Spellscribed: Conviction (12 page)

Endrance looked down at his feet. "Correct." he said. "I apparently have a Mercanian parent. But for all I know, that's impossible."

"Do you know who you mother is?" Talos asked.

Endrance nodded. "Yeah." he said sadly. "I'm certain now that my mother was the Archmagus Valeria."

Talos nodded. "And the last puzzle piece falls into place." he muttered. "Come with me."

The hallway led to another room, where there was a warm, redwood table and chairs. Food had been placed as if the two had been expected, and a glass decanter of wine stood near two empty glasses. "Please, let's discuss this while we eat."

Endrance sat, and the food smelled fantastic. Talos poured wine with a sweep of his hand, and they began to eat. It tasted as good as the food in his room, but the presence of the Archmagus put the meal in an altogether different atmosphere. When the repast was complete, Talos waved a hand and suddenly the table was swept clear as invisible hands carried everything off.

"Valeria was, as you know, my predecessor." Talos began. "And her death was unexpected, though not entirely unanticipated. She had been Archmagus for the last two centuries before that, the longest in all the history of Ironsoul, or human practitioners at all. But before she died, she had been acting strangely. Only a few of her most recent apprentices had known about her pregnancy."

"Yeah I was told some of that." Endrance replied.

"You seem awfully composed for someone who found out their mother was one of the most powerful mages on the planet."

Endrance shrugged. "Had some time to think it over. Apparently, the first king of Balator was related to her."

Talos frowned a moment, thinking back. "That would be... hmmm... King Rothel, yes?"

"Yeah, him." Endrance replied.

"Her brother." Talos replied. "Older by nearly a decade. Never had any talent for magic, from what she had told me. Why aren't you bothered that she wasn't around while you were growing up?"

"I had a good childhood." Endrance responded. "And the man who I thought my father was an upstanding man. I am more bothered by the fact he's not my father, than by finding out my mother was a mage, especially since my father had to be a Mercanian. I'm sure you would have found out if Valeria was one."

"Indeed. She was human. Her family was one of the millions of humans the Mercanians enslaved in their empire, from what I was told. Her brother managed to escape. And with several others, formed an army to oppose them. All being said and done, by the time the Mercanians had destroyed themselves, only two bastions of humans remained intact."

"Mount Balator, and the City of Ironsoul?" Endrance asked.

"Yes." Talos answered. "Because of the horrors of the war, the Balatorans shunned magic, while we humans living in a city that was built for Mercanians began to embrace magic."

"That's not what is in the history books, sir." Endrance replied, puzzled.

Talos shrugged. "History is a funny thing to most mortals. If I changed one fact in all the history books, and there was no one around to dispute it, everyone would go on about their lives believing it was true. I don't know who made the changes, but I was born four hundred and fifty nine years ago, and those history books are still changing."

"Okay, so say I believe that." Endrance said. "If this was a Mercanian city, why were we here?"

"Humans were slave labor, essentially." Talos replied. "The mages worked us until our bones cracked and skins split from the effort. And then after that, they drained our blood for its power in their sacrificial rituals. We were in almost every way possible, disposable."

Endrance felt like his head was swimming. "That's... horrible." Endrance replied.

"Well, Rothel didn't lead a rebellion because he disliked their choice of decor." Talos said.

"Why aren't there any Mercanians here?" Endrance asked. "Did they flee?"

Talos shrugged. "Back then, this was going to be the farthest most city of their empire, almost on the doorstep of the Elven Lands. From what I was told, the Mercanians were all in their capitol city when everything they had wrought backfired. Perhaps it was a group ritual."

Endrance considered the city for a moment and what he had been told. "The city was never finished, was it?" Endrance asked.

"Why do you say that?" Talos asked in response.

The wizard considered. "Because the Mercanians had not moved into the city yet." he offered. "There is a noted lack of any kind of Mercanian artifact, or even mundane personal effects. In fact, if you hadn't told me this was a Mercanian city, I would have believed more readily that this was only a human capitol."

Talos laughed. "You are observant. Yes, this city was built by humans, but most of the buildings were only after the Mercanian Empire disappeared."

"Then what were they building all those years?" Endrance asked.

Talos was silent for several long seconds, observing him.

"I think it would be best if I showed you." Talos said. "But not today. I've more business to attend to, and a High Magus to reprimand."

Endrance sighed. "Okay." he said. "Lead me back to my room. I'll look forward to seeing you again soon."

Talos nodded. "Let's go."

As they walked back to his room, Talos chuckled to himself. "You know," he said. "If I had known you'd slug Weldom in the face, I would have arranged for you two to meet much sooner." he said laughingly.

Endrance hung his head. What had he gotten himself into?

This time Joven stood before the Steel Gate of Ironsoul. The last time he had been here, he had entered through the Salt Gate, at the mage Kaelob's instructions, but that gate was almost halfway across the city from where they were. It had taken them three weeks riding to make it to Ironsoul proper, without breaking their horses. As it was, they had pushed hard and were unilaterally tired and sore from riding for so long.

Joven was in the lead, with the three Draugnoa trailing behind in a cluster. Endrance's horse, still carrying his pack and belongings, trailed at the rear of the group, glad for not having to carry a whole person during the ride. Only Giselle ever rode on him, and her weight was marginal, compared to a six foot six barbarian.

The wolf girl was quickly learning their behavior, and had been causing less and less trouble. She did prove to be primarily carnivorous, but other than a few mishaps feeding her the wrong foods, she seemed, in general, pleased to be out and about. She would sit on Endrance's horse and babble her language at them, even though they couldn't understand it. Selene suggested that Giselle knew they didn't understand, and was using it anyway.

She was quiet while they stood before the gates which, while open, had a fair amount of guards around them. They were inspecting travelers for contraband wares, and requesting peace bonds of anyone armed.

One of the guards must have recognized Joven as they waited in line, because he ran off making a commotion. Moments later, a dozen armed guards rushed out. Eleven were armed with spears, and the twelfth had no weapons, but an armload of red ribbons.

"Barbarians!" The man with the ribbons cried. "Please, before you enter our city, I would have you promise to do no harm."

Joven recognized the man from before. He had been the highest ranked soldier in charge of his peace bonds from the last time he visited. Something seemed off.

"I remember you." Joven said, smiling. "Weren't you a Sergeant?"

The man sighed. "Well, after reports of a barbarian slaughtering fifteen people-"

"Seventeen."

"Seventeen people in the city, using weapons that had not been peace bonded, and I was the only one responsible for any barbarians that week, I kind of got demoted." the man explained. "I don't suppose you were that barbarian?

“Well, even if somehow I was that barbarian..." Joven started. "And something like that happened, it sounds like he kept his promise to not use the weapons he had bonded."

"He did." the man replied. "So, while that case has been dismissed, I'm now responsible for making sure any and all barbarians get thoroughly inspected for weaponry and have all of them bonded."

"Ah." Joven muttered. "They learned."

This time, they spent quite some time going over every weapon on his person, and even tied down his throwing knives and the long daggers in his boots. He was festooned in red ribbons. Bridget just had the two weapons, while Tanya left her bow unstrung and a ribbon tied to her quiver. Selene, surprisingly, had no ribbons at all on her.

Giselle was hemmed and hawed over, the guards unable to determine if such a young wolfman could even be considered a threat. However, the matter was solved when Giselle took one of the ribbons from the man and tied it into a bow on her head. The man in charge of their peace bonding decided that was good enough, and let them into the city.

Once they were within the gates, Bridget and Tanya clustered around Selene and pressed her for information.

"How did you get by?" Tanya demanded.

"Yeah, c'mon, tell us!" Bridget demanded.

Selene leaned slightly forward and winked. "Well, it seemed the men were spending more time staring at my chest than they were searching me for weapons." she said teasingly.

Bridget laughed, shaking her head. "Those might as well be weapons!" she exclaimed laughingly.

Tanya looked down at her own chest. "I didn't have that happen." she said, feeling both slightly confused and slightly offended.

Selene shrugged. "It's my... other half's allure, I suppose."

"And they're huge." Bridget spouted. "I dunno how you even fight with those things."

Selene blushed. "I'm ready to change the subject now." she said, turning her head away.

Joven took that moment to walk up. "We need to find out where they're keeping Endrance."

Selene seemed grateful for the change in the conversation's direction. "Too bad we don't have Gullin here." She said, looking around. People were bustling around the city, going about their business. Almost all of them were ignoring them. Some would pause and stare for a few seconds, then go on their way.

"Joven." Tanya said, restraining a chuckle. "You look ridiculous."

The barbarian looked down. He had almost as much red ribbon on his person as he had leather. "I may want to stop somewhere and get a room where I can put most of these things."

Giselle yipped from the saddle of Endrance's horse and adjusted her bow.

"I think she said you look pretty." Bridget said, smiling devilishly.

"That's it." Joven said. "We're going to find a room first."

It was not hard to get a room. They put down two gold pieces, and the innkeeper was glad to give them a pair of his best rooms for a week. Joven stored most of his weapons, including his throwing knives, and kept only the Inheritance with him. He didn't want to risk it being stolen; then he'd be required to kill the man that stole it, breaking the promise he had made.

Thus divested of his highly ribboned arrangement of weapons, they went in search of Endrance. It wasn't hard, the news of the coming trial seemed to be the talk of the town. The city government getting involved with the affairs of mages hardly ever happened, if at all, so it was the most exciting thing the citizens had to talk about. Collectively, most everyone they questioned said Endrance was being kept at the tower.

They made it to the yard of the tower, but this time it seemed there would be much more difficulty entering it. Six sentries stood watch by the door, and there seemed to be a large amount of traffic going in and out of the area, as people tried to come by and catch a glimpse of somebody involved in the trial.

"I think Endrance is famous." Tanya observed.

"Infamous, at least." Bridget responded. "I like it."

"Do you think we can see him?" Selene asked.

Joven sized up the guards. The men were in strangely shaped plate armor made of a material that looked more like blue-black shells, than pieces of metal. The armor, the shield, and swords they carried, all bore glowing blue sigils upon them. "I think they'd try to stop us, and I'm not very well armed to fight that many men."

Selene looked at the men, shrugged, and pushed through the crowd into the courtyard. She approached the door. One of the men stepped forward, and she spoke to him for a minute before he spun the spherical door open and she entered.

The rest of the group stared, and then pushed forward, coming to speak to the same man. While he acted only marginally more defensively with Joven nearby than he had with Selene, he looked up at the man and sighed.

"I don't suppose you're also Endrance's wife, are you?" he asked him.

Joven blinked in confusion. "Uhh... No?" he said.

"We are." Tanya and Bridget said in unison. "He's the bodyguard."

The man shook his head. "And the other girl?"

"She's the third one." Bridget explained. "What did she say to you to let her in?"

The guy smirked. "She wanted to make a 'personal' visit. I'm sure you know what I mean."

Bridget and Tanya glanced at each other and sighed. "Figures." Tanya said. "We'll wait out here."

The guard shrugged, his armor making no sound as he did so. "Either way, the Circle rules are only one visitor at a time, conjugal or otherwise."

Joven looked at the two remaining Draugnoa, Giselle clinging to his ankle. "Well, I think we can trust Selene to catch him up on what we’ve been up to since he left. Why don't you two wait here while I go run an errand?"

Tanya turned to the bodyguard. "I would think you'd want to be first to see Endrance."

Joven shook his head. "I will see him when I have completed the thing I promised to make." he said. Thinking, he turned to the sentry, who was obviously bedecked in magical equipment.

"Do you know where I could find someone who does magic stuff?" Joven asked the man.

The guard stiffened slightly. "Magic... stuff?" he asked, looking to be on the verge of getting offended.

"You know," Joven said, gesturing to the man's armor. "Things. With magic in them."

"Ah..." The sentry replied. "I didn't make this myself. It was issued to me by the Circle. However, if you are looking to have something made for you, there's a few shops around the tower where the most well known magic craftsmen work. It's not cheap though."

Joven looked out the fenced courtyard. "I can't tell what shop's what." Joven said. "They're all very... decorated."

The guard sighed, exasperated. "What kind of thing are you looking to buy?" he asked.

"I don't need to buy a whole thing." Joven replied. "I am making a staff for Endrance as a gift, and need something to fill the core with."

The sentry thought for a few seconds, and nodded. "Ah... Well, then you want Meryl’s. Her shop is a hundred feet down the main road, south of the tower. Can't miss it."

Joven took note of the location, and decided to head there after retrieving the bone staff. "You have my thanks." he said, nodding.

The man shrugged. "Hey, so long as you don't break the laws, or try to sneak into the tower, I don't mind helping. But we are here on duty, so no more chatting, all right?"

Joven nodded. He turned to the two Draugnoa. "Are you two going to wait for Selene?" he asked.

"Yeah." Tanya said, stooping to pry Giselle off of Joven's shins. She clung to Tanya for several seconds before relaxing. "Let me take care of her."

Joven returned to the inn where they had rented the rooms, retrieved the bone staff, and then went to the location he had been directed to.

The shop's full name was 
Meryl's Magnificent Materials
, carved into the stone nameplate of the shop and inlaid in silver. There were shop windows, big ones through which Joven could easily see all manner of strange lumps of metal, rocks, crystals, and even more exotic objects on display. Each window, on the bottom right corner, had a strange rune carved in it that shimmered faintly with light.

He shrugged, opened the double doors and walked in. A soft tone rung throughout the shop, but Joven saw no shopkeeper. He looked around, puzzled.

"Well aren't you a handsome one." a female voice said from everywhere around him. Joven looked about, startled. He was able to keep from grabbing the Inheritance, but only just barely.

"You would seem quite the oddity amidst a collection of oddities, dearie." The voice continued. "Though from the bone you are holding, you might be here to sell."

"I've not come here to sell." Joven said defensively. He wasn't entirely sure, but he had the feeling she had somehow verbally slighted him. "I am making something for a friend, and I need a craftsman's help."

The voice was silent for a few seconds.

"Well, there are no craftsmen here." the voice replied. "But there is a craftswoman, if that's acceptable."

"If you know your trade, then I care not what you are." Joven replied. "Please come out where I can see."

"Are you sure?" the voice asked. She sounded around Joven's age, but something seemed both familiar and strange about her. He had heard the similar lilt to her tone before, but he couldn't place it. "We can do business this way, if one would be willing to talk to the air about them."

Joven shook his head. "It's starting to make me uneasy."

"Very well." the voice conceded.

In the back, by the counter where one would lay out the wares being purchased, a door opened. Out stepped a beautiful woman, with skin like milk and hair that was down to her waist and as gold as coin. Joven immediately noticed that she had vividly blue eyes and the long, pointed ears of an elf. Her clothes were immaculately stitched silks in a simple pattern. Not a robe, but a sky blue dress that Joven had to drag his eyes from. As she walked, the blue of the dress seemed to have clouds drift across it.

"I am the owner of this place." she said, standing a little over ten feet away. "How can I help you?"

Joven blinked, regaining his focus. "I've met one of your kind before. A... what did he call himself... Suo'hdi?"

The woman smiled, the room almost seeming to brighten. "Ah, we are the most likely to do business in Ironsoul, as I have. What was his name? Perhaps I know him."

Joven shrugged. "I don't know him personally, but my charge, Endrance, exchanged a few messages with him since he met him. His name is Valzoa, I think." Joven said, somewhere in the back of his mind aware he was rambling. What was he doing?

Meryl looked surprised. "He knows the closest thing we have to nobility, then." she said softly. "Valzoa is the heir of the largest banking clan in our country. In any country, most likely."