The Lure of Fools

by Jason James King

  She was close enough to see Aiested now. It was so large that when she’d first seen it, she’d thought she had been much closer than she was. That was hours ago, just before her ghern collapsed from exhaustion and died. She grimaced. Apparently using her mother’s ring to compel the beast to keep running after it showed signs of fatigue had killed it. And the death must’ve been a horrendous one. Running beyond exhaustion, forced to keep going until your body literally couldn’t run any more. Well, she might feel something like that at the moment.

  She staggered to her feet and resumed her unsteady gait. Jekaran’s life hung in the balance, and Maely would be damned if she was going to let exhaustion stop her from saving him, especially when she had the power to do so. She just wished she could command her fatigue away, but the ring didn’t work like that. It didn’t stave off sleep and hunger, or control the elements like Kairah’s magic could. That’d be handy right about now.

  For all that she envied about the perfect Allosian woman, she’d never thought to want Kairah’s magic. That made her laugh at herself, though it came out weak from her parched throat and aching lungs.

  Maely’s thoughts were a muddled blur of unarticulated emotions as she slowly passed one mile after another. Dawn had come in full force by the time she reached the capitol city. The sight of it shocked her back into lucidity and she temporarily forget her overwhelming physical fatigue.

  For all she’d seen from afar, the city was even more magnificent up close. Un-walled, Aiested was circular in shape and made up of thousands of white buildings, all surrounding an enormous palace built around the base of Aiested’s even larger Apeira well. In fact, it looked to Maely as though the purple crystal obelisk rose up directly from the palace.

  The sounds around her awakened Maely from her half-conscious stupor. How had she not been aware of the people bustling toward and away from the city—there were so many. Most walked, but a good number pulled handcarts or rode in ghern-drawn wagons.

  From their manner of dress, Maely at first thought they were all nobility. Their clothes were clean, brightly colored, and in good repair. But after observing the carts full of produce or the men carrying packs full of assorted wares, she realized that she was walking among the peasantry, or perhaps minor merchants. Even the lowborn of the city appeared to be living more comfortably than their counterparts in the surrounding cities and villages. For some reason that made Maely bitter.

  She collected her wits and made her way into the city with renewed physical energy. However, after walking for two more hours, she began to grasp the sheer enormity of Aiested. The palace loomed forever in front of her, but it could take a day’s walk to reach it, and the brief burst of energy she’d received upon arriving was expended. Her mind was becoming muddled again, and the sounds around her faded in and out in tandem with the fuzzing of her vision.

  Without consciously deciding it, Maely walked into one of the dozen inns lining the right side of the street. In some part of her mind, it made sense that so many inns would be grouped this close together on the outskirts of the city. Smells of hot food mixed with pipe smoke struck her like a physical force upon walking through an arched doorway. The ivory walls of the common room were not as pristinely white as the building’s exterior, and Maely attributed that to the cloud of tobacco pooling near the ceiling.

  She approached a tall, skinny woman at the counter and had to repeat herself when the woman shot her a quizzical look. “I need a room.”

  “I’ll say you do, child. Do you have coin?”

  Maely fished in her pockets and brought out two iron pennies, which she dropped on the counter. The woman scowled at the coins and scoffed. “That’s not even enough for a drink.” She made a shewing motion with her hands. “We don’t abide beggars here.”

  Those words combined with the woman’s casual dismissal penetrated the shell of Maely’s emotional detachment and her rage exploded. “Give me a room, bitch!” she screamed. The familiar feeling of command the ring transmitted shot out from her chest and struck the woman so forcefully that she actually stumbled backward.

  “Of course, mistress,” the woman exhaled sharply. “We have our largest and most lavish room available. And would you like a bath and some food brought to you?”

  “Yes,” Maely sneered. “I want every amenity you offer.”

  “Yes, mistress.” The tall woman bobbed her head and began shouting orders with such urgency, that Maely might’ve thought the building on fire.

  Maely smiled to herself and some part of her decided this was how life for her should be.

  Hours later Maely awoke with a startled splash. Her bath had been so wonderfully comfortable that she’d fallen asleep. She hugged herself as the cooled water made her shiver. How long had she slept? She cast a glance out the window and found the sun hanging low in the sky making it late afternoon.

  Maely swore as she stood out of the water, more cold air assaulting every bit of her naked flesh. She nearly slipped on the marble floor as she scrambled to a soft cream-colored robe hanging on the chamber wall. She quickly wrapped herself in the robe and stumbled through an arched doorway into a gigantic bedchamber.

  It was opulent with its colorful silks, soft pillows, and a bed that was the size of her entire cottage–well that was probably an exaggeration, but it looked that big. On the bed folded neatly in a pile was a brand new dress of deep velvet green. She’d demanded the most expensive outfit the innkeeper had, and was a bit disappointed with the gown–it not having as much lace as she envisioned. She shrugged out of the robe and began to quickly dress. She had to hurry if she was going to get to the palace. She didn’t have any idea how much time Jekaran had left, but it couldn’t be much.

  That is if he isn’t already dead, an accusing voice whispered. She swore again, deciding she would never forgive herself if her oversleeping in the tub cost Jek his life, but she didn’t think that was the case. She finished dressing, threw on a fine, black, hooded cape brought with her dress, and snatched a cold piece of chicken from the plate on an end table.

  Maely threw open the door, flew down the stairs, and into the common room. She froze on the last stair when she caught sight of two men in white tabard-covered armor. One of the serving girls was talking with them. She glanced at Maely and started pointing and shouting. Apparently, the charitable behavior of the inn’s hostess was so out of place the serving girl had summoned the city guard. Probably thinks I was threatening her mistress.

  One of the guards moved to block the door to the street while the other put a hand on the pommel of a sword hanging from his belt and moved toward her. “Hold right there, miss,” he said.

  “I don’t have time for this,” Maely snarled and she began walking toward the door.

  The armored guard rushed forward and caught her by her left arm.

  “Let go of me!” Maely hissed, and the familiar undercurrent of power launched her words at the guard.

  His face changed and he let go of Maely. “S-sorry,” he stammered. The guard blocking the door shot his companion a surprised glance and then reached for his sword.

  “Get on the ground,” Maely commanded. The guard jerked, dropped his sword, and fell to his knees, all the while begging Maely’s pardon.

  Maely stepped to the door and then hesitated. She looked back at the serving girl who’d implicated her to the guards. The woman began to back away, her eyes wild with fright and Maely thought she caught her breathe out, “talis!”

  “Strip!” Maely commanded.

  The woman started nodding vigorously, dropped her tray full of food, and then began to unbutton her blouse. Maely smirked as she left the inn, listening to a group of men raucously cheering on the serving girl. That’ll teach her, she thought as she walked into the street and up to a waiting coach.

  “I want to go to the palace,” Maely said to the driver.

  “I am sorry, my lady,” the older man said. “I’ve already accepted payment to take–“

  “Take me
to the palace!” Maely commanded.

  The driver leapt down from his seat and rushed to open the carriage door. Maely saw a middle-aged woman sitting inside the carriage knitting to pass the time. She looked up and began to say, “It’s about time, Agnell…”

  “Out!” The coachman bellowed.

  “But I’ve already paid,” the woman protested.

  “Get out now,” Maely hissed.

  The woman reacted to the compulsion and climbed out of the carriage so fast she left her knitting and lady’s bag on the seat. Maely climbed into the coach and sat down where the woman had been sitting. She tossed the half-finished knitting project–it looked like it was going to be a doily–out into the street just before the coachman closed the door. Then she rifled through the woman’s bag and was rewarded with three gold Aies. She pocketed the money and sat back as the carriage lurched forward.

  The ride to the palace took quite a bit longer than Maely expected, and by the time they arrived, the sun was dipping below the horizon. A long line of carriages was parked in front of the gates to the palace grounds, so Maely had the coachman let her out and drive away. She didn’t need to worry about escape plans or stealth. She didn’t need to worry about fighting or hiding. She would walk right into the palace and demand Jekaran’s release, and she would be obeyed. Even by the king himself.

  A quick magic-loaded command to the guards at the gate and Maely strolled in without stopping. Each time she was questioned or halted she would use her compulsion ring, and before long, she was inside the palace itself. It was much larger inside than she’d expected, and decided that she would need an escort to help her find Jek. She smiled as she watched a lone figure approaching her. He will do.

  Jenoc saw the source of the psychic clamor that had disturbed his talis-crafting. It was a young human girl dressed in finery she was obviously unaccustomed to wearing. Then she has a compulsion talis. For a brief moment, Jenoc worried that perhaps one of his people had come for him. It was considered a great evil–not to mention terribly difficult–to spell-cast compulsion, but he could imagine an Allosian peacekeeper resorting to such a tactic to avoid an altercation with humans.

  His people could be such cowards. Of course, had it been one of his people, they would’ve known such a spell would make so much psychic noise that Jenoc would be apprised of their coming long before they reached him. In fact, he had started hearing the booming pulses of compulsion earlier in the day from across the city. At first, it merely piqued his curiosity, but when it started to occur closer and closer to the palace, he became worried.

  But this was no threat. This was a human girl with some form of compulsion talis. Probably a ring as that was the shape they most often took. He smiled to himself as the girl started to approach him.

  Why did she look familiar? Then the memory slid into place. He had seen the girl before, in Imaris while he chased Kairah in the person of the crystal golem. She was the child his sister had traveled with. She was the friend of the boy with the sword. Perhaps there was something to Kairah’s assertion that Apeiron had a sentient will, for this girl crossing his path seemed nothing less than an act of providence.

  She walked up to him. “Where is the dungeon?”

  A wave of power pulsed from the girl as she spoke. He gritted his teeth, and his head began to throb. This was indeed a powerful talis, for it required every particle of Jenoc’s will to resist. That alarmed him.

  While he never learned to master compulsion–no one at the College of Disciplines would dare teach it–he had puzzled out the spell in order to learn to counter it. Oddly, it drew its potency from the strength of the emotion the caster used when projecting it. Naturally, emotional control was the key to resisting it. But Jenoc was having a terrible fight of it. He’d suffered a besetting weakness in his spell-casting lately, accompanied by horrible migraines.

  “This way, mistress,” he breathed out.

  The girl nodded, and Jenoc led her down a connecting corridor. They had walked for almost twenty minutes before he found a place he was reasonably sure no one would be–one of the palace’s twenty-seven assembly rooms. He shut the door behind them and stood to bar the girl’s exit. She looked around the circular room and then spun on him. “Why have you brought me here?”

  The force of her compulsion made Jenoc shudder, and he nearly lost the concentration that maintained his illusory disguise. “What is your name, girl?” he asked.

  The girl’s face flushed red and she shouted, “Take me to the dungeons!”

  That time Jenoc lost his concentration. He could feel his disguise evaporate, and his other spell-castings shatter like glass. Fortunately, the compulsion didn’t take him, but it frightened him just how powerful this girl was with the talis.

  Jenoc saw her eyes widen and he capitalized on the girl’s confused hesitation to promptly backhand her across the face. She spun and fell to the floor with a pathetic half-choked scream. He moved quickly, kneeling and turning her over. There, on her hand, glittered a ring with an Aeose shard in it.

  Jenoc nearly pulled her finger off as he took the ring from her hand. She cried out in an attempt to form commanding words, but Jenoc was too fast. He examined the ring. It was old, perhaps one of the original compulsion talises. That explained its potential for potency.

  He looked down at the girl. Her wide eyes streamed frightened tears, and her nose was gushing blood. “You’re Kairah’s brother,” she sobbed.

  Jenoc extended his empty hand to trace his fingers tenderly across the girl’s wet cheek. She flinched at his touch and he abruptly pushed her face so her head turned, and her cheek smashed against the marble floor. Jenoc attacked the girl’s mind. To her credit, she resisted at first, but it took scarcely a heartbeat for Jenoc to break through her mental wall and take hold of her consciousness.

  A cloud of images, sound, emotion, and sensations floated before Jenoc’s mind–all his for the taking. He drilled into her memories with the intimate brutality of a rapist, ignoring her horror and humiliation as he breathed in everything about her. It didn’t take long, for she was only fourteen years of age, an infant by Allosian reckoning.

  Maely, her name is Maely. Jenoc churned over her recent memories, focusing on what she knew about Kairah. That is interesting. This girl hated his sister. Hated her and blamed her for taking the boy, Jekaran, away from her. She was obsessed with the boy and saw Kairah as a rival for his affections. I can use this.

  Jenoc withdrew himself from her mind at the same time he pulled back his hand.

  Maely exhaled sharply and began to sob.

  “Do you know how compulsion magic works, child?” Jenoc asked in a calm voice.

  The girl laid her head back on the floor and wept.

  Jenoc shook his head. “Of course you do not. How to explain it to you?” Jenoc looked again at the ring. “The talis emits a pulse of power whenever the caster issues a command. That energy actually strikes the target before they even hear the words. However, it is so quick most cannot notice the discrepancy in timing. The spell puts the target’s mind into a high state of suggestibility and if the target does not know how to resist the psychic assault, his will is overpowered, and his greatest priority becomes pleasing the one who issued the command. This does not last, however.

  “As I said earlier, the talis casts this spell in pulses. It is like throwing a stone into a pond to create ripples in the surface. The ripples eventually stop as the surface of the water becomes smooth again. If you want more ripples, you need to throw another stone into the pond. Like that, a compulsion spell will eventually fade, and the target will regain the use of their will. The time this takes depends upon the mental fortitude of the target, but sooner or later, you will lose your thrall.

  “To maintain a hold on someone’s mind, you need to continue to issue commands, keep throwing stones into the pond so that the ripples do not stop as it were.” Jenoc stood and stared down at the girl, drinking in the sight of her weeping. Causing this human vermin
pain was oddly satisfying.

  A primal part of him wanted to lift her from the ground and snap her neck. He tamped the feeling down, surprised at how easily it had risen. Why was it so hard to control his anger lately? Another headache started to throb behind his eyes, but he ignored the pain.

  “It may interest you to know that your efforts in aiding Kairah have succeeded. Her message was delivered to your king, and as a direct result, Aiestal’s armies were halted on their way to attack Haeshala. While this will not destroy my work, I cannot deny that it is a setback. To compound the problem, because of the prince’s suspicions, I cannot remain near the king, and consequently will not be able to remedy the situation through compulsion given the need to continually spell-cast in order to keep him enthralled–as I just explained.”

  “Why are you telling me this?” the girl hiccupped between sobs.

  “Maely,” he said gently. “I have seen your mind and I know that you wish nothing more than to leave this city with your beloved Jekaran. You are unusually capable with this compulsion ring. I can get you into the court where you will be able to remain near the king as one of his servants.”

  Jenoc bent down and extended his empty hand to the girl. “If you help me compel the king to resume his military action against Haeshala, I will see that your beloved is freed. The two of you can then go home to Genra, and Kairah and the sword will be out of your life forever. Furthermore, I will allow you to keep this ring. You’ve tasted its power. You know that with it you can have whatever your heart desires–money, land…” he paused for dramatic effect, “Jekaran.”

  Her hyperventilating abating, the girl eyed his hand suspiciously. “You want me to help you start a war that will wipe out humans?”

  Jenoc smiled. “It will take years for that to happen, probably decades. That may not be a long time to one of my kind, but for you it is more than enough time to live a long, happy life with the man you love.”