Wizard (The Key to Magic) Read Free Page B

together with an equally magically impervious cable. As a further precaution, they had also strapped an inert black hood over his head. Beltr had no restraining spells in his repertoire and summoning the aide of another sorcerer was something that he scrupulously avoided. Ambition was endemic among Compliance Officers and he had not achieved his current position by providing ammunition to his rivals.
    By outward appearance, the perpetrator was young, between the ages of twenty and twenty-five. This had surprised Beltr. What little he knew of wizardry had given him the impression that mastering the discipline took most of a lifetime.
    The perpetrator's stature and build fell well within the normal ranges. His facial features and hair color were likewise unremarkable. He had no readily identifiable scars or other distinguishing markings.
    His attire, however, was more than passing strange. Trousers and shirt were cut simply from rough natural cloth and vest from thick leather. Decorated with hexagonal steel studs, the sleeveless vest was of a style that Beltr had not previously seen and was possessed of a number of buckles and straps that clearly had been added to make it into a harness. All three items were dirty, scorched, ripped, and holed. Bare feet extended from the ragged and shortened ends of his trousers. If Beltr had not known better, he would have thought the man to be some impoverished vagrant wandered in from the backwoods.
    But the magic that he had thrown about proved the captive a very powerful sorcerer and that alone condemned him as an enemy of the Faction.
    Beltr was sorely tempted to order the offender put down on the spot. Possible wizardry notwithstanding, his flagrant use of unregistered and unrestrained sorcery merited summary execution. Beltr's superiors would certainly not question that decision; elimination of potentially subversive threats was a normal and expected part of his duties.
    With the faceplate of his helmet open as he monitored the comm phases, Enforcement Officer Nhilsi spoke up from just a few paces away.
    "Sir, the Rep-Rec team has extracted EO Dlygm and he has been ported to hospital. The techs indicate that his armor is a total loss. None of the Vessel hardware can be salvaged. Also, they report that it does not respond to standard port or levitation spells. They recommend annihilation in place."
    "Was any data recovered from his onboard recorders?"
    "No, sir. Everything is gone. While he can't confirm it here in the field, the senior tech believes that the armor suffered an ethereal overload on the order of more than one thousand times rated capacity."
    Beltr felt his jaw tighten. The magic systems of the armor were rated for battlefield conditions and were designed to be able to withstand a direct strike from a Level Six spell.
    "Have the armor transported by physical means to the maintenance facility at the Investigative Section. I want a comprehensive flux-level analysis of every single spell system."
    Nhilsi raised his eyebrows but nodded. "Yes, sir."
    While the EO relayed the orders into his comm, Beltr noted that his pinkish hued vision had begun to show highlights of purple, a telltale sign of increasing light. He waggled his right ring finger in a precise series of loops and the light enhancing spell on his eyes faded. Daylight was just beginning to seep into the alley, brushing soft yellow light along the parapets of the facing buildings. The reactive outer shells of the interdicting Support Officers' armor had already begun to adapt to reflect the dusty ochre brick of the building walls and the grimy olive of the cobbles.
    He again considered the perpetrator. There remained the very likely possibility that this felon had not acted alone in his illicit wizardry, but had in fact been aided by some number of confederates. In Beltr's experience, the isolated offender was the aberration rather than the norm. A wizard plus a supporting group plus clandestine action equaled a