The tall mage had obviously cast some sort of haste spell upon himself, for he was moving equally fast as the White Robe. Now he spat furiously, directing a rain of stones against the quintet of images that were all scattering away from the wall. The mirror images of Coryn each darted toward a different exit, and though two of them puffed into nothingness when they were struck by Kalrakin's missiles, the wizard herself was able to escape into an adjacent chamber. Darting around a corner, Coryn found herself entering the kitchen by one of the rear doors.
And here she came face to face with Luthar.
The rotund magic user held a cleaver in one hand.
"Stop!" he cried. Coryn felt the wild magic pulse. A whisk of her hand before her face broke the force of the lesser sorcerer's spell. She charged forward as he stumbled back, raising the big butcher knife.
Coryn grabbed a large bowl on the counter and threw the heavy piece of crockery, striking Luthar in the head and knocking him backward. She raced past him and down the hallway, back into the main anteroom.
The muddy swath where she had cast her spell had already hardened, leaving the surface pitched and roiling-like a stormy sea with the waves frozen into place. Coryn started across carefully, watching her footing on the irregular slabs. Once past, she broke into a sprint, heading for the last place she had seen Kalrakin, hoping to come up on him from behind.
Beware.
She felt the warning from the Master, but she was moving too fast. Before she could change course, she slammed into an unseen barrier. The force of the impact knocked her backward and down. Stunned, gasping for breath on the rough floor, she looked up to see Kalrakin looming over her.
He waved the pearly stone toward her, and Coryn felt the wild magic surge around her. The floor moved, opening a wide gap that swelled wider and wider, threatening to swallow her whole.
Chapter 26
Storm of Wild Magic
Did you hear that?" Jenna asked, staring at the Tower. Around her the wizards stared in horror, watching the clawlike shape of the giant edifice, listening to the terrible sounds emerging from the black stone spires.
No answer was necessary from the gathered wizards: All heard the creaking, agonized sounds as flagstones twisted, and thick walls were warped and corrupted. The outer shell of the tower seemed to waver in the air like a reed blown by a powerful gale. A collective gasp rose from the throng of magic users as the black spires appeared to sway back and forth.
Some wizards sobbed and others wailed piercingly. All of them had studied, been tested-and passed their Tests-here. Now, many of them cried out in anguish as this hallowed place seemed on the brink of destruction.
"It is suffering-but it is not dying! "Jenna cried, trying to rally the broken spirits. "Not yet-do not lose faith!"
"What can we do?" asked Rasilyss. "How can we fight this?" Her skinny hands planted on her hips, she glared in vexation at the Tower.
"We must get inside-Coryn's in there alone right now. I'm going after her!" declared Adramis, the white-robed elf.
His twin sister Aenell quickly vowed her support, and they were joined by the other White Robes. Adramis pointed toward the high summit of the North Tower. "Each of those balconies has a door, and one of them may be vulnerable! If we can't teleport, so be it; let us fly up to each of the doors and find a way in!"
In seconds the elf White Robe had cast his fly spell, and he started up into the air as his comrades launched their own spellcastings.
"Wait!" Dalamar barked, holding up his hand. "We all have a stake in this. All three orders must act together. We'll have a much better chance."
He nodded at Adramis. "But the Qualinesti is right- Kalrakin can't protect every one of those doors. So let's go in unison, and spread out, explore balconies and outer walls. Spread the word if you find a way in!"
In seconds the wizards of all robes took to the air. Those who knew the flying spell cast it, while some who were limited to levitation floated upward, until a fellow wizard grabbed them by the hand and led them toward a balcony. They fanned out, some heading toward the north tower, others to the south, spiraling and climbing in the light of the rising moons.
Jenna, too, flew upward, her eyes on the other wizards. She watched Willim the Black, his eyeless face locked in a joyful grin, his magical Eye floating before him and guiding him magically along; he glided toward a wide balcony on the north tower-facing the gap between the two spires.
Dalamar flew just behind the dwarf. They both settled to the flagstones just before the solitary door leading into the Tower. The Red Robe hovered a slight distance away, watching as the dwarf approached the door.
"I'll blast the damned thing off its hinges!" the dwarf growled.
Willim put up both of his hands and chanted a spell. His fingers touched the unassuming wooden surface of the door as he tensed, preparing for the final command of his enchantment, but when he made contact, he disappeared.
"Willi!" Dalamar cried, lunging forward to snatch at the air where the black-robed dwarf had stood only moments before. The elf raised his hand, as if to drive a fist into the door, when Jenna alighted beside him.
"Don't!" she urged, grabbing him by the shoulder. "It's some kind of trap-under Kalrakin's control! It took Willi, and it will snatch you, too!"
"Yes-of course, I know that," the dark elf snapped bitterly, lowering his fist. His face was distorted. His whole body shook with rage. "That bastard has turned the entire Tower into a weapon to be wielded against us."
"Let's try somewhere else," Jenna suggested.
They took to the air again, making a circuit of the north tower. They learned that several other wizards had vanished when they tried their magic on the doors, just like Willim the Black. In other places the doors had been securely bound, locked by wild magic, so even the most potent of the wizardly spells proved futile. And some doors had been melded into the structure of the walls by the same kind of flowing stone that had obscured the front door. These formed smooth, impassive barriers, which no magic seemed able to penetrate.
Magic users continued to swoop and rise and circle around, but none reported any viable means of entry. Though she didn't stop to count, Jenna knew their number was dwindling, and she wondered how many had already been captured-or killed-by Kalrakin or his sorcerous traps.
"Look!" cried Dalamar suddenly, putting a hand on Jenna's arm, bringing them both to a halt in the air very near the summit of the spire.
"What is it," she asked, looking around.
"I don't remember that door being there," the dark elf observed. "And there's no platform, no balcony outside. If it opened from the inside, a person could step right out into the air. Doesn't that strike you as odd?"
Jenna studied the plain door-so plain, it was barely visible from the outside-high in the smooth side of the structure, apparently leading nowhere. Like Dalamar, she had no memory of seeing this portal before.
"Odd, indeed. It's worth a look," Jenna said, tucking her shoulder and diving nearer as Dalamar sailed close behind.
She approached the door, which, as the elf had observed, opened in the sheer outer wall of the Tower over a drop of some two hundred feet. It was a simple barrier of wooden planks, with a small golden knob and no visible lock. Jenna scowled as she flew closer, shifting her posture to slow her flight-for she was startled to realize that she seemed to be accelerating, drawn by some powerful force right toward the solid wooden barrier.