Published at 3rd of August 2024 7:49 am

Book 2 Chapter 24: Mages...They Just Couldn't Help Themselves

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Dantes adjusted the black cloak he’d wrapped around himself, clasping it with a bronze pin in the shape of a triangle in the center of a circle, a symbol thought to represent stability in magic, and one worn by the members of the Academy when they were on official business or on the grounds of the Academy itself. Dantes kept walking across the massive bridge that led into the first of the three towers, under which a massive river rushed. There was a part of him that wanted to stand still and admire the view. Take in the way the towers rose so high he couldn’t see their tops, all three of them connected by bridges at several points up their length, strange purple mists, green lightning, and swirling blue fire randomly appearing and disappearing up and down the length of them. Unfortunately, it was important to look like he had somewhere to be, and that meant he couldn’t take his time as he might want to.

When Felix hadn’t shown up at their expected meet, Dantes had immediately sent out his rats, bats, and roaches to search for him at all the places he’d tracked him in since they’d begun doing business. He found no sign of him. That left a few possibilities. Felix had left the city, which would be a strange decision for someone who seemed so focused on his personal comfort, and had worked so hard to achieve tenure, or he had decided to stay locked up in the Academy towers to hide away from Dantes. Normally, Dantes would simply wait him out, but with the Collared in his Garden, time was a factor.

Looking busy was the key to infiltrating just about anywhere. If you walk into a halflings house carrying a box, there’s a good chance they won’t even react to you. The area around the entrance to the academy was free to enter by anyone, and there were a number of small shops, mages testing people for magical aptitude, and a few kids throwing rocks off the bridge into the rushing water below.

Dantes walked past all of that toward the entrance to the central tower. It was manned by two mages, and two guards, all of them armed in their own ways. The guard did not interfere with the interior of the towers, but did monitor the area directly outside of it. Dantes fell in behind a number of other mages entering the tower, and mimicked them as they flashed their pins at the guard before moving on.

Merle, Wane, and Orebus had given him the general rundown of the towers and what he would need to do. The main entrance had no magical barriers, aside from the anti-vermin enchantment. From there the passages were all defended by different magical codes and passwords that were given to students, professors, and licensed mages regularly, but all of them could also be answered like exam questions or riddles.

Dantes approached the least busy door to the staircase. At this time of day more people were leaving than entering the tower. Dantes looked at the series of ruins around the door, noting that where they were shifted each time someone pressed one of them. Above the door was a series of symbols in elvish that he didn’t recognize.

He shifted his attention to Jacopo, who was sitting by a fire with Wane, Orebus, and Merle. Dantes had the hundred roaches he’d connected to swarm onto the patch of open space in front of them.

“Hells!” yelled Orebus, jumping backward when one of the roaches got a bit too close to his feet.

“Calm down. Dantes must have reached the first door,” said Wane looking at Jacopo who confirmed with a nod.

They’d figured out this method of long range communication as a group, though from the beginning Orebus hadn’t been keen on it, instead hoping to have Jacopo attempt to write things down, which the rat had no patience for. Dantes moved the roaches into the exact configuration of the letters he was looking at.

Merle stroked his beard. “Hmmm, a simple question about the remaining regent in a simple elemental binding. The answer is spidersilk.”

Dantes looked at the series of everchanging symbols above the doorframe and sent his confusion to Jacopo, who shrugged at them.

“Here,” said Wane, writing a symbol in the dirt with his pointer finger.

Jacopo moved to view it from Wane’s perspective and Dantes looked at the symbols again, placing his hand on it and feeling his fingers tingle as the door opened. Luckily, he hadn’t seemed to raise any suspicions by taking his time there, but that may have been due to the long practice he’d had in what he liked to call active loitering. He walked in such a way that his boot came loose, then ‘accidentally’ stepped on his own cloak and sent the clasp flying. All of this made him look like a fool of course, but his ego could handle that if it meant he reached his goal.

Dantes started climbing stairs. Slipping by students, professors, and other staff as he climbed several flights. The tenured professors slept near the top of the furthest tower. There were several ways to get there, but the majority of them were passing through large crowds of people or a dozen coded entrances. He’d worked with the collared to pick a path that, while very winding and indirect, would reduce the chances that he was discovered.

He made it nearly halfway up the tower before he needed to enter another door. This time went more smoothly, with him far more quickly sending the message and receiving an answer from Wane through Jacopo almost immediately. He pressed an orcish rune three times, and the door opened. From there things continued smoothly as he made his way through. There were several doors that scanned specifically for magical acuity, but Dantes managed to make his way around those using alternate directions as he needed them. The key to all of it was to always be moving with purpose, which kept anyone from questioning him.

He finally reached the door that was meant to take him to the bridge straight to the professor’s quarters, and standing in front of it was a woman with a sword on one hip and a wand on the other, leaning in front of the door. There was a riddle above the door, but that didn’t concern him as much. The only issue was, based on the directions he’d been given and what he’d seen so far, this was the only door that would let him avoid any doors scanning for magical acuity.

He approached the door confidently, and the woman held up her hand.

“Sorry, Scholar, this bridge is closed.”

“Can I ask why?”

“Spell went wrong, whole bridge is underwater.”

“What?”

She sighed. “Easier just to show you.” She touched a rune that he quickly memorized above the door, and opened it.

Dantes resisted jumping as water sloshed slightly out of the doorway, then moved back behind it as if commanded to do so by an invisible force. Dantes glimpsed through it and saw a tunnel of water extending further than he could see. Furniture, curtains, and somehow a few fish, all floated within the water.

“Huh,” he managed to say to fill the void in the conversation.

The guard nodded. “Yeah, so go take one of the other bridges.”

Dantes quickly had the roaches spell out a simple question to the collared as he talked. If he could just become a roach or rat to get through it wouldn’t be problem, but they had all advised against that. The enchantments in the academy were a completely different beast than those outside of it. If he shifted, he could explode, be teleported outside the towers to fall to the ground below, or have his insides and outside switch places. None of which was appealing.

“Listen, I have maybe fifteen minutes to talk to my professor or I’m screwed, possibly literally if that's what I need to do to keep from failing.”

She looked him up and down. “I don’t know that you’d have much luck with that offer.”

He sighed heavily. “Do you need to kick me while I’m down?”

“You think you can swim the length of the bridge, without drowning or falling off the side, and that’ll be faster than if you just go down the stairs and take one of the other paths?”

“My father was a sailor. I swim faster than I can climb steps.”

She looked as if she was about to deny him entry anyway, then hesitated.

“Which professor?”

Dantes looked at the message the collared had written.

“Salieri.”

The guards eyes widened. “Ah, shit. Just go. Do me a favor though and if you die try your best to fall off the side.”

Dantes nodded at her. “I’ll do my very best.” He moved to the far end away from the door, then ran forward and dove headfirst into the water. That initial dive got him a solid seven feet forward. From there he began pushing with powerful strokes, dodging a floating shelf and crate that must’ve been on the bridge when the spell was cast. He asked all of the fish to steer clear, and they were kind enough to do so as he pushed himself further and further. He estimated that the bridge was roughly 100 feet from one end to the other, but after swimming for two minutes and not seeing the end he began to panic. He was already worn out from the stairs and still drained from losing his blood garden. Still, he swam forward.

He raised his arm, focusing his will on his branch and extending it into a long hook to allow him to grip loose railings and pull himself forward. He saw a window open on one side and moved toward it, until he reached the window, and stuck just his head out of it.

He gasped for breath, his eyes widening as he saw the precipitous drop below him. Vertigo assailed him, and for a moment he could swear that he was starting to slide forward and out of the water. He turned his head to the side to see he had only twenty or so feet left. Dantes steeled himself, and pulled back into the water, swiftly moving toward the door, where he realized there was another puzzle.

He focused his will to move the roaches into the correct configuration of, Kobish he thought, lettering.

“Oh, that’s an interesting one,” said Orebus, overcoming his discomfort at the roaches long enough to look.

“A very oldschool riddle. Makes sense for this part of the furthest tower,” agreed Merle.

“Is the answer Sanguine Vitae? Or perhaps Magicka Fuentes?” asked Wane.

“It really depends on if we’re meant to give the answer that would commonly be expected. Or the one we actually think it is,” said Merle.

Dantes clenched his jaw, his lungs feeling heavier and his focus waning from his exertion.

Jacopo moved over to Wane and bit him on the ankle.

“Shit!” He howled.

Jacopo mimed drowning, and the collared looked at one another and each of them produced a symbol.

Dantes pressed on each one, the third being the correct one, perfectly representing his luck, and the door swung open. He pushed himself out of the water with a final powerful stroke and landed panting and soaked, on the ground in front of the door. No one was nearby, likely because they knew on this end that it was sealed, and so he took some time to recover.

“Can I ask what the answer was?” requested Wane.

Dantes moved the roaches into the shape of a massive member flanked by two asses. Mages… they just couldn’t help themselves.

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