The Spell Realm (The Sorcery Code #2)(50)

Dania frowned. “What are you trying to imply?”

“She’s right,” Jandison said, apparently catching on. “We all know how close Ganir was to Dasbraw’s sons. Why don’t you modify those parameters, Dania, as Augusta suggested?” Augusta noticed that Jandison seemed to be sitting up straighter, his posture and demeanor more confident than usual. He was assuming the role of the Council Leader, she realized with some amusement.

Still, she could see that Dania wasn’t about to give in. The old woman needed some nudging. “Be careful with the map when you do it,” Augusta said softly, knowing that Dania would be the only one who would understand the reference. “Old documents can be so fragile.”

Dania opened her mouth, then closed it. She understood all right. If she didn’t do as Augusta asked, the scrolls given to her by Augusta—the ones with Lenard’s writings—might suffer. It was quite a dilemma—violate Ganir’s privacy or let the precious scrolls be destroyed—and Augusta waited to see what the old woman would do.

“Fine,” Dania said, abruptly giving in. “Let me see what I can do.”

Another revelation spell later, the map showed a series of blue dots mapping Ganir’s location. There was a clear trail to the mountains in the west, a trail that stopped in what appeared to be a canyon.

“How interesting,” Kelvin said, a wide smile splitting his face. “Looks like Ganir has done quite a bit of travel lately.”

“Indeed.” Jandison looked positively gleeful. “I can’t think of any reason for Ganir to leave Turingrad . . . except one.”

“He must’ve been in contact with Blaise all along,” Augusta said, as though the idea was just occurring to her. “And if that’s the case, perhaps that’s where the creature is hiding. Right there, somewhere around that canyon.”

Dania pursed her lips in irritation, but didn’t say anything. Augusta knew she’d put the old woman in an untenable situation, but she didn’t care. The important thing was that the Council had arrived at the exact conclusion Augusta had been hoping they would reach: that Ganir was a traitor who knew the location of their enemies.

“So what do we do now?” Moriner asked, glancing at Jandison. “If that’s indeed where they are, then we need to figure out a plan of action. We all saw how powerful the creature is. We can’t show up unprepared.”

“No, we can’t,” Augusta agreed. “In fact, I’ve already started thinking of some spells.”

“We need something powerful, and we need a good plan for coordination,” Kelvin jumped in, stating the obvious.

“I have something we could use,” Augusta said, barely able to suppress her nervous excitement. “I call it the fusion spell. It’s powerful—much more powerful than anything you’ve seen before. If done correctly, it would allow us to split water into oxygen and hydrogen, and then make the hydrogen fuse with itself, becoming helium . . .” She then proceeded to explain what such an event would mean, and how the power unleashed would be akin to the power that fueled the sun and the other stars.

The silence that followed her explanation was deafening.

“But wait,” Gina said, staring at Augusta, “given your own math, the energy released at such an event would be unfathomable. Surely it would kill us along with the creature.”

Augusta nodded. She couldn’t fault her young colleague for being afraid. Unchecked, this spell could do more than kill them. If her calculations were correct, this kind of spell was capable of destroying half of Koldun. “I have a way to contain it in a small area,” she told Gina. “It would be a complex defensive spell, but I’m confident that it could be done, and we could ensure our safety.”

“We need to study this more,” Jandison said. “Given the magnitude of the destructive power unleashed by this fusion spell of yours, we should only use this measure if we have no other choice.”

“Agreed,” Moriner said.

“Of course,” Augusta said. “I would be happy to use more conventional means against the creature. Does anyone have any suggestions?”

“Well,” Jandison said, “here’s what I would propose . . . ”

They proceeded to work out a plan that sounded like it should succeed, and Augusta departed the meeting feeling much more confident about their prospects. If all went well, her fusion spell might not be necessary, and she certainly wouldn’t need to implement her plan C.





Chapter 34: Barson





“Were you in the training room of the Tower?” Barson asked Dara, sitting down at her table. “Or did you put some kind of a protective spell on me, something that can heal injuries as they occur?”

“What? What kind of spell would that be?” She gave him a surprised look. “I’ve never heard of a preemptive healing spell. Why do you ask?”

Frowning, Barson told her what happened with Larn and the others. As he continued talking, her face turned pale.

“One of you could’ve died,” she whispered, her gaze filled with horror. “Barson, thank you for not killing him. I’ve heard rumors about Ganir’s mind control tricks, but I never thought he could be capable of something like this.”

Barson waved his hand dismissively. “Of course. I would never kill Larn. But if you didn’t heal me,” he said, returning to his original concern, “then who did?”