by Rick Field
A single motion of her free hand had the remains levitating. As gruesome as they looked on the ground, in the air, they looked even worse. The stresses caused by a hundred-fold gravity had broken just about every major bone, and had reduced the girl's internal organs to mush. Liane looked away, unable to look at the results of her combat spell, and walked outside with the body bobbing obediently behind her.
Steve followed in silence, not sure whether his presence or his reactions would be welcome right now. Liane very rarely displayed her emotions, and this was the first time he realized that she was suffering from the deaths she had been forced to cause.
To his surprise, Liane simply crossed the road, and placed the young student's remains in a freshly formed hole. The Pillar swiped for the earthen barrier that stood, barring their entrance to the city, causing it to dissolve and its materials to flow over to the grave.
Leaning on her staff, Liane closed her eyes, and spoke the spells to set and complete the burial ritual she had learned so long ago in Rituals & Ceremonies. She had once married a couple as a final test in that course. Now she had recalled the burial rites and had invoked them over a girl, a fallen enemy who never should have been an enemy.
The floating debris from the broken barrier filled the grave, then solidified into a black marble grave marker shaped like an obelisk that stood to man-height. Steve frowned, the translation spell seemingly refusing to translate the Kirian writings on the stone.
“Here lies Nadia Lightningmistress, a victim of those that would make war and forget the lives of those caught up in it. She died, another lived, and nothing changed. May her marker stand as a memorial to the pointlessness of war,” Liane read for him. The man swallowed, and nodded.
For five minutes, they stood there, staring at the marble obelisk and its text. “Come, we should go,” the Pillar whispered.
“I've never seen you react like that before,” the pilot offered. “I'm sorry if any of my remarks hurt you.”
Liane dipped her head. “In battle, one tries to outdo the other. It is one thing to be engaged in a fight where both sides know about battle and what is at stake.” She glanced over her shoulder to the retreating obelisk. They were walking, the horses following obediently on their leashes. “It is another altogether to fight a student still in the Academy, untested and unsuited for battle. She did not know what she was doing, nor what she got herself involved in.” Her throat closed, and she needed a deep breath before she could continue. “I do not blame her for forcing my hand. I blame those that brainwashed her into sacrificing herself and her Assistant to this pointless endeavor.”
“Blame the bosses, not the underlings,” Steve said, nodding. “It's a good policy.”
The Pillar nodded. She glanced behind her once more. “I just wish that it helped more.”
The pilot fell silent, knowing there was very little he could say to help, and hoping that his presence was some form of comfort to his companion.
They didn't walk for very long, and within a few minutes, Liane pulled them to a halt. “This is where the wards of the city begin,” she said, superfluously. Before them stretched the countryside, reaching up into the sprawl of the city's outer limits. No human stirred on the road before them.
Holding up her hand, she touched the shield bubble, halfway using her ability to see magic, and halfway feeling the magic in the wards through her own. “I am Liane, the MagicWarper,” she whispered to thin air. “Pillar of Kiria. Lower yourselves.”
The wards and shields that covered the city and inhibited its population seemed to ignore her. Scowling slightly, Liane said, “You will allow me passage.” Steve had seen many things during his time on the strange island. Before his arrival, he probably would have dismissed a woman with an outstretched arm, talking to empty air, as something he didn't want to get involved in. Now, he merely waited for Liane to let them advance.
The Pillar studied the magic through her Magic Sight and through her spread fingers. The wards protecting the city finally yielded to her touch and her voice; the ones behind that did not. “You will release the city!” she said, louder, pushing some of her magic into her voice. The shields ignored her, having already bowed to her authorization. The Tax Wards did nothing but ignore her.
“I am the last remaining Pillar of Kiria loyal to its government,” Liane snapped. “You will obey me!”
Something wasn't going according to plan, the pilot realized. Steve looked around, shifting the reigns of the horses to one hand, and digging for his weapon with his other.
Liane dropped her hand, scowling furiously. “We must hurry; this is worse than I believed previously. Some of the protections of the city have been compromised severely, and no longer listen to their rightful leaders.” She strode over to her horse, took the reins from Steve, and lifted herself in the saddle. It was getting easier now that she had been forced to undergo so much practice in a short amount of time.
“So, you can't get in?”
“Oh, I can get in,” Liane replied as they left the road and started off at an angle that only Liane seemed to know, straight through a farmer's field. “The protective shields inhibiting magic refuse to lower, but they will allow me through. Unfortunately, should I cross the city line, I will be rendered unconscious. Not even I can destroy or circumvent city-level wards.” A smile appeared on her lips that made Steve very glad he was on her side. “Not without help, anyway.”
“Help? There is someone else who can help you breach the protections?” he asked, nudging his horse to increase its pace to keep up with his guide. It seemed that the Pillar once again wasn't paying attention to what she was doing, and driving her horse into higher speeds.
“Not someone,” she answered, shaking her head. “Something.”
“Okay. So, where is this something?” Steve asked, giving his horse another nudge.
“It's on the beach,” the Pillar answered, her usual calm voice clipped and short. The pilot fell silent at the curtness of her tone.
They rode in silence. By the time they reached the beach, the horse was in a full gallop, panting and sweating. Liane slipped from her saddle easily, while Steve followed stiffly. Liane looked left, then right, then left again, as if searching for something. Finally, she picked a direction, and walked determinedly to the high water line. She spoke urgently, yet clearly. She was Pillar Liane, the MagicWarper. Her authorization sunk into the flowing winds, the blackened sands, and the lapping waves.
A massive obsidian block of enchanted rock rose itself from the black volcanic sands at her command in total silence. Despite the many surprises he had seen over the last days, it wasn't something Steve had been expecting.
“What is that?” he managed to bring out, staring at the massive cube of rock that sat, calmly, on the beach.
“That is an anchor for the Great Barrier that tried to keep you out of our lands,” Liane replied deftly. “Please remain silent and under no circumstances interrupt me.”
The pilot nodded. Liane stared at him for a few moments, then accepted his silent agreement, and turned back to the anchor. Drawing a deep breath, she placed her one hand against the anchor, closed her eyes, and willed herself to connect.
Ward Anchor number two yielded to her authority, and expanded its available information into her mind. Immediately, she knew that the Great Barrier was in perfect shape, and there was no drop in output. Her protective modifications had held; none had been able to breach them or the Great Barrier since her finding of sabotage over a week ago.
Her thoughts went to the Capital, and its impressive vista filled her mind's eye. The siege wards, the shields on the city designed to protect it in times of war, had been turned up and prevented all magic, including magical communications, from crossing the city line. She was grateful for the Great Barrier's ability to bypass it regardless, thanks to the primary anchor buried beneath the Imperial Palace.
The Siege Wards also prevented non-government personnel from crossing the city line physical
ly. Something had been done to their control structure, and they refused to lower. Thankfully, she was still recognized as a government official, and thus would be able to cross the line. Steve, under her banner of protection, would be allowed to do the same. It was as far as the good news went – who had turned them up, and why did they refuse to lower when she, as last active Pillar of Kiria, told them to?
She frowned slightly as she turned her attention to the Tax Wards ramped up to impossible levels, levels that were not even part of the original matrix of the spells. Which meant that someone had either written a completely new matrix, or someone had adapted the original matrix to include the current settings. She didn't know which was more impressive, the ability to write a new matrix from scratch and replace the existing one with it, or being able to take an existing ward matrix and adapt it to this degree without anyone finding out about it until it was too late.
Either was equally impressive, she decided. The Capital drew her attention again. All its inhabitants were rendered asleep. Deeply asleep. Her thoughts went to the population. The exact amount of people living on the island was one million, one hundred fourteen thousand one hundred and twenty. The exact amount of Nobles was nine thousand seven-hundred eighty-six.
She blinked her non-existing mental eye. The Great Barrier informed her of the number of deaths that had been occurring in the city, and that the process would start to accelerate soon. The people asleep right now would remain asleep and start thirsting to death. Hundreds had already succumbed. Many more would follow within the next day or two.
People were dying. People had already died. Her people. People she had sworn to protect. Her constrained magic no longer bubbled and raged the way it used to, but she could feel its anger mimicking her own nonetheless.
Liane attempted to swallow her rage. It was a horrifically callous thing to do, to render people asleep and simply let them expire, and her attempts to calm herself failed. She drew a breath. And another. Slowly, she managed to come back to herself, her furious rage abating.
She attempted to override the Tax Ward, return it to its normal state. For some reason, it no longer accepted her authority, nor the authority of the Great Barrier through which she relayed her orders. For a moment, she toyed with the idea of turning the full might of the Great Barrier on the errant ward.
With seemingly great relish, the Barrier informed her of the results of such an action. The ward stone anchoring the enchantment would fail catastrophically, would detonate with all the force and might that it had stored. The resulting devastation would level half the city, and Liane immediately withdrew her thoughts from that direction. As fluently as her thoughts shifted, the Great Barrier fluently followed her.
She could be added as an exception, Liane was informed by the Great Barrier's pseudo-intelligence. For a moment, she debated on adding Steve as well, then thought against it. She was going to infiltrate her own city. His presence might be a distraction, and his lack of knowledge of magic and Kiria would make him a liability rather than a help. As much as she wanted a companion, as much as she wanted help, she couldn't justify to herself to bring a foreign Commoner into a Kirian matter, not when the man was so woefully underprepared and lacked any knowledge of what he would face. She would get him killed if she brought him, of that she was sure.
A small part of her wondered if she would have been able to save Nadia Lightningmistress if Steve hadn't been there to be targeted and forcing her to defend him. She shook the thought away. He'd saved her life once, it wouldn't do to place that disaster on his shoulders.
No, she decided. It was better to leave him behind. It would be safer for him, and she could focus completely on killing the opposition rather than constantly keeping an eye out to protect him.
The Pillar thought about circumventing the Tax Wards by simply adding everyone as an exception. The Great Barrier informed her that no, that wasn't possible under the current context. She would have to bring each person, individually, to the anchor and have them touch the Great Barrier anchor stone to have their unique signature read before they could be added to the exceptions list.
Liane frowned angrily. So that was why she, and potentially Steve, could be added. The Great Barrier almost sounded smug as it confirmed her thought. It was strange how prolonged contact with the anchor gave her greater insight into the Great Barrier's emotions and intentions. As far as a pseudo-intelligent magical construct could have emotions and intentions, anyway.
She ignored her own thought, and focused back on the task at hand. She had to get to the Emperor and to Milor; they were probably the only two people who would be able to subjugate the Tax Ward apart from Danulia of the Runes. The Pillar had to wake them up somehow.
The Great Barrier remained silent; it had nothing to offer on her current thoughts. It was the protector and defender of Kiria, and had direct contact with most of the wards and shields. It could affect them, and in most cases it could override them. It couldn't help her circumvent them beyond what it had already done.
Liane would have to come up with something in the time it would take her to find either the Emperor or her best friend. Already, her mind was working. Absentmindedly, she thanked the Barrier, and disconnected.
Steve, meanwhile, had been scanning about to make sure nobody disturbed Liane while she worked. Nobody did, the black beach was deserted. From the corner of his eye, he saw her move away from the large stone.
The next moment, her left fist balled, and it was as if the sun burned the red of blood, casting the entire skies in purple-hued shadows. She appeared to float, risen into the air on torrents of wind and black sand.
The next, she just stood there, one fist balled, one hand clenched her staff, glaring in the direction of the city. He opened his mouth, but remained silent, unable to articulate what he had just seen.
“They killed people,” Liane whispered. Her voice seemed to carry on the wind itself, and came from all around him. “Their trickery with the Tax Ward has already killed hundreds. It will kill everyone if not turned off within the next 24 to 48 hours. The longer it's on, the more people will die from hunger and thirst.” She turned, and waved her hand.
A dome-like structure rose from the sands. “You will remain here. I can enter the city without ill effects now, you cannot.”
Irrational anger rose up in him. “Hey now! After everything that's happened, you still don't trust me to help you take back the city?”
Liane's free fist tightened further. “This is not open for debate. Follow me if you wish, but be prepared to fall asleep when you cross the city line.” She pointed to the structure she had just erected. “Or stay there.”
He glowered at her, crossed his arms, and for a few moments, actually seemed to debate whether or not to follow her to see if she was bluffing. In the end, he scoffed loudly, and strode to the structure, not even bothering to wish her luck or grant her a word of parting.
Not that she had expected such. She knew she'd been curt and had basically forced the decision upon him, and that it would likely have hurt his male ego. She lifted herself into the saddle. She threw the small building one last look, but Steve had already vanished inside.
“I wish you luck and safety,” Liane spoke on a loud tone to the small building. “You should be safe here.”
No answer came, and if she had been expecting one, she gave no indication of it. Spurring her horse, she was quickly underway, leaving her companion behind. Part of her wanted to turn back and apologize, add him to the exceptions, and take him with her. A larger, more logical part, rehashed her old arguments.
She was no more convinced by them as she had been last time, but things must what things must. She already had hundreds of deaths in the city. She wanted to ensure at least his safety. If she should fall, at least she would have saved one life.
Her changes held when she crossed the official city limits. The shields yielded to her, allowing her physical entrance, while her exemption from the Tax Wards allowed her to r
emain awake. She rode into the outskirts of the city, feeling rather surprised at the lack of victims visible. It wasn't until she had entered the city properly that she realized why.
The signs were subtle; windows were closed and barred, trash was standing outside, waiting for collection, corner lamps were lit despite it being broad daylight.
The Tax Ward had been broken sometime during the night. Those asleep had sunk deeper and remained so. The few people outside during their normal duties had fallen where they were. Night guards rested at their posts, city employees responsible for maintenance and trash collection had slumped mid-stride.
Liane rode through the sleeping city, deserted of its normal activity, and she was struck by the total alienness of it. No stall was manned; no shop was open. No people to bustle about; no sounds of voice or animal. Her heart sank. This wasn't the Capital she knew. The Capital she knew was bustling, filled with life and activity. It may not be glorious, and it may have its dark side filled with crime being fought bravely by Noble and Common authorities, but it was her home.
