The Magic Thieves (20 page)

"Who even knows we're here?” Elryk looked shocked before a big grin spread across his face. “It's okay, you'll like our visitors."

"I hate it when you can use magic to find stuff out.” But he was grinning.

As left out as he sometimes felt, he was glad that Elryk used his talents to keep them both safe. He got up, shaking his head as he made his way to see who was there. They'd decided to remain at his friend's country house for now. They'd figured it would be more private than moving into Kaythan's city residence. It didn't look as if it had done them a lot of good.

"Good morning, my friend.” Arith stood there, widely grinning and looking at least two hundred years younger than when they'd last met only a few days ago.

"Good morning.” Nysat's grin was almost as wide, his dark eyes were sparkling.

"G-good morning indeed.” He laughed as he stepped aside to let the two surprise visitors enter. “Please come in. We were just about to have breakfast. You're welcome to join us, of course."

"A cup of tea would be wonderful.” Arith greeted Elryk with a hug.

"Same for me.” Nysat slapped Elryk on the back and took a seat.

The table was really too small for four people, but their two guests sat back, sipping their tea, while Elryk and he devoured their bread and fruit.

"What brings you here?” He finally couldn't suppress his curiosity any longer.

"Arith had a vision.” Nysat leant back in his chair, folding is hands above his stomach. “There is no time to lose and you'll need all the support you can get, so we decided to come and join you."

"Okay, you've got my attention.” Kaythan looked at Elryk.

He nodded his agreement.

"We're experiencing a much more accelerated pace of magic theft than ever before.” Arith frowned. “We only noticed it because we were trying to find a connection between the gateway's energies and the golden magic. We found the connection, as expected, but the power flow away from the gateway into unidentified individuals has also increased."

"You mean non-wizards?” Elryk's eyes were big with shock.

"Yes. We think that the power vacuum that was created when the Xoh'kas and the corrupt Law Forces officers were removed by the golden magic has encouraged the magic thieves to become bolder than ever.” Arith rubbed his temples. “If we don't stop them, they'll soon be holding all the magic energy and there will be none left for the wizards and other legal users."

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"We've been going about this in completely the wrong way.” Elryk sat up with the sudden realisation of what he should have seen days ago. “We've been thinking about catching the magic thieves and punishing them, like other criminals, in the hopes that it'll discourage others from stealing magic as well."

"That's usually how you stop offenders, yes.” Kaythan frowned. “It's also why we have laws in the first place."

"
Usually
is the key word here.” Elryk grinned, excited about his insight. “But this isn't a normal situation. Magic isn't tangible, so it's much harder to trace when it goes missing. It's difficult to prove that someone using it hasn't legally acquired it, and most of all, it's provided for free by the gateway. But we also know that it only works when it's handled by a trained person with certain talents, in other words a wizard, or when it's captured by a magically enhanced gadget that makes it available to non-magical people."

"So because it seems to be free, the magic thieves think it's fine to take it and give it to others without obeying the rules?” Kaythan raised his eyebrows.

"Yes, I think that's
why
they've been doing it and why nothing anyone has said has been able to stop them. They simply didn't believe normal laws applied to something as intangible as magic.” Elryk looked at his friends, but from their slightly puzzled looks it was obvious they hadn't understood what he was getting at. “What I've just realised is that instead of trying to trace the illegal magic, we need to think about
how
they go about stealing it in the first place. Once we know that, we have a much better chance of stopping them—right at the source."

"I think you're onto something.” Arith tilted his head in thought. “Even if the thieves understood how dangerous it is to give away magic without regard for the proper handling of it, they probably couldn't do it unless they were wizards themselves. Is that what you're thinking?"

"It could be that they're wizards who have fallen in love with the idea of giving something to people they'd normally have to pay for. It would certainly be a way for them to become popular in a hurry.” Elryk smiled. “I now see that it might be possible that someone, a wizard for sure, created some sort of gadget that enabled non-magicals to handle magic. That would explain why so much magic has been vanishing. If more wizards were involved, they'd run the risk of detection. But if it was some gadget that many different people could use, they'd be more difficult to trace and capture."

"A gadget to steal magic?” Nysat shook his head. “How did you even come up with that idea?"

"I guess I've spent too much time around humans.” Elryk grinned. “They have gadgets and machines for everything. Granted, theirs aren't run by magic, but based on something called science. The idea is to have inanimate things to do their work for them."

"And you think that's what's been going on here?” Kaythan scratched his head. “It makes catching these people even more difficult."

"I agree. So, I've come to the conclusion that trying to do that, at least initially, is the wrong approach. There's only one way to stop them.” He paused for dramatic effect, waiting until everyone was looking at him. “We've got to cut them off at the source."

Stunned silence was the response.

"I'm hoping you don't mean cutting off the flow of energies that come from the gateway.” Kaythan sat forward in his chair. It might stop the thieves, but it would also stop everything else from working."

"No, that's not what I mean.” Elryk took his mate's hand. “I think we have a few choices. We can try to repair the Muyd'Othar, so that it can take up its guardian function again. That should stop the thieves from going straight to the gateway and limit them to siphoning off magic from willing or unwilling wizards. With new, non-corrupt Law Forces and a yet to be rebuilt House of Justice, we should be able to get a handle on those criminals."

"I'm not sure that's even possible.” Kaythan looked sad. “I don't see how we can put all those shards back together again."

"I agree. Which leads to our second choice.” Elryk grinned, waiting for someone to guess what he was thinking.

"You mean—making a new Magic Shield?” Arith shook his head. “I'm afraid that's way beyond our current capabilities. We can do some research to try to find out how it was done, but I suspect that will take a few years. Whatever process was used, I suspect it won't be easy to replicate it."

"I agree, and we don't have that sort of time.” Nysat's eyes twinkled. “But I'm beginning to see what you're getting at."

"Yeah, so am I.” Kaythan smiled. “You're thinking we should find a way to use the golden magic to stop the energy from leaking, then use the full power of the gateway to track the thieves, right?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking. We'll probably have to go to the First Gateway, because the energy is strongest there, but that shouldn't be a problem.” Elryk felt optimistic for the first time in a while.

They got ready to leave, and Nysat transported them to the oldest known gateway at the foot of the mountains north of Tah'Algor. The guards let them through without hesitation, and they were soon in the ancient grotto. Not that it looked like a grotto anymore. Previous generations had covered the walls with marble, provided comfortable seats for visitors and generally made the source of all of Tah'Nut's magical power look like a tourist attraction.

Elryk stepped closer to the ‘hole in reality’ as many had called it. It was as high as five grown men in radius and almost perfectly round. Spread out across the back wall of the room, he could feel its power flowing into him. It was weaker than he remembered from a previous visit.

Kaythan stood next to him and he automatically reached for his mate. The second their hands touched, the need to connect their mate crystals became overwhelming. Since they were going to have to use the golden magic anyway to trace the leaks, Elryk connected his wrist with Kaythan's. The small golden sphere around their wrists formed immediately.

"Tah', that feels strange.” Kaythan's eyes were big as he stared into the vortex of colourful energies.

"It's almost as if—something—wants to communicate with us.” Elryk's brain tingled. There was some sort of intelligence in there, he was sure. “I can't understand what it's saying, though."

"One thing is definitely out of order.” Arith had stepped up and stood next to them, staring into the swirling colours with a deep frown on his face. “The last time I was here was before the Xoh'kas took over. That yellow tinge definitely wasn't there back then."

Elryk looked more closely. Damn, Arith was right. There was a slight yellowish hue to the entire vortex. Like a sheer veil that covered the entire surface. He would never have noticed it if Arith hadn't said something.

"You think it doesn't belong there, don't you?” Kaythan looked at Arith.

"It certainly wasn't there last time I checked.” Arith nodded.

"Do you think it could be what's stopping mate bonds from forming?” Elryk could feel it in his bones, but that might be wishful thinking.

"I think that is entirely possible.” Arith was still frowning.

"Let's try and find out.” Elryk lifted their linked hands. “If it's something that isn't supposed to be here, I'm sure the golden magic will be able to deal with it."

Focusing all his attention on the vortex, he helped Kaythan push the golden sphere outward until it touched the vortex. There was a blinding flash of light, and sparks flew all over the grotto. Something like a sigh sounded in his brain, and the yellowish hue was pushed out and dropped onto the white marble floor in a heap of dirty ashes.

The vortex brightened visibly. The walls, ceiling and floor seemed to sparkle with refreshed energy.

"That's more like it.” Arith smiled in relief.

"It looks like you were right. Someone put that thing there to stop part of what comes from the vortex from working.” Elryk frowned. “I wonder who it was and how they did it?"

"I don't think we'll ever find out.” Nysat shrugged.

"I think I know just the person who can help figure this out for us. He might be able to find a way to communicate with whatever seems to live inside the vortex while he's at it. If we do end up finding some sort of gadget the non-magical thieves may have used to siphon off gateway energy, I'm sure he can discover how that works. He might even be able to find a way of repairing the Muyd'Othar.” Not to mention that Elryk would have one of his best friends with him, at least for the duration of the project.

"That sounds a lot like a miracle worker.” Nysat looked sceptical.

"No, just a scientist.” Elryk grinned as three pairs of eyes stared at him as if he'd grown a second head. “His name is Parker Stokes. He's a great physicist, which means natural phenomena like this vortex are his speciality. He was expressing an interest in researching the gateway opening on Earth. I think I might be able to convince him to do his research here, instead. Oh, and he's a wonderful man as well. I think you'll like him."

"Should I be jealous?” Kaythan said it with a smile, but the slight tension in his hand told a different story.

"You know better than that.” Elryk stroked his lover's hand with his thumb. “We're mated, and there's no space in my heart for anyone besides you."

Kaythan's eyes lit up and his smile brightened.

"It sounds like we should get this Parker to Tah'Nut as soon as possible.” Arith nodded at Nysat, who was staring at the vortex with a faraway look in his eyes. “And not just because he might be able to help us with understanding the gateway energies and the vortex better."

"What?” Elryk looked at Nysat, but the man had now returned to normal. That was certainly interesting.

"Okay, before we do that, I believe we still have some work to do to make sure the magic thieves can't access the gateway energies anymore.” Kaythan, of course, brought them back to reality.

Elryk led them over to one of the comfortable seats. He had a feeling this could take awhile.

The golden sphere expanded as directed and soon touched the vortex. But there was no way to shut off its energies. They kept flowing around the sphere, finding their way out of the grotto. He could even sense them, if he focused hard enough.

"This won't work.” Elryk looked up into Arith's face. “We can't shut the energies off like we thought we could."

"Maybe it's better to use the vortex's energy to fuel the golden magic directly?” Nysat pointed at the pulsing sphere. “That way you can expand it beyond the grotto and find the thieves. Maybe they'll fall asleep like those Xoh'kas who weren't quite reprehensible enough to be changed into statues? Then we can have the Law Forces pick them up?"

"That's a good idea. “Kaythan nodded. “But we should try to mark them or their homes while we're at it, so we have time to send officers out to arrest them. They won't be able to be everywhere at the same time."

Leave it to his mate to get them organised. Elryk closed his eyes again and focused on the golden sphere. He concentrated on pushing out the sphere, feeling his way along as it moved across the city and beyond. A few houses here and there started glowing in a painfully bright gold. The occasional citizen stopped in his or her tracks, an unmistakable golden circlet around their heads and wrists. Some fell asleep in addition to being physically marked.

Elryk was shocked by how many people were affected. It seemed that free magic had been too difficult to resists even for otherwise law-abiding citizens.

"I still can't believe I was the only suitable candidate!” Kaythan sat back on his sofa, stretched his legs, relieved that he'd taken boots and socks off as soon as they'd made it through the door. He dropped his aching head onto the high backrest with a sigh. It was good to finally be home.