remembered I hadn’t replaced my shield. The lightning had burned it away from me. My hand touched the door handle but nothing happened. I stood still for a moment, wondering why the barrier hadn’t stopped me. I let go and stepped back. “That’s odd.”
“What?” Penny asked.
“I just touched the handle, but a minute ago I couldn’t even reach it,” I responded. An idea came to me and I re-shielded myself. Reaching for the handle I found myself stopped by the invisible barrier again. My hand couldn’t get within six inches of the handle. “I’m going to try something stupid,” I said, looking at Penny.
“Let me get the fire brigade first,” she replied. I’m not sure if she was joking, but I didn’t wait. I removed my shield and reached for the door handle. I gripped it without problem and pulled. The door opened easily.
The doorway revealed a large entry hall. The walls were paneled in oak and stained a dark color, contrasting the lighter brown of the wood floors. I stepped inside and a crystal globe hanging above lit up, casting a warm golden light across the room. “Oof!” That was Penny; she had run into the barrier outside the door.
“Oh let me fix that for you,” I said and removed the shield I had put over her. “Ok now try.” She cautiously tried to enter once more but the barrier stopped her anyway.
“That’s odd, when I removed my own shield it let me in.”
“Maybe the magics are keyed to allow the descendants of your line inside,” Rose put in. As usual her quick insight made sense but a few things still didn’t fit.
“I know my mother lived here with him and she wasn’t a descendant so he must have had some way for her to enter.” Not to mention the protective magics had nearly fried me before I removed my shield. My best guess was that they couldn’t identify me while my shield was in place. Still there had to be a way to let strangers and guests inside. “I’m going to look around a bit, I’ll be back soon.”
“You’re enjoying this aren’t you?” That was Penny, she wasn’t happy about being left outside. I gave her a smile and shut the door.
Before I had gone two steps she started banging on the doorknocker. Apparently she was allowed to touch that. I started to turn back but a voice stopped me.
“There is a woman at the door.” It sounded very similar to Benchley but I could tell the voice emanated from the enchantments around the house. I suppose they had people like him back then too. No accounting for taste I guess.
I was in a contrary mood, “See who it is.”
A moment later the voice replied, “She says her name is Penelope Cooper and she is accompanied by a Rose Hightower.”
Of course, I toyed with my options, but I didn’t really know what they were, “What are my possible responses?” I asked.
“You may deny them entry, permit them to enter, or have them eliminated,” the dry voice responded. I didn’t like the sound of ‘eliminated’. It probably entailed the same sort of lightning attack that nearly put me in an early grave.
“Allow them entry,” I commanded. The door swung open on its own and I could see an exasperated Penny standing outside.
“Would you please explain to your talking door who I am?” she said.
“Already did, come on in… we’ll see what happens this time.”
She and Rose were both able to enter without a problem. The door politely closed itself once they were inside. The complexities of the enchantments were beyond anything I had previously imagined but they set my mind spinning with ideas. Meanwhile Penny glared at the door as if she were plotting revenge. “I hope I don’t have to go through that every time I come in,” she said finally.
“What do you mean?”
With a sigh she answered me, “It’s your house now Mort. We’ll probably be living here whenever we’re in the city.”
I hadn’t given it any thought before but she was probably right. Assuming we ever returned to Albamarl. I doubted I’d be back within the half a year I had left to live. “Um, ‘House’ I have a question.” I was addressing the enchantments now. It didn’t respond. “Door, is there a way to let someone in without my permission?” Still no answer, obviously I had a lot to learn.
“Just forget it for now Mort. Let’s see what the house looks like,” Penny interrupted.
I didn’t feel like arguing with inanimate objects in front of her and Rose anyway so I quickly agreed. We made our way through the entry hall to examine the rest of the house.
Chapter 9
King Edward Carenval sat in his reception chamber looking over the man who stood in front of him. The fellow was in his mid-forties and looked like he’d led a hard life. He stood six feet in height with dark hair and eyes, though his hair had gone grey at the sides. He bore no weapons, being in the presence of the king, but something about his stance gave the impression that there should be weapons on him.
“Do you know why we have called you here today?” Edward began.
“I would prefer not to make hasty assumptions your majesty, but given my past I would think it might have something to do with the Count di’Cameron.” The man looked up from where he knelt, meeting the king’s eyes.
“Indeed. We find ourselves in need of your counsel. Who would have guessed that Tyndal’s child survived?” Edward rubbed his beard as he spoke.
“It was always a possibility. They never found her body or her child’s.”
“We understood that if a wizard died his pact-bearer died with him,” the king’s eyes were curious.
“They severed the bond before his death, your majesty.”
“Is that possible? What is the point then?” Edward asked.
“It is possible your majesty, but according to the histories it had never happened before. Both parties must agree to it and the Anath’Meridum are sworn to never relinquish the bond. My guess would be that they agreed to it so that she could flee with the child.”
“Cyhan, you were involved in Elena’s training, but how would you know she severed the bond rather than having simply died?”
Cyhan answered, “When the bond is formed a gem is created. It is kept by the trainer from that day forward. It glows as long as the bond is intact and crumbles to dust when those bonded die.” He reached into his pouch, bringing out a dull red gem. “Tyndal and Elena’s gem faded but did not crumble, indicating they broke the bond before he died.”
Edward leaned forward to look at the gem, “Why was this not reported?”
“It was reported your majesty,” Cyhan looked steadily into the king’s eyes without wavering.
“No matter,” Edward waved his hand, “we must have forgotten after the news of the Cameron’s destruction reached us. You must do better with the new trainee. We cannot afford another mistake such as Elena’s.”
“I agree your majesty, though if it had not been for that mistake there would be no new Anath’Meridum to train.” Cyhan was overstepping his bounds but he had always been brash.
Edward looked at him sharply, “Be mindful of your words lest they lead you to trouble. If Elena had fulfilled her oath we would no longer have to worry about unbound wizards destroying the world. You will meet Mordecai tomorrow. You are to return to his home and see that he chooses quickly. If he refuses send word immediately, before you try to… remedy the situation.” He left unspoken what the remedy would be, but they both knew there was only one possibility.
“Yes your majesty, I look forward to meeting him. I understand he has been free for over a year now. Did you see any sign of madness in him?” Wizards were always more difficult to manage if they had already become unstable.
“We would not know what to look for, but he seemed sane enough,” Edward answered. “You may go now. You can judge for yourself when you meet him tomorrow.”
