Legacies, by Charles Matthias

Story name: Legacies
Author: Charles Matthias
Publication date: September 27, 1999 (on TSA-Talk)

Date: Early September, 706 CR
Location: Metamor Keep, Lorland

Overview

Wessex's nightmares are getting more dangerous. He travels to Lorland, where he learns the depth of Loriod's influence.

+ Story info - Spoilers!

Summary

Wessex wakes up standing in the Keep hallways, his throat parched, his garments soiled, a piece of chalk in his hand, staring at the wall to the sealed-off censer room. The wall is covered with chalk-drawn circles of power, missing only a center group of chevons. This is the first time his nightmares have made him draw runes, and he is horrified upon studying them that they are intended to draw out something from the other side. When he touches them, he feels his skin go numb, though the spell is incomplete and the sensation fades away. He brushes away a protective circle, wards off the chevrons inside the circle, and draws his own circle in the center to let him safely look through. The warded chevrons come to life and batter his wards. What he sees in the blackness beyond terrifies him; he feels himself being stabbed in the chest, and bleeds under his clothes. He quickly smashes his chalk against the circle and destroys it. The chevrons disintegrate. Afraid to activate the blood magic in the runes, and afraid to leave a dangerous incomplete spell, he collapses against the opposite wall and watches it.

After her morning flight, Jessica enters Wessex's rooms and finds the bedroom a mess, and Wessex gone. She eventually finds him in the hall where she knows he sleepwalks. She asks what the symbols are, but Wessex finds he cannot speak. Resorting to pantomime, he requests that she bring a damp towel to clean up. She also fetches a slate and some chalk for him to communicate with. He thanks her, and asks she set out fresh clothes for him. She refuses to leave his side, and even offers to clean up the glyphs, but he forcefully refuses. This is the Symphony, a three-circled casting, and one of the most powerful known to sorcerers. With great care, he removes each line to safely disarm it, before he removes the circles themselves. The empty wards where the chevrons stood are left for last; Wessex only recognizes them from the censer, and fears their power. The task completed, Wessex and Jessica return to the room to wash up.

Wessex then visits Thalberg to ask him about Altera Loriod. Thalberg goes into detail about Altera's late husband Alvarez, who had been a family friend whom he trusted. He remembers Altera was a woman from Pyralis whom the court grew to despise, especially after the curse when he protested Metamor's tax on nobility. Wessex asks about the censer, but Thalberg had never seen or heard of it before the events of last March. Wessex asks for a carriage to Lorland, and carte blanche to repossess all of Loriod's possessions for some magical purpose involving the censer. With resignation, Thalberg agrees.

At Lorland, Wessex asks Macaban if he and Loriod received anything in late March, or if he remembers a man in black robes. Macaban doesn't remember, possibly due to Loriod's control over his memories, but he asks if Wessex could draw the symbols he saw on the robes. As soon as Wessex draws the Sondecki symbol, however, Macaban turns into a full donkey, tearing his clothes and bucking and kicking Wessex in the cheek. Two guards rush in, a skunk and a bull; with Wessex's help, they subdue Macaban. Wessex requests more writing tools; the guards return with Captain Hargrove, who is less pleased by Wessex's muteness, but whom Wessex finally convinces to take Macaban to a stable, and to fetch Phil.

Phil was having tea with Clover at the Keep when the summons arrives, and so he and Rupert take a carriage to Lorland. Hargrove and the two guards explain the situation and show him the transformed Macaban, an eerie reminder of a similar state Phil was in. Phil then visits Wessex in the studio to learn his explanation.

Wessex calls for wine, though Phil refuses, and gives him some papers in which he explains that Loriod's legacy is still among them, first in the nightmares he had today today, and in a spell that he had not known until today had still been affecting Macaban. He recaps his investigation of Zagrosek and the Sondeckis, and another Sondeckis who he believes is involved and happens to be a good friend to Phil. Phil stops briefly to ask Hargrove for wine. Wessex continues he can't prove Charles is responsible, and that he has told only one other person besides Phil his suspicions. Time is running out; someone is now using him to open the room to the censer, and he sees only two solutions: kill himself, or track down Zagrosek. He can do the latter by tracking Zagrosek's "magical scent" from anywhere he used magic. The only place Zagrosek was known to visit was Lorland; therefore, Wessex needs to find whatever Loriod wore in Zagrosek's presence. It might take several months until he finds where Zagrosek is in Metamor. In the mean time, he wishes to stay in Lorland until his voice returns, and will try curing Macaban, similar to how he cured Phil. He also wants Phil to stay near him for comfort.

Phil tells Rupert to burn the pages without reading them, and to scatter the ashes. He asks Hargrove to supply them a bedroom with no windows, and to post guards inside and 2 sets of guards outside during the night. Now alone, Phil tells Wessex that he needs stronger proof against Charles to be convinced, but promises his support as long as he can. Wessex weeps and hugs him, and quietly says thanks.

Characters

Main characters:

• Wessex ard'Kapler: A child morph, a mage and a teacher of magic. Ever since his encounter with Zagrosek, and especially after confronting Matthias, he has been having nightmares where they taunt him. Today he discovers that they are using him to re-open the room where he sealed the censer.
  • For most of the story, he wears a simple smock, though more for the practicality of cleaning his slate than for personal preference.
  • Even before the curse, Wessex had been small for his age, and even smaller as a child.
  • Wessex fought at the Battle of Three Gates; he and the other mages chanted for hours to counter Nasoj's mages, and afterwards was unable to speak for hours.
  • Given how little Wessex knows about the Loriods, and how much Thalberg has to explain to him, it seems Wessex was not well-acquainted with the other noble families of Metamor.
  • An inner voice tells Wessex he can trust Charles, but this was the same inner voice that told him to trust Dorson, just before his death from Zagrosek. Wessex has learned to ignore this voice.
  • His recurring nightmares usually happen every few days, though they had been occurring less frequently lately. Yesterday he had the nightmare, and today is the first time he has had it on consecutive nights.

Supporting characters:

• Jessica: A hawk morph, Wessex's best apprentice. She is his confidante to his nightmares. She helps Wessex clean up after himself.
  • As a child, she was scared of heights and preferred to read books. The other children teased her for it.
    • Many of those children died in the Battle of Three Gates.
  • She is not allowed to practice on Wessex's slate, as her talons lack the dexterity of fingers.
  • Wessex had told her about his nightmares. Though they confused her, she insisted he tell her of any changes in them.
• Macaban: A donkey morph. Unknown to him or Wessex, he had a spell still active on him that triggers when shown the Sondeckis symbol, to make him feral and aggressive. Wessex will try to cure him, as he did with Phil in Keeping the Lamp Lit.
  • He has long, combed and trimmed ears, and a short black mane.
  • He is a distant cousin of Thalberg's, and was a confidant of his during Altera's reign.
    • It is implied that part of Thalberg's lack of involvement in Altera's affairs was Macaban's lack of communication with him, due to Altera's influence on him.
  • As steward of Lorland, he is doing everything to save money. He chooses to eat hay rather than let his people starve.
• Phil: A rabbit morph, Protector of Lorland, head of Keep intelligence, and a friend to both Wessex and Charles. Having gone through a process of ferality similar to Macaban's, he discomforts him to see its effects. He already knows Charles's secret, and that Charles is no threat to Metamor, but he agrees to stay by Wessex's side and protect him from Charles.

Minor characters:

• Thalberg: An alligator morph, the Keep's chief steward.
  • As an alligator morph, he has a yellow tongue, a long green snout and inflexible lips, long arms and black claws. He wears red satin robes.
  • Aside from his fondness for red satin, he is personally a modest humble man, but he projects an air of garishness for the sake of his duties.
  • After the curse, Thalberg spent months unable to talk, trying to retrain himself how to talk, first with simple words and phrases. He still has to use a thin reed as a straw to drink.
• Deller: A skunk morph, a guard of Lorland. He subdues the feral Macaban by spraying him through a hole in his rear garments.
• Gary: A bull morph. He helps Deller subdue Macaban, and is kicked in the nose and mouth for his trouble.
  • He has three-fingered hands.
• Captain Hargrove: A collie morph, captain of the guard at Lorland. He takes his orders from Phil or from Macaban. He is initially very suspicious of Wessex and his muteness, but begrudgingly follows his recommendations.
  • He has dark hazel eyes and sharp yellow teeth. He wears silver braided epaulets.

Cameo:

• Kee: A coyote morph, a messenger of the Keep.
• Clover: Phil's fiancee, briefly seen having tea with Phil.

Prominent Mention:

• Altera Loriod: A male gendermorph. She was once a beautiful woman from Pyralis, who met Alvarez while he was a diplomat in the region. She had many vices, but carefully concealed them from Alvarez before their marriage. After their marriage, most Metamor lords knew of her vices, and though she annoyed them, they tolerated her. He became a gendermorph with the curse. After his husband Alvarez passed away, he inherited Lorland. He owned a dangerous censer with which Zagrosek communicated with him. He died earlier in the spring, though his marks remain on the land and its people.
  • It is not known whether she owned this censer in Pyralis before moving to Metamor, or if it was obtained as late as March, when Altera began acting more recklessly.
  • When he became lord of Lorland, Thalberg was ready to depose her; Macaban talked him down, that as long as Altera was kept happy, he would be no problem. So far the only major trouble had been his circumvention around the nobility tax, which he avoided paying by, among other things, garishly redecorating his castle.

Important Mention:

• Charles Matthias: A rat morph, secretly a Sondeckis. Because Zagrosek is not at the Keep, Wessex believes that Charles is the one behind his nightmares, although he has no evidence yet.
• Alvarez Loriod: Altera Loriod's late husband. He served as a diplomat from Metamor Keep to Pyralis, where he met Altera. Within a year of their marriage, he came to despise her, and sought Thalberg's company more frequently. He suspected her of adultery, but had no proof. During the curse, he became a water fowl morph of some kind. He got drunk soon after, and died of a broken neck after falling off a balcony.
  • He was a very close friend of Thalberg's. Thalberg's uncle was briefly married to Alvarez's aunt.
  • At no point was Alvarez ever aware of Altera's censer — or if he was, he never mentioned it to even his closest friends.

Referenced:

• Dorson: Wessex's deceased apprentice, killed by Zagrosek soon after recovering the censer.
• Zagrosek: A Sondeckis, who killed Dorson, haunts Wessex's nightmares, and is believed the man responsible behind Loriod and the censer.
• Yonson: A lemur morph, a weathermonger, the ambassador from Chateau Marzac.
• Weyden: A hawk morph, captain of Yonson's guards. He is learning how to fly from Jessica. Earlier Yonson gave permission for him to go on a flight with her today.
• Brian Avery: A squirrel morph, lord of Glen Avery. He supported Metamor's nobility tax.
• Robern Barnhardt: A salamander morph, lord of Barnhardt. He supported Metamor's nobility tax.
• Zhypar Habakkuk: A kangaroo morph, a supplier of rare books for Wessex.
• Tenomides: Phil's father, the king of Whales. He regularly sends Phil bountifruit wood to gnaw on.

Locations

• The room with the censer is currently still sealed by Wessex's spell and by the Keep's innate magic. Inside is a small hole to the Underworld, from which all manner of hell-spawn could emerge.
• Wessex's apartments:
  • The foyer has three doors, one to his bedroom, one to his training room, and one to a private den.
  • Besides his bed, his bedroom has an ivory stanchion to hold candles, next to a damask lounge. He has a mahogany desk, a grand painting of his family's villa, and a bookcase. On his fireplace mantle is a Fadger clock.
    • When Jessica enters, his desk is cracked, and his ivory stanchion has fallen over and stand the lounge with wax. The Fadger clock has fallen to the floor; it still works, but its glass case is shattered.
  • The training room is where Wessex trains his students. It is dominated by a large slate slab on the floor for drawing chalk glyphs, hand-smoothed by Wessex to ensure there are no imperfections. Along the walls are chairs, barrels of valuable magical sand and dust, and braziers and flambeaux.
  • In the den, Wessex entertains his guests. It is richly decorated, with a thick chartreuse carpet from Kelewair and stone arches supporting a rosette-decorated entablature. There are no windows, only a door to the foyer. On the far side of the room is an ornate bookcase. In the center is a huge circular mahogany table. Around it are three armchairs and two chaise lounges, upholstered with Kelewair fabric. Behind each seat are iron stanchions with maroon candles.
    • Currently, there is an ancient codex on the table.
• Thalberg's personal chambers:
  • His main room has a single desk where he does most of his work. There is a long hemp cord in front of his desk for summoning messengers. Behind the desk is a cupboard with a wine carafe and tumblers. On the other side of the room is a red satin couch. There is also a fireplace here. An oak door leads to the hallway, and another door to his bedroom.
  • His bedroom is decorated with red satin. He has a simple 9-foot long bed, and a side table. Unable to tolerate the cold, Thalberg keeps his bedroom door closed. He has a fireplace and a cast iron wood bin. The Keep has provided his ceiling with a window and a lens to let in sunlight at all hours.
• The road from Metamor Keep to Lorland takes only a couple hours to travel: Wessex leaves Metamor in mid to late morning and arrives in midday; Phil receives a missive from Lorland in early afternoon, and arrives later in the afternoon.
  • Along the way are oak and aspen trees.
• Lorland is still undergoing repairs and renovation.
  • The guards of Lorland wear bright blue livery with carrot insignia, and are armed with polearms.
  • Only the most garish outer layer of paint has been cleaned from its walls, exposing yellow-gray mortar underneath. Loriod's belongings, which had previously been stored in the arrow towers, have been either sold at discount to merchants (the money going either to the peasants or to castle renovations), or burned for fertilizer.
  • The entrance door to Lorland's castle is made of copper with gold gilding. It opens up down a main corridor to an elegant wing.
  • In the elegant wing of Lorland Castle, there is a sitting lounge for receiving guests. It has a turquoise carpet, bookshelves that then had only a few tomes, tables, a lounge chair, a divan, and an aquarium newly stocked goldfish.
    • After the struggle with Macaban, the carpet is torn and frayed into pieces, the furniture is knocked over and smashed, the cushions are ripped, the upper half of the bookshelf is torn off and its few books are scattered around.
  • A side corridor from the entrance door leads through the kitchens to the servants' quarters and the stables.
  • Half of the stalls in the stables hold animals who work in Lorland's fields during the day. Otherwise, the stables look very typical, with tack and harness hanging from the rafters and several flies nearby.
  • Loriod's studio has been unused for years under Altera's reign. There is a couch in one corner, an easel with an unused canvas and a writing desk with a stool in another corner, and a shelf with dried out paints. The floor is tiled, and damask curtains hang from the windows.
• Bountifruit wood is native to Whales.

Story Connections

• The story continues Wessex's subplot from Intercessor, and calls back to major plot points in Keeping the Lamp Lit, Diplomacy, and Fingers in the Weave.
  • Several plot elements from other stories are referenced: the wood that Charles bit through in Support Group; the book Wessex gets from Zhypar in Dancing with Shadows.
• The use of chalk circles to harness power bares similarity to the three chalk circles used in Malvoisin. In both cases, the circles were lined with chalk symbols. However, whereas the Symphony consisted of 3 concentric circles, and its power source was represented by a chalk symbol, in Malvoisin there was only one circle, powered by mages who stood within, along with several herbs and a brazier.

Chronology

• 20 years ago, Thalberg's father was serving as Steward.
• At some unspecified time, while serving as a diplomat in Pyralis, Alvarez Loriod met Altera.
• After Alvarez's death, just after the Battle of Three Gates, Macaban convinced Thalberg not to overthrow Altera.
  • Some time later, but soon after the Battle of Three Gates, a nobility tax was instituted. Lord Avery and Lord Barnhardt both strongly defended the tax. Altera was the strongest opponent of the tax.
• Back in March, something happens to Altera, and he takes more drastic actions. Thalberg does not know it, but this is when the events of Keeping the Lamp Lit take place.
• This story explicitly takes place in early September.
  • Phil's presence here, and his subsequent stay at Lorland, means that he cannot have joined Oren's caravan in Penance and Retribution until after Libraries.

Magic

• Loriod's censer is described in more detail:
  • It was gold and gave off an evil energy. It had engraved images of demons, each sodomizing the damned in a different way. The edges had gems, among them rubies, sapphires, lapis lazuli, and malachite. On the sides were stanchions that held red candles.
  • Along the inner base of the censer are three sets of three chevrons each. The first and last chevrons match the chevrons in the runes that Wessex drew.
    • The 1st chevron is a line with two hash marks through it.
    • The 9th chevron is a complex weave of cul-de-sacs and crisscrosses.
• The circles of power that Wessex draws in his sleep is called the Symphony. It consists a set of three concentric circles, and allows a great deal of flexibility to affect its abilities. It is one of the most potent castings known to sorcerers. Its name comes from the fact that it was drawn with all creation in mind, in harmony with every living thing (a nod to the real-world etymology of "symphony", meaning "harmonious").
  • The first circle (innermost, as it is drawn from the inside out) represents the caster or locale, the source of the magic being used.
  • The second circle is the activation component, and represents what spell is being harnessed.
    • When Wessex awakes, it is an incomplete protective ward made from blood magic. When Wessex touches it, he feels a numbing sensation temporarily cover his fingers. Had the ward been complete, this would have been permanent.
    • He is able to replace this circle with an oculus to look through the wall, temporarily activating the Symphony.
  • The third circle (outermost) indicates a target, and also whether the Symphony casts its spell from its source to its target, or vice versa.
    • Here, the spell is drawn so that power radiates outwards from the source to the chevrons, which match up with the 1st and 9th chevrons from the censer. These chevrons seem to have their own power; even when warded, they detect when Wessex is tampering with the circles, and disintegrate after he shuts down the Symphony.
  • Lines in a circle of power can be passively erased via drawing over them and changing their function, though touching powerful components could have dire consequences. Warding lines can be drawn as well to isolate them. The safest way to disarm the spell is from the outside inward, starting with the designs and leaving the circles for last.
    • In this case, Wessex doesn't erase the chevron wards until after the circles, just to make sure erasing them doesn't trigger anything.
  • The rune that Wessex draws is an oculus, an eye-like design, in the center circle to see past the wall. He draws an inwardly bounded hexagon to replace the second circle.
• Wessex demonstrates a few runes that he knows:
  • He draws a rune on Macaban's chest to subdue the animal's fear.
  • He draws a rune in the air to get rid of the skunk smell in the sitting lounge.

Points of Interest

• Despite the second circle requiring blood magic, there is no sign of blood in the hallway.
• Thalberg imagines a scene 20 years ago where he and his brothers frolicked in the cold in thin clothes, possibly having snowball fights. Though this implies that he was a child 20 years ago, it is not certain. Thalberg could have been merely young-at-heart, his reminiscence more concerned with cold than with youth.
• Wessex has magic sight, and can see the lack of magic in the hexagon he draws. There are other stories, however, that imply that Wessex has no natural magic sight of his own, as in Snips and Snails. Does magic sight have different levels of visibility? Is he more attuned to his own magic than to unknown magic?

< Second Cycle	Matthias's Third Cycle	Fourth Cycle >
Stories	Stories in yellow are not part of the cycle proper, but give important context for other stories.
	False Winds · Stepping Up to Destiny · Fingers in the Weave · Four on the Floor · Fireside · Hunt · Intercessor · Intersecting Correspondence · Jormugand · The Three Sides of Truth · Lawbreakers · Casualties of War · Killing Time · Legacies · Libraries · Four by Four · Liturgy of Blood · Longing · Nuptials · Relic · Wandering the Keep · Winter's First Chill · The Winter Assault
Major Characters	Charles Matthias · Garigan · Kimberly · Misha Brightleaf · Rickkter Akabaieth · Caroline · Gornul · Father Hough · Jessica · Kashin · Phil · Saulius · Thalberg · Duke Thomas · Vinsah · Wessex · Yonson · Zagrosek · Zhypar Habakkuk