The Rings of Salammis

The Tower - Part 6

     Saturn stumbled into the room that had once been a dormitory. Once, a line of cots had been lined along the curved outer wall, each one with a locker and a desk alongside, the only home the apprentice wizards would have known during the five years of their initial training. Now, though, the room was bare and empty. The only sign that the room had ever been occupied was the graffiti that had been carved into the floor and the interior walls. There was no graffiti on the outer wall, though. Neither were there any windows in it.

     He glanced over his shoulder. No sign of Seskip yet. He turned back to the outer wall and decided to make his own window. To his alarm, though, the disintegration spell failed to make any impact on it, except for a momentary purple glow that lingered over the bare stone. The characteristic sign of an Indestructibility spell.

     "You must remember," said a voice from behind him, "that this tower was raised during a time when wizards were not the most popular of people. The tower came under siege many times, and only the defensive spells imprinted on it by Lexandros himself saved it from destruction. Remarkable, isn't it, that they still work perfectly even after all this time."

     Every defensive rune and sigil sewn into Saturn's robes was fully activated as he turned to face Seskip Tonn. "Just walk away," he said, a warning tone in his voice. "This doesn't have to get nasty. You can just walk away."

     "Oh I think things have gone a little too far for that. You're trapped. If you want to leave, you'll have to go through me."

     "If necessary," said Saturn, his sngle eye narrowing to a slit. "Or you could just stand aside. You have no jurisdiction over me here. Outside the University, every wizard is free to pursue his own interests. Only rak transformation is forbidden, and you know that's not what I want to do."

     "But, my dear Saturn," said Seskip, his wide, lipless mouth widening even further in a gleeful grin. "We are in the University. The University of the past, but the University nevertheless."

     Saturn scowled. It was a fine legal point, one that would keep the department heads arguing for years.

     "How do you feel, my old friend?" Seskip continued. "A little weary after tackling my men? Is that a dark circle I see under your eye?"

     In reply, Saturn cast a vicious spell that tore violently at the Head Proctor's Globe of Invulnerability. Crackling tongues of force were deflected from it to strike the walls and ceiling and blocks of half melted stone fell around them. The floor itself began to crack and sag and Seskip leapt to the side before it could collapse under him. Saturn gave a cruel grin at the fear that now sat on the Head Proctor's face. Are you remembering the stories they tell about me? he wondered. Are you beginning to regret your foolish decision to follow me?

     Then a new wave of dizziness came over him, though, and he saw Seskip take new heart. He quickly cast another spell that threw the Head Proctor against the far wall like a rag doll, and a third that blew out the wall behind him, throwing him back out into the corridor. Saturn activated his Robes of Flying to hover above the floor as it collapsed beneath him, filling the air with dust and hiding his opponent from view, and Seskip took the opportunity to scurry back into the tower's inner core.

     Just run, thought Saturn, who was beginning to worry for the first time whether he was really capable of winning this duel. Run before we bring the whole tower down around us. The Head Proctor was cursed by a sense of duty, though, he knew. He wouldn't stop until one of them was dead or captured.

     He heard Seskip casting additional defensive spells, confirming that he intended to come at him again, and his growing fear turned to frustration and anger. Not just anger but fury. The familiar rage that came upon him whenever his sense of authority was challenged. "I will not tolerate interference from you!" he roared. "This is your last chance! Get out of here and leave me alone, or I'll make you curse the day you were born!"