The Sceptre of Samnos

Vantarestin Part 8

     "Okay," said Shaun a few minutes later. "So we're going to try to find the Sceptre of Samnos. We have no idea where it is, so we have to find this Emerald Oracle, whatever that is, and ask it. Unfortunately, we have no idea where that is either, so we have to find somebody to ask. Have I got that right?" He and Matthew had resigned themselves to the inevitable. There was simply no denying the look of determination on Diana's face. It was a look that said that nothing and nobody was going to stop her, and woe betide anyone who tried.

     "Yes," said the cleric, still glowing with jubilation and pride. "That's about right. I don't suppose any of you wizards have ever heard of either the Sceptre or the Oracle?"

     "I've heard of the Oracle somewhere, but I can't remember where," said Thomas. "I seem to remember that it would truthfully and completely answer any question you asked it, but that it was guarded by all kind of traps and monsters so that only a resourceful and intelligent person could reach it."

     "Yes," agreed Lirenna, "I heard that too, and some of the stories say that it's on an island somewhere in the Western Sea.”

     “Where in the Western Sea?” asked Jerry. “It's quite large.” Lirenna could only shrug, though.

     "Quite large is right," said Thomas. "No-one knows how far west and south it goes. It's so full of monsters and sea dragons that no ship, not even the largest warship, dares leave sight of land. Merchant ships just travel up and down the coast. Any ship that goes out into deep water runs the risk of being sunk by the monsters."

     "How much do you bet that the island we want is right in the middle of it, hundreds of miles from land?" asked Shaun.

     "Very likely," agreed Lirenna with a rueful smile.

     "How do we find out?" asked Diana. "Someone somewhere must know its exact location. Zebulon mentioned sages. How do we find a good sage?"

     "Perhaps there's something here, in this library," said Matthew, looking around at all the books. "There must be the names and hometowns of a few good sages in there somewhere."

     "It would take months to sort all the way through all this," said Shaun, looking dismally at the crowded, dusty shelves.

     "So the sooner we start, the sooner we'll be finished," said Thomas eagerly.

     "We can't waste that much time," said Diana, however. "Zebulon said that the invasion could come at any time. We must find the Oracle and then the Sceptre quickly, as quickly as possible." She faced the three wizards, her eyes imploring them for answers. "You must have heard of a few sages during your time in the University. Who lives nearest to here?"

     They looked at each other for a moment. "Most sages have very narrow areas of expertise," said Thomas. "One may be an expert on one subject, such as ringlore or trogology, and yet be almost totally ignorant on almost every other subject. Broad subject sages, the kind who might have the information we want, are very rare. Offhand, I can think of only three. Malefactos, who's retired to the University, Boswell of Bluevale in the kingdom of Mestopia, nearly two thousand miles away, and Llania of Everdeen, in the kingdom of Karpen on the island continent of Garon. It would probably take longer to reach any of them than to search all through this library for the name of someone I've missed. There's also the library of Pargonn, in the middle of the Great Lake. We could try there if the Fellowship of the Golden Griffin allow it, and of course there's the University library itself."

     Lirenna and Jerry confirmed this, and added that they knew of no other person who might have the information they wanted. Undoubtedly other great sages existed, but they tended to be reclusive people, keeping to themselves and known only to each other and a very small circle of friends. "There must be someone else who knows!" cried Diana in frustration. "The location of something as useful as an Oracle that can answer any question you ask it must be known to someone! People must go to it now and then, to ask questions! Surely they would tell other people where it was! If for no other reason, they could sell the information! How can it possibly be that no-one knows?"