Chapter 2 Part 3

Finally, they arrived in Keron. The rest of the trip was uneventful, although they had argued about whether to open the case on the road or wait. They had finally decided to wait until they could take it to the Mages Guild in the city.
“So have you ever been to this Guild?” Armegon asked Ultrecht as they left the stables.
“Yes, I was here once last year. They have a very well designed experimentation room.”
“And I suppose you are a member here?”
“Yes, and so are you,” said Ultrecht matter-of-factly.
“I am? How’s that?”
“They have a reciprocal agreement with the Guild in Allentown. All that’s required is to pay a membership due, so I bought one for both of us.”
“Why thank you,” Armegon said with a pleased tone.
“You’re welcome. Now let’s go see what’s in the case.”
“You two go on,” Avery urged, clearly uninterested in the case's contents. “I’m going to go and see what is available for ships.”
“Ok, we’ll let you know what we find,” replied Ultrecht. “There’s an Inn at the city square called the Blue Griffon. We’ll meet you there.”
“Blue Griffon. Right.” Avery nodded and left towards the docks.
Ultrecht and Armegon made their way through the city to the Mages Guild. They entered into a nicely appointed foyer with a reception desk.
A young man sitting behind the desk said, “Welcome gentlemen, may I help you?”
Ultrecht approached the desk. “Yes, I am Ultrecht from the Allentown Guildhall. This is Armegon, also of Allentown. We have memberships here and would like to use your facilities.”
It only took a few minutes to verify their memberships, and they were in. Pleasantly enough, the experimentation room was available.
“Wow, they really do have a nice facility,” said Armegon as they entered the room. It was a brick-walled cylindrical chamber about thirty feet in diameter, with a narrow work surface around the perimeter and a workbench in the center made from a solid block of granite. Above were various fixtures for block and tackle, and an iron ladder was set into the wall rising about forty feet to where the roof could be opened.
“Yes, the Guild Master here believes in quality.”
“It shows. Just in case we run into him, what’s his name?”
“Master Glimfeather. ”
Armegon looked up quizzically. “Is he an Elf?”
“No, he’s human. It’s just an odd name.”
They laid the case on a heavy stone workbench, and attached a string to the front latch. A convenient hook mounted overhead would let them lift the lid without touching the box. Next they surrounded it with three layers of protection spells. Finally, Armegon cast a spell that would open any normal lock and Ultrecht pulled the string. The lid opened easily and from inside a spray of small brass needles shot out in all directions, to be snared safely in the protection spells.
“Well, that was a bit anticlimactic,” Armegon said with a chuckle.
“True,” said Ultrecht as he took down the protections. “But better that, than some kind of trap or nasty spell.”
“Oh I’m not complaining. I’d rather have gone to all this effort for nothing than have to let Avery fix a large hole in my chest, or something.”
Ultrecht smiled in agreement. “Well let’s take a look inside.”
They carefully removed the spring mechanism for the darts and pulled out a bundle wrapped in dark silk. Inside was a piece of sword blade. It was made from a black unknown metal and its edge was razor sharp. To their magically enhanced sight it radiated an ancient and malignant magic.
“Hey that’s a piece of Blackheart’s sword!” Armegon exclaimed.
“The one Avery broke?”
“The very one.” Armegon rubbed his forehead. “What in the world would a bunch of soldiers be doing with this?”
“A very good question," Ultrecht replied quizzically. "Perhaps there is still some support for his cause.”
“But what would they do with a piece of that sword?”
Ultrecht rewrapped the piece and placed it back in the box. “Maybe someone is collecting all the pieces to rebuild it, or use its dark power for something else.”
“A very likely possibility. We should ask Avery what happened to the rest of the sword.”
“Agreed.”
The two mages left the box in the safekeeping of Master Glimfeather, and went to meet Avery.