Chapter 11

Spectre Sentinels

“My goodness,” Anthony said with a quiet gasp. “May I please take a closer look?”

“Yea, of course,” I said, and handed over the figurines.

He set one down and carefully tumbled the other in his hands. He treated them as though they were priceless. A sight to behold. Something that made him mumble under his breath. I didn’t want to interrupt his inspection so I just massaged my stump knuckle in anticipation.

“Geoff,” Anthony called out softly, then cleared his throat and called more loudly. “Geoff, come over here.”

The boy who’d been hunched over at the far table perked up, blinked, and set his tools down. “Yes father,” he said, and quickly came over.

He was short with curly hair. I bet that he was perhaps eight or ten years old. He was tired. I could see it in his eyes. His eyelids were droopy, but they flew when he saw the figurine his father was handling.

“Father? Is that-”

“Yes,” his father said. “Look. Our guest here has another one. I’m sorry, what was your name again?”

“Tosin,” I said. “Pleased to meet you.”

“Two? He’s brought in two?” Geoff said. “Father, I don’t think we can afford these?”

“I’m afraid my son is right,” Anthony said. “I would love to purchase these from you. They’re quite rare as you know. I’m afraid we simply don’t have the funds to purchase them. You might want to try Klayvale, or one of the larger cities.”

“Actually,” I said, “I know nothing about them. I came to you because I was hoping you could identify them for me? My initial thought was to sell them but if they’re valuable, I might keep them until I travel.”

“You don’t know what these are?” Anthony said. He was clearly confused. Then something passed over his features and his cheeks dimpled when something clicked in his mind. “Ah, yes. You’re a beginner adventurer! You’ve come from the guild over yonder.”

“That’s exactly right,” I said.

Anthony grabbed the other statue and leaned forward over his counter with one in each hand. His expression was lit with excitement. The daylight that swept in through the open doorway with swirling snow, lit his brown eyes. Eyes that were hazel by nature, and greened from age.

“These, young Tosin,” he began, “are spectre sentinels. They belong to the order of spectre magics. These have a long history of use, predominantly in times of war. Each statue conjures a spectre that can perform a single function at one time. The only caveat is that they cannot travel. Not even a single pace.”

“I couldn’t find any runes on them,” I said. “How do I use them?”

“The runes are in the eyes.”

He passed the statues back to me.

“One second,” he said, and leaned over his son to whisper to him. Geoff sped off across the room, and began searching through the mess of tools on his table.

“The runes are in the eyes. They’re small so I have something that will help.”

Geoff returned with a big smile and an even bigger magnifying glass. The lens was held in a brass ring that was ruined with tarnish. When Anthony passed it to me, I set one of the statues on the counter, and used the magnifying glass to inspect the other in my hand.

The chainmail, although made of stone, was carved in high detail. I could see that carver had meticulously gone underneath the chainmail to give the illusion that the statue actually wore the material.

The handle of the magnifying glass was wood, smoothed from years of a specific grip. The edges of the lens were smeared with fingerprints. I moved it around to find a clearer vista and moved it up the statue until I could focus clearly on one of its eyes.

There was a single rune in the left eye. It was so small that it passed for a speck of dirt that glowed a metallic blue. I was astounded that someone was able to put a rune into the eye.

“It was difficult for enemies to find the source of the spectre sentinel magic,” Anthony said. “Because the rune was so well hidden, the statues were often overlooked as a source of the magic.”

“So what happens when you power it? How much mana do they cost?”

“Can we see how they work?” Geoff said.

“Well, that’s up to Tosin, you’ll have to ask him,” Anthony said, giving his son’s hair a tussle.

“I mean—I’m curious to see how these work, so if you don’t mind I’d like to give it a go,” I said, to which Anthony gestured to the open space in the center of the room. Geoff was excited. He jumped up and down, and ran around the counter to get a better look.

I flowed my mana bar out wide, immediately casting shifting hues of blue over a couple hundred statues and figurines. Deciding to use one at a time, I dropped a statue in mid-air, right at the center of my mana ring. Two separate rings of gold brackets appeared. Each had a single bracket, so I knew then that it was a level 2 item.

I sent one filament of mana into the statue’s rune. The whole piece wobbled as though a light wind breathed upon it, but nothing happened. I sent another filament of mana and the same thing happened. The item required 50 mana points to activate, and after continuously sending mana into the item, the cost was fulfilled. A star of white light burst from the statue without sound. The light condensed into a cosmic star that could fit into my palm. It fell to the floor and sat there unmoving.

“That light represents where you want to place the spectre,” Anthony said. “You can move it wherever you’d like.”

I turned my body only slightly to the left. As I did so, the light moved across the floor in tandem. I experimented with moving my hands outward and the light shot across the room. I brought my hands together and the light returned until stopping just two meters before me. I mentally let go. The light grew upward and stretched into a spectral form, creating a life-size exact replica of the statue. The only difference was that the spectre’s clothing moved freely in the soft breeze that continued through the door. Its form was ghost-like. Translucent and milky.

“Wow,” Geoff said.

“So it won’t be able to move from that spot?” I said.

“That’s right,” Anthony said. However you can command it to do pretty much anything else from what I’ve read. It can hold a shield. It can hold a scroll. It can defend with weapons.”

“I’m guessing it doesn’t have mana,” I said.

“Not that I’m aware of.”

I circled the spectre sentinel. I had another statue, so I could cast both at the same time. At first I didn’t think that it would be useful to me. Then I realized that I was already worried about wielding a spellbook and a flagstaff at the same time.

“Felke!” I said, when an idea struck me.

I brought out the spellbook from my bag, after briefly checking to see if crystals had begun to regrow. They had, but they were still tiny, and I hoped my acquaintances wouldn’t notice. I asked the spectre sentinel to hold my spellbook and passed it to him.

The spectre took the book. Its arms and hands moved with a trailing blur. Its eyes remained unblinking and its face expressionless—stoic.

I stepped back and took a few moments to myself to consider what this meant. Anthony and his son were whispering delightedly to each other. Father and son were awed by the magic. I was too.

“Turn to page two,” I commanded.

The spectre sentinel obediently bent its head, and moved its hands in a blur of trailing motion, flipping open the cover, then turning to page two.

“Incredible!’ I said.

“Astounding!’ Anthony said.

“Awesome!” Geoff said.

“You know, Tosin,” Anthony said, “I thought it was sort of odd when you came in with these. You can see why I was surprised. Though they might not be a benefit to everyone, since we’ve been living in relative peace for some time now, some folks would kill to get their hands on a pair of spectre sentinels like these.”

“I think they’re going to help me tremendously,” I said. “Thanks so much for helping me out. I’d love to pay you for your time at least. I know I’ve taken both of you from your work.”

“Oh nonsense,” Anthony said. “It's quite alright. My shop does just fine with business and it was simply a pleasure to talk about something I was afraid I might have never seen in person. I love anything that has to do with figurines, statues, dolls, armatures. Anything in that neighborhood really.”

Before leaving, I learned another odd thing. The spectre wouldn’t dissolve of its own accord. I had to re-absorb mana from it. Those 50 points returned to my mana bar. Only then did the spectre sentinel dissolve into a vanishing point of light. That was the first time I experienced mana returning to me.

Anthony and Geoff were super kind, warm people, and I hoped to one day find more excuses to visit them. They bid me a friendly farewell, with Geoff shouting, “nice to meet you Tosin! See ya!” as I waved them goodbye and left.

Evening would be descending soon and I wasn’t sure I wanted to travel back to the guild at night. I decided to find an inn, paid for a room, and ordered a foamed molasses stout from the bar. The inn was called Keys Cavern and it was homey. Adventurers and well dressed merchants filled the space. A painter was in the corner seated on a stool over a mess of materials and melting colors. He was in the middle of a drab piece and a host of folks watched from over his shoulder, whispering to each other.

“Go easy on the stout,” the bartender said, grabbing my attention and sliding the stout across the bar. “We brew 'em darker here. Good for thickening your blood.”

“Many thanks,” I said, and lifted the tankard. I couldn’t help that some of the foam cascaded over the side of the tankard, the handle, the back of my hand, and splashed upon the floor. I picked my course expertly through the maze of bodies, keeping my tankard high above my head and clear of being bumped into.

The rooms of the inn were outside and arranged campus style. I’d been given a key to room 11 which I found with ease. The room was simple and afforded me a small fireplace with a single night's worth of wood to burn. As I hung my cloak and made myself comfortable, I sat on the floor, leaning against the bed frame across from the fire, and sipped at my foamed molasses stout. It was indeed thicker. Stickier. It tasted of sweet soot and the resin of oaks. Freshly roasted malts put visions of a lifetime of campfires in my mind.

“Spectre sentinels,” I chuckled. What luck. Two of them. One to hold my spellbook. One to hold my flagstaff. Anthony had mentioned it was a possibility to conjure copies. That comment had made me quite intrigued with the possibility. I wonder how many weapons, spells, and artifacts I could wield through these awesome statues.

Then I got to thinking of Fist of Wind. I was hardly using the spell anymore. Perhaps it was time to upgrade to a better offensive spell. Maybe something separate that I could keep in the spellbook. That would free up space on the staff pole for other runes if needed. Not a bad idea at all.

For the next few hours I fell in love with the flavors and aromas of the stout. The fire crackled peacefully. Logs broke into embers and sent cinders up the chimney. I curled up into bed and fell asleep just as the embers dimmed to a soft glow.