The Dragon Hunter and the Mage (15 page)

It’s like sleeping with a herd of Bison… during heat.

He gave up and sat on the bed. There were thin shreds of light seeping through the blinds in the windows, and he used them to guide himself out. Tip toeing, he slid across the dorm and into the common room, making sure he didn’t make any creaking noises opening and closing the door. Immediately a cold gust of wind rustled his clothes, and the fresh air felt like home. He stepped towards the large window and sat on the thick parapet.

A huge silver moon hung in the sky, shedding its light upon the endless sea of dunes down below. Augusta was never this quiet at night. There was always some dog barking or the occasional yells and screams coming from the streets or one of the myriad towers of the city. This silence felt peaceful, but also slightly creepier.

Another gust of wind swept in and Aric hugged himself.

“It’s weird how it gets so cold all of a sudden, isn’t it?”

Aric would have probably fallen off the window if the parapet wasn’t so large. He turned and saw Leth.

“Merciful Ava,” Aric said. “You want to kill me?”

“Sorry. I thought you had heard my footsteps.”

“No,” Aric replied, then faced the desert once again. “You can’t sleep either?”

“With the snore fest going on inside?” Leth snorted. “It’s too damn early anyway.”

Aric smiled with half of his face. “It is,” he said, facing the desert.

There was a small silence between them.

“It’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?” Leth asked.

Aric agreed. “How long have you been here?” he asked.

“Three weeks. Still not used to it.” Leth leaned into the window besides where Aric was sitting. “I know who you are,” he said after a while.

Aric’s head spun so fast it almost snapped out of place. “You do?!”

“Every nobleman would recognize the Empress’s son, and my brother is Duke Carth of Nahlwar.”

“Oh…” Aric said, returning his gaze to the desert. “I see. Can’t say I was expecting to find a nobleman in here, but your clothes are a bit of a giveaway.”

Leth inspected his tunic. “Well, I might be stuck at the bottom end of the Empire for the rest of my life, but that doesn’t mean I have to look like dung.”

Aric chuckled.

“You’re one to talk…” Leth continued. “That armor of yours must be worth more than my brother’s palace.”

“You don’t think someone will try to steal it, do you? I mean, someone from our Company.”

“No… everyone in here is too scared to break the rules. Do you know what the most common punishment here is?”

Aric replied with a shake of his head.

“They call it ‘the pilgrimage’. Basically, you’re dropped three hundred miles to the south, in the deep desert, without any supplies. If you make it back to Lamash, you are forgiven. If not, well, you die. Which is what happens to just about everyone, because even if you know what you are doing, and find some water before you dehydrate, the odds are a Dragon will smell you, or hear you, and make a nice roast out of you.”

“I see…” Aric said. “That’s good to know.”

“This place is really messed up, let me tell you.”

“Did you volunteer?” Aric asked.

“No,” Leth sniggered. “I mean, officially, yes. But no, I didn’t.”

“What do you mean? What happened?”

Leth exhaled loudly. “What can I say?” he replied. “We can’t all have perfect little families like yours.”

Aric burst out laughing. Leth smiled as well.

“How much do you know?” Aric asked.

“Enough…. The Legions may have unified the Empire, but gossip is what holds it together.”

“It’s funny,” Aric said, “no matter how messed up things were back in the Citadel, I still wish I was there.”

“I know what you mean….”

There was another moment of silence as the two of them contemplated the silvery dunes.

“Hey, want to see something really interesting?” Leth asked.

Aric shrugged. “Sure.”

Leth grabbed a torch and signaled Aric to follow him. The windowless hallway was completely dark, filled only with the howling of wind drafts. On his way in, Aric had found the air current strange, but now it was downright scary.

“Where are we going?” he asked in a whisper.

“You’ll see,” Leth replied. “But why are you whispering?”

Good question.

“I… old habit, I guess,” he said. “I did this all the time in the Citadel with my brother. You know, sneaking out at night. It was the only way we could spend some time together. The Emperor forbade us from seeing each other.”

“You and your brother are close?” Leth asked as they turned a corner with moonlight flooding the corridor.

“He’s my best friend,” Aric said.

“Good. That’s really good. Anyway, we don’t have to hide if we walk around here at night. The Guild has rules for everything. Never spill water, the stables are off limits to trainees, don’t spend more than one hour in the dining hall unless there is a feast, the kitchens and the lower levels are off limits to trainees, and so on…. Surprisingly though, no curfew.”

“Why can’t we go to the lower levels?” Aric asked.

They were now walking along a veranda of sorts, from which you could see one of Lamash’s other towers. It was much thinner than the main one, albeit just as tall.

“I’m not sure,” Leth replied. “I was told we will visit the lower levels as part of our training.” He stopped at a large door at the end of the veranda. “This way.” He pushed the door open and crossed it. “Grab onto the railing. It gets windy up here.”

It was a bridge leading to the other tower. The wind sent Aric’s blond curls into a wild dance and he had to turn his face so he wouldn’t get sand in his eyes.

“I can’t see any lights,” Aric said. “Is the tower abandoned?”

“It is,” Leth replied.

They reached the other end of the bridge, and the Akhami boy held the door for Aric. The interior had nothing to do with anything in the main tower. Instead of jagged walls and twisting columns, there were low relief sculptures everywhere. Women made of water and fire stood gracefully at the corners, prancing stags and prowling tigers chased after each other on the walls, and flowing ribbons framed every doorway. Even the door knobs were small works of art.

“Welcome to the Mage’s Tower,” Leth told him.

Aric wandered around with his mouth open.

It was beautiful. There was some sand piling on the corners, and everything was covered with a thick layer of dust, but it looked magnificent nevertheless. He crossed into a large room with a long mahogany table at its center. Ten armchairs were lined on one side of the table, facing a mirror as wide as the table was long. On each of its ends, a statue of a man made of smoke and stone held the mirror in place. It was framed in a silver ribbon, with dozens of incrusted Glowstone shards shaped like jewels. Aric forgot how to breathe.

“It’s a Hypervisor,” Leth explained. “Mages used it to communicate with each other over long distances. They could actually see and hear any other Mage, no matter where he or she was, as long as they also had one of these.” He approached the mirror and grabbed the silver frame. “It was powered by spells stored in these Glowstone shards, but they must have run out years ago. It’s just another piece of furniture now.”

“You were right,” Aric said, his eyes glowing. “This is incredible.”

Leth smirked.

“We haven’t got to the incredible part yet. Follow me.”

Aric did not need any further encouragement. He followed Leth through a series of hallways and a wide staircase. Upstairs the floor was like a giant puzzle, with each tile shaped differently, yet perfectly fitting each other. The painting on the tiles showed a twirling ribbon that transformed smoothly into a column of twisting smoke before ending abruptly at a tall double door. Leth pushed the door open and the smoke strand poured inside, becoming a trickle of water.

“What is this?” Aric asked, stepping into the room and looking around. It was larger than the main tower’s dining hall and was packed full of row after row of empty shelf cases.

“What do you think this is? It’s a library, of course.”

“Where are the books, then?”

Leth crossed his arms, looking disappointed.

“I told you this was the Mage’s Tower. The books are gone, obviously.”

“Right, sorry.” Aric paced along the empty shelves. It would have been nice to have a library in Lamash. “What’s so interesting about it, then?”

“That,” Leth said, pointing at one wall.

Aric wondered if the Akhami had lost his mind. There was an archway protruding from the wall where Leth was pointing to, but nothing else. No object hanging there, no painting, carving, or sculpture of any kind. Just the same stone brick as everywhere else.

“Hum…” Aric mumbled. “I don’t think I follow…. It’s a wall. What’s so interesting about a wall?”

Leth threw his arms in the air.

“A wall?!” he yelped. “Are you blind? That’s a passageway. And someone blocked it. Don’t you see? It’s a blocked passageway in the middle of a forbidden library! How much more interesting does it get?”

“I see,” Aric said, tilting his head sideways. “So, you assume there’s a cache of hidden books on the other side?”

“I don’t know what is on the other side. That’s the whole point. What I do know is the Mages who lived here really didn’t want whatever it was to fall into the hands of the Paladins.”

“On the other hand,” Aric said, “it might be just a wall.”

Leth exhaled loudly.

“Look at the floor painting,” he said, gesturing down. “The water trickle turns into a flame and then just….”

And then the flame was interrupted by the stone bricks.

“So the painting wasn’t finished properly,” Aric said. “The painter must have miscalculated the distances. I’ve seen sloppier work.”

“Come over here and place your hand there,” Leth said, indicating the inner edge of the archway.

Aric obeyed. There was a clear interval between the arch and the stone bricks beneath it. Aric tried to slide his fingers through it, but they didn’t fit.

“Wow!” he said. “I can feel air blowing through it.”

“Exactly,” Leth said. “Now look at it. Closer.”

Aric removed his hand and inspected the tight gap. He got close enough to the bricks that he could feel the cold air blowing between them. What astonished him, however, was
what
he saw.

It was faint, but from within the crevice came a blueish hue.

“Fire take me!” he said. “There’s Glowstone in there.”

“Yep,” Leth agreed, smiling. “It’s a Glowstone lock.” 

“A what?”

“A Glowstone lock. A door lock made of Glowstone.”

Aric looked at the archway, and the stone bricks under it.

“If there is a locking mechanism in there, where is the key hole?” he asked.

“The only key that can open a Glowstone lock is the exact counter-spell,” Leth explained.

“Well,” Aric said. “I can lock-pick almost any door, but not something like this….”

“You know how to pick a lock?” Leth asked.

“It’s easier than it looks,” Aric replied, “but this is hopeless. Even if we knew what the counter-spell was, we’re not Mages. We wouldn’t be able to cast it.” He paused and frowned. “You’re not a Mage… are you?”

Leth chuckled. “Merciful Ava,” he said. “No. I’m not
that
unlucky. But you’re wrong, it’s not hopeless. Glowstone locks might be unbreakable, but there has to be a way around it. I actually have a plan.”

“You do?”

“Yeah.” He aimed a finger at the ceiling. “We dig from the upper floor.”

Sylene’s quill ran dry midway through the sentence. She dipped the pen into the ink bottle and rewrote the half-written word. Again, the word remained incomplete. With a snort, the Grand Master looked at the ink bottle. It was empty.

“Edcar,” she called, and immediately felt stupid.

It had been two weeks since she had released her former assistant. Edcar was an excellent right hand, and he was also leadership material. Sylene had been grooming him for years. Until the day Tyrek, the Captain of the twelfth Company, had gotten himself squashed by a Dragon’s tail. Edcar had been Sylene’s only choice to replace him. She had always possessed the smallest staff of any Grand Master in the history of the Guild, but now she was running the mountain fortress all by herself.