Thief’s Magic (57 page)

What about going to another world, taking in magic, and bringing it back?

That is definitely possible, if the other world is rich in magic and your reach is great enough.

And if one or both are not?

You must use some of what you take from the other world to travel back. What you deliver to this world must be more than what you took, or you will have made the effort for nothing.

If I bring back less then this world will be poorer.

And if the other world is poor in magic, you might not be able to get back at all.

A chill ran down Tyen’s spine. He would be stuck there.

Do you know anything about the worlds closest to this one?

Yes, but my knowledge is over a thousand years old.

A lot could change in that time. His own world had.

I guess I won’t know until I get there. It’s a risk I have to take.

It is not the only choice open to you. Ysser will help you escape Kilraker and the Academy if you ask him.

No. If there’s a chance we could slow the depletion of magic in this world, then I must try it. For the sake of the people of this world – and for your sake, too. If this world runs out of magic you will perish.
He moved over to a chair and sat down.
Tell me how to travel between worlds, Vella.

First you must establish an awareness of the world you are in. Take in magic and push that world away. You will feel it when it happens.

Moving to the centre of the room, Tyen concentrated on the magic around him and carefully drew some in from beyond the outside wall.

What direction do I push in? Up? Down? Forwards?

None of those. You are thinking in terms of physical directions in this world. You want to push away from the world itself. But first you must learn to sense it. Close your eyes. It helps to prevent the physical world from distracting you.

He did. At once he was more aware of the pressure of the floor under his feet, and faint sounds within and outside the room. Those were physical sensations, though. He sought something else. All he detected was magic. Was that a physical thing? He opened his eyes so that he could read the page.

It is not. It cannot be affected by physical forces.

But if I let magic go it will flow outwards. Is that a kind of pushing?

Not the kind you want.

I didn’t think so.

Sensing the world is not unlike sensing magic. It has a presence that has been there all your life, like a noise you’ve grown used to, so you must learn to detect it.

He laughed and shook his head.
That’s so vague!
he complained.
Can’t you tell me something more specific?

These are the limitations of my form
, she told him.
I can only explain something to you in words you already understand. You can only read them. Outside this world it is common practice for an experienced sorcerer to teach this by letting his student watch his thoughts as he does it.

He felt a flash of inspiration.
But when they wrote about it, how did they describe travelling through worlds?

Like taking a step back from the world. Or retreating behind a curtain.

Which didn’t sound any more helpful. Still, he had to give it a try. Closing his eyes again, Tyen imagined himself moving backwards. He tried actually stepping backwards in the hope that some sort of parallel shift would happen in sympathy with the physical movement, but none occurred. He tried using magic to still the air before him then pushing against it, and wound up stumbling backwards. Sighing, he looked down at the open page.

You won’t succeed until you learn to sense the world
, Vella told him.
Stay still. Be patient. Ignore what is physical and not relevant.

Tyen did as she instructed. He felt the floor beneath his feet and the temperature of the air moving in and out of his lungs. Considering other senses, he noticed the lingering smell of the food and the lingering flavours in his mouth. His ears picked up faint sounds: wind outside his window, footsteps in the corridor. He stood there with closed eyes until he was sure there was nothing left to sense, then gave up and consulted Vella again.

What other words have sorcerers used to describe it?

Like pushing away from a rock when you’re swimming
, she told him. He snorted. Since he didn’t know how to swim, that analogy didn’t help one bit. Unless he imagined pushing against the side of a bath while immersed …

That’s not so different from pushing against an obstruction to prevent the aircart from colliding with it
, he realised. Which meant orientating the cart with something solid to push against.
Only I’m trying to orientate myself with a world.

Keeping his eyes open, he focused his awareness on the limits of his body. This was more familiar. It was basic battle strategy. In combat you needed to be able to still the air around yourself to ward off a physical attack without thought or hesitation, so all students were taught exercises that refined spacial awareness and encouraged them to do them regularly.

This time he wasn’t repelling a physical attack, however. This time it was the world that was still and his body that must be repulsed. So he must become aware of it as if it was his body.

As he sent his mind out he sensed magic. As in Leratia it was not stationary, but drifted around him like a translucent fog. In Leratia it came down from above, replacing the void created by the machines. Here it moved sideways. Ysser had said something about this the previous night.
He said magic goes to the north. I thought he meant the Empire was more advanced in magic, but he was being more literal.

The magic here flowed to the north because it was naturally inclined to even out, like water finding a level, and there was less magic in the north than in the south. Much less. No wonder the king thought it was worth risking the depletion of Tyeszal’s magic. The north was drawing it all away anyway. If Tyen succeeded he would be helping both the Empire and the Far South.

Tyen took a deep breath as renewed determination filled him. He considered the magic flowing around him. If he could draw it to himself, then could he do other things? Could he still it?

He drew on the magic he had taken and exerted his will. He felt a jolt. The magic did not stop moving, but its flow pulled at him and it was taking more magic to hold on. He grinned. This meant it
was
something he could orientate himself with. Something he could orientate himself with even though it wasn’t solid or still.

The room had brightened, he noticed. He looked down. His feet were slowly gliding across the floor, but there was no sensation of movement.

Was that supposed to happen?
he wondered.

“
Yes, it is
,” a voice said. A woman’s voice.

Startled, he let go. At once the room stopped glowing. He sensed the moment he returned fully. It was as if his head had just broken through the surface of a pool of water into the air again.

He looked down at Vella. Words formed on the page.

Congratulations. You have travelled out of this world for the first time.

He grinned.
I did it! But who spoke to me?

I did. In the place between worlds my connection to the mind of whoever holds me is different.

You could have warned me.

It wasn’t information relevant to what you need to know just now.

And I didn’t ask.

You couldn’t know to ask.

Will that always happen, when we are between worlds?

Yes.

Is it like reading minds?

No. The only advantage is to hear my voice. And this will be a disadvantage if it causes you to lose concentration. The worlds will pull you towards them if you do not resist them. But the further you are from a world the weaker the pull is. You are not breathing when you travel, though you are unaware of it. If you take too long you will suffocate.

Suffocate? You didn’t tell me this earlier!

You would have been too worried about it to concentrate. When you are only a little way out of this world a failure of concentration will bring you back to it quickly, so there was no danger.

So I should take a deep breath before leaving for another world?

Yes.

What happens to people who suffocate between worlds?

Their body is eventually pushed out into the nearest world.

Dead people materialising out of thin air? He shuddered as he remembered creepy stories he’d heard as a child. Perhaps they had held some truth. The more he found out about travelling between worlds, the more dangerous it appeared to be.

A tapping sound interrupted Tyen’s thoughts.

That could be Ysser, returning to take me to Kilraker. Is there anything else I need to know?

Nothing relevant.

He closed her and slipped her into his shirt, then put on his jacket and buttoned it. As he turned to the door his satchel caught his attention. Should he take it with him? What about Beetle? Maybe he should leave the insectoid behind, in case something happened. He was sure Mig would like to have it. But it had been taught to respond only to his instructions and he didn’t have time to fix that. Kilraker might decide to take it back to the Academy as proof Tyen had been dealt with so he could claim the reward, too.

The professors might think he was planning not to return from the other world if he looked ready to travel, so he opened the satchel and transferred Beetle to an inner pocket of his jacket. Then he hurried over to the door.

Mig was waiting outside again. The young man beckoned and hurried away. Tyen closed the door behind him and followed.

He wondered briefly if the king would be present, and decided it was unlikely. Nobody knew yet if this would work. Experiments with magic always had the potential to be dangerous. He was not surprised to find Ysser, Kilraker, Gowel and their two friends, but nobody else, waiting in the old man’s room. Ysser came forward to greet him.

“Ready?”

Tyen nodded. “I think I know what to do.”

“Good.” The sorcerer patted Tyen’s back. “Be safe. Only take magic and release magic outside Tyeszal’s walls.”

Tyen turned to Kilraker. The professor’s eyes narrowed. He was holding a piece of rope.

“Ironsmelter,” he said.

“Professor,” Tyen replied. “Or is that no longer correct?”

“I haven’t officially retired yet,” the man said.

Tyen forced a smile. “Well, maybe I should call you ‘Kilraker’ so you get used to it sooner.” The man’s knuckles tightened around the rope. “I hope you’re not planning to tie me up with that,” Tyen added.

“Tempting though that may be, it is not our intention. We were curious to see if you could carry one end of it through with you.”

Tyen shrugged. “I can see no harm in trying.”

He walked over to Kilraker. Looking into the man’s face, he searched for evidence of his thoughts. No guilt for having ruined Tyen’s life at the Academy? No hint of apology? Kilraker stared back coldly. At least there was nothing obviously sly in his expression either. He mostly looked impatient and cautious, as if Tyen was the one given to betraying other people’s trust.

Kilraker handed Tyen the end of the rope. Closing his fingers around it, Tyen took a few steps back.

“So,” he said. “You want me to travel to another world, or as far as needed to gather magic from it and bring it back here. Anything else you want me to try?”

“No,” Kilraker said. “Keep your mind on your task.”

Tyen looked at Gowel and the others. They shook their heads. He looked at Ysser.

“The flyers are inside?”

The old man smiled and nodded. Mig stood a step behind him, face alive with excitement.

No reason to wait. Time to see if I can get all the way to a new world.

Taking a deep breath, Tyen reached out beyond the spire. He reached as far as he could, then he drew in magic from the furthest distance inward, leaving a column of magic within Tyeszal’s walls. Though he was aware that he was gathering more magic than he ever had before it was no strain to hold it.

He took a deep breath and focused on the magic within the spire. Now that it was surrounded by a void it flowed gently outward in all directions. This made it a more stable thing to orientate himself with. He
pushed
.

Once more his surroundings grew brighter. The room slowly grew less distinct, as if a fog had spontaneously formed to fill it, or his eyes were losing the ability to see colour. As in a fog, sounds were softened and diminished, too. Looking down at his hands he saw that they were also fading out of sight. So was the rope.

Looking up again, he could see Kilraker’s hands clawing at the other end. The man’s fingers were moving through it. He remembered what Gowel had said: “
A sorcerer cannot send other things through the barrier to the next world, he must go with them.
”
Clearly, whatever the sorcerer held came with them. Which was fortunate, or Tyen might arrive in the other world without clothing. Or Vella.

But there must be a limitation. Kilraker wasn’t being taken through, only the rope. The professor was scowling. He spoke, but his voice was too faint for Tyen to make out the words. The others shrugged. Kilraker’s expression hardened. Ysser’s eyes widened and he strode forward. He placed a hand on Kilraker’s arm and began speaking assertively.

What is Kilraker up to?
Tyen wondered, slowing his push to watch.

Kilraker shook Ysser’s hand off roughly, unbalancing the old man. Mig caught the old sorcerer’s shoulders to steady him. Ysser’s shock turned to anger. He came forward again, his voice loud enough to penetrate to Tyen.

“No! Do not take from inside! You break our law!”