Spellscribed: Conviction (47 page)

“It’s a prison.” Kaelob replied. “For something I thought just a myth.”

Gullin?
Endrance called. He heard nothing in response; perhaps the same effect that kept him from teleporting any closer, was also interfering with his mental link to Gullin. There was also a deepening mental presence that got stronger as they approached the prison.

Kaelob hadn’t known that Talos had shown him the prison before. But how did Kaelob know? Even Weldom wasn’t aware of the place, from what he had discovered. Talos had indicated that Kaelob had been quite competent before he had gone mad.

They entered the passage into the prison, and Endrance skidded to a stop as the sleek metal shifted closed behind them. Two figures stood at the end of the platform, one of them was Kaelob. The other…

Valeria had once been a beautiful woman, with flowing blonde hair and milky white skin. Even in her advanced age, she had been in her physical prime, up until she died. Litchdom, however, had done to her what even centuries could not. The woman standing next to the other Kaelob was bony, with shriveled limbs and body, dressed only in strips of white linen cloth, like trailing tassels of a funerary gown. She was barefoot, her dry and leathery skin preserved by whatever force kept her animate. She had no eyes, instead her darkened eye sockets were illuminated by pinpricks of malevolent green glow that flared brighter as she saw his face.

Gold jewelry covered her desiccated body. Her feet, ankles, thighs, waist, collar, shoulders, upper arms, forearms, wrists, fingers, ears and head were adorned in jeweled gold bands and loops. Endrance didn’t need to use his arcane senses to feel the power radiating off of her. Every gem on her person was of expertly carved Crystalphage, each one meticulously cut to improve the gem’s ability to store power.

Endrance looked to the Kaelob next to him, just as the mad mage laid a hand on his right wrist. There was a loud clap of thunder, and Endrance was tossed through the air as he felt the full power of his master’s force spell directly to his hand. His wards kept it from destroying his hand, but the Grandstaff tumbled through the air. The Kaelob next to Valeria gestured, and the stave changed flight midair and zipped into his hand. Endrance bounced on the metal platform, springing up to his feet almost instantly.

“Kaelob?” Endrance exclaimed. “How?”

The mad mage by Valeria snapped his fingers, and the other Kaelob vanished in a flash of light and a puff of greasy smoke. “I said I was not dominated.” He replied. “I never said I wasn’t already allied with her.”

Help me.
The Mercanian said. Endrance could see him sitting at the bottom of the glass sphere, watching them all intently.
She will destroy me, and steal my power for herself.

“I have to stop her.” Endrance growled. “You trained me for years! How can you be working for her?”

Kaelob started laughing. Valeria raised a hand.

“He was the one that offered to train you.” Valeria said, her voice a susurration that somehow pierced the air as loud as Endrance’s shout. “We needed to make sure that you were trained in the right kinds of spells. That you had the right kind of knowledge.”

Endrance felt another chill down his spine. Kaelob continued laughing, shaking his head as he struggled to draw breath. “Why?” Endrance’s voice came out a whisper.

“Because I needed you.” Valeria replied. “But I won’t need you for much longer.”

Endrance raised his hands. “I can’t let you do this.” He said.

Valeria tilted her head to the side a little. “But you already have, my child.” She said. “Kaelob?”

The mad mage nodded. “Gotcha.” He said, walking forward. “Time for a real wizard’s battle, m’boy.” He growled. “And it’s going to be nothing like the one you had before.”

Endrance raised his hands. Feeling had returned to his right hand. “You’ve got that right.” Endrance answered.

Kaelob thrust out a hand, calling out a word of power unfamiliar to Endrance. Endrance’s wards flared, but he could see nothing more than a ripple in the air between them. Then he started sweating.

Heat wave. Already Kaelob was moving to counteract his immunity to fire. Endrance thrust a hand out and poured power into his elemental shielding spell on his left hand, letting him handle elemental energy unharmed. He used his left hand to divert the oncoming torrent of heat as he formed the mudras for his planned spell with his right.

“
Gelare!”
Endrance shouted, putting a fragment of his power into the spell. He knew he needed to stop Kaelob and get his staff back, if he was going to have a chance to stop Valeria. The frost ray spell was overpowered, and was able to cut through Kaelob’s heat wave. It also helped that Endrance wasn’t aiming at the mage’s body. The ice ray struck the metal platform between Kaelob’s feet, and spread frost across the surface from one side of the platform to the other. Ice blossomed on and around his feet.

The mage immediately threw a counter spell for it, breaking up the ice. But it gave Endrance the second he needed to channel the energy necessary for the next spell. Underneath his bracers, two twinned tattoos gleamed with light. He pulsed the flow of power to the spell on his left arm, as he swung his arm in an arc, a motion he had practiced for months in Salthimere.

The spell conjured a phantom sword every time he pulsed the spell, flinging it out in the direction his wrist was pointing. The translucent purple blade shot through the air and would have impaled Kaelob if the mage hadn’t thrown up an arm to take the hit, wrenching his upper body out of the way. Endrance had simplified the spell on his arm so that it would fit with all the other spells he had worked onto his body. It only created a blade that lasted for a split second, long enough to shoot out over a hundred yards and then vanish.

The sword vanished, and Kaelob continued fighting, ignoring the bleeding arm wound. Their spell battle continued from there, exchanging volleys of elemental energy, pure magic blasts, and other more esoteric means of destroying an opponent.

The entire time they battled, Valeria watched, her mummified face creeping into the semblance of a smile. Any blast that extended beyond the range of the platform was dissipated and absorbed by the numerous Crystalphage spines aimed at the center cell.

Endrance was trained for years by the elves, but he was only able to use life magic that he had either tattooed on his body or through the Grandstaff. Now Kaelob was holding his staff hostage, and even using it to deflect Endrance’s more direct attacks. He wasn’t even sure how the man was using the staff when it required a link to operate.

Endrance threw out an overcharged flame blast, enough that it should have filled the entire chamber with fire, but Kaelob thrust the staff into the oncoming flames and spoke another word of power Endrance didn’t understand. The flames were drawn into the glass crystal flame set into the head of the stave. Endrance hesitated, and because he hesitated, he was able to notice blood starting to trickle from Kaelob’s nose. So he was powering through the staff’s will; contesting wills was a difficult chore even when not in the middle of combat.

Endrance realized that he was wearing down his old master. The man could have handled him easily, but not both him and the staff at the same time. Endrance tried one last attempt to beat him, activating the spell on his right forearm and conjuring a phantom sword into his hand. It would disappear if he let go of it, but otherwise it was the sharpest edge he had ever seen. Endrance put power into a specific set of spells. The carved lines at his temples, his collarbone, lower back, and the back of his calves gleamed with light. He then mentally pulled as hard as possible on his staff.

It bucked and yanked in Kaelob’s hand, jerking his arm forward. Endrance let the distraction give him the edge he needed. Endrance moved.

The spell he had just activated was the only pure application of time magic he used anymore, and it was the simplest one he could think of. The spell accelerated his perception and movement speed by three times, allowing things to move at almost a crawl. He used that speed to dash forward, lunging out with the phantom sword.

The blade slid through Kaelob’s chest, erupting though his back and spraying blood across the platform, several droplets splattering across Valeria’s pristine white strip clothing.

Endrance watched Kaelob’s eyes bulge right in front of him.

“Excellent job, m’boy.” The dying mage murmured, sinking to his knees. “Better than expected.”

Endrance let go of the sword, and it vanished. He looked up at Valeria. “You’ve forced my hand, mother.” He growled. “And now I’ll know your full plan.”

Valeria smiled. “Yes, my son.” She replied. “Now you will know.”

Kaelob breathed out his last, the staff rattling to the metal. There was a spark, and as so many times before, the script on the bracers gleamed with light as Kaelob’s aura released his remaining power. Endrance had only a split second to notice the Mercanian stand, and the light emanating from the Crystalphage spines turn red before the torrent of golden light funneled into his bracers and Kaelob’s imprint poured into his mind.

“Remembrance.” Valeria spoke aloud as Kaelob’s power swirled around Endrance. The spell-form sorting Kaelob’s memories reacted to her command word, and Endrance suddenly sagged to the ground. The spell-form in his mind had plenty of time to get settled in, and now he had no way to prevent the secret trigger from turning off his ability to move or speak. Endrance dropped to the floor as the spell did its job, and still conveniently filed away the latest imprint.

Valeria walked forward, and nudged the Grandstaff, knocking it off the side of the platform. It fell below, and Endrance stared up at Valeria as she crouched down. It made sense now why she had not been concerned when he’d arrived; she had the way to disable him without a struggle all along.

“I bet you’re wondering why I let you kill Kaelob.” She stated. “But it’s simple; I needed the prison to recognize your abilities are the same as his.”

The glass sphere rippled, and the platform flowed forward, sliding into the prison cell. The Mercanian stepped calmly onto the platform, and it retracted, pulling him out of the cell. The Bastille lights started flashing.

“You see, I couldn’t free him because the prison won’t open unless a Mercanian was imprisoned within. Should he leave the bubble, and I assure you I could have opened that decades ago, we would still not have been able to leave this room; much less the rest of the Bastille, or avoid the dragon left here to guard him.”

Endrance felt grim realization set in. Valeria tilted her head. “You comprehend it now.” She said. “Since there were no Mercanians other than the imprisoned, it was a perfect system. But the Bastille’s spells could be tricked, if something close enough to a Mercanian was used as a replacement.”

Valeria stood. “You are that replacement.” She said, waving a hand. Endrance felt several unseen hands grab onto him, stripping him of his clothes, yet leaving his bracers on. The Mercanian unclasped his own bracers and tossed them aside. He waved, and Endrance’s newly stripped clothes appeared in his hands.

“It’s rough, but it will do.” He said, pulling on the pants.

“I’m sorry, my son.” Valeria said to him, directing the hands to move him towards the glass bubble, now stripped of everything except his bracers. “My first two attempts failed, and my third attempt to ensure that you survived cost me my life. If we had both lived, then I would not have let you develop a personality or purpose in life. You would not have had to experience this much pain.”

Endrance felt every little piece of his life fall apart around him. He was beaten. Valeria had not only defeated him after his years of preparation, but she did so effortlessly. Both his mother and father were free now. And worst of all, Endrance was the one that made it possible.

“Goodbye, my son.” Valeria replied. “I may free you in a thousand years or so, when we bring the Mercanian Empire back into power.”

Endrance felt the barrier of the glass sphere slip over him, and he was dumped unceremoniously into the cell. At that same time, the spell-form in his mind relinquished control. He also felt his link with Gullin completely sever, probably banishing him back to his plane of existence. Tanya may or may not be able to survive such a fall, if he had been flying high at that point. He also felt his bond of will to Selene sever. He was utterly, absolutely isolated within the Bastille. Even worse, the silver bracers on his arms burned against his skin for a moment, as the silver seams melded together, becoming shackles formed of one piece of metal.

Endrance rose to his feet and screamed wordlessly, slamming his fists against the side of the glass. The Mercanian, who had dressed in his clothes, nodded appreciatively at him and gestured. Endrance’s Grandstaff rose from the bottom of the Bastille and landed comfortably in his hand. The Mercanian concentrated for a few seconds, likely subduing Pentarch before he turned and walked with Valeria to the outer wall. The quicksilver portal opened, and the two of them walked out of the prison. Endrance stared despairingly at the portal as the silver tunnel dwindled, and then completely closed.

The light in the room dimmed, and all he could see by was the dim orange glow of the Crystalphage spines supporting the bubble. He slipped numbly to the bottom of the cell, sobbing. It didn’t matter now, even if Joven and his friends managed to make their way to the Bastille; there was no way to get him out. He was trapped here for eternity.