Into The Ruins (35 page)

“You are certain they are outsiders?” Rosul asked softly.  She felt a tingle of premonition.  She had known that others might exist, but had never considered they might be powerful with magic in ways they didn’t understand.  She wondered what their arrival here might mean.

“Fen described their clothing as unusual, and that the one that addressed him could neither speak nor understand our language.  My contact within the guards supports Fen’s claims.”

Rosul wasn’t comfortable that Lyes had risked gathering information with one of the Saltique’s private guards.  While most of the guardsmen that protected the Guild were drawn from the Army, Rosul knew that Carif had a small cadre of mercenaries who reported only to her.  Somehow Lyes had turned one of these men and could learn certain bits of information from him.

“These strangers were able to destroy a staff of power?” Rosul asked, a little awed.  “I was lead to believe such a thing wasn’t possible.  The staffs are supposed to be self protecting, routing any power directed at them somewhere else?”

“That is the common belief,” Lyes agreed.  “Yet Fen is quite explicit in that regard.  It might explain why the Saltique would want to personally speak with a simple novice.”

“Indeed,” Rosul agreed.  “Carif has had them apprehended, brought here under guard after banding them, and has them hidden in her dungeons.  She has even killed one of them attempting a Reading, if your source is to be believed.”

“That is why I felt it necessary to come to you.  A message would not have been able to communicate this discovery.  I fear that the arrival of these strangers could be the beginning of something important, whether ominous or otherwise I cannot guess.”

“This Fen says they were not aggressive when first encountered?”

“His claim is they attempted to defuse the confrontation.  They had arrived as I described, gone to an inn and despite the language problem managed to procure a meal, and upon leaving were fired upon by the soldiers in the village.  The strangers restrained from fighting back or harming anyone, destroying the arrows fired at them, and then the staff when it was apparent the Army Caster from the village was about to release magical fire at them.  Then they disappeared.”

“But they returned?”

“Two of them the next day.  They were taken into custody, and their fellows captured out in the Wastelands.”

“The Wastelands?” Rosul asked sharply.  “You didn’t mention that.”

“I’m sorry.  It seems that the village Caster from a nearby village was able to detect the origin of the
Doorway
the strangers used to come into Sedfair, and took the Army to a spot many days into the Wastelands where they surprised the remaining pair.  All were then brought to Nals under guard.”

“The strangers remain banded?” Rosul asked.

“In addition to being kept in a shielded cell,” Lyes agreed.

Rosul was conflicted.  She was glad that strangers powerful in magic were unable to call upon their power.  Who knew what their intentions might be?  At the same time, their treatment might lead to problems later that might have been avoided.  As the country’s leader, she needed to confront these people and decide upon the appropriate course of action.  In the end she might agree that the action taken by Carif was the correct one, but it was a decision that had been wrested away from her for reasons only Carif knew at the moment.

“All of this has been kept from me,” Rosul fumed.  “What can Carif be thinking?  “These strangers could be friend or foe, and they have abilities that are unfamiliar to us.  Yet the Saltique has chosen to withhold their very existence from the crown.  This could be considered treason.”  Then Rosul had another thought.  “Do you think she suspects us?  Is there any chance she knows about you or the others like you at the island?”

“I do not think so,” Lyes replied.  “I believe she might hope to discover the manner of their magic for her own purposes.  I also believe she doesn’t wish for you to know that another society has been discovered.  She was always critical of the explorations the crown pursued in that regard.”

“That attitude cannot be allowed to stand.  That fool woman might be taking us into an unnecessary war, or preventing us from preparing for one that is already coming our way.  With the current Baldari problem, and the constant attacks by the Chulls from the Wastelands, we cannot hope to deal with another threat.”  Rosul looked at Lyes sharply.  “Did your source provide any indication whether these strangers might be behind the Chulls or the Baldari?  Perhaps they are the guiding force to the attacks we have been seeing.”

“Nothing was said in that regard.  I doubt my source would be aware of any discussion of the matter.”

Rosul was torn.  Lyes was a potential source of information she would need once she was no longer Queen.  Yet this could be more important than anything else she was planning.  It might be necessary to risk him in order to bring the matter into the open and determine the best way to deal with the situation.

“I need to speak first with Kall,” Rosul said finally.  “Go back to the university and act as if nothing has happened.  You have done the country an invaluable service, but be very careful.  Your connection is too close and if they look closely you might be revealed.  Carefully break the bond you have made with this Fen.  I can sense you like him, but that cannot be allowed to color our actions.  There is little he will be able to tell you that is new, and it is best you are not linked to him.  It would not be seen as typical for an upper classman to be too interested in a novice, beyond the fact you are both men in a largely female university.  I will need to find a way to speak with this young man myself, but you are not to be involved.  However, we might need your help in other ways.  Be alert for a message.  I’ll leave it the way we agreed.”

Lyes nodded.  “I’ll be waiting to hear from you.”  Then he stood as he prepared to leave.

Rosul smiled.  “The guard will have changed since your arrival.  When you leave, the current guard will see the King leaving late to his usual meeting.  When the King returns later, nothing will be thought of it.  There will be no reason for the guards to compare times.”

Lyes smiled.  He reached into his pocket and withdrew the materials he needed for the spells.  Moments later he looked like the King once again.  After returning the Casting sheet to the tube, he held it out in front of him and then dropped it.  Midway to the floor it burst into a bright flame as Lyes triggered the spell to incinerate it.

“Be careful, your Majesty,” he said, then headed out the door.

Later that night while they lay in bed, Rosul and Kall discussed the situation.

“Her actions were carefully considered,” Kall said.  He had been as surprised as Rosul as to the nature of Lyes’s warning.  “Given the distance of Slipi from Nals, it was very unlikely that word would spread of events. The Army there would naturally assume that the Guild would coordinate with the crown.  Word doesn’t travel between villages very far, and the only individual who was aware of the magic implication and not a member of the Guild was Fen.  Very neatly, she had him isolated and placed where she can control him.”

“In addition to the risk Carif has exposed the kingdom to, I am angry that she believes she has the right to keep such matters from the Queen.  Always the Guild has pushed to control more than their right, but this is far beyond what they have done before.  Unless, of course, they have other such secrets we are unaware of.  I hate that the Guild will soon have an inexperienced Queen they will be able to manipulate while they consolidate even yet more power.”

“We will still be watching,” Kall reminded her.  “Perhaps these strangers with their unusual approach to magic offer a counterbalancing force that could break the hold that the Guild is slowly consolidating.  Perhaps Carif fears this, and that is why she is attempting to keep the existence of the strangers hidden.”

As usual, Kall had useful insights.  Rosul sighed.  “I need you to do several things for me before I will be in a position to confront Carif.  We don’t have much time, given that they have already killed one of the strangers.  See what you can learn from your friends in the Army.  Don’t let on what we know or suspect, but guardsmen talk, and maybe there is something to be learned.  Also, I believe you need to go to Slipi.  We’ll have to use Lyes, despite the risk.  He is the only person handy who can make a
Doorway
who isn’t loyal to Carif.  Any other means of travel would simply take too long.  See firsthand what you can learn there.  Try and avoid the village Caster.  She is the only one likely to report your being in the area back to the Guild.  She only needs to be kept in the dark a couple of days until I approach Carif, so if she learns from the people in the village later that you were there, it won’t matter.  Finally, we need to find a way to bring this Fen somewhere I can talk to him without placing him in an awkward situation.  Lyes appears to like him, and he has done nothing that should cause us to place his future within the university and Guild at risk.”

They considered how that might be done.  There was a lot to do in a short time.

Kall considered his reflection in the mirror.  He looked good in a uniform, better now than he had as a young man.  He appeared less dashing perhaps, but his pale blue eyes and the mostly gray hair and beard, recently trimmed and looking every bit the proper officer, lent a sense of wisdom and experience to his image.  His markings of rank were sewn onto his sleeves, and the coils of gold and the badge above his right breast which showed the Royal Medal declared him King and consort to the land’s ruling Monarch.  Satisfied, he adjusted the braid, then slipped the light jacket over the top of his clothes, concealing his finery.  He would want it on display when he reached Slipi, but others might wonder where he was going if he rode out this morning with his two companions wearing something more formal than his usual riding clothes. 

They would meet up with Lyes a glass outside of Nals where they could create the needed
Doorway
without worrying about being observed.  The Guild’s Casters normally created the portals in the special courtyard set aside for such comings and goings, but they couldn’t use that as Lyes’s ability to make one of the pathways was a secret they wished to maintain. They also didn’t want anyone to even know that an unexplained
Doorway
had been created.  Tid, who would be riding with him this morning, had left the message where Lyes would find it, and Kall had no concerns that the young sorcerer would fail to meet them at the appointed time. 

The mission to Slipi would take only half a day or so.  With the
Doorway
, travel time to the village, normally five weeks hard ride away, would be instantaneous.  Once there he would assume the role of the official representative of the Queen, investigating the events that surrounded the arrival of the strangers.  It wouldn’t be surprising to anyone there, and they would be unaware of the conflict between the Guild and the Crown that surrounded this matter.  He would be able to question the Army guardsmen and those in the village as well, without causing anyone to wonder why.  He would prefer to avoid Village Caster Tanss, who would probably find a way to inform her Guild of the visit, but even that was of little importance.  Since Tanss was unable to make a
Doorway
, she would have to wait until the weekly messenger made the rounds with messages and instructions from Nals to be able to send word.  By then, this all would be known to Carif anyway.  His wife wouldn’t let it sit more than another day or two before she demanded an explanation from the Saltique.  He grinned when he thought of the fireworks that were likely to erupt at that meeting.  The two women clearly detested one another these days.

“You look grand,” Rosul said as she came up behind him unannounced.  She wrapped her arms around him as he turned toward her.  “Looks like my last days are going to be tumultuous.  I had hoped to let matters simply settle and quietly move into the background where I could observe and plan.”

Kall stood straighter and sucked in his gut.  “Still handsome after all these years, then?” he asked jokingly.

She slapped him lightly on his arm.  “You had best be going.  You need to be back to take care of matters tonight.”

Kall nodded.  Tid and Laysh would be helping with that effort as well.  Both were privy to the secret activities of the Queen and their loyalty long proven.  He rode with them weekly, which not only provided the cover for this morning’s ride, but always provided them a chance to speak without fear of being overhead about matters that weren’t meant for certain ears.  That was better than their making weekly trips to the castle.  Such activity would be noted, but a ride with old friends by a senior military officer was expected.

On the outskirts of Nals, Lyes was already close to the meeting place that had been agreed upon a long time before should such activity be required.  He didn’t ride often, and it would have been out of character for him to have rented a horse for the day.  He’d let slip to friends that he had some shopping to do, and would be gone most of the day.  In fact, the items he’d indicated needed to be purchased he had in fact acquired the previous week, but they made a good cover for his absence, and he could display them if questioned.  After walking into the village square, he had taken a carriage across town to the shoemaker he usually frequented, then instead of going inside, he’d walked toward the north end of town, and out into the country.  Another quarter glass and he’d arrive at the destination, and be there when the King and his two friends arrived.

Unlike the Guild’s Casters who normally carried a staff which contained the runes and glyphs associated with the
Doorway
, Lyes had carefully scripted his own onto a long strip of parchment.  The complex spell associated with the
Doorway
of necessity required the symbols to be arranged in a single long line, which while well suited to the shaft of a staff, didn’t fit well on a standard sheet of vellum.  He would execute the spell from the vellum, use it for their return, and then sadly, it would have to be destroyed in the same manner as the laboriously constructed glamour spell he’d used to get in to see the Queen two days earlier.

A glass later, the four men stood together in the small clearing in the trees.  Lyes had to admit he was a little unhappy to have his existence revealed to others.  Up to now, only the King and Queen had known about him and his abilities.  The number of people in on the secret had just doubled, but given the situation that couldn’t be helped.  What bothered Lyes the most was the realization that at some point the Saltique would have to realize someone had made a
Doorway
to take the King to Slipi.  She would be relentless in her efforts to try and determine who it had been.  To make matters more difficult, Lyes was wearing another illusion, so even the two trusted friends of the King wouldn’t know who he was, merely that he existed.  Also, the people they encountered in Slipi wouldn’t be able to provide a meaningful description of him.  the illusion he wore today was based on a man Lyes had encountered a year ago in southern Sedfair.  Knowing the man was dying, Lyes had felt no regret at capturing the man’s image against a future need.  That need was today.  Lyes appeared to be a man in his mid thirties.  He was pleased with how well he was disguising his voice, which was the weakest part of the whole illusion.

“Where do you want to end up?” Laysh asked.  He would be providing the mental image that would guide Lyes’s
Doorway
.  He had never been to Slipi, had not even heard of it until he’d talked with Fen, and that was the second reason the King had chosen Laysh to accompany them.  Laysh had passed through most of the border village as part of his duties over the years.

“Somewhere close to the barracks,” the King replied.  “We need to speak with the guardsmen who participated in the events of that night.”

Laysh nodded.  “Okay, I’ve got the spot.  I’m ready anytime.”  He looked nervously at Lyes.  He’d been through a couple of the magical
Doorways
, but had never been integral to forming one.

Lyes reached out a hand, and Laysh uncertainly extended his own. 

“It’s easier with intimate contact,” Lyes explained.  “I need to draw on your memories for the portal to form.”

Laysh nodded although he didn’t really understand.

Lyes uttered the preamble to the spell, and then waited as his mind searched for the image.  It came slowly, but then he had a sharp picture of a place he’d never seen.  It was dry and barren compared to every place Lyes had visited, and he knew this had to be the small village on the border to the Wastelands.  Locking onto the image, he uttered the remaining words of phrase and felt the magic take hold.  Moments later the glowing arch hung in the air in front of them.

“That’s phenomenal,” Tid observed.  “I never knew that you could make one of them things using someone else’s memories.  I was told you had to have been there.”

“It’s a little more difficult,” Lyes admitted, “but when someone has a sharp memory like Laysh here, it really isn’t very difficult once the general technique is learned.”

Lyes made little of the skill, but inside he was pleased at what he could do.  Less than two percent of all Casters ever mastered the ability, and he’d been able to do so from the first time he’d seen the spell and overheard the trigger phrase.

“Let’s go,” Kall urged.  “We have a lot to accomplish today.”

Moments later they stood on the street under a pair of large trees opposite the barracks.  The three horses had been brought with them, and they walked over and tied them to a post provided for that purpose outside the front door.

They were about to enter the building when a balding sergeant appeared.  “Can I help you . . . ?”  His request froze in mid sentence.  He had recognized the King.

Kall smiled at the man’s bewilderment.  Quickly he nodded and said.  “I would like to speak with the officer in charge.  I have some questions regarding the strangers that were captured a short time ago.”

The Sergeant nodded and pointed inside.  He waited for Kall to pass, and then followed quickly behind.  The others grinned and entered afterwards.

Kall spent more than two glass speaking with the men who had participated in the initial encounter, and those who were part of the capture the following morning.  He met Olar Kalner, Fen’s father who had been instrumental in the capture.  He also learned the details about the rider sent to fetch Caster Suline from the nearby village, because she had the ability to create a portal back to Nals.  Near the end of the interviews, he met Army Caster Ferkle, who confirmed that his staff had been literally vaporized out of his hands.  He showed the King the scars that had still only partially healed from the encounter.  Everything he heard was consistent with what Lyes had reported.

When he had learned all he thought he could, Kall asked Fen’s father to escort him to the commons where the men had appeared.  Olar did, stopping by to pick up Garss, Fen’s young companion the day the strangers had first appeared.  Garss was almost speechless at first when he discovered the King of Sedfair was there to speak with him personally, but once he overcame his initial shock, he couldn’t be restrained.  He took them around, showing the spot in the commons where he and Fen had been, and exactly where the strangers had arrived.  They walked up the street following the path taken by the outsiders, where Kall saw the inn, complete with the blocking glyphs still painted on the walls.  By the time mid day had long passed, he was convinced that something unique had taken place.

When they were finished and had returned to the barracks, Kall explained what he wished all of them to do.  Then, signaling Lyes, he waited until the
Doorway
back to Nals was created. 

“It’s all true then?” Queen Rosul asked her consort when they were finally alone that night.

“Everything that Lyes was told checks out,” Kall agreed as he lay in bed with Rosul snuggled up against him, her head on his chest.  “Many of the townspeople saw part of the altercation take place, and the stories generally agree.  Major Kalner, who is the father of the apprentice that leaked the story to Lyes, was one of those who were in charge of transporting the four prisoners to the Guild here in Nals.  The fact that Fen, who was scheduled to come later in the summer, is now here early, is somewhat telling.  Fen’s best friend, a boy named Garss, showed us where the strangers first appeared.  We walked up to the inn where they stopped for a meal.  It still has the blocking glyphs painted on the interior walls.  An Army Caster named Ferkle still has scars healing on his hands which he claims is the result of having his staff burned from existence while he held it.”

“So we have apparent strangers, wearing odd clothing and unable to speak the language suddenly appear in a border village.  From what you said earlier, they appeared more lost than hostile, and when they couldn’t communicate with the two boys, they headed into the village.  Not the actions one would have expected from a group planning trouble.  They seek out an inn, have dinner, and are confronted by the village guard.  I wish we had that gold coin they used to pay with. You say several people claimed to have held it in their hand and examined it?”

“That’s correct.  The coin was unfortunately taken by one of Carif’s Casters, the one who resides in the adjacent village.  The description was clear.  It was a third again as large as our standard gold, and had marking that no one has seen before.  The lettering could not be read. But it tested to be real, so they made allowances based on weight.”

“Everything points to their being outsiders, and given where they appeared it makes one wonder if they came out of the Wastelands.  That is the first remarkable part of this.  We have long believed only the Baldari were out there.  This suggests otherwise.”

“Don’t forget they practice the kind of inherent magic that isn’t known here.”

“That is the second thing that stands out.  Not only can they perform such magic, but they do so with great skill and power.  The only Casters I suspect can burn a power staff from existence would be Carif and a couple of her senior Casters.  Yet one of the strangers did so with apparent ease, without requiring a staff of his own.  These people are far beyond our own in capability.”

“Do you think that is why Carif has them locked away?” Kall asked softly.  “She has to be aware of what they did.  That tells her that another form of magic exists, and she would want to contain that information at a minimum, and learn how to exploit it for herself if possible.”