Balancer (Advent Mage Cycle) (16 page)

Why did he have to be so fast…?

Groaning, I shoved the mirror into my pocket and snapped the bon’a’lon out from my belt and half-ran to put myself squarely in front of the very tall double-doors. They were only half-open, but even then I couldn’t really see anything inside. There was practically no light coming from anywhere within the building, and the sunlight wasn’t strong enough to penetrate more than a few feet into the entrance.

Shad was going in their blind.

I let out a long sigh. Knowing him, that probably made things more fun.
Why
did he have to be such an adrenaline addict?

Prince Audax came to stand at my side, his eyes narrowed as he tried to peer inside. “He’s going to get himself killed one of these days doing stunts like this.”

“I know that, and you know that, but try convincing
him,
” I grumbled acerbically.

“Well, if he—” Audax cut himself short, head cocked. “Do you hear laughter from inside?”

Now that he mentioned it…I did. “It sounds evil.”

“It sounds like our crazy Captain is having a lot of fun.” Audax shook his head, half-amused and half-resigned. “The sound is getting closer. Everyone, be ready!” he called to the men around us.

He barely had the warning out when a wave of wide-eyed Priests came stumbling out. Some of them were looking more over their shoulders than what was in front of them. In fact, judging from the abject terror on their faces, you would’ve thought that a sword-wielding boogeyman was chasing them.

Actually…knowing Shad…they might’ve been right…

In any case, Shad’s insane actions worked and they poured through the doors so afraid of what was chasing them that they didn’t pay much heed to the soldiers waiting for them until too late. Caught off-guard, their resistance to capture was minimal at best. In fact, I didn’t even have a chance to fight, they were caught so easily.

I stayed on guard until Shad appeared. He had his sword out in one hand, a long dagger in the other, and a maniacal grin on his face. I searched automatically for any sign of injury, but he wasn’t even flushed from his mad dash through the warehouse. “Anyone do a headcount?” he asked, as if he hadn’t done something insanely reckless.

Apparently Audax was used to such behavior, and after working with Shad as much as he had, he probably was, for he answered laconically, “Thirty-six.”

I did the simple arithmetic in my head and nodded in satisfaction. “That should be all of them. Good work, Shad.”

Shad put a modest expression on and placed a hand over his heart. “Why thank you. All in the line of duty.”

“Don’t push it,” I advised dryly. Snapping the bon’a’lon back into its resting position, I dug out the mirror broach and reported to the other side.

While this roundup did collect another three dozen or so renegades, it didn’t help us in the long run. As the last group was clapped in irons, I turned away and started back toward the palace compound.

“Just wait!” a young voice snarled fiercely from somewhere behind me. “Just wait until they activate the weapon and they
destroy all of you!
You won’t stand a chance then!”

Weapon? What was he talking about? I turned back in curiosity. It might be nothing more than a bluff, but there was an underlying tone to the threat that made me think he was perfectly earnest. The boy that had spoken was one of the young initiates. He was scrappy for his age, with blond hair falling into his eyes. As futile as it was, he was dragging his feet and fighting the soldier’s hold on him.

I waved for the soldier to stop for a moment and knelt down to the boy’s level. “What do you mean by weapon?”

Glad to have gotten a reaction, he leaned against the chains to stare me straight in the eye. “That’s right, the weapon. The weapon that was built to destroy this whole city. To destroy evil, like
you
.”

The last part I ignored. A weapon of mass destruction? “So how old is this weapon?”

For the first time he faltered and took a second to answer me. “Dunno. It was hidden before the War, though.”

A pre-war weapon? It was doubtful that it was made by the Star Order, then. They hadn’t had enough power or influence to make something of that scale two hundred years ago. But that didn’t mean such a thing didn’t exist—some other magician could have made it, a Star Order Priest found it, and they altered it enough for a blood magician to be able to use it.

“Magus, don’t pay attention to this nonsense,” the soldier suggested with a yank to get the boy moving. “It’s just a bluff.”

I stood again and watched as the boy was hauled away. Maybe it had been a bluff. Then again…maybe it wasn’t. Either way, I knew who to ask.

Chapter
Eleven: Legends

Chatta and I consumed a quick breakfast, snatched her mirror broach, and found a remote room to sequester ourselves in so we could talk in private. As soon as I was comfortable, I grazed the mirror with my power and called, “Raile?”

A moment of silence, then there was a thump, a softer thud, and the soft sigh of fabric as if something heavy had just slid against it.

“
Garth?
”

“Yes. Chatta’s here too. We have something we want to ask you.”

“Well, I certainly have a few moments to talk. First, tell me what’s going on over there. No one’s keeping me updated!”

I filled him in with a detailed version of the most recent events, ending with, “It would help if we had some way of searching the land that didn’t have the same limitations as scrying. I don’t suppose you know of anything like that, do you?”

“I have had a notion of something that might help locate those priests. When I was a very young boy, I vaguely remember being told tales about Legends.”

I blinked, having no idea what he was referring to. “Legends?”

“
That was what everyone called them
,” Raile confirmed. “
My Grandpa said that the term came from their similarity with a map’s legend. I was never sure if he was right about that or not. Anyway, a Legend was an individual, either male or female, that could make a personal contract with a Gardener. They were given the ability to sense everything around them for great distances, rather like a living map legend.”

My eyes nearly fell out of my sockets. “
Everything
?!”

“
From mountains to mole hills, mosquitoes to mammoths
,” Raile confirmed, obviously enjoying our surprise.

“But wouldn’t that completely overwhelm their senses?” Chatta turned to me, eyes still wide with wonder as she evaluated the concept. “Garth, you can’t do that, can you?”

“To a limited extent, yes, but not everything all at once. Even Cora couldn’t cope with that big of a headache.” My head hurt just contemplating the crushing amount of information. “It requires maximum effort and focus on my part, too. Raile, how was such a contract made?”

“
I don’t remember
,” he admitted without any noticeable concern, considering the question insignificant next to the sheer weight of the information. “
I’m sure the Gardeners do, though. I’m also sure that buried somewhere in one of the hidden library caches, there are detailed instructions how to go about discovering the traits necessary for a Legend, or maybe they were made using spells and talismans.”

“Hidden library caches?” Chatta pounced on this cryptic reference. “
What
hidden library caches?”

Raile sounded bemused. “
Like the one you found near that boy in the cave, the young Elemental Mage on the coast.”

It felt like my head was reeling, split between Chatta’s question and the revelation that Raile seemed to be familiar with them. “Raile, you know about the caches?”

“
’Course I do
,” he snorted. “
I helped put them together before they were buried, y’know.”

“Then you know where they are?
Precisely
where they are?” I pressed him urgently.

“
No, not all of them
,” he admitted. “
I was just a boy, you realize, they wouldn’t tell me everything. My Da told me that one was buried right underneath the capitol’s library in Chahir, though. He thought it was hilarious, since that was the Star Order’s Headquarters at the time. They didn’t even realize it, sitting on top of a treasure of magical artifacts, and didn’t have an inkling that it was there. How powerful could their magic have been?”

I felt like going to the nearest brick wall and banging my head against it. All this time, running around like frantic chickens with our heads cut off, trying to solve all these problems and obscure riddles, and the answer was riding along inside Raile’s head. That tore it! Before another obscure problem could crop up, I swore to myself that I wouldn’t do one thing until I sat Raile down and had a long chat with him about it first.

“Raile, listen to me carefully. I definitely want to hunt up that cache under the capitol’s library—I think it has information we need—but the reason why I called you is I need to know something. A young Star Order initiate boasted that there’s an ancient pre-war weapon that the Star Order will use to destroy us. Do you know anything about that?”

“
No, can’t say that I do. But I can tell you this—if it exists, the information about it will be in that library cache.”

I made a snap decision. “I’m coming to get you right now so that you can lead me to it.”

“
Sounds more fun than what I had planned.”

“I’ll tell Xiaolang what you’re doing and why,” Chatta volunteered. “You go get Raile.”

“Good plan,” I approved, kissing her lightly on the temple. “Don’t get into trouble.”

“Without you?” she gave a saucy wink. “Never. That would be
no
fun at all.”

I chuckled as she walked away, unable to refute the axiom that it normally
was
my fault Chatta got caught up in “interesting situations.”

“
So
.” There was no mistaking the distinct amusement that I heard in Raile’s voice. “
Finally realized you loved her, eh? About time!”

“Don’t start with me,” I grumbled. “I’ve already been teased enough for a lifetime over this.”

He laughed, the sound raspy but still pleasant to the ears.

“I’ll be there shortly, Raile.”

“
I’ll meet you at the main gates.”

Before I disappeared, there was one more person I needed to check in with.
Night?
Go or stay?

“
I think I’ll help Chatta,
” he answered. “
I don’t think I’d be much help digging up an ancient treasure trove. I’d probably destroy more than I dug up.”

Good point.
See you later, then.

~*~

I didn’t have to reconstruct my bridge as Raile simply waved off the glamour for the existing bridge. Raile had said that the cache was located right underneath the Capitol Library’s foundation, so I took us straight there. The library, as I understood it, had stood since the Palace itself was erected. It was a massive structure, made out of granite, and so it registered on my senses like a lodestone beacon. I had no problem finding the place.

I brought us up in an “empty-feeling” place, without the slightest clue of where exactly it might be, except this was in the right general area. When my head rose above ground, I realized to my chagrin that I had actually brought us up in some poor elderly man’s office. He had frozen with fear, hand still holding a dripping quill, eyes nearly ready to pop out of his head. Judging from the decidedly formal clothing he was wearing, he had to be part of the senior staff here at the library.

“I’m very sorry for startling you,” I apologized contritely. “I didn’t intend to barge into your office, it just registered as an empty area to me.”

“Q—” He paused, drew in a deeper breath, and took hold of himself with visible effort. “Quite alright. From your appearance, I assume that you are the young Earth Mage, Rhebengarthen?”

I was a little surprised that even an elderly librarian from Chahir had heard of me. “That’s correct.”

He put the quill down with a deliberate motion. “I am Shahraman, Head Curator of the Alvacon Library. I have been expecting you for some time.”

I blinked at him, trying to restart my brain that’d gone perfectly blank. How could this man be expecting me, when not two hours before, I had had no idea I would be here? “I’m sorry?”

“Well, perhaps not you precisely, but a powerful magician, most certainly,” he amended. “Before the war ended, something very dangerous, and intensely magical, was locked deep within the basement area of this building. We couldn’t destroy it; we couldn’t even approach it without putting our lives on the line. I come from a long line of librarians who have watched over it all of these years. I knew, once King Vonlorisen changed his position on magic, that at some point a magician from Hain would come here to reclaim that magical relic. That
is
why you are here, is it not?”

One relic. He thought there was only one magical relic here? “Well, er, yes.” I turned to Raile, hoping he could unravel my puzzlement.

“I am Raile Blackover, Wizard of Coven Ordan,” Raile introduced himself, with a formal bow showing respect to our unexpected guest, but with a slight twinkle in his eye. “And we would be very interested in seeing what’s in your basement, Shahraman.”

~*~

We were dispatched to the lower bowels of this ages old library basement, accompanied by a conscripted quivering young guide by the name of Robles. Apparently, the basement level was a veritable mole’s warren, and only the most experienced guides, possessing uncommon luck, could navigate it without getting lost. I thought about telling them that with my Mage senses, I could not only find the right room, but get out again without a problem. Then I thought about my embarrassing talent for getting lost, and decided to keep my mouth shut.

Raile accepted our young guide without a qualm, and let him lead the way through an obscure side door and down a long narrow flight of stairs. We each were given a lantern before our descent, as apparently the lighting on the lower unused levels was chancy at best.