journey inside so that I could examine the place where I had seen him.
A minute later I was standing where he had been. There was no circle. Searching the corridor and nearby rooms I didn’t find any nearby either. Yet he had vanished. My recent study of illusions had made me quite aware of some of the possibilities magic held with regards to fooling the eyes but I knew of no way to make a someone completely undetectable to normal vision. Setting that aside I couldn’t imagine how he could hide from my mage- sight, even the shiggreth left an empty place that could be sensed if I paid enough attention.
So is he still here, or not? The thought set the space between my shoulder blades to itching. I double checked my shield and began walking briskly toward the training yard. As soon as I spotted my burly friend I shouted, “Dorian!” Surprised he looked up and after he spotted me he gave the men a few more instructions before walking to meet me.
“You look worried,” he said. My friend had a gift for understatement.
“There’s an intruder inside the castle,” I told him without preamble.
“What?!”
I began explaining what had happened, which took longer than I had expected. Dorian was full of questions and my story was less than clear to him since he didn’t really understand magic in the slightest. Finally he summed up the story for me, “So you don’t know if there’s someone here now, or if they’ve gone… and it’s possible you were just imagining things, since you never actually saw them with your eyes.”
“That sums it up, except for the imagining part. There was someone there and he was using magic of some sort,” I replied. “What do you think we should do?”
Dorian gave me a look that spoke volumes… his mouth gaped and his eyes were wide. “A rogue wizard is loose in the castle and you’re asking me? If you can’t find him I don’t have a clue what to…” His eyes got wider for a moment. “Go find Penny! Stay with her till I find you.”
“Wait,” I said in confusion. “Why Penny?”
“Just make sure she’s safe! I’ll take care of the rest!” Dorian shouted back. He was already heading toward the training field and before I got to the stairs I could hear him yelling instructions to the men at arms there. I ran in the opposite direction and cursed myself for not thinking of Penny. It was a sign of my own growing vanity. I had assumed that whatever risk the intruder posed must be directed at me. As I ran I found her with my mind… she was never too far from my thoughts so I located her easily.
Inside the keep I took the stairs two at a time and as I reached the floor we lived on I started yelling her name. She was in the nursery, probably decorating again, or ‘nesting’ as she called it. She was alone as far as I could tell, and in fact the only other person was a maid cleaning rooms at the opposite end of the hall. She looked curiously out of the room as I ran past but I paid no heed to her questioning.
I burst through the door to our rooms without slowing down and nearly knocked Penny to the floor, she had been running the other way. “What the hell?” she exclaimed, in her hand she held a sheathed sword.
“Damn, you almost skewered me with that thing!” I said, ignoring the fact that my shield would probably have protected me. Then again, I did enchant her blade… it might well cut through my shield, I thought, remembering my fight with Devon Tremont.
She arched an eyebrow at me. “That’s why I don’t take it out of the scabbard until I see someone worth cutting, genius,” she replied tartly, waving it in front of me.
I couldn’t help but smile inwardly. My girl definitely has a mouth on her. Can’t help but love her, I thought to myself. I took her hand and with a word and a thought I built a shield around both of us. My breath was still coming heavily after my sprint up the stairs.
“Are you planning to share the details with me?” she asked.
Drawing another deep breath I replied, “I found someone in the castle, watching me. Dorian suggested I find you first.” I was still panting and even I will admit it wasn’t the most complete answer I have ever given.
“So you need me to protect you from your secret admirer?” she asked.
Laughing made it harder to catch my breath but I was almost fully recovered by then anyway. “Maybe,” I said with a grin. “The intruder was using magic of some sort, and he was able to hide himself from me. I think Dorian thought you might be a target so he suggested I find you first.”
Penny patted her softly rounded stomach, “I’m definitely a good target and getting easier to hit by the day.”
I should have known she’d bring that up. Women never seemed to miss an opportunity to bring attention to their growing waistlines, even though they complained about it. “You aren’t that big yet,” I said, another half-truth on my part, but all part of a husband’s duty. “You do bring up a good point though, should you really be picking up steel and fighting unknown foes in your condition?”
“Would you rather I lay down and wait to die if someone attacked me?”
Alright, I had to admit… looking at it from that perspective she made a lot of sense. “Point taken,” I said.
“No… no point taken… that’s the point,” she replied.
I groaned, “How long are you planning to keep this up? It really isn’t that funny.”
“Fine, but if you keep acting like a wet blanket this princess isn’t going on any more adventures with you,” she answered with mock seriousness.
Obviously Penny was in an interesting mood, something that had become rather common since her pregnancy started. I stared at her, wondering at her sanity. “You aren’t a princess, and even if I went on adventures I wouldn’t take you, you’re pregnant!”
She stared at me intently for a moment before I noticed how still she had become. Her eyes had gotten wider and were beginning to well with tears. A chill went up my spine as I realized her mood had just flipped. “Have I gotten that fat already?” she asked. There was a tremor in her lip.
Oh bloody hell! I thought. “No, no, that’s not what I meant!” Thankfully one of the guards arrived and knocked on the door. I opened it quickly, hoping for a distraction.
“My lord,” he said quickly, “Where would you like me to take up my post?”
My mind was blank for a moment till I realized Dorian must have sent him to guard our rooms. I concentrated for a second until I recalled his name. “Barnabas, right?” I said, snapping my fingers.
“Yes your lordship,” he answered hesitantly.
“Come inside. You may take your post there by the door,” I told him. Ordinarily I’d have set him outside the door, but if the intruder was using magic it would just make the guard an easy target. Plus if he were inside it might help stabilize Penny’s mood.
After that we moved into the antechamber adjoining our bedroom and sat down. We held hands while we sat and I cast my senses outward, trying to follow the movements of our guards through the castle. Dorian seemed to be conducting a room to room search of the entire place.
“Do you think it was another wizard?” Penny asked, breaking the silence.
“There aren’t supposed to be any others,” I said, except that there had been. The late Devon Tremont came immediately to mind. “But we’ve already seen that that may not be true I guess. It’s more likely to be a channeler though.”
“And if it is a channeler?”
“Then he isn’t friendly. The dark gods are definitely our enemies and the shining gods seem to want me dead now too,” I said. Another knock at the door interrupted our conversation. “You can let them in,” I told the guard. “It’s just my mother and more guardsmen.”
Barnabas opened the door and five more guardsmen entered, escorting my mother. She seemed none too pleased about having been suddenly uprooted from her house and forced to quick march into the castle. “What’s going on Mordecai?” she asked me.
“I found an intruder in the castle, but he escaped. Dorian sent the guards to make sure you were safe, and he must have felt you’d be safest if you were with us as well.” I agreed with him on that point. I also appreciated the fact that he had sent no less than five guards to make sure Miriam was safely escorted. “Are you still wearing the necklace I gave you?” I added.
My mother huffed, “I’ve never taken it off.” It might be worth mentioning that as an only son, and an adopted one at that, my mother had always been quite attached to me.
I ignored her irritability and began explaining the situation. Dorian and Rose joined us as I finished. It was worth noting that he had escorted her personally. “We didn’t find anyone,” he announced.
