Chapter 8 Chapter 7 The Maze

Cadderly approached tentatively a rather steep circular knoll and the tower where Belisari lived, thinking that even this knowledgeable magician couldn't comprehend much of what had happened to him. Weird thing.In fact, Cadderly didn't even know if the wizard was meeting him.He had indeed written some valuable things for Belisari, but they were not yet friends.Also, Cadderly wasn't sure if Belisari was home. When the young scholar saw the scenery on the nearly 70-degree steep slope, from the inconspicuous grass to the regular and uniform stone steps, he finally felt a little more relaxed.The wizard was at home, and had evidently seen Cadderly approaching.

Cadderly ascended the seventy-five steps to the flat top of the knoll, where a cobbled walk led around the tower.Cadderly walked about half the way to the base of the tower, because Belisari put the steps away from the side of the entrance today.The stone steps never appear in the same place on the hill, and Cadderly still hasn't figured it out, the magician conjures new stone steps every time, and there is a way to rotate the base of the tower, which should not move hillock, or simply to deceive visitors into not knowing where the stairs really are.Cadderly felt that the latter possibility, deception, was the most likely, since Belisari was good at using magic to create illusions.

As Cadderly approached, the tower's iron-framed door swung open (or had it been open all along and just seemed closed? Cadderly thought).Cadderly paused after crossing the threshold, as there was a sound of rubbing stones, and a whole stone wall in the foyer deformed and rotated, blocking the entrance in, revealing a staircase full of spider silk, leading to a dark. Cadderly scratched the stubble of his face, his gray eyes curiously watching the unexpected invitation.He remembered visiting the tower a few times before with Master Avery.And each time, the highly skilled magician would test a new trick of deception on the two.Cadderly was rather pleased with the new trick this time, glad Belisari had come up with something new that might distract the young man from the puzzling questions the beggar had posed.

"It's a new way, and a new technique," Cadderly said aloud, congratulating the magician who must have been listening.The young scholar, always full of curiosity, immediately took a torch from the torch pedestal on the wall of the hall, and went down.After walking up twenty spiral steps, he came to a low corridor that ended in a heavy wooden door.Cadderly studied the door carefully for a moment, then slowly placed his hand on it, feeling its solid texture.He was quite satisfied that the wooden door was real, so he pushed it open and continued to go inside, and found another staircase leading down behind the door.

The second level is a bit confusing.At the end of the stairs is a junction with three similar and unremarkable stone passages.Cadderly took a step straight ahead, then changed his mind, took the path to the left, went through another door (he stopped to study it, of course), and then another door.He was again faced with a crossroads, which was even more confusing, because each road had many branches, both left and right.Cadderly almost laughed out loud, applauding the clever wizard inwardly.With a resigned shrug, he let go of the cane and let the ram's head, which had no real eyes, handle the direction.Every road looked alike as the young priest went forward, he went left, then right, right again, and finally went straight.He passed through three doors, one of which curved downward at a sharp angle.

"Great!" Cadderly found himself back where he started, at the bottom of the second staircase, after taking a sharp turn.The torch had begun to burn out, but the curious priest tried again, deliberately choosing a different path from the first. The torches burned out, and Cadderly was plunged into total darkness.He closed his eyes calmly, recalling a page in the book of Universal Harmony.He heard a few notes in the never-ending song of the god Denir, and spoke the correct incantation, pointing to the tip of the burnt torch.He blinked a few times, then squinted, because the magic light was much brighter than the real torch flickered before.When his eyes finally adjusted to the light, he walked on, turning one corner after another.

A shuffling sound stopped him.It wasn't a mouse, Cadderly knew, because the vocal animal—if that was an animal—was much larger. An image of a large bull appeared in Cadderly's mind.He remembered going out with Dean Avery once when he was a boy, passing a pasture full of cows.At least, Avery thought they were cows.Cadderly couldn't help but smile as he thought of the chubby Avery being chased for his life by an angry bull. The shuffling sound came again. Cadderly considered snuffing out the magic torch, but then changed his mind, finding the consequences to be dire.Approaching the next turn on tiptoe, he took off his sombrero, and slowly peeked out.

The shuffling sounded human, but it was by no means a human being.It was a good seven feet tall, very broad in shoulders and chest, and impossibly strong, and its head—without a mask or anything, Cadderly knew—looked like the one he had seen as a child. bull.The creature was wearing only a wolf-skin loincloth and was unarmed, but that didn't make the unarmed young scholar feel relieved at all. A tauren!Cadderly's heart almost stopped.Suddenly, he was no longer sure that Belisari had imagined this trek through the catacombs of the Tower himself.Cadderly felt that perhaps something sinister had happened to the friendly wizard, some evil force might have cracked the tower's defenses.

After a moment, his thoughts stopped along with his breathing, as the gigantic tauren scraped a foot against the stone again, then lunged forward, crashing into Cadderly, sending him flying. through the aisle.When he fell on the stone, he hurt one shoulder, and the torch flew away, but the magic light did not disappear. The tauren snorted fiercely and rushed over again.Cadderly picked up his cane defensively, doubting how such an insignificant weapon could stand against a mighty monster.The monster didn't seem to care about the stick at all, and strode straight towards the tip of the stick.

Cadderly swung the staff with all his strength, but the tiny stick split when it struck the monster's thick chest. The tauren swung at him, then rammed it with the crown of its horned head, crushing Cadderly against the stone.The young man struggled to free himself with one arm and struck at the monster, but to no avail.The monster squeezed harder, and Cadderly could neither scream nor breathe. When the monster opened its huge mouth and bit its horrible teeth towards Cadderly's exposed neck, Cadderly seriously felt that his life was about to be lost. But at that very moment, the young priest found himself surrounded by an energy field.He looked down at the ground and saw the still-broken cane.

Cadderly shoved his free hand into the monster's open mouth, then down its throat.After a while, he withdrew his hand, holding the monster's still beating heart.The monster took a step back, not daring to move again. "I went down two flights of stairs, but they actually went up," Cadderly said loudly, firmly, "and through six doors, two of which were virtual. So I should be in your library now on the west side. Isn't that right, Belisari dear?" The virtual tauren was gone, but Cadderly, strangely, still held the beating heart in his hand.The surrounding scene returned to its original appearance, that is, the west side, just as Cadderly had speculated.And Belisari, with his bushy eyebrows and beard—with a perplexed, almost frightened expression—is leaning limply on a book case. Cadderly winked at him, then opened his mouth as if to bite into something he was holding. "Oh, you!" cried the magician.He turned away and covered his mouth with one hand, trying to suppress the desire to vomit, "Don't do this! Please!" Cadderly erased the disgusting image, commanding it to disappear with will, though he didn't know how he visualized it in the first place. "How did you do that?" gasped the magician, finally gaining some composure. "My powers have changed quite a bit lately," Cadderly tried to answer. "It's gotten stronger." "I've never heard of a cleric spell like that," Belisari insisted, "to create such a perfect illusion..." Just saying it made the magician remember the shape of the heart again, and made him think again. Nausea retched a bit. Cadderly knew that Belisari clearly didn't know what was going on. "I did not create the illusion," the young scholar explained, to the magician as much as to himself, "nor do I have the magical powers necessary to create that vision." The wizard shrugged off any remaining nausea, for he was greatly interested in what Cadderly was hinting at.He walked quietly across the room towards the young priest. "I saw the concentrated energy," Cadderly continued, "discovered how to use it...and distorted the great illusion you created...." "Can't you just remove the illusion like most other priests?" Belisari asked angrily. Cadderly shrugged. "I thought I'd done it," he replied with a wry smile, "in a way that rivaled your vision." Belisari saluted the young priest with a touch of his sagging wool cap. "I'm not sure, though," Cadderly admitted. "In fact, I don't quite know what my magic is all about, which is why I'm here." Belisari led the young man into an adjoining living room, where they each found a comfortable chair.The wizard produced four items—three rings and a thin wand—that Cadderly had given him three weeks earlier, and set them aside, eager to hear what Cadderly had said. What do you want to say. It took Cadderly a moment to begin to describe his many adventures—so much had happened to him—but, once he did, it was eloquent, and every detail was spelled out fairly clearly.He told Belisari how he had succeeded in awakening the trees of Simista, how he had healed Tinteg, and how he had seen the spirit of the horse Temeresa leave.Then he began to relate more recent and precise events of how he had created light and darkness in his room, and in Belisari's labyrinth.What disturbed the young priest most was that he could see dancing images on people's shoulders.Cadderly didn't mention his dream right away, however, because he wasn't quite sure how to categorize it, and was also a little afraid of what it might mean. When the obviously distressed young man finished telling his magnificent story, the magician said, "The magic you mentioned is not uncommon in the field of cleric magic, and many magicians can also perform it, such as Manipulation of light. As for those images, priests have been able to predict the fate of people for centuries." "Aurora," Cadderly replied, mentioning the word he could make out in that particular spell. "I don't understand how 'Dawn' could affect a spell like this." Belisari scratched at his graying beard. "That's quite unusual," he said slowly, "but does the word only mean 'dawn'? When was this incredible book written?" Cadderly thought for a moment, then got the answer. "Aurora," he said firmly, "Omen." He looked up at the wizard with a wide smile. "Aurora means Omen," Belisari agreed, "or, it used to be used to refer to the blooming of light and goodness that surrounds an individual. So you've got your answer, it's indeed a cleric spell. Perhaps That's what happened to you, you just haven't figured out how to interpret what you're seeing." Cadderly nodded, though he didn't really agree with that statement.Of course he knew—or felt—how to interpret those dancing and flickering images, and that wasn't the problem. "I have witnessed very unusual cleric spells," Cadderly replied, "but these powers of mine are probably even more extraordinary than that. Unlike the priests in the library, I am summoning these Never read them before magic. I wasn't prepared at all - neither was I when I beat those images before your eyes. I didn't expect you to test me to this extent. I didn't even expect you to know I was coming gone." Cadderly paused for a moment to collect himself.And during the silence, Belisari grumbled almost constantly, scratching at his shaggy beard. "You must know something," Cadderly said aloud, and what he said sounded like an accusation. "I speculate," Belisari replied. "Since the Troubled Years, there have been more and more rumors of people with inner magical powers." "Psyker," Cadder said immediately. "So you've heard of them," said the magician, spreading his thin arms in resignation. "Of course you've heard of it," he sputtered. "You've heard of everything, and that's why dealing with you is so frustrating." These exaggerated movements made Cadderly smile, and relax back into the comfortable leather seat. Belisari seemed genuinely quite attracted by the idea, as if he desperately wanted his guess to be right. "Maybe you're a power user?" he asked. "I don't know much about them," the young priest admitted. "If what happened to me is true, then I have no intention or wish to." "These powers are not very different from those possessed by magicians," Belisari explained, "except that they come from within these people's minds rather than from the outside world. I am no stranger to your kind of psychic powers. he chuckled, obviously referring to his spellbook, which Cadderly had rewritten for him from memory. "That type of outstanding ability is typical of a psyker." Cadderly considered the words, and slowly began to shake his head. "The power I'm using in this tower comes from outside," he reasoned. "Can a psyker interact with a magician's spell like I just did?" Belisari tapped his lower lip with a finger with prominent knuckles, and his frown showed that he had encountered a bottleneck in his deduction. "I don't know," he admitted.The two sat quietly, digesting the finer points of each other's conversations. "That doesn't make sense," Cadderly said after a moment. "I'm just a container and converter of these forces, converting them into the results I want. I'm sure of that." "I don't deny that either," Belisari replied, "but such a power must have a guide—such as a spell, if it must be called something. One cannot, on a whim, You can gain access to the external forces in the universe!" Cadderly could understand the growing excitement in the wizard's voice.If Belisari's thesis is wrong, then the entire life of the magician, living like a hermit for the study of magic, becomes a meaningless exercise in futility. "That song!" Cadderly spat out the words, suddenly understanding it all. "What song is it?" "It's the Book of Universal Harmony," the young priest explained, "The Book of Denir. Whenever I use that power, even subconsciously, like seeing dancing images, I feel a deep I heard the song in that book everywhere. The answer I was looking for was in that song." "Song of the book?" Belisari couldn't understand. "It's the rhythm of words." Cadderly tried to explain, though he knew he couldn't really explain it. With a shrug, Belisari seemed to accept the simple explanation. "Then you've found your channel," he said, "but I'm afraid I can't say anything on that point. It would seem better to discuss this book with the Headmasters of the Moezhi Library." "Or my god," Cadderly muttered. Belisari shrugged noncommittally. "Go ahead," he said, "but that's all I can say, and I know I'm right just by the way you look haggard." "I haven't been sleeping well lately," Cadderly said quickly, fearful of what the wizard might say next. "Magic, this transfer of power," Belisari continued, unfazed by Cadderly's words, "will come at a cost to the performer. We magicians are very careful not to overstep our boundaries, although usually We can't help it because when it comes to remembering a mantra, it's usually when you're facing these boundaries that you succeed." "Similarly, a priest is endowed with power from his or her faith, exercised through messengers of the gods or even the gods themselves, especially in the case of high priests," Belisari reasoned, "I Be warned, young Cadderly, I have seen unwise magicians try to cast spells stronger than themselves, beyond their capacity, and wear themselves out. If you can find a way to avoid the magic ——No matter what type of magic it is—the obstacles and boundaries that you usually encounter, I hope you can also do what you can, otherwise this will destroy you.” Thousands of possibilities began to play in Cadderly's mind.Maybe he should go back to the Mengzhi Library to try to solve the current difficulties, maybe he can talk to Portelope... "Now, let's look at some of the stuff I know better," Belisari said.The magician reached for the ring and wand.He first took up a signet ring bearing the trident and bottle of Trinity, which had belonged to the evil wizard Dorigen. "As you can imagine, I can detect no magic in this ring," said the magician, tossing it to Cadderly. "I know," Cadderly said, catching the ring and putting it in the pouch. This sentence made Belisari pause and look at the young man. "This ring," he said slowly, picking up another ring on a gold pedestal with a large agate set on it, "is actually magical, and quite powerful." "When the owner of the ring utters the spell 'Fett'—that's the Elvish word for 'fire'—it creates a flame," Cadderly said, "I've seen it used. He added quickly, noticing Belisari's frown gradually. "Really?" The magician spat out these two words, "Then have you ever heard of a magician named Aganasa?" Belisari smiled as Cadderly shook his head. "He was born two centuries ago, a little-known magician." The magician explained. "Dead now?" Cadderly reasoned. "Maybe," Belisari said wryly, winking at him. "If a magician is involved, no one can say for sure." "Is this his ring?" Cadderly asked. "I cannot be sure," Belisari replied, "either he, or his companions, created it with magic imbued with this special power. It is not extremely powerful, but it is very useful." And he called it Throw it to Cadderly, and pick up your wand.The young priest guessed that Belisari had deliberately saved the remaining one for last. "It's a fairly common magic item," the wizard began, but Cadderly held up a hand to stop him.At first the wand looked like it was only a foot long, a thin stick of unassuming black wood, but as Cadderly looked at it, he heard a distant song singing within him. Cadderly thought more deeply, felt, and saw clearly the magic the object held. "It is light," he said to the magician. "The power of this wand is to manipulate light." Frowning again, Belisari looked at the wand, as if to make sure that its smooth sides bore no visible, recognizable cryptic markings. "Have you seen it used?" the magician asked hopefully, tired of always being cut short. "No." Cadderly said absently, not taking his attention away from the clairvoyance of the moment.In his mind, he saw the light taking different shapes, dancing. "Domin Illu," he spat out the incantation.The light that had been in his mind became constant and as strong as the light he had created in his room and the maze just now. "Illu." From his trembling lips escaped the old saying of the word "light".The light grew stronger, flickering in Cadderly's mind, making him squint. "Mas Illu," he said, which translates literally to "bright light."The image of the light burst forward magnificently, a flaming green burst of light bursting into golden beams, blazing in Cadderly's mind.Cadderly yelled, looking away, almost shouting, "Ilumas Baelor!" and he slumped back into his chair. Cadderly sat up again, looking at the wizard.The magician was still seated in his chair, holding his humble wand in his outstretched hand. "What happened just now?" Belisari asked inexplicably. "I see its power—very vividly," Cadderly said staccatoly, "in my mind." "Then you repeat the activation spell," the distraught magician added, "literally." "But how could this be?" Cadderly asked him, genuinely bewildered. "You go back and find the priest!" Bellisari growled. "Since you know everything, why come here to waste my time and energy?" "I don't know," Cadderly insisted. "Go back to the priest," Belisari said again, throwing his wand to Cadderly. The young man accepted the item, then looked to the ground next to the magician's chair. "We have one more thing to see," he said, sitting back in his chair. Belisari scooped up the remaining ring—it was gold and studded with diamonds—and held it up for Cadderly to see. "Just tell me," the magician insisted. Cadderly heard the distant song again, but pushed it away deliberately for the dignity of his dear friend. "It's not magical," he lied, reaching out to catch the ring. "Ha!" exclaimed the magician energetically, and withdrew his hand. "This is the most powerful of them all!" He held it closer to his shining, admiring eyes. "Rings for magicians," he explained. "To enhance their power. It shouldn't be of much use to you." Cadderly's mind blazed with warning messages.What is the sneaky Belisari up to?The young priest focused on the magician instead of the ring, and saw Belisari's own image perched on the magician's shoulder, peeking at the ring, wriggling eager fingers. Go, rubbing your hands together uneasily.But Cadderly learned that the sorcerer was only after a sorcerer's item.The bent image told him with certainty that Belisari hadn't lied to him, and he secretly blamed himself for suspecting that Belisari had other ideas. "Here you go," he said. The magician almost fell out of his chair, the smile on his face was so wide that it was about to crack the ears. "Then I won't be polite!" he said, his voice unconsciously high-pitched. "Then how can I repay you?" Cadderly waved no. "But I insist." Belisari continued uncompromisingly, "this gift is too expensive—" "Not to me," Cadderly reminded him. Bellisari nodded, accepting the statement, but still wanted to find some way to repay the young priest. "Your cane!" he finally said aloud. Cadderly held it up, not quite understanding what he meant. "You use it as a weapon, don't you?" "If necessary," Cadderly replied, "at least it's harder than my hand." The mere mention of unarmed combat reminded Cadderly of Danica. "But not as strong as you'd like, is it?" Belisari went on, oblivious to the flicker of desperation on Cadderly's face. "Don't deny it," the magician insisted. "When you were fighting the minotaur, you were already worried that your weapon was too weak; you thought it would snap off whole." Cadderly didn't deny it. "Leave it to me, boy!" Belisari said loudly. "Give me a few days and make sure you don't think it's a weak weapon afterward." "So you're still an enchanter?" Cadderly commented. "There are many magical techniques that priests don't understand," the magician replied with exaggerated superiority. "Especially a priest who doesn't even know his own abilities." Cadderly replied, this simple and straightforward confession made the magician's aura disappear without a trace. Belisari nodded, forcing a faint smile that made Cadderly think, "Restraint." ※※※ Cadderly was a little surprised to find that the Nameless Man was still wandering on the road between the Sorcerer's Tower and Caladon. He thought that the beggar had either gone to Caladon to ask for more money, or went to his wife and children to enjoy the family happiness. , a little respite from the miserable life that had befallen him. What surprised Cadderly even more was that the beggar looked at him, winked exaggeratedly at him, picked up the purse containing the coins and shook it, with an obscene look on his dirty face. laugh. That gesture, Cadderly felt, was very uncharacteristic of what a Nameless person would do—an overt display of greed or gratitude—which had nothing to do with the proud and unlucky man Cadderly had met earlier. Very different. Then Cadderly saw the vision. He couldn't distinguish these things as clearly as he had seen Jenny and her children before.They were a hundred snarling shadows, constantly shifting shapes, but all displayed a clear and powerful malice towards the young priest.A virtual claw poked out from the beggar's shoulder, clawing at the air in Cadderly's direction. Suddenly Cadderly was terrified.The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, and his heart began beating very fast.A sickly sweet smell wafted to him; and he thought he heard the buzzing of flies.Cadderly shook his head vigorously, thinking he must be crazy.His facial features seemed to have become extremely sensitive, like an animal, and the sudden influx of sensory information almost made the young priest unable to resist. Then he regained his composure and looked at the innocent beggar.Wishing he had his cane by his side, he looked back at the tower in the distance. "What a fine day!" said the beggar, seemingly cheerful, but Cadderly knew intuitively that it was not. Fett.The word to activate the spell entered Cadderly's mind, and he almost blurted it out.He looked down at his hand, where the onyx ring was on his finger, and he found himself pointing it in the direction of the beggar. "Are you leaving so soon?" the beggar asked, sounding so innocent, almost hurt. Cadderly saw the black shadow crouching over the man's shoulder, saw its claws and its venomous fangs.So he nodded firmly, pulled his coat tighter, and walked away quickly. He smelled that sickly sweet smell again and heard flies.If he wasn't so alone and tense, he'd stop and figure things out.He only glanced briefly in the direction of the bushes that grew along the road as he passed. If Cadderly had looked more closely, he would have seen the corpse, already swollen after only a few hours in the late summer sun.And, if he could find enough strength to use his magical clairvoyance ability, he would be able to see that the soul of the unknown person was wandering hopelessly, helpless and pitiful, waiting for the god to lead him back to where he should go.