on the table in front of him.
‘Perhaps we did,’ he said. The High Loremaster looked at the scrolls with something like awe.
‘Is this what I think it is?’
‘I’m not a fortune teller so I don’t know,’ Teclis said. ‘I can decipher enough to see that it contains knowledge that might be important. That is why I have brought it to you. I know of your interest in these things.’
An expression of wonder passed over the High Loremaster’s face. It reminded Teclis of the expression he had seen in his father’s when the old prince had looked at Sunfang. Instantly he began to flip through the copies Teclis had made.
‘You know what it is?’ Teclis asked after a few minutes had passed.
‘It is astronomical and astrological,’ said the High Loremaster. ‘It is written in a very compressed form of their hieroglyphic script. You were right to bring this to me. I think that your suspicions about its importance are correct. It is, among other things, an astrological calculation of the orbits of certain planets and moons and the way they are connected to the fluctuations in the cycles of the polar warp gates.’
Teclis was amazed that Morelian had been able to divine so much from such a cursory examination. Of course, this was his specialist field of knowledge. It galled Teclis to think that there was so much he did not know. This just reminded him of that fact. ‘Is that all it says?’
‘That is as much as I can make out in this short period of time,’ the High Loremaster said. ‘And I may not be correct about that. I am guessing as to the interpretation of quite a lot of the things inscribed. If you leave this with me I can probably have it translated fully in a few hours. There is something hidden here, I feel sure of it, something of great mystical significance.’
Teclis felt a reluctance to let the scrolls out of his sight, particularly if there was a mystical secret connected with them. He did not like the idea that someone other than himself would discover this hidden truth. He was fighting with his own personal daemons here, he knew. There was nothing he could do with the texts himself unless he was prepared to spend several decades improving his mastery of the slann language, and he did not have time for that.
‘Of course, you may have them,’ Teclis said. ‘I am grateful for any help you can give me in this matter. I have been both troubled and puzzled by the little I have been able to deduce about what they contain.’
‘It may be of the greatest importance to all of us,’ said the High Loremaster. ‘I suspect it concerns the times we now live in. I also suspect that the fact that you found it at this time is no coincidence. All things are connected, and mystical objects are more connected than anything else.’
Teclis had heard such things said before but he was not entirely sure that he believed them. Wizards tended to enjoy the benefits of exceptional hindsight, and pointing out the connections between things and events afterwards was much easier than spotting them at any given time.
‘I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about,’ Teclis said.
‘You should go and speak to Belthania,’ the High Loremaster said. ‘I know she wants to talk to you and she will be able to tell you more about what is going on than I can.’
Teclis felt certain that this was not the case, but he could also see that the High Loremaster was like a child with a new toy. He was desperate to get to work at once and Teclis understood the benefits of being able to harness that enthusiasm.
‘I shall see to it at once,’ he said.
‘That would probably be for the best,’ said the High Loremaster. He was already focused on the scrolls in front of him and hurriedly scribbling down notes about its contents. Teclis knew that he had already been dismissed from the master of his order’s mind.
Teclis entered the chambers of Belthania. Warriors in the livery of the archmage guarded a doorway that was carved from a sliver of the ivory fang of some great sea monster.
Why had she summoned him? They had met many times at social functions in Lothern and when he was studying at the tower, but he would not have said they were close. Perhaps there was some research she wanted to discuss with him.
A