by Tom Larcombe
“God Almighty!” Bill exclaimed, “They really are mint.”
He caressed the rifle in a manner that Michael thought would be more appropriate for a sexual partner than a firearm.
Bill set the first Garand down again and picked up the second. Once again he checked the rifle for a chambered round before examining it closer. Michael was amused as Bill shook his head in disbelief.
“Two of them, in honest to God mint condition. You said they had these mounted on a wall in the mine office?”
“Yes, they were in good shape when I took over here so I assume whoever was in charge before kept them maintained. I know I did when I took over.”
“I can see the faintest discoloration from the mounting, but I wouldn't have noticed it if I weren't looking for it. They're scratched up a little on the base of the stocks also, but it isn't visible, I can just feel it with my fingers. The scratches are in the exact same spot on each so I bet that was scuffs from shipping. Even so, I've never seen one in better condition.”
“Well, would you like to go shoot them?”
“It seems almost a sin to do that.”
“Well, Rynn and I have been shooting them. They'll be our primary defense rifles if the need arises, so you might as well.”
Bill's face broke into a grin.
“Well, in that case, you talked me into it. Where's your range?”
* * *
Bill helped Michael tighten up the zero on the rifles. He knew the Garands fairly well and gave Michael a few tips also. After he left, Michael sat on the porch cleaning the rifles. When he finished, he took one of them back in his lap and looked for the marks Bill had mentioned. Sure enough, the rifles were slightly discolored where the supports they'd been hanging on had touched the wooden stocks. His fingers dropped down to check out the scratches Bill had mentioned on the butt of the stocks.
He froze as his fingers traced the scratch.
I know that shape, he thought.
Michael took a deep breath and was about to yell, before he realized that his voice would probably carry well into town in the current silent state of the area. Instead of yelling he marshaled his thoughts and projected them at Rynn.
Rynn, you need to come check this out, he thought at her.
Be there soon, she thought back.
Michael picked up the other rifle and ran his finger over the scratches on it, then nodded. He looked at the shape of the rifle's butt.
Looks about right.
He laid the two rifles on the porch railing and watched the approach from the lake. When he saw Rynn and the students approaching he had to restrain himself from running down to meet them.
Finally Rynn got back to the house.
“What was so important that you had to pull me away from my project?” she asked.
“What do you see here?” he asked, pointing at the rifles.
“Two rifles,” she said.
“Feel the base of the stocks. Tell me if the scratches you feel there seem familiar.”
She ran her fingers along the wood, then stopped. Rynn shifted around and peered at the rifle from the end.
“They aren't, are they?” she asked.
“I think they might be.”
“You found the keys to the cache?”
“Thank Bill, he found the scratches and mentioned them. I never would've found them on my own.”
“Can we go open it now?”
Michael looked at the sky.
“We probably ought to wait for morning. It would be dark before we got the cache opened and brought anything up out of the mine.”
“I know we ought to wait, but we could go open it and look at least, right?” Rynn said.
Michael sighed.
If I didn't know better I'd swear she was the younger of the two of us, he thought.
“Fine, let's go.”
They each shouldered a Garand and headed into the mine. Michael had marked the location of the illusory wall the last time they were in so it was simple to just close their eyes and pass through it.
Once they reached the lake, Rynn waded right out to the stone. She swung the rifle down and placed the base of the stock in one of the holes.
“It's the right shape,” she said, “a perfect fit.”
Michael followed her out and seated his rifle into the second hole. They waited for a moment and nothing happened.
“Did you place yours in the slot with the matching rune?” Michael asked.
“I thought I did. Let's switch.”
Seating each of the rifles in the socket it hadn't been in already still didn't do anything. Michael sat down on the edge of the rock with his feet dangling in the water.
“They're keys right? Maybe we need to turn them,” he said after a few minutes.
They placed the rifles again and twisted with no result. Rynn's rifle slipped as she put too much force into it and the base skidded across the rock.
“Careful there,” Michael said.
Shamefaced, Rynn lifted her rifle up again. Michael spotted a small glow reflecting off the rock beneath it.
“Wait a second,” he said.
He caught the butt of her rifle and lifted. Right where he'd felt the scratch there was a soft glow visible. When he ran his finger over it he felt the cold smoothness of a crystal fragment embedded in the wood.
“I think your dad covered the actual key portions here.”
He used his fingernail and carefully scraped along the crystal fragment he could feel. The wood he was scratching gave, but drove itself right up under his fingernail.
“Crap,” he said, shaking his hand.
He glanced down and saw that he'd uncovered more crystal and the glow was stronger.
“Somehow he melded the crystals there into the wood. Do you know how to get them back out?” he asked.
Rynn shook her head, but flipped the rifle upside down and applied her own fingernails to the task.
“Careful,” Michael warned, “it splinters.”
“That won't be a problem for me,” Rynn replied.
Michael watched as a small pile of wooden splinters accumulated on the rock beneath her.
“Give me the other one,” she said.
He took the first rifle from her and handed her the second one. A quick glance showed that she'd uncovered the crystal fragments that formed the rune of binding. Another minute's worth of work and she'd uncovered the alteration rune as well.
“Shall we?” Rynn asked.
Michael stood and seated the base of his rifle in the matching hole. Rynn slid hers in as well. They waited a moment, but there was still nothing.
“Let me twist,” Michael said. “I've got the binding, the locking portion. If that doesn't work we'll try both.”
Michael twisted his rifle and jerked back as the rifle sank down into the rock. He'd pulled on the rifle when he jerked back, but it stayed where it was, sliding out of his hands.
He and Rynn glanced around, but nothing seemed to have changed.
“Your turn,” Michael said.
Rynn twisted her rifle gently. Like Michael's, it started sinking into the rock. This time there was another reaction also.
The pond had been nearly silent, except for the ripples they'd caused in it from contact. Now the sound of falling water filled the chamber. The water between the rock they were on and the end of the chamber Rynn claimed had held the cache was churning and frothing.
* * *
As Michael watched, a rough stone slab rose out of the water. It extended beyond the edge of the water also. The flat stone area they'd stood on when he probed into the wall looking for the cache was gone. In it's place was more of the stone slab that was rising out of the water.
“It's huge,” Michael said.
“I told you it was.”
They watched as the slab rose until it was flush with the roof. Then the movement of the stone stopped. In front of them was a smooth stone wall with a doorway in its center. The doorway itself was a slab o
f darkness. The light from his sun crystal wouldn't penetrate it.
“What is that?” he asked.
Rynn shook her head.
“I don't know. It isn't any sort of solid material; at least I don't think it is. I think that for some reason it's pitch black in there and something's preventing any light from entering.”
“Something? As in another one of your dad's spells?”
“Probably? I'm not sure,” she said. “I've got a guess, but...”
“So what's your guess?”
“Let me ask you a question first. If you were storing something and didn't know how long you were storing it for, what precautions would you take?”
Michael thought for a moment.
“I'd try to store it so it would last as long as possible. In some way that it couldn't be damaged.”
“I agree. What I think he did was put the whole thing in a stasis field.”
“A stasis field? Something like that would take an incredibly competent wizard and a massive amount of pow...”
Michael's words trailed off when he remembered who had set up the cache.
“Yeah, someone like my dad,” Rynn said. “Plus, I know for a fact that he was very focused on working on stasis spells. He had an accident with one earlier in his life, so he worked on the theory until he had it down cold.”
“How do we get into it then? I think just trying to reach in might be a problem.”
“There's a couple of weaknesses to them if you want into one. He probably set up a physical structure of crystals on the edges. If we break one of those, the spell should be disrupted.”
“Will that be safe? You said he probably booby trapped the other spells, what about this one?”
“I don't think he would have done that. Stasis spells are very delicate. I think he would've counted on the other traps and not done anything here.”
“You think?”
“I was here with him, but I was very young. I didn't see him cast the spells. So I have to go on what I know of him. I don't think he would've done anything fancy with the stasis. That spell on its own would've taken all his concentration.”
Michael sighed.
I hope she's right. If she isn't and we disrupt something, no one will ever know. I doubt there'd be enough of us to find if we triggered one of Merlin's booby traps and it isn't like anyone would hear any noise it made, not this deep in the mine.
“Where do we find the crystals?” he asked.
“Look on the edges or along the bases.”
Michael looked along the base.
“There's an awful lot of crystals down here,” he said, “One on each corner point.”
“There's even more up here,” Rynn replied. “I think we better hold off until we discover exactly what he did.”
“Would he use this many crystals for his stasis?
She shook her head.
“No, he normally did his stasis spells in a pyramid shape, something about it being strongest that way.”
“This isn't a pyramid, it's a cube.”
“I know, I was hoping he'd only used part of it, but I guess not. Maybe he used a group of pyramids to form it?”
Michael yawned.
“Well, we came and looked. I'm exhausted though. I think I need some sleep before we try to do anything with this. I'm having a problem trying to visualize pyramids forming a cube.”
Rynn tapped her foot impatiently. She stared at the cache, as though willing it to open. Finally she glanced over at Michael.
“Alright, let's go. We can try to figure it out in the morning.”
* * *
* * *
Chapter 5
In the morning Michael still looked groggy. Rynn was sure he hadn't gotten enough sleep, but he'd come downstairs as though he'd woken up at his normal time.
She and Michael sat at the table after everyone was done eating, trying to determine how the stasis spell was set on the cache.
“You're sure he'd use pyramids and triangles?” he asked.
She nodded.
“If you'd ever listened to him lecture for hours about how those were the strongest shapes and the best to use for long duration spells, you wouldn't be asking that,” she said.
“Okay, then how did he get a cube for an end result? How do all those crystals form a pyramid?”
“You got me. Geometry was never one of my strong points. Three-dimensional geometry even less so.”
“I haven't used mine since I learned it almost forty years ago. I'm kind of rusty there,” Michael said.
“Excuse me,” Eugene said, “but I couldn't help overhearing you two. Three-dimensional geometry? That sounds like fun.”
I wonder about this kid, Rynn thought. His hobby is tweaking electronics and he thinks advanced mathematics is fun? I'm guessing he didn't get out much.
“Yes Eugene, we're trying to work out a problem dealing with it.”
“Can I help?” Eugene asked.
Michael looked at Rynn and shrugged. She nodded.
“What we're trying to do is figure out how a cube can be formed by pyramids,” Michael said.
Eugene looked disappointed.
“Oh, that one's easy,” he said. “Three pyramids can make a cube.”
Rynn watch Michael's eyebrows shoot up as he stared at Eugene.
“How?” Michael asked.
“Got a sheet of paper and a pair of scissors? I'll show you.”
Michael retrieved the items and handed them to Eugene who quickly cut three identical shapes. He made a few folds, moistening the edges of the paper so it would stick to itself temporarily. Each of the pieces was in an irregular pyramidal shape. Then stacked the pyramids to form a cube.
Michael stared at the cube, trying to follow what Eugene. As the paper dried out, the pyramids unfolded, collapsing the cube.
“That's not quite what we're after,” Michael said. “At least I don't think so. The cube we're talking about has crystals on each corner and we're assuming that the crystals are somehow the corner points for the pyramids.”
“Oh,” Eugene said. “Let me think about it for a minute.”
Michael went and grabbed some tape while Eugene thought. He taped the pyramids back together and stacked them in a cube again, still trying to follow what Eugene had done. Finally he shook his head.
Meanwhile Rynn was watching Eugene.
Should I try to help or would I just distract him, she wondered.
“Are we talking three or four sided pyramids?” Eugene asked.
“I don't know. If it's a cube, wouldn't four sided work better?” she said.
“Probably. Can I have some more paper?”
Michael placed a small stack of paper on the table next to him. Eugene took a sheet and started cutting. After a minute or so, he crumpled up his cut piece and tossed it in the trash. He made several more aborted attempts before he folded up his last cut piece.
On the table in front of him sat a squat, four-sided pyramid. He unfolded it and used it as a template to cut five more of the same. After folding and taping them, he started stacking. One went in the center on the bottom, the next four surrounded it on their edges. He braced those in place, then turned the last one upside down and placed it on top.
“Here you go. There's probably one crystal in the center also if there's a crystal at each and every point of the pyramid.”
Maybe I should have him teach math for everyone else, Rynn thought. Including Michael and myself.
“That looks like it might be what we're after,” she said. “Thank you.”
Eugene blushed lightly and dropped his head.
“You're welcome,” he said. “But it was nothing, really. With fire magic, you know how big an area you can affect because you can see it. But with Spirit magic, part of our training was to calculate how big an area we could affect and visualize that area. This is just an offshoot of what they taught us to do with that.”
“I think you're being overly modest,” Michael said.
“But like Rynn said, thank you. You managed to solve our problem for us.”
“What was it for?” Eugene asked.
Michael looked at Rynn.
“You heard us talking about a cache, right?” she said.
Eugene nodded.
“Well, it's protected with a stasis spell. Actually, if your model is the one he used, six interlocked stasis spells.”
“Stasis spells?”
“A sort of spell or ward that keeps time at bay. Whatever's inside of it won't have aged since the stasis was set on it.”
Eugene's eyes went wide.
“That's crazy, who could do even one of those? Never mind six of them interlocked.”
“A very old wizard,” Rynn said, “old and powerful. He doesn't much like people tossing his name around so I'm not going to tell it to you.”
Eugene held up his hand, palm out, and shook his head.
“I don't even want to know. I'm glad I could help you, but I need to go study now.”
He beat a hasty retreat out of the kitchen, leaving Rynn and Michael alone again. She chuckled for a moment before turning to him.
“So, shall we go tackle the cache now?” she asked.
“Let's wait a little longer. What's going to happen if drop a single stasis spell?”
“I don't know,” she said.
Rynn stared at the cube Eugene had made.
“We can't drop just one stasis field. Any one of those crystals we break would drop three of them.”
Michael nodded.
“Let's figure out a way to drop all of them at the same time before we go back down there. I'd rather not screw something up at this point.”
“That's probably a good idea. I'd hate to find out that taking them down in sections destroyed part of the contents of the cache,” she said.
“Do you think we can time it so that the two of us can each destroy a crystal simultaneously?”
“We could get it close,” she said, “but I don't think we'd be able to do it exactly at the same time.”
“I was afraid of that. I'm thinking we'll have to use magic, but I'm worried about using it directly on the crystals. I know you said he probably didn't trap it, but if he did...”