Azrael's Twins and the Circle of Stone: Book Two of the Nearworld Tales

by Vincent Mortimer

  ‘Told you,’ said Grady confidently. ‘“Anointed.” That’s a giveaway that the guy had personality issues.’

  ‘Can’t be any worse than yours,’ said Niamh. She smiled to herself as Grady punched her in the shoulder. ‘The Twins were right. This guy does waffle on.’

  ‘Would you like us to show you the edited highlights.’

  ‘Yes thanks,’ said Niamh and Grady together. They shot a glance of surprise at each other having both answered the same question.

  ‘I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that,’ said Grady, shaking his head. ‘What do we do?’

  ‘Hold your hand over the book,’ replied Hep.

  Grady did as he was asked and felt a small surge of magical power course through him. The pages began to turn, flicking rapidly one after the other before stopping at the start of another chapter. The children shared another glance before turning to the page, and began to read.

  Preparations have been made. The Twins have been fashioned by my friends from the stone kingdom. The keystone has added her creative powers to the fashioning of them. I had not planned for this but the Morrigan believed the special powers of the trolls in this place would imbue the Twins with the finer qualities of stone and earth, which will enhance their powers.

  ‘Hold out your hand again,’ said Hep.

  Grady did as he was asked. This time only a few pages flittered past.

  ‘From about halfway down,’ said Persephone.

  ‘Start here,’ said Niamh as she ran her finger down the page and began to read.

  ‘I can hear him too,’ said Grady, shoving his sister over to see the page better.

  I have seen many strange and rare events in my life. I have seen fire on the water and stars in the sea. But the melding of powers to create the talisman of the Twins tonight is something that will live with me forever. There is no hope I could have completed this task without the mingling of the powers of the Morrigan and the keystone. But there was no possibility they could have completed the task without the guidance I provided that brought life to the Twins. In my dreams, in my hopes I had never imagined stone brought to life as these two statues appear to have been brought to life.

  There is great power flowing through them. The stone thrums and beats as if a heart pumps blood within. But they are hard and unyielding. It is only an imitation of life. There is no doubt, though, that the power within them is real. I did not attempt to use the Twins. That would have been foolish on Beltaine. But soon I will wield them and test my powers against the combined powers of the Sorcerers’ Council.

  The Morrigan was unseemly in the haste she has displayed. Her desire was to immediately test the Twins against others. There was a dangerous covetous light in her eyes at the thought of this.

  ‘Great,’ said Grady flatly.

  ‘What?’ said Niamh.

  ‘Now he wants to take on all the other wizards. He’s clearly mad. First “wrought”, then “anointed”, and now he’s taking on all the other wizards. Someone should have locked him away.’

  ‘Your hand again, Grady.’

  Grady sighed but did as Hep asked. The pages fluttered past again.

  ‘From the top,’ said Persephone. ‘But before you read on remember this. We have not hurt you. And, as far as possible, we never will.’

  ‘That sounds ominous,’ said Niamh.

  ‘Read on,’ said Hep.

  I have been deceived by my own pride. I have played with powers that should have been left undisturbed.

  The Twins are not what I thought they were.

  Something lives within them. There is a spirit in each that is growing daily and the powers of the Twins are growing with that spirit. I have created bridges between worlds with the Twins and seen the land between the worlds. I could not tell you what spell took me there. The Twins knew what was needed and directed me to the paths of the dead and the undead. I was lost but the Twins knew the way. I do not know how.

  But I am no longer in control of them. The Twins have become more than a talisman. They have become a power of their own.

  Niamh rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. Grady sat back on his haunches, his hands resting together on his lap. A gull floated past the window and screeched at some unseen threat.

  ‘Why didn’t you tell us before?’ said Niamh accusingly.

  ‘The need never arose,’ said Persephone. ‘And we did not know if you could be trusted, if you were …’ The phrase was left unfinished.

  ‘If we were what?’ said Grady.

  ‘If you truly were the ones who would release us from our prison, from our captivity.’

  Niamh sat up. ‘Captivity? What prison have you been in?’

  Grady’s eyes widened as a thought formed. ‘You two weren’t in the vault for your protection. You were put there to protect the rest of us from you!’

  ‘You are clever,’ said Hep.

  ‘But why?’ said Niamh. ‘What did you do that was so bad that Azrael needed to lock you away from the world?’

  ‘Your hand,’ said Hep. A handful of pages fluttered past. ‘This will tell you everything you need to know, and more.’

  Niamh and Grady exchanged a glance as the pages settled down at a new chapter.

  ‘No!’ said Niamh, slamming the book shut. ‘I can’t take any more of this right now. I won’t.’

  ‘You can’t escape your fate,’ said Persephone, menace edging her words like flint.

  ‘I’ll not have you decide my fate,’ said Niamh angrily. ‘Now go!’

  The Twins were silent for a few moments before a breathy receding voice whispered a reply. ‘As you wish …’ The voice tailed off and Niamh and Grady felt silence return to their heads. They knew the Twins were close, out of sight, but close enough to be always, always, there.

  Chapter 17

  Mirror Maze

  ‘You guys have been unbelievably dull,’ said Bree, staring at her friends.

  Niamh and Grady tried their best to put on their I-couldn’t-care-less faces but their hearts weren’t in it. ‘We’ve … we’ve had a lot of reading to catch up on,’ said Grady, looking unconvincing.

  ‘Hmmmm,’ said Bree thoughtfully. ‘Well I think you are obliged to come with us today. I know you did something that upset your parents but there’s a Puzzle Palace in town that you must see.’

  ‘A Puzzle Palace?’ said Niamh. ‘What’s that?’

  ‘Come along and find out!’ said Devin, bounding up the passageway. ‘It’s great fun!’

  Niamh marvelled at how every sentence uttered by Devin seemed to have an exclamation mark at the end of it. She was sure the girl must have been born with the symbol in her mouth.

  ‘Any hints?’ said Grady.

  ‘Magic mirrors and impossible mazes,’ said Bree. ‘That should be enough to get you interested.’

  ‘I’m in,’ said Niamh. ‘I could do with getting away from here for a while. If I have to spend another day inside these walls I might go a little crazy.’

  ‘A little crazy is what you’re good at,’ said Grady. ‘It’s the big crazies that worry me.’

  Niamh punched him in the arm but her heart wasn’t in it. She knew that some time away from the castle, and away from the book, would be a very good thing right now.

  Less than an hour later Niamh and Grady found themselves standing in opposite corners of the same room but feeling as if they had been transported to different dimensions. Niamh appeared to be taller than the ceiling and was bent over to avoid whacking her head on the beams running across the room. Grady on the other hand appeared to have shrunk by half.

  ‘Hey shorty!’ said Niamh, giggling at her brother.

  ‘Come here and say that!’ said Grady, giving her an angry scowl, spoiled somewhat by the smile which underpinned it.

  ‘Okay! I will!’ said Niamh, laughing. She walked towards her brother and shrank rapidly in size until the giant she had been in one corner became a dwarf in the other.

  ‘That’s the weir
dest thing!’ said Grady. ‘Honestly, you looked as if you were being shrunk by some crazy spell.’

  ‘You looked like you were growing as I walked over!’ said Niamh, laughing.

  The Puzzle Palace turned out to be a grandly named enterprise that was a little less than palatial, but it was a good diversion from the worries that Azrael’s diary had raised.

  ‘Grady!’ yelled Tulliah from the entrance to the amazing shrinking room. ‘Come and see the Faceless Golem room!’

  Grady ran for the door and followed Tulliah, Bree and Quinn into a domed room opposite. ‘Where’s Hugh?’ asked Grady, glancing around. He hadn’t seen his friend since they entered the palace, which made Grady think Hugh was hatching a plot somewhere.

  ‘We saw him heading to the Mirror Room when we came in but I don’t know where he is now,’ said Quinn. ‘It’s down here. You’ll like this!’

  ‘That’s awesome!’ said Grady as he entered. A sea of faces stretching from floor to ceiling swung their gazes upon him, and followed his progress as he walked to the centre of the room. The faces were all humanlike but without colour or any sign of life in their eyes. They looked for all the world as if they were stone-carved golems but more defined, and seemed infinitely more alive despite their appearance. As he turned around the faces appeared to follow him, those at the top peering down with heavily disapproving eyes and those at the bottom seeming to pour a penetrating stare at him.

  ‘This is weird,’ said Niamh quietly. She moved around the room keeping her eyes fixed upon the disturbing faces. ‘They look like they are alive!’

  ‘Take a closer look,’ said Bree, stepping over to the nearest face. ‘Try to touch them.’

  Niamh followed Bree and stretched her hand out towards a particularly nasty looking wizard. Her hand seemed to plunge through the face before touching stone much further in than she expected. The faces were not busts, but were in fact carved deeply into the wall.

  ‘They’re not statues at all,’ said Niamh, running her fingers over the unhappy looking face in front of her.

  ‘No they aren’t. Clever, isn’t it?’

  ‘Very!’ said Grady. ‘Are they anybody in particular?’

  ‘Old kings and queens,’ said Quinn from where he sat cross-legged on the floor in the centre of the room. ‘I could probably tell you their names but I’d end up boring you.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Bree. ‘You probably would.’

  Niamh turned back to look around the room again, but jumped as a ghostlike face she did not expect appeared.

  ‘What?’ said Grady, looking around nervously.

  Niamh bounded over to where she had seen the apparition, but the faces on the wall now were identical to those which had been there when she first entered the room. Where she had thought the odd face had appeared, now sat the face of a witch with high cheekbones and a strong chin. It reminded her of what her grandmother must have looked like in her younger days. Grady stepped up beside her and touched Niamh’s elbow.

  ‘What did you see?’ he said, using words only Niamh could hear.

  ‘The man on the balcony, the same one from town. It was him.’

  ‘Are you …’ Grady started to say, but stopped, as on the far wall he caught a glimpse of a face that was out of place.

  Niamh felt the shock run through her brother. ‘You saw him too?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Grady. ‘He’s gone now, but keep your eyes open. I don’t like this.’

  Hugh’s head appeared at the entrance to the room. ‘Who wants a race through the mirror maze?’

  ‘Like you could beat me,’ said Grady, running out and chasing Hugh down the corridor. The others followed closely behind.

  ‘You enter here,’ said Hugh, gesturing to an opening in a wall of shining mirrors that seemed lit from within by some golden light. ‘And I’ll go in from here.’

  ‘We’ll go in from here you mean,’ said Niamh. ‘Let me go first Grady. You know I’m better at these than you.’

  ‘Like that’s going to happen,’ said Grady, muscling Niamh back out of the way.

  ‘On three!’ said Hugh. ‘Last one to the end is a pile of dragon droppings!’

  Grady wrinkled his nose at the thought. He still joined Roland in the pens at the Dragon’s Lair – there was still so much to learn about their care – though Roland seemed to think the best way to keep learning was helping the gnolls clean out the dung each week. The smell of it was something he would remember for a long time.

  ‘One! Two!’ said Hugh.

  Grady braced himself, ready to run with Niamh close behind him. Bree smiled at Niamh as she lined up behind Hugh. It looked like it was going to be a full-on sprint.

  ‘Thr…’ Hugh started to say before bolting into the maze.

  ‘Hey!’ yelled Grady. ‘Unfair!’

  Grady found he didn’t have any time to worry about his friend cheating on the start line as Niamh gave him a hefty push into the maze. Ahead of him multiple Gradys raced ahead followed by multiple Niamhs.

  ‘Keep going left,’ Niamh shouted to Grady. ‘Remember it’s the fastest way out of a maze!’

  ‘I know,’ he said, darting around a corner.

  Niamh, close on her brother’s heels, found judging distances became harder and harder but, somehow, she kept her feet and pounded along the passageways.

  Grady peered ahead at the reflections which appeared to be converging on him. As he turned the next corner he could hear Hugh laughing close by – they appeared to be neck and neck. But one more turn brought him to an abrupt stop. He had reached a dead end. A multitude of reflections stared back at him, forming a line that stretched into the distance from where he stood. The images flickered before one reflection stepped out of the line and began to walk towards him. As it did so, Niamh ran into Grady’s back and knocked him forward.

  ‘Watch out!’ said Grady as he threw his hands out to stop himself stumbling into the mirror.

  ‘Why did you stop?’ said Niamh.

  ‘There’s no way out except back the way we came. And there’s something wrong with the mirrors – look at that reflection!’ he said, pointing to where the figure had been seconds before.

  ‘What are you talking about?’ said Niamh as she pushed past Grady. ‘Keep turning left, I said!’

  Niamh ran into the corridor which had opened up beside them. Grady stared dumbfounded at the new passageway; there was no strange figure anywhere to be seen. A shout from Niamh to hurry up made him shake his head. He turned to follow his sister while muttering to himself about madness running in his family.

  Niamh bolted ahead, turning left where she could and doubling back when dead ends were met. The sounds of Hugh and Bree had faded and Niamh found the noise of her and Grady’s footsteps had begun to echo in a way that made the maze seem more ominous than it should. As she turned another corner she came to a halt. Ahead of her the reflections no longer looked solid and crisp. Her own face stared back but the expression was distant and empty. Grady stepped up beside her and the two children stared at the odd looking couple reflected back. Slowly, Niamh’s features began to flow and change, her nose sharpening, her jaw hardening, and her eyes widening to large almond shapes with a look Niamh had seen before in visions of the girl who now stood before her – Persephone.

  Beside her stood a boy Niamh did not recognise. To Grady the face was completely familiar. Hephaestus was taller than Persephone but their features were so similar that one could have easily passed for the other in different clothes. Grady stepped back and found his heel strike a mirror that had not been behind them before. Both he and Niamh turned to find themselves imprisoned by walls of glass and reflections of the Twins.

  Another figure appeared in the mirrors from behind Persephone. The man they had seen in town, the man they had seen on the balcony, walked calmly towards them. Niamh spun around, convinced the man must have been behind her. But the reflection of the Twins and the smiling man were the same in every direction. Niamh grabbed her brother’s arm as
the three figures stared back, smiling.

  ‘What’s happening?’ she said.

  ‘I don’t know. But get your wand out. I think we’re in trouble,’ said Grady.

  The figure before them seemed to read the children’s minds. ‘You won’t need those,’ said the man, stepping around the Twins and out of the mirror. ‘I’m not really here. It’s hard to use spells against spirits, you know.’ The figure stood with hands clasped, smiling benevolently at the children. The previous times the children had seen the man he appeared threatening, but now that Niamh had an opportunity to look more closely at him in the bright lights of the mirror maze he looked more like a kindly uncle than an evil spectre. As he stood there smiling, another figure formed in the mirror, appearing at first as if from a great distance that rapidly narrowed. The huge hound the children had seen before trotted forward and took up position beside the Twins. Hephaestus reached out and scratched it behind the ear causing the dog to twist his head up and lean into the attention it clearly enjoyed receiving.

  ‘Who are you and what do you want?’ said Grady, who despite the dismissive tone of the stranger had still decided a wand in his hand was a better thing to have than none at all.

  The old man laughed. ‘You are much less trusting than your sister,’ he said, sounding somewhat pleased with himself. ‘You may be learning a thing or two about trust, but I wonder how good your judgement is really.’

  ‘Better than you might think,’ said Niamh, a touch angrily. ‘You haven’t answered our question yet.’

  The man stared back, the smile disappearing from his lips. ‘I don’t feel like telling you that yet. I do want to ask you why it’s taken you so long to get through the book. My friends here tell me you seem reluctant to read and understand things that you must. Why?’