“You should have remained inside on such a cold night,” Carmella said apologetically, enveloped in her multicolored cloak. She also wore a pair of beige gloves that extended to the middle of her forearms, still uncomfortably conscious of the pumpkin-colored tint imprinted upon her hands and wrists. “I’m sorry I asked you to report back to me, Megan. It could have waited until morning.”
“Nonsense, Carmella. I told you I would visit and I intend to keep my word. Besides, I could use some fresh air tonight.” Megan looked around for any sign of Jagga, curious about his absence.
Carmella invited her to sit on a log with her near the fire before pointing to a spot farther down the river. Megan craned her neck until she saw the faint glow of torchlight along the water’s edge a short distance away.
“Jagga’s down there,” she said with amused melancholy. She folded her arms and gently rocked back and forth near the flames.
Megan arched her brow. “What’s he doing?”
“He’s searching,” Carmella replied, staring into the fire. “For my medallion.”
“I don’t understand.”
Carmella smiled, wiping the mist from her eyes. “He noticed one day that my medallion–his gift to me–was missing, so of course I had to play along and act surprised. I told him that it must have slipped off while I was splitting wood or working my gardens or traveling on the road. Ever since then, wherever we go, he searches for hours at a time, hoping to find the medallion and return it to me.” Carmella took Megan’s hand and teared up. “It breaks my heart so, but what could I tell him otherwise?”
“I understand,” she replied, not wanting to inform Carmella that the key would be used tomorrow before the crack of dawn to open the Spirit Box. But after stumbling around the subject, she finally uttered the words and told her friend the truth.
Carmella took a deep breath and sighed. “It was only a matter of time, I suppose, once Leo returned. And though a part of me wishes that Jagga had never given me that medallion or stolen the key in the first place, I guess this is what needs to be done despite the conflicted feelings of a silly, old woman.”
“Your feelings are not silly, Carmella.” Megan placed an arm around her shoulder to comfort her. “And you certainly aren’t old by any stretch of the imagination. Why, you put many younger women to shame by all the work and traveling that you do.”
“Perhaps, but soon I’ll have to drive myself again if events play out as we expect.” She looked at Megan, grateful for her companionship. “Tomorrow morning?”
“Before dawn,” she whispered. “My father plans to launch his assault on Triana at that time, so we will coordinate our action with his, assuming his forces are in place. But we shall see.”
“Yes,” Carmella said with a weary sigh as she glanced at the wavering torchlight along the river, picturing Jagga examining every inch of ground for her treasured medallion. “We shall see.”
That same evening, a man walked beside his horse among a thin spread of pine trees scattered around the base of the Trent Hills just north of Morrenwood. The steady flow of the Edelin River nearby only heightened the dense silence of the cold night. A snap of a twig caused the man to freeze in his tracks before he looked around in the oppressive gloom. He didn’t have to look long before another set of eyes spotted him.
“Glad to see you made it back, Mr. Nollup.” The voice drifted through the trees to his left. “You and your steed follow me and then you can make your report and get some food and sleep. No doubt you deserve both.”
“I certainly crave both, Mr. Mune,” the man replied with a gruff voice. “Lead on.”
Several minutes later, the two men entered a small clearing where a fire burned and four other people stood close to it, conversing in low voices while they warmed their hands. One of the individuals was Madeline, dressed snugly in a fur-lined hood and cloak. With her were Commander Uta and Captain Burlu of the Northern Isles and another soldier. Madeline turned when she heard Mune and Mr. Nollup approach, glad to see them both despite her stony expression.
“I hope you have good news,” Madeline said, her tone as dry as the winter air. Her eyes were fixed upon Mr. Nollup.
“Yes I do, ma’am,” he replied while tying his horse to a slender tree before edging up to the fire. “King Justin and his troops returned earlier this evening. Most are camped a good distance away from the Citadel. They should pose no problem for you.”
“You’re sure the King himself has returned?” Commander Uta asked, massaging his unshaven face.
“Quite sure. I saw him at the head of the line.”
Madeline looked up at the commander and offered a faint smile. “Then at long last, we’re ready to implement our plan.”
“The sooner the better,” Uta replied. “One more delay and my troops would have abandoned even you, Madeline. Living in the Trent Hills these past few weeks has grown tiresome. My troops are men of action, not content to sit around and watch trees grow.”
“Tomorrow morning they will get their wish,” Madeline said. She directed Mr. Nollup to follow Captain Burlu to the main encampment hidden deeper in the trees where he could find food and a place to rest. When they were gone, Madeline eyed the soldier standing next to Commander Uta. “So, how are you feeling now?”
The soldier returned a steely gaze and took a step away from the bonfire before slowly raising his arms in front of him. A pained expression appeared on his face while he remained as still as a statue. Slowly, the man’s body began to liquefy until the soldier from the Northern Isles transformed into the wizard Arileez. When the process was complete, the eerily familiar figure with the skeletal face and shock of white hair stood before them, clothed in garments of animal skins and other fibrous materials while wrapped in a tattered cloak. Yet Arileez appeared tired, almost disoriented for several unnerving moments until it finally passed.
“I feel fine now,” Arileez brusquely replied. “But I will go and rest until you’re ready to leave. I am not a plaything, after all, here to entertain you.”
“Of course not,” Madeline said. “But when we storm the Citadel, you will have to appear as a soldier until we can get you alone with King Justin. Then you will have to take on his appearance. So get all the rest you can. We can’t afford any mistakes tomorrow.”
Arileez grunted as if offended by the remark. “There will be none, I assure you.” He walked off into the trees, taking much of the tense atmosphere with him.
“I thought he’d never leave,” Mune whispered when Arileez was out of earshot. “I’ll be glad when this is over. He could stop your heart with one look of those eyes.”
“He’s the key to our victory, Mune, and Vellan is counting on our success,” Madeline said, though her thoughts were troubled with other matters. “Yet his difficulties of late do not bode well. His last few transformations have been a task, something Arileez claims he has never known before.”
“But whether the result of an illness or some other cause, the timing is wretchedly inconvenient,” Uta interjected. “No doubt I will lose some good men on this mission, Madeline, but if it is all for naught in the end because of him…”
Madeline, insulted by the remark, glared at the commander with such fierce intimidation that even Mune averted his eyes, fearing that she might lash out.
“We will not fail this time, Uta. Mark my words.” Her tone was icy as she adjusted her cloak. “Just make sure your men are ready to perform as instructed.”
She turned and stormed away into the trees, following in Arileez’ footsteps. Mune and Commander Uta looked at one another, both relieved to be rid of the two individuals if even for a short while.
“They do tend to crowd a room by their presence, don’t they?” Mune whispered, holding his hands above the flames. “Even if the room happens to be an entire forest.”
Commander Uta chuckled, knowing that that would probably be the last bit of laughter either of them would hear for a very long time.
CHAPTER 71
/> Fire and Stone
Leo heard the steady beat of horse hooves battering the planks of a rickety bridge crossing the river. He tried to block out the noise as he lay on the cold ground among the trees, but even when he covered his ears, he couldn’t muffle the annoying sound. It grew louder and louder, forcing him to open his eyes to utter darkness. But when his mind finally focused, he realized that he wasn’t outdoors.
He felt the nip of cool air upon his nose as he lay on his side bundled up in several blankets. A yawning fireplace across the room contained a pile of glowing embers, the remains of last night’s fire. As the monotonous pounding continued, the sound of galloping horses transformed into someone impatiently knocking upon his bedroom door in the Blue Citadel.
“Just one more hour…” he mumbled, his face buried in the crook of his arm and a feather pillow. His eyelids suddenly popped open when he grasped the importance of the day ahead. He anxiously felt for the metal key beneath his nightshirt. The quest to find the wizard Frist, and all the hardships that he, Nicholas and Hobin had endured in the process, would shortly be judged as either a brilliant maneuver or a complete waste of time. The hopes of many people were about to be fulfilled or crushed with the simple turn of a key.
Another knock forced Leo to climb out of bed and wrap a blanket over his shoulders to keep warm. He trudged to the door and opened it, allowing a splash of light to enter from an oil lamp affixed to the outside wall. One of the two guards standing in the corridor looked up at him apologetically.
“Sorry to disturb you, but the hour is at hand,” the guard said. “When you’re ready, we’ll escort you to the upper room as King Justin requested.”
“I’ll be with you shortly,” Leo replied wearily as he peered through the doorway. He smiled when Princess Megan walked down the corridor wearing a dark blue dress with a velvet stole around her shoulders.
“I thought you’d be dressed and on your way by the time I got here,” she joked, fondly amused by Leo’s disheveled appearance.
“I’m still getting used to sleeping in a bed again and not having rocks and tree roots sticking in my back,” he replied.
Leo combed a hand through his tangled hair as he slipped back inside the room, closed the door and lit a candle in the glowing embers. He hurriedly dressed and then flung open the window drapes, revealing a dark, wintry morning through the frosted glass panes. He removed the key from around his neck and examined it in the glow of the candlelight, both excited and apprehensive about his appointed task. But with Megan at his side, he knew everything would turn out for the best. Moments later, he stepped into the corridor and joined the others as they made their way to the upper room.
“Grandfather will join us shortly,” Megan said as she walked beside him. The two guards led the way down the corridor lit by oil lamps at regular intervals along the walls. Any windows they passed appeared dull and black in the predawn hour like a series of dead eyes keeping silent watch.
“I’ll be glad when this is over so we can get back to a normal life,” Leo whispered. “Normal at least until winter is over. Then I suppose it’s an all-out assault against Vellan from what rumors I’ve heard.”
Megan took his hand and smiled. “Let’s not think too far ahead, Leo. I just want to spend some time with you, unencumbered by kidnappings, keys and miles of traveling over endless roads and wilderness. I’m looking forward to winter, hoping you can spend a good part of it next to me.”
“I intend to,” he replied. They turned a corner and headed up a flight of stairs into a hallway lined with decorative tapestries and pieces of sculpture set in hollow sections of the walls. “However, I do plan to go home to Minago for a spell and let my family know I’m alive,” he added. “I hope Henry still remembers me.”
“He’ll be proud of you after he learns what you’ve done, as will your parents.” Megan looked at him with a questioning gaze. “You do have it with you?”
Leo smirked as he tapped a hand to his chest, indicating that the key was underneath his shirt. “When it’s over, you can keep it for a souvenir if you’d like.”
“Or we can give it to Carmella,” she suggested. “As there will still be magic within it, she might–” Suddenly a distant rumble echoed dully through the corridor, causing everyone to halt and look around with uncertainty. “Was that a clap of thunder?”
“It almost sounded like it,” one of the guards replied, “though that would be rare at this time of year.”
“We should move on,” Leo said with unease. “King Justin will be–”
Another far-away sound caught their attention, only this time it clearly wasn’t a rumble of thunder. The frantic shouts of men’s voices and the metallic clash of swords drifted up nearby stairwells and along the walls of the corridor from distant chambers inside the Citadel. The guards glanced at each other, sharing the same thought.
“The Citadel is breached!” one said, drawing his sword. The other soldier vaulted past Megan and Leo so that one of the men guarded the couple from either side. After listening for a moment, both sensed that the fighting was still confined to another section of the Citadel, perhaps two floors below.
“Take Leo to the upper room quickly,” the second guard informed the other. “I’ll guide Princess Megan to a secure location.” The man removed a pair of keys attached to a metal ring from his side and tossed them to his counterpart. “You’ll need these.”
“I don’t want to leave Leo!” Megan cried, visibly shaken.
Leo placed his hands upon her shoulders and looked calmly into her eyes. “Megan, there’s no time to argue. If there are intruders, you must go now,” he said. “I’m sure your grandfather is being told the same thing.”
“He’s right, Princess Megan. I’ll take you to a safe place where King Justin is most likely headed as we speak,” her guard replied. “You know what is expected of you in such a situation. We have no time to discuss it.”
Megan briefly fumed, but knew that her protector was correct. She placed her hands upon Leo’s cheeks and kissed him quickly to his delighted surprise before stepping back.
“Go on then,” she reluctantly said, hurrying down the hallway with the guard and calling over her shoulder. “But find me as soon as you can!”
“I promise,” Leo replied, his eyes tenderly fixed upon her as she disappeared around a corner, her shadow and footsteps fading in the growing chaos from below.
Leo and the other guard pressed on, both wondering what forces had infiltrated the Citadel, though assuming they were after the key. Their footsteps echoed off the walls as the sounds of close quarters combat percolated in the background.
Earlier that morning in the cold, bitter darkness, Commander Uta and Captain Burlu stealthily guided one hundred of their finest fighters through the Trent Hills. They neared the outskirts of Morrenwood, preparing to storm the Citadel. Madeline and Mune accompanied the troops along with Arileez who again assumed the form of an Island soldier. An hour earlier they had passed the village of Red Fern. Madeline recalled the month-long stay at Carmella’s farmhouse on its outskirts twenty years ago. She and Caldurian had taken refuge there after their failed kidnapping attempt of the King’s infant granddaughter, Princess Megan.
Madeline looked wistfully back upon those days when she was young, naïve and full of hope and possibility. Caldurian first began to train her in the magic arts then, along with Carmella, and it was in Red Fern that the rivalry between the two cousins first blossomed. Madeline knew that she possessed the superior intellect and magical aptitude, feeling slighted that the wizard had shown Carmella equal attention in their training. Only when Carmella discovered five hundred Enâri creatures and the eagle Xavier hiding out in the nearby woods, and then later learned of Madeline and Caldurian’s role in the attempted kidnapping, did the wizard finally turn on her. Carmella threatened to report them to the authorities, so Madeline, the wizard and their small army fled east to the Cumberland Forest, but not before a final confrontation between the
two cousins.
Madeline chuckled to herself as she walked in the darkness, receiving strange glances from Mune as she silently recalled the heated argument with Carmella in her pumpkin patch twenty years ago. She doubted that her cousin had gained enough knowledge of magic over the years to reverse the orange skin-coloring spell she had cast upon her before fleeing. As the sweet scent of pine drifted through the air, she wondered if Carmella still resided in Red Fern, harboring doubts that she would ever see her again.
“You’re awfully pensive this morning,” Mune whispered as they shuffled across a dirt path blanketed with pine needles and small stones. “Having second thoughts about our assignment? It seems an age since we discussed it over dinner at the Plum Orchard Inn.”
Madeline gazed sharply at her associate and sighed. “It’s still not morning, Mune, in case you haven’t noticed. And when have you known me not to be pensive?”
“Good point,” he replied, scratching at his goatee. “I’ll be glad when this mission is over so I can take some well deserved time off.” He reconsidered his words and glanced at Madeline. “We are getting some time off, aren’t we? What more can Caldurian and Vellan expect of us now that winter is here?”
“Replacing King Justin will be quite a coup for us all,” she replied, her words absorbed in the nearly impenetrable darkness. “But since we must assume that the King returned victoriously from the war in Rhiál, I’m guessing Vellan will have other plans for us to counter that defeat.” Mune sighed upon hearing those words. “But fear not. I’m sure Vellan will show some appreciation for our grueling work and allow us time to recuperate. Even I’m feeling drained. What I’d give for a few months to simply indulge myself in the study of magic. There is much more I want to learn. But first things first, Mune. We have a job to do.”
Nicholas Raven and the Wizards' Web (The Complete Epic Fantasy) Page 115