The Archmage unbound

Chapter 27

I returned to Lancaster bright and early the next morning. I had taken particular care with my grooming and when I appeared every hair was in place. My beard and mustache were carefully trimmed and my clothing was immaculate. Again, I felt it was something Penny would have wanted, though upon further consideration it might have been a symptom of the effort I was taking to control the emotions within myself.

James met me soon after I had entered. He appraised my appearance with one look and I saw a look of approval in his eyes. “You look better today Mordecai.”

“Indeed your Grace, I am much improved. I hope you can forgive my behavior yesterday, I was distraught,” I told him in overly formal tones.

“No need to be so serious, we’re family after all,” he told me. In point of fact his wife was my aunt, a fact I had learned only two years previously.

“The formality is perhaps part of my way of coping, sir. I hope you’ll understand, but I cannot afford to be too loose with my emotions right now,” I replied.

“Are you referring to the ‘earthquake’ we had yesterday?”

William must have seen more than I had thought and of course he had spoken with his master. Of course I couldn’t have reasonably expected them not to connect the dots even without William’s account. “I got a bit carried away. The worst is over now, please don’t worry. I won’t let something like that happen again,” I reassured him.

James’ eyes crinkled into an expression of sympathy. “There’s more to come lad, you know that from your father’s passing. It never really goes away.”

“How has Lady Thornbear taken it?” I asked suddenly. I felt a bit selfish for not having thought of her before; she had lost her only son after all. I was not the only one suffering.

I could see the duke’s jaw clench, “She has dealt with it admirably, like all those of her lineage. Still it has been hard on her, having just lost Gram two years ago, and now her son as well. She has kept to her quarters for the most part, though Genevieve and your mother have visited her frequently.”

I nodded, for I didn’t know what to say. We walked on toward the hall and James asked if I had eaten. I hadn’t and so we took breakfast together that morning in his sunroom. Somehow he kept everyone else away, though I’m sure they all wanted to see me. My mother in particular certainly, but I wasn’t really ready to deal with her emotions. My own were almost more than I could stand.

We didn’t talk too much as we ate, but eventually I brought up my main reason for showing up so early that morning. “I’m ready to talk to the wizard now,” I said without preamble.

James set his plate aside. “You nearly frightened poor Ariadne to death yesterday.”

“I need to apologize for that, and to thank her. If it hadn’t been for her I might have made a serious mistake,” I replied. “I’d also like to pay for the damage to your door.”

He waved his hands in a dismissive motion, “Don’t worry about it, we’ve been through too much to squabble over doors. I’m curious as to what Ariadne might have said to you though, you’ve calmed down considerably since yesterday.”

I looked down in embarrassment, “She simply reminded me of things Penny had said before, and what she would think of what I was planning to do.” I told him the truth, but it was in a roundabout manner, neglecting entirely the fact that the information had come from one of Penny’s visions.

We talked for perhaps another quarter of an hour before I excused myself and went to find my mother. There wasn’t much use delaying the inevitable. I found her sitting alone in the room Genevieve had given her. I didn’t fail to notice it was located directly next to the duke’s own suite, or that there were two guards posted outside it.

The guards stepped aside without a word as I approached, both of them knew me. I knocked on the door. I already knew Miriam was inside, and awake, but I didn’t want to startle her. “Yes?” came her voice a moment later.

“It’s me Mother, may I come in?” I asked.

“Of course,” she said drawing the bolt and pulling the door back. “I wondered if you would show up today.”

I gave her a solemn look, “I am sorry about yesterday. I was not myself.”

She nodded, “I think everyone knows that already. As far as grief stricken reactions go I don’t think yours was too far beyond what anyone might have done.” She stepped forward and slid her arms around me after I had shut the door.

I held her silently for a moment. No matter how old I might get I didn’t think that simple gesture would ever fail to comfort me, though I couldn’t help but notice how small she was. Had she always been so small? “In my stupidity yesterday I didn’t even stop to ask how your recovery was coming. How badly were you wounded?”

She let go of me and returned to the table where she had been working on some embroidery. She rarely let her hands stay idle for long. “I don’t really know,” she answered. “I’ll show you the scar if you’re not too embarrassed to look at your old mother’s bosom.”

A moment later she bared her chest and midriff and what I saw there made me gasp. A long silver line traced its way up from her belly, from just above her naval to her short ribs on the right side. It had been an ugly wound, yet even more surprisingly; it appeared to be fully healed. “Does it still hurt?” I asked immediately. She was already pulling her under tunic down to cover herself again.

Miriam grimaced, “Yes it does. Some of the tissues underneath are not fully healed as far as I can tell.”

“But how?”

“The last thing I remembered was that woman’s nasty blade gutting me like a sow in a slaughterhouse. I was trying to hold my insides in when I blacked out. When I woke up again I was back here, in bed, and my wound was sealed,” she explained.

I questioned her for a bit longer, and she described in more detail exactly what had happened: Penny’s words to Dorian about his visor, the way the assassins had entered… the resulting fight. From her description I could see that Penny had clearly been expecting what had happened. But why didn’t she avoid it? I wondered. She had seen her death approaching, she could have hidden instead of following the expected routine, but she didn’t. What could have been so terrible that she had accepted her own death to prevent it?

I looked up and realized I had missed my mother’s last few words. “Pardon?” I said.

“I asked what you were thinking.”

“I was thinking I should examine your wound more properly,” I said to cover my distraction.

“Will it hurt?” she asked, a bit nervously.

I drew my chair close beside hers. “It shouldn’t, unless I need to fix something.”

“Maybe I should lie down then,” she suggested. I almost smacked myself, I should have thought of that.

“That’s a good idea,” I replied. Once she had gotten comfortable on the bed I sat beside her and put my hand on her midsection. Closing my eyes I turned my attention entirely to my magesight, focusing on the woman beside me. I hoped that whatever I found would be simple, if it were too much I might have to leave my own body, as I had with Penny once before. Something like that was risky as I had already learned.

After several minutes I had satisfied myself. The cut had severed the skin, fat, and muscle of her abdomen. It also appeared that her liver and one of her lungs had been damaged, but those had already been repaired. The abdominal muscles hadn’t been completely rejoined however, which was probably what was causing her pain. I damped the nerve impulses in that region and carefully knitted them back together.

Opening my eyes again I looked at her, she had been watching me carefully the entire time. “I think I found the problem. It wasn’t anything serious, but it would have hurt for a long time.”

“Do you know how I was healed?” she asked.

“Magic,” I said simply, “but I don’t understand why.”

She put her hand over mine, “You will find out.”

I smiled at her, “I will.”

“Just don’t do anything stupid along the way,” she cautioned.

“I’m in much better control of myself today.”

She shook her head. “I don’t mean that you shouldn’t punish those behind it. Just make sure you know for certain who the blame falls on before you do anything permanent.”

“I understand,” I said to reassure her.

She continued anyway, “Then when you’re certain, you make damn sure they never have a chance to hurt anyone else we love ever again.”

We agreed on that at least.

Lady Thornbear and one of the duke’s guards preceded me into the cell. The man imprisoned there was bound and his eyes were covered with a blindfold. He moaned quietly as we entered. A soft bed had been placed in the cell and I looked at Dorian’s mother questioningly.

“I didn’t want him dying before you returned,” she said. “If we had left him on the floor he might have developed sores and died of infection.”

I nodded, “Is he awake?”

“He should be close to conscious but it hardly matters. After a week of this his mind is muddled, it will be hours after he wakes before he regains his senses completely,” she replied.

I was learning to see Lady Elise in a new light. As a child she had simply been Dorian’s mother, strict, but kind and loving as well. Now I was forced to face the fact that she was also a skilled herbalist and poisoner. Somehow the two pictures refused to come together for me.

“You’ve done this before haven’t you?” I said without thinking.

There was a gleam in her eye as she answered, “Never a wizard… that made it much more difficult. When you find out who sent him let me know, I’ll make something special for you to give them.”

A shiver went down my spine as she said it and I remembered, this was a woman that had just lost her son. She probably wants revenge just as badly as I do.

“I’m going to move him to Castle Cameron,” I told her, and then I nodded toward the guard. “I’ll need your help moving him since he’s not quite sensible yet.”

She looked at me questioningly, “Are you sure that’s wise? You have no dungeon in your keep.”

“The dungeon isn’t what kept him here milady, you were, or rather it was the use of your arts that held him. I will keep a close watch upon him using other means,” as I finished the statement I leaned over and carefully clasped a delicate silver necklace around the prisoner’s neck. I kept my movements casual but I was very careful as I did so.

“What is that?” Elise Thornbear asked.

“Something I devised,” I said smugly. “It will keep him contained until I can decide his fate.”

“Is it dangerous?”

“Very,” I answered.

She smiled, “You were always a good boy Mordecai. My son thought the world of you.”

“I was never as good as Dorian, but I hold him as an inspiration for what people could be,” I replied with complete sincerity.

Lady Thornbear leaned over then and surprised me with a kiss on the cheek. It was sudden and gentle, but I imagined I felt a trace of her tears there as well. “Thank you for that Mordecai. Here take this.” She thrust a small glass phial into my hands.

I didn’t question her but my look said the words for me, with one eyebrow slightly raised.

“It tastes sweet, like honey liquor. Flavor a drink with it, or use it as a sweet garnish for a dessert and the recipient will fall into a deep slumber, never to awaken again,” she said quietly.

“Why me?”

“If anyone is going to find those responsible for this it will be you. I doubt you’ll need it when you find them, but sometimes subtlety is the only way, even for a wizard,” she answered.

“How long does it take to work?”

Her eyes twinkled in the dim light, “Good question… a day at least, sometimes two if they don’t get a large dose.”

“A day before they fall asleep or a day before they stop breathing?” I said to be sure.

“A day before they sleep, death follows hours after that.”

I frowned, “That seems terribly slow.”

“You have much to learn. Speed is not usually the poisoner’s friend. Slow and certain is better, and it gives you more time and distance to allay suspicion. People tend to blame the last meal eaten rather than the one from the day before.”

The more I learned of Lady Thornbear’s secret profession the more she frightened me. How could a creature so well versed in subtlety and lethal deception have been the same woman who raised my friend Dorian?

My confusion must have shown on my face for she patted my cheek reassuringly, “Don’t fret about it Mordecai, we all must take on various roles in our lives. Some people confuse their identity with what they do. Don’t mistake a ‘role’ for your ‘self’. I have done many things, but I am none of them, I am Lady Elise Thornbear. I have been a healer, a wife, a mother, and sometimes when necessary, a poisoner.”

Her words struck a chord within me, resonating with some inner truth. I knew I would remember them for a long time to come. “Thank you Elise,” I said, using her given name for the first time in my life. “You were always kind to us as children, except when strictness was called for. I never doubted you, no matter what hidden talents you possess.”

I turned to the guard, “Help me get him up. I want him back in Castle Cameron and in a soft bed before he comes to his senses.”