Theo and Sparrow waved goodbye to Francis and Eva.
Francis was staying back to continue cultivating the herbs. There was a twinge of regret hidden away in the back of Theo’s mind. It would have been nice to stay there, hidden amongst the trees, with music and magic and the feeling of timeless peace.
He gave one last look in the direction of The Woods, and consoled himself with the thought that he’d be back next week.
“Where is it pointing today?”” Sparrow looked over, casually strolling along with their hands behind their head.
Theo looked at the coins, and at the glowing map that had sprung up once again.
He rubbed his eyes, before blinking them rapidly. “Is it just me, or is…” Theo trailed off, as the blinking light continued to be in the same spot.
Sparrow leaned in, hands in their pockets as they took a closer look. Their brows furrowed. “Yep, it is.”
Theo shook his head, sucking air through his teeth. “Think we could get Chrys to help?”
“We’ll see when we get there.”
On the glowing map of Union City projected outwards from the coins, the blinking dot was inside a building. The College of Spells, to be specific.
---
Abraham was at the desk of the College of Spells, filling out some paperwork as sheafs filled with writing floated around him. The stone walls didn’t feel as cold as they looked (and they looked as welcoming as a bed made of beartraps). Theo wondered if it was the green flames adorning them that regulated the temperature.
As he considered how much of the (rather sinister) décor was meant to be an aesthetic choice or a practical one, Sparrow approached the marble desk, and Abraham grunted without raising his head.
“Hey Abraham, would you mind letting us know if Chrysantheus is around?” Sparrow asked, bending down and resting their elbow on his desk.
Abraham licked his finger, and separated two pieces of paper.
“Normally, I would say that most of our teachers is not randomly on campus on a Fesday night and it might be a better idea to check some of the pubs.” He drew his attention away from one piece to start scribbling on another.
Theo started shifting on his feet as Abraham continued to write. There was no sound but the scratching of a quill on parchment, the faint crackling of the magical fire, and the slightly echoing squeak of Theo’s shoes on the polished stone floor.
Sparrow held up a finger, telling Theo to wait, even as his eyes spied the exit.
A minute later, Abraham finished writing. He sighed. “Most isn’t Chrys. You’ll find them in their workshop. Here.” He held up that piece of paper he had just finished writing, and Sparrow snatched it politely and murmured thank you.
It was a detailed map of the interior of the College of Song, and had directions on how to reach Chrys’ workshop. Theo activated Tome of Memories just long enough to remember the directions, and they began to walk down the grey corridors.
---
Theo pulled out the coins as they walked closer to Chrys’ workshop.
He’d also used Tome of Memories on the way here, and found that it could also be used to never get lost – as long as it was active, he would be able to retrace his steps almost exactly.
“What are the odds?” Sparrow mused. Both of them were slightly incredulous…as the blinking light led them closer and closer to the same place Abraham’s map did.
Theo didn’t respond, merely shrugging. They wandered the stone corridors, the slap of leather shoes echoing in their wake, occasionally using the map or the coins as a guide.
Eventually, they came upon a room, flickering light spilling out between the cracks in the metal door.
Theo checked the coins once again. The dot representing the Coins of Unity’s current position almost overlapped the other, blinking light.
Looking at the door (and referring to his memories of the writing that Thelonious had shown him), he read the plaque inscribed on its surface. It was a polished rectangle of what looked like gold, engraved with a series of intersecting curls that glowed with mana.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
The plaque read: “MASTER OF THE MINT”.
Below it, scribbled on a slip of paper stuck to the door, was a mess that looked almost like some of the letters Theo was used to. He couldn’t read it, but it was rather pretty.
Sparrow saw Theo’s confusion. “Ah, you can’t read cursive. That’s something to bring up to Thelonious. It just says “Chrysantheus”.”
Theo nodded thoughtfully, wondering what cursive was and what the point was if it made it harder to read what was written down.
While he mused, Sparrow knocked politely on the door three times. The sound of their knuckles rapping on metal echoed through the corridor.
Moments later, they heard a muffled “Coming!” in reply.
The click of a metal mechanism activating was followed by a sound that reminded Theo of a sword dragged across a stone, an almost ringing sort of grinding.
With a final resounding (and rather loud) clank, the door swung outwards silently (no matter Theo’s expectation for the hinges to be squeaky and needing grease).
Standing there, face wide in surprise at seeing them (the curious kind of surprise, not the startled kind), was Chrys. She wasn’t wearing the armour that Theo had seen her wear the week before. Instead, she was in a loose set of overalls and a shirt, hair in a messy bun, a smudge of ink on her left cheek. One pen was nestled behind her ear, another in her right hand, and far too many in a bandolier that ran across her body.
Sparrow waved. “Hey Chrys! How’re you?”
Chrys’ expression morphed from the curious kind of surprise, to the confused kind (which was rather warranted, given the rarity of seeing two bards turn up in the College of Spells with no warning or reason).
“Hello Sparrow?” She said, almost a question by itself. Looking over, she spotted him, and schooled her features, standing straighter and eyes sharpening with authority. “Hello young Theo. What are you both doing here?” Chrys ushered them into the room, then locked the door (which involved a few latches, a few cranks, and a very large and solid bar of metal).
It was messy inside the room. Even though it was a room made mostly of metal and stone, it felt homely (even more surprising when taking into account how most of its contents were some variation on paper, ink, or some combination therein).
Scraps of paper with various scribblings adorned every surface of the room, including a workbench with a vice and what looked to be a mini furnace that was embedded in the stone wall, with a column for a chimney. There were no tools, however, just pens and pens and more pens (and some slightly differently sized pens).
On the bench sat a glowing orange plant that Theo recognised, inside a pot that was smaller than its bulb. It, alongside some strips of glowing (what he assumed was) paper that ran around the perimeter, gave the room an atmosphere much less harsh than the green flames that dominated the rest of the College of Spells.
“We’re here because the Coins of Unity pointed not only to the College of Spells, but to this room in particular.” Theo was startled out of his reverie by Sparrow speaking, and he fumbled for a moment before showing Chrys the coins in his hand, and the display with the two blinking dots almost on top of each other.
“We were going to find you and then ask you where you’d think this was leading us…and then it ends up leading us to you anyway.”
She leaned over, looking carefully at the coins before nodding. “Well, I’m glad you came to consult me again. If something is hidden in the College of Spells, the Mint’s Office is where I’d bet it would be.” She stretched her hand out, and Theo handed over the coins once again.
Chrys carefully looked over the coins. “Unfortunately, as the current Master of the Mint and Runesmith teacher, this has been my office for the past decade, and I know every inch of this office.”
“But! Feel free to poke around for a bit, and see what you can find. Just, ask me before disturbing any paper. Some of those could be…explosive.” She added, with a smile, as she returned her attention to a piece of paper in the centre of the workbench.
Given free rein to observe, Sparrow and Theo both took a side of the room, carefully examining everything to see if there were any markings that were even similar to the ones on the coins.
After an hour of searching with increasingly tired eyes (and asking Chrys about specific bits of paper about twenty times), they took a break. Theo had even tried using Tome of Memories and scanning what he remembered. Unfortunately, he also learned that it didn’t help with identifying odd bits of detail (and the novelty of trying to use it for absolutely everything was starting to wear off).
Currently, Sparrow was chatting quietly to Chrys about some inter-college gossip or drama, punctuating Theo’s ruminating time with the occasional gasp or “No!”
A thought came to Theo. “Hey Chrys, is there a reason the door is made of metal? The others we walked past on our way here were mostly wood.”
Sparrow and Chrys’ conversation paused, as she considered how to answer that question. “Ah. Well, runesmiths have traditionally worked on engraving metal or wood, or stone. And there are often many runes that are inscribed on the inside of still-hot metal. With the recent advances in paper, I specialise in paper runes, which is an emerging form of the craft.” She explained, in the gentle tones of a teacher as she looked directly at Theo.
“That means that I don’t use this workbench for its intended use, and I’ve never used the furnace embedded here. In fact, I can’t remember ever…opening…it.” The lecture faded from her voice, as realisation took its place. She turned away from Theo, and stared at where the furnace was.
Carefully transplanting the pieces of paper on its surface, she examined its surface, hand behind her back gesturing for the coins (which had since been stuffed back in Theo’s pockets). After rummaging around for a moment, he handed it to her.
Chrys murmured a thanks as she opened the furnace grate, as ash billowed out and joints that hadn’t been opened in decades creaked. She brought a hand up to her bandolier, and it started to glow. She reached a hand inside, filling the room with more ash as she brushed off the interior of the furnace.
Theo tried to not cough, as Sparrow held a handkerchief up to their face. Chrys tapped the bandolier again, and a sphere of clean air appeared around her head.
Tracing the inside, she quickly retracted her hand as something seemed to move (sending out even more clouds of charcoal).
Chrys beckoned Sparrow and Theo closer.
In the back of the furnace, pristine amongst the black, was a cavity.
Inside that cavity was another chest.