Dralin (23 page)

Tina was Ebudae’s personal assistant. She
was a nice young lady with a very bad stutter and an eyepatch
covering an empty socket. The eye had been lost in some terrible
childhood event no one would tell Pelya about. Lady Pallon hired
her because it would make Ebudae’s life more difficult. The
stuttering was bad enough that the girl would have to wait for
minutes whenever Tina delivered a message from her grandmother,
which would make her late for whatever her grandmother needed her
for. In addition, the eyepatch was a bit unnerving because Lady
Pallon had ordered one with a painted eyeball on it and insisted
the woman wear it. Tina was a poor woman who had no other avenues
of work so did what she had to.

“Pelya and I would like some lunch in the
dining room, Tina.” The woman brushed back her dull blonde hair and
nodded. Tina avoided speaking whenever possible, much to the relief
of the girls. They walked into the long, empty dining room and sat
down next to each other in seats nearest the kitchen. “Grandmother
almost never uses this. She always eats in the conservatory.”

“I’ve noticed that,” Pelya said. “What do
you want to do after we eat?”

“Are you going to do your drills like
normal?” Ebudae asked. Her face looked ready for disappointment if
the answer was yes.

“I’m only allowed to do them for an hour a
day and I really don’t feel like it right now. Can we do something
else?”

Ebudae’s face brightened. “Yes, definitely.
There are all sorts of things we can do. Umm . . . I have some
ideas, but is there anything that interests you?”

Pelya didn’t answer right away, because Tina
came in with bowls of thick stew with bread to sop it up. There was
a plate of blackberry pie for each of them. Whatever Lady Pallon’s
faults might be, she always had the best food to serve, even to the
children.

When Tina was gone, Pelya leaned over and
whispered, “Daddy said there are secret places below the buildings
in the gardens and that I should go exploring, but not too
deep.”

Ebudae nodded vigorously, grinning without
saying a word. They both turned to the food and shoveled it into
their mouths as fast as possible, not bothering to notice how
delightful it all tasted. When done, they left their dishes for
Tina to clean up and then headed upstairs for supplies.

Pelya followed her to one of the secret
doors. Ebudae put her back against the door and spread out her
arms. “We’re friends now, right? If I let you in, you’ll never tell
anyone what’s inside.”

“I promise,” Pelya vowed with her right palm
over her heart. It was good enough. Ebudae opened the door and
rapidly motioned her in.

Before closing and locking the door, she
glanced back to make certain no one was watching. “Alright. I need
to get some things.” She stopped and looked at Pelya’s belt. “I
have another longknife you can use in case we get into
trouble.”

Pelya thought about it for a moment, chewing
her bottom lip. She didn’t want to kill anyone, but if they found
danger, dying would be worse. Moreover, she really, really missed
the weight of it at her side and was constantly putting her hand
where the missing knife was.

At her nod, Ebudae went to a drawer and
pulled out a steel knife that she handed over. It was a little
longer and heavier than what Pelya was used to, but it was very
well made with a steel wrapped hilt and curved etchings on the
blade. Its quality was as excellent as the knife she had left back
at the barracks.

“Here, take these too. I’ll get you a
pouch.” Ebudae placed three small multi-sided balls into Pelya’s
hands. Pelya gasped when she saw the magical runes etched into each
side. “The blue one will act as an emergency light if my lanterns
go out. The runes glow brightly in the dark, which is helpful. The
dark green one will make smoke that can give you time to run away
from something. The light green one will show you secret things.
They only work once.” Ebudae put them in a pouch one by one as she
explained what they did. “Don’t mix them up! There are keywords
that activate them. Listen carefully and repeat after me. If you
mess it up, you could die.”

Pelya nodded as everything was explained.
She set the pouch on a table nearby while they practiced saying the
keywords exactly right. She knew about rune balls from her studies
in the guard, but wasn’t allowed to use them.

“Do you feel confident in your ability to
use them?” Ebudae asked. “Because if you have even a little doubt,
things are going to go badly.”

Pelya stood straight and looked her in the
eyes. “I have complete confidence. I’ll use them wisely and
correctly.” Ebudae reacted by giving her a big hug, which Pelya
returned fiercely. In the space of a day, they had become best of
friends and complete confidantes.

The large room they were in had magical
items scattered carelessly on tables, stands, chairs and walls.
There were a few tables that had vials, tubes, magical focuses and
various items that Pelya couldn’t even begin to describe. In
addition to that were bookshelves with over a hundred books, a
luxury few could afford. They were kept more neatly than anything
else, showing an added amount of respect. “I found those in the
secret places. The ones in my normal library aren’t as interesting.
I’m not allowed to go to bookstores to get more . . . or leave the
house,” Ebudae said. “You can read them anytime you like. There’s a
lot of stuff you won’t find in the Guard library, including a few
stories with adults having sex.”

“What?!” Pelya exclaimed in disbelief.
“There’re books about that stuff? I mean, I know adults do it and
Daddy says lots of people get hurt with it, but he won’t tell me
how. It makes him angry sometimes.”

The young wizardess pulled out a book from
the bottom of a pile stacked neatly on a chair and flipped through
it. In addition to words, some of which Pelya hadn’t learned, there
were drawings of naked people on the pages. She blushed deeply and
closed it in Ebudae’s hands while the other girl shrugged and
placed it neatly back on the pile.

Everything about the room and the adventure
they were on was different from the way Pelya had been raised.
Ebudae’s dabbling in arcane arts, access to books that would make
an adult blush, and tomes of magic were naughty and mysterious.
Commander Coodmur had told her to experience life outside the Guard
and this was definitely outside. Pelya debated whether to be
shocked or excited by what she saw. After a moment, she decided the
thrill of adventure, the unknown and the dangerous were all
wonderful and she was going to have fun with it.

While Pelya studied the room, Ebudae changed
into a long, thin purple dress with slits on the side of the legs
for easy movement. She wore tight leggings and dark boots that were
quiet when she stepped. Over all of that was a wizard’s cloak.
Pelya had seen a couple and read about them, but they were rare in
most places and never seen on a child. Dralin wasn’t most places
though. Being a city with a higher population of wizards than any
three countries combined, magical items like wizard’s cloaks were
fairly common. Even then, children never had them.

Upon seeing Pelya staring at her, Ebudae
said, “The cloak and the dress have runes sewn into them to protect
me from magical and physical things, not everything, but a lot. The
leggings keep spiders and rats from biting me too easily. I have a
small pack here for exploring.” She pointed at a waterproofed
leather backpack. There’s extra food, stuff for making fire, a
couple of magical light wands, some first aid kits and a couple of
vials with healing salve.”

“Healing salve? That’s expensive,” Pelya
said in awe.

“Grandmother expects me to get into trouble.
It’s the one thing I have to tell her about when I want more, so
don’t need it for anything.” She winked and grinned.

“Alright.” Pelya grinned back. The
excitement was racing through her veins and she couldn’t wait to
go. She gladly took the pack when Ebudae pointed to it and looked
at her hopefully. Then they went through an entry into the other
secret room. There was a large rune circle on the floor in one
corner that took up a quarter of the room and had candles all
around it. Everything was drawn in some sort of silvery liquid.
Other rune circles were drawn on the walls around the room, though
they were in mundane colors. Three worktables had different items
on them that Pelya couldn’t identify. One had tubes, bottles and
vials with colored liquids and looked to be some sort of
potion-making table.

“Did you do all of this?” Pelya asked in a
hoarse whisper, afraid to disturb anything with her voice.

“Yes,” she answered while pushing a series
of stones in the wall. A section of wall slid slowly down into the
floor and Ebudae moved into the secret hallway beyond when it was
done. “I’m never allowed to go anywhere, so I spend most of my time
working in the lab. Every once in a while I go down to the tunnels
below to find more stuff. I think this manor was built over some
sort of wizard’s academy. I don’t think grandmother knows that
though, so shh.” She put a finger in front of her lips and winked
again. Pelya grinned in excitement and quickly followed her into
the secret passage just as the door began to rise again.

It was a stone hallway just big enough for a
thin person to walk through comfortably if they weren’t too tall. A
magical lantern was sitting in a niche and Ebudae quickly lit it
with a word and a gesture, showing off her magical ability. When
she did, a breeze rustled her hair and robes. The bright
yellow-green flame dutifully impressed Pelya. Ebudae motioned for
her to follow.

After a brief walk, they came to a
surprisingly wide spiral staircase that Ebudae wasted no time going
down. Pelya’s heart beat rapidly in her chest and she couldn’t stop
grinning. Hidden buildings under the city, a wizardess for a
friend, magical places and danger all wrapped up in spooky passages
illuminated only by a magical lantern casting its flickering light.
Missing her drills no longer mattered. She was going on an
adventure.

There were halls leading off the staircase
as they passed the second floor, main floor, basement and a level
below that Pelya hadn’t known existed. Even after that, the
staircase continued downward until it finally came to a large stone
chamber. Ebudae spoke a word of power and flicked her wrist at a
lantern sitting on a table in the corner. The breeze ruffled her
hair again. Another yellow-green flame appeared in it, helping to
illuminate the room a little better.

“This is my staging area,” Ebudae explained.
There were supplies on shelves and tables all around the chamber.
At least twenty lanterns were in one corner, sacks and barrels were
sealed, not giving a clue to what was contained inside, various
artifacts were lain out on top of and underneath two of the tables.
“That’s where I keep some of the things I find that I haven’t
examined enough or that I’m not sure I’m going to keep,” she stated
with a gesture at them.

“Wow!” Pelya’s voice was loud in the
chamber, causing her to cover her mouth with both hands. Ebudae
stared at her incredulously. “I’m sorry,” Pelya told her in a loud
whisper. She continued in a more normal voice. “This is just
amazing. I thought the secret entrances were in the buildings
outside though. I didn’t know they were under the manor.”

“Some are in those buildings, but they’re
not in very good condition, there’s more danger and less treasure
that way.” Ebudae made gestures in front of runes on either side of
the door. Light shimmered momentarily in the doorway. “Wards I
placed to keep bad things out. Come here.” She pulled her knife out
of its sheath and motioned her over.

Pelya moved to her suspiciously. When Ebudae
took her left hand and pushed the sleeve up, Pelya pulled it back.
Ebudae took it again and made a slow cut not far away from where
she had cut the night before. Pelya set her jaw in irritation, but
watched while the wizardess took dabs of blood and placed them in
the center of each rune, saying a word and gesturing each time. The
breeze would lightly ruffle her hair with each casting, but it
didn’t seem to touch Pelya.

“There. Now you can go through even if the
ward is activated.”

“Oh. You could have told me that
before
cutting me.” Pelya put her hands on her hips and
glared playfully. She narrowed her eyes when Ebudae took her hand
again. They widened when the wizardess wiped the rest of the blood
and sucked it off a finger.

“You’re really creepy,” Pelya stated
decisively.

“I like being creepy. It keeps normal people
away. Are you normal people?” she challenged with raised
eyebrow.

Pelya shook her head. “Nope. I’m not normal
at all. Shall we go find some danger and magic?”

“Yes.” They took hands and walked through
the entry. After Ebudae reactivated the wards, they continued. The
hall was wide enough for them to walk side by side easily. It was
dusty with a few threads of tapestries that hadn’t withstood the
test of time. The air was musty and the only sound was that of
their footsteps. Remnants of rusty torch brackets were along the
walls. There were footprints and drag marks from Ebudae’s treasure
collecting.

A few minutes later, they entered a large
sloping chamber with a high ceiling the lantern barely illuminated.
There were six marbled columns along the stepped aisle, but one of
them had broken and fallen across the way, unable to handle
centuries of neglect. Pelya suspected the floor was marble too.
Balconies above had crumbled to the bottom level. Looking up, she
could see that there was a balcony above them made of stone with
columns supporting it. It didn’t look very sturdy to her though,
especially since there were holes and cracks in various places.

“This used to be an auditorium. You can see
the wide seating sections to either side even though there aren’t
any seats there anymore. The front section would have had a wooden
stage with a false bottom for props and people to disappear into.”
Ebudae pointed ahead to a large open space. “If we really are in a
wizard’s academy, this might have been used as a lecture hall for
important speakers.” She walked down the steps, around the fallen
column and sidestepped debris on her way down to where the stage
would have been.