“Okay. We need to find a way out of here,” I remarked aloud. “I think we were flung here by the Fragment’s magic. But this room can’t be all there is in this place. It’s too…deliberate and incomplete.”

Wist was already grabbing a listening horn and a mallet from her toolbelt. “I’ll see if I can find a hidden panel or something,” She offered. “Hopefully one that lets in some air for Suti…” She gave a sad glance at her friend, and then set her jaw and got to work, tapping on the walls and listening through the little horn.

Azul, meanwhile, sat down and arranged his robes around him. “If we were sent here by magic, maybe magic can get us out.” His beard and hair started to float, slightly, as he channeled from the River. I felt a slight shiver as his spells started questing around the room.

Dav looked down at Suti, still carried in his arms, then around the room, as if trying to make a decision. “Dav,” I spoke quietly. He looked up at me, feathers drooping. “Do you think you can mix up some sort of…pure air concoction? Something that will give us more time to figure something out in this sealed room? And…maybe it can help Suti wake?”

Dav handed Suti to me, then pulled his bag closer and settled on the floor. “I don’t know. It’s not something I’ve tried before. But I think I know…at least in theory…”

I accepted Suti in one arm, and with my other hand managed to detach my bedroll from my pack. I folded it on the table and placed Suti on top of it. “Be careful, then. I trust you,” I said to Dav. I clambered up onto the stone table, carefully at first to be sure it would hold my weight. Wist glanced at me curiously, but as I leaned over to peer into the first box-shaped shelf, she turned back to her work.

There was a shallow depression at the bottom of the box. Azul’s light was too low for me to make out any details, but I felt a groove in the bottom, forming a shape or sigil. It wasn’t anything I could identify by touch. I moved on to the next box, and found the same thing, though the groove’s pattern was slightly different. Odd.

Each box in turn had the same depression, each with its own groove, except the topmost three. Those instead had three tools. A sharp stylus, made of metal, was in the first. It looked like something an engraver might use. The second contained a small jar, sealed with wax. It wasn’t labeled. The third held a knife, a good ten inches long but so thin it almost seemed like a tiny fencing foil. I carefully moved each item to the table, then glanced around at the others’ progress.

Azul’s eyes were closed, but the gentle glow from his sleeves was ebbing and flowing in time with something. His beard and hair were still lifted, now blowing as if in a slight breeze that didn’t touch the rest of the room. Wist had marked a few spots in chalk on the first wall, and was now examining the second. She would complete her circuit before further examining the likely spots.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Dav had his field kit assembled now, and was frantically writing on the floor with a stick of charcoal, complex formulas and transmutations notated in the script his order never explained. I had no idea if he was making progress, but he seemed to be writing more than erasing, at least. I got down off the table and checked on Suti.

Her blood was still running, at least. And I detected a slight rise and fall in her torso, which meant she was breathing. I even noted that her gill flaps were working, slightly. I doubted she was getting much benefit from them, with no clouds to filter from, but it meant she was alive.

Okay, there were only two other features in this room. The table, and the stones atop it. I reached across the table towards the topmost stone on the pile.

There was a jolt of electric energy as my hand got close to the stones. It stung, but didn’t seem to be strong enough to burn. I pulled my hand away quickly as Azul’s eyes snapped open and he stood up in a rush. Wist and Dav didn’t seem to have noticed anything, but they definitely reacted when Azul did.

“What was that?!” Azul asked, his forehead flushed from what I guessed was alarm.

“The stones,” I answered, gesturing at the tray. “When I reached for them to see if they had…I don’t know…writing…maybe a key? They sparked, like a static charge.”

“It wasn’t static,” Azul asserted. “That was magic. My type, not…” he gestured vaguely at Wisteria. Azul wasn’t condescending towards other magics, unlike many wizards, but he still marked a difference. For what it was worth, Wist had never seemed to disagree that their methods were different.

“Shouldn’t you have detected that when you were sweeping the room? Even with as weak a charge as it gave off, it should have been…well…something. Right?”

“Aye.” Azul didn’t elaborate further, focusing his attention on the tray and the stones contained thereupon. I didn’t interrupt. After a couple of minutes, Azul finally declared, “Nothing. Not even a hint of magic on the stones. The Pulse is clean, too. These haven’t been Afflicted.”

“Okay. So…is it safe for me to take one?”

“Probably not,” Azul admitted. “I didn’t detect anything before it did that trick, and it’s downright baffling that I can’t even detect a residue after. Whatever it’s doing, it’s outside my knowledge.”

“It’s also the first thing in this room that seems it might change our situation right now,” I argued. Hesitantly, I lifted my arm. “Keep your detection spell ready. I’m going to try again.”

Azul nodded, so I once more reached for the pile of stones. Once again, a sharp sting, like a static shock, leapt from the stone, making my fingertips tingle. I was ready for it this time. Though I couldn’t stop myself from flinching, I did manage to keep from pulling my hand back. I grabbed the topmost stone.

A loud sound filled the room, like the ringing of a large bell or a gong. It felt like a larger version of the chime when Azul had managed to cast his light spell. The stone did not emit any more lightning into my person, however, so I quickly pulled it from the pile, drawing away from the other stones before they could react similarly.

As I did, I noticed a greenish light forming around the edges of my vision. A moment later, it was blinding me, covering my whole field of vision. I yelped, wondering why the others weren’t shouting about the miniature sun that had formed right in the room with us.

Then I had a vision.