Tak

Khalkedon - Part 1

     "Did Tak get to see the great and terrible Khalkedon?" asked Lirenna the next morning as they sat around the table eating a light breakfast.

     Thomas had a spellbook open in front of him and was concentrating on a spell he had to learn for that day and Lirenna had to repeat the question before he looked up at her, his mind still full of strange syllables and complicated hand movements. It took him a moment or two to return fully to the here and now. "Oh yes," he said. "He certainly did, but I'm not completely certain when. It might have been while Molos Gomm was still at the height of his power, less than a year after Philip's death, but I've got an idea it might not have been until some time later, when he was well into his decline. My, I mean his memories of that time are so incomplete, so fragmentary, which is probably a blessing. I remember enough to make me glad I don't remember more."

     "So Molos Gomm was nearing the end of his career?" said Lirenna, staring at him in fascination.

     "Oh yes. The conjuration of Vassago was the last really great magic he ever performed. After that it was downhill all the way. Tak didn't notice at first, but looking back later the signs were unmistakable. Khalkedon never summoned him to serve beside him again. He must have known that his end was near, that one more great effort would kill him, and he wanted him to live so he could train Tak as a replacement. That's why Gal-Gowan was so insistent that he teach him the high magic. Tak had to be taken to the point where he could advance by himself before Molos Gomm had a heart attack or something."

     "But if Molos Gomm was so old and frail and Khalkedon was greater and more powerful..."

     "He had to be even older than Molos Gomm," agreed Thomas, "and therefore even closer to his end, unless he had found a way to stave off the ageing process. The secret of immortality hadn't been invented yet, but there were said to be numerous potions and elixirs that could extend the human span by several decades, all of which, they say, were destroyed after the Mage Wars in case they provided the clue to rediscovering the secret of immortality. Who knows, maybe it's true, but if such potions existed it seems strange that Molos Gomm never used them. The Gods alone know he put enough effort into inventing one. No, I'm pretty sure that potions of longevity hadn't been invented yet, that the only way to avoid death by old age was rak transformation."

     Lirenna leaned forward in sudden excitement. "Are you absolutely sure of that? Because if such potions did exist back then..."

     "And if Tak, at some point in his life, found out how to make them, I could remember and brew them up myself. I could maybe live as long as you will. And what if they really do contain the clue to the secret of immortality? Suppose the secret gets out? And you can be sure it would. If people see me still looking young and healthy at a hundred years old they're going to know what's happened."

     He stood and paced restlessly across the small room. "Suppose I cause a whole new crop of immortal wizards to spring up. Suppose I cause the Mage Wars to break out all over again. It so happens that I have no idea if Tak ever used any such potions, my memories haven't reached that point yet, but what if he did? If I did try to recreate them, we'd have to flee to some hidden corner of the world so no-one would ever know, and even then we'd be living under the ever present threat of discovery. Could we live like that? Exiled for the rest of our lives? Cut off forever from everyone we know..."

     Lirenna reached out and took his hand. Her hand was cool, like a soothing balm. "I could live like that, if you were with me. Just the two of us, alone in some little glen in the middle of some vast forest, or on a small island in the middle of the ocean. I could be perfectly happy. It sounds like paradise. Every day full of contentment. Just the two of us, together... But you wouldn't like it, would you?"

     "I think I would go crazy very quickly," agreed Thomas with a wry smile. "And what about Derry? He'll live a long time, by human standards, but not as long as a fullblooded shae. It's even possible he may die before you. Would you deny him a longer life? And what about his children and grandchildren? Where would it end?" He sighed. "If I ever do remember how to make potions of longevity, you and I are going to have a lot of soul searching to do."

     "Not really," replied Lirenna, though as she guided him back to his chair and sat him back down. She sat beside him on the other chair. "I don't care about immortal wizards and Mage Wars. All I care about is you. Not a day goes past without me thinking of you. Thinking about whether I'll be able to go on without you after..."

     "Of course you..." began Thomas, but Lirenna's hand flew to his mouth and pressed hard over it.

     "Let me finish please. Being your wife is the greatest joy I've ever known, the greatest joy I'll ever know. Knowing that one day I'll be without you is like a great black cloud covering the sun. If there's a way you can be with me longer then we'll do it, no matter what the cost. No matter what happens to the rest of the world. I own you, Thomas Gown. You are my property. I decide what happens to you. If you remember how to make that potion then you will make it. You will! Understand?"

     Thomas tried to pull her hand away from his mouth but she just pressed down harder. "Just nod. Nod to say you understand."

     Thomas nodded, and only then did she remove her hand, to replace it with a kiss.

☆☆☆

     Thomas refused to continue Tak's story until he remembered it in more detail, and several days passed in which he spent every spare moment scribbling notes on scraps of paper, hiding them in embarrassment whenever anyone approached. People noticed, of course, leading to rumours that he was composing love letters, and much jocular speculation arose as to who they were intended for.

     He was careful not to let his memoirs get in the way of his work, though, and made a point of working long into the evenings just in case Saturn or Pondar began questioning his commitment to the Rossem project. Despite this, though, progress on the new skydeath detection spell was slow and by the end of the week they were all tired and snapping irritably at each other. Even Edward Parsley, normally the friendliest, most social man you could ever hope to meet.

     Fearing that fatigue would make someone make a mistake, perhaps leading to the whole building being blown to pieces, Saturn declared a three day holiday to rest and recuperate, after which they would, hopefully, be able to return to the job with renewed vigour.

     Thomas used the first day to piece together his scattered notes to create a coherent account of what remained of Tak's apprenticeship and was reading through it with some satisfaction when Lirenna returned from her work on the farm. "Ah!" she cried in delight, rushing over to peer over his shoulder. "You've finished!"

     "More or less," replied Thomas, "but I keep getting the feeling there's more that I can't quite remember. Great gaps in his life in which important things happened. I get tantalising glimpses. A confrontation with an old woman who seemed as frail as a snowflake but who terrified him. Who was she? What were they fighting about? A journey overland through swirling snow to a circle of standing stones accompanied by a troop of soldiers who treated him with fear and respect. That had to mean he was a fully fledged wizard by then but I still get the impression of youth and insecurity." He balled his hands into fists and beat them on the table. "It's so frustrating! It's as if I could remember everything if I could only concentrate a little bit harder."

     "Just tell me what you do remember," said Lirenna eagerly. "Tak was summoned to meet Khalkedon in his palace."

     "Yes," said Thomas, peering at his notes. "I've remembered more in the past couple of days. It was about fifteen months after the conjuration of Vassago..."