The Rossem Project

Saturn - Part 2

     Outside the building there was hardly anyone to be seen. At this time of day everyone was inside and working, or else back in their quarters and sleeping if they were working with spells best cast at night. The Wizard's Way was empty, of human beings at least. A pair of fat ginger cats were sunning themselves on the daisy speckled lawn in front of the palace, and a large white furred cat with bright intelligent eyes stared at Thomas as he passed it by.

     There were a lot of cats in Lexandria valley. Most of them belonged to wizards, either as pets or familiars; animals that were bonded to their owners in a very special way. A familiar acted as an extension of the wizard's senses, allowing him to see what it saw, hear what it heard, and so on. It could also help in the casting of some of the more difficult and advanced spells, those that required another living creature to sit still in one place while its body drew in and focused the magical energies around it.

     Having a familiar was something that went in and out of fashion in the magical community, though. It was currently out of fashion, it seemed. So far, Thomas hadn't seen a single wizard with a familiar. The main reason it wasn't more popular was that, if the animal were killed, the wizard suffered a sympathetic shock that was sometimes so great that he could be laid up in bed for days afterwards. He could even be killed if he was in frail health, and it was a monument to their usefulness that any wizard ever adopted a familiar at all.

     The adoption of a familiar was something of a gamble, though, as you could never be sure what kind of animal the summoning spell would attract, and once the bond was formed there was no way to break it without killing the animal, with all the risks that involved. If you were lucky you would get a cat or a raven, and if you were really lucky you might get a pygmy dragon or a nanurge; a strange magical creature that looked like a deformed goblin with bats wings. If you were unlucky, though, you could end up with something completely useless like a lizard or a toad. It was to avoid this unfortunate occurrence that so many wild cats and ravens were allowed in the valley; to ensure that there would always be a suitable animal in the neighbourhood if a wizard required one.

     Cats were the last thing on Thomas’s mind at the moment, though, as he strolled briskly along the Wizards' Way. It couldn't really be called a road as it consisted of nothing more than hard packed earth with no clearly defined edges, blending gradually into the rough, weed strewn grass that lined it on either side. It looked rough and untidy, in sharp contrast to the carefully tended lawns and gardens of the teaching area.

     The research wizards didn't care, though. They were only concerned with what went on inside the buildings, of which there were thirteen, all in different architectural styles representing different countries and eras in their histories. Six on the eastern side of the Wizards' Way, six in the western side and the thirteenth, the Dannil Starfinder building, rising like a dark gothic cathedral at the southern end. This building, once a small Agglemonian border fortress, was the most important of the University's research buildings, and was the permanent home of the six most important and powerful wizards in the valley.

     Thomas hadn’t had occasion to enter this building yet, and had been scared to even approach it, but now he had legitimate business here and his heart pounded with excitement as he climbed the high stone steps that led to the huge, ivy decorated front doors. A pair of proctors, posted there since the recent series of sabotage incidents, demanded to know who he was and what he wanted, and Thomas presented the letter for their inspection. They studied the seal closely for several moments and then waved him through, giving him directions to Saturn's laboratory and warning him not to stray from the shortest route. In the present atmosphere of wariness and suspicion, they explained, a strange wizard wandering around where he had no business could find himself in a lot of trouble. Thomas thanked them for the advice and hurried off.