House of Curses, page 25
Kerrigan shook her head. “I didn’t get to that. Have we seen those before?”
Audria gulped. “I don’t think I have.”
But Roake had gone pale. “I saw a man felled with one at Lethbridge while in battle.”
“What did it do?”
“Made everything go white. I was several paces away, and still, my ears rang from the explosion it created. The male had blood coming out of his eyes and ears. Those around him dropped to their knees, screaming.”
“Indeed. Rarer, but also more dangerous. This is called a blanc. They emit a noise so loud as to burst your internal organs on impact. Those who are not directly in contact with them suffer with hearing loss and blurry vision, as you described.”
Roake swallowed. “You’re not going to throw that one today, are you?”
“How would you counter something like this?” Bastian asked instead.
Kerrigan looked at him blankly, and Audria just went pale. That meant he was going to use that thing today.
Bastian laughed softly. “You asked for this. These artifacts have been put away for good reason, but if you want to get better, we have to go up against our own nightmares. I am not here to hurt you.” He gestured to the white square in his hand. “I am here to train you.”
“But how can we train against exploding internal organs?” Audria gasped.
“Air helps,” Bastian said. “You block your ears, eyes, nose, and mouth, so the white smoke can’t get inside your body, inside your brain. Then, you push outward with the air to dispel it. The good news is that it doesn’t travel like a noir or roses. It might hit a handful of people around the target, but it is more a singular weapon. Another reason you won’t see them often.”
They spent the next half hour working on using air to dispel the smoke and to block access to their minds. An internal hemorrhage was a terrifying thought. Kerrigan was starting to understand why the artifacts had been safely tucked away.
When Bastian finally threw the white orb, the three of them were several yards away, prepared for the onslaught. It still hurt, like her brain was rattling around in her skull. Even with pushing back against the smoke with her air magic, it was awful. She couldn’t imagine how anyone could survive that up close.
“That’s all for today. You all look worse for wear,” Bastian said. “We’ll train twice a week in between your other apprenticeship work. Kerrigan, I’ll expect you to finish the book this week and make reports on the various artifacts in the vault and the ones you are most likely to encounter in battle.”
Kerrigan couldn’t do much more than nod as she grasped the book in her hand and walked off the arena floor with her friends.
Audria shot her a look. “I don’t know whether to thank you or hate you for inviting us to this.”
“I have never been so glad to be working on regulatory law,” Roake grumbled.
“We’ll appreciate it the next time we need it,” Kerrigan said. “Even if it sucks right now.”
“And it does suck,” Audria groaned and then headed down to the baths to clean up.
Roake followed after her.
Kerrigan had too much work to do. And still, she couldn’t keep from smiling that they’d actually done it. They could go up against magical artifacts.
36
The Illusions
With how busy Kerrigan was, she almost forgot what day it was until she felt the pull from Tieran.
“Scales,” she groaned and hauled herself up to the aerie. “Is it already the full moon?”
I am insulted that you could forget, Tieran grumbled. After you forced me to carry that horrid female on my back for two straight days, you could remember that I exist.
“I remember you exist,” Kerrigan said with an eye roll. “You’re so dramatic. I started magical artifact training, and once I get the basics down, we’re going to need to train together. I’ll always have you with me.”
Fine, Tieran grumbled.
“What’s with you today? You haven’t copped this much attitude in a long time.”
Tieran huffed and blew a hot blast of air into her face. Then, his face fell. It is the anniversary of Risa’s death.
“Oh,” Kerrigan whispered. “I am so sorry. Do you need to skip tonight? I can enter the spirit plane alone.”
No, he said fiercely. No, absolutely not. Risa would have wanted me to be with you. She would have liked you.
Kerrigan choked up at the admission. “I wish I could have met her.”
As do I, he said with a touch of melancholy. Climb on, and let us begin.
Kerrigan did as he’d suggested, and a moment later, they were in the skies. Tieran landed in the same nook they had used the previous encounters. Kerrigan touched him on the snout once in understanding before dropping down into the spirit plane. She took Tieran with her, riding him down to the ground.
She was early. Cleora had said last time that she would be late because she had an event to attend. Kerrigan was supposed to be using the full moon to tap into her visions. Of course, she had already done that, almost to her detriment. She could hardly regret it though. Not when it had saved Fordham’s life. She just didn’t have the energy to do it again tonight.
She worked on spirit plane manipulation with Tieran while they waited, and then finally, Cleora appeared, dressed in ceremonial attire. A white gown with tiny straps and a large ruched belt gathered around her waist. She looked … beautiful with her bright hair coiled into an intricate design and jewels in her ears. Her eyes looked sad, almost haunted.
“Is everything all right?” Kerrigan asked.
Cleora just sighed. “Tonight will have to be brief. I am afraid I don’t have much energy.”
Kerrigan didn’t like how she looked. Normally, she was the strong and intelligent professor. Always in command and so knowledgeable. Now, she looked like a broken doll. What could do that to someone like her?
“Is there any way I can help?” Kerrigan asked, creating the table and chairs out of thin air and helping her into one.
Cleora shook her head. “No. You wouldn’t understand my world even if I described it to you, and there’s nothing that can be done for it even if you could understand. We will focus on your work and call it an early night.”
“Okay,” Kerrigan said sadly. She hated problems she couldn’t fix.
“How did your casting go tonight? Did you have a vision?”
“It went well.”
Tieran cleared his throat behind her. Tonight?
Cleora’s eyes turned sharp. “You performed the casting before the full moon?”
Kerrigan shot Tieran a traitorous look and then apologized. “I did. I am sorry. It was necessary, and I don’t regret it. I was able to see how to save someone very dear to me.”
“Explain.”
So, Kerrigan told her about the castings … both of them. Cleora looked thunderstruck that she hadn’t burned herself out completely. More than one casting in a night was nearly impossible.
“This sounds dark,” Cleora admitted. “Blood, a working of thirteen, and a portal collapse. We have nothing like a working of thirteen here. Nor do we use portals. They were destroyed ages ago. Even the emperor no longer has one. Not that he needs one, mind you. But so many people were banished from our world that the population was practically failing. It was outlawed after that.”
“Well, we have one here. It’s guarded by the Dragon Society and doesn’t work any longer. But I don’t know what it means.”
“It’s best not to think about it. You have no way of knowing when this will take place or how it would even affect you. The other casting sounds more relevant. Was your intention more focused?”
“Yes,” she said softly. “I definitely think it helped that I was focused on one person in particular. Someone important to me. It didn’t make it easier, but it was clearer.”
“You’re so strong,” Cleora said with wide eyes. “You need some self-restraint, but you could be a great spiritcaster, even here.”
Kerrigan beamed with pride. “Thank you. I wish that there were someone here who could help me.” Her face fell. “Instead, it feels like a liability.”
“As long as you believe in yourself, you’ll go far. Now, let’s move on to the fourth tenet while I have time.” Cleora looked behind her once, as if she expected someone to jump out of the shadows.
“The fourth tenet is illusions,” Kerrigan began for her. “I’ve never done that before.”
“Yes. Illusions are something we can work on in the spirit plane. Because you can create and manipulate your surroundings at will. The spirit plane itself is a sort of illusion. We don’t actually exist here, and we can do what we will to the environment.” She knocked her hand against the table. “It feels sturdy, but it is actually just created by our mind.”
“So, does it work the same in the material world?”
“Very similar. Except that instead of this existing in our mind, the things that you shape exist outside of yourself. You can create anything you can imagine. A whole city, a duplicate of yourself, even cloak yourself in your surroundings. There are many incredible uses for it. Though it is deeply taxing. I would not recommend relying on it.” Cleora smiled and rubbed her hands together. “Let me show you. Illusions are my specialty.”
She wove her hands together, bringing a ball of crux to life. Then, she threw it forward, almost the same as how Bastian had thrown down the magical artifacts. She focused intently, and the ball reshaped into an amorphous black blob.
“Now, this is a basic illusion. I created illusionary matter out of spirit magic. I can shape it how I see fit.” She waved her hand again, and the illusions turned into a group of enormous spiders.
They were so realistic that Kerrigan jumped and pulled herself backward. “Holy gods!”
The spiders disappeared, and in their place was an exact replica of Kerrigan.
Kerrigan’s jaw dropped. The red hair was the same. The clothes were the same. Even the expression on her face looked identical.
“I can control this version of you. I can have her go and do my bidding.” Cleora concentrated, a bead of sweat forming on her brow.
Illusion Kerrigan began to dance a jig that Kerrigan herself had never danced before in her life.
Cleora pushed her hand, and the other Kerrigan dissolved. She took a deep breath and then another.
“It is challenging. Especially with the night that I’ve had. You try it.”
Kerrigan focused, trying to draw in her crux to form the illusionary ball, like Cleora had suggested. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t seem to shape her magic to fit what she wanted.
She gasped and released her work. “That feels impossible.”
“It is difficult. But try again.”
Kerrigan grunted and tried over and over again. She didn’t even get a single spark of crux to appear in her hand. She finally flopped back in irritation.
“This shouldn’t be so hard.”
“It could be that you aren’t able to create illusions if you haven’t done them yet. The others came so naturally to you.” Cleora grinned. “Or you just need more practice.” Cleora shot her a look that brooked no response.
Kerrigan tried again. She tried for what felt like ages, but she didn’t even make a single spark of her crux turn into something else. It was embarrassing after how quickly she had gotten everything else.
“Can we do energy instead?” she grunted, letting the crux dissolve.
“The fifth tenet is the most dangerous to both yourself and others. If used untrained, you could kill everyone within a radius of where you are. You need much more control and not just power before we move on to energy. We’re going to keep working on illusions until you feel confident.”
Kerrigan gritted her teeth. She wanted to argue. Energy blasts had saved her life more than once in the past. Learning to control them would certainly help her more than focusing on illusions that she couldn’t master.
Though it would be nice to be in more than one place at once. Cleora was droning on about all the various uses of illusions. It seemed there was an entire list of ways they could be used. Since this was Cleora’s specialty, she wasn’t going to just let Kerrigan skip it.
“If you can’t make the crux work by our next meeting, we’ll focus on the theoretical basis. You might need to know more about the why and how and where of it all,” Cleora said with a nod. “You’ve done so well in the reality of it that we haven’t spent much time on how this is all happening to you. We can do that next time and focus on energy once you have a better understanding.”
That sounded boring. The best part of her spirit training was that it was all immediately useful. Theoretical sounded like more book work. Just what she needed.
“You can do it,” Cleora told her, patting her hand. “I must return. It has been a long night for me, and I need to get some rest to recover.”
“Cleora,” Kerrigan said. “You will be okay, right?”
“Of course. This isn’t my first time working for the emperor, and it won’t be my last. It’s just draining. Have no fear. Focus on what you can control.”
“Next full moon then,” Kerrigan said with a smile.
Cleora bowed to Tieran. “Help her with the illusions. You seem to be a calming presence.”
I try my best, Tieran said, bowing to her as well.
Then, Cleora disappeared, and Kerrigan dragged them back out of the spirit plane. She tried once again to draw in the crux for illusions and was so irritated that it hadn’t worked that she kicked a huge rock and stubbed her toe.
“Shit. Gods. Ouch!” she groaned. “Why is this so hard?”
Give it time. Not everything came to easily you with dragon training, but we mastered it. I believe we will master this as well.
Kerrigan sighed. “Yeah. I should probably rest. I’m so drained. And there’s so much practice still to do. I just … I can’t shake the feeling that I need all of this now and not later.” She climbed onto Tieran’s back and sighed. “I wish Fordham were here.”
As do I, Kerrigan. As do I.
37
The Training
Days turned into weeks, and Society members poured into the mountain. Kerrigan had never seen so many all in one place. Even during the dragon tournament, there wasn’t a full mountain’s worth of members. But with a summons to select the next council members, the place was a beehive.
But Kerrigan wasn’t their queen.
That was Alura Van Horn.
Kerrigan had more visitors than she’d ever had in her life. Society members dropping in at unexpected hours to look at her studies, get lunch with her, and invite her to events happening during campaign week. Still it was nothing compared to Alura.
Kerrigan only found out about everything Alura was doing because Ben and Bay spoke with other servants. Alura was gone at all hours of the day, bombarded with people showing support. There might be two seats open for the council, but one of those was almost assuredly Alura’s. Though every time Kerrigan saw her in passing, she looked smaller and smaller and smaller.
As if the very idea of stepping into her father’s shoes had made her deteriorate. Kerrigan hated to see her once-hardened commander falling into this. Not that she could say anything to Alura, who glared at her so fiercely every time they were in each other’s presence that it was as if others could feel the frost coming off of her.
Kerrigan wished that Cleora’s training with illusions would actually work for her. She could send a different Kerrigan into the mountain to deal with all of the Society members who wanted her time. But try as she might, she had no luck. It was as if illusions were utterly barred from her.
At least, she was succeeding in magical artifact training. Though she hated that Society members had started to show up for the training. Many of them were disgusted that she was even doing it, and then others had requested to also be trained. The crowds had gotten bigger on both sides, to the point where Bastian had considered moving their training sessions elsewhere. But where else was there in the city?
“That’s it for today,” Bastian said with another resigned sigh.
The two dozen Society members in various bedraggled states slumped in relief. They backed away in groups, speaking animatedly about the new training methods. Audria and Roake hadn’t been able to make this meeting because of the duties they had to their tribes. So many tribes were having individual parties and meetings since everyone was in one place.
Kerrigan should have been going to the ones that Bryonica had invited her to, but she had sent her father in her place. She still hadn’t seen him, and he’d scolded her for mentioning her mother in a letter. She was wondering if she would only see him again if she went to one of those stupid Bryonican parties.
“Kerrigan, might we have a word?” The speaker was a female Society member who Kerrigan had been training with.
“This way, please, Kerrigan,” Bastian said.
She shot him a relieved look. “Next time,” Kerrigan said to the female. Then, she hurried after Bastian.
He guided her away from the onlookers. “We’ve had little luck getting together since everyone has come in for the election.”
“It’s been a lot,” she admitted. “Most people don’t like what I’m doing. I hope I’m not hurting your chances. We could stop until after the election.”
He waved a hand. “I’m not worried about my chances,” he said with a private smile. “Plus, you have to stand for something, or you’ll fall for everything.”
“Yeah. I’m just not sure the thing that I stand for is what everyone wants.”
“I feel the same way,” he said with a light in his eyes she’d never seen before. He gestured to the book she’d taken to lugging around with her everywhere in a bag at her hip after someone tried to snatch it right out of her hands earlier that week. “What is the next section that you have been studying?”
“I sort of skipped ahead last night,” she admitted. She braced herself. She had been waiting for this moment for so long. She hadn’t known how to bring it up, so she had made excuses not to do so. She hadn’t seen Valia in weeks. She needed more information. “I was reading about something called … the Collector.”
