“Fine,” Jez said. “Let’s just get through here as fast as we can. This place makes my skin crawl.”
She turned and raised an eyebrow. She wore a half smile on her face “You study binding.”
“And?”
“You deal with monsters and demons every day, and a graveyard bothers you so much?”
“She does have a point,” Osmund said.
Jez glared at him but addressed Lina. “You’re telling me it doesn’t bother you?”
She rolled her eyes. “I don’t like it, but I also don’t like riding in a stuffy coach. I’ll do them both though, and I won’t complain about it.”
“Maybe you should just lead the way and not talk so much.”
Lina snorted. “I would’ve thought Dusan would teach you better manners.”
He narrowed his eyes. “He was too busy summoning demons.”
“That really happened, then? I mean I’d heard what everyone said, but there’s been no official word on what Dusan was doing other than dealing with forces best left alone.” She grinned. “You know, the typical ambiguous statement from the crown when they don’t want to confirm something.”
Jez’s mouth snapped shut, and he looked away. He needed to get a handle on himself, especially if he was distracted enough to let something like that slip. Lina cocked her head but didn’t say anything else. She continued walking through the graveyard, finally coming to a stop in front of a large marble building. The flaming sword of the kings of Ashtar had been carved over the door.
“What is this?” Jez asked.
“The kings and queens of Ashtar are entombed here,” Villia said. “If there’s a secret passage into the keep, it makes sense that it would be here.”
Lina nodded. “My father found it when he was a child at court.” She looked away from Jez. “He was hiding from other children who made fun of him for being the son of someone raised to nobility rather than born into it.”
Osmond started to say something, but Jez waved him off. Nothing good would come from bickering right now. Lina, seeming to sense this, moved forward. The metal bars of the door had been painted white, and Lina pulled it open. It squeaked so loudly that Jez thought it must’ve been heard a mile away. He looked around, half expecting the noise to draw guards or demons to them, but no one came. Lina stepped onto stairs going down. A thick carpet of dust covered them, but Jez could see the footsteps she had left in the dust when she’d gotten out. As Lina descended, she lifted a hand and a ball of light appeared.
The chamber below was basically a long hall. Alcoves lined the walls and statues stood atop stone crypts. A crown had been carved onto the head of each. The stones near the entrance were old and dust had been ground into the rocks, but as they moved farther away, the slabs in the alcoves became cleaner, the edges harder. About halfway down the hall, Lina stopped in front of the statue of a woman who almost seemed to look down at her and scoff.
“Queen Meeshan,” Lina said. “Her ship was lost at sea four hundred years ago. Her body was never recovered.” She started running her fingers over the wall and pressed in several places. “There has to be a release here somewhere.”
“What do you mean? I thought you came through here?”
“I was leaving, not entering. The release for the door on the other side was easy to find. There should be one on this side too.”
She had moved further along the wall and pressed a lighter stone for several seconds, but nothing happened. Jez walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. She jumped and looked back at him. He did his best to suppress a smile, but judging by the scowl on her face, he hadn’t succeeded.
“We don’t need to do that,” Jez said. “Just show me where the door is.”
She looked confused for a second before pointing the wall at the back of the alcove. Jez rested his hand on it and closed his eyes. It was different from the rest of the alcove. Magic had been woven into the stones themselves forming a web that stopped it from being moved. He tried to lift the door, but though the wards were older than the ones surrounding Lina’s quarters, these were far more powerful, and they seemed not to have suffered the ravages of age. He drew back.
“Wow, that’s impressive.”
Villia walked up next to him and placed her hand on the wall. After a second, she nodded. “This is pharim work.”
“Why would a pharim ward this place?”
“To protect the rightful ruler,” Villia said.
Jez shook his head. “I can’t open the door, at least not directly. Lina, where was the release on the other side?”
“About three feet off the ground. There’s a stone that stands out from the others. I had to pull it down.”
Jez nodded and closed his eyes again. This time, his touch was lighter and he wove his power through the strands of the ward. They pulsed when he got too close, and more than once, he pulled back. After nearly ten minutes, he found the release Villia had mentioned. He was sweating as he tugged the stone down. There was a click and the wall before him groaned and slid up. As the door moved, the wards brushed against his presence. He shouted, and there was a flash of light. He was thrown several feet back, but Osmund summoned wind to cushion his fall. By the time he got back to his feet, the door stood open. Everyone was staring at him.
“It’s nothing. I just got caught by the wards. I’m fine.”
“We should hurry,” Lina said. “It’ll be up for less than a minute.”
Jez nodded and stumbled into the passage. Osmund helped him walk and Villia came in right behind him. Shortly after, the door slid down, leaving them in a long hall, not quite wide enough for two of them to walk side by side. Osmund cried out, causing Jez to jump.
“Sorry,” Osmund said. “I ran into a spider web.”
“They’re all around here,” Lina said. “I lost count of how many I ran into on the way out.” She grinned, and it looked odd in the light of her glowing sphere. “I didn’t quite catch the ones that high up though.” Osmund laughed, and she joined him. Then, as if realizing what she was doing, she turned away, her hand going to the scar on her cheek. “Let’s go. It’s this way.”
The corridor wound back and forth, and they walked for almost a half hour, Osmund constantly complaining about spider webs, before they came to a staircase up. They found another raised stone, and Lina pulled it. The wall near them slid aside and they found themselves looking into a cell in the lower level of the dungeon. Jez couldn’t be sure, but he thought it was the same one he’d found Lina and Varin in. They stepped into it and the door slid closed behind them.
“Okay, we’re inside,” Osmund said. “What do we do now?”
“We save my father,” Lina said.
“That’s not the most important thing here,” Osmund said.
“No, but it is the easiest,” Jez said. “He’ll be in the level above us. We’ll free him, and you can escape through the passage.”
Lina nodded. Osmund looked like he was going to say something, but instead only shrugged. They went up, careful to watch for any guards, but the prison seemed empty. They found Varin without too much trouble, though he looked little like the man who’d so often stood against Jez in the political arena. His features were gaunt, and he groaned as they approached. When Lina saw him, she gasped and ran forward, tugging on the bars.
“Oh father, what have they done to you?”
“Lina?” His voice came out in a rasp almost too soft to be heard.
“I’m here, Father,” she said through tears. “I’m sorry I left you. I’m here now.” She turned to the others. “What are you waiting for? He needs help. Get him out of here.”
Jez turned to Osmund and nodded. The other boy mumbled something under his breath. Ziary shimmered into existence just long enough for him to cut through the bars to Varin’s cell. The man still barely seemed to notice until Lina went into his cell and embraced him. Osmund helped him to his feet and back down to the lower level. This time Lina found the entrance with no difficulty a
nd smuggled her father inside. Osmund summoned a ball of fire as she stepped into the passage, taking her light with her.
“I won’t be able to help you anymore,” Jez said. “You’re on your own.”
Lina nodded. “Thank you,” she said as she disappeared down the corridor.
CHAPTER 41
“We should go to my tower first,” Villia said. “I left certain supplies in my quarters that may be of some use, not to mention my personal library. I started looking through it when this whole thing started, but more eyes will certainly help.”
“Can we get there without being seen?”
“I can craft an illusion that would keep us hidden,” Villia said. “The king might have wards up against that sort of thing, though.”
“We’ll have to try it anyway. Lead the way.”
Villia nodded and raised her hand. The room darkened, though the ball of fire above Osmund’s hand seemed brighter. They climbed the stairs into the keep. To Jez’s surprise, no one stood guard over the door to the prison. In fact, the entire keep was unnervingly empty. There were a few guards patrolling, but none came near them. There were no servants at all and only once did Jez see one of the nobility, a tall man who had long ago lost his hair. Even he was constantly looking over his shoulder until he entered a room. A couple of times, Villia felt wards woven around a particular area, and they had to find a way around it.
Finally, they reached the base of the southern tower and started up. They were two floors up before Villia let the illusion fall, though they still moved quietly. They had just passed the fifth floor when Villia paused and cocked her head. She went down a few steps to the door that led to the main hall on the floor and placed her hand on it
“Well, that’s unexpected,” she said.
“What is it?” Jez asked
“There’s an illusion here. A good one.”
Jez rolled his eyes. “This is your tower. I’m sure there are a lot of illusions here.”
Villia shook her head. “I’ve been wandering the earth for longer than you can imagine. When I leave a place, I leave no sign than an afur was ever there. I took down all my illusions, but this feels like mine. It’s probably why I never noticed it before.”
“So you missed one.”
Villia snorted. “Don’t be foolish. Even rushed, I would never make such a mistake.”
She moved a few steps back down to the door. Jez let out a breath. “Do we really have time for this?”
Villia turned to look at him. “Someone has been crafting major workings. You’ve twice been wrong about who that was. Don’t you think it’s important to investigate who is crafting illusions good enough to nearly fool a pharim who specializes in them?”
“But you’re not a pharim,” Osmund said.
She let out a slow breath. “Not in any way that matters, but I do still know illusions. This one is no insignificant working.”
“What’s on this floor?”
“A few supply rooms, nothing of any importance. Spare quarters to house any of my guests.” She went silent for a second and met Jez’s eyes. “And Sharim’s room.”
Jez’s opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn’t think of what to say. Osmund was shaking his head. Villia ignored them and pushed open the door and strode in, forcing the two of them to hurry to catch up.
“You don’t really think it might be Sharim, do you?” Jez asked. “I mean he’s so...” he fumbled for words.
She nodded. “We don’t know who made this illusion. For all we know, it could’ve been the king intending to throw people off his trail.”
“Is he skilled in illusions?”
“Not as far as I know, but it’s possible.”
They walked down the hall before stopping before a plain wooden door. Villia extended her hand and nodded but didn’t open the door.
“Sharim’s room?” Jez asked.
Villia nodded. Jez took a deep breath and pushed open the door. The room beyond looked ordinary. The only piece of furniture was a bed that seemed barely wide enough for the apprentice to sleep in. The blankets were scrunched up at one end, and a book Jez recognized from his time at the Academy rested in the center of the bed. He picked it up and showed it to the others. It was a beginner’s guide to illusions.
“Why would he have this?” Jez asked. “I’ve seen him. He’s no beginner.”
“Perhaps to throw off suspicion. Things here are not what they seem.”
Villia lifted her arms and her eyes glowed violet. For a second it looked like nothing would happen. Then, the room shimmered. The smell of sulfur flooded in, and the ceiling shed blue light. Jez looked up and gasped.
A circle of runes glowed in the ceiling. Jez recognized the combination as a binding circle, one more powerful than any working he had ever crafted without tapping into Luntayary’s power. A being clothed in sapphire robes sat chained in bands of light. He was kneeling on the ceiling as if it were the floor.
“Jez,” Osmund said in a quiet voice. “Look at his sword.”
The blade hanging from the beings hip was made of crystal. Jez stared at it, not able to believe what it meant, but with the illusion dispelled, he could feel the power emanating from the blade. There was only one type of being in all of creation that had one of those.
“That’s a Shadowguard.”
CHAPTER 42
The circle holding the Shadowguard was immensely complicated, weaving runes in combinations Jez could scarcely imagine. It even seemed to draw power from the stone itself, a thing Jez had no idea how to achieve. He was still years away from being able to craft a working even remotely close to this, but fortunately for him, destroying was far easier than creating. He gathered his power and threw it into the circle. A triangle with a horizontal line through it sputtered and went dark as cracks spread through the stone. The pharim raised its head and looked down at them. He extended his wings. The runes glowed, but the one nearest him brightened briefly and went out. One by one, the light coming from the other runes flared before dying until the circle had gone dark. The pharim extended his wings and launched himself from the ceiling, turning in the air to land on his feet between Jez and the bed. He stood up straight, showing signs of neither injury nor fatigue, but of course, he wasn’t human. Even his body was more a reflection of his will than an actual physical form.
The Shadowguard’s deep blue eyes focused on Jez. “Thank you.”
“You’re the one set over Maries?”
“I am Shamarion, and you are Luntayary.”
Jez blinked. “You know about that?”
Shamarion inclined his head. “Sariel told us of your fate. We are to treat you as a mortal, and not involve ourselves in your affairs unless you involve yourself in ours.” A smile crept across the pharim’s face. “I take it that by your presence here that you know of Maries and have decided to oppose him.” Jez nodded and Shamarion spread his wings. “I look forward to fighting by your side again, Luntayary.”
“You mean we’ve fought together before?”
“Of course. When the foundations of the world were being laid, we worked to banish the demons from this realm.”
Osmund gaped at him. Villia smiled, but the expression faded when Shamarion glared at her. Jez cleared his throat. “Yeah, I don’t really remember that.”
“Ah yes, Sariel said he’d locked away your memories. Well, it’s only a temporary matter, and you’ll be back among us soon.”
Jez blinked. Sariel had promised he would be allowed to live his life. “I will?”
“Of course. Surely no more than sixty or seventy years. Perhaps eighty at the most.” He smirked, and Jez let out a sigh of relief. “I suspect it will be considerably less if you continue to involve yourself in matters like this. They are, after all, quite dangerous, but then I can’t really blame you. It must be so tedious to go about in mortal form.”
“Um, that’s not really the point.”
“No, of course not. My charge has been loosed upon the world. I
need to bind him again.” He turned to Jez’s companions. “The mongrel can be useful, but I see no reason to take the traitor with us.”
Osmund stiffened. “Mongrel?”
Shamarion turned to him with a raised eyebrow. “It is an accurate term, is it not? You are neither fully human nor fully pharim. I meant no offense by it.”
“The more polite term is limaph,” Jez supplied.
“Half-breed?” Shamarion wrinkled his nose as if smelling something unpleasant. “That’s not accurate at all. He is far less than half pharim.”
The response caught Jez off guard. “You mean limaph is a word in some other language? Which one?”
“Tirantian,” Villia said. “It’s been perhaps three thousand years since anyone spoke it.”
“No one asked you, traitor,” Shamarion said.
“Actually, I did,” Jez said. “Or at least I asked anyone who knew. Look, can you just call him a limaph? It can’t be wrong if no one even speaks the language anymore. Better yet, call him Osmund.”
Shamarion thought about that for a second, and inclined his head to the limaph. “Forgive me for my careless words, Osmund.”
Osmund looked at Jez who only shrugged. The larger boy looked unsure of himself. “Okay. I forgive you.”
“Excellent. Shall we go deal with this mage and banish Maries?”
“Just one second,” Jez said. “Who was the mage?”
“A boy, though he seemed to have much more power than one of his age should. I underestimated him. I only hope we can stop him from enacting his plan.”
“It was Sharim, then, but he already enacted his plan. Maries is free.”
Shamarion shook his head. “Maries was only the beginning of the plan, and he can only call so much of his army at one time. Unless he wants to spend a year summoning them, he’ll need help. The mage wants to create gateways throughout the city and use those to summon the whole of Maries’s army. With enough, he can bring them through in a single day.”
“Is he strong enough to do that?” Jez asked.
Veilspeaker (Pharim War Book 2) Page 13
