The Laws Of Elios (Book 2)

by R N Skye

  “I think it is a rib… maybe a punctured… lung,” he gasped in pain.

  “Don’t try to talk,” calmed Shane and he began using mastery to heal his injured friend.

  As the healing glyphs appeared in the air above the injured man Shane thought about how to stop the bleeding from the damaged lung. An idea based on how he had been able to see lumen in glyphs crossed his mind and he looked at the chest area where he suspected the broken ribs were located. Concentrating he focused his magical vision to see if he could do anything with lumen like his instructor had indicated was possible for Lumen Mages. Closing his eyes he saw a glowing skeleton of different colors and shades of light. He could actually see the lumen pouring forth from the glyphs that were healing and how they worked. As he watched he could see the healing glyphs were simply enhancing the body’s natural healing processes; speeding it up with the energy provided by the enchantment. He also saw the tearing of the pleural cavity and the broken rib.

  Using more intuition because of his total lack of medical knowledge he caused the lumen of the ribs and lung to mimic the same look and feel of it’s neighbors; Shane felt a surge of lumen from his own body and a shock not unlike what he had felt when he had first learned activation of lumen and the bonding to his instructor. The lumen from the healing glyphs no longer poured into the area of the lungs but he could see that they were flooding other parts of Roger’s body as if healing things that no one had known needed healing. Just as suddenly as it had begun the lumen from the glyphs retreated; apparently the healing was complete.

  Shane dismissed the glyphs and opened his eyes. Not unlike when he had first learned to recognize lumen in glyphs he could now see the lumen in everything around him; in the furniture, the walls, as well as the people. He had to blink a couple of times and concentrate to get his normal vision to resume.

  Roger sat up and wiped off the small trickle of blood from his lips and chin; the last remnants of his recent injury. “Incroyable, “he uttered in blissful astonishment. I feel ten years younger. What did you do?”

  “Sorry I used some healing glyphs and I also tested out some lumen healing on you. It wasn’t painful was it?” Shane asked with a wince.

  “Just the opposite, one moment it was excruciating the next it was an instant relief,” explained the revived Luionese.

  As Shane Stood back up and helped Roger to his feet, Shew was dusting himself off from his drop to the floor.

  With a wave Shane turned on the lights and levitated a chair from across the room and set it in front of Shew. “Your turn, Shew, let me check you out and make sure you aren’t going to keel over on me.”

  “I don’t need no wet behind the ears abracadabra man to tell me if I’m well or not I’m fit as a man half my age.”

  Shane turned to Ari, “I guess you were right I owe you a hundred crowns.”

  “A hundred crowns for what?” grumped the old spy.

  “Ari and I made a bet. I bet him a hundred crowns that if you ever got hurt that you would let me heal you. He said that you were so predictably stubborn that there was no way in enfer that you would allow me to heal you; even if you were dying. His exact words were …that old son-of-a-b…”

  “I know what he said,” Shew glowered at Ari cutting off Shane.

  “I guess he was right.” Shane continued on, “it amazes me how much he can predict what people will do.”

  “Well he got this one wrong,” Huffed Shew with indignation. “I have the common sense to see after an injury. I was just going to ask if those glyphs of yours would take away the twinge I have on my shoulder and there is a little bit of ache in my back from where I hit that wall; Mister Smarty pants don’t know everything,” he added glaring at a grinning Ari. Shew sat hard in the chair and crossed his arms defiantly.

  Before he could change his mind Shane caused the heal glyphs to show up again and he watched with his lumen sight as they went to work. After a few moments the glyphs had completed their tasks and Shane released them.

  “How does that feel?” asked Shane.

  Shew stood and rolled his shoulders and bent and twisted his spine a couple of times. The retired spy tried to speak but his mouth was suddenly full of something. He reached in and pulled out a set of false teeth. “What in the enfer did you do to be boy?” The old man paused as he reached into his mouth finding that his years of poor dental hygiene had been repaired and that he no longer had room in his mouth for his dentures due to a full mouth of restored teeth. Shew’s vocabulary of gratitude contained the same profanity as his vocabulary of his displeasure; only the gratitude verbiage was expressed with a smile.

  “Ok let’s get things underway,” Ari said as he headed to the door. “Let’s go into the basement conference room and get a final plan drawn up. Hopefully there we won’t have any more interruptions”

  “Hang on a minute,” Shew said cutting him off standing in his way, “Pay up.”

  “What?” Ari asked bewildered.

  “The kid won the bet; you owe him a hundred crowns. Don’t try to make him forget by rushing the mission, pay up.”

  “Yeah,” Shane said barely managing to keep a straight face. “Pay up, a bets a bet.”

  Luckily Roger was behind Shew because he had completely lost control of his expression and it was everything he could do to keep from bursting with laughter.

  With three against one and the urgency of rescuing Leslie adding to the pressure Ari reached into his pocket and slapped two fifties into Shane’s out stretched hand. “Here,” he said brusquely knowing that Shane had gotten the best of Shew and it was worth a hundred crowns to have seen it. “If your mother only knew,” he said in mock concern as he side stepped around Shew and headed out of the room. “Just remember Shane,” he said over his shoulder, “I don’t get mad, I get even.”

  The group headed down the back stairs of the building with Shane taking up the rear when his ear piece enchantment chimed. “Who,” he queried. He smiled when he heard Ava’s Luion accent, “Hey you!”

  “Hey Shew watch out for that trash can over there,” Ari teased, “I hear they jump out of the darnedest places if you aren’t watching for them.”

  Roger burst out laughing as he watched the small waste basket race through the air toward Ari’s back its speed increasing as it went; seemingly propelled by Shew four letter epithets. Just as the hurtling basket was about to connect to the back of Ari’s head he turned and produced a glistening sword of blue light and severed the basket in two causing it to crash around him at the last minute. “I knew you were going to do that, Ari laughed as the sword winked out and he clipped a bladeless sword handle back to his belt.”

  Shane peered into the room at the laughing Roger, the severed basket and the fuming Shew. “Ok, I need to go Ava there are a few things going on, Love you; check your desk in a few minutes.”

  ~~~~~

  Ava was deep in concentration as she was mentally engaged with her instructor. She had recently returned from the records center where she had discovered a map of Coholo that had contained listings of all the old cities and sites where the old cities of Elios had once stood. Ava was excited by the new information that she was getting from the records center as it now considered her a Glyph Mage and a Glyph Master in training therefor providing her with more information that had been previously withheld. She was also excited as she had made significant inroads toward understanding the Elios methods of creating infrastructure. Now that most of the communications devices were in production and Leo was now able to imbue them with lumen she was free to delve back into her favorite subject of ancient infrastructure; she couldn’t wait to start testing some of the Elios methods and glyphs for infrastructure creation, restoration, and maintenance. Finally relinquishing the mental connection with her instructor she pulled out a large notebook and in a manner in which she copied from Shane she began writing her planned enchantments on paper before she tried them on a proper substrate or attempted mastery.

  Taking the ma
p out, she circled a dot that was north and east of Yllyan along the northern coast of Coholo and wrote the words Coh Y Nord. All she needed now is a way to explore what was between the two cities and then she might be able to establish the monorail between the two cities.

  Ava exited her office and walked to the back of the building to the big room that Shane usually holed up in to practice and invent his new enchantments; the same room that she had directed Shew and Roger to a few minutes earlier - when they had come searching for Shane and Ari. Finding the room empty she tried Shane’s office; it was empty as well. She tried to think where he had gone. With his ever increasing Glyph Mastery and his portal device he could be anywhere. Recalling that she now had an enchanted earring that was a communications artifact attached to her ear. It seemed that Shane was inventing something new every day and the change was hard to keep up with. She smiled as she realized that she now had the means to get hold of Shane whenever she needed – Which was becoming an issue as he seemed to stay in one place for no more than a minute at a time - Unless of course he was inventing and then so deep in concentration that he was just as gone. Touching a small silvery stud on her ear lobe she said, “Shane Chason.” After a few moments of silence she was rewarded by Shane’s energetic voice. “Hey you, how’s the most beautiful Mage on Eliom?”

  Ava smiled at Shane’s flirting, “I’m fine, what are you up to?”

  “Not much, still trying to discover where they have your Aunt Leslie stashed away and figuring out how to get in and get her out. I did win a hundred crowns off your uncle Ari,” Shane laughed.

  “The reason I commed you, sweetheart is I am looking to add another section of the overland to a city located about two hundred milos north of here called Coh Y Nord. To do so I need to travel the overland path and look for the glyph markers that the monorail travels along. What would really help is one of your portal devices so that I can scan their locations and then travel to them if they need repair.”

  “Where are you right now?” asked Shane.

  “I’m in my office.”

  “Give me about twenty minutes and I’ll have one for you. It will be on your desk but password protected, the last thing we need is for someone to pick it up by mistake. The password is the total of both of our ages multiplied by the number of letters in Leslie’s sister’s first name. I’ve got it pretty well automated and have put some of the features that the instructor has on it so you can scroll through a menu for help if you aren’t sure how to use it. It should be easy as pie for you, but if you get stuck get hold of me. If I’m unavailable make sure you leave a message. One last thing, don’t, under any circumstances try to go to anywhere on the Great Western Continent south of the Luionese border.”

  “I won’t,” she promised. Merci Cher, please be careful…” Ava heard a loud crash and a holler.

  “Ok, I need to go Ava there are a few things going on, Love you; check your desk in a few minutes.”

  “Love you too,” Ava replied as the connection cleared and the noises from Shane’s end ceased. Ava frowned and then half smiled not knowing whether to be amused or worried for her adventurous fiancé.

  While she waited, Ava took her portal to her parent’s house and then took the portal from there to Laura’s house. Without knocking Ava entered her future in-law’s home and made her way to the kitchen where she found Laura having a cup of tea with the young woman that she had first met on the platform at Valee station.

  “Ava,” greeted Laura in her normal enthusiastic fashion. “What a pleasant surprise. You remember Kaysee, Kaysee you remember Ava.

  Ava smiled at Kaysee, taking in her porcelain complexion and jet black hair; at the same time seeing that she was perhaps a few years older than she had first realized; somewhere between hers and Laura’s age. “It’s so nice to meet you again.”

  “Likewise, I was in such a rush last time. Laura has told me so much about you. I am so happy to hear that you have recovered from the attack at Valee. I hear you are also one of the Glyph Mage’s that have been relocating many of the refugees from Infin. That is so amazing to me.” Turning to Laura she said,” Your son is truly a lucky man. Hopefully I will be so lucky one day,” she added wistfully.

  “I should introduce you to some of the mage techs that are working for Shane with the war effort,” offered Ava. “Most of them are eligible bachelors.”

  “I don’t know,” Kaysee said visibly withdrawing into her-self. “I have had a couple of bad experiences with men, I’m not sure if I’m ready for a relationship.”

  “Now, now,” Laura patted her arm as she placed a cup and saucer in front of Ava and then poured for Ava and warmed the other two cups at the table. “Those men that harmed you are nothing like the gentlemen here in Yllyan.”

  Ava sat down with Laura after she placed the kettle back on the stove top. “The reason I dropped by,” Ava said changing the subject. “Is that I have been doing some research and I believe I have located one of the lost city locations. I also believe that the Elios left a way to restore or repair it if it isn’t too badly damaged. I’m planning to search it out and see what shape it is in and to reestablish the overland. If it isn’t too badly damaged, that is. It will add a great fishing port and harbor to the northern coast and allow more relocation space for the overflow of refugees in Infin. I also need to know if you have any additional mage tech’s that Edward doesn’t have working for him that I can hire. Doctor Wetz is working more hours than is healthy; so are the rest of my group.”

  “I’m not sure that you should do this on your own,” Cautioned Laura. The north is covered in forest and rugged wilderness and there may be dangerous animals.”

  “I don’t plan on going romping thru the woods,” Ava said dismissively. “Shane has provided me a hand held portal device that he created that will allow me to scan the pathway of the overland as well as travel safely to Coh Y Nord. Besides I don’t plan on going anywhere at all until I get some relief for my teams at the research and training center.”

  “Is there anything I can do?” asked Kaysee hopefully. “I know a little about glyphs; I studied mage tech at Jehhet University before my parents passed away. I am self-taught beyond that and have a fair bit of skill in operating mechanical devices, appliances, and the vending artifacts, at the overland station in Valee, and I learn fast?”

  Ava glanced briefly at Laura who nodded knowingly. “Absolutely,” exclaimed Ava with enthusiasm; glad to see Kaysee seemingly reemerge from her shell of shyness. “But I’m warning you, you will be surrounded by good looking guys,” She added laughing.

  Kaysee blushed, “Ok, I could stand seeing a handsome guy or two - if they are nice – But I’m not promising to date any of them and absolutely no fixing up or blind dates,” she declared; “unless I ask you too.” She then laughed out loud and soon all three in the room were laughing together.

  “Here’s to cute guys,” said Ava lifting her teacup holding out her little finger with exaggeration.

  “Here, here,” echoed Kaysee and Laura.

  The kitchen door opened unexpectedly and Soaris walked in taking in the levity. “What’s so funny,” he asked.

  His wife smiled and looked him up and down mischievously and said, “oh nothing.” The three women laughed even louder.

  “Women,” Soaris shook his head and left the room.

  Ava put down her cup, “I need to get back to the research center. Kaysee if you would like to come I’ll introduce you to the group and see about finding out what you can do. I’m thinking that Professor Wetz could really use an assistant. If you are good at taking notes and don’t mind working for someone that focuses on research like it is more valuable than gold then have I got a job for you.”

  ~~~~~

  “Here’s the plan,” outlined Ari. “We still need to get some detail on guards, troop movements within the city, and around Infin. Once we see what is most guarded then we will know what is most valuable to Allion and we can start looking. It would be helpful
if we a bigger screen than we have on the handheld portal maker”

  “I can build a larger global viewer for the conference room but it will take a couple of hours,” commented Shane.

  “A couple of hours that we don’t have,” reminded Ari.

  “Perhaps I have a solution, “interjected Roger. All eyes were on the unusually quiet former tavern owner and Luion intelligence agent. Perhaps we could go to the sloop and use the Nav viewer that Monsieur Shane made for the ship. It has a pair of very large viewers.”

  A few minutes later they were in Lu Y Onton and onboard the glyph cover ship that they had used to search out Ava when the war with Infin had first begun. Shane mentally inspected the ship for vandalism and any possible damage in their absence; the only glyphs active were those he had used to seal the craft. As he was inspecting the various other glyphs they all suddenly activated with lumen. Searching the source he saw that Ari had re-infused the ships glyphs with lumen and he and roger were busy configuring the large global viewers to zero in on Jehhet in order to see what the situation was.

  Finding no damage Shane cast off the lines and walked to the bow to ready the tow unit. As he pulled the tarp off he felt air rushing thru the output side of the tubes. What in the world, he pondered. He immediately deactivated the lumen from the tow device and hurried below deck. Stepping around Ari and Roger he looked for the tow controller. It was not on the console where he had placed it. “Hey Ari, Roger, did either of you put the tow controller anywhere?”

  Both men looked up from their reconnaissance and shook their heads. “Did you leave it on deck or in your cabin?” asked Ari, his concentration back on the images of Jehhet.

  “No I set it here on the console. I knew I should have glued it down. I also thought we sealed the hatches before we left.”

  “You may have sealed the hatches, sonny, but you evidentially didn’t seal the deck access way to the forward stores. We picked up a rat,” Shew said, as he shoved a raggedly dressed young man into the wheelhouse from the doorway that led down into the hold. “I found him snooping around down below.”