Blood of the Earth (24 page)

Alexander already knew his course. He’d told Phane that he was coming for the wraith queen as a ruse. He knew full well that he didn’t have the power necessary to penetrate the underground fortress where Phane was holding the linchpin of his plan. Alexander intended to pursue the only other option available to him: the potion that the sovereigns had described. That course would take him where he needed to go anyway.

During the discussion, Isabel sat straight-backed, listening to others debate her future. After a heated argument between Hanlon and Regent Samuel over killing her to eliminate the threat of the shades once and for all, Alexander stood up. The table fell silent.

“If you wish her dead, then come try to kill her,” he said to Regent Samuel. The tension in the room was heavy and oppressive.

Regent Samuel blinked, then swallowed as the truth of what he was calling for became real to him. He remained seated.

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” Alexander said. “We’re going to follow through with our plan as it stood before Phane’s visit. Nothing has changed … except the death of Boaberous and Shivini.”

“And you’ve been blinded,” Bella added. “You might want to reconsider your part in the plan. Surely there are others you could send to recover the keystones and the ingredients you need.”

“No, Mom,” Alexander said, shaking his head. “This is my part. Even blind, I can see better than most, and what I can’t see, Chloe can.”

Prior to the resumption of the war council, Lucky had given him a healing draught but it didn’t restore his vision. He surmised that the complete coldness of the aether had literally frozen his eyes, rendering him permanently blind … barring some extraordinary healing magic. Isabel cried quietly at her inability to call on the light to restore his vision, but he just smiled at her and told her that she had lost her light saving him from a fate far worse than blindness.

Alexander fixed Regent Samuel with his glittering eyes, even though he could only see him with his magical vision.

“I will hear no more talk of murdering my wife, not for any reason. Is that clear?”

Samuel started to say something but thought better of it and simply nodded stiffly.

“Our course is set,” Alexander said. “In one week, Abigail will lead the bulk of our forces into Fellenden and I will depart for the Reishi Isle. We have much to do before then. Let’s make the most of the time we have.”

With that he took Isabel’s hand and left the war council with his wife.

After breakfast the next morning, he and Isabel went to the Hall of Magic to see Kelvin and Hax. They’d sent word of progress with the books that Alexander had retrieved from Benesh Reishi’s keep.

Lucky was also in Kelvin’s workshop when they arrived. “Ah, there you are, my boy,” Lucky said. “How are your eyes?”

“They hurt and I still can’t see,” Alexander said.

“I suspect the pain will subside over time,” Lucky said, “but I doubt they will heal without powerful magic. I’ll begin doing some research into more specific healing concoctions. Perhaps I’ll be able to find something that will help.”

“Don’t make it a priority,” Alexander said, turning to Hax. He hadn’t told Isabel about Lucky’s assignment and now that Phane had gotten his hooks into her, he didn’t intend to. He loved her and wanted to trust her with everything but he knew better than to underestimate the Reishi Prince.

“What can you tell me about these books?”

Wizard Hax placed the first of the volumes on the table before him.

“This one contains information about the unique nature of an adept’s magic,” Wizard Hax said. “I’ve read it through and can summarize it for you, but you’ll benefit more once I’ve had the time to make a complete translation.”

“Tell me what you can,” Alexander said.

“Of course. It’s really quite fascinating,” Wizard Hax said. “The vast majority of wizards experience the firmament in the same way, as a limitless reservoir of potential that’s separate and distinct from their consciousness. Benesh Reishi reached the conclusion, after a great deal of well-documented and painstaking research, mind you, that an adept’s consciousness and the firmament are somehow fused together.

“Where a normal wizard is at risk of falling into the firmament and becoming lost to the endless possibilities, you are able to merge your consciousness with the firmament, in essence becoming one with the source of reality. The implications are staggering.

“First, there’s the issue of locality. A normal wizard can inject his will into the firmament and cause effects within his local area, but the farther away he tries to change the nature of reality, the more difficult it becomes, until he reaches a range where he’s unable to manifest any change at all.

“Your descriptions of the way your clairvoyance works would seem to bear this out. You are able to see across vast distances without difficulty. That fact seems to substantiate Benesh Reishi’s claim that an adept has no restrictions on the range of his magic. In effect, you can wield your power anywhere within the firmament without regard to your physical location.

“Second, there’s the issue of sheer power. A typical wizard must guard against the pull of the firmament or become lost, but you are able to join with it without fear. The result is vastly more potent. Unfortunately, Benesh Reishi wasn’t unable to discover how to inject his will into the firmament in the way that other wizards do. Like your magic, his was based on perception rather than substance. He was able to make others see and hear nearly anything he could imagine, yet he couldn’t cause any type of actual physical effects within the world of time and substance.

“Your magic is similar, in that you can see a great deal, yet you are unable to actually cast spells in the conventional sense.”

“This is all very interesting, and I’m looking forward to reading your translation,” Alexander said, “but it doesn’t offer me anything that I can use right now.”

Wizard Hax nodded. “Yes, of course. Benesh Reishi discovered that his magic was similar to a muscle. The more he used it the stronger it became. Over time, with ongoing practice, he was able to increase the size, duration, and detail of his illusions. He set out a rigorous practice schedule for himself and followed it closely to expand his abilities. Similarly, I believe that your abilities will only reach their full potential with regular use and practice.

“From the information in this volume, I can’t say if you will develop further abilities, but I can say with relative certainty that the abilities you have will become more readily available and controllable with routine use.”

“All right,” Alexander said, nodding. “That’s confirmation of the advice the Reishi Sovereigns gave me. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but good enough for now. Did any of the other books deal with the nature of an adept?”

“I’m afraid not,” Wizard Hax said. “The next most promising was the treatise on Mindbender. I still have more to translate, but I’ve been able to learn some things of interest. It describes how the sword was created, which Mage Gamaliel has expressed great interest in, but it also deals with how the sword can best be used.”

Alexander sat forward.

“It seems that it was designed to function with the unique connection to the firmament possessed by an adept,” Hax said. “In other words, it probably wouldn’t work for anyone except you. Benesh Reishi was quite ambitious. He sought to essentially duplicate his mind and therefore his link with the firmament within the sword. His goal was to create a sword that could offer him the perception necessary to project his illusions anywhere he could see.

“Essentially, he was trying to create a sword that had your gift of clairvoyance. He reasoned that the combination of being able to see anywhere, coupled with his ability to manifest illusions anywhere, would allow him to act anywhere in the entire Seven Isles from the safety of his keep.

“Unfortunately, he didn’t achieve the result he desired. While he was successful in creating a semisentient sword with an adept’s link to the firmament, the powers the sword manifested didn’t live up to his hopes. Instead of clairvoyance, Mindbender was able to see into the minds of the enemy he faced while also duplicating his talent with illusions.

“He was actually disappointed by the result, doubly so when he realized that creating the sword had imbalanced his own connection to the firmament, eventually leading to his death. In the end, he considered the sword to be a curse and ultimately his greatest failure.”

“Is there any information about using it more effectively?” Alexander asked.

“It seems that the sword’s magic is similar to an adept’s link to the firmament,” Hax said. “Practice is the key. After a while, Benesh Reishi learned how to condition his mind so that the sword would believe he was in a fight. Once he developed that mental discipline, he was able to practice with the sword much more often.

“He found that creating illusions with Mindbender was much the same as using his own magic. He simply visualized the result he wanted and released it into the sword, much the same way a wizard releases an image of his desired effect into the firmament. He found that many of the more traditional visualization exercises taught to wizard apprentices were very helpful in training his mind to create more detailed and therefore more believable illusions.”

“I can help you with that,” Isabel said. “I learned a few of those exercises while training to take the trials on the fortress island.”

“I guess I’m going to be spending a lot of time practicing then,” Alexander said. “What about the other two books?”

“This next one deals with the magic magnifying effects of crystals,” Hax said. “It seems that crystals have the innate ability to shield a wizard’s mind from the pull of the firmament, thereby allowing a more full and complete connection to be made with less possibility of being drawn in and lost. Conversely, crystals also possess the ability to draw out and contain a wizard’s link to the firmament. I don’t quite understand the significance of this property just yet. The dialect used in this section is unfamiliar, so I may be misunderstanding it somewhat, though it is clear that Benesh Reishi was quite excited about this particular aspect of crystals.

“He created a crystal chamber to test the limits of this theory and found that it had little effect on his magic. It did, however, allow other wizards to substantially increase the power of their spells.”

“Could we use the crystal chamber in the Keep to help Kelvin enchant items with greater power?” Alexander asked with renewed interest.

“Perhaps,” Hax said.

“I’d like you to try, Kelvin,” Alexander said. “The Reishi Sovereigns believe that they could create a device that could draw a shade in and imprison it permanently, but they also believe it would take the power of an arch mage to construct such a device. If the crystal chamber can increase your connection to the firmament, then maybe you can create such a device.”

“I’ll give the matter some thought,” Kelvin said, “but I believe it would be wise to attempt lesser enchantments first to test the limits of the chamber.”

“I agree,” Alexander said. “I’ll dispel the barrier and command the sentinel to allow you and my father passage into the lower chambers while I’m away. Please continue, Wizard Hax.”

“The last book contains a line of research that Benesh Reishi was pursuing in his final year that is staggering in its implications if it’s possible at all. He was trying to create an item that would function as an artificial link to the firmament similar to Mindbender, except that it would allow the wielder to cast spells in the same way as a wizard without requiring a connection to the firmament.”

“Was he successful?” Alexander asked.

“No,” Hax said, “it appears that he was in the final stages of researching the possibility when he died. His research is promising, though. I haven’t studied it enough to make a determination and I believe that the Guild Mage should review it as well, but I suspect that it may be possible, although very difficult.”

“Would such an item allow one who hasn’t survived the mana fast to cast spells?” Alexander asked.

“That’s unclear, but I believe it may be possible,” Hax said.

“How complete a connection to the firmament could such an item create?” Alexander asked.

“He believed that a full and complete connection similar to that of a mage could be created and his research seems to support his belief.”

“Keep this information secret for now,” Alexander said. “The last thing we need is Phane creating these items and arming his soldiers with them.”

Chapter 21

The week that followed was busy with the mundane details of preparing an army to march. Alexander spent the time consulting with the Reishi Sovereigns, practicing his magic, and training Abigail to use the Thinblade more effectively.

He learned a great deal about magic and the netherworld in his conversations with the sovereigns, although none of what he learned could help him immediately. He made a careful record of each exercise that Lucky would need to practice in order to ascend to the rank of mage alchemist. Lucky had reservations about staying behind while everyone else left to face the enemy, but he accepted the tasks that Alexander had assigned him nonetheless.

Isabel worked with Magda learning a force-push spell. It was less deadly than the light-lance spell, but it could be cast more quickly and was still a formidable weapon at relatively close range. The effect was to create a wave of magical energy that would strike an enemy and knock them backward, often disorienting them or even rendering them unconscious. The choice of the spell was Magda’s suggestion, more for the time it would take to master than for any other reason.