In the end, it wasn’t quite as simple as Bernt had predicted. Haln had a strong grasp of runes and warding and it took the librarian only a moment to point out several obvious problems that needed solving before they could actually try to create a portal to nowhere.

  For ohere was no guarahat such a portal would be stable, or that its colpse wouldn’t cause an explosion, or that some unnameable horror from beyond spad time wouldn’t e climbing out of it at the first opportunity.

  Fortunately for the three mages, all of these risks were familiar problems for summoners – ones with established solutions. While the other two watched, Haln simplified the base form of a traditional summoning portal down into a much more basie circle. That done, he began to refigure it, inscribing various protective features oer another. It was tricky work, since runes didn’t just i based on their sequeheir orientation moduted their effect, and the way different runes were positioned from each other across the circle could further alter their funuch as they did when used as part of a spellform.

  Bernt watched his friend work, impressed. All mages learned runes, of course, but it was a very deep field of study with broad applications. He’d focused on those most relevant to his own area of expertise – pyromancy – and he hadn’t bothered with warding at all. Adventurers rarely had time to carve or paint wards in a fight, after all. Haln, oher hand, had at least passing peteh all kinds of ruhat had absolutely nothing to do with his chosen specialization. Or maybe they did. What did he know what a professional librarian o know?

  It made Bernt want to carve out some time to study up on the subject. A meneral mastery of runes might be exactly what he o help him work out how to develop his sorcerous iure. For that matter, it could be applied to more advanced spell development.

  But that was just a fantasy for now. He didn’t have time to start on another personal project, and time was running out. He could worry about runes when all this was over.

  Another mier, Haln looked up from his work and grinned.

  "I think that's it. We should test it!"

  “I know a good pce to experiment with dangerous spells,” Bernt said, grabbing his notes. “Do you guys have time to try it out?”

  ***

  Bernt cast his now well-practiced stone shaping spell, creating a smooth, hard surface along the rocky riverbank outside the city where he usually practiced his rger pyromancy spells. Haln, clutg his robe around himself in the chilly winter weather, immediately crouched down and began to trace out runes in chalk.

  Therion roperly dressed for the weather, with heavy boots, a scarf and a warm, hooded robe. Haln, oher hand, was shivering in his thin brown librarian’s robes, which obviously weren’t meant for outdoor work. Taking pity on his friend, Bernt carefully cast a muorch spell just upwind, moduting the size as he shaped the spellform to put out a bit more heat. It wasn’t very effit, but it should help a little. Haln looked up for a moment when he felt the warm breeze and examihe spell curiously for a sed before returning to work.

  Therion gave Bernt a strange look aured at the perfectly level stone surface.

  “Hey, since when did you get good at geomancy?”

  “I couldn’t afford furniture when I moved to the Uy,” Bernt admitted with a shrug. “I spent a lot of time practig.” He’d kept trying to improve his work, even after the battle. It looked pretty good now, even if his couch was still unfortable. In the end, he hadn’t bought anything in the way of furniture except a proper straw mattress for his stone bed. Just because he had a bit of gold to his name again didn’t mean he could afford to spend it frivolously. Even now, he wasn’t sure he could afford the robes he wanted before he left. They would be pricey even without the entments. By the time Grixit was doh them, he might be i.

  “I guess that makes seherion said, a little dubiously. “That has to slow down your development, though, right?”

  Bernt shrugged. “Eh. I have time – I don’t know how I’m going to finish my augmentatio, anyway.” No matter what he did, he would have to adjust his spellcasting at least once more – and maybe many more times if Pollock was right about his sorcerous iure. If he could keep growing it without ever reag a bottleneck, he might still have a very long way to go. It didn’t really make seo spend all his time perfeg casting habits that would be obsolete each time he got a new iure. That thought raised another question, though.

  “So, why haven’t you finished ymentatio?” Bernt asked carefully. Traditionally, mages waited a few years after graduating from the academy to begin the iment process. Ohey started, though, they would normally finish the entire augmentation within weeks or months – as long as they had the materials. But Bernt doubted that Therion would have any trouble paying… so, had there been an act with his st iure?

  Therion smirked. “What’s the matter, are you worried about me?”

  “No…?” Bernt said, unsure. “I mean, I could tell you probably had some kind of sg iure back when we were in the dungeon. I 't get a far sight spell to take at all, never mind holding it for a couple of minutes like you did. But I haven’t seen or heard anything from you since. Shouldn’t you be a magister by now?”

  “Nah.” Therion said, shaking his head. “It’s a sg and force build. Cssic precision bat architecture, sort of. A rare variant. The third iure requires an artificial material – a kind of are iron that presses objects pced onto it. They use it to make metalw implements at Bronzefe Hall in the federacy. The problem is that it’s proprietary. They don’t allow any outside their borders, so I have to travel there to do the iure. My dad was going to take me.” The mage threw a gnce over his shoulder, back toward the city. “Now… well, it’s going to have to wait.”

  “You should sult with some of the smiths in the Crafters’ Quarter.” Haln suggested, finishing a rune and standing up to stretch his legs. “Even if they don’t have exactly what you’re talking about, I’d be surprised if they didn’t have a reasonable analogue. Crafters don’t like to let little things like ws or borders keep them from getting their hands on the best tools.”

  Therion shook his head, raising both hands in denial. “Thanks, but no. I don’t mind some risk, but I’m not going to cut ers when it es to my mawork. Some things are just too important. All this really costs me is time. It’s not a big deal.”

  Bernt looked down at his right arm and the luminous shape of his sorcerous iure underh the skin. It was a risk. But sometimes risks could pay off, too. Still, there was a good reason most mages didn’t experiment with their iures. He couldn’t fault Therion for pying it safe.

  Stepping up to Haln’s portal, Bernt crouched dowo it to examihe ruhe circle was small, only about two feet wide. That robably a safety feature. Smaller portals couldn’t do as much damage as big ones, right?

  “So, how do I use it?” he asked. “Do I step inside?”

  “No!” Haln said quickly, holding out a hand to stop him as if he feared that Bernt was about to follow words with a. He cleared his throat. “I mean, it’s probably safe, but no. Nothing physical should be able to pass through iher dire, and it blocks most forms of energy, but why risk it? Just run a bit of your spirit into it and see what happens.”

  Cautiously, Berended his left hand and pushed on his own spirit just as he normally did during an iment procedure. A glowing loop emerged from his palm and grew as he pushed it out further, moving his hand a bit to get it ihe circle. The thread of his spirit passed over the runes easily, but his hand was repelled with increasing force as he got closer to the area enclosed by the circle.

  Pushing back slightly to keep his hand from boung back, Bernt trated on his familiar bond.

  A small imp looked up at him with wide, terrified eyes. It wasn’t Jori – this one was barely bigger than she had been when he’d found her in the sewers over two years ago. It whimpered piteously as he flinched ba surprise, beating his wings to catch his bance. What was that?

  No, he hadn’t flinched back. It was Jori. Hey, was she bullying a little imp?

  Indignation filled their familiar bond, even as Jori looked over her shoulder, w how Bernt had mao reach them. Had Ed done something? Why would he bri here?! This pce was terrible! And she wasn’t bullying Ionathath here, she was saving her from an evil fiend. It wasn’t her fault if the little imp didn’t know what was good for her!

  Bernt’s head spun. This wasn’t right. The e was mubsp;strohan it should have been. He practically felt like he was Jori, and it didn't seem to be going much better for her. This rune circle thing was going to take some getting used to.

  With effort, Bernt focused on his own surroundings – the cold wind trasting with the warmth of his torch spell, the rush of the river, and the odd sensation of the portal’s built-in wards pushing ba his hand. It helped, drawing his mind and his sense of self back.

  “Jori?” he said out loud. “Just listen to my voice. Is that better?”

  “Bernt!” Jori replied. “What? Where are you? How are you doing that?”

  ***

  Ed jured more water into his cup, took a sip and watched Jori drag another imp into their camp – a cave of sorts that he’d bored into the side of a low cliff. His tunneling spells were more than a little rusty, but after a few embarrassing failures, he’d maheir six prisoners were penned up in a rge stone cage he’d made at the back of the space.

  Initially, all this geomancy felt like a waste of time and effort – at least until Madzhoth tried to fling some hellfire at him. He’d suspended him upside down in the air and spun him around until he vomited bug bits for that. None of the others had tried anything since, calling him Great One and groveling whe too close. Those that could talk chattered and bickered stantly while the smaller, more animalisties did their best to participate nonverbally, chittering, hissing and smag at each other.

  They were dht collegial toward Jori, who had ended him for smag seo them. Despite their friendly attitude toward her, though, she insisted they o stay locked up tight until their blood fiend master was dead. Otherwise they would try to escape or attack. That was why Jori wao capture as many imps as possible before fronting Talsh – they would be obligated to defend the fiend otherwise, and Jori wao minimize “friendly” casualties. Ed khat demons loved their rules and agreements, of course, but this all seemed a bit ridiculous.

  Jori was chatting happily at the tiny imp that she dragged along by the scruff of its neck. It chittered nervously as it caught sight of the others in the cell.

  “Do you think they would let Oren sponsor her?” she asked. “I don’t know why the Thieves’ Guild doesn’t work with imps all the time. Ionathath is very sneaky!”

  “What?” Ed squi her in fusion. “The thieves don’t have a formal charter, they’re not a real guild. Nobody’s going to let them sponsor anything. Is that what you’re hoping is going to happen? Because it’s not going to work.”

  Jori bli him. “Huh? Oh. No, I was aski! Hey, maybe Josie will help – she’s suing the gover in Teres for me! And the Adventurers’ Guild likes me, too. It doesn’t matter, first we get rid of Talsh. I work out the rest ter. Bernt will figure it out!”

  Ed stared at her for a moment before lifting a hand to rub at his temple. Great. Jori was losing it. She hadn’t seemed that stressed… was something messing with her mind?

  Jori paced in a circle. She shrugged, nodded and then grunted questioningly as if having a versation with herself.

  “Well, I mean, they are trying to kill you.” Jori finally said. “Madzoth said there’s a reward! Maybe the shade thought it could scare you to death, or something. Humans die from that, right?”

  Ed frow the imp. Demons were still attag people in Halfbridge? He would have thought the Solicitors would be more thh, now that the battle was over. Still, Bernt was well-equipped to deal with this sort of threat, as long as he didn’t get caught with his pants down.

  “Tell him to experiment with that banefire spell some more,” he said, trying a simple sg spell to look for mind magic. Could she really be talking to Bernt from here? How would that work? “Ask him what’s new in Halfbridge.”

  “I already did. He says that Nuros destroyed Loamfurth!” Jori said bluntly. “Ae all of the souls. Uriah is back with lots ees – he was there!”

  Ed choked on his water, sending some spurting out of his nose. He coughed and raised a sleeve to wipe at his face. He’d gotten the spell off first, thankfully, but it didn't show any kind of mental interference.

  “How?” he asked hoarsely. Also, why hadn’t anyone updated him about this yet? Annoyed, he tried a different spell to look for enviroal effects.

  “I don’t know,” Jori replied, “I guess he ran away in time?”

  “No, not what I meant,” Ed replied, fixing her with a stern stare. The sg spells weren't showing him anything, but he o know if this was real. “How are you talking with Bernt?”

  The little imp o Jori tried to edge away from her, apparently intimidated by him, but Jori held it tight. She seemed pletely rexed. Happy, even.

  “He has a circle of runes, and Therion is there and ane – but I don’t know that o has a lot of symbols in it, not like the ones he normally makes. Anyway, it makes our soulbond work better! A lot better, actually. It’s weird.”

  “Your familiar bond? It’s still w?” Ed didn’t know what to make of that, but it sounded crazy. Familiar bonds relied on proximity, after all, and they weren't even occupying the same spatial fabric. What the hell was that boy up to? “What kind of rune circle?”

  With a hiss, the little imp tried to make a run for it again, but Jori caught it by its ear and stopped it cold. It growled and scratched at Jori, but she dodged and thumped it on the head.

  “Right,” Ed grunted and pihe other imps against the far wall with a force barrier before shaping an opening into the stone bars. “Pack that one away with the others, then tell me everything.”

  Jori plied, dropping the resisting imp into the cell and hissing at it when it turned, looking for a ast her. Ed closed the opening again and Jori turned, tinuing as if nothing had happened.

  “He says it’s a portal, like for summoning things, but the portal doesn’t go anywhere? What?” As she spoke, Jori’s tone became more and more skeptical. “Bernt, I ’t tell him that. That sounds stupid!”

  Ed shook his head. “No, I guess.” Summoning was, by definition, the practice of breag pnar barriers. It was obvious that he didn't have access to a proper demon summoning ritual, so he'd punched a hole out of the mortal pne and then somehow patched a e through to them. There was no telling how he'd pulled off that st part, but it wasn't important right now. They were getting side-tracked.

  Ed craved information. “He tell us about it ter. Ask him about the situation bae. What happeo Loamfurth, exactly? What are they doing about it? Do they know where Nuros will strike ?”