29: Pranks, Part II

“It shouldn’t be too difficult to accomplish. I think that you’ll be perfectly capable of a little bit of espionage. Now off you go.” Volanaro smiled and bowed. “Good luck.”

I nodded. I knew what I had to do. The prank was a simple one, but apparently it would bring both frustration to Jeanne and, consequently, joy to J’Skar and Volanaro. I walked slowly upstairs and flicked my hand at a chest of drawers. The spell I had just learned flew from my hand and the drawer unlocked. I smiled and flicked my other hand at the drawer. A burst of dull-yellow magic flew from my finger tips and hit the drawer. I slowly pulled my hand backwards and the drawer opened. I dropped my hand to my side and used my mind to close the drawer. The spells Volanaro had taught me would be very useful indeed!

Volanaro came upstairs behind me and patted me once on the back. He winked and walked into one of the back rooms off the main hall. I started walking towards Jeanne’s quarters, and just as I came to the staircase I heard an explosion from the back room. Jeanne ran past me and towards the explosion. I heard yells of frustration, but none of pain. Everything was going to plan.

I ran up the stairs to Jeanne’s room. The door was locked, but the spell I had learned quickly popped the door open. I stepped into the room and went straight for Jeanne’s desk. I carefully poked through the drawers until I found what I was looking for: Jeanne’s Manual of Spellcraft. I smiled and slipped it into my robes. I then put everything back the way it was and was out the door, hearing it magically lock behind me. I jogged downstairs and into the living quarters. I bumped into an area of nothing and sighed.

“Hello, J’Skar.” I heard a growl and was punched in the shoulder.

“Not so loud, hairless-one. This prank is not over yet! Do you have the book?” I pulled the Manual of Spellcraft from my robes and held it out. An invisible hand took it and it disappeared some where in J’Skar’s robes. “Excellent. I’ll get this to Volanaro. Come back just after ten o’clock.” With that I felt a hand pushing on my chest and I walked out of the living quarters.

I divined the time simply enough. All I had to do was tap into the magical field the sun creates as it passes across the sky. It generates enough magic as it moves that it leaves behind a magical trail in the sky. The decay of this magical stream can be measured and used to tell time. A practioner of theoretical magic by the name of Clok once proposed that a device could be tuned to this magic stream and used to tell time anywhere, but his theories never got off the ground. Anyway, it was about 8:30 at night, so I had some time to kill.

As I walked through the main hall I passed by Volanaro. His little distraction had worked very well, although it looked like it had caused him some pain. His robes were charred and his face was covered in soot, but he smiled as I passed. Smoke was drifting lazily out of the back room, and I saw a few mages trying to sweep up the damage. I left them to their work and went out into the town. I was looking for a less chaotic place to have dinner, and I found a quiet little tavern that I sat down in and ordered a hot meal. It wasn’t exactly delicious, but it wasn’t half bad either. I finished with enough time to get back to the guild hall and practice some more of my new spells. I was especially pleased with the telekinesis spell, as it allowed me to not only reach and manipulate objects from a distance, but I was also able to identify them to a certain extent from that distance. I checked the time stream every once in a while, and when it was a quarter past ten I went down to Volanaro’s room.

He was sitting on his bed and reading a novel of some sort. As I entered I left the door open and heard it close behind me, obviously J’Skar was in here as well. Volanaro shut the book and stood up. He thanked me for my help in the prank, and told me to step back a bit. I did this and he raised his hands, making a rather complicated gesture towards the door. A burst of purple magic shot from his hand and collided with J’Skar. Even before the burst hit him I could begin to see him, and I wondered if the burst was just for show; Volanaro did have quite the soft spot for theatrics after all. Nevertheless, J’skar was standing right there in front of me. Although, he was not an Argonian as I had assumed. After I had felt that scaly hand on the back of my head earlier I was confused. J’Skar lifted a paw and I saw that he was wearing a glove made out of Clannfear skin. He smiled at me and I chuckled.

“Well now, we see another excellent prank come to its end. Ah well, the invisibility field is still there, just not affecting anyone anymore. Now to hide this little bugger.” He pulled the Manual of Spellcraft from his robe and made another complex gesture at it, and it disappeared. He placed the invisible book underneath his mattress and shook my hand. “Excellent work, my friend. Things can get so very dull around here, and you’ve just brightened our week.” I bid him goodnight and J’Skar walked out into the hallway. We went to our respective rooms and I planned my next few days. I think it is time for me to head back to Cheydinhal. The mountains are pretty, but just too cold for my liking. I shall inform Jauffre of my plans tomorrow and set out after that.