As the party worked their way deeper into the dungeons beneath Nottengrad Keep, Eldren was amazed.
We must be several stories under the dungeon already, he thought. And still, the tunnels were sloping down, continuing to descend.
They didn’t encounter any guards or other prisoners. This part of the dungeon seemed long forgotten. What relics of use there were, including rusted shackles and buckets, were covered in dust and cobwebs. Eldren wondered how it was that Ink knew her way so well through these depths. She confidently led them down corridors, never hesitating at intersections or splits in the corridors.
They reached a dead end where a large statue stood in an alcove. Parts of it had crumbled away with time. A victorious stone warrior stood with a triumphant gaze, raising his massive battle axe over some sort of feathered and beheaded monster.
Ink slipped between the statue the wall of the alcove. Eldren followed. There was an opening cut into the stone, invisible from the front of the sculpture. It was small and square but big enough to crawl through single file.
“In we go,” Ink said cheerily. She stooped down and entered the passageway. Eldren shifted his backpack around so he could push it in front of him into the narrow space. They crawled quietly for a good while, Eldren’s finger now completely cold void of any sensation, its circulation cut off by the copper ring. After a bit, he decided to break the silence.
“How did you know this passage was here?”
“I’m a mapmaker,” Ink said. “It’s my job to find all the ways to get anywhere.” Eldren didn’t respond. He was beginning to suspect that Ink’s skill set was beyond that of a mere map maker.
“Why did you rescue me?”
“What do you mean?” she asked. They paused at an intersection in the passage and then crawled down an opening to their right.
“You said Ardos told you everything,” Eldren said. “But that doesn’t explain why you would risk your own life to get me out of that cell.”
“Don’t care much for religion myself,” Ink said. The tone of her voice was definitive but Eldren could tell there was more she wasn’t saying. “Plus, Ardos said if I helped you then there would be something in it for me. Still can’t believe the old codger is alive, by the way. Bloody tricky!”
He heard a distinct ‘harrumph’ come from inside the backpack.
“Sorry buddy,” Ink said. “But don’t worry, wiz kid. You don’t need to worry about me having any bad motives. I’m telling you already, I don’t do anything for free.”
“Oh really?” Eldren said. “What was the price of breaking me out?”
“I told that I had to train you,” Ardos answered. “And that training would involve us visiting the spell shrines.”
“Did you tell her that I’m not actually a wizard?”
“Sort of,” Ardos admitted. “You only know one spell at present.”
“What? No I don’t.”
“Hold on you two, we’re close,” Ink interrupted.
Eldren could feel a slight change in the temperature. Was that a breeze? They must be nearing the end of the passage. The sensation of even a small amount of fresh air against his cheeks combined with the initial adrenaline rush of the escape wearing off made him realize how claustrophobic he was in this cramped passage.
“What are spell shrines?” he asked as they moved toward the fresh air.
“Where the Iron Square has locked and stored each sanctioned spell. Wizards at the assembly complete a pilgrimage to each shrine to learn and upgrade their spell book,” Ardos answered.
“So you want to learn magic too?” he asked Ink, not understanding.
“Gods no,” she replied, chuckling. “I want to map their locations!”
“You want to map them?”
“The locations of the spell shrines is a closely guarded secret by the Iron Square and Assembly of Magi. For obvious reasons. They control all access to learning magic,” Ardos said.
“Right,” Ink added. “And I’m going to be the first non-wizard to map them all. It’s the first step in breaking the church’s stranglehold.”
Eldren thought to himself as they kept crawling. During his interrogation, Imperator Uther had implied that court wizards were effectively appointed by the Iron Square? Why was Ardos working against them then?
At least with Ink, although he didn’t know her exact reasons for disliking the church of the Iron Square, he could understand. History was rife with examples of people rebelling, in their own ways large and small, against oppression and restrictions on knowledge.
“Ah! Here we go.” Ink stopped crawling. Eldren couldn’t see any opening but he did feel the breeze a bit more strongly. She gripped the edge of a stone in the wall and pulled. A crack that had been barely perceptible started to grow. The light, cloudy skies of early dawn appeared and Eldren could see the faint orange glow of the dawning sun through the haze on the horizon.
They scrambled out of the passage onto the grass just outside the exterior wall of Nottengrad Keep. Eldren’s legs and arms ached and cramped from the hour and a half of crawling.
“We must keep moving,” Ardos said as Eldren pulled him from the backpack. “We need to get to safety, away from the keep. The gray cloaks will have all the soldiers and guards scouring Bakavia for us before the sun is fully up.”
“We’ve got a safe house in Yarko Village,” Ink offered.
“Who is we?” Eldren asked.
“Cartographers have a guild,” Ink said. “Most trades do.”
“Why would cartographers need a safe house?”
“Mapping can take you into dangerous territory.” She winked at him. “Come on, we can go through the back country. Harder for horses to follow.”
His backpack buzzed.
“Hold on,” he said, unzipping it.
HP: 7/8
Quest Updated:
Escape Nottengrad Keep
- Flee the dungeons (1/1)
- XP gained: 1
-Total XP : 3
- Remove the ring (0/1)
- Learn Double Jump (0/1)
“Ardos, can you explain the crystal ball a little more… clearly?” Eldren asked. “And can we get this thing off my finger?” He shook his hand.
“Oh, shoot. Almost forgot!” Ink rummaged in her bag and pulled the heated nail file back out. “Hold still.”
Eldren was horrified but didn’t see any other choice. He looked away and grimaced, like Cam did when he gave blood and the needle poked his arm. A few sparks flew, but nowhere near as many as in the dungeon.
Ink must have seen his surprised because she explained, “Copper is much softer, good absorber. No need to force it as much.” She beamed at him and held up the two halves of the torturous ring. Eldren’s finger flooded with blood and began to throb with such a fierce pain that he thought he was going to lose consciousness. He massaged his finger and after a moment of swimming vision, pulled himself together as the initial blood rush dulled.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
The crystal ball buzzed.
Quest Complete!
- Remove the ring (1/1)
-XP gained: 1
-Total XP: 4
Active Quests:
- Learn Double Jump (0/1)
“Thanks, Ink.”
“No problem!”
“Ardos, why did Uther want to know about the crystal ball?”
“Talk and walk, pals. Sun’s up soon.” Ink said as she started off toward an outcropping of ragged pine trees in the distance, across a large field of brown grain and away from the main entrance to Nottengrad Keep.
As they made their way through the wheat field, Ink kept circling back to check behind them as a precaution, even though they were well hidden by grain stalks that were four meters tall. Eldren didn’t mind as this gave Ardos plenty of time to explain more about magic.
“Uther is right that crystal balls are immensely valuable,” he said. “Invaluable, really. The Iron Square assigns them to court wizards as a way to keep tabs on their actions. They’re powerful magical artifacts and there are a limited number of them.”
“They record your actions?”
“In a way,” Ardos said. “The crystal ball functions as a link to your vital statistics, power level, and tracks what spells you know and when you use them.”
“Like 1984 or something,” Eldren said..
“What?” The tortoise seemed confused.
“Never mind. Is that how Uther knew I was here?”
“No,” Ardos replied. “My crystal ball— now your crystal ball—is disconnected from the Iron Square, so-to-speak.”
“Seems to work fine to me,” Eldren said.
“Oh, it works perfectly fine,” the wizard said. “It just no longer relays information to the church. I was able to circumvent the magical restrictions on it.”
“So it’s a hacked crystal ball?”
“Hacked?”
“You tampered with it,” Eldren clarified.
“Oh. Yes. That’s a good way to put it.”
“Does Uther know yours is tampered with?”
“Oh no. He has no clue,” Ardos said. “When I broke the link magic on it, I was able to transfer the spell rather than outright diffuse it. That way, the Iron Square continued to believe that it was in working order.”
“What did you transfer it to?” Eldren asked.
“A rock in my tower,” Ardos replied. “They’ll eventually discover the truth. Especially now that they have cause to ransack the tower. Or, at least they’ll try to, if they can get in.”
“So what else can this thing do besides annoy me with tasks?” Eldren asked. “You said I already know a spell? The quest says I need to learn to double jump?”
“Try gesturing to the right,” Ardos said. As they walked, Eldren put Ardos back into the front pocket of his backpack and retrieved the glowing blue orb. He did as Ardos suggested and waved his hand to the right in front of the cloudy ball. He felt like an idiot.
Amazingly, as he waved, the clouds coalesced and then parted again inside the orb. A new block of organized text appeared.
Eldren Pendergast. Experience: 4 Level: 1
Spells known: 0
Spell types: 0
HP: 7/8
Mana pool: 5 MP
He figured his missing hit point must be due to his finger.
“Do I have other statistics?” Eldren asked.
“What do you mean?” Ardos replied.
“Like lying or stealing or jumping,” Eldren suggested.
“Only if you cast a spell to enhance or detract from your natural abilities,” the tortoise said.
“And I learn spells by going to the church’s spell shrines? But how do I learn the one you said I already know?”
“Gesture up with your hand in front of the crystal ball to access your spell words,” Ardos said.
Eldren repeated the silly exercise, waving his hand upwards in the air in front of the crystal ball. The clouds swirled and then two words appeared. The script was legibly but blocky and almost rune-like in nature.
DOUBLE JUMP.
“Open your spell book,” Ardos instructed. “This is a beginner spell that all wizards begin their studies with. Other spells, you’ll need to find the words for.”
Eldren pulled the large leather tome from his backpack.
“Stop Ink, give me just a second.” She had reemerged from the wheat and was watching him curiously. He opened to the second page of the book, just past where he had jokingly signed the temporary magency contract back in the store.
“Now, hold the crystal ball with one hand and point at the page with your opposite hand,” Ardos said. Eldren followed the directions, excited to finally be learning magic. “Then, focus on the words. Close your eyes and say them repeatedly in your mind.”
Eldren did as Ardos said.
After a moment, a warm sensation began to wash over his arms, legs and face, as if he had come inside to a roaring fire after a long day outside in the snow. He felt a surge of energy, like the vibration of a minor electrical shock, in the hand holding the crystal ball. A thin set of purple and gold wisps of energy, like strands of thread, began to grow from his opposite finger tip, hovering over the blank page of the spell book. His hair stood up slightly, as if someone was holding a static-charged balloon above his head. The fine lines of magical energy intertwined and slowly tumbled from his finger down onto the page. They danced momentarily, twisting into squiggles that clarified into letters and then, suddenly, neatly absorbed into the page. They had become permanent ink.
He read the new text in the spell book.
Double Jump Level 1 Spell
This spell allows the medium creatures and smaller to jump unnaturally high. An initial jump of ten meters straight up is followed by a second jump of 5 meters when the caster begins to descend.
Woah, he thought. He really was becoming Eldren Pendergast. He had been using the name but had, until this very moment, still felt mostly like Cam. A vulnerable imposter being dragged along in a world he did not understand and could not understand without powers.
The crystal ball buzzed as his hair fell back down to his forehead.
Quest Complete!
- Learn Double Jump (1/1)
-XP gained: 1
- Total XP: 5
“Try it out!” Ink shouted. “I’ve never seen a wizard learn a spell for the first time before. Go on! Let’s see!”
Eldren glanced at the tortoise. Ardos nodded and began to instruct him.
“Now, the first thing you’ll want to do is check and be sure nothing is above you. We’re outside, so you’re okay. I do have to warn you, the first time you use your mana — your life essence — can be a bit jarring. You’ll feel a bit nauseous and like you’ve just exercised very strenuously.”
Eldren nodded as he set the spell book down and walked to an area where he had nothing around him except wheat stalks.
“Okay, the spell word is also the command but make sure—”
“Double jump!” Eldren shouted, cutting off the wizard.
“—you’re prepared,” finished the wizard.
Nothing happened. He looked at the tortoise, confused. Maybe he had learned the spell incorrectly? Without thinking he took a step toward the spell book he had set down.
He was not prepared.
As his foot made contact with the dirt, he nearly gave himself whiplash by shooting upward so quickly. It was as if a spring in the ground had launched him. He flew into the air, leaving the cover of the wheat.
As he flailed in surprise, going off kilter, he kicked his legs. As he did, he felt his foot make contact again with some invisible surface in the air. He rocketed higher and shouted in surprise. Now nearly fifteen meters in the air, he tumbled downward. It happened almost as quickly as the jump. He crashed down hard onto the dirt. Ink rushed through the grain and found him. She had scooped up his belongings.
“Are you okay?” She sounded concerned but Eldren could tell she was holding back laughter. He groaned, sat up, and nodded while rubbing his head.
“Lucky nobody was around to see you up in the air like that.” Eldren nodded in agreement.
“I tried to warn you,” Ardos said.
“Next time, I’ll listen,” Eldren mumbled, climbing to his feet.
They continued on and the rest of their afternoon was fairly uneventful. Eldren was deep in thought about magic and spell words and what other kinds of magic he would learn.
“What kinds of spells are stored in the shrines?” he asked Ardos.
“All manner and types, from beginner spells to advanced magic. They’re all closely guarded and inventoried. Nobody can learn magic that isn’t already known by the church.”
“Except witch-kind,” Eldren clarified, remembering his conversation with Harper Mickson in the dungeon cell.
“Even their magick is largely known. They have spells that escaped detection centuries ago when the church rose to power. But they guard their spell words closely as well.”
“Did you use witch-kind magick to get your soul separate from your body?” Eldren asked.
“No,” Ardos replied. He didn’t say more.
“So now I have to get to Level 2 to learn another spell?”
“Yes,” the wizard answered.
“What level were you?”
“Three hundred and twelve,” the tortoise replied.
“Quiet you two.” Ink slipped out from where he had been hidden among the tall wheat stalks in front of them. “We’ve got a group on horseback up on the road to our west. A search party from the keep, I’d guess. Two gray cloaks and a few members of Lord Ravelo’s guard. We’ll have to wait for a bit.”
The sun had started to rise in the sky but was still obscured by silky gray rain clouds. It never seemed to be anything but dreary here. They sat in the middle of the wheat field for what felt like an hour. It started to drizzle, making the entire experience wholly unpleasant. Just when Eldren was starting to think he might actually miss the moldy corner of his dungeon cell, Ink broke the silence with a whisper.
“Coast should be clear,” she said. “I’ll check to make sure.” She faded silently back into the wheat and reappeared ten minutes later. “Good to go.”
They continued on, crossing under several fences that marked the end of one farmer’s land and the beginning of another’s crop field. Finally they reached the edge of field. A large dirt road, twin wagon ruts worn deep, separated them from a tree line on the other side. Ink motioned for them to stay low and they quickly crossed the road and made it into the forest cover.
“Keep your eyes peeled,” Ink said. “Locals are going to be skeptical if they find us out here. Monsters shouldn’t be a huge problem this close to the keep but you never know. Ran into a griffin once not three kilos from here.”
“You use the metric system?” Eldren asked.
“What?” Ink said, looking at him confused. “Anyway. The good news, I guess is that if we do run into a griffin, the Iron Square will be the least of our worries. Should be in Yarko by nightfall.” With that, she plunged in the pine trees. The crystal ball, still in Eldren’s hand, vibrated.
New Quests:
- Reach the cartographers’ safe house in Yarko Village.
- Use a weapon.
He sighed and tucked the crystal ball back into his backpack, careful to avoid squashing Ardos, and followed Ink into the wilderness.