by Bob Blink
“We better go and tell Daim,” Rigo said softly, his eyes hard as they took a last look at the small island in the lake. “We need to send a rescue team here. There may be some of the Caretakers who have survived and need medical assistance.” He hadn’t seen anyone, but it was a large area, and who knew who might have survived farther from the center of the devastation.
Chapter 62
“It was Burke,” Daim said carefully, his attention focused on Tara. “You have to accept the fact. Relp knows Burke well, and he was positive in his identification. He also recognized three others who were there, all of them from the team that had been in the jungle with Burke.”
Tara looked from Daim to Nycoh, and then around the table at the others, as if seeking support. Her haunted look made the others uncomfortable, but there was little they could say.
The current group had gathered late in the day after Rigo and Ash’urn had returned from checking out the remains of the Ruins and the artifact in the Ruins. One of the first things Daim had done was send a messenger to the Guild in Sedfair with the disturbing news. It was essential they be aware of the attack. A short time later both Lyes and Ardra had appeared in the Outpost.
Now, all the major players were together. Nycoh and Tara had arrived at the Outpost to report in at the end of their day of travel in the southern jungle to find the others waiting for them. Daim had deemed them essential to the meeting. Suline and Mitty had also been invited as each had the potential to shed light on what had happened.
The arrival of Ardra and Lyes had brought the first good news of the day. Fen hadn’t been at the repository when the attack had taken place. He’d arrived early with the others, but had encountered something he wanted to check with Lyes, and had left after telling Professor Meyter. Since Meyter had been one of those killed, Relp had had no way of knowing about Fen’s early departure.
“I considered bringing him along,” Lyes had said, “but decided it was better he stay in Sedfair. He’s assigned to the University with instructions to inform the team watching over the Queen if he sees anything out of the ordinary.”
The news that Fen was unharmed had been received with noticeable relief by Ash’urn, who had grown very close to the boy over the past year. The rest of the group were also pleased to learn the news, as Fen had figured importantly in all of their lives, and had a great deal to do with the elimination of the Hoplani threat.
“Burke wouldn’t do these things,” Tara objected. “You know that.”
“He’s being controlled in the same manner as the Baldari,” Daim said. “He cannot help what he is being forced to do. At the same time, as much as he is our friend, we cannot allow him to continue to be used by the Brryn woman. If we cannot capture him, then we must neutralize him. He cannot continue to be used as a weapon for our enemy. I know it’s harsh, but unless we stop the woman, we have to stop her tools.”
Tara looked as if she was about to object, when Nycoh laid a hand on her arm and whispered something in her ear. Tara looked at her, hesitated, and then the anger seemed to drain out of her.
“We lost all the pieces of the device Jeen and her team recovered,” Ash’urn said, bringing the discussion back to the Repository. “The team was working on the various sections we had made of it when the attack came. There is nothing left, and we have no idea if any progress was made beyond the one issue Fen was working on.”
“Do we think that was the reason for the attack?” Jeen asked.
“The timing was unfortunate, but I don’t think so,” Daim replied. “Relp says those who attacked the researchers didn’t appear to take any interest in what they were doing. They simply arrived, and tried to kill everyone. Obviously they then blew the place up immediately afterward. While we can’t be certain they didn’t make a run through and gather up the materials being worked on, their actions don’t seem to be consistent with an interest in the current task. My guess is that the existence of the Repository was learned, and the Brryn didn’t want us to have any access to it.”
“They didn’t bring anything back with them,” Suline said, supporting Ash’urn’s theory. She had seen the group when it returned to the Gathering point.
“How would she have learned about the Repository now?” Rigo asked. “We have been careful about who knows of the place. If she was aware earlier, why wait so long to launch the attack?”
Daim shrugged. “I don’t know. Perhaps someone talked, and one of her spies caught a hint of the place. Clearly she knew the location of the Waygate. That predates the Ruins, so perhaps she knew where it was and hadn’t realized it had survived until recently. Perhaps her confinement somehow limited her actions. We still don’t know exactly how she was able to use Burke and his team to create such an explosion. It is worrisome to think they may have been given power that we haven’t seen before, perhaps in response to the new shields and power our own people demonstrated recently.”
“You are concerned the Guild and the Outpost might be at risk?” Ardra asked.
Daim nodded. “Both are targets that have to be high on the Brryn woman’s list. I had been assuming we hadn’t been attacked because our own people have as much or greater ability than the small force of captured wizards she has available. The events at the Repository suggest that might not be correct. We need to be even more diligent, and prepared to flee if things look bleak.”
“There was no warning that a team was dispatched?” Nycoh asked. She looked at Suline as she spoke.
“The large staging area I have been watching was quiet. Of course, I don’t watch it continuously, and with only eight of the attackers, it is possible they were missed. It is also possible they didn’t pass through the area, although I did detect them returning. It is odd they would come through on the way back, and not on the way out, but it was clearly Burke, and seven others. As I indicated earlier, they weren’t carrying anything with them, so if they recovered the parts from the crystal device, they left them somewhere else.”
“My guess is they went directly to the Waygate,” Nycoh said. “That would explain why Suline didn’t see them before the attack. I suspect the Brryn brings them back to the staging area, then she creates the Bypass that brings them back to where they are being kept. That would prevent any of them from knowing where the place is, and protect her secrets in the event any were somehow captured.”
“That’s reasonable,” Rigo agreed. “Unfortunately, the Brryn woman seems to know too much.”
“Do you think she knows about the expedition?” Tara asked worriedly. Finding the woman and dealing with her was now more important than ever. In Tara’s mind, the only hope for Burke was to kill the one controlling him.
“We have no evidence that is the case,” Rigo replied. “The attack on the Repository seems an unlikely response to learning of the team in the jungle. That would more than likely involve a response with a large, perhaps very large, force of Baldari and wizards. If she is still using the staging area, we would be forewarned.”
“Nonetheless, we should do everything we can to accelerate our attempts to find the valley S’erom has told us about,” Daim said. “I don’t want to rely on her using a location known to us, nor do I want to become overconfident we remain a match for her fighters.”
“What about the Caretakers?” Jeen asked. Perhaps it was a secondary matter, but most of them had been killed. She had been part of those providing medical assistance to those brought back to the Outpost.
“The few survivors are needless to say, very distraught,” Daim said. “Fewer than a hundred have been found, and most of those have been injured in one way or another. A few have returned from travels to nearby villages after learning of the attack. They can offer nothing that helps in any way.”
“What hope do we have against her?” Lyes asked. “Look at the misery she is able to create. We have no powers that haven’t been demonstrated by her fighters, and now there is evidence they might have something new. Without the Repository, what hope do we have that
we can find something to counteract them? We lost the pieces of the device, as well as many other artifacts we had stored there. More importantly, we are back to trying to decipher symbols based on what we have learned. It will be slow and uncertain work. Even more worrisome, is what happens when the woman gets loose? Last I heard, that wasn’t very far away.”
“Three of them are awake now,” Mitty warned. “The two who have recently shown signs of life are recovering much faster than the initial Brryn woman, which suggests she is able to aid them in their recovery, or that whatever has been holding them back is weakening. They still show periods where they are asleep, but even those periods are becoming less frequent. I have gotten stronger and more able to mask my watching of events in the chamber, but I’m still shut out more than I like.”
“How do they communicate?” Daim asked.
“It appears they are conversing, but of course I can’t overhear. It is unlikely I would understand even if I did. There is also evidence they can communicate non verbally, so my guess is they can pass their thoughts in the same manner as the Baldari if they wish to do so.”
“You had no sense of an impending attack?” Ardra asked.
“None,” Mitty confirmed. “The woman has learned how to mask her intentions from me. In the past she showed more signs of activity just before an attack was launched. This time there was no such warning.”
“Do you have any indications as to when the woman will break free?” Ash’urn asked. “In the past, you have said she is showing signs of getting close.”
“I cannot sense what holds her,” Mitty replied. “I would guess she is free now, but that isn’t the case. I have nothing upon which to base an estimate, but we need to assume it is soon. Queen Mos’pera has indicated she will get loose, and that it won’t be until Rigo arrives. Perhaps she is waiting, or perhaps something happens then that finally sets her free. It is not a vision I’ve had myself.”
All eyes focused on Rigo. Once again he was being pressed into the front of a dangerous and unpredictable situation.
“Did Queen Mos’pera share with you what she sees once this Brryn manages to get loose?” Daim asked.
Mitty shook her head. “If she has any visions of that, she hasn’t shared them with me.”
“I’ll have to speak with her,” Daim mumbled to himself. Then he focused back on the previous discussion. “We must try and get to the woman as fast as possible. How long before the expedition can reasonably expect to find the valley?”
“We are less than a week’s travel from the second range of mountains where S’erom believes the valley is located,” Tara said. “He recalls he and his father traveled for only a handful of days into the range before encountering the unusual mountain we seek. Of course, his father knew where they were going, and it’s a large range. We can move faster than they did, but once we find the mountain, that is only the first step. The valley might be well hidden, including the possibility that an illusion might be used to hide it.”
That was something they had worried about. After seeing how effectively the Repository had been hidden by an illusion, there was every reason to expect the Brryn had the same ability. S’erom might have been able to see out from inside the place, much as those at the Repository had been able to see the shore of the lake from inside the illusion that masked the island. However, from outside, one might not detect the valley.
“Once you reach the mountains, we need to augment the number of people involved in the search,” Daim announced. Perhaps Ash’urn and Lyes can work on a means to detect any illusions.”
Ash’urn looked at Lyes, who shrugged. They hadn’t been able to detect the illusion around the Repository, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a way. Neither had any idea where to start at the moment.
“What is the possibility the Brryn will turn the Baldari loose on random locations?” Ardra asked. “We have seen there are countless thousands of them still in the jungles. She could use them as a distraction while she uses her wizards and Casters on more important tasks. It would keep our people busy and distracted, and stretch our forces.”
“We may have to kill them,” Daim said unhappily. “We know they are innocent victims, but even so we cannot let them slaughter our people. It may not be feasible to use the same approach employed against S’erom’s village. There is not enough room in the oasis for many more, nor do we have the means to keep them fed. Also, I think it would be unwise to allow the Brryn to learn we have saved some Baldari. It might raise questions in her mind and she could wonder what we are doing. We will have to hope it doesn’t happen.”
“I am still uncomfortable we have no direction on how to defeat the Brryn,” Ardra said. “From what has been said, your Queen sees they will become free. It is very likely that her powers will greatly exceed those we have seen thus far. Given the damage she has wrought under her current confinement, I fear we will be helpless against what she can do once freed.”
“Jeen and her team will continue searching near Roin,” Daim said. “We will do our best to accelerate that effort. It is the only place we know where the Brryn had a major fort and were defeated. We will have to hope something develops that can aid us.”
“That doesn’t offer us much,” Nycoh said softly. She had been quietly considering their situation for some time.
Ash’urn cleared his throat as he prepared to speak. “I have one idea that might offer some hope,” he said.
All eyes turned toward the elder scholar. He had been the source of many useful ideas in the past.
“We have access to one facet of the ancient power,” he said. “The two rods that were used to trigger the onset of the Ruins. Consider the power they must have controlled. While they are less potent now, at least we believe so, and while we don’t fully understand how they work, clearly they have the ability to cause destruction even yet.” He pointed to his left eye that was milky and unseeing.
“What are you suggesting?” Rigo asked. “Those rods are very dangerous.”
Ash’urn nodded. “Yes they are. I know that better than anyone. Yet, dangerous is what we need, and we cannot afford to pass by anything that might aid us. As has been pointed out, our options are extremely limited. I want to work with the rods and see if we can find anything that might be useful against this chamber where Mitty sees the woman, or against the Brryn directly. I have a feeling both will have to be destroyed before this is over.”
Rigo was uncomfortable with the idea, but he knew Ash’urn was right. He also knew that nothing would stop his friend from pursuing something he felt necessary. They were all going to have to take risks they didn’t want in the coming days. For once he wished for a vision from Mos’pera, hopefully one that showed them coming through what lay ahead.
As the meeting broke up, Nycoh and Tara were eager to act. Nycoh had lost three close friends at the Repository, Casters who had helped her when she was first trying to learn the symbolic magic. She intended to see them avenged. Tara, on the other hand, was fully focused on freeing Burke. That meant that the valley needed to be found, which meant her team had to move faster. Perhaps that would mean accepting some risk, but they would push forward at first light and travel to the last hint of daylight each day until they reached the mountains.
Chapter 63
Kytra couldn’t help being immensely pleased with how well the destruction of the ancient library had gone. When she had first learned of its existence, she had wondered if someone clever was setting a trap. It was almost inconceivable that such a place had been successfully hidden and survived the Brryn efforts to destroy such places. But after a time she had come to understand that it was real, and while the inept rebel wizards of this time weren’t able to utilize it as intended, it was still apparently helping them in some way she had yet to understand. No longer. It was gone forever, and these amateurs wouldn’t have access to any of the information they shouldn’t. Who knew what was stored in the place? Perhaps even some of the secret magic that had helped und
o the great plan the Brryn had put in place so many years ago. While it had been readily apparent with the quick check her helot had made that the wizards hadn’t managed to access the materials stored in the place, they had been intent on using the translation abilities to study something. She wondered what.
All had gone smoothly. She had expected somewhat of a battle, given the increased abilities the wizards were showing of late. Had they been more astute, they would have guarded the entrance, possibly making her attempt fail. She’d worried about that. Her own helot had been upgraded thanks to the recent addition to her stable. That would have meant a fairly matched encounter had a fight broken out. She had been prepared to sacrifice all but the leader of the group if necessary. She had been prepared to augment his personal protective barrier to ensure his survival. After the loss of the woman, he was her favorite and seemed to have more knowledge of the workings of the kingdoms than the others. She had been confident that with help her helot could hold their own until the devices were set up and activated.
Much of the delay in dealing with the facility after she had determined it was real was based on getting the special crystal-based cells constructed and properly charged. Had she been free, that would have been a simple task, although not really necessary. Her personal magic would have served to end the problem. Since she couldn’t perform such tasks herself, she’d needed to rely on the halfmen, the Duneriders as the wizards colorfully called them. They were well versed in working with crystals of all sorts, and those she had available had crafted the two devices from the supplies of crystal that had been captured in the earlier raids. Charging the devices once they were constructed had required her to disable one of the layers of protection to the chamber and allow the halfmen inside where they could place the devices in the vicinity of the amplifier. She’d disliked doing that, but it was the only option, and the halfmen were not a threat to her. Even attempting to enter this area of the chamber would result in their being wiped from existence. The real problem was her remote abilities with the amplifier were limited, and until she was able to move about freely, she wouldn’t be able to raise the protective block once again. Whatever Nyk had done before he’d left had altered how she could interact with the device. She wondered that she had any control at all.
