Wizard's Education (Book 2) (16 page)

"What does it look like?"

"It looks exactly like ordinary rock. That's why you need the nose," he said tapping the appendage he was so proud of. "We're almost there."

They turned a corner and descended a flight of stairs. The passageway opened into a large room filled with tables. Each long table had a dozen benches seated on either side. The tables were loaded with plates full of nuts and berries, vegetables and steaming platters of meat. Hanuwar handed the goat meat he'd been carrying to a woman in a white coat, who rushed it away.

"Come, it's just time for dinner. You must join us."

They placed the torches in holders along the wall. Hanuwar inclined his head towards the burning torches and looked at Lorit. "Don't think we'll be needing the torches any longer."

"Incendo exstinguere," Lorit said and the torches went cold, leaving the room lit only by the fireplace that did little to chase away the gloom.

Hanuwar led them to a bench along one of the tables near the center of the room. He pulled it out and gestured to them to have a seat. As he slid the bench back in, Lorit noticed that there were several unlit candelabras on each table.

He heard a loud whistle off in the distance. It seemed to come from all of the exits to the banquet room at once, reverberating off the polished granite walls. Soon a crowd of people poured into the room. Men and women dressed much like Hanuwar and about his stature pulled up at the tables and waited.

As the room filled, Hanuwar excused himself. He walked to the end of the dining hall and raised his voice. "Good evening, Brothers and Sisters," he said in a loud booming voice. "Tonight we have the special pleasure of entertaining guests from outside." He gestured to Lorit and the Princess. "We have with us the Wizard Lorit and the Princess Ukina."

"Please make them welcome," Hanuwar said.

The crowd applauded, turning to look at Lorit and Ukina, and then took their seats. Hanuwar headed back to sit beside Lorit. He extended his hand and touched the dark candle before him, favoring Lorit with a questioning look.

Lorit glanced around the room at the scores of unlit candles and back to Hanuwar. Hanuwar nodded his head, smiling. Lorit wondered why the dwarf wanted him to use his magic. Was he showing off the fact that his guest was a Wizard?

Lorit reached out to light the candles. As he did, he felt a surge in his magic that he'd never felt before. It was exhilarating and liberating. He felt that he could accomplish anything he put his mind to. The room suddenly came to life with the light from a thousand candles reflected through the cut crystal glasses and decorations on the tables.

A pronounced sigh came from the entire room as the hall lit up.

"Thank you," Hanuwar said. He peered closely at Lorit. "You felt it this time, didn't you?"

"I felt something," Lorit said. "What was it?"

"That was the magic we mine. You drew on it to power your spell. You are connected to the earth now, and to us. You will be able to draw on this power whenever you wish.

Hanuwar leaned in to Lorit. "I don't want to spoil your dinner, but as soon as you eat, I'd suggest you use some of your new found power to untangle a few of the spells that have been placed on this young lady." He gestured to Princess Ukina.

After dinner, the miners congregated around Lorit, seeking news of the outside world. They seldom left the mines, but were most interested in what was happening in the world at large. They marveled at the tales of his travels with Chihon and their battles with the Temple. After the affair wound down, only Lorit, the Princess, and Hanuwar were left in the large dining room.

The staff cleared the tables, removed the food, swept the floor, and departed. Only the three of them remained. The light of the fireplace and a few candles on their table were all that lit the room.

"We must begin." Hanuwar looked at the Princess. "It's time to unmask you. Please lie down right here." He passed his hand over the freshly cleared table and the Princess reluctantly climbed up.

"Remember the connection," the Princess reminded Lorit. "You hurt me, you hurt her."

"No one is going to hurt you." Lorit firmly pushed her down until she lay flat on the table. He brought out his staff and carefully examined her, letting the magic flow through him, focused by the jewel in its head. He felt the cords of the spell that bound her as he had before, only this time they seemed more pronounced.

He could see the different colors of the spells. There was a unique texture and flavor to each one. He could see that there were several spells that had been laid upon her.

"You can see it now, can't you?" Hanuwar asked. "A Sorceress, a Wizard, a Priest, a Witch, they've all put spells on her. I've never seen anything like it before."

Lorit tried to unravel one of the spells. As he did so, the Princess arched her back and screamed in pain. Lorit quickly released the thread. She collapsed on the table and lay there breathing heavily.

"You may need to put her to sleep while you work. Those spells smell pretty nasty to me," Hanuwar said tapping his nose.

"Somnum penitus et somniare" Lorit said as he waved his staff over the Princess. It took several passes, but eventually she drifted off into a sound sleep. Lorit hoped it was filled with pleasant dreams.

Lorit was ready to try again when Hanuwar placed his hand on Lorit's arm to stop him. He turned and shouted "Saefusk!"

A young dwarf wearing a leather apron and a pair of thick glasses arrived. He walked over to Lorit and reached out his hand, looking at Lorit's staff. He flipped his glasses in place and examined the jewel in the head of the staff. He shook his head, clicking his tongue. "Be right back," he said, speeding away with it.

Lorit lurched after him, but Hanuwar held his arm. "He's going to replace the jewel. The one you have is low grade and damaged. I'm surprised it does much of anything for you."

He sat on the bench next to the Princess and waited. Soon Saefusk returned with his staff. The jewel in its head had been replaced by one that glowed with a steady bright greenish gold light. It was the same size as the old one but more refined, the cuts were regular and the light caught it in a dazzling display.

He passed the staff over the Princess once more. This time he could feel the separate layers of threads that bound her. The outermost layer was rough and coarse. It was as if it was made of rope that had been braided from vines and plants. He carefully isolated it from the rest and drew them out.

"Witches' magic." Hanuwar smiled and touched the side of his nose. "It has that rotten vegetation smell to it, doesn't it?"

Lorit could almost smell what Hanuwar described. The spell did have the distinct flavor of rotting vegetation, like vines that hung from the trees deep in the swamp. He carefully unraveled the threads from around the Princess, peeling each one carefully away and discarding it until there were no more.

Lorit almost expected to see a pile of rotten vines on the floor when he finished, but they were magical bonds, not physical ones. He looked at her as she lay there sound asleep. She looked much the same to him as she always had.

"Sit and rest a while; this is hard work, I know." Hanuwar patted the bench next to him.

Lorit took a seat and rested. He leaned on his staff. He felt drained by the effort.

"That was Witches' magic," Hanuwar said. "Did you encounter a Witch lately?"

"We were tricked by a Witch in Relynn just before we came here. She said she could tell us where Prince Ghall and Chihon were, but she lied, I could tell just by looking at her." Lorit explained about the room where they had been trapped and how they had come to end up in the graveyard.

After he'd rested, Lorit turned back to the Princess. This time the bindings looked a lot like the cords he'd cut to reveal her true identity. They felt like they were made by the same Wizard. He could taste the flavor of the spell. This one was more like rough old rope, the kind you find in a stable.

Lorit carefully searched for a free end or somewhere to grasp and separate the strands. He finally found one loose end and started to pull on it. Again, the Princess arched her back. Her face contorted but this time she didn't cry out.

"I think it's hurting her." Lorit relaxed the pressure on the thread.

"Saefusk!" Hanuwar shouted again.

This time the young dwarf entered the dining hall carrying a knife. The blade was made of the same jeweled material that Lorit's staff contained. It shone greenish gold with a bright inner light.

"It's sharp," he said as he handed it over. "Be careful not to cut her with it."

Lorit searched the strands of magic again. This time he carefully lifted each thread and deftly cut them with the knife until they started to unravel of their own accord. He kept it up until all of the threads that tasted like old rope had been severed.

He looked at the Princess as she slept quietly. Lorit could have sworn that she looked more peaceful than before.

"The Priest this time, am I right? They have a certain mustiness to their magic," Hanuwar said.

"Yes, it did feel a lot like the spell the priests once used on me."

Lorit rested yet again before he tried to unravel the next layer. This time he carefully used the knife to lift and separate the threads from one another. It looked like there were more than just the two Hanuwar indicated. They were intertwined and tightly woven across one another. He could not find a handle on any one thread to start unraveling them.

"This one is very complicated. I can't find a loose end to break the spell." Lorit sat down and heaved a heavy sigh.

"Maybe another day. You should rest, and then you can try again," Hanuwar said.

Lorit looked at the Princess and the spells that bound her. After the first one came off, he was eager to free her completely. He was disappointed that he could not clear them all, but he knew he would do better after he'd rested and replenished his reserves.

"I think you're right, friend." Lorit passed his staff over the Princess. "Vigilans a somno," he said, commanding her to wake from her sleep.

He watched as her eyes fluttered underneath the closed lids, but she did not wake. "Vigilans a somno," he said he repeated, this time pushing the words into her with the magic of his staff.

Her eyelids fluttered again and slowly opened. "What happened?"

She looked over at Lorit. "Who are you? Why am I here? Where is here?"

Lorit explained to her what had happened. She had no memory of anything since well before he had appeared at the castle, and that included him.

The Princess was shocked at his story and appeared angry with him for his part in it. As he explained about the witch's magic and how she had defeated the old woman, the Princess smiled. She was still in disbelief, but the tale of her heroics seemed to placate her.

In the morning, Lorit and the Princess had their breakfast with Hanuwar in the same room as before. This time the room was empty and quiet, with only a few people silently eating their morning meal.

"I will take you to Friega today," Hanuwar said. "We will stop along the way. I have something that may be able to help you with those spells."

They headed down a passageway formed by more of the polished marble. The floor gave way to a steep set of steps that led down into the heart of the mountain.

"Why are we going down?" Lorit asked.

"We'll stay below ground until we get to Friega. It's a lot nicer weather underground than above. Besides, you'll get to see the mines."

As they moved deeper into the mountains, the walls of the tunnel became less and less polished until finally they were rough hewn raw rock. Timbers were erected in places where the ceiling was loose.

They descended for most of the morning, until Lorit wondered if they were below the valley that they had passed on their way in. The tunnel remained rough and started to show more and more of the fragile ceiling than the earlier sections. They came upon side tunnels more often as they descended. At one of these tunnels, Hanuwar stopped and pulled Lorit aside. He put his torch in a sconce and ushered Lorit and the Princess deep into the side tunnel.

As his eyes adjusted, Lorit noticed small flecks of golden light deep in the dark. These tiny specs flickered on and off, peppering the floor, the ceiling, and the walls of the tunnel.

"Do you see them?" Hanuwar asked. "You see them, don't you?"

"The flecks?" Lorit pointed to small glowing specs embedded in the walls of the tunnel.

"Yes. The flecks. I knew it, you can see them."

"What are they?"

"This is the raw magic of the mountain. This magic is everywhere down here. It's in everything. This," he said waving his arm in a grand gesture, "is what you are connected to now."

"What do you see?" the Princess asked. "I only see darkness."

"Alas, I only see the darkness, too," Hanuwar said. "It is Lorit that can see the magic itself."

"Is this what you mine?" Lorit asked. The tiny flecks of magic certainly didn't amount to much. Certainly, they were not toiling away for such small stock as this.

"No, there are occasionally larger nuggets than these. These are remnants, leftovers from the real magic. We search for the large stones, like the one in your staff."

"How large are the stones you usually find?" Lorit asked.

Hanuwar held up his hand and touched his thumb to his pinkie. "About that big."

"Those are rather small." Lorit thought back to the stone they had replaced in his staff. "Surely you find more of the larger ones?"

"If only that were true. The stone you received is so rare that we come across one only once in a generation."

Lorit stopped and stared at the dwarf. "Once in a generation? How can you give me something so valuable? I'm just a young Wizard. I'm no one."

"You are mistaken," Hanuwar said. "You are one of the Mighty Ones."

Lorit handed his staff to Hanuwar. "I can't take this. I'm not a Mighty One."

"Yes, you are," Hanuwar said, refusing the staff. "You just don't know it yet. You have power beyond most that have come before you. I could smell it as soon as you set foot on my mountain." He put his finger aside his nose to emphasize the point.