The Forgotten King (Korin's Journal) (33 page)

With no time to worry about it, I continued running.  As soon as my body passed through the black square, I was suddenly visible.  There was no ease into visibility as had been the case when the potion had worn off the night before.  I simply went from invisible to visible in an instant.  With the change came the nauseating, weakening aftereffects of the potion, only this time they were much worse.  My body collapsed to the ground, and I violently emptied my stomach onto the stone beneath me. 

My gaze turned up to the guard, my now blurred vision distorting his form.  All I could tell was that he was moving towards me with his palm raised. 

Chapter 27

An Unlikely Rescuer

The wizard paused outside the puddle of half-digested food and bile I’d so pleasantly decorated the red carpet with.  Maybe he’d wanted to keep his polished black boots clean.  If that were the case, my second round of vomiting ruined any chance of that.

“Get up,” he snarled, shaking vomit off a shiny, calf-high boot. 

After a couple of dry heaves and a nearly lost battle with keeping my bowels in check, I looked up at him, barely able to keep on my hands and knees without collapsing.  “As much as I’d love to acquiesce to—”  My sarcastic answer was interrupted by another round of dry heaving.  “I can’t,” I finished miserably. 

“Well, then I will just have to—
”  The wizard’s voice cut off midsentence.  His sudden silence was strange, but I was more focused on the pain in my stomach and throat as I continued to convulse with racking dry heaves. 

“Have to what?” I asked once the wave of severe nausea lessened to a non-vomiting level, throwing a little snarkiness into my tone as if it would help me save some pride.

The next thing I knew, I was roughly jerked erect by my collar.  The room spun vertiginously as I attempted to lock my rubbery legs in place beneath me.  It didn’t work, and I fell to the ground on—you guessed it—my ass.

“Jeilan’s blood,” a male voice cursed, though it sounded decidedly gentler than the Wizard Guard wizard who’d been guarding the door. 

Before me stood a blue-robed man, his pale face a blur.  The door guard lay crumpled to the floor behind him.  I blinked a few times, unsuccessfully trying to clear my vision and make sense of the scene. 

The man crouched, his short hair and beard seeming a golden halo around his face in my blurred sight.  “You drank a potion to make you invisible, didn’t you?”  The accusation in his voice was sharp.  “My guess would be that you procured it from Ulys.  Now, what am I going to do with you?”

My thoughts flashed to the wizard who’d saved me from Grayson.  He’d told me that if I were to be caught again, I was likely to be “silenced.”  Add in Ulys’s threat, and I was understandably panicked.  I tried to swallow that panic along with the bile rising in my throat.

Suddenly, I felt a chill run through my body, the familiar sensation of magic being used on me.  It was as if winter had taken residence in my heart, pumping ice through my veins.  While healing magic tended to send warmth through me, other types tended to have that same icy chill.  I had no way of knowing what the wizard was doing to me, but I was in no condition to do anything to stop him.  The majority of my energy was going into keeping certain substances from exiting my body.

The sound of snarling gruhelns down the hallway behind me drew the blurry wizard’s attention.  He then turned his eyes to me.  “I am going to help you, but you are going to have to work with me, okay?”  I weakly nodded.  “Okay?” he repeated.  I nodded again, clenching my jaw as my body threatened to sick up again.  “Just say it,” he commanded, annoyance starting to bleed through his tone.

“Okay,” I answered, not understanding why two nods of my head hadn’t been enough of an answer for him.

“Just stay silent,” he snapped as he stood.  Clumsily grabbing me under both of my arms as if having trouble placing his hands, he dragged me across the carpet and leaned me against the wall.  At least he was thoughtful enough to not drag me through my own vomit.

“Who are you?” I asked, trying to make out his face by
squinting my eyes.  It didn’t work.

“Quiet,” he hissed, stepping away around me.  He stopped by the walkway door and dropped to the ground, splaying his arms out to his sides.  I was more than a little bewildered by his actions.

Several moments later, the sound of multiple running footsteps joined the increasing volume of gruheln barks and growls.  I turned my head to see several blurry forms approaching from down the hall.  The battle to keep myself from sicking up or soiling my pants began anew.

“Wizard Saiyre!” one of the approaching figures screamed concernedly.  What I assumed to be the five members of the Wizard Guard who’d chased me in the basement crowded before me, their two leashed gruhelns in tow.  Not a single one of them looked my way.  The gruhelns continued to growl and fight against their leashes, but they weren’t focused on where I sat.  I could’ve sworn that my heart completely stopped as I sat still as a mountain, trying to not even breathe for fear of being heard.

The largest blur, assumedly the beefy wizard I’d hit with the fortune block, knelt beside the downed wizard who’d come to my rescue.  “Saiyre,” he repeated in a deep voice.  He started to reach towards the wizard he’d identified as Saiyre. 

Saiyre suddenly convulsed and shot up to a sitting position before the beefy wizard could place his hands on him.  His head twisted back and forth as if looking for something. 

“He ran through there,” Saiyre panted convincingly, his arm lifting towards the walkway door.

“But the lockdown—”

“I do not want to hear about how the door should not have opened for him.  I saw him go through.  See what he did to us?”  Saiyre gestured to the man in the blue and black tabard lying on the floor.  “Go after him!” he commanded, rising shakily to his feet. 

“Yes, Wizard Saiyre,” the beefy wizard acknowledged.  “Gilesh and Brandin will take the two of you to the Medica Ward.”

“No, they will assist you in catching that Othanor-blooded criminal,” Saiyre snarled, leaning against the wall as if he couldn’t stand by himself.  His gruff tone didn’t fit his voice.  “The intruder’s invisibility was dispelled by the abelyr gate, so he should be easy to find.” 

Saiyre went on to give a false description of me.  I was made out to be an emaciated man with greasy hair hanging down my back, dressed in tattered rags and obviously gone mad from having drawn spell energy from my own body.  I’d left with several items belonging to the Wizard Academy, and it would take all five of the Wizard Guard members present to apprehend me. 

I would’ve laughed, but between being terrified of revealing my presence and struggling to not mess myself, I didn’t feel much like laughing. 

“Go. 
Now.  I will take care of things here,” Saiyre finished brusquely, finally standing on his own and adding a dose of resolve to his voice.  I started to wonder if this guy was a wizard or a Stefost-blooded actor.  Stefost is the goddess of the stage.  Trust me, I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried.

The beefy wizard gave some sort of salute and put his hand against the door, causing it to click loudly.  With my blurred vision, I couldn’t be sure, but I thought he cast a suspicious glance back at Saiyre. 
Rightfully so.  If the door had still been locked, then how had anyone gotten through it?  He remained silent, though, and pressed the glowing round stone beside the door, causing the strange chime to sound.  With a wave of a thick arm, he led his fellow Wizard Guard members and their canine-like gruhelns down the walkway.

Once the door shut behind them, Saiyre crouched by my side again.  He pulled something from a pocket in his robe and held it to his lips.  The cream-colored object radiated a soft glow at his touch. 

“Ithan, we have a guard down at door seven,” he spoke softly.  A mumbled reply issued from the object, but I couldn’t make out the words.  “Have Thain take care of it.  I need you to meet me as planned.” 

Saiyre tucked the object back into his robe and looked to me.  “We have to get you out of here.”

With no hope of retaining any pride, I leaned forward and whispered, “I
really
need a privy.  As in, right now.”  I was incredibly curious about who this guy was and why he was helping me, but I had more pressing matters. 

Saiyre let out a controlled breath.  “Hold still,” he commanded, placing a smooth hand on my stubbled cheek after accidentally grabbing my shoulder with his first attempt.  He clasped something close to his neck with his other hand.  I felt another icy chill course through my entire body that ran from my head to my toes and then back to my head again.  This was followed by
an opposing warmth that was almost painful in contrast.  Once the warmth pervaded my entire body, my nausea and weakness lessened and my vision sharpened back into focus.

The man before me wore a blue wizard robe edged with silver, its hood down.  His golden hair and beard were finely combed, and his robe was inexplicably free of wrinkles.  His fastidious appearance was only betrayed by the darkened circles and creases around his pale green eyes.  Judging by his expression, he was none too happy about helping me.

“Better?” he asked without a hint of concern.

“Yes, actually,” I replied, pushing myself to my feet.  “Who are you?”

He rose, standing a good finger’s length shorter than me, though his medium build would’ve given me pause if I’d had to physically fight him.  He grabbed my sleeve and tugged me forward.  “There will be time for that shortly,” he answered sharply.  “Be silent and follow me.”

Jerking my arm from Saiyre’s grasp, I trailed behind him.  My stomach still churned, but my weakness was gone, and I no longer worried about having any sudden intestinal issues. 

“What if I’m seen with you?” I questioned

Saiyre stopped abruptly and turned, his face scrunched up in annoyance.  I’m pretty sure he planned on saying something different than what came out after he took a calming breath.  “Korin, I have cast an illusion that will help prevent anyone from seeing you as long as you remain relatively still.  If you see anyone at all, just do not move until they pass us, okay?” 

I nodded and started to reply, but Saiyre continued on. 

“I also have a thin barrier of air surrounding you to keep your scent hidden. 
Neither spell will hold for long, and I have nothing left to use to recharge them.”  He gestured to a smooth, spherical, blue stone hanging from a silver chain around his neck.  “Do not speak a single word.  If you truly care for Salmaea, just keep your mouth shut and do as I say.  Okay?” 

He spun and started briskly back down the hallway, giving me no chance to answer.  I started after him with a bevy of questions.  Who was he?  How did he know my name?  What was the stone around his neck?  How did he know I cared for Sal’?  Why did he look like he wanted to beat my face in while helping me escape at the same time?

Saiyre took me through several hallways and stairways until I had absolutely no idea where I was anymore.  We had to stop three times to let wizards rush by.  Saiyre had to send off two members of the Wizard Guard posted at a door we needed to use, commanding them to search some other portion of the Wizard Academy for the nonexistent intruder.  With the way his commands were unquestioningly followed, he obviously had some kind of high status among the wizards.  So why the hell was he helping me?

Another stairway took us below the ground floor and through a long, straight hallway free of adornment.  The rough stone floor was nothing like what I’d seen in the rest of the Wizard Academy.  As we reached the wooden door at the end of the hallway, the pungent smell of manure hit me, reminding me of my adoptive parents’ farm back home. 

Saiyre reached a hand back to halt me as he opened the door.  Saiyre stepped through the door, and after a seeming eternity, he reappeared and waved me forward.

Once through the door, I found myself standing in a large utilitarian room, its walls lined with polished chests, shelves, pegs, and hanging wall cabinets.  The shelves were filled with an assortment of items from foodstuffs to weapons.  Large, lumpy bags hung from the pegs.  A stone stairway spiraled up the center of the room, ending at a wooden hatch in the ceiling. 

Saiyre pointed to the hatch.  “This is one of the emergency exits from the Academy.  We are actually behind the Academy now, below the stables,” he explained.  “And just in time.  My spells are fading as we speak.” 

For the second time that day, I was losing my invisibility.

Saiyre approached one of the polished chests.  “This would have been so much easier if you had not run from Grayson,” he complained, grabbing the blue stone hanging from his neck with one hand and putting the other to the chest. 

“
You
sent him for me?” I asked disbelievingly.  “He only said that he’d been ordered to bring me in.  What was I supposed to think?  That someone here wanted to
help
me?”  I wasn’t sure if I was angry with Grayson or myself for all the trouble I’d been through since the night before.

After
a moment, Saiyre pulled the chest’s hinged lid open and squatted down in front of it.  He gestured me over with a crook of his finger.  “I believe these belong to you,” he said, pulling a long, cloth-wrapped bundle from the chest. 

My breath caught as I took the oblong bundle from Saiyre.  I quickly unrolled the black cloth, revealing my Vesteir-sigiled shortsword and a leather drawstring bag.  Inside the bag lay my Contract and full coin pouch.  I wrapped the bundle again, holding it close. 

Before I could utter a single word of thanks, Saiyre held up a large box made from the same dark material as the band that encircled the hallway Saiyre had found me in and the boxes I’d seen in Laboratory Room 4.

“What’s this?” I asked, tucking the bundle containing my prized shortsword underneath my arm to accept the box.