Chapter 20: Chapter 19: In which the wizards have an idea, and Iwy causes an explosion again

Elder Elecor tapped the head-sized WHAT crystal a few times. His was an old model, but Elecor refused to spend money on a new one as long as this one still worked.

Mostly.

“Hello? Is this thing on?” He shoved a book under the stand of the crystal ball. The connection was only marginally better this way. A nose appeared in the Where-the-Hecke-Art-Thou crystal and someone said, “Hello? Can you see me?”

“You need to move away a bit!”

“What?”

“I said: You need to take a step back!”

The nose moved to present the rest of Archmage Ambeus’ stern face. “The connection’s terrible.”

“I’m sorry, Ambeus, we’re expecting rain. You said to keep you informed on the ... situation.”

“Did you have a situation?”

“Just tonight. But they did not come for the sanctum. Only for one of our research assistants. Bright lad, bit weak, don’t see the connection to ... Excuse me one moment.” Lightning skewered down outside. Elecor got up to close the window. Dreadful weather.

“Well, what did he have to say about it?” Ambeus said once the Elder returned to his desk.

“He’s still missing. Probably a good thing. I saw the state they left his house in. He managed to subdue one of them.”

“Well, what did that one ...”

“Oh, when I say subdue, I mean killed. Never thought the young man had it in him ...”

It was a remarkably creative way, Elecor had to admit. Kitchen knives. He wouldn’t have thought of it. As far as he’d been told, the assistant was a water wielder, albeit a weak one. Apparently, he had found other avenues. Maybe they should talk about a promotion when he returned.

“Anything else?”

“Well, your people have arrived, and they told me there were at least two attackers. They’re going to take a day or two investigating this. Sorry about the boils, by the way.”

Ambeus’ brow furrowed. “What boils?”

“Oh, the assistant had some library books at home and the head librarian gets a little shirty when they’re handled roughly ...”

“You got one of those too? Must run in the profession. Why was he even there? Did he know anything?”

“No, when he saw the young man this evening, he seemed quite normal and so did his friends.”

Ambeus’s brows rose and he seemed to have a sudden bolt of inspiration thrust upon him. “What friends?”

“Two women who were doing historical research ...”

“Do we know what they look like?” Ambeus urged.

“Ambeus, really, at your age and at a time like this ...”

“Was one of them tall with red hair?”

“I don’t know, and frankly, I think you might want to take a cold bath.”

Ambeus massaged his forehead. “No, Elecor, I’m asking because this is the woman at the core of all this. The attack on our sanctum was due to her. She has something to do with the Eye. I believe she even has it with her. You know the Faceless will stop at nothing! We need to get it before they do!”

“I’ll ask Woras to describe them, hold the line.”

“Good. And tell my people to check the area. Maybe they can still catch her.”

“I’ll send some of my own assistants along. They know every stone around here.”

“Yes, good. Be sure to get her staff. Oh, and don’t tell the other orders just yet. We don’t want a squabble. I believe we are the best equipped to handle the Eye.”

“Of course.” Elecor got up and was about to put the communication crystal on standby when he remembered something and leaned down. “By the way, mother says you haven’t written in a while.”

“I got her a WHAT for her birthday, all she has to do is call!”

“You know how she is with technology.”

“Fine, I’ll get to it. Now get going! We have a war to win.”

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“Oh, what now?” Triand groaned as the Faceless advanced from between the trees. It was hard to tell if it was the phase mage or another. “Go away or I’ll vomit down your robes.”

Whoever was under the mask gave an amused chuckle. “Hand over the staff.”

“Why?”

The simple question seemed to irritate him. “You know why!”

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“No, I don’t. Bugger off!”

A bolt of lightning skewered down between the two.

The mask glinted menacingly in the sudden light. “If it’s a fight you want ...”

Lightning hit the tree behind him. Judging by the tone of his voice, the wizard smiled beneath the mask. “Missed me. Now for some real magic. How would you like a ...”

The tree hit him mid-threat, burying him under dead leaves.

Triand shook her head. “Who said I aimed at you?”

“Good. He talked too much anyway.”

Another Faceless had appeared, this time behind them. The form under the black robes suggested a different approach.

“So they do hire women after all,” Triand said before she ducked. This Faceless commanded twenty curved daggers, glowing faint gold even in the low light. “You probably have a fancy nickname, like ... dagger girl ... or lady of blades or something ...” Triand used her staff to divert the next two daggers while trying to manoeuvre Iwy behind her. “You know, we don’t have to fight, we could instead go out to dinner ...”

“I don’t mix business and pleasure.”

Well, it had been worth a try. She could still vomit down her robes.

Iwy looked at her hands. Hello, flames, I could use some help here ... “What do we do?”

“You stay behind me, is what we do.”

The daggers came towards Triand like a swarm of angry wasps.

The dust in the road moved up like a small local tornado, blocking the Faceless’ view. The swarm of metal spun and trundled aimlessly for a moment. One grazed the Faceless’ thigh.

Iwy took a chance, charged, and rammed her shoulder into the dagger lady. She lost balance only briefly and dodged Iwy’s incoming elbow. A sudden wave of force threw the apprentice down. Five daggers came for her, fastening her to the ground. The Faceless moved past her without a second glance.

Iwy’s sleeve ripped as she tore her arm free. She grabbed the other daggers; a weapon was as good as any other.

When she looked up, the two mages had both grabbed hold of the staff. The daggers were closing in. Whatever protection Triand had around her, it wouldn’t hold forever.

“Don’t make this harder for yourself,” the Faceless said.

“Bold of you to assume this is hard.” Triand blinked. The Faceless was shoved several yards back, towards the cliff. No one in the north had ever held with the idea of safety railings.

She was still not letting go. Triand turned her attention to her muscles, which would have been a lot easier without a dozen of daggers half an inch from her own back.

The Faceless’ right arm bucked. “Your witch magic won’t help you.”

A dagger whizzed past the Faceless’ mask. It was thrown with neither skill nor a particular amount of luck, but it was enough to distract her momentarily. She ducked.

Iwy was about to throw the next one when she noticed something else. There were flames around her fingers.

Finally! Maybe her power could finally tell when it was wanted.

The Faceless was standing close enough to the edge. If she aimed at the ground ...

“Triand, hold on to your staff!”

Iwy took aim.

The explosion threw the two mages five yards to either side. The problem for the Faceless was that after five inches, there was no more ground. Iwy didn’t bother to check how long it took her to plummet.

This wasn’t exactly what she had planned, but it had worked nevertheless. She hurried to check on her master who covered her aching ears. “Triand, are you alright?”

“Next time warn me first!”

She helped her up. “I thought I did.” Iwy looked around. “Wait, where’s your staff?”

They both looked down the ridge at nothing but darkness. Not even a glinting dagger. Definitely not a wooden staff.

Iwy felt her stomach sink. “Should we go look? What about the artefact?”

Something moved further up the road. The last they heard was triumphant laughter. Both looked up just in time to see another wizard launch himself into the white and purple swirls of a closing portal. His hand clutched something that looked suspiciously staff-like.

“We can’t stay here in the open,” Triand said. “Come on.”

“Can’t we follow? Somehow?”

“No use. But maybe his portal will mask us. If we don’t go too far. Hold on to your bag, come on, we can’t lose any time.” Triand breathed out deeply, bracing herself. “I hate doing this.”

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They came out among trees a few miles away.

Iwy slumped on the grass. They’d lost the artefact. No – she had. Well. Maybe it wasn’t her power that was useless. Maybe it was her. “I’m sorry. This is all my fault.”

The bush next to her heaved in response.

“How are you doing?”

Triand’s erect thumb shot up briefly over the leaves.

“You weren’t kidding about getting sick.”

“... no ...”

“What about the Eye?”

“What about it?” the bush gurgled.

“It’s in your staff.”

“Is it? That’s good to know.” Triand stumbled out of the undergrowth and let herself down to the ground.

“Look, I’m sorry. We can fix this. We’ll get it back. I’ll get better, I’ll ...”

Triand placed a finger to Iwy’s lips. She leaned close, which wasn’t a pleasant experience considering her breath. “They don’t have it.”

“What?”

She looked down to see Triand tap on her chest twice.

“No. No!” Iwy felt her crestfallen face rearrange itself into a broadening grin. “No ... You didn’t ... you let everyone ... no ...” Iwy bit her fist so as not to say it out loud, in case anyone was listening. The amulet? All this time it had been her amulet? “I thought it’d be bigger.”

“Ah, you know ... shrinking spells and all ...” Triand laid down on the grass, clutching her sides. “Oh, Great Mother ... teleportation doesn’t seem to do anything to you.”

Iwy shrugged. “I always had a strong stomach.”

Triand fumbled inside her robes. When her hand came back out it held her flask.

“You shouldn’t drink now, you’ll only throw up again.”

“No, this helps ...” She took another swig and coughed. “I just hope Eliphas is alright.”

“Yeah. Wonder where he teleported to.”

“Hope they didn’t get him, wherever he went.”

“They came after us. Maybe they didn’t even notice him.”

“Hope so. The guilt would kill me.” Triand finally put the flask away after peering inside and making a disappointed face. “Think we bought ourselves some time. We should find a place to spend the night.”

The mage dragged herself upright and took her bundle. “You know what I don’t get? If someone got his hands on a powerful artefact, why would he run back to his boss with it instead of using it himself? He must’ve got them drilled.”