The Heart of Alchemy by James Wisher (e book reading free TXT) 📕

how much benefit of the doubt are you willing to give someone that worships a demon lord? Maybe he’s afraid of the orders he might receive. Or more likely Marius plans to seize control of the cult in Celestial City.”

“No.” Jet gave a vehement shake of her head. “He wouldn’t dare oppose Lady White.”

“She’s a thousand miles away and has her own problems to deal with. If he took over, do you think she could come here and slap him down?”

“I guess not. It doesn’t matter anyway. Everything’s falling apart. It’ll be a miracle if the cult survives the month at this rate.”

“Ahem!” Their guide had stopped in the middle of the tunnel and cleared his throat. When Otto looked his way he said, “It’s just ahead.”

Otto peered through the ether and sure enough a thick fog of corruption filled the air. It seemed like what they were looking for. “Does this look right to you?”

Jet nodded. “It feels right. Like Astaroth is looking over my shoulder. We always came from a different direction, but this is the aerie.”

“I can go now, right?” their guide asked.

Jet stalked over to him and cut his throat. When he’d finished bleeding out she looked back at Otto. “He knew too much to remain alive.”

Otto shrugged. The young man’s death meant nothing to him one way or the other, though her ability to kill someone in cold blood impressed him. “So what now?”

“Um, now we go into the aerie and you send a message to Lady White telling her about Marius and the Golmol worshipers.”

“Okay, but how, exactly, do I do that? Sending messages using birds made out of corruption isn’t exactly a skill my mentors have taught me.” When she just stared at him in silence Otto finally understood. “You don’t have a clue, do you? You asked me to come along hoping I’d figure it out on my own.”

“It sounds so much worse when you say it that way. I was desperate! Can’t we at least take a look?”

“After you.”

Jet took a few hesitant steps toward the aerie. As Otto watched, the corruption grew stronger around her, coating her like a second skin. Moving closer himself, he could now see shapes moving in the darkness. Shapes that did, in fact, look like black birds.

First one then another dove at Jet.

Then another. When their beaks struck her flesh, she moaned and a white patch appeared on her bronze skin.

Otto stayed just at the edge of the darkness, content to watch for now.

After six hits Jet staggered back out of the corruption. Her once flawless complexion now closely resembled one of the undead. The birds had literally drained some of the life out of her.

She collapsed at his feet and peered up. “I saw nothing that hinted at how to send a message. That place isn’t meant for the living.”

Otto couldn’t argue with that. “That’s why I wanted you to go in first. Happily, while you might not have learned anything, I believe I have.”

Hope blossomed in her face. “Really?”

He nodded and held out his hand to help her up. When Jet was on her feet Otto continued, “Unfortunately, I need some bait.”

He shoved her toward the aerie.

Immediately a bird dove at her.

As soon as it separated itself from the darkness, Otto wrapped it in a bubble of ether. With a tentacle he yanked Jet out of harm’s way before another of the nasty little beasts could strike.

She glared at him. “You should’ve warned me.”

“Sometimes knowing what’s about to happen isn’t useful. Now be quiet. I need to concentrate.”

Turning the full weight of his gaze on the bird, Otto studied how it interacted with the ether. Every time its beak struck his bubble, it burned a tiny hole that he was forced to seal. The corruption acted like acid, dissolving the ether. The two were antithetical. That was why mithril burned those associated with corruption and made ethereal magic stronger.

Amet Sur, the first and greatest Arcane Lord, had mastered corrupt magic and that meant Otto didn’t need to trade his soul to a demon lord to use it. Unfortunately, he was no Amet Sur. On the plus side, he wasn’t trying to build an army of undead or melt the flesh from men’s bones. He just needed to figure out how to write a message in corruption.

Okay, think it through. How would he have done it if he wanted to send a message through the ether? The same way he created his message sticks. If he could send a ten-word message through the ether, he should be able to send one using corruption. Maybe.

Frowning, Otto conjured a message the way he knew how first. Ten glowing words appeared in his ethereal vision, Marius planning to attack city, Golmol cultists uncovered in underground. He compressed them and wrapped them in a bubble. Now, how to attach them to the bird?

Using the ether like a spatula, he gathered corruption and applied a thin layer to his bubble before making a thread and wrapping it around the bird’s claw. Lastly, he conjured an image of Lady White in his mind and tried to drive the desire to go to her into the bird’s mind.

When he’d done his best to secure the message, Otto released the beast and it vanished into the ether. Whether it went to the Land of the Demon Binders or dissolved, he had no way of knowing.

“I’ve done all I can,” Otto said. He felt as exhausted as if he’d run a marathon. “How long until she replies?”

“I don’t know. If Lady White is busy, she might need hours or days. Anyway, she always sends the reply directly to Marius, so we’ll only know what she said if he tells us.”

“In that case, let’s find somewhere nicer to rest for an hour then we’ll see about finding the Forbidden Garden.”

Chapter 39

The Imperial Palace sprawled over a half mile in the city center. The central keep towered seven stories high, a red tile