COP S1.1 The Chamber of Power
I jumped back when I heard the whoosh.
The darkness wasn’t unexpected. Harry, my employer, had told me about it. My greenish orb of light hovering over my head only illuminated about three feet, no matter how much magic I poured into it. Eventually, I decided to save that energy for when I reached the elusive chamber. Assuming I could navigate there one tiny step at a time.
I jumped back when I heard the whoosh. A breeze blew hair into my eyes and I knew it was close. I just wished I could see it. Harry hadn’t mentioned any whooshing and I didn’t sense any magical creatures nearby, but something had moved past. The fact it wasn’t living, or at least not magical, wasn’t comforting. That left too many options open and gave me no idea how to protect myself. I cursed Harry for luring me into taking the job without all the facts.
“Don’t worry about anything until you get to the chamber, Lyn,” he’d said. “There won’t be anything you can’t handle. It’ll be child’s play for someone of your talents.”
“And when I get to the chamber?” I’d asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah, can’t help you there. No one’s ever… well, even the books don’t say exactly what form the power takes.”
I’d nodded, somehow believing it would be as simple as going in and bringing out the object said to possess the power of a thousand suns.
I was wondering why I’d taken the job as another whoosh went by. Was it the money, or the fame? No, not fame. My name, Lyn Jen—the Tenacious, was already well known in the right communities. And some of the wrong ones. I could always use more money, though that didn’t feel like the real reason to take such a crazy job. The answer to why I done it niggled at me as I waited, unmoving. Every five seconds, a whoosh passed. The sound was regular, mechanical.
I unwound a bit of rope and tossed it out at the next pass. A thud and the rope dropped. Pulling it back, I found a clean cut. Seconds later, the sounds continued. Something big, slicing through the darkness, undetectable with my magic.
I cursed Harry again. Mechanical devices impervious to magic. That, of course, meant they were magical–enchanted against magic with magic. It sometimes made my head spin thinking of all the possible countermeasures to the countermeasures. Usually, though, I could sense something of that residual magic, a trace of what was left behind that let me circumnavigate any attempt to block magic. I understood now why Harry had picked me—and why he assumed this wouldn’t be hard for me.
He didn’t understand. No one who wasn’t a senpann did. Even then, there weren’t many of us that were strong enough to use the skills to their fullest. Magic would eat you alive from the inside if you weren’t careful.
I sat on the cold stone floor and extinguished my light. Closing my eyes, I opened myself up, careful to note the whooshing hadn’t changed. Its rhythm gave me focus as I searched for the source of its protection. At first, the darkness remained, surrounding me in my mind’s eye as well as body. But then, a glow appeared. I sensed it as a dim white light with no pattern. Again, the magic hid itself even as I found it.
Gently, I pushed with my magic.
I woke prone on the ground with a pounding in my head and a wetness dripping down the back of my neck. The white orb I summoned appeared in front of me. I prodded the back of my head and my hands came away red. Green swaths of light circled around me as I healed my wounds. Sticky dried blood still matted my hair and neck, a reminder not to be so bold in my next attempt.
How long it took, I couldn’t say, but I eventually mapped out the whooshing device in my mind using the slightest, tiniest touch of magic. It was one big machine. Five pendulum blades, set apart by a few inches. Only one was moving now. I’d triggered it by stepping on a stone tile, also enchanted against magical detection. The others undoubtedly started if the first was avoided.
I needed to avoid them all.
Since no magical countermeasure worked against the pendulums, I was left with minimal options. The path forward was too narrow to avoid them, they swung too low to crawl under, and were too close together to run between them.
That left two options. I had to physically stop them or prevent the others from being triggered. I leaned forward and pressed my hands onto the stone slab that had activated the first blade. Not wanting to end up unconscious again, or dead, I let the magic trickle from my fingers into the air around the stone. It wrapped around it until I found the switch, more by the absence of where the magic wouldn’t go than by directly sensing it. It was a simple mechanical device, as I’d thought, but even with using limited magic, I could feel the protection enhancement pushing against me.
I let the magic spread out over the other stone tiles down the narrow corridor, searching for other spots that pushed it away.
I sat back on my calves. Nothing. The rest of the floor was just floor.
The other triggers must be in the walls, or motion activated. Reaching out, I touched the wall. It was uneven, as if chipped away with a simple pick or axe. I pushed on it with magic. Nothing happened. I grinned. This wouldn’t be so bad after all, but I needed to make sure I had my timing right. And I needed to get clear of the inevitable explosion afterwards.
I shot three white balls of light, one after the other, down the corridor. Their illumination didn’t last long enough to see anything except a reflection off the first swinging pendulum. I’d be taking my chances on what I’d find once I made it past them. Hopefully, whoever designed this place had intended for someone to get through, if they knew how, otherwise something more deadly might lie just beyond. Again, I hadn’t sensed anything, but I knew now it was designed that way. The builders really wanted to keep magic users like me out. I shoved a thought wondering why that would be down. I was too far in now to go back. And though my reputation was strong, it would take a hit if word got out I gave up. But I just might make Harry pay double for actually putting my life at risk for some unknown bounty.
Reaching down, I pulled my staff from my belt. Just a few inches long, it always made me smile. Holding it in my hand next to me, I sent a burst of magic and it extended to its full six feet. The metal was warm and charged with energy.
I heard a shifting behind me. Then a giggle.
Turning around, I swept my staff out in front. Something shuffled back, away, out of my reach. I conjured four more orbs of light and pulled my staff back towards me. I got back on my feet and crept forward, staff ready to strike. A few steps and something caught my eye to the left.
A wood doll, with a tiny cap and brown tunic, leaned against the wall. It smiled widely at me with razor-sharp teeth.
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