Echoes of the Fourth Magic (23 page)

“Wait!” Arien called. Del turned back to find that the anger and sadness had cleared from Arien’s face. “Elf,” Arien said again, in a louder, more affirmative voice. “From your not unkind lips, it is not such a bad word. You, DelGiudice, may call me elf, and my people elves,” he declared with a broad smile. “So say I, and so shall it be done.”

“I am honored, Lord Arien Silverleaf, Eldar of Lochsilinilume!” returned Del with due respect. He bowed low and slipped from the room, setting out to find the hidden tower of the Silver Mage.

   Del wove his way through the curious glances of many elves to the base of the northern wall, noting with relief that almost all of the looks he received were friendly. Ryell’s angry comments had made him unsure of the elves’ feelings toward him and his companions, but any worries were dispelled by the time he neared the wall. Half doubting, but filled with anticipation, he worked along the stone in search of the invisible path. His shin cracked into something hard, something very tangible.

“No kidding,” he gasped as he eagerly felt along the unseen object. Indeed, it seemed to be a staircase.

He started up, cautiously testing each subsequent step before trusting his full weight to it, and hugging the visible
mountain wall. He had to climb less than seventy feet, but it took him a long time to ascend that unnerving stair. Normally Del wasn’t afraid of heights, but he couldn’t escape the logic that overruled his heartfelt desire to believe in the magic. His eyes told him that he was standing in midair and should be falling.

He was relieved when he reached the entrance to Ardaz’s home. It had seemed no more than a split in the stone from below, but now Del saw that the left wall was actually a few feet back from the ledge, and overlapped behind the right to form a corridor. The passage went just a short distance and turned a sharp corner, and Del found himself in a small, circular glade carpeted with the same thick grass as the valley floor. High stone walls surrounded it, keeping it ever in shadowy dimness though it was open to the sky. In the west end stood a small telvensil, and carved into the north wall, like a gigantic bas relief, was a singular mica-strewn tower with two thin windows flickering from the firelight within like the watching eyes of a dragon.

The tower’s great wooden door was banded by silver and decorated with the carvings of many arcane runes. Even as Del admired its craftsmanship, it banged open and out hopped a wiry old man in a dark blue robe and a broad silver belt. A great and pointed wizard’s cap—much too large for him—kept flopping forward over his hairless face, leaving only his long nose and his mouth, which was constantly in motion, uncovered. He kept thrusting his hands into the countless pockets of his garment, and he grew ever more flustered as his searches brought forth roots and herbs, frogs and snakes, even an occasional bat, all of which he tossed aside with a frustrated stamp of his booted foot. He seemed to be addressing the silver tree with his unbroken stream of words, and his volume increased with his excitement.

“Desdemona, Desdemona, where is it? Oh, where? Oh, where? I know I had it—I did, I know I did, but where has
it got to? Did you take it? I bet you did, you silly puss. Love to tease me, don’t you?”

“Rrow, meow,” came a reply from the tree. Following the sound, Del discovered a smiling black cat relaxing on a branch, licking its paws.

“Oh, don’t tell me that!” the old man rambled. “You beastly tease! I know you did it. I should, you know I might, turn your tail into a mouse, ha-ha, and watch you chase it in circles forever and ever and ever. Wouldn’t like that a bit, would you, Desdemona? No, no, not a bit, I dare say! Ha-ha!”

“That’s Shakespeare,” Del interrupted.

The old man froze in his tracks and grasped the brim of his hat in both hands. Slowly he slid it back over his pale blue eyes and gaped at Del. “What?” he asked.

“Shakespeare,” Del repeated. The old man’s face remained twisted in astonishment. “The name, I mean. Desdemona was a character in Shakespeare.”

“Shakespeare?” the old man mumbled, scratching his chin and rolling his eyes as if trying to recall something. Del remembered then that Shakespeare was a writer of a different age, a long-forgotten time. He tried to think of a way he could explain it to the old man without totally confusing him, but it was the old man’s turn to surprise Del.

“Shakespeare!” he exclaimed. “Oh, yes! Oh, yes, the Bard, the Bard! A jolly old chap, don’t you agree? Why, yes, yes, Othello actually, and a strange bird—”

The cat growled.

“Sorry, Des,” the old man said. “And a strange cat she was, you know. Don’t you agree?”

Del stood dumbfounded.

“Well, don’t you? A strange cat, eh?”

“Who?” Del asked.

“Why, Desdemona … yes, yes, we were talking about her, weren’t we? She was a strange cat, she was, she was, but then, ha-ha, they all are, I daresay, I do daresay!

“Oh, well, it doesn’t matter, no, no. But where, oh, where
did I put it? You don’t have it, do you? No, of course you don’t! I don’t even know you, how could you—” He stopped short and bounded over to Del, the jerky movements again dropping his hat down to the tip of his nose. He didn’t bother to lift it; he just tilted his head back and peeked at the stranger from under the brim. “Who are you?”

“Jeff DelGiudice,” Del replied with a laugh. “Call me Del. You’re Ardaz, the Silver Mage?”

“Yes, yes, of course I am. You have a strange name, my son; yes, very strange indeed! Del-joo-dis. Why, it is a name I might have used from the other—”

Suddenly the old man began trembling and his breath came in short gasps. “You knew Shakespeare,” he squeaked, and he pulled up his hat above his hairless brow, that he could study Del more closely. The cut of Del’s uniform and its synthetic material were familiar to Ardaz, vague memories of clothes he had worn many, many years before, before the dawn of Aielle. This man in front of him was of the older world!

“The ancient ones walk the land!” Ardaz shrieked with a leap, and he threw his hands high up in the air.

Then, realizing that it should not have been proclaimed so loudly, he slapped his hands over Del’s mouth and went, “Sssh! Sssh!” It took him a few seconds to remember that he was the one who had yelled, and he let go of Del.

“Well, well, Ardaz at your service, Del, and very pleased to meet you I am! Ha-ha! I do daresay! A walking tale in my own yard! How very grand!”

Del tried to change the subject, hoping it might calm the frenzied wizard. “What are you looking for?”

“Looking for?” Ardaz echoed, again scratching his chin. “Who?”

“You,” Del said.

“Looking for me?” Ardaz cried, more confused than ever.

“No!” Del groaned. “When I first got here, you were looking for something.”

“I was?”

“Yes!”

“Oh, yes, looking for! Why, a feather, of course. An eagle’s feather.”

“What on earth for?”

“Earth?” echoed Ardaz. “I know that word. Earth.” He scratched his chin. “Hmmm … oh, well, it will come to me. To move that infernal rock, of course.” He pointed to a large stone resting on the eastern end of the glade. “Why else would I need a feather?”

“How can you move a rock with a feather?” Del exclaimed, growing ever more ready to pull his own hair out.

“You can’t, of course.”

Del moaned and slapped his hand across his forehead.

“Excitable chap, aren’t you?” the wizard said dryly, bringing a second moan from Del. “I need the feather for a spell. What else? What else? To levitate the rock out of my yard, of course.”

Del’s eyes lit up. “Magic?” he said, grinning like a Cheshire cat. “That I’d like to see. Maybe you could find the feather if you took off that hat. It’s way too big for you.”

“Too big for me?” Ardaz gawked. “Too big for me! Why, it’s my hat, how can it be too big for me? Of course it wasn’t, no, no, not when I had some hair, it wasn’t. But then the fire went
‘poof,’
and
poof
, no more hair, and you say my hat is too big for me. What nerve!”

“I didn’t know,” Del apologized. “I’m sorry.”

“Yes, yes, you are that, ha-ha! But then, of course you didn’t. How could you, after all?”

“I’d really like to see some magic,” Del said, trying hard to keep the old man focused. “Is there another way?”

“Another way to do what?”

“To move the rock.”

“Everyone knows that you can’t levitate without a feather,” Ardaz huffed. “But wait! Hmmm … perhaps there is another way. I do so very dearly want to get rid of that rock. Could go
‘kaboom,’
I think. What do you think,
Des?” he asked the cat. Instantly, the cat let out a horrified shriek and darted into a crack in the tree.

“Beastly loyal, you know,” the mage muttered.

“Oh, well, I’ll do it! I will, I will! I do daresay. But oh, bother, where is my staff? I shouldn’t try it without my staff, no, no. Dear me, don’t tell me I lost that, too.

“I really shouldn’t try it without my staff,” he explained again to Del, but even as he spoke the words, his visage softened, touched, it seemed, by the profound disappointment etched on Del’s face. “Oh, well,” he said with a chuckle. “Who needs a staff anyway? Here we go, here we go!”

Ardaz scratched his chin and mumbled as he pieced together the rhymes of the spell. “Oh, yes,” he said finally. “That’ll do! That’ll do, I daresay!”

He cleared his throat and straightened his hat and began chanting in a mystical and arcane tongue and waving his arms in circular movements, but stopped fast when he noticed Del gawking at him. “Don’t look at me, you silly boy! Watch the rock!”

Del turned quickly, and Ardaz resumed his casting, and a few seconds later,
kaboom!
A bolt of lighting blasted from his hands and sundered the boulder into a million scattered pieces.

Del nearly jumped out of his pants. “Holy shit!” he cried. “How? What the—” He spun around and there was Ardaz, hopping around on one foot and flapping his hands wildly like some demented pigeon, wisps of smoke trailing from his fingers.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!” the mage shouted, but his voice was muffled, for his great hat had breached his nose and fallen completely over his head. “Ow, ow, ow, ow!”

“Are you all right?” Del yelled, rushing over to him.

“Yes, yes,” came the smothered reply. “Should’ve used my staff, I do daresay!”

Del lifted the hat from the wizard’s absolutely hairless head and was taken aback, for embedded in the middle of Ardaz’s forehead was a gem, a silvery moonstone.

“Was a good shot, though, wasn’t it?” Ardaz chuckled, shooting Del a friendly wink.

“Perfect,” Del agreed absently, his unblinking eyes riveted on the gemstone.

“What’s the matter, my boy?”

“That stone in your forehead—” Del began.

“My mark?” Ardaz asked.

“I’ve seen one like it.”

“It is the mark of magic. Not many of these lying around, you know. Oh, no no. Four, and no more in all the land. And not on display for anyone to see, ha. But where could you have seen … oh yes, you’ve been to Pallendara then, and seen the white pearl of Istaahl.”

“No, I’ve never been to Pallendara,” Del replied. “Did Thalasi have such a stone?”

“Eeeyiaaa!”
Ardaz shrieked, jumping around wildly, eyes darting to and fro as though he expected demons to surround them at any moment. “Sssh! Sssh!” he cried, and slapped his hand over Del’s mouth. “Don’t speak that name! No, no!” He tightened his hand over Del’s mouth as he again glanced all about for signs of impending doom. The wizard had an incredibly strong grip, and try as he may, Del could not break free. Intent on his scan, Ardaz took no heed of Del’s struggling and didn’t let go until he finally, finally noticed that Del was turning a delicate shade of blue.

“Sorry about that,” Ardaz apologized. “But we mustn’t speak the name of the Black Warlock! An evil summons if ever there was one, I do daresay! He did have a stone, a sapphire, most powerful stone of all! Deep, oh the richest blue. Blue at first, mind you; but it turned black when his heart turned black, yes, yes, the blackest sapphire. You haven’t seen him, I pray!”

“The stone I saw was green. An emerald, in Avalon.”

“Clas Braiyelle,” Ardaz whispered, his voice even and much calmer, as if the mention of the beautiful witch had shot a sedative through his veins. “You’ve seen Brielle.
You are blessed, my boy, blessed indeed. Please, you must tell me all about it.”

“Sure,” Del replied, “but first I have to give you something.” He pulled out the scroll and handed it to the wizard. “Bellerian gave it to me. He said that you’ll know what it’s about.”

Ardaz snatched the case from Del, popped off the cap, and drew out the parchment. “It is!” he exclaimed. “It is, it is! Oh, good! Stupendously marvelous!

“The spell,” he shouted in explanation to Del’s blank stare. “The spell to grow back my hair!

“But wait! What’s this?” he cried when he noticed something on the edge of the scroll. “Oh, no! Oil. Oil from curious fingers. You’ve touched it! Oh, no!”

“I didn’t know,” Del explained.

“Oh, bother it all!” the wizard groaned. “That’s how it all happened in the first place. Someone touching a scroll. Supposed to make a fire burn brighter, sure, sure, but
poof
right in my face! And now you’ve handled this one! Oh, bother, I’ll probably grow hair out of my ears!”

“I’m truly sorry,” Del said, biting his lip in an unsuccessful attempt to stifle a laugh.

“You think that’s funny?” Ardaz snapped, appearing quite angry, but unable to hold the scowl as he considered his own prediction. “I suppose it would be, wouldn’t it? Ha-ha! Hair out of my ears! Oh how jolly, how very jolly!”

When they had finished their laugh, Del recounted his adventures to Ardaz. Unlike Mitchell at the court of Arien, Del told of everything that had befallen his party honestly and completely. The wizard listened with sincere interest, but was especially attentive when Del recounted his dream of being watched by a green eye. And he made Del repeat the parts about Avalon three times.

A starry evening was in full bloom by the time Del had finished.

“Ah, Avalon,” Ardaz said. “Clas Braiyelle, it is called by the Illumans, you know. A fitting nickname.” His voice
had lost all hints of its frantic edge, as if he had suddenly realized how important the return of the ancient ones could be to his world. “I envy you that you have seen her, but I would not tell anyone else of it, if I were you.”