Joint Intentions (Book 9)

by Jeff Inlo

  "It was a small price to pay to keep the land safe from a great evil," Enin conceded, "but that is not the point of our arrival so near to your home. My friend believes the algors may be able to show us a way to use the magic without having a core. We all understand that it's difficult for algors to store magic, and he mistakenly believes the process you utilize to obtain the energy can solve our problem. I've told him it's futile, but he doesn't wish to give up hope."

  "Futile?" The algor shook his head. "Not futile."

  Neltus' eyes lit up like a glittering display of fireworks.

  "You can show us how to use the magic, can't you?"

  "I can show you how to bend the magic. You can never absorb it without a core, but the magic flows across the land in many ways. It can be reflected, twisted, and even bent."

  "What does redirecting the magic have to do with absorbing it to cast spells?" Enin questioned.

  "Immersion," the algor replied.

  "Immersion?"

  "Bend the flow, place yourself in the flow, mold the flow," the algor stated simply.

  Once more, Enin appeared perplexed by a concept of magic which seemed absolutely foreign to him. He began to mutter to himself, but no one was sure what he said.

  The algor said nothing, but its wide mouth seemed to bend into a smile. He allowed Enin to grumble in whispers as he waited patiently in the sand.

  Ryson looked to the sandstone cliffs and offered a suggestion to break the momentary and uneasy silence.

  "Maybe we should go to the caves in the cliffs, talk to some other algors. We could see if they know something different."

  "What one knows, we all know," the algor professed. "No need to talk to others."

  Enin started to speak again in a fashion the others could finally comprehend.

  "This is very odd. I used to be so sure about the magic. Could losing my core have caused me to also lose insight? I didn't think that would be the case. There are still things I see clearly, but these ideas seem contradictory, almost unbalanced."

  "Magic can provide the balance," the algor advised.

  "But I have dealt with magical flows in the past," Enin replied. "I understand the concepts of redirection, even immersion. I have witnessed massive flows of magic and seen them pass through and among magic casters, but the core was always present. What good is immersion without a core?"

  Holli remained convinced the desert was the wrong place to have the discussion, but as Enin's guard, she would yield to his wishes. He appeared to find interest in the topic, and with his ability to cast spells gone, she could not deny him the opportunity to consider alternative methods of exploiting the energy. She also viewed Enin as her teacher. As such, it was necessary for her to understand his concerns.

  "The concept appears disjointed to me as well," the elf admitted. "We have all seen examples of magical flows. Some have been magnified. Others caused displacement. I fail to see how a redirection in magical flow can allow for influence."

  "Influence!" Enin responded quickly. "That's really the point of contention. It is influence that allows for the shaping of magic into a spell. It is influence that leaves its mark in the energy even after the spell is cast. And influence requires a core."

  "But I cast a teleportation spell with magic from a coin," Neltus insisted. "I placed my desires into the magic and I have no core."

  "Your influence was a secondary response. It was the influence from Jure's core which allowed for the magic to be shaped. His will was not direct, but it was the primary influence which allowed you to place a spell of your own making in the magic."

  "I do not follow your logic," Holli admitted. "It was not Jure who created the spell of teleportation. It was Neltus. I remain confused how this was possible."

  "When Jure placed his magic in the coin, he didn't simply release it," Enin explained. "He intended for it to be used. Which means the energy was given a level of purpose through Jure's direction. Collection, storage, influence, and final incantation are all connected, but they are also separate."

  The algor appeared undeterred by Enin's declarations.

  "Bend the magic into a flow which is willing to be influenced into a spell."

  "And that's the contradiction," Enin insisted. "How can one who is without a core influence or even bend magic?"

  Jure had listened intently as well. He too wished to learn as much as possible from Enin, and he wondered if he might have an answer to the problem.

  "I could bend it," Jure offered. "I could direct magic right into you. There would be no need for storage and it could become a constant flow. Would you be able to cast a spell if that were the case?"

  The simple solution appeared to catch Enin by surprise. He stared at Jure for a moment as if a new consideration had struck him like lightning.

  "Simply bending it wouldn't be enough," Enin muttered more to himself, but this time he could be understood clearly by those around him. "It would have to be bent and opened to outside influence at the same time. But then what? If I had a flow of magic, would it actually be possible..."

  Enin was unable to finish his thought. The ground rumbled and the sand began to shift all about them.

  Ryson sensed the upheaval, and his keen senses pinpointed the disturbance.

  "It's directly below us. Deep in the ground, very deep. Whatever it is, it's coming up fast. And it's big!"

  At that same moment, both Jure and Holli sensed the atrocity billowing up from the depths of the sand. It had been far enough below the surface to avoid the elf guard's notice, but as it moved upward, its ominous presence became apparent. Holli sensed it as a demon of immense power, and Jure felt the shifting of incalculable force within the very magic itself.

  "No," Jure whispered. "It can't be."

  "Jure!" Holli shouted. "Get us out..."

  The sand erupted before she could complete her order. A dark red hand large enough to take firm hold of Enin's entire body burst through the ground. Thick fingers nearly as wide as tree limbs wrapped around Enin's torso even as more of the giant forearm broke from the twisting sand.

  Ryson leapt to safe ground without even a momentary loss of balance, but the others were sent sprawling across the sand. The delver watched in horror as Enin was lifted away from the ground, higher than the surrounding dunes. With only the thick, gigantic arm raised out of the sand, he could only imagine the size of the rest of the monster. He had read many legends, actually witnessed beasts of colossal size, but he never believed he would see even a portion of a pit demon.

  A dathit.

  The name of the fiend erupted in the delver's mind. There was nothing else it could be. Far bigger than a cliff behemoth, a demon larger than even Reiculf, it was a mammoth; a giant taller than mature trees and almost as massive as a single mountain in the Colad range.

  Enin was trapped in the hold of a colossus. Struggling only served to tighten the giant's grip. As he squirmed and twisted, hoping to find a gap between the immense fingers, he felt his shoulder begin to give as he was pressed hard against the giant palm. Without magic, Enin was helpless.

  Despite the enormous size of the arm extended from the sand, Ryson moved without hesitation and raced forward with the daring and speed of a pure-bred delver. He ran across the dune and leapt with the grace of a leopard. He used his speed to gain upward momentum as he circled around the elbow and climbed up over the forearm.

  Once he gained a position where he could stand with balance near the giant's wrist, he removed one of the war blades from its sheath at his hip. Rather than plunge the blade deep into one spot, he sliced with blazing speed at each finger, hoping to surprise the beast into opening its hand. It didn't work as he expected.

  The entire arm of the colossus pulled away from Ryson and disappeared back below the surface, taking Enin with it. Sand quickly filled the crater left by the pit demon's abrupt departure, and the delver could do nothing but fall to the shifting ground. Landing on his feet, he jumped clear of the upheaval in order to avoi
d being trapped in an unseen hollow.

  Holli stared desperately at the ground. She could still sense the dathit, but the pit demon was moving away from them. The thought of Enin trapped underground and in the grip of the fiend tore at her sanity. She had vowed to protect the wizard with her life, and suddenly he was in the grasp of a demon which could annihilate cities.

  "Jure!" she called. "It's moving, but not fast. Can you force it to the surface?!"

  Normally, forcing a pit demon from the depths was an act of sheer lunacy, but he understood the elf guard's dramatic request. Still, it would not be easy to pull a dathit from the ground. A pit demon was not some common mole. Yanking it out of the sand was similar to forcing a mountain to leap across a river.

  Though he could cast in white and had power over all the hues, his influence over water remained his greatest attribute. He believed he could have forced the fiend back to the surface by utilizing geysers from underground springs, but he would need several to persuade the creature up from its preferred environment. Unfortunately, the Lacobian was a very dry region, and while he could pull water from great distances, he worried if it would be enough.

  With time becoming an issue, he decided to utilize what the desert contained in great quantities... heat and sand. He focused on a spell of burnt umber that would combine the aspects of land and fire.

  A white ring formed about the elder wizard's shoulders. It retained a perfect circular shape even as it rotated just below his neck. As Jure began to whisper words which would stir the ground below, the white energy turned dark orange with a strong tint of crimson.

  Jure nodded to a dune where he sensed the pit demon, and the reddish orange magic rotated off his body and twirled at the very point where the wizard focused his spell.

  Hot winds came racing down from the sky. Rather than turn into a twister, the gusts formed downward sheets that plunged into the sand. Upon hitting the ground, the winds ignited into low burning but intense flames and some of the sand at the surface turned to glass.

  As the heat bore downward, Jure maintained control over the flames. He could sense the great beast's exact position, and he kept the heat focused on the demon's body and away from its arms. He had no desire to burn Enin to a cinder.

  Even as smoldering gales pummeled the desert sand, the ground far below began to fight against the downward force. Rock buried inconceivably far beneath the surface began to push towards light it had never been exposed to before. The stone rushing upward started churning the sand around the dathit in great waves. It was a blast of abrasive force that even a pit demon could not ignore.

  Rather than simply dismiss the immense disturbance, the dathit extricated itself from the desert sands. It rose completely out of the ground and stood upon the surface of the Lacobian. It was terrifying in its magnificence.

  The creature took an almost human form. It had arms and legs extending out of a powerful torso, and a head which rested upon a massive neck. But it had no face, none whatsoever. Its head appeared like an empty canvas; no mouth, no nose, no ears, and no eyes.

  There was no explanation within any of the legends as to how pit demons could possibly comprehend their surroundings without any obvious means of receiving external messages. Some believed the creatures used magic. Others were convinced they sensed their surroundings through the slight vibrations of movement.

  However the beast managed to gain a perspective of its circumstances, it had clearly targeted Enin and captured him with the utmost efficiency. Even as the pit demon towered over the Lacobian Desert, it held Enin in its hand like a doll and seemed obsessed by the wizard's presence.

  "What's it doing?" Ryson asked. "That thing doesn't have eyes, but it looks like it's just staring at him."

  Holli and Jure could not respond to the delver's question, but the algor appeared to have the answer.

  "The great wizard lost his core... and great was his magic. He has become a living symbol of emptiness, the same emptiness pit demons crave. The hollow of his magic must have called to the demon."

  "Why would it be interested in that?"

  "Because it exists in the same manner. What is a dathit but expressionless wrath; anger without a snarl, fury without a scream? What is Enin but a wizard without magic? To a creature without eyes, this is as close as it can get to looking at a reflection of itself."

  "So it's just going to stand there and ponder Enin's lack of magic? For how long?"

  "For as long as it connects Enin's existence to its own. I imagine it will be for some time."

  Holli remained quiet as she analyzed the monster and its hold on her mentor. It appeared the algor had greater insight into the demon than anyone else, but she needed to confirm the algor's revelations as fact and not baseless theories. Her own knowledge of pit demons was limited to elflore, and the coverage of dathits within the legends of elf history was limited indeed.

  "How is it you know these things?" Holli demanded.

  "It is within algor understanding. What one knows, we all know."

  "It's part of your collective history?"

  "Just as knowledge is shared between algors which exist today, knowledge has been passed down since the beginning of our existence."

  Holli nodded in acceptance. She knew the algors shared a unique bond. They formed a community in which they shared thoughts as much as any other commodity. It was as the algor said, what was known to one was known to all.

  "Is Enin in any immediate danger?" the elf questioned.

  "He is safer than the rest of us."

  "Is there a way to defeat the creature?"

  "Defeat a pit demon? If all the algors in Uton released their slings at once, the concussion of the rocks might get its attention, but that is all."

  "Every creature has a weakness," Holli stated firmly.

  "A pit demon absorbs weakness as it does fear, feeds on it, and turns it into malice."

  "There must be something we can do." Holli turned to Jure. "Can you teleport Enin out of there?"

  Jure took one look at the colossus and immediately saw the difficulties involved.

  "Just Enin? Maybe, but it would take more magic than I have right now. I used almost all I had to bring the demon up from the ground."

  "But is it possible?"

  "Maybe, but I'd have to isolate him and look at that thing's hold on Enin. It's more likely I'll end up teleporting them both, or I'd have to force the giant's hand open, and then what happens? It might crush Enin in the transition."

  "I will not accept that there are no solutions!"

  "Give the dathit something else to look at," the algor suggested.

  "What?" Holli questioned, as she turned back to the algor.

  "The demon is apparently intrigued by Enin's empty core. Create something larger, more interesting."

  "How?"

  "Form a pit in the sand and bend away the magic, create a hole in the energy flow large enough to gain the creature's attention. A large space empty of everything, including magic, is much like a demon with no face."

  "Is that possible?"

  "With the help of the algors in the caves, we could redirect magic away from the ground. It would, however, take several days."

  "Do we have that long?"

  The algor paused to consider the pit demon standing motionless above the sands.

  "I do not think so."

  "Is there a way to speed up the process?"

  "Force the magic toward something which opposes it."

  "Opposes the magic? What would oppose magic?"

  The answer came quickly, but not from the algor.

  "The delver's wife!" Neltus exclaimed immediately. "She's immune to magic."

  Ryson entered the discussion just as fast as he moved.

  "We're not putting Linda in danger!"

  The conversation had taken a quick and severe turn. Holli could not afford a single pause, even a momentary hesitation would allow for complete turmoil. She took absolute control as she questioned the
algor with a demanding tone.

  "What is it exactly that has to be done to break the dathit's attention from Enin?"

  "Create a crater in the sand large enough to encase the demon. Force any magic completely out of the hole. The pit demon will be drawn to it."

  Holli turned to Jure.

  "How long until you have enough magic to create a sufficient crater in the sand?"

  "Simply making a crater wouldn't take that much magic," Jure answered. "Just push the sand aside. A few moments more and I can handle it."

  Ryson wouldn't remain quiet.

  "If you're thinking about using Linda, forget it!"

  Holli did not respond to the delver directly. Instead, she returned her focus to the algor.

  "Can the algors bend the magic away without using an opposing force?"

  "It would take several days."

  "How long if we could used something that would act in opposition to the magic?"

  "If there was a human totally immune to magic... barely a few moments."

  "Didn't you hear me?!" Ryson demanded. "We're not using Linda as bait!"

  Holli kept her attention on the algor.

  "Would there be any danger to the one immune to magic?"

  "None," the algor replied.

  "That's not true!" Ryson interrupted angrily. "Ansas used Linda to purify magic and it almost drove her insane."

  "Purify?" the algor asked.

  "Yes! He once sent waves of magic at her from other spell casters to empty out their cores. He wanted them to hold pure magic."

  "Purifying is not bending," the algor responded. "Purifying casts out remnants of magic within a core. Bending is the redirection of magical flow. There are no purification issues."

  "How can you be so sure?" Holli questioned. "I need to be absolutely certain that Ryson's wife will not be in danger. I will not sacrifice anyone to correct my mistake."

  "There will be no danger," the algor replied.

  Holli turned quickly to Ryson and spoke with absolute sincerity.

  "I will not put this decision in your hands. This is my fault and I must take action. I will give my life to protect Linda. I will put her life above mine, even above Enin's, but I believe the algor. I also believe that this is Enin's only hope. I intend to teleport to Burbon and retrieve Linda. Do you intend to stop me?"