Michael Manning - The Archmage unbound

“He’s taken on the identity of a visiting priest of Doron, who is interested in viewing the Karenthian archives,” she explained.

“And he thought disguising himself as a priest of Karenth would be more difficult? Doesn’t actually staying here among the Doronites increase his chances of detection?” I had a lot more questions where those came from, but I was pacing myself.

Rose sighed, “Talk to him about it when you see him.”

I grunted and then replied, “Let me see if I can find him first.” Closing my eyes I focused on my other ‘sight’ and extended my mind to a much greater extent, so that I could search the temple in front of us. It was larger than it appeared; the building actually had been built on top of an extensive underground complex. Some of it even extended underneath our feet. There were cells and storerooms, and a variety of living quarters. There were also quite a few people. At a rough count I would have guessed at least three hundred people were within the building at the moment, and they weren’t holding services currently.

“There’s a lot more Doronic clergy in there than I expected,” I said at last.

“Doronic?”

“I know they prefer ‘Iron Brotherhood’, or ‘Doronite’, but I like ‘Doronic’. It sounds a lot more like moronic.”

Rose groaned, “Did you find him?”

“Not yet, it’s more difficult when there are more people. I have to examine each one,” I closed my eyes again. Several minutes later I had found him, though his situation confused me. He was in what appeared to be one of their cells for visiting clergy, but he wasn’t alone. I had initially passed over him because I had assumed he would be by himself if he was in the living quarters. That was my mistake. “I found him.”

“What is he doing?” asked Rose.

I was torn between my desire to keep my friend’s private business, well… private, and the desire to snicker. Trust Marc to find a priestess with an ‘itch’. I looked at Rose and scratched my head, “He’s discussing matters with one of the other clergy members.”

She watched my face carefully, “He’s only been in there a few days and he’s already bedding the women?”

I was embarrassed by proxy, “That’s a long time for him, and how did you know it was that?”

She held up a finger, “One, I can tell he likes women. Two, your eyes darted off to the side right before you spoke.”

I was curious, “How can you tell he likes women?” As far as I knew he hadn’t had any lady friends that she knew about.

“You watch the eyes,” she replied. “That and posture tell me all I need to know.”

“Posture?”

“People lean toward you when they’re interested.”

I filed that information away without looking at it too closely. I didn’t want to know what Rose might have read in my eyes over the past few years. “Well you guessed correctly,” I told her, and then added, “about Marc’s activities in there.”

“So do we wait for him to emerge?”

“I’d rather not. Let’s go in and find him,” I replied.

Lady Rose shook her head, “If you weren’t a wizard I’d think you were mad. How do you plan to accomplish that, without exposing him?”

“Do you trust me?”

She looked up into my eyes, “More than anyone else still living.” Then she looked away. Even with her self-control some things were just too painful to say, and neither of us could afford to start crying in the street.

“There’s an empty storeroom under the street over there,” I said pointing to an alley running alongside the temple. “We can enter there without anyone noticing us and it should be a short walk from there to the cells the priests sleep in.”

A minute later we were standing beside the building, in the alley I had indicated. “I don’t see an entry,” commented Rose.

“There isn’t one. It’s directly underneath us,” I informed her.

Her eyes widened as she looked at me, “How far beneath us?”

“Fifty feet or so, would you like to come with me or wait up here?”

“I’m coming with you. What do I have to do?” she asked.

I was surprised at her easy acceptance. “Shouldn’t you be warning me not to do anything stupid?”

Her face softened, “I’m not Penny dear. I expect you to make your own judgments regarding magic, but if you damage this dress I’ll take it out of you in blood.”

Her remark made me want to laugh and cry at the same time, so I ignored it and moved on. “I’ll need you to get close to me for this to work.”

“How close?” she said.

“I’m not sure, in physical contact at least,” I told her.

She stepped into me and wrapped her arms around my waist, “Is this sufficient?”

I had been thinking that holding hands would suffice, but I wasn’t going to tell her otherwise now. I put my own arms around her and tried to concentrate. It took longer than I had expected. Rose smelled very nice.

Pushing those thoughts aside I listened carefully to the stone beneath us. It was a complicated mixture of cobblestones laid over gravel and sand. Beneath that was layer of clay and then more stone, this time natural stone. I struggled to integrate it all into my ‘self’, while at the same time maintaining Rose as a separate physical entity. I didn’t want to think about what might occur if I accidentally blurred the boundaries between us.

After a moment I began to sink into myself, or rather into what I would previously have called the ground. Rose wasn’t moving however and I had to make a conscious effort to allow her to pass through me. If it sounds confusing that’s because it was. It was hard enough to visualize and language isn’t really made for describing the mixing of perspectives between animate and inanimate.

Eventually we both emerged from the ceiling of the store room deep below. The ceilings down there were low so we managed to reach the floor without much of a drop. I took a moment to disconnect myself from the stone and earth above us and return my consciousness to normal. Once I had regained my proper perspective again I realized I was still holding Rose.

Holding her close like that felt good, and for a second I didn’t want to release her. I hated myself for that thought immediately. I took my arms away, “It’s safe to let go now.”

“I wasn’t sure,” she said. “That was the strangest experience of my life. It felt as though the stone and earth itself were flowing around us.” She was staring upward at the ceiling in wonder. “I can’t imagine what the world must be like for you.”

“What do you mean?”

“You have the power to change the world around you, to suit your whims. If I had such power I’m not certain I would use it wisely.”

I’m not sure I will either, I thought to myself. “I never had a choice in the matter. I’m just doing the best I can to use it for the greater good.” That was a presumptuous line, but I didn’t know how else to phrase it.

“You will succeed Mordecai. You’re a good man,” she patted me on the cheek as she said it.

“Not as good a man as Dorian was,” I said thinking of my lost friend.

“True,” she agreed with a sad note in her voice. “He was the truest, most honest, and chivalrous man I ever met. Not just in his word and deed, but right down to his very bones. You are not as ‘good’ as he was.”

Her explanation was a bit excessive, but it was accurate in every particular.

“But still, I think you are the best one to bear the burden of that power,” she added. “The choices and responsibilities that your power will thrust upon you would undo someone as pure as he was. Your power and goals will require compassion, adaptability, and cunning.”