Spellscribed: Provenance

by Kristopher Cruz

  Endrance nodded, “So we go get it where you were trained then?” he inquired.

  The Draugnoa shook her head. “We cannot, dear husband.” she replied. “We have been educated by word of mouth alone for centuries now. We cannot read any of the books in this library, much less the Journal, which is written in a language that even prior Spengurs couldn't read.”

  Endrance frowned at Anna. “So then where is the book?” he asked, concerned.

  Anna shrugged, but Selene added, “It was buried in the tomb of Rothel, the first king of Balator. The king decreed on his dying breath that the Journal was too dangerous to be kept in mortal hands and so it was entombed with him.”

  Endrance rubbed his face, exhaling. “I knew this was not going to be easy.”

  Endrance shrugged as he kicked his feet up on the desk, resting on a pair of books that didn't even bow under his diminutive weight. “That is we have a few weeks to actually find the tomb itself, since the king wished his burial site kept secret, and then we have to figure a way in, get the book, get back here, decipher the secret language, and get the information I need, oh and there's a high probability that the tomb is heavily trapped and there may be other dangers involved.”

  “We will stand by you, Endrance.” Selene encouraged. His heart warmed again at hearing her voice. He didn’t know that when he wasn’t around she still struggled with the unnatural desire to attack him.

  ***

  It was as hard as expected to find the hidden tomb of Lord Rothel, first king of Balator. He looked at the map he had first, trying to figure out where the tomb could possibly be hidden; until he realized that the maps he was looking at were several hundred years too recent. Digging through some of the first Spengur's things, he was able to find not only an at the time current map of the Kingdom, but also the first spellbook.

  Endrance almost danced across the room when he discovered the book lying at the bottom of a trunk, buried at the back of a closet in his storage room. He also had to stop himself from gripping the delicate book too tightly, for fear of utterly shredding the fragile crumbling pages. He eventually would find a spell that would allow him to mend damaged objects, but for the next couple of days he could only stare at the closed book whenever he had the chance and wonder what kind of ancient magics the wizard kept within the dusty, fragile pages.

  The older map was copied down dutifully by Anna, and they used the new copy to mark historically significant places on it that King Rothel was involved in. Most of these sites were no longer accessible, or were moved due to increased expansion of the kingdom, since in the early years Balator only had four bowls completed and the other four would be finished over the course of many decades after Rothel's death. Eliminating sites that were built in the four most recent bowls carved out of the mountain, they compared sites in the first four to buildings and other formations that corresponded from past to present without periods of having been torn down or dug up.

  They were able to find five potential sites, though the Draugnoa were uncertain which would be the correct one. Endrance marked the locations on the map copy they had made, and started to work on figuring out if there was a pattern in the map markers.

  He gathered the Draugnoa in the bedroom so they could talk in relative private. After thinking it through he decided to call Joven in as well. The barbarian came as soon as he had posted a replacement guard for the front door and the wizard had him lock the doors on the way in. Joven leaned against the closed door leading to the main hall, while the women sat on the edge of the bed. He sat upon the chair next to his worktable, and faced them all with his head in his hands at first.

  The young mage looked up, placing his hands on his lap as he spoke. “I need to know from you that you will not share what I am about to say with anyone. I know you are to keep secrets, but this is of the greatest importance.” he took turns to look each of them in the eye as he continued on. “If this kind of information gets out you may be placed in danger or worse.” he finished.

  The women nodded in agreement, and Joven shrugged. “Stop being so dramatic, Endrance. Out with it!” he exclaimed.

  Endrance nodded. “I will put it simply. King Kalenden wants me to fake the results of my findings when the eclipse happens.”

  The Draugnoa exchanged glances, concerned. Joven's eyes widened with shock. “Wait,” he exclaimed. “You're saying the king, our king, wants you to... lie about who is the prophesied child?”

  Endrance nodded. “He insisted very strongly that it would be the best for our kingdom that his son be named the hero of prophecy.”

  Selene shot to her feet, her face angry. “You can't do that!” she exclaimed angrily. “He can't just tell you to lie to our people like that! It's against the laws... and it's just not right!” her fists were balled at her sides, her lips pursed though she still managed to look pretty in doing so. Anna nodded at her statements while Bridget patted her on the back.

  Endrance nodded, beckoning Selene over to him. Sitting her down on the ground in front of him, he stroked her hair as he looked out over her head at the others in the room. “Selene is right. No matter how much the king would threaten me, I cannot perpetrate such a deception.” he looked down into her eyes and smiled warmly, and her expression softened.

  Joven pushed himself away from the door and spoke up. “Wait a minute!” he exclaimed. “He's the king of Balator! Why would he do something like that?”

  The young mage sighed. “Joven, I have no reason to lie to you. You have been and always will be my most trusted protector. I do not tell you these things lightly. The king has decided that he would rather risk destroying a two-thousand year old prophecy in order to further his popularity and increase his personal power. A king who fathered the great hero would be respected across the entire barbarian community, much less the world.”

  Joven shook his head. “No!” he said. “My brother is general of the king’s armies! He meets with him regularly! He would have said something if the king was doing something underhanded!” he rebutted. He stomped angrily as he spoke, the metal buckles on his armor clinking as they tapped the hardened leather.

  The young mage stood, holding his hands out at his sides passively as he slipped past Selene. “Joven,” he started, walking towards his bodyguard. “I am not saying the king is evil, I am merely saying what he has tried to get out of me.”

  Joven looked distressed as he accepted the wizard’s words. “So,” he said finally, “what do we do now?” he asked.

  Anna stood. “We will support the Spengur, even if the king himself were to try to retaliate.” she stated, a cold fact no one would refute.

  Endrance shrugged. “I am going to declare the correct child for what he is. If the king is lucky, his threats and manipulations may have been unnecessary. If not, then I'm sure to have a very angry ruler banging on my door day after the eclipse.”

  Selene spoke up. “Endrance, you are in a better position than you realize.” she said.

  The young mage looked over to her. She ran her hands across her dress as she spoke. “You are the only man of magic in the kingdom, and even the king must defer to you in matters of magic. If you publicly declare the true child of prophecy, then the king cannot say otherwise.”

  Endrance nodded. “True, but that doesn't make him any less likely to try to kill me.”

  “But it does my husband. The king cannot strike at you for performing your duties as the Spengur. Your ruling is final. He could try to get rid of you with more covert means, but that is the reason we are here.”

  Joven grunted and crossed his arms. “Any of us here will fight to the death to protect you, no matter the source.” he frowned. “Even if the king were to order me to do otherwise.” the phrase left a bad taste in his mouth.

  The young mage smiled, reassured. “Thank you all,” he said gratefully. “Thank you so very much for your loyalty. Don't worry; I assure you I will ensure the prophecy comes to pass!”

  The sha’hdi listened from
her hiding place nearby. As was her kind’s abilities, she crouched completely undetected in the shadow of the worktable the Draugnoa and that barbarian lout were facing. The idiots could even walk right next to her and not know she was there until she reached out and killed them. She smirked, knowing they might not realize it even then.

  It seemed the mage had decided to go against the king’s orders after all. She smiled. So the brat had a backbone after all. This was turning out much better than expected.

  Chapter 29

  Using the information he put together from the maps, Endrance and Joven were able to plan their visit to those sites over the next couple of days, preparing for each individually. The two of them looked at the body of water within the kingdom's walls first. The body was too small to be a lake, but too large to be a pond. The water was the reservoir for the expansive farmland of the first and largest bowl of the kingdom. Farmers had packed the dirt around the water and even laid stone around the edges, though they did not line the bottom of the reservoir.

  Joven and Endrance stood at the edge of the water the next day and looked at the calm surface while they puzzled the next step. The suns and a few scant clouds lazily drifted across its surface and it looked much like a large mirror had been lain out amidst several fields of grain and vegetables. The shadow of Gullin swooping by, flying high in the sky drifted across the water lazily. Joven kicked a pebble with the tip of his boot and watched it drop into the water, sending concentric ripples across the surface of the water. Endrance looked up at the barbarian as the big man turned to him with a question on his lips.

  “So... why are we here again?” Joven asked, scratching his head.

  Endrance shrugged. “This site is supposed to be historically significant. So I'm going to look for the chance the Tomb of Rothel lies beneath.” he explained.

  Joven nodded. “Ah I see...” his nod stopped. “So, now that we've been here, it's about time we started heading back, right?” he asked, looking around and seeing nothing of interest. “What was so important here anyways?” he finished, stifling a yawn.

  The wizard closed his eyes a second, thinking back to the explanation his Keepers had provided him. “This is the site where king and the first 'Spengur' met, as well as where they parted ways for the last time. The king and his Spengur were both very close friends, and it was after he left that king Rothel created the laws about the Spengur and their general sovereignty.”

  “Ah!” Joven exclaimed. “So the first Spengur left because of some moral objections?”

  “Indeed. The Spengur then was a very powerful wizard, but something the king asked him to do did not sit well with him, and he refused. When the king tried to force the wizard to do so they argued here, and instead of complying the wizard cast a powerful spell, shouting he would never return so long as Balator was run by Rothel's lineage. His spell blew a large crater out of the first bowl, and in the explosion the wizard disappeared, never to be seen again.”

  Joven pointed at the center of the reservoir. “But we can see there is nothing here.” he expressed. “So what are we looking for?”

  Endrance gestured at the water. “A clue, perhaps even the tomb itself.”

  Joven snorted. “Well obviously nothing is here.”

  The young mage scoffed, shaking his head. “There is always something there; it's just beneath the surface.”

  “Of the water?”

  “Maybe the water, or perhaps the earth beneath it. It hadn't been converted into a reservoir until a year after Rothel's death.”

  “So he might be buried here?”

  “Like I said, possibly.” Endrance sighed, sitting down at the edge. “It would be nice if it was here though.”

  “Why's that?”

  “I don’t relish the idea of spending another several days researching and gaining nothing. Besides, I have reason to believe that there is something here, but if it’s not here I don’t know where else to look along the line.”

  “What line?”

  “I detected a subtle change in the flow of energy as it was carried…” Endrance started, trailing off as he glanced at Joven. “There was a trail left by magic that coincides with a few historical sites.” He simplified.

  Joven nodded. “See. You can learn after all.”

  Endrance stood, dusting the small amount of dirt off his backside as he looked over the water. “Well,” he said “time for me to get to work.”

  The wizard dug into the satchel he kept slung over his shoulder and pulled out his spellbook. Flipping through the pages, he found the spell he was looking for. He held the book by the spine in his left hand while he tracked the words and symbols he was reading with a fingertip from the other. He read through the pages twice, and repeated the phrases multiple times as he did so. His fingers twitched as he thought through the motions needed to weave the energy, and in his mind calculated the amount needed for the spell.

  Surprisingly little, it seemed for such a powerful magic, and the motions were less stylized and more functional than many of the newer spells. He closed the book a minute later, certain he had the formula right. Putting the book away, he began casting the spell. Hands and fingers wove intricate lines of faintly glowing bluish energy that pulsed to the intonations of his voice. He gathered up the spell as he completed it, reaching out with his right hand over the center of the water and spreading his fingers in a fan as he exclaimed the last word of the spell. The energy dispersed from his hand, and invisibly swept out across the water.

  Immediately the effect of the spell was evident. From the point where his palm obscured his vision, the water immediately froze solid; from bottom to surface, and swiftly the ice spread across the water until the entire reservoir was one piece of ice. Even the faint ripples in the water caused by the mountain breeze froze, leaving the surface almost perfectly smooth and clearly reflective. A small ripple in the water had frozen in motion, leaving concentric rings of waves in ice.

  Joven's jaw practically fell off its hinges and Endrance whistled. “Wow!” the wizard exclaimed. “That was completely more effective than I had thought it would be!” he walked out onto the ice and looked about himself excitedly. “I mean I had hoped but... Wow!” he finished, kneeling onto the ice and running his gloved hand over the surface as smooth as blown glass. It was frozen so completely that it wasn't even slick with partial melt, just cold and smooth like marble.

  Very impressive! Gullin told him, the bird chirping cheerfully as he swooped down and landing on the ice out in the middle of the reservoir. You didn’t even need my help.

  Joven recovered slightly, taking a hand and closing his mouth manually as he tromped out onto the ice carefully, his metal shod boots gouging little nicks in the ice as he walked. He stopped in front of the young mage and stared at him.

  “Umm...” Joven began. “That was... amazing!” he exclaimed, still somewhat dazed.

  Endrance stood, excited. “I know!” he shouted “Wasn't that great!” he exclaimed, his deer-hide boots slipping slightly on the ice and he wobbled, his enthusiasm nearly toppling him over. Joven reached out and caught the young man, letting go once he had stabilized. “I think that spell is incredibly effective!” he continued, skating across the ice slowly as he took it all in. “I mean, the spell didn't even call for a body of water but look!” he slapped his thigh, whooping. “I think it made it all the more effective!” Gullin took to the air and flit about the area, seeming to be even more joyful as Endrance’s mood brightened.

  Joven looked at him confused. “I don't understand, Endrance. How can a spell that freezes water not need water to do so?” he asked.

  Endrance started skating around the ice more steadily now and picked up speed as he circled around the barbarian gleefully. A farmer had come up to retrieve some water for his crops and stood his mouth agape as he watched the Spengur ice skating over his water supply. Endrance, not noticing the man nearby, began to explain. “Well, the spell itself was a spell I copied from one of the oldest sp
ell books an earlier Spengur left behind!” he exclaimed merrily. “And it was actually a spell that creates a wall of ice out of the water in the air around where the wall is made! I had cast the spell hoping to make a walkway out over the water so we could look down at the center and see if we could look for the tomb-” Endrance skidded to a stop in front of the barbarian. “But the spell absorbed all the water of the reservoir and froze the whole thing! Isn't that great?” he puffed from his exertions. Gullin dropped onto the young man’s head, and sat on its feet, using his hair as an impromptu nest.

  It is too cold though. The familiar remarked. I prefer the element of fire.

  Joven scratched his head. “Yeah, I guess so,” he began “But is it going to stay like this forever?” he asked.

  The wizard shook his head, waving a hand and causing the familiar to chirp angrily as it took flight again. “No,” Endrance responded. “It will melt naturally once the magical energies I put into the spell wears off. The magic itself just gathers the water together and freezes it. It's not 'magic' ice or something, though it should stay frozen until it runs out of energy.”

  Joven looked Endrance in the eye. “We live in a mountain that is almost always just around freezing, Endrance. If it had to thaw that much water on its own it could take months.”

  Endrance scowled. “You're no fun!” he joked playfully. “Fine! Fine! I was going to melt the ice after we checked anyways!”

  The two of them made their way to the center of the frozen reservoir. Looking straight down, they were able to see a stone disk set in the bottom of the ice. It had the symbol of king Rothel on it, the wolf that Endrance had seen before on the king’s men. Three circles of ancient script encircled the symbol. Joven squinted through the ice and Endrance took out a piece of parchment and a stick of charcoal, carefully he laid the parchment against the ice and quickly sketched a copy of the disk at the bottom of the reservoir.