Wizard Pair (Book 3) (15 page)

"Think it over. I can keep you under this spell for as long as it takes to make up your mind. Join me in this. Together we can spread the truth of Ran to the whole world."

He left her to ponder his words.

Rotiaqua struggled to contact Zhimosom again. This time, she was just able to reach him. He was in a cell near her.

Zhimosom sat on a stone bench and was chained to the wall. There was an enchantment on the cell that contained him, but it seemed weaker than before and now their connection was strong enough to pierce it.

"Where are you?" Zhimosom asked.

"I'm in the temple, locked in a cell," Rotiaqua said.

"What happened? How did you get here?"

"My father disowned me and handed me over to the Priest. What am I going to do?"

"How did that happen?"

"Sulrad came to see us at breakfast. Sulrad told my father that he had captured you. I tried to contact you to see if it was true, but you were blocked. Sulrad must have felt my magic, because he threw a fireball at me. When I defended myself, my father got angry and handed me over to Sulrad."

"How could he just send you away like that?" Zhimosom asked. "How about your mother?"

"She doesn't agree with father, but she won't argue with him. When he makes up his mind, he won't go back. It's a point of honor for him. I won't get any help from him."

"Can you escape? Are you locked in a cell like I am?" Zhimosom asked.

"No. I'm in a regular room, but it's enchanted so I can't leave it. Sulrad has put some type of spell on me to keep me from trying to escape. I don’t know how to break it.

"We have to get out of the Temple and away from your father's lands. We have to find a way to defeat Sulrad. I'm not strong enough to take him on directly," Zhimosom said. "He's gaining strength every day. I can feel the magic in him. It's a mixture of those he's killed, and something more."

"What do you mean, more?" Rotiaqua was not as attuned to magic as Zhimosom was. He was younger, but his power was growing more quickly than her own. In the summer they'd been in contact, she had seen him grow in stature and in power.

"He has accessed something that's not human," Zhimosom said. "It's powerful and magic. I sense more than just a life force in him. He's taking magic from something else. He's creating a store for it in the Temple, so that he can draw on it. I'm not sure how he's doing it, but if he keeps it up, I will never be able to defeat him.

"I tried to access it myself," Zhimosom continued. "It felt wrong, as if the magic were contaminated or corrupted. It felt as if it would infect me with its evil if I tried to use it. I can feel it in the Priest, too. He's tainted by it, as if his whole being has been corrupted."

"Stay away from it," Rotiaqua said. "You don't want to end up like him. He's trying to convince me to join him. He speaks of healing and helping, but freely admits to taking the life of those he considers unworthy.

"I heard him talking with my father. All he really wants is to build the Temple to gain riches and control the nobles and the wealthy. Father agrees with him since that is his desire, too. They make a great pair."

"I have to find a way to defeat him before he kills me."

"Do you think that's what he has in mind?"

"Yes. If he killed Brill to take her life's energy, he will surely want to take mine. We have to get out of here."

"Think hard on it. You can come up with something." Rotiaqua was so exhausted that she simply let the connection fade. It didn't look good for Zhimosom.

Sulrad entered Rotiaqua's room unannounced. He sat on the bed and woke her from her magically induced slumber. "There will be a sacrifice tonight. I want you to come and observe."

Rotiaqua tried to raise enough resistance to say no, but all she could manage was a slight wiggle of her head as she fought against the spell.

"It will be educational. You will learn how we can heal the sick and provide for the people you care so much about.

"Besides, I have a Wizard to sacrifice tonight. I have discovered an ancient spell that can bind the magic of a dying Wizard into the stones in the altar. I can store almost infinite power in the Temple that way. Then we really
can
heal anyone without suffering a loss of personal magic."

Rotiaqua fought against the spell. Was it Zhimosom he planned to sacrifice? She had to break free, to warn him, to help him. She tried to contact Zhimosom, but she could not. Had Sulrad done something to him in preparation for the evening's sacrifice? Was he under the same spell as she was?

She fell back into a troubled sleep, exhausted by her efforts.

Sulrad came for her early that evening, just before sunset. "It's almost time," Sulrad said as he walked her to the altar room.

As they entered the room, Rotiaqua felt a strange concentration of power. There was something else in the room that felt like a Wizard, only it was muddy and indistinct, a mixture of magic from more than one source.

"I see you can feel it, too. Can't you?" Sulrad led her to the back of the room. "Wait here while I go get the sacrifice." Sulrad left her standing there and departed.

She saw the beam of sunlight working its way across the wall, marking the progress of the setting sun. She felt around the room and located the source of magic. I was deep inside the altar. Something in the altar stored magic. She tried to access it. It was something she had advised Zhimosom not to do, but she was desperate. The power felt wrong, muddy, and impure.

As she touched it, a sense of evil grew in her. It was as if the altar was laughing at her, taunting her to take the power and embrace it. Rotiaqua knew that if she did, something inside of her would be forever changed.

Rotiaqua shied away from the power, wishing she could talk with Zhimosom about what she had witnessed. She reached out to contact him, but she could not. Rotiaqua feared the worst.

The door opened and Sulrad led in a young boy. Rotiaqua was relieved to see that it was not Zhimosom, but she was ashamed at her reaction. The boy was set to be the sacrifice. Sulrad intended to take his magic as soon as the sun hit the proper position.

Sulrad led the boy to the altar and laid him on his back. He tied him to the cold stone and leaned over him. He spoke the words of release that Rotiaqua could not make out and the boy came awake as if from a spell.

He looked at Rotiaqua and then Sulrad. "What's happening?"

Sulrad spoke calmly to the boy. "Relax. You are to take part in a very special ritual. You will be helping some very important people."

Sulrad glanced at Rotiaqua. "It's important that the subject be calm. Fear blunts the transfer and too much power is lost." He gently stroked the boy's hair, bending down and speaking softly to him.

As the sunlight reached the statue, Sulrad snatched the knife and slit the boy's throat letting his blood flow freely across the altar.

A bright cloud of magic arose from the boy. It separated from him as Sulrad channeled some of the boy's magic into the altar, but some, Sulrad drew into himself.

Sulrad's power surged, then ebbed. He was almost powerless as he integrated the boy's magic into his own. She sensed that he had drawn all of his magic into the effort to absorb the boy's power.

She grasped the opportunity. She reached out to Zhimosom, breaking the spell of silence Sulrad had cast around him. She drew Zhimosom's power for her own use and broke the spell of compliance that Sulrad had placed on her. She rushed to build a new spell of her own that would make Sulrad believe his spell was still in place. She did all this while Sulrad was occupied with taking the boy's power.

The magic aura around the boy and the altar weakened and the boy's body disappeared in a shower of sparks. The sparks turned into a cloud of golden dust motes, swirling in the single sunbeam, and then they too, wafted away in the evening air.

Sulrad stood there basking in his renewed power, laughing. "That is how we get the power to do the healing that will draw the faithful and keep them coming back.

"Even the most powerful Wizard can heal only once or twice in a moon if they reserve all their power for it. My priesthood will be able to heal the faithful at will. And in return, the faithful will supply all our needs: gold, sacrificial animals, offering and gifts ... and young Wizards."

Rotiaqua had recognized the boy from the Temple. It was the boy who'd been brought by his family when they discovered he had magic. Sulrad promised to train the boy, but instead took his magic.

Rotiaqua stood still, listening. She wanted to act, but she didn't want to betray the fact that she had broken the spell. She reached out to Zhimosom. He'd also felt the weakening of Sulrad's power just as she had. He'd used that opportunity to reach out and build a shielded bridge that they could use to contact each other, even under Sulrad's watchful eye.

Sulrad turned to leave. "Back to your room, Rotiaqua," he called over his shoulder. "Soon, you will do the sacrifice. I have your Wizard friend in my cell. It is you, who will take his life and his magic. He's very powerful. He'll make a good addition to our growing reserves."

It had taken all Rotiaqua's strength to pretend to be subservient to Sulrad, until she was finally alone. She reached out to Zhimosom.

"He killed a young Wizard," Rotiaqua said.

"He has to be stopped. We can't let him take another life. He's growing too powerful. If we don't act now, we may never be able to escape."

"Did you feel how his power dropped while he absorbed the boy's magic?" Rotiaqua asked. "Is this something we can use against him?"

"I don't want to wait until he sacrifices someone else."

"No, but he's performing animal sacrifices every morning and evening. Maybe that would buy us the time."

"I'll try to come up with a plan. If we break through the enchantment on these cells, we can use magic to leave the Temple."

"Let me know when you're ready to try."

She let the connection drop. The enchantment on her room was no less oppressive than the one on Zhimosom's cell. She sat heavily on the bed, drained and exhausted. Sulrad wanted her to take Zhimosom's magic. She wasn't sure she would be strong enough to resist when the time came.

The next day Sulrad invited Rotiaqua to participate in the evening ritual. "Tonight you will perform the sacrifice." Sulrad led her to the altar room. She resisted the temptation to argue with him. It would reveal the fact that she had broken his spell, and she was not ready to do that just yet.

She was sure that she would find Zhimosom tied to the altar when she arrived. What would she do to fight Sulrad? How could they defeat him before he sacrificed Zhimosom?

The altar room was empty when they arrived and Sulrad called for the sacrifice. Rotiaqua steeled herself for the battle she knew was coming. When the guards brought Zhimosom into the room, she would join her power to his and together they would ... what? She needed a plan.

The door opened and Rotiaqua tensed up, but it was not Zhimosom, as she feared. A young girl entered carrying a field rabbit by the ears. It was already trussed and ready for the altar.

Rotiaqua's heart leaped to see the rabbit. At least for now, Zhimosom was safe. She almost missed it when Sulrad addressed her.

"First calm the animal." Sulrad stroked the rabbit gently, soothing it. He nodded to Rotiaqua. She stretched out her hand and rubbed the animal, as he had. She felt its heart racing. As she stroked it, the rabbit stopped struggling. Its heartbeat slowed and its breathing calmed.

"When the sunbeam strikes the blade, quickly slit its throat and utter the spell to take its magic. I will guide you through it this time, but in the future you will do it on your own. It is important that you complete the spell before its heart stops beating or else you will lose much of its life force back into the great void."

Rotiaqua watched the sunbeam advance. Dust swirled up from the altar when the rabbit breathed, sending sparkling motes into the light as it advanced. When the light struck the statue, she grasped the handle of the knife and slit the rabbit's throat.

Its life force separated from it as its heart pumped its blood out onto the altar. She grasped the life force and directed it towards the altar. She directed almost all of the magic into the stones beneath the altar, taking only a very small portion into herself.

She felt a surge in her power as she absorbed the animal's life force, but something felt wrong. She experienced the powerlessness that she had witnessed in Sulrad, then she felt the life force of the animal inside her, but it was foreign, as if something had gotten stuck under her skin that didn't belong there.

"Excellent job." Sulrad reached out and took the knife from her hand, replacing it against the statue's throat.

"You will be ready to sacrifice a Wizard soon. Then you will know power like you never imagined."

Flight

Zhimosom reached out for Rotiaqua from his dark cell in the Temple. He was relieved to be back in contact with her. It had taken a great effort to work his way through the enchantments on both of their cells, but finally he'd found a way to communicate with Rotiaqua at will.

“He means to sacrifice you,” Rotiaqua said. “He intends that I do the ritual and take your life, and your magic.”

“I know, but when?”

“I don’t know why he hasn’t done it already, unless he’s trying to wear me down. He’s been forcing me to participate in the sacrifices. I feel dirty and contaminated already.”

Zhimosom felt the contamination in Rotiaqua’s magic through their link. He worried what it was doing to her. He had to get her free and see if he could rid her of the corruption Sulrad was forcing on her.

“I feel my magic weaken, just like Sulrad’s does when I perform the sacrifice.”

“We have to be prepared. The next time he performs the sacrifice, we must act while he is weakened.” Zhimosom shuddered. When Sulrad had sacrificed the boy, his power had been severely reduced. If another opportunity like that came along, they might be able to break free.