Summary
After several weeks of training, Jessica notices Elizabeth is fretting over something, and asks what it is. Elizabeth tries to deflect by praising Jessica's progress. Jessica asks if it is related to Wessex. Elizabeth relents and reveals that, soon after she took Jessica as her pupil, the world bell rang. She explains that Marigund has a large bell within a magical fountain. The bell rings only when powerful magic is cast near it.
Jessica guesses that it must have rung when the Shrieker was summoned during the Solstice, but Elizabeth reveals it did not — hence why Demarest had not believed Jessica's account. Elizabeth has only recently discovered the reason why — and it is not just because of Kyia's influence on the Winter Solstice, as they also did not hear the bell toll in the Spring when the powerful tear into the Underworld was first created. She explains that the lines of magic are like rivers throughout the world, and spells are like stones cast into the river, sending ripples through the rivers. Elizabeth proposes that Kyia affected the flow of magic, like creating a waterfall, preventing the ripples from reaching Marigund, and confining all magic to the location of the tear and the Shrieker. The Underworld tear acted like a drain in a river, forming a whirlpool if it gets big enough, devastating but unnoticeable unless one is close enough.
Jessica asks how loud the bell was when it did ring. Elizabeth pales and says everyone in Marigund heard it. They only found the reason this morning, when they mapped the ripples in the magic fountain to some diagrams in ancient Aelven texts. A powerful spell had been cast, with three other men sacrificed to it. Elizabeth describes an island in the Southlands once called Ahdyojiak, now called Manzona, where the ancient Aelves of Carethedor built a hidden city in the jungle to hold their most powerful artifacts on a nexus of many magical lines. To this day it is only known from ancient records describing the most powerful artifacts, including their effects on a world bell that inspired Marigund's bell. One of these artifacts is a set of three pillars built on the nexus. It was the summoning of these pillars that rang the bell and produced the waves in Marigund's fountain. The Pillars can be summoned from anywhere in the world, and can send any material thing to any other location in the world, but they can only be opened with magical power, especially to transport something very powerful and dangerous.
They do not know who used them, or how they acquired the knowledge to summon them, or for what purpose, but they do know something was transported from Ellcaran to Yesulam. Elizabeth advises Jessica to stay alert, and tell Misha to contact her when he returns from up north. They bid each other a good evening until tomorrow.
Back in her chambers, Jessica rushes to write a short note and delivers it to one of the Keep guards, requesting Weydan's immediate presence. For several minutes they lay together in her bed, and Weydan finally asks what is troubling her. Jessica hesitates and finally asks if he knows about the Island of Manzona; something there has frightened her. Weydan knows very little and suggests asking his master Yonson. Jessica begs him not to mention the island to anyone, and Weydan swears it on his life. Feeling his warm breath, Jessica asks him to make love; Weydan nods.
Cast
Main Characters:
- Elizabeth: A Marigund mage, Misha's sister. She tells Jessica about her recent discoveries involving the world bell, the Underworld tear, and the Pillars of Ahdyojiak.
- She has long brown hair.
- She wears a blue gown wrapped tightly around with a sash colored multiple shades of green.
- She teaches Jessica for a few hours every day, continuing where Wessex left off.
- Jessica: A hawk morph, a journeyman mage, Wessex's former apprentice. She is haunted by Elizabeth's revelations, and she clings to Weyden to overcome her fear.
- She had practiced magic before the curse. It was Wessex who proved she could still cast magic as a hawk. Her dream is to master ritual magic.
- She practices an advanced spell to write with a quill pen without hands or feet, a trick Wessex spent years helping her on.
Supporting Characters:
- Weyden: A hawk morph, captain of Yonson's guards, Jessica's lover. Jessica tells him of something terrible that happened in Manzona, and Weyden offers to ask Yonson about it. At her insistence, he agrees not to speak of it.
Important Mention:
- Misha: A fox morph, leader of the Long Scouts. He is currently on a mission up north. Elizabeth wants to speak with him as soon as possible.
- Wessex: A deceased child morph, a Metamor mage. He was killed on the Winter Solstice under mysterious circumstances.
- Wessex had acted like a surrogate father to Jessica, comforting her in her despair. Wessex had never dared teach Jessica any ritual magic.
- The shrieker summoned by Wessex. Its emergence should have triggered the world bell; the fact that it didn't is of great interest to Elizabeth.
- Demarest: The Marigund Mage Guild master. He didn't believe that a Shrieker emerged on the Winter Solstice, as they did not hear the world bell toll then. He has sent agents to Ellcaran to discover who summoned the Pillars of Ahdyojiak and how.
- Kyia: The spirit of Metamor Keep. Elizabeth has concluded that Kyia contained the area around the tear and the shrieker to prevent anyone or anything from discovering its magical presence.
Referenced:
- Wessex's killer, still unknown to Elizabeth and Jessica.
- Thadeus: A Marigund researcher.
- The three men who were sacrificed to the Pillars of Ahdyojiak (Thulin, Marin, and Kaleas).
- Charles: A rat morph, a Sondecki who was suspected of but exonerated from killing Wessex.
- Elizabeth's greyhound.
- A Southern mage who defeated shriekers 500 years ago.
- The Adversary.
- Yonson: A Southlands weathermonger mage, the current diplomat to Metamor from Marzac.
Locations
- Marigund is a large city, but not the largest in the Midlands.
- In the center of the Marigund Mage Guild's gardens is a majestic marble fountain. Its perpetual flow is powered by magic.
- Inside the falling water is a bell, the world bell. It is shaped like a long hollow cone or pipe. The fountain funnels magic into the bell, which causes it to toll when sufficient magic is cast. The closer or stronger the magic, the louder it rings. Different spells form distinct ripple patterns, magically holding them long enough for artisans to record the pattern for study. The pattern can reveal the spell's source and specific details of its casting; for example, the Pillars of Ahdyojiak spell was shown to have involved 3 men dying to transport something from Ellcaran to Yesulam.
- The view from Elizabeth's window shows broad plains below, the city of Marigund in the distance, and low needle-like mountains beyond.
- The Southlands consist of a group of three connected landmasses, and the island of Manzona. The west half contains two vaguely crescent-shaped land masses, while the eastern half is a rectangular mass that tapers to an archipelago.
- Manzona is a vaguely circular island just north of the eastern half of the Southlands. It is filled with sheer mountains and thick jungles, and contains many unique plants and animals. It is completely inhospitable to human life. At least 10 magical lines intersect Manzona in a single place, at the exact center of the island.
- Carethedor is an ancient city of elves that lies in the mountains east of the Outer Midlands. It was the location of the first world bell.
- The Underworld acts as a drain of magic on the real world, though exactly how it works or what becomes of the magic is not known.
Society
- The basic explanation of magic for beginners is that lines of magic cross the world like rivers. Spells are like stones cast into rivers. The ripples can be felt further down the river; more powerful spells can cast stronger ripples.
- The spell in the gem that Jessica (or, typically, Misha) uses to contact Elizabeth is an illusion spell. The gem is attuned to a specific location, and the two (or more) users cast themselves upon the flows of magic to meet each other. The users can communicate with each other, but cannot transfer material or immaterial objects.
- Teleportation spells exist, and beginners can learn a few basic cantrips. The greater the distance, the more powerful the required magic is. Travelling several hundred miles in an instant, such as between Metamor and Marigund, would take more magic than is known to human mages.
- The Pillars of Ahdyojiak are built in an equilateral triangle over the intersection of Manzona's lines of power. They have the power to send any material thing to anywhere in the world, and can be summoned anywhere in the world. However, they must be charged with magical energy (such as life essence) in order to open a portal.
- The classical indentations for beginning mages can be amended so that Jessica can cast them with her talons and wing tips.
- Among the documents the Marigund Mage Guild has access to are records from the one of the cities of Carethedor. These documents contain rare information regarding Aelven works:
- Most of them contain information on how to construct a world bell and how to interpret its ripples.
- They contain information about their artifacts, and what ripples they produce in the world bell, including variations on the spells.
Chronology
- Ages ago, the elves of Carethedor built a city in Manzona, then called Ahdyojiak, yet just as inhospitable. There they safeguarded their magical artifacts.
- A thousand years ago, the Marigund Mages Guild retrieved documents from one of the ruined cities of Carethedor.
- The Guild presumably built their world bell soon after.
- Around 200 CR, the Pillars of Ahdyojiak were summoned by a Southern mage to defeat several Shriekers released when the dais of Yajakali was yielded. This was the only recorded time since Marigund's world bell was built that the Pillars were summoned.
- Around 500 CR, the Marigund Mage Guild sent some of its best mages to Manzona to discover the ancient Aelven city. Though they used gems to communicate their findings, they disappeared about a week into the island.
- A second expedition was sent to discover what happened to the former expedition, returning after six days in at the guild's request. They reported hearing terrible, frightening shrieks and sounds from within the jungle.
Story Connections
- This story is a direct follow-up to Wagging Tongues Will, which was both when Elizabeth began training Jessica, and when the Pillars of Ahdyojiak were summoned.
- Misha is still up north, undertaking the mission described in Whispers of the Lost and Found.
Points of Interest
- Elizabeth establishes that teleportation spells do exist, but teleporting across hundreds of miles in an instant is impossible, even for very powerful magic. However, teleportation spells have appeared in other Metamor Keep stories to varying degrees; in fact, the climax of Whispers of the Lost and Found, referenced in this story, involves Misha teleporting his entire party and several escaped prisoners hundreds of miles back to Metamor (though is unclear on the details).
