Balancer (Advent Mage Cycle)

by Honor Raconteur

  We arrived in a small courtyard, one that had escaped the destruction of the tidal wave. It looked like someone’s private garden with decorative trees and flowers all around. This place, unlike the other building, did not look abandoned. In fact, to keep bushes that particular shape, I would say that someone would have to work on this area almost daily to keep up with it.

  Nowhere did I see a two foot sigil lurking.

  “I don’t see it,” I growled.

  “I’m not surprised,” Dassan responded, clearly irked. “After all, these sigils escaped detection for several generations. The shields over them have to be amazingly strong.” He confiscated the mirror broach from me before asking, “Raile, do you see anything where I’m standing?”

  “Wait, we were checking out a different location. Did you go south?”

  “Garth, Dassan. We found it.”

  The warm humid air did nothing to alleviate the cold wave of premonition that swept down my spine. A part of me knew with complete certainty that I didn’t want to know where it was. Unfortunately, I had no choice but to ask. Duty forced me. “Where?”

  “The far east wall of the garden. The one next to the apple tree.”

  I turned around, as I was facing the opposite way. Even when I faced the right direction, I couldn’t see anything. “Where exactly?”

  Dassan gave a sharp, humorless laugh. “Ah, that must be it. That patch on the wall that I can’t properly look at. Here, watch.” He lifted some loose dirt from near his boot and casually tossed it at the wall. It never impacted—the dirt was repelled a good foot away, bouncing off as if some invisible force had slapped it aside.

  I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Alright, it’s confirmed. Quad-directional alignment.”

  “Chatta’s checking on the other two locations now.” Raile heaved a weary, gusty sigh. “I’ve never seen a magical glow like this. If bloodlust could be given a color, I imagine it would look this shade of malignant red.”

  Thank all of the gods that a glamour was weak to scrying. Certainly Chatta’s superior scrying abilities were to thank as well, for I wasn’t sure that anyone else could have searched as quickly as she did and seen past those glamours. For that matter, I thanked the gods that a tidal wave had hit the building and destroyed the sigil’s glamour. If we’d been forced to search all of Chahir in person for the source of the Order’s confidence, we’d likely never have found those sigils.

  Further away, from what sounded like a few feet, Chatta’s lighter voice added, “Found the other two, Raile.”

  “The problem with being old is that you’re right most of the time. I have no doubt that every city will be in the same pattern.”

  “What do they look like?”

  “It’s almost impossible to describe. Sometimes it’s a wall carving, sometimes it’s part of a statue; it just always incorporates the same symbols. You’ll need a magical expert to identify it and destroy it.”

  And I am certainly not that, not when it comes to blood magic. “How many of the Remnant volunteers are experts at blood magic?”

  “You have a few. I can gather the rest of them tonight.”

  Well, that was one point in our favor. “I’m coming back directly. I must speak to Vonlorisen about this.”

  “Yes, you do. I’ll alert Don and have him be searching for other sigils in the capitols.”

  “Thank you that will help.” I stepped closer to Dassan and dropped us onto the earth path.

  We didn’t have any sort of conversation on the way to Alvacon. For one thing, I was going faster than I’d ever done before—I couldn’t spare any part of my attention on speech. I’d likely get us killed if I’d tried.

  I rose up in the courtyard only to find Shad waiting for me. He stepped in close, talking as he did so. “I tried to get a message to Vonlorisen but no one’s awake at this time of the night. We’ll just have to go directly to him.”

  That was fine by me. I dropped the three of us back onto the earth path, not in the mood to wait and see if anyone else wanted to be in on this conversation. It took a quick, sharp turn and an abrupt ascent to reach the particular courtyard I had in mind. Even as we rose above the surface, my senses were extended, searching for Vonlorisen. No, no, no…there!

  As soon as I felt him, I spun on my heel and sprinted for the first available door. This late at night, the courtyard held nothing but shadows and silence. My footsteps, and the footsteps of the men behind me, echoed oddly in the confined space. I hit the door with a heavy slap, not slowing my pace, but simply grasped the metal handle and yanked it open.

  Feeling where a person is and knowing how to navigate the labyrinth of hallways to reach them are two entirely separate things. I switched hallways almost at random, sometimes meeting dead ends and having to backtrack. It became increasingly frustrating, and by the time that I reached the doors for Vonlorisen’s private chambers, I was ready to just break them down. Shad, probably sensing my inherent need for destruction, clamped a restraining hand on my shoulder and reached past me, rapping on the wood with a loud fist.

  Three arduously long seconds passed before a door opened, a bleary-eyed and disheveled King standing in the doorway. Vonlorisen had a robe hastily thrown on and tied, hair standing up a bit in the back. The glare faded as he took in his late night visitors. “What? What’s wrong?”

  “Not in the hallway,” I cautioned.

  Without a word, he stepped back and gestured us all in with a sharp wave of his hand. When we had all passed him, standing within the sitting area of the room, he closed and locked the door with more force than necessary. Meeting my eyes by the dim glow of the fireplace he repeated, “What’s wrong?”

  “We found the Star Order’s trump card.” As clearly as I could, I outlined the situation. Halfway through, Vonlorisen fumbled for the nearest seat and sat heavily. When I paused, not knowing what else to say, he asked hoarsely, “Assuming they activate those sigil things, how many people would die?”

  “Most of your children and elderly,” I said through a dry mouth. “From what I’ve seen of this country’s population, I would hazard that’s about a third of Chahir’s population.”

  His mouth moved, forming the words one third, but no sound emerged. It took him another moment, and a deep breath, before he found his voice again. “Can you stop them?”

  “Not alone. I couldn’t do this alone, no matter how much time given me to prepare. I don’t know what the sigils look like—only an expert could tell me for sure. Fortunately, this man is one of them.” I turned to Dassan and gestured to him with an open palm. “Your Majesty, be you known to Wizard Kamik Dassan of Coven Ordan.”

  Dassan gave an appropriately low bow. “Your Majesty.”

  Vonlorisen gave him an acknowledging nod. “Wizard Dassan. Can you find these things?”

  “Yes,” Dassan answered without hesitation, confidence reflecting from him. “An associate of mine is scrying for them as we speak. I will join him tonight to help and speed the process along.”

  “How quickly can you find them?”

  Dassan spread his palms out in a helpless gesture. “It depends on how many of them there are. If it’s just the capitol cities, I believe it will take a few days to locate all of them. If it’s more than just the main cities…I can’t begin to guess.”

  Vonlorisen reached up with one hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. “I suppose, to avert disaster that these sigils must be taken out all at once?”

  “If we don’t, we risk word leaking out of their destruction,” Shad agreed quietly. “My King, we have a small window of opportunity to take these sigils out before they can be used against us. It’s not just the population that will be sacrificed as a power source—think too of the soldiers that will have to fight these empowered Priests. The last magical war decimated half of this country’s population. Do you dare repeat that?”

  The words found their mark. Vonlorisen flinched at the mental picture. “Your point is well made. Then we w
ill do this as quickly and quietly as we can. Magus, what do you need?”

  “Right now? The Remnant’s expertise and a little time. We’ll keep the teams in the field to avoid raising suspicions. They’ll be in the right position anyway when we figure out how to destroy the sigils. Tonight, I’m heading to Coven Ordan with Dassan so that we can plan everything out there.”

  He nodded in understanding. “Keep me updated. Do whatever it takes to make sure these things are not used against my people.”

  Chapter Thirteen: Planning

  Raile had left ahead of us, already traveling back to Coven Ordan with Tyvendor to prod people into motion there. I only had to worry about transporting Shad, Xiaolang, Chatta, Night and myself to Coven Ordan. At first, I hadn’t been sure who would go with me and who would stay in the capitol, but as Xiaolang had pointed out, they were just as able to coordinate things from Coven Ordan. Shield and Saroya could keep things going in Alvacon for a few days while we focused on this immediate problem.

  We reached Coven Ordan around midnight. The city by moonlight seemed even more magical than usual. With all of the lights still on in the city streets and homes, it looked like a suspended, multifaceted jewel in the dark night air.

  Raile kept an eye out for our arrival. I barely had everyone above the surface when the glamour on the bridge dropped. We went across without hesitation. Raile stood just inside the main gate, impatiently shifting from foot to foot as we hurried across the bridge. Apparently we weren’t moving fast enough, as the whole party was barely within earshot when he started talking.

  “Don is still confirming that every capitol city in each Province has sigils. We’ve marked the ones we’ve found so far, but I don’t need any more confirmation than we’ve got. I am positive that every capitol city in Chahir has these malignant things. I’m not sure how many people we’ll need to handle this.”

  I twisted in the saddle to look at Shad and Xiaolang, as I didn’t know how many people would be necessary for this either. They looked at each other, eyes thoughtful, then turned back to Raile. “To answer that, we need to ask more questions,” Xiaolang responded. “There’s too much about the magical end of this that I’m not sure of.”

  Raile didn’t seem surprised by this response. “I thought as much. I’ve arranged for all of you to sleep at Sallah and Aral’s house tonight. We’ll meet with some of the best blood magic experts at the crack of dawn.”

  Wait, he wanted me not only awake but thinking at that ungodly hour? I didn’t function well in the mornings at the best of times. I would surely be worse than usual tomorrow morning, considering all of the running around I’ve done today.

  Chatta, no doubt thinking along the same lines, leaned over in her saddle long enough to pat me reassuringly on the back. “I’ll hit you with a revival spell if you start nodding off,” she promised.

  I eyed her warily, not sure how to take that promise. The twinkle in her eye could either mean that she found the whole situation amusing or that she had mischief in mind. In the dim lighting, I couldn’t quite tell which. The uncertainty made me a little uneasy. Which revival spell, exactly…no, probably safer to not ask.

  Raile either didn’t hear Chatta’s comment or didn’t care, as he simply waved for us to follow him in. We did so at a slow, meandering pace that the horses seemed grateful for. I probably should have gotten off Night and walked in, but the truth was I felt bone tired, and Night didn’t give any signs that he wanted me off his back, so I stayed on.

  Close to being midnight, the streets were largely deserted. Tall lampposts were lit with magical orbs at even intervals, shedding more than enough light for us to travel by. Sallah met us at the gate, eyes tight with worry but a game smile on her face. Raile didn’t say anything more to us, just waved good night and moved further along the street to his own house.

  I slid off Night’s back with a weary thump so that I could give a quick, firm hug to Sallah. She returned it just as fiercely. “I’m glad you’re here,” she murmured into my ear before stepping back. Her eyebrows drew together as she studied my face. “You’re tired, and your magical aura is dimmer than usual. Garth, what have you been doing?”

  “It’s been a long day,” I sighed. “If it’s alright with you, I’ll explain later.”

  She clearly wanted to ask more questions but swallowed them. “Tomorrow then. Everyone, if you’ll lead the horses around back. I’m sure you remember the way. I have beds set up for you inside. Does anyone want something to eat?”

  “No, we ate earlier, but thank you,” Chatta assured her.

  We all trooped out to the back of the house, where the stable sat, and took care of the horses. The necessary chore seemed to take years instead of minutes. Once done, I dragged myself into the house through the back door and up the flight of stairs to the same room I’d been given the last time I stayed here. I pulled off both boots, fell face first into the bed, and slept like the dead.

  ~*~

  Revival spells only lasted about fifteen minutes. It took two just to get me to the meeting. By some unspoken consensus, the whole team voluntarily kept pouring hot tea into me until I felt like if I’d taken one more sip, I would’ve started making sloshing noises.

  The meeting place turned out to be at Don’s pool, no doubt so that he could show people what we are up against. As I stepped inside the building, the rich smell of plants and earth filled my lungs as usual, but mingled with it was the sound of many voices quietly speaking. I stepped around a thick bush blocking my view and got my first look at Raile’s volunteers.

  At a quick estimate, at least thirty or so people stood around the pool. Their general appearance was heartening, to say the least. They all looked Chahiran with their light coloring and bearing. The magical signature emanating from them resonated strongly along my senses, like sunbaked rock. I found myself smiling without truly realizing it.

  Raile spotted me and waved me closer. He had cast some sort of levitation spell on himself and was comfortably seated on thin air, hovering just on the pool’s edge. Don stood next to him, impeccably dressed in black Wizard’s robes but I saw that he had dark circles under his eyes that could nearly match the robes. Did he get no sleep last night?

  “Garth,” Don greeted with relief, reaching out a hand to me.

  “Don,” I returned, grasping his hand in a firm clasp. “We owe you. Without your diligent searching, Chahir would stand no chance against these monsters.”

  A tired smile flitted over his face. “Let me sleep for a week, and I’ll call the debt even.”

  “Garth, we’ve been waiting for you to start the meeting,” Raile prompted.

  Sheer panic shot through my system, strong enough to wake me up with resorting to another revival spell. “ME?!”

  “You’re the one Vonlorisen designated, remember?” Raile retorted impatiently, a finger tapping an irritated rhythm against his knee. “That makes you the head of this circus.”

  Why do I always get volunteered for things like this…? Did I do something to offend the gods? Wait. From the ether of desperation, inspiration struck. Vonlorisen didn’t just designate me. Hopefully, I turned to Shad. “Uhhh?”

  He patted my shoulder with mock sympathy. “Just introduce me and give them a basic run down of what Vonlorisen agreed to. I’ll take over from there.”

  I knew I liked him for a reason. “Chatta, cast that voice-broadcasting spell of yours for me?”

  “Sure,” she agreed easily, pulling her wand from a sleeve pocket. “Shad, do you want it as well?”

  “No need,” he negated. “They’ll be able to hear me.”

  Shad normally didn’t speak that loudly, but he did have a lot of experience training recruits. I doubted anyone that was a military trainer survived without learning how to belt out orders.

  Chatta waved her wand at my throat in a small, circular motion, cast the spell, and then gave me a go-ahead nod. I turned to the room and spoke calmly, “My name is Rhebengarthen, Earth Mage of Chahir.” M
y voice, fortunately, didn’t boom out at an ear-splitting volume. Instead, it simply carried to every corner. Good. “To my right is Captain Riicshaden, also of Chahir. King Vonlorisen has designated me and the Captain as the leaders of this mission. He has requested the assistance of the Remnant to destroy the sigils created by the Star Order. Know that you are to be under our sole direction.”

  A few people murmured to their neighbors at that.

  Shad took a step forward, drawing their attention. With no apparent effort, his voice carried out in strong, deep tones. Such a voice would not have been out of place on a battlefield. “This meeting is to help us understand what your individual strengths and weaknesses are, how much power or specialized tools you need to destroy the sigils, and how to coordinate this attack.”

  I turned to Dassan. “So how do we destroy the sigils?”

  “It’s going to be tricky to deal with these sigils. The first problem is finding the things. We’re going to need very accurate locations to find them again in Chahir. The glamours on them are strong. In person, they’ll be impossible to see. Even by scrying, the glamours put a haze over the sigils. I’m amazed Don could find them at all.”

  If he were less skilled with the scrying, I wasn’t sure if he could have.

  “Once we do locate them, the next problem will be breaking the shields that guard them.” Dassan frowned in deep thought. “Truthfully, I’m not sure how we can without inspecting each shield individually. The first sigil found had its glamour and shield broken because the building it was attached to was damaged. It might very well be that we’ll have to destroy whatever the sigil is attached to just to get past the shield.”

  “If necessary, you’ll have authorization to do just that,” Shad assured him grimly. “After that?”

  “After that…well, after that is the true problem. A blood sigil is a nasty piece of work. Handled incorrectly, and it will suck in anyone that tries to attack it. There’s a pretty long and complicated incantation to incapacitate a sigil and it’s quite draining to do.” Dassan paused and looked at the watching crowd. “I wouldn’t want any one person to attempt it, frankly.”