‘As you wish, YourHoliness.’
Chapter 2 FamilySecrets
The family mansion wasa blatant expression of Granddad’s wealth. It was a large two-storygranite building, built like a fortress and surrounded by widelawns and gardens, with a high stone wall around the periphery. Theinterior had marble floors, a grand staircase, numerous roomsoutfitted with expensive woodwork, rugs, tapestries and artwork. Itwas located among the mansions of other wealthy wizard merchants,and had a domestic staff of ten plus twelve guards, four of whomwere always on duty, manning the front gate or patrolling thegrounds.
As might be expected,the place was magically protected. There were gargoyles set intothe corners of the building to watch for aerial intruders, andseveral statues scattered around the gardens to detect those atground level.
Inside the mansion wasa magical alarm system which, when tripped, would create dense fog,hypnotic images and false illusory doorways and stairwells. Therewere also several newman-shaped constructs and statues, which couldbecome animated and be directed to defend family members or attackintruders.
The family members tookturns at managing the magic shop during the day, but always spentdinner and the evenings together at the mansion, where each hadtheir own private rooms. It was an opulent life style but it allseemed lost on Rob at the moment, as he sprawled on his bedpondering his future. His hand had reformed but now one of his feethad lost its shape and he couldn’t walk. He was scared.
Rob, who was nowtwenty-two, had started working as an apprentice magic item makerin his grandfather’s shop when he was eight years old. They haddiscovered at an early age that he had a talent for grading andembedding magic into crystals, so he specialized in that area ofmagical art known as crystal tuning.
Rob had anextraordinarily good knowledge of both standard and mind magictheory, but unfortunately his source, the special internalreservoir of magic essence that set mind wizards apart from othermagic users, was just too limited to sustain any real personalmental powers for any useful length of time. To offset this he hadbeen apprenticed, and was now a journeyman wizard. This gave him acover to keep his mind magic abilities hidden.
He had made quite anumber of items approved by the Unity of Wisdom, but had recentlyturned his talents to making special magical items for morediscreet customers, where the profits were much greater.
Once he had become ajourneyman wizard, his grandfather wouldn’t allow him to learn anylethal magic, as he couldn’t control his anger. ‘An angry wizard isa dangerous wizard to both friend and foe,’ was Granddad’sfavourite saying. ‘Defend and run Rob, that way you’ll stay alive,’was another.
Rob spent countlesshours in meditation, practicing mind control and harmony exercises.He learned strange mental defence techniques that weren’t in anytextbook, and daily practiced defending against mind magic attackson his mind from Granddad, until these skills were as automatic asbreathing. Anyone trying to charm or mentally control Rob was infor a surprise.
Of course, the ban onlethal magic severely limited his future as a serious magic user,and seemed to predestine him to the role of merchant wizardartificer for the rest of his life. He was a little bitter aboutthis, since he considered himself better than the average wizard ofhis age, and like many young wizards, desired to travel and see theworlds.
Granddad never ceasedto point out that four of his seven apprentices, who had bettercontrol over their tempers than Rob, had died in magic fightswithin a year or two of leaving his employment. Rob had grudginglyaccepted his grandfather’s wisdom and learned no lethal magic.
He was deeply depressedby the time Melanie called in with a potion from his mother to helphim rest. She sat with him and her heart went out to him. He wasthe closest thing she had to a brother, and as a brother she lovedhim dearly. His mother and hers were twin sisters, but while theylooked very similar they were worlds apart in temperament.
Tina, his mother, waswild and headstrong. She had inherited the mind magic ability fromGranddad and was a strong and powerful mind wizard like herparents. She had chosen to put her energy into healing, and underan assumed identity had become a top rate healer on other worlds,while remaining completely unknown in Panmagica, owing to the localban on mind magic. She periodically disappeared to tend to herhealing work, leaving Rob with the rest of the family.
Melanie’s mother,Flora, didn’t inherit any mind magic ability. She was totallynormal in all aspects and wonderfully loving. She was Rob’s secondmother, which in a way made Rob feel more like Melanie’s brother.She was always there for both of them, filling in when Rob’s motherwas absent. At times Melanie had even been jealous, but it didn’tlast long for Rob was too good a friend.
Peter, Melanie’sfather, had been one of Granddad’s first pair of wizardapprentices. He had captured Flora’s heart from an early age, andit had been inevitable that they would join together. WhileGranddad played politics on a grand scale, Peter was the quietprotector, keeping a close watch over the business and familyfinances. He was also a good solid wizard in a fight, and aferocious defender of the family. He had shown his worth on severaloccasions when criminals had pressured the family. Nobody toyedwith Granddad’s family unless they wanted trouble.
Rob cheered up a littlewhen Melanie arrived with the potion. He wasn’t used to being sick,since mind wizards could heal themselves of normal bodily damage orillness, but this strange bodily reaction was totally foreign tohim. He drank the potion and fell into a deep and dreamless sleepwhile Melanie sat beside him imagining the worst. A few hourslater, she woke him and together they went to the family meeting inthe planning room, which they both jokingly called the games room,for it was there that all the serious business and politicaldecisions were made.
The planning room was aheavily magic-shielded chamber about six paces square in the centreof the mansion. The floor, walls, ceiling and even the door werecovered in small, light grey ceramic tiles made of
