The Eighth Warden Bk. 03 Ch. 25-26

"Was that wood?" Bobo asked.

"Yes," Corec said, brushing the dust from his hands. He stooped down to pick up the point, which was made from the same metal as the arming swords. "Pikes are usually built cheaply, out of whatever's available. I suppose they didn't want to waste money on them."

"They did on these," Treya said. "They look like Sarette's." She'd found a stack of staff-spears piled up on the floor. Unlike Sarette's weapon, which had a wooden shaft, these were constructed entirely of metal.

"The stormborn believe their military traditions were passed down from the first peoples," Bobo said. "This could be evidence of that."

"We should send them one of these for their museum," Corec said. Maybe it would make up for the sword he'd borrowed. He hadn't had a chance yet to tell the stormborn that their sword was bonded to him, and would remain so until he died. He wasn't sure how they would take the news.

Bobo nodded. "Some of the other pieces, too, if Varsin Senshall doesn't mind."

To the west, they found racks with long swords and flanged maces, and beyond those, along the western wall, were piles of metal arrows and crossbow bolts, mixed in with debris that suggested the projectiles had been stored in wooden crates. The shafts were made from the lighter metal that didn't rust or tarnish, while the tips were made from the metal that looked like steel. They were sharper and more uniform than any arrowheads Corec had seen before.

There were rows of mounting hooks along that wall, but the weapons themselves were gone, either taken or rotted away.

The east side of the room held four metal crates full of daggers. For soldiers, they'd likely been a secondary weapon, much like Corec's own long knife—useful for stabbing through gaps in armor, or when there wasn't enough room to wield something larger. Shields were propped up along the far wall, both large tower shields and smaller rounded shields.

There were also several suits of plate armor made from the special metal. Unlike the cuirasses, these armor stands were still intact, but the armor itself had fallen to the ground after the straps had rotted away. Nearby were messy piles of mail, as if it had been sorted through and left in heaps on the floor. The mail was thinner than usual, intended to be worn under heavier armor.

Bobo said, "I would have expected a wider variety of weapons."

"An army will standardize on as few as they can manage," Corec said. "They've covered most of the major needs. I would have wanted something in between the pikes and the staff-spears, and some hammers and bills to take care of opponents in heavy armor, but maybe they took all those with them when they left."

"Well, then, does anyone want to start an army?" Bobo asked jokingly. Judging by the size of the room, less than a tenth of the contents remained, but even excluding the arrows, that still left hundreds of pieces.

Corec didn't reply, but he shared a glance with Treya. During their conversations with Katrin and Shavala about what to do after returning to Aravor, they'd discussed different ideas for dealing with Rusol. Katrin had suggested hiring mercenaries, so they'd be on even footing if the prince sent soldiers or more red-eyes after them. They'd put that suggestion aside since they didn't have the money to hire and equip their own troops, but perhaps this armory changed things.

The room had three doors along the northern wall, including the one they'd come in by, and all three led back to the eastern tunnel. There was only one other exit leading out of the armory. It took them to a short hallway ending in a strange circular contraption which was locked into metal rails at the top and the bottom. The rails extended off to the right. On the left side, there was a small metal plate affixed to the wall.

"I think it might be another room," Bobo said. "This is like a door, but it rolls to the side instead of opening outward."

Corec grabbed the vertical handle and pulled, but nothing moved. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Am I sure there's a room on the other side?" the other man said. "No. But I'm certain it's supposed to move. Just look at it. That's the only reason for it to be built like this."

"There's dirt in the tracks," Treya said.

Bobo crouched down and wiped dust and dirt out of the lower railing. "Try it now."

Corec tried again, but didn't have any luck. "I can't get it to budge," he said. "Maybe it's rusted in place."

"I don't see any rust. Could it be warded like that other door we found?"

"Hold on." Corec cast the arcane sight spell again, then had to close his eyes as a wave of dizziness washed over him.

He felt a warm hand against his brow, and opened his eyes to find Treya standing in front of him, barely visible behind the veil of his arcane sight.

"You need to stop casting spells for a while," she said "You're starting to go into drain shock."

He'd only cast the arcane sight spell twice that day, but he'd summoned more mage lights than he ever had before.

"Can you help?" he asked.

"Not until you're a lot worse off than you are now. Just don't use any more magic today. I can't carry you out if you fall unconscious."

He grinned at her, then glanced at the door. It was covered in glowing golden lines laid out in geometric shapes. "There's some sort of magic on it," he said. "I don't know how to tell if it's a warding spell or something else."

Bobo sighed. "Another door we can't open. At least we actually found something this time. I'm sure Ellerie will be interested in the armory."

Corec tried the handle one last time, but the door still didn't move. When he let go, a faint golden line extending from the door to the metal plate pulsed brightly.

"Did you see that?" he said.

"See what?" Treya asked.

"It must have been part of the spell." Corec touched the plate to see if anything else would happen. It felt cold and smooth. Like the one they'd found earlier near the big doors, there was no writing on it.

When he took his hand away, the glowing symbols all turned green. He wasn't sure what that meant, but if the spell was intended to lock the door, and the spell had changed, perhaps the door would open. He grasped the handle again. This time when he pulled to the right, the door rolled with the screech of metal rubbing against metal.

"Help me," he said to Bobo.

Together, the two of them were able to roll the door halfway open, wide enough for one person to slip through at a time. Treya had stepped away, covering her ears with her hands.

"How did you do that?" Bobo asked.

Corec didn't answer. He hadn't released the arcane sight spell yet, and he'd seen a glow coming through the opening. Stepping inside, his eyes widened. There was a small assortment of weapons there, and each one was lit up.

He laughed. "Bobo, you were asking for enchanted weapons?"

"What?" Bobo asked, joining him. "Which one?"

"All of them." Corec's eyes were growing strained, so he banished the arcane sight spell and his vision returned to normal. The glowing auras disappeared.

The weapons were mounted on the wall, reminding him of the armory in Tir Navis where he'd found his sword. Taking pride of place in the center were two crossed arming swords. To the right of those were two staff-spears, and to the left were a longsword and a heavy mace. A tower shield hung from the east wall, and near it was a shirt that glimmered as if made from metal.

"Really?" Bobo said, a smile growing on his face. "Well, how about that? But how did you open the door?"

"I just touched that metal plate and it changed the spell that was holding it closed. There was one of those plates by the other door too. We should go tell Ellerie."

"What about all this? Should we bring it with us?"

"Maybe Ellerie should check it first for warding spells. None of it looked as ... I'm not sure of the right word. None of it looked as complicated as my sword, but I don't know enough to say if any of it is dangerous."

"I suppose," Bobo said, "though I suddenly find myself worried the door will close while we're gone, and we won't be able to open it again."

Corec laughed. "We can wedge it open. Go grab one of those swords from the other room."

###

Chapter 26

Ellerie rubbed her temples, trying to hold back a headache. It was growing late, much later than she'd anticipated staying within the mountain, and they'd spent hours searching through rooms empty of anything other than rusted or rotting furniture and miscellaneous odds and ends.

Even an empty room was an important find to add to their knowledge of Tir Yadar, but somehow, after the giant sphere and the blue lights illuminating the animal statues, Ellerie had been expecting something more.

The latest find was the worst—a library, made obvious by the wooden bookshelves that had somehow been preserved against the ravages of time. There was enough space for tens of thousands of books, yet every shelf was empty, every book was gone. There was little debris, suggesting the contents had been carried away rather than falling to pieces, but it almost seemed like a deliberate insult that so much knowledge had eluded her grasp.

"Shall we head back?" Boktar asked her.

"We might as well. It must be after dark by now, and it'll take us at least an hour to get back to camp. Let's go find the others."

"They're on their way here now," Leena said.

Sure enough, a voice called out, "Ellerie?" and Corec, Bobo, and Treya rounded a corner.

"We were just about to head back," Ellerie told them.

Bobo exclaimed, "We found an armory! With weapons!"

Ellerie's gloom lifted. "You found something? What was it like?"

Corec said, "A lot like the room we found in Tir Navis, if it hadn't been emptied. There's enough left to see how their army must have been organized—that's the sort of information you're interested in, right? And we know how to open the warded doors. Do you remember that little metal plate? All you have to do is touch it. We found one in the armory, locking away a handful of enchanted weapons."

"Can you take me there? Leena, could you let the others know we'll be late getting back?"

"I will," Leena said, and disappeared.

The group made their way out of the library. They were passing by the sphere on their way to the eastern tunnel when Corec stopped.

"We should try the other door while we're here," he said.

Ellerie nodded and headed in that direction.

"All I have to do is touch it?" she asked.

"That's how it worked on the other door."

She reached the doors and pressed her fingers to the metal plate, but nothing happened.

Corec's face fell. "I hoped it would work here, too." He laid his palm against the plate and there was a clicking noise.

Ellerie pulled on the nearest of the doors. It swung open smoothly. The light from her lantern danced around the darkened room beyond.

"Why did it work for me and not you?" Corec asked.

"It must be the warding spell. It accepted you for some reason."

Treya said, "The people who lived here, aren't they the ones you think created the wardens? Maybe this area was reserved for them."

"That makes as much sense as anything," Bobo said.

Leena reappeared nearby, a bag slung over her shoulder. "I brought food. It's well after dark, and I wasn't sure how long we'd be down here."

"Is everything all right up there?" Boktar asked.

"It's fine. Everyone's eaten already, and Katrin's singing to the wagon drivers now."

"Then we can stay down here for a while longer."

Ellerie bit her lip, looking first through the open doorway, then to the eastern tunnel.

"I don't know what to look at first," she admitted.

"We can't explore the whole city tonight," Boktar said. "We'll still be here tomorrow."

She nodded. "The armory now, since we know there's something there. We'll try these doors tomorrow."

#

Corec carefully trudged down the slope from the cave, trying not to trip. In the dark, with his arms full, he couldn't see where he was putting his feet. The people in the camp stood to greet them.

"What's that you're carrying?" Marco called out, squinting.

Ellerie surrounded the camp with mage lights, then jerked her head to the side.

"Let's go talk," she said to Marco, and drew him away from the farmboys who'd driven the wagons.

Corec followed them, then dropped the tower shield he was carrying to the ground, propping it up against a boulder. "There's no way anyone carried that thing into battle," he said, trying to work out the kinks in his shoulders. "It's too damned heavy."

"They wouldn't have enchanted it without a reason," Ellerie pointed out as she laid the two arming swords next to it, still bundled in her coat. Anytime someone grasped them by the hilt, they started glowing red.

"Enchanted?" Marco asked, sounding hopeful.

"All of it; everything we brought out."

Boktar and Nedley set the other weapons nearby, including nine arrows in a case that had enough space for twelve. The case had been propped up near the door, and Corec had missed it on his first examination of the room. The metal shirt had turned out to be mail, but made from chain links so fine they weren't any thicker than cloth. Enchanted or not, it seemed unlikely the mail would provide much protection, but they'd brought it out with the other items.

Ellerie told Marco about their find while the rest of the group joined them. Josip stayed back with the wagon drivers, trying to distract them.

"There's more still down there?" Marco asked when the story was over.

Corec said, "The rest of it isn't enchanted, but it's still in good condition. We'll need several wagons just to haul it all with us, though."

"I have to admit, I don't know how to appraise magical items," the factor said, looking over the weapons. "We usually hire a wizard by the name of Deshin for that. What do these do? Are they like your sword?"

"I don't know. Maybe Hildra can help us look at them if we stop by Aencyr on our way back."

Ellerie said, "There's a lore spell in that spell book I bought in Tyrsall. If I can learn it, we won't have to depend on Hildra." The elven woman still seemed suspicious of any other wardens they encountered. "It won't help us with prices, though."

"I looked into it a bit before we left," Bobo said. "If we find the right buyer, just one of these might pay for this entire trip."

"Oh?" Marco said. "Not many people have that sort of money."

"We'll have to proceed carefully. It's better to take time and do it right, even if that means going farther than Tyrsall."

"I know some people down south," Razai said. "Collectors with more money than brains. I've had to sell certain items in Deece before, and in Valara. And there's a fellow in Abildgar, but it's been a few years. I'm not sure if he's still around."

"I figured you'd be gone as soon as we got back to Tyrsall," Corec said.

The demonborn woman smirked. "You owe me an eighth of a share. I'll be gone as soon as Senshall pays out, and not a moment before."

Sarette lifted one of the staff-spears out of the pile. "Vartus has one like this, with the metal shaft," she said. "The museum holds onto most of the weapons from South Valley, but the stormrunners were able to requisition a few."

"There are more below if you want one," Corec said.

"I do. The metal shafts don't break, and they carry a charge longer." She rapped the butt of the spear against the ground. Jagged lines of white and blue light flickered over the weapon. Sarette swayed and grabbed Boktar's shoulder to steady herself. "Oh! That was ... Vartus's never felt like that."

"Like what?" Treya asked.

"I don't know how to explain it. It was just different than usual." She swung the weapon back and forth, then stepped forward with a thrusting motion. "The charge isn't fading. I like this."

Shavala held up one of the arrows. "I've never seen an arrow with a metal shaft before. These are magical?"

"Yes," Corec said. "Can you use them?"

Marco cleared his throat and stared at the two of them pointedly.

"No," Shavala said. "They're too long for my bow."

"I think there were different sizes back in the main armory," Bobo said. "Not the magical ones but the other ones."

"There are more?"

He nodded. "A lot."

"I will look tomorrow, then."

"Should we all go in tomorrow, to help haul the other items out?" Marco asked.

Ellerie said, "I'd like to wait on that. There's another warded door that Corec was able to open, but we didn't have time to explore it tonight. Let's start there in the morning, and then we'll decide what to do next."

Josip came over then. "I could hear what you were saying. The boys don't speak trade tongue, but they're getting curious. They saw you carrying things out of the cave. I didn't tell them what they were."

"For now, just tell them we found some old weapons buried in there," Boktar said. "They already know we're exploring the ruins, so that shouldn't come as a surprise. We may need to offer the village something to keep folks from coming out here before we're finished."

Ellerie nodded. "Whatever we do, this may be our only chance to explore Tir Yadar without being disturbed, whether it's curious villagers or other historians. We'll have to get all of the information we need for our book before we leave. I don't know when I'll be able to make it back here again."

Leena opened her mouth as if to say something, but then bit her lip and kept quiet.

#

Shavala poked through the debris, examining the piles of metal arrows that had been left in the armory.

"These are shorter than the others," Katrin said, showing her several arrows. Each had a broadhead tip with four sharp, wicked-looking blades. "Are they the right size?"

Shavala took one from her and examined it. "This will work. I wonder why the different sizes, though. Did elves live here, too? Or did the Ancients just use different types of bows?"

"Corec said none of the bows survived."

Shavala nodded. "Perhaps Ellerie will know. But I've never heard of anyone using metal arrows before. Even in the Storm Heights, Sarette said they only found arrowheads in the ruins."

"Will these work?"

"I think so. The weight feels fine, and they're perfectly straight. I'll have to practice with them, though. Are there more?"

"Yes, this whole stack."

Shavala pulled one of her foraging bags out of her coat pocket. "I'll take a few dozen. See if you can find some bodkin points too."

"What's a bodkin point?"

"The long, thin ones," Shavala said, and pulled one of the larger arrows from the pile she'd just been looking through. "Like this."

In the end, they didn't find any bodkin points among the shorter arrows, but they discovered that the arrowheads could be twisted off and replaced. Shavala removed a handful of the slender bodkin points from the longer arrows and slipped them into her bag.

When they were done, they joined the others who'd come with them to look at the armory. Sarette was leaning against a wall, holding onto the new staff-spear she'd come down to retrieve. Her eyes were closed and there was a grimace on her face.

"Are you all right?" Katrin asked.

"I don't like being down here," the stormborn woman replied, not opening her eyes. "There's too much stone above us."

"We should help you back to the surface," Corec said.

"Ellerie's waiting for you. I can make it on my own."

"I can go with her," Katrin offered. "I'd rather be outside than down here."

"I'll go too," Josip said. "Boktar may need me to translate." Boktar and Nedley had remained at the camp with the drivers, to keep watch as well as to check over the wagons, making sure they were in good condition before leaving for Livadi the next morning.

Corec nodded. "That's a good idea."