Nicholas Raven and the Wizards' Web (The Complete Epic Fantasy)

by Thomas J. Prestopnik

  “It’ll still be unbearable without you.”

  “Well, if the snowfall isn’t too formidable, I’ll visit again in Mid Winter,” he promised. “In the meantime, I think it’s only fair that you visit Kanesbury on our way back from the Citadel. I want you to meet Maynard before our ceremony.”

  “That would be lovely!” she said, her mood brightening. “Since Kanesbury is to be our home, I think it’s my duty to interrogate your friends and find out exactly who it is I intend to marry,” she teased. “I expect nothing but glowing reports.”

  Nicholas was just as eager to introduce her to them, knowing in his heart that they would welcome her into their lives as if she had been an old friend. He wanted Ivy to fall in love with her new home as easily as he had fallen in love with her.

  “Hmmm,” he muttered, keeping a straight face. “If this marriage is to work out, a few well placed bribes among some friends should conceal my shady past from you.”

  “You can try,” she replied, “but I think I’d keep you anyway.” Ivy took his hand as they looked down the lazy, grassy shoreline. “If the weather cooperates next spring, why don’t we get married right here? This is such a lovely place and not too far from the house for the festivities afterward. Oh, I can’t wait, Nicholas! What do you think?”

  “It’s a fine idea,” he agreed, imagining them standing here less than a year from now and promising to share the rest of their lives together, a moment he doubted might ever happen while traipsing through the Dunn Hills, sailing up the Lorren River or wandering through the mountain tunnels in Kargoth. But as he held Ivy’s hand, all those dark moments faded as they gazed over the stretch of lovely blue water. “A brilliant idea.” He turned and kissed her. “And I can’t wait either.”

  On the third day of New Autumn, Princess Megan and Leo Marsh were married in the main courtyard of the Blue Citadel. Several hundred guests attended, toasting the joyful couple beneath sunny blue skies. A gentle rain of colorful leaves occasionally fell from the surrounding trees, the branches of each one festooned with ribbons and glass enclosed oil lamps that cast droplets of light far into the night. Amid lively music and dancing, free flowing plates of food, and the unending cups of wine, spiced cider and ale, not a note of disappointment was expressed other than that the celebration should have gone on for a second day, or perhaps even a third.

  Earlier that evening, after twilight had settled in and the warming flames from a fire pit cast flickering shadows upon the crowd, Nicholas and Ivy spent time with old friends at a table near a thicket of white birch trees. Megan and Leo, along with Carmella, Hobin and Emma, sat with them. Candles in the center of the table added a soft sheen to the smiling faces as they discussed past adventures and future hopes.

  “I’ve had quite an adventure exploring the Trent Hills with Tolapari,” Carmella said when asked about her training. “And I still have much to learn, but the old Carmella looks like a dilettante compared to the woman before you now, not meaning to boast.”

  “I never had any doubts,” Megan said proudly.

  “But where to next?” Ivy asked, detecting a deep sadness in Carmella’s eyes which made her believe that the woman still grieved over the loss of her cousin.

  “We’ll travel to Drumaya and points farther south during winter,” she said. “Tolapari and I talked with King Cedric yesterday. He invited us to spend a few days in Grantwick when we pass through. But our path will not take us into Kargoth, at least not this time. I don’t have the heart to go there just yet despite Vellan’s defeat.”

  Ivy glanced at Nicholas, silently questioning him with a faint smile. He immediately understood her concern and nodded.

  “Wherever your path takes you, Carmella, make sure you’re back in the area come springtime for another journey,” Ivy said.

  “A journey to where?” she asked.

  “To Laurel Corners,” Nicholas said with a playful grin. “More specifically, on the fourteenth day of Mid Spring. And make sure the rest of you keep that date open, too,” he added, waving a finger at the others in mock warning.

  Megan beamed with delight, realizing that Nicholas and Ivy were planning to marry that day. She congratulated them with hugs, prompting a barrage of similar sentiments from all around.

  “I was wondering when you two would announce,” she said, adorned in a silken dress of blue and white with a ringlet of matching colored flowers in her hair.

  “We planned to wait until after your wedding before springing the news,” Ivy said.

  “But since we’re all here together…” Nicholas added, happy to let some of his closest friends in on the secret.

  “I think I’ll be able to slip away from my princely duties to attend,” Leo joked.

  “Expect us as well,” Hobin said as he and Emma expressed their delight with the news. “Since Emma and I were married over the summer, that now leaves Nicholas as the last of our hiking trio to take a wife. It’ll be a solemn moment indeed,” he said with a feigned sniffle, pretending to wipe away a tear.

  “Oh, you are a wit!” Emma said with a laugh as she playfully slapped his arm. A polished, blue stone pendant dangled from her neck, its tiny embedded silver sparkles catching the candlelight. “And whether fate planned for us to find those identical stones along Lake Lily or not, I’m still the best thing that ever happened to you.”

  “That you are, dear,” he affectionately replied, kissing her on the cheek.

  “May we please?” Megan quietly asked of Hobin and Emma, looking at them with bottled excitement as she lightly traced a finger along the line of her collar.

  Hobin nodded. “Oh, go ahead. You’re the bride, after all. Far be it from me to say no to you on your special day.”

  “Thanks! I’ve been dying to show it to Ivy though you wanted it kept secret.”

  “Show me what?” she asked, intrigued by the mystery.

  “A present that Hobin and Emma gave us,” she replied. Megan removed a fine, metal chain from around her neck with a stone pendant attached to it that had been hidden beneath her dress. The small, rounded stone was awash in vibrant swirls of autumn hues, its polished surface glossy and smooth. She handed it to Ivy as Leo removed a nearly identical stone from his pocket and slid it over to Nicholas.

  “It’s beautiful,” Ivy said, examining the craftwork so elegant in its simplicity.

  “Hobin thought that Megan and I should have our own matching set much like he and Emma,” Leo said. “He told me he had scoured the shoreline along the Crescent for hours to find them when he was up north visiting her.”

  “He’s a romantic at heart,” Emma replied, “no matter how much he hides it.”

  “Hmmm…” Hobin gruffly replied, winking at Emma before turning to Nicholas and Ivy. “So next spring the two of you can expect your own set, though I’ll keep the color a secret.”

  “That’s more than kind of you,” Ivy said, handing the pendant to Carmella so she could admire it. “I can’t wait to see what you’ve found for us.”

  “Neither can I,” Nicholas said with a grin, slapping Hobin on the back. “A romantic indeed. But don’t worry, your secret is safe with us. Wouldn’t want to ruin your reputation as a crusty, old guide, after all. Bad for business.”

  Hobin grunted. “If you and Leo ever follow me up one of the Five Brothers peaks, you’ll be wishing I were an old softie by the time we reach the summit.”

  “Name the day and the mountain,” Leo challenged teasingly. “Right, Nicholas?”

  “Just no Northern Islanders this time,” he insisted. “Though Frank and Gus are more than welcome to tag along.”

  After the wedding, Ivy stayed in Kanesbury for over two weeks, having arrived four days before the start of the Harvest Festival. Nicholas had nearly forgotten about the celebration as recent events and much traveling had pushed it out of his mind. He and Ivy made an appearance at the Stewarts’ party on the festival’s first night, but were content spending the bulk of those three days walking about the vi
llage or attending quiet dinners with Maynard, Adelaide and a few close friends. Nicholas did, however, take Ivy to the pavilion dance on the final night, holding her close in the moonlight as music played throughout the evening, much like they had done in Illingboc beneath the frosty stars.

  About ten weeks later, after autumn’s radiant palette had dissolved into somber shades of winter, Nicholas visited Ivy in Laurel Corners. They walked hand-in-hand along a worn snow path on the frozen shores of Sage Bay. Beneath a cloak of ashen gray clouds, the sharp call of seagulls and the salty summer mist had been replaced by a cold, weighty silence pressing upon a vast tract of misshapen ice chunks piled like wreckage up and down the shoreline. The wintry edge of the sea was located a quarter mile across the bay, pushing outward a little farther each day as the biting cold held firm its grip.

  Ivy, bundled in a blue hooded cloak, paused near a sturdy willow tree, its sinewy branches flailing in the breeze. She held Nicholas close to keep warm as he wrapped a reassuring arm around her, wearing the long, hooded wool coat he had donned when leaving the Citadel on his quest to Wolf Lake, and ultimately, to Ivy.

  “Why’d you stop?” he asked, noting a faraway smile upon her face. “Too cold to keep walking? Do you want to turn back?”

  “No,” she replied, kissing him in the bracing breeze. “I wanted to show you this spot. I’d like us to get married here this spring. What do you think?”

  Nicholas looked around, and despite the mischievous weather, he could envision the scenic possibilities running through Ivy’s mind that would bloom here come next spring after a bit of warmth and sunshine reawakened the area. “I like it,” he said, noting the delight in her eyes now that their plans were falling into place. “And in a little over three months when everyone is gathered here, I know they’ll all be pleased, too.”

  “I hope so,” she said as they gazed upon the wintry landscape, imagining a future together that now seemed as distant as the miles that once separated them.

  They clasped hands, gazing into one another’s eyes. Nicholas and Ivy visualized the snowy, desolate shoreline slowly melting beneath spring’s reviving breath in the weeks ahead. They imagined the cries of seagulls returning to the turquoise waters lapping upon stony shores, along which stood the budding willow tree and a grassy path strewn with wildflowers beneath the warmth of a rising sun. As they leaned forward in a loving kiss, each wished that the cold, lumbering days ahead could fly by like an eagle in swift flight.

  And when their lips met again on that spot three months later, the gray chill had dissolved into balmy shades of green, their winter attire replaced with a silken dress and a vested suit, and the lonely landscape now blossomed with applause from a circle of guests who cheered on the wedded couple as they basked in each other’s undying love. And for a brief time, two lives were made perfect on the water’s edge on that late, sunny morning. The daunting and circuitous path leading to that special moment had been more than worth the heartache and trouble in the end, all of which had now faded like a troubling memory or the ethereal remains of a whispered word.

  By Mid Summer, Nicholas and Ivy had adjusted comfortably to their roles as husband and wife, enjoying each other’s company over a span of lazy, carefree days. They had moved out of the cottage and into the main house with Maynard as there was plenty of room to spare, allowing Ivy’s sisters to spend the nights in the cottage when they were invited to visit. One evening shortly after their arrival, amid much talk and laughter while sitting down to dinner, Nicholas realized how fortunate he had been despite the wild twists and turns in the past. Life in Kanesbury and in the world beyond seemed to have settled down, an observation which greatly eased his mind when imagining himself and Ivy seated around a table someday with their own children.

  A post from Leo a couple of weeks later confirmed his view. As he read the letter regarding arrangements for a trek into the Dunn Hills with Hobin, Leo made reference to the recent gathering in Grantwick that he had attended with Megan, King Justin and Prince Gregory. A sense of optimism had been expressed by the leaders of the region after Kargoth and its allies had been defeated, yet all agreed that eternal vigilance was required to prevent the rise of another Vellan. But for the time being, Leo believed, the world was in safe hands which gave him much hope.

  “Everyone plans to meet again two years from now in New Maranac,” Nicholas said to Ivy as he read the letter while sitting together on the porch steps. In it, Leo described his reunion with Malek, Eucádus and others who had helped bring stability back to Kargoth and their respective homelands. “Perhaps we can attend the next gathering. I hear the communities along Lake LaShear are a sight to behold.”

  “I look forward to it,” Ivy said, remarking admirably on the tone of Leo’s letter. “He sounds more prince than apple grower on parchment. I suppose life at the Blue Citadel has rubbed off on him just a bit.”

  “I guess so,” Nicholas agreed, noting that Leo’s sometimes dry sarcasm was absent in his friend’s written words. “Perhaps Megan has turned him into a respectable member of the royal family,” he added with a chuckle, sensing that a different version of Leo had composed that letter instead of the one he had first met tumbling uncontrollably into a huge mud puddle.

  But just over a month later, Nicholas discovered the reason for the change in his friend’s demeanor when he and Ivy traveled to Morrenwood with the final flour shipments for the King’s stores. They remained at the Blue Citadel, happy again to see Leo, Megan and Castella in such fine spirits. While at lunch in a quiet chamber later that afternoon, Megan and Leo announced that they were expecting their first child late next spring, delighted to share such joyous news.

  “Leo has been such a dear, reluctant even to leave my side when we first learned,” Megan said. “Still, my husband desperately needs to get out of the Citadel for a spell.”

  “Or perhaps you need him to,” Nicholas joked.

  “As much as I love him, a few weeks of fresh air will do him good,” she replied.

  “Though it’ll pain me deeply, I will depart for the Dunn Hills in two days as scheduled,” Leo said, gazing fondly at his wife. He removed from his pocket the polished stone that Hobin and Emma had given him as a wedding present, matching the one that Megan wore as a pendant around her neck. “But I’ll always be thinking about you,” he added, holding up the stone with a loving smile. “Both of you.”

  Two days after, Nicholas and Leo left on horseback for the village of Woodwater to meet up with Hobin. They traveled around the southern edge of the Cashua Forest and crossed the Lorren River over a stone bridge a few miles south of the village. Hobin was delighted to see them while Frank and Gus greeted them as enthusiastically as on their first arrival.

  “Emma is staying with her niece in Illingboc for a few weeks,” Hobin said, “so it’ll be like old times as we trek through the hills.”

  “Minus the Island assassins,” Leo deadpanned as Nicholas glanced at Hobin’s latest cartographic creations spread out upon a work table.

  “Are these portions of the Trent Hills?” he asked, impressed with the drawings.

  “One of the projects King Justin commissioned from me,” he replied. “They still need a bit of work that I’ll finish up over winter. But now we’ll be tramping in the opposite direction to the Five Brothers range. We passed between the two easternmost mountains on our way to Wolf Lake two years ago, but in a few days we’ll climb up the central peak in the chain.”

  “Let me guess–the tallest of the Five Brothers?” Leo asked.

  “And toughest,” Hobin replied, grinning in anticipation. “We leave in two days.”

  Hobin led Nicholas and Leo north through the woods for several days until they reached the clearing between Beetle Lake and Gray Hawk Mountain. There the trio veered northwest and made for the third mountain in the Five Brothers range as the orange, red and yellow leaves of autumn blanketed the trails before them. On a cool, misty morning two days later, they began their ascent of the mountai
n. Its elevation slowly rose as they traversed dirt and stony paths and followed cold stream banks whose waters rushed over mossy rocks that glittered like emeralds in the sunlight. Shortly before mid afternoon, the weary climbers stepped foot on the breezy summit beneath a crystalline blue sky and swiftly passing clouds. And the view from this peak, like on Gray Hawk Mountain, took their breaths away.

  “Words can’t express it,” Nicholas said as he and the others took in the colorful vista stretching out in all directions around them.

  Gazing northeast, Nicholas looked upon the first two peaks of the Five Brothers standing proudly nearby, sun-splashed and tinted in contemplative shades of deep blue. The last two Brothers took on a similar appearance when he glanced over his shoulder to the southwest. And for miles about, other distant peaks rose majestically above a vast mantle of deciduous trees ablaze in autumn hues and punctuated with rich, green lines of stately pines and blue lakes glistening like open eyes looking up to the heavens.

  Looking northward, he soaked in the view of Wolf Lake embedded in the forest below like a blue sapphire. He noted the dark dot of an island lying off its southern shoreline, recalling the day they had approached Frist’s home as a fine veil of snow flurries peppered the air. Nicholas placed a hand to his chest and felt the wizard’s silver amulet beneath several layers of clothing, grateful that Frist’s sacrifice had helped the nations of Laparia defeat Kargoth and guide him on his search for Ivy. He reached into his pocket and removed a small polished stone the color of lush green clover. He held it close to his heart and imagined with a contented smile that Ivy had just reached for the matching stone hanging from a delicate chain about her neck.

  “Ready?” a voice called to him as if from a deep and faraway dream, slowly rousing Nicholas from his hypnotic state. “Are you ready?”

  “Hmmm?” he replied in a fog, drawn back to the moment as he placed the gift from Hobin and Emma in his pocket and turned to his friends. “Ready? Ready for what?”