Merchants and Mages (Highmage's Plight Book 2) (23 page)

Raven sniffed the air and bounded over to the window. She peered past the blinds and looked out. She blinked and mentally whispered,
Fa––ther?

 
George swayed, not hearing her, as he leaned heavily upon the staff, while Se’and and Fri’il watched in growing concern.

 
Raven left the window, shimmered and changed to human form. “Se’and,” she said. “Look.”

 
“What?” Se’and muttered, then went to the window and glanced out. She stared, then turned back to glare at her idiot lord, “Oh, you’ve gone and done it this time.”

 
“Huh?” Fri’il asked.

 
“The whole damn city’s gone.”

Underhill Reality

Chapter 40

S
lap. Slap.

“Ow,” George muttered.

 
Se’and shouted, “Good, you’re awake. You’ve really done it this time!”

 
“Huh?”

 
“I thought you were going to just strengthen the wards, not… whatever it is you’ve done!” Se’and yelled.

 
He swayed, “What are you talking about?”

She threw the blinds over the window wide. He blinked, knowing he should be seeing buildings across the street, not a forest. “Scan,” he muttered.

  “Engaging,” he heard himself reply.

 
“Staff?” he muttered.

 
“Scan’s limited to current environs,” he heard himself say.

 
“Staff!” he shouted.

 
Se’and and Fri’il were staring at him as Raven opened the door and shimmered, returning to lupine form. She sniffed, then raced out to investigate.

 
“Commencing diagnostic,” George heard himself say.

 
“Je’orj?” Se’and said.

 
“Give us a moment.”

 
Raven reentered the room,
The inn larger –– much larger.

They finished enchanting the first sword. The Faeryn mages looked at each other, “I don’t feel tired,” one said.             

 
“Me, neither,” Master Kith said.

 
Master Galt glanced at Dustin, who was edging toward the boundaries of the ward. “Don’t! With the wards set we can save energies and time starting on the second one, unless anyone really feels they need a break.”

 
“I feel really good,” a journeyman said.

 
The oldest mage said, “Galt, I’ve never felt better in my life. We should enchant swords more often.”

 
Galt frowned, having had a similar thought himself. “Let’s get to it, then. It’s not like we’ve all the time in the world before the Mage Guild catches on.”

“Go up there!” his wife shouted.

 
“But…”

 
“No, buts, ands, or ifs… find out what they’ve done to our inn!”

 
“Uh, yes, dear…”   

 
He went upstairs, and upstairs, and upstairs. He looked back downstairs at
his wife and the staff, all cousins of hers although this inn had been in his family for generations, were staring back up and him.

 
“Get up there!”

 
“Uh, yes, dear…”

 
He went upstairs again. He groaned, it was going to be a long night; although, it was daylight outside. Actually, it looked kind of peaceful, all things considered. He glanced back, thinking it was much more peaceful than dealing with his wife and her irritating relatives.

Enchanting the second sword seemed almost effortless, Galt thought, as they completed the forms. He gestured to Dustin, who opened the door to the next room, and stopped and stared, “Uh, Master Galt.”

 
“What, lad?”

 
“There wasn’t a corridor here before, was there?”

 
“What?”

Ten curious Faeryn mages were difficult to prevent from exploring, but Master Galt had been the one left in charge for a reason. “No one goes out there! First, we figure out what we’ve done.”

 
“What have we done, Galt?” Master Daffid said.

 
“Do you think this is Guild magery?” Galt retorted.

 
That brought laughter. “Point taken,” Master Kith muttered.

 
“So, is it me, or do all of us look like we’ve just woken up refreshed after

a good night’s sleep rather than after two major enchantments?” Galt

asked.

 
“I’m not even hungry and I was ravenous after working in the making of that other bane sword at the Hall,” Haft said.

 
“Is anyone hungry?” Galt asked.

 
“Uh, I feel full,” Dustin offered.

 
Galt nodded, “So do I… Now why is that?”

 
Dustin said, “I, uh, read a comment, uh, somewhere about something like this.”

 
“In one of those books Talik had you liberate?” Master Snide asked.

 
“Um, yeah,” he said in a small voice.

 
“What was it in reference to, lad?” Galt asked.

 
“Something called a ‘node.’”

 
“A what?”

 
“Oh, oh,” Master Haft said, “my grandfather warned me to never tap one.”

 
“What is it?” Galt asked.

 
“Grandfather told me to never speak of it –– elves had a tendency to die after talking about them when he was child,” Haft stated. “No one seemed to know his Master had even given him a basic lesson in them.”

 
“Well, seeing as how we may die not knowing, we defer to your teachings, old friend,” Galt said.

 
Master Haft nodded, “The Empire is built on nodes, they harness

power and used to feed the wards of say, the palace or the city… and grandfather said they could do other things, but if you accidentally tapped one, well, rather bad things could happen.”

  “Like what?”

 
“He warned they could kill you, if you didn’t know what you were doing.”

 
“Did he?” Galt asked Master Haft.

 
“No, but we don’t, either.”

 
A journeyman went to the front door and looked down another long corridor. “We can’t just stay here.”

 
“Well, we’re not splitting up!” Galt said. He glanced at the wards which were glowing on the ceiling, actually bright enough they were provide substantial light. “We’re going to explore the wards and see if we can’t return to a, uh, proper perspective.”

 
He gestured and everyone sat, knowing this could take a while.

A Night Not to Remember

Chapter 41

“J
e’orj, what are
we
going to do?” Se’and asked.

 
“Well, I got us into this mess,” he muttered.

 
“You did not do it alone,” he heard himself reply.

 
“Staff, do shut up.”

 
“Now, that is rather impolite. I am trying to help, after all,” he heard himself say.

 
Se’and shook her head, glancing at the glowing staff. “You really are alive, aren’t you?”

 
“Of course, I am, Se’and,” Staff replied. “George, I have an idea.”

 
“Oh, let me guess, we’re going to try to undo what we did before.”

 
“Well, do you have a better idea?”

 
“No.”

 
Fri’il shook her head, seeing Je’orj talk to himself. “Raven, do they talk to each other like

that all the time?”

  “Yep.”

 
“George, you know what could happen after we do this level of prime functional,” Staff said.

 
“I know… Se’and, there’s a very good chance that I’m going to do more than pass out.”

 
She glanced at Fri’il, “Je’orj, then how about you get in bed first. Picking you up off the floor and getting you into bed’s becoming quite tedious.”

 
Frowning, he nodded, “I suppose that could save time.”

 
“It is not like I enjoy the experience, either, George,” he heard himself add.

 
“Raven, if this works, we’re bound to have guests.”

 
“Servant?”

 
“Yes,” he said, “you’ll have to wear clothes.”

 
“But you not.”

 
Se’and chuckled, “He’s going to get rather cold, my dear.”

 
“Rather fast,” Fri’il added. “It’s going to be no fun at all.”

  “Small favors,” he muttered; undressing and trying not to pay attention to Se’and and Fri’il doing the same as he tried not to contemplate this primitive but effective means of fighting hypothermia.

The eleven mages raised magefire which rose out of their hands and shot to the center of the circle, linking their energies. Master Galt became the focus as the wards around them began to blaze.

“Grandfather told me the nodes each have names,” Haft offered as he remembered, “named for the place they serve!”   

 
“Lyai,” Galt muttered and all the Faeryn began to chorus. “Lyai!”

“How’s this?” Se’and whispered in his ear.

 
“Um,” he muttered with the staff under the covers with him. He hoped the added contact might mitigate the worst of what this level primary functional might do to him. “Staff, let’s just do this.”

 
Fri’il kissed him, “Good luck.”

 
“We are going to need it,” he heard himself say.

 
George glanced at the hilt of the bane sword she had slipped under the covers. “Keep that handy, but not too handy.”

 
“Yes, dear,” she replied, chuckling.

 
He set his head back onto his pillow, “Engage, level one rapport.”

 
:Engaging.:

 
The staff blazed with light that showed even through the heavy blankets. Se’and muttered, “Is it me, or is it already getting cold

under here?”

  Raven hurried to the bed, “What wrong?”

 
“Uh,” Fri’il replied, glancing under the blankets, “there’s frost on Staff.” Her teeth began to chatter.

 
Se’and muttered, “That’s different.”

 
Raven frowned fearing the two women would not be able to crack the building ice.

 
“Staff?” she muttered.

#

Enrapport, Staff and George felt like they were scanning downward toward the node, seemingly, for hours not minutes.
:George, we are not alone.:

 
“I see that.” he muttered.

 
:There are eleven of them.:

  It’s got to be the Faeryn,
George thought.

  :We will never be able to undo the link unobserved.:

  Well, what about moving it?

  :The probability of our successfully transferring the link and not…:
Staff began.

  “Probabilities?” George whispered. “What’s the probability we’d fall through an elvin gate across the universe?”

  :Point taken. So, where would you like to transfer it to?:

 
“Oh, I can think of one place.”

The node found itself no longer alone. It felt the twisting of a recently awoken linkage, and now had the ability to warn of the dangerous energy levels. Yet, the elvin presences did not seem to understand…

 
Very well, tutorial mode engaged.

  Knowledge filled them, offering LY–AI new conduits, and… the awoken linkage transferred locus. The node was confused, but satisfied as its conduits recognized the newly selected position.

  It approved.
Very well, disengaging tutorial mode
.

George opened his frost covered eyes as Se’and and Fri’il chaffed and warmed him as best they could. “Je’orj, thank the Lords, you’re back.”

 
“Wha…?”

 
Fri’il impulsively kissed him, “This was the worst ever. You nearly froze.”

 
“You nearly froze us!”

 
There was a knock at the bedroom door. “Um.”

 
Raven opened the door a crack.

 
“Uh, we’ve finished the bane swords,” they heard Dustin say.

 
Raven nodded.

 
“The sword we promised will need to be keyed to Lady Se’and,” he added.