Dorull leaned over and studied the freshly drawn map. “I don’t recognize the place names for either of those primary gates, but the northern one lies within Argrave and the southern one is in Hath, not too far from the capital, which these days is Randoluvria.”
Eril looked at the map and asked, “Am I reading this right, Master? Does this say there’s a gate in Salaways?”
“Of course, Eril. Why do you think Silurian and I both ended up where we did? We knew that both this castle and the one at Salaways were supposed to have gates in their foundations. This castle has stood, largely unchanged, since before the Great War. Castle Salaways has not been so lucky. I doubt anything above ground level is original. That castle has been fought over more times than I care to remember. It’s changed hands more than twenty times since the Great War and been all but destroyed five times. They keep rebuilding it because it is in such a strategic location, and because it has a gate in the mountainside like this one.”
“So, we should be able to use this gate to go directly to Salaways?” Eril asked excited.
“That was always my hope,” Dorull murmured, still poring over the map.
“Well, since we have somewhere to go, what will it take to get this gate operating?” Zeldar asked.
“I was just about to get to that,” Eril said, leafing again through the manual. “The first main section talks about setting locations and connecting two gates, but it assumes both gates are being powered by one of the primary gates.
“I had just started on the section titled Emergency Gate Operations from a Secondary Gate when Master Dorull interrupted me.”
“Very well,” Dorull said, looking up. “Continue reading that section until you understand it, Eril. You might also want to read that first section on normal operations more carefully too. Once you feel like you have a good grasp on those instructions, we’ll see if you can get the gate to work.”
Eril wasted no time and went back to his reading as Dorull took the map and Zeldar out of the study. Eril didn’t even notice at what point Biruell left, he was too engrossed in reading the manual to care.
§ § §
It took three days of reading, re-reading and consulting with Dorull, before Eril felt like he was confident enough in his understanding of the material to attempt to activate the gate. His initial enthusiasm about rapidly creating a gate back to Salaways had cooled as he read the dire warnings, oft-repeated, in the manual for improper use of the gates.
At least three different times in the manual it mentioned that improper invocation of a gate could not only harm the wizard involved but could possibly result in the destruction of the area for miles around a gate, possibly even the entire world.
The manual explained that the fabric of reality did not want gates to exist and that the longer a gate existed continuously the more difficult it was to maintain safely. This was the reason the arches were created. They were anchored not just to the mountains they were part of, but to special foci of power within the planet. It was this special location as well as the complicated spells bound into them that made the gates safe to operate.
Invoking a gate connection was supposed to be simple, but since they were operating in the non-standard “Secondary” mode, it required more care. So, Eril studied and then explained everything he learned to Dorull. Explaining helped make it clear in his mind as well as allowing Dorull to explain some of the things the manual referred to that Eril had never encountered.
One thing the manual clarified was why once they had charged the gate past three-quarters full the energy had begun to disappear. A secondary gate was designed to power other gates and as soon as that threshold had been reached, the power they fed into it was passed on to other gates. Unfortunately, at the time they had no idea which gate it was charging.
The first thing Eril needed to do was set the local gate to point to the Salaways gate in order to get it enough charge to receive them.
Once again, the fire was burning brightly in the arch chamber while Eril, Zeldar, Dorull, and Biruell prepared to make the connection. Eril had the manual with him. He touched the runes the manual indicated and then found a pair that were actual dials which could be adjusted. He looked up the correct orientation of those runes to connect to Salaways and rotated them. Following that, he began channeling energy and his will into the gate.
“I think it’s working,” Eril said after some moments. “Master Dorull, Zeldar, start channeling power into the arch so I can see if I’m getting the right reading that the energy is going to Salaways.”
The other two wizards began to suck the energy from the flames, while Biruell made himself useful by stoking the blazing, yet cold, fire. Concentrating at the points the manual indicated, Eril was able to perceive that the energy was channeling to the far gate and that it was charging much more rapidly than the local gate had.
“That’s right. Keep going,” Eril encouraged. “We’re nearly halfway there.”
Half an hour later, both Dorull and Zeldar looked exhausted from the amount of energy they’d channeled. Biruell looked even more tired from his continuous feeding of the rapidly consumed wood in the fire. Eril, though, was beginning to glow from being tapped into the energy of the gate.
“I think that we are fully charged on both sides. You can relax.”
Both Zeldar and Dorull sagged as they recovered from the transfer spell. Eril was consulting the manual and then rapidly touching the runes on the gate in a complicated pattern.
“This,” he said pausing before tapping a final rune, “should, do it.”
At first, nothing happened, then it was as if a grey curtain slowly dropped from the top of the arch. The color wasn’t too different from the stone behind, but it was further forward, and it glowed with a pearly luminescence. The surface rippled slightly like a pond blown gently by a breeze.
“Is it working?” Zeldar asked with wonder in his voice.
“I think so,” Eril replied, still enraptured by the glowing curtain. “Let me perform the test the manual states.”
Eril went to the nearly empty wood wagon and found a stick over five feet in length. He carried it to the arch and then fed it slowly, point first, into the curtain. Where the wood pierced the glowing surface, it was outlined by a blue ghostly glow.
He continued to push the stick forward until only scant inches separated his hand from the glowing curtain. Then he slowly pulled the stick back out and examined it. The branch appeared unchanged. Eril looked it over carefully and said, “This seems to pass the test. This gate should work.”
“So, everything is ready?” Dorull asked.
“Yes,” Eril replied. “Now someone just has to go through. So, . . .”
“No, Eril,” Dorull said forcefully, “you can’t be first. We have no hope if anything happens to you. Someone else will have to go first.”
“He’s right,” Zeldar said. “I’ll go. How else can I claim the honor of being the first to travel by gate in over a millennium?”
Zeldar didn’t wait for any further discussion but rapidly walked up to and through the shimmering curtain. When he went through two things happened, first, there was a blue flash, then the curtain in the arch changed from grey to darkly transparent.
Once their eyes had adjusted, they could see Zeldar through the arch, but they couldn’t hear anything. They watched him wave back at them and then cast a spell to create a ball of light to illuminate the room where he was now standing. After looking around for few moments, he walked rapidly back through the arch.
Again, there was the brief flash of blue light and Zeldar stepped into the room with them.
“That was . . . odd. I could see you, but I couldn’t hear anything.”
“We were the same,” Eril replied. “We couldn’t hear you either.”
“So, since I have gone through the arch both ways with no ill effects, should we all go now?”
Dorull grimaced, “I can see no reason to hesitate at this point. Eril, what of the c
harge of the gates?”
Eril concentrated on his connection to the gates for a moment. “The charge has barely changed, Master. I don’t think we should have any difficulty.”
“Alright, let’s go then,” Dorull said looking at each of them.
As the three of them moved towards the gate, there was movement from the side and Biruell dashed through the gate ahead of them. Dorull just shook his head and then moved through the arch himself. Zeldar and Eril followed.
Dorull was just casting a new light spell, as the one Zeldar had cast earlier had dissipated when he had crossed back, as Eril finished walking through the archway. The sensation he’d felt as he walked through the arch was strange. For a split-second, he’d felt like he was being pulled in half, but the feeling was very brief, and then he was on the other side.
The room they found themselves in was much smaller than the chamber they’d left. The arch was the same size, and there were signs that the room had been larger in the past, it was dusty and filled with debris, and the masonry of the walls evidenced the many times the chamber had been altered or repaired. The door that led from the chamber was only twice the size of a normal door, not the huge double doors of Dorull’s castle.
The door to the chamber was sealed from the outside. After they had shouted and tried to get someone’s attention for some time, Dorull grew impatient and cast a spell that dissolved the entire door.
“Eril, I can’t thank you enough for this power ring,” Dorull said, lifting his hand. “That is only the second time I’ve ever cast that spell. The last time I had to store up power for a week in order to cast it and even then, it nearly caused me to pass out. This time I only had to channel power from this ring and it bothered me not at all.”
The hallway revealed looked as abandoned as the chamber they were standing in. Eril took the lead heading out.
“I wandered nearly every inch of this castle at some point. I’m not positive where we are, but I have a fair idea.”
They encountered another door that they didn’t need to force, Eril stopped, “I know this place. We are in the back basement of the castle. Where should we go?”
“Shouldn’t we be looking to talk to Master Silurian?” Zeldar asked.
“Indeed. Take us where we can find him, Eril, and hopefully, we won’t shock him to death with our sudden appearance,” Dorull said.
As they continued up out of the basement, they surprised an apprentice who was just about to turn down the stairway they were climbing.
“Your pardon, sirs,” the boy said after he recovered from his initial start. The expression on his face then shifted to confusion. “Ah, where, uh, did you come from?”
Dorull spoke first. “I doubt you would believe us if we told you. But no matter. Run and tell your Master Silurian that Master wizard Dorull and several of his companions wish to speak with him.”
The boy looked confused, but seeing the stern look on Dorull’s face turned and ran away. They continued the way the boy had come and soon emerged into the main castle courtyard. They all stared around. Eril felt nostalgic for all the time he’d spent in this place. It was the only real home he’d ever known.
“Probably best we wait here,” Dorull said. “I’m sure someone will meet us soon.”
The first person who met them was not Silurian, but Lord Feldor.
“Jonny, uh I mean . . .” Feldor began.
“Eril,” Eril said smiling. “It’s so good to see you Feldor.”
“It’s good to see you too . . . Eril,” Feldor said smiling as he came forward and shocked Eril by hugging him. Eril couldn’t remember the last time anyone had hugged him, but he hugged back and enjoyed the experience.
“How came you, and these distinguished gentlemen,” he said gesturing at Zeldar and Dorull, “to be here?”
Dorull stepped forward and spoke. “That is quite a story, but in order to not have to recount it more than once, may we share it first with Silurian?”
“Certainly,” Feldor said bowing, “I only came out first to see if the confused report I was given by the apprentice you encountered, Ladril, was correct. I see that it was, and I’ll take you to Master Silurian directly. This way,” he said leading them towards a doorway that Eril knew led to Master Silurian’s lower study.
Feldor entered the study first to announce them. Before they had even entered, they heard a loud exclamation from the room and heard a chair falling over. As they entered, they saw that the chair they’d heard fall was Silurian’s and that he had started out from behind his large desk and was striding towards them, a look of incredulity on his face. He stared at them and a series of several expressions chased across his face.
“How are you here? Why are you here? Why would you risk coming here?”
The questions came out in rapid succession not allowing them time to respond.
“It is good to see you too, old friend,” Dorull said, grinning. “I believe you need to sit down before you fall. Then we’ll answer your questions.”
“But, he of all people should not be here,” Silurian said, pointing at Eril. “There are charzen searching for line cutters everywhere. One has already been here, and I expect another will be by soon.” He moved back behind his desk, righted the fallen chair and sat.
“We know,” Dorull said. “A charzen already visited my home. He did not leave alive.”
“That just makes it worse,” Silurian began, but Dorull cut him off.
“Silurian, stop! We arrived here by Jorell gate. Do you understand what that means?”
Master Silurian looked back at them in blank shock. He said nothing for a moment. “Truly, you came by the gate?”
They all nodded.
“Eril did that?” Silurian pleaded.
“He did. He was also the one that defeated the charzen, and he made Zeldar,” he gestured at him, “and I power rings similar to the one he’d made for himself.”
Master Silurian mulled over all this information for several moments and then said, speaking directly to Eril, “So, you have finally begun to fulfill your potential.”
“Hardly, Master,” Eril said, looking down, unable to maintain Silurian’s steady gaze.
“I would say he has begun to realize his potential,” Dorull replied, “but I think that he is only now really starting to understand how much further he has to go to become a genuine zdrell master.”
“That is so true,” Eril gushed. “I found this book to explain how to operate the gate, and I still only understand part of it, and it contains so much and yet refers to so much more. It feels like I don’t know anything.”
Silurian smiled grimly, “Yes, that is the Eril I know, always afraid to own up to his greatness even as he flaunts it.”
Eril sputtered, “I don’t. I . . . never.”
Silurian and Dorull both laughed, while Zeldar just shook his head.
Eril indignantly demanded, “What are you laughing about?” Which only served to make them laugh more.
Once the laughter died, Dorull sat down and motioned for the others to do likewise. “This may take a while, Silurian, but I think that Eril needs to tell you all that has happened since he left you.
So, Eril told his story from his encounters at the fair both with Gordal and the demon wizard Keltrode, and then his journey to Dorull and the battle that brought them Zeldar, as well as their encounter with the charzen. Finally, they discussed their work on the gate. Master Silurian interrupted frequently to ask questions and express dismay and occasional approval of Eril’s actions. Dorull also added much commentary over the events that took place since Eril had arrived at castle Kord.
When the entire tale was told, they all went down to examine the gate in the basement of the castle.
“I can hardly believe it is real,” Silurian said, staring through the gate into the chamber where the fire still burned.
Dorull asked, “Eril, please check on the gate. I am happy to visit here in Salaways, but I have no desire to be stranded here.�
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Eril focused his attention on the indicators in the gate. “It seems to be stable for now, but I think we should close it sooner rather than later.”
“Can it be reopened from this side?” Master Silurian asked.
Eril continued to study it. “I think so, but I’m not sure and I would have to consult the manual to be certain.”
Dorull said, “Well, then I think I will return presently. I would love to stay and enjoy your hospitality, Silurian, but I think I need to return and start working on enhancing my defenses. It is only a matter of time until another charzen comes calling, and I have no desire to experience a repeat of the earlier fiasco. I can’t rely on Eril here to save me again.”
“What of you, Master Zeldar,” Silurian asked.
“I believe I too will return with Master Dorull. I don’t think I have yet learned enough from the artifacts or what he has to teach.”
Silurian thought for a moment, then said, “And I think Eril should go back with you for now and learn some more from that manual. Also, since he can use the gate to come back here any time he wishes, he can attempt the experiment of closing and reopening the gate from this side at a later date.”
“Biruell should stay here,” Eril said. The boy had not even stayed through Eril’s recounting of his story and hadn’t followed them down to the gate.
“I agree,” Dorull said. “He is young and really has been out of place in my castle. Here he can stay and learn with your apprentices, though Eril assures me the boy has no magical talent. That means he will end as most of your other apprentices and I think it will be good for him.”
“If that is agreed,” Silurian said, “then I bid you all farewell and expect I will be seeing Eril here again in the next few days or weeks.”
“Goodbye, Master,” Eril said. “It really was good to see you again.”
The Journeyman for Zdrell Page 16