Into The Ruins (60 page)

A glass later, Shurl knew they had a problem.  The image that had easily formed before, would no longer open.  She pulled out the talisman, and discovered it was cracked and discolored.  By the Guild, the damn thing had failed!  She should have made the
Doorway
when she had the chance.  The power draw she had triggered to check her ability to make the
Doorway
had been the last bit of magical energy the talisman would support.  That had destroyed it.  She let her head bang back against the trunk of the tree she sat next to.  They had succeeded, only to fail because of the poor quality of the device.

When she broke the news to her companion, she thought the other would go mad.  Frantically the other Caster grabbed for the device to try it herself.  Shurl handed it to her without hesitation.  It only took a moment for her companion to come to the same conclusion.

“What do we do now?” she asked.

Shurl shook her head.  She didn’t know.  To have come so close, only to fail through no fault of their own.  She wondered if this is what had happened to the three westerners who had been captured when they entered Sedfair earlier in the summer.  Then she had an idea.

“We have to get home,” she said slowly.  “The Saltique must learn of what we have found.  This oasis is small, but it is adequate for what we need.  It provides a pathway west.”

“Without the talisman, we cannot return to Sedfair,” her companion reminded her.

“We know where there are more,” Shurl said.  “Back at the other oasis are many from the Three Kingdoms. I’ll bet each has a talisman that would work.”

“I don’t understand?” the second Caster said.

“We can get back there,” Shurl explained.  “We don’t need a talisman.  From this oasis, we can make the jump.  We can go back where we started this journey.  With luck, we may be able to grab one of them before we are discovered, then quickly flee for home.  It’s a risk, but what other choice have we?”

For the first time since discovering the damage to the talisman, the second Caster smiled.  “Let’s go,” she urged.

“First we must fill our water skins.  We might have to wait for many glass before the proper opportunity presents itself.  We’ll need water for that.”

It was dusk before the opportunity presented itself. They had returned to the very spot they had departed some days before, and now hid behind one of the rolling dunes.  They could see that even more activity was taking place in the green oasis than had been the case a few short days ago.  More of the westerners had come to the oasis, and an extremely large netting was being stretched across tall poles to cover the oasis.  They both recognized the glyphs. 

“They are blocking the oasis,” Shurl whispered.  “Soon it will be impossible to use it.  Any who transfer into it would be trapped without magic, and unable to go on.  The Saltique must be informed of this.”

“We must act before they finish, or we won’t be able to get home either,” the other whispered.

“There are too many of them,” Shurl said.  “We must be patient.”

They watched as the work continued through the afternoon.  They could see that a half dozen wizards patrolled the perimeter, making sure that no one was able to approach the oasis while the main work force was focused on erecting the netting.  They each seemed vigilant and impossible to approach.  There was no chance the two Casters could approach unseen.

Then the massive explosion of purple light filled the sky to the north, the earth-shaking boom causing everyone to duck.  Most of the men turned toward the explosion, and work stopped on the netting.  Even the perimeter guards couldn’t help but let their attention be drawn toward the anomaly.

“Now,” Shurl whispered, sensing this might be their only opportunity to approach unseen.

Together they scurried across the sands, bent low to help hide their advance.  A secondary explosion and another burst of light covered the sounds of their final advance.  Shurl’s blade went under the young wizard’s throat, her left hand holding his head.  Quickly her companion searched for the amulet he had to be wearing.

“He hasn’t got one,” she hissed to Shurl.

“He has to,” Shurl whispered back, a touch of desperation in her voice.  They were committed now, and didn’t have much time.  She tried to think where he might have it.

“It’s here,” the man she held said, holding up his arm to display the armband snapped around his wrist.

Momentarily shocked by his understanding of what they’d said and his ability to speak, Shurl ordered him to remove it.

“It won’t help you any,” he said.  Maik knew he was in trouble and that his life could be ended any moment if they were angered by not being able to get what they wanted.  He’d spotted the staffs the one woman carried, and he’d recognized the language he’d not had an opportunity to use before.  It had been just the other day he’d been Linked to gain the skill.  “It’s Linked to me.  It won’t work for anyone else.”

“Linked,” Shurl hissed.  She wasn’t sure of the meaning of the word.  “Take it off and give it to me,” she ordered softly.

Maik shrugged and slipped the bracelet off after using a bit of magic to unlock it so it would slip over his wrist.  He handed it to the woman with the staffs.  The other kept the knife in place at his throat.  He looked to see if anyone noticed what was happening, but they were all still staring off toward the direction of the explosion and light which was gradually dimming in the distance.

“He’s right.  It doesn’t work,” Shurl’s companion said.  “In fact, it makes my head spin to wear it.  Take it off,” she said, holding out her hand so Maik could release it.

“Put it back on,” Shurl ordered.  “You are going to take us where we want to go.”

Maik shook his head carefully.

“Do it or die.” Shurl said, and let the knife bite into his neck.

Maik winced at the pain.  He was not prepared for this.  He’d only been a wizard some six months, and this was his first assignment out into the Ruins.  He didn’t want to die, and he decided that taking these women where they wished to go wouldn’t gain the enemy much.  It might end up with him a prisoner, but there would still be hope to be rescued just as Rigo had been.  Slowly, he nodded.  Agreeing to their demands was his only hope of living, as slim as it might be.

“Use the image in my mind,” the woman commanded.  “Do it now.  In a moment someone is going to notice, and I promise you will pay for delaying us.”

Maik was skillful at making
Bypass
portals.  Briefly he considered making the
Bypass
go to the Outpost, but he knew he would die immediately if he did so.  Instead, cursing himself for his cowardice, he grabbed the image, formed the portal, and was pulled through with the two women as soon as it opened.  The one with the knife relaxed somewhat upon seeing where they were.

“We made it!” she exclaimed happily.

Maik took the moment to make a grab for the knife.  The other woman wasn’t looking their way, and if he could just get it free, he could make a
Bypass
back home and be gone before they realized.  He had the knife and had almost opened the crucial
Bypass
when the beam of bright light burned a hole in his chest.

Shurl looked at the body on the ground.  “Grab the bracelet.  The Saltique will want to have it, even if it doesn’t work for us.  She would have liked to have him alive.  Someone who can speak the language would have been very useful.  Sadly, you had no choice.”

Together, the two weary Casters made the
Doorway
into Nals.  They had a great deal to report to the head of the Guild.  They had discovered the oasis they were sent to find, and they had learned that the westerners were blocking their own oases.  They also had a new form of talisman, and they had discovered that the westerners somehow had learned their language.  She was anxious to report to Carif.  Now maybe she would be given the respect she deserved.

Carif surveyed the destruction done to the Queen’s private quarters as she walked through the ravaged area with the city’s official builders.  A surprising amount of damage had been done in the short-lived battle.  They had to step carefully through the rubble and dust, taking care to avoid the broken blocks of stone and the gritty pebbles that littered the floor.  The once finely wrought stonework was now simply scattered rock.  Piles of ash still marked where some of the guardsmen and Casters had fallen, and several patches of blood also remained from the battle a few days earlier.  Of course, she’d made a point of coming here privately after the attack and used her magic to tear down a couple of additional walls that had survived the actual altercation.  Now it looked more like a major battle had taken place here.  That suited her needs perfectly.  Not only did it support the story she was circulating, but the current amount of damage made significant repairs to the quarters necessary before the new Queen moved in.  That gave Carif both another reason to delay the elections, and the opportunity to do away with the careful design Rosul had put in place and return the castle to its former layout with the hidden passageways that offered a means of spying on the residents. 

She noted one of the fallen walls with the remains of the glyphs that had been secretly installed to block one’s access to magic.  They had surprised her with the hidden glyphs, and thereby allowed the Queen to block her that time.  The work had been carefully done, but by someone who was not fully versed in the art.  The implementation used could have been circumvented by one such as herself had she known of their existence before coming under their spell.  She could have disabled the glyphs.  With a bit more finesse one could make them so that the trigger spell included an extra provision that either made it so the same person who activated the spell must deactivate it, or someone who knew the code used during the activation did so.  Not many realized this.  The only other way to overcome the spell would be destruction of the glyphs themselves, which would render the magic impotent.

The idea of having the blocking glyphs was a sound one, and had served the Queen well in more than one instance.  Carif was of half a mind to install them once again in locations of her choosing, against a future need.  A decision didn’t matter as yet.  It would be a number of weeks before the builders would have repaired the damage.  Any spells could come later.  Of course, all things considered, while the castle could wait, strategic placement of more of the blocking glyphs within the Guild was something that should be attended to immediately.  Having areas where magic was cut off, that only she or the Guild defenders were aware of, would be extremely useful against any assault on the facility.  Beyond the preparations where she lived, she’d never considered the necessity before since there had been no force with magic that posed a threat to the Guild. That was no longer the case.

She was somewhat surprised the wizards from the Three Kingdoms had returned.  The damage her people had caused to their protective towers should have created a situation that taxed their resources and kept them away.  Instead they had come back, and made directly for the Queen.  Carif couldn’t help wondering if that meant they had managed some arrangement with Rosul despite Carif’s best efforts to limit exchanges between the Queen and the outsiders.  It was worrisome.  She would have felt far better if the bodies of the Queen and her consort had been among those recovered after the battle.  That would have been final. The existing situation was far too uncertain. 

Even so, she had moved ahead with her plan.  She’d had word spread that the westerners had been at fault for the attack, and that they had taken the Queen as part of their assault.  Her Casters were spreading the story around Sedfair.  As further proof of the unscrupulous nature of the outsiders, she’d had the Queen’s estates to the north leveled by magical fire with the complete loss of all family members.  This was done by a pair of Casters she could trust to keep their silence, and served not only to bolster her story, but allowed her to eliminate those who might be involved in the hidden agendas that Rosul surely had kept.

The false story had also won Carif the support of many of those who were ardent supports of Rosul.  Believing their Queen had been taken or killed by the westerners, they had rallied behind the Saltique and her plans to strengthen the land’s defenses and resist further invasion.  Any attempt of the westerners to make allies here now would become difficult as the story spread.  Since Carif controlled those who could create portals and travel quickly, the ability of others to unravel her lies would be especially difficult.  Even if the Queen were to return, a possibility Carif had to consider, she would need an army of the foreign wizards to offset what had been done.  Carif doubted the other side could spare that many of their people.  They had only sent a handful to greet the Queen, which Carif chose to interpret as an indication of how limited their resources might be.  She wished there were a way to block them from Sedfair entirely, but of course, that was impossible. 

She’d spent the previous night considering ways to further complicate matters in the outsider’s homeland.  If only there were a way to get the various leaders of the different kingdoms in the far off lands fighting one another.  Unfortunately, she knew nothing of their politics, but couldn’t imagine three separate sovereignties being totally in agreement.  If she had someone from there who spoke the language of Sedfair, she would be able to perform a Reading that would reveal such weaknesses.  Another bold target would be to attack the wizard’s home that Rigo had called the Outpost.  She had concluded it would probably be well defended, and such an attack might stir up more trouble than it was worth, but she’d dearly love to make it happen.  Assassination attempts against the leadership of the various lands also weren’t an unreasonable consideration.  They were gradually increasing their stocks of the Guild-made amulets, and she might be able to command such attacks before long.  A lot depended on the success of the teams she had sent into the Wastelands.  As yet, she’d heard nothing from any of them.  She had to accept that all might fail, which would greatly limit her options. 

Two other plans required additional consideration.  If her Casters could create a
Doorway
and drive hundreds, or preferably thousands, of the hostile Chulls through and into a populated area of the Three Kingdoms far from the border where the people felt they were safe, it might create disruptive terror.  Even better, if they could initiate another round of the ancient plague, the westerners would be unable to be bothered with Sedfair.  That would set them back for a generation or two and leave them ripe for Sedfair to take over once she or her successor had consolidated power here. Carif wasn’t certain if anyone actually knew how to trigger the plague.  She would have to have one of her Specialists look into it.

Carif would only admit to herself that she was more than a little concerned regarding what she had set in motion.  Initially believing the destruction of the towers would be an overwhelming blow that would keep the westerners occupied, she now worried they might be more resilient than she’d expected.  The handful who had come to visit the Queen had proven more effective than she’d have thought possible, even after the disasters surrounding the escape and attempted recovery of their three prisoners.  In less than a week she’d lost half of her Specialists, as well as a large number of her loyal guardsmen and more than two dozen Senior Casters. 

Against the chance that the attacks weren’t yet finished, she had delayed the elections citing the period of mourning and the need to prepare against outsider attack.  The forces of Sedfair were gearing up for a war, and all of her capable Casters were being formed into teams that could react quickly to reports of the enemy wizards.  Carif had formed a special group who could carry the word to anywhere in the country quickly.  Large numbers of lesser qualified Casters were gathered at key locations, and they would bear the brunt of any attacks.  They were expendable after all.  Finally, she had her own plans if any confrontation went especially badly.

As if the current situation weren’t distracting enough, the Chulls had been particularly aggressive the past week, costing the loss of two Army Casters and a number of border guardsmen.  The Baldari had struck another village, which had been wiped out because Carif refused to release the Casters from Nals that might have made the difference.  The Village Caster who had come hoping for support had been killed after returning to the village to try and help her people.

Carif had only been marginally paying attention to the builders as they completed the walk through.  “Yes, I want it built exactly as it was originally.  The design of the castle should be restored to its former design.  You have the plans.  I want work to begin immediately.”

The builder explained that some delays would be required as further demolition would be required before they could start if that was her intention.  Carif approved additional funds to accelerate the task.  She had no intentions of manning the castle beyond the royal guard which would keep an eye on the treasures that were stored in other parts of the facility.  Any attempt for her or her people to move in could be interpreted wrongly.

A glass later she was back in the Guild Headquarters, when two very disheveled women were escorted into her presence. 

“We found one,” Shurl said without waiting to be addressed as would have been more proper.  “It’s small, but it will work as we require.”

Finally, some good news, Carif thought.  She listened as the two tired looking women explained what had happened.

“The amulet failed?” Carif asked.  “So soon?”

“I believe that part of the Wastelands stresses them more than along the borders where they were tested.

“How did you get back without it?”

Shurl grinned, and handed Carif the bracelet taken from the young wizard.  “They have a new design.  Unfortunately it cannot be used by us.  I don’t know if we can copy what they have done or undo the protection.”

Carif turned the superbly crafted item around in her hands.  If only their own were made as well.

“We had to force one of their young wizards to bring us here with that.  Fortunately, they have somehow learned our language.  He understood us and could take directions.”

Carif looked up sharply at the last remark. She had been thinking just a little more than a glass ago how useful it would be to have a westerner who knew the language.

“I want to see him,” she said.  “He might be very important in our plans.”

Shurl looked at her companion uncertainly.

“We were forced to kill him,” she said worriedly.

Carif looked sharply at the two women.  “Stupid fools!” she hissed angrily, forgetting momentarily everything these two had just accomplished for her.