by Bob Blink
The three assistants nodded their understanding, and thankfully weren’t full of as many questions as usual. Jeen was too distracted to want to try and field a bunch of questions this morning. The discovery of Burke’s loss, followed by the graphic vision of Suline’s remarkable Doorway showing the loss of another of their own with the unexplainable pit that had appeared under the two men who had dared to pass through against Mitty’s warning. Only Nycoh might be capable of such a display of power and the ability to shape the very earth, but even she had been surprised at what they had seen. Those against them controlled power far greater than their own. A breakthrough was needed, and quickly, if they were to be able to stand against such magic. The ray of green power that had been used against them was a start, but they needed the defensive capability to stand against the magic that would be unleashed against them. Jeen believed if such a defense was to be found, it would have to be from the old magic. She could only hope that clues might be found in the items that were located in this room. They knew several of the items were from the time long before Daim. If only something could be discovered with answers.
She started the assistants going through the items from Ald-del while she took a first look at the boxes Daria had recovered from the bandits. As she pulled the first heavy box from the pile stacked in a corner and used her magic to carry it over to the table where she would work, she wondered what Rigo would learn from Daria and Kaler. She almost wished she were going along. Suline had secrets Jeen would like to try and learn, and Mitty was one of her closest friends, despite the shortness of their relationship. Daria, of course, was a long time friend, and Jeen had always felt comfortable around her. Given the state of the kingdoms, she’d feel more comfortable with the pragmatic knife wielding former assassin nearby.
It didn’t take long to see that many of the items were not that old. She was disappointed with what she found. Most were from a period that post dated Daim’s Citadel, and therefore were unlikely to be of much use. Sighing, she started to go through the contents of the box, setting each item aside as she looked it over. There were two books, both in very poor shape, written in a language she didn’t recognize. Perhaps Ash’urn or Daim would recognize the text, and if not, they would go with the other items designated for the Repository. There were a pair of mugs, with cavities in the sides where she was certain gemstones had been removed. She could see where the points of daggers had been pressed into the soft metal to extract the items. There were no markings of any kind, and she set these in a pile to be left here at the Outpost.
She was most of the way through the box, having found little of interest, when she came across the flat monitor device. It looked much like the larger monitor that had revealed Rigo’s captivity when he’d been held by the Guild. This unit was smaller, just over half as large as those she had previously seen. It was dark and inactive, and was covered with the same kinds of symbols all over the back side. The discovery of the monitor reinforced the idea that very old items could be mixed in with the less valuable things she had been finding. As she prepared to set the monitor into one of the two piles to be taken from the Outpost, she had a sudden thought, and moved it into the pile of items to be taken to the Repository. The monitor might just be small enough to fit into one of the readers there, and maybe they could learn how it worked if the reader would translate the symbols.
As the morning moved on, the various piles grew. Her hands were covered with dirt and grime, and the table at which she sat was speckled with grit that had come off the various items she had worked through. Thus far she had found only a couple of items that might be of interest. Unfortunately, she had no idea what the purpose of each might be. She had located a broken section of what appeared to be a staff. Remarkably, it was nearly identical to the dark staffs that Nycoh had taken to creating, and was covered with literally thousands of symbols so minute as to be almost unreadable. She would have to show that to Nycoh and see if it meant anything to her. Another item was some kind of weapon. It had a handle for holding and pointing, and a series of round tubes, six of them, arranged around a central core. Deep in the core, she could see the remains of a broken crystal of some sort. The flattened sides that held the tubes were covered with the symbols that Jeen was coming to recognize as those used in the ancient magic.
The last item she had found was of little practical use, but had absorbed her attention for a least a quarter glass. It was an ancient map, drawn to show the lands as they had once existed. It was somewhere between a map and a pictorial sketch. Jeen was certain the distances weren’t accurate, which would limit its usefulness. It laid out what things had once looked like, and told of what existed in the lands beyond their current knowledge. The naming was in a language she didn’t recognize at all, but after a time she thought she was able to recognize certain areas. She had oriented it on the table to reflect how she thought of the current geography, which resulted in the lettering being upside down. At least she thought the bold lines under some of the text was meant to be underlining.
Along the left side of the drawing was a coast she was certain had to be the western shores of Branid and Kellmore. She could trace the large river that separated the two kingdoms from Lopal. Far to the right was the eastern coast, and she located a spot that she was certain looked like the large harbor at Nals. She wasn’t familiar enough with Sedfair and its coast to be positive of anything. Cutting across the continent were two ranges of mountains. To the south were a series of mountains where the Great Central River, assuming her guess was correct, flowed through. Beyond was a vast area with fewer marked cities. Along the northern edge, was another set of mountains. These could be the Great Whites, and the map showed nothing but huge mountains extending for a great distance until the land narrowed and fell into the ocean.
Assuming she was right, then the land in the middle was the Ruins, except in this map it was heavily annotated, with rivers, mountain ranges, and as many, if not more cities, than occupied the coastal regions. Her fingers moved between the marked cities. Could these have really existed, and if so, what had happened to the inhabitants when the Ruins were formed. She was lost in thought when one of her assistants came over and laid something on her desk.
“I saw this sticking out of one of the Wanderers’ boxes,” he said. “It looks like the one Ash’urn has on his desk.”
Jeen looked up, her mind slow to react to what she was being told as she thought about the ancient land that was indicated on the map before her. Then her eyes fell upon the arm-length black shaft, with the dulled point on one end, and the symbols spiraling around the length of the shaft. It indeed looked the same. It had the same color, and looked unworn by the years that had passed since it was made. The symbols identified it as being very old, and Jeen suddenly wondered if Ash’urn had considered placing it in the reader to see what its purpose might be. Often in the past he had fingered the rod in her presence, wondering aloud what it might be for.
Intrigued, she pushed the map to one side, momentarily forgotten. She shuddered slightly as she picked the rod up. She recalled having a similar reaction to the one on Ash’urn’s table, although she couldn’t have said why.
“This is remarkable,” she praised her assistant. “It has the same look and feel as the one he has. Perhaps having two of them will help him determine their function.”
Realizing it was past lunch, Jeen pushed back from the table and stood up. “I’m hungry,” she said. “Perhaps we should break for something to eat. I want to take this to Ash’urn, along with a couple of other items he might be able to identify. Let’s meet back here in a glass.”
Eagerly her assistants set aside the items they were working on, and stood up, brushing off dirty hands and dusting pants that showed signs of their morning’s efforts. Jeen followed them out of the room, carrying the two books, the map, and the disturbing rod. As they reached the upper levels, she went one way, while the others another, as they headed off to the dining area. Jeen wanted to see Ash’urn
briefly first, then she would head that way herself.
She hurried down the familiar corridor to the workroom that Ash’urn had used for many years. She didn’t expect much from the strange metallic shaft, but wanted to suggest the idea of using the repository to investigate it. He and others were in charge of that effort, and given there were at least two of them, they might be important. Mostly, she wanted to see what he thought about the map. If it was indeed of the old world, then the area beyond the mountains might give some ideas as to where the Baldari might be hiding.
Jeen saw Ash’urn was still there as she stepped into the workroom. It was one of the largest rooms in the Outpost. It had to be. Ash’urn had acquired a surprising number of items over the years, and many were in here. She had worried he might have finished what he was working on and headed off somewhere. He looked up from his desk near the back wall and was about to speak when it happened.
Fortunately for Jeen she was carrying the shaft loosely in her left hand which was toward Ash’urn. The other hand carried the old books and the all important map. She felt the sudden flash of heat that built up in the device and let go almost the same time as the bright orange lightning bolts erupted between the unit she was carrying and the one on Ash’urn’s desk. The rod she had released didn’t fall to the floor as one would expect, but instead floated in the air where she had released it. The one on Ash’urn’s desk had lifted off the surface, and rotated so it was orientated vertically as well, and now bright energy burned between the two devices.
Unfortunately, Ash’urn was positioned partially between the two devices. The orange energies that were flowing between the two objects blasted through the space he filled, and Jeen could see the scholar’s body jerking in response to the light that was striking him in a number of places.
Jeen screamed and almost without thought reached out with her power and pulled at the closest device. She was able to pull it toward her, but the second one was constrained to move with the closest rod. At least the movement pulled the device away from Ash’urn, who was no longer trapped in the beam. He fell forward onto his table, inert. Realizing she didn’t want either of the objects near her, Jeen reached out to the far one and pushed it the opposite direction, while trying to hold the nearer one in place. Nothing had happened until the two devices had come close enough. Perhaps if she could simply separate them?
She couldn’t believe the force required to push the objects apart, but slowly she could sense she was making progress. Then abruptly, the violent energies ceased, and the two objects flew apart. Jeen flung the far one into a distant corner, and the one she had been carrying out the door.
She spun and hurried into the hall, where the display had caught the attention of several passers by.
“Get help!” she shouted. “Ash’urn needs medical attention! And stay away from that thing,” she said, pointing to the rod that had fallen into a corner down the hall.
Without waiting to see what anyone was doing, she turned and hurried back toward Ash’urn, dropping the books and all important map thoughtlessly aside. She could see that he hadn’t moved since falling forward onto the table. She was afraid he might be dead.
As she ran to the table her own medical skills were flowing toward the body. She gasped when she saw his arm. His entire left side was badly burned. The skin on his arm was cooked and burned away to the bone all along his forearm. The skin on his hands and upper arm were angry red and she knew badly burned as well. The clothing on the left side of his chest had been burned away, and angry red skin showed underneath. The left side of Ash’urn’s face was damaged as well, and looked almost skeletal, the left eye open and cloudy, the eyelid skin fused to hold the unseeing eye open.
Jeen was fairly capable with medical magic, but she knew this was beyond her ability. Nonetheless, she pushed forward, diving into Ash’urn in hopes of finding a pulse. She sighed in relief when she determined he was still alive, and quickly worked to isolate him from the worst effects of the damage. The shock was killing him. She pushed magic into him to sustain him, and started rebuilding those things she could. Vaguely she sensed the arrival of others, and felt their skill and power joining her own. Somewhere along the way she realized she was providing power, but the guiding of how it was being used had been passed to another. A long time later, she felt as her consciousness was pulled from the body.
“That will hold him until we can get him downstairs,” Ashli said when Jeen felt herself back in her own form.
She looked at the medical wizard, and then to Ash’urn. He looked better, but not good. There was skin, of a sort on his arm. The bones were no longer showing. He looked gaunt, and little had been done for his face. His good eye was closed, but the other remained open as before. Jeen had been able to sense that it was that one which had been seriously damaged when she had been inside. Ash’urn would never use the eye again.
“Will he live?” Jeen asked hesitantly. The extent of the damage had been so great she couldn’t tell.
Ashli grimaced. “I honestly don’t know. It is going to take a team working on him to bring him back to where he has a chance. Come, we have no time to waste. We need him downstairs.”
Jeen realized that others were here now and they were already lifting the inert form of her friend into the air, floating him out of the room with a soft ride only magic could provide. Exhausted, Jeen watched him go, then stood shakily and walked over to the table. It was split in half, the wood dry and aged where the bright orange energies had struck it. Tired as she was, Jeen knew something had to be done with the dangerous rods. She picked up the one near the far wall of Ash’urn’s workroom and placed it in a sturdy chest in one corner. She had no intention of triggering magic around the blasted thing. Then she walked out into the hall and retrieved the second one. This one she took to the library, and sent it through to Daim’s Hideaway in the Ruins. She shuddered and wiped her hands as if they were somehow dirty from touching the dangerous rods. That would keep them far enough apart until she could talk to Daim about them and they could decide what to do.
Wanting to go to check on Ash’urn, she realized she would only be in the way. As spent as she was, she couldn’t help. Slowly she made her way back to Ash’urn’s workroom, recovered the books and the map, and then went in search of the old wizard, where she would wait until he regained consciouness.
Chapter 36
“Is he going to die?” Rigo asked worriedly. He, Mitty, and Suline had returned to the Outpost only a short time earlier to learn of the distressing news of Ash’urn’s unfortunate accident. Jeen had been filling them in on the details of what had happened. He couldn’t believe that his good friend could be near death.
“They won’t say,” complained a tearful Shara, who looked as if she had been crying continuously for some time. Her face was blotchy and her eyes red and swollen.
“They simply don’t know,” Nycoh explained. She had just come out from working with those tending to Ash’urn, hoping that her own skills might be of use. As it turned out, while she was more powerful than any of those attending Ash’urn, sheer power wasn’t the answer this time. Others who had specialized and seen multiple cases of severe trauma were better equipped to deal with the situation, and Nycoh had found herself more in the way than as help. When she realized this, she had excused herself and allowed those who were more talented in this area to work undisturbed. What she had seen was frightening to her, and she was surprised her old friend and fellow scholar was still alive.
Rigo listened to Nycoh attentively, and couldn’t help noting that her eyes were a bit red as well.
“What does he look like?” Shara asked, finally having someone who had seen him since he went into treatment.
Nycoh shook her head. “Not good at all,” she replied honestly, her worry overflowing her caution and sensitivity. “The only reason he is even alive is the burns sealed the skin so that blood loss was contained. His left arm was burned to the bone, and the other burns were extremely seve
re.
Jeen swallowed uncomfortably. She had seen the burns firsthand and had been able to draw some of the heat from them as part of her brief attempts at stabilizing Ash’urn before other help had arrived. She had seen how badly he was hurt. She wanted to ask about his face, when Daim suddenly appeared, demanding to know what had happened.
Jeen explained discovering the strange rod that was the twin to the one Ash’urn had kept on his desk for many months. Having other questions for her old fiend, Jeen had been taking it to him when the two rods interacted somehow, trigging a burst of uncontrollable energy between them. She had been fortunate, but Ash’urn had been between the two interacting rods.
“Were you using magic of any kind?” Daim asked.
“Not at all,” Jeen replied. “Nor was Ash’urn. The rods interacted on their own.”
“Where are they now?” Daim asked.
Jeen explained what she had done to separate the rods.
“No one goes to the Hideaway,” Daim ordered. “Someone will have to see to the removal of the second rod that’s still in Ash’urn’s lab.”
“It should be safe enough there,” Jeen said. “It has been in the workroom for months without being a problem. Without the second rod, I doubt there will be a concern.”
Daim wasn’t as sure. “Perhaps it has been activated in some way. I don’t want any chances taken with it. Besides, now that we know it has some power, I can’t help but wonder if it might be responsible for the poor health that Ash’urn has been exhibiting of late. He has been sitting right next to the cursed thing for weeks.”
