Kiall returned with their dinner and placed it on the table. As she turned to leave, one of the patrons grabbed at her. "Why you so shy, girl? Come here and sit by me for a while."
The girl twisted in his grip, freeing her arm. She started to back away, but the man stood up and grabbed for her again. She broke free of his grasp but fell to the floor with a thud.
Lorit reacted almost without thinking. He reached his staff out and cracked the back of the man's hand. "She's not on the menu. Keep your hands to yourself."
The stranger turned toward Lorit. "Who are you to tell me what I shouldn't handle?"
"I'm just a traveler who respects a hard-working young girl." Lorit stood leaning lightly on his staff. He waited for the man to lunge at him and shifted his weight. His staff swung in an arc, whistling in the air as it struck the man in the head, this time with enough force to daze him.
The man stepped back and reached over his shoulder. "Watch out," Chihon shouted. "He's got a knife."
The knife came hurtling through the air at Lorit. It hit his magical barrier and stopped dead in mid-flight. It clattered noisily to the ground.
The man swore and ran for the door, slipping on spilled ale as he collided with a seated patron in his rush to get away from Lorit. He disappeared out of the door as the other patrons broke out in laughter.
Kiall picked herself off the floor and came over to Lorit. "You have my gratitude, Sire. I scarce can repay your kindness."
"No payment is necessary." Lorit took his seat once more.
"I cannot thank you enough. If there is anything I can do for you, just ask."
"We're looking for someone and we don't know the town very well," Lorit told her. "Where is the best place to get information? Is there a wizard around here?"
"No wizards, but there is a library down the street. When there was a wizard here, he used to spend his time there. Maybe you can find something to help you there?" She waved to her left. "Just go to the left three blocks, then turn right. It's the big building with the sign of a book out front. You'll know it when you see it."
"Thank you for your help."
The library was an unassuming building that would have blended in with the rest had the sign not been where Kiall had said it would be. They entered the building to find an ancient woman seated behind a desk. Her arms were folded, and her head was down. She snored loudly.
"Excuse me?" Lorit said. When the woman did not stir, he tried again.
Still no response. He reached out to shake her, but Chihon restrained him. She shook her head, indicating that he should just leave her sleep.
They roamed the aisles, looking for maps or city reference books. A layer of dust had to be brushed off many of the tomes before their titles could be read.
"I don't see anything useful," Chihon said.
"Maybe around there." Lorit pointed to an area where a pair of globes stood on stands astride a doorway.
There was an inscription over the doorway. Lorit reached up and dusted it off so they could read it. "Habere scientiam et potentiam trans fores," Lorit muttered.
"Pass through these doors to obtain knowledge and power," Chihon translated.
Lorit reached out and tried the door. It was locked. He probed it with his power, feeling the intricacies of the mechanism. He could feel the tumblers and springs that prevented it from turning. He pushed selectively on the tiny components, trying to line them all up in order to turn the lock.
They didn't budge.
"Let me help." Chihon grasped his hand and raised her power, adding it to his. He could feel the parts start to shift little by little until the lock finally emitted a sharp click and the door sprang open.
Chihon held onto his hand as Lorit stepped into the room. It was dark and gloomy. All he could make out was a low table centered in the room, piled high with books. He felt around the room with his magic until he located the wall sconces with their unlit candles. He touched them with his magic and they sprang to life, illuminating the room.
Lorit blew the dust from book after book until he found one of interest. It was a book of spells for finding people and things. "This one may have something."
He turned page after page as he and Chihon read the titles of the incantations. There were spells used to locate all sorts of lost things.
"Stop," Chihon said as he turned a page, not really paying attention to its contents. "This one is for locating hidden things."
Lorit looked the spell over. It was an old spell to find hidden or stolen items. The wizard wasn't a stolen item, but he had surely been taken and was now hidden.
"I think we can do this one. It takes a diagram. Do you see anything we can write with?" Lorit asked.
Chihon shifted a few of the dusty tomes around on the desk until she came up with a slate board and a piece of chalk. It was so dusty that the chalk lines were not going to show against the grime, so she wet a cloth from her pack and washed the surface until it was black and glistened. "Here." Chihon handed it to Lorit.
He waved it away and held up the book. "You have a neater hand than I do. Here is the symbol we need." He traced it out for her, holding the book up so she could see it.
When the diagram was complete, Lorit sat next to Chihon and grasped her hand. Together they spoke the words of the spell, chanting the refrain over and over again until the figure Chihon had drawn on the slate came to life. It began to shimmer. It shone silver, pulsing as if with an internal fire. It started to lift off the slate until it was positioned in front of them in the air.
It tilted until it made a vertical gateway. Inside the center, a silver pool formed. It grew more and more solid until they were looking into a mirror. The mirror became transparent enough to reveal a figure.
Chihon let out a gasp. It was Prince Ghall.
Lorit peered at the scenery behind him, trying to see where the prince was being held. He was in a small room made of large stones piled carefully on top of each other. There was a window behind him that stood open to the sky.
Lorit willed the mirror backward so he could see the entire room. It was furnished with a modest desk and chair. A tray of bread and cheese sat on the table along with a pitcher of water or wine.
Lorit pulled back even further. The view slid through the wall until they were seeing the outside of the room. The door was made of heavy wood planks held fast with iron bands, but it bore no lock. Beside the door stood a man dressed in the familiar garb of the temple guard.
"The temple!" Lorit said. "The priests have him."
"We already suspected that," Chihon said. "But where are they holding him?"
Lorit pushed the mirror forward, rushing first through the door, then the exterior wall. He stopped just outside of the window and looked around. The room sat on the edge of a steep cliff that ran down to the crashing sea below. Shadows cast on the water showed the tower. He was on a cliff facing west, overlooking the sea.
"Quineshua," Lorit said. "He's in Quineshua!"
Chihon leaned in to peer into the mirror hexagram herself. She moved it around and examined the landscape. The grounds were covered in rich green grass that ran right up to the edge of the cliff that plunged straight down to the raging waves beneath.
"Why wasn't he in chains?" Chihon asked.
"I don't know. Can we travel there, now that we've seen it? Can we just go get him?"
"I don't think that's a good idea. We don't know what's going on with the prince. Maybe they have set a trap for us just as they did for Zhimosom. If we go charging in there, we could be walking right into one."
"But we can't just leave him there," Lorit said. "They'll kill him just like they did with Ardser."
"They've left him alive all this time, they must have some reason. Maybe because he's royalty, they don't dare to kill him. We have to get Zhimosom's help. Prince Ghall may have already turned, as Chedel did. We have to be careful."
"I'm worried about the prince, but you're right. This may be a trap. We'd better find Zhimo
som first."
Chihon took the damp cloth and wiped the symbol from the slate. The mirror shimmered once and then disappeared.
"Now that we know where Prince Ghall is, we can travel there when we have found Zhimosom. We will need his help. We can't just go storming into the temple asking for the prince."
"Maybe we can locate Zhimosom," Chihon said. She redrew the hexagram, focusing specifically on Zhimosom. This time it shimmered and turned a deep violet mixed with crimson. The colors chased themselves around the diagram until they finally lifted from the slate and hung in the air.
The view through the center of the diagram showed Zhimosom standing in a circle of light and sparks. He seemed to be asleep or dead. Lorit looked closer. No, he was breathing, slowly, but unmistakably. At least he was alive.
He pulled back to get a view of the room. It was quite similar to Zhimosom's own study. Books and candles littered a large table. The wizard was trapped in a spell that kept him bound. He was standing adjacent to the large empty chair.
Lorit could see a figure on the floor where the wizard stood. He endeavored to memorize the hexagram. He dared not write the symbols down for fear of recreating the spell himself. It was complex and seemed to be made of more than one hexagram laid atop another.
He pulled back to get a better look at the building. The wizard was being held in a small house that sat in the middle of a forest clearing. The thatch roof was green with lichen and moss and littered with leaves that had fallen from the trees around it.
"Where is he?" Lorit asked. "Do you recognize anything?"
"Those trees could be anywhere," Chihon said. "Did you get a good look at the drawing on the floor?"
"Yes, I think I'll recognize it if I see it again." Lorit paced the library floor. They had more information about Zhimosom, but how would they narrow their search down? He turned back to Chihon. "Let's see if we can contact Rotiaqua."
Lorit relaxed and reached out to the sorceress. Her usual crisp clear image was indistinct, somehow less substantial than usual, but they were able to make contact.
"The council has excluded me," Rotiaqua said. "You are going to get no help from them. Neussul has insisted that the council meet next in Amedon. He knows I can't travel, so he is using a technicality to keep me from the meetings. What have you been able to find out?"
"We saw Zhimosom, but we're not sure where he's being held."
Rotiaqua looked tired, even frailer than she had at their last contact. "I may be able to guide you there. I don't know where he is, but I have reestablished my connection to him. You can follow it, but I caution you. Be careful."
Rotiaqua held her hand out to Lorit. In it was a tiny star of silver. "Take it," she said. "It will guide you to Zhimosom."
Lorit reached out his hand and felt the star take on weight as it transformed from the ethereal vision into a solid piece of silver barely larger than a coin. He rubbed it between his fingers and pocketed it.
She took a shaky breath. "You are walking into the lair of a powerful wizard and you'll need your strength and wits to survive the encounter. The wizard may have his reasons not to kill Zhimosom, but make no mistake. He will kill you if you interfere."
"We will take care. I will contact you again before I leave," Lorit said. He dropped the contact and turned to Chihon. "Let's get some rest, and then head there in the morning."
He turned to leave and felt power rise up around him. It was like the web the temple had used to capture him once before. He looked down at the floor. There was a hexagram drawn there in silver. On each vertex, a different symbol was inscribed.
The lines glowed with increasing intensity, shedding a crimson light that rushed around the figure. Lorit could feel the spell rising up, getting stronger and stronger. It contracted around him until he could barely move. He glanced at Chihon only to find her similarly encased in crimson threads of light.
Lorit searched for something to help them, but there was nothing handy.
Lorit heard a laugh. Standing in the doorway was the man he had beaten in the inn. The man pointed to him and stepped back. A priest appeared, head shaved, black robes trimmed in silver. He stood there, watching as the spell took hold.
Lorit tried to speak but found he could not. He tried to signal to Chihon. He could see her mouth move but heard nothing.
The priest leaned against the doorway, watching Lorit try to escape. "Better wizards than you have tried to escape this spell. Struggle all you want. You won't get loose."
The priest turned to the man standing behind him. "Thank you for your help. This one is indeed a wizard." The priest reached into his robe and pulled out a silver, which he tossed to the man.
"Thank you, Father." The man bit the coin, pocketed it, and backed away.
The priest walked up to confront Lorit and Chihon, eying them as he circled the trap. "Those spells look pretty solid. I think they should hold you for a while."
He turned to leave and glanced back over his shoulder. "I have to make a quick trip to the temple to inform my superiors about the little fish I've caught in my net. Don't go anywhere." He laughed as he turned and departed, closing the door behind him.
Lorit heard the door click shut. He turned his head to look at Chihon. She was no more able to speak than he was.
He probed the spell, getting a feel for the threads of magic that bound him. He could sense the cords that wrapped around his body, holding him firmly in their grip. He examined them carefully, looking for any weakness, any spot where he might separate them, fray the ends, untangle the net.
"Chihon," he tried to say, but the words caught in his throat.
He reached out to her with his magic, following that slender thread that connected them. He traced the route through the mess of binding magic until he had a path to her. He reached out to join his mind to hers. It was as if she were leagues away, muted and distant.
He struggled to make himself understood. "Chihon," he projected to her. He quieted himself and listened for her response.
"Lorit, I can't move. I can't speak," came her reply, distant and soft, yet understandable.
He tried to reason his way out. If only they could call up the spells of escape, but they could not speak. He wracked his brain, trying to come up with a solution. He could remember the words of the spell of release, he just couldn't speak them.
"Tell me the words," Chihon's thoughts came. "I have an idea."
Lorit showed her the words, repeating them over and over again until she had them memorized. "What are you going to try?" Lorit asked.
"Just a moment, be ready to join in." Chihon took a deep breath and sang out the words of the spell. Her voice wavered at first but grew stronger as she sang. Lorit could feel the spell weaken, but it did not release.
"Join me," Chihon thought to him. "Sing with me."
Lorit tried to sing as best he could. He had never been a good singer, but he started to catch the tune. She had woven the words of the spell into the tune of the bawdy song about loose women and their antics. It seemed to work at first. The spell became less restrictive, less substantial.
Lorit's heart leaped. They were going to get free. They sang the same refrain over and over again. Lorit poured all of his energy into it, but it was not enough. Soon, his voice grew tired, and he started to falter. When he did, the spell tightened again, threatening to undo all his efforts.
As the spell started to close in on him, Lorit panicked. He felt just like he had when Zhimosom had trapped him in the web to teach him how to escape. The fear overcame him and threatened to drive out every thought from his head. He soon forgot what he was trying to do. Why was he trying to sing the spell?
A voice came to him in his head, but it was not Chihon. Something clearer, more powerful than Chihon. It said, "You have access to more power than you realize. Draw on it freely, do not fear."
"Kal'ryni?" Lorit thought.
"Yes, it's me. You have access to my power, to the power of the mountains and so much mor
e, should you but choose to call upon it."
Lorit felt the power surge in him as he reached out to draw on the magic of the mini dragon and the earth itself. His singing became clear. His voice improved. The spell began to weaken. Lorit felt the flood of power reflected back from Chihon as he channeled it to her. It swirled and surged around him, ripping apart the threads that bound them both.
The bonds were torn asunder. The sparkling, dancing light that had held them faded until it was only a dim memory. Lorit took a breath and relaxed. He uttered a hearty, "Thank you," to the mini dragon even as he felt the power he had drawn from it subside.
Lorit looked at the diagram on the floor. It was very similar to the one that held Zhimosom trapped in Javier Chase. Lorit knew he could free the wizard. It was time he paid the old wizard back for all the times he had saved Lorit in the past.
"I have to go to Javier Chase," Lorit said. "Now."
"Lorit, you're too tired. You don't know what you are getting yourself into."
"Zhimosom needs my help. Now that I know where he is, I have to go. He's in trouble. I can draw on the power of the mini dragon. I'm ready."
"I don't have the energy to make the trip. I can't wait here for you. The priest is sure to return. What do you want me to do? I don't want to lose you again."
The last thing Lorit wanted was to leave Chihon behind. They had just been reunited, and he knew she couldn't come with him, but Zhimosom needed his help, and the sooner he could free the wizard, the sooner they could get back to their normal lives, whatever normal meant. He was looking forward to getting to Amedon and settling down to study.
"I don't like it either, but I have to free Zhimosom. We're going to need his help, and I can't leave him trapped like that. He's fading. He may not have much more time.
"You take the spell books and meet me later. Get out of Moriver and head for Midian. That's the next place we can stop on our way to Amedon. Once I free Zhimosom, we will head straight there and see if they can help us free Prince Ghall from the temple."
Wizard's Education Page 21
