Joined Dread used the Staff of Five Elements to lock the doors of the Halls of Sunset as they stood outside them, and then he paused and did something else. The Staff sparkled for a moment and then quiesced. "What was that?" asked Rystin, frowning at the doors. Fabian couldn't see anything different about them. "No point in taking chances." Dread sounded tired. "Something bad is going on here, and has been for a while by the looks of it. If, and I know it's deeply improbable, but if the Auditors conjure up their own Staff in a hurry and try and get in here now... I've joined a surprise to the spell locking the doors. A nasty one. And a loud one too, so they won't be able to keep secret what they're doing." Rystin nodded. "You could do that without the..." he trailed off, but he nodded at the Staff. "No," said Dread. "I could organise a group of mages, and with a bit of practice -- say three weeks -- we might pull it off. Give me six months if you need it done properly and surely. But the Staff... well, it's designed for this kind of thing by the feel of it. If you could equip every Mage with one of these--" "That would be the end of the Elves." Dread's mouth twisted. "A good reason not to do it," he said sombrely. "And a reminder that things like this need to be kept well away from the hands and minds of politicians." "What now?" said Fabian after the silence had gone on for longer than he was comfortable with. "When do we come back and turn that spell off?" Dread's eyes widened and Rystin shook his head as though trying to make a difficult thought go away. They both turned and started walking away from the Halls and Fabian followed. It was slightly past midnight now and the lights in the Imperial City were dimmed so that you could see where you were going but not the details of anything. It compromised between light pollution and safety and most people felt it was bad but that changing the compromise would be worse. They walked slowly, as most people did in the low-light conditions, and they all eyed the shadows warily as though the Auditors might be hiding inside them. "I'd like to never come back," said Rystin. "If I thought that destroying the Staff would seal those Halls for ever, I might just do it myself." "But the Auditors--" started Fabian, and Rystin cut him off. "Quite. And while I've never met these people, my people have had bad experiences with them and you both act like they're not on your side either. Which means that I don't think we can just leave this alone. So... I'll look around and see if I can find a discrete wisp-elf who might help us. But. But. I don't like saying this, but I don't think I'll find one. I think any wisp-elf who went in there would be driven half-mad by what we've seen, and they're not the most stable elves at the best of times." "I will look into the Day of No Sun," said Dread. "It's come up too often. You're right, Fabian, there's something here that's too much of a coincidence. Maybe knowing what happened then will explain what's going on now. And I'm probably the only one with enough access to enough records to look over this." "And when we have some more answers and maybe a wisp-elf, we go back?" The other two looked at each other and both shrugged at the same time. "Let's see what we learn," said Dread. "Maybe the best thing to do would be to leave the Empire and never come back."
2 comments:
Hmm, odd prompt. Did you put superglue on your protegée's keyboard as a joke and now she's joined to it permanently? :-D
Joined
Dread used the Staff of Five Elements to lock the doors of the Halls of Sunset as they stood outside them, and then he paused and did something else. The Staff sparkled for a moment and then quiesced.
"What was that?" asked Rystin, frowning at the doors. Fabian couldn't see anything different about them.
"No point in taking chances." Dread sounded tired. "Something bad is going on here, and has been for a while by the looks of it. If, and I know it's deeply improbable, but if the Auditors conjure up their own Staff in a hurry and try and get in here now... I've joined a surprise to the spell locking the doors. A nasty one. And a loud one too, so they won't be able to keep secret what they're doing."
Rystin nodded. "You could do that without the..." he trailed off, but he nodded at the Staff.
"No," said Dread. "I could organise a group of mages, and with a bit of practice -- say three weeks -- we might pull it off. Give me six months if you need it done properly and surely. But the Staff... well, it's designed for this kind of thing by the feel of it. If you could equip every Mage with one of these--"
"That would be the end of the Elves."
Dread's mouth twisted. "A good reason not to do it," he said sombrely. "And a reminder that things like this need to be kept well away from the hands and minds of politicians."
"What now?" said Fabian after the silence had gone on for longer than he was comfortable with. "When do we come back and turn that spell off?"
Dread's eyes widened and Rystin shook his head as though trying to make a difficult thought go away. They both turned and started walking away from the Halls and Fabian followed. It was slightly past midnight now and the lights in the Imperial City were dimmed so that you could see where you were going but not the details of anything. It compromised between light pollution and safety and most people felt it was bad but that changing the compromise would be worse. They walked slowly, as most people did in the low-light conditions, and they all eyed the shadows warily as though the Auditors might be hiding inside them.
"I'd like to never come back," said Rystin. "If I thought that destroying the Staff would seal those Halls for ever, I might just do it myself."
"But the Auditors--" started Fabian, and Rystin cut him off.
"Quite. And while I've never met these people, my people have had bad experiences with them and you both act like they're not on your side either. Which means that I don't think we can just leave this alone. So... I'll look around and see if I can find a discrete wisp-elf who might help us. But. But. I don't like saying this, but I don't think I'll find one. I think any wisp-elf who went in there would be driven half-mad by what we've seen, and they're not the most stable elves at the best of times."
"I will look into the Day of No Sun," said Dread. "It's come up too often. You're right, Fabian, there's something here that's too much of a coincidence. Maybe knowing what happened then will explain what's going on now. And I'm probably the only one with enough access to enough records to look over this."
"And when we have some more answers and maybe a wisp-elf, we go back?"
The other two looked at each other and both shrugged at the same time. "Let's see what we learn," said Dread. "Maybe the best thing to do would be to leave the Empire and never come back."
Greg - had to find a way to keep her from deciding to leave...
Dread with some... surprising honesty? Or perhaps showing the wisdom to know what the choice with the most hope of all of them surviving is...?
Either way, happy to see all of them walking away from the Halls, as I think that result was rather in doubt for a while.
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