Part 1
Rickkter strode down the sparsely lit passageway, he rounded a bend and heard a metallic clang, as of steel striking stone. There was a faint light to be seen through the single doorway down this stretch of corridor. The strange sound came again followed by a muffled curse. The Raccoon crept silently along the wall and peered into the small room, being careful to stay in the shadow himself. Never can be to careful. The room was dim, a small torch glimmered where it lay against the wall. Above it a small wooden plank had been hung on the only sconce in the small room. which explained why the torch wasn't in its proper place. A blur of movement preceded the by now familiar sound of metal striking stone, but was now followed by the clatter of whatever it was dropping to the floor.
Peering hard into the gloom he made out a vaguely human shape and caught the glitter of steel as whoever it was once again attempted to achieve their goal. The item, which Rick was certain would be a dagger flitted across the room and almost struck the crude wooden target against the far wall.... almost... but not quite. It elicited a flare of sparks as it struck the hard stone and clattered to the ground beside three identical objects.
The person stalked across the chamber and bent to retrieve his missiles. As he stooped the Raccoon was able to make out his face for an instant. The person was clad all in shiny black armor and the helm was rather distorted in shape. It took Rick a moment to realize that it wasn't a helm at all but an actual face.
The odd looking man stood again and turned to return to his original position. In the backwash of lite from the torch, Rickkter saw to his interest that the morph had four arms. That clinched it, that he knew of there were very few keepers that could possibly fit that description.
He recalled the only other one he remembered seeing before... Dan the gardener.... he had a black and red carapace and his head was blockier, not as rounded as this one was. That left only one person he knew of who this could be. He had heard about but never met the newest insect resident at the keep. But he was supposedly a mage of some unknown new sect. Rickkter made a slight throwing towards the ant.
He finished casting the spell that would allow him to sense any magic in the immediate area. The walls, and floor took on a luminous quality as he viewed it on the level at which magic was visible. Here and there a streamer of magical energy floated through the room.
And yet to his utter confusion the area around the ant was normal, as if he was repelling the energy. The raccoon concentrated on the insect harder. No, the magic wasn't being repelled, yet neither was he soaking it up as most people did. If anything the energy seemed to flow right through him as if he weren't even there.
But that made no sense! It had to be a magical screen or shield of some kind. Rickkter knew many that might create this effect. But all left telltales that he knew to look for. None were present here. In fact from the insect himself Rickkter could sense no magical emissions at all.
The raccoon watched as the other morph once more assumed his position and began launching blades at the impromptu target again. This time he seemed to have given up trying to aim the daggers and hoped that volume might show results where accuracy had failed.
One of the darts did indeed hit the target, but the throw had been so sloppy that the shaft had struck on its side. One of the daggers slipped through his grasp and dropped to the ground. He ignored it and stalked down to the target once more, muttering curses all the way.
Rickkter stepped into the room silent as a ghost and retrieved the fallen blade. He felt it's weight and balance even as he melted into the shadows that still abounded in the guttering torchlight.
The insect had retrieved his daggers and made his way back to his starting place. He looked down, hunting for the fallen blade no doubt. With a carefully practiced flick of the wrist the raccoon sent it on its way.
The ant whirled at the heavy thunk as the blade sank into the otherwise perfectly unmarked target. Seeing his lost dagger quivering in the target the insect whirled to the shadows, going into a defensive crouch, one of the daggers sliding into position for a throw.
" Do you really think you'd have better luck hitting me than you have been having with that hunk of wood?" Rickkter let amusement slide into his voice. The morph maintained his crouch but shifting the blades position to a grasp that would allow him to slash at an enemy that leaped upon him from the shadows.
" Show yourself." The ant growled towards the shadows.
With a grin Rickkter raised his hand and called a witchlight into existence. The insect twitched at the sudden brightness. " As you wish. Aren't we up rather late?"
The insect came to his feet slowly. " I couldn't sleep. How long have you been there?"
Rickkter shrugged. " Long enough. From what I've seen, your problem is not your aim. but rather your grip. These blades were designed for a soft hand, with more flexibility." He wiggled his furry, black fingers at the insect. "Your's are hardened claws and lack the flexibility of animal hands, so they cannot properly grip the smooth metal. I would suggest wrapping the grip in a light cloth or bit of leather to allow you a better grip"
David held the knife up as he examined it. " I never thought of that, I couldn't figure out what the problem was. I'm not THAT out of practice." Rickkter chuckled. "Glad to help," the raccoon said before turning towards the door.
" Please... sir... I'm afraid I don't know your name."
The raccoon smiled wanly. " "My name is Rickkter" he said and bowed deeply.
"It's a pleasure to meet you."
" David, David Restamar at your service sir." The ant followed it with a stiff bow.
" A pleasure to meet you David, I hope to see you around." The raccoon once more stepped towards the door.
" Please... Please stay. I apologize for my rude welcome. I was irritated and suprised at the time." The ant shrugged slightly.
Rickkter chuckled softly. " I normally have that effect on people I've just met."
" Have you been here long?"
The raccoon cocked his head slightly. " Depends on what you mean by long. Long enough to get to know this place some... but nowhere near long enough to know everything about it. I doubt if anyone truly does."
The ant stared at him in silence.
"Local rumour has it that your a mage, whats more a mage of an until now unknown sect. Is that true?"
The ant nodded. " I am a user of the Kamas. A form of Rune magic."
" Really? Interesting. I find it strange that a mage would take the time from his research to become versed in the weapons of war." Rickkter indicated the small pile of throwing blades as evidence.
The ant shook his head. " My training was never completed. I had to leave before I had learned a tenth of what they had to teach me."
Rickkter nodded. " Its never easy is it? To be forced to leave behind something you had just begun to understand."
" Are you then a Mage forced to leave his studies as well?" Rickkter grunted. "More than I care to admit, though only once did I not leave by choice."
The ant's antennae swiveled a bit as if he was struggling with himself about something. " Would you care to see an example of Kamasi runes?"
Rickkter cocked an ear forward at this. " Certainly. I'm always willing to look at something new."
The ant reached behind his back and drew from a hidden sheath a dagger of exceptional work. It glittered in the torchlight as he passed it to the Raccoon.
Rickkters palm tingled slightly as he accepted the weapon. He brought it close to his face, so as to examine it better in the weak torch light, though his weak eyesight made it still more difficult. "Very, very nice."
The dagger was indeed a true masterpiece. It's intricately carved hilt was of gold, demasked in the form of a writhing dragon spouting fire. At the crosspiece the dragons body split in two and twined around the guard that protected the hand from damage during a parry. The blade was of polished steel with an inlay of gold down the center. Inscribed on the inlay was a scrolling series of lines framing a set of runes like none Rickkter had ever seen before.
The dagger was substantial in size, but seemed to weigh near nothing. Turning towards the target the Raccoon drew back and threw the weapon at the wooden plank.
As he completed the throw the raccoon felt the knife slip. He winced as he imagined the knife would strike either the wall or ceiling because of that mistake. The loud thunk as it sank into the target jerked his head up. He thought he glimpsed the runes on the blade glowing faintly. But when he blinked it disappeared so he couldn't be sure.
He quickly scanned the weapon for any active magic... and found nothing but a slightly thicker concentration of ambient magic around the target. Whatever had affected his throw was long gone by that point.
He walked over and grabbed hold of the handle, the blade sliding easily out of the wood. " Impressive! You make this?" David chuckled. " Fraid not, such things are still way beyond my ability."
Rickkter handed the blade back to the mage. " So where are you from?"
" My homeland is northeast of here... A place called Oultera."
The battlelord's ears came to attention at this, but he quickly relaxed them. " That's interesting." David sighed softly. " Go ahead, I'm pretty sure I know what your going to ask next."
" What? Oh you mean questions about the fact that your homeland is apparently inside the Barrier Mountains? Why should I doubt you? And I don't think a spy would be anywhere near as open about it as you are. Am I close?"
David shrugged. " And where do you hale from?"
Rickkter frowned. " From the East." He said in a voice that in no way invited further questions on the subject.
The ant was plainly not happy with such a vague response, but seemed to not want to press the issue. A fact that Rickkter was grateful for. This "mage" seemed to not be interested in starting trouble, or digging deeper into other peoples concerns.
However, that didn't truly comfort the raccoon. Although he had tried to put David's fears at ease about it, he took the location of David's homeland very seriously. A very good spy might just try something of this kind to allay suspicion. Dangerous, but it was at least possible.
And the oddity of his magical aura... or lack thereof only sharpened the mage's curiosity. No true mage could cast magic without some type of magical trace being left, even his own blocks left mild distortions behind that could be seen by adepts.
Whatever distortion shield David had surrounding him, it blanked all scans without showing a trace of itself. And from what little he had heard of the circumstances surrounding his coming to the keep the ant had been able to magically teleport himself and a whole scout team over twenty miles, while injured. And without losing anyone in the process.
The battlelord was very interested in knowing how that trick had been accomplished, but squelched that desire for more important concerns. He had an idea of how to catch a glimpse of David's true ability. If he observed the insect in a combat situation that required his magic be used the shield might slip, and he just might see what was underneath.
This was not something he was excited about. The last time he had done anything like this he had nearly gotten himself killed. But then David did not appear comparable to Yonson by any stretch of the imagination. The ambassador's cool intelligence and quiet proficiency were not present in this young man. David seemed almost clumsy in his movements and not all that cunning. " Earnest yet stupid." came to mind, but Rickkter squelched that thought He had been caught to many times by such outward appearances.
Inwardly chuckling at that thought even as he dismissed it, the raccoon turned to the ant. " Tell me, you wouldn't be in the mood for a bit of a workout would you?"
Rickkter looked around the small room one more time, assessing all his options again. He was surrounded by a wealth of magical artifacts, ranging from the simple and easy, to the powerful yet complex. He stood before a rack of wooden staves, each had a small tag hanging near eye level. Turning each one he read the label for the weapons.
His recalled David's weapon, his metal staff. It collapsed to fit into a thigh sheath, reminding Rickkter sourly of his own sondeshike. He swallowed the sudden taste of bile in his throat at the knowledge that it was still insufferably beyond his reach, at least for the moment.
He stepped the the other end of the rack. The weapons had been carefully arranged in order of relative strength, he was now looking at the high end weapons. Many of them had magical projectile enchantments.... Rickkter disregarded these. His own skills would allow for that, and although he didn't know David's full capabilities, he wasn't going to go for overkill in such an engagement.
Many had specialized spells that enhanced weapon speed, allowing blocks and strikes to be made in the blink of an eye. These to his discarded. He was now near the midway point of the shelf. He picked up a staff that was reinforced with steel bands and one which the label read as a magically strengthed weapon. Damn near unbreakable. That would counter Davids steel shaft. The rod of wood had come from a tree felled by a lightning strike and had the added property of resistence to energy, be it magical or otherwise. Rick thought back with chagrine to his last duel and how it had ended. His arm had been sore to the touch for a week after that blast of lightning had used his weapon as a lightning rod, channeling part of the furious attack into his arm.
He grinned as he realized that this weapon would prevent such an occurrence this time. He removed the small tag and taking the staff stepped back into the main room.
Part 2
Rickkter watched the ant carefully as he finished his preparations. As he removed his cloak and turned to lay the it down the Raccoon couldn't help noticing that his jerkin had no back, and a small, very out of proportion, set of wings issued from the middle of the insects upper back, glinting in the torch light. They extended to just above his bulbous abdomen, in all no more than two feet in length.
" I can't help asking... Do those work?"
" What work? Oh! Well....." The ant raised them to a horizontal position, and quivering slightly, they grew to a proportionate size to the rest of the ants body, now covering his entire back and coming to no more than a foot from the ground. " Now they will."
" Outstanding! I can see that there were much stranger choices of form than mine. I'm frankly envious of the ability to fly." He said with a grin.
" One of these days I'll have to show you what it's like, but for the moment, More immediate concerns." The insect's voice had a jocular tone, but Rickkter couldn't read his alien expression to be certain of his impression.
David stepped onto the raised circle that formed the specially warded combat arena, designed with the specific purpose of allowing mages of all degrees to take their abilities to the limits... without destroying major portions of the keep in the process. The massive pillars and walls of the large chamber were covered in some of the most powerful anti-magic wards known to exist. Rickkter noticed that he now wore a pair of leather gauntlets that he must have had from before his change, his hands were not the perfect fit anymore and the material bunched oddly in places. The battlelord was rather curious why he had worn them at all.
Taking up a position half way across the combat area from the raccoon, David reached to the sheath at his belt and in one smooth motion drew out two connected shafts of metal. With a smart downward snap he assembled his fighting staff and then whirled it into a fighting position.
His clumsiness seemed to evaporate into something resembling a trained fighter. He was much more confident in both bearing and movement now. Rickkter's evaluation of the young man began to reorganize a little.
The steel shafts glittered in the light, their intricate engraved designs casting the torch light back in broken flashes. The center grip of the staff was done in what looked to be bronze and what slightly thicker than the rest of the length.
Rickkter nodded in delight and brandished his weapon. The simple oaken staff, reinforced with steel bands seemed drab next to David's finery. " Very nice! Shall we?" This might actually be an okay match. The insect nodded silently and gave the Raccoon a respectful bow before resuming his combat stance. Rickkter was on him in a split second, raining blows on the ant.
A slight smile played across Battlelord's face as David blocked every one of the incoming strikes with his staff, before launching a fierce counter attack. Rickkter was then forced to defend himself from an attack as ferocious as his previous had been.
He blocked the blows and went on the offensive at the first falter, driving the ant backwards with the suddenness of his attack. He managed to slip a blow in under the mage's staff, his weapon striking across the insect's lower torso. The ant hardly even flinched as he went once more on the attack and managed to strike a glancing blow to the Raccoon's shoulder before Rickkter had a chance to block, drawing a yelp from the warrior.
After a few reversals of this sort, the furry mage began to get impatient. Hopping backwards a short step he held the staff across his body and drove forward hoping to overbear the insect. David guessed his plan however and inverted his weapon while bracing for the strike. The staffs came together with an ear shattering crash. Neither combatant was backing off and it became a battle of strength. Rickkter let out a snarl as he was slowly forced backwards by the ants considerable strength, suddenly disengaging he dropped to a crouch and brought his staff around in a whistling arc at David's legs.
The ant, realizing the danger, leaped backwards out of the staffs arc, his wings fanned the air as he continued to climb and lightly descended towards the opposite end of the arena.
" Not bad!" The Raccoon growled as he balled his right hand into a fist. He had to give the insect credit, he knew his weapon.... but now to see what he knew about magic.
Green lightning flashed between his fingers as he summoned a weak spell. David touched down, landing rather hard and fast. He swayed on his feet momentarily motionless.
Rickkter grinned to himself as he cast the small ball of green flame towards the off balanced insect. The sphere connected with his chest, David staggered under the impact as the magic flared against his carapace.... and abruptly winked out
Rickkter was still puzzling about that one, when the ant, balanced once more, made a throwing motion in return and as his arm reached its full extension a rather familiar ball of green energy flashed out towards the startled Raccoon
Rickkter was Surprised enough that he almost didn't dodge in time. As he finally did weave out of its way the sphere crashed into the magically warded wall in a spray of sparks. The raccoon was starting to get irritated, this wasn't turning out how he had expected; the fireball should have shown something when it hit, but the reflection was something he never would have foreseen. Wary of something similar happening again, he decided on a change of strategies.
The raccoon closed with the ant, bringing his staff down across David's with the resounding crack of wood on metal. He disengaged and swung a quick punch against the ant's chest. He grimaced as his hand went numb from the impact with the hard armor that was David's hide.
Focusing again, he swung his staff around feinting a blow to the side before sweeping down and hooking the tip behind the insect’s right leg and pulling. David went down with a curse, but rolled away before Rickkter could finish him off.
As the ant came up Rickkter caught a glimpse of the designs on his staff glowing brightly. He prepared himself for a magical attack of some kind. He had seen many weapons imbued with the ability to throw lightning, or fire or any number of similar forces. His magical scan was detecting a pulse of energy from the weapon, but still nothing from the wielder. Abruptly the light vanished, without any sign of an attack.... and then David exploded into motion many times faster than he should have. Rickkter let out a yelp of comprehension as he brought his staff up to block. The blur of a blow quickly reversed becoming a jab to the ribcage.
Snarling in irritation the raccoon did the only thing he could think to. He cast a slow spell at the hazy ant. He watched the glowing tendrils of magical force surround and engulf the mage in a web of movement retarding magic. At first it seemed to have no effect. Than all of a sudden the insect slammed back into normal time, his staff went flying, its lights going dark as it clattered to the stone floor. But the staff's magic also canceled out the slow effect.
David sank to one knee, trying to get his bearings. Leaping forward Rickkter brought his staff down in a whistling arc. But the ant took the blow across his upper left arm, the wooden staff splintering under the force of the impact, and before the raccoon could back off he came up in an uppercut with his right. The world exploded in blinding white, before Rickkter felt himself tumble to the ground. He shook his head fiercely trying to clear his vision and then instinctively rolled into a combat crouch.
Letting out a scream of mixed shock and annoyance he lashed out at the ant, his hands wreathed in flames as he summoned a fireball. David swiftly clasped his gloved hands together and grunted something. A sphere of shimmering green energy surrounded him and the fireball burst against its side.
But the Raccoon wasn't finished. He continued throwing everything he could think of at the shield. Magical projectiles of every possible description flew from his hands. A mass of magical energy in the shape of a giant web enclosed the shield, flaring for a moment before fading.
A drop of a viscous green liquid dropped from the ceiling splattering against the top of the shield. Seeing how he wasn't liable to get anything through the shield, Rickkter shifted his attack in order to try and disable it. The floor suddenly sprouted a myriad arrangement of hands and claws that struck at the field as a group. The shield caught them all, but it was rapidly dimming with each impact. Rickkter gathered the energy for a final blast.
Rickkter grunted at the strain this was taking. He poured even more power into the wall of force he blasted at the shaken insect. It slammed into the weakening shield like a battering ram. Finally with a deafening shriek the shield collapsed and the energy flared against David's raised hands like lightning. The insect screamed in pain as the force threw him backwards.
The raccoon quickly ended the spell, realizing that things had escalated beyond what he had intended. He stepped over to his downed opponent. David’s gloves were smoking, the pinprick burns of the lightning plainly obvious.
The ant let out a moan as he slowly sat up, he coughed a few times and shook his head to clear the cobwebs. " That was...... very uncomfortable."
"Yeah, I'd bet." Rickkter said softly, still panting from his exertions. David then held up his gloves to survey the damage. " Damn!" David stripped the scorched gauntlets off and threw them across the room. " Eight years..... Eight cursed years... gone! And I was certain that they couldn't be defeated!"
Rickkter watched as the upset insect scrambled to his feet and staggered over to kick the gloves even farther away. " I was so utterly sure that they could take anything!" He hissed through his clenched jaws. Just as he reached the first one, his knees suddenly buckled and he dropped to the floor.
The battlemage hurriedly crossed to the injured man just as he started to fall forward. He grabbed hold of the neck of his leather jerkin and pulled him back upright. The ant's head lolled back and it was soon apparent that he wasn't running on all gears.
" You're a mess. Come on... a good nights rest and you should be right as rain." He grunted as he heaved David to his feet. Supporting his weight as he slowly walked towards the entrance to the Arena. The ant was trembling slightly and his breathing was uneven. " You know, on second thought, maybe I should get you to a healer."
David grabbed hold of the front of Rickkter's robe. " That won't be necessary. You're right.. I'm just tired...I'll be fine... after a little rest."
"You're sure?"
The ant nodded silently.
They staggered out into the hallway. Rickkter was starting to feel the strain of supporting the ant as they rounded the first corner. A door that shouldn't have been there was set in the outer wall. As they approached the twisting scroll work carved into its surface began to glow as if in welcome.
The door yielded easily to a gentle push and they stepped into a darkened chamber. Rickkter was about to summon a witchlight once more when David straightened slightly.
" Res-K'vin-Natala." As he uttered these words, a band of tiny runes near the ceiling slowly came to life. Lighting the interior of the room in a soft yellow glow.
Rickkter gasped in wonder as the room became recognizable. It was first of all much bigger than he had thought. Secondly all the wall space was filled with self after shelf of books. An immense treasure trove of knowledge. A few large tables occupied the space in between for the use of whatever scholars had once used it. " This... this is all yours?" He asked in awe.
David nodded tiredly. " It was where we found an ancient Kamasi, dead. He it was that this all belonged to. Since I am the closest thing to kin, it came to me."
Rickkter nodded in silence as he helped David over to one of the tables. The ant then slowly sat on its smooth, sturdy surface. He had yet to get chairs made suitable for his peculiar anatomy.
" Thank you my friend. Please feel free to look around. Most of this I haven't even cataloged yet." He gestured to the rows of dusty shelves.
" Are you sure you're okay?" The raccoon's voice was tinged with concern. David nodded. " I just need to rest a moment and I should be fine. My thanks."
Rickkter nodded, his eyes drawn now to the shelves instead of the insect. " No, Thank you."
Part 3
The Battlelord wandered around gazing at the rows of ancient tomes. Here and there he saw names he recognized. But there were many he had never seen before. And still more that he found indecipherable.
In the midst of this ancient archive he felt slightly lightheaded. The weight of years seemed to be settling all around him. He closed his eyes, reveling in the feeling of walking where few others had for centuries.
Reaching out, slowly, almost timidly, he slid a large volume off the shelf. The dust sifting between his fingers as he turned it to view the cover. The red, bound leather cover was still bright where it had pressed against the book next to it.
He slowly opened the cover and with extreme carefulness flipped the first stiff page. The paper crinkled and resisted, but didn't break or turn to dust as he feared it might. A strong graceful pen, using a bold Aramic script greeted his eyes. And he smiled at seeing a familiar language.
It was a book of poetry. He idly leafed through the stiff pages, scanning the lines of verse. Poetry wasn't exactly his thing, but he could always translate something for Kayla. The smile on his face widened at that thought as he set the book carefully back in its place.
He heard a scrape behind him and turned to see David struggling to his feet.
" I think I will retire now, but don't let me disturb your examination. Call me when you are ready to leave. The door won't recognize you." He walked tiredly towards the small door at the rear of the chamber. " Wait a moment." Straightening up he turn and crossed to the outer door, a semblance of his usual vitality returning. " Come over here for a minute. I have an idea."
Rickkter walked over to where the ant stood by the closed door. He noticed that the engraving on the outside was repeated along the inside face as well. David placed one of his hands inside the convoluted circle that adorned the wooden surface.
The marks that made up the round design began to glow with a subdued blue light. David dropped his hand and the glow subsided. " Now you try. Place your hand where mine was."
The raccoon obeyed cautiously. Gently resting his palm inside the circle the insect had indicated. The lines began to glow as before, but this time with an angry red tinge. Rickkter felt the wood begin to grow uncomfortably warm under his paw. He had apparently triggered a magical alarm and it was seeking to defend itself.
He had almost decided to remove his paw when the ant pressed his own cool hand onto the back of Rickkter's, holding his hand to the mark. He caught the first whispered parts of an incantation.
David was muttering a spell under his breath. Rickkter belatedly remembered his original purpose in all of of this and glancing at the insect he again scanned for magic. The insect at first seemed to be unchanged, but slowly Rickkter began to discern the faint signs of a magical presence. It was dim, as if coming from a great depth, but it was there. He extended a tendril of awareness to probe it, moving slowly, watching for any sings that David knew what he was doing.
The ant remained intent on his work, nearly oblivious to the raccoon and the rest of the library, his will focussed totally on the door. Rickkter extended his probe into the insects body. Suddenly the probe began to disperse like oil the had been dropped in a glass of water. Gritting his teeth, the battlelord tightened his control, holding the spell together until his task was completed.
He approached the source of the faint emissions... and touched it. Suddenly his mind was filled with a roaring inferno, a firestorm of ageless power and unforgiving energy. His knees turned to jelly and he had to fight to keep on his feet. Impossible!! How could such a concentration of magic force show up as such a small emission? It was unthinkable that there could be enough power there to unbalance Rickkter to such an extent. He let go of the probe and watched it once more disperse in the strange field that encased the insect. Then he understood. He had heard once or twice of beings capable of channeling magical energy, even hostile magic, through themselves without damage. It was said to be a wild ability, more often than not instinctual, not truly controlled by the person themselves.
Yet David had shown a measure of control of it earlier when he had deflected Rickkter's initial attack back at him. The battle mage couldn't help but wonder how such a being could have magical talent of his own in the first place. The two abilities were near exact opposites. It would take incredible control to keep his natural talent from undermining his castings..... Such as the single-minded control he was showing now Rickkter observed.
Rickkter reluctantly turned his attention back to the present concern, he notice a change in the light emanating from the door. The blue glow that had responded to David's touch began to form around the red glow of warning. The red glow was engulfed and overcome quickly and the circle returned to the sedate blue light once more.
The wood became immediately cool again, although the glow remained. David slowly lowered his hand the glow dimmed but still shimmered faintly. Rickkter continued to hold his hand to the mark, and it continued to glow the friendly sky blue of welcome. " You can remove your hand now. The door's been keyed to you. It will now allow you to come and go as you please."
Rickkter dropped his hand and the circle dimmed and went out. " That was very interesting. My thanks."
" Your very welcome, my friend. Stay as long as you wish and I hope to see you again tomorrow."
The raccoon grinned. " You can count on it... my friend."
He watched as the ant retired into a small set of rooms at the back of the library. After the insect had closed the door, and all noises had ceased.... Rickkter let out a sharp breath of exasperation. This problem was getting more complex with each passing moment. The magic he had sensed from the insect didn't seem to be a natural store of energy.... in fact the weak emissions pointed to a different idea entirely.
He now felt that he must have touched a link to a larger, more refined and controlled source of power than any one person could hold. David's sect might be a collection of proxy mages, each linked to a single focal point for their casting energy. But that had its problems as well. This whole room was using rune structures that David had confirmed were Kamasi in origin... and yet the room was relatively free of ambient magic.
With this many active runes together the room should be near blinding to anyone with magical sight.
Rickkter glanced around the room again, his desire for the ancient knowledge second priority right now. This puzzle was maddening! His gaze swung across the central work table of the chamber... and stopped there.
On its polished surface was a collection of books in a distinctive language... very reminiscent of the Kamasi runes he had noticed before. Crossing softly he scanned the open pages without touching them. He couldn't decipher the strange text that made up most of the volumes. But a smaller book the was near the periphery of the array was written in a language that Rickkter could vaguely recognize.
Marking the current place, he flipped back the the first page and read; 'Herev Norut Mecun Aristu'. The Corridor of Time. 'Mortu Nocam Eritor Shiyadoru Huyon Deretkul... Eu Encule' : Recorded in haste by Shiyadoru Huyon Deretkul... In Exile
He read the first passage under the title.
In a strong flowing script were penned the words;
sem Rusi deris namanu oritami : I am finally near death
weiru fois duront maganu : The long wait is over
Rusi gurna mortembia : I will flee no more.
Rusi eritor cordiluca nem foridu : I now record for all time, my legacy
fihju nacamo waquesto Xeriv verista : May those who read this, come to know the truth.
Rickkter swallowed past a suddenly dry throat. It was here, out in the open, not hidden away somewhere secret. Left here for all to see. He pulled one of the ancient but still sturdy chairs up the table and began reading excitedly......
Rickkter blinked his watery eyes furiously. Setting the book down to rub the moisture away, he was stunned to find that he had read nearly half the book. He had been sitting here immersed in his reading for hours. And what a story it painted, full of tragedy and exultation. Of great deeds and foul betrayals. The corridor of ages was recorded here, and this Huyon was a masterful storyteller. This history read better than many works of fiction Rickkter had seen.
There had even been a chapter devoted to Kamasi magical theory. Rickkter had been both amazed and intreged by its revelations. He had never seen anything that compared to it, in both its absolute simplicity and its mindboggling complexity.
Whoever had designed these mystical house runes had been both an incredibly powerful and incredibly intelligent. The mechanics were simple. A symbol that created a 'mana well' that drew ambient magical energy into itself and then transported it at need to a mage that came from that house.
But the theories on 'how' to create such a thing varied wildly and none were complete, missing critical details of the creation process. But hiding information like that was a technique he was familiar with.
The raccoon shrugged to himself, not that he was too sad about that. He had no use for such information at the moment. The historical information up to this point had been most illuminating. Some of Rickkter's doubts still remained, but many had been eliminated. The first to go was the threat of David working for Nasoj. Nasoj would have such powerful mages at his front lines, and the keep would already have been crushed years ago.
Also the Kamasi had been almost totally wiped out in a massive civil war.
Those that remained shunned their power and buried their knowledge. A few such as Huyon had fled their homeland and gone into exile. It seemed that Huyon had made it as far as Metamor and been too old or too weak to go farther.
He had either found or collected over the years this immense collection of knowledge. Considering the wide range of languages and ethnic groups that were present here... Rickkter was leaning towards him finding it, a fugitive fleeing his homeland would have no time or wish to amass such a huge collection.
Letting out a tired sigh, he closed the book and carefully set it down. He set it in the center of the neat semicircle of open texts. He didn't intend to hide the fact that he had examined the material here. The mage had trusted him enough to leave him alone in a massive storehouse of invaluable and in some cases extremely rare tomes. The least he could do was trust the mage... for now.
He stood, feeling his spine pop numerous times in the process, and made his way towards the door. Remembering the Aramic book of poetry , he snagged it off its shelf to take with him. He would return it tomorrow, after he had made a copy of a few of the more catchy selections for Kayla. Tucking it under his arm he reached for the door. As his hand gripped the doorknob, the symbol glowed blue for a brief instant as the door swung silently open.
He had just stepped out into the dimly lit hall when he felt a sudden jerk. Whirling quickly, he was halfway into a defensive crouch when he saw a dark shape zipping back through the door. He watched as the object suddenly came to a halt for a second, before sliding into the space that the Aramic tome had resided in.
He belatedly realized that the book was no longer under his arm, and after a quick scan.... wasn't of the floor either. Then he understood. So that was why this incredible archive had remained intact for so long. The books couldn't be removed, at least not without a massive magical struggle. Rickkter chuckled at that, and he had no doubt that such a struggle would most likely vaporize the contested tome. Oh well, David _had_ given him unlimited access, he would just come back to do it later. He found that though technically he had won the duel, he had indeed underestimated David's skills, and also the man behind the training. But the mage had given it his best, and Rickkter respected that.
The raccoon set off down the corridor, idly rubbing at a sore shoulder he hadn't felt since the fight. No, he wouldn't underestimate the mage again. But he also would wait and watch. David was honest, perhaps even to a fault, but he came from a group that had a rather unhappy history. David himself might not be a threat, but that didn't mean his sect wasn't.
Rickkter's muzzle opened in a tremendous yawn, he stood for a moment his eyes
squeezed shut, his ears laid back flush with his skull. But any great threats
or shadowy conspiracies wouldn't be threatening at least until morning. He
blinked his eyes a few times, clearing the last of the blurriness before he
walked off to his rooms, and a certain really soft, really comfortable bed
the resided therein.