“I was there, Olin,” she said softly. “I do know. I know that many of us are dying to those things. I also know that some of those who survive will never be the same. The bodies of the demons we killed on the third floor of the tower were waist high around the storeroom. If it’s that bad everywhere, we may have already lost…and if we lose here, Blackbeach will fall. Once Blackbeach falls…”
“Then the rest of the Imperium,” Olin finished for her. “You’ve thought it through, I grant you that. But there are only so many Masters who can fight. The apprentices don’t have the power or the stamina to make a difference in a fight. They just haven’t built up enough magic…muscle, for lack of a better term. We’re spread thin. Until we find the Prism, wherever it is, we stand a very real chance of losing this fight. With the Prism, we can reverse the magic and close all the portals at once. Without it, we’re fighting uphill.”
Olin sighed and silence overtook them once again. Volinette didn’t like Olin’s answer, but she had to admit that it made sense. After all, how long had it taken for the Inquisitors to reach them in the tower? Even after they’d arrived, it had taken Volinette’s initiative to get them all down from the third floor. Who knew how long it would have taken for them to get around to checking on the students huddled in the converted storeroom.
The tense silence hung over them like a storm cloud until Olin got to his feet with a groan.
“We’re doing the best we can,” he said, his voice rough with exhaustion. “If we can get to Janessa, I promise we’ll try.”
“I don’t even know why they’d try,” Baris said after he’d left the room. He shrank back under the look Volinette gave him. “Well, I don’t. I think we’d all be better off if we just left her down there.”
“If you can leave someone to die just because they were mean to you…to us…then you’re not who I thought you were, Baris. I can’t just let her die. I won’t. She’s been a world class bitch to me. You’re right…but she doesn’t deserve to die for it.”
“Alright, alright.” Baris held up his hands in surrender. “It probably doesn’t matter anyway. By the time the Masters find the Prism, it might be too late for her.”
“Which is why we’re going to go get her.”
“Okay, that…Wait, what?”
“We’re going to get Janessa from the Inquisitors’ dungeon. Olin just said they’re not going to make it a priority, so it’s up to us.”
“Volinette…it’s great that you want to help people. It really is. But I think this is a bad idea. We could die out there. I don’t want to die…and I really don’t want to die for Janessa. She may not deserve to die either, but she doesn’t deserve us dying to save her.”
“Do what you need to do, Baris. I’m doing this with you or without you. I could really use your help, but if you feel that strongly about it, I understand. I won’t ask you to go with me.”
“Damn it!” Baris pounded balled fists against his thighs. “Fine, I’ll go with you, but if we die, I swear I’ll never forgive you.”
“Deal.”
“So how are we going to do this?”
“I’m not sure yet.” She paused, giving him a half smile. “I was hoping that you’d know some secret way out of here.”
Baris snorted.
“We don’t need a secret way out. Half the first floor offices have windows. We can let ourselves out. It’s going to be getting back in that’s the trick.”
“Well, that part we can worry about when we get there.”
“Yeah,” Baris agreed, his tone grave. “We might be dead long before we need to worry about that.”
“Think positive, Baris.”
“I am. I’m positive we’re going to die.”
“Baris!”
“Alright!”
“Can I borrow your cube again?” Volinette asked. Baris’s trinket had become invaluable for checking things out before they stumbled across them all unwitting.
“Sure, but it’s looking kind of gray. Might not hold out much longer.” He reached into his pocket and withdrew the cube. When he handed it to her, she noticed what he meant. Where the cube had been nearly clear when she’d first seen it, it had progressed through a muddled translucence and was now a dingy gray.
Clasping the cube in her hands, she closed her eyes and spoke the words of power. Volinette thought she felt…something, but then it was gone. Opening her eyes, she looked at the cube, or rather, what was left of it. It had crumbled into dull, waxy shards. She opened her hands and showed it to Baris.
“Yep. So much for that, then.”
“You’re not upset?”
“Nah. My dad can make me another one. He was top of his class in the School of Enchantment. He was a bit disappointed when I opted for sorcery…but I like blowing things up.”
“You’ll probably get your chance. Okay then, let’s figure out how we’re going to get to the tower.”
It took them some time to find a window that was on the tower facing side of the building and wasn’t directly in the line of sight of the Masters who were guarding all of the entrances. As Baris had suspected, getting out of the admin building wasn’t a problem. They dropped from the window onto the soft earth below. As soon as her feet touched the ground, Volinette had a flash of doubt. What if Baris was right? What if she was leading them into their own slaughter?
There was still a chance to go back. If they went to the main entrance of the admin building, they could slip inside as more people came to seek refuge from the demons. No one would probably notice. Still, doing that meant leaving Janessa at the mercy of the demons running rampant through the tower, and that was just something she couldn’t allow. Deep inside, a little voice told her that there was another reason Janessa was so important. She’d been the one to take the Prism. She’d know where to start looking for it. She might even be able to feel its echo.
“Alright,” she whispered. “Let’s go.”
The Academy grounds between the admin building and the Great Tower were, thankfully, lush with plants and trees. They moved from one bit of cover to the next. Hiding behind a bush here and a thick tree trunk there. Between them, Baris and Volinette pointed out hazards to each other. Once Baris pulled her back just before a towering demon, slithering on a single monopod, crossed in front of them. Another time, Volinette dragged Baris down behind a tree as a pair of Masters she didn’t know cut through the wooded grounds on patrol.
Although it took them a long time to get there, they reached the tower entrance without further incident. Volinette slipped into sphere sight and peered inside. There were no shadows that would indicate lurking demons, no bright sparks that would be Masters seeking to drive the demons from the tower. It seemed to be abandoned. She motioned to Baris and they walked inside.
Though the building was no emptier than when they’d left, it seemed much more desolate now. Somewhere high above them, a rage-fueled howl echoed through the tower. A chill ran down Volinette’s spine and she glanced at Baris. He looked back at her, his brown eyes dark. He shrugged.
“I told you,” he whispered.
“That was above, hopefully below will be better.” She crept toward the stairs leading down from the entrance level.
“Yeah, because things always get better the further underground you go.”
Volinette wanted to scold him, but in truth, she couldn’t blame him for his pessimism, or even argue with it. There were bodies, both human and demon, on the stairs leading down into the bowels of the tower. She did her best not to look at them, but she noticed that Baris studied each one, his eyes lingering until they’d passed them by.
“Why do you look at them?” she asked softly as they neared the landing to the inquisitor’s level.
“Because I want to know what we’re up against. The ones who died by claw or fang don’t scare me much. It’s the one who’ve been obviously killed by magic that scare me. I don’t want to run up against anything that’s more skilled than I am. I’ve seen how that game e
nds.”
Volinette saw the haunted look in his eyes and wondered if he was thinking of the dark-haired girl from their time in the makeshift dormitory. Her death had been gruesome, and if that was weighing heavily on Baris’s mind, it might explain the morose turn he’d taken. That, or the fact that there was a very real possibility that they might die down here.
“Down!” Baris shoved her out of the way just ahead of the claws that rang against the cold glass of the wall beside her.
Sharp claws raked deep furrows in the magical glass, and Volinette knew she’d have been dead from that initial blow if Baris hadn’t been with her. He summoned and fired his missiles, the gleaming light flying straight and true into the humanoid form in front of them. She slipped into the Sphere just long enough to gather the memories of forgotten flames and cast a fireball of her own. The demon’s roar died aborning as the fire engulfed it.
“Thanks,” she said to Baris as they stepped around the charred corpse.
“Don’t mention it.”
Then they stepped onto the landing on the Inquisitors’ level, and into hell.
Chapter Twenty-One
Slick with blood, the obsidian floor of the landing was almost like walking on ice. Raw, red chunks of meat were scattered around. They might have once been human, but Volinette didn’t want to know. Even Baris kept his eyes trained straight ahead as they carefully navigated across the carnage. Working their way over to the wall, they followed the curve of the tower, leaning on it as much for support as for the knowledge that they hadn’t actually departed Solendrea for a darker, twisted realm, something more a part of the Deep Void.
Though human corpses were plentiful, there were very few demon bodies amongst them. The walls were scored and cracked by claws, but there was little indication that much magic was used. Whatever had happened here, had happened quickly and without warning. It also meant that there might be more waiting for them down here than Janessa and the old man in the cell nearby.
Slipping into sphere sight had given her an instant headache. The jumbled mess of living memories was too much for her to sort out. She’d fallen out of concentration almost as soon as she switched. It would take days, maybe even weeks, for the psychic imprint of the events that had happened here to calm to the point where sense could be made of things. In any event, it wasn’t going to do them any good now. Without being able to rely on sphere sight to alert them to any hidden dangers, and the Seer’s Cube a broken memory, they’d have to explore things the hard way. With their eyes and minds, and without the aid of clever magic to help them along.
“What a mess,” Baris hissed. Volinette wondered if he meant the floor or the Sphere, but decided not to ask for clarification. She didn’t want to know.
Three long corridors set out from the landing. Volinette knew that the middle corridor was the one that had the door to the dungeon at its terminus. One of the other two led to offices, the storeroom, and privy she’d discovered earlier. She assumed that the other led to similar offices, but she couldn’t know for sure. That lack of knowledge set her teeth on edge. There was no telling what they’d find down that corridor, or what might be waiting there for them to pass by on the way to their final destination.
“Middle corridor, all the way at the end, there’s a door,” she whispered, pointing to the hallway in question. Baris just nodded. His eyes had taken on a dull glow. He’d called on the power of the Quintessential Sphere and was holding it in reserve. It wasn’t much, but it might be enough to give them the edge if they came across something unexpected. Concentrating on the power of the Sphere, she summoned her own memories of light and fire and held them in abeyance.
They stood at the open end of the corridor and looked down it. It might only have been about sixty feet long, but it seemed like it went on for miles. Every doorway was a gaping maw, waiting to slash them with razor sharp teeth as they passed. Volinette took Baris’s hand and they crept down the corridor. They picked up their feet and put them down with such care that they didn’t make a sound. It was an agonizingly slow process, only allowing them to move a couple feet per minute. Beads of sweat stood out on Baris’s forehead, which was furrowed with his effort.
Screaming echoed off the walls of the corridor and seemed to slam into them from all sides. It was a hideous sound that sent them both into a wild panic, pelting toward the end of the hall. Almost to the end, Volinette remembered what she’d seen in the Seer’s Cube. There was so much iron and steel that neither of them would be able to cast. They’d be trapped up against the door with no way to defend themselves. Neither one of them had a knife hanging on their belt.
Volinette grabbed Baris by the collar, hauling him back with all her strength. He stumbled backward, knocking her off balance and sending them both sprawling on the cool glass floor. Heavy footfalls slapped toward them from the far end of the corridor, and Volinette’s head snapped up to face the demon bearing down on them.
Vaguely shaped like a woman, it had two heads atop a pair of stunted necks. Wrinkled breasts lay flat against its chest like empty flour sacks. Its dusky gray skin was drawn drum tight across its bones, making the ribs and joints stand out in stark relief against the lights in the corridor. All four of its eyes were locked on them. It seemed to recognize that they were vulnerable.
Opening both mouths, the hideous creature screamed again. A tidal wave of sound barreled toward them. The wave lifted Baris and Volinette inches off the ground and threw them back, closer to the door at the end of the hall. She could feel the pain of the steel lancing into her chest, as if a white hot needle pushed through her breastbone. The pain in her head was different, a dull ache with an almost subliminal hum that made it hard to think.
As soon as the banshee stopped to draw breath, Volinette scrambled forward, sparing only a moment to check over her shoulder to see if Baris was following. He was, but he’d gotten a late start. She was out in front of him by several feet. Every fiber of her being protested moving toward the thing that glared at them with menacing eyes. She wanted to turn and run the other way, but she knew that wasn’t an option. It was kill, or be killed.
A bolt of light streaked past her. Baris might have been farther behind, but he wasn’t wasting any time going on the offensive. The banshee dodged to one side, neatly avoiding the projectile, but it was enough time for Volinette to do what she needed. She slipped into the Sphere, slowing the world around her. Summoning the living memories of geysers and whirlwinds, she waited for the sphere-song.
“Sing through me,” she said in the timeless void of the Ethereal Realm, and the Quintessential Sphere answered.
The notes that left her were as pure and true as any she’d ever sung. The memories and magic flowed out of her, merging with the melody that burst from her lips. Tendrils of blue-white light encircled the banshee, trapping it in a cage of ethereal energy, singing in harmony to the words coming from the sphere. It screamed a third time, but this time the sound seemed muted, as if coming from a great distance.
As Volinette’s song reached its crescendo, the writhing tendrils of magical music snapped up, slamming the banshee into the ceiling of the corridor. Its necks snapped like brittle twigs, the body compressing down to a fraction of its former height as blood and gore spurted from splits in the flesh. As the magic dissipated, the corpse fell to the floor with a wet smack and was still.
Baris walked up beside her. He looked at the corpse, then to Volinette, and back again.
“Remind me never to make you mad.”
She glanced at him sideways. “Aren’t you glad you decided to come with me?”
“Oh, yes.” He said drily. “Thrilled. Especially since you left out the part about the door that wants to kill us as well as keep us out.”
“Isn’t getting Janessa back worth a little pain?”
“No.”
Volinette sighed. “There’s still time for you to go back.”
“No, thank you. I think I’ll stay with the scary Quintessentialist who ki
lls things with her jaunty tunes.”
“Then stop complaining, and let’s get Janessa and get out of here.”
The closer they got to the door, the worse the pain became. By the time they were ready to open it, it was all they could do to remain on their feet. The agony was so intense, it threatened to drive them to their knees.
“Open…it…already…” Baris grunted, his eyes narrowed slits against the pain.
Volinette braced herself for the jolt to come and grabbed the handle of the door. Fire flashed up her arm, burying itself in her chest. She screamed, and yanked as hard as she could.
Nothing happened. No matter how hard she pulled, the door wouldn’t come open. She let go of the handle that seemed to be searing itself into her flesh and bounded back away from the door. Far enough that she could think. She watched Baris try the door himself, crying out in much the same way she had. He, too, admitted defeat and retreated to a safe distance.
“All this way and the damn door is locked?” Baris kicked the wall of the corridor, then swore and grabbed his foot. He hopped around cursing for a full minute. In any other situation, Volinette would have found his antics hysterical. Now, she was furious with him.
“Stop it! Do you want to have every demon in the tower down here on top of us?”
Her harshly hissed reprimand sobered him abruptly. He stopped jumping about and stood still, his head cocked to one side, listening. She listened too, but heard nothing. It seemed that they weren’t in danger of any threat in the immediate area.
“Adamon’s office,” she said, thinking aloud. “There must be a key in Adamon’s office.”
“Oh. Hell. No.” Baris shook his head wildly. “We’re not going back up to Adamon’s office and then coming back here. That’s not happening. So you summon up thoughts of butterflies and fairy farts, or whatever it is you do to make the Sphere sing to you, and you open that damn door.”
“I can’t break down the door! Adamon will—”
Volinette's Song Page 18