by Andrew Rowe
I cleared my head and focused on the next task. “Okay, next thing. Are we being observed right now?”
Jin scanned from left to right. “Not as far as I can tell.”
“Good. Are you a Spider?”
Jin blinked.
Then he smiled broadly, showing teeth. “Why, of course not.”
“You have to realize that is the world’s most suspicious response.”
Jin laughed. “I’m just startled it took you this long to corner me and ask. But also pleased that you did.”
“Okay, good. Because there’s at least one in the group, and they’re going to sabotage us.”
Jin’s expression shifted immediately to neutral. “What?”
“You heard me. We’ve got an infiltrator in the group. Possibly more than one. And I’d like your help to find them.”
Jin scanned the area again. “I’m revising my earlier assessment. If this is the kind of conversation we’re going to be having, we need to do it further away.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t see anyone watching us when you asked, but if you’re correct, we’re in a considerably greater amount of trouble. Anyone in Spider Division is likely to have alternate means of surveillance that would be harder to detect.”
I frowned. “Such as?”
Jin paused. “You were talking to Roland earlier. Did he touch you?”
“What?”
An image flashed in my mind of him grabbing me by the arm, then apologizing for bumping me.
Jin continued speaking, but my mind put it together at the same time. “Leg-Marked attuned use their spells by touch.”
“...And he’s a Diviner. He could be watching us right now.”
I scanned my body with my attunement active, but I couldn’t see any foreign magical auras.
That meant very little, though. I’d only studied a little bit about divination. Enough to know about tracking spells...but not enough to know about whether or not the target of an active divination spell would have a visible aura on them.
And, like Roland, I had so many magical items at this point that discerning any individual magical effect was tricky at best.
“What do we do about it if he is?”
Jin drew in a sharp breath. “If he is, he’s already outmaneuvered us significantly. He knows we’re aware of Spiders in the group, and he also knows about my attunement now. And as a Diviner, he’s one of few types of attuned that can counter me directly.”
That made sense. “Do you know how to break a divination spell that’s already in effect?”
Jin shrugged. “Distance, maybe, but we’re not going to get out of range. Time, of course.” He snapped his fingers. “Shadow magic. Shadow can nullify most magic in general, especially detection.”
“Kyra, then?”
“She’d be a possible solution,” Jin agreed. “But we don’t even know if we’re being watched. Asking her for help would mean letting her in on this, at least to some degree.”
“Fair. Perhaps for the moment, we should just proceed as if we’re being observed. Kyra is another suspect herself, and I’d rather not let her in on anything just because Roland might be watching. Besides, even if he is observing us, that doesn’t automatically mean he’s a Spider. Gathering information is a normal Diviner task.”
“I concur. But it also means we should draw this conversation to a close. I will investigate things further.”
I nodded. “So will I.”
We had an awkward pause for a moment after that.
Jin lifted up a remaining bit of sandwich. “I’m going to continue eating now.”
“Right. Bye.”
I turned and fled.
Well, I considered, that could have gone worse.
That was when the wagon closest to me exploded.
Chapter XVI – And Then Everything Was On Fire
I did what was obviously the smart thing and ran toward the explosion.
Some others reacted similarly, showing a similar lack of self-preservation instinct.
Others drew weapons.
Marissa ran after the fleeing horses.
Oh, right! Horses.
They ran right past me, obviously terrified from the sudden burst of sound and fire.
I was a little surprised they were free to run at all — they must have been detached from the carriage while they were being fed. This was unfortunate timing.
Unfortunate or, more likely, well-planned by a traitor who needed as many distractions as possible.
Sera was only a few feet away from the carriage, holding her head. The sound of the detonation must have hit her hard at that range.
Patrick stepped in front of her, glanced around, then pointed his hand at the flames. “Extinguish.”
The flames flickered, but didn’t subside.
“Was anyone in there?” Someone asked. I couldn’t tell who.
I rushed over to Sera, who was slowly rising to her feet. “You okay?”
She pointed at her head, then frowned. “Mm,” was all she managed to say.
“Can’t hear me?”
She stared for a moment, then half-nodded uncertainly.
“Resh. Patrick, can you take care of the fire?”
“Trying, but it’s not working. This was a powerful spell, and I’m specialized in lightning, not fire.”
I nodded to him. Then I pointed to Sera, raised my hands up, and made a throwing gesture.
“Wha?” Sera mumbled. “Oh!” She shook her head. “I think...maybe...” She coughed, then took a breath, and began to chant. “Goddess watching from up high, send us snow from the sky!”
I’d expected her Permafrost Cascade spell, but what she conjured was just a bit different. Globes of snow appeared above the carriage and descended, weakening the flames.
The other two Elementalists approached, joining Patrick’s efforts and finally managing to extinguish the flames.
We quickly cleared away the wreckage of the top of the vehicle and confirmed that, fortunately, no one had been inside at the time of the blast.
“What the resh was that?” Kyra asked.
“Explosion,” Patrick explained.
“I caught that, genius. I mean, how’d that happen?”
Rupert picked up a rod from the center of the cabin. It was etched with runes and split in half. “This,” he said, “Looks like an enchanted item.”
All eyes turned to me.
“I was over there, talking to Jin.” I pointed at the spot where Jin had been. He was gone, of course.
“I’m no expert,” Rupert Kent said, “But I do think this is the type of item that could be set in advance and set to detonate at a specific time. Which does seem like the kind of thing you would do, Cadence. No offense.”
“And how would you know about enchanting?” Patrick asked.
Rupert puffed up his chest. “Unlike some of the people here, I actually study quite broadly.”
I waved a hand. “Let me see that and at least confirm if what Rupert is saying is correct.”
“Be my guest.” Rupert tossed me the broken rod. I glanced it over, examining the runes.
He was right. It had a time delayed activation function. The amount of time the item would take before detonating would be based on the amount of mana invested at the time it was used.
“He’s correct about the runes. But I didn’t make this.”
“Right,” Rupert said. “The only Enchanter here didn’t make the magic item. Seems likely.”
“Virtually everyone here is wearing magical items. Anyone could have bought something like this ahead of time. It wouldn’t be expensive.”
“Except they checked us for dangerous weapons on the way in,” Vyers pointed out. “And explosive devices would certainly fall into that category.”
Unless someone was allowed to carry one as a part of being a member of Spider Division, I considered. But explaining that might be unwise.
“Someone could have smuggled it in,” R
oland offered. I raised an eyebrow, surprised at his help. “They only did a physical check, not a magical one, as far as I could tell. A Shadow could have gotten through that.”
Some of our eyes shifted to Kyra.
“What? Wasn’t me.” She shrugged. That was apparently going to be the extent of her defense.
“Even if I wanted to make something like that, I couldn’t. That was fire magic. I don’t have fire magic.”
“No, but your buddy there does,” Vyers pointed to Patrick. “And he was the first person to jump to your defense, too. Thinkin’ you could be working together.”
I put my hands up. “And what motivation would I have to do any of this?”
“There are Spiders here,” Jin said, appearing next to Vyers and giving the latter quite a shock. “They have been instructed to sabotage our mission. Our second-year friends can confirm.”
Kathy opened her hands in a gesture of surrender. “Wasn’t supposed to tell you guys, but now that it’s out in the open, yup. That’s part of your test.”
“So, who are they?” Patrick asked.
Kathy blinked. “I’m...obviously not going to just answer that.”
It seemed like a silly question, but Kathy’s eyes shifted when she responded, just for a moment.
I didn’t see where she was looking.
But maybe Patrick had?
Not a bad move, Patrick. Hope you got something.
“Okay, but why? They broke some of our crates, but most of the contents seem intact. Were they just expecting the fire to burn longer?”
“The horses,” Jin answered. “And, if they are particularly clever, a trap for whoever runs after the horses.”
I took just an instant to process that.
Patrick responded first. “Marissa! She’s in danger! We need to go after her.”
Kyra shook her head. “Marissa might be able to keep up with a horse, but she’s a Guardian. None of us are going to be able to catch them any time soon.”
“Actually, that’s not quite true.” I glanced from side to side. “I’ll be right back.”
Haste.
A field of transference mana manifested around my legs.
I broke into a run, ignoring the shouts from the people behind me.
I could clear my name later.
For now, I had a friend to save.
***
I still wasn’t particularly adept at running with the Haste spell active. Even practicing for weeks, I was still stumbling any time I hit a particularly large bump or a root. Twice, I nearly fell flat on my face.
But the speed boost was significant. I hadn’t measured it, but I guessed I was running at about twice my normal speed. Maybe a little less, after accounting for necessary slowdowns to avoid taking a tumble.
With that kind of speed, it only took me about two minutes to find Marissa, surrounded by half a dozen monsters.
The road ahead of her was blocked by a tremendous boulder — and a single figure in a hooded cloak stood atop it, glimmering with magical energy.
Two more humanoid figures in similar garb stood at the edge of the forest, simply watching.
No sign of the horses.
As I approached, a wolf-like beast with metallic blades protruding from its back leapt at Marissa.
She ducked, grabbed its legs while it was still airborne, and then spun and hurled it at another monster — an animated suit of armor.
The monsters collided and tumbled to the ground, but I knew they wouldn’t be down for long.
Still, I had greater concerns.
One of the figures in the forest raised a hand and pointed it straight at Marissa’s back. A halo of fire appeared around his hand.
He’s a heart-marked, and he’s charging a stronger spell.
I ran straight at him.
I was too unsteady on my feet to draw my sword while I was running.
I settled for something else.
One.
Two.
Three.
He turned toward my running footsteps. His hood fell backward, exposing a student’s face with almost comically wide eyes.
He shifted his hand toward me, still glowing with fire.
Four.
Good enough.
I slammed my fist into his chest, discharging the transference energy I’d been storing inside.
He flew backward, slammed into a tree, and then fell still.
I...might have hit him too hard.
Marissa turned toward the sound, absently backhanded a blast of lightning that came at her from the other direction, and then waved at me. “Oh, hey, Corin!”
Then a bear monster jumped on top of her, slamming her to the ground.
“Ack!” I managed, rushing toward her.
The bear-thing reared up to take a bite.
In that moment, Marissa rolled over. “Rude!” She punched it in the face.
The bear fell backward, looking stunned, and Marissa sprung to her feet, throwing a backward kick at the animated suit of armor that had just dislodged itself from the wolf.
Another blast of lightning came from the student on the other side, this time connecting. Marissa winced, falling back, and I saw her shield crack just slightly. It wasn’t the first crack, though.
A quick inspection with my attunement showed that she’d projected her shroud to outside of her shield, just like she had in the arena. That shroud was soaking up most of the damage she was taking, but not all of it.
And if her barrier broke, she’d be out, regardless of whether or not she could keep fighting.
I kept running toward her, but another monster got in my way. It looked mostly like a human, but with a neutral mask instead of a face.
Oh, that’s a—
The figure’s body stretched and distorted, flesh transmuting as it formed a school uniform. Black hair burst from the back of its head. A sword formed in its hand.
Then I was staring at an exceptionally creepy copy of myself, the only distinction being the neutral mask remaining in place of a face.
It raised a sword that matched my own, including with the transference aura surrounding it. I didn’t know how it managed that one.
But I knew what I was fighting. This was a charade, a type of magical construct that could copy the general appearance and capabilities of humans. It wasn’t quite as dangerous as a doppelganger, but it was still considered a Sunstone-level threat.
And it was coming at me fast.
I raised my own sword to parry its first strike, but another strike came at me almost instantly.
With my attunement still active, I understood why. His whole body was glowing with an aura of transference mana.
The charade had copied my Haste spell.
And it was better at using it than I was.
That strike only clipped my coat.
I stepped back, taking a defensive stance, but he struck again and connected this time, leaving a gash along my ribs. My phoenix sigil took the brunt of the damage, but it hit hard.
Not only had it left a gash along my side, the pure force of the blow left me staggering backward and coughing.
Now I know what being hit with a sword with a transference aura feels like.
While the charade continued to harry me, Marissa was still surrounded by five other monsters.
She was doing a great job at defending herself and redirecting their attacks into each other, but she wasn’t doing much real damage, and they were wearing her down.
I need to help her.
I tried to sweep the charade’s legs, but it hopped back, surprisingly nimble.
I wasn’t particularly used to fighting intelligent monsters. Humans usually had an advantage in finesse against the more bestial creatures, like that blade-wolf-thing.
In this case, I had fewer advantages. It was faster than me, and if the moments our blades had met were any indication, probably stronger.
I made a few probing strikes. It responded with expert precision, deflecting my blows
without effort.
I had no noticeable skill advantage to exploit. At least not when taking the creature’s enhanced speed into account.
Haste.
I stretched the aura across my entire body, enhancing my speed for both my movements and my attacks.
I unleashed a flurry of rapid strikes. No pausing to aim. No bothering with critical locations.
The charade parried every strike. It was like it knew every move I was about to make.
Maybe it did.
In a fair fight, I stood no chance.
There was only one option, then.
Fortunately, fighting fair had never really been my style, anyway.
It’s just like the shadow I fought in the spire, I realized. Only, instead of a mirror...
The charade jabbed toward my face. I moved my head to the side, but the aura brushed my cheek, leaving a gash.
That strike brought him closer to me, though. I stepped in and rammed my forehead into the mask, discharging a burst of transference mana in the process.
I didn’t like using my mind mana. But I liked losing fights even less.
The creature fell back, cracks spreading across its mask where I’d landed the hit.
My own forehead hurt from the impact, but not enough to slow me down.
Gotcha.
I rammed my sword through the creature’s chest.
That was a bad move.
The charade’s torso distorted, hardening into an armor-like substance.
My sword was stuck.
It brought back its own blade, preparing to strike.
I gripped my sword in both hands, then concentrated.
Condense.
The aura of mana around my blade shifted all to one side — the top of the blade.
Then I pulled upward.
I split the charade’s torso and head in half.
The creature crumpled to the ground immediately, then shifted in shape again. The features that resembled mine dissolved, leaving a clay statue with a cracked mask.
Then even that vanished as the mana sustaining the creature faded away.
I turned toward Marissa. A clawed humanoid with green scales and a beak had grabbed onto her right arm.
She kicked the wolf-like creature as it tried to approach her again, then slammed an elbow backward into the scaled monster, but it didn’t let her go.
