Chapter 72 A Real Wizard
Alexander was waiting patiently just outside of the front gate of the Thronsen estate. As soon as he saw someone coming he brightened and opened his mouth to speak. His mouth hung open as his eyes locked onto Sir Solomon’s missing arm. He slowly took in the much older man who wasn’t even showing his discomfort at the missing limb. He had used his own healing magic, as a paladin, to heal the wound closed after his arm had been removed by a disintegration trap near the beginning of his assault on the Thronsen Estate. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that the wound hadn’t healed cleanly or properly. Wounds from disintegration were never left alone. A doctor or lower level cleric would often have to cut away more bone before they healed it closed, if the patient even survived that long, because the edges of the bone would be razor sharp.
Alexander closed his mouth and swallowed dryly as he realized his mouth had been hanging open. “Salutations, Magistrate, Lord Darkness, Lady Hellfire.” He greeted them and then eyed the legless and comatose Court Mage, the marquess, and marchioness. He gave the prisoners a nod in greeting and then frowned down at the Court Mage. “Yarra Glenbrook, a decent alchemist by all accounts but one that often pushed the limits of what one would call moral, when it came to her research.”
“Alexander.” Isaac greeted him in return and nodded. “What kind of research?”
“The mythical Potion of Resurrection.” Alexander explained. “According to my mentor, there is at least one mad wizard in every generation that tries to make one. None have ever succeeded, and even though most often fall to using death row prisoners as test subjects, or even necromancy, the study of such a potion has not been outlawed.”
“It feels sort of like it should be. It seems like a gateway drug.” Isaac commented.
“What do you mean?” Alexander questioned curiously.
“A drug that isn’t strictly harmful, or at least not in small doses, that often leads someone to try stronger and more harmful drugs to get the same kick or high that they got in the first place.” Isaac explained. He recited the definition without even thinking about it so he managed to finish it before his eyes started to blur from an absolutely pounding headache. It wasn’t the term itself that caused his headache but his brain trying to pull the definition out that had done it.
“I see.” Alexander acknowledged. “The similarities should indeed be brought up at the next major conference of mages. I doubt anything will be done about it but it should still be brought up for review.” He then shook his head as if to clear it. “But back onto the topic at hand, you wish to invade Magus Yarra’s tower. I am here to assist with that.” He pulled out a pair of spectacles and put them on. He then withdrew a compass from his dimensionally expanded robe pocket and looked at it with furrowed brows. He turned slightly and stared in the direction of the greenhouse even though he couldn’t see it from his position on the street.
“Sir Solomon knows where the magical traps aren’t, by process of elimination, which is why he is here and not resting despite his injuries.” Isaac explained to Alexander and motioned for him to follow as the group began moving towards the greenhouse. “We obviously couldn’t leave the prisoners behind, without anyone capable of handling them all at the same time, if the need arose.”
“I understand.” Alexander replied with a nod. “Thank you, Magistrate, for your continued service in this trying time.” Alexander said it with such practiced neutrality that it was hard to tell if he was sincere or not. It felt like one of the many lines and responses that he was forced to practice a million times for noble social situations.
“I merely do as my duty demands, nothing more, nothing less.” Sir Solomon told him with the same level of non-existent emotion.
The group stopped right outside of the greenhouse and Alexander squinted at the door. “This may take a while.” Alexander told the group. “You might want to get comfortable.” He then grumbled under his breath: “And I thought my tower’s security was excessive.”
“How bad is it?” Isaac wondered and closed his eyes to help him focus on the feel of the mana flowing around them.
“There is an entire alarm array with a trigger that is dependent on the ambient air flow inside the greenhouse. I am afraid that my glasses will run out of power before I am done dismantling the alarms, let alone the actual traps.” Alexander replied with an ever deepening frown. “Whoever designed this greenhouse either did it as a hobby or had extreme paranoia.”
“It was his hobby.” Sir Solomon stated. “He had the greenhouse rebuilt every summer for two decades.”
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“Do you have any idea how to disarm any of the alarms or traps from the outside?” Alexander asked.
Sir Solomon shook his head. “No. I do not think that there is a way from the outside. You should be able to teleport into the tower directly, that is always how the Court Mages of Vespera have done it anyway.” He explained.
Alexander shook his head. “That won’t work. Only someone who has been acknowledged by the tower and its security array can do that. If someone tried to do that into my tower, well, there wouldn’t even be a mess left to clean up. “ Alexander informed them.
“How is someone acknowledged by the tower?” Isaac wondered. “Is that something that we can do?”
Alexander shrugged. “Well, there is a way.” He then looked at the comatose Yarra. “In the event that the existing Court Mage is killed, after an hour, the tower will no longer be attuned to them. Someone with a Master Key must then enter the tower and reset the Attunement Crystal. Then someone new will have to attune to it by sending the equivalent amount of mana to twenty lightning bolts through it. After that, each trap will need to be checked to make sure that they were not set up parallel to the Tower Security Array. Some of them might just go off anyway.”
“If someone just teleports into the tower along with the owner, won’t the tower leave them alone?” Isaac wondered.
“Yes, but only if the owner of the tower is the one that casted the teleportation spell.” Alexander explained. “The tower will recognize who cast the spell to enter. If someone else does it, then depending on how the tower’s system is set up, the owner may or may not be left unscathed while the intruder is reduced to ash.”
“I think you guys have gone a bit overboard.” Isaac told Alexander flatly. “I understand that it is your home and workspace but do the traps really have to be that insane?”
“Yes.” Alexander, Sir Solomon, Marquess Flynn, and Lenna all said at the same time.”
“State secrets.” Isaac surmised based on all of their reactions.
“Indeed.” Sir Solomon replied.
“There are often more state secrets hidden in a Court Mage’s tower than in their lord’s office or even their safe.” Alexander informed him.
“So how long will it take you to get inside, if you had to guess?” Isaac wondered.
“If Magus Yarra doesn’t wake up, three hours to reach the trap door located in the back of the greenhouse. I can’t even see inside the tower itself until I reach the entrance. Even then, I’ll have to fight through the perception and divination blocking enchantments before I can tell you anything for certain.” Alexander explained. “As much as I hate to say it, Lady L’Vore would be able to get you inside much faster. As would Lord L’Vore if he actually put his experience to good use.”
“Oh?” Isaac asked. “What has Fen been up to?”
“He figured out how to use words of power without speaking.” Alexander said with an incredible amount of exasperation. “I only found out because my detection array picked one up while Lady L’Vore was raiding my cabinets for more gold paint.”
Isaac chuckled and shook his head. ‘Shamesh, ask Jala if she wouldn’t mind breaking into a Court Mage’s tower. She has two hours, maybe two and a half, before it’ll be too bright for her to work outside.’ Isaac instructed his retainer.
‘Right away, my Lord.’ Shamesh replied.
“We are checking in with Jala now.” Isaac told Alexander.
“Are you sure?” Alexander questioned with a worried look on his face. “Who knows what insanity she’ll ask for in return.”
‘She is on her w-’ Shamesh cut himself off as there was a ripple in space a few feet from them. ‘She did not even ask for permission to use scrying magic on me.’ Shamesh grumbled.
“My Lord,” Jala greeted with an exaggerated bow towards Isaac. “or should I just call you my nephew-in-law?” She whirled on her niece before Isaac could even reply. “Dear, have you been enjoying yourself?”
Lenna smiled. “Yes, auntie, I have. But that is not why you are here.” She replied.
“Yes-yes.” Jala said and turned to face the green house. She squinted her eyes at it for a moment and then hurried over to stand a mere two inches away from the glass. Alexander flinched as she got so close to setting off one of the alarms. “Slumbering Citrine, Nightingale Irises, Final Grazes, False Amaranths… every plant in there is a potent poison.” She mumbled to herself.
Alexander took a hesitant step closer to the glass and switched one pair of spectacles for another so he could see in the dark instead of being able to see magical metals through solid materials. “Oh, oh my, some of these are illegal to grow in Altia.” He added. “We might need more than a few hours.”
Jala turned to give him a curious and confused look. “Why?” She asked him.
“Because not only will we have to disarm the arrays but we might also have to wall off and purify the air in order to get to the entrance.” Alexander replied with a confused and questioning glance in return.
“Are you actually stupid?” Jala questioned him with total seriousness. When he just stared back at her, completely unable to find the words necessary to retort, she just sighed. “Fine, get out of the way and watch a real wizard work.” She told him and shooed him away like he was a fly buzzing around her dinner.
Isaac could have sworn he saw a glint in her eyes as she licked her lips with a grin. “I didn’t realize she liked puzzles so much.” He said to Lenna. “If we find any good ones in the capital, we should send them home for her.”
Lenna nodded in agreement. “We will have to see if Karthen can solve them first. If he can, then the puzzle would just be insultingly easy for her.” Lenna replied and then glanced at Alexander. “No offence meant.”
Alexander hadn’t even heard her as he watched Jala draw out a ritual circle in mid air with just the tip of her finger. Everywhere her finger went, a faintly glowing line was left in its wake. Loop after loop, sigil after sigil, rune after rune, line after line she went. As soon as she was done with one, she moved on to the next without activating the first. By the time she had finished her third one Alexander’s eyes looked like he was trying to sear her every movement into his mind.
Isaac stared at Jala as she worked with furrowed brows. He could tell that what she was doing was incredible based on Alexander’s, and even Sir Solomon’s, reactions but it took him a moment to realize exactly what she was doing. “At first, I thought that she was just setting up spells to be activated once she was ready but… she’s making an array out of illusory light on the fly, isn’t she?”
Alexander nodded. “Yes.” He replied quietly. “I’ve never seen anything like it, not even from the Headmaster or Grand Magus Eidi’Diasta.”