Michael Manning - The Archmage unbound

The glowing faded quickly and I thought I must have done something wrong when I heard a click and the wall began moving silently aside, taking the bookcase with it. Seconds later I found myself staring into a small but brightly lit room, one that had been hidden within the library despite all my previous searches. “Well I’ll be damned,” I said to myself.

I stepped inside and the wall closed silently behind me. That worried me a little, but I hoped that getting out would be as easy as entering had been, otherwise I was in for some fun later.

The room I was standing in wasn’t large, being only around six foot by six on each side. It was brightly lit by enchanted lamps that weren’t too dissimilar to the ones I had created for my workshop at home, though I could tell at a glance that the patterns were slightly different from mine.

A long low bench was built against the far wall, and it held an assortment of small tools, hammers and chisels primarily, things that would be useful shaping small pieces of jewelry, or perhaps wood, if one was into carving. None were magical in the slightest, except for one small silver implement. I drew closer to examine it.

It was perhaps the size of a small quill pen, if most of the feather had been removed. At a guess it was about six or seven inches in length and less than a quarter inch in diameter. One end was blunt and the other end tapered gracefully to a fine point. The entire thing looked to be fashioned of pure silver, though it hadn’t tarnished in the slightest. It was also completely covered with tiny and intricate runes, from one end to the other.

At first I was completely mystified regarding its function, until I realized the pattern of runes was familiar, though they were much smaller than the ones I had seen before. They were nearly identical to the runes that formed the main shaft of my staff. The tiny silver implement was a rune channel, created to facilitate the focusing and fine control of power. Its size still puzzled me though.

My staff was large, and rightly so, I could use it to channel a blast of energy over much greater distances, or use it to focus my power into a razor sharp beam, for cutting through an enemy’s shields. Creating a rune channel this size made little sense. I picked it up and held it carefully in my hand, as I would a pen or brush. As I considered its function I moved it idly over the surface of the bench and channeled a tiny bit of power through it. It left beautifully graceful lines of energy across the wood, much finer and more delicate than any I had ever managed using my fingers alone; and as simply as that I understood its function.

It was a stylus of sorts. At least that was the only name I could think of to call it. Historically ancient man had used similar metal implements to incise letters on clay or wax tablets, back before paper had come into wide use. This was similar to that, except it was used to create magical runes, quickly, easily and more precisely than could be done using bare hands. Having seen it I could hardly believe I had never thought to make one for myself before now. It was such a plainly useful thing I felt like kicking myself for not having done so already. Think of the time I could have saved! I thought to myself.

I tucked it into my belt pouch. I could create one myself if need be, but I didn’t see any reason not to take the one I had already found. Then I returned my attention to the room around me. Aside from the stylus, the only remaining objects of possible interest were a small silver bound book and an intricately carved wooden box. The box caught my eye first, for the artistry that went into its carving took my breath away.

I opened it carefully and found myself puzzled by the contents. The interior was lined with soft fabric, now dry and brittle with age. Nestled within that fabric were a number of plain gold rings. Each was identical and scribed with delicate runes set in a very particular pattern. It looked like an enchantment but there was very little residual magic contained within them.

Worked into the pattern were Lycian letters, spelling out one word on the exterior, ‘Illeniel’. I turned one of the rings over carefully in my hands and spotted more writing on the inside of the band, again in Lycian. The words were tiny but they appeared to read ‘trusted guest’. That’s an odd phrase to put in a gold ring, I thought.

I counted the rings and found there were twenty one within the box, though it appeared there might have been more originally. I pondered them for a good while before I set them aside for another day. I had a feeling their purpose would become clear to me later… probably while I was sleeping or bathing. I always did my best thinking when I was relaxed.

Finally I turned my attention to the book. I had been restraining myself thus far, since it was what I desired to look at first. I had saved it for last since I knew it might well take me a long time to make up my mind about its value.

It was a very compact item, no more than six inches in width and only slightly taller. Even though it was bound in silver it wasn’t more than half an inch in thickness and would easily fit into a shirt pocket or pouch. The metal exterior was covered in runes, but unlike the others I had no idea what their purpose was. The arrangements were unlike anything I had ever considered which made it hard to guess whether it was safe to open or not.

“I could stare at those patterns for a year and probably not understand what they’re supposed to do,” I said out loud, as if giving voice to my thoughts would make them more reasonable. “Sooner or later I’ll have to take a chance, and one thing I rarely have the luxury of is time.” Having said that, I felt sure it was true. It’s still stupid to open something like that without at least having witnesses in case something bad happens, said a small voice in the back of my head. I quickly hustled that voice down to the basement of my mind and had it locked away where it wouldn’t bother me anymore.

“No time like the present,” I said, and then I undid the metal clasp that held the book closed and flipped the cover open. As I did the runes around the edge of the metal began to writhe and move, as if they were alive, something I had never seen runes do before. A golden light suffused the metal and it felt as though the book itself jumped in my hand, in fact it startled me so much that I nearly dropped it. Gritting my teeth to steady my nerves I watched as the book expanded to slightly more than twice its original size. Once it had finished growing the runes grew still and the book resumed its more usual dormant state. I let out a long held sigh, grateful there hadn’t been some sort of trap.

I looked at the title page and felt my heart jump with excitement when I read the words there. ‘Index of Enchanting Schemata’ was the name of the book. As I stared at it I remembered Moira’s words, “The Illeniels were well known for the many mage-smiths and skilled enchanters they produced throughout history.” This was the first sign of that. Nothing else I had found in the library had so much as hinted at the secrets of enchanting, much less providing full-fledged schemata. I had despaired of ever finding any guidance in the lost art I had somehow re-invented.

I began thumbing through the pages idly, wondering what I might find. One page was titled, ‘Schemata for trans-spatial storage apparatus’. The designs seemed strange but I recognized some similarities with teleportation circles, though the resemblance didn’t go very far. Another page held a diagram for something called a ‘self-locking door’, and yet another contained the schemata for a ‘stasis field effect’, whatever that was.

A cursory examination told me that the book held very little in the way of instruction or explanation. Whoever had owned this book previously had obviously made it to be portable and durable, and he or she hadn’t needed much in the way of explanation. This was a book for someone already well-practiced in the art of enchanting, for what it contained were formulae and fully functional diagrams of enchantments.