So began their nomadic existence as they travelled on, searching for safe places to hide and harried from pillar to post. After over twenty years banishment, it was good to be planning their return.
‘So your Portal is most likely buried. I doubt anyone went to the trouble of bricking it up but bringing a castle down on top of it is problematic enough,’ Jim mused thoughtfully.
‘Let me go through and investigate,’ Darius said quickly to his father.
‘Jim’s right; it’s probably buried Darius. It could be a one way trip.’
‘I know, but it’s worth the risk.’
‘Why? What do you hope to gain?’ Trent asked his son. ‘Our Castle is in ruins. Our lands were taken long ago, gifted to the King’s cronies and our people dispersed.’
‘Féarmathuin Castle and our lands are my birthright, as your heir. Without them I am nothing. As you keep telling me, this place is Drako’s. I need to go and fight for what’s mine. I need to do this.’
He hadn’t seen Darius so determined in a long time. ‘Very well,’ Trent said heavily. ‘Make sure you take food, a torch and a shovel in case the portal itself is covered. But I want you to simply have a look and come straight back. Understand? We’ll wait here for you to gather your supplies,’ Trent added and then returned to examining the markings on the arch, prudently without stepping on the plinth. He heard Darius run off and only once he was sure his son was out of sight did he turn to eye Jim, whilst settling back down in the grass, his mind awhirl.
‘How did you repair this?’ Drako asked.
‘You might recall I incapacitated twenty wizards by sucking the power from them the other day?’ Jim said casually.
‘Yes, I think I do recall that. Your lion grew a tad too,’ Drako responded drily.
‘Yes. I was wandering out here afterwards and found a strewn mass of magic imbued stone. I couldn’t tell what had been here, only that it was a small building. Since I know building works tend to use a lot of power and I was overflowing with the stuff I just went ahead and rebuilt it. I can tell you it was no easy task. Anyway, since I didn’t recognise the engravings I secured the place against anyone coming across it and activating it by accident while I looked up the markings in the library. Once I was certain where it led I knew you should be told.’
‘What do you foresee happening here?’ Trent asked.
‘I don’t have any foresight ability so I cannot advise you. What you do is entirely up to you. However, Darius is right that he needs something to fight for. He is never going to be content living quietly in hiding whilst leaving his inheritance in someone else’s hands, especially now there is a possible way to secretly return. There will always be some of your people who would prefer action too. Perhaps rebuilding parts of your castle to serve as a base is the way to stealthily reclaim what’s yours.’ He glanced up sensing an animus presence and Darius rejoined them. Jim knew he’d been listening and that his eyes were shining with determination and excitement.
Darius gave them all a nod and strode up to the Portal with a sack on his back. He stepped on the plinth, the vortex glowed around him and without hesitation he stepped through and disappeared.
20. Portal
‘How do we know he’s not dead?’ Ebony asked anxiously as minutes passed and Darius did not return.
‘Because Portals only work when someone with magic is in close proximity,’ Jim explained, gesturing at the watery shimmer still glinting within the arch. ‘And, yes, you do have to be alive to generate magic.’
‘It’s stopped!’
‘Closed, you mean. He’s probably moved off the plinth to have a look around. Hope he remembered to take something to light his torch with,’ Jim added quietly. When the portal was activated it glimmered giving off light that would certainly be useful when in an underground room.
Ten minutes later when they were all starting to fret, the portal activated again and Darius returned.
‘You were right, there had been a cave-in and the plinth was partially buried in rubble. I had to clear a path to step off the plinth, but the rest of the room seemed intact. I tried the door but it’s locked. I’m not sure what we would need to get through the lock; we might have to break down the door itself.’
‘I might be able to help with that,’ Jim offered and Darius eagerly stepped back towards the Portal. Jim followed, but so too did Drako, Freddie and where Freddie went his wolves were sure to follow. ‘Someone needs to stay behind this time in case something goes wrong,’ Jim said noticing just how eager everyone was.
‘Ok, I’ll stay back,’ Ebony offered and watched as, with no more discussion, they all stepped through and disappeared from sight. It was exceedingly odd to think they had travelled hundreds of miles in an instant.
Jim conjured a large globe light and looked around him with great interest. Once this room would have been beautiful, with a polished marble floor inlaid in a striking pattern; a high ceiling supported by pillars and with mosaic murals on the walls. Now, however, the ceiling behind the Portal had caved in. The resultant rubble had flowed around the Portal banking up behind and to the right partially blocking the front. He wondered if activating it, as they now had several times before stepping through, had cleared it of any of the loose obstructions since the archway itself was completely clear, fortunately for Darius.
Jim went over to the exit, which was at the top of a flight of stone stairs and eyed the door set into the ceiling. He sent his senses beyond it, making sure that the door itself wasn’t buried and thus holding back an avalanche of rubble likely to bury them.
‘What’s amusing?’ Drako asked noticing Jim’s small smile as his hand rested on the metal bound door with its many interlocking bracing bars.
‘This,’ Jim said and turned the handle. The door clunked, the mechanism pivoted and the locking bars retracted. Then the door swung open.
‘It was unlocked?’
‘Of course not. It was a very complicated mechanism actually and must have done its job at keeping out your attackers. I’m just good with locks,’ Jim added, swinging his globe light forward to the open doorway. He warily stepped out into a wide corridor. Rubble right up to the ceiling blocked the one “open” end, but three closed doors drew his attention. ‘Do any of these doors lead out?’ he asked, turning to Trent.
‘No. That one goes down to the dungeons, and these other two were store-rooms. That’s the only way out from here,’ Trent added gesturing at the cave-in.’
‘Ok, the first priority is to shore up the ceiling around the Portal. Until that’s done it isn’t safe to disturb anything up here. Come back down with me so I can protect you should it be necessary. Rupert, can you go back through to reassure Ebony. This might take some time and I’d prefer to know someone is keeping watch on our exit.’
‘Yes sir.’
‘Rupert, get her to bring some snacks over,’ Drako added, ‘we might well need a boost when we get back.’ They watched Rupert vanish through the Portal and then the light it bestowed winked out. ‘Jim, are you sure you don’t need help to do whatever it is you’re about to do?’
‘Are you volunteering to lend me your strength?’
‘If you need it, then yes. You always prefer to have a merge of strength to call on. We might be animus, but you know we can help.’ He noticed Jim glance at the strewn rubble and he gestured to his family and the wolves to join hands, then he held out his hand to Jim.
‘Thank you Drako; that will lessen the load considerably. Trent, Darius I know you’ve not done this before so I appreciate your willingness. Clear your mind of anything you don’t want me to see. I have no intention of looking at anyone’s memories, but if you think about them while we are merged you will effectively be pushing them in my face. Ok?’ Gathering nods of readiness from each, he merged them. He felt his power swelling and used his heightened senses to investigate where the rubble had come from and then try to get it to return from whence it had come. Then, with much of the rubble gone, he was able t
o see more clearly the outlines of the ceiling, the pillar that had given way and reinstate them to their former strength and positions. Only then did he release his team from the merge and they all could examine his repairs. The ceiling was now intact and certainly felt a safer place to be. The thought of letting people come and go through this portal with such an unstable roof would not have let him sleep at night. If they were trapped the other side and unable to return through the Portal then they had a substantial and very risky journey to return overland.
‘Ok, let’s see if that’s helped with the rubble upstairs,’ Jim suggested. He knew they were all reeling somewhat from the unexpected drain on their strength, but the resultant success spoke for itself.
The rubble in the corridor was still deep and a substantial barrier, but it had retracted considerably and there was now a small gap at the ceiling level. Freddie was already clambering up to peer through as the rest of them arrived.
‘What do you see?’ Darius asked.
‘More rubble. I think part of the room above has fallen into this corridor. It’s lighter up here though. I think we must be close to windows or an outer wall.’
‘Be careful Freddie, Natalya will have all our hides if you break so much as a fingernail,’ Jim remarked and Freddie grinned. He noticed Freddie glance at Dustin and Johnny and the two men clambered up to help him. Soon, they had cleared sufficient stone for everyone to crawl through.
‘The Great Hall!’ Trent exclaimed as he climbed through the hole at ceiling height then came out from under the corridor’s ceiling. He stood up, clambered over a stretch of rubble and accepted Freddie’s hand to pull him up onto the original floor of the room above. The huge double story room was a mess. The hall floor had collapsed in almost a quarter of the room making them clamber up from below the floor like rats. They stood and stared at the devastation. One of the side walls had partially come down, which now let the sun and clearly many winters of weather in. Part of the vaulted roof had collapsed too. It was little wonder there had been cave-ins below.
‘Stand still everyone, let me check no-one else is here,’ Jim ordered. He dropped a shield over them and could then concentrate on any other living creature. Aside from a whole variety of vermin signatures, they were alone. He released the shield and followed them outside into the sunshine to take a proper look at the scale of the devastation.
As castles went Féarmathuin Castle was not big, nor very complex in design, but it had been heavily fortified. It would not have been easy to take by conventional force. The castle was set on a steep hill with a sheer cliff at its back. It overlooked a rugged, densely forested, landscape of craggy hills with mountains in the distance. The air was brisk but filled with fresh clean pine scents. Jim could easily see the appeal of such a place. He eyed his companions and sensed their wistfulness. This was definitely a place ideally suited to bears and wolves. However, it was broad daylight and they’d spent long enough here for Ebony to worry whilst she waited for them to return.
Jim led a sombre and contemplative party back down to the Portal room. Utilising a fork he’d found buried in the rubble, he fashioned a key for the door and presented it to Darius.
‘I suggest you leave the door locked and the key in this room,’ Jim said. ‘Now we’ve cleared a path to the Portal from the outside you’ll need to find a way to hide this access. We don’t need inquisitors finding their way to the school uninvited.’
‘Understood,’ Darius responded clutching the key. He put the key in the lock, turned it and both saw and heard the bars lock into place. He was almost reluctant to leave it behind, but placed the key on the table near the door. It was a little frustrating to have to leave, but he was tired and could see everyone else was too. Letting the wizard make use of their strength might be a little annoying but he couldn’t deny the astonishing efficacy and speed of Jim’s subsequent repair. That use of strength had clearly been well worth it. As he stepped though the Portal into the warm glade after the others he knew he would be doing this a lot. He helped himself to his share of the sandwiches Ebony had brought them and soon felt better for it.
Darius kept his smile to himself as he saw that Amelie, Cassy and Natalya were sitting with Ebony awaiting their return. None of them seemed particularly impressed that their men had gone off without telling them. He idly wondered which female had first found out where they’d gone. Max was the only partner missing and that was probably only because he wasn’t a wizard and couldn’t automatically trace Ebony.
‘Ladies, if you wouldn’t mind giving me a hand, I’ll get a proper fence put up to keep out the unwary.’ Jim merged them and quivered in shock immediately realising his mistake. What was he thinking merging with two warrior wizards? It was Natalya’s strength in particular that was overwhelming him. He’d merged once with her but that had been after she’d nearly expended all her strength on controlling that herd of deer. Today she was not spent and her power was all wizard magic. He was used to Amelie’s strength and since it flowed primarily into animus lines, it was what gave his lion such strength. He ruefully knew the battle with the twenty wizards had changed him; he could take on more power faster than had ever been possible before and that was dangerous.
‘Nat, Cassy, drop out,’ Amelie said quickly, releasing hold of his hand too. They all eyed Jim warily. He was breathing fast; his eyes had turned gold and were a little glazed. He blinked, gestured and a fence appeared, surrounding them in a blur of motion. That had not used up a fraction of the power he had just soaked up, she realised. ‘Darius, I assume there’s plenty of repair work to be done on the other side?’ Amelie asked and he nodded. Amelie glanced at Cassy and her sister and they stepped through the Portal with the whole party following on behind. They clambered out into the ruined Great Hall on Darius’s heels and looked about in shock.
‘Jim, mend the side wall,’ Amelie instructed, since that was the biggest immediate breach to secure access to the hall. The hall was easily two stories high and its repair was likely to quickly soak up his excess magic. Everyone stood back watching as much of the debris left the floor, inside and out and the wall rebuilt itself all the way up to the roofline.
Jim turned slowly, gesturing carefully and all four walls of the Great Hall lost their scars, cracks and other structural weaknesses. He felt almost back to normal now so accepted Cassy’s aid alone in repairing the roof and then its shattered external door. Now the Hall could be locked against any casual intrusion. With the roof repaired and sealed against the weather, it gave anyone coming here a large safe place in which to work out of sight and also to store and assemble building materials.
Rebuilding the walls and roof had used a substantial quantity of the debris filling the corridor below, they were all pleased to find. However, they discovered that part of the ongoing blockage in the corridor, was a toppled stone staircase.
‘Do you want to have a go carrying on sorting things out in here?’ Jim asked Cassy. She had been in his merge teams from the start when they built Drako’s village and so had plenty of experience building things. She would know how to design something that was structurally sound.
‘Can do,’ Cassy said amiably.
‘Just remember to keep the magical signature of your spells as quiet as possible. The stone walls will help mask our presence to a degree but we don’t want anyone to hear us here.’
She nodded and watched Jim head off outside with Amelie. She imagined there were plenty of things they would need to repair to improve external security.
Cassy remained inside with Natalya and Drako. Cassy merged them and rebuilt the stairs providing access from Hall to the storeroom and Portal corridor. Now the rubble they’d climbed earlier was gone, stairs were essential. Next she rebuilt the door separating the Hall from these stairs. There was still a large hole in the Hall floor, but it was now possible to skirt it, pass through a lockable door and down actual steps to a largely clear corridor below. It was a huge improvement. Beyond where they’d been working, the
corridor was still blocked, but actually that was fine for the moment as that prevented alternate access. The buildings that once had been above that corridor were in ruins and were therefore a potential breach in their new defences.
‘Can you fix the floor?’ Drako asked aware anyone could fall and injure themselves. The Great Hall was an ideal place to setup as a workshop in the short term and he disliked having hazards so close to workers.
‘Not without more wood. What used to be here has rotted away in the years it’s been exposed to the elements. Jim had to use some of the good timber to seal the roof too.’
‘Yes, that was the priority,’ Natalya agreed. ‘Having said that, is there enough timber to recover the corridor roof?’ She asked looking down. ‘Whilst the hole into the store room is dangerous, it doesn’t really matter from a security point of view. However, I don’t like the fact I can see part of the corridor leading to the Portal room from up here. It’s not safe. Someone could break in and secretly watch us moving about. If they can see us they can shoot us.’
‘You have a point,’ Drako remarked.
‘She does doesn’t she? Glad you came along. I certainly wouldn’t have thought of that,’ Cassy admitted and eyed the remaining debris around them critically. ‘Yes, I’m sure there are enough bits and pieces for me to sort out that section of floor. The rest of that big hole, no. Mm, it’ll need to be braced on the top of the corridor walls so should be sturdy.’ Cassy took their hands and concentrated on the only good timber left; the snapped and splintered planks that had previously been buried in various piles of rubble. Soon she had them renew themselves into solid planks and repositioned them to cover that critical section. She smiled in relief that she had succeeded. That work also had the fringe benefit of creating a wider approach to the stairway door, meaning it was safer to skirt the adjacent hole. Weary from their exertions they headed outside to see what the others had been up to. For Cassy and Natalya, it was a chance to have a look for themselves at the fabled Féarmathuin Castle, ancestral home of the Green Bear Clan.
Natalya: Wizards of White Haven Page 23