A Crucible of Souls (Book One of the Sorcery Ascendant Sequence) (Volume 1) Paperback

by Mitchell Hogan

  Outside in the street, the day dawned bright and clear, no sign of the smoke from yesterday. Whether this was a good sign or not, Miranda wasn’t sure. From what she could see of the people in the streets, everything looked normal. Some had a furtive look about their eyes, as if they expected something bad to happen, though most continued their daily tasks. With the city effectively blockaded, Miranda knew this wouldn’t last. What the Indryallans wanted was a mystery, but the city’s inhabitants would soon feel the squeeze.

  Elpidia looked at the metal circle in her hand then down the street to the south. “Should be this way.” She glanced at Miranda. “Why are you so eager to find him?”

  “I want to know he’s safe. The city’s going to explode soon.”

  Elpidia scoffed. “Everything looks fine to me. You like him, don’t you?”

  “None of your business.” She looked down and rechecked her purses were safe. “And if you think the city’s fine, then you’re wrong. No one’s allowed in or out. Prices have risen already, and it’s only been a couple of days. Water isn’t a problem, with the aqueducts, but everything else will be. A city this size needs constant supplies. In a few days, you’ll see what I mean. Our best bet is to stock up and hide out somewhere safe. That or try to get out.”

  Elpidia looked at her doubtfully as they wove between groups of women carrying empty baskets on their way to the morning markets. “You think the blockade will last that long?”

  “I don’t know. No one knows what the Indryallans are after, though they claim to be ‘liberating’ the city. Plenty of people don’t like the way the empire works, but they’re probably too under the thumb to do anything about it. This might give them a chance.”

  “The emperors are what made this city great, and the empire. Anyway, there’s no way out since they blocked the walls.”

  “There’s always a way out.” Miranda knew plenty of shady characters who skirted the laws. She had smuggled a few things in her time and was confident she could find someone who could arrange to get them out of the city, for a price.

  Elpidia gave her a guarded look before examining her metal crafting. “This way,” she said and led Miranda down another street. She stopped in front of a chandler’s. Eyes on the crafted metal, she turned a full circle.

  “Here.” Elpidia pointed to the shop across the street. A beaded curtain hung across the open doorway. Miranda brushed the beads aside and they entered. Silver bells tinkled overhead.

  A man stood behind a polished counter at the back of the room. He was tall and well-built with close-cropped hair. He rubbed his hands together as they came in.

  “Good morning, ladies!” he crowed cheerfully. “Welcome, welcome. And a fine day it is to be out engaged in a bit of shopping. Please.” He gestured expansively around the room at his goods. “Look around. I’m sure you’ll find something to your liking. Were you after anything specific?” He looked to Miranda and Elpidia expectantly.

  Before Miranda could open her mouth, Elpidia spoke. “We are looking for someone. A young man a little taller than you, well muscled, an apprentice—”

  “Yes,” interrupted Miranda, shooting Elpidia a warning glance. “A good friend of mine. We have reason to believe he’s here.”

  The shopkeeper’s smile fixed in place. He looked around the room. “As you can see, there is no one else besides myself. Why do you think this man is here?”

  Elpidia fumbled with her metal circle, holding it up for the shopkeeper to see. “I have this from a sorcerer. It tells us he is close.”

  The man nodded slowly. “Close is not here, is it?”

  With a frown, Elpidia examined the metal circle again. “He has to be. These things always work. He has to be here!” Her voice rose alarmingly, and she looked about to cry.

  “Elpidia, what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” the physiker denied sullenly. “What’s in the back room?”

  “Storage. Not that it’s any of your business.” He glanced between the two of them. “I think you should leave.”

  Behind the shopkeeper, in the corner of one of the shelves, Miranda spotted a paper bird perched on the edge of a cup. It was covered in ink runes.

  “He’s here,” she said knowingly, pointing at the bird.

  Elpidia and the shopkeeper turned to look where she pointed, both frowning in puzzlement.

  The shopkeeper glanced up and to the right, where a rag doll was propped on another shelf, then turned to face Miranda. “My bird?” he said calmly. “Why, I just purchased that the other day.”

  “Liar,” snapped Miranda. “He must have left that here recently. They don’t last long.”

  “What is it?” asked Elpidia.

  “If you purchased it,” Miranda said to the shopkeeper, “you must know what it is. You answer her.”

  “It’s merely a toy, a child’s plaything for amusement only.”

  Miranda smiled. “No, it’s not. It’s a sorcerous crafting. There’s a funny thing he mentioned about working with paper. Not many sorcerers can do it, but he can.”

  Miranda and Elpidia stared at the shopkeeper expectantly. The man stood silent for a few moments, unmoving as a stone and as expressionless.

  Breaking his stillness, he smiled. “Well, luckily you recognized it or I wouldn’t have known you were his friends. Come.” He waved them towards a door behind the counter. “He came in here a while ago asking for some assistance.” The shopkeeper walked behind the counter and through the doorway, followed closely by Elpidia and Miranda. “And who am I to deny anyone help?”

  He kept up a smooth patter of words as they passed through a storeroom then into a yard at the back of the shop. The yard contained a pig pen, a well, and Caldan. He sat on a bench against one of the yard’s brick walls, drinking from a mug. At his feet was a leather sack.

  Miranda gave a yelp of relief, rushed over and crushed him in a tight hug.

  Elpidia stood with the shopkeeper, watching them.

  “Caldan! You’re safe,” Miranda gushed. She pulled back a step from his embrace. Heat rushed to her cheeks.

  “And you! How did you find me?”

  Miranda was so pleased to see Caldan safe and well she hadn’t noticed his clothes were torn and dirty. Dried blood covered one leg, and his eyes were red and tired.

  “It was Elpidia.” She waved in the physiker’s direction. “But that isn’t important right now. What happened to you? Your leg?”

  Caldan waved Miranda’s questions away. “It’s nothing. I was lucky to get out alive. The Sorcerers’ Guild, I mean. Others weren’t so lucky.” A haunted look came into his eyes. “The Indryallans rounded up all the sorcerers, I think. They locked me in a cell, but I managed to escape.”

  “What did you see? Who are they?”

  Caldan shook his head. “I don’t know. They didn’t say much in front of me. All I know is they’re using alchemy. They must want something, but I don’t know what it is.”

  “Well,” said Miranda, “at least you escaped, but we should take a look at your injuries. You look exhausted.” She took him by the arm and turned to the shopkeeper. “Is there anywhere we could wash up, sir…?”

  “Amerdan,” he said with a smile and pointed towards the well in the middle of the yard. “I’m afraid this is the best I can do, though I can find some rags for you. And some soap.” He glanced back into his shop. “I have to get back to work. I’m sorry I can’t offer more.” With a curt nod, he left them.

  Elpidia took a step after Amerdan. “I’ll fetch the rags. You two…” She broke off and rushed away. Miranda and Caldan both frowned at her retreating back.

  “Strange woman,” remarked Miranda.

  “She’s pleasant enough. Odd, but nice.” With a groan, Caldan sat back on the bench. Quickly, he outlined his escape to Miranda. As his tale unfolded, her stomach churned. “How did you find me? I mean, I’m glad you did, but it couldn’t have been easy.”

  “Elpidia did it. We… I went looking for you at the Sorcere
rs’ Guild.” At the look of alarm in Caldan’s eyes, she quickly blurted, “I didn’t get there, though. I saw smoke from a distance. Elpidia was following me. She said she saw me in the street and decided to follow me to see where you were. I don’t know why she would be so concerned with you.” Could Elpidia also be interested in Caldan? It seemed unlikely but… “Is there anything I need to know?”

  “What? No! Of course not.”

  Miranda sniffed. “She had a compass made so she could track you.”

  “She must have saved some of my blood,” reasoned Caldan. “That’s… disturbing. Why would she do that?”

  “I don’t know. She’s up to something, nothing good. You know about these compasses?”

  Caldan nodded thoughtfully. “Any competent journeyman can make one.”

  “All she said was she needed to see you for her research. I don’t trust her.”

  “It’s odd she saved some of my blood. From when I spoke to her before, I think she’s working on something. Most alchemists have side projects, the good ones anyway. They can’t help themselves. The thrill of discovering something new.” With a shrug, he poked at the hole in his pants with a finger. “I’m going to need new clothes.”

  Miranda grimaced at his blood-caked pants. “How did you make it this far from the Sorcerers’ Guild with a wound like that?” She took a closer look at his leg. “Isn’t it bandaged? How…?”

  Caldan met her eye then glanced over her shoulder to confirm Elpidia hadn’t returned yet. “Don’t say anything, but something strange happened. The… invaders — I don’t know what else to call them — one stabbed me with his dagger when I tried to resist. It was pretty bad. He wasn’t trying to kill me, though, just hurt me.”

  “They’re from Indryalla, or so they say. That’s the rumor in the streets. Then… why isn’t your leg bandaged?”

  “When they threw me in a cell, I passed out. When I came to, the wound had healed. I don’t know what happened.”

  Elpidia appeared in the doorway, rags in one hand, soap in the other.

  “We’ll talk of this later,” said Caldan to Miranda softly. She saw the direction of his look and nodded in agreement.

  “Amerdan was good enough to provide some scraps of cloth and a bar of soap. Here.” Elpidia stepped close and held them out to Caldan.

  Miranda moved in and took them from her. “I’ll get some water,” she said. She walked over to the well and began drawing up a bucket, while keeping her eyes and ears on them both.

  “Caldan,” said Elpidia. She wrung her hands and glanced around. “Listen. Please. My research, it’s important. I need a favor of you.”

  “Can’t it wait? I’m tired and wrung out. I need to rest awhile.”

  “No. I mean… yes. Of course. It’s just that—” She broke off as Miranda returned lugging a bucket, which she dropped next to Caldan. Water sloshed over the side.

  “Here. Do it yourself. I’ll see if Amerdan has some pants for you.”

  “I can pay him. Just nothing too fancy.”

  She nodded and turned to give Elpidia a calculating look before going inside the shop.

  Caldan watched Miranda leave then wrung the cloth out and started wiping his face and hands. “I’m not going to take my pants off here.”

  Elpidia gave a wan smile. “That’s not what I’m after.”

  “I didn’t think so. Why did you save some of my blood?”

  “I… thought I might need to find you sometime.”

  A weak excuse, thought Caldan. It has to do with her research. “That doesn’t sound convincing. There has to be another reason. What is it?”

  Elpidia folded her arms across her chest. “Your leg. Did you get hurt recently? It looks like you were stabbed. The rent in your pants, the blood. It’s your blood, isn’t it?”

  Caldan kept washing but held his tongue for a few moments. She obviously knew something but was asking questions instead of coming out with what she suspected. “Yes,” he said. “I was stabbed.”

  “But now it’s healed. Already, like the gash to your face healed quickly.”

  “My leg started healing while I was passed out.”

  Elpidia drew in a sharp breath. “A few hours? That’s…”

  “Strange? I thought they’d done something to me, some sorcery we don’t know about. It makes sense.”

  “No. I hoped, but… It’s not sorcery. In my years of research, I haven’t ever come across a case where sorcery’s been used to heal. But I have read of a few cases where a person has healed themselves, much like what’s happened to you.”

  “So… you want to know why this happens to some people and not others.”

  “Yes. Well… more than that. I want to be able to use it. If I find out how it works, I’m sure I could work out a way for other people to benefit.”

  “That’s why you saved some of my blood, because you suspected I healed faster than normal.”

  Elpidia shrugged then grinned. “I thought it likely and now look! You are the perfect subject! I need to study you. I’ve been searching for years for someone like you.”

  Caldan shook his head. “This is going to have to wait until we sort out this situation. I need to find out what’s happened to the Protectors, and to the others in the Sorcerers’ Guild.”

  “Please,” begged Elpidia. “I need some of your blood, a vial.”

  “What?! No!”

  Elpidia clutched Caldan’s arm. Her eyes welled with tears. “It’s a small amount, little more than a few drops. You won’t miss it. Please.”

  “Why are you so desperate?”

  “I… it’s for my research. That much is true. But mostly it’s for me.” She released him, her arms dropping to her sides, shoulders slumped. “I’m sick. Dying.”

  Caldan’s heart clenched, and he cringed inside. He hesitated, not knowing what to say, and knowing anything he said would be of no comfort to Elpidia.

  “I wish I had the right words,” he managed, throat tight. “Is there anything I can do?” Caldan stopped. Of course there was something he could do, what Elpidia had asked of him. But his blood? To experiment on? The thought made him squirm.

  Elpidia hugged her arms to herself. “I just need some of your blood to experiment with,” she replied shortly. “For years I’ve been researching, looking for a cure, something to delay the disease. Anything to give me hope. I’ve been following several lines of research, but the most promising stemmed from an old manuscript I found, a treatise on curing diseases written by a scholar of repute. According to his experiments, he was able to cure many diseases, including one he was afflicted with. But he needed blood from someone he called ‘touched’.”

  Caldan frowned. “What does that mean?”

  “I don’t know, or I didn’t know. But when I saw how quickly you healed, I had a few ideas. There might be people who never get ill, their bodies immune to diseases. Tell me, Caldan, have you ever been sick? A cold? Anything?”

  Caldan thought for a while. He couldn’t recall ever having been ill, not even a cold. “I haven’t, but that doesn’t prove anything.”

  “Good. That’s good. I need your help. I just need some of your blood.”

  “I’ll think about it.”

  “But—” protested Elpidia.

  Caldan held up a hand. “Let me think about it. It’s a lot to take in after what’s happened. Everything has changed in the last few days.”

  “I need your help. This is my life we’re talking about.” Her hands clenched into fists, and she trembled.

  “One small vial?” he queried. She must have been under a lot of stress, if what she said were true.

  Elpidia’s expression brightened. “Yes. In the beginning. I might need more. I’m not sure. It’s best I stay close to you until I know more.”

  “I agree, then, except to the part where you have to stay close. The invasion has changed everything. I need to go back to the guild to find out what’s going on. I need to see what’s happened to the Protecto
rs.”

  “You can’t put yourself in danger! What if something happens to you?”

  “I have to. They might need me.”

  Elpidia stood with hands on hips. Her expression became firm. “I need that blood sample before you go, then. I know it sounds selfish, but I’ve spent years looking for answers, and I’m not going to let you go without it.”

  “You can’t stop me. But I said I would let you, and I will. I need to plan what I’m doing, so that gives you… us, some time to prepare.”

  “Yes. I see. Will you be here, then?”

  “I don’t think so. I don’t want to put Amerdan out, even if he’s agreeable to us staying for a while. Miranda and I will hideout somewhere. You can always find me, correct?”

  Elpidia looked chagrined, and a blush came to her cheeks. “Yes. I need to get some equipment, then. Excuse me.” Abruptly, she turned and left Caldan standing there.

  He sighed and removed his shirt, splashing cold water from the bucket over himself and rubbing the soap on the wet cloth. He worked swiftly to remove the grime and sweat of the last few days then tipped the bucket over his head. The water felt refreshing, and for a few moments he pushed the stress of his capture and escape out of his mind. Senira shouldn’t have died. He should have been able to look after her.

  He cursed under his breath and opened his eyes to find Miranda leaning against the doorway, staring at him, an appraising look in her eye. A guilty look came over her face. She held out a pair of pants. “Here. I was waiting until you finished.”

  “Thank you. I’ll change inside.”

  “Oh. Of course.”

  Amerdan was working in the front room, a cloth in one hand. He was methodically wiping the shelves and goods on display.

  “Ah,” he said. “Your friend left. I was wondering if you needed somewhere to stay? I have a spare room upstairs. It should be adequate for a night or two.”

  Caldan shook his head. “Thank you, but no. We’ll move on and not trouble you anymore.”

  “Well then,” said Amerdan reluctantly, “I’m sure you want to change out of those ruined pants. Use the back room. I can keep tidying up while the young lady here keeps me company.” He smiled warmly.