A Call to Fate

Chapter 12 - Trust and Triumph

"So where did he go wrong?" asked Teclis. "That sounded like metal to everyone else, right?". There were various murmurs of agreement. "So, Gialli. Care to enlighten us?"
"Give me a moment", Gialli responded. The moment that the blinding flash had disappeared again, he had been hunched over the coining, poking and prodding it. He picked it up, tapping it on the floor a few times. It still sounded like metal as far as they could tell. He bit it once for good measure. He scrutinised it carefully, before sighing loudly, dropping it back to the floor, and standing up again. "That idiot", he muttered. "That moronic, lead-for-brains "aren't-I-so-smart" dullard!" He threw his hands up in exasperation, before pointing at the coin again. "It's blank!" he cried. "there is no name written on that coin, Freya's or otherwise. The first bit of gold we find, and it's blank, but does he care? Of course not, because why would anyone take a moment to exhibit a scrap of care in a place like this?!"

"So it is real gold?" asked Tove.
"Yes, for all the good it's done us" replied Gialli, almost going shrill. Tove bent down, staring at it, before taking a dagger out of her pocket and picking up the coin. "In theory then", she said "if it did say Freya's name..."
"Then it would open the door, I suppose". Gialli's energy seemed to have left him now, and he slumped onto the floor.
"I see". Tove sat down as well, and Teclis, as last man standing (with Talani still sprawled out unconscious) followed their lead. The light intensified, as Tove put a little magic into the air. Her light was opalescent, and flickered gently, for all the world looking like a miniature star that had been plucked from the heavens. Teclis spoke up. "So do we keep going?" he asked. "Or are we looking for some other plan now?"
"I have a plan", said Tove. The others looked over at her, where they could see she was now lying flat on her stomach, holding her dagger by the blade, almost like a quill. "And what pray tell", said Gialli "is that plan?"
"Give me a minute" Tove replied. In the stillness of the chamber they could hear a faint scratching noise now, from where Tove was lying. "My handwriting is really bad, and coins are small, and daggers are not quills, but", she blew gently on the coin, sending tiny slivers of gold skimming across the floor, "I think that this probably counts as saying 'Freya'". She held the coin out on her palm, and true to her word, scratched onto the gold face of the coin, in blocky lines, was the name 'FREYA'.

The others looked at it, somewhat agog. Gialli shook his head softly. "It's crude, but I can't seen any parameters it doesn't fulfil. May I?" He held out his hand, asking to examine it. Tove handed it over, and he scrutinised it the same way he had the others, examining it with a craftsman's eye. "As you said," he nodded to Tove "your handwriting is really bad".
"Hey-".
"But", he interrupted with the ghost of a smile playing across his lips "it does, unambiguously, say Freya. Do you want to do the honours?" he asked, handing the coin back to her.
"One point, if I may?" interjected Teclis, before Tove could raise the coin.
"Go ahead" she replied.
"You've written that in common speech, haven't you?", Tove nodded. "Might it be worth, given her particular charges, writing her name in the Elvish tongue as well?". Tove and Gialli looked at each other. There was a moment of self-recrimination for failing to remember that. "It certainly couldn't hurt", said Gialli. Tove handed the dagger and coin over to Teclis, and after another short while of scratching, the other side of the coin was marked with her name. "If you think your writing looks bad in common", quipped Teclis "you should try writing Elvish with a dagger". He passed the objects back to Tove.
"Is everyone ready then?" asked Tove. There was a round of nods. She took a deep breath, and raised the coin.

The light once again went from comfortable to blinding. Holding the coin, Tove could feel heat rolling off it in waves, feeling for all the world as if she had grabbed a coal from the fire, but without burning. Even with her eyes clamped as tightly shut as possible, she could see the veins on the inside of her eyelids, her vision filled with red instead of black. And then, in an instant, it was once again gone, even the magic light that Tove had placed before. In its place though, at the back of the room, was a lit brazier.