The Chimera Jar: The Aegis of Merlin Book 3

by James E. Wisher

  The force of its charge battled the power of her spell and it was sent flying back. For an instant after impact, the darkness was pushed aside, revealing bronze underneath.

  So it wasn’t a construct of pure dark magic, but a golem covered in the stuff to protect it from magic. Lucky for her it couldn’t protect the statue from impact.

  The minotaur picked itself up off the ground, seeming no worse for the tumble. She needed to scrape the dark magic off in order to blast the statue apart. Unfortunately it recovered so fast she didn’t have time to cast another spell before the gap she opened sealed itself.

  The black statue pawed the ground again. It would drain her, but Clair saw only one option. She placed both hands on the ground. “Oh Mother Earth give birth to a child of stone to serve this unworthy wizard, Stone Behemoth.”

  The floor shook like an earthquake as a humanoid figure of solid stone pulled itself from the ground. The maze spun around her as she fought the aftereffects of casting two powerful spells in such close succession.

  Her behemoth was even cruder in appearance than the minotaur, but it equaled the statue in mass and height. The two constructs came together, fingers locked, chest to chest. Their feet dug into the ground as they pushed and stomped.

  It was an even match, but her spell had a limited duration. If she couldn’t defeat the minotaur before it ended she’d be on her own again.

  The maze finally stopped spinning so she prepared her next spell. She gathered power slowly to avoid another bout of dizziness. Once she was prepared Clair sent a mental command to her behemoth to tear the dark coating off the minotaur.

  The stone construct formed a mouth in its crude head and bit into the minotaur’s neck. It pulled back with a mouthful of darkness, stretching the covering like rubber until it tore revealing a patch of bronze.

  “Shatter and collapse, Earth Breaker.” She hurled a shard of earth energy at the exposed metal the moment it appeared.

  Her spell struck before the dark magic sealed up. The minotaur trembled. Its left arm and head fell to the floor and smashed to pieces.

  What remained of its body continued to struggle. “Crush it, behemoth!”

  Massive fists like pile-drivers rose and fell, blasting off chunks of the statue with each impact until nothing remained but a pile of rubble. Only seconds later the behemoth crumbled on top of it. Her spell had lasted just long enough.

  Clair slumped to the floor, her body trembling and exhausted.

  The booms and crashes finally ended. Lin wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not and when he’d asked Terra he’d gotten only stony silence in reply. After that he hadn’t dared ask if they were lost.

  He thought they were. In fact he thought the walls of the maze were shifting behind them. Now that the battle had ended maybe he’d hear if one of the black slabs rose or fell.

  They took another right and after fifteen steps came to a dead end. Terra punched the wall then massaged her hand. Lin kept quiet while she paced the narrow path.

  When it became painfully obvious she had no idea what to do next he said, “I think the panels are shifting.”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised.”

  “Their rise and fall is controlled by magic, right?” He was working out his thoughts as he spoke. Lin knew next to nothing about magic so the process was slow.

  Terra finally stopped and looked at him. “Yeah, what about it?”

  “Well if magic controls them, why can’t you mimic the spell to make the one you want go down?”

  She opened her mouth then closed it without comment. It was a stupid idea. He should have kept his mouth shut.

  “That’s not a terrible idea.”

  Lin must have misheard. “It isn’t?”

  “In fact it’s brilliant. I’m not sure why I didn’t think of it myself. Too busy thinking about how to find our way through the maze to consider anything else I guess.” She smacked her forehead and muttered a seeing spell. He didn’t know what the words meant, but he’d heard them often enough to recognize it.

  Terra worked her way slowly along the path, her gaze focused on the junction between the panels and the floor. He wished he could see what she saw, just once.

  At last she stopped at the panel blocking their path. “It’s so simple I feel like an idiot.”

  She cast a short spell and dark energy gathered around her hand. She tapped the wall and it slid down into the floor.

  “You did it.”

  She shook her head. “I claim no credit. It was your idea. Let’s go.”

  Terra made a straight line for the center of the maze, tapping each wall as needed to open the way. In less than five minutes the final wall slid down revealing a thirty-by-thirty-yard space with the altar in the middle.

  They stepped into the square and Terra nodded. “Just as I thought. All the magic originates from that altar. Once we destroy it the magic holding the panels up will fade along with the barriers.”

  Lin pointed his pistol at the stone slab, but Terra raised her hand. He lowered his weapon. “What?”

  “Your bullets don’t have enough punch for this job. I—”

  A tortured moan cut her off in mid-sentence. From behind the altar a corpse clambered to its feet and turned to face them. It wore leather biker clothes and had black pits for eyes.

  “Does that zombie look familiar?” Lin asked.

  “It’s one of the Black Skulls and it’s not a zombie, there’s too much dark energy in it.”

  Lin gave the undead thing a second look. “If it’s not a zombie, what is it?”

  The dead Skull leaned toward them like it was about to fall over then it charged, way faster than the zombies he’d fought before.

  “Fire Wall!”

  The heat from the wall seared Lin’s face and forced him to take a step back. The undead burst through the wall of flames with little more than a few scorch marks.

  Lin tried to draw a bead on it, but the thing moved too erratically.

  He jumped back to avoid a backhand and fired off a pair of rounds. The first missed, but the second hit its left shoulder. The enchanted bullet exploded, tearing a chunk out of it.

  Inside the body was flowing darkness like necroplasma.

  “Light of Heaven burn away this darkness, Lightning Blast.”

  Terra’s blast sent the creature sailing back through the fire wall. She gestured and the flames vanished. They hadn’t been very effective anyway and Lin preferred being able to see.

  “You okay?” Terra asked.

  He nodded. “Damn, that thing is fast.”

  The creature had skidded to a stop near the altar. It surged to its feet. The wound he’d put in its shoulder was already closing.

  “How do we kill it?” Lin asked.

  “Excellent question. Try to take out its legs while I think of an answer.”

  The undead charged again. How was he supposed to hit something moving like that monster’s churning legs? He’d barely hit its body.

  He fired a shot at its hip, but it lunged to the side. Lin had its full attention now.

  He backpedaled and shot. Fireballs burst all around the thing, but none of them made a solid hit.

  It was only yards away, its open mouth revealing inhuman fangs. Lin gave up on its legs and took aim at that open mouth.

  Only one shot left so he’d better make it count.

  He squeezed the trigger and its head disappeared in a ball of flame.

  The still-moving body stumbled past him. Lin ejected his empty clip and slapped a fresh one in. When the smoke around the undead’s head cleared it revealed a featureless black oval that immediately sank back into the body.

  The undead stopped staggering and oriented on him, the lack of a head seeming to pose no difficulties for it.

  Lin had two clips left. Hopefully it would be enough.

  The moment Terra saw the black blob that served as the creature’s head she knew what Mercia had done. “Lin, I know how to kill it.”

&n
bsp; He glanced at her, the relief in his expression palpable. “Don’t keep me in suspense.”

  “You need to blow away the flesh and expose the Faceless One inside so I can sear it away.”

  Lin grimaced then nodded before returning his full attention to the quickly recovering undead. He raised his pistol and took aim.

  “Flames of destruction hear my call.” Terra opened a path to the realm of fire. Maintaining it would tire her more quickly, but she wouldn’t have to keep chanting the primary phrase each time she wanted to cast her spell, only the words of shaping would be necessary.

  Lin fired and the enchanted bullet blew the undead’s arm off, revealing the skinny black twig that served the Faceless One.

  “Fire Arrow!” She thrust her hand forward and a yard-long bolt of blue flame shot out, incinerating the arm before it withdrew back into the body.

  The Faceless One let out a moan. She doubted the thing felt pain, but to have a portion of its essence burned away must have had some effect.

  It charged again, this time at her. As Lin said, it was fast, but the damage had slowed it by half a step and she managed to dodge a clubbing blow from its remaining arm.

  It stopped to regroup and the moment it did Lin fired again, this time blowing off its right leg below the knee.

  “Fire Arrow!” Another section of the monster was burned away.

  It bounced in place and flailed with its remaining arm. Lin raised his pistol again, but she lowered it. It couldn’t move or attack them now. Terra could finish it herself and save a few of Lin’s precious bullets.

  Terra raised her hands and sighted through them, centering the bouncing undead. “Flames of deepest earth consume all things in your path. Flames of creation and flames of destruction rise and devour, Volcanic Core!”

  The ground shook and a pillar of glowing white flames blasted up through the hobbling monster. Everything was burned away. Flesh, bone, and darkness were all consumed by the pure white flames.

  When nothing remained but her own magic in the pyre she lowered her hands and ended the spell. Sweat plastered her hair to her face and she stumbled when she tried to take a step. Lin caught her and eased her to the ground.

  “Thanks.”

  He nodded and sat beside her. “That was impressive. How come you didn’t use that spell to start with?”

  Terra blew out a sigh. She was right on the edge of backlash. If that spell hadn’t ended it they would have been fully screwed. “It’s too slow to hit a moving target and I can only cast it once before I need to take a long rest.”

  “Well, since there’s nothing trying to kill us at the moment I’d say you’ve earned that rest.” Lin gave her a pat on the back.

  “Thanks, but I’m worried about Clair. It seems like she should have caught up to us by now.”

  “If she didn’t figure out how to lower the panels she’s probably still wandering around lost. We certainly would be.”

  “I guess, but I’m in no shape to do anything about it one way or the other.”

  Terra allowed herself a full three hours to recover from the battle. Even in the sunless chamber she had an excellent sense of time. After four years at the academy she’d mastered telling time in her head. It was a necessity if you wanted to arrive anywhere when you were supposed to and a useful trick for wizards, some of whose spells lasted for a specific length.

  She climbed to her feet and stretched. The weakness and dizziness had passed and her body felt strong enough to channel magic again. Lin joined her and together they eyed the altar.

  “You up to smashing that thing?”

  Terra had no intention of admitting it, but she wasn’t entirely certain she was up to it. All the room’s magic was flowing from the stone out to the maze and barriers. There was bound to be potent protections in place. She would have much preferred to tackle it in combination with Clair, but the other wizard hadn’t made it to the central chamber yet. Terra didn’t much like Clair, but she was starting to worry.

  “One way to find out, right?” Terra rolled up her sleeves, flexed her fingers, and tried to think which spell to use to destroy the altar. Her best hope had to be with fire magic since it was her aligned element, making her twice as powerful in it as any other. Ideally she’d like a dark magic wizard to strip away the wards first, but that was out of the question.

  Finally she made up her mind. “Stay back near the wall.”

  When Lin had moved as far from the altar as possible, she raised her hands and focused her will. “Oh flame of god’s forge, swirl, rage, and consume all things, Vulcan’s Tornado!”

  Heat gathered as Terra spun her hands, shaping the burgeoning fire into a vortex. Over the course of half a minute a full-fledged funnel cloud of flames gathered around the altar. The stone grew red hot, but didn’t melt. She needed to kick up the heat.

  “Father of winds grant this unworthy servant of fire the loan of your breath, Gust!”

  She directed the hot dry winds into a matching vortex. The heat tripled and the edges of the altar liquefied, dripping onto the floor.

  Just a little more, oh winds.

  In answer to her mental plea the gust grew in intensity. Her enhanced vision revealed the web of magic holding the wards together growing unstable as the stone broke down.

  Terra grabbed Lin and dragged him behind the panels. Seconds later the altar exploded. Gravel rained against the makeshift barrier. When all had gone silent they inched their way back into the chamber.

  The altar was nothing but a pile of half-melted rock. The wards were fading fast. A minute later all the panels crashed back into the floor. She slumped, but remained on her feet. Terra doubted she could cast another spell today if their lives depended on it.

  Lin gave her robe a tug. “There’s Clair.”

  She looked where he indicated. Clair was lying on the hard floor, dead or unconscious Terra couldn’t tell. They ran over and Lin knelt and checked her pulse. “She’s alive.”

  “Backlash. She must have had one hell of a fight.”

  “What now?”

  “Now we rest. No way are we getting out of here before tomorrow at the earliest. If I have to clear all the rubble myself it might take two days.

  In the end it took a day and a half for the tired, hungry, and thirsty people to dig their way out. Lin carried the still-unconscious Clair out of the factory and to their car. Terra followed along behind in only slightly better shape.

  He started the car and cranked the heat before pulling out and heading back to the Department. The return trip went way quicker and twenty minutes later they were parked and Lin was carrying Clair in to the infirmary. He put her on the hard cot and Terra covered her with the thin rags that passed for blankets.

  “How long do you think she’ll be out?” Lin asked.

  Terra shrugged. “No idea. Wizards handle backlash differently. I’m surprised she hasn’t woken up already. If she doesn’t wake up in another day they’ll have to put in an IV to keep her from getting dehydrated. The longest backlash coma I’ve ever seen lasted three weeks and the wizard couldn’t cast for six months.”

  “Let’s hope Clair isn’t out of commission for that long. I have a strong feeling we’re going to need her before six months are up.”

  7

  Removing the Brand

  Conryu eyed the most recent target Mrs. Lenore had prepared for them. It looked like a bowling ball someone had covered with geometric designs. On the other side of the classroom Mrs. Lenore was giving the girls some instructions for their training. He didn’t pay any attention since he was never going to have to do circle casting.

  For the past month he and Kelsie had obliterated everything she’d put in front of them with no discernible difficulties. In fact their practice time lasted less than five minutes at the start of each class. It was yet more going through the motions, but at least it was fast. As soon as they finished he’d settle in with his Infernal study guide and Prime would help him practice telepathically. Havin
g a demon as a study buddy made learning the awkward language much easier.

  Beside him Kelsie was fidgeting and trying to focus on Mrs. Lenore’s instructions while darting glances at today’s target. Every time it seemed she was afraid they’d fail. So far they hadn’t, but if they did he feared she’d blame herself.

  “Will you relax? If you tense up your power won’t flow as easily.”

  “Really?”

  He had no idea if that was true, but she was making him nervous and that wasn’t helpful. “Yes, now calm down. Try the backwards counting trick.”

  She fell into the easy breathing rhythm he’d taught her and soon her fidgeting stopped. She couldn’t have gotten past twenty numbers when Mrs. Lenore came to join them. The rest of the class was up to four-person circles and she seemed very pleased with their progress.

  The moment she stopped in front of Kelsie and Conryu her smile vanished. She’d been trying for weeks to find something that would challenge them and so far had come up short.

  “So whose bowling ball are we sacrificing?” Conryu asked.

  “It’s not a bowling ball, it’s an earth density orb. The earth magic seniors use them to practice altering the density of stone without changing its mass. This one has had its density maxed out. I doubt a drill with a diamond bit would scratch it.”

  “Cool. Anyone ever try to blast one of these things with dark magic before?”

  “Not as far as I know. If you two destroy the orb, that’s it. I have no idea what else to give you as a target.”

  “We still have three and a half months of school left,” Kelsie said. “What will we do for the rest of the semester?”

  “You’ll work on circle casting and he can work on whatever Angeline, that is Mrs. Umbra, has him practicing.”

  Conryu rubbed his hands together. “Let’s crack this egg. Ready, partner?”

  Kelsie gave the orb a dubious look then took her place behind Conryu. When her hand settled in place Conryu began the spell. “Darkness bind our power as one, Break and Shatter!”