by Bob Blink
Slowly Daria nodded. “Let’s go,” she said and turned to make the Doorway. They led the man’s horse through the Doorway. The Wanderers could always use another mount and none of this had been the horse’s fault.
Chapter 43
Rigo found Ash’urn and Nycoh engaged in a whispering session when he dropped by to see how his old friend was doing. They had their heads close together, and were clearly intensely involved in a discussion of some sort, but one that they didn’t wish overheard. If he’d had any doubts, Rigo would have known immediately he was right by the sudden way they broke off their discourse when he stepped into the room. Nycoh looked at Rigo, the slightest trace of guilt momentarily flashing across her face. Rigo wondered what they had been talking about, but was astute enough to know he wasn’t going to learn anything.
Instead, Rigo focused on Ash’urn. He looked so much better. In fact, in some ways he looked better than he had in a long time. He seemed healthier, and with an inner glow that had been missing for some time. Relief washed over Rigo. He had been fearful that Ash’urn wouldn’t be able to bounce back after such a debilitating incident. That didn’t mean that Ash’urn had escaped without scars. His left arm still looked somewhat puffy and Rigo would have wagered a hundred Royales that Ash’urn hadn’t gotten his strength back. But that would change. The worst was his friend’s face. While the left side looked considerably improved over the skull-like appearance of a couple days earlier, it was still shrunken and gaunt when compared to his right. The medical wizard Ashli had warned him this would likely never improve. Ash’urn would be stuck with it from now on. They didn’t know why some areas responded and others not. The magic that had caused this was still somewhat of a mystery.
The beard on the left side had been burned away, and the few day’s growth that had returned looked thin and poorly developed. The damaged eye was also very apparent. Not one to hide such things, Ash’urn had disposed of bandages and patches once the repairs had gone as far as possible, and the milky orb filled the socket where his left eye had once been. He would have to get by with his right, which hadn’t been damaged at all in the encounter.
Ash’urn was supposed to be discharged this morning, although he was to make daily visits back to the medical facility for the next week so any changes in his condition could be noted. Rigo was a bit worried that the sudden exposure to a large number of people might be bad for his friend, but Ashli had told him otherwise, so a group of his closest friends waited for him in the main area. Rigo had come to escort him to the affair. Nycoh was supposed to have gotten him ready. Instead they had been engaged in their secretive talks.
“How are you feeling?” Rigo asked the elder scholar.
Ash’urn smiled wryly, the half beard making the action look almost comical.
“Much better,” he said. “I’m still weaker than I like, but the pain is gone. Feel somewhat foolish having caused all this.”
“You couldn’t have known . . ,” Rigo started to say, but Ash’urn cut him off.
“That there were two of the strange rods and they would interact?” No, of course not. No more than poor Jeen could have guessed. Fortunately the rod was pulled from her and she was spared any harm. But for months I’ve known something was wrong and I never even considered the old artifacts as the possible source. We have seen the violence of mis-used magic. I should have at least considered the possibility and looked at what was around me.”
Rigo could hear his old friend in the long tirade, and was pleased to see the old scholar was little changed. He was about to ask another question, but Ash’urn beat him to it.
“How about you and Mitty?” Ash’urn asked. “Nycoh has told me of the destruction of your home.”
Rigo looked briefly at Nycoh who nodded. She had obviously been keeping Ash’urn informed of events during the long hours she had spent by his side.
“We were lucky,” Rigo replied. “We weren’t there when they attacked.”
“Why would they burn the house if you weren’t present?” Ash’urn asked. “It must have been meant to be an attack on you.”
“Mitty, most likely,” Rigo agreed. “From the reports of those who were nearby when it happened, there were three of them. They used Brightfire. It was intense and sudden, and anyone inside wouldn’t have had a chance. There would have been no time to make a Bypass and escape.”
Rigo looked at Ash’urn and Nycoh.
“We had just returned home. They gave us about a quarter glass before attacking, probably to let us get settled and maximize their chances of catching us off guard. Except, Mitty asked to go to a special spot of ours when we want to be alone. We gathered up a few items, and I made a Bypass and we left without leaving the house. Those waiting either weren’t checking or didn’t have the ability to monitor for the Bypass. We were far away when they destroyed the house. We returned this morning and found the remains, and came directly here to the Outpost.”
“The woman in the chamber has discovered who Mitty is?” Ash’urn asked, but it was clear he and Nycoh had already concluded as much.
“Almost certainly,” Rigo agreed. “She has become ever more aware of Mitty watching her, and it is likely that someone she captured has revealed who we are and where we can be found. It is disturbing to think that some of the people she controls could be sent into our midst and perform such an act without being detected. It shows how vulnerable we are. Everyone is going to have to be very careful.”
“You need to ensure that Mitty is safe,” Ash’urn said. He had known Mitty as long as Rigo, since the days they were Carif’s prisoners in Sedfair. “Perhaps it would be best to send her away somewhere. I would stay away from the house in Sedfair as well.”
“Where could she go and be safe?” Rigo asked. “That’s assuming she would go, which she has made very plain she won’t. She feels her visions are important to keeping us informed, and she couldn’t do that from somewhere else. The best I can do is have someone nearby who can make a masked Bypass to quickly relocate her should an attack take place when I’m not there. She will be at the Outpost most of the time we aren’t together, and the house in Sedfair is being watched. Maybe we can learn something.”
“The situation is truly grim,” Ash’urn noted. “From what Nycoh has told me we are still very much at risk and have no ideas where the enemy is hiding. Unless this new magic is powerful enough to break through their protection, they have an advantage we cannot overcome. I am disappointed that the Repository has not revealed more of use.”
“The secrets are almost certainly there,” Rigo said, “but I’m sure Nycoh has told you that we have made no progress gaining access. The Caretakers have been less than useless. I almost wonder why they exist.”
“What of Koess?” Ash’urn asked, changing the direction of their talk. “It seems a miracle that you were able to recover him, and that he survived in such an odd and Spartan place.”
“He is reintegrating himself into the wizard community. He is still a bit bewildered by everything that has happen since he left, but is adjusting. Daim has had doubts about him, but then he never knew Koess before. The Casters in Sedfair have cleared him, and Daim will have to agree to remove the blocking bands he has demanded Koess wear for now. He is currently away with several wizards Daim assigned to watch over him. They went to southern Kellmore where his family is. Once he returns, I plan to insist he be granted his full privileges as a wizard.”
“These stories about the Brryn he tells are very interesting. They almost have to be the same people who we are dealing with. How do you suppose they survived all this time without being detected?”
“I’m sure the chamber that Mitty has described has much to do with it,” Nycoh said. She had been uncharacteristically silent up to now. Given they appear to be located in the southern jungles where no one has traveled at least since Daim’s time, they could easily pass unnoticed. I believe the strange chamber somehow has kept them alive, but perhaps unable to affect the outside world for th
e thousands of years since the war that formed the Ruins.”
“And now that they are back they intend to pursue the same conflict that existed in their own time,” Ash’urn noted grimly.
“They clearly appear to have some such intention,” Rigo agreed. “At least the only one that Mitty has noted is awake and active. If she can do this much alone, and while still partially trapped, I am fearful of what to expect should her friends wake as well.”
“What about the attack Mitty predicts for Pagner?” Nycoh asked. “Is the city prepared?”
“Not the way it should be,” complained Rigo. “Neither Mitty nor Queen Mos’pera can predict when the attack might be, although both believe it is coming soon. Most of the people there are reluctant to leave behind their homes and livelihoods based on a vision. Few have the experience we have had with the premonitions. They want to stay until there is some proof the city is at risk. Of course, by then it will be too late. Even King Briz had refused to leave until it is clear there is no other choice.”
“What are you going to do?” Ash’urn asked. “They must be made to realize the risks. You would think the stories of what happened in Roin would be enough.”
“We have set up departure zones within the city,” Rigo said. “These are manned with wizards or Casters capable of creating Bypass portals out of the city. We really don’t believe the attackers will be interested in following the fleeing public. In the event of an attack, these Bypasses will be opened and people can try and escape that way. It’s far from ideal, but given the resistance, the only thing we have come up with.”
“Pagner itself will fall, however,” Nycoh added.
“If we believe the vision of Mitty and Queen Mos’pera, yes,” Rigo admitted. “That is most discouraging. It suggests that we will not have the ability to stop the invaders; that the new magic won’t be able to overcome whatever protection they carry. We outnumber the Casters and wizards they have captured significantly. Those will be the only individuals using magic if our previous experience holds true. However, we expect many of the ground fighting Baldari as well.”
“Burke is expected to be among them,” Ash’urn stated flatly.
“Again, both Mitty and the Queen say that will be the case. He will be one of the leaders.”
“What will you do?” Ash’urn asked softly. Although they had started out adversaries, Burke and Rigo had become close friends. Burke had played an important role in their rescue from the Guild in Sedfair the previous year.
“We have no choice,” Rigo said expressionlessly. “We will have to try and stop them. If that means attempting to destroy them, we will do so.”
“How many do we have in place?” Nycoh asked.
“Virtually every Three Kingdoms’ wizard who has learned to cast and can create what is starting to be known as Greenfire,” Rigo said. “Queen Jusay and the Guild have sent fifty of their Casters to augment our own forces knowing we are limited in Casters. We also have a number of the old border patrol, those who helped with the Hoplani. The number who have mastered the casting spells for Greenfire are surprisingly small, and their version is far less potent than the Casters can produce, but they have been assigned as well. In addition, we have almost two hundred wizards assigned who will Bypass in at the first indication of an attack. They will be able to support those with Greenfire, as well as try and contain the Baldari troops.”
“What about standard military forces?” Ash’urn asked. “You know that Daria and Kaler would insist they have a role.”
“Kellmore’s King has readied his forces, equipping the men with special arrows and spears imprinted with the symbols designed to defeat magic. In the past we have found them to be marginal against the protective barriers, but if enough of them are launched at a target, there is a small hope that one or more might strike home. With no protective shields of our own we can’t predict how effective our measures will be.”
“Not to mention that our own forces will be unprotected against any magic launched against them,” Ash’urn noted.
“The only thing we have been able to do, is magically harden defensive positions. We saw during the attacks with Carif and her followers, that such hardening was able to resist somewhat the power of Greenfire. We will have to hope the same is true here, and that this Brryn hasn’t given the captured wizards and Casters a stronger version. Whatever happens, it will be a case of shoot and duck, or shoot and run. The defensive forces are assigned in teams, so one can attack, and the other make Bypasses to reposition. Each team has a series of locations they are to move between. They have been practicing the maneuvers the last few days.”
“What of you and Nycoh?” Ash’urn asked softly.
“We will go there when the alert is sounded,” Nycoh replied. “We are as strong as any, and the best hope for the Three Kingdoms is to eliminate those who have been captured and are being used against us. We hope to do that at Pagner, even though the city might be lost.”
Ash’urn shook his head. “It never stops, does it? What about Jeen? I haven’t seen her in a couple of days.”
Rigo knew that Ash’urn was concerned that Jeen might feel guilty regarding what happened.
“Daim sent her to Roin,” Rigo explained.
“Roin? Why Roin?”
“Given the attack and the history that Koess has revealed, Daim wanted to see if there is any chance remains of the old Citadel of the Brryn still exist. Clearly the attacks there were directed at something. Rigo explained the map that Jeen had found and the clear indications that something had once existed adjacent to the harbor at Roin. He feels that if we could find the old facility, we might find something to help us. His own Citadel had nothing. The few remains they found had been looted before the lands buried it.”
Nycoh wasn’t convinced the effort had much chance of being successful. “The land has retreated below the sea,” she said. “Even if they can discover where it was, water, especially the oceans, do not respond to magic well. There is no way she will be able to push back the waters to gain access. I don’t see where much is to be gained.”
Rigo was of a similar opinion, and with her skills at controlling nature, if Nycoh believed it impossible, the chances were almost nonexistent that anything would come of it.
“Does this map that Jeen found tell us anything about the jungles and where our enemy might be?” Ash’urn asked, clearly seeing the intelligence it might contain.
“We believe we have located where Burke was taken,” Rigo explained. “There is little else marked on the map. Clearly there were no large villages at the time. There are several areas that are flatter and more open, but they are considerably farther south. There are also other mountain ranges, again so much farther to the south that it would take an expedition twice the time Burke’s team has already spent in travel. The land extends much farther than one would have expected.”
“Unless their base is found, we have little hope of winning this,” Ash’urn said softly.
Rigo knew he was right, but there was little they could do about it at the moment. Teams they sent into the jungles to explore were easily overcome, and provided a resource to the enemy. They couldn’t use magic to explore, because none of them had memories of the places they wished to visit. The map most likely couldn’t be used to form a Bypass because it too poorly represented the actual land of interest. Perhaps if they could recover one of their people who had been captured, or capture one of the Baldari and perform a Reading, as dreadful as that felt to Rigo, they might gain information they desperately needed. Otherwise, he wasn’t certain how they would find their way to the hidden location. Rigo was more motivated than most because Mitty was clearly being specifically targeted by the Brryn woman. The only hope they would survive, was to strike where she hid.
“Well, I will be glad to get back to the Repository,” Ash’urn said. “I intend to examine that rod and see if there is anything we can learn that might provide a weapon. Obviously it uses magic from long ago, and was
powerful enough to destroy a continent. It should be able to counter one Brryn who can’t even escape from the chamber she must have helped build.”
Rigo glanced at Nycoh. He had been told that Ash’urn was supposed to refrain from heavy activities for some time until they were certain the magic used to repair the damage was going to be successful. Given that his eye had resisted their best efforts, some feared that the repairs to his arm and body might not last. They wanted him under a close watch.
“He intends to go to the Repository tomorrow,” Nycoh said.
Rigo knew there was no point trying to argue with Ash’urn at the moment. Hopefully he would see that he wasn’t up to that much just yet when he discovered how the gathering of friends would tire him out. Thinking of that, Rigo said, “I think it’s time to go.”
Nycoh nodded, and she helped Ash’urn out of the chair. As they headed down the hallway, Rigo noted how the staff that Ash’urn had carried easily before, now helped carry Ash’urn as he walked uncertainly beside Nycoh. Rigo feared that it would be a long time before Ash’urn regained the stamina he once had, and was uncomfortable with the uncertainties that Ashli had revealed to him.
As he followed slowly behind the pair, Rigo considered this, their discussion earlier having swept away the odd discussion between Nycoh and Ash’urn that he had encountered upon arriving.
Chapter 44
Jeen struggled for balance. Her landlubber legs trying with only marginal success to adjust to the seemingly random motions of the boat as the waves rose and fell. The ocean seemed intent on tossing her to the deck, or perhaps even tumbling her overboard. She reached for the railing to steady herself, the faintly queasy feeling in her stomach another reminder that she wasn’t entirely comfortable with the task at hand. The two wizards assisting her on deck appeared to be completely unaware of the random bobbing motions of the deck, adjusting their stance subconsciously as the small waves rocked the stationary craft.
