Knight of Stars by Tom Lloyd

Author:Tom Lloyd [Lloyd, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473224636
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2019-05-21T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

Lynx watched Atieno descend the stairway. He looked more stiff and weary than usual, ignoring the babble of noise in the courtyard until he’d reached Anatin.

‘Define worse,’ the commander said at last, having spent the wait chewing his lip in thought.

‘Did any of you see it?’ Atieno asked, looked round at the marked Cards. They all shared Lynx’s blank expression so he nodded and eased himself down into a spare seat. ‘Very well, I will explain as best I can. We believe the Labyrinth served as some sort of, ah, tap is perhaps the best word. It limits the flow of magic into the world.’

‘So you opened this … tap, and let some more magic out into the world?’

‘Exactly. It came in a surge to begin with, but has calmed. However, we, Lastani, Sitain and I, are much more powerful than before. I believe we can access this source, or even that we are the holes in the dam.’

‘So what does that mean other than a golden age o’

magic?’

Atieno regarded the man severely. ‘Other? You believe so much magic worked well for the Duegar?’

‘Dunno. For the first few thousand years, maybe?’

‘Let us hope we’re that lucky. We have changed the face of Urden, that much I am certain of. The attack we faced on the canal might become more common as creatures that feed on magic are strengthened.’

‘So more golantha trying to eat my other hand?’

‘Maybe.’

‘Not so good then. How did we make it worse?’

Atieno shook his head and rubbed a calloused thumb against his temple. ‘This is a guess, you must understand. It is what I felt just now, but Lastani and Sitain may disagree.’

‘Noted – now fucking spit it out.’

Atieno took a long breath. ‘In the lower level, when Bade escaped us on that platform and we found something beneath, there were glyphs.’

‘The names o’ all the elementals, right?’

‘Not all, but yes, eight elementals. Perhaps it was not just a tap, but a lock. When Lastani did whatever she did, I felt her linked to my mind but also several other mages. Some I felt much more strongly than others.’

‘I felt some o’ the marked Cards more clearly than others,’ Lynx pointed out.

‘As did I, but the flow of magic was clear and connected to several other mages who I felt at least as strongly,’ Atieno replied brusquely. ‘I am not experienced in linked magic, as you might expect of a tempest mage, but to have several unknown mages stand out like beacons in the darkness … it cannot be coincidence.’

‘What sort of coincidence?’

‘The eight elementals corresponded to the magic of ice, night, stone, fire, lightning, earth, wind and light. However many elementals exist, I know there are water elementals so this wasn’t a list of all types.’

‘Oh shit, you think it was a key?’ Lynx groaned. ‘We only opened two out of eight so far and even that got mages and monsters riled up?’

Atieno nodded. ‘Today I sensed a stone mage, wind, fire and lightning link to us – sensed them as strongly as I could feel Sitain and Lastani.

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