Sovereign of the Seven Isles 7: Reishi Adept Read online

  A battle raged in Alexander’s mind. He knew what he had to do, but he couldn’t seem to bring himself to accept it. After Mithel Dour fell, he thought he finally had the advantage, that he could choose his next move without his hand being forced by one of his many enemies.

  “What would Lady Reishi have you do?” Balthazar asked quietly.

  Alexander put his face in his hands as his resolve hardened. She would never forgive him if he let New Ruatha fall just to save her. And deep down, he knew that he wouldn’t forgive himself.

  “It’s always something,” he said.

  The table fell silent for several moments.

  “I’m concerned about Zuhl’s intentions with regard to the Nether Gate,” Balthazar said.

  “Me too,” Alexander said, pulling his thoughts away from Isabel. “Is there a chance he could open it without the keystones?”

  The sovereigns turned to Malachi.

  “How should I know?” he said with an indifferent shrug.

  “You built it,” Alexander said. “Is it possible? Could he open it?”

  “Possible? I suppose, but I couldn’t tell you how. I was very careful to bind it to the keystones.”

  “Could he be doing something else?” Alexander asked.

  “He may be trying to replicate it,” Constantine said. “Or more probably, he may be trying to replicate the underlying spell.”

  “He’d be a fool to try,” Malachi said with a snort.

  “Why?”

  Malachi hesitated before answering. “The Nether Gate combines a number of spells: one to open a portal to the netherworld; another to command forth a desired demon while preventing others from coming through; and yet another to bind the summoned demon to the will of the one who opened the Gate. Each of these spells alone would be useless at best or disastrous at worst.”

  “Your descriptions of Zuhl seem to indicate an abundance of caution and greater-than-average patience,” Balthazar said. “Given that, it’s doubtful he would make such a reckless mistake.”

  “He may be pursuing some goal that we haven’t considered,” Darius said.

  “In any case, it might be prudent to detonate your weapon,” Constantine said.

  “I agree,” Balthazar said. “Whatever his intentions, he cannot be allowed to succeed.”

  The other sovereigns nodded agreement … even Malachi. Alexander eyed him suspiciously.

  “What? Zuhl is as much Phane’s enemy as you are,” he said. “Any harm you do to him will serve my son.”

  Alexander snorted, shaking his head. “There’s one other thing,” he said. “I got lost in the firmament.”

  The table fell deathly silent, all six sovereigns looking at him with a mixture of alarm and awe.

  “Lies!” Malachi spat. “You’d be dead.”

  Alexander shook his head slowly, then he carefully recounted everything he remembered from the experience—the depths of the firmament, the profound sense of peace and connection to all life, how Chloe had helped him find his way back. They sat quietly in rapt attention, hanging on every word until he finished and then still they stared at him silently as if they were trying to process a new understanding of the world that contradicted everything they knew to be true.

  “I’ve never heard of such an account,” Demetrius said.

  “Nor have I,” Balthazar said.

  “That’s because it’s impossible,” Malachi said.

  “Do you have any advice?” Alexander asked.

  Again the table fell silent.

  Finally, Balthazar said, “Proceed with extreme caution. I wish I could offer more, Alexander, but this is uncharted territory.”

  “Perhaps you could re-create the experience in a more controlled way,” Constantine said. “You must have some sense as to how deep within the firmament you traveled. If you set out to explore those depths in a much more limited way, it may reveal new insights, or help you develop greater control and awareness.”

  “It would also be wise to have your familiar ready to call you back after a predetermined period of time,” Darius said.

  “You said that as you descended, you lost your attachment to worldly concerns,” Balthazar said. “Did this detachment come on all at once or was it gradual?”

  “It was gradual, but once I’d passed a certain point, what remained of my worldly concerns seemed to vanish very quickly.”

  “Then I would recommend stopping while you still retain some measure of attachment to the world of time and substance,” Balthazar said. “Hold there and attempt to contact Siduri. Perhaps he will hear you.”

  Alexander nodded, considering the suggestion even as fear fluttered in his belly. He’d never felt such peace and contentment as he had in the depths of the firmament. When he thought about it, he longed to return. Even the knowledge that death resided in that place of calm contentment wasn’t enough to erase the allure of such profound belonging and stillness.

  “Perhaps there is another course of action,” Darius said. “This state of mind you have labeled as ‘the witness’ is similar to the detachment necessary for a wizard to cast a spell. Without it, we would be lost. Yet we must also be acutely aware of our worldly purpose in the moment that we release our will into the firmament. This duality of mind is the foundation of a wizard’s magic. Perhaps you should revisit some of the more basic lessons taught to apprentice wizards in order to better develop this faculty.”

  “And once again, we’re reminded that you’re not even a real wizard,” Malachi said.

  Alexander ignored him. “I wish I had more time.”

  “Or …” Balthazar said. “Wizards develop detachment because it’s essential to spell casting. Witches use emotion to accomplish the same effect—resistance to the pull of the firmament. If you cultivate a strong emotion prior to delving into the depths of the firmament, it may provide you with the duality of mind necessary to both experience and resist such primordial power.”

  “I hadn’t considered that.”

  “I only suggest it because strong emotion is much more easily generated than detachment, though it cannot be sustained for nearly as long, so be cautious with this approach,” Balthazar said.

  Malachi laughed. “You think you’ll defeat my son by learning magic like a woman? If only he could see just how desperate you truly are.”

  “Magic is just a tool,” Alexander said. “In the end, Phane’s absence of conscience will be his undoing. His magic can’t save him from that.”

  “Conscience is nothing but a hindrance to those who seek power … a luxury that a ruler cannot afford,” Malachi said. “You’re a child playing an adult’s game. In the end, your conscience will stay your hand when you should strike. In that moment, Phane will kill you.”

  Demetrius shook his head sadly. “How could you have strayed so far, My Son?”

  “If I hadn’t been betrayed, there would have been no war,” Malachi spat. “Clinging to outdated moral principles would have led to my doom.”

  “You were betrayed because you turned away from the Old Law,” Demetrius said. “Your doom was self-inflicted.”

  Malachi started to respond but Alexander silenced him with a raised hand.

  “Thank you, Gentlemen,” he said, walking away from the table.

  ***

  Alexander returned from his visit with the sovereigns and stretched, still sitting on his meditation table.

  Jack looked up from his notebook and said, “So how’re we doing?”

  “Abigail says hello,” Alexander said.

  Jack smiled. “That’s good to hear. I miss her.”

  “Me too.”

  Alexander stood up, rubbing the soreness out of his nearly healed leg, and took a seat at the table. He spent the next half hour detailing the state of affairs in the world to his friends.

  “Sounds like our enemies have been busy,” Jack said.

  “A little too busy. I wasn’t expecting the Sin’Rath to move to Ithilian and it never crossed my mind that Ra
ke would actually get into the Bloodvault.”

  “So what are we going to do?” Anja asked.

  “As much as I want to go get Isabel, I’m worried about Rake.”

  “Rake is a thug,” Jataan said. “He’d like to believe that he’s the smartest man in the room, but he rarely is.”

  “That’s what I’m worried about. With Phane pulling his strings, there’s no telling what kind of damage he can cause.” Alexander looked down, shaking his head helplessly.

  “She’ll understand,” Jack said.

  “I know, but that doesn’t make it any easier,” Alexander said. “It feels like I’m abandoning her, and it doesn’t help that I can’t tell her what I’m doing.”

  The table fell silent until Jataan cleared his throat.

  “I feel that I must apologize, Lord Reishi. I assigned Hector and Horace to you, and Hector has betrayed you.”

  “You couldn’t have known how things were going to turn out. Losing his brother broke his spirit … his reason failed next. Hector’s lost to us, if he’s even still alive.”

  “I should have judged his character more carefully,” Jataan said.

  “I can see better than you can, Jataan, and I didn’t see this coming either.”

  He nodded, but his colors roiled with inner turmoil.

  “So, what’s the plan?” Anja asked.

  “We leave for Ruatha at dawn,” Alexander said, removing a small metal tube from his pouch. He unstoppered it and dumped a little pebble onto the table. He looked at it intently, weighing his decision before drawing his dagger and crushing it with the pommel.

  “What was that?” Anja asked.

  “I had one of Kelvin’s explosive weapons delivered to the hidden fortress on the Reishi Isle a while back. Given Zuhl’s unhealthy interest in the Nether Gate, now seemed like a good time to detonate it.”

  “You mean you just blew up the Nether Gate?” she asked.

  “No, but I’m pretty sure I just brought the mountain down on top of it … along with a few thousand of Zuhl’s soldiers.”

  Jack chuckled and started writing.

  “Why did you wait so long?” Anja asked.

  “I was hoping to kill Phane with it,” Alexander said. “If there’s one thing I can be certain of, it’s that Phane will eventually wind up in front of the Nether Gate.”

  Jataan nodded.

  Chapter 4

  “I was afraid of that,” Alexander said, opening his eyes.

  “What?” Anja asked.

  “There’s an army camped around the Andalian Gate … and they’ve buried it,” he said. “Looks like we’re flying north.”

  “Will that be fast enough?” Jack asked.

  “I hope so,” Alexander said. “If they hadn’t piled several tons of dirt and rocks on top of the Gate, I’d be tempted to make a run for it in the night. As it stands, we’d never make it through.”

  “It’ll take at least four days to reach New Ruatha,” Kiera said.

  “I could fly there in two,” Anja said.

  “Are you offering?” Alexander asked, pointedly.

  Anja frowned. “No.”

  “Four days it is then,” Alexander said.

  “We’ll have to stop to feed the wyverns somewhere on the north coast,” Kiera said. “From there we can make Kai’Gorn by dark.”

  “All right, if we have to stop on the coast, let’s head for the shipyard Talia’s building in the Western Province.”

  Alexander left Luminessence against the doorframe and stepped out onto the plateau high in the Andalian mountains that had been home for the past few days. He offered his friends a smile before closing them inside, then he mounted up behind Kiera, double-checking his straps. Kiera signaled her wing rider and the two wyverns leapt off the mountaintop into the sky. Alexander felt the increasingly familiar thrill of falling and then the crush of gravity as the wyvern’s powerful wings thrust against the air, propelling them higher. He silently gave thanks that the weather was fair and warm.

  It wasn’t long before the thrill of flight gave way to monotony. Kiera flew high enough to be safe from any conceivable attack from the ground. While the world seemed to pass by slowly, the edge of the evergreen forest blanketing the Western Province passed beneath them soon enough. The sun was high in the sky when they landed in the makeshift aerie set a fair distance from the hastily constructed shipyard and the town that was rapidly growing up around it.

  Handlers went to work unbuckling the saddles and feeding the wyverns as Alexander and Kiera dismounted.

  “It’ll be a couple of hours before we’re ready to fly again,” Kiera said.

  “All right. I think I’ll go have a look at the shipyard.”

  Alexander opened the door to his Wizard’s Den and his friends filed out into the afternoon sun.

  “I have to say, that’s a remarkably relaxing way to travel,” Jack said, taking in his new surroundings.

  A few moments later, two Rangers arrived and reined in their horses. Recognition spread through the lead man’s colors.

  “LaChance, right?” Alexander said. “You were Kevin’s lieutenant.”

  “I was indeed, Lord Reishi. Regent Alaric sent me to assist General Talia. He promoted me to commander and assigned me to lead the incursion into Andalia.”

  “Outstanding, Commander. Why don’t you tell us about your progress over lunch.”

  LaChance summoned a wagon and Alexander and his friends piled in for the short ride into town. The place looked like it had been built yesterday. The main road was dirt with shrubs and grass still clinging to the space between the wagon ruts. The buildings, many of them still under construction, were built with freshly cut timbers. Tents picked up where the buildings left off, sprawling haphazardly off into fields littered with stumps.

  The people were busy, bustling this way and that; hauling wood to the paddlewheel-powered sawmill that straddled a nearby stream; clearing trees, both to create more space for the expanding population and to feed the shipyard’s insatiable demand for lumber; and working in every conceivable type of shop, from smithies to bakeries.

  LaChance led them into one of the larger buildings and motioned to the table in the center of the main room.

  “Welcome to my headquarters,” he said with an unabashed smile. “I know it doesn’t look like much, but a week ago this was nothing but a patch of dirt.”

  “Sounds like you’re making good progress,” Alexander said.

  “We are, and I expect that to accelerate now that you’ve given General Talia the order to move on Andalia.”

  “That was quick,” Alexander said. “I just talked to him yesterday.”

  “We received a message rider this morning,” LaChance said. “One of the things I’ve learned from working for General Talia is that he plans for just about every conceivable situation. I’m sure the moment you gave the order, he set his plan into motion. I’m expecting a fleet to arrive within the week loaded with soldiers, weapons, food, and gold.”

  “Outstanding,” Alexander said. “How are things on the ground here?”

  “I suspect it’s like most everywhere else … we have too much to do and not enough to do it with. I’ve put most of my resources into the shipyard, so the town is coming along more slowly than most people would like. Fortunately, the weather has been mild so the tents are adequate for now, but that won’t last. There’s grumbling about the working conditions, pay rates, the high cost of just about everything, and a thousand other things.

  “Most of the people from the Western Province are invested in defeating the Andalians, but a lot of the people from the shipyards we destroyed to the east aren’t happy and they mostly blame us. On top of that, I’ve got agitators from every trade guild imaginable stirring up trouble, threatening to go back to the Andalians, to stop working and even sabotage our operations. I’ve run off a few of the true believers, but it’s a fine line. On one hand we need the shipwrights; on the other, I can’t afford an outright revolt, so I�
��ve had to make a few examples.”

  “Have the Andalians moved against you?”

  “Nothing significant. We’ve caught a few spies, but I’m sure more have gotten messages out. My scouts tell me that a legion of Lancers is camped just east of the forest along the coast, but I think they’re just protecting what’s left of their shipyards.

  “Fortunately, they can’t seem to let go of their rhone. If they were a bit more adaptable, they might be a threat. Honestly, we couldn’t repel an all-out assault if they decided to attack on foot … at least not yet. We’ll be in a far better position once reinforcements arrive.”

  “What’s Talia’s plan of attack?” Jataan asked.

  “With the Lancers in northern Ruatha on the run, Mistress Constance will be sending me a wing of Sky Knights armed with firepots. I’ll use them to destroy the rest of the Andalian shipyards.

  “We have about thirty-five hundred militiamen, but none of them have much training, so we’re working to arm them with bows and train them to fight in units. Once they’re a bit farther along I plan on thinning the ranks of the Lancers to the east. Maybe draw them into the forest where we have the advantage.”

  Jataan nodded approvingly.

  “General Talia is also sending me a couple of bards and three men from the Elite Guard. I’m not sure what five more people can do that we can’t, but he wouldn’t be sending them if he didn’t think they’d be useful.”

  “You might be surprised, Commander,” Jack said. “I’ll prepare a letter for the bards. With a bit of guidance, I’m sure they’ll be able to help you with your trade-guild problem.”

  “I don’t see how, but I’ll take your word for it,” LaChance said.

  The door opened and a man rushed in, stopping short and struggling to catch his breath. He was dressed in fine clothes, wore several rings and carried a walking stick with a polished silver pommel. His neatly trimmed silver hair formed a crown around his bald pate.

  A moment later, another man bustled in, stopping in his tracks and looking to the first man for instructions. Receiving none, he waited patiently, if a bit nervously.