The Grove(59)
Saleria didn’t have a crystal, though. Technically the crystal at the end of the staff lying on the ground a few steps away was more than large enough, but it was bound with spells for empowering the cutting and scorching end of the staff, and meant mostly for storing and releasing energy in a controlled flow. “I don’t have any crystals around for storage, myself.”
Kerric held up his hand as a few of the others started to explain whether or not they did as well. “It’s alright if you don’t. I know Keleseth, Tuassan, Daemon, and a few of the others have the capacity to store and manipulate scrycast recordings, but it won’t be necessary. I have prepared enough scrycasting Artifacts for everyone. I’ll send them through, one at a time, in a moment. They’ll come in pre-spelled cages, which can be used to project the captured images onto a flat, whitewashed wall—and yes, I’ll send them with instruction scrolls. They’re common among some of our clients, but only a few of you may have seen them before.
“Brother Moon will be at new-dark in four more days,” he continued. “Let’s have our next mass scrycast meeting at that point in time . . . and I’ll continue to experiment with the forescrying mirror and see what new information I can turn up. Please write down your observations and ideas, however wild. At this point, I’m willing to consider anything. Can everyone agree to meet again in four days? You’re free to contact each other between now and then; just activate your mirrors in the usual ways and state the name of the Guardian and/or their location to make the connections. Or call for ‘the Tower’ to reach one of my assistants, who can help connect you if you’ve forgotten a particular name, since there are quite a lot of us at this meeting. In four days, then? At the same time? We can arrange for other, better times at that meeting, once we all know our schedules and can correlate them to one anothers’.”
A few murmured agreements, and a few nodded their heads, including Saleria, but no disagreements met his proposal. Kerric nodded and started naming Guardians, distributing the crystals with half-seen flicks of his hands. Watching him, Saleria almost missed when it was her own turn to catch the incoming Artifact and scroll. Mostly because she was envious that he clearly knew exactly how to manipulate the powers of his own Fountain, and could do it so well.
Catching the cage and scroll as she had the mirror and its scroll, she cradled them in her hands and nodded a farewell to the others. The mirror flared blue for a moment, terminated at Kerric’s end, then became a simple reflective surface, showing her the dimly lit environment of the Bower. Without the other Guardians to focus on, she could hear the plop of an occasional droplet of sap hitting its designated pool. She could also hear the evening breeze rustling through the leaves beyond the protective cage of the Bower, and the faint buzz of insects.
Insects which could very well be morphing into part-plant hybrids . . . An unsettling thought. Hoping it wasn’t so, Saleria debated what to do. She had the caged crystal, with its gem-strung wire box, and a scroll on what to do with it, but barely sufficient light to read the instructions, and no white wall to play the captured images against once she did. She had the pruning staff, which she picked up . . . but she had no portable light source other than its faint, low-charged glow to lead her on the paths out of here.
She also had a fellow mage somewhere out there, one who had only experienced a small taste of the Grove’s weirdnesses and dangers. Reworking her clothes, she belted her overjacket so that she could tuck the caged crystal and the scroll into it. That left her hands free to wield her staff. Charging the end with enough personal power to make it glow, she headed out of the Bower.
The mirror chimed, startling her. Returning to the patiently hovering frame, she held her crystal-topped staff off to one side to keep it from blinding either her or her unexpected caller, and activated the mirror with her free hand. “Baol.”
To her surprise, it was Guardian Shon Tastra . . . though she didn’t know why she should be surprised. The older gentleman smiled and dipped his head politely. “Guardian Saleria . . . we are given to understand you are hosting a Darkhanan Witch, is this correct?”
“Yes, a man . . . a pair of men,” she corrected herself, “by the names Aradin and Teral.”
“Just Aradin Teral, no ‘and,’” the Guardian Witch corrected gently. “But yes, I understand what you meant. In fact, my Guide, Tastra, spoke with Teral just a little while before Guardian Kerric’s scrycast. Based on some of her conversation with him, I wanted to reassure you personally that we—the Church of Darkhanan Witches—did indeed assign him to the Empire of Katan to look for a suitable representative of your people before the Convocation of Gods and Man, and that Tastra has verified Teral’s queries of the Dark regarding your suitability.”