The Mage War

by Ben S. Dobson

  He was still scrabbling for a sword he couldn’t hold when she moved her blade to his legs. A quick surgical slice under the calf prevented him from getting back to his feet. It was only then that the spell animating him recognized him as useless. The light in his eyes blinked out, and he fell still.

  Kadka stood, turned to face the last man standing. “He attacks maybe a minute ago, yes?”

  “How did…” The guardsman was still staring at his former comrade, but he gave a dumb nod of his head. “Laniere and Thien were dead before I could do anything. Why would he…”

  About the same time Hobbier triggered the assassins within the summit, then. Endo had agents throughout the ship. Hardly a revelation—Kadka could have said as much just by the sounds of combat, sharp movement and shouts from decks above and below.

  “Is not his fault,” Kadka said simply. “Already dead. Is spell making them fight.”

  The man’s eyes widened. “How can that—”

  She cut him off. There wasn’t time for this. “Do you see gnome woman come by?”

  He shook his head. “No. I… when the door opened I thought I heard footsteps coming up behind me, but I didn’t see anyone. I was a bit preoccupied.” His eyes narrowed. “Wait. You’re one of those prisoners. Why are you free?”

  “She’s on your side. That’s all that matters right now.” Carver. He and the remaining dignitaries and guards spilled out the door.

  Klenn was with them, unharmed, Kadka noted. That was good.

  No one pursued them. The loyal guards must have taken down the rest of Endo’s dead men, and they’d kept their charges safe—Lady Abena, Kaiser Gerrolt, and High Provost Elena appeared unharmed, along with Klenn, Althir, and the rest of the aides and diplomats who had survived the initial attack. But there had been a cost. Only nine of the combined security details were left alive, and one of the Mageblades had to be among the dead, because only three remained at the Lady Protector’s side. Nine left from some twenty-five, and all to kill only ten of Endo’s assassins.

  And the fight wasn’t over yet.

  “They mean to take whole boat,” Kadka said. “And Hobbier is gone. Maybe this way.” She pointed down the hall beyond, leading to the exterior deck. Footsteps half-heard passing by in the heat of combat and relayed second-hand wasn’t much to go on, but it was all she had. “If you have clever idea, this is good time, Carver.”

  He did, apparently, because he didn’t hesitate. “First thing is, we need to take down the wards. They’re only hurting us now. Being hard to kill gives Endo’s people an advantage, but with magic the Mageblades can even the odds.”

  “We can manage that, I think,” said Lady Abena. She turned to look over the surviving Rhienni. “I assume someone here must have access to the ward room?”

  One of the Rhienni diplomats lifted her head at that, a slight half-elven woman. “I do. I am… was… Ambassador Anelle’s personal aide.”

  “Good,” said Lady Abena. “That will be the safest place for us to hide. Defensible, and reinforced. The guards will escort us there. We cannot allow the leaders of any of our nations to fall to an attack like this, or Mister Stooke will have accomplished exactly what he set out to. We will disable the wards, and then I will send as many Mageblades as I can gather to retake the ship. Mister Carver, Miss Kadka, I must ask you to pursue Oola Hobbier. As you pointed out, it is imperative that we learn whatever she knows.”

  Kadka nodded. She wasn’t quite certain how they were going to find a nearly invisible woman, but she meant to try. “Go, then,” she said. “And be fast. Is easier to kill us than them.”

  _____

  Tane sprinted up the stairs to the exterior deck just behind Kadka. Oola Hobbier had to be up there. She thought Endo was coming for her, which meant her first move would be to make herself available for saving.

  He emerged into the morning light to the sounds of screams and metal striking metal. All across the deck, Rhienni guards were fighting against silver-eyed men and women who shared their uniforms, with a handful of Audish and Belgrian and Estian security forces scattered throughout.

  In front of him, Kadka came to a halt. “What now, Carver?”

  Tane scanned the deck for any sign of Hobbier, but he wasn’t optimistic. Gnomish camouflage wasn’t perfect, but in this chaos, the sort of shimmer and shift that gave it away wasn’t going to stand out.

  His eyes stopped on a lifeboat hanging from the starboard side of the ship. It was swaying, just a bit. Could just be waves, but… He nudged Kadka, pointed. “There.”

  Kadka looked, nodded, loped for the lifeboat with knives at the ready. Tane followed, moving along the rail of the ship to avoid the fighting. An elven guardswoman with telltale silver eyes noticed them, moved to block their way. She slashed at Kadka; Kadka dodged and then slammed hard into the woman with her shoulder, sending her tumbling over the railing and into the water below.

  They were halfway to the lifeboat when the winches holding it started to unwind rapidly. It lurched several feet down the side of the ship at once. Tane heard a panicked squeak of dismay, looked toward the sound. There. By the crank that controlled the winches he saw a brief shimmer, a bit of rail doubling itself and then combining again. Illusory camouflage struggling to adjust to sudden movement. Hobbier must have lost control of the winch, had to jerk it to a stop.

  “Kadka! There!” Tane pointed, but Kadka’s eyes were better than his. She was already moving.

  A big silver-eyed human man stopped her before she could get to Hobbier, grabbed her by the arm and yanked her into his grasp. She struggled with him, trying to get free. Tane had already lost the shimmer, but now he heard hurried footsteps. Hobbier had noticed them, given up on the boat. She was running.

  “Get her, Carver!” Kadka snarled, still trying to throw off the man grabbing her.

  Tane took off in the direction he thought Hobbier was going, by the sound. Moving made it harder for her illusion to hide her; lines that should have been straight split and wavered where she passed. Even so, he couldn’t track her for long. After a dozen steps he lost her position entirely.

  He looked desperately back and forth, trying to catch another shimmer, but there was nothing. She had to be there somewhere, but it wouldn’t be difficult for her to circle around him, get to one of the lifeboats, release it before they could stop her. Especially with Endo’s controlled guards covering for her. If I could just force her camouflage to adjust…

  Ah. That’s an idea. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his charm globe, cracked it, and shoved in a charm. Thumbing the key just a single click for minimal delay, he shouted “Shield your eyes!” to anyone who cared to listen.

  He hurled the globe in the direction he’d last seen sign of Hobbier, and raised an arm over his face. Astra, I hope they’ve got the wards down by now.

  Apparently they had, because the flash charm went off. Even through covered eyes, Tane could see the light, sudden and intense, flushing his closed eyelids pink. Before it could fade entirely, he lowered his arm and looked, squinting against the intense brightness.

  A handful of men and women in the immediate vicinity had been caught in the flash; some had gotten an arm up in time, while others clutched their eyes or tried to shake away light-blindness. But none of them concerned Tane just then. There she is. In the middle of the deck a few yards to his right stood a humanoid silhouette of pure white, some three feet high and utterly featureless, like a paper cutout. Even as he watched, the white began to fade, losing opacity, starting to mimic the image of the rail and rigging behind.

  But the illusion couldn’t adapt fast enough. Tane took a running leap, arms outstretched, and felt himself make contact. He wrapped his arms around Hobbier and carried her down to the deck, landing hard on top of her.

  Hobbier squirmed and struggled, but he was easily twice her weight; she couldn’t get free. Up close, he could see her more clearly, a woman painted with the lines and colors of the wooden decking beneath. It was diffic
ult to focus on her, but she was clearly there.

  “Let me go!” she demanded. “You can’t stop it now!”

  “Stop what?” Tane grabbed her wrists, pinned them down. “What does Endo have planned?”

  “You think I’ll betray him?” Hysteria was creeping into Hobbier’s voice. “You can’t hold me for long! He’s coming for me!”

  “Do you really believe that?” Tane asked. “His cause was more important than his mother, his brother. It’s more important to him than whatever you think you have. He’s not going to stop what he’s doing to rescue you, Oola. Not until it’s all over.”

  “You’re wrong! He needs me beside him!” But despite her protests, Hobbier at last seemed to realize that she couldn’t simply wrestle herself free. Her movements slowed, and her illusion faded until Tane could see her clearly.

  And then someone grabbed him from behind. Strong arms yanked him off of Hobbier, and a hand closed over his mouth.

  Hobbier leapt to her feet, already uttering words in the lingua, her fingers splayed toward Tane.

  With a roar, Kadka slammed into the much smaller woman from the side. At the same moment, a flash of bright silver-blue exploded in Tane’s face, and the hands holding him jerked abruptly away. Through the spots swimming before his eyes, he couldn’t immediately make sense of it all, couldn’t tell whether Hobbier had gotten her spell off, or if Kadka was still standing, or where the man grabbing him had gone.

  And then his vision began to clear, and he saw Hobbier suspended several inches off the ground, entangled in silver-blue strands of Astral power.

  Kadka stood nearby, looking back in the direction the spell had come from, over Tane’s shoulder. Tane swivelled on his heel to see Lady Abena striding toward him with eight Mageblades and a number of Rhienni, Estian and Belgrian guards. A man whose ornamented blue and red naval uniform identified him as the Aquilon’s captain walked beside her.

  Just behind Tane, a silver-eyed Rhienni man struggled against the same magical restraints as Hobbier—the binding spell must have been the source of that flash of Astral light. Every Mageblade was extending similar silver-blue cords from each hand, binding rogue guards where they stood across the length of the ship. In the space of a few seconds, the fight was all but over.

  “Thank you for keeping her busy,” said Lady Abena, gesturing at Hobbier. “I hope we didn’t leave you waiting for too long.”

  An elven Mageblade moved forward with anti-magic cuffs in hand, clapped them around Oola Hobbier’s wrists, and then grabbed her roughly by the arms. The binding spell that had been holding the struggling gnome in place dissipated.

  “It doesn’t matter.” Oola held her chin high, but there was a quiver in her lip, fear behind her defiance. “You won’t learn anything from me. I was only here to distract you. You’re already too late. The city will fall, and he will come for me.”

  “I think we might convince you to share a little bit more,” Lady Abena said icily. “Take her below, secure her for questioning.”

  As the Mageblades escorted Hobbier back toward the stairs, though, there was a flash of movement among the Belgrian guard. Sunlight on metal.

  He held one back for this. “No!” Tane shouted, hurling himself after Hobbier.

  But the realization came too late. The shortsword was already lodged deep in her chest.

  The Mageblades had the assassin—a stout human woman in Belgrian colors—bound with Astral power instantly. Hobbier sagged in the grip of the woman holding her. Blood ran from her mouth.

  “Check everyone!” Tane barked to the Mageblades. “The silver eyes only show when they’re exerting themselves. We need to look for inactive Astral signatures.” But he suspected they wouldn’t find any beyond those already detained—slaughter had been the plan, and the more bodies swinging swords the better. Endo had held this one back only as insurance.

  Tane knelt before Hobbier, looked up at the elven woman holding her. “Lay her down. Heal her, if you can.”

  As they lowered her to the ground, Hobbier just stared down at the blade in her chest, her eyes wide and unbelieving. Several Mageblades were chanting already, words Tane recognized as basic healing spells, but this was far from a superficial wound. It would take direct application of specialized surgical spells, well beyond the training of a combat medic.

  “Get the surgeon!” Lady Abena shouted, jabbing a finger at another of her security detail. “We need her alive!”

  Hobbier’s mouth moved. She was trying to speak. Tane leaned in close to hear.

  “Why?” she gasped. There was confusion in her eyes. Betrayal. She understood who had done this to her. “I… I thought he… I was supposed to be his…”

  Tane felt a stab of pity for her, selfish and misguided though she was. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I know what it’s like to be fooled by Endo.”

  Oola’s hand wrapped around Tane’s arm, and she raised her head with failing strength, pushed bloody lips against Tane’s ear. Her voice was barely a whisper. “The siphon… It was always going to be him. The warehouse.”

  And then her head fell back, and she was gone.

  Chapter Twelve

  _____

  INDREE LED A band of criminals and rebels toward the Hobbier warehouse.

  She’d gotten word to as many contacts as she could—people she trusted in the constabulary, Dean Greymond at the University, Iskar and the Silver Dawn, anyone she could think of who might lend forces to hold the streets against the Knights of the Emperor. But gathering volunteers together took time, and she hadn’t yet had enough when Tane had contacted her via his sending locket to tell her what had happened aboard the Aquilon.

  And then there’d been no question of waiting. If there was even a small chance of stopping Endo before he could activate another siphon spell, it was worth the risk.

  So what she had were a dozen of Bastian’s “friends”—eclectically armed thugs whose combat experience didn’t go much beyond street brawling, and a handful of artificers who’d claimed they could put a spell together under pressure—and about the same number from the Silver Dawn. Iskar’s agents were more spies than fighters, but at least they were led by Vladak, who she knew could handle himself. How well the lot of them would work together, she had no idea.

  I used to be a respected member of the constabulary, and now here I am. But then, the constabulary’s leadership had betrayed the people they served to side with Endo. The men and women who followed Indree now weren’t perfect, but they’d answered the call. Volunteered to put their lives on the line to defend their city. Maybe this is just the company I want to be keeping.

  As they drew near the long brick building, she reached out for Tane through the Astra. “We’re here.” At least from the outside, it looked deserted—not even anyone on duty in the guard booth out front. “No sign of the Mageblades, or anyone else.”

  “Spellfire,” Tane swore. “Lady Abena can’t reach them either. I might have sent them right into a trap. Be careful. I don’t know why Endo would wait to imbue himself with the siphon until now—he could have set this all up well in advance. That’s what I assumed he’d done with Oola. If he hasn’t, there’s something more to it.”

  “I’ll keep my eyes open,” Indree sent back. “Tell you more in a minute.”

  Starting toward the door, she motioned for Vladak to follow her with a few of his best; the rest she signalled to hold back and be ready. No need to alert everyone inside just yet.

  “Tinga told me she needed a badge to get in,” she said to Vladak, keeping her voice low. “I was hoping there would be someone on watch out here we could force to cooperate. If we’re lucky the Mageblades have already done the work for us, but we may have to tear the wards down the hard way.” Astrally unravelling a spell would take much longer than she liked, even with the help of Bastian’s mages. “If it comes to that, the rest of you will have to hold off anyone who might want to interrupt.”

  Vladak nodded his shaggy head. “Under
shtood.” He grinned through his tusks. “I have shome experienshe dealing with magesh.”

  “I believe it,” Indree said. The big orc had been working with Iskar and the Silver Dawn for a long time, and some mages in Thaless didn’t much care for the idea of non-magical rights. How he maintained his calm amiability after a lifetime spent fighting that battle, she had no idea, but she was glad to have someone reliable there with her. “Not everyone here can say the same. I’m counting on you to wrangle the others.”

  “I’ll watch them,” he said. “But they’ll come through. They’re fighting for their homesh. That meansh shomething.”

  Indree couldn’t help but smile, hearing the worries she’d been hiding answered so simply. “You know, I think I needed to hear that. Now let’s see if we can get inside to put it to the test.”

  There was a heavy lock and chain on the big sliding door, but someone had already dealt with it. The lock had been left open, and the chain hung loose. Convenient. Not that it would have held up to Indree’s magic for more than a few moments either way. Physical security was rarely very secure when there was magic to fall back on, to Tane’s eternal annoyance—Indree had heard that lecture more than once.

  “So someone’s gone inside recently,” Indree said. “And no one thought to lock up after. I hope that applies Astrally as well.”

  She nodded to Vladak, and he grabbed the handle and pulled, dragging the heavy metal door open. It screeched unpleasantly as it slid aside.

  Indree reached out—Astrally and physically. Her hand moved through the doorway unobstructed, and her Astral search found a single ward, but not one that would prevent her from entering. A divination blocker, preventing such spells from being cast within the walls or through them. Not uncommon on this sort of storage facility, to keep would-be thieves from sensing anything of value inside. That explains why no one can reach the Mageblades, too. Sendings were a divination spell, at their core, reaching out to another through the Astra rather than the physical world. Nothing stopping evocation, though. Maybe the Mageblades had dealt with it. Or maybe there had never been such a ward at all. Endo might have hoped to hide in plain sight, and enhanced security wards could draw attention.