I looked around at the books. Nat caught my glance and said, “We are not going to read all those books in the hope of finding a single name.”

  “We may have too.” Thomas slowly disagreed.

  “You’d think the old gal’s name would be written in stone, or on a monument. Something!” Connor complained.

  “Ha!” Nat shouted.

  I don’t know about the others, but I jumped. I guess it was payback for startling them earlier.

  The bard smiled widely. “Well done, cousin, you got it.”

  Connor looked confused. “I did?”

  “Yes. Well, indirectly. The lady’s name was not carved in stone, but one of her ancestors was.”

  We looked at her blankly.

  Connor said, “Maybe the air is getting thin in here. Nat, there were no names carved for your lady, or anyone else.”

  Thomas snapped his fingers. “The tombstones.”

  “The funny grave markings?” I asked.

  She smiled. “Do you recall what we read?”

  Connor said, “I remember one read, ‘Here Lies Thaddeus Three-Toes – Mostly a Man.’”

  Thomas said, “I recall one that said, Great Grandpa Corey Corvell, Died As He Lived: Trying to Pet a Spiderbear.”

  I smiled.

  Nat said, “You’ve figured it out?”

  “You mean the one that read, ‘Lady Margaret Corvell IV, she always said her feet were killing her, but nobody believed her.’”

  “That's it.” Nat agreed with a laugh.

  “What, her name is Lady Margaret Corvell IV?” Thomas asked.

  Connor laughed. “No, but if she were Lady Margaret Corvell IV, then the original ancestor must have been Lady Margaret Corvell the first.”

  As the name was spoken, a chime sounded, and I could see that the final ward winked off.

  “The ward is gone!” I walked over to lift the lid when Nat caught my arm in the same way I had stopped her earlier.

  “Not all traps are magic.” She said. “Let me look this over.”

  Connor shrugged his shoulders at me as I stepped back. “I didn't know she knew about that, either. But she’s been surprising me all day. Let her take a look.”

  After a minute or so of examination, Natalyia said, “It looks clear.” And with those words, she opened the lid.

  We all held our breath, but all that happened was her reaching inside and pulling out a pearl ring that glowed with enchantment magic.

  “Should I try it on?” She asked.

  Three “No!” replies made her laugh. “I guess we’ll just bring it back as requested.”

  The AI whispered into my ear. Enchanter Gwydion earns an ally in Lady Margaret Corvell XIV of Keelwell and a reward of 100 gold pieces redeemable at the merchant guild offices for completing the Corvell Legacy quest. Additions and notes have been added to your Book of Quests that remain unread.

  “Seet!” Connor cheered.

  In that moment, the light went out.

  I felt a hand grab my shoulder roughly, then my arm.

  In reaction, I brought my staff around for a strike but held off as Thomas’s Holy Light sprang up and I saw it was Natalyia who had hold of me.

  Thomas said, “Sorry, guys. My Holy Light spell ran out. I forgot to recharge it.”

  I think we all gave him a dirty look.

  Nat let go of my arm and, turning around, said, “Time to go home!”

  We all turned and began walking toward the blocked stairs. I summoned a minor earth elemental from a ring and it made a smooth, round hole large enough for us to crawl through in the middle of the stone. We discovered that the stone was over two feet thick.

  “That would have taken a while to smash through,” Connor said.

  “If the air held out,” Connor commented.

  We had not even thought about that.

  As we walked up the winding stairs, Nat asked Connor what his plans were for the rest of the day.

  “Well, I got my letter from the Mage Council about Guldfest, so I’ll head back, clean up, and then get ready for the contents.”

  I paused on the stairs, and since I was leading us out, that meant everyone had to stop.

  Turing around, I asked. “You got a letter from the Mage Council?”

  “Yeah, it congratulated me on earning the votes of my guild and approval of the guildmaster. Why?”

  I set my backpack down.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “What do you need now? A shield and sword?” Thomas asked with a good-natured laugh.

  I pulled out the envelope I got at the Post Office, and with slightly trembling fingers, opened it up.

  A letter from the archmage, Mage Council chair, and my own guildmaster invited me to represent the guild at Guildfest. I had attended these games each spring with my classmates and with my parents before joining the guild. Master Sundance had no interest in such things.

  “Create a festival around crafting, that I will gladly attend!” He once told me and would laugh heartily. As I was grateful to say, he was a very different kind of dwarf, and I was fortunate to have him as my master.

  I raised the letter up to show the others.

  Connor said, “Congrats! It will be good to have some competition in the games.” But he eyed my battlestaff as he ended his words.

  “I won’t be using this at the fest.”

  “Why not? Gwydion, it is amazing, and you’d be a shoo-in to win.” Thomas argued.

  I was not so sure about that. Wizards and elementalists typically won against the other mages. It was usually the elementalists since wizards bowed out, half the time saying that such competitions went against the spirit of their guild.

  I gave them all a very serious look. “Please, as a favor to me, I’d like you to keep the staff a secret, at least until after trials. I can’t say why, but I feel it is very important that it not get revealed until that time.”

  They agreed, reluictantly. Connor had a mischievous smile when he said, “I guess that puts me back on top of the leaderboard. No hard feelings if you go down early in the free-for-all?”

  I smiled back. “Focus on me if you want, but that just means one of the warriors or thieves takes you out when you are distracted.”

  “Hey!” Thomas interjected. “Don’t count the priests out.”

  Nat chuckled, “Aside from the clerics, there’s not much competition from the holy men.”

  “And women.” Thomas said, “Paulina from my holy order will be competing; she just beat out an inquisitor for the spot.”

  I added, “Yes, inquisitors and monks can’t be easily dismissed.”

  “Or beastmasters if one shows up,” Connor added.

  “I remember a few years ago that a beastmaster and monk made it to the final four against a gladiator and an archer,” I said.

  Thomas agreed and said, “I remember that one too. Mages and thieves were knocked out early.”

  “The bard was number five, and he would have been in longer if the archer had not sniped him while he was fighting a duelist,” Nat added as we continued walking up the last section of the winding stairs.

  “Yeah, but the archer took out the duelist as well.” Thomas quipped back.

  We spent the first ten minutes walking back discussing the games, and only after the howl of a distant wolf did we refocus and pay more attention to the surrounding scrublands.

  The only other highlight on the way back into Keelwell occurred just as we were getting close to the turnoff onto Esterfeld Path. Nat saw a dozen bats sitting in a thick bush. Our group quest required a minimum of three specimens of seven different plant or animal species to complete the quest. We would be paid for whatever we brought back, but there was a ten gold piece bonus for the group if we managed to bag the set of twenty-one.

  She walked more slowly and whispered, “Wait here.”

  We watched as she got closer and, using her throwing knives, hit four out of five she had targeted.

  As soon as the third one was hit, the AI whispered into my ear. Enchanter Gwydion earns a bonus of ten gold pieces for completing the Seven by Three Alchemist quest. You earn an addition to your cognito and are known as Apprentice Component Collector and earn favor with the Keelwell Alchemist guild. Additions and notes have been added to your Book of Quests that remain unread.

  “Hey, it’s ten gold each. I thought it was ten for the whole group.” Connor said, having gotten the same update.

  Nat called over from where she was collecting the bats. “It is a sliding scale. I helped since I am already a Journeyman Component Collector, and wolf claws and fangs are at a premium each spring since they are harder to find, usually, until summer.”

  “She knows her stuff,” Thomas said admiringly.

  We all agreed.

  “So, do all enchanters wear so many rings, or just the guys?” Nat said, looking at me from the corner of her eye.

  Thomas and Connor burst out laughing, although the cleric did try to hide it immediately after with a fake cough.

  A little defensive, I said, “You didn’t mind them earlier when I gave them as gifts.”

  They didn’t have any wisecracks about that.

  “In fact,” I began, “I’m willing to offer each of you the same deal I have been giving my friends.”

  “What’s that?” Connor asked, interested.

  “If you have a skill or spell that could be useful to me, I will give you a ring so you can cast the spell for me.”

  “And how is that good for me?” Nat asked.

  “Wait for it,” Thomas hinted.

  “Then I give you the same level SUS ring for you to make another of them for yourself, or any different spell or skill that would work at that same level.”

  Connor whistled. “Yeah, let’s do some of those.”

  “What does suss mean again?” The bard asked.

  “S U S stands for Single-Use Spell. It is a one-time, throw-away spell or skill. The way I am using it, I cast it on a ring that I made, which has to be of the right quality and metal, and the person who then puts it on and does a spell or skill gets pulled into the ring?”

  “The person gets pulled into the ring?” Connor asked suddenly.

  “No. I said that wrong. The spell or skill is set into the ring. Anyone can use it afterwards.”

  Connor whistled again. “What did you have in mind?”

  “It’s based on levels. For instance, your Detonate spell is a solid third element attack spell. I’d give you a silver ring, already enchanted, and you put that spell in there. I then give you another blank ring so you can do it again for yourself, or just hold on to it until you find a third or fourth level spell or skill you want and then use it at that time.”

  “Hmm,” he said, “I’m not sure I want to give away a third level fire spell.”

  Nat laughed, “Dude, he has platinum metal rings on his mage staff. Your silver is not going to move the needle. He’s offering you a real deal.”

  She wasn’t wrong, but I did want that heavy attack spell. I didn’t have many middle level attacks; they were basically weak attacks or kill everyone nearby, at the moment.

  “I’m in,” she said. “What do you want?”

  We discussed options as we walked through The Scrub and the region just outside the city.

  There was no trouble getting back to town, and the city watch guards at the gate didn’t question us. They usually did not delay mages in guild robes, even us younger ones.

  I asked them to swing by the bank with me so I could get gold to pay them for their gems. They agreed, and Natalyia offered to handle the alchemy components for us but suggested that we all go to the merchant’s guild to deliver the ring. That way, we all got the family recognition.

  The delivery to the merchant guild was underwhelming. Nobody from the Corvell family was there, but a clerk took our names and the delivery of the ring. The guildmaster was present and congratulated us warmly, so I was confident that the ring would be delivered, but there was far less fanfare than I expected.

  I commented on it, and Nat teased, “You and Connor will both get more fanfare this afternoon than either of you wants, I’m sure.”

  With some good-natured ribbing from Thomas, we all went our own ways. As I walked toward my guild, I wondered if Connor was as nervous about the competitions as I was.

  “This will be the first Guildfest I was not actually looking forward to…