Chains of magic a progre.., p.15
Chains of Magic: A Progression Fantasy Epic (Restriction Book 3), page 15
Learning as much as he could. And since the headmaster had mentioned that the runes were the most important feature for what their people did to defend against Rusav, Torian found that maybe that was what he needed to be doing as well.
They spent much of the evening wandering the city. And it was late, getting dark, when some of the streetlights were beginning to flicker on when Torian found additional evidence for Astrid on a stone not all that far from the entrance to the Viper’s prison.
He motioned for Sarah to crouch down; they used a lantern beam pattern to illuminate the pattern, and as he crouched down, he noticed that there was an aspect to this one that felt a bit different than some of the others that he had seen. He traced his fingers along the surface, feeling for some sense of energy within it, but even as he did, he could not find the technique that she had used. It wasn’t nearly as complicated, nor as layered, as some of the other patterns that he and Sarah had been finding around the city, but there was still an aspect to it that he didn’t recognize.
“Do you recognize anything about it? Not just traditionally, but with your other ability?”
Torian studied it and then shook his head. “No. And I think we need somebody who is far more capable than I am.” Sarah arched a brow. “Unfortunately, I think we need to get the headmaster involved.”
Chapter 16
Plan for a Predator
Daylight made the runic markers look a lot different. For one, Torian could see the skill that had gone into it. It was situated on one of the cobblestones in the middle of the street, and he was left with questions as to how he had even detected it in the first place. Maybe there was some part of his valsahir connection that had alerted him, though Torian did not think that was the case. If it had been, he would’ve expected that he would’ve felt something, rather than just see something. Instead, he had been made aware of its presence, but he didn’t know what it was.
“How did you detect this, Mr. Ranth?”
The headmaster was crouched down in front of it. She had a strange slender piece of wood in hand that she was creating a swirling pattern around the runic marker with. It occurred to Torian that she was using another type of runic marker and possibly placing additional power into it as she traced it around the one that Torian suspected was Astrid’s work. The headmaster was dressed in her formal robes of office. The brightly colored red and gold seemed to glitter in the sunlight and was ostentatious enough that Torian thought that it was a mistake that she had come out into the city wearing it, but realized soon enough that it was not at all an issue, as people of the city seemed to recognize the position, and scattered before her.
“I don’t even know how I detected it,” Torian said. “I noticed it when we were wandering the city.”
“Were you looking for it?”
“Well, I think we were at first. We found a couple inside the university—”
“You did?”
Torian realized that he hadn’t shared that with her, and maybe that was a mistake. “I only found two. One was on a wall, and I wasn’t even sure what to make of it, and another was in Professor Thomas’s office. I realize that we should’ve said something to you before.”
“Yes. Especially given that we know that this young lady—if she is responsible for this—has been working with the Viper.”
“I know,” Torian said. “We searched the rest of the university, but we didn’t find anything on the walls there, though it’s possible that there was something buried, and we didn’t detect it.”
She paused, tapping the slender piece of wood in her hand as she locked eyes with him. Her deep green eyes seemed to be weighing him heavily. She completely ignored Sarah standing behind Torian.
“You were using your gifts?”
“I was trying,” Torian said. “At the same time, I also was aware that I didn’t want to activate anything that might potentially cause any danger. That’s why we brought you here because if there is anything dangerous here, I didn’t want it to explode.”
“I heavily doubt this will explode,” the headmaster said, turning her attention back to the runic marker and tapping the mood slender piece of wood in her hand, “but you did well bringing it to my attention. It gives us an opportunity to determine the purpose of it.”
“You don’t think the purpose is to weaken any protections we have around the Viper?”
The headmaster tapped the item on the ground, and there was a flicker of light. The ground trembled slightly, and a bit of wind stirred. Torian couldn’t be sure, but he thought that each of the other aspects of the Saith power flowed from the slender piece of wood as she tapped it on the runic marker.
“I don’t know. It is entirely possible that she is trying to weaken the protections that we have placed around him, but it would be difficult. She may be valsahir, but if she is a potent valsahir, she would’ve already been identified.”
“Maybe, but the trees—”
“The trees are there for your protection as well as ours,” she said.
“I understand,” Torian said, shaking his head. He had argued with her about that in the past, telling her that the trees limited him in some ways, but she had felt as if that was less of a problem, especially with the Viper in the city. And more than that, given that Rusav may return, she had wanted to have that defense mechanism in place because there remained a distinct possibility that Rusav might send more valsahir to the city to try to free the Viper. Torian couldn’t even deny that the protection that the trees offered was successful, as he had certainly felt that success and had felt the way that power worked, as it prevented him from drawing on the full strength of power. And maybe that was what she was getting at. Because they limited him, he did not release too much of his valsahir connection. And, if he wasn’t mistaken, he was getting stronger because of it. It might be the same thing happening to the Viper and to any other valsahir out there, but they didn’t have the opportunity to use their valsahir power against the resistance the trees formed. “It’s just that it is difficult for me to use it to my full extent.”
“We don’t want you to use it to your full extent,” the headmaster said, dismissing him and turning her attention back to the runic marker. “At least not until you have a measure of control. You are doing well. And this…” She tapped on it again. “This is not anything that I can easily identify.”
“I thought that you said that our knowledge and ability with runes was greater than that of Rusav.”
“It is,” she said, shaking her head as she tapped the rod on the runic marker again, “but there are variant forms that others have developed that have their own reflection of power with them as well. That is what I suspect that we have found here. Now, if you don’t mind, give me an opportunity to test this a little bit more.”
Torian backed away, and as he did, he focused on what she was doing, testing whether there was anything that he might be able to determine. He leaned over to Sarah. “Can you detect anything?”
“This really isn’t my area of expertise,” Sarah said. “I’m just happy that the headmaster allows me to be here.”
“Why wouldn’t she?”
“Well, because I’m not you.”
“But you’ve been a part of this.”
Sarah shook her head again. “I’ve only been a part of it because you brought me in. And I think she knows that, but I don’t really offer anything special.”
“What do you mean?”
Sarah shook her head again. “It’s nothing. I’m not trying to make you feel bad about anything. It’s just that I realize that I don’t have anything particular to offer. Oh, I have some talent with patterns, and I am progressing quite well with them, but seeing you with runic markers, seeing you with how much power you have, and how short a time that you have been working with it tells me that…” She shrugged. “It tells me that I can’t do anything.”
Torian wanted to argue with her, and he wanted to reassure her that there were many things that she could do, but he didn’t have an opportunity. The headmaster began to trace another pattern on the ground, and there was a bubbling of energy that seemed to build as she did so, tracing around the runic marker in such a way that he could feel what it was that she was doing, even if he wasn’t entirely sure what she did.
“It is secured,” the headmaster said, glancing over to him. “At least, as secure as I can make it for now. It is no longer going to run the risk of communicating with any of the others. Then again, there is the possibility that we will only alert her of our awareness of what she has done, and it might reveal to her what we are able to do to counter it. I think I will have to help search for more.” The headmaster straightened, and she tapped her slender length of wood again on her hand, watching him as she did. “Tell me what this pattern does.”
“I don’t know,” Torian said.
“Do you have any ideas about what it might do?”
Torian shook his head. “I can’t tell without having a chance to test it, and I wasn’t willing to test it because I didn’t know if I would be releasing anything that might be dangerous. I have no idea what Astrid might use these for. And,” he glanced over to Sarah, “it’s possible these aren’t new. As far as we know, she placed these when she was using the other creatures to try to summon them toward the prison.”
“Very good, Mr. Ranth.”
“Wait. That’s what you think, as well?”
“I don’t know. They don’t seem to be active, and from what I can tell, they merely seem to serve as a bit of a beacon. Something like that strikes me as more likely than not that there would not be anything dangerous in them that we have to fear. If it was a beacon, then it’s possible that the beacon is not active.”
“Or we can’t detect it,” Torian said.
“That is another possibility. So I’m going to challenge you, Mr. Ranth, to spend some time with the Viper and see what he might share with you.”
“I haven’t really been able to get anything out of him,” Torian said. “I don’t think that he wants to teach.”
“Oh, I’m quite certain that he doesn’t want to teach, but you can learn lessons in plenty of different ways. You may have to take a different risk than what you are willing to do. And I can’t make you take that risk, only encourage you. But I do believe that you want to learn as much as you can about your talent. He is a dangerous man. Dangerous men tend to respond only in certain ways.”
“I have to go without Professor Order,” Torian said.
The headmaster nodded and flicked her gaze to Sarah. “Perhaps you shouldn’t go alone, though.”
“You want Sarah to come?”
“Wait, you want me to come?” Sarah asked, seemingly realizing what was going on.
“The Viper is a predator. Predators need to see weakness. And while I do believe that Mr. Ranth is inexperienced, and that is something that I suspect the Viper identified early on, he also did not demonstrate weakness when he confronted him. This isn’t an insult, Ms. Farin. In fact, this is something of a complement to your skills. You are talented. But you are not known to the Viper. And I think that you can play up the weakness.”
“So you want me to… act?”
“Will it be an act?” The headmaster tapped the length of wood in her hand again, watching Sarah for a long moment. “Or do you actually fear him?”
“I fear him,” she said. “Considering what happened in the city and what happened to the people here, why wouldn’t I fear him?”
“Why, indeed? Yes. I think that you can tap into that emotion. Remember what happened here, and remember what he and others like him did. Do you remember what it was like when you saw your instructors falling?”
Sarah’s face paled.
“Do you remember what it was like when you saw other students falling?”
She nodded, little more than a twitch of her head.
“That’s enough,” Torian said.
“Those are the emotions I want her to tap into when she goes with you, Mr. Ranth. She needs to fear, and she needs to feel that fear. And we need to let the Viper believe that she does. But knowing Ms. Farin, I also know that she’s not going to be as afraid as what she may let on. She’s strong.”
“I’m still afraid,” Sarah said.
“Good. We should all be afraid of what would happen if the Viper succeeds. Or if his student succeeds. I will continue to search the city, looking for more of these markers. You did well finding them and bringing them to my attention, however delayed that might be. I need you two to identify anything more that we need to be concerned about with the Viper and get information from him. Useful information.”
She started away, and then she paused, turning back.
“And I need you to find me in my office, Mr. Ranth, as we need to continue that project that we spoke about.”
Then she strode away.
Every so often, the headmaster would pause and look at the runes on the ground and then move on. At one point, she paused but did not move on and waved her device along the ground as if testing for something.
Torian looked down at the runic marker that she had sealed off.
“I don’t like this,” Sarah said.
“We aren’t going to let them out,” he said. “Besides, I think she’s right, but not for the reasons that she does.”
“What?”
“Well, you made a comment about how you felt like you weren’t useful, but I know that’s not true. And you have a talent that I don’t have. I’ve seen it time and again throughout the university, with the people of the caravan that I traveled with, and especially with me when I first came here.” Sarah looked at him, holding his gaze. “You have a way of connecting to people. The Viper may not know it, but you’re going to get through to him. You’re going to convince him to share with us what we need to know, and I suspect that you’re going to convince him to teach me.”
“And what if he doesn’t?”
“Then we had better hope that we find Astrid before she does whatever it is that she intends to do. And we had better hope that Rusav doesn’t try to attack again.”
The problem that Torian had was that he remained convinced that Rusav would attack.
And given everything that he’d been hearing, it was probably going to be soon. Once they did, everything that he had come to know would be in far more danger. They needed to use whatever resource they had to mitigate that and prevent them from getting to them and destroying them.
Torian’s own experience was enough to know the truth of what Rusav would do. Rusav had moved into his town, destroyed it before anybody had been any wiser as to what they were doing. The only ones that had seemed to know were the wolves, and maybe that was the key now.
He really had to learn how to speak to the wolves because he did not want to be surprised by another Rusav attack. He wanted to have a warning, be ready, and ensure that he did not get caught unaware again.
“When do you want to go?”
“How about we go tomorrow?” Torian asked. “I was going to suggest today, but I think you’re going to need to have some time to prepare yourself for it.”
“Don’t you need to?”
“I did. The first time. This time won’t be any easier, but at least I know that he’s not getting out.”
“Unless somebody comes to rescue him.”
“Unless they do,” he agreed.
Chapter 17
An Act
Torian looked over to Sarah as they approached the stairs inside the prison building. The air seemed to hang with their anticipation, and Torian felt a bit of unease that worked through him. An unease that had lingered far longer than when he had come down here with Professor Order. He focused on that heavy weight inside of him. In this part of the city, confined as he was to the part of Corsalt surrounded by the colansar tree, Torian no longer had any clear idea about how much pressure was pushing against him, and how much of it was something that he had to overpower.
“Are you sure that we shouldn’t have one of the professors coming down with us?” Sarah asked, her voice little more than a whisper. She had her hands pressed together; Torian couldn’t tell what pattern she favored, though he suspected that she was drawing on one of the different Saith patterns to try to summon enough power to ensure that she was not going to get into danger. “I don’t like the idea of doing this when we don’t exactly know what he might do to us.”
“He can’t do anything to us,” Torian said. “Once you see the way that he’s imprisoned, you will—”
“He managed to escape before.”
“He managed to escape, but he did so because he had somebody on the outside who was working to get him free. There’s been no evidence that person is there, and…”
He didn’t need to go on. There was nothing that he needed to say about Astrid or what she had done, nor about how she had managed to evade them while likely still hiding out somewhere in the city—and possibly even within the university itself. Torian didn’t think that she was there, but again, he simply did not know. There was a very real possibility that Astrid had been hiding from them in a way that permitted her to cause danger here.
“Torian,” Sarah said, glancing in his direction, “there has been evidence of her. She might not have managed to get down here. Yet. But what happens if she has access to more of those creatures?”
He wanted to reassure her that was unlikely, but he knew better. “We just be careful. This is an opportunity for us both to learn something.”
They paused in the stairway, heading down deeper. Torian hesitated to go too fast, not wanting them to push themselves too hard deeper into the depths of the prison area—partly because he had no idea what they might encounter. He remained concerned about it.
