Alchemist Illusion (The Alchemist Book 3)

by Dan Michaelson

  Sam focused on the power down below, continuing to push down into it, trying to call it much as he could.

  He used the source, sending it streaking into the pattern.

  But that wasn’t it.

  It wasn’t a matter of using the source, dumping it into the seal.

  There had to be some technique.

  And Tara was right. This was a series of alchemy symbols.

  Much like the almanac was a series of alchemy symbols, but it required his power to activate it to use the arcane arts.

  He looked down at it.

  Could it be like that?

  He focused on the vrandal, not just on the source, but also used the source, pushing power through the vrandal.

  And as it struck the seal, he saw the symbols begin to shimmer and then began to take on a different shape.

  “We will have to do this,” he said.

  “What?” She looked back at him, frowning, before turning her attention back to the stairs. She must be feeling something as well. Sam could feel the pressure against him and could feel the way that the Nighlan must be getting close to breaking into the room, but they had time still. And if they could lock this, maybe the combined effort of him using the vrandal, the source, along with Tara using her arcane arts, would be enough.

  “It’s the same as the almanac. Try this. Open yourself to the source—”

  “I don’t have the source,” she said.

  “It starts that way on every page in the almanac,” Sam said. “So open yourself to the source, push out two lines of power at forty-five degrees, pressing them toward the contralateral pole and then begin to push them at a gradual rotation of ten degrees for each turn.”

  Tara turned her attention to the seal, and she began to glow with her arcane arts. As that power began to flow, she was pushing outward. He could see the precise way that her angulated lines came together and then gradually started to spiral.

  Sam continued reading and realized that it wasn’t just her power. She was spiraling it, but he had to do something as well.

  He stepped on the other side of the seal, and he formed a single line out of the source and began to weave it into her spiral. It turned more slowly as he pushed that outward.

  “You must be doing something,” she said. “Because I can feel everything start to slow.”

  “I’m adding to it. I think…”

  Sam wasn’t exactly sure if this was right, but as soon as that connected power struck the seal, he felt a surge. It happened quickly, like a hammer slamming through the room, an explosion of power.

  “Keep pushing,” he said.

  He could feel resistance, and he had no way to figure out why, or what it was, but there was resistance.

  And then he realized. They were twisting a lock. They were sealing this back up again.

  They needed just a little bit longer. He couldn’t tell how much longer, only that they had to be close. He could feel that power building, the energy within him, and he continued to push, letting that connection fill him.

  And then there came another trembling.

  Something shifted. Sam could feel it, even if he couldn’t see it.

  The ground glowed with a faint greenish light, completely discolored, as if emerging of both the white of the arcane arts and the green of whatever power he had. Not alchemy, though alchemy often carried the same color.

  And then it faded, disappearing altogether.

  He staggered back.

  The ground trembled.

  But the lock held.

  It would work.

  Sam looked over to Tara. Before he had a chance to say anything, he felt some aspect of a barrier he had a hand in holding fail.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “What was that?” Tara asked, looking in his direction. She traced a hand through her hair, her jaw clenched, and her eyes narrowed in concentration.

  Sam could feel the way she was calling on power, even if he didn’t know whether they would be able to stop all of this. Could they succeed? The Nighlan were simply too powerful. The two of them were inexperienced, and it seemed like those within the Academy with the necessary experience did not have the right strength.

  Sam detected some energy. He wasn’t sure if it was the arcane arts, the Nighlan working through the barrier around the Academy, or simply the barrier that he had placed in the room.

  “We have to move,” he said.

  “Then what?”

  “We have to make sure the Nighlan can’t get down here.”

  “Even if they do, what would they be able to do?”

  Sam had no idea. Bethal certainly didn’t seem deterred by anything that he had done.

  “Let’s just move quickly,” he said. “I don’t know what it’s going to take, only that we need to try to block this place.

  “Sam,” Tara said, raising a hand. “I can feel…” She frowned and then opened her eyes. “I can feel the air changing. There’s an energy to it. I don’t know what to make of it.”

  He focused on it. There was something taking place.

  It seemed to filter through the Study Hall, toward them, into the chamber.

  Were they trying to choke them off with some sort of power?

  He wouldn’t put it past Bethal to do anything to harm them and keep them from escaping.

  He took another breath, and that power continued to filter through. It was faint, shimmering as if it were carried upon the air itself.

  That was what they had felt. It was that strange trembling of power that they had detected. That was what had been pushing against the barrier.

  Somehow, he had to seal that off as well.

  “Come with me,” he said, taking Tara by the hand. He led her back up the stairs, and they stopped near the opening. Once he triggered it, the stairs reformed, sealing off the area below.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  He flipped to the front of the almanac. A simple pattern. “We need to work on this together. You remember what the first page instructed?”

  Tara looked at him with a sharp expression. “I remember it, but—”

  “Just try it.”

  She studied him for another moment before shrugging. Tara started to build power. The lines began to pour out of her and spin. “What do you want me to do with it?”

  “Use it around the room.”

  “Even if I do that, Sam, I don’t know that it’s going to be strong enough to withstand the Nighlan. If they were able to knock down the barrier that Havash placed—”

  “It’s not just going to be yours.”

  Sam began mixing in the same basic barrier as she worked, adding that power to what Tara created. The barrier solidified, and Sam pushed his power to hold it there.

  “I don’t know how to leave it locked in place,” he said. “The almanac doesn’t talk about how to hold it, only to form the patterns.”

  “You have read more on the arcane arts than any student here at the Academy other than me,” she said, smiling slightly. “I’m sure the technique is similar, given what you have so far described. You need to find an endpoint and anchor it.”

  He turned to Tara, watching as she used her angulation and how she then turned it in a tight connection, one that was enough that it required significant control. Of course, she could do that.

  He wasn’t sure that he had that same control.

  He also wasn’t sure if the source required that kind of control.

  While it did involve him understanding how to use the source, the control within it was not quite as important. There wasn’t the same need for precision.

  Sam mimicked certain aspects of turning her power, using the same thing with the source, and gradually it began to seal away. As he forced it from him, the barrier shifted, wrapping within what Tara had formed.

  It held.

  “I don’t know if that’s going to be strong enough,” she said.

  “It’s not only your magic anymore.” Sam studied the bar
rier, the way he had woven his own connection through it, adding to what Tara had done. There was more than enough power within it, and he could feel the way the two energies augmented each other as if one built upon the other and created something more.

  True Alchemy.

  “What now?” she asked.

  “Now we need to go and see what the Nighlan have done.”

  “If they’ve attacked…”

  Sam nodded, slipping the vrandal back onto his hand. He prepared for what he might need to do. Had he already learned enough from the almanac to be able to push back the Nighlan?

  As he looked over at Tara, he realized that he wouldn’t have to fight them on his own. She would be with him. So would Havash, and perhaps others too. If it were a combination of power, of Alchemy, then maybe they would be able to defeat the Nighlan.

  They hurried through the tunnel, and he paused when they reached the door. “I think we should seal this off again.”

  “A double barrier? Now you’re starting to sound like Havash.”

  “If we can prevent the Nighlan from reaching it…”

  She started to pull upon power, the same angulated lines beginning to build. As she weaved it around the room, Sam noticed something and nudged one of her lines.

  “What was that?” she asked.

  “I’m not sure. Just something I could feel that wasn’t quite right,” he said.

  It had forced her power to twist just a bit more, but he was able to invert that line slightly in doing so. He could feel the way that power angled a hint more than it had before. He then started to add his own energy into what she was doing, practically seeing what needed to happen. As he wove his within hers, he felt the lines meld together.

  Before the barrier sealed completely, he focused on the inside of the room where they had placed the other barrier. Sam stretched his connection to the source outward, and he nudged the line there. There came a burst of power, but then it relaxed just a little, enough that he was able to feel it settle.

  He finished the barrier in this room. When it solidified, he pulled it back, adding his own hint of power to it. The barrier was holding. It was going to work.

  Tara watched him in amazement. “I don’t know what you’re doing, but I can feel it. How have you learned to have such control so quickly?”

  “When you don’t have anything else to do but practice, it isn’t all that hard. Besides, it’s not as if I haven’t studied magic this entire time. It’s just that I didn't know how to do anything with it until now.”

  A sense of power came bubbling up from above, and Sam turned his attention toward it. They wouldn’t be able to stay here much longer.

  “They will know how to reach the corridors,” Sam said. Bethal could have helped them enter the hidden tunnels and navigate anywhere in the Academy.

  “Havash has worked on that. You didn’t feel it?” Tara asked.

  Sam frowned, shaking his head. “I didn’t feel anything.”

  “There should have been a barrier around the walls. Perhaps you were able to push through it because of the vrandal?”

  Sam didn’t think that was the case. He hadn’t used the vrandal to enter the walls. In his rush to get here, he had only been paying attention to the power he sensed throughout the Academy. Maybe he had simply moved the barriers off to the side without realizing it.

  He closed his eyes, thinking about the power he detected, and he began to feel it. There were traces of power woven all throughout, which surprised him. He felt the way they streaked through the tunnels.

  Havash had attempted to seal off the hidden hallways, but there was something about the way he had done it that felt incomplete.

  “Come on,” he said, grabbing Tara by the hand.

  They raced through the halls, needing to get out of the tunnels before he could do anything more. He reached the nearest access point, slammed his hand against it, and the wall came open.

  Something burst into the tunnel.

  Sam formed the barrier around himself, and then he shifted it, sharpening it into a narrow band and sweeping it outward. It carved through the attacker. He tried not to think about what he had done or how he had done it, only aware of the power he had used. It knocked down the attacker.

  Sam stepped forward, pulling Tara with him. A man lay on the ground, dressed in a dark jacket and pants.

  “Nighlan,” Tara whispered.

  Sam pressed his hand against the wall, sealing the door closed again. They had arrived in the main part of the Academy.

  “What now?” Tara asked.

  “Now, you need to hold off anyone who might be coming.”

  “What about you?”

  “I need to focus on what Havash did to see if I can add to it.”

  “Sam—”

  She didn’t have the chance to finish. A shadow moved along the hall, and Sam glanced over to see three Nighlan striding toward them.

  One of them was blasted by an invisible Academy sentry, and the other two turned toward him. Tara built power from her, and Sam was pleased to note that she used one of the patterns from the almanac. He could add to it, augment what she was doing to help make it stronger, but he needed to do something else first.

  He turned his attention to the hidden tunnels. The power stretching along them was all connected, much like the tunnels were. He could feel the way that Havash had woven that pattern together, creating a connection of magic.

  Somehow, he would have to add something to it, but he couldn’t tell what that needed to be. Some aspect of the pattern was familiar to him, but it wasn’t one of the patterns he had seen in the almanac.

  Could he feel his way along that pattern?

  Sam focused on the way that energy was woven, and he pushed along it. He reached into the source, and he pushed power out from him. He had to go by feel and react in a way that would allow him to find his way through this. Sam could feel the energy here and how the power was woven throughout the tunnels. He tried to envision the way Havash would have tied that energy up within the walls. There was something about the flow that seemed familiar to him, and he traced along it.

  He recognized the pattern. It was one that he had read about in a complex book on angulation.

  Even though he didn’t have the strength to do the same thing, he wasn’t sure if he even needed to. There were aspects of this pattern that he could copy, but there was an aspect of what he had seen in the almanac that might be helpful too.

  Tara cried out, and Sam looked down the hall. There were three others now facing her, and the hidden sentry was nowhere to be found. He recognized the technique she was using, one of the attack patterns from the almanac.

  He hurriedly pushed power into it, swirling it into the spiral that it required. There came a burst, and it exploded and sent the three Nighlan back. Tara nodded in his direction, then headed toward the nearest of the fallen men. One by one, she slammed power into them, knocking them out.

  Sam turned his attention back to the tunnels. If he couldn’t help seal this off, then Bethal and the other Nighlan would be able to move through the Academy and attack unnoticed.

  Slowly, power flowed along the vrandal, twisting through it. It seemed almost as if the magic he was adding from the source knew exactly what to do, and it wove around what Havash had placed. Those lines of power began to twist and expand into something greater. The seal solidified.

  Sam staggered back, and Tara reached for him and kept him from falling. “What did you do?” she asked.

  “I added to what Havash placed around the tunnels.”

  “Was that in the almanac?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe. I had to feel my way along it.”

  “How do you know you didn’t damage it?”

  He shrugged. “Test it.”

  She frowned at him, then turned her attention to the door. She glowed with the arcane arts, power that was flowing from her, several different distinct lines mingling. As they did, Sam tried to cop
y even a fraction of that, thinking that maybe he could separate his own angulation and replicate what she was doing, but it didn’t work quite the same way for him.

  She tried to press upon it, but the barrier Sam—and Havash—had placed was too much. It prevented her from being able to open it. “What if there’s someone in the tunnels?”

  If there were, then they would have to look for them later.

  He let power be his guide through the halls.

  Five Nighlan made their way up the stairs.

  Sam looked at Tara and mouthed, “Page seventeen.”

  She furrowed her brow for a moment before nodding. She rapidly formed the pattern of angulation, stretching one line out, twisting it back at the necessary forty-five degrees, before turning it up. Another line of angulation formed from her, replicating the same one she had just created before diving downward toward her feet. He began to use his connection to the source, starting to work his connection into the pattern. This was not destructive magic. Just a trap.

  As the pattern stretched away from Tara, she glanced over to Sam.

  “I don’t know how to close this one off.”

  “I think I do,” he whispered.

  Sam felt the power as it sealed around the Nighlan. As Tara’s magic wove into his, he pulled it back. It was similar to the first lesson he’d learned from the almanac. He pulled inward until the power wrapped entirely around the pursuers, then he twisted.

  They were contained, and the containment continued to constrict. It dragged them inward, more and more power squeezing. The Nighlan weren’t going to be able to do anything.

  They headed up into the tolath tower. They worked away from floor to floor. At one point, they came across a Nighlan in one of the halls, and Sam and Tara work together to hold him, sealing him inside. The combined power they were holding trapped the Nighlan and kept him from breaking free. Sam constricted it enough until he collapsed. He didn’t want to kill the Nighlan—at least, he didn’t think so—but he certainly didn’t want the person to come around and cause trouble for others in the tower.

  By the time he reached the first-year section of the tower, he was thankful they had only uncovered one other Nighlan.