“I shall be content with that, then. Safe journey, Magus, and I do hope you find the answers you’re looking for.”
“Thank you.” I stood and gave her a proper bow. Then I turned to Chatta and ducked down to exchange a hug with her. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”
“All right. And you and Shad look out for yourselves.” She held me in place a moment longer, whispering into my shoulder, “Don’t get hurt too.”
I pulled back enough to give her a feral smile. “If they’re idiots enough to pull that trick when
I’m
there, I’ll take great pleasure in destroying them utterly. History won’t repeat itself.”
Her smile was nearly as predatory as mine. “Good.”
Giving one last bow to L-Noilita, I strode out of the house, making a list in my head as I went. I had to pick up Shad, Night, and then tell Guin my intentions. At that point, I should be able to go back to Chahir.
Whether this would be a quick trip or not depended entirely on what I found there.
~*~
As it turns out, I didn’t need Shad’s help at all to find the place. I didn’t even need to be a magician; normal eyesight would have been enough.
I turned in a slow circle, taking in everything around me, feeling sick to my stomach. The light had faded to the point that only a twinge of gold illuminated the clearing. The guardians showed mercy with my timing—I’m not sure if I could handle having a very clear view right now.
Even as I stood there watching, more and more of the land died. The plants were shriveling up into this sort of sick, grey dust, as if the life had been sucked out of them; which, actually, described it accurately. Even the dirt seemed leached of life, turning a sickly grey and losing its texture. When I stepped forward, the dirt under my feet puffed up, as if it had the same consistency as fine powder.
That, that
Priest
—I couldn’t think of a curse harsh enough to describe him. He hadn’t just tapped into some latent power of the earth! He’d directly connected to a
ley line
.
My hands clenched into tight fists, nails digging into the skin of my palms. “
That idiot!”
I snarled.
“Garth?” Shad watched me with a considerable amount of caution. I imagine someone watching an approaching thunderstorm would have the same expression on his face. “What are you seeing?”
“That gleeking imbecile broke every rule I can think of.” My voice emerged in a harsh rasp. “Not only did he think he could just borrow the powers of a Mage, he connected directly to a ley line!”
Shad digested this for a moment. “I take it that’s bad?”
“Let me put it this way: not even I would dare to do such a thing. Ley lines are the direct power source of the earth. It would be like a mere mortal trying to capture lightning and harnessing it.”
“That’s pretty stupid,” Shad agreed with a wince. “No wonder he got fried. So? What side effects are we looking at?”
“Aside from this part of Chahir dying by inches, you mean?” I gave a grim shake of the head. “Everything tied to that ley line is going to be affected. It might take years to recover this portion of land.” A worse thought occurred to me, something I didn’t even want to think about, much less say out loud. What if other Priests had figured out this same trick? Without knowing of the consequences, would they try it too? How many ley lines would they drain or destroy beyond recognition before they realized what was going on?
How much of Chahir would they ravage in this insane bid for power?
“It’s like the Magic War all over again,” I breathed in horror.
“Can you fix it?”
Night was looking around him in worry.
It was a practical question and one that I didn’t have a good answer to. “I wish I could. I can
help
, certainly, but I don’t understand enough of nature to do any sort of reconstruction work.” What I needed was a Gardener, but I had no idea how to call one up. Mores the pity.
I spent an hour doing what I could to help the land itself. It was a sort of a patchwork job, and nowhere near perfect, but my knowledge was so limited on ley lines that I wasn’t sure what else to do without messing everything up. I coaxed two other nearby ley lines into giving some power back to the drained line, enough to revive it. What little power I felt like safely handling went directly into the soil. I spread it about as if it were fertilizer—which, in a sense, it was. I could not see any immediate effects to my efforts but I didn’t dare do more. Just tapping into a ley line as I did made my stomach do flip-flops and my heart tremble in terror. Touching power
that
strong would make any sane man quake.
Still, I felt a little satisfaction in my work. It would take perhaps another decade or so before it gained enough strength to fully support the life around it, but that line would recover eventually.
A Gardener would do a better job, certainly. I was praying that they would show up soon and fix everything. This was just a temporary patch to keep everything from dying before they could notice there was a problem in this region.
Darkness had settled in by the time I finished. I stood up, brushing dirt off my knees and hands as I moved. “That’s all I can do,” I told Shad and Night with a heavy sigh. “It’ll recover eventually.”
Shad, not being able to see what I was doing for the past hour, obviously decided to just take my word for it. “Right. What next? Back to Hain?”
“No.” I bared my teeth in a feral smile. “I think we need to go pay a little visit to Vonlorisen.”
~*~
It was very late at night when we arrived at the Chahiran Palace. Most of the city lay asleep already or headed in that direction. There was still some activity in the Palace, but not much.
I had met Vonlorisen enough times now that I could tell him apart from other non-magical people. He was sitting alone in a room. My predatory smile went up a notch.
Perfect.
Lucky for me the entire palace is one floor. Makes popping in and out easier. I chose to bring Shad, Night and I back up to the surface about two feet from where he was. Which, incidentally, was in front of his desk, a heavy, carved piece piled with papers.
Vonlorisen jerked in his chair at our abrupt arrival, nearly tipping the monstrous chair he sat in backwards.
“Magus!”
“We need to have a little chat, Vonlorisen.”
Shad, behind me, took up a resting position with his back to the wall, an assassin in the shadows. Night chose to back up a few steps, too.
Vonlorisen’s gaze searched my face, composure regained, before they widened in alarm.
“Nolan? Is there something wrong with Nolan?”
“Nolan is fine, Vonlorisen. It’s yourself you should be concerned about.”
Vonlorisen’s hands had eased their white knuckled grip on the desk with the news that Nolan was fine, but his whole body stilled dangerously, back straight, hands spread flat on the desk, face hard.
“Explain yourself,” he said softly.
If my own anger hadn’t been so great, the threat in his voice might have been vaguely terrifying.
I started from where the team had been attacked and told the whole story until I reached my discovery not a half hour before. The firelight cast dancing shadows across the king’s face, oddly creating the appearance of stone rather than softening the features.
“They have to be stopped,” I stated with cold finality. “If they continue to do this, not only will they be destroying Chahir and making it inhabitable, it will start the Magic War all over again.”
“Magus.” He took in a deep breath. “Are you telling me that the Star Order Priests have somehow found a way to gain temporary magical power?”
I blinked at him quite stupidly for several moments. Did he not know…? Judging from the expression on his face, he really didn’t. “Your Majesty, the Star Order
is
magical.”
He stood up from his chair abruptly, successfully toppling it this time, hands slamming down on the desk with a loud bang. Papers went flying across his desk, the inkwell tipping over.
“WHAT?!”
Confronted with an angry, incredulous king, I wrestled my own anger back down and carefully made my explanation neutral. “There are three types of magic in this world. One of those types is blood magic—what the Star Order uses. It’s a corrupt version of magical power, really, but can be quite powerful.”
He met my eyes levelly. “The Priests have said for centuries that their powers come from the Guardians themselves, that this is a divine calling.”
I was shaking my head even before he finished. “That is not possible, Your Majesty. It’s magic. If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be able to detect it or defeat it.”
It took several long moments before this truly sank in. When it did, he nearly shook in growing rage. “They’re magic users. Those hypocrites are magic users, and they dare to pass judgment on my grandson?!”
They’ve done more than that, but I bit my tongue before saying so. I didn’t think it wise to say anything at this point. A man is more likely to move, and be more persistent about a problem, when it’s closer to home. If this is now more personal for Vonlorisen, I am perfectly happy to leave it that way.
Vonlorison vibrated in place a moment before launching into one of the most spectacular diatribes I’ve ever heard. I hadn’t thought anyone could out rant Chatta but he was proving me wrong. The force of Vonlorisen’s rant propelled him across the plush carpet to pace back and forth in front of the fire, hands waving and slicing through the air. His pitch would go from under his breath to loud bellows of curses. I could feel my own anger start draining away with every pass Vonlorisen made, and I heard Night softly snickering in the back of my mind. I caught Shad’s eye and he looked pretty impressed, with that look of taking mental notes.
Vonlorisen stopped after five minutes, hands braced on the austere fireplace mantle. He took a deep breath, then another, regaining a false layer of calm. He whirled around to face us, dressing gown askew, showing a hint of a white shirt and baggy pants underneath.
“You knew this all along.”
I refrained from saying
of course
, but I’m sure my body language said as much.
“Why didn’t you ever say something? People listen to you.
Kings
listen to you. Why didn’t you try to expose them for what they are before this?”
The question had a weight to it that I could not dismiss. Answering this question correctly might very well be a turning point for me with this man. I took great care to form my words before I said them.
“If I had said something, if you had believed me, what would you have done? What would any ruler have done? There has already been an argument about the proper use of magical power, with people divided into two camps—the result of that argument nearly destroyed this nation. I couldn’t risk inciting a similar incident.”
The other man huffed. “You truly have no concept of a bargaining chip, do you? I am beginning to see what Guin meant.”
Eh? What did Guin say about me?
With a shake of the head, Vonlorisen moved on. “Very well, Magus, since you are the only magician,” and the king’s face looked like he had bitten something sour, “that I can trust to speak truth to me, explain to me how this magic of the Star Order is different from yours.”
Shad had to step in at one point, as he has more experience with blood magic than I, but between the two of us we managed to explain the major differences between both magics in layman’s terms so that Vonlorisen could understand.
Vonlorisen regained his seat during the explanation, and sat quietly for several moments after we had finished. “So this magic of theirs requires ritual and life-sacrifice.”
“That’s it in essence, Majesty,” Shad agreed.
“This hampers the plans that I’ve been making to disband them. I had thought to simply take away their authority for arrests and executions, since they are given divine power, but that is not the case. I cannot give them free reign, but must annihilate the Order entirely.” His expression gathered into taut lines, highlighting every wrinkle, aging him another ten years before our eyes.
“Your Majesty.” He lifted his eyes from the desk and back up to mine. “Majesty, I have not abandoned this country. I never will. Whatever you need to make my homeland safe for magicians again, I will do.” I paused, wincing at what I was about to say next. “I am at your service.”
“The service of the Advent Mage? Well.” His scowl eased under a wry and knowing smile. “That is a bargaining chip, indeed. I take you on as my…magical advisor, then. Sit, Magus.”
He gestured to the chairs across from his desk and I sat, Shad joining me in the other available armchair.
“Very well, I shall be frank. There will be… some difficulty in disbanding the Star Order,” Vonlorisen admitted reluctantly. “I have been making plans, preparing new laws to be passed, all in preparation. However, I can’t implement any of them at this time. My wife, as you might know, is a firm believer of that sect. She has the influence to undermine every command I give. I’d put her under house arrest somewhere, but she has too many connections. I’m afraid it wouldn’t do any good.”
That was a serious problem. Guin might consider taking her as a political prisoner, but that would cause problems. He could hardly hold her forever without some sort of political backlash hitting. We needed someone who was not politically connected to Chahir to serve as jailer…. I froze when a thought occurred.
“I might have an idea. Have you thought about speaking with the Remnant about this?”
Vonlorisen gave me blank look. “The Remnant? No, why?”
“They are still very interested in Chahir’s future. I think they’d be willing to hold your wife.” I certainly thought it would be worth the trip to ask them.
“Magus, I have no way of contacting them that wouldn’t take months to do,” Vonlorisen spread his hands in a helpless shrug. “If you have a faster means of communication, by all means, let’s ask them. It will probably be better coming from you anyway.”
Considering how their last meeting with Vonlorisen had gone…he had a point there. “Understood. I’ll do that tomorrow.”