Chapter 59. Flame and Chaos

riel blinked the sweat from her eyes as she directed her energies into the great iron crucible.  Creating an opening to the plane of fire for even a few seconds was tiring, but maintaining it was exhausting.  She sighed in relief as Kazuma once more chanted a prayer to Grenth and sliced himself, delivering a fresh surge of energy with the generous offering of his blood. 

The enormous white wolf twitched and whimpered upon the floor before the flaming cauldron, its paws and muzzle bound tightly that it might not attack or win free of the banishing circle.  Standing over the beast, Zhou’s steel mask gleamed with reflected fire, his expression hidden beneath the grim features engraved upon it.  A low chant emerged from his throat.  Chaos and fire blazed into a unified ribbon of throbbing power that curled around the trembling figure of the vile hound.  The mesmer delicately guided each tendril in place with graceful sweeps of an ivory wand.

Moment by moment the white hot energies wrapped around the creature until all that remained was a seething curtain of pale flame.  She feared the man trapped in the wolf’s body had been burned alive and her concentration slipped for just an instant.

“Do not fail me now,” Zhou said faintly into her mind, his energies flagging  She realized that he was gaining some benefit of his own through the blaze of her elemental magic and, when she renewed her focus, his shoulders straightened.  His chanting grew steady and confident and an aura of magenta swathed his form as he renewed his fiery mantra.  Kazuma touched her once more and another euphoric surge of energy drove away her creeping weariness.

A flare of white and she blinked, struggling to maintain her connection to primal fire, her lean body outstretched as she served as focus and conduit.  A cry of pain and misery erupted from the seething figure at the center of the circle, and through the blazing cocoon of energy wolf shape eroded and the powerful limbs of a man emerged.  Zhou raised his arms, chakram and wand crossed as his voice carried above the low roar of chaos and flame locked in battle.  The sickly sweet odor of ozone violated the incense shrouded air.

“Help me!” groaned the man, sobbing in pain as his body writhed and fought against the searing energies.  She wanted to go to him but she feared that losing her concentration now would have more dire consequences.  Then, to her relief, she saw Xiang Yi kneeling at the figure’s straining side, the gentle azure energies of Dwayna coming to his aid.

“Close the realm of fire.  Do it now,” Zhou said with an almost frantic edge to his mental sending.  Obediently, she threw back her head and closed her eyes, dismissing the door to power, her feet lightly drifting to the floor as the elemental realm released her.  Kazuma caught her around the waist and prevented her from falling forward into the molten blaze of the cauldron.  Zhou uttered a final syllable and collapsed as the blazing violet arc of chaos that dwelt at the heart of the vessel was swallowed by a knot of shadow.

She tried to rise and go to the mesmer’s side, concerned that she had not been fast enough to follow his command.  Mashiro, dour in his earthy garb, was already at his guild leader’s side, propping Zhou up on his knees and forcing him to drink from a brass goblet.  Her fellow elementalist smiled faintly at her and she remembered their conversation earlier that evening.  He preferred the slow devastating power of water and earth and insisted that Zhou enlist her mastery of fire.  He had come to assist, a stand in should she fail.  She wondered if he would have argued for her participation in the ritual so fervently now that he had seen her at work.

Zhou rose stiffly to his feet with Mashiro’s help and he nodded deferentially to her.

“You have done well.  I will reward you in the morning.  I think you will like what I have in store for you.”

She could not help but smile.  There was an unfamiliar edge of mischief in the mesmer’s mental voice but she had little time to muse over it.  The man they had saved was still in a great deal of pain.  Xiang Yi was working frantically to salve his burns and pour Dwayna’s healing blessings into the man’s trembling form. 

“Will you be well, Lady Ninnocha?” Kazuma asked her, his cool hand still resting protectively upon her arm as she looked on with a mixture of fear and revulsion.

“Yes, thank you, Master Kazuma.”

“I am no master,” he said, his sleepless pale eye fixed upon her.  He shot her a lopsided smile and bowed, “I must fetch help as Master Bei requires.  I leave you now.”

He need not have bothered.  As soon as the study door opened, Murdi burst into the room, his concern for Uriel transformed into fury as he stalked protectively toward her.

“I’m fine, my Love,” she said, swooning despite her best efforts to stay upright.  He scowled at Zhou and rushed to her side, holding her possessively to his breast.  His loathing for the arcane arts was etched in his grim features and no doubt he had spent the entire three hours of the ritual pacing outside the magically sealed door.  She thought he was going to attack Zhou that morning when the mesmer had announced that he needed her help and how dangerous that help might be.

“When are we going home?” he demanded.

“Please, my Love, we could use your assistance.   That poor man needs to be taken to the infirmary.”

Morisedd bit his lip.  At heart he was a kind man, she knew this about him.   Despite his desire to protect her, he relented and went to Xiang Yi and Zhou’s side, lifting the heavy man up off the floor with a grunt of effort and carrying his bulk with the help of Xiang Yi and Mashiro.  But not before shooting a dirty look at Zhou.

“Get some rest, I will see you at the front gate before breakfast,” Zhou said, his voice quiet with exhaustion.  Without further ado, he turned from her and strode wearily out of the study.  She followed a few moments later, considering asking the servants to prepare a bath for her but then deciding a short lie down would be beneficial first.  When she reached the small suite of rooms she now shared with Morisedd, she found a steaming bowl of noodle soup, a fresh pot of tea, and a meat filled dumpling awaiting her on the low table at the center of the sitting room.  She smiled to herself at the care and consideration of the servants.

Uriel nibbled the dumpling and sipped the tea, her senses raw and body aching with the burn of extended focus.  She would be ravenous in the morning, but right now all she wanted was sleep.  Forcing herself to finish the morsel of food, she kicked off her shoes and sought her side of the sumptuous emerald green sea of the bed and instantly passed out.

It seemed mere moments later when she awakened to gray sunlight streaming through the balcony window and the warmth of Morisedd’s body pressed against her back.  The servants had not tapped lightly on her door to summon them to breakfast so she had to assume she still had time to don clothes and meet Zhou for whatever mysterious purpose he had in mind.  She moved slowly from Murdi’s side, deciding it would be better for all involved if he did not come along.  He had extended his hatred of mesmers and Pendaran to include Zhou.  He was furious that Zhou appeared to be unconcerned with the fate of Brigit and Pendaran even though she had explained to him that there was precious little they could do right now.  The arrival of the wolf man, however, might very well be the stroke of luck they needed.  She silently uttered a prayer to Dwayna and Lyssa that the poor fellow had survived the night and that they had not been too late.

Incomplete transmogrification had been Zhou’s assessment.  Whatever dire spell Ashekoroth had cast upon the man, it had remained unfinished.  But there was danger in changing one’s form or staying too long in it.  Even creatures of power had to assume their true shape to renew themselves.  She hoped the man had not lost his humanity or his memory.

She hurried to refresh herself at the washstand and donned a simple gown of gray silk embroidered with white chrysanthemums.  She dragged a comb through her long black hair and let it flow down her back untrammeled.  Uriel doubted Zhou would keep her very long, he was a man of few words.  After flinging a silvery fox-fur jacket over her shoulders as a shield against the chill weather, she hurried down the stairs to the gate where she had first encountered Master Bei and thought him no more than Matabe’s lowly servant.

Zhou was arrayed in crimson finery, an elaborate staff clutched in black-gloved hand and a retinue of four young warriors at his back.  He nodded politely to her, his dark gaze framed by an elaborate half-mask.  Why was he clad for combat?  Should she have also come similarly attired?  And yet he merely smiled secretively at her and moved toward the gate, a leather messenger pouch clutched under his left arm.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“Not far,” he quipped without turning to face her and setting off at a brisk pace.  He was infuriating at times and she often wondered how Pendaran tolerated him.  Privately she sometimes wished she had been privy to the means by which Zhou had transformed the foolish and selfish peacock into a humble and caring apprentice.  Uriel doubted it was a permanent state of affairs. Even powerful magic eroded in time and she imagined Teleri would one day discover that her sweetheart had reverted to his tomcat ways.

They wove through the misty streets into a less savory part of the city closer to the docks.  A thrill of fear twanged down her spine as she recognized the tall gates of the now burned out shell of the Red Lotus Clan hall.  Zhou pushed past the shattered gates and kept walking, the metal clad staff clacking a rhythm as he stood in the remains of a once lovely courtyard, the skeletons of cherry trees dripping and bent beneath the chill of approaching winter.

“The Emperor has an interesting sense of humor,” Zhou said quietly, his dark eyes gazing upon the ruins of his hated rivals.  Red Lotus had slain his master and friend and dared to invade the safety of his home.  And if it had not been for Brigit, he too might now be dead.

“Why do you say that?”

“He gave me the title to this land at the Imperial Guild Census.”

There was a wry smile upon the mesmer’s lips.

“But I am not foolish enough to expand my guild to this place.  I prefer to appear small and weak while disguising our strengths.  No, I believe I shall cede this land to a new guild, an ally perhaps.”

Uriel frowned, wondering why he had dragged her out to this miserable place.  She frankly never wanted to come here again.  When she said nothing, he continued.

“I have greatly desired to build a place of learning that the magically gifted among my orphans might have a place to study once they have finished their training at Shing Jea.  You see, there are not many prestigious schools of magic remaining in the world.  Nolani was the finest by far and what a loss it was when her fair walls tumbled in the wake of the Searing.”

Uriel blinked, realizing now where the conversation was going.

”Further, I need a more secure place to continue my work.  My study is simply not adequate given the coming darkness.  Master Ninnocha, I would like to offer you the title to this land and my support in building a new academy that will serve all branches of magic.  And I further ask that you do so under the banner of the guild of your choosing.”

Her throat was suddenly too tense to speak and tears pricked her eyes.  Zhou strode away from her, gesturing with his staff for her to follow.

“There is one other point of interest,” he called back to her, “Come.”

Drying her eyes, she rushed after him, nearly tripping on the steps and the remnants of the shattered hall.  He was heading toward a raised dais upon which a strange sigil glowed in the gray dawn.

“Do you remember what that is?” he asked her.

“Portal… Celestial Sigil.”

“As it happens, I have access to a second sigil.  Placing it in a secure location in Tyria would make journeying to your homeland a great deal easier.  Perhaps a certain lore master could help you with that.”

“I… Master Bei… too generous,” she coughed.

“Or I am scheming,” he laughed, “Either way, do you accept my offers?”

“How can I refuse?” she replied, struggling to regain her composure, “I have dreamed of this all of my adult life, Master Zhou, and I never thought it would come true.”

To her surprise he squeezed her hand gently.

”I know, and you have earned it, Lady Ninnocha.  I wish you all the best, from one guild leader to another.”

Uriel was at a loss for words.  After all the unpleasant thoughts and nasty comments she had made about him and now he had utterly humbled her with his generosity.  But then again, he was a mesmer and she had never fully understood what went through their crafty minds.  They were as fickle as the wind and unreadable as mud. 

“Chaos, my dear,” he chuckled, “Even the elements must bow to chaos.”

She laughed.

“Thank you, Master Bei, I will be forever in your debt.”

“I doubt that,” he said, “Although it may seem that way.  Come, let us be getting back in time for breakfast.  I am eager to question Tyhric.  He has seen our friends Pendaran and Brigit.”