Return to Canifis

No. This can’t be. Not with Gar’rth and Kara.

This isn’t right.

Ebenezer felt his eyes water. He groaned on the bed.

“Please,” he said, his voice broken. “Please leave me. I need some time. Just a little time.”

But it will take more than that. They were my friends.

He hid his face in his hands and didn’t hear the door close. But when he looked up a short time later, he found only Sally remaining.

She was crying.

How utterly selfish of me! She has lost Albertus, too.

“I am sorry, Sally. I am so sorry.”

She nodded and sat by his side, her head on his shoulder.

Sometime later, a knock at the door disturbed them. Ebenezer looked through blurred eyes as a man in a wizard’s robes stepped into the room.

“I do not know if you remember, but my name is Layte Aubury,” he said softly. “I am sorry to intrude on you like this, but I feel it necessary to tell you that all is not lost. Castimir, at least, lives still, and I believe he is unharmed.”

Sally rubbed her eyes.

“How can you know that?” she asked.

Aubury lowered his gaze briefly to the floor before raising his head again.

“I have been in contact with the Wizards’ Tower. In light of the message from Paterdomus, I asked them if they could discern news of Castimir. They have informed me that he is alive and unhurt. Thus far.”

Wizards and their magical ways, the alchemist fumed. Confound them all.

“But how?” Sally asked again. “So soon. I don’t understand.”

Aubury gave Ebenezer a long look. The alchemist saw how his hand dipped to the wand at his belt, and how he brushed it with his fingers.

“Magic exists that allows people to travel vast distances in the blink of an eye, Sally,” Ebenezer explained. “You know I once tried out as a wizard, years ago. I know that certain spells exist but such power was far beyond me.”

Aubury nodded.

“It is not a spell for the novice,” he said. “But just as individuals may travel long distances, so too can we commune. And that is what we have been doing. I have asked for Castimir’s yak to be sent on to Varrock, for it is not appropriate that his belongings may fall into the hands of someone who is not of our order.

“Castimir is alive, and it may well be that his comrades are also.”

Sally’s face lit up. Ebenezer’s heart raced.

Then there is hope still. And now is the moment when all our efforts must be put to the task.

Now.

“Thank you, Layte, for your consideration,” he said, his voice firm. “It has lifted my spirits. Now I must go and help where I am able. Please inform me if the situation… changes.”

* * *

Ebenezer’s sudden energy was turned to exasperation at the very first hurdle.

A palace guardsman refused to allow him an audience with the King. His pleas were for nothing, and with an angry turn he found himself walking hesitatingly into the eastern bailey, where only a few days before, the Midsummer Festival had been held.

There was no sign of the celebration now.

That seems like so long ago. And my body feels every minute of it.

He gripped the walking stick tightly, aware that he couldn’t manage without it. Once, he stumbled and cursed loudly as he guided himself down onto a step in a slow ignominious landing. He sat in the late afternoon sunlight, gritting his teeth.

And now Varrock refuses my help. All my fame, all my experience, for what? They see me as a tired old man who is in everyone’s way.

He hacked at a stone in anger, and as it flew across the ground a shadow fell across his face.

“Ebenezer?” said a female voice.

He couldn’t see her face, for the sun was behind her shoulder, blinding him.

This is all I need…

“I am,” he replied brusquely, wondering if he could reach her ankles with the stick.

“I know Sir Theodore. He is a good man,” the woman said. “My name is Ellamaria. I helped tend your injury as you lay abed. Tell me, is there any news of the embassy?”

Yes. And it’s all bad.

He mastered his frustration and marshalled his thoughts.

“There is some news,” he said with a sigh. “And it isn’t good. Some of their steeds returned in a panic to Paterdomus, without their riders. But there is still cause for hope. Castimir the wizard is alive, according to the Tower, which bodes well for the rest. However, there is nothing definite.”

She nodded in the sunlight, and then sat down on the step at his side. When her face was out of shadow, Ebenezer saw her clearly. She was an attractive woman, with long dark hair and high cheekbones.

He exhaled in an exasperated huff.

“I should have gone with them,” he said angrily, aiming his stick at a stone and missing it by a good margin.

“And what could you have done, had you been there?”

“Sometimes just to be there is enough. It was like that at Falador.”

“I have heard others tell of your part in Falador-in the siege, commanding your levies. They held the breach that night. They saved the city and the lives of all its citizens.” She peered at him intently. “You, master alchemist, were key to the victory.”

Ebenezer laughed bitterly.

“And now look at me. Only six months ago I was the saviour of Falador, apparently. Now I am turned away from the King by a simple guard, my words ignored without even being heard.”

He growled angrily and swung again at the stone, this time leaning forward. He overextended himself, however, and his leg slipped on the step. He fell to the one below with a grim snarl and a half-uttered expletive.

But Ellamaria seemed not to notice.

She hides her laughter well.

Then when she spoke, Ebenezer knew he had misjudged her.

“Sir Theodore showed me kindness in the dungeon that night,” she offered. “If you think you can help them in any way, and Varrock itself, then you must allow me to do you a service, for I am to see the King tonight. Privately.”

“Ah.” He felt himself blushing. “Oh, my.”

“It is nothing salacious,” she assured him, this time with a hint of amusement. “But a man of your reputation cannot be ignored. I feel that everything that can be done must be done.”

Her eyes took on a steely look, and her voice was determined. “I believe Varrock to be in danger. I believe in this prophecy, and any help we can have we would be wise to accept.” She stood quickly and gazed down at him.

“Goodbye, master alchemist. You shall hear from me tomorrow. Until then, you must be patient.”

She stood and left him alone on the steps. But somehow, he felt, a great victory had been won.

The morning came and went. Lucretia brought Ebenezer breakfast in bed, and as he ate the thick porridge flavoured with the King’s own honey, he realised just how famished he was.

“Don’t eat too much too quickly. Your body isn’t used to it just yet.” Lucretia warned him. Lady Caroline’s maid had already cleaned his wound and examined his injured forehead with a critical eye. Satisfied, she now sat opposite him as if she were guarding a dangerous felon.