“More than likely, it teleported.” Keras knelt near the spot the dagger had been laying on the floor, turning his head toward Derek. “I take it the wards on this building are for keeping things out, not for keeping anything inside?”
“Right. It didn’t vanish instantly, though. That’s unusual.”
Keras stood up. “Probably was waiting for us to be distracted, so it could get a head start on us.”
“You’re saying it was intelligent?” I asked.
“Almost certainly. It was one of the few magical items in the box I didn’t recognize at all. Maybe it was dangerous enough that Wrynn didn’t want to tell me she had it, or maybe she just got it recently. Either way, your guesses about it are as good as mine.”
Patrick frowned. “Could it be Luck’s Touch?”
I hadn’t heard of that one. “What’s that?”
Keras answered. “Intelligent shape-shifting weapon, usually associated with legends of Aayara Haven, the Lady of Thieves. And yes, it’s plausible Wrynn could have had Luck’s Touch. She and Aayara don’t get along, but Luck’s Touch is notoriously fickle. If he wanted to get on Aayara’s nerves, working with Wrynn for a while would be one way to accomplish that.”
I nodded. “Okay. Any other possibilities?”
“There are numerous intelligent weapons out there. It could very easily have been one bound with a monster, like the ones I use,” Derek offered.
Patrick looked thoughtful. “Maybe it was the Midnight Star?”
Keras gave Patrick an inquisitive look. “Doubtful, that’s supposed to have three blades, sort of like a trident. Surprised you’ve even heard about that, or Luck’s Touch for that matter. Those are legends from my own homeland.”
“Ah, I like to study weapons and monsters in general. Stories of those go back to before the exodus to Kaldwyn.”
“Hrm. Good to know. Derek, any chance you know a Diviner that can track the destination of a teleportation spell?”
“Of course, but without something tied to the item, tracking it will be virtually impossible. A physical description is insufficient.”
I thought about that. “Would the aura from the weapon have seeped into the wood where it was lying?”
“No, not in just a few hours. If it’d been sitting there for weeks, maybe.”
“Beggin’ your pardon m’lords, but if it teleported, would that’ve left a trail?”
We all looked at Marissa, surprised that she’d interjected. She was usually quiet when Derek was involved in a conversation.
Derek frowned. “That…might work. I can ask. Let’s finish cataloguing the rest of this, then I’ll go find a Diviner. I’d rather know what we’re dealing with before anything else wanders off.”
Keras gestured at the remaining items. “Nothing too exciting here, I’m afraid.”
He lifted up the mirror first. “Another communication device. Works like the earrings, but with images rather than sound. I would have been more excited about it, but I have one of my own, and it doesn’t seem to work at all. I’ll try to get this to function, but my best guess is that the paired mirror is out of range.”
Keras set that aside and picked up one of the rings. It was silver with a design of a leaf, or maybe a feather. “Jumping ring. Motion— sorry, you’d call it transference magic. Fairly straightforward, it lets you jump much further.”
I looked at the ring with renewed interest. “Further? Does it trigger when you jump and add an additional burst of force, or do you trigger it manually somehow?”
“Not sure, never used this one, just saw Wrynn with it. I think you activate it manually, so I suppose that adds a bit of flexibility, but a little bit of a cost as well.”
I nodded at that. “Okay, thanks.”
He picked up the other ring, turned it over, and set it back down. This one was gold with a single blue gemstone. “Not sure about this one. We’ll have to have the Diviner look it over.”
Next, a necklace with a spiral-shaped translucent crystal. “This is easily the strongest item in the bunch. Surprised she left it in the box. It blocks most mind-affecting spells.” He smirked at Derek. “I can think of a few people who might need something like this.”
Derek folded his arms. “One time, Keras. It happened one time.”
Keras shrugged a single shoulder. “Well, if you don’t think you’ll need it.”
Derek leaned over and snatched the necklace out of Keras’ hand. “Fine. I’m borrowing it. We can talk about a trade later.”
“Thought so.” Keras laughed, picking up the last of the glowing items — the hairpin. “Ah, yeah, Wrynn loves these. I’m sure everyone’s heard stories about hairpins being used as emergency lockpicks? Well, that rarely works well in practice. Except if you have a magic hairpin.”
Now that was interesting, maybe even more than the necklace. I leaned a little closer. “Think it’d work on chests or doors in the tower?”
“Don’t know. I usually just break those. But since Katashi seemed upset about my habit, it may be worth trying this out. You want to borrow it?”
I nodded hastily. “You bet I do. Also, the jumping ring.”
He blinked. “Really?”
“Definitely. Mobility is one of my biggest weaknesses, especially compared to someone like you or Derek. I still wouldn’t be able to keep up with you, but I might slow you down a bit less.”
Keras handed over the ring and the pin.
“Thanks.”
My response was subdued, but inside, I was positively gleeful. Even if I was just getting to borrow them, I loved having new magical items to play with. I didn’t know if the hairpin would actually work when I needed it to, but I could already think of several rooms where the ring might have helped.
“Before I forget to ask, how do I actually use the hairpin?”
“Oh, just stick it inside the lock. If you touch the tumblers, it should force them to realign.”
Huh. That implied it had some kind of detection magic built in, otherwise it couldn’t know how the locks worked and how to realign them.
Fascinating.
I wanted to test that immediately, but I had a feeling Derek wouldn’t like me tinkering with his locks.
Instead, I slipped on the ring. “Anyone want to make sure I don’t fall off the roof?”
Patrick laughed. “Oh, I have to see this. Sera, Mara, you coming?”
We headed up to the roof, which was definitely the best place to practice untested transportation magic.
Definitely.
I managed to avoid knocking myself off the roof the first time I used the ring.
Not the second time, though.
“Oh, goddess! Levitate!” Patrick shouted.
…And I floated safely down to the ground.
My friends gazed over the edge, and I waved up at them sheepishly. “I’m fine, I’m fine.”
The amount that the ring pushes me is based on the amount of mana that I send into the ring. It’s probably converting gray mana into transference, as Keras mentioned, or possibly air. Maybe a combination of both.
Which means, if I use a little more from down here…
I jumped, then activated the ring, and flew back onto the roof.
My descent was slower than it should have been, even without Patrick’s intervention. Apparently, whoever built the ring was smart enough to realize that jumping high would result in falling from great heights.
Still, I appreciated Patrick’s quick thinking when I’d fallen. A fall wouldn’t have killed me either way — my sigils and ring of regeneration would have saved me — but it sure could have hurt.