Fire From the Darkness Chapter 6
#7 of Fire From the Darkness
CHAPTER 6
Firus looked at Tabol with disbelief and confusion. "How is that even possible?" He asked.
Tabol shook his head, "That's the point. It shouldn't be. Not with arcane magic. The last of that disappeared twenty years ago. So unless there's someone who can travel through time, it just shouldn't be possible." He sat down behind his desk. "The only conclusion we can make, is that it does indeed have something to do with your mission."
Firus leaned against the wall, "Can you tell us more about the mission then?"
Tabol looked him in the eyes. "All I can tell you is that when you're done, you'll be able to retire anywhere you want, doing anything you want. In light of the fact that an assassin was sent against you, even though the poor bastard never had a chance, we have decided that there is a malevolent entity behind these disturbances. A powerful one. So the reward has increased from one thousand each, to two million." There was a general intake of breath, and several muttered curses. "Plus you can keep the equipment you choose to take with you, plus you can keep anything of value you find on your journey."
Kanto stared at Tabol and asked, "Just how bad is whatever this 'entity' is doing?"
Tabol put his hands in his face for a second before replying, "To put it frankly, and quite honestly..." He stood and slammed his fists into the desk, "It's fucking up the planet. We're not sure how it's able to do these things, or what exactly it's doing. But if it continues at this rate, it will destroy anything and everything you have ever loved."
He sat back down, and seemed to calm a little. "I'm sorry, but other than that, I don't know any more than you do. And I'm not happy about it. You'll just have to ask the researchers when you get to the station. Now, are there any other questions?"
Sayuri raised her paw before asking, "Yeah, didn't you mention that your son would be accompanying us?"
Tabol nodded, "Indeed, in fact he should be waiting for us down in the vault."
"And why would we go down there?" Firus asked.
Tabol smiled. "Why, to pick out your equipment of course."
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It had proven exceedingly easy for Tazina to find the school, which was easily this towns largest attraction.The huge complex had not been visible at night, but during the day it stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb. The Tiljan University was comprised of a ten-foot wall that encompassed approximately twenty buildings, each about the size of the inn. She had walked to the school after deciding that it would be best to remain unnoticed and therefore to continue using the rat's form. She had come to this conclusion after enduring a rude awakening that morning.
Tazina awoke to the feeling of small, inexpert hands with sleek fur caressing her breasts, and a small weight on her stomach. She opened her eyes to see the boy straddling her midriff. She stared him in the eyes, and he froze with a slightly guilty expression on his face. She realized that she was in her natural form and spoke.
"So, you knew that I was the female from last night?" She asked.
The boy nodded, and she asked her next question. "Do you know what I am?"
The boy nodded again, "Yes ma'am, I've heard lots of stories about people like you."
Tazina asked another question. "Then you know that I could destroy you with nothing but a kiss?"
The boy swallowed nervously. "Y-yes ma'am."
She asked her last question on the subject. "And if I were to do so, would you regret your choice?"
The boy smiled a little, "No ma'am, not at all."
Tazina smiled back and put a hand on his cheek. "Good boy," she said as she kissed him lightly on the lips. "Now, new subject. Why are you here? Did your body decide you were old enough?"
He let his smile slip. "No ma'am, I decided that I was old enough to learn how to pleasure a female, even if I can't yet manage an erection." He blushed slightly, "And I figured that maybe some stimulation would help my body decide."
He'll be a highly ranked priest, she thought before saying aloud, "Enough with the 'ma'ams'. Just call me Tazina. What's your name?"
"Aodh," He said brightly. "But call me Aodhàn."
"Ah, I love that language." She smiled wider at him, "Well Aodhàn, since you took the risk, and were honest about it, I suppose I'll teach you what you want to know. Just remember that no one can know what I am."
He grinned. "Thank you Tazina."
She put her hands on top of his paws on her breasts. "We'll start where you did."
After a small lesson and the promise of more to come that night, Tazina had shifted into her rat form and started toward the school. When she entered the front building, a small female sparrow looked up from her desk at her.
"Welcome to the Tiljan University. How can I help you?" She greeted Tazina in a musical tone.
"How can I find professor Blakad?" Tazina asked her.
"Actually, his office is the fourth door on the right just down the hall. He should be in there right now."
"Thank you." Tazina said, grateful she wouldn't have to navigate the maze of buildings. She walked down the small corridor, counting the doors on her right, till she reached one marked "Blakad". She knocked three times.
"Come in." Said a surprisingly low voice.
When she opened the door and walked in she saw a modestly furnished office filled to the brim with books that seemed to be about history and archaeology, on what looked to her to be solid red oak bookshelves. Behind a desk that appeared to be made of simple pine and was nowhere near as valuable or pleasing to the eyes as the bookshelves. she spotted a white mouse with tan spots on his body. She supposed that he must have been Blakad, due to the water drop mark on his head. He looked up at her and smiled. "Hello. What can I do for you?" He asked her in that remarkably deep voice.
Tazina closed the door. "Hello, my name is Tazina. I wanted to talk to you about the expedition you'll soon be taking to the ruins in the woods."
"Ah yes, what about it?" He asked.
"Sir, I've just traveled half way across the continent to visit these ruins, and when I heard that you were mounting an archaeological expedition I realized that this was my chance to really see them as they were meant to be seen. I was wondering if I could maybe come with you sir?" She liked and admired honesty, but sometimes it just wasn't the best idea.
The mouse frowned at her. "I'm sorry miss, but the trip is supposed to be for the staff only."
She walked a little closer to him, "Please sir, it would mean so much to me. I've spent almost my entire life studying ruins and these are supposed to be legendary in their complexity and history." She walked up to the desk and bent over it slightly. "These are the only ruins I haven't been able to study in detail." She put her hand on his arm. "I'd finally be able to complete my dream of seeing all the ruins the world has to offer." She bent to whisper in his ear, adopting a seductive tone. "And I would be very grateful if you would take me along."
He pulled back a little and gave her a quick once over. He put on a slightly mischievous smile. "Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt. And I guess the more minds the better. You'll have to supply everything that you'll need yourself though."
"Oh, of course. I wouldn't dream of asking that much."
Blakad smiled amiably. "Well then I guess welcome to come with us. Who knows, you might even find something that we might have missed on our own."
"Thank you so much professor." Tazina said with a smile.
"Please, just Blakad."
Tazina smiled a little wider. "Well then thank you Blakad."
"Not at all my dear. We're leaving tomorrow at midmorning." Blakad told her.
"Then I shall see you then." Tazina said as she held out her hand.
Blakad took her hand in his and shook it. "I look forward to it."
Tazina turned and left his office. As she walked out of the university, she thought to herself, That was way too easy.Maybe I won't have to steal his form after all. Maybe I'll be able to just enthrall them all when we get there.
She turned down the street towards the inn she tapped her finger against her chin as she tried to think of a way to resolve another issue. What am I going to do with Aodhàn?
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At the door to the vault Tabol stopped and turned to the group before him. "Before we go in I must warn you that my son is rather... naive, and innocent. He really knows nothing of the world outside our home. He may seem a little... slow to you, but I promise that he is perfectly fine, he just has relatively high morals, never breaks the rules, and sees no reason why others would do so. He may seem that he's on a little bit of a high horse when it comes to certain things, though you may not notice until you do something he perceives as wrong. In all honesty I'm hoping that you'll be able to better educate him in the ways of the world and hopefully knock him down a few pegs on some things." He sighed and shook his head. "Screw it, to be blunt I'm rather tired of his air of superiority and naivety, and I can't really do anything about it here. And it doesn't help that he's a fully indoctrinated priest. But there's too damn much to do here, and I can't ever get the time away. I feel like a terrible father for asking this but please, try to explain the world to him. Will you do that?"
Firus looked at the other three, seeing them all nodding. He put his hand on his old friend's shoulder. "Of course we will Tabol. And you're not a terrible father. If anything you would have been one if you had insisted on trying to teach him everything yourself, when you have no opportunity and when he will be able to gain first hand experience with us."
Tabol looked at them all. "Thank you. And now, I believe it's about time you met." He turned back around and faced the massive iron door. He took a key ring off his belt with five different keys on it. Each key was made of a dark, almost black metal that looked like coaliron. Each key had a different colored gem at it's head, an emerald, a ruby, a sapphire, an onyx, what appeared to be a large pale lavender spinel each the size of a goose's egg.
Hatako gasped at the sight of the fifth key, staring at the gem imbedded in it. "Tabol, is that tanzanite?!"
He gripped the key that Firus had thought was adorned with the spinel and held it head up. "This? Indeed it is."
"May I see it?" She asked hopefully.
Tabol gave what passed as a smile among his race. "Of course, dear." He handed the key to her.
Firus looked at the key and asked, "What's tanzanite?"
Hatako looked at him with mild shock on her face, then held the key up to the light and studied it. "It's the rarest stone in the world. More valuable than diamonds, and just as hard. But as brittle as glass. Only the most skilled can cut it into usable shapes. I've never seen one this large before, it must be worth thousands." She looked at Tabol.
"Approximately ten thousand six hundred and fifty. And that is why," he said taking the key back, "it is removable from the key." He opened a hidden catch on the top of the key and took the priceless stone from it, "To prevent the key itself from being stolen, just like all the gems." He put the gem back onto the key and relocked the catch. "Now, let us go in." He picked out the emerald key and inserted it into one of the five seemingly identical locks. When he turned it, Firus heard what sounded like an iron bar the size of a small tree trunk sliding out of the wall, and receding into the door.
Tabol grabbed the large handle and pushed the door open as though it was so much air. "The hinges are greased daily, and the door is only fully locked when we have strangers staying with us, otherwise only the emerald key's lock is engaged, and the head grounds keeper is the only one who has a key, other than my son, and myself, and he greases the door personally."
He led them down a small corridor and opened a smaller, wooden door. "This, is the vault." He swept the door open fully and stepped inside. The room he entered was filled with small mountains of gold, made of coins, goblets, bowls, plates, vases, and other such items that were useless except to be melted down and sold as pure gold. There was no one, and nothing else in sight.
Firus felt somehow unimpressed, disappointed even. "This is it?"
Tabol smile knowingly, walking over to the far wall, and putting his hand on the left half of a cracked stone. "Ah, but of course not. This, is where all the real treasure is kept hidden." He depressed on the stone, causing a section of the wall no bigger than seven feet tall and five feet tall to swing open. This room was only thirty feet by thirty feet, but it was a couple hundred feet tall. The room had eight sides, each about eleven and a half feet long. Impressed in each side were eight foot deep rectangles six foot tall by nine foot long, all the way up to the top of the room. In most of the impressions were weapon racks, suits of armor, and other such things, but in two walls, things were different. The impressions in one wall each had three large chests. the impressions in the other held display cases, for items smaller than armor or weapons, but too valuable to be stuffed on top of each other in chests. Ladders were on each side of the impressions Standing at one of the armor racks examining a plate mail chest guard was a Wol slightly smaller than Tabol, which still left him standing about an inch taller than Firus, and easily thirty pounds heavier. He turned towards the group as he heard the door to the room opening.
The Wol and the group walked to each other meeting at about the center of the room. Tabol turned to the group and gestured at the Wol, "This is my son, Travol." He turned to Travol. "Son, this is Firus, Sayuri, Kanto, and Hatako." He said pointing to each of them.
Travol smiled at his new companions. "It's a great pleasure to meet you all." He said as he shook each of their hands. "I really look forward to traveling with you. It's going to be so much fun. I can't wait to see the beauty of the world outside of this boring place. I get so excited just thinking about the people we'll meet and the places we'll see. But that's not important right now. Please, don't let me delay you choosing what you'll need, though I personally don't think we'll need any of it." And with that, he returned to the armor he had been examining before they had arrived.
Firus turned to Tabol and whispered into where an ear would be if Wols had them. "I'll give ya naive, but I'm not seeing superiority yet."
Tabol sighed at his comment. "Give it time I promise it'll come out, though maybe not until after you begin your journey." He whispered back. He turned to the rest of the group and said, "Alright everyone, you may be wondering why these items are considered the most valuable. Well, the chests are each filled with a single type of gem, which has obvious value that you can see with your own eyes. The rest is not so obvious obviously. What makes these items so special and valuable is that they are all - "
Hatako cut it with her eyes closed. "Enchanted. And not a few of them are quite powerful." She opened her eyes to see the stares of those around her. "What? I can sense it. It exudes like a miasma from the stronger items. Though I admit that it was a guess that they were all enchanted."
Tabol cleared his throat. "Well, indeed you are right. Each and every one of these items is enchanted, and like Hatako pointed out, some are quite powerful, and very old. It has taken us decades to find all these, alas I fear we may have collected almost all the enchanted items in the world, the rest kept as family heirlooms and such. Now, you may each select anything that you may deem useful to you on your journey. You may take whatever and as much as you should need. As I said earlier, this equipment is also put in as payment for your services. You might even consider this the negotiation part of the deal."
Kanto spoke up. "Tabol, some of these things must be absolutely priceless."
He replied, "So they are, does that give you an idea as to what may be ahead for you?"
Sayuri thought for a second before asking, "Do you have any idea what is ahead for us Tabol?"
"I have told you everything I know except that there seems to be a very great chance of failure if you do not have special equipment. Naturally, when we figured that out, we thought that we shouldn't take any chances and give you any assistance you might need in that area."
Firus gave a curious look at their host. "I just have one question. Is this stuff categorized?"
Tabol nodded. "Naturally. Each wall has a specific kind of armor, one for robes and cloaks and such, one for leather and hide, one for chain mail, and one for plate mail. Since there are not as many plate mail items as the rest, we have put shields with them. The wall above the door isl for melee weapons, categorized by type, and the one next to it is for ranged. Don't worry about the wall of chests we'll make sure you have enough money to cover any costs. and the last wall contains such items as bracelets, circlets, amulets, rings, brooches, and other small items. On each wall, in each category the most powerful items are at the top of the category, and the least at the bottom. Now I see Hatako has quite a bit of equipment already, like this lovely pendant that I'm sure has some equally lovely magic on it." He reached out to grab and show the paw print pendant around Hatako's neck.
Hatako yelled out at him and tried to grab his hand. "No!" But it was too late, as he grabbed for the pendant a bolt of lightning jumped the two inch gap he had created and arced into his body. His arm lost all of it's feathers, as if he molted instantly, and was charred almost unrecognizably.
Tabol screamed out in agony as his arm became a black husk. He collapsed to his knees cradling the scorched appendage in his lap.
Travol heard his father's scream and rushed to his side. He quickly took the arm in his hands and examined it carefully. Then he closed his eyes and began to mutter words under his breath that sounded like a prayer. A bright golden light seemed to eminate from where his hands touched his father's arm, causing the entire group to shield their eyes as they looked on. Tabol's arm seemed to be flaking off the charred skin and muscle, replacing it with brand new unmarked flesh, not even a scar visible. After the armd had been healed, new feathers grew from the skin, until it looked as if the incident had never occurred. When the feathers stopped growing, the light died down and everyone could see that there was no physical difference in his arm.
Tabol lifted his hand from his son's grip and flexed it, squeezing the hand shut, and opening it again, making sure it worked. He raised his hand to his son's cheek. "Thank you Travol. Very much." He turned to the rest of the group. "And now you see why I'm sending him with you. He's one of our best healers. That and he positively begged me to let him go."
Hatako got down on her knees beside Tabol. "I'm so sorry, I tried to warn you, but I didn't expect you to do that. This pendant," She held up the object for emphasis. "Was a gift made for me by one who used to be very close to me, to protect me. It severely injures any who willingly try to touch it, even when I'm not wearing it. But if I try to touch someone with it," She swung it so that it touched Tabol's arm again, and he flinched a little unconsciously. "Nothing happens. Same with touching me and accidentally brushing against it, nothing happens. Unless you mean to harm me, in which case it activates. I'm so sorry Tabol." She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged the old Wol.
Tabol put his arms around the vixen, careful not to crush her. "It's alright my dear. I should have asked first anyway. And anyway, nothing permanent was done." He let her go and they got to their feet.
Firus noticed that Travol had left to go examine a new set of armor when the healing was done and spoke in a low voice to Tabol. "The boy saves your arm from being a shriveled up, crippled husk. He does so without being told, without knowing anything about what happened, and then just walks away without asking questions? No questions of what have we done to you? No, 'You bastards, you tried to kill my father'? He just met us and trusts us not to ever do anything to harm you? Tabol, I don't think the word "naive" is strong enough. The boy doesn't even know the meaning of the word 'distrustful' does he?"
Tabol sighed, "And now you see my point about him. Please, teach about these things. But make sure he doesn't get hurt too badly by his first experiences with these ideas."
Firus shook his head. "I can try, but he might be a tough egg to crack, so to speak."
Tabol laughed at the attempted joke. "Hate to disappoint you Firus, but though we may not seem mammalian, Wol's give live birth."
Firus snapped his fingers. "Damn, and I'd been saving that one too."
Tabol turned to the rest of the group. "Alright, now you have seen a taste of what some of these items are capable of. Feel free to browse at your leisure. Oh I almost forgot." He dug into a large pouch on his belt and pulled out four small bags that rattle as if filled with coins. "You can use these buttons to mark your choices, just put them on the item and they'll stick to it until pulled off." He handed a bag to each person. "Well, go ahead. Look around, call me if you need anything. By the way, there are cards attached to the items with name and descriptions of what they are known to do. keep in mind that some of the more powerful items have effect and uses we haven't figured out yet."
Sayuri piped in one last question. "Tabol, I've heard legends of cursed items. Are there any in here?"
Tabol shook his head negatively. "Don't worry, those are kept in a special dungeon below the main building so that no one can't get at them."
She smiled. "Well in that case..." She looked at them all. "Let's go shopping!"