D. T. Kane discusses chapters 24 and 25 of his epic fantasy fiction novel, The Acktus Trials, with his audience. (NOTE: These chapters were previously narrated in episodes 18 and 19).
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Below are my notes/script for the show, not a verbatim transcription:
PERSONAL UPDATE
Welcome back to D. T. Kane’s Epic Fantasy Book Club. Today is May 16, 2022 as I record this, episode 20.
A bit different this week, as we’re only doing an analysis section. The last two episodes were only narration because by the time you listen to this, I’ll be in Europe in the midst of a two-week vacation! So, I’m sort of coming to you from the past this week. Woah, time travel!
Since this will be a couple weeks old by the time it comes out, I won’t dwell long on the personal update. On the writing side, I am nearly finished with the first draft of The Spoken Books Uprising, Part IV (title to be announced soon!) I wasn’t sure I’d make it, but it turns out the draft is only going to be about 100,000 words instead of the 110,000 I’d estimated, so by the time you hear this, I should have a complete draft of that and be able to rest easy on vacation. I’ll probably be daydreaming about the plot for Part V, which I find much easier to do than drafting or editing.
As for the vacation, I’m off to Ireland for 8 days, driving counterclockwise around the country: 2 days in Dublin, then Cork, two days in Kerry, Ennis/County Claire, Galway, and then Longford and Cavan Counties, which is where my wife’s family is originally from. Then we’re flying to Paris for a few days and Brussels for two days. Man, I could go on about all the plans we have, but I’ll restrain myself for now. I’ll probably give some updates in the newsletters, so signup for those if you haven’t already (dtkane.com/email-signup, and I’ll of course talk about it on the show when I return, episodes 22 and 23.
ANAYLIS CHs. 24-25
Ch. 24
A Flying Book
So Chapter 24 picks up the morning after Eromer brings Baz and Rox to his cave. Baz gets up with sun, after worrying all night about his pending trip to Tome, thinking up all sorts of worst case scenarios, like Hellar using his Influencer to cause Rox to cut Baz’s head off.
But Eromer helps put Baz’s mind at ease a bit. How calm is this scene Baz walks out into? A glowing sunrise, Eromer floating in the air, eyes closed, humming, causing grain to flow out of barrels while his animals munch on it. Even surly Baztian has to smile.
Then Baz and Eromer have a brief, but fascinating, discussion. First, Eromer tells us that Pront vi Lextor essentially turned him into a flying book. “He illuminated us with the inks of the Books, and we became like them. Like them.” So that’s how Eromer casts spells without Books. The spells are tattooed right to him.
Well, the observant of you might wonder then, why hasn’t this be done more often? It’s awfully inconvenient lugging around all these Books. Well, apparently the process is dangerous. As Eromer tells us, his blood had to be changed “at the most fundamental of levels,” elements infused into it. Many of his kind did not survive the process.
At first, Baz seems to think Pront vi Lextor was some mad scientist, but Eromer corrects him. No, the dragons volunteered for the process. It was a great honor, as Pront vi Lextor was attempting to “restore the Orators to their old powers.”
*Also, I’ll also note about why tattoos aren’t used, recall that new Spoken Books can only be created by a Bound who can Write, so presumably that rule also holds true for tattoos. So the fact that there’s no tattooing is likely also for the same reason there are no new Books—no Bound can Write.
Of course, Baz immediately asks Eromer what he means, but Eromer demurs to answer. Still, it seems pretty plain: It was once possible for men and women to cast spells without Books, and the Enigma was trying to figure out how to once more grant them that power. Why didn’t he? Well, “the Dark Ones ruined [his] work.” And sometimes, Eromer tells us, he can still hear the Dark Ones’ voices when he sleeps.
Really interesting here. First, Baz recalls that he too recently heard voices, when he cast that shadow spell to save Rox and Deliritous from Marla and Hellar. And, those of you with good memories will also recall that Pront vi Lextor was hearing voices in the prologue. What does this all mean? Well, I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions, but… whoa!
Very Few
Baz’s conversation with Eromer is cut short when Rox exits the cave. Eromer agrees to watch over Deliritous while Rox is gone and they’re quickly on their way, flying on Eromer’s back to Tome.
While in flight, Baz asks Eromer how many other Book Dragons there are, and he replies “very few.” Apparently, there are those who find the Book Dragons “far more valuable dead than breathing.” Hold that thought a moment to the end of the chapter.
They catch sight of Tome, closer this time than when we glimpsed it from a great distance. Oddly, the tall tower of the Great Library seems largely intact, withstanding time’s decay, save for its roof, which has been blown off. Some sort of magic going on here? The rest of the city certainly hasn’t held up so well. Most of the buildings little more than “piles of rocks—rubble heaps covered in centuries-old decay.”
This is as far as I may go.
Eromer sets them down at the very outskirts of the city, still a decent walk into the ruins. But Eromer will go no further because of his failed oath. But he still wants to help however he can. So he tells Baz to remove an object he has in a pouch that’s hanging from his neck. And Baz gasps when he sees it! Now, we know it’s got to be something pretty special, because Baz doesn’t really seem like the gasping type.
A viscous liquid glowed within, swirling about the a container as if it had freewill. Baz couldn’t say what color it was; each time he looked it seemed to be a different one of the five hues of the elemental quintet.
It’s a vial of dragon blood, Eromer’s own. And according to Rox, “there is no greater gift.” Eromer directs Baz to give it to the “Keepers of What Remains,” though Eromer declines to tell Baz who they are. “There secrets are not for me to tell. You will know them. Know them.” Mysterious.
OK, I told you to hold the thought a minute ago about why some people want to kill Book Dragons. The text doesn’t draw this connection directly, but if their blood is as valuable as Rox says, perhaps that’s why some people want to kill them. Book Dragon poachers? Of course, we don’t yet know why their blood is so valuable. But we will soon 🙂
While Rox is still staring in wonder, Baz calls Eromer over conspiratorially and asks him for a favor, but we don’t hear what he asks. What’s that all about? Whatever it is, Baz seems to think that it will help keep him alive if he gets out of Tome with his hide intact. Baz isn’t putting his faith in Deliritous to hold up his bargain, even despite Baz’s apparent new found respect for the Torchsire heir.
Eromer flies away and Rox and Baz head off into the ruins, actually exchanging jokes with one another.
Ch. 25
Magic
So Baz and Rox have an uneventful day walking to the ruins from where Eromer dropped them off and they camp for the night in the shell of an abandoned house. They have dinner, and Baz is getting ready to get some sleep when Rox stretches his hand out over their small fire. He’s holding his completed wyrmtooth necklace. And he wants Baz to have it.
This is apparently a big deal. Listen to how Rox describes it: “In Enigma, when someone tries to trick you, but you see through their ruse, we say you can’t fool a wyrm, for a wyrm knows no Lies. A wyrm’s talisman grants its owner insight from the All Truth herself, an ability to see through deceit.”
This is a significant object in Rox’s culture, and he’s giving it to Baz because Baz saved him from the wyrm. “You take it. And my thanks.”
But Baz doesn’t want to take it. He can’t take a gift from a man he doesn’t even like. So he tells Rox, maybe I saved you, but I did it for selfish reasons—I needed you for survival, not because I cared about your safety. “I can’t believe there’s much of your Truth in that.”
“The words stung Baz’s mouth worse than any misspoken spell as they left his lips.” Baz insists he doesn’t regret them, but of course we know he’s saying that because he actually feels the opposite. He’s starting to come around to Rox and he feels bad about turning down the big man’s gesture.
But Rox is undeterred, and follows up with one of my favorite exchanges in the book:
“My mother once told me there is magic in Truth.”
“Magic? What’s that?”
“I do not know,” Rox replied. “but I think that’s the point.” The big man held the necklace out toward Baz with renewed vigor.
Now, I’m not sure how many of you have noticed, but I don’t use the word “magic” in this or most of my other writing. That’s because magic by definition, implies something fantastical or not understood. And, of course, from our real world looking into the world of Oration, what they do with Spoken Books and the elements is magic. But in world, it’s the way of things, so why would they call it magic? Doesn’t really make sense to me, so I avoid the term.
But here Rox does use it, so there’s something special about wyrm teeth according to him, something we don’t understand. What did he say a few lines ago? It grants the “ability to see through deceit”? Maybe that’s something more than a bit of superstitious dogma? We can’t be sure for now, but Baz does eventually accept the gift, if begrudgingly.
“Don’t get any ideas, Rox. I still don’t like you.” Which, again, if Baz really felt this way, he wouldn’t feel inclined to say this aloud.
Citiless
Baz is awoken by Rox at Dawn, because a band of Citiless have walked past their hiding spot. Rox suggests they follow them, as perhaps they’ll lead them to Books. Baz nearly dismisses the idea, but then rethinks his opinion of Citiless. His only source of information about Citiless is from Readers, and we know how biased Readers can be. And Baz realizes, the only Citiless he’s ever seen, the man who was tortured back at the beginning of the novel, could allegedly Read. So maybe Rox is onto something here.
But Baz isn’t going to take any risks, either. He pulls out a Book and casts one of the few spells he actually has experience with. A “sound deadening spell,” apparently one Deliritous had him cast frequently so he could sneak off to see Delida at night. Remember, Delida is the Creation Speaker who was supposed to accompany him on the Trials, and Baz implied earlier that her and Deliritous have an ongoing affair.
Also, just an aside, have you caught the symbolism of Baz now carrying the Bookpack? The torch has passed, he’s assuming power now.
So they start following the Citiless, who are apparently on patrol for the contestants in the Trials. Baz overhears them talking, and it sounds as if the Citiless have actually been tracking them since the Firelands. Perhaps a bit more organized than the Readers back in Erstwhile would like to think if they have such a scouting network.
The Citiless leader is a young woman named Ehma in a green shirt with yellow embroidery. And she appears to be carrying a bag with a Book inside. Bingo! Good call, Rox.
Rox and Baz follow them for quite a while, finally ending up on a broad avenue that leads to the base of the Great Library’s tower. Here, Baz is perplexed. There seems to be rubble piled up all around the tower, there’s nowhere to go. But then Ehma takes the Book out of her bag and begins Speaking. So she’s a Cuss, or is it an Orator here? Regardless, it appears that Citiless who was caught at the beginning of the Book wasn’t just an isolated incident. Ehma finishes her spell and portion of the rubble vanishes! Revealing a “tall, oak door with an ornate handle in the shape of a quill.” Where does that lead?
Today, you are my oath.
Well, we don’t find out yet. Because rubble suddenly crashes to the ground behind Baz and Rox. Baz catches a glimpse of Hellar running around a corner. He’s exposed them to the Citiless! Baz curses and reaches for a Book, but pulls out that Book of shadow he used earlier, and immediately drops it. Did he hear those voices again when he touched it? Maybe his imagination, but he’s not using it.
So it’s to Rox to defend them. He tells Baz that today, Baz is his oath. Then charges out into the Citiless like a mad bull. Valiant, I suppose, but probably not a great idea. This is the first time we’ve really seen Rox in battle, and he is a force, to be sure. Crashing into the Citiless like “a mad bull into a flock of sheep.” He cuts one’s hand off, breaks another’s nose, and makes a third run. But then Ehma catches him in a spell, freezing him in place. A moment later, another Citiless who snuck behind Baz holds a knife to his throat. They’re caught!
Ehma proves to be a hard woman, with “cold, gray eyes.” She is upset over the injuries to her friends and orders Rox be killed, as he’s “too much of a risk.” Baz immediately objects, as if we needed more evidence by this time that he likes Rox. Rox is just trying to fulfill his promise. Rox is just doing what every man hopes to be able to do: Fighting for something he believes in. Why should he die for that?
Frantically, Baz comes up with an idea: Rox, the blood, show them the blood!
CONCLUSION
Homework: Read Ch. 26.
Quote:
“There’s a grain of truth in every fairy tale.”
― Andrzej Sapkowski, The Last Wish
Until next time, this has been D. T. Kane’s Epic Fantasy Book Club.
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