The Ritual (26 page)

When Mior judged the level of light to be just right he adjusted his position, and with a deep sigh he took the phial of water in his hand and started muttering his spell.

The result was not at all what I had expected. Rather than floating sedately across the ravine, the phial shot up in the air in a high arc, and Mior gave a startled curse as it started tumbling down again. He reacted with lightning swiftness, casting another spell after it, and my heart steadied again when I saw the phial stop, then began to float back towards us.

“Thank the Gods for three weeks of wind sprite practice,” he breathed when the phial was back in his hands again.

“What happened there?” I whispered.

“It enhanced my magic,” he replied with a frown.

“What?”

He ignored me and lifted a finger, and I scrambled back in surprise when a jet of fire spurted out from it, so tall that it nearly singed off both our eyebrows. “Whoah!” he exclaimed, shaking his hand to dispel the flame.

“Trakan’s Teeth, Mior, what the fuck was that for?” I snapped.

“It enhances my magic,” he repeated, giving me a wide-eyed look. “I just wanted to conjure one of my finger-flames, but when I hold the water it enhances my magic!” He paused for a moment, then pulled a face. “Of course it does. He needs these to power a ritual with, doesn’t he? Magical items. Of course they enhance it.”

“That changes everything,” I decided. “Come, back to camp.”

“B…but, Zash…?” Mior stammered, pointing.

“I haven’t forgotten, but this is hugely important, Mior. More important than anything else. Come.”

A quarter measure later we were back in our canyon. I did not know when the monks intended to change their guards, but I decided that the risk of their bodies being discovered was outweighed by the importance of Mior’s discovery, especially since they had not found our hiding place so far. The light was waning fast, but there was a nearly full moon, and by its light we discussed further.

“First things first,” I said. “Mior, how much stronger do these items make you? Shani, you test it too. I need to know, right now. Don’t use any spells that make a light source though.”

They both nodded, and Mior took all four items out of his backpack. He took the Heartstone in his hand while Shani tested the dragon flame, then they swapped. They did the same to the box of feathers and the phial of water, while I impatiently tapped my fingers against my knee and waited.

“The diamond does very little,” Shani said after a while. “There’s a bit of power there, but I only noticed it because I was expecting it. I’m not sure this thing is magical at all… I wonder why Azerev needs it?”

“Don’t know, don’t care,” I said. “Mior?”

“I agree with Shani on the diamond,” he said, then held up the bottled dragon flame. “This and the water are about equal, I’d say. Individually I estimate they quadruple what I can do normally.”

“Not enough,” I muttered. “What if you hold them both?”

He gave me a slightly condescending smile. “I cannot hold both and cast spells, Rin. They’re too big to fit in one hand, and I need at least one hand free to cast.”

“And you need to hold them? You can’t just carry them in your pocket?”

He shook his head. “Maybe it needs to touch skin for it to work?”

“Shani, you hold the second item then, touch his skin with it somewhere. Mior, try again,” I barked, my brain working feverishly.

They did, but Mior shook his head again. “Nothing. I’m getting nothing whatsoever. I guess since Shani’s holding it, the power is hers.”

“Let me cover my hand,” Shani said, pulling her sleeve down and trying again. I held my breath, but once again Mior shook his head, cursing in frustration.

“Still nothing. It only works if I hold it.”

“
Fine, forget about that then,” I snapped. “What about the feathers?”

“Ah, well, they’re interesting,” Mior said, sitting up. “They give off power, a lot of it, but it’s… I don’t know, muffled.”

“Of course,” I snorted. “They’re in a warded box.”

“Godsdammit, I’m not thinking straight, am I?” he cursed. “Everything is in a container. If I could hold the water or the flame directly, they’d be much more powerful.”

“So hold a feather,” I said. “They’re the only thing you can touch.”

He hesitated. “They’re very fragile, remember?”

“And? We have three. Do it, Mior, and see if you can levitate me when you hold it.”

He finally understood where I was going, and fumbled the box open, carefully lifting out one of the tiny, brittle feathers. He clenched it in his palm and snapped the box shut again, then closed his eyes in concentration and began to mutter his spell.

Almost immediately I felt myself rise into the air. It was a very disconcerting feeling, but my elation pushed everything else out of my mind. “We can get him out, Mior!” I exclaimed. “We can…” I trailed off when he grimaced and shook his head.

“This is taking everything I have, Rin,” he gasped. “I doubt I can hold more, and Zash is much heavier than you.”

My heart started to sink, but I refused to give up yet. “Shani, hand me a stone, a rock, something to make me heavier, quickly,” I snapped.

She jumped to her feet and darted away, searching around for a few heartbeats, then she returned with a small boulder and held it out to me. I took it, but although Mior cried out with the effort, I dropped back to the ground almost immediately.

The silence that followed was deafening, and Mior gave me an apologetic look as he opened his clenched fist. The little pile of dust – all that was left of the feather – sparkled in the moonlight as it blew away on the wind, and then his eyes rolled up in his head and he dropped to the ground, asleep before he even hit it.

I slumped to the ground as well, dejectedly dropping my head into my hands, and after a few moments I felt Shani’s arms encircle me and her head come to rest against mine.

“I thought I had it there, Shani,” I sighed. “I really thought I’d found a way.”

“You’re doing great, Rin,” she tried to soothe me. “You’ll think of something, I know it.”

I wasn’t sure whether her faith in me made me feel better or worse; whether it gave me hope or increased my despair. “Go to sleep,” I whispered. “You need your rest as much as Mior does.”

“And you? You should sleep too.”

I shook my head. “I can’t.”

“I can help. I can spell you to sleep,” she offered, but I shook my head again.

“No, I need to think. Please, Shani, go to sleep. I’ll be fine.”

She gave my shoulder one last squeeze, pressed her cool lips to my cheek, then she crawled away and curled up against Mior. Within moments her breath had steadied to the regular rhythm of sleep, and I envied her as I stared into the darkness.

*   *   *   *   *

I woke up shortly after dawn, startling from fitful sleep when the first rays of the sun slanted into the canyon and tickled my face. As I yawned and sat up I was entranced for a moment by the sheer majesty and beauty of the sun rising up from the misty haze to the east, and it reminded me of the sunrise I had shared with Zash, so many weeks ago now. We had shared a sunset as well, on our last evening before we reached The Pillars, and I felt a hollow ache in my heart when I thought of it. Zash with his back to a rock, me with my back against him. My head on his shoulder, his arms around my waist, and his voice in my ear as he told me of all the places he had been to, all the landscapes he had travelled through. He had woken a desire in me to visit those places too, together with him.

I missed him, more than I could have imagined. Not his easy ability to take charge – I could do that as easily as him. Not his teachings either – he had shown me enough by now that I knew I could get by much better than before, if I had to work on my own again. No, I missed his company, the simple pleasure of walking beside him, whether he spoke to me or not. The feel of his body against mine, naked or clothed. The knowledge that there was someone other than my sister with whom I could share things, and who understood me. I knew he was still hiding things from me, but so was I from him, and it didn’t stop me from loving him. I had to get him out of the monastery, whatever it took.

More than half the night I had sat up, forming and discarding ideas, and here and now in the pale rays of the morning sun I knew we had to go with the only feasible plan I had been able to think of. It would be difficult to convince Shani and Mior, but to me there was no other choice, so with a sigh I crawled over and woke my sister and her lover.

“An
exchange?
” Shani said incredulously when I finished explaining, and I nodded. Mior, however, resolutely shook his head.

“Absolutely not,” he said. He was still groggy and bleary-eyed, but his voice was cold steel, and when he looked at me his gaze was steady. “Forget it, Rin, it’s out of the question.”

I smiled. “It’s not your decision, Mior, it’s mine. I’ll offer myself in exchange for Zash, no argument.”

“Just you try it,” Shani hissed. “We can ward you, bind you here, and you know it. And I will if I have to.”

“I’ll fight you both,” I said calmly. “You can’t watch me forever. I’ll do this with or without your cooperation, but I’d rather do it with.” I looked at both of them, my eyes now pleading. “I’ve thought about this all night, and it’s the only way. The longer we wait, the worse he’ll get. We need to get him out of there, and this is the only way I can think of.”

“And then what?” Mior asked. “We’ll be in the same situation – three outside and one inside.”

“Ah, but with one big difference: it will be me inside instead of him.”

“So?” Shani scoffed. “How is that any better?”

I ticked off my arguments on my hand. “First, I’m healthy, he’s wounded. I’ll stand a much better chance at finding my way out. Second, I’ll not be in that gibbet, or if I am then Mior can levitate me out.”

“He can’t open it,” Shani said, and I sighed.

“I’m a thief, aren’t I? Give me a lockpick and I can open it myself. The gibbet is only a problem because Zash is hurt and too heavy. Anyway, third, I’m a woman. If I play it right, I’ll be far less threatening to them, which is all to my advantage.”

“Have you forgotten the woman in that room?” Shani asked, and now I could hear the fear in her voice.

“No, I haven’t,” I replied softly. “Don’t think that it doesn’t worry me, but we know nothing of her circumstances. It’s a calculated risk, and one I’m willing to take. I’m used to improvising anyway.” I gave them another imploring look. “Please, it’s the only way. Trust me, I know what I’m doing.”

They looked at each other, then back at me, and finally Shani gave a grudging nod. Only when she had did Mior nod as well, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Right, first things first though. I suspect those guards we killed will be relieved soon, if they haven’t been already, so we need to do something about that.”

*   *   *   *   *

We were only just in time. When we reached the spot where we had found the first guard we just saw another monk hasten away, presumably to warn his fellows. He was looking around nervously, and staggered back in terror when Mior lightly dropped onto the path in front of him. I presumed he tried to scream, but Mior’s magic prevented any sound from escaping, and he dispatched the monk without so much as blinking twice.

We caught the second and third guard as they were hastening back towards the monastery, and ensured they would never reach their destination. With that taken care of, we carefully made our way towards the bridge and discussed the final details of our plan.

Somewhat south of the bridge, right on the edge of the escarpment – and closer to where Zash hung in his cage – we managed to find a spot obscured from the monastery’s sight by one of the huge boulders that marked the landscape. The lee of it held a clump of bushes, and we hid in the middle so that we were shielded from view from all sides.

“You’re sure they can’t detect magic from over there?” I asked again, and Mior
nodded.

“Not the level of magic you’re asking for with this trick,” he assured me.

“Thanks,” I said, taking a deep breath. “Remember, give me four days. If I’ve not got out by then, leave without me.”

They both nodded, though I wasn’t sure that they would listen to me. It didn’t matter anyway, not at this stage. One step at a time was my approach, and only the present mattered.

Just as I was about to crawl away Mior stopped me. “If this works…” He stopped, dragging a nervous hand through his hair, and while he was still searching for words I smiled and kissed his cheek.

“I know what you’re trying to say,” I whispered. “Don’t worry, Mior. I’ll get him back to you.”

He smiled at me with relief in his eyes, and I patted his shoulder. “Four days,” I reminded them, and then I was out of the bushes and away.

I took a complicated route to the bridge which kept me out of sight and made me appear from the opposite direction, as if I’d come down the main northern trail. The guards snapped to attention when I came into view, and one of them barked a command which had another one running off along the wall,
presumably to alert the people inside.