Messenger of the Dark Prophet (The Bowl of Souls: Book Two) (4 page)

“What is this place?” Justan asked.

“This is the Hall of Elements.” Qyxal proclaimed and opened the door with a flourish.

The inside of the building was one huge room easily half the size of the library itself. The whole place was packed with tables and chairs. The Hall of Elements was split into four equal sections, like pieces of an enormous pie. Each of these sections was a different color. One section was red, one black,
one gold
, and one blue. Everything from the tables to the rugs
were
saturated in color. Justan had to blink his eyes at the stark contrasts between the sections. 

Qyxal took Justan and Vannya down a small set of steps to the floor of the hall and led them to a table in the blue section. “Have a seat,” the elf said.

Justan sat in a chair near the line between gold and blue and he noticed that as he moved the chair, part of it crossed the line and turned gold. Out of curiosity, Justan stood and pulled the chair completely over the line. The entire chair turned gold.

“Amazing.”
Justan switched to his mage-sight and saw that the entire building was bathed in the faint glow of magic.

“This whole room is enchanted. That way, we don’t have to keep track of which chairs go with which table.” Vannya said.

“What is this place for?” Justan asked, taking a seat again. In answer, Qyxal pulled a small box out of a pocket in his robes. In the box was a deck of cards. “Not the card game again,” Justan moaned. All that the mages had wanted to do during the journey to the school was
sit
and play cards. “Don’t you mages have anything better to do?”

The mages laughed.

Vannya put a hand on Justan’s arm. “There is a reason that we all play the game. This game is a learning tool. Figuring it out is one of the steps to becoming a wizard. It's called the Game of Elements.”

Qyxal shuffled the cards.

“But that’s just the Universal Deck,” Justan pointed out. The Universal Deck was used to play just about every card game in the lands. Laborers in the taverns used the same deck to gamble that the nobles used to entertain their guests.

“That’s true,” Qyxal said. “We use this deck as everyone else does. But did you know that the Universal Deck originated from the
Mage
School
?” Justan shook his head. “The wizards have been playing the game of Elements from the very founding of the school. The early wizards gave decks out to the ruling monarchs and nobles at the time as gifts to help teach them some of the principles of magic. Soon the commoners copied the deck and now everyone uses it.

“But what has been lost throughout the rest of the kingdoms is remembered here. We play the original game of elements,” Qyxal said. He pulled several cards out of the deck and placed them face up in front of Justan. “Look at these cards. Describe them.”

The Universal Deck consisted of four suits, or colors: Blue, gold, red and black. Each suit had cards of varying worth. The worth of the card was designated by the letter painted on it. The normal cards were lettered ‘A’ through ‘F’. High value cards were double lettered ‘AA’ through ‘EE’, and the low value cards were designated by two six legged symbols with ancient meanings. The peoples of the land just called them “bug” and “double bug” because the symbols looked like insects.

Justan sighed. He had played many games with the Universal Deck as a child and knew what the cards were. He just didn’t see the point in playing a game when there was so much else more important he could be doing. “These cards are the ‘double A’ of red, the ‘F’ of black, the ‘A’ of gold, and the ‘double B’ of blue.”

“Okay,” Qyxal said. “Do you know what they represent?” Justan shrugged in response and Qyxal explained. “Now I can’t tell you everything. Some of this you are going to need to learn for yourself in order to progress. But each color represents one of the four elements. Can you figure out which colors represent which elements?”

Justan thought for a moment. “Well, I suppose that red would be fire and blue would be water . . . So I guess that would make black earth, and gold air.”

“Correct,” Qyxal said. “Do you see these symbols under the letter designation of the card? These are the elemental runes. They are used in all items of magic. The fire rune is a triangle, the water rune is a circle, the air rune is a crescent moon, and the earth rune is a square.”

“I see,” he mumbled. Justan fingered the icy symbol on his chest. The wizards had called it a frost rune. It was a circle with a curved line through it; a mixture of the water and air runes. “So if the runes and colors represent the elements, then what of the infinity cards?”

There were two infinity cards in every deck. On the card was a symbol that looked like a number eight with a large loop on the top and a small loop on the bottom.

Qyxal pulled the two infinity cards from the deck and laid them in front of Justan. “Like in other games, every time the dealer deals out the correct number of cards, he turns over one more. The element on that card becomes the power element for that hand. The two infinity cards are always power element cards.”

On one of the infinity cards, the symbol in the center was colored blue and gold while on the other one it was red and black. Justan looked around the room and noted that this pattern was continued throughout all four sections in the Hall of Elements. All of the furnishings were trimmed in a complementing color. The blue tables had gold trim, and the gold tables had blue trim. The black tables were lined with red and the red with black.

Vannya saw where his eyes were looking and figured out where his thoughts were leading.
“Yes, Justan.
The room is a clue as to why the infinity cards are colored this way. You see, in magic, certain elements are linked, air with water, and earth with fire. That is the natural order of things.” Justan looked confused at the statement and Vannya added, “Does not water gather in the air and come down as rain?”

Justan frowned, “Sure, but how does fire blend with earth? I have always been taught to put out a fire by covering it with dirt.”

“The great earth wizards say that deep down in the ground there are fires that burn so hot that the very rock melts to become liquid flame.” Vannya said.

“Okay, I guess. So where do your talents lie?” Justan asked. “You can summon a bolt of lightning. Does this mean that you have talents in water and air?”

She shook her head. “Lightning is not a mixture of air and water, but air and earth. The friction created by a storm causes lightning to strike. It is actually quite rare for a wizard to have strong talents in two elements that have an affinity for each other. Usually a magic user will have talents in opposing elements. Now Professor Valtrek is one of those rare wizards. He has abilities in air and water. This is how he created that rainstorm out in the plains after the goblins attacked.”

“Hmm,” Justan mused. “How about you, Qyxal are your talents in air and earth too?”

“No. Actually, I have a very strong earth talent but I’m fairly weak in all the other elements. I think it has something to do with my elven heritage.”

Justan wondered where his own talents would lie.

Vannya was wondering the same thing. “What do you think your talents are, Justan?”

“I have no idea. The things that I did . . .” He thought about the armed combat test, how he had seemed to absorb the energy of the crowd to use in battle. “I can’t see where they have anything to do with any element.”

“Well you are going to find out about your talents soon,” she said. “But for now, let’s play. We only have short time until Qyxal needs to take you to your next class.”

Qyxal explained the rules. “In the game of Elements, the players are dealt a number of cards. Everyone lays down a card and the higher letter defeats the lower letter. The winner takes the cards that everyone laid down. This is called a trick.”

Justan understood. This was a common term in most of the card games he had ever played.

“When you receive your cards, you declare how many of these tricks you will take. If you were correct as to how many tricks you took, then you receive ten points plus one for each trick.
But only if you were precise.
If you take one
more,
or one less, you receive no points.”

 “But what if you don’t think that your cards are worthy of taking any tricks?” Justan asked.

Qyxal explained. “Then you declare that you will take zero. If you are correct, you receive ten points.”

Vannya took over. “Everyone takes turns being the dealer. We start out with eight cards. Then when those cards are played we deal out seven, when those are played we deal out six, and so on until only one card is dealt. Then we start back up until we finish the game with eight cards again. At that time, whoever has the most
points
wins.”

“Let’s just play then,” Justan said. “I can figure it out as we go.” It still felt like a waste of time, but he figured that there were worse ways to spend the morning than playing a game with some friends.

They played one full game and though Justan caught on pretty quick, Qyxal won handily. Despite his misgivings, Justan found the strategy of the game intriguing. He did not see what deeper meanings the wizards could be teaching, though.

When they left the hall, it was mid-afternoon and a bit gusty. The chill fall breeze felt good on Justan’s face. He couldn’t believe that winter would be there in just a few weeks. This year had flown by so fast for him, yet it seemed as though he had been through several
years
worth of experiences in that short period of time.

Vannya grasped his arm. “I must go now. I have some experiments to attend to. But I will see you soon, probably at dinner.” She turned to leave,
then
paused for a moment. “Oh, Justan, there is an Elements tournament every Friday for the students. You should join in. It’s fun.”

With that, she spun around and headed toward the
Rune
Tower
. As Justan watched the woman leave, his gut churned. Zambon said Vannya had given him, “the look.” Was it possible that Vannya was attracted to him? Justan dismissed the thought. There was no way that someone as pretty as her could like an oaf like him.

Qyxal started to lead him to a building on the far side of the school grounds, but Justan remembered something he needed to do before the class started. “Qyxal, where are my things?”

“Your belongings?
They were put in your room when we brought you to the infirmary.”

“Well I’m not properly dressed for class. Can we stop by there first?” Justan asked innocently. Qyxal looked at him and frowned. Justan was obviously wearing a proper school robe and he suspected that the elf knew what he was up to.

Qyxal looked up at the clock tower. “I suppose that we have a few minutes, but we must hurry.”

They ran to the cadet dormitory. When they got to his room, Justan opened the door and gasped.

The room was a mess. Justan’s belongings were scattered about. His clothes were in a pile on the bed. His swords were out of their sheaths on the floor. The Jharro bow, Justan’s prized possession, a weapon of unbelievable magic that had been given to him by his trainer Jhonate, was unstrung, leaning against his closet door. An arrow was buried halfway into the ceiling.

Justan’s new roommate, Piledon sat on the other bed in the room examining Justan’s dual-bladed dagger in his hands. Justan grit his teeth. The dagger was a gift given to him by his dwarven friend Lenny.

Piledon was a man of average height and slight build. His hair was disheveled. His chin was scruffy and the yellow robes he wore were in disarray. The cadet looked up at their arrival and noted the anger on Justan’s face. He put on an insolent grin.

“Hello! You must be my new roommate. Let me tell you, this dagger is something else. Watch this.” Piledon picked up the golden bowstring from the bed beside him and held it to the serrated blade on the dagger. Qyxal winced and Justan’s jaw dropped in horror as, with a twang, there was a flash of magic. The bowstring was cut in two.

The blood drained from Justan’s face as he saw the precious gift destroyed. The dragon hair string turned any arrow it propelled into a missile of explosive power.

Qyxal stormed over to the cocky cadet. “Do you have any idea what you have just done? You have destroyed a priceless artifact!”

Piledon blinked at the two halves of the bowstring in his hand.
“Really?
Gee I’m sorry. Don’t worry, I’ll fix it.” He tied the two pieces together in a small knot. “Will this work?”