“Kearika, it is fine. You did what you thought was necessary. What you did saved me from the elves. Without you, I would be trapped in my own mind forever. So, thank you, for saving me.” Caius tells me, actually taking my hand in his. I hold it close, grateful for the comfort it brings. We lay there for a while, face to face just listening to the grass whip around outside.
“So, what do you think is going on? It’s been so long since we’ve had a chance to just stop and talk things over.” I ask him. As he explained what the elf had shown him, I begin to regret asking.
“That’s troubling, but the elf could just be lying to you. Make us lose faith in the Tower, the one group that can actually help us with it.” I tell him afterwards, dragging my free hand down my face. But there might be an element of truth to what it said. Mendalde did say she is with the Tower, unless she’s lying too.
“Maybe, but the way she showed it to me lends some credence to what it said. Especially in light of your nightmares.” Caius replies.
“What do you mean?” I ask him, my ears perking up at a particularly sinister sounding hiss from outside. We’re talking about this monster a lot. Dammit, talking about it isn’t going to summon it here.
Is it?
“Well, I have always been told that elves have no magic ability at all. At least none they can control. Their ability to absorb, reflect or otherwise interfere with the aether and its magic has always been attributed to unconscious reflex. What if we have been lied to? The only ones to benefit from keeping the truth about the elves hidden is the Grandmaster and his compatriots.” Caius says, his brow furrowing in thought.
“I suppose, but wouldn’t he benefit more from telling everyone the truth? Or at least the part about elves having magical talent? Why hinder your own followers by feeding them information that’s likely to get them killed?” I reply.
“If the elf was showing me the truth, it is because the Grandmaster does not care how many die. He is interested in the pursuit of his own power, nothing more or less. He casually threw away the lives of over a score of his followers for reason that I can think of. He did not need to kill those mages, or the assassins who helped him. He may very well have made things worse by doing so.” Caius says.
“What he did doesn’t really surprise me. The Protectors were created to help defend mages from more than just monsters. Don’t forget, most mages have a well-deserved reputation for being egomaniacs.” I respond, poking Caius in the ribs with my free hand.
“That might be true, but we mages provide a massive benefit to the world. Without us, there would be no one to stand against the nightmares that lurk in every shadow. Without my power, even you could not stand against a single one of those woodwraiths. Civilization depends on mages to hold it up, I think we can be excused a bit of pride.” Caius snaps at me.
“Pride? Pride didn’t make Mendalde burn down a tavern full of innocent people. You can cut your ‘I am the cornerstone of civilization’ garbage out because without me, you’d have been dead a dozen times over! You’re not invincible Caius, and you’d better not keep acting like you are! This is exactly what I’m talking about. Just because you’re a full-fledged master doesn’t mean everyone else is in your debt!” I shout at him and he shrinks into his half open robes.
That wasn’t the kindest way to say that, but he’s been acting so strangely.
“What’s gotten into you lately? I know you agree with Alaric that mages shouldn’t be held above the law and yet here you are telling me that I’m nothing without you. That alone would bother me, but with your transformation in the woods, I think you really are starting to scare me.” I tell him heatedly but trail off into a whisper. I pull my hands away from him and close to my chest.
It feels like a deep rift has opened between Caius and I, and I’m plummeting down it. What if Caius really is becoming an elf somehow? I feel like I don’t know him anymore. We've travelled and fought together for years, and this has never happened. What's changed? I sit up and start pulling on my armor.
“I’m going to take watch, you can stay here if you want.” I toss over my shoulder as I pull my breastplate on. I give Caius a sidelong glance, but he just lays there avoiding my eyes.
With an annoyed huff I push through my tent flap and step out into the night, alone.
Chapter XXVI - Caius
Duras - Knihovna
29th of Telod, 1873 MD
Kearika and I have barely talked over the last few days. She’s resigned herself to stubborn silence and I was disinclined to force a conversation. She hasn’t walled herself off completely from our bond though, not that it’s much use right now either.
We’re just crossing into the outskirts of Knihovna. Shortly after our “talk” in her tent Kearika had come back and told me to “Get up, we’re not going to waste any more time laying around.” She also brushed off every attempt to apologize I have made. She can be so stubborn sometimes, but she has always come out of it before.
What little I could sense through our link is a tangle of resentment, most of it pointed towards herself. Her fear of me is still there though, and I do not know what to do about it. How do you tell someone “Yes, I gave in to the voices in my head because I had to.” That without the power it gave me, we would be dead.
Kearika is right though, I have not felt like myself lately. Between Mendalde and whatever the elf has done to me, I am starting to feel like I am losing my grip on my mind. Once we get back to the Tower, I will be able to set everything straight. Unless the elf is right. Or Mendalde is telling the truth.
“Caius, stop.” Kearika says shortly.
I don’t hear her and end up walking straight into her from behind. She turns and gives me a small glare before pointing towards a bridge, which is about two hundred feet away, with two figures standing by a small hut.
“What is it? I did not sense anyone coming close to us.” I tell her, trying to divine what Kearika has seen. All I see is two figures next to a bridge, town guards I suppose. I am not overly familiar with the outskirts of Knihovna, I normally would just have Kearika and I appear in the Tower.
“Something is wrong with those guards. First off there should be four of them, not two. Secondly, there’s bullets buried in the path around here. I started seeing them a few minutes ago, dozens of them.” She says. I look around me and sure enough I spot a little nub of dusty lead buried in the road.
“So what? The guards are here to guard this entrance, this is just evidence that they were doing their jobs.” I tell her, toeing one of the spent bullets with my boot.
“Caius, who would be insane enough to attack the Tower and the town it’s in?” She asks me dryly. I open my mouth to reply, but close when I realize she’s right.
“Okay, so we assume that those two are Zauberei. What do we do then?” I ask her.
A sense of bloodlust wells up through our link before she replies “It’s simple. We kill them both and see what’s going on inside Knihovna.”
We walk the rest of the way in silence, casually holding our weapons by our side. Kearika takes the lead, and as we pass the halfway mark she breaks into a sprint. She lets loose a howl as her boots pound the road, throwing up puffs of dirt. Her long braids flow out behind her, snapping in her wake as she leans into her run. I think I will just walk.
She closes the gap at a frightening pace, charging halberd first into one of the guards. She leaves it buried in the chest of the first, tackling the second with her knife drawn. A few seconds later she’s wiping the blood off her weapons with a rag. After a few minutes of walking I’m next to the bridge with her as she searches the bodies. Water gurgles happily under the stone construction, which is just wide enough for a few people at a time.
“They did not seem so tough, a pretty poor showing for the Zauberei.” I say as I get close. Kearika searches the corpses, pulling half a dozen small pouches off them. I inspect their armor as Kearika dumps out the pouches on the ground.
Interesting, no protectiv
e markings of any kind. Nothing on their weapons too. There is not a drop of silver anywhere either. These two were not Zauberei.
“Well they weren’t the town guard. They have a tattoo similar to the tokens Protectors have. They’re created by mages, so we can be sure that these two weren’t the real thing.” She replies without looking up from the piles in front of her.
“Well, they were not Zauberei either. There is none of the equipment we have seen previously on them.” I tell her and she replies with a positive sounding grunt.
“That’s good, it means the Zauberei don’t have limitless resources then. We’d be in real trouble if their flunkies are armed to the teeth like the rest of them have been.” Kearika says after few minutes. She stuffs a few pieces of paper into one of the small bags on her leg and gets up.
“One of them has a letter saying they were staying in the Opaline Scale, which is a rather pretentious tavern near the Tower.” She says, dusting herself off as she does.
Near the Tower? That cannot be good if they are anywhere near there. We have to warn them.
“We’re going to need to hurry Caius, without any way of seeing what’s going on in the Tower it may already be too late. We’ll spend a few minutes getting ready, then we move on the Scale. We’ll have to try and be as discreet as long as possible, there’s no telling how many of them are in the city. If we get discovered before we reach the Scale then we blitz them the rest of the way, no stopping for any reason.” She says firmly, staring at me levelly.
For the first time in weeks a sense of total calm radiates from her. I give her a nod and set my pack down and pull out the face paint I’d bought so many weeks ago. Kearika is busy stretching herself out, oblivious to the world, so I tap her on the shoulder.
“I am sorry for what I said, and for how I have been acting. I promise, as soon as we are safe we will talk and I will answer all your questions.” I tell her, presenting the gift with both hands and a slight bow. Kearika gives a little snort and takes the bottles from me, then pulls me against her with a free hand.
“I’ll accept your apology on two conditions.” She says with a glimmer in her eyes.
I gulp nervously, my mouth running dry as I ask, “What those would be?”
“You explain it to me over dinner, somewhere nice with a good view.” She says, a feral grin spreading across her face. I do not like that look.
“A-and the other?” I ask nervously.
In response, she leans in and kisses me deeply. All thoughts of the Tower vanish, along with the everything else. Her scent is overwhelming: leather, sweat, the tang of blood and some kind of spice. After too short a moment she breaks off and pushes me back gently.
“You’ll figure it out.” She says, but my head is still swimming as I turn away and start rummaging through my pack. Kearika laughs quietly and goes back to stretching.
***
“Are you almost done?” Kearika asks as I paint a few more symbols on her with some of her war paint. That should do it. I step back and check my work, running my eyes over the tapestry of arcane markings covering her body.
“Seriously, my arms are starting to fall asleep.” Kearika says peevishly.
I ignore her as I correct a few erroneous wisps of paint, chanting the spells under my breath as I work. An intense warmth, like a fire springing to life, fills my chest as I do. I trace a finger along each symbol and they glow as my hand passes over them. After a few more minutes I’ve charged every one of them and the warmth fades from my body. That took more out of me then I was expecting. Still it should not pose any problem. There is plenty left in me before I will need to return to the aether.
“You can put your armor back on now.” I tell her, a bit of fatigue coming through my voice. Kearika shoots me a worried look as she gingerly lowers her breastplate and then her leathers back in place.
“You shouldn’t have pushed yourself so far. We’re going to need to be in top shape for this Caius.” She says worriedly, which pulses through our bond. With all the power I just poured into her, we will be far closer than we have been in a long time.
My senses are much sharper now, enhanced by our link. I could hear as well as Kearika now, and my other senses have heightened to match. As long as one of us could see something, we are both aware of it. I could use Kearika as a conduit for my magic, allowing me to use spells that I’d normally need to use personally. As long as there is a drop of aether left in me we would never tire either.
“Go over what they do, one more time?” Kearika asks me as she tightens her various belts, buckles and knots.
She knew what each one did, has to know in fact. Just by looking at them she’d be able know all the information, pulled from my mind to hers. Just like I knew the best way to use my staff just by holding it. I also knew that going over them would reassure her, she liked to hear the explanation. So, with a smile I point to each palm and the area just beneath her throat.
“Each of those has enough aether in them to heal almost any injury. Anything short of losing a limb or dying instantly. They will take care of the injury themselves, but you can trigger them with a thought of you have to. If you get knocked out, they will activate themselves as well.” I explain.
“These will help shield your mind from any outside influence, hopefully even against powerful mental magic.” I tell her as I trace a hand along her forehead, where a thin line of runes circles her war paint.
“And why aren’t you drawing these on yourself?” She asks me.
“Because as long as you have them, I will be able to draw on them as well. Since you seem to be naturally resistant to that sort of thing anyway, it would be best just to keep them on you. That way I will not have to expend aether on two sets of them.” I tell her.
“Fine, I don’t like it but fine. What about the rest of it?” She asks, twiddling her fingers in front of my face.
“Those are the proper forms for an absorption spell. I hope. We have seen some evidence of magic from the Zauberei and I want to be prepared. The symbol on their special knives are also mystical, so this might have some effect on them as well.” I tell her, taking some of the remaining paint and hastily start drawing the same symbols on the backs of my hands.
“Finally, the small scripts near your mouth is the best illusion I can manage. It should disguise your voice and the way you look. I know it will fool the average person, but I do not know how a true Zauberei will handle it.” I tell her as I finish applying the paint to my hands.
Kearika takes up the same pot she used to apply her mask, which is a wide smear across her eyes and a series of smaller bands on her nose and lips. She dips her fingers in and begins applying it to my face.
“There you go, I think you’ve earned it. Nothing too fancy, no ceremony for you or anything like that.” Kearika says as she steps back with a small smile.
She fishes a small polished steel mirror from one of her pockets and holds it up. My face has taken on a skullish look. My eyes have sunk into pits and my cheekbones are exaggerated. A little grim for me.
“Time to get going.” I say as we jog into town.
Chapter XXVII - Caius
Duras - Knihovna
29th of Telod, 1873 MD
The Scale should be nearby. We’ve just turned off the main road down a side street. Getting in the city had been easy, an aether enhanced jump let us clear the wall and the guards were easy to get past. The sun is starting to set, but the streets are packed with people. So far, so good. No one knows we are here. Yet.
I haven’t needed to do much to disguise myself as the magic keeping them spotless has failed, vanishing completely from the weave. With my hood pulled up I am another faceless traveler in battered, dusty clothing looking for a place to stay. A small illusion covers my eyes, replacing their glowing purple with a muted grey. My illusion on Kearika transforms her massive halberd into a ferocious looking spear and her leather armor into a simple tabard with a breastplate over it. A wicked looking scar covers her f
ace, and her long auburn hair is now a dirty blonde.
We did have to put that Zauberei knife away though, it refused to hide under the illusion.
So far, no guard has challenged us and the crowds of people have mostly parted to let Kearika through. The side street ends in a square full of shouting, angry people who are throwing rocks and shouting at something. As we squeeze around the crowd, which takes up almost the entire square, a figure floats above them from the front.
“This is your final warning! Return to your homes or you will be dispersed!” The figure shouts, a man in torn robes and dinged up armor. Someone in the crowd hits him in the face with a rock, and his hand comes away covered in blood.
That’s an Adjudicator. They are not supposed to be used against the masses, they are supposed to enforce the Tower’s law on mages. If they are out policing then something is seriously wrong in the Tower.
“You can’t keep us out! We want to see our families!” Someone in the crowd shouts and another rock ricochets off the Adjudicator’s armor. Kearika and I share a glance before redoubling our efforts to try and get around the crowd.
“I said disperse!” The Adjudicator shouts, a blinding flash of light bursting from his hands.
People scream and throw up their hands, others fall to the ground wailing. Those closest to him are scorched, their clothing and skin blackened. The lucky ones are further away, they stumble away blinded. A handful of figures begin to stride through the crowd, their vision apparently unaffected. They pull aside their long cloaks to reveal shining silver knives as they advance on the Adjudicator.
They rush him as one, pulling on him down to the earth by his flowing robes. The Adjudicator cries out for “Sergio” as his attackers stab him repeatedly. One of them grabs the mage by his hair and points to where another group of them stands next to a large man, who is face down on the cobblestones.
Whisper of the End Page 24