Angst (Book 4) (16 page)

5

“Tell me what you know,” Grand Master Fredrick said as they
hastened down another corridor.

Where do I begin?
Angus wondered as he watched the
Grand Master reach into his sleeve and bring out a large, enormously
complicated key. “I found the nexus last fall,” he began. “It was in a tunnel
complex below the ruins of an Angst temple.” He paused for a moment as the Grand
Master stopped in front of the door and placed the key against the lock. The
lock was a fraction of the size of the key, but as he watched, the key shrunk
and the lock expanded until they matched sizes. “We had gone there looking for
The Tiger’s Eye, a mythical gem of extraordinary value. I found it. It was the
focal point of the nexus.”

The door opened, and Grand Master Fredrick led him into the
chamber beyond. He turned to close the door, and then stepped up to what looked
like a blank wall. “Follow me,” he said, reaching up for something Angus
couldn’t see.

Angus focused on the magic and noted there was a spell
similar to the one Voltari used to travel through his tower. The Grand Master
snagged a braided strand of magic between his fingertips and teased one of the
strands loose with a free finger. The next moment, he was gone. Angus reached
out and mimicked the Grand Master’s movements as precisely as he could, and a
moment later the room disappeared and he found himself surrounded by
darkness—except for the vibrant array of magical strands.

“Continue,” the Grand Master said into the stillness.

“I knew if anyone else found out The Tiger’s Eye existed, it
would be taken and the nexus would be lost. I—” He paused, remembering the
temptation, the fear that the nexus had offered him. “I was tempted to take it
myself,” he half-whispered, “but could not do so. I ran from it.” He shook his
head. “I had to tell my companions about the nexus in order to protect it. I
did not tell them everything; I told them just enough for them to realize how
dangerous the nexus was for them. Fortunately, none of the others had seen The
Tiger’s Eye, or they would have taken it then. They do not understand magic.”

“You think they went back for it?” the Grand Master asked.

“No,” Angus said. “There was a small group of fishmen at the
ruins, and Commander Garret planned to send a patrol to them this spring. We
were supposed to go with them, but we were delayed. I did not expect that
delay, but I had prepared for it. I left a letter with a trusted friend, and
she went with them in my stead.” He paused, closed his eyes, and pushed away
the feeling of betrayal that threatened to overwhelm him yet again.

“Embril,” Grand Master Fredrick said. “You told her of the
nexus?” He paused and asked, “Why did you not tell me?”

Angus sighed. “I could not risk it,” he said. “The power of
a nexus is too tempting, too dangerous. You might think it something you could
control.”

There was a rustle of cloth as the Grand Master moved.
“Perhaps I would have,” he admitted, “as Embril appears to have done.”

“That is what troubles me,” Angus said, fighting against the
heaviness of his voice. “I find it difficult to believe that she would have
done so. She knows the risks involved. But I can find no other explanation for
it.”

They stood in silent darkness for several seconds, and then
Grand Master Fredrick said, “There. Did you see it?”

Angus frowned. There had been a slight ripple of energy
following one of the strands of magic, but it wasn’t unusual; fluctuations like
that were rare, but they did happen.

“It is beginning,” the Grand Master said. His robe rustled
as he turned. “I must assign one of the Masters to observe our nexus. The
network has a delicate balance, and the removal of a nexus point will have a widespread
impact. The fluctuations in the magical energy travel from one nexus to
another, and if there is a significant disruption in the flow of magic, it
could lead to the failure of other nexus points—and the network as a whole.”

And a new Age of Chaos will ensue,
Angus thought as
he studied the magic for another surge, another wavering.

“We must return now,” the Grand Master said. “My dinner is
waiting for me. Pluck this strand.” He paused and then asked, “Do you see it?”

Angus studied the magic until he noticed the braided strand.
He followed the braid with his eyes until he saw an isolated strand bobbing up
and down. “Yes,” he said, and the strand twisted, resumed its original braided
shape, and grew still. He moved up to it and plucked it the way he thought the
Grand Master had done. A moment later, he was in the gloomy little room,
following the Grand Master out the door.

6

Embril staggered out of the stairwell and collapsed on the
hard stone floor. She could barely breathe, but the chill was a blessing after
clambering out of the chimney-like stairwell. She stayed there for several
seconds before her aching lungs stopped protesting, and then she rolled over.
There was a sepulchral, unnatural red-black glow above her that reminded her of
the heat building beneath her. It would overtake her soon, just as the smoke
had overtaken the ceiling. It wasn’t lingering there, either; a fast-moving
eddy was dragging a black, roiling funnel with it.
The trapdoor,
she
thought, crawling after the eddy until she bumped into the wall. She felt
around for several seconds, but—

Giorge took the rope! How could he trap me like this?
she thought fiercely before setting aside her surprise and anger.
I should
have expected it,
she reminded herself.
Anyone who could take The
Tiger’s Eye is capable of anything. I have to stop him!
She forcibly
relaxed her fingers and brought the magic into focus. The glare of the swarming
flame magic below her hadn’t quite overwhelmed the rest of the magic here.
There were strands from the other forms of magic, but they were fluctuating, as
if they were trying to escape from the flames with her. She reached for a
strand of air, and it wriggled in her grasp like a fish trying to get back into
the water. It was difficult to bend it to her will, and it struggled to break
free of the knots she forced upon it as soon as they were tied. She had never
seen magic so unruly, so wild, and a sudden, intense fear fell upon her.
What
if all magic was like this? What would happen to the spells already cast?
She
gasped.
The dome!

Embril finished the spell and took a very deep breath before
using the air magic to lift herself up into the eddy of smoke. She felt it
swirling past her, and closed her eyes against the acrid, burning sensation it
brought. She followed the eddy into the trapdoor, down the tunnel, and up. The
smoke spread out rapidly in the room, and the current almost disappeared. She
exhaled and dropped to the floor, letting go of the air magic as she gasped for
breath. It was dark, but air whistled into and out of the room somewhere. She
crawled toward the cool breeze and out into the corridor beyond. She paused
outside the door to orient herself, but there was something wrong. By her
reckoning, she should turn left out of the room, but the cool air was blowing
in from the right. Why? She closed her eyes, retraced her steps, and smiled to
herself. She had come out the other trapdoor.

She stood up and turned right, feeling her way quickly
through the corridors until she saw a dappling of sunlight. She hurried up to
it and stopped. Would Giorge be lying in wait for her? Or would he have fled by
now? She slid forward and glanced out into the charred room. There were fresh
marks in the old soot, and they were leading away from her. She followed them
through the room and looked over the temple grounds before hurrying across them
and up to the rubble where the outer wall had collapsed. She cautiously climbed
to the top on her hands and knees, stood up, and looked around. If only she
knew what to look for in the trampled grain fields! But she wasn’t a tracker,
and there was no point in wishful thinking.

The horses were nowhere to be seen. She whinnied softly, but
they didn’t answer her call. Then she heard a far-off, frantic little whinny
and turned toward it. What she saw horrified her. Giorge was riding up to the
summit at a remarkable pace—
Swiftness
, she thought with frustration—and
had left Darby’s horse behind at the base of the road. He had hobbled it, and
it was tripping over itself trying to follow him. Fresh anger swarmed through
her—just in time to see Giorge rein in his horse at the summit. He looked at
her for a few seconds, and then disappeared over the rise.

Embril had one thought: She had to help the horse before it
killed or maimed itself. Giorge could wait. She couldn’t catch up with him now,
anyway. She needed to get to the horse, first. It was on her way, and she would
need the supplies Darby had brought with him. How to reach it, though?

She brought the magic into focus and was appalled to see the
streams of flame rippling up all around her, as if she were standing on a dome
that was about to burst. Her eyes widened, and she let the magic fade for a
moment.
I’m in a caldera,
she thought. It was a pristine thought, an
insight so profoundly certain that it was untouched by the terror that would
soon follow.
How long before it bursts?
Streams of smoke were already
rising, and the heat she had felt below was starting to seep out around her.
She had to get out of the valley—
and quickly
.

She brought the magic into focus and reached for another
unwilling strand of air, tenaciously forcing it to her will and holding it
there while she tied the knots together. As she flew toward the horse, the
strand flexed and pulled against her knots, buffeting her about. She put
everything out of her mind except the task of keeping them together long enough
for her to reach the horse. She flew low above the matted grain, willing the
knots to hold despite the knowledge that they wouldn’t. But as she flew further
from the disruption of the nexus, the strands became less unruly. They were
still far from tame, but it was easier to manage them.

The horse whinnied as she approached and fought against its
hobbles in its frantic need for reassurance and companionship. She landed close
to it, and tried to soothe the beast with soft words as she hurried up to it.
It gave her an energetic head butt, nearly knocking her down, and she patted
its sweat-soaked neck.
How could he run you so hard!
she thought with
disgust as she tried to comfort the panicked beast. When it finally calmed down
enough, she bent down to remove the hobbles and left the foul things where they
landed. Then she wormed her way into the saddle and guided the beast up the
road at a quick walk.

When she reached the summit, she paused to look back. Smoke
whispered from the ruins of the Angst temple, and it seemed to her like it was
sagging into the ground. It could be a trick of the eyes, but she didn’t think
so. She knew what was happening beneath it: the rocky foundation was melting.

She turned her horse and kneed it to a gallop. It was not
the best thing for the overwrought beast, but it was better than falling prey
to the volcano when it erupted. Besides, the further away from the nexus’s
influence she got, the better her chances were of finding magic that she could
use to cast her spells.

Giorge was already well out of sight.

7

Giorge paused at the summit to turn around and look at the
Angst temple one last time. He was relieved to see Embril had made it out of the
ruins, but he knew she wouldn’t believe that. Why should she? He had done the
very thing she had come here to prevent: he had taken The Tiger’s Eye from its
proper place. The volcano didn’t like it. Smoke fizzled up from its bowels, and
it wouldn’t be long before the lava followed. But why had he done it? He hadn’t
even thought about taking it until—

It didn’t matter. He had taken The Tiger’s Eye, and he would
suffer the consequences for having done so—and so would everybody else—unless
he could escape from them. The horse was still under Embril’s Swiftness spell,
and that helped. It would carry him quite far before the spell
dissipated—unless Embril could end it from a distance. He wouldn’t put it past
her; there were a lot of things a wizard could do that he didn’t know about.
So, while the spell lasted, he planned to ride as hard and fast as he could
until he got to—

To where?

It had been stupid to pilfer The Tiger’s Eye without a plan
of action that included escape and having a buyer already lined up. Embril
should have caught up with him already, and it was a wonder that she hadn’t. He
couldn’t rely on dumb luck to get him out of this, could he? So where could he
go to elude her—and Hellsbreath’s garrison, once they found out about what had happened.
They would find out, too; Embril would see to that somehow. So where could he
go?

Wherever it was, he needed to get started. He turned his
horse away from Embril and kneed it to a full gallop down the sharp incline of
the road. He gave the horse its head, letting it pick its path while he
considered his options.

I can’t go back to Hellsbreath,
he thought.
They’ll hang me for sure when they find out what I’ve done. Wyrmwood? I might
be able to reach it before they receive the news, but I won’t be able to stay
there. Tyrag? Pointless; the wizards will send word to the capital long before
I get out of The Tween.
He paused for a moment.
The Tween?

I can’t go to The Southlands because I can’t get past
Hellsbreath. They’ll no doubt increase their patrols once they find out I’ve
taken The Tiger’s Eye, and they’ll surely search me.
He frowned.
I’ll
have to hide the Skull. It’s supposed to be in the box, and that will be
suspicious. But where can I put it?
He shook his head; there would be time
for that later.

Can I get to the Western Kingdoms from here?
He
shuddered and nearly dismissed it. There were other reasons he couldn’t go back
there. Then again, he might be able to make it through the mountains to the
road running through them, but he’d have to go over and around the volcanoes to
do it. Normally, that wouldn’t be a huge problem, since he could climb along
cliff faces better than most and their eruptions were usually fairly minor. But
with The Tiger’s Eye gone, there was no telling what they would be like.

He frowned and focused on staying in the saddle for a few
minutes, but as he approached the flattish, sparsely-treed area between the
mountain and the plateau, he knew he had to make a decision. He had narrowed it
down to three choices: He could catch up with Lieutenant Jarhad’s patrol—they
couldn’t have gone that far yet—and convince them that Darby had taken The
Tiger’s Eye and Embril was pursuing him. That made sense, didn’t it? If he
could figure out how to explain the horse. Would it be enough to convince
Lieutenant Jarhad? Even if it didn’t, there wasn’t much Lieutenant Jarhad could
do without his Truthseer. Besides, they would be too busy to find out—Giorge
would see to that by making his story as unnerving as he could. Spewing lava
and grumbling volcanoes… The volcano might even be erupting by the time he
reached them.

The second option required that he turn south on the road
running through the plateau. They had found it last fall, but there was no way
of knowing how far it went before it ended. It might get him close to the West
Road, and if so, he wouldn’t have to do much climbing. Did he have enough food
and water for it? He could make up his mind when he reached the crossroads—and
he might run into Lieutenant Jarhad’s patrol before then. If he did, Lieutenant
Jarhad would make it impossible for him to go that way if he couldn’t sneak
off.

The third option was more interesting—and potentially far
more dangerous. Angus’s map had a place in The Tween marked as
ELHOUIT
ACHNUT
. It was supposed to warn people away from that area, but more often
than not, it meant the cartographer hadn’t bothered to go there. Sometimes it
was a real warning, though, and it had been added to the map recently. It was
in The Tween, though, and The Tween Effect kept most people from going too far
into it. The cartographer might have been frightened away from it by the
paranoia brought on by the mushroom smoke.

Giorge shuddered. He knew all too well what the mushroom
smoke could do, thanks to the trick Angus had played on him. Angus had only
tossed a little bit of it into the fire, but it had nearly driven him insane
before it had worn off. There was a lot more of those mushrooms on the
plateau—the dwarves grew them so they could burn it, since the smoke kept
almost everyone out of The Tween. What would happen if lava flowed across the
plateau? The dwarves had
piles
of dried mushrooms. If they started
burning….

The horse skirted the first few trees, and Giorge began
studying the landscape for signs of Lieutenant Jarhad’s men. He was the kind of
patrol leader who might take the precaution of leaving a scout behind to watch
for them, and Giorge wasn’t ready with his story yet. He needed to decide the
basics of it and then memorize the details so he could tell the story a little
differently each time. The core events
had to be exacting, but he needed
to play with the periphery and wording to be convincing. Nothing shouted “Lie!”
louder than repeating a story exactly the same way each time it was told.
Besides, if he went to
ELHOUIT ACHNUT
, it would be after meeting up with
Lieutenant Jarhad’s group, and that meant that he could wait until then to make
his decision. So what about the story?

We had just reached the temple ruins
….