Shadowguard

by Gama Ray Martinez

  “An auditory illusion.” Kerag had a faint smile on his face. “A good one too.”

  Atrius shrugged. “Sometimes, I needed to calm the horses. Loud noises startle them.”

  “You mean when you were mucking out the stables?” a tall boy with dark hair said. He was the same one who hadn’t worn his robe.

  The class erupted in laughter, and Atrius turned away. The master lifted a closed fist. Instantly, everyone went silent. He leveled his eyes at the perpetrator, and the boy looked for all the world, like he wanted to turn invisible. “Misco, come up here please. Atrius, you may sit.”

  The two boys exchanged places. Misco’s doublet was bright yellow, so much so that it almost hurt to look at. His pants were red and equally bright. He held his chin high, but flinched when Master Kerag cleared his throat. He squeaked and the sound echoed throughout the room. Most people were obviously trying to hold in laughs.

  “An auditory illusion that can change a voice as it is being spoken is extremely difficult.” Kerag’s voice sounded like it was coming from everywhere at once. “Few can manage it, and most of them can only do it badly. I would advise you not to get on the bad side of someone who will very likely be a master of illusion one day.” His eyes roamed over the students until he was looking right at Jez. “Or any school of magic, for that matter. Such people are highly regarded, and their influence is often unsurpassed by any save the king himself.”

  His voice was so loud Jez could feel it vibrating on his skin. Jez wasn’t sure if it was an auditory illusion or a tactile one. Misco nodded furiously, but Kerag’s gaze stayed locked on Jez. He nodded once and the master motioned for Misco to sit down.

  “Oh, Misco? Please dress properly next time.”

  The boy’s face reddened, but he nodded. Kerag asked the other two to demonstrate what they knew. A tall girl with green eyes could make a flame appear on her finger, but it didn’t seem to actually be giving off any light. A lanky boy with hair down to his shoulders could make his eyes go black, but the illusion would dissipate if he moved too quickly. Kerag nodded at each but didn’t remark on them.

  “The key to illusion is holding an image of what is not true in your head. Focus on that image and cast your power into it. Optical illusions that are stationary are the easiest, though most people have trouble with tactile, olfactory, and gustatory illusions.” A short boy with close cropped hair raised his hand, and Master Kerag sighed. “That’s touch, smell, and taste illusions.” The boy gave a sheepish grin and lowered his hand. “We’re going to try something simple. Look at the floor. Try to change a portion of it to a different color.”

  “How big,” Atrius asked.

  “I leave the size and shape up to you. Once you succeed call me over. Anyone who can call me and maintain their illusion at the same time can leave early.”

  He waved a hand. The students looked at each other for a second before turning their eyes to the floor. The three who’d had previous experience with illusions completed their tasks almost instantly. Each called Master Kerag in turn. He examined their work and dismissed them with a warning that future classes would not be so easy. He then went from student to student, spending a minute with each so he could offer advice. He left their side without giving them a chance to try again. A few called after him, and he returned, but in each case, calling him made the student lose their concentration and their illusion faltered. He smiled and shook his head.

  Jez focused on the wooden floor, but it stubbornly refused to change. Its grain remained the same brown. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t imagine it as blue. It was brown. It couldn’t be any other color. In desperation, he tried to make it a darker shade of brown, but it did no good. He tried to force power into the wood, but nothing happened. After a few minutes, his head began to throb.

  “You’re just throwing power at the ground. You’re not giving it any shape.” Kerag’s voice came from behind him, making him jump. He spun around. “If you’re not careful...”

  The wood beneath Jez groaned, interrupting him. He looked down just as a crack formed in the wooden plank he’d been trying to change. Kerag sighed.

  “That will happen. I’ll call one of Balud’s students to come fix that later. Your problem, Jezreel, is that you’re not imposing your idea of the wood being another color.”

  Jez opened his mouth to speak but closed it without saying anything.

  “What is it?” Kerag asked.

  “It just...” he fumbled for words for a second. “It’s not another color. It’s brown. I don’t know how to picture it any other way.”

  “You painted an amazing piece earlier this week. You can’t tell me you didn’t picture that before you painted it.”

  The entire room went silent at the mention at the painting, and Jez shivered as ten pairs of eyes turned to him. Master Kerag also noticed and looked around the room. He cleared his throat, and suddenly, everyone found the floor interesting again. He nodded at Jez and started his cycle around the room again. Jez tried a different tactic. He imagined his father’s floor, perpetually covered with dust. He closed his eyes until he could picture it. He opened his eyes and tried to throw the image onto the floor. For a moment, the wood flickered and lightened, but Jez was hit with a profound sense of wrongness, and the illusion vanished.

  After two hours, only Jez and a petite girl name Nelama remained, and Nelama could, at least, maintain the illusion as long as she didn’t call to Master Kerag. The brief flicker had been the greatest success Jez had had. Finally, Master Kerag dismissed them. As Jez walked by him on the way out, the master grinned.

  “It’s good to know there’s something you’re not instantly a master of.”

  CHAPTER 18

  Lajen didn’t show up for philosophy. Some of the students started talking about how if the teacher didn’t show up after a quarter hour, it meant everyone could leave. Even so, no one left when the time came. After twenty minutes, Master Rael came and said Lajen wouldn’t be coming in. A few people cheered, but a stern look from the master silenced them.

  “So we can go?” Liandra asked.

  “Not all at once,” she said. He pointed at Jez. “You first.”

  “Why me?” Jez asked.

  “Because I am the master of this dominion, and I told you to.”

  Her cold blue eyes left no room for argument. Jez nodded and stood up. Commotion broke out before he’d even left the room, and he heard Rael raise her voice just as the door closed behind him. Jez walked down the hall and found the chancellor along with a pair of green robed adjutants waiting for him in front of the door leading outside. He looked Jez up and down and stepped aside as he spoke to one of the adjutants, who ran back down the hall to the class.

  “You may go,” Balud said.

  “What’s going on?” Jez asked.

  “That’s not something you need to concern yourself with.”

  “It’s the sleeping sickness, isn’t it? Lajen has it.” Jez felt his eyes go wide as the unexpected words left his lips. The chancellor looked almost as surprised as Jez himself. “I’m right, aren’t I?”

  “How could you know that, child?”

  Jez shook his head. “I don’t know. How many people have it?”

  “Only one in the caldera.” He looked at the adjutant and held his hand to forestall the other student who was coming down the hall. He motioned Jez closer. “Three dozen down in Hiranta. You’ve surprised us all with your knowledge before. Can you do so again? Do you know anything about this plague?”

  Jez thought for a few seconds before shaking his head. “I’m sorry. I just don’t know. It’s like trying to remember a dream.”

  The chancellor nodded. He looked at the adjutant. “Can you handle checking the students?”

  The adjutant nodded and the chancellor went into the class and came out with Master Rael. He motioned for Jez to follow, and they left the building and headed to the other side of the district. Jez could practically feel the eyes watching him a
s he walked with a master on either side. They went into the small house that served as the office for the master of secrets. Paintings and sculptures decorated the main room, and Jez found himself drawn to an image of a gray-haired man with tanned skin and blue eyes. He jumped when the chancellor touched him on the shoulder. Both of the masters were staring at him, and he shrugged. Rael motioned for them to follow, and she led them to a small room with a heavy oaken desk. There were half a dozen chairs in front of the desk, and they each took one.

  “It seems Mister Bartinson has secrets locked away in his mind,” the chancellor said. “I would like you to try to pry them free.”

  “But chancellor...” Rael began, but Balud raised a hand.

  “With his permission, of course.”

  The both turned to Jez who looked back and forth between them. “I don’t understand.”

  “Master Rael can go into your mind. If there’s something hidden there, she can find it, but searching a mind like that is generally forbidden unless the person consents.”

  “Will it hurt?”

  “It depends on how deeply the secrets are hidden,” Master Rael said. “I can pull back before that happens.”

  “And you think this will help?”

  “Jezreel, I have no idea,” Balud said. “This sickness appeared nearly fifteen years ago, and it was just as resistant to magic then as it is now. That time it just died off, but we can’t count on that happening again. I’ve tried everything I know to cure this disease, but nothing works. Someone died of it two days ago. We’ve been trying to shelter the Academy from the news, but we can only keep that going for so long. I’m desperate, and I’m willing to try almost anything.”

  “What do I do?” Jez asked.

  “Simply try to remember,” Rael said.

  Jez nodded, but Rael didn’t seem to be paying attention. She had her eyes closed and was humming softly. Jez looked at Balud who nodded. He thought about the sleeping sickness, about how his father had been worried, but Dusan had dismissed it. Dusan with the closed fist. For some reason, that image hung in Jez’s mind. He found himself focusing on Rael’s humming. It lulled him to listlessness. Suddenly, Rael took in a sharp breath, and a stake was driven through Jez’s head. His vision went red and pain wracked every inch of his body. He screamed and it took him a while to realize he wasn’t the only one. Master Rael had her head clutched in her hands and was rocking back and forth, murmuring. Balud was instantly by her side and held two fingers to Rael’s forehead. He let out a breath and nodded before turning to Jez and repeating the gesture.

  “There’s nothing physically wrong with either of you,” he said. “What happened?”

  Jez tried to speak, but his words came out garbled. He tried again, but all he managed to say was “hurt.”

  It took several minutes for Master Rael to regain her composure. She walked to the other side of her desk and reached into a drawer to pull out a tin cup. She took some dried herbs out of an ivory container and poured them in before filling the cup with water from a flask. She stared at it for a second and it began to steam. Then, she handed it to Jez.

  “Drink this,” she said. “It’ll help.”

  “What...you?” Jez asked. It was so hard to form words.

  “Don’t worry about me. I’ve gone through that enough that I recover fairly quickly.” She smiled. “A hazard of my profession, I suppose. Besides, I only have one cup.” Rael turned to Balud. “There’s something hidden there, but I can’t say what. There are barriers in his mind like I’ve never seen. They reacted violently before I even knew they were there. I think I’ve shaken some things loose, but it’ll take time before they come up to his conscious mind. Even so, there’s far more hidden than I could’ve revealed.”

  “How would a fishermen’s son end up with barriers locking away secrets in his mind?” Balud asked.

  They both looked at Jez. The tea was still steaming in his hands, and he took a drink, though it was more to break eye contact than out of any real desire to drink. It tasted faintly of mint. Warmth spread through his body; he felt strength creeping back into his limbs, and the fog cleared from his mind. Master Rael smiled.

  “We should let him rest. That tea will help, but it’s no substitute for sleep. I doubt we’ll get anything more out of him today at any rate.”

  “Are you sure?” Jez asked as panic gripped him. “I mean, what if I don’t wake up?”

  He let it hang, but Balud shook his head. “That’s why we were examining Lajen’s students. You don’t have the sleeping sickness as far as we can tell.”

  “As far as you can tell?”

  “The disease doesn’t seem to be contagious to those who are awake. I think you can only catch it while asleep. We’re keeping the sick separate, so you should be safe.”

  “But that doesn’t make sense,” Jez said. “I mean if that’s all it took, the disease would never have reached the caldera, right? It’s not like people can sleep on their way up here.”

  Balud lifted an eyebrow at Rael. “He’s a smart one. We don’t entirely understand this disease, though we think people who are awake can carry it. In any case, it only seems to affect those who lack a certain strength of will. Most who come to the Academy would already be immune, and I don’t think anyone like you has anything to worry about. Mastery of things like binding requires strength of mind. You’re in no greater danger than anyone. You’re probably a fair bit less, in fact.”

  The room had finally stopped spinning, and Jez was able to meet their eyes. His head was still pounding, but it was at a more manageable level.

  “But sir, I’m hardly a master.”

  “No, but you very easily could be. Trust me, Jezreel, you’re safe.”

  Jez nodded and the chancellor dismissed him. As he reached the door, he turned around.

  “If only the sleeping can catch this disease, why were you checking the students? None of them are asleep.”

  Balud sighed. He’d obviously hoped Jez wouldn’t ask that question. “Because I’ve been wrong before.”

  CHAPTER 19

  It was wrong.

  No matter what else was happening that one truth filled Jez. This thing was wrong. The thing had been locked away for a reason. There was no place in the world for the likes of it. The man had no business trying to free it. He had to be stopped.

  Jez made himself known. “You must not do this, Mortal.”

  The man’s face was clouded in shadow, and a gem hanging around his neck glowed orange. His entire body blurred, hiding any details, though Jez found his eyes drawn to a small red splotch on his chest. He drew runes of light in the air.

  “I’ve long ago lost track of the things I’ve done that must not be done, Shadowguard.”

  “Those do not concern me. Only this place, this time concerns me, and here and now, you must not be allowed to succeed.”

  “You can’t stop me.”

  Jez drew his sword. The crystal blade burned blue, its light dispelling all shadows. The man flinched but didn’t stop. He was in the middle of a powerful ritual, and he could not stop without risking tragedy. There was too much power flowing through him. The fear flickering on his face said he hadn’t anticipated Jez’s arrival. Jez swung, but the blade collided against a shield of green power. He tried again, and the shield weakened. Given enough time, he would be able to break through, but the summoning was almost complete. The man’s precautions had kept Jez away for too long. Jez scanned the runes burning in the air. One stuck out, that of the closed eye. Jez lifted his sword again. The man’s face paled. He knew. Jez’s blade was no mortal weapon, and it could strike at things untouchable by ordinary means.

  He began to swing, and the man’s eyes went wide, and a sense of triumph suffused Jez. The mage hadn’t considered this possibility. The sword whistled as it tore through the air. The man cried out as the blade sliced through the closed eye. For a second, it looked like the eye split in two. Then, it began to steam. The green light was consumed by blue f
lames, and it vanished in a puff of smoke. The air around them rippled with power as runes around the place where the eye had been vanished in an ever expanding circle. Unbound by the runes, the magic the man had gathered coursed through the room. The orange crystal exploded, and the mage cried out as power surged through his body. Men dealt with magic of this magnitude at their own peril. A disrupted ritual of this size could destroy everything within half a mile. Many mortals would die, and Jez felt regret at that, but his only task was stopping this spell. Nothing else mattered.

  The man’s face became as still as a statue, though Jez could still sense the spark of life within him. Then, light shone from his eyes and mouth. He lifted his arms and the power of the ritual swirled around them and congealed between his hands. Too late, Jez realized what was happening. The man had reigned in the magic. It pulsed within him, threatening to consume him. He couldn’t last long like that. Mortal flesh couldn’t contain that much energy, but for that moment, the mage had control of the power. Jez slammed his sword against the shield again and again. Cracks began to form, but it wouldn’t be soon enough.

  The man threw the power at Jez. Pain like he had never felt lanced through him. He had no true physical form, but he had remained in the image of a human for so long, he had no memory of being anything else. Even the minor effort of will needed to retain that shape was disrupted by the pain, and he dissolved into formless energy. The magic remained though, threatening to overwhelm him. Jez held fast. To be doing so much pain to him, the mage had to be using a lot of power, and even with all that was gathered for the ritual, he couldn’t sustain this for long. Jez just had to hold out a little longer.

  Bands of power constricted around his formless body in ways only a master binder could manage. He could feel them trying to destroy him, but Jez had been created by a being far older and more powerful than the mage, and he could only be destroyed in a place where his power resided. The mage realized it, and once again, redirected his power. It forced Jez back into the shape of a human. His sword formed at his waist, and he tried to lift it, but the bands of power held him fast. Darkness surrounded Jez, a darkness so absolute it consumed the light of his sword. He struggled against his bindings, but strength had left his limbs.