“On another note, I came by to ask you about your book,” I said suddenly.
Marc squinted at me. “You say that as if you have some purpose.”
I smiled. “I do. I think I’ve figured something out.” Over the past few years, Marc and I had begun having detailed discussions regarding the nature of magic. I had shared most of my observations about the workings of magic, wards, runes, enchantments and how they relate to language and thought. Marc for his part had already had quite a bit of experience with magic while he was occupied by his goddess, or rather, his ex-goddess. His initial search to find a method for defeating the gods had been futile, but during the course of our talks he had decided to compile our observations into a tome; a guide to those who might come after us someday, curious about the nature of magic.
I had scoffed at the idea in the beginning, but after reading the first few chapters and comparing them to what I had learned via other means, it was easy to tell that he had something valuable to offer. The distillation of our hard won experience in plain language might not be necessary to us, but someday it would be invaluable to others.
“Pray tell,” he prompted.
“Before the attack, I helped your father by giving King Nicholas a tour of the World Road, and while we were there he asked a number of questions. While I was answering one of them I had a flash of insight.”
“What were you discussing?” he asked.
“Enchantments, more specifically, the reasons why they don’t require a constant input of energy,” I said leaning forward intently.
“In the past you stated that the rune structure was balanced properly to contain the magic without loss.”
I nodded. “I did, but as I was restating it for Nicholas, I saw it from a different angle. Magic works in four dimensions, the three of space and one of time, right?”
“Yeah, but…”
“No. Listen,” I interrupted. “The geometry of the runes is set precisely to isolate the magic with respect to the fourth dimension. While it may involve some constraints, for practical reasons, in regard to the three spatial dimensions… it is the fourth dimension, time, that the structure controls most particularly.”
My friend was one of the most intelligent men I had ever known, but even his brows furrowed after the mouthful I had just regurgitated at him. “Wait, what?” he said articulately.
I reached into the special bag at my waist and drew out my staff. It was one of the earliest enchantments I had done, and in many ways one of the simplest. “Alright, we talked about this one before,” I began, “but the staff has an enchantment built along the wood called a ‘rune channel’.”
He waved his hand at me, “I remember… what about it?”
“The rune channel has a structure that allows magic to be focused along its length, for purposes we have discussed before. Because of that, the runes are built into a structure that resembles a hollow tube, which constrains the magic along two physical or spatial dimensions, right?”
He gave me a quick nod.
“But the structure does more than that,” I added. “It also controls the magic completely with regard to the fourth dimension, time.”
“No it doesn’t,” Marc argued. “Once you channel a line of focused power through that staff it strikes something and dissipates. It doesn’t stick around forever.”
“Touché,” I replied, “but you miss the point. The magic that is contained within the staff’s runes does not dissipate. The aythar that is channeled along the length of the channel, also temporarily becomes immobile along the time axis, until it interacts with something else.”
Marc looked doubtful.
“Perhaps the staff was a bad example,” I admitted. “But it occurred to me because of the shiggreth. In the past they have proven almost immune to all normal magic, except for magic that had been channeled through something like my staff. Now I understand why… because that magic is temporarily immobile along the axis of time.”
“Give me a different metaphor,” said Marc.
I thought for a moment. “Ah!” I exclaimed at last, “The stasis enchantment!”
“The one that kept Moira alive for over a thousand years?” he answered.
“Yes. In the case of the stasis enchantment, the magic is not simply being isolated along the time axis to preserve a physical effect in three spatial dimensions; the enchantment itself is built entirely to exploit that effect upon a set area. In that case, it was built so that an area the size of a cradle was entirely within a space quarantined from normal time,” I explained. “Normal enchantments do the same thing all the time; they just don’t affect the time axis for anything except themselves.”
Marc’s face lit up as he caught on.
“We can do the same for you,” I added.
“What?”
“I’m starting to understand a lot more. You heard about Walter right? He wasn’t just wounded, Marc. He was dead. Now granted, he was just barely dead, and his spirit was still there, but even so, I was able to repair his body and hold him there until he reconnected with it. There may be a way to do something similar for you.” There was a desperate fervor to my words.
“What does that have to do with the stasis enchantment?” Marc asked.
“I can create one for you… to stop your decline long enough for me to figure out how to repair whatever is causing it.”
He laughed, “So you want to store me, like salt pork, with the intention of reviving me later?”
“Well I wouldn’t have chosen those words exactly, but… yes,” I admitted.
The look in his eyes was anything but humorous, despite the tone of his words. Marc stepped close and put his arms around me again. “I’m sorry brother, but no.”
Tears stood out in my eyes, though I have no idea how they appeared so quickly. “Why!?” I demanded. I refused to hug him back.
Pushing me out to arm’s length, he studied me carefully. “My illness isn’t a matter of a damaged body or a disconnected spirit. The very wellspring of my life is dwindling, like the atrophied muscles on an old man. There’s no way to fix that, at least not with what you have told me about so far.”
Rationally I agreed with him, but I still held hope that I might figure out a method later. “It’s as if you’re trying to die.”
“I’m tired Mordecai, and nothing has really changed since our promise all those years ago. Now that matters are well and truly out of our hands, I would rather accept it gracefully,” he said solemnly.
“I wonder how Marissa would feel about this…” I asked aloud. “Perhaps we should include her in this discussion.”
“I wonder how you’d like a split lip and a broken nose,” Marc answered pointedly. It was an empty threat of course, given my shields, but his voice was angry.
The fight drained out of me suddenly and I returned his hug at last. “I hate you sometimes,” I told him.
I sensed his grin even though his head was over my shoulder, “I hate you too, brother.” Both of us remembered the conclusion of a fight long ago between Penny and me, when we had all admitted our hate/love for one another. After a moment he let go of me and we stepped apart. “I have one final question for you though,” he said.
“What’s that?” I asked curious.
“Is there anything I can do for you? Anything at all…,” his tone was sincere. “We’re leaving in less than a week so I want to make sure. If there is anything you need, that I can provide, tell me now.”
I fought to maintain my composure as I smiled. “You’re an idiot. I’m a Count now, and a wizard, I have everything a man could want… a home, children, Penny. I’m fine. The only thing I’d prefer is for you to stick around.”