Ghost in the Tower Read online

  Burning the Magisterium, killing every wielder of arcane force in Artifel, would mean killing them as well. That would mean killing the innocent alongside the guilty. That was the cost of hatred, Caina realized. It had given her the strength to recover from what Maglarion had done to her, to face down terrible enemies and survive, to battle to keep others from suffering as she had…but too much hatred could blind her to reality.

  She looked back at Riona.

  “The problem,” Caina said, “is that every human heart has wickedness and virtue inside it, side by side, and everywhere you go, people have the same hearts.” Ariadne blinked and then smiled. “So, if you want to kill all the guilty, you’ll also kill the innocent alongside them.”

  “There is no such thing as wickedness or virtue, not in the end,” said Riona, half-pitying, half-contemptuously. “There is only power, and the strength and the will to claim it.”

  “Ah, well,” said Caina. “It looks like you’ve already chosen which side of your heart to serve.”

  “This is your last chance,” said Ariadne. “You aren’t strong enough to fight us all.”

  Riona laughed. “You would be right, high magus…but the mask wasn’t the only thing I found in the desert.” She raised her left hand and let her sleeve fall back from her wrist. “A pretty little jewel I found in the deserts of Maat. Do you like it?”

  Riona wore a faceted green gem on a cord around her wrist. A bloodcrystal? No, it looked as if it had been carved from stone, and while it gave off a potent aura, it didn’t look like a bloodcrystal. Come to think of it, the gem looked like a stylized scarab carved from green jade. The ancient Maatish religion, from what Caina had learned of it, had been a peculiar thing, obsessed with obtaining physical immortality, and had worshipped numerous strange animal-headed gods. One of them had been the god of the sun, a scarab who had pushed the sun across the sky, letting it die every night in the west only to be reborn anew in the east every morning.

  The jade scarab was the source of the twisting that Caina saw in Riona’s aura.

  “And what is that?” said Ariadne.

  “The Great Necromancers had many deadly and potent weapons to unleash against their foes,” said Riona. Another bulge appeared on her neck. “Weapons of sorcery and ruin. And other spells that commanded the plagues of nature. I had hoped to kill you all with the Ascendant Bloodcrystal, but this will do instead.”

  Her voice dropped an octave on the final few words and became a wet gurgle, and her cheeks bulged as her jaw clamped shut.

  Then she opened her mouth, and a half-dozen green scarabs crawled over her lips and skittered down her coat.

  Blood dripped from her lips, and the carapaces of the scarabs gleamed with blood and slime. More bulges formed on Riona’s neck and hands and the scarabs ripped their way free from her flesh and crawled down her body. Her clothing rippled, and Caina realized that more of the insects were gnawing their way free from her skin.

  “By the Divine!” said Sophia, her voice tight with fear.

  Caina’s first thought was that Riona had made a mistake, that she had tried to use the power of the scarab amulet only to accidentally turn it upon herself.

  But Riona was still on her feet. At least a dozen of the scarabs had tunneled their way out of her flesh, and the sheer pain should have driven her to the ground. For that matter, blood loss should have made her pass out by now.

  But Riona was smiling.

  And the scarabs were getting bigger.

  When they landed on the ground, they were the size of a human thumb. After they had raced forward a few paces, they swelled to the size of dogs. When they reached the edge of the platform, they had grown to the size of a sheep.

  And when they leaped off the platform to charge at Caina, they were the size of a pony. But unlike a pony, they had armored carapaces, legs that ended in jagged spikes, and serrated pincers that looked as if they could bite through steel armor.

  Still more and more of the scarabs tunneled their way through Riona’s flesh and skittered down her legs.

  “The ancient Maatish,” said Riona, lifting her arms, blood streaming from her lips and her eyes, “called this The Avenging Death Of The Radiant Solar Disk That Resides In Splendor In The Celestial Realm, but that’s merely a wordy way of saying you’re about to be torn apart by giant scarabs. Kill them!”

  The scarabs raced forward, pincers snapping.

  Chapter 20: Mask of Mirrors

  Calaver Aberon’s skin crawled with horror.

  When he had decided to betray his father and side with the Balarigar and Ariadne Scorneus, Calaver had known there would be risks. Granted, that particular risk had ended with his father hanging from that tree branch, his fat face turned purple. Calaver had always imagined that he would feel joy when his father died at last. Most men mourned the deaths of their fathers, but he would not.

  Instead, he felt…nothing at all.

  No joy, no rage, no grief. Mostly a mild relief that he would not have to deal with his father any longer. In a way, Decius Aberon had become an irrelevance. Calaver knew the First Magus was going to fall, and he needed to start planning for his future. The only question was when Decius would fall, and how much damage he would do on his way down.

  Five dead high magi. Decius had indeed done a lot of damage on his way down, and unless Riona was stopped, she would do far more.

  But Calaver absolutely hated insects.

  He hadn’t always hated insects. Growing up, he had been indifferent to them. But during one of the first battles of the civil war, during the final Umbarian thrust towards Artifel and the Strait, Calaver had fought in a skirmish against an Umbarian patrol. The patch of forest where they had fought had been contested ground for weeks, and the dead had been scattered across the ground, rotting without burial.

  One of the Umbarian magi had raised the corpses as undead, and Calaver had fought an undead Legionary soldier. Half of the undead soldier’s face had rotted away, and a nest of beetles had made their home in the man’s mouth and skull, boiling out of his mouth and nose. Calaver had destroyed the undead creature, but ever since then, he had an aversion to insects.

  Especially beetles.

  “Damned beetles!” snarled Calaver, dodging around the snap of a pincer, slashing with his black sword. His psychokinetic spell augmented his strength, and the blade sank deep into the jade carapace. The beetle reared back, chittering, and Calaver slashed its head off with his sword. “Why did it have to be damned beetles?”

  Around him, the others fought against the beetles that poured from the platform. Ariadne unleashed spells with all the power and fury of a high magus, hammers of psychokinetic force crushing the creatures to a pulp beneath her will. She had tried a banishment spell, but it did nothing against the beetles. Whatever the hell the giant scarabs were, they weren’t spirits of the netherworld.

  The black-coated old man that Caina had called Markaine fought with surprising skill, crimson scimitar in his right hand, black dagger in his left. It helped that his dagger sliced through the tough jade carapaces of the giant beetles without slowing. The dark-eyed Ulkaari girl hung back, reloading and firing her crossbow as fast as she could manage it. She seemed to have a measure of sorcerous power, enough to wreathe her bolts in freezing mist.

  The Balarigar wielded her valikon, and had the circumstances been less grim, Calaver would have been amused to note that she was a mediocre swordswoman at best. To judge from Caina’s movements, it was clear that she was more experienced with short blades, that she wanted to use the valikon like a dagger instead of a sword. Fortunately, it did not take much for the valikon to destroy one of the giant beetles. If the tip or the edge of the blade broke the carapace, that was enough to destroy the creatures, and they dissolved into gray mist. Calaver supposed the things were constructions of sorcerous force, some bizarre necromancy that powered itself with Riona Canwyll’s blood and will.

  But of all Caina’s companions, none of them fought as well
as Kylon Shipbreaker.

  He had a valikon wrapped in freezing mist, and he also had the sorcery of water and air to make him faster. The man moved like a storm, the valikon a blur in his hands as he struck. Calaver had supposed Kylon’s reputation overstated, that other men had won the victory over the Imperial fleet during the war with New Kyre, and Kylon had only received the credit due to his ancient family lineage. But after seeing Kylon carve his way through the scarabs, Calaver was beginning to wonder if the stormdancer had wiped out the Empire’s fleet single-handedly.

  It was just as well. Even with Kylon’s fury, Ariadne’s spells, and Caina’s valikon, they were still barely holding their own against the tide of scarabs that poured from Riona’s flesh and rushed across the clearing.

  Her clothes hung in tatters from her lean frame, and blood dripped down the torn and mangled flesh of her limbs. Yet Riona showed no trace of pain as more scarabs crawled from her body and swelled into immensity. From time to time Ariadne broke free long enough to hurl a blast of psychokinetic force at Riona, but the renegade sorceress had enough concentration and power to deflect the attacks.

  And still more scarabs came.

  Calaver fought with all his strength and skill, psychokinetic spells augmenting him.

  But unless he could get to Riona, it was useless.

  ###

  Caina dodged around a pair of snapping pincers and swung her valikon with both hands. The jade carapaces were strong and tough, and Caina had seen Calaver’s sword deflect off the scarabs several times. But if she swung her valikon with both hands, Caina was just strong enough to drive the ghostsilver edge of the weapon through the carapace and into the creatures’ flesh.

  Her blade bit into the beetle, and the giant insect dissolved into gray mist that swirled away into nothingness.

  The touch of the valikon was enough to shatter the necromantic spells upon the beetles. They were creatures of necromancy, a strange fusion of the power of the jade amulet and Riona’s blood. Caina didn’t understand how the amulet created the scarabs, but it hardly mattered now. The damned things were quick and deadly, and there were so many. If they didn’t get to Riona and get that amulet away from her, the battle was going to be over before too much longer.

  A horse-sized beetle scuttled towards Caina, and she dodged to the side, just missing the snapping pincers. She drove her blade forward, and the valikon stabbed into the beetle. The shock of the impact shot up her arms and into her aching shoulders, but the valikon crunched into the scarab, and Caina stumbled as the creature dissolved into mist. She recovered her balance and retracted the blade, turning towards the platform with the Ascendant Bloodcrystal.

  Damn it! The press of the battle had forced her back. Caina and the others were further from the platform than when the fighting had started. There seemed to be no limit to the number of beetles that Riona could summon with her amulet. She need only stand there and throw wave after wave of the creatures at them, and sooner or later Caina and the others would be overwhelmed.

  “Caina, Calaver!” shouted Kylon, slashing his valikon through another scarab. “Keep them off me for just a moment!” He began to glow with the power of air sorcery.

  Kylon could move faster than any of them, and the sorcery of elemental air let him perform immense leaps. A few jumps and he would reach the platform with the Ascendant Bloodcrystal and cut down Riona. But he needed just a few heartbeats to summon enough power, and the scarabs were not giving him that time.

  “Go!” shouted Caina to Calaver.

  The battle magus nodded, his face twisted into a rictus of fury. Caina got the impression that he did not like insects very much, a sentiment she was beginning to understand herself. He whirled and charged with a burst of psychokinetic force, cutting down another beetle. Caina rushed after him, slashing with her valikon, while Morgant and Sophia moved closer to Ariadne, who hurled spell after spell into the charging scarabs.

  Caina and Calaver reached Kylon, and her husband took three running steps forward and leaped, his valikon’s hilt grasped in both hands. He soared into the air, valikon raised, and landed halfway between the melee and the platform. At once, he started to gather power for another leap, and Riona whirled to face him, eyes narrowed in her bloody face. She lifted a hand, and Caina feared she would hurl a killing spell at Kylon.

  Instead, four of the scarabs sprang into the air, their jade carapaces unfolding to reveal blurring gossamer wings.

  As it turned out, the damned things could fly.

  “Kylon!” shouted Caina.

  He reacted at once, his sword blurring to meet the scarabs. He cut down two of them from the air, then threw himself to the side and rolled, avoiding the other two as they landed, their pincers yawning wide. Kylon was back on his feet in a second, his valikon stabbing, and the two remaining beetles dissolved into nothingness.

  But more of the creatures took to the air, converging on Kylon. Evidently, they had focused on him as the most serious threat. Or maybe Riona realized that he might get close enough to strike her. Either way, more of the scarabs rushed towards Kylon, and Caina moved to help her husband.

  “Caina!” shouted Ariadne. “I have an idea!”

  Caina hesitated for a heartbeat. Kylon needed her help. But he was holding his own against the beetles, and it didn’t matter how many scarabs she cut down if they didn’t stop Riona.

  “Calaver, help him!” snapped Caina, and she ran towards Ariadne.

  ###

  Ariadne hurled another blast of psychokinetic force, crushing the head of a beetle that skittered towards her. Markaine stepped to the side and intercepted another scarab, his strange black dagger ripping the creature in half. Sophia shot another bolt from her crossbow, and it smacked into a third beetle. The bolt itself did little against the creature, but the freezing mist discharged into the insect. Its limbs froze up for just a moment, and Markaine took off its head with his dagger.

  Then Caina was running at Ariadne, the valikon burning in her right hand.

  “I have an idea,” said Ariadne.

  “What is it?” said Caina.

  “I can ward you inside a shell of psychokinetic force,” said Ariadne. “It will keep the beetles from touching you.”

  Caina frowned. “Then I can just run up to Riona and kill her?”

  She whirled and stabbed her valikon into another beetle, the creature unraveling into gray mist, and Ariadne destroyed two more with another burst of power.

  “Yes,” said Ariadne. “But I can’t shield you from Riona’s spells. She’ll see what you’re doing and try to dispel the ward around you.”

  “Do it,” said Caina, risking a glance in Kylon’s direction.

  Ariadne nodded, stepped forward, and put her free hand on Caina’s shoulder. Targeting the spell would be a challenge since she could not sense Caina’s presence through sorcery. Yet Ariadne had the skill of a high magus of the Magisterium, and she used that skill now, focusing her will and putting most of her power and concentration into a ward of psychokinetic force around Caina. The ward flared to life, and it pushed Ariadne back. She stumbled and caught herself, leaning on her staff for balance.

  “Go!” said Ariadne.

  Caina was already sprinting towards the platform before the word had left Ariadne’s mouth.

  ###

  The glow of the warding spell shone around Caina, and she ran as fast as she could, heading for Riona and the altars.

  Three beetles skittered towards her, moving faster than a man could run. If they hit her, they would knock Caina from her feet and tear her limb from limb with their serrated pincers. Caina made no effort to dodge, hoping Ariadne’s ward would protect her. It occurred to Caina that she was trusting her life to a sorceress of the Magisterium, to a sister of Laeria Amalas, and something within her snarled in sudden furious panic.

  Too late to turn back now.

  Caina kept running, and the nearest beetle slammed into her.

  Or it almost slammed into her. The beet
le rebounded as it cracked into Ariadne’s psychokinetic ward. The scarab flipped over onto its back, legs thrashing. Caina hadn’t felt anything at all. The remaining two beetles hit her and bounced off the ward, tumbling away.

  Huh. That was useful.

  But Caina saw that the impacts had weakened the ward, and she didn’t know how much longer Ariadne could maintain it. Holding the ward in place over a distance had to be a tremendous effort of will and concentration, especially in the middle of a battle.

  Caina didn’t have long.

  She sprinted for the platform, heading straight for Riona.

  The renegade sorceress saw her approaching. Riona’s face had become a bloody horror, her eyes glaring from a mask of torn flesh, lips pulled back in a snarl. She began casting a spell, a burst of necromantic force that would rend the life from Caina. Ariadne’s ward would protect her from physical attacks, but not sorcerous ones.

  Riona flung out her hand, and Caina threw herself to the side and rolled. A lance of ghostly green fire shot over her head. It should have followed Caina unerringly, but her nature as a valikarion made it harder for sorcerers to target her with spells. Caina sprang back to her feet, sprinted the final few yards to the platform, and leaped. She hit the edge of the platform and rolled again, avoiding another lance of necromantic power from Riona.

  The glow of Ariadne’s ward winked out. Either Caina had moved far enough that Ariadne could not maintain the ward, or her aunt needed the power to defend herself.

  Caina sprang to her feet and slashed at Riona. The renegade sorceress jerked back, but not in time to avoid the tip of Caina’s valikon. The ghostsilver sword slashed down Riona’s right arm, and the hilt grew hot in Caina’s hands. Riona jerked back with a scream, and the gash Caina had carved in her arm smoked and charred.