in the curl of her upper arm. Arda spoke, as Mordak seemed to be entranced. “He is looking at the lines of power; he believes a Valharri tried to locate the sword by using lines of power of earth magic. Gideon recognized these two. They were senior Tauri and grandmasters. Mordak was one of the Tauri that had convinced him to go to Tyl academy back during the last harvest festival in Andrim.” As a member of the earth Giant race, he was both tall and broad of body, and he carried a staff of golden wood. Since then, Gideon had a few classes with both of these senior Tauri.
“I had placed wards that you and others had instructed me about,” Gideon said, looking at Ragan and Glade.
“Unfortunately, Gideon, you did not anticipate that someone might try to locate the Sword through other means,” Ragan interjected. “But someone here at Tyl did.”
“After you left, Mordak and I placed identifying tethers onto your warding spells,” Arda said, “as a precaution, just in case such an attempt was made.”
Gideon looked around and noticed that a notebook he had borrowed from a friend and classmate, which he had placed in his closet, was also missing. He mentioned this to the others, as Mordak came out of his spellweavings reverie.
“I was correct. Someone was able to locate the general position of the Sword of Order,” Mordak stated. “I suggest we send it to the sequestered facility of the White Council. After all, we cannot have dark forces trying to land on Tyl to look into the situation.”
There was a knock at the door and, as Ragan opened it, a fellow student, one of Gideon’s classmates, lumbered in. He was another earth Giant and stood perhaps twelve feet tall. He bowed to the Tauri. “Masters...I am just here to return a notebook I lent to Finelen. He might not have finished with it,” his deep voice rumbled.
“So, you disturbed my wards, Rektar...to get the notebook?”
“I realized I needed my notes to continue to craft my staff project. I had gotten somewhat behind, and you had not returned yet, and my completed staff is shortly due.”
“I see, Rektar. I ended up staying away a little longer than I originally thought,” Gideon replied.
“It may be that Rektar’s presence influenced the Valharri from attempting anything further, since Tyl is not a place where they hold sway,” Mordak suggested.
“You may be right; if they were using earth weaves to locate the Sword, then they likely sensed Rektar’s strong earth presence nearby and discontinued the attempts, to avoid being caught by one of us,” Arda stated.
“But my sword was moved as well,” Gideon said.
“Oh...I looked at it and, when I touched it to sense the blade, it moved after a few moments,” Rektar said. “It was then that the wards discharged and, if my resistance had not been not as good as it is, I would have been affected for more than a few seconds by your paralysis spellweave and protective glyphs. I walked away injured and with my notebook before others arrived.” Rektar paused. “It’s one of the ‘great swords’ then for a Valharri to be interested in it?”
“I suppose it is in a manner of speaking,” Gideon replied.
“You need not speak of this to others for now, Rektar,” Arda said with authority.
“We still have business with Finelen. You may speak with him later, Rektar,” Ragan said. Rektar bowed again and left the room.”
“It’s probably a good idea to let the White Council hold the Sword for now, as someone may identify it,” Glade said. “Rektar might think it is one of Lord Talmor’s or one of the other ancient Alor’s craftings.”
“If he does for now, let him believe so,” Mordak said. “I know his family. He is a good lad and will not talk about his small mishap.”
“All right, let the White Council hold it if that will be safer,” Gideon said. “I would rather not have it detected and me with it.” Gideon realized it was too soon to carry or use the Sword of Order openly. If he did so, it would probably attract the interest of someone who might accidentally or inadvertently expose his identity.
The others nodded and then began preparations. Lady Arda respectfully took the Sword of Order, producing a sheath of concealing wood creating it from her staff. After saying good-byes to the masters and his friend Glade Gilding, Gideon Finelen Lith-Gilad unpacked. He had classes to attend in only a few days and, now, with this problem solved, he could continue his lessons and begin preparations for his own multifunction journeyman staff of power without much interruption. He still had to locate, borrow, or purchase some magical essence containing material components to enrich the final spellweaving, and that would take up some of his time.
Chapter Eight
A FIELD TRIP
Gideon enjoyed when his class went on field trips. They were usually to some ancient site that had spiritual or mystical significance. Some of the trips were optional, and this particular one was too, but he had heard about it from Ragan and he was going to be one of the instructors taking those who wanted to go. The field trip was one of the more dangerous ones, as well. Today, they were going to the Vale of Crystal. First they would travel to a border town near the Vale. Gideon learned from his friend the earth giant Rektar that the Vale was actually an extensive area. Only a few groups would be going, and they would stay in groups of four or five and look at different areas. The groups would be required to make class presentations later on the areas they visited.
Gideon was close to journeyman adept status, now; he had perhaps two months or so and he would graduate. Among his remaining tasks, he still had to finish two imbued projects, and he chose to enchant a staff and a ring. He had already finished crafting and constructing other miscellaneous magic devices, but the devices he was starting would be multifunctional. He was also happy about the fact that one of his distant cousins in the Gilad family whom he had met once before would be transporting a portion of his class in his skyship, the Wayfarer, to the edge of the Vale of Crystal.
Gideon had packed a satchel of clothes and another of books to read, since the round trip between the Vale of Crystal and Tyl University would take several days. The Wayfarer was docked at the University’s private skyship dock. Those going on the trip were given a time to board, and Gideon decided to go a little early so he could talk with his distant cousin, Captain Ross.
As he was climbing onto the docking platform, he looked at all the skyships, as he continued to move toward the Wayfarer’s dock. Many of the masters had their own skyships for travel or just to spend the day away from the university. In movement, many of the skyships reminded Gideon of zeppelin airships from an earlier century on Earth. Others he had been on were faster moving, more like jets back on Earth. Some were huge warships like the Talanadil with many weapon types, including cannons that discharged powerful imbued energies almost like shooting lightning bolts, combined with fiery or icy explosive forces, depending upon the particular type. Those cannons were capable of destroying thick stone walls in a single blast. Some skyships were capable of carrying several squadrons of flying creatures like the Griffons of the Order to which he belonged.
The Wayfarer was a cross between a cargo and passenger skyship and a warship. Captain Victor Ross wanted it that way and had the ship designed to meet his specifications. Over time, Gideon had occasionally written to his cousin. In a return letter, Victor even wanted to hear about Gideon’s recent visit to Earth, a place where he too had been hidden for a time. One of Gideon’s main reasons for coming early was to talk with Victor.
As he asked permission to come on board the Wayfarer, the first officer Fiona greeted him; she was a capable and very pretty redheaded lady and part Elven. She took him below and, after