War Of The Wildlands(70)

“For now,” Yori replied.

The old elf eyed him curiously. “Indeed.” He seemed to be considering whether Yori would ever be capable of learning more. “One thing you should know right away is that any color in between will not work in the hands of a human or Wild Elf. Those enchantments would be far too strong for anyone other than an Enlightened Elf to control. Any shade of violet is going to have the most kick to it. Human mages have died trying to wield the power locked within those stones.” He shook his head and chuckled to himself.

“So orange, yellow, white, and all the other colors are off limits?” Yori asked.

“Yes,” Eldon replied. “You will not be able to enchant your own gems. That is a task for those of us who have spent long years studying the arcane sciences. Any gem you require will have to be enchanted here and shipped to you from the isles.”

“You’re assuming I won’t be staying here,” Yori pointed out.

Laughing, the elf replied, “I know it to be a fact.” He lifted a ruby from the table and passed it to Yori. “What do you think of that?”

“It’s hot,” he replied, feeling the heat emitting from the stone. Holding it up to the light, he inspected its facets. “It’s beautiful,” he commented.

“Of course it is,” the elf said. “I enchanted it myself. You can watch as I set it in the hilt I’ve prepared for this sword.” Taking the gem back, he sat it on the table, his hand hovering slightly above it. The gem began to glow red, and sparks shot from its center. Untouched, the gem moved along the table to the hilt of a sword. Extending his other hand slightly higher than the first, he directed the gem to place itself inside the hilt of the sword. The metal glowed red for a moment before cooling back to a silver sheen.

Yori looked at the elf in amazement. “I’ve never seen anything like that. How did you craft the metal?”

“In nearly the same manner,” Eldon replied. “We don’t need hammers or forges. We use our own knowledge of the arcane to heat the metal and shape it to our whim. Few of us are truly masters of this craft.” He held his head proudly in the air, looking down at Yori.

“How long does it take to learn all of that?” he asked curiously.

“It can take up to a thousand years to learn the process correctly,” he replied. “You won’t live that long, I’m afraid.”

“I didn’t know anyone lived that long,” Yori remarked.

“I am two thousand and four years old. That is considered elderly among my people. Many are killed by their own experiments or in disputes with other sorcerers well before they reach my age.”

“Sounds like a dangerous place,” Yori commented. No sooner had the words escaped his mouth than the ground began to shake beneath his feet. He looked up at Eldon, his eyes wide with shock. “Did you do that?”

The old elf laughed again and shook his head. “No, that was our dear friend Yelaurad. He is mightiest among our gods and lives in the volcano on the Red Isle.”

“The Red Isle?” Yori asked.

“Yes, it is a barren wasteland of red, scorched earth. The only thing that lives there is Yelaurad in his volcano. He likes to send us messages from time to time just to remind us he’s still around. He belches smoke and rattles the ground. A rather obnoxious sort of god, that one.” Eldon shrugged and turned his attention back to his work.

“How will I set these gems into the metal without your magic?” Yori asked.

“That is where the experiment comes in,” the elf said, a twinkle in his bright blue eyes. “I assume you can read Ancient Elvish.”

Yori nodded, eager to prove his abilities.

“I have some scrolls in my tower that you should look over. They’re rather elementary in their writing, of course, but I don’t think that will bother one such as yourself. We use them to teach children, but perhaps you will find them useful.”

Yori chose not to be insulted by Master Eldon’s words. He was, after all, a child when it came to learning this new type of magic. He wasn’t sure he would be able to learn it, but maybe with help from the runes he could figure out a way.

“You may stay with me during your studies,” Eldon said. “I have apprentice quarters to spare.” Shooing Yori from the shop, the old elf turned and cast a spell over it, sealing the entrance with stone.

“I take it you have no use for mechanical locks around here,” Yori commented.

“No, those would be far too easy to break. It would take all of a sorcerer’s power to break into my shop, and even then he would find the weapons inside useless. They will only respond to their master until I tell them to do otherwise.”