II - Under Watchful Eye

[Liandrix]

Under Watchful Eye

Dalaran – 17 years prior to the first war.

With a heavy thud Liandrix’ pack thumped on the grassy ground, and he had to strain in order for his jaw not to follow suit. Liandrix had just reached the top of a hill and found the complete and unblemished sight of Dalaran in front of him.

Although he had glimpsed the city in the distance, seeing the violet towers rise up from the ground from close by took his breath away. It was a city made of purple and gold, and magic too, which seemed to radiate from the very stone itself, although not visibly. Liandrix simply felt it. The immense purple buildings were separated by wide sweeping streets of smooth stone and one building in particular seemed to dominate all the others: the Violet Citadel.

Around the city a good many cottages stood spread out in the area. Most of them looked very simply made, as if the builders had let their children play outside the construction site with wood and nails while their parents worked on the wondrous violet city.

Slowly Liandrix picked up his senses and his pack. His feeling of trepidation was marred by the urge to run in and check out the Libraries described in the letter he had been clutching the better part of the day. He had read it over and over again that morning. Only when he had missed his footing by accidentally stepping into a puddle did he put it away.

As Liandrix made his way down the hill and through the wooden village that surrounded the city he noticed that the houses suddenly seemed a lot sturdier then he had made them for. Perhaps it had simply been the enormous contradiction between these buildings and the city in its midst. The villagers seemed to be content in any case. They looked happy and gave Liandrix a jolly wave as he walked past, and for a moment he felt as if he were back in Market Row. Smiling, he returned the gestures and felt that moving to Dalaran had been the best decision.

The earthen path was replaced by one of occasional stones. It fluently changed to the smooth paved roads Liandrix had seen from a distance, and suddenly he found himself amidst the purple towers. There hadn’t been a gate or a fence or any other boundary of some sort and Liandrix wondered if perhaps the city was simply guarded with magic alone. But then how had he come in unchallenged? Liandrix added the question to the pile of things to ask he had already amassed in his head.

All around him the amount of people moving up and down the path reminded him of home. There did not seem to be a specific type of person out. Liandrix always thought of mages as old wise beings rather than simply another city of people. At once another question sprang to his mind as he wondered whether or not all these people moving fluidly around him were practised in using magic.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a figure moving directly towards him. Liandrix hastily stepped aside and he noticed that the young man with blonde hair and dressed in sweeping tan robes followed Liandrix’ movements with his eyes. It dawned on Liandrix that he had come for him. Liandrix frowned as the boy, no older than himself, it seemed, stopped right in front of him and curtly – though with a grin on his face – folded his hands behind him.

“Liandrix?” he simply said as he raised a cheeky eyebrow.

Liandrix stared at him. “How did you know?”

The boy kept grinning and merely shrugged. “You’ll find out, I’ll bet. Come on, Meredith wants to meet you.”

“Meredith?”

The boy turned back to Liandrix with a frown. “Abjurer Dippel, you did get the letter she sent you, right?”

Liandrix protruded the letter from a pocket and held it up in front of the boy in one movement. The boy grinned, turned back and with a firm stride led Liandrix into the heart of Dalaran.

The boy introduced himself as Gilbert while he led Liandrix off the road and into the close-cropped buildings into the centre. They didn’t stay on the streets but sometimes simply crossed through a building, as if it were normal to walk into someone else’s place in order to take a shortcut. Nothing seemed to be locked either.

They ended up in a large building that looked like an office, and Liandrix couldn’t tell where exactly they were in the city anymore; he had lost all sense of direction. Gilbert led him up a flight of stairs, crossed a short hallway with several golden coloured doors and without so much as knocking, marched straight into one of the rooms.

The room they stepped in was filled with bookcases along the walls, which made the office look smaller than it actually was. The bookcases seemed to be filled to the brim with records of some kind. Behind a desk an aged woman with grey hair tightly bound in a long ponytail dropped a quill into an inkpot and looked up to stare at the two boys, her wrinkled hands folded under her chin.

Meredith smiled. “Thank you Gilbert. That will be all.”

Gilbert grinned, turned to clap Liandrix on the shoulder and marched out of the office without a word.

Meredith waved Liandrix to the front of the desk. “Come, dear. Closer, so I can take a look at you without these wretched glasses. There we go.”

When Liandrix had approached the desk, feeling oddly like he was about to be examined by a healer, Meredith took off her purple glasses that matched her outfit and dunked them next to the inkpot with the quill and leaned back in her chair.

“Do you have the letter I sent you?” she asked, and when Liandrix revealed it from one of his pockets again she took it and laid it down on her desk without so much as looking at it. Instead she kept her eyes on Liandrix and intertwined her fingers as she smiled.

“Good … Now, Liandrix, before I appoint you a residence outside the city, I’d like to remind you that while you are free to practise magic here in this city you will be bound by several rules that apply to anyone who enters this city, be they mage or merchant,” Meredith said. She stood up from her chair and began pacing across the small rounded windows in the back of the office.

“The resources of the Kirin Tor are free to use at your disposal, should you have need of them, but you are required to treat them with care. No practise of magic is allowed outside the city, and that includes your residence. We have a strict engagement with the citizens of Dalaran and this is one of their most important conditions for allowing us our freedom in practising magic.”

Meredith took a long breath and appraised Liandrix with a look that clearly asked if he had understood what she had said. Liandrix nodded, Meredith continued.

“As for your study, you are on your own. You may ask help from anyone, but keep in mind that most of the mages of Dalaran have their own responsibilities. Some mages allow students to become their apprentice, that choice is up to them and you are requested not to badger them about apprenticeships.”

Another inquiring look, and another nod from Liandrix.

“You should also note that, although our agreement with Dalaran states that any practise of magic is allowed in this city, the use, practise or instruction of necromancy is strictly forbidden.”

Here Meredith looked at Liandrix again, but this time she held his gaze in an iron grip of her own.

“If you are found to have meddled in this magic you will be expelled from Dalaran immediately!”

Meredith let her words ring in silence for a moment. Liandrix remembered that necromancy was considered to be one of the vilest acts imaginable by the Church of the Light. It was also mentioned early on in the book that he had brought with him from Stratholme. The act of necromancy was subtly described with words such as ‘unholy crime,’ and ‘desecration of the Light.’

Well, Liandrix thought, at least the Kirin Tor and the Holy Church had that much in common.

“Did you understand what I said?” Meredith asked.

Liandrix looked up. He had been lost in thought again.

“I said that you will be sharing your residence with another, as we are unable to facilitate all the students separately.”

Liandrix nodded again. “Of course.”

Meredith idly crossed her arms behind her back. “Well, I think that was all I needed to tell you. I will give you a map of the city so you will be able to get around without getting lost.”

Meredith walked over to her desk end picked up the abandoned letter Liandrix had brought with him. Meredith carefully folded the parchment closed once, so that the words still showed on the outside, then folded it again so that the words could no longer be seen. She gently rubbed the paper as if making sure it wouldn’t unfold again, but then unfolded it herself, revealing a perfectly drawn image of the city as seen from above, including many of the names of several buildings and places, and even the name of Lordamere Lake.

Meredith put the letter – or map – into Liandrix’s hands and appraised him with another strict gaze.

“You’ll find that your study here will be solely based upon your own responsibility, Liandrix. How far you can take your study is entirely up to you. Now, the only time we will meet in this office from now on will be if you’ve got yourself in some kind of trouble. So, in light of that fact, Liandrix, I hope we won’t meet again,” Meredith said with a wry smile.

Liandrix pocketed the letter and recognised the dismissal. As thrilled as he was to start his study when he exited the office, he couldn’t help but think about the memory of getting himself in Sister Margaret’s office for one thing or another.

“Don’t count on it,” he muttered softly to himself.