have to do is take my hand; anything I am holding will pass through the wall with me.”
“You’ve done this before?” queried Neryssa.
Kayden conspicuously hesitated before responding. “Not through an actual stone wall,” she conceded. “But the principle is the same irrespective of the composition of the material you intend to pass through.”
“In that case, you can definitely count me out.”
Kayden looked expectantly at Sinton. Surely he would have more faith in her? But he silently shook his head at her, demonstrating that he didn’t.
“This is the second time in quick succession you’ve doubted me today.”
“No one could ever doubt your self-belief, Kayden. But I’m not going to stake my life on your ability to take us safely through a stone wall.” He looked guilt-ridden by the admission. “You do understand, if you mess up, you could die in the attempt?”
“I’d rather die than fail this assignment!”
The exchange of dismayed glances made it clear that both Sinton and Neryssa understood Kayden’s words were not bravado. She really did intend to avoid capture by passing through the wall, even if it killed her.
“Kayden, would you listen to yourself.” There was genuine concern in Neryssa’s plea.
“Failure maybe acceptable for the two of you,” Kayden retorted. “For me, it’s not an option.”
The thudding against the door stopped abruptly, drawing the gazes of the three apprentices towards the doorway.
“They must be using Zarantar to keep you out,” came the voice of the Sanatsai from the other side of the door. “Stand aside!”
Suddenly, the barrier shield Kayden created across the doorway began to slowly deteriorate. It appeared as though it was being eaten away by a corrosive substance. It was only a matter of time, now, before the guards could enter the room and the mission would be over.
“That’s my cue to leave.” Kayden returned her focus to the wall that stood between her and escape from the bedchamber. “I’ll see you both back at campus.” She pulled the hood of her cloak over her head. The air around her appeared to ripple gently, like water. Then she calmly stepped forward towards the stone wall and…
Kayden walked right through the wall.
For several minutes Kayden navigated swiftly through a maze of passageways—her path lit by an illumination orb racing ahead of her. She had no way of knowing whether any of her fellow apprentices would reveal the existence of the hidden passages. Nonetheless, she was glad she hadn’t let slip how she intended for the group to exit the fort undetected.
Thankfully, her uneventful course eventually brought her to the access point she was looking for; she had made it safely to the east wing of the fort, and down to ground level. Pressing her ear against the concealed opening set in the wall, she listened for sounds on the other side. But it was a mere formality; she knew there would be no one there. She proceeded to twist the metal bracket on the wall. There was a perceptible click then she grabbed hold of the metal handle that allowed her to pull open a door-shaped section of the wall inwards. Her illumination orb floated into the dark opening and she followed in its wake, closing the access door behind her.
Kayden was standing in what had once been a large kitchen area. She wasted no time in heading straight for the nearby walk-in pantry; she was eager to be out of the old fortress right away. On the wall, just to the right side of the open entrance to the pantry, there was metal bracket that she twisted ninety degrees, then back. Inside, a trapdoor hatch popped up slightly in the centre of the floor. The orb floated into the pantry to hover over the trapdoor while Kayden moved to squat down and pull the hatch open. She sent her orb down into the dark opening, watching as its steady descent down the shaft lit up the underground tunnel approximately sixty feet below. As she prepared to drop down into the shaft the presence of Zarantar nearby made her pause. Before she could gather her thoughts, she was startled by a pale blue illumination followed immediately by a chorus of slow handclapping coming from behind her.
Kayden froze.
She hadn’t heard anybody entering the kitchen. That could only mean whoever was behind her must have been lying in wait before she even arrived.
“You did exceptionally well to make it this far, apprentice,” said a female voice. “I’m very impressed.”
Kayden turned around slowly to see a woman standing just outside the entrance to the walk-in pantry, an illumination orb floating above her head. She recognised the other woman immediately—it was the female Sanatsai who had been getting rather intimate with a male counterpart in a corridor, earlier that night.
“You know,” said the Sanatsai, with a smile. “I’ve volunteered for guard duty during the ‘capture the box’ exercise on at least half a dozen occasions, and I had no idea about any secret passages in the fort, let alone underground tunnels leading out of it.”
“It’s a wonder you notice anything,” Kayden quipped, “if you spend all your time lurking in dark corridors, down on your knees with a dick in your mouth.”
She had come far too close to success to accept failure now. Goading the other woman was her only hope of recovering the situation.
The Sanatsai flushed; the smile vanishing from her face.
“Oh, it looks like I need to have words with your instructors at the Antaris campus about your appalling lack of manners.” It was clear from her tone she was more affronted than embarrassed. “In the meantime, follow me. I’ll take you back to rejoin the rest of your group. You have failed, too.” She turned around to lead the apprentice away.
Behind Kayden, the orb she had sent down into the underground tunnel slowly began to rise back up the shaft, its pale blue glow gradually morphing into a brilliant white fluorescence in response to Kayden’s surreptitious invocation of Kiraydan.
Affecting her sweetest, most insincere voice, Kayden said, “Excuse me, Master. May I be so bold as to correct you?” The Sanatsai turned back around, frowning. Kayden quickly sized her up and down. She appeared to be in her early thirties, lithe and athletic. Kayden had at least four inches in height on the other woman, with a notable weight advantage, too. This was going to be easy. “Technically, the assignment only ends in failure if I am seen by anyone on guard duty tonight.” She dropped the put on voice, adopting an aggressive, hostile tone to match the similar expression on her face. “And by the time I’ve finished with you, not only will you not remember having seen me, you won’t remember how I beat you senseless, either.”
The Sanatsai appeared too stunned for words. That brief moment of hesitation was all the time Kayden required. A smirk curled one corner of her mouth then she closed her eyes. The lightning flash orb shot up through the hatch, back into the pantry, flew over her shoulder towards the other woman, then silently erupted with a flash of blinding white light. Opening her eyes she saw the Sanatsai stumbling backwards, rubbing her eyes. She charged forward out of the pantry, launching a flying kick at the woman that sent her hurtling backwards onto the floor. Kayden continued her forward momentum, diving forward to pounce upon her fallen opponent.
The Sanatsai regained her wits quickly enough to raise a leg up between herself and Kayden in order to flip the apprentice up and over her own prone body.
Kayden landed painfully on her back but scrambled swiftly back onto her feet to face the Sanatsai who was back on her feet, also.
“Have you lost your mind?” screamed the woman.
Wasting no time with a verbal response, Kayden darted forward, unleashing a flurry of punches and kicks. The Sanatsai succe
ssfully evaded, parried and blocked the initial barrage but the intensity and ferocity of the attack increased, forcing her onto the back foot. Kayden’s confidence in her close quarters, hand-to-hand martial training was quickly vindicated as she rapidly gained the advantage. Her fierce blows began to find their target with increasing ease, prompting a desperate counter-attack from her opponent who threw a succession of wild punches that Kayden parried easily before sweeping the legs out from under the woman.
The Sanatsai made a valiant attempt to regain her feet to prevent the apprentice from capitalising on the successful attack…but not quickly enough.
Kayden landed another kick square in the middle of the Sanatsai’s chest, just as she was rising to her feet, knocking her violently back against the wall behind her. The heavy collision clearly knocked the wind out of the woman, yet she bravely managed to throw a couple of half-hearted punches in a futile attempt to fend off Kayden as she continued her brutal assault. Kayden ducked beneath the first punch, then in one fluid motion caught hold of the flailing arm of the second, throwing the Sanatsai over her shoulder on to the ground. This time, her adversary was given no opportunity to defend herself, as she lay sprawled on her back. Pouncing on the woman’s torso, pinning her to the ground, Kayden rained down a succession of savage blows to the head.
In seconds, the bloodied and bruised Sanatsai was completely subdued. She lay beneath Kayden, unmoving, while her illumination orb—that had been casting light upon the pair during the confrontation—slowly dissipated from existence as she lost consciousness. Kayden invoked one of her own to chase away the resulting darkness, sending it floating up above her head. She returned her attention to the job at hand, placing the fingers of both hands on either side of the unconscious woman’s head, then closed her eyes in concentration.
She’d had little opportunity to practice her invoking of Barmityanzak; being a level seven apprentice meant she wasn’t yet supposed to have practical knowledge of this particular application of Zarantar. But it was now necessary to employ her illicit know-how before she could continue the assignment.