Chapter Eleven
The next morning Isabel and I slept a bit later than usual. Comfort will do that to you, I suppose. We rose, dressed and walked out of the room to the stairs. I asked a passing maid where Cador had stayed and she showed me to the room and told me he was still in there. I knocked on the door and Cador immediately answered. I asked if he was ready to try to locate this carpentry shop and he excitedly answered yes. Isa, Cador and I trooped down the stairs. At the bottom, I saw Pariset talking to some men that appeared to be locals. I waited until he was done, wished him a good morning and asked about the carpentry shop. I also informed him that Isa and I would be exploring today but will not require an escort. He was not exactly thrilled by this idea but accepted it and let it pass. He gave us directions to the shop and begged his leave. I smiled, said thanks, and that I knew he was a very busy man.
We walked with Cador to the carpentry shop beside the blacksmiths. Upon entering Cador was beside himself. The place was fully stocked with all the tools a carpenter could imagine. Behind the workshop was a quite nice and functional one-bedroom apartment that would be perfect for a single man. We left him to get acquainted with the place and I pulled Isa aside.
She was dressed in what appeared to be comfortable clothes and comfortable shoes, which suited my plans perfectly. I told her that I wanted to walk to the river this morning, just her and me. She reminded me gently that we were now in Gwyllt and must be careful. I said that the river was not really that far from the castle and we would keep it in sight. With that, she reluctantly agreed.
We started walking arm in arm toward the main gate acknowledging the bows, my Lords, my Lady’s that we saw and heard on the way. By the time we got to the guardhouse, we had dozens of eyes on us. I acknowledged the guard with a ‘good-morning’ and they bowed. When they saw that were continuing out of the gate people started to scramble. The guard in charge of the watch called to me and asked if we would like an escort and I declined. He looked a bit green but called back his men. With all the activity, even Isabel was starting to look at me as if I had lost my mind, but I took her arm again and headed down the road to the west.
I had seen a place from our bedroom window that we could walk down a slope to get to the river. There was a gap in the cliff and it was only about a thousand yards from the gate of the castle, through the trees and then down. As we got to the place that I figured would be about right to turn to the south and leave the road, I looked back. There were half a dozen guards standing in the road watching us and at least half of them were shaking their heads. It was almost as though they didn't expect to see us again. When we entered the trees, I watched as they turned and walked back into the guardhouse.
Five minutes later, we came out of the trees on the south side of the stand almost exactly where the gap I had spotted was. We walked hand in hand, just taking a stroll, down the hill towards the river. The entire area south of the castle to the river was one huge clearing and I saw no trouble lurking anywhere. It was only about a half mile to the river where we stopped and looked back at the castle. Sitting atop the cliff made the castle look even more enormous and intimidating than it already did. We stopped near the rivers edge and sat on a large boulder.
“Alright David,” said Isabel “you wanted to come out here and I didn’t question. Now we’re here and I’m questioning!”
“The answer is simple, my dear! I wanted to get you off by yourself!” I chuckled.
She smiled and shook her head, “since we were alone in our room before we left I think you must have another reason.”
I shrugged. “Ok, you caught me. You asked me a couple questions a few days ago that I did not know the answer to. I brought you out here to see if I could learn the answers for you.”
She looked at me quite confused and shook her head. “I’m sorry, I don’t recall.”
I turned and look back towards the castle for prying eyes. I saw none I turn back toward the river, felt the tingle in my chest and whispered telekinesis, and lifted a fist sized rock about thirty feet away and floated it up to her. I held it about two feet in front of her until she reached out and took it.
“Now I remember quite well!” She exclaimed. “Is that something that I’d be able to learn?”
“That is the question and now we’ll try to learn the answer. You need to focus your intent, picture in your mind what you want to happen and say the word ‘telekinesis’. We’ll see if you can learn it quickly enough, I think.”
I took the rock out of her hand and set it beside me on the boulder. She was quite nervous and questioned the word that she is supposed to say at least a couple times. Finally she took a breath, looked a bit embarrassed, stared at the rock and with an odd look, put her hand to her chest. I smiled knowing exactly what she was feeling now. Finally, she said telekinesis! The rock bounced up like a rocket about four feet in the air and hovered for a second. She gasped and back down it came to bounce off the boulder and back to the riverbank.
“Oh my Lord!” She cried. “That is absolutely incredible! Did I do that by myself?”
“Yes, my Dear Princess, you did. Moreover, it would seem that we now have the answer to your questions. You can learn this and I can teach you. That is, if you want to learn.” I smiled.
“You know you don’t even really have to ask that!” She giggled.
“True, but if I wasn’t difficult sometimes you might think that married life was easy!” I laughed and kissed her.
“What now?” she asked
“Try it again, but this time you know what’s going to happen so you shouldn’t be as surprised. Lift the stone, hold it at a level and think about bringing it, slowly, to your hand.” I instructed calmly.
She located the same stone lying on the bank and stared at it. Once again, her hand went to her chest as she felt the tingle, she took a breath and cast the spell again. This time the effect was dramatically changed. The rock floated slowly to the height of her chest and then floated smoothly to her outstretched hand. It dropped and she closed her hand around it. She turned and grinned at me, shaking her head.
“I don’t believe it!” she gasped.
“Of course you do or you wouldn’t have been able to do it,” I said.
“This could come in handy if I ever need to move fist sized rocks out of the castle.” She joked.
I looked back at the castle again to check for prying eyes and then looked at her. I told her it might be able to do a bit more than moving pebbles around. Right at the rivers edge I spotted a boulder that might weigh close to a ton. I let the tingle build, whispered the spell and pointed, for Isa’s benefit, at the bolder. I lifted it five feet into the air and held it there. I heard her gasp and lowered it back down.
“A team of horses would be hard pressed to move that rock from its spot. That is amazing!” She exclaimed.
I told her that as long as she believed that she could do it there was almost no limit to what she would be able to lift, within reason. I said that I wouldn't try to lift Valeview, for example. She laughed at that.
“What else can I learn?” Isa queried.
I told her to focus as she did with the rock and try to feel that ‘tingle’. When she did, to picture herself inside a bubble and say ‘integumentum’. That would give her a safe bubble to protect her from harm.
She followed my instructions perfectly and when I heard the spell word, I instantly saw the tiny sparkles that gave away the bubble to the trained eye. I smiled when she reached up and touched her cheeks. I knew that she was feeling the skin tightening feeling the shield created.
She asked, “Did it work?”
Without answering, I hopped to the ground, picked up a handful of marble sized pebbles and threw them at her. She yelled but was to close to move before they get to her. They hit the shield and bounced harmlessly in all directions. Her jaw dropped.
“What else! What else!” She panted.
“Some of the other things that I’d love to teach you we aren’t e
quipped for today.” I pulled my wand out of my inner coat pocket. “We will need to have Cador make you something like this with no questions asked.” I said.
We had been gone from the Castle an hour and a half so I suggested that we head back. We didn't want to arrive to find the guard had already given us a funeral. We could practice the spells that she learned later in our room. Isabel agreed so we started back up the hill. When we came out of the trees near the road there were about 20 people standing in front of Valeview’s guardhouse. A cheer went up and Isabel and I both laughed. Either the people of this castle were all cowards or they knew something that we had yet to learn. As we walked to the guardhouse, I saw Isa touch her face curiously and I told her that what she is feeling was the shield spell letting go. She just nodded and I could tell she was still slightly overwhelmed by our outing.
Chapter Twelve
We started through the courtyard and were met by a very unhappy Pariset.
“My Lord, I would prefer to keep you alive long enough for you to officially take your position in this province! What were you thinking leaving the castle walls without an escort?”
“I’m sorry to have upset you friend Pariset, but I am on my honeymoon and wanted to go walking with my new bride, alone.” I smiled suggestively.
He blushed slightly, “I would prefer that you take an escort, at least to the tree line if you feel the urge to visit the river. Perhaps next time you would at least take horses in the event you had to get back quickly?”
I promised to do just that and he bowed slightly and returned to the castle. Isa and I veered off to the west side of the courtyard to see how Cador had settled in. The doors to the shop were closed so I knocked on the doorframe. He yanked open the door with a curt “Yes?” When he saw who is at the door he mumbled a quick apology and ushered us inside the shop.
There was no denying that the young man had drive. The entire front of the shop area was swept and wiped down. The tools that had been left in disarray were in their place and it almost looked as though he were ready for business. We looked around, complemented him on his efforts and then I told him the real reason I had stopped by. I wanted him to make a half dozen small wooden pieces for me. I told him that they didn't have to be perfect replicas because mine was made from a rough branch and the ones he would be making would be from cut wood. He looked a bit confused but nodded willingly. I pulled my wand from my pocket to show him what I wanted. I handed it to him to examine but when he reached for it, a two-inch spark jumped from my wand and caused him to yelp! I shook my head, apologized and handed it to him handle first. This time there were no fireworks but understandably, he was skittish to take it. He looked it over and said that the woodwork would take no time at all but he was not sure about what I had used to get the shiny black finish, which covered most of the wand. I told him that the woodwork was all I needed and I would take care of the finish later. He said he could lathe out six in an hour or so but I told him that there was no real hurry. Isa caught my eye and let me know that there WAS a big hurry. I asked if he could do one quickly and he nodded, happy to use his new tools.
We watched as he clamped wood into his lathe and started it spinning with a foot pedal. He selected a tool that looked like a chisel to me and went to work. Under his skilled hands, the wand took shape quickly. When he finished he looked at it questioningly.
“I have to ask, my Lord, what is this thing that I just made used for?” He queried.
“It’s just for a pet project that I’m working on. Perhaps we will talk about it some other time. I hope that you enjoy your new home!” I said evasively. I reached into a pocket and pulled out my single gold coin and tossed it to him. He caught it deftly and looked at it. He protested strongly about taking that amount of money for the bit of work I had commissioned but I told him to take it as an investment in his business. Isa snagged the finished wand and I retrieved mine, then we said our goodbyes.
As we walked back towards the keep, Isabel asked if I would be able to teach her more now. I grinned and told her that we would have to get Pariset to agree to let us out of his sight again. The things that she would be using a wand for were not things that she should do indoors!
Inside we followed our noses to the kitchen where the servants, surprised to see us, fell all over themselves to get bowls of stew and bread for us. We ate in the kitchen area and then went up to our room. Isa went first to Alba’s through the first closet and found her there still unpacking. She then went to Chloe’s room and found her doing the same. She let them know that we were back and that there was food to be had in the kitchen if they were interested. Unpacking must have been more fun for them than it was for me because they chose to continue that project. The maids must have been in because the floors were freshly swept, the bed beautifully made and the curtains pulled open.
Between the closet doors on both sides of the room were very nice functional and decorative fireplaces. Because of Isabel’s excitement at learning magic, I couldn’t resist trying one more thing. I crossed over to the fireplace on her side of the room and checked to see that it had good wood and an open flue. I called her over to look at it. She walked over to me and looked at me as if I were slightly insane. After all, she had seen fireplaces almost every day of her life. I told her that the fire was out and that we might need a fire in it this evening. She nodded her head and looked more and more confused. I asked her to pull out her wand and it flashed to her hand in a blur. She grinned from ear to ear! I cautioned her strongly to always have her wand in her hand when doing this spell. It could go quite wrong if she didn't. That sobered her up a bit but didn't do much to dampen her excitement. I told her to point her wand at the wood in the fireplace, concentrate on a fire and say ‘incendium’. She pointed her wand with her right hand and took a breath; her left hand went automatically to her chest. She then said the spell word quietly and clearly, ‘incendium’. The logs instantly caught fire and caused her to jump back with a joyous giggle.
“Now,” I told her “you know another spell. That will make three for the day. There is plenty of time to learn more and not many of the others could be done indoors without the risk of knocking down walls!”
“Well, I guess we wouldn’t want to do that.” she said and sounded like maybe she would want to try it anyway.
I laughed and suggested that we go wandering the keep. As she put her wand back into her sash, I saw that a small area near the middle of the shaft had taken on a light black sheen.
We walked out of our room and down to the second floor. Wandering around there revealed nothing of interest. There were just more apartments and rooms for guests. On the first floor, we heard Pariset talking in a large room to the east side of the main door. Glancing in, we saw that he was sitting at a table with other men. I guessed that he is just going along with the every day business of running a very large province.
I was secretly glad that he was here and that I didn't have to try doing all this boring state stuff right off the bat! I didn't mind just being a figurehead for the time being if he was happy with his job.
We continued to wander the first floor and found a ballroom and the great hall that no one seemed to be using. Behind the first floor stairway we located stairs going down into the ground. We walked down the stairs into a dark area below the first floor. There appeared to be a room carved into the rock of the mountain that the keep sat upon. The place was full of iron cells and tools that might be used to make a reluctant man talk. A dungeon! Not a very pleasant place to be! I quickly took Isabel back upstairs.
Back upstairs, we quickly headed for the main entrance and outside. I noticed the guard at the door shook their heads as we went by. I guessed our wandering exploits had already spread. I told Isa that I would love to find a tailor shop because I was wearing almost everything that I owned. I would love to find some more clothes. She immediately led me down the keep steps and turned right down the circular road that ran around the courtyard. A few shops down she led
me through an opened door. Lo and behold, a noble born lady had spotted the tailors upon our arrival.
The tailor was a sweet, pudgy middle-aged woman. She was thrilled to see us enter the shop. I explained that I was looking for some simple clothes. If they were made out of a tight fitting, stretchy material that wouldn't hang or snag on trees it would be perfect. I told her that I wanted a couple pairs of pants and a couple shirts made out of that material for me and the same for Isabel. I thought I would have quite the job picking up both the tailors’ and Isabel’s jaws from the floor. A woman in tight pants? Who had ever heard of such a thing! I explained that she wouldn't be wearing them in Valeview. I did warn her that if Isabel’s sisters saw the clothes and liked them to expect to make a few more sets. The woman measured me, wrote, measured some more. When she started measuring Isa, she shook her head the whole time. I told her that we would like light brown if she had if because these would be clothes worn, most often, in the woods and fields of Gwyllt. She nodded and said that brown was a very common color in use and that she had plenty of the type that I had requested… and shook her head. We were told that since she had nothing pressing at hand that she could have a set each by sunset and the completed order by mid-morning. I thanked her and we left.
Outside I was assaulted! “Do you, for one moment, think that you are going to get me to wear something like that?” Isabel growled.
I tried to explain that it would be much more practical if we went walking in the woods or rode horses. We wouldn't have to worry about dragging ruffles and frills! I got an honest to goodness ‘humph’ for my explanation. I told her that we could pick it up that evening and she could try it on in the privacy of our room. If she really felt that uncomfortable then I wouldn't ever ask her to wear it. That seemed to appease her for the moment.
Vol. 1 - Another Typical Day (The Wizards of Eredwynn) Page 6