“This is where we need to go,” Tara said.
They moved more slowly, and Sam held his hand out, focusing on the vrandal. “Maybe there’s nothing here,” he muttered.
“Or maybe this is where they went.”
They walked for a little while until they reached another barrier.
This time, Sam could feel it pushing against him, and he didn’t even need to press outward with the vrandal or his free hand to know where it was. It seemed as if he had a sensitivity to it. It was almost as if he could see the barrier itself. It seemed to stretch from wall to wall, from floor to ceiling. Alchemy, and an intense use of it.
“That’s new,” he whispered as he stood in front of it.
“What is?”
“I can feel something,” he whispered. Sam ran his free hand across the barrier’s surface. Even without the vrandal, he could feel energy pushing against his hand. His palm and fingertips tingled, a different sensation than what he had felt when someone had been using arcane arts around him. This was softer.
He held his vrandal hand up against it and began to push.
“Do you see anything here?” Sam asked, keeping his eyes closed to focus.
“It looks like a section of wall. It’s sort of the same as the other barriers when we came across them.”
Sam nodded thoughtfully. “I don’t know if this will work, as the pressure here is different.”
He felt the vrandal, and he pushed in the pattern that he knew what activated and began to feel warmth surging through him. As he pressed up against the barrier, there was some resistance, and then he was able to push through it. Gradually the resistance began to fade.
He held Tara’s hand and pulled her with him.
Once they were through the barrier, he paused.
He turned back and started to focus on the barrier again. The energy from this side was different. It still tingled the same way as it did on the other side, but it didn’t press on him in quite the same fashion. There was a sense of power here, but nothing more than that.
“You can test it when we are done,” she said.
“I just wanted to understand.”
She nudged him gently. “I know you want to understand, but right now, we need to move carefully. If they are after something, I don’t want to get caught here.” She followed him. “This is a little darker than some of the other tunnels.”
They kept moving, and then she stopped again.
“What is it?”
“There is a door.”
“Like an actual door?”
“An actual door.”
She started toward it, and he pulled on her, reaching out with the vrandal.
He activated it and pushed forward.
When he did, he felt some resistance, but then it began to fade as if that resistance were finally easing away from him.
He relaxed for a moment but then pulled the door open.
“What does it look like?”
“A circular room. A table with some paper stacked on it. Symbols… oh. The same symbols in the almanac.”
“Probably my pages,” Sam muttered. “I shouldn’t have kept them in my room.”
“Probably them, then. And a carpet covering the floor. I don’t know what else is here.”
He stepped forward when he had a different sensation.
Arcane arts, and a familiar sense of it, as well.
His stomach sank.
“We need to move,” he whispered frantically.
“Why?”
“Because the Grandam is coming.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sam grabbed Tara, who shuffled the pages. There were not that many pages, but Sam suspected that there would be something on them that would be useful for them. He could feel something around him, some sense of energy, and knew they should wait here very long. Already feared they had remained longer than they should.
“Take them with you,” he said.
“Are you sure? If she finds that they’re gone—”
“She’s going to realize we were here anyway. It doesn’t matter.”
At least this way, they would have the pages. If he were able to see again, perhaps he might figure out what was on them. It might be that they were the same types of symbols found within the almanac. If that were the case, he wouldn’t be able to read them without accessing the vrandal’s power. Eventually, he would need a stronger connection so he could try to use it not only with the book but with these pages.
The sense of arcane magic pressing on him continued to increase. He felt it from Tara as well.
“Don’t,” he whispered.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t use any power, or she may be able to detect us. I don’t want her to know we’re here.”
“Sam, we don’t have much time.”
He took a deep breath, focusing and trying to think of a reason they were here. He contemplated the possibilities and thought that if nothing else, he could explain to the Grandam that he wanted her help with healing again—regardless of how much that might hurt. Otherwise, he didn’t have any other excuses.
There was a sense of breath within the room, but it wasn’t where he expected. Sam moved to the far wall toward it, near the hearth. He could feel the breath blowing through there. The hearth would need some place to vent.
If it was underneath the river, how was it venting?
There was another way out of here.
“Sam!” Tara hissed.
He ignored her and focused on the hearth. He ran his hand along the wall, using his other senses. If he could see, he wouldn’t have noticed the breath of the air or the slight energy here that wasn’t present anywhere else in the room. He might not have known there was another way out.
The pressure coming from outside of the office continued to build. The Grandam was getting close.
Sam pushed on the wall. “There has to be a trigger.”
Tara was next to him, fumbling along the wall and scraping her hands on it. “I don’t know if we have time to figure this out,” she whispered. “What if there isn’t one here?”
The door behind them started to open.
Then he found it. Sam pushed, and there was a soft grinding as a section of wall opened. He grabbed Tara’s hand, pulling her with him and stepping into the wall. He searched for a way to trigger the other side of the wall, but there wasn’t anything.
Power built behind them. Tara grabbed him and ran.
“What are you doing? We need to—”
“We don’t have time,” she said.
“I can’t see where this goes.”
“There’s only one way it goes.”
They raced forward, and it seemed to Sam that this tunnel was narrower than the others within the Academy. The walls pressed closer to him. There was dampness within the air that filled his nostrils. After a while, they were splashing in water.
“Is she still behind us?” he asked.
“I don’t see her, but…” She slowed and turned, power building from her. Sam closed his eyes and focused, sensing no power other than Tara’s.
“We need to keep going,” he said.
Tara took his hand, and the two of them hurried along the hall. The splashes sounded loud in his ears, but the water didn’t seem to get any deeper as they raced. He suddenly slammed into something and fell backward.
She grabbed him, helping him up. “What did you run into?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t see it.” More than that, he hadn’t even felt it, which meant it wasn’t solid. Sam pressed his hand out, feeling along the space in front of him. He wasn’t sure what he’d struck until he sensed it. A barrier.
He pressed the vrandal against it as a surge of energy built behind him. At first, he thought it might be from Tara, but the power and the pressure intensified, coming from somewhere else. The pressure on him was familiar. The vrandal started to sink into the barrier. The pressure surged again, and Sam turned around. He could feel the G
randam and her magic.
Tara whispered something to him, but he ignored it. He focused only on the barrier. Sam tried to force his way through it, and the barrier pushed back. It was different than the other one, harder to get through. He strained, struggling against it, and then fell through while dragging Tara with him.
There was a shout, and he scrambled to his feet. They weren’t alone. There were others here, though not nearby.
“Sam,” Tara whispered.
“What is it?”
“It’s—”
“What is this?” a deep voice rang out. Sam didn’t recognize the voice, but he did recognize the soft greenish light that built around him.
Alchemists.
“What do you see?” he asked Tara.
“I don’t know. We’re in a long hallway that widens not too far from us. A large man is coming at us.”
Large man. Luthian.
“Be ready,” Sam said.
“Ready for what?” she whispered.
He headed forward, holding his hands out to reveal the vrandal. If he were right, this would be how they were going to escape the Grandam. He was trusting what Chasten had said.
“My name is Samran Bilson. I’m looking for Daven.”
He wasn’t entirely sure if his suspicion was right, but as the man came toward him, the greenish light continued to build. A tingling washed over Sam as he waited. If this was Luthian, and if he was working with Daven, with the other alchemists, then Sam needed to give him the opportunity.
“How did you get here?” the voice asked.
Sam motioned behind him. “The tunnel connects to the Academy.”
“What tunnel?”
“This tunnel,” he said. He turned with Tara and pressed his hand on the barrier. He could feel it against his hand, almost as if the barrier itself was trying to push back. The energy within the wall surged, leaving the surface of his palm tingling. He shifted and raised his other hand, placing the vrandal against it and sliding it forward.
There was an oozing of movement, a slow sensation, but he held his hand in place so that Luthian—or whoever this was—would know he was able to penetrate the barrier. The man grabbed his hand and pried his fingers back. Sam felt a moment of panic. If the man was trying to remove the vrandal, Sam might not be able to stop it. Power built from Tara, and a soft glow erupted from her.
“Wait,” Sam said.
The man didn’t make any attempt to try to pull the vrandal off. “Where did you find that?”
“It was in the alchemy tower. There was a vault. Ferand attacked and I got to it first. When I put it on, it bonded to me.”
“Come with me,” the man said, releasing Sam’s hand.
Sam exhaled and clenched his fist around the vrandal. They followed the man. Sam felt the hallway open as energy shifted around him, and he recognized how it swirled outward, opening up. Luthian turned and led them down a side hall. There was no water in the tunnel now.
“What if this isn’t who you think it is?” Tara whispered. “We don’t know anything about him. This might be someone who—”
“Quiet,” the man snapped.
Sam turned his attention toward Luthian. Although everything remained a bit of a blur, he was sure it was him. The greenish light continued to glow, constant all around him. Because Sam could see it so clearly, he had to believe there was something within the green light that could trigger the vrandal.
They stopped abruptly, but Sam couldn’t make anything out. A surge of green light came, and Luthian grabbed his arm, dragging him forward. Sam held tightly onto Tara as they went through another barrier. A sense of tingling washed over him and passed quickly. When it cleared, a greenish light glowed all around him again, but there was something different about it.
“He says he knows you,” Luthian said.
There was a shuffling sound, and Sam turned his attention to it. The light radiated toward him, more than just the power Luthian had. There was another source of it.
“You shouldn’t be here,” a familiar voice said.
Daven.
“I thought you were taken,” replied Sam.
“Taken? I was rescued. They sent him for me.”
“I thought Luthian was with them.”
“You thought what?” Luthian’s voice was a violent roar, a rumble of power. The light coming from him surged brighter.
“I’m sorry, but the Grandam made it sound as if you were working with Ferand. I only recently found out the truth.”
“I was trying to move Ferand to a safe location when I was attacked.” He leaned toward Sam, breathing in, then snorted. “You were there.”
“We were both there,” Sam said. It was better to be honest, so they knew what had taken place rather than for them to learn of it later. “At the time, we just recognized power within the city. We didn’t know what you were doing. We thought you were attacking the Academy.”
“Why would we attack the Academy?”
“We thought you were with the Nighlan,” Tara said.
There was another low rumble of irritation. “You’d better be careful, young lady. I’ve killed more Nighlan than you can imagine.”
“Easy,” Daven said. “I don’t think they know what they’re saying.”
Sam heard the two men step away and murmur to each other.
“Do you know where we are?” Tara whispered to Sam.
“I can’t tell. It’s somewhere off the tunnel that connected us to the Academy, but I have no idea where.”
“This is the room where you brought me,” she said.
“What room?”
“The one where you said there was a lantern.”
Sam’s breath caught, and he started looking around. “It’s the same room?”
“It is. I don’t even know how it’s possible.”
“The tunnel, but why would it connect here?” he asked. There was so much about this he didn’t understand.
“Why are you just standing there like that?” Daven asked from across the room.
“Because he can’t see anything,” Tara snapped.
Daven approached, and Sam detected a scent of pine mixed with an earthy odor. It was familiar, reminding him of Chasten.
“What do you mean he can’t see anything? When he was here before—”
“Ferand tried to take the vrandal from him, and Havash tried to heal him and—”
“Havash? Of course, he can’t see if Havash was involved,” Daven said. He grabbed Sam’s hand and slammed his palm down. Pain surged for a moment before a brief burst of light appeared. His hand began to pulse. The vrandal was activated.
Sam focused on the pulsing vrandal. It had been so long since he’d been able to use the device that he tried to embrace it, but he didn’t have the opportunity. A surge of power washed over him, different than when Havash used it on him and different even than when Tara did it. This was a powerful burst. Briefly painful but not nearly as painful as when the Grandam had used her magic on him.
“There,” Daven said.
“What did you do?” Tara asked.
“Just give him a minute.”
The vrandal pulsed, and Sam squeezed his hand, gripping that power. He took a deep breath and looked around, and it took him a moment to realize something.
He could see.
Tara was there, standing close and pressing against him. He reached for her, running his fingers along her cheeks. She shot him a look, and he pulled his hand back. He turned toward Daven, who looked just as he remembered. Luthian was across from him, watching Sam intensely. He was a massive man, befitting his booming voice. In some ways, he reminded Sam of Ferand. He was dressed in a black shirt and pants that revealed his muscles and heavy build. He was a man Sam did not want to trifle with.
“What did you do?” Tara asked Daven.
“Someone attempted to heal him, but it wasn’t complete. I used a different technique. It was a form of alchemy, but probably not the kind they teach in the Academy.”
He said it with a hint of a laugh.
“It’s not that. It’s just that we all tried to heal him and were unsuccessful. There was something of a scar in his mind that we had to peel away, and—”
“A scar?” Luthian took a step toward Sam, frowning at him. “What do you mean there was a scar?”
“Just that,” replied Tara. “He had some sort of injury within his mind. We think the Grandam placed it when she attacked him. Either her or Ferand. That’s how they were able to take the vrandal from him.”
“They have other ways of taking the vrandal,” Daven said.
“Then I don’t know,” she said.
Daven reached out, and Sam realized the vrandal on Daven’s hand was different than the one he’d worn before. The styling was altered. Rather than thick loops of metal around each of his three fingers, these were thin bands. The plate over his palm had changed to almost a starburst pattern. It glowed softly as he held it in place.
“Why would this tunnel connect to the Academy?” Sam asked.
“The Academy is old,” Luthian said. “Older than those who studied the arcane arts, and possibly even older than alchemy. Someone of real power founded it, and as far as we have ever learned, it guards something ancient. A secret power.”
Tara looked from Daven to Luthian, her eyes growing wider. “Older than the arcane arts?”
“Older,” Luthian said.
“You mean the Nighlan?” Sam asked.
Daven snorted. “I’d be careful with that. And it’s not the Nighlan. They have been clamoring for this place for too long. Some think the Academy was started simply to oppose the Nighlan, but it’s been alchemy that has done the real legwork. Not that users of the arcane arts haven’t benefited from it, but they would rather sit in the Academy, or sit on their council, or simply sit rather than take action. They don’t think there’s anything.”
“So, what are they after?” Sam asked, looking at them. “I overheard Ferand talking about a lock.”
“A lock that will unleash this power,” Luthian said. “At least, that’s what we think.” He watched Sam. “We don’t know what it is. But we came to prevent them from succeeding.”
Alchemist Assault (The Alchemist Book 2) Page 25
