by Blink, Bob
“I think I agree, although they could be surprised we managed to get here, and not that we exist, but my instincts agree with your conclusion.”
“Someone’s coming inside again,” Lorl said, walking over to where Rigo and Ash’urn were talking. He pointed back toward the barred wall that separated them from the entrance along the back wall. People could come inside the room and observe them from beyond the bars, as well as from some of the windows they had noted along the upper walls. Anytime they were taken off for questioning, it had been through the door in the bars.
As usual, four armed men, all large and scarred, looking very professional entered the cell, their weapons drawn. None of the ones with staffs, their wizards Rigo knew, came inside to help. That was because their magic was probably blocked by the structure as well as Rigo’s. Rigo looked at the four large men and wished in a way that Kaler was here. He knew his friend would make short work of the men, no matter how skilled they appeared. Of course, that still wouldn’t get them out of the building and to any kind of freedom. That was the problem. Escape would require different clothes, money, some idea of where they were and where they wanted to go, and in truth, someone to assist them. It was foolish to hope for any of the needed items. They needed to make some kind of alliance with whoever was in charge to have any hope of ever returning home. At the same time, Rigo knew they didn’t know enough about these people, and even if they found some means of communication, great care had to be taken about what was revealed.
“The woman is to come with us,” the lead guardsman said, pointing as he spoke assuming they couldn’t understand his words.
“He wants Orna,” Rigo translated without thinking.
“They haven’t learned yet?” Orna asked, grumbling as she stood up and walked over. “I was comfortable, and this is going to be another waste of time. This is the third time we’ve done this. They should know by now we don’t understand them.”
As Orna walked off with the four guardsmen, Ash’urn said softly. “She’s wrong. You do understand their speech, don’t you?”
“More and more,” Rigo admitted. “I can understand a lot of the words and I can read some of the written signs.”
“What about the symbols?” Ash’urn asked.
“I know what a lot of them are for in a general sense,” Rigo explained. “I don’t know them specifically, nor could I use them in any way.”
“How is it possible?” Ash’urn asked. “It’s not as if they have made any real effort to teach us anything, which surprises me a bit. It would be to their advantage if they could help us communicate. You have had no more exposure than the rest of us, yet you are almost able to communicate. Maybe you should attempt to talk with them.”
“Not yet,” Rigo said. “I want to see if they let anything slip not knowing I can understand a little. There’ll be time enough for talk soon enough.”
“I still think it has to be a consequence of Daim being in your head,” Ash’urn said. “Nothing else makes sense.”
Rigo disagreed. “It’s not Daim. He knew nothing about these people, of that I’m certain.”
“Then how do you explain it?”
“I think I’ve been here before. I know what’s outside, at least in a general sense.”
“So do we all. We all got the same look around.”
“I mean more specific than that. “We are in a facility run by their wizards, although they don’t call them that. The castle for their leaders is nearby, on this same hill, but a bit higher up. I can picture it.”
“How could you have been here before? No one has ever crossed the Ruins. That is something for which we have the dubious distinction of being the first.”
“What if I’m from here?” Rigo asked softly. “What if I was born here? I’ve never discovered my origins. Even Daim didn’t know where the staff had found me. What if I was brought from here, my memories wiped? Perhaps the difficulty of extracting me and carrying me across the Ruins is why the staff failed to bring me as planned to Daim’s hideaway. Perhaps my memories were not wiped as clean as Daim believed, and now that we are here, they are slowly coming back.”
“That doesn’t seem likely,” Ash’urn said hesitantly, but Rigo knew that Ash’urn was considering the possibility.
“If Daim had never known of this place, and it almost certainly would have been a subject of discussion when he was in my head, then how did I have a vision of that village, and how can I be aware of the language and the symbols? How do I know the symbol on the tankards they give us with our water is designed to heat the contents? It can’t work in here, of course, but where would I get that knowledge?”
“If what you say is true, that would suggest you have family here somewhere,” Ash’urn said. “Might they recognize you?”
“I was taken from wherever I was born more than twenty years ago,” Rigo replied. “I was a boy of ten. Now I’m an adult. I cannot see anyone being able to make such a connection, unless there is an uncommonly close resemblance to someone well known here. But it is something to think about, isn’t it?”
“How can any of this help us?” Ash’urn asked.
“I have no idea, but I hope the gaps in my memory, assuming it is my memory, fill in quickly. Then we might know better how to proceed.”
“Perhaps you should start trying to teach the rest of us some of the language. I am rather adept at learning new tongues. Maybe you could start with me?”
“We’ve got nothing pressing on our schedule,” Rigo noted wryly. “Let’s give it a try while we wait for Orna to return.”
“They’re keeping her a long time,” Lorl noted some time later. “None of the previous sessions lasted anywhere near as long.”
Rigo had lost track of time working on basic vocabulary with Ash’urn. The attempts to teach the elder scholar had worked to improve his own mastery of the language more than it had helped Ash’urn who was still struggling a bit with the odd inflections used. He realized that Lorl was right. He looked around to see if there was anyone he could query, but they were alone. It wasn’t until dinner was brought some time later that he had a chance to raise the issue.
“Where is our friend, the woman?” Rigo asked, the sentence poorly structured but the best he could do.
The guard looked at him with some surprise. “The Reading went poorly. She will not be back,” he said, then turned away, locking the door behind him.
“What did he say?” Lorl asked, when Rigo turned back toward Ash’urn and him.
“I think they did something to Orna,” Rigo said slowly. “I think they killed her.” The thought struck a chord deep inside Rigo. If it was true and Orna had died, then it was his fault. He had convinced her to make this journey, when they had discussed continuing on after the Farms had proven unhelpful. Rigo silently swore an oath that whoever was responsible would pay for their actions. At the moment, it was an impotent threat, but matters had a way of changing.
“What did that bastard tell you?” Lorl growled angrily.
“He said the Reading went poorly,” Rigo said, translating the terms as best he could.
“What’s a Reading?” Ash’urn asked.
“I’m not certain,” Rigo said, but he sensed it was not something he’d wish to have done to him. Another memory squirmed in the depths of his mind, but refused to surface, at least for now.
Chapter 35
Outpost
Eastern Lopal
“You should look at this,” Nycoh said when Jeen stepped into her office. “Something has happened.”
She led Jeen into the small adjacent room where she had set up the monitor.
“Why did you move it in here?” Jeen asked.
“I started to wonder if this thing could be a two-way device,” Nycoh explained. “Perhaps someone on that side can tell if we are looking and I don’t want them to see any more than necessary.”
“Why do you think something has happened?”
“Look at Rigo and Ash’urn. They look up
set, and I haven’t seen Orna in a full day. A group of guards hauled her off yesterday, and she’s never returned. I think they did something very bad to her.”
“That might mean there is little time left for Rigo and the others,” Jeen said uncomfortably.
“The thought had occurred to me,” Nycoh agreed. Her normally positive outlook was less apparent today. “But what can we do? We really know no more than we did shortly after this device was revealed to us. Did Yori’s records show where it had been found?”
Nycoh had asked Jeen to go back and see if anything in the monastery’s records provided any clue where it had come from.
“The record book they have claims it was found in a deserted village in central Kellmore. A few other items, all of which we have now by the way, were found there as well. I’ve asked a couple of our people to see if there is anything that might be learned by looking at them. How about Kaler and Daria? Have they calmed down any?”
Nycoh made a face and shook her head. Another failure on her part. “I would not have believed it possible for my relationship with them to have reached such a state. I’m glad that Daria gave up carrying those knives of hers around a long time ago, otherwise I think she would have come at me.”
“I’d heard that the trip into the Ruins with them didn’t go well. What exactly happened?”
“I took them as far as the Hoplani Farms. I let them look at everything they wanted. I could tell that Daria was thinking about what might be done, but they had to admit in the end that no obvious solution came to them either. Then they wanted to go on. I explained that from the Farms, the next oasis was many days away by normal travel, and that a Bypass couldn’t be made without one of the staffs. They wanted to know how Rigo had made the trip, and I explained how Ash’urn managed to convince one of the Duneriders to take them on a team of Hoplani, which greatly simplified and shortened the trip. No one else has been able to so much as gain the attention of the Duneriders let alone get them to help.”
“I take it that didn’t discourage them?”
“Hardly. They wanted to see if they could do the same thing. They wouldn’t accept that without a staff, the difficulties were immeasurably greater. They would have to pack supplies not only to get to the next oasis, but for the return as well. Going any farther, would only exacerbate the logistics problem. They felt that given a large enough force, horses and all, that the trip should be possible.”
“Even after you explained how many days of travel that would be required given what we know from the team’s logs that Ash’urn left us?”
“Logic didn’t seem to deter them. Rigo needed their help, and they were determined to try and do so. Not being skilled with magic, they don’t look upon the loss quite the way we do, but I couldn’t make them understand just how incredibly dangerous the Ruins are in this area. If we could get closer to the last oasis that Rigo and his team reached, then it might be something to consider, but it would take weeks of travel by horseback to reach that spot, and then the searching would have to begin. That could take weeks to complete. We can only guess which way they went at the end.”
“So it ended with your refusal to allow them to attempt the trip? They can’t even start without someone with the ability to make a Bypass out to the Farms to bring the men and supplies they would need.”
“That’s about it,” Nycoh agreed sadly. “I appreciate their loyalty, and Rigo can feel blessed to have such friends, but he would be angry beyond words with me if I allowed them to go out there simply to die for no purpose.”
“I’ll talk with them,” Jeen said. “Perhaps they will have had a chance to calm down. I traveled with them for a long time, and Rigo means as much to me as he does to them. They’ll come around eventually. They are simply reacting to the loss.”
“I hope you are right. I’d hate to have a rift develop between us.” Nycoh looked at Jeen. “You look as if there is something else on your mind. You didn’t just come to ask about Kaler and Daria, did you?”
Jeen smiled. Even as upset as she was about the situation with Kaler and Daria, and her worry over Rigo, Nycoh could still read people quite well.
“I wanted to ask you about Brice. What is the status of the situation there?”
“Brice? Why an interest in Brice all of a sudden? He is a little worse, otherwise there has been no change. Even with magic to rebuild him physically, his body is deteriorating slowly just lying there in that bed. Magic can only do so much.”
“His mental condition hasn’t changed?”
“He’s gone,” Nycoh confirmed. “That’s the problem. Whatever happened to him, simply can’t be undone. The situation has gone on far too long. If it hadn’t been for losing Rigo, I would have pushed for closure on this some time ago.”
“What about his family?”
“Brice didn’t have any immediate family. He was an only child, and his parents passed a long time ago. There are probably cousins and an aunt or uncle somewhere. The only reason we haven’t simply let him go is because of Uona.”
“Uona?” Jeen asked.
“Brice’s girlfriend. They were to be consorted before this happened. She hasn’t wanted to let him go, hoping for a change. I was told the other day she has finally come to accept his situation.”
Nycoh examined Jeen. She could tell there was something more than simple interest pushing Jeen. Jeen reached into the small bag she carried over her shoulder. She fumbled around for a moment, then withdrew her hand, closed around something. She held out her fist and dropped the contents into Nycoh’s hand that had been stretched out to receive whatever it was that Jeen had retrieved. Nycoh was surprised at what she was given.
“Daim’s ring?” she asked. “You brought this from the hideaway?” The ring had been placed back where Rigo had first found it as part of preserving the place as Daim had left it for so many years. The staffs had been in their holders until Rigo had found a need for them and taken them into the Ruins.
Jeen nodded. “I have an idea. Its chances of success are very small, but we are running out of opportunities. I wanted to discuss it with you.”
“This ring is part of your plan? It’s of no value,” Nycoh said. “It was designed to be used once. You told me that even Daim threw it carelessly away after it was used to merge his memories with Rigo.” Nycoh could sense the ring was devoid of any stored energy or power. Even so, she thought she might know where Jeen was headed and wondered why the idea had never occurred to her.
“Daim only expected to need to use it once,” Jeen agreed. “I have examined it carefully. A pattern remains in the crystal. It is not the pattern of the mineral he selected, but something else. I believe it still retains the information that Daim so carefully infused it with.”
“Even if that were true, the magic that was required to transfer that information is long gone. Without that, its function is impaired.”
Nycoh had already put together what Jeen was thinking. If Daim’s knowledge remained in the crystal, and it could be somehow transferred into the empty shell that had been Brice, they might be able to bring the Master Wizard back once again. More than once they had lamented the loss of all he had known.
Jeen could see that Nycoh had made the connection. “If we could bring him back, maybe we could recreate the staffs. Maybe he would have knowledge of the artifact, or have some ideas about the Hoplani Farms. There is so much he might be able to help us with.”
“Do we have the right to take Brice’s body, even for a purpose such as this?” Nycoh asked.
“We can ask his girlfriend,” Jeen suggested. “I think Brice would have wished us to try. He gave his life trying to defend us and the Three Kingdoms. If he could do more, I believe he’d want to do it.”
“What if Uona doesn’t agree?” Nycoh asked.
Jeen frowned, then said, “I’d try anyway. This is too important. The very future of the land is at stake. We cannot afford to miss any chance to give us an edge. It might also give us a chance at helping R
igo.”
“I doubt anything we will learn will be timely enough to help Rigo,” Nycoh said sadly. “But I agree we must pursue anything that offers hope. Brice is a unique opportunity. But before we go too far along that path, can we even reactivate the ring?”
“I have examined it carefully,” Jeen admitted. “I cannot do so alone. I can trace the tiny pockets where energies were stored, but I lack the sheer power and finesse to control the influx of magical energy. I know I would damage it.”
“You hope that I might be more successful?” Nycoh asked doubtfully. “I have abilities you don’t, but your fine touch with medical magic has given you senses that I lack.”
“I hope if we linked, we might be able to accomplish the task together. We each bring certain skills to the task. I cannot think of another way.”
“We could easily damage the ring beyond repair,” Nycoh warned her.
Jeen nodded. “That is the risk, but there are none other as skilled as the two of us. If our attempt fails, we are no worse off than if we didn’t try. If we cannot recharge the ring, then the matter will have to be dropped.”
Nycoh frowned. “There is nothing in Daim’s papers about the ring or the staffs. Ash’urn and I searched carefully for many years, and uncovered nothing. That always surprised us. You would have thought he would have kept a journal. I asked Rigo once, but he said if Daim had such personal documents, the memories had never been passed to him. It wasn’t a subject that had been raised, and hence Rigo had no memory of them.”
“We will have to feel our way,” Jeen said, suddenly nervous as she realized that Nycoh was willing to proceed. So much could hinge on how well they did this.
Nycoh walked over and closed her door, sealing it with a touch of magic. No one would be able to bother them while they were engaged in the attempt. Side by side they walked over to the table in the center of the room. Jeen placed the ring in the center, and they sat down on opposite sides, facing one another.
Taking a deep breath, Jeen reached across and took Nycoh’s hands in her own. They wouldn’t need to touch the ring, but their linkage would be stronger because of the physical contact. Fortunately, both were skilled in linking, and it took only a matter of a few moments for their magic to be intertwined.
