Chương 6: Ten Minutes To Live (3)

They traveled through Karthane in the carriage for over an hour before they approached the palace hill. The crowded districts near the city walls had slowly given way to broader cobblestone streets and large stone buildings. Market stalls became less common, and the houses stood farther apart here. Iron posts stood at regular intervals along the broader roads close to the hill, each supporting a glass enclosure around a pale crystal similar to the ones Teren had seen beneath the gatehouse.

They appeared to be street lamps, their crystals meant to illuminate the road after dark. He hadn't seen anything like them in the crowded districts near the city wall. Ahead of them, a second stone wall encircled the base of the hill. It was not nearly as high as Karthane's outer defenses, but guards watched from its battlements and covered the gate beneath them.

Edras showed one of the guards a flat silver token bearing a crest that meant nothing to Teren, and the carriage was allowed through without being searched or asked any questions. Beyond the wall, the road gently sloped upward between houses that looked more like mansions than homes. Most stood behind wide iron gates and high stone walls, with broad courtyards, walled gardens, and tree-lined entrances. Painted crests and hanging banners marked many of the gates.

Groups of guards stood outside them, each wearing the colors of a different noble house, with matching designs or small crests stitched onto their tunics. So this is the noble district. Teren glanced through the small rear window of the carriage. The higher road gave him a view across tens of thousands of closely packed wooden roofs of Karthane, broken here and there by stone towers and some larger buildings.

Of course, he had seen cities with far taller buildings on Earth, but Karthane seemed to spread endlessly outward instead. The city's massive outer walls were still visible, but now they stood far in the distance, beyond the mass of rooftops. Seeing them so far away made the sheer scale of the city impossible to ignore. Near the summit of the hill, an airship floated beside a tall stone tower rising from within the palace wall ahead.

Thick mooring lines held it close to a platform near the top of the tower, while its cabin hung suspended beneath its broad envelope. Halfway up the slope, a narrower but equally well-paved road branched away from the main approach to the palace. It led toward a fortified enclosure built into the hillside, where a group of guards stood at the gate and several covered wagons waited outside, along with several small groups of people looking like they knew exactly what their swords, spears and bows were meant to do.

Teren leaned closer to the window.

"What is that place?"

"Oh, it's one of the entrances to Karthane's dungeon," Edras said offhandedly. Teren turned to the mage.

"Dungeon? You mean something like an underground prison?" The old archmage glanced at him.

"You truly did lose your memory. And no. Beneath Karthane lies a vast network of tunnels and chambers filled with monsters and other beings, deep enough that it is still not fully mapped even after centuries of exploration. The Duke's soldiers and other dungeon delvers—or adventurers, as they like to call themselves—use this gate to enter the dungeon."

"Is this the only dungeon gate in the city?" Teren asked, wondering if the duke held a monopoly on it.

"Why do they go down there anyway if it is so dangerous?" Edras shook his head.

"There are more than two dozen dungeon gates in the city, all well-guarded like this one. Mana crystals, alchemical ingredients, edible meat from certain monsters, and other valuable materials are brought up from below, forming the foundation of the city's economy."

"Huh... So that's why such a huge city was built out in the boonies."

"In the boonies...?" Edras snorted.

"You have a peculiar way of putting things, but it's true enough, I guess. This dungeon is the reason Karthane was founded in this harsh, sparsely settled land. Monsters roam beyond the walls in such numbers that the countryside is almost as dangerous as the dungeon itself, enough that those walls were built as much to keep the monsters out as to defend against armies. However, the mana crystals are only found underground, in dungeons like this one." Teren looked back at the fortified enclosure.

The crystals used in the mana assay, in the gate passage, and in the lamps along the road had all come from somewhere beneath it. Beyond the road branching to the dungeon gate, the main approach continued toward another high stone wall near the summit. Smaller watchtowers stood at intervals along its length, overlooking the slopes and the noble district below.

With the advantage of the hill and those towers covering every approach, as well as the three layers of strong walls protecting it from the wastelands outside, the duke's palace would be extremely difficult to storm for any invading army, although it felt overkill to Teren. As they approached the summit, the main road continued toward the gate in the palace wall. Parts of the duke's ornate residence and the tall airship tower were visible beyond it. The airship itself looked huge from here.

The carriage turned away before reaching the gate and followed a quieter road between old stone mansions. Edras's research compound stood on the upper slope, not far below the palace defenses. A low stone wall enclosed the small compound, with an iron gate opening onto a paved courtyard. Two guards stood outside it, but they opened the gate as soon as they saw the old mage inside the carriage. Once the carriage had entered the courtyard, Edras looked through the window for a few moments before opening the door.

The four guards formed around them as they stepped down. Several smaller wooden buildings stood around the courtyard. The main building was a broad, two-storey structure built from dark stone, with large windows, and thin metal rods rising from the roof. Faint markings had been carved around the doorway and the windows. A few servants and maids were passing the courtyard with baskets and folded cloth. Two workers carried a wooden crate toward a side building.

Some of them glanced at Teren's rough clothing and the guards surrounding him, then quickly looked away. Evidently, a young man wearing slave rags arriving with Edras and four armed guards was unusual, but not enough to make anyone stop working. Edras led him inside the main building. The first room contained long tables covered with mana crystals, brass frames, metal plates, and various tools and equipment Teren couldn't identify.

Daylight entered through the windows, supplemented by pale yellow crystals glowing inside glass lanterns mounted high along the walls. Shelves filled the side walls. Some held books and rolled up charts. Others held scrolls and glass containers that glowed faintly in different colors. Three assistants—two men and a young woman—looked up from their work. Edras turned to the guards.

"Wait outside. No one enters unless I call." If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. The guards looked at Teren.

"He is not going to overpower me," Edras said.

"Out." The guards obeyed. Edras waited until the guards had left before turning to the assistants.

"You all as well. Tell anyone who comes that I am not to be disturbed." The younger of the two hesitated.

"Master?"

"If anyone asks, you were sent to fetch calibrated crystals from the store room."

"But—""Go." The assistants exchanged a glance but followed the guards outside. Edras closed the door behind them and locked it, then traced a few quick symbols across the frame. Faint lines of light spread over the wood before fading from sight. He did the same with the windows, locking and warding them, leaving only the pale yellow glow from the crystal lanterns mounted along the walls. Teren looked around.

"This is where you test all the new slaves?"

"I examine things here that cannot be investigated in a barracks. I hope I'm wrong, but if I'm not, this matter is far too sensitive to pursue in the presence of anyone else." Edras took him into a smaller room at the back. A chair stood beside a testing frame—another mana assay—this one built around a clear crystal nearly the size of Teren's fist. It looked far more complicated than the one in the military compound at the gate, having various brass dials and gauges attached to it.

"Sit." Teren remained where he was.

"What happens if this one turns purple?"

"It should still give me a clearer result than the intake assay, which I couldn't observe properly."

"And if it shuts down as well?" Edras's expression tightened.

"This instrument was built to withstand far more mana than the one at the compound. This crystal alone is worth more than the three wagons that brought you into Karthane, including the slaves they carried."

"That did not answer the question." The old mage gestured to the chair again.

"It should work." It should work...? Teren sat down. Instead of beginning with the assay, Edras crossed to a locked cabinet and opened it with a small brass key. From inside, he removed a narrow case lined with dark cloth. A smooth silver-colored rod lay within it, covered in tiny runes that caught the light when he turned it. He gently placed it on the table in front of Teren.

"Close your fingers around this." Teren didn't pick it up, not willing to continue following the eccentric mage's orders without even knowing what was going on.

"Tell me what you are trying to test." Edras looked at him. Teren crossed his arms, leaving the rod on the table.

"You dragged me out of the intake yard, brought me into your private research compound, cleared the building, and now you're pulling expensive-looking tools out of locked cabinets. This is not just because the crystal stopped working back there, is it?"

"No," Edras said.

"It is not."

"So what are you looking for?"

"Just... a confirmation."

"Of what?" Edras exhaled.

"Something that should be impossible." Teren didn't know what to say to that. I've already been brought to another world. That should have been impossible too. Is that what he's testing for, or is he looking for something entirely different? He picked up the rod. Nothing happened.

"Do you feel the mana?"

"Uh... No?"

"Do not physically search for it as if it were a coin fallen beneath a table. Remember what you felt at the assay." Teren closed his eyes. He recalled the cold metal, the pressure inside his arm, and the current rushing forward. For a while, he felt nothing. Then something shifted faintly beneath his skin.

"There," he said.

"Do not force your mana. Hold your attention to it." The sensation almost vanished. Teren tightened his grip. It returned.

"Good. Now move the smallest amount you can into the rod." Teren tried to release only a trickle, but the current surged forward all at once. The silver rod became hot enough that he dropped it in surprise and opened his eyes. Edras picked it up from the floor, studying the rod with a trace of uncertainty. A thin purple line was already fading along its length.

"You have no control," the mage said after a moment.

"I only learned this mana-thing even existed earlier today."

"That does explain it. But you need to be especially careful until you learn to control it." Teren nodded. Then he flexed his fingers and grinned.

"So I can use magic!" Edras snorted.

"You can move mana. Those are not the same things." Teren shrugged.

"They sound similar enough to me."

"They will stop sounding similar when you burn your own hand off." Teren looked at his palm then back at the mage.

"You're serious..." Edras didn't reply. Teren rubbed his palm. Apparently, the old mage had not been exaggerating. Edras placed the rod back inside its case. For a few seconds, he stared at the fading purple line before closing the lid. Then he moved beside the larger assay.

"Place your hand around the handle." Teren hesitated.

"You just said I have no control."

"You do not need to move the mana yourself for this test. The assay will draw what it requires. Do not push against it, and do not attempt to help it." Teren closed his hand around the metal. The familiar pull began almost immediately. His first instinct was to force the current forward as he had in the compound, but he held himself still and allowed the sensation to move through his arm on its own. The clear crystal filled with purple light. This time, it did not flare and vanish.

The color remained steady, glowing through the entire crystal for as long as Teren held the handle. Edras leaned closer to the frame. His eyes moved between the glowing crystal and a row of small gauges attached to the brass housing. Their needles had shifted to different positions, and he studied each one before checking the engraved lines at the base of each dial.

"Release it," he said. Teren let go. The purple light faded slowly. The assay remained intact. The uncertainty that had crossed Edras's face after the silver-rod test had vanished. Now he looked worried.

"Did it tell you anything?" Teren asked. Edras did not answer immediately.

"It did." He finally straightened.

"Enough that I need you to complete one final test before I tell you anything more." Edras crossed the room to a sturdy-looking iron door Teren had assumed to be another old cabinet. The mage pressed his fingers—their tips glowing blue with mana—against a series of faint markings around the frame, causing them to dim one by one, then unlocked the door. Beyond it, narrow stone steps descended underground into darkness. Edras took one of the glass lamps with a glowing crystal from the wall.

Teren had still been sitting in the chair.

"You are coming with me," the mage said as he reached the iron door. Teren stood up.

"Of course I am." Edras looked back toward the outer room, then at Teren.

"I've locked the building and ordered everyone to stay outside, so we should not be disturbed. But if you still hear anyone coming down these stairs, step away from the device and say nothing."

"Uh... What? Why?" Had the white-fire attacker followed them here? Did Edras already know someone was hunting him?

"Just follow my orders for now. I'll explain after this final test." After burning to death three times, Teren had no intention of letting it happen again. Whatever Edras knew, Teren intended to stay close to him. The old mage was the only reason he had survived this long. Teren nodded and followed the mage into the basement.