from the wizards of the Arcanum. Most never spoke at all while casting. And Master Greyth Shalinor had sometimes snapped his fingers or just performed an artistic flourish of his fingers. Surely he wouldn't find himself chained long inside this cell. The manacles would probably melt away into slithering snakes. How did he do it?
Her mind drifted back to the time when she'd tried to leave the palace and help Tael after his bloody encounter with the assassin. She'd learned a bit of the rules of magic from Master Vhelan, but still not enough to satisfy all her questions. If only she'd pressed Master Vhelan during their journey south to Karth, then maybe she'd possess additional abilities to protect herself and Tael.
The coldness of the cell crept into her shivering body, and she found an ache developing in her arms and shoulders from being stretched out by the iron manacles. This was torture and she refused to be another victim of this Lord Oberon and his witch. She remembered back to the times she had cast the spell of light illumination in the Hakkadian chamber. There in her mind's eye it was clear: the picture of her hands moving in the pattern for generating light. She played it over and over again in her mind until everything was exact. While she played the movements in her mind, she hummed the sound of the chanting until her mind picked up the words and she heard them vividly.
The sound was perfect, and she found an idea had crept into her mind. What if she brought the chanting and the hand movements together in her visualizing? Excited at the prospect of success, she split her mind into two parts, one part chanting the words needed to summon light, and the other part flourished her fingers in the pattern needed for the spell.
Darkness still possessed the cell. But she refused to be disappointed, and tried both again, this time making sure the timing of performing both the chanting and the hand movements were perfectly matched like how she'd done before when unfettered with a gag and manacles.
This time it worked! As light filled the filthy cell, she tried to cheer but the gag over her mouth made a moaning sound. The brilliance from the spell was almost blinding. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she felt the Ring of Galdora warm against her finger, and a heat poured up her arm and purged the cold from her body. Her mind cleared from the light and the warmth filling her body, giving a sharp focus to her thinking. Now how would she escape from the manacles clamped tightly around her wrists?
She shook the irons and noticed that it was held by a basic mechanism without even a lock. The harder she shook the manacles, the more the pin moved. But it was clasped in place by another smaller pin that kept the larger pin from sliding out. If she could cast the spell to move objects, she could move the smaller pin out of place, and do the same with the larger one. And she would be free. At least free of the manacles.
It took her about ten minutes to visualize the hand movements and sync with the chanting needed to cast the spell. She practiced it on a rock on the floor, and after a few times was able to gain the precision necessary to move the pins out of the manacles, and soon they clinked and clattered on the stone floor. She freed herself from the iron and massaged the bruised skin where the manacles had pinched her wrists. Escaping this place unscathed would be difficult, and she still had to find Tael. Assuming the witch hadn't tortured him to death...
The lock mechanism melted easily under the fiery heat of her spell, the same spell she'd used to boil the blood of those soldiers. But before she left her cell, she decided it was important to memorize and master the ability to cast all the spells that she knew without needing to chant or move her hands. So she stood off to the side, dimmed the light in the room to prevent any patrolling guards from discovering her, and closed her eyes to practice the visualizations.
Her mind drifted back to the time when she'd tried to leave the palace and help Tael after his bloody encounter with the assassin. She'd learned a bit of the rules of magic from Master Vhelan, but still not enough to satisfy all her questions. If only she'd pressed Master Vhelan during their journey south to Karth, then maybe she'd possess additional abilities to protect herself and Tael.
The coldness of the cell crept into her shivering body, and she found an ache developing in her arms and shoulders from being stretched out by the iron manacles. This was torture and she refused to be another victim of this Lord Oberon and his witch. She remembered back to the times she had cast the spell of light illumination in the Hakkadian chamber. There in her mind's eye it was clear: the picture of her hands moving in the pattern for generating light. She played it over and over again in her mind until everything was exact. While she played the movements in her mind, she hummed the sound of the chanting until her mind picked up the words and she heard them vividly.
The sound was perfect, and she found an idea had crept into her mind. What if she brought the chanting and the hand movements together in her visualizing? Excited at the prospect of success, she split her mind into two parts, one part chanting the words needed to summon light, and the other part flourished her fingers in the pattern needed for the spell.
Darkness still possessed the cell. But she refused to be disappointed, and tried both again, this time making sure the timing of performing both the chanting and the hand movements were perfectly matched like how she'd done before when unfettered with a gag and manacles.
This time it worked! As light filled the filthy cell, she tried to cheer but the gag over her mouth made a moaning sound. The brilliance from the spell was almost blinding. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she felt the Ring of Galdora warm against her finger, and a heat poured up her arm and purged the cold from her body. Her mind cleared from the light and the warmth filling her body, giving a sharp focus to her thinking. Now how would she escape from the manacles clamped tightly around her wrists?
She shook the irons and noticed that it was held by a basic mechanism without even a lock. The harder she shook the manacles, the more the pin moved. But it was clasped in place by another smaller pin that kept the larger pin from sliding out. If she could cast the spell to move objects, she could move the smaller pin out of place, and do the same with the larger one. And she would be free. At least free of the manacles.
It took her about ten minutes to visualize the hand movements and sync with the chanting needed to cast the spell. She practiced it on a rock on the floor, and after a few times was able to gain the precision necessary to move the pins out of the manacles, and soon they clinked and clattered on the stone floor. She freed herself from the iron and massaged the bruised skin where the manacles had pinched her wrists. Escaping this place unscathed would be difficult, and she still had to find Tael. Assuming the witch hadn't tortured him to death...
The lock mechanism melted easily under the fiery heat of her spell, the same spell she'd used to boil the blood of those soldiers. But before she left her cell, she decided it was important to memorize and master the ability to cast all the spells that she knew without needing to chant or move her hands. So she stood off to the side, dimmed the light in the room to prevent any patrolling guards from discovering her, and closed her eyes to practice the visualizations.
Similar Books
