by Dante King
“What is it?”
“The Observatory.”
“Yarina and Lillian are there?”
“No. Kalazar.”
I turned the corner and another scent caught my attention. This one was familiar, and I felt a rush of relief as I realized Yarina was hurt but still alive. I changed direction and followed her aura. I could almost see its red and orange specks glowing brightly with all her potential right in front of my eyes.
“Where are we going? We need to go in the opposite direction to make it to the Observatory.”
“First, we get Yarina. She’s here. She’s close.” I slowed down. “Yarina?” I called.
“Kurt!”
Yarina’s voice was raised in panicked anguish. I followed her aura into a small circular room with high granite ceilings and painted walls. Yarina was limping toward the entrance.
“Oh my God,” she breathed, as relief colored her face. “Thank God you’re here.”
I looked around the room and saw the body of the mage she had fought. I could smell the residual heat of telekinesis and her Holy Flash.
“What happened?” Winnie asked.
“Everything seemed fine when we approached the Spire, but when we entered we were ambushed by two mages. I tried to fight them off, but Lillian was concerned about her father. She was sure that they had hurt him. She ran on ahead of me and disappeared. I fought off the two dark mages, I managed to kill one and wound the other, who left me here and ran. That was more than ten minutes ago now.”
“Your foot,” I said, kneeling and reaching out.
Her trousers had been blasted apart, revealing peeled skin and a lot of blood. But I also sensed another kind of magic; something that was slowly sewing together her skin and clotting her blood.
“You can heal yourself,” I said, remembering that I had always meant to ask her about that.
“I have some regenerative abilities. But they’re not advanced. I’m healing but not nearly fast enough.”
“Winnie. Stay with Yarina, make sure she recovers, while I—”
“No. I’m coming with you.”
“Winnie—”
“She’s right. You shouldn’t go alone. You don’t know how many mages you’re up against.”
“Yarina, look at your leg,” I said. “You’re in no condition to fight.”
“What other alternative is there? We can’t stop now. Something big is happening. I think the golem is here.”
“He’s not. I killed him.”
Yarina looked between Winnie and me. “Dead?”
Winnie nodded. “All thanks to Kurt here.”
“What happened after Lillian and I left the Mausoleum?”
“I opened a portal to get to Qilzid’s workshop. But Kalazar was lying in wait. We managed to chase him out of there.”
“And then he came here…” Yarina said. “But how?”
“He can occupy others’ skins,” Winnie said. “And when they die, he can simply escape. He could be anyone.”
“Winnie,” I said. “Help Yarina get to the Observatory. I’m going to go on ahead.”
“Kurt—”
Yarina and Winnie said my name together, but I didn’t stop for either of them. If my hunch was right, Lillian was in serious danger. With the Spire’s many magical traps disabled, I was able to climb to the Observatory easily enough. I ignored the pungent aroma of corrupt magic and just kept going.
After sprinting up the last flight of stairs, I burst into the Observatory. Corrupt magic flowed through every crevice in the large space. The first thing I saw was Cyntria’s gorgeous airship sitting just outside the window. Beyond, I could see the many spires, arches, crenellations, and peaks of the city.
I turned my attention to the surrounding mayhem. Books were scattered to the floor, tables and chairs were overturned, and there were scorch marks everywhere. I sniffed the air and realized that mage fire had been used in abundance, and the corrupt edge of its taint clung to the air like mildew.
I walked further into the Observatory and noticed a little cradle sitting on the largest desk toward the back of the space. It contained a faint glow that seemed to engulf the space around it. I took a step closer and realized that the gem cocooned within the cradle was none other than the Terminus Seal. The stone at its heart radiated with a hypnotic pellucid light.
I was about to reach out and touch it when I heard a whimper. I turned around and my heart skipped a beat when I saw Lillian standing there. Why hadn’t I sensed her magic? It should have been the first thing I recognized.
Lillian’s arms had been hoisted over her head with two thick ropes twisted tight around her wrists and suspended from the balustrade above us. Angry red welts were forming on her skin around where the rope was tied.
I rushed to her side and cupped her face with my hands. “Lillian,” I said desperately. “Talk to me, are you all right?”
Lillian’s eyes met mine, but it was like she was looking through me. She looked so drained—worse than that, she looked defeated. I pulled out the small dagger I kept in my right boot and cut away the ropes that bound her. She collapsed immediately, and I reached out and grabbed her by the waist before she could hit the floor. I carried her to a chair and set her down on it.
“Lillian?”
She said something, but I could barely make out the words. Her voice was weak and faltering.
“What?”
“Get out of here,” Lillian repeated, clearly exerting herself to speak.
I set my jaw. “That’s not going to happen. Where is your father?”
When I mentioned Barlin, Lillian let out a sob that made me shudder with sympathy.
“Kurt,” she whispered. “Kurt…”
“Well, well, well,” a deep voice said from behind me. “We meet again.”
I twisted around and spied a figure in the shadows. I could sense the necromancer’s pungent scent, and I balled my hands into fists.
“How many times do I have to kill you before you stay dead?” I said.
“I am beyond death now,” Kalazar replied, still cloaked in shadow. I was getting hints of magic, more understated, but they were too ethereal to pin down. “Skin-changing has given me a hundred different lives, where before I had only one.”
Kalazar stepped out into the light of the observatory, and I understood now why Lillian looked so defeated. I was staring at the dignified and starkly handsome face of Archmage Barlin Cyntria. He was still wearing his long cloak and the dark tunic with the red lapels, but he no longer had his walking stick with him. He moved with the confident gait of a victorious man.
I glanced behind Barlin at the glowing cradle that held the Terminus Seal. It seemed to stir slightly when he moved past it, and I realized that the power I had sensed earlier was all coming from the seal. I felt horror grab hold of my soul as I realized that Kalazar had succeeded in powering it up. Lillian’s weakness could attest to that.
“It is beautiful, isn’t it? The perfect weapon…”
“It is. Take some time to admire it, because I’m about to take it back.”
Kalazar laughed through Barlin’s face. “You are amusing, human. You almost make me reconsider the need to kill you. You’d make a great court jester, I’d dress you up in a little costume with a bell-crested hat that goes ting-a-ling.”
“Flattering. But flattery is not going to make me go easy on you.”
Barlin’s eyes narrowed, but the smile stayed on his face. He looked positively evil in that moment, and I felt a stab of sympathy for Lillian. It couldn’t have been easy seeing her father this way.
I felt her shudder behind me. Was she recovering already? She truly was a mage of unimaginable strength. Perhaps, if she and I combined forces, we would expel Kalazar from the archmage’s body.
“You cannot defeat me. Thanks to your little doom mage here…it’s over. You’re too late.”
“It’s never too late. As long as there’s breath in my body, I will keep fighting you. The only w
ay this will stop is if one of us is dead. And I’m telling you right now—that won’t be me.”
Barlin snarled, and the seal beside him glowed stronger and brighter. I sensed the volcanic scope of the magical potential contained within its bronze encasing. There was no question about it: Kalazar had forced Lillian into powering the seal.
If there was a time when someone might have tried convincing me we had lost, that time would have been now.
19
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Kurt,” Lillian sobbed. “He possessed my father, he threatened to kill him if I didn’t do what he wanted—”
“This is not your fault,” I said, without taking my eyes off the necromancer wearing Barlin’s skin.
“No?” Kalazar said in a singsong voice. “What will you say to her once the tainted guild run all of Trysca, and dark magic is finally set free?”
“That will never happen.”
“It already has.” Barlin reached for the cradle and plucked the stone from its perch.
At the same time, the door to the observatory flung open, and Yarina limped inside, supported by Winnie.
Barlin glanced at them and laughed cruelly. “Is this your backup? You disappoint me, human.”
“My name is Kurt Woodsman. If I were you, I’d remember the name. It’s the name of the man who’s going to terminate you for good.”
“Give me my father back,” Lillian screamed. “I’ve done what you asked, now let him go. Give him back his body.”
“Foolish girl. For all the books in your tower, you know nothing. The archmage is gone and there is no way back. The fusion of two souls always kills the lesser…what do you think that means, between your father and me? He gave me a good fight, it was fun, I have to say… he tried hard to expel me, but in the end I was just too strong.”
“No,” Lillian said in a hushed voice. “No! You’re lying.”
He shrugged. “If it pleases you to think so, keep dreaming.”
I could see the tortured expression on Lillian’s face. Despite her cries of denial, she believed Kalazar. She knew her father was dead, and the man standing before her was a monster wrapped in a great man’s skin. Tears dropped from her eyes, but I dared not move to comfort her. I couldn’t take my eyes off Kalazar for a second. The seal remained in his closed palm, its bright light filtering through the gaps between his fingers.
“What do you intend to do with it?” I asked, trying to distract him so I could take the seal ring.
He smiled. “Use it. As we speak, an army of corrupt mages are congregating at the Tryscian Waygate. We will harvest the seal’s power and take control of Trysca. No one will dare oppose us now…we have the power to wipe out the entire city.”
“I hate to break this to you—but that’s not going to happen.”
Before I could make my move, however, Barlin raised his hand, and I sensed powerful evocation magic rise to his fingertips. I could sense the burning cut of the thorned lash before it had even left the source. I pushed Yarina out of the way, knowing that her injured foot would make her an easy target.
“Take cover!” I yelled at the rest.
The thorned lash zoomed toward us, leaving ripples of red-gold magic dancing in the air. Winnie screamed and ducked for cover, but Lillian just lay down where she was, sobbing with her face pressed into the floor. I tuck rolled and immediately stood back up and looked around. Nobody had been hit.
Noticing Lillian’s utter helplessness, Kalazar turned to her with mage fire erupting from his fingertips. There was a robustness to the magic, but there was more; Kalazar may have taken control of Barlin’s body, but he had yet to understand how best to use Barlin’s magic. Kalazar was practiced in the art of necromancy, which meant the other forms of magic—evocation and modification—were new to him.
The sparks at his fingertips grew slowly until he was holding a ball of fire in the palm of his hand. The flames flickered unevenly, with a familiar taint. He aimed his fire bullet at Lillian, and, just as he launched, I jumped into its trajectory.
I pulled up my gauntlet just in time, and my shield appeared in front of me. The fire screamed against the silver wall and sizzled to the floor. My eyes met the necromancer’s, and even though I was looking at Archmage Barlin, I could see no one but Kalazar. He had been telling the truth; Barlin was dead, and his body was now a vessel for evil.
Kalazar called up another sphere of mage fire and sent it hurtling at me. The fire hit my shield and flickered into non-existence. He balled his fists in frustration, but kept himself from roaring. His fury was informing his magic, helping him tap into Barlin’s evocation skills. The entire Observatory heated up with the taint. The fire glistening out of Barlin’s fingers were steady flowing ropes without end.
He raised both his hands and fire shot from them in continuous peals that slammed against my shield with such incredible force that I was amazed that I was still standing. But my hand was trembling slightly, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to withstand his attack much longer. The rope was piercing my shield slowly, I could feel the flames on my skin now.
I dropped to one knee under the persistent mage fire, but refused to let my hand fall. My gauntlet shield was the only thing keeping Lillian and me from becoming charred meat. I gritted my teeth, and a low, desperate, guttural sound was released from my throat, like a force of nature I had no say over. I could feel the heat all over my body. In minutes it would burn me alive. The pain was already starting to claw its way through my skin, I wasn’t sure if I could withstand much more.
And then, amazingly, the fire simply stopped. The pain disappeared too, and my gauntlet dropped in relief. I looked up and realized that Winnie and Yarina had both been firing spells at Barlin. He remained on his feet, but his face was contorted in fury. He had been very close to finishing me off, and Yarina and Winnie had robbed him of the pleasure.
I grabbed my axe and flung it at the possessed Barlin wildly. He yelled in pain as my axe made contact with his chest before flying right back to my open palm. I was getting the hang of this summoning thing. I was just about to hit him again, when I saw a flash of fear appear in Kalazar’s eyes. It was short but unmistakable. He was outnumbered three to one, and he was still unfamiliar with Barlin’s magic. If he stayed and continued to fight, there was a very good chance that he would not live to see his dream of immersing Trysca in dark magic come true.
I saw the split-second decision form in his eyes, before he flipped backward and ran toward the window. Immediately, I started the pursuit.
“What is he doing?” Winnie yelled.
A blaze of mage fire screamed from Barlin’s outstretched hand, and the glass started to crack in snaking veins, before shattering completely. He jumped through the opening, landed on the figurehead of the prized airship, and scrambled aboard. The ship shuddered to life beneath his feet.
I was only a couple of steps off the window when he turned and looked at me with a hungry red gleam in his eyes. Immediately, a jet of mage fire hit the observatory floors by the window and created a thick wall of flames that shone with a hundred different colors. I skidded to a halt.
Between the cavorting fingers of the blaze, I could see the airship take off into the Tryscian skyline.
I gnashed my teeth together and backed away from the rising flames. Winnie pulled me back so Yarina could call forth her gust to blow out the frantic fire. I could feel the urgency in her magic, but she was still recovering from the mage fire that Barlin had used on her, and it took her three attempts before she was able to create a suitably powerful gust.
While Yarina worked to extinguish the flames, I rushed to Lillian’s side. She was still lying on the ground, her cheeks streaked with tears and her eyes devoid of hope. I knelt down and forced her to look into my eyes.
“Lillian, this fight is not over. You cannot give up.”
“He killed my father.” Her eyes were so wet I could hardly make out if she was properly seeing me or not.
“And he will snuf
f out a thousand more innocent souls if we don’t stop him. Your father would not have wanted that. He would have kept fighting no matter what, and he would have wanted you to do the same.”
Lillian’s eyes flickered and blinked, before she focused on me as though she were seeing me properly for the first time. “What can we do? He has the seal. I powered it for him.”
“That doesn’t mean we can’t try to get it back. We need to get to the Waygate. Please, Lillian, fight with us. We may not be able to bring your father back, but we can avenge him.”
I felt the sudden freshness of a breeze and looked around to find that Yarina had managed to extinguish the fire. She and Winnie approached Lillian and me. Yarina’s face was covered in black soot that glowed blue every time she turned her face.
“Your leg?” I asked, glancing down.
“Almost healed. We have to leave now, Kurt.”
“I know.”
“How are we supposed to catch him?” Winnie asked desperately. “It’s going to take us too long to find an airship—”
“We don’t need to find one,” Lillian said, rising to her feet. There was resolve in her tone, and a new tight determination in her face. “The Spire has more than one airship. My father, he’s a collector. It’s a hobby—an expensive hobby, but nothing we can’t afford. Anyway, follow me.”
Lillian led us out of the Observatory and down a flight of steps to a lower tower with a gap in the wall facing the city. There was a small airship docked just outside; it was an improvised docking station. Lillian jumped on deck gracefully, and the rest of us followed.
This ship was probably half the size of the Barlin’s favorite. It had a foremast and a mizzen but no main mast. The jibboom and bowsprit were significantly smaller too, and there was no figurehead.
“Can you fly this?” I asked Lillian.
She nodded. “I used to practice around the Spire’s grounds. It was the only freedom he afforded me. But I’ve never flown any proper stretches of air before, and have certainly never gone out into the city.”