Spellscribed: Conviction (27 page)

“I’m not even doing anything.” Endrance said. “Blame that elf you had help you make it. I hoped she had just woven some basic magic into the staff.”

“Wait, why do you hope that?” Joven asked.

Endrance gave a halfhearted shrug, still picking through the smaller rocks and tossing them aside. “’Cause if she didn’t, then it means that it’s the staff that likes to stay standing.”

Joven looked at the staff suspiciously, and sidled a half step further away from it. Endrance knelt and started crawling into what he believed to be a clear tunnel through the collapsed area. He could see the pulsating light just beyond one collapsed chamber, which meant that, at most, there was six feet of stone he needed to get past.

The time enchantments on the stone had done well to preserve their integrity, and even collapsed, they held up remarkably well. He soon had to start crawling on his stomach, and only the trickle of light from the unknown source provided him the means to see his path. He squirmed through the debris, wincing as he felt his clothes scrape and tear on the rough edges of the stone.

He was halfway through the passage when the ground trembled, and panic started to set in. If the rock shifted, he could be crushed. Endrance froze, taking a deep breath and putting a thought into his wards. Though they weren’t really designed to protect against crushing force, they would be able to lessen the pressure on him for a few seconds before collapsing and he might be able to figure a way out with that window of opportunity.

He took a few seconds, waiting to see if something new happened. His breath became shallow and panicked, but he was slowly regaining his composure. He was glad he hadn’t lost his nerve, or he could have knocked something loose in his struggle and doomed himself.

He started forward again, this time carefully picking his way through the rubble. He got to the far side, just within reach of the exit, when the next tremble shook the fort. He reflexively pushed power through his wards, and they only came up in time because of the power he was now storing in his body.

A few hundred pounds of stone sagged onto him, pinning him in place. He felt a terrible pressure on his back and hips and cried out as it slowly shifted into pain. He grabbed at the ground ahead of him, trying to pull his body forward to get free. All attempts at being rational had fled.

He pushed energy into his wards, feeding it constantly to try to keep them from giving out while he struggled. He clawed at the ground, inching forward a scant hair at a time. Endrance could hear Joven shouting from the other side, but was not able to hear him clearly. The light on the other side was brilliant, blinding to him, but he kept pushing towards it.

And then. a hand took hold of his outstretched arm, holding him firmly but gently. It pulled, and with the person’s help he was able to slide free of the rubble before it all crushed down on him.

Endrance was pulled to his feet, and the Archmagus Talos stood in front of him, patting the dust off the younger mage’s shoulders and head.

“At last, someone came.” Talos said cheerfully. “And just the one I was hoping for. I take it your trial went well?”

Endrance stared at him dully, confused. The room was impossibly bright, and he couldn’t make out much of the crater but the ground directly underneath him. The light was too bright for him to see any further.

“The trial?” Endrance asked. “It’s been nearly three weeks since then. You’ve been missing for nearly three weeks. Kaelob’s…”

Talos looked him in the eye, his expression as consoling as he could manage through near-blinding multi-hued brilliance. “I’m terribly sorry, Endrance.” He said gravely. “Kaelob is dead. And now you’re probably trapped in his grave with me.”

* * *

Endrance sat on the stone, his eyes closed, as he tried to make sense of the situation. Though Talos had now explained it twice, he was still not able to wrap his head around it.

“So the monsters down in Wayrest?” Endrance asked.

“Released from some of those magic spheres he liked to use when his keep collapsed.” Talos replied.

“Where are the villagers again?” Endrance asked.

“I evacuated them within the hour that Kaelob died.” Talos explained. “They’re the next town over.”

“Lakestead?” Endrance queried.

“Yeah, they’re a bit undersized for Wayrest’s population, but they will be fine.” The Archmagus said. “Which is good, since we’re not going anywhere anytime soon.”

              “It doesn’t seem like a trap.” Endrance replied, patting the ground. He could feel the familiar texture of stone beneath, but at a certain point out it just… stopped. There was nothing beyond it, and his hand grew so cold that it felt hot within a second of reaching the edge of the stone. And he hadn’t even reached beyond it. For all he knew, they were trapped in a small glowing chunk of Kaelob’s fort, but beyond it, lay a quite literal nothing.

Talos sat across from him, and the light shifted from a bright lilac to a deep amber in a transfer of colors that was puzzling, and slightly nauseating. Endrance gulped, knowing his stomach wasn’t very strong.

“Whether it was intentional or not, it definitely has us trapped here.” Talos replied. “I’ve explored teleportation, counter magic, you name it.”

“I would assume that countering the magic keeping us here would only stop whatever it is that’s keeping us alive.” Endrance reasoned. “Since we already crossed into this space, you when you walked in, and I when you pulled me through to save my life.”

“If only you had come with Weldom.” Talos said conversationally. “He was one of the best teleportation specialists in Ironsoul. Barring that, at least he wouldn’t be able to take control of the Circle while I’m gone.”

“That bad, huh?” Endrance asked. The Archmagus blew air through his lips, shrugging.

“I admit, it wouldn’t be terrible.” Talos replied. “Unless you happen to not live every day with a stick up your ass. I thought I had a thing for regulations, but that guy… I think he can’t sleep at night unless he whips up a new proposition to make my day that much busier.”

“Yeah, I got that kind of impression from him.” Endrance said.

Talos used his hands to mimic shifting scales. “Though to be fair, other than his singular, massive, unavoidable personality defect, I’ve never met a more competent and practiced High Magus, even better than your master.”

Endrance rolled his eyes. “I bet beating Kaelob wasn’t very hard to pull off.”

Talos closed his eyes and frowned as if the thought pained him. “Don’t misunderstand,” he said. “Kaelob made it to High Magus back when I was just a child. He’d been there for some of the worst and darkest times of the Circle of Magi, and even though addle-brained, Kaelob was able to train a wizard in half the time it would take anyone else. He is skilled enough, that he could have pushed to be Archmagus. But he was there when Valeria died. I don’t know what happened exactly, but it broke him. We could never get a clear answer out of him, even though he tried to help. He was the only one to survive the fallout from that death.”

Endrance nodded. “And now we are stuck in the fallout of his death.”

Talos nodded. “Yes.”

Endrance paused, looking about through squinted eyes. “How did you survive three weeks?” he asked.

Talos shrugged. “I have only experienced about three days here.”

Endrance frowned, doing the math in his head. “I wish I had brought my pack. You must be starving.”

Talos shrugged again. “I have a spell on my abdomen that keeps me hydrated.” He explained. “And though I will probably start suffering malnutrition soon, there are a number of earth elements that can be woven into a spell to keep you full on your basic nutrients.”

Endrance nodded. “That makes sense.” He replied. “I should have done that. It would make traveling easier.”

“It is a bit clever, but I think that your ward work is more innovative.” Talos shot back. “Very elegant, and the way you have them all connected to your deep meridians means you can activate all of them, or just the specific ones you want with a thought.”

Endrance found himself grinning. “Thanks.” He said. “It’s pretty lethal up in Balator. I needed the versatility of a global protection spell, with the strength of a focused defense. So, I figured if I set up a bunch of focused spells in an array, it would be the best of both worlds. I could also add new spells as I figured them out.”

“That is good.” Talos admired. “I have some powerful wards, but not nearly as flexible as yours. I no longer have any room left for improvements.”

“So…” Endrance started. “I’ve been wondering about this place.”

“What about it?” Talos asked.

“Where are we getting our air?” Endrance asked. “Because we’ve been talking, and even not counting that you’ve been here for three weeks, we haven’t exactly suffocated here.”

“I’m not sure.” Talos replied. “Likely through whatever aperture let us through.”

“So, do you have a plan to get out of here?” Endrance asked.

Talos nodded. “Yeah, I’m slowly working out a plan.” He said. “But, I can’t leave until I figure out how to neutralize this tear. Otherwise, anyone else could just fall into it.”

Endrance closed his eyes and opened up the magical senses he had been keeping closed off. The power of the tear beat upon his skin like a hurricane, thrashing across his senses in varying degrees of overwhelming. The wizard bit his lip as he struggled to weather the sensory input.

Talos put a hand on his shoulder. Endrance hadn’t even noticed him move. “Hey, that’s a bad idea.” Talos advised. “You’ll make yourself sick.”

He kept concentrating, though he was getting more nauseated the longer he kept at it. However, at the edge of his endurance, he found what he was counting on. His body started to adapt to the new input. The chaos began to soften, taking several long seconds, but he was able to feel that he was getting used to the maelstrom without it burning out his senses.

“It’s okay.” Endrance stated. “I’ve got this”

Talos looked at him intensely for several seconds, and then stepped back, spreading his hands. “All right. Show me what you’ve got.” He said, watching.

Endrance kept his eyes closed, working his way through what his senses were telling him of the tear. “Okay.” The wizard started. “I think I’ve figured it out.”

“Go on.” Talos said.

“This chunk we’re standing on is a piece of our world shoved into the space between worlds.” Endrance stated. “Based off the way it was broken into, I would have to guess that is was caused by a mage being killed while in the middle of casting a powerful teleportation spell. The surge of life energy flooding the half-composed spell blasted some of the resultant area into the space between the worlds, but since it was incomplete, it didn’t come back out.”

Talos crossed his arms, nodding. “Sounds plausible.” He admitted. “So how would you get out?”

Endrance considered. “Well… I would say there are two ways to fix this.” He reasoned. “One, we complete the teleportation spell form and get us the rest of the way to wherever he was going, or we more directly push this chunk of our world back through the hole.”

“That sounds rather more difficult.” Talos said. “Finishing the spell would take far less time.”

“That could take weeks to try and figure out, especially since we have only the one chance to correctly finish it.”

“Give me some credit.” Talos said, sounding hurt. “I am the Archmagus.”

“Okay… Days?” Endrance asked. The Archmagus nodded.

“Well, that would mean that months would have passed outside. Maybe even years.” Endrance replied.

“It’s not like the other option would work.” Talos replied. “You’d have to be an expert in interplanar magic to even hope to pull that off.”

“I… may actually be pretty good at it.” Endrance admitted, scratching his head. “I got quite the education in the planes when I was dealing with Kalenden.”

“King Kalenden?” Talos asked. “I know the messenger’s debriefing said you told him the King was summoning demons, but… that was true?”

Endrance shrugged. “It was worse than I told him. He had been breeding with succubi, creating a small force of loyal Nephilim. From what I was able to gather, he was also able to summon demonic tutors. He was a formidable mage, on top of being one of the strongest barbarians I’ve ever met.”

“So you…” Talos left off.

“I was in close proximity when he died, and the bracer drew in his released power. It also imprinted his spell knowledge into my mind. I have clear access to his knowledge now.” Endrance stated.

Talos nodded. “Ah, Valeria’s bracers. All right. Then, I would like to see you get us out of here.” He said. “Show me what you can do.”

The Archmagus was putting him on the spot. Endrance knew that he’d better deliver. He put his hands together and concentrated. His thoughts sought the knowledge he had taken from Kalenden, and the spell-form in his mind brought it to the forefront of his consciousness nearly instantly.

“I’ll need to work in the center of the rift.” He said. He drew one of his antler-handled daggers and pricked the tip of his thumb. He stepped forward, knelt, and closed off his senses from the chaotic storm of power flowing around him. He needed every iota of concentration to do the spell properly.