Spellscribed: Conviction (14 page)

Endrance's eyebrows furrowed. "Well." he said. "Then I guess you'll need those truth spells after all?"

"Listen you..." Weldom started, scowling.

The Archmagus slapped his hand on the arm of his chair, and Weldom went silent.

"I will begin." Talos started. Narrowing his eyes at Endrance, a gleam of light danced in his eyes that was not from the candles.

"Who are you?" Talos asked directly.

Endrance kept his eyes locked on the man. "I am Endrance, the Spengur of Balator."

"Where were you born?"

"I do not know." Endrance said without hesitation. "But for as long as I can remember, I was raised in Wayrest."

Whether or not he had answered correctly, Talos continued. "Who trained you?"

"I was trained by Kaelob, who is present."

"Were you with anyone else when the Magistrate was murdered?"

"Yes."

"Who."

"I was with my bodyguard, Joven."

"Was he in Ironsoul the same time you were, when a similar murder occurred?"

Endrance felt a sad twinge in his chest. Someone else had died because of him. "Yes."

"Did he kill any of them?"

"No."

"How can you be sure?"

"Joven doesn't cut throats, he takes heads."

"Is that an exaggeration?"

"No. He believes taking the head off is the most effective method."

"Did the elf murder the magistrate?"

Endrance blinked, trying to mentally change tracks. "Please clarify." he said.

"How can that be any clearer?"

"I need you to tell me 
which
 elf it is you are asking about." Endrance stated. "There were two."

Weldom scoffed and gestured angrily. "This again!" he sneered.

"Silence Weldom." Talos said curtly. He turned back to Endrance. "The elf you know as Valzoa."

"Valzoa did not kill the magistrate." Endrance replied.

"How do you know?"

"He was already being detained when the murder happened."

"Did the other elf murder the magistrate?"

"Yes."

"How do you know?"

"She told me."

"Who is she?"

Endrance took a breath before speaking. "She is Jalyin, Sha'hdi of the Poisonblades. An assassin."

The brunette scowled, but didn't look like she disbelieved him. Weldom's expression was all too easy to read. He believed Endrance was spinning wild fabrications. Talos looked exactly the same as he did in the beginning of the interrogation. Calm. Kaelob actually looked worried for him, which was at least somewhat reassuring.

"How can she have done that?"

"She is a moon elf, and a master of shadow powers that I've never even dreamed of." Endrance explained. "And she has a garrote that is razor sharp."

"How do you know?"

Endrance tilted his head up, touching his neck. "I was also targeted, though I was able to survive."

Talos turned to the other participants and looked at them. Kaelob's concern deepened, but he did not speak. the female magus looked surprised.

"It looks healed." she observed. "Almost couldn't see it."

"I had a healing spell at the time." Endrance said. "My familiar helped me cast it right after she struck."

Weldom sighed, leaning back in his chair. "I can confirm." he said begrudgingly. "His familiar is one of the three Fjallar."

Kaelob muttered something to himself, but Talos spoke over him. "How did she manage to follow you all the way to Balator, only to attack you there?"

"She was hired to follow me when I left Wayrest, and to interfere all the way until I reached Balator; where she was to kill me." Endrance grimaced. He knew where the next questions were going, and he was not expecting a good reception.

Talos leaned forward. "And do you know who hired her?"

"Yes." Endrance responded.

"Who?" Talos asked.

"Are you sure that your truth spells are working?" Endrance asked. "I don't want to be laughed at."

"Who?" Talos repeated.

"She was hired by Archmagus Valeria." Endrance expelled, waiting to see Weldom, or perhaps even Talos, laugh or accuse him of lying. They didn't.

They were silent, looking at him with stunned expressions on their faces. Except for Kaelob, who looked instead terrified.

"Kaelob." Talos muttered, not looking over to the mage. "Your presence is no longer needed today. Please return home."

"But..." the man stammered.

"Now."

Kaelob took a steadying breath, looked at Endrance with a strange, almost mournful expression, and cast a quick spell, disappearing.

The other three looked at each other. The magus nodded, and set about casting a long form spell. When she completed it, Endrance's ears popped, as if the air pressure had suddenly changed.

"Done." she said, pulling one of her earrings out. The Crystalphage gem in the center crumbled to black dust as she tossed the jewelry aside. Endrance had never seen anyone drain a crystal so thoroughly before.

"It's strong enough?" Weldom asked.

"For now, it's strong enough that the gods couldn't peek in, if such uncaring beings could be moved to do so." she said.

"Endrance." Talos said. "You have discovered something that only the four of us knew about. To everyone else, she's been dead for sixteen years."

"Since the night I was born." Endrance said.

"You already knew she was your mother." Talos stated. "We talked about that."

"Yes."

"You also know what your father is."

"Yes." Endrance said with a sigh. "Though that's impossible, it seems to be the only conclusion."

Talos shook his head. "We'll talk about that later. What's important now is learning as much as we can about Valeria's movements."

"You all... believe me?" Endrance asked.

Weldom rolled his eyes. "Yes." he said. "Though I still think you're working for her."

"She gave birth to me, she didn’t raise me." Endrance snapped. "And even if she did, trying to have me killed kind of takes her off the 'acceptable employer' list."

The brunette grinned. "I like his snark." she said. "Would make a good magus someday."

"Assuming he is not executed." Weldom muttered.

Endrance blinked, confused. "I don't understand. If you believe me, why am I still on trial?"

Talos sighed. "First, we can't just declare you innocent because the High King demands a trial. This means we have to bring you before the courts. Secondly, the king or his proxy could try to claim that you simply hired the assassin to kill for you on your way to Balator, and then turned on you because you didn't pay. Thirdly, the fact that the King of Balator is dead at your hands, while not strictly a legal concern of Ironsoul, sets a precedent for murdering state officials."

"It wasn't murder." Endrance said. "I was doing my duty as Spengur."

"Your duty also included killing the man who gave you that duty?" the brunette asked. "Talk about operational freedom."

"Yeah," Endrance replied with a roll of his eyes. "I'm pretty much their magical boogeyman. There are even stories they tell their children to keep them in line."

The brunette's eyes widened. "That's amazing." she said.

"Yeah. The stories are pretty ridiculous." Endrance admitted. "But, I guess I understand. So what happens now?"

"We need to talk about what you know of Valeria's actions. After that, you will be sent back to your quarters until the trial." Weldom stated.

"And when is that, exactly?" Endrance asked. "I've been going stir crazy in there. I've written upgraded spells into my book, re-scribed all of my tattoos, and have even got a new spell pretty much done."

Weldom scowled at him. "You can't have re-scribed your tattoos." he said. "You haven't had any visitors."

Endrance blinked, confusion plain on his face. “Huh?” he blurted.

“You haven’t had any visitors, much less a tattooist.” Weldom snapped. “You couldn’t have-“

“Well, I did.” Endrance snapped back, pulling the sleeve of his left arm up and showing the skin to the three mages. New lines were obvious on the tattoos running up his arm from his hand and wrist. “I just finished these last night.”

Weldom stared blankly at the defendant’s arm. The brunette let out a titter that seemed strangely uncharacteristic of the rough appearance she assumed.

“I guess someone finally knows something better than you, eh Weldom?” she asked mirthfully, leaning back in her chair. “Now I’m wishing I could have been his master. We would have gotten along famously.”

“Infamously is more like it.” Weldom muttered as he continued to examine the changes to Endrance’s tattoos. “You’re almost as bad as Kaelob.”

“Except I’m sane.” She replied. “You all checked. I just like making pretty things that sometimes don’t work right.”

“Her artifices have improved life in Ironsoul in several areas, Weldom.” Talos reminded his subordinate. “Endrance would have been a useful addition in her field of work.”

“And give Valeria’s son access to the ward stones for the city?” Weldom shook his head. “That’s not just a dumb idea, it’s suicidal. If Kaelob’s report was true, our wards are the only thing keeping her out.”

“We have no idea if an Archmagus caliber litch would be repulsed by our wards.” Talos replied. “We’ve never seen anyone over wizard caliber become a litch, so we don’t even know what their abilities, or even their limits, are.”

Endrance lowered his arm. “How come?”

Talos looked back at the mage in the circle of candles, as if he had temporarily forgotten about him. “How come what?”

“How come you’ve never seen anyone above wizard becoming a litch?” Endrance asked. “I know that one of them turning is pretty horrible, but historically, shouldn’t it have happened at some time?”

“It has to do with one of the qualifications required to pass your magus trials.” Talos replied. “One of them is called ‘The Well’. Those who have learned to access it, typically cannot fulfill the conditions required to become a litch.”

“Uhmm…” Endrance muttered.

The brunette shrugged. “When it comes to fights, we usually die before we ever come close to running out of power, which is the first condition we’ve found that sparks the conversion process. Only specifically engineered circumstances could possibly draw us into such a vulnerable position.”

Endrance thought about the power flowing through his aura, as well as pulsing in his veins. He had been on his own for only a year and a few months, and already his ability to store power had increased by nearly half before he had considered what he could be storing in his body. He had but to wonder what kind of power a mage like him could have in a decade, no, a century? He started to comprehend the magnitude of what they were telling him.

“Okay, so I do have some information about Valeria that is relevant to this.” He said.

Weldom’s scowl softened. “Do tell.” He said.

“Valeria had been working for the King of Balator.” Endrance started, trying to sum up his terrifying first year with the barbarians as simply as possible. “I did not know this until after I had killed him, but she had been trading him knowledge on advanced demon summoning techniques. If I hadn’t stopped him, he could have summoned something more dangerous than a few succubi by now.”

“Traded for what?” Weldom asked. Talos was letting him steer the questions, so Endrance decided to answer plainly.

“He was trading her Crystalphage.” Endrance said. “Charged Crystalphage in exchange for arcane knowledge and the use of her assassin while she was in the area.”

The three exchanged glances. Endrance felt left out again. “I can only conclude,” Endrance continued. “That while you all may have enormous power while alive, she’s still bound by the limitations of undeath; she cannot regenerate any power on her own.”

Weldom shook his head. “Where could Kalenden have gotten such a large quantity of Crystalphage?”

Endrance shrugged. “From my maps, and the maps of the barbarians, Balator is the largest mountain in the world. I’m sure there are deposits of it all over the place.”

“The gem isn’t very common, Endrance.” Weldom replied. His tone was slightly less offensive, perhaps a sign he was starting to believe him.

“I found a cavern in the mountain behind my home on the seventh bowl, that was covered in the stuff. I’d guess about four to five thousand pounds of it, by rough estimation.” Endrance explained. “More than enough that I could have built an entire room out of it. Or made armor out of it.”

“That’s… quite the claim there.” Weldom stated.

“Yeah.” Endrance replied. “I hope the guy you sent isn’t too greedy, or I’m going to be upset when I get back to Balator.”

“He will exercise his discretion, of course.” Weldom stated. “If you prove to be innocent, I’ll make sure he cleans up before he leaves.”