The Archmage unbound

Chapter 24

The next day I tackled the ‘self-locking door’ schemata, which turned out to be a lot simpler than I had imagined. It was also about as exciting as it sounded. Essentially it was a method for making sure a door or similar closure would close itself and automatically lock after being left unattended for a period of time.

What I did find fascinating was the method for creating a delay before the action of closing the door occurred. It could be adjusted, so while the standard door would close within seconds of being used, I could use the same technique to create a delay of minute, hours, or even longer. Although I might never want a door that waited that long to close itself, I could imagine any number of other enchants that might be useful if I could set them to activate after a delay.

A trap for example, or perhaps a timed event that should happen on a regular basis… my mind was full of possibilities. The more I learned the more ways I could imagine recombining the various elements to achieve different effects.

I spent most of the day working on ideas and jotting down notes. I didn’t want to forget anything. Rose and Marc were both gone on their individual tasks for most of that time so I suffered few interruptions.

That evening I made a half-hearted attempt at understanding the schemata that detailed how to create the effect that shielded the secret room from my mage-sight. I soon realized that a half-hearted effort would not be successful and decided to save it for another day. I had already used up my quota of ‘clever’ for the day it seemed.

After dinner with Rose, Marc, and Harold, I retired early. I was looking forward to returning home the next morning. I had considered extending my stay another two days, to make it a full week but I missed Penny. I could still work on things back in Castle Cameron anyway; there would just be more distractions.

I went to sleep while thinking about whether I should make our doors ‘self-locking’. It made me laugh to think of people’s reactions when the doors closed without aid behind them. What can I say? I’m a man of small amusements.

The next morning I rose early, anticipating the return home. The night before Rose had told me she was still searching for a suitable smith so I would be going back without her. I told her I’d check back in a week and see if she was ready to return.

Harold had his men ready shortly after breakfast and I could see that I wasn’t the only one glad to be returning. Certainly many of them had families they wanted to get back to just as I did. I made my goodbyes with Marc and Rose and soon enough I had Harold and the guards back in Castle Cameron.

A guard was posted, as usual, in the building where the teleport circles were housed. He got my attention as soon as I brought the first group of guardsmen across. “Excuse me your Lordship!” he said nervously.

“Just a minute,” I told him. “Let me get the rest of these men home.” It took a couple of minutes to finish that and dismiss the men and then I turned back to him. “Alright, you look like you have something to tell me…”

“Yes your Excellency, Joe McDaniel wanted me to tell you to see him as soon as you returned, before doing anything else,” the man answered, dutifully reciting his message.

“Tell Joe I’ll see him as soon as I get back from Lancaster. I have a lady waiting on me there,” I gave him one of my disarming smiles.

“Your pardon sir, but Joe said I should tell you he needs to see you first. He said it was very important,” he replied. I could tell he felt uncomfortable telling me that.

“Well Joe shouldn’t really be expecting me for another day or two, so I doubt a few minutes will make a difference. I’ll see him as soon as I return…,” and so saying I ducked into the room holding the circle that led to Lancaster. Before the poor fellow could muster the courage to restate his message I had transported myself.

I hastily unlocked the door that protected the circle in Lancaster and stepped outside. Today there were no fewer than three men guarding the building, something I knew to be unusual. As soon as I stepped out two of them snapped to attention while the third drew his horn to his lips and blew a loud note.

“There’s no need for that!” I said immediately.

The man with the horn finished and put it down. “Your pardon sir, the duke’s orders were that we sound the horn the moment you appeared.”

I frowned, “What’s going on?” The tension in these men had already set my hackles to rising.

“The duke will explain sir,” he replied apologetically.

“Fine,” I said and began walking toward the main door of the keep. Before I could reach it the door flew open and Ariadne darted out, running as quickly as a young woman can in full skirts, which was surprisingly fast. Before I could utter a greeting she flung herself into my chest, and buried her face against my shoulder.

“I’m so sorry Mordecai!” she cried into my tunic. My apprehensiveness went up several notches and transformed into true anxiety. I hadn’t seen Ariadne cry like this since she was a child, and that had been over a dead puppy. Something told me this had nothing to do with furry animals.

“Where is Penny?” I asked suddenly. A cold feeling was running down my spine now. Ariadne said something but I couldn’t hear her clearly, most likely because my shirt was muffling her voice, that and the tears. The door opened again and I saw James approaching with an angry expression.

“Ariadne! I told you to stay inside. You’re only making this worse,” James spoke loudly, and I could tell by his voice he was close to snapping.

She turned to him, face red with tears. “I had to see him Father. I had to tell him how sorry I am.”

His next words were spoken with such a tone of controlled anger they made even me flinch. “Get… to… your… room…”

“But Father!”

“Now!” he barked.

She broke and ran for the keep and I gave James a questioning look. It was unusual for him to be so stern with his family. “Where is Penny?”

His face changed, switching from anger to tired sorrow in a heartbeat. “Come inside Mordecai. Let’s talk at the table so everyone can hear. Your mother is anxious to see you as well.”

I followed him into the entry hall, my anxiety only becoming greater. “Where is Penny?” I asked again.

“Let’s sit down first lad,” he said in an informal tone, I could tell he was trying to calm me down but it only served to drive me to anger.

I jerked back from his hand, “Where is Penny damnitt!? I’m not taking another step until you explain yourself!”

His face showed little, but knowing his self-control it told me a lot anyway. “She’s missing Mordecai. Now come, sit down so we can explain what we do know.”

I started walking rapidly, my strides eating up the ground between me and the great hall. I wanted to know everything, and I wanted to know it immediately. I burst through the doors into the dining hall with James still ten paces behind. The room had been cleared and the only people in the room sat at the high table. I noted the faces of those present instantly, my mother, Lady Thornbear, Genevieve, William Doyle, who was the duke’s master huntsman, as well as Sir Andrew, the new seneschal for Lancaster Castle. Most notable to me were the absences, neither Penny nor Dorian was present, nor were any of the guards I had sent with them.

No one looked particularly happy to see me. Most of them were trying not to meet my eyes, and they all seemed torn by painful emotions. Only my mother met my gaze squarely. “What happened? Where is Penny?” I asked as soon as I was less than ten feet from the table.

Genevieve spoke first, “She was abducted Mordecai. Almost immediately after their arrival she and your mother were abducted from the guest room where I had placed them.”

I looked at my mother, “Obviously they weren’t successful. Where is Penny, and why isn’t Dorian here to explain?”

My mother rose and walked over to me. “I was badly wounded son, and Dorian managed to rescue me, but things did not go well after that.”

I shrugged her attempt at a hug off and stepped away. I was far too wound up with tension to accept an embrace. “How did they get inside? How did they know you would be here?” A thousand questions were rushing up in my mind.

James spoke then, from behind me, “They had a magical assistance, a wizard of some sort. He was able to hide their presence. They walked in without a soul seeing them, and if it had not been for Dorian they might have walked out just as easily.”

I could almost see the walls moving around me, as if the keep itself were breathing. My emotions were spiraling out of control, yet still hidden behind the backdrop of my superficially calm mind. Deep down I could hear a voice screaming and I knew I had to keep it from reaching the surface or I would never get answers. I could not afford to panic… not yet. “Why isn’t Dorian here explaining this? Where is he?”

My mother took another step toward me but avoided reaching out this time. “We aren’t sure Mordecai. Let me explain from the beginning…” And so she did. I held my tongue while she spoke though I wanted to jump up and shout as she told her tale. With each passing moment the story grew worse. Penny had been abducted and my mother stabbed by some madwoman. Their guards were slain and Dorian had fought like a berserker to stop their enemies.

A dragon had appeared, sending the Duke’s men into hiding, though it turned out to be illusory once all was said and done. Dorian hadn’t faltered though; he had somehow forced his way past a closed portcullis, wounded the enemy wizard and chased down several men on horseback. They had found corpses and a few dead horses along the path he had taken. He had also somehow saved Miriam. She had gone unconscious after being stabbed but had been found in the forest, alive and safely nestled in the bushes beside an ill-traveled path. Her wound had been healed, but no one knew how or when that had happened.

Of Dorian and Penny, no trace had been found. No, that wasn’t true; there had been a lot of traces found. There were bodies and parts of bodies hacked and mangled in the forest, all of them still moving. The shiggreth had somehow ambushed the kidnappers. According to William, the duke’s huntsman and chief tracker, there had been several hundred shiggreth there. Yet the bodies of only a few dozen were found, those that Dorian had cut into too many pieces to move effectively anymore.

More telling, the bodies of Penny and Dorian had not been found, nor had the body of the woman who had apparently been in charge of the abduction. There was but one probable explanation for that. We all knew what happened to the victims of the shiggreth.

“Mordecai! Look at me!” that was my mother’s voice. She was standing in front of me now, and I got the impression she had been trying to get my attention for more than a few seconds. I focused on her and blinked a few times.

“What?” I said and I noted that my voice sounded very dry, as if I hadn’t had any water in a long time.

A look of relief crossed her face, “Don’t scare us like that. You closed your eyes and everything started shaking. I thought you might bring the castle down on top of our heads.”

“Really?” I said in a daze. I sounded calm but my heart was a churning turmoil of emotions. I had no memory of making anything shake.

I tried to draw my thoughts together. Addressing James I finally verbalized a question, “You said the wizard was wounded. Do you still have him? Alive?”

“Yes, he’s in the dungeon, same place we kept Cyhan,” he replied.

“How are you keeping him?” I was curious since I couldn’t imagine how they would prevent such a person from escaping.

“We tended to his wounds and then we drugged him. We’ve kept him bound and gagged. Whenever he regains enough consciousness to wake we feed him, give him water and drug him again. He’s barely been conscious for more than a few hours since he was captured,” he told me.

I was surprised. Drugging someone into unconsciousness was a tricky business. You might just as easily kill them as render them insensible. “Who had the skill and art to manage that?” I asked.

Lady Thornbear spoke up, “That would be me.” I stared at her in astonishment. I had never known her to have such skills.

The Duchess spoke then, “Elise learned much of the healing arts from her mother, and she practiced them often on our behalf. Gram himself benefited from her skills on more than one occasion when he was wounded.” Gram was the first name of the late-Lord Thornbear, Dorian’s father, and Elise was Lady Thornbear’s given name, though I had never heard anyone use it before.

I pushed my surprise aside. “I want to talk to this wizard.” I could see concern on James’ face when I mentioned it.

Lady Thornbear broke in, “He’s unconscious at the moment. He probably won’t wake up for a few more hours. That should give you a little time to get your bearings as well.”

Her face plainly told me that she feared I might commit murder if I met him now. I doubted a few hours would change that risk though. I turned to William Doyle, “Did you search the area where they disappeared?”

“Of course my Lord,” he said promptly.

“You could not follow their trail?” I said questioningly.

“After their battle the shiggreth dispersed, taking many paths through the forest. I had no way of knowing which way they took Dorian and the Countess,” he answered.

“Did you find any personal items?” I asked hopefully.

“Not personal items your Lordship, I found a few torn bits of cloth from her dress, and a dagger, nothing else,” he replied.

“No jewelry? The Countess wore a necklace I made for her,” I told him.

“No your Lordship,” he said.

I felt a tiny spark of hope. One thing we had learned in our few encounters with the shiggreth since I had made the enchanted necklaces to protect our people was that the undead did not like the enchantment. A few of our men had been taken since Dorian’s famous battle with them and in every case we found each man’s necklace not far from where he had been ‘turned’. Apparently once they had gone over to the other side they found the necklace to be unbearable and removed it. If Penny still had hers it meant she had not been ‘turned’, it meant she might still be alive.

Dorian of course did not wear one, his natural ability as a stoic had made the enchantment unnecessary for him. I wondered what that would mean if he was taken by the shiggreth. Would he go mad? He had no necklace that could be removed. I was still uncertain why the mind protecting enchantment bothered them so much after they had become undead.

I looked at the people around me. “I will go and see where they were ambushed. I’d rather do something while I wait for this wizard to wake up. I don’t think I can sit still.” I glanced at William Doyle and without waiting I indicated the door that led out. “Let’s go.” I started walking toward the door before he had even risen from his chair.

With my mage-sight I could see him look toward the Duke, who merely nodded, and then he ran after me.