“No. I want you to tell me how to do it.”
“You have to get inside it—or get it inside you. You say it’s a rod? Try jamming it up your ass.”
Laina snorted, and Will gave her a hard look. “I’m serious.”
“Close your eyes and focus your attention on it. Try to imagine that you’re sending turyn into it through your hand. By now you’ve gotten pretty good at your turyn control, so that should be easy. You’ll get a feeling of resistance until you find a match for what the item needs, and it will need a variety of different types of turyn depending on how many spell effects are built into it. Each one will have a different turyn requirement. Make sense?”
“Sort of.”
“It’s like finding the right key for a lock. You keep trying different ones until you get one that matches, except that this lock can probably take a lot of different keys, one for each magical effect it can produce.”
“I see. So, it’s basically like when I attune myself to bypass a ward.”
“Yes, exactly. Except you don’t have the ward to look at and see what you need to match. You have to feel your way blindly until you find all the different types of turyn that the item will accept. Then you have to learn which ones do what.”
Laina couldn’t contain herself any longer. “Isn’t that what a transducer is for? He’s a human, not a transducer. People can’t change their turyn.”
“Who’s that?” asked the ring.
Will glared at his half-sister angrily. “Just someone who didn’t know when to stay home. Don’t worry, though, she may be intrusive, but I trust her.”
“Obviously you’re still an idiot, because from that question I can tell she’s just about as stupid as you ever were.”
Laina wasn’t about to sit still for such abuse, but Tiny clamped a giant hand over her mouth, which given the relative size of his hand meant that he covered most of her face. He removed it after a second, but his eyes warned her to silence.
Will ignored them. “I’m going to go ahead and start. I’ll leave the limnthal active so I can ask questions if something strange happens.”
“Go ahead,” said the ring.
Will closed his eyes and began expressing turyn through his fingers, modulating it slowly through various frequencies and ‘flavors.’ The rod shed the turyn like a duck sheds water, but after a moment Will heard a voice in his head. Is someone there? it asked.
“Who are you?” responded Will out loud.
“An advisor to the mentally deficient, obviously. What’s that question supposed to mean?” asked the ring.
Will was used to the insults, so he let it pass. Instead he continued trying different types of turyn. The voice spoke in his head once more, A wizard? A true wizard at that. What order did you attain?
“It’s asking me questions,” said Will. “I’m going to try and project an answer with the turyn.”
“What?!” barked Arrogan.
Third-order, though I’m still young. I have much to learn. Are you part of the relic?
Arrogan’s voice was panicked, but his warning came too late. “Will, drop it! Now! Don’t touch the thing! It’s a trap—”
The voice had already heard Will’s mental reply, though. Perfect! Even as his ears registered Arrogan’s words, something reached out through the turyn he was projecting, establishing a link, something very similar to a source-link.
A split second later, the war began. The limnthal deactivated as the turyn within him surged and shifted back and forth. The link was more than similar to a source-link; it was damn near the exact same thing. Will’s body was paralyzed, locking his hand around the rod. Startled, Will failed to react for a moment, which turned out to be a critical mistake. The relic was working to separate him from his source by the time he began to fight.
Will seized hold of it and tried to reverse the link, but the item’s will felt like iron, strong and inexorable. He was already on the wrong end of things, for his late start had given the item a large advantage. It was rather like trying to win a shoving match when you were standing on a slope—of shifting sand.
Let’s not fight it, child. I know it’s disconcerting, but there’s nothing you can do. I’m centuries ahead of you, said the voice in his head. Will slid further, and then his contact with his source disappeared. He was a prisoner within his own body. That’s better. Now let’s see what we have here. Did you say third-order? Was that the truth, or a lie?
Will refused to even think an answer, but then he felt something shifting in his mind. The voice was rummaging through his memories! So you were telling the truth! I never dared to hope! How about vampires? Are they still about or were you just a greedy little bastard?
He felt more sifting through his mind. So they’re back. You chose wisely.
You’ll help me? asked Will tentatively. Can I have my body back?
I’m afraid not. Only one of us can use it after all. Rest assured though, I’m the right one for the job. No one knows this enemy better than I do.
But it’s my body! exclaimed Will.
Was. It ‘was’ your body. Now it’s mine. You appear to have had a lot of potential, so it’s a shame. I feel a little guilty about cutting short such a bright future, but it’s clear which of us the world needs right now.
How about afterward? asked Will desperately.
You won’t be around. I’ll keep you for a while, so I can pick out the memories I need. Once I’ve adjusted to your life and the people you deal with, I’ll let you go softly into the dark night.
That’s murder!
Would you rather live trapped in a void for seven or eight hundred years? I think not. Trust me, child. I am not a cruel man. It’s best to let you go.
But—! And then the world went black as Will’s senses were cut off. He was once again locked within a black void.
***
Will opened his eyes slowly, examining the room around himself. Someone was leaning over him with a worried expression. Good lord, he’s immense! Will almost fell backward to escape the looming giant. “Back off!” he shouted.
Tiny frowned but stood back up. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, ya great whopping beast of man! Step back, let a fellow breathe!” said Will testily. Then he noticed the stunning blonde sitting across the room. “Well, hello!” She frowned as he addressed her. “What’s your name, my sweet little dumpling?” She became visibly angry at that, and he realized his mistake. Holding up one hand, he took a moment to do a quick mental search. “Laina! Right?”