Balancer (Advent Mage Cycle) (17 page)

The smell of must permeated the lower level, and while not particularly unpleasant, it was present in every inhale I took. The walls on either side were smooth stone, closely fit together so smoothly that my hand could barely feel the difference between one brick and another. We passed several doors and other hallways as we descended, and we changed staircases several times until we reached the fifth level. Then we just went down the same spirally stairs. As we descended the winding staircase I kept an eye on Raile, ready to catch him at a moment’s notice. His every step took a conscious effort with a pronounced caution on his part. It was clear that the trip down was not easy on him.

At first I thought that our guide was being solicitous of Raile’s age as well. He went very slowly, glancing back over his shoulder frequently. But the more we descended into the cloying darkness, the slower he went. Even Raile had to slow his pace, and he finally looked up with a slight frown.

“Is something wrong, young man?”

“Sir, I strongly suggest we don’t go down there,” Robles’ voice broke with an unmistakable catch of nervousness in it. “
That
was locked down there, many years ago, long before I was born.”

The emphasis he put on the word was unmistakable. “That?” I repeated, more curious than alarmed.

He half-turned, the white of his eyes wide in the lantern’s light. His voice fell to a hushed conspiratorial tone, as if he feared it might hear him. “Right after the war, there was a large weapon of unspeakable magical power brought here in the dead of night, and sealed away for all time. Good Masters, it is not wise to—”

Raile stopped dead in his tracks, his frame shaking slightly. I became alarmed for a split second until I realized that the low, rusty sound emanating from him was laughter. In fact, he was laughing so hard that he was quite out of breath, and had to prop himself up against the wall to keep from toppling over. “Is that what you think it is?” he finally demanded, trying to regain some of his breath. “They buried some sort of secret, powerful weapon here?”

Wait,
that
was the all-powerful weapon the Star Order planned to release on us? It seemed to fit all of the criteria: pre-war, hidden, weapon of massive destruction. I had no way of knowing if this was the exact one the boy meant, but I was willing to bet on it. He’d probably heard the story from someone who worked here, made some assumptions, as they obviously had, and thought that only the Star Order could create something powerful like this, so obviously they’d use it when the time was right.

It was a relief to my mind that while the bluff had an element of truth to it, it apparently remained a bluff.

Still…a weapon? I smiled at the sheer absurdity of it; what does a magician need with a weapon? His mind and his training are his weapons. “It does rather make sense,” I noted to Raile, my head full of the mental picture that my imagination was churning out at top speed. “I’ll bet you that some half-awake young librarian saw strange people lugging in large objects, or lots of small objects, under the cover of night—”

The startled jerk, and surprised expression on Robles’s face, was confirmation enough that I had hit the mark pretty close.

“—and put some massive seal on it to keep it from being disturbed by anyone. When he didn’t hear anything about it again, even a hushed whisper, he assumed it was something dangerous, perhaps a secret weapon,” I finished dryly. “Over the years, his wild assumption transformed itself into a legend that has taken on a life of its own, growing with each passing generation.”

Raile shook his head in exasperation. “I suppose it’s just as well. In their ignorance they might have cracked the seal and destroyed everything inside otherwise.” He pointed an authoritative finger at Robles, with an unmistakable command in his voice. “Keep moving.”

Robles nodded reluctantly, turned to face his doom, and resumed our downward journey.

“Was he that far off?” I said aloud, a little rhetorically, as I trudged along in Raile’s wake. “Knowledge
is
power, after all. Considering how much information is in there, in the wrong hands it could have been a very lethal weapon. Just look at the triangle devices that the Star Order Priests stumbled across to locate emerging magicians. Think about the untold misery and death that one piece of magically enhanced hardware was responsible for!”

Raile nodded sadly in agreement. “But it takes
application
,” Raile pointed out with conviction. “No ignorant slob from the Star Order can just waltz in and flip a switch to unleash mass destruction.”

Fortune had favored us in that small mercy. “No ignorant slob could even get past the seal, for that matter,” I drawled. “I’m not entirely sure if
I
can get past the seal.”

“You’re a Mage, Garth.” Raile observed calmly. “I fully expected you to be lousy at seals. That’s why I came along for the ride; I am a savant when it comes to picking seals! When I was young, the best way to attract my attention was to put a seal on something. If something was sealed, it was a foregone conclusion that I would eventually be trying to open it. The more challenging the seal, the better I liked it.” Raile grinned with dreamy eyes.

Oh. Well at least there was a plan, and he had been thinking ahead. I didn’t have to worry about the seal? Excellent! After all, the last time I had tried to crack an ancient seal, I was completely stymied. Eventually I’d just let Night do all the work, shattering the edges of the seal with his Breaker abilities until it’d lost cohesion with the surrounding cave walls and collapsed. Without Raile here, if I had failed to break the seal, I’d have had to go all the way back to Coven Ordan and get Night. Considering the winding, twisting nature of these stairs, and the dark spooky passageways, Raile was the clear choice to successfully deal with the ancient seal.

We finally reached the lowest basement level. It resembled every other level we’d passed previously in that it had smooth grey stone, with modest dimensions for the hallway and doors. Even the doors looked unremarkable—just plain wood that wouldn’t be out of place for a storeroom. If someone had asked me to pick out any particular door as the one leading to a fabulous treasure, I wouldn’t have been able to point to one with any confidence. Robles pointed ahead fearfully, while unconsciously edging back up the staircase. “It’s the fourth door on the left.”

I gave him a sad knowing look. Apparently the young man was still convinced that a dangerous weapon of monstrous proportions was locked up down here, no matter what we said to the contrary. Well, it didn’t matter. I didn’t stop him as he scurried back up the stairs, with a swiftness that any seasoned distance runner would envy. Raile moved ahead of me into the enveloping darkness, pulling a wand from an inside pocket in his coat. I couldn’t clearly hear the words of the spell he was muttering, but I could certainly feel the effects. The seal around the door was definitely unraveling, slowly dropping in orderly bands on the dusty floor. And then I felt it shiver and freeze in place. Raile smirked in challenge and began muttering faster, wand waving sharply through the air. Twice more the seal did this, each time Raile rising to the occasion until he gave a final sharp command and the seal shuddered, completely dissipating and disappearing. Raile lowered his wand, breathing a little harder than normal.

“Are you alright?” Working magic was…well, just that, work. It took physical effort. For someone of his amazing age, even simple magic could require some concentrated sustained effort. Undoing and removing that ancient seal of unknown origin, a seal that had withstood the test of time, was far from simple.

“Fine. It was a mite tougher than I had counted on. Still, it feels good to have a challenge, from time to time.” He put his wand away with a flourish, and opened the door.

The hinges of the door complained loudly at being pressed into service after so long, in this dark dusty realm. I followed right on his heels, taking in the sights over his shoulder. I had expected it to be similar to the library trove hidden in the cave. It wasn’t. The room was the size of an enormous warehouse, and filled to the rafters, with no clear space to walk inside anywhere. It made the cave look like an assortment of leftovers and afterthoughts, in a small storage bin.

“Raile,” I had to clear my throat before I could continue, not daring to ask the next question. “Is there an enlarging spell on this room?”

“Yes,” he confirmed, eyes glued on the sight before him. “Can’t you tell?”

“Too many magical items crammed in here next to each other,” I said absently. “It’s skewing my senses and throwing me for a loop.”

For a long moment, we just looked all around us in awed and profound silence.

“How
did
they get it all in here?” Raile wondered aloud.

“I have no idea. They probably just kept expanding the spell, and stacking stuff up. At some point they finally ran out of stuff, and they backed their way out of the door and sealed it,” I speculated. “My main concern is how are we supposed to get everything
out?
”

Raile gave me a very patient, all knowing, and long suffering look. “There’s earth under our feet, isn’t there? The size shouldn’t make any difference to you, just wrap it up and take it down!”

Apparently it was to be my high honor to transport this staggering quantity of magical artifacts. So many of the relics deposited here were unfamiliar, and extremely dissimilar. I couldn’t even hazard a guess at the function of a fraction of them. “Wait, I know!” I paused in mock realization. “That’s why you brought me along, you’re the brains and I am the brawn!”

“You’re quick, you are really, really quick,” Raile approved with a gamine grin.

“Where do you want me to take it?” I intoned, in total resignation to my fate.

Raile positively glowed with that evil little smile of his. He must have honed it to its highest form of expression, over his long years. “We simply don’t have enough room at Coven Ordan for investigating anything near this size or complexity. The next best choice would be the Sojavel Ra Institute in Hain. I understand that you have a close contact there, who partnered with you on your early missions. It would be a perfect project to present your good friend, a Wizard Kartal, I believe.”

I started drawing on the unthinkable quantity of power I would require to wrap up this seemingly infinite load. I had a grin on my own face that couldn’t have been erased. I just kept imagining surfacing with this massive collection of puzzles rolled into enigmas near the Sojavel Ra Institute grounds. I was certain when the enlarging spell released the contents would dwarf the entire Institute itself.

Chapter
Twelve: Sigils

When I emerged out of the earth on the open plain east of the Institute, Kartal was waiting with baited breath. I had cued him up to my imminent arrival, contacting him on my mirror broach. Kartal was practically drooling down the front of his immaculate black robes; he couldn’t decide which area to attack first. I handed it all over with a twinkle in my eye, keeping my private joke about this particular acquisition close to my chest. “Here’s a part of what you asked me for, but it comes with a price. There is something in this cache I want, and I expect you to find it for me. Quickly!”

Tearing his gaze away from the mind numbing collection of pre-war magical artifacts, he arched a sardonic eyebrow at me. “Indeed.”

“According to Raile, there was once a contract made between certain humans and the Gardeners—” I had a flash of petty amusement when Kartal’s jaw dropped in amazement “—which gave them the ability to sense
everything
around them. They were called Legends, supposedly because they were like a living map, and aware of all of the features in any given area. Somewhere, buried in that mountain of crystals and books, is the instructions on how a contract was created, and what was required to become a Legend. I want those instructions, Kartal, and I want them yesterday.”

“To help resolve the issue with the renegade Star Order Priests?” he asked hoarsely, eyes spinning a little out of focus with what I was telling him.

“That and to help find the emerging magicians that are still appearing in Chahir. If Legends can become a reality again, they can take over our insane workload. That will free me up for other assignments, perhaps closer to home.” That would be really nice. I was definitely saddle sore and tired of riding all over creation and back again. Our mission had been so vitally important, and time sensitive, that slowing the pace a little had a definite appeal to me. Besides, with my upcoming marriage to Chatta looming on the not-so-distant horizon, I’d like to actually be
home
once in a while and spend some quality time with my new bride.

“I’ll make it my top priority to find it,” he promised me, no hint of guile in his face.

I eyed this helpful Kartal warily; this was completely out of character for him to consider anyone but himself. “You’re being rather agreeable.”

“Of course I am,” he retorted in more Kartal-like tone of exasperation and superiority. “If this mission doesn’t get resolved soon, then I will most likely get dragged into it as well. I’d rather not be out tramping all over the wilds of Chahir, thank you very much.”

I just
knew
there’d been an ulterior, self-serving motive lurking in there somewhere. “I see. In that case, I’ll be going.”

~*~

Early afternoon saw me almost to the Chahir-Hain border when the mirror broach in my pocket started talking. My first reaction was panic—they knew I was already on the way back, so if they were contacting me while I was still on the earth path, it meant that something serious had happened. I yanked the mirror out of my pocket with lightning speed. “What? What’s wrong?”

“
It’s not that bad,”
Chatta answered in soothing tones. “
Well, not for us, anyway. A tidal wave hit Movac, in Echols Province. Apparently quite a bit of damage was done to the shoreline and the waterfront. Vonlorisen wants you to go over there and see how much reconstruction you can do.”