“Very strange, very strange.” Akikane gazed after Gerrad. “They seem to be expecting you.” He turned to face Gabriel.
“Yes,” Ohin said. “And your presence seems to be a signal of some sort.”
“Sounds as though a rebellion is afoot,” Marcus said.
“How would Gabriel be connected to a rebellion in Kumaradevi’s world?” Ling took a bite of her apple.
“Vicaquirao,” Gabriel said. “He’s known of this world for decades.”
“Plenty of time to build up a native resistance to Kumaradevi’s rule.” Rajan added.
“But why?” Sema asked. “They’re both malignancy mages. This world posed no threat to him.”
“Balance.” Gabriel said, seeing clearly Vicaquirao’s motivations.
“Just so, just so,” Akikane said. “Where there is darkness there must also be light.”
“A light that will be snuffed out along with everything else when we sever this world.” Ohin stroked his chin. “Why would he sacrifice this world and his plans in order to save Teresa?”
“No, no,” Akikane said. “Not Teresa. The Great Barrier.”
“If Teresa has told them everything she knows, rescuing her won’t save the Barrier.” Ling looked at her half-eaten apple, appearing unsure whether or not she wanted to finish it.
“No.” Gabriel felt nauseous as clarity settled across his mind. “Saving her saves me, and Vicaquirao thinks I am the key to saving the Great Barrier. He thinks the grief and anger of losing Teresa would hinder me from saving the Barrier. And to avoid that, he is willing to destroy this world.”
“Maybe he realized this world is too dangerous with the alliance between Kumaradevi and the Apollyons?” Rajan offered.
“I don’t think so.” Gabriel considered Rajan’s thinking. “He’s spent more than twenty years organizing this rebellion. If it succeeds, Kumaradevi’s power would be crippled anyway. He is very good at planning. He wouldn’t set it in motion if he didn’t think it could succeed.”
“How could these rebels succeed against the magic Kumaradevi commands?” Marcus asked.
“With magic of their own,” Ohin said. “I’d swear Gerrad is a Time Mage.”
“Rebel Malignancy Mages?” Sema said.
“No, no.” Akikane said. “Rebel Grace Mages. I sensed the power in him as well.”
Gabriel had thought he sensed something but had assumed it to be a reflection of Ohin or Akikane’s subtle energy.
“Then why set this rebellion in motion now?” Ling asked.
The trap door swung open and Gerrad descended the stairs again, carrying a bundle of clothes in his arms and a small sack in one hand. Hevra followed him with a similar burden. They stopped at the bottom of the stairs, and Gerrad looked directly at Ling.
“His presence here is the spark that ignites the flame.” Gerrad turned to Gabriel. “We have been setting the tinder for many years, but we could not light this fire ourselves.” Gerrad placed the clothes on a nearby crate. “Now hurry. These uniforms will give you access to practically the entire palace. You’re concealment amulets would be detected by the sharper Soul Magic guards.”
He handed Akikane the uniform of a captain while Hevra helped the others. Each team member took the uniform that held the symbol of their particular magic. Gabriel took the one with a red flame embroidered on the breast. He would pretend to be a Fire Mage.
“We have asked all our sources, but we do not know where your friend is being held,” Gerrad said. “She has been moved several times. I wish we could help you, but we have other matters to attend to. We can offer you these.”
Gerrad opened the sack to reveal seven daggers and a collection of concatenate crystals. He passed Gabriel and each of the team members a dagger. Gabriel’s eyes widened as he sensed the Grace imprints upon them. “These daggers are common for elite troops. Don’t let anyone touch them. As you can no doubt tell, they bear imprints of Light, not Darkness. These also carry imprints you can use.” He handed out a single concatenate crystal to each person except Gabriel. To him, Gerrad handed three different crystals. Gabriel’s magic-sense told him the crystals linked to several others, each in turn linked to numerous malignant imprints.
“Stolen from Kumaradevi’s own armory,” Hevra said when Gabriel looked up from the crystals in his hand.
“We would offer you more, but we will need many imprints ourselves this day.” Gerrad watched as Gabriel and the team changed into the black woolen palace uniforms. Sema and Ling stepped behind a stack of crates for privacy.
“I thought Kumaradevi killed every Grace Mage as soon as a child showed signs of magic.” Gabriel buttoned the tight fitting jacket over his shirt.
“She does.” The muscles of Gerrad’s jaw tightened. “But she does not find all of them. Those we can locate before her troops sniff them out are hidden away in a secret village. There we are trained to conceal, and to use, our magical abilities.”
“There can’t be enough of you to defeat Kumaradevi’s armies.” Ohin sounded sad to raise the point.
“Few of the armies have mages within them.” Hevra said as she helped Akikane into a jacket. “The soldiers battle to create imprints for the Empress’s mages. They have no love of her and no loyalty. They fight because they and their families will be slaughtered if they refuse.”
“The Empress has many mages at her command,” Gerrad added. “But there are many who have defected against her. There are even some within her inner ranks waiting to turn against their comrades.”
“We each have lost people we love to the Empress’s nation of Darkness.” The passion in Hevra’s voice gave weight to her words. “There will be losses, but we will prevail.”
“The Light will triumph. And balance will be restored.” Gerrad touched two fingers to his chest and Hevra mimicked his action. “Now you should go. There is not much time and the palace is large. I have a map to help you.”
Gerrad made to reach for the cloth sack again, but Gabriel raised his hand to stop him. “I know the palace well.”
“Yes, I’m sure you do.” A thin smile crossed Gerrad’s lips. “This way.”
Gerrad led Gabriel and the team through yet another secret passage.
“May you find you the one you seek.” Hevra closed the door behind them.
Gerrad guided Gabriel and the others though a series of tunnels branching off into other passageways, past doors that did not seem to have been opened in years, up flights of stairs and back down again, along narrow crawl spaces, and finally up a wooden ladder and through a false stone door. He ushered them into a small room of black stone walls with large boxes stacked in neat rows.
“You are in a storage room on the lower level at the western end of the palace.” Gerrad held the lamp up, illuminating his face. “If you go left along the hallway, you will find yourself near the entrance to the dungeons. That was the last place your friend was sighted by our spies. I apologize for not sending someone to accompany you.”
“You have helped greatly.” Ohin said.
“Yes, yes,” Akikane added. “May we both swiftly find success.”
“You will need this.” Gerrad handed Gabriel a tiny statue of a bull carved from cream-colored bone. “This will lead you back to where you came from.”
Gabriel rubbed his thumb along the edge of the small bull’s horns before slipping it into his pocket. He reached out and offered Gerrad his hand. He admired a man who could plan for so long for such a sacrifice. “Good luck.”
“You as well.” Gerrad shook his hand briefly and smiled.
With a quick nod to the others, Gerrad disappeared through the secret passage, closing the false stone wall behind him. The hidden door closed the lamplight from the room, plunging it into darkness.
Gabriel waited for his eyes to adjust enough to see the light seeping from under the door leading to the hallway.
“Let’s go.” He reached for the handle of the door. “We have less than five hours left.”
&nb
sp; Chapter 22
To Gabriel, the search for Teresa began to feel more like a forced march to a guillotine rather than a rescue mission. Each passing minute brought the next one inexorably upon its heels, time seeming to compress and flow more swiftly. The sharp blade of their potential failure hung above their heads, threatening to decapitate them with the compiling list of false leads and dead ends. Hours passed in a haze of anxiety, fear becoming a palpable companion to their footsteps through the polished marble corridors of the palace.
Gabriel took the team to every tower and dungeon he knew of, Akikane pretending at each check point and guard post to be leading a random inspection team under Kumaradevi’s direct orders. Gabriel at first worried he might be recognized, that maybe he should try to alter his true appearance with his concealment amulet. However, he had grown so much since his time in the palace that no one gave him a first look, much less a second.
As the quest continued and each successive failure to find Teresa accumulated, they fought the impulse to run to the next potential holding cell. Any unusual action might draw unwanted attention to them and foil the whole rescue mission. As the minutes became hours and the hours accrued, it became clear they needed to adopt another search method if they were to have any hope of locating Teresa.
As Gabriel climbed the stairs of the final dungeon cell, he sighed, letting the despair that had been building within him crest and burst uncontrollably. He had no idea where Teresa might be and no notion of how to find her. He glanced at the hands of his pocket watch. They had less than an hour to locate her before they needed to leave. Then he faced as difficult a decision as the one he had surmounted fleeing the firestorm in that distant alternate reality where the two of them had been trapped. He would need to abandon her, knowing she would cease to exist along with the rest of Kumaradevi’s world when Vicaquirao severed it from the Primary Continuum. The alternative would be to stay and hope this universe somehow survived the severing so he could rescue her or perish in the attempt.
“Where next, where next?” Akikane whispered from where he led the short column of mages along a darkened corridor.
“I don’t know.” Gabriel’s feet began to slow. “That was the last cell I remember. There are thousands of rooms in the palace. If she’s in a regular room, we’ll never find her in time.”
“We’ll find her, lad.” Marcus placed his hand on Gabriel’s shoulder from behind him.
“Maintain formation.” Ohin looked back from where he marched with Ling ahead of Rajan and Gabriel, who walked before Marcus and Sema. “We can’t afford to attract attention to ourselves. Not now.”
“Is there someplace you might have missed?” Sema wondered aloud. “Someplace where she could be guarded but not in dungeon cell or tower room?”
“Someplace outside?” Ling suggested.
“Or in Kumaradevi’s private chambers,” Rajan added.
“Maybe.” Gabriel considered all the alternative locations where Kumaradevi might keep a captive as prized as Teresa. “There are too many places to choose from and they are all over the palace. It would take too long to search them all.”
“We could try splitting up,” Ling said.
“No, no,” Akikane said. “We would be too noticeable if not seen as a team.” Nearly everyone they had passed in the preceding hours had been part of a team of six mages, or a team of no fewer than seven if servants. Kumaradevi did not trust people to act alone.
“There might be another way.” An idea formed suddenly in Gabriel’s mind and he latched on to it in desperation. “Wherever Teresa is, Kumaradevi will want to gloat over her capture. Yes. Why didn’t I think of that?” He resisted smacking his hand to his forehead. “She’ll want Teresa close at hand. She might even move her to remain nearby. She may have been moving her this entire time.”
“How do we find Teresa if she’s being moved constantly?” Ling’s voice rose in annoyance.
“We don’t have to.” Gabriel nearly smiled. “All we need to do is find Kumaradevi. She’ll lead us to Teresa.”
“But will she lead us there in time?” Sema asked.
“The sooner we find Kumaradevi the sooner we’ll know.” Ohin said. “Where do we start?”
“Yes, yes,” Akikane said. “Which way next?” They were approaching an intersection of corridors and Akikane needed to choose a direction soon. To be seen standing in the middle of the halls looking indecisive would bring the curiosity of passing eyes.
“Take a right,” Gabriel said. “She checks on everyone with any real responsibility at least once a day. It’s almost time for her evening meal, so she should be making her administrative rounds on the third level.”
Gabriel quietly gave Akikane instructions to lead the team through the palace, following the route he had so often walked at Kumaradevi’s side during his captivity. He had been attempting to sequester those memories for fear they might distract him from his task. Now they came back in a flash of sensory association, reminding him of his fear and anger and despondency during those months of servitude and abuse. He fought these feelings as they attempted to return in full, pressing them out of his mind, focusing on his need to locate Teresa with the dwindling minutes that remained.
It took them twenty minutes to discover Kumaradevi leading a throng of servants and advisors out of a meeting room and down a wide staircase. One of the Apollyons walked beside her, listening to her give orders to her servants with a look of bored resolution. Gabriel guessed this Apollyon had been selected to be an ambassador to Kumaradevi for the duration of the alliance. He wondered how well the psychic connection to the Apollyon copies in the Primary Continuum worked from within an alternate reality.
The speed of the procession offered little time for reflection or planning. They opted to follow Kumaradevi and her cohorts directly, falling in behind the last group of servants in the line and trying to appear as though they belonged there. Within minutes, Gabriel realized their ultimate destination and cursed himself for not considering the possibility earlier. As they approached the massive open doors of the throne and banquet room, a flash of electric light deepened his suspicions and his self-recrimination.
“Turn left before the door,” Gabriel whispered to Akikane.
Akikane turned as instructed, their small unit breaking off from the main contingent following Kumaradevi into the throne room. Gabriel gave Akikane directions that eventually led the team through the kitchens and into a back hall that looped around to deposit them before a door at the rear of the massive audience chamber. Two guards stood outside the door.
“They’ll accept no excuse for us to enter,” Gabriel said to Akikane.
“Not a problem, not a problem.” Akikane broke into a smile as he approached the two Fire Mage guards. “We have been sent to inspect you.”
“Inspect our what?” The burly guard on the right asked with a menacing glare.
“You’re reflexes.” Akikane struck the two men so quickly and forcefully Gabriel did not realize what had transpired until both Dark Mages slumped to the ground.
“Pull them inside and out of sight,” Ohin said, grabbing one of the fallen guards by the arms as Marcus claimed the man’s feet.
Gabriel opened the door and peeked through, opening it partway while the others hauled the unconscious guards into the back of the throne room. A large screen partition hid the back door, covering their entrance. Rajan and Ling bound the guards with strips of their own clothing while Gabriel relieved the men of their malignantly imprinted talismans, adding their two daggers to the one already hanging on his belt.
Gabriel took one of the daggers and dug the tip into the thin wooden screen, placing his eye to the hole he had created. The colossal room had not changed since Gabriel’s time there. A mosaic of marbled tile in a repeating pattern stretched 300 feet along the floor of the room, erupting into an image of seven crossed swords at the edge of a large throne sculpted from stone to resemble a huddled mass of suffering subjects. The hem of Kumaradevi�
��s robes fell to the side of the throne, signaling her presence in the seat. Twenty advisors and soldiers knelt in supplication before her. More Malignancy Mages and soldiers entered the room in a constant stream, kneeling behind their comrades.
Gabriel looked around the hall, wondering if he had been wrong, if following Kumaradevi had been a mistake. Enormous columns rose up to support an arched ceiling three stories high. As Gabriel’s eye tracked upward, he let out a soft gasp. Fears confirmed, he forced himself to look at where Teresa floated, fifty feet above the throne, encased in a cage of orange-white electric arcs. Beside her, another familiar face floated in the air, sheathed in lightning — Malik. Apparently, his punishment for betraying Kumaradevi involved being on display with her other trophy captive.
Gabriel pulled his head back from the screen to face Akikane and his team.
“Teresa is here, but it won’t be easy to get her out.” He placed his eye to the peephole again. More and more soldiers poured into the room. “We’re going to have to wait until Kumaradevi is finished addressing her subjects.”
Gabriel relinquished his peephole so the others could see the circumstances and the odds against them. Uniformly sullen faces turned from the hole to stare back at Gabriel. Even Akikane’s smile had fled.
Gabriel placed his eye to the peephole again as the massive doors of the room shuddered closed. With the closing of the doors began the familiar cadence of Kumaradevi’s pronouncements. The words were new to Gabriel, but not the tone of her voice — triumphant imperial narcissism. Bile climbed the back his throat as he listened to her speech.
“Above me rests a sign, a portent of what the future holds. A harbinger of the glories my empire will ascend to. As many of you know, I have decided to mend the rift that has divided the forces of Light for so many years. Our new friends and I have agreed that collaboration, rather than competition, is the key to our mutual advancement. With the information this pitiful girl has provided, and the assistance of my new allies, I am now in a position to take what has been denied me for so long. The promised war of liberation is upon us, and I will lead my armies to victory against those who have…”
The Wizard of Time Trilogy (A Fantasy Time Travel Series) Page 80
