GODSWAR: The Spear of Athena, Chapter 3

They were looking for answers...

-----

 

Chapter 3.

"I can only afford you a few moments," said Calladan Mystraios. "Even for you, Victoria."

"I quite understand," she said. "But I believe my friends' questions should be brief. But first, how have you been doing?"

"Well enough until I found myself drafted into being King-in-Proxy," he said with a half-chuckle, half-sigh. "The Academy's been doing quite well, or was when I left. A nice new crop of students, about half sponsored in." His sharp black eyes looked distant for a moment, obviously thinking about the Academy, where his true heart lay.

He hasn't aged, a part of her noted. Calladan still looked every inch the wise wizard – well over six feet tall, trim, sleek black hair with a sprinkling of gray, white at the temples, penetrating gaze, a pointed black beard with a streak of white through the center, elaborate black robes covered with mystical symbols, and the intricately carved ebonwood staff that glinted with both gold decoration and steel reinforcement. He'd looked exactly the same… was it forty-five years ago? How time does pass… as he had when she'd first seen him during her brief time at the Academy.

At the same time, he looked… smaller, perhaps a hair less certain, as he sat in the Dragon King's Throne, made for beings far larger and grander than mere humans. The dramatic series of crystal platforms that culminated in the dais that supported the throne made the throne room feel cavernously hollow without the size and aura of power of an Ancient Sauran seated upon that throne.

"And you?" he went on. "I'd heard the Vantage V—" he cut off at her glance. "Er, I'd heard you retired to be one of the Eyes back at Evanwyl."

"If only it had stayed that way. You and I know what is happening to the world. It did not leave Evanwyl untouched. But it would take a long time to go into all that."

"Yes, I suppose it would. Perhaps I will have time later; I would very much like to hear it." He turned to look at the other three. "Now, I cannot possibly be wrong in that this young lady is a Vantage, no?"

"My niece and a most accomplished young mage, Urelle," Victoria said proudly. "Had things gone a bit differently, she might have been in your Academy this year or the next."

"And proud to have her, I am sure. An honor to meet you, young Urelle."

Urelle took his extended hand and shook it, looking not a little overawed at meeting the Director of the Adventurer's Academy. "I'm very honored, sir."

He studied her other two companions. "Hmmm. A unique pair you are – for just by the way you stand I see you are partners. Adventurers as well – Guilded here in the city." His eyes narrowed. "That weapon… I have seen its like only once before, a long time ago. Aegeian?"

Ingram grinned. "Well done, sir! Ingram Camp-Bel of Aegeia, at your service!"

"And a Camp-Bel! This becomes a most interesting visit." He looked to Quester. "And a Gray Warrior. My condolences for your losses, Iriistiik." He pronounced the name with the buzzing trill that few humans could manage.

"How did you know, sir?"

"Put in the position of ruler, I've made it my business to know what is happening in the world, insofar as one man can. The deliberate extermination of species is a clear signature of the powers behind this. The Artan are the most obvious, but the losses over the last few years by the Iriistiik make it near-certain that this, too, is part of their work."

"Then… thank you for your sympathy, sir. I am called Quester."

"An honor to meet you, Quester." He bowed to allow his forehead to be touched by Quester's antennae.

Quester straightened. "As we are on the subject… one of our questions was whether you know of any surviving Nests?"

Calladan's lips tightened, and Victoria could see the leashed anger – not towards those present – in the tension of his stance. "I wish I did, Quester. I have not had a thorough search of the records done, of course, but the overview I have had mentions no other Nests than those we know have been destroyed."

Oh, Quester. She saw the antennae drop, the angular body sway a moment, and felt him cut them all off, for the moment, from his mind and thoughts, privacy in his grief. No Nests mean no Mothers. If we cannot find another Nest… then the few surviving wanderers like Quester will be the last of their kind.

After a moment, Ingram cleared his throat. "Um. Well, we have another question. Are you aware of the, well, Seal that Athena often puts around Aegeia at points in the Cycle?"

"I am. And I have heard that it has been done for this Cycle, just recently."

"Okay, that makes it easier. We think that this time it wasn't Athena, but Ares. And somehow not right for the Cycle."

Calladan's entire attention was suddenly focused on Ingram. "You mean that Ares is not, for lack of a better term, sticking properly to the script?"

"I… yes, I guess that would be a good way to put it."

Victoria remembered something said by the dying Xiilistiin at the battle where they had rescued the Camp-Bels from being wiped out. "There are even a few implications that Ares may not actually be Ares, at least not as the Aegeians have known him."

Calladan closed his eyes. "That would be… extraordinarily bad. But go on. That was not your question."

"We need to know – I mean, we need to find a way to get through the Seal and into Aegeia. The Guild said you were the best person to ask, at least anywhere near here."

"I am touched by the Guild's faith in me. Insofar as I know, no one has ever breached the Seal. The Aegei may work within it, and may be able to speak outside of it, but even they cannot bring anything through the Seal."

He frowned. "A pretty problem indeed, and unfortunately I don't have much time to devote to it. Yet the Guild must know that."

Urelle's brow had been furrowed in thought. Now it suddenly cleared. "Sir? It might be silly or obvious but…"

"Go on, Urelle. Sometimes silly and obvious is still very relevant, and I have found that often what seems silly or obvious to one is quite opaque to another."

"Well," Urelle said, "I was working with… another really powerful wizard, and he helped me figure out how to break a powerful tracking charm on us. The trick was that even the best spell has… well, a tiny flaw, like a stitch that completes a piece of cloth and could be used to unravel it."

Calladan raised both eyebrows. "Neither silly nor always obvious. This is a truth that is often forgotten, because most spells do not require that level of analysis. They can be broken by superior force, or cleverly negating a part of their matrix directly rather than using the extremely complex and time-consuming process of analyzing the spell to find its… keystone, so to speak."

"So would it apply to the Seal?"

Calladan stroked his beard in contemplation. "I do not see why it would not. It is true that the Seal could be put in place by pure, unadulterated godspower, which can follow quite different rules… but that would be an incredibly inefficient and power-hungry method. Quick, dirty, and wasteful. Athena does not work that way, and I do not expect Ares would if he could avoid it. So much easier to build a matrix, a structure for the godspower to reinforce – a spell cast and strengthened by the power of the gods, rather than a pure shield of that energy and will. And in that case… yes, there would, and must, be such a keystone."

Urelle's face lit up… and then immediately fell.

"What's wrong, Urelle?" Victoria asked, puzzled.

"Auntie, knowing that was really helpful working on the Coins, because I could see the whole spell. I could look for the - well, I thought of it as a flaw, but keystone works just as well, maybe better - the keystone in context of the entire work."

"Ah." One didn't have to be a wizard to understand the problem. "But you cannot see the entirety of a spell that covers a perimeter of perhaps over two thousand miles. Yes."

"Very true," Calladan said. "If one were possessed of the eyes of the gods, one might do so, but we are far more limited. Still… we may be able to narrow the likely locations down."

"You mean," Ingram said, perking up slightly, "there are limits on where it could be placed?"

"There are always limits, young Ingram," Calladan said, and Victoria smiled just a touch as she heard the professorial tone entering the deep voice. "A spell is designed to perform a particular function, and its design is predicated on that function, and on external constraints that must be adhered to in making the spell able to perform the desired function in the real world.

"For example, in the ideal case, if one considers a spherical perimeter to be secured, the keystone may be placed at any point upon the sphere, as no point on a sphere is in any way more or less significant than any other."

"But that's not true in the real world," Urelle said, also starting to sound more animated, and Victoria saw even Quester's antennae rising up again. "Right? For example, the Seal is not a sphere."

"Right you are, Urelle. It is not a sphere, but a somewhat irregular quadrangle in general outline, with extensions both above and below ground to prevent intrusion from the obvious third dimension." Calladan was up out of the throne now, sketching an outline of Aegiea in the air and causing a faint, glowing aura to extend up and down from the shimmering perimeter. "Naturally there are also elements to prevent intrusion by dimensional shift, teleportation, shadestriding, and so on, but these aren't relevant to our particular question.

"In addition, this god-spell has been cast many times over the ages; it has a fixed matrix, determined dozens of Cycles and two or more Chaoswars ago. That means that its keystone today will be – will have to be – in the same place it has been in every prior cycle. Now, Ingram, tell me one place where our hypothetical keystone won't be."

Ingram jumped at being addressed and looked momentarily panicked, a student being called upon who has no idea what to say. "Um, er… well, not here, along the coastline. That's where almost everyone trying to get into the country is going to be, it'd be stupid to put the potential vulnerability there."

"Very good, and correct. We can dismiss this entire area of the perimeter." That section of the perimeter went red.

"Could it not be in the sky, or even better, below the ground?" Quester asked. "Those would be by far the least accessible areas and thus would seem to be the obvious places to put the keystone."

Urelle opened her mouth, then closed it, frowning.

"The answer is no, it could not be in either of these places, sensible though it would be to put it there. Urelle, you had a thought. Can you tell us why the keystone cannot be in either location?"

Victoria smothered a giggle. Calladan was now fully in his teaching mode, down to asking the pupil to explain rather than doing it himself. He really does belong in the Academy. Gods grant this war is short.

"I don't…" Urelle stopped herself, then traced the outline. "It's irregular, not a sphere or something. That means the perimeter is the anchor for the above and below ground extensions. They can't be keystone areas because all the, oh… stitching, supports, anchors, whatever, have to be along the perimeter. All the structure comes together there. The keystone has to be somewhere along the perimeter!"

Calladan smiled and nodded. "Excellent!" The transparent above and below-ground extensions shaded to red as well. "Already we have eliminated well over ninety percent of the possible locations. That does still leave us with three-quarters of the perimeter as candidates, however."

"Ingram," buzzed Quester, "did you not tell me that the Rohila have strongholds all along this part of Wisdom's Fortress?" His claw traced the western side of the mountain range.

"Yes. And I think on the other side, too. They live all through the mountain range." Ingram shook his head. "They're… not comfortable neighbors, but there's a basic agreement that as long as we don't intrude on their space, they will keep their activities within the mountains or outside of Aegeia."

"Then we can exclude most of the mountain range," Calladan said, "which suddenly makes our task far easier. There is no possibility that either Athena or Ares will have placed the singular weakness of their spell directly within or adjacent to the domain of those who are not allies. There will have been no few painful and drawn-out negotiations made, in fact, to address where, exactly, the Seal goes within Wisdom's Fortress, or it could cut through Rohila settlements."

"Yes," Victoria said, remembering their own experiences. "It would appear to me that the agreement actually leaves the Rohila inside the perimeter – that for the most part, it traces the exterior edge of the mountains. Based on where we encountered the barrier ourselves, anyway."

"Hmmm, a most interesting decision that must have been. But I suppose it is inevitable; the Rohila's warrens extend laterally as well as vertically, so that there might be some significant settlements underneath areas of Aegeia that are within the perimeter of the mountains. The only way to not provoke them and still enclose the entirety of Aegeia would be to enclose the mountains as well."

"But if we eliminate the whole perimeter, there's nothing left!" Urelle said. "We've determined that they can't put it above or below, they certainly wouldn't put it along the open coastline, and now you've eliminated the entire mountain range!"

"Not quite, young Urelle," Calladan said. "Ingram?"

Ingram's mouth had dropped slowly open. "By Athena… of course."

"What's 'of course'?"

"As Calladan said, there is no way they would put the weakness near one who isn't an ally, and the Rohila aren't anyone's allies. But we do have one ally on that perimeter, one that guards the only reasonable pass through Wisdom's Fortress." His finger touched the center of the northern wall of mountains. "Freehold Keep."

Calladan smiled broadly. "And we have reduced your search to a manageable area, I believe."

"Thank you so much, Calladan," Victoria said, and seeing that he was still smiling, embraced him. "I had hoped you might have some wisdom to give us, but I admit, this is far better than I'd expected!"

He returned the hug. "Now, now, Victoria, I will hardly accept all of the credit. I guided the thoughts, but with but a few clues you and your friends were able to see your way clear." He glanced over and down. "Something still troubles you, young Camp-Bel?"

"Nothing to do with the location, sir. Just… the practicalities."

"How do you mean?" Quester asked.

Ingram shook his head. "One good reason to believe the keystone is somewhere there, or around there, maybe just behind it, is that The Salandaras – the one who's given responsibility for the Freehold – is sworn to hold the pass against any and all who seek to enter once the Seal has been placed. By the Seal's appearance, it's assumed Athena herself has ordered that none enter or leave, and so the Freehold will become an impassable bastion against it."

Calladan gave a shrug. "That is a challenge, but unfortunately even as King-Regent I have no say over the Salandaras; none truly have, save themselves and their unpredictable god. It would seem to me that you have little choice but to attempt passage. Perhaps the uniqueness of your circumstances will move them to make an exception," he smiled wryly, "if you can truly get them to grasp it."

"Yeah," Ingram said gloomily. "That's going to be hard enough. But even if I do, one thing they do real well is keep their word."

"A usually admirable trait, but one that may be troublesome in this case. Still… I have given you what aid I can, I think, and there are many other people I must see today."

"Yes, of course you do. Thank you very much, sir. At least we have an idea of a destination, which is by Wisdom a lot more than we had coming in!"

"Truly," Quester said. "Thank you, Calladan."

"Thank you very much, sir," Urelle said. "You gave me more to think about, too."

He grinned broadly. "The finest reward of a teacher – seeing his students thinking!"

They laughed, and Victoria even smelled a touch of humor in Quester's scent. He is strong and will recover.

But my, my, what a challenge we have before us.