"Greetings, Arinot. I hope things are well with you." Ebnik sat the lantern down on a small table near the door. It added significantly to the light on that side of the room.
Sulana looked around and realized the room was lit entirely by candles and one other lantern, which sat atop a dark, wooden desk that was piled with books and papers. She didn't see a single illuminator.
"I'm as well as ever. Who have you brought to see me?" Arinot asked, looking over at Sulana curiously.
Ebnik held both hands out toward Sulana. "May I present Archives Agent Sulana Delano, battle-hardened Sword Sorceress and Trollbane."
Sulana blushed and scowled at Ebnik, then turned apologetically to Arinot. "He's mocking me. I'm a 'Sword Sorceress' with one mission into the mundane world under my belt, and yes, my team encountered a troll on the return journey."
Ebnik shook his head insistently and leaned toward Arinot, his voice dropping to a dramatic rumble. "She's being too modest. Right when her most experienced warrior, himself a Trollbane, was about to be gobbled up by a troll of legendary size and power, Sulana slew the creature and saved the warrior's life with one mighty spell."
Arinot's green eyes twinkled as he watched Sulana squirm in her seat at Ebnik's rendition of her story.
When Ebnik finished, Sulana's frown turned to a smile and she laughed. "Ebnik, I think you missed your calling. You should have been a bard."
Ebnik looked down with a sad expression. "Alas, I fear my voice and playing would chase away the crowds before they could hear my stories."
Arinot chuckled. "Well met, Sulana Trollbane. How may I be of service?"
"I brought Sulana with me to see if we might ask a favor of you," Ebnik answered for her.
Arinot's expression grew serious as he looked into Ebnik's eyes. "You have need of...my particular talent?" He looked quickly aside at Sulana.
Ebnik nodded. "I have permission from the Council to let Sulana observe, so you may speak freely."
Sulana looked back and forth between Ebnik and Arinot. "What's this about? Does Arinot have unique implements or incantations we can use?"
Arinot chuckled and shook his head. "No incantations or implements, I'm afraid. I'm no sorcerer."
Sulana's confusion grew and she wasn't sure what to say. Ebnik rescued her from her discomfort.
"Arinot is a Sensitive. Actually, there should be a different word for Arinot's sensitivity, as it is so far beyond anything we normally equate with the term."
"What do you mean?" Sulana asked.
Arinot answered her. "I can hear vaetric manifestations from as far away as the Imperial Capital."
Sulana gasped. "How is that possible? With that kind of range, anything that happened close by would be..."
"Deafening," Arinot finished for her with a nod. He raised his hands, palms up, and looked around the room. "That's why I'm down here in this cave. The thick stone blocks out most manifestation sounds and gives me a measure of peace."
Sulana looked at Arinot for a moment, absorbing the implications of his words. "So, you're a sound Sensitive, just like...someone else I met recently." He nodded again. "Wouldn't you be more comfortable somewhere farther away from the Archives? This place has to be the source of a lot of manifestation noise."
He nodded. "You'd think so, but this really is the best place for me. This hole in the ground protects me well enough, and I have an arrangement with the archives that gives me a comfortable living."
Ebnik spoke up. "Arinot is also a scholar and scribe. He understands more about vaetra than many sorcerers."
Ebnik stood. "But that's not why we're here either. We've come to find out what Arinot can hear for us, not what knowledge he can share." Arinot and Sulana rose to their feet as well.
Arinot grimaced. "To the tower, then?"
"Indeed. To the tower," Ebnik confirmed.
Sulana wasn't sure what they were talking about, but the Archives had only one tower, and she assumed that was where they were headed. Arinot grabbed a lantern and left the room through the door she and Ebnik had entered. He turned to the other door she'd seen at the end of his hallway and opened it to reveal another dark passageway. Arinot led the way, his swaying lantern pushing back the darkness as they moved forward.
This passage was similar to the one that had taken her from the library to Arinot's chamber; it was rough-hewn and possessed no illuminators. Sulana wasn't sure of their direction, but she suspected that this route would allow them to bypass most of the castle's main corridors on their way to the tower.
A short distance down the corridor, they came to steps leading upward. They climbed the stairs to a closed door, where Arinot hesitated. "I hate this part," Sulana heard him murmur, and he handed the lantern to Ebnik before he opened the door.
The doorway opened up into one of the hallways of the main castle, so as Arinot stepped over the threshold, an illuminator came on a little farther down the hall. Arinot clapped his hands to his ears and whimpered before charging down the hallway toward a door at the far end. He pressed his shoulder into his right ear to free that hand, quickly opened and stepped through the door.
Ebnik and Sulana hurried down the hall after him. Arinot stared balefully at them with his hands still over his ears as they joined him. Sulana slammed the door closed, and Arinot lowered his hands and let go of the breath he'd been holding once the hallway illuminator extinguished itself.
Sulana had never considered the illuminators a menace. To her, they had always been a welcome convenience. Seeing Arinot's distress made her sorry they couldn't disable or remove the illuminator in the hallway that connected to the tower, but she supposed it didn't make much sense to inconvenience everyone for the sake of one man whose existence was a secret.
They stood on a landing inside the castle tower. Steps spiraled both upward and downward from the landing. The treads connected from the outside wall to a central stone column, with cool air cascading steadily down the stairwell into the depths of the castle. Muted natural light seeped down from above.
The tower was actually part of the castle's heating system, which used vaetric heaters to warm the outside air that flowed down the tower stairwell. The warmed air rose up through the rooms and halls of the castle's interior through ventilation shafts between each level.
Arinot shivered and started up the stairs. "Let's get out of this beastly draft."
Everyone was panting by the time they reached the top landing. Ebnik rested his hand against the wall and hung his head while he caught his breath. "Those stairs get longer every year," he grumbled between breaths.
Above them, large slots in the exterior wall admitted a steady flow of fresh mountain air. She could see the underside of the pointed tower roof that protected the openings from weather.
Arinot smiled, gave Ebnik an affectionate pat on the back, and then opened the door that led out to the tower's maintenance walkway.
As a child, Sulana had loved coming up here. The tower rose high above the Archives castle and the hillside into which the castle was built. From the walkway that encircled the top of the tower, one could see for multiple days' travel in almost every direction. Only one nearby mountain peak obscured the view to the southwest, but that peak was itself a magnificent vision of rocky slopes and stunted trees. In every other direction, the tree-spiked landscape rose up to snow-capped peaks and fell down into bright green valleys.
Ebnik followed them out onto the walkway, and everyone simultaneously took a deep breath of the fresh morning air.
Arinot looked eagerly around at the view and went right up to the waist-high wall that protected observers on the walkway. "Beautiful. I don't get up here often enough," he said with a wistful expression.
"What do we do now?" Sulana asked.
"We let Arinot adjust to the noise level, and then we find out what our brethren are up to out there in the world," Ebnik said.
"What are we listening for?" Arinot asked.
"I'd rather not say just yet. Let's see
what you can tell me first," Ebnik answered.
Arinot gave one curt nod and started walking slowly around the tower walkway. Sulana followed him a couple of paces behind, enjoying the view and leaning over to look down at the Archives personnel moving around on the ground far below. She could hear the breeze whisper through the treetops and caught snatches of conversation. The clouds were high and thin in the sky, which was a welcome relief from the fog of clouds that frequently cloaked the mountain.
Arinot winced and stepped back toward the wall of the tower a few times during his walk. Sulana guessed that someone nearby must have used vaetra, which had to be expected in a place populated by sorcerers.
After he completed one full circuit, Arinot moved more slowly around the tower a second time, stopping occasionally to close his eyes and turn his head this way and that. He finally backtracked to a position that faced toward the south.
"There's something going on over there that I haven't heard before." He finally stated, pointing south. He turned and nodded his head toward the north. "There's also unusual activity going on toward the north, but it isn't consistent. This," he said, nodding south, "is very consistent. And it's layered."
Sulana frowned. Layering was a term sorcerers and Sensitives used when they picked up multiple colors or sounds, indicating multiple vaetric manifestations happening at the same time. If Arinot was hearing continuous layers of manifestation, that meant someone was consuming a lot of vaetra. Sulana was unaware of any Archives-related activity that would explain it.
"Can you tell how far?" Sulana asked.
"Not exactly. It can be hard to tell the difference between something strong that's farther away and something weak that's closer, but the way it's being diffused by the mountains between here and there, I'd say it's down by Teardrop Lake somewhere. Probably on the near shore."
Ebnik smiled. "That's exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you, Arinot."
Sulana looked at Ebnik. "But if that's true, more may be going on in Buckwoods than we realized. For one thing, it seems likely that the sorcerer is still there, given all the manifestation noise." Ebnik nodded encouragingly. "And he's up to something significant or he has a lot of help," she continued.
"Or both," said Ebnik, completing her conclusion.
"Can you tell me what's going on?" Arinot asked carefully. He was obviously used to dealing with Archives sorcerers and their secrets.
Ebnik motioned Sulana and Arinot to precede him back into the tower. "Yes. We'll talk about it on the way down. And then I have to arrange an audience with the Council as quickly as possible."
Chapter 17
Meldon and I crouched behind a dense thicket of shrubbery along the edge of the forest that encircled Buckwoods. From our uncomfortable position, we observed the villagers going about their daily tasks. We'd left Meldon's horse and Patches at a grassy area along the road behind us so they wouldn't make any noise that might give us away while we checked out the village.
The village had a panoramic view of the lake. Its choppy blue-grey water stretched far and wide. Beyond the opposite shore, snowy peaks rose majestically into a cloud-streaked sky.
Two of the village women were working a large garden to our right. The younger woman was busily hoeing weeds from the area of the garden that had yet to be planted. The older woman was busy inspecting the tiny plants that were already in the ground getting their start on the growing season. She checked each plant for pests or damage and tied the weakest of them to support sticks.
The short village dock that jutted out onto the lake was empty. The fishing boats were out harvesting the lake's bounty, bringing home the fish that gave Buckwoods its living.
On the shore next to the dock was a covered fish-cleaning station. Sitting next to it was a small smokehouse, with smoke threading out of the walls and ventilation holes. A strong wind from the south whipped the thin, fish-scented smoke toward the gardeners and the two of us.
The wind was a blessing. It covered any small noises we might make and prevented the horses and mules in a nearby corral to our left from catching our scent. Tree branches and the leaves on the shrubs waved around creating a visual distraction as well.
"I don't see anything unusual. Do you Meldon?" I looked over at Meldon to find he was staring wide-eyed at the older woman working the garden. I followed his gaze, but saw nothing unusual. I could once again hear the strange noise I had heard the last time I was here. The wind seemed to have no affect on my ability to hear the humming sound.
"What is that? What is she wearing?" Meldon whispered with a shaking voice.
I took a closer look at the older gardener and could see one of the strange amulets dangling down from her neck. "Do you mean the amulet?"
"Yes. Why does it glow?" he asked, easing back away from the bush that obscured us and swallowing hard.
He seemed about to turn and run, so I grabbed his arm. "It's glowing?"
His eyes were wild and he whispered harshly over at me. "Yes! Don't you see it? It's the magic you warned me about isn't it? We need to get out of here!" He tried to pull his arm out of my grip.
"Meldon, stop!" I hissed. "Control yourself. We have a job to do, remember?" I grabbed him by the shoulders and made him look at me.
The wild look slowly left his eyes and then he looked down at the ground, his neck and face flushing red. "I'm sorry, Jaylan, I don't know what got into me." He glanced up at the working woman again and shuddered. "That amulet glowing with magic is the most terrifying thing I've ever seen."
I narrowed my eyes and stared at Meldon for a moment to see if he was really settling down. I couldn't see the glow he was talking about, but if Meldon could see the amulets glowing and they were also the source of the sound, there was no longer any doubt that sorcery was at work here. I had also just learned that Meldon was a sight Sensitive like Sulana. Did he have the potential to become a sorcerer too? I almost decided to turn around and leave right then. If Meldon couldn't control his reaction to the amulets, he could put our mission at risk. But we were here, and he seemed to be getting a grip on himself.
I let go of his arm, and he gave me a weak smile. "Avoid looking at the amulets then, if you can," I suggested. He nodded and took a deep breath. We both turned back to watch the village.
The wagon that Kefer and Peltor were supposed to be escorting to Plains End sat next to a stone ice house. However, the door of the ice house was propped wide open, which was odd. Just then, a man came out of the building carrying a woman in his arms. She was wrapped in a blanket and her head rolled against the man's shoulder as he shifted his arms under her. The wind whipped up and fluttered the blanket, exposing bare legs and feet. The man carried her over to one of the village huts across the square from the ice house.
"What do you think that was about?" I wondered aloud to Meldon. He shook his head and cleared his throat, but didn't say anything. "And where are Kefer and Peltor? Do you see them?"
Something cold and sharp touched the back of my neck.
"We're right here, Jaylan, did you miss us?" Peltor said from behind us with a sneer in his voice.
I cursed myself for not considering that the wind was good cover for everyone, not just us.
I started to turn around, but stopped when the pressure on my neck increased. Kefer's voice came from directly behind me. "Don't move, Jaylan. Stay right there on your knees for now. You know what to do. Put your right hand up behind your head and undo your sword belt with your left. Same with you, Meldon."
I heard a sharp intake of breath from Meldon. Peltor was apparently a little more forceful with his jabs.
Kefer and Peltor relieved us of our swords and our daggers and then allowed us to turn around and face them.
"What's going on here, Kefer? You and Peltor should be most of the way to Plains End by now. Borlan is furious with you both."
Kefer got a faraway look in his eyes and spoke almost absently. "Something more important came up. This village desperately needs our protection.
We can't leave right now."
"Protection from what?" I asked.
"Right now, you!" Peltor responded, looking at both of us suspiciously. "What are you doing here? Why were you spying?"
"Quiet, Peltor," Kefer interrupted him. "It's not our job to question the prisoners."
My heart sank when Kefer said the word prisoners. "Why are we prisoners? What do you plan to do with us?" I asked.
Kefer shook his head. "Not my decision. We need to take you to see Lord Thoron."
"Who is Lord Thoron?" I asked.
"No more questions. Get up, turn around, and walk. We're going to the temple." Kefer motioned Meldon and I to precede him and Peltor into the village.
***
The villagers stopped what they were doing to stare at us as Kefer and Peltor marched us through the small village square toward the ice house.
Meldon stumbled as we went by one of the village huts. A woman wearing one of the amulets stood in the open doorway holding tightly to the shoulders of a small boy. "They...they're all wearing one of those glowing amulets!" Meldon exclaimed. I could hear the panic creeping back into his voice.
"Quiet!" Peltor said and rapped Meldon on the top of the head with the flat of his blade. Meldon winced and subsided, but I could hear his breathing increase. I started to worry that he'd try to run and get himself killed.
When we reached the ice house, I discovered why the door stood open. It was to let in light and air. The ice house had been converted into a workshop of some kind. A few short steps took us down to the sunken stone floor. The room was dominated by two parallel stone blocks that normally held chunks of ice to cool the fish that would be packed around the floor.
A fishy odor still tainted the air, but the room had been cleared of fish, ice, and the straw insulation that would normally accompany them. Instead, one of the stone blocks was covered with a cloth and littered with tools, chunks of glass, and several of the strange amulets we had seen the villagers wearing. The other block was bare.
A man wearing a fine blue robe protected by a canvas work apron looked up from his task. "What have we here? Visitors?"
The Vaetra Chronicles: Book 01 - Vaetra Unveiled Page 15
