Seer of Shadows

by Cleave Bourbon

  “Is it even safe to go in there? Judging by the state of the rest of the city, I wouldn’t think so,” he replied.

  “It’s safe. Enowene has enchantments in place, at least above ground level. She sometimes returns here from what I understand.” Shey pointed to a tiny window at the base of the tower. “It’s beneath the tower, where we need to go, that I’m concerned about.”

  Rodraq brought the coach to a stop. “How long will we be here, my lady? This place is...unsettling.”

  “At least overnight. There are stables around back for the horses. Enowene has it taken care of by the caretaker of the city. It is likely we will see him sooner or later. I knew him once, long ago in this very city. His name is Dicarion. He can be difficult, so if you see him, be sure to mention that you are here with me.” She thought for a moment. “In fact, if you see him and I’m not around, tell him you are here with Sheyna Namear rather than Lady Shey.”

  Sylvalora climbed out of the coach. “The boy still sleeps.”

  “We need to go ahead and wake him. Rodraq is about to stable the horses and put the coach away.”

  Sylvalora went back to the coach to wake Geron, but he came stumbling out, rubbing his eyes before she got too far. “How did you sleep, dear?”

  Geron continued to rub his eyes. “Good.”

  Rodraq snapped the reins, and the coach lumbered on.

  Lady Shey approached the heavy wooden door of the tower and produced a key from her pocket. “The enchantments on the tower are weak. The Blight has taken its toll on them since Enowene’s last visit.”

  “I’m surprised they stick at all,” Sylvalora said.

  Shey inserted the key and turned the lock twice to the left and once to the right while reciting the counterspell. The door creaked open. Shey turned to Sylvalora and Geron. “Come on in. I need to go open the entrance from the stables for Rodraq.”

  Once inside the tower, memories of times gone by flooded Shey’s mind. The foyer looked exactly as it did when Shey was a girl. Enowene had managed to keep it from decaying and deteriorating like the rest of Old Symbor. The marble floors shined brilliantly, and the wooden staircase was polished to perfection.

  Sylvalora escorted the boy inside. “Enowene’s tower. We will be quite comfortable here.” She stepped into the adjoining parlor and opened the firewood cabinet. “Plenty of firewood. When you let Rodraq in, Shey, have him build a fire and light the sconces of the main living areas.”

  “Oh yes, Rodraq!” Shey said. “I had almost forgotten about him already.”

  “You can explore and reminisce later, dear.”

  “You’re right. Why don’t you go to the kitchens and see about the food stores. Enowene should have an enchantment in place to keep the food fresh there as well.”

  Sylvalora bent down to Geron. “Hungry?”

  Geron nodded, and Sylvalora led him off to the kitchens.

  Shey navigated the darkened halls and found the back door. She unlocked it in the same manner as the front door and found Rodraq near the stables talking to someone. The man was too young to be Dicarion. Curious, she went to join them.

  “I wasn’t aware we were to report back to Lux Enor. To whom were we supposed to send such a message? The highlord is dead,” Rodraq was saying.

  “The ward of Lux Enor, Sanforth Throu, is temporarily in charge. You send the reports to him, I suppose.”

  Shey recognized the man when she was close enough. “Lyrrath, the ward of Lux Enor sent you?”

  “Ah, Lady Shey.” He bowed. “There you are. I was just talking to your manservant.”

  “I can see that. What about?”

  “I traveled here soon after you left. I somehow arrived before you.” He looked at her questioningly.

  “We were delayed. Go on with your explanation.”

  “At once, my lady. Aye, it was Ward Throu who sent me to ask you for a report on your progress. Have you discovered the highlord’s assassin?”

  “It’s an ongoing investigation.”

  “I am to join your search and report back regularly.”

  “Welcome, then,” Shey said. “I am sure we will get along fine as long as you let me conduct the investigation and you stay out of my way.”

  “Of course, my lady.”

  “So, they don’t trust me then. It was good for me to get out of there when I did.”

  Lyrrath grinned, “They do not, and yes, it was most wise of you to leave you when you did.”

  “I thought so.” She pointed her right index finger at him. I meant what I said though.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of interfering, my lady,” Lyrrath said. “I am here to observe and report.”

  “I sent Sylvalora to the kitchens. Why don’t we go see what she found to eat.”

  “Shall I bring the food stores from the coach?” Rodraq asked.

  “Why don’t you.”

  Rodraq went back to the coach while Lyrrath followed Lady Shey into the tower.

  “I look forward to working with you, my lady.”

  “See if you still feel that way in a few days, Lyrrath. I am not fond of Ward Throu, and I am not particularly happy he has sent you to . . . help me.”

  “You think me to be a spy for the ward of Lux Enor?”

  “Aye, are you not?”

  “Certainly not! I am still loyal to you as always.”

  “We shall see.” She led him into the kitchens where Sylvalora was already cooking something. Geron was sitting at a preparation table, drawing with coal and parchment. Rodraq came in with the provisions. Lady Shey began putting out plates and silverware.

  “Where are we going to quarter?” Rodraq asked.

  “I thought we might stay in the guest quarters here on the first floor. I’m not sure if the rooms upstairs are kept up,” Shey answered. “I don’t want any light in the windows up there to attract people to us either. I can’t imagine what manner of people might be lurking about, evading the Defender patrols.”

  “If you don’t mind, my lady, can you show me to my quarters after supper? I plan to go right to sleep after I get a belly full.”

  “I will show us all to our quarters. The only one who has had any good sleep lately is Geron, and I hope he is able to sleep through the night.”

  The boy smiled and nodded that he could.

  “Good.” She sniffed the air. “That smells divine, Sylvalora. What is it?”

  “Pork chops and mashed potatoes.”

  “There were pork chops?” Shey was surprised they kept.

  Sylvalora looked at her as if her answer was obvious. “Magical stores tend to be stocked the best. There is also eggs and bacon for breakfast.”

  THE MOON LOOMED HIGH in the midnight sky when Geron ventured out of his room. Lyrrath watched as the boy moved silently in the shadows. He was about to ask the boy what he was doing out of bed when the moonlight, falling through the windows, illuminated the boy’s face as he passed from shadow to light and then back into shadow. Instead of a young boy, the face was contorted into the countenance of a stunted dragon’s maw. Red eyes reflected the moonlight like a house cat. A set of bat-like wings appeared, and the boy wrapped them around his body as he passed through the light of another window and back into shadow. Lyrrath sniffed the air. There was no repulsive odor detectable. He knew the boy had not seen him, so he took the opportunity to follow him. From his pocket, he produced a small jade statuette and drew some essence from it, enough to cloak himself in darkness and make himself undetectable as well as give himself vision to see through the darkness. He followed the shadow-lurking creature down stone stairs into the dungeon, still not fully believing what he was seeing.

  After dodging some potentially dangerous crumbling stone walls, Lyrrath emerged into a chamber of glass tubes, cauldrons, and rows of old parchment and books. There was a tinge of an enchantment detectable to him, which explained why the laboratory was not covered in layers of dust and why there was no odor of decay from the old parchments and other time-sensitiv
e materials. He could also detect the same magic emanating from some of the parchments on the shelves. The creature he knew as Geron rummaged through some of the contents on a table and directly produced a stone. He held it up to examine it in the small amount of moonlight that streamed through the tiny window at the base of the tower. The creature cackled and wrapped its wings around itself again. Lyrrath moved to get out of its way and inadvertently kicked some of the crumbling stone wall he was standing near. The Shadow Lurker didn’t hesitate. It was on him in one leap; wings extended again. The stealth spell Lyrrath had cast dropped.

  “You are the one called Lyrrath.” The creature spoke with a low, raspy voice.

  Lyrrath reached for the statuette in his pocket, but the Shadow Lurker caught his hand. “Aye, I am he. Who are you?”

  “I can’t kill you. It would draw suspicion.” He moved Lyrrath’s hand aside. “What are you trying to get at?” He found the statuette. “Ah, you have magic essence stored in this. Is this essence? Your fuel for a spell, perhaps?”

  Lyrrath felt the creature draw the essence from the statuette. “What are you doing?”

  “Something you will not remember,” the creature said. “Ahh, it feels good to touch magic once again. This place is so devoid of it.”

  Lyrrath tried to struggle free when he felt the creature in his mind.

  “Do not struggle. It will be over in a moment, and you will be happily ignorant again.”

  LADY SHEY AWOKE TO the smell of bacon, eggs, and bittering tea. After she tied her hair back and got dressed, she hurried to the kitchen. Geron was there, drawing with coal and parchment again. Sylvalora prepared breakfast over the cooking hearth, and Lyrrath, looking tired with bags under his eyes, sipped on some bittering tea.

  “Top of the morning to you all,” she said. Geron bolted for her and embraced her in a hug. “Careful you don’t get black coal all over me, child.”

  “Sorry,” he said.

  “That’s all right. Why don’t you go wash up for breakfast.”

  He nodded and ran off. Shey thought she saw Lyrrath cringe when the boy ran past him. “What is the story with you this morning?”

  “I didn’t sleep well. It’s this blighted land—I kept dreaming of black creatures in the night and all manners of horrible things.”

  “This place can get to you, especially if you are a wielder. The lack of essence around takes some getting used to.”

  “That must be it. I don’t like it. The sooner we leave this place, the better.”

  Rodraq entered the room. He was dressed in leather and linen. Shey was not used to seeing him out of his armor. “I found a way down into the dungeon. We can go there after breakfast.”

  “Not me,” Lyrrath said. “If you don’t mind, I think I would rather stay up here. In fact, I may go back to bed and see if I can catch up on some sleep.”

  “I think that would be fine,” Shey said. “There probably won’t be much to observe today.”

  Lyrrath gave her a slight head nod, “I don’t expect there will be.

  Shey knew he understood her sarcasm but chose not to play into it as she has hoped he would. She decided to change the subject. “Where did the fresh eggs come from? She asked.

  “The caretaker brought them in this morning.” He replied. “His chickens are not far from here, apparently.”

  “Ah, Dicarion, he’s a good man. I wonder why he didn’t stay? I would have liked to talk to him.”

  “He didn’t say. He dropped off the eggs, told Sylvalora where the bacon was kept, and promptly dismissed himself.”

  Shey nodded. She could tell something was distressing Lyrrath, but when Sylvalora sat a plate in front of them both, she decided to eat rather than indulge in prodding his feelings.

  After breakfast, Rodraq led Shey, Geron, and Sylvalora down a maze of crumbling stone corridors into the dungeon. Shey remembered where to go, and soon they were in the private laboratory and workshop of Toborne.

  “What is it we are searching for?” Rodraq asked while picking up a blank piece of parchment, which appeared almost new, on a work table. “This parchment can’t be that old.”

  “It’s an enchantment.” Shey said, “Everything here is aging at a much slower rate.”

  “Where’s the dust?”

  “Another enchantment,” She told him.

  “We should use these enchantments on other things,” Rodraq said.

  “They are costly, difficult to cast and wear down very quickly when there is a bunch of people around,” Sylvalora told him.

  “Oh.” He said.

  Sylvalora met him at the table. “Let me see that, please.” Rodraq handed over the parchment. Sylvalora concentrated on it for a few moments, and writing appeared. “As I expected. It is ancient but also enchanted.”

  “What does it read?” Lady Shey asked.

  “It’s part of a journal. I suspect a few pages fell out of a larger volume of notes. Toborne must have removed some of his belongings in haste. This page is written in an ancient language. I can still read some of it. It mentions a village that doesn’t exist yet in the Jagged Mountains. There the line of the Ardens will produce one who will possess the power to defeat the Oracle.”

  “The Oracle. Was this written during the War of the Oracle?” Shey asked.

  “There is no way to know.” She picked up another page and brought the words out of it. “This one says there are several who will grow up around the one who will aid . . . It trails off there.” She turned the page over and looked at some other parchment. “That’s all there is, just these two short entries.”

  “It’s a trick,” Rodraq said. “That’s some pretty relevant and specific stuff to have just fallen from a book.

  Shey breathed in. “Well, there is nothing here about Morgoran?”

  Sylvalora looked around some more. “No, the rest are just formulas and notes about the jade statuettes.” Sylvalora gave Lady Shey a look. “I think you already know what happened to Morgoran and his involvement in Toborne’s experiments.”

  “Aye, I do. I have also hoped his involvement with Toborne was just with essence and the statuettes and not with his darker experiments on dragonkind. It is rumored that Morgoran trapped Toborne’s being, his essence, in one of those jade statuettes. I was hoping to find proof.”

  Geron picked up a piece of parchment from the floor. “Is this one?”

  Sylvalora took the parchment from Geron and gave him a friendly rub on the head. “I will look.” After a few moments staring at the writing, Sylvalora’s face turned grim.

  “What is it?” Shey asked.

  “I’m not sure you want to know. It might affect you personally.”

  “If it helps us get closer to the truth, I must know.”

  “It is a letter between Toborne and the Oracle, Kambor. I would say it was written during the War of the Oracle. Kambor had a dream in a trance where he saw the lineage of Marella destroy him and Toborne both. He is instructing Toborne to kill her. He also talks about a village in the future where this descendant will be born, but the vision doesn’t give him the exact location of where the village will come to be built.”

  “That’s obviously a plant,” Rodraq said. “Why would he leave that there to be discovered so easily?”

  “I don’t think it was intentional. In fact, I don’t think he left any of this intentionally,” Shey said. “He was destroyed before he could come back and retrieve or destroy them. And if his essence is freed and he does come back, it’s too late now.”

  “Someone else might have left it for us then,” Rodraq concluded.

  “What’s our next move?” Sylvalora asked.

  Lady Shey seemed to hesitate. “I know where Marella’s bloodline resides. She was my best friend, and I wanted to keep them safe. I think it’s time to pay them a visit. There is an apothecary there named Sanmir who Ianthill and I asked to keep an eye out on the boys.”

  “This isn’t the first time you have heard of this prophecy, then,”
Sylvalora said.

  Shey shook her head. “No, I was just hoping it wasn’t true. Morgoran, in his state now, also predicted it. We will all need a disguise.” Lady Shey said. “It’s a simple village, and the presence of a lady would draw too much attention.

  “Fine, we go there in disguise,” Sylvalora said. Rodraq will take us in the coach to Soldier’s Bluff, and from there we will ride in disguise. Rodraq will stay with the coach in Soldier’s Bluff. His presence would cause a commotion.”

  Rodraq protested. “I don’t think that’s wise.”

  “It isn’t The Blight, Rodraq. I won’t be needing physical protection. These people aren’t accustomed to seeing such a grizzled warrior such as yourself.”

  Rodraq reluctantly backed off the point.

  “There’s not much more we can do here, but I will look around some more for good measure,” Sylvalora said.

  Lady Shey noticed Geron had a big grin on his face. “What are you so happy about?”

  “I like to travel, and I like being with you. None of you have mentioned getting rid of me.”

  Lady Shey took his hand. “Of course we wouldn’t get rid of you. What a funny thing for you to say. Come on, we will go upstairs, and you can help me pick out a disguise.”

  Chapter 9: Nightmares

  Sylvalora crossed in front of Lady Shey as she guided Geron toward the spiral stairs. “Before you take the boy to find a disguise, might I have a word with you? In private?”

  “Of course,” Shey said.

  Sylvalora escorted Shey into an adjacent room. Shey was a bit concerned and felt her heart race a bit, “What is it?”

  Sylvalora looked around and then cast the privacy spell to seal the room. Once she was satisfied their speech was secure, she faced Shey urgently, “Do you remember the portals?”

  Shey nodded, “I do a little. Weren’t they all destroyed?”

  “Mostly, yes, but there is one in this tower. I discovered it this morning when I was looking for the bacon. It’s in a room near the basement,” She leaned in closer as if someone might hear despite her privacy spell, “and it’s intact.”

  “And?” Shey asked.