The Forgotten Catacombs

The Forgotten Catacombs

Decius I

The last rays of the sun faded over the rooftops of the Imperial City as the sorcerer passed through the wrought iron gates of the Collegium Veneficium. From atop its arched gateway, a great brass sphinx stared down at him, the waning sunlight dancing it its topaz eyes. Down the white brick path went the sorcerer, shaded by tall cypress trees on either side. The walk was lit by glowing white crystals set in tall lampposts that flickered to light as the sun dipped below the western horizon. All around him, students and instructors of the Collegium quit their offices and study halls to return to their residences for the night.

Moving in tight knots, the students ignored the stranger as they hurried down the paths to their residence halls. Quiet, excited chatter floated to his ears with the breeze and he smiled wistfully to himself, old memories returning to his mind.

His face concealed by a cloak, the sorcerer crossed the main square and climbed the steps of the tall, white marble edifice of the Library of the Arcane. A cool autumn breeze whipped his cloak, carrying with it distant music and the strong smell of indigo spice. The aroma of spice was everywhere in the Collegium, but this breeze carried with it the signs of a distant ritual in the works. However, the sorcerer paid it no mind.

He pushed aside the tall, bronze-fronted doors of elden oak and entered the foyer. The boom of the closing doors echoed about the hall, climbing past the crystal chandelier into the high, vaulted ceiling to the skylight which glowed dark orange in the fading daylight. He strode across the marble floor, decorated with a scene of spell-scribes hard at work, the steps of his fine leather boots quietly echoing around the empty chamber. At the far end of the foyer, he pushed open another set of double doors and entered the library's main hall.

High above him loomed the tops of the bookshelves, accessible by ladders mounted on rails that slid along the front of the shelves. The shelves were arranged in rows that ran down the length of the long hall, each one laden with countless books and scrolls of origins both ancient and new. A thousand king's ransoms could not have equaled the worth of this hall's books. Between the shelves were reading desks and benches, which earlier in the day would have been crowded with students busily searching for the answers to the mysteries of magic. Tonight, they were empty but for a bare handful of students still studying by the white light of glowing crystals.

One student, having apparently just realized the time, clutched an armload of papers to his chest as he hurriedly rushed out the main door to the foyer, leaving the sorcerer standing in a whirl of disturbed air and scattered notes. He caught one such scrap of paper as it floated gently down and gave it a quick glance before tossing it aside. His eyes scanned up and down the hall, taking in the quiet scene of the nighttime library.

Just in front of him, sat two students, each wearing green dress with the pin of an adeptus, the last step before graduating from the collegium. The two of them were seated behind a long, semi-circular desk of ancient oak, their heads buried in books. Behind them was a large cabinet containing the indices for the entire library. The desk had space to seat eight attendants, but at this late hour these two were the only ones present. Over their heads loomed an enormous ivory idol of Felitharna, Goddess of Secrets and Lady of Magic, garbed in raiment of the finest silk and crowned in gold.

The first student to look up was a blonde woman with green eyes and a mouth that crooked up at the corners. She smiled politely at the sorcerer's approach. Her companion, a dark-haired young man with a thin beard, looked up briefly before returning to his book with an annoyed scowl.

"Hello there, magus," the woman said cheerfully, leaning forward against the desk. "may I see your ring?"

The sorcerer held up his hand, showing her the signet ring on it. The face of it was ivory, carved to show a sphinx holding a staff in one hand and a sword in the other. Around it was engraved "Decius Sallax Capricius."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "You're you!" she gasped.

"So I am," he replied easily.

"Salvius!" she exclaimed to her companion at the desk, "It's Decius Sallax Capricius!"

"So it is," the other student replied, hardly looking up from his book.

"You know him," the woman continued, "He was at the Battle of Aebla! He recovered the Stone of Orrino and wrote the Life of---"

"I've read the history," Salvius cut in. She opened her mouth to elaborate further and then thought the better of it. She turned back to Decius.

"My name is Ephia," she said, extending a delicate hand to him in greeting. He took it in his own and kissed it.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Ephia," he said, and he saw her eyes flutter at the sound of her name on his lips. "I would introduce myself, but it would seem unnecessary."

"What can I help you with today, Magus?" she asked, visibly trying to control her excitement.

"I am looking for an old scroll," Decius answered, leaning on the desk and looking down at Ephia, whose bodice was hanging open affording him a look at the tops of her small, white breasts. "the Fifth Scroll of Master Pertinus the Elder, to be precise." He gave her a

"I don't remember the name," Ephia said, blushing despite her effort. "I will check the index." She rose from her seat, keeping her eyes downcast, and moved hurriedly to the cabinet behind the desk. She opened one drawer after another, flustered, until at last she found the one she wanted.

"Here it is!" she proclaimed, then her face scrunched up in confusion. "I... I'm afraid I don't know where this is," she said slowly.

"What does it say?" Decius asked, noticing that Salvius was studiously trying not to get involved.

"Cellar Annex, Seventh Cell," she read out loud. "Where is the Cellar Annex?"

"Good question," Decius wondered. There were two levels known as cellars, the Upper Cellar and the Lower Cellar, but whether the Cellar Annex was an annex of either of those or a different level entirely was unclear. When he was in attendance, he and his cohorts had crawled every passage they could find, but both the index and the library's lower levels were full of old, forgotten names. Possibly the Cellar Annex was a place he knew well by an entirely different name.

Ephia went to another drawer and produced a small map of the library's lower levels. She spread it across the desk and traced her finger along the labyrinthine passages shown.

"Presuming the Annex is actually an annex, there are only a few candidates," she reasoned aloud.

"That would make sense," Decius agreed, "however, no one has ever been able to make these passages obey reason. Give me the map, I will find the place myself."

"You might get lost down there," Ephia exclaimed, "I will go with you."

"Very well," Decius said, standing up. "Thank you for your help," he said to Salvius as Ephia led him away. The dark-haired youth made no reply except to deepen his scowl.

"Your companion could use lessons in how to greet guests at the library," Decius remarked as they departed the hall.

"That's just Salvius being bitter," Ephia laughed, "he has been sulking ever since he failed his first exam. Then the girl he was chasing turned him down, too."

They entered a side corridor and Ephia took a glowstone lantern from its hook. Taking a key from her belt, she unlocked the heavy iron door to a stairwell. She lit the lantern with a whispered incantation and held it before her as she descended the stairs into the darkened lower levels of the library.

Decius followed her, treading carefully on the old and dust-covered stairs that wound down through a narrow shaft in the earth. They reached the first level of the cellars and Ephia held up the map in front of her. Decius leaned in over her shoulder to inspect it. She tightened in excitement as his breath hit her shoulder.

"I think it's up here," she stammered, pointing down the passage to their right.

Here, in the old archives, the ever-present smell of spice gave way to a musty aroma of centuries old tomes and long-dried ink. The hall was deathly quiet, and the lantern's light caught on floating motes of dust in the air. The corridor walls were stone, pierced by doorways that opened into chambers of widely varying size, jammed with bookshelves and in some cases loose piles of scrolls or books on the floor. The ceiling was low, and the bookshelves were simple. Instead of being arranged neatly as above, here they were piled on shelves in a haphazard order, covered in layers of dust and spiderwebs. Some rooms had desks covered in books, opened and closed. At pointed place in the corridor, it became partially blocked by a scroll rack left in the hall.

Despite the barriers, they soon reached the suspected location of the annex, only to find that their map was out of date. Instead of a small annex crammed with books, they found only a stone wall blocking their progress.

"Damn," Decius growled. "What's next on the list?"

Ephia frowned and looked down at the map.

"There are two more on this level, but we can't reach them easily from here. It would be fastest to take those stairs," she pointed down yet another corridor, "to the lower cellar and check those rooms, then check the far side of this level on the way back up."

Again, they descended the stairs into the cellar. This level was even dustier and darker than the one above. It consisted of a single vast chamber, studded with stone support pillars, and several small side chambers adjoining it. Ephia led him to a door faintly marked with the number seven and pushed open the ancient portal. It creaked loudly and scraped the floor beneath it.

Inside, they found the room in a familiar state; scrolls and books were piled along the walls and on the table in the center of the room. A single rusty, unlit light fixture hung above the table.

"These rooms are in a far worse state than I remembered," Decius grumbled to himself, "I now wonder if the index is even remotely correct."

Ephia stood by the door, holding up the lantern so that it cast its light over the myriad tomes and librams around the room. She was quietly reading the titles to herself. Decius wished he knew what the scroll he was looking for even looked like.

He leafed through the scrolls, finding ancient poetry, chronicles, tax records, private correspondences... everything but what he was looking for.

Several times, he spied Ephia looking his way, clearly trying to summon the courage to ask him something.

"You might as well ask the things you wish of me. It will be more productive than standing there with your mouth open."

"Tell me," Ephia said, hoisting the glowstone above her so that it cast its light on her pretty young face, "Is it true you went before the Oracle of Ishar? What did it tell you?"

Decius smiled, holding a scroll of old imperial census information in his hands.

"Nothing useful, though that may change in the future. Oracles are tricky things. If you ever see one, you must remember its words, but do not hang on them. An oracle's prophecy can aid you at the very best time, but it can also consume you with paranoid and self-doubt. You must not allow it to take over your mind."

"You know," Ephia began hesitantly, "they still tell all kinds of stories about you here."

"I have heard. No doubt the stories bear little resemblance to the truth."

"They say you rescued Caesius Marius with your battleplan for Aebla. That until you arrived, he was ready to abandon the entire province to the rebels and now he owes his entire reputation to the victory you won for him."

"It is as I suspected," Decius chuckled. "The plan was as much his as it was mine. I carried the left wing, and he carried the right. Without his leadership, the center might have caved under fire from the rebel cannon before I ever fought my way clear of the marsh."

"They say you were in Torvuls during its latest conflict, that you once sailed to Cyrport, that you have the ear of the emperor," she continued.

"I was, I did, and I do. Or I like to think I do," Decius replied.

"They say you are a regular guest at his orgies," Ephia said shyly.

"I go when I am present in the city," Decius replied, "it is not the kind of thing you turn down if you can."

"What are they like?" she inquired, her hesitancy quickly giving way to eager curiosity.

"They are unlike anything you have ever seen. The emperor brings in courtesans and slave girls from far and wide. He has concubines brought all the way from Leiyan, elven courtesans, dark-skinned beauties from the south, fire haired Diborians and blonde Garexians, Amazons, girls with fey blood... it is a dream from which one might dread to wake. He has a hall in the palace for the occasion, with a fountain in the center that flows with wine, not water, and which is free for all to drink from. Musicians in the hall's galleries play music throughout it all while women dance in the nude."

Ephia stared in wonderment, biting her lower lip as her free hand drifted to her belt.

"It sounds like a revel worthy of Nystra herself," she said.

"When Nystra takes human form upon the earth, I have no doubt that she appears at the emperor's orgies."

"There are tales of men, and women, who have been blessed by her presence in their beds. If the emperor is in the favor of the gods, surely she would be a guest at his orgies."

"If I ever meet her, I'll let you know," Decius said. "But for now, it would seem that my goal eludes us. There is nothing here. Which way to the next cell?"

Ephia inspected the map again. "Down this hall, third door on the left." They left the chamber together, Ephia keeping close to him with an hand on his arm. Decius could see that her cheeks were flushed and felt her heartbeat pounding in her chest.

Above them, in the library's main hall, another sorcerer approached the desk. He was tall and thin, with piercing gray eyes and a thin mustache. He wore a gray cloak about him and a silvery rapier at his hip. Behind him, four more men in gray cloaks lingered in the foyer like dread spirits. The tall man approached the desk, now staffed only by the ornery Salvius, who only looked up when the man loomed over him. Looking around, Salvius convinced himself that Ephia had still not returned and so dramatically slammed his book shut and looked up at the guest.

"Can I help you, sir?" he asked without a modicum of sincerity.

"Yes, young man," the sorcerer crooned in a honey-smooth voice. "I need the key to the Lower Cellar."

Salvius groaned in annoyance. "Show me your signet ring," he said after an exasperated pause. The man raised his right hand, palm forward, and spoke in a deep voice as his left hand traced an arcane symbol in the air.

"Give the key to me," he rumbled. Salvius blinked as if struggling to stay awake.

"That's a... complex charm... third ring..." the youth murmured, his mind struggling to recall his lessons, "Master Gilba says the proper counter is to--"

The sorcerer spoke again, tracing another symbol in the air, more forcefully this time, "I compel you to give me the key."

Salvius stopped his thinking and turned toward the key chest. As if in a dream, he slowly unlocked the chest and removed a heavy iron key. He handed the key to the tall man as the four others in the foyer moved to join him.

"Thank you, young man," the tall sorcerer soothed. "Now, return to your reading and forget everything you saw here."

Salvius stiffly sat down in his seat again, and then slumped back and closed his eyes. The tall sorcerer smiled and led his companions toward the side corridor.

Decius and Ephia searched the next cell, finding no luck there either.

"Damnation," Decius grumbled, "I may never find this cursed scroll after all."

Ephia said nothing, pressing her back against the wall and squeezing her lips shut. Decius gave her a curious look and she cast her gaze down to the dusty floor.

He flung a scroll aside in annoyance and it upended a pile of old tomes stacked on the floor. He sighed to calm himself. Whatever that scroll was, it may have been important. Whoever was tasked with organizing these items had clearly given up, but the presence of Pertinus' scroll in such a place implied the presence of other priceless artifacts. Destroying things in a rage was sure to leave some other, future, sorcerer in the same predicament he was in now.

Decius carefully stepped over the stacks of tomes and rearranged those he had knocked over. Their covers were cracked with age and in some places the pages had congealed together. Looking to the ceiling, he could see no signs of water leaking through, though the poorly maintained cellars had many problems that might go unseen by a quick inspection.

Decius backed away. He was here for a scroll, not to fix the library's centuries old disorganization. Someone else would have to harangue the Scribes' Guild to sort this mess out. He turned back to Ephia, who was holding the lantern in front of her with both hands, a question perched on her lips.

"You want to ask something again?" Decius prompted.

"What is this scroll of Pertinus you are looking for?" she asked. "Why do you need it?"

Decius sighed. "It is a long explanation, but the short of it that I need it to complete my understanding of a spell I am researching. This is for a project funded by my patron in Sostrum which he is very determined to finish."

"This scroll will help you learn a new spell?"

"This scroll will help me unravel an old spell. Or so I hope."

"I see," she said. "Well, perhaps it is in the next room?"

They went across the hall to another wide, low-ceilinged room intersected through its middle by another corridor.

"This is the last place to look on this level," Ephia explained, reading the map once again. "After this, we should take the stairs down that hall back to the Upper Cellar and look there."

"And if it's not there, then what?" Decius asked, reading the labels of the scrolls with little hope of success.

"Then I don't know where to look. Perhaps you should come back in the morning when the Master Archivist will be in."

"I suppose I'll find a place for the night. If everything went well, I hoped to leave on an airship tonight and be back in Sostrum in two weeks' time."

Ephia said nothing, staring down at the floor and biting her lip again. Decius continued to search the scrolls and tomes piled on the simple shelves.

"You are disappointed that I am leaving so soon?" he teased.

"I am a bit. You are such a legend here, I had hoped you might stay a while and regale us with your tales."

"Unfortunately, it is because of my status that I must go. I have a patron in Sostrum who is very demanding of my time."

"Perhaps you just don't have a good reason to stay?" she asked coyly and he turned a wry grin on her.

"What did you have in mind?" he asked, experienced enough to know the answer.

"Maybe I could suck your cock?" she twirled a ringlet of blonde hair about her finger and flittered her eyes at him.

"That shouldn't take too long. I would be delighted to experience your hospitality," he said, undoing his belt.

The girl knelt before him and excitedly undid the strings of his trousers. She drew out his cock and gripped it with both hands, looking up at him. She giggled and put his mouth on it, working her lips and tongue with copious enthusiasm. Decius reached inside her dress to cup her shapely breasts with a hand and she pulled her bodice open to accommodate his touch. She skillfully worked her tongue on his cock and her hands on his balls.