Spellscribed: Conviction (43 page)

“To what do I owe this pleasure?” Endrance groaned, pulling the sheets back over him.

Valzoa clapped his hands together. “We got a courier from the Sunken Tower.”

Endrance opened his eyes again. “That’s new.”

“Indeed.” Valzoa responded. “They’re bringing him to our closest outpost to the Sea of Glass, but he specifically requested you by name.”

“Oh.” Endrance muttered, sitting up. “That’s… suspicious.”

Valzoa nodded. “Yes. We think it might be Valeria attempting to get at you again.” He replied. “So Jalyin’s going to be following you discreetly to the outpost, to keep an eye on you.”

“That won’t be necessary.” Endrance protested. “I’ve had nearly a year of training to fight her. Joven and Tanya have been doing remarkably well in their pursuits, and Selene keeps coming back with new injuries from what I suspect is a job much akin to your girlfriend’s position.”

“She isn’t working in my house.” Jalyin said, rising out from the shadows at the foot of the bed right next to him. Endrance had actually gotten so used to her doing that to him, that he didn’t even flinch.

“Maybe a competitor then.” He said.

“Well, it’s not a theatre troupe.” Valzoa quipped.

“I was being hopeful.” Endrance grumbled. “And in denial.”

“You’ve only trained for ten months. You are not ready to face her.” Jalyin stated. “You need to recognize your limits.”

“I am well aware of my limits.” Endrance snapped. “And getting my hide tanned every day for nine months did wonders for pushing that limit further.”

“Well, someone had to teach you to survive.” Jalyin responded. “And while my attempts to kill you did wonders for your survivability, I can’t really hold back.”

“As evidenced by her last attempt back in Ironsoul.” Valzoa added.

“So there would be a very real, high probability that I would succeed.” Jalyin concluded. “And I don’t want that.”

“You want to get to Valeria more than I do.” Endrance stated, nodding.

Jalyin shrugged. “We Sha’hdi are a vindictive lot.” She admitted offhandedly. “Of course, I still resent you managing to prevent me from completing a task, but watching you get tortured every day for this last stretch has done wonders for my disposition towards you.”

Endrance shook his head. “Word of advice, Valzoa…” Endrance said with a chuckle. “Do not break up with her.”

“Oh whatever have I gotten myself into?” Valzoa joked. Jalyin glared at him, but it was not nearly as harsh as he was used to.

“So.” Endrance stated. “Where’s everyone else?”

“I’ve sent messengers to retrieve them.” Valzoa explained. “They’ll meet us at the northern edge of the forest. I’ve hired some of our swiftest horses to ferry you to the outpost.”

“Thank you.” Endrance replied. “We’ll be back shortly after we figure out what it is.”

He nodded. “Of course. Well, are you going to get dressed or not?”

The mage sighed and threw off the covers, standing.

“Well then.” Jalyin exclaimed with a smirk. “I see you’ve gotten comfortable around here.”

Endrance looked down. “Where are my pants?” he asked aloud. “Dammit, Selene.”

“We’ll just wait for you outside.” Valzoa said, turning to chat with Jalyin as they left the room.

Endrance was able to get changed into a different set of clothing, clasped his bracers on, and took the scroll case. Thinking, he dug into his belongings until he found the other scroll case he had been given. He opened the case, and upended the tube. A soft rattle inside the tube marked the movement of a single piece of rolled parchment, which fell into his open hand.

He tossed the scroll case onto the bed, unfurling the scroll. The instructions were written in cypher, one that he had been told how to use when he was given the orders.

Endrance of Wayrest,
The scroll began.

Your orders are twofold. First, you are to secure a peace agreement with Salthimere as quickly as possible. You are authorized an expense of five thousand gold pieces a month for appropriate administration fees in order to facilitate matters. You must secure a document indicating that Salthimere intends no military action against our people.

The second order is thus. If you fail to secure the peace agreement, you are to remove Ambassador Rasmiel. He is an obstacle to attaining our goals and cannot be allowed to remain in office. You are allowed to use any means possible to accomplish this, but you are required to remain within budget.

Failure to accomplish these tasks, or these orders becoming compromised will result in denial and your execution should you return to Ironsoul.

Mastadon.

Endrance crumpled the scroll up in his hand. A thought and a whispered word of power was enough to burn the page to cinders in his grip.

“Now I won’t need to worry about that.” Endrance whispered. He had been appalled when he had first read the orders, and he would have had a hard time believing it was orders from his own kingdom, if he hadn’t known Mastadon’s true nature. He had little trouble believing that a dragon would be capable of ordering such a task. Mastadon had probably added the second command as a way to ensure that he  never made it back.

He slung the new scroll case across his back, called his staff to him, and left the tree. Outside, Valzoa stood alone with Gullin, who was standing on the ground near the entrance. A cluster of elves around the two looked up when Endrance walked out, and many clapped their hands.

“Congratulations, Endrance.” Valzoa said. “You’ve made some fans.”

The wizard slowed going down the steps. “What is this?” he asked. “Fans?”

“They’re part of the families that work in the embassy.” Valzoa explained, gesturing to the assembled males and females. “You getting Rasmiel to sign off on that peace agreement is the biggest change their pursuit has had in hundreds of years.”

“Now they get to work on generating documents to further reinforce this peace agreement, as well as work on paving the way for Ambassador Rasmiel’s request for longer stations.” Valzoa continued. “They are also quite amazed that you managed to clear out that gaudy human office on such a short notice.”

“Aww… Thanks.” Endrance said, smiling at the elves and thanking them in heavily accented Hdi. Several of the younger elves laughed, while a few of the older ones offered corrections to his speech.

“I think I need to spend a few more years studying Hdi.” Endrance admitted. “Think I can fit that into my schedule, now that I suddenly have some time free?”

Valzoa considered. “Well, I could have a linguistics scholar tutor you instead of Pullar’s lessons. Though, I’d rather you spend more time in physical and magic training.”

Endrance shook his head. “I think I’m about burnt out on those pain staves.”

“I’ve been told if they still hurt, you’re not done yet.” He responded. Neither of them mentioned Jalyin around other people; it seemed that Valzoa was more alert to how much the rest of Endrance’s group resented her continued attempts on his life.

“Then I’ll enjoy this nice break from a painful afternoon, and go see this messenger.” Endrance said, rolling his eyes. The assembled elves began drifting back into the flow of foot traffic, which did slow somewhat as many elves, both Sha’hdi and Suo’hdi, paused to look over his familiar.

Gullin had gained an extra foot of length, and two feet to his wingspan. Now the tips of his tail feathers flickered with flames, even when there was no wind blowing.

“Let’s go.” Endrance said aloud.

Gullin took to the air, and Valzoa chatted about everything and yet, somehow nothing, during their walk out of the city. It took nearly an hour, but that was the way things worked in Salthimere. The elves could move faster if they wished, but culturally one did not ride horses through their city or use magic to speed along unless absolutely necessary. It disrupted the peace and tranquility of the kingdom to ride through the major population.

Endrance enjoyed being able to chat with Valzoa in person again. The elf definitely seemed the rich snob type, but had a surprising humility when it came down to who he associated with, and what he did with his money. While he dressed the part, Valzoa seemed to be keener on spending what he called ‘pocket money’ on other people. Of course, his idea of a daily allowance was more than the whole town of Wayrest made in a year, but Endrance didn’t need to explain that to the elf.

It was also interesting to hear his stories. Valzoa had plenty of tales to tell, many of which gave away more about elven culture than Endrance had learned just from his education by Pullar. Valzoa had only recently started talking about some of his projects, one of which included helping gather up the people without the backing of their families. Called “lost seeds,” they were essentially on their own in a society that was entrenched in tradition and family association.

Valzoa spoke of making use of them by paying lost seeds to run specific tasks, and hiring the more capable ones on a more permanent basis. As part of house Alastrel, he technically had the power to add more people to the family, but he would be stepping on his father’s authority, and he did not want to get saddled with that. Instead, he’d been saving up money here and there to gather a group of potential elves and sponsor them, forming an official duelist family. After that, he would get the initial group trained, and then leave them to their own devices.

“An elf has to have little projects, you know?” He reasoned. “Besides, it’s better than the life they would have had on the streets. I’ve found out about that most recently.”

Their path led them to the last row of trees. A curtain of thin, young trees served as an official border of the civilization, though elves were in no way hindered from living outside of Salthimere. From what Endrance had seen, they had been slowly expanding outwards at a rate that seemed a snail’s crawl to humans. They could use their life magic and tree shapers to force the forest to expand, but from his understanding, that would grow the trees, but not ‘mature’ them in a way that was harmonious to the environment.

“Endrance!” a girl’s voice called from his left, and the wizard turned just in time to get tackled by an energetic ball of fur. Giselle knocked him to the ground, her arms around his neck and her legs wrapped around his waist. The wolf-girl had grown at least a foot in the last several months, and even the elves had had trouble keeping her in clothes that fit properly. Her tail swished back and forth rapidly as she hugged him tightly. “You slept through our morning time together!”

“Ooof…” Endrance exhaled. He took a breath. “Giselle!” he said, “I’m glad to see you’re doing well!”

She let go of his neck and sat on his stomach. She had dressed in a pair of breezy slacks and a flowery blouse. She even had leather sandals made specifically for her lupine feet. The elves had some amazing craftspeople.

“Yes!” she replied, her common tongue almost as good as her Ulfreau. Endrance was a little bit jealous that her Hdi was better than his by far. Even her voice had smoothed, sounding hardly any different than a normal humans. “The teacher said my lessons are catching up with the rest of the class really quickly!”

“Is that so?” Endrance asked.             

“Yes!” she replied happily.

“I’m happy to hear that.” Endrance said, patting her on the head. “You’re doing well here.”

“Yes I am!” she agreed. “I’ve made three new friends since last week!” she started regaling him of her childhood adventures, energetically bouncing off his stomach as she talked.

Valzoa came to the rescue, plucking her off him and setting her on her feet as Endrance rose to his feet. “Easy there, Giselle.” Valzoa exclaimed, letting her go.

“Where are you going?” Giselle asked. “Can I go?”

Endrance looked down at her and shook his head, smiling. “I’m just going to meet a messenger for work. It’s going to take a little while, but we should be back soon enough.”

“Oh.” Giselle murmured, her tail slowing. “Okay.”

“But I promise to tell you all about it when I get back, okay?” Endrance assured.

“Okay.” She said. “I’ll see you then.”

“Absolutely.” Endrance replied. “I promise.”

The wolf-girl ran off, and Endrance watched her be joined by half a dozen elven children as they wound their way back into the city.

“I’m glad she’s doing so well.” Endrance admitted. “I was worried she wouldn’t have any friends here or in Ironsoul.”

“Still doesn’t have friends in Ironsoul.” Valzoa observed. “But then again, she wasn’t there very long.”

“She didn’t speak the language either.” Endrance added. “Speaking of, your schools teach both the common tongue and Hdi?”

Valzoa shrugged. “Education is not part of an institution of any sort.” He replied. “It’s just the elves who have the pursuit to teach. They teach all the basics, and then there are a few specializing in other subjects. We tend to teach languages of other species, since the root to understanding their society is to understand how they communicate.”

“Oh.” Endrance thought about it for a second. “Does that mean you have someone who can teach Mercanian?”

Valzoa blinked at him. “You’re speaking it.” He replied, only slightly confused. “Or at least the derivative of the Mercanian language given to their human slaves. Eight hundred years or so of drift has changed it a bit, but that’s actually why we, for the most part, know how to speak it.”