Forging Divinity (35 page)

He grimaced. “For a bit, maybe. That’s considerably more difficult – and one of the few places your style of incanted sorcery works better than mine.” The admission seemed to pain him, but Lydia found it somewhat comforting.
At least he has one weakness I can keep in mind for if we ever work against each other.

“Well, as long as you can get me into the paths, I don’t think it’ll matter. If there are people lying in wait inside the paths, I can always tell them that the queen sent me. The people guarding the entrance to the paths will probably know who should be inside, but once I’m in the door, I should be fine,” Lydia decided.

He nodded. “All right. When do you want me to make us invisible? Now?”

She nodded. “If he’s already be in there a while, there’s no telling what kind of danger he might be in – regardless of whether or not it’s actually a trap.”

“Are you sure we’re adequately prepared for this?” Jonan asked. “If we have to fight Edon – or Myros – or both – how do we handle those contingencies?”

“From my talks with the queen and some of the other sorcerers, I think Edon had two primary power sources. One, I think he was somehow stealing power from the Rethri by manipulating their dominion bonds. Two, he’s figured out some way to tap into the sorcery that was used to make some of the most ancient artifacts – like the Heartlance and the Sae’kes.”

“Right,” Jonan replied. “And he presumably has at least one artifact other than the Heartlance already on-hand. Something tied the Dominion of Sound – maybe Myros’ armor, with all the runes on it?”

“That’s a good guess,” Lydia admitted. “Edon also wears a ring with a large crystal in it. That could be another artifact.”

“Hrm. Only ring I’m aware of that would qualify as an artifact is Hartigan’s Star, which has a red gemstone – but I suppose others could certainly exist. The gods made many weapons and jewels that have been lost over time, or so they say,” Jonan said, sounding contemplative.

“Well, at least some of the Rethri have been taken care of,” Lydia explained. “I should have said this before, but I’ve been away the last few days escorting some of the Rethri out of the city. On orders from the queen, no less. She’s taking overt actions against Edon right now, and I’m not clear on why – the timing can’t be coincidental. He sent a sorcerer to stop us, too, which means he’s aware that the queen is moving against him,” Lydia explained.

“The queen working against Edon should be reassuring me, but it’s really not,” he shook his head. His expression looked troubled.

“It gets worse, I’m afraid. The sorcerer who attacked us had far more dominions than he should have – as if he was using gifts of the gods.”

“Not all that surprising, actually,” Jonan replied.

Lydia quirked a brow.

“I read a bit further in that book,” Jonan explained. “Most of that research is on dominion bonds. He was trying to figure out new ways to both make and break them. He succeeded at breaking established bonds first, which is odd enough in itself.”

“I’ve heard that Lady Aayara has a way of stealing dominion bonds, but I’m sure you’d know more about that.” She gave him a pointed look.

Jonan winced. “Legends indicate that the Vae’kes in general have a way of stealing sorcery from others, yes. Obviously, the Lady of Thieves would be the most famous case, and I do suspect her abilities would extend to moving dominion bonds from someone to herself. That doesn’t sound precisely like what Edon was doing, however.”

Well, at least he doesn’t seem pleased to work for those monsters.

“How can you work for creatures like those? You don’t seem like the type of person who would approve of the way the Vae’kes behave. They just take things away from ordinary people – it’s direct opposite of what the gods are supposed to do,” Lydia said, realizing how harsh her words must have sounded after they came out.

He turned his gaze away from her, a sad look crossing his face. “The order teaches that the Vae’kes only use their power against criminals and threats to the world as a whole. Jacinth assassinates people who are too politically connected for the law to touch them. Aayara steals relics of power from despots and tyrants, turning them over to the Preserver.”

His tone softened, and he looked back to her. “Vaelien protects his people. His children are supposed to be an extension of that.”

“I note that you say ‘supposed to’,” she began, but his expression soured. “We can discuss this another time. Thank you for giving me some context on your side of things. What precisely do you think Edon was trying to do, if it’s not like how the Vae’kes work?”

“I don’t think he ever discovered a way to move a bond directly from one person to another. Rather, he was trying to break bonds on Rethri and replace them with different bonds – like changing a Rethri’s bond from flame to stone, for example. He would make attempt after attempt, and someone named Morella would gather information from his tests. She seems like she’s his partner in all this. I think she’s a former Paladin of Sytira.”

Lydia tilted her head to the side. “Morella? A Paladin of Sytira? Why do you say that?”

“There are references about them being together at ‘the citadel’. I think they grew up together, and when he was excommunicated, she went with him. From the notes, she seems to have types of sorcery that he doesn’t, so he needed her for his research.”

Knowledge and memory sorcery,
Lydia considered.
Both commonly practiced by paladins and priests of Sytira. I learned the former myself, but never the latter.

“And this research – you’re saying they succeeded?” Lydia asked absently, knowing she had already experienced the answer.

“It seems so. They managed to break bonds first, but wisely he didn’t include any details. After that, they struggled for years to try to fix bonds they had broken, and from there, I believe they found a way to make dominion bonds through some new method. A way that works on humans, not just Rethri,” he explained. “One of the people he seems to have managed to give new abilities to is a sorcerer named Veruden. That was the man you were sitting with at the arena, correct?”

Lydia nodded. “Yes...that might explain his bandages, actually.”

Jonan quirked a brow. “Bandages?”

“Veruden has been wearing bandages on his right hand for at least several days. He claimed it had something to do with trying to teleport the Sae’kes out of its scabbard, but I tried using sorcery on the sword myself, and I never triggered any sort of defenses.” She paused for a moment, considering.

“Taelien told me a while back that the only thing keeping the sword in the scabbard was his own metal sorcery. Maybe Veruden hadn’t figured out what was locking the sword in place, but he didn’t want anyone else experimenting with it, either.” She took a breath, adjusting her glasses. “We’ve been seeing unusual runes in several locations. All around the Esharen, on Myros’ armor, and possibly those markings around the eyes of the Rethri children. What if those are dominion marks, like the ones on the Sae’kes? They could be the mechanism by which Edon is giving new sorcery to humans – and Veruden’s marks are concealed beneath bandages.”

“Hmm,” Jonan muttered. “That sounds plausible, but dangerous. I studied reports on attempts to perform the Rethri dominion bonding ritual on humans several years back. The reports concluded that humans naturally excrete excess dominion essence. It’s a protective mechanism. If you saturate someone in the power of a particular dominion, they will excrete it as quickly as they can, until their body eventually just breaks down and dies.”

Lydia brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. “A localized mark might function differently. Since dominion marked items are so rare, I’ve never had a chance to study one for any length of time. It’s possible that a dominion mark can contain essence in a specific location, rather than spreading it across the entire body.”

“Well, that’s just fantastic.” Jonan scratched at the stubble on his chin, shaking his head. “In a worst case scenario, that means he could give any person – including himself – access to any or all dominions. We need to think about what might be restricting him, if anything, and any weaknesses this might provide.”

“Veruden’s bandages – or rather, the flesh beneath them – appeared to physically bother him. It’s possible that whatever procedure he uses to make the marks is uncomfortable or damaging.”

“The markings around the children’s eyes,” Jonan half-whispered. “They could have been burned on, like a brand.”

“Permanently damaging the skin does seem like it might be necessary for making a dominion mark. That might somewhat limit the rate at which Edon would apply these marks,” she noted.

“Good. What else? Resources, perhaps? He’d need planar essence for a specific dominion to make a mark, I assume,” Jonan noted.

“Maybe,” Lydia said uncertainly. “Or some sort of alternative power source.”

“Like the Rethri themselves. Or the artifacts he’s been gathering.”

Lydia nodded grimly. “Yes. And it’s also possible that the dominion saturation that you mentioned earlier could still happen, even with his new method. That might limit the number of marks he’d put on himself, at very least until he’s tested the process on others.”

“Well, that’s a slight comfort, at least. He also might be limited by his vocabulary,” Jonan mused.

“Vocabulary? What do you mean?”

“Maybe that’s the wrong word for it, but if those runes are dominion marks, they most likely correspond to specific spells or keys. He might need examples of them to make copies,” Jonan offered.

Lydia quirked her lips to the right, mentally debating that line of logic. “That implies that there’s something intrinsically linking the shape of the runes to some sort of function. As you’ve pointed out to me yourself, words have no real meaning for casting sorcery – they’re just a helpful tool. Why would these runes function differently?”

“That’s an excellent question, and one I don’t have a good answer to. Maybe it really is the language of the gods,” he offered.

“That doesn’t explain anything in itself. ‘Language of the gods’ doesn’t automatically mean ‘words cause specific effects’,” she noted out, pointing at him with a finger to add emphasis.

“Fair,” he raised his hands defensively. “I knew it was a bad argument, but I didn’t have – okay, better idea. Maybe it’s not the shape of the rune that matters, but maybe when the gods made the first dominion marked items, they always put specific spells in specific runes. If it was a language they could read, that could have had a useful function. Looking at an item, they could determine what the function of the object was, and maybe even how to activate it.”

“That would mean that in order to learn how to make more marks, he’d need to find existing items with the same marks – and learn how to copy their function,” Lydia considered aloud. “Yes, that would explain a great deal about his behavior – and why Veruden wanted to keep the rest of us away from the Sae’kes. He must have realized how valuable the runes on the blade would be for research.”

“All right, this is good information – but we still need to go figure out what’s happening with Taelien. If we’re right, they could be trying to take the sword away from him right now,” Jonan concluded.

“Right. Let’s go, then. We should try to avoid engaging Edon and anyone else with him in direct combat until we have a better idea of their exact capabilities. For now, I’m going to put a defensive spell on both of us, and we’ll try to focus on extracting Taelien and escaping to rendezvous with the queen. You’re going to have to wrap your invisibility around us, rather than targeting us directly, otherwise you’ll trigger my barrier like you did a while ago. Does that sound like a good plan?”

“Sure,” Jonan offered. “It sounds like a great plan. I’ll look forward to seeing how it falls apart.”

Lydia grinned. “You’re cheerful today. Ready to go?”

“As ready as I’m going to be,” he muttered.

“Dominion of Protection, fold against my skin and teach me the secrets of the dominions that assault you,” Lydia incanted, renewing her own Comprehensive Barrier first. The tingle that spread across her skin lasted longer than usual – a sign that she was exerting herself too much. Still, susceptibility to bruising and sickness was a pleasant alternative compared to the maiming and death that her barriers had prevented. Next, she extended her hand, and Jonan took it.

“Dominion of Protection, fold against his skin.”

Jonan’s skin shimmered briefly, and then he waved with his off-hand while Lydia grit her teeth at the lingering tingling sensation from her own spells. For a brief, disorienting moment, her own body disappeared – and then his – and then they both reappeared.

“All right, we’re invisible, but I’ve excluded the two of us from the effect. Keep holding my hand, it’s easier that way.”

She was mildly skeptical about that last part, but his hand was pretty warm and surprisingly soft, so she didn’t particularly mind. The sorceress led the way down to the Paths of Ascension.

Lydia had been to the door leading to the chamber in front of the Paths of Ascension before, but she had never actually been inside. A single guard stood at the door – a problem that could have easily been solved with violence, but she had no interest in hurting an innocent.

Even just opening the door would attract his attention,
she realized. Grimacing, she inched her way closer to the guard, glancing back at Jonan just before she came close enough to touch the soldier.