Chronicles of a So-called Fire God (Abridged)

6. Treasures in the Light

The door was solid enough; it felt old and thick against the side of my head. I glanced down to see the door handle was a simple heavy iron ring and latch, there was no lock. The hinges looked well worn and used frequently, or at least recently. Through the rust I could see fresh metal sparkling in the flickering flames of the torchlight held by Torq. Feeling all over the surface of the door, looking for an obvious trap, I found nothing of interest. This was exactly what it appeared to be; a closed door.

"Have you quite finished?" asked Torq.

"I guess it's safe," I replied, "I'm just worried I'm missing something." Absentmindedly I moved aside to allow my friends to open the door.

As soon as Torq opened the door, the chamber we were in was flooded with a golden light. It took a moment or two for our eyes to adjust. Still shielding my eyes a little, I tentatively approached the light despite my senses screaming at me to retreat. Once over the threshold I could see the source of the golden light. It was a circle of arcane text on the floor surrounding a rotting, wooden chair at the far end of the room. Upon the chair sat a desiccated corpse.

I could feel magical energies coming from the circle even from here. It felt very protective and wholesome. "A protection spell?" I said, mostly to myself.

"Of course it is," replied the squeaky voice of Renkle. We all turned to see Renkle flying just beyond the door. A slim, smug smile on his face.

"You've been in here before haven't you?" I asked. I wasn't surprised, he'd obviously been in here and obviously knew what was within the circle. The only mystery was why he'd not taken it already, but then it hit me. The circle was a protection spell against evil or evil creatures. Renkle couldn't enter the circle, he was definitely from one of the planes where evil beings reside.

To test my theory I walked further into the room, towards the circle, while I waited for Renkle to answer. I could see he was uncomfortable and didn't wish to follow. He followed me a little, but he didn't get very far into the room before he returned to the safety of the outer chamber.

"Very well human," he said. And he vanished. "We'll talk again."

My ruse had been rumbled by the demon, for that is what I truly believed him to be. No amount of protestation would sway my opinion.

"He doesn't like the circle then?" asked Torq

"Or you," said Lestergrad. "Now what is this?" He approached the circle, but took care not to cross it.

"A circle of-"

"Protection from evil," finished Lestergrad and interrupting me, "I can see that."

"Magic! I shall leave that to the experts," said Torq. "I'll watch for trouble." The emphasis on the word 'trouble' was obviously aimed at Renkle.

I turned back to the circle. The energy coming from the text was unlike any I'd seen before. Stronger. Something meant to last. Never before had I encountered a magical circle, such as this, that lasted longer than a day. From the dust and dessicated body within, this circle had been in place for an extremely long time.

I tentatively ventured a hand into the circle; apart from a slight tingling sensation nothing untoward occurred. "I think it's safe," I said.

Lestergrad stepped into the circle while I studied the writing. Grabbing a charcoal stick and a piece of parchment from my pack I started copying the writing down. This was something I wanted to study, and maybe one day learn to use. As I wrote I could feel the power of these words. It took a lot of effort to concentrate on writing down the text; it almost felt as though the words wanted to be cast.

Lost in my own world, I didn't hear Lestergrad speaking to me. I jumped when he touched my shoulder.

"Wizbang, you're going to have to pay attention," said Lestergrad. "Can you tell me what this is?"

"Looks like a wand," I said. I chose to ignore how he addressed me.

"What does it do? Wands usually have a specific focus."

"Not sure. There's some writing spiralling towards the tip. Elven, Dwarven and Draconic. It's the same word each time." It was a very whimsical word which, when translated from each language, simply meant 'wowsers', I assumed this was the trigger for the magic held within.

"And the word is ..." Lestergrad let his sentence trail off, obviously expecting me to say. There was obviously something on Lestergrad's mind, some problem he had with me.

"I believe the word is the trigger so until I study this further, I'd rather not say it. We have no idea what effect it will have."

Surprisingly Lestergrad accepted what I said with a shrug, and then also handed me an elegantly crafted sword, hilt first. This too was adorned with words in Elven, Dwarven and Draconic. The words, engraved into the blade on both sides, were the same in each language, but different from those on the wand. This time the word translated to 'light', or rather 'illumination'. I spoke the word, in Draconic, sure of the effect this would have. The sword lit up with a blueish glow. I said the word once more and the light was extinguished.

Lestergrad had a confused expression on his face when he looked at me. I assumed it was because of the light, or it could have been because of the Draconic. Whatever his meaning, I could tell that he wanted to have words with me. That would have to wait.

"Ah," said Lestergrad.

I turned to see that he was holding an animal horn, possibly from a bull, or maybe a minotaur. Gold was inlaid along the length of the horn in fine filigree patterns that resembled delicate veins. Instantly a name popped into my head.

"The Horn of Raduel!" I said.

"Is that it? Is this the 'herald' we came here to retrieve?" asked Torq.

"I only know the name, or at least one of the known names, for the item. I heard it has many names. What it does, what powers are held within, or why it bears such a name, I could not say," I replied.

"I can sense power within it, and there is little else within these ruins of any worth. Therefore, I can only assume this is what we seek," said Lestergrad. He then carefully placed the horn into his pack.

I attached the sword to my belt; the wand was already in my pocket, safely stored away for later study.