Secrets and Spellcraft

by Michael G. Manning

  Searching for ‘battle magic’ turned out to be a waste of time, as did searching for ‘point defense.’ He needed a title or an author name. I really am an idiot. Calling up the limnthal, he queried his foul-mouthed companion. “I’m looking for the point-defense spell you told me about.”

  “You’re in the library?” asked the ring.

  “Yeah, but I don’t have a way to search by spell. I need a title or an author.”

  “Shit, I don’t know who created it. Can’t you just go to the section on force spells?”

  Will sighed. “I don’t know where the sections are, or how they’re organized.”

  “Hmmm. Look for something by Todd Martin.”

  “Did he create the spell?”

  “Nah, he was a total prat, but he fancied himself an expert on force effects. He wrote a few pretentious books on the subject. They should be in the same area where the force spells are.”

  Will moved down to the M’s and pulled out several drawers until he found the right one, then he thumbed through the cards. “Here it is,” he announced. “Martin, Todd. Force Spells for the Refined Mind.”

  “What a git,” said Arrogan. “You should burn that one while you’re in that section. Do the world a favor.”

  Will took note of the aisle letter and index number, then put the card back in place and closed the drawer. Returning to the restricted section, he walked along the outside until he found the correct aisle, then carefully made his way past the wards. After a few minutes of searching he found the book. “Here it is. Do you think the spell is inside?”

  “Don’t even open it. That book is a waste of time. See what’s nearby. Just read the titles and authors out to me.”

  Will moved to the left until he found the beginning of the force-effects section and began reading titles and authors out loud. Arrogan made derogatory comments whenever he recognized a name. Eventually Will got tired. “Is there anyone you didn’t hate?”

  “My mother,” said Arrogan. “She was nice—sometimes.”

  “What about this one? Force Effects and Practical Applications by Lacy Holmberg.”

  The ring didn’t reply for several seconds. “Really? I knew her. Never expected you to find something written by her.”

  “Think it might be good?”

  “No. She couldn’t spell her way out of a bad date. Not that she would need to. I’m honestly surprised she could string enough words together to write a sentence, much less a book.”

  Will chuckled as he moved on. “How about Breaking Things by Greg Stone?”

  “Yes! I remember that one!”

  “Did you know him?”

  “No,” said the ring. “He was before my time, but I feel like I would have liked him. He had flair.”

  Will took the book down and thumbed through the pages. There were handwritten notes on some of the margins. Looking closely, he recognized the handwriting. “I think you wrote in this book,” he observed.

  “Wow,” said the ring. “They still have the same copy? You’d think they’d have had it recopied by now.”

  Will read from the introduction page:

  ‘Force spells are often derided for their simplicity and basic nature, but no class of spells can compare for efficiency and flexibility. Properly utilized force effects can accomplish amazing feats with a minimum of wasted turyn, maximizing the practitioner’s intended result with an efficiency that can rarely be matched by elemental spells outside of their specific and limited niches.’

  Arrogan’s handwritten note on the margin commented:

  Except you can only use one at a time, numbskull!

  Will frowned, then read the note aloud for the ring’s benefit. “I thought you liked this book?”

  “It wasn’t until I got further in that my thinking evolved on the topic. I was rather opinionated back then,” said Arrogan. “Flip to the back. There’s an index. You’ll be here all night if you want to read through and find the good spells.”

  Opinionated back then? Doesn’t seem like he’s changed at all, noted Will. “What did you mean by ‘you can only use one at a time?’”

  “Oh, that. You can’t have more than one force spell active at any given time. No one really has a good notion of why that is, though I’m sure Todd Martin had some overblown and unsupported theory on the matter. Personally, I think it’s simply that force spells are linked directly to the caster’s will, so you can’t divide your attention.”

  Will tucked that tidbit of information in the back of his mind to think about later. In the index he was amazed by the variety of spells listed. Most of them were differentiated by the shapes of the force effect—there were cages, domes, walls, invisible hands, and all manner of other forms listed. He didn’t find anything listed under ‘point defense.’ “I don’t see the spell you mentioned,” said Will.

  “Read them off to me,” said Arrogan.

  Will did, and after just a few names Arrogan stopped him. “That’s it, ‘force buckler.’”

  “Why doesn’t it have a standard name? It’s as though everyone just makes up their own name for whatever they like,” complained Will.

  “Most force spells are pretty old,” explained the ring. “Everyone tends to just call them by whatever makes sense to them. Hell, you could just call it the dinner plate spell and it would fit just as well.”

  “Dinner plate? Really?”

  “You could eat off of it if you wanted to. It’s about the right size and shape.”

  “What would you name it then?”

  “Well, assuming I was conceited enough to try and claim credit for it, I would have named it Arrogan’s Asskicker.”

  Will laughed. “How does that make sense? It’s a defensive spell.”

  “And that just shows how limited your imagination is,” observed the ring. “Trust me, once you learn it you’ll find it’s easily the most useful spell in your arsenal. Not only is it handy as an impromptu dinner plate, but it’s great for kicking people’s teeth in. Master it and you’ll be able to spit in almost anyone’s eye without fear.”

  He didn’t see how that could be true, so he asked, “Even the king?”

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” said Arrogan. “He probably has an air elemental.”

  “What does that have to do with it?”

  “The point-defense spell won’t do you much good if you’re dealing with air attacks. It’s great for earth and water, since their attacks tend to be more focused. Think about the wind-wall spell, then imagine it as a ranged attack. What would you do?”

  “There’s a force-dome spell in here,” pointed out Will.

  “Sure, and you’ll be exhausted. Remember what I told you about force effects and size. Forget the big stuff, I’m talking about the point-defense spell. It’s nearly useless against air type attacks. That was the point I was making. However, for everything else, it really shines.”

  “What about fire?” asked Will. “You didn’t mention it.”

  “What about it? You don’t need anything to deal with fire. How many sorcerers with fire elementals have you killed now?”

  Will nodded. “I see what you mean.”

  “Water and earth are the worst to deal with, but this spell goes a long way toward bridging the gap. For air you need to hit first and hit hard, otherwise they’ll tear you to shreds before you can do anything.”

  “Even you?”

  “I’m dead.”

  He sighed. “I meant before, when you were alive.”

  “A master wizard fears little, but you have a long way to go before you’re that good. Dealing with air requires a larger repertoire of spells, as well as plenty of experience.”

  “Well, what would you do if you were faced with an air elemental?” asked Will curiously.

  “It depends. Probably an iron-skin transmutation. Then I’d get close and take the sorcerer apart. There’s not a lot you can do to an air elemental itself,” explained Arrogan.

  “Iron skin, that sounds useful.” />
  “It’s not nearly as good as it sounds,” observed Arrogan. “It’ll stop arrows and make you virtually immune to air attacks, but it’s useless against water and earth. Rely on it and you’ll have a hole through your midsection big enough to put your fist through. It’s only your skin that is transformed.”

  Will remembered Selene’s water drill attack and winced.

  “That made me remember something. Remind me to tell you about Leonard Kaspar and his iron cock one day.”

  “Now I have to know.”

  “It’s a cautionary tale. Long story short, he was obsessed with enhancing himself, so he devised a limited version of the iron-skin spell that would only affect his little friend. Unfortunately, it also denied him any sensation, so he removed some of the protective features thinking that if more of his anatomy changed it might produce the desired effect. Instead, he wound up transforming the entire thing into solid iron.”

  “Oh wow,” said Will. “Was it permanent?”

  “No, he managed to reverse the effect, but removing the inherent protections exposed him to unsafe levels of the metal. He wound up dying of iron poisoning a few days later.”

  “That’s not very funny,” said Will.

  “I haven’t finished. Although he did manage to get the desired effect for a time, complete with sensation, his partner was apparently so disgusted by the thing she wouldn’t let him near her. So the poor bastard died for nothing.”

  “Still not funny.” Will sat down and began copying the spells he wanted, beginning with the point-defense spell. Despite Arrogan’s disparagement, he also copied the force-dome, wall, and cage spells. After a moment’s consideration he also added the force-fingers spell to his journal. That done, he put his supplies back in the limnthal and returned the book to its place.

  Several hours had passed by then, and Will knew he should probably try to sleep some, since he would still need to go to class after leaving the library in the morning, but he was too wound up to think about rest yet. So he wandered the stacks for a bit, picking out books at random and examining the contents.

  He passed another hour that way, until he happened across a spell that seemed interesting. “Grasping shadows. I wonder what this does.” Reading through the description, he found that it was meant to immobilize and opponent by creating shadows that held their feet to the ground. Unsure whether it was really useful, he asked the ring.

  “Possibly,” said Arrogan. “There are more effective force spells that do the same thing, but I’ll let you tell me why the spell uses shadows instead.”

  “Because they’re scarier?” offered Will.

  “No. It’s because you can only use one force effect at a time. If you use one for immobilizing your opponent you can’t use others, like the shield, or a force-lance. You really have to start paying attention.”

  “Ahh.”

  “Coincidentally, earth-type spells work better for that sort of thing. It’s also one of the most common ways you’ll be attacked by someone using an earth elemental. They always want to either encase you in stone, snare your feet, or just drop you in a pit. Keep that in mind.”

  Will copied the spell down anyway. Then he moved on, working his way through the aisles until he came to the corner of the third floor, where two walls met. An iron door was set in one wall, its surface covered with dark runes. “What’s this?” he muttered.

  The strangest thing about the door was the fact that it didn’t seem to have any magic imbued within it or the runes that covered it. The runes themselves were physically engraved in the metal, and while there were odd black scorch marks on the door, it seemed magically inert. He studied it carefully with his eyes for several minutes, adjusting his turyn sensitivity to make sure he wasn’t missing anything, but he couldn’t find any trace of magic.

  Gingerly, he reached out and touched it nervously. A wave of relief passed over him when nothing happened.

  There was a large, circular wheel and lever mounted in the center of the door, which seemed to control a mechanism to open it, but when he tried to move either of them, they refused to budge. It seemed to be locked.

  Unable to contain his curiosity, he constructed the unlocking spell and cast it. It sank into the metal, and a long groan issued from the door as something inside it began to move. The wheel turned, and he saw the door shiver slightly. Reaching out, he pulled on the lever and the door swung slowly open.

  “That was easy,” he observed.

  Inside, he was shocked to see that the walls of the room were uniformly composed of black iron. Even the ceiling and floor were iron, as though the door opened into a sealed box. On either side of the room were iron shelves with rows of books. “It’s a vault,” he said to himself.

  He looked at the first book to his right, which was titled, A Primer of the Undead. Will’s eyes widened. Surely the undead weren’t real? He lifted the dusty tome from the shelf and opened it. Thumbing through the pages, he found fantastic illustrations of horrific monsters with all manner of names: wights, ghouls, zombies, vampires, and liches. He had no idea what a lich was, but it looked unpleasant. He hurriedly closed the book and put it back.

  Overcoming Mortal Frailty was the title of the next book. Opening it, he found a spell written on the first page immediately after the introduction. At a glance he could see that it was well beyond anything he could cast. He couldn’t even begin to guess at what order of complexity it fell within. Some of the requirements listed beside it seemed impossible. “Vampire blood? How would anyone get that?”

  He closed it and moved on, skipping past titles such as Serving the Dark Lord, Wisdom of the Void, and Sacrifice and Power. “This is some seriously evil shit,” muttered Will. His fingers stopped above a less intimidating title, Modern Necromancy, Bringing Light out of Darkness.

  “Modern,” he chuckled. The book had to be hundreds of years old at the very least, but he supposed it had been modern when it was written. He opened it and found the table of contents. The first few chapters seemed to be involved in the healing arts, but the ninth chapter had a frightening title. ‘Desecration of nations, a practical examination.’

  Overcome with curiosity, he flipped through to that chapter. What he found boggled his imagination. The rituals described seemed incomprehensible and involved things he had never heard of. Ley lines? He returned to the beginning of the book.

  The second chapter held a number of spells supposedly used in healing, so he went to that chapter and began to peruse them. Most were beyond his understanding, but one in particular stood out to him. He wondered if he could find a way to put it to use.

  Arrogan would probably disagree, but if there’s even a chance… He wasted no time copying it down.

  That done he looked at the next book, Demonic Deliverance. “Nope!” he declared. The spot next to it was empty, but it looked as though there had definitely been a book there until recently. The shelf was almost clear of dust in that place, while a thick coating lay on everything around it. Someone removed one of the books? Who?

  A feeling of dread began to creep along his spine. It was time to leave.

  Stepping out, he shut the heavy door and spun the wheel until he heard a series of clicks. The lever would no longer move, and the door seemed to be locked, so he left, heading for the other end of the aisle. It took him a minute to calm himself enough to concentrate so he could bypass the ward again, then he was free.

  Returning to the ground floor, he found his previous resting spot and hid himself with the chameleon spell. He couldn’t wait to leave. The metal vault had left a chill in his bones that was hard to shake.

  Chapter 46

  He struggled to get through his classes without falling asleep, and in truth, he was only partly successful. Fortunately, most of the teachers in his morning classes had gotten to the point where they actively ignored him, whether he was asleep or paying attention. The perks of being unpopular, he thought raggedly during lunch.

  Will was more awake for the aft
ernoon classes, but he still rushed out after his private session with Dulaney, anxious to get back to his room and take a nap. His eyelids felt as though they had lead weights attached to them.

  He might have slept through his dance lesson, but Janice came and knocked on his door until he woke and answered it. She looked remorseful when he opened the door, but then she fixed her eyes on his face. “Were you asleep?”

  “Mmhmm,” he answered. “I was busy last night.”

  “Was it dangerous?” she asked with a tone of disapproval.

  He shrugged. “Maybe a little. Not compared to some days.”

  “It worries me that you’re getting used to things like that,” she remarked. “Come on. We’re going to be late.”

  Will didn’t move. “I thought you weren’t going to the ball.”

  She glanced back at him. “I’ve had a chance to sleep on it. I probably shouldn’t, but I’m not going to abandon you just yet.”

  “Thanks.”

  Their dance lesson went even better than the day before. Will was finally beginning to move beyond not laming his partner and on to trying to appear as though he wasn’t having a bizarrely slow-moving seizure. Dianne even complimented him. “I wouldn’t have believed it last week, but there may be hope.”

  Afterward, Will returned to his room and began going over the spells he had gathered the night before. Most of the force spells were a little more complicated than he felt like tackling, so he focused on the point-defense spell that Arrogan had recommended. It was only a third-order spell, so he was able to commit it to memory in less than an hour, and after that he spent a short while practicing with it.

  He spent the remainder of his time before bed working on the necromancy spell he had acquired. It was a fifth-order spell, so it would take him another day or two to gain enough confidence to cast it without relying on his notes, but he hoped it would be worth it in the end.

  Before falling asleep, he decided to consult with Arrogan about some of the things he had seen in the vault. He gave a brief description of the door and what he had found within. Arrogan was not pleased.