Isabel released her frustration with a deep breath before putting a slice of ham on a piece of bread, scooping scrambled eggs on top of it and finishing it with another slice of bread. She walked out onto the balcony with her sandwich and leaned against the railing while she ate in peace.
The house was absurd by her standards, but the view was beautiful once she looked past the walls of the fortress. The jungle beyond was lush and green, spreading out to the horizon. As hostile as she knew the jungle to be, she would have gladly traded it for this over-decorated prison cell.
Slyder landed on the railing, cocking his head at her. It had been quite a while since she’d seen him and she wanted more than anything to rub him under the chin, but she couldn’t risk Phane and his people discovering her most loyal ally within the fortress walls. With a touch of sadness, she linked her mind to his and told him to fly. He obeyed, but reluctantly.
Not long after breakfast, Wizard Enu arrived, bowing formally before he entered her dining hall.
“Lady Reishi, perhaps we can begin your instruction today.”
Isabel schooled her expression and quieted her mind. While the wraithkin posing as her bodyguard was the most overtly dangerous person in the room, Wizard Enu and his intention to teach her to use dark magic was by far the greatest threat to her free will and personal sovereignty. She knew without doubt that touching the netherworld, willfully opening that door within her mind, would expose her to the influence of the Wraith Queen in a way she probably wouldn’t be able to resist. Azugorath’s presence within her mind had become a constant, gently pushing against her resistance, searching for a weakness, a crack in her resolve. It was in those moments that Azugorath would exert her will, attempting to pry her way into Isabel’s mind and assert control.
“What did you have in mind?” Isabel asked.
“Prince Phane wishes me to teach you a most powerful spell he calls ‘drain life.’ While I’ve studied the spell extensively, I lack the necessary power to cast it, but he believes that this spell is well within your capability.”
Isabel motioned to a chair on the balcony as she sat down in another.
“How is it that you lack the power to cast this spell?”
“I’m not an arch mage,” Enu said. “Prince Phane created this spell, though in truth, I don’t see the value of it myself. It requires the sacrifice of a child to the netherworld in order to open a conduit to the darkness. Once this conduit is open, the caster then touches a target creature and their life essence is drawn through the caster into the netherworld. The target is killed, and while the majority of the life energy is lost to the darkness, a portion is retained by the caster, healing wounds and boosting vitality, strength, and energy.
“Prince Phane believes that you will be able to cast this spell without the necessity of a sacrifice due to your unique capabilities.”
Isabel listened, willing her face to remain impassive, struggling to overcome her desire to throw Wizard Enu off the balcony. While the spell was indeed powerful, the cost was far too great to even entertain the possibility of actually casting it. She understood intuitively that this was just another attempt to gain control of her through the influence of the Wraith Queen.
“I’m not sure Phane really understands my capabilities,” Isabel said. “I’m very new to magic and I haven’t had nearly as much basic instruction as I would like. Maybe we should start with something less ambitious.”
“I’m afraid that your course of instruction has been determined by Prince Phane. He expects you to make progress in your study of this spell.”
“He expects a lot of things that he’s not going to get,” Isabel said, as she stood up and walked away from Wizard Enu. “I don’t feel like it today. Come back tomorrow … maybe I’ll feel like it then.”
“Lady Reishi, Prince Phane will be most displeased.”
“Good,” Isabel said, heading up the stairs to her bedroom with Issa silently following her. He tried to follow her into her room, but she stopped him. “I’d like some time alone.”
He leered at her but obeyed, taking up a position outside her door.
Alone in her room, she called Slyder to her and spent some time reacquainting herself with her best friend. Once his need for affection was fulfilled, she linked her mind with him and they took to wing. Having accepted that her attempt on Phane’s life had failed, she decided to formulate another plan, but before she could do that, she needed more information.
Slyder flew the length of each street, providing Isabel with a good view of the layout of the fortress city and giving her the opportunity to assess troop strength and defensive capabilities. What she saw wasn’t encouraging. While an attack with magic might breach the walls, it was virtually inconceivable that any form of conventional attack could succeed.
She spent the better part of the morning exploring the city through Slyder, watching the soldiers guarding the wall, looking at each building to determine its purpose and scrutinizing the outer wall for any type of weakness. She found very little to be encouraged about. The place was indeed a fortress in every sense of the word.
A timid knock on her door brought her back. She sat up and sighed.
“Yes?”
The door opened and a young woman entered, eyes down. “My Lady, your lunch is ready. Where would you like to eat?”
“On my balcony,” Isabel said, smiling when Slyder landed on the railing.
While she ate, she wondered about Alexander. He hadn’t come to her in some time and she was starting to worry. She told herself that he was busy, but she also knew in the back of her mind that something was wrong. He would have come to her if he could have, especially since he knew all too well what her plan had been. The more she thought about it, the more concerned she became.
After lunch, she forced herself to put him out of her mind, then dismissed her servants and propped a chair in front of the door to provide some semblance of privacy, though she knew that the wraithkin could bypass her door with a thought.
She spent the rest of the afternoon working on the shapeshift spell she’d found in Hazel’s basement. It was difficult to recall the specifics, but the more she thought about it, the more came back to her. By evening, she felt that she’d made some progress, though it was clear that this spell would take far longer to learn than any of her other spells had, especially without Magda’s tutelage. The principles were more complex, requiring a far more detailed visualization of the desired outcome in addition to a durational element.
She drew on memories of her time spent learning from Magda. While her light-lance and force-push spells were almost instantaneous, her shield spell had been far more difficult to learn because it involved an element of time. Shapeshift would require that same component. By dinner, her mind was exhausted and she was ready for a break. She wasn’t surprised to see Wizard Enu waiting for her in her dining room.
“Lady Reishi, I have spoken with Prince Phane and he is most insistent that we begin work on the drain-life spell.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet,” Isabel said, seating herself and fending off her servants’ interference as she dished hot stew into a bowl.
“We will begin tomorrow,” Wizard Enu said. “Please be ready.”
She ignored him until he sighed softly and left her in peace. After dinner, she retired to her quarters and started thinking about her next move. Her first objective was to kill Phane, but realistically she had little chance of success, so she began to think in wider terms. Even if she couldn’t kill him, she could still hurt him, weaken him, obstruct his plans, or deliver usable information to her allies. The question was: Where was he the most vulnerable?
After Phane, the next most valuable target was Azugorath, but Alexander had already scouted her location and said it was so well guarded as to be virtually inaccessible.