"Wait your turn," the village leader said to the man. "They are here for us, now."
Alarick held up a hand. "It's fine. We have plenty of time. There's no need to be rude."
He gave the petitioner his usual speech. "Certainly we will add your village to our list. However, we are currently committed to visiting other places first. But we will not forget you."
It was diplomatic and polite, but dismissive all the same.
The older man nodded but before he could retreat, a younger man pushed him out of the way in an effort to get to Alarick, triggering a fight between the two petitioners. While the villagers and Alarick worked to break it up, the third petitioner stood off to the side, watching.
When most of the villagers were absorbed in the fight and Alarick and Elissa were separated across the village square, he whistled a series of five notes. No one appeared to take any notice, but then Ministry personnel surged down into the tiny valley where Ammenberg rested.
Alarick saw the danger too late. Elissa was on the other side of the square and the Ministry was closing in fast. There was no way he could reach her in time to peregrinate them both to safety.
"Elissa," he screamed, but she was so surrounded by terrified villagers he wasn't sure she heard him.
He turned to the village elder and grabbed him by the front of his shirt.
"Did you set this up?" he asked as he shook the man savagely.
"The Ministry pays well, sir," was all the man said.
Tossing the man aside, Alarick drew his wand and started firing off spells toward any target, not really caring whether those he hit were villagers or Ministry. Many villagers joined him in targeting the Ministry. Alarick knew, then, that the whole village hadn't been in on the ruse. They, too, had been led to the slaughter by their greedy leaders, all in an effort to collect the bounty offered for Elissa and himself. He tried to be more selective in choosing his targets.
The Ministry overran the village square, swords slashing furiously at the villagers. Their guns weren't accurate and required a long time to reload between shots, but they did their share of damage, as well.
Alarick was gratified to see the village leader take a direct stab to the gut. He gaped in disbelief at his attacker, as though he couldn't believe the double-crosser had been double-crossed. Alarick could have told him that the Ministry would never spare him, but it was too late. The man had made his deal with the devil and now the price was paid.
Alarick shot a killing spell at the elder's attacker. The soldier fell and landed atop the village leader, dead. That was poetic, at least, Alarick thought.
He could no longer see Elissa. She'd either been captured or swept along with the villagers who were fleeing in terror. The Ministry was setting up larger guns on the ridge above the village and Alarick aimed his spells in that direction, hoping to take them out before they could prime their weapons to fire. He and the others were too exposed down here in the bowl of the village to survive that kind of firepower.
The villagers fought bravely. Many of them had excellent fighting skills and some had mastered the killing spell. That was helpful. Alarick managed to work his way to a building and put his back against the wall, giving him some protection from the onslaught. As he continued to fire off spells and defend himself, a young man he recognized as one of the villagers joined him. They stood shoulder to shoulder, destroying as much of the Ministry as they could.
"Your wife is safe, sir," the young man panted between spells. "I can take you to her and you can both escape."
"Why should I trust you?" Alarick asked. "This whole visit was a setup, designed to lead us straight into the Ministry's hands."
"Not all of us knew, and the majority of us who did disagreed with the leaders."
"Did you know?" Alarick asked, sending a killing spell into a knot of brawling Ministry and villagers, hoping to hit more Ministry than villagers.
"I did. I didn't agree. I knew the Ministry would not let us live, even if we handed you to them. They never let anyone live."
"No, they don't. Shame your leaders didn't understand that. What's done is done. All that's left to do is save as many innocents as we can." Alarick said. "And get my wife back."
The young man picked off six Ministry soldiers who were running down the hill toward the fray.
"Don't worry about us. We're all dead anyway. Our leaders signed our death warrants. Let me show you to safety. You can save yourself and your wife and maybe that will absolve my soul of any role in this sorry mess," the man said.
Alarick, who knew a thing or two about absolution said, "Where do we go?"
"We were lucky that your wife was on that side of the square," the man said, pointing across to the group of houses where Alarick had last seen Elissa. "That's where the escape route lies. My friends were able to get her under cover quickly."
"And you're certain they haven't hurt her or given her to the Ministry?" Alarick asked.
"Very certain, sir. The people she is with are honorable. Every one of them was against the plan to turn you in."
He continued, "Use all your energy to cast a defensive spell around yourself. We're going to have to run across open ground and you need protection. Forget offense. The next two minutes are all about keeping you alive. Got it?"
Alarick nodded and cast the strongest defensive spell he could.
"See those woods beyond the last house on the main road?"
Alarick looked where the man pointed. "I see them."
"If we get separated, run there. There are helpers waiting for you in there in case I don't make it. They will take you where you need to go."
"Understood," Alarick said.
"Ready?" the man asked.
"Yes."
"Then run!" the man shouted.
They pushed away from the building as one and sprinted through the battlefield. Alarick felt bullets and swords bounce off his defenses. He desperately wanted to fight back, to take down some of these Ministry fools, but thoughts of Elissa spurred him on. He had to get her to safety.
His savior's defenses were not as strong as his own, and the young man's energy was flagging. Alarick tried to help him, to cast some of his own energy over the man, but the man screamed, "Go! Leave me."
As much as it pained him, Alarick did as instructed and left the young man behind. At the edge of the woods, he glanced back to see the man being dragged off by Ministry personnel. He gave Alarick a weak thumbs up, even though Alarick could see blood pouring from a wound in his chest. As a final act of mercy for his savior, Alarick let his defenses down just long enough to shoot a killing spell at him, giving him the absolution he'd desired. At least he wouldn't be taken alive and tortured, or left to die from a festering wound.
Defenses back up, Alarick raced into the woods with no idea where he was going. It seemed sensible to head for the deepest, darkest portion of the forest. If the young man had been lying, at least such an area would provide some cover against whoever was lying in wait.
The sounds of battle faded the deeper he went into the forest. Wand held ready, he tried to step lightly and quietly, although the dead leaves from the previous winter made that impossible. He'd just about given up hope of finding Elissa when a hedgehog ran across his foot and stopped about two feet in front of him, regarding him with humanlike curiosity. Two other hedgehogs joined the first.
"Do I follow you?" Alarick whispered.
They didn't answer but turned and ran deeper into the forest. With no other options, Alarick followed. He hoped that these critters were villagers who shared his ability to transform into animals. If they were not, then he was an idiot following hedgehogs that were probably leading him to a dinner of slugs.
The hedgehogs scampered over the leaves and twigs littering the forest floor. Alarick struggled to follow as they ducked under fallen trees while he had to climb over the trunks. It grew darker and more difficult to see, but still Alarick followed. Finally, they emerged into a small clearing. At the back o
f the clearing was a rock wall with a (barely) human-sized crack in its face. The hedgehogs slipped inside the crack and one peeked back out to make sure Alarick had seen.
He nodded and approached the wall, wand at the ready. Bending at the knees lest he crack his skull on the rock, he turned sideways and shoved himself through the fissure. He emerged into a small cave with a ceiling tall enough for him to stand up straight. There were no hedgehogs here. Instead, there were ten or twelve villagers, wands drawn, surrounding Elissa in a protective circle.
"Elissa," he said.
At the sound of his voice, she cried, "Alarick," and pushed past her protectors, hands outstretched, seeking her husband.
Alarick met her halfway and gathered her into his arms.
"Oh, thank heavens," he said. "Thank you," he said to the villagers over Elissa's shoulder. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," said a tiny woman who, even in human form, so strongly resembled a hedgehog that he knew she was the one who'd run over his foot. "We're glad we could help. What our leaders did was wrong. You shouldn't have to pay the price for their greed and stupidity."
"Was it all staged?" Elissa asked. "The petitioners? Were they real?"
"No," said one of the men. He was the oldest of the group, but far from elderly. His hair was not fully gray and still sported red highlights. His sideburns ran all the way to his jaw line.
"They live in the village," he continued. "Our elders talked them into portraying petitioners and causing a fight to distract you. The leader's wife was in on it, too. It was her job to separate you from your husband. We positioned ourselves on this side of the village intentionally, hoping she would lead you in our direction. We were lucky she did."
"What will you do now?" Alarick asked. "Go back and fight the Ministry?"
The man shook his head. "That is a battle we cannot win. We will stay here until things settle down and then make our way elsewhere. We have family in other villages who will take us in."
"You're welcome to come to the Keep," Alarick offered. "It's a refuge I operate for magical people in England. I could take you there. It would be safer than remaining in a small village with little protection. Especially since the Ministry will probably launch a rampage of retribution throughout the countryside after failing to grab us today."
The group gathered together and discussed it for a few moments. While they did so, Alarick cradled Elissa in his arms and tried not to think about how close he'd come to losing her.
Finally, the man said, "We thank you for the offer, but we decline. We are an outdoorsy people and would not do well in a castle, no matter how beautiful or how kind the people. Besides, we need to be with our families. You could not possibly take us all and we would never choose who should stay and who should go. But we do thank you."
"You have done us a great service this day. If you change your mind or ever need assistance, do not hesitate to send a letter and ask," Alarick said.
The man nodded. "Thank you. You should go now. I don't think the Ministry will find this place but if they do, we can pass as a family of hedgehogs living in a rock. You cannot."
Alarick reached over and shook each villager's hand. "I cannot thank you enough. And I cannot express how sorry I am for the losses you've suffered today. Some of your village was misguided, but I mourn for the innocents you lost. You should know that the young man who came for me fought bravely, as did many others."
"You are kinder than could be expected under the circumstances," the tiny woman said. "Now go."
Alarick, who hadn't yet let go of Elissa, peregrinated them both back to the Keep, the rest of their itinerary be damned.
18
They returned to the Keep shaken and uncertain what to do next. That evening, they gathered Margaret and John in the library to discuss this latest wrinkle in their plans.
The Keep's library now housed thousands of volumes. Alarick had run out of options for expanding the place. There were no more nooks and crannies to be annexed. Books and papers were stacked two deep on most of the shelves and desks, and some overflowed into piles on the floor. Despite the tsunami of materials, Margaret still had the place ruthlessly organized and could easily lay her hands on any particular volume.
When Alarick looked around, he was amazed and humbled that what had begun with comparatively little was now the largest magical library in the world. Master Hale would have been beside himself with glee. The thought made Alarick smile. Perhaps he'd accomplished one thing in his life that would have made the old Master proud, after all.
"We were supposed to go to Constantinople next," Elissa said as the group lounged in front of the fireplace. "But is it safe?"
"I don't know," Alarick said. "I would not have thought that other witches and wizards would betray us as Ammenberg did. Now I do not know who we can trust."
"Can we simply turn our backs on those who need our help, though?"
Alarick said, "We may have no choice."
John spoke up. "Perhaps the answer isn't to give up entirely, but to remain here for a few months. Let the Ministry's interest in you wane a bit. If you're less noticeable, you're less of a target."
"And when you do go out again," Margaret added, "Don't announce your arrival. You have a long list of places that want you. Just pick one and go. Someone may still turn you in, but at least you won't be ambushed as you were in Ammenberg."
"With wizards and witches turning on each other for money, how long will it be before a former resident reveals the location of the Keep?" Alarick wondered. "We've long known it's a possibility, but now it seems to be a matter of not if, but when."
"They'll stop once they figure out that the Ministry doesn't pay," John said. "Once word circulates that the back-stabbers all end up dead, anyone looking for easy money will think twice."
"And then it will be something else," Alarick said. "As long as the Ministry wants us all dead and magic erased from the world, we will never be able to relax, not even among our own kind."
The group was silent after that, the crackling fire the only sound in the room.
"I guess staying here for a while is our only choice," Elissa finally said.
Alarick heard the disappointment in her voice. "I wish I could say I disagree, but you're right. Our opposition to the Ministry has become too obvious. Between the books, what Marius and I did to them in London, and your escape from the cathedral, they have more than enough reasons to target us."
"I don't want any more innocent people killed because of me," Elissa said. "A lot of those people in Ammenberg weren't involved in the plot, but they were killed anyway. I don't want that on my conscience."
John tried to soften her thought. "I know it's not pleasant to think about, but they would have died anyway. Eventually the Ministry would have found them and killed them simply for being magicals. It'll happen to all of us."
Alarick snorted. "Truth isn't always the best policy, John," inclining his head toward Elissa who had a horrified expression on her face.
"I just meant—" he began.
"We know what you meant, you old fool," Margaret said, thumping him lightly on the head. "And we know you meant no harm. But we should go to bed before you step any further into donkey crap."
They left the library, John still protesting that Elissa shouldn't feel badly about what happened.
"Well, that's settled," Alarick said. "I guess the question is: What do I find for you to do in the meantime? I have plenty of work around here to keep me busy, but without a constant influx of books, will you be bored?"
"Possibly, but not likely. The weather is nice. I can resume my story times outside. I have enough memorized, so I can recite rather than read. Maybe I'll try my hand at creating my own stories. I can help Candace in the infirmary, and maybe John and the others will be able to scrounge up some new books from time to time. There's plenty to keep me busy."
Alarick rubbed her shoulder. "It seems like a poor life for someone with such talent. I'm sorry we cannot do
more. I'm sorry that I can't give you more."
She shrugged. "Don't be sorry. I'm grateful that we had such a long run. We accomplished more than I dreamed possible. Look at this place. This library alone would provide most of the information needed to resurrect magic, should it ever come to that. If we do no more, then we can rest knowing we did what we could."
"We'll do more," he promised. "Give it a few months and we will resume our travels."
"I did want to see Constantinople," she said in a faraway voice.
Time did indeed pass and Alarick and Elissa had no trouble filling the hours. New people arrived at the Keep nearly every week as it became clearer that the Ministry's purge was unsurvivable. People who had previously turned down residence now appeared, asking for sanctuary. In every case it was given.
The Keep was bursting at the seams. People were finally forced to share rooms and they did so uncomplainingly, even proudly. Alarick moved his office into his bedroom and installed a second door leading to the hallway so that his old office could become a bedchamber. John did the same, moving his office into his and Margaret's bedroom and freeing up another room. The grooms offered to move into the stables permanently, and the men in the workshop built a small bunkhouse onto the shop, giving them sleeping space and freeing up their rooms in the castle. It was crowded, but everyone kept a good attitude about it, realizing that a little crowding was better than death.
Elissa, Margaret, and Candace found plenty of work assimilating the newcomers. Elissa's story times were now jammed with adults and children. So many children resided in the Keep now that Elissa organized care for them during the day so their parents could work. She and others rotated the job of watching the children. Elissa always had a sighted helper when it was her turn, but the kids adored her. She kept them entertained by drawing cuddly animals for them to play with and teaching them basic art skills.
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