There seemed to be no reason for the magical attack Sergei mused. Eldrick was in no position to travel anywhere and still had months of training. The nature of the attack was worrying to Sergei. He couldn't track the energies back to their source. He had never heard of any spell that could mask an attack by magic, every spell leaves a power signature that the knowledgeable can study and trace. True the distance between caster and recipient may be a factor. That would mean the caster had to have something personal. Sergei had made sure to destroy any link to his past and all his former possessions. It wasn’t that he wanted Eldrick reliant upon him. He wanted to ensure that there would be no way to locate him until he was trained and ready to be accepted into the druid conclave.
Eldrick was growing in power and learning more quickly than any other apprentice he had ever trained. That was going to be an issue come the Feast of Servalin. As a completely trained apprentice, Eldrick would have to be presented to the Druid Conclave for confirmation. As a journeyman druid, he would have to travel the realms learning about the people he would be serving and their customs. This was going to be a journey which Sergei could not accompany him. He would be assigned a new mentor for the trip. If the unthinkable happens out on the journey there was no way Sergei could correct the issue. It was not that he felt his young charge was incapable of doing what was necessary. He feared that what has been happening recently could be the end to both of them.
Once he was sure everyone was sleeping, he carefully crept over to the fireplace. Using the poker, he pressed hard on a star-shaped stone at the back of the fireplace. There was a faint but audible click as the stone depressed. A panel in the skirt of the fireplace dropped and slid back to reveal an expertly crafted ladder that was well worn from generations of hands and feet on the rungs and sides. The golden sheen of the wood glistened in the lantern light which sprung to life with the opening of the secret door.
Climbing down the ladder with care, Sergei reached the bottom. He peered around the cavernous room which was a combination private magical work room replete with a permanent circle excised into the floor. An intense arcane library containing tomes so old that they are all but forgotten by most practitioners made his eyes gleam. There were tomes down here Sergei had never opened, they dealt with foreign magics. Due to the day’s events, he found himself forced to peruse those very tomes. They had scared him before. Foreign magics were very dangerous to delve into if you didn’t have the correct blood or training. Understanding how they work was not so much of an issue, as long as you were not trying to cast the spells.
As Sergei started leafing through the first of the tomes, he noticed that his father and grandfather had made annotations in the margins and spaces available. They were about Draconic magics, a subject which he knew little about, thankfully he had an expert to consult with. Well an expert in that Sebastian was a dragon and therefore would have more knowledge on the subject than himself. He made a mental note to discuss dragon magic with Sebastian over the next few days. Thinking about how he might protect the spell surrounding Eldrick which he had placed, Sergei began going through the books on potions.
He spent the night going through books. Making notes so he could work without having to navigate the ladder for the vital information required for his plans to succeed. Knowing he was going to need to return to refresh his notes, add notes to his books. and garner additional information he left the books on a small reading table by the comfortable armchair. Refreshing the stasis spell on the library, he blew out the lantern and began the arduous climb back up. Upon clearing the hatchway, he pressed the star-shaped stone on the mantle, thus sealing the hidden passageway.
Thinking about the future, one day he was going to have to let Eldrick in on the secrets of this old farmhouse. Eldrick would inherit it upon Sergei’s death. This thought frightened the old man considerably. His last three apprentices all failed in their journeyman trials despite having the knowledge and understanding. What they lacked, Eldrick appeared to have in abundance if yesterday was any indication. The thought of his apprentice sent him off to check on his protégé which was sleeping in Sergei’s own room since they hadn’t had the energy to move a new bed into Eldrick’s room after the lengthy magical practices with a severe lack of sustenance before the endeavour.
Eldrick was still sound asleep, though he could sense the rustling of Sebastian in the other room beginning to stir himself awake. It wasn’t so much hearing the dragon wake up as feeling him waken, mind then body, with a rush of vitality returning rather than consciousness arising. With an almost audible mental pop, Sebastian was awake and moving about the room.
