Nature's Peril Part 1 (The Nature Mage Series)

by Pile, Duncan

  “That works for me!” Taurnil said, clearly satisfied with the explanation.

  “But hasn’t Pell been overrun by ogres?” Lydia asked.

  “I see we have a student of history,” Hephistole responded with a smile, his eyes twinkling momentarily with a fraction of his customary enthusiasm for scholarly endeavour, but then the smile dropped away and his eyes became distant again. “Yes the Ogre Nation currently holds Pell within its territory, so instead of drawing together an army, we have formed this group. If you are willing to do so, you are to infiltrate Pell, and steal as many fragments of the altar as you can manage.” There were sharp intakes of breath from around the room.

  “Yer not serious?” Baard said.

  “How can we get past thousands of ogres?” Talmo asked.

  “It sounds like suicide,” Zlekic said in heavily accented common.

  “Agreed,” his brother said.

  “Peace!” Hephistole said, holding out his hands placatingly. “Peace!” he repeated, and the mutterings died away. He looked at Voltan, and the warrior mage stepped forwards.

  “I know it sounds like suicide,” Voltan said, “but with such a weapon available to us, I don’t think we can refuse the opportunity to obtain it.” He looked around at the group. “We can’t make you go on such a perilous mission, but consider what we’re asking of you first before dismissing it. We’re not asking you to battle ten thousand ogres. This quest will be accomplished more by stealth than by force. The aim is to avoid combat altogether, but if it becomes unavoidable, some of you are magicians, and the rest are formidable fighters. We will not go down easily.”

  “Too right!” Taurnil said. Gaspi sighed quietly. Since Everand’s death, he found it hard to care about pretty much anything, but Taurnil was the opposite. Everand’s murder had galvanised his best friend’s resolve, and a dangerous quest of this sort was exactly the sort of thing he would undertake without a moment’s hesitation.

  “Should you choose to take part in this quest, you shall be fully equipped to accomplish it,” Voltan added, glancing meaningfully at the cloth-covered weapons rack against the wall. “But before we get into that, who is willing to go?”

  “Count me in,” Baard said, echoed by Taurnil, Sabu and the twins. Gaspi held back, partly because he wanting to speak to Emmy about it first and partly because going on the quest meant he would be miles away from Jonn. He’d promised not to try and help his guardian, and he intended to keep his word to a point, but if something happened and Jonn was in mortal danger, nothing in the world could stop Gaspi from intervening. If he was hundreds of miles away seeking fragments of an altar in Pell, that was no longer an option, which bothered him immensely. He glanced at Emmy, Lydia and Rimulth to see what they would say to Voltan’s question, but they didn’t give a response either.

  “There is no shame in choosing to remain here,” Hephistole interjected.

  The girls looked at each other, and then shared a glance with Rimulth. “If the spirits were here…” Emmy said, trailing off. Rimulth put a hand on her shoulder and spoke for all three of them:

  “If the Measure has taught us anything, it is that we are in this together, but we cannot know the spirits’ will for certain until they return. When that happens, we will consult with them and all will become clear.”

  “There’s no time to wait!” Voltan started, but Hephistole raised his hand to quiet him.

  “Rimulth speaks wisely,” he said. “I won’t lie to you – I have deep reservations about sending young magicians into peril. I would be comforted by the spirits’ wisdom.” Gaspi listened to the chancellor’s words and felt a twinge of uncertainty. Heppy didn’t just seem convinced by Rimulth’s words; he seemed relieved. Gaspi wasn’t used to Hephistole acting with anything other than strength of mind and will, but in that moment he seemed weak, maybe even fearful.

  “What’s under the cloth?” Baard asked, interrupting Gaspi’s thoughts.

  “That’s what I meant by making sure you are fully equipped,” Voltan said, stepping over to the far corner of the weapons rack and taking hold of the top corner of the cloth. “Ever since the attack on Helioport, we have been busy enchanting weaponry and armour. If this quest is to go ahead, then you will get first choice of the magically enhanced items.” Voltan pulled the cloth loose and let it go. He moved along the length of the rack, loosening the cloth at several spots, and as the last fold fell to the ground, the full gleaming array was revealed.

  “Please, take a look,” Voltan said, “but please, magicians, don’t try to activate any of the enchantments. We don’t need a whole load of spells going off at once!”

  Taurnil stepped out from among the group, approaching the items with something akin to religious devotion. Gaspi couldn’t help feeling curious, and followed his friend to the rack. There was a wide array of weaponry: swords and spears, axes and knives, and several bows - each accompanied by a quiver of arrows. Pieces of armour hung alongside the weaponry – chain mail vests, coifs, sturdy combat boots, and even a few pieces of plate mail.

  Taurnil was busy admiring the weapons, but Gaspi’s attention was caught by something else altogether. At the far end of the rack there was a section of shelving – three tiers of plain wood – and each shelf was covered with smaller items, several of which winked and gleamed at him from across the room. He wove through the group, unable to resist the lure of what had to be enchanted objects, and wasn’t disappointed by what he found. There must have been fifty separate items arrayed on the shelves, the smallest of which was a plain silver ring and the largest of which was a slender coil of slippery rope. There were items of jewellery, silver amulets, bejewelled belts, and even crude stone carvings, all of which would be imbued with hidden powers. Reaching out with his senses, Gaspi tried to identify the specific enchantments, but to no avail. Not that he was surprised! Hiding enchantment was one of the first things Professor Worrick had taught them to do in their first year at the college. Unless you hid the enchantment, magical objects gave off a distinct glow, and the nature of the enchantment could be detected by someone with the right knowledge. If you wanted to keep your enchantments secret, you could add an extra layer to the enchantment which obscured the natural glow along with any tell-tale arcane signatures that might otherwise give away the nature of the spell-work itself. Gaspi looked at the objects hungrily and reached out for the silver ring.

  “Try it on,” Hephistole said, right in his ear. Gaspi hadn’t seen the chancellor approach, and jumped like a startled rabbit! The ring fell out of his hand and bounced off the stone floor with a quiet metallic ping. Gaspi bent down and scooped it up before it had stopped rolling

  “You surprised me,” he said reproachfully.

  “Sorry,” Hephistole responded, smiling faintly. “I see you’ve found our treasure trove.”

  “Yeah,” Gaspi answered, his irritation forgotten. “What do they all do?”

  “Oh, lots of things,” Hephistole answered. “It’s all detailed in there,” he added, gesturing towards a small stack of parchment on the top shelf, the individual leaves bound together by a length of string. “There’s a drawing of each item, with a description of what it does.” Gaspi reached up for the parchment.

  “Hold on,” Hephistole said. “Try the ring on. You’ll find its effect much more impressive if you don’t know what to expect.”

  “Sure,” Gaspi said, and slid it over his index finger. The moment it settled he looked up in surprise. He could see everything in incredible detail. It wasn’t that everything was brighter, exactly, but he could see clearly into even the darkest corners of the cellar. When he looked at a chain mail vest hanging on the rack, he could see the forge-marks on every single ring. He looked at Hephistole in wonder, and with his enhanced vision he could see the intricate lines of grief and weariness around his eyes.

  “Take it off now Gaspi,” Hephistole said softly, as if reading his mind. Gaspi slid the ring off his finger, and his vision returned to normal.

&nbs
p; “That’s amazing,” Gaspi said, looking at the ring resting in his palm.

  “Yes, that’s a particularly adept bit of spell-work,” Hephistole responded. “It’s easy to imagine such a device coming of use on a stealthy quest into dark and dangerous places eh?”

  “Definitely,” Gaspi said. “Who enchanted it?”

  “You have Professor Worrick to thank for that,” Hephistole answered. “Take a look at the drawings and see what else may come in handy.” With that, the chancellor touched Gaspi briefly on the shoulder and walked over to talk to Voltan. Gaspi opened his mouth to call him back, wanting to talk to him about Jonn, but then he glanced around at all the people who might overhear and decided there would be a better time. He turned back to the shelves and picked up the parchment.

  Despite his reservations about the quest, Gaspi’s heart started beating with excitement as his eyes skipped from description to description. Several items stood out to him. There was a belt that was imbued with a complex neuromantic enchantment. It only worked when power was channelled into it, but when active, the enchantment would beam out the suggestion that the wearer was entirely trustworthy. Gaspi figured that would be useful for a magician who struggled with neuromancy – someone like him in fact!

  The slender rope was enchanted to bear any amount of strain without snapping. There was a pair of gloves that gave the wearer the grip of a giant, and a necklace that made you invisible. There were a variety of objects that shielded the wearer from the rain, and two more objects that kept the wearer invisible. Looking at the array of goodies, Gaspi pondered which would be of most use to him should the quest go ahead. After a moment’s pondering, he decided on the belt, one of the objects enchanted to grant invisibility, and the ring. The first two because he couldn’t duplicate their enchantments with his own powers, and the ring because it was easy to imagine wanting to see perfectly in the dark without creating a light that would draw a thousand ogres down on you. Especially when you were planning on going deep behind enemy lines.

  Gaspi looked at the coil of rope again, trying to imagine a time when it might come in handy. He reached out and picked it up, feeling its slippery fibres slide against his fingers, but as soon as he’d picked it up he discarded it again and drew an excited breath. Hiding behind the rope was a sphere of transparent glass, swirling with wisps of pale smoke. It was about the size of his palm, and when he picked it up it felt warm to the touch. He looked through the diagrams until he found the one he wanted, and read the description with growing interest. It was called “The Wizard’s Eye,” and it worked like the scryer in the Observatory. It had a much shorter range than its larger cousin, but a magician could use it to send his sight out ahead of him for several hundred yards, scouting the terrain without risk of stumbling across his enemy.

  Gaspi’s excitement grew. Unless he was very much mistaken, the Wizard’s Eye was a genuine artefact – a magical marvel from another age. As Hephistole often bemoaned, much ancient magical lore had been lost over the centuries, and needed to be rediscovered. The chancellor was working hard to do exactly that, and was making headway in the field of transportation, but that was an enhancement of a known magic. Artefacts like the Wizard’s Eye were something the magical world failed to understand, despite the best efforts of dedicated scholars to unearth their secrets. Gaspi could guess how the other objects were enchanted, but he couldn’t even begin to understand the Wizard’s Eye

  “Okay everyone, gather round,” Hephistole said, and the group slowly reformed in front of the rack. “Thank you for coming, but there’s nothing more to be achieved here today. Rimulth has spoken wisely. We will wait for the spirits to return before making any decision. That’s all for now,” he said, and the group dispersed, heading for the stairway that led up to one of the Atrium’s anterooms.

  Gaspi wandered over to Taurnil, who was looking hungrily at the rack of enchanted weaponry while Voltan was busy draping the dark cloth back over it.

  “Find anything good?” he asked.

  “You bet,” Taurnil responded, only looking away from the enchanted weaponry when the cloth was back in place along the full length of the rack. “I want one of those bow and arrows.”

  “What’s the enchantment?” Gaspi asked.

  “The arrows hit with extra force and they can’t be snapped, but that’s not the best bit. They reappear in your quiver after you shoot them!” Taurnil said excitedly.

  “Sheesh, three enchantments?” Gaspi said, thinking about how each one might be achieved. The first two parts were obvious of course – unbreakable and force-enhancing enchantments were pretty standard – but the last part was trickier. “The only way I can see that being done is by making the quiver a transporter and enchanting the arrows to return to it. You’d have to delay the enchantment though. That’s pretty clever.”

  “Why thank you Gaspi,” Hephistole said from right behind him, making him jump for the second time that day. Gaspi turned around to find that the rest of the group had left the cellar, apart from Emmy, Lydia and Rimulth, who were talking quietly near the exit. “My apologies once again for surprising you,” he added.

  “No problem.”

  “You’re exactly right about the enchantment on the arrows,” the chancellor added. “After all my experimentation with transportation, I have become quite adept at adapting it to different purposes. The bows and arrows are heavily enchanted as Taurnil described, but he neglected to tell you about the fourth layer of enchantment, which is placed on the bows themselves – and that is to extend their range.”

  “Oh yeah, I forgot!” Taurnil said, his eyes widening at the implications of a bow that shot further, and arrows that hit harder before reappearing in your quiver for another shot. It would be like having an endless quiver. “Can I take one?” he asked with transparent eagerness.

  “There’s nothing wrong with a bit of cheek,” Hephistole answered with a smile, which was good to see, though Gaspi was pretty sure that prior to the Measure it would have been a loud burst of laughter. “Are you an archer Taurnil?”

  “Yes Sir,” Taurnil responded. “Talmo’s been teaching me.”

  “We’ll just have to wait until the spirits are back. If the quest doesn’t go ahead, we’ll need to give them to the best archers in the city for our defence.”

  “Fair enough,” Taurnil said, though Gaspi could tell he was disappointed.

  “What about you Gaspi?” Hephistole asked. “See anything you like?”

  “Yep. The belt, that ring you showed me, one of the items granting invisibility, and the Wizard’s Eye. Where did you get that from? I didn’t think we could make stuff like that anymore.”

  “We can’t,” Hephistole responded. “Most of the objects were enchanted over the summer, but the Wizard’s Eye is from my private collection. You must have seen it – in the sixth alcove of the Observatory, near the field of variable density.”

  “The what?” Gaspi asked.

  “The hole in the floor.”

  “Oh, right,” Gaspi answered. “I’ve never been in the alcove.”

  “My mistake,” Hephistole said. “That’s where I keep all manner of magical curios, including some rare artefacts like the Wizard’s Eye.”

  “And it works like the scryer, right?” Gaspi asked.

  “Yes, but with a much more limited range. The scryer in the Observatory is the only one of its kind remaining, and as far as I’m aware, the same goes for the Wizard’s Eye.”

  “Wow,” Gaspi said, glancing back at the now-covered shelves. He opened his mouth to speak again but Hephistole stalled him with a raised hand.

  “Sorry Gaspi, I know you have a lot of questions, but they will have to wait for now. Besides, I think that your friends may be getting impatient.”

  Gaspi glanced over at the other three, and saw that they were watching him and Taurnil, waiting for them to finish talking with Hephistole. “Okay, we’ll go,” he said.

  “We’ll speak about this again soon, but for now pleas
e don’t talk about this where anyone might overhear. This is a matter of the highest importance, and requires absolute secrecy.”

  “Of course,” Gaspi responded as the chancellor turned to leave. “Hephistole,” he added quickly, and the chancellor turned back around.

  “Yes Gaspi?”

  “I spoke to Jonn a few days ago,” he started.

  “Ah, so he managed to speak with you,” the chancellor said. “What did he tell you?”

  “He told me he was going under cover to try and rescue Adela from a crime-lord called Belash. I was hoping you’d know more about what he’s doing.”

  “I know you mean well, but Jonn will not appreciate any interference,” Hephistole said.

  “I know that!” Gaspi said impatiently. “Jonn made me promise not to try and help. Even if I can’t help, I still want to know as much as possible.”

  “I’m afraid I’m not going to be much help,” Hephistole said gently. “Jonn has gone to live among some very dangerous people, and he can’t pop in and out whenever he likes to keep me updated. I cast the disguise, and if he’s there long enough he’ll have to find a way to reach me so I can renew it, but I doubt I’ll see him now for some time.”

  “You don’t even know where he is?” Gaspi asked.

  “No I don’t. It’s a secretive organisation Gaspi, and even Jonn doesn’t know very much. He must at least find out where Adela is kept before I see him again, and to do that I expect he’ll have to work his way through several layers of the organisation.”

  “Okay, fair enough,” Gaspi said despondently.

  Hephistole was watching him sympathetically. “I know it’s hard, but Jonn can look after himself. He knows where I am if he needs help, and when the time comes to rescue Adela, he will not be unsupported.”

  Gaspi nodded, not wanting to extend the conversation any further. Hephistole clearly didn’t know any more than he did about the details of Jonn’s mission. “I’d better go,” he said.