Figuring that if he couldn’t practice magic out in the open, he could at least practice it in his room. Gabriel decided to say good night to Ling and Sema. They insisted on accompanying him to his quarters. As they bid him goodnight, Sema gave him a light kiss on the forehead and Ling gave him a wink and whack on the arm. In his room, alone for the first time in hours, Gabriel practiced making fireballs fly around his quarters, making several books that Ohin had brought him levitate at the same time, trying to swirl them around in a controlled dance of paper and light. When one of the books collided with one of the fireballs and burst into flame, Gabriel released his concentration. The burning book fell to the floor, along with the others, as the fireballs winked out of existence.
Staring at the book as it burned, Gabriel tried to think of what to do. How could he use magic to put the fire out? The flame from the book grew larger and began to threaten the faded Persian rug. He was about to grab a glass of water from his dresser when something occurred to him.
Focusing his mind again, he concentrated on making the flame smaller and smaller until it finally flickered out. He picked up the book as he used magic to open the window and air out the room. Many of the pages at the beginning were beyond recovery, but most of the latter half of the book was still legible. He looked at the title. Flames from Nowhere: An Apprentice Guide to Fire Magic. Gabriel laughed as he went to bed. Maybe Teresa would tell him what the front of the book had said. At least the most interesting part, the advanced Fire Magic, was still readable.
Before breakfast the next morning, Gabriel met Ohin at a bench in the courtyard of the Upper Ward. Ohin had asked him to be there when the sun came up. Gabriel wasn’t sure why people who could control time needed to get up so early, but he didn’t complain. It had never done him any good to complain to his mother about what time he needed to get up, and he doubted that Ohin would be any more flexible than his mother had been.
Gabriel sat down next to Ohin.
“Morning,” Gabriel said.
“Good Morning,” Ohin said, handing Gabriel a small leather-bound book. For a second, Gabriel thought the book was a copy of the one he had burnt the night before and wondered how Ohin had known, and wondered even more so if he was in trouble for damaging a book from the castle library. Then he read the title. A Time Traveler’s Pocket Guide to History, Third Edition, edited by one William Mackel. Gabriel paged through the book. It had a detailed timeline in the front and sections with illustrated entries in chronological order, as well as a section at the back with names and places arranged alphabetically. It was small, but incredibly detailed. Idly, Gabriel realized there must be a printing press somewhere in the castle to be making all these specialized books.
“Thank you,” Gabriel said, looking from the book to Ohin.
“You’re welcome,” Ohin said. “I thought it might be helpful until your studies of history are complete. I kept it in my pocket for years while I was an apprentice.”
“I have trouble imagining you as an apprentice,” Gabriel said, flipping through the pages of the book again.
“I was an apprentice for a long time,” Ohin said with a sigh. “More than once. Before I was plucked from the timeline, I was a stonemason, and I apprenticed with my master for ten years. They were hard years, filled with long hours and backbreaking work, but good years, as well. He was a kind teacher, patient with a slow learner, and forgiving of mistakes. I was an orphan and he and his wife were like the family I had never known. She used to bake spiced-honey bread and serve it with fresh cream from goat’s milk. I miss the taste of that.
“It was a long apprenticeship, but not one where I learned to read. You are lucky to have been taken from a place and time when reading was common. I came from a land with a written language, but a long oral tradition. The written language was called Ge’ez, but an apprentice stonemason had little time for learning to read. It took a great deal of effort to learn English, which Councilwoman Elizabeth has established as the common language for the castle. At first, it was actually easier for me to memorize the book from someone reading it to me than to read it myself.”
“You memorized this whole book?” Gabriel said, his eyes widening.
“That and many others,” Ohin said. “It’s not that hard once you learn how. People in your time had gotten lazy about using their memory, but for a time traveler, it is essential to have a powerful recall. While that little book will slip in your pocket, you cannot hope to carry all the books with all the knowledge you are likely to need.”
“I have a pretty good memory for names and dates,” Gabriel said, sliding the book into one of the deep pockets on the side of his pants. It was a perfect fit.
“I’m sure you do,” Ohin said. “And I’ll help you to improve it. I have something else for you.” Ohin handed Gabriel a small piece of amber. Gabriel held it up to the light and could see a beetle suspended in the orange-brown fossilized tree resin. “This relic is yours to keep. It will allow you to make your way back to the castle in the event of an emergency. I want you to keep it on you at all times.”
“Thanks,” Gabriel said. It felt like someone had given him a key to the castle.
“Follow me,” Ohin said as he stood.
“Where to?” Gabriel asked, sliding the amber-encrusted beetle into his pocket as he stood.
“To see about finding Nefferati,” Ohin said.
Gabriel followed Ohin through the grounds to the state apartments and a large wooden door that led to what used to be called the King’s Drawing Room. Ohin knocked and Gabriel heard Councilwoman Elizabeth’s voice beckon them to enter.
Councilwoman Elizabeth’s office was decorated much the way Gabriel had imagined. It looked like the sitting room of British royalty. A white marble fireplace sat behind a large gilded desk of elm in the middle of the room, a large oriental carpet covered the wooden floor, and paintings by Peter Paul Rubens decorated the walls. Ling had mentioned the painting of St. George and the Dragon as being one of her favorites in the castle. Now that he could see it, Gabriel understood why she liked it. It exuded an extremely attractive sense of power and purpose. Several large leather chairs surrounded a low, ornately carved wooden table. A silver tea service sat on the table with four delicately made china teacups. Elizabeth and Akikane sat in two of the leather chairs.
“Thank you for joining us,” Elizabeth said, pouring tea into two of the empty cups.
“Thank you for inviting us,” Ohin said as he made a slight bow and took a seat. Not knowing what was expected of him, Gabriel imitated Ohin’s bow and sat next to him. Akikane gave Gabriel one of his characteristically beatific smiles. Gabriel couldn’t help but smile back.
“After some considerable effort,” Elizabeth said, “Akikane and I have been able to locate the time and place of Nefferati’s retreat.” She held up a stone arrowhead. “She left me this to find her in the event she was needed.”
“Without Nefferati, we have little hope of finding where Apollyon is making his bifurcations to twin himself,” Ohin said
“The magic that cloaks the branches is too strong,” Elizabeth said.
“Even for us,” Akikane said. “Even for us.”
“But we believe Nefferati may be able to sense where the branches are being made,” Elizabeth said. “A Time Mage, or a True Mage, can use a relic to scan through history and sense disturbances in the Primary Continuum. In a similar way, we used this arrowhead to discover where Nefferati has sequestered herself.”
“Where is she?” Gabriel asked.
“Neolithic China,” Ohin said.
“Which is where you will be going,” Elizabeth added.
“I will accompany you,” Akikane said.
“You aren’t going?” Gabriel asked Elizabeth, surprised that she would not want to see her old teacher.
“That might prove to be unhelpful,” Elizabeth said.
“Most unhelpful, most unhelpful,” Akikane said.
“When Nefferati departed the castle,” Eli
zabeth said, seeming to choose her words carefully, “we were not on the best of terms.” Ohin made a noise that sounded like an abortive snort of laugher. Elizabeth shot him a glance, and he cleared his throat.
“If you don’t mind my asking,” Gabriel said, “why did Nefferati leave?”
“That is Councilwomen Nefferati to you,” Elizabeth said. “The boy sits quiet like a mouse and only opens his mouth to ask the one question I don’t want to answer,” she continued, speaking to no one in particular.
“I’m sorry,” Gabriel said. “I didn’t mean to be rude.”
“It’s not rude at all,” Elizabeth said. “If you’re going to meet her, you should understand why she left. And sending you will be our best hope of ensuring her cooperation.”
“Why wouldn’t she want to help?” Gabriel asked.
“She left the Council and the castle because she wanted no more part in the war,” Elizabeth said. “She said she could not live with the actions she felt she had no choice but to take, and so she went away. When she departed, we had words.” Elizabeth did not attempt to elaborate on what those words might have been, but Gabriel assumed that if she wasn’t going to accompany them to find Nefferati, the words probably had not been pleasant.
“But how can I convince her to help?” Gabriel asked.
“Because of the prophecy,” Ohin said.
“Nefferati is the one who made the prophecy of the Seventh True Mage,” Elizabeth said. “Meeting you may convince her that it is time to return to the Council and the war.”
“We hope, we hope,” Akikane said.
Silence surrounded them for a moment. Ohin broke it by standing up. “We should meet the others for breakfast,” he said. “Then we will leave.”
“I will meet you in an hour by the Great Oak,” Akikane said, standing.
“And I will await your return with good news,” Elizabeth said, remaining seated.
Gabriel found it hard to concentrate on breakfast. He couldn’t think of food when he knew that in less than an hour he would be meeting the most famous mage of all. He found himself staring around the Waterloo Chamber absentmindedly instead of eating his porridge.
“I wonder what she’ll look like,” Teresa said, taking a bite of an apple muffin.
“Old,” Marcus said, buttering his second slice of bread.
“Will she help, though?” Rajan said around a mouthful of eggs.
“Of course she will,” Sema said, taking a sip of her favorite Turkish coffee.
“She damn well better,” Ling added, biting hard into a cranberry scone.
“More important than what she will do, is what we must do,” Ohin said, wiping his chin with a napkin. “I want to make sure that two of us are close to Gabriel at all times.”
“How close?” Gabriel asked. He was beginning to resent being treated like a fragile child.
“As close as possible,” Ohin said, staring Gabriel down. “Councilman Akikane will be joining us, and I doubt we will have anything to worry about with Nefferati present, as well, but I want everyone to spread out and assume defensive positions when we arrive.”
Which is exactly what they did twenty minutes later when they met Akikane in the Horseshoe Cloister and he took them through time to the edge of a clearing in the middle of northwestern China just south of a place that would one day be called Beijing, somewhere near the year 12,000 BCE. Gabriel stared at a small hut in the center of a clearing of low grass. Marcus moved to the right, Sema to the rear, and Ling left, making sure the clearing was safe. Rajan and Teresa stayed near Gabriel while Akikane and Ohin strode toward the hut.
A gentle breeze rustled through the wild grass of the quiet clearing, the sun high and hot in the cloudless blue sky above. Gabriel guessed it must be midsummer. Marcus and Ling moved to the edges, circling to the back of the hut as Ohin stepped up to the wooden door. He paused a moment and then knocked. There was no reply. He took a moment to look through a small window at the side of the hut.
“Empty,” he said.
“Nothing in the back,” Marcus said as he and Ling reappeared from behind the hut.
“Just a table, a goat, and a few chickens,” Ling added.
“Where could she be?” Akikane wondered aloud. “Where could she be?”
“Picking berries,” a sharp, low voice said from the edge of the forest. A tall, thin African woman with a halo of near-white hair stepped from the trees, branches rustling around her. She wore a simple gray cotton dress and carried a bucket of red berries. She crossed the grass in long graceful strides, ignoring the party of mages as she walked behind the hut and disappeared around the back. Everyone looked around at each other in confusion. Except Akikane.
“Same, same,” Akikane said. “Nothing changes.” Akikane walked around the hut and the others followed.
When Gabriel came around the edge of the hut, he saw the woman who he assumed must be Nefferati sitting on a stump at the head of long, crudely hewn wooden table pouring small red berries from a simple wooden bucket into a shallow clay bowl.
“Don’t just stand there with your mouths open drawing flies,” Nefferati said, “sit down and have some berries.” She popped one into her mouth.
Slowly, Gabriel and the others sat on the benches around the table, each reaching into the clay dish and drawing out a berry. Gabriel sat between Rajan and Teresa at the far end of the table.
“Now,” Nefferati said, “let’s skip the usual polite manure about how happy everyone is to meet me and get to the point. Why are you here, Akikane? And since when do you need an entourage?”
“We are here because we need your help,” Akikane said. He still smiled, but it seemed strained for the first time since Gabriel had met him.
“Really,” Nefferati said. “And here I thought you came for the berries.”
“This is Ohin and his team,” Akikane said, gesturing to those seated around the table. “Marcus, Rajan, Gabriel, Teresa, Ling, and Sema.”
“Names I will soon forget,” Nefferati said.
“Not likely, not likely,” Akikane said.
“What are you playing at, Akikane?” Nefferati said as she snatched a handful of berries from the bowl.
“Apollyon,” Ohin said, interjecting himself into the conversation.
“What about him?” Nefferati said. “Not my problem. He’s the Council’s problem now. Speaking of which, where’s my famous apprentice? Couldn’t find the time to call?”
“She has a council to run,” Akikane said.
“Too busy, my bony butt,” Nefferati said.
“Apollyon is making copies of himself with bifurcations,” Ohin said. He kept his eyes on Nefferati. She eyed him back.
“Interesting,” she said finally. “But how is that my business?”
“We are having trouble locating the point in the timeline where Apollyon is creating the branches,” Akikane said.
“And you thought to drag the old woman out of her hole to help,” Nefferati said.
“We hoped, we hoped,” Akikane said.
“Your war, your business,” Nefferati said. “Berries are my business now.”
“Things have changed,” Akikane said.
“Same Council, same ideas, same war,” Nefferati said. “Nothing changes.”
“The Seventh True Mage has been revealed,” Ohin said. Nefferati raised her eyebrows and stared at Ohin.
“True, true,” Akikane said when Nefferati looked to him.
“Who? Where?” Nefferati asked.
“Him,” Ohin said, gesturing toward Gabriel. Gabriel met Nefferati’s gaze as she snorted.
“A boy!” Nefferati said.
“The Seventh True Mage, even so,” Akikane said.
Nefferati fell silent as she stared at Gabriel. All other eyes were on her, but she didn’t seem to notice. “What’s Apollyon playing at, making copies of himself?” she said finally.
“We believe he is trying to acquire the power to destroy The Great Barrier,” Ohin said.
“Hmmm,” was all Nefferati said.
“Will you help us?” Akikane said. “The entire Continuum is at stake.”
“That’s what they always say when they want something,” Nefferati said. “The Council,” she added, clarifying what she meant. “I’ll think about it. I want to talk to the boy first.”
“Of course, of course,” Akikane said.
“Alone,” Nefferati said. She still stared at Gabriel. He tried to stare back, to match her gaze, but eventually he broke away to look at his teacher. Ohin nodded to him, and Nefferati stood up.
“Nothing to fear, boy,” she said as she saw the nervous look on his face. “I’m not a cannibal, just an old woman. Give me your arm. I know a nice deer path we can follow.” Gabriel looked behind him at the table of his companions. Akikane was smiling, as ever, while Ohin squinted, whether from concern or the sun, Gabriel could not tell. Marcus gave an encouraging nod of his head, and Teresa gave him a thumbs-up gesture. He took Nefferati’s arm and followed her into the forest.
They walked along a thin dirt path that meandered through the trees. The scent of pine filled Gabriel’s nostrils and reminded him of his grandparent’s farm. They had planted pine trees along the edge of the fields, and his grandmother and he would collect the pine needles each Autumn to boil them down for homemade cough syrup. Although she appeared as old as his grandmother, her face wrinkled and sun-worn, there was nothing remotely grandmotherly about Nefferati.
“Where did they find you?” Nefferati asked, pulling a branch aside so they could pass.
“In 1980,” Gabriel answered, assuming she was referring to the time more so than the place.
“Close to the Barrier, then. How old are you?”
“I’m thirteen-and-a-half,” Gabriel answered.
“A man in some cultures.”
The Wizard of Time (Book 1) Page 17