Mages path 3, p.22
Mage's Path 3, page 22
He redirected the energy straight into the ice spell and just used mana from his pool to top it up—the best approach when he had access to external sources of energy.
“Not far now!” he called to the mage and stepped out onto the thick bridge of ice that he’d created with his magic.
“Release me!” the gold-masked mage demanded in a hoarse voice.
“Not as reticent as your companions, are you?” Jack asked as he approached. The gold-masked mage was completely immobilized, both hands encased in blocks of magical ice. The ice was so heavy that it not only stopped him from casting spells—it stopped him from moving at all.
“Pah,” the gold mask spat, “they were nothing more than minions. I am the real mage. I am the one with the real power.”
Jack approached the boat and raised one eyebrow. “That power doesn’t seem to be helping you an awful lot at the moment,” he said, eyeing the blocks of ice.
The mage was at the back of the boat, leaning down where the ice blocks weighed him down. At the front of the boat, smoldering wood was pushed against the lava flow that blocked the exit.
“I think we have a couple of options here,” Jack said. “You’re our prisoner now. Either you can come with us quietly, or we can bind you and carry you along as baggage. One way will be uncomfortable for you, the other less so. The choice is yours.”
The mage seemed hesitant. Jack reached out toward him with his magical awareness, seeking the source of the magic.
As I thought, he said to himself. This mage’s power is focused in his mask.
“Hold still,” Jack said.
“I don’t have much choice,” the mage said acerbically.
Jack chuckled. “That’s true enough.”
With a swift movement, he reached out and grabbed the edge of the golden mask.
“No!” cried the mage. He writhed away, but it was too late. Without his mask, the mage’s face was long and thin, with dark, drooping moustaches flecked with gray. His eyes were as black as night, and they flashed with malice.
“You have unmasked me,” he growled, “but you know not what you have done. You have robbed yourself of a prisoner. Farewell, false Aetherborn! May your fate be accursed and your path lead you nowhere but to death!”
With those words, the mage’s eyes rolled back in his head and his face changed. The cheeks wrinkled, the hair whitened, and then the whole face disintegrated into a cloud of black dust that changed to smoke.
Jack stepped back, horrified, as the mage’s robes sank to the ground and black smoke drifted up from them. The gold mask, however, remained solid in his hand, and the robes lay in the boat, solid and unchanged.
“What kind of magic is this?” Melinda asked, her voice quiet.
“I’ve never seen anything like it before, but in some way that mage’s life force was bound to his golden mask. The others were minions, like he said, probably copies of him, created in a similar way to the way that I summon monsters to fight for me. He was the master and the creator of the copies.”
“I meant to say,” Melinda added when Jack paused, “the robes of the other ones in the chamber all disintegrated to gray dust. There’s nothing left of them at all.”
Jack nodded. “That sounds right. It’s almost like dungeon magic, but different. As if the forces of Nightvale have tried to create a magic that mimics dungeon magic.”
He looked down at the heavy golden mask in his hand. “At least this hasn’t disintegrated,” he said. “We can take it back to Lachlan and get his opinion.”
“That’s what you want to do next? To go back to the Shadow Tower and see Lachlan?”
“I think so. We need to regroup and think things through. And Hannah Dwimmer will want to come back to Nightvale with us.”
Melinda nodded.
Jack sighed. “I wish we could have got some more information about this guy and his minions. For all this fighting, we’re not that much further on than we were… but what’s this?”
He leaned down. Something had caught his eye, something gleaming silver, caught in the folds of the gold-masked mage’s discarded black robes. He reached out and snagged it with a finger, drawing it out from among the black folds of thick cloth.
It was a long, curiously-shaped key.
The key was made of pure silver, but it had bands of red crystal inlaid into the shaft. The teeth of the key were shaped into an intricately-patterned curving tracery, beautiful to look at.
“This is the work of a master smith,” Jack said quietly. “I wonder what it does? Why did this mage have it?”
Melinda looked thoughtful for a moment.
“That red block with all the gears,” she said. “In the main chamber. That key looks like it might have something to do with that, don’t you think?”
Jack’s eyebrows shot up his forehead. He looked again at the key. “Hey, you might be right!” he said. “The red crystals placed in the silver shaft of the key do have a similar look to them. Come on, let’s go check!”
Jack stopped only long enough to put out the smoldering fire at the end of the boat. For the moment, he stowed the golden mask of the mage in his pack and then grabbed the gunwale of the little boat. It was awkward, but he was able to drag it back to the shore, walking along the ice bridge he’d created.
“I want to have a closer look at this boat and the mage’s robes before we leave here,” he said, “but for now let’s investigate the portal machine.”
He left the lava flow that blocked the entrance in place, then he and Melinda headed back to the chamber, Jack with the strange silver key held carefully in his hand.
They got to the chamber and Jack looked around. As Melinda had said, there was no trace of the black robes or gold masks of the mages they had fought. Jack frowned.
“I find it troubling,” he admitted to Melinda. “The mages of Nightvale are creating magic that mimics the dungeon magic of the Aetherborn. I feel that there’s something going on here, some attempt to usurp my role as Aetherborn.”
“You think the Devourer was a part of that?”
“It seems logical, doesn’t it? If—for whatever reason we don’t understand—the king and the mages of Nightvale want to stop me from fulfilling my destiny as the Aetherborn, then they need to stop me from reactivating the dungeons and the portals. So, it makes sense to create a creature that can destroy dungeons, even as I can bring them to life. And, of course, the Devourer could destroy me, as well.”
Melinda shuddered.
They stood in front of the red block, watching the cogs whir within. At first, there was no sign of anywhere to put a key in, and Melinda began to think she had been wrong.
“Perhaps there’s no connection between that key and this machine,” she said.
Jack shook his head. “That can’t be right. Look, these crystals are definitely made of the same stuff. They’re the same color and everything. No, there’s some connection, we just haven’t found it yet.”
Systematically, Jack looked at every surface of the crystal. Then he took the key and began to touch the runes on each face of the square with it. This yielded results. When he touched the face that was nearest the outer wall of the chamber, there was a loud, sharp click and a little piece of red crystal flaked away from the surface, leaving an opening that was exactly the right size for the key!
Melinda smiled. “Easy enough when you know how,” she said.
Jack laughed and waved the key in the air. “Shall we?”
She nodded. “Do it. Being in the chamber when the portal was activated earlier gave us a bit of a shock, but I don’t imagine using the key will be anything like as difficult. Go on, let’s see what happens.”
Jack slipped the key into the opening.
It clicked into place with a satisfying sound, and the red band of crystal on its silver shaft glowed brightly for a moment. Then a ripple of light shone out from the crystal block in answer, and Jack felt something coming from the machinery inside.
“There’s some kind of… of message coming from the crystal. Do you feel it?”
“No,” Melinda replied, frowning. “Not exactly. I feel something, but it’s not directed at me. It must be because you have the key.”
“I’m going to open myself to it,” Jack said.
Warily, he accepted the communication coming from the crystal. To his surprise, as soon as he opened himself to it, the message reached out to him. “It requires something from me,” he muttered.
Letting instinct guide him, he reached a bit of mana from his own pool out toward the message from the crystal.
Something clicked, and Jack heard Melinda’s gasp of surprise.
“Look at that!” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like it!”
Jack blinked, coming back to his physical senses. He followed Melinda’s gaze, and laughed aloud. “Wow!” he said. “I’ve never seen anything quite like it either!”
Suspended above the surface of the crystal, hanging there an inch or so above its upper face, there were words.
“It looks as if the words are made of… solid light,” Jack said.
“It’s so strange,” Melinda agreed, looking at the words from different angles.
Jack leaned closer and read the words aloud.
Key status: Unique
Portal status: Open to all users (both directions)
Portal option: Lock to key holder (both directions)
Portal option: Disable portal (temporary)
Portal option: Disable portal (permanent)
Portal option: Self-Destruct portal (warning: blast radius)
“This is fascinating!” Jack said. “I’m getting some understanding from my mana connection with the machine. To activate each option all I need to do is touch it with this mana connection activated.”
“Lock to key…” Melinda said.
“My thoughts exactly,” Jack said. “The portal is currently set to allow anybody to travel through to Nightvale. But the Devourer has gone through and warned them that we’ve discovered the portal. So, this mage was sent through with the key to change the status, locking the portal or possibly disabling it completely.”
“Well, maybe we can save him the trouble, now that he’s no longer around to fulfil his mission,” Melinda laughed.
“I have to agree,” Jack smiled. “The only difference being that we will be the ones hanging on to the key!”
Jack kept his mana flowing to the connection with the strange magical machine, and carefully tapped the Portal option: Lock to key (both directions) option with one finger. Immediately the text rippled, as if it were underwater. When it clarified again after a moment, it had changed.
Key status: Unique
Portal status: Locked to key holder (both directions)
Portal option: Unlock to all users (both directions)
“Genius!” Jack said in amazement. “This machine is great!”
Melinda frowned hard. “I don’t know,” she said. “It’s good, sure, but there’s something wrong about it. Something that strikes me wrong… it’s hard to explain.”
“What do you mean?” Jack asked.
“Look at it. What does it do? It creates a portal without the need for a dungeon in place. Like the gold-masked mage creating copies of himself to fight, or the Devourer consuming dungeons to eat their power rather than creating them and allying with them, like you do. It’s all… I don’t know what to call it. Anti-dungeon magic. Like you said, it’s magic that’s set up to replace dungeons, to make it so there’s no need for them in the world anymore. And I don’t know why, but I just don’t like it.”
Jack considered what she’d said. It made him see the machine in a whole new light.
“You’re right,” he said. “It’s clever, but it’s a way to use power that bypasses dungeons. We don’t know why Nightvale are so keen to have magic that doesn’t need dungeons, but whatever is going on there, it’s not good.”
He shrugged. “Well, at least we can be confident that nobody from Nightvale will be getting through this portal, not while we hold the key. Come on. Let’s get out of here and get back to Spark. Time is passing.”
He withdrew the key from the red crystal block and at the same time withdrew his mana connection from the machinery inside. The light glowed out again, and the golden wheels inside continued to turn serenely inside the machine. Then the light faded. Jack tucked the key into his pocket.
They had a quick look through what remained of the gold-masked mage’s robes, but the man seemed not to have been carrying anything except his mask and the key. Jack shrugged, drew the boat up onto the cave floor, and deactivated the spell blocking the exit. Then he led the way up the stairs.
“I’ve not been aware of Spark for a little while,” he said to Melinda. “Recently he’s been a steady presence in my mind, but I can’t find him just now.”
“I hope he’s not gone off and left us,” Melinda laughed. “That would put us in a bind!”
“I’m sure he won’t have done that,” Jack said with a chuckle. “But I’m interested to see what he is up to.”
It didn’t take them long to find out.
When they came out of the hatchway into the bright afternoon sun they found Spark sprawled out on the dry grass on the top of the rocky outcrop. He was fast asleep, and snoring, with little puffs of steam and flame drifting from his nostrils as he snored.
Seabirds flapped around him, some croaking and calling to each other in apparent confusion at the new arrival, others landing on his head and back and resting there contentedly, preening their feathers and looking out at the day.
“Lazybones,” Jack said with a smile, laying his hand on the dragon’s gleaming red flank. “I can tell through my connection with him—he’s been hunting fish, and has eaten his fill from a shoal while we were at work down below.”
“That’s understandable,” Melinda said. “He’s a big guy, and he needs his food!”
Spark opened one eye and it gleamed at them in agreement for a moment before he closed it again.
It was bright day now, and the sun felt warm despite the sea wind.
“Winter is finally past,” Jack said with a sigh and a smile.
Melinda slapped him on the back. “I’d say so!” she grinned. “Come on, let’s wake this lazy dragon and get on the move back home.”
Once they were airborne again, they skimmed across the surface of the waves under the blue sky. Jack was pleased with their progress so far, and he felt that after everything they had managed to achieve, getting through to Nightvale and winning the final showdown would not be too much of an ask.
He grinned. Don’t want to get too overconfident, he thought to himself. But it’s true, we’ve done well.
“Shall we head straight for the nearest portal?” Melinda asked him as they approached land.
“I can hunt the lands around here and wait for your return if you like,” Spark offered, speaking to Melinda and Jack through their minds. “Max is likely to be pleased if I stay away a little longer. She is busy with her young monsterlings…”
There was an undeniable note of pride in the dragon’s tone. Jack laughed.
“Very well, Spark,” he said. “But be careful not to get yourself into difficulties. Stay away from the populated areas to hunt. There will be rumors of dragons in this land already, and we don’t want the people of the region to think of you as a threat.”
“Farm animals do look tasty, though, and they are kept in such neat little pens, all ready for eating…”
“Spark!” Jack said in a warning voice, and the dragon chuckled.
“Don’t worry,” Spark said. “I’ll keep myself out of trouble.”
The nearest dungeon would have been the one where they’d fought the Devourer, but that was not an option since it had been destroyed. Instead, they traveled south of the road to where a small dungeon lay half-hidden in a woodland in the lee of a hill.
Spark set them down by the road.
“Goodbye for now,” Jack said to the dragon. “Look after yourself, and we’ll see you again soon.”
The big dragon bowed his head, then took off into the blue sky with a surge of his wings and a blast of magic. As he climbed, he let out a great trumpeting roar, belching flame into the bright sky out of pure pleasure in the day.
“He’s really come into himself now, hasn’t he?” Melinda said.
“He sure has,” Jack agreed. “I think Spark the dragon may well be the final evolution of Spark the lizard, but still, it feels like there’s more to discover. I don’t think the dragon has shown us all his secrets yet. Maybe he’s not even discovered them himself…”
The wood was quiet as they walked towards it. Melinda was thoughtful, and Jack kept quiet, letting her be.
Things had changed between them over these past few months. They had both grown as people, but they had also grown closer in their relationship. Living in such close proximity to each other had allowed them to see each other’s flaws and strengths in a new way. They had become accustomed to sleeping close together too.
Sometimes, Jack felt only a step away from being in love with her. Other times, he was content with their friendship and closeness, and valued her more as an ally and a comrade-in-arms than as anything else.
As for Melinda, she kept her feelings to herself. Jack thought sometimes that he saw her looking at him with a question in her eyes, but more often than not it simply seemed to him that she knew something he didn’t. She would look away with a knowing smile on her face if their eyes met in a quiet moment, and it was those times when Jack felt his heart turn over in his chest.
But we’ve a job to do, he thought. Fulfilling our destiny is the single most important thing here. Once that’s done, maybe we can think about… other things.
“Here we are,” he said aloud to Melinda as they approached the entrance to the dungeon. “Looks like there have been visitors even since we first came here.”
Sure enough, there were footprints around the entrance to the dungeon, and Jack had the strong impression that it was asleep after having consumed a significant amount of energy.
