He cast the listening spell again so he could hear Damon or Nûd approaching and slipped down the stairs to the kitchen to retrieve the borrowed flying disk he’d left leaning against the wall near the fireplace. Chee stuck his head up, then yawned and retreated.
It was awkward, but he noticed foot straps that he’d missed earlier glued to the disk’s surface. Eynon used them to attach the disk to the back of his pack like a soldier carrying a shield. There was no sign or sound of anyone else moving about.
Nûd and Damon had said they’d meet at her tower, which could only be the Blue Spiral Tower inside the castle walls. The tower had one visible entrance—broad double-doors made from oak like the ones leading to the circular room in the other Blue Spiral Tower. The doors were flanked by tall arrow-slit windows.
Eynon found a sheltered spot behind a pile of dressed stones in the courtyard that gave him a good view of the entrance. The stones looked like a giant stack of children’s blocks and Eynon deduced they were probably a teaching aid for more advanced forms of wizardry.
He crouched behind the pile and waited, counting his breaths to stay awake. Eynon had reached fifteen hundred when he heard an odd noise coming from outside the castle’s walls. It was loud and sounded like a knife scraping around an oiled whetstone. It wasn’t until Eynon heard the clicks of massive claws on granite that he identified it. Rocky was playing with the circular channel and sphere of solidified sound Eynon had made for him.
He must be pushing the ball around, thought Eynon. I didn’t know wyverns were nocturnal.
Then he considered what he knew about his new pet’s habits. He’d first met Rocky in daylight.
Maybe he can’t sleep?
The noise the ball made as it went around the carved stone path grew softer, almost soothing. Eynon took deeper breaths and pinched himself on the cheeks so he didn’t fall asleep. Another hour passed and the noise outside the walls ceased. Eynon could picture Rocky sleeping with his head tucked on top of his tail in the center of the circle.
Footsteps echoed in the courtyard. Nûd and Damon were side by side with packs on their backs. Nûd was holding Damon’s flying disk and had a full-sized crossbow strapped to the top of his pack. Damon had his staff in his right hand. It made a tap-tap staccato sound out of synch with the beat of their footsteps.
The two men halted in front of the Blue Spiral Tower’s doors. Eynon watched as Damon stepped close to them and did something Eynon couldn’t see because the older man’s body masked his actions. Then Damon stepped back and touched his staff to the line between the heavy oak portals. A muted blue glow appeared at the collar of Damon’s coat and the doors swung open, revealing a tall, wide corridor lit by glow balls that reminded Eynon of what he’d seen at the Blue Spiral Tower along the Rhuthro.
Eynon waited until Nûd and Damon entered before he moved. He ran from his hiding place, trying to keep his own footsteps quiet, but proved too slow. The heavy doors closed before he reached them.
Blast, thought Eynon.
He tried what had worked for Damon and had worked for him at the other tower. Extended his right arm, he gently tapped the end of his staff against the center of the doors. A flash of red light reflected back from the polished wood, but the doors didn’t open.
Eynon remembered Damon’s words from earlier in the evening. Perhaps Damon had locked the doors, not just the gate? Could the older man have been unlocking them when he stepped close to the doors? Eynon examined them closely. The left-hand one did have a keyhole.
Eynon was sure he could use subtle sensing and manipulating magic to craft a key from solidified sound, but that would take time. There didn’t seem to be any better alternative. He leaned down to inspect the keyhole and felt Chee crawl out of the neck of his jacket and shift to sit on the back of his head.
“Not now, Chee,” Eynon whispered. “You’re distracting me.”
Eynon felt the raconette launch himself toward the doors, then saw him scamper to one of the arrow-slit windows. He didn’t want to call out to Chee in case Nûd or Damon would hear him, so he left his little friend to his own devices. He extended his senses into the keyhole, feeling out the shape of the tumblers within and sculpting a key that would fit them in his mind.
He’d almost figured it out when Chee landed on his head again. Eynon raised one hand and gently tried to push the raconette away. The construct in his mind disappeared like a dream on waking. Now it will take me more time to work it out again, he thought, growing angry.
The clank of metal on stone distracted Eynon and short circuited his anger. A large black key was on the cobbles in front of him. Eynon picked it up, put it in the lock, and turned it, hearing a satisfying click.
“Well done, my friend,” Eynon whispered as he removed the key and tucked it in his belt.
“Chi-chee,” replied the raconette softly.
The small masked beast earnestly put a finger to its lips and almost caused Eynon to laugh. He repeated Chee’s gesture, then raised his staff and tapped it against the doors. This time, after a flash of red light, the doors opened.
Chee tugged his earlobe and Eynon nodded in reply. They made a good team.
Nûd and Damon were not in the corridor ahead of them. Eynon saw a hook to one side of the opening and hung the key in the place where Chee must have found it. He strained to hear any sign of the others. Thanks to the listening spell, he heard their voices far ahead and to the side.
Running on tiptoe, holding his staff out so it didn’t touch the floor, Eynon hurried down the hall, checking side passages on the left and right for any sign of Damon and Nûd. Now he could pick up a conversation between the two men from somewhere ahead.
“What will we do if she’s home?” asked Nûd.
“Ask for forgiveness and claim it’s for the good of the kingdom,” said Damon.
“Do you think that will work?”
“Maybe,” said the older man.
Eynon could tell he was much closer now. He no longer needed the listening spell to hear them.
“Are you sure you have all the settings right for the gate?”
“Don’t teach your grandmother how to spin,” said Damon.
“Or my grandfather how to plow—I get it,” said Nûd. “He won’t be able to follow us.”
Eynon ran even faster. He had to get through that gate with them.
He heard footsteps and the tap of a staff on the stone floor as he turned into the last room on the right, only to see Nûd’s pack and crossbow disappearing into the surface of a tall, wide mirror bolted to the wall of a room tiled in white and blue.
Eynon doubled his speed, aimed himself at the mirror, and jumped toward it, following the pair, then smacked against the mirror’s smooth surface with a force hard enough to stun him.
Knocked back several feet by the rebound from the collision, he fell on his tail bone and toppled over, thanks to the weight of his pack. For a few moments, he stayed on the floor, rocking on top of the flying disk and feeling like a turtle left upside down on a fence post.
Chee jumped on his chest and regarded Eynon sympathetically.
He must have hopped off before I hit the mirror, thought Eynon as he got to his feet.
Blast and double-blast! How would they get back to Merry and the Coombe now?
Chapter 31
“When you’re lost, return to where you started.”
— Ealdamon’s Epigrams
Eynon tapped the mirror with his staff, willing the gate to reopen. His magestone flashed, but nothing happened except for the mirror revealing a reflection of Eynon’s frustrated face. He tried slashing at the mirror with his shard-sword, but his blows bounced off like his body had. The gate was closed and locked.
He slowly walked back to the entrance to the tower and out into the courtyard. Despite feeling do
wn, he did what he thought was the responsible thing and touched his staff to one of the doors. They swung back, resealing the way into the tower and making a deep thunk sound like closing an oversized book after reading the last chapter.
Eynon paced across the cobblestones, trying to figure out what to do next. The sky was dark, with no hint of coming dawn, but the moon was half full and cast enough light for Eynon to see by. He took comfort in knowing that the same moon was above Merry and Doethan and his parents back in Dâron.
The knife-scraping sound came from outside the castle again. Rocky was back to rolling his ball.
Didn’t the blasted wyvern ever sleep?
Eynon stepped onto his flying disk and floated up to the top of the castle’s wall where he could see Rocky at play. The wyvern hadn’t seen him, yet. He was focused on the ball of solidified sound rolling in the channel. Eynon smiled and created a second ball on the far side of the circle.
Rocky looked up and saw Eynon outlined on the crenellated wall. The wyvern thumped his tail. Beyond Rocky, in the distance toward the south, Eynon saw something that wasn’t snow glinting in the moonlight—the four blue-striped alabaster pillars that marked where he’d appeared when he’d come through the gate he’d found with Merry. There was another way back!
The wyvern launched himself into the air and in a few swift wing-beats was hovering above Eynon. He landed gently on the walkway atop the wall, filling it from side to side.
“Ready for a trip?” asked Eynon.
Rocky nodded his head and allowed Eynon to climb from one of the crenellation stones to the wyvern’s back. As if reading Eynon’s mind, Rocky dove from the wall, extended his wings, and followed a shallow glide path toward the four blue-striped pillars. Seconds later, Rocky, Eynon and Chee were inside the square the pillars defined. Eynon held up his staff, waved it in the air, and thought about being elsewhere.
Instead of disappearing, Eynon felt stupid. Nothing happened except for the snow being packed down by Rocky’s weight. Chee looked at Eynon from his new spot on Rocky’s neck. It seemed like the raconette was urging him to do something, but he didn’t know what.
The little beast put his hands together and opened them out. Eynon shook his head. He didn’t get it. Chee repeated the gesture then jumped back to Eynon’s shoulder and scampered down his arm to his wrist. Eynon wondered what was wrong with the raconette until Chee leaned forward and touched the gold ring he’d been given by Doethan.
“I’m an idiot,” said Eynon.
Chee turned around and nodded, as if in agreement. He hopped back to Rocky’s neck.
Eynon took off the ring and held it in both hands. He took a calming breath and said, “Gwal-o-e-a-den,” clearly enunciating each syllable.
Invisible bells chimed. The ring expanded. Soon he saw Merry’s face sharpen inside the golden circle. Her hair was streaming back in the wind and Eynon could see the mountains east of the Coombe below and behind her.
“Eynon,” said Merry, “I’m glad to hear from you, but it’s not a good time. Fercha and Doethan and I are flying to Wherrel. I’m still getting used to my flying disk and it’s hard to fly, hold the ring, and talk to you at the same time.”
“Do you know how to open the gate back to the Blue Spiral Tower?” asked Eynon.
Another voice came through the ring’s circle—the other woman from their connection last night.
“Merry doesn’t, but I do,” came the voice, distorted by the wind.
The images behind Merry stopped streaming by. They must be hovering, thought Eynon. The woman with short red hair replaced Merry in the ring’s circle. Merry and Doethan floated behind her.
This must be Fercha, the wizard who lost her artifact, Eynon realized. The Blue Spiral Tower belongs to her.
“Listen carefully,” said Fercha. “There are three simple steps.”
Eynon nodded. Now that he knew who she was, he could return her artifact. Eynon focused on her instructions.
“First…”
Chapter 32
“Finding your quarry also means they have found you.”
— Ealdamon’s Epigrams
Rocky exploded from the surface of the well, beating his wings in tight, sharp movements and sending whirlwinds of air spinning off the cylindrical walls of the well shaft. Chee was inside Eynon’s jacket and Eynon gripped the scarf tied to the knobs of bone at the wyvern’s shoulders hard enough for his hands to turn white. They were at the top in seconds, in the circular room with the high-domed ceiling.
“That way,” shouted Eynon, pointing toward the oak doors leading out to the docks. Eynon aimed his staff toward the doors. They slammed open as blue and red light flashed around the chamber. Out of the corner of his eye, Eynon saw the animated broom and dustpan that kept the place clean scurry out of the way of the speeding wyvern.
Eynon directed Rocky out of the tower using his knees and a light touch from his staff to indicate changes in direction. The outer false-rock doors to the river also opened in a hurry as Eynon and his mount approached. Soon, wyvern, man, and raconette were headed west as fast as Rocky’s wings could carry them. The barest hint of dawn was showing behind them on the eastern horizon, casting shimmering shadow patterns on the flowing waters of the Rhuthro.
Then they were over mountains—the northeastern boundary of the Coombe. The moon cast enough light for Eynon to scan the horizon. He hoped to see Damon and Nûd, but couldn’t spot them. He was sure they couldn’t be very far ahead, but two men on a translucent flying disk would be nearly invisible. Rocky was moving faster by far than a flying disk, even one not carrying two people, so Eynon was confident he’d beat them to Wherrel. He also had the advantage of knowing the lands of the Coombe like he knew the lines of his palms. He turned Rocky slightly southwest and looked for landmarks.
Below, he saw a string of bobbing lanterns approaching a long rectangular building with a thatched roof. Haywall’s dairy workers were walking to their communal cow barn for the pre-dawn milking. Eynon had often helped with that chore and knew their routine well.
If that’s Haywall, Wherrel is close at hand to the northwest.
He directed Rocky lower in that direction, gaining speed from the slight dive.
No lanterns would be lit in Wherrel. Stones don’t moo when their udders are full and the folk in the quarry town got their milk and cream and cheese from Haywall. Still, someone would be awake in the town—perhaps the baker, or one of the people maintaining equipment for the morning shift digging slate and soapstone.
Rocky glided lower and the few lit lamps in windows allowed Eynon to confirm it was Wherrel. The village’s green slate roofs and stone houses made it looked carved out of rock, not constructed from thatch and timber.
He’d been to Wherrel many times and knew the quarry was close—just west of town, through a natural gap in the mountains. From the air, it looked darker than its surroundings, a deep bowl cut into the earth over many generations.
Rocky spiraled down to land in the broad, flat surface at the bottom of the quarry. Eynon sensed something special about the rocks around the quarry, as if they were pulsing with power. He’d started to analyze the patterns when he heard a familiar voice call his name.
“Eynon!”
“Merry!” shouted Eynon.
He dismounted Rocky and created a tasty ball of solidified sound for the wyvern as a way of saying thanks and to help keep the beast occupied. Eynon moved haltingly toward where Merry’s voice seemed to come from, then heard Doethan’s voice shout “Llachar!”
The bottom of the bowl went from dark to bright in an instant, forcing Eynon to close his eyes. Once his vision recovered, he saw Doethan’s glow ball floating high above them. Merry, Doethan, and a tall, short-haired woman who must be Fercha, were standing thirty feet away. Eynon crossed the distance in seconds.
; “Let us know when you’ll be done hugging Merry,” said Fercha. She had a smile in her voice, but an underlying seriousness as well.
“That will depend on when she lets me go,” said Eynon, giving Merry and extra-hard squeeze then releasing her. The two lovers held hands and turned to face the other wizards.
“Welcome back, lad,” said Doethan. “It’s not the best time to return, with rumors of war and invasion buzzing around like angry wolfhornets, but it’s clear Merry is glad to see you.”
“I am,” said Merry. “Very glad. You won’t believe it, Eynon. Fercha’s taught me so much magic and…”
“I believe you have something that belongs to me,” Fercha said to Eynon.
Merry gave Fercha a contrite smile and kissed Eynon on the cheek. His face flushed, but he kept his manners.
“Certainly, good wizard,” said Eynon. “It’s on a chain around my neck and under my shirt to keep it safe. I’ll be glad to give it back.”
“I knew it!” said Doethan.
Eynon glanced at the old wizard, then back at Fercha.
“I’ve wanted to return it since the day I found it, but didn’t know who it belonged to.”
“It belongs to me,” said Fercha.
“Of course,” said Eynon.
Now that he had a magestone of his own, he understood just how tight the bond was between mage and magestone. He reached for Fercha’s artifact, then remembered something else important.
“I need to tell you—” said Eynon, “—there are others on the way.”
“Who’s coming?” asked Doethan.
“We are,” said Nûd, stepping into the light near Doethan with Damon close behind him.
The Congruent Apprentice (The Congruent Mage Series Book 1) Page 35