The Baldari (Book 3) (61 page)

“What are we going to do?” Lyes asked when it was clear they had successfully eluded the Brryn.  “The cave is gone and they will be watching the area.  Even the remains of the old farmhouse would be too close.  They would spot us.”

“We will have to be very careful.  They can’t know what we are doing, but as Lyes says they will be watching.  We will have to hope another location will work as well.  You and Kaler spent days in the area.  We need someplace else.  Someplace within a day’s ride would be best.”

“That far,” Lyes asked.  “How will Rigo find us?”

“Think how far the Great Chasm is from the cave, yet Koess was able to find the portal.  I think distances are different in the Void.  We’ll have to hope that is the case.  I think it would be wise to limit the time the portal is active, and most likely we will have to move to a new location each day.  That will have to suffice.  We also need to warn Jeen.  It would be unwise for anyone to return to the cave.”

It occurred to Rigo he was approaching this situation all wrong.  They had been lucky in the valley against the Brryn.  In fact, he had been lucky quite often in the past.  It dawned on him that might be part of what Ash’urn had tried to tell him.  Rigo counted on his luck and magic to get him through all too often.  He had other abilities.  In fact, Ash’urn had passed him a great deal of knowledge, as well as his ability to think through a problem.  Rigo suspected that Ash’urn wouldn’t let the apparent impossibilities stop him from accomplishing his goal.  Rigo couldn’t think of a single case where the scholar hadn’t been able to offer some kind of help when they were in trouble.

Koess had led them through the Void to the right place. He had found the information, and said it was at Rigo’s fingertips.  Rigo couldn’t let his fear for Mitty make him rash and careless.  He had to use that concern to focus himself and make certain he didn’t fail.

Koess had made it clear that none of his magic worked here.  He had said as much when he had been recovered the first time, and his demonstration shortly after they had entered the Void was very conclusive.  But, Rigo was stronger than Koess.  Not only that, he was something more.  Koess was a wizard.  Rigo was now a mage.  He had extensive ability in both disciplines of magic.  In addition, he had a high concentration of Brryn blood, activated by contact with the strange amplifier the Brryn had created.  His abilities should be far greater.  It was possible, maybe even likely, that he could do more than Koess even in this prohibitive environment.

“Keep trying,” Koess was urging.  “It takes a little time to get the knack of it.”

From what Koess had told him, Rigo was certain it took more than a little time.  He pushed back from the crystal he had been attempting to probe and looked at Koess.  He reached inside and triggered the
Linking
spell, feeling the power of it grow and expand towards the other.  He was so certain it was going to work, that the failure for the
Link
to form came as a physical shock. 

Koess had guessed what he was attempting, and said, “I told you it wouldn’t work.  You will need to learn to do this yourself.”

Rigo’s mind spun.  He had been so certain his additional capability would overcome the limitations posed by the Void.  Koess had been right.  His magic was blocked.  Then he recalled how it had been in the valley.  Their magic had been blocked then as well.  Ash’urn was mortally wounded, and there was no way to heal him.  Yet he had managed to somehow pass on to Rigo the knowledge that had helped them succeed.

What was it Ash’urn had said?  It’s not exactly magic.  That was it.  He had taken Rigo’s arm and then acted.  Rigo knew somehow that the intimate contact had been necessary.  Somehow the skin to skin link had made the transfer possible.  Maybe, just maybe, he could do something similar here.  Rigo reached out and grabbed Koess’s left arm in his hand.

“You try and read the crystal,” Rigo ordered.  “Find the spell we need and see what happens.”

“I can’t . . ,” Koess started to argue, but Rigo squeezed his arm tighter.

“Try,” he urged.

Koess shrugged and moved over to the wall of crystal. He placed his hand where he had showed Rigo to put his own, and concentrated.  Rigo wasn’t sure what he expected or exactly what he was supposed to do, but let his mind focus on its own.  Ash’urn’s memories were in there somewhere.  Hopefully they would take control.

Then he felt it.  He could see what Koess was getting from the wall.  Koess sensed it as well.

“How?” he asked, but Rigo said nothing, fearing speaking might disturb the connection.

It wasn’t a true
Link
.  This was something else, and unlike the connection with Ash’urn, it was horribly slow and draining.  Knowing the importance of what they were getting, Rigo gritted his teeth and forced his mind to stay focused.  After what seemed forever, he realized they had done it.  He had acquired the spell.  He broke contact and stepped back from Koess.

“It worked, didn’t it?” Koess said as he too stepped back from the wall.

“I got the one spell,” Rigo agreed.  “I don’t know if I can execute it.”

“Try it,” Koess urged.  “It can’t do any damage.”

Rigo nodded, but turned away from the wall where he had acquired the knowledge.  There was more there he hoped to get, assuming this worked.  It took a moment to get the sense of the new magic.  It was different somehow, and combined more things than he was accustomed to.  Then it clicked into place.  As he watched, the spiral beam of complex energies flowed out of his hands toward the wall he had targeted.

Each spiral twisted and changed in color as it flowed across the space between himself and the targeted wall.  It seemed to rotate as it moved.  Linked with it, and out of phase color-wise, were two additional spirals.  Each flowed along with the first, and each passed through the full color spectrum, but at any location the three were distinctly different.  The beam struck the wall and did nothing, just like all the other magic down here.  Rigo had to assume it would work like the beams the Brryn used in the real world.  He wouldn’t be able to test to be sure until they returned.

Koess whooped with enthusiasm.  “I told you.  Didn’t I tell you?”

“Let’s try again,” he said.  “There is more to be had.”

Once again they formed a connected pair, and for an even longer time Rigo forced his attention on the trickle of knowledge that flowed from the wall, through Koess, and into his mind.  When he had gained everything of immediate use the wall contained, he broke the contact, and suggested they examine other locations.  There was far more magic locked in the crystal, but Rigo had learned how to direct his searching even though it was Koess who was making the contact.  The magic was not something that would be of immediate use against the Brryn, and given the time it took to recover it, he simply couldn’t make the attempt.  He needed specific abilities, and then he needed to get back.

They moved from wall to wall.  Rigo acquired the three combat magics he had seen the Brryn use, and several varieties of more powerful shields.  Increasingly he grew frustrated as he found nothing that addressed the strange magic that held Mitty trapped.  Finally, they had visited each of the locations that Koess knew of where magic was locked in the crystals.

“That’s the last one,” Koess said sadly.  “I’m sorry Rigo.  I know you haven’t found what you are seeking.”

“Perhaps we missed something,” Rigo said hopefully, looking around, his eyes much more in tune to the strange sights of the Void.

“We didn’t,” Koess assured him.  “I was here a long time.  I know exactly how many sites there are here.  We have visited them all.”

Rigo didn’t want to accept what Koess was saying.  He felt he had the magic to match the Brryn, but not what he needed to release Mitty.  He must have missed something.  He wanted to check again, but something in the back of his mind warned him it would be futile.  If he hadn’t found it here, he would have to go back and take it from the Brryn.  Time must be growing short.  He didn’t know how long they had been in the Void.  Time didn’t mean much here, and he hadn’t been paying any attention. 

Feeling defeated, he turned to Koess.  “Take us back.  It isn’t here, and Nycoh will need what I have learned.  It will be two against three, but at least we have a chance now.”

Koess looked around, and then headed off in a direction Rigo thought had to be wrong.  Once again they moved between a series of meaningless tunnels.  In a much shorter time than it had taken them to travel from the portal to the memory walls, Koess stopped and announced they were back.

Rigo knew that Koess had to be mistaken, and asked about the speed with which they had returned. 

“Distances change in the Void,” Koess replied as if that explained it.

Rigo had little choice but to accept Koess knew what he was doing.  There was zero chance Rigo could have found his way around.  It all looked similar to him.

“Where’s the portal?” he asked, hoping Koess had sensed it and that was why he was so confident they had returned to the right place.

“It’s not here,” he said.  “Perhaps they had to close it down.  We will just have to wait until they open the way once again.”

Rigo knew that shutting down the portal had been a very real possibility, and tried to convince himself that was the likely reason they hadn’t found it, as opposed to the worrisome possibility Koess had brought them to the wrong spot.  With little other choice, they settled down to wait.

An indeterminate time later, Koess suddenly pointed in another direction.  “It’s over there,” he said.

“I thought you said it was supposed to be here?” Rigo asked.

“They must have moved it,” Koess said.  “Come on, let’s go.”

Rigo could still not sense the portal, and wondered if Koess really did.  He was tempted to connect with him again just to verify what he was saying, but Koess was already on the move.  Rigo hurried after him.

“See,” Koess said sometime later.  “Here it is.”

Rigo was unable to detect anything, so Koess pointed him carefully and guided him down one of the tunnels.  Just about the time Rigo was convinced he was simply headed down one of the infinite pathways, he suddenly stepped out of the Void and into a heavily treed enclosure.  This wasn’t the cave where they had started, but his friends were waiting. 

Daria wasn’t one to show emotion openly, but she wrapped Rigo in an embrace that would have created some issue had Mitty been there. 

“We’re okay,” Rigo finally managed as he pulled himself free of the bear hug that Daria still held around him.  He looked back to verify that Koess had indeed followed him out of the portal.

As soon as Koess stepped free, Nycoh closed the portal, and to Rigo’s surprise opened a dozen normal ones. 

“We must go.  Quickly.  The Brryn have been looking for us.”

Following the others, Rigo and Koess made their way through a series of portals, eventually ending up at the hideaway in the Ruins.

The hideout in the Ruins was actually a very good spot to go for safety.  No one other than a small fraction of the wizards and Casters even knew it existed.  For most of those, it had probably been a very long time since they had been there, if at all.  Those who had visited had almost certainly traveled via the
Bypass
that had once existed in the library at the Outpost, and hence they really didn’t know where it was.  Only Rigo and his closest friends had actually crossed the desert to find it.  Even better, any thoughts of the place were almost certainly buried in among years of random memories.  It was not a place that would be a recently visited location, so if the Brryn were tapping the memories of any captured wizards, it was unlikely they would stumble onto its existence.  At best, they would know there was a place somewhere in the Ruins.  The Ruins were a big place.

Once they were safe from being tracked, everyone relaxed somewhat.  No one had been to Daim’s hideout since Rigo had left, and they all took a long look at Mitty.  The barrier was in place exactly as before, and while no one could really tell, Rigo thought she looked paler than she had before he’d left for the trip into the Void.  It might have just been his worry, but it was possible being trapped inside the field was starting to affect her.  Rigo reached out and ran his hand along the solid edge of the cylinder.  He no longer feared that such an action would trigger the sleeping response.  The shields he had acquired in the Void made him every bit as immune as the Brryn were.  Unfortunately he hadn’t found anything that would release Mitty.

“That was quite a show with all those portals,” Rigo said.  “I had never thought of doing something like that.”

“We had an encounter with the Brryn and had to use that approach to escape,” Nycoh said.  “They found us, perhaps the rod alerted them somehow.  They built the things, and may be more sensitive to its magic than we are.  They destroyed the cave, and we barely got away in time.  The multiple
Bypasses
confused them and they weren’t able to track us.  I’m not sure how many times we will be able to get away with that.”

“Koess and I wondered why you relocated the portal,” Rigo said.  “Had I been thinking faster you wouldn’t have gone to so much trouble making all those portals.  I can move us using the Brryn means of travel now.  Even they would be unable to trace that.”

“Well I hope they follow some of my dead ends,” Nycoh said.  “A couple of them open up over the lava pits you found in the Ruins.  Maybe that would surprise them a little.”

“You found the magic?” Jeen asked.  She was encouraged by his claim to have acquired at least some of the Brryn’s secrets.

“Some of it,” Rigo said.

“Just some of it?” Lyes asked.

“There were difficulties accessing the magic recorded in the Void.  Much of it seemed to be irrelevant to the task at hand.  It would have taken too long to try and get everything that was available.”

“What kinds of things did you find?” Nycoh asked.

“I’ve already mentioned their
Transfer
capability.  That will allow me, and I’m hoping at the very least Nycoh, to move around undetected.  We won’t have to rely solely on Suline to mask our movements.  The special shield they use was there as well.  Actually a couple of variations of it.  I also found the three fighting spells we have observed.  There was a fourth, but it is so destructive I can’t see how it would be useful.”

“What about something to help Mitty?” Daria asked.

Rigo hung his head.  “Nothing,” he said softly.

“You can’t use their fighting magic to break through the spell that holds her?” Lyes asked.  “We have seen that break through our own protection often enough.”

“That would be a very last resort.  I suspect I can destroy the cylinder, but it is likely I would kill Mitty in the process of doing so.  There has to be a more direct and much safer approach.”

“Where will you be able to find that?” Kaler asked.

“One of the Brryn is going to tell me,” Rigo said angrily.

“Those few spells are all that they have that we don’t?” Jeen asked, not wanting Rigo to become fixated on Mitty’s predicament.

“They are stronger in everything.  They also know a great many things that we don’t.  But this handful of magic is what makes them effectively unbeatable.  What they did to create the Ruins, and the Hoplani, are areas where we have no experience.  I detected many disciplines like that.  But those things won’t be helpful in bringing them down.”

“Based on what you said a moment ago, it sounds like you don’t believe anyone other than I will be able to acquire these skills,” Nycoh said.

“I hope that I can even transfer them to you,” Rigo agreed.  “The fact Koess couldn’t acquire them suggests any who haven’t been transformed as we have, are unlikely to have the ability to learn any of the Brryn magic.  Something in the Brryn makeup, which we acquired through our ancestry, and which was somehow activated by that device in the valley, makes us different.”

“Shall we try?” Nycoh asked.  She wanted to know if it was to be two against three, or whether Rigo was going to be on his own.

“We need to know,” Rigo agreed.  “Our path forward depends on how far we can spread these abilities.”

Passing the new abilities to Nycoh was as straightforward as passing any other magic skill between wizards.  Unlike some of the beginner skills, Nycoh was able to integrate the new abilities and access them immediately.  She demonstrated to herself by raising the protective barrier that would stand against everything except the sparkling black cloud.  Nothing would stand against that, but it was difficult to employ against a person because it was slow enough moving, that stepping or
Transferring
out of its way was usually not difficult. 

Unfortunately, as Rigo had suspected, the abilities could not be passed to the others.  Neither Jeen nor Lyes was able to acquire them.  Rigo already had known that Koess wasn’t able to learn the new skills, but Jeen and Lyes were among the strongest wizards.  Lyes was a full mage, so Rigo had held out hopes, but it appeared it was just he and Nycoh.  Two against three, and the Brryn not only were fully comfortable with this magic, but might be stronger with it, and might have additional skills that Rigo hadn’t discovered in the few days in the Void.

“Will it be possible to retrieve the other magic from the Void at a later date?” Nycoh asked.  Rigo could sense that she was intrigued by the added powers, but they were mostly for combat and Nycoh clearly had an interest in the more constructive uses of magic.

“I would doubt it,” Rigo replied.  “Didn’t you indicate Jeen was concerned that the rod was weakening from the stress?”

Jeen blushed, and confessed her secret.  “There was nothing really wrong with the rod,” she said.  “I was concerned that holding the
Bypass
open might stress it, and it was the only access to getting you home.  I wanted to minimize the time it was exposed just in case.  When I examined it when we returned here, I can’t see that it has become any worse.  The crack looks unchanged.”  She looked around at the others who were surprised by her revelation.  “Also,” she added, “I was uncomfortable that its use might be able to attract the Brryn.  I cannot say why, but it might be something I sense because of the
Linking
I performed.”

“That turned out to be correct,” Daria said.  “They did find us, and it has to be because we were using the rod.”

Nycoh seemed pleased at the news, and not at all bothered she had been misled.  “So we might be able to go back.  Even though the cave is destroyed, there are obviously other locations that would serve.”

“Returning to the Void is something to be considered carefully,” Rigo said.  “It is a disturbing place, and I would have been unable to find my way.  Anyone who goes, would need Koess along.  The extended period he was forced to endure gave him the ability to function there.  I would have been lost and gone mad before accomplishing anything.”

“Perhaps he would be willing to go once again,” Nycoh said.  “Once this is all over.  There might be more to gain.”

Koess shook his head.  “I had forgotten what it was like.  It is more disturbing than I recalled.  I would prefer never to attempt it again.”

“There is another problem,” Rigo said.  “Magic doesn’t work there.  Not ours, nor that of the Brryn.  I could not access the knowledge locked in the crystals.  That is something else that Koess learned only through extended time in the Void.  Had it not been for something Ash’urn passed to me, the attempt would have failed.  There is a good chance, even if you and Koess both made the journey, you would be unable to learn what you wish.”

“You are saying that knowledge is out of reach?” Nycoh asked unhappily.

“I cannot be certain, but we need to understand the Void far better.  Perhaps the crystals could be extracted and brought back, and then accessed.  It is a matter for another day.”

“What are our next steps?” Daria asked.  “It sounded a short time ago like you intend to go after the Brryn.”

Rigo nodded.  “I have to.  They are the only ones who know how to free Mitty.  Have we learned any more about them while Koess and I were gone?”

“They continue to seek those who are gifted, both inherent wizards and Casters who are skilled in magic.  They are after us specifically.  Kytra has made appearances in the various capitals, and has made it known that she and her two friends will soon be assuming rule of all lands.  She has released a list of more than two-dozen names.  Somehow they know the senior people within the magic community.  All of our names are on the list.  She has demanded we be turned over.  Anyone known to aid us will be killed if discovered.”

Rigo looked around at the others.  “What about Daria and Kaler?” he asked.  “What about Fen?  What happened to him?”

“Kytra knows about Kaler and Daria. They are the only non-gifted on the list.  Fen was somehow overlooked.  We sent him home to stay with his family.  He is young, and a Caster, which makes it easier to conceal his ability.  Also, his family lives in a small village where he is unlikely to attract the attention of the Brryn.”

“Does he understand why he was sent away?” Rigo asked.  “He probably thinks he is being pushed away because of what happened to Mitty.”

“There might be some of that,” Nycoh admitted.  “Lyes tried to persuade him otherwise, but he feels a lot of responsibility for Mitty’s plight.”

“He had no choice,” Rigo said.  “We must make him understand he is not at fault.”

“Later,” Jeen said.  “For now, he must bear the burden.  Any trips to where he is increases the risk he will be discovered.”

Rigo sighed, but agreed.  “The Brryn come first.”  He looked at Jeen.  “What more do you know of the three of them?  Did your
Linking
provide any insights?”

“Kytra is the strongest.  Hyndl is the most vicious.  Tryll is the weakest, and the least intelligent.  If you want to target one of them, she would be my choice.”

“There is another reason to choose her,” Nycoh said.  “Kytra is seldom seen.  She makes sporadic appearances, but her attention is elsewhere.  Hyndl is most often seen in Sedfair, and along the eastern coast.  As yet, we have no idea where he stays.  He might go to stay with Kytra, wherever she is.”

“And Tryll?” Rigo asked.

“She has taken over an estate in the port city of Nulwar.  I’ve had some of our people keep a remote watch on her to see if we might learn anything useful.  There is no way to be certain the others don’t drop in on her, but her actions are consistent with one who is living alone.  I think she likes the comforts of living where there are others to gather and provide food and other conveniences.”

Rigo remembered Nulwar.  Inge had first told him about the place a long time ago.

“She’s probably our target,” Rigo agreed.

“What do you plan?” Kaler asked.

“I’m not sure just yet.  I’ll have to have a look.  Unfortunately it’s not so simple as before.  We can’t simply isolate her and kill her.  Somehow we need to capture her, isolate her from her magic, and find a way to tap into her knowledge.  All of those are major obstacles.  If we can block her magic, then a Reading might work.  Either that or a
Linking
.  There has to be a way to learn what they did to Mitty.  It might be we overpower her, render her unconscious, and keep her that way.  I’ll bet Ashli can come up with a method for doing that.  The blocking bands clearly failed, so we can’t count on them.  All of this will have to be done without alerting Kytra or Hyndl.  We cannot have them show up in the middle of our attempt.”

Rigo looked at the others. 

“This is going to be risky.”

“Simply being a wizard is high risk these days,” Lyes replied.

“What about Suline?” Rigo asked.  “Has she had any luck finding where Kytra hides out?”