Delver Magic: Book 05 - Chain of Bargains (12 page)

Ryson followed. Once out of
earshot of the captain, he pressed Holli for their true objectives.

"Are we really leaving? Or
should we check out that warehouse first?"

"No, the goblins are
pawns—always have been and always will be. I am more concerned with the one who
is influencing the events of this region. We will go see Prilgrat before he can
be warned we know about him."

"You think the captain will
talk?"

"No, but I do not have the
same faith in the soldiers that were with him or the ones in the station. They
saw you move. They saw my ears. They know you are a delver and I am an elf. One
of them will talk. Word will spread that we were here and escaped. This
Prilgrat will discover it. I want to find him first."

Pressing his own perception into
the thoughts of a sorceress who once begged for his aid, Enin probed Heteera as
if he had taken a physical presence in her mind. The bizarre complexity of the
labyrinth always amazed the wizard. As opposed to layers of thought and
consciousness that blended together like the petals of an intricate flower,
Enin wandered through distinct segregations defined by absolute borders and
harsh obstacles. He understood it didn't matter how deep he penetrated the
sorceress' thoughts, depth was inconsequential. The ability to maneuver and
navigate through the confusion proved to be much more important.

The portion that made up Heteera's
open awareness appeared to the wizard as a flat, near lifeless, wasteland.
Enough responsiveness existed to allow Heteera to remain alive, even to walk
and complete simple tasks, but this level of thought produced a minimum of
active consciousness. To the wizard's perception, the stunted level of clear
decision-making amounted to nothing more than mere tumbleweeds rolling over
scorched and empty plains.

In the distance, a ring of
mountains surrounded the desolation of Heteera's conscious thought, but the
peaks lacked distinction and majesty. They appeared more like a solid wall that
encircled a dying land, a dark brown mound forming a simple circle with little
character. Though the barrier lacked magnificent splendor in appearance, Enin
understood the significance of the mountains. They served not only as the first
obstacle Enin needed to overcome, but they also represented the spell which
divided Heteera's mind and isolated the magic within her essence.

The barrier had been created by
the incantation of another spell caster. During a battle where Heteera's
immense connection to magic proved pivotal, the wizard Jure needed to access
her pool of energy but wished to avoid the pitfalls from her lack of control.
He cast a spell which encased the magical energy within her being, protected it
from her self-doubt and insecurities. That spell allowed Jure to feed on
Heteera's power, but it also created a self-sustaining wall that divided the
sorceress' consciousness.

The spell would not dissipate on
its own. It existed on the tremendous flow of energy fed by the sorceress'
connection to the magic throughout Uton. There was no drain on the spell
itself, nothing within Heteera's essence that conflicted with the spell's
intention. Unless the casting was magically assaulted by a spell of superior
power, it would remain in place until Heteera's connection with the magic
ceased.

Drawn to the magical energy, Enin
crossed the barren flatlands of Heteera's mind as if he flew over a dead sea.
As he approached the range of mountainous rock, he pressed lightly against the
barricade with his own will. The magic was sealed off completely, like a great
river running through a tunnel of rock that could not be breached by nearly any
force. The wizard, however, possessed a connection to the magic that defied
force, and he considered many different spells that would allow him to break
through the walls and free the energy.

He knew he could breach the
barrier, but the raging flow of power always forced him to reconsider. Once
free, the magic would burst throughout Heteera's essence. She would become the
focal point of enormous energy unleashed, yet she was no longer capable of
rational thought. He wished to help the sorceress, not obliterate her in a
cataclysmic release of power. The wall had broken her mind into pieces, and
while it was possible that the removal of the barrier might undue part of the
damage, it was also probable that her lack of will would lead to an epic
disaster. That always gave Enin pause, and so he pressed onward.

He probed over the wall of rock,
attempted to reach beyond it to escape the wasteland that represented Heteera's
consciousness. He needed to contact more complex levels, levels of thought that
were cutoff by the wall. He could not go through the barrier, but he could will
himself over the top.

The mountains grew in scope, tried
to block off the invader. They were constructed to seal off the magic from
Heteera's deficiencies, but they also served a greater purpose of division. The
original spell was cast to completely engulf the energy, but it also acted as a
defense mechanism. It could block out almost any attempt to circumvent it, but
it could not match Enin's depth of control. The barrier eventually relented and
the mountains retracted to their original state.

Once Enin's awareness conquered
the obstacle, the imagery around him changed drastically. His essence remained
focused within Heteera's mind, but he had pushed past her conscious thought
just as he passed beyond the rock mound. The wall of rock waited behind him,
and it no longer formed a ring around an empty plain. It simply stood as a long
column that extended beyond the edges of infinity.

Standing in the current of thought
that had once formed Heteera's true intellect, personality and identity, Enin
searched for a way to reconstruct the sorceress' mind. The space around him,
however, defied logic and reason. He never expected her awareness to take on a
purely coherent representation of space and time, but it lacked any rational
cohesion whatsoever. The flow of thought moved in slants and curves, broken
angles and segmented lines. It was beyond delirium, beyond madness. Enin felt
almost suffocated by total and complete turmoil.

Ignoring the smothering sensation
of chaos and disruption, the wizard reached out to each shred of thought and
each stray memory that twisted and turned within that tortured section of
Heteera's mind. He attempted to follow them all in hopes that one might lead to
a foundation. He only needed one building block, one point of true structure no
matter how small. If there existed one remnant of Heteera's identity that could
be salvaged, he could use that as the anchor to rebuild her consciousness, but
he could never find a single impulse that held to any true substance of being.

Refusing to relinquish, Enin
followed the convoluted paths that formed Heteera's labored perceptions. He
ignored the frustrations of the confused trails. He moved his awareness through
ever widening circles and collapsing spirals. He met each dead end with
steadfast resolution to start again. He covered the seeming eternity of
emptiness simply to break though into crowded confusion.

He kept calling out to the
sorceress, trying to capture the barest whisper of recognition. Silence was the
usual reply, until he yelled with enough ferocity that a contingent of
Heteera's deepest fears decided he was no longer welcome.

The confusion of the sorceress'
mind amplified the assault. It was not magical energy that struck out at the
wizard's perception. It was unconscious motivation, like the driving force of a
brutal nightmare. Mental energy derived a power of its own. Within the depths
of the sorceress, Enin faced a barrage. The attack pressed upon the wizard like
a terrifying dream that brought panic to a sleeping individual and caused
physical distress—cold sweats, heavy breathing, taught muscles, strained
screams.

The breadth of fears that wished
to obliterate the wizard took on near physical form. A thick wave of muck, like
the heavy gray sludge that forms at the bottom of decaying garbage, fell upon
Enin's consciousness. It blocked everything else out, encased the wizard's
awareness in totality. It threatened to crush his perception, drive his
awareness into a black abyss that was Heteera's shredded existence.

Enin had suffered through similar
attacks on previous journeys into Heteera's mind. A few times, he tried to pick
through the sludge, hoping to find something of use, for even fears can lead
back to a pivotal memory. The anguish, however, was empty of identity. It was
hollow and corrupt, totally void of any useful substance. He wasted little time
in pressing the slush of baseless horrors aside.

There was never victory in
avoiding the assault. If anything, it marked the end of the incursion. Once the
sorceress' fears had been stoked into an assault, further exploration became
pointless. Every stray thought would elude him, resist him. Fighting through
became futile.

The wizard withdrew his
consciousness. His perception returned to that of his normal existence. He was
back in Connel, standing in a quiet study. He was not alone. Heteera was there
as was the wizard Jure. Enin stepped back from Heteera and examined her face.

She looked back at him with a
blank expression of complete detachment. She didn't seem to recognize him and
showed no emotional response to the probing that was now complete.

"Are you alright?" Enin
asked.

"I'm fine," Heteera
responded.

She wasn't, but she simply didn't
know it.

"Are you tired? Do you need
to rest?"

"I'm fine," she
repeated.

She stared back at the wizard with
total and complete indifference, an apathy that went beyond any normal human
with basic emotions.

"Very well."

Enin then turned to Jure.

"I want to check the
magic," he requested in a somber tone.

It was a process that Enin had
always followed. Once the wizard pulled back from the recesses of Heteera's
mind, he wanted to ensure the integrity of the barrier. He could not, however,
do it safely by himself.

When Jure cast the spell that
separated the magic from Heteera's consciousness, he included a siphon that
would allow him and Holli Brances to connect to the energy. He also placed a
safeguard upon that conduit, ensuring that limits were placed upon its use.

Despite Enin's vast ability, the
barrier would not simply bend to the powerful wizard's will. He had no such
direct access to Heteera's magic, but he could utilize his connection with his
elf guard. He and Holli shared a magical link that was powerful in its own
right. Grasping that link, and with the help of Jure, Enin could probe the
magical flow within the sorceress.

Bypassing Heteera's consciousness,
the wizard slipped his perception directly into the stream of magic that flowed
within the barrier spell. He did not absorb any. He simply analyzed it. He
looked for taint and malady, any sign that the magic was being influenced,
either by some outside source or even by Heteera's unconscious will.

"It appears very
stable," Enin remarked. "The barrier remains strong and the magic itself
remains pure."

"How's her mind?" Jure
asked.

"Same as before. A
disorganized jumble of despair," Enin replied.

"She's been like that for so
long now. Is there any good news?"

"In all honesty, I do not
believe it can get any worse for her. I believe she's reached the bottom of the
pit."

"That's supposed to be
good?"

"Yes. It means she's
stabilized. It may be a very bad condition, but it doesn't seem to be degrading
further. We have both been worried about how long she has been in this
condition, but it seems time is no longer a factor. We will either find a way
to save her or we won't. It's no longer possible for us to be
too late,
and I find that to be
encouraging."

"I suppose you're
right."

Enin then contradicted himself.

"Not completely. We may not have
to worry about time in regard to repairing her mental condition, but there are
other considerations. So much power is within her. At what point do we deem her
not to be safe?"

Jure looked over at Heteera who
continued to stare off into space. She showed not the slightest reaction to
being called a possible hazard. Jure then questioned Enin regarding the
validity of such a concern.

"But you said the barrier is
strong. What's the danger?"

"Danger?" Enin repeated,
as if it was a concept just introduced to him. He began to consider so many
different possibilities. He started to pace about the room as his thoughts
covered an array of scenarios. "Will another magic caster sense the magic
within her and try to utilize it for his own gain? Your spell was extremely
efficient in limiting access, but that doesn't mean someone won't try to bypass
it. A clumsy attempt by a foolish spell caster might be disastrous. And what if
something happens to her? An accident. If she dies suddenly, what happens to
all that power? A simple slip down a stairway and Godson knows what might
happen."

"If that's a concern, maybe
we should take her out of the city," Jure offered. "I could take her
to the Lacobian. I've spent a great deal of time there myself. I could watch
out for her and she would be isolated."

Enin looked up as if startled.

"What's that? Take her to the
desert? No. I appreciate the sacrifice, but it's not a good idea. You can't
forget about the magic itself. She is more than just a conduit, she draws in
the magic naturally. That's why your spell won't fade. It also means she's
drawing in magical energy from any source. What happens if she is exposed to
some twisted piece of incantation blurted out by some halfwit practicing spells
out in the Lacobian? There's way too much spell activity out there to risk
it."