The Journeyman for Zdrell

by David K Bennett

  “I guess that makes sense . . .”

  “Trust me on this, boy, we don’t want to make too big an enemy of a wealthy landowner like Torch. He has influence in the governing councils and could get them to take the whole thing away from us, once they know what we’ve got. We’re foreigners. They have no reason to treat us fairly.

  “No, I actually want you to make significant effort to see if you can’t uncover something up there. Even though time is of the essence, I think we’d be wise to leave the gate site alone until we have clear title to the land. Once we have that, we can move forward. I’m going to need you to come back to Salaways at some point to get the payment for the land. I don’t have enough ready currency out there to secure a purchase of this size.”

  Eril agreed and then ended the conversation. He wasn’t happy about having to divert from working in the gate cavern, now that he’d finally found a way in. He so wanted to search and hopefully find the information he’d need to repair the gate and the great machinery that powered it.

  Even so, Eril understood that if they didn’t have control of the land, they could lose it all as fast as they found it. So far, the villagers had been very friendly, but still, he was a stranger here, and he knew enough history to know that when national pride was threatened, people mistreated foreigners.

  Chapter 38

  The next morning he told Fil of the change in plans. She took it well, better than he had, and said she had several places in the forest where she thought there might be hidden ruins, especially if someone with Eril’s ability to move fallen boulders was taken into account.

  They took their time getting ready and left the inn well after the majority of villagers were out about their daily tasks and could see them go. Once they were a quarter mile or so away from the village, Fil told Eril to fly ahead to a stone outcropping that was barely visible through the trees.

  Eril arrived and was looking around for signs of ruins when Fil appeared.

  “See those stone slabs over there,” Fil said, gesturing. “I always thought they looked like hefty walls that had fallen in on themselves. No one else ever believed me, but with the way you can move stuff around, I bet we can find something.”

  Looking at the stone slabs, Eril was inclined to agree. A thousand years of weathering might be enough to account for their current natural look. He sent her off to the side, so she had a good view when he moved the outermost leaning stone.

  Eril concentrated on lifting the first massive slab. It was bigger than what he’d initially thought and only moved with great reluctance. As he tried to pivot it away, the bottom snagged on another shorter boulder, and the whole thing cracked in the middle. The shock of the unexpected break caused him to lose focus, and the entire thing fell outward with an enormous explosion of dirt and debris.

  Eril was glad he’d had Fil move where he did, as she was beyond the falling stones. For his part, Eril had reflexively invoked his shield amulet and had stopped several large flying chunks of rock which could have done him real harm. As it was, he was only shaken.

  After the dust settled, Eril saw from the outlines that these stone slabs had been part of a large building. The parts that had been covered by the slab he removed were clearly worked stone. He continued moving rock and rubble before he uncovered a stone doorway leading into the hillside.

  This doorway had not been completely sealed, but only partially blocked by the building’s collapse. It showed signs that both water and various animals had made their way through the doorway over the centuries. He conjured a light ball, and they slowly made their way inside.

  The first thirty or forty feet consisted of partially collapsed walls, plant incursions, dirt, animal droppings, and nesting debris. Eril was beginning to despair for anything having survived the ravages of time when they found an intact door set deep into the stone of the mountainside.

  It had no handle or other locking mechanism visible, though it did look like someone at some time in the past had tried to use chisels or other tools to get it open. There were nicks and tool marks in the stone of the doorframe, but the metal door itself did not appear to be more than scratched.

  Eril focused his zdrell sight on the door and was quickly rewarded with klathar runes which took him several moments to parse.

  “I think it says, ‘Auxiliary armory,’” Eril told Fil.

  “Hooo Boy,” Fil chortled gleefully, “If that means what I think it does, we could be onto something really valuable.”

  Eril nodded and then focused his attention beyond the door, looking for a locking mechanism similar to what he’d found in the stairwell. He was not disappointed when he found a series of latching bars that he needed to lift to release the door.

  In the process, he noted that the door was strengthened in a way very similar to how he had enhanced blades by manipulating the force lines that interacted with the metal. He doubted that anyone other than a wizard could have damaged this door.

  The room beyond the door was similar to the cavern in its state of preservation. Aside from a layer of dust covering everything, it appeared that nothing had moved or changed in centuries. The contents of the room matched the description. There were racks and niches holding swords, shields, armor, bows, arrows, and in one corner magical artifacts.

  Fil shouted in glee and immediately started going through the weapons. Eril went to examine the magical artifacts. He could immediately see that at one point there had been many more than those which remained. This made sense to him since he assumed the place had been under attack and many items had already been put into the fight prior to this area being collapsed and hidden.

  He found numerous enchanted rods, five lightning, three flame, and one flying. He recognized them all from his time with Dorull. None of them had any magical charge, but he knew how to fix that. He also found at least ten magical amulets but was initially unsure of their particular function. One whole shelf held two complete sets of communicators, each with its own hub. Finally, he found another zdrell viewer-telescope like the one he currently carried.

  Eril would have continued looking further but was distracted by Fil brandishing an enormous sword, nearly as long as she was tall.

  “Look at this, Eril,” Fil beamed. “It’s huge, but light as a feather and looks like it was made last week, not a thousand years ago.”

  Carefully taking the sword from Fil, he was shocked at how light it was. It truly felt like he was holding, at best, a short-sword, not this massive blade. He examined the sword more carefully and saw enhancing lines that were similar to, but more stylized than the ones he had been putting into blades for Kason. There were also additional rune and etchings beyond the simple hardening and sharpening his blades had been gifted with.

  Fil was dancing around with glee, wearing a mail shirt and crowing. “All this stuff is like that,” she pointed at the sword Eril still held. “It all looks brand new and is light as can be. People will pay tons for this stuff. We’ll be rich!”

  Sighing, Eril said, “We might be if we were able to keep this stuff to sell it ourselves. Everyone knows we came up this way . . .”

  “Oh, yeah. Old man Torch . . . He’s gonna want ’ta claim all this ain’t he?”

  “Yep. I’d say that’s about the size of it. There’s no way we could explain away where the stuff came from. He’s certain to have someone in town who’ll tell.” Eril shook his head. He didn’t actually care who ended up with the stuff, he just wanted some time to study the etchings in the weapons and armor so he’d be able to create more himself.

  Fil moped now. “It’s just not fair. No one’s found this stuff in a thousand years, and no one ever would if we hadn’t gone looking for it. By rights, it should belong to us.”

  Eril shook his head, “You know that’s not the way Torch will see it. This is his land. I’m sure he’ll give us some sort of finder’s fee, but I’m just as sure he’ll claim all of it for himself.”

  Eril kept looking around to see if they’d m
issed anything important. He was impressed at the state of things, though bows, arrows and anything that wasn’t metal, stone, or magically protected in the room just disintegrated when they touched them if it hadn’t already.

  “Let’s just bring back a pair of swords and some armor and leave the rest here. There’s no point trying to bring it all. Also, when Torch finds out he needs me to open the door to get at the rest, I think that will improve our bargaining position.”

  Fil perked up when he said this. “Yeah, If’n he knows there’s more where this came from, but he needs us to get in, he’ll have to give us a better deal,” she smiled.

  Eril considered smuggling some of the magical items out, but decided against it. In his experience, most people thought of magical items as nearly worthless without their charges unless they had impressive ornamental craftsmanship or jewels. None of these items were beautiful. They had clearly been tools rather than status symbols. Better to leave everything and then bargain in good faith.

  § § §

  They each brought a sword, mail shirt and shield back with them. When they reached the inn, there was quite a stir. Everyone in the village gathered to view and heft the magically enhanced weapons and armor. By that evening, Eril got to meet the elusive Lord Torch.

  “So you’re a wizard of some import,” Lord Torch said without preamble when he entered the inn and addressed himself to Eril. He wasn’t big, though sturdy, and he looked to have been fit once, but now had gone to seed, breathing heavily when he moved. Eril judged him to be in his late sixties. He wore a distinctly finer grade of clothing than the villagers, but other than four rings on his hands was not overly ostentatious. He had entered with four large armed men that Eril assumed must be bodyguards.

  Eril stood and addressed the older man respectfully. “I am a journeyman wizard, sir, and am possessed of some ability.”

  This brought a snort from the old man. “You’ve been here less than a week and have found items hidden for over a thousand years. Items that men have been searching out for most that time. I’d say you’re more than a bit competent.”

  He examined Eril carefully. Eril endured the scrutiny silently, waiting. The old man nodded and then swung his attention to the weapons and armor which had been hastily laid on a table for Torch’s inspection, as soon as he’d entered the common room. He picked up the sword and waved it about experimentally, fingered the mail and picked up the shield.

  Turning back to Eril, he said, “There is more like this up the hill, you said?”

  “Yes, sir,” Eril replied evenly. “The room we found was marked as an auxiliary armory, and it contains a number of weapons, armor, shields and a handful of magical artifacts.”

  “Do any of those ‘artifacts’ function?”

  Eril looked at Torch steadily, “Not as I can see, currently. Any magical charge they might have had has long since been dissipated.”

  The old man looked at Eril intently. He had not missed Eril’s careful wording. “So, they don’t work now? Does that mean they might be made to work in the future?”

  Eril didn’t want to lie, so he told the truth, just not all of it. “The zdrell masters of old could have likely made them function. Have you heard of anyone bringing artifacts back to life?”

  “No,” Torch said, frowning at the ground and pacing. “No, I haven’t heard of anyone getting old artifacts, perfectly preserved or not, functioning again.”

  Eril was afraid that Torch would ask him directly if he could get them to function but was spared that dilemma as the old man changed the direction of his questioning.

  “So there is, or was, an entire room that you uncovered with all these items,” he gestured to the weapons, “and many more up there. What are the chances that they are still there?” he asked with suspicion, staring intently at Eril.

  “I’d say there’s an excellent chance that everything is as we left it,” Eril said confidently.

  “Why are you so sure? Half the village saw you leave and then return several hours ago. What’s to have stopped someone from having gone up there and helped themselves to the contents of this armory while you’ve been here?”

  Eril smiled, but not in a friendly way. “Well, Sir, you must understand that the door to that armory was secured by magic. There were tool signs that people in the past had found the door and tried to open it, but only a wizard would be able to do it, which is why I could get in where others had failed. When we left the place, I re-secured the door. Without my help, no one, other than another wizard, can get in there.”

  Eril let that hang out there for a few moments, waiting.

  “Hmm,” Torch said, rubbing his hand on his chin. “You’ve secured it so no one but a wizard can get in. Clever. I suppose that means I don’t have to worry about posting guards to keep off poachers.” He paced, still rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “But that also means that I won’t be able to get in there without your help. Hmmm. Shrewd.”

  Torch looked up and suddenly became aware of all the other people in the inn’s common room, who were following every word of this conversation. “Took,” he yelled, looking around for the innkeeper. Once he’d caught his eye, the innkeeper approached at a near run. “Took, I need a quiet place for the young wizard and I to have a private conversation.”

  The inn had a small dining room, mostly used by the innkeeper’s family, but occasionally used for small private groups. It was to this room, Took brought them. Two of the armed guards had followed and stationed themselves outside the door.

  Torch pulled a chair and sat heavily, crossing his arms and leaning back. Eril decided it wouldn’t be polite for him to remain standing, so he too took a seat at the table opposite the older man.

  “Tell me what you want,” Took stated confrontationally. “You hold my property hostage. What’s your price?”

  Eril was somewhat surprised by the baldly stated question. He paused a moment before answering. “I am well aware, sir, that what I’ve uncovered is on your land, and as such you claim ownership.” Eril could see that the term ‘claim’ had angered the man, but went on quickly before he could protest. “I don’t dispute your claim, sir, but I also agree with what you said about people having searched this area for hundreds of years. The only reason this was found was because I, a wizard, went looking for it. I had to move a great deal of stone to expose the door to the chamber, and then it was only by my arts that the door was able to be opened. While what is there certainly belongs to you, I feel that Filora and I are entitled to a fair share as a finder’s fee, don’t you agree?”

  Now it was Torch’s turn to sit back and consider his words. After several moments when he stared hard at Eril, he nodded slowly. “I agree, a finder’s fee is in order for you. What of Filora?”

  “She is the one who knew where to start looking. I only knew that I was looking for something somewhere north of the village. She was the one who pointed me to that particular place to try digging.”

  “Hmmmph,” Torch said. “Well, then, I suppose you both must be compensated. What do you propose?”

  Eril had been thinking about this very topic for most of the time he’d been waiting for Torch to appear. “I personally would like one of the smaller swords and smaller pieces of mail, and whatever of the magical artifacts there that you find unattractive. I will tell you that in the short time I looked at them, you won’t find much that would be of ornamental value. They were clearly tools, not status symbols.”

  “And the girl, what for her?”

  “I think Fil would be happy with two of each type of weapon and armor. I’m pretty sure she’d want to keep one full set for herself and sell the other, so you’d be able to leave her with one set if you offered her fair value for the second.”

  “You drive a hard bargain, wizard, but I think you could ask for much more, as I’ve no way of getting more than what sits out in the common room without your help. Also, as you have kindly reminded me, I’d have none of this if you had not searched it out.”
He stood and reached out a hand to the young wizard. “I accept your offer.” They clasped wrists and shook on the deal.

  Chapter 39

  The next day it seemed more than half the village accompanied them through the woods up the canyon to where the locked room lay. Fil and several of the younger people raced ahead, each trying to be first to arrive. Eril initially walked with Lord Torch and his guard, but as the older man’s slow pace left them further and further behind the main group and Torch seemed disinclined to talk, Eril asked permission to go on ahead. The older man was clearly struggling with the hike, but the trail was such that horses couldn’t climb it due to the undergrowth and boulders, so he had no choice but to walk. Eril did have a choice and after a few steps took to the air, much to the delight of the crowd. He ended up landing at the doorway in the hillside just moments before Fil, followed closely by a couple of teen boys.

  “Cheater,” Filora said, sweating and breathing hard.

  The smaller of the two youths following Filora said to the larger, “See, I told you she didn’t lie. He can fly.”

  It was nearly an hour later before an exhausted Lord Torch arrived. He looked to have persisted on sheer determination, and Eril was actually worried for his health. He wanted to help the man, even though he had no real connection to him; then he remembered he actually could.

  He approached the pale sweating Lord, “Lord Torch, may I be of assistance?”

  The old man looked up at him wearily and said, “If you know of some spell to make me young again or replace this weak heart of mine, I’d accept it, but I suppose you don’t have that kind of magic.”

  Eril actually did know spells that could make the man younger seeming but did not say so, as those spells were not spoken of among non-wizards. Instead, he said, “I can’t really make you any younger, but I might be able to do something for your heart if you’ll let me?”