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

been chosen for that task. When I was very young, perhaps nothing more than an infant in your eyes, I sensed things before they happened. Everyone around me wanted to take advantage of what I could do. I was pushed and prodded. I faced constant demands. I began to hate what I was and what I could do. But that’s a boring story, filled with self pity. Luckily, I realized I was allowed my ability for a greater purpose than to make others wealthy and famous. Now, I accept my fate, though I would appreciate it if you do not throw my name about with casual ease. You never know who might remember me. As for now, I simply move with the path that Godson makes for me.

“That’s a rather simple summary of my life, but its enough to get my point across. You wonder how someone so young could be able to provide the insight necessary to understand the prophecies. I tell you it has nothing to do with what I have learned or what I have done. It is the will of Godson and He doesn’t seem to care how old I am. I was led to this task and the Church of Godson just as I was led to you now.”

Mappel raised an eyebrow. “Why would you say that? It was the messenger sent by Matthew that called your attention here. What makes you think it is the will of Godson?”

“I never spoke to any messenger,” Stephen responded flatly.

Mappel turned a questioning glance towards the reader. His expression made it very clear he expected confirmation of such a statement.

Matthew answered the unspoken question. “It’s true. None of my messengers returned with him. In fact, I wondered how he could have gotten here so soon. We only sent word out this morning. I thought it might have just been pure luck that one of them came across him in a nearby town, but that’s not the case. He began his trip several days ago.”

Mappel turned his attention back to the interpreter.

“Why?” It was spoken cold and hard.

The bubbling happiness in the interpreter dimmed ever so slightly. “I know what’s happening. In my mind, I can see the sphere. Even now, it is still in the midst of Sanctum. It has broken the reflectors which cast the energies back into its center. It’s sending out magic at will through a long break in the wall of the mountain. It will continue to do so until it is stopped. I can see this as I saw other things just as significant. I sensed your meeting with the delver. The reader tells me his name is Ryson Acumen. I can tell you this, that delver’s importance to us all has not ended. Keep him with you in whatever you do.”

Mappel suddenly released a surprising burst of anger and impatience. He had given no warning to such an eruption, but he boiled over with demands. “Do not dare talk in riddles to me! Tell me what you know of my meeting and Ryson Acumen. Tell me the importance of the delver. If you truly understand what we face, then you know the danger as well. I will not stand here and play games with you. If you are blessed by Godson then you will happily reveal to me what to do and how this tragedy will unravel. If you wish to test me with riddles, I will mark you as a messenger of dark creatures, of those that wish to bring turmoil to the land rather than save it, or perhaps even of the sphere itself!”

Mappel stared holes through the young man. He could not say if it was his tense dealing with the mayor or his growing anxiety over the poison magic which filled the air, but he knew his patience had worn thin. He would not stand there with this boy and play a guessing game over what was important and what was not. If the boy could see the outcome of this trial, he would know of it now.

Any last trace of a smile left the interpreter’s face. Sadness and guilt replaced the sparkle in his previously bright eyes. He exhaled once heavily. He spoke with his own frustration and sadness. “I’m sorry. It wasn’t my intention to leave you with riddles. I’m not doing it on purpose anyway. I know it sounded like that, but sometimes I just don’t know how to put things. The truth is that I don’t know the exact importance of Ryson Acumen, not yet anyway. And I don’t know what you should do, or what anyone of us should do, or how this will end up. My ability to understand what will happen or what can happen is limited. I’m allowed to see what I’m allowed to see. I only know that this delver remains important to us all.”

The elder elf looked deeply into the interpreter. With a grunt, he accepted Stephen’s explanation. His tone, however, remained as dubious as ever. “So because of this insight of yours, you knew I was coming to Connel in hopes of finding a way to enter Sanctum safely and destroy the sphere?”

“That’s right.”

“Do you see anything else?” It was spoken more of a command than a request.

The interpreter spoke openly of what he knew. “I see that you will bring all the races together here. Each race knows that something is terribly wrong. They will all meet with you.”

Mappel found hope in those words and chose to seize upon it. “Will they assist; will they reveal the secrets of Sanctum?”

“I don’t know, but I know only a small party will enter the mountain. I can’t tell you what that means.”

Mappel brought a hand to his chin and stroked it as he considered the thought. He brought his stare back to the interpreter. “How sure of this are you?”

“It will happen.”

“I see. You seem to be very sure of this, which brings me to another question. In my talks with Matthew, he had revealed that you predicted every important event which would affect the people of this church. Why did you miss this most important occurrence?”

“I don’t know, but I have a theory.”

“I would like to know it.” Again, it was spoken as a command.

Stephen hesitated for the first time. He repositioned himself in his chair as if something was poking him in the back. His discomfort seemed to grow as he spoke. “I don’t believe this was supposed to happen. For some reason, I think it might actually be defying even the will of Godson. Understand; it is very hard for me to say that. I have gone through life believing that nothing could defy that will, that the prophesies would be ours without doubt. Now, I’m not so sure, and that scares me.”

Mappel pressed beyond Stephen’s hesitancies. “As well it should, but what makes you believe this? Even Matthew admits that he can not find the prophesies which point to this moment, but he himself stated the races would reunite. This is causing that re-unification.”

“No, it isn’t,” Stephen said resolutely.

Mappel was taken aback by this determined response. “What makes you say that? You yourself said that the races will all unite here at Connel. Are you now saying that prediction may not unfold?”

“No, they will all be here, but this will not cause a re-unification. It’s only temporary. It will not end the true separation. It will only serve as a reminder for the humans that other races exist. However this turns out, the races will again go their separate ways.” Stephen noted the probing eyes of the elder elf. He continued with his explanation as clearly as possible. “I know what you’re thinking. You’re wondering if I know this, then why can’t I see the conclusion of your plans. I told you before I don’t know how this will end, and that’s true. It’s because for the first time in my life I see two possible outcomes. That has never happened before. Either the sphere will be destroyed or it shall remain intact to destroy everything in the land. But whichever happens, I know the races will again divide. They will either separate in fear of the sphere, or they will return to their previous lives.”

“You see two possible outcomes?” Matthew asked with an expression close to agony.

“Yes, I do.”

The reader dropped his forehead into his hand. His anxious fingers caressed his own temples as if attempting to press the disconcerting thoughts from his mind. “Then there is no set destiny here for us.”

“It seems so.”

Mappel began to uncharacteristically pace the room. Instead of standing still with his palms wrapped about his staff, he traversed the floor, poking the end of the staff against the wool rug as if to punctuate each silent thought. He grunted twice and mumbled something barely audible to the other two that watched him intently. With one last great thud of his staff upon the floor, he again stood still. He leaned upon his staff and addressed both men.

“There is no sense in us grieving over the interpreter’s visions. We must take assurance in the fact that the possibility of destroying the sphere still exists. How this situation came about and what powers it might defy are no longer important to us. If our destinies are in our own hands, then so be it. I will remain hopeful that the forces which protect and enlighten us are still guiding our decisions. With that in mind I will turn to the most important question which must be posed to the interpreter. Do you know the secrets of Sanctum?”

Stephen spoke clearly and resolutely. “I know what the humans placed within their tier. I don’t know of what the other races placed.”

Mappel’s eyes lit up like a bonfire. His voice actually cracked with expectancy “That is not important. The other races will be responsible for that. It is enough that you know the secret of the tier which belonged to the humans. That is what I hoped for.”

“Well, then your hope has been answered.”

Matthew spoke with a more guarded tone, but his excitement and interest were equally evident. “How did you come of this knowledge? I have never found anything in the book of Godson. Was it hidden behind the words?”

Stephen shook his head resolutely. “No, the secret was never placed in the book. It was too well guarded for that. The human followers of Godson wanted to spread the word, but they didn’t want to spread the secret. When copies of the book were made, the secret of the tier was purposely left out. It was kept separate. It was kept on two pieces of parchment and held by only two. When one of the holders passes on, the other goes out to find another holder so there will always be two living humans with the secret. The two holders must remain separate but they must always be aware of the other’s health and whereabouts. That’s how the parchment continued to pass on through so many generations. That’s also how its existence faded from the memory of the humans.”

“You are a holder,” Mappel stated as more of a fact than a question.

“Yes, I am.”

Mappel tapped his finger gently against his staff. He stood silent for but a moment, both weighing his thoughts and the context of Stephen’s words. When he spoke, his eyes locked upon the face of the interpreter.

“Will you reveal to me the secret of the human tier?”

Stephen answered the elder elf’s gaze with an icy determined stare of his own. His position became as rigid and as solid as granite. His words were laced with strength. “I can not do that, at least not now.”