Still holding the horse tightly, he levitated Morweena up to The Jardine, followed by Hamlet and Roomer. Then, with Vey's help, he and the horse were levitated up too. Despite the horse panicking slightly, they both landed safely on the deck.
'I'm glad to see that you're all alright,' Vey said, clapping Thordric on the back. 'And you too, Aunt Morweena,' he continued as she tried to embrace him. He nodded to everyone in turn. 'Truly, I am glad that you're all safe. I was worried I wouldn't make it in time.'
'But how did you get here so quickly?' Thordric asked, walking the horse to one of the stables that had been erected on deck.
'I worked out a way to improve upon the potion that keeps the ships afloat. They can sail much faster now,' Vey replied, grinning. Then he frowned. 'You look tired. Why don't you get some rest? We'll handle the rescue, so don't worry.'
'But we've got to go back to where the dig site was,' Thordric said, desperately. 'It won't stop if we can't find a way to disable the magic.'
'The people are safe for now, Thordric. There are no towns or villages near here for several hundred miles. A few hours' sleep isn't going to hurt you. Any of you,' he said, turning to the rest of them. 'Now, let us do our job.'
Before Thordric or anyone else could object, he pushed them towards the door leading down to the cabins with a strong gust of wind. The door opened as they reached it but Thordric, getting there first, fell down the steps and landed face down on the carpet.
'Whoops,' he heard Vey say from outside.
Thordric gritted his teeth angrily as Hamlet helped him up, while Roomer and Morweena strolled casually down the steps. 'Which cabins shall we take?' she asked, looking around at the large hall. She caught sight of one of the portraits of Kalljard hanging on the wall and frowned. 'Oh, dear. I don't like the look of him at all. Who is he?'
Hamlet snorted as Thordric tried very hard not to cry. 'Shall we find our old room?' he asked, taking Hamlet's sleeve and dragging him as far away from Morweena as possible.
Hamlet grinned. It stuck Thordric then just how much Hamlet had changed since being in Neathin Valley. Somehow, he seemed far less serious than he had been before. It suited him.
They made their way back to 'The Rookery', though by the time they reached it Thordric realised how long it had been since he'd last had a decent bath and, on top of that, how filthy his robes were. 'Here,' he said, taking the books they had found out of his bag and giving them to Hamlet, resizing them as he did so. 'See if you can find out anything about those pyramids.'
'Of course,' Hamlet replied.
With that, Thordric left the room. Despite his tiredness, his feet found their way to the baths. He went in and pulled off his robes, jumping straight into the warm water.
He was just about to fetch the soap when there was a shriek beside him. Turning, he saw a young woman, hastily covering herself with a towel. He blinked and looked at the sign on the door. It read 'Women's baths.'
He gave up and sank below the water.
Chapter Twenty: Ship Shape
Now clean and having slept for several hours, Thordric rose to see if Hamlet had made any headway in figuring out what the two pyramids were for.
He saw him across the room, with his nose buried deep in what looked like one of the oldest books they had brought with them. The title read 'Ancient cultures of Dinia'. He had never given much thought to who had lived on the continent before them, though he was glad that Hamlet had taken such an interest in the subject. Without him, they would all be lost for what to do.
'Hamlet?' he said. There was no response, so he said it a bit louder.
'Oh, you're awake,' Hamlet said, jumping so badly that he almost dropped the book.
'Have you learnt anything yet?' Thordric asked him, indicating the two pyramids standing next to the pile of books by Hamlet's bed.
Hamlet frowned slightly. 'I'm not sure. The markings on the pyramids seem to match up with some of the characters from a tribe called the Ta'Ren. I have heard of them before, and it's true that they lived around here…but they weren't believed to have any form of magic at all. As far as I know, they didn't even use potions.'
'But whatever's causing this must be magic,' Thordric protested.
'I know,' Hamlet said. 'I'll keep reading; perhaps they developed something later on in their history.'
'Alright, but don't tire yourself out, otherwise Vey will probably force us to take sleeping potions and lock us in here until we've recovered,' Thordric said. 'I'm going up on deck to see how things are going.'
He left the room, turning into the corridor and following it up and round to where it joined up with the main corridor. He was glad to see more people hurrying around, though he hoped he didn't meet the young woman he'd accidentally shared a bath with. Even the thought of it made a pink tinge rise to his cheeks.
Up on deck, he saw that the stables were now full, with as many horses and cattle as could comfortably be housed in them. Vey was standing by them, rubbing the nose of Thordric's horse.
'This is a good horse you've got here,' he said as Thordric approached. 'Though you should be careful that he doesn't eat too much.'
'He?' Thordric asked, wondering why he hadn't thought to check himself.
'Yes, and his name's Coleson.'
Thordric's eyes widened. 'You can talk with him?' he asked.
Vey laughed. 'No, though I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to try and learn how.'
Thordric raised an eyebrow and Vey laughed some more. 'I just helped his previous owner on board, said that he had been stolen from him a few days ago. Fortunately for you, he'd just found himself with an awfully large debt to pay off and wouldn't have been able to keep him anyway. The chap asked if we could continue taking care of him.'
'It wasn't me that stole him,' Thordric said defensively, going up to pat Coleson's neck. 'It was Tome. He also stole the carriage he was harnessed to.'
'I guessed as much. When we finally manage to turn him back, I think I'll be having a rather long chat with him,' Vey said, scratching his short beard.
'You really think you'll be able to?' Thordric asked.
'I don't see why not. He might have been transformed into a tree, but at least it's another living thing. If he'd have been turned to stone, I would be doubtful, but the simple fact that he's still technically alive gives us a chance,' he replied.
He stopped, being signalled to by another wizard from the Council. He went over to the ship's side and looked over, frowning. 'Thordric,' he shouted over to him. 'It looks like we may need your help here after all. We've still got a lot of people to get on board and the trees are getting taller.'
Thordric went over and looked himself. The tops of the trees were now brushing up against the hull, but if the ships sailed any higher it would be hard to see the people down below. They had to get them up now, before the trees broke through the ships.
'We'll do a group levitation and get them all up in one go, I think,' Vey said, counting the number of people waiting to be levitated up. 'We need to form a physical chain to synchronise our magic, so everyone join hands.'
All the wizards onboard, including Roomer, who had apparently been helping out while Thordric was asleep, joined hands making a chain of twenty-two strong. Focusing their magic on the crowd waiting desperately below the trees, they willed them all to be levitated upwards as a single group.
Thordric had never known the Council to synchronise their magic in such a large group before; even with three people it was likely to be unsteady. If one person lost their concentration, then the whole chain would collapse and, if that happened, the magic could backfire with some dangerous results.
However, everyone was trying their hardest and so they managed to get the people on deck without incident, except for when Thordric's sleeve got caught in another wizard's neck chain as they parted hands. The chain was pulled down and the wizard's head hit the side of the ship with a rather loud bang. It was only then that Thordric realised what happened and tr
ied to untangle himself, but slipped over and nearly pulled his arm out of its socket.
'Well, you seem to be on good form today,' Vey said, separating them and summoning an ice pack for the wizard's head. The wizard took it and hurried as far away from Thordric as he could get. Vey chuckled.
'You're not doing so bad yourself,' Thordric replied. 'That was really risky, making a chain that big. If anything had gone wrong…'
'But it didn't. Yes, it was risky, but I knew it would be fine if we were all working together to save people. With determination like that, our powers were almost linked anyway. The chain just gave everyone that nudge to complete it.'
Thordric raised his eyebrow. 'I don't think Lizzie would have approved of that explanation,' he said, grinning as Vey's face went pale at the mention of his mother.
'We don't need to tell her about it,' he said hastily. 'It would only make her worry, anyway.'
He got up and stood on the edge of the ship again, looking across at the rest of the fleet. Thordric followed his gaze and saw the wizards on the other ships all waving their hands at him in a signal.
Stepping back down, he sighed, breathing deeply. 'It looks like we've got everyone. Let's head higher and see how much the forest has spread everywhere else.'
He called up to the sailors to adjust the sails before heading into the Captain's cabin. Thordric followed.
'Let's take her up then, Captain,' Vey said, talking to a man who looked curiously like Lily.
'Aye, sir,' the Captain said, turning the great wheel in his hands. Thordric felt the ship move, catching the updraft of the wind. The front wall of the cabin was painted the same as the ones in the viewing room, so it gave the effect of looking through a window. Soon Thordric saw that they had risen right above the clouds.
Still staring at the Captain, he felt a question slip off his tongue. 'Are you Lily's father?'
'Aye, I have a girl called Lily. You know her?'
'I've helped her with the cart a few times,' Thordric said.
The man laughed. 'She loves that apple cart of hers, won't let anyone else touch it.' Then his face turned serious. 'Is she safe? My wife, too?'
'Yes, they're both safe. They should be on one of the ships, though I can't say which one. Everyone in Valley Edge had crystals to protect them from turning into trees, we made sure of it.'
The man let out his breath. 'Thank you. I'm Captain Mavers, by the way, but you can call me Jal. My cousin's a wizard like you, you know. Haven't heard from him in some time, not since that big to-do with Kalljard a few years ago. His name's Rarn, have you met him?'
Thordric smiled weakly. Wizard Rarn used to be Kalljard's assistant, though all that meant was that he had acted as housekeeper. When Thordric and the Inspector had questioned most of the Council after Kalljard's death, Rarn had been quite uncooperative, to the point where he had kept some valuable information secret.
The last time Thordric had seen Rarn was the day Vey had revealed to the Council that both he and Thordric were half-wizards. Thordric remembered animating the stone figures in the hall and setting one after Rarn. He could still hear the screams as it had chased him out of the hall and down the corridor.
'He's doing well,' Vey said, rescuing Thordric. 'He's currently working at our Wizard Council Training Facility with our young wizards.'
'Good to hear it,' Jal said, turning his attention back to steering the ship.
Thordric tried very hard not to snort. Vey had set Rarn to work at the Wizard Council Training Facility all right, but it was to attend to the cleanliness of the baths and toilets rather than teaching.
Vey went with Thordric back to 'the Rookery', leaving the other wizards to see that everyone on board had found a place to sleep.
Hamlet was still reading when they went in, only looking up when he heard Vey.
Vey smiled at him and held out his hand. Hamlet took it shakily. 'You're the High Wizard, aren't you?' he asked.
'An unfortunate title, I admit,' Vey said, pulling a face. 'Please call me Vey. I hear you're the young archaeologist who was sent to the dig site where this all started.'
'Yes, sir…Vey,' Hamlet replied. 'But as I told Thordric, the trees had already started growing when I arrived. All I know is that whatever is in the main excavation area is likely the cause of all this. That's where I saw that everyone else had been turned into trees. They were all gathered in the centre.'
'I'd heard just as much,' Vey said grimly. He looked at the pyramids by the bed and picked one up, but no sooner had he touched it than his hand started to change colour to a dark, woody brown.
Quickly, Thordric grabbed it and threw it on the floor, pressing a handful of Crystos Mentos into Vey's hand. The crystals glowed brightly and his hand turned back to normal.
Vey swallowed and looked at them both. 'I see what you mean. Perhaps I should keep one of these crystals myself,' he said, looking nervously at the pyramids. 'Though it seems that the effect is much faster on wizards than normal people, else my mother would likely be a tree by now too.'
He turned to Thordric. 'I'm glad that you figured out that this was causing her illness. If she'd have kept it any longer…'
Suddenly, Hamlet threw down his book in anger.
'I just don't understand. None of the cultures I've read about so far even had a trace of magic,' he said, half-shouting. 'I don't even know how it was triggered, aside from these things being something to do with it.'
He kicked at the pyramids and then shrieked as pain shot through his toes. 'I'm not even sure what they're made of. It looks like stone, but I've never seen anything like it, especially the white one.'
'You should take a break, Hamlet,' Vey said. 'I believe it's coming up to supper time, so perhaps we should all make our way down to the dining room.'
Hamlet sighed. 'I suppose you're right.'
Tucking the pyramids under his bed, he followed Vey and Thordric out of the cabin, locking the door behind him.
With so many people on board, the queue for the dining room extended halfway down the corridor. Everyone waiting spoke in short, hurried whispers, but they fell silent when they saw Vey approaching. Vey simply smiled and got in line with everyone else, ignoring Thordric's hints and grumbling stomach to use his title to skip ahead of them all.
As they were waiting, Thordric felt a sharp poke on his spine and turned to see Lily standing there with her mother.
'You didn't tell me your father was captain of The Jardine,' he accused.
She pouted. 'Just because he's Captain doesn't make him any more important than the other sailors,' she said. Her mother frowned at her, but kept silent in front of Vey.
Thordric blinked. He had just remembered what she had told him about her brother going to the dig site weeks ago. Why was nobody mentioning him?
Chapter Twenty One: Hamlet's History Lesson
'Eliza,' Thordric said to Lily's mother, 'have you had any word from your son?'
Eliza stared at him. 'I don't wish to talk about him,' she said coldly.
'But Lily told me he had gone with some archaeologists to the dig site,' he pressed. 'Surely you've heard what happened there. Aren't you worried?'
'If that boy has managed to get himself turned into a tree then it is his own fault. I told him not to go, but he refused to listen.'
'He's a half-wizard, isn't he?' Thordric asked. 'And why did you just call him “that boy”? Surely he has a name?'
'He's called Kal,' Lily said, frowning at her mother. 'But only father calls him that.'
'He was an orphan,' Eliza said, sniffing as though she had just caught a whiff of something nasty. 'My husband found him wandering around in Jard Town, claiming that he was Kalljard's son.'
Everyone gaped at her.
Vey and Thordric looked at each other. Sure, there had been rumours that Kalljard had fathered children, but no-one had believed them for even a moment. Kalljard had believed that wizards should never have families, because the male children would always be half-wiz
ards.
'Of course, I never believed him,' she continued, 'but Jal did. Said it wasn't safe for him there; if Kalljard knew he had a son, and a half-wizard at that, then the boy would be in real danger.'
'So you adopted him?' Thordric said.
'We did, but I'm sure you can see why I was so reluctant to do so. To be the mother of someone like that…' she paused and took a breath. 'He was always trying to use his magic, but of course it never worked. When Lily here was born, I was afraid what he might do to her. I didn't want him in the house, so when he came of age last year, Jal tried to apprentice him onboard these ships. But the boy is disobedient, and when he heard there had been a discovery out in the Valley Flats that was believed to be highly magical, he ran off in search of it. I suppose he thought it might strengthen his powers or what not. Either way, he's gone now.'
Thordric's face had grown hot. This woman's cold indifference to her son's safety simply because he had been a known half-wizard made him angrier than he'd been in a very long time.
Vey, however, was standing next to him quite calmly. 'I see, madam. Once we resolve this current issue, we shall take your son into our care. You need not concern yourself with him any longer.'
The queue for the dining room had moved considerably by then, so they parted from Eliza and Lily. Lily had wanted to sit with them, but Eliza decided it was best to take their food back to the cabin rather than sit in the dining room and take up precious space.
After they had piled up their plates with food and found a place to sit, Thordric banged his plate on the table, making everyone, including Hamlet, jump. Vey smiled at everyone pleasantly and they all looked away again. He turned to Thordric.
'I know how you feel, Thordric,' he said, an unusual tinge of sadness to it. 'But being rash and scaring the whole ship will only make everybody panic more.'
'But she…even if he…How could she be like that?' he managed at last.
Accidental Archaeologist Page 13