Mage Prime (Book 2) (16 page)

Karryl was beginning to feel just a little overwhelmed. He forced himself to remain focussed. “Could he read my mind?”

“Probably, but I doubt very much whether he would without your consent. He does need to know everything that has transpired so far though. It will help him to work out the best way to help you, but he won’t probe your mind if that’s what you’re afraid of.”

He gave Karryl a teasing poke on the shoulder. “Anyway, any magician worth his title should have no trouble shielding instantly.”

Karryl allowed himself a lop-sided grin, and turned to look along the tunnel. “You’re right, as usual. Have we got time to go and see Tukrin before we go through the portal?”

Magnor didn’t hesitate. “No. We might find it difficult to return here if we do. It’s best if we go through now, in case they send someone to look for us. The portal will close as soon as we’re through. If anyone comes they’ll think we’ve already gone back to the academy.”

He reached down and picked up the two lanterns the healers had left behind, handing one to Karryl. “Turn them down low. We don’t want to announce our arrival if we happen to come out on top of a mountain.”

Karryl turned back the wick until it bore only a small, steady blue flame then closed all the lantern’s shutters except one. Moonlight flooded through the shift-portal, bathing their legs and feet in its silver-white brilliance.

Magnor rumbled as he moved towards the portal. “Definitely time to go. We’ll step through together.”

The two magicians strode forward, lanterns held low. Side by side they lifted their feet over the shift-portal’s threshold.

They emerged onto a vast level area of hard-packed, pebble-strewn sand at the top of a mile--long shallow incline. At the bottom of this hunched the silent bulk of a city, the deep shadows of its heavy dark shapes ominous under the cold moonlight.

Karryl tilted back his head. Turning slowly on the spot he studied the sky. He couldn’t hide the disgust in his voice. “We’re in Naboria.”

Magnor nodded. “I thought we might be.”

A deep, almost human sigh caused them both to spin round. The last vestiges of the shift-portal evaporated behind them like wisps of pale smoke into the still night air.

Karryl frowned. “I thought portals always went ‘pop’.”

Magnor rubbed his chin. “Not compulsory apparently.”

Karryl’s answering grin faded rapidly as Magnor turned to look down the long incline towards the city. “If that’s not our friend then we’re caught in the open with no way back.”

Karryl followed his gaze. “Well, it certainly looks like… oh!”

With a barely audible cat’s paw of sound, Areel was suddenly standing no more than two paces in front of them. He made a slight but respectful bow. “My heart is glad that you chose to follow, but you will not need the lanterns. Please, place them on the ground.”

No sooner had Karryl and Magnor released their hold on them than the two lanterns shimmered and vanished.

Areel gestured down the long sandy slope. “If you will come with me I will take you into the city.”

Forcing himself to prevent his feelings of suspicion and animosity revealing themselves in his voice, Karryl stepped forward and looked into the dark eyes which glinted above black fabric. “Why have you brought us here?”

Their black clad companion offered no reply, but signalled that they should follow. It seemed that he was intent on leading them out into the desert as he turned to his left and away from the city. After striding out for a few hundred yards he stopped, holding up a hand for them to do the same.

As they drew up beside him he looked from one to the other. “The desert is a place of many dangers and many illusions my friends.”

He gestured towards the ground in front of them. About one pace ahead, and some twenty paces to either side, a deep crevice little more than two paces across formed a waiting open mouth in the face of the desert.

Areel stepped forward, dropped to his knees and began to lower himself over the lip of the mouth. “There are hand and foot-holds cut into the rock beneath the sand. It is a simple descent.”

Karryl looked dubious as he peered down into the uninviting shadows. “It’ll be a fast one as well if we slip. How deep is it?”

Areel seemed to have no concern for Karryl’s qualms. “You will not slip. Hurry now.”

Following Areel’s every move exactly, Karryl eased himself down, feeling around with his toes for footholds. He found them with little difficulty and was soon making slow but steady progress downwards. After scrambling down several feet he pressed himself against the rock face and cautiously looked up, catching a glimpse of a dark shape some way above him. Cursing vehemently he pressed his face into his upper arm in an attempt to clear his stinging eyes as a scattering of sand dropped into his upturned face. Berating himself for his lapse he clung unmoving until the discomfort had eased then started moving downwards again, pausing at intervals to wipe his tearing eyes on his sleeve. Sore fingers, bruised knees, and protesting leg muscles added further to his discomfort.

He released a shuddering sigh of relief as Areel’s voice, sounding hollow and echoing, carried up to him. “Ten more steps, then stop and do exactly what I will tell you.”

Spurred on by the thought of an end to this arduous descent, and now able to open his sand-scratched eyes, Karryl began to count, and made more rapid progress down the final ten steps. “What now, Areel.”

He thought he heard a chuckle carrying up from somewhere close below him. “Let go and drop.”

Karryl gave a short incredulous laugh, his grip tightening inside the shallow hand-holds. “Is that your idea of a joke?”

Areel’s voice betrayed a note of exasperation, his reply a loud whisper. “The distance is no more than the length of your legs. You must let go now.”

A scraping, shuffling noise just above his head left Karryl with no other viable option. Even risking a glance down over his right shoulder did nothing to improve his confidence. Areel’s dark skin and black clothing had rendered him invisible. Taking a deep breath, Karryl slid his feet out of their toe-holds and clung for a few seconds by his fingertips. His heart in his mouth, he let go. To his relief, it was indeed only a short drop. He still found it un-nerving.

No sooner had his feet touched a firm surface than he felt a tug at his sleeve. “Quickly! Move aside or Magnor will land on top of you.”

The elder’s deep voice echoed softly down. “No danger of that. I can see exactly where you are.”

With only the slightest thud and a minor disturbance of air, Magnor dropped down beside them. “Well, that wasn’t so bad. I’ve found myself in worse situations.”

Karryl rubbed at his arms in an attempt to stave off the chill of the desert night’s air. He hadn’t noticed it during his descent of the rock face, but now his concentration was relaxed a little he was beginning to appreciate how cold the desert could be at night.

He felt Magnor’s hand grip his shoulder. “I have a feeling that all this will be worth a little discomfort.”

A rhythmic rattling noise reached their ears. The two magicians stood perfectly still and quiet as they tried to identify it. After a few moments the noise stopped, to be followed by a short sharp click. Instantly the ground by their feet was bathed in a bright, cold pale blue light. They had arrived on a long jutting ledge barely a pace deep. The figure of Areel was standing two or three paces away, holding the source of the light. Karryl sidled quickly and thankfully towards him, his curiosity fired by the clear unwavering beam of illumination. Before he had chance to investigate further, Areel had turned and directed the beam rear-wards. They were standing in a small cave, barely twice as wide as he was tall, but tapering towards the rear, some ten paces away. The sharp, intense beam showed them a round opening, a throat of darkness within the rock, waiting for them to walk in and be swallowed. Quickly and silently Areel headed towards it, Karryl and Magnor close on his heels. Instilled by the dark closeness of their subterranean surroundings, Karryl’s wariness rose to a new level.

He’d had his fill of tunnels for one day, and he was reluctant to raise his voice above a harsh whisper. “Where are we going?”

Areel continued to stride rapidly ahead without replying. Thinking he hadn’t heard him, Karryl was about to repeat the question when their guide stopped and lifted his mystifying blue light up to head height. “This is the first of the places we must go to. Mark it well, its entrance and exit. Neither is visible from the other. You may well have need of such knowledge if it becomes necessary for you to use this route in the future.”

Karryl and Magnor looked around the large, circular chamber in which they now stood. Above and all around them, wherever their gaze fell, every surface except the floor was completely covered with intricate and highly detailed carvings. Deeply incised into the hard dark rock, straight lines and angular geometric shapes crowded against each other, incongruous amongst the perfectly executed forms of birds and plant-life which in turn jostled for space with seemingly random groups of perfectly executed circles. Recalling Areel’s instruction, Karryl turned round to face back into the tunnel. In an effort to locate some unique form or grouping, he ran his eyes over the carvings which surrounded the opening. Thinking he recognised an unusual shape to the left, he kept his eyes firmly fixed on it.

Making a side-step toward Areel, he held out his hand. “Could I borrow your light for a moment?”

Karryl had been itching to discover the source of Areel’s mysterious light. He could barely conceal a smile of satisfaction when the desert guide handed over a fairly short metallic tube about twice as thick as his finger. Holding the object reverently across the flat palms of his hands, Karryl carefully hefted its weight, noticing at the same time how cold it was to the touch.

As if divining his intentions, Areel murmured to Karryl. “Do not look directly into the light of the torch. If you do, seeing properly will be difficult for some time. Friend Magnor has dark-sight, as do I. You do not.”

Karryl gave a sheepish grin and nodded. Lifting the torch just above his shoulder, he trained the beam on the carved shape he had noticed, and stepped forward for a closer look. At that moment the light began gradually to dim.

Lowering the torch in disappointment, Karryl looked across the fading glow at Areel. “Won’t this magic work for me, then?”

Areel gave a derisory snort. “I think perhaps you are not as bright as that torch. Shake it, as you would a phial of potion. That is the closest resemblance to magic that it has.”

Closely watched by an equally intrigued Magnor, Karryl shook the torch gently at first. Hearing something rattle, he shook it harder until he recognised the sound made by Areel when they had first entered the tunnel. He was sorely tempted to keep on, simply to see how bright the beam would get. Common sense prevailed and he resumed his scrutiny of the carving. Having satisfied himself, he swung the light round the walls, unfamiliar shapes and forms leaping in and out of shadow as the penetrating light passed over them. Despite careful searching, he could find only one repeat of the shape, only a few paces from the first. It was a clear depiction of a strange and ancient building not unlike one he had noticed in Thermera.

Deciding to keep his thoughts to himself, at least for a while, he handed the torch back to Areel. “That’s an amazing thing! How does it work?”

Areel gave it a cursory glance. “I do not know. There are very many of them stored within the city. Eventually, whatever makes them work fails, then they are exchanged, but no-one knows where they came from. It is said that they were a gift from the gods many generations past. Unfortunately there is no proof that this is so. Now, enough talk. We must move on.”

His soft-booted feet making hardly a whisper on the smooth stone floor, Areel strode briskly towards the section of wall which bore the duplicate image. Without breaking stride the Jadhra stepped straight up to the carved wall and disappeared, plunging his two companions into unrelieved darkness.

Folding his arms, Karryl stared wide eyed in the direction of the wall. “Now that’s a spell worth knowing!”

He heard Magnor chuckle beside him. “No spell involved there. That part of the wall is simply an illusion; trickery. Go on then, or do you want me to hold your hand?”

Knowing he could see him, Karryl scowled in Magnor’s direction. Then something occurred to him. The scowl transformed swiftly to a grin. “Well, as you’re the one with dark-sight, perhaps you’d better!”

His ears caught what sounded like a stifled guffaw then he felt Magnor’s strong fingers grip his upper arm. “What a good idea, Master Karryl. Let’s go!”

Before he could utter a word of protest, Karryl found himself being steered rapidly across the floor and into torchlight.

Areel drew close to them and spoke quietly. “Now we must remain silent as we travel. There are other tunnels leading off this one. Our presence would not be tolerated by those which dwell there. We will travel without light as their eyesight is most powerful, as is their hearing. However, they have no sense of smell. Magnor will have to lead you Master Karryl. We have no time to wait while you fumble along.”

Thrusting his face close to Areel’s, Karryl’s indignant reply was delivered in a hoarse whisper. “If you can spare me a few moments I can provide myself with temporary dark-sight for about half an hour. Will that suit?”

Areel’s basalt eyes glinted in the hard blue glow of the torch. His voice betrayed no emotion. “It will suffice. Do what you have to.”