"I have arrived in Crestfall.

Being a settlement located the furthest south of all the villages surrounding Leisha’s Crossroads, it is probably the one most affected by the sudden migration of the beasts. Recently, their hunters noticed tracks of Gobbears in the forests. Even if mountain goblinoids hadn’t raided the village so far, night attacks of trolls took their toll on villagers.

It is of no surprise that inhabitants gladly welcomed an assistance of the cleric and serfs following him. Having a support of apprentices, the village's makeshift militia managed to fend off three trolls yesterday night without any of them dying.

From what I have gathered, they appear to be followers of some minor deity. I wasn’t able to meet the cleric himself so far, as he moved out with a group of hunters to destroy the nearest camp of gobbears."

- a report delivered to House Faranger

By the time Ion awoke, Sae was already in the parlour, browsing through the documents they received yesterday.

“Did you sleep well?” Ion asked, sarcasm in his voice.

“Great, thank you,” Sae answered with a smile, patting the pillows she was sitting on. “Maybe you could spend some time learning those enchantments, they’re a blast!”

“And here I thought that you would have at least some decency to pretend it wasn’t you who stole my pillows…”

Ion sighed and rang a bell with Mage Hand to notice servants that they wished to eat breakfast.

“Could you really call it stealing if it was just an unattended object?” Sae grinned. “It’s your fault for returning so late; be glad that you had anything to sleep on at all…Hey!”

A pillow hit her in the face. Ion Mage Handed another one, forcing her to dodge.

“Stop throwing them at me!”

“Could you really call it throwing if a pillow just happens to fly towards you?” Ion did his best, trying to mimic her voice.

“I will show you…” Interrupted be a knock, Sae dropped a pillow she wished to throw back at Ion.

The young wizard immediately dismissed his cantrip. Sae went to open the door, taking a platter with food from a servant.

“I wanted to warn you that I set up a few spells around the room. I recommend to not enter inside if none of us is here. And for your own sake, better do not touch anything here.”

The servant’s eyes lingered for a moment on menacingly looking Canaloth’s collar which Sae currently used as a paperweight.

“I will inform everyone,” the servant gulped.

One of his friends, too curious for his own good, told him about remnants of the creatures he saw while taking care of the gardens. He claimed to have touched a corpse of one of the owlbears inside the building the wizard made into his laboratory. The corpse immediately dissolved into dust under a slight pressure.

“When you are ready I will lead you to the room with the script the edler hopes you translate.”

Ion renewed his wards around the room and Sae continued reading her papers while they were eating.

“Seriously… are you always leaving such a mess?” her materials were all over the room.

“C’mon, I just finished sorting them. I’m going to analyse them as soon as we return, so why bother with cleaning up? It’s not like someone else uses this room.”

****

Ion sat by the desk, a heavy book in his hands. Near him was Sae, diligently noting or crossing out sporadic phrases he dictated.

For other people gathered inside the treasury it might have looked as if they were solely focused on deciphering the script since few hours. However, it was far from the truth.

In fact, Ion mostly mumbled random phrases, sometimes manifesting his cantrips as if probing the book, thinking mostly how he should arrange sigils of spells he was developing to make them work correctly.

Sae was doing her best to memorize every trap and ward she spotted in the chamber, scattering her notes on various parchments, creating a map only she would be able to read.

“No, I don’t think I would be able to dispel anything here,” She heard Ion’s Message. “Even trying to cast this spell here would probably activate the alarms.”

Sae silently sighed. Not that this was out of her expectation, she remembered dealing with similarly designed protective measures.

‘So… wards in this outer, not so tightly secured part of the treasury are dormant as long as no one is inside… or if someone with a warding stone stays here and manually inactivates them.’ She looked at the group of four guards protecting the chamber, using a small magical item from time to time. ‘Given one or two days to prepare I should be able to disrupt those wards. The real problem would be retrieving the schematics from the inner part of the treasury. Going inside without having a stone keyed to oneself would probably cause the defences to trigger immediately. The stone which supposedly only Edler Silverford himself got, judging from him retrieving the book for us personally. And I can’t even investigate those wards from up-close, without raising suspicions.’

She observed the two apprentices sitting not far from them. Lara and Sten were sweating, focused on throwing a pebble against each other using a Mage Hand. It was an exercise Ion ordered them to do, as he deemed that having them just standing here idly, waiting in case he would need their help, was annoying. After the first hour, during which most of the throws ended with the rock rolling on the floor, they’ve managed to learn how to catch it with said cantrip.

‘Maybe if they could provide a sufficient distraction…’

The sound of approaching footsteps resonated, interrupting everyone’s work.

“Have you made any progress?” Melker greeted them with a question as soon as he entered with Amanda.

“Actually, yes,” Ion answered, surprising not only the wizards but also the guards. The apprentices seemed too exhausted to even care, thanking for a disturbance that allowed them to rest. “I believe that the notes are encrypted with a variant of Fibonacci’s runic pattern. I applied Euler’s matrix and managed to gain glimpses of the ideas contained within. The first part focuses on metallurgy, on creating some sort of a device. It might even be a golem. If I am right, the text might be really interesting…”

One of the guards, hearing Ion’s revelation immediately left the chamber, probably wanting to inform Silverfords.

“So the second part… I knew it described runes, but their meaning eluded me due to the lack of context. Now I should be able to understand them…” Amanda trailed off. “I need to check my notes again.”

She left the room.

At the very beginning of today’s ‘deciphering’, she briefed Ion and Melker about what she has found out so far. Honestly, the young wizard was impressed with her skills. He was almost sure that given three or four weeks more she would have been able to finish this task on her own. As for Ion, without having the information from Orryn, he doubted he could contribute to the work at all.

Of course, the patterns and matrixes he claimed to use to temporarily decrypt the notes were just a distraction he made out, hoping that the other wizards would spend some time following a false trail.

“Okay, so now that the ama… hobbyists had their chance, please leave the task to those who really know their job,” Melker approached the book. He was the one who suggested that Ion should be the first to try.

Ion moved out of the room, wanting to try brewing a few potions even before a dinner. However, upon seeing Sae following much slower, looking at every ward engraved on the walls, he adjusted his speed to match hers.

“I don’t need any amateurs observing my every move! Leave!” Melker’s voice echoed the corridor.

A few moments later, the two apprentices outrun them.

“You can continue your training in the garden… deflecting Fire Bolts with a Shield spell should be good. Continue, until you could use Shield at least five times in a row before taking a break. Tomorrow, I will come up with a harder exercise.”

Hearing Ion, the two apprentices turned, a sulky expression on their faces.

“Yes, Master Evans."

"Thank you.”

They scurried away.

‘And here I thought that helping them with a training would be a good way to earn their trust.’

Ion sighed.

“Does tormenting them give you pleasure?”

“Tormenting? They are just lazy. At their age, I’ve been spending most of my time learning and training new spells.”

Sae rolled her eyes hearing Ion. 'At their age? You sound like an old geezer now...'

“They seemed exhausted after your first task, and now you ordered them to use even more mana.”

“Operating a Mage Hand correctly should be using close to no mana, it is all about controlling it. Those are the basics,” Ion remembered this and few other exercises used by Vision-he when training young mages. “Training with a Shield spell should give them two benefits; for starters expending mana completely stimulates the growth of its reserves, to a certain degree at least. Moreover, repeatedly using a Shield makes them more accustomed to the spell. They will learn to cast it faster, waste less mana and most importantly, use it instinctively, whenever they think they are in a danger.”

“Whatever,” Sae shrugged. „I am going to buy the materials you asked for, I should return by the evening.”

They decided it would be a good excuse for her to check whether Silverfords would be trying to trail them whenever they leave the estate.

She took stairs, Ion decided to go straight to the laboratory, as he began to call the room in which he planned to make potions.

“Master Evans,” he heard Edler Silverford beckoning him. „Would you give me a moment of your time?”

“Of course,” Ion nodded.

“I’ve heard that you managed to make a breakthrough regarding the script. Even more impressive, considering it was your first day deciphering it.”

“You should praise Runemaster Amanda. Without her input, I wouldn’t be able to. Moreover, so far I’m not sure whether my guess is correct. I am afraid it will take some time to confirm it.”

“I'm positive that you are on the correct path. I've heard that the book was protected by an automation similar to a golem.”

“I assume it won’t be possible for us to see that device? Seeing it would surely help us in uncovering secrets of that script.”

“I am afraid not. If someone puts us under pressure to return the book, we will claim to have found it and that we had no idea about its importance. Preferably after you manage to decipher it,” Edler Joseph managed to maintain an innocent smile on his face. “Being accused of stealing a dwarven automation could have much bigger political ramifications.”

“Dwarven?”

“Yes, those rock-diggers can be really annoying if pissed off. Especially since some of their clans are currently considered our military allies… Still, if we manage to build those automations on our own, the army will surely be very interested.”

‘And the king should raise our rank as a gratitude… House Silverford, I like the sound of this,’ the edler spaced for a moment.

“Tell me, Master Evans,” the noble changed topic, approaching one of the paintings in the hallway. “Are you interested in arts?”

Ion politely denied.

“It’s a pity. Still, a researcher of the past such as yourself is surely aware of art's importance. It might offer us as much information as written records. Take a look at this painting.”

It depicted a throne room. In the centre, a seated gold-haired man seemed to radiate the light. He was blessing a pair standing in front of him. The spacious room was filled with a crowd, numerous guests celebrating.

“Judging by the tabards it is Lorastil Theocracy. During the periods when their Royal Family ruled, otherwise there shouldn’t be any elf present. Is the king blessing his daughter? The painter really caught likeness between those two figures. Wait… the man standing with her is an elf… I wasn’t researching the history of that country too deeply, but I was under the impression that there were never elves in their Royal Family…”

Edler Silverford seemed pleased with Ion’s reaction.

“Exactly! It is only a reproduction, an artist I bought it from was impressed with paintings he saw in Isvaarheim and decided to copy few pieces he saw there. The man had no idea of this painting significance nor that the ‘Blessing of Aeryon II’ is also a known piece of art in Lorastil Theocracy. Their version, however, is different. Eallie, Aeryon grand-daughter, was married to her cousin. A human, or what close to human those in Theocracy are.” He pointed at the elf. “I assure you, that in their version, you won’t find the elf standing here.”

“Eallie… the same one that the elves kidnapped shortly after Aeryon’s death?” Ion was really interested now.

“If you are willing to believe records kept by Lorastillians. Because of this painting, I’ve decided to read more about her; after all, events giving birth to one of the longest wars in the known history were bound to be interesting. Prior to her alleged marriage with Harith, she appeared in the records often, as she was known for developing numerous spells used for agriculture. After the marriage, for almost thirty years there is not even a single record about her, not until the death of Aeryon II. After that she is finally mentioned again, the elves accused of her kidnapping. In response, Harith along with his father and an heir to the throne, Fayiz, rally the forces to get her back from Isvaarheim.”

“And they failed miserably,” Ion read about fierce fights that followed those events, which ultimately resulted in the annihilation of Lorastillian Royal Family and, at least according to Theocracy, the appearance of the first rifts.

“But if we believed that she had really moved with a real husband of hers to Isvaarheim, would there be a chance that her descendants still live among elves?” Ion was struck with a thought.

“Who knows? Maybe more detailed records of Eallie's life simply disappeared in the mists of times? And elves just wished to somehow justify the war that occurred after the kidnapping?”

Their talk continued for a while, as the edler was talking about different paintings.

“…. This depicts a traditional outfit used in Iriath,” A man on a painting was wearing a strange enveloping garment covering his body and face. “They are weaving some sort of metal into the silk, I think they are calling it lead. They believe that wearing this could protect them from evil magic, superstitious people.”

The noble shook his head disbelieving.

“Oh, it looks that I’ve got carried away. I almost forgot about the meeting I have in the evening.”

“It was a pleasure to talk, Edler," Ion answered. “Your collection is really outstanding.”

The noble was not only a connoisseur of art but he also had a vast knowledge, about both history and a current political situation in nearby countries. Ion really enjoyed their conversation.

Bidding the edler farewell, the wizard headed towards the laboratory. It was finally a time to try his hand at concocting potions.

****

Brewing healing potions was harder than Ion expected. As he has found out in a hard way trying to fasten a process of refining materials was impossible, at least with his current skills. His first hours of experiments could be summed up with just a single word – failure.

He wasn’t able to brew any ‘real’ healing potion. After changing his approach, he had some degree of success with alchemical ointments used to fasten closing external wounds. He also accidentally created a mixture that upon contact with a skin, changed its colour to green for an hour. Even Prestidigitation wasn’t able to remove this hue.

In between concocting, Ion tested his spells on a new batch of five small vargrs. Contrary to his struggles with alchemy, he really felt that he was progressing in his research. Exhilarated, after using up all test subjects, he even proceeded with dissecting deceased beasts, wondering if by having more detailed knowledge about their bodies he could modify his Animate Dead spell to create undead out of them.

Ion lost the track of time and probably would have spent a whole night in the laboratory, if not for Sae who decided to check the place, returning from the town. She ordered one of the servants to fetch them something to eat and shared the news with Ion.

Firstly, Sae believed that nobody was following her. Most of the Silverfords' retainers was seemingly busy protecting their assets from Boewards still wishing to avenge their heir.

She also saw numerous clerics from the Temple of Uther on the streets, as they collected offerings from the townsfolk. From what she gathered, a recently arrived High Priest was going to conduct Hallowing rites on the graveyard, as he wanted to prevent anyone from defiling those buried there ever again.

At some point Ion felt a sudden pain in his head, staggering and almost breaking a beaker he was using.

“Everything all right?” Sae helped him up, warily taking attention to not sniff strange substance in the vial. "Is this something poisonous?"

“Nah, it is just a substrate for a healing potion,” said Ion, messaging his forehead. “I think that I started to develop side effects of a prolonged maintenance of Alter Self.”

Ion was aware of the fact, that having his body affected by Transmutation spells for long periods of time was not healthy.

“I just need a rest.”

They headed back to the apartment.

“Have you been here after I left the estate?” Sae asked when she opened door to the parlour.

“No, why?”

“Because I believe that someone was inside.”

Ion looked at the messy room dubiously.

“Impossible. The Alarm I set up would have worked.”

“Wizards and their confidence in spells. That’s the only thing you look at. Papers, a collar, even a table, they’ve been all moved.”

Ion checked the wards he had set up.

“They are intact, still working…”

“This only means that it was someone able to breach through them. It is not impossible, you know.”

‘After all, it is why we are even here,’ thought Sae. ‘A basic array like this would have taken me two or three hours… although if I tried to work that fast, Ion should be able to say that his wards are not intact…’

“The question is who might be capable of breaking inside,” Sae continued. “And has a reason to do so?”

“Hmm… Melker? As an Abjuration specialist, he might be able to… Or Amanda, she is dealing with runes her whole life… After all, wizards have a long history of stealing each other secrets,” Ion knew from Vision-he experiences. “Still, the only one who I could really imagine as a burglar is Heinrich. I don’t like this man…”

“Wow, I’m impressed that you at least thought that someone not dabbling in magic could have been a culprit. However, Heinrich doesn’t strike me as someone with enough patience for something like this… Maybe his guard, Gunther, yet I believe that if he could break through your wards without even leaving a trace, he wouldn’t leave a mess so easy to spot inside the apartment.”

They investigated a room for a while. Nothing seemed to be missing.

“All in all, we should be glad that you are always carrying your Bag of Holding on yourself.”

Everything of value was stored inside.

‘It looks like it is a time to set up a better array.’ Ion’s pride as a wizard was hurt. Someone apparently easily fooled his wards. ‘It’s going to be a long night.’

At least Sae offered to be on guard, so he could stop maintaining his disguise for a while.