Her heart raced with something besides hot fury, and she hated herself for that.
For his kiss was tender, and the pain she saw in his eyes left her mind screaming in confusion, even as he stepped back, bowing, bitter smile back in place. “Keep the sword, Jessica de Calenbry. Please, consider it my gift to you. The first of many, I hope.” He nodded then to himself. “I shall treat your person with sacred tenderness, any day you allow your lips to meet my own.”
Mord's piercing gaze wouldn’t let her go, and she was humiliated as she blinked away a hot tear, tinkling like a diamond as it skittered across the cold stone floor. Damn it, she had promised herself she would never let this happen with him. No matter their shared experiences, odd truce called when Squire and Aspirant united in annihilating a common enemy and drinking away the horror afterwards, Mord was still her sworn foe. Or so she had thought.
Mord gave a satisfied nod, then, as if comforted by what he saw in her eyes. “And I expect you to tell no one about the Aspirants who dared raise arms against you, for you then place my clan in jeopardy, and that would violate your oath.”
Jess hissed a curse even as Mord winked. “Fear not, my bride-to-be. I will make it clear to whoever is involved that you are off limits, and that my comrades-in-arms are not to be trifled with either.” He gave a firm, final nod before turning back the way he and his cohorts had originally gone. “Be safe, and fight well, wherever your adventures should take you. You are too precious a prize to trade yourself lightly, after all.”
Malek gazed at her sadly. Jess could feel her cheeks flushing with hot shame. He didn't judge, though. He never had before. “Don’t say a word, Malek.” Jess shuddered. “Not a damn word.”
Malek gave a solemn nod, squeezing her shoulder in silent sympathy as they made their way down the many corridors and stairs to the Wizards Wing of the college. Jess did her best to still the whirlwind of thoughts plaguing her, pushing questions of aspirants acting under compulsion and Mord’s incomprehensible affections aside, wondering what news the master wizard had.
10
Faster, Jess. Let us attend to master Rens with all haste.”
Jess blinked at her familiar’s strangely insistent tone, but was more than willing to pick up her pace. “What is it, Twilight?”
She could sense her familiar’s shrug. “In truth, I’m not entirely certain, but I can only wonder what chaotic magics our dear professor Rens might be up to. Best to attend to him before he works himself into a tizzy.”
Soon enough Jess and Malek found themselves traversing what Jess had been given to understand was the oldest part of the college by far, an ancient realm of passages carved deep into the bedrock of the mountain itself. The elegant halls of exquisitely frescoed marble were soothing and beautiful to gaze upon, and the students who they came across in the hallways all stopped to politely bow at them or smile with unreserved admiration.
Jess was presently surprised to find nary a single disapproving glance as they made their way to their ultimate destination, passing many a concentrating apprentice, some juggling mystical balls of pale blue fire, or losing themselves as they conducted an invisible orchestra of haunting beauty, or so Malek would solemnly assure when Jess queried about the odd noise.
“Warm greetings, master Delvers.” Jess heard more than one admiring student greet them with, as she politely nodded back, at a loss for words herself.
“Master Delvers?” She snuck a glance at Malek who grinned back.
“Yup. That’s us. Save one band of over eager students from evil lich and henchmen, not to mention the school entire from being slaughtered by treacherous bastards skulking about in our sleep, and master rank you earn. At least the Wizards Wing made a point of committing the first of our deeds to memory, unlike the rest of the school. Hmm… that’s a great way to skip a lot of boring classes, if you ask me.”
Jess pretended to think it over, nodding in agreement. “Save for the possible chance of being locked in a perpetual nightmare, the slave of some foul lich, lauding one's status as a Delver is a great way to skip out on boring studies!”
“Absolutely!” Malek nodded. “For the avoidance of an endlessly droning teacher, tormenting your ears with his bee like buzzing drone, no risk is too great!”
“Hear, Hear!” Jess agreed exuberantly, winking at those few students who caught their eyes and smiled at their jests. "'Tis a damn shame the Guild didn't hear about and record our more recent adventure. I'd love to get their take on our glorious victory over those bastards skulking about Highrock in our sleep, not simply read Eloquin's rather dry accounts that we were specifically instructed not to remind the school at large of, once the majority forgot." Jess gave an exasperated little chuckle. "All they know is that we commanders in training supposedly saved the school, but without details, it doesn't seem real to them. So most choose to think it mere propaganda, an offshoot of knight and commander rivalry, and as like as not hogwash."
Malek winked. "There are strategic reasons for us keeping a lid on the details, as you well know, my sister-in-arms. Of course, a little hero worship in the main hall would assure you could sail through all your coursework, and never have to study again."
Jess laughed, but did not deny the charge. “Not that I study anyway, except for master Eloquin. Gods know how he would pummel me on the field if I did otherwise. But as far as our other wonderful professors? A little gratitude would go a long way to getting them off my back.”
Malek snorted, shaking his head, and didn't say a word. Jess smirked. It wasn't like he had to worry about courses, she thought, excelling as he did at everything in the realms of academia, whether it be the numeric sciences such as accounting, algebra, or astronomy; or the bardic arts, such as history, poetry, and music, he excelled at them all. Just as well as he did on the battlefield. Jess, on the other hand, was more than willing to admit that her skills were far more highly focused. Put her on a field of flowers or battle and she could nurture and shape soldiers and blossoms both to exquisite effect. Put her in a classroom, and she’d retreat from that field of battle just as fast as she could possibly scurry away.
“And here we are, shieldsister.” Malek flashed Jess an excited grin as they approached the master enchanter's inner sanctum. “Maybe Rens has decided that I am ready for his personal tutelage. Frankly, I was so preoccupied with the tournament and everything else that happened that I have been remiss in speaking to him about the matter. Not that I am any match for Alex, of course,” Malek admitted with the slightest of mournful sighs.
Jess nodded. "Maybe so! Hopefully he will forgive the fact that you haven't been practicing at all, this last week."
Malek shrugged. “Magic is an art pursued best with a calm mind. I’ve been so energized by the tournament, to say nothing our most recent adventure in Shadow, that I’ve been finding it very hard to calm my mind sufficient to focus on the higher arts.”
Jess gave her friend a comforting squeeze, having understood at once the worry behind his words. "I'm sure it will all work out, Malek. Let's ask Alex for some tips to help you concentrate better, so you can focus on your magics once more. Who knows? Perhaps it is an added burden we must deal with as Delvers. Or you must deal with, as I can't cast magics worth a damn, myself!"
Malek smiled at her, before turning to face Rens’ door, frowning at the great oaken bass relief of a frowning minotaur, whose gold nose ring they proceeded to bang. The arcane construct of a sudden opened its unseeing eyes, pools of sparkling blue, and the wood eerily warped into a grin.
Jess gasped slightly and Malek froze momentarily. “To be expected from a master enchanter, of course, though he’s changed enchantments since the last time we’ve been here.”
Jess stroked her familiar, trying to soothe his restless kneading, even as her eyes fastened upon the curious tendrils of ethereal blue emanating from the construct's eyes, gently caressing Malek even as he stood there, completely unaware. Jess, however, was unable to keep herself from pushing away
the feather-soft tendrils that after a few futile moments gave up trying to caress her, before receding back within the construct before them.
“Who’s to blame poor Rens for strengthening his wards? He came closer to death than ever before, and no doubt mortality is a great wake-up call for one to hone one’s defensive arts.”
“Didn't affect us like that, though," Malek noted.
Jess smiled. “That’s because we’re always honing our defensive arts!”
At that point, the construct was evidently satisfied enough to open itself before them, and Rens gave them a friendly nod even as he scribbled madly into a great tome laid out on one of his work tables. Jess surreptitiously rubbed her eyes, catching sight of a brilliantly shining spellweb of fiery blue hovering over the table center, and within its framework was a complex milieu of trapped rainbows and orbs of light spinning in an intricate dance several feet atop the marble slab before Rens.
Jess frowned. She realized, without knowing how, that something was wrong.
Malek whistled appreciatively. “That looks to be an impressive enchantment, master Rens. What does it do?”
Jess blinked in surprise, wondering if her shieldbrother had somehow been granted her gift to see arcane webs of power, before realizing that he was referring to the orbs of light and rainbow colors trapped within the spell matrix, all pulsing and spinning about, visible to anyone with the eyes to see, she assumed.
Twilight, having flowed off his favorite perch to stroll intently about the room, caught sight of the construct and hissed. "This is what I sensed, Jess. Whatever it is, it shouldn't be." Jess could see his ears arch back even as he padded slowly, carefully around it.
“It is a dreamward," Alex calmly answered as he approached them from the rear of the laboratory. "We are seeing if there is any hope at all of replicating the protective magics of the Wand of Dreams, so we are less vulnerable to future attacks, even if we can't recover the wand itself."
Dressed in tunic and hose of dark brown, Alex smiled warmly at them even as he strode gracefully to his master’s side, gazing carefully at the man’s notes as he wrote them, gently gripping Rens’ shoulder, seeming to infuse the man with renewed vigor. Rens nodded gratefully and gazed intently at the blossoming spellweb, and Jess could see the orbs of light and rainbows flicker with renewed energy, spinning faster and faster.
Jess’s eyes widened suddenly as she noted how the chords of power were now vibrating restlessly within the spell matrix.
Her sense of ill ease grew.
Rens's face became stern, beads of sweat began to drip down his forehead as Jess sensed him grimly trying to keep all the components meshed properly together.
The ethereal chords began to ring discordantly, whipping wildly to and fro. The rainbows within began to bleed crimson, the orbs of light bursting in flashes of screams and laughter.
The massive spellweb was not going to hold
Twilight’s look of discontent became one of alarm as he raced to Jess’s side. “Jess!”
“It’s going to collapse, look out!” Jess cried, putting herself in front of Malek and intuitively grabbing a fierce hold of her will. Alex’s own gaze widened and he quickly clamped his eyes shut and began muttering hurriedly. Jess saw a complex spell ward of some sort spring up before him even as Jess felt a sharp sting and looked down in surprise to her hand now carrying a blood coated belt knife.
Her other hand rose to her cheek and she realized she had cut herself, right across the strange silvery scar she had woken up with after her first Delve, with no memory of how it had gotten there. Jess inhaled sharply she felt Rens's arcane construct start to glow fiercely, drenched with power and instability, the rainbows within now spinning about at inconceivable speeds.
Jess had time only to cry out "shut your eyes!" before the enchantment burst with a terrible flash of ebony light.
Even with her eyes squinched shut, Jess could feel that wave of inconceivable power now racing towards her. Instinctively she slashed downward, and perhaps it was her fancy that she felt her blood covered knife slice through massive chords of shimmering blue and violet, parting as effortlessly as strands of gossamer, the massive torrent of hideous energies roaring towards them instantly collapsing back into realms of impossibility and dream.
Whether the vision was a momentary fancy or no, Jess felt naught but a touch of heat and a burst of light, even through her eyelids as the storm of magic broke before her. She dimly heard Malek curse vehemently, for all that his voice sounded tinny and odd, her ears still ringing with the sounds of magics rupturing in unspeakable directions. Jess furiously blinked, hating to feel vulnerable, and though she still saw dark afterimages, her vision soon cleared.
Jess felt a jolt of panic seeing Rens and Alex splayed out on the floor, still as the dead, and rushed toward them as fast as thought. Her heart started to pound against her chest, breath coming in a choking gasp as she noted Alex’s ruptured protective ward, torn asunder by the awful wave of magic Jess had barely managed to slice through before it tore apart the entire chamber. The thought that she might have been even a moment too late, that she had not acted in time to save her friends absolutely terrified her.
“Bloody idiots! Racing down paths of knowledge they barely comprehend, skewing their magic in directions it's not meant to flow!" Twilight snarled, shaking off a patina of eye-watering dust that had turned his shimmering black coat to a dull gray. Jess was too distressed to pay her familiar much heed, relieved only to know he was well enough to complain.
“Rens! Alex!” Her voice held unbridled panic as she raced to their side, and she could feel herself sob with relief as Rens gave a ragged cough with her panicked ministrations, Alex heaving in a breath but seconds later. Jess was crying unabashed, holding Alex close as he came to.
Alex gasped, coughed, and flashed his savior a sheepish grin. “It’s all right, Jess. By the gods, stop crying. It’s no more natural to see you cry than it is General Eloquin! I’m fine, Jess. Merely had the wind knocked out of me.” His exhausted smile turned plaintive. “Just please, Jess. Promise you won’t tell Jera? She would never forgive me for this, if she ever found out. In fact, I do not doubt that she would end up dragging me right to her parents’ home and marrying me on the spot.”
Jess laughed at her friend’s banter, relieved beyond words that save for his rich brown tunic being covered with dust and grime, he appeared none the worse for wear.
Rens himself gave vent to a relieved chuckle. "What a day! Good show, dear Alex, a well-placed ward indeed. By all the saints, I thought I had that disequilibrium finally accounted for and damn… my tome looks near fried." He sighed and Jess caught a glimpse of a nearly charred book, still smoking some dozen yards away in the great cavern of a room that served as Ren's laboratory.
Alex, however, was looking gravely at his mentor. "Master Rens, my wards were completely ruptured under the force of the shockwave of sound that had washed over us. I doubt it did anything to contain the full fury of the underlying explosion. Frankly, I'm surprised we aren't all dead."
Rens grunted, shaking his head. “Grim words, my dear Alex. Grim words indeed. Give yourself credit, my boy. Your wards must be stronger than you realize, having served us just long enough to spare our lives before giving out to the tail end of that power wave.” He looked curiously at a completely unharmed Jess and the knife in her hand. "My dear girl, what did you do to your cheek?"
For some reason, Jess found herself strangely reluctant to answer. Though it had made sense at the moment, now the thought that she could rupture and dispel an exploding wave of raw elemental power, far deadlier a force than any fragile spellweb, with nothing more than a bloody knife seemed faintly ridiculous. She shrugged her shoulders and gave a self-conscious chuckle. "Who can say, sir?"
Alex, Jess noted, ever perceptive as he was, took in the knife, Jess's bloody cheek, and the entirety of the chamber around them. Jess grimaced as she tried to imagine things from Alex's point of view. Save for
the shockwave that had knocked them all over, sending books and papers flying, the vast majority of Ren's magnificent chamber of enchantment, including all his precious artifacts, remained unharmed, save for a patina of powdered stone and shredded parchment. Yet within the circumference of the area between Jess and the origins of the terrible explosion, there lay nothing but utter destruction. Not only had the workstation, cabinets, and chairs been destroyed, there was an actual crater in the ground.
Jess shuddered to think of the force and potency of the deadly rain of stone that should have shredded through her and Malek both, yet from what she could tell, the explosion of stone shrapnel that should have obliterated them had instead exploded off into whatever twisted dimensions of potential and dream the wave of deadly magic itself had itself been channeled into, the moment Jess had ruptured the horrific blast of hot power rushing toward them.
It was obvious even to Jess that the devastation ended abruptly at the point where she had been standing, and she could only guess at the thoughts racing through Alex's head as he favored her with such an odd gaze. Her friend, however, simply smiled and kept silent.
Jess gave a relieved nod back, her mind desperately grasping for another topic to focus upon. "It's a good thing all your tables and bookcases are warded, Master Rens, or I fear what damage your spell research would have suffered."
Rens grinned most approvingly at Jess. "And a good eye you have there, dear adventurer! To have so aptly seen my spellweb as it formed, and to sense its… instability. Marvelous talent! If only we could replicate it." He sighed. "It seems I owe you once again, my dear Jess. At least this mishap I remember! And I swear I had accounted for all the variables. It should have been safe!"
Rens’ eyebrows knotted into a concerned frown as he truly took in the utter devastation within the massive crater of stone. “By Justice, in trying to protect this college, I could have blown half of it to the heavens above!”
Shadow Knight Page 23
