Shadow of the Otherverse (The Last Whisper of the Gods Saga Book 3) (45 page)

Sorial nodded. “We have to find the book and hope it decodes the rest of this puzzle. There are things we don’t know and, given the dismal failure rate of past attempts by men with greater knowledge and experience, we’ve got to be sure. In the end, it’s a question of what we’re trying to do beyond ‘stopping Armageddon.’ Is it possible for us to physically enter the Otherverse?”

Alicia considered. “I don’t think so. At least not in our current forms. We’re made out of matter and the Otherverse is pure energy. The two are antithetical. When the energy from the Otherverse fuels magic, it goes through a conversion process. Something similar must happen in reverse, something that would transform the matter of our being into a form that would be compatible with the Otherverse. It happened to your mother and brother. They were able to communicate with you in a recognizable fashion. You knew them and they knew you.”

“They died before accomplishing that.”

Alicia was quiet for a moment. “And that may be what’s necessary for anyone to cross over.”

* * *

The last time he had left Ibitsal, with the echo of the booming voice from the Otherverse still in his ears, Sorial hadn’t thought he would ever see this place again. Yet here he was and the portal chamber looked no different than it had twenty weeks ago.

Next to him, Alicia shivered, and it wasn’t from the cold. This, after all, was the place of her rebirth. “Bad memories?” he asked.

“Strange as it may seem, I have few of this place. I remember things before I went through the portal - climbing all those stairs, listening to Maraman boast, watching what happened to Kara. But afterward - it’s all a blur. Some of it was the drugs they gave me but most was shock. My first clear memory after being pushed through the portal was seeing you arriving to rescue me - a naked, bronze god come to take me back home.”

Sorial turned to Rotgut, the only person presently inside the chamber other than himself and his wife.  The members of the so-called “wizards’ company” remained outside, watching the horses and the two dozen candidates. “Let them come in. I want them to see this place. Those with talent have to go up with us.”

Five of the twenty-four showed indications of possessing the talent, including Carannan’s sister. Two had an affinity for fire, two for air, and one for earth. Justin and Ariel could be replaced immediately and there was a spare ready to inherit Sorial’s title when the time came, but none of Ferguson’s water candidates had the aptitude. There was no future Lord or Lady of Water among them. Alicia’s successor was still out there somewhere, yet to be discovered. Sorial couldn’t help but wonder how Justin would have coped with this situation.

A band of sixty-one, with enough guards to intimidate the pockets of mercenary-turned-bandit remnants from Justin’s army marauding across the North, they had set off from Obis a week ago with the intention of determining the accuracy of Ferguson’s predictions. Alicia in particular was surprised by the success rate. Records in the Yu’Tar Library had indicated that fewer than one in four thousand people possessed the talent to become a wizard. Whatever his faults, the late prelate understood how to research bloodlines. The absence of another water-wizard was a concern only for future practitioners of magic. Certainly, it was irrelevant for Alicia.

The first of the candidates had heard the call of the portal while more than a day away.  During the next ten hours, the intrusive
comecomecome
had insinuated itself into the minds of four others. For the rest, including Sorial and Alicia, there was only silence.

Some of the more superstitious members of the group had been reluctant to enter Ibitsal. Its reputation extended beyond the North. Depending on what story they had been told, it was damned, cursed, or haunted. Sorial considered allowing the most averse to remain behind but, in the end, curiosity impelled them forward, winning out over anxiety. The opportunity to gaze at the portal, a relic of a long-dead world, was too great an opportunity to allow to pass.

The decision of who would be asked to enter the portal was made jointly by Sorial and Alicia. For air, they chose Lavella, Alicia’s aunt and her predecessor as Vantok’s Wizard’s Bride. She was smart, loyal, and humble. The only negative trait was her age. Most wizards entered the portal shortly past Maturity, as had been the case for Sorial and Alicia. Lavella was into her middle years, which augured a short term as The Lady of Air. When approached, she accepted with a gratitude that was almost fawning.

The next Lady of Fire would a peasant woman of twenty-five. Most of the selections on Ferguson’s list were noble born; she was one of the exceptions. Excela’s circumstances - sold by her parents into servitude as a maid and whore - reminded Sorial of his own upbringing. Although not formally educated, she was smart and eager for the opportunity to distinguish herself.

Sorial, Alicia, Lavella, and Excela - they would represent the first united quartet of wizards in more than one thousand years. This was what Justin had hoped for but never achieved. It had also been Ferguson’s goal. Irony had decreed that both needed to die in order for it to come into being. There would be more changes, probably sooner than later, but filling vacancies would be left up to those who remained.  His eventual replacement, a lad named Dorthik, was the lone son of a minor noble and displayed more arrogance than Sorial would have preferred in the next Lord of Earth.

Upon entering the portal chamber, the first thing Sorial and Alicia did was to establish a permanent travel station, using earth and water to create a shallow well that could be used as a magical focal point for instantaneous translocation. It was a trick Alicia had learned from the Yu’Tar Library. Justin had accomplished something similar with fire; she had reasoned there was no reason it couldn’t be done with water or earth.  She supposed it might also be possible with air, although she didn’t understand how a pocket could be contained to represent a stable travel-point. In the future, Lavella might want to investigate that.

Led by Rotgut, the candidates entered the cavernous room with the five potential wizards at the fore. Sorial motioned for them to follow as he started up the stairs. Alicia brought up the rear while the remainder of the band waited below, gazing up. The portal itself couldn’t be seen from the ground level but no one wanted to miss whatever might be visible of the impending transitions.

The smooth, round top of the pillar was no different than it had been on Sorial’s last visit. The impenetrable depths of the portal beckoned to him, as if daring him to enter for a second time. 
Soon, perhaps, but not yet
.

Something had changed, however. A pole had been driven into the stone ring near the outer edge - an act of inelegant brute force. From its curved top hung a lantern and in that lantern burned an ever-bright flame. So, Sorial hadn’t been the only wizard to visit this portal in recent weeks. Only fire-wizards could create flames that never died; Justin had been here recently, probably setting up a gateway either for travel or spying. With his death, the flame had ceased to pose a danger, although it would continue burning until it was magically extinguished.

The seven visitors stood at an equal distance from each other around the portal’s perimeter, looking down. Two of them would pass into that blackness. Sorial remembered what it had been like to be on the edge, with the call of
comecomecome
throbbing through his mind, crowding out other thoughts and feelings. It hadn’t been a moment to savor - he had been in a race against death - but knew what each of these five was thinking and feeling. Fear, anticipation, and an itch they needed to scratch. Ultimately, it would be more difficult for the three who wouldn’t be transformed than the two who would be. Even once they were far from Ibitsal, they would be haunted by the portal’s song until circumstances finally allowed them to pass into its depths or death claimed them.

“Even if I was a great speech-maker, which I ain’t, there wouldn’t be much to say,” he remarked. “How do you mark an occasion like this, and does it need marking at all? Lavella and Excela, you’re about to join an exclusive group. Alicia and I welcome you with our arms spread wide. You’ll be called on to use your powers before you understand them. Hopefully, as the weeks and years pass, you’ll gain mastery through practice and study.

“Dorthik, Liesel, and Basil, it will be difficult for you to watch but your time will come. Wizards burn out faster than normal humans; it’s a tragic fact of our existences. Use the intervening years to prepare yourself. Read the ancient texts. Sequester yourselves in the great libraries of the continent and become familiar with all the tomes and scrolls about magic you can find. Then, when you’re called on to serve, you’ll emerge from the portal not as a raw novice but as an adept with knowledge to match your power. It’s an advantage Alicia and I didn’t have.”

No one spoke. Alicia regarded him with an odd expression, perhaps unaware that he could be capable of such simple eloquence.

“Lavella, Excela, this is your last chance to turn back. Once you step through the portal, you won’t be able to reverse the course of your future. You’ll cease being who you are today and will become The Lady of Air and The Lady of Fire. I ain’t gonna compel you forward. It’s got to be your decision, but if you balk, now is the time. Others stand ready.”

“My mind is set, Your Magus,” said Lavella, giving Sorial a wan smile. “This is something I owe to myself and my city. I served Vantok for fifteen years as The Wizard’s Bride. It will be fitting to return to the place where I grew up with the power to help the restoration.”

“Step forward. There won’t be pain. It’s as simple as slipping into a pool. The portal will require a price - it’s something we all have to pay - but it will be within your capabilities. Good luck.”

Lavella pulled off her boots so as to approach her fate unshod in the fashion of religious penitents. It was unnecessary - the portal would accept only flesh while discarding the rest - but she had spent half her life living in Vantok’s temple and the habits learned there were ingrained. Silently bracing herself, she took two hesitant steps to bring her toes to the very edge of the portal. Then, with a deep breath, she walked over the edge. As Sorial had promised, she sank slowly and cleanly into its embrace, vanishing without a trace.

Sorial employed his magical senses to analyze Lavella’s interaction with the portal and was surprised at how revealing the process was. In a flash, he understood one requirement for accessing the Otherverse and the reason why Justin had been desperate to assemble a group of loyal wizards. Unsealing the gateway required a concerted combination of earth, fire, water, and air. All four elements were present, each a lock that demanded a like key to open. Sorial looked at Alicia and could tell she had come to the same realization. Entering the Otherverse required a portal and four wizards, but surely there was more…

Lavella’s time in the portal spanned less than a minute but Sorial knew from experience that it would seem much longer to her. Time, the means by which all things were measured in this universe, had little meaning in the dimension between worlds where wizards made their bargain. She emerged bedraggled, her hair in disarray. She was naked, her clothing having been dissolved by the portal. Alicia bent by the side of the dark cavity and, careful not to touch the blackness, helped her aunt onto the stone apron. Lavella’s eyes had a faraway cast; it was unclear whether she was aware of her surroundings. Alicia murmured comforting words into her ear while wrapping her in a blanket. The others looked on with a mixture of anxiety and curiosity. The birth of a wizard was a rare and wondrous thing.

“Welcome, Lavella. Air has a new Lady. Your title is
Magus
.” Sorial spoke the words solemnly. He then turned to Excela to motion her forward so the process could be repeated.

Basil, a rash and bawdy Earl with a reputation for intolerance and bigotry, was one of the two candidates found to have the capacity to magically control fire. Sorial and Alicia were in agreement that he was unsuitable to be among their number, especially during a time when fidelity was valued. Excela wasn’t a perfect choice but she was preferable. Basil had appeared to accept the decision with equanimity until the moment when he acted rashly and decisively.

The underlying reason for his action was unclear. Perhaps the lure of becoming a wizard was too great for him to let the opportunity pass. Perhaps the portal’s call was too insistent for him to ignore. Or perhaps it had something to do with the ever-bright flame, which flared into greater brilliance the moment before Basil took the two fateful steps that plunged him into blackness and blocked Excela’s candidacy.

Sorial stared in dismay, scarcely able to believe that the reckless action of one man had laid waste to his plans. Basil was precisely the kind of person whose investiture needed to be blocked or, at the very least, carefully managed. His personality implied that he would use his power exclusively to promote his own advancement. More disturbing, however, were indications that something darker might be at work - something that could make Basil’s unpalatable character a minor issue.

A glance at Alicia, who was kneeling beside her aunt, revealed that her thoughts were similar to his. Without making an issue out of it, he used his power to extinguish the lantern. At least it could represent no future threat, although the damage might already have been done. That ever-bright flame could be nothing more than a gateway. Then again…

What if Justin had found a way to embed a part of his essence in the flame? There were stories of old that spoke of magical possession and, although Sorial couldn’t imagine how it might be done, he didn’t doubt that Justin could have uncovered the secret, just as he had found a way to control a void from within.