Forging Divinity (28 page)

She had no experience at Liadran style sorcery, or at anything involving the Dominion of Sight – but her Comprehensive Barrier had absorbed one of his spells. It gave her an intrinsic understanding of the spell that had been cast, almost as if she had used it herself. She had never attempted to cast a spell based on that data alone before – but now seemed like a good time to try.

First, Lydia had to adjust her Comprehensive Barrier. Her style of barrier would be triggered by any sort of incoming sorcery, regardless of the source. That meant that even spells she attempted to cast on herself would be blocked by it, as long as it was active. Any spell that impacted with the shield would expend some of its energy, regardless of whether or not that spell was harmless. The stronger the spell, the more the barrier would be weakened.

She took a deep breath, visualizing the barrier in her mind, and spoke. “Suppress barrier, face.”

Lydia felt as slight tingle across her face as the barrier reshaped, and she knew from experience that she had just created a hole in the barrier. This would both allow the incoming spell to work, and to prevent the barrier from being weakened.

Touching the wall of the wagon, Lydia pictured the spell that Jonan had cast in her mind.
Eyes close. Erase target in mind. Sustain image; target self. Open eyes.

When she reopened her eyes, nothing had visibly changed. Lydia tensed her jaw in frustration.

What was I expecting? Casting a completely new type of sorcery successfully on my first try?

Hrm.
She tapped a finger on the wood absently.
Maybe I can adapt it to work with the Velryan style?

The sorceress took a deep breath, glancing from side-to-side self-consciously.

Now or never,
I guess.

“Dominion of Sight,” she muttered, “Erase the image before me, but only for myself.”

Lydia’s vision blurred – but within the blur, she could see the contents of the wagon. She gaped, both at the success of the spell and the figures inside.

Two Rethri males, adults, reclined against the right wall. They looked awake and aware, and one of them leaned in close to the other, whispering something that Lydia couldn’t hear.

On the opposite side were children. Four figures, bundled in blankets, huddled together. Their eyes were closed – she couldn’t determine if they were Rethri or human. Upon reflection, she couldn’t even tell if they were sleeping or dead; although the blankets wouldn’t have made much sense in the latter case.

What am I dealing with here?
She had considered the possibility that the missing Rethri were in the wagons, but Jonan’s description had only included children. And these adults didn’t look to be captive in any way – they were awake, aware, and unencumbered by any sort of chains or shackles.

“Stop the wagons!” came a voice from the front of the line.

Lydia broke into a run, her vision still swimming from her unexpected use of sight sorcery.
Good time to try out a new trick, Lydia. Really.

She came up behind Korin a few moments later, who stood in the middle of the road, three other guards at his side. He faced off against a figure in violet robes, who stood about ten paces further down the road. It wasn’t until Lydia came up to Korin’s side that she recognized the bandages on the opposing sorcerer’s right hand.

“Lydia?” Veruden’s voice called out incredulously. “You’re the traitor?”

Lydia quirked a brow at the blur of her friend. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Veruden. From this angle, it looks like you’re the one barring the path.”

Veruden folded his arms in front of him. “The people in those wagons are fugitives. I have orders to return them to the city immediately.”

Fugitives? Orders? Oh, resh.

Korin stepped protectively in front of Lydia. “You can let us handle this, miss. He’s just one man, sorcerer or not.”

Lydia stepped right back in front of Korin. “I don’t intend for this to turn into a fight. Veruden, step aside. Let’s talk about this. I think we’ve been set up.”

“Maybe you were,” Veruden said uncertainly. “I can’t step out of the road, sorry, Lydia. My orders were pretty clear.”

Time for a gamble, then.
“Those aren’t fugitives back there. I’ve met the people in the back – they looked like ordinary civilians. No prison brands, certainly. And the others are supposed to be a Selyran ambassador and his entourage.”

“Might just be that you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, then, Lydia. Someone here is trying to sneak prisoners out of the city,” he waved a hand at the wagons. “Maybe it’s not all the wagons. It’d be smarter for them to come through along with a normal caravan, in fact.”

“I’m going to need to see your authorization,” Lydia said, folding her arms. Her vision was slowly starting to clear, just sufficiently to make out Veruden’s uncertain expression.

“Authorization? What are you babbling about, Scryer? We’re both court sorcerers,” he waved a hand. “Are you trying to stall for time?”

She shook her head. “Korin, hand over my papers.”

“Uh, I don’t exactly have them-“

“Get them,” Lydia insisted, waving him at away. Korin hesitated for just a moment, then nodded and complied. The remaining three guards looked at her uncertainly, but she just raised a warding hand for them to wait.

“I don’t see what papers have to do with any of this,” Veruden said, taking a step forward.

“My orders,” Lydia began, hoping to prevent a bloodbath, “Are from the queen regent herself. With her seal. She asked me – just a couple hours ago, interrupting me in the middle of my meal with Edon and Taelien – to rush here to guard the caravan.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. Edon ordered me –,” he paused, sighing. “Okay, starting to see what you mean about one of us being played.”

Lydia nodded. “Give the guard captain a minute to get-“

“Don’t need the papers,” he said. “I believe you. You said you’d checked one of the wagons, though, not all of them. Only way we can know what’s really going in is by checking them all.”

Can’t disagree with that logic... But the guards were given explicit instructions not to let anyone in the other wagons.

Resh it.

“Yeah,” Lydia agreed. “You’re right. We check them together. Guards, stand down.”

The guards looked from one to another doubtfully, then back to her.

“I’m not sure we’re allowed-“

“I’m under the queen regent’s authority, remember?” Lydia grinned. “Don’t worry, no one is going to blame you if something goes wrong. The responsibility falls on me.”

One of the soldiers breathed a sigh of relief about that, but the other two seemed uncertain. They took steps back, away from Veruden, hands on blades.

Veruden walked over to Lydia’s side, and the pair of them headed to side of the first wagon. Lydia waved to a pair of guards who were still seated at the coach box, prepared to move the horses at any time.

“Step down and be ready to intercept anyone who attempts to attack us,” she ordered the guards. They complied immediately, taking it a step further by drawing the swords at their sides.

“I’ll go first,” Veruden said, stepping up to the side of the coach and opening the door.

A sword went right through his center a moment later.

Istavan stood in the doorway of the coach, withdrawing his blade with a flourish.

Lydia’s sword flashed into her hand, and she reached with her left hand to grab Veruden and steady him – but her hand passed through him. Veruden vanished an instant later.

Istavan stumbled forward as if he had been struck, catching himself on the dirt.

“What in the name of the gods was that about, Istavan?” Lydia demanded, eyes scanning the area for Veruden.

“Should have known this was an ambush,” Veruden said from somewhere nearby. The five uncertain guards nearby had their swords drawn, but they didn’t seem to know who to point them at. Two of them faced vaguely toward Istavan, while the others looked around with bewildered expressions.

Veruden didn’t just teleport,
Lydia realized.
Istavan never hit him. He’s using sight sorcery!

“Get Veruden, now!” Istavan rasped, reaching with his empty hand to cover his ribs. “He’s here to take the ambassador!”

“Dominion of Knowledge, illuminate the hidden!” Lydia shouted, searching for Veruden. She only caught a vague blur to Istavan’s right before a fist slammed into the sorcerer’s mask, shattering it to pieces and smashing Istavan toward the dirt.

Veruden appeared above Istavan, a flickering sphere of blue light in his hands, preparing to throw downward.

“No, stop!” Lydia charged at Veruden, swinging the flat of her blade at her friend. He glanced at her just before the blade struck and the sword sailed through him, meeting only empty air. The false image of him flickered and disappeared a moment later.

“He tried to skewer me, Scryer,” Veruden’s voice said from somewhere on her left. She spun, but she couldn’t find him.
Either that sight spell shot my vision too badly for my detection spell to work properly, or he’s just that good at invisibility.
Lydia grimaced.
Invisibilty and teleportation. And whatever that blue thingy was. Resh. When did Veruden learn at least two more Dominions? And with that degree of proficiency? He’s not even using incantations...

“I need you to stop, Veruden. I don’t want to take a side here. We should all talk this out. Guards,” she instructed. “Point your swords at that man,” she indicated Istavan. “Don’t let him move. But if Veruden attacks him again, feel free to stab him, too.”

A shockwave blasted Lydia off her feet.

Eru elan lav kor taris,
her Comprehensive Barrier reported unhelpfully. The barrier did stop her from feeling the impact as she hit the ground, however, so she was on her feet faster than the guards – who, at a second glance, didn’t seem to be getting back up at all.

What the –

Veruden appeared right in front of Lydia, grabbing her sword’s hilt and wrenching it out of her hand. The saber spun into the darkness, landing far out of reach. She responded by grabbing his injured hand right hand and squeezing. He groaned and fell to a knee.

“Stop it, Veruden. I don’t want to fight you.” She emphasized that by squeezing his hand a little harder.

“Going to have to pick a side, even if you don’t want to,” he muttered through grit teeth.

And then she was clutching air.

Lydia couldn’t see him, but she knew where his next move would be. Istavan was still on the ground, shaking his head in disorientation, and none of the guards around him were moving.

The sorceress rushed forward, tackling a flickering blur in the empty air. Lydia met resistance, her lunge catching him in the stomach instead of the shoulder she had been aiming for. Still, she managed to drag him down to the ground with some effort.

That didn’t keep him long, however. Veruden was still only half-visible, and he managed to slam an elbow into her ribs, knocking the wind out of her. As she winced, he rolled on top of her. His good hand closed around her throat.

“I don’t want to do this. Surrender,” Veruden said.

A mailed fist slammed into his cheek, knocking the sorcerer right off of her.

“Got your papers,” Korin said, reaching down and wrenching her off the ground with a strong hand. Lydia woozily caught her feet.

Veruden was gone again, and Istavan was still having difficulty standing up. She glanced at Korin dubiously, wondering how he was still standing.

Oh, right. I put a barrier on him before we left. Guess it worked. I should probably refresh that.

“Dominion of Protection-“

Korin went flying, slamming into the side of the wagon. Lydia caught the flicker of his barrier triggering as he collided, but he smashed into it hard, cracking the wooden frame.

Something slammed into Lydia from behind, invisible hands wrapping around her wrists. “Tell me you’ll surrender and I’ll stop,” Veruden’s voice said.

She slammed a foot down toward his, but he moved it aside, and she caught only dirt. Through the corner of her eye, she caught Istavan raising his right hand. Veruden must have caught it, too, because he relaxed his grip on her – presumably to try to teleport again.

Not getting away this time,
Lydia thought. She grabbed his injured hand again, squeezing hard. “Dominion of Protection, fold against his skin.”

“Ignite,” Istavan said, a blast of light issuing from his outstretched hand toward Veruden.

Veruden released Lydia, waved a hand, and the incendiary light caught him in the center of the chest. He crumpled to the dirt.

No,
Lydia thought, rushing over to Veruden’s fallen form.
That shield should have stopped the blast too. His teleport couldn’t have been powerful enough to use up the barrier by itself.

The sorceress rolled him over, revealing a severe burn spreading across Veruden’s entire chest. Smoke rose from the charred flesh, and his eyes were sealed shut.

“Clever move, using a shielding spell to prevent him from escaping,” Istavan remarked, slowly approaching.