Traveling Mage Read online

  Kana's lips formed a thin line.

  "As you wish, Lady Benisar." Her expression softened slightly. "Thank you."

  Chelka shrugged.

  "Let us go, Ed, Brosk, Lady Daderon."

  They made their way into the gently sloping bowl of stone. Sandals beat against white stone beneath their feet. As they walked, Edmath kept his stethian and a striker ring ready. Brosk held one hand on his chain. They passed between vacant stone pillars and high walls with no sign of entry points until they reached the central tower.

  There, the plant life increased in variety and scale. Trees of multiple species greeted Edmath's studied eye along with numerous varieties of smaller plants and grasses, some of which even he did not recognize.

  Around the base of the tower the stone was completely covered in moss and undergrowth. Thick vines hung from the archway of the narrow opening leading inside.

  Edmath paused before the veil of hanging plants, a green curtain hiding what lay within. He reached out with his stethian and shifted the vines to one side, revealing the bottom of a spiral staircase. He took a deep breath.

  "I'll lead," said Brosk. "If anything attacks, I can handle a physical attack the best." He shifted into his whale tosh, then opened his mouth and squeaked out his echolocation sounds. "There are no large animals inside at the moment. No need to fear a wild bear or other beast."

  Chelka glanced Edmath, her eyes intense with excitement and a hint of trepidation.

  "Lead on," she said to Brosk. "We'll be right behind you."

  They started up the stairs, first Brosk, then Chelka, then Ninafi. Edmath looked over his shoulder before bringing up the rear. Going last did not suit him. It set his nerves on edge worrying about a possible attack from behind. He glanced back more than once.

  Halfway up the tower, one wall opened onto a terrace of the same stone as the rest of the tower, all constructed by human hands. Narrow shafts dug into the tower at regular intervals, roughly every yard around the edge of the terrace and at each corner. Edmath guessed those once held supports for long-ago-rotted walls.

  He recorded it all on a blank scroll he'd brought from Diar before replacing the scroll in its case and proceeding toward the top.

  The staircase ended on the flat white rooftop.

  Shielding his eyes against the bright glow of the tear above, Edmath turned to the others.

  "It appears to be holding open, but we should keep an eye on it. If it should close within a few hours obviously it will be of less consequence than if it lasts longer."

  "True, Ed," said Brosk. "But the Saale Hierophant's augury detected an irregularity weeks ago. If this tear is that irregularity it should have closed by now unless it is indeed especially stable."

  "Such tears exist elsewhere," said Ninafi.

  "What could cause one is the real question," said Chelka.

  "Agreed," said Brosk.

  Edmath squinted at the tear over their heads, then retrieved his scroll. He set to recording the details and dimensions of the tear. Perhaps three yards across at its midsection, and circular in shape. He measured what he could but it only raised further questions. Even the strange gloves their attacker, Hyreki, had used a month ago seemed unable to make a tear much larger than a person, and that one had closed minutes after opening. This was a strange tear, especially if one accounted for the dread felt by non-Saales.

  Brosk sent out another echo.

  "It's strange, but I'm certain of it now," he said.

  "Certain of what?" asked Ninafi.

  "Besides the others and the elk we brought with us, there isn't another animal around for miles. Normally bugs chatter and birds call. It's as though this place is only nourishing the plants and driving away the animals."

  "No wonder it had such an effect on the mercenaries," said Chelka under her breath.

  Brosk glanced at her, then shook his head.

  "Please, Chelka. Don't disparage our allies."

  "As you like, Brosk," she said. "My apologies, but you do see what I mean, don't you?"

  "I have an idea, but do explain your thoughts," said Edmath.

  "Ordinary animals are being repulsed because this tear wasn't struck by an animal but by something else...I only wish I knew what."

  "Orpus Rakoi has its own kind of magic," said Edmath. "Perhaps another tree or plant could manage Saale striking."

  "I don't sense enough movement to indicate an orpus tree unless it is completely still."

  "But its still a possibility, my friend," said Edmath.

  "We ought to tell the others. Their aversion is likely some kind of spell," said Brosk. "I can go."

  Chelka nodded.

  "We'll all go once Ed is done recording. It's best we stick together."

  "You three," said Ninafi crouched by a slightly rough promontory on one edge of the roof. "I've found an inscription. It's old Zelian."

  "From the time of the warlords?" asked Edmath.

  "It appears archaic enough," said Ninafi. "But I can read it clearly." She squinted. "Tulagoda, tower of light. Beware foes of the sun." She straightened her back. "That's all there is."

  "We ought to return," said Edmath with a shiver creeping down his spine as he rolled the ancient words over in his head. Foes of the sun. Beware.

  Chelka put her arm around him.

  "It's not windy enough up here to be that cold, Ed."

  "I know, my dear. I am beginning to think I may have an aversion to this place as well."

  Brosk nodded. They descended the tower together. Only as they continued toward the place where Kana and the others waited did Edmath begin to consider the implication of the syllables, the structure of the word Tulagoda. In modern Zelian it meant nothing, but in the older language of monastic books, it looked like two words conjoined. Those words meant purification and death.

  The next morning, Edmath and the others went from their camp near the road and returned to Tulagoda. This time, the Saales left Kana and her Rooster Tribe mercenaries outside the dread aura of the strange tear, still sending light and magic flowing from the sky. Edmath and Chelka led the way into the stone bowl where the tower loomed higher than the trees. His nervous, twisting stomach made him wish he'd stayed with the mercenaries.

  They searched around the base of the tower and examined the other structures. Edmath noted the shape and dimensions of each obelisk and house. It took them all morning and well into the afternoon to complete the simple form of survey. During that time they saw no animals approach the bowl of Tulagoda though when no one spoke, many birds could be heard in the distance.

  Clouds rolled in as they performed deeper tests around the tower. By the time they were ready to test drawing magic from the tear, the sky was almost black, though no rain yet fell.

  Chelka suggested she be the first to test the tear's magical draw.

  "I'd rather not go first," Edmath said. "So have at it, my dear."

  Brosk and Ninafi agreed as well.

  "Be careful," said Edmath, leaning close to Chelka. "There is something strange about this tear beyond its longevity."

  "I understand, Ed. Thank you."

  She took a deep breath, then handed Brosk her stethian.

  "I'll start without the weapon," she said. "To see how it works."

  Edmath noted that fact on his scroll.

  Chelka approached the base of the tower while the others stood along the rim of the bowl. She raised one hand as if grasping physically for the tear as she pulled in its power. Ribbons of magic flowed along channels in the tower's sides, pulsing bright. The magic reached Chelka and suffused her with sickly radiance.

  She pulled in magic, released it, pulled in again and tested releasing it again. Edmath kept pace with her actions, recording every nuance he witnessed.

  The first sign Chelka made was that of the star. She sent a beam of magical light and heat shooting skyward from her other palm. Despite the oddness of the tear, Edmath noted not
hing out of the ordinary with the spell itself, nor with any of the others, Chelka performed subsequently.

  All her tests completed, Chelka rejoined them.

  "The magic from this tear feels very strange indeed," she said. "It isn't always bad, but it does not empower or gladden the senses like that from ordinary tears."

  Brosk folded his arms.

  "It sounds as if the tear itself is warping what passed through it. In theory that which lies on the other side should be much the same regardless of location."

  "In theory," Edmath said. "Though we already know different strikers may produce tears that apply different aptitudes and speeds to the magical flow."

  "Indeed," said Brosk.

  Ninafi frowned.

  "But there's no striker as far as we can tell. From what we've observed I doubt another Saale was here recently."

  "If we could use an augury we could be more certain," said Chelka. She turned to Edmath. "Do you recall anything from your hesiatic training that could help us?"

  "I never learned to augury without a sphere or relic," said Edmath. "However, I think we could have noticed footprints or other disturbances in the plant life if a Saale had been here last. More importantly, the growth around the tower is old and mostly natural. If the tear is keeping animals away, the plants would show signs of feeding from wild creatures. I've seen no evidence of that."

  "A good point, Ed," said Brosk.

  "How old are the plants here?" Ninafi asked, brow furrowed.

  "Hard to tell if magic contributed to their growth," said Edmath. "Their size suggests months or years undisturbed, depending on the rate and weather."

  Chelka bit her lip.

  "If we assume the tear sped their growth, how old?"

  "The vines of species I recognized on the tower could have climbed that high in a few years by nature alone. However, if animals fed on them in the winter months they would never reach that high."

  Ninafi's frown deepened.

  "That far from seals the possibility, but I can say it seems less likely the tear is much older than the Saale Hierophant's augury would indicate."

  "I agree, said Brosk. "The tear appeared at the beginning of summer, of that we can be relatively certain. What could conceal such presence from the Saale Hierophant?"

  "I know of nothing that could," said Edmath. "Naturally opening or not, we can assume these plants grew to this size in the last few months, much faster than is natural."

  "We can test it further," said Chelka. "Ed, you can try growing plants using magic from the tear."

  He nodded.

  "That makes sense." He put a hand to his knotted stomach. "I fear this place does not agree with me, but I will do what I can." He handed Brosk the record scroll. "Keep note of what happens."

  He handed his stethian to Ninafi, then approached the tower while the others stood at the rim. He tried drawing in magic and found the tear responded easily, sending its power to him the same way it had reacted to Chelka's pull.

  Likewise, the magic felt strangely distant and cold compared to the usual soaring sensation one experienced with a fresh tear.

  Standing on the bed of moss and small plants at the base of the tower, Edmath folded his hands, then broke them apart, making practice signs he used to grow plants, less powerful than his battle signs, but just as familiar. His open hand quickly became heavy with a burst of flowers, roots questing for soil.

  He fed them magic and watched them bloom and seed and then grow further. Without his directing influence, the flowers would have reproduced themselves a dozen times in the nearly twenty minutes he focused on them, but he kept them from seeding again deliberately.

  Under the flow of magic, the seeds the flowers dropped early began to send up shoots from the green mat of other plants. All grew toward the tear above. Edmath frowned as he considered his next test. The tear's magic proved especially powerful for growing plants, as without any sign on his part flowers sprouting from seeds that had not existed minutes ago.

  He turned to the others and called.

  "It's odd. The plants keep growing on their own as long as the magic touches them."

  Turning back to the tower he pulled in more magic. Time to draw in more and push harder, perhaps? Given the speed of growth, he could force on plants with ordinary magic, the concept of testing that trait with the power of this tear scared him. Nevertheless, it seemed the natural point of progression.

  Edmath closed his eyes and made the sign of the tree. He grew roots, trunk, branches in his mind, shaping the new life to one side of the tower's doorway. When he opened his eyes the tree was there, full in form and still growing, reaching for the light above.

  He turned once more to the others and found Ninafi running toward him down the slope of the bowl. Chelka and Brosk had their backs to him, drawing strikers as they faced down a pack of beastly hybrids like those of Fyon's pack. No, judging by a few scars from burns these creatures weren't just similar to Fyon's horde, they were survivors of the village battle.

  Edmath left his tree and took a step toward Ninafi. She waved at him, holding his stethian in her other hand.

  "Edmath," she said. "we need to help them."

  He scowled as a few monsters began to circle, trying to get around Brosk and Chelka's sides. Ninafi handed him the stethian. Still holding the magic from the strange tear, he prepared his mind to fight. The slow, peaceful signs faded from his concentration, replaced by thorn and branch and vine.

  Time to join the fray and drive these beasts before him for their wickedness.

  The pack of hybrid monsters prowled closer to Chelka and Brosk. Edmath stepped forward, anger flaring in his mind. These things dared to interrupt him? How dare these beasts.

  He swung the stethian to point ball forward as he advanced, making the sign of the branch with his free hand. Sharp-tipped wooden limbs burst forward, striking at the monsters near Chelka. Two of the three darted nimbly out of reach. The third fell with a wooden shaft in his chest.

  "Damn them," said Chelka. "They must have been waiting for us."

  "We need to find the roosters. Without trained mages they'll be in danger," said Brosk, circling to face the encroaching beasts near him.

  "Right," said Ninafi.

  Edmath nodded, his face set and grim. He continued drawing in magic and signing. Another pair of monsters fell, caught between two sets of tree limbs. Brosk shifted into his whale tosh. He leapt forward and hammered another creature against the stones.

  The others fled, yelping in their pidgin language, part human and part animal just like the creatures' bodies. Brosk started out of the bowl.

  "I'm going to find the others," he said.

  "Brosk, wait," said Chelka, starting after him. "We should make a plan."

  Edmath frowned after them, his mind hazy, then glanced at the tower and the new tree now growing beside it, beginning to split the gaps in the stone beneath its bulk. Only when he looked at the tower and the ear above it did things seem clear. Ninafi glanced at him.

  "You should go talk to them," she said.

  Edmath shook himself.

  "Yeah," he said. "You're right. I'm just a little--I feel odd."

  What a terror grew within him he did not know. His mind itself seemed warped as if something out there was pressing against it from all sides, choking his ability to think. He blinked, shook his head again.

  The fear built and he lowered his stethian. Ninafi grabbed his arm, worry on her face.

  "Edmath, are you alright?"

  "I don't think so." He swayed on his feet. "Scared. So scared."

  The bowl turned massive, growing and deepening around him and Ninafi. She cried out as the dirt dragged them down. He stared after Chelka and Brosk, receding up the slope from the tower. They had to know the danger. There was great peril here.

  The world spun as they fell. When he woke, he was in a dark place, back on dirt. Ninafi sat beside him with a dim mag
ic light providing the view of her face, looking nervous, though not showing the kind of terror he'd felt before the change. Thankfully the fear had left him along with the muddiness of his mind. He looked up at her.

  "Where are we?"

  She pointed down a narrow tunnel of shadows with roots jutting from the ceiling. More roots supported the earthen walls.

  "We're under the tower," she said.

  Footfalls sounded down the tunnel. They came closer to the cavern where Edmath and Ninafi sat. Fear returned.

  Chelka

  Chelka stared at the base of the tower where Edmath and Ninafi had vanished beneath the shifting stones. Her hands trembled.

  "Ed!" she called.

  Brosk stopped moving toward the place they'd left the mercenaries. He looked over his shoulder.

  "Chelka, what happened?" he said. "Where'd they go?"

  "The ground swallowed them," she said. "Spawn of beasts. Edmath is in trouble again and I wasn't there to help him."

  "They aren't dead," said Brosk. "We would have sensed it."

  Chelka nodded.

  "We need to find them--I just don't know where to begin."

  "If we find Kana and the others they can help us. It must be some spell to manipulate the earth and stone."

  "A Dawkun could work that kind of magic but not a Saale."

  "And I don't see any mages from Roshi about." Brosk opened his large whale mouth and sent out an echo. After waiting for a moment, he shook his head. "You're right. They must be underground. Kana and her people are all together. They're heading our way, thank the creator."

  Chelka nodded.

  "Wait for them here. I'm going to investigate where they vanished."

  "Be careful," said Brosk.

  The stones themselves had looked the same as they had before. Chelka paced toward the tower, cautiously stepping on every new tile as if they would crumble beneath her sandals. She scowled at the carpet of plants and the tree Edmath had grown beside the tower.

  The grass and moss appeared undisturbed at first, but Chelka's glare fell upon the place the seeds Edmath's flowered had spilled had fallen and grown. They were gone.