by David Ekrut
“She hit me!” Feffer screamed. “But I’m just fine. Thanks for asking.”
They frowned at him.
“Yes,” Zarah said. “Feffer was just apologizing for his obstinacy.”
“I was doing no such thing. You owe me the thum—”
The ship lurched as someone from above yelled, “Leaving the speedway.”
Zarah looked to the riverbank. The mountains had flattened over their journey. Ahead, the wide river forked around a city spanning all three sides of the waters. Smoke rose from the easternmost buildings. Just outside the walls, an army lifted boulders onto catapults aimed at the walls. The soldiers were at least one hundred thousand strong. Organized teams pushed more siege weapons closer to the city.
“What in the abyss?” Feffer said. When he saw Zarah look at him, he flinched and said, “Sorry.”
“They’re Kalicodians,” Zarah realized.
“Not all of them,” a soldier said. “That’s an Alcoan flag. And that other one is the symbol of one of the tribes of Kalicodon.”
“Aye,” Captain Tanderton said, coming over from the helm. “That’s the flag of Brinnon Fliste. He’s a lord of Metoic.” Tanderton spat. “Other’s the sigil of the Ironclad.”
“What do we do?” Feffer asked.
“It looks like this side of the city is untouched,” Zarah observed.
“Can’t risk it,” Tanderton said. “I can put you ashore, if you want. But I can tell you right now, that writ from the king ain’t worth the ink it took to make it. You ain’t gettin’ no horses from that city.”
He was right, of course. Few ships moved through the three wharfs, and all the gates were locked up and barred. Crude fences of razor wire blocked the wide moats. Whoever this lord was, he would not take the city without a high cost.
All the soldiers outside the city became still. They stood at attention and waited. A figure appeared in the sky above the army. Though it had the wings and head of a dragon, its torso had arms and legs. Dark scales covered its body. She felt the power of Air shift, then it spoke.
“People of Delcoa, I, Pantheonus Virasti, saizor suprema of the dracon, give you this one chance to save yourselves. Long before you constructed these walls, I claimed these lands as my own. Open your gates to my children, bow before me, and live. Before the sun falls on the third day, you will obey this command, or you will feel my wrath.”
His lips moved, and he vanished.
“What was that thing?” Feffer asked.
“According to legend,” Zarah answered, “the dracon are the first of the magi. They gave us the Words of Power.”
“Right,” Feffer said. “Time for us to get out of here. Can we get one of those lifeboats?”
“Nay,” the captain said. Then to his sailors, “Get us back on the speedway. Due west.”
“Wait.” Zarah held up a hand. “Put us to shore.”
“Are you mad?”
“You heard her,” Feffer said. “We need a thump—uh—we need a boat, please.”
“As my guard requested, I will need a boat. And I require travel gear and rations.” She looked to the smoldering city. “I plan to be well on our way, long before this day is up. Or is King Alcoa’s writ of promise not good enough for you.”
He frowned, but Tanderton took the writ.
Chapter 47
Clairvoyant
Partial Spending, Day 592 of experimentation.
The Awakening has begun. My Incantation of Severance was successful and cost just under 600 Berats as I predicted. The dragon known as Argiantilus rose in the square. An elementalist and famed treasure-seeker, by the name Jernod Farcrie, was stealing his way through our streets at the time. Argiantilus sensed his tamings and took him. Our war against the elementalists has begun in earnest. In the meantime, we will continue to wake the dragons as quickly as we gather the essences to do so. When enough of them rise, we will mount our attack against the elementalists.
~Ricaria Beratum, 2996 A.S.
~
Jax leaned against the smith’s shop across from the bakery and waited for the cart to pass.
They’d hurried to the inn, gathered their packs and made it back in less than an hour, but it was fully morning now. On his return, he’d seen no other people wanting to risk the early chill, until, of course, he was back here.
He busied himself by studying his fingernails and trying to look bored.
“He’s not going to be in today,” the old man guiding the horse said, pointing at the smith’s sign.
“What’s that?”
“Smith’s gone east. So has the brewer there and the candlemaker. Most of these shops are abandoned.”
“Curse it all,” Jax said, not needing to feign his agitation. He’d hoped to be inside the bakery before anyone saw him. “When will he be back?”
“Not soon, I’d reckon. Her family’s from Kalicodon. Don’t reckon she’ll return until this war’s done.”
“That is disappointing. I heard this was the best smithy in Iremine.”
“Cheapest maybe,” he said, urging his horse forward. “If you want the best, go to Merc’s on Lords Road.”
“Thank you,” Jax said, pushing off the wall. He walked the other direction until the interloper vanished around the corner.
Then he ran to front door of the bakery, pulled out his lockpicks, and got to work. There were six tumblers inside the lock, ridiculous security for a thumping bakery. It took him nearly a full minute to get the door open. Once inside, he stopped. Confused, he looked at the sign outside again and saw the painting of bread next to script that read, Sweet Breads.
“What in the abyss?” he asked, turning back to the room.
Glyphs were carved into the wooden frames of shelves filled with books along the walls. Even the kitchen had figurines and odd knickknacks instead of food stores. Piles of papers and scrolls were in stacks on the floor.
“Hello?” he called. “I’d like to purchase some sweetcakes.”
No one answered.
Holding his sword hilt, he ran up the stairs. He found each floor to the top in a similar state as the first level. A thin layer of dust covered the windowsills.
He moved to the east wall, hoping to get a better glimpse of the magi’s compound, but none of the windows faced the magi’s estate. He couldn’t very-well put a hole into the stone wall, but he had a few ideas of how to spy on the neighboring grounds.
He ran downstairs. Leaving the door to the strange bakery ajar, he sprinted back to the alley. “It’s open. Hurry it up.”
Daren and Elwin stood from behind their crate and ran after him. Once they were all inside, he closed the door and locked it.
“What took so long?” Daren asked.
“Someone came by while I was trying to get inside.”
“Did he see you?” Elwin asked.
“Yes. But—”
“This place does not look abandoned at all,” Elwin complained.
“I only suspected it was abandoned. Bakers rise before everyone else, because people want their pastries by dawn. And I didn’t smell bread. That, and the windows are shuddered and the display in the front is empty.”
“Is this even a bakery?” Elwin asked, studying a pair of eloiglyphs. “This is an artifact.”
“It is?” Daren said. As he reached for a book, Elwin swatted his hand, but the kid might as well have been a biteme trying to move a monotooth.
When Daren grasped a thick volume, a light flashed. Jax cried out, covering his eyes. When he looked again, he could only see white.
“I’m blind,” Daren said, clearly panicked.
After only a few seconds, he could see two dark blotches moving in front of him. Details came more slowly, but he could see Elwin rubbing his eyes and blinking. Daren stumbled around, half-reaching for his sword.
; “Just calm down,” Jax told them. “But don’t touch anything!”
Each second, the room became more and more clear. Their faces relaxed. Jax let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
“I can see again,” Daren said, cheeks splotched with red.
Jax looked over the books on the shelves. They were mundane. One was titled Grim Tales from the Hallow.
“What in the abyss is this place?” Jax asked. “Who in the ninth circle protects common books with eloiglyphs?”
“These are runic symbols for incantations,” Elwin said, inspecting the symbols, “Not eloiglyphs.”
“What’s the difference?”
“A magus made this.”
Jax swallowed his first retort. “Could one of these be the tome we need?”
“I don’t know. This isn’t the magi’s estate, but whoever lives here knows far more than I do about incanting. Daren, can I see that?”
Daren looked down at the book in his hand and flinched. He pushed it at Elwin. “Yes. Take it.”
The inside title did not match the cover. “This is Theory of Temporal Scaling.”
“What in the ninth circle does that mean?” Jax asked.
Elwin shrugged. “No idea. It discusses time like a river. In theory, a jaunter can enter the stream and fight the current to move backward, but it is costly. It’s easier to move with the natural flow.”
“Time travel?” Jax said. “That is ridiculous.”
“Is it?” Daren asked. “Look what else they can do.”
“Ah,” Elwin said. “It says here that doing so is forbidden. Any jaunter who discovers this ability should be executed.”
“Does it say how?” Jax asked.
“No.” Elwin shook his head. “There are no incantations in this one, just rules and philosophies.”
“What do you think these other ones are?” Daren asked.
“Not sure,” Elwin said. “But if you look there. The remaining runes are giving off a faint glow.”
Jax leaned closer, careful not to touch anything. They looked like carvings to him, intricate but normal.
“I don’t see it,” Jax confessed.
“You can’t? That’s odd. Daren?”
Daren shook his head.
“Looks to me like you’re the odd one, kid.”
Elwin frowned. “It’s there.”
Jax reached for a second book.
“Whoa,” Daren said, grabbing his wrist. “Are you mad?”
“It was just a bright light,” Jax reasoned. “We can close our eyes and take whatever we want. One of these might be the tome we are looking for.”
Daren shook his head vehemently. “That is a terrible idea.”
“I agree,” Elwin said. “These wards hold power somehow. That first one was expended. You see that. There is residue in the shape of an incantation meant to make light. This next one that is still glowing. I know this one, too. It will create a kinetic force. I don’t know what these other ones are.”
“Light, then force,” Jax mused. “I can only imagine they get progressively more deadly.”
“Probably,” Elwin agreed. “Each one is more intricate than the last.”
“Right,” Jax said. “Let’s take a look around. No telling what other treasures are hiding in this place.”
“I agree,” Elwin said, “but don’t touch anything that has eloiglyphs or runes until we can test it somehow.”
Jax went up the stairs. There were two rooms on the second floor, a master suite and a study.
“There’s a safe,” Elwin said, pointing into the smaller room.
On a desk in the far corner was an iron safe, sealed with a common lock.
“Can you open it?” Elwin asked.
“Almost certainly.”
When Jax didn’t move, Elwin asked. “What are you waiting for?”
“A thousand mundane books downstairs are warded. And here is this safe with the simplest of locks. Why?”
Elwin’s forehead creased. “Good question.”
They both stared at the iron box from several angles, trying to puzzle it out. Finally, Jax drew his blade and used it to lever the safe enough to see beneath.
“These are eloiglyphs,” Elwin said. He touched the one at the center and swiped to the right. There was a pulse of light.
“Is it safe now?”
“Yes.”
Jax picked the lock and opened the door. Inside was a crystal the size of a fist covered in glyphs. It was cut at an odd angle, as though it would fit up against a similar crystal. The light, streaming in from the window behind him, hit the base of the cylindrical object and reflected the symbols on the inside of the safe.
Elwin reached for it, but Jax grabbed his arm. “Are you certain it’s safe?”
“I believe it is.”
Jax let go but took a step back. “Fine. Go ahead.”
He closed one eye and squinted with the other as Elwin grasped the crystal. His fingers did not touch any of the symbols. Nothing happened.
They both sighed.
“Do you know what it does?” Jax asked.
“No. I only recognize a few of these. These are not eloiglyphs. They are from the magi school of temporal manipulation. The gem is huge.”
“It’s worthless,” Jax said. “The cut is unique, but you can find their like in any mine. My father used to give them to me as a boy. You can keep it until you figure out what it can do.”
“Really?”
“Only until you know what it can do. Then we’ll try to sell it, if it’s worth anything.”
“That’s fair.” Elwin picked up a cloth from the desk. After wrapping the crystal, he shoved it into a pocket of his cloak.
“Let’s keep looking. With any luck, we can find more valuables and skip the epic adventure to Abadaria.”
They went separate directions and looked for more hidden treasures. None of the other shelves were warded. After several hours, they found a few ever-torches and a minor artifact that would ignite kindling. The few notes Jax read from the various piles of parchment sounded like the ravings of a madman, who spoke of the end of all time flows. And he was obsessed with the magi compound next door. Though, few of the notes gave useful information.
Jax found himself back on the first floor staring at the volumes on the warded bookshelf. Elwin and Daren stood to either side of him.
“It’s useless,” Elwin said. “I don’t know how to get around these.”
“Thump it,” Jax said. “It would take months to skim through these to see if they were of any worth.”
“Wait,” Daren said, reaching for his sword. “I have an idea.”
Jax and Elwin exchanged a glance. Just touching a book blinded them for several minutes. What would hacking into one of the symbols do?
“Forget it,” Jax said. “It isn’t worth the risk.”
“That really only leaves us with one option,” Elwin said.
“The magi’s compound,” Jax agreed.
“How are we going to get eyes on the magi?” Daren asked. “There are no windows on that side at all.”
“Whoever lived here watched them somehow,” Elwin said. “If the incantations didn’t give it away, his notes are quite clear that he knows who and what they are.”
“There is an enclosure in the back,” Jax explained. “The private garden will give us a place to climb up.”
“What are we hoping to see by watching them?” Elwin asked.
“Their patterns and numbers,” Jax answered, moving to the back door. “Most importantly, we need to know how many of them are going in and out of that large building. If it holds any secrets, I imagine it is more restricted.”
The garden had seen years of neglect, but after some digging, he found a short ladder in the tool shed in t
he back corner of the enclosure. Jax settled it to the wall and climbed up. Standing on the top rung, he was able to just reach the flat ledge and pull himself the rest of the way. He settled to the side. Daren had little trouble pulling himself up. Elwin mumbled the odd words and floated up at about the same rate they had climbed.
“Look,” Daren said, lifting a ceramic pot. “It’s filled with pipe-weed ashes.”
“It seems,” Jax said, “our mystery baker would come here and smoke, while spying on the magi.”
“He was probably from a different order or conclave,” Elwin said. “Some of them are at war with one another.”
“That doesn’t concern us,” Jax said. “Let’s get a look.”
Jax was forced to stand in order to see into the magi’s compound, but when he was ready, a modest leap would take him across the narrow alley to the top of the magi’s wall. For now, he’d settle on observing.
The grounds were quiet. No smoke left the chimneys. No children played. No hounds barked.
“Hmm,” Elwin said with a frown. “Maybe they left too?”
“Dragons take me,” Jax said. “For your sake, they better not have.”
“Why for my sake?”
“I’ll kick you to the abyss if they have. We’ve come here because of your claims. If they’ve gone, it isn’t likely they left anything behind.”
“Why not?” Daren asked. “It looks fairly secure.”
“I’m no expert,” Elwin said, “but I expected more. I mean, any elementalist gifted in Air could fly over the wall. Levitation is a simple incantation. Sure, it’s slow, but I could get over easily enough. I mean, we could probably leap over right now.”
“Or maybe not,” Jax said, seeing a woman leave the main building. “Get down.”
They all crouched. Jax peeked just enough to watch the woman move across the square. She went to the first house and entered. After ten minutes or so, she exited and went to the next house. Then the next.
Jax sat back down.
“What do you think she’s doing?” Elwin asked.
“I don’t know,” Jax admitted.
“Probably looking for intruders,” Daren offered.
“Do you think she’s alone in there?” Elwin asked.
Jax looked over again. After a few minutes, she came out of a different house and moved to another.
