The Three Groups
For a moment as the new reports from the three groups arrived, the son of Ziell could not help but wonder if Fei’s fracture had a tendency to affect the sanity of some of the inhabitants of Scalvoris negatively, and if Balthazar Black’s questionable mental state was not only the result of his various sparks getting out of control, but also due to his environment.
Two of the people that had gone to Ishallr had thought that it would be a good idea to take their wet clothes off in unbearably low temperatures. Darius Baer had wandered into a cave that he knew nothing about, alone, and was facing a tiger made of ice that might be about to attack.
The Sweetwine group had crossed over to Emerald Isle, apparently without wondering what might greet them on the other side; that was nothing compared to what he heard from the Scaltoth group though. When the report about a rip in reality that led to an underwater place reached him, the son of Ziell who had himself under nearly perfect control most of the time, had to resist the urge to bring his palm to his face in a very obvious gesture.
Immortals, he sincerely hoped that those people wouldn’t just waltz right into Pyke without a care in the world and readily subject themselves to the powers of Fei’s fracture now! Had they not heard his warning about the city that Chrien had destroyed in her fury? Had none of them bothered to take a look at his notes? Fei’s fracture
changed you!
How long would they even last in there, especially the mages, and would they be able to find their way back?
Once upon a time, he might have despaired, slightly. What he had learned so far, did not bode well for the success of that very important mission. Nowadays, he decided to be hopeful though. A few of the people that he had met in the Glass Temple had made a relatively good impression on him. Maybe, they would be able to turn things around. Maybe, someone would listen to him, eventually, if he only warned them frequently enough.
Maybe Kura and he would be able to make a difference. With that thought in mind, he sent a message to the group that had gone to Scaltoth, as their situation was absolutely concerning - provided that the city that they had seen through the rip in reality was what he thought it was.
“You might be about to approach Pyke, the city that Fei founded here once upon a time and that Chrien destroyed in her fury – and Fei’s fracture. She was in the ocean when she died. Her fracture causes people to change. The more magic you have, the more it changes you, and the risk will without a doubt increase the longer you are subjected to its powers. An ancient creature might be trapped under Scalvoris, a creature with great powers. Keep that in mind, tread with nothing but the utmost caution – and pay heed to my previous warning. If you enter Fei’s fracture, you will be in great danger, and there may be no way back!”
“The Induks need to be released, in order, but do not desecrate Fei’s grave!” he added because that could not be said often enough in his opinion (it had not seemed to have sunk in entirely yet).
A moment later, he already turned to the next report. Ishallr’s situation was perhaps marginally less concerning – compared to possibly waltzing into a Grand Fracture. Why had the group not stayed together in such a situation though? Doran himself was far from an experienced leader – he was an academic first and foremost – but he knew that there was strength in numbers, and that Arlo Creede’s previous experience would have been invaluable inside the ice caves.
Perhaps … no, he realized, there would be no point in contacting Darius, or his Diri. By the time that his message reached him, his former student would either be safe or torn apart by a tiger made of ice. Furrowing his brow slightly because he did not like this at all, he turned to the Albarech instead, because
someone might still benefit from the information.
“A previous expedition that explored the ice caves was attacked by a tiger made of ice with glowing eyes. Its touch was freezing. When it was killed, it shattered into countless shards and left a tooth behind. People also mentioned magic going bad there, among other things. I’m not sure if you have read that report. I made notes about my research, in case you didn’t. During the briefing, Arlo Creede also mentioned wolves, wolves that were tied to the elements. Do you think there is anything that we can do for anybody in the group right now?” he wanted to know.
Darius’ situation was worrying and more or less his own fault, but he would not write him off.
He did not ponder the Ishallr group’s situation any longer though but turned to check the report on the last group, the one that had gone to Sweetwine instead and that seemed to fare much better than the others so far, at least judging by what limited information he had so far.
“They have reached Emerald Isle and the tree. According to Professor Fridson you were part of a previous expedition. He said that it was about closing doors. What was behind the door? What would happen if it were opened again?” he subsequently asked the Albarech. He did not tell her that her help would be invaluable where the Sweetwine group was concerned and that she should advise them. It would be insulting to suggest that to her. Kura Mareth had given him the impression of being a very reasonable woman and a competent leader so far. She definitely knew that already.
“Thank you”, he said, referring to her thanking him for his help, in a very sincere tone of voice. He appreciated her words, more than she probably knew.
“And you, if you ever need my help again after this, let me know. You can always count on me, Albarech”, he added. He meant that. Provided that there was still a Scalvoris after this – and he would be hopeful, for now – he would continue to help the island and its people.
Chuckles
Chuckles, he observed, as he listened to the flame creature, spoke perfect Common, but he did not communicate quite like Kura and he did, regardless, and some of the things that he said were confusing because of it. He thought that he understood the first part regardless though, mostly, at least, although he couldn’t help but wonder what that meant for the Scaltoth group. He had expected Fei’s city, or what was left of it, to be located much deeper under Scalvoris. The reports made it sound as if it was very close to the surface though, too close.
It sounded as if it had already have begun, provided that the rip in reality did indeed lead to Pyke.
(He was not so arrogant as to assume that he was always right.)
When Kura asked Chuckles about the ships with black sails, he nodded at her. He had not considered asking him about that, but it was an important question, a question that subsequently raised another question.
“I think he is talking about the attacks in 718. They were trying to destroy Smooglenuff Manor and whatever Baron Smooglenuff was guarding. I think he’s talking about the one that they called The Beast. He is”, he continued and broke off abruptly as something suddenly occurred to him.
“How are you able to tell what the Albarech and I are?” he wanted to know in just as respectful tone of voice as before. Very few possessed the ability to detect Mortalborn. He did not know about the Albarech, but he had hardly told anybody so far. Yvithia, his Immortal aunt, knew of course, and he had told Llyr – you did not keep such things from your lover in his opinion - and his apprentice, but his apprentice was dead now.
“If you know that they were the same that we are, do you know whose children they were – and who sent them? Was it her?” He was talking about the daughter, or rather whatever had taken the Warden’s daughter’s place. He also couldn’t help but wonder about the woman in the glass cage that Hart had talked about again. Were they the same, or different? Was the woman who the girl had eventually become? Had she aged to a certain point?
And finally, he realized that an explanation to the Albarech was in order.
He had planned on eventually being less secretive about his being a Mortalborn, because he had no interest in hiding anymore, but he had not thought that it would happen like that. His tone of voice was calm regardless though, as he said,
“I am Mortalborn, like he said. Ziell is my father”, he added. He didn’t ask Kura whose Mortalborn she was though. He would leave it up to her if she decided to tell him.
The Reports
“Do you think that the first tragedy was Fei’s death?” he asked Professor Fridson and Rose when they discovered that the Ruins of Fei were said to be the point on Scalvoris where the “first tragedy” occurred and where a great power was imprisoned. A moment later, he turned to his colleague, furrowing his brow once more.
“You mentioned that Fei had a penchant for studying odd things when we met a few trials ago and that it is easily possible that something is trapped down there. Could that be the same creature? Do you have any theories in that regard? Are there any sources that we could check?” he asked. If the Scaltoth group was possibly near the fracture, even the smallest hint as to what they might have to expect would be helpful.
“Furthermore, you mentioned that nobody has really had much luck studying the fracture”, he remembered. “Not much luck” was different from “no luck”, as far as he was concerned.
“Did anybody study the Grand Fracture of Fei, or at least reach the first part of it? Where did you learn about it?” he wanted to know – that was something that he had not thought of asking during their last meeting. Professor Fridson had talked about people not having much luck studying the fracture and not coming back, but the information on the Grand Fracture of Fei and that it caused people to change had to come from
somewhere. It was possible that people had at least seen its entrance (and that some Immortals and Mortalborns had shared their knowledge, of course).
“I don’t think I’ve thanked you enough yet, both of you”, he told Professor Fridson and Rose. He truly doubted that he would have managed without them, at least not as easily.
~~~
To Doran’s surprise, Jacien had actually managed to procure some Drainglass. When he asked the Professor if he would be willing to take a look (He was worried what it would do to himself.), the man confided in him that he had a mark and magic. At his prompting, the Professor touched the glass and subsequently informed him about what he had felt. The glass drained ether, marks and magic, and what more, it was quite volatile, which caused the son of Ziell to immediately make a step back and subsequently furrow his brow, deep in thought once more.
He had thought that the Drainglass simply kept a mage from casting, not unlike Paradigm Cuffs, but it was entirely different, and it led to a question, or rather several questions that both Jacien and Kura needed to hear, he realized. With that thought in mind, he gestured for both of them to come closer and spoke,
“Drainglass drains ether, but not only domain magic ether. It also drains that which causes mark abilities to work. There are different kinds of ether”, he explained, in case they didn’t know.
“Ether usually doesn’t just disappear”, he continued.
“It goes somewhere. It is possible to transfer ether or redirect it. Transmuters can absorb energy. Alchemists can use the blood of mages in order to infuse items with a spell. Those items only have a limited capacity though. Once it has been spent, they stop working, unless recharged. Ether is fleeting. It doesn’t last, at least not when you put it somewhere else”, he remarked, wondering if he was about to come to a very important realization.
“Could that be the reason why so much glass was brought to Slag’s Deep, because it doesn’t last and because it’s so volatile?” he wanted to know and looked at Jacien questioningly before he turned to the Professor that had examined the glass once more.
“Do you think that the glass could be used to build something, such shackles, or a cage, and could it be used to either drain ether from outside or inside the cage? Why did they send so much glass to Slag’s Deep, what did they do with it, and where exactly does the ether go?” he wondered again before he decided.
"We need to figure that out." What exactly had Slag’s Deep made with the glass, and why?
“And what is it made of?” he added.
“During the briefing, Oram Mednix mentioned that Slag’s Deep mines sand that gets made into glass in Egilrun and a workaround involving Viden. Do you have any idea what kind of sand is being mined in Slag’s Deep?”
“May I ask what your name is, by the way?” he finally spoke to the Professor that he had previously talked to. The man had already been quite helpful. It didn’t seem right to him to not even know who he actually was.
~~~
Oram Mednix, Doran decided, had provided them with several important pieces of information, but the map was, possibly, among the most interesting ones. As he examined the lines and the different locations on it, he could not help but remember
Kura’s previous request.
“Albarech, when I first contacted you, you asked me about connections between the Heart, Sweetwine Wood, Faldrass, Ishallr, Immortals Tongue and Slag’s Deep. People historically avoided settling in those places. They have all been marked on this map. The Tower is the only location that was not on your original list”, he continued, wondering what exactly the meaning of that was.
“And the lines … there are caves tunnels under Scalvoris that connect the entire island - the true home of the pirate lords according to a source that I found. Watch is believed to be the entrance. One of the lines leads right through the bay. You have to travel through Treid’s Mouth in order to reach Immortal’s Tongue. Is there any way to find out what is under those lines? What makes the Tower special, and what about that bridge where some of the lines cross?” he asked.
“Did anything strange happen on or around that bridge?” he wanted to know, addressing whoever had brought that report.
“Could there be some sort of concentration of power where the lines cross? Has Fei’s fracture started to leak? And the mist. The mist is in all those places, and all three groups are facing barriers of mist. A strange mist already descended over Scalvoris a couple of arcs ago”, he suddenly remembered – he had not paid a lot of attention to that particular phenomenon before because there was so much that needed to be considered.
“We need to find out more about the lines, which direction they actually run in, and the places where the lines meet - and what exactly that mist is. One of the lines goes through Scalvoris Town, but no lines start, end or cross there. Furthermore, Almund, Havadr, Gunvorton and Darbyton have not been marked at all”, he realized. He would start to investigate in that regard, and ask people for advice and help, once he had discussed the matter with the Albarech and Jacien.
“Albarech, Jacien, do you know if there is anything different about those places?” he asked. In his opinion, they might be just as important as those where the lines met. Was there something or someone that kept them from being affected, or had Oram Mednix just not gone there?
"Yeva", he added.
"Mentioned the Chief of Havadr." The Hero of Faldrass had talked about his curse. Linca had, from what he knew, played a very important part.
“And the animals”, he remembered.
“Their current behaviour seems to stand in contrast to their normal behaviour. There does not seem to be a pattern … but”, he continued, addressing those that had reported on the animals and the oddities that surrounded them.
“Are pets and farm animals affected at all, or only animals that live in the wilderness? Can you try to find out if any farmers or pet owners have noticed anything out of the ordinary?” he wanted to know before he fell silent once more.
As he researched – and waited for new reports – he could not help but wonder about her again. Audrae. She had manipulated the Warden. What if he was not the only one that she manipulated? What if there were people listening here, in this temple, the wrong kind of people? What if Audrae, the Warden, the Daughter or people that worked for them or were being manipulated by them were here? It would be strange for them to just ignore the Glass Temple, especially knowing what he had learned so far.
And besides, Hart
had said something about the Warden watching all of them before, he remembered.
What if …
His thought still only half-formed, he approached Kura once more and gestured for her follow him, away from a certain young person. Once he was reasonably sure that
she could not hear them, he admitted to the Albarech, lowering his voice to a mere whisper as he did so,
“Albarech, I’m worried that Audrae or the Warden, or people that are connected to them might be spying on us. Albarech, … how much attention did you pay to Ruari recently? When did you last check on her? She was held captive in Slag’s Deep for a very long time. Remember what Hart said during the briefing, about someone watching us”, he reminded the Albarech, half expecting her to plainly refuse to believe that there might be anything wrong with Hart's daughter. People often tended to be blind where children concerned.
It needed to be said though.
He had suspected the Professor from the Institute of Metaphysics of being the spy at first (the man had told him that he was marked, but not which mark exactly he had), or Stan, because of his sharing information that had turned out to be incorrect and that could have had devastating consequences. Manipulating them or impersonating them would have been much harder though, and besides, the Professor had not been there in the beginning. People tended not to suspect the innocent looking ones, the small ones, the victims. It was possible that Ruari was being manipulated, or that she was in fact not Ruari at all.
