“You know Lycian?” he asked in a tone of wonder.
I frowned, “I thought it was a requirement of sorts. Isn’t it?”
“It’s been a dead language for several thousand years and there haven’t been more than a handful of wizards for at least six or seven generations. Most of them just passed along what useful spells and phrases they already knew,” he replied.
I hadn’t considered things in that light before, and frankly I was shocked. “Well I guess if you really needed to do something and you didn’t have the words you could just do it without words,” I said quietly.
Walter sighed and shrugged his shoulders invisibly, “That’s incredibly difficult, not to mention dangerous.” He said it as if it weren’t really an option.
I decided not to pursue the conversation further. I had done quite a few things without words in the past and while it did take a considerably greater expenditure of energy I hadn’t really thought it was dangerous or difficult, just tiring. Somehow I knew Walter would be shocked, and probably disapproving so I figured it wasn’t something we needed to discuss.
I had already mentally located Rose so we headed down the hallway and toward the small study where she was currently reading something. As we went I had a sudden thought. “You must be the world’s greatest peeping tom,” I said to Walter.
He coughed uncomfortably, “Well that is one of the particular uses for my ability.”
I nudged him, “I don’t mean just ‘spying’ like you were doing for the King, I mean women, ladies and such.”
“I wouldn’t do that,” he replied.
“You mean you never thought about it?” I asked incredulously. “Are you sure you’re feeling well?”
He shook his head, “Well I mean, obviously I’ve ‘considered’ it, but I’ve never abused the ability in that way.”
“Bullshit,” I declared.
“Look, Mordecai,” he began, “you don’t honestly expect me to stand here in the hallway and tell the man I was sent to spy upon for several months that I enjoy sneaking around and looking at women undressing and such… do you?”
It took a moment for that to percolate through my head. Eventually it got through to me though, “You pervert! You’ve peeped at Penny haven’t you!?”
If he hadn’t been invisible Walter would have been incredibly red. “No! But that is exactly why we are not having this conversation! Rest assured I am a married man and I wouldn’t waste my time creeping about and looking in on naked women.”
My eyes narrowed, though I wasn’t using them anyway. “You haven’t seen your wife in four years you said.”
Walter finally lost his temper, “Do you realize how stupid you sound!? You’re a wizard. It isn’t as if you have to be invisible anyway! Hell they don’t even have to be naked you moron! Obviously you can simply examine them anytime you want… clothes or no clothes. So why in the hell are you getting worked up over the fact that I can turn invisible?!”
His observations were dead on and I felt a bit sheepish. “You’re right Walter. Not that I would do that. I just didn’t think it through properly.”
Rose spoke up from the study doorway, “As I recall just the other day you were observing our friend Marcus while he was behind closed doors with his lady friend. What was her name? Oh yes, Marissa, that was it!”
I spun about and stared agape at her. “That’s not what happened! You told me to check on him!”
She smiled, “I didn’t have to try very hard to convince you to do it, now did I? This really isn’t fair Mordecai. I’m sure your face must be priceless to look at right now. You may as well make yourselves visible so I can see you.”
Chapter 40
“You don’t startle easily do you?” I asked as we sat in her study. I had already taken the opportunity to introduce her to Walter.
Rose laughed, “It is difficult to be startled when the culprits sneaking into your home are having a shouting match in the hall.”
“We weren’t shouting,” I responded while she shook her head in disagreement with me. “Walter, tell her we weren’t shouting,” I said looking to him for support.
The older wizard shrugged, “Well… we did get rather loud.”
“Fine… we got rather loud. That’s not why we’re here anyway,” I said grumpily.
“I’m assuming you noticed the men watching your house,” said Rose.
I nodded, “That’s why we used Walter’s invisibility to arrive here unseen.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t use a disguise, or just lose them once you were away from your house. Marcus and I have been managing that way for the past few days,” she commented.
“I’m afraid that isn’t good enough Rose. I can’t afford to let the King know that I’m back in the city.”
That piqued her interest. “I assume you have some new development to relate,” she replied.
“I have good and bad news,” I said, unsure how to begin.
She tapped her fingers on the desk. “I’ve already heard the worst so don’t think to spare me.”
“Dorian and Penny are alive and probably aren’t far from the capital,” I said abruptly.
She stood and put her back to us with a speed that surprised me. “Walter would you mind stepping outside,” she said carefully.
He rose and headed for the door, “Certainly. I’ll wait in the hall.”
After he had gone she looked toward me and her appearance shocked me, red eyes and tear stained cheeks where just moments before she had been composed and flawless. “Mordecai, are you sure? If this is some trick I won’t be able to handle it.”
I shook my head, “I don’t have any way to be sure yet Rose. I only found out this morning and the circumstances were unusual, to say the very least.” I crossed the room and put my arm around her shoulders.
“You haven’t said yet what the bad news is,” she said with her head against my chest. Before I could answer I felt her stiffen and she pushed me out to arm’s length, “Oh Gods! It’s the King isn’t it? Edward has them!”
Since I hadn’t told her any of the details yet I was rather astonished at her guess. “Yes. How did you figure that out?”
“We already had good evidence he was the one that sent the original abductors to Lancaster. Now you tell me they are alive and I just got news of something unusual that occurred the other night,” she answered. “Mordecai, do you have any idea what he wants?”
“Slow down,” I told her. “I still don’t know what you’ve learned.”
“Why don’t you tell me how you discovered that they are alive,” she suggested.
“In a moment, first I want to know what you found out about the other night,” I countered.
She shrugged, “Not much really, just that the King dismissed the guards at the palace’s postern gate for several hours. I had no clue what his reason was, but I knew he had to be meeting someone secretly, or moving something that needed to be kept hidden. Now that you tell me they’re alive… you can see how my thoughts lined up.”
If I had ever doubted how keenly sharp Rose’s mind was I had all the evidence I needed to prove otherwise now. Her mind was a weapon. If we did ever manage to rescue Dorian I almost felt sorry for him. He’d never be able to get anything past her. Good thing he was honest to a fault. “I’m still amazed at your quick wits Rose,” I told her.
She was trying to mend her appearance by dabbing at her cheeks with a small cloth she had produced from a drawer in her desk. “Let’s hear your story Mordecai,” she reminded me but before I could start she crossed over to the door and opened it. “You can come back in Walter, thank you.”
I explained our near disastrous exploration of the caves near Lancaster and described our encounter with the creature that now inhabited Timothy’s small body. She listened carefully and let me finish before she spoke
