Wizard's Blood [Part Two] (38 page)

“
It’s working out well. We actually impressed the language onto mostly non mages. They can perform the research just as well, and if they encounter any spells, they won’t know what they mean or how to use them. Interesting discoveries will be passed to Nerila or Rifod who will decide what is important. They have been given Oscar’s knowledge of the old language as well.”

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I was told they have already learned the secret of controlling the portals. They can now turn one on or off remotely.”

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Someone isn’t very good about our secrecy,” Vaen said annoyed.

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Buris assumed you’d already told me. That’s going to make a huge difference in what we can do. I want to spend a few days with the assault teams and work out some plans for how we will operate.”

“
Tishe is going to want to meet with you also. She has been getting more faint images from Shyar.”

Jolan had heard this as well, and was mightily relieved. Maybe now that he was back they could think about how to improve that communication.

“
I also need some time to sort through the other knowledge that was in Oscar’s crystals. I have a number of spells in my mind, but haven’t had a chance to look through them, or try them in a careful manner. There might be something of use there as well.”

“
Let me know if you need anything. And don’t forget, the Queen wants to see you two days from now.”

She smiled when Jolan sighed. “You’ve done a remarkable amount in such a short time. Angon is far better prepared to engage the wizards than we could have been without your efforts. I think the Queen actually wants to thank you this time.”

Knowing he was going to be as busy as ever, at least for a while, Jolan stood in anticipation of leaving. It felt good to have his staff in his hand once again. He also wore two of the rings. Luzoke still wore the beam ring, and Jolan intended for him to keep it. Vaen would hold the second staff for Shyar. Jolan also now wore the amulet which he’d already carefully switched back to work here on Gaea. He wanted to experiment with that as well, and see what it really could do.

The cage proved to be more of a problem than Shyar had anticipated. It was clearly something very special and very old. Whoever had built the cage had obviously been skilled and strong in magic. The many bars that ran across the top and bottom and vertically up the sides were of a dark, almost black, metal that she had not seen before, and seemed to be constructed from a single continuous piece of material. The joints were not really joints, but rather an uninterrupted flowing of the metal even when the bars seemed to reach a “T” joint. Even the door was part of the whole. The hinges that allowed the door to be opened somehow flexed, while maintaining an integral bond with the rest of the structure. Through it all, power flowed and circulated, only occasionally being renewed by one of the wizards that seemed to always be around Cheurt’s residence. The result was a cage that robbed her of any sense of the power, and which seemed completely immune to any physical attempt to defeat its function.

The cage was located in a back hallway of the wizard’s residence. She had been able to overhear enough conversation to learn where they had taken her. It was the obvious location, but she had wondered for a while. Cheurt had shown only passing interest in her. For the first few days he had walked back to the cage and stared at her through the bars. His dark eyes were difficult to read, but the evil in the man was easy enough to detect. She cringed to think she was totally within this man’s control, but was determined not to let her discomfort show. Each time he visited she was certain he was closer to taking some action against her, and then suddenly he seemed to lose interest. A whole week went by without him even glancing in her direction.

It took time, but she gradually learned that Cheurt had received word that Jolan was no longer in Angon. The long distances between Ale’ald and Angon made communication and planning difficult. Jolan had apparently left the city, and the men Cheurt had expected to keep track of his whereabouts had not reported in. Not knowing where Jolan had gone disrupted Cheurt’s plan. He could hardly make threats when he didn’t have any idea where to deliver them. He sent more couriers to urge his spies and followers to pursue the matter, but it would literally be months before word could be expected. That meant Shyar had a long miserable wait before anything might change, but it seemed it also meant she had become unimportant to Cheurt, who was extremely busy pursuing his war. His plans were apparently proceeding well, not without setbacks from time to time, but well enough he had the support of the Council. In fact, it appeared he had gained enough support that he directed much of their effort without needing to get formal approval for his plans.

As the days settled into weeks, Shyar adjusted to being confined. She had a small curtain and waste buckets within the cell, and once a week she was taken out so she could bathe. Each time she was removed, a minimum of three wizards were assigned to block her from the power. They never used the Karonabark. Cheurt seemed to have a low opinion of the drug. Jolan had told her it didn’t work on Cheurt, so perhaps he suspected others might be able to resist its effects as well, even though her trip had demonstrated that when applied properly, she was as helpless against it as most other mages and wizards.

Shyar had grown to accept the fact she would remain cut off from the power, and her guards became a bit complacent after weeks of routinely taking her out. She was therefore surprised on one such outing when she realized she could feel the smallest trickle of the power. It wasn’t much, but it felt so sweet. She wasn’t about to attempt anything. The amount of power she could touch wouldn’t give her any useful abilities against the wizards who guarded her, and she feared if they knew she had even this small access they would tighten the block and take away this small taste. She was almost through her shower when she realized something was different. At first she thought it was simply because she hadn’t been able to sense the power for so long, and its return was such a shock, but gradually she knew there was more to this anomaly.

She wasn’t sensing the power because her guards had gotten careless. She was sensing the power because she had grown, and they were not aware of the change. The three wizards that had been assigned to her were tasked with blocking a level six. She wasn’t a six any longer. She had transitioned to a seven. The block they were using wasn’t strong enough to deny her completely, and she knew that if she desired she could probably crush one of the three before they realized the danger. With one of the wizards disabled, the remaining two would be unable to constrain her, and she could then handle them as well. If it was done when Cheurt was away, she might actually be able to escape the residence. He would be the real danger. He was a long standing level seven, with great skill with spells of destruction. She probably wouldn’t be a match for him. Not yet anyway.

The problem was where to go if she got away. She was deep into Ale’ald, and had no idea of how to make her way back to Angon. They would spare no effort to find her, so any move would have to be swift and decisive. She needed information. That meant biding her time and learning what she could before taking any action. Once they learned she’d advanced, additional measures would be taken to limit her once again.

Knowing she was a level seven, she allowed herself to search through her mind and try and sense if anything else had changed. Could she tell if there were any new abilities that came with this transformation? The advancement allowed a mage to perform higher level spells, but sometimes, especially in her case, additional abilities seemed to appear spontaneously with each jump in level. Her mental search showed her areas that seemed to be developing, and then one area that was new and whole. Carefully she touched it with the smallest trickle of power. Then a bit more, until she had given all she could draw to the new part of her mind. The wizards guarding her were careless, and didn’t seem to be monitoring her at all.

She took a deep breath when she realized she could faintly sense Jolan. He was in Angon. Cheurt had been wrong about that. She would have to make sure she didn’t reveal this bit of information. Not only would it be dangerous for Jolan, it could affect her own status as well. Now that she had gained a bit of ability, she wanted time to develop it and see what could be done. She was glad Jolan hadn’t been trying to rescue her. That had been her fear when she had learned he had supposedly left Cobalo. A rescue would play into Cheurt’s hands. It would most likely mean that both of them would be killed. For the many weeks she had been held captive she had suspected Cheurt kept her nearby hoping that Jolan’s disappearance meant he was making his way into Ale’ald. Now she knew it wasn’t true and was relieved.

Almost as quickly as she had found him, Jolan slipped away. He was replaced by a stronger pull to her mind, this time someone she didn’t know. It appeared to be someone quite young, yet powerful in ways that Shyar had never seen before. Why her? What connection did she have to Shyar and Jolan? She tried to bring the mind into focus and see if she could form a specific thought to send that way when one of her minders smacked the side of the shower causing the connection to flicker and die.

“
Time’s up,” he said annoyed.

She had been slow today because her mind was occupied with these new experiences. Quickly she released all of the power she had been drawing, fearful he might sense the draw. Once again, the complacency of her watchers saved her.

Back in the cage, she found she was as helpless as before. Her advancement to a higher level did not help her inside the cell. It had apparently been built to control someone of her current level or higher. It didn’t matter. She now knew she would be able to take small actions each time she was let out. She would plan for what to do in anticipation of those opportunities.

She was lucky that there were so many wizards around the residence and they were so careless in their use of the power. The small draws she made when she had the opportunity went entirely unnoticed. Each time she was taken from the cage she would carefully exercise her access to the power and test her new skill. Sometimes she couldn’t sense Jolan at all, which caused her great concern. She’d worry the entire week that something had happened to him, and then, happily he’d be there in the back of her mind. Once he was gone for two weeks. The young girl was almost always there, although she had the feeling she could sense the girl more often then the girl could sense her. It made sense. If the girl was as strong as it seemed, and she had full access to the power, her ability to project was far greater than Shyar’s. One thing Shyar had been able to establish for certain. The girl knew who she was. She actively sought her, and it was frustrating to Shyar on those occasions when she could tell that the girl couldn’t sense her.

When she was outside the cage, Shyar had attempted to examine the construction. It was clear after just a little checking that it would take far more power than she could currently access to have any impact on the structure. It would require power levels that would be immediately obvious even to the complacent wizards that were watching her. It seemed that her progress would be limited to those short periods when she was allowed out.

She also discovered something else. Her control of the power and ability to sense its presence had always been located in her brain. Now that she was cut off, she found herself exploring her senses more carefully, and found she could trace the nerves in her body if she focused on them carefully. While she was trapped inside the cage, she could reach her hands through the bars and extend them perhaps a foot and a half beyond the cage walls. That was far enough for her hand to be beyond the influence of the cage. That was far enough to be able to sense the power. She found she could actually draw a small amount of power through the nerves and back to her brain. So far, the draw was small enough to be useless, but she could feel the ability gaining strength. She exercised the talent as much as possible, careful not to appear to eager or too pleased while she was doing so.

Then one day they moved her. It was totally unexpected, but it appeared that Cheurt’s star had risen and, to assume even greater control of the ruling council and control of the war effort, he was moving into the castle across the grounds. Shyar was going along. At first she expected to be moved, and her cage relocated, but when she arrived she discovered that she now had her own room, with a new and larger cage built to fill most of the interior. There was enough room between the cage and the walls that she couldn’t reach them, and servants or guards could patrol the perimeter or bring her food as required. The new cage was considerably larger and housed shower and restroom facilities inside its boundaries. That meant she could be kept inside the new cage all the time. There would be no need to take her out once a week. This looked like a major setback.

She soon learned the cage wasn’t nearly as well constructed as the previous one that had held her. In fact, this looked very much like something that had been built in an attempt to match the design of the other, but had been built by someone with far less skill and knowledge. Shyar was appalled at the workmanship. The wizard responsible had to have been no more than a six, and with very little understanding of the finesse that should be used. Well, they probably had never tried to contain a seven before. The bars were no longer a single continuous flow of metal, but were joined in places with welds. Not the best of welds at that. The door had hinges, but they were nothing like the flexible miracle hinges of the other cage. Power still flowed in the bars, and the cage cut her off from the source. The cage might have actually worked if it hadn’t been for the new tricks she had learned.