Page 43 of Sword & Sacrifice

“Why do you need to break them at all?” Niall demanded. “You’re in the mercenary’s body. Don’t you already have the key to unlock them?”

Irritation flashed across Valistair’s face, disrupting his calm assessment. “It would be foolish for a transformation mage to make any physical keys for his sanctuary. He knows too well that magic could unravel his protections.”

Niall mulled over the chastising statement before saying, “Fine. Can you extract the key from the mercenary’s memories?”

“Not in any less time.”

Huffing, Niall crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the carriage. It rocked under him, and he jumped back up, glaring at it, then glaring at Penn when he snorted in response. He raised his chin and rolled up his sleeves. “I will assist you in this important work.”

“No need,” Valistair replied, waving him away.

Niall’s lips twisted in displeasure. “Very well. I will keep an eye on the boy while you are occupied.”

Penn ignored him and sat down, leaning against the wall as he watched the mage work. He couldn’t see Valerian’s wards, no matter how much he squinted, but he could follow the mage’s scarred hands as they traced symbols in the air. “What do the wards do?”

“Don’t speak unless spoken to,” Niall snapped. “You’ll distract him.”

One treats me like a dog, the other treats me like a child. “It’s all right if you don’t know the answer,” Penn replied with a shrug. “No harm in admitting that Valerian’s skills are beyond you.”

Niall’s face reddened and swelled with rage. “How dare you—you know nothing of my skills or my years of study—”

“Years rather than decades by the sounds of it. Val’s been in the game a bit longer than you.”

Niall leaned forward until spittle splashed against Penn’s face with each word. “Yet I defeated him. What do you have to say about that?”

“Did you defeat him? From what I’ve seen, your master did all the work. What little ‘help’ you offered ruined his hand—”

A soft touch on the top of Penn’s head cut him off. Valistair’s intact hand stroked Penn’s hair soothingly, yet there was also a silent admonishment—an owner hushing his yapping pup.

“The ward on the keyhole melts lockpicks and incorrect keys,” Valistair explained. “Several on the door, the windows, and the walls prevent brute force entries. The windows won’t break even in the fiercest storms. Energy directed at the door will bounce back at the intruder three-fold. One particular ward is interesting.” He twisted his left hand in the air, capturing and isolating a wisp of magic in his injured fist. “If activated, it would turn the whole building to granite, sealing any openings. A dangerous game if anyone is still inside. We are lucky the would-be burglar did not trigger it.”

The wards sounded more complicated and riskier than the barrier around Adelaide’s cottage. Like a mental shield, her barrier was invisible to non-practitioners, but anyone uninvited would run into a solid wall. She used a simple, three-layered system. The first and third layers were made of crystal, while the middle was charged magic. If someone broke through the outermost layer, the magic would burst out and kill them. The inner layer protected her home from the backlash.

As Penn watched Valistair carefully unravel the wards, he wondered if the mage could do the same to Adelaide’s barrier. If he’d come looking for Silas himself that day instead of sending soldiers, would he have found a way inside?

“What’s the difference between a barrier and a ward?” Penn asked.

“Enough questions,” Niall hissed. “You are not his student; you are a hostage. Show some damn respect.”

“I need your assistance, Niall,” Valistair said.

Startled, Niall straightened. “Of course. What do you need?”

“Procure a room at the inn. I doubt I’ll finish this task before nightfall.”

Niall’s shoulders fell with his hopes. “Yes, master. Come along, boy.” He reached for Penn, ready to yank him to his feet and drag him along.

“Leave him.”

“But he is a distraction—”

“I may need him to test some of the wards to find their weak spots. It’s quite a painful process, but if you would prefer to volunteer?”

An internal debate played out across Niall’s features: on the one hand, he wanted to prove his worth. On the other, he didn’t want the pain associated with the task. Eventually, he graciously left it to Penn. “I will find us a room and somewhere to stable the horses.”

Once he had left and Penn couldn’t hear the rattling of the carriage anymore, he asked, “Do you really want me as a test subject or were you trying to get rid of him?”

Valistair paused long enough to look at him, one blond eyebrow arched. He didn’t answer that question but did answer Penn’s earlier one. “A barrier surrounds an object or structure. They take longer to construct but have fewer weak points. Wards can be unwritten. Barriers can only be destroyed.”