by Clark Bolton
“Couple hours. I’ll cast it again when it’s time.”
Autbek then cast anti-detection spells and then strengthened them with runes he drew upon the walls in each corner of the small room they had selected. It was in an unused part of the cellar which contained several other similar rooms, all of which showed years of neglect. He hoped Tenric would be too busy to have the time it would take to ferret them out now.
They settled in to wait out whatever storm there was above. No one seemed hungry or thirsty or talkative, not even Haspeth. Occasionally they would focus their gaze on the Dieknotkow who just sat unmoving in the light of the single candle they kept lite.
After a time Autbek broke the silence. “What is your name, sir?” He asked the man, feeling that the fellow now deserved one at least.
At first the man seemed not to hear, than it seemed he would make his usual clicking sounds, even going so far as to stick his tongue out. Finally he answered, “Neustus … name Neustus,” in a thick whisper.
“May I call you Neustus.”
The man nodded his head yes in the dim light. “Neustus.”
“May I ask you what kind of creature you are, Neustus?” Autbek ventured. He had wanted this chance for a long time. The Dieknotkow spoke often now but almost never answered questions but rather spoke strange phrases that rarely made sense.
“Man … I was man!” Neustus replied softly as he massaged the ornate ring on his hand.
“Huh, then what are you now?” Haspeth asked. The darkness seemed to give him a strange detachment allowing him to overcome his general dislike and distrust of the creature. It helped that it looked like a normal man at the moment.
“Am what Sorceress Maglassa … made.”
Autbek thought for a moment about the name but could not recall hearing it previously. “You were forced into the bird form by this Maglassa?”
“Yes … no, it was mine.” Neustus answered sadly.
The answer was vague to him but he wanted to move past it. “How old are you Neustus?”
“Centuries … more.”
This brought silence from the three as everyone seemed to be digesting what Neustus had just said.
“Wow … can you remember all this time.” Haspeth asked.
Neustus exhaled but said nothing.
“Do you know what is happening above?” Autbek asked, sorry in a sense that he had to remind everyone of their situation.
“Your master … leaving.”
“Isn’t he your master too?” Haspeth asked.
“No … Haspeth.”
This caused Haspeth to shuffle a bit in the dark nervously at Neustus’s use of his name. He could not think of anything else he dared ask.
“What will become of you Neustus?” Autbek asked.
“Instruction…mastery.” Neustus answered while nodding his head yes.
Nobody seemed to want to comment on this vague answer.
Castor finally asked a question. “Who will you instruct, Neustus?”
“You … service you.” Neustus said bobbing his head a few times.
“What does he mean?” Haspeth whispered.
“I don’t know, let’s ask him!” Autbek replied. “Will you instruct us, all of us?”
Neustus bobbed his head in reply.
“Will Autbek be our new master?” Castor asked out of the darkness.
“Hmm, hoping not to be Castor!” Autbek replied. He did not feel like he could take the whole academy onto his shoulders nor was he qualified to.
“No … no Autbek!” Neustus said, turning his head slowly from side to side.
“Is Autbek leaving?” Haspeth asked in a panic, but Neustus did not reply.
“Who will be our next master?” Castor asked solemnly.
“I … Neustus,” The man replied without hesitation.
“How? I mean how can you when you are … like this?” Haspeth blurted out.
Chills had run up Autbek’s spine as he thought about the answer. What had he gotten them into?
They asked a few more questions but got not much in reply from Neustus so after I time they just sat quietly. Eventually Castor got up and recast the illusion spell on the doorway. The whole time they had heard nothing from above and began to find the silence oppressive.
After a long period of silence Autbek turned toward Haspeth and asked, “Haspeth?”
“Yea.”
“I’m proud to have known you.”
“Hmm, thanks.”
“Just wanted you to know that.”
Haspeth paused for a moment then answered with a wave of his hand, “Same for me Lord Vis Mage-Councilor, fourth squire of Runeholden.” He chuckled after he said it.
“Castor?”
“Yep.”
“I hoped to learn more of you … you are my greatest accomplishment.”
“You will. Thanks!”
They said little more as the first candle burned itself out.
Autbek was awakened by Castor as he lit a fresh candle, he was proud to see the boy do it with a cantrip. Although it was not the same cantrip he and Haspeth used to light things it did work. It seemed his illusion magic could at times have a bit of reality in it, something he had read about, enough anyway to light a single candle.
Seeing Autbek watching him Castor mentioned, “Best rebuild the wall again.” The illusion of the wall had ended and so Castor got out his chalk again and cast again an illusion cantrip. “Do you need to cast that anti-detect spell again?”
“No, it has a few more hours in it I’m sure.” He said as he looked around. It was chilly and damp down here, though they had not seen any rats yet they knew they were likely here somewhere. He thought again about using some heating-wards to warm the place but Castor would not have it. He kept saying someone would ‘smell the heat.’
“How long have we been down here?” Haspeth asked just before realizing that Neustus was gone, and in his place was the Dieknotkow, feathers and all.
“Judging from the candles I’d say nine or ten hours.” Autbek ventured.
“Uph, best use the chamber pot than.” Haspeth announced.
“Please tell me you’ll be standing up!” Castor said dryly.
“Ha-ha, my good friend you are in luck.”
“What are we going to do with him?” Castor ask, referring to the Dieknotkow.
“We agreed on at least twenty-four hours or until Berdtom contacts us.” Autbek said. “Well go out first and then come back for him when it’s clear.
“Is that enough time for Tenric to leave you think?” Haspeth asked as he sat back down.
Autbek wondered that too but Castor assured them it would be. “I think there has been a ship waiting in the harbor for him for a few days now at least. Maybe more.” Castor said.
“He has planned this all then?”
“No, I think it’s the Earl’s plan to get rid of him quick once he decides to resign.” Autbek replied. He hoped his master was not furious at them, but what else could they do. Their oaths were to the Earl, strange as that seemed now.
They ate and then they waited … and waited until Castor alerted them. “I see light!” he whispered as he stared at the illusionary wall.
Neither Haspeth or Autbek could see anything through the fake wall, but they trusted their friend’s perception. Standing up they all moved a little closer to the doorway as they listened intently.
“There are two or three light sources I think, at the bottom of the stairs.” Castor said.
“I can do a cantrip to hear what their saying if I can guess correctly where they are.” Haspeth offered as he wiped his hands on his tunic.
“Click … click … click.” The Dieknotkow began making noises now and then it whispered just loud enough for them to hear. “Noooo … nooo.”
The three watched the man-bird for a few seconds. It seemed obvious that it did not want Haspeth to cast his spell.
“Think it does not want you too.” Autbek whispered. “I don’t want you doin
g it with the Comusa around anyways.”
“Yeah.” Haspeth whispered with wide eyes.
Castor motioned for everyone to be quite. A few moments later they heard voices. At first they were too muffled to make out, and then it became clear that men were speaking in a foreign language. Castor could see the torch light illuminating his wall now and the scuffing of boots on stone.
At least two men were searching the cellar and occasionally speaking softly in a harsh foreign tongue. They did not spend much time near the room the three were hiding in and apparently did not see through the illusionary wall.
Autbek squatted down next to the Dieknotkow and whispered to it, “Comprehend language on myself I will cast now. Is it ok?”
The Dieknotkow gave no sign either way and so Autbek cast the spell from memory. He had always kept it fresh in his mind so as to use when speaking with the man-bird but he found it not as necessary as before. He then walked to the doorway and listened.
“No signs anyone has been here in the last few hours, Solimek? You agree?” One of the men said. Then another replied.
“Agreed, there has been no magic cast here recently, let us look elsewhere!”
A chill ran up Autbek’s spine as he realized it was the Comusa and that if Haspeth had cast a spell that reached beyond their warded room they would surely have detected it. Now they knew for sure that the combination of illusion magic and anti-detection spells they had used in their tiny room was enough to mask them from the Comusa, and so hopefully Tenric.
Castor waited a minute or two after the lights vanished before whispering to Autbek. “I think they are gone now! What were they saying?”
Autbek filled them in on what had been said.
“Bloody hell.” Haspeth hissed as he sat down with a thud, realizing now how close he had come to giving them away.
Nothing else happened in the remaining time they spent in the cellar and when they guessed twenty-four hours had past they decided to have a peek up the stairs. Castor elected himself to go first and no one challenged it, so holding a single candle he stepped through the illusionary wall and proceeded toward the stairs.
Haspeth watched in amazement as Castor disappeared through the wall, and then working up his nerve he followed. Castor was already to the stairs and waiting impatiently for him. The three of them ascended the stairs and then extinguished the candle before slowly opening the door.
Castor could hear or see nothing but he could tell it was daylight out as the corridor was partially illuminated by sunlight. He then cautiously crept out after signaling the others to wait. A few things were out of place indicating people had left in a hurry he figured. There was spilled water and an overturned chair near the servants’ quarters but nothing to indicate any real violence had occurred.
He stopped to listen occasionally as he crept his way toward their master’s office. The waiting room was dark and the door to Tenric’s office was open. Creeping forward he confirmed that no one was in either of the rooms. He then proceeded to the exit corridor that leads out of the mages wing.
The runed door, that barred unwanted guests from entering the mages wing, was twisted and barely standing. It looked to have been chopped and hacked at and then finally broken down. Through the doorway he could see four or five men-at-arms leaning up against the wall. It looked like they had been there awhile as none had weapons in their hands and one was sitting in a chair.
“They are quiet for the most part.” Castor reported to Autbek and Haspeth. “They are wearing the standard livery of the palace, not the Mage-Councilor’s stuff.”
“We need to wait for Berdtom I think.” Autbek suggested.
“How long though and what if they come in here?” Haspeth whispered.
“I don’t know, but let’s have a look at the library.”
The three took what they hoped was the safest route to the library; there they found everything as it had been. No sign of trouble or even a hurried exit.
“This is good … I think.” Autbek said softly.
“Maybe it means he has not left yet.” Haspeth offered.
“Maybe, but I don’t think those guards would be there if they thought Tenric was coming back, or at least there would be a lot more of them.”
The three did a quick search of the other rooms in the mages wing except for those close by the guards. In the tower they found the Dieknotkow’s chamber as they had left it.
“What’s this?” Castor asked pointing to a piece of parchment on the casting-stand. “Was this here before?”
“No.” Autbek replied as he walked over to the stand to examine it. He figured he best not touch it, for if their master was really pissed at them he could have cast a spell upon it with the intent of doing harm to the person who touched or read from it.
Both Autbek and Haspeth cast some detection cantrips upon it but found nothing. Finally Autbek carefully reached out and grasped the parchment. He then walked to the window and pulled the curtain aside. Holding up the scroll to the light he attempted to see from its reverse side if he could make out any arcane-script written on. There appeared to be none so he proceeded to read it.
Whoever has taken what is mine should know
I will return to reclaim it. Return it or fear my
wrath.
- Tenric
After reading it aloud Autbek set it back on the stand. The enormity of what they had done today was sinking in now and he did not like it. He wanted no enemies especially Tenric, and try though he may he could think of no way to explain himself to his former master should he be given the chance.
“Someone's coming!” Castor hissed from the top of the stairs.
Autbek found his pulse racing as he tried to think what to do. There was nowhere to run as the tower had no other exit.
“Hide up there?” Haspeth suggested pointing to the ladder that led to the roof.
Considering it for a moment Autbek decided against it. “We would be trapped if they found us.” He whispered.
“Who goes there! Friend or Foe!” Castor suddenly yelled down the stairs. Whoever was coming was nearly to the top now and so he felt he had to act.
They heard the same harsh tongue spoken as before in the cellar, and they appeared to have stopped their advance for the moment. It was clear to all of them that it was the Comusa.
Autbek moved to the door next to Castor as he mentally ran through the list of spells he was prepared to cast. He also had a number of scrolls with him but was unsure if attack was the right course of action.
“What mages are there in this tower!” A voice from below demanded.
Autbek inhaled deeply then called out, “I am the Vis Mage-Councilor of Astrum, Captain Gosom! And I do wish to know what you are doing in my tower.”
Both Castor and Haspeth looked at each other with surprise at their teacher’s sudden assertiveness.
“We are the Comusa!” An angry reply came. “And we know a spell has been cast here but moments ago!”
“The spell was authorized by me Captain, and I do not answer to you!”
“You have cast spells and so you must surrender!”
The three of them then suddenly felt the presence of a searafact, which indicated at least one of the two Comusa was preparing to use it.
Autbek whispered the syllables of arcane-script that would mask his mind from the searafact as did Castor. Haspeth had closed his eyes and had his hands on his head.
“Haspeth…” Castor hissed at his friend as he tried to pull Haspeth’s hands from his ears. “The spell…cast the spell.”
“Ohhhh … my head!” Haspeth groaned until finally he understood what Castor wanted. A moment later he had cast the spell and was now starting to recover from the shock.
The fact that it worked so well soon gave them all courage. Then for a moment Autbek considered surrender but found no trust for these foreigners, particularly when he recalled what they had done to Lusric. “We will not surrender yet! We wish to speak with the Earl
or one of his court!”
There was a pause, then a reply. “Who is with you Councilor?”
The three of them saw no harm in answering that. “The apprentices Haspeth and Castor.”
“Then they must surrender, for they are listed in the warrants I hold!”
They looked at each other for a few moments in shock, feeling now betrayed by their Lord. Perhaps they should surrender and plead innocence before the Earl.
“Give us time to consider!” Castor called down the stairs.
“Very well, you may have a short time. But know that if you cast a spell we shall know it and we shall storm this tower!”
Relieved for the moment, Autbek stepped back and discussed their options with his two friends. “If we surrender we may find our fate the same as Lusric’s.”
“How about going out a window?” Haspeth suggested. “You have that levitate spell, so we could go down to the lawn below.”
“There are guards down there now!” Castor reported from the nearest window. “Lots of them.”
They each looked out a window and then discussed frantically their options. No one had any good ideas and all agreed that the sleep spell was the best option if the Comusa tried to enter the tower. But they could not think what to do if they got past them as surely there would be even more guards.
Sitting now at the door the three waited for the Comusa to come back for it appeared they had withdrawn from the stairs for now. Then they heard a familiar voice.
“Lord Autbek!” Berdtom called from the stairs. “It is I, Berdtom.”
Opening the door a crack Autbek peered down the stairs but could see no one on the winding stairs. Before he could answer he heard loud voices, apparently there was an argument going on at the foot of the stairs.
“They are mages!” Castor said. “They could make their voices sound like Berdtom!”
That gave Autbek pause for moment. “Tom! Is that you?” He called out.