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When Ephaltus returned to the Earth Chamber, Marlee was talking to one of the dryads about redecorating. He heard a snippet of the conversation as he was putting up his cloak. “What is all this about?” He asked as he moved to where Marlee and the dryad talked.
“This place needs a woman’s touch.” Marlee said. “You don’t expect me to live here like this, do you?”
“Like what?”
“With the place like this. Like a man decorated it.”
Ephaltus looked around. “It’s always looked like this, even when I was an apprentice.”
“Exactly!”
“Well, you don’t live in it as much as you sleep in it. When you are Tourney Master, you will spend ninety-five years asleep.”
“And those ninety-five years will be in a comfortable place I decorated. If the time I am awake is the only time I am conscious of it, then I want those waking years to be comfortable.
“All right, it’s your Earth Chamber after this tournament.” He decided to use this opportunity to talk to her about his journey. “Marlee, are you comfortable enough to hold things down here and with the mages while I run an errand?”
Marlee instantly brimmed with excitement and then acted subdued, “You would trust me with everything?”
“If you can remember to recalibrate the Ocularius Magnus, then yes.”
“Oh, I can! What kind of errand and how long will you be gone?”
“I am afraid it is a lengthy one. I may be gone a few weeks. I have to travel. I won’t be gone long enough to be missed. I realize I have duties here.” He glanced at the dryad who was frowning. She changed her expression when he looked at her. “But I also realize that I have a competent assistant who can handle things temporarily this time around.” Marlee beamed. “Besides, the dryads are here to help you too should you need them.”
“I will make you proud.” She said.
“Well. I should hope so, but if all goes well, you should not have anything to make me proud of as it were.” He winked at Marlee. “You remember what I told you if you should need me?”
“Yes, I remember.”
“Good. He rummaged through some of his belongings near his favorite chair. I might need my reading glasses and pipe.” He tucked the two items away in the robes of his pocket.
“You are leaving now?” Marlee asked.
“No time like the present. The journey is long and I want to get there and back as soon as I can.”
“Are any of the mages near where you are traveling. You can use one of them to travel to.”
“No, I am afraid I will have to do this one by foot. None of the mages are off to the south that I know of at this hour.” He put his finger to his nose. “Wait a moment. Where is the Black Mage?”
“Last I checked, she was in Emlestra in the kingdom of Craessa.”
“Yes... Yes, that will do. I can go to her. She is about halfway to my destination. I will gather my provisions and use the orb in the Arsenal. Good call apprentice.” Marlee smiled triumphantly.
****
If he was on tournament business, Ephaltus could travel to just about anywhere in the six kingdoms, via the portal spell, but on this personal quest, he was going to have to take the long way just like anybody else. The gods did not want any unnecessary arcane magic floating around in the kingdoms. When Ephaltus arrived in Emlestra, the first thing he noticed was the Black Mage, who had changed her appearance for the better, was hand in hand with a young man. He scowled to himself and wondered why Marlee had not mentioned the man to her. Romantic interludes might be problematic and thwart the efforts of the Tourney Master with the preparations for the tournament. He would have to talk with his apprentice upon his return. He was loath to do anything about it now. He was on a mission. His best bet to get to the Broken Lands quickly was to join a caravan heading to the river in the west. He could then take a boat down the river to the small port at the southernmost coast of Craessa. From there, the island to the ruins he sought could be reached by ship. Perhaps he could pay a captain to drop him off after the ship was underway to the Southern Kingdoms. He watched as Thessa kissed the man she was with, making him cringe. “By the gods, I need to put a stop to this.” He gathered himself up and proceeded toward Thessa with his staff in hand. He did not wish to be seen, so he used his spell discreetly to un-pants the young man. When the trousers were done leaving the man standing in his undergarments, Thessa backed away from him as he scooped up his trousers from his knees and hastily tied them back on. All the while, people around them were laughing and pointing. Thessa looked his way, but Ephaltus turned to avoid her gaze as quickly as he could. She didn’t seem to see him as she followed the humiliated man into the alleyway. Ephaltus know the incident would not keep them apart, but it might make Thessa question who she is seen with in public.
After disrupting Thessa’s romantic interlude, Ephaltus went to the trade office to inquire about a caravan route. After talking with the trade master, he found that the only caravan route headed south was one going to the southern port city of Crysinnia. He knew it would be slower than by boat, but the port city was closer to the ruins of Dusanti, the island where he was ultimately headed. He paid the trade master his fare plus a fair tip, and the man gave him his rite of passage papers for the caravan master. He would also have to give the caravan master some money to ensure he rode the route comfortably. Travel by caravan was expensive, but far safer than traveling alone. Southern Craessa was notorious for bandits due to the trade routes and the island hideouts of the Broken Lands.
Ephaltus handed off his one bag to the driver of an open goods wagon and climbed aboard, sitting on top of some wooden crates containing jars of pickled this or that.
“Excuse me, driver, but have you driven this route many times?”
“Oh, yes. Have been on road many times.” The man said with a thick southern Eastialind accent.
“How long is the route?”
“Excuse?”
“How long until we reach Crysinnia?”
“Oh, many days. We stop on way to deliver goods. Maybe take month.”
“Splendid.” Ephaltus said sarcastically.
“What you expect? This caravan not speedy horse. You should take horse next time.”
“Friend, where I’m going a horse would not be practical. There will be no place to stable it or take care of it.”
“Then sit tight one month.”
Ephaltus leaned back against another wood crate and settled in for the long ride south. “I wonder if the gods would even notice if I used the portal spell?”
“What say you?”
“Nothing, sir. Travel on.”
A week into the trip and Ephaltus had poured over the parchments and clues that lead to the ruins in the Broken Lands more times than he would care to count. It was on the eighth day that he pinpointed what he speculated was the right island and the right spot to look on the island. All throughout the second week, he rode along stoically as the driver and the other wagons in the caravan stopped at one village after another, dwindling the remaining crates down until at last the only crates left on his wagon were for the city of Crysinnia.
It was during the third week a man rode up from the south warning the lead caravan driver of a gang of bandits in the area robbing passersby. They were a little over a week from Crysinnia, which would put them deep in bandit territory. The air grew noticeably heavier with humidity and there was the faint smell of the sea blowing in from the southwest, followed by the heavy dark clouds of a storm in the distance.
“We stop when finds shelter or trees to hide under.” Ephaltus’ driver called back to him. “Storm coming in fast.”
“All right, what about bandits? I have heard they like to take advantage of situations like this?”
“Can not travel in storm. Have to risk it.” He replied.
Ephaltus climbed the rock wall of the ruin and found himself staring down at a steep incline to a still mostly intact stone building. The door had long ago rotted off, but a large stone blocked the entrance none the less. He slipped while trying to lower himself down the incline and slid on his backside all the way down the wall to the stone enclosure. He stood with the help of his staff and looked at the stone to see if he could circumvent it. He could not.
“Aside!” He said as he waved his staff. The stone rolled aside as the top of Ephaltus’ staff glowed an ominous purple color. He entered the chamber and commanded his stall to continue to glow so he would have light. At the back of the chamber was a stone door, and on the floor there was a mosaic of tile. The pattern looked familiar to him, so he leaned down to clean the dust of one to get a batter look at it. When he did, it shattered, revealing the floor as a facade. Any pressure put onto the tiles and they would collapse into a pit filled with sharpened wooden poles. He touched his staff to the next, intact tile. “Solidify.” He said. The tiles had a faint glow wash over all of them up to the door. He could now walk across them with ease. “No one has ever been in this fool place.” He murmured. “Why the traps? I think it’s a bit obsessive for a shrine.”
“Grumpiness will get you nowhere.” Voice sounded out. Ephaltus thought he heard it coming from behind the stone door.
“All right, who in the two hells are you, then?” He asked acidly.
“Hmm, temper, temper.”
“Well, I’m waiting.”
“I am the guardian of the knowledge.”
“Of course you are. It’s always something. Who put you here, why did they put you here, and what knowledge do you guard?”
“The Who is not important, the why I thought you would guess, and the what you already know.”
Ephaltus pointed his staff at the door, “If you are close too the door, I suggest you back away.”
The door opened before Ephaltus could cast his spell.
“No need to destroy my door. You may enter.”
Ephaltus pointed his staff at the floor. “Reveal.” He said. Nothing happened.
“You are safe.” The voice said.
Cautiously, Ephaltus entered the chamber. At the opposite end of the chamber was a shelf of books, scrolls, and parchment. Before the shelf, to the right of it, was a large raven perched on a stone ledge. “You’re a bird?”
“A Raven.” He answered. “They wanted an owl competitor of mine, but I killed him before they could reach out and recruit him, so I got the job.”
“Brutal.” Ephaltus said.
“He was not a very sharp fellow. Don’t pity him.”
“Let me state my business here and I will be off, or do you already know why I am here?”
“What, you think I read minds? I have no idea why you’re here. I assume you found something that led you here to seek the knowledge I keep.”
“Do you have knowledge of the seventh god?”
“Whoa, that kind of knowledge will cost you dearly.”
“All right, what is the cost?”
The raven cocked its head, “I don’t know. I do not have that knowledge here.”
Ephaltus took a step closer to the bird, “Then why am I talking to you? I should roast you where you perch and eat your carcass for supper. I am in no mood for your games.”
“But, if you would listen to me without making silly threats, I know where the knowledge is you seek.”
“Yes, where? Another trick or clever reply?”
The raven glided off its perch and flew to the floor. On the floor it grew into a young woman in black robes with a hood over her, from what Ephaltus could see, a head of brown hair.
“Go home Tourney Master and prepare for the tournament.” The one called Raven turned her back on the Tourney Master.
“I will not! I have traveled too far and risked so much traveling here.”
She stopped, turned and met his gaze, “You have not risked enough.”
“Then let me risk some more.” He pointed his staff at the woman and let loose his arcane lightning. The one called raven waved off his spell. She cupped her hands and thrust them forward in a pushing motion, and Ephaltus flew back into the wall next to the stone door.
“Your spells are weak, old man. I am a guardian of the gods.”
Ephaltus stood, “I am also a guardian of the gods. I am the Tourney Master.” He redoubled his efforts, and the Raven was taken off guard as the lightning from his staff struck her down. She stood without so much as a scratch and approached him. He instinctively backed away as she come closer.
She stood inches from his face, “I told you the knowledge you seek is not here. I do not guard it.”
“Then what is all this risk business you speak of then?”
“Truth.”
“Truth?”
“Yes, truth. You will have to make a sacrifice for that kind of knowledge. I can tell you were to go to look for what you seek, but that is all.”
“Wait, then what knowledge do you guard?”
“Now you are asking of me questions I may answer.”
“Well?”
She eyed him for a long moment, “Come back here to me should you find what you seek, the seventh god. My knowledge will be of use to you only then.”
“All right, where do I look now?”
“The knowledge you seek is east, beyond the six kingdoms in the Sunken Lands. You must go there and submit to the guardian and make your sacrifice, your payment.”
“What do I sacrifice?”
“Ask the guardian there, it will tell you. I am not privy to such things. I have my own depository of knowledge here to keep.”
“A trick, again?”
The raven moved away from him, “Ah, there is your risk. You must decide for yourself if what I tell you is a trick or the truth.”
“Why are you guardians always speaking in riddles? I am also a guardian and I don’t mince words. I tell it straight.”
The raven chuckled, “I wonder if you actually believe that? Should I talk to your apprentice? I’d wager she would have a different opinion.”
“I will ignore you said she, which indicates you know more of my business than you should and I will travel to the Sunken Lands, but be warned if this is a trick I will return and you will not think my spells are so weak then.”
“Such threats do not concern me. Be gone from my presence.”
Ephaltus closed his eyes as he felt his body move as if pushed by a strong wind, and then he found himself standing on the beach of the island north of the ruins.