Azrael's Twins

by V. J. Mortimer

  ‘Thank you, Finnegan. We won’t be long,’ said the old man as he closed the door behind them.

  ‘Why is he not allowed in here?’ asked Niamh, once the door had bolted itself.

  ‘Only a very few people are allowed into the vaults, my dear. There are very powerful treasures in here. Only those in the royal family and certain especially skilled roles – such as my own,’ he said, adjusting his glasses in a manner which said he was rather pleased to be in such a privileged role, ‘are allowed into the vaults. Those guards have never been allowed in and the pattern they trace with their wands is changed every day. You always need at least three guards to get in here and to get out you need to go past them all again. It’s really very well protected.’

  ‘How do we get through the next door?’ asked Grady. ‘Is it magically sealed like the first one?’

  ‘No. Not this one. To get through here the door needs to recognise you and then it will open,’ said the old man, smiling. ‘Why don’t you try it?’

  ‘What do you mean?’ asked Grady. ‘How does a door recognise you?’

  ‘Because I’m very smart!’ said a sharp querulous voice from behind Grady, which made both he and Niamh jump. Turning round they saw a wooden face peering out of the door regarding them with a baleful knotty eye. It was the most extraordinary creature the children had ever seen. Whatever it was, it seemed to grow further out of the doorway itself until it looked as though the door had turned into a walking tree.

  ‘And who do you two think you are, then?’ said the creature in its sharp and nasty little voice.

  At first Niamh and Grady didn’t know what to say. ‘Come on, come on,’ barked the creature. ‘I haven’t all day, you know.’

  ‘I’m ... I’m ... the ... ummmm ... the ahhhh,’ Niamh started to say, but couldn’t find the words to finish.

  ‘The Ummm? The Aaah?’ said the creature. ‘I’ve never heard such rot in my life! Who are these two, Gilly?’ he said, addressing the old man.

  Chortling to himself Gilly replied; ‘Believe it or not they are the Princess Niamh and the Prince Grady. And I can vouch for them if it makes you feel better.’

  ‘Humph,’ snorted the door creature. ‘I thought royalty would have a better vocabulary than “Umm” and “Aaah”.’ Turning to the children he looked them up and down. ‘Well don’t expect me to bow ...,’ he said petulantly, ‘because I can’t, you know,’ he added, a little self-consciously. If it were possible to shuffle his feet he would have at this point. ‘But step closer and let me see your hands.’

  Gilly beckoned the children forward. They stepped up and held their hands out, palms up. The creature took each of their hands in turn. The rough-looking skin of his hands felt much smoother than either of the children expected. ‘Hmmmm,’ said the creature to itself. Taking one hand from each of the children it looked into their eyes and then each child felt a slight jolt that they now both recognised as a magical surge. As the power coursed through them the creature suddenly dropped their hands as if burned.

  ‘Oh my goodness,’ it said, recoiling a little from them with a look of shock on his face.

  ‘What? What’s wrong?’ said Niamh.

  ‘Oh, nothing at all,’ said the creature. ‘I just didn’t expect ... I mean ...’ For a moment the creature looked lost, but recovered his haughtiness quickly. Sniffing and admiring his barky fingernails for a moment he went on. ‘Well. It looks like you are who you say you are then. I suppose I should introduce myself.’

  Grady had regained some composure by now. ‘Well it would be polite, you know.’

  The creature looked taken aback by the forthright attitude of Grady. Looking at Gilly he said, ‘Not shy at coming forward, is the little wizard!’

  ‘Yes, that’s the word we’ve heard around the castle. A chip off the king’s block, I’ve been lead to understand.’

  Looking back to the children the creature extended its knobbly hand again. ‘I’m Jakla. Jakla Jarrah. I’m a door warden in case you hadn’t worked it out.’

  Grady took the hand and shook it, followed a moment later by Niamh.

  ‘Do you think you might like to let us in now, Jak?’ said Gilly. ‘I’d like to show the children the vault if you don’t mind.’

  ‘Oh yes. Of course.’ The door swung open finally and the children stepped inside. Jak grabbed Gilly by the collar as he walked past and pulled him close before whispering in his ear: ‘Do you know what they are? What they can do?’

  Gilly smiled back at him saying – ‘Oh yes. Oh yes, I do know, my friend.’ Patting the door warden on the shoulder Gilly followed the children inside.

  ‘Just call me when you need me,’ said Jak. ‘I’ll be right here. Not going anywhere because I can’t, you know, not that it bothers me ... much anyway.’

  As the creature said this, its features and body melted back into the door until all that remained was a knotty pair of eyes. In a moment there was just a normal solid-looking wooden door which swung shut silently as they watched.

  ‘What a strange little man,’ said Niamh, shaking her head with wonder at yet another of the marvels in the castle.

  ‘Jak has been here for a long, long time, Niamh,’ said Gilly. ‘And if you had to spend your existence stuck inside a door you might get a little odd too. Originally he was a wood sprite, but when the wood for that door was milled he decided he didn’t want to leave his tree and agreed to come here with the wood that had always been his home. There are a few other doors like him in the kingdom but he really is a very rare piece of magic. Anyway, enough of the grumpy door warden. Let’s see what we came to see.’

  Inside the doorway was a columned vaulted ceiling full of display cases, suits of armour (human, elf and giant sized), golden broomsticks, and wands mounted in glass cases – obviously heirlooms or treasures in some way. In the very middle of the room was a stone plinth which shone with a spectral light that seemed to emanate from the rock itself. On top of the plinth standing in a slight depression carved in the top were two objects which the children could not quite make out from where they were. From somewhere above a light shone onto the very middle of the plinth illuminating the two objects.

  ‘Some of these treasures in here are older than the castle itself,’ said Gilly in a slightly hushed tone. ‘The suits of armour are from the old battles between the races – before they reached the accord of Bealey’s Spur. That was the mountain top that humans, elves, giants and dwarves all climbed together to settle their differences and agree to live in peace over a thousand years ago. This armour dates from those days. The golden suit was worn by one of your ancestors – Thom Longshanks – one of the Seven Sorcerers of the old kingdom. That big suit was worn by Ganzabigun – the Giant King, though in truth he never really was their real king – he was just the biggest and best spoken of the giants – they aren’t very good at human speech so they just sent the one they thought we could understand best and called him the king.’ Gilly stared around the room at some of the other treasures – ‘Wonderful pieces – and magical, very magical they all are.’ As he said this, the children thought they could see a greedy look in his eye. In a moment though it had passed and he suddenly looked like the old bookish librarian again.

  ‘What are they, in the middle?’ asked Niamh, pointing at the plinth with the figures on top.

  ‘Ahhhhh. That, my dear, is the crown jewel of all the treasures in here,’ said Gilly. ‘That is what I really wanted to show you. Come closer with me – but not too close. The treasures in here are protected by powerful magical wards. If you tried to touch any of these displays you could find yourself wrapped up in a thief snare shroud which binds its victims in a full body cloak, pinning your arms to your sides with a hood over your head. It’s impossible to remove without at least two powerful wizards – one of whom needs to know the special patterns to weave the counter spell.’

  Niamh and Grady moved closer to each other as they looked around at the magical displays. They couldn’t see anything which
looked like a spell or protection and were suddenly worried about where to step. Gilly could see their sudden uncertainty and chuckled.

  ‘Oh, don’t worry though, you two. I don’t think you plan on stealing anything, so unless you try and pick anything up you should be fine. Probably, anyway ... I think,’ he said, grinning. ‘Come look at the Twins. I’m sure you’d like to meet them.’

  Gilly led the children towards the illuminated figures. He stepped almost reverentially onto the stone steps on which stood the plinth. ‘Come, come,’ he said, beckoning to them. ‘Don’t be frightened.’

  The children stepped up to stand beside him and stared at the two figures on top. On the left stood a figure of a girl with long hair, wearing a diaphanous gown decorated with flowers and leaves. Though Niamh could see the figure was either stone or metal – she could not tell exactly as it seemed to change texture constantly – she was amazed to see its hair moving as if being stirred by a light breeze. The girl’s feet were bare but they rested on what looked like a cloud. Both of her hands were out in front of her, the elbows bent at right angles. One hand was cupped and from it in a continuous stream ran a trickle of water that disappeared inches below the rim of her hand. Above the other hand floated a light cloud which slowly and repeatedly formed and dissipated.

  The other figure was clearly a boy, though wearing robes which marked him as a wizard. His hair seemed to twist and turn in tight curls around his head. At first Grady thought it was snakes writhing about but then realised that the twisting curls were a mass of living flames. Each of the tendrils flickered and glowed just like Belimawr’s feathers. Just like the girl, his arms were held out in front, palms facing up, but the contents of each hand were markedly different. Above one hand floated a flame – one minute bright and golden, the next a deep red, the next a piercing blue tipped with gold. The other hand held a small ball of rock which revolved slowly and then crumbled to dirt before reshaping itself into the ball.

  Niamh and Grady watched the spectacle for a few moments, transfixed by the magical display. ‘Who are they?’ Niamh asked, without taking her eyes from the statues.

  ‘These two are Azrael’s Twins,’ replied Gilly. ‘Our legends say they were made by a sorcerer named Azrael. They have been part of the kingdom for as long as there has been history. Has Murdock explained to you about the elements and how your magic will be attuned to one of the elements?’ The children nodded. ‘All magical folk can use all of the elements. Most of us have a particular talent for one of them – say Fire for blacksmiths, or Earth for farmers. Sometimes a witch or wizard finds they can use more than one of the elements well. And that marks them out as being special. There aren’t many of them and they usually end up on the magical councils and so forth. Your parents are abnormally strong in that respect – Your mother has mastery over Air and Water – just like Persephone here,’ said Gilly, pointing at the figure of the girl. ‘And your father is a master of Fire and Earth – just like Hephaestus,’ he said, pointing at the boy. ‘They’re the names of these two.’

  ‘Is there anything special about them?’ asked Grady absently, still spellbound by the extraordinary display.

  ‘Oh yes, indeed there is, my young Prince. The reason the Twins are kept down here is that anyone who possesses them would be able to use all four elements at the same time.’

  ‘Would that not be a good thing?’ asked Niamh innocently. ‘I mean, if you could use all the powers imagine how much you could do!’

  ‘My dear Princess, you do have a lot to learn about witches and wizards, don’t you,’ laughed Gilly, stepping back and looking at Niamh. ‘Not all of us are good. There are some dark wizards that if they were able to get hold of that much power, why there’s no telling what they might end up doing. They could ... could well ... they could ...’ Gilly seemed lost for words for a moment before composing himself. ‘Well there wouldn’t be a wizard in the land that could stop them taking over! In fact, all the wizards in the land couldn’t stop them!’

  The children stared at the two figures for a moment. The figures were not tall and looked like they would easily fit into a hand. The longer the children looked at them the stranger they seemed to become. The mystical powers radiating from their hands held the children’s gaze. The children felt themselves falling deeper and deeper into a dream state as the room around them began to fade and swirl. Niamh felt she could reach out to them when suddenly the girl’s head turned and emerald green eyes blinked up at her. ‘Welcome,’ came a voice which arrived directly in her head and not – Niamh was sure – through her ears. Niamh jumped back in surprise and the room around her swam back into focus. She looked at the statue again to make sure she was not seeing things, but it had returned to its silent inert state as it stood upon its plinth.

  ‘Are you alright, my dear?’ said Gilly, placing a hand on Niamh’s shoulder.

  ‘I’m ... I’m fine. Thank you,’ she said, a little flustered. She glanced at Grady and realised from his wide-eyed focus on the Twins that he too had heard and seen something, but equally as important, that Gilly didn’t appear to have seen anything! He turned to Niamh and was about to open his mouth when Niamh silently mouthed ‘Not now – later.’ Grady nodded in understanding and leaned forward again to stare at the flame-haired boy.

  ‘Not too close, young Prince,’ said Gilly. ‘One day you may be allowed to touch them, but for now they stay where they are. I think you’ve seen enough of them. There’s not many in the kingdom get this close so count yourselves lucky. And remember this; what you have just seen in there is magic so powerful that some dark wizards would not hesitate to kill to get their hands on it. Tell no one what you have seen. Absolutely no one.’

  Nimah and Grady shared an anxious glance with each other. Gilly had gone from jovial to meanacing when he delivered his warning. A chill crept quickly over them before suddenly passing like a thin cloud over the sun on a warm day. They suddenly wanted to get far away from the chamber.

  The old man started to usher them out and back to the door. He pointed out some of the other treasures as he went with a familiarity that bordered on a love for the fine magical pieces on display. The door swung open as they approached. Jak the door warden gave them a wary look as he let them past.

  ‘See you again soon, my friend,’ said Gilly as he went past.

  ‘I suppose you will,’ grumbled the sprite as he swung back on his hinges closing off the magical world within.

  Pulling out his wand Gilly laid another of the complicated patterns down onto a small pile of stones off to the left of where they had entered.

  ‘The pattern will alert the guards that we are ready to leave,’ said Gilly in response to the unspoken question from the children. ‘You can’t open the door from the inside without the assistance of the guards.’

  After a moment the stone wall in front of them shimmered as it had on their entrance and the golden door appeared again before swinging open. The children followed Gilly out into the library where a bored-looking Quinn was waiting for them.

  ‘What was it like?’ he said, jumping up at their reappearance.

  ‘Well there wasn’t much to say, really,’ said Niamh, remembering Gilly’s warning about sharing the wonders of the Twins with anyone else. ‘They just looked like a pair of statues if you ask me – a bit interesting and definitely magical, but I don’t know what I should be looking for as far as magic goes. What did you expect?’

  ‘I thought you might be more excited about them I suppose. But then you haven’t been here long and probably don’t know any of the tales that surround the statues, so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised.’ Quinn cast a rueful but hungry look down the corridor to the vault. ‘I suppose I had better get you back though. I’m sure your parents will be looking for you.’

  ‘Good thinking, young man,’ said Gilly, peering over his glasses with a smile. ‘That’s the sort of level-headedness which will get you far in our guild, you know!’

  Quinn rolled his eyes at t
he comment. He clearly didn’t like being patronised in front of Grady and Niamh. ‘There’s one more treat on the way out, though. Let’s take the elevator. We’re not walking back up those stairs!’

  ‘I’ll leave you here if it’s all right,’ said Gilly. ‘There’s a goblin over in the Powerful Potions sector that looks like he’s going to try and eat another one of the pages. Honestly, you’d think they’d have worked out that just because a potion sounds interesting, eating it won’t make them any smarter. Hey there!’ he shouted, before heading off at a wobbling trot much faster than the children thought his bulk could manage.

  ‘He is quite funny when he isn’t being pompous,’ said Quinn. ‘Anyway, come on over here and try this out.’

  The children followed the boy towards a small series of cages which they had not noticed on their way in. Each cage was big enough for three or four people at a time and was made with fine wrought iron bars. There was a sliding door which made Niamh and Grady think of the old elevators in the cafe by the river they sometimes used to go to with their parents. They loved the way the doors of that lift rattled and clanked as they opened and shut and were delighted to find these doors did exactly the same thing.