Stealing Sorcery (26 page)

“You can’t tell me until I accept. Can you tell me what skills you’d need me to use?”

Susan slowed her pace and Velas slowed to compensate. “Your jumping, mostly,” Susan offered. “That’s the most I can tell you, I think.”

Pretty tempting. I could find out a lot about her capabilities – as well as her allies – by doing this.

They were getting close to the entrance to the mess hall, so Velas stopped walking entirely. Susan paused along with her. “Can you tell me when you’d be doing it?”

Susan shook her head. “Sorry. Can’t let you put together enough to interfere if you wanted to.”

“That makes sense. It’s a real tempting offer, but I think I’m going to have to pass.”

Susan’s expression shifted from friendly to neutral, her hand moving to a pouch on her side. Velas tensed momentarily, but all Susan removed from the pouch was a pin – one representing Xerasilis. “What if I sweeten the deal a bit, give you a pin right now?”

That’s…a very good offer.

Too good of an offer.

“I’m flattered that you think so much of me that you’d offer me that kind of deal. I think I’m going to have to pass, though. I’m sorry, I just don’t like signing up for things I don’t have all the details about.”

Susan nodded, putting the pin back away. “Thought so, but I figured I’d ask. We can still be friends, yeah?”

Friends?

“Yeah, sure. I’d like that. C’mon, deal or not, we still need to eat.”

***

Susan Crimson turned out to be much easier to chat with over food, especially once Velas was seated out of stiletto reach on the opposite side of a table. They had never really talked before, but Velas quickly found herself enjoying trading stories about training mishaps and difficult battles.

By the end of the conversation, Velas was convinced that someone else had put Susan up to approaching her – but she couldn’t sort out who without asking directly.
The Wandering War,
most likely.
They’ve been moving about together constantly since her companion failed out of the competition and he never talks. I suppose he’s taken on the role of her muscle – unless his silence means he’s the puppetmaster type.

When they finished eating, Velas excused herself quickly, heading back to the barracks. The forty-odd minutes it had taken to eat had been more than sufficient time to formulate a plan for the next few hours, even while exchanging bits of banter with a fellow soldier.

Susan could be an asset in the future if I can figure out what her deal is. I’ll have to pry more if I can get her isolated sometime. In the meantime, I need Asphodel.

With hours of time in the day that were not allocated to any specific activity, the three pins hidden somewhere in the city were obvious targets for spending time. Asphodel was the obvious solution.

Velas still didn’t know exactly how Asphodel’s “oracle” abilities worked, but the purple-haired girl clearly had some kind of divination abilities – ones that she could use with minimal preparation and no obvious incantations. The former Queensguard suspected that Asphodel was a practitioner of Assassin’s Sorcery – a style that typically used gestures or pure thoughts for spellcasting purposes. It was also possible that Asphodel had a completely different method of utilizing sorcery, given that she was a Delaren and from a different culture. Learning more about Asphodel’s methods could be valuable, but for the moment, she just needed Asphodel’s skills.

Determining where to find Asphodel was easy – the Delaren was scheduled for a meeting with the colonel’s office an hour before Velas was. Rather than trying to catch Asphodel before she entered, Velas headed to the Citadel of Blades just after seven bells, waiting to catch the crystal-haired girl on her way out. That would also give Velas an idea of how long Asphodel’s meeting with the colonel lasted.

The meetings were scheduled a half hour apart from each other, but that didn’t mean they lasted for a full half hour each. Knowing the duration of the meeting would give Velas an idea of how she should prepare herself.

Asphodel emerged from the office about ten minutes after seven bells. Wordlessly, she extended an open palm toward Velas as she approached. A sigil of Sytira was in her hand.

“Not bad. You’ve already got enough to pass, then.” Velas gave the Delaren an approving nod.

“It is yours.”

Velas blinked – she had assumed Asphodel had simply been displaying the pin, not offering it as a gift. Gingerly, she plucked the sigil from the other woman’s hand, noting that Asphodel’s fingernails matched the color of her hair.

But they’re just normal nails, not claws like the legends talk about. I suppose that’s a transformation she’d have to undergo, not something the Delaren have at birth.

“Thank you,” Velas said, closing her hand protectively around the sigil. She frowned – she’d never done anything of significance to help Asphodel. Certainly nothing to warrant this degree of kindness. “Why?”

“You will need it more than I will.”

Velas tilted her head to the side. “Not to complain about a present, but I’d really like to understand how you know that. What exactly are these oracle abilities of yours?”

Asphodel frowned, looking from side to side. “Can’t talk right now. Too much noise. I will tell you eventually. Goodbye.” She turned away and abruptly began walking off.

“Wait, I was going to ask you –”

Asphodel half-turned to face her, slowing her steps. “You wanted to offer to use motion sorcery to make me run faster, allowing me to quickly go and obtain all of the sigils that are hidden in the city. That won’t be necessary – I can retrieve two of them without your help, and the third is already gone. Thank you, though. I am glad you wished to work with me.”

The Delaren smiled softly and turned away, retreating from the citadel. Velas took a breath to speak again, but her voice never came.

***

“You’re here early,” Jonathan Sterling remarked, approaching the colonel’s office. His meeting was scheduled for right after Asphodel’s – and thus, just before Velas’ own meeting. He was wearing a broad grin, his chest vibrating as he quietly chuckled at some unspoken joke. “Nothing better to do?”

Velas shrugged. She was leaning up against the wall right next to the office door. “I had other business nearby, and I don’t really have enough time to go do anything else before my appointment. Figured I’d just relax here for a bit, try to guess at what the colonel is going to want.”

“A guessing game, is it?” He brought up his left hand, touching two fingers to his forehead. “I do enjoy those.”

Velas smiled at the gesture. “Don’t we all?”

“I’ll be curious what you come up with. Perhaps we can chat about it later. In the meantime, however, my meeting awaits.” He half-bowed, and then stepped closer and knocked on the door. It opened a moment later, revealing a young man who was carrying a handful of files in his left hand.

“Come in, Applicant Sterling.” The young man gave Velas a quizzical look when he noticed her to the side of the door. She gave him a friendly wave.

“I’m the next one. Got here a bit early.”

The young man gave a slight frown, shaking his head, and retreated deeper into the room. Velas got a quick glimpse of Colonel Wyndam sitting behind a desk toward the back of the chamber before the door closed.

Well, this should be even more interesting than I expected.

Listen.

The mental command enhanced her sense of hearing. It was one of the simplest Dominion of Sound spells and the first one she had mastered. The more difficult part was making it useful.

Velas closed her eyes, envisioning a half-sphere in front of her, open at her back.

Filter.

With her enhanced hearing, she would have normally heard even the slightest nearby sounds coming from any direction. The second spell created a field that dispersed sounds that passed through it, which would prevent them from reaching her ears. The combined effect of the two spells would enable her to listen intently – but only in the desired direction.

Initially, she had regretted that Landen or Taelien hadn’t been right before her. Now, after having seen Sterling’s little gesture, she was excited to hear his conversation with the colonel.

Moments passed into minutes and she heard nothing at all.

Gods curse it. They must have the wall dominion bonded to prevent sound from leaving. Either that, or one of the people in there is actively preventing any sound from leaving the room.

She let her Listen and Filter spells fade – maintaining them would have been a needless tax on her sense of hearing – and glanced at the nearby rooms. The room on the right belonged to another officer, Orin Dyr. The room on the left, however, didn’t have a plaque to mark the owner.

Velas tested the handle. It was unlocked. She looked down the hall in both directions, quickly determining that there was no one else in sight. She listened briefly at this door as well, but she couldn’t hear anything within – nor could she determine if that was because of sorcerous wards or just because there was no one inside.

This could get awkward if someone is inside.

Gritting her teeth, she turned the handle.

The door led to an empty classroom, minimally lit due to large curtains blocking the windows. Taking a deep breath, Velas stepped inside and shut the door behind her.

If someone comes in, I’ll just say I wanted a quiet place to think while waiting for my appointment,
she decided. Walking to the right wall of the room, she began to work.

Listen. Filter.
She pressed a palm against the wall, instantly feeling the pulse of the Dominion of Sound from the opposite side. The dominion bond flowed like liquid across the wall’s surface, absorbing and dispersing sounds that passed within. The wall itself was imperfect, however – the citadel was ages old, and cracks and furrows marred the surface of the once pristine barrier. The dominion bond faltered in these locations, allowing for tiny pockets of sound to be trapped within for moments before they faded away.

Her own footsteps echoed loudly as she slowly advanced along the walls, pressing a hand against the stone. Finding the flaws in the wall from the opposite side would be more difficult, but the nature of the defense would make it obvious any time she came in contact with any sound. She paused immediately as she felt a fragment of vibration in her hand, drawing it through the wall and releasing it into her half-sphere of filtered sound.

“…it wasn’t my idea, in truth. My older sister told me I needed to make something of myself, to do some good for the family.”

Sterling’s voice. She quickly shifted her filter to ensure that no sound echoed back into the other room. Now that she had found a weakness in the room’s sonic armor, she could draw the sound through and release it almost as quickly as the people within spoke.

“So, you’re not here of your own volition, then?” The colonel’s tone was measured, but Velas caught a clear edge to it.

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that. It was her idea at first, but I think this is the right place for me. I can do a lot of good here.”

“And what sort of ‘good’ would you expect to do as a member of the Paladins of Tae’os?”

There was a brief pause before Sterling responded. “Well, I think I’d be best with the Eratar branch, to be honest. I enjoy talking to people and traveling, so I’d make a good messenger. I don’t want to come across as too arrogant, but I’d also like to think I can slip into a hostile area without being noticed, which could help me accomplish important goals for the paladins.”

Sounds like a fairly generic interview so far. Interesting that he’s gunning for a specific branch at this early of a stage – I’m not sure if that’s a good strategy.

“I see. And why should I help you complete this test?”

Another pause. “Well, I think I’m here for the right reasons. Some of the applicants don’t seem very focused. Others seem like they’re more here for the challenge of the competition than the goal of becoming a paladin. I’m here to be a paladin, colonel.”

“Thank you, Applicant Sterling—”

Velas turned around and immediately headed to the classroom door. Opening it slowly, she glanced from side-to-side, but no one else was in the hallway. She swiftly moved back to her position outside of the door of Colonel Wyndam’s office. From the colonel’s tone, it was clear that the interview was about to conclude.

That one was quick. Asphodel was in there a lot longer. Does that mean he failed?

It was at least another minute before the door finally reopened. Sterling glanced at her, tipping his hat politely, and wordlessly headed toward the citadel’s entrance.

While the door was still open, Velas glanced within. The young man she had seen earlier was sitting in a chair at the left side of the colonel’s desk, writing furiously. The colonel herself approached the door and smiled at Velas.

“I appreciate your punctuality, but you’ll have to wait for your scheduled appointment time.”

Velas saluted. “Yes, ma’am.”

The colonel closed the door.

Well, I was hoping to get more information out of that, but at least I have some basics. I most likely missed the first question or two, but it sounds like a relatively straightforward question and answer session – at least for the part that Sterling went through. It’s very plausible he failed at a certain point and didn’t get all of the questions.