The Eynan 2: Garileon (3 page)

"I should say the exercise would do me good, but the truth is I feel the need to take it easy after the stress of the last few days."

Ninian laughed. "I could think of a stronger word to use than stress!"

Jhond put a hand on each of their arms and in his mind's eye envisioned the tower on the cliff top.

"Wow, I don't think I'll ever get used to that," Amired said, as his feet settled on the rough grass on the cliff top. Then he frowned. "Wait a minute; you didn't use the ring and pendant to transport us here, did you?" he asked, referring to the two items that combined to create a powerful force allowing Jhond to travel vast distances in the blink of an eye.

"No. I only require the artifacts to transport over a long distance now. Short trips I can do without any outside assistance."

"Jhond's power is still manifesting," Ninian explained.

"Really. You mean there's more?" Amired looked fascinated.

Jhond glanced at his friend and erstwhile mentor wanting to hear what he had to say.

Meeting Jhond's gaze for a second before he returned his attention to Amired, Ninian admitted, "The truth is, I don't know how much more Jhond will be able to achieve." He smiled. "After all, he's the Eynan and there's never been one before."

Jhond knew he should be afraid of such an unknown quantity, but found he was only curious. "It should be interesting," was all he said.

Amired looked from one to the other. "You two," he said, shaking his head. "One powerful mage who teaches another young mage that he is, in truth, the Eynan. I shouldn't be surprised by anything anymore, yet--" He shrugged and went to make himself comfortable under the only tree growing anywhere near the tower. "I'll wait here for you," he said.

Jhond nodded and turned his attention to the simple stone building, tall and straight, with a narrow spire of twisted bricks atop the convex roof. He led the way inside the half-ruined building under the arch where the door once was, past the old rusted iron hinges, which still hung drunkenly from the jamb. Of the door there was no sign; not even a scrap of wood remained.

Inside there was nothing to indicate the powerful spells that had once protected it. This time, they climbed the steps that curved around the inside of the wall to the upper level with no interference at all, no specters to tempt or terrify even the most talented of magi. Jhond and Ninian entered the room where they had found the chest containing the treasured artifacts needed to help train and eventually seal Jhond as the Eynan.

When it had become clear they were under threat and needed to leave the place in a hurry, Ninian had added whatever random items he could to the chest before it had been spelled to hide it from the evil mage, Suvran. Now they had time to look around the room, to study its contents and take away with them as much as they thought necessary, likely everything. If, as Ninian believed, these shelves contained the main library of the Magi, then it needed to be secured somewhere safe and under Jhond's control.

"Thank the Lords that evil monster never made it up here," Ninian commented. He glanced at Jhond and smiled. "Suvran was too busy trying to find you to spare the time to come here and investigate, and perhaps that cost him in the end. Who knows what else might be stored here?"

The upper room still had half its floor missing, so they had to skirt around the outside to reach the other side, where most of the floor was still intact.

"I really ought to do something to repair the floor," Jhond said absently.

Part of the lower half of the walls was lined with shelves full of scrything blocks, which were used in conjunction with the crystals, and the other part consisted of the long, narrow drawers containing the myriad pieces of crystal of every size and shape. In between was a table and nearby a large wooden chest partially covered in leather. It had been inside the chest where they had found the artifacts linked to the Eynan.

Glancing around now, Jhond thought of taking the crystals and scrything blocks back to his home and secreting them in the Reeve library, but when he voiced the idea, Ninian frowned.

"I don't think that's wise. It's no secret Jhond of Reeve is the Eynan, which means your family home would be easy to locate for anyone determined enough."

"Damn it, Ninian, you know I can create a powerful enough spell so no other mage could possibly break it. The crystal library will be safe in the Reeve Archive."

"Of course I'm aware of that. But you're not thinking about your family."

"My family?" Jhond frowned and then his brow cleared. "Lords of Light! You're thinking of the safety of my family rather than any actual risk to the Magi library." Jhond took a deep breath, annoyed he hadn't seen that himself. It had been difficult enough when faced with sacrificing a friend to protect a valuable artifact, but his family? He nodded at Ninian, grateful this powerful man was more than a teacher; he had become the best friend Jhond had ever had. "Where else then? Any ideas?"

Ninian bit his lip, clearly thinking as he wandered around the shelves full of scrything blocks, opening the odd drawer lined with crystals. Suddenly, he glanced at Jhond. "The Temple of the Magi. Where better? There are places in the temple that I've never been able to enter."

"But maybe I can?"

"I think it's worth a look after we've checked out this place in detail."

"You don't mean to investigate every single crystal?" Jhond's surprise was evident.

"No, but I imagine the most important pieces will speak to
you.
"

"And perhaps to you," Jhond added. "Remember some of them didn't respond to me at all."

"That was before you were the Eynan, so it might be different now."

"Let's test your theory, shall we?" Jhond said, approaching the open drawer where Ninian was standing. He reached inside and touched a small crystal. It immediately warmed to his touch. He went along the row and each of the crystals responded to him, until he came to the last one. It was fairly average-looking, except for its shape, a perfect ovoid. "Ah," he said, withdrawing and indicating that particular crystal before sketching a bow at Ninian.

"Imp! Not changed much," Ninian grumbled, and Jhond just laughed.

* * * *

Ninian hid his smile as he reached in and lifted out the crystal. As soon as he felt it, heat slid through him, and he felt wonderfully relaxed. Then he was moving, flashing over the countryside, watching as the forests full of small animals, rivers teeming with fish and towering mountains passed beneath him. Suddenly, he came to a juddering stop, and it took a few seconds for his vision to settle so he could understand what he was seeing--a young woman, sitting huddled in the corner of a dark stone room. He couldn't see her clearly because of the shadows that seemed to be dancing as if in response to a fire, yet he could feel no heat close by. She was rocking back and forth, mumbling something under her breath. Ninian leaned closer to try to catch the words, finally recognizing the ancient tongue and the words of power. But something was wrong...and then he understood. The woman hadn't created a proper power circle, so her words were not bringing forth the spell she wanted.

The woman lifted her head and cried out angrily. As she did so, Ninian withdrew from the room, floating high above. Now he could see the building in which the woman crouched. He didn't know where it was precisely, but even in its rather dilapidated state, he recognized the unusual style, which he believed was only used in the far northern state of Garileon.

Abruptly, Ninian was back in the tower room with Jhond calling to him. "Ninian, are you all right? Ninian?" Jhond was shaking his arm, looking concerned.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine."

"That was quite the reaction. You went rigid. You were in a trance for quite a while."

"That is
quite
the crystal, and the odds of my finding it doesn't bear thinking about."

"Whatever do you mean?"

"It didn't respond to you, but without your presence, I'd never have had the chance to touch it. I went on a long journey," Ninian said. "I need to do a little research to confirm my suspicions, but I think I just saw a mage in Garileon."

"Garileon? That's vaguely familiar, but I'm not sure..."

"It's a very small state, way up north, not far from the icy wastes."

"Does that mean it's still under the thumb of the Illurian Empire?"

"Actually, no. Emperor Bardius ignored those few states bordering on the wastes. Don't think he thought they were worth his concern until he had the rest of the continent under his thumb."

"Why do you suppose you had that vision?" Jhond wondered.

Ninian cocked his head on one side, thinking it over, but he couldn't come to any real conclusion. "I'm not sure, but I'd imagine there must be some reason, important reason, for the crystal to show her to me."

"Her? This mage was female? I knew it was possible, but aren't female magi rare?"

"Yes, and becoming more so as time passes. Also, I think this one has a lot to learn. Her spell was failing because she'd not drawn power or protection circles. Yet I did feel great power in that room." Ninian considered what he'd been shown. "One of the ten families, the House of Thail, came from Garileon, though apparently the family died out some time ago."

"Apparently? Are you thinking perhaps this woman could be from this House?"

"It's possible. Why else would I be shown the vision? It was pure chance you opened that particular drawer."

"Perhaps it wasn't just chance at all." Jhond looked thoughtful, then he asked, "Could it be certain crystals were created for just that reason? To keep track of the ten families. Is that it? There was one created for each of the ten families? Have you found others by such a method?"

Ninian stared at Jhond. "You're amazing. The knowledge of the origin of the ten Houses was supposed to have been passed down in my family, but, somewhere along the line, part of the information was lost. I know where seven of the families are. I believed the eighth, the House of Thail, died out about a hundred years ago. Trace of the ninth and tenth was lost.

"I suppose it's possible that at the time of the magi Withdrawal such crystals were created for the ten Houses, but if so, the information was never passed down in my family." Ninian was confused. If it was true why didn't the House of Hartees know of it? It made no sense.

"You said yourself it's possible many magi were in hiding, waiting for a safe time to reveal themselves. Now I've emerged, perhaps you can even find the last two families. Perhaps that's why you found the crystal today. Look at how many drawers there are, and, as you said, I just happened to open that one?"

"Yes, you're right. It's a clue I can't afford to ignore. It's time to stop talking and take action. Let's get everything here to the Temple, stored away safely."

"You don't want to check out any of the others yet?" Jhond asked.

"They've waited for all these centuries. What's a little longer?"

Jhond frowned, looking uncertain. "I'm not sure you should act so precipitately in tracking down the vision. I'm not suggesting we should investigate the library in any detailed way, but I think it important that at least we--I--skim them all, just to check there are no other crystals that provide such direct interaction."

Ninian blew out a breath and glanced at Jhond with a ghost of a smile. "I still tend to forget now and then you're the one with the power nowadays."

"Ninian--"

"Don't worry...not a complaint, just an observation. And, of course, you're right. The female mage will still be there waiting for us after we've safely stowed these in the Temple."

Ninian slipped a hand into his pocket and took something out, drawing a sigil as he did so. He murmured words of magistry, and a large chest appeared near the plinth in the center of the room. Meanwhile, Jhond opened a few more drawers, glancing at the crystals inside, in preparation to transferring them to the chest, which Ninian would then shrink with the wired oval artifact he had found in this very room and which he always carried on his person.

"Ninian," Jhond said, and Ninian was struck by the odd tone of his voice.

He walked to Jhond's side and followed his friend's gaze into an open drawer, the one directly below where he had found the ovoid crystal. There, sitting alone on the padded silk bed was a large crystal, perhaps the largest he had ever seen, but what really caught his attention was the crack that split the crystal from roughly halfway along its length to the tip. Also the color of the crystal was wrong. Instead of the bright reflection of clarity, this crystal was clouded in the upper cracked half, while the lower half was shot through with white and cream streaks.

"I've never seen one like it," Ninian murmured. "Wait!" he declared, as Jhond extended his hand and touched the crystal, Ninian's warning coming just a second too late.

* * * *

Jhond lifted the crystal and was instantly struck by the power of the thing. It surged through him. His back arched and his mouth opened on a silent cry. His automatic reaction was the desire to drop the crystal, but his hand refused to obey his commands. If anything, his fingers gripped the crystal tighter. Jhond was falling, almost the way he did when interacting with the Strands of Time, but he could see nothing but blackness.

Abruptly, the darkness lightened to a pale grey, and though Jhond couldn't see anything as his senses went into overdrive, he could smell heat and decay. He could taste copper, acrid as if burned; he could hear sobs and murmurs of prayers for help, broken by a sudden scream. Above all of this, his senses were screaming of danger, of evil beyond imagining. As heat and pain seared his hand and Jhond finally managed to withdraw, the last thing he heard was laughter, pure joyous laughter.

Jhond knew it was joy at the pain of others.

Jhond gasped, heart pounding as he dropped the crystal to fall back into the drawer. Nursing his painful hand close to his chest, Jhond felt Ninian's hand gripping his shoulder, and it was only then Ninian's words got through to him.