by William King
“I do. Doubtless they knew the spell. Perhaps they would have taught it to me if I had been prepared to spend the time learning it and prepared to pay the fee.”
“Pay the fee? In gold?” There was an edge to my voice now. No one had ever mentioned paying fees to learn spells to me before. There was a lot I was going to have to learn about being a wizard.
“Sometimes the fees are in gold, more often than not they take the form of debts and obligations bound by oaths. It is a sad fact that many wizards horde their knowledge. These lesser known spells are things of great value to those who possess them. Each represents a treasure trove of knowledge passed down to us by the ancients. The ability to work spells that no other can gives a wizard power. It makes them different, special. Its represents a significant advantage to a wizard. It gives him a skill or a power that few other people possess."
“Like the way that some guilds protect their craft secrets,” I said. I understood this all too well from the way the shoemaker's guild practised its monopoly back in Khorba.
“It is worse,” Master Lucas said. “Guild members often share knowledge. In the case of individual wizards that is much rarer.”
“And yet you have agreed to teach me, Master Lucas,” I said. I could not keep the suspicion out of my voice. Was he expecting me to believe that he was more generous than other wizards?
“I have not agreed to teach you anything yet, young man,” Master Lucas said. “Except, of course, about the theory of magic your mistress asked me to.”
“I see, sir,” I said.
“There’s no need to sound so sour. It’s early days yet. I may yet teach you something.”
“But,”" I said. “But.”
“But what, young man? Speak up!”
“What you just said. About wizards not sharing spells. Why would you teach me? I am apprenticed to Mistress Iliana.”
“And you think that Mistress Iliana and I are rivals? We are not, I can assure you. In many ways we are the opposite. The things that she is good at are the things I am not and vice versa. Our spheres of interest do not conflict.”
“But that’s does not give you the reason to help her, if what you were saying about wizards is true. Your knowledge is still worth a lot.”
“Yes, young man, it is. But His Grace, Duke Marco, has requested that I teach you as best I can.”
“Why, sir?” My astonishment must have shown on my face.
“Surely you are not so naïve, young man. You have performed a great service for the Duke. He is a man who shows his gratitude.”
“He has commanded you to do this?”
“Let us say that he has requested it and I am inclined to grant his request. After all, he is my liege lord.”
I wondered exactly what he meant by this. One’s liege lord did not need to make requests. One’s liege lord could command if he so desired.
A moment’s reflection showed me that commanding was not always the best way for a man like the Duke to get what he wanted. A man who is commanded to do something may not do it to the best of his ability, certainly not as well as he might of his own free well.
“I can see I have given you something to think about,” Master Lucas said. “Shall we check the bond between you and your dragonling?”
Again I heard the suppressed excitement in his voice. At the time I thought it was because of his thirst for knowledge.
Part of me was reluctant to have any sort of examination performed on Red and myself. I could not exactly say why. Perhaps I was averse to being studied like an animal. Perhaps it was my mistrust of Master Lucas. Perhaps I was just nervous about what he would find. I remembered then that Master Lucas had still not told me what the advantages of the bond were, so I reminded him of this.
“There are a number,” he said. “They vary according to the circumstances and the nature of the familiar and the wizard.”
What a surprise! Yet again the answer was some variant of it depends. I did not know why I had not seen it coming.
“What can they be, sir?” I asked.
“A mage and his familiar can share senses. There are many cases of mages using their familiars to scout out locations.”
“I don’t quite understand, sir.”
“Let us say that you could see through the eyes of your dragonling,” Master Lucas said. “Would that not be useful?”
It would not only be useful, it would be exciting. I thought of being able to look down upon the world from the eyes of a flying dragonling. I would be able to see much further in any man on the ground could. I could scout out locations.
I thought about our encounter in the Bleak Lands with the soldiers of the Shadow Kingdoms. About the way the flyers had shadowed us and then reported back to their master. If I could look out through the eyes of Red, I could do the same thing. “It would, sir.”
“Good. You begin to understand. There are other ways a familiar can be of use. Over time, like their masters, they develop the ability to draw upon the power. Which means that you can do it too, through the link that you share.”
“Would that not harm Red? Would it not be possible to overdraw on his power as well as my own?”
“Yes, obviously. Therefore, it is an act that needs to be performed with some caution. Particularly if it is likely to cause harm to your familiar.”
I thought about the way a dead familiar could hurt a wizard. It would be a terrible risk to take.
“Familiars can be used as proxies for certain kinds of spell.”
“Proxies, sir?”
“Spells can be cast through them. They can be present as a stand-in for the wizard. It does not work for all magic, of course but it can be used for some.”
Once again I pictured Red flying over the battlefield and being able to cast spells from above. I thought about the balefire Mistress Iliana had used. I wondered if that is where the stories of fire-breathing dragons had come from.
“Not only can you draw upon the power of a familiar, you can draw on its vitality as well. You can use its life force to heal yourself, or your life force to heal it, if you know how to do it.”
I could see that there was a lot I was going to have to learn about my link with Red. Master Lucas had said he did not possess the spell that would create a familiar and I was guessing that my mistress did not either. In her field it would be too useful. “How can you know all of these things, sir” I asked. It was not hard to put the sense of respect and wonder into my voice.
“I can read. At some point in the not too distant future you will be able to too. The books on the subject are in the Duke’s library. I’m sure that he would not object to you reading them once you are capable of doing so.”
“The Duke’s library?”
“It is in the Glass Wing. He has over a thousand books there, the largest collection of such volumes in Umbrea. It is said to rival the great collection of the Order of the Dawn at Mount Aethelas.”
At the time I had no idea of how much books cost to make or purchase. If I had, I would have been even more impressed.
“I believe I need to learn of this, sir,” I said. I looked down at the little dragonling at my feet. He was pushing aside a small boulder and looking under it for a worm. He glanced up at me and belched. There was another faint smell of sulphur. “I need to learn all of this I can.”
“And so you shall, young man, but first you must learn to read.”
He sat there waiting and I realised he was still expecting me to reply to his question about studying the link between Red and myself. “When will we be able to visit your laboratory, sir?”
He smiled and rubbed his hands together and looked even more cheerful than usual. “No time like the present, lad. No time like the present.”
Chapter Ten
As we descended the many flights of stairs, it became colder and colder. At the foot of the last and lengthiest stretch of steps, a lantern glowed. It was the first of many I was to see down there.
We continued through
the shadowy maze of corridors. There were times when I heard groans and screams. It was not like the bright world above. We were in the dungeons and there were people condemned to suffer down here. Master Lucas did not pay much attention to the noise. I supposed that he had grown accustomed to the place after all his time in the Palace. I could not help but wonder if Xander were somewhere close by.
“May I ask your question, sir?” I said to distract myself from that uncomfortable thought.
He glanced over at me and said, “of course, lad. Of course.”
“How long have you lived here, in the Palace, I mean?”
“I came here to be Master Trent’s apprentice over fourty years ago. I spent most of my life in the service of the Duke. Which means I spent most of my life in this Palace.”
To a youth of my fifteen summers that was an inconceivable length of time. Master Lucas has been walking these corridors since before my father was born.
“Was it always like this, sir?”
“Like what, lad?”
I was embarrassed now. I had hoped he would begin to talk about the prisoners. He genuinely seemed not to know what I was talking about. “So noisy, sir?”
“You mean the people in the cells? No. There are more people in them than any time I can remember. There are those who plot against our Duke. There are those waiting sentencing for their crimes. There are those who…”
His voice trailed off and I wondered what he had been going to say before he decided to restrain his tongue.
“Who, sir?”
He considered for a moment, clucked his tongue and said. “There are those who are awaiting the question but you don’t have to worry about that.”
He paused for a moment and I wondered why. It never occurred to me then that he might simply have been trying to be tactful, given the Inquisition’s interest in myself and my mistress.
“Frater Franco told me that the false monk, Xander is being held down here,” I said.
“Did he now,” said Master Lucas. It was the first time I ever thought I detected a note of criticism of the inquisitor in his voice. “I am not sure there was any need for that, but Frater Franco knows his own business best.”
After that he fell silent and I sensed that this was not a subject he wanted to talk about. It was only much later that I found out why.
I tried to memorise the way back through the maze. It was difficult. There were many turnings and gates. I was relieved when I saw armed men standing at junctions and guarding various doors. I would be able to ask for directions if I got lost on my way out.
Eventually we came to a large locked door. It was metal bound and it had three locks. Elder signs marked it along with other runes. Magic pulsed through the wood and stone.
Master Lucas touched each of the symbols in turn and muttered a word. Power flared around him, not as strong as the aura that surrounded Mistress Iliana but nonetheless very great.
Nothing visible happened but I sensed coils of magical energy unwinding. After this was done Master Lucas took keys from his belt and unlocked the door.
Red watched with wide eyes, giving little worried bleats as the magic happened. I wondered whether he sensed something too or whether he was merely picking up on my emotional response. Perhaps Master Lucas would be answer that with his tests.
We stepped inside a massive chamber. The ceiling curved overhead. Scattered around the room were a number of workbenches. Lanterns hung from the walls. They were dull with just the faintest glitter in their core.
Master Lucas walked around, touched each lamp and spoke a Word. As he did so the lanterns lit up. There was no burning oil in them, just some form of crystal that emitted a glow like a small sun. Around each lantern a pool of light emerged until eventually they overlapped and made the whole room as bright as day.
“That’s better,” Master Lucas said. “I’ve thrown a little light on the subject.”
It took me a moment to realise that he was making another terrible joke. I tried to force out a laugh but it did not come. He shook his head ruefully.
Glass jars stood upon the workbenches. Each contained things that resembled internal organs. I had seen enough of those when I helped my father butcher beasts. These ones were larger than those that you would expect from sheep or a goat.
Master Lucas caught the direction of my gaze. “Yes. You guessed correctly. I am studying the internal organs of human beings.”
He strode over to one of the tables and pointed to what looked like a liver. It was larger than the one beside it and it looked distorted somehow.
“One of these livers belonged to a man of normal health. Aside from the fact that he is dead, of course. The other belonged to a heavy drinker. You can see the differences.”
He sounded excited by this rather than disgusted as most people would have been. I wondered if this was the sort of thing that was forbidden by the Inquisition. I thought about the security surrounding this place and the spells on the doors and the darkness that had greeted us on entry.
“These came from human bodies,” I said. I could not keep the horror out of my voice.
“Yes.” He spoke the word brightly, as if proud of himself. “I have a special dispensation from the church to investigate these matters. Our internal organs often reflect the state of our health, or the diseases that kill us. And some of these things are not natural.”
He strode across to another table and pointed to a mass of flesh in which black lumps blossomed. “These tumours were caused by blight. They continue to grow even after the flesh of its owner is dead. Interesting, is it not?”
“This is the product of blight,” I said. Once again I was horrified. After all the warnings Mistress Iliana had given me about avoiding this stuff, it seemed strange to see someone so excited by its presence.
“Yes,” Master Lucas said. He noticed the expression on my face. "Do not worry, the jar is warded by elder signs and the stoppers are plugs of wraithstone. I am thinking of introducing a distillate of it into the fluid to see if it has any effect on the tumours.
I wandered around the chamber. Huge glass jars held pickled dogs. Cats and birds floated in others alongside the remains of a dragonling. The sight caused Red to mewl piteously as if he feared he might soon join it.
Skeletons of people and other things reminded me of the ones I had seen in the Glass Wing. There were items of crystal and metal around which an aura of power hung. I suspected that for all its horror this was a place filled with objects worth a great deal of gold. Obviously the Duke’s patronage had made Master Lucas more than well-off.
I paused in front of a statue that resembled a human being except that on one side it was covered with painted skin and the other looked as if the skin had been flayed away to reveal muscle and bone and tendon beneath.
In a huge jar eyes floated. On the table next to it sat an eye that had been cut into with a scalpel. A notebook lay near at hand open at a very fine pen drawing of the dissected eye as well as notes in an alphabet which at least I recognised.
“I can see you are impressed by my collection,” Master Lucas said.
“It seems very valuable, sir,” I said. It was all I could do to keep my voice steady. I was regretting being so swift to agree to come down here. I did not want to think about the sort of tests a man capable of this sort of research might be capable of.
“That it is, young man. That it is. That is why I have those locks on the door and the wards in the walls.”
“I see, sir,” I said. Something sounded off in his explanation, as if he was not giving the real reason for all the locks but a plausible justification.
“Shall we begin?” He walked over to a distant corner of the room. A chair stood there overlooked by a complex device made of crystal lenses and brass. I sensed the magic it emitted.
“Please, be seated. Upon the stool,” Master Lucas said. “And take your familiar with you.”
I did as I was told. He walked up to the apparatus and fiddled with its
metal rings. He twisted them first one way and then the other. He extended a stand so that the device became elevated. As he worked he crooned a spell to himself.
Energy filled the room. Some of it I recognised. He was drawing on the power of light. It should have reassured me. The opposite of shadow, it would burn anything tainted. Nonetheless I found myself growing more and more nervous as the old wizard continued his work.
“What are you doing, sir, if I may ask?”
“This is an aurascope, young man. As the names suggests, it will let me examine your aura, the field of life energy that surrounds living things. That will give me some idea of your potential amongst other things. It should also enable me to see the astral links between you and your pet.”
“It sounds like an interesting device, sir.” I said because I could think of nothing else.
“It is of my own devising,” he said. He stood up and smiled proudly. “I based it on some notes left by the ancient philosopher Aeralis. I combined his astral analyser with a basic tetrascope. It almost always works.”
“Almost always, sir?”
“There’s nothing to worry about. It won’t do you any harm even if it reveals nothing.”
I was not reassured. Red began to squirm. I had to hold him and feed him small titbits of the sausage I carried for just such emergencies. That calmed him for a bit. Finally Master Lucas completed his preparations and said, “Please look in my direction. And try and keep your familiar still.”
Master Lucas spoke another word of power. Energy surged around us once more. One by one the lenses of the aurascope lit up. The glow rivalled those of the lanterns but each of the lenses emitted a different colour. One was a ghastly green. One was blood red. Another was a strange shade of yellow.
As all this was going on, Master Lucas continued to make adjustments. Once he had completed those to his satisfaction, he bent on the far side of the apparatus and looked through the lenses directly at me. He was silent for a long time and then he rose, made more adjustments, muttered more words of power and returned to his position.
“Interesting,” he said.