Spellscribed conviction, p.13
Spellscribed: Conviction, page 13
Talos leaned forward. "And do you know who hired her?"
"Yes." Endrance responded.
"Who?" Talos asked.
"Are you sure that your truth spells are working?" Endrance asked. "I don't want to be laughed at."
"Who?" Talos repeated.
"She was hired by Archmagus Valeria." Endrance expelled, waiting to see Weldom, or perhaps even Talos, laugh or accuse him of lying. They didn't.
They were silent, looking at him with stunned expressions on their faces. Except for Kaelob, who looked instead terrified.
"Kaelob." Talos muttered, not looking over to the mage. "Your presence is no longer needed today. Please return home."
"But..." the man stammered.
"Now."
Kaelob took a steadying breath, looked at Endrance with a strange, almost mournful expression, and cast a quick spell, disappearing.
The other three looked at each other. The magus nodded, and set about casting a long form spell. When she completed it, Endrance's ears popped, as if the air pressure had suddenly changed.
"Done." she said, pulling one of her earrings out. The Crystalphage gem in the center crumbled to black dust as she tossed the jewelry aside. Endrance had never seen anyone drain a crystal so thoroughly before.
"It's strong enough?" Weldom asked.
"For now, it's strong enough that the gods couldn't peek in, if such uncaring beings could be moved to do so." she said.
"Endrance." Talos said. "You have discovered something that only the four of us knew about. To everyone else, she's been dead for sixteen years."
"Since the night I was born." Endrance said.
"You already knew she was your mother." Talos stated. "We talked about that."
"Yes."
"You also know what your father is."
"Yes." Endrance said with a sigh. "Though that's impossible, it seems to be the only conclusion."
Talos shook his head. "We'll talk about that later. What's important now is learning as much as we can about Valeria's movements."
"You all... believe me?" Endrance asked.
Weldom rolled his eyes. "Yes." he said. "Though I still think you're working for her."
"She gave birth to me, she didn’t raise me." Endrance snapped. "And even if she did, trying to have me killed kind of takes her off the 'acceptable employer' list."
The brunette grinned. "I like his snark." she said. "Would make a good magus someday."
"Assuming he is not executed." Weldom muttered.
Endrance blinked, confused. "I don't understand. If you believe me, why am I still on trial?"
Talos sighed. "First, we can't just declare you innocent because the High King demands a trial. This means we have to bring you before the courts. Secondly, the king or his proxy could try to claim that you simply hired the assassin to kill for you on your way to Balator, and then turned on you because you didn't pay. Thirdly, the fact that the King of Balator is dead at your hands, while not strictly a legal concern of Ironsoul, sets a precedent for murdering state officials."
"It wasn't murder." Endrance said. "I was doing my duty as Spengur."
"Your duty also included killing the man who gave you that duty?" the brunette asked. "Talk about operational freedom."
"Yeah," Endrance replied with a roll of his eyes. "I'm pretty much their magical boogeyman. There are even stories they tell their children to keep them in line."
The brunette's eyes widened. "That's amazing." she said.
"Yeah. The stories are pretty ridiculous." Endrance admitted. "But, I guess I understand. So what happens now?"
"We need to talk about what you know of Valeria's actions. After that, you will be sent back to your quarters until the trial." Weldom stated.
"And when is that, exactly?" Endrance asked. "I've been going stir crazy in there. I've written upgraded spells into my book, re-scribed all of my tattoos, and have even got a new spell pretty much done."
Weldom scowled at him. "You can't have re-scribed your tattoos." he said. "You haven't had any visitors."
Endrance blinked, confusion plain on his face. “Huh?” he blurted.
“You haven’t had any visitors, much less a tattooist.” Weldom snapped. “You couldn’t have-“
“Well, I did.” Endrance snapped back, pulling the sleeve of his left arm up and showing the skin to the three mages. New lines were obvious on the tattoos running up his arm from his hand and wrist. “I just finished these last night.”
Weldom stared blankly at the defendant’s arm. The brunette let out a titter that seemed strangely uncharacteristic of the rough appearance she assumed.
“I guess someone finally knows something better than you, eh Weldom?” she asked mirthfully, leaning back in her chair. “Now I’m wishing I could have been his master. We would have gotten along famously.”
“Infamously is more like it.” Weldom muttered as he continued to examine the changes to Endrance’s tattoos. “You’re almost as bad as Kaelob.”
“Except I’m sane.” She replied. “You all checked. I just like making pretty things that sometimes don’t work right.”
“Her artifices have improved life in Ironsoul in several areas, Weldom.” Talos reminded his subordinate. “Endrance would have been a useful addition in her field of work.”
“And give Valeria’s son access to the ward stones for the city?” Weldom shook his head. “That’s not just a dumb idea, it’s suicidal. If Kaelob’s report was true, our wards are the only thing keeping her out.”
“We have no idea if an Archmagus caliber litch would be repulsed by our wards.” Talos replied. “We’ve never seen anyone over wizard caliber become a litch, so we don’t even know what their abilities, or even their limits, are.”
Endrance lowered his arm. “How come?”
Talos looked back at the mage in the circle of candles, as if he had temporarily forgotten about him. “How come what?”
“How come you’ve never seen anyone above wizard becoming a litch?” Endrance asked. “I know that one of them turning is pretty horrible, but historically, shouldn’t it have happened at some time?”
“It has to do with one of the qualifications required to pass your magus trials.” Talos replied. “One of them is called ‘The Well’. Those who have learned to access it, typically cannot fulfill the conditions required to become a litch.”
“Uhmm…” Endrance muttered.
The brunette shrugged. “When it comes to fights, we usually die before we ever come close to running out of power, which is the first condition we’ve found that sparks the conversion process. Only specifically engineered circumstances could possibly draw us into such a vulnerable position.”
Endrance thought about the power flowing through his aura, as well as pulsing in his veins. He had been on his own for only a year and a few months, and already his ability to store power had increased by nearly half before he had considered what he could be storing in his body. He had but to wonder what kind of power a mage like him could have in a decade, no, a century? He started to comprehend the magnitude of what they were telling him.
“Okay, so I do have some information about Valeria that is relevant to this.” He said.
Weldom’s scowl softened. “Do tell.” He said.
“Valeria had been working for the King of Balator.” Endrance started, trying to sum up his terrifying first year with the barbarians as simply as possible. “I did not know this until after I had killed him, but she had been trading him knowledge on advanced demon summoning techniques. If I hadn’t stopped him, he could have summoned something more dangerous than a few succubi by now.”
“Traded for what?” Weldom asked. Talos was letting him steer the questions, so Endrance decided to answer plainly.
“He was trading her Crystalphage.” Endrance said. “Charged Crystalphage in exchange for arcane knowledge and the use of her assassin while she was in the area.”
The three exchanged glances. Endrance felt left out again. “I can only conclude,” Endrance continued. “That while you all may have enormous power while alive, she’s still bound by the limitations of undeath; she cannot regenerate any power on her own.”
Weldom shook his head. “Where could Kalenden have gotten such a large quantity of Crystalphage?”
Endrance shrugged. “From my maps, and the maps of the barbarians, Balator is the largest mountain in the world. I’m sure there are deposits of it all over the place.”
“The gem isn’t very common, Endrance.” Weldom replied. His tone was slightly less offensive, perhaps a sign he was starting to believe him.
“I found a cavern in the mountain behind my home on the seventh bowl, that was covered in the stuff. I’d guess about four to five thousand pounds of it, by rough estimation.” Endrance explained. “More than enough that I could have built an entire room out of it. Or made armor out of it.”
“That’s… quite the claim there.” Weldom stated.
“Yeah.” Endrance replied. “I hope the guy you sent isn’t too greedy, or I’m going to be upset when I get back to Balator.”
“He will exercise his discretion, of course.” Weldom stated. “If you prove to be innocent, I’ll make sure he cleans up before he leaves.”
Endrance sighed. Talos stood. “We need to ask you some more questions, and then you are coming with me.” The Archmagus said.
Endrance nodded. “All right.” He said. “Let’s begin.”
* * *
Talos led him down the tower forty minutes later. The stairs were the same ones he took up to his room, but they passed the room and kept going, even past the room they had shared dinner in.
“Where are we going?” Endrance asked.
The Archmagus shushed him. “Quiet.” He muttered. “I want you to swear that you will not tell anyone or anything about what we’re about to see. The only person you can talk to about this is me.”
“What?”
“Please swear.” Talos, for once, actually looked worried. Endrance found the Archmagus’ concern unsettling, and nodded his head. “Yes. I swear that you are the only person or thing I can talk to about whatever it is you’re about to show me.” He said, feeling a faint unease in his stomach.
Talos' eyes danced, looking into the air over Endrance's head. He nodded to himself and turned back down the stairs. "Then we must hurry." he said. "I can only bring a visitor during the midnight hour."
"What?" Endrance asked. "What do you mean, visitor?"
Talos continued down, and Endrance had to be careful not to slip, rushing to catch up. "Are you talking about Valzoa?"
"Who?"
"... Never mind."
"Come. I normally teleport over there, but you can only do so in specific areas." Talos explained. He opened a door they came upon, and he quickly ushered Endrance inside.
Endrance recognized the room as the one he had arrived in earlier when Weldom first brought him to the tower. "So there are wards preventing teleportation?" Endrance asked.
Talos weakly shrugged. "There are wards against any kind of spellcasting in the tower. If you had tried anything, you'd know that."
"I didn't. I was obeying the rules." Endrance responded.
"There weren't any rules specifically stating you couldn't cast spells." Talos observed.
"I know, it seemed an odd oversight, so I just avoided it being an issue. Besides, I couldn't tell if Weldom had intentionally left that out to try to get me executed or something."
Talos chuckled. "As much as he is an asshole, he is a stickler for the rules. He won't risk any chance that he could become the next Archmagus."
"You mean in like 300 years?"
"Or when I decide to retire." Talos replied. "Let me take you to the closest chamber."
Talos reached out and put a hand on Endrance's shoulder. Again, Endrance could feel the vast power of the Archmagus held in tight control, just outside the surface of the man's skin. This time though, Talos hesitated.
"You're channeling power?" he asked. "You haven't cast any spells."
"I'm not channeling power." Endrance said. "I'm storing it."
Talos was silent for a while. "Your transformation is accelerating." he observed. "Soon you're going to have more in common with your father than you do us."
Endrance thought he heard a sad undertone in the Archmagus' words. "I'm still human."
"Half human." Talos replied. "Half Mercanian."
"Well I don't know much about them. Most people don't." Endrance supplied.
Talos was quiet a moment.
"Most people don't... right?" Endrance asked.
Talos shook his head. "Only the High Magus and I know everything. The magus learn some clues, but only the one you'll be talking to next knows more."
Talos spoke several words of power Endrance didn't understand, and cast a spell in the long form with his right hand while keeping the other one firmly clasped on his shoulder. The Archmagus released the spell thirty seconds later, and Endrance felt a split second of unpleasant vertigo as everything went dark. He felt, for a moment, suspended in time and space, feeling weightless and gently pulled in all directions at once and, therefore, going nowhere. Arcane formulas tumbled through his head, a memory that he had never created, and he understood the magnitude of the magic that had been wrought.
It was not just a teleport spell, Endrance realized in that moment. It was a specific teleport spell, meant to take exactly two people through a shield layered in innumerable wards so powerful that failing to bypass one would leave the caster, not only dead, but scattered across the world like so much fine sand in the wind.
And the moment in time passed. The next second he was standing in a dark room. Talos' hand was still upon his shoulder, and the Archmagus let go of him.
"We are here." he announced. "The chambers beyond this door have seen only the Archmagi since the day they were constructed."
"Can we have some light?" Endrance asked.
"You can cast spells down here." Talos replied. "It is far enough from the siphon that your magic will work fine."
Endrance had not been told that a siphon was why he would not have been able to cast magic. He was again glad for his prudence, and for Talos' trust in him.
"I'll just open my eyes." Endrance concluded, focusing his mind. He touched upon a now-familiar focus, and a burning sensation spread across his eyes as his emerald irises began to glow green and dilate until they were a pair of thin, burning green rings. He could see perfectly fine in the dark now, having tapped into the goblin's ability to see into the dark. It was easy enough for him, now that he'd practiced; it happened now nearly as soon as he willed it; and the burning sensation faded within seconds.
He could see now that the room he was in looked exactly the same as before, except it was entirely devoid of furniture or decorations. Only a single door led out.
"Oh, I didn't know you had that spell already." Talos said, and Endrance turned to look at him. The man's tattoos were dark, yet Endrance's vision could make out a faint glitter of gold light within the black lines on the man's skin. Did his own tattoos look like that?
I don't." Endrance replied. "It's a goblin's vision. I'm borrowing it."
Talos tilted his head. "It would seem so." He said after a moment. "You don't have your eyelids tattooed yet."
"Yeah." Endrance said in reply. "I just tap into the abilities of the creatures captured by the bracer. They remain imprinted, even if the bracers are taken off."
"Hmm." the Archmagus said, turning and walking to the door. "That's interesting."
Endrance followed him to the door and walked through when the Archmagus opened it for him. "What's interesting about that?" he asked.
"I read the enchantments on the bracers." Talos declared, following Endrance down the only hallway from the door. "And they do allow the draw of power to refill the gems set in them, but the rest of the abilities built into the bracers are unusable by anyone, except perhaps you."
"What do you mean?" Endrance asked, opening the door at the end and walking through.
Beyond the door, was a domed chamber that was easily a thousand feet in diameter and five hundred feet tall. The room was dark, but flickers of light shot through the chamber in random bursts. In the center, half the size of the underground dome, was another dome made entirely of a metal that gleamed with every little flash of light. Endrance's vision helped him realize that the area around the metal dome was noticeably a few degrees brighter than where he stood.
"I mean that the other abilities of the bracers were meant to activate and help control the natural abilities of a Mercanian." Talos observed. "Except that any actual Mercanian would already have perfect understanding of their abilities, so it could only be meant as a primer for someone like you."
"A primer for someone like me." Endrance muttered, looking around the room. There appeared no way in or out, except through that room. "You mean someone who is half Mercanian?"
"Yes." Talos said. "And considering that, I remember her making those bracers nearly a hundred and fifty years ago, I would suspect that she had spent quite some time planning out your life."
Endrance was dumbstruck. "I..." he started, faltering.
"Additionally, I want to show you something, and you remember how I made you swear you wouldn't tell anyone about this?" he asked.
Endrance nodded.
"Good." Talos pointed above him. "Consider him a part of this."
Endrance looked up, and for several seconds he stared up at it because he couldn't comprehend what was looking down at him. It finally dawned on him that he had remained staring up at it because most of his brain had shut down in terror.
Only a few yards above him, was the massive scaly snout of a dragon. Its head was massive, with jaws five yards wide at the tip, and twice that back at the jaw. The thing was black scaled, with spines coming down its back and from its head that looked to be made of some kind of bone. Endrance had hardly reconciled the dragon's head when the thing moved, and he realized the size of the rest of it.
It was a black dragon. It was a black dragon, and it was right in front of him. It was a black dragon right in front of him and he was struggling to control his bladder, while considering where to flee.
