“Was it bad?” Jez asked.
Aphlel nodded. “Most of the damage was done by Ziary’s blade, and such wounds are even more resistant to healing than those caused by your own transformation.”
Balud was shaking his head, mumbling about all that they didn’t know. He had failed to cure Lina of a similar, albeit much lesser, wound several years before, and now Aphlel had done it with seeming ease. It was more than that. Jez stretched out, amazed at how strong he felt. It was like he’d had a full night sleep.
“How long was I out?”
“Not long,” Aphlel said. “Ziary came to me as soon as you fell unconscious. Perhaps an hour. You do not require rest, though your body has had a great deal of power coursing through it. I would tell you to avoid powerful workings, but I do not believe you would heed me.”
Jez shook his head. “We’re in the middle of a war. What’s been happening while I was unconscious?” Aphlel sighed and Jez rolled his eyes. “I wish you’d stop doing that. You don’t even need to breathe.”
Aphlel gave him a half smile. “We adapt the mannerism of the people we are with. In any case, Daziel believes we have dealt with most of the exterior traps. Gayel has examined this weakness you spoke of. He cannot break through from the other side, so we will not be depositing our forces inside the walls of the city, however, he does believe he can help our forces summon reinforcements of our own. He is working on that now.”
Jez nodded. “What about losses?”
Everyone exchanged glances. Lina took his hand.
“One in four,” she said. “We think some of those have been captured. One of the beast men from an ambushed group said they took Kilos alive. Master Horgar too.”
Jez shot to his feet. “What?”
“We don’t know why,” Lina said. “At least they’re still alive.”
Jez shook his head. “You don’t understand. Sharim is still essentially human. He can’t form an effective contingent with demons.”
Lina nodded. “Yes, I know that.”
“Don’t you remember what they did to your father?”
Lina’s eyes widened, and she shook her head. “No, they can’t.”
“Of what are you speaking?” Aphlel asked.
“When Sharim took Rumar Keep a few years ago, he took Lord Varin prisoner. He forced images into his mind until he could draw Lina’s father into an unwilling contingent. It left him...” He glanced at Lina who was just starting to compose herself.
“Broken,” she said. “It took him over a year to recover, and Mother says she still hears him weeping when he thinks no one is paying attention. If that’s what they’re going to do to the prisoners, we have to stop them.”
Jez nodded. There was a pile of clothes along one wall of the tent, and he walked over to it, instantly recognizing it as his own. He rummaged through them until he found his mage’s robes. They were covered in tears and burns, and something had torn off the left arm at the elbow. They were practically falling apart in his hands. Balud cleared his throat.
“You may want to hold off on that.”
“There’s no time,” Jez said.
He pulled his robe over his head. As he tugged it down, there was a ripping sound. He groaned and pulled it off. He doubted it would last more than an hour. He examined the garment more closely and decided an hour was being generous. He sighed but looked up when Besis walked into the tent, carrying a blue robe. Kerag, the secrets master, and Fina, the destruction master, followed, each carrying robes colored for their dominion. Besis moved to stand in front of Jez while Fina did the same for Osmund and Kerag for Lina. All three of the masters went to one knee before their students and proffered the robes. Jez glanced at Balud who smiled.
Jez took the robe and noticed that the gold sash of an adjutant was missing. Instead, a small shield had been embroidered in a slightly lighter shade of blue. Osmund and Lina found other marks on their robes. Jez didn’t have to see them to know what they were: a sword and an eye. He looked at Besis, who rose along with the other masters.
“These are the runes for the dominions.”
Besis nodded. “Given the circumstances, we decided to forego most of the formality. You can serve as each other’s witnesses, and you don’t really need any more than that. You’re not masters, not yet, but given what the three of you have accomplished, we cannot in good conscience call you students.” He turned to Balud who inclined his head to each of them in turn.
“I greet you as a peer, Jezreel...” He stumbled for a second. “Bartinson of Randak and mage of protection.” Jez grinned. Legally, he had been adopted by Dusan years ago, granting him the title of baron when the evil mage had died, but Bartin had been the name of his real father. Balud turned to Lina. “I greet you as a peer, Lina Varindatter of Meleon and mage of shadow. I greet you as a peer, Osmund Jecklson of the Narian Isles and mage of destruction. Let all of Ashtar rejoice. Three new mages have been named.”
CHAPTER 19
Jez reflected that, from a practical point of view, there wasn’t much difference for him and his friends between being adjutants and being full mages. They hadn’t had any lessons since the fall of the Academy, so that wouldn’t change. Jez was still, more or less, in charge of the army. He would continue to rely heavily on his friends, who hadn’t been ordered around by the masters in almost a year. Still, the new robe felt, at the same time, lighter and more powerful.
In short order, he laid out his plan. Istar nodded and didn’t wait for him to finish before leaving the tent to deliver her orders to the soldiers. To Jez’s surprise, no one objected. Even Osmund refrained from giving his usual comment about Jez’s plans. Once everything was seen to, he, along with Osmund, Lina, and two of the afur, a former Lifebringer and a former Shadowguard, sank into the earth and moved toward the city, sinking deeper so as to avoid Sharim’s detection ward. Once they were directly beneath the city, Jez and Grania, the Shadowguard, formed a cavity in the earth and waited. Lina looked a little nauseous at having to travel that way again, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she created a light while Urin, the Lifebringer, scanned the area above them. With so much earth in the way, it would be difficult, and it was several minutes before he pointed.
“I sense human life there.”
Jez nodded just as the earth shook. Above, Istar would be leading her forces in a feint against the walls while Besis, in a contingent along with Fina and other mages and students strong in protection and destruction, would be striking at the detection ward. The point wasn’t to take it down. Jez wasn’t sure they could take it down with the power they had available, but now that Jez had passed through it once, he knew how it worked. It was an effective defense, provided one’s enemies didn’t know about its weakness. When faced with an attack from one direction, the ward would draw energy from other parts of itself, even to the point of developing holes in places away from the attack. In short, if such a ward were attacked from the east, a hole might develop in the west. It could even appear on the bottom.
Again, they entered the earth, though this time, they moved upward, in the direction the Lifebringer had indicated. As they neared the detection ward, Jez cast his senses outward, looking for a hole, but he found none. He hadn’t really been expecting one, though. The odds of a hole large enough for them to pass through appearing exactly where they needed were slim to the point of being essentially nonexistent. He squeezed Lina’s arm, the only way he could communicate with her while they were passing through the earth. After a second, his protection sense detected a jagged hole in the ward. If he was right, whoever was monitoring it should feel that as well and would doubtless come to the conclusion that the hole was a result of the attack. Jez sent a surge of power forward into the illusion, creating a real hole hidden by the false one. Then, he and the others passed through. Once they neared ground level, they stopped and formed another cavity. Urin confirmed that they were right beneath the humans, and they went up.
The thing that stood over Kilos h
ad pasty white skin and beady eyes. Where a human would’ve had a left hand, it had a long gray antenna-like appendage that it moved across Kilos’s forehead. Kilos stared blankly forward, but his eyes widened slightly when he saw them. He whimpered, and immediately, the demon looked up at them. It seemed to be having trouble seeing. It had no mouth, though it made a chittering sound.
“What is that thing?” Jez asked, feeling a little queasy.
“An elad,” Grania said as she drew her sword. “Guard your minds!”
Jez’s standing mental wards still hadn’t been repaired from his possession, but he threw up a shield that was every bit as strong. Lina had trained in the dominion of secrets and had defenses of her own, but neither Osmund nor Ziary had ever shown any particular skill in that area. Jez tried to extend his wards so they covered him as well, but almost immediately, a force as strong as a hurricane broke through and struck at Ziary. Though the attack was mental, it drove Ziary back several paces, and he grabbed his head and screamed. A second later, he went quiet and looked up. He met Jez’s eyes and blinked.
“Jez?” His eyes focused on Jez and his face twisted with anger. “What did you do to Jez?”
“Osmund, it’s me.”
“Do not bother,” Grania said. “They have been hit by the elad’s blast.”
“They?” Jez looked around and instantly saw what the former Shadowguard meant. Urin was on the ground, weeping into his hands. Lina stood with her jaw clenched and her hands closed in a white-knuckled grip. She seemed to have escaped the worse of it, but it was taking everything she had to remain lucid.
Osmund pointed his sword at Jez. “What did you do with him?”
Grania’s crystal blade knocked Ziary’s sword aside. “Get the demon. I will hold him off. Watch out for the arm. Its mental powers are a lot stronger if it hits you with that.”
Jez nodded and turned to face the creature, but it was nowhere to be seen. He wove a ward against illusion, but he found nothing. He was about to turn back to Grania when he noticed Kilos’s eyes following something that wasn’t there, and he remembered Lina’s working. If mental magic could cut off the mind from the body, could it do the same to eyes, making him think something wasn’t there when it was?
He swung at the spot Kilos was staring at. The sword met no resistance, but there was a chittering sound to Jez’s left. He swung the sword in that direction, but before the arc was half done, a single strand brushed against the back of his neck. For a moment, pain blossomed in his chest, and the next thing Jez knew, he was surrounded by chezamuts.
He didn’t hesitate, striking with all the strength and skill he had gathered over the past several years. The demons fell quickly, but no matter how many he banished, there were always more. Where were they coming from? He spared an instant to look for a circle, but they were just appearing out of thin air. Then, as quickly as they had appeared, they vanished. Jez looked around, confused. Fog muddled his thoughts, and he took several seconds to clear his mind as the room came back into focus.
Urin stood behind the slowly dissolving body of the demon. Apparently, the former Lifebringer had been able to resist the mental assault enough to make his move. The demon, thinking the afur to be incapacitated, hadn’t paid attention to him. Urin’s blade, covered in bark and sprouting small leaves, had been driven through the demon’s back. Pieces of the creature flaked away as it tried to turn, but it was like the elad was moving through molasses. It hadn’t managed to turn all the way around when its face turned to dust and blew away. It fell, but its body vanished before it hit the ground.
Lina was picking herself off the ground. Ziary, his robe ripped in several places, had dismissed his sword and was looking confused. He had given as good as he’d gotten and the former Shadowguard sported wounds of her own. Kilos stared into empty space. Jez walked to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at Jez and blinked.
“Father...” Kilos took a deep breath, and his voice cracked as he spoke. “Father is gone.”
A chill washed over Jez, and he backed up several steps as if he’d been physically struck. Kilos looked at him with tears streaming down his face. Jez’s own actions had caused the death of Kilos’s father, a thing for which he’d never forgiven himself, though the other boy had never held him responsible. Lina stepped up next to him.
“Jez, it’s just the thought the demon was using. You know he doesn't blame you.”
Jez nodded. “I know.” His voice was so unsteady that even he didn’t believe himself. “Can you do anything to help him?”
She stepped up to him and placed a hand on his forehead. Kilos blinked at her, but almost instantly, Lina pulled back. She rubbed her fingers as if she’d been burned and shook her head.
“He’s broken inside. Maybe Master Rael or one of the Darkmasks.” She shook her head again and pointed to one of the doors. It swung half open. “The rest of the prisoners are in there.”
Jez hesitated for a second before taking Kilos’s hand. The other boy stared at it before standing. Ziary pushed up the door and stepped inside, followed by Grania. Jez went in right after them. There were no windows or other sources of light, but Ziary summoned his flaming sword to provide illumination. Half a dozen mages, including Master Horgar, sat scattered on the ground, each in their own circle of dark runes. None seemed to see them. Jez turned to Grania who only shook her head.
“I do not recognize the circle, though the runes are those of the dominion of secrets. Were I to guess, I would say they are being shown mental images just like Kilos was.”
“Can we just pull them out?”
“Not without taking some precautions. Are you able to invert your mental wards?”
Jez gave him a blank stare. “What?”
The afur started to explain but shook her head after a second. “Never mind. It would take too long to explain. Watch me.”
She waved a hand at a girl in indigo robes that Jez didn’t recognize. To his protection sense, a ward appeared around her mind, but it seemed backwards, as if meant to keep things in rather than out. Grania sent a surge of power into the circle. Bands of energy ran up the girl’s body and into her mind. Her face twisted in pain, and for a moment, the mental wards Grania had placed glowed brightly, as if they were under pressure. After a second, the glow faded, and the girl fell to the ground. Almost instantly, though, she picked herself up, rubbing her head.
“What happened?” She blinked and looked around. “There was an elad...”
“It’s taken care of,” Jez said.
“You understand?” Grania asked. “It will shatter their minds if they are not held together.”
The girl’s eyes went wide. “What...” Words failed her.
“You’re fine.” Jez nodded at Grania. “I think so.”
He approached Master Horgar. Having seen the afur do it, it was a simple matter to adjust his own shields to the same effect. This time, when he broke the circle, he got a better view of what was actually going on. The working holding the mages captive had wormed its way into their minds. Nothing he could do would stop it from affecting them because it was already there. Disrupting the circle would cause its tendrils to expand. If it had been a physical attack, inverted wards around the brain would have almost certainly damaged the organ beyond repair. As it was, the wards kept the mind from expanding beyond its capacity. The mental working struggled against the ward, trying to scatter the mind of its victim, but Jez’s ward held, and after a second, the demonic working burned itself out. He took care of one more prisoner while Grania handled the rest. After a quick explanation, Master Horgar nodded and turned to Bareen, the adept of secrets that Grania had freed first.
“Try to help Kilos, if you will.”
Bareen nodded and took Kilos by the hand. She stared into his eyes. A faint indigo aura appeared around them. Then, it congealed around Kilos’s head, brightening. He pulled back and cried out, though Bareen didn’t let him go. Jez moved to help him, but Kilos let out a long breath.
“Jez? What happened?”
Jez smiled, but Bareen shook her head. “He’s not better, not all the way. His mind was broken apart. I put a working there to hold it together, but there’s nothing else holding him sane.”
“What are you two talking about?” Kilos asked.
“There was a demon...” Jez was at a loss and pointed to Bareen. “She helped you.”
The adept nodded. “Someone else might be able to do better.”
Kilos looked frightened and confused, but after a few seconds, he nodded. They gathered the prisoners in a small circle. Jez and Grania would’ve been able to get them out the same way they had come in with little difficulty, but one of the prisoners was a blue-robed mage named Liandra. She and Jez formed a contingent, and her power added to his own would make it easier still. Just before they descended, Ziary spoke up.
“Sharim has been summoning a lot here, right?” Jez nodded. “Doesn’t that mean the barrier is thin?”
Jez thought for a second and looked at Kilos. “Do you have your power?”
Kilos still seemed confused, but after a second, he closed his eyes. He opened them a moment later and nodded. “He’s right. The barrier is incredibly thin. I can’t feel the ward you were talking about, but if we can get past it, it should be a lot easier to summon things here.”
Ziary smiled. “Good, I was hoping Gayel had fixed that already. Sharim has a bunch of circles and standing workings scattered around the city, right?”
“That’s part of why we came into the city last time,” Jez said. “What are you thinking?”
“Do you remember when the barrier was that thin at the Academy?”
Jez nodded. “We tried to summon the Library of Zandra but got a void beast instead.”
“No, before that.”
Jez thought for a second. Then a smile formed on his face. He raised an eyebrow at Kilos.
“How about it? Do you feel up to summoning a few dozen imps?”
Shadeslayer (Pharim War Book 7) Page 8
