The Artifacts Of Elios (Book 1)

by R N Skye

  Half an hour later the load was reloaded and covered by the tarp – top and bottom. Shane reactivated the glyphs and the wagon instantly appeared unloaded.

  The men quickly climbed aboard with Roger on the driver’s side; with a snap of the reins they headed toward the nearest exit.

  As the neared what Ari had hoped was the least guarded entrance to the city they observed six guards loitering nearby. A wagon in front of them was flagged to a halt and what appeared to be a farmer and his wife were asked to step down and the wagon was searched by the men. Roger pulled to a halt behind them and one of the soldiers indicated for them to wait

  “I would say take them but those wrist bands they have on are de-energizers. They strengthen the user and drain the opponent,” said Shane. “Those things are popping up all over the place I wonder where they got them from.”

  “Me too,” commented Ari. “I knew about everything that was going on around here until the King had me go after my old mentor. He must have been having them made while I was away and kept it from me somehow. “They must have found the master artifacts and possibly weapons and other device like them on the island dig they discovered; the one where Ava is on expedition. If that’s the case we need to go get her. If war has been declared then as a Luion she will be declared an enemy and imprisoned or worse.”

  Shane immediately began to think on ways to disable the guards if they had to. “Then our first priority needs to be that we go retrieve her, “Shane grew angry as he spoke.

  The guards had finished with the farmers and the wagon in front of them pulled away through the gateway. Roger clucked the reins and pulled forward. The guards walked towards them and waved them to a halt taking in the empty appearing wagon. One, an officer, glanced at the three of them and paused looking at Roger. “Aren’t you the owner of the Ox Horn,” he asked.

  “That I am monsieur. You have been to my tavern many times have you not?” Roger replied unable to hide his thick Luionese accent.

  “That I have,” smiled the officer, “the best chicken ragoût I’ve ever eaten. Where are you off to with an empty wagon this morning,” the officer asked.

  “I have an order of ale to pick up in Jehal,” answered Roger referring to a small town several milos outside the city. We hope to be out and back by noon.”

  “I’m supposed to detain any Luionese and magetechs, I know you used to live there years ago but I know you so I won’t hold you up. You guys have a good day – if you are coming back around noon we’ll still be here so make sure you come back through this gate that way you won’t have to be searched.”

  “Merci,” smiled Roger in his tavern owner manner and gathered up the reins.

  The officer headed back to the other five in his group that had huddled together having an animated discussion while he had been speaking with Roger, one of the soldiers addressed the captain and pointed in the direction Shane. The Captain turned and as Roger was about to give the command to the horses he called out with a loud “Hold!”

  Shane, Ari and Roger turned to the captain. Ari seemed to tense as if were coiling like a spring getting ready to launch.

  The other guards approached as well. The captain turned to his men and said, “You’re certain?” The all nodded in the affirmative or sounded off with a “Yes Sir” The captain addressed Shane, “My men have identified you as Shane Chason, receiver from the Wonstrowd warball team. Is that correct?”

  Shane managed a slightly artificial laugh. “Don’t I wish,” he lied. “I get that all the time.”

  “None the less,” said the captain in a serious tone. “Mr. Chason is a well know graduate from Wonstrowd wanted by the IDAD and until I can verify who you are I’m afraid I will have to detain you.”

  Without warning the captain and the five soldiers collapsed. Shane jumped with a supernatural leap to the ground and he grabbed two of the soldiers by their armor and without any effort dragged them behind the guard house to the side of the gate. Roger and Ari quickly reacted and followed suit.

  As they deposited the soldiers behind the building Ari asked, “What just happened?”

  “I deactivated their de-energizer bands and then using the same principle I drained all their energy and put it into us. Those bodies felt pretty light to you didn’t they?”

  “Are they dead,” asked Roger as he dropped his pair of soldier on the pile.

  “I didn’t kill them I only put them to sleep - they are weak as kittens as the saying goes.”

  “You two get in the wagon,” instructed Ari,” I’m going to secure them a little better so that they won’t be coming after us as soon as they wake up.”

  As Shane and Roger climbed back into the wagon Ari’s face became a mask and he went back behind the guard house and calmly cut the throats of each of the weakened soldiers. “First rule of stealth and war,” he said to the corpses. “Don’t’ leave witnesses.” Ari noted that none of the newly severed throats bled no more than a trickle. Seems our warball mage packs a harder punch than he realizes, thought Ari as he wiped off his dagger.

  Ari climbed into the wagon. “Let’s get out of here before any more guards show up. If we are lucky we will be well on our way before they can set up patrols along the roads. We need to head to Cliffs Port and see if we can get a ship”

  Roger yelled at the team of horses and the broke into a trot and the wagon hurried through the gateway. Shane gradually siphoned off the extra energy that he had infused into themselves into the horses and they picked up the pace even more.

  While the wagon rolled as quickly as the team could pull it the three men were quiet with their own thoughts. After a couple of hours it was Roger that finally broke the silence. “Monsieur Shane,” he spoke the name like a question and he looked puzzled. “How is it you are a mage? How is this possible?”

  Shane shrugged, “To be honest, Roger, I’m not sure how it’s happened. I have always have been interested in glyph magic. Even as a kid I wanted to make my own artifacts, understand glyphs, be like the tales and myths of the Old Luion and Elios. Deep inside I knew it could be done I just felt that no one had figured it out yet. That’s one of the reasons I studied languages as well as artifacts and magetech. The more I learned the more I theorized and the more I felt I needed to know. It was quite on accident that I happened on to an old instructor artifact, found the scroll work glyphs and was later inspired by a dream to try things that had never been tried before. It’s almost as if some external force is aligning the stars to put me into the position that I’m in; or at least give me the opportunity to learn.”

  Roger cleared his throat and addressed Shane. “My father used to tell me stories that he heard from his father who heard them from his father and so on and so forth; back before the fall. I come from a very old Luion family and we have kept our stories alive through the generations and there is one tale where it is said that one day the Elios would return and if the Luion were ready that they would become just like the Elios. The story also says that there would come a day when the Luion would fall away from the Laws of Wisdom. With that possibility in mind the Elders of the Elios asked for a volunteer that was a son of Elios to come forth and take upon the responsibility of guardian of the Arc. A young man soon came forward and the great Ahhan assigned him to the task of keeping the Arc safe, It is said that even to this day that he lives on and that there is a guardian that watches over the Arc. No one knows who it is or where the Arc is but I believe my families stories.”

  “I believe the Arc exists,” responded Shane. I had a dream that I stood before it, walked around it and later was inside of it. It is the most real dream I have ever had; I felt like I was actually there, so if your family’s stories say it is real then who am I to disagree.”

  “That goes for me too,” seconded Ari who had been silently listening to the conversation.

  “There is one more part to the story,” continued Roger. “When Ahhan called the young man into the service of the Arc he gave him a blessing of many
glyphs and abilities that were to aid him in his duties. The culminations of these abilities were called the music of life or the song of the Arc. From that day on he was called the “Guardian Song of the Arc” which later shortened and came to be known as the “Song”. The reason I tell you this is because in my language we say “Chanson” instead of song. Your last name is Chason; do you think it is possible that one of your ancestors may have been the guardian of the Arc?”

  “I doubt it,” pondered Shane. My mom is just a normal mom and seamstress and I lost my father who was an archeologist when I was very young. So I doubt that other than my name similarities I am anything close to guarding anything. I would like to see the Arc someday, if I can ever figure out how to find it; if I do find it I’m sure there is a history somewhere and we can learn about the Chanson,” Shane added as he recalled the times that the voice with in the Arc had stated that his answers had been recorded.

  The ride to Cliffs Port was too bumpy for Ari to begin his engraving work on his instructor so Shane outlined what he needed to do mentioning that he would probably have the larger glyphs completed in a day but that it had taken him nearly four weeks doing the engraving of the scroll work glyphs. They stopped in Jehal and grabbed food water but continued on as soon as the horses were watered.

  The slowness of the travel became monotonous again as the three men ran out of conversations topics and was soon thinking about how he could speed things up using glyphs. With transportation in mind Shane began mentally interfacing with the Instructor on various modes of getting around. After an hour or so Shane was beginning to feel the strain of mental instruction while not dreaming and finally decided to see if there was a way to visually set up the instructor.

  Rogers’s wagon was primarily designed for utility but the tavern owner had upgraded it with a comfortable bench seat in front of a high sided cargo area. The seat also had a padded back that allowed the passengers to lean back comfortably. Behind the seat was a collapsible canopy that could be raised in case of rain. Well in front of the seat was another wall with a ledge or dash lined with a set of dowels to hook the reins to so that they wouldn’t fall to the race and tongue if left unattended. The space between dowels was largest in the middle where Shane sat. Taking advantage of this Shane had the instructor resume its normal shape and with his scribe began to write out the glyphs of the glue enchantment. With the glyphs activated he placed the Instructor on the dashboard in front of his seat where it stuck fast. With the Instructor activated he slid the activation circle along the line until he had a screen that was directly in front of him.

  Roger and Ari silently watching; Roger marveling at the newness and Ari concentrating trying to understand all that he could before Shane would scroll to something else. Roger had to keep reminding himself that he was driving and to watch the road; luckily the horses seemed to know the right direction and which side of the road to stay on. Shane continued scrolling through images of various vehicles used by the ancient Luion. Eventually he came to a type of mining cart the resembled the box of the wagon but instead of large wagon wheels it was mounted on small steel wheels that seemed to ride on a track. Shane narrowed his search to that type of vehicle and soon found a cart with large wheels like Roger’s wagon but it only had one axel and was used as a vendor cart used in peddling food on the street. Ne that as it may it had what Shane was looking for. The large wheels were covered in glyphs that allowed it to move without effort by the cart owner. Shane took out his notebook and began to make notes and of various glyphs and how they were used.

  By late afternoon the horses were down to a casual amble; it was clear that they were spent. Roger pulled over onto a grassy area near a stream and he said that they needed to rest. While Roger unhooked the horses and took them to the stream to drink, Ari began to put together a cold lunch from the food that they had purchased earlier in the day.

  Shane got out his scribe and went to one of the wagon wheels and on each of the spokes began placing various and complex glyphs. On the side of the wagon where the rims of the wheels passed he made an arch of a different set of glyphs. “Now to test it,” Shane said to himself. Looking around he could find nothing to lift the wagon off the ground. When he asked Roger what he used to change broken or worn wagon wheels he said that he just took it to a smith.

  Shane returned to the instructor and looked up ways to make things light or easy to lift and after a few minutes found something that was amazingly simple and would work perfectly. He soon had another set of glyphs on the corner of the wagon that he wanted to raise and he was ready to test his ideas. Carefully he activated the lifting glyphs and the side of the wagon began to lift of the ground. Unfortunately it kept lifting and lifting and was almost a foot off of the ground. If it kept up it would likely tip the wagon over. Shane hurriedly recalled the lumen and the wagon crashed to the ground.

  Frustrated Shane returned to the instructor to read the footnotes and soon found a way to put a variable; a lot like the circle and line on the instructor. Once he had what he needed he returned to the corner of the wagon and augmented his lifting enchantment. This time he activated it and the wagon did not lift. He reached to a set of glyphs adjacent to a line with a dot above it and touched the dot and slid it along the line. As he slid his finger the dot moved with it and the side of the wagon began to rise. When the wagon was high enough he let go of the dot and the side of the wagon remained stationary.

  Moving to the wheel Shane activated the enchantment he had placed on the wheel. Slowly it began to turn in the wrong direction. Shane deactivated it and read through his notes again. Seeing his error he pulled out his scribe and made a few changes. He reactivated it again. This time the wheel slowly began to turn in the right direction; slow picking up speed then faster and faster. As the wheel began to go so fast that the spokes were almost a blur the wheel began to vibrate and wobble. Shane quickly deactivated it and the wheel eventually spun to a stop. Frustrated Shane threw up his hands. He was just turning to go back to the instructor when he realized he needed to have a control or limit on this just as he had done for the lifting. Going back to the footnotes he soon figured out a way to limit the speed.

  Ari and Roger sat on a large log beneath a tree eating the sandwiches that Ari had thrown together drinking cold water from Shane and Ari’s spelled cups as they watched the activities of the youthful mage. “Five Crowns he gets it this time,” said Ari.

  “I’m not going to take the bet,” returned Roger. “Third times the charm and I think this is his third try.”

  An hour later Shane approached Roger and Ari; smiling from ear to ear. “We can go now we don’t need the horses.” Looking at the paper sack flattened out on the log that Ari and Roger were sitting on Shane spied the pair of thick sandwiches. “Are those sandwiches for anyone?”

  Ari and Roger laughed at Shane’s youthful attitude towards available food. “Go ahead they’re yours we already ate,” Said Roger. The two older men went to inspect the wagon.

  Shane followed wolfing down the sandwiches. As they walked around the wagon the only thing noticeable were that there were glyphs everywhere and the wagon’s tongue had been removed.

  “How are we going to hook up the horses?” asked Roger.

  “We don’t need them,” muffled Shane as he stuffed the last of his second sandwich into his mouth. “Climb in.”

  Shane practically leapt into the driver’s side. Shaking their heads the two older men walked around the other side and followed suit with Roger in the middle. Stuck to the floor rising up between Shane’s knees was a stick that looked as if he had just picked it up from a dead fall or someone’s kindling pile. On the dash where his instructor had been was a representation of the wagon from a bird’s eye view surrounded by several sentences of glyphs.

  “Roger, as this is your wagon would you please do the honors. Please touch the circle on the dash of the picture of the wagon,” Shane spoke with enthusiasm.

  Roger looked at Ari who shrugged
in return and the reach down and touched the circle. Instantly the wagon rose slightly and some of the weight was taken off of the springs. Ari looked over the edge but saw that the wheels remained on the ground.

  Shane grasped the stick and moved it slightly forward and left and the wagon slowly began to roll back on to the road.

  “Wait, wait!” panicked Roger, “What about the horses?”

  Shane pulled back on the stick and the wagon rolled backwards on to the grassy area and then he let the stick go and it moved back into a central position and the wagon stopped.

  “We could tie them to the back of the wagon and take them with us but we will be traveling at a little faster than a gallop and they wouldn’t be able to keep up for very long. I suggest you take off the halters and turn them loose. They will find their way back to the city or to some farmer who will take good care of them. I know horses are expensive but with the war and all I doubt you will be going back to Jehhet soon and the money you will get when you sell this wagon should more than make up the cost of the horses.”

  Roger finally agreed and jumped down and turned the animals loose. Moment later they were speeding down the road at a rate faster than the horses could have ever made it.

  The sun was down but the sky was still light from the recent sunset as they entered the harbor area on their strange horseless wagon; earning gaping looks from the bystanders. By the time they came to a halt near a large dockside hotel a crowd of people had gathered around to see the new artifact.

  As the people gathered and started to ask questions, Ari stood upon the bench seat of the wagon. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he hollered. “What you see before you is a one of a kind artifact made by the first glyph mage to set foot in Infin in over a thousand years. It came into our possession because of a good deed that we performed for this great mage. But we are off to sea tomorrow and due to the war that King Allion has declared against the Luionese we will not be back any time soon so if you would like to purchase the miraculous wagon please see me in the hotel behind us and I will happily make a deal. Just ask for Felix. Thank you.”