Amie stood by the wall and rubbed her hands across the smooth surface. She could see the runes along the edges of the wall. At first she thought that they had been important for the magic draining properties of the cell. After hours of examination she found that was not the case. They must have been put there as a way to draw attention from the method of mana extraction. After a while she realized she hadn’t been making any progress.

She sat on her bed and groaned. The bed was not comfortable. Amie was frustrated. She hadn’t seen another person for a long time. She had stopped counting the time between her meals, not that she needed them at this point. She was only eating for the ritual of it. The guards only repeated a few phrases as they took the dirty trays back. Amie wondered if she could just stop eating altogether. It was tempting. Thoughts of Eric crossed her mind. She sighed. There wasn’t much she could do at the moment.

—

Mirabelle was surprised by an urgent letter. She cursed the magic system that allowed the entry gates to send emergency requests. She had to conduct an emergency test. She had rummaged through the unused portion of her office. There had been a few simple affinity testing stones. She didn’t really want to preform the test and she wasn’t ready for a second apprentice.

She found a crate filled with the stones. Thankfully, it had already been opened. She started drawing a her magic circles in one of the clear areas in the office. When she was satisfied with the shape, she sat back at her desk. She wanted to burn her contract. She needed to visit that damned dwarf and help her first apprentice. Mirabelle grew annoyed by the fact she had now started thinking of the unknown person as a second apprentice. She pulled the letter off her desk, reading it quickly. It was just a notice that a potential student was coming. It would be a while before the student would appear. It was one of the drawbacks of being in the depths of the tower.

When the door finally opened Mirabelle had started on her lunch. It was a simple salad and a baked potato. She had nearly flung the mail into the air. Being in the bowels of the tower had really softened her skills. She finished what she had bitten off from the potato and looked at the doorway. There was an odd pair. She hadn’t expected to see a Wossian human, nor an elf. The Wossian people had pretty much abandoned their magical paths long ago. Out of curiosity she cast a simple spell to find when they first met.

Mirabelle pulled herself off of the floor, her head throbbing. There had been so much information. The boy was standing over her, staring at her intently.

“That will happen,” the teen said.

“It will take a few days for you to see everything,” added the elf.

“No, it’ll be a bit longer for me.”

Mirabelle clutched her head. She had seen a lot, Far more than she ever expected. The elf had murdered the boy multiple times. The boy had murdered the elf multiple times. She could see the rock that killed the elf, and the knife that killed the boy.

“What—” she gasped.

“Give it time,” said the teen as he gently patted her back.

“How is that possible?” Amie asked.

“We’ve known each other for a long time, and decided to get along,” answered the elf.

“That’s a good way of putting it.” Said the boy.

They introduced themselves as she got back to her chair.

“Oh that’s a good idea, the food might help,” said Omar.

Mirabelle tried to chew a piece of lettuce that she pulled from her salad. It had no taste and she couldn’t feel the texture. She placed it back into the bowl after the bite.

Omar placed an affinity tester down on the desk. It glowed faintly. Mirabelle couldn’t analyze it at the moment. She forcefully grabbed at the spell and ended it. The images that were streaming into her mind ceased. She let out a relieved breath.

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“Oh thats the first time I’ve seen that,” said Omar.

Qinran pulled a chair over and sat, watching the gnome.

“What are you?” asked Mirabelle.

Qinran pointed at Omar, “I’m his guardian.”

Omar nodded. Mirabelle pulled the affinity testing stone toward her.

“I can certainly tell you that you’re not an elementalist,” Mirabelle said, “The testing fee won’t be refunded.”

“I know,” said Omar, “I’m more well rounded and I have good control.”

He started summoning small water orbs that spun lazily around him. Mirabelle was surprised.

“You do have good control,” she said.

Watching the teen had left her speechless. The orbs started to orbit him, and he was still summoning them.

“It’s more than that,” said Qinran, “He’s a monster to fight against

“I couldn’t do that myself. I couldn’t even imagine doing that myself.”

Mirabelle’s mouth was dry. How could the boy even have this great control over magic? There wasn’t anything she could teach him. Why did he want to become an apprentice? He could become a grand master with his control alone. Omar let the orbs dissipate, releasing their moisture into the air.

“Why did you want an apprenticeship?” asked Mirabelle.

“I don’t,” said Omar, “I’m trying to find Amie.”

Mirabelle’s eyes focused on Omar. That put her on edge.

“And what do you want with Amie?” Mirabelle asked coldly.

“I’m just trying to reconnect with an old friend.” Omar said with a smile.

Mirabelle didn’t want to chance another casting of any of her divining magics on the teen. He hadn’t appeared in any of the visions granted by her specialized spells. Her husband hadn’t either. What did that mean? She wanted to try something.

“Have you seen her husband?” Mirabelle asked.

Omar looked shocked, and a bit hurt. He had managed to cover it a little, but there was something there.

“I didn’t know she was married,” he said.

“Amie was incarcerated.” Mirabelle stated.

Omar’s eyes grew wide as he asked, “What did she do?”

Mirabelle was suspicious now. She had looked into the origin of the book. It had appeared almost as if from nowhere. The student that had been working the counter when it had been given to Amie said that it hadn’t been part of the stock. It certainly hadn’t appeared on the master list for the tower. Omar couldn’t be responsible. He was just a teenager that had somehow become one the best wizards. The elf, was just an elf. Elves couldn’t use magic like humans or gnomes. Their bodies were just too different. The pair was getting a little antsy with her silence.

“She destroyed the magic barrier,” said Mirabelle.

“Qinran, we have to go and get her out.” Omar said.

Both the teen and the elf stood and started to leave.

“Wait,” said Mirabelle.

—

The caravan had taken Mathos and Corin in with open arms. They fed them and gave them water. They hadn’t been too far from Nesu, but they had certainly been headed the wrong direction. The caravan was currently resting. They were going to give the sun another hour to fall and then they would be moving to the city.

Corin and Mathos talked in depth of the fall of Fetahken. They told the story of The Venerable Blades laying siege on the city, and that some unknown monstrosity had emerged from the depths of the dwarven ruins below. Beyond the initial lie, the rest of the story was pretty close to the truth. They lied again talking about how one of the creatures had been within their own ranks. They didn’t go into much more detail, letting the silence weave the rest of the tale.

When the Caravan departed the pair was allowed to rest on the wagons due to their long trip and general condition. Corin was glad he could stop walking. Mathos seemed to share the same feelings.

The city was only two days away. When they arrived the size of the walls amazed Mathos. Corin still felt like his neck was on a swivel as he looked at everything around him. The caravan master lead them to the warehouse. He offered them a place to stay in exchange for work. The offer was accepted. They agreed to stay for three days and then the caravan master would close his doors as he had his routes to attend to. Corin had offered to pay some funds for their rescue, but the caravan master declined.

The two moved some of the cargo before they were shooed off to rest in their room. Corin looked around the room. It was empty. There were some bedrolls, but beyond that it wasn’t anything special. Mathos unrolled his and laid down. He was the first to speak.

“What do you have planned, now that we’re here?” asked Mathos.

“I need to get us invited to join the local guard, they might be able to find our people.” Corin said.

“That’s a good idea,” Mathos agreed, “I’ll look for recruitment offers, we might get lucky even with that.”

“I kind of regret abandoning the food in the desert.” Corin said.

“I have some money.”

“I do too, but that was some good meat.”

“Was it pork?” asked Mathos

“I’m not sure, but it was a lot better than it had any right to be,” Corin said as the memory played in his head.

“It really was, I’m sure we’ll be able to find something better here though.”

“More people, higher price,” said Corin.

“That’s the truth.” agreed Mathos.

The sun still shined through the window, but despite that the two fell into an easy sleep. They could rest for now. They could probably bathe tomorrow too. It would be nice to be done with the travel grime that had accumulated over their months in the open desert.