Saturday, May 7, 2016

The Note in the Guest Room



            Dearest Adrie,
            I have been staying in Marilon’s Keep for nearly a week now.  Every day I have missed you and given you much thought in deep affection.  I believe I will be here for a week more.  If I could I rush away from here and back to Siannodel I would.  But soon, my darling.  Tomorrow the wish ring commissioned by Lord Thamior shall be completed, and then I shall be on my way. 
            The walls of this underground crypt are dim and cold, as if this was a place for dwarves.  Though the room I have been given is well appointed and spells set by the Wizard keep it relatively warm, it is still a far cry from the pleasures of our fair city among the trees.   And he employs the most horrifying creature as a ward in his Library.  A green orb, covered in spikes, with a single cyclopean eye above its mouth and four stalks growing from its sides that end in additional eyes!  He calls the beast his Spectator.  Spectate it certainly does!  He has given me leave of the Library, so the creature abides me, but when I am reading there, I think at times I can her muttering in some horrible, gibbering tongue. 
            Yet still I tarry.  This human is an astonishing enigma!  Never before have I observed such creatures.  Adrie, you would be amazed at the speed and skill at which these humans learn magic.  Marilon is not yet even a century old, and already he has conquered the highest levels of Arcane wisdom.  And the speed at which his apprentice adapts to spells!  During this week alone I have seen her introduced to, and then master a cantrip.  A cantrip learned in a bare week!  Adrie, I think these humans are more masterful at magic than even us.  Their short spans bestow on them a drive that our race shall never know.  I have even, in my more fanciful moments, entertained returning to this place.  Perhaps I too shall learn some magic!  I have always wanted to learn to comprehend other languages.  Then I could know what that thing in the library is muttering about! 
            As a point of interest, there is also a most peculiar thing in this Keep.  The Wizard keeps a maze on the level below.  A veritable labyrinth!  He has shown me it once.  The walls keep shifting behind him, but he assures me that is by design.  It is in here that he stores his most valued possessions, in rooms tucked away within it.  There is also, he tells me, a room that leads down into the caves below, which he tells me are really quite beautiful.  He insists that there are paths within by which you can exit out onto the nearby cliffs.  However, he says, there is another path that leads to the lair of a nearby dragon.  Do not worry for me, Adria!  Marilon insists there is no danger of the Dragon coming upon us.  A creature must be quite small to pass from the Dragon’s lair to this place, and besides, there are wards that keep such things out.  With this in mind, I plan tomorrow to spend my last full day here investigating these caves  with the apprentice, a delightful human girl named Tara.  I know you would like here immensely, Adria.  I have already invited her to visit Siannodel when her apprenticeship is up. 
            Well my love, perhaps I shall amend this letter on the morrow, telling you of my adventures in the caves, but until then I believe this is all.  I suppose it silly of me to have written a letter that only I shall be able to deliver to you, as I am sure I will tell you all of this to you in person, but my pangs for you are so great that I cannot help but write you while impoverished of your company.  But soon I shall return to your side! 
            Your own,
                        Riardon

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