I moved back to the edge, next to my designated mage. I was about to comment on how amazing this all was when I noticed the mage next to me seemed to be in a trance. His eyes were covered in the same blue energy that flowed from his fingers, his expression vacant as he turned his face upward.
I looked around and each of the six mages were doing the same thing. In order to create this time arena for the duel, it appeared they needed to check out from this reality. Something about this made me nervous, but I trusted Monty—and like he said, we needed to see the Auer.
He needed to beat Roma, and he needed to do it fast.
FOURTEEN
Roma traced a rune in the air and unleashed a golden lattice which raced at Monty. The lattice was easily five feet across, and looked like it was going to envelop Monty when he gestured, bisecting the golden energy with a thin, violet beam of his own.
The two halves of the lattice sailed by him as he traced a rune.
“Explain Ziller’s basic theorem of multi-planar travel,” Roma said, tracing another rune, “as it relates to temporal teleportation within a singular plane.”
I knew the words she used were English; they just didn’t make sense, except for teleportation, and all that did was make my stomach clench.
Monty unleashed a flurry of golden runic symbols in her direction. Roma had formed a small orb of blue energy in her hand as Monty’s runes raced her way.
“Ziller’s theorem posits that teleportation within a singular plane must conform to the laws of interplanar travel,” Monty said with a gesture as the runes he sent closed in on the strangely calm Roma.
“Which are?” Roma said as she sidestepped the runes and released the orb from her hand. “The first two laws, please.”
Her orb began rotating until it picked up speed. The rotation acted like a siphon, sucking in the symbols Monty had unleashed at Roma. It flashed with golden light for a few seconds until all of Monty’s runes were gone.
The orb floated lazily by Roma’s head as she smiled.
“The first law being the law of permeability—all matter is permeable and subject to transposition.”
Roma nodded her head and tapped the orb with a finger.
“The second?” she asked as the orb raced at Monty. “Please don’t hold back. You know I won’t.”
Monty slashed a hand downward, creating a shield. The orb bounced off of it and sailed into the distance. A few seconds later, Monty’s shield began disintegrating.
“You used my runes to create a matter disruptor,” Monty said, glancing at his shield. “Impressive.”
“No less than your runes of transport,” Roma said, forming three more blue orbs around her. “What was the destination? The Arctic?”
“Bahamas,” Monty said. “I imagine you’re due some time off.”
“Nice of you,” Roma said, moving a hand, setting the orbs in motion around her. “Second law?”
“The law of permanence—all teleported matter will observe and retain its original state of mass, irrespective of teleportation.”
“Excellent,” Roma said with a nod. “The next question will be somewhat…difficult. Are you ready?”
“Yes,” Monty said confidently. “Ask.”
At this point, even I was feeling confident. Monty was a runicpedia when it came to all things mystical and such. I was pretty sure that even the fictional Doctor Strange would call on Monty, if he needed assistance on a particular rune or cast. If Roma thought she was going to stump Monty by Zillerfrying his brain, she was in for a rude surprise. That big brain of his was Ziller-proof.
Monty began tracing more runes as Roma nodded. The blue orbs floating around her head crackled with white energy. Roma traced a short set of runes, charging the air around us with power.
“In all the time you’ve known Roxanne DeMarco, not once have you verbally expressed your feelings for her. Why not?”
Oh shit.
“I beg your pardon?” Monty asked, pausing, clearly taken off-guard mid-rune. “What did you say?”
The three orbs around Roma raced at Monty, followed by a smiling Roma who had materialized a blue blade of energy in her hand. Monty backpedaled, reaching for one of the Sorrows sheathed invisibly behind him.
A soft wail escaped the blade as he drew it, barely managing to parry Roma’s thrust as she closed the distance. One of the orbs punched into his opposite arm throwing him off-balance. Monty rotated with the blow, slicing the remaining orbs with a diagonal slash. He grimaced with pain as he rolled his shoulder, stepping to the side, and blading his body to Roma.
I took a step forward and felt a hand rest upon my shoulder.
Another mage appeared next to me. She had stepped out of the blue beam connecting the six mages who were forming the battle arena.
“You can’t,” she said. “If you interfere, the Auer will not grant him, or you, passage. He must answer the questions posed to him. Those are the rules.”
“Your rules suck,” I said. “That last question was a low blow.”
The mage nodded.
“Yet it’s pertinent isn’t it?” the mage said. “He refuses to address that situation. The attack by Evers was personal. Tristan is an accomplished mage from a powerful family and yet for all that power, he was—is—vulnerable.”
“Who are you again?” I said, turning to the woman. “Do you know Monty?”
“Yes,” the woman said. “I’ve known him his entire life. My apologies—my name is Jean.” She extended a hand, which I took. “A pleasure to meet you.”
I looked at the woman, assessing if she was a threat.
Jean was nearly as tall as Monty, and wore the same type of mage suit as the Archive Guard, but in dark blue, and hers looked extra comfortable. Her salt-and-pepper hair was cut short and her face was open and friendly, except for her
