“So it is true, and yet …” he paused, frowning to himself, shaking his head. “She couldn’t have passed into the cage, even in the aether; the wards would have stopped her. So how then?”
He paced for nearly a minute.
“I have a traitor in my inner sanctum,” he said to himself before facing Alexander again. “They gave you the antidote to the poison as well. That’s it, isn’t it? It’s the only explanation that makes sense.”
Alexander answered with a humorless smile.
“If you think your accomplice will be here to help you tonight, you’re sadly mistaken. By helping you, they’ve revealed themselves to me. You see, I have a very special spell that I cast in areas I wish to monitor. It creates a perfect record of everything that happens in that space-a record that I can observe any time I wish.”
“Huh, I wondered what those points of light were.”
The Babachenko seemed startled. “You can see them?”
“I think you’d be surprised at what I can see.”
His colors shifted abruptly to greed and power lust. Again, Alexander got the feeling that the Babachenko had plans for him beyond what he’d already revealed.
After a moment of internal struggle, the Babachenko set a stone on the floor and whispered a few words. The space over the stone shimmered briefly before a perfect, albeit somewhat translucent, image of Alexander appeared. It took only a moment to realize that it was a representation of what had transpired the day before, starting with the cage door opening and Alexander killing one guard and wounding the Babachenko.
With a word, the images sped up, moving through many minutes in just seconds. Alexander thought he was past being awed by magic, but this was truly impressive, and remarkably dangerous in the hands of someone like the Babachenko.
When Alexander simply vanished from within the cage, leaving the collar clattering to the floor, the Babachenko took a sharp breath and slowed the progression of the image through time, then reversed it so he could watch more closely.
Both he and Alexander stood stock-still when they saw Alexander’s body vanish, holding their breath until he reappeared a few minutes later.
Alexander’s mind raced, trying to make sense of this new development of his unpredictable power. Given that he had visited Siduri, the only explanation that made any sense was that he had transitioned bodily into the firmament just as the first adept had learned to do so long ago. The implications were staggering, but the challenge of mastering such profound power seemed somehow much more formidable than anything he’d faced thus far.
“How did you do that?” the Babachenko demanded, greed and lust shining brightly in his colors.
Alexander just shrugged.
“I will have that power,” the Babachenko snapped, cutting off his words, realizing only a moment too late that he’d revealed too much.
“So the stories are true,” Alexander said. “I was wondering what you weren’t telling me.”
“If you would just cooperate, I would give you back your life, just as I promised,” the Babachenko said, ignoring Alexander’s words. “If you keep resisting, I will have no choice but to resort to more extreme measures.”
“Like what, torture? Why don’t you watch the rest of my night. You’ll see that I never got an antidote for your poison-I simply endured it. But then, if you’d actually survived the mana fast, you would’ve known that your jellyfish venom wouldn’t work.”
“Nonsense,” the Babachenko sputtered.
“Where’s the crystal chamber?”
His eyes widened slightly and his colors swirled with fear and deceit.
“That’s your plan, isn’t it?” Alexander pressed. “Take my link to the firmament so you can use the lich book to become immortal, then hand me and the Stone over to Phane like a good little servant. Aren’t you worried he’ll figure out what you’re up to? I mean, I just did. And Phane can see pretty well himself.”
“He can’t see within Mithel Dour any better than he can see within Glen Morillian.”
“So that is your plan, then.”
“You’re too clever by half, Alexander, but it won’t help you.”
“Knowledge of your enemy never hurts.”
The Babachenko started pacing.
“What’s the matter? Running out of time?” Alexander asked. “Phane’s expecting me soon. Do you think he’ll accept your stalling for long?”
The Babachenko ignored him, but his colors gave away his anxiety. He stopped abruptly. “If reason and pain won’t persuade you, perhaps you’ll respond to the suffering of your friends or family.”
Alexander met his eyes, holding them until the Babachenko looked away. “You wouldn’t be the first to try such a depraved tactic with me, and while I don’t doubt your willingness to stoop so low, I don’t think you have the time. My friends and family are all very far away from here.”
“Are they? We’ll see about that. I find it hard to believe that you would come here alone.”
“I didn’t. Remember the dragon? I came with her.”
“Now that was quite a surprising turn of events, I must say. But no, there are others in Mithel Dour working with you, and I will find them. And when I do, you will give me what I want.”
“Until then, I think I’ll take a nap,” Alexander said, lying down and closing his eyes, leaving the Babachenko staring at him, helplessness swirling in his colors.
Alexander slipped into the firmament quickly, flitting across the city, finding Jack in his little house. He appeared in front of him, startling the bard while he wrote a song mourning the demise of the Andalian king.
“Alexander, I’ve been so worried. What’s happened?”
“I’m being held prisoner in the Babachenko’s residence, behind the wards. Chloe is with me and Anja has fled, hopefully all the way back to the Spires. But that’s not why I came. The Babachenko is going to be looking for any of my friends so he can use them against me. He’s convinced that I have allies in the city and I suspect he’ll be able to figure out who you are.”
“Well now, that wouldn’t be good,” Jack said. “I’ve been contracted to sing at the king’s funeral so I can’t just vanish without raising suspicion.”
“He’s pressed for time, so he’ll come for you the moment he figures out who you are.” Alexander said. “Funeral or not, you need to flee the city.”
“What about you?”
“I’m working on that,” Alexander said. “Vasili Nero, turned wraithkin, is here to transport me to Karth. I figure my best chance to escape will come once I’m out of Mithel Dour …”
Suddenly, he snapped back into his body, gasping for breath. A soldier was just closing the door to his cage, having replaced the collar around his neck. It released its grip on his throat the moment he returned from the firmament.
Satisfied, the Babachenko left without a word, after posted two guards in the room to watch Alexander.
Chapter 26
The Babachenko returned a few hours later, pulling a chair up to the cage once again. Alexander didn’t bother to get up. He’d spent the time poring over every detail his memory contained about his completely unexpected experience in the firmament with Siduri. Unfortunately, he was under duress at the time, so his memory was suspect.
He’d tested the collar by slipping into the firmament, only to find that it worked as expected, constricting his throat until he returned of his own accord or his duress drew him back … which only led him to another question: Why did he project bodily into the firmament when he was being strangled by the collar when always before he was drawn back to his body by serious physical danger?
More importantly, how could he do it again?
He was pondering these questions when the Babachenko entered.
“I’ve been giving this situation a lot of thought. When I met you in the slave yard, I realized immediately who you were and understood just as quickly that you had hidden the Sovereign Stone. What I didn’t suspect was just how far out of reach you had placed it. Now that I know your fairy is real, it all makes perfect sense.