‘We will have to live with that.’
Samuel was about to retort once more, but finally gave in. ‘Yes. Yes, you are right. Given time, I suppose we can uncover everything that has been lost through our own efforts, but we cannot recover the lives of those lost to the war.’
Master Glim nodded. ‘Correct. Very well, we must make haste. Eric, stay near the window and we will call for you when we return. Samuel, change back into your robes. They will conceal us within the palace.’
Samuel readied himself and Master Glim picked up his leather satchel before they both proceeded out the door.
‘You don’t think Goodfellow is up to the task?’ Samuel queried his teacher once they were out into the bustling street.
‘No. I think it’s better if he stays here. He’s too nervous and he’s of little use like that. He will only give us away.’
Samuel nodded and they continued on. Master Glim seemed confident, but the man could not help checking over his shoulder as they wound their way towards the Emperor’s palace.
They met Lomar and Eric outside the palace gates and all entered without attracting even a glance from the guards. The halls of the palace were, as usual, inhabited by a variety of plumed nobles and gentry, strolling and conversing-some with long, needle-like rapiers swinging at their hips. Several of the passing gentry sniffed as they passed and Samuel wondered why, until he remembered he had not bathed in some time and probably had the stench of a beggar.
At the base of the High Tower, two black-robed magicians stepped down from the stairs and nearly careened straight into Samuel and his group. Samuel’s heart leapt, but the two men turned immediately away, too engrossed in their conversation to pay them any mind. The men were the councillors, Lords Hathen and Irshank.
‘Oh, yes,’ Hathen was saying, his great bushy moustache wobbling with each word. Samuel could see it bobbing up and down even from behind. ‘I can’t believe such nerve. What did you say to that?’
‘Of course, I scolded the insolent fool,’ the corpulent Irshank stated and the two men disappeared down towards the courtyard.
Samuel collected himself and calmed his quickened heart. The first set of stairs was just before them and the four of them began up together. Somewhere above them lay the Argum Stone, the secrets on how to use it, texts containing the lost wisdom of the Ancients and possibly even Ash himself. Everything he wanted was above in that one small chamber. The Argum Stone and the books would be fascinating, but most of all, Samuel hoped to find Ash. His death would be a sweet reward. If nothing else good could come of these times, Samuel only wished to get his hands around Ash’s neck and squeeze it until the bones began to snap, and then perhaps continue squeezing until his hands cramped from the effort.
The first few levels of the tower were littered with workers, officials and guards. Most were strolling around idly for, at this hour, there was little left to do. The tower grew narrower then, with the stairs beginning to twist upwards, but the High Tower was still wide enough to house many rooms on each level.
The stairs here were not continuous as in the Mage Tower, so they often had to walk a length of hall or cross opposite the tower to reach the next stairway. They passed several storerooms and chambers, but the further they climbed, the less people they met and the less used the rooms appeared to be. There were also no spells set in these stairs to aid in their ascent and so climbing the heights of the tower was tiring work and the occasional halls and balconies were much needed.
‘Take care,’ Master Glim whispered eventually. ‘We are nearly there. If there are any guards, follow my lead. We need to take care of them quickly and quietly.’
They carefully crept up the last length of stairs, but, as they reached the carpeted hall on the next level, there was no one in sight. A single doorway loomed in front of them, looking little different from the numerous others they had passed on their ascent.
They strode closer and Master Glim eyed the door carefully.
‘There’s no guard,’ Eric whispered.
Master Glim put a finger to his lips to silence any talk. He bent over and put his eye to the keyhole, then after a moment, he put his hand to the brass handle-but it remained firm. At that, Master Glim took a step back and started rubbing his chin in deliberation.
Samuel stepped in front of his teacher and took his turn to look through the keyhole. He could just make out an open window across the room, with scarlet curtains billowing in the breeze. There were some shelves on either side, but that was as much as he could discern.
He also tried turning the handle, but it was quite obviously locked.
‘What shall we do?’ Lomar asked softly. ‘We cannot linger out here.’
‘We must open the door,’ Master Glim decided. ‘It’s locked, but not barred.’
‘It’s a good sign,’ Lomar announced. ‘There will be no one inside.’
‘I’m sure there will be traps,’ Samuel responded.
‘I realise that,’ Master Glim said sternly. His nerves had put him in no mood for statements of the obvious. ‘Stand back.’
Lomar, Eric and Samuel each scurried down the hall a little way while Master Glim examined the door. Samuel was looking nervously back down the stairs, when Master Glim cast a spell with a flick of his finger and the door made a soft click. He grasped the handle and carefully turned it. He opened the door the slightest crack, ready for the slightest hint of a spell, and then pushed it open, letting it swing in on its hinges.
The others hesitated for a moment before tiptoeing up behind the wary, old teacher. Samuel peered past the man and could see the Argum Stone standing in the middle of the chamber, set upon a sturdy wooden frame to hold it upright.
‘I can’t sense any spells,’ Samuel stated, half to himself.
‘No…’ mused Master Glim. ‘How strange.’
‘Who wants to go in first?’ Eric asked. ‘I’ll guard our retreat.’
‘I’ll go,’ Master Glim stated, failing to notice Eric’s light-hearted tone. He took a deep breath and Samuel could see the magic blooming out of him, surrounding him in layers upon layers of shielding designed to protect him from all magical and physical harm. ‘Wait here,’ he instructed and passed his satchel back to Eric. Then, he took a first tentative step onto the wooden boards of the room.
There was a creak as the floor took his weight and the man stopped dead in place. Samuel’s heart skipped and Lomar gasped aloud. Master Glim turned his head and opened his eyes wide, urging them to be quiet. Shaking his head in wonderment, Master Glim raised his foot and went to take another careful step. The air around him flashed and hissed, like red hot steel dropped in water. The others all staggered back out of the doorway as a blood-red symbol, a design like Samuel had never seen, formed before Master Glim. The air filled with a burning heat like the core of an open furnace. Master Glim defended himself with all his resolve, but the glyph burned slowly in towards him, tearing his spells to threads on contact. Samuel had to put his hands before his face to shield his eyes from the flashing light and heat.
‘Defend him!’ Lomar hissed and spells sprang out from the man and into the room.
Samuel went to dart forward, but Master Glim somehow sensed his actions. ‘Stay where you are!’ he cried out as he strained to hold his shield spells in place.
Samuel realised his stupidity and joined his power with the spells of Lomar and Eric, pushing at the blood-red symbol that hung in the air. They fed all the power they could muster into Master Glim’s spells, but still the symbol hissed and spat and crept in towards the man, sending its red-hot sparks bouncing onto the wooden floor. As Master Glim took a faltering step back with his knees starting to buckle, the glyph hissed out of existence and the room faded back into silence.
Samuel took a great breath of relief and wiped the sweat from his face with his robe sleeve. Master Glim dropped to his knees and the others rushed in to aid him.
‘Take care,’ Master Glim tried to tell them, but they were heedle
ss and helped him back to his feet while he wiped the sweat from his eyes. ‘I’m all right,’ he told them. ‘I just need a moment to recover my strength.’
‘The spell was somehow undetectable,’ Lomar stated, ‘and of a nature I have never before encountered.’
‘Black magic!’ Eric spat out with disdain, sneaking back to close the door behind them.
‘Yes, I believe so,’ Master Glim agreed. ‘Master Ash, indeed, has some explaining to do for using such a foul art. It took all our combined efforts just to defend from that one spell. Take care, there may be more such devilish traps set for us in here.’
Master Glim took his own weight once again, and Samuel looked to the corners of the room. The chamber was literally lined with shelves, each full and stuffed to the brim with books and papers. There was a small table beside the Argum Stone, covered with a pile of papers and a writing set, but there was no visible sign or hint of any further spells.
‘We have no way of detecting this kind of magic,’ Lomar stated.
‘We cannot mind that now,’ Master Glim announced. ‘Master Ash may have been alerted. We must make all haste. Quickly, find anything that looks useful and put it in my bag.’ He took his satchel back from Eric and began stuffing all the notes from the small table into it. As he did, he had one eye set nervously on the great artefact beside him-as if it could spring to life at any moment.
‘Dividian has been busy,’ Eric called out. ‘There are hundreds of books here!’
‘Thieving cur!’ Master Glim cursed.
Samuel’s heart was still beating fast and he kept his power at the ready, for he expected another black spell to appear with every step he took and every movement he made. He began examining the shelf he had chosen, for it seemed someone had recently written some notes on the spine of each piece. History-plausible, was written on one; The Third Era-erratic, was written on another beside it. Pulling that one out and carefully turning through the pages, Samuel could see it was written with the Old Tongue. The cover showed the book to be very old indeed; the pages were crisp and brittle.
‘These are all about philosophy,’ Eric called out.
‘The ones here all look historical,’ Samuel replied, returning his selected book to its place.
‘The shelves here seem to be about spell crafting,’ Lomar called out, ‘but the dialect in some is strange. It would take some time to properly understand.’
‘Look for a shelf labelled “awakening ancient artefacts”,’ Eric called aloud.
After only another moment Master Glim called out to them. ‘This is useless. There are far too many books here. We would needs days or weeks to even begin to understand them, let alone find what we need. We will have to destroy them.’
‘Surely we can’t!’ Samuel protested. ‘These books are priceless! Irreplaceable! Just look at them all!’
Master Glim sighed. ‘We have little choice. Our entry will be noticed, if it hasn’t already and Lord Jarrod will only treble his security. We must do something now.’
‘It’s true, Samuel,’ Lomar said. ‘We will have no other opportunity to act.’
‘Why don’t we just take them with us?’ Eric suggested.
‘Good suggestion, Master Pot,’ Master Glim replied sarcastically, ‘but I didn’t bring my barrow. It would take us all night to shift all this.’
‘Why don’t we just ask the palace staff to help us? The palace is full of servants just standing around with nothing to do. I’d think if we told them to help us carry all these books downstairs, they wouldn’t be able to refuse.’
Master Glim shook his head. ‘No, it’s much too slow. We could be discovered at any moment.’
‘I’m sure the Council meeting will not end too soon. Lord Goodwin knows we need as much time as he can spare, and the councillors always talk for hours on end whenever they get the chance. It will only take one of us to stay here and the others can wait downstairs.’
‘I will stay,’ Samuel said. ‘If anyone returns, I will destroy the books.’
‘No,’ Master Glim told him. ‘If you are discovered, they will kill you, I’m sure. I will stay. I know a wall-walking spell. I can set the books ablaze and then be out the window.’
‘If your spell fails, you have a long way to fall,’ Lomar stated.
Master Glim threw the tall man a dark look. ‘My spells don’t easily fail,’ he said. ‘Eric, go and gather as many servants as you can muster. Samuel, go and ready some transportation. We will need to be away with these books as quick as can be. Find a cart, a wagon-anything.’
At once, Eric and Samuel hurried out the door and skipped down the stairs in twos and threes. It was not until they had nearly reached the bottom level that they found a servant striding purposefully along the hall.
‘You there!’ Eric called and the man stopped in his tracks, turning to face them with a startled expression. ‘We need some books carried down from the tower. Bring as many to help us as you can.’
The man was obviously not ready for such a command. ‘But, My Lord, Duke Nuard has already asked that I-’
Eric waved off his objections. ‘Don’t give me that nonsense. This is urgent. Go and muster as many others as you can-twenty or thirty will do. I don’t care how many you must wake up. Quickly! Be about it or heads will roll-and yours will be first!’
‘Yes, My Lord!’ the servant said, as he leapt with fright and darted off.
‘I’ve always wanted to say that,’ Eric said with a smug grin. ‘Heads will roll!’ he said again with a snicker.
‘Very well,’ Samuel said. ‘I’ll go organise a wagon and meet you outside.’
Eric nodded. ‘Yes. I shall wait here and lead the servants back to the room. Then, I’ll come meet you.’
With that, Samuel hurried down the hall and found his way into the courtyard. He looked about, but no servants were visible. Some voices began to approach and so Samuel, still wondering where to find some servants, waited to see who was coming. Four Royal Guards came sauntering into the courtyard. They looked off duty, but upon spying Samuel in his magician’s robes, they fell into an orderly step at once.
Samuel raised his hand and waved them to approach. ‘You there!’ he called. ‘Come here.’
The guards did as he said without a pause. ‘What is it, My Lord?’ one of the men enquired.
‘I need a wagon of some kind,’ Samuel told him. ‘Can you go fetch one for me?’
The guard looked sceptical. ‘I’m not too sure about wagons, My Lord,’ he said. ‘Perhaps the palace servants can help you better.’
‘I don’t have time to go hunting around for them,’ Samuel told him bluntly. ‘The palace has stables, doesn’t it?’
‘It does, My Lord,’ the man replied.
‘Good. Then, if you could be of some assistance, it would be most appreciated.’
The guard looked to his fellows with an obvious lack of enthusiasm. ‘Grimwald, hurry to the stables and organise something for the Good Lord.’
‘Right,’ Grimwald replied and set off at once with his sword clanking at his side.
‘It won’t be a few moments, My Lord,’ the guard told Samuel.
Samuel nodded and waited there in the courtyard with the three remaining men. The air was quiet and uncomfortable.
‘Don’t you have any other business to attend to?’ Samuel finally asked the men.
‘Oh no, My Lord,’ their spokesman replied. ‘We’ll just wait here until your wagon arrives to be sure everything is how you like it.’
Samuel sighed. ‘Very well, then.’ After a moment of nervous silence, he thought he should try some polite conversation. ‘So…is life in the army everything you expected?’
The man raised a quizzical eyebrow and his two mates became all smirks. ‘Ah, it’s fine, My Lord. A wonderful career choice. Very rewarding.’
‘Keeps a man busy!’ said another beside him.
‘Well,’ Samuel said. ‘That’s grand, then.’
‘Aye,’ the spokesman
replied in turn.
Samuel decided that small talk was not his speciality, so he turned to pacing around the courtyard instead. The three guards soon relaxed once he was away from them and began talking and laughing amongst themselves. Just when Samuel thought he would have to wait forever, the sound of horseshoes on stone came clip-clopping along and Grimwald and an elderly stable hand came driving a carriage into the courtyard. It was quite an expensive-looking buggy and not the open cart that Samuel had expected at all.
‘Here they are at last!’ the guards’ spokesman declared.
‘I apologise, My Lord,’ Grimwald said, climbing down. ‘It was difficult to make arrangements at such short notice. This was the best we could manage.’
‘I understand,’ Samuel replied.
The crotchety-looking stablehand applied the braking lever and also climbed down. ‘I’ll be off then back to my bed,’ he said to no one in particular and made directly back in the direction from which he had just come, moving as if his britches were half full of stones.
‘Samuel, have you…’ Eric called as he came leaping into the courtyard. On sight of the guards, he stopped. His hands were loaded with books up to his chin. ‘Oh, you seem to have company.’
‘Yes,’ Samuel replied. ‘I also have transportation.’
‘So I can see,’ Eric replied, coming over, and he carefully placed his armload of books into the cab as Samuel held the door open for him.
A small stream of servants came wandering out after him, each carrying various amounts of papers and books.
‘Over here!’ Eric called to them. ‘Put them in here-carefully. But hurry up about it!’
The servants did as they were told, dropping the books haphazardly into the open cab without enthusiasm.
‘Take care there!’ Eric scolded them. ‘They’re not stones!’
The servants grumbled and went to milling about together once they were done.
‘All right,’ Eric began to tell Samuel, ‘I’ll take this lot back up to get some more. There should be more along any moment.’
‘Very well,’ Samuel said and Eric darted back towards the tower.
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