The Lost Runes Saga [Epic Fantasy]

TWENTY-SEVEN

All four of them kept looking at Vidar like he was about to reveal something profound.

Vidar met their gazes. "So, are we done here?"

"For now," Jarl said.

"Just protect this city," Vidar said, inclining his head toward the steward.

"Before you go, Vidar, could we perhaps have a moment of your time?"

"I'm kind of in a hurry. What do you have in mind?"

"We wanted to talk to you about the styrka rune, among other things. I promise we can make it worth your while."

"Very well then, but let's make it quick. Like I said, I have previous engagements."

Freja opened the door and shooed the guards away before turning back and beckoning him. "It won't take long." She then continued across the corridor to another room, all while wearing a mischievous grin. This room looked very much like the one Vidar just left, except it held several smaller desks instead of the one over by the wall, and the windows were smaller. They had prepared paper, a pen, an inkwell, and the angle tool Alvarn showed him earlier.

Fredrik sat down on a stool next to the desk, and Freja grabbed another one. They gestured for Vidar to sit in a rickety wooden chair behind the desk. It creaked under his weight.

"The steward received an anonymous note with information regarding the styrka rune and its use in slaying the dragon menace, but there is something to be said about a proper demonstration. It was you who sent that note, I take it?" Fredrik asked.

"No."

"Alvarn, then," Freja guessed. "I'd like to squeeze that man's brain."

"I'm sure we can arrange something," Vidar said, glancing at Fredrik. "You want me to demonstrate the rune, even with the instructions Alvarn wrote?"

"Please," Fredrik said, gesturing to the blank paper.

Vidar drew the lines of the styrka rune without the angle tool. Fredrik's forehead creased ever so slightly before he schooled his expression as Vidar put his hand inside the rune circle, then looked up at Fredrik.

"You mentioned something about making this worth my while?"

Fredrik nudged Freja, who withdrew a coin pouch from a pocket in her robes. Vidar accepted it, feeling the heft before peeking in and seeing the glint of silver. Once it was safe and secure in his pocket, he triggered the rune.

"It's done."

"And you don't rejuvenate it?" Fredrik asked.

"You don't. Once it comes into contact with something it can draw from, it sort of rejuvenates itself, using the target's essence."

"What is the time limit?"

"For the triggering? Never thought to check."

"Can I touch it?" Freja asked.

Vidar gestured to the paper. "If you want to be drained, be my guest."

She put her finger on the runic symbol, then squeaked and pulled it away, giggling like a child. Her next action only added to that image. Freja put her finger in her mouth and sucked on it.

"How do you interact with the rune without it pulling essence from you?" Fredrik asked.

"From the sides," Vidar said. "On a paper like this, you don't."

"Fair enough," Fredrik said. "It's an interesting rune. I wonder what it was used for originally."

"Traps," Freja said around her thumb, still in her mouth.

"Traps?" Vidar asked.

"Put it on the floor. Someone steps on it, they go limp. Through boots even, no?"

Vidar remembered the corridor draining him of essence, and even the ladder during his descent. "Right. It works through boots."

"Lovely," she said. "If you have someone touch it, the rune drains from their arm. With testing, I bet we could keep someone subdued as long as we maintain a steady essence drain!"

Vidar and Fredrik both stared at her.

"You are a little scary," Vidar said.

The madwoman giggled again at that. She had to be at least fifteen years his senior, yet she kept acting like a small girl. It was off-putting, like he was dealing with a deranged person. He cleared his throat and stood.

"There's something else," Fredrik said. "The styrka rune and the algiz rune. You discovered those as well, or so I've been told."

"What about it?" Vidar asked.

"I was just wondering how you keep discovering things, things that have fallen out of our collective memory over the ages."

"Most people don't want to crawl through filth for a bowl of watery porridge and a stone floor to sleep on."

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Fredrik frowned, his brows furrowing.

"The sewers," Freja said, glee in her voice.

"That's right," Vidar said. "You need to be small and literate. Few people fit that mold."

"So you found the runes in the sewers," Fredrik mused. "All of them?"

The question took Vidar off guard, and he didn't think fast enough to realize it might not be in his best interest to tell the truth.

"Two of them."

"I hope I can visit down there some time," Fredrik said.

"Me too," Freja added, nodding.

"Where in the sewers did you find them, and which one did you find elsewhere?"

"Are these questions getting somewhere?" Vidar asked.

"Knowledge is a glorious pursuit in itself. The rune scribes strive for knowledge in all things related to runes and rune craft. It is a shame the guild mistress in Halmstadt has not spoken to you about these matters, but I fear our opportunity to do so is coming to an end as well. Since we'll all be busy with the preparations for what is coming."

"This knowledge must be worth more than a little silver," Vidar said. "They are the discoveries of an age, as you so eloquently put it."

"Oh, you have no idea about the value of the information you possess. And we have prepared a little something for you to make sure you receive adequate compensation."

He pulled a leather folder from a different desk and handed it over.

Vidar opened it and found a single document full of text. "What is it?"

"It's a writ from the rune scribes' guild, allowing you to craft runes and sell them on our authority."

Vidar nodded, feeling a smile creep into the corners of his mouth as he scanned the page. There were far too many words for him to even begin to parse it all. One word was bigger than all others, and the letters remained still.

"Stalheim. This writ means I can only sell the runes in the capital," Vidar said, closing the folder.

"A man of your renown has no reason to stay and wither in a manure pit like this," Freja said. "In Stalheim, the rich and powerful pay gold for runes if the right person is selling."

"And you are that right person," Fredrik added. "The man who slayed a dragon would be famous in the capital. You would get your proper due."

Vidar leaned back in his chair and let his hand fall from the folder and into his lap. "And all you want for this is information?"

"Like I said, we strive for knowledge. Not even Stalheim has the sort of underground systems you enjoy here in Hamstadt."

"Well, ask your questions," Vidar said.

"You found two ruins in the sewers. Which ones?"

"Stakra and styrka," Vidar answered. "Where the seawater enters the tunnels at different points. There are chambers there which clean the water to make it drinkable. Alvarn and I found them there. The runes were part the design."

"I don't know what that means," Freja said.

"It means the runes were used to clean the water," Vidar replied, then set to explaining how the cleaning station worked, wondering for a moment if the styrka runes on those spinning planks were connected to the ones around the dragon. He'd have to talk to Alvarn about that later.

"Do you have one of these for Alvarn as well?" Vidar asked. "He helped find the runes, after all.

Fredrik placed another folder on top of Vidar's. "Please bring him along. It is rare to find a student who completes his training before the allotted time, and his mastery of the stakra runes is most inspiring."

Once he was done, Fredrik leaned forward, nodding. "Interesting. That leaves the algiz rune, then. Where did you find that treasure? Every rune scribe in this city uses them now, and they are already flooding the market as well. People want to feel safe. The uniqueness of it means it lends itself to use by the masses."

"Uniqueness?" Vidar asked.

"The self-triggering, of course!"

"Right."

Freja, without warning, leaned forward and banged her fist on the table hard enough for the folders to jump. "Where did you find it?"

Vidar jerked back with a yelp. "What?"

"Algiz, algiz, algiz!"

"Settle down, Freja," Fredrik said, his voice drained. The man looked and sounded like he was just about done with her antics.

Vidar hesitated, unsure what to say. Their far too trusting nature meant he could get away with a lie, but also that this was as good a place as any to share what he'd seen. The priests and their church needed a good thrashing, in his opinion.

"I found it," Vidar began, looking Fredrik in the eyes. "By the church."

Fredrik's eyes widened and his mouth fell open. "The church of the fallen angels?"

"That's right."

"They gave you a rune?"

"No. They gave me nothing. The rune was on a padlock to a door."

"Padlock?" Fredrik repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Explain."

Vidar shrugged. "I was working for them, and it was cold. I wanted a place to keep warm. That padlock was in my way, so I bashed it until the barrier rune broke. It held very little essence."

Fredrik leaned back, rubbed his chin, and peered up into the ceiling for a moment to collect himself. "This is a disconcerting revelation. Can you prove it?"

"It's right there, out in the open. Go look at the gates of the church. Once you know what you're looking for, there are old, half-faded algiz runes all over it."

"We'll have to go have a look," Fredrik said. "If your assertions are true, that means the church has kept secret knowledge of runes from us in the rune scribes' guild for a long, long time."

Vidar leaned in. "Is the guild as old as the church?"

"The guild has roots stretching through history, to the time when angels roamed the earth and the heavens. But no, the church itself predates even us. It predates the formation of Sveland itself. It was pivotal in bringing the country into the light from the old ways of constant infighting between jarls, small men trying to show themselves as strong."

"Never heard about that."

"There's much to learn from history," Fredrik said, his excited expression falling. "The history that survived through the ages. Not much remains, and what little does still live on fades each day."

"That means the church has the upper hand on you people. Do you know what's going on behind those locked doors?" Vidar asked.

Freja let out a bark of laughter. "Curious? Furious! The steward is stewing, fit to blow in a rage! They denied his men entry. Didn't even open the doors! The priests are silent. Mysterious."

"...Right."

It was time to tell them everything. With the steward angered, perhaps this was the push he needed to raze the church to the ground.

In as calm a voice as he could muster, Vidar began re-telling what'd happened on the day he found the algiz rune.

"Rituals in blood," Fredrik said, once the telling was done. His voice sounded troubled now, muted. "It's not something I've heard about regarding the church. They light candles and chant, read in their little books, and pray for the fallen angels to return to the heavens."

Fredrik glanced at Freja and back at Vidar. A long moment of silence followed before he stood. "We will not keep you any longer, Vidar," he said. "You said you needed to leave. Take the writs and talk to your friend about coming with us back to Stalheim when this is over. You'll be treated well there. With respect."

Vidar stood as well and clasped Fredrik's outstretched hand, then Freja's. Her thumb was still a little wet with saliva. He grimaced and wiped his hand on his coat. "What about the priests?"

"These are serious accusations. I promise you we will investigate."

"Great." He snatched the folders from the table and put them in his new leather satchel.

"We want to talk with you further about these discoveries at a later date. Now we must prepare."

They ushered him out of the room, to where a pair of guardsmen waited. They herded him along the halls and shoved him out the door, locking it behind him. Still a little confused about the conversation, Vidar ran. There was no time to lose. Jarl's people were searching for the dragon's skeleton, and he needed to get there first.