by Clayton Wood
“And if we encounter one of those Void spheres?” Goran asked.
“Well wait,” Kyle interjected, struck with a sudden idea. “The dirt is like an insulator, right?” Kalibar nodded. “So it's like a sweater for heat...it keeps heat in, even if it's really cold.”
“And?” Goran asked.
“Well won't the dirt stop the Void spheres from absorbing our magic?” Kyle asked. “Or at least slow it down?”
“By god,” Kalibar breathed. “He's right!”
“I am?” Kyle asked.
“You are,” Kalibar insisted, clapping Kyle on the shoulder and laughing joyously. “You clever, clever boy! It'll work...it's simple magicodynamics. It has to work.”
“But wait,” Goran countered. “These Void spheres create such a powerful magical vacuum, it'll suck the magic right out of the dirt.”
“Yes, but much more slowly,” Kalibar replied. “Just like a sweater in extreme cold. It could allow us to escape in time...with magic to spare.” He nodded at Kyle, shaking his head in admiration. “Kyle, if we make it through this alive, you're going to become one hell of a Runic.” Kyle gave him a weak smile, not at all sure that they would make it out alive.
“Let's go,” Goran interjected, rapping his fist on the metal door in front of them. He turned to Ariana. “If you would...”
Ariana nodded, grabbing the door by its knob and repeating her earlier performance. This time she made quick work of it, clearly having gained confidence in her abilities. The door snapped open, and the four of them strode into yet another hallway. This one was as dark as the others, but at the end of it – a few hundred feet away – there was a large door. Kalibar and Goran strode toward it.
“I hear something,” Ariana warned. The two men stopped, turning to stare at her. She paused for a long moment, cocking her head to one side. “It's like thunder,” she clarified. Then she shook her head, putting a hand on one wall. “Wait...feel this.”
Kyle put his own hand by Ariana's, and felt the wall vibrate ever-so-slightly under his fingertips.
“It's an earthquake,” he exclaimed. Kalibar frowned, striding up to Ariana and putting his own hand on the wall. A few seconds later, Kyle felt another vibration.
One, two, three...he counted. Four, five, six...
He saw Kalibar's eyes close, his lips moving ever so slightly.
Twenty-one, twenty-two...
Another vibration.
“Earthquakes don't come at regular intervals,” Kalibar murmured, stepping away from the wall. “Neither does thunder.”
“Explosions?” Goran asked.
“Again, too regular,” Kalibar replied.
“Then what?” Goran pressed. Kalibar shook his head.
“I don't know,” he admitted. “Everyone stay quiet...Ariana, keep us informed if you hear anything unusual. The exit is straight ahead.” Ariana nodded, and they resumed walking down the hallway toward the door beyond. The cells were deserted, as before, but the floor was stained in places with what looked like dried blood. Flies buzzed around a few motionless lumps laying on the floor further down the hallway.
“Prison guards,” Ariana whispered. Kyle frowned; from here, he could barely make out the shapes. They eventually reached the bodies, and Kyle held his breath at the smell coming from them. He'd seen his fair share of dead bodies recently, the sight hardly triggering the fear and revulsion he'd had the first time. All he felt now was vague sadness, and a kind of morbid curiosity. He wondered if something was wrong with him, that he was so cavalier about the dead now.
“They haven't been dead long,” Kalibar noted as he passed by. They continued forward, passing an intersection of hallways on either side. Kyle glanced down the left hallway, seeing more dark shapes lying on the floor. To the right, even more. The stench of blood was almost overwhelming, and he switched to breathing through his mouth. They kept moving, now only a hundred feet from the entrance.
“It stopped,” Ariana murmured suddenly. Kalibar and Goran slowed down, glancing back at her. “The vibrations, I don't hear them anymore.”
“Keep going,” Kalibar murmured. Kyle glanced at Ariana, then swallowed in a dry throat, the hairs on his neck rising on end. The exit was only fifty feet away now, the floor ahead sticky with dried blood. The stuff sucked on their boots as they walked, the sound echoing through the hallways. They reached the exit at last, stopping before the door. All eyes turned to Kalibar.
“We go outside, and find depleted soil,” he stated. “If we can't find any nearby, we'll have to drain it ourselves, then cover ourselves with it. Ariana, you're our lookout. If we're spotted, stay together unless I say otherwise.”
They all nodded silently.
“Let’s go,” Kalibar said, opening the door.
* * *
Rain fell in heavy sheets across the stone steps leading up to Stridon Penitentiary, splattering into deep puddles on the road below. Lightning arced through the sky, followed moments later by the low rumble of thunder echoing through the city. Black smoke rose from the tops of the buildings in the distance, the wind carrying it at an angle through the sky, creating long fingers that reached over Stridon, as if poised to crush the city in its dark grasp.
Kyle stood just outside of the prison entrance, for the moment protected from the torrential downpour by the stone overhang above, supported by massive columns on either side. Ariana stood at his side, Kalibar and Goran ahead; the two men were peering out into the darkness. They spoke with each other for a moment, their words lost in the storm, then turned back to Kyle and Ariana.
“If we take the main road,” Kalibar said, pointing to the wide road ahead, “...it'll be two miles to the Gate Shield. We should cut through the side streets.”
“How are we going to get beyond the gate?” Goran asked. It was a good point, Kyle knew; the Secula Magna was surrounded by a magical fence that generated a massive domed gravity shield over the entire campus, preventing anyone from getting in unless they went through the front gate.
“The Gate Shield is down,” Kalibar explained, pointing off into the distance. “We should have been able to see it from here if it were up.” He gestured for them to follow him down the steps and into the street, his boots sinking ankle-deep in the water. Goran followed, as did Kyle and Ariana. It was only then that Kyle realized that Ariana was barefoot; ever since they'd revived her in her room, she'd been wearing a simple shirt and shorts, and nothing else. Her pale, delicate feet dipped into the chilly water, but she didn't seem to notice.
“Aren't you cold?” he asked. Ariana looked down, then shrugged.
“No,” she replied. “I mean, I know the water's cold, but it doesn't bother me,” she added, sloshing forward with the rest of them. They walked forward silently for a few minutes, then Kalibar took them left down a narrow side street. A bolt of lightning lit up the sky, followed by a rolling thunderclap. Unlike Ariana, he was freezing.
“Can we shield ourselves from the rain?” he asked Kalibar. Kalibar shook his head.
“We need to conserve magic,” he replied. “Huddle together,” he added. The four drew closer together, Kalibar and Goran in front, Ariana and Kyle behind, their shoulders touching. They were shielded from the wind a bit this way, but Ariana didn't provide any body warmth.
“Kyle's idea won't work in weather like this,” Goran grumbled, glancing up at the thunderclouds above. “Even if we find depleted dirt, it'll wash off of us as soon as we put it on.”
“Or we could just use a gravity field as an umbrella,” Kyle countered. Goran frowned.
“Right,” he muttered.
“Not that there's anyone around to attack us,” Kalibar observed. Indeed, the streets were strangely barren; they hadn't encountered another person since they'd left the prison.
“Where is everyone?” Kyle asked.
“The main battle was at the Tower and the Southwest Quarter,” Kalibar answered. “We're to the east of the Tower.”
“Hey guys,” Ariana called out fr
om behind. Kyle turning, realizing that she'd dropped back, and was standing at the door of a building to their right. She pointed at the sign above the door...which of course, Kyle couldn't read.
“Good eye, Ariana!” Kalibar exclaimed, slogging through the flooding street toward her. Goran did the same, and Kyle followed behind. Ariana tried to open the door, but it was locked. Kalibar gave it a try, closing his eyes and bowing his head over it for a moment, then pushing it open easily. He stepped in, gesturing for the others to follow.
“What's going on?” Kyle asked as he stepped through the door. Goran frowned, turning to him.
“Didn't you see the sign?” he asked. Kyle blushed, shaking his head.
“He can't read,” Kalibar explained, stepping forward into a large room with countless wooden shelves built into the walls. They held crystals of all shapes and sizes, some as small as a ping-pong ball, others larger than a watermelon. Their innumerable facets glittered faintly in the muted starlight. Kalibar conjured a small, faint light in the air above their heads, rays scattering in glorious colors and patterns across the wooden walls as they were refracted by the crystals.
“He's illiterate?” Goran asked incredulously.
“He can read and write,” Kalibar clarified, “...but not our tongue.” Goran harrumphed, clearly offended by Kyle's deficiencies. Kyle felt his cheeks burning, and he stared at one geode – a group of white-blue crystals – to distract himself. Then he frowned; the crystals were white, with a slight blue glow emanating from them.
“This one has magic!” he exclaimed, pointing to the geode.
“They all do,” Kalibar replied with a weary smile. “This is a gemstone shop, after all. The magic-sucking spheres must not have passed through this street. Everyone load up on as much magic as they can.”
Kyle turned back to the geode, pulling on the magic therein, seeing rays of faint blue light rise up out of the white crystals and fly toward him. He felt the power burst into his mind, then slowly trickle away as it redistributed. He kept pulling, feeling his skull vibrate, then his neck. It was a subtle sensation – one that he had never noticed before – but he could definitely sense his bones filling with magic. He supposed that they'd always been filled to the brim, so he'd never noticed the slight vibration until its absence.
He soon depleted the crystal, or at least pulled as much as he could out, so that taking any more required more effort than it was worth. He turned to another geode, and pulled the magic out of it as well. After repeating the process on a few more gems, he felt like his entire body was humming.
“Everyone filled up?” Kalibar asked. He got three nods in return. “Let's move out,” he stated, thrusting a few gems in his pockets. “Take a few for the road,” he added. Kyle stuffed a few small geodes in his pockets, then followed Kalibar and Goran out of the shop and back into the street. The rain had slowed to a light drizzle, the wind dying down to a breeze. The sound of thunder was more distant now, the storm having passed on. A gravity shield appeared around Goran.
“I'm cold,” he explained, rubbing his hands together briskly. Kalibar created his own shield as well.
“I think it's safe to use our gravity boots,” he stated, levitating a foot off of the ground. “Stay below the rooftops; any enemy lookouts flying above will have a harder time seeing you that way.” He flew upward then, rising a good twenty feet in the air, gesturing for the others to follow suit. Goran flew up next; Ariana turned to Kyle, climbing on his back. Despite her slim frame, she was still awfully heavy to carry around for very long...not that he was about to tell her that. Kyle created his own gravity shield, then activated his gravity boots, feeling her weight lessen to almost nothing as the boots' stabilization fields kicked in. He flew upward slowly, until he was level with Kalibar and Goran.
“Follow my lead,” Kalibar ordered, accelerating forward. They flew down the street, the sides of the tall buildings zooming past on either side, water running over their gravity shields like rain on a windshield as they went. Kyle tensed up, concentrating on following Kalibar's path and speed as they curved around a bend in the road. They reached an intersection, and Kalibar made a chopping motion with his right hand, slowing down and turning suddenly to the right. Goran followed, and Kyle slowed down – somewhat abruptly, making Ariana hold on painfully tight – and turned as well, accelerating as he straightened out. They continued forward, weaving through the city streets, and after a few minutes, Kyle felt himself relaxing. It wasn't very hard to keep up with Kalibar and Goran once he got the hang of it.
Kalibar raised his right hand sharply, his fingers spread wide, and slowed down, Goran doing the same. Kyle slowed – smoothly this time – and watched as Kalibar descended, touching down on the wet street below. Kyle descended as well, then cut the magic stream to his boots altogether, landing on the street gently. He set Ariana down beside him, then watched as Kalibar walked to a black fence in the distance, some three stories tall. Kyle immediately recognized it as the magical fence surrounding the campus of the Secula Magna. The shimmering domed shield – the Gate Shield – that usually extended from the top of the fence was gone
“Ariana,” Kalibar asked, “...do you sense anyone nearby?” Ariana frowned, then shook her head.
“No one nearby, but I hear something ahead, farther away.”
“Good,” Kalibar replied. He flew upward over the tall fence, landing gently on the other side, then gestured for the others to follow. They did so, landing on the well-manicured lawn beyond.
“This soil is depleted,” Kalibar observed, kneeling on the lawn. He inactivated his gravity shield, then grabbed a hunk of grass and pulled it out of the ground, tossing it away. Then he grabbed a glob of wet dirt from the same hole, smearing it over himself. “Come on,” he stated, gesturing for the others to follow suit. Soon they were all tearing at the grass, smearing cold, wet mud over themselves. After everything they'd been through in the last few weeks, getting messy was nothing alarming to Kalibar, Ariana, or Kyle. Goran, on the other hand, appeared thoroughly disgusted.
“Your Battle-Weavers won't recognize us if we meet them,” he groused, flinging mud off of his fingers.
“Neither will the enemy,” Kalibar countered, his gravity shield reappearing around him. “Shields up,” he ordered. “Fly low to the ground, aim for the Tower. Go to ground if you spot a Void sphere.” He flew up into the air, and Kyle flew up after him, Ariana clinging to his back. Kalibar kept them barely ten feet from the ground, the tall spire of the Great Tower still a few miles away. They picked up speed quickly, the slight drizzle pelting their gravity shields, leaving comet-tails of water in their wake. The Tower grew as they drew closer, towering over them, its pyramidal spire glittering in the starlight filtering through the clouds above. Kalibar slowed as they reached the cobblestone walkway surrounding the Tower, descending onto it. Goran and Kyle did the same, following Kalibar as he strode quickly toward the massive double-doors marking the entrance to the Tower. As they drew closer, Kyle noticed two shadowy figures standing on either side of the doors.
“Ariana?” Kalibar prompted.
“Battle-Weavers,” she replied instantly. Kalibar nodded, walking toward the two men confidently, his gravity shield vanishing abruptly. The two men – they were Battle-Weavers, Kyle realized as they drew closer – shouted at Kalibar, gravity shields appearing around them. Kalibar stopped, raising one hand.
“I am Grand Weaver Kalibar,” he shouted imperiously, wiping the mud off of his face with his free arm. “Councilman Goran is with me, as are my children,” he added, gesturing to each as he spoke. The Battle-Weavers wavered, but did not lower their shields. Kalibar smiled. “Traven, isn't it?” he asked, pointing to one of the men. “Your father served with me in Kall.” The Battle-Weaver's eyes widened, and he dropped his gravity shield, kneeling before Kalibar.
“My apologies, Grand Weaver,” he blurted, “...we didn't recognize you.” Kalibar gestured for the man to rise.
“You're a credit to
your father,” Kalibar countered, putting a hand on Traven's shoulder. “Where is Grand Runic Erasmus?”
“High Weaver Urson knows,” Traven answered. “He didn't tell anyone else, in case we were interrogated.”
“Urson's alive?” Kalibar exclaimed. Traven nodded.
“He's on the other side of the Tower.”
“Is the area secure?”
“Yes Grand Weaver,” Traven confirmed. “The military entered the city about an hour ago. They've neutralized most of the escaped prisoners. They're fighting off the Death Weavers and enemy soldiers in the Southwest Quarter as we speak.”
“What about the Chosen?” Kalibar pressed.
“I think Master Owens took one out with that new weapon,” Traven answered. “We haven't encountered any others since.”
“Thank you,” Kalibar stated. “We need to debrief with Urson. Traven bowed sharply, then opened the lobby doors, and Kalibar led the others through. The lobby was deserted, the room in shambles. Kalibar took them right through it, into a broad hallway beyond, one that led them to the other end of the massive Tower. After a few minutes, they reached a set of double doors at the end of the hallway, the two men guarding them reacting in the same way Traven had earlier. Kalibar somehow recognized these soldiers as well, greeting them by name, immediately defusing the situation. Kyle recalled Kalibar's advice to him way back when he'd first met Jenkins; despite having met the butler once or twice a few years ago, he had remembered the man's name, immediately earning Jenkin's respect and loyalty. Kalibar's insistence on knowing his subjects had paid off yet again.
“Urson's just beyond,” Kalibar stated as the double-doors opened. The cool night air ruffled Kyle's hair as they walked through the doorway, the campus of the Secula Magna spread out before them. At least a dozen Battle-Weavers were standing just outside of the Tower, a tall man in silver and black armor standing among them, black cloak rippling in the wind. Kyle immediately recognized the man as High Weaver Urson.