I wasn’t exactly sure that was true, but I wasn’t going to disagree with arguments that supported taking me along. “Okay, but you just said the spire was sealed. How are we getting in?”
Derek shook his head. “We’ll probably have to wait. Keras thinks he might know an alternate way in, but he’s going to have to get in contact with a friend. Use this time to prepare as heavily as you can, but be ready to go any day. If that spire opens up, I want to be able to jump in there within hours. I’ll be working to have a full team ready to go.”
“Okay. As for a team, I’d like to take—”
Derek waved a hand. “No other novices.” He raised both hands defensively to ward off the ensuing glares from my classmates. “It’s nothing personal, but even bringing one Carnelian along for something like this is a tremendous risk. We’re effectively losing two slots to bring Corin, because someone is going to have to protect him full-time. We’re going to take a balanced team of veterans, all Citrine or higher. This is not negotiable.”
Sera looked like she wanted to argue, but when she opened up her mouth, no words escaped. She settled with a frown.
Patrick spoke where she couldn’t, though. “Isn’t it more important to bring people you can trust in there? You don’t know who might be working with the bad guys.”
Derek shrugged a shoulder. “I’ve been climbing for years, Patrick. I know a lot of other climbers better than I know any of you. I can put a good group together. If it’s any consolation, I’ll probably be bringing Teft, and you know him.”
There was a round of confused blinking.
Patrick replied first. “Teft? Seriously? You think that makes us more comfortable? That guy is a jerk.”
I turned to Patrick. “No, it makes sense. I might not like his personality, but he’s already involved, and we can be reasonably confident he’s wasn’t working with Orden. If he was, she would have brought him into the spire with us. He’s Citrine-level, and he’s got an excellent attunement for fighting.” I paused. “Moreover, someone needs to sign the paperwork for me to be able to get back in the spire.”
“I hadn’t even considered that,” Derek admitted. “You’re right, a student isn’t getting in there without a teacher to escort them. Even then, going in with a full group of climbers is going to look a little strange, but we can probably make it work.”
I nodded. “So, that’s you, me, maybe Teft… I assume Keras?”
“I’ll be there. I intend to see this through, and I’m supposed to be watching over you.” Keras gestured at his eyes, then at me. If that was supposed to feel reassuring, it certainly didn’t.
“I will most likely ask Sheridan, but it depends on how they behave during the meeting tomorrow. I’m reasonably confident they weren’t working with Elora when I investigated months ago, but that could have changed. I’ll pry a bit, see if I can pull any secrets loose.”
“You could ask Professor Meltlake instead of Teft!” Patrick grinned at his own idea. “She’d be amazing!”
Derek rolled his eyes. “No, I will not be bringing Aunt Meltlake with me into the tower. Powerful or not, I’d never be able to stand her lecturing.”
“Aunt Meltlake?” Patrick sounded as confused as I felt.
“She’s my mother’s half-sister, and a Hartigan by birth. And she’s just as irritating as any member of my mother’s family, I assure you.”
Huh. I suppose that made a degree of sense, given House Hartigan’s reputation for powerful offensive magic in general.
Maybe I’d change my own name at some point, if I did something as amazing as evaporating a lake in a duel.
“Regardless,” Derek continued, “Aunt Meltlake is well past her prime. I’d prefer to bring people who have been in the tower recently. I have a list of names to check with. I expect to have a team assembled within a week or two, just to be on standby. The real problem is getting a Diviner with spells that can track people inside the spire, but I’ll get that sorted out eventually.” He turned to me. “Depending on how high Tristan is in there, we could be inside for weeks. You should start putting together equipment with that in mind.”
I nodded. “I don’t suppose you have extra magical items you could loan me for the trip, given how dangerous this could be?”
Derek seemed to consider that. “I’ll see what I can put together. My resources aren’t what they once were. You might have better luck with Keras.”
Keras shook his head. “I tend to travel light. Most items don’t work very well for me. I have a cache of equipment I’ve picked up from my various adventures, but it’s in Caelford.”
“Why won’t items work fer you?” Marissa sounded curious, and she was watching Keras intently.
“It has to do with my aura, or I suppose you’d call it a shroud. It’s not gray mana like yours, and it has a tendency to interfere with items. Only powerful ones, like my sword and mask or the Jaden Box…” He paused, blinking. “Hey, Corin. How full was the box when you got it?”
I tilted my head to the side. “Full?”
Keras grinned. “If you’re lucky, we might not have as much of a shortage as I thought. Toss me the box?”
I didn’t have it on me. “Hold on, I’ll go get it.”
I headed upstairs, bringing the box back down. I was hesitant to hand it to Keras — he clearly wanted it for his own reasons — but he could have taken it from me by force at any time if he wanted to.
I handed it to him.
“This should be fun. I need to make some space.”
He went and sat down on the floor in the middle of the room, setting the box down in front of him. “Retrieve: All Items.”
A moment later, Keras was surrounded by…stuff.
All sorts of stuff.
At a glance, I saw dozens of weapons, at least two full suits of armor, several bags of various sizes, and dozens of bottles and vials. There must have been hundreds of pounds of equipment in total.
“Oh, Wrynn, you beautiful thing.” Keras lifted up a potion filled with red fluid and kissed the side of it, then opened the top of the box and put the potion down inside. It didn’t fit, completely, but… “Store Superior Healing Potion.”
The potion vanished.
I broke down in laughter, so hard I nearly cried.
I had taken a magic box filled with items into the tower, and I’d never even tried to get them out. I hadn’t even checked.
True, I probably wouldn’t have known there was a way to simply empty everything out — that wasn’t in the documentation — but checking for a healing potion? That wasn’t out of the question.
I might have been able to save Vera without making a magic rock, or maybe found a better solution to any number of other situations.
I turned to Keras. “That kind of potion wouldn’t help Sera, would it?”
He shook his head. “No, it’s just for wounds. Don’t think it would do anything for the kind of mana scarring she has.”
I nodded. I expected that, but it was good to check. His magic was functionally distinct from what I was used to, so I didn’t want to assume that “healing potion” meant the same thing to him that it did to me.
Keras lifted up a glimmering dagger etched with runes, turning it over in his hands with genuine fondness. “I remember you.” He gingerly put the hilt into the box. “Store: Silverbrand.”