Stealing Sorcery (46 page)

Taelien nodded and lowered his hand, feeling relieved. “Can we, um –”

“Get dressed? Yeah, I don’t want to stare at your half-naked asses any longer than I need to. Come on.”

Taelien and Velas surged toward their supplies. He noted that the former Queensguard went straight to checking on her quarterstaff, running an affectionate hand along the wood in a way that reminded him of his own connection with his sword.
Must hold some sentimental value to her.

He felt somewhat better once he was dressed, but his uniform shirt chafed awkwardly against his bandages. Garrick left the tent briefly, returning with a pair of wet towels, which Taelien and Velas used to clean their faces. The dried blood from Taelien’s nose had spread further than he realized, and he felt mildly embarrassed by what he must have looked like to the others while he was wandering around.

After Taelien buckled on his sword belt and sat down, Garrick sat across from him and spoke. “Doctor Corrington wants you to skip today’s exam, Taelien. Since your injury was outside the design of the last test, I’m going to assume that over-taxing your sorcery was justified, since there may have been an actual threat to your well-being. I still need to talk to Colonel Wyndam, but I think I can talk her into letting you skip the next test and get the lowest possible passing score. Since this is one of the last tests, I think that’s a good idea for you.”

“I’m not interested in skipping any tests, sir. What is my other option?”

“You take the test. I don’t think they’re going to make it any easier for you if you decide to take it, unfortunately. For safety reasons, I’ll give a member of your squad an emergency signal beacon to use if your condition deteriorates.”

“I would prefer that approach, sir.”

Taelien looked around, noting Asphodel and Landen were watching him closely. Asphodel gave him an almost imperceptible nod.

Garrick stood back up. “All right. I don’t like it, but it’s your call. I’ll go get a beacon ready for you.” He looked at Velas. “You’ll carry the beacon. It’ll be your job to evaluate if Taelien’s medical condition poses a serious risk to his health. If it does, you will trigger the beacon immediately, regardless of his inevitable complaints. Is that understood?”

Velas nodded curtly. “Yes, sir.”

Taelien suppressed a groan.
It’s the right call. She’s the most medically knowledgeable among us and she won’t tolerate my bullshit.

“Your next test begins in four hours. There’s food in the storage containers next to your cots. I suggest you eat while you can and sleep.”

Sleep with four hours until our next test? What an absurd notion.

***

The group spent the next half hour devouring the simple road fare they found stowed in their supplies. Taelien sat with the Sae’kes across his lap, feeling more comfortable with the weapon both in his sight and the hilt within easy reach. For the most part, they ate in relative silence. Only Asphodel seemed fully awake, and she rarely spoke without prompting.

It was Landen who breached the quiet with the first question of any significance. “Garrick, I’ve been meaning to ask – where are Teshvol, Eridus, and Kolask?”

The lieutenant scratched behind his head. He was eating the same food as the rest of them in a rare show of solidarity, and he took a few moments to finish chewing a bite of jerky before replying. “Right, yeah, should have told you. They’ve been reassigned. Not many candidates left at this stage – we evened out the platoons. Kolask and Teshvol got moved to four. Eridus is in three, since they’ve got a bunch of sorcery support types.”

Taelien glanced at Asphodel, hoping to see relief in her features, but she remained intently focused on her food. He turned to Lieutenant Torrent next. “How’d they do on their own test?”

“Platoon three was a bit slow, but they managed to get out of the prison in better shape than you did. Used a bit more subtlety, less raw force. Personally, I liked watching your test more. They’re already out doing the next test, which I’ll brief you on soon. Platoon four hasn’t taken the prison test yet.”

Asphodel frowned, pausing mid-bite to turn to Torrent. “Watching?”

“Of course.” The lieutenant grinned. “You didn’t think we’d put you in a test we couldn’t observe, did you?”

She continued chewing her food silently, a disturbed expression on her face.

“How do you manage that?” Velas inquired. “Sight sorcery?

They probably have something analogous to Jonan’s mirrors. And we know they have sight and sound sorcerers – that’s how they set up my fight with the “Crown Prince of Xixis” in the first simulation.

“Something like that,” Torrent grinned. “Explaining all the tricks would ruin the suspense for your remaining tests. We get better reactions when it feels real.”

“That slice in my side felt plenty real. Good job on that.” Taelien chuckled at his own joke, but no one else laughed.

“We generally take excellent precautions. I handled teleporting you to the cells personally.”

“I remember,” Taelien remarked with a nod. The others gave him sharp glances. “What? I was awake when they moved us for the test. None of you ever asked about it.”

Torrent narrowed his eyes slightly. “You were awake? And you didn’t say anything?”

No, I didn’t want to ruin the exercise. I just prepared to strike if you or any of the others who were with you made any hostile movements.

“I didn’t want to wake anyone else up.”

Torrent folded his arms. “I was totally silent. There’s no way you heard me.”

“None of you made any noise. I assumed you had a sound shaper with you – good work on that. But I saw you. I could see the light glinting off Lieutenant Banks’ armor. I read her lips while she put the barriers on us. I was surprised you managed to teleport us after the barriers went up – wouldn’t the barriers have stopped the spell?”

Velas silently clapped in the air, apparently appreciating his method of proving his point.

“All right, you saw us. Resh, boy, do you ever sleep at all? And as for that, Banks shaped the protection spells so that they wouldn’t block travel sorcery. It’s a fairly advanced technique.”

Could she – or someone else – have also shaped the barriers so that they wouldn’t block metallic weapons? Hrm.

Taelien took a drink from his flask of water, wiping his hands on the opposite side of his now-bloodstained towel as he finished his morning meal. “Nope. Don’t think I’m going to sleep before the next test, either. Anyone up for a walk?”

Asphodel stood up immediately, drawing glances from Velas and Landen. “Yes.”

Lieutenant Torrent shook his head. “I’d advise against that. You’re going to have a lot of walking ahead of you. A lot.”

Asphodel shrugged. “Now is a proper time.”

Taelien stretched as he stood and then nodded at Asphodel. His left hand settled on the pommel of his sword, the tingling sense of the metal encasing the jewel flooding his mind with comfort. “Let’s get moving, then.”

“You two are crazy,” Landen mumbled. “I’m already half asleep. Have fun.”

“Don’t reopen that wound, Taelien.” Velas’ tone was stern. “I don’t want to have to sew you up again in the field.”

He waved at her dismissively. “What are the chances of that happening?”

***

Taelien had just stepped outside of the tent when he realized he had no idea where they were going. After a moment of consideration, he wandered over to where Caul was standing guard, Asphodel following close behind him.

“Hey, Caul.”

Caul turned, blinking widely when he took in the sight of Taelien in his uniform. “Oh, hey, wow. I barely recognized you. You look a lot better now!”

Taelien grinned. “Thanks. We’re going to go take a bit of a walk before the next test starts – any idea where we’re permitted to wander? I’m not sure what the parameters of the next test are yet.”

Caul scratched at the weak stubble on his chin. “Oh, don’t think that’ll be a problem. You’re nowhere near any of the target zones right now. Uh, guess you could head that way?” He pointed toward a dirt trail that led toward the nearby forest. “A couple hours of walking isn’t going to give you an advantage.”

“Right. Thanks for all the help, Caul.”

“No problem! Glad to help.” The youth beamed brightly, waving as the pair walked toward the trail.

He still didn’t even notice my sword. Bah.

Asphodel remained silent as they walked, her expression troubled. He expected that she would speak when she was ready – which more than likely meant when they were out of earshot from everyone else.

The trail itself was thin enough that they couldn’t quite walk two abreast, but the trail was lined with soft grass, so the pair ended up walking on either side of the trail rather than directly on the dirt. The transition into the forest was abrupt, as if someone had deliberately planted a wall of trees to mark the entry into a new domain.

The sounds of birdsong and the feeling of the grass beneath his boots reminded him of simpler times – the hunts of his youth and the exertion of his days as a Kovasi player near Selyr. The trees were thicker here, though, and their bark was grey-white rather than the verdant colors of his home.

The silence gave Taelien time to consider his situation – the failure of his barrier had not been an isolated incident. While his barrier had sustained significant damage before it had failed during this fight with the illusory Kyrzon Dek, he did not remember it activating at all when he was encased in Lysen’s ice.

So, is someone deliberately sabotaging my barriers, or am I missing something? And, if it’s deliberate, why? Just another form of test, or is someone actually trying to have me injured or killed?

The wet grass and the mud beneath were malleable enough that Taelien was easily able to detect other recent tracks as they walked – many of the footsteps veered onto and off the dirt trail, indicating a casual or meandering pace. He noted at least two different sizes of boot prints, and the footsteps couldn’t have been more than a day old.

That’s probably platoon one or platoon three,
he realized.
They were sent down this path for the next test – and we’ll probably be going this same way again later. That’s why Torrent didn’t want me to waste my time.

The idea of having to retrace the path later didn’t bother him. Getting familiar with the terrain would provide him with an advantage if the test involved traps or ambushes along the road, and he couldn’t imagine any scenario that didn’t involve at least some kind of physical challenge or surprise.

When Asphodel had failed to raise her voice after they had wandered for several minutes, Taelien turned to her. “You seemed enthusiastic to come with me. Did you want to talk about something?”

“Your dream,” she replied immediately. “You still haven’t told me about it.”

“Is that really important? I can barely remember it.”

Asphodel paused in her step, reaching out for his arm and turning him toward her. Taelien blinked. “It may be a fragment of a puzzle that I must solve.”

He nodded, gesturing with his left hand toward the road, and she released her grip on his arm.
She’s strong – she wasn’t putting in much effort there, but her grip was as firm as stone. Might be as strong as I am.

“I don’t remember everything – it’s been days. The part that burned into my mind was confronting a hooded man. Like a child’s drawing of a dark sorcerer, complete with empty cowl.” He frowned. “There were corpses, too. Walking corpses.”

She resumed walking and he absently paced her. “I had my sword – I tried to fight – but the runes dimmed and died. I don’t think it meant anything; I’ve had dreams about failing to use the Sae’kes before. It’s probably just something that worries me.”

Asphodel’s lips tightened into a line. “Where did this battle take place?”

“Here, I think. I mean in Velthryn – I’m not sure if we’re actually still in Velthryn right now or not. But it was in the city, at least at first. I remember being in a dark place, too. Not sure if that was before or after I saw the city streets, it’s kind of a blur at this point.”

“Was there nothing else?”

Taelien closed his eyes, trying to recall the details of the dream. The walking corpses. He was running through the streets and through the darkness. And then there was the man with the cowl.

And there was a body. His own body.

“I saw my own corpse. The cloaked man said something to me about it, but I can’t remember what it was.”

Asphodel looked away. “That is much as I feared.”

Well, that’s disconcerting.

“You’re implying I dreamed of my own death?” Taelien folded his arms. “I mean, now that I’ve seen that, I’m pretty sure I can avoid running into any streets that consist entirely of darkness.”

Asphodel laughed. It was a brief, fickle thing – a melodic sound like a single strum of a lute. Taelien found something lovely in that sound, something worth remembering.

She shook her head. “It is not your fate you saw, but that of the man you replaced. I do not know his name – but I believe he fell in that battle. And I believe he rose again anew.”

Ah, the man I “replaced” again. The man with the carnivorous heart.