The Artifacts Of Elios (Book 1) (33 page)

“What are you up to Shane?”

Shane looked up and saw his professor standing nearby closely watching him work.  “Knowing that the professor had observed the conjuring of the tube, he felt that there was no use hiding his abilities.”  I’m building an artifact.  Or to be more precise I’m building a device that uses glyphs.”

“How is that possible?  Magetechs have been trying that for years and it just can’t be done.”

“That’s because they were doing it wrong.  I figured out how to do it and I have also learned how to activation without a machine.”

“You know Shane, I never told you this because frankly I didn’t believe it was possible.  I watched you for two years, one as my student, and one as the best researcher and analyst we’ve ever had in the artifacts group.  I always felt that you were looking for something, something that we all had missed in over a hundred years of artifact study.  Part of me thought of you as another ‘too-smart-for-his–own-good’ hero athlete looking for a good resume.  Another part of me who was grading your work was hoping that you would be the one to solve the mystery.  When Ava Desmond asked to have you as her lab partner I was almost resolved to believing in the athlete theory, but her grades and skills were almost as good as yours.  Is she a glyph mage also?”

Shane scribed silently for a moment looking at his notebook briefly. “No.  I hope to teach her one day.” Leaving off the ‘if she is still alive’ the he felt inside.

“Can you teach anyone?” the professor asked.

Shane shook his head.  “I’m not sure.  It’s all still pretty new.  I’m not exactly sure how to test for the ability and judging from many of the people that are trying to run the world I’m not sure that sharing this ability is exactly the best idea.  With just the few things that I’ve done since I figured it out; in the wrong hands glyph magic could destroy the world worse that the original fall of Luion; who knows maybe that’s what caused it.”  He returned his attention to the tube.

“I see your point.” The professor paused for a moment,
and then with a look of absolute seriousness and humility he said, “If you ever decide to teach what you know I would like to be a student.”  Before Shane could say no he began to qualify his request.  “Not to rule the world or be famous, but to learn.  You see academia is my life.  I never became a teacher and then a professor to be famous.  It was the learning, the wanting to know, the what, the where, the why, the how.  I’m not too old or too proud to recognize what I don’t know.  You have learned what I have dedicated my life to and I find myself suddenly within reach of the answer; if you ever decide to teach I like to be first in line.

I don’t know if you ever met Dr. Philips
; Director at IDAD, he and I went to school together.  He is the only person that had the same lust for learning that I did.  You remind me of him when he was younger.  He was an excellent warball player as well. 

When we were younger Allion the Second had us both in for an interview for the position as the Director of a new ministry to be called the Infin Department of Ancient Discoveries.  The king said that it would be one of us and he would let us know who in a few days.  Both of us were professors I at Wonstrowd him at University of Jehhet.
We met for dinner following our interviews to our surprise we both shared our intention of declining the position.  We knew that the king was not one to be denied so we tossed a coin; Dr. Philips lost. To this day he is the director of IDAD and I have never regretted it.  Because of that toss I have been able to continue the study of artifacts.  Even if you decide you will not teach me or find I do not have whatever ability is necessary, I do have the knowledge and experience to set up a school.  Please think of me if you get to that point.”

Shane looked at his professor and saw a look in his eyes; a look of determination and hope.  “I’ll tell you what professor after I find Ava and
when she is safe then I’ll look you up and see where things go from there.  That’s all I can promise you for now.”

His professor held out his hand and Shane took it and shook it, “deal.”

“So,” remarked his professor still watching Shane, “What are you working, or can you tell me?”

“Roger, the first mate, expressed the need for additional fresh water.  What I’m doing is designing a pump that will pull in seawater and expel fresh water.  For something so simple it’s more complicated than it looks.  I’m putting an activation glyph here so that you can turn it on or off then I need to link a series of glyphs to provide a source of the water and in between I need to incorporate the glyphs that will do the filtering
and purification.  I’m still trying to decide if I want to put a glyph command that will offer a water temperature selection.  I probably won’t as most people will want to choose later.  “Shane pointed to his open note book that displayed a page and a half of very small and tightly bunched glyphs.”

The professor looked at the pages and wondered aloud,” how in the world are you ever going to fit that many glyphs on such a small area?”

“That, Professor Wetz, is a trade secret,” Shane smiled.  “After Ava is safe I’ll get back with you on that.”

The professor smiled back, “A deals a deal.  I’ll be heading back below and get out of this sun and wind.  Good luck glyph mage and congratulations, it make
s a teacher proud to see one of his students go beyond what everyone dreamed was possible.”

After the professor left Shane conjured a piece of brass foil that was
twice as long as his note books pages and nearly a half a hand less wide as the tube.  With a few minutes he had scanned his notes into his scribe and copied them onto the foil.  To be safe he merely tacked the foil to the tube in case he had to make a change and he gave the device a test.  To Shane’s surprise it worked the first time. He then rolled up the foil and sealed the edges to the tube.

Shane was about to
get up when he detected the scent of a mild flowery perfume.  Turning he saw Alicia sitting on a similar bench a couple of cubits away.

“Hi,” she said smiling.  “I can see you are just as focused after graduating as you were when you were in the study group.”

Not knowing how to respond, Shane just laughed.

“Still a man of many words, I see,” she said as she returned the laugh.  When Shane didn’t respond she added.  “Ava’s a lucky girl.  I hope she’s ok.”

“Me too,” said Shane as he began to gather up his things and put them into his pack.

“So you’ve actually figured out how to activate glyphs
without an activator.  That’s going to make a lot of people happy and a lot of people mad.”

“I imagine so,” Shane replied.  “What will be, will be.”

“Shane I was wondering if you could look at something for me.”  She reached around her neck and retrieved a necklace with a pendant on it.  “This is a family heirloom that was passed down to me from my grandmother.  It has glyphs on it but it is deactivated.  I tried to activate it once on a field trip to IDAD but it wouldn’t activate.  I’m not sure what it does but it would be important for my family if I could find out.  That is one of the reasons I studied magetech.”

Shane took the pendant turning and setting on the bench to get better light and examined the glyphs inscribed on the back.  He recognized the healing glyphs right away.  As he continued to study it he was aware of the closeness of Alicia as
she leaned very near him, almost touching, looking over his shoulder.  As he read the rest of the glyphs he learned that the pendant was meant to be a very powerful healing device.  He could see where several of the glyphs had been scratched and thus causing it to fail.  Reaching into his pack he retrieved his scribe and began to repair the damaged glyphs.  After he was finished he willed forth the lumen necessary to activate it.  Checking it one more time he saw that the glyphs were glowing and active as they should be.  Turning to give the pendant back to Alicia their faces came very close together.  He could see the desire in her eyes and he couldn’t deny the attraction but the thought of hurting Ava wouldn’t let him act on it.

“Alicia, I can’t,” he sighed.  “I’m in love with Ava and it wouldn’t be right.”  He handed the pendant back to her as she stepped back.

“Like I said, she’s a lucky girl,” Alicia replied with a half frown half smile.

“Your pendant is functioning now.  It’s a healing artifact; a very powerful healing artifact.  The user only need hold it or wear it and then place their hands on the patient until they are healed.  Be careful with it though it is made of gold which is a very soft metal.  If the glyphs I repaired are damaged it will fail again and you won’t be able to activate it unless the glyphs are fixed again.  If I were you I’d copy them down on paper somewhere in case you need to duplicate the device or need it repaired.”

Alicia placed the pendent back around her neck then quickly wrapped her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek with a whispered thank you. Then she turned and ran below to her cabin.

Shane gathered up his pack and the tube he had enchanted and headed for the
wheelhouse.  He tossed the tube to Roger and said, “There you are, all the clean fresh water you will ever need.”

How does it work?” Roger asked peering into the hollow tube.

It took all of Shane’s self-control not to actuate it and douse his friend.  Noting Shane’s mischievous look he quickly pointed it another direction.  Opportunity gone, Shane quickly showed him how to use it.

Two days later
they were entering Lu Y Onton harbor.  Ari had spent most of the trip from Cliffs Port with his Instructor.  He also had two artifacts made from two small brass bars that he had asked Shane to make for him, clipped to his belt; Shane hadn’t yet asked what they did. 

Shane
lowered the ship and pulled in the tow thrusters and the cable; cloaking it and securing it to the deck just to be safe and they took the ship into the Lu Y Onton harbor under the power of the thrusters.  With the advice of Roger and Ari’s presence on command they were soon docked at a public slip that would handle a ship their size.  Leaving the tow controller on a shelf in the wheelhouse and the fresh water tube in the galley, Shane only took the windows device and stowed it in his backpack.

Roger, Ari, and Shane, had
a final meeting in the wheelhouse while the other passengers were getting their things and Roger confessed his affiliation with certain intelligence entities of Luion and that he needed to report to his superiors at the Luion Department of State.  He did agree to take the rescued prisoners with him to debrief the returning expatriates and to see about those from Infin wanting to seek asylum.

After everyone was off the ship Shane sealed all the hatches, the members of the expedition Gathered behind Roger as he and Ari stood before Roger to say goodbye.

“You know, whoever ends up with that boat is going to have a nice little reconnaissance craft,” Commented Roger.

“It’s for sale,” smiled Ari.

“I’ll get back with you,” Roger laughed.

Shane and Ari gave Roger a hearty hand shake; they gave each other knowing nods then parted ways.

Ari hailed a coach and after a long winding ride through the city they stopped at an enormous mansion with arched architecture and a tiled roof with a large brick driveway surrounded by large oak trees.  Exiting the coach Shane followed Ari directly to a large double door entrance; Ari opened the door and entered without knocking.

The large foyer was illuminated by skylights in the ceiling and was decorated by potted ferns and comfortable furniture.  Ari led past the tranquil entry and called out, “Gerar
d, Louisa?” as he continued through the house.

“Ruari, is that you?” the voice came from the direction they were headed.

Shane and Ari entered into a well windowed spacious kitchen with many modern artifact appliances and a large counter top area. Seated at the table were Ava’s parents.

“Ari it’s good to see you,” his younger brother got up and gave him a hug.  “Shane how are you, son.” Gerard gave Shane a grasp of the shoulders then patted his arm.  “Congratulations on the win the other day; you played phenomenally.”

“Thank you Sir”

“Shane, how nice to see you again,” Ava’s mother rose and gave him a warm hug.  “Ari you are looking thin are you sure you’ve been eating enough?  Leslie was asking about you the other day.  Did you have a chance to meet?” She said with a knowing
smile, which he pretended to ignore.

“It’s nice to see you to Mademoiselle Desmond,” Replied Shane.

“Please call me Louisa. Please sit down let me get you something,” invited Louisa, “We have tea, juice, or ice water.”

“Tea please,” said Ari.

“Juice please,” answered Shane.

“Gerard,” Ari said taking a chair at the table.  “Have you heard from Soaris lately?  As soon as we got word that the crown was going to war we went out to pull Ava off the island where she was on expedition and all her associates could tell us was she was talking to someone that fit Soaris’ description and then she disappeared.”

“You went where?” exclaimed Gerard.  “How in the blazes did you get in and out of there in one piece?  My reports say that Allion’s entire navy is out to sea protecting that dig.”

“We had a good boat,” Ari said dismissively.  “What about Soaris, did he get Ava?”