Accidental Archaeologist

by Kathryn Wells

  Chapter Seven: The Wanderers

  The Jardine pulled neatly into the docks of Neathin Valley, gently floating downwards until it was level with the ramp allowing the passengers to disembark.

  Thordric and Hamlet were up on deck, watching as the crew tied the mooring ropes securely in place. As the ship was still much higher up than most of the buildings Thordric had ever been in, he found he could see far off into the distance. He turned to Hamlet, who was also looking off into the distance, a deep frown on his face. Thordric had never seen someone look so disappointed.

  The landscape was completely flat, aside from the great drop to the valley floor itself, where he thought there might have been some sort of river flowing through in the past. Now, however, it was simply a giant dusty crack in the land, with hardly anything green or even living around it.

  He wondered if there would be some sign of vegetation when he travelled further out to where the Wanderers were thought to be. There had to be something somewhere, else what did the people live on?

  For as far as he could see, running alongside the edge of the valley, were groups of brightly painted houses in more shapes and sizes than he had thought possible for a house to be built in. It was as though a rainbow had collapsed on the whole town of Valley Edge, splashing it with a complete disarray of colour.

  'Well,' Hamlet said, turning to him. The passengers were now allowed to disembark and, crowded as the deck was, they all began to walk down the ramp in an orderly line. 'I suppose this is where we part.'

  He held out his hand, but as Thordric tried to take it, the sleeve of his robes slipped over his hand and Hamlet was forced to shake the fabric instead.

  'If you have time, come and find me at the dig site,' Hamlet continued, now grinning. 'I'll be happy to show you around.'

  Thordric winced inwardly as he thought of Hamlet talking to him for hours and hours about what he had unearthed there. Perhaps he could develop some sort of ear plug that would retain all the information within them so that he could stop listening and just admire whatever it was by himself.

  The thought made him smile. 'I'll definitely come along if I can,' he replied.

  Picking up their bags, with Thordric and most of the other passengers staring at just how much Hamlet had with him, they walked down the ramp to the docks.

  A carriage was already waiting for Hamlet, so, after a last goodbye, Thordric watched as it pulled away, bouncing a little more than he thought was entirely safe. Hopefully he had thought to take more travel sickness potion before he had got in.

  Sighing, Thordric got out the pocket map that Vey had given him with the directions to the hotel he would be staying at inked onto it. He blinked. The map seemed to highlight a single part of Valley Edge but, to Thordric's disappointment, it looked so like every other part that he couldn't tell even what direction it was in.

  He turned and saw a man staring at him, so much the double of the Inspector that Thordric had to stare at him for several seconds to make sure that it wasn't him. Even the moustache was the same, though he hoped it wasn't as responsive as the Inspector's.

  'You're from the Wizard Council, aren't you, young man?' the man asked, eyeing the crest on Thordric's robes.

  Now Thordric was convinced it wasn't him. He thought he would have passed out if the Inspector had called him 'young man'.

  'Yes,' Thordric replied. 'I wondered if you might help me, sir.'

  'What kind of man would I be if I refused to help a wizard of the Council? Though, I must say that you appear awfully young. I heard that the training took more than twenty years, but you look barely that age yourself.'

  Thordric wasn't sure what to say. He could feel something coming from this man, as though he was a wizard, but it was so different to anything that Thordric had ever felt before that he wasn't sure.

  'I'm older than I look,' he lied, anxious to get to his hotel. This man, whoever he was, was beginning to make him feel uneasy. He held out the map to him. 'I was looking for this area here. My hotel is somewhere there.'

  The man glanced at it. 'Ah, that's La Ville. It's quite a way out; you'll need a carriage to get there.'

  Just as he mentioned it, a carriage pulled up beside him. He opened the door and gestured for Thordric to get in.

  'Thank you, sir,' Thordric said as he climbed in, but when he turned around he saw that the man had vanished. Shrugging, he gave the map to the driver and sat back as the carriage pulled away, bouncing and jolting just as much the one Hamlet had gone off in.

  With his stomach starting to back flip, he desperately tried to find another vial of his travel sickness potion. He found one just in time, but it was half empty. Hoping that the dose would be enough, he gulped it down quickly, choking slightly as the carriage went over a particularly large cobblestone.

  Strangely, he found that his eyelids were growing heavy. He must have taken the last of the experimental batch which had sent him to sleep every time he had taken it. A few moments later he was snoring loudly, startling the poor horse every now and then.

  Instead of the sound of cobbles under the horse's hooves, Thordric awoke to a soft thumping, as though they were going along on dry mud.

  Looking out the window, he saw they were. Instead of the bright pink, blue and green houses that they should have been travelling past, all he could see was a large rock, drawing closer by the moment.

  'Where are we?' he shouted, hoping the driver would hear.

  'Oh, you'll find out in a moment, laddy,' came the reply. Thordric didn't like his tone at all. What was going on?

  His hotel couldn't be all the way out here; it looked nothing like the place on the map. He looked out at the rock again. That was familiar, but why?

  Then it hit him, hard. He had seen that rock on Kalljard's map. It had been in the area close to where the Wanderers were supposed to be.

  The carriage stopped next to it and the driver got off. He placed a hand gently on the rock, which then flickered and disappeared. It had been nothing but an illusion. Now, where it had been, was a large hole in the ground.

  Before he had time to wonder what was down there, Thordric felt something grasp him around the waist, and found he was being levitated out of the carriage and down into the hole.

  He reached the bottom with a thump and, with another thump, his bag landed on his head, knocking him out.

  'Ah, you're awake,' someone said as Thordric groaned. The voice was familiar, but he couldn't yet place it.

  He opened his eyes and immediately wished he hadn't.

  The room seemed to be lit by the same floating fires as they had back at the Council and, standing on the ceiling of the room with a few others was the person who had spoken. How was that possible?

  Then, with a jolt that made his stomach jump up to his throat, he realised he was wrong. It wasn't that they were standing on the ceiling at all. He was the one on the ceiling, and they were looking up at him. Turning his head, he saw that he had been tied up with a silver coloured rope.

  'Do you like it?' the man said, and Thordric realised that it was the voice of the Inspector's double, though his appearance had changed drastically. He was shorter now, with tanned, smooth skin and a coal black beard and hair. 'We call it a buoyancy rope.'

  Thordric gave him a blank look. The man sighed. 'It's what's making you float up there,' he explained.

  Still feeling the throb in his head where his bag had landed on him, Thordric said, 'Who…are you?'

  The man smiled. 'While I was at the Council, I was known as Wizard Tome. You can call me that if you wish.'

  So these people were the Wanderers. Lizzie had obviously been right about them, they were suspicious of the Council.

  'I bet you're wondering why we brought you here,' Tome said, a grin spreading across his face.

  'Not really,' Thordric said. He knew his travel sickness potion had worn off, for apparently being on the ceiling for a long time made him feel just as ill. 'But could you bring me down now?'

>   He gagged, turning a nasty shade of green, and Tome realised what was wrong. Stepping aside hastily, he untied the rope and levitated Thordric to the ground, summoning a bucket from somewhere at the same time.

  Thordric sat hugging it for a moment, waiting for his stomach to settle. Tome frowned at him. 'I thought you said you were from the Wizard Council?' he said, after a moment.

  'I am,' Thordric said, gagging again.

  'But you seem so…inexperienced,' Tome said at last. Thordric could see the disappointment on his face.

  'I've only been there for three years. My name's Thordric.'

  'Thordric? The name seems familiar.'

  'I helped solve the case of Kalljard's death,' Thordric admitted, still cradling the bucket.

  'That was you?' Tome blinked. 'Then you really are as young as you look.'

  He turned to the others behind him and they all began talking in fast whispers. Thordric was still too ill to try and listen.

  Eventually Tome turned around again. 'Wizard Thordric,' he said. 'We want to know why the Council sent you to Neathin Valley.'

  Thordric stared at them. He was starting to feel better and, to his embarrassment, his stomach decided to growl loudly. 'Could I possibly have something to eat first?'

  Tome growled as loudly as Thordric's stomach. 'No. This is an interrogation, not a social visit. Now answer.'

  Thordric sighed and stood up, dusting off his robes. 'Vey didn't really send me here. I wanted to come to find you all myself.'

  'Who is this Vey?' Tome asked.

  'He's High Wizard. You didn't know?'

  Tome looked down awkwardly. 'We were aware that there was a new High Wizard, but we didn't know who. So, this Vey replaced Kalljard, did he? What new absurd laws has he set down?'

  'Well,' Thordric said. 'That's what I came here for. The Wizard Council has been completely reformed.'

  Tome laughed loudly. 'As if we can believe that.'

  'Would you believe it if I told you they're training half-wizards to become part of the Council?' Thordric countered.

  Tome raised his eyebrow. 'But half-wizards are dangerous, the Council would never do that.'

  Thordric rolled his eyes. He'd thought that the Wanderers would be more open minded than that, in fact he had believed that Kalljard's hatred towards half-wizards was one of the reasons why they had all left.

  'Half-wizard magic and full wizard magic is of equal power when the wizard is trained properly. And if you don't believe me, I'll be happy to demonstrate for you.'

  Without waiting for an answer, he levitated them all and stacked them one on top of the other, forming a human tower. Then he picked up the buoyancy rope and tied it around them tightly, watching them bob against the ceiling.

  Thordric grinned as they struggled to undo it with their magic, but he was using one of the powerful bonding spell's that Vey had taught him and, unless the person being held by it knew how it was cast, it was impossible to break.

  'Now can I have something to eat?' he said.

  Tome swallowed and gave a small nod.

  Chapter Eight: Secrets Revealed

  Two large platters of food were carried into the room by the Wanderers and were placed on the table in front of Thordric. Tome watched from where he was floating by the ceiling, muttering curses as Thordric filled his plate so much that it almost overflowed.

  He hadn't trusted Tome to keep his promise about waiting to question him until after he'd eaten, so, despite releasing the others, he had left him up there. No-one could do anything about it, so he began to relax a little.

  If he had known that the Wanderers would be hostile enough to kidnap him, he would never have dreamed about coming to find them.

  'I do hope that you're enjoying your meal,' Tome said acidly as Thordric took second helpings.

  Thordric nodded, not trusting himself to speak with so much food in his mouth.

  'Perhaps you would be so kind as to let me down, then?' Tome continued.

  Thordric answered by turning him around so that his nose was touching the ceiling. He swallowed and said, 'I told you, I'll tell you everything you want to know as soon as I've finished. Besides,' he added, thoughtfully scratching at the stubble that had started to grow again on his chin. 'Why did you disguise yourself as the Inspector when you spoke to me at the docks?'

  A muffled reply came from the ceiling, so Thordric gave in and turned him back around. 'What were you saying?' he asked, trying not to look too amused.

  Tome scowled anyway. 'I said; I just happened to take on the appearance of a man I saw once while in Jard Town. He looked like the respectable sort, so I thought you would trust him. If I had known that you knew him, I wouldn't have done it.'

  'He's my stepfather,' Thordric said, grinning. Then his smile faded. 'There was something else, too. I could feel you had power of some sort, but it felt strange. Like magic but not magic. Now you feel the same as all the other wizards I know, though.'

  Tome snorted. 'You don't know much about us, do you boy?' he replied. 'We like to hide our magic in case there are any of you Council folk about. Plus the townspeople don't like us, considering how we abandoned it. It makes them think that we're untrustworthy.'

  'So, you can hide your magical abilities from other wizards?'

  'Of course we can, though why you noticed is beyond me.'

  Thordric shrugged and pushed his plate away. He supposed he had better let Tome down; after all, he could have dessert while they were talking. Untying the rope, he levitated him down into a chair at the opposite end of the table.

  'So,' Thordric began. 'What was it you wanted to know?'

  Tome rubbed his bare arms where they had been bound by the rope. He wasn't as young as he pretended to be and he bruised easily nowadays. Rubbing his face, he let his black hair turn back to its real, depressing white and his smooth cheeks became loose and weathered.

  Thordric choked on his tea. Tome had been using magic for that long, while tied up as well? This was some powerful old wizard.

  'Well,' he began, ignoring Thordric's stare. 'Let's start with what you do know about us. What's in your records?'

  'Not much,' Thordric admitted. 'All we could find was a map telling us that you were somewhere around here and a list of names.'

  Tome raised an eyebrow. 'A list? Do you have it?'

  Thordric reached inside his bag. He pulled out the note, slightly crumpled, and passed it to him. No sooner had he done so than Tome started laughing.

  'This isn't a list of our names,' he said, his eyes watering with mirth.

  'It's not? What is it then?' Thordric asked.

  'This, boy,' he replied, 'is a list of all the wizards that Kalljard sent after us to bring us back. And there are sixteen of us here, far more than the seven on that list.'

  'But what are the marks on the map for, then?' Thordric said, finding the map and showing it to Tome. Tome laughed even harder when he saw it.

  'Those marks are where they must have been reported missing,' he said. 'We knew they were after us, you see, so we thought we'd give them the slip.'

  'If they only lost you, then why were they reported missing?' Thordric asked, completely baffled.

  'Well, we couldn't simply run away from them. They had ways of tracing us, you know. Instead, we used the Valley Flats to our advantage.'

  Thordric blinked.

  'You've heard of the disappearances around here, I suppose? Well, there's a cave a few miles away that causes people to temporarily lose their memories. It doesn't usually work on wizards, but we found a way of increasing the power it had. After that, all we had to do was let them believe that the cave was our hide out.'

  'But if you say the effect was temporary…' Thordric began.

  'Ah, that was our fault. Because we'd increased the power so it would work on wizards, it also increased the effect it had on them,' Tome explained with a shrug.

  'So what happened to them after that?'

  'They all found their way back to Val
ley Edge and settled down there. None of them had a clue what they'd been doing before; as far as I know, they're not even aware that they're wizards.' He looked at the map again. 'It seems you found us almost by accident.'

  Thordric snorted. 'Found you? You kidnapped me, remember?'

  'Ah, but you knew we were around here somewhere. Besides, it's lucky that we did kidnap you. You'd have found yourself wandering around near that cave otherwise.'

  'You mean you left the enhancement spell on it?' Thordric said. 'What if a normal person went near it? They would lose their memory too.'

  'Oh no, we'd never do anything like that. But we do post a guard there and, seeing as you're part of the Council, he might have put it back on,' Tome grinned. It was Thordric's turn to scowl.

  Dessert arrived then and, seeing as Tome took a generous helping too, they were left eating in silence.

  Swallowing a large lump of ice cream far too quickly for his own good and suffering an instant headache as a result, Thordric realised what was really irritating him.

  'How did you know that I would be coming here?' he asked.

  Tome swallowed. 'We didn't. I just happened to be buying food at the dockside market when you turned up. I saw your robes and disguised myself to trick you.'

  Thordric found that he was disappointed. The Wanderers had turned out to be a lot less mysterious than he had hoped.

  Tome put down his spoon with a decisive tap. 'So, now I know that you're not here to track us or do anything funny, why don't you tell me about this reform you mentioned?' he asked.

  'Wouldn't you prefer to ask High Wizard Vey about it? He's the one that is responsible for it, after all,' Thordric said, still eating.

  'I would prefer not to travel such a distance just for a simple explanation,' Tome said.

  Thordric's lips slid into a grin. 'You don't have to.'

  He took out the long distance communicator and placed it on the table; the blue flower of the Tenro Aqus still poking happily out of the top. Thordric was rather glad that he had been watering it regularly. Pressing the button on the wooden box, he spoke into it.