Tak

The Gem Lords - Part 1

     "When Tak eventually returned to Castle Nagra, he took a whole cartload of stuff with him," Thomas told Lirenna a few days later.

     It was fortunate that they were going through a bit of a quiet patch as far as work was concerned. They couldn't do much until Saturn and his associates had finished the new Orb of Skydeath Detection and installed it aboard the Jules Verne, so no-one had noticed his bleary faced, sunken eyed condition the day after his telling his wife of the death of Gannlow. Work was being found for them on a couple of the University's less important projects which, fortunately, didn't require any spellcasting at this stage. Privately, he was glad of the break. All the rush and tension of the Rossem project had been quite stressful and exhausting for everyone concerned, and he was in no hurry for it all to come back.

     "Chilgrone was happy for Tak to take away all Gannlow's private notebooks for further study," Thomas continued, looking up into Lirenna's raptly attentive eyes, "and he'd learned so many of the rak's spells that he needed two new spellbooks of his own to keep them all in. Tak had also taken some interesting books from Gannlow's private library, mostly dealing with the kind of obscure and arcane matters that so fascinated him, and in addition he had the three 'diaries' of the demigods, just in case he managed, in later years, to get more out of them. In fact, however, they stopped working altogether just a couple of years later, although he hung onto them even then, seeking the help and advice of wise men from all across the island continent in his quest for ways to reactivate them. To the best of my knowledge, though, they never worked again, and whatever further secrets they contained were lost forever."

     "It sounds as though he stripped the mansion bare," said Lirenna, a little doubtfully. "Didn't Chilgrone have anything to say about this wholesale plunder?"

     "Chilgrone was so grateful to Tak for ridding him of Gannlow that he was happy for him to take whatever he wanted," replied Thomas. "And the truth was that he was old, too old to do much magic any more. All he wanted was a quiet, comfortable place to live out the rest of his life, and Tak gave him that. Tak took nothing of the rak's treasure, not even the reward he'd earned for his work on the 'diaries'. He considered that what he'd gained in knowledge and scope for further study was reward enough, and so Chilgrone was left happy and wealthy behind him. I presume he remained happy and wealthy for the rest of his days, but I can't say that for certain because Tak never saw nor heard from him again. Still, let's assume the best, shall we?"

     Thomas paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts. "He remained in Castle Nagra for some months, putting things back in order, making sure that everything was as it should be. He found that he had a new cook and caretaker, Trobo had hired a new couple when their predecessors had left to live with their son and daughter-in-law, but Trobo himself was just as he'd always been. He welcomed Tak back, helped him unpack, and then it was as though he'd never been away. Tak was more certain than ever that his houseman was no normal human being. He couldn't be, not with not a single additional grey hair or line on his face than on the first day he'd seen him, all those years before. He had to be some creature of Khalkedon, some kind of magically created being, and so Tak was careful not to give away any hint of what he'd been doing in the Heartlands or what he'd learned. Instead, when several weeks had passed and he was confident that everything was as it should be, he locked himself in the divinatory and contacted Barl Hobson using the Stone of Whispering..."