“I thought the same thing before,” Anders said. “There are varying levels of security inside the prison. They increase the deeper you go. The magic on each level senses the intent of whoever accesses it. In this case, Nadir accessed the first level and the magic within granted him entry.”
“We keep the less dangerous criminals on this first level. How a fairnheir ended up here I’m not entirely sure. Those beasts are usually caged at least three floors down. The more logical reasoning for seeing one here would be that the magic guarding the floor saw you and Ivan as a threat and created a replica to chase you out. At any rate, the more severe the crime, the deeper the prisoner is held and the more secure the magic becomes,” Nadir explained.
“If the prison did create that hound to attack us, it should’ve disappeared once the magic found you innocent of your crime,” Anders continued. As they approached the area where Nadir had been held, Anders remembered the girl who’d stopped the creature, mid-attack, with magic. Anders could hardly use his senses to find Nadir, much less cast a spell strong enough to stop a fairnheir in midair. “Are we looking for that girl?” he asked, eyeing Nadir.
“What girl?” Maija asked.
“That woman,” Nadir corrected. “The one in the cell next to mine, yes. She’s Norfolk and might be our best resource for translating this diagram. She’s been down here for over a century, you know, but she doesn’t look it.”
As they approached the ancient woman’s cell, Anders could hear the slow rasp of her breathing. Slowing, he held his arm out, indicating for Maija to stay back. He and Nadir stepped into view of the Norfolk woman’s jail cell. He watched, still gripping Lazuran, as he knew his magic would be of little use to him here. Last time they’d met, the woman had saved him, but he didn’t trust someone with so much power who’d also been imprisoned here. Looking through the iron bars, Anders could see the small, childlike woman sitting on her hands in the corner of the sealed room. Lifting her head and shaking her stringy, blond hair from her piercing blue eyes, she stared back at Nadir and Anders.
“Hello there,” Nadir said. “My name is King Nadir. Not long ago I sat next to you in that cell there.” Anders followed Nadir’s finger as he pointed to the empty cell. Holding the small woman’s attention, he continued, “The state of our world is in chaos and we seek your help.”
The woman Anders had so easily mistaken for a child, rose on spindly legs. Anders tried to see her as a haggard old woman, but couldn’t; she hadn’t a single wrinkle on her gangly body. She appeared to be no more than ten years old, yet Nadir had told Anders that she’d been down there longer than he’d been alive, and Nadir was almost one hundred years old. Anders wondered if the Norfolk and elves were distantly related, due to the fact they both had extended lifespans and aged much more slowly than humans or dwarfs. The woman walked swiftly to the cell door. Anders stepped back, raising his sword defensively. He’d seen what kind of power she could wield even in this magically restrictive place.
Wrapping her hands around the iron bars that caged her in, the woman spoke with a lilting childlike voice, “And what might the King of Elves need me for? Has the death of his father left him with no allies up above?”
Anders saw Nadir twitch at the mention of his recently deceased father, “Don’t act like you know details about what’s happening above. I know you could hear when I learned the news of my father for the first time. We need your help translating a delicate document, one that could alter the course of the war.”
“Oh, but I do not pretend. I know that what you have is so important that as King, with your authority stripped and your reputation in question, you have no faith that your fellow Council members would allow you to carry out your plan,” she stopped, pressing her face against the cell door. Anders’ confidence that those bars were doing anything to keep her locked in began to slip.
Nadir shifted, holding the paper up to the cell bars. He showed her Anders’ drawing, “I didn’t come to play mind games. Can you tell us what this means?”
Anders watched as the woman’s youthful eyes left Nadir and to consider the paper he was holding. Taking her time to examine the diagram, she didn’t respond for several minutes.
Nadir asked again, shaking the paper impatiently, “Do you know what this means?”
She nodded slowly, “Of course I know what it means, child. I was the one who plotted this sequence out in the first place.”
Anders’ heart leapt and his mind raced with questions as to how this was possible, but before he could utter a word, Nadir responded, “Tell me how it works.”
She wagged her finger at him, “Not just yet. I want something in return for this information.”
“Name it. Name your price and whatever it is, I’ll get it for you. As long as I’ve the power, I’ll reward your knowledge,” Nadir said.
The childlike woman pulled away from the cell door and said, “Release me from this prison and I’ll tell you everything you need to know.”
Nadir stepped forward, but Anders caught him by the forearm, “How do you know she’s telling the truth?”
“Yeah,” Maija said, stepping into view. Anders shot a glance at her, but she ignored him and asked the woman, “How do we know you’re actually who you claim to be?”
The Norfolk woman folded her skinny arms across her chest and said, “It doesn’t matter who I claim to be, child. They both know I have power beyond their understanding and the King here has run out of options.”
Anders saw Maija’s expression sour at the response. She turned to Anders and Nadir, “Why should we trust her? She’s in prison. Obviously, she wasn’t a good person if she was locked up in here.”
“I was put in here,” Nadir said, giving her a questioning glance.
“Yeah, but that was different,” Anders said, defending Maija.
“Was it?” Nadir asked. “She was imprisoned by my father, as was I. She started out many levels down and, on good behavior, she’s been moved to the top floor. What’s that got to say about her character?”
“That just means she wants out and has the system figured out so she can shorten her sentence,” Anders argued.
“The system doesn’t let you switch floors unless you’re deserving,” Nadir said. “It’s an ancient magic that can judge a person’s character to determine if he or she is good or evil.”
“I don’t know,” Anders said, looking to the youthful elder. “Something about this doesn’t feel right.”
“Your senses are suppressed, that’s probably what you’re feeling,” Nadir said.
Anders brushed aside the suggestion and asked, “What did she mean when she said that you’re out of options?”
“She means I have to free her. It’s the only way we might be able to deplete Merglan’s strength enough to make him vulnerable. I can’t stay here in this city with the Council dictating my every move. You saw how the people reacted to the High Council’s decision; they’ve disowned me. I’ve lost control of my people. If we’re going to fight this war, I’ll have to leave Cedarbridge, possibly for good.”
“And she’s the only person we know who can teach us how the crystals are manipulated,” Anders said, realizing they’d been forced to make this move by the destructive political workings of the High Council.
“So, we’re actually going to break her out of here?” Maija asked.
Anders shrugged and Nadir nodded.
“Before we do, I’d like to know what crime she committed. I’d like to know who we’re dealing with,” Maija said.
“Smart girl,” the woman commented.
The pitch of her voice sent a chill down Anders’ spine. He didn’t like the way she kept speaking to them as if they were children. He knew she was much older than they were, but she didn’t appear so.
“Nadir is correct, I was captured and kept here by his father, King Asmond. It was years before Nadir was born, back when Asmond and Nadir’s mother were still together. In those days, the Order of Riders frequented Northland for my people’s notorious wisdom and tutelage. The Norfolk and riders were growing closer, forming alliances outside the elf’s control. Asmond saw us as a threat. It wasn’t until he discovered our involvement with the true form of magic that he named us heathens. The magic borne between a dragon and its bonded rider was how elves, humans and dwarfs were able to use this energy, but we Norfolk knew the dragon’s power could be harvested elsewhere.
“As one of the leaders in discovering the dragons’ true source of magic, I was on the brink of tapping its resources when Asmond learned of our studies. He and some of his riders wanted to keep this knowledge a secret from the world, so he came after us. Thinking he was doing Kartania justice by limiting those who could discover magic to only those who bonded with dragons, creatures so noble and beloved by elves, he locked me away deep in this magical prison. Here I am now and look at all the good his decision did the world. All of the greatest power is now held in the hands of a select few. Now a single rider has used his power to control the world and he seeks to turn dragons against the other races. If non-magical creatures wish to stop the storm that’s brewing, they’ll need the secrets of my research to defend themselves.”
