A few hours later, Lelwyn woke the group so that they can get underway. “I apologize for ending your rest so prematurely,” he told them. “However, time is of the utmost essence and we must make haste,” he informed them. The group reluctantly nodded in agreement and started breaking up their sleep area.
After the group finished cleaning up, Rikel rushed up to Jolen to walk beside him. “You never did tell us how much your remember after falling into that trap,” she pointed out.
Jolen shook his head. “That’s simply because the only thing I can remember after falling down that pit is walking into that chamber where the four of you and my two doppelgangers were,” he admitted.
Rikel smiled. “Come on, you have to remember more than that!” she demanded.
Jolen shrugged. “Maybe that’s just the way that spell worked,” he suggested.
Bewr, at hearing Jolen’s suggestion, stopped walking. “I’ve never heard of a spell that acts that way,” she objected.
Kirel laughed. “Just because you’ve never heard of a spell like that doesn’t mean that there can’t possibly be one,” he pointed out.
Bewr rolled her eyes. “Yes, I am quite aware of that,” she growled in annoyance. “It just seemed to be a rather bizarre combination of things for the spell to do. Any individual component makes sense; everything combined does not,” she added.
Lelwyn placed a hand on Bewr’s shoulder. “Why the necromancer would bother to cast a spell that merely summoned Jolen away and then made the Knight and Knave clones from his is not important at this juncture,” he pointed out. “For now, our efforts would be better spent trying to track down said necromancer’s location,” he ordered before taking the lead.
Bewr pouted. “I suppose,” she acknowledged. “I just don’t like leaving a mystery like this behind,” she told him.
Lelwyn smiled. “I do not relish the thought, myself,” he admitted. “We simply need to maintain our priorities.”
Kirel poked Bewr’s shoulder. “Yeah,” he agreed. “It’s either we continue searching for the necromancer or just stand around this drab hallway talking about it,” he joked.
Bewr rolled her eyes at Kirel’s antics then walked up to Jolen. “There’s something you should know,” he told him. “While we we exploring the tower while you were, well, wherever you were, we found the poachers who murdered your sister,” she informed him.
Jolen stopped and turned to her. “And then?” he asked with his emotion held tightly in check.
Kirel looked back over his shoulder. “And then we slew them on the spot!” he boasted.
Jolen bowed his head in solace. “Then I thank you for managing to do what I never had the opportunity to,” he told the group.
Kirel angrily kicked the ground. “I don’t believe this!” he shouted.
Lelwyn turned to him. “What is it my old friend?” he asked in concern.
Kirel turned and glared at Lelwyn. “If we had captured one of the poachers and held onto him for just a little bit, Jolen could have been the one to get justice for Telina’s murder!” he growled.
Bewr stepped between the arguing mages. “There’s absolutely no way any of us could have possibly predicted being this close to finding Jolen again when we made that decision and you know it!” she scolded Kirel.
Kirel turned to her. “We still could have tried to capture one of them!” he shouted.
Rikel put her fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly. “In case you forgot,” she started angrily, “taking out each of the poachers without getting ourselves killed wasn’t exactly trivial. I doubt if we’d have been able to capture one of them alive without suffering any casualties on our end. And if we had, how would we have contained them since? Especially with that fight against the ghouls and skeletons,” she added.
Lelwyn cleared his throat. “Rikel is right,” he agreed. “While I would also have preferred for Jolen to have personally gotten justice on the poachers, the circumstances made that most impractical. Now cease this foolishness at once!” he ordered.
Bewr and Kirel nodded in acceptance. Bewr placed her hand on Jolen’s arm. “If we had known how close we were to finding you again, we’d have at least tried to save at least one of them for you,” she promised with a wistful smile.
Jolen shook his head. “It matters less to me who it was who got the kill than the fact that justice was actually and finally done,” he informed her.
Lelwyn placed his hand on Jolen’s shoulder. “Well said, my elvish friend!” he shouted. “Now come, we have a necromancer to dispatch!”
Lelwyn motioned for Jolen to continue leading them further into the tower. The group followed after Jolen, with Kirel hanging back behind the others. Rikel saw this and turned her head back. “It’d be better for me to hold the rear than you,” the knight told him.
Kirel grumbled and walked in front of Rikel, walking in stride with Bewr. Bewr leaned over to Kirel. “Sorry,” she whispered. “I couldn’t think of a way to stop her without...” she trailed off while motioning towards Kirel.
Kirel shook his head and smiled wistfully. “It’s fine,” he assured her. “Stopping the necromancer is more important right now anyway,” he admitted under his breath. “Besides, we’re all adults; we should be able to handle things maturely.”
Jolen searched another door for traps. When he found none, he opened the door. Before they could go through the door, Kirel tapped Jolen on his shoulder. “Why do you bother searching for traps?” he asked. “The only traps we’ve seen in this entire tower were in that library and that staircase,” he pointed out.
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Jolen smirked. “And both of those traps were rather potentially lethal, weren’t they?” he countered.
Rikel walked up behind them. “Also, given the way this necromancer’s been operating,” she began, “the lack of traps so far could simply be to lull us into a false sense of security,” she pointed out. “I recommend that we continue searching for traps,” she added.
Lelwyn nodded. “Aye!” he agreed. “Maintaining our vigilance would be prudent!” he ordered.
Jolen shrugged. “That’s as may be,” he began, “this particular room has nothing of interest,” he admitted before closing the door.
Rikel walked to the last door on the floor. “Well, this is the last door on this floor,” she pointed out.
Jolen walked to the door and thoroughly checked it for traps. When he found none, he opened it, revealing another staircase leading down into the tower. Before they entered the staircase, Kirel cleared his throat. “There’s, there’s something I need to say. About how I’ve been acting on this trip...”
Lelwyn interrupted Kirel by placing his hand on his shoulder. “My friend, you seem to forget that the two of us have known you for nigh on fifteen years. We know that your sarcasm is simply how you cope with stress and worry,” he assured him.
Bewr drew Kirel into a hug. “Yeah, you may act like a jerk at times. Many times. Most of the time,” she kept correcting herself while blowing her hair out of her face. “Point is, you’re our jerk and we love you for it,” she smiled at him while squeezing him lightly.
Jolen smiled at them. “While making up with each other after an argument, that I apparently missed, is nice, my home is currently under mortal peril,” he scolded them jokingly in a voice not at all matching his words.
Rikel started clapping sarcastically. “I agree with the elf. If we’re done with this overly sentimental display, can we get back to saving Midway, and possibly, the rest of Terris?” she asked them with a coy smile before starting to climb the stairs again.
As the party climbed the stairs, each of the mages felt a powerful release of magic coming from another, unknown part of the tower. What none of them knew was that release was felt by all magic-sensitive beings across the entire planet. The full ramifications of this one event wouldn’t be known for many years to come.
The three mages all stumbled, causing Rikel to run up to them. “Are the three of you okay?” she asked in concern.
Lelwn stood up straight and nodded. “I believe so,” he answered while struggling to regain his feet.
Kirel stood up. “What in the name of the gods was that?” he demanded.
Bewr shook her head. “I have no idea,” she admitted. “I’ve never felt a release of magic like that in my life. Not even when we were at the Academy,” she added.
Lelwyn turned to the other mages. “What could possibly have caused such a magical release?” he asked.
Kirel started pacing. “Without access to the Rune Matrix, we can’t be certain of the exact spell,” he complained. “Perhaps an experiment gone awry,” he theorized out loud.
Bewr bit her bottom lip. “I doubt it,” she countered. “Any mage with the knowledge and power to cast a spell like that should also know how to conduct an experiment safely,” she pointed out.
Rikel cleared her throat. “What if the necromancer destroyed that artifact that you were talking about at that cottage?” she asked.
Bewr laughed humorlessly. “If that had happened, we’d all be very dead,” she objected. “In fact, there would be a very large crater where this tower was reaching almost, if not the entire way, to Midway if that was what had happened,” she added.
Kirel turned to Rikel. “I think you’re underestimating just how much power there was in that artifact,” he pointed out. “An uncontrolled release of the magic from its destruction could, quite literally, potentially destroy all of Terris itself,” he explained.
Rikel’s face went ashen. “That’s just you exaggerating as normal, right?” she asked.
Lelwyn turned to her. “Nay,” he countered. “In this instance, Kirel speaks only truth,” he concurred.
Bewr resumed walking up the stairs. “All the discussion in the world won’t do us any good from here,” she told them while walking.
Lelwyn ran behind her. “Bewr is correct,” he agreed. “We must be off.”
Jolen ran in front of the others and looked back over his shoulder. “I think this is they way we need to go!” he shouted while continuing on ahead.
Before Jolen could get far, Rikel ran to catch up with him. “You better slow up,” she warned. “The mages are having a hard time keeping up with this pace,” she said while motioning her head back.
Jolen stopped and waited for the two trailing mages to catch up. As Bewr started to catch her breath, she tapped Jolen’s shoulder. “Where are you leading us?” she asked.
Jolen smiled. “I figured the center of the tower would be our best bet,” he answered.
Kirel raised an eyebrow. “Not the top?” he asked in confusion. “Isn’t that where all evil mages hide in the stories?” he added rhetorically.
Lelwyn placed his hand on Kirel’s shoulder. “That is precisely why Jolen is leading us to the center! Unless I miss my mark in Jolen’s reasoning,” he added.
Kirel shook his head while shrugging Lelwyn’s hand off with a dark look. “Nope; still confused,” he admitted in annoyance. “How about you explain it more simply?” he demanded with a growl.
Lelwyn held up his hands in silent apology. Kirel nodded his head in equally silent acceptance.
Rikel sighed. “If all the stories place the villain at the top like that. That’s the first place they’ll expect us to look,” she explained. “That leaves either the center or the bottom as the next two most likely places to look.”
Bewr smiled in excitement. “And the bottom was the first place we looked!” she pointed out.
Jolen shrugged. “Unless there’s a basement we missed,” he acknowledged. “But I doubt it,” he added.
Kirel laughed. “If you want to go back down and check by yourself, feel free; the rest of us will be up here,” he joked.
Bewr stopped Jolen. “Hold up,” she demanded. “What happened to the dagger we tuned for you?” Bewr asked.
Jolen shrugged. “It must have been taken from me while I was unconscious,” he mused. “Or perhaps the magic in the dagger blocked the spell from summoning it with the rest of my belongings. Be assured, I have other weapons at my disposal to fight with,” he told her with a mischievous smile.
Bewr shook her head. “You should still be able to summon it back to you,” she pointed out. “As long as it’s still within about a quarter-mile or so,” she added.
Jolen raised his eyebrow. “I take it that’s the maximum range of the summoning ability of the dagger,” he half-asked, half-informed. At Bewr’s nod, Jolen held his hand out. A moment later, he shrugged again. “It must not be working anymore,” he mused.
Bewr huffed. “The necromancer could have broken the tuning we did for it,” she theorized. “Though, I’m not sure why anyone would bother,” she muttered to herself.
Kirel scratched at the stubble on his chin that was becoming a beard. “Maybe the necromancer wanted to tune the dagger to themselves,” he pondered.
Rikel loudly sighed “Does it really matter?” she demanded in annoyance.
Bewr rolled her eyes. “Whatever is preventing the dagger from working as intended may also interfere with our spells,” she explained. Rikel nodded in concession of the point.
Lelwyn placed a hand on Bewr’s shoulder. “Aye, it is indeed quite the conundrum” he agreed. “But there is naught we can do about it in any event. Let us continue on; the necromancer behind this all awaits!” he shouted.
Jolen continued to lead them through the tower for quite some time. Eventually, he stopped and held up his hand. “Unless I’m very much mistaken,” he started, “this is the very center of the tower. Assuming that I haven’t completely misread the measure of the necromancer, we should find them behind this door,” he announced. The group all prepared themselves as Jolen opened the door.