Culling, part 1

The note was brief.

"All my spells and notes are hidden in Nehir city. I didn't want the Void to destroy them if he grew angry with me, but I don't want them to stay buried in obscurity now. The password to the library's doors is 'lapis philosophorum'."

The ink looked fresh. There were no other last words, no explanations, nothing. Nor could Cael, for the life of his, identify the potions in Dante's storage.

All the vials had labels, but they all had been written in a cipher Cael didn't understand. He recognized some that Dante showed already, but the names the mage mentioned didn't relate to the text on the labels. Most other items were either useless to Cael, or equally puzzling.

As his wounds healed, Cael checked the state of his things. Thankfully, his Sending Amulets didn't suffer, and he could tell Tarek that the worst danger had passed—but he and the diplomats should stay in hiding for a while longer.