Delver Magic I: Sanctum's Breach by Jeff Inlo (read novels website .TXT) 📕

Matthew faced this prospect with confusion, uncertainty. He tried to form his own alternatives as he mumbled a response. “I don’t know. It still affects the whole town. Perhaps a new council should be put together, an emergency council.”

Consprite nearly fell out of his chair. “Are you out of your mind?! To do that I would have to tell people what’s going on. Do you have any idea what that will cause? Panic! Riot! We’ll lose control of everything. I’ve had enough trouble keeping a lid on this as it is. I only use people I can trust. Everyone here has sworn their secrecy to me. I intend to keep this a secret until I can figure out what to do. Now you want me to just announce a need for a new emergency council?! Forget it! The rest of this town knows nothing so far and that’s the way I intend to keep it.”

“You will not be able to keep this a secret for long,” Mappel said stoically. “I understand your desire to maintain calm among your people, but there is no way it can be accomplished. Very soon, they will all see things with their own eyes that you will not be able to explain away. They will realize that the land is changing. I would suggest you inform them as soon as possible.”

“Just like that, huh?” Consprite laughed sarcastically. “Maybe I should just go out in the street with a bell and tell them that the dead are rising, there are monsters in the rivers, and elves in my office. What kind of response do you think I’ll get?”

The humorous image was lost upon the elder elf. “I can not say. I have little experience with your people.”

Consprite laughed again, as if he finally found an escape from his inner turmoil. “Well, I have a lot of experience. First they’ll have me locked up; they won’t believe any of it until some of these things come marching up our main street. Then, they’ll all panic. They’ll run in every direction at once, not caring who or what they run over. They’ll take what they can from wherever they can. They’ll fight over horses and food before they leave this town a burning cinder.”

“That may happen regardless,” Mappel proposed. “Who can say when a goblin raiding party might target your town, or when a mountain shag wanders forward in search of food. The changes around you are vast. The people of this town will see them. You may temper the panic if you warn them.”

Consprite bit down slightly on his lip. He exhaled heavily before casting a determined stare at Matthew. “I will not talk in circles any more. You came here to tell me something. I want to know what it is. What do you know about this?”

“I know what these elves have told me,” Matthew said honestly.

“And what is that?”

“I would rather they tell you.”

Consprite grimaced before turning his head to the elder elf.

“Well?” he said with an expectant tone.

Mappel did not hesitate in responding. “Whether you or your people wish to accept it, the land is changing. The time you have known is over. If you doubt my word, simply consider what you yourself have already seen. These things will not go away. They will, in fact, get worse. You will not be able to hide the truth from the humans within the structures of this camp, or in any other. You, however, will have to face these changes more quickly than others. Connel has been selected as a meeting place for representatives of other races. It is very possible that even this day living creatures strange to you will indeed be walking down your main street. We have come to warn you now so that you may take any necessary precautions to avoid the panic you speak of. As to whether you accept this or not, that is beyond my control. It is not beyond my control, however, to reveal myself to your people right at this moment. My very existence will create a stir you will not be able to silence.”

“I see.” The mayor paused to consider thoughts of his own before proceeding. Quite distinctly, the elf just posed a challenge of authority, a challenge this mayor was accustomed to meeting. Consprite finally took hold of something of comfort. He now viewed Mappel as a political adversary, and he attempted to create an atmosphere of conflict. First, he decided to gain more information before deciding a course of action. “You still haven’t told me what’s going on. You say the land has changed, but not why. And why is Connel being used as this meeting place?”

“Connel was selected for its history. It was the battle ground of the Wizard War, the last place all the races worked together.”

“Sounds like a fairy tale to me,” Consprite added, hoping to goad the elf into revealing something he might have wished to keep hidden.

“Then I would also be a character in one of these tales. Yet, I stand before you now, do I not?”

Matthew decided to add a fact which might add at least a shred of substance to the story. “It also has a lot to do with Ryson Acumen,” the reader revealed.

The mayor did not move his head. He only shifted his eyes toward Matthew. “That’s the delver we sent out to check the damages by the earthquake. What’s he got to do with this?”

“When I saw he was about to explore the lands after the quake, I asked him to send reports back to me as well. I wished to know what caused the quake. As it happens, Ryson was the first to come across these elves. Apparently he has assisted them. He also spoke of me and thought I might help them.”

“Why?”

“Because I am a follower of the Church of Godson. I would be most willing to accept them for what they are.”

“No, that’s not what I asked. Why do they need help? No one has told me what’s causing all of this. All you’ve said is why they came to Connel. That doesn’t explain … Wait a minute!” He made a sideways glance at Matthew. He sized him up and read the meaning within the unspoken words. “The quake. You sent Ryson to check out the quake and that’s when he came across these elves. It was after the quake when things went haywire around here. That’s the link, isn’t it? This has all got something to do with that quake, if it was a quake.”

“What else could it have been?” Matthew posed with a nervous tone.

“Something that might explain what’s going on here,” the mayor said flatly. He noted the reader’s nervousness and grasped it. “I think you know, and I want you to tell me.”

“The forces at work here are beyond one man’s understanding,” Mappel interceded, hoping to quell the mayor’s interest with the tremor. The elder elf was not sure of this man’s character, but he was sure he did not want to reveal the source of the quake, or the fact that the sphere existed within the walls of Sanctum.

Consprite, however, honed in upon Mappel’s words. Forces. The word blinked in his mind. It meant power, and power of this magnitude interested him. He considered his options, weighed them carefully, and finally spoke with cold calculation.

“It may be beyond my understanding, but I wish to know more of what caused this quake. I have a feeling it may shed some light on what I’ve been facing and even why you’re here.”

“We are here as the first representatives from other races to come to Connel.” Mappel spoke with careful conviction. He hoped to make it clear his intentions should not be questioned. “It is here we will decide how to deal with the changes we all face.”

The mayor failed to accept the elder elf’s authority. In Consprite’s world, power created authority, and as of yet, the struggle between them had not yet been decided.

“That doesn’t tell me what caused this change,” Consprite persisted. He decided to play an ace. “Now, I want to go back to this quake. It seems you’re rather uncomfortable talking about it. I can’t make you tell me what it is you know, but I can do this. There are other delvers here in Connel. There are also human trackers which I trust very much. I might simply send one or more of them out just as Acumen went out. I can get the answers myself.”

Mappel stood silent. He turned to Matthew, then to Lief. Dealing with humans was foreign to him. Dealing with humans that made a career out of reading, understanding, and even redirecting the wants and desires of others, posed a challenge for which he was not prepared. The elves of his camp accepted his word and authority without challenge. This human would not.

Consprite noted the uncomfortable gaze of the elder elf. He sensed the confusion and concern like a shark senses the distress of another fish. He wanted to smile but he kept his emotions hidden. This was a battle he was determined to win.

He did not allow the elf time to regroup his thoughts, he pressed the elder. “Now that I think about it, it’s very clear that the quake which rolled past this town must be directly related to the events of the past few days. But I don’t think it’s the quake itself that disturbs you. It’s the secret behind the quake. It’s big enough to cause you elves to come out of hiding. It apparently is important to others as well. Something about dwarves, and algors. You said yourself that there are other representatives coming to Connel. I’m beginning to think that you’re trying to keep something from me which I should know about.”

Consprite watched the elf carefully. The pained reaction he witnessed informed him his calculated assumption was correct. He now stared expectantly at Mappel.

Mappel moved his hands slightly about his staff and repositioned his feet as he weighed his response. He now believed that meeting with this man was a mistake. He considered simply turning and leaving.

Maybe Connel was not the place for this. Perhaps they would have been better off in a town closer to the wilderness, closer to the forest. Pinesway. Or Burbon, where the goblins already attacked twice. Maybe if the elves had been there to fight them off they would have gained the trust and acceptance of the humans. At least the humans of Burbon would already have witnessed the existence of creatures far stranger to them than dwarves or elves. Yes, Burbon now seemed a welcome retreat, an escape from this walled chamber where he now stood, an escape from this man that now asked the wrong questions.

Only one thing held Mappel in his place, the hope that he was directed to Connel for a reason. Ryson Acumen, the Reader Matthew; these men were assets to his cause. He realized this. And Connel; Connel was a place of legend with its ancient wall still mostly intact. To give up on Connel meant giving up on a larger hope. Leaving meant accepting their fate was in their own hands, with no outside force guiding their actions.

“No,” Mappel said to himself.

It was barely above a whisper but all heads turned toward him.

“Does that mean you’re not hiding something from me or that you wish not to tell me what is truly going on?” the mayor questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“It means simply that I can not base my decisions on the accepted ways of the past,” Mappel said with renewed strength in his voice. “The age