Ice Study (Poison Study 3.60)

Owen eased from the warmth of the fire, leaning back on an elbow. “Have you ever wondered why diamonds can hold magic?”

“No.”

“Me either. But my ancestor made it his life’s work. In his laboratory near the Soul Mountains, he experimented with a number of different colors, sizes and cuts of diamonds, measuring the amount of magic each diamond could hold. He discovered that bigger diamonds trap more power.” Owen held up a hand, indicating patience. “Yes, it’s textbook. What’s not well known is that the amount isn’t linear. A diamond twice as big as another doesn’t hold twice as much power, but four times as much. The quantity of magic stored increases exponentially.”

“Interesting. However the power blanket covers the entire world. In order for one diamond to adsorb that much energy, it would—”

“Need to weigh approximately 1666 carats,” Owen said. “Roughly the size of the biggest blue diamond ever found. Otherwise known as the Ice Moon.”

I considered. “Even if it is big enough, a magician still has to draw the magic. No one is strong enough to pull it all.”

“And therein lies the beauty of the Ice Moon. My great-great-grandfather cut the stone. Ellis aligned the facets in such a way that all a magician has to do is start filling the diamond. After that, the Ice Moon does the rest of the work, until there is no more power left. As I said before, he was a genius.”

Insane would be my preferred word choice. “But you said there was no danger if they had used the Ice Moon. Ridding the world of magic would be considered a catastrophe.”

“In the hands of a weaker magician, yes. But Ellis could have stopped the power drain once Stefton had been neutralized.”

Sounded a bit dodgy to me. “What would have happened to the charged Ice Moon? That’s a ton of magic accessible in one place.”

“The Master Magicians would have shared it, of course.” Owen acted as if my question offended him.

I pressed on anyway. “If this is all true, then keeping the Ice Moon in Ixia would be the safest action.”

“Until the Commander touches it, triggering the draw.”

“But the Commander doesn’t…” Except the Commander did have magical powers. Well, sort of. It was complicated. And how did Owen know?

Owen smirked. “Care to try that again?”

I suppressed the urge to wipe the smug expression off his face by grabbing his soul. But he held both Leif’s and Valek’s lives in his hands. Every day, he showed me an image of them. Every day, my heart twisted with worry, and the chance of outsmarting Owen grew dimmer.

“How do you know about the Commander?” I asked.

“I had the pleasure of meeting him when he visited after the Daviian mess. One handshake with him revealed the depth of his souls.”

His audacity had no limit. “You not only broke protocol, but also the ethical code and plain moral decency by reading his thoughts with your magic!”

Owen shrugged. “Despite the treaties and your bogus liaison duties, the Commander is an enemy of Sitia and should be treated as such.”

“That’s not your…” I shut my mouth. Nothing I could say would alter his opinion. Actions would be a better incentive. Unfortunately, until Leif and Valek were safe, my hands were tied.

I shivered through the night in the cold shelter. Gray clouds obscured the sky, and the scent of damp earth rode the breeze. I cursed under my breath. The cold season would arrive in a few days, along with a storm. We could get either snow or sleet or rain, or a combinations of all three. Yippee. At least the weather matched my mood.

Owen set a fast pace through MD-4. As expected, a messy mix of precipitation arrived during our fourth day in General Tesso’s Military District. The nasty weather proved to be beneficial for Owen and his men. No one stopped to question us. In fact, we didn’t see a single person for the next two days, and spotted only a few people after the storm passed.

My anxiety increased with every mile. Valek had seemed confident he would escape, but Owen’s connection with his men indicated that he was still being held prisoner. He looked miserable and pissed off, but he hadn’t tried to signal me again. Which worried me along with the lack of Ixian soldiers over the last few days. I didn’t know what I’d do once we reached the mine if I didn’t have reinforcements.

Actually, I knew I couldn’t let Owen get his hands on the Ice Moon, but I had been hoping not to sacrifice Valek and Leif in the process.

When we reached the border of MD-3 ten days after crossing into MD-4, the guards let us through with hardly a glance at our papers. And to make matters worse, I didn’t recognize any of the men on patrol. A small…well, a huge part of me wished to see a familiar face or two.

No luck. Except for Owen. He was quite pleased with our progress, and we arrived near Mine 3-13 twenty-four days after we had left Sitia.

The large entrance, or rather the big hole disappearing under the foothills of the Soul Mountains, was guarded. Owen and I watched the two teams of four soldiers as they took turns manning the entrance. We quickly discovered that the mine had been abandoned. No miners pushed wheelbarrows of rocks from the mine. No horses pulled wagons. Only the guards remained, patrolling and living in a small building nearby.

I wondered why the Commander hadn’t just sealed this entrance. There was a labyrinth of connecting tunnels under the mountains, and I was sure there was more than one way to get to the Ice Moon.

Owen felt confident that the six of us could handle eight Ixian guards. He wanted to attack during the next shift change. Then I would use my magic to discover the location of the Ice Moon. He didn’t want to wait until his men were well rested, wanting to surprise the guards. He acted as if time was an issue.

At least he was right about overwhelming the guards. After a short skirmish, we disarmed the eight soldiers. I made a show of reading their minds. However, I had no intention of learning the location of the Ice Moon. I would lead Owen and the others around the shafts until I could pick them off one by one.

Perhaps then I could use Owen’s glass animal to contact the authorities in Fulgor. Hopefully they could mount a search for Valek and Leif before Owen’s collaborators could kill them.

Dread pulled at me as I entered the mine. Owen lit a handful of torches, and they illuminated a large cavern with abandoned equipment scattered on the floor and stacked in the corners. He fussed over my slow pace, but in the end, it didn’t matter.

I continued down the main shaft. In the middle of the next cavern, the Ice Moon sat on top of a squat stalagmite, glittering with a bright blue, brilliant inner fire.

I stared at the Ice Moon in amazement. There had been no attempt to hide it or protect it, other than the eight guards outside the mine. Would the Commander really be that stupid?

Owen and his four men fanned out behind me. They drew their swords. I didn’t blame them. This smelled like a trap. Heck, it reeked.

We waited for the ambush, but nothing happened. They searched all the dark corners, adjoining caverns and tunnels. Nothing. However, they failed to check the ceiling for spiders. I wasn’t about to do anything, magical or otherwise. to tip them off. Besides, the way my luck had been going, there would be nothing up there but real spiders.

Eventually, Owen laughed. The sound echoed off the black walls. “Your Commander has lost his touch.” He strode to the Ice Moon.

I couldn’t let him pick it up. Even with the stone walls surrounding us, it would be too dangerous. Moving to follow, I stopped as Owen’s men rushed to get between me and their boss. Their swords aimed at my middle. I reached with my magic to find another barrier, but a null shield protected them. Owen must have trained the men on what to do when we reached the blue diamond.

Owen’s face glowed with a greedy victory as he peered at the Ice Moon. I yanked a few Curare-filled darts from the lining in the pocket of my cloak—another useful and practical gift from Valek. In one quick motion, I placed a dart in one man’s neck before they caught on.

“

She’s armed!” one yelled, diving for the floor. The others scattered.

Before I aimed another, Owen’s magic heated the darts to red-hot in my hand. I dropped them, then attacked with my magic. But he had anticipated my next move and, once again, blocked me with a null shield. The men quickly reformed, and I was back almost where I’d started.

At least I had managed to disable one. Four more to go. My cloak held a few other weapons, but a knife against one sword never worked out well for me. Three were well beyond my skill set.

Owen shook his head. “You would sacrifice your bother and heart mate to keep me from obtaining what is rightfully mine?”

“Obviously.” Frustration and fear twisted tight inside me. “You’ve claimed you want to keep the power blanket safe from the Commander, but I don’t need to read your soul to know you just desire all the world’s magic for yourself.” And would trap millions of peaceful souls. “That I cannot allow.”

“Too bad you’ve no recourse to stop me,” he said, turning back to the diamond.

Time for desperate measures. “Come on, Owen. Do you really think obtaining the Ice Moon would be this easy?”

He paused, but didn’t look at me.

“You missed a critical defensive position.”

“Your attempt to delay me is pathetic, Yelena.” He reached to take the Ice Moon.

“You forgot to check the ceiling for guards. Captain Nytik, attack!”

As expected, everyone looked up but me. I dove between two of the men. Rolling past the null shield, I raced toward Owen.

He grabbed the Ice Moon and held it high. “Stop, or I’ll drain the world’s magic.”

I didn’t hesitate. Launching myself at him, I hit him square in the chest. We slammed to the floor. The Ice Moon flew from his hands. It shattered against the wall, exploding into thousands of blue shards.

That was…unexpected.

Owen scrambled to his feet. Shock turned to fury. “That wasn’t the Ice Moon.” He seized my shoulders, digging his fingers into my flesh. “You tricked me.”

A slow clapping sounded behind him. Owen spun, reaching for his sword.

“Bravo,” Valek said, still clapping. He wore all black. A rope hung from the ceiling.

Relief and joy washed through me. I suppressed the desire to crush him in a hug.