The Hunters and the Prey - Chapter Twenty-Five
Author: Milady Dragon
The Archives of the Wizard Guild were in the lower levels of the Wizard's Tower, all of them underground.
Daisy had been in them a couple of times, but not really beyond the first antechamber and always accompanied by Pepper Potts. The Archives themselves were considered off-limits to students; only Masters were allowed to roam through them at will, because anyone with less skill than that was considered too inexperienced to risk being around some of the powerful artifacts that were stored down there. There were rules about students and artifacts, and they made sense.
Still, she could recall that time a third-year got a hold of something from the Archives and promptly turned himself into a toad. That had been entertaining, and a lesson that student wouldn't likely forget for the rest of his life.
The Archives were deep within the bedrock of Gateway, and the moment Daisy stepped onto the stairs leading down into the earth she could feel the magic thrumming against her skin. It wasn't unpleasant, but she knew she wouldn't want to stay down there for very long or else it could get that way. Hopefully, she wouldn't, not with the friends she'd convinced to help her with the research Ianto needed done.
She really wanted to help Sir James. Seeing him accept his fate within the Zero Cabinet had been heartbreaking. Yes, she'd defended his right to choose it, but it still had bothered her. No one deserved to be so cursed that existing within nothingness was the better option. She wanted to find the answers to what that arm was, and how the curses could be removed. If what her Dad and the others assumed about it was correct, then it would have been a really ancient artifact that had magically grafted onto Sir James' shoulder, and that was just plain wrong.
It hadn't taken much to convince her friends to help out. Jemma and Leo had practically vibrated with the need to get their hands on those old records. Lincoln had looked a little resigned at the notion of some sort of scavenger hunt, while Trip had been game to help out in any way he could, especially when Daisy had confided in them all what it was all about. Trip could trace his family back to one of the original Howling Commandos, so it was like family history to him.
Wanda and Pietro had also joined in, although Daisy had felt a little strange about letting them help out, because they were really just kids, but Wanda had stared her down until Daisy had capitulated. She wasn't so sure her Dad and Ianto would have allowed it if she'd told them about it, because the twins weren't even novices yet, but what they didn't know…
Dragons weren't allowed down in the Archives; having fire-breathing creatures running amok among very flammable books and scrolls was like asking for trouble. There had been a special room built at the top of the staircase for dragons to wait, and their seven made themselves at home with the other dragons that were already there. Skye wasn't happy about being left behind, but she understood the reason why, and would stay where Daisy asked her to.
"Oh, this is exciting," Jemma exclaimed as they climbed down the wide stairway toward the lowermost level of the Archives. "I've been wanting to see the Archives ever since I arrived."
"You and me both," Leo agreed. He did the hand fluttering thing the Elf did when he was in danger of being overwhelmed. "All that magic, being stored down here… it's amazing."
"You two are unnatural with your love of studying," Lincoln teased, his voice light and not at all derogatory. "I don't get it."
Jemma made a scoffing sound. "And who's at the top of his class in healing this year?"
"And whose teaching Master keeps bragging about it?" Leo added.
"They've got you there," Trip laughed.
Daisy laughed at Lincoln's simple shrug. They weren't wrong; she was quite proud of her boyfriend and how good he was at his lessons. Plus, Master Gordon didn't brag about anyone else. The Cardinal Wizard didn't much care for the acerbic Wizard, but she couldn't argue that he didn't support and help Lincoln to reach his potential.
"We can only hope to make our own teaching Masters proud," Wanda said softly.
Daisy couldn't help it, she bumped her shoulder against the younger Wizard's. "You get my Dad, and he'll be bragging on you all day. Just watch."
"You really think he will decide to take me on?" Wanda's voice was full of hope.
"With me and Pepper working on him? Count on it!"
"It would mean a lot to me if our rescuer chose me."
"It makes me wish I was also Void," Pietro replied, disgruntled, "because then he could take us both."
"Yeah, but you'll love Ianto," Daisy assured him. "He's fantastic. Sure, I only met him recently, but Pepper talks about him all the time. He was her teaching Master, so she should know."
That seemed to calm Pietro down a little. Which was good, because Daisy really thought Pepper was right about Ianto being the best for her new friend.
Just like Wanda would be awesome for her Dad.
The staircase ended in a large room, lit by about two dozen glowglobes positioned about the room, casting plenty of light to see by. There were tables set up around the space, some of the chairs occupied by Masters of various Orders, researching or whatever it was that old Wizards did down in the Archives. Daisy couldn't help but notice that the majority of them wore some sort of gloves, which she supposed made sense, what with all the old documents laying around. Nobody wanted to damage anything; most of the stuff down here was irreplaceable.
There was a reception desk next to the stairs, a youngish Master Archivist sitting at it and giving them all the evil eye. Daisy could tell he was a Great Wizard from his magical aura; his dragon, which was about the size of a herding dog and was a muted reddish color, was curled up at his feet.
So much for No Dragons Allowed.
Although, she did notice, that this was the only person with a dragon in the room. So maybe the Archivist was the exception to that rule.
The man was thin and a little weedy looking, but his robes were of a fine material as befitting his rank. He had dark curly hair and dark eyes, and wore wire-rimmed spectacles that glittered in the artificial lighting. His complexion was pale, probably from being underground for most of his day.
"Students and Novices aren't allowed down here without a Master present," he told them, before Daisy could even open her mouth to explain why they were there.
"We have permission," she said, feeling slightly defensive as she pulled the note that Ianto had given her out of her pocket. Handing it over, she and her friends waited for him to authenticate it, suddenly aware that the older Wizards were now staring at them.
The man read the note, his eyebrows going up in surprise. His eyes flashed golden for a moment as he magically scanned the message, just to confirm that it was what it said on its face. "Well," he cleared his throat, "this seems to be in order." He tucked the note under his blotter, any trace of superiority gone in the face of the permission Ianto had given them to be there. "Now, what can I do for you?"
"Ianto sent us to check into old records dating from about three thousand years ago," Daisy answered, deliberately not using Ianto's title just because she could. "We're looking for information on a specific magical artifact that might have dated from that time."
The Archivist nodded. "Let me show you to that section. I take it Grand Master Ianto gave you his key?" The hard emphasis on Ianto's title wanted to make Daisy laugh, because she just knew the man was attempting to correct her on not using it.
Daisy reached into the same pocket that had held the note, pulling out the long, brass key that Ianto had handed to her before he and the others all left to go and talk to Sir Steven Rogers. She also had his enchanted glasses, and those, above anything else, proved to her just how much the Grand Master trusted her.
It was heady and amazing and she had no idea how she'd earned that trust.
That had all doubt that the Archivist had been experiencing vanish from his face at once. "If he gave you the primary Archive key, then everything in his permission slip is confirmed." He rose. "Please, come this way."
He made a gesture toward the dragon, who stayed right where it was, and then led the group out of the main antechamber and into a corridor that ran deeper into the bedrock. It was lined with doors, all shut and warded, but Daisy wasn't really paying much attention to them, because she hadn't realized that the key Ianto had given her was the primary Archive key, which meant she could go literally anywhere in the Archive and that key would give her complete and total access to every single thing there.
That…wow.
"You didn't say it was the primary key," Jemma hissed at her, as they made their way down the corridor.
"I didn't know!" she hissed back.
Lincoln said something that would have had her Dad calling him down for that particular bit of foul language.
Leo elbowed him in the ribs, hushing him. Which was a good thing, because Daisy didn't think they were giving the Archivist a very good impression of them and their maturity at the moment.
"Girl," Trip said admiringly, "Grand Master Ianto must really like you."
"He told me he wished he'd beat Pepper to becoming my teaching Master." Yes, she was bragging a little, but she felt she deserved to, after the whole key thing. Oh, and the glasses, which they all already knew about.
When Daisy had approached them to help her find out anything they could about that cursed arm, almost every single one of her friends had jumped at the chance; Lincoln and pretended to be resigned, but Daisy knew him too well by now to have believed that act. Just hearing Sir James' story had them all needing to sympathize with the man who'd been called the Winter Knight and had, in fact, upset them all in some way. They'd all had their reasons for wanting to do this, and Daisy loved them all fiercely for agreeing to step forward and aid in her search for information.
"The rules are," the Archivist spoke over his shoulder at them, "you must wear protective gloves when handling anything. Not only to protect the documents, but some of them are magical in origin, and they may contaminate you if you're not careful."
Daisy thought about the contamination that Sir James had experienced with the cursed arm, and couldn't help but shiver. Gloves it was, then.
"Nothing is removed from the Archives," he went on. "If you need a copy of something, we have several very excellent Copying charms that myself or one of the other Archivists can use to replicate what you need. Each of the rooms down here are controlled and warded magically to prevent the artifacts and documents from decaying, and to remove them would damage them beyond repair, as they are very old and very delicate and would not be able to survive long outside those wards."
The corridor became cooler the farther they went. The air was dry, though, and Daisy could feel her lips begin to chap a little. She licked them a little nervously, hoping to moisten them just a bit, although at this point she couldn't be sure it was the atmosphere or her nerves doing it. Most likely a combination of both.
"If you need something translated, then we offer that service…unless you have some spell or artifact you can use to do the translating for you."
"I have Ianto's glasses," the young woman couldn't help but say. The last thing they needed was someone to see what they were researching. They couldn't take the chance that Hydra might discover that they had their so-called Winter Knight.
That pronouncement had the Archivist stopping in his tracks and turning to gawp at Daisy. "You have Grand Master Ianto's spectacles?" his voice squeaked a little.
She nodded, feeling unbearably smug. She couldn't help it. Those spectacles were practically legendary amongst the Wizard Guild.
The Archivist had to clear his throat before he could usher them all forward once more.
The door they wanted was a little more down the way, on the right. There wasn't anything to identify it as a place where ancient pieces of paper and objects were kept, except there was an unmistakable magical aura to the wooden door that seemed to radiate ancientness. The door was physically banded with metal and magically banded with spells, and Daisy could make out the intensively heavy Protection and Preservation spells, as well as a very blatant Keep Out charm that had her making a mental note to ask Ianto about. It would be fantastic to be able to use that on her dormitory door. It would certainly turn anyone away not powerful enough to ignore it.
Daisy, herself, wasn't powerful enough. Still, she held the key out, slipping it into the lock, and when she turned it the spell stopped pushing against her. She suspected the key had given her a modicum of protection against that sort of magic, because when she turned very single one of her friends were walking back down the hallway. She watched as they each stopped and turned around, varying degrees of chagrin on their faces as they made their way back toward the young wizard and the Archivist who's escorted them there.
The Archivist was smirking. "Impressive, isn't it?"
"I want that spell," Trip exclaimed. "That is awesome."
"Oh, it is," Jemma was practically cooing.
"I didn't know such spells could be so powerful," Leo grinned. "I wonder what's giving it that extra push."
"I don't know," Wanda mused, "but it would be worth the expenditure of magic to put it in place."
Pietro and Lincoln didn't say anything, they were too busy nodding emphatically.
"It's almost as good as the UnPlotable spell my Dad used on the Keep," Daisy couldn't help but stand up for her father and his magic.
"Now, that is a spell," Jemma agreed.
"It's on my to-learn list," Leo agreed.
Daisy was sure her Dad would be glad to show them what went into it, once there was time. Right now, they had research to do. "Let's get to work, shall we?"
"I'm going to leave you all here," the Archivist said, "but only because Grand Master Ianto seems to trust you." He waggled his finger at them. "However, if there's a mess when you leave, I won't hesitate to report the lot of you. Are we clear?"
"Crystal." Daisy wasn't about to leave any sort of mess. Her Dad had taught her better than that.
Everyone else gave their own affirmatives, which seemed to satisfy the Archivist, because he nodded once and then turned on his heel, heading back the way they'd come. Daisy had wished she'd gotten his name, because he was a real asshole and wanted to congratulate Ianto on his crappy hiring practices.
"Come on," she said, pulling the door open. "Let's get started."
The room beyond was about the size of her Dad's study. Shelves lined two of the walls; one with books, and the other with individual storage nooks for rolled scrolls. On the third wall was a glassed-in case holding various sorts of trinkets, all obviously very old. The last wall – the one with the door in it – was bare, except for a single framed map of the world, tattered and faded, names in a rust colored ink that was the exact same shade as dried blood. It was just a map, but it made Daisy shiver.
There was a tall desk in the middle of the room. A box of gloves – sparkling magically in her sight – sat atop it, as well as paper and pencils for note taking. There was also enough room to spread out any scrolls they'd want to look at, along with weights to hold down the edges of the scrolls. The entire place was lit with glowglobes, and Daisy had to wonder what the ancient Wizards had done when there were only candles and oil lamps available, and how many accidents there'd been with those open flames.
There was so much magic in the air as well. That wasn't at all a surprise; not with the spells that were keeping these delicate items from crumbling away. However, the young Wizard could also sense the magic tied up in each and every book, scroll, and artifact; Cardinal, Great, and Void magic all mixing together. It wasn't unpleasant, really.
Trip whistled. "I didn't think there'd be so many records."
Truth to tell, it wasn't as much as Daisy would have thought, but then paper just didn't survive so long without some sort of preservation magic. When magic was cut off from the world, many of the old magicks had faded. Yes, there were magical artifacts that had survived, but they were also mostly diminished by the time magic had returned. Most of the artifacts had recharged when they'd been re-exposed, but the papers…if they hadn't been preserved in the right way, they would have disintegrated into dust.
How much knowledge had been lost just because one Wizard had thought he was doing the right thing? Daisy wished she could have met Master John Smith and ask him that very question.
Jemma and Fitz immediately went to the scroll wall, perusing the perfectly rolled up pieces of parchment, most of them discolored with age. Somehow, they'd managed to snag their own sets of gloves from the table and were slipping them on without Daisy seeing them do it.
Jemma had her nose right up to the scrolls, wrinkling it in a way that Daisy refused to think of as cute. "How are we supposed to know how these are sorted?" she groused.
"By this." Trip held up what looked like a ledger, flipping through the pages. "Someone's done a really good job of sorting all this stuff out."
"Excellent!" Leo said. "We should have expected some sort of cataloguing system."
Lincoln laughed. "Only you would get excited about that sort of thing, Leo."
The young Elf turned to look at him. If Daisy didn't know him better, he would have thought Leo was affronted by the teasing, but she could tell he really wasn't. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"
Trip laughed. Daisy couldn't help but join in.
"At least the books appear to be in alphabetical order," Wanda sniffed. She was staring at the spines of the books as she was putting her own pair of gloves on.
"And at least there aren't that many," Pietro pointed out. "About three dozen. I was expecting more."
"Books this old wouldn't have survived this long without powerful Preservation spells on them," Lincoln pointed out. He handed Daisy her own gloves, which she pulled on, the ends of them barely fitting over her gauntlets. "The scrolls would have had a better chance, I think, which is why there's so many more of them than the books."
"Scrolls were also the chosen form of storage three thousand years ago," Jemma added. "Book binding had only been around for a couple of hundred years back then, and was only really used for gramariya."
"Pepper has this really old gramariya," Daisy said. "But it's only about a thousand years old."
"Also," Trip replied, "from what I understand, Wizards were putting all sorts of spells on books, once they were more widespread. I took a study course on that sort of thing, and it was like Wizards went crazy with that sort of thing."
"Dad has a book of really old fairy tales like that," Daisy commented. She joined Jemma, Leo, and Trip at the scroll shelves, peeking around her Void Wizard friend's shoulder in order to get a look at the ledger. Someone had used a black ink in order to make the inventory, in a neat handwriting that was easy to read. "He'd read it to me and when I was old enough he told me he'd found it at a book sale, and the seller hadn't even been aware that the book had magic in it."
"Master Jasper has a couple of stories like that," Trip commented. "He said it was unusual for him to go into a used bookstore or library and not find something enchanted anymore."
He ran his finger down the column in the ledger. The scrolls had been arranged in a form of alphabetical order, like the books, but unfortunately there wasn't any listing for a 'cursed arm' or anything like that. "We're going to have to go through the likeliest scrolls," Daisy sighed.
"Pietro and I will take the books," Wanda volunteered. "There are so many more scrolls than books, so you all should focus on those."
"Good idea." Daisy was beginning to wish she hadn't volunteered them for this. It looked as if they were going to be there the rest of the day…and possibly tomorrow, as well.
Oh well. It was time to get to work. She wanted to prove to the adults that she and her friends could help, and so that was what they were going to do.
Even if it took them time to accomplish it, because Sir James needed everyone on his side that he could get.