by Guy Antibes
Jack didn’t know if that were true of the tall, dark wizard, but Ari was free to move around without being as watched.
“We are making a list of people we met at the ball last night. It wasn’t appropriate to ask them what their factions are, but perhaps you might have contacts that might provide a better idea of their alliances.”
Ari’s eyes brightened. “Just the thing I can do. The men of the mountains that you talked to in the tavern are anxious to get the information you promised. Let’s go downstairs and finish your list so I can get to work.”
When Jack and Ari walked into the sitting room, Penny turned around. “Even the scar is gone. What technique did you use?”
“I’m not sure I can describe it properly in Corandian. It does a few things, gives some energy, and smooths the skin as well as accelerates the healing. Unfortunately, as such spells go, it takes quite a bit out of the healer since it doesn’t use the patient’s magic.”
“You are a powerful healer, then,” Penny said.
“There are those who think so.”
“Make me one of them. I’d like to learn to heal like that.”
Jack rubbed his hands. “He is here to take the list of attendees with him.”
“Did Jack bring you up to date?” Lin asked.
“He did. I’ll just sit over here while you go over everything,” Ari said.
It took an hour or so to complete the list, going over it a few times. Jack was surprised at how little Lin had contributed. For being a social butterfly, she had seemed rooted to the same spot the entire evening. When they finished, Penny made a copy of their recollections and gave it to Ari. “You might remember our session here. We couldn’t get all our thoughts down.”
“I’ll remember enough.” He accepted the folded list from Penny. “Why don’t Jack and you escort me out the main floor door. Where I am headed, there aren’t any lower-level passages.”
When they reached the street. Ari pulled them out into the cold. Penny shivered, but she stepped outside. Jack put his arm around her.
“Keep the charms I made you on at all times, even if you have to hide them somewhere on your person.” Ari turned to Penny. “Yvessa didn’t have anything to say, other than to let you know that she can touch you at any time. She can’t do that if you have my protection,” Ari said. “She is not to be trusted.” He patted the paper that he had slipped in his coat. “I will have this delivered tomorrow. I know just the person who should know most of what you seek. The men of the mountains don’t know of my connection, so if you meet him, keep his identity to yourself. You both should be aware that the group that created all the spy holes in the townhouse may not be the same faction that attacked you last night. Any of the factions are capable of either act. That is all for now. I shall return tomorrow.”
Ari took a few steps and waved before he walked briskly across the street.
Penny was the first to break for the door. Jack followed her inside.
“It is cold outside!” Penny rubbed her bare arms. “You told him about my visitation from Yvessa?”
“I did. He has as much power as Fasher, if not more,” Jack said. “We need him on our side, and you don’t do that by keeping things like Yvessa from him. He did give us the charms, and you didn’t wear yours. I wore mine.”
Penny made a face at him, an echo of the old Penny, but she sighed. “He is right. You trust him more than I do.”
“Ari hasn’t let us down yet, and if he comes back with a completed list, he will have saved us hours of work—”
“And embarrassment grilling lords and ladies for answers they won’t want to give,” Penny said.
“You have that right,” Jack said, taking her hand and walking up the stairs.
“What more did he have to say?” Lin said. Jack didn’t like the demand in her voice.
“He told us to always be prepared for what happened last night,” Jack said. “He expects to return the document tomorrow.”
“All completed?” Lin said with a tone of disbelief.
“Ari said he knows just the person to help. Perhaps a castle servant? He didn’t say.” Penny shrugged.
“You have the day to yourselves,” Lin said. “If you go out, make sure you go in pairs or more. That goes for me, as well. Tomorrow, I will find a dancing teacher. We can’t afford to be so entertaining at the next ball.”
Chapter Twenty-One
~
J ack decided he would help the servants feed the boiler and walked downstairs to the basement. Lorton was already stripped to the waist with a shovel in his hand.
“The same idea I had,” Lorton said. He turned to the two men standing around. “Take a break while Jack and I get some exercise.”
The two servants headed to the kitchen.
“What is it with Ari Gasheaux? You seem to believe what he says. Is there a reason I should trust him?”
“There is,” Jack said. He threw a shovelful of coal into the firebox. The servants had let the furnace burn down. “He is at least as powerful a wizard as Fasher Tempest, I think.”
“The healing spell?”
“Amazing,” Jack shook his head in awe. “I’ve never seen anything like it. I could sense the spell move into Sera. He is a helper, for sure. Anyone could surprise me by their actions, except for Penny,” Jack said.
“Even me?”
Jack nodded. “Even you. I’d be more worried about Lin and Oscar. They are a tight team.”
“You are right about that. Oscar was looking in, and Lin gave him a sign to follow us. Her butler knew what to do,” Lorton said. “I don’t know what her game is, but she hasn’t shared it with us, and I don’t expect her to. I noticed she didn’t come up with many names from the ball.”
“I noticed the same thing. Did she ask to come on this trip?” Jack asked.
Lorton squinted as he put his hands on the top of the handle. “I don’t know. Maybe you should ask Fasher. He might know.”
Jack frowned in thought. “I’ll do that right now.” He put one more shovelful of coal in the furnace and stepped to the side.
He felt a connection with Fasher.
Fasher?
Jack, have you had another attack?
No. Ari cured Sera, not healed her, but cured her. Can you do that?
Jack could sense Fasher chuckling. I am not the world’s best, but Ari comes close. Is that why you contacted me?
No. Who asked Lin to be on our team? Lorton and I are a little suspicious of her motives. We don’t know what they are, but she is keeping a few things very close between Oscar and her.
Fasher paused for a bit. Keep an eye out for any developments. I will contact Dorkansee. If you don’t hear from me, consider your suspicions unfounded. If anything happens on your end to change that let me know. Does she accept Ari?
I don’t know, Jack said. Neither Lorton nor Lin fully trust him.
I wouldn’t worry about that. He is a bit hard to get used to. You don’t have a problem because you are a powerful wizard, and they aren’t so much. I have things to do.
And that was that, Jack thought.
“Fasher will ask around. He wants to know if anything odd happens again,” Jack said. “If we don’t hear from him, then there isn’t anything that he can find.”
“That is as good as we are going to get right now. Let’s get the fire going.”
After a good half hour of work, Jack needed a bath, and so did Lorton. The workers had returned, and the fire was in much better shape than when Jack and Lorton had arrived.
Jack took a bath then ate lunch with Penny. It had been a full morning.
“What do we do now?” Penny asked.
“What do you want to do? I don’t feel like walking the streets today, not after last night. Do you want to work on something?”
“Teleportation. I want to practice more of that.”
“Okay. Let’s do that. Up in the ballroom?”
Penny smiled. “I’ll meet you up there.”
“All right,” Jack said as Penny walked into the small ballroom with her sword as expected. “Teleportation first?”
“First?” Penny said.
“Then a little sword practice.”
“You walk back to the wall,” Penny said. She narrowed her eyes, but nothing happened. “What?”
“Touch the void,” Jack said.
She drew her sword, but no speed.
Jack frowned. “Take my hand and let me pass you some of my magic.”
He grabbed her hand, but she didn’t take on any magic.
“Let me give you a healing spell,” Penny said.
They still held hands, but Jack felt nothing coming from her.
“Yvessa,” Jack said. “She stole or blocked your magic. It was so subtle you didn’t even notice it.”
Penny’s eyes welled with tears. “What can I do?”
“Nothing right now. We will have to wait for Ari tomorrow. He is an extraordinary healer. He might know what to do. He was concerned about Yvessa.”
“What will I do?”
“Be patient,” Jack said. “You are still you.” He walked over to her and gave her a hug.
Penny looked up at Jack. “But which am I?”
“The Penny of old or the Penny of now? Why would you be the old Penny? Well, I suppose you are still the old Penny, but in more control of yourself. Yvessa can’t take that away.”
“I won’t use my magic until tomorrow. I’ve spent enough time not using it for anything but healing…Oh no. What if I am invited to go to the Bristone hospital?”
“Politely decline and have them take you another day. I wouldn’t get overly worried until after we see Ari,” Jack said.
Penny sighed. “I told myself to be a lady before, and I’ll do it again.” She hugged him. “But I hope you will be with me all the way through this, whatever this is.”
“How can I not if you won’t let go of me,” Jack said. He hugged her back and disengaged. “Perhaps we will go stroll around the lower level. There will be more people down there with the cold and the slushy conditions.”
“I won’t freeze, and I won’t melt,” Penny said.
“Do you have your charm on?”
She pulled the chain necklace at her neck and showed the bracelet to Jack. “This wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t forgotten.”
“Perhaps. We will talk to Ari when he comes by tomorrow.”
“You keep saying that,” Penny said.
Jack shrugged. “Change your clothes, and I’ll meet you by the stairs.”
They walked down to the lower level and out into the subterranean passage. The cobbles were already scrubbed clean as they made their way through the pedestrians and the wheeled litters that were human powered.
This time they turned left away from the castle.
“I told Lin that I lost my magic,” Penny said.
“What did she say?”
“I think Lin was more shocked than I was…than I am,” Penny said. “I can barely produce a magic light,” Penny said.
“But you can do that.”
She nodded.
“Then there is hope,” Jack said. He took her hand as they walked. “Ari knows a different kind of magic that is similar to the magical theory of the Masukai. Helen was able to touch the void. That is a Fifth Manipulation. If nothing else, maybe Ari can reconstruct your power.”
“You don’t know what you are talking about!” Penny said, pulling away from Jack.
“Of course I don’t. You know me almost as well as I know myself. I’m just thinking out loud. I don’t know what will work. Maybe Yvessa’s block on your magic will wear off.”
“I guess I can dream of such a thing happening,” Penny said.
They walked farther from the townhouse. Jack had elected to wear his Masukaian sword. He leaned over and whispered in her ear. “You still armed yourself, didn’t you?”
Penny nodded. “I learned to throw knives without magic, but I’m not as accurate, nor do I throw them as hard.”
“Good enough.”
They came to a many-columned arcade with skylights. Jack looked up at thick squares of glass, letting light in from a square at ground level. Street merchants who might not have set up on a cold day were doing a brisk business on the lower level.
They passed a stall selling the leather shorts Jack had seen in Chancey and in the worker parts of Bristone. He was about to step up to buy some, but someone caught his arm. He turned around and looked into the eyes of Andere Holm.
“Lord Jack and Lady Penneta. I thought that was you. Were you about to buy a pair of leather shorts?” Andere said.
“I was going to look at them.”
“Don’t buy them here. They are cheap ones. I have some free time to help. Would you like to buy decorative shorts or the kind worn by the commoners?”
“Which are better?”
Andere smiled. “The commoners wear better ones. Let me take you to a proper shop. There is a traditional ladies’ shop next door. Perhaps I can get you both fitted out so you can look like an authentic Antibeaux couple.”
“I could use a new dress,” Penny said.
Jack agreed with Penny, but he didn’t reply to her comment.
“Did I hear something about an altercation close to your house?”
Jack raised his eyebrows. “News travels fast in Bristone.”
“It does when you are in business. I have a man that checks the police station every hour for information. I have benefitted from being the first to know something on many occasions. I didn’t get any details other than there was a fight, and it involved the Corandians.”
Penny told the story. It was short enough.
“Of course, you are a wizard healer,” Andere said. “You know how to take care of yourselves.”
Jack nodded. “I’ve had too many opportunities to learn,” he said, “on our continent and in Lajia and Masukai. I wore my Masukaian sword today.”
Andere looked at Jack’s side. “It does look different. Long and thin. We go for swords a bit more substantial in Antibeaux.”
Jack just smiled. “How far?”
“Around this corner,” Andere said.
True to his description, there were two traditional clothing shops. One for men and another for women. Jack looked at the other shops along the street. None were as fancy as those closer to the castle.
“In here. I have more than a passing acquaintance of what makes a good traditional outfit.”
In half an hour, Jack and Penny carried natural linen bags with their new purchases inside. Jack bought a knit hat that had a small inverted cone on top with a tassel in the cone. Penny picked it out for him, and Jack thought it was definitely different.
They parted from Andere, who had an appointment at his office and strolled back to the sunlit arcade. Penny remembered the directions better than Jack, but Jack would have let Penny lead anyway. He could tell she remained upset about her present condition.
“He is nice,” Penny said.
“As well as his wife. I hope Ari’s report on the lesser Holms is positive.” Jack suspected Linnette Holm, Andere’s mother, would be a faction member, but Andere didn’t strike him as a fanatic of any stripe.
The walk back to the townhouse was without incident. Jack put on his leather shorts and the heavy woolen stockings that went along with it and walked around the house without shoes on. Penny wore her traditional dress. They had just sat down in the sitting room when Sera walked in.
“How do you feel?” Penny asked.
“Normal. Absolutely normal. I feel like I can do the healing rather than being the one healed.”
“That’s good,” Penny said. “I lost my magic.”
“You what?”
“She lost her magic. Yvessa took it from her when she was unconscious aft
er I helped her heal you, the first time.”
“Yvessa took it?” Sera said.
Penny nodded. “Make sure you wear the bracelet that Ari Gasheaux gave us all. I didn’t and…” She shrugged.
“You are sure you have no magic?” Sera asked.
“She has a normal person’s magic,” Jack said. “You can still create a magic light?”
Penny produced a flame no larger than a candle. “That is my maximum,” she said.
“Your speed and control with things?”
That question made Penny frown. “Gone.”
“Perhaps it will come back.”
“We can all hope so,” Jack said. “I can get some healing rods made. That way, if you are asked to go to a hospital to volunteer, you can use what you have learned and give them a healing rod to help. I don’t know if they have such things in Antibeaux.”
“I can do that until my magic returns. It has to come back.”
~
Penny paced the foyer waiting for Ari Gasheaux to arrive while Jack sat watching her.
“He might not be here until after dark,” Lin said. “You shouldn’t be hoping for something that might not happen.”
That was discouraging, Jack thought as he watched the two women talk. There was a knock on the door, and Oscar let Ari in from the ground floor entrance.
The Bornan wizard waved a portfolio. “I have comments on every name. It was easier than I thought. My contact works in the castle, that is all I’ll say, but he or she knows what is going on.”
“Then let’s look at it,” Penny said, looking at Ari.
As Jack suspected, Andere Holm and his wife were not aligned.
“It doesn’t mean they don’t have a preference,” Ari said.
The prime minister was not bashful about being a WWS member. The queen was a Royalist, which didn’t come as a surprise, but the fact she was sympathetic to the Antibeaux Preservation Society was. Her sister was unaligned like the Holms. The agricultural minister was a Double P member. They saw the names of people they hadn’t met. All in all, there were more than thirty nobles listed. Lord Floury was a true-blue Royalist.
At the bottom, they learned that the Corandian ambassador sided with the Double P and was suspected of being on the APS payroll. His wife was partial to the WWS, being a convert to Yvessa worship. Jack wondered what meals were like at the Embassy.