Night's Haunting

by Matthew Sprange

  "Vos means it this time," Lucius said. "Have you seen how many troops the Preacher Divine brought with him? Or the money they suddenly found to finish the Cathedral? Mark my words, they will come for you. They'll come for all of us, thieves and mages alike."

  Forbeck sighed. "Lucius, my worrisome student, I have survived attacks from the Empire before now, and I will ensure we survive this one. Now, concentrate. You told me before you see the magic as individual threads. I want to focus on that for a while. Close your eyes..."

  "He has a point," said another voice. Adrianna rested casually against a wooden pillar. "I've been watching this Alhmanic, and he is top grade material. They say he has the ear of the Anointed Lord herself."

  "All preachers like to say that," said Forbeck. "Lucius, lock on to one thread, any one you like..."

  "This one has the Swords of Dawn at his beck and call. You don't get that just by preaching to the masses. Alhmanic has clout, and is capable."

  "But he has no magic, so how can he stand up to us?" asked Forbeck. "I promise you, he won't even find us. It is Lucius here who has more to worry about."

  "True, with the promises he made at the Square, he will target the thieves' guild first," said Lucius.

  "Vos has the resources to bring wizards into the city," said Adrianna. "They can afford the best."

  "Well, not quite the best," Forbeck smiled.

  "It is a danger," Adrianna said insistently.

  "All the more reason for Lucius here to gain greater skill with his arcane manipulations," Forbeck said. "He is your friend. Perhaps you can get him to focus."

  Adrianna sighed and pushed herself away from the pillar to stalk across the warehouse, her heels cracking on the flagstones with every step. Lucius turned to give her a wry smile as she approached.

  While they had certainly had their differences in the past, Lucius had found Adrianna's acceptance of his presence in the city had grown over the past few months. Though the thieves' guild occupied much of his time, his renewed dedication to learning the arts of the Shadowmage, however loosely, had earned her respect.

  He still found her cold at times, and wondered just how much emotion she possessed, beyond hatred and anger bent toward any who threatened the Shadowmages. Theirs was a loose guild, devoid of the rules and regulations that the thieves needed just to function as an organised body. In comparison, the Shadowmages received few instructions from superiors, and rank was assumed with experience and skill, rather than structured with rigid promotion. Every Shadowmage pledged to aid others in training, and all swore never to openly oppose another. They worked as spies, infiltrators, sometimes assassins to anyone who could afford their services, and few contracts were turned down on moral grounds. For a true Shadowmage, the principle aim was the betterment of their skills in both magic and stealth, not the accumulation of wealth, knowledge or material power. A Shadowmage would refuse a commission if either another Shadowmage was likely to be found on the side of the target, or if the work simply did not interest him.

  This made the Shadowmages' guild incredibly difficult to penetrate or control, and that worried many within the Empire of Vos. After all, any one of them could become a target of a Shadowmage's skill, hired by a rival or enemy from Pontaine, and there was little defence against a skilled Shadowmage. When Vos had first invaded Turnitia, the Shadowmages had been purged and driven underground. Though weakened, enough had survived to continue the traditions and, now they were regaining their past eminence, it seemed as though someone in Vos had decided they needed to be taken down again.

  For his part, Lucius considered himself more thief than Shadowmage, but his uncanny natural talent in manipulating magic had caught the attention of both Adrianna and her master, Forbeck. He appreciated their trust in him, but Lucius all too often wished he could be a more regular petty magician, using magic just as an aid to thievery, rather than reaching for something greater.

  Standing in front of him, Adrianna wore a pained expression.

  "Please, Lucius, he will keep us here all day if you don't do as he says."

  "There are worse ways to spend an afternoon," Lucius said, but dutifully closed his eyes and concentrated on the threads of magic.

  "Now, take a deep breath, and open your eyes," said Forbeck, "but keep the magic in your vision."

  This was an exercise Lucius had been made to practice many time before, and he had become somewhat proficient at it. While using magic in battle or on a thieves' mission, he had grown used to summoning the arcane power in a split second. However, doing it slowly, while training, had always been more difficult. Perhaps it had something to do with the lack of adrenaline, maybe it was simply because his life was not at risk.

  Gradually, it had dawned on him why Forbeck continually repeated exercises like this, concentrating on elements of the craft that, in theory, he could already do quite easily. By performing the actions slowly, consciously, he could study the magic more closely. It was like duelling; there were people who were natural talents in the use of a blade, and could be quite formidable fighters. If, however, they were taught to slow down their actions and actually study what they did and why, they could be rebuilt as far superior warriors.

  In the end, magic was not that different from combat. The source of the power just came from elsewhere.

  "Create fire."

  Lucius held up a palm and a swirling ball of fire sparked in his hand, then steadied.

  "Good," said Forbeck. "Now, pass it to Adrianna."

  Adrianna waited patiently as Lucius willed the fire to, slowly, lift from his hand and cross to hers. He felt a mental nudge as her magic briefly brushed against his own. Their eyes met, and she gave him a slight nod. He realised they were both thinking the same thing; a year ago, this amount of control would have been beyond him. Today, however, Forbeck wanted more.

  "Nice. Now, let Adrianna pass into the shadows."

  Lucius took a deep breath before starting the new conjuration. He had wreathed himself in darkness many times while working with thieves, and it was something all Shadowmages could do. To pass that ability onto someone else, however, was quite difficult.

  In his mind, he saw the threads spinning around the single strand that fed the natural forces sustaining the fire in Adrianna's hand. He could see wisps of energy spiral off that strand as his spell continued to pull energy away. Concentrating, he slowed the other threads down so he could pick the grey, almost colourless strand that governed the magics he used to hide himself from others.

  Plucking the thread, he suddenly became mindful of controlling the conjuration he already had manifested. A break in concentration could either snuff out the flame or cause it to swell in intensity, searing Adrianna. He felt his forehead grow wet with perspiration.

  "Steady, Lucius," Forbeck said softly.

  Lucius visualised draping a cloak of raw arcane power around Adrianna. Before him, her outline turned indistinct and pale.

  Lucius could also feel Adrianna's presence in his mind, a vessel that contained a solid core of magic, potent and vivid. He felt the warmth of her arcane power breath through him. Adjusting his control of the shadow cloak that he had spun around her, he reached out to brush against her presence, feeling the magical energies respond to his touch.

  Looking up, he saw Adrianna staring at him, wide-eyed, mouth slightly open in surprise. She then smiled wolfishly, and he reddened in embarrassment. Though he had known Adrianna for years now, he had never had a moment with her that was so intimate.

  The cloak of shadows fell from Adrianna and the ball of flame spluttered as Lucius' control was disrupted by a flood of emotion.

  "Concentrate" Forbeck said, apparently unaware of what was passing between his two students. "We have a long way to go yet, Lucius."

  The next exercises took a while to work through, as Forbeck pushed his levels of concentration further and further. Every time Lucius' mental control failed, Forbeck would start him again from the beginning.

  First, A
drianna's cloak of shadows was brought back into existence. Then Lucius was commanded to flood his muscles with power, greatly increasing his strength and physical endurance, before he created an invisible shield that he had to manoeuvre to deflect small stones that Forbeck pelted him with. He was told to cast his mind around the warehouse to locate the nearest vermin - and then suck its life out with the most vile of death magics.

  Each new task required a new strand of energy to be pulled, teased and shaped, even as Lucius tried to maintain the other conjurations. He was not always successful, and he received a particularly painful lesson when his shield failed and one of Forbeck's pebbles caught him on the temple. Even then, he was proud that of all the spells that failed from the break in concentration as his world spun around, the flame in Adrianna's hand was not one of them.

  Finally, soaked with sweat, Lucius thought he had achieved what Forbeck was searching for. With the ball of fire, stone shield and cloak of shadows, he had three spells running simultaneously, and he felt he could keep them going for at least a minute or two longer. However, Forbeck still wanted more.

  "Feel the magic flow through you, Lucius. Reach out with your mind, and search the remaining threads. You have always felt their presence, but I want you to become ever more familiar with them. Imagine a time when you can control any number of them. Don't see them, feel them."

  Reaching out, Lucius could clearly visualise the spinning threads, three of them static and stable as he continued to draw upon their power.

  He brushed against each thread, drawing a murmur of satisfaction from Forbeck as he passed over two of them, triggering a tremor in those forces that Forbeck could feel. While Forbeck was a far more accomplished Shadowmage than he was - would likely ever be - the master was limited to just a few forms of magic, as were all Shadowmages. It was Lucius' ability, perhaps unique, to feel all forms of magic that had drawn Forbeck to him.

  The threads that he was still taking power from felt taut and straight, while the others seemed to snake around his fingers, ready to be moulded and forged. Slowly, Lucius made his way from strand to strand, sensing each one's energy and potential. He reached out for the next and felt... nothing. An empty place that should be filled. All he could feel was darkness, and a chill cold swept over him, freezing his mind. Lucius stared straight into a void, a region of absolute, utter nothing.

  Crying out, Lucius fell, the conjurations forgotten.

  Lucius came to and opened his eyes to look up at Adrianna's face, her expression a mixture of curiosity and concern. Her hand was brushing his brow, and his head lay in her lap.

  "Are you alright?"

  Lucius frowned, trying to recall what had happened. "I think so."

  "You gave us quite a scare," Forbeck said. "I've never seen a loss of concentration do that before - not to someone as proficient as you."

  "No, it wasn't that," Lucius said. "It was something else. Something cold and dark and... I don't know how to describe it."

  Adrianna helped Lucius to his feet.

  "Try," Forbeck said.

  "I just saw nothing. No, that's not right. It was an empty space. I reached for a new strand, one that, somehow, I knew should be there. But it wasn't."

  "Have you used this strand before?"

  Lucius thought hard. "No. Never. But I just felt as though it should be there. It's like... someone takes a book from your shelf, but you cannot remember which book they took. And yet you still know it is gone. Does that make any sense?"

  "Maybe," Forbeck said. "It is certainly fascinating. Lucius, I have always said you you are something of a mystery to me. Most Shadowmages are confined to the study of just one or two forms of magic. But you are different. You have access to all forms of magic, and I don't know why. My interest, of course, is whether this is something that all Shadowmages should be able to do, but have just forgotten over the ages."

  "So what type of magic is it that is formed of nothing?"

  "I really don't know. Maybe some strand of magic is missing..."

  He trailed off, prompting Lucius to speak.

  "Yes?"

  Forbeck smiled. "I can give you a legend, for whatever that is worth. What do you know of the Old Races?"

  "They built the harbour outside the city thousands of years ago. Apparently. Every now and again we hear about some artefact of theirs in the guild. That's about it."

  "The two Old Races formed two great empires, elfs on one side, dwarfs on the other. These two empires were far more advanced than we men have ever been. There are tales of huge towers a mile high, of great magics that could fulfil any desire, of mighty sky ships that, some say, could even voyage to Kerberos itself.

  "For millennia, these two empires worked together in peace and mutual prosperity, but something went wrong. Elf began to fight dwarf, and a terrible, terrible war broke out. The land shook and the sea boiled - even the sky itself burned with the magic the two empires unleashed upon one another. The death toll was catastrophic, but still they fought on, each determined to construct bigger and better war machines or destructive spells. In the end, one side went too far. Think on this for a moment. The wizards of Pontaine long ago classified the types of magic: necromancy, natural magic, spells of shadow, elemental forces, and battle magic. Once the wizards had this structure and began classifying individual spells, however, certain issues became readily apparent."

  "What issues?" Lucius asked.

  "They soon discovered that necromantic castings were naturally more powerful than those rooted in natural forces. In their turn, spells governing natural forces had dominance over shadow."

  "That means one wizard will naturally be better than a peer, no matter how hard they both study," Lucius said.

  "Well, sort of," Forbeck said. "Effort and raw talent still count for something, I am happy to say. But you have the essence of it. However, think about it in respect to your own abilities."

  "If I understand the relationship of magic, then when I face another practitioner, I can gain a natural advantage over him."

  "Precisely."

  "So why did you not explain this to me before? It might have come in useful!"

  "I was interested to see whether this would have been something you discovered for yourself. You may have come across something altogether more fundamental."

  "Which is?"

  "Well, there are some contradictions with this view of magic. Imagine a circle. We'll call it the Circle of Power. Start with necromancy at the top. It is ascendant over nature, which is next around the circle. Nature, in turn is dominant over shadows. Then follows the elemental forces and battle magic."

  "So battle magic trumps necromancy, completing the circle," said Adrianna.

  "You would think so, wouldn't you?" said Forbeck. "That is exactly what every master wizard thought for centuries. However, it has never been proved. There has never been one successful experiment or casting that proves that battle magic is ascendant over necromancy, or that necromancy is subservient to battle magic."

  "So what is dominant over necromancy?" asked Adrianna.

  "Nothing. Or, at least, nothing that we have found."

  "So..." Lucius began hesitantly, not sure he had understood where Forbeck was going. "It is like a part of the circle is missing?"

  "Precisely!"

  "But what can cause magic to go missing?"

  "The two empires fought, and one of them went too far. Everything I have ever heard and read has said it was the elves that pushed too hard and brought destruction to both empires. It is said that they had such a mastery of magic that they were able to bring one of your threads, as you call them, into the physical world - permanently. Imagine that, the essence of raw magic, made physical. It would be like... being able to wield the power of the sun. You could control the stars themselves!"

  "That didn't happen though," said Adrianna flatly.

  "Of course not. They could not control that much magic. A cataclysm befell them. Huge portions of their empires fell i
nto the sea, which began to churn with endless storms, as it does today. Elf and dwarf were completely wiped out, leaving our race behind. All their knowledge, all the grandeur of their civilisation, wiped out in an instant because of greed and the desire to massacre their enemies. In doing so, they took some part of magic with them."

  "Is all that true?" Lucius asked.

  "No idea!" Forbeck grinned. "It fits all the known facts, but could still be completely wrong. We may never know the answers!

  We'll continue your training and see what happens. Still, we have done enough for today. Rest and reflect on the tale. For my part, I must bid you farewell - affairs of other guild members call upon my time."

  "I'll come with you," Adrianna said.

  "Foolish girl, don't worry for my safety - I am more than capable of taking care of myself."

  "She's right," Lucius said, suddenly thinking of Magnus, the previous guildmaster of thieves. "You should not wander the streets alone."

  "I thank you both for your concern, truly. But there are some things, I confess, that I must do alone, and I will not suffer interference from those seeking to protect me from an illusory threat."

  "Well, just keep an eye open," he finally said.

  "My dear Lucius, coming from a thief, that is indeed good advice!"

  Lucius became aware of Adrianna standing close behind him as they both watched Forbeck leave the warehouse. She placed a hand on his shoulder.

  "He knows more about our craft than you and I are ever likely to know, but I believe he is underestimating the intentions of Vos this time. Keep your ears open, Lucius; see what your thieves can find out about this Preacher Divine. You and I have to work together if we are going to keep Master Forbeck alive."

  Chapter Five

  Staring in disbelief across the Five Markets, Ambrose shook his head, unable to reconcile what he saw with any kind of sense. He had worked the Five Markets for years, managing children the thieves' guild recruited as pickpockets within his own franchise. It was a lucrative business, and served the guild as a tool for bringing young blood into its ranks. He had grown used to working under the shadow of the Vos Empire, personified by the soaring towers of the Citadel that loomed darkly over each of the separate markets.