Resurrected as a Drow 3 Chapter 4

My heart sank as the gates remained closed, and dread filled me at the thought that I’d answered wrong and I’d never be a wizard.

But my fears were quickly assuaged as the wide gates embedded with crystals silently slid open, and I snapped my head around to Nodrin, who grinned at me widely.

“Well done, Fynn,” the wizard cheered as he clapped my back.

I felt as if the weight of the entire world had been lifted off my shoulders, and a rush of joy swept through my chest.

“Does this mean that I’m a… a…”

“An Apprentice,” Nodrin said, with his wide grin still in place. “Not quite yet, dear son, but it’s a very good start.”

“Oh.” I was a little disappointed I couldn’t immediately call myself a Wizard’s Apprentice, but I was still riding high from solving the ogre’s riddle. Then a sudden question jumped to mind, and before we crossed the gates and entered the market, I turned to the ogre again. “Hey, you don’t happen to have a brother or other male relative who works at the Nils Dorei, do you?”

“Is he still working there? Tell him I said he’s a chump,” the ogre grunted, and he swept his arm in front of him to indicate that we should enter the market.

“Will do,” I chuckled, and I wasted no time in crossing through the gate, with Nodrin hot on my heels. My heart was still pounding from the encounter with the Gatekeeper, and I was happy to be on the other side of it.

“So, what was it?” Nodrin asked as he silently slid next to me.

“What was what?” I asked as I practiced an abridged version of Nodrin’s breathing technique to calm myself down. The breaths weren’t as big, but I followed the pattern.

Nodrin raised his eyebrows in recognition, but he answered my question.

“Your Magick Word.”

“My Magick Word? The answer to my riddle?” A smile formed on my lips when I understood what he meant.

“That’s the one,” the wizard said, and he returned my grin.

“Shadows,” I replied, and I knew what the elder meant. I’d never say the word the same way again because it would always hold a special place in my heart as the word that got me into this place.

I looked around in wonder at the magickal shops that lined the streets of the Wizards’ Market. The streets of the Citadel below us were impressive, but this was something else. Everything seemed to glisten and sparkle, it was like walking through the…

Stars.

Whoa.

I rushed to the nearest shop and laid a hand on the wall that glowed with a soft, white light through the sandstone. Then I turned to Nodrin with my eyes wide and ears twitching.

“Is this… starlight?” I asked in a whisper, and I turned back to examine the glowing walls.

“Imitation starlight,” the wizard chuckled. “But it’s as close to the real thing as you’ll ever see. And one can buy genuine starlight here, for a price.”

“Really?” I asked, and I turned back to the wizened man again since I was interested to hear more.

“One can, you cannot, son. In time, don’t you worry.” Nodrin grinned at my disappointed expression, and then he wagged a friendly finger in my face. “Don’t rush it. Your first real experience with starlight is special. Magickal. You’ll want to cherish it, don’t wish for it before you’re ready.”

“Okay,” I sighed, and I followed Nodrin back onto the main path. I didn’t know how I was going to put the starlight out of my mind when the streets were literally lined with it, but that actually proved to be not too difficult when I was close enough to examine the contents of the shops.

The first shop we passed was called Pytrawl’s Staffs, and I peered in the windows to see the most finely intricate carvings I’d ever seen detailing the sides of the glorious wooden staffs.

“Wow,” I breathed as I leaned in, but I bumped my head against the glass, and it made a dramatic smacking sound, which caused Nodrin to chuckle.

“Come, let’s go inside,” Nodrin said, and he pulled open the heavy wooden door and glided through, so I hurried to follow him.

“Nodrin!” A jovial voice came from the back of the shop after the bell above the door rang out.

“Pytrawl!” Nodrin replied happily.

A tall, skinny wizard with a long, black beard rounded the desk and hurried forward to greet Nodrin, with his hand already outstretched. Nodrin grasped the shop owner’s hand, and they shook enthusiastically. I noticed there was something strange about the shop owner’s beard, and as I leaned in, I realized there were intricate patterns shaved into the long, thick facial hair, and it looked similar to the patterns carved into the staffs that surrounded us. Once the two wizards released each other’s arms, the tall, dark haired man turned to look at me, and his manicured eyebrows raised to the middle of his forehead.

“And who is this? Do you have a new Apprentice you haven’t told me about? He looks like a tall glass of ambrosia.” The shop owner grinned, and he looked me up and down like he hadn’t had a drink in days.

“Not yet, but things are looking promising for young Fynn here,” Nodrin said, and then he leaned in close to his friend. “However, I don’t think he’s one for your proclivities.”

“Are you sure?” Pytrawl stroked his intricate beard delicately as he continued to eye me up and down. “Have you asked him?”

“You can ask me, if you’d like,” I piped up, but I didn’t want to piss off anyone in this magickal place, so I softened my words with a smile. “Unfortunately, Nodrin is right, and there are certain, ah, women who already have a hold of my heart. And… other pieces of me.”

“Ah, well, I can’t say I’m surprised, but what lucky women,” Pytrawl tittered as he straightened his glasses and slipped back into business mode. “What brings you into the shop today, then, Nodrin? Your Apprentice-to-be can’t be in the market yet, so are you in need of a new staff?”

“I will be,” Nodrin said vaguely. “But we’re just browsing for now. It’s Fynn’s first trip to the Wizards’ Market.”

“And your gorgeous staffs caught my eye, of course,” I said with a flirty wink to the shopkeeper, who blushed at the attention. I wasn’t physically interested in him, but I knew how to work my charm when I needed to, and I figured that having an established wizard wrapped around my finger could be a good thing for me in the future.

“I am quite proud of my beautiful staff… s,” the shopkeeper flirted back, and I caught Nodrin rolling his eyes behind his friend’s back.

“I can see why, they’re so intricate.” I nodded enthusiastically as I turned to study the nearest staff that hung on the wall. I was fine with flirting, but I didn’t want Pytrawl to get too friendly. His craftsmanship was stellar, though, and I didn’t have to pretend to admire the beautiful staff that had a whole battle scene carved into it.

“I know one that you would like,” Nodrin said, and I turned to see him gesturing me toward the back of the shop.

I followed dutifully, and as soon as I rounded the corner into a smaller room, I knew which staff he was talking about.

The long, mahogany staff was hanging on the wall behind a glass case. It looked like it would be the exact right size for me. The thick wood was glittering with embedded starlight, which glowed a soft white and gave the staff a shimmering effect, and as I got closer to the staff, I realized that it was as intricately carved as the rest of them, with delicate falling stars and other celestial bodies.

“Wow,” I breathed as Nodrin and I leaned in to examine it more closely.

“My pride,” Pytrawl sighed as he joined us by the glass case.

“It’s stunning,” I said with a nod at the talented shop owner.

“Thank you,” the dark-haired wizard said as he placed a hand over his heart. “The idea came to me in a dream, and as soon as I woke that day, I started carving and didn’t stop until she was finished.”

“Is it real starlight?” I asked as my eyes glided over the beautiful piece of woodwork.

“Some,” Pytrawl said. “Mixed with some artificial, just to keep her affordable. I finished her off about six months ago, and the right wizard just hasn’t been through here. Yet.”

I noticed a leading tone in the woodworker’s voice, and I glanced over to see him eyeing me up and down, like he was determining if I was worthy of his masterpiece. Instinctively, I stood up straighter and felt my ears twitch with excitement.

“Maybe there will be a worthy wizard soon,” Nodrin said with a mysterious smile. “Unfortunately, Pytrawl, we have a lot to get done today, so we’re going to have to take our leave.”

“Humph,” Pytrawl pouted as he crossed his arms over his chest and shot Nodrin an irritated look.

“Don’t worry, if everything goes according to plan, young Fynn here will be back shopping for staffs in no time,” Nodrin chuckled as he led us back to the front door.

“I certainly look forward to the day,” the shopkeeper said as he followed us out of the shop and waved after us.

“Pytrawl can be enthusiastic, but the quality of his work is second to none,” Nodrin explained as we put distance between ourselves and the shop.

“It certainly looks incredible, even if I can’t speak for the quality,” I said.

“Yet,” Nodrin said with that mysterious smile again.

“What do you--” Before I could finish my question, Nodrin had raised his hand to silence me again and was pointing to a shop, so I followed the direction of his finger to a storefront that was filled with armor and weapons.

“I need some things, care to join me?” the wizard asked.

“Uh, yes, please,” I said, and I followed the old wizard without hesitation. Then we entered the armory-like shop, and I had to physically close my jaw after it fell open from the sight of the weapons.

Of course, the Citadel Center had a weapons shop which I’d been in, but these weapons were different. Some of them were embedded with starlight, and they glowed white in that beautiful way. Others were as intricately carved as the staffs, and I wondered what that was about.

I turned to Nodrin, who was leaning forward to examine an unidentifiable piece of metal.

“Wizards really like to carve stuff, huh?

“Oh, yes.” Nodrin straightened with a smile as he gestured around. “Wizards take great pride in their physical work. It’s so easy to lose sight of the benefits of handiwork when we can rely on magick for most things, you see. A few centuries ago, there was a renaissance, essentially. Wizardkind realized they had lost their way a bit and decided to reconnect with art forms of their ancestors’ pasts. Magick at its core comes from connection to nature and drawing power from the inherent energy of life. Our kind had become too wrapped up in the ease and convenience of magick, that the elders at the time realized our power was weaker than in previous years. Hence the move to prioritize and value physical handiwork again, where we were able to slow down and take time to connect to the magic that is life.”

“Wow,” I said as I turned back to the sword that was carved with a beautiful nature scene. The details were immaculate, and if this was done without any magick, it must have taken an age to complete.

“Also, we make a killing selling to the very wealthy,” Nodrin said with a twinkle in his eyes. “The drow do love their beauty.”

I thought about the beautiful female drow women and all of the care they went through to adorn themselves with little ornaments to look even more beautiful. They certainly did love their beauty, and my breathing quickened at the thought of my lover Tryss with trinkets in her hair and nothing else on.

I shook myself out of my fantasy and tried to slow my breathing. Then something occurred to me, and I turned back to Nodrin to satisfy my curiosity.

“Is that where the breathing technique comes from? The Wizard Renaissance?”

“Good connection, and yes, you are correct,” Nodrin said with a nod.

“What is that thing?” I asked as I gestured to the piece of metal Nodrin kept studying.

“You’ll find out in due time,” Nodrin said vaguely, and he pressed further into the shop.

I decided to ignore the wizard’s mysterious musings for now and take in the kick-ass weapons that surrounded me. There was a display stand with about twenty different variations of arrows, and I thought of Helera’s affinity for archery, so I stopped to study them. One of them caught my eye, and I tugged it gently out of its resting place to study it. It was heavy, and the arrow point was flayed out like a flower about to bloom, and the end of it was made to look like leaves unfurling. I kept hold of the arrow while I continued to browse the shop, but if I could get a set for Helera, I was going to.

My eyes wandered to a display case of armor filled with a mix of male and female drow armor of varying intensities. There was one set in particular that looked like it was made for Tryss. The fitted armor was forged from some silvery metal that was, of course, intricately and beautifully carved. The carving displayed a drow priestess in the center of the silver plate, with her arms raised and swirls of magick encircling the beautiful priestess. The plate would protect her inner organs, but also show off her sexy curves, and I could picture her pert cleavage bulging out from the top of the plate.

I’d be asking the shopkeeper about taking this one home, too.

But, if I got something for Helera and Tryss, I’d need to get something for Daggy, as well.

To the left of the armor, there was a row of spears. The wooden shafts were, of course, carved, and the sharp, silver tips had the soft white glow of starlight. I turned to see Nodrin on the other side of the shop, and I sidled over to him with the arrow still in my hand.

“Hey, what does starlight do in a weapon?” I asked the wizard as I noticed a sword that hung above his head, also glimmering in white light.

“Makes it pretty,” Nodrin said.

“Really?” I snorted, and then I cleared my throat because I didn’t want to seem like I was mocking this newfound world when I was doing anything but. I was just trying to figure it out.

“No, it serves a purpose, my child, one that will become apparent…”

“Eventually,” I finished the old man’s sentence with a sigh. Clearly, starlight held some sort of magick that I wouldn’t be able to grasp until I captured my own, so I decided to put any more questions about it on hold for now. “That is the difference between the weapons up here and the ones in the Citadel Center, though, right?”

“Not the only difference,” Nodrin explained, as he raised an eyebrow at the arrow in my hand. “Wizard-forged weapons are imbued with a bit more magick than regular drow-forged weapons, so they’re able to propel faster or farther, or can be charmed for easy carrying. What’s that you’re holding?”

“For Helera,” I explained as I lifted the arrow for him to see. “Is that okay? Can I gift the girls some wizard weapons?”

“Of course. Very nice set,” the wizard said with a nod of approval. “You can get the rest of the set from the shopkeeper when we make our purchases.”

“What are you purchasing?” I asked as I peered over his shoulder to see what he was looking at.

“This,” the wizard said, and he raised up a black obsidian blade, which for some reason I knew was callen an athame. The stone knife had a deeply carved hilt and a lightly carved blade. I could make out some stars, and there was an inscription in a language I couldn’t understand.

“What’s that for?” I asked, even though I didn’t expect a straight answer.

“It’s for a spell for Sevvy,” the wizard said, which was more explanation than I expected.

“It’s beautiful,” I said.

“Most wizard-made things are,” Nodrin chuckled, and we continued to browse the shop.

I picked up a cool set of daggers with stars carved into them, and I added a scythe to the pile to keep Daggy happy. Then I checked out the athames again and picked up one for myself made of what was labeled as “moonstone.”

Once we were done browsing, we made our way to the counter, and the shopkeeper helped me get the set of armor for Tryss. Then Nodrin paid the shopkeeper, and the two wizards came to a deal that we would collect the large items when we passed back by the shop later. Then we stepped back into the busy street, and I was grateful we weren’t weighted down with the weapons.

“Where to next?” I asked the elder wizard.

“Follow me,” Nodrin said, and I grinned because what else was I going to do? It wasn’t like I knew my own way around this magickal market.

“Yes, boss,” I said and fell into step behind him as he led us farther into the bustling market.

We walked for about ten minutes, and I kept trying to venture into cool looking shops, but Nodrin kept pulling me back.

“We have a feast to get to,” Nodrin said after the third time he tugged my tunic to prevent me from wandering off.

“I know,” I sighed. Not that I wasn’t looking forward to the feast, because of course, I was, but I also wanted to see as much cool shit in this place as I could since I wasn’t sure when I’d be back.

“You will be back,” Nodrin said, as if he’d read my mind.

“Okay,” I said with a smile, and his words reassured me. I figured I would be since I had at least passed the test, but given Nodrin’s tendency toward evasion, I decided not to push the issue. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t get some information out of the old wizard. “So, is this place always here?”

“Yes,” Nodrin said. “The market is always live, most of the shopkeepers live above their shops. And there are more than just shops.”

“Oh?” I prompted. “Like what?”

“Well, there’s the wizard hospital,” Nodrin said, and he gestured to a large, black building in the distance. I noticed the windows of the building sparkled, and I wondered if the starlight in them was real. “For injuries only wizards can treat or inflict.”

“Ouch,” I said, and I cringed to think of the magickal injuries during a drow face off.

“And the library.” Nodrin gestured to a building that was much closer, just across the road from where we were. The white building had a tall, sparkling entryway, and the steps were designed to look like books.

“Helera would love that,” I chuckled.

“Yes, she would, I always wished I could take her here, especially when she was younger. Her older siblings used to give her a hard time, you know.”

“I didn’t know,” I said, and I could hear the surprise in my tone. “For what?”

“Oh, anything, you know what siblings are like,” Nodrin said with a wave of the hand. “She took refuge in the library often.”

“The others do tease her for her bookish ways,” I chuckled.

“Yes, well, there’s a reason for everything.” Nodrin nodded wisely.

“Indeed,” I said as I took in the sight of the beautiful building.

“We’re here,” Nodrin said suddenly, and he tugged me into a small, dark shop front. Once we passed the threshold, we were plunged into darkness, so it took a second for my one normal eye to adjust and realize we weren’t in total darkness, just mostly darkness.

There was a soft yellow glow coming from the back of the cramped shop, but it wasn’t starlight because I’d seen enough of that by now to know the difference.

“What is this place?” I asked Nodrin in a whisper. Whatever it was, it just seemed to warrant hushed voices.

“This is your next step to becoming an Apprentice,” Nodrin answered in a low voice.

“Oh?” I perked up, and I felt my ears twitching in anticipation. My eyes had adjusted to the low light, and I looked around the small space for clues about what my next step was, but there was so much stuff around me, it was hard to tell. I saw a couple weapons, some trinkets, a whole lot of books, and bottles filled with various liquids, and I wondered if this was like the practical portion of the worthiness test or something. Then I noticed a scary, blackfaced alarm clock with backwards-moving arms, and the button that would be used to turn the ringing alarm off was a deadly spike, but the device was small, no bigger than the palm of my hand. I nudged Nodrin and pointed to the wizard’s clock. “What is that?”

“A Time Trap,” Nodrin said darkly.

“Okay?” I asked.

“It is how it sounds,” the old wizard said with a shake of his head. “It can be used to imprison others for a set amount of time. And that set amount of time can even be… forever.”

“Oh, damn,” I whispered as I studied the small device, but I didn’t dare touch it in case I set it off.

“A common threat used against lower classes,” the wizard said as he continued toward the light at the back of the room. “Time is the most valuable asset we have. Once it’s gone, it doesn’t come back, and if you’re stuck with no exit, just sitting around and wasting time, it’ll drive even the strongest of warriors mad. Entire Houses have been caught in Time Traps and eliminated from the ranks as a result.

“Ooft,” I said, and I sucked in air through my teeth at the thought of it.

Well, I wouldn’t mind being stuck with the three sexy sisters for a while, but I knew we were all too restless and headstrong to stay trapped anywhere for any significant amount of time. I briefly wondered how that would go, and I got the image of Dagwyn absolutely losing her shit and killing us all in a rampage. I chuckled at the thought, but I was distracted when a steady stream of smoky mist started to rise from the floor, and the dim yellow light flickered in the back of the room. A low humming sound started to emanate from the walls, and I whipped my head around the room to see where all this was coming from. Then I glanced at Nodrin, but the old wizard just looked annoyed.

“Always one for the theatrics, Dumnorix.” Nodrin rolled his eyes and held up three fingers. Then he silently put them down one by one, and when the last one fell, a wizard appeared in the middle of the room.

“You are such a ray of darkness,” Dumnorix snorted as he wagged a finger at Nodrin.

“I do try, I do,” Nodrin said coolly, but then the two wizards broke into wide smiles and embraced each other warmly. “Rixy, my dear friend, how have you been?”

“Worse off without you, Nodrin,” Dumnorix said as they broke their embrace. Then he turned a curious eye on me and looked me up and down. “But I knew you were coming in for a reading.”

“Reading?” I asked as I took in the sight of the eccentric wizard. The drow wizard had long, white hair that was typical of our kind, but his shone with starlight that I couldn’t tell whether it was artificial or real. He wore a large monocle, his beard was teased into tight curls, and he had thin lines tattooed across his face that looked like they glimmered, and I wondered if it was possible to be tattooed with starlight.

“Reading,” Dumnorix confirmed with a nod, and I turned to Nodrin for clarification.

“Wizards have a form of divination through cartomancy, do you know what that is?” Nodrin asked as he held my gaze.

“Cartomancy is divination through cards,” I said as I looked between the two wizards. Innately, I knew what it meant, but I hadn’t seen it performed in my short drow life, so I wasn’t sure what it entailed. “What do I have to do for a reading?”

“Dumnorix does the work,” Nodrin said. “This process is called the Gan’evh Tiio, it’s a traditional card reading that will reveal which attributes your magick is naturally attuned to. This will help guide you on your journey to becoming an Apprentice, and gods willing, eventually a full-fledged Wizard.”

Dumnorix waved his hand, and a table and chairs appeared in the middle of the room. The table was covered in an iridescent fabric, and Dumnorix rounded the table to take a seat and gestured for me to take the seat across from him.

I did as I was instructed while Nodrin crossed his arms in front of himself and stood quietly behind me. Once Dumnorix was seated, he twisted his hand, and a deck of cards appeared. The wizard studied me as he began to shuffle, and as he did, I felt my ether deep within me start to stir.

I shifted in my seat since I was unfamiliar with this particular tickle at my ether.

“You’re not from here,” the wizard said, which caused me to freeze. Would I finally learn my origins from this slightly kooky wizard? I leaned forward, but the wizard continued to shuffle. “But that’s a story for another time. Today, we’re here to find your magick.”

“O-Okay,” I said as I turned my attention to the deck of cards in his hands. I could still feel my ether buzzing, but I was curious enough about the cards to ignore it. The cards were black and shimmering with starlight, and the wizard shuffled them expertly. Sometimes, he only used one hand, and I was impressed by the way his long fingers could grasp a pile of cards from the middle of the deck and shift it to the top or bottom. When he used both hands, he created long, quickly moving bridges with the cards, and at one point he even threw a few up in the air and caught them.

“Theatrics,” Nodrin drawled, but I could hear the grin in his voice.

“Alright, alright,” Dumorix chuckled, and he resumed shuffling normally before he placed the deck on the table in front of me and tapped the top of the deck. “Cut the deck, please.”

I reached a hand forward and hoped the two wizards didn’t see how much I was shaking with excitement. I grabbed the top half of the deck and placed it on the table next to the bottom half, and I suddenly got a flash of an image in my mind. I was cutting a different, smaller set of cards, and there were a bunch of people around me while there was the sound of something clattering and smoke filled the air. It was a familiar movement somewhere in the depths of my mind.

Dumnorix placed the bottom half of the deck on to the top half of the deck and then looked me in the eye while he turned over the first card.

While the back of the cards were all black with a slight glimmering, the front of this card was completely white, with a cutout of an eye in the middle of it.

My hand flew up to my eyepatch, and the wizard nodded.

“Light powers. Didn’t need the cards to tell me that one.” Dumnorix chuckled. Then he flipped another card over and placed it next to the first card, and this one had a shimmering spider on it. “Hmm… Have you had any interesting interactions with any spiders lately?”

“Yes,” I said slowly as I remembered the helpful spiders in the Maze, and the conversation I had with Drogu-ani shortly before then. “A big one, too.”

“Interesting indeed,” the wizard said as he flipped another card and laid it next to the other two. He raised an eyebrow at the card with a symbol I didn’t recognize, but didn’t look up at me this time. Instead, he flipped another card from his deck, but he laid it atop the first two cards instead of in the same row. This card had three wavy lines inside an oval, and the wizard doing my reading shot a quick glance at Nodrin.

I looked back at my companion as well, but he just continued to stare at the cards, so Dumnorix turned back, flipped another card, and laid it atop the second and third. When he saw the image of the scroll, he abruptly pushed his chair back, and it clattered across the cobbled floor as the wizard looked up at me with wide, scarlet eyes.

“Gods above…”