No True Way (22 page)

Despite her animal instinct to flee, Karinda believed what she'd been told.
If this man is the rumored Adept, he probably has the power to do anything he promises.
The thought was rational enough to prompt her to step out
into the open. She slowly walked forward, her hands open at her sides. At the count of ten, she stopped.

There was still about twenty meters between them. Karinda could see now that he was an old man in tattered, stained robes.
If he is an Adept, he didn't let it go to his head
, she thought.
Or he did, in the wrong way . . .

Even though she could clearly see the old man, he showed no sign of seeing her. Was he blind? The staff pointed at her several times, but never for more than a second. There was only one thing left to do.

“I come peacefully,” Karinda announced. “I hold no weapon. Say the word, and I will leave in peace.”

There was no doubt that the old man saw her then. The staff swung directly at her as he came forward. “No weapon? You'll leave in pieces that way!” He cackled. “It's a wonder you made it this far undamaged.”

A strange glint appeared in the Mage's eye. “Or is it, hm? You certainly are a clever one, and a real spark of talent, too. No . . .” He took two more steps closer, a revolting smile crawling onto his face. “I don't think you've made it this far just to leave that quickly. There's something here you want. Say it.”

Karinda stayed calm, despite the shudder running through her spine. “It's . . . a rumor,” she answered slowly. “A rumor of a magic node.”

The end of the staff was now uncomfortably close. “So . . . you're here for power. I have enough power here alone to end your life. Would that be enough to satisfy you?”

“If you wish to end my life, there's nothing I can do to stop you.” Karinda lowered her head but kept her eyes open and swallowed hard.

The old man took a step back and pulled the staff to his side. “You will do well to remember that, Clever. You're not the first to have tried and failed.”

Karinda nodded deeply. “I will, sir. I'm Ka—”

“You are Clever,” the old man said sharply. “Until you have learned all that you can learn here, you will be Clever. Understood?” The girl nodded. “Very good. Here, I am called Bellgrove.”

Karinda raised her head. “Should I call you Master Bellgrove, or Adept?”

Bellgrove's face went red and anger contorted his features. “You should all be calling me GRANDEST Adept!” The staff went up again, the old man's knuckles going white. But as suddenly as it appeared, his anger vanished. “But no. There are no titles before the Greater Power. I am Bellgrove, just as you are Clever. Come, we will begin.”

Bellgrove turned around and headed back toward the structure from which he'd appeared. Karinda stayed silent for a minute, then asked, “May I ask a question, Bellgrove?”

“Just one, for now.”

“Were you going to channel your magic through the staff to kill me?”

The old man barked out a laugh. “Don't be ridiculous. I was going to beat you with it if you got too close. Waste of perfectly good magic, besides. No, no, don't want to damage you if at all possible . . .”

Karinda furrowed her brow. “What do you m—”

Bellgrove held up a finger. “One. No more. All will be known when it is meant to be known.”

Which means you'll tell me if you feel like it,
Karinda thought.
I already know more about you than I want to
.
Why am I even putting up with this?

At least I'm not alone anymore. At least he still knows I'm here . . .

The rest of the walk went by in silence. The structure Bellgrove led her to was the one he was living in. It was surprisingly functional, and it even had most of a roof. Maybe she would get lucky and one of the other buildings would have mostly intact cover. Maybe.

Bellgrove made himself busy inside his ramshackle dwelling. Karinda watched him most of the time and had no idea what he was doing at all. She was starting to wonder if
he
did.

“I want to know everything you were told about this place,” Bellgrove finally said. “And everything about me. We must begin by separating the truth from the lies.”

Karinda waited for a moment to see if Bellgrove would turn his attention to her, but it was obvious he wasn't going to. “The truth of it is that I wasn't told much of anything. I was told that there was a rumor of a magic node that survived the Storms and an Adept guarding it. I thought it ridiculous at first, to be honest.”

“And yet here you are. A part of you wanted to know the truth.” The smile that made Karinda shudder crawled back onto the old man's face. “Or maybe it wanted something . . . more.”

There was no holding back the shudder from that one. Bellgrove simply cackled. “It is no mere node or ley-line that resides here. No, this place belongs to a Greater Power. I will teach you to weave great magic through it, but it may very well beyond your grasp entirely.”

“I will give it my all,” Karinda said with real conviction.

Bellgrove arched an eyebrow. “Will you, now? There is another path to this power. Quicker, easier. And definitely more entertaining.”

The leer on the old man's face was unmistakable. Karinda felt ill and then horrified. Not by what Bellgrove was offering or how he offered it—though that by itself was disturbing enough—but by the realization of who he thought he was offering it to.

Karinda hadn't bathed for the better part of a week, after heavy hiking. Her traveling clothes were slightly too big, just as grimy as the rest of her and not the least bit feminine. Karinda had always kept her hair short, and despite the fact that she was closer to being an adult than a child, her body had yet to catch up.

Just my luck. Of all the Mages left in the world with any magic, I find the one who's not only likely insane, but a boylover . . .

Karinda managed to keep her stomach down. She didn't know how to answer Bellgrove's offer, so she quietly shook her head.

“Suit yourself,” he said. “Then we will start with the simple magics, what you would call kitchen magic or hedge magic. Show your skill with that, and we will move on. Tomorrow at first light, you will begin.”

By first light
, thought Karinda,
I'll be heading north as fast as I can. To the Abyss with you
.

*   *   *

It couldn't properly be called dawn yet, and Karinda was already covered in a thin sheen of sweat. She rolled over in her makeshift bed, wiped her face with the hem of her shirt, and got to her feet. She padded over to the doorway, looked around for signs of movement, grabbed the cloth bundle waiting there, and went to the lake's edge.

Karinda looked around once more out of habit, dropped the bundle on the bank, and slipped into the water. Her clothes instantly clung to her skin and her teeth
chattered, but the cold would pass soon enough. It would be warmer later, but this was the best time for bathing. Bellgrove slept in later the hotter the days became, which suited her fine.

This had been her routine for nearly two months now. It was the only time she had without Bellgrove's unwanted attention. Always attentive of her every move, always leering. Never once did he try to touch her, but that didn't make things any less revolting.

Karinda sighed. “Why do I stay, then?” she asked the fading ripples, though she already knew the answer.

Bellgrove hadn't been bluffing about being a Mage. Karinda had been prepared to head out into the forest that next morning, but she wasn't expecting the old man to make good on his promise of first light. He had been standing on the platform with the pillars, looking over the lake. Bellgrove's forearms were wreathed in orange flame to match the sunrise. As the sun cast more rays across the water, Bellgrove would flick a wrist and the rays became colored flame upon the lake.

Karinda vowed to become a Mage then and there, no matter how long it took.

The only problem was, after two months she was as proficient with magic as she had ever been as a Bardic Trainee. Which was to say, hardly at all. All Karinda could manage was the simplest of kitchen magic; anything more complicated than lighting tinder or stirring pots eluded her.

Bellgrove would act the same way every day. He cackled viciously at every failure, never actually teaching her anything, but flamboyantly showing off on a whim to humiliate. Leering, watching, always suggesting the “quick and easy” path.

Karinda took a deep breath and ducked under the water. Submerged, her thoughts turned to the latter. Even in two months, there had been plenty of times when Karinda was ready to give in to the old pervert's desires—even if it turned out she wasn't what he expected—for the smallest amount of real magic. And she hated herself more every time she got to that point.

But she refused to give in. She wouldn't give Bellgrove the satisfaction. So she toiled all day, fixing Bellgrove's hut and hers, cooking meals, mending clothes, and in the spare moments putting all of her effort into tapping some of the ley energy that was supposed to be here.

Karinda surfaced and pulled herself out of the lake. She quickly swapped her soaked clothes for the spares in the bundle and headed back to her hut. With the sun now breaking over the treeline, Karinda almost didn't see Bellgrove standing in front of her doorway until she almost ran into him.

“Good morning, Bellgrove,” she said quietly, backing away from the old man and averting her eyes.

“Yes, Clever,” Bellgrove answered, “It's quite a good morning, indeed. You've bathed, excellent. You are as prepared as you need to be. This is the morning your wait is over.”

It was then that Karinda noticed Bellgrove was wearing robes she had never seen before. These were immaculate, deep crimson with silver thread. A thought popped into her head then, too horrible to ignore.

“You . . . you're . . . This is Blood Magic!”

Bellgrove laughed. “Nothing so crude and painful, Clever. No, these are to honor the Splendid One.” He took a step forward, but he made no move to touch her. “I've told you many times that a Greater Power dwells
here. This morning, you will meet It and give yourself to It. Come, to the pillars.”

Karinda followed, mesmerized by the hidden promises in Bellgrove's words. A voice in the back of her mind told her this was wrong, to run away. But Karinda wasn't listening.

Bellgrove led her to the pillared platform, where an intricate pattern of shiny dust had been laid out in the center. As Karinda crossed through the pillars, Bellgrove held up his hand, and she stopped.

The Mage entered the dust pattern and stood in the middle. Lifting his staff above his head, he began chanting in what Karinda was hard pressed to call a language. It hurt her ears and dulled her other senses. Bellgrove's voice rose to a commanding tone as he began thrusting the staff in random directions, contorting in ways Karinda wouldn't have imagined his old body capable of, and somehow not disturbing the dust at all.

Karinda had no idea how long this lasted, but the moment the sun cleared the trees, Bellgrove slammed the butt of the staff down onto the pattern. The dust erupted into silver flame and just as quickly died away. As it died, a great wind picked up from across the lake, creating a thick mist that swirled around the pillars. Karinda squinted to keep the mist out of her eyes, and the ancient platform took on the appearance of swirling white walls.

And in the middle of one of those walls, a doorway appeared. Bellgrove held the staff out with both hands and bowed his head. What appeared a second later was the most beautiful person Karinda had ever seen. He—she? it seemed both, and neither—had hair like a flowing river and wore crimson robes identical to Bellgrove's. Karinda's heart pounded fiercely just from the sight, and
her breath was snatched away when It smiled and spoke to Bellgrove.

“Has another Solstice arrived already?”
It asked. Karinda “felt” the words in her skull bones more than hearing them.
“The time goes too quickly, my disciple.”

Bellgrove gave one deep bow and answered, “Indeed it does, Splendid One. As does your boon. But I am patient, as you commanded. We may begin the Solstice offering.”

There was a moment of tense silence. “I see no offering, my disciple,” It said. “Do you mean to give yourself to me completely?”

“What? No!” Bellgrove looked around in panic.

Karinda froze. She was close to one of the pillars, but not close enough for the mist to obscure her—unless Bellgrove really was half blind. But the “Splendid One” as well? There was no time for questions.

Bellgrove pleaded, “Splendid One, I don't understand this! I was ready! SHE was ready! Some other magic is at work here!”

“She”? So he
did
know
, Karinda thought, despite the situation.
Not that it matters, now . . .

The Splendid One stepped away from the doorway, his gaze intent on Bellgrove. The glamour started to melt away. It was still beautiful, but now there was an unmistakably ugly
evil
beneath the beauty. “Explain yourself, then, my disciple. You give me many offerings, and now this. Why do you delay?”

“I do not delay!” Bellgrove stammered. “She was here, I swear it! And now—”

At those words, there was a flash of light visible through the mist. All three turned to look. Through the thick white, two shapes were barely visible. The Splendid
One waved a hand, and the mist thinned enough to see. It was clear now that it was two horses, one riderless. They stood at the end of the path that Karinda had first discovered so many weeks ago now.

The rider raised a hand as well, and a moment later the sun seemed to brighten until everything was turning white. Karinda and Bellgrove squinted to shield their eyes, but the Splendid One howled in pain.