The Eye of Elicion: The Kinowenn Chronicles Vol 1

by Rachel Ronning

  Lucy continued to work on subtlety. She was unsure that she would have the foresight to make the knowledge as effective as it could be, but you never knew when it might come in handy. The uses of the skills Lucy learned were learned more for their potential than for any specific purpose. Luckily, a more specific purpose was about to be suggested.

  A couple of weeks after the competition, Eric called Maya, Gavin, Justin, and Lucy into his office. Gavin assumed Eric simply wished to congratulate them on their performance, but Lucy was not so sure. She was hoping Eric was going to answer some of the unanswered questions floating around the place. Justin was maintaining a suspicious silence about the whole affair which only served to confirm Lucy’s mental insinuations. They arrived at Eric’s office at the appointed time. He invited them in, and they all sat. Eric studied them for a moment before speaking.

  “The competition was partially a competition,” Eric began. “In a way, it was also a test for your group. We are reasonably pleased with your results. The school, as a rule, does not directly interfere with other lands and what goes on there. If a student decides to go to a particular world and become involved in some aspect of life there, that is their choice. Generally, I would like to believe that our students have a positive influence, but whatever their influence, it is their choice and nothing that the school has ordered or requested. Quinn and I have been talking. In many lands, there are powerful magical objects. Some of these objects that should never have been lost have been both lost and forgotten. Some of the objects’ powers are not fully known, and some are misused. We feel this could be dangerous to these lands, their people, and potentially the school. There are a few objects that are so dangerous we feel they should be destroyed. Also, some objects that originally started in one world were transferred, often accidentally or without thought to possible repercussions, to a different world by our students. We thought it might be a good idea to train a group of students, rather than an individual, and if they were interested, ask that they find some of these objects and bring them to the school.” Again he surveyed the group. “Many of those objects are on Kinowenn. We feel that you are ready to try to retrieve some of them, if the idea of doing so appeals to you. Does it?”

  Maya shrugged, “Sure, why not. I’ve learned about all I can about some things out of books, and I would enjoy some experience to go with the knowledge. A quest sounds like a good way to go about things. I’m will to participate if they want to go.”

  Gavin shrugged too, “I’m always ready for an adventure. As long as I’m decently armed, I’m in.”

  There was something about all of this that felt odd to Lucy, but she wasn’t sure what. Perhaps it was how casual the whole idea sounded. Eric made it sound like they were going to be simple errand boys. Nothing was that easy. However, she wasn’t going to learn anything by refusing to participate, and the idea was appealing. Both Justin and Eric were studying her.

  “I’m sure Justin, as the unofficial ring leader was in on the idea from the start, and I certainly don’t intend to be left behind while you guys go off on an adventure and have all the fun. Count me in.”

  Eric gave a half smile, and Justin winked at her.

  “Where and when do we start?” asked Lucy.

  “You may start whenever you are ready, tomorrow if you like. You can leave any of your things you do not wish to take with you in your rooms. The rooms will remain yours as long as you are in service to the school or dead.”

  That sounded less than comforting, thought Lucy.

  “What are we looking for?” asked Maya.

  “You may find this amusing, but the first thing we would like you to find is the Eye of Elicion”

  Lucy had no idea what that was, but Maya obviously did.

  “What? You can’t be serious.”

  “Why is that?” asked Eric, but there was a hint of smile around his eyes.

  “The Eye of Elicion is a myth,” Maya insisted.

  “Is it?”

  “That may be debatable, but I feel like you are sending us on a wild goose chase so to speak.”

  “I can assure you that it does exist, or it did once. Many myths do spring from truths. We want you to find it or definite evidence that it no longer exists.”

  “Wonderful,” said Maya sarcastically. “Any good ideas of where to find this mythical object?”

  “I would suggest Kleth.”

  “Of course you would. The best place to look for a myth is in a mythical city.”

  “I’m sorry I can’t be completely helpful. If we knew where the Eye was for sure, we’d go get it ourselves. I would suggest looking in old libraries and at old maps in any of the major cities. You have two months.”

  “Two months!” exclaimed Maya. “Two months is not a lot of time to find a myth.”

  “True. However, the search for the Eye waxes and wanes in popularity. Currently, not very many people are looking for it. You have a good chance of finding it, but you have to move quickly. If you start digging around in libraries, it could stir up interest and thus increase the danger of this assignment. We decided that if you didn’t find it in two months it was time to return, regroup, and figure out the next step. Good luck and happy hunting.”

  With that, they were dismissed. They all got up feeling rather confused. Except Gavin. He wasn’t terribly concerned with where they were going or what they were going after. None of those details changed what he intended to pack, and frankly he felt he was part of the group more for brute strength than brains. Even though he patiently listened to Maya’s tirade on the many things wrong with the whole idea of this mythical expedition, he didn’t have much to add. Justin and Lucy trailed behind the other two.

  “I suppose none of that was a surprise to you,” commented Lucy.

  “Other than the time limit, no. In fact, don’t tell Maya, but they let me pick the first object.”

  “You wanted a challenge.”

  “Let’s call it pursuing an interest.”

  “You can call it Fred, for all I care. I have no idea what this object is anyways.”

  “Oh, I sometimes forget that you haven’t had certain Kinowenn literature courses yet. Basically, the Eye of Elicion is a stone that gives the rightful owner all sorts of powers depending on the story you read. Wealth, power, luck the usual kinds of things. There might be more powers as well. It’s caused quite a stir since its inception.”

  “That sounds interesting and properly dangerous,” said Lucy, honestly interested. “I assume there is a much longer story there, but you can tell me all that during our long days and nights of traveling. Briefly though, how does Kleth fit in?”

  “That’s the fun part. Kleth was created by the Eye of Elicion, but as such has some interesting properties. It exists in certain people’s futures or pasts and not everyone’s present. Maps and rumors plot it at different locations and no one who has found it once and left has ever found it again.”

  “That does sound like fun, but I can see how Maya might be frustrated by that.”

  “She’ll get over it and have a wonderful time visiting the many cities of Kinowenn and their libraries.”

  “You’re sure it really does exist?”

  “Yes,” said Justin simply.

  “I do feel the need to ask though, was this group’s reconnaissance idea what you knew about and couldn’t tell me, or is there more?”

  “That’s basically it. I couldn’t tell you about it from the beginning and then find out that you unable or unwilling to learn what we needed you to learn. Are you mad?” Justin asked tentatively.

  “No, but it doesn’t seem like that big a deal to me. Why all the secrecy?”

  “As far as we know, no individual student has gotten the notion to find, hoard, or use a bunch of potentially dangerous magical objects and we’d like to keep it that way. Not to mention, if lots of students are running around a world going on quests like that and not always subtly, rulers could get involved and wars could be fought over objects
that no one knows where they are anymore or if they even existed. Secrecy simplifies things.”

  “Makes sense.”

  “Good, I hoped it would, but I thought I should check. I don’t want to be starting a quest tomorrow with you mad at me.”

  “I’m pretty sure you’d know if I was mad at you,” said Lucy with a half smile.

  Justin smiled back remembering her anger at him when the announcement about the challenge first came out.

  “I do have a few questions though,” started Lucy.

  “Ask away.”

  “Do we need to tell our teachers that we are leaving or do we just not show up for class?”

  “I’m sure Eric will tell them what they need to know.”

  “What do I pack?”

  “Mainly clothes and anything else you think might be useful. I’ll take care of packing food and get you a water skin. Leave some room in your pack for the food.”

  “What about blankets and things like that?”

  “You should pack one. Gavin has a tent that folds up really small so we can sleep in that if we have to, but you should take care of your own blanket situation.”

  “Horses?”

  “We won’t be bringing any of the school horses with us. We might be able to pick some up once we get to Kinowenn.”

  “Money?”

  “For the trip? Eric gave me an allowance for travel expenses. Since we are working for the school, he may give us a stipend of some sort when we return. If you need any more clothing, and that might be a good idea since I don’t think I’ve seen you in anything new, other than that fetching dress the other night, since you arrived here, I’m sure you have credits from working with Ted that you can spend. Maya will take care of any potions ingredients, she thinks are important. Bring your knife belt, but wear it hidden, we need to be ready for any type of trouble, but we don’t need to invite it. I’ll get you a staff or a short sword if you’d prefer. You’re proficient enough at both.”

  With that said, Justin left Lucy at her door to begin her packing. Lucy looked around at her stuff, and decided she might need some more clothing, and went to see Kyle. She didn’t explain all her reasons for the clothing she wanted, but Kyle didn’t seem to mind. She described what she was looking for, and he obliged. First, Lucy picked out a tougher pair of boots. It couldn’t hurt to have a spare. Also, she needed some more underwear and socks. She had once heard somewhere that you could never have too many pairs of clean socks on a road march so she decided she’d rather have a pair too many than a pair too few.

  Then, she began trying on clothing. She wanted thicker, tougher pants and stuck with greens and browns. She wanted something that wouldn’t show dirt too quickly or stand out in an outdoor setting. Lucy also wanted some tougher tunics that were easy to move in and maybe something that came in layers so she could add them on if it was cold, or strip them off if they ended up in the desert. Kinowenn might not be the biggest place one could get sent to, but it had every major geographical climate from burning deserts to snow peaked mountains to swamps to rainforests. Remembering the last two items, she looked around for waterproof clothing as well. She looked over the selection they had and decided the better way to go might be to spell items to her preferences.

  After the clothing store, she hopped over to the bookstore and found The Mage’s Guide of Details to make the Necessary Traveling Bearable. Lucy acknowledged that the book sounded like it was aimed for a less in shape traveler than she was, or hoped she was, but some of the spells looked useful. Some of them mentioned ideas that never would have occurred to Lucy but would make her travels more comfortable. There was a spell to turn a rock into a bar of environmentally friendly soap and back to a rock so you didn’t need to worry about packing or running out of soap or upsetting the natural environment if the soap you brought had additives that accidentally killed the local fish. There was a spell that you could use to heat water half a foot in each direction from your body so you could enjoy a warm bath without heating a lake or using a tub. Lucy also liked the spell that encouraged insects to stay at least a foot away from your body. It didn’t harm them in any way; it simply suggested to the insects that food was in the other direction if they got too near. There were many more spells that ranged from useful to absurd. The book was waterproof so you could use it in the rain, and the letters would glow in the dark if you asked them to.

  Lucy finished shopping and returned to her room to pack. The first thing she did after consulting her book was waterproof her pack. She couldn’t think of anything more useful to do because she hated to be sopping wet if she wasn’t in the shower or swimming and she knew she would hate it if all her supplies were wet and in the process of molding. She also added a spell to make the insides larger than they looked, but not by too much. The idea was not to attract attention, and if she had to crawl inside her pack to find something, that would attract attention. Some of her items, like her spare pair of boots, she could use a spell on to make smaller. Lucy tried not to do this too often. If they ended up in a situation where they couldn’t use magic, it didn’t do her any good to have the items if they were too small. Magic was useful, but dangerous to rely upon for everything.

  Lucy worked a few spells on her cloak as well. She made it waterproof, of course, and added more pockets. You never knew when you were going to need an extra pocket. She decided to make it reversible as well. It was tricky and time consuming, but she was finally able to give the underside a chameleon effect. It was not invisible, but if she turned that side out, she would blend into her surroundings. She could make herself invisible, but again, she was trying to think ahead and plan. It might be quicker to reverse her cloak, besides being less draining, and it wouldn’t alert anyone who could sense magic to her presence. The final thing she did to the cloak that she thought was a good idea was to make it strong enough that she could throw knives at it and they would bounce off. It probably wouldn’t stop a sword thrust, but it would help, and it probably would stop an arrow. It would be more useful than a shield without the weight. Lucy didn’t have the time to put spells on all her clothing, nor did she want to, but having a multi-purpose cloak could come in useful.

  Lucy tried to go over things in her head. She did not want to overpack, but she did add some flint, a small moonstone that she could close her palm around, rope (people always needed rope if they didn’t have it), her potions from her test, an empty vial, a hairbrush, toothbrush, towel, blanket for sleeping (also waterproof), and her plant guide for Kinowenn. There was no way she was going to remember what every plant was, could do, and could be used for. There was a plant that had poisonous needles that it could throw at you. The needle’s poison needed to be treated within twenty minutes or it could be fatal. The antidote needed a crushed needle. That was not something Lucy was going to remember so she thought the book might come in useful. Taking notes from her guide (also packed of course) she made the plant book waterproof and glow in the dark as well. Plants didn’t disappear because it was dark outside.

  Lucy looked out her window and noted that the sun had set. She didn’t feel like going to bed yet. Remembering her earlier conversation with Justin, she decided to go down and talk to Ash. Ash wouldn’t and in some cases couldn’t tell anyone else where she was going, and Lucy felt Ash deserved to be said goodbye to.

  “Hello,” Lucy greeted Ash.

  She shook her mane and replied, “Hello, it’s late for you to be out here. Thinking about taking a late night ride?”

  “No. Besides, I could get in trouble. It’s dangerous to ride at night, and we were told not to do it unless we were undergoing training with an instructor.”

  “Did you come to talk then?”

  “Kind of, I came to say goodbye for awhile.”

  “You are going on a quest?”

  “Yes, and I can’t take you with me.”

  “I would be a good quest horse and keep you safe,” said Ash with a slight note of pleading in her voice. “I could come.”<
br />
  “I’m sorry. I know you would be the perfect horse for me, but what if something were to happen to you. I would feel it was all my fault.”

  “I wouldn’t blame you.”

  “No, but I would blame myself, and it’s not my decision to make. We were told not to bring any of the school horses.”

  “That’s ok. I like it here. But I will miss you.”

  “I will miss you too.”

  They stood in silence for awhile, each taking comfort in the other’s company, Lucy grooming Ash. Ash didn’t need the grooming, but Lucy enjoyed doing it and felt like doing something that would keep her hands busy, and Ash wasn’t going to complain. Lucy finished and gave Ash a final pat.

  “Come back safe,” said Ash.

  “I promise,” said Lucy with a smile.

  Lucy left the stables and started back to the school. She hadn’t gone very far when a shadow detached itself from a tree to her left. Lucy crouched and was ready to fight, run, or cast a spell. Then she realized it was Justin and straightened up.

  “Your reflexes are getting better,” he said with a smile.

  “What are you doing out here?” Lucy asked.

  “Looking for you. I checked to see how packing was going, and you weren’t in your room.”

  They began walking back to Lucy’s room.

  “I finished packing and thought I’d come say goodbye to Ash. How’s packing going for you?”

  “I’m finished as well. Gavin keeps trying to find ways to attach more weapons to his person and pack. I keep trying to convince him that if we walk around with enough weapons to outfit an army trouble will find us, and he keeps trying to convince me that he can take care of any kind of trouble. Maya is having the issue that many budding pack rats have. She wants to take everything with her, but there isn’t room. She has enough clothing for three of us but can’t see herself surviving without some of it. She can expand her pack all she wants, but she’s going to end up with a mess. Besides the clothes, she wants her potions equipment and half her books even though she has most of them memorized. While doing all this, she’s still mumbling about wild goose chases.”