Glyph

Chapter 11

Dirk smiled and picked up his sword, which had been knocked away by Aderyn, thinking how surprised he would be soon.

After five more rounds, Dirk decided to enact his plan. He picked up his sword and backed away slowly, giving the impression of weakness.

Aderyn moved forward cautiously, suspicious despite Dirk's lousy performance today.

Suddenly Dirk lunged with the sword, which was easily blocked by Aderyn. as soon as the clang sounded, Dirk whipped his dirk to the right of Aderyn, causing him to flinch and look away, for a second. 

Fast as a cobra, Dirk slammed his blade on Aderyn's, forcing him to drop it.

"Disarmed,", he crowed, dancing around the practice area.

"Well done," Aderyn said with a fake smile. "Let's see if you can replicate the feat."

Dirk picked up his dirk off the ground and moved to the en guarde position, reluctantly, sure he was to be punished for his success.

He was right. For the rest of the session, Aderyn didn't let Dirk on the offensive for a second. No sooner did Dirk begin a blow, then it was met by Aderyn's.

Finally, Dirk lowered his sword. "Alright," he panted. "You're better. But I have to go to Cynric now. I think you've made your point."

Aderyn smiled. "I think so, too," he said smugly. As he passed Dirk to walk out of the courtyard, he gave him a slap on the back. Dirk groaned as his sore and bruised muscles clamored with protest.

"Have a good time with Cynric," Aderyn called back as he disappeared from view.

Slowly Dirk sheathed his sword and walked the long path to Cynric's room. He was still determined to have a good day. When he arrived at the apartment, he was feeling much better, the aches having receded.

He reached up and knocked. Time for exertion of a different sort.

Cynric opened on the third knock. his eyes were bloodshot, with bags under them, his skin pale and sweating.

Involuntarily, Dirk took a step back. "Are you okay? Should I come back later?"

"No, no," Cynric wheezed, "I'm fine. Lots of trances, but I'll recover."

Dork allowed himself to be led inside where Cynric collapsed in his customary armchair. The floor was already covered in chalk marks.

Cynric took a staff carved with glyphs and struck the floor, murmuring faint words. The blue chalk vanished.

"That's a rune for dispelling unwanted glyphs. Won't work on anyone's but your own's, though," he muttered.

Weakly, he threw out a hand toward a book on the floor. "Do the first ten pages in that compendium." He trailed off; Dirk could no longer hear him.

Sighing, he turned to the book, a leather bound monstrosity. Opening the first page, he came to a glyph, illustrated in great detail in the center of the page. Above and under it were words.

With great effort, he was able to decipher them. Transfer of Will.

Underneath were instructions on the verbal words for the spell, as well as an instant use version

He snatched a piece of blue chalk from off the floor and began copying the shapes down on the stone. 

He knew he was getting better. It only took him 30 minutes to get this rune right.

After he was finished, he began flipping through the book. There were spells for all branches, save necromancy.

Elementalism was by far the biggest part, then summoning, enchantment, followed by animalism, then prophecy, which seemed confusing to Dirk, consisting of the addition of many herbs to the formula. Healing came last, with a measly nine pages.

Dirk enjoyed looking at the elementalism most, followed by summoning. He decided, since he had never tried one so far, to try summoning. He picked the simplest one he could find, summoning a piece of cloth from the Æther, the meaning of which still escaped him. Why any one would need a piece of cloth was beyond him, but apparently someone did.

He moved his fingers in the patterns described and chanted the words.

"Thoke, govye."

He felt himself becoming weaker and weaker-willed, as a gaping hole into blackness materialized in front of him. A small thread of that dark stretched out, coiling on the stone, until a small piece of cloth lay on the floor in front of him. The hole closed.

His head swimming, he swayed in place on the floor. An amused voice from behind him sounded out.

"Decided to try summoning, eh?" It was Cynric.

Dirk, with little choice but to answer the question, nodded pleasantly.

"This is the second time I've had to help you because of your mistake. Do not make one on the battlefield."

Dirk felt a hand clap on his shoulder and a bolt of will jolted through him. Shaking his head, Dirk stood up, to find a pale Cynric sitting back in the chair.

"Why was it so hard? It's just a piece of cloth," Dirk complained.

"The Æther is a strange subject. No one knows what goes on in there. So far, due to the huge energy needed to summon, it's remained an academic subject with little practical use. But...." he was nodding off. "I am now going to take another short nap."

Dirk sighed again. He turned back to the book on the floor. For the rest of the time left to him, he practiced memorizing new glyphs such as mend cut, lightning bolt, direct water,  and direct wind.

When he was finished with direct wind, he glanced at the window and sighed. It was probably about two in the afternoon and he was sitting in a room memorizing a dead language. 

Quietly, he stood up and placed the book in Cynric's lap.

The old man's eyes shot open and he grabbed Dirk by the wrist and drawing him in close.

"I, I...... was just returning your book."Dirk stammered.

 Cynric sighed and changed position, releasing Dirk as he did. " 'S yours now," he murmured, already half asleep.

Dirk took the book back and tiptoed out of the room.

Stowing the compendium in his room, he thought about what he wanted to do next. He decided to go to the gardens. It was a nice day outside and who knew when he would next be free, now that he was being drafted? Plus he had never been to real gardens before. Sure he had taken walks in the woods, but these were professionally maintained flora.

He smelled his armpit and grimaced. That sword fight had taken a lot of sweat. Pulling on a clean  blue shirt and brown pants, he strode out the door. 

Finding the gardens proved simple. He had never noticed the signs cut into the stone, assuming them to be nothing more than scratches. Now he realized they were writing on where each hallway led.

The gardens were magnificent, huge shady trees covering the expanse of undergrowth mostly flowers. Bumblebees buzzed drowsily in the air, and Dirk felt himself begin to relax.

It had been a long time since he had been outside only for the sake of being outside and he realized how much he had missed it. 

Taking one of the small garden paths, he lifted his face toward the sky and let the heat of the sun warm him. Seeing a bench, he made straight for it and lay down.

Closing his eyes, he let the many worries in his life drift away. Tomorrow, he may be drafted, but what mattered right now was the beautiful heat. He felt himself beginning to drift off and didn't try to stop himself.....

I think I updated it pretty quick. Please, please vote or comment if you can.