Sovereign of the Seven Isles 7: Reishi Adept (18 page)

As the pain began to subside
, he suddenly found himself looking through the window of a circular cell, ringed with a magic circle. Isabel was in the small cell, pacing back and forth. She seemed both worried and deep in thought. A rush of thoughts flooded into his mind—concern for her, confusion about what was happening to him, and a sudden fear that he had inadvertently used his clairvoyance without the protection of his magic circle … yet he was still present in his own mind, still aware of his body strapped into the saddle of a wyvern, floating over the plains of southern Ruatha.

As quickly as the rush of jumbled thoughts had come, he
returned completely to his body. His head was pounding, sharp pain stabbing into his mind from behind his eyes with each beat of his heart. The agony came on so quickly that it provoked a wave of nausea. He vomited into the sky, wiping his mouth clean with his shirt sleeve.

Ratagan looked back and questioningly signaled for a landing. Alexander shook his head. The pain hadn’t subsided, but
he’d managed to focus his will against it, recalling lessons learned during the trial of pain. It took a minute or so to master the agony he was feeling. It didn’t subside or even lessen, but he was able to clear his mind and endure, trusting that it would pass in time.

When
Southport came into view, he realized that something had changed. He wasn’t sure when it had happened, probably because he’d been so preoccupied with the pain behind his eyes, but he could see the horizon—something he’d lost when his eyes had been damaged by the cold of the aether. It was as if his all around sight had suddenly expanded to encompass the scope of normal vision.

The
pain abruptly faded into the background. It wasn’t gone, just not nearly as interesting as the experiences he’d just had. He’d used his clairvoyance without shifting into the firmament, or at least he thought he had—and his all around sight had suddenly expanded. The implications made his mind race. He was lost in thought when Ratagan turned in his saddle and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Y
ou all right, Lord Reishi? We’re here.”

Alexander shook his head slightly, looking around and finding himself in
Southport’s aerie. They’d landed. He smiled in spite of the halo of residual pain still floating around his head.

“I’m good,” Alexander said, unfastening his straps.

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Ratagan said. “It happens to the best of us.”

Alexander just nodded, sliding of
f the wyvern and patting the beast on the side.

Kevin was waiting
nearby. “Lord—”

“The name’s Alexander, Kevin.”

His brother-in-law nodded, smiling a bit sheepishly. “I guess I’ve been here for so long that titles and such are becoming second nature.”

“It looks like
Southport’s better off for your leadership,” Alexander said, opening his Wizard’s Den while surveying the city. The aerie was located on the roof of a large structure, offering a good view of the shipyards and the port. A fleet of fast-attack boats was anchored in the bay, dozens of ships ready to sail at a moment’s notice—more lined the docks and piers jutting from the sea wall.

“As much as I hate to admit it, I’ve actually grown fond of this place, though I’d trade my office for a ride through the
Great Forest in a heartbeat.”

Jack smiled broadly, point
ing across the city. “I can see the inn where we met.”

“I think
you’re right,” Alexander said.

“Any news of Isabel?” Kevin asked.

“Phane still has her, but she’s alive and well.”

“Are you sure?” Kevin asked, concern for his sister showing plainly in his eyes and his colors.

Alexander faced him squarely. “I am. In fact, I just looked in on her. She’s not happy, and she’s locked in a magically protected cell, but she’s unharmed.”

“How did
you look in on her?” Anja asked. “Don’t you need your magic circle?”

Alexander ignored her question, giving her a look that forestalled any further
inquiry.

“Kevin, this is Anja, and in spite of her appearance, she’s actually a dragon.”

Kevin looked at her, then back at Alexander. Seeing that he was serious, Kevin bowed formally.

“Welcome to
Southport, My Lady. It’s a pleasure and a privilege to make your acquaintance.”

Anja blinked
, then smiled broadly.

“I like him.”

Jack chuckled. “I would never have expected such honeyed words to roll so easily off a Ranger’s tongue. Perhaps you have been here too long.”

“One thing I’ve learned in my time here is that courtesy never hurts.”

“Well said,” Jack replied with a look of mischief.

“Come, let me show you to your quarters,” Kevin said.

***

After dinner, Jack spent over an hour telling a rather embellished version of Alexander’s journey since he’d named Kevin
Regent of Southport. While Jack’s story would have been engrossing if Alexander hadn’t lived it, he was preoccupied with thoughts about his magic. It was changing again—becoming more. As much as he welcomed the promise of greater capability, such developments were usually accompanied by pain and danger.

When Jack finished his story and Kevin began recounting his time in
Southport, Alexander did his best to listen attentively. Information was always welcome, and sometimes even useful. Kevin had organized the city with near military precision, rooting out the corruption that had so permeated the place under the previous regent’s stewardship.

The shipyards were now working in three shifts, turning out fast
-attack boats at a rapid pace, most of which had been sent south to Kai’Gorn. Kevin and Talia had developed a good working friendship through the letters and reports they sent each other via frequent message riders. He also kept in contact with New Ruatha, though less frequently. The Lancers ravaging the north had never made any serious attempt to penetrate the Great Forest, so southern Ruatha had become a refuge for those fleeing the war, and Southport had grown quickly because of it.

After the meal was cleared and Kevin had left them to retire for the evening, Alexander opened his Wizard’s Den and put his weapons on the table, then stepped back out into the large sitting room at the heart of the royal suite Kevin had provided them.

“I need to try something and it might be dangerous.”

Chloe spun into a ball of light.

“How so?” Jataan asked.

“My magic is changing again. During the flight here I think my all around sight merged with my clairvoyance. For just a moment, I was with Isabel, but I could still feel my body on the back of Ratagan’s wyvern. I need to find out if I can use my clairvoyance without the protection of a magic circle.”

“And you’re afraid that you’ll become possessed,” Jack said.

Alexander nodded, remembering back to that horrible moment when he’d killed two of his own Rangers.

“If I lose control, you need to subdue me.”

“I don’t understand,” Anja said.

“If I attack you, it’s not really me. Take me down and hold me down. If I don’t come to my senses, bind me and put me in a magic circle.”

“Are you sure this is necessary, Lord Reishi?” Jataan asked.

“I need to know what my magic can do.”

Jataan nodded.

Alexander sat down at the table and closed his eyes. He could see the room as plain as ever, perhaps even a bit more clearly. He pushed past the door and into the hall, paying close attention to how it felt, noting the dull pain still present behind his eyes. He sent his point of view up through the ceiling and into the sky over Southport, rising up to a height of a thousand feet, still well within the prior range of his all around sight. From there he looked around. He could see to the horizon. That alone made him smile, a curious sensation, feeling his body react to his visual experience while his sight was far removed from his physical location.

He looked north to the watchtower at the edge of the
Great Forest and began to move toward it, slowly at first, cautiously. He reached the previous limit of his all around sight, and then passed it without difficulty. With a thought, he was floating above the broken watchtower, looking down at the site of his first encounter with nether wolves.

While hovering over the plateau, he gently probed his own mind and body, feeling the wood of the table beneath his hands, hearing the crackle of the fire burning in the hearth mixed with the gentle rustle of the wind over the watchtower. It took some effort to separate
the sounds of each location.

The pain behind his eyes was starting to build, but it
wasn’t even close to unmanageable. He thought of Blackstone Keep and the world rushed by. In a moment, he was floating over the ancient fortress. The pain began to intensify. He scanned the horizon and saw a telltale smudge of color in the distance. Rake and his thugs were getting closer. The pain grew, stabbing sharply into his mind—he returned to his body with a thought.

“Alexander?” Jack said.

“Yeah, I’m fine, it just hurts a bit.”

The sharp stabbing sensation behind his eyes began to subside, diminishing quickly into a dull headache.

“Let me have a look at you,” Lita said, sitting next to him and placing her hand on his forehead while muttering the words of a spell.

“You’re pushing to
o hard too quickly,” she said. “I detect some minor damage. Nothing that won’t heal, but you should refrain from doing whatever you just did for a while.”

Alexander nodded.

“What did you do, anyway?” Anja asked.

“I
went to Blackstone. It was odd, more like my all around sight than my clairvoyance because I could still feel my body and hear what was happening here while seeing and hearing everything there at the same time.”

“Impressive,” Jack said. “It would seem that you still have more potential to realize.”

“I think you’re right,” he said, opening his Wizard’s Den and heading for his circle.

“I thought you were going to take it easy,” Anja said.

“I won’t use my new vision, but I want to try reaching out to Siduri again.”

“Last time you got lost in the firmament,” Anja said.

“I found my way back. Besides, I’m going to try something different this time.”

“Should we be concerned?” Jack asked.

“Probably, but I don’t think there’s anything you can do to help me.”

He sat down in his circle and offered his best reassuring smile to his friends.

“If I’m not back in an hour, Chloe will come in and get me.”

After only a moment, he was in the firmament.
His plan was risky, dangerous even, but he didn’t know how else to proceed. Holding on to anger had allowed him to return from the place of peace, but that path didn’t seem to lead any closer to the first adept. That left two options … and one of those involved dying.

Alexander sent his mind to the fortress island, deliberately attempting to penetrate the wards and allowing himself to be scattered across the firmament.
Instinctively, almost reflexively, a small but essential part of his psyche retreated to the place of the witness. Rather than begin the process of reassembling himself, he just watched. Bits and pieces began to drift out of his awareness, pieces of himself seemed to be slipping away. Still he watched.

Isabel came into his mind and then she too began to fade from thought. A surge of panic overcame him and he began to struggle to get himself back, casting his mind across the ocean of creation and grasping desperately for the parts of himself that had been lost. For what seemed like a long time, he stru
ggled to reassemble his identity, pulling pieces back to himself as he found them, but he still didn’t feel complete. Parts were missing. He could tell they were gone by the holes their absence left in his memories and his sense of self.

After stretching out across the whole of creation with his mind, he began to search beneath the surface of the firmament, reasoning that the lost parts of himself had to go somewhere. When he found the first fragment and drew it back to himself
, he felt a surge of hope and began to search in earnest, finding more missing pieces sinking toward the formless depths. Bit by bit, he reassembled his mind, feeling more than a little frightened of the consequences of failure. He could only imagine the outcome if he allowed parts of himself to fade away into undifferentiated source.

It was entirely possible that he could lose memories, skills, personality traits
, even feelings for those he loved. As much as the depths of the firmament called to him with the promise of peace and tranquility, they had become a threat to his very identity, a danger to his unique existence.

Fully himself again, he floated on the
surface of the firmament, considering the outcome of his experiment. Both of his last two attempts had resulted in a panicked retreat. Both had threatened to claim his sense of self. Both had failed to bring him even one step closer to Siduri.