by Rowe, Andrew
“Now,” Myros signaled, shifting to a blur of movement as the Heartlance shot forward.
Edon sidestepped, seeming to know the trajectory of Myros’ attack before it occurred, and Taelien was forced to parry the spear himself. He lashed out with the red-bladed sword, but the attack was far too slow. Edon danced to the side, grabbing the Heartlance’s shaft and snapping his fingers.
Myros vanished in a flash of blue, leaving the Heartlance in Edon’s hands.
“Sad, really. I always liked Myros,” Edon spun the spear playfully. “You, I have less of an investment in. And you seem to have made your choice. Eru volar shen taris.”
Taelien struggled to raise his sword as a blast of blue-white emerged from Edon’s hand, encompassing Taelien’s entire body, and his vision went white.
Chapter XIV – Forging Divinity
Earlier in the Morning of Taelien’s Trial
Lydia and Istavan had escorted the caravan the rest of the way to Coldridge, where they had found Sethridge waiting for them with a second contingent of guards. Istavan and Sethridge seemed unsurprised to see each other, indicating to Lydia that this was part of their plan.
Seems Sethridge has chosen his side, too.
Istavan insisted on staying with Sethridge and escorting the caravan the rest of the way to Selyr to avoid any “further complications”. Lydia spent the night in Coldridge, and then headed back to Orlyn on her own.
The sorceress arrived at the city gates after nightfall, so she returned to her own quarters and slept there, heading to Jonan’s house the following morning.
Lydia knocked at the door politely, hand resting on the hilt of her sword. Her Comprehensive Barrier was already active, just in case Jonan had decided to change his allegiance in the last few days.
After two minutes without a reply, Lydia knocked again, louder this time.
After another two minutes, she unsheathed her saber and opened the unlocked door.
It was immediately evident that the house had been ransacked. Nothing was where it should have been – and the glassware that had sat on the table near the kitchen had been shattered. This wasn’t a robbery – the level of disarray was too deliberate. This was someone sending a message.
“Dominion of Knowledge, illuminate that which is touched by your cousins,” Lydia spoke, and a green flicker illuminated the shattered fragments of several scattered pieces of glasswork. The faint signature of dominion sorcery was already fading – breaking the pieces of glass had apparently weakened their bond, which by Jonan’s admission was never particularly stable.
“Jonan, are you inside?” She advanced into the building, weapon still drawn. I could cast another spell to reveal invisible figures, but it’s probably not worth giving myself a headache. It’s not likely anyone is still present – this place could have been sacked any time in the last few days. If someone wants to attack me, their first attack is going to bounce right off my barrier, and then I’ll counterattack as needed.
She scoured the house, finding more damaged glasswork, and signs that the home had been hastily abandoned. The food is starting to smell, which is a pretty good indication that Jonan hadn’t been here recently. He’s too finicky to tolerate anything decomposing in his house.
There were no signs of blood, no signs of combat – but she did find a rug in his bedroom that seemed slightly out of place. She moved it, checking beneath for any telltale signs of battle, but there was nothing visibly amiss.
Odd, she considered, but she moved the rug back to its proper place and exited the building.
I’ll have to get back to the high palace and warn Taelien that Jonan has been discovered. After that, I suppose I’ll report to the queen.
A grimace appeared on her face as she walked, deepening with every block. How was Jonan’s location discovered? Is he safe?
She was about half-way back to the palace when she noted a cloaked and hooded figure walking parallel to her on the opposite side of the street, pacing her. There were plenty of other civilians around, but the hood made the man stand out – it was far too warm of weather for such a thing to be necessary.
Lydia turned left at the next intersection, deviating from the path toward the palace. As she had anticipated, the figure turned as well. She noted the figure’s height, build, and finally the glint of glass from the front of his hood before she rolled her eyes and crossed the street to meet him.
“If you’re going to follow someone, you might try being a bit more subtle about it, Jonan,” she chastised him.
“I am aghast at your accusation,” he said, putting his hand to his chest in mock offense. “I am a veritable paragon of subtlety.”
“For a moment, I was worried that you might have been killed, but I can see you’re just the same as usual,” Lydia remarked. She smiled in spite of herself, feeling a hint of her tension dissipate as they continued to walk. She turned again, leading him back in the direction of the high palace.
He slipped his hood down, smiling at her. “You were worried about me? I’m touched. But it’ll take more than a couple of goddesses to catch me – not that I minded the attention, given-“
“Goddesses? What happened?” Lydia scanned the streets for anyone that looked even close to as suspicious as Jonan did. The people nearby looked like ordinary civilians on standard business, but that didn’t make speaking about complex matters of local politics less dangerous. “And lower your voice.”
“As you wish,” Jonan whispered, taking a step closer to her and leaning in close. “Vorain paid me a little visit. You saw the evidence of that. I’m fortunate that the broken mirrors are still somewhat functional, otherwise I would never have noticed your arrival.”
“Vorain was trying to kill you?” Lydia asked, quirking a brow. “I thought she had let you go previously – what changed?”
“Ah, it wasn’t that, precisely. Actually, she wanted my help, so she broke all my things. Women are so complicated, you know? Goddesses are no different, it seems.”
Lydia made a face at him at that remark, but he only flashed a grin back at her – one that he must have presumed to be charming, but came across as more obnoxious.
“Continue,” she instructed through gritted teeth.
“Well, we had some fun breaking into the high palace, and found a few neat trinkets,” he said, reaching into his cloak. Lydia watched him warily, but what he withdrew was just a pair of books.
He leaned close, whispering into her ear in earnest now. “Edon’s research notes. Evidence he was experimenting on the Rethri.”
Lydia snatched the top book out of his hand. “Ooh, let me see that.”
Jonan flinched, shoving the second book back into his robes. “You don’t have to be so grabby, I would have been happy to show you the highlights.”
“You can’t blame me for being a little excited,” she pointed out, flipping it open. “This is probably the best lead we’ve ever found.”
Week sixty six. Morella confirms that the procedure to remove the first dominion bond has finally succeeded, although at a great cost – the subject is rapidly deteriorating. I have been attempting to find the correct syntax to renew the bond, but thus far my efforts have met with no success. If I had access to an artifact designed to create a bond, Morella and I could find a solution rapidly, but for now the only possibility is to attempt every possible combination we can think of. If we fail, I fear our subject’s life may be forfeit. We must succeed.
“Gods above,” Lydia murmured. “This is proof, but it’s more than that. It has details about the results of his studies. This could contain the secrets of how he’s faking his divine abilities.”
“It does contain a few hints of that, yes,” Jonan said. “I’ve only had a chance to skim it, so I’d like that back.”
Lydia gave him a sad look. “But – but I wanted to read it.”
Jonan folded his arms. “Really? Giving me baby eyes?”
She handed the book back to him, smirking. “You’re no fun a
t all sometimes. Also, I’m sure the queen is going to want to see it. She’s already been working to move against Edon, apparently for political reasons.”
“Now that’s interesting news – but I’m going to have to insist on holding onto it. I went to some fairly substantial work to find that, risking life and so on, and I might have lost a friend in the process. A very beautiful and capable friend, in fact,” he said, grabbing the book back from her.
Lydia stepped backward, smirking. “You haven’t lost me yet, silly. I’m right here.”
“Well, you are quite beautiful and competent, of course, but I happened to be referring to the goddess I was working with. I’m afraid she didn’t make it out of the palace,” he said with a grimace.
Lydia leaned over, still trying to glance at more of the writing in the book. “What? What happened?”
“Now you’re the one that needs to quiet down. We should really find a more discreet place to have this talk. Maybe in Taelien’s room – if we hurry, maybe we can catch him before he has to walk the Paths of Ascension.”
Lydia quirked a brow. “Is he doing that today?”
“That’s the rumor going around the palace,” Jonan said with a nod. “Vorain and I broke in last night, found the book, and got caught by another young woman. I didn’t recognize her. Dark hair, tall, muscular. She attacked, and Vorain bought me the time to escape. I went out a window, hoping Vorain would catch up to me. She didn’t.”
“And you haven’t heard from her since?” Lydia asked. “And why did she want your help with this in the first place?”
“I put it in her head that Edon was experimenting on her brother – which is almost certainly true. And she knew I had sight sorcery, which is pretty rare, so she strong armed me into helping her investigate. Anyway, I tried to find her today. Swept the prisons, even checked the Adellan room in the low palace, but there’s no sign of her. I didn’t dare go back into the place with the books, of course. I’m not risking another encounter with that dark-haired girl – she was at least as fast as Vorain, and probably stronger,” he concluded, taking a deep breath after rambling his explanation.
Faster than Vorain? That’s bad news, if she’s working with Edon. But maybe Vorain came out on top in the fight – we have no way of really knowing at this point. And if Vorain won, maybe we can find her and get her to help us at some point.
“All right, let’s get to Taelien. He should know about this before he walks the Paths of Ascension. From what I was reading in this book, it sounds like Edon is using artifacts for his experiments, too. Maybe he’s using these ‘paths’ as a trap to get the Sae’kes away from Taelien,” Lydia offered.
“Interesting,” Jonan mumbled. “You got that all out of looking at one page?”
“I do have an epiphany from time to time,” Lydia said with a smile.
“I don’t doubt it. You’re kind of scary when you think like that, but I think I like it,” he said, pulling his robes around him more tightly.
Lydia blinked, not quite sure what to make of that comment. She thought she might be blushing, but fortunately, he wasn’t looking in her direction. They continued the rest of the way to the palace in silence.
As they approached the entrance, Jonan finally spoke again. “Should I be making us invisible or something?”
Lydia shook her head. “No need, I’ll just tell people you’re with me.”
He shrugged at that. “I suppose I won’t complain about conserving my sight for a bit.”
“Good. Now, let me do the talking for a while,” she said, adjusting her glasses.
Lydia had no difficulty convincing the guards to let them inside, nor getting directions to Taelien’s room. By the time they found it, however, the room was empty.
“That’s not a good sign,” Lydia muttered.
She turned around, seeing a servant she vaguely recognized walking down the hall. Same servant who woke me up a few days ago, she recognized. He’s not wearing his earring this time, but it’s definitely him.
“Young man,” she called out, failing to remember his name. “Excuse me!”
He paused, turning around, taking a step back when he saw Lydia. “Oh, um, court sorceress! How can I serve you?”
To her side, Jonan tilted his head to the side, looking perplexed for some reason.
“The man who was in this room – the one they call the Taelien. Have you seen him today?” she asked.
The servant nodded. “Oh, yes, m’lady. He went to the Paths of Ascension about a half hour ago. Would you like me to escort you there?”
She shook her head. “No, that won’t be necessary, I know my way about. Thank you, young man. You’ve been very helpful. I didn’t catch your name.”
“Stuart, m’lady,” he bowed at the waist. “Is there anything else I can assist you with?”
“No, that’s quite all right,” she said, nodding her head. “Thank you again.”
He nodded and turned back around, hastily escaping from sight.
Lydia stepped deeper into Taelien’s room, and Jonan shut the door.
“Any of your mirrors in here?” Lydia asked.
Jonan shook his head. “No, I haven’t had a chance to plant one. I could right now, if you wanted to keep track of when Taelien returns. I’m afraid my supply is running very low, however.”
“No, don’t waste one, then. I think we should follow Taelien into the paths and make sure he’s safe,” Lydia explained.
“That...that would be quite a risk,” he stammered. “Could we perhaps wait at the entrance for him to return?”
Not willing to take a risk for Taelien? I can’t blame him, I suppose. He’s one of Vaelien’s servants, after all, not one of us.
Regardless of the justification, she couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed.
“You can wait outside. Can you maintain an invisibility spell on me while I’m outside of your own sight?” Lydia asked.
He grimaced. “For a bit, maybe. That’s considerably more difficult – and one of the few places your style of incanted sorcery works better than mine.” The admission seemed to pain him, but Lydia found it somewhat comforting. At least he has one weakness I can keep in mind for if we ever work against each other.
“Well, as long as you can get me into the paths, I don’t think it’ll matter. If there are people lying in wait inside the paths, I can always tell them that the queen sent me. The people guarding the entrance to the paths will probably know who should be inside, but once I’m in the door, I should be fine,” Lydia decided.
He nodded. “All right. When do you want me to make us invisible? Now?”
She nodded. “If he’s already be in there a while, there’s no telling what kind of danger he might be in – regardless of whether or not it’s actually a trap.”
“Are you sure we’re adequately prepared for this?” Jonan asked. “If we have to fight Edon – or Myros – or both – how do we handle those contingencies?”
“From my talks with the queen and some of the other sorcerers, I think Edon had two primary power sources. One, I think he was somehow stealing power from the Rethri by manipulating their dominion bonds. Two, he’s figured out some way to tap into the sorcery that was used to make some of the most ancient artifacts – like the Heartlance and the Sae’kes.”
“Right,” Jonan replied. “And he presumably has at least one artifact other than the Heartlance already on-hand. Something tied the Dominion of Sound – maybe Myros’ armor, with all the runes on it?”
“That’s a good guess,” Lydia admitted. “Edon also wears a ring with a large crystal in it. That could be another artifact.”
“Hrm. Only ring I’m aware of that would qualify as an artifact is Hartigan’s Star, which has a red gemstone – but I suppose others could certainly exist. The gods made many weapons and jewels that have been lost over time, or so they say,” Jonan said, sounding contemplative.
“Well, at least some of the Rethri have been taken care of,” Lydia exp
lained. “I should have said this before, but I’ve been away the last few days escorting some of the Rethri out of the city. On orders from the queen, no less. She’s taking overt actions against Edon right now, and I’m not clear on why – the timing can’t be coincidental. He sent a sorcerer to stop us, too, which means he’s aware that the queen is moving against him,” Lydia explained.
“The queen working against Edon should be reassuring me, but it’s really not,” he shook his head. His expression looked troubled.
“It gets worse, I’m afraid. The sorcerer who attacked us had far more dominions than he should have – as if he was using gifts of the gods.”
“Not all that surprising, actually,” Jonan replied.
Lydia quirked a brow.
“I read a bit further in that book,” Jonan explained. “Most of that research is on dominion bonds. He was trying to figure out new ways to both make and break them. He succeeded at breaking established bonds first, which is odd enough in itself.”
“I’ve heard that Lady Aayara has a way of stealing dominion bonds, but I’m sure you’d know more about that.” She gave him a pointed look.
Jonan winced. “Legends indicate that the Vae’kes in general have a way of stealing sorcery from others, yes. Obviously, the Lady of Thieves would be the most famous case, and I do suspect her abilities would extend to moving dominion bonds from someone to herself. That doesn’t sound precisely like what Edon was doing, however.”
Well, at least he doesn’t seem pleased to work for those monsters.
“How can you work for creatures like those? You don’t seem like the type of person who would approve of the way the Vae’kes behave. They just take things away from ordinary people – it’s direct opposite of what the gods are supposed to do,” Lydia said, realizing how harsh her words must have sounded after they came out.
He turned his gaze away from her, a sad look crossing his face. “The order teaches that the Vae’kes only use their power against criminals and threats to the world as a whole. Jacinth assassinates people who are too politically connected for the law to touch them. Aayara steals relics of power from despots and tyrants, turning them over to the Preserver.”
