The Weaving of Wells (Osric's Wand, Book Four) (8 page)

Two tiny birds hovered just above the blue petals, sipping nectar from the sweet flowers. Her father had called them flitterflies when she was a child, and she had chased them through the forest near her home on summer mornings, following brief flashes of bright feathers as they darted between blossoms. Serha’s pace quickened as she followed the broken road, which was littered with leaves and overgrown with tree roots, toward the top of the mountain.

The sun climbed with them, marking the passing of the day as they swatted at insects and wiped sweat from their necks. The party traveled by spell when they could see far enough up the path for it to be worth the expenditure of magic, but much of the trek had to be taken on foot. The foliage was dense, and the path was vague and easy to lose beneath the trees. Tree sprites chittered in the branches overhead, and Serha could often catch sight of one of the small, furry creatures leaping from limb to limb above them.

Just as the muscles in her legs were protesting louder than her determination to reach the top could drown out, Serha saw a break in the trees up ahead and a swath of blue sky hugging the outline of a stone tower. Her breath caught in her throat, and she nearly jogged out from under the forest canopy. A carpet of soft grass cushioned her footfalls, and she crested the hill to find the tower at the center of a small lake in a crater. The bridge was just where she had said it would be. The rest of the party followed her up the hill, and she turned to see wide smiles and quiet nods of approval cast her way.

Bridgett knelt down in front of Trevar. His eyes were wide as he looked up at the tower.

“Are you ready? Do you think you can get us in?” Bridgett smiled at him warmly, and he returned the smile readily. He pulled his hand from his pocket and showed her the small stone rod. She nodded encouragingly and walked with him to the tower.

Trevar used the stone he was holding to draw an arc of symbols on the wall. Bridgett watched expectantly for the symbols to begin glowing, just as she had seen at the Well of Strands in Angmar, but nothing happened. Trevar looked confused as he held his hand in the air after drawing the final symbol.

“What’s wrong?” Bridgett asked. The irua boy looked distraught, shaking his head in distress. “Have you ever seen any well besides the one you took me to?” Again he shook his head no.

“The symbols is not working. Wrong symbols?” His distress and confusion seemed to be regressing his recent grasp of the Common language.

“I’m not sure. I don’t know what the symbols mean. Do you?” Trevar nodded at first, but he didn’t say anything. Then, he scrunched up his face a little and shook his head, staring down at the ground.

“Oh, it’s going to be all right. We will figure something out.” Bridgett squeezed his shoulder and walked back over to the rest of the group.

“Bridgett, what’s wrong?” Osric’s voice blatantly conveyed concern, but he couldn’t help but smile when he looked at her.

“He wasn’t able to open the door. He thinks that the symbols he knows might not work for all of the wells.”

“Blazing strands! I didn’t really have a backup plan for getting in.” Osric ran his hands through his hair.

“I have an idea, but you’re not going to like it.” Gus was perched on Serha’s shoulder.

Osric looked over at him and grimaced. “Well, like it or not, I’m willing to hear it.”

“Serha can get in,” Gus said slowly, “with the traveling spell.”

“Absolutely not.” Osric glared over at him. “Have you forgotten what can happen when someone uses the spell without being able to see the destination? It’s too risky.”

“Do you have a better idea?” Gus puffed out his little chest and glared back. Osric’s shoulders sagged.

“No, but you’re right. I don’t like it.” Osric looked at Serha. “It isn’t a decision I can make, though. Do you understand how the spell works?” Serha nodded. “This is more dangerous than any other time we have ever used the traveling spell. Not only can you not see the location you are trying to travel to, but the only way you have ever seen it is in a vision. There is no way to know what is inside the tower now. It is entirely possible that attempting this will kill you.”

“Osric, we can’t let her do that. We don’t know what will happen to her,” Bridgett objected vehemently.

“Actually, my dear, you cannot stop me.” Serha squared her shoulders and looked at Osric. “Tell me what I should do to succeed.”

“Serha, did you hear anything I just said? I’m really not sure it is possible. You could die.”

“So, I just have to have a clear image of where I want to go, and then I speak the spell and I go there, right?”

“In a most simplistic manner, yes, that’s how it works, but there have been incidents where people have died because they appeared in an altered environment,” Eublin said, quietly but adamantly. “For example, focusing on a clearing with a small tree near a childhood home can lead to appearing with a large branch through one’s torso due to the growth of the tree over the years. We can only assume that your vision was either from the past or the future, thus it is possible that the interior of the tower is not as it was when you saw it.”

“I understand the risk. But if there is no other way to get into the tower, then I am willing to try. We must learn what we can about the wells. It may be the only way to save the irua race and any others Dredek may seek to destroy.”

Osric eyed her with a mix of admiration and fear. He was torn between needing to understand Dredek’s purpose in seizing the Well of Strands and needing to protect Serha from potential harm. He didn’t want anyone else to die.

“Serha, can you show me the vision? Is that possible? If I could see what you saw, then I could travel into the tower and you would not have to take on the risk yourself.” She smiled warmly at Osric’s obvious concern for her, but she shook her head.

“If the vision were meant for you, then perhaps I could, but that is not the case. This vision came to me for a reason, High-Wizard, and the danger is no greater for me than for you. However, you must go on to win this war. I am just an old woman.”

“Wise and modest. You speak too little of yourself, old woman.” Aridis’s eyes were shining with moisture as Serha prepared to speak the spell.

“Serha, there is another danger we have not discussed.” Osric’s voice strained with anxiety. “The spell around the barracks prevents anyone from entering uninvited. I have felt the pain that trying to breach this protection causes, and you would not survive it. Only my added abilities allowed me to live through it. We have no idea what type of magic protects this tower. There are spells woven into this stone that I have never seen before. If they are as effective as the ones around the barracks, you won’t get through alive. I can’t let you do this.”

“Osric, I understand the risks involved. There is no other way.” Serha took a deep breath and pictured the tower as she had seen it in her vision. Every detail that she could recall was clear in her mind, and she focused carefully on a space in the center of the floor far from any object in the room. “Eo ire itum.”

* * *

Serha felt a sensation of falling forward, but after a brief moment the feeling passed. As she looked around, she felt lightheaded and her vision seemed foggy. The walls of the tower around her were hazy, and she felt as if her feet were stuck in thick mud. With great difficulty, Serha crouched down and looked at a book lying open on the floor. It was the same one from her vision. Several symbols were written along the spine of the book, but the pages were faded, and her vision was so blurry that she could not read any of the writing. Serha picked up the book. She clutched it close to her chest and tried to walk toward the round opening in the floor. She couldn’t move her legs.

Confused and disoriented, Serha struggled against the invisible force that kept her from moving. She felt drawn toward the well, as if she needed desperately to reach it, but she couldn’t break free. The darkness she had seen in her vision bubbled up from inside the round opening in the stone floor. It slowly moved toward her, like a thick smoke. She had the disturbing feeling that it was watching her, laughing at her, and just before she would have been enveloped in the gruesome shadow, Serha recited the traveling spell and her vision went black.

* * *

Serha awoke to the sensation of a cool cloth on her forehead and a warm blanket spread over her. Her limbs felt heavy and stiff, and her eyes ached terribly. Aridis squeezed her hand and spoke softly as she opened her eyes.

“You gave us quite a scare. Do you remember anything?”

When she could see him clearly, Serha blinked and sighed with relief.

“That is not an experience I will forget anytime soon. Where is the book?”

The old man’s brow furrowed as he stared at her eager expression.

“What book do you mean?”

“The one from the tower of course. I brought it back with me,” Serha said. She shifted up into a sitting position and realized she was on soft grass near the crater and the lake. The tower stood silhouetted against the bright blue sky just across the water.

“Serha, you never went anywhere.” Aridis watched her with concern. “You recited the spell and immediately collapsed on the ground outside the tower. You have been unconscious for half the day.”

“What? That isn’t possible. I traveled into the tower, but I couldn’t move. I picked up the book, and I traveled back out just before the darkness reached me. It was terrifying.”

“I have been by your side every moment since you collapsed. Could it be another vision?”

“Aridis, I have been receiving visions for over one hundred years. I can always tell when I am seeing a vision, and this was different. This was real.” Serha had an overwhelming urge to either get up and move or to vomit. She opted for the former and struggled to her feet. Every bit of her body protested, but once she was up and walking she started to feel better. Osric caught her eye from a short distance away, and he hurried over with Bridgett, Gus, Eublin, and the irua boy.

“Serha, are you all right? How are you feeling?” Osric’s concern for her was clear in his voice and in his urgent approach.

“I think so. I still feel a bit sore and quite confused. Aridis says I collapsed when I spoke the spell.”

“That’s right. We were so worried, but we didn’t know what was happening.” Bridgett embraced the woman warmly. “Thank Archana you are back with us.”

“Actually, that’s what I am confused about. As far as I know, I traveled into the tower and retrieved the book from my vision, but it seems I never left at all. If this was just a vision, it is different than any I have ever had. And I have no explanation at all for why I collapsed.”

“I would wager it has something to do with your proximity to Osric and Bridgett, or rather the magical devices they possess, along with whatever protection spells are built into this tower.” Gus scampered closer and Bridgett lifted him to her shoulder. “That sword and amulet can have an unusual effect on one’s power, and we are only beginning to understand how and why. Attempting to get inside may have triggered any number of rejection spells, causing you to collapse. Your amplified ability may have taken over when you fell unconscious, and that could explain why you felt it wasn’t a vision at all.”

“Gus, that actually makes a lot of sense. If that’s true, then Serha is probably very lucky that the traveling spell didn’t work. If she had managed to get inside, the protection spells may have done a great deal more damage than just causing her to black out for a while.” Osric stood and stared out at the tower, shaking his head. “Serha, I am very glad you are not injured, but I have no idea what to do now.”

“We aren’t going to learn anything from here. We either go back home and give up, or we knock the tower down.” Gus glared at the impenetrable tower.

“I don’t think either of those is the best option. Serha, you said you held the book in your vision. Can you describe it?” Eublin asked.

“There was something wrong with my vision, er, my eyesight. Everything looked very blurry, but I could see that there were seven symbols on the spine of the book. I couldn’t read anything inside, though.” Before Serha could describe the book any further, Trevar jumped up from where he was sitting on the grass nearby. He hurried over with a hopeful look on his face.

“Seven symbols? Can you show it?” Trevar asked.

“Well, I am not sure I can draw them correctly, but I will try.” Serha used a stick and scratched what resembled the symbols she had seen as best as she could. The irua boy watched on, and he grew more excited with each symbol she drew. When she was done, he took the stick and drew a slightly different symbol under three of those she had drawn.

“It look like this?” he asked anxiously. Serha looked carefully at the images that both of them had drawn.

“These two which you drew are better than mine. But this last one isn’t right. I got the best look at the last symbol, and I am sure I drew it correctly.” The last symbol looked like an inverted cone with a coil wound around it. The image the boy had drawn looked more like a triangle inside of a coil or a spring. The symbols were somewhat similar, but the differences were distinct. Serha erased the first two symbols of hers that Trevar had corrected. “These are the symbols on the book. I am sure of it.”

The irua boy’s face broke out in a wide grin, and he ran toward the narrow bridge that led out to the tower. Bridgett and the others ran after him, calling for him to wait. When they reached him, he had already started drawing the symbols on the wall of the tower with his stone rod. The seventh symbol was one he had never drawn before, and his movement was slower and more careful to get it right. By the time he completed the last one, the symbols were beginning to glow brightly and Bridgett let out a squeal of excitement while everyone else stared in awe.

The symbols grew brighter and brighter until everyone had to shield their eyes. When the glow faded, the group looked back at the tower wall and found a small, arched opening. They all moved toward the small doorway, and the boy’s expression of glee suddenly turned to one of fear.