Alchemist Illusion (The Alchemist Book 3)

by Dan Michaelson

  He let the power slide forward. The edge of the barrier pressed against the nearest of the two attackers. Sam continued to push that circle of power outward, forcing it beyond him, where it met resistance. It slammed into the other man, and Sam braced for the impact.

  The man staggered.

  Sam could feel the energy within him fading. The longer he waited, the more likely it would be that he wouldn’t have enough strength to escape.

  He drew as much energy from the source as he could. The edge hardened, and he twisted it outward. The man dropped to the ground, and Sam sighed in relief. But the man got to his feet and held his hands out at an awkward angle. He rotated them strangely, and the power he held onto began to shift, sending a band of energy toward Sam.

  Sam was forced backward, and his head slammed into the stone behind him. Waves of nausea rolled through him again, a reminder of what had happened before. Forcing that sense down, he knew he would have to find a way to call upon the source.

  He didn’t have enough strength to do so, though. He was already tired, and this man was far more capable than Sam was.

  There might be something else.

  He reached for the vrandal in his pocket. He’d avoided using it, not wanting to depend upon it, but desperation gave him an idea. When he’d used it before, he had depended on drawing the power within the vrandal itself. What would happen if he used his connection to the source in addition to what he could use from the vrandal? Could he call upon even more power?

  Slipping the vrandal onto his hand, Sam dipped into the connection to the source and called on that energy. He could feel it buried deep within him, though it was slipping away and growing fainter by the second. He needed to find a better connection to it, some way to solidify it, but he wasn’t sure if he could.

  Sam couldn’t use the same type of power he used before. He considered one technique that stuck with him from what he knew of the lessons within the Academy. It was an advanced use of angulation. But even though he understood that angulation and the power behind it, he wasn’t entirely sure if his use of the source would make a difference. Still, he thought he had to try.

  He let out a burst of power, wrapping it in a tight shell around him.

  There came a surge of energy. Then an explosion.

  The attacker stood there for a moment, but Sam maintained his hold on the energy and started to push. The almanac described the energy as power, but it was more than just that. He had to find a way to trap that energy, to twist it as it came out of the vrandal. When he had used the vrandal before, there had been no intention behind it, only the explosion of power. He had used it to defend the Academy. This was the first time he combined it with the energy from the source.

  He began to push out in a circle of power, using a similar technique to what the almanac described, and then he solidified it. Using the vrandal this time, solidifying that power was far easier for him. He still viewed the vrandal as a crutch, though, and while it allowed him to access his natural power, it also did something else—required that he call upon something he wasn’t in complete control of.

  Two of the men got to their feet. A burst of deep green energy flowed out from Sam and swirled around him, then exploded. The force threw the men backward, slamming them into the wall. The third man created a barrier, but Sam overwhelmed it and blasted the man backward along the hallway.

  The right combination of power and pattern was impressive. Sam had seen Tara using different techniques in the time that he had been working with her but had not thought that he would be able to do something similar. The entire time that he had been at the Academy, he had intended to stay—mostly so that he could learn as much as possible—but had not thought that he would ever have the opportunity to use magic.

  It made what he was doing now all the more impressive to him.

  He spun and headed back down the stairs, checking each landing but seeing nothing. With every step, he worried about what the Nighlan intended. He worried about what happened to Lilith, even though he also wondered whether he should be concerned for her or more concerned for himself. She had captured him here, after all.

  But the Nighlan were a threat greater than just what had happened to Sam. They had proven that with their willingness to attack at the Academy.

  And this place might have something similar. There might be something similar here at this place as there was within the Academy.

  Sam raced down the tower until he finally reached the main level. He came across the double doors that guarded the room with the lanterns.

  If he could alert the others of where he was, then they might be able to help him.

  Power began to build from the other side of the door. He backed away, already starting to create a barrier around him, but Sam could tell it was going to be too late. He dipped into the source and pushed the energy outward through the vrandal, creating a ring of protection.

  The door exploded outward, and power slammed toward him. He managed to solidify the barrier just in time.

  He stared at the haze in the air from his use of the vrandal. The deep green energy mixed with some of the power from the source. He tried to see through it, but the light made it difficult for him to know what was beyond.

  Something crashed into him. He bounced off the wall behind him, but the barrier took the brunt of the blow. Sam groaned and looked up as the pale white light cleared.

  And came face-to-face with Bethal.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Bethal approached him, glowing with the pale white light she held. Sam had a difficult time seeing anything else other than that light. When he had faced her before, he had scarcely fathomed just how much power she could summon. Seeing it now, seeing the powerful brightness of the energy she possessed, he became ever more aware of just how powerful an arcane arts user that she was.

  “And here I thought Havash had made a mistake with you,” she said, a hint of a sneer edging her words.

  She took a step toward him, but Sam focused on trying to pull as much power as possible from the source to maintain control. He raced through what he had read about in the almanac, trying to develop a pattern that might be effective against her. She had far more experience than he did when it came to magic and the arcane arts. She would be more capable than him. He might have the knowledge gleaned from his time in the Academy and the library, but she had that knowledge and the skill to use it.

  The white light built from her as she struck the barrier and attempted to push through it, but Sam held on to everything he could, reaching deep within the source to keep it in place. He used the vrandal and twisted what he drew out from him, trying to find the necessary energy to force it outward.

  “Interesting. I wasn’t expecting you to have gained any real competence.” Bethal looked around, her mouth pressed into a tight line. “And I certainly hadn't expected you to know of that.”

  Sam had to find the energy within him to resist, but it became increasingly difficult. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could fight. He could feel her forcing herself against the power he held, but something else was within it. A faint surge, a painful burn that was familiar to him.

  She was trying to separate him from the vrandal. Did she think its use was still essential for him to access power? In some ways, it might be. Without the vrandal, Sam wasn’t sure he could create a barrier. He also might find himself using too much power.

  He wasn’t helpless without the vrandal, though.

  The pain that worked through him was similar to what he had felt when she had used her power on him when trying to take the vrandal before. For a moment, his vision started to fade. He could feel the way she tried to split him free from the vrandal. He even feared that he would lose his eyesight yet again.

  But there was a part of him that knew the truth.

  He did not need the vrandal to reach for the source.

  It might help facilitate it. It might have strengthened him, but it wasn’t required.

  H
e pulled the vrandal away, slipping it off his hand and then into his pocket. The moment the vrandal came off his hand, a wave of relief washed through him. The pain and burning began to fade before disappearing altogether.

  She could only hurt him through the vrandal.

  It was something that he would have to consider later. There had to be some part of what she had done, some part of how she had harmed him, that worked with it, and he would try to understand what that was another time.

  Sam reached for the source. He found the connection difficult, and he struggled as Bethal used her arcane arts against him. He could feel her trying to force her way closer to him, and with each step she took, the difficulty of reaching the source intensified.

  She cocked her head to the side, studying him. There was a new surge of power coming from her. “You don’t need the device any longer?”

  Sam managed to maintain his connection to the source and tried to push everything within him outward so he could force her back, but he was using too much. Exhaustion overwhelmed him. All he wanted was to lie down and rest.

  No. He couldn’t let his strength fade. He would have to find another way, but what would it take?

  Bethal didn’t give him the time he needed to figure it out. She stalked closer to him, and another burst of energy exploded from her. “I knew you’d be trouble when you first came to the Academy. Of limited potential, or so I thought.” She frowned. “Havash managed to shield you from me. Maybe he knew more than I realized. Had I known, I might have claimed you for myself.”

  She grinned as she took another step toward him and the power she was holding on to burst outward again in a pale, glowing light.

  Sam could see the lines of power in the way that she was drawing on that energy. Her arcane arts, and the angulation, fit with a pattern that he recognized. He didn’t need to know how to form that pattern to identify it in her.

  But she was calling upon dozens of different lines of angulated power.

  Tara had shared with him how difficult it was for her to reach for even a few at one time. It was not only an impressive level of control, but it might be more than anyone that he had been around could do.

  He could feel that energy coming from her, but he could also feel something else. The lines that emerged from the pattern determined what the technique would do. There had to be some way for him to use those lines to disrupt her, to prevent her from using them against him. What would happen if he targeted one of those lines?

  She took another step toward him, and he struggled to keep the barrier up. What he wanted to do next would involve not only maintaining the barrier but accessing another source of power. He was going to have to find some way of carving through one of those lines. Maybe more.

  As she neared, the complexity of her spell pattern became even clearer to him. He could see how it was woven together. The brightness came from the pattern as it burst out from her.

  She grinned at him. “You might be useful. I would never have thought that we would want someone like you, but given the challenges you have posed, perhaps forcing you to serve us would be the best option for you.”

  “I’m not… going… to serve.” It took everything in Sam’s power to get the words out through gritted teeth, his jaw clenched against the energy of the arcane arts he felt.

  She clasped her hands in front of her. “How do you think you will withstand me when I tear that trinket apart?”

  There was that term again.

  He didn’t believe that she was working with Lilith and the people who had abducted him, but the choice of words couldn’t be coincidental.

  More than that, he doubted she knew he had the original vrandal, the one that the alchemists had modeled theirs after.

  He held the barrier as much as he could, solidifying it. A pale green energy emanated. Was that just the source? Or was this just alchemy, something that he hadn’t realized that he was drawing upon?

  Thunder rumbled. This close to the entrance of the tower, Sam felt that vibration much better. It pounded on something within him, and when the lightning came, it crackled, giving him a surge of power that flowed within him.

  It was almost as if the storm replenished his connection to the source. He tried not to think about what that might mean, focused only on the threat Bethal posed to him.

  With another step, Bethal came closer. She watched him, curiosity written on her face. The lines of power didn’t change. Whatever angulation she used allowed her to carve through the barrier.

  Sam focused on the source within him, and he tried to call up a separate piece of it. He cried out in pain, and a satisfied look came to Bethal’s face, almost as if she believed him defeated. He screamed, letting that power explode from him, and he pushed out a tiny fragment of energy, different from the barrier. He angled it and directed it toward two of the strands of power within the pattern she held.

  He wasn’t sure it would do anything or if he would have the necessary control to target it, but the burst of power from the source struck and carved through those lines.

  Her power fluttered for a moment. Bethal quickly reasserted control, but it was long enough that Sam understood what he had seen.

  She looked at him with a different expression. “Much more troublesome than I would’ve expected,” she muttered.

  Sam ignored her. What he needed was to maintain that connection. It was faint, but the pounding of the storm outside allowed him to feel fulfilled with energy. The last time he had reached into the source to draw upon a separate section, it had hurt, and he braced for the inevitable pain. But this time, he was bound and determined to call upon as much as he could to force his way forward. He thought about the power that was there and split off another tiny fragment. He used some of his knowledge of angulation and borrowed that skill, thinking of how he could sweep that energy together and how he might be able to push it from him and at her.

  He carved through her strands of power. When she tried to reestablish control, she couldn’t. His connection to the source prevented her from being able to stretch outward and find her own connection. Sam pushed forward, and the barrier pushed Bethal back.

  That wasn’t exactly what he wanted, though. If he headed outside and ran, he’d find himself quickly overtaken by Bethal—or anyone who was with her.

  He needed to get into the lantern room. That was the key to getting some answers for himself. The lantern room was the way that he was going to reach those in the Academy. Maybe Chasten or Havash, or even Tara.

  Sam shifted the barrier as he took a step. He used angulation techniques, mixing some aspect of the arcane arts with what he was doing now with the source. It was all there for him, still settled within him, knowledge and understanding that had remained buried.

  He couldn’t split the source the way that it seemed Bethal could, though. It left him at a disadvantage. She had access to more complicated patterns than he did. If only he could call upon that power with a greater draw, he might be able to come up with how to replicate what Bethal was doing. For now, there was something that he might be able to do to slow her.

  It was one particular tenet of angulation. The theory behind it was simple and straightforward. The pattern was precise, requiring intense concentration, so that if he were to disrupt it, it would run the risk of unsettling her own pattern and forcing it into a new one. Bethal likely had a way to compensate for that, but maybe he could carve away some of her ability to attack him.

  He slid that connection forward and cut through her strands, and Bethal cried out. He ignored it, and instead, he focused on holding on to that separation. How much longer could he maintain it? It took considerable effort for him to hold on to three strands. Both his strength in separating those strands and his ability to keep the barrier up quickly began to fade.

  Sam pushed the barrier forward, and Bethal seemed too startled to react. She stood in place, and when he shifted the barrier, she stumbled as it pushed her back.

  He used that openin
g to dart forward but could already feel her recovering. She shifted to another pattern of angulation. The strands that he had severed didn’t overwhelm her. She had changed, much as he had feared she would, recognizing the disruption in her pattern and compensating quite quickly for it. This was a true master of angulation. Sam expected nothing less. Not from somebody who had taught advanced angulation within the Academy.

  Power burst against him once more. Sam staggered forward, barely maintaining his hold on the barrier. He reached the doors leading into the lantern room. Another moment. That was all he needed.

  Bethal took a step toward him, and Sam stumbled backward into the room. If he could close the doors…

  He tried to step forward again and reach them, but her power made it difficult for him to move. His barrier slipped, and she took another step toward him.

  Sam closed his eyes, and he could practically feel her angulated power—a side effect of the blindness she had previously instilled upon him. Strangely, Bethal might have been the reason he had grown stronger in his connection to the strands of power, knowing the nature of that magic and how it interconnected.

  He took another step back.

  Not that way, he told himself. He needed to find his way forward, to shut the doors.

  Bethal pushed against his barrier, which continued to fade. Sam had to try something different, find the strength within him to collapse the pressure upon him. He had to cut off the strands again.

  Sam pushed outward, thinking about what he knew about angulation, trying to use that against Bethal.

  Something struck him, and he yelped.

  Bethal let out a triumphant cry and took a step toward him.

  Sam tried reaching for the source.

  He focused on the strands from Bethal. He could see them clearly now. They were angulation. They were a pattern. Which meant they needed precision.

  If he could disrupt that, then he could hold her back.

  Sam pushed against her angulated lines.