The Archmage unbound m-3

by Michael G. Manning

  Today I was hard at work shaping the metal that would hopefully someday be worn by Harold. While my hands were busy my mind had drifted away, thinking of the upcoming trip to Albamarl. I had decided to seek a blacksmith to employ while we were in the city. It might be hard to convince one to relocate, especially if he had a successful practice in the capital already. It might be better to find a young journeyman, someone who had recently finished his apprenticeship and might be looking for an opportunity abroad.

  Perhaps I could find a master and a journeyman. Washbrook had many needs beyond my personal projects and with my father gone I was the closest thing to an actual metal worker in the area. With my skills and a bit of cheating I could do anything that needed to be done, and very quickly as well, but it was distracting. Plus I needed help. Hopefully I could find someone with experience in weaponsmithing. That way I could hand over the job of forging the great-swords I planned to enchant later.

  The metal in front of me had gone cold again, but rather than reheat it I set it down and stepped outside to wash my hands and face. I should probably find someplace a little more private before I attempt this, I thought to myself. Using a towel I had brought with me I was drying my hands and face when I felt an intent stare on my back. My magesight could easily locate the man watching me; he was standing at one of the windows looking down from the main keep.

  Being a member of the nobility now, as well as the only living wizard known I was quite used to gathering curious stares but something about this man caught my attention. I studied him carefully without looking up to let him know I was aware of his gaze. Without using my eyes I could tell he was a fairly nondescript man, medium build and middling age, not old yet but far from young. He was already starting to go bald, though I couldn’t tell what color his hair might be without using my eyes.

  Then I realized what had gotten my attention, there was a fine aura of power rippling in the air around his body, something similar to my own shield but far subtler. My shield was bright and shimmering when viewed with my mage-sight but this was a dim shadowy aura, almost undetectable. He kept his power close to his skin and it was woven so delicately it was hard to understand what purpose it might serve, though it was clearly not meant to be used as a protective shield.

  At last my curiosity got the better of me and I turned to look upward at him. My eyes immediately found the window he was standing at, but there was no one there. That was in direct opposition to the fact that my mage-sight could still see him standing there quite clearly, looking down at me. I squinted as my eyes tried harder to see the person I knew had to be there. As I did I sensed (but didn’t see) the stranger’s eyebrows lifting in surprise, as he realized I knew he was there.

  I started heading for the door that would lead me inside. “Wait there! I need to talk to you!” I shouted upward as I moved. I wasn’t entirely sure why I thought the man might listen to me but it couldn’t hurt. I didn’t really fancy having to chase him around. Visible or not I was certain he couldn’t escape me now that I had taken notice of him.

  That proved to be hubris on my part. As I ran across the yard he began to fade. My last impression was of him closing his eyes before he simply wasn’t there anymore. I stopped dead still. That’s not possible… is it? I wondered. I opened my mind to its fullest and scanned the area carefully. I made doubly sure there were no ‘empty’ spaces that might indicate the presence of a shiggreth either. I found nothing.

  As far as I could tell, the stranger had simply faded out of existence. He had gone from merely invisible to ‘maybe I just imagined it’ in the span of just a few seconds. Still I had enough confidence these days in my senses not to doubt them. He had been there, which left me with some uncomfortable possibilities. “He was there, but he was not visible… not to the naked eye,” I mused aloud. “And when he realized I was aware of him he either transported himself away or managed to hide himself from my mage-sight as well as my normal sight.”

  I didn’t think he had transported himself. I would have felt something and I doubted he had a circle prepared there in the middle of the hallway in my own castle. I resolved to check that immediately and I continued my journey inside so that I could examine the place where I had seen him.

  A minute later I was standing where he had been. There was no circle. Searching the corridor and nearby rooms I didn’t find any nearby either. Yet he had vanished. My recent study of illusions had made me quite aware of some of the possibilities magic held with regards to fooling the eyes but I knew of no way to make a someone completely undetectable to normal vision. Setting that aside I couldn’t imagine how he could hide from my mage-sight, even the shiggreth left an empty place that could be sensed if I paid enough attention.

  So is he still here, or not? The thought set the space between my shoulder blades to itching. I double checked my shield and began walking briskly toward the training yard. As soon as I spotted my burly friend I shouted, “Dorian!” Surprised he looked up and after he spotted me he gave the men a few more instructions before walking to meet me.

  “You look worried,” he said. My friend had a gift for understatement.

  “There’s an intruder inside the castle,” I told him without preamble.

  “What?!”

  I began explaining what had happened, which took longer than I had expected. Dorian was full of questions and my story was less than clear to him since he didn’t really understand magic in the slightest. Finally he summed up the story for me, “So you don’t know if there’s someone here now, or if they’ve gone… and it’s possible you were just imagining things, since you never actually saw them with your eyes.”

  “That sums it up, except for the imagining part. There was someone there and he was using magic of some sort,” I replied. “What do you think we should do?”

  Dorian gave me a look that spoke volumes… his mouth gaped and his eyes were wide. “A rogue wizard is loose in the castle and you’re asking me? If you can’t find him I don’t have a clue what to…” His eyes got wider for a moment. “Go find Penny! Stay with her till I find you.”

  “Wait,” I said in confusion. “Why Penny?”

  “Just make sure she’s safe! I’ll take care of the rest!” Dorian shouted back. He was already heading toward the training field and before I got to the stairs I could hear him yelling instructions to the men at arms there. I ran in the opposite direction and cursed myself for not thinking of Penny. It was a sign of my own growing vanity. I had assumed that whatever risk the intruder posed must be directed at me. As I ran I found her with my mind… she was never too far from my thoughts so I located her easily.

  Inside the keep I took the stairs two at a time and as I reached the floor we lived on I started yelling her name. She was in the nursery, probably decorating again, or ‘nesting’ as she called it. She was alone as far as I could tell, and in fact the only other person was a maid cleaning rooms at the opposite end of the hall. She looked curiously out of the room as I ran past but I paid no heed to her questioning.

  I burst through the door to our rooms without slowing down and nearly knocked Penny to the floor, she had been running the other way. “What the hell?” she exclaimed, in her hand she held a sheathed sword.

  “Damn, you almost skewered me with that thing!” I said, ignoring the fact that my shield would probably have protected me. Then again, I did enchant her blade… it might well cut through my shield, I thought, remembering my fight with Devon Tremont.

  She arched an eyebrow at me. “That’s why I don’t take it out of the scabbard until I see someone worth cutting, genius,” she replied tartly, waving it in front of me.

  I couldn’t help but smile inwardly. My girl definitely has a mouth on her. Can’t help but love her, I thought to myself. I took her hand and with a word and a thought I built a shield around both of us. My breath was still coming heavily after my sprint up the stairs.

  “Are you planning to share the details with me?” she asked.

  D
rawing another deep breath I replied, “I found someone in the castle, watching me. Dorian suggested I find you first.” I was still panting and even I will admit it wasn’t the most complete answer I have ever given.

  “So you need me to protect you from your secret admirer?” she asked.

  Laughing made it harder to catch my breath but I was almost fully recovered by then anyway. “Maybe,” I said with a grin. “The intruder was using magic of some sort, and he was able to hide himself from me. I think Dorian thought you might be a target so he suggested I find you first.”

  Penny patted her softly rounded stomach, “I’m definitely a good target and getting easier to hit by the day.”

  I should have known she’d bring that up. Women never seemed to miss an opportunity to bring attention to their growing waistlines, even though they complained about it. “You aren’t that big yet,” I said, another half-truth on my part, but all part of a husband’s duty. “You do bring up a good point though, should you really be picking up steel and fighting unknown foes in your condition?”

  “Would you rather I lay down and wait to die if someone attacked me?”

  Alright, I had to admit… looking at it from that perspective she made a lot of sense. “Point taken,” I said.

  “No… no point taken… that’s the point,” she replied.

  I groaned, “How long are you planning to keep this up? It really isn’t that funny.”

  “Fine, but if you keep acting like a wet blanket this princess isn’t going on any more adventures with you,” she answered with mock seriousness.

  Obviously Penny was in an interesting mood, something that had become rather common since her pregnancy started. I stared at her, wondering at her sanity. “You aren’t a princess, and even if I went on adventures I wouldn’t take you, you’re pregnant!”

  She stared at me intently for a moment before I noticed how still she had become. Her eyes had gotten wider and were beginning to well with tears. A chill went up my spine as I realized her mood had just flipped. “Have I gotten that fat already?” she asked. There was a tremor in her lip.

  Oh bloody hell! I thought. “No, no, that’s not what I meant!” Thankfully one of the guards arrived and knocked on the door. I opened it quickly, hoping for a distraction.

  “My lord,” he said quickly, “Where would you like me to take up my post?”

  My mind was blank for a moment till I realized Dorian must have sent him to guard our rooms. I concentrated for a second until I recalled his name. “Barnabas, right?” I said, snapping my fingers.

  “Yes your lordship,” he answered hesitantly.

  “Come inside. You may take your post there by the door,” I told him. Ordinarily I’d have set him outside the door, but if the intruder was using magic it would just make the guard an easy target. Plus if he were inside it might help stabilize Penny’s mood.

  After that we moved into the antechamber adjoining our bedroom and sat down. We held hands while we sat and I cast my senses outward, trying to follow the movements of our guards through the castle. Dorian seemed to be conducting a room to room search of the entire place.

  “Do you think it was another wizard?” Penny asked, breaking the silence.

  “There aren’t supposed to be any others,” I said, except that there had been. The late Devon Tremont came immediately to mind. “But we’ve already seen that that may not be true I guess. It’s more likely to be a channeler though.”

  “And if it is a channeler?”

  “Then he isn’t friendly. The dark gods are definitely our enemies and the shining gods seem to want me dead now too,” I said. Another knock at the door interrupted our conversation. “You can let them in,” I told the guard. “It’s just my mother and more guardsmen.”

  Barnabas opened the door and five more guardsmen entered, escorting my mother. She seemed none too pleased about having been suddenly uprooted from her house and forced to quick march into the castle. “What’s going on Mordecai?” she asked me.

  “I found an intruder in the castle, but he escaped. Dorian sent the guards to make sure you were safe, and he must have felt you’d be safest if you were with us as well.” I agreed with him on that point. I also appreciated the fact that he had sent no less than five guards to make sure Miriam was safely escorted. “Are you still wearing the necklace I gave you?” I added.

  My mother huffed, “I’ve never taken it off.” It might be worth mentioning that as an only son, and an adopted one at that, my mother had always been quite attached to me.

  I ignored her irritability and began explaining the situation. Dorian and Rose joined us as I finished. It was worth noting that he had escorted her personally. “We didn’t find anyone,” he announced.

  I hadn’t really expected him to, but it bothered me. Whoever it was, is far better at sneaking around than I am, I thought. That wasn’t very comforting. I was used to thinking of channelers as inept, except when it came to healing. In general their gods didn’t spend a lot of time letting them practice ‘borrowing’ their power to learn practical skills. “I didn’t think you would, but I’m glad you searched,” I replied. “Did you really think Penny or my mother might be in danger?”

  “I couldn’t afford to think anything else,” he replied.

  That didn’t really add up in my mind and I wasn’t used to Dorian reaching conclusions before I did. I made my doubt plain, “I still don’t understand your reasoning.”

  Dorian gave me a look that indicated I might have been born naturally slow. Then he explained, “You have to remember Mort, the Thornbears have been protecting the Lancaster family for several generations now, not just Lancaster Castle. I learned quite a bit from my father. What do you think the easiest way to hurt you would be?”

  I could see the direction his thoughts had taken but I still wasn’t sure I agreed. “That might be true, but anyone that hurt my family would only earn themselves painful retribution.”

  Dorian snorted, “I doubt the dark gods are that frightened of you, but that is beside the point. Anyone that wants to control you has to be giving serious thought to kidnapping your family.”

  His words struck me like a thunderbolt as I realized how clueless I had been. Rose patted me on the shoulder and added, “That’s what I love about Dorian, he’s often a lot smarter than his simple exterior would lead one to believe.”

  I almost felt bad for him. Dorian’s moment in the spotlight went from calm and in control to red and embarrassed almost instantly. His mouth formed a perfect ‘o’ as he stared at Rose. Eventually he looked back at me, shaking his head before he spoke again, “Anyway, I think your mother should move into one of the rooms adjacent to yours and we need to post extra guards on both doors and the stairs leading to this floor.”

  “Will it matter if our intruder can move about without fear of detection?” I asked. I didn’t really think guards would be very useful if magic was involved.

  “He may be able to sneak about in safety but I doubt he can take someone out of here by force without a struggle. With you nearby that would be the most foolish thing anyone could attempt,” Dorian replied, his face was gradually returning to its normal color.

  I was flattered by Dorian’s confidence in me and I had to admit he had a good point, “Alright, I agree with you. What else do you think we should do?”

  My mother had other ideas however. “Now wait a minute!” she interrupted. “Are you telling me that I have to move into the castle?” I knew already she wouldn’t be happy about leaving the small house she had shared with my father. Dorian and I exchanged helpless glances, neither of us wanted to be the one to force this on her.

  Luckily Rose intervened, “Miriam, I’m sorry but Dorian may be right. Would you want someone to use you as a tool to coerce your son?” I started to say something to support her but Penny gave me a look cautioning me to silence.

  “Well of course not,” replied my mother after a brief pause. “I just don’t think it is right to have me bargin
g in on them. They’ve only been married a few months and now Penelope has to put up with her mother-in-law living right on top of her?”

  Penny spoke up then, “No Miriam, that’s not a problem! I’d love to have you closer to us.”

  I watched the two of them carefully. I had never suspected that might be the reason my mother had refused to leave her house before. Now that the veil had been drawn I found myself watching Penny as well. Perhaps it would bother her, even though she denied it now. The more I learned of the world of women the less I understood.

  In the end my mother agreed to move into the adjoining rooms, though she swore up and down we’d never know she was there. The entire process involved quite a bit of hugging and even a few tears as the ladies (all three of them) shared their love for one another. Meanwhile Dorian and I quietly worked out the other arrangements which primarily involved having guards following my wife and mother everywhere.

  There really wasn’t a practical way to stop the movements of a channeler that could hide his presence from anyone, so we decided the best thing we could do was make sure it would be nearly impossible to kidnap either of them.

  Later that evening, as I lay in bed listening to Penny snoring, I couldn’t help but wonder at the turns my life had taken. A year or two ago I would never have imagined that power could make me so vulnerable. I resolved to look in my father’s library and see if I could find ideas on how to protect my family better. Some sort of ward to alert me to intrusions while sleeping would be good. As it was I could hardly sleep. Paranoia seemed destined to become my new bed companion.

  Chapter 12

  The cool linens were soothing against Cyhan’s skin. The large man slept with little more than a sheet despite the crisp night air. His body had always seemed to produce far more heat than he needed.

  Glancing upward he couldn’t help but be glad to be home again, if his room in the palace could truly be called home. Residence would probably be a better word. Even so, two months in a dungeon had given him a new appreciation for a proper bed and fresh sheets. Not that he would have ever admitted such a thing where anyone could hear it.