The Ways of Mages: Two Worlds

by Catherine Beery

  By the sounds of pursuit, the Things were not that far behind her. Kairevasigh could feel the rotting breath on her neck. Not for long. She thought as she narrowed her eyes at a point in the distance. She teleported there and ran around a corner and down an alley.

  Panting, Kairevasigh looked for the next place to jump. She lost track of time as she ran through this strange water-side town. The people that she saw in the market section stared at her and the sword in her hand. They then screamed and fled when they saw what was following her. it became a sick game of cat and mouse between Kairevasigh and the Things. Kairevasigh hated playing the mouse. It was taking everything she had to stay a step ahead of the creatures. Teleporting helped a lot, but the Things were coming out of the woodwork. So not fair.

  Eventually, Kairevasigh ran into a dead-end.“Shraka!”She swore viciously turning around to meet the oncoming Things. The grotesque creatures slowed. Grins of victory spread on their putrid faces…if you could call them faces. Kairevasigh brandished the sword before her, fighting her exhaustion. She had led them a merry chase and she would be damned if she let them touch her. Damned in more ways than one, she figured eyeing them.

  There was a saying her people had.“Fate is the Great Audience. The audience adores tricks, the more you have, the more the Fates love you.”Kairevasigh had a few tricks in mind. She didn’t think her weapon could do much against the Things before her. And even if it could, there was only one of her against many. Too many. The tricks she had, she prayed would work long enough for her to run far away.

  The Dark-sons came toward the girl their mistress wanted. She was so small, so fragile. The black sword she held before her so slim. They were vast in their numbers. They came closer to their prey. They hoped she fought, because then they could have a taste of her before they had to give her to their mistress. The girl pulled away from them, clutching the sword with white knuckled fingers. When she had no room to swing, they pounced…and hit the wall. The Dark-sons clawed at each other in a putrid, slimy mess hissing in frustration. How had the girl child escaped them?

  Meanwhile, Kairevasigh raced the wind on a finicky horse she had stolen from a tavern’s stable. The black sword she had wrapped in some laundry she had grabbed on her way out of town and strapped to her back. She had teleported to point along her previous trail when the Things had first started to close in on her. In her place she had left an illusion of a cowering girl. She had panicked that she would run into the evil, scar faced woman. But she hadn’t. Thanking God for her escape, she pushed the horse hard. She also apologized for taking the beast and the clothing. She had no idea how she would pay it back. She only hoped that the evil woman wouldn’t kill the owners in her rage.

  At that moment, Kairevasigh felt her illusion in the alley break. Cursing, Kairevasigh asked the horse for more speed.

  ***

  Bendon was on his way to a portal symbol he had planted ages ago that would take him to Thioden. As the First Wizard of the Wizard Council, he could do such a thing. He had keyed it so it would, unless he specified otherwise, work only for him.

  His fight with Altana could have gone a lot better, but she wouldn’t back down. There were also a ton of Dark-sons crawling around. He had started to taunt her so she would be mad enough to follow him to just outside of South Port, giving the rest of the group time to escape. But she hadn’t.

  He knew she hadn’t succeeded in killing Jewel and Gawin simply because he was still alive and he had felt Jewel within the portal. That was his past. Some thought that being able to go back in time meant that one could change what happened. That wasn’t so. Time was like a river. You could go down the river hundreds of times, but you cannot stop the river. The river always flows to the sea.

  Besides, the old poisoned knife wound was aching, as it always did on the anniversary of the attack.

  Bendon shook his head at his forgetfulness. Because the occurrences were in the past, he should have remembered that Altana wouldn’t follow him, but he had forgotten in the heat of the moment. So now he was on his way to meet with the rest of the group in Thioden.

  Thundering hoof beats made him duck behind a tree. If that was Altana he would have a surprise for her. What he saw was not Altana, but a young girl of twelve or so. She was leaning against her horse’s neck, obviously begging for more speed. He could faintly hear her cursing. As she raced past him, he saw something bundled in an odd assortment of clothes strapped to her back. A flash of brass winked at him as she rode into denser forest. It reminded him of Robert’s strange sword.

  If he hadn’t been hiding his location from Altana and if the girl had been taking her time, he might have been able to cast a tracking spell.“I’m getting ahead of myself.”He muttered to himself as he turned back toward where his symbol portal was.“I don’t even know if that wasRobert’s sword.”

  But from that chaotic memory of leaving through Robert’s device, he remembered that the sword would have to have been in the cradle for Jewel to escape. Meaning, in the end, Altana would have been able to find it. Unless Robert had cloaked it. But Altana was strong in the art, she would have sensed something was there.

  But there was something else to consider: the strangeness of the sword. Robert used it to power his devices. Not to mention being able to kill Dark-sons with it, much like Gawin’s staff. The staff was a magic infused weapon. The sword had to be also and since Robert had had it for a little more then a thousand years, it might have become somewhat sentient. It might have been able to hide from Altana. Maybe even rebuke Altana if she touched it…that might explain the spike of magic I felt earlier…He mused.

  Bendon reached his transport symbol. He decided to talk to Robert about his sword when he got to Thioden. And if the girl had it, perhaps Robert’s closeness to the sword would provide enough of a connection to seek the sword.

  ***

  Grim stood on the deck of the Lucky Blue Wing. The gentle sway of the ocean was calming. He could finally understand why some people found life on the ocean compelling. He had been onboard for a little over a day and he was finally getting some semblance of sea-legs. The Wing was cutting a course for the island of Grinley.

  JayDee and Grim had spent several hours debating whether or not to set ashore on the main continent or to head to her island home. To be fair, the debate had taken the form of a pleasant conversation over dinner. Grim needed to get the message to his people that he had escaped. He could only imagine what Jewel and the others were thinking... And more to the point, what they were planning to do. Of course, given the weeks that had passed since his capture and subsequent escape... Grim had only the vaguest of ideas where to find his friends.

  In the end, it was that concern which settled the matter. The Grinlean Information Service had 'interests' in Pershara that could spread the word, via carrier bird, far faster and safer than Grim could.

  The raven-haired woman Grim was rapidly becoming very attracted to walked up to him on the quarterdeck. "Copper for your thoughts?"

  Grim smiled at her warmly. "Just thinking I've been on the water too long... Starting to enjoy it."

  "Well, we can’t have that." she quipped back in mock alarm. "Captain Willaim tells me we should make port just before noon."

  "So soon?"

  "I'm afraid so. There is a circular current between Grinley and the Barrier Maelstrom to the south. Our best captains have learned how to ride it both ways to cut travel time in half between Grinley and Pershara. Of course it's faster heading back to Grinley because the current that is traveling the right direction is closer to the shore and so we don't waste three quarters of a day getting to it."

  Grim leaned on the railing and looked at JayDee. She really was an exceptionally beautiful woman. She smiled back at him and leaned on the rail next to him. The press of her arm against his was enough to drive him to distraction. Grim could not recall ever having felt this way about a woman before. He felt like he was a young smitten school boy rather than a middle-aged knight.


  To divert where his mind was going he changed the subject. "I've heard of the Barrier Maelstrom before... Where did it come from and what's on the other side?"

  JayDee put more of her weight on the rail and reached a hand to intertwine her fingers with his. She knew the effect she was having on him as she was not about to let off the pressure. To be fair she was finding herself strangely attracted to this man of the Holden line.

  "Do you want to know the official answers or the speculation?"

  "Both." Grim answered while continuing to hold her hand in his.

  "Officially... We don't know... Either answer." She responded with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "Unofficially the story goes that a great war was fought between dragons and human mages and that the maelstrom is the vestige of that battle. As far as what lies on the other side... The word has it that there is another world... Another continent... We don't know because no one has ever managed to traverse the maelstrom safely in both directions."

  ***

  Doctor Harding watched the two from the awning of the quarterdeck. They looked good together. He wished he didn't have to do what he was about to do. Years ago he had made a mistake in judgment and molested a female patient. He had been caught by the woman's husband. It would have been the end of his career but the man had struck a bargain with him. In exchange for a few palace secrets, the husband would hold his tongue.

  The doctor wished he had never taken the easy way out. Over the years the secrets stolen had gotten bigger and bigger. Now if he were caught the youthful indiscretion would have been the least of his problems. Even worst, it had become apparent several years ago that from the very start he had been setup and the recipient of his reports was not the man whose wife he had had the indiscretion with.

  He returned to his cabin and unrolled a skin parchment from a stiff leather carrying tube. The parchment was imbued with magic that allowed written messages to be transmitted across great distances. He had heard rumors about the dark magic required to make such tools, but he chose to not dwell on such thoughts.

  He grabbed a quill and dipped it in the brownish red ink that was always to be used with this parchment. He began to write...

  SAILING FOR GRINLEY. THOMAS HOLDEN ON BOARD.

  In a moment he received a reply in the form of magically produced letters...

  WELL DONE... WE WILL ADVISE YOU OF NEXT STEPS SOON. FOR THE MOMENT WATCH AND LEARN WHAT YOU CAN.

  The paper slowly faded and Doctor Harding, agent of the Dark Lords rolled it up and placed it back in its protective sheath. His hand cold as it always was after handling the skin.

  Chapter Sixteen- Deceiving Appearances

  The portal collapsed.

  Kindra stared.“Where are they?”She asked and her voice echoed in the library’s grand atrium. The echoes faded and still she went unanswered.“Gawin…. Jewel…JEWEL!”She shouted running toward where the portal had been. She tried to reopen it, but there was nothing to open.“JEWEL!”Strong arms caught her.“JEWEL!”She flailed at the hands that held her, but they held, offering comfort. The mother dragon’s anguished cries brought tears to everyone who had made it to Thioden.

  “Kindra! Kindra! Be calm.”Tommy begged, holding her close so she didn’t hurt herself.

  “She can’t be gone! I just got her back!”Kindra sobbed.

  A quarter of an hour later, Bendon walked into the room. Tommy had convinced Kindra to sit down next to him. She was still crying into his chest. He whispered soothing words to her. Tolivier was sitting next to Tep, talking softly. Robert was staring at the wall. It must have been where the portal had opened. Robert turned toward him.

  “You made it.”Robert greeted him.

  Kindra looked up.“Did you bring Jewel and Gawin with you?”The mother dragon asked hopefully.

  It tore at Bendon’s heart that he couldn’t answer her with an affirmative. He looked down, shaking his head. “We knew this would happen.”He said in a tired voice, sagging against the wall behind him..

  Kindra sagged in Tommy’s arms. Tommy ran a line of soothing kisses through Kindra’s hair. The rest of the stunned party turned toward the old wizard. Bendon had his forehead buried in his hand. The pain of losing Jewel again left its dark corner at the sight of Kindra’s tears.

  “What da ya mean?”Tep asked.

  Bendon looked up and met Robert’s gaze. The two men seemed to hold a conference with their eyes. Eventually Robert nodded.“It is time, my friend.”

  Bendon sighed.“After all this time…you would think it would be easy, but it’s so hard to…”

  “To what?”Tolivier asked, frustrated. Tommy’s eyes narrowed as he studied the old wizard.

  “I’ve come full circle.”Bendon said, meeting all of their eyes again.“Gawin and I are one in the same.”

  “It all makes sense now!”Tommy said after staring at Bendon for a long time.“That means Perela is…”

  “The baby you saw just before we left.”

  “What happened to you?”

  “I made it to Thiodon, just roughly a thousand years too early. I made it to the library’s front door before I passed out. For a time, I couldn’t remember who I was. That was why I was called Bendon‘He who is lost’. Perela is‘she who is found’. I met Robert for the second time, but the first time for him. It get’s confusing.”He said with a small smile for his old friend.

  “And Jewel?”Kindra asked.

  The sadness in Bendon’s eyes increased.“I don’t know. She went in the portal after I did. I know she did.”The last he whispered.

  “But you didn’t see…”Tommy argued.

  “No, but I know. I knowshe is alive. I felt her presence in the portal. I don’t know where she is now or when, but she is alive.” He met Kindra’s eyes. Kindra nodded, sobbed and clung to Tommy tighter.

  Bendon tore his gaze away from Kindra. He knew that his presence would only give her pain at the moment. Tommy would help her repair her heart. In the meantime he would work on burying his. He pulled Robert aside.“You don’t have your sword, do you?”

  “No.”The other man replied.“I had to leave it to power the machine. I cloaked it so only the party could see it.”

  “I’m worried that Altana will find it.”Bendon whispered.

  Robert’s face went pale. He remembered the first time he had seen the sword. One he had considered a friend had had it. That friend who had assisted him in a healing had turned out to be possessed by the Dark Lord Maltacken. Something had happened to Maltacken’s host body when it had touched Robert. The body had died and Maltacken had used Robert’s body instead. Using him, Maltacken had brought about the series of wars known simply as The Fall.

  “If Altana has that sword…”He breathed in rising fear.

  Bendon clasped Robert’s arm in support.“I think I saw it before I came here, but I’m not sure. I need your help to cast a finding spell on it.”Robert nodded and followed him.

  ***

  Present day- Arathin

  Sunlight seeped into his skin, warming his bones. It was warmer here than in the north. Even in early spring, which it was now, it was warmer. Kaishan Varcress; the son and heir of Emperor Shantév Varcress, descendent of Tévdova Varcress, High Prince of Sheyestiva, the Winged Dagger, and the one who bowed to no one but the Emperor, closed his eyes, enjoying the play of the wind under his wings and the warm sun. It felt as if it was only yesterday that he had flown over these lands, but that was not true. The layer of dust covering him had told another tale. Being at home in the Kikel Varcressi was another clue. He had been here the last he remembered, not home. Being with all of his people sprawled in a death like slumber had been strange. He was the first awake. The rest had slowly awakened over the last nineteen years. Only the Emperor remained asleep, sealed in the throne room.

  Sheyestiva, his homeland, was thirsty for dragon blood and hungry for power. Victory had been taken from them at the last moment. They wanted victory. As did he. But the only way to finish what they had s
tarted was to cross the Nirami’s Grave. A feat that had proved difficult since the pass they had traversed was gone. The unpredictable storms had not helped either. They couldn’t go around it over the sea because of Death’s Eye which was a hundred mile wide whirlpool that was known to eat anything in the sky or ocean within a thousand or more mile radius. And those scouts he had sent over the Crescent Mountains had never returned. So it was up to him to find the pass that had disappeared. But finally after all this time…he had found a way through. Now that he was here, he might as well check the dragon’s situation.

  Through a break in the thick clouds he could see the land below him. In this part of Marlhema, it was mountainous. These mountains, the Teheadrillion, were sheer, but not as sheer as those in the Nirami’s Grave. Those mountains were high; high enough that nothing alive could fly over them. They were sharp and utterly lifeless. The Grave formed the border between Marlhema and Sheyestiva. Compared to those merciless mountains with their killer storms, the Teheadra was tranquil. Great forests of pine and a few deciduous trees perched upon the Teheadrillion’s shoulders.

  The Teheadrillion was relatively small, compared with the other two mountain chains. To the north, the Nirami was the longest chain. The Vermillion, to the east, was also vast. Those two great chains actually touched, effectively cutting Marlhema off from the world. In the center of Marlhema, the Teheadra was off on its own. On its northern most tip was a fortress perched on a mountain shoulder. Its name was Emeran or Sentinel in common marlnaim.

  Twisting its way from Emeran’s gate was a narrow road. Older than memory, the ancient road switched back upon itself often to climb up. It had been carved to allow passage and protection to small supply trains. It was by no means a safe road. There were too many sharp turns and sheer cliffs for that, but it was safer then marching up a broad open road with no overhang or sheltering canopy. Considerably much safer when the enemy of old had been from the sky.