Zeek leaned forward, with an elbow on his leg and a hand on his chin as he listened to Turgi and Antone talk over the map laid before them. The weekend came again quickly, and Penny took this meeting off, opting to spend time with Aury and Gelda, who had invited her out to see the city. She was reluctant at first, but Zeek had coaxed her, insisting he’d update her on whatever they discovered. Sirius was out somewhere with Lady Yenson, doing who knows what, while Irith was still away on business for another two weeks.

Antone had a noticeable coat of dust and mud on his arms, a telltale sign of the days he’d been spending exploring the sewers of Lem. He was supposedly stuck in the capital for some time, overseeing the new recruits to the Order of War Magic, which kept him busy during the day, with his explorative habits taking up the nights. Turgi commented that he needed to sleep more or someone would think he’d taken ill, but Antone waved him off with a grumble.

“How many of the collapsed areas have you explored this week?” Turgi asked, while lighting a pipe.

Antone pointed to the map. “The first week, I focused on the areas that overlayed the slums near The Dancing Shadows. You found three locations on the map but they’d all been repaired some time ago, based on the water marks left on the stone. This week I tried the collapses closest to the entry point Hendricks took us through.”

“All repaired as well, I presume?” Turgi puffed out a thick cloud of smoke, letting it drift over his face in the room’s still air.

“Yes, I suspect they have people checking the sewers periodically for these anomalies.”

“How did the one you know of go unnoticed, then?” Zeek asked.

Antone tapped the map near the library. “That’s located close to the academy, I suspect it’s pure luck it hasn’t been found. It’s just large enough for me to squeeze through, but otherwise invisible unless you’re standing in front of it.”

“The entrance is in one of these lines jutting out from the rings, they must only glance down these paths when patrolling the circle,” Turgi said. “Zeek, did your source say how exactly the sewers relate to pure magic?”

Zeek shook his head. “Only that it was related, nothing more.”

“Perhaps we’re approaching this the wrong way,” Antone began. “Without speaking with the source”—he glanced at Zeek, who kept his eyes forward—”we are grasping at the meaning. We could instead map out the catacombs and see what we find.”

“Why can’t we go back to the door you found?” Zeek asked.

“It’s been cleared out, and whoever did that wasn’t one of us. It feels like a trap,” he replied.

Zeek pointed to his eyes. “No one’s come looking for you yet, as best we can tell. Would it hurt to let me look at it with mana vision?” Antone debated it, furrowing his brow before looking to Turgi.

“We’re at an impasse, it seems. Without the source of this information, I need more time to research how this relates to pure magic. As to mapping the catacombs, let’s leave that option for last. It will take all of us to do it, and that will be difficult to hide. But the door…hmm.” Turgi dragged on his pipe once more, exhaling through his nostrils. “We could make an attempt with mana vision. If Zeek sees anything, we’ll retreat.”

Antone groaned. “What if they’re waiting for us on the other side of the door? What if they have an ability he can’t see? His mana vision isn’t tested in the field yet.”

“We won’t open the door, of course. We’ll just take a look at the room, gather what intel we can, then return. We don’t even know if he can open such a door,” Turgi argued.

“Should we wait for Irith?” Zeek asked.

Turgi frowned. “Don’t be a spoilsport, kid. It’s just a short nighttime walk, nothing to be worried about.” Antone ran his hand down his face. “Now wait here, I need to get changed.” Turgi hurried off down the hall as Antone and Zeek remained in the study.

“Any progress on Stone Ball?” the captain asked.

Zeek held up his hand and formed a mana ball. “I’ve learned to make a mana ball but the method to convert it to earth is strange,” Zeek replied.

“How so?”

“Supposedly I need to pull a strand of mana into the ball and will it into earth, and the whole ball should change like dropping dye into water,” Zeek explained.

Antone watched the mana ball rotate, fascinated. “Will it? As in wish for it?” “I don’t know, honestly. It said, ‘Firm your will and make it stone,’” Zeek explained.

“It?”

“My source.”

Antone cursed under his breath, making his frustration with Zeek’s secret clear. Zeek didn’t react as the book floated around Antone’s head, as if taunting the sorcerer. “I just push mana into the model and stone forms, but there is a concept of realm superiority. Have you heard of that?”

“No,” Zeek replied.

“If you and I cast a fireball at each other, of equal size and density, what do you suppose would happen?”

“They’d cancel each other out?”

Antone took Turgi’s seat as he explained, “If we were equal level, yes. But mages have found an archmage’s fireball would annihilate that of a weaker mage. The theory goes that archmage mana isn’t just stronger, it comes from a more tempered will.”

“Just a theory?” Zeek replied.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Unfortunately, we have no way to make our mana weaker and test it. My mana core rotates regardless of my input, and I can’t slow it or speed it up like you can.”

“That reminds me, I’ve been wondering why my mana regeneration seems faster than a normal mage. Do you have any idea?” Zeek asked.

“No, but if I had to guess, it has something to do with your control and increased mana channels.”

“What makes you think that?”

“I also regenerate mana slightly faster than the other archmages. The only explanation I have is my ability to use both arms to cast spells.”

Turgi returned to the room as Antone finished, holding an extra sword in his hand. He was garbed in his gentleman warrior’s outfit, as he called it. The sword was longer than normal with a slightly curved edge, the style Old John said was used for dueling. It was sheathed in leather with a strap designed to go around the chest, similar to Antone’s. He handed it to Zeek.

“Here, you need a sword anyhow. Keep this one. It doesn’t have any enchanting, but I doubt you need that.” Zeek pulled the hilt out far enough to examine the polished blade. It was thin and sharp on one edge and dull on the other.

“Do you keep these things in your bedroom or something? That was fast,” Zeek asked.

“Of course. How would I fight an assassin if I had to run across the house to arm myself?” Turgi replied.

“How many assassins are you fighting?” Zeek said as he raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t listen to him, kid,“ Antone said. “He probably sleeps with that under his pillow in case his wife’s upset.”

Turgi walked to the chair, taking one last puff of the pipe he’d left on an ashtray nearby. He blew the smoke towards Antone. “I’ll have no lip from the captain of bachelors.”

Zeek chuckled while Antone muttered something under his breath about women. Turgi moved towards his desk, pulling away a false drawer and removing a square object that looked like solid obsidian. The inside had a swirl of purple smoke oscillating as if blown about by invisible winds. Zeek activated his mana vision out of curiosity. In place of the purple, he noticed layers of circular formations stacked on top of each other, rotating in tandem like the inside of a clock.

“What’s that?” he asked in disbelief.

Turgi looked at the object. “This is the item we found in the abandoned room below. We left its twin with Irith so we could communicate.”

Zeek watched as Turgi forced his mana into one side of the object, the formations strained against the rapid flow and much of the mana was disbursed into the air, invisible to all but him. The small tendril remaining snaked through the formations, settling on one side as Turgi whispered to it. When he stopped talking the mana continued to the opposite side of the cube and formed into a black beetle that took flight out of the open window nearby.

“Can I see that?” Zeek asked. Turgi looked towards Antone for approval, and the captain nodded. They handed Zeek the device, and the moment he touched it, the book swooped down and pressed against the top of the cube. The two vibrated in tandem for a moment, then ceased. The archmages moved closer, watching the device as Zeek held it.

“What did you do?” Turgi asked, but Zeek didn’t look at him. The book was open and floating beside Zeek’s free hand, a new line printed on the page.

Messenger Cube Synchronized. Contact added: Timeldra Orthan. Book of Spite Message Service activated.

Zeek didn’t respond. He was staring at the name…Orthan. The same last name as the author of his book, a name he still hadn’t learned about. It was, in some sense, the deepest mystery of all. He stared at the book until Antone shook him. “Kid, what did you do?”

“It’s a messenger cube. I added it as a contact…I think I know who the cube belonged to,” Zeek said, half-whispering. “Send message,” he said, as the archmages stepped back cautiously.

Recipient and Content?

Zeek thought for a moment. “Send a message to Timeldra Orthan. Testing,” he said again, as a thin strand of mana flowed from his core and into the box. A moment later it formed into a black beetle and flew into his other hand. When the beetle landed, it morphed into a translucent sheet of paper with onyx-colored letters that read: “Testing.”

“How did you do that?” Turgi exclaimed.

“I don’t know,” Zeek replied.

“Who is Timeldra Orthan?” Antone asked.

“The owner of the cube, I think. Do you recognize the name?” The archmages shook their heads.

Turgi took the cube back, examining it under candlelight. He turned the sides over and over, looking for something different, but it appeared the same as always to him. “A new lead, it appears. Zeek, we’re going to experiment with this when Irith returns.”

“You don’t want to learn more now?” Zeek asked.

“I do, but we had no idea these could communicate to other things than each other. We can’t risk losing contact with Irith right now. But…well never mind, I’m itching to know more but prudence dictates we wait. For now, only send messages if something dire happens.”

“You have a lot of secrets for a kid,” Antone replied, a hint of suspicion obvious in his voice.

Zeek didn’t reply, he just looked towards the ground. Turgi interrupted the exchange. “Let him be, Captain. We’re already asking much of him. Better that he learns to keep secrets, than ends up becoming one himself.” Antone nodded slowly, acknowledging the wisdom of Turgi’s statement but not quite liking it.

“Now come, we must go in time for the shift change at midnight,” Turgi added, beckoning the other two out of the room. They followed through the empty manor, and out the side entrance the earl was fond of. The streets were empty at this time of evening; the fine folk of this neighborhood had finished their supper and spent the late hours socializing in well-lit rooms with glasses of wine and finger foods.

Wayward pedestrians nodded to the three as they walked by, or simply disappeared into a building before they crossed paths. As they came closer to the fort, Zeek stuck to Turgi’s heels, nearly bumping into him when they stopped to look for clergy. After twisting through the cobbled streets and arriving at a stone wall, in the distance they could see a gated entrance into the sewers. It would be invisible, except for the flickering of a torch and the shifting shadow of the guard leaning against a wall nearby. Antone, to Zeek’s surprise, disappeared into the wall as his skin became the color and consistency of stone.

He turned on his mana vision, so he could watch the captain sneak towards the guard and wait on the corner of a building at the street’s end. Turgi was silent while they watched the guard, and Zeek shifted on his feet. He checked the strap on his sword over and over, sticking his finger under the leather and pulling on the buckle to make it tighter.

Somewhere in the distance, a bell rang, marking midnight. The moon wandered behind the fortress in front of them as the buildings cast long shadows across the softly lit roads. Turgi tapped on Zeek’s shoulder and led him closer to the gate, making sure to stay in the shaded areas of the street, sometimes ducking into an alley and peering round the corner to check on the guard.

In the distance, Zeek could see the next guard marching around the street corner. The leaning guard stood up and walked towards the approaching one, as Turgi extended his arm. Zeek saw his mana flare and one of the spell models hidden in his jacket sleeve lit up. The torch went out, casting the whole area in darkness. Zeek could hear the guard yell in frustration as he told the replacement to run back to the barracks and retrieve a flint and metal striker.

When the guards disappeared, Zeek and the archmages made for the door. Zeek watched as Antone molded the metal lock and bent it, opening passage into the sewers. They entered the stone corridor quickly while the captain replaced the lock.

A few turns later and they descended a ladder. Zeek could hear the meandering of water and waste below the ledge they stood on. He was finally in the sewers. It was time to see what secrets the catacombs held.