Frost and Snow

Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty.

The next seal was found in some old ruins; it had been a temple of magic but the stories said that an explosion had occurred some day and left the place unusable. We were close and still traveling over plains; it was easy to see the old stones on a hill a few miles away.

I had the reins in my own hands again. Lord Fennin and Valeria had taken turns in healing my arm before it could get infected; there was still a wound and it still hurt, but the cut was no longer as deep as it had been and it had stopped bleeding. I was lucky that the curse had not completely faded yet, otherwise I would have been in much more trouble.

After the ambush Valeria had slowly recovered and now she was sitting in the back, reading her book on modern day sealing magic again as if nothing had happened. She was no longer pale and did not shiver. Lord Fennin said that it had to do with being exposed to large amount of magic in a short period of time; first a Mage would be drained of power, but after that it would return quickly and sometimes make the Mage even a bit stronger.

Nevertheless, Valeria did not want to test that out and decided to preserve most of her power for the things that were really necessary; like destroying the seal that was bound to the ruins on the top of this hill.

“Thank Mercy this one is easier to find than the first one.” Asalie said as the horses struggled to pull the cart up on the hill. “Unlike that cave this one is in the category of ‘put it in an obvious place and they will not notice it’.”

“That is good, right?” I asked her. “The less time we spend looking for these things the better.”

“You have a point there. But what I mean is… if it is easy to find, it will be harder to break. This seal will not be as easy to destroy as the first one.” She turned to Valeria and looked over her shoulder at the book the Mage was reading.

“Do not worry.” Valeria smiled. “I know more about how these things work now. It should go better.”

“And you do not get too confident.” Lord Fennin steered his horse to ride closer to the cart. “This is old magic you are dealing with; always expect the unexpected or you will regret it.”

“Of course,” Valeria nodded at her old mentor and closer the book – we were almost there now and she carefully put it away in her own chest. “I am a quick learner though, and not ignorant. I know this is old magic and I know the risks – I have spend days trying to unravel the secrets of a book on old sealing magic, I know what we are dealing with.”

“If you say so, I believe you. You were always my brightest student, Valeria.” The Lord halted his horse and slid off of the saddle; we had arrived at the ruins.

There was nothing to tie the horses to, so we just left them standing while we researched the ruins. Not much remained of the original structure, though I thought to recognize some of the same architecture from the Yellow City Library. If the stories were telling the truth, they might be from around the same time period. If old magic had been practiced at these ruins, it would make a perfect location for a seal.

The seal self was as easy to find as the location, as soon as Valeria set a step upon the stone floor of the ruins magical lines appeared on the walls. As far as I could see they followed the same pattern as the cave seal, but I could have had that wrong. Valeria’s interest was caught immediately and she stepped closer to examine the magical patterns, she nodded and said things to herself that I could not hear.