Posts
It took them days of
research to make headway. The first tantalizing hints were just
that—hints. Oblique mentions of some past horror involving the
Javni'Tolkhrah, but never anything clear. It was as if there was some
agreement between the authors not to speak of the subject more.
It was Garkhen who
at last stumbled upon a hint. Theorizing that, if there were indeed
some agreement to banish all memory of something, it was more likely
to have happened later rather than sooner, he had gone to some of the
oldest-looking books on the shelf and started reading them carefully.
He frowned as he
ran across one passage in particular. The Warder re-read it a couple
of times, then looked up at his friends. “Look here. I believe I
have found something.”
Almonihah, who had
been focusing more on teaching Zakhin'Dakh to read than actually
reading himself, looked up. “What?”
“This passage
mentions a “Chainer” in connection with the Javni'Tolkhrah. It
sounds possible, does it not?”
Almonihah grunted.
“Were chains all over th' Amulet,” he admitted, cautiously.
“What's it say?”
“Simply that
'Since the Chainer's death, the Chaos Mages have never again so
threatened our world.' From there it goes on to discuss the hunting
of Chaos Mages,” Garkhen stated, a hint of disapproval in his tone.
“Hm. 'Least it's
something,” Almonihah replied, not sounding very impressed. He
looked over at the Mage-Archivist. “Chainer mean anything to you?”
Mage-Archivist
Delanoche frowned. “Chainer... Chainer... Let me see...” He went
over to another set of shelves in the room and started looking over
the books there. After a long moment he pulls one off and opens it,
flipping through.
“Ah, here it is,”
He declared after several minutes of searching. “This passage
discusses the summoning of Chaos Beasts, as practiced by 'The
Chainer'.”
Garkhen looked up
at the Mage-Archivist, an unasked question in his gaze. After a
moment, he asked, instead of the question on his mind, “What does
it say of him?”
Mage-Archivist
Delanoche scanned a couple of pages. “That the author's opinion is
that The Chainer bound existing Chaos Beasts to his will rather than
summoning them. This is a book on summoning, you see.”
“Does it say
anything about the Amulet?” Garkhen asked, gazing intently at the
book.
After several
minutes he shook his head. “No. He says nothing of relevance to our
problem. Simply his reasons for why he believes what he does, none of
which mention any artifacts.”
The group was
silent for a moment, until Garkhen stated, “That does, at least,
seem to confirm this Chainer is related to this subject, for the
Amulet seems to have power over the Javni'Tolkhrah...”
“So we have a
name t' look for,” Almonihah finished, when Garkhen trailed off.
“Something, I suppose.” After a moment he narrowed his eyes.
“Something in here on ancient wars?”
There were, indeed, books on ancient wars, which led to books on war magic, and so on through many subjects. Slowly they were able to piece together a picture of the Chainer.
“To summarize
what we have found,” Garkhen said a few days later, as they stood
again before the remaining Archmagi, “This Chainer found some way
to bind Javni'Tolkhrah to his will. If anyone knew it was this
Amulet, there are no records here we can find of it. It seems that he
used this power to wage a terrible war on one of the early human
kingdoms, nearly overcoming it before they were saved by the
intervention of the dwarves.”
“After which
everybody decided t' hush up about th' whole thing,” Almonihah
interjected. “Probably didn't want anyone else getting ideas.”
“Unfortunately,
as none of them mention the Amulet, we are left without definite word
on how it might be destroyed,” Garkhen continued. “However...”
He hesitated. “The records do mention that they had discovered the
Javni'Tolkhrah chafed against their master's power, for Chaos is ever
ill-suited to servitude...”
“So our best
guess's that enough Chaos'd break it,” Almonihah finished. He
growled a bit at the thought, but after a moment of displeasure, he
added, “'nd if there's enough Chaos anywhere, it's probably th' in
th' Maelstrom.”
*********************
Apologies for the unplanned hiatus. Holiday time can be like that. It didn't help that I was debating on just how to do a library scene.
