by Bob Blink
Jeen shook her head. “None of us were looking, and the number of Baldari was larger than we had encountered before.” She looked at Nycoh, who shook her head negatively as well.
“Nonetheless, Ardra’s revelation is a pretty clear indication the Baldari have some familiarity with magic,” Daim pointed out. “Perhaps they have learned something from the materials they have stolen in previous attacks, although we don’t have the ability to create such a barrier, so that seems hard to fathom.”
“They are still coming from the south?” Rigo asked. In his mind they needed to discover where the warriors originated and pursue them back to their homeland. This had to end. For far too long they had been free to hit and run as they wished.
“We assume so,” Ardra said. “As usual they fled back into the Wastelands, and those present weren’t prepared to follow them into the unknown dangers there. The tracks were followed far enough to see they turned south at one point, but that could have been to mislead us. We believe, however, they originate from south of the great mountains. That’s where your people tracked those that Nycoh destroyed as having come from, isn’t it?”
Rigo nodded. “We followed their tracks back to the Great Central River. Mitty’s claim that they came up the river somehow appears to be verified. The tracks appeared at the edge of the river, just north of the mountains. The river there passes between steep rock cliffs with no banks to travel upon. They would have had to ride upon the water, yet there was no indication of boats or any other kind of craft. It remains a mystery how it was done.”
“We are going to have to track them through the Ruins,” Daim said. “A group of wizards is going to have to see if the trail of the group that attacked Fernwah can be followed. Even if not, it is imperative we know what lies along the southern edge of the Ruins close to Sedfair. The southern border of the country itself is well mapped from what you’ve told me, and there is no sign they have found a way across the mountains within the country itself.”
“We will need patrols all along the southern borders,” Ash’urn suggested. “They came up the Great River and turned west, but they could have just as easily turned into Lopal. For that matter, the eastern side of Lopal has multiple breaks in the mountains. I once considered making my way through those mountains and heading to the south myself.”
Rigo looked at Ash’urn. He remembered. That was where Ash’urn had been headed when he, Kaler, and Daria had first encountered him.
Ardra nodded. “The borders will need to be patrolled. That is where they are coming from, and we need to know they are coming.”
“Even if we know, what can we do?” Jeen said. “Even Nycoh and a squad of our strongest wizards weren’t able to penetrate their barrier.”
“The barrier appears to protect them as they travel,” Ardra acknowledged, “but once they reach their destination they shed it and are vulnerable. Once discovered they can easily be followed, and a large force of wizards and Casters alerted to be on hand when they reach their destination.”
“There might be more surprises,” warned Ash’urn. “They never used the barrier before. What if they suddenly begin using magic when they attack? They might even have magic that we can’t counter.”
“We cannot know, of course,” Ardra agreed, “but until it happens we must assume they lack the ability. Something is odd about the fact they have an impenetrable barrier, yet don’t even travel using a portal.”
“They don’t have any skill with magic,” Nycoh said in a voice that emphasized her certainty. “The magic of the barrier is something that was provided to them. The same source that is pushing the Baldari this way. I recall Mitty’s words that night of the first attack in the Three Kingdoms. Something, or someone, is driving them this way. That is the source of the magic.”
“If there is someone this powerful, why do they not attack themselves?” Daim asked. He didn’t disagree with Nycoh, but there were many unknowns. “To create magic at such a distance is a remarkable feat.”
Nycoh looked at Daim. “There is much we don’t understand. As Ardra has pointed out, why would a group, be it the Baldari or some unseen force, be capable of creating a barrier that resists our strongest magic, yet send their warriors on journeys of many days rather than open a simple Bypass, one of the easiest forms of magic?”
“You believe those responsible are the individuals seen in Mitty’s recurring dream?” Rigo asked.
Nycoh nodded. “It seems likely. That set of visions begins and not too long later, Mitty has her first experience with Farvision and the Baldari. The strange individuals appear to be aware of her just as she is of them, yet they are somehow constrained. Almost like their magic is constrained. They appear powerful, and in some ways are not. It is too coincidental. Also, there are only a handful, and that would lend support to the idea that they would use someone else to do their fighting.”
“You believe those in Mitty’s vision are located to the far south, then?” Ash’urn asked.
“There is no way to know, but it is a reasonable guess.”
“They are so unlike the Baldari,” Ardra argued. “Why would we expect them to be allies?”
“I do not believe they are allies exactly,” Nycoh countered. “I simply suspect the strange lavender-haired beings are at the root of these attacks.”
“You saw seven figures in the vision?” Daim asked Mitty.
She nodded. “I sense that two of the seven are dead. Of the remaining five, only one, a woman, appears to be awake and aware. I am certain she senses my viewing, but as yet she doesn’t know who or where I am. There is an eighth position that is vacant. I originally believed the vacancy was recent, but I no longer have that sense. It may be that the spot has long been empty. Perhaps it was never occupied.”
“Or it may be that whoever was there is freely moving about and is the one actually behind the Baldari attacks,” Jeen suggested. “Wouldn’t that be more likely than to assume a woman somehow trapped somewhere is able to coordinate all of this?”
“Once again we are in a situation where we know far too little,” Rigo suggested. “We need answers if we are to respond intelligently.”
Mitty grabbed Rigo’s arm to restrain him. “No, Rigo,” she whispered, afraid he might be suggesting he lead such an effort.
“You aren’t suggesting that we venture into the jungles to the south of the Great Mountains?” Daim asked.
“Not yet,” Rigo replied. “We are not prepared and need to know more before considering such an undertaking. We are likely to find ourselves up against magic we cannot counter. But it is important we strive all the harder to uncover some of the secrets we know are within our grasp. The powerful beam that the former Saltique and her Specialists commanded might be a weapon that would help overcome the protective barrier the Baldari currently employ.”
Ash’urn sighed. He felt personally responsible for the fact they hadn’t come up with the answer to that problem. “I will speak to you later,” he said to Rigo. “There are clues, but as yet we have no answer to the triggering phrase. We know the symbols from Carif’s unique staff from the reading that was performed, but the rest of the puzzle remains to be solved. Daim and I and a team of scholars are working with the staff and the ancient text that we recovered from Carif’s hideaway in Yaul. I wish we could be more positive.”
“That is something for another discussion,” Jeen said. “I believe it is time for me to return to Sulen, and then off to Kellmore and Lopal to warn the leaders there of the current threat. I will explain that a force will be available at all times to respond to a sighting in much the same way as we did for the Hoplani.”
Daim nodded. “Fortunately that threat is all but contained.”
There were small groups of the beasts that appeared out of the Ruins from time to time, but the herds were small compared to those they had dealt with in the past. Now almost all sightings were dealt with by the Border Patrols without any needs to call for assistance of the wizards.
&nb
sp; Jeen stood, her long black hair hanging free, no longer braided as it had been when she had arrived in combat robes to free Rigo. She once again wore the rich silks common to the Royal Court, her hair accented by rich jewels. She had stepped back into her role as Royal Advisor, yet Rigo knew that should the need arise, she would respond as always. While Nycoh was clearly the strongest and most unique among them, Jeen wasn’t all that far behind, and he sensed a power untapped below the surface.
Chapter 4
Rigo and Mitty hurried after Ash’urn and Nycoh who were already passing through the chamber that opened over the valley below and were heading toward the large library and study room on the far side of the upper level of the Outpost. A brief exchange Rigo and Mitty had shared with Daim after the meeting they just finished had allowed the odd pair to gain a considerable lead on them. Ash’urn and Nycoh were a very odd couple, but it wasn’t anything recent. Years ago she had been the youngest wizard at the Outpost, and the youngest ever discovered with such powers, while Ash’urn had been the oldest person living at the Outpost, with extensive knowledge of the outside world, but a complete lack of any ability with magic.
Today they were both powerful and greatly respected. Nycoh had abilities unmatched by any wizard known in the Three Kingdoms or Sedfair, with abilities that appeared to be expanding almost continuously. Even Nycoh didn’t fully understand how she was changing, yet many believed she might be the answer to their current problem. Ash’urn, on the other hand, had none of the inherent ability, yet he had become a powerful Caster, in the manner of those in far off Sedfair. His knowledge of languages and in particular the spelling language that had given him his first primitive abilities, had served him well once he’d been exposed to the more formal symbolic magic. With weeks alone with Fen, and a lesser time with Lyes, who was more like Nycoh, Ash’urn had risen quickly, and now commanded powers that rivaled any within the Guild.
Rigo watched as the two of them walked in the distance, deep in a discussion of some sort, the two very different staffs carried upright as they moved. Ash’urn carried one of the guild’s staffs, made of sturdy light brown Jurbara wood and topped with one of the ever present power crystals. The faintest flicker could be seen in the depths of the crystal when Ash’urn passed through a shadowed spot within the Outpost. Nycoh’s staff was her own creation, a variation of the impossibly hard material that Daim had taught her how to form, and which she now knew the secret of. Her staff was jet black, the material so dark it was all but impossible to see the finely carved symbols that covered the surface. Nycoh made the symbols on her staff far smaller than those of the Casters of Sedfair. Rigo had noted that while the Caster’s staff arranged the symbols in straight vertical lines, most of those on Nycoh’s staff where arranged in helixes, wrapping around the material, and in many cases crossing over one another, with a shared symbol at the point of intersection.
He’d asked her about that, but she had merely smiled and told him it would make more sense once he was familiar with the symbolic magic. Rigo had made a casual attempt to learn the alternate form of magic, and had quickly come to realize how fortunate he had been with his own magical skills. The symbolic magic was far more challenging, especially the convoluted phrases that were required for one to trigger the oddly shaped glyphs and runes. Despite having private tutoring lessons from some of the best of the Guild’s scholars, and having both Ash’urn and Lyes work with him, Rigo hadn’t made much progress. He was starting to believe he wasn’t meant to be a dual master of magic like Nycoh and Lyes and a number of others. Once the most accomplished wizard in the known world, Rigo found that many were becoming more skillful than himself. In one sense that bothered him a little, but in another he frankly didn’t care about rankings. Since Binding with Mitty, he had other priorities, and if it wasn’t for the newest threat, he would have probably let the matter drop.
Now he wondered if it might be important to have access to all of the various magic spells, some apparently exclusive to one or the other discipline. Nycoh had made it clear she believed the two disciplines were each subsets of a greater whole, and only someone versed in both would be in a position to advance to a higher level. She couldn’t explain what that meant, but clearly she had been changing and now controlled skills that no one else, even Daim, had ever witnessed before. That there were yet additional skills to be learned was demonstrated by the green energy beams that they had yet to master, and the protective barrier that had surrounded the Baldari. Whether these were indications of the higher level of magic Nycoh referred to, or just skills they hadn’t learned, remained to be seen. Nycoh was quick to point out that the barrier was far more effective than her own, which Rigo has seen turn aside even the green beam of destructive magic, but only a single instance at a time. The field that had protected the attacking Baldari force had pushed aside the simultaneous efforts of a great many of their most accomplished wizards.
Mitty pointed outside as they hurried after the retreating pair. It was raining once again. This close to the Ruins, the Outpost had been spared the harshness of the winter that had blanketed both the Three Kingdoms and Sedfair. Even rain was unusual, but the intense storms that blasted the northern half of the Three Kingdoms had resulted in occasional downpours here at the Outpost. It looked more like a heavy drizzle to Rigo, which was still unusual, but maybe it meant the storm to the West was less severe than usual. They were planning to go into Sulen in the morning, and he hoped the conditions were more moderate than they had been. Even in far off Sedfair the storms had raged the past few months. To the South on both sides of the Ruins, the more tropical lands had been subjected to frequent heavy rains. That was the case along the border where the Baldari had crossed into Kellmore, and in Fernwah on the other side of the Wastelands. Spring wasn’t far off, at least it wasn’t supposed to be. Given the severity of the winter, the foul weather might be expected to hang on longer than normal.
Rigo increased his pace, stretching his long legs. Mitty had to double step to keep up, but they were close enough now that he could shout and hope to be heard. Nycoh had taken to wearing wizard’s robes like Daim now that she spent most of her time here at the Outpost, or in the learned halls of the Guild’s University. Rigo had worn the robes for a time, but once he had started his explorations into the Ruins, more practical matters had driven his attire. For some reason he no longer wished to wear the distinctive robes.
“Nycoh,” he shouted, causing several wizards nearby to look his way, then shift their gaze down the walkway to where Ash’urn and Nycoh still walked briskly as they conversed. “Nycoh!” Rigo shouted again.
This time his voice was loud enough to break through the narrow focus that Nycoh and Ash’urn maintained as they talked. Ash’urn looked back over his shoulder, then slowed and turned as Rigo came hurrying up. Nycoh turned and waited as well.
“I thought you were going into Sulen,” Ash’urn said when Rigo and Mitty finally reached where he and Nycoh waited.
“Tomorrow,” Rigo replied. “I really would like to know what you have learned about the trigger phrase for Carif’s weapon. I’m not sure when Mitty and I will be coming back to the Outpost. That might depend on my meeting in the morning with Daim.”
Ash’urn had known that Rigo would want to know if they had unearthed the trigger phrase to the magical beam that Carif and her followers had commanded and that had almost defeated them when he’d seen him arrive at the meeting. “Not nearly enough,” Ash’urn reluctantly informed him.
Rigo frowned. That expression from Ash’urn meant they hadn’t made any real progress. Rigo had hoped that something would have come from the intense coordinated effort that Ash’urn, Daim, Nycoh and a number of the Guild’s lead scholars had put into the effort. One of the reasons that Rigo and Mitty were going into Sulen to see Queen Mos’pera was Rigo’s concern that the strange woman in Mitty’s vision could well be a threat to her. Rigo wished to have command of the powerful magic in case the need arose.
Rig
o looked at Nycoh. “You believe as I that the strange woman in Mitty’s vision is somehow connected to the Baldari attacks and their sudden ability to use magic, if only to protect themselves.”
Nycoh nodded. “I think that the woman, whoever and wherever she is represents the true threat. I agree with you that she is a danger we don’t understand and the importance of understanding the weapon that Carif controlled. It is likely to be essential to controlling the Baldari forces, but I tell you frankly that I doubt it will be sufficient to respond to the woman Mitty has described.”
Rigo was surprised by her statement. “What makes you believe that?” he asked.
“Intuition,” Nycoh replied. “Nothing anyone, Daim included, is willing to credit very much. But I believe we have yet to see the real threat.”
“You don’t believe that the weeks without my vision might indicate the threat has lessened?” Mitty asked. “That was an idea that had been passed around, and even voiced by Daim.”
Nycoh shook her head. “That is wishful thinking. Perhaps your visions have been blocked. Perhaps we have more time than I believe, and the danger has been delayed. I have nothing solid upon which to base my beliefs, but I fear the coming season will be one of great danger.”
Rigo had had his own intuitive revelations in the past, and he wasn’t about to discount any of Nycoh’s.
“The book you found at the hideout in Yaul hasn’t helped?” Rigo asked.
When they had captured Carif, along with her staff and that of her close associate Mande, they had felt they were close to the secret of the closely held magic that had given them so much trouble. The two staffs had been similar, but very different than anything they had ever seen. It wasn’t until they had a chance to examine them closely that they had truly realized the uniqueness of the devices. At a glance, the staffs appeared much like those carried by other Senior Casters, with a better and more deeply colored power crystal. However, a close inspection revealed the staffs had been made by a skilled craftsman who was also very capable with magic. The detail work could not have been accomplished by any other means.
