The blood staining the crystal smoldered and burnt, sending a spiral streamer of smoke radiating away from it.
Shivini laughed, pointing at the almost imperceptible wobble in the balance of the crystal.
“I told you, Alexander. You can’t win. Even this rather ingenious collar will do you no good. I’m quite sure I will be free the moment this host dies.”
With that, Shivini charged toward Alexander again. His attack was sloppy and left him vulnerable, but Alexander didn’t take the bait. He danced out of the way, sheathing the Thinblade before turning to attack Shivini with his hands.
Shivini fought with reckless abandon, not caring about the body of his host, indeed trying to get himself killed, but since he was missing a hand, Alexander was able to wrestle him to the ground and bind his arms behind his back with his own belt. With Shivini restrained, Alexander began dragging him toward the entrance to the toroid-shaped room.
Shivini cursed and struggled, but Alexander was able to drag him up the sloping wall to the entrance platform. He was thankful that there was a series of steps cut into the stone or else he would have been hard-pressed to climb out of the room himself, let alone drag Shivini behind him.
It was slow going with the shade struggling all the way, but Alexander managed to drag him to the shield … where he stopped cold.
Anatoly and Jack were waiting for him. Boaberous had joined them, a bandage wrapped around his shoulder where the demon had injured him.
Before Alexander could voice his dilemma, Shivini began to laugh.
“I keep telling you to give up, Alexander,” Shivini said. “You can’t win. The moment you drag me through that shield, I’ll be free again. I’ll just take another body and finish my work, and even if I don’t manage to get back down here, it won’t matter in the long run. The heartstone of the Keep is unbalanced. It’s only a matter of time before it fails and then all of the magical protections, shields, weapons, and capabilities that make this place so powerful will fail along with it.”
“What’s he talking about?” Jack asked.
“There’s a giant spinning crystal in the room down there that’s giving off more magical power than I’ve ever seen before. It looks like it’s feeding the Keep with energy. Shivini threw his arm at it—after I cut it off mind you—and now it has a slight wobble. If I had to guess, I’d say the crystal is what’s powering all of the magic in the Keep. Shivini may have just destroyed Blackstone Keep.”
The shade laughed.
“The other problem is this shield,” Alexander said. “I’m pretty sure Kelvin’s collar will only work on a live host. Once the host dies, Shivini will be free again.”
Shivini’s laughter turned maniacal as he surged to his feet and bolted toward the shield. Alexander caught him, struggling to pull him back, but the shade extended his head toward the deadly plane of magical energy, and with a final lunge, succeeded in thrusting the top four inches of his skull through the shield. It vaporized in an instant. Alexander watched the dark colors of the shade come free of the dead host and float straight toward him.
He felt a thrill of icy cold deep in the recesses of his soul as the shade searched his psyche for a way in. Alexander saw images of everything he’d ever done wrong flash across his mind’s eye one after the other with impossible speed. Shivini seemed to be looking for anything that would evoke a feeling of guilt or despair, anything that he could leverage into a belief that Alexander deserved to be punished, that he deserved to suffer for what he’d done.
He faced the memories of his life with calm confidence. He’d been through an experience like this before when he bonded with Mindbender. He wasn’t afraid. He knew that he’d never done anything that warranted relinquishing his free will to Shivini.
With deliberate intent, Alexander brought his love for Isabel into the forefront of his mind. Shivini shrieked silently and fled from him, through the shield and up the spiral staircase into the safety of the shadows.
Alexander shook his head and sighed as he knelt down to remove the collar from the dead Ranger’s neck. Another victim, another family shattered.
“At least we know the collar works,” he said, tucking it back into his shirt and stepping through the shield.
“How’s the shoulder?” he asked Boaberous.
“Master Alabrand put some healing salve on it,” Boaberous said. “It’ll be fine by tomorrow.”
Alexander nodded. “How’s Kelvin doing with that demon?”
“It’s still contained in the blue sphere, but they’re not sure what to do with it since they can’t get it through the door into the summoning chamber again.”
Alexander thought about it for a moment before sending his mind into the Keep Master’s ring and tracing a route through the Keep. He was looking for a series of passages leading to the paddock big enough to accommodate the sphere. When he found a route, he smiled mirthlessly.
“I know how to take care of that demon without risking anyone else. Have you taken a look behind these doors?” he asked, motioning to the two oak-bound doors on either side of the little room.
“They wouldn’t open,” Jack said. “And they don’t have a lock to pick, so we figured we’d wait until you returned. They’ll probably open for you.”
“Let’s hope you’re right,” Alexander said as he pulled on the heavy brass ring on one of the doors. A shimmer of magic raced over the surface of the pull ring and the door swung open easily, revealing a corridor leading into the darkness.
With night-wisp light in hand, he proceeded down the hallway for several hundred feet until the corridor opened into a room made entirely of crystal. It resembled the room they’d found under the ruins of the adept’s keep in Grafton.
It was about twenty feet across, cut in a perfect half-sphere. The crystal walls were polished to a sheen and the floor had a ten-foot magic circle inlaid in gold set into it. Otherwise the room was entirely empty.
“I really wish I knew what these crystal rooms were good for,” Alexander muttered.
“Perhaps one of the books we found in Grafton will shed some light on that,” Jack said.
“I hope so,” Alexander said. “It seems like someone went to an awful lot of trouble to make this place. It really ought to do something interesting.”
They retraced their path back to the central chamber and closed the door. Then Alexander opened the door on the opposite wall. Again they were met with a corridor leading into the dark. When they reached the room at the end, Alexander was so stunned, he just stopped and stared, slack-jawed.
It was easily two hundred feet square with high ceilings supported by broad pillars.
The entire room was filled with treasure.
There were boxes, bags, and barrels filled with gold coins, jewelry, and loose precious stones of all manner and variety. It was the most impressive collection of wealth that Alexander had ever seen.
His friends entered, staring in disbelief as well. As far as the light of their night-wisp dust would let them see were mounds of gold, silver, and assorted treasures, enough to buy a country, enough to buy an entire island.
Alexander scanned the room for any sign of magical colors but saw nothing. It was all just ordinary gold and silver in staggering abundance.
“Well, I was wondering how we were going to pay people to rebuild Northport,” Alexander muttered.
“This is the kind of treasure hoard I would expect to see a dragon sitting on top of,” Jack said.
Anatoly chuckled. “We can certainly use this. Duncan mentioned he was worried that we were depleting the coffers of New Ruatha with payroll for the army. I’d say this eliminates that worry as well.”
“Blackstone Keep certainly doesn’t disappoint,” Alexander said. In spite of his defeat against Shivini, he couldn’t help feeling a sense of hope in the presence of such wealth. Money was power, different than magic or armies, but power just the same. This treasure would go a long way toward accomplishing their goals.
A
lexander picked up a handful of gems from a nearby cask and let them fall through his fingers. Most were semiprecious stones but there were a few diamonds, rubies, and emeralds mixed in. He found an emerald the size of his fingertip that matched Isabel’s eyes nearly perfectly and slipped it into his pocket with a smile.
“We should probably go see how Kelvin’s doing with that demon,” Alexander said.
They closed the door to the treasure room and it magically sealed itself behind them. Alexander pressed the Keep Master’s ring into the recess in the wall and the stone barrier reappeared, sealing the entry chamber closed again.
The climb back up to the Hall of Magic was arduous and long. Alexander’s legs burned and ached from the strain of climbing so many stairs. He was exhausted once they finally reached the large circular room at the base of the tower.
The sentinel was standing where he’d left it.
“Sentinel, go to the base of these stairs,” Alexander commanded. “Kill anyone who approaches except for me.”
The sentinel nodded and began the long descent.
They found Kelvin where they’d left him. He was staring at the demon imprisoned within the blue magical sphere.
“Alexander, it looks like things went well with the shade,” Kelvin said, motioning to the blood on his tunic from wrestling with Shivini.
“Yes and no,” Alexander said. “I’ll explain more later. Right now, I have a plan for this demon.”
“Good, I’ve been thinking about that,” Kelvin said. “So far, the best I’ve got is cutting a wider doorway into the summoning chamber with the Thinblade so we can put it back into its circle.”
Alexander shook his head. “No, we’re going to kill it.”
He motioned to a nearby Ranger from the squad standing by to provide any support Kelvin might need.
“Yes, Lord Reishi,” the sergeant said.
“Have two of your Rangers crawl past the sphere to the other side and roll it down the hallway into the Hall of Magic.”
Not long after, they were navigating through the halls of Blackstone Keep along a route that Alexander had plotted for the size of the corridors. It was a circuitous path but it beat the alternative of trying to fight the demon.
An hour and a half later, they rolled the very agitated demon into the paddock. It screamed in rage when the sunlight hit it. The Rangers rolled it to the bridge abutment and out into the sky. As it slipped over the edge and sailed out into the open air, Kelvin shattered the little glass sphere against the stone wall, releasing the magic of the sphere imprisoning the demon. Everyone went to the low stone wall to watch the demon plummet to the ground. When it finally crashed into the plain thousands of feet below them, it didn’t move again.
As Alexander watched the demon to be sure it was dead, a breathless Ranger ran up to him.
“Lord Reishi, your wife and sister have left the Keep mounted on their wyverns. Mistress Constance has sent two Sky Knights to provide escort.”
“What?!” Alexander said.
Chapter 11
Alexander reached the wyvern aerie with his temper barely held in check, anger driven more by fear than anything else. He couldn’t lose either of them again and they were vulnerable away from the Keep.
He marched straight to Mistress Constance, who was speaking with Magda.
“Why did you let them leave?” he demanded.
Constance frowned. “It was not my place to stop them.”
“They aren’t safe out there,” Alexander said. “You should have stopped them.”
Magda started to interrupt but Constance held her ground.
“Lady Abigail saddled her own steed and launched without warning,” Constance said. “Your wife demanded that we saddle Asteroth. She is both Lady Reishi and a triumvir of the Reishi Coven. As such, I am duty bound to obey her.”
Alexander took a deep breath and calmed his anger. He couldn’t fault Constance and he knew his anger was misplaced.
“You’re right,” Alexander said. “I’m sorry I took my anger out on you. Do you know where they went?”
“They headed due south,” Constance said.
“Send word the moment they return.”
“Of course, Lord Reishi.”
Alexander went back to his quarters. He was exhausted from the injury he’d only just recovered from and from his day of climbing stairs but he still had things to do. Before attending to anything else, he needed to know that his wife and sister were safe.
He went to his meditation chamber. It didn’t take long before he was floating on the firmament. He found them flying south over the Great Forest. Abigail led the way and she looked distraught. Isabel and the escort riders followed. Alexander decided they were safe enough, so he returned to his body.
He sat for several moments brooding over the enemies, both immediate and distant, that threatened to undo his world. It all seemed so much bigger than he. Once again he took refuge in the thought that he was a simple ranch hand, that these challenges were both unfair and more than he could hope to overcome. It wasn’t long before his mind was flitting from one problem to the next seeking refuge from one danger by facing the next, only to find it as insurmountable as the last.
Chloe broke his brooding when she buzzed into a ball of light a couple of feet in front of his face. She floated closer with a stern look.
“Stop that!” she said.
Alexander was both startled and bemused by her tone.
“You are not a ranch hand. You are Lord Reishi, Sovereign of the Seven Isles. I know your heart, I have seen your soul. You can overcome these challenges, but not if you sit here brooding over the problems you face. Stop looking back at the past, forget what you used to be, let go of what you wanted for your life and embrace what your life is now. You are the focus of hope for all those who want freedom. You have great power at your disposal and you have something precious that none of your enemies will ever have.”
Alexander frowned questioningly.
“You are surrounded by people who love you, people who will do anything for you. Do you think Phane has one single person in all the world that he can trust with his life? Do you believe that any of the people in Zuhl’s court think for one second that Zuhl would risk anything of value to preserve them?
“You have people all around you who would sacrifice their lives for you without question, people who know without doubt that you would risk your own life for them. That’s why I know you will be victorious. Love will triumph. It has to.”
“I love you, Little One. Thank you,” Alexander said with a soft smile.
Chloe buzzed up and kissed him on the cheek.
“I love you too, Alexander.”
“Will you watch over me while I talk to the sovereigns?”
“Of course, My Love.”
Alexander touched the Sovereign Stone and his consciousness translated into the timeless place that was the Reishi Council Chamber.
Balthazar stood. “Alexander, when last we spoke you were preparing to do battle in Grafton province. What has transpired?”
Alexander took his seat with a sigh. “A great deal, I’m afraid. I have need of your counsel. It seems that every time I succeed in one area, the enemy makes inroads in another.”
“Such is the nature of war,” Balthazar said. “You can never be strong in all places. The key to victory is knowledge, both of one’s self and of one’s enemies.”
“We succeeded at Grafton,” Alexander reported. “Ithilian is free of military forces loyal to Phane, although there’s no telling what his agents are up to. Phane’s army on Ruatha has been destroyed with minimal loss on our side, except for the city of Northport.” Alexander took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “It’s been completely razed.”
Five of the six sovereigns sat forward with alarm. Malachi smiled with interest.
“How many lives lost?” Balthazar asked.
Alexander shook his head. “A few thousand on our side, those who refused to heed the order
to evacuate. The vast majority of the population was relocated to other cities.”
“So just the wood and brick of the city was lost?” Darius Reishi said.
Alexander nodded. “I ordered the Guild Mage to deploy a dozen weapons he created. The devastation was staggering. The city is nothing more than a wall surrounding a field of rubble.”
Balthazar smiled and then chuckled in his belly. “Brick and timber is easy to rebuild. A single life lost is gone forever.”
“Oh, there was great loss of life,” Alexander said. “My father tells me there were more than eight enemy legions within the walls when we attacked. They all fell.”
“War is a horrible business, Alexander,” Balthazar said, “all the more so for those with a conscience. I take it you are on Ruatha now.”
“Yes, I’m in Blackstone Keep and there’s a shade loose here: Shivini. He says Phane has bound him to his will and ordered him to destroy the Keep, kill me, and take the Stone.
“So far, I’ve had one confrontation with him and survived, but at great cost. He led me to a giant spinning crystal in the heart of the Keep that seems to be feeding the fortress energy. Shivini damaged the crystal’s balance. It’s wobbling now and I don’t know what to do about it.”
Balthazar took on a very serious expression and thought for a moment. The other sovereigns waited for him to proceed.
“This is grave news indeed,” Balthazar said. “I built the Reishi Keep and invented the concept of the heartstone. It’s the power source of a magical keep. In essence, it’s an artificial wizard.”
Alexander frowned in confusion.
Balthazar nodded with understanding as he donned the mantle of the teacher. “A human wizard links his mind with the firmament and injects his will. The heartstone is designed to form a permanent link to the firmament for the purpose of injecting a very specific set of predetermined spell forms into the firmament when triggered by the occupants of the Keep.
“It must spin with perfect balance to function correctly. Once it’s thrown out of balance, there’s little that can be done to correct it without re-enchanting the heartstone itself.”
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