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opened the sack I had begun keeping my research works in, and extracted her
grimoire. I then rose to my feet and bowed, holding out the book. "Please
forgive me, High Mistress Pelia Cydalion, I completely forgot I had not
returned this to you."
Pelia took the book, paging through it quickly, her face growing bright with
excitement. "It-it is! It's my grimoire! I thought it gone forever! But how
did you ever end up with it?" she asked, astounded.
"Well, your tower was and still is in the territory of the great dragon, Karg
the Terrible. Since you never came to his cave or bothered him in any way, he
considered you a good neighbor - dragons are like that. Leave them alone, and
they'll usually be quite happy with you. When the ogre attacked you, Karg was
flying by, high overhead, on a hunt. He was quite annoyed when the ogre killed
you, as good neighbors are hard to come by, so he ate him to teach him a
lesson. He recovered your grimoire and other items he found on you as the
spoils of battle, and added them to his treasure-hoard. Well, many years
later, I traded him a grimoire for teaching a few spells to Mage Arella-tor,
who was at that time my apprentice. One of the spells in that grimoire,
however, turned out to be enormously profitable - far beyond what he
anticipated. He decided that my payment to him had been an overpayment, and
since he knew I was seeking any possible answer to bring Dyarzi back to me, he
gave me your book in the hopes it might help, and to balance out the scales.
And now, I give it back to you," I said, and smiled.
"My spells, my notes, our guild rules and regulations, the map I made of our
tombs - it's all here. I kept everything in this book! I can't thank you
enough," she said, and hugged the grimoire tight to her chest like a long-lost
child finally come home.
"You're quite welcome - It's actually quite fortunate Karg kept it for you -
it wouldn't have survived sixteen millennia lying on the ground next to your
skeleton," I said, and Pelia grinned. "At the time I received it from Karg, I
didn't know if I would be able to bring you back from the void, so I simply
added it to my collection of reference works, and updated it as time permitted
- I hope you don't mind. I marked on your map those tombs that were destroyed
in dead zones, and the extent of the dead zones. Also, each tomb that I opened
to recover each one of your members I then sealed up with the Spell of Warding
and re-buried with an earth-elemental's assistance. Your tombs are quite
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safe."
Pelia sighed again. "No, no - of course I don't mind, I appreciate what you've
added," she replied, and tucked the grimoire under her arm. "But how will we
get our kidnapped members back? Our order can't possibly defeat the Dyclonic
Circle, and we can't ask you to take them all on alone."
I smiled again. "Don't worry. In my search for spells that would bring Dyarzi
back, I encountered several spells that would be useful here. Go back to your
tower, High Mistress Pelia, and have all your members search the beds and
hair-brushes of those who are missing. I need a hair from each of the missing
women - preferably several. Once you have them, bring them here and I will see
what I can do," I said, then stood, looking to Dragonslayer.
"My friend, it appears that a few members of my order have, in desperation and
perhaps extreme concupiscence, abducted a few of their order against their
will. I believe I can recover them, so don't worry," I said to Dragonslayer in
his own language.
Dragonslayer snorted. "They have little honor, Eddas, and that is certain. Do
you want help from us?"
"No, I think I can get them back without violence - though afterwards, I will
need your help. I'll tell you later what I intend - for now I have to prepare
to try to get these women back," I said, and set my cup in my chair, then
walked off to the tower as Pelia cast her spell of returning and vanished.
An hour later, Pelia had returned carrying a small bag, inside of which was
twenty-eight little clumps of hair tied in little leather thongs to separate
them. Most had been gathered from hair brushes, and there were plenty. A few
had been gathered from pillows, and there were pitifully few. I decided to
start with the latter, first. Because appearing amongst a large group of
giants might be frightening to these women, Pelia and I were in the top of the
tower, my grimoire open on the table before me and each clump of hair set in a
neat little row. I had pulled out all the sheets I owned from a cabinet in my
room, setting them on the bed.
"Now, I'm having to cast this from my grimoire because I never needed it
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