The Wand-Maker's Debate: Osric's Wand: Book One (19 page)

Everyone's eyes settled on Osric as he dropped the log he was about to add to the fire and his head jerked up at Gus' last statement.

“One you have never seen?” Bridgett inquired.

“Yes.” Gus confirmed the question, the look of awe still on his face. “He really is the most powerful wizard to ever walk Archana.”

Silence filled the room, and they each gazed around at the others, trying to make sense of what Gus had seen, or think of an explanation for the new gift.

Kenneth suddenly shouted out, startling everyone, “The book!” He ran and grabbed the book from under Osric's sword and wand still lying on the ground. “Osric, open it!” He spoke excitedly as he handed the book to Osric.

“The book is blank, Kenneth! You were looking at it with me by the pond.” Osric exclaimed.

“Os, trust me. I think I know what the gift that Gus has never seen before must be, just open it.” He knew he was right, and he needed Osric to see it too.

“Alright, but I'm telling you, it's still bla…” Osric's voice trailed off as he opened the book. Words were scrawled in careless handwriting across every page. The age and dust that had worn the cover and the edges of the pages did not touch the writing.

13 – Rubble and Rumors

Toby glanced up from the papers he was signing and noticed light behind the curtains of the one small window in the room. He couldn't believe it was morning; he had worked through the night and felt like he had accomplished nothing. Toby threw his quill down on the desk and ran his hands over his smooth head.
Two weeks!
He had been supervising the cleanup and rescue efforts on the palace for over two weeks! They had found a few more survivors, but no leads or evidence to support Osric in his case against the irua. He had suffered a pounding headache for days, and there didn't seem to be any relief in sight. The Wizardly Union had sent a few men to assist him in his efforts,
what a farce!
All they had done was heap piles of paper work on the Contege's desk that required
his
immediate attention, courteously remind him that there was nothing more he could do at the palace grounds, and suggest that perhaps he should get some rest. He had spent more time bottled up in the Contege's temporary office in the barracks over the past two weeks than he had spent at the palace itself. Toby wanted nothing more than to go home and spend time with his family. He hadn't tucked his son into bed in days, and he knew his wife was worried. That is exactly why he had never wanted the position, but with Osric off flying around on dragons, he was left to clean up the mess.

He was sure if he had to sign another
Requisition for Labor and Supplies Approval,
or fill out one more
Ledger of Use of Union Magical Abilities,
he would tear out his mustache. Out of frustration, Toby stood up quickly, pushing away from the desk hard enough that his chair tumbled over into the bookshelf behind him. He bent down to retrieve the toppled books, anxious to get back to the palace as they must be getting close to uncovering the majority of the throne room, and the familiar handwriting scrawled across an open page caught his eye. He had worked closely with Thamas for seven years; he would recognize his writing anywhere, but he had never seen the man write in a journal. Toby picked up the tattered, leather bound book and sat heavily back in his chair.
Why would Contege Thamas have a journal in the Records Room of the barracks?

Toby thumbed through the book and realized that it was not exactly a personal journal. There were lists of various items and names, followed by a few sentences or paragraphs of Thamas' thoughts on the following pages. Some of the entries were merely a few weeks apart, and others had a span of two years between their neatly written dates at the top of each page. Toby flipped back to the first page in the journal;

Seventeenth day ~ Third month ~ Twenty second year of Turgent Bartholo's Rule.

I, Thamas, Contege of the Stanton Vigiles, have noticed an irregularity in the practices and procedures regarding new Vigile recruits. These irregularities have occurred over the past two years while I have occupied the position of Contege, and I can only assume, prior to my promotion. I feel it is necessary to document these discrepancies to assure my memory is complete and accurate in the event I am ever questioned about them. As I cannot recall in detail the dates and names of those involved leading up to today, I will record events as they occur in the future. Archana willing, this will be my last entry…

Toby wasn't sure if he should even keep reading. He had known that Thamas was a careful man, but he had always thought him logical.
Conspiracy?
Toby couldn't believe that Thamas had been concerned enough to document it, but had never said anything to him in the seven years they had worked together. He turned the page to encounter a list of supplies. They were the type of standard items typically issued to transferred recruits. The page was dated just over two months after the first entry. Below the list of inventory, Thamas had listed the names and some information of three recruits; Toby remembered two of them. They had been in the recruit class seven years earlier; the same year that Toby had accepted the promotion to Profice, but neither of them had completed their training to join the Vigile ranks. Thinking back, Toby couldn't recall what had happened to them. He had just assumed that the training had been too much for them, and they had quit and gone back home.

Standard issue tan tunic; two sz three, one sz two

Standard issue tan breeches; two sz two, one sz three

Boots; three pair.

Short sword; three, with scabbards.

Travel rations; three packages, six days each.

Shawn ~ Hometown: Stanton. Parents deceased.

Grayson ~ Hometown: Rowain. Unknown family line.

Thom ~ Hometown: Unknown. Mother deceased, Father

Imprisoned.

Toby had only seen Shawn a few times during his training. He remembered him as a quiet boy, tall for his age and not very intelligent. He had no idea who Grayson was, but there were a lot of recruits every spring, and Toby didn't always have a hand in each of their training. Thom, however, he remembered well. He had joined the recruit class his nineteenth spring, several years later than most boys. He was an angry and antagonistic young man, often picking fights with other recruits or taunting vendors in the market district. There had been multiple complaints filed about his antics, and Thamas had told Toby that he was expelling him from the training. Paperwork for the expulsion had never come across Toby's desk to sign, so he had assumed that Thom had just left. The journal seemed to indicate something else entirely. The next page confirmed Toby's suspicions.

Twenty first day ~ Fifth month ~ Twenty second year of Turgent Bartholo's Rule.

Contacted by Konsult for three more recruits. Each has been issued gear and signed transfer papers to Braya. Transfer papers filed in blue box and merchant wagon contracted for travel.

Toby had never heard of recruits with incomplete training being transferred, and he had no idea what a blue box was, but he was fairly certain that Braya must refer to the Braya Volcano. It was a remote volcanic area on the northern peninsula of the elven realm, surrounded by a large mountain range and dense tropical vegetation. As far as Toby knew, the area wasn't even populated by anything other than tree sprites and elementals. The merchant wagon didn't make sense either. To reach the elven realm, you had to either cross by ship or dragon flight.
Why would the recruits travel with a merchant wagon when they could have contracted a dragon from Stanton?
Toby flipped through the journal, scanning page after page of inventory lists and groups of two to five missing recruits, followed by Thamas' brief explanations of their undocumented transfers.

The last entry was dated two days before Thamas had gone missing.

Twenty sixth day ~ Sixth month ~ Twenty ninth year of Turgent Bartholo's rule

I overheard a conversation between the Konsult and Domnal's scribe. I cannot stay and watch a corrupt system endanger innocent people. I will seek out an explanation where the fires burn hottest. Ahh, Archana… please let me place my trust in those who will not abuse it.

Toby let the mysterious book drop heavily onto the desk, laced his fingers behind his aching head and leaned back in his chair in contemplation.
What now?
He certainly couldn't show the journal to anyone. It seemed that Thamas had started asking questions and he hadn't been seen since. He didn't think leaving it on the shelves in the records room was a very good idea either. How could Thamas leave something like that just tucked away on a bookshelf? In the wrong hands, it could be considered an assault on the Turgent himself. Accusing a Konsult, one of the inner circle of the Turgent's advisers, of corruption could have led to charges of treason. With few options presenting themselves, Toby stood and slipped the journal into the waistband of his breeches. Taking a deep, steadying breath, he strode out of the room and headed for the palace grounds. He would see the floor of the throne room by nightfall, or he would have someone's head!

Toby walked quickly and purposefully through the halls of the barracks. The plain stone corridor was a fitting visual for his frame of mind. He felt personally affronted by Contege Thamas. He had never wanted the responsibility of leading the Vigiles. Osric was a good man, but he wasn't experienced enough to handle the politics of his new position. If Thamas hadn't decided to start asking questions, or go looking for trouble with the Turgent's advisers, then he would still be there doing his job, and Toby would be at home with his family. Yet, Toby had to admit that if Thamas was right, and there were corrupt men advising the Turgent, then something had to be done about it. Toby had no idea what Thamas had overheard, and he couldn't even guess where he had ended up. For the moment, he would focus on unburying the rest of the palace, and leave intrigue and politics alone. He hoped that Osric was making good time on his trip, and as soon as he knew the status of the palace, Toby would contact him. Sometime before then, he would have to decide if he would tell him about the journal.

As he stepped through the doorway of the barracks, Toby cringed at the bright morning sunlight. He had spent far too much time in the dark office. The training grounds stretched out before him; an expanse of trampled ground, bordered by the DuJok arena and a complicated and muddy obstacle course off to his left. A wide dirt path curved to his right, leading to the main road to the palace grounds. It felt good to stretch his legs and he covered the distance to the palace in less time than he expected.

As he approached the palace grounds, he was pleased to see all of the activity taking place. There were several groups of people surrounding the palace ruins, all working diligently together to lift slabs of fallen stone with their wands and dropping them into large piles scattered between the trees around the palace. At the nearest pile of rubble, a giant was working alongside a stone mason. The giant was sorting through the pile, pulling out large slabs of stone and placing them side by side in front of the craftsman. Toby watched, intrigued, as the man used his wand to meld the slabs of stone together into a seamless wall, preparing for the reconstruction of the palace. Several men were loading wagons with items recovered from the palace rooms as they were uncovered. Obviously they had recently discovered the pantries, as Toby could see casks of spices and bags of flour in the closest wagon. At least not all of the palace supplies had been destroyed.

Toby veered off of the road and crossed over to a group working along the south edge of the palace. The men saw him approaching as they placed a large piece of stone on a nearby pile. They bowed slightly in respect and returned to their work. Gordyn was overseeing the group, and he stepped away from the others to greet the Profice.

“Profice Toby, we're makin’ good progress.”

“I am glad to hear that, Gordyn, what have you found so far?”

“Well, we ‘ave been working on clearing this section of wall all mornin', but it be awful deep. About an hour ago, we sent in a few o' the prairie dog scouts to see what we're up against. They scampered back an' said that the throne room is just beyond this layer, but the damned roof collapsed on top of it, so it's difficult to remove pieces without causing another cave-in. Those two cave-ins yesterday were bad enough, you don't want to have to do the paperwork on a bloodied ambassador.” He grinned mischievously, but Toby knew the cave-ins had scared everyone into being more cautious.

“Did the scouts report finding any survivors?” Toby asked, hoping for some good news.

“Yes, a few lucky bastards between the wall and the head table were trapped but not injured. It's gonna take more work than brushing a magrog's teeth to create an opening for them. Those little imps squeezed through a crack in the stone and got to ‘em. They ‘ave enough food and water, but it might be a day or two before we get ‘em out.”

“Good work, I am sure they would like to get out of there soon. I will see if I can get you some more men to help out. Work quickly, but carefully. Let's get them out in one piece.” Toby nodded at the rest of the workers and turned back to the road. He was sure that there must be more people available to work than what he saw there. If the Union agents had his men doing menial paperwork, like they had tied him up with, they would find that he wasn't as easy to deal with as they had thought.

A large tent had been erected near what had been the entrance to the palace, as command center for the recovery operation. Toby could see the large oak doors, still intact, leaning against a nearby tree. There were several voices coming from within the tent, none of which sounded pleased. Toby recognized the deep timber of James' voice, and his cart was parked just outside the tent entrance. Just as he reached out to pull the tent flap aside, James came storming through the door and almost knocked him to the ground. Toby sidestepped at the last moment and reached out to steady the angry man before he toppled over.