ache to his heart. Eric had seemed impossibly healthy and as strong as any man could hope to be, yet he had died. In the chaotic world Will lived in, Erisa could die in an instant—like a candle flame in a strong wind.
And she’s probably going to, if the goddamn cat is right, he thought dourly. He doesn’t think I have much of a chance.
He still hadn’t told anyone about the Cath Bawlg’s warning. Keeping secrets from Selene and his mother wasn’t easy, but with so much going on it had been easier than usual. His grief over Eric’s death forestalled any deeper probing into his melancholy. Besides, the secret didn’t hurt anyone. They might as well have hope.
There was a chance, after all.
Which reminded him of another question. Rising to his feet, Will went outside to ask Arrogan a question. He activated the limnthal. “There’s two third-order wizards now.”
“You already told me she survived,” said Arrogan petulantly.
“She’s absorbing more turyn now. She can use magic.”
For once, his grandfather didn’t bother with sarcasm. “Congratulations are in order then.”
“There’s one last thing I need to do for her,” said Will.
The old man already knew what he meant. “The limnthal. I recorded instructions and hid them away.”
“Where?”
“In my workshop.”
Will frowned. “I’ve seen every inch of it. There’s no place you could have hidden it.”
The ring snickered. “It’s in the ethereal plane, the northwest corner of the room. I dug a hole there—on the other side. You’ll find a lockbox, but don’t try to open it with the usual unlocking spell.”
“Why not?”
“It isn’t locked. The lock is a tricky illusion. If you try to use a spell to unlock it, the whole thing will blow up in your face. Just ignore the illusion and open it with your hands. There’s a book inside. Ignore that. The instructions for the limnthal are on a folded piece of parchment underneath the book.”
“What’s in the book?”
“Things better forgotten.” After a long pause, the ring continued, “I know you’re going to look anyway, sooner or later. Make it later. There’s nothing there that will help you. Wait a few years and then look. You’ll understand better then.”
“Understand what?” asked Will in frustration.
“That it’s easier to destroy than to preserve, and that both of those are far easier than creation. Some magic should never be used.”
“Says the man who wiped out a generation of wizards.”
“And yet I never touched those spells,” said Arrogan rebuking him. “Neither did my teacher.”
“Aislinn.”
“I don’t think she kept the memory of those magics. Even before what happened to her, she was too smart for that.”
“Huh?”
“The first spell in the book must be used to read the rest. At the end, a key has to be used, otherwise the first spell wipes the knowledge from your mind. As far as I know, none of the keepers have ever chosen to retain their memory of the contents. We just remember the decision.”
“Who wrote the book?”
Arrogan chuckled. “I don’t remember.”
“You don’t make any sense,” complained Will.
“Just look at the notes on the limnthal that I left you. You can explore the book later when times aren’t so turbulent. The contents would take far too long for you to digest them in the limited time you have right now.”
“Will?” Erisa’s voice came from the interior of the house.
Will deactivated the limnthal. It was time to enjoy the honeyed oatcakes.
Chapter 55
Clegg said nothing, staring back at Will without any discernable expression. Not that Will considered himself a great authority on troll facial expressions. Trolls were utterly alien. They had only one gender and only one orifice, their mouths, which did double duty for both ingestion and excretion. Trolls were humanoid in that they had two arms, two legs, and a head, but the similarities didn’t extend much beyond that.
There was a bit of variability in their size and appearance, mainly because their grey skin varied in its texture from almost smooth to rough and knobby like the bark on an oak tree. Not only did the texture vary from troll to troll, but it varied from place to place on the same troll. From what Will had learned, the pattern of rough and smooth patches was a large part of the way that trolls identified each other—that and smell.
They stood nine feet tall on average, though some were closer to ten and others barely reached eight feet in height. Their frames varied from lanky to thick and heavy, but Arrogan had assured Will that even if they were