Scholar of Magic (Art of the Adept #3) - Michael G. Manning Page 0,247

for all kinds of light, so it helps against things like vampires too.

Is being blurry that great?

If your body outline is spread across twice the distance, they only have half the chance of hitting you. It makes a big difference if you screw up and he hits you with a point attack.

Point attack?

Like my silver bolts, or a force-lance. There are lots of different kinds of single target attacks.

Oh, said Will. So he’ll only have a fifty-fifty chance of blowing my guts across the wall.

It’s better than a hundred percent chance, and the illusion costs next to nothing to maintain.

Will walked across the street and took a few seconds to cast a spell to unlock the front gate, then he went to the door and repeated the spell. He didn’t hurry. He might not be able to run away from the problem, but he wasn’t going to rush to his death either.

Opening the door was a bit stressful, but nothing came charging out at him, and after a second or two he had adjusted his vision to the dim gloom. Seeing no enemies, he sent a quick pulse of turyn to the rod and felt a gentle chime of magic rush outward in all directions.

The sound was illusory, and only he could hear it, as it was merely part of the spell designed to inform him of its result. The brief pulse of magic covered an area roughly fifty feet around him, and as it passed through objects it measured two things, transparency to sound and visible light. Normal objects affected both, but a creature using a chameleon spell would cause the spell to return a deeper, more ominous tone, warning the caster of a hidden foe.

Subsequent pulses could narrow down the range and direction. Will had wondered why the spell didn’t cover a greater distance, since it didn’t require much energy. Ethelgren had replied, Because, you usually use the spell indoors. Greater range just confuses things.

This time the spell returned an ‘all clear’ chime, so Will stepped into the entry hall. Taking another nervous breath, Will cast a silent-armor spell on himself to muffle sounds. While he might not be actively sneaking, there was no reason to give his presence away any earlier than was absolutely necessary.

After several tense minutes of searching, Will was certain the house was empty, so there was nothing left but for him to move on to where he knew they must be. The storage closet under the stairs was still as he remembered it, but inside the hidden door that Selene had sealed with stone was now a gaping arch without any door at all. Beyond that, the old stone stairs led down just as they had before. The only thing covering the opening was the illusion of a stone wall.

The closet was empty, both of clutter and dust. The stairs beyond were also clear and obviously had been used a lot recently. Will guessed that was because the king had been sending crews of workers down to prepare the chamber for his new ritual. He stepped through the illusory wall and began moving down the stairs, shifting his vision to see by heart-light as he went.

As before, it was a long descent, but this time the goddamn cat wasn’t with him. He almost wished it were a demon-lord he was facing again, just so he would have the demigod’s help. Halfway down the long stairs, he saw a small gray figure sitting on one of the steps, as if his thoughts had summoned it.

Will stopped. “You.”

The goddamn cat stared at him without blinking for a long period, then slowly blinked.

“Are you here to help?”

“I’m here to warn you that I won’t be helping. Don’t expect any intervention. If you go down there you likely won’t come back, and if you do come back it will probably be as an undead abomination.”

“Thanks for calming my nerves. If that’s all you had to say you could have just skipped coming here,” Will replied.

“If you go in there it will further the agendas of some who you might prefer not to aid.”

“If I