Veilspeaker (Pharim War Book 2) (9 page)

“Could Varin have hidden it from Villia somehow?”

Sharim shook his head and motioned to the ceiling. Jez
could imagine the stars dancing there. When Sharim saw the expression on Jez’s
face, he nodded. “Villia is one of the most skilled illusionists in the
kingdom. Certainly, there’s no one within a hundred miles that can match her.”

“What about Lina?”

Sharim let out a bark of laughter, but it only lasted
a few seconds. “I’m sorry. Lina is good. There’s no doubt about that, but
Villia is something else entirely. I heard she turned down the position of
Shadow Master at the Academy. There’s no way Lina could fool her.”

An idea struck Jez. “Could she fool you?”

“What?”

“Could she fool you? You said you thought someone was
there. Could she have been in the room when we were there, hidden by some
illusion.”

“It’s possible,” Sharim said slowly.

“What if she made the illusion of the circle?”

Sharim looked up at him. “You mean it might not have
really been there?”

Jez shrugged. “Villia was right. If it was there, I
should’ve been able to smell it, but we both saw it.”

Sharim bit his lower lip and considered that for a
second. His eyes wandered to the ceiling, no doubt envisioning Villia’s stars
instead of the plain brown stone.

“It makes sense,” he said finally. “Why would she do
it though?”

Jez stood up, certain he was on to something. “So I
would do exactly what I did. She knew Villia wouldn’t find a circle because
there was nothing to find. By making it so the king won’t listen to me, she’s
made sure he won’t believe me if I accuse her.”

“Accuse her of what?”

“Of trying to summon a demon lord.”

Sharim stared at him for a second. “Don’t you think
you’re jumping to conclusions?”

Jez shook his head. “You don’t understand. Even if it
was just an illusion, those were real runes. She has to have seen them
somewhere and studied them at least well enough to duplicate them.” He started
walking toward the door. He pulled it open and turned around. “Come on. What
are you waiting for?”

“Where are we going?”

“We’re going to search Lina’s room for proof.”

Sharim blinked. “How do you suggest we get in? I don’t
think we’re going to talk our way through the guards this time.”

Jez ran his fingers along the wall and closed his
eyes. He sent his power flowing through the stone until it became like putty to
his mind. He concentrated and the wall rippled, forming a hole no larger than
Jez’s fist. Sharim gasped and Jez opened his eyes.

“The room next to hers won’t be so well guarded.”

As it turned out, the room next to
Lina’s quarters was well guarded. It belonged to one of her personal attendants
and had direct access to her chamber. The room above, however, was an empty
storage chamber filled with boxes and covered in dust. Jez pried one open,
kicking up a cloud of dust that set him coughing for several seconds. Inside
the crate, he found a faded tapestry with the ends frayed. He put the cover
back on and returned his attention to the floor. He knelt and ran his fingers
across it, leaving a trail in the dust. He closed his eyes and concentrated.

He sensed the ward just before it slapped him in the
face.

The next thing Jez knew, he was on the ground three
feet away from where he’d been. A low chime rang in the air, but it faded after
a second. Sharim rushed to his side.

“What happened?”

Jez shook his head. “I should’ve realized this way
wouldn’t be unprotected. That chime was supposed to be an alarm, but it looks
like no one’s bothered to maintain it.”

“Does that mean you can’t get through?”

“Give me a second.”

Once again, Jez extended his senses into the stone,
but this time, he did so slowly. He found himself clucking his tongue. The ward
was terrible. Thick cords of power ran through the stone, ready to lash out at
any energy that tried to cross. They were strong, but strong like diamonds were
strong. One hit delivered in the proper manner could shatter them. He could
probably do it. It wouldn’t even be that difficult. He considered it for a
second before rejecting the idea. The ward itself may have fallen into
disrepair, but if he were to break it entirely, his efforts might well be
noticed. He would do no one any good if he ended up in a cell next to Osmund.

Gingerly, he touched one of the chords of power
without trying to move past it. It quivered, but didn’t attack. Slowly, he
wrapped his consciousness around it and pulled, trying to get it out of his
way, but it was like trying to move a house. It moved, but only a fraction of
an inch before snapping back into place. Briefly, he considered using
Luntayary’s power, but that was risky in the best of times. Fortunately, there
was another source of power nearby. His eyes locked on Sharim.

“Have you ever formed a contingent?”

“Once. Mage Villia showed me.”

“I think we need one.”

“It took us an hour to form it.”

Jez shrugged. “Do you have anything better to do?”

“I’m not sure we should be doing this.”

“It’s this or go back,” Jez said.

Sharim sighed. “What do we use for the joining
thought?”

Jez pointed to the box containing the tapestry. “Let’s
try that.”

They both concentrated. In order to form a contingent
to combine a portion of their power, they needed to have the exact same thought
while attempting to interweave their magical senses. The more complicated the
thought, the more completely they could join their power. It was difficult even
with a simple image, but all they needed to set it off was one instant of
shared thought.

The moment their powers touched, Jez cried out. His
mind felt like it was on fire. He realized he had fallen and picked himself off
the ground. He looked at the other boy who was rubbing his head, though he
seemed to have kept his feet.

“What happened?”

“We didn’t match up. What were you thinking of?”

Sharim pointed. “That box.”

Jez’s vision swam, and it was several seconds before
he could maintain his balance. He let out a breath. “We were looking at it from
different angles.”

Sharim blinked several times before nodding. “How
about just a black background?”

“Maybe,” Jez said. “I’m just not sure that would
provide enough power.”

“We have to start somewhere.”

Jez shrugged. “I guess so.”

He formed the background in his mind. Even such a
simple image, it was difficult. There was the black of coal and the black of
night, and Master Balud had several figures carved of a black wood. In the end,
Jez focused on the obsidian of the Academy tower. As long as he could get close
to Sharim’s thought, they should be able to establish a link, though it may not
be very effective. Again, he tried to join his senses with Sharim’s. This time,
they formed a tenuous link. Images were superimposed onto Jez’s sight. It was
like he could see himself, though it was only a dim outline.

“What?”

His voice seemed to come from two places at once,
though one was much fainter. Sharim tried to take a step, but fell. Jez’s
vision shifted, and he felt a faint tingling on his elbow. Sharim was rubbing
his own elbow, and a bruise had started to form.

“Let’s get this over with,” Jez said, trying to ignore
the peculiar doubling of his own voice.

Sharim nodded, and the movement made Jez feel dizzy,
and he had to grab onto the crate to keep his balance. When Besis had shown him
this technique, it hadn’t been nearly this disorienting. Of course that link
had taken a full hour to establish, and Jez wondered if there was something he
was missing, but he had neither the time nor the means to figure that out.

He closed his eyes. It helped, but he was left with a
faint afterimage. He could see himself, and he guessed the image was coming
from Sharim’s eyes. Before he could ask the other boy to close his eyes, the
vision vanished. Jez drew power from Sharim and joined it with his own. A wave
of nausea washed over him, and he resisted the urge to double over and throw
up. Sharim’s power felt like an oily slime going down his throat. It felt so
alien, and he had to fight the instinct to pull away. Instead, he extended
their combined senses, wrapping them around one of the ward's chords.

Jez grunted as he pulled. For a second, it seemed like
nothing would happen. Then, the darkness flowing in from Sharim swelled. The
chord moved an inch. Then another. Sweat formed on Jez’s brow, and he pulled
with everything he had. Slowly, the chord moved, opening the way to the stone
itself. The ground rippled, and a circular hole appeared in the floor between
them. It expanded slowly until it was wide enough for them to fit through. Jez
let out a breath and released Sharim’s power. The other boy slumped to the
floor, but Jez peered down the hole and into Lina’s quarters.

Lina’s room was surprisingly empty.
The bed looked wide enough to sleep ten and had a golden frame that was
probably worth more than most people see in a lifetime, and there was a cabinet
of rose wood in one corner, but those were the only pieces of furniture. Even
the walls were bare. He looked up at Sharim. The other boy was rummaging around
in the storage crates. He pulled out a rope and passed it to Jez.

“Lower me down,” he said. “I’ll look around and you
can raise me back up.”

“Don’t you think it should be me?”

Sharim shook his head. “You’re no good with illusions.
If there’s something hidden there, I should be the one to look for it.”

“You don’t know what you’re looking for,” Jez said.

Sharim rolled his eyes. “A book with a lot of runes,
right?”

“There are a lot of different kinds of runes.”

“But Lina supposedly only knows illusions. That’s not
a school that uses very many runes, and I know all of those. Besides, it’s not
likely she’ll have a book of demon summoning out in the open. So I’ll just
bring back any hidden book filled with runes I don’t recognize.”

Jez didn’t like it, but Sharim had a point. He nodded,
and the other boy tied the rope around his waist. Sharim was plump and a little
taller than Jez. Jez grunted as he held Sharim’s weight. It was easier than he
expected. In addition to studying magic and a variety of other subjects at the
Academy, Jez had spent time learning the sword, and hours of practice had
hardened his muscles. He lowered Sharim to the ground in a few seconds and
peaked into the hole to watch as Sharim examined the room.

Sharim opened the cabinet. It was mostly gowns and
other clothes, but half a dozen books lined a shelf at the top. Sharim ran his
fingers along the spines and pulled one out. He thumbed through the pages
before shaking his head and returning it to the shelf. He lowered his head and
concentrated. A few seconds later, he looked to one side. He glanced up and
smiled before walking to the other side of the room, outside of Jez’s sight.
There was a flash of violet and Sharim came back with a leather-bound book that
had cracks on the cover.

“I think this is it. It was hidden behind a loose
stone in the wall. There was an illusion over it to make it look smooth.”

“Did you put the illusion back?”

“Oh right.”

Sharim looked to where he’d gotten the book for a
second. “There. Pull me back up.”

Jez grunted and braced himself. He pulled, and Sharim
inched up. The rope was old and it hurt Jez’s hands. His muscles ached by the
time he’d brought the other boy high enough for him to climb out. Restoring
stone in the floor proved no great challenge, though it didn’t exactly match
the rest of the floor. Jez hoped the other side was at least close enough not
to be noticed right away, but there was nothing more he could do. He took the
book from Sharim and opened it. It was so old that the spine cracked.
 
The book was written in a language Jez didn’t
know, though he recognized it as one he’d known once, before Sariel had locked
his memories away. His eyes locked onto a symbol of a closed eye cut in half.

“Marrowit.”

The word escaped his lips before he realized he’d
spoken. Sharim was staring at him. His jaw had dropped and his eyes were so
wide it was almost funny. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before he
was able to speak.

“We...” The word came out as a squeak. Sharim took a
deep breath and cleared his throat. “We were right? She’s really trying to
summon a demon lord?”

Jez nodded. “Yes.” He flipped through the pages, but
aside from an occasional rune, he had no idea what any of it meant. “This must
be how Dusan learned to summon Marrowit. Who knows what else it says.”

“How did Lina get it?”

“I have no idea.” He lifted the book. “Will this be
enough to convince the king?”

Sharim started to nod, but let out a breath and shook
his head. “We have no way to prove where we got it. We could put it back, but
then we’d have to convince the king to have her room searched.”

“He wouldn’t do that,” Jez said, “not after finding
nothing in Varin’s room”

“Maybe we can manipulate her into incriminating
herself. If she accuses openly us of taking the book...”

Jez started pacing. The rope got tangled in his legs
and he kicked it away. “Again with the subtly. We don’t have time.”

Sharim put a hand on Jez’s shoulder. “We have the
book, and from what you’re telling me, she couldn’t summon Marrowit even if she
had it.”

“She might be able to adapt it.”

“But not without the book. We may have, at least,
bought a little time.”

“Fine,” Jez said as he forced himself to calm down,
“but I’m going to warn Osmund.”

“Maybe it would be better if you didn’t.” Jez glared
at him, but Sharim only shrugged. “I only mean that he’s accused of murder. If
you’re seen as being too close to him, it could damage your reputation even
more. You don’t want to give Lina anything else she can use against you.”