Nero spoke up from the rear, oddly interested in the history lesson. “Can you tell us anything about the building we are heading toward?”
“Ah, perhaps you noticed the stone tower attached to the marble Administration Building. The tower belonged to Viscom himself at the time he founded the Academy. It was the first building built on Academy grounds, and as such, has become more and more sacred to us over the centuries. The Administration Building was added some five hundred years afterward when the Academy had grown large enough to warrant such a structure. Viscom’s tower has been the official residence of the High Wizard of the Sorcerers since the Academy’s founding. The other towers were built by other wizards that heeded Viscom’s call to come to Jewlian. The apprentices originally stayed in the lower levels of the towers you see scattered about, and some of them still do, but now most of the students live in dormitories.”
Valihorn asked, “And what is that large circle embedded above the door of the Administration Building?”
Bristol said, “That is one of the marvels of Viscom’s brilliance and one of the most coveted items in all of Kentar. That, my foreign friends, is a machine that tells time.”
Valihorn stopped walking and stared at the time machine in open awe. It looked similar to the one Sion had produced during their contest. “How does it work?”
Bristol came and stood next to Valihorn. “There is a pendulum and gears inside the tower that power the arrows to turn about the center of the circle. One of the hands of the time machine moves quickly while the other moves more slowly. Together the hands divide each day into equal parts.”
Valihorn said, “Utterly fascinating.”
Bristol said, “Is it not though? It is the only one of its kind. Many have studied the time machine, but no one has been able to duplicate it. The machine has kept perfect time for over a thousand years.”
Evisar walked up to the two wizards and said, “Should we continue on? We don’t want to keep the Administrators waiting.”
Bristol said, “Oh yes. Quite right. Follow me.”
Evisar said, “So where are we going, and who will be there?” Valihorn listened on with interest as Evisar had taken the words right out of his mouth.
“The Great Hall is the Administrators meeting hall. The seven of you will stand in the middle of the Hall while the fifteen Administrators sit at three tables in horseshoe format and ask you questions.”
Evisar said, “That sounds like an interrogation.”
“To a certain extent it is. The ring on Valihorn’s finger is immensely powerful. We need to know more about it. Where did it come from? How did it end up on his finger?”
Valihorn sighed loudly as he walked up the few steps to the building. “Very well. Anything to be rid of this curse.”
The companions opened the outer doors and walked into a waiting room. The waiting room was small but grand. The ceiling was twenty feet high and the ten-foot-tall wooden doors leading to the Grand Hall were guarded by two large Knights of the Order with steel breast plates and long swords. The Professor waited with them and made more small talk to pass the time.
“You may notice when you go in that the High Wizard’s chair is empty. That is because the High Wizard went missing several moons ago.”
_______________________________________
Xander walked into the Administration Building with a full belly and a melancholy heart. He wanted the ring removed from Valihorn’s finger as much as anyone, except perhaps Valihorn, but he didn’t really have a stake in the whole affair. What disturbed him was the empty pouch around his neck that had once held the diamond gem with the trapped High Wizard. How he wished he still had the gem. Then he could give it to the Sorcerers, collect the reward, and live happily ever after at the Basilica as a priest of Fortuna. Instead, the vampires had attacked and turned him over to the Talon Thieves Guild. He made it out of captivity alive and was now famous at the Basilica, but the cost had been high. The Talon Guild had recaptured the ring and was one step closer to accomplishing its hidden goal because he had not been strong enough to resist.
Xander took a short walk around the waiting room and sat down on a marble bench. His mind wandered toward the Goddess of Luck, and continued until Fortica was first and foremost in his mind. She was an irritating little thing, but Xander found himself thinking of her often. He shook his head from side to side and brought his thoughts back to the present.
His friends and the Professor were passing time with meaningless words, until the conversation took an interesting turn. Bristol said, “You may notice when you go in that the High Wizard’s chair is empty. That is because the High Wizard went missing several moons ago.”
Xander shot out of his seat, with his mind firmly in the present. “What is the missing wizard’s name?”
“Vanderhoff.”
“And you have no idea where he went?”
“None. It was rumored that he went into his chambers with a woman the night of his disappearance, but no one knows for sure because he was not prone to the temptations of the flesh.”
Bristol was a friendly sort, and he seemed so genuinely upset over the High Wizard’s absence that Xander was tempted to tell him what actually became of Vanderhoff. He quickly came to his senses, primarily because there was no way to know how Bristol and the other Sorcerers would react if they knew he had lost the High Wizard so close to the Academy, and also because it was his secret and no one else’s. No, he would keep his own counsel. There was no reason for the Sorcerers to know what had happened.
Xander asked, “How long until he is replaced as High Wizard?”
“No one knows for sure. This has never happened before. It will be up to Rafa and the other Administrators to determine when enough time has passed.”
_______________________________________
Nero walked into the Administration Building with a full belly and a carefree heart. He didn’t care one way or the other what happened to the ring on Valihorn’s finger, but he did wish the companions would hurry up and get on with it. He had returned the gem safely to the Talon Guild and was now waiting to destroy the elven Philosophers from within. He couldn’t accomplish that goal until Valihorn was free of the ring’s curse. That meant he had to endure this painful experience with feigned interest and a concerned smile on his face, but that was easy enough.
Nero walked around the waiting room inside the Administration Building and took in its splendor. It was nothing compared to the Guildmaster’s private residence in Locus, but it did bear some resemblance to the third level of Guild headquarters where the Inner Circle members had their apartments. He took a seat on his own marble bench and faked interest in the small talk Bristol was making with the companions. It was entirely obvious to Nero that Bristol was only being friendly with the companions in order to gain their trust and find out as much information as he could about the circumstances of the ring. To Nero, his ulterior motive was plain, and it seemed as though Mestel had also figured out the game Bristol was playing, but Xander, Evisar, and especially Valihorn seemed to trust the wizard implicitly and were almost talking openly with him.
Nero’s mind wandered over many subjects until he heard Xander mention the High Wizard’s name. Suddenly Nero’s attention snapped back to the present, and he didn’t have to feign interest anymore. Bristol mentioned Vanderhoff’s disappearance several moons ago and that he had last been seen entering his room with a young woman close behind. Bristol did not believe this version of the story because Vanderhoff was not one to participate in temptations of the flesh. Nero had to turn away momentarily and fake a sneeze for fear he wouldn’t be able to contain the smile that welled up inside of him, for he knew the truth. Nero had heard firsthand at his only Inner Circle meeting that Vanderhoff actually had succumbed to the allure of a woman.
Unbeknownst to everyone at the Academy, Lidea, one of the Thirteen, had been the woman who followed Vanderhoff into his room. It may have been entirely true that the High Wizard was not
known for giving into the temptations of the flesh, but that was only for someone who had never met a woman like Lidea. She was the Talon Guild’s master interrogator and manipulator. Nero was an elf who had been all across Tellus, but he had never seen anyone who matched Lidea’s allure. She was a human, repulsive by design, but so far as Nero knew, no one of any race had ever been able to resist her charms. Nero only hoped that one day he would be put to that particular test, and fail miserably.
Nero’s lustful daydreams were interrupted by unwelcome feelings of guilt at having taken the gem from Xander – but it had been so easy, and it was nothing compared to how he was going to use Xander in the near future.
Xander continued talking with Bristol and said, “How long until he is replaced as the High Wizard?”
Bristol said, “No one knows for sure. This has never happened before. It will be up to Rafa and the other administrators to determine when enough time has passed.”
Nero’s face went slack as he bounded up from his seat. What had Bristol said? Rafa? Nero knew Rafa was a Talon Guild plant inside the Sorcerers, but he had no idea Rafa was here now, or that he had risen to the rank of second in command of the Sorcerers. Rafa’s presence here could unbalance things.
Nero said, “And who is Rafa?”
Bristol turned to Nero, surprised at his entry into the conversation. “Rafa is second in command of the Sorcerers. He has kept us together and reminded us of our sacred duty during these uncertain times.”
“How interesting. And he will be asking the majority of the questions?”
“I would think so.”
With that, there did not seem to be anything else to say. Nero retreated into his own thoughts. It wasn’t much longer until one of the Administrators who had questioned Valihorn earlier opened wide the doors and ushered them in.
“Please come in. We are ready for you now.”
Chapter 103: Striking the Curse
Valihorn said, “Please lead the way.”
The companions were silent as Professor Bristol and Valihorn led the companions into the Grand Hall. The floor was white marble with black marble interlaced through the stone. The walls were solid granite. The room itself was fifty feet wide by eighty feet long. It was dominated by three long wooden tables that formed a horseshoe of sorts around the center of the room. The side tables were at ground level, while the table of honor was two steps higher than the rest of the room. Valihorn’s sandaled feet shuffled confidently across the smooth marble, but inside he was shaking. He had never been more terrified in his life. He was the object of everyone’s scrutiny and he hated it.
Each of the three tables had five chairs behind it. Valihorn noticed that the middle chair at the table of honor was empty, just as Bristol had said. It did not take Valihorn but a glance to see that the chair to the left of the High Wizard’s chair was also empty. The Administrators seated at the tables were dressed in mostly white robes with different amounts of purple fabric laced throughout. Valihorn turned his head all the way to the left and then the right in order to look at each wizard in turn. The amount of purple sewn into the robes was least near the head of the table of honor and increased in a gradual cascade down to the end of the tables on the right and left. The man seated directly to the right of the High Wizard’s chair, presumably Rafa, had only a small amount of light purple in the lining around his neck. The wizards at the end of the horseshoe wore robes that were about half-and-half. It was easy enough to see that rank at the Sorcerers Academy was determined by the purity of the robe each wizard wore.
The man known as Rafa looked Valihorn up and down and seemed to take his measure at a glance. He glanced at each of the other companions in turn until he nodded his head at Bristol. Valihorn looked to his left quickly enough to see the Professor return the nod. The Professor walked around the table of honor and took the empty seat to the left of the empty High Wizard’s chair. Before he took his seat, a servant came forward and traded his half-purple, half-white robe for one that nearly matched Rafa’s in its purity. Valihorn felt the sting of betrayal as Bristol took his seat. The Professor had been a plant to learn as much as possible about the newcomers before they came before the Administrators. Valihorn was irritated for letting his guard down even a little bit, and he bitterly hoped the Professor had gotten the information he needed.
The room came to order and Rafa said, “I greet you, my friends. My name is Rafa. Would the wizard known as Valihorn please come forward?” Valihorn looked around and accepted a nod from Evisar. He took three steps forward and felt totally separated from his friends. “Valihorn, I have heard part of your story from my associates, but I would like to hear the entire story from the beginning, so that we may best know how to proceed.”
“Of course.”
“Do you mind if I cast a spell on the ring that will let me ascertain how much power is contained within?”
Valihorn’s first thought was that if Rafa cast such a spell, he might discover that the companions were shielded by magic of their own and were actually a group of elves. But since he could not say no, he instead said, “Not at all. Please proceed.”
Rafa waved his right hand in the air and said one arcane word that echoed throughout the room. A moment later Rafa winced in pain, covered his eyes, and turned away from the ring.
The wizard in the first chair on the table to the right said, “I told you. The ring is the most powerful item I have seen in thirty years.”
Rafa quickly recovered and said, “Where did you find this ring?”
The moment of truth had finally arrived. Valihorn treaded carefully. “My friends and I live in a small village in the Kingdom of Sena, just across the river from Goldguard.”
Rafa said, “Ah, that explains why you were never a student of the Academy.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Continue.”
“Near our village there are a couple of gold mines. Although the Kingdom of Kentar won most of the gold mines during the war, Sena still has a few. One of the miners is a good friend of my Master and said that while working in the mine he had uncovered a tunnel with writing on the walls that he did not understand. My Master bid Evisar and me to go with the miner and report back what he had discovered. Evisar and I went into the gold mine and found he had uncovered the opening to a burial chamber behind a wall of rock. The miner had only uncovered a two-foot hole, but it had been enough for him to stick a lantern in and see the entrance to the burial chamber beyond.
“Under the secrecy of night, we pulled enough of the rock away to crawl into the tunnel. The tunnel went twenty feet farther back into solid rock before ending in front of an ornately carved door made entirely out of white wood. There was a picture on the white door of Evona, head of the Krone pantheon, sitting on her throne with an untold number of dead elves all around. We pried open the door and found a tomb made to look like a royal bedchamber. The tomb had wooden furniture, a bed fit for a queen, and it even had wooden floors.”
One of the wizard’s said, “You found a room with wooden floors that far underground.”
Valihorn turned to the wizard who asked the question. “Yes, my lord.” Then he turned back to the center. “Lying in the middle of the bed was the skeleton of a dead female Krone. She wore a formal gown with long skirts. We carefully investigated the room and discovered many things of interest. I was the first to see the ring on the skeleton’s hand, and therefore the one who fell under its spell. As soon as I saw the ring, all I could think about was putting it on. All I wanted to do was take the ring and run as far away as possible. Before Evisar and the miner realized what had happened, I took the ring off the Krone’s finger and placed it on my own. It was only then that I came out of my trance and realized what I had done. Evisar and the miner cursed me for a fool, but the deed was done.”
“You say you did not have the strength of will to resist the ring’s power.”
Valihorn looked down at his shoes, ashamed. “Yes, my lord.”
“That
is all right, son. The gods make us how they will. I am sure you do the best you can with what you have been given.”
Valihorn was insulted but could only say, “Thank you, my lord.”
“Please, continue.”
“I immediately tried to take off the ring but could not remove it. We did not know what to do. We decided to go see my Master in the hopes that he could remove the ring from my finger. As we walked out the door of the burial chamber, we passed through some kind of magical barrier. Once we were out of the bedroom and in the tunnel, the ground began to shake almost immediately. We were frightened and did not know what was happening. We thought that if we put the ring back in the room, maybe the shaking would stop, but when I tried to go back into the burial chamber, there was a forcefield of some kind over the entryway. The earth continued to shake and our fear continued to grow. The three of us huddled together in the tunnel, hoping the earthquake would stop. The shaking did eventually subside. We thought our prayers had been answered. We took the ring to my Master. Try as he might, my Master could not remove the cursed ring from my finger. The ring was too powerful.
“The next day we noticed a constant blue light in the sky to the northeast. The light was continuous – a burning reminder of my failure to resist the power of the ring. Everything in our village seemed fine except we could not forget the initial shaking of the ground and could not help but see the continuous blue light in the sky.”
Bristol said, “We also felt the earth shake as far away as Jewlian. We thought it was just an earthquake until we noticed the blue lights in the northeastern sky. We sent our wizards out to investigate and they came back with fantastic stories. The blue lights are caused by two portals that have been opened to the Plane of Chaos. Seeing the portals was awe-inspiring enough, but my wizards also reported seeing fantastic, mythical creatures immerge from the portals. At the time, we did not know why.”
Do the Gods Give Us Hope? Page 31