Lord Torch chuckled briefly, “I understand all too well, young man. I have the same problem when I go from transactions like this,” he said, gesturing to the bags of gold being inspected, “to obsessing over a quarter copper rise in the price for a bushel of wheat. Simple folk have it easier. They only have to mind small funds and watch every penny, but the key to success is dealing with large sums like this, while still paying attention to those pennies.”
The steward nodded. “All seems to be in order, Sir.”
“Good,” Torch said. “That concludes this affair. Please thank your Master Silurian for his consideration. Also, Eril, I have not forgotten, I still owe you a debt. Should you need ought, please let me know, and I’ll do all in my power to assist. I do not make this promise lightly.”
Eril felt embarrassed, and his first inclination was to again downplay his part, but knew that what Lord Torch offered was sincere and that refusing it would be unwise. Instead, all he said was, “Thank you, Sir. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Lord Torch nodded, then searched in his desk for a moment. He withdrew a small round button-sized token that appeared to be black enameled brass with an intricate design. “Keep this token. Show it to the gate guards as you leave the city. If they don’t respect it, send me word.”
With the meeting concluded, they closed the chest, which still contained quite a bit of coin, and made their way out. They took the wagon back to Jesstell’s office where Eril left him with a substantial amount of the remaining coin, but not all. Then, as the day was fairly spent, Fil and Eril headed back out of the city.
As they left the city, they encountered a different set of guards. These too seemed intent on both ‘inspecting’ the chest as well as collecting a toll. When Eril showed them Lord Torch’s token, they rapidly changed their minds and bid them continue on their journey.
Chapter 48
When they got back to the inn, Eril took the chest back to his room and covered it. The next day he went with Filora and the chest back out to the ruins.
“Why are you bringing the chest out here?” she asked.
“It contains some items I need here. Also, I feel easier knowing it is being stored in a place where I know no one else can get in. Did you see the marks on the outer door?”
“No,” she said, puzzled.
“Someone has been trying to get in. I’m really not surprised since our little expedition revealed those weapons, I’m sure that everyone around here has treasure hunting fever again. But the outer doors have been proof for over one thousand years, so I’m not concerned.”
They went down onto the main floor where the gate was located and set the chest against a wall.
“I’m going to give you a light and a communicator, and then we need to split up and do more exploring. Somewhere in this place, there has to be an answer to what happened to all the people and things that were here. They left in an orderly fashion. There has to be some clue,” he said as he walked.
§ § §
Nearly three hours (he estimated) later, Eril was beginning to despair. There seemed to be miles of corridors carved into the rock. He’d seen rooms of all sizes. Most had been empty, the few that held things, the years preserved right up until Eril examined them. Some things made out of metal, such as a goodly number of metal formed chairs he found, were largely intact. Anything organic had either entirely decayed or become so fragile that even breathing on it would make it fall apart.
The seat cushions on the metal chairs looked sound, but would disintegrate if he tried to sit on them. A lot of the rooms he looked through had been living quarters. It seemed hundreds if not thousands had lived in the underground portion of the castle complex.
After all this searching, he had nothing useful to show for his time. He was considering using the communicator to call Fil when it started to vibrate on its own. When he grasped it, Fil, excited, told him she thought she had found something important, maybe even exactly what they were looking for.
It took him nearly half an hour to walk from his current location to the place Fil had found. It would have taken even longer if he hadn’t had Fil to give him directions along the way.
The room was in one of the more extensive corridors. Emblazoned above the double doors was the title Main Library, written in Klathar. When he opened the doors, the first thing that caught his attention was the vast array of shelves. Each was made of the same kind of metal as the chairs he’d found. They were just over eight feet high, three feet deep and anywhere from five to twenty feet long. And there were hundreds of them.
They were all empty.
Eril nearly wept with frustration. This place also showed signs of careful, deliberate evacuation.
He looked around, his hopes falling, and then called out, “Fil, where are you?”
“Back here,” he heard faintly, coming from deep in the immense room. He walked in deeper, keeping his light bobbing above his head as he walked past row after row of empty shelves.
When he got to the far side of the room, he saw a corridor formed between the shelves and the wall heading right and left. Fil’s voice was much closer, and he followed it to the right. Continuing for several more yards, he finally emerged into an open area surrounded by shelves on three sides and a large, broad counter down the other. The open space had what appeared to have been couches and padded chairs, several of which had collapsed into dusty piles. A few looked as though they had only recently collapsed and Eril guessed Fil might have tried to sit on them.
Fil was standing on the opposite side of the counter, looking irritated at him. “What took you so long?” she demanded.
“What do you mean?” Eril replied, confused. “This place is huge. Just this library is bigger than anything I’ve ever imagined. It takes time.”
“Hmmmph,” she said. “You’re telling me. So this place really is or was a library. I can’t read, but I’ve heard of libraries. But they usually have books in them, right?”
“Yeah, usually they do. And I’m really glad you found this place, even if they took out all the books. So what did you want to show me?”
Quirking an eyebrow and smirking just a little, she said, “Well, they may not have taken all the books . . .”
Eril jumped up on the low counter, heard it creak ominously under his weight, and then jumped down beside Fil. She pointed beneath the counter to where there were two low shelves. On the top shelf sat two books and two book-shaped piles of corroding paper.
Eril tried to pick up the more intact of the two decaying books. It came off the shelf mostly intact, but when he set it down and tried to open it, the pages just broke apart into flakes. The cover had said something about insects and some of the page fragments had illustrations of various bugs, but even trying to carefully examine them caused the paper to further disintegrate.
Bending back down, he examined the two remaining volumes and was surprised that they didn’t look at all decomposed or even faded. He pulled the first out and found it to be heavier than he expected. Looking closely, he saw that this volume was made of a slick substance reminiscent of but not quite identical to the metal plates that the manual for the gate back at castle Kord had been made of.
The cover of the book said A Pictorial Atlas of the Planet Klastra. Laying it on the counter, he opened it up and was shocked at what he saw. There were pictures and maps, but like none he’d ever seen. The level of detail and the clarity of both the maps and pictures was astounding. Eril had seen maps when studying with Master Silurian. He even had a somewhat crude one he carried with him showing the entire continent of Skrayla with major roads and cities marked. This, though, was something entirely different. First, everything was rendered in vibrant colors. The pictures were so detailed, he had no idea how anyone could have painted them, and there were no brush strokes of any kind. Also, the maps, as he flipped through, were of a detail that would have made any traveler or sea captain cry.
Page after page of maps at every level of detail. Not only
that, but there were these amazingly detailed pictures of features like rivers, mountains, and valleys as seen from the trail where people would travel. And there were pictures of people too. Some were clad in distinctive regional dress that Eril recognized, but there were also others dressed in styles entirely unfamiliar to him.
The book was amazing, and as it was made of the strange never decaying paper-like stuff, Eril knew it would last, for which he was thankful. Fil had been looking over his shoulder and exclaiming as he leafed through the tome. When he went to close it, she snatched it away and went further down the counter to continue looking through it.
Eril bent down to remove the final intact volume. As he pulled it out, a sheet of the heavy paper-like stuff slid out separate from the volume. He grabbed it and placed both the book and the separate sheet on the counter.
The sheet, unlike anything he’d seen on this substance before, had small dense handwriting on it, but like the manual for the gate, it was written in ink not visible to the natural eye. Eril scanned the page, growing more amazed as he read it.
If you can read this and you have entered this facility, you are most likely at least a minor zdrell talent.
Welcome.
Doubtless, you are disappointed that you have come to a library devoid of books. Rest assured that the books have been safely stored. When it became apparent that this facility would fall and that the demons and those who serve them would destroy this and all other knowledge, as they have already done in Grimor, I undertook to safe keep the contents of this archive. They are stored where only a true zdrell master can access them, between the gates.
I have no idea who you are or what circumstances bring you here, I only know that no mundane nor demon wizard could read this note, only a true wielder of zdrell. As such, I have ensured that you have access to what you need most, the manuals for the theory and operation of the Primary Gate that this facility is built around. I expect that it is not functioning. The manuals will give you all you need to be able to effect such repairs as are needed to make this gate, and thus all other still existing gates on the continent, operational.
You will find manuals in a concealed box in the column behind you. The box is sealed so that only a zdrell wizard can open it. Use your sight to examine it carefully, and you will find the internal lever that must be moved to open the box. As the manuals are printed on veerum, they should still be entirely intact, no matter how much time has passed.
I do not have much time left. I sincerely hope you are a strong zdrell wizard and can work to reclaim some of that which has been lost. When you are ready, look for the tomes of my beloved archive in the place between the gates where they wait.
Be wise with what you learn and do not make the same mistakes that we zdrell wizards of old have made. Share what you learn and remember that you are not above the mundanes and lesser wizards. Hubris has been our downfall, do not let it be yours as well.
Farewell,
Lexwell Alesk Trall, Chief Archivist.
“Wow,” was all Eril could say as he read the letter over for the second time. Filora had finally noticed he wasn’t looking at the second book and came over. “What’s that?” she asked. “It just looks like a blank page.”
“Yeah, I suppose it would. I doubt most people would notice it, but it isn’t blank.”
“What do you mean,” she said, snatching it up and turning it different ways in the light cast by their two hovering globes. “I don’t see anything.”
“Sorry, you can’t. You’re not a zdrell wizard. I’m probably the only person living on this planet who can read this.”
“Hmmph,” she said and put the not-paper down on the counter and went to look at the volume he had pulled out and hadn’t yet examined.”
“What’s this one say?” she asked, pointing at the book. “I can see the writing on it, but I don’t read.”
He looked down and read the cover title and smiled. “A Fairly Brief and Moderately Accurate History of the Planet Klastra from Colonization Until the Year 3380 A.L.,” he read.
§ § §
Eril had always been fascinated by history, and the title certainly grabbed his interest, even if it didn’t make any sense. He opened it and found that like the gate operating manual, it was written in a script that was invisible to mortal eyes, but that to his zdrell sight contained immense quantities of information on each page. Within seconds, he knew that it would take months to read this book in its entirety and probably years to understand.
Time was not something he had in abundance currently, so he reluctantly closed the book and turned around to search for the hidden box mentioned in the note.
It only took moments to find the box, though he doubted he would have noticed it at all if he were not directed. To mundane eyes, it was completely invisible. Even to his zdrell sight, it didn’t stand out especially. One doesn’t usually expect that a small portion of the foot of a column will be any different from the several hundred others in the room.
Opening the hidden compartment also proved simple following the directions of the note. Again, without those hints, he guessed it would have taken hours to puzzle it out. As it was, in less than ten minutes, he had extracted the two large volumes hidden in the compartment of the column. They were very similar to the manual back in castle Kord, only both were much thicker.
The first volume was titled, Comprehensive Operations, Maintenance, and Service Instructions for Skryla Primary Jorell Gate Alpha. Eril didn’t even bother opening the first one, as he was pretty sure it would be similar to, but a much more in-depth version of the manual he’d already studied at castle Kord.
The second volume was not as thick as the first but seemed to be more ornate. The title on the front used a font with elaborate serifs and curls on the capital letters. It read, The Theory and Practice of Interdimensional Gates and other Transpatial Vortices, Their practical uses and variations including a comprehensive survey of Jorell Gates and their variants.
Eril lay this volume down and opened it to find, to his surprise, that the text was in ordinary Klathar, though of small regular script. He leafed through the pages and saw diagrams and what he assumed to be mathematical equations (though using symbols he’d never seen before). When he had leafed one-third of the way through the book, the pages suddenly lost their mundane discernable writing to be replaced by the dense multi-dimension Klathar text he had grown accustomed to in the gate manuals.
Flipping to the exact page where the transition took place, he read the final lines of non-magical text.
“End of Part I.
The remainder of both concept and application of gates is only authorized for Second Level Zdrell practitioners and higher.”
A strange feeling went through Eril’s stomach as he read those words. What was a ‘Second Level Zdrell Practitioner?’ Was he one, and if not, what was he supposed to do about it?
He shook his head and thought he could pretty much declare himself any level of Zdrell practitioner he wanted since any who would contest the designation were centuries dead.
Looking further through the magically printed portion of the text, he saw even more writing, diagrams, and equations. He had never felt more ignorant in his life. He could spend till he was old studying these two books and never understand all of them. He felt sure of that. He only hoped he could figure out enough to be able to get the gates running across the continent before the demons killed them all.
Chapter 49
Eril was reasonably certain that they had stayed too late. He had Fil take the two volumes that had been on the shelf while he took the gate manuals. They made their way back to the first office off the main cavern and left all the books there. They both dashed up the stairs to the stone doorway where Eril hurriedly locked it, and they followed the last flight of stairs to emerge into the night.
Having lost all sense of time, Eril was afraid it was well past midnight, and Fil’s father would be worried and angry. Fil, for her part, wasn’t nea
rly as concerned.
“Oh, it’s not all that late,” she drawled. “I’d say an hour, two at most after sunset. My Da’ll be right annoyed, he will, but not quite ready to panic yet. I’ve trained him to expect this sort of thing from me,” she grinned lopsidedly. “You, on the other hand, he thinks is beyond these sort of shenanigans. I’ll be lookin’ forward to seein’ what you tell him.”
Eril just growled and said nothing. He could see Fil was amused, and he was fairly certain the innkeeper would see their tardiness as his fault, which it was. He tried to figure out what he could say that would explain their late arrival without giving anything more than the minimum information about what they’d found.
§ § §
Strangely, the innkeeper and his wife only seemed to go through the motions of being upset. Took complained that it had to be Fil’s fault, as she was always flouting any sort of curfew. Deela, Took’s wife, actually spoke up defending the young couple. This took both Fil and Eril by surprise as the woman was normally quiet to a fault. Eril doubted he’d heard twenty words out of her before that night.
Eril did manage to get Took to go with him into a storage room and tell him in confidence that they’d found a magically sealed cave beneath the ruins and had lost track of time since they’d been out of sight of the sun. He also swore the man to secrecy and intimated that Master Silurian would be sending others who’d bring more business to the innkeeper. Appealing to his business sense appeared to be the best course as Took readily agreed to keep their secret safe.
The Journeyman for Zdrell Page 28