Chapter 10

Periannolu speaks a mashup of High Enchor and a Methilari-adjacent dialect that resulted in an extremely infuriating ablative case, but fortunately they're great with loan words, even more so now that it's fashionable post-Sundering. Surprisingly little tension between proponents of traditional agrarian lifestyle versus modern industry, but only because those battles were fought openly in the early days of recovery. It wouldn't be impossible to re-stoke, but the potential gain for Serenthuar makes the effort not worthwhile—Periannolu is too many portals away.

It could easily be worth it for Periannolu's less wealthy neighbors, though. And as closely as their shipping operations are monitored, given the scale of the operation, I know exactly how I'd go about slipping through.

You know, if that were ever called for.

Liris had only been training with Shry for a few minutes when Vhannor interrupted them on the mat.

"We have a mission, and we need to go now," he said without preamble.

Liris glanced up at him, startled by Vhannor's appearance here—and he stood out, not dressed for sparring.

No doubt that was why people were staring.

Or maybe it was because the Lord of Embhullor had casually strode into their gym and publicly treated Liris like an equal partner. Hard to say.

She bowed slightly to Shry. "My apologies. It appears I'll have to reschedule."

"Oh, I'm coming too," Shry announced, looking like she was daring Vhannor to argue with her.

His expression didn't crack. "Fine, but you'll be bored."

Her grin was sharp. "Last-minute missions have a way of making themselves exciting."

Liris said, "I'll go pack—"

"No, I mean ‘now' literally. We needed to be there days ago."

Yet he hadn't just gone ahead without her. Validating, but Liris frowned. "What? Then why didn't—wait. Not another message anchor?"

"Yeah," Vhannor said grimly. "The demon portal should be straightforward, but it's waited long enough they need to make sure whoever comes to deal with it won't need time for research or setup. That's us. They're not sure which message anchor has been subverted yet, so the messenger just ran it to us. And we're taking skimmers back."

And then from his pack, he withdrew two.

Shry couldn't cast spells, so that meant—

Shry said, "Oh, so we do have time for a magic lesson?"

Vhannor smirked. "If you're too bored..."

Shry looked at Liris. "Learn fast."

This didn't even count as a test. "I always do," Liris told her.

Shry snorted and stepped away, not disputing that, and Vhannor's smirk grew.

Liris ignored how heat spread through her and focused.

"You'll be able to pilot the skimmer without any trouble. The problem is, at the speeds we need to travel, your reflexes will need to be augmented to keep up," Vhannor said briskly.

So that was how Jiechit hadn't crashed them into any trees.

"Up until now, all the spells you've worked on have been in the incorporeal category, but this is what we call corporeal magic." He whipped out his spell pad.

Liris did likewise, though she was going to need to figure out a better system. Her sparring clothes had a pocket Lady Inealuwor had added a button to so she would have a pad with her even now, but it took her precious seconds to access.

"Corporeal magic infuses magic into a shape, binding it to a physical form with a purpose. The main difference with incorporeal magic is that corporeal can't hold indefinitely. If you infuse an object with magic, eventually the magic will wear out."

That made sense. Magic liked to move.

"Copy this diagram out while I talk. Corporeal magic is incredibly complex and dangerous. Only specialists perform tasks with it using much of their body or for long periods—like message runners. You don't see most casters walking around picking up heavy shit all the time because it's easy to miscalculate how much time you have and make a mistake, you burn through spells re-upping corporeal magic fast. Plus, when you can't be constantly adjusted your body gets confused about what's ‘normal' and it's easy to injure yourself. Infusing and augmenting are specialized disciplines. Today we're going to focus on just one augmentation: reflexes. But that in turn will augment all of your body, and you're not a corporeal specialist so—"

"This is a limiter." Liris jerked her chin at one spell layer. "When the spell starts running low, our—elbows? Will feel like ice, warning us to stop and recast."

"It's hard to find a body part we might not otherwise pay attention to while spellcasting or navigating a skimmer." Vhannor ran a hand through his hair like this embarrassed him.

"Elbows it is."

"How many copies do you have?"

"Four."

"Any questions?"

Liris shook her head.

"Then try casting."

Just like that?

Vhannor's gaze was open, steady. Taking her at her word that she knew what she was about and would tell him when she didn't.

Liris closed her eyes, breathed, and began. She didn't want to rush and fail, and she knew she should take a new spell slowly, but—this one was just easy.

She opened her eyes and took a few steps.

She nearly crashed into Shry—on the opposite end of the mat.

Nice.

"I'll teach you more about why that works and what you should be aware of as we go," Vhannor said, "but that should do it. Come take a look at the skimmer navigation spells."

Liris darted back over, accidentally bumping into Vhannor with her speed and bouncing off onto her butt.

More cautiously, as Vhannor's lips twitched, she stood and bent over his spell pad, studying it.

Oh. That made sense.

He was right, this part was easy for her.

Flying would be easy for her.

She couldn't wait.

Vhannor wordlessly offered her a hoverboard, and in a minute Liris had it set up: the board floated out of her hand, and she mounted on, testing her balance.

Then zoomed in a circle around Vhannor before coming to a quick stop in front of him with a grin lighting up her whole face.

And then he smiled back at her.

A wide, delighted smile she'd never seen from him for anyone.

And it was all for her.

Vhannor cast his own spell and raised his eyebrows at Shry. "Still think that was too long a delay?" he teased.

Shry faked a yawn. "I suppose I'm not asleep yet."

Then she spun away from Liris, who'd tried using her augmented reflexes with the skimmer to sneak up on Shry.

Liris grinned. "Worth a try."

"Careful," Shry said with a lazy smile. "If I'd tripped you instead and you'd tried to dive, what do you think would happen with augmented muscles?"

"A spinning tumble through the air, followed by a hard landing," Liris said promptly, then smirked. "But don't worry Shry. I know a person like you would never really hurt me."

Shry narrowed her eyes, then looked outraged when Liris started snickering. "You—"

"Which way are we going?" Liris quickly asked Vhannor.

Lavender eyes dancing, he mounted his own skimmer and shot off, and they raced away.

Liris had gotten the hang of navigating tight corridors at speed, and Shry had stopped swearing by the time she caught up with them at an unaugmented run, keeping pace with their speed easily because she was just that fast as they blew past buildings and trees and bugs and everything.

‘Everything' faded, though the exhilaration of flying didn't.

When they passed through the Gate into Periannolu, Liris was struck by the vast shipping operation: this was a huge hub. Periannolu had multiple Gates, but they were also a prime exporter of grain, preserved meat, and rare medicines.

A liveried messenger waited there to escort them, and they continued flying through the industrial heart of the transportation infrastructure into supporting towns, where Liris could see distant buildings from the nearest city.

They turned the opposite way, into the extensive grassland Periannolu was famous for. It stretched out forever, like Liris could fly as fast and as far she wanted and never be stopped.

The new landscape was less overwhelming for her brain at high speeds, because she couldn't make out enough to process details. Still, by the time they arrived at the demon portal, Liris was feeling the mental strain of trying anyway.

Without a guide, Liris didn't know how they'd have found the site. They weren't here to deal with a message anchor directly, but a demon portal that had been discovered running a diagnostic on their communications system. Neither the dark glow of the spell burned into the grass nor the guards were visible from a distance.

Liris and Vhannor flashed their licenses at the guards and got to work immediately: the spell was close to active and huge, but despite its size there wasn't much complexity to it.

"Do you want to dispel it?" Vhannor asked her.

Liris didn't think he meant this as a test, but she knew she'd still feel like she'd failed if she said no. She didn't exactly get a chance to practice dispelling all that often.

"Wait," Shry said. "You've only been here a couple minutes. You're already done?"

"Oh, it used an Algonese mathematical construct written in ancient Glaric with nexuses at each Rorgani calligraphic stroke, but that's about it," Liris said.

Vhannor nodded. "Yes, nothing especially complicated."

Shry looked between them as if trying to decide if they were joking. At last she rolled her eyes and drawled, "Right, sounds perfectly straightforward. I suppose it'll only take you a few minutes to finish, then?"

Ah, a timed test was just the thing to wake her up and focus her mind. Liris grinned. "Sure."

This time was still so much more restful than her first. She felt like she knew what she was doing, and every movement she made in the spell circle was made more satisfying by the rush of certainty that she was actively, intentionally shaping magic and the world with her will and actions.

The demon portal spell flared and vanished.

Liris let out a breath and stepped away, glad she didn't feel wobbly this time—just smug.

Yes, it had been an easy spell, but she knew enough now to know that. A couple months ago she couldn't have even read a spell.

Vhannor had watched her, and his expression surprised her—sharp, tense. "We have company," he told her.

Shry was turned away, and Liris followed her line of sight as a person sped toward them from the guards' perimeter.

Thiswas a corporeal magic specialist.

"Caster-messenger Damennol," Vhannor murmured in Liris' ear. "The same one who brought word to Embhullor."

Damennol came to an abrupt stop before them. Liris had a new appreciation for the kind of control it took to adjust from high-speed to instant stillness without injury.

But while their form was perfect, their eyes were showing too much white.

Dropping into a bow they said, "Periannolu formally requests emergency aid from Special Operations."

Liris frowned. They were already here for emergency aid, weren't they?

It was Shry who asked, "Demons?"

Damennol shook his head. "Mercenary casters invading."

Liris' newly calmed heart thumped. She knew, obviously, that demon servants meant human casters, but she'd been so focused on training for demonic opponents the fact that she might have to fight humans with spells hadn't fully sunk in.

"We know now why the message anchor was subverted—and which one—"

"This demon portal was a distraction, I take it," Vhannor said.

"One of our Gates is under attack," Damennol said bluntly. "The Dianor Gate is small and not much in use, so our own forces are overwhelmed because they were always supposed to be able to request backup—which they couldn't manage swiftly with the message anchor compromised. Runners are on their way now, but they won't be there before the Gate falls. We don't know what kind of forces have gathered on the other side. But the Gate isn't far from here. I know this is irregular, but can you help? At least to buy time? You're the closest combat-grade caster." He took a breath and added, "Please."

Vhannor fixed them with his intense gaze. "Do you have the authority to negotiate terms for Periannolu?"

Damennol's jaw clenched. "No."

Nor surprising. They looked Gwenni, Periannolu's indigenous minority that had a careful relationship with the ruling class. The government needed their expert land management more than ever after the Sundering, and it was a careful balance between giving them more bargaining power or making them more at risk of exploitation.

"Then officially," Vhannor said, "without terms, Special Operations cannot intervene."

Liris rounded on him. She understood the reasoning—without an official understanding, after the battle Periannolu could claim Isendhor had invaded, incurring damages—or even colluded with the Gwenni. But surely, under the circumstances—

Vhannor held up a hand when she opened her mouth to argue. "Officially, however, to do a thorough job of dismantling this demon portal, which Special Operations was called on to do, I will have to ensure it is not part of a troubling pattern in other locally reported magical anomalies before my job is complete. This is within the bounds of my authority, if Periannolu's own guards will consent to supervise my inspection. And in that capacity, if I were to see a threat, I would be compelled to take action."

Damennol let out a breath. "Thank the gods. I am licensed to escort you. I've committed your message to memory and so long as I remain able I will repeat it to Periannolu's government officials, now please, can we—"

"Liris," Vhannor said. "If we face enemy combatants, understand, we may have to kill them. That's not what you signed up for. You can stay—"

"No," Liris said. And when Vhannor opened his mouth, she said again and more firmly, "No."

He was not going to leave her safely behind while he threw himself into danger. That was not the kind of partner she would be to him. At the very least, she would have his back.

Liris had been trained not to blink when faced with violence and death.

They would see how well she held it together if she had to deal it herself.

For her partner's sake, she resolved she would not outwardly falter, no matter what.

"Let's move," Shry growled.

Liris was already closing the spell circle to activate her skimmer.

Liris actually knew the story for how this Gate had been found, because it was a common example for both identifying Gates and the sensitivity of animals to magic: the bison thundered across every part of the grassland except this one spot. Eventually someone magically tracking the bisons' movements over time had noticed and wondered why.

Periannolu had hammered a large bronze ring around the Gate to mark its location, anchored it in multiple directions, and enclosed it in a barn for human convenience, and eventually other buildings had cropped up around to support it—places to store food, for guards to sleep. It wouldn't have looked all that different from the industrial processing center—built short, with heavy materials, to withstand high winds and winter blizzards.

That barn had been blown apart.

What was left was scattered in chunks of siding across the grass and on fire, and in the process of setting fire to the surrounding buildings; one shed was already a pillar of flame. In the dimming light of the sunset they gleamed like shattered embers as Periannolu's remaining thirtyish defenders formed a silhouetted line facing the Gate.

As they approached more distant outbuildings—ah, fantastic, a latrine—Vhannor swore and signaled for them to stop, ducking behind. He dismounted his skimmer and motioned for Liris to leave hers hidden as well, presumably because they wouldn't be able to navigate them and cast for a battle at the same time.

But also, just casually abandoning an item of unthinkable expense for the sake of strangers.

No, she was not in Serenthuar anymore.

"Lord Vhannor—" Damennol protested.

"Our experience is no good to them if we charge in stupidly. Stay back."

Shry didn't. "I'll keep them busy."

All dozen of them?

"Don't shift," Vhannor yelled after her. "We're already on shaky legal ground." Then he turned to Damennol. "Any relevant combat expertise?"

"Running," they said flatly. "I can keep pace with a bison, and I can keep out of their way. That's what I'm trained to do."

"Understood." Vhannor scrawled out a spell and commanded, "Liris, copy this four times. Damennol, you're going to place them in a circle around us, this distance away. Fix them in place. Don't be seen, and don't get hit. Make sure you're on the outside when it activates and do what you can for any sparks that drift that far. If the fire spreads through the prairie it will be catastrophic, but we can't prevent that if the people creating the flames remain. That will be our priority. We'll leave defending the prairie to those who know it best."

Damennol's eyes gleamed. "Understood."

Liris worked out the spell as she copied it. Trapping the mercenaries to limit the damage they could do, just like demons. But unlike the normal demon sphere, this one was made to hold casters.

But not for long.

"Why the time limit?" she asked.

"Takes less power. Containing casters is no small thing."

A scream reached them, and Liris jerked her head to the Gate.

One fewer caster than there had been, and Shry was dancing around spells from two others, ethereal in how elegantly she spun through the air and away, delivering chaos with every blow and never slowing as spells chased her.

Magic hurt demons. How long could she hold out?

"Liris, we're working as a caster team. My knowledge of spells is greater. I'll prepare them and tell you how to direct them, but you'll be casting. Can you do it?"

She'd been ready her whole life.

Liris ripped the spell pages off to Damennol, who took off. "Let's go."

"The casters are working together, which means they're a professional unit," Vhannor told her.

His coolly controlled voice at her back steadied her. He'd set up a shield spell as a square wall in front of them, combined with an illusion spell that made it look like the grassland all around. They were closer, but it would still be hard for the foreign casters to spot even if they moved.

"Will we be enough, then?" Liris asked. As good as Vhannor was, there were more of them, and she wasn't trained yet.

"Want to back out?"

Liris glared at him.

Vhannor smirked. "Then we'll find out, won't we?"

Liris held out her hand, heart pounding. "What's the first spell?"

He didn't hesitate; moments like this were what his icy fa?ade was for. "The mercenaries are surrounding the defenders' line. We want to make that harder, without preventing the defenders' ability to regroup if needed. Target a caster moving around the outside. You see the gap in the spell? Fill in the value of their position relative to you, and then close the circle."

Liris closed her eyes, took a breath. Then snapped them open, took in the mercenary's position, calculated, updated the spell in the same breath, and cast.

The magic appeared to shoot out from the Gate, a tiny ball of fire zinging straight into the mercenary. They went down.

"Opposite side now, before they catch on." Vhannor handed her another identical spell. "Go."

She did. Working with Vhannor was so easy.

But the casters did catch on. Barking out orders to form up, they made as if to spear through the defenders' line.

Shry charged in to break the formation and bounced back, drawing off. A magical shield, then.

"We need more power," Liris said.

"No. This, as-is." Vhannor handed her another spell.

Maybe they weren't in perfect sync after all.

Still, Liris cast.

Another fireball launched from the Gate at the mercenaries' backs but didn't break through their shield.

Another of Periannolu's defenders fell, and their formation faltered.

Vhannor swore, taking Liris' hand to keep them both behind the moving shield as they ran. "We need a new angle, so our spells get between Periannolu and the invaders."

"Can't we—"

"Spell that? Yes, with time, which we don't have. Here, go when I tell you. Wait—now!"

Liris cast, and this time the magic was like a scythe of fire, slicing through the attacks the invaders had launched in unison.

Vhannor handed her the next spell as one of the casters looked right at them and sent a bolt of magic straight at their shield. It fritzed.

Through the warping air before her, Periannolu's line of defense looked like it was coming apart, too.

Liris glanced down at the spell. Another scythe. But they were at an angle now, and she understood the pattern—

The illusion-shield vanished.

Liris scrawled a line of Thyrasel through the spell Vhannor had handed her, and cast.

Instead of a precision slice, a wave of fire erupted from their location toward the mercenaries.

Their shield went down instantly, and so did several of the mercenaries.

The powerful fire, meanwhile, kept going, reaching the edge of the protective sphere Damennol had cast—

—and reflecting. The fire hurtled back toward them.

The mercenary casters dove for the Gate, and Vhannor knocked Liris to the ground. Staring up, she saw the silvery outline of a shield spell above them just before the fire wiped it away as it passed overhead.

Her magical fire was too strong to dissipate, but not strong enough to break the caster containment sphere. Not yet.

Good for the prairie, but now they were trapped in here with the fire.

And since the spell wasn't fading, the chaotic rush of emotion inside her wasn't either.

"Liris, you have to dispel it. Liris!" Vhannor took her by the shoulders, staring straight into her eyes and commanded, "Tell me what you added to the spell."

Order in the chaos.

Liris' natural training to respond to tests kicked in, and she recited the line for him.

"Liris, you have to dispel this, because you're the only one who knows Thyrasel. If you fail, no one will be able to rescue you before you die. You have to succeed. Understand?"

She thought she nodded but lost focus briefly when Vhannor had to throw up another shield spell as fire passed overhead again.

"Good. Keep listening for my voice, whatever you do. Now, hold the image of the spell in your mind—I know you memorized it. You know how you anchored the Thyrasel. I'm going to recite the rest of the dispel pattern, and you're going to perform it. I'm with you for every step. Ready?"

Of course.

His hands tightened on her face. "Liris!"

Oh. "Always," she whispered.

Vhannor didn't waste another second, and neither did she. Liris spoke, and the chaos roiling inside her gradually became a manageable well. Her focus narrowed to just Vhannor's voice and the images in her mind. It was only when she finished dispelling and felt the huge weight of the fire spell lifted that she realized it was in fact her vision narrowing as she blacked out.

Liris woke staring at a clear evening sky—through the shimmer of a protective barrier.

The battle for the portal.

She got to her feet, closing her eyes against dizziness; when she opened them, she took in what remained in a glance as she stumbled forward, balance growing with every step.

No living mercenary casters remained. She passed the first one she'd killed, noting absently she had no obvious identifying marks on her face or clothing: definitely a professional.

She'd killed. In the moment, it hadn't seemed like anything.

It didn't particularly now, either. Liris felt hollowed out.

Maybe feeling would come later. As she passed the rigid body of one guard's corpse after another with his face contorted in pain and another wearing an expression of shock under the mask of blood, Liris was in no hurry for it.

It looked like her fire hadn't injured Periannolu's defenders, thank the gods—they must have been out of its path. The outbuildings, on the other hand, and the Gate itself—

Ashes.

From one line of Thyrasel, added to a spell in an instant.

Her doing.

Had she felt powerful before? Like nothing could stop her? Because the one feeling that was beginning to set in now was an existential terror of how much she didn't understand, and how easily she could destroy anything and everything with that lack.

Vhannor, Shry, and Damennol stood away from the guards, who were helping patch each other up while the rest sorted through the debris.

"Not many realms would have the resources for a hit this extensive, let alone the sheer gall to believe not only that this was a viable plan but that they could get away with it," Vhannor was saying in a flat voice.

"You're thinking Tellianghu?" Shry surmised.

"After Tellianghu, Periannolu is one of the wealthiest trade hubs in the Sundered Realms," Vhannor pointed out. "If they were forced to withdraw from the Coalition efforts, it would be a huge blow. Can—" He broke off, seeing that Damennol had gone rigid, and turned to face Liris, his expression still.

A band of fifteen casters had been enough to overwhelm a Gate's entire defense of nearly fifty protectors.

The great fear of any realm, and why Periannolu's defenders had judged this important enough to die for: with time to gain a foothold, the mercenaries—Jadrhun—could have staged an army.

Three casters and one demonic assassin on their own had been powerful enough to overwhelm all of them.

That was the benefit of being able to call for outside help. That was what the Coalition would be able to provide.

It also exposed just how vulnerable even a strong realm could be to takeover.

"We'll talk in a moment," Vhannor said to her flatly. To Damennol he said, "If you can find anything to tie this—"

"I'll do what I can," they said. "To learn how this happened and share that information with you as a token of our gratitude for your... timely aid in our moment of crisis. Though it will be more complicated without anyone to question."

No one looked at Liris.

No one had to.

"But I doubt the government will agree to a Special Operations consultant," Damennol said.

A Periannolu messenger had invited them in, and maybe their government would still be grateful. But other realms hearing of this would balk.

Liris closed her eyes. Void it. That was another reason Vhannor hadn't wanted to deploy that much power, which she'd ruined.

When she opened them, Damennol was gone, and Vhannor's furious gaze remained, the orange in his eyes practically glowing.

"You," he said in a low voice, "are very lucky Shry is as fast as she is. You aimed away from Periannolu's guards, but she still could have been caught."

"Do not bring me into this," Shry said. "I am fine."

Liris frowned. "But I do know how fast Shry is. I obviously didn't understand how powerful punching up that spell with Thyrasel was going to make it, but that at least—"

"Indeed."

Some part of her shriveled at that belittling tone from him of all people, directed at her.

"Consider," the Lord of Embhullor said, "that the middle of a battle when people's lives are at stake is not the time for you to take risks on your own with forces you don't fully understand—"

"Then when is the time?" Liris burst out. "When, if not when people are dying, and I can help—"

"We were helping. We were also not risking your life. And—no. We're not doing this now. We have more work to do, and we need to go."

Shry frowned at Vhannor this time. "Now? Liris was just unconscious a minute ago. You don't think she should go home?"

"I'm fine," Liris said.

Shry shot her a quelling look and looked at Vhannor carefully. "I obviously don't mind her company, but I'm surprised you're not worried about her."

Vhannor's expression iced over as he said, so crisply Liris' stomach dropped further because she understood how much emotion it was hiding, "Oh, do you think being home will keep her from getting into trouble, rather than just devising new and inventive methods of destruction no one can save her from?"

That sentiment shocked her absolutely silent.

Liris did not say a single word as Vhannor rounded on her. "You," he bit out, "are not going to perform any spells without my full knowledge until I decide. And I have something to do and you are going to come with me where I will at least be present if you still manage to get yourself into trouble. Are we clear?"

Another barrier, another person holding her back for her own good. She didn't know how to not fight against that, especially because right now she even agreed, given what had just happened—but Serenthuar had claimed to be looking out for her too.

Liris was fairly certain he wasn't just angry with her but that he was worried about her after all.

Well, that made two of them. At least he still thought she could keep up.

"No magic," Liris confirmed, and maybe she was feeling again after all.

Face grim with determination, Vhannor whipped out his spell pad and faced empty air.

The Gate.

They were going straight to Dianor? The realm that had allowed invading casters through, that could have an army waiting on the other side for the mercenaries' signal?

Did being without magic right now make her powerless, or was it the only way to make her—and everyone around her—safe?

Vhannor strode confidently for the Gate, with who-knew-what waiting on the other side, Shry a step behind him.

Liris clutched her spell pad in a death grip, squared her shoulders, and followed them through.