Angst (Book 4) (12 page)

“No,” Embril said, reaching for the strands of magic she
would need. It was easy to find the flame and earth magic—they were
everywhere—but the rest were more challenging. Angus had said this nexus was
oriented to flame magic, but she hadn’t realized how strong its influence
really was until she had seen it for herself. Still, in time she found the
strands she needed for the Negation spell. If Darby had used his magic to
obscure the Angst symbol, the Negation spell would counter it and allow her to
see it again. “Where do you think the symbol is?” she asked Giorge.

Giorge barely glanced at the floor before pointing at a spot
above where it was receding into the wall. “There.”

Embril nodded and directed the Negation spell toward the
wall. In some ways, it was a simple spell. If magic had been confined in a
spell, it would align itself with it and negate its effects by fusing the
opposing magical forces to it. It was a mirror image of the spell, the inverse
of its potency. In other ways, it was as complex as any spell could be, since
it required knowledge of the spell to be negated and the ability to weave the
reversal of that spell’s knots—and tying knots backward was not at all easy to
do. Fortunately, the Obscuration spell that Darby must have used was a fairly
simply one, and Embril knew how to tie it. Tying it backward, though…

She closed her eyes and concentrated on the knots, bringing
each one into focus and taking the time to tie it backward. When she finished,
she threw the Negation spell at the wall, where Giorge had pointed. It struck
like a fistful of bread dough and spread rapidly outward, each knot seeking out
its counterpart and sparkling to life as it found it. Half a minute passed
before the spell had completed its unraveling of the Obscuration spell, and
then a shadowy red image appeared. It was like the insignia on the Angst
bracelet Angus had given her, but it was incomplete. The bracelet’s insignia
had had three teardrop shapes radiating out from a circular center, but this
image only had two teardrops. The top teardrop was missing. She floated up to
the red shadow and said, “I see it. What do I do?”

“There’s a panel,” Giorge said. “Push it inward and it will
open the door.” He glanced behind him and added, “It wouldn’t be a bad idea to
hurry. About a third of the floor is already gone.” He set his pack down by her
feet and hurried away from her.

Embril pressed each teardrop and the central circle, but
nothing happened. Did that mean they had to be pressed in a specific order? If
so, that would take time they didn’t have. But Angus had been in the same
situation, hadn’t he? It would have been very fortunate if he found the right
combination on the first try. She shook her head. It had to be something else.
What was it he had said in the scroll?
The key to surviving this journey is
to see what isn’t there and to recognize the absence for what it is.
She
pressed against the wall where the missing teardrop should have been, and a
small panel moved easily inward. There was a soft click, and a section of the
wall started to pivot inward. She smiled and turned to Giorge—and her eyes
widened. He was hanging over the edge of the floor and was about to fall!

She flew rapidly over to him and reached out to grab his
belt. She had barely caught hold of him when he started sliding off the
edge—and almost lost her grip completely before she was able to pull him back.
He scampered back on his hands and knees and glared at her. “What’s wrong with
you?” he demanded. “You almost killed me!”

Embril bristled. “I just saved your life!” she retorted.
Angus had told her about the spikes in the pit, and she had caught enough of a
glimpse of them to realize how deadly they were. “You were about to fall off!”

He blinked angrily and shook his head. “No I wasn’t,” he
said. “I was fine until you grabbed me and changed my center of balance.” He
shook his head again and started laughing. “Wizards!” he scoffed. “You’ll be
the death of me yet!” Then he stood up, moved to the wall, picked up his pack,
and stepped through the now-open doorway. He paused and grinned back at her as
he asked, “Coming?”

She flew up to the doorway and landed. “Do I need to
maintain my Flying spell?” she asked his back as it retreated from her.

He stopped and half turned. “If you can, yes,” he said.
“Where we’re going, there’s a big hole in the floor that you’ll probably have
to fly through. It’s going to take us a little while to get there, though, and
we’ll have to watch out for Darby. The pit didn’t catch him and he’s bound to
be watching for us by now.”

Embril nodded and designated a part of her attention to
maintaining her grasp on the strand of air magic she was using for her Flying
spell. Then she followed Giorge through the tunnels, carefully memorizing each
turn they made.

24

Why did I lie?
Giorge wondered as he led Embril
through the corridors of the Angst temple. It wasn’t that he felt guilty about
lying; it was that he didn’t understand why he had done it. Maybe it was
because of The Tiger’s Eye? Embril had mentioned it before they left, hadn’t
she? Something about it being a part of the nexus—whatever that was. He knew where
the nexus was, too, at least in general terms, and that meant he also knew
where The Tiger’s Eye was. If the legends about it were only partly true, it
would put Symptata’s cursed gems to shame, and that kind of wealth…

No. It wasn’t about how much The Tiger’s Eye was worth, even
though it would be spectacular. It was about the
prestige of having
found it! Everyone would look upon him in wonder!
There he goes,
they
would say,
the man who found The Tiger’s Eye.
Was that why he hadn’t
told Embril about seeing Darby’s body pinioned to the spike? He frowned as he
neared another intersection. What if she noticed there weren’t any new tracks?
He paused and held up his hand for Embril to stop, and then pretended to peek
around the corner to see if Darby was waiting for them. How many more times
could he do that before she realized how pointless it was? The Lamplight’s glow
would have warned Darby of their presence long before he reached the
intersection, and she was as far from being stupid as the sun was from being
dark. If she had more experience and less trust, his deception would never
work. He motioned her forward and started around the corner.

I’ll have to lead her to the room,
he thought.
I
can’t keep pretending like I’ve forgotten where it is.
But what would he do
when he got there? What would
she
do? That was the problem wasn’t it? He
didn’t know how Angus had made the floor drop down, but Embril might figure it
out. Yes, that was what it was, wasn’t it? He
needed
Embril if he were
to find The Tiger’s Eye. But why did he want it? Why was he deceiving her so he
could get it? And what would he do with it when he had it? What would he do to
her if she tried to stop him? She would try, too; he was certain of it. Angus
had been
terrified
of the nexus, and she—

He looked around another corner and saw the gaping hole at
the end.
Angus did that,
he reminded himself.
He had to use a wand,
but that hole is his. What will
Embril
do to me when she realizes what
I’m up to?
He leaned back and waited for Embril to join him.
She won’t
need a wand for it, either.

“We’re almost there,” he whispered. “The room at the end of
the corridor is where Angus said he saw the nexus. I’m not sure what you will
have to do to find it, though. I was mostly blind the last time I was here.”

“All right,” Embril said as she squared her shoulders. Her
long, flowing red hair shone in the Lamplight’s glare, and her powder blue robe
glistened. She was a pretty thing for a witch, but he didn’t let it distract
him. Those strange eyes—one blue and one brown—were too keen; they would notice
something was awry. Perhaps they already had? Did she already know he had lied
about Darby? Was she aware of his duplicity and biding her time to see how far
he would take it?

What if she was? He hadn’t done anything yet. Except for
lying about Darby, and he could recover from that. She
had
startled him,
and he had almost joined Darby because of it. He could say that he hadn’t had
time to see him before she grabbed him and knocked him off balance.

“There’s a trap in the room,” he said. “If Darby didn’t know
about it…”

Embril shook her head. “He knows about it,” she said. “I
told him.” She sucked in her lower lip and added, “I didn’t know I was doing it
at the time.”

Like I don’t know why I’m going to take The Tiger’s Eye?
he wondered, realizing that he was about to do just that. “If he’s not there,”
he continued. “I don’t know where else he could be.”
Another lie.

Giorge hurried down the corridor and stopped at the gaping
hole Angus’s wand had made. He looked inside the room and feigned relief. “He’s
not in there,” he told Embril, keeping his voice low to prevent it from
carrying. “We must have gotten here before him.”

“Good,” Embril said as she tried to pass him.

Giorge held out his arm to block her path. “The floor is
trapped,” he said. “When you step on it, it sets the trigger. Don’t touch the
bowl on the podium, it will make the floor tilt. There are spikes down there,
too—and poison on the column’s base.”

Embril nodded. “I know,” she said. “Angus detailed it in his
scroll.” She pushed his hand away and stepped into the room.

Giorge started after her, but reflexively stopped when a
muffled click reached his ears.
The trap is set,
he thought, then
shrugged and followed her. She went around the hole in the floor and up to the
little pillar with the bowl on top of it. She walked slowly around the pillar
and stopped when she was on the other side. She bent down and pressed her palm against
it, and the floor started its slow descent.

Angus did that, too,
Giorge thought.
The floor
will drop below the—
“Wait!” he cried, hurrying up to her. “The Lamplight—”
his shoulder already felt like it was on fire, and he was sure it would be if
she didn’t do something about the spell. He turned and said, “Get it off me!
Quickly! The last time I was here, Angus’s Lamplight exploded.” There was a
brief flurry of motion, and then the Lamplight was flying across the room. It
had nearly reached the door when it burst with such brilliance that it
temporarily blinded him. Darkness filled the room, and Giorge cursed his
stupidity for not keeping the candle lit. Nevertheless—

Darkness,
he thought, trying to remember the layout
of the room. It was simple. All he needed to do was move to the back wall. The
slit leading to the chamber with the nexus was in the middle of it. He reached
the wall and slid his pack from his shoulders. He didn’t need to see with his
eyes to find The Tiger’s Eye; he could use magic to see. He smiled as he
reached into his pack and brought out Symptata’s box. He didn’t even pause as
he slid the little lever over and opened the lid, and his hand moved unerringly
up to the eye socket. He felt his fingers wrap around the Viper’s Eye and it came
free with little provocation. Then it was up to his eye—and he saw nothing. He
switched to the other eye and was nearly blinded by the brilliance of the
swaths of flame magic emanating from a point inside the wall about three feet
to his left.

“Giorge?” Embril hissed. “The candle, Giorge,” she said.
Somehow, her voice seemed to be directed straight at him, but he ignored it; he
was focusing on where the magic originated. If what Embril had said about the
nexus was true, that would be where he would find The Tiger’s Eye.

Giorge slid his hand along the wall until he found the slit.
It was just wide enough for him to pass through without scraping his shoulders.
He stepped through the gap—and very nearly fell into the chasm on the other
side. If it weren’t for his training, his reflexes, his deeply ingrained
awareness of the soles of his feet, he would have fallen, but he recovered
almost immediately and backed out of the tunnel.

“Giorge?” Embril demanded.

“I’m looking for it,” Giorge claimed as he silently returned
to his pack. He had removed the candle when he took Symptata’s box out, and he
hesitated to light it long enough to return the Viper’s Eye to its socket,
close the lid, and put Symptata’s box back in his pack. The first spark was
almost a flame in its own right, and he nearly dropped the flint and steel. On
the third spark, the candlewick ignited, and Giorge leaned back away from it.
The candle’s flame was much higher than it should have been, and he carefully
handed it to Embril. The floor stopped dropping, and he waited to see what
Embril would do.

Embril considered him for a few uncomfortable seconds, and
then stepped into the gap. “It’s still here!” she chortled, her voice echoing through
the small chamber. “Darby hasn’t found it yet!”

“Good,” Giorge said.
Nor will he,
he thought to
himself.
But you don’t know that, do you? Maybe…

Almost a minute went by before Embril returned and said, “We
must watch for him. He has to be down here somewhere.”

Giorge nodded. “There are a couple of antechambers near the
stairwell that we can use. They are just inside that panel you opened.”

Embril frowned. “We should stay closer,” she said. “He’s
probably already past those antechambers.”

“I don’t think so,” Giorge slowly replied as a new scheme
began to form in his mind. “I haven’t seen any sign of him in here.” He paused,
and then added, “Of course, he could be concealing his presence from us with
that spell you used on us and the horses.”

Embril’s frown darkened, but she eventually nodded. “All
right,” she said. “Even if he manages to get by us, we’ll be able to catch him
as he leaves.”

“Yes,” Giorge readily agreed. The scheme was coming into
focus, now, and he fought the urge to look longingly at the nexus. He needed
Embril to trust him, and if he acted like he wanted The Tiger’s Eye, she would
know it. “Is there anything else you need to do here before we go back?” he
asked.

Embril stared at the little gap in the wall for several
seconds, and then shook her head. “No,” she said, her tone sharply decisive.
She pivoted and went back to the podium. Giorge watched very closely as she put
her palm against it and pushed.

The floor began to rise…