As Evora reached forward to touch the case, her ring turned red and she froze. She frowned, then crouched, looking underneath the pedestal the case rested on.
There were runes on the pedestal’s underside. Knowing she had little time, Evora swiftly deciphered them, searching for the activation and deactivation sequences.
Ah, there they are. The enchanter who had done this had obfuscated the sequences, but after she stripped the meaningless symbols away, Evora knew she could unlock the case.
Taking a deep breath, Evora whispered three words. The ring shifted hue back to gold and she breathed a sigh of relief. Returning to her examination of the glass case, she leaned forward and lifted the edge of the glass, tilting it on its hinges until the ancient book was revealed in the glowing light of her ring.
Evora removed the diary, and gently set the glass back down.
She knew she had to scan the book swiftly so that she could return it and leave. Her breath quickened and her heart raced with excitement as she opened the diary and started flicking through the pages, her eyes straining in the feeble light cast by her ring. A lot of it was familiar – Evora had studied Maya endlessly in the Academy Library – but there was much that was not. Evora lost track of time as she read, and then she came to a section that made her draw in her breath.
Maya Pallandor proudly mentioned the enchantment that “required only seven words of power”, saying that she hid it “under the bed” where no one except her could find it, “guarded by the watchful eyes of my old master”.
Maya then started to explain the demonstration she had given, but Evora looked up.
She could hear boots on the hard floor. Someone was approaching.
Evora hurried to replace the book inside the glass case, wincing as it shut with a clang. She whispered the sequence that would again ward the case.
She then looked on with dismay as the runes on her ring faded.
Evora had left it activated for too long. The ring wasn’t made for reading; it was there to reveal the wards, and now its power was depleted.
Evora would need to dodge the invisible lines that barred exit from memory.
The sound of approaching footsteps grew louder. Evora closed her eyes and made a quick prayer, her chest rising and falling with her fear as she imagined what would happen if they caught her here.
Evora ducked and weaved, expecting to hear the shriek of the alarms at any moment, waiting for the room to light up as she touched a ward. With a great leap she jumped over where she imagined the last ward line to be, and then she was free.
Her dress as black as a shadow, Evora waited silently against the wall near the gallery doorway until the guard passed. Then she was down the carpeted stairs and out the Green Tower.
Under the bed… Watchful eyes of her old master…
Evora had a new riddle to solve.
~
Evora found Master Zoran in his workroom. “I told you I didn’t want to see you,” he said, not looking up from whatever it was he was working on.
“I need your help with something,” Evora said.
“No, Evora,” Master Zoran said flatly. “I’m not helping you with anything.”
“It’s not related to the contest,” Evora tried again.
Master Zoran raised a shaggy eyebrow. “Not related to the contest? I would have thought you’d be hard at work, Evora Guinestor.”
“I am,” Evora said.
“You only have two days,” Master Zoran said.
“I know, Master Zoran. I just need to know something for my research. Do you know where Maya Pallandor’s sleeping chambers were?”
Master Zoran looked at her with a quizzical squint. “A perfectly normal question,” he said sardonically. He sighed. “What period?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, Maya Pallandor slept in various student lodgings when she was young, whereas when she was High Enchantress she slept in her chambers at the Crystal Palace.”
Evora frowned. “When she was High Enchantress… that’s the period I’m interested in. Do you know if she ever slept near her old teacher, Master Garlan?”
Master Zoran opened his mouth and closed it. “Evora, I’m not sure what scandalous rumors they’re putting out these days, but the love Maya Pallandor bore her old master was nothing but honorable. Maya had a great respect for him, and when he died, just after she was made High Enchantress, she had that statue made in his honour. Now,” he said, “what is this about?”
“Nothing,” she said. “I have to go now. I’ll see you in two days.”
Evora had an idea.
~
Master Garlan was a wise-looking old man with a beard and a flowing robe draped over his body. On his breast, the symbol of Altura — the sword and flower — was beautifully stylized; the stonemasons had done a wonderful job. Evora wondered how much extra effort they had gone to at Maya Pallandor’s insistence.