unwanted elves 21

 

Unwanted Elves

Chapter 21

 

“The Book of Djehuti, who or what was Djehuti?” Tancyfrwys and Blaithamlwg echoed one another.

“Djehuti was Archon of Agerak,” I began, “And in addition he was a wizard of great power, knowledge and wisdom. He was Archon a very long time ago, I can’t remember which dynasty Djehuti was a member of.”

“The eighteenth, I checked.” Said Chessina.

“Thank you,” I replied. “Djehuti’s father was Archon before him, and was murdered by one of his wives.”

“Wives? They had more than one?” Said Tancyfrwys, startled.

“It was, and I believe still is the custom.” I replied. “It’s recorded that Djehuti’s father had 200 wives, although I find that a suspiciously round number, but that’s by the by. He was murdered by one of his wives, who through magical means was trying to get her son Sekemhef declared Archon.”

“Sekemhef, that’s the same name as the demon in the Second Favour.”  Blaithamlwg said.

“Yes, it’s the same person,” I continued, “You know him better as Prydythaur.”

Tancyfrwys’ and Blaithamlwg’s mouths dropped open, and Tancyfrwys went very pale.

“That’s... that’s so long ago, he’s so very... old...” Tancyfrwys’ voice trailed off. Blaithamlwg gently moved her to the bed, sat her down, and sat beside her with his arm around her shoulders.

“Sekemhef’s mother was executed, but Sekemhef himself was never found, although the search went on for many years. Djehuti was a wise and just ruler, and Agerak prospered under his rule.” I went on, being in full lecture mode at this point.

“Wizards and other great thinkers flocked to the Archon’s court from all over the known world and there was a great flowering of knowledge.” I continued. “The Royal Library of the Archon of Agerak was like a bright jewel containing much of humankind’s learning. Towards the end of his life, it is said that somehow, Djehuti placed his entire journals on six scrolls as the centrepiece of the library. His successors continued his wise policies, and then Agerak had a lot of problems. Was it the next dynasty that this happened to?”

I turned to Chessina.

“Yes, it was the nineteenth, which was founded after the last of Djehuti’s descendents died childless.” Chessina lectured, carrying on where I had left off. “During the reign of the second Archon of that dynasty there were several poor harvests in a row despite the best efforts of the priests, and then next year the crops failed completely, in what was called ‘the year of the scavengers’, when such beasts came out of the desert and into the cities. There was a shortage of grain, and mobs attacked and looted the royal granaries, and whatever else could be found. In the confusion fires broke out, and the royal library was gutted.”

For a moment, all were silent, as we contemplated the knowledge that had been lost.

“A nearby noble, who was also the local military commander, mobilised his troops, put down the rioting and restored some semblance of order.”  Chessina went on. “Agerak subsequently broke apart into several kinglets ruled by strongmen. It was over a century later that one was powerful enough to unify the country again. His capital became the new capital of Agerak, and Djehuti’s city, while not totally abandoned, was a shadow of its former self.”

I could see that Chessina had been brushing up on Agerakian history, as well as the ancient Agerakian language. She had insisted that I brush up on it too. I wondered if this were due to a hint by Arcana, Chessina’s intuition, or her logical deductions. I didn’t think I’d ponder the question too closely, I might not like the answer.

“But there is a persistent rumour, among wizards and scholars, that the Book of Djehuti was rescued from his library before the fire. And this appears to be it.” I interjected.

“I wonder how Sekemhef got his hands on it.”  Chessina mused.

“That,” I replied, “Is a very good question. I suspect he charmed his way into the library, and set a fire to cover his escape.”

“When Iespr doesn’t come back, I’m sure Prydythaur will come for the Book himself,” Chessina said, “He will not leave it behind, as it’s far too valuable.”

“We need to move it to a safe place,” I said, “And by the way Tancyfrwys, I have been meaning to ask, where are those magic weapons that have been made?”

“They are in my tower, Towermaster.”  She paused, and giggled. I’d never heard an elf giggle before; perhaps there was hope for them. “That sounded very silly.”  She continued.

“My name is Castamir, if you would care to use it.” I remarked, “After all we are working together to stop a war and do unpleasantnesses to Prydythaur. A moment, your tower, I didn’t see a tower when looking about the city? Where is it?”

“It’s on the top of a hill some way from the royal tree. You might not have noticed it. It’s disguised by an illusion to look like a tree, when it was built the then king found a tower aesthetically unpleasing. He decreed it was to be disguised by illusion, and it’s remained that way ever since.” Tancyfrwys explained.

It seemed that the anti-illusion ointment wasn’t as powerful as I thought. It could dispel minor illusions, but not powerful permanent ones, such as the tower. It was probable that Prydythaur’s appearance was provided by a magic item of some power, not a minor illusion spell.

“Forgive me asking, Tancyfrwys, but can Prydythaur get into your tower easily? Could he bypass any safeguards and enter the tower? I don’t want to put the Book anywhere he could get to.” Said Chessina.

“No... He doesn’t know how to get in the tower, he didn’t want to come in at all when I invited him.”  Tancyfrwys explained. “He kept coming up with excuses.”

“I think he was afraid to go in the tower, in case it dispelled the illusions.” Chessina remarked.

Interesting, I used to call the Tower my tower, after Chessina arrived we called it our tower. It seemed that Tancyfrwys didn’t have as much connection to the elven tower as we had to ours.

“What happened about the manufacture of the magical weapons? I had assumed that you collaborated in making them.”  I asked.

“I think that was His... Sekemhef’s intention. Pardon me,” Tancyfrwys continued, “It would be easier for me to think of him as Sekemhef. When he got close to the tower he changed his mind and gave some excuse that only a magic user should create the weapons. He left pleading illness. The next day, he gave me a parchment containing precise instructions on how to make the weapons, that he had ‘picked up on his travels’. I wasn’t thinking clearly by this point.”

Chessina touched her arm comfortingly.

“After he’d been stamping through your mind, that’s hardly surprising.” Chessina said.

“Forgive me for hurrying you Tancyfrwys, but I’d like to get a look at those weapons soon, before Sekemhef gets impatient and turns up here.”  I said.

“You’re right Tower... Castamir,” Tancyfrwys said, getting up. “I’ll take you to the tower.”

“I’ll carry the Book.” I said, putting the scrolls in the capacious pockets in my robes.

So saying she got up and led us all out of Prydythaur/Sekemhef’s room and down the royal tower. We then followed a narrow path going towards a small hill surmounted by a tall slender tree dwelling with few staircases and platforms. As we walked the group were looked at with curiosity and some trepidation. With the upheavals happening recently I’m sure rumour abounded amongst the elven populace.

We had got almost to the summit of the hill when there was a shimmer in the air, and the tree which we had apparently been nearing, blurred and changed into a stone built wizards tower. I hadn’t noticed Tancyfrwys doing anything to cancel the spell. Was it automatic on someone approaching inside a set radius? Something to consider enquiring about later.

Being the soul of tact and discretion that I am, and in reality not wanting to upset Tancyfrwys further, I managed not to say, ‘it that it?’” I did think it though. Beside me I could tell that Chessina was thinking it too. I’m not sure if Silavara was thinking it as well as she had her serene expression on.

The tower was tall and looked wide enough to be stable, but the proportions were subtly wrong somehow. I was then struck by the realisation that this tower was trying to be an imitation of our Tower, but not really... making the grade. It wasn’t tall enough by any means, which didn’t surprise me as, being all in one piece, our tower – The Tower, was much stronger than anything constructed piecemeal, even if that was subsequently fused together.

 We all went in the tower door, which did open at Tancyfrwys’ gesture, I did wonder if she was going to have to use a key, and we entered the vestibule. As I looked around bare and stark room which took up the whole ground floor and went up three stories, the word that popped into my mind to describe the place was ‘bleak’. I turned to Tancyfrwys and asked,

“I noticed that you have rooms in the royal tree, do you live there the whole time, and not in your tower?”

“No. I only come here to work.” She replied.

“Oh.” I said, not being able to think of anything to say. The Tower was so much a part of our lives, I couldn’t imagine not living there.

To my shock and surprise Tancyfrwys burst into tears and threw herself into my arms. Chessina glared jealously at Tancyfrwys for a moment, then gently steered Blaithamlwg the other side of her. I felt Chessina casting spells, and as I eased myself out of Tancyfrwys’ grasp, I looked about and saw that the vestibule was now graced with two comfortable looking upholstered armchairs, a sofa of similar design which looked cosy for two people and a low table with a tea set on it. Chessina was busy pouring tea.

I was so proud of her for pulling off a most magnificent conjuration. Calling on the Tower, I permanenced her creations, which I knew she would have difficulty doing. I managed to manoeuvre Tancyfrwys and Blaithamlwg towards the sofa and got them sat down. Now Blaithamlwg was not only holding Tancyfrwys, but unable to move away from her. I glanced at Chessina and was rewarded with a smile, I had divined her intent correctly.

“Now, Tancyfrwys, dry your eyes and drink a cup of tea, you’ll feel better.” Chessina said, in a firm, no nonsense tone. Tancyfrwys did manage to sip some tea and wipe her face with a handkerchief Blaithamlwg provided.

“Oh, Tow.... Castamir, Chessina, I feel so unsure of what’s going on.” Tancyfrwys said, her voice still thick with tears. “You’ve made this room cosy, and I didn’t even know what cosy was before. You’ve been so kind to me, and I’ve been afraid of your coming as my master told me long ago that Towermasters are hard and cruel and knew terrible secrets about us and would use them against us. And you have used them against us, but you’ve saved my life and you and Chessina have been so kind. Your master wasn’t cruel, but he was stern and forbidding, and I knew you would be the next Towermaster, so... so when you were here with Harmon I thought if I could make you afraid of me, you wouldn’t be so scary when you grew up.

“I know Harmon could be stern when he needed to be, but he was the kindest of men.” I said. “I.. I’m rather shocked, but at least I know now that it wasn’t anything I had done, nor was it a  general hatred of humans, which is what I had thought.

“Then He... Pryd... Sekemhef tried to kill me,” Tancyfrwys continued, “And you saved my life, and Chessina and Silavara helped me and were so kind... I feel so confused...” Here Tancyfrwys burst into tears again. Blaithamlwg cuddled her and stroked her back and murmured comforting words to her until she calmed down. Poor woman, and I never dreamed I would think that of her before coming here. She was frightened when we arrived, as well as having her mind trampled through by Prydythaur/Sekemhef. Then he tried to kill her, and then Arcana turns up in a dream telling her things she really didn’t want to hear. Tancyfrwys had been through a lot lately.

“In my dream Arcana told me that our Gods are all false, and that I’ve been getting my magic from her, not... not the one I thought provided it. Arcana said I would be wise not to say his name again. She said it was all bound up with the First Favour. Please will you tell me what that is.”

“Didn’t you look at the parchment Castamir gave the King?” Chessina asked.

“No, the King took it away with him and burned it.” Said Tancyfrwys. “Will you tell me Castamir?”

“I will, although you won’t like it.” I replied, “However I think you need to hear it, and I think Blaithamlwg does too.”

I settled myself down after removing the scrolls from my robes, and took a drink of tea from the cup Chessina had poured me. I smiled gratefully at Chessina as this was a proper cup of tea, not the various... liquids... that I had been provided with when I asked for tea. They were uniformly vile. As I put my cup down, the two elves looked at me expectantly.

“This goes back to the nature of the fey, as elves among others are in decent from them.”  I began, “The fey aren’t native to this world, they seem to have come from somewhere...else. They share with demons a certain mutability of form.”

“Are they related to demons, Castamir?”  Blaithamlwg asked.

“I don’t know, although written elvish is similar to written Abyssal.” I replied. “Demons can form solid bodies, which the High Fey don’t seem to be able to, for very long at least. They tried many methods to gain solidity. Some fey managed to merge with trees and became dryads, tying themselves to their trees. They are all female and require a mortal to breed with draining some of his life energy to do so. Other fey managed to merge with horses. This merging is more successful in some ways than that of dryads, in that centaurs can breed without outside assistance, due to the rear end of the horses having their...” I wondered how to put this firmly not looking at Chessina as I knew she was laughing at me.  “... Hrrmmm, generative organs. However, the result isn’t fully humanoid.”

I drank some more tea, took a deep breath and continued.

“Those fey that wanted to become fully humanoid asked the then Towermaster for aid. The details of the negotiations aren’t recorded but the Towermaster did do as he was asked, and the elves were created by merging the fey with... humans.”

Tancyfrwys and Blaithamlwg stared open mouthed in shock, rendered speechless, the colour draining from their faces.

 “Which means,” Chessina said pointedly, “That those you despise as half-elves are in fact quarter-elves, while you are the half-elves.”

“And you owe a debt to those humans, who agreed to join with fey, without whom you wouldn’t even be.” I continued, reiterating her comment.

After a while, Blaithamlwg managed to speak,

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Forgive the interruption,” Said Chessina, “But I’d like to see about dealing with the magic weapons. I have a feeling that time is pressing.”

    

unwanted elves 20 cliffie bonus

 

Unwanted Elves

Chapter 20

 

“I’d pay money to see that.” I muttered

“It’s not that difficult,” said Chessina, “but you do need a very flexible hook. Shutting up now.” She concluded as Silavara gave Chessina a jaundiced look.

“We have much to discuss so may we go in to do so?” Chessina asked. “The king will cause no trouble for the moment, so nasal evisceration need not be performed immediately.”

“It is our custom to discuss matters openly within the community.” Said Evashawn coldly.

“Much of what we must discuss is very disturbing,” I commented, “and you must decide how best to inform your people.”

Evashawn gestured to us to enter and we did so, the princess and her husband following us and the centaurs bringing up the rear.

I had no idea what the dwelling of centaurs would be like, I suppose I expected something exotic and different from anything I had seen before. It was actually remarkably similar to a woodsman’s hut, only much larger. The interlocking logs that made up the walls were sealed with mud inside as well as outside. The large doorway through which we had come was cut out of the logs, and framed with cut planks, the doors themselves also made of planks. Unlike most woodsmen’s cottages the planks had been carefully smoothed and carved with flowers and leaves. The floor was earthen and there were horn windows with shutters in the walls. I thought the planks and the huge beams and trusses that supported the ceiling were adzed not sawn. The brick chimney was wide and massive and I was surprised to see not cooking implements.

 

Swiftly Chessina outlined what we knew and what we suspected about Prydythaur’s plans. As we spoke the adult centaurs became more angry, Evashawn coldly angry and Serban fierily so, while the elves and Serashawn were horrified. Chessina looked at Evashawn and then flicked her gaze at Serashawn questioningly.

“It’s better that she know.” Said Evashawn.

“I... I... how could my father make such terrible threats to Serashawn, she’s so sweet?” Ariannaith asked us, bewildered.

“He has been ensorcelled by Prydythaur,” Chessina reminded her.

“Princess,” I said, “please cast your mind back to the time before Prydythaur arrived. What was your father’s attitude to centaurs and humans then?”

Ariannaith considered for a moment and then replied,

“He didn’t like centaurs, he considered them uncouth,” she said, glancing apologetically towards the centaurs, “but was afraid of antagonising them, due to their strength and skill at arms.” She paused again. “Humans he positively despised.”

“I fear then,” I said, “that Prydythaur’s spell removed the inhibitions that practicality forced on your father so that he spoke his true feelings.”

Ariannaith looked stunned by this thought and Cyfaill put a comforting arm around her shoulders.

 

This information confirmed to me that the elven king would have to go and I felt a distinct chill as I realised I was going to kill someone in cold blood. Did that make me as bad as Prydythaur/Sekemhef, who killed without compunction to further his schemes. I thought back to something Harmon had said, and I could almost hear him say, “What you do is important, but why you do it is even more so.”  The elven king was a terrible danger to humans, dwarves and centaurs. Indeed he was a danger to his own people as he would thrust them into a war which might end in their extermination. I hoped there might be a way to deal with him without killing him, but if there wasn’t, I hardened my heart to a horrible necessity.

 

A thought struck me as I contemplated my course of action. I thought of the voices I had heard in the blue-white radiance when I got so angry at the king in the throne room. I could almost swear that I heard Harmon’s voice. What if I actually did? I knew that Harmon’s soul was with Arcana as I had talked to him using contact the dead. I really knew very little about the scope of the Tower’s capabilities, and the staff was an extension of the tower. Out of the corner of my eye for an instant I thought I glimpsed, or did I actually do so, Harmon wearing the smile that I missed so much. My resolve firmed; I would do what was needed to protect others, whatever misgivings I might have.

 

“What’s going on Castamir?” Chessina whispered at me. “You are wearing your, ‘I’m going to do something that I hate but is necessary’ expression.”

“I’m going to have to kill the king as it’s doubtful that he can be persuaded not to start a war, and I’m not really enamoured of the idea.” I replied.

“We’ll see what the queen has to say.” Chessina said. “She might have an idea.”

“You’re going to calmly discuss killing her husband with the queen?” I expostulated.

“Well, she doesn’t like him much.” Chessina stated.

“How do you know that?”

“Partly her demeanour towards him, and partly what I saw in her mind as Prydythaur’s charm dissolved.” Chessina explained.

 

“I’m not quite sure what to next,” I admitted in a whisper. “Part of me wants to hare off and deal with Prydythaur right now, and part wonders if that’s the right thing to do.”

“Let’s take this logically,” Chessina whispered back. “Fishface would be distinctly unimpressed, if Sekemhef/Prydythaur failed in his mission. Your habit of understatement must be rubbing off on me, Fishface would have Sekemhef/Prydythaur tortured to the point of death for failing him. Prydythaur knows this and won’t leave the vicinity. His only hope involves getting to the king to start the war and getting the black fire opal magic weapons to arm the demon army.”

“We need to get back to deal with the king, and find the weapons.” I continued whispering.

“Tancyfrwys should know,” Chessina continued whispering. “We need to get back and ask her.”

“And look at whatever magic, Prydythaur has got stashed away.” I whispered.

 

“I think it would be a bad idea to try to counter Prydythaur directly for the present.” I said to the assembled group. “On the other hand, I don’t want him to be able to wander around without us knowing. Evashawn, Serban would some of your people be willing to act as scouts to keep watch on anyone leaving the Enclave?”

“I’m sure our people could do that.” Evashawn replied while Serban nodded agreement.

“The only difficulty would be letting others know that someone had been seen if scouts were spread around the perimeter of the Enclave.”  I said having just realised the drawback.

“Leave that to me.” Silavara said with her customary serenity. “My goddess will let me communicate via the ‘whispering leaves’ spell with the watchers, and with you and Chessina with the ‘voices on the wind’ spell. In each case, only those I touch will be able to understand. Any others will only hear the rustling of the leaves or the soughing of the wind.”

“Thank Silvana for us, Silavara.” Chessina said, hugging the priestess.

“I will, Chessina,” Silavara replied, “We must all work together during this crisis.”

“And afterwards to, I hope.” I added.

I was rewarded with one of Silavara’s rare smiles.

 

Evashawn and Serban led us all, including Ariannaith and Cyfaill to a very large building made in the same style as the other dwellings in the village, although it had multiple chimneys along each side as well as one at the far end from the entrance. I gasped involuntarily when I entered at the size of the roof beams and the pillars holding up the roof. I wondered how they were raised and could only conclude that magic was involved somehow. I noticed that each fireplace had chains, hooks and other cooking appurtenances and there were collapsed trestle tables against the walls. Presumably this was a communal cooking and eating place. I wondered if this was because although omnivores, centaurs were more comfortable in herds.

Evashawn called for attention, and without any seeming effort her voice reached every part of the hall, I suppose you would call it. I love magic.

“Gentles all, the forest is facing a grave threat which needs our help to deal with.” She said. There wasn’t the muttering I might have expected from humans or elves. Apparently centaurs, like dwarves let people get on with saying what was important, and only then talking about it. Evashawn continued,

“Towermaster Castamir, will explain.”

That was my cue.

“The elven court has been infiltrated by a half-demon, bent on fomenting war.” I began.  “We also believe that this same demon is responsible for the beasts that have changed to become monsters. Some of you may know of him. This half demon is the Royal Bard Prydythaur.”

At this the centaurs gave what I can only describe as a low pitched growl. They obviously were not fond of him.

“Unfortunately he can change his appearance by some form of magic, so we do not know what he looks like, but we do have various means to seek him out.” It was important, I thought to give them some form of encouragement. “Silavara, Priestess of Silvana has determined that Prydythaur is within the Trade Enclave, and this is where you can help us.” I had their rapt attention now.

“We would like volunteers to ring the Enclave with scouts who can see if anyone leaves the Enclave and follow them discretely. Priestess Silavara will arrange a magical means of communication while you are in the forest, and a different means to talk to us while we are in the city. Prydythaur has left magic behind him and we are going to examine it to see if any of this will aid us in defeating him. I warn you now to observe and report ONLY, do not try to approach or attack him. We have faced demons before, you have not. Unless you know precisely what you are doing and have the right magic, to attack a demon is to die.

“Knowing all this, will any volunteer to aid us?”

As I finished my speech practically the entire male population of the village strode forward, together with a number of the females. I also noticed a number of foals moving forward, Serashawn among them, and being dragged back by the tail by older female centaurs, presumably relatives of some sort. The female dragging Serashawn back with one hand, was dragging another foal with the second.

“I am deeply grateful to all of you.”  I said, being deeply moved. “Evashawn, Serban and Silavara will explain what you need to do in detail. Chessina and I must go now. Remember, observe and report ONLY, and may the Gods bless us all.”

  

oOo

 

After Silavara had touched us while she cast voices on the wind, and tested that it worked, priestesses being as cautious as wizards, we were escorted back to the city by a female centaur who looked middle aged, in human terms. She proved as taciturn as Serashawn was loquacious, saying nothing but,

“My name is Kerend. I am to escort you back to the city.” Even Chessina’s best attempts elicited nothing but non-committal grunts.

 

oOo

 

When we got back to the city, we made a beeline for the Queen’s chambers. The guards knew better than to try to stop us now. Indeed one of them said,

“The Queen is expecting you Towermaster, please come this way.”

He didn’t mention Chessina, but at least he did say ‘please’. Oh well, Adalsburg wasn’t built in a day.

When shown into the Queen’s chambers an odd tableau confronted us. The queen, Blaithamlwg and  Tancyfrwys were seated around a low table with refreshments on it. Seated between Blaithamlwg and  Tancyfrwys was a half –elf I didn’t know. I could tell he was half-elven by his light brown hair.

“Castamir, Chessina, this is Iespr, a great friend of Prydythaur.”  Said Blaithamlwg.

“Hello, nice to meet you.” Said Iespr, “Everyone’s been very kind to me, which I didn’t expect.”

He gazed on us both with guileless eyes and a rather vague expression. I looked at Chessina and she gave an infinitesimal nod. He was charmed as I suspected, and I thought done in rather a slapdash way. Iespr had just been made incredibly suggestible, rather than focussed on pleasing the spell caster Prydythaur. I wondered if he had been more rattled by being discovered than I had thought.

“I’ve been trying to get into Prydythaur’s rooms to get something for him,” Iespr continued, “But I can’t seem to get the door open, even though I have the keys.”

Prydythaur’s keys, that should make getting into the cabinet much easier. I mused for a moment on the irony, that the ‘civilised’ elves required locks, while the ‘barbaric’ centaurs didn’t.

“Iespr is there a special word or phrase to use when unlocking the cabinet?”  Chessina asked.

“Oh yes,” Iespr replied, then his face clouded a little, “But I’m not supposed to tell anyone.”

“Don’t worry, Iespr,” Chessina said, soothingly, “We’ll help you to get in the door, and then you can use the word to open the cabinet and you won’t have to tell anyone.” He brightened at this as Chessina continued, “Where are you to take Prydythaur’s things to, Iespr?”

“He has a room in the largest inn in the Enclave, The Wild Hart.”  Iespr replied.

“Why don’t we go now and get this sorted out.”  Chessina suggested.

We all trooped to Prydythaur’s rooms, and on arrival Iespr said, rather plaintively,

“I kept trying, but I couldn’t open the door.”

“Let me help you, friend Iespr.” I said, going to the door and telling it to open. I went through, Iespr hot on my heels. Obviously following instructions from Prydythaur, he went straight to the bedside cabinet and spoke a word,

“Drakhan.”

That’s the Abyssal word for ‘open’. A good choice for a password, if nobody knew you were part demon.

Inside the cabinet on the top shelf, were over a dozen small bottles and phials, while the bottom contained six scroll cases.

“Thank you so much for your help,” Said Iespr, “But I really need to take these things to Prydythaur, he’ll be getting impatient.”

“There’s no need to trouble yourself, Iespr,” Chessina continued in that soothing tone, with a little bit of voice magic too. “We’ll deal with all the things; as you have worked so hard you must be tired, why don’t you go and lie down on the sofa and take a nap. Don’t worry, we know Prydythaur quite well.”

“Now you mention it, I do feel rather sleepy.”  Iespr said, yawning. He tottered into the parlour, lay down on the sofa and promptly went to sleep.

“Blaithamlwg, you need to have him moved somewhere and kept safe until this is all over.” Chessina stated, “And if you can, find someone who doesn’t hate half-elves too obviously.”

Blaithamlwg had the grace to look shamefaced, and replied,

“Yes I will.”

Tancyfrwys was almost vibrating with impatience to examine the contents of the cabinet, and I wasn’t far behind. Chessina turned, and said, very calmly,

“Well, shall we investigate?” She seemed totally self-controlled about the matter, except to me, who knew her so well, and was certain she was as interested as we were.

“Tancyfrwys, will you do the honours?” I asked, “As Prydythaur has caused a great deal of potential trouble here, I think you should investigate.”

I wasn’t being completely altruistic here, as I suspected Tancyfrwys’ skills with the analytica branch of magic exceeded mine. I wasn’t about to admit that however, even though I was starting to trust her.

Tancyfrwys muttered her spells over the various bottles and phials, at length declaring,

“Five of the containers hold poisons of various kinds, two of which I believe are specific to elves, two are universal antidotes, and I’m not quite sure about the precise nature of the last six, all I know is that they will reduce or weaken some aspect of the mind.”

“Perhaps Chessina and I might see what we can find out.”  I suggested.

“Please do.”  Tancyfrwys replied. What a change had come over her in such a short while. She was becoming worryingly likeable.

Chessina and I both cast our spells, and almost immediately nodded in satisfaction.

“They are will weakening potions, Tancyfrwys,” Chessina said, “Castamir and I have come across such things before.”

Indeed, they were the stock in trade of the late, and very unlamented wizard Agravar.

“Thank you, I hadn’t come across such things before. I can now see why we succumbed so readily to Prydythaur’s spell, if we had been dosed with such things.” Tancyfrwys commented, with more than a hint of bitterness in her voice. Blaithamlwg laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Now let us see what the scrolls are.” Tancyfrwys continued. “I’d better see if they are trapped.”

I knew they weren’t, I’d already checked; wizards are cautious.

Tancyfrwys cautiously opened one scroll case after checking there were no unpleasant surprises, and took out its contents. She stared in surprise at the parchment covered in symbols. “I have no idea what this means.”

“May I see,” Said Chessina, who had been looking over Tancyfrwys’ shoulder. “It’s written in Agerakian, ancient Agerakian. Master!” Chessina squealed in excitement, “I think it’s the Lost Book of Djehuti!”