The Artifacts Of Elios (Book 1)

by R N Skye

  Ari saw his expression, “I know how you feel, Shane; if she’s here we’ll find her.”

  Ari explained the plan to Roger then went to his cabin and retrieved a couple of his spying artifacts which he placed inconspicuously throughout the storeroom then going back to his cabin to activate the viewers and recorders.

  Shane had the doorway set and ready to go by the time he was done.

  “Ready to go,” he called from the store room that was only partially filled due to their three man crew and having only provisioned for a couple of weeks sailing.

  Ari stepped into the room, a serious expression on his face. Shane I want you to listen and listen carefully. One or more of these prisoners may be a plant. It’s a ploy used by interrogators to gain information from fellow prisoners that sometimes confide with those sharing their captivity. If anyone starts yelling or lifts a weapon I want you to drop them; don’t kill them if you can help it, but drain them until they are unconscious. This is potentially very dangerous and things can go wrong quickly. Whether you knew them in school or not we need to handle this with care until I’ve had a chance to question them. Understood?”

  “Understood,” acknowledged the young mage.

  “On the count of three open the window and seal that hatch.”

  XIII

  As soon as Ari counted three Shane used mastery and instantly sealed the door to the brig. While still remaining on board the sloop he watched the prisoners carefully for any signs of violence.

  Ari stepped confidently through the door and addressed the prisoners. “I need your attention ladies and gentlemen. If you want to avoid being tortured please calmly stand and follow me.”

  The group of people stood and began talking all at once. Ari quieted them by announcing that if they didn’t shut up he would leave them for the CSS; the result was instant cooperation. One by one they were herded through the glyph controlled door into the store room of the sloop. As soon as they were all through Ari gave Shane a nod and the doorway winked out.

  “Shane is that you,” asked a short sandy haired women. Soon a chorus of recognition flooded the room from the Wonstrowd people. Shane smiled his best smile assuring them that they were safe and to please listen to Ari.

  Ari explained that the crown had declared war on Old Luion and that the king was conscripting all magetechs. That they had come to rescue his niece Ava as she was from Luion and they were worried that she would be considered an enemy or become a prisoner if they didn’t get her safely off the island. Everyone began talking at once again. This time it was Shane that got their attention.

  With a piercing whistle, the crowd silenced. “One at a time,” ordered Shane. “Alicia, you first, what do you know about Ava’s where-abouts.”

  The Sandy blonde haired woman shook her head. “I don’t know anything. We were all in the mess tent the alarms started blaring, professor Eeho went to investigate. By the time he got back she was gone.”

  A medium built man with black hair, who Shane knew as John Louder, raised his hand. Ari nodded for him to speak.

  “I was talking to her just as Professor Eeho returned I turned to see what he had to say and when I looked back she was talking to a very tall man that I hadn’t ever seen before. I turned back again to the professor who had just declared that the island was under attack and that we needed to get to the safety of the ship. When I glanced back Ava and the man were gone. At the time we assumed that she may have gone to the latrine or already headed to the ship. It wasn’t until the soldiers started taking the place apart and the artifact city had disappeared that we realized she was gone.”

  Can you describe this man to me please,” Ari questioned further.

  “He was very tall,” described the man with his eyes closed trying to recall details. “He had dark hair with a touch of gray at the temple. Probably the same build as you, Shane. Looked smiley around the mouth but had very serious eyes.”

  “Did you notice any jewelry or artifacts he may have been carrying,” prodded Ari.

  “Come to think of it he did have something in his hand it appeared metallic, yellowish or golden; I couldn’t tell what I was.”

  Ari seemed to visibly relax, Shane wondered why.

  “Ok folks this process is going to take a little time but I hope to have you all resting comfortably and fed shortly. In the meanwhile I’m going to have to ask you to bear with us while we make room for you. By formal introduction I am Ari Desmond; Ava’s uncle. I am the Captain of this vessel. If you haven’t guessed by now you were rescued and transported to this boat by means of glyph magic.” Ari raised a hand staving off the potential avalanche of questions that he was sure that he had sparked among the throng of academics. I am also Luion and it may of interest you that while Infin has declared war on my county. My purpose here is not to make war on any of you nor is it to battle the naval armada anchored at the island and patrolling the waters around it. We are here strictly in the interest of the safety of my niece. On the other hand some of you, if not all of you, are Infin citizens. In the interest of the safety of this boat and its crew, for a short time I am confining you to this room until I can have a chance to speak with each of you individually. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. Either I or Shane will return for you one at a time. Do the best you can and make yourselves comfortable,”

  Shane and Ari left the room and closed the door behind them. “Can you give me a set of glyphs on the door that will seal and unseal for me, Shane?”

  Shane pulled out his scribe and etched a set of glyphs on the door. “All you have to do is put lumen into the glyphs and it will seal. Pull the lumen out and it will unseal.”

  “How do you do that,” asked Ari.

  “Sorry I forget you are still new to this. Go ahead and put lumen into the glyphs.”

  Shane watched as the lumen imbued the enchantment. “Ok now reverse the process; think it back into you.” The glyphs dulled as Ari removed the lumen; brightening again as he put it back again.

  “You better get back on deck you’re still on watch and when they find their prisoners gone this island is going to be like a kicked ant hill. Don’t forget to cloak yourself.”

  An hour later Ari had observed enough through his viewers to determine that the prisoners were what they said that they were. He had known all of them by sight since it had been him that had vetted the university participants from both Wonstrowd and U of J for the expedition in the first place. Most of the topics of conversation were of where Captain Ari had found an artifact that could do what they thought had been done to rescue them. The other part was mostly regarding what exactly had happened and where exactly was ‘here’; as they hadn’t seen the outside since leaving the brig on the naval vessel.

  After interviewing them he found that in addition to Ava being missing that Dr. Eeho the lead archeologist from U of J had been killed by someone he had argued with regarding the vanishing ancient city. Ari could only assume it was Wendell. After he assigned quarters, locating the men in the large crew cabin and assigning the two women to share the remaining empty personal cabin, Ari directed them to the galley for food and water. While Roger introduced himself and fed the group – it turned out that it had been some time since they had been fed. Ari went up on deck. The sun had gone down and it was a moonless night. The invisible deck was suddenly a hazard.

  “Shane, you can uncloak the boat. Its dark enough we are safe.” The reassuring deck appeared beneath Ari and he watched as Shane became visible on the bow with him leaning on the rail looking off into the distance.

  Sensing his mood Ari commented, “I think Ava is Safe. The man that your friend from school described is a man named Soaris. He’s the one that asked me to get you to safety, and he is friends with Ava’s father. That leads me to believe that Ava is safe. Another thing, Soaris is the most successful artifact smuggler of the last twenty years. He has twenty times the gadgets that I do. If anyone had something that could magically whisk Ava to safety it’s him. I ha
ve a hunch we need to get to Lu Y Onton and check with Gerard and see if he asked Soaris to pull her out of there when he heard that there was trouble brewing. Let’s get below and get under way; head back to Cliffs Port. We’ll drop off our passengers and head up the coast to Lu Y Onton and check in with Gerard; see what he knows.

  Look, son.” Ari added as empathetically as he could, “I know how much she means to you. She means a lot to me as well. I’m almost a hundred present positive that that it was Soaris that she was talking to. If that’s the case then she is in good hands. I’ll also promise you this. If we don’t find her at her folks I’ll stick with you until we do find her or until we’ve scoured the world of her captors. Is it a deal?”

  “It’s a deal,” Shane nodded his countenance a little brighter as he grasped at the thin ray of hope that Ari had just shared. “Let’s go get something to eat and get out of here,” and headed below.

  As Ari and Shane entered the wheelhouse all but the women were headed topside to go walk the deck and experience some fresh air. Shane warned them that in a few minutes it was going to be very windy up there and that they were going to cloak the boat and that they would have to come below to avoid being seen by and passing ships. This sparked a number of conversations regarding artifacts as the group went outside.

  Shane and Ari quickly wolfed down a miraculous gourmet meal that Roger had somehow created. They told Roger that they were going to head to Cliffs Port and Drop off their guests then head to the capitol of Old Luion and see If Ava’s father had had anything to do with Ava’s disappearance. Roger agreed with the plan and then mentioned to Shane that if he could spare some time he wanted to see if there was a way to magically obtain more fresh water; their additional passengers had been near dehydration and they had made significant dent into the current supply. Shane said that he would and Roger excused himself as he had promised the ladies some hot water so that they could get rid of some of the grime from their captivity.

  “You ready to get out of here, Captain?” Shane asked as he placed the control plate for the tow in both hands; thumps on the steering and speed controls.

  “Let me get those men off of the deck and then you can cloak us and we can go.”

  Two hours later the ship invisible Shane took the sloop up to near full speed. He didn’t dare go any faster because the wind sounded like a hurricane and he worried that he might damage the boat. Later as people were trying to go to sleep he slowed it down to medium speed and the sound of the wind was almost imperceptible by comparison. When Ari finally took over Shane fell asleep immediately. It seemed like he had barely closed his eyes when Roger gently shook him awake letting him know it was his watch.

  Roger had put on a fresh pot of roasters; for which Shane was grateful. Taking his glyph cup he sipped as he took in their progress of their nights travels. He saw that they would be in Cliffs Port Bay before daylight. Looking at the navigator console he saw a drastic increase in ships. Zooming out he could see that boat traffic from Jehhet was almost a line of dots between there and Cliffs Port. When he was within sight of the bay he took the glyphs covered sloop to a stop and began using the viewer to see what was going on,

  As he scrolled around looking at the different ships that were starting to become visible in the greying dawn he noticed that many were merchant vessel. He wondered if they were fleeing Jehhet because of the war declaration. By the time he had scouted the situation thoroughly Ari came up to the wheelhouse; cup of roasters in hand.

  “How are things looking?”

  “We’re stopped and still cloaked just outside Cliffs Port Bay. There are a lot of ships fleeing Jehhet and clogging the harbor here at Cliffs Port. From what I’ve seen it’s nearly all commercial. I don’t know where Allion keeps his navy but it must all be at that island we left because it isn’t anywhere between here and Jehhet. I’ve set the window device to originate in the store room doorway but I’m not sure where we want to drop them off. I kind of feel guilty dropping them off in a strange town with nothing but the clothes on their back. Maybe we should see if they want to continue on to Lu Y Onton”

  “Why don’t we ask them after breakfast? I bought that Suite at the marina hotel for the whole week so that means it’s still empty and still ours. Why don’t you set the doorway to there; between the armoires? We’ll camp out here ask if these guys want to get off or go to Old Luion with us. Whatever the case we can all get a shower. Get more supplies and be on our way by tomorrow.

  After breakfast Ari explained the situation. Unanimously everyone that they had rescued wanted to go to the capitol of Old Luion; their fear being that because they had escaped they would ‘wanted’ by the crown.

  Throughout the day the magetech refugees bathed and cleaned up at the hotel, Shane shared some of his portion of the sale of the glyphed wagon so that they could buy a few clothes and some personal effects. This earned him hugs and kisses from the women magetechs for which he blushed profusely. Roger told him he was going to tell on him to Ava to which the sandy haired Alicia responded with a wink telling Shane that if Ava didn’t want him she was available.

  “Roger, you’re killing me. I’m not even engaged and I’m going to be in the dog house.” To which everyone had a good laugh at Shane’s expense.

  Four of the group was from Old Luion and two of them from Lu Y Onton itself. The Luionese agreed to take the others in until their families could be reached.

  The next day, resupplied Ari closed his account at the hotel and Shane deactivated the magical door and they set a course to Old Luion.

  As they traveled Shane kept away from his former schoolmates and his professor as much as possible. It seemed that all they wanted to do was discuss the artifacts on the ship, how the magic portal worked and how was it they were able to do the many enchantments and never before seen magetech on the ship.

  It was while he was on deck sitting at a small work bench near the main mast working on something that he hoped would solve the fresh water problem that Roger has asked him about, when he was finally cornered by his former professor. Shane had just used mastery to conjure a long one inch tube and was using his modified scribe to etch the same glyphs that he had used to build the thrusters for the boat and the bilge pump onto the pipe.

  “What are you up to Shane?”

  Shane looked up and saw his professor standing nearby closely watching him work. “Knowing that the professor had observed the conjuring of the tube, he felt that there was no use hiding his abilities.” I’m building an artifact. Or to be more precise I’m building a device that uses glyphs.”

  “How is that possible? Magetechs have been trying that for years and it just can’t be done.”

  “That’s because they were doing it wrong. I figured out how to do it and I have also learned how to activation without a machine.”

  “You know Shane, I never told you this because frankly I didn’t believe it was possible. I watched you for two years, one as my student, and one as the best researcher and analyst we’ve ever had in the artifacts group. I always felt that you were looking for something, something that we all had missed in over a hundred years of artifact study. Part of me thought of you as another ‘too-smart-for-his–own-good’ hero athlete looking for a good resume. Another part of me who was grading your work was hoping that you would be the one to solve the mystery. When Ava Desmond asked to have you as her lab partner I was almost resolved to believing in the athlete theory, but her grades and skills were almost as good as yours. Is she a glyph mage also?”

  Shane scribed silently for a moment looking at his notebook briefly. “No. I hope to teach her one day.” Leaving off the ‘if she is still alive’ the he felt inside.

  “Can you teach anyone?” the professor asked.

  Shane shook his head. “I’m not sure. It’s all still pretty new. I’m not exactly sure how to test for the ability and judging from many of the people that are trying to run the world I’m not sure that sharing this ability is exactly the best idea
. With just the few things that I’ve done since I figured it out; in the wrong hands glyph magic could destroy the world worse that the original fall of Luion; who knows maybe that’s what caused it.” He returned his attention to the tube.

  “I see your point.” The professor paused for a moment, and then with a look of absolute seriousness and humility he said, “If you ever decide to teach what you know I would like to be a student.” Before Shane could say no he began to qualify his request. “Not to rule the world or be famous, but to learn. You see academia is my life. I never became a teacher and then a professor to be famous. It was the learning, the wanting to know, the what, the where, the why, the how. I’m not too old or too proud to recognize what I don’t know. You have learned what I have dedicated my life to and I find myself suddenly within reach of the answer; if you ever decide to teach I like to be first in line.

  I don’t know if you ever met Dr. Philips; Director at IDAD, he and I went to school together. He is the only person that had the same lust for learning that I did. You remind me of him when he was younger. He was an excellent warball player as well.

  When we were younger Allion the Second had us both in for an interview for the position as the Director of a new ministry to be called the Infin Department of Ancient Discoveries. The king said that it would be one of us and he would let us know who in a few days. Both of us were professors I at Wonstrowd him at University of Jehhet. We met for dinner following our interviews to our surprise we both shared our intention of declining the position. We knew that the king was not one to be denied so we tossed a coin; Dr. Philips lost. To this day he is the director of IDAD and I have never regretted it. Because of that toss I have been able to continue the study of artifacts. Even if you decide you will not teach me or find I do not have whatever ability is necessary, I do have the knowledge and experience to set up a school. Please think of me if you get to that point.”