by TR Cameron
She pointed out the features she knew, the shops, the houses, the streets and sidewalks, and the location of Nylotte’s shop. The others didn’t speak as they followed her. After the final stair, she led them along the street that held Alessand’s business, hoping it might be open so she could show them his amazing work. The locked door prohibited entrance, so she turned to head through an alley that connected to the lane the Drow’s building was on.
“It’s not quite what I described, except for the tunnel,” Tanyith observed.
She shrugged. “I guess I’ve always been here in the daytime or something. I’m not sure Stonesreach follows the same clock that we do since there’s no sun to divide the day.” Fyre made a sound she took to be agreement, and she turned left as they reached the next road. A couple of dozen feet later, she grasped the handle of Nylotte’s shop door, pulled it open, and preceded the others inside.
The main floor was empty, as she’d been told it would be. Stairs descending to the basement loomed before her, and she forced herself not to freeze in place.
I wouldn’t want them to know how intimidated I am at the idea of Nylotte training me. No, never that. Even her internal laughter at herself was tinged with nervousness.
The staircase turned ninety degrees before it deposited her in a spacious room. A circle of metal set into the floor demarcated most of the area, with a small rectangle apparently reserved for storage at the side nearest the street.
The Drow sat in the lotus position slightly back from the center of the ring and looked at them with a smile. She gestured at the area in front of her. “Sit. Let’s talk first.”
She sat opposite the woman and tried not to stare as the others joined her, Fyre on her right and Tanyith on the left. The Dark Elf’s white hair was bound into a high ponytail, and she wore all black—tall boots, leather pants, a tight tunic, and a thin leather jacket. Cali unconsciously tapped the silver rings on her thumbs and index fingers together at the sight of the five rings on Nylotte’s hands.
The ring signifying leadership of House Leblanc was stored in New Atlantis, which left her one short of the other woman’s count. She couldn’t help but imagine it was deliberate, given the sense of control that radiated from her new mentor. The idea that the Drow might play mental games with those she chose to teach was not a huge leap beyond what she’d already experienced from her.
Cali grinned. “Thank you in advance for the lesson and for clearing the way for Fyre and Tay to join me.”
The woman nodded. “Of course.” She looked at the Draksa and then at Tanyith as if peering into their brains in search of secrets. Her attention returned to the girl after a few moments. “So, first, I have completed an initial reconnaissance of the area the dagger describes. It’s an abandoned village deep in an Oriceran forest. I can’t imagine how your parents found it. The engravings offered no greater clue as to where the supposed treasure lies within it.”
She nodded and excitement surged inside. “Will you take me there?”
Nylotte chuckled. “Ah, your impulsiveness reminds me of my other student. Diana would have reacted the same way in your position. No, not yet. I mistrust the situation and have asked a friend to look into it. Remember that the blade was intended to be bait for you and although you may have avoided that trap, another might await.”
Tanyith interrupted with a small frown. “Is it Chadrousse?”
“Of course.”
Their exchange confused her until he turned to her and said, “Watch out for that one. He’s very focused on racking up favors.”
“Got it.” She chuckled. “But if we need to know, we need to know.”
Nylotte nodded. “That’s how it starts. He is a master of what he does. Before you’re aware of it, you’re stuck performing an annoying task for him that merely leads to more trouble.” She finished with a smile and a matching one appeared on Tanyith’s face.
“Will you let me know as soon as you hear something?” she asked and let the worry go when she received a nod. “Okay. I can wait for a little longer, I guess, since I don’t have a choice. Is there any news on the other blade fragments?”
The other woman shrugged. “Alessand believes your parents must have collected any engraved shards of metal they could find. He’s sure there are fragments of another house sword included among them and quite likely a dagger identical to the one he’s already reassembled. There’s nothing incredibly useful at this time, however. Only acquiring more pieces will provide more insight.”
“That’s high on my list of priorities.” Cali rummaged through the thoughts banging around her head and found nothing else in need of instant attention. “I think that’s it.”
The Drow rose gracefully to her feet, and she did the same, albeit with less style and agility. But at least I’m better than Tanyith. Her friend moved as if he was still sore from the battle the day before. Fyre, naturally, flowed like water as he stood.
“Anyone who doesn’t wish to experience Caliste’s efforts at controlling lightning should move outside the circle,” her teacher warned. Her alleged allies were quick to find the opposite side of the metal ring.
“Traitors,” she muttered and felt a wave of amusement from Fyre. She shifted her focus to the dark eyes of the woman in front of her. “You’re not wrong, though. Emalia explained what I have to do—weave the lightning together into a tightly controlled line—but every time I try, it goes everywhere.”
The Drow clasped her hands behind her back and nodded. “That is indeed one method but it’s not the only possibility. Diana and I have had endless discussions about the fact that there are probably as many ways to use magic as there are people, and that a metaphor or understanding that works perfectly for one might be utterly insufficient for another.” She looked a little startled and her teacher smiled. “It’s entirely possible that you and your great aunt have different understandings of power, which makes her approach inappropriate for you.”
The reflexive urge to defend Emalia summoned a snippy comment to her tongue despite the fact that her great aunt had said more or less the same thing, but she kept her mouth closed until it passed. “I can understand how that might be the case. How do you see it?”
The wide grin on the other woman’s face suggested she had noted her restraint.
I wonder if Diana also always feels like she’s being laughed at when she’s around Nylotte. Maybe I’ll ask next time I see her.
The Dark Elf’s tone was crisp and teacherly, though. “For me, lightning isn’t a thing to be controlled but rather coaxed and persuaded. I cannot make it do what I want but I can convince it to.” She raised a hand and electricity surged from it in all directions before it coalesced into a ball that floated slightly above her palm.
Cali frowned. “How?”
Her teacher summoned another sphere of lightning and rotated them both above her palm. “For me, it is a matter of setting the power free with a clear vision of what I want it to become, then trusting it will do so.”
“That’s, like…the opposite of what Emalia said.”
She nodded. “And she is not wrong. Neither am I. What works for her wouldn’t work for me, and vice versa. If you want simple and predictable, you could always limit yourself to force magic.” The condescension in her voice conveyed her opinion about that option.
“Right. Okay.” Cali sighed. “Set it free and convince it to be what I want. Got it. How should I start?” She rolled her shoulders to ready herself for the attempt.
“By relaxing.”
Her gaze snapped up to meet the other woman’s. “What?”
“Relax, Caliste. This is not a battle. The magic is part of you, and the mindset of fighting yourself is not a useful one where power is concerned.”
She muttered, “But I’m so good at it,” as she forced herself to clench and release her muscles. When her body was calmer, she examined her thoughts and locked the troublesome ones away in their alcoves for later. When she felt she was ready, she nodded.
“Visualize what you want the lightning to become,” Nylotte instructed. “Let’s try for a sphere about the size of your hand. It’s vital that you can see it before you release the magic.”
Cali closed her eyes until the image appeared, then opened them and concentrated until her mental picture was superimposed over her palm like her teacher had done.
“Now, set your power free and concentrate on the ball.”
She released it and lightning erupted to fill the entire area bounded by the metal. A shield shimmered around the Drow, and she called, “Now, envision it receding into the shape you’ve chosen.”
Her mind had to make a sharp mental shift because she had waited to be called upon to dispel the magic and the unexpected instructions caught her by surprise. She tried pushing it into a sphere, then pulling, and when neither worked, remembered what Nylotte had said. Entirely focused, she imagined the power simply coming together as if by gravitational pull and condensing into the form she wanted. Around her, the tumult lessened, but she kept her concentration pure.
A sphere, about the size of my palm, made of electricity.
“An excellent first try.” Her teacher clapped softly. Cali looked and grinned when she realized that, while it wasn’t smooth or orderly like the Drow’s had been, the power had more or less confined itself to the appropriate size and shape. She dispelled it and exhaled the breath she’d been holding.
“Okay, I think I understand.”
“You’ve taken your first steps, anyway. It will require dozens more attempts before you’re truly ready. So, you’d better get started.” She groaned, and the other woman grinned. “You didn’t think it would be easy, did you? Once you have the sphere mastered, the move to lightning whips will be a simple one. But you’ll need to bifurcate your mind to keep them active while also using them to fight.”
She nodded. “I’ve done that for other things. It should be the easier part.”
“Good.” She looked at Fyre and said, “Would you be so kind as to watch her and alert me if anything goes wrong? I’ll leave the shield up to protect my store.” The Draksa nodded and she turned to Tanyith. “You and I need to have a conversation. Come upstairs with me.”
Cali watched them climb the stairs, wondered what the hell was going on, then packed that worry away with the others and focused on the task she’d been given.
Okay, lightning. Let’s find a way to work together properly, shall we?
Chapter Thirteen
Nylotte followed Tanyith to the main floor, confident that the girl below wouldn’t hurt herself. Her new student had learned fast and had significant potential to become quite proficient. She’d not worked with many Atlanteans in the past but had no reason to think Caliste’s ancestry would be any hindrance to her accomplishment or to their ability to work together.
The ex-convict, however, was another issue. He seemed to be having challenges from what she’d been told and what she’d seen herself. Times had become too dangerous to let that situation continue. She had hoped it would be fixed without her involvement but waiting any longer for a resolution would be a bad idea.
At the top of the stairs, she brushed past him, pulled two stools from behind the counter, and gestured for him to take the one closer to the door. After her shop had been attacked, she’d sworn never to be caught even slightly off guard in it again, and that extended to not having her back to the entrance. She watched and waited for him to speak, a tactic that normally worked, but he seemed unable to do so. He shifted uncomfortably in the chair and didn’t meet her gaze.
Finally, with a sigh, she asked, “What’s the deal?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know what you mean.”
The Drow rolled her eyes. “Okay, let’s dispense with the nonsense, shall we? I’m neither your therapist nor your doctor but clearly, something is the matter with you. I’d usually be content to let you work it out on your own, but there are bigger issues at play in which you hold a pivotal role. So. Speak and leave nothing out.”
With a sigh, he raised his gaze from the floor. “Something’s wrong with me.” She resisted the urge to confirm it. “I endure low-level pain all the time and I have difficulty controlling my emotions.”
She frowned. “Have you seen a doctor?”
The man shook his head. “I think it’s simply stress. Ever since I met the damned Malniets and they put their hooks into me, that pressure is always present. I hate it.” He all but snarled the last statement as if to emphasize his feelings.
“Uh-huh. Tell me more about the emotional part.”
Tanyith shrugged. “I get angry faster, and I get angrier than I used to. Rage isn’t something I really felt before, except for when I was sent to Trevilsom. Now, it’s like an old friend.”
“It seems logical that being falsely imprisoned could create that situation.”
He gave a single dark laugh. “But it didn’t manifest until we went to New Atlantis. If it had appeared before that, I’d believe it might be the cause. But no, I don’t think so.”
“So, if it’s not physical and it’s not emotional, there are only a few options left.”
“Yeah. I’m losing my mind.”
Nylotte shook her head. “That is doubtful, although I could question your choice of companions.” She gave a small mocking smile and almost drew a matching one from him. “There’s an unlikely possibility. Have you ever heard of a geas?”
He nodded. “In fantasy novels and ancient legends. Never for real.”
“It’s funny how what’s real in one age passes for fiction in the next, and vice versa. But it’s easy enough to find out. It might hurt a little, though.”
Without waiting for permission, she spiraled her power toward him with the intention to read his. Barriers snapped up, doubtless by unconscious reflex, but it was a simple matter to envelop them while seeking a way inside. She’d practiced mental magic for decades, and this was not a particularly different process.
Absently, she noted the way his muscles locked as he fell off his seat, but it was a background happening and she didn’t allow it to distract her. Finally, cleverly hidden within his magic, she found the parasitic spell. Tagging it so she could find it again easily, she released him.
He used the stool to pull himself from the floor and wiped the blood from where he’d split his lip. “A little, huh? That felt like being pounded with an electrified fireplace poker that had come out of the flames.”
She laughed. “Very dramatic. You’ll live. So the good news is that it’s not physical or mental, although I can’t claim you’re wholly sound in either of those areas.” The hopefulness that spread across his face was a pleasant sight.
“You’re saying the bastards spelled me.”
“Yes. Exactly.” He rattled off a string of curses that demonstrated his problems with impulse control. While he did so, she saw the spell at work on him to push and hurt him in equal measure and drive his anger higher. She held a palm up and injected a tone of command into her voice. “Stop.”
He obeyed reflexively, then realized what he’d been doing. He sat again, raised his hands, and let them drop. “Do you see what I mean?”
“I do. The bad news is that getting rid of it without giving the game away won’t be easy. Dispelling it would be simple. However, eliminating most of the magic while ensuring your enemies don’t know it’s gone will require leaving some effects in place, although diminished.”
“I understand.” He nodded, his expression grim. “At this point, I’ll take whatever I can get.”
Nylotte grinned. “Excellent. You might want to lie on the floor for this, however.” While Tanyith complied, she marshaled the magics she would require. It was a complicated task.
First, she would interrogate the existing spell to its most basic level to fully understand every part of it. Second, she’d need to craft her replica of the magic that would seem the same to those who had created it but have less of an effect on him, while incorporating enough of t
he original to fool its creator. Finally, she’d have to wipe away the first and put its replacement in more effectively than the man with the hat and the whip had in the movie Diana’s life-partner-troll Rath had insisted she watch with him.
Fortunately, she was the best user of magic she’d ever met. She cast a modified telekinesis spell to lock his limbs in place so he wouldn’t hurt himself, then went to work on the important details.
It took her fifteen minutes to replace the enemy magic, then another five to rouse him to consciousness and get healing and energy potions into him. By the time he was ready to head down the stairs, the relief he felt was visible on his face.
“So, it’s really gone?” he asked.
She nodded. “Mostly. Only a little was left to remind you to act hurt and upset and to fool those who put it on you. Definitely don’t let them get close enough to examine you deeply, though.”
Tanyith stretched and looked relieved. “I’ll use Cali as my go-between. I could claim I’m hurting too much to come myself or something.”
“That is a good plan. Speaking of which, go downstairs and make sure she hasn’t killed herself or her mini-dragon.” He obeyed, and she straightened the stools and put the potion vials back where they belonged to be cleaned and refilled. When she’d finished, she turned to find the Draksa watching her. She frowned at him. “Is there something I can do for you?”
He nodded and spoke in an unexpectedly precise tone. “I kind of hope so.”
With a sigh, she lowered herself to the floor so she could meet his gaze without straining her neck. He approached and sat again about two feet away from her. “Okay, what do you need?” she asked.
Uncertainty flickered across his expression and increased frustration colored his words. “To remember, I suppose. Or to know more about myself in whatever way I can. I have these feelings I can’t quite take hold of but they tell me I should be able to forge a deeper connection with Cali and that we should be able to fight more effectively as a team. I don’t know if I’m not able to do it because my memory is broken, or if my feelings are wrong, or if it’s some other problem.”
