The Sceptre of Samnos

Ilandia Part 5

     The three wizards and Diana met back at the inn at nightfall, and went to the common room to wait for Shaun and Matthew. "Did you find anything?" Lirenna asked Thomas.

     "No, nothing," he replied with a weary sigh. "No mention anywhere of either the Oracle or the Sceptre. There were only a few hundred books in the whole library and most of them were histories and biographies, as are most of the books in the world. I did find something, though. A history of Fort Battleaxe from the start of the first Shadowwar, just over a hundred years ago, until a couple of years ago when it was written. Near the end of it, it mentions that Zebulon entered Ilandia several times, asking people if they knew anything about the Oracle. That was in 2087, just before he set off to find the Eye of Millandar. It also notes that on one such journey he visited Andor."

     "So he also thought that Allis might know where it was," said Jerry. "We must be on the right track."

     "Not necessarily," said Thomas. "There's still no way of knowing whether she could give him the information. She might still be a dead end. Don't forget that there was no mention of the Oracle's location in his journal. If he had learned its location from the Mad Woman, wouldn't he have written it down there?"

     "Perhaps he wanted to, but couldn't," suggested Lirenna. "If the Oracle wants to remain as secret as possible, it might have prevented him from setting the information down anywhere."

     "This is all useless speculation," said Diana. "We won't know one way or the other until we find the Mad Woman and ask her ourselves."

     "Yeah," said Jerry, "But it's still a hopeful sign that Zebulon thought she could help. Hey, you'll never guess what we found in the museum..." They chatted on for several more minutes, while Diana looked fretfully out the window. When the bell rang, calling them for dinner, and her brothers still hadn't returned, she began to get worried. They've probably found a tavern and are drinking themselves silly, she thought. If they think I'm going to demean my Lady's powers by curing their hangovers, they've got another thing coming!

     The others noticed her fidgeting and looking repeatedly at the door all through the meal, and made various half serious suggestions about what might be keeping them, some of which made her laugh nervously, but in truth, they were also getting a little worried. Thomas, in particular, who had grown up in Ilandia, knew the kind of trouble they could easily have gotten themselves into, but he said nothing for fear of worrying her further.

     When they'd nearly finished eating, a city guardsman entered the room, stood in the doorway searching the faces of the diners, and then came marching in their direction. "Are you Diana Winterwell, Thomas Gown, Lirenna Daliris and Geremy Blumintop, the four people who entered this city with Shaun and Matthew Winterwell?" It was a purely rhetorical question. The number of shae folk in the city could be counted on the fingers of two hands, and there were even fewer nomes.

     "Yes," said Diana in alarm. "Where are they? Are they all right?"

     "They're fine," said the guardsman. "I've been sent to take you to them. Will you come with me please?"

☆☆☆

     Shaun and Matthew were shown into an interrogation room by a young guardsman. Already in the room, sitting behind a desk, was a Major of the city guard, and standing behind him was a priest of Samnos, wearing Sergeants stripes on his crimson robes. "Good evening," said the Major. "My name is Major Dessin, and this is Vasta, the regimental chaplain. We need your permission for him to use the power of Samnos on you for this interview. You are within your rights to refuse, but if you do it will, quite naturally, lead us to seriously doubt the truth of anything you say to us, which could be bad for you. Do you understand?"