The Rings of Salammis

Closure - Part 2

     The scene showing in the scrying mirror was a bleak, empty landscape. It had been so far inside the Shadow that all living things there had been killed, and even now it was still largely lifeless. Here and there, however, tiny specks of green could be seen in the mud. Fast growing weeds with short life cycles moving in to colonise the bare, open ground. Their seeds would gradually work their way inwards, followed by grasses and woody shrubs, maybe eventually trees. Before the coming of the Shadow this had been open grassland, the progression towards forest held in check by the vast herds of grazing animals that had once roamed there, but now the goats, rabbits and wild oxen had gone and there was nothing to stop the ecological progression from reaching its natural climax. Temperate forest. It would be decades yet, though, maybe centuries, before this process could be completed. This land would be barren and inhospitable for a long time to come.

     There was no sign of the University, though, so Thomas gave commands for the mirror's point of view to sweep back and forth while he searched for any sign of human habitation. Now and then he came across farmhouses with barns and outbuildings, still bearing the hideous 'decorations' of the Shadowsoldiers, and once he came across the skeletal carcass of some huge monster, now half buried in the mud.

     After some minutes, though, he found what he was looking for. A low, round hill, standing out strikingly in the flat landscape, surrounded by a cluster of ruins. All that was left of the buildings that had been left behind when the wizards moved the University to the Blue Mountains. On top of the hill itself was the sheer sided cylinder of a tower. Lexandria Tower. Still largely intact. The Indestructibility spells that had been cast on it having endured the centuries better than the Strength spells that had been used on the other buildings.

     "They rebuilt it," said the wizard. "Some time after we left, they must have rebuilt it. Wonder why they didn't just tear it down and clear the site?"

     "They wanted to preserve an important historical building, perhaps," suggested Timothy.

     "Then why didn't they take it with them when they moved to the Blue Mountains? It was a big operation, I suppose. They could only afford to move the buildings they really needed. Maybe they meant to come back for it later and never got round to it. Yes, that must be it."

     Then he stepped closer, though, staring curiously, and ordered the mirror to zoom in on one of the balconies near the top. Half the railing was gone, and there was a hole in the floor big enough for a careless man to fall through. There were other signs of wear and damage, of course, but it was that particular balcony that caught his attention because it was identical to a piece of damage he'd seen earlier that day, before the destruction of the tower. That balcony had been damaged before Saturn had arrived, and after the tower had been rebuilt the balcony had been remade exactly as before, including the missing sections of railing and the hole in the floor.

     "Probably it was caused by some famous historical character," said Timothy when Thomas mentioned it. "You know what sticklers for tradition you wizards are. Someone coughs during a ceremony and someone has to cough at exactly the right moment for ever after. I expect this is the same."

     "Yeah, I suppose," conceded Thomas. He wasn't happy with the idea, though. It just didn't feel right. He stared and pondered for a few moments longer, then put the Coronet of Farspeaking back on his head.

     He used the Coronet to contact a proctor called Fabal, Seskip's deputy. He was in Seskip's office in the Divination building, poring over the daily reports of the other proctors, when Thomas's voice reached him, weak and almost unintelligible from the interference. The proctor had to cast a Farspeaking spell of his own to strengthen the link before they could talk properly. He seemed grateful for the interruption, and was quite willing to chat with him for as long as he wanted. Thomas could sense, over the telepathic link, the tiredness in his eyes from hours of reading other people's crabby, almost unintelligible writing.