Enlightenment

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Sara turned to Prin. “Three or four years? You think we’ll be here that long?”

Maude said, “Perhaps longer. There is so much to learn, and you are so innocent. We have much of your lack of educations to make up for, and then there is all the rest you must learn.”

Prin readied herself to object, but Sara wore a strange expression that halted her. She looked to Brice, who seemed oblivious and contented—as if he didn’t understand anything of what had been said. She glanced at Maude and understood Brice had been removed from the conversation.

Prin said, “What’d you do to him?”

“The boy doesn’t need to hear or pass on any of what we talk about. He’s welcome to stay, and I’ll instruct him on some basics of how to care for himself and conceal his powers from those who might hurt him.”

“But, he is not one of us, so you’ve omitted him from our conversation?” Prin asked as she heard her voice rise in indigitation.

Maude’s tone grew stern. “As I said, he is welcome to stay, but he cannot be allowed to know certain things, or he may bring danger to all of us.”

Prin ignored her. “Back to the subject of three or four years. We were hoping to impose on you for a month.”

“That is completely understandable, dear. I should have been clear from the beginning when you asked if I would teach you. Teaching takes time.”

Prin turned to look back at Brice. “This is not acceptable, not what you’re doing to him.”

Maude said, “He is in no pain, in fact, the opposite. He will not remember any of our private conversation, but you must understand that he is a mage, a related field, but not the same at all.”

“It doesn’t seem right.” Prin stood her ground, even though she felt the subject slipping away.

“Perhaps I should explain my intentions for him,” Maude said. “I cannot teach him to be a mage any more than a cat can teach a dog to be a cat. What I can do, is that I can provide him with some basic knowledge and then send him on your ship to Indore with instructions to do your bidding. I may also locate a mage to train him, but that will take time, perhaps months or years.”

“Go on,” Prin said.

“He can seek information about those who are searching for you, dispatch others to your land of birth to gather more information about current events, and return it to you by the next voyage. You have valuable secrets to keep, young lady. And you have dangerous enemies. He can locate people to help you.”

Prin said, “I admit I need information about when it is safe to return to Indore, and we have a friend or two there who can provide that information. My plan was to visit on a ship now and then until we can return, but your idea is better.”

“And your homeland? Wren?”

“For that, he will need gold. I have a little.”

Sara said, “Your spies need only to cross the mountain pass and go to the inn where we bought the horses and ask. I’m sure Brice could easily make that trip, and as far as they’re concerned, you’ve already paid them with the coin you left in the bottom of your cup.”

“So, Brice would set up the network of spies, and when his ship arrives in Indore, he collects the information and brings it here. I like it,” Prin said. “As long as Brice will do it.”

Maude said, “There are more things we can add to the list, but one is that when he finds someone he trusts, Brice can ask them to slip an enchanted ring onto their finger. I have the ingredients and spell, and can have it ready before he sails.”

Sara said, “What will the ring do?”

Maude held up her right hand. A purple glow circled her ring finger. “That was from when I first learned the spell. I think I was about your age, Sara.”

“And it still works?” Sara asked.

Maude said, “Look at it. The spell draws almost no energy. It does nothing but create a faint glow that only another sorceress can see. But the energy to sustain comes from the person, that is why the ring must be worn for a moment, and not cast into the air, like so many other spells.”

Prin said, “You’ve used this?”

“Any person, man or woman, with this purple glow on their right ring finger is to be trusted. I have used it on seven, and located an eighth, cast by another sorceress, by accident. A woman placed the enchanted ring on, so I trusted her, and was correct to do so.”

Sara said, “Maude, if your kind offer is still agreeable, we would love to have you teach us, but we have responsibilities to our ship. The captain and bos’n are expecting us, and we should notify them to hire others in our stead. But, Brice should sail with them. And take your ring.”

Prin said, “He will need instructions for the ring, directions for the mountain pass, and he needs to learn to shield his mind from other mages. Can all that be done in a month?”

Maude said, “A few days if we hurry, but we can all do better if we teach him what he needs, and then whatever else we can.”

“First, we must ask him if he will work with us,” Sara said. “If he’s captured, he’ll die. This is no game. He needs to make his own choice.”

Prin stood. “But not tonight. I cannot stay awake any longer.”

They all agreed to go to bed. After Maude had cleared the spell from Brice, they headed to their rooms, and Prin paused in the hallway again. The distance was an illusion, she now knew, but what would happen if she walked down there? If she kept walking? Would the stretch spell continue placing more distance in front of her? If so, did it pull distance from behind and put it there? If she went down there and turned around and looked behind, what would she see?

Prin fell asleep with those contrasting, conflicting, and confusing thoughts in her mind. Thinking back, she had always been inquisitive and wanted to know more. She had wished to learn at the morning kitchen, then at her father’s apartment, and also at Evelyn’s tree. For the first time, she might have her wish granted. A place to study and someone to teach her.

The word tree triggered another thought. Treeman. She needed a new Treeman if she was going to remain with Maude. Her skills with the throwing knife were better than most who wore them, she believed, but she never wanted to feel helpless again. Since Sir James was dead and couldn’t teach her, she would either teach herself or find another instructor. She liked that. A new Treeman and someone to teach her to fight.

Since escaping the assassins over the mountain pass, she had seldom felt safe. It had been one crisis after another. She finally had the opportunity to learn, study, be safe, and work out a set of plans for her immediate future, and after.

But her future included Brice and Sara—she just didn’t know if they knew it. She closed her eyes again, and for the first time since fleeing the tree in Evelyn’s forest, she slept soundly.

The slanting rays of the morning sun found her in bed, groggy and so rested and comfortable, she could go back to sleep. But instead, she climbed from the bed, the first real bed she had slept in since her mother’s death, and made her way to the main room.

There she found Maude and Brice already in deep conversation. A bowl of fruit sat beside them, and in another bowl, warm bread that felt fresh from the oven. There was no sign of Sara, but the cat she’d believe was from her ship approached. With the cat in her lap, she watched and listened.

Maude spoke tenderly, encouraging Brice to concentrate and relax, which sounded contradictory, at best. Prin looked at Brice’s head and expected to see the shimmer that had been there, but found far less, even on the tiny hairs growing out. Then, as if a flash, his entire head was enveloped in a green haze.

“That’s it,” Maude said, excitedly. “That’s the area you need to control. Now, make it larger. Good, good. Now shut it away.”

The green glow/shimmer faded but did not disappear. Brice closed his eyes and concentrated harder, but tiny green sparkles appeared.

Instead of being upset, Maude said, “Well, the good news is you’ve tapped into a different cortex, and now even the blind sorceress can find you on a dark night.”

“It’s hard,” Brice said.

“But necessary. And this is the first lesson, so don’t be discouraged. I’m impressed you managed to locate the cortex of your mind required. The rest will be easy. Now, I want you to eat, walk in the garden and breathe some fresh air, then come back, and we’ll try again. Do not think about what we’ve discussed. That is important. Do not think about it.”

“How am I going to do that? Or, not do it?”

Prin found herself laughing. Telling him not to think about something was much the same as telling him to think about it. Then she glanced at Maude and realized the mistake she’d just made. She shouldn’t have laughed. Brice stood and walked to the door, shaking his head in confusion.

After the door had closed, Maude turned to her and said, “Never do that again.”

“I thought it a joke.”

“I wanted him to review which parts of his mind did what, and by telling him not to think about it, I knew he would, and hopefully figure it out for himself. My methods for teaching are not always linear, nor will I try to make them. Each mind is different and must be handled in ways that fit it. Brice needs to know and understand a small portion of his abilities for his safety and to hide from others. For now, no more.”

“Why no more? I mean, I’ll do as you say, Maude, but I’m wondering.”

Maude relented, and her anger fled. “Another mage can see magic performed, and often for extended periods of time after the event. We cannot have Brice sailing all over the known world, creating spells and identifying himself to every mage and sorceress within sight. He must learn slowly, and conceal himself until we can locate a mentor.”

“I wish my father was alive. He was a great mage.”

“You said he left you things.”

“A full workshop. It’s supposed to be sealed until I return.”

Maude said, “But you brought some items with you.”

“Only a few,” Prin said. “Would you like to see them?”

“I would indeed. Objects owned by great mages always interest me, but what your father left may help me to teach you, or understand some of your needs and abilities.”

Prin climbed to her feet and ran to her room. Leather satchel in hand, she strode back into the main room and found Sara waiting beside Maude, who said, “I thought perhaps Sara should join us, but I have prohibited Brice from coming inside until we finish. I hope that is all right with you.”

Prin reached under her skirt and pulled the knife she wore and laid it on the table. Beside it, she placed a round glass bead, a thin leather-bound book so old the pages tried to fall out, and the tooth of an animal the size of her small finger, and the little piece of red parchment with the red ribbon tied around it. Inside blood red ink spelled out three lines of words, while the crude image of a flying bird decorated the bottom. Last, she removed the small painting of her mother and father.

Before placing it on the table, she looked at their expressions. They were smiling. No, beaming with joy. She caught Sara’s eye and hid her smile.

“First, the knife. Did you select it from among others?” Maude asked without touching it.

“It was hidden in a drawer in my father’s workshop, but there was no reason I took it except I liked it. There was another knife, one made of black iron William said. Cuts made with it won’t heal. I wanted none of that.”

“I see nothing special about the knife, other than that it is made well. However, there is a spell or enchantment, a small one I’ve never seen and have no idea of what it does—and no way to find out, I’m afraid.”

“So, sometimes a knife is just a knife?” Prin smirked.

Maude ignored her. “The bead is not glass. I think it may be something or someone the mage compressed and rolled into that sphere.”

“I don’t understand,” Prin said.

Maude held it to the light and peered inside before setting it down. “This bead was something before it became this. Perhaps an enemy, or a beast that attacked him. Whatever it was, he spent a tremendous amount of energy to turn it into this. I’ll bet he slept for days to recover.”

Prin and Sara exchanged glances, but Maude picked up the book carefully, sliding a few pages back to where they belonged. “This,” she said, “was written long before your father was born. Not that any magic tells me that, but the age of the parchment, the fading of the ink, and the few words that I see are old, barely the same language we speak. Why he considered this book valuable, I cannot tell you, but the fact he kept it with his most precious things is significant.”

Prin said, “If it’s old and can’t be read, why is it important?”

“I cannot say, but I might venture a guess.”

“Please do,” Prin said.

“These items were the few things hidden in his most secure location, so they may be connected. For instance, the owner of the book may be in the glass bead.”

“The bead might have been a person?” Prin found herself on her feet as the impact of the suggestion made itself known to her. She looked away, not wishing to see or touch the bead. The idea terrified her.

Maude shrugged. “It still might be a person. And you may resurrect him if you are not careful. If your father was a good man, and I believe he was, he wouldn’t place any but the worst enemy inside a bead.”

Prin said, “I have so much to learn.”

Maude examined the tooth. “Ah, now this I can definitely tell you belonged to a dragon, but not a large one, at least as far as dragons go.”

“They are not real,” Prin said.

“Not now.”

Prin said, “But they were? Somewhere?”

“Well, I have not been everywhere, and have never seen one for myself, but your tooth came from a dragon, so the question to ask again is: why did he place it with the other things he values?”

None of them came up with a reasonable idea.

“What about the red parchment?” Prin asked, anxious to find all she could while she had the opportunity.

Maude carefully removed the red ribbon, unrolled it, and then carefully re-rolled it again. She replaced the ribbon back on it and said, “You will never unroll, look at that, or show it to another.”

Sara said, “We looked at it.”

“But did not say the words, or one of you would now be dead. The red bird is a mage warning, but it is a spell used for slaying masses, maybe thousands of people.”

“Then we should destroy it,” Prin said.

“No, we should not. We don’t know what forces that might unleash. It needs to be hidden for all time. I’d suggest hiring ten men to dig a hole for twenty years and place it in a sealed bottle at the bottom and fill in the hole.”

“Really?” Prin asked, trying to imagine how deep that hole might be.

“I consider the scroll to be that dangerous. Now, taken all together, you own a bead of a compressed being, a book that may have belonged to that being, a dragon’s tooth, and the parchment calling for death to all who hear the words upon it spoken. I suggest that tells us something important.” Maude hesitated, “But I do not know what. Of course, I may be completely wrong that they are associated.”

Sara said, “Your ideas follow a logical pattern.”

Maude turned her attention to the painting. She smiled. “Your father and mother. It is enchanted, by several layers of spells, but you already knew that.”

“Yes,” Prin said.

“Do you know the precise enchantments? Because I see at least three, and perhaps five, some from a sorceress, and others the work of a mage.”

Prin said, “All I know is that their expressions change.”

“Ah, I have a painting over there on that wall where the woman’s eyes seem to follow you around a room. A clever trick of the artist.” Maude jutted her chin at a painting.

“No, not like that,” Prin said. “Look carefully. They are not smiling as much as before you decided it was a trick.”

Maude held it up and shifted it to a better light. “I confess, they do not appear as happy, but not everything is magic, child.”

“I have seen them scared for me, and angry.” Prin crossed her arms across her chest, ready to fight Maude over the painting.

“Really?” Maude seemed fascinated. “Do you mind if we hang it on a wall in here where it can watch over us? And we, them?”

“I’d like that.”

Maude said, “The spells and incantations are one thing, but this picture is also linked to you. Inside the paint are hairs from your parents, of course, but there is more I’m unfamiliar with. I can account for possibly one of the spells, but I have no idea of the others. What I do know, is the same light reflects from the painting as from your face.”

Sara moved closer to Maude. Her eyes shifted back and forth between the painting and Prin, and Maude guided her. Finally, Sara said, “She’s right. I can see it now.”