AUTHORS NOTES

Chapter 69 and not a dodgy joke in sight. I feel like I've let myself down :(

Archer1eye: Hahah! I actually reconsidered my ideas recently :/ I hope we'll see a bit more of Yardley before we leave Castlemere. Shard can definitely cheat a lot, but has other limitations that we will probably see soon.

Slyksylva: Yay! Thank you so much!

Chapter 69

23rd Day of Middle Spring 768 n.c

We exited out of the double doors guarding entry into the Mages Guild and into the street. The cobblestone carriageway was wide enough for three or even four carts to move along side by side. In front of us, breaking up the uniform stonework of the large castle wall was the gatehouse. It was made up of two tall rectangular towers that came out from the wall about ten feet with an inset gate between them. These rectangular towers went back farther than the width of the castle wall by another ten feet. The gatehouse for the castle was itself guarded by the King's own guard, who wore the king's banner of a crown over a shield divided into six. In each part of the shield was emblazoned the crest of the Baronies that made up Carn, as well as the crest of Castlemere itself, which was a golden dragon on a field of purple. The King's guard were well dressed in shining chain mail armour, covered with rich purple tabards. Each held a shiny halberd and had conical helmets with nose guards covering their heads.

The three of us walked across the carriageway and straight up to the guards who shouted, "halt!" And demanded, "state your name and business!"

Malkarov stated genially, "I am Malkarov the Wizard of Easthaven, with his apprentice Sharein and companion Shard here to report to the Chief War-Wizard as summoned."

Another of the King's guard came hurrying out of the gatehouse, this one did not carry a halberd, but instead had a long sword strapped to his hip.

He gestured into the gatehouse with a bow and said, "This way Wizard of Easthaven and guests."

The two great doors of the gatehouse outer were already opened and we were ushered through a sort of tunnel with narrow gaps in the stone walls and, as I looked up, narrow gaps in the ceiling.

I pointed at them to Malkarov and he explained as we went through, "if the castle were ever invaded, the defenders sequestered on the other side of these walls could poke spears through the holes at people coming through, or pour oil down upon them from above. Anyone wishing to get into the castle in war time would have to break down both sets of doors while being attacked at every turn."

Our escort showed us through the inner gates and into the courtyard of the castle. It was very utilitarian, with what was obviously a stable and smithy against the wall on one side and storehouses on the other. Ahead of us stood the keep, a huge stone building stretching up even higher than the castle wall. There must have been at least six stories inside! We were escorted to the office of the Chief War-Wizard by the guard, through a veritable rabbit warren of tunnels and doors.

The guard knocked on the door and opened the door once he heard, "come in," from inside. The three of us walked in and Malkarov greeted the man inside with a handshake.

"Nardok!" He said cheerfully, "It's a pleasure to see you again! May I please introduce my apprentice Sharein and her companion, Shard."

The two of us curtseyed and the Chief War-Wizard stood up from behind his polished darkwood desk. He was not a very old man, probably about Malkarov's age with a moustache that trailed down either side of his mouth to hang down inches under his shaved chin in two tails. He was wearing red robes, trimmed in deep purple.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both and I'll be looking forward to seeing your presentation," he said warmly, directing us towards four chairs scattered around our side of his desk, "please have a seat."

As we sat he continued explaining to Malkarov, "no doubt you have already heard; the orcs are mobilizing and have launched probing attacks and sent scouting parties out, but their army massed at the pass is not of the size we expected. We managed to capture some orcs and.. We questioned them. They could not tell us where the rest of the army was, but did tell us that there were rumours that the Orc Chieftain was looking for the rest of the parts of the Banner of Gruumsh."

"Rest of the parts?" Malkarov asked.

"Yes, the rest of them," Nardok said, "which is the reason I've called you in here. You wrote a report five years ago…"

"The bone?" Malkarov asked and continued once Nardok nodded, "you have most of the information in the report, but with the description of the Banner of Gruumsh I have lately been informed of… I believe your suspicions are correct. If I had have known how important it was, I surely would have done something more to get it but the orcs ran away and we were distracted by the ones who remained to attack us."

"You are not to blame," Nardok said, "I didn't even realise how important it was until I heard these rumours and put the two together. We can be certain that the orcs have one of the bones although we don't know which one exactly. I'm inclined to think that it's the Allarthian bone. It's very unlikely that they got the one from either the dwarves or the elves. I won't even think about asking the King where the pennant is and I don't expect him to tell me even if I ask. At the moment I am hoping that the orc chieftain has just gotten excited about finding one part of it and as yet has no plan to get the other pieces. If they did find all of the pieces however, they could take control of all of Mithras. Is there anything else that you recall about the incident?"

"I have considered this," Malkarov said, "the orc wizard that ran away with the bone commanded the other orcs to attack us, which is nothing unusual, their wizards often control the warbands. But the orcs that attacked us, they seemed to act… controlled to begin with, as if the wizard may have cast a Geas upon them."

"Are you sure?" Nardok asked in all seriousness.

"Yes," Malkarov said, "it was something only a little odd, but it wasn't unusual for an orc wizard to command them, so I overlooked it."

"Then it's confirmed," Nardok said resignedly, "they have the Allarthian bone. Each part of the Banner has its own power and the Allarthian bone's power was to give the holder the ability to command. Thank you for your help Malkarov."

Malkarov bowed to Nardok and left. The guard was waiting for us at the door and he escorted us back to the gatehouse.

"It's a scary idea that they might be looking for the rest of the pieces," Malkarov said as we walked, "but I'm sure they are safely hidden and locked away. I don't think that we have to worry about the orcs too much for the moment, with any luck this may occupy them for a few years."

Once we were seen out to the street, Malkarov turned to me with a smile, "would you like to see how many new spells you can learn before lunch?"

"Oh, yes please!" I said excitedly, turning towards Shard to share my joy. She looked a little bit sad though, so I asked, "what's wrong?"

"I would love to see you learn these things," she said, "however, I've neglected my work and should probably return to my altar for a while. Do you mind?"

"Not at all," I said, grasping her hands in mine, I gave her a hug and a brief kiss on her cheek.

She smiled back at me when we broke the hug and blew me a kiss before she disappeared. I looked around quickly and panicked for a moment when I remembered that we were back on the street and within sight of the College of Mithras, but thankfully there were none of the yellow surcoated Inquisitors within sight.

Malkarov noticed my frantic looks but didn't say anything to me, probably realising that I was scared enough already. I had no doubt that Shard would protect me from anything the Inquisitors could do, but what if she killed them? How could we explain that?

"Come along," Malkarov said, "let's see what we can find eh?"

We made our way through the administrative building attached to the tower, which also included classrooms where wizards could instruct their apprentices. We figured out a routine that worked extremely successfully. Malkarov would knock on the door and we would ask the wizard inside if they would mind us observing for a moment so that I could learn to recognise different spells and what they did. The wizards would invariably invite us in to demonstrate a spell, often going so far as to describe what it did and how it could be used. Once they demonstrated the spell, most of them would tell me, "now, you remember that if you want to learn this spell once you've presented, I'll be willing to take you in for a while for just a little gold to teach you."

The first wizard we came across demonstrated Fog Cloud, Whispering Wind (which was like the spell Message but sent the whispered message miles), Bull's Strength and Cat's Grace; which increased the wizard's strength or dexterity. He was ecstatic to show off some of his spells, hoping to entice Malkarov and his current pupil into coming to learn one or two of them. We promised to keep him in mind as we continued on our way.

It was through this method that I learned the Mage Armour spell (that was similar to the Shield spell in that it would keep me protected), the Detect Secret Door ritual (which would show any hidden doors to me in an area) and the Ventriloquism was an illusion spell that would allow me to make my voice appear to be coming from somewhere else.

I learned Ray of Enfeeblement (that would suck the strength from whatever I cast it at) from an older wizard who was teaching it to another wizard about the same age. The same wizard demonstrated for me Enlarge Person and Reduce Person that would allow me to make somebody as tall as a giant or as small as a mouse. The student actually demonstrated for me the spell Dispel Magic (which was one of the more useful spells as I could cast it to remove any magical effect if I was strong enough) and convinced his teacher to learn that in lieu of monetary payment for Ray of Enfeeblement. I came across a wizard teaching his apprentice the spell Protection from Arrows (which did exactly what it suggested) although I absolutely refused to use the crossbow to shoot an arrow at the wizard demonstrating when he suggested. Malkarov and the wizard both laughed at me and the wizard made his apprentice shoot at him, which was impressive but still (in my mind) a stupid thing to do. I got the impression that the apprentice had already done it numerous times already, which just made me question the general sanity of wizards.

We came across another wizard that insisted upon demonstrating five different levels of his Summon Monster spell, which would summon an outer planer creature that would come and fight for you.

Rage would make an ally stronger for a time, although not as careful or thoughtful in their attacks. Haste would make someone move extremely fast, Water Breathing would let me breath underwater for a long time. Stoneskin would make my skin like stone and Dimension Door would allow me to travel from place to place if I could see it.

Finally, my most favourite spell I had experienced (although I was not yet strong enough to replicate it) was Polymorph, which would allow me to take on the body of anything I desired (within reason). The potential of that spell was just incredible! The wizard demonstrating it took us outside to a small grassy area to cast the spell. His body stretched out as if it were made fo taffy, changing colour at the same time into various shades of red. It elongated and grew, bloating out until it was about fifteen feet long! The blob shuddered rapidly and shrunk again in places, conforming to a large winged lizard shape! He had turned himself into a dragon!

The three of us (Malkarov, the apprentice and myself) all clapped at the demonstration.

"I'm glad he didn't turn himself into an ancient red dragon," Malkarov said, "we wouldn't have much of a guildhall left had he done that here!"

The dragon… laughed. It was a deep, raspy laugh, but a laugh nonetheless.

"A baby red?" Malkarov asked as he inspected the draconic creature in front of us.

The dragon nodded its head from its sinuous, scaly, spiky neck and gave us a toothy grin. This gigantic creature, easily as big as two horses, was just a baby?

Another wizard came striding up, the knees of his robes were dirty and he carried a small shovel.

"Alladax! Is that you?" The new wizard screamed, "you've squashed my damn blue tears again! Again! How many times do I have to tell you not to Polymorph in the gardens!"

The dragon shrunk back down into a very apologetic wizard and Malkarov and I decided to make ourselves rapidly scarce lest we be taken up in the dressing down given by the gardening wizard.