Legend of the Sorcerer

by Donna Kauffman

  “Alfred, I don’t understand what the Dark Pearl has to do with your feud. Why does she want it, assuming it really exists? Is it so valuable? Enough to warrant kidnapping and torture to own it?”

  “Oh, it exists. It’s value as a gemstone would be astronomical on the current market. It is immense and flawless. But that is not why she wishes to possess it.” Alfred patted the bed. “Come, Jordalyn. Sit beside me so that I might hold both of your hands as I tell you a story.”

  Jordy met Cai’s eyes once again. He nodded and she sat on the opposite edge of the bed. Alfred took her hand, Cai held his other one.

  “I know you have thought me eccentric, even senile, with all my talk of Arthur and Merlin.” He waved away their discomfort. “Whether or not you believed me hasn’t been an issue, so I have not forced it. Until now. Now it is vital. What I’m about to tell you will challenge your beliefs in what is truth and what can be.”

  Both Jordy and Cai sat silently.

  “Malacai, you were born into a family whose history predates time as you measure it. You know little of your actual heritage because I determined it was better that way. You were not born of the gift. Your father was. In time, he would have told you of his duties, if for no other reason than to protect you.” His eyes shifted away for a moment. “I disagreed with that decision, and it is only now that I realize he was right. I, too, should have confided in you.”

  “Confide what? About Isolde?”

  A spark of fire returned to Alfred’s eyes. “Isolde is only part of this. I misjudged her as well as my own abilities. I thought that once she knew you weren’t the one, she would leave us be. And for ten years, she has. The story will take some time in the telling and I will brook no more interruptions.” He slipped his fingers around Cai’s and squeezed. “You will need to open both your mind and your heart. Trust in what you know, not only in what you can see.”

  There was nothing to do but follow Alfred’s lead. “For a weak old man, you have an amazing ability to control those around you,” Cai said.

  Alfred smiled for the first time in days. “A skill you would be wise to learn, young lad.”

  “I tried, didn’t work too well.” Cai smiled, but couldn’t swallow the worry that grew ever deeper. Alfred was teetering on the edge of complete irrationality. He wasn’t sure he’d recover this time.

  Cai looked up to find Jordy gazing at him. She had a way of looking into him that was more intimate than a touch. Her heart ached for Alfred, too. But there was something else there, a spark. She was falling under Alfred’s spell and urging Cai to follow. He sighed inwardly. She didn’t know Alfred like he did.

  “I suppose I will begin where it started,” Alfred went on. “The L’Baan’s have existed for tens of centuries. It was known immediately upon my birth that I would be the next Keeper. I was apprised of my future role and prepared for it, but my other skills had to be developed first. I was taken to court as a young boy by my father for training. A Keeper must learn the full extent of his powers if he is to fulfill his duty. It is a long, arduous task, but I was fortunate. For he apprenticed me to Merlin.”

  Cai sat up straight. He wanted to indulge his grandfather, but this was too much. He couldn’t just sit here and watch the last of his grandfather’s mind desert him. “Merlin, Grandfather?” he said gently. “That was over a thousand years ago.”

  “I asked for only your silence,” he said pointedly. “I will take nothing less.”

  Cai frowned, but nodded.

  “Merlin was a difficult taskmaster, but I learned my calling well. I spent a great deal of time in Camelot, even traveling with Arthur on occasion. Later on, I would accompany other knights. Perceval on his hunt for the Grail.” Alfred shook his head. “A time that was. Fraught with arguments. Many a time I thought to leave him to it, but we managed well enough in the end. If he knew that Galahad would go on to reap most of the glory …” He sighed, a smile curving his lips. “Ah yes, those years were some of the best of my long life. But that is the way of youth, the memories retaining more luminescence than perhaps the actual time warranted.”

  He gestured for his water and Jordy quickly positioned the glass and straw in front of his mouth. He sipped, his mind seemingly miles—or centuries—away. “I was entrusted with a great deal of responsibility as I moved through various courts and kings over time. But none so powerful as that given to me as birthright. That of Keeper of the Dark Pearl. It would take all of my training to maintain that balance of power. My father knew of that power, as had his father before him. L’Baan’s had been Keepers since before time was recorded. The position was exalted and feared, the Pearl greatly desired, its possession savagely sought. They did not understand that its power was only worthy in that it balanced an equal evil. Wielding it for the sake of greed would bring such devastation mere mortals could not comprehend.

  “So, the Keeper before my father, my great-grandfather, secreted the Pearl away. Tales of its powers were passed down amongst the masses but, as generations passed, those tales eventually were seen as myth. After time even the myths were no longer repeated. By the time I became Keeper, knowledge of the Dark Pearl had disappeared from recorded history altogether. I was known to courts and kings as a great magician. But only the Keeper knows of the Pearl and her history, has her secrets, knows where she is hidden. The Keeper and one other.”

  “Isolde.” Jordy whispered the word.

  Alfred merely nodded. “Isolde is the descendant, yes. She and I came to power at about the same time. She was apprenticed as well, to a magician as powerful as Merlin though his magick was dark, evil, as was the one before him. His realm, and hers by association, never crossed into Camelot. Not then. But I knew from my father of her existence. She learned well, grew far more powerful than even my father had predicted. We met for the first time on the eve of the second millennium.” He fell silent, his expression troubled.

  At any other time, Cai would have been enraptured. Alfred spun nothing less than gold. But this was no story. Not to Alfred. How long had Cai deluded himself that his grandfather’s flights of fancy were harmless? If Cai had been less doting and more vigilant, perhaps he could have found help for him earlier on. But even as he thought it, he discarded it. Alfred’s eccentricities were intrinsic to the man he was. To take that from him would have been like stealing his soul.

  Who was he to judge if this fantasy world was where his grandfather chose to go when his time on earth was drawing to a close? If it gave Alfred peace, then Cai would find peace there as well.

  “I could have finished it that night,” Alfred went on. “But I was arrogant. She taunted me with her designs to take the Pearl from me, to shift the balance of power to evil. I all but dared her to try.” He snorted in disgust. “She was an apt pupil and I had to spend enormous amounts of time and energy to maintain my edge over her. Energy better spent elsewhere.

  “Our battle continued for centuries more and with all my time spent staving her off, my continuing studies in the realm of magick, and time spent in service to kings and their crusades, I remained alone. This was not my father’s dying wish. I knew I must find my mate and produce an heir to my position. Were I to die without benefit of an heir to my powers, she would win. I could not let that happen. Yet I had to marry wisely. Not every union would produce a Keeper. I was fortunate. Meet her I did, and our union made us more powerful still. Isolde was furious and went into seclusion for the duration of our time together.

  “Your grandmother died in giving birth to your father. It was both the greatest and most tragic day of my life. But I knew as soon as his eyes opened and he looked upon me that we had succeeded. She had not given her life in vain.” Alfred suddenly gripped his hand. “Her life pulsed in your father, and his pulses in you.”

  Cai could only stare into his grandfather’s fierce blue eyes and hold on.

  “And yet I have no special powers,” Cai said quietly.

  “Your father did not love as wisely as I. He was not a focu
sed pupil. I fear I doted on him too much and with not as firm a hand as I should have. But he was all I had. Isolde had not shown herself in over a century and I naively thought I had all the time in the world to show him the way. I let him wander and as a result he fell in love with your mother.” Alfred smiled warmly. “She was a lovely creature, full of life and energy. I could not fault him for wanting the union. I didn’t encourage it, but neither did I worry overmuch. I knew his time would transcend hers and that he could go on to produce his heir with the right mate.”

  “Instead he had me.”

  Alfred nodded. “Indeed he did. And a fine lad he sired in you. We knew immediately you would not carry the gift, but that didn’t lessen his love or devotion to you. I worried that time was wasting. Isolde had surfaced once again, gloating a bit over my mistakes with your father. He had come to live here in Florida and had no interest in his lessons with me. Yet, I still believed we had time and let him have his youthful fling.” His eyes grew glassy. “Had I been more strict, he would never have fallen prey to that faulty plane machinery. His magic should have been strong by then.” He lifted his hand and stroked Cai’s arm.

  Once again he seemed to fade out. Cai looked over at Jordy, but her gaze was focused rapturously on Alfred’s. Tears made her eyes look like bright, glistening emeralds. She was completely transported. Cai found his own smile, even as his heart ached. Alfred’s own life might be waning, but his true power hadn’t abated one bit.

  Alfred cleared his throat. “I gladly took on your care, knowing that the seed for salvation lies within you. I kept you here, away from Isolde’s prying eyes, raising you myself, encouraging our cloistered lifestyle. When the time came, I would guide you to your mate, see that you produced the heir to the Pearl.”

  Cai surprised them both by grinning.

  “You find this humorous, young sire?” Alfred demanded.

  “It’s just that some of the women you’ve tried to hook me up with don’t, uh, exactly seem to meet the criteria of this perfect mate I’m supposed to find.”

  Cai expected to be blasted for his insubordination, but instead Alfred’s cheeks colored slightly and he shifted a bit, picking at the sheets. “Well, I wasn’t getting any younger. Your complete inability to maintain an ongoing relationship with any woman, much less the perfect mate, was more than a little alarming. I knew I would not have centuries with you as I did your father.” He harrumphed. “I did what I had to do.”

  Cai didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He could have done both, and perhaps that was Alfred’s lasting legacy. The idea that this incredible man would leave him forever hit him hard and swift. He leaned over and kissed Alfred on the cheek. “I love you,” he said. “I wish I had the words to explain all the reasons why.”

  Alfred’s eyes misted and he didn’t seem to know what to say. He cleared his throat and gestured for more water, which Jordy provided. “I love you like my own son,” he said finally. “I only kept you here to protect you. Perhaps if I’d told you sooner, encouraged you to live more openly, I’d be training my replacement by now.”

  He took their hands and joined them over him. “Fate works in strange ways, however. I knew as soon as I saw her dragon that she was the one, Malacai.” To Jordy he said, “You will do well by him, I know this to be true. Your soul is pure. My heart will be with you always, Jordalyn.” He refused to let them respond. Gripping their hands more tightly and with some urgency, he said, “I have not been completely foolhardy with my birthright. Knowing time was waning, I have spent these last years putting to paper everything I have learned in my long time on earth. The volumes are hidden. I fear they are not complete, but there is enough. Dilys has the only key. I may not be here to do my duty by him, so you will need them to train the child you will create. He will be the Keeper, I feel it.”

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  Cai closed the door to his office. Jordy walked to the window. They had both remained silent since leaving Alfred minutes ago.

  Alfred’s final proclamation had barely left his mouth when his eyes drifted shut. He’d fallen asleep with their hands still joined in his tight grip. Cai had known a moment of soul-deep panic, uncertain if his grandfather had fallen asleep for the night, or all eternity. But his chest rose and fell evenly. They’d stayed with him until he’d relaxed into deep sleep.

  “What do we do now?” Jordy asked.

  “I honestly have no idea.” Cai was exhausted both mentally and physically. He couldn’t think rationally, then again, nothing about the last hour had been rational. He was no longer certain where reality ended and fantasy began.

  “Do you think there’s a chance Alfred is right?”

  He turned and took her hands in his, holding them still. “Even if he is, I can’t see him convincing anyone else of it.”

  Jordy looked deep into his eyes. “Did he convince you?”

  He spent a long time staring back at her before answering. “I don’t know.”

  “He makes me want to believe,” she said softly.

  Cai could drown in her eyes. Alfred said she had magic. Maybe there was a little of the believer in him after all. He surely felt spellbound.

  “Maybe we should ask Dilys for the key,” she said. “To Alfred’s papers.”

  He had to let her go, stop touching her, if he was going to think straight. He walked around his desk and sat.

  She sat, too. “We have nothing to lose by looking at them. And you never know, maybe there will be some kind of documentation of his claims against Isolde.”

  “Claims that they battled over a powerful magic pearl a thousand years ago?”

  Jordy slapped her knees and stood. “Fine. Just fine. You sit here and wallow in your self-pity and pain then. I’ll go talk to Dilys.”

  “No.”

  She lifted a brow. “No? Alfred made it clear that he expected both of us to have access to those papers. I suppose it will be up to Dilys to decide.”

  He swore when she walked from the room. But he didn’t go after her. Self-pity? He wanted to reject that, but he couldn’t. He was human, his emotions were raw, his defenses drained, and yes, he resented Alfred’s slow descent into madness. Pain? Well, yes, dammit, he was in pain. So much so he ached with it. His grandfather was fighting a losing battle and Cai could do nothing but watch.

  He wished he could believe Alfred’s story. How wonderful it would be if life were that simple. But life wasn’t like that. He tilted his head back. No, his life wasn’t like that.

  The kitchen was empty, so Jordy went to Alfred’s room first. She listened at the door, but heard no voices. She peeked inside, but Alfred was alone and still sleeping. She tried his office next, but it was also empty.

  She went through the rest of the house, even going so far as to knock on the door to Dilys’ private quarters. If she was there, she wasn’t answering.

  It was the middle of the day. Where else would she be?

  She doubted Dilys was out wandering the gardens alone. Jordy walked out to the docks, but there were no boats missing. Hell, for all she knew, she might have been chasing her in circles. It was a big place.

  She headed back to the house, but instead of going inside, she veered toward the path to the cottage. With Alfred asleep, Dilys missing in action, and Cai closeted away with his thoughts, there was little she could do anyway.

  Maybe working on the dragon would help her sort out her thoughts.

  “Hi, Fred.” She went over to the bowl and picked up his fish flakes. She’d moved Fred out here earlier, since this was where she figured she’d be spending most of her time. She sprinkled a few flakes in the water, then froze. Her mouth dropped open. Fred was swimming upright. She bent down and looked through the side of the glass, then stood and looked into the water again. There was no mistaking it. Fred looked … normal. She walked around the bowl, unable to believe what she was seeing. His crooked tail still bent at a slightly funny angle, but it was no longer twisted.

  “How did you manage this?” s
he asked in wonder.

  “ ’Twasn’t difficult if ye know the words.”

  Jordy spun around, hand to her chest. Dilys stood inside the door. She looked different, too. Not in any specific way. Her hair was still sleeked back into a tight chignon, her clothes spotless and ruthlessly crisp.

  But there was something …

  “You fixed him?”

  Dilys walked toward her and the fishbowl. “Aye, not that the wee thing was complainin’.” She smiled tenderly at Fred. “Though I’m certain he willna mind seein’ the world right side up for a change.”

  That was it, Jordy thought, stunned. Her tone had softened, her eclectic dialect emphasized by the change. The cold austerity was gone from her. Dilys radiated … warmth.

  She turned to Jordy. “I did it because I felt ye needed a sign.”

  “A sign?”

  “I feel yer faith is strong, perhaps more so than Master Malacai’s. But then that one takes too much on his shoulders, he does. You hear with your heart as well as your head. I thought it might not hurt to nudge you along a bit.”

  She didn’t wait for an answer, but moved over to the plastic sheet that covered her dragon. Without asking permission, she uncovered it. A smile split her normally tightly drawn features. It transformed her, so much so Jordy swallowed a gasp of surprise.

  “Ye have the magic in ye, aye, and that’s the honest truth. Himself saw it in ye right off, he did. I wasna so certain, until I had myself a peek at your drawings.”

  “You went through my sketch books?”

  A tinge of the old Dilys surfaced as her shoulders straightened a bit. “I didn’t paw through your things, if that’s what you mean.” She gentled a bit then. “When I brought you yer sketch pad as you watched over himself when he took to his bed. I took the liberty of looking through it. I suppose I was lookin’ for a sign, too.”

  “Did you find it?” The question was out before she could stop it.