The Baldari (Book 3) (58 page)

Nycoh looked at Rigo.  “The three Brryn have been reported all over the kingdoms since yesterday.  All of them.  Sometimes together, and other times acting alone.  It is obvious they aren’t watching the cylinder.  I would guess they either have a means of detecting a
Bypass
made into the area, or any attempt to move the object triggers the backlash that knocked out Fen. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kytra detected his attempts and even returned to find him there.  The fact he is still alive supports his idea that it is a trap.  She wanted Fen to live and get word to you.”

“What do you suggest we do then?” Rigo asked.  “Leave her there?”

“We can’t do that, but we need to be careful here.  Jeen should find Suline.  Here’s a chance to test her
Ghost Doorway
.  If we use that, we have the best chance of returning to the area undetected.  Once there we can evaluate the situation and see what to do next.  Hopefully we can verify that Mitty is still alive.”

“If there is some kind of magic that renders anyone who interacts with the object unconscious and alerts Kytra, what can we do?” Jeen asked.

“We can relocate her,” Rigo said.  “We can prepare a location that is shielded, and that few know about and can access.  With a
Bypass
opened to that location, then magic can be used to push the object through.  It might warn Kytra, but if Suline’s
Ghost
Doorway
is untraceable, we can be gone before she arrives.  If my magic push knocks me out, then one of you can carry me through.”

“I assume you have a place in mind?” Nycoh asked.

Rigo nodded.  “Daim’s old hideaway in the Ruins.  We can shield it.  The Ruins will also help mask any sign of us.  If Suline makes her
Ghost Doorway
while
Linked
with me, she will be able to have access.  I’m the only one who is still alive that can get there.  Of course, Daim’s blockage probably won’t restrict the Brryn, so we’ll have to hope the Brryn can’t trace us.”

“It sounds risky,” Lyes said.

“It is,” Rigo admitted.  “There is too much we don’t know.  But I won’t leave Mitty.  She’s in trouble because I wasn’t there like I should have been.”

“If you had been there, you would be dead,” Daria said.  “Both of you would have been.  This Kytra has reasons to hate the both of you.”

“That’s why once we have Mitty into the hideaway, the rest of you need to flee.  Just in case.  If we aren’t followed, I’ll come and tell you after it’s safe.”

It took some time to set everything up.  Jeen went to get Suline, who was waiting at a location only the two of them knew.  Rigo paced until Suline arrived, then waited nervously while Suline used Fen’s memories to open the
Ghost Doorway
.   Rigo wished to run through, but waited unhappily while they watched to see if Kytra would appear.  Suline moved the
Doorway
exit around so they could all see the strange object that enclosed Mitty.  It was exactly as Fen had described it.  Mitty was frozen in the act of running.  It was impossible to tell if she was alive or not.  Her feet floated half a pace above the ground as she waited silently for someone to come for her.

A quarter of a glass later, they decided Kytra wasn’t coming.  Either the
Ghost Doorway
had worked as hoped, or the alert would be triggered by an interaction with the object.

“Let me go first,” Rigo said.  “We’ll see if my presence triggers anything.”

Daria and Kaler objected, but Rigo held up his hand.  “You can shoot through the
Doorway
.  You will be able to see everything that happens.”

Reluctantly they agreed. All watched as Rigo stepped through and soon stood next to the strange object that held Mitty prisoner.

Rigo couldn’t tell if Mitty was alive or not.  She was frozen in the moment of encapsulation.  He would need to use magic to tell, and that might not work.  It almost certainly would alert Kytra if their theory was correct.  Fen had had time to try a couple of things before being rendered unconscious, but that didn’t mean the first interaction wouldn’t alert the Brryn.

Their luck held.  Neither Kytra nor any of the other Brryn appeared.  Finally Rigo signaled, and Suline stepped through, following behind Daria and Kaler. 

“Let’s make the
Doorway
,” Rigo said.  He knew his friends would already have gone back to Branid.  They wouldn’t be able to see what was happening here since Suline had closed the
Doorway
behind her so she could make the necessary one to the hideaway.  Rigo had insisted that they not expose everyone.  They wouldn’t know what happened until Rigo or Suline contacted them later.

Rigo
Linked
with Suline, and she wasted no time.  A moment later a
Ghost Doorway
stood open.  He could see the room he had visited numerous times before, with the shelves still filled with books in the background. 

“Go through,” Rigo said.  “If this goes badly, close it off.”  He tried to get Daria and Kaler to go as well, but they refused.

Suline had made the
Doorway
entrance as close behind the cylinder as possible.  All that Rigo needed to do was provide a strong enough force to move the object a half dozen paces and it would pass through the interface and be transported.  He’d considered how he wished to do this while he’d been waiting, and with a prayer to Risos for success, he called upon his magic and extended it toward the cylinder.

Bright blue flashes met his magic as it touched the edge of the magical cylinder.  Rigo knew he had probably triggered the alert, and mindful of the limited time he might have, exerted his full force.  Slowly the cylinder started to move.  It was heavier than it had any right to be.  Slowly, as if it were resisting his every effort, the cylinder slid toward the
Doorway
.  Rigo had never felt a physical response to his magic before, but he realized he was sweating with the effort.  Finally, the object reached the interface, and as more than half of it passed through the opening of the arch, it suddenly vanished as it was transported to the far side.  Rigo grinned, and then collapsed.

Kaler had just picked up his unconscious friend when Daria hollered a warning.  Kaler looked to see a slight, purple-haired woman standing a short distance away, looking somewhat surprised to see the cylinder gone.  Fortunately she was at right angles to the opening of the arch, and her magic missed as Kaler and Daria leaped into the opening.

“Close it,” Daria yelled to Suline as she landed inside the hideaway.

Suline did as asked.  She had been prepared to act swiftly.  Now they would see if the Brryn were able to track them here.

The successful recovery of Mitty, even if she was still immobile and trapped inside the cylinder of magic, had been the first, and only, successful action against the Brryn since the attacks of the three ancient sorcerers had begun.  It showed the Brryn were not infallible, and that they could be defeated, if only in small ways.  They had been unable to track them to the hideaway in the Ruins, which showed that Suline’s
Ghost Doorway
was invisible to their enemy, and that the protective barrier had been able to hide the object from Brryn detection.  While small, the successes greatly boosted the moral of the group.  They had recovered Mitty, and gotten away from the Brryn.

Unfortunately, no one had been forthcoming with a means of freeing Mitty from her magical prison.  Multiple attempts had been made.  Nycoh, who was the strongest among them, had been unable to find any way to interact with the confining magic.  Even
Linked
, they made no progress.  Each worked against the cylinder until rendered unconscious, and then had to be revived by the others.  From what they observed, the strength of one’s shields dictated how long one could interact before the magic rendered one senseless.  Nycoh had even located Ashli, who was able to probe and conclude that Mitty still lived.

“I don’t think the magic is designed to kill her,” she said. “It acts more like a containment, to hold her from escaping.”  Before Rigo could relax and take comfort in her words, she added, “While the intent isn’t to kill her, I think the field is doing that.  Slowly.  I don’t know how long she can survive.  I can’t even tell how she is getting air, and what her needs for food and water might be.  I am guessing this object relates in some way to the pods in the chamber you told me about.  It immobilizes one, and in that chamber, overcomes the need for normal nutrient.”

Everyone understood that unless they freed Mitty before long, she might die.  Unfortunately, they had no magic that was effective.  The only solution appeared to be to get the help of one of the Brryn.  Such help wouldn’t come willingly.  Rigo had no misconceptions they would trade Mitty for him.  Kytra had reason to dislike Mitty, and once she had Rigo, could be expected to kill them both.  They had already learned there was no way to stand up to even one of the Brryn.  It was an impasse, with Mitty’s life at risk.

Their group had shrunk drastically in the past week, not that numbers would have helped the problem at hand.  They had no contact with any of the former Kings and Queens of the lands.  It didn’t matter anyway.  Like so much that had happened of late, this wasn’t something they could help with.  The battles between those who controlled the immense powers of magic was something that they had no experience with.  There were no solutions to be expected from the ungifted.

Rigo couldn’t help but believe the ever resourceful Ash’urn might have had an idea, but that wasn’t an option this time.  Besides Kaler and Daria, who insisted on staying close to Rigo, but who could offer nothing for this kind of problem, the group now consisted of Jeen and Nycoh from the old days, Lyes, Fen, and Suline from Sedfair.  There were a few others they could locate, such as Ashli, but no one had any ideas how to overcome the Brryn powers.  Suline was away at the moment and wouldn’t be coming to the meeting. She made periodic reports to Jeen when they met separately.  Suline and her small team of Casters were searching the far off islands, hoping to learn where the Brryn had settled.  Even if she found them, the chances of making a move against them was small.  It was the only approach they had, however, and so they moved forward with the plan.

They had only a few tools.  The
Ghost Doorway
allowed Suline and any who moved with her to relocate without being detected.  Everyone else was at risk each time they opened a
Bypass
.  Their shields, far too weak to stand up against the Brryn magic, did protect them from detection.  It could hide the spark of magic that would have otherwise revealed them.  Of course, that only worked if they weren’t viewed visually.  One could detect the faint distortion a protective barrier caused.  To be safe they needed to be hidden and shielded.  The only other protection they had at the moment was the fact the Brryn didn’t know where they hid.  From the reports that Nycoh and Jeen brought back to each meeting, the Brryn were working diligently to locate those who were in hiding, and had found a great many.  Rigo wondered how many of his friends were lost.

Rigo tried to think of some original approach that hadn’t been considered while he waited for the others to arrive.  Kaler and Daria stood watch, although if the Brryn were to appear there was little they could have done.  Recent encounters had shown Rigo couldn’t stand up to them, and any attempt to flee would be tracked down.  They had to hope the meeting place was secure.  If not, then they were lost.

They were waiting today for the others at the site of former Queen Rosul’s old family estates.  It was known to all of them, and a place that seemed innocuous enough.  There were, after all, only three of the Brryn.  They couldn’t be everywhere, which limited how many places even they could watch. Rigo wasn’t sure why he was so confident they were only dealing with the three Brryn.  Surely they could have impressed others to their service as they had done before.  There could be dozens of former friends who now served the Brryn, and were traveling the kingdoms in search of them.  Rigo based his belief on something Jeen had detected during the brief
Linkage
with the now dead Brryn at the valley.  The encounter had suggested an arrogance that wouldn’t allow the Brryn to operate using inferior rebel wizards.  Now that they were freed from the chamber, they wouldn’t consider using inferiors to deal with those they considered weaklings and rebels.

Having eliminated any opposing forces, and disrupted the governments of all of the kingdoms, Rigo would have expected the Brryn to make announcements and demands to the panicked and confused public.  Clearly they intended to become the absolute rulers of all the known lands.  They hadn’t bothered.  Obviously they cared little for the fears of the citizens, and knew they could deal with the ungifted whenever they chose.  For the moment, the focus was on ending the threat of the rebel wizards. 

Rigo’s group was meeting today specifically to discuss what they had to work with and how they were going to move forward.  It was clear that Mitty’s only hope was for them to somehow capture one of the Brryn and force them to reveal how to release her.  They also hoped to learn how to combat their magic, but truthfully, Rigo didn’t believe that was possible.  He and Nycoh might have the ability to learn some of it, but none of the Brryn were going to be foolish enough to let them have the chance to do so.

Nycoh, Lyes and Fen arrived together.  One masked
Doorway
was safer than three, and they had been in Sedfair together since the last meeting.  All looked tired.  The Casters in Sedfair had suffered fewer losses than had the wizards in the Three Kingdoms, because they were harder to identify.  Unfortunately, many Casters were consorted to wizards, and didn’t wish to be separated from their mates.  More than one group of Casters had been revealed by the lone wizard traveling with them.  Also, Casters hated to be parted from their staffs.  Without the staffs with the easily recognized power crystal, something Rigo suspected the Brryn could detect, the Casters were far less powerful.  Suggestions made that their most powerful magic was all but useless against the Brryn hadn’t been sufficient to cause many to part with the revealing staffs.  A number had died as a result of their stubbornness.

“Jeen is late,” Nycoh observed.  “I thought we would be the last to arrive.  I hope nothing has happened to her.”

Rigo nodded, his concern growing as the minutes passed.  If Jeen failed to show they would have to assume the meeting was compromised and quickly relocate to a new location.  Going in search of her was impossible.  Other than Rigo, who spent much of his time in the hideaway in the Ruins with Mitty, they had no home base, and each of them moved very carefully between undisclosed locations. 

“Perhaps we should leave,” a nervous Lyes suggested.

Rigo was about to protest and ask for a few more minutes delay, when a weary looking Jeen stepped out of her
Bypass
into their midst.  She had taken to wearing worn travel clothing rather than her palace finery, her long black hair worked into a thick braid.  She looked discouraged and sad.  As she stepped forward, Rigo was surprised that someone was following her out of the
Bypass
.  Rigo reached for his
Greenfire
, worried that she was being forced to disclose their location, then relaxed when he recognized Koess.  He hadn’t seen Koess for many weeks, nor thought about him for even longer.  He wondered where Jeen had located him, and why she had brought him to their private gathering.

“We are losing,” Jeen said in a tired voice as soon as she had stepped clear of the
Bypass
exit.  “Each day I learn of others who have been located. Soon we will be only a handful, running and hiding.”

“We all are aware of that,” Nycoh said.  “That is why we meet, hoping to find some way to respond.  Unfortunately, our prospects are grim.  We have nowhere to turn.”  Nycoh looked at Jeen and let her eyes shift questioningly toward Koess.

Koess has been searching for one of us for more than a week,” Jeen said.  “I guess our hiding has been effective because even our own people have been unable to direct him where we might be found.  Only by chance did I pass through where he happened to be late last night.  He managed to catch me before I disappeared again.  He has made a suggestion.  He believes there is a chance that some of us, Rigo and Nycoh specifically, can gain the magic used by the Brryn.”

Rigo’s response was immediate.  “How?” he asked.

“You aren’t going to like this,” Jeen said.  “He says it will be necessary to return to the Void where he was trapped for so long.”

Lyes, who had looked momentarily interested, shook his head in disgust, and lost interest.  “Ridiculous,” he mumbled.

Rigo looked at Koess.  The wizard had brought back
Greenfire
and the shields they now used.  He had acquired that knowledge while trapped in the Void.  Rigo could recall Koess telling him there was other knowledge there, but a combination of disinterest, and lack of ability had prevented him from acquiring more knowledge.  He hadn’t expected ever to have a use for it, after all.

“What do you think we could learn there?” he asked Koess.

“Rigo, you can’t be serious,” Nycoh said, interrupting Koess’s answer.

“I want to hear what he is thinking,” Rigo said.  He looked expectantly back at the other.

“I know it sounds crazy,” Koess said, “but you and Nycoh have been transformed.  In many ways, you look like the Brryn.  Jeen says you feel stronger.  One of the limitations I discovered while trapped, was that I simply lacked the power and level to handle some of the magic that is there.  For you, that might not be the case.”

“Might be?” Lyes said disbelieving what he was hearing.  He didn’t want to even consider a possibility that would take Nycoh to such a place.

“Obviously I can’t know for certain,” Koess admitted.  “But the magic was there.  I sensed it.”

“What kind of magic?” Nycoh asked.

“Stronger shields than I was able to master, for one thing.  Also, the strange helix beam that I have witnessed the Brryn use to overpower our shields.  The same with that massive cloud that defeats the protection of our shields around structures.  Those I have sensed and know are there.  There were other memories that I never took the time to tap.”

“Perhaps there is knowledge that would tell me how to free Mitty,” Rigo said softly.

“Rigo!” Nycoh said sharply.  “Even if the knowledge is there, how would you access it?  The Void isn’t a place one
Bypasses
into and then leaves.  Only luck got Koess back out.  How would you get there, and more importantly how would you get out?”

“The risks are great,” acknowledged Rigo.  “Unfortunately, we all know, but don’t want to admit, we are lost without having something that allows us to stand against the Brryn.  Koess has suggested one place we might find such magic.  No one has thought of another.”

Rigo turned to Jeen.  “You must believe there is a chance.  You brought Koess here.”

“I don’t know what to believe,” Jeen said.  “When Koess made the suggestion, my original thought was to laugh and walk away.  Then I decided he needed to be heard.  We are desperate enough perhaps such an idea must be considered.”

Lyes cursed, and then stepped forward.  “You want Rigo and Nycoh to willingly try to return to this place you were trapped?  You don’t know if they can find what will help, and more importantly, you don’t know if they will have any chance of getting back out?”

Koess met Lyes’ stare unflinchingly.  “Not both of them. Probably just one.  If one can learn, he can probably pass the knowledge to the other.  That is what we have always seen.”  Koess hesitated, then added.  “I am willing to go along as a guide.  I know what to expect, and my presence will save a lot of time.”

Fen looked shocked.  “You would be willing return to that place?” he asked.

“I doubt an attempt would be successful without me,” Koess said.  “Trust me, I have no desire to do so, but it took me a very long time to understand how to function there.  We don’t have that much time.”