Melliandra took another breath and stepped forward. Time to get to work.

Eld ~ Boura Dor

Vadim Maur stood in the doorway of Primage Kron’s personal spell room and looked around in approval at the small, tidy space. The spotless mosaic tiles lining the floor, ceiling, and walls gleamed in the candlelight. A beaten copper basin rested on the central spell altar, and fresh water poured into a small stone basin against one wall. The distinctive, cleansing scents of lemonroot and shadowsage perfumed the air of the closed space. Like all serious students of magic, Kron took extraordinary care in tending to his spell room.

“This will do,” Vadim said. He glanced at the Primage. “Leave me.”

Kron bowed and backed out of the room. “If you require anything at all, the bell outside the spell room will summon my most trusted umagi.”

Vadim waited for the spell-room door to close before he allowed the sneer to lift the corner of his lip. As if the High Mage of Eld would ever be foolish enough to use an umagi loyal to another Mage to assist him with a spell. Kron knew that of course, which meant the offer had been more courtesy than genuine.

Vadim picked up the copper basin, filled it with fresh water from the wall fountain, then reached into his robe pocket to retrieve a small, chilled vial of blood. He shook the vial vigorously before uncapping it and pouring half the contents into the basin.

As the blood mingled with the water, Vadim thrust his hands, each finger covered with rings of power, into the mixture. His eyes closed and he invoked his seeking spell to amplify the power of his call. In his old body, he could have reached his target without aid, but he hadn’t been in this body long enough to know the full extent of its capabilities and its limitations. He had no intention of spending a critical bell or two trying to locate his distant contact only to discover he couldn’t manage it without an amplifying spell.

The power of the spell enveloped him, and he focused his mind into a single, sharp arrow of concentration. The rest of the world fell away. His consciousness shot up on waves of Azrahn, spiraling up through the spell room’s exhaust pipe into the world above, then racing west towards the Lysande Ocean.

Eld ~ Boura Fell

Locating Lord Death’s things was simpler than Melliandra had expected. Between the blood call she’d gleaned from the High Mage and the weave Lord Shan provided, she could feel the presence of his belongings tugging at her, as if they were lodestones and she were steel. Accessing them, however, proved more difficult than she’d hoped.

She’d known the High Mage warded his greatest treasures with multiple wards. What she hadn’t anticipated was that no two objects in his treasure room could be accessed exactly the same way. Each chest, each case, had its own special combination of warding spells, several layers deep.

It took her a full bell of painstakingly trying to piece together the proper combination of unraveling weaves before she managed to open the large trunk containing Lord Death’s blades and leather weapons belts. She stuffed the blades and harnesses in her canvas bag, along with two daggers the length of her forearm for herself—after all, who knew what dangers lurked in the world above?

When it came to unlocking the case containing what she hoped was Lord Death’s crystal, however, she ran into trouble. The first six wards she managed to identify from her memories and unravel using Lord Death’s Spirit-weave commands. The seventh set her back on her heels. She’d never seen this particular pattern before. And that meant, Lord Death had given her no spell to unweave it.

“Dark Lord take it!” she hissed. The High Mage must have changed the final ward before leaving Boura Fell. The threads before her were more complex, more tightly woven, than any she’d encountered yet. She had no idea where to even begin taking this one apart, and, according to Lord Death, one wrong move would kill her.

These wards are deadly. If you unweave them incorrectly, the magic will turn upon you and you’ll die an agonizing death.

Melliandra glared at the glowing threads of confounding magic. She hadn’t come this far to fail. Without that crystal, Lord Death said he couldn’t defeat the High Mage. She wasn’t entirely sure she believed him, but she couldn’t take the risk.

She needed that crystal now.

If she left without it, there was no guarantee she’d ever have a second chance to get it. Worse, the Mage Halls were rife with rumors about the new fortress being constructed above ground and the speculation that the High Mage intended to make that his new palace. If he moved, he would no doubt also move his most prized prisoners and the most promising offspring of his breeding program as well. Both Lord Death and Shia’s son would be taken away to a place she could not go.

She would lose everything. Her chance to kill the Mage. Her chance to save Shia’s son. Her one chance at freedom.

Melliandra gripped the table so hard her knuckles turned white. No. No, she would not fail. She would get Lord Death’s crystal, or she would die trying.

All wards can be undone. All it takes is patience, magic, and enough time to map out the solution and implement it.

Lord Shan’s words echoed in her mind as she cleared a spot on the table, sat down, and began to examine the seventh and final deadly ward keeping her from the key to her freedom. She’d paid very close attention as Lord Death’s Spirit weaves had guided her through the releasing of all the previous wards. She’d especially noted how her body felt as the Spirit weave commanded her to summon and wield her magic. If she could figure out this pattern, she might—just might—be able to unravel this one on her own.