Wizard's Blood [Part Two] (63 page)

Jolan was seldom without the device, wearing it around his neck at all times. Ronoron had learned that Jolan even slept with the thing. Over weeks of watching, not even knowing at the time that he’d really planned to steal the device, he’d learned that Jolan seemed to only take it off when he bathed. In the dorms, Jolan had felt confident in the security and he would leave the device in his desk when he washed. No one took another’s property in the dorms. It just didn’t happen. Except today it had. Knowing Jolan’s routine, he’d slipped into his room and taken the amulet. He now wore it around his own neck, partially hidden by the clothes he wore. It was easy enough to grasp if he had the need.

Ronoron stepped out of the trees and made his way down the river as the group had done the previous evening. Today he wasn’t dressed as a military man or a mage. He was simply a local worker, not anyone for people to care much about. He paid special attention to how the common people they’d seen the previous day had dressed, and it took very little effort to modify his own appearance to fit in.

The scenery Ronoron was walking through was far more spectacular in the daytime. The river was a clear blue, with the surrounding area a garden of multi-colored wildflowers. The towering peaks that formed the backdrop were spectacular in their incredible heights, snow covered at the peaks even this late into the summer. Ronoron could see the security provided by the mountains and why this had been a desirable location to build the Academy.

As he entered the small village, he stopped at a street vendor and bought a meat pie. Not only did the image of a man eating as he walked add to his cover, he needed something to settle his stomach. He’d passed up the midday meal wanting to take no chance of missing the only opportunity to steal the amulet amplifier. If he were honest with himself, he was more than a bit scared. There was no turning back now, however.

He maintained a steady, but not remarkable pace. He didn’t want to seem to be hurried, nor did he want to stand out as seeming lost. As he crossed the river, he took a moment like several others to stand and look at the flowing water, and waited until the two wizards he’d seen approaching from the other direction had made their way past. Now, on the east side of the river, he turned north again, and started walking.

Coaches and carriages seemed to be available to take him the direction he wanted to go, but he passed them up. While not filled, enough people were on board that he’d most likely be addressed by someone, and he wasn’t certain how far his simulated accent would carry him. He’d been a little concerned that walking while everyone else was riding might make him stand out, and skulking along the river would be sure to bring attention his way. Fortunately, others seemed to be walking his way, and provided sufficient cover. While most of those he walked behind eventually turned off, others came from somewhere off to the side and started walking the same direction as he was. As he approached the edge of the town, the numbers headed back the other direction became the majority, but even after he left the village behind, there continued to be the occasional walker. Fortunately it seemed completely normal for someone to travel this road as he was.

As he approached the castle an hour later, his heart began to beat faster and his palms to sweat. He couldn’t take time to stop and reconsider. He knew he was now committed and had to move with purpose. Once he passed through the shadows up ahead, he would activate his concealment and rely on luck and speed. Even though the spell was meant to provide cover when the caster remained stationary, if one moved slowly most commoners would not pick one up. Ronoron was glad that Jolan had learned the advanced spell from his ancestor. The older spell was not nearly as effective. A slight disturbance or blurring would be all most people would see. If he moved too fast, the blur became more obvious, and someone could get curious. Of course, a wizard might pick up on it, but he’d have to take that chance. He had the
shield-pair
in place, and would use his level seven
pulse-ball
to take out anyone who might challenge him.

All went relatively smoothly at first. He made his way by the first set of guards and into the castle itself. There weren’t even any wards to deal with. Jolan had been right about that as well. Resting in a quiet corner and letting his heart rate settle, Ronoron planned his next move. All he had to do was make his way up the large stairway and down the hall to the area where Shyar had indicated she was being kept. He took a breath, and started to move.

His luck ran out partway up the stairway. The wizard coming the other way detected the blur of movement and knew exactly what it represented. The man lashed out with an
energy-blast
, but it couldn’t penetrate the stronger shields that Ronoron could now build. In turn, Ronoron fired a series of
pulse-balls
that were strong enough to take down the wizard.

Now, however, his secrecy was penetrated. The energy draw would most likely have been detected. He had to hurry. Quickly he made his way toward the door ahead, and pulling it open stepped inside. A short distance away stood a lean and tall wizard with a fierce glare. Ronoron felt his legs go weak. Cheurt!

Immediately he launched his strongest attack, a series
of pulse balls
. He wished he had the strong
energy beams
like Luzoke, but these should be strong enough. He realized as he released the energy that Cheurt was only mildly surprised by his presence. Clearly the wizard had detected the altercation in the hallway, but he had expected to see Jolan, and not Ronoron.

Cheurt’s shield pushed aside the
pulse-balls
as if they were nothing. He had shields that greatly exceeded his nominal level, which meant something like these were not an issue. He was about to destroy the interloper, who not being Jolan was of passing interest, when he suddenly changed his mind. This mage might know something of Jolan’s plans. He released a little known spell he held in reserve. The
paralyze
spell worked passing through the supposed protection that Ronoron had counted on. He couldn’t move, and Cheurt quickly stripped the shields away, wondering briefly why there seemed to be a pair of them. It was something he could investigate when he dipped into this one’s mind.

Cheurt walked over and grabbed the man’s shirt and pulled him close. As he grabbed him, he realized the man was holding something in his left hand. Cheurt took a moment to look and realized it was some kind of amulet. Curious, he stripped it from the man and held it in his own hand, noticing how the man’s power seemed to fade as he did so. At the same time, Cheurt couldn’t believe the sudden flow of power that fed into him. Dragons, but this was some kind of magic enhancing device. He felt he could rip the very castle to shreds.

This one had much to tell him, and Cheurt looked into the man’s eyes and proceeded to rip his way into the mage’s mind, caring little that he would not survive the experience.

* * * *

Today was the day! Shyar was suddenly a bundle of anxiety. After relatively calmly facing many months of captivity, knowing that an attempt would be made for her to escape later today had her on edge. She wanted to pace, but couldn’t afford to bring attention to herself by doing something out of the ordinary. It was time to go though. Cheurt had taken to coming in and staring at her at odd times. That was not good.

Tishe had let her know that the attempt would be today, most likely after dark. Her signal to slip out and away would be the sense that Jolan was close. They had communicated how her sense worked, so Jolan would drop his shields so she could sense his presence, then raise them again for protection. She would escape her cell and walk across the road toward the river and wait for them to arrive.

Not wanting any extra distractions today, she had worked her magic on the telegraph system, and while the operator sat dutifully waiting for traffic, nothing would be coming in. If Cheurt elected to send something out, the problem would be discovered, but she hoped to avoid any news coming in that could shake up the already volatile situation around here.

Late in the afternoon, her nerves ever more on edge as the time slowly moved toward the hour of her escape, she suddenly detected Jolan as being very close. This was earlier than she’d been led to believe, and she couldn’t help but worry that something had gone wrong. She couldn’t take any immediate action since Cheurt was still near at hand, but Tishe had led her to believe it would take Jolan almost two hours to get to her location once he signaled his presence.

Fifteen minutes later another disturbing event. She suddenly detected a sharp draw of the power. It felt almost like a weapons draw, and it was just outside. She couldn’t sense where Jolan was, but he shouldn’t be here yet. So what was going on?

Minutes later there was another sharp draw of power, and the sounds of something going on in the rooms of the suite. The area was surprisingly devoid of people this afternoon, and Shyar quietly wrapped an air shield around the telegraph operator, making him fall asleep. Then she slipped quickly out of her cell and made her way to where she could see what was going on. It was a risk, but something unusual was happening and she couldn’t help but wonder if it had to do with Jolan’s premature arrival in Ale’ald.

When Shyar looked into the room, she was shocked at what she saw. Cheurt had hold of another man and was looking intently into the eyes of the helpless man he held. Shyar knew what he was doing. She’d seen that look with the bulging eyes once before since she’d been here. Cheurt was attempting to strip the mind of the man he held. Shyar also knew the man would not survive. He might live a few hours after the process was complete, but he’d die an empty mindless hulk. Then she had another shock. The man was Ronoron!

The implications were not lost on her. Ronoron must be with Jolan. That made sense, but why was he here in advance of Jolan and why inside the castle? Jolan had said they would link up outside and try to avoid Cheurt. She also realized how much information Ronoron must have that could hurt Jolan and the kingdoms fighting against Ale’ald.

She really had no choice. Knowing she was giving herself away, she fired a blue-white beam of intense energy that struck Ronoron in the head, destroying his upper half almost instantly. Then she fired a second energy-beam at Cheurt. He was the same level as she was, and she knew was particularly adept at this particular spell. Surprisingly, the beam she fired at Cheurt didn’t seem to even cause his shield to turn pink. It was as if he were a couple of levels higher than she was. She tried again with no effect. No more time, it was necessary for her to flee. Cheurt would come out of the shock induced by having the brain he’d been examining destroyed while he was probing around in it. When he did, he’d realize she was the cause and come after her in a minute. She didn’t understand why she hadn’t been able to crack his shield when he wasn’t even focused on her, but she feared he might be equally strong with his own weapons spells and she might not be able to resist. This was something she hadn’t considered before. She could only hope that she’d been quick enough to limit the amount of information that Cheurt had been able to acquire through his probing.

* * * *

Cheurt was shocked by what he had been seeing. Jolan had found Ygooro, and Tilano! Was it possible? There was something there about the Nexus he needed to pursue, but he’d been distracted by a vision of something they called a portal. Dragons, that’s how they did it. The things were everywhere.
Farsight
had shown him a true vision the other night when it seemed to be Jolan outside in the village when he’d been in Cobalo the previous day. He had thought it a false vision. He needed to extract all of information in this one’s brain. This would give him the edge he needed to reclaim the war.

He was just getting started when suddenly there was a sharp blast near his head and the mind he was probing flashed briefly and was gone. He was totally disoriented. He’d never had something like that happen while he was probing, and his own brain reeled at the sensation. It felt as if he were dying. A small part of his consciousness detected a powerful blast against his shield. Absently he realized they might have been threatening had it not been for the power amulet which gave him the ability to create shields of incredible strength.

When his sense returned he realized it was the woman who had attacked him. Somehow she had escaped her cage and was now on the loose. That wouldn’t last, and he would soon be probing another brain to see what secrets she had been holding back.

Angry and confused, Jolan tried to figure out who could have stolen his amulet. At first he’d thought he might have been careless and distracted, and simply taken it off and laid it down somewhere while his mind was focused on the events planned for the night. He’d done things like that in the past. But after a careful search of his room, he’d remembered seeing the two coins from Earth in the drawer where he placed the amulet. They’d made him think about the trip to Earth he’d promised Shyar some time ago which he might soon have a chance to make good on. That made him certain he’d placed the device where he always did when he bathed. Someone had known this and taken it. The timing couldn’t have been worse. He would need to pursue it, but it would have to wait. The plans to release Shyar were in motion and he couldn’t afford to change anything now.