Chapter 22

“Energy, Physics, Earth, and Psychic,” Tom said.

Tom looked at Monte, “Most Shield Mages have Lore, not Earth and Psychic is normally a higher skill. While the gems are small, I bet you can still perform lots of protection spells, like shields to protect your noble.”

“They probably even help you drive the bus through space and time. Psychic would help you anticipate the needs of your noble. I bet; the orb even anticipated that it needed to help you fulfil the condition you imposed.”

“It would want you to stop fighting the directives it has, to provide a driver for the noble you serve. It probably even influenced me to help you. Me rescuing Lorena would want me to heal her and thus you.”

“I don’t want to serve another noble. I’m a Prince and have my own life to live,” Monte whined.

“Sorry, until we can find a replacement for you, I guess we are stuck together in this adventure. Mind you it would be good if we can swap the bus for something a bit more comfortable.”

“Well, you’re a wizard, why can’t you deck it out or something,” Monte shot back.

“You do come up with some great ideas, my man,” Tom grinned back. “I didn’t just learn herbology and healing spells while at school. Gary said I had to have a more rounded education, and I agreed.”

“Talking about herbology, I have no idea where to find Rocksbane,” Monte said with worry.

“By the Gods! Why do you need that plant? It is extremely poisonous,” Donny asked in horror.

“To make the cure,” Tom and Monte said together.

Donny looked at both of them, “It only grows in a crystal cavern and near an active vent. As far as I know, we don’t have such a cavern in this island group. I do know that plenty of people have looked over the years.”

“I only know of Rocksbane because it was in the herb books that I had to study as a child. My teacher came from Alli Island, it is thousands of klicks to the north-west of our islands and in the Aqua Islands.”

“Then why did the orb bring us here?” Tom inquired. “I asked it to bring me to where I could find Rocksbane and Monte came straight here.”

Monte frowned and then grinned. It wasn’t a pretty sight, but then Tom could hardly blame the man with his current looks.

“So somewhere on this island is a crystal cave,” Kat piped up excitedly almost bouncing on her seat. “Oh, it would be so good if we can find one. The income from it would help us out so much.”

Monte and Donny both chuckled. “Kat is our treasurer and a real entrepreneur,” Monte explained to Tom and smiled at his younger wife.

“Don’t worry, I have several good uses for them too,” Tom replied.

Monte looked at Tom, speculatively, “You’re probably the highest-ranking wizard on the planet. I bet you could make magical items too. You could make some simple items that help my people from getting sick. Not all magical items are for enhancing magical skills.”

Tom nodded, “Yes, I remember Gary telling us of some of the items Queen Lee had locked away because they have some very nasty spells on them. I don’t think I could make items that stop all illnesses, but I can think of a couple of spells that would help ward off some and help the person recover quicker if they do get sick.”

Kat giggled, “I could sell them by the bucket full.”

While they had to smile at Kat’s enthusiasm, they all liked the idea very much.

In the morning, Tom asked Monte to take him to where he found the box.

Monte wasn’t a hundred per cent sure where, but he did remember the general location. They packed up some provisions and even acquired some basic mining and climbing equipment. They planned to be gone no longer than four days.

Monte then led Tom down to what they called the cellars. These were huge storage chambers that could be accessed near the base of the northern cliffs that their homes were located in. He explained that the day Kat went missing, she had been showing Quint around and had taken him to the wine stores in the sea tunnel.

The huge tunnel was dead straight and ran some two and a half klicks, through the mountain to the bay in the north. The floor of the tunnel canted slightly towards the walls for drainage. The base was roughly, 30m wide and the tunnel was 15m at the highest point.

At the halfway point, there were 200m wide and 250m long rectangular-shaped ponds either side of the passage. The ponds were always full. The excess water drained into the mountain, and the locals had never seen the tunnel flooded.

Lumi-moss covered the ceilings and upper walls of the tunnel and the side chambers. They also had a row of 5m tall, gas-supplied lanterns that ran down the centre of the tunnel. Together, they provided sufficient light to see quite well.

As they walked, Monte explained that they believed that the moss actually ate the rock. They had recorded that the rooms had grown by about a centimetre every hundred years.

They had no idea when the tunnel and the caverns were built. They were documented as being there when his people settled on the island. At regular intervals, great caverns had been constructed.