Chaos Rises (5 page)

Months had passed since the mudslide, but now
when Kallinesha heard thunder, or wagon wheels of a certain timbre,
or the neighbor's giant cook pot falling from its perch, it all
came back. She'd never let Mistress or Ista see her fear, but it
rumbled through her.

When people in the city spoke of the Chaos
Mage, which they did more and more often, they did it in low
voices, but the stories grew ever more elaborate and terrifying. No
one could be sure anymore just what was rumor and what was truth,
which made it all the worse.

It would have been easier to face if they
understood his plan, if they could guess where he would strike
next. Theories abounded as to why any man would cause such death
and destruction without any apparent pattern. He simply enjoyed
watching people suffer, some said. Or he was drunk with power.
Crazy. Trying to drive people out of fertile areas so he could buy
the land cheaply. Avenging his lost love. Looking for a legendary
hoard of gold. But the one Kallinesha believed—the one that made
the most dark sense—was that he wanted to strike fear into the
people and the army, to throw everything into chaos. Then, when
Andalinn's defenses were down, he could attack. Backed by one of
the neighboring kingdom's armies, perhaps. It was her duty to stop
him. It was everyone's duty.

She knew there was little she could have done
to stop the tragedy of the mudslide, even if she had Ista's
sensitivity to magic. By the time a summoning spell grew strong
enough to detect, it was usually too late, especially in a case
like this. But she should have suspected magic the moment she heard
the news. Summonings that powerful often left concrete, discernable
evidence. If she had looked for those signs immediately, and warned
her father, his men might have caught up to the Chaos Mage. The
killings might have stopped right there. But it was no use wasting
time wondering about it. The only thing to do, if you failed the
first time, was to succeed the second time. This was her chance.
The Chaos Mage had finally left a trail. Kallinesha would follow it
until she found him. Nothing would stop her. Except maybe Ista.

Kallinesha could barely see the girl's
outline in the darkness, but she could tell, just from the uneven
rhythm of the horse's hoof beats, that Ista's inexpert control was
slowing the animal down.

Ista begged again for a rest, and Kallinesha
relented. Maybe she'd ride better and faster after a little break.
Ista had, after all, poured a lot of her own life force into
Mistress. Foolishly, really, since it had gone straight through
Mistress, and she had to have realized that. But Ista didn't think
when she was upset. Instead she'd exhausted herself with the
transfer, leaving herself ill prepared for hours in the saddle.

Kallinesha stopped, helped Ista down, and lit
a fire the old fashioned way—no use wasting energy on
trivialities—to heat some tea.

"Eat." She pushed into Ista's hands a bread
roll stuffed with pork and mushrooms, then tore into one
herself.

"How do we find this man?" Ista finally
asked. The horizon had already appeared, a faint line where black
met not-so-black.

Kallinesha told her everything Mistress had
said. "I know the baron. He's my mother's cousin."

"You're all cousins," Ista muttered.

Kallinesha, from long practice, was able to
ignore the dig. "I can get us in. Then we find the mage and we…we
destroy him."

"Oughtn't we capture him, take him to the
High Mage for justice?"

"And give him a chance to escape, to kill us
with his magic?"

"But what if we get the wrong man?"

"We'll know. You'll be able to sense his
power. And he'll be tall with a gold chain."

"Unless he took it off."

Kallinesha glared. "We'll still know. And
then we'll destroy him, secure the King's safety, and stop the
destruction he's causing."

"That's all good, but how do you expect to
kill someone so powerful? Because kill is what you mean, isn't it,
though you keep saying 'destroy?'"

"Yes," said Kallinesha. "Kill." But she
faltered. She'd never touched anyone in violence, unless she
included her brothers in their play battles or her arms master in
practice, back when she was a child. Magic, Mistress always said,
is about life, about the essence of things. Kallinesha once
insisted they needed to know about martial magic, if only to defend
against it.

"That's for later," Mistress said, "when
you're old enough to know not to use it. Aggression, violence,
that's for men like your father."

Kallinesha sometimes wondered how Mistress
expected to become high mage with an attitude like that. If
Kallinesha's father were here right now, he'd not hesitate to kill
the Chaos Mage and save countless lives with that one death.

"How will you do it?" Ista's voice was just a
whisper.

"We could enchant something to give to
him—something that puts him to sleep."

"Sleep's so slow. Won't he notice and strike
back before it grips him completely?"

"If it's strong enough, and he doesn't
suspect us, maybe not."

"What about some other suggestion
enchantment," Ista said. "Make him believe that what he really
wants to do is turn himself in and confess to his evil."

Stupid girl. Didn't she ever listen to
Mistress? Suggestion enchantments only worked if the suggestion
didn't go against a person's ethics, his aims, his will. "You think
turning himself in somehow fits with his plans?"

"No, but maybe we could suggest something he
thinks will further his goal. Some sort of trick. Make him think, I
don't know, that it would be a good idea to team up with another
powerful mage—with Mistress maybe. Then we can take him to her. Or
something like that."

Kallinesha thought. "Might work," she
conceded. Ista smiled in the weak gray light, and Kallinesha
frowned. "But it's too complicated." Suggestions were tricky,
unpredictable, and worked best with the weak-minded or indecisive.
She doubted the Chaos Mage was either. "Maybe it would be better
just to slit his throat with my dagger." She sounded more confident
than she felt, and Ista's face blanched.

"You couldn't."

"I could. He won't be expecting it. Great
mages tend to discount non-magical threats."

"How many great mages do you know?" Ista
retorted.

"I listen to Mistress's stories."

"So do I, but apparently we hear different
things."

***

Want to read more? Pick up a copy of
Far-Knowing
at your favorite online bookstore.

Leaving
Home
, a collection of short stories, flash fiction, and
travel essays.

Far-Knowing
,
a YA fantasy novel about those trying to defeat the ruthless Chaos
Mage.

Agrilon's Arrow
(Coming Soon), a YA fantasy
novel about a girl whose parents lock her away for showing signs of
a dangerous and shameful magic.